Welcome to Gaia! ::

The men stood on the shore and watched the boat leave. Several of them left leaving just the one. He stared at the boat for a few moments longer with a scowl. He turned and then disappeared into the darkness. He’d do some digging and find out where that boat was going. If it was going near he’d follow after and resume pursuit of the target. If it was far.... well then he’d pass the mission on to someone else.

Blue eyes watched as the man disappeared into the darkness from on the boat. When the man was out of sight, a small sigh was heard. Darting into the shadow of some boxes the owner of the blue eyes evaded the shipmates who were walking around the deck. When it was clear a dark shape darted for the stairs to head down below. The shape was clearly a pokemon, not human. Probably explained why those men in black were so interested in her.
Taking in the space below the deck, the pokemon decided it was best to hide from all humans. After all the last time she was with humans... well they all ended up dead or were chasing her. The pokemon hid in the shadows and slipped under a closed door to hide in a storage room. Hiding herself in the shadow of some crates, she settled down to rest. She couldn’t sleep, not after all that had happened and for another reason. She was a Darkrai: bringer of nightmares. If she slept then it was likely that everyone else who was sleeping on this boat would have nightmares. So there was no sleep for her.

As she settled down she made sure to stay in the shadows, literally. She could slip into the shadows and hide and never been seen unless she moved to another one or there was enough light to show some body part of hers. Finally sure she was covered and wouldn’t be spotted she relaxed some. It had been a horrible few weeks being chased by those men particularly that one man, the man who turned her best friend against her. A sob escaped her as she thought about Euterpe and the island. That island was now gone, burned to the ground by those men.

The dream faded and warped as Melpomene shifted in her sleep. This time Hope was older by several years. The duo was currently in the Unova region. When they left on their journey they had left Euterpe in charge of protecting the island with the promise that Hope’s family would summon them back if help was needed. None was so they had continued to travel after they had covered much of the Sinnoh region. They were in Castelia City and Hope was taking in the sights. Melpomene usually stayed in her pokeball so as to not scare everyone.

During their stay in Castelia City Hope met an interesting blonde haired man. He told her fabulous stories from his travels around the world and in exchange Hope told him of an island where the people worshipped a Cressalia and a Darkrai. The man seemed interested in this and said it must be those twin islands: Newmoon or Fullmoon Island. Hope merely shrugged to evade answering since she wasn’t supposed to tell about the island being protected by the two legendaries. After listening to a few more stories she parted ways with the man and continued her journey. Later that night when Hope let Melpomene out and told her about the stories the man had told, the Darkrai wondered if Hope’s little slip would come back to haunt them.

A sound from the ship just about woke the Darkrai. She opened her eyes and glanced around. Everything was the same and she fell back asleep. The dream was different this time. It was at least a year later from the last dream and Hope was worried.

“Do you think... that man is the reason the island was attacked? I mean I hear how there’s a new guy there helping out but do you think that the whole reason the island was found and attacked was my fault?” Hope asked looking to her guardian.

Melpomene shook her head. “Of course not Hope. You didn’t tell that man where the island was and from what your family has said it was Team Rocket had been the cause. Everything will be okay. We’re already heading in the direction of home. Maybe we can swing by and check things out.” The Darkrai said. Hope was reassured by that and settled down. They did have a big match coming up and she needed to focus on that.

The match had gone fine and all but when it was over Melpomene was nearly a basket case. She could sense something was wrong or rather that something was wrong with someone. Not just any someone but her other partner, Euterpe. Hope picked up on this and went to the pokemon center to call home. What awaited them was horrible news. Team Rocket had showed up and attacked again. Euterpe had been injured and that stranger, Devin, had betrayed them all. He captured Euterpe with a strange ball that turned her into an evil pokemon. They hadn’t stayed long. In fact after capturing Euterpe, Team Rocket had left the island like their rear ends were on fire. With both guardians gone from the island Hope and Melpomene needed to return quickly. The island was defenseless without at least one guardian. Hope promised to be home soon before hanging up. She told Melpomene the news causing her to break down in tears at failing her friend. “If only I had been there...” Melpomene wept.

“If you had been there then you probably would have been caught too. We have a chance to prevent the island from being unprotected.” Hope said. She got her partner to stop crying and ready for the trip ahead; they were heading home.

When she heard that first shot she had frozen. Guns on the island? Unheard of. Soon another shot was fired and then the screams began. That got Melpomene moving and she flew over the ground, racing towards town. When she reached the town she cried out in horror. The people of the island were laying there on the ground not moving. She went to them and tried to get them to move, to open their eyes. None of them did but her pure white body now carried some blood stains from where she had knelt in the blood.

She glanced up from where she was when she heard more gunshots. These came from Hope’s home up on the big hill. She floated up and raced towards home. There was still no sign of the intruder or intruders. Apparently she had missed those in town or they weren’t interested in her. She only knew this because she could hear more gunshots coming from that direction. However she ignored them as she spotted two bodies on the ground near the big house. She rushed up to Hope’s parents and cried over them. Her previous charge, Hope’s mother, reached a bloody hand up and held hands with Melpomene. She tried to say something but no words came out. The light went out in her eyes and the hand fell out of Melpomene’s. She bent over the bodies and wept mourning the loss of so much life.

A cry of pain brought Melpomene out of her mourning. Her head snapped up and she looked around. She didn’t see anyone but from the cry it sounded like Hope. She got up and floated around looking for her. She ended up going through the house but saw no signs of Hope, only a struggle. There was even a fire starting in one room but Melpomene didn’t have time to put it out. She hurried out of the back of the house where she finally found Hope. She was standing up facing Melpomene and beside her was the blonde haired man from before. He had a gun up to her head and a serious expression on his face. “Give up and no one else will get hurt.” The man said.

“No! Leave Hope alone!” Melpomene cried while summoning a white orb. She shot it at the man making him duck and roll to avoid it. Hope cowered for a moment and then began to run towards Melpomene. “Run Mel!” She screamed.

A shot sounded and blood splattered on the Darkrai. Hope collapsed into Melpomene’s arms. Melpomene screamed in fury and sorrow. A blast of cold wind shot out of the Darkrai in all directions. The man was blown back some ways. “Hope... Hope... Don’t leave me HOPE!” Melpomene cried as she cradled the body of her beloved partner. Hope was gone by this time unable to offer any comfort. The blood flowed from Hope’s body and into Melpomene’s. Soon Melpomene’s pure white body was marred with bloodstains.