Crystal Forest: Manifest Destiny.

This role-play is open to all.

On a world a long way away there is a forest that pokemon inhabit. In the very center of this forest there is a lake that shimmers like crystals. Pokemon tend to gather around that lake for it has mystical healing properties (Like Celebi's lake) is also a good source of fish and water of course. About half a mile north of the lake there is a hot spring where pokemon go to relax and have fun together called Eon Spring. In the center of the spring on the bank there is a statue of Latias and Latios twined together holding a Soul Dew in their paws. On the banks of the lake there is perfect soil for digging burrows and making homes. The trees grow to incredible heights but sunlight filters down in the perfect amount to give day-dwelling pokemon enough light to see by, and night-dwelling pokemon enough light to not hurt their eyes. When it gets to be nighttime two giant moons paint the sky with their reflected radiance.

Unfortunately, as of late, there have been some terrible things happening in the world. The humans have expanded their reign to cover the globe and have been infringing on the forest's boundaries. Though the forest has been protected by it's legends that terrible things would befall the human race would it ever be cut down, the humans have begun to do it anyway, all in the name of expantion. The eastern borders of the forest are gone, eaten under the metal machines that humans create. This has disturbed the ballance in the forest, bringing together rival clans of roaming pokemon into battles that should never have been fought. The water in the lake is slowly losing it's ability to heal as the forest is eaten away... There is deterioration in the humans too. A plague they call Greed sweeps through their ranks, affecting their minds and souls.
As the forest is dying, it is written that seven pokemon will rise up out of the ashes and force the humans out of their sanctuary, driving them back into their place with seven elements, Fire, Water, Darkness, Grass, Ice, Electricity, and Psychic Power.
That day is drawing near, as a single Linoone with a jagged wound on his flank, obtained from a squabble with a Mightyena, dips himself into the lake so it can be healed, but nothing happens...

A meowth sat on his master's windowsill, gazing outward toward the forest. For the past few months, the human colony had been expanding their civilization, tearing up the forest and destroying habitats to countless pokemon. The lucky pokemon were able to move further into the forest. Those less fortunate were caught by humans as pets and tools. He had found himself at a quandary. His home was with the humans. Those who raised him since he was a mere kit, abandoned in the streets. Those who fed and protected him throughout his life. But to those who were not protected, who were not the human's pets... They were only being abused. The forest was overcrowding as pokemon were forced closer and closer together to escape the machines destroying the forest. Food was becoming more scarce and fights were breaking out. There was no good way this could end. He would have to-

"Mi-Mister Copper, sir?"

The meowth's train of thought was broken by a meek buneary standing in the doorway.

"Hm? Oh, hello, Elian. Can I help you with something?"

The buneary perked up a bit, as if suddenly filled with overwhelming passion. "Yessir! The general has requested an audience with you, sir!"

"The general?", Copper repeated, "You mean McCormick?"

"Yes, sir!", The rabbit responded, all too enthusiastically.

"It figures. Not like I can finish a thought anymore without being called in to help him think."

The cat hopped down from the windowsill and walked over to a chest, removing his black vest and pulling it onto his body. He walked to the door and removed his black fedora from the short coat rack installed for his convenience. He Affixed the hat to his head as he made his way out the door and down to the main courtyard, where a Scizor was addressing a group of watchgaurds. Pokemon, mainly composed of poochyena and growlithe sat at attention, watching as the meowth approached with the buneary hopping along at his side.

"Cyrus, oh brave commander of the city guard. How may I do you job for you on this fine evening?"

The pokemon let out a scattered snicker but were silenced as the scizor shot a death glare at them from the corner of his eye.

"We've received word from a reliable source that there are savages rallying against our empire, sir. We'll need you to take post as a watchman for a period."

The meowth groaned, "They are wild pokemon, Cyrus, not savages. Just because they're forced to learn how to take care of themselves makes us no higher beings. And why are you commanding me, exactly? You know I am only obliged to answer to the mistress."

"These orders come directly from the mistress. See for yourself." The scizor handed the meowth a folded scrap of paper.

Copper lazily opened the paper and skimmed the page, his eyes locking in at the signature at the bottom, Dahlia Aeris. The meowth growled and tossed the paper on the ground. "I'll be at my post.", He sneered, moving up the stone stairs to the watchtower, one paw gripping his collar subconsciously.

A Jolteon and Vaporeon emerged from the brush surrounding the small clearing around the healing lake. They were a little surprised at how empty the area was. There couldn't have been more than 9 or 10 pokemon around the lake. The two pokemon began walking toward the lake once more.

"Nadia, it can't be as bad as all that," said the Jolteon. "I can't even feel the wound anymore."

"That's what has me worried," Nadia murmured, glancing at the Jolteon's face, where a hook-shaped cut had been sliced down across his eye. "That Absol's claw may have missed your eye, but I think the cut is infected." She took a long look at the cut over his eye. "There's some kind of black... pus or something coming out of it." There was indeed a strange black liquid surrounding the cut over the Jolteon's eye.

"Alright," the Jolteon sighed. He looked at Nadia and smiled. "I'll take a dip in the lake, it's not like it'll cost me anything."

The pair exchanged glances as they approached the shore of the lake. It should work, so why did both of them have a feeling that it wouldn't? The Jolteon took a deep breath and plunged his head into the water, holding it there for several seconds. He pulled his head out of the water and shook it dry, then turned to face Nadia.

"There," he said, a small smile on his face, "All healed." Nadia gasped when she saw his face. His smile vanished. "Nadia? What's wrong?"

"V-Volt... the lake, it didn't heal you," she breathed.

"What?" asked Volt, incredulously. "But the lake heals any wounds..." Nadia looked out across the lake and let out a worried sigh. Volt licked her cheek playfully. "Come on, now. I'll be just fine," he reassured her.

Nadia sighed again. "I'm worried about you, Voltico." She looked back at Volt. "Something about this just doesn't seem right."

This time Volt sighed. "You always worry, Nadia. Everything isn't always as bad as you seem to think it is." He gave her a small smile. "Come on, let's get back to the den." She smiled back and the two started towards the brush they had initially arrived from.

A leafeon looked at it's pray, a helpless little grasshopper. He smirked as he crept up behind it getting ready to pounce on it when he heard a loud crack behind him scaring the grasshopper away. "Of course..." He said.

Flare looked around. His troops were tired. The enemy was powerful, and had no intentions of letting the forest pokemon win the battle. It seemed like capture was imminent for the small army fighting to defend their home. Flare was familiar with the tactics of the human invaders: They would attack an innocent pokemon that was peacefully going about business in the forest, and when they were weak from battle, they would capture them in little multicolored balls. Several attempts had been made by the humans to capture Flare, but he had always managed to break free. However, he had seen several less fortunate members of his army fall victim to this terrible fate. Worse yet, once captured, the pokemon seemed to be under the control of the humans, who would then use the poor captured pokemon to battle against its own comrades.

Flare was generally opposed to fighting, but he knew there was no other choice for himself and the other forest pokemon. The recent human invasion and deforestation campaign was forcing everyone, even bitter rivals, to defend the territory that was Crystal Forest. Several small armies of pokemon had been formed so far. Initially, Flare had little intention to join any of them, and wanted to just be left alone. However, one day, he saw a small group of pokemon under attack from the humans. Flare knew he couldn't just stand there and let the poor pokemon face their demise, so sprang into action, defending the fearful group consisting of nidoran, starly and seedot. After a long and grueling battle, Flare finally succeeded in sending the humans running. The small pokemon were so grateful that they insisted Flare stay and protect them, and in return, he would be their leader. Flare hated the idea of fighting again, but he hated more the idea of leaving these poor pokemon in danger. After some thought, Flare reluctantly took the job and began training the group.

Since its formation, Flare's group had won every battle. However, that didn't mean there weren't still losses. Many of his troops had been severely injured, captured, and a couple even killed as a result of the humans. It also seemed that each battle, the humans would come with more and more powerful pokemon. The current battle pitted Flare's small group of rebels against a group of ursaring. Three of the five had already been defeated, but two still remained, and they were persistant. Of Flare's army, only two nidorino, one nuzleaf and one staravia remained. Everyone else had been injured too badly, and fled into the bushes or trees nearby to escape capture. Flare could only hope that his soldiers still had enough energy in them to finish the fight. He himself was beginning to feel fatigued. Things weren't looking good...

Lavender slowly snuck up on the Leafeon, her paws making no sound on the forest floor until... Snap! A small branch cracked in half under her paw. "No!" She hissed, retreating into the undergrowth. She didn't want to be seen until she was sure this pokemon was possible friend or foe.
Lavender was an Umbreon, but no normal Umbreon. For starters, instead of gold, her rings were a shade similar to but slightly lighter than that of the plant lavender. She was a little smaller than half the size of a normal Umbreon, and she also had a pair of black dragon-like wings on her back, which cloaked her in shadow when they were folded the right way, as they currently were. If the Leafeon were to investigate the noise, it is likely that all he would see is a shadow in the dense foliage behind him.

A figure with spindly spider-esq legs slowly crept down the tree next to the umbreon. One of it's strange, dead, arms, unfolded from it's back and tapped her on the shoulder.

The Leafeon licked one of its paws and washed a red tinged ear. "Well great, now my meal is gone, what a world what a world. First exploring the world and now I'm caught in the middle of this...thing, stupid humans." the Leafeon grumbled to himself. This wasn't the first time today he lost a meal, he attacked by a Nidoking earlier while trying to eat a caterpillar.

Lavender shuddered slightly, subconsciously sensing that there was another being beside her. She felt something tap her on the shoulder and didn't make a sound, but dropped to the ground, as she could as if she could somehow melt invisibly into it. Her wings shifted over the rest of her frame like a protective black canopy.
"W-who?" Came her timid question. She was probably being paranoid, but at the moment, she didn't care.

The being cackled in a horrifically creepy way as it retreated back up the tree, silently.

The Leafeon's eyes grew big as he saw a cricket jumping toward him not too far away, crickets were much more delicious than grasshoppers! He crouched and got ready to pounce again until a cackle from behind scared away the cricket. The Leafeon sat back on his hind legs staring in disbelief with misty eyes, then he started to cry. "Nooooooo! I haven't eaten four days! Why did it have to get scared away?!" He wailed in the center of the clearing.

Lavender started at the cackle, and shot to her feet with a wild look in her eyes.
"What, are you TRYING to scare me or something?!" She snarled and shut her eyes to concentrate on the auras around her. There was the Leafeon, and there were a few bugs around him, but another one, one she had never felt the like of. It was above her. She opened her eyes and glared into the branches, as if willing them to part and allow her to spot the creature hidden there.

Copper sat at the top of the tower gazing upon the town. "The heartland of civilization", they called it. So why did this all feel so primitive? Copper needed some consulting.

He climbed atop the partition separating him from the 4 story drop to the pavement below, grabbing his rapier in its scabbard and attaching it to his vest. His master had given it to Copper in the Meowth's youth, near the beginning of his training as familial protector of the household. At the beginning the sword was too big for the kitten to carry, but he had since grown into it.

Copper hopped off the partition, sneaking along the roof of the building , scaling down the gutterpipe onto the street below and took off into the woods. At that moment, the young buneary had come to the tower to bring the Meowth his coffee and sandwiches only to witness Copper's departure. "M-mister Copper...", she whispered.

After about 20 minutes of wandering, Copper came to a familiar den in the woods. He crawled into the passage, not quite used to going on all fours since he developed bipedality in his training. After all, how could a creature handle a sword if they used all four paws to walk? He reached the core of the den only to find it empty. "Mister Voltico? Miss Nadia?", He called to his mentors, not hearing an answer.

The figure backflipped down from the tree, landing behind her.

He was nothing more than a glaceon wearing a green scarf. "Yo, wassup?"

The Leafeon curled up into a ball crying to himself. He was apparently not going to get any food. First he got separated from his family and now this, no food. He couldn't eat the plants, he was like one of them, so Leafeons didn't eat them.

Lavender yipped quietly as the creature backflipped out of the tree, and tilted her head to the side as she got a look at him. She had expected something a bit more intimidating because of how his aura was. She made an apologetic noise.
"Sorry for yelling." She said, chuckling nervously. "You really did scare me..." She turned away from the Glaceon slightly. She really hadn't been expecting another of her Eeveelution kin.

He chuckled as he bowed to her.
"William Frost, and who may I ask, are you?"

Voltico and Nadia came to their den earlier than he had expected. He paused as they approached, but only for a second, smiling as he noted the telltale marks of his visitor's identity. He smiled back at Nadia, and she let out a giggle. It would be good to see him again.

Volt strode regally into the wide chamber that comprised the majority of the den. His eyes were drawn involuntarily to the odd features borne by the Meowth. The scruff around his neck, and the jagged transition between the colors on his tail. "Well well," Volt mocked, "The brave little Mutt returns." He let out a laugh, glad to see his friend for the first time in a long while.

Nadia stepped into the chamber at Volt's side, trying, and failing, to control the wide grin that had taken root on her face. "It's good to see you again, Copper," she said.

"Mister Voltico, Miss Nadia. I'm happy to see you again." Copper grinned and bowed to his teachers and dear friends. 'Mutt', That nickname had stuck with him ever since he and Voltico had met. It was Voltico who had first noted Copper's similarities to the pokemon Eevee. At the main town, nothing of it would be heard. After all, what royalty could be a mangy half-breed? This little pet name made Copper feel normal for the only time in his life. It was good to get a taste of the modest life.

"I- I need to speak with you...", He said suddenly, remembering why he'd come. "It's a matter of the utmost importance..."

The jovial atmosphere was suddenly dead, the laughter merely an echo, the smiles just memories. Volt turned away from Copper. "Copper, you know I don't deal with the humans," he sighed. "It's trouble to mess in the affairs of savages."

Nadia scowled at Volt. "Voltico!" she shouted. "You haven't even heard what he has to say yet." She reigned in her anger. "Can't you at least consider listening to what the boy is going to say?" Her expression saddened. "I know how you feel... but if we can help..." she couldn't finish a thought.

Volt sighed again. "Alright, boy, out with it. What's this trouble?"

Lavender inclined her head towards the Glaceon.
"...That's a nice name." She said after a little bit of thinking. "Mine's Lavender, Lavender Blackfur." She sat down on the ground and her tail wagged slowly back and forth.

"A very nice name as well." He chuckled, sitting down as well.

He reached up into his scarf, pulling out a blue journal with his paws.

Copper looked away. He remembered the incident well. Two years ago, in what was now the eastern marketplace of the town in which Copper resided... A child lost its life. An eevee. Uriel, the son of Voltico and Nadia, was murdered. Slaughtered by the rhyhorns of a group of humans, out hunting for plain sport. Apparently the prey wasn't good enough for them, for they left the young eevee's body in the open, for Voltico to find merely a few hours later. Copper had been there with them, searching the forest for the child after hearing he had gone missing. He and Nadia were alerted shortly after the search began by Voltico's scream. After that debacle, Volt never seemed to look at Copper the same way again. Copper couldn't blame him, the victim of human cruelty. How could Voltico ever trust a human pet after something like that?

"You sound like McCormick, y'know?" Copper said, sitting on the ground facing away from the two. He let out a sigh, "The humans and the pokemon... Both sides are at a time of great tension, there's already fighting going about, pokemon and people are getting hurt because no one is willing to compromise..." He stood up. "McCormick is rallying the town guard, I'm afraid someone's going to make a drastic move and I don't know how to stop it. Please, Voltico. I know you don't care for humans or even the pokemon who serve them... But we aren't the only ones at risk. There's good and evil among us both..." He looked back up at his mentor, eyes sullen and slightly teared.

Volt met Copper's eyes momentarily before he was forced to look away. The pain in the Meowth's gaze was almost unbearable. He wanted to squeeze his eyes shut to stop the oncoming tears, but there would be nothing to stop. He hadn't cried in almost two years. He wanted to more than ever right now, but he couldn't.

"Alright, then," he finally replied. "I'll see what I can do. Maybe talk to some of the more revolutionary members among our ranks. I heard there was a Flareon gathering pokemon to fight the humans. If getting them to give up their pursuits will stop the slaughter, then I can try."

Nadia blinked back her tears. "Volt..." she spoke up. "Volt, you shouldn't do this, you're injured. It's going to be dangerous."

"Nadia, don't be ridiculous," he snapped, but then quickly winced at what he had done. "I'm sorry, but you know I would never let you go do something like this alone..." He sighed and looked her in the eyes. "But if you really must, then come with me."

Nadia dried her eyes on the back of her paw and nodded.

"Alright," Volt said, turning back to Copper. "I assume you're going to go back to McCormick, then."

Copper perked his ears up at Voltico's agreement. "S-sir... Thank you... Yes, I'll be returning to the manor to attempt to dissuade McCormick from any rash action he's surely planning." He rushed back to the passage of the burrow from whence he had entered. Suddenly he stopped. "Wait... injured?" Copper turned back to look the jolteon over when he noticed a hook shaped cut at Voltico's left eye, glistening with a thin black liquid. Copper jumped back a bit, "M-mister Voltico! What happened to your eye?!"