Post by tenabrae on Oct 23, 2009 18:19:27 GMT -5
OOC Account:Tenabrae
Age: 17
Activity Level: pretty frequent
Other Characters: None
Basic Character Information:
Name: Darkrai
Alias: The Lord of Nightmares / the Master of Fear / the Prince of Darkness / the Pitch-Black Pokemon
Gender: Male
Age: 4.5 billion years
Alleigance: Arceus
Position: N/A
Species: Darkrai
Sexuality: Straight
Hobbies:
Likes:
Dislikes ( WEAKNESSES):
Physical Appearance
Information:
Hair Color: His hair is pure bleached white and takes the appearance of a large, single mass that billows behind him in a long ponytail
Eye Color: The entirety of his eyes are a sharp ice blue broken only by a single white dot that serves as his pupil
Height: 4'11"
Build: Darkrai’s body has a generally thin looking build to it, and his form seems almost wispy. This appearance belies great physical strength, enough to split stone given enough heffort
Other Appearance Information:
Every aspect of Darkrai was carefully molded to inspire sheer terror in all those around him, and his appearance in no way falls short of this demand. Like the most terrifying monster from your deepest nightmares, the very sight of Darkrai has driven people to terror. A sable demon of ebony black skin, Darkrai’s general shape is that of a human male’s torso. From head to waist his shape is humanoid, with a slightly conical chest region. His arms are thin and wispy, with three organic spines jutting from the backs of his upper arms and hands that possesses three fingers. His shoulders are slightly round, and from each extends a trail of some organic material that billows and flutters ominously even in the complete absence of any wind.
His neck is surrounded by a collar of blood red cartilaginous spines that jut upward like the open maw of some demonic beast. The head sitting atop that neck is vaguely wedge shaped, and his face is nearly featureless. The only features visible on his face are a pair of ice blue eyes, both as deep as the most bottomless well and as harsh and cold as an arctic wasteland. The sea of empty blue is broken only by a single white dot that serves as his pupil. When Darkrai is angered or just attempting to look even scarier, the white elongates into a draconic slit.
Atop Darkrai’s head is a mane of bleached white hair so densely woven together it appears to be a single mass. Part of his hair overlaps onto the right side of his face, completely obscuring it behind a curtain of white. The rest of his hair extends behind him in a long ponytail that, like his shoulder trails, billows like smoke despite any lack of wind.
At Darkrai’s waist, his body terminates in what appears to be the tattered and torn bottom of a cloak, part of which elongates behind him in a manner similar to a tail. Although Darkrai is generally seen hovering unsupported, he is capable of extending a pair of thin black spindles from the interior of his body to balance on. These spindles are quite weak, only capable of delicately balancing him in place. They are able to extend to rather impressive lengths, and it is unknown currently if there is a limit to how far they might go.
Personal Related
Information:
Personality:
Darkrai was born of shadows, and nearly every aspect of his personality is as dark, cold, and deceptive as the darkness from which he was molded. He exists in a state of pure seclusion at almost all times, avoiding the company of almost any other in favor of solitude. His very presence radiates a chilling aura of terror, so much so that most every living creature flees before the very sight of him, which is exactly the way he wants it. With but a glance of his eye Darkrai can chill the blood of even the wildest Salamence, and his anger is so terrible to behold that those with weak cardiac muscles have been known to die of heart failure. He is, put simply, terror incarnate.
For those who somehow perform the monumental feat of overcoming Darkrai’s atmosphere of fear enough to approach and engage him, they will almost always meet with an individual secluded behind a wall of frigid apathy so cold it would make ice seem downright warm. To get Darkrai to acknowledge that you even exist is a triumph. To get him to say so much as a sentence to you is a feat of amazing merit. To get his to respect you is nothing short of miraculous. To get him to trust you is almost downright impossible.
However, it is very remotely possible that, with very careful diplomacy and enough patience, you just might succeed in breaking through the barrier of Darkrai’s stone heart one little chip at a time. There are a very few fortunate souls who have managed to see Darkrai for what he really is, although their efforts were nothing short of inhuman.
Truth be told, Darkrai’s frozen shell is a barrier he erected around his heart many hundreds of years ago to protect himself from his own existence. Having possibly the most despised role in all of existence, to spread fear about the world and to oppose the other Great Ones, Darkrai has himself been hated for as long as anyone can remember. There was even a time that his fellow Great Ones spurned him, despite the fact that they knew very well of his role to be their ‘enemy’. For this reason Darkrai was cut off from the world, divided from a society that refused to accept the necessity of his purpose. At one point he hated them all too, but now he has learned to shield his bitterness, secluding it away where he does not have to acknowledge it. He knows that if he should ever drop his guard and come to terms with the unending hatred of the world and his own pain and suffering at his torment, he could very well either go insane or wipe them all off the face of the earth.
Those who somehow manage to succeed in earning Darkrai’s trust may not even know what they have achieved at first. The change in his manner towards those people is so minute that, to an outsider, it may not even seem to exist at all. However, eventually that person will notice that perhaps Darkrai doesn’t seem quite as cold towards them anymore. He will be slightly more willing to engage them in brief dialogue, and eventually they may just get the occasional glimpse into his real feelings and thoughts. Eventually, for those who persist in their kindness, they will no longer see Darkrai as a frigid soul to be feared, but as the tortured, pained creature he really is.
Anyone who succeeds this far will gain a silent guardian that they may not even recognize until he intervenes for their sake. Although it is his role to be the enemy, that does not mean it is his nature. To show kindness to Darkrai is to do something that 999,999,999 people out of 1,000,000,000 will never even conceive of doing, and the kindness of those very few is something that he relishes more than he will ever admit, for it helps to ease some of the pain that he has known all his life. Though his loyalty will not be apparent until it actually comes into play, it is absolute to the point that he will give his life to protect that person, as he did to save Alamos Town for the sake of Alicia’s kindness. This facet of his personality may seem contradictory to his role, but Darkrai himself is a creature of paradoxes and vagueness. Nothing about him is truly certain.
Darkrai’s relationship with his fellow Great Ones is also something of a paradox. Although it is his task to be their enemy, and although he does his best to cause them trouble, they no longer view him with the animosity they once did. They have now accepted his role as a necessity, and when they are not combating his schemes they regard him with a certain cordiality, which he returns.
Towards Cresselia, Darkrai’s counterpart and opposite, his intents and thoughts remain a vague mystery to everyone, including her. Although he opposes her as fiercely as he can when they perform their ritual battles for dominion of the moon and the maintaining of order in the world, when they are not opposing each other he is shown to regard her as a playmate in some sort of game, treating her as an equal and showing a surprising amount of respect for her. In all honesty, Darkrai became smitten with her some time after they stopped hating each other, and now treats their games of cat and mouse as a courting ritual as well as a matter of universal stability. He sometimes drops vague hints of his true feelings for her, but whether or not she has determined what they mean and whether or not she reciprocates or even acknowledges his attentions is something he does not know. Whether or not he has a chance to gain her affections, he is not sure, and is prepared to accept the possibility of failure should it happen.
As previously stated, Darkrai’s role is to be the enemy of the world, at least in name, and there could not be anyone better suited to the task. Although Darkrai possesses great power, his greatest asset, and the one he is most proud of, is his intellect. His are the schemes to put even the titan Kronos to shame, so much so that he might be the one of the pair more deserving of the title Crooked One. He has plans within plans, and his plots are so elaborate and insidious that they often lead the victim into bringing them to fruition even as they believe they are defeating him. Even when it seems that his plot is undone, often times that victory will be turned to his advantage before anyone realizes that they have been duped.
Darkrai is also very knowledgable about the world, at least in how it works. He has spent an inordinant amount of time researching natural laws, ancient secrets and forgotten powers. He believes that in order to continue crafting new and wily schemes, he must know as much as he possibly can about what he has to work with. However, he will be the first to admit that he does not know everything. Although he may know a few tidbits that others might not, the only things that he understands perfectly are his elements of shadow and fear. He is also utterly and completely oblivious about what is actually happening in the world around him. This puts him at a serious disadvantage when engaging in dealings with humans, because quite often he has no way of knowing what the reprecussions of his actions will be, and has actually driven more than one civilization to ruin when he thought he was doing them a service..
In battle, Darkrai is nothing short of devastating. His keen intellect allows him to analyze his opponent in a matter of seconds and see exactly how to tear him apart. He makes full use of his illusionary powers to confuse and terrify his enemies until they are left helpless, and his speed allows him to reduce them to a bloody corpse almost instantly. Darkrai has no remorse, pity, or mercy in anything. Unless it is very clear that he cannot kill his opponent, that opponent will die without fail. The way Darkrai sees it; a threat left alive is a threat with the chance to grow stronger and a grudge to settle. A threat dead is a threat no more.
History:
In the beginning, Arceus was born. She came to be in a universe of chaos and disorder, lacking any form of sense or law. Her fragile egg might have at any moment been smote by the monstrous womb of which she found herself prisoner, and her fleeting existence would have been for naught. But instead she was nurtured and energized, drawing incalculable amounts of energy and life force from the chaos all about. Finally, she was born, a great deity of indescribable power and majesty, a sacred queen of light and reason in a world of chaos and confusion. She saw the world about her, formless and disordered, and found it repugnant. So she molded it anew.
Under Arceus’ careful direction and manipulation the universe was brought to order, and as a new facet of existence was crafted she brought forth a master to stand at its head and direct it. For the graceful flowing of time she summoned the temporal queen, Dialga. To stand as sovereign ruler of the infinite space she conjured the spatial master, Palkia. For each and every aspect of the world that she crafted, a master was called forth to oversee it and keep it in the manner she had envisioned. Her work was beautiful and good, and it is because of her that the world exists as it does.
But everything in life is composed of two halves, one good and one evil. Arceus knew it must be so. For all that her world was beautiful and good, it needed something dark and dangerous to maintain the balance. Order without chaos cannot exist, and so Arceus was forced to create a being of discord to counteract the good and to define it. And so Darkrai was born.
Arceus chose the element of shadow as the base material for her god of dissonance, and like a demon from the deepest, blackest darkness Darkrai stepped from the womb of shadows. Molded by Arceus into the very image of terror, and given the tools to match, she tasked him with the duty of spreading fear and uncertainty. He was to be the world’s enemy, scheming to cause havoc wherever he could, spread nightmares among the world every night, and confront the other Great Ones at every turn, that they might stay united and maintain the order of that which was good. So that Darkrai would have an equal and an opposite in this eternal role, Arceus also crafted Cresselia, this time from light, and gave her the opposite task. Finally, as the most visible sign of the eternal struggle between light and dark, Arceus gave the pair dominion over the phases of the moon.
Darkrai’s devotion to his task was almost nothing short of obsessive. He knew his task to be one vital for the stability of the world, and he applied himself to it with complete devotion. Every night without fail he traveled the world, scouring the dreams of countless humans and Pokémon alike with his terrible aura of nightmares. His days were spent plotting and enacting insidious stratagems to assault and confound the other Great Ones. Because of the nature of his duty, Darkrai was one of the very few people who knew of the existence of all Great Ones, and not one of them was safe from his attacks or his nightmares.
However, Darkrai’s role as the evil one did not consume him. He successfully managed to differentiate his role from his self, and when he was ‘off-duty’ he actually was not all that difficult to get along with. True, he was perhaps a little aloof, but not hostile or rude in any way.
Arceus marveled at Darkrai’s performance. He exceeded all her expectations, fulfilling his duty with a skill and a determination that she had not expected, but found very admirable. She was also pleased to see that he was able to separate his task from his true self, for she had not wanted him to truly be evil, only to act in that manner. In short, he was everything she had expected and more, and she was proud of him.
The rest of the world, unfortunately, did not share these sentiments. The first ones to truly hate Darkrai were the humans. This was something that both Arceus and Darkrai had expected to occur, for humans very often could not see the big picture outside of their personal comfort. However, the level of animosity they began to display reached a point that neither of them had expected. They were not satisfied with simply hating him, but instead tried to kill him whenever they got the chance. This outcome shocked Darkrai, but it did not seem to truly rattle him very much. He merely persisted in his task, evading death and capture as he continued to spread his discord. Even so, Arceus could not help but notice that Darkrai was beginning to seem a little harder of heart over time, though it fortunately did not manifest as anything serious.
It was around this time that Darkrai first met Cresselia. At first, their encounters were very brief, with little to no exchange of any sort. Darkrai knew all about her and her task to combat his nightmares, but at first it seemed that she did not know him. Whenever she caught him in a nightmare, she would merely look at him with puzzlement, as though she was not sure why he kept appearing there. For a time, their relationship was a peaceful one, if perhaps a little odd.
However, all too soon Cresselia finally realized that Darkrai was in fact the source of the nightmares that she sought to heal. This revelation sparked in her an anger that Darkrai did not suspect until he found himself running for his life with her on his heels, so to speak. At first, Darkrai merely evaded her, dodging and escaping whenever she gave chase to him. He did not want to hurt her, outside of those times when his schemes involved her. His duty was not to cause undo suffering. However, eventually Darkrai found himself with no recourse but to defend himself with all necessary ferocity. Therefore, most reluctantly, he began engaging Cresselia in mortal combat whenever they clashed.
However, it seemed that Cresselia’s hatred was simply not enough. Though it was much slower in coming for the others than for the Lunar Swan, eventually the other Great Ones found themselves unwilling to tolerate Darkrai’s existence any more than she was. It seemed than none of them either knew or cared about the necessity of Darkrai’s role as the enemy. They simply viewed him as a scourge to be wiped out.
The change was very gradual, almost unnoticeable until it was far too late. It started with a slightly hard tone here, an unkind word there. Soon the cold shoulder was a popular approach to Darkrai’s presence, and then the verbal hostility surfaced. He was beginning to find it harder to be involved with the other Great Ones when they were about a general task, and the Hall of Origins was rapidly becoming an unfriendly place for him. The anger and resentment slowly continued to grow and fester, and finally it erupted into pointless violence. Soon the gods were as likely as the humans to lash out at Darkrai on sight.
Arceus chastised them for their behavior, but they refused to obey her and continued their torment of Darkrai. Eventually rejecting Darkrai was not enough for them, just as it failed to satisfy the humans. They began hunting him mercilessly, even when he was clearly not plotting anything at the time. It was very fortunate for Darkrai that most of them did not know that they had brethren of 34 other members. If they had managed to create an organized hunt of him with all their combined efforts, they might have succeeded in killing him. As it was, Darkrai found himself fending for his life almost constantly, and it was only due to his remarkably keen intellect that he was able to stay alive.
Cresselia was the worst of them all, seeking him relentlessly and attacking him without restraint. Her hatred towards him outweighed that of every other Great One combined. It was all too evident that every assault she made upon him was a thorough and absolute attempt to end his life. It was only by matching her ferocity that Darkrai escaped with his life every time, though to this day he still cringes at the memory of how badly he was forced to injure her sometimes.
Eventually there was no safe place left for Darkrai on earth save his home of Newmoon Island, which Arceus had mercifully made into a sanctuary for him. He stayed there for centuries, cut off from the world except when performing his duties, with nothing except his pain and his loneliness for company. The humans hated him. The Pokémon hated him. The gods hated him. His own counterpart hated him.
As the centuries passed, Darkrai’s pain eventually sparked a small flame of anger. How dare the others try to kill him? Admittedly, some of them did not know the necessity of his role, but he had never done harm upon them to warrant being hunted like an animal. And the ones that did know of his purpose sought to kill him regardless. How could they so dare? For centuries his anger festered in silence, growing more all-consuming with every passing day. His heart hardened, his conscience slowly died, and his soul grew black with fury. Finally, Darkrai could stand it no longer, and the floodgates of his hatred broke forth in a storm of seething rage that would taint his very soul for millennia to come.
The wrath that consumed Darkrai was indescribable. He hated the gods, hated the humans, and hated everyone. He even despised Arceus herself despite the fact that she had never done him wrong. He blamed her for his lot in life, for giving him the task that had turned the world against him. No one had any love in their hearts for him, and so he would show no mercy to them. His duty to act as the evil one has once been his job. Now it was to become his life.
Darkrai began rabid, furious, and psychopathic, and his schemes took a far darker turn almost immediately. They had always been fairly bad, or else they would defeat the purpose of his even performing them. Still, nothing he had ever attempted before was on the scale of what he was doing now. He was tampering with the very laws of nature, and the effects were catastrophic beyond description. Humans started to die in ever growing numbers. Great Ones suddenly found themselves targets of assassination attempts. In particular he utterly loathed Cresselia, for she represented everything that everyone else loved and everything he was not. No longer did he show mercy to her. Now, whenever Darkrai met Cresselia in battle he fought to kill. Friend would be turned against friend as Darkrai’s lies and illusions preyed upon his former colleagues until no one felt safe unless they were alone. And no matter how hard the Great Ones fought, someone always got very badly hurt. His fury and thirst for revenge were insatiable. It didn’t matter how much pain he caused, how much discord he left in his wake; he always had to do worse.
The war of the gods raged for centuries, with each side performing terrible grievances towards each other. The fighting was rapidly becoming so terrible that Arceus actually began to wonder if it might not be better just to destroy Darkrai and start all over again. If he had ever succeeded in killing a Great One, she most certainly would have. Unfortunately, killing another god seemed to be something that Darkrai was determined to do. The others could not turn their back without fearing an assassination attempt, and with each effort Darkrai only came closer to his mark. His final murder plot, the Assault of the Lake Trio, might well have succeeded and thus been his damnation. It was, instead, his eventual salvation.
Darkrai was determined to finally succeed in his attempts to kill the gods, and so he put forth every conceivable effort to ensure that his snare for the Lake Trio would not fail. Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf were entrapped and laid utterly helpless before Darkrai’s rage before they even had time to know that they’d been tricked. The massacre that followed very nearly resulted in the deaths of the Spiritual Beings, and most definitely would have had Cresselia and a small group of other Great Ones come and finally restrained Darkrai.
While the others prepared to take advantage of finally capturing Darkrai by performing an impromptu execution, Cresselia scouted among the wounded. As to be expected, all threw were within an inch of their lives, but something particularly terrible had happened to Mesprit. She was huddled on the ground, weeping bitter tears and moaning with an agony that was beyond her physical wounds. One’s first assumption would be that Darkrai had trapped her in a nightmare, but this was not the case. In an effort to save herself and her friends, Mesprit had forcibly imbibed Darkrai’s emotions, hoping to steal his anger and halt his attacks. She failed to do this because Darkrai still possessed his drive to kill them, and had only succeeded in taking away the reason behind that drive. Instead she found herself trapped in the very heart of Darkrai’s emotional turmoil.
It too the efforts of Cresselia and a few of the other Psychic Great Ones to finally remove Darkrai’s emotions from Mesprit, since she was unable to do it herself. It was decide that they should be returned to Darkrai before his death, and so they were returned to him. Immediately his rage returned, and he escaped their clutches before they could kill him. He returned to his former existence, unaware that the chance for salvation had finally come to him.
It was weeks upon weeks before Mesprit had recovered sufficiently from the trauma of Darkrai’s torment to do much anything beyond weep bitterly and whimper. When at last she had recovered her senses, she immediately fled their company to try and reconcile the pain that she and the others had caused him. She threw herself at his mercy and begged his forgiveness for the crimes she had committed against him. At first, Darkrai only responded to this with further attempts to kill her, but she persisted in her reconciliation, returning time and again to him and pledge her absolute penitence.
At the same time, another individual was undergoing a similar process, though the change in her was far less obvious to Darkrai or anyone else at first. Cresselia, in removing Darkrai’s emotions from Mesprit, had seen a glimpse of the torment herself. It was only a brief flash, but it was enough to plant the seeds of doubt in her mind. Suddenly, she seemed to occasionally hesitate in their battles. Darkrai took full advantage of these openings to inflict horribly grievous wounds upon her, not realizing what was going on. Eventually she simply refused to battle him at all, fleeing from his whenever conflict seemed imminent. Darkrai could not understand the sudden end of her hostility. For years he suspected a ploy, but when none arose he became more confused still. Didn’t she still hate him?
At first, Darkrai did not even notice the change that was happening within himself. It began so minutely it may not even have happened at all. However, very slowly Darkrai began to wonder if killing the others would really make him happy. Would their deaths really give him the satisfaction he craved? Would it really ease his pain? Although Darkrai would not realize it for some time, Mesprit’s endless repentance and Cresselia’s lack of animosity were slowly beginning to have an effect upon his heart. Their direct and not-so-direct kindness was very slowly healing the wounds that had been carved so deeply into his being.
Eventually, Darkrai’s softening became evident to the other Great Ones. His change was utterly shocking to them. Darkrai’s wrath was a fact of life. His insatiable bloodlust and drive to inflict pain were unchangeable rules that had defined the world for millennia. How could he then show anything other that hatred for another living thing?
Mesprit, seeing the opportunity for healing, began traveling amongst the other Great Ones, explaining the necessity of Darkrai’s existence, the cause of his pain, and begging them to make their peace with him. Some of them, upon realizing their culpability, immediately went to him and made their peace. Others, specifically the prideful ones, took much longer in accepting the wrongs they had done. Eventually, however, they were forced to accept their sins and grudgingly offer Darkrai an apology.
Darkrai did not take quickly to the apologies of the Great Ones. It was not that he enjoyed the conflicts between them, but he had suffered very greatly at their hands, and was unwilling to simply forgive them at first. Eventually, however, he found it more and more difficult to remain angry. His rage began to slowly abate over the years until it died away completely.
Unfortunately, Darkrai would never fully heal from his ordeal. Deep scars of pain and bitterness had been carved into his heart, and they weren’t likely ever to go away. Although Darkrai was no longer the violent demon he had once been, he would never again bear the mild, almost agreeable personality he was born with. He retreated behind a shell of frigid apathy, and it took many more years of reconciliation before he and the other Great Ones would develop the mildly cordial relationship they now enjoy. He is also still awaiting an apology from Cresselia, and is wondering why she has not yet offered one to him.
Characters Pokemon:
Name: Darkrai
Gender: Male
Species: Darkrai
Age: 4.5 billion years
Level: 90
Personality:
See the above.
Attacks:
In addition to putting people to sleep, Darkrai can use the Dark Void for another purpose. Since the Dark Void absorbs energy, this means it is able to absorb energy-based attacks such as Hyper Beam and Energy Ball. Therefore, if Darkrai holds a Dark Void in the path of these attacks, they will be absorbed by the Dark Void. As the Dark Void absorbs energy it will grow, and as it grows it will expand to encompass first Darkrai himself and then, if he is lucky, his opponents. Once the Dark Void runs out of energy with which to fuel its growth the energy inside the void will undergo a drastic reaction that will result in a critically powerful explosion. That explosion will be contained by the walls of the void, but will hit and severely damage everything inside. This is a very powerful technique, but Darkrai is not wont to use it because it is also very dangerous to him. Since he is forced to actually hold the Dark Void in order to use it this way, this means that he will always be at the very heart of the explosion whenever it goes off. Therefore, Darkrai will generally only use this technique as a final trump card when he has no other method of defeating an enemy he is determined to destroy.
Nightmare: One of the more insidious Pokémon techniques, Nightmare is an ability that can only affect a sleeping Pokémon, which makes it perfect for Darkrai. Darkrai reaches into the mind of his sleeping victim and bombards its dreams with ghastly energy until they are so foully corrupted that the victim begins to suffer actual physical damage. The effects cease the moment the victim reawakens, but the damage and, often, the trauma are not lost so easily.
Dark Pulse: Whenever Darkrai needs to wield sheer explosive force in combat, this technique is where he gets it from. By focusing the dark energy of his mind, Darkrai is able to summon a compact sphere of dark power, which can be fired at his opponent in one of two ways. The first method is to simply release the energy, allowing it to bloom outward in a shockwave and striking all opponents within the vicinity. The second style is to direct the dark energy, firing it as a condensed beam of pure destructive power. This technique in Darkrai’s hands is so formidable that the former style will severely cripple all opponents in the vicinity, and the latter style will kill any weaker individuals on contact.
Shadow Claws: When the situation calls for hand-to-some sort of appendage combat, Darkrai is almost guaranteed to use this technique. By focusing spectral energy into his claws, he is able to mold a set of wicked sharp and deadly lethal blades that can cut through even some of the most toughened materials and hides on the planet with fair ease. Despite not receiving the Same Type Attack Bonus from this ability, Darkrai is able to wield it with such proficiency that the loss is minimal at worst. Any opponent facing this ability is liable to be cut to ribbons in a matter of seconds.
Shadow Ball (Technical Machine): Darkrai generally employs this technique when he needs to quickly dispatch weaker enemies either at close or long range, or when a swift barrage of assaults is warranted. Darkrai gathers a glob of spectral energy, which he throws at his opponent. The spectral energy explodes on contact with most anything, so it acts like a small grenade. The time required to mold a Shadow Ball is extremely short, which means that Darkrai can unleash a veritable barrage of them in the space of a few seconds. However, the technique itself is fairly weak, and even more so because he does not receive the Same Type Attack Bonus from it This is an example of a technique that sacrifices power for speed and quantity.
Double Team: One of Darkrai’s most basic techniques, and one that he is almost guaranteed to use liberally in nearly every conflict. In using Double Team, Darkrai creates a collection of illusionary doubles numbering from one extra to a small army. These clones are completely and utterly indistinguishable from Darkrai in all ways, but they are only as substantial as the air about them. They cannot touch anything or affect, and whatever touches them simply passes through. This technique only allows Darkrai to hide in plain sight, but it is invaluable to him nonetheless.
Nasty Plot: Darkrai has always possessed a keen mind, and this technique puts that sharp intellect to good use in combat. By thinking dark thoughts, Darkrai is able to channel the dark energy permeating his mind and use it to explosively increase his Special Attack. His non-physical attacks can become utterly lethal with just one use of this technique.
Dream Eater This technique is also one that only affects a sleeping individual, and so it fits perfectly with Darkrai’s battle style. When Darkrai uses Dream Eater, he thrusts his influence into the mind of his victim, tears their dreams from their mind, and literally consumes them. This process has such a catastrophic effect on the mind that it causes catastrophic physical damage to the victim.
Dream Eater is a technique that requires Darkrai to place special focus on his victim, so when he is preparing to kill an opponent who has earned his respect in battle he is likely to use this technique as a form of special execution.
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Other Noteworthy Abilities
Bad Dreams: Darkrai’s aura of nightmares is so powerful that his very presence is enough to inspire terrible dreams in the minds of sleeping opponents. While he is unable to prevent the bad dreams from occurring, he is able to control their intensity. The dreams can range from mildly unpleasant to so unbearably horrible that the victim suffers actual physical damage, losing their health at a steady rate. The victim is released from the effects of the Bad Dreams upon awakening, but the health lost will not be regained, and should they return to sleep it will only happen all over again. This ability is dangerous in and of itself, and when combined with Darkrai’s Nightmare attack, the damage can easily be boosted to almost critical levels.
Dark Illusions: Darkrai’s greatest asset is his ability to sow confusion and fear in those who oppose him, and this skill is the pure embodiment of that power. Darkrai is able to put his victims into a semi-conscious state at will without the use of any sleep-inducing technique. To detect the transition from full awareness to this vague dream state is nearly impossible, although those with very very keen senses may detect something. The victims of this ability are still able to move about and function as normal. However, that is not the point of this ability. While his opponents are in this semi-conscious state, Darkrai is able to manipulate their minds at will, altering their sensory perceptions. He is able to easily and acutely command what they believe they are hearing, seeing, smelling, and even feeling. In short, he is able to manipulate them with whatever illusions he desires, frightening and confusing them until they can no longer separate fact from fiction.
However, there are limitations to this ability. Darkrai is forced to manipulate all of the senses at once in order to maintain the illusions, and although this ultimately takes only a small amount of his concentration, it is very likely that he will make a mistake in some way or another, or that he will cause something to happen that, while physically possible is something that will never rationally happen. Someone with sharp senses and a keen eye is likely to notice these little hiccups, and anyone who knows the legends of Darkrai should then be able to figure out that they are trapped in an illusion. Furthermore, there is a way to escape this prison of the mind. Darkrai’s constant, though admittedly minor, concentration is vital to maintaining this semi-dream state. If one were to jar him significantly (say, by ramming straight into him) his concentration would break and the dream state would cease.
In addition to this, Darkrai's illusions only affect those who have minds. Machines and other inanimate objects are completely unaffected by his power and will show him for what he really is at all times. He is unable to even simulate a shadow on the ground, so his illusions have no shadow at all.
Shadow Haven: Darkrai has the unique ability to enter the plane of shadows at will, becoming a shadow himself in the process. This technique can be implemented on any surface that can house a shadow, even living creatures, and he can even use this ability to pass through solid objects. While in this state, Darkrai’s already obscure presence becomes nigh undetectable. He can move soundlessly in this state, leaves no sort of odor trail, cannot be felt, and is completely invisible to all forms of progging (the sensing of a presence using the mind). Admittedly, he is still visible to the naked eye, but only as an almost invisible shadowy blob. It should be noted that, although he is far more elusive in this form, Darkrai is still perfectly susceptible to damage and can even be killed in this shadow state.
Lightning: Despite not being an Electric Type, and although he cannot naturally learn any sort of Electric attacks, Darkrai has the natural ability to summon blasts of lightning from his palms at will. Since these blasts are not as refined as a true Electric attack they are less potent, so much so that even a Thundershock from Raiku is more powerful. However, they are still very powerful and very deadly.
Telepathy: Despite not being a Psychic Type, Darkrai possesses a rudimentary ability to focus his thoughts beyond what normal people can ever hope to achieve. However, the only practical upshot of this is that Darkrai is able to communicate using his mind. Language is not a barrier for him, because he uses his thoughts and emotions to transmit his messages and relies on the brain’s ability to translate what he is saying. He is even capable of communicating with humans because of this ability.
On a slightly interesting side note, since Darkrai does not convey a specific message in the form of words, his messages can be interpreted differently depending on who is listening. Therefore, although the gist and tone of his conversations translates perfectly regardless, those who compare will notice that each individual listening hears a slightly different phrasing.
Psychic Immunity: Darkrai, being a Dark Type, is naturally immune to all forms of Psychic manipulation. Any psychic energy that attempts to touch his body will melt away with no more effect than a sensation of water running across his skin. He cannot be grabbed by psychic bonds or blasted by psychic energy, and attempting to read his mind is an exercise in futility. He is even nearly impossible to prog even when outside Shadow Haven, though it is still possible if one is clever enough to use the roundabout and very imprecise approach of finding the hole in the air where he is.
It is important to note here that, since Cresselia is Darkrai’s counterpart and therefore must be his foil, Arceus made a special exception to the rule of Dark Type immunities in their case. Cresselia’s psychic energy is the only kind on the planet that can affect Darkrai, though she is still unable to read or affect his mind in any way.
Speed: Although a fairly minor aspect when compared to his other abilities, Darkrai’s speed is still very much worth mentioning. He is capable of moving so fast that he can temporarily leave the visible spectrum, and can tear victims apart in seconds by barraging them from all angles before they can muster any sort of defense.
Role Playing
Sample:
“There he is! He went that way! Head him off!”
The human gestured wildly in a general leftward direction, and a group of other human followed his direction, shouting instruction to one another and threats at a second party. The humans were all carrying torches to help them see in the darkness of the night, and most of them held a weapon of some sort. Pistols and shotguns ran alongside axes and pitchforks as the group continued to give chase down the alleyway they had entered.
To an onlooker just arriving, the angry mob would seem to be chasing absolutely nothing through the empty streets and alleys of the town. They seemed to have an evident purpose and a quarry to catch, but the quarry didn’t seem to exist. There was no furtive figure running for his life, only dancing shadows that seemed to flee before the townspeople.
A few men in the groups reached to their belts or their pockets and pulled out small red-and-white spheres. They pressed a small circular button, and the spheres expanded in their hands until they had grown to the size of softballs. They hurled their Pokéballs at the ground, and as each one hit earth it split horizontally and released a volume of white energy. The individual flashes of light swirled and writhed for a moment in the air before resolving into definite shapes.
Each creature that appeared was unique. From one Pokéball came a mid-sized fox-like creature with bright yellow fur that stuck out like the quills of a porcupine, large black eyes, and a mouth full of needle-point teeth that were bared in a snarl. From another ball came a humanoid creature with large masses of callous flesh around its hands that looked almost like boxing gloves. Still another ball set free a large, beautiful butterfly with a grey body and wings filled with beautiful hues of red, yellow, and blue.
The mob and the Pokémon continued to give chase to seemingly nothing. The Pokémon with ranged abilities began firing blasts at the ground and the walls, but there seemed to be no target to hit. Had the village gone mad?
“Split up!” someone in the mob suddenly shouted. “Head around! Cut him off!” The mob divided to follow this advice, splitting into two smaller groups that each went in a separate direction.
One of the groups consisted of four men, a Jolteon, a Larion, and a Machoke. It seemed as though the group had lost their imaginary quarry, for they were walking slowly, looking around furtively. Every small sound made them jump and turn towards the source, and the two men with pistols aimed them at anything that moved.
“I don’t like this,” one of them said nervously to the group as his Jolteon whipped around at a sudden rustling behind them. “I think we’re just making him mad.”
“Do you want him tormenting us forever?” another one replied. “We’ve got to show him that he’s not wanted here. We have to kill him by whatever means necessary.”
Suddenly the Jolteon pointed at a wall about twenty feet ahead and began barking in a high pitched tone. The humans and Pokémon turned swiftly toward the wall in time to see a shadow with no source at all suddenly dart to the left of its own volition and vanish around a corner. With loud cries the group hurried after the mysterious shadow, calling for the other group to cut it off from another angle.
The Jolteon was the first to round the bend. With a snarl lightning suddenly erupted all across its body, and a charged beam of pure electricity lanced from its body toward the shadow. The black patch swerved around the blast at the last second and continued to flee. The two men with pistols began firing wildly at the shadow, which swerved and looped around every bullet with incredibly speed. The shadow sped up a wall in order to better turn a corner and the Larion plowed straight into the stone surface, blasting clean through but again missing the mysterious shadow.
Finally, after a short chase the group had finally managed to corner the shadow on the wall of a dead-end alleyway. As the gunmen reloaded their weapons the Machoke charged ahead and proceeded to punch the wall as hard and as fast as it could. It punched hole after gaping hole in the surface, but could not seemed to hit its target. Suddenly, there was a black flash, and the Machoke went sailing backward, howling with shock and pain as it backward, scattering the group on the way. Its aerial progress ended only when it collided with a wall, blasting straight through and landing in a heap on the floor inside.
With evident trepidation now, the humans and Pokémon turned back to face the wall. The men pointed shaking guns towards the alley’s end while the Pokémon crouched in a defensive position, growling nervously. For a moment, nothing happened. Cautiously the group pressed closer, their eyes riveted on the wall, trying to discern their quarry from the natural shadows.
Suddenly, the shadow bulged outward, leaping off the wall. A single black arm emerged swiftly from the stone surface, pointing at the group. Before any of them had a chance to even cry out, a sphere of black energy appeared in the three-fingered palm, and a laser of pure dark power exploded outward, killing two of the men instantly, seriously wounding the Jolteon and blasting the remaining members of the group off their feet.
The arm retreated back into the wall, and a moment later something large and black erupted outward and sped past what remained of its attackers. It swerved down a path at random, moving at speeds so great it was nearly impossible to follow it with the naked eye. After swooping through the back alleys for a short time the black wraith emerged into the main village square and halted.
An entire legion of villagers was lining the outside of the square, each holding a weapon of some sort. It was a trap. A group of villagers moved to cover the exit where the wraith had come from, sealing him in.
Now that the specter had stopped moving, his form was vaguely more distinguishable, but only slightly. His ebony black skin melted into the surrounding darkness so well that he was practically invisible in plain sight. His stark white hair somehow did not cause him to stand out, but managed to melt into the darkness. The same held true for the collar of blood red spines that encircled his neck. One visible ice blue eye gleamed calmly in the torchlight, regarding the attackers on all sides of him.
“We’ve had enough of you!” one of the men shouted. The manner in which he carried himself suggested him to be the village leader. By his side stood a powerful-looking Hitmonchan that was bouncing lightly on the balls of its feet, hefting its powerful fists. “You’ve been haunting us for years, and we’re tired of it! Leave now or we will kill you! We don’t want you here, Darkrai!” The other villagers shouted their agreement, hefting their pitchforks and their guns as their Pokémon snarled and leered.
The phantom did not seem at all concerned with the mess he was in. He seemed utterly at ease with the situation, albeit perhaps a little annoyed. Patiently he waited for the villagers to become a bit less rowdy. When it seemed that they had quieted enough to listen, he addressed them.
“Go away,” Darkrai said in a voice as frigid and unforgiving as the Arctic. “Leave me be.”
Suddenly, Darkrai found the nozzles of at least two dozen weapons leveled at him. Before he could react, innumerable pistol rounds and shotgun shells were fired directly at him. The sheer amount of artillery flying through the air completely precluded the possibility of missing. Each and every weapon was completely emptied before anyone bothered to check that Darkrai was dead.
Only…he wasn’t dead. In fact, he wasn’t even there anymore. There was no dead body lying on the ground, no wounded Darkrai gasping in pain. There wasn’t even a shadow hiding furtively on the ground. It was as though he simply had never been there.
The villagers looked around in confusion, trying to fathom what had happened. Sudden, there was a blur of movement that quickly circled the entire ring of villages. Each and every hand that had clutched a gun was suddenly separated from its owner and well to the ground with a thud. There was a pause of about three seconds as the villagers realized what had happened, and then the ones who had lost hands began to scream in pain as they clutched at their bleeding stumps.
Darkrai suddenly became visible a moment later in the center of the square and was immediately set upon by the village’s Pokemon. A Beautifly swooped in to deliver a Silver Wind and was immediately blasted out of the air by a burst of lightning from Darkrai’s palm. The poor creature fell to earth smoking, dead before it hit the ground. A Marowak dashed forward and hurled its bone at Darkrai, who caught and hurled it back at its owner so hard that it shattered the creature’s skull helmet and impaled it through the head.
A Mareep leapt at Darkrai with its fur sparking, but before it could do anything Darkrai had grabbed its skull in his palm. He strained for a moment until the creature’s skull shattered in his grip, and threw its lifeless body at a charging Shiftry. As the Shiftry recoiled from the assault, Darkrai lunged forward and impaled the Pokémon’s chest with his claw. He twisted his bladed fingers sharply, and then withdrew his hand and allowed the creature to fall to the ground.
The last Pokémon left standing by this point was the village leader’s Hitmonchan. The boxing Pokémon charged forward, seemingly heedless of how easily its comrades had been dispatched. It swung its fists again and again at Darkrai, but not one of the blows seemed to connect. Suddenly, Darkrai grabbed the Pokémon by the throat and hurled it ten feet in the air. With infinite calm and laser sharp focus he watched the creature rise and then fall through the air. When the timing was just right, Darkrai clenched his fist and hurled it straight upward into the air just as the Hitmonchan was about to land on top of him. The speed of its fall combined with the force of Darkrai’s punch was enough to snap its spine cleanly in half, and it fell to the ground as limply as a rag doll.
There was absolute silence in the village square. No one said a word as Darkrai calmly leaned down and wiped the gore from his claws on the ground. Even the ones who had lost hands were no longer whimpering in pain. A few of the villagers began shuffling backward very slowly, suddenly not so keen on the idea of engaging Darkrai.
A man suddenly fell to the ground, his throat slit and blood gushing from the wound like a small fountain. The villagers stared in dumbfounded shock at the sight, and suddenly another was blown backward by a small black explosion. He hit the wall behind him with a loud thud and a sickening crunch and slid slowly to the ground, his face and chest badly burned.
The villagers scattered. Men shoved other men out of their way as the scrambled away in sheer terror. They threw barrels and other obstructions behind them as they fled. They rounded corners at random, getting even themselves lost as they ran for their lives.
It didn’t matter what they did. Slowly, each and every member of the mob was cut down or blasted apart, and sometimes both. One person who tripped found himself hoisted by the leg. He was then used as a cudgel to crush another unfortunate villager, killing both. Another villager had his back split open by a deep vertical slice, and he fell to the ground where he would proceed to bleed to death. A person who hurled a throwing knife at Darkrai in desperation had the same knife returned to him squarely between the eyes. Another man had his neck rotated so hard his neck shattered.
Finally, the only person from the mob who was still alive was the village leader. He tripped down an alleyway and cowered in a corner, listening to the haunting sound of Darkrai bolting past. He sat sniveling pathetically, praying to Arceus and waiting to die. For twenty minutes he cowered, every moment expecting to see that terrible wraith approaching him. However, eventually he noticed that the streets had gone silent. Cautiously, he stood back up and sneaked over to the entrance of the alley. Shuddering with terror, he quickly looked left, and saw nothing. He immediately whipped his head to the right, and when he saw nothing, he almost fainted with relief. It was over. He was alive.
Weeping with relief, the leader walked over to the wall opposite his alley and sat down, weeping with relief. For a long time he just sat there with his eyes closed, thanking Arceus for her mercy and savoring the feeling of being alive. Finally, he opened his eyes, and his blood turned to ice.
A black wraith was hovering just inside the mouth of the alley, leering coldly at the man with one ice blue eye. Silently, Darkrai began to move forward, his terrible purpose all too clear. The man scrambled helplessly backward, but the solid stone behind him refused the yield. He gibbered with mindless terror as the terrible phantom slowly drew ever nearer, his gaze as devoid of pity as a skeleton’s. Finally, Darkrai stopped just before the man, staring down at him with all the authority and terror of death itself.
Darkrai’s hand whipped forward too fast to follow, and suddenly the man found himself suspended by his own throat a foot off the ground. The grip around his throat choked the air from his lungs, and he spluttered helplessly as he clawed at the hand that was slowly tightening its grip around his neck. His face slowly began to turn blue and eventually he breathing ceased altogether. He could only gag pathetically with his eyes bulging, but Darkrai continued to tighten his grip. Finally, with an earsplitting crack the man’s neck shattered, and he went limp in Darkrai’s hand. The Lord of Nightmares stared for a moment at the corpse in his grip, and then hurled it aside like a piece of trash and flew off into the night.
[/blockquote][/sub]
Age: 17
Activity Level: pretty frequent
Other Characters: None
Basic Character Information:
Name: Darkrai
Alias: The Lord of Nightmares / the Master of Fear / the Prince of Darkness / the Pitch-Black Pokemon
Gender: Male
Age: 4.5 billion years
Alleigance: Arceus
Position: N/A
Species: Darkrai
Sexuality: Straight
Hobbies:
- Watching the nightmares he causes in people in order to see what it is that they fear most
- Silently meditating in the solitude of someplace quiet
- Exploring whenever he has time to himself
- Learning what he can about his own nature, the benefits and constraints of being a Great One, and the worlds and its mysteries
Likes:
- Cresselia
- Terror
- A quiet moment of peace observing nature’s beauty
- Making a new discovery
- Custap berries
Dislikes ( WEAKNESSES):
- Fighting and Bug Type Pokemon
- Teams, such as Team Rocket, Team Galactic, Team Pravus etc.
- being the most hated thing alive or dead
- fools or those who don’t think before they act
Physical Appearance
Information:
Hair Color: His hair is pure bleached white and takes the appearance of a large, single mass that billows behind him in a long ponytail
Eye Color: The entirety of his eyes are a sharp ice blue broken only by a single white dot that serves as his pupil
Height: 4'11"
Build: Darkrai’s body has a generally thin looking build to it, and his form seems almost wispy. This appearance belies great physical strength, enough to split stone given enough heffort
Other Appearance Information:
Every aspect of Darkrai was carefully molded to inspire sheer terror in all those around him, and his appearance in no way falls short of this demand. Like the most terrifying monster from your deepest nightmares, the very sight of Darkrai has driven people to terror. A sable demon of ebony black skin, Darkrai’s general shape is that of a human male’s torso. From head to waist his shape is humanoid, with a slightly conical chest region. His arms are thin and wispy, with three organic spines jutting from the backs of his upper arms and hands that possesses three fingers. His shoulders are slightly round, and from each extends a trail of some organic material that billows and flutters ominously even in the complete absence of any wind.
His neck is surrounded by a collar of blood red cartilaginous spines that jut upward like the open maw of some demonic beast. The head sitting atop that neck is vaguely wedge shaped, and his face is nearly featureless. The only features visible on his face are a pair of ice blue eyes, both as deep as the most bottomless well and as harsh and cold as an arctic wasteland. The sea of empty blue is broken only by a single white dot that serves as his pupil. When Darkrai is angered or just attempting to look even scarier, the white elongates into a draconic slit.
Atop Darkrai’s head is a mane of bleached white hair so densely woven together it appears to be a single mass. Part of his hair overlaps onto the right side of his face, completely obscuring it behind a curtain of white. The rest of his hair extends behind him in a long ponytail that, like his shoulder trails, billows like smoke despite any lack of wind.
At Darkrai’s waist, his body terminates in what appears to be the tattered and torn bottom of a cloak, part of which elongates behind him in a manner similar to a tail. Although Darkrai is generally seen hovering unsupported, he is capable of extending a pair of thin black spindles from the interior of his body to balance on. These spindles are quite weak, only capable of delicately balancing him in place. They are able to extend to rather impressive lengths, and it is unknown currently if there is a limit to how far they might go.
Personal Related
Information:
Personality:
Darkrai was born of shadows, and nearly every aspect of his personality is as dark, cold, and deceptive as the darkness from which he was molded. He exists in a state of pure seclusion at almost all times, avoiding the company of almost any other in favor of solitude. His very presence radiates a chilling aura of terror, so much so that most every living creature flees before the very sight of him, which is exactly the way he wants it. With but a glance of his eye Darkrai can chill the blood of even the wildest Salamence, and his anger is so terrible to behold that those with weak cardiac muscles have been known to die of heart failure. He is, put simply, terror incarnate.
For those who somehow perform the monumental feat of overcoming Darkrai’s atmosphere of fear enough to approach and engage him, they will almost always meet with an individual secluded behind a wall of frigid apathy so cold it would make ice seem downright warm. To get Darkrai to acknowledge that you even exist is a triumph. To get him to say so much as a sentence to you is a feat of amazing merit. To get his to respect you is nothing short of miraculous. To get him to trust you is almost downright impossible.
However, it is very remotely possible that, with very careful diplomacy and enough patience, you just might succeed in breaking through the barrier of Darkrai’s stone heart one little chip at a time. There are a very few fortunate souls who have managed to see Darkrai for what he really is, although their efforts were nothing short of inhuman.
Truth be told, Darkrai’s frozen shell is a barrier he erected around his heart many hundreds of years ago to protect himself from his own existence. Having possibly the most despised role in all of existence, to spread fear about the world and to oppose the other Great Ones, Darkrai has himself been hated for as long as anyone can remember. There was even a time that his fellow Great Ones spurned him, despite the fact that they knew very well of his role to be their ‘enemy’. For this reason Darkrai was cut off from the world, divided from a society that refused to accept the necessity of his purpose. At one point he hated them all too, but now he has learned to shield his bitterness, secluding it away where he does not have to acknowledge it. He knows that if he should ever drop his guard and come to terms with the unending hatred of the world and his own pain and suffering at his torment, he could very well either go insane or wipe them all off the face of the earth.
Those who somehow manage to succeed in earning Darkrai’s trust may not even know what they have achieved at first. The change in his manner towards those people is so minute that, to an outsider, it may not even seem to exist at all. However, eventually that person will notice that perhaps Darkrai doesn’t seem quite as cold towards them anymore. He will be slightly more willing to engage them in brief dialogue, and eventually they may just get the occasional glimpse into his real feelings and thoughts. Eventually, for those who persist in their kindness, they will no longer see Darkrai as a frigid soul to be feared, but as the tortured, pained creature he really is.
Anyone who succeeds this far will gain a silent guardian that they may not even recognize until he intervenes for their sake. Although it is his role to be the enemy, that does not mean it is his nature. To show kindness to Darkrai is to do something that 999,999,999 people out of 1,000,000,000 will never even conceive of doing, and the kindness of those very few is something that he relishes more than he will ever admit, for it helps to ease some of the pain that he has known all his life. Though his loyalty will not be apparent until it actually comes into play, it is absolute to the point that he will give his life to protect that person, as he did to save Alamos Town for the sake of Alicia’s kindness. This facet of his personality may seem contradictory to his role, but Darkrai himself is a creature of paradoxes and vagueness. Nothing about him is truly certain.
Darkrai’s relationship with his fellow Great Ones is also something of a paradox. Although it is his task to be their enemy, and although he does his best to cause them trouble, they no longer view him with the animosity they once did. They have now accepted his role as a necessity, and when they are not combating his schemes they regard him with a certain cordiality, which he returns.
Towards Cresselia, Darkrai’s counterpart and opposite, his intents and thoughts remain a vague mystery to everyone, including her. Although he opposes her as fiercely as he can when they perform their ritual battles for dominion of the moon and the maintaining of order in the world, when they are not opposing each other he is shown to regard her as a playmate in some sort of game, treating her as an equal and showing a surprising amount of respect for her. In all honesty, Darkrai became smitten with her some time after they stopped hating each other, and now treats their games of cat and mouse as a courting ritual as well as a matter of universal stability. He sometimes drops vague hints of his true feelings for her, but whether or not she has determined what they mean and whether or not she reciprocates or even acknowledges his attentions is something he does not know. Whether or not he has a chance to gain her affections, he is not sure, and is prepared to accept the possibility of failure should it happen.
As previously stated, Darkrai’s role is to be the enemy of the world, at least in name, and there could not be anyone better suited to the task. Although Darkrai possesses great power, his greatest asset, and the one he is most proud of, is his intellect. His are the schemes to put even the titan Kronos to shame, so much so that he might be the one of the pair more deserving of the title Crooked One. He has plans within plans, and his plots are so elaborate and insidious that they often lead the victim into bringing them to fruition even as they believe they are defeating him. Even when it seems that his plot is undone, often times that victory will be turned to his advantage before anyone realizes that they have been duped.
Darkrai is also very knowledgable about the world, at least in how it works. He has spent an inordinant amount of time researching natural laws, ancient secrets and forgotten powers. He believes that in order to continue crafting new and wily schemes, he must know as much as he possibly can about what he has to work with. However, he will be the first to admit that he does not know everything. Although he may know a few tidbits that others might not, the only things that he understands perfectly are his elements of shadow and fear. He is also utterly and completely oblivious about what is actually happening in the world around him. This puts him at a serious disadvantage when engaging in dealings with humans, because quite often he has no way of knowing what the reprecussions of his actions will be, and has actually driven more than one civilization to ruin when he thought he was doing them a service..
In battle, Darkrai is nothing short of devastating. His keen intellect allows him to analyze his opponent in a matter of seconds and see exactly how to tear him apart. He makes full use of his illusionary powers to confuse and terrify his enemies until they are left helpless, and his speed allows him to reduce them to a bloody corpse almost instantly. Darkrai has no remorse, pity, or mercy in anything. Unless it is very clear that he cannot kill his opponent, that opponent will die without fail. The way Darkrai sees it; a threat left alive is a threat with the chance to grow stronger and a grudge to settle. A threat dead is a threat no more.
History:
In the beginning, Arceus was born. She came to be in a universe of chaos and disorder, lacking any form of sense or law. Her fragile egg might have at any moment been smote by the monstrous womb of which she found herself prisoner, and her fleeting existence would have been for naught. But instead she was nurtured and energized, drawing incalculable amounts of energy and life force from the chaos all about. Finally, she was born, a great deity of indescribable power and majesty, a sacred queen of light and reason in a world of chaos and confusion. She saw the world about her, formless and disordered, and found it repugnant. So she molded it anew.
Under Arceus’ careful direction and manipulation the universe was brought to order, and as a new facet of existence was crafted she brought forth a master to stand at its head and direct it. For the graceful flowing of time she summoned the temporal queen, Dialga. To stand as sovereign ruler of the infinite space she conjured the spatial master, Palkia. For each and every aspect of the world that she crafted, a master was called forth to oversee it and keep it in the manner she had envisioned. Her work was beautiful and good, and it is because of her that the world exists as it does.
But everything in life is composed of two halves, one good and one evil. Arceus knew it must be so. For all that her world was beautiful and good, it needed something dark and dangerous to maintain the balance. Order without chaos cannot exist, and so Arceus was forced to create a being of discord to counteract the good and to define it. And so Darkrai was born.
Arceus chose the element of shadow as the base material for her god of dissonance, and like a demon from the deepest, blackest darkness Darkrai stepped from the womb of shadows. Molded by Arceus into the very image of terror, and given the tools to match, she tasked him with the duty of spreading fear and uncertainty. He was to be the world’s enemy, scheming to cause havoc wherever he could, spread nightmares among the world every night, and confront the other Great Ones at every turn, that they might stay united and maintain the order of that which was good. So that Darkrai would have an equal and an opposite in this eternal role, Arceus also crafted Cresselia, this time from light, and gave her the opposite task. Finally, as the most visible sign of the eternal struggle between light and dark, Arceus gave the pair dominion over the phases of the moon.
Darkrai’s devotion to his task was almost nothing short of obsessive. He knew his task to be one vital for the stability of the world, and he applied himself to it with complete devotion. Every night without fail he traveled the world, scouring the dreams of countless humans and Pokémon alike with his terrible aura of nightmares. His days were spent plotting and enacting insidious stratagems to assault and confound the other Great Ones. Because of the nature of his duty, Darkrai was one of the very few people who knew of the existence of all Great Ones, and not one of them was safe from his attacks or his nightmares.
However, Darkrai’s role as the evil one did not consume him. He successfully managed to differentiate his role from his self, and when he was ‘off-duty’ he actually was not all that difficult to get along with. True, he was perhaps a little aloof, but not hostile or rude in any way.
Arceus marveled at Darkrai’s performance. He exceeded all her expectations, fulfilling his duty with a skill and a determination that she had not expected, but found very admirable. She was also pleased to see that he was able to separate his task from his true self, for she had not wanted him to truly be evil, only to act in that manner. In short, he was everything she had expected and more, and she was proud of him.
The rest of the world, unfortunately, did not share these sentiments. The first ones to truly hate Darkrai were the humans. This was something that both Arceus and Darkrai had expected to occur, for humans very often could not see the big picture outside of their personal comfort. However, the level of animosity they began to display reached a point that neither of them had expected. They were not satisfied with simply hating him, but instead tried to kill him whenever they got the chance. This outcome shocked Darkrai, but it did not seem to truly rattle him very much. He merely persisted in his task, evading death and capture as he continued to spread his discord. Even so, Arceus could not help but notice that Darkrai was beginning to seem a little harder of heart over time, though it fortunately did not manifest as anything serious.
It was around this time that Darkrai first met Cresselia. At first, their encounters were very brief, with little to no exchange of any sort. Darkrai knew all about her and her task to combat his nightmares, but at first it seemed that she did not know him. Whenever she caught him in a nightmare, she would merely look at him with puzzlement, as though she was not sure why he kept appearing there. For a time, their relationship was a peaceful one, if perhaps a little odd.
However, all too soon Cresselia finally realized that Darkrai was in fact the source of the nightmares that she sought to heal. This revelation sparked in her an anger that Darkrai did not suspect until he found himself running for his life with her on his heels, so to speak. At first, Darkrai merely evaded her, dodging and escaping whenever she gave chase to him. He did not want to hurt her, outside of those times when his schemes involved her. His duty was not to cause undo suffering. However, eventually Darkrai found himself with no recourse but to defend himself with all necessary ferocity. Therefore, most reluctantly, he began engaging Cresselia in mortal combat whenever they clashed.
However, it seemed that Cresselia’s hatred was simply not enough. Though it was much slower in coming for the others than for the Lunar Swan, eventually the other Great Ones found themselves unwilling to tolerate Darkrai’s existence any more than she was. It seemed than none of them either knew or cared about the necessity of Darkrai’s role as the enemy. They simply viewed him as a scourge to be wiped out.
The change was very gradual, almost unnoticeable until it was far too late. It started with a slightly hard tone here, an unkind word there. Soon the cold shoulder was a popular approach to Darkrai’s presence, and then the verbal hostility surfaced. He was beginning to find it harder to be involved with the other Great Ones when they were about a general task, and the Hall of Origins was rapidly becoming an unfriendly place for him. The anger and resentment slowly continued to grow and fester, and finally it erupted into pointless violence. Soon the gods were as likely as the humans to lash out at Darkrai on sight.
Arceus chastised them for their behavior, but they refused to obey her and continued their torment of Darkrai. Eventually rejecting Darkrai was not enough for them, just as it failed to satisfy the humans. They began hunting him mercilessly, even when he was clearly not plotting anything at the time. It was very fortunate for Darkrai that most of them did not know that they had brethren of 34 other members. If they had managed to create an organized hunt of him with all their combined efforts, they might have succeeded in killing him. As it was, Darkrai found himself fending for his life almost constantly, and it was only due to his remarkably keen intellect that he was able to stay alive.
Cresselia was the worst of them all, seeking him relentlessly and attacking him without restraint. Her hatred towards him outweighed that of every other Great One combined. It was all too evident that every assault she made upon him was a thorough and absolute attempt to end his life. It was only by matching her ferocity that Darkrai escaped with his life every time, though to this day he still cringes at the memory of how badly he was forced to injure her sometimes.
Eventually there was no safe place left for Darkrai on earth save his home of Newmoon Island, which Arceus had mercifully made into a sanctuary for him. He stayed there for centuries, cut off from the world except when performing his duties, with nothing except his pain and his loneliness for company. The humans hated him. The Pokémon hated him. The gods hated him. His own counterpart hated him.
As the centuries passed, Darkrai’s pain eventually sparked a small flame of anger. How dare the others try to kill him? Admittedly, some of them did not know the necessity of his role, but he had never done harm upon them to warrant being hunted like an animal. And the ones that did know of his purpose sought to kill him regardless. How could they so dare? For centuries his anger festered in silence, growing more all-consuming with every passing day. His heart hardened, his conscience slowly died, and his soul grew black with fury. Finally, Darkrai could stand it no longer, and the floodgates of his hatred broke forth in a storm of seething rage that would taint his very soul for millennia to come.
The wrath that consumed Darkrai was indescribable. He hated the gods, hated the humans, and hated everyone. He even despised Arceus herself despite the fact that she had never done him wrong. He blamed her for his lot in life, for giving him the task that had turned the world against him. No one had any love in their hearts for him, and so he would show no mercy to them. His duty to act as the evil one has once been his job. Now it was to become his life.
Darkrai began rabid, furious, and psychopathic, and his schemes took a far darker turn almost immediately. They had always been fairly bad, or else they would defeat the purpose of his even performing them. Still, nothing he had ever attempted before was on the scale of what he was doing now. He was tampering with the very laws of nature, and the effects were catastrophic beyond description. Humans started to die in ever growing numbers. Great Ones suddenly found themselves targets of assassination attempts. In particular he utterly loathed Cresselia, for she represented everything that everyone else loved and everything he was not. No longer did he show mercy to her. Now, whenever Darkrai met Cresselia in battle he fought to kill. Friend would be turned against friend as Darkrai’s lies and illusions preyed upon his former colleagues until no one felt safe unless they were alone. And no matter how hard the Great Ones fought, someone always got very badly hurt. His fury and thirst for revenge were insatiable. It didn’t matter how much pain he caused, how much discord he left in his wake; he always had to do worse.
The war of the gods raged for centuries, with each side performing terrible grievances towards each other. The fighting was rapidly becoming so terrible that Arceus actually began to wonder if it might not be better just to destroy Darkrai and start all over again. If he had ever succeeded in killing a Great One, she most certainly would have. Unfortunately, killing another god seemed to be something that Darkrai was determined to do. The others could not turn their back without fearing an assassination attempt, and with each effort Darkrai only came closer to his mark. His final murder plot, the Assault of the Lake Trio, might well have succeeded and thus been his damnation. It was, instead, his eventual salvation.
Darkrai was determined to finally succeed in his attempts to kill the gods, and so he put forth every conceivable effort to ensure that his snare for the Lake Trio would not fail. Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf were entrapped and laid utterly helpless before Darkrai’s rage before they even had time to know that they’d been tricked. The massacre that followed very nearly resulted in the deaths of the Spiritual Beings, and most definitely would have had Cresselia and a small group of other Great Ones come and finally restrained Darkrai.
While the others prepared to take advantage of finally capturing Darkrai by performing an impromptu execution, Cresselia scouted among the wounded. As to be expected, all threw were within an inch of their lives, but something particularly terrible had happened to Mesprit. She was huddled on the ground, weeping bitter tears and moaning with an agony that was beyond her physical wounds. One’s first assumption would be that Darkrai had trapped her in a nightmare, but this was not the case. In an effort to save herself and her friends, Mesprit had forcibly imbibed Darkrai’s emotions, hoping to steal his anger and halt his attacks. She failed to do this because Darkrai still possessed his drive to kill them, and had only succeeded in taking away the reason behind that drive. Instead she found herself trapped in the very heart of Darkrai’s emotional turmoil.
It too the efforts of Cresselia and a few of the other Psychic Great Ones to finally remove Darkrai’s emotions from Mesprit, since she was unable to do it herself. It was decide that they should be returned to Darkrai before his death, and so they were returned to him. Immediately his rage returned, and he escaped their clutches before they could kill him. He returned to his former existence, unaware that the chance for salvation had finally come to him.
It was weeks upon weeks before Mesprit had recovered sufficiently from the trauma of Darkrai’s torment to do much anything beyond weep bitterly and whimper. When at last she had recovered her senses, she immediately fled their company to try and reconcile the pain that she and the others had caused him. She threw herself at his mercy and begged his forgiveness for the crimes she had committed against him. At first, Darkrai only responded to this with further attempts to kill her, but she persisted in her reconciliation, returning time and again to him and pledge her absolute penitence.
At the same time, another individual was undergoing a similar process, though the change in her was far less obvious to Darkrai or anyone else at first. Cresselia, in removing Darkrai’s emotions from Mesprit, had seen a glimpse of the torment herself. It was only a brief flash, but it was enough to plant the seeds of doubt in her mind. Suddenly, she seemed to occasionally hesitate in their battles. Darkrai took full advantage of these openings to inflict horribly grievous wounds upon her, not realizing what was going on. Eventually she simply refused to battle him at all, fleeing from his whenever conflict seemed imminent. Darkrai could not understand the sudden end of her hostility. For years he suspected a ploy, but when none arose he became more confused still. Didn’t she still hate him?
At first, Darkrai did not even notice the change that was happening within himself. It began so minutely it may not even have happened at all. However, very slowly Darkrai began to wonder if killing the others would really make him happy. Would their deaths really give him the satisfaction he craved? Would it really ease his pain? Although Darkrai would not realize it for some time, Mesprit’s endless repentance and Cresselia’s lack of animosity were slowly beginning to have an effect upon his heart. Their direct and not-so-direct kindness was very slowly healing the wounds that had been carved so deeply into his being.
Eventually, Darkrai’s softening became evident to the other Great Ones. His change was utterly shocking to them. Darkrai’s wrath was a fact of life. His insatiable bloodlust and drive to inflict pain were unchangeable rules that had defined the world for millennia. How could he then show anything other that hatred for another living thing?
Mesprit, seeing the opportunity for healing, began traveling amongst the other Great Ones, explaining the necessity of Darkrai’s existence, the cause of his pain, and begging them to make their peace with him. Some of them, upon realizing their culpability, immediately went to him and made their peace. Others, specifically the prideful ones, took much longer in accepting the wrongs they had done. Eventually, however, they were forced to accept their sins and grudgingly offer Darkrai an apology.
Darkrai did not take quickly to the apologies of the Great Ones. It was not that he enjoyed the conflicts between them, but he had suffered very greatly at their hands, and was unwilling to simply forgive them at first. Eventually, however, he found it more and more difficult to remain angry. His rage began to slowly abate over the years until it died away completely.
Unfortunately, Darkrai would never fully heal from his ordeal. Deep scars of pain and bitterness had been carved into his heart, and they weren’t likely ever to go away. Although Darkrai was no longer the violent demon he had once been, he would never again bear the mild, almost agreeable personality he was born with. He retreated behind a shell of frigid apathy, and it took many more years of reconciliation before he and the other Great Ones would develop the mildly cordial relationship they now enjoy. He is also still awaiting an apology from Cresselia, and is wondering why she has not yet offered one to him.
Characters Pokemon:
Name: Darkrai
Gender: Male
Species: Darkrai
Age: 4.5 billion years
Level: 90
Personality:
See the above.
Attacks:
In addition to putting people to sleep, Darkrai can use the Dark Void for another purpose. Since the Dark Void absorbs energy, this means it is able to absorb energy-based attacks such as Hyper Beam and Energy Ball. Therefore, if Darkrai holds a Dark Void in the path of these attacks, they will be absorbed by the Dark Void. As the Dark Void absorbs energy it will grow, and as it grows it will expand to encompass first Darkrai himself and then, if he is lucky, his opponents. Once the Dark Void runs out of energy with which to fuel its growth the energy inside the void will undergo a drastic reaction that will result in a critically powerful explosion. That explosion will be contained by the walls of the void, but will hit and severely damage everything inside. This is a very powerful technique, but Darkrai is not wont to use it because it is also very dangerous to him. Since he is forced to actually hold the Dark Void in order to use it this way, this means that he will always be at the very heart of the explosion whenever it goes off. Therefore, Darkrai will generally only use this technique as a final trump card when he has no other method of defeating an enemy he is determined to destroy.
Nightmare: One of the more insidious Pokémon techniques, Nightmare is an ability that can only affect a sleeping Pokémon, which makes it perfect for Darkrai. Darkrai reaches into the mind of his sleeping victim and bombards its dreams with ghastly energy until they are so foully corrupted that the victim begins to suffer actual physical damage. The effects cease the moment the victim reawakens, but the damage and, often, the trauma are not lost so easily.
Dark Pulse: Whenever Darkrai needs to wield sheer explosive force in combat, this technique is where he gets it from. By focusing the dark energy of his mind, Darkrai is able to summon a compact sphere of dark power, which can be fired at his opponent in one of two ways. The first method is to simply release the energy, allowing it to bloom outward in a shockwave and striking all opponents within the vicinity. The second style is to direct the dark energy, firing it as a condensed beam of pure destructive power. This technique in Darkrai’s hands is so formidable that the former style will severely cripple all opponents in the vicinity, and the latter style will kill any weaker individuals on contact.
Shadow Claws: When the situation calls for hand-to-some sort of appendage combat, Darkrai is almost guaranteed to use this technique. By focusing spectral energy into his claws, he is able to mold a set of wicked sharp and deadly lethal blades that can cut through even some of the most toughened materials and hides on the planet with fair ease. Despite not receiving the Same Type Attack Bonus from this ability, Darkrai is able to wield it with such proficiency that the loss is minimal at worst. Any opponent facing this ability is liable to be cut to ribbons in a matter of seconds.
Shadow Ball (Technical Machine): Darkrai generally employs this technique when he needs to quickly dispatch weaker enemies either at close or long range, or when a swift barrage of assaults is warranted. Darkrai gathers a glob of spectral energy, which he throws at his opponent. The spectral energy explodes on contact with most anything, so it acts like a small grenade. The time required to mold a Shadow Ball is extremely short, which means that Darkrai can unleash a veritable barrage of them in the space of a few seconds. However, the technique itself is fairly weak, and even more so because he does not receive the Same Type Attack Bonus from it This is an example of a technique that sacrifices power for speed and quantity.
Double Team: One of Darkrai’s most basic techniques, and one that he is almost guaranteed to use liberally in nearly every conflict. In using Double Team, Darkrai creates a collection of illusionary doubles numbering from one extra to a small army. These clones are completely and utterly indistinguishable from Darkrai in all ways, but they are only as substantial as the air about them. They cannot touch anything or affect, and whatever touches them simply passes through. This technique only allows Darkrai to hide in plain sight, but it is invaluable to him nonetheless.
Nasty Plot: Darkrai has always possessed a keen mind, and this technique puts that sharp intellect to good use in combat. By thinking dark thoughts, Darkrai is able to channel the dark energy permeating his mind and use it to explosively increase his Special Attack. His non-physical attacks can become utterly lethal with just one use of this technique.
Dream Eater This technique is also one that only affects a sleeping individual, and so it fits perfectly with Darkrai’s battle style. When Darkrai uses Dream Eater, he thrusts his influence into the mind of his victim, tears their dreams from their mind, and literally consumes them. This process has such a catastrophic effect on the mind that it causes catastrophic physical damage to the victim.
Dream Eater is a technique that requires Darkrai to place special focus on his victim, so when he is preparing to kill an opponent who has earned his respect in battle he is likely to use this technique as a form of special execution.
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Other Noteworthy Abilities
Bad Dreams: Darkrai’s aura of nightmares is so powerful that his very presence is enough to inspire terrible dreams in the minds of sleeping opponents. While he is unable to prevent the bad dreams from occurring, he is able to control their intensity. The dreams can range from mildly unpleasant to so unbearably horrible that the victim suffers actual physical damage, losing their health at a steady rate. The victim is released from the effects of the Bad Dreams upon awakening, but the health lost will not be regained, and should they return to sleep it will only happen all over again. This ability is dangerous in and of itself, and when combined with Darkrai’s Nightmare attack, the damage can easily be boosted to almost critical levels.
Dark Illusions: Darkrai’s greatest asset is his ability to sow confusion and fear in those who oppose him, and this skill is the pure embodiment of that power. Darkrai is able to put his victims into a semi-conscious state at will without the use of any sleep-inducing technique. To detect the transition from full awareness to this vague dream state is nearly impossible, although those with very very keen senses may detect something. The victims of this ability are still able to move about and function as normal. However, that is not the point of this ability. While his opponents are in this semi-conscious state, Darkrai is able to manipulate their minds at will, altering their sensory perceptions. He is able to easily and acutely command what they believe they are hearing, seeing, smelling, and even feeling. In short, he is able to manipulate them with whatever illusions he desires, frightening and confusing them until they can no longer separate fact from fiction.
However, there are limitations to this ability. Darkrai is forced to manipulate all of the senses at once in order to maintain the illusions, and although this ultimately takes only a small amount of his concentration, it is very likely that he will make a mistake in some way or another, or that he will cause something to happen that, while physically possible is something that will never rationally happen. Someone with sharp senses and a keen eye is likely to notice these little hiccups, and anyone who knows the legends of Darkrai should then be able to figure out that they are trapped in an illusion. Furthermore, there is a way to escape this prison of the mind. Darkrai’s constant, though admittedly minor, concentration is vital to maintaining this semi-dream state. If one were to jar him significantly (say, by ramming straight into him) his concentration would break and the dream state would cease.
In addition to this, Darkrai's illusions only affect those who have minds. Machines and other inanimate objects are completely unaffected by his power and will show him for what he really is at all times. He is unable to even simulate a shadow on the ground, so his illusions have no shadow at all.
Shadow Haven: Darkrai has the unique ability to enter the plane of shadows at will, becoming a shadow himself in the process. This technique can be implemented on any surface that can house a shadow, even living creatures, and he can even use this ability to pass through solid objects. While in this state, Darkrai’s already obscure presence becomes nigh undetectable. He can move soundlessly in this state, leaves no sort of odor trail, cannot be felt, and is completely invisible to all forms of progging (the sensing of a presence using the mind). Admittedly, he is still visible to the naked eye, but only as an almost invisible shadowy blob. It should be noted that, although he is far more elusive in this form, Darkrai is still perfectly susceptible to damage and can even be killed in this shadow state.
Lightning: Despite not being an Electric Type, and although he cannot naturally learn any sort of Electric attacks, Darkrai has the natural ability to summon blasts of lightning from his palms at will. Since these blasts are not as refined as a true Electric attack they are less potent, so much so that even a Thundershock from Raiku is more powerful. However, they are still very powerful and very deadly.
Telepathy: Despite not being a Psychic Type, Darkrai possesses a rudimentary ability to focus his thoughts beyond what normal people can ever hope to achieve. However, the only practical upshot of this is that Darkrai is able to communicate using his mind. Language is not a barrier for him, because he uses his thoughts and emotions to transmit his messages and relies on the brain’s ability to translate what he is saying. He is even capable of communicating with humans because of this ability.
On a slightly interesting side note, since Darkrai does not convey a specific message in the form of words, his messages can be interpreted differently depending on who is listening. Therefore, although the gist and tone of his conversations translates perfectly regardless, those who compare will notice that each individual listening hears a slightly different phrasing.
Psychic Immunity: Darkrai, being a Dark Type, is naturally immune to all forms of Psychic manipulation. Any psychic energy that attempts to touch his body will melt away with no more effect than a sensation of water running across his skin. He cannot be grabbed by psychic bonds or blasted by psychic energy, and attempting to read his mind is an exercise in futility. He is even nearly impossible to prog even when outside Shadow Haven, though it is still possible if one is clever enough to use the roundabout and very imprecise approach of finding the hole in the air where he is.
It is important to note here that, since Cresselia is Darkrai’s counterpart and therefore must be his foil, Arceus made a special exception to the rule of Dark Type immunities in their case. Cresselia’s psychic energy is the only kind on the planet that can affect Darkrai, though she is still unable to read or affect his mind in any way.
Speed: Although a fairly minor aspect when compared to his other abilities, Darkrai’s speed is still very much worth mentioning. He is capable of moving so fast that he can temporarily leave the visible spectrum, and can tear victims apart in seconds by barraging them from all angles before they can muster any sort of defense.
Role Playing
Sample:
“There he is! He went that way! Head him off!”
The human gestured wildly in a general leftward direction, and a group of other human followed his direction, shouting instruction to one another and threats at a second party. The humans were all carrying torches to help them see in the darkness of the night, and most of them held a weapon of some sort. Pistols and shotguns ran alongside axes and pitchforks as the group continued to give chase down the alleyway they had entered.
To an onlooker just arriving, the angry mob would seem to be chasing absolutely nothing through the empty streets and alleys of the town. They seemed to have an evident purpose and a quarry to catch, but the quarry didn’t seem to exist. There was no furtive figure running for his life, only dancing shadows that seemed to flee before the townspeople.
A few men in the groups reached to their belts or their pockets and pulled out small red-and-white spheres. They pressed a small circular button, and the spheres expanded in their hands until they had grown to the size of softballs. They hurled their Pokéballs at the ground, and as each one hit earth it split horizontally and released a volume of white energy. The individual flashes of light swirled and writhed for a moment in the air before resolving into definite shapes.
Each creature that appeared was unique. From one Pokéball came a mid-sized fox-like creature with bright yellow fur that stuck out like the quills of a porcupine, large black eyes, and a mouth full of needle-point teeth that were bared in a snarl. From another ball came a humanoid creature with large masses of callous flesh around its hands that looked almost like boxing gloves. Still another ball set free a large, beautiful butterfly with a grey body and wings filled with beautiful hues of red, yellow, and blue.
The mob and the Pokémon continued to give chase to seemingly nothing. The Pokémon with ranged abilities began firing blasts at the ground and the walls, but there seemed to be no target to hit. Had the village gone mad?
“Split up!” someone in the mob suddenly shouted. “Head around! Cut him off!” The mob divided to follow this advice, splitting into two smaller groups that each went in a separate direction.
One of the groups consisted of four men, a Jolteon, a Larion, and a Machoke. It seemed as though the group had lost their imaginary quarry, for they were walking slowly, looking around furtively. Every small sound made them jump and turn towards the source, and the two men with pistols aimed them at anything that moved.
“I don’t like this,” one of them said nervously to the group as his Jolteon whipped around at a sudden rustling behind them. “I think we’re just making him mad.”
“Do you want him tormenting us forever?” another one replied. “We’ve got to show him that he’s not wanted here. We have to kill him by whatever means necessary.”
Suddenly the Jolteon pointed at a wall about twenty feet ahead and began barking in a high pitched tone. The humans and Pokémon turned swiftly toward the wall in time to see a shadow with no source at all suddenly dart to the left of its own volition and vanish around a corner. With loud cries the group hurried after the mysterious shadow, calling for the other group to cut it off from another angle.
The Jolteon was the first to round the bend. With a snarl lightning suddenly erupted all across its body, and a charged beam of pure electricity lanced from its body toward the shadow. The black patch swerved around the blast at the last second and continued to flee. The two men with pistols began firing wildly at the shadow, which swerved and looped around every bullet with incredibly speed. The shadow sped up a wall in order to better turn a corner and the Larion plowed straight into the stone surface, blasting clean through but again missing the mysterious shadow.
Finally, after a short chase the group had finally managed to corner the shadow on the wall of a dead-end alleyway. As the gunmen reloaded their weapons the Machoke charged ahead and proceeded to punch the wall as hard and as fast as it could. It punched hole after gaping hole in the surface, but could not seemed to hit its target. Suddenly, there was a black flash, and the Machoke went sailing backward, howling with shock and pain as it backward, scattering the group on the way. Its aerial progress ended only when it collided with a wall, blasting straight through and landing in a heap on the floor inside.
With evident trepidation now, the humans and Pokémon turned back to face the wall. The men pointed shaking guns towards the alley’s end while the Pokémon crouched in a defensive position, growling nervously. For a moment, nothing happened. Cautiously the group pressed closer, their eyes riveted on the wall, trying to discern their quarry from the natural shadows.
Suddenly, the shadow bulged outward, leaping off the wall. A single black arm emerged swiftly from the stone surface, pointing at the group. Before any of them had a chance to even cry out, a sphere of black energy appeared in the three-fingered palm, and a laser of pure dark power exploded outward, killing two of the men instantly, seriously wounding the Jolteon and blasting the remaining members of the group off their feet.
The arm retreated back into the wall, and a moment later something large and black erupted outward and sped past what remained of its attackers. It swerved down a path at random, moving at speeds so great it was nearly impossible to follow it with the naked eye. After swooping through the back alleys for a short time the black wraith emerged into the main village square and halted.
An entire legion of villagers was lining the outside of the square, each holding a weapon of some sort. It was a trap. A group of villagers moved to cover the exit where the wraith had come from, sealing him in.
Now that the specter had stopped moving, his form was vaguely more distinguishable, but only slightly. His ebony black skin melted into the surrounding darkness so well that he was practically invisible in plain sight. His stark white hair somehow did not cause him to stand out, but managed to melt into the darkness. The same held true for the collar of blood red spines that encircled his neck. One visible ice blue eye gleamed calmly in the torchlight, regarding the attackers on all sides of him.
“We’ve had enough of you!” one of the men shouted. The manner in which he carried himself suggested him to be the village leader. By his side stood a powerful-looking Hitmonchan that was bouncing lightly on the balls of its feet, hefting its powerful fists. “You’ve been haunting us for years, and we’re tired of it! Leave now or we will kill you! We don’t want you here, Darkrai!” The other villagers shouted their agreement, hefting their pitchforks and their guns as their Pokémon snarled and leered.
The phantom did not seem at all concerned with the mess he was in. He seemed utterly at ease with the situation, albeit perhaps a little annoyed. Patiently he waited for the villagers to become a bit less rowdy. When it seemed that they had quieted enough to listen, he addressed them.
“Go away,” Darkrai said in a voice as frigid and unforgiving as the Arctic. “Leave me be.”
Suddenly, Darkrai found the nozzles of at least two dozen weapons leveled at him. Before he could react, innumerable pistol rounds and shotgun shells were fired directly at him. The sheer amount of artillery flying through the air completely precluded the possibility of missing. Each and every weapon was completely emptied before anyone bothered to check that Darkrai was dead.
Only…he wasn’t dead. In fact, he wasn’t even there anymore. There was no dead body lying on the ground, no wounded Darkrai gasping in pain. There wasn’t even a shadow hiding furtively on the ground. It was as though he simply had never been there.
The villagers looked around in confusion, trying to fathom what had happened. Sudden, there was a blur of movement that quickly circled the entire ring of villages. Each and every hand that had clutched a gun was suddenly separated from its owner and well to the ground with a thud. There was a pause of about three seconds as the villagers realized what had happened, and then the ones who had lost hands began to scream in pain as they clutched at their bleeding stumps.
Darkrai suddenly became visible a moment later in the center of the square and was immediately set upon by the village’s Pokemon. A Beautifly swooped in to deliver a Silver Wind and was immediately blasted out of the air by a burst of lightning from Darkrai’s palm. The poor creature fell to earth smoking, dead before it hit the ground. A Marowak dashed forward and hurled its bone at Darkrai, who caught and hurled it back at its owner so hard that it shattered the creature’s skull helmet and impaled it through the head.
A Mareep leapt at Darkrai with its fur sparking, but before it could do anything Darkrai had grabbed its skull in his palm. He strained for a moment until the creature’s skull shattered in his grip, and threw its lifeless body at a charging Shiftry. As the Shiftry recoiled from the assault, Darkrai lunged forward and impaled the Pokémon’s chest with his claw. He twisted his bladed fingers sharply, and then withdrew his hand and allowed the creature to fall to the ground.
The last Pokémon left standing by this point was the village leader’s Hitmonchan. The boxing Pokémon charged forward, seemingly heedless of how easily its comrades had been dispatched. It swung its fists again and again at Darkrai, but not one of the blows seemed to connect. Suddenly, Darkrai grabbed the Pokémon by the throat and hurled it ten feet in the air. With infinite calm and laser sharp focus he watched the creature rise and then fall through the air. When the timing was just right, Darkrai clenched his fist and hurled it straight upward into the air just as the Hitmonchan was about to land on top of him. The speed of its fall combined with the force of Darkrai’s punch was enough to snap its spine cleanly in half, and it fell to the ground as limply as a rag doll.
There was absolute silence in the village square. No one said a word as Darkrai calmly leaned down and wiped the gore from his claws on the ground. Even the ones who had lost hands were no longer whimpering in pain. A few of the villagers began shuffling backward very slowly, suddenly not so keen on the idea of engaging Darkrai.
A man suddenly fell to the ground, his throat slit and blood gushing from the wound like a small fountain. The villagers stared in dumbfounded shock at the sight, and suddenly another was blown backward by a small black explosion. He hit the wall behind him with a loud thud and a sickening crunch and slid slowly to the ground, his face and chest badly burned.
The villagers scattered. Men shoved other men out of their way as the scrambled away in sheer terror. They threw barrels and other obstructions behind them as they fled. They rounded corners at random, getting even themselves lost as they ran for their lives.
It didn’t matter what they did. Slowly, each and every member of the mob was cut down or blasted apart, and sometimes both. One person who tripped found himself hoisted by the leg. He was then used as a cudgel to crush another unfortunate villager, killing both. Another villager had his back split open by a deep vertical slice, and he fell to the ground where he would proceed to bleed to death. A person who hurled a throwing knife at Darkrai in desperation had the same knife returned to him squarely between the eyes. Another man had his neck rotated so hard his neck shattered.
Finally, the only person from the mob who was still alive was the village leader. He tripped down an alleyway and cowered in a corner, listening to the haunting sound of Darkrai bolting past. He sat sniveling pathetically, praying to Arceus and waiting to die. For twenty minutes he cowered, every moment expecting to see that terrible wraith approaching him. However, eventually he noticed that the streets had gone silent. Cautiously, he stood back up and sneaked over to the entrance of the alley. Shuddering with terror, he quickly looked left, and saw nothing. He immediately whipped his head to the right, and when he saw nothing, he almost fainted with relief. It was over. He was alive.
Weeping with relief, the leader walked over to the wall opposite his alley and sat down, weeping with relief. For a long time he just sat there with his eyes closed, thanking Arceus for her mercy and savoring the feeling of being alive. Finally, he opened his eyes, and his blood turned to ice.
A black wraith was hovering just inside the mouth of the alley, leering coldly at the man with one ice blue eye. Silently, Darkrai began to move forward, his terrible purpose all too clear. The man scrambled helplessly backward, but the solid stone behind him refused the yield. He gibbered with mindless terror as the terrible phantom slowly drew ever nearer, his gaze as devoid of pity as a skeleton’s. Finally, Darkrai stopped just before the man, staring down at him with all the authority and terror of death itself.
Darkrai’s hand whipped forward too fast to follow, and suddenly the man found himself suspended by his own throat a foot off the ground. The grip around his throat choked the air from his lungs, and he spluttered helplessly as he clawed at the hand that was slowly tightening its grip around his neck. His face slowly began to turn blue and eventually he breathing ceased altogether. He could only gag pathetically with his eyes bulging, but Darkrai continued to tighten his grip. Finally, with an earsplitting crack the man’s neck shattered, and he went limp in Darkrai’s hand. The Lord of Nightmares stared for a moment at the corpse in his grip, and then hurled it aside like a piece of trash and flew off into the night.
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