Running Through These Tunnels[OPEN]

Roxy rushed along the tunnels, her feet pounding against the hard ground. She panted, but pushed herself harder, practicing her speed. She had been getting slightly better at it over time, and getting older meant for stronger muscles. She had to keep up with her growth.
The vulpix felt herself beginning to slow, getting tired. Perhaps she'd finish it off with a jump; she's been practicing her jumping since she was very young. Feeling the ground beneath her feet begin to get rougher, she realized she might be coming into a loose cave. These could easily collapse if she wasn't careful. Slowing down, she tried to make a sharp turn, but tripped on one of the rocks in the floor, tumbling forward. She yelped a few times in pain as the floor was painful to tumble on, being so rough and rocky. She landed on her stomach, her forehead bleeding a little, a dribble of red running down her face. Suddenly, she perked her ears as she heard a crack beneath her, and the floor began to give way. Struggling to her paws, all her muscles hurting, Roxy limped forward, towards more stable ground. However, the ground crumbled in front of her, and she was forced to stumble back, pressing against the walls. The ground beneath her began to collapse, and she felt herself falling into darkness, letting out a call for help. She slammed into the ground below, and blacked out.

----

Roxy flicked open her eyes, her whole body racked with pain and covered in small, shallow cuts and several bruises. With a grunt, she tried to force herself to her feet, only to fall forward again and almost fall down the pile of rubble she lay on. It was extremely dark, and she could barely move. She began to whimper quietly for help.

Morpheus had been traveling though the dream realm when he saw a flicker in the corner of his eye. Something had appeared, and it interested him. He paused to look toward the portal before noting that it was pure black inside. His dark energy refused to go into the portal, and a soft chuckle came from the Darkrai. People only knew of two different kind of dreams; plain, happy dreams and Nightmares, but there was always a third. Most people never thought of it as really dreams, because most weren't aware of it. The third state of sleep which was were your mind was just...blank. It happened sometimes when you fell asleep normally, but it also happened when you just fainted or were knocked out. He sensed some pain flaring from this portal, but it quickly disappeared as the owner of the 'dream' awoke.

He frowned, sighing sadly. His only real entertainment for the day; now gone. Of course, he could visit where the dream had come from; it had been open long enough for him to get a trace on it. He shrugged, closing his only visible eye as he let himself melt into nothing. He was either going to have fun, or maybe give somebody help; who knows.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a cavern. He was nothing more than a shadow against the wall, and he knew that it would be hard for anybody to spot him. The cavern was dark however, so he knew it would be impossible for most so see him anyways, but he caught sight of something due to his perfect night vision. A young Vulpix was curled up in the middle of the ground, ontop of a pile of rubble, whimpering for help. The little piece of his heart melted slightly, frowning.

He may have been a creature of Nightmares, but he knew that this Vulpix did nothing to be in such pain or in such a dangerous place. With a soft sigh, he weighted his choices carefully, but gently floating from the wall. His body felt a bit strange as it took on a solid form, his single showing green eye casting an eerie light across the cavern. "Shh," he whispered softly. "No need to whimper; I will cause you no harm."

However, he was sure his attempting to sooth the poor young Vulpix would do naught as he did have a fearsome appearance; but what else was he going to do? He was sure that perhaps he could help the fire-type in some way; even if it was against of what everybody thought of him.

Roxy glanced up slowly, spotting the green light and jolting slightly in alarm. Her whimpering faded into low growls, though she still couldn't move. The creature that appeared silenced her, however, as she stared up at him in both surprise and fear. She narrowed her eyes, watching him as he said he meant 'no harm'. Sure, she needed help, and she had subconsciously begun to whimper like a pup only moments ago. On the other hand, she wasn't sure if she could trust this guy. However, she could barely move and probably couldn't do anything anyways. She huffed, a small fire flaring out of her mouth and landing on the rock in front of her, giving off a faint light. It was a little ember that went out quickly, but not before she could see the pokemon better. Her eyes widened as she realized it was no normal pokemon...Roxy thought she remembered a story about him once, but couldn't put a name or an exact description to it, so she could be wrong.
Slowly shifting to attempt to sit up, but failing before lifting an inch from the rocks beneath her, she looked up at the darkrai with a blank look, figuring that glaring and growling wouldn't do any good. Instead, she stayed silent and gave a tiny nod in greeting.

Morpheus had come to a halt when Roxy had used Ember, flinching a bit as he realized that she had gotten a good look at him. However, he let out a soft sigh of relief when she said nothing about him, and instead gave a small nod a few moments later. He went back to floating forward until he fairly close to the vulpix, then he floated to the ground. Unwilling to draw any closer until he proved he wasn't a threat, his eye flickered as he stared at her. He knew now that they were close, she would be able to see his form much easier, but he tried to think past that.

"My name," he started off, not sure what else to really do. "Is Morpheus. I do mean you no harm, my dear; while my appearance may be dark, it doesn't reflect who I am on the inside." He paused for a second. "Kinda. Perhaps I do enjoy causing pain but only to those who deserve it; and you, little Vulpix, have a kind heart and do not deserve to be in this spot you are in."

Roxy looked up at him in surprise as he talked. She lifted her head slightly, cringing a little as she did so. "That's good...I'm not in the best situation to fight anyways." She murmured. "My name is Roxy; I fell down here while training. I'm sorry if I've disturbed you somehow." She wasn't sure if he lived there or not, but if he did then she was intruding. She laid her head back down, looking at her paws. They were bruised as well, and when she turned one to look at the pads, they were torn and bleeding slightly. She gently licked at one to soothe the pain and get rid of the blood, though her gaze kept flickering up to Morpheus to make sure he was truly not going to hurt her. By now though, she was pretty sure she could trust him for the time being.

"Nice to meet you, Roxy," he said as he stared at her, before letting out a soft chuckle. "'Disturbed me?' Oh no, I don't really sleep, besides, I was just passing though my domain when your mind came aware to me when you blacked out. You were in pain, so I thought I would see what was going on. I suppose you are lucky that I did, my dear." With that, he floated upwards a bit. "Of course, you have a point. You are not in the  situations at all. We should really fix that before we talk more."

He reached forward, gently using his claws to pick up the hurt vulpix, and held her close to his chest. He said nothing as he gently floated them up and out of the hole that Roxy had fallen thought. He paused as he scanned the hole, before gently floating one of the sides of the hole and gently placed Roxy down in a solid spot.

Morpheus gently backed up after doing so, wondering how Roxy would take having good light to see his whole form in now. Glancing around the tunnel they were in, his eye sparkled a bit. "Oh, this is Mt. Silt, isn't it? I haven't been here in years! Than again, it has been a while since I have been in the mortal plain..." He stopped his mulling over to look at Roxy. "You know, my dear, if you have questions you may ask them. Do not be afraid to be curious about me."

Roxy blinked in surprise as she was lifted up. Though she wasn't as small as she used to be, she really wasn't big either, and was probably light to carry. Once she felt even, solid ground beneath her paws, she forced herself to sit up, though leaning very slightly. It was much easier since she wasn't lying on sharp rocks or on uneven footing, though her muscles and bones still ached. She dipped her head to Morpheus in gratitude.
"Thank you." Roxy murmured, then tipped her head as he began rambling along. She looked him up and down, curious about his appearance. He was right about it being a little scary, especially that eye of his, but she wasn't scared. It was too late to be scared since she had already seen that he wasn't all bad and going to hurt her. When he stopped and looked at her, saying she could ask questions, she nodded once and sat up a little straighter, feeling the pain begin to die down a little.

Roxy thought a moment. "Um, well I feel like I've heard about you from somewhere when I was younger, but I can't really remember." She spoke up, looking at him. "Are you...One of those legendary pokemon?"

The Darkrai paused, before nodding a bit. "Yes, I am. Of course, I am not fond of the tale that was spun about me, but I have grown to deal with it. Of course, I suppose I am a famous tale to be told to young ones, good to keep them in line," he muttered, before shrugging. "What can I say, tales are like gossip. Some are true, some are lies and they can deeply effect whom they are about."

Willow hurried and followed the loud noise she heard from afar, and quickly noticed a big hole in the cave, beside her friend, Roxy. Without noticing dat legendary pokemon the Darkrai. "You okay!?" she squeaked, her Noibat FREAKING ADORABLE form close to her friends no homo

Roxy slowly nodded in understanding. "I don't listen to gossip much. My friend Willow and I have been mostly concentrating on training. We want to grow strong and maybe one day go to the top of Mt. Silt!" She replied happily, growing a bit excited about her own dreams. Quickly calming down, she fidgeted slightly in embarrassment. "Sorry if I'm going on about myself. It's nice to meet you, though. You seem really cool, no matter what I may have heard in the past."

Suddenly, she heard flapping nearby as the pokemon she was just talking about appeared, seemingly freaking out a little. Roxy laughed, nodding quickly to reassure her. "Yeah, I'm fine now...Just a little sore." She giggled, then quickly looked back at Morpheus and smiled. "I fell in the hole, but I was rescued."

Morpehus smiled softly at Roxy, and was about to say something when he saw the Noibat come along. He just stared at the Noibat without a world, before sighing and dipped his head to her. "Hello;" he simply said, wondering a bit if the Noibat would freak out once it noticed him.

"Hi"

OOC: Fuck it. Internet. Not typing all that again

Roxy blinked, satisfied that they now sort of knew each other not really, due to Rose's extremely simple post. She shakily got to her paws and looked back at Willow. "Er, his name is Morpheus." She turned to Morpheus and nodded. "Morpheus, Willow. Willow, Morpheus." She introduced them, feeling a little awkward. She hadn't expected her friend to barely react. Perhaps she didn't even look at him and just greeted whoever was talking back out of panic that Roxy had hurt herself?

She looked up at Willow in confusion, then turned to Morpheus and returned her happy expression. "Thanks again for helping me out. I'm really grateful; if I had been stuck down there, who knows when I would've been able to get up, let alone escape?" She thanked him, bowing her head respectfully and glancing back at Willow from the corner of her eye. The fox-pokemon raised her head and stretched each one of her back legs in turn, carefully trying to rid the pain, which was gently throbbing rather harmlessly rather than stinging and aching.

"It is always a pleasure to help those, mostly as most tend to flee in fear..." he sighed softly, shaking his head. "That is besides the point. I am happy that you two found each other; but perhaps I should be going..."

Willow finally looked up at the...Darkrai? Smilling at him, she finally spoke more "Thank you for saving my friend. Do you really have to go yet?" she pleaded with her adorable huge eyes and flattened her huge ears, staring up at Morpheus

Roxy huffed in amusement as Willow pulled the big-eyes thing. She looked at Morpheus and copied her, flattening her ears and looking up with puppy-eyes(even though she's a fox). "Yeah, Morpheus! You're really cool! We want to hear more about you." She begged, making herself look sad. He was really cool, and was glad Willow didn't freak out either. But, being a legendary, he was probably busy, right? Aw, just a few more minutes wouldn't hurt.

Wait...These two wanted him to stay? Morpheus glanced from Roxy to Willow in surprise, before scratching the back of his head, clearly startled a bit by the question. "Uh..." he blinked, before shrugging. "I-I suppose I could stay a big longer. I suppose speaking to Pokemon is more fun than giving nightmares."

Willow perked her ears at the mention of him giving nightmares. So thats where they came from? Him? Well fudge him too. "Yeah" she murmured, not really knowing what to say

Roxy tipped her head curiously. "So you really do give nightmares? Like, all of them? Or just ones you make and give to bad pokemon? That's what you said earlier." She asked, very interested in Morpheus's abilities. He seemed really cool, and the fact that he gave nightmares didn't really faze her for whatever reason. Maybe because her species was known to be a little odd as well?

Morpheus' glowing eye dimmed a bit, his face growing a bit dark at the mention of his ability. "I am afraid that you are correct. I give nightmares to all to who are dreaming; it is my curse you could say. I cannot help what I do, it is just who I am. However..." He paused, taking a small breath. "I have met one person who helped me though a dark time, and has let me see that good could come from my power." He shook his head, clearing his throat. "Ah, how about we move from such matters. Any other questions you have; but I am willing to speak more about the nightmares if you do wish so."

"No i'm good" Willow replied, not really feeling much into the conversation. The Darkrai interested her, but not really at the same time. Sure it wasn't often that you would even catch a glimpse at a legendary pokemon, but she didn't really feel into it much.

Ooc: *Muse bar overflows slightly. Quietly empties some into a cup and squishes the lid back on //shot*

Ic: Roxy cast a side-ways glance at Willow for a moment but quickly looked away. Was something bothering her friend? Something told her not to ask about it, or at least not right now. Not when they were talking to a legendary pokemon after he had saved her life...Man, she couldn't get over how cool that was of him, whether he gave nightmares or not. The fact that he could even make good of his ability was awesome as well. Her eyes sparkled with interest and awe, unlike Willow who seemed to not want to talk about it much. However, they obviously wanted to end that conversation so she quickly moved on.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to ask anything personal." She apologized, bowing her head a moment before looking back up at him. "Maybe you'd like to talk about your friend instead?" His friend seemed cool too if he/she helped Morpheus turn his ability into a slightly-good thing.

Silence came from Morpheus once again, as he struggled with what to say about his dear friend. He knew the legends about her; in fact he had tried to use that against her in one of his darkest times. "My dear friend...I know her as Nirrti. She is also a Legendary like me, and her tale is one that is quite feared." He paused for another second, before leaning down a bit, his eye glowing spooky in the darkness of the cavern. "Tell me, have you ever heard of the tale of Giratina?"

Willow perked up, looking back to Morpheus questioningly. She had never heard of... Giratina? Her parents hadn't started telling her stories of that legendary, but all of the others were heard. At least she'd thought so. The three legendary dogs, birds, and Lugia and Ho-oh. Thats what she heard so far. None of the others. If there were others, she wanted to know. "Who is that? And how many other legendaries are there? I want to know them all" she brightened up and chirped many questions to the legendary.

OOC: Trying....to.....type... *dies*

Roxy tipped her head questionably. Giratina? She had never heard that name before, but before she could speak up, Willow had already jumped ahead of her and spoken for her. So instead, she nodded in agreement to her friend's words. "Nirrti's a cool name." She spoke up suddenly. "If it's okay with you, do you mind telling us about her? We've never heard any stories involving a Giratina, and she can't be all bad if she helped you!" Roxy was beginning to get excited, shuffling into a comfortable laying position, as if sh ehad already decided that Morpheus was going to tell them the story.