Chapter Text
"Darrr… cy. My name is Darcy.” Darkrai barely catches himself in time before he can accidentally admit to his real identity. This mistake could have cost him his entire plan!
He was just… surprised! How should he have known that the Chatot was going to ask for his name? Really, it is impressive that he managed to catch himself like this! Others would not have been able to.
The bird, meanwhile, stares at him, clearly not entirely convinced, and finally, in a much-too-loud voice, cries out, “Isn’t Darcy a girl’s name?”
“N-No!” Darkrai cannot help but splutter in indignity. It is not! He… thinks. He actually does not know, it was simply the first thing which came to mind.
And, naturally, there may have been many things on his mind during the last few weeks, most of them having to do with getting his revenge on the pesky once-human and her friend, and also wondering why, exactly, he seems not to remember the specifics of how he ended up in the past, but… his mind is brilliant. Every name he came up with would therefore also be brilliant. And thus…
“It is a name for boys, as well,” he huffs, “And even if it was not, it would not be my fault that my… parents named me that.”
Blast it, what is wrong with him today? He had never before been so bad at lying.
Is it because of the illusion he is hiding himself behind? It is quite draining on him, admittedly.
Or does it have anything to do with having taken a – hm, what to call it? – a tumble through time and space? It might have. After all, he got hurt rather badly, and after the worst pain wore off – after days, probably, Darkrai only remembers feverishly lying in some kind of forest, slipping in and out of consciousness, sometimes not even knowing who he is or what he wants – he did notice that his memory… must have taken a slight hit.
But only a slight one! Unlike the once-human he did not forget who he once was.
… He simply forgot the events leading up to being thrown back in time.
But they will come back to him soon enough, he knows. It has not even been a month. Some of his physical wounds still have visible scabbing, so really, he just needs to give the mental wounds time to heal, as well. Not that he has any! Just… in general.
Besides, even if he does not remember the specifics, he is rather sure that Cresselia was involved, as she always is; as well as the two Pokémon that had foiled his plans even before; and something tells him that there was someone else—
“Well, I’m not going to judge other Pokémon’s decisions!” The bird’s voice rudely pulls him out of his thoughts, and… did this bird just insult his non-existent, just-now-invented parents? Oh, he is going to regret that, once Darkrai's plan has come to its fruition! Once he has created a world of darkness, then… well, insulting anyone’s parents will be in the bird’s least interest!
And then, to add insult to… insult, the Chatot, completely ignoring what it just insinuated, continues, “So, Darcy, what exactly did you want our guild’s help with?”
“Call me Duskull. I came here…” Ugh, even remembering that he had to float into this dreadful, dreadful building, shaped like a Wigglytuff of all Pokémon, simply because it is the local guild of Treasure Town (or, as he has dubbed it, Trash Town) makes him suppress a shudder. He has always disliked having to be around Pokémon beneath his dignity (which is all of them), and there are just so many of them, in this town.
He wants to wash his whole body after this.
“Because I… am looking for my… cousin,” he finally continues the cover story he came up with, after illusioning himself as a mere Duskull. The ghost’s shape, overlaid over his own form, is fitting enough to not be the worst type of illusion he has had to create and upkeep.
“I have not seen him,” oh blast it, was the Partner-Pokémon even male? Do Duskull distinguish genders? He sure hopes so, or else he will soon have a sub-optimal situation at hand, “In, well, quite a long time – he might not even remember me, it has been so long – but I felt the urge to find him again and reconnect.”
There, that sounds believable.
The Chatot cocks his head from side to side, and finally, finally, after a much too long pause, asks, “Your cousin is a Duskull too, correct?”
… Obviously. Unless common Pokémon started calling each other cousin even if not related through blood (or whatever else they may have). Did they? He is not entirely sure. He is a Legendary Pokémon after all, a god amongst lesser creatures, destined for a much greater purpose than they could ever hope to achieve. He would not know.
The form others see – of a mere Duskull, distinguishable only by its blue eye – is not his true form, of course. He does not know, how exactly common Duskull work and act. Maybe they declare everyone their cousin.
Of course, he does not lack the ability to illusion his eye colour as well. Eyes might be the hardest part to simulate, but he is a master at the art of bewrayment of sight and other senses. He is. But one of the few things he remembers about the once-humans Pokémon-Partner was that he was a Duskull with a blue eye, and therefore, Darkrai thought it necessary to imitate that feature, if he truly wants to pass as a cousin. Definitely.
Thus, he simply nods to answer Chatot's question, something that he is not sure translates all too well through the illusion. Duskull, after all, don’t really have… necks to nod with. And so, to clarify, he also answers verbally. “Yes, he is.”
“What’s his name?”
What is this interrogation? He… does not know! He never cared enough to remember! But… wait, did the Partner’s name not start with a ‘Dar-’, just like his own cover-name just now? Yes, yes, that feels correct. He recalls a Duskull with a name starting with a ‘Dar’.
“Dar-eios,” he makes up. After all, he has not seen his cousin in a very long time, so if he forgot the second part of the name, that would not be illogical. “Dareios, that was his name,” he ascertains.
The idiotic Chatot stares at him, seemingly appraising him, and then it… flutters its wings. In… happiness?
“Oh, that’s great! You know, Darcy, I was kind of doubting you at the beginning, but you are lucky! Your cousin lives right here in town!”
Yes! He was right after all!
“He's in charge of the bank!” Chatot chirps.
Wait.
What.
No, no that must be wrong! His memory might be a little muddled, but he knows that the original Partner-Pokémon never worked at the bank! He was part of the guild, not… a banker. Did he… mix something up? But why does he even know the banker’s name?! He has only been in this town… once or twice before, and that was decades ago!
“Just follow me, I’ll bring you to him right now!” And with that, the bird flies up the ladder leading out of the guild, and Darkrai can only follow. The way through town feels like a funeral procession.
So… Darkrai’s plans are always brilliant, of course. He knows that. Truly, he is a mastermind at planning. Has always been. But even he can admit that some of his plans are not as… brilliant as others, and this one… might be one of those, unfortunately.
Oh, sure, when he woke up after being thrown through time and space—
No, alright, when he woke up then, he was not able to do much of anything. But after most of his wounds had healed (there are a few that will most definitely scar – for example, three claw marks of an unknown source straight over his face, which he is not very happy about – in fact, he abhors the fact that he will most likely have those scars for eternity) he had realized that, whatever had thrown him through a Dimensional Hole (he thinks) had also thrown at him the chance to do everything again, just better.
He would just need to pull the hero and her friend into a nightmare before they even knew what was going on! How perfect!
After another day, he had realized that he could not, in fact, change anything of actual importance, unless he wanted to make himself disappear from this timeline. Which he is not very keen on. Thus, he changed his plans.
Now, instead of simply incapacitating the once-human and her friend before they could ever foil his plans, he would… well, dispose of the friend in a lasting way and take on his role, behaving just as the other did. Like this, Dialga should, theoretically, not observe the anomaly in time and… well, ignore Darkrai in turn. Besides, what with Temporal Tower almost collapsing, the other Legendary should be too busy to notice a very small, very dangerous anomaly, anyways.
And then, once everything had played out as it should, after Darkrai had ensured his own continued survival… only after that would he finally take his revenge, by betraying the once-human who, at that point in time, would surely think of him as her very best friend. And after that… well, he would create a world of darkness, by whichever means presented themselves.
He had always been good at acting from the shadows, after all.
And this was how, in the end, Darkrai ended up posing as the banker’s cousin.
Oh, of course, the stupid Duskull in the bank did not know him, but it claimed that “Ah, yes, I do have many cousins – I’m sorry if I don’t really remember you, but we must have met when we were still children, right?” and Darkrai could not do anything but play along.
At least it got him a place to stay at, Dareios the (real) Duskull being more than happy to help his ‘cousin’ out, after Darkrai came up with a story of how he got knocked out in a Mystery Dungeon (he would never get himself knocked out in a Dungeon!) and thus lost almost all of his possessions.
“And of course, there are a few Pokémon who know about this little cliff-cave,” the ghost says and then, he snickers. He tends to do so after almost every sentence he speaks, and sometimes even after sentences spoken by others, “But none have, as of yet, decided to make it their home. Therefore, I believe that none will have any objections. And if they do…” He snickers to end his sentence.
Darkrai keeps himself from rolling his eye. What did he do to deserve this? Was it his plans? Because no matter how many times everyone else will try to tell him, will try to convince him that he is evil for coming up with them, trying to make them come true… He does not care. He does not care what a world that has always hated him thinks, and he also does not deserve a ‘cousin’ who snickers after what feels like every word.
What did he even mean to insinuate by doing so? Snickering is not a proper way to end a sentence! Evil laughter might be, but not snickering.
“This will… certainly do as a home,” Darkrai finally states, after the silence grows a little too long.
And really, it will. Against most expectations, he does not need many luxuries – in fact, he needs almost none. He has lived in caves before, even alongside feral Pokémon in Mystery Dungeons. He can sleep on a bed just as well as simple hay; and more often than not, he has slept on the ground without even thinking of making a fuss about it.
(Alright, he might have thought about it, but only if others were around he could blame for the entire situation.)
“Wonderful! Since you know where to find me, I will let you settle in,” Dareios says, or rather, snickers, and then, also adds, “And if you need to earn a little coin, I would be glad to have you help me at my bank. I am sure you know how to give money a good resting place.” And, like the infuriating ghost-type he is, he simply turns around and floats away, right through the cave’s wall.
Nevermind that the cave has a proper set of stairs leading to it, even a doorframe (although no door, unfortunately – maybe Darkrai should think about acquiring one); but leave it to ghost-types to not use such things.
Darkrai stares after the ghost, a frown on his face. Something about the ghost felt…
Hm. He is not sure. He decides not to focus on it.
But, well, with the Duskull having finally left, there is now at least a bit of silence. The winter wind howls still, and waves continue to crush against the cliffside beneath, but that is not noise by his standards. It is much preferable to the bustle of the town.
He sighs and looks around again. A floor covered by a mixture of dirt and small rocks, the beginnings of grass growing on it – over the course of spring, Darkrai is sure that it will only become more – some vines on the walls, a merrily flowing small spring. It seems to have it beginnings somewhere inside the cave walls, which is rather convenient.
Oh, and there is also the gaping opening towards the ocean. As far as he has learnt, the cliff in which the cave is situated is called “Sharpedo Bluff” by the locals, due to it strongly resembling the Pokémon’s gaping mouth.
Well. It is not too bad. If it rains and the winds are strong, there might be the problem of water getting in, but for now, it is alright. He can work with this.
More importantly, he can now use the convenient water and finally, finally wash himself. The last days were spent with no real opportunity for that. After the initial pain of his time travel had passed, Darkrai had promptly found a spring to wash himself at (and take care of some festering wounds), but after that, there had been no such possibilities. He feels disgusting.
Oh, of course, his illusioned form might not show any of that – might not even show the wounds he still carries – but beneath it, he is still himself. And he still has hair which got tangled beyond belief.
So that is what he will do. Wash himself, try to brush out his hair, make more of a liveable space of this cave, and then… assimilate himself in the town. Wait for the hero to show up. And once she does? Well. Revenge will be sweet.
Living in Trash Town… is annoying, and he just cannot keep himself from becoming his cynical self again. He tried to reign himself in, at first, and did so successfully for some weeks, even months (he has always been a great actor), but… after even more months passed, after the months became years, he stopped bothering. He can only take so much stupidity until he snaps.
The town is one of the biggest on the Grass Continent, and as such, it sees a lot of travel – not just from the rest of the continent but also the others, what with its position on the coast. And after the first few days, he decided to accept his cousin’s proposition to help out at the bank – after all, he needs to fit in. Having some money to actually acquire food that is not just berries growing at the edge of town is another plus.
Unfortunately, working means dealing with all the Pokémon passing through, and also having to have conversations. Daily.
If someone tells him once that “Well, as a ghost-type you would not understand,” he can force a smile and move on. If he hears “That blue eye of yours is really weird, you know?” twice, he can nod and just ignore whoever said it. But if he hears something like “And now the apples got more pricey again, can you believe that?” for the third time in a single day, can he really be seen at fault for snapping, “I do not care,” at the customer who said it? He cannot. It is perfectly natural.
The Pokémon living in town adjust to it, anyways – idiots, all of them. Those that pass through might sometimes throw him annoyed glances, but after he glances back at them with murderous intent, they mostly move along quite fast. Really, he should be lauded for not having thrown all of them into an endless nightmare, yet. They are so bothersome.
Well, Dareios might be alright – especially since the ghost realized the immense amount of pent-up energy within Darkrai (anger, mostly) and decided to show him a way to cope with that, it being…
Pranks.
At first, he reacted sceptical – pranks, really?
But truly, pranks are just a simpler form of scheming, with not quite as extreme outcomes as his normal plans.
Chansey makes a derisive comment in passing? How unfortunate that the next morning, she finds her fur dyed blue. The Kecleon brothers sell him an apple that tastes bad? Seems like all of their wares are in disarray shortly after. One of the town’s many kids makes fun of his blue eye? How surprising that the next thing she eats happens to be a Nomel Berry, with no one knowing how it got in her hand.
It is like… scheming world domination, but on a much smaller scale.
…
…… He somewhat likes it.
The original partner never shows its face in the following years. That is… kind of concerning. Maybe Darkrai screwed something up on his way to Trash Town, which in turn kept the partner from ever stepping foot into town? He has never really liked the implications of the Butterfree-Effect.
But he has not made himself disappear yet, so Dialga should not have noticed.
Still, Darkrai will have to be exceedingly careful.
Troubles and annoyances aside, he falls into his role with relative ease. There are, of course, a few things he really hates about it – having to downplay his brilliance, intellect and prowess, having to change his waking cycle from being awake at night and sleeping at day to the other way around, having to not threaten anyone who manages to invoke his anger (almost everyone) – but mostly, it is… acceptable. Not the most enjoyable plan he has ever had, but one of the safest, probably.
He mostly spends his days either training (which means entering the local Mystery Dungeons and beating up the feral Pokémon within them) or helping his ‘cousin’ at the bank. And pulling pranks, of course, so that he keeps his scheming abilities trained. A kind of boring rhythm creeps into his life before he has truly taken notice of it, and once it does, it is too late to change it.
If he was a lesser being, he would try to rush things - but since he is not, he accepts that good plans need time to grow. A boring rhythm is part of that, unfortunately.
And after about five years have passed, there finally comes the moment where he finds an unconscious Piplup lying on the beach, just after a heavy storm. The hero! Finally!
Obviously, he does not know how she and her partner originally met, but does it really matter?
A long as Dialga takes no notice, it does not.
So for now, Darkrai just needs to stop himself from openly showing his disgust, and become her very best friend. Nothing easier than that.