The CASTLE Team

The fox pokemon watched a another of it's species, but it's evolved form, came from behind and used Dark Pulse, killing the ghost type. Then the snake wrapped itself around the Ninetales leg. The fox looked at the two and for a moment she remembered her past, but shook her head. Seems your friend is here to protect you, so looks like it's time for me to leave. The fox said as she turned and walked off, waving her tails at the Ninetales and Ekans.

As the fox left behind the other two, she heard a scream. "HELP!" Her ears twitched as the panic in the voice almost slapped her in the face. She knew only two reason's why someone would scream like that. She picked up speed as she followed the voice. As she followed the voice she keep going deeper and deeper. She had never been this far in the ruins before.

Soon the fox came up on a room full of Quick Sand and in the middle, a black Meowth! The Meowth was slowly getting smaller and smaller as it struggled to get out of the sand. Idiot! Does it relies the more it struggles the faster it'll sink?! The fox thought as she looked around for something.

As she scanned the room she saw a vine that dangled from the ceiling, but of course it had to be on the other side of the room. Which was not even close the Meowth. She growled as she turned to the Meowth, who's head was just barely above the sand, and she growled a command, If you want to live, I'd stop moving if I were you! This is Quick Sand, so the more you struggle the faster you sink!

The fox looked at the sand and remembered when she had gotten stuck in the sand. There was only one way to this feline out safely. She was going to need to make the sand glass. Just as the fire in her stomach started to flare up she yelled to the Meowth, Whatever you do, DON'T MOVE! As she finished the sentence, a pillar of fire shot out of her mouth and aimed just to the side of the Meowth. The fox made sure that the feline would not feel the flames lick at his fur, while she did this. She just hoped he would listen.

Flying towards the castle, Arco could hear voices. One voice seemed to be yelling at another. She was at a window. There was a Vulpix, a black version of its evolved form, Ninetales, and a black Meowth.

What are they all doing here? They're not native to Unova. Arco thought. It was the Vulpix that was the angry one, yelling at the Meowth.

"Let me help" Arco called out. She flew above the Meowth's head and flapped her wings. "You wanna get out? Grab my talons."

The Banette grinned as they didn't even knew he was there. This was tremendous. He should play a bit with these little low lives a little longer. As he continued to walk through this sandy hell, his ears came up to a scream, someone was begging for help. He floated towards the place where the scream was taking place and found a Meowth, a Vulpix and an Archen with a scent of blood were seen.

This is too great. He grinned as his eyes started glowing red, with one finger he pointed at the Meowth and made it float with his Telekinises attack, he swinged it up to try hit the Archen than flunged it towards the Vulpix. Even if he made the Meowth hit the Vulpix and the Archen or not, that would all depend if the little suckers were lucky.

He turned around and walked away, eventually there was something else as interesting as that troublesome trio...Maybe someone else in danger in need of being saved maybe? Some more tricks to play into? The Banette grinned with malice.

"If you want to live, I'd stop moving if I were you! This is Quick Sand, so the more you struggle the faster you sink!" Coal heard the voice and looked to see a Vulpix, he listened to it and stopped moving, still scared as he continues to sink, though not as fast. "Whatever you do, DON'T MOVE!" He was going to ask why just as a blast of fire came hurtling toward the sand next to him. He let out an eek, but did the best he could not to move and inch, even though he could feel the fires heat, he wasn't in any danger of getting singed.

"Let me help" Coal twitched his ears as another voice reached him, come from, above? Coal looked up to see a strange, flying, lizard, thing. He had no idea what that was, but it seemed like it wanted to help him to, though with those purple he didn't know if it could be trusted or not.

Before Coal could even reach out for its talons he was suddenly lifted out of the sand, just missing the flying lizard. His eyes where wide with confusion before he was flung at the Vulpix, though like the flying lizard, just just barely managed to hit it, skidding on the ground a little past the fire type. He let out a moan as he sat up and shook his head. "What just happened?" He said as he looked over his shoulder. How did he just suddenly fly out of that quicksand?

Caim expected the snake to be grateful, and she was, at least. What he didn't expect was her wrapping herself around his forearm and not letting go. He made a strange, disgruntled grunt as he tried moving his arm away from her, or even trying to pry her off of him with his back legs, but no. She threatened the safety of his circulation and here merely glared at her in irritation.

What's more, she couldn't read.

Damn it.

Making a disdainful face at the world, his attention turned to the weird figure wriggled in the sand. The vulpix shouted for it to not move since it was quicksand, but that comment made Caim flatten his ears. Quicksand was how they entered this particular chamber... So it would need to move more in order to not suffocate and pop into the chamber like he and the snake had. Telling the figure to not move would likely cause it to suffocate in the crushing sands.

Dumb kid.

His tails twitched as he watched the sight for a bit, then turned to walk back down the corridor that everyone kept him from investigating... or at least it seemed that way. Walking was a littl difficult with the snake, but his odd gimp was enough to get him moving. He did not notice the figure fly out of the sands via psychic powers, nor did he pay any attention to any dialogue.

He needed to find that damn charizard. And that was that.

Deanna curled tighter as Black Monster walked, surprised that he didn't just try to shake her off. She didn't notice the glare he gave her before he started moving, however, or she might have tried letting go. At the moment she was just grateful that he didn't want to eat her, and that he had actually saved her.

Others were in the ruins besides the strange looking fox. A freaky looking bird, which made her his in apprehension as she hated avian Pokemon, and a solid black cat had joined her. They seemed to be fighting with the sinkholes that led to the lower levels. She herself had been afraid of them at first, and only panicked with the one that brought her and Black Monster to this floor because she forgot it was there. Silly creatures, it was only sand.

Deanna hissed in pain as she bumped the floor. She was giving Black Monster a gimp, with hall her extra weight on his leg, causing that side of his body to come closer to the floor. Her scales scratched a few times and it hurt. She was just too long to stay attached to him like this. Realizing she would have to let go of her perch she hissed a little sigh and began to let go, only to nearly crash to the floor. In a panic she tightened her grip like a vice. He wasn't being very considerate...

Quietly, as subtle as she could, she slithered up his chest. Now curled around his neck like a scarf, her head coming to rest on top of Black Monster's, she looked to where he was going. He moved deeper into the ruins than she had ever been and it concerned her. Leaning down right into his sensitive ears, where her tongue could brush the delicate furs, she hissed a timid whisper. "Where are we going?"

(OOC: Please skip. Don't have enough time to post. Just say that she introduced herself and sorta walked away, but please stop her]

(OCC: Skipmeplease. I'm having writters block, he's just stalking the Ninetales.)

No one seamed to answer him when he asked what happened, but he didn't mind, he was out of the quick sand and that was all he cared about right now. Coal let out a sigh as he turned to the Vulpix, who had introduced herself as Snow. He was about to thank her when she just started to walk away. Not understanding what he should do he ran after her. "Wait!" He said as he came into pace the a fox pokemon. "You mind if I tag along with you? You seem to know you way around this place better then I do." He added as he looked at his paws before back at the Vulpix.

Before he had run after her he though he had seen something that looked like a Ninetails, only it was black, just like him. He figured he was just seeing things, but he wandered if he wasn't and that black ninetails was real, then he wasn't the only off coloured pokemon out there, he knew he wasn't, but meeting another would probably make him happy, since both of them where nether normal or shiny.

It was bad enough that the snake had attached herself to his leg, but she seemed to understand that he could not walk properly with her trying to mimic a living leg warmer. However, she made matters worse when she climbed and slithered up his leg to around his neck, his paranoia rising. It would be too easy for her to choke him...

He felt her weight rest against the top of his head for a moment before it slipped to the side. "Where are we going?" she whispered.

The sentence was lost to the midnight ninetales as the serpentine tongue tickled the fine furs that rested within the cavern of his ear. His muscles stopped, his fur bristled, his eyes crossed a little as the sensation proved too much. "GYRAAAH!" his voice, unrefined and course, bellowed through the small room and hallway. He immediately plopped his rump down and started scratching at the affronted ear, the tickling sensation dying down.

He gave the small snake a glare, panting a little from the sudden jolt of adrenaline. The tattoo was plain in sight, but that was not his concern right now. He gave a low growl, but stood nonetheless and shook himself free of sand and embarrassment, before moving forward.

-----


The old dragon's eyes opened slightly to the normal dim lighting the large cavernous room offered. She allowed a low growl rumble through her throat and chest as she lifted her head to examine the room around her. Nothing had changed, but something had happened to awake her from her slumber. The Dead had been eradicated from her sanctuary, and the only other way out was blocked. She remained in the room, however, because as the eerie silence prevailed, she could hear something stirring from the other side of the wall...

Her large wings stretched as her acute hearing scoured the stale air for other sounds other than the mysterious shifting. There were voices on the gentle wind, words indiscernible. Her gaze narrowed. Voices... She had not heard the voice of another for quite some time, even Caim's telepathic drabble had been lost to her since the strange rift. She drug herself to her feet, using her strong wing thumbs as support. It seemed that this needed investigation...

The little snake was jolted as Black Monster reared back and began howling like she hurt him. Deanna barely hung on to his neck by one coil of her tail as he planted himself on the ground and began furiously scratching at his ear. Oh...oops. She didn't mean to cause him any discomfort. She didn't have fur so she never realized how sensitive his ears might be.

As she hung down from his neck rather loosely, she took a peek at him from under his chin. He leveled her with a glare. He was panting from shock, and Deanna could make out strange little pictures in his mouth. 'What are those for?' she wondered.

In an attempt at an apology, she curled back around his neck and gave under his chin a small head bump. It was a sign of affection she used to give her owner when the woman was sad. It always worked back then, so maybe it would now. He shook himself of the dust and sand from the floor and moved onward. If he accepted her apology, Deann had no idea, but she did know she probably wasn't getting an answer to the question that started all of that.

"Wait! You mind if I tag along with you? You seem to know you way around this place better then I do." The Meowth asked as he quickly came into pace with the fox. The fox looked the Meowth up and down. Fine, but you better be able to keep up. The Vulpix said as she flicked her tails in the face of the Meowth. What's you name kid? Snow asked as she padded through the the corridors of the ruins.

(OOC: Sorry for the short post. That's all I got for now.)

The Banette kept on walking, and following a strange colored Ninetales, it seemed to not notice him, not even the Ekans that was latched to it like a life sucking pest. She seemed to try to comunicate with him although the Ninetales became irritated.

It started to scratch the ear furiously and growled at the Ekans, the Ekans tried to apologize, but it was hard to tell if the Ninetales accepted the apology or not. The Banette seemed to be interested by this weird bunch even more by the second. He wished to continue to follow them...and so he kept on following them, trying to see if they would ever notice his presence.

"Fine, but you better be able to keep up. What's you name kid?" The vulpix asked as she flicked her tails into his face. He managed a small smile, before it dissapeared. He didn't want to be alone, but he didn't want to get close eather.

"My name is Coal." The meowth said as he kept pace with Snow. He had to keep telling himself he was only with her cause of safty in numbers, but all he wanted was to make friends with the vulpix, but he didn't want to feel the saddness he felt the day his real friends died, never again.

Caim was more than a little irritated at the small snake, so when she tried being a little affectionate -or at least, he guessed that's what the little bump on his chin was- she was completely ignored. The two other kids in the room with he and the snake seemed to go off on their own direction. That was fine by him; but a small nagging in the back of his head made him pause. His sapphire eyes watched their forms minimize as they walked away, but in doing so, his gaze caught something else.

His ears swiveled before his head did, catching the sands shifting behind him. He turned to find a banette, clad in a white coat, stalking him. The ninetales' eyes narrowed and his tails swished in irritation. He was not going to just brush this one off like he had the snake; there was something weird about this one... Well, weird other than being in a lab coat and having something sticking out of the side of his head.

Caim merely stared, waiting for the other to move.

-----


It was embarrassing, really.

Her, a great, powerful dragon, getting lost within the walls of the old ruin. A snarl creased her worn face, her lethal fangs glimmering in the dim light. She could clearly see the disturbed sand in front of her, meaning she had already come this way. Fantastic. She let out a puff of smoky flame as her irritation grew, threatening to break her stoic expression. This was ludicrous.

She tromped off in a different direction, hoping for better results. She would be damned if she allowed a bloody human invention beat her. Her stocky legs tromped, and, after a moment of her back aching, she dropped down for her powerful wing thumbs to balance her posture, walking on them much like a bat.

Her massive head swiveled as she reached a fork in the tunnels. She paused a moment to feel if any breeze was there, but... no. Nothing but stale, stagnant air. She huffed again, and then just picked a direction, relying on her instinct to guide her. She wanted to find the voices... and she wasn't going to let the world give her a "No" for an answer...

She sighed as Black Monster ignored her apology. But honestly, what did she expect? It wasn't like they were best friends or anything. She was only clinging to him because he was the only form of protection she had in this place. Deanna saw the others out of the corner of her eye, but they ignored her and Monster so she ignored them too. Fine by her, she didn't like crowds as they made her nervous. Monster's fur was really soft and warm, and the little Ekans found herself snuggling into it.

His head swirling around nearly dislodged her, but Deanna held tight. The soft fur she had just been nuzzling was starting to bristle and she realized that must mean he was upset. 'What an odd thing for it to do,' she thought about the fur. Scales were so much simpler than all this. She followed Monster's line of sight and saw a strange looking Pokemon in the corner. She had no idea what it was or why it was wearing people clothes, but she settled with not liking it simply because it was weird.

As she walked through the ruins with the Meowth, she heard him respond to her previous question, "My name is Coal." She nodded her head as the darkness became endless. She sniffed the air. The air was stuffy and thick with sand and dirt. Snow wrinkled her nose at the smell, then sneezed. Damn dirt. Let's hurry. This area is big on undead.

The Vulpix said as she turned and pointed with her paw toward the sound of footsteps. As she listened to the footsteps, she leaned in toward Coal and whispered in his ear, Come on. We need to get moving. Snow said as she padded forward. She was in no mood to deal with a undead down here. She huffed as the sounds of footsteps started again behind the two. She growled as she prepared a Energy Ball.

The Banette kept walking, his grin grew wide as he could see that both the pokemon notecied his presence, he started to walk as if he was going upstairs...no...he was walking in thin air. He kept on walking ending up walking upside down and going past the Ninetales, he started to walking down vertically and he standed right infront of the being.

Even if the Ninetales would walk the Banette stayed always, unmovingly, in front of the Ninetales. Eventually there was some sort of ability taking place here like Telekinises. He didn't spoke nor even grinned, his face was neutral and he seemed to examine every inch of both the Ninetales and the Ekans. He floated to the side of the Ninetales and stayed near it still floating.

Such fascinating being, he thought...Wondering how it could've been of this color, even though what intrigued is if it could talk at all. The Banette didn't recorded the Ninetales ever mention a word...The Ekans he knows it can talk, he heard the snake speak earlier.

Snow simply nodded when Coal introduced himself, and he simply smiled, though it was probably hard to tell in this darkness, seeing as he was dark coloured as well, his silver charm giving off a faint glow. It was probably the only thing telling the Vulpix where he was. "Damn dirt. Let's hurry. This area is big on undead." She complained as she let out a sneeze, and he had to agree. He wasn't very fond of this place ether, especially since he almost got sucked into a quicksand, he didn't want to do that again.

Everything was quiet till Coal perked his ears when he heard footsteps. He looked over his shoulder, though he didn't see anything, and it wasn't there paws making the sound, cause this sounded like it was coming from someplace else. "Come on. We need to get moving." Snow said in his ear, and he nodded in agreement. Picking up the pace as he kept himself from making any unwanted noise.

Mara had been traveling a long time and she was exhausted. Her feet dragged in the dry sand as she padded hopelessly through the dark maze. The young Charmander was undernourished and exhausted. She had been on the move constantly since she left her old friends behind, barely stopping to sleep or even eat. Her tails' flame was flickering weakly, making strange shadows play on the ruins' walls around her.
"Ashes...Ashes..." She cried out weakly, her throat dry and her voice hoarse. Shadows from her past haunted her as she stumbled through the darkness.
"No...leave me alone...! Where's Ashes?!" She whimpered angrily, swatting madly at the air around her.
He has to be around here! He ALWAYS wanted to come here! He's got to be here...
Suddenly, she saw flames flickering, not far from her. Her brilliant emerald eyes widened as she dashed forward.
"Ashes!?" She asked the flame, her voice echoing loudly. As she got closer, she saw that the flame was attached to a tail, and there was an outline of wings in front of it!
"Ashes! Please, sto-ooof!" The little Charmanders' legs collapsed under her, bringing her face to meet the ground, just inches away from the flame.

(OoC- good to be here! The Charizard is Silverishness', and not Ashes just yet. Also, a few things you all should know about Mara. She has a deep voice and acts like a boy. Matter of fact, she should be mistaken for a male, if that's okay with everyone~)

Caim simply glared at the ghost, who was determined to stay in front of him no matter what, for just a few moments. Those moments, he wondered why he didn't just char the ass, but something held him back. Weird. He'd never had any problems with restraint before. His eyes glanced down to the little snake on his neck. Maybe he was holding back to not hurt her? Huh. Would be a first.

Once the ghost decided it would be a better view from above, Caim took that opportunity to move forward again. Creep. Whatever it wanted, it seemed suited enough to just sit and watch. As long as it let him do his own thing, he really didn't care. He needed to find the charizard and then go looking for Manah. Then, he'd rip her throat out and feed her her own intestines... not particularly in that order. He was still thinking it out. Once more, he passed by without a word to either pokemon and kept moving.

__________________


Angelus growled as she rounded another corner to find another dead end. This was it. Her tail flopped against the sand in vexation and she studied the old wall before her that insisted on mocking her. Another wall. She hated these walls. And she destroyed what she didn't like.

Letting out a puff of smoke, she took a few steps back to get enough room to not harm herself over the lashback of the attack she was about to use. No wall was going to contain her, especially in this God-forsaken labyrinth. However, she heard voices again, this time much clearer. She paused to lift her head, listening. "Ashes... Ashes..." the voice called.

'Ashes?' she queried herself. There were more calls, more pleas for these "Ashes". Odd. In a land of sand, why need Ashes? However, she suddenly noticed the quick footfalls behind her and suddenly, a small charmander appeared from the corner she had just rounded. "Ashes! Please, sto-ooof!" the child cried as he tripped over... something... in the sand.

Angelus growled a little, her pale eyes looking over the child in the dim light their two tails produced. The child's was much gentler, much smaller than her own brazen flame. It showed his innocence and naievete. "I am not this 'Ashes' you seek, Child," she growled, putting her attention back to the wall. "Leave, before I eat you."

Deanna hissed angrily at the strange pokemon that suddenly appeared in front of them. She wasn't even sure what it was, she just knew it was a ghost. It had been following them for who knows how long and just now decided to get in Monster's way? Why? All it did was circle them like a vulture, a creepy grin on its face. She curled around Monster's neck some more and hid her face in the soft fur coming from his head. She didn't want to look at the creepy thing anymore. It reminded her of the Seviper...

She didn't even notice when Black Monster started moving again, but eventually she saw that the thing was no longer in front of them when she poked her head out of his 'hair'. She never noticed it was on the ceiling. But she did feel that something was...off. She tapped her tail on Monster's shoulder to get his attention. "Hold still a moment," she told him softly, her eyes closed. "I need to check..." Deanna trailed off and slipped her tail to the floor, letting it rest there.

She was checking the vibrations, and there was something there on the floor below this one. Pulling her tail back up and then sliding her head to the floor she listened. The vibrations had different frequencies, voices. There were Pokemon on the floor beneath them, and one of them sounded big. Pulling her full body back onto Monster she placed her head on top of his. "There are two Pokemon underneath us. One big and female, the other small and undetermined. It didn't speak enough for me to tell the pitch."

(Skip please)

He kept following them. He was so curious about these beings, running his fingers through the zipper as if a nervous habbit, he wondered what would they be looking for. The snake seemed bothered for his presence, he smirked at that feeling, it's good to fear. She asked to the Ninetales to hold still, she seemed to wish to feel the ground beneath them.

She started to describe there were two beings under them, one's quite being the other is small, the bigger one had a female voice, following what the Ekans was saying. With a calm and colected voice, slightly monotone to the ears of the others he spoke his oppinon If it's someone you are looking for I would advise let yourselves fall through quick sand, it would let you go down to the lower floors, if you prefer to stay away than avoid them.

Coal wasn't sure about the noise, but he was wondering if there where other pokemon in here with them. "Hey, Snow. You think there are other living pokemon down here with us?" He asked, remembering that black ninetales he had seen earlier that he believed to be nothing but his mind playing tricks on him, but now that he had time to think about it, it didn't really seem like a false trick of the eyes. And that sound, could it have been from another pokemon to?

Coal kept looking over his shoulder as he walked in pace with the Vulpix, waiting for her to answer his question, if she answered at all.