Twilight Glade

[The REAL Joey]

Huddling altogether on a single grand tree which boasted itself as one of the more prominent features of Twilight Glade, were grouped a huge bunch of Murkrow. Peering over the branches and leaves, they had been observing Tanya for a good while now. Tanya herself had been right in discerning that they had flocked to this illustrious tree having had their feathers rustled with the disappearance of the forest's witch. Perhaps the bird's deadening gaze had alerted her to their presence. Nevertheless, this tree was their sanctuary, their fortress. Part of their isolation was due to the fact they were without a leader to guide the gang mob. Having served under an infamous Honchkrow that had held parts of Ilex Forest in its control the flock of Murkrow had followed its word without question. All until one day when the very same Honchkrow disappeared without a trace. Whether the mob boss had fallen to a fate most unpleasant or had been tamed finally by a passing masterful trainer. Facing life without a true leader to guide them, the Murkrow faced an uncertain future.

Thankfully the forest witch had filled the place of the missing Honchkrow but with her sudden disappearance, they were met with uncertainty once more. Getting fed up with the lack of direction, there was one Murkrow that was lying in wait. As Tanya angrily yelled up a storm, her words seemed to resonate with the fledgling crow. For too long it had failed to act on its impulses to fill the role of mob leader. Feeling that this was its chance to prove its superiority to the rest of the Murkrow gang, it suddenly pelted itself off the tree branch, sending a load of the other Murkrow thriving about as they weren't expecting such a scare. Circling around above the skyline of trees, the Murkrow smirked as it saw and opening and dived right now, one wing keeping it aloft and another to keep its hat like plumage in place. Landing with a small bump on a pile of leaves, the Murkrow continued on its smug overconfident grin. Beating this interloper would prove it was the don of dons and give the mob the much needed leadership it deserved.

Starting to slowly trot on its two taloned feet, the dark crow kept its eyes affixed completely on Tanya as it encircled around her twice fold. Each step it took had an unrelenting swagger to it that showed it had a confidence very few in the wild could boast. As if pleased it had conveyed its importance, the bird flapped out its wings and with a huge squawk signalled its battle cry. It may not have had the power of the mob behind it but that wasn't going to stop it from ruffling Tanya's feathers some.



Encounter

---

A swaggering Murkrow (Level 11) has appeared!
Please select a Pokemon to battle.
Proceed to your battle.

[latani]

With Murkrow safely stowed in the ball, Tanya hustled forwards and snatched it up before one of its former friends decided to swoop down and steal it. She knew the birds liked to steal shiny things, and the metal capture device was certainly shiny. Perhaps not in the perpetual gloom of the glade, though. Caladrius nudged Tanya and nodded back at Moka, who was sitting up and shaking herself.

"Take it easy cherie, that was an underhanded trick," Tanya said as she crouched down with her partner. The Golbat nodded, her expression one of anger as she chittered wildly, flapping her wings. A small smile twitched the corner of her lips, but it couldn't chase away the dismal feelings that had started sprouting with the last battle. The lack of sunlight and constant view of trees and fog was beginning to get to her.

How long it would take before they could exit this dreary forest was a mystery for now. Sighing heavily, the red-headed girl straightened up and brushed dirt from her jeans, looking up at the now rather silent flock of Murkrow. They watched her with little change in their expression, some looking away to preen themselves, or others snobbily turning their beaks up.

Caladrius snorted and stamped the ground. Maybe his presence unnerved them, as the fear that had addled the last Murkrow was evident they didn't appreciate a creature of lightning being in their midst. The zebra looked up at them and whinnied loudly, hoping to scare them. Tanya shushed him hurriedly, looking about in the darkening gloom. Evening was fast approaching and she didn't want to think too hard about what may crawl out of the looming darkness.

[Morrigan]

The band of Murkrow were indeed shocked as what took the place of the preciously cocky, power hungry Murkrow was now instead a lone Greatball. The shiny blue coating was enough to capture the attention of one or two birds but really, they weren't that stupid to just flutter down there. In reality, a few of them were pleased that the irritating male whom so wanted to be boss was taken away by that girl, he somewhat deserved it. Afterall, there was currently no one fit enough in their fairly sized flock powerful or well respected enough to take the place of the ever so magnificent Honchkrow. Many of them were just hoping that it's mysterious disappearance would soon be reversed and it's large, white feathered chest would come fluttering through the branches to be with them once more.

The sudden cry from Caladrius sure enough did send a handful of the more weaker, inexperienced Murkrow up higher into the trees. Each of them had to admit, that nasty Thunder Wave was something else, something terrifying. It wasnt everyday in this forest that something would get paralyzed, only the fools who tried eating mushrooms which obviously belonged to a wild Paras would suffer that fate. Plus that huge mouthed bat was just as scary. As noted, some of the Murkrow turned their beaks up down at the girl as if to show little interest. Others rearranging their feathers with their short, curved beaks whilst others merely watched or just cawed in a whisper like manner to one another. As usual, none of them seemed all that interested on fluttering down. This girl had already successfully captured two Murkrow after all, it was more of the case of when this capturing spree will end.

Sighing softly, two particular Murkrow had been watching from the deepest of shadows. One of them appeared to boast quite a confident streak, chest pushed out and head held high. Whilst the other held it's head downward, looking around nervously as if terrified of any slight movement from around them. Especially now that the night was slowly starting to draw in, the more nervous one of the pair was convincing itself that it could hear ghostly wails, it's caws down it's friends ear just proving to be more than annoying. With a harsh slap of it's stretched out, pitch black wing, the forest echoed that sound of a rather flustered squawk, followed by it landing face first in the shrubbery below. Wandering out with a wing rubbing the side of it's face comfortingly, it appeared to Pokemon had just been paralyzed... From where it had fallen, it was now in direct eye contact of Tanya and really, any Pokemon which dared approach her now was obviously in risk of a battle.

A wild Murkrow (Level 15) has appeared to battle!
Select a Pokemon to use.

Battle continuing here.

[latani]

Murkrow
Name: Lady Nox
Gender: Female
Level: 15
Attacks: Peck, Astonish, Pursuit, Wing Attack
Nature: Rash
Personality: Though at first appearing to be a demure, sophisticated yet timid Murkrow, Lady Nox is in fact a devious little bird. She considers herself a matchmaker for Tanya's Pokémon and will attempt to set them up with one another. She speaks her mind and isn't afraid of the consequences, which is good and bad, as she is one of the few Pokémon who loves gossip. Lady Nox is infatuated with Starscream and aspires to be his lady love, a seemingly impossible goal.
---

Tanya let out a long, exaggerated sigh as the Ultra Ball stopped moving. Finally she felt accomplished and ready to leave. This Murkrow, though a little timid, seemed to have a better temperament than the first two she'd captured. Caladrius nudged her palm, waiting for her guidance. "We're done here. This place, quite honestly, is starting to give me the willies," the auburn-haired girl admitted, retrieving the immobile capture device from the ground.

Recalling all her Pokémon but Saphira, she looked back up at the Murkrow and studied them silently. They still seemed shaken by their encounter with her, and likely would be for a while. She'd just waltzed into their midst and taken three of their comrades for her own. If another human came by they'd likely flee to safer refuge, worried they would be subject to the same fate. Shaking her head slightly, Tanya tore her eyes from the flock of birds and steadily headed out of the Glade, hoping to exit the forest before night settled in.

Exiting to Majestic Grove

[Deleted]

Ooc: I hope I am going the right way as the map does not have an arrow heading back to the Forest Shrine no matter which way you go.

As Marchbaby and Kamikaze walked down the narrow path they began to feel the oppressive wave of evil energy that flowed through areas of the forest under the control of the evil spirits. All of the trees in the Glade looked nearly lifeless as if their life force was being sapped by the spirits. Things only got worse when Marchbaby and Kamikaze reached the oldest tree in the Glade and saw one of the evil spirits attacking the tree. The spirit seemed desperate for more energy almost as if it had forseen Marchbaby and Kamikaze heading it's way. It took a while for Marchbaby to clearly make out the spirit as the evil fog began to come back as he approached the evil Pokemon.

When he finally could clearly see the spirit there was no way he could ever mistake what it was. The limbless body and large eyes could only be a Shuppet but unlike Atropos this one was normal colored all be it just as evil as she was. Knowing first hand what Shuppet was capable of Marchbaby was not about to take any risks and just like before he had planned to use Kamikaze as she was great at her job of dispelling the spirits who chose to misbehave. Seeing the spirit she grinned before she looked at her claws. She was ready to put this evil Shuppet 6 feet under like the other spirits but first she had to figure out how to get the ghost Pokemon's attention as it was still entirely focused on sapping the life force from the tree.

Even though Marchbaby's taunting had worked quite well before Kamikaze had a bit of a different plan this time around. As she knew ghost type Pokemon were terrifed of demons such as herself the sound of her species cry alone should be more than enough to get the spirit to acknowledge her and accept a battle as she wanted the spirit to see her face before getting dragged into the fiery abyss. Knowing that time was of the essence Marchbaby was just about to start yelling at the spirit when Kamikaze finally set her plan into motion. As the young demoness took a deep breath she let out a loud " WEA" as loud as her lungs would allow hoping that the spirit was no too focused on the tree that it would not notice her.

Staying to fight the evil Shuppet.

[Morrigan]

OOC: There are three exits in M.G. and one of them leads to the Forest Shrine.

Twilight Glade was just as ominous as previous areas of the Inner Ilex Forest. Cloaked in a thick blanket of dark, dreary trees, the lack of colour on both the tree bark and the foliage made the entire area seem still and lifeless. A strange, mist like glow filled patches of the area where the trees were slightly parted, helping those wandering to see a little better. Not that there was much to see. Since releasing the Cleanse Tag, any left over spirits had grown in strength, wanting to feed even more and the Spirit that was about to make itself known next was discovered by Marchbaby first. Amidst the lifeless trees, where energy once blossomed, was the oldest tree of Twilight Glade. It stood tall and strong, beams of green light flowing softly from between the leaves. But with it came sounds of nattering and clashing, as if something was attacking it.

Floating around the base of the tree trunk was a sight familiar to the male trainer, a Shuppet but maybe it's personality was a little different. Having drawn the life force from the surrounding trees, the tricky ghost was now working on the mother of them all. Only, the way it did so seemed slightly psychotic. Cackling, shrieking and wailing with every slash it made against the tree, to viewers to may have looked useless but the Shuppet was actually preparing itself. The Cleanse Tag was guarded by the hag Misdreavus so no longer sensing her presence meant that someone or something strong was approaching. The Shuppet had suffered death once but it wasn't scared of facing it again. In fact, it was enjoying the idea of danger. Bellowing out a cackle into the air, the Shuppet continued to sharpen it's horn, until the sound of Kamikaze's cry echoed across the Glade.

It's body shuddering, it knew that a cry such as that could only belong to something demonic. A twisted grin covering the Shuppet's face at the thought, it turned to see what it belonged to. It's grin only expanding further, it would only make sense that such a noise belonged to something as dark as a Weavile. Still, the Shuppet did not turn and run, instead, it seemed to grow stronger from it's own fear. Wanting nothing more than to destroyed a demon with it's own powers, the Shuppet approached with an eerie float, twisted grin apparent on it's face.

The Wandering Spirit of Shuppet (Level 17) has appeared!
Please select a Pokemon to use in battle.
The battle will continue here.

[Deleted]

The Shadow Sneak came as a bit of a shock to Marchbaby as he did not suspect Shuppet to know the move. The only other Shuppet he had even known the move was his own and due to her evil nature she liked to use Curse far more. She had a sick obsession with pain and misery and as soon as she felt the Shuppet fall in defeat she busted out of her Pokeball to run her mouth again. " Why the hell did you destroy him? He was an idiot there is no questioning that but with the power he had he would have made a wonderful slave to me. Now I will have to use my own powers to spread misery and woe instead of having a slave to spread it for me while I watched. Can you please spare the next male spirit you find so I can have him as a slave?" She asked as Marchbaby grew more annoyed at her by the minute.

Before he could even think of what to say to Atropos Kamikaze stepped in ready to lash out at the bleached Shuppet for always getting on her nerves. The demoness had put up with Atropos's ramblings ever since they first met and Kamikaze was just about to snap. Just before all hell could break loose Shocker popped out of it's Pokeball and broke them up. Kamikaze slowly calmed down and spared Atropos for the time being only out of respect for it or else she would have torn Atropos into shreds. After witnessing the events from his Pokeball Bonecrusher came out as well trying to help keep the peace. He was not as powerful as Shocker but both of the girls knew he was tough for his size and if nothing else his head made a fantastic battering ram. With the situation at least partially under control he had to figure out which way to go next.

He was pretty sure he was close to the shrie as a swirling purple cloud appeared in the sky. It looked to have a tornado like shape that touched down in the area of the shrine. It made a great marking point towards the right direction however there was still a way to go and the direction the group had to head in was covered in the all to familiar fog that only appeared when an evil spirit was nearby. Seeing no other choice Marchbaby and the group headed into the fog hoping for the best.

Moving on to the Majestic Grove.

[Tiki]

-coming from Putrid Swamp

After walking for a bit, Alex seemed to have finally gotten past the smelly area that was plaguing his smell. After a while, he seemed to entered an area where even the moonlight have a hard time shining in the forest. There seemed to be a prevalent fog on top of the usual, cursed fog. He could feel the moisture in the air, and even see some water droplets twinkle on tree barks. This was an area of double fogged filtered moonlight. With his Pokemon by him, he finally take a pause to say thank about the earlier battle, where he could hardly breath.

Then, holding Chikorita with one hand, he recalled Lombre, as he thought that his Cacnea and Ariados could take it from here, should more ghost appear. He would have to save his Lombre's power of Ice Beam at a much later time.

-le waits-

[Morrigan]

Leaving the putrid smell of the swamp behind him, Alex continued on his spirit quelling mission but not before taking a moment to check over his Pokemon. Twilight Glade was a dim area, with only an ethereal glow lighting the way through the darkness. The same purple, life draining fog cloaked the ground he walked and if anything, the feeling of despair and fierce eyes watching over his movements only grew stronger. Alex was becoming closer and closer to the source of the problem at hand, the Forest Shrine being a mere stones throw away at this point. But first, he needed to traverse the mystical glade and perhaps find and destroy another spirit along the way.

As his arm wrapped around the body of the Chikorita, it's face seemed to wince in more pain than usual. A weak voice escaping it's pursed lips, all of a sudden, a strong gust of wind blew past the group. Drawn in from the pain that the grass type was experiencing, another ghost spun it's way into view admist the shadowed trees up ahead. It had a dark, floating body with crazed eyes which seemed to pierce into ones very soul. Parting it's mouth, a loud shriek echoed throughout the deathly still forest and with a wild swoop, the Shuppet went straight for the Chikorita in Alex's arms. Wanting nothing more than to curse the grass type with further pain and drain it's remaining, delicious energy.

The Wandering Spirit of Shuppet (Level 17) has appeared!
Please select a Pokemon to use in battle.
The battle will continue here.

[Tiki]

With the Shuppet defeated, Alex continued on looking for the mysterious valley to save this Chikorita. Though honestly, he felt kind of lost because he don't even know what this Ilex Forest maze would be like. Holding the grass type Pokemon on his hands, and with his Cacnea and Ariados following after him, he continued to find this tag and valley thing. He have no idea how much time he have left, but he was hoping the Chikorita would pull through. Though this strange supernatural quest had made him a bit cranky, as he really needed sleep, so badly.

-going to Majestic Grove-

#filler about needing sleep

[Tiki]

-Putrid Swamp-

It didn't take him a long time to pass through the stinky muddy swamp of the forest. In a matter of couple of minutes, he was able to make it out and breath fresh air. Well, if he wasn't this tired he might have enjoy the area much, much better. This area was also familiar to him, something about moonlight shining through the dense forest. One thing he did notice though, was that the sky appeared a little brighter than previously... What was going on? Was he dying from sleeplessness? Or perhaps, could it be? It was sun rise already?

-Majestic Grove-

[Marchbaby]

OOC: Coming from the Putrid Swamp.



The end of the stench from the Putrid Swamp was wonderful and as luck would have it the next area known as the Twilight Glade was very spooky being a perfect place for both himself and his Pokemon. The eerie fog in the area felt strangely familiar but it was a completely different color and thickness when compared to the earlier fogs. As much as Tyler wanted to deny it he had no real question in his mind that another spirit was going to try and block his path. They were quite the little annoyance at every turn but they were no major threat at all. Even with Mania by his side though he knew the fog would act as a wall until the spirit was dealt with.

" I have utterly destroyed countless of your kind, do you really think you can stop me? I know from experience your kind are dumb but you are psychotic to try and stop me. Do as you must but in the end you will suffer for your actions." He had gotten into the habbit of enticing and instigating the spirits to make their presence known and it worked like a charm so far. Under most circumstances he would have tried physical violence to get them to show up but as spirits they were immune to torture of a physical nature unless said things were infused with black magic. Mania's claws were the closest things the a dark arts ritual he could get as they were able to tear even spirits apart.

" I am ready to strike anything that gets in our way. We are so close to this horrible day being finished once and for all." She said as she looked around trying to locate the spirit. Her nose acted like radar pointing her to a tall, skinny tree ahead of them. She could not get an exact location but it was close enough as Mania had the reflexes to catch any spirit as soon as they appeared. " Mania like you always do get ready to strike. I do not want to give this spirit any breathing room at all. They deserve to all suffer as much as you can inflict upon them." They continued waiting for the spirit as their patience grew thin. The games the spirits tried to play were not very amusing at all and Tyler would not stop his brutality towards the spirits until they were all destroyed and the curse was lifted.



OOC: Waiting on the spirit encounter.

[Lamont]

To no one's surprise there were unseen eyes peering down from above, watching the lustful human trample about the forest. Frankly it was rather hard to miss such a spirited man moving throughout the wood, and not just because of his teasing calls. Of course the fading chikorita had something to do with it but for this particular ghost it was slightly more interested in the trainer. He seeped negative emotions, all kinds of juicy feelings that this particular wandering spirit found a near delicacy. Not too many who trek Ilex Forest were of his type which only made him more enticing.

Unfortunately for the ghost pokémon it was so enveloped in Tyler's aura that any words he was spewing were lost to the background; mere noise fading into the ethereal haunt. The ghost approached. Camouflaged amidst the fog and dark underlay of the forest. It stayed low in order to avoid its quarries searching eyes but that only lasted so long as it was covering the distance between them. Once it was close the thing burst upward in a hail of twig, moss, and leaf. It wailed a ghostly wail and ruffled its sheet-like edges, though it lacked any arms to speak of.

A spooky Shuppet (LV 17) appeared!
Proceed here to battle

[Marchbaby]

Tyler was so close to his goal now that the Shuppet had been vanquished. If he remembered correctly there was only one more stop to make before he would arrive at the shrine and end this nightmare. The poor Chikorita he was carrying even seemed to take notice that the quest was nearly complete as it looked up at him with tears in her eyes. She knew he was not a very nice man at heart but she still would owe him her life for going through all this trouble for her. He certainly had done more then sshe could ever have even begged him for by now. Even her slightest show of affection did not impress Tyler at all as he looked over at Mania.

Mania did not care so much for the Chikorita's safety as much as she cared about leveling up again. That last spirit's defeat added a tiny bit of extra power for her to use in future battles and she had a feeling she would need it by the time this whole mess got sorted out. She wanted to avoid having Höllenhund help at any cost as him being the dominant one in the pair was bad enough for her. She was getting closer to her goal of bringing him down but for now she had to keep growing stronger so she could finally put him in his place. She would need to learn more diversive moves if she were to bring if down and leveling up would at least open up more options. Getting to Goldenrod would also help as the store there had moves that she could learn to improve her effectiveness.

With how close they were to the big city this quest had been quite a painful distraction but once it was over the training Mania received and the Chikorita would be worth all the time they needed to invest. Goldenrod was not going anywhere fast and it was not like headquarters had anything urgent for Tyler to take care of as much as he wanted to report his early successes. " Ok we have wasted enough time here. The Majestic Grove will be our last stop before we will finally be at the shrine. Once we get there and wrap this disaster up we will be able to report all of this mess to headquarters. With any luck they will give me a promotion for all this trouble." He said as they approached the outskirts of the Majestic Grove.




OOC: Going to the Majestic Grove.

[Marchbaby]

Coming from the Putrid Swamp.


As Kevin reached the Twilight Glade the all too familiar curse was clearly impacting the area as he felt his legs grow weak beneath him. Oracle and Samantha both quickly picked up on the Aura of an evil spirit nearby and Kevin knew defeating it was the only way he was going to be able to move on. " These spirits really do not know when to give up. A shame they are trying to harm this poor Chikorita as such persistence could be used in far better ways." Before he could even say another word Eiskalt jumped in front of him scanning for the evil spirit. She was not going to let it get anywhere near the defenseless Chikorita.

" Eiskalt you sure have been on the ball lately. I wonder which spirit will be brave enough to challenge you next?" He wondered as he waited for the specter to build up enough bravery to appear.



OOC: Waiting on the spirit encounter.