The Shift from Dark to Light

Sometimes, the Darkrai who frequents the Distant Land liked to watch the sunrise.

It's against its nature, one might think, and Ekkreth might have been inclined to agree. However, it found itself calmed by the shift from darkness to the painting of brilliant warm colours streaked across the sky, right until the blue started to lighten and the Pokémon started to wake. Maybe it was a natural sense of awareness: Humans sometimes had the worst dreams on the brink of consciousness. Pokémon, perhaps less so. Or perhaps they were just happy, here.

Ekkreth didn't know if it was happy, here. It wasn't unhappy... if it was, it just wouldn't come back across the shadow portals. But it was not quite content.

It looked around. Alone, for the moment. Carefully, it emerged from the small flowers' shadows, hovering just above their petals as it watched the horizon hint at the coming day.

One of the 'flowers' moved then as Shaymin awoke, and the small Pokemon noticed the other Mythical. Of course, she recognized the Dark type. Despite herself, she was scared and shy. Minnie noticed the pretty sunrise as well, however, and she raised her tiny nose to look.

Her eyes scanned the flowers then, and finally, she looked up at Darkrai. Shaymin debated speaking, but decided she didn't need to.

Ekkreth noted the movement of the shadows and the rustle of the plants, but was reassured by the minimal displacement; this Pokémon was small, and did not attack. Not a threat yet. It doesn't look around. Instead, it stayed where it was, edges of its shadows and mist flickering and flowing in nonexistent wind.

It was silent. It enjoyed the quiet, and the small creature beneath him seemed to be respecting that.

The Dark-type near her seemed oddly peaceful. Not that she minded, of course -- peace was always something she enjoyed. Despite this, she sensed the opportunity to make a new friend, even if this was a Pokemon she had been aware of for many, many years. Carefully, Shaymin picked up a pink flower that looked similar to her Gracidea Flower in her mouth. Still not speaking, she walked to where she would be more visible and looked up at the larger Pokemon, presenting the flower as a sort of peace offering.

Ekkreth looked down this time, its visible eye glowing brighter away from the approaching glare of the sun. It made a dark, rumbling noise, confused by the blatant gesture of friendliness, before, cautiously, it reached forward with shadowy claws to gently take the flower from the Shaymin. It tucked it at the join between its fog and its head, where an ear would be on a human, around the faded Lunar Wing already curled there.

'Thank you,' it ventured. It was almost a question.

She smiled at Ekkreth, the type of bashful smile a young Pokemon gives when they did something kind. Of course, Minnie was nowhere near 'young'; no Mythical or Legendary was. Her grass-green eyes sparkled and she nodded happily. "You're welcome," she smiled before averting her eyes, as was her shy nature.

This was fine. Ekkreth was not one for conversation. However, rather awkwardly and with unintentional ominousness, it dipped its hand into the shadows stretching long in the first lights of sunrise and tugged it into the air, the darkness dripping off it like tar. Like it was moulding it with the utmost care, it formed it into a perfect sphere of void and held it out like a peace offering in return, an odd glint to its cyan eyes.

She seemed a bit nervous, but part of her reminded her that even if she didn't quite understand, some Pokemon showed peace differently. Perhaps my flower even startled it, she thought. Shaymin was unsure whether the ball of shadow was meant to be taken from him or not, but still understood the gesture to be one of kindness.

Ekkreth kept holding it out expectantly, its whole body seeming to flutter in the nonexistent breeze. As if it would have helped, it held its hand a little lower to the ground, though its grip on the orb was tight. It wanted the Shaymin to touch it.

She touched her nose gently to the object, seeming to understand the wraith-like creature's gesture. Minnie was still a bit nervous about Darkrai, but reminded herself that it had not attacked her yet and likely had no intention to harm her. After all, he had taken the flower from her.

((Ekkreth is agender and would appreciate the correct pronouns ))

*PBFTBFPFBFTPFBFTBFTPFTpewpewpewpewpeeeeewwww....* went the orb, shaking slightly with the noise until it flopped in Ekkreth's hand and disintegrated. It looked at its hand, mood incomprehensible due to its inability to outwardly express emotion, before it started making a rumbling noise, full of dark, ominous energy, and it began to shake.

'Heheheheheheheh...'

((Oml I'm very sorry Dx I feel horrible, my friend would have my head if she saw this!))

She seemed more than a bit startled, but remembered what she had learned about Darkrai -- it was a trickster, but it wasn't inherently mean. After a moment of being a bit confused, she decided the sound was probably laughter. Minnie was typically rather happy, but didn't want to embarrass herself. It was a bit awkward, in fact.

'Heh, the look on your face,' Ekkreth said, snickering. 'Ha, it's priceless! Classic.' It patted the flower on its head and swung back around to face the sunrise, its shadow stretching out behind it much longer than it should. 'Pretty, isn't it? The death of the night.'

Minnie paused, understanding that it had been a joke. "I l-like to think-k of it a-as the b-birth of m-morning," she replied quietly.

It shrugged. 'The perspective of a day-dweller versus the night. It is both. One cannot occur without the other.' As the magnificent colours faded into bright blue, Ekkreth started to sink back into the ground, its shadows pooling out around it to absorb it.

She watched him curiously for a moment before remembering that it was a being of shadow. With that reasoning, she knew it would have to leave soon, but part of her didn't quite want it to. After all, she'd only just met this Pokemon.

It paused, the bottom half of its torso in the shadow puddle, and looked at the Shaymin with interest. They were a little closer in height, now, though she probably still had to look up to speak to it. Silently, it stayed there, not looking like it was going to initiate any sort of conversation. Instead it was just watching Minnie.

"Um... Do y-you have a n-name b-besides 'D-D-Darkrai'?" she asked, having tried not to stutter over the name and therefore made her stutter worse.

'...Ekkreth,' the Darkrai said after a moment in a low rumble. 'Darkrai is what the humans and their tame Pokémon called me.' It stared at the Shaymin, wavering again before it propped its elbows on the ground, like someone hanging on the edge of a swimming pool. 'You ask because you also have a preferred name. What is it?'

"Minnie!" she said, flashing a shy grin. "Ek-kreth is a n-nice name."

'Minnie...' it nodded after a moment. 'Appropriate. And you. What brings you to this place, when the Flower Paradise is so well-tailored to you?'

"I g-guess s-someth-hing b-brought m-me," she replied with a smile.

'Curious,' Ekkreth remarked, tilting its head. 'Do you have any desire to return?'

She thought for a moment. Then, she shook her head. "N-not r-really. I'm s-safe here."

'Hmm,' Ekkreth rumbled, looking a bit nonplussed, but it didn't press the question any further. It tugged itself out of the hole and drifted back towards the treeline, waiting to see if Minnie would follow.