Reign of Fire

[Clif]

Chancol glanced at Zeelo only for a brief moment as he augmented the volume of his voice. He didn't want to take his eye off of the bird, even though Kuro didn't seem to be much of an opponent, the charmeleon always took precaution in his actions. Speaking to Kuro, "Why do you wish to aggravate Zeelo so much? Have you two had a horrible past together?" he asked, his shadow energy beginning to condense around him. Slowly yet surely the charmeleon looked as if he was faintly surrounded by black flames, yet every detail of his reptilian body could still be seen.

"Zeelo, if you wish to take care of this problem on your own, then please let me know. I don't want to interfere, but I'd rather not have you get hurt in trying to vent your frustrations over your past," Chancol stated, his dark green irises still retaining eye-contact with Kuro.

[Jespeon]

Zeelo was shaking now but he nodded in submission and sat down again, eyes fixed on Kuro.

Kuro eyed Zeelo cautiously before answering to Chancol. "Its fun, he gets wound up by his poor Vixen. When we were..." he struggled to find a word other than friend, " aquaintences back near his pack, he would go on and on about Vixen. Then he thought she was dead and still talked about her. Then she met up with him last year, and she left again! They can't have been very good friends." Zeelo growled at this point but didn't move or speak.

[Ren]

Luna nodded with a deep breath. She then gave Blade a small smile. "We might have some more time...but I'm not much of a fighter. I hope you have a lot of patience," she told him, laughing slightly. Her ears twitched. "Is something here...?" she asked. She looked around.

[Clif]

Chancol couldn't really sympathize with Zeelo, but by the way it sounded, this 'Vixen' that had been mentioned didn't pay much attention to the hybrid. Sighing, he knew how oddities could be looked down upon, but by what the charmeleon was hearing, Chancol wondered if Zeelo was quite the kind heart before joining the Horde, he then turned to said hybrid and asked, "Did you know this so called 'Vixen' before you joined or forced into the Horde?" Chancol didn't exactly keep tabs on everyone who had existed as part of the Horde before he was Shadowlord, so he wouldn't know how long Zeelo had been around.

~
Blade trembled a bit, his arm stinging with pain when Luna had asked the question, "Hm? I don't hear anything...but then again my species doesn't exactly have the best hearing abilities. Plus if you do need to take a rest, don't worry; the rebels are very organized, as long as they don't know that their beacon is gone, they will stay in hiding, trying to blend into the rest of the Horde for a chance to learn a little more or attack our Shadowlord." Blood from the grass-pokemon's arm began to slow a little as he lied down on the trapdoor that provided the only path to the two's location.

(ooc: Ren, if you wanna start something, then be my guest ;D)

[Jespeon]

Zeelos eyes closed as he answered Chancol. "Vixen was in my pack before it was... destroyed. Amira picked me up not far from our old territory. I thought she was dead until last year. She found me with her new friend, that Quilava! Amira attacked them," he said. At this point his ears flattened on his skull, he opened his eyes and looked at the floor. "I didn't stop her. Amira taught me to do what she told me to. I didn't stop her attacking Vixen..."

"And that was a good thing wasn't it," said Kuro, sarcastically to Zeelo's last comment.

[Ren]

Luna sighed. "A bird-pokemon..." she grumbled, sniffing the air. She looked at Blade. "You're not hurt too bad, are you? I feel like it would be my fault," she said, forgetting the other thing that was on her mind.

((I wouldn't know what to start. ^___^; I'll keep her here with Blade and roll with the punches.))

[Clif]

Chancol couldn't help but agree with Kuro's sarcastic comment, but he showed no expression that supported his mindset. "I have to say that I'm saddened by your heartbreak, especially since you had little to no part in how Vixen was attacked. But I must say, did you really keep your loyalties to the ones who beat you into submission? Or when you pledge your allegiance do you never break that pledge? Do you not have any will of your own?" the charmeleon asked, his dark green eyes drifting towards the hybrid canine, his agitation showing though his glare. "Answer me truthfully..." he voiced before he allowed Zeelo to give his answer.
~

((ooc: If you have any ideas then, just say so, I'll try to put them into motion, say so through either PM or just ooc comment ;D))

Blade nodded, "Okay then, if you say so, I don't want to be up to my neck in my own blood if you neglect the approach of a foreign pokemon," he responded with a small laugh. Slowly the grovyle's gaze drifted upwards to where the bell used to be, since it was broken during the Light-Dark battle it hadn't been replaced, "Nah, I'm not hurt, badly, I'll survive. Don't worry I'm more so a seasoned fighter, and by what you've been saying about yourself, you aren't as experienced as I am," he said teasingly.

[Ren]

She smiled lightly at his teasing. "I'm not. But I'm not dumb either!" she defended. "I can easily take care of myself in a bad situation." She looked away.

[Jespeon]

Zeelo looked away. He couldn't refuse to answer a question that his master had directed at him so he looked back and chose his words carefully. "I have been trained to obey my master, no matter what situation I'm in."

[Clif]

Blade sighed as he lied down once again, looking towards the rest of the fortress, wondering how many traitors there were within the stone walls. Slowly yet surely his eyes narrowed, as if trying to read something. Soon, his face was twisted with frustration and horror; another umbreon had been placed atop a different bell tower, its rings glowing in the dimming twilight sky, "Shit...we failed..." he cursed, "We must return to the Shadowlord! We cannot allow him to to be killed! I'll gather as many allies as I can and rush to the front of the Fortress to defend him. You must go now and warn him of what's going on! Go!" he ordered, lifting the trap door that he had been on.

~
Chancol sighed once again, "Do you at least express you ideas? Have you had always kept quiet upon things that you have thought were of ill-action, do you not try to forewarn your master about possible negative effects?"

[Ren]

Luna's body grew cold as her eyes widened. She nodded at the command and practically flew down the trap door and stairs. As fast as she possibly could, which was pretty fast, she ran to where the Shadowlord, Zeelo, and Kuro were. "Milord!" she exclaimed, out of breath. "Please excuse the interuption, but there are rebel forces in the Fortress," she said frantically, bowing. ~It is of utmost importance that I protect the Shodaowlord.~ she thought.

[Jespeon]

Zeelo gave a sigh of relief at Luna's interruption. "Whats happened?" he asked.

Kuro's eyes flittered from the lizard and hybrid, to the newcomer. "Oh hurrah! More minions," he said, sarcastically. "We have the moss-covered lizard, the disgusting hybrid that doesn't have a life of its own and now this!"

[Ren]

"Silence!" Luna hissed to the bird. She was extremely angry that this rat with wings would dare insult the honorable Shadowlord, but she kept the other curses and insults to herself. She straightened up, looking at the Shadowlord but answering Zeelo's question. "A rebel umbreon signaled for others after a few rebels were defeated. It won't be long now!"

[Clif]

Chancol didn't really mind the bird's insults, he found no physical threat coming from the bird, thus, to the charmeleon Kuro didn't matter at all. Coincidentally, soon after Luna had finished her explanation, a few psychic types had teleported to the front of the Fortress to meet eye to eye with the Shadowlord. Quickly having discussed amongst each other, one alakazam stepped forward and began to speak, "My lord, a rebellion has begun in--"

"Stop, I already know about what's going on now. Quickly I want all of you to go back in and rescue as many loyal as you can, and bring them to the forest just outside the Fortress for cover, then if they can make it on their own in packs of about five, tell them to make way to the ruins further away. Zeelo, Luna, you have a choice, you can either be a rally point for the psychics and-or ruins, or you can go and fight, rescuing as many as you can before heading for the front gates..." Chancol said solemnly, his cold staring eyes drifting past either of his allies and to the Fortress beyond. "Which will it be?" he questioned, his nose quickly picking up the smell of fire, sweat, and blood.

[Jespeon]

"Pfft, you know nothing about war do you?" said Kuro, ruffling his feathers. Before waiting for an answer he spoke again. "Obviously you don't or you wouldn't be trying to bring the few pokemon loyal to you away from glory."

Zeelo growled. "Ok Birdbrain, how would you do it?"

Kuro looked at him sideways. "You have a fair few loyal to you, though I can't see why, and some of them are quite powerful. The fact they are shadow pokemon and the others are not gives you yet another advantage. Send in your weakest first, all in a cluster so it makes you look unorganised and the opponent thinks you're rubbish and drops its guard. Then send in your most powerfull pokemon to catch them off-guard, followed by your middle strength pokemon to circle them. Simple yet effective."

"As much as I hate to agree with him master, he has a good strategy there. If we were to fight, I recommend like that, rather than getting all the pokemon away from here," Zeelo commented.

[Clif]

Chancol tilted his head a little, he didn't believe that defending quickly against this rebellion would prove successful and would lead to death rather than glory, so rather than quickly trying to scramble his allies in a defense, the charmeleon's favorite tactic was to attack when least expected. Yet, despite his dislike for the flaming bird, he decided to accept the tactic and turned towards the psychic types who were waiting orders, "We follow the strategy, bring as many as you can here. Inform any other psychics of the plan but no others." Chancol's calm tone put a confused look on a few of their faces, questioning how seriously the lizard-pokemon was taking the rebellion.

Shortly after the psychics had disappeared, allies by the tens had begun appearing quickly filling the Horde's ranks, even a few left once again, having just shown up in order to let Chancol know that they were also assisting the cause. Turning to Kuro, Chancol had been meaning to ask a question since the bird had been here, not even bothering to try to remember if he had been told earlier, "Kuro, what brings you to the Fortress anyway. If you look down upon the Horde so much, then why do you even bother to associate yourself with us?" he asked, his stoic gaze unchanging.

[Jespeon]

Kuro froze, eyes widening slightly. "I...er... I wanted to tell you how bad you are..." He quickly made up his excuse and sent a question at Chancol to change the subject. "How did something like you become a Shadow lord?"

[Clif]

The charmeleon sighed and shook his head, "Heh, I shouldn't tell anybody how I became Shadowlord...that's a secret for me to keep," Chancol replied, laughing, and at the same time recalling how he obtained his power. His eyes truly lit up with a mischievous glow as as he remembered how many people he had betrayed in order to obtain the title of Shadowlord. Of course, he never placed himself close to those who had helped him out, thus it made it much easier in order to kill anyone and everyone who opposed him from gaining control. Cackling once again, the charmeleon, "If I told you, then others would be after it also..." he said, noting that he was nearly surrounded by his own allies, and despite the fact that they were just allies, Chancol didn't want any spark to a secondary rebellion to throw him out of power.

The platoon swelled greatly, even the Shadowlord himself was quite surprised at the number of allies he had, but he did notice that many were of his evolution line or of the fire type. Oddly enough, many psychic types had remained, most held their position because they actually were used much more often than when other Shadowlords had been in control. ~I guess I've made a few friends here and there...~ Chancol thought to himself as he glanced around, then looked at Zeelo and Luna.

The lizard-pokemon gripped the shoulder of the nearest psychic type who happened to be nearby, in this case it was a kadabra. The psychic pokemon made a mind-link with as many pokemon as he could, allowing the Shadowlord's voice to travel though his link, ordering the first and weakest pokemon to the front of the line, the middle strength to the back, and the highest evolved and strongest to fill the middle.

[Jespeon]

Kuro breathed a secret sigh of relief, having evaded the question. Zeelo had gone off to arrange the stronger Pokemon, ready to attack, and the other Pokemon were slowly filing away. Chancol was stood slightly alone. Now would be the best time to talk to him. "So, lizard," he said, starting off in his usual arrogant way. "How do you run this place? Someone as young as you must have a few tricks to stay in charge."

[Clif]

The charmeleon chuckled, "I've answered one of your questions already, yet you haven't answered any of mine..." his dark green eyes drifted upwards to meet those of the moltres, "Do you think that's fair trade off?" Chancol's cold voice held a calmness about it, never seeming angry at Kuro, yet his tone sent his message of suspicion, "I'm not the one to forget about the tiniest things...if you wish to offer a collateral for the information that you seek, then sure--I'll tell you for a price on my terms, and my terms alone."

The charmeleon smirked as he turned around and began to walk towards the Fortress to help with overseeing the fight;--and at a leisurely pace in order to allow the bird-pokemon to dwell on his answer--he already had thought of his only agreeable condition

[Ren]

"My lord," Luna said, catching up with Chancol. "Excuse me, sir, but where would you like me?" she asked. She knew good and well that she wasn't as strong as many other allies the Shadow Lord had, so she should be in the front. But she thought it best not to do anything without his permission.

[Jespeon]

Kuro growled. "Your conditions??? Why should I do what you say???" he screeched. "What makes you superior you lizard???" He suddenly paused as he remembered why he was here, calming down in an instant as he remembered what had happened before he came here. "What kind of conditions?" he said to Chancol.

[Clif]

Chancol gave a nod to Luna, "You'll be holding up the back, you're a valuable member to the Horde, so I won't put you in the front lines to be butchered like some others; fight well and you'll be fine," the charmeleon replied, his voice holding a slight tone of encouragement, despite his stoic face and body-language.

~
As Kuro replied with a favorable answer, Chancol dismissed Ren and turned back to the moltres, "If you wish to find out how I keep control of some of the more powerful allies to the Horde, I'd rather show you than tell you before hand. Also, if you wish to know, you'll be the one I demonstrate my methods upon. This way it ensures your retaining of my information. Many others know of it but, they're in no state to leak that kind of information--if you understand what I mean..." the charmeleon cackled as he began to approach the flaming bird.

To finish up his terms of compliance, Chancol asked in a cold tone: "So which will it be? Yes or no?"

[Jespeon]

Kuro was about to shout his protest when the black snake entered is mind again. Whatever Chancol would do to him wouldn't be half as bad as what Zilla couls do. He gulped and nodded.

[Clif]

Chancol laughed, "If you say so...now as a forewarning, you may not live through this experience if I see it necessary for you to die, so be a good bird and keep still..." the charmeleon calmly walked up to the much larger bird and raised a hand with one claw pointing in Kuro's direction. After a few moments a clearly visible concentration of shadow energy built up around the charmeleon's hand, pointing towards Kuro's chest. As a confirmation the charmeleon asked, "No second thoughts about this?"

[Jespeon]

"Oh yes, a lot of 'em," said Kuro, in response to Chancols question. Beaten up twice in one day! How could the Dark Lord be treated like this?! He looked longingly into the sky and spotted a shape. He tilted his head inquisitively. It twisted in the sky to reveal a deadly familiar face. "Zilla," he said in a tiny voice. Flicking his wings open he flew into the sky, shouting back at Chancol: "Sorry, got to go! Have a nice life!" And the black bird was gone, flying towards the spot where the Rayquaza had landed.

[Clif]

The charmeleon lowered his arm, a bit disappointed that he didn't do anything to the legendary bird, because even though Kuro was quite the annoying moltres, he was a legendary none the less, and the Horde could use a few more legendaries in its ranks. Chancol shook his head as the strange moltres left the scene, leaving Chancol to assist with calming the rebellion, he sent a shadow message to both Ren and Zeelo, questioning their locations in respect to the front gate; since the fighting had gone on for this long, the initial formation that the large platoon had earlier was scattered, but it had its purpose served.

[Ren]

~I'm about thirty yards from the front gate, my lord.~ Luna answered in her mind, not sure how to answer exactly. She assumed he had heard her and made her way to the front gate.

[Clif]

The charmeleon was able to get a grip upon where the umbreon was, not exactly from her message, but rather from her attempt to contact him; he was able to get the relative position from it but the pulse of shadow-energy that he received allowed him to pinpoint her location. Seeing Luna amongst the large amount of fighting pokemon, Chancol quickly sprinted over to her, shoving friend and foe alike, "Ahh, its good to see that you're alright for now," the char looked about to see that their stronger forces had moved quite a distance in, abandoning the tactic since they had made great progress, giving them an incentive to move quickly, killing as many as they could.

The shadowlord looked towards the rear of the Fortress, feeling an unknown, strong presence, questioning if the rebels had recruited a lucky find. "Luna, have there been any oddities that you've noticed from your standpoint?" He felt as if the fighting was going a little too smooth, wondering if there was an ambush or some sort of trap awaiting his forces.

[Ren]

Luna thought a moment. "No, I haven't SEEN anything weird, but I've had this strange feeling for a while now. Something's not right," she answered, looking around nervously. She smiled. "Maybe it's just me..."