Darkness that strikes fear in their hearts

[Cross]

"Elon,"Joy said shivering.

"Hmm?"He asked turning to her.

"I'm scared,"she said.No wonder she was, they were in a dark place.And in the distance was something that looked like a fortress, something was strange about it though.Elon sighed, then gave a small smile.

"Dont worry gal there is noth'n to be scared of,"he said in a gentale tone.Joy was not convinsed, she stayed close to Elon.

Elon contiued to walk on, but there was something wrong.He contiued threw the forest to the dark castle, he wanted to see what was there.

"Elon maybe we should turn back,"she said looking up at her boyfriend."Something around here may get us,"she whimpered.Elon rolled his eyes, a little annoyed.They soon came up to the fortress, Elon sniffed at the huge fortress.He then heard something cry out from the other side, he stoped moveing, his eyes wide.'Elon,"Joy whimpered.Elon eyes stared at the door, something was in there."Elon your scareing me,"Joy cried out.

"Come on gal we have to go,"he said quickly.

"What, what did you hear, whats wrong,"she said glanceing this way and that.

"We have to go now!"He said urgeing his girlfriend forward.He suddenly stoped, something was comeing.

[Clif]

A grovyle lazily approached the two eevee, his mouth wide open and eyes closed in the middle of a yawn. Unfortunately for the two outsiders, he had already taken notice of them, despite his leisurely pace towards the two. If they could view his countenance from the distance they were at, they could clearly see that the grass-type had no interest in dealing with the the couple, ~Ugh, I guess I gotta though...lets see what the hell they want out here,~ he thought to himself as he neared speaking distance.

"What the hell do you two want?" he asked bluntly.

[Cross]

"Uh nothing,"Elon said keeping on guard.Joy his behind Elon, lookinh warily at the Grovilye.

"Come on lets go Elon,"she begged."Im really scared right now,"she said.

"Dont worry gal its just a pokemon it wont hurt ya,"he said keeping his cool.

"Ok then if you are sure,"she siad steping out to revil herself.She was a small pink evee, with white fur, and a pink mane, she had a heart shaped birth mark on her shoulder."Uh nice to meet you,"she said shuttering.

"What is this place,"Elon said serious now.

[Clif]

The grovyle chuckled to himself as he tilted his head in what appeared to be slight confusion, ~These guys don't know? Hell, they must be pretty stupid...~ giving his arms a stretch, "Well, since you don't know what this place is I might as well give you a tour of the place. Follow," he finished with a swing of his leafed arm.

Somewhat being caught off guard by the politeness from a pokemon of the Light, the grovyle somewhat hesitated before responded to the pink and white eevee, "Same to you," he said with an awkward smile before he turned from the two to walk further into the human-made complex.

[Cross]

"Should we go in,"Joy asked Elon.

"Well are you ok to,"Elon asked Joy with a concerning smile.Joy smiled back, and answered.

"What have we got to lose, oh,"she said remembering.She troted up to the grovyle with a smile."Thank you mister Grovyle,"she said giveing him a quick kiss on the cheek, then returning my Elons side.THey both walked into the Fortress.

"I hope we did not make the mistake of are lives,"Elon muttered under his breath.

[Clif]

The grovyle chuckled as he warmly--as warmly as a Horde member could possibly get--greeted the two. He once again was surprised from the random kiss he was given in thanks, yet didn't portray any sort of confusion as he had earlier. "Well, just to start off--" he gave a wide sweeping motion of indication, "--this large complex that most know as The Fortress, wasn't built by any pokemon, nor was a random natural structure...it's been pretty much been decided and adopted by most that this place was built by a race of creature called 'humans'."

The grovyle hadn't made much of an effort to describe the massive artifact mostly due to the fact that no one really had much knowledge of it especially the multitudinous twists, turns and collapsed corridors of the dungeons that resided underneath most of the Fortress; yet, after all these years their function hadn't changed.

After giving a brief explanation of how the Fortress was laid out, the grovyle had made it quite well past the front gates, the numerous fallen ruins had made a very simple labyrinth that would be easy to escape if you knew your way, but making a wrong turn could swiftly land you in a dead end or on a route deeper into the Horde's home. With a slight smirk he turned towards the two eevee, "Now, you each have two options here..." looking towards the male, "You can either stay or leave," of course he kept it simple to let them make up their minds; but their seeming lack of knowledge permitted him to be a little easier on the naive couple than he'd be on most newcomers.

[Cross]

"This is strnge,"Joy said."I dont know but something is happening,"Joy shivered.

"What do ya mean we can stay or leave, i mean uh we can just leave,"Elon said slight confused.

"Y-Yeah but what does he mean stay,'Joy asked.

"I dont know, but i am starting to get tired of this right now,"Elon said.Both of them started to back away,"ugh maybe we should go now."

"Yeah Mr.Grovyle we are sorry we cant stay a longer,"Joy said with s shy smile.

"When i say run we run,"Elon said.When they got close enough,"run!"They then turned, and made a attempt to run at the fortess entrance.

[Ren]

An umbreon stepped in front of the two retreating eevee, blocking their path. She had an amused look on her face as she looked up at the grovyle. Finally, she laughed. "Long time no see," she told him, grinning. She glanced back at the two. "Now, now, I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't let them just run off, now would you, Blade?" she asked, a light tone still aparent in her voice.

She shrugged and sat down. "But then again, what would I know?" She continued to chuckle to herself.


((Sorry if I'm intruding! But I needed to do something with Luna and it's been soooooooooo long since I've rped with you, Clif-kun! AGES! I missed you!!!))

[Clif]

Blade was surprised that Luna had been following the group, he hadn't seen much of the umbreon lately since Zilla had appeared. He returned the grin with his own warm smile, although he appeared to be stoic and cold most of the time, the grovyle did have a very subtle warm side to him, only shown to those who he trusted; plus, he wouldn't lie that any female would get trust from him quicker than any male probably could.

Replying back, Blade began to make his way over to the eevee evolution, figuring that the two eevee wouldn't be able to make it past her with ease. "Yeah, it's been a while..." he restated, his voice carrying a serious tone. "Luckily you came along so I didn't have to do any work as to catch up to these two," he lauged.

"You two..." he said, his voice slightly aggressive, "You're now part of the Horde now...and as I was saying...you can either stay amongst us and stay close by me or you can leave my company and live out the rest of your life in the dungeons underground that rarely see the light of day. It's your choice, you're just lucky you were found by me instead of another, if so she--" he motioned toward Joy, "--would have been raped and stored away in the dungeon." The grovyle stood next to Luna, waiting for their response.

[Cross]

Elons eyes narrowed, he gritted his teeth.He steped protectavly infront of Joy, makeing her step back.

"Elon what should we do,"Joy said quivering.Elon thought a little, then looked at the Grovyle and Umbreon.

"We have two choices they say, stay here with this Grovyle, or be in the dungeons and as he say--,"he stoped looking down.

"Elon i dont want to stay here,"Joy said shakeing.She put her paw on his, looking at him.

"Dont worry we wont stay,"he said queitly to her."We are not going to be here forever, we will find a way out,"he whispered."I mean its not like we have much to worry about,"he said kicking the ground.He turned to grovyle,"ok then we will join your little group.He looked at both the pokemon, sneering in disgust.

[Clif]

The grovyle's face nor attitude changed, "Just be happy that you were found by me. Once you get to know this place you'll appreciate that fact." Normally he'd pit whomever he had with him against a newcomer to test their fighting skills, but he knew that Luna wasn't a fan of any method that required unnecessary violence.

Blade walked up to the two, "Now that you're a part of us, I'll introduce myself. I'm Blade." he curtly said, "Let's go, I need to see how you two can fair in a battle, we'll be doing a little traveling here and there until you're morphed into a loyal--or at least barely content--member of the Horde, please, follow." He motioned for Luna to follow, but in such a manner as to get across the idea that she didn't have to if she didn't want to.

[Ren]

Luna smiled and followed Blade. Like she had anything better to do. Besides, Luna had, like, three friends in the horde. She'd be alone again if she didn't go with him.

"You two are very lucky," she told the couple. "Not everyone is friendly here." Why yes, compared to what she had seen and who she had met, Blade fell under the friendly catagory.

Something suddenly came to her. "Blade, where is the Shadowlord?" she asked. She had to leave with Zeelo last time she saw him. And she had left him with that terrible Zilla.

[Clif]

Blade's smile faded when Luna brought up Chancol, giving a shrug in company with a small movement of his arms and hands, "I truly don't know...he disappeared quite a while ago--in fact I saw him just around the last time I had seen you...once Zilla disappeared I hadn't heard a single thing from him. Quite strange since I can still feel the darkness still looming around here with the same strength." The grovyle looked back at his companion, "Who knows where that strange lizard has gone to, unless something strange happened for him to keep the Shadowlord's aura in the same place for such a long time, he's most likely around here somewhere..."

Moving to the matter at hand, he looked towards the eevee couple, "So, what are your names? Gotta know what to call you two," he continued on without an answer though, not exactly caring what questions he asked got answered first, "Also, have you tow been in a fight before? Can't have you dying the first day out here..." he gave a dry chuckle as he then stopped just oudside the complex's gates.

[Cross]

Elon gave a snarl, glareing at Blade.Joy kept behind Elon, her eyes fixed on Blade.

"Yes i can fight,"Elon said plainly."And dont dare touch her,"he said glanceing at Joy.

"Dont worry Elon i will be ok,"Joy said closeing her eyes slowly."I can take care of myself,"she said.

"Hmm,"Elon said looking back at her."If you say so,"he said."We both have fought before,"he said looking at the Blade.His eyes flashed with concern, hopeing that Joy would be ok.

"We can show you if you like,"Joy said flashing her eyes open and standing up.She looked at Blade, determination flickered in her eyes.

[Clif]

The grovyle chuckled as Elon went on the defense, "Don't try to work yourself up too much, if I wanted to kill both of you, I'd have done that a while ago," he turned his head to his left and gave back a smirk, "Although most of the Horde doesn't seem like much right now, you shouldn't really underestimate who your opponent could be. Don't go around challenging someone to a test of your strength, just be quiet unless completely necessary." His responses curt and to the point, Blade had his best interest for the eevee couple.

"Now, now, be calm you two, you'll get your chance to kill a few of those who decided to keep you in the shadows about this place. I'm surprised you hadn't even heard of the Horde before, you must have either ignored quite a few warnings or those you had met around the area just had no true value in keeping you out of here," Blade's humor was portrayed almost only through his tone as he looked forward to the surrounding mountainous forest that bordered some of the Fortress.

[Ren]

Luna nodded in agreement. "The longer you keep yourselves out of trouble, the longer you live," she stated. Her happy tone was gone, meaning she was dead serious. She remembered well of the time when she was in their place, a seemingly scary pokemon leading her towards a dungeon. The fear she felt when she met the Shadowlord, and the willingness to join only to save her own life.

Looking back, Luna laughs now. The "scary" pokemon who found her was now her dear friend, and she had met Blade, who was kind to her. Even the Shadowlord was friendly.

And those scary stories Auron had told her? Bullshit.

-But maybe that was because she was on their side.-


((Wow...I so just babbled on this post...sorry...had to put something. But, there. A glimpse into Luna's past for Cross-san.))

[Cross]

(Thanks Ren-sama)

Elon looked at the two again, the faced Joy, putting in a harsg whisper.

"We cant stay here,"he murmered quitely."There has to be a means of escape,"he whispered to Joy.

"But how, we know dig wont work,"she said pawing a little at the ground, which was hard and cold stone.

"But maybe we can find some weak points in this god forsakeen place,"he growled."And all i know is we are not staying here for long,"he said allowed for the two the hear.

"Elon please stay quite,"Joy begged.Elon gave a sneer of disgust ,not takeing her eyes off the two

"You may want to be here to serve and be slaves but we dont!,"he said stomping his paw down.

"Elon please just stay calm,"Joy said flicking her tail.

"Grrr,"Elon growled.Joy went beside him, comforting him by rubbing her head on his shoulder.

"Dont worry we will be ok,"she said with a smile.Elon stoped, still glareing at the two, and sta down beside Joy.

[Ren]

Luna blinked, suddenly feeling cold. Where was her loved one? This thought disturbed her. They had been sepparated, and she knew only to come here. He would come back here, of course. But still...

"C-come now, let's not get tempers strung up," she said, but she was distracted now. Someone could come up and bite her and she wouldn't notice. Finally, she managed to turn and glare back at the male eevee. The reason she was glaring? Well, she wasn't sure. Maybe it was because the couple made her heart hurt.

[Clif]

Blade couldn't help but be somewhat confused as to why Luna seemed to be a little out herself, yet despite his curiosity the grovyle kept his mouth shut. In his eyes, personal thoughts weren't to be brought into the realm of the public, and he planned to keep his ideology, and in turn he expected others to not pry for information on him.

"Luna, just let them bicker, the sooner they get it out the sooner they'll calm down, most outsiders who are forced into our ranks eventually calm down and adjust to living around here," Blade chuckled as the group approached the edge of the edge of the forest. The grovyle fell silent for a few moments, spotting a red, blade-like tail. "You two..." he motioned towards the two eevee, "You better know how to kill or be prepared to die today..." he said, pointing towards the seviper tail, not simply explaing out his command.

[Ren]

Luna shook her head to clear her thoughts and grinned up at Blade. "Mkay!" she replied cheerfully.

Her ears then twitched, noting the presence of another. Just seconds after, Blade warned the eevee couple. "Oh my, a guest," she stated, staring off somewhere in that direcion.

((My, my, dying certainly is not fun. ^___^))

[Cross]

Elon jumped infront of Joy, his body was posed to etheir strike or run.Joy gave a small shudder, as though she was cold.She had to prove she was strong, she had to.Elon saw the Seviper, narrowing his eyes, he wanted to see the slightest movements.He would not let themselves be killed, but he, he did not know what to do.He could not kill a liveing thing infront of Joy's eyes, her heart would be broken.
"Elon?"Joy said steping nextto him."I know i have to fight, just as you have to,"she said."But I cant kill anything, but if we dont, they will,"she said shivering."I cant kill anything,"she said aloud."Why are they doing this to us, we did no wrong,"she said her heart aching, no it was in great pain."I dont want to be here anymore,"she whispered her eyes clouding with tears.
"I know,"he said.He been threw enough already, but to have someone tooken away from here, someone he cares, no, he loves.His heart ached as well, forceing himself to stand high."Im sorry but i have too,"he said steping infont of her.His legs going into fighting stance, waiting to the ebemy to make his first move.

[Clif]

Blade chuckled, "Not very aggressive when you must kill for your own life, are we?" The grovyle casually picked up a stone and weighed it in his hand, then tossed it up in the air a few times before asking, "Are you sure you want to choose not to fight?" His voice was lined with some sense of entertainment. He gave no further dialogue to the two eevee, he knew that most recruits were battle-shy but the two needed to be drenched in the blood of their first battle, whether they lived or died.