Soar to New Heights~ A Bat 1x1 with Moony and Firebird!

[Moony-Mae]

Luna nodded at Obsidian gravely. She flew back into the trees and emerged from the branches in a secluded hollow with a heart-shaped pool in the middle. As far as she could tell, no one else knew about this place. Luna did her deepest thinking here. She hung and thought about everything that had happened in her last year of life. What did her vision mean? After a few minutes, she left the hollow and swooped back to Obsidian.

[~Firebird Rising~]

At last, Obsidian spotted Graphite in the distance, just as he swooped at a large moth. "Graphite!" she called. Graphite looked up in surprise, missed the moth, and crashed into a tree. Obsidian flew over to him as he clumsily caught himself on a low branch.

"What?" Graphite asked, rubbing his sore head. "What do you want?"

"Well... something's happened," Obsidian said uneasily. Making sure that she and her brother were alone, and out of earshot of the main swarm of bats, she told him about Luna's vision. "Have you heard anything odd recently?" she asked when she had finished. "Anything strange that might hint at what's coming?"

Graphite shook his head, wide-eyed. "I haven't heard anything since Hibernation. Nothing strange at all. I-I can try, though..." He closed his eyes and concentrated. Since he didn't know what he was listening for, it was hard to distinguish anything. All he heard was the usual babble of all the bats chattering with friends and companions.

[Moony-Mae]

{{ Wow! You're so lucky you get to go to France! }}

Bone hung from a tree. It was extremely large and tall, big enough for a thousand or more of his subjects. By consuming Vincent, he had become much stronger. After all, the failure had a magic of his own, though not what he was looking for. He could feel power seeping through his bones. He was undoubtedly growing stronger. It wouldn't be long before he could leave his Kingdom of Death and take over Flora and her Kingdom. He would spread rot and decay and rule the whole planet! He started to laugh. It was a cold, piercing, demonic sound, like fear and evil itself. He lay patiently in wait, waiting for the right time to strike.

[~Firebird Rising~]

(Yeah, I know! ^^ It's a school trip, and we're going for 10 whole days! I've never even been out of the U.S. before, so I'm really excited! )

Graphite froze, ears straight up in the air. He had never heard anything like the chilling laugh that had just reached his ears. It was cold, dark, and piercing, and while he could tell it was from far, far away, it was so loud that it thundered against his earbuds. It carried a note of such evil- dark, all-consuming evil- that it made him shudder right down to his bones. He flushed pale under his fur, eyes wide open and scared, tense and paralyzed, unable to move.

Seeing such a sudden and alarming change in her brother, Obsidian tried to shake him out of it, yelling his name. "Graphite! Graphite! Snap out of it!" she cried frantically. Graphite blinked and let out a gasp, returning to his normal coloring. "What is it, Graphite?" Obsidian asked him worriedly. "What did you hear?"

"I-I-I don't know..." Graphite stammered, breathing shallowly. "T-there was this laugh... this awful laugh... like... like nothing I'd ever heard... so evil... even more evil than Vincent...."

[Moony-Mae]

{{ I thought this would be a cool plot twist! Do you like it, or do you have changes or other ideas in mind? }}

"Are... are you sure?" asked Luna, horrified. She couldn't believe even more terror was in store after all they'd been through! "Maybe... maybe it's..." she faltered, trying hard to think of anyone more frightening than Vincent. "Maybe you heard... Bone's laugh! it would make sense if you did; in my vision, I saw a horned skull! It must have been him! He's probably plotting something really devious right now!"

Bone thought a moment. He still was too weak to make it to Mortal land; being undead, it drained his power to be around living bats. He needed magic, but how to get it? Perhaps he should have thought twice about punishing Vincent. Then, a brilliant idea came to him. A terrible, wicked, conniving, evil idea. He loved it.

As the sun rose a few hours later, Nocturno flew into the cave for a bit of sleep before flying home the next night. As he drifted off, he started to dream. It was more of a nightmare. He was inside a tree, it seemed. No one was around, but he could barely see. He was completely surrounded by darkness. Then, a voice spoke. It sounded remarkably like his father's.

"Nocturrrrrno.... Nocturrrrrno...." it wailed.

"Dad?" Nocturno replied, looking around. He blinked in the pitch darkness.

"Nocturrrrno...."

Out of the shadows, stepped... a Human! But, not like the ones Nocturno had seen. This one had large ears like his own, and sharp teeth stained red.

"Who... Who are you?" Nocturno asked, confused.

"Why, Nocturno, don't you recognize me?" the Human replied. Its voice was sinister, just like his father's. "It's me, Vincent! Your beloved father!"

Nocturno was confused. His father would never say that! What was going on?

"Nocturno, I need your help! I neeeeed yooouuuurrrr heeeelllllllpppppp......."

Vincent's voice became slow and distorted as the dream faded. Nocturno opened his eyes. It was still early in the morning. Many bats were now asleep, including Luna and Borealis. Nocturno couldn't see this himself, but his normally orange eyes had lost their burning color. His pupils swirled around in a spiral. He was being hypnotized and controlled by Bone. He closed his eyes for a moment and a second later, a hole opened in the cave floor. Through it you could see Darkwraith. He flew up, grabbed Luna, twisted her wing hard so she couldn't fly, and threw her into the hole. He flew out of the cave and did the same to Obsidian, Graphite, and Mooonbeam. Bone gave a wicked laugh, which echoed through Nocturno and burst out of his mouth. He sealed up the hole after watching the four magical bats plummet down into the firey kingdom of Bone.

[~Firebird Rising~]

(So... I'm a little confused. How did all our bats go from standing around talking, to sleeping, to getting thrown into a fiery pit of doom? Was that part of Nocturno's dream, or did that really happen?)

[Moony-Mae]

{{ Forgive me, I must not have worded it right. XD Silly me! But I remember saying 'A few hours later' at one point. I think it was 'Nocturno flew into the cave a few hours later' or something. That must have thrown me off. I suppose, if it sounded like a cool adventure to you, we could continue with them waking up there, or we could just scrap the whole idea. I apologize for the confusion. c: }}

[~Firebird Rising~]

(Oh, okay! I got it! I think it's a good idea, if Hestia is okay with it too! I think we should roll with it! ^^)

Obsidian had fallen asleep that night still worrying over what Luna had seen, and Graphite had heard. Graphite, still shaken over the incident from earlier, had fallen asleep much later, the chilling laugh still ringing in his ears.

They slept soundly for some time, until a terrible pain seized Obsidian's wing. She let out a shriek, then opened her eyes to see Nocturno holding her wing. "What- Nocturno, what are you doing?" she cried. She noticed the glazed look in his eyes, covered in spirals, and shook with fear. He didn't look like her friend. He looked evil. "What's wrong?" He dragged her above a huge, fiery whole in the floor and let out another cry. "No! Stop! Nocturno! I don't know what's wrong with you, but stop this right now!" He didn't listen, and she screamed as she was thrown into the dark hole. She saw Luna tumbling down before her, and shortly, Graphite following above her. She screamed wordlessly, terrified out of her wits. What was going on?

[✖ＨＥＳＴＩＡ]

Moonbeam felt a sharp pain, her light green orbs flew open and she shrieked in pain at the sensation. She looked around and noticed she was being carried by Nocturno, she struggled in his grasp. Trying to get away from the male, she looked into his face and noticed the glazed over look in his orbs, cold dread filled her veins and she shivered.

"Nocturno! Let go of me!" she gasped in pain and then screamed as she was thrown into the abyss. Her scream traveled down as she fell into the hole until she passed out, sub coming to the darkness all around her.

[Moony-Mae]

Nocturno let out another evil laugh. Well, it was Bone's laugh, coming from him, to be precise. He watched as the four tumbled down into the chasm he had created. Everything was going perfectly, much better than the results of Vincent's attempts had been. Bone would be so pleased when he was presented the souls and magic he needed.

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Luna couldn't believe what was going on. She tried to flap her wings and fly back up through the hole she had just been unceremoniously tossed into, but all she achieved was an excruciating pain in her wing. The last she saw of the cave was a face. The face of- no, it couldn't be! Nocturno wouldn't do such a thing! Then, she noticed his eyes, which were not the familiar orange, but instead pearly white and somewhat swirly. She gasped and tried to call out to him, but the pain in her undoubtedly broken wing brought tears to her eyes and she couldn't voice her reply. She saw Obsidian, Graphite, and Moonbeam fall in after her, and she nearly screamed in anger and agony. Why was her friend in such a strange state? Looking down, Luna saw hard rock. She was nearing it much too fast, and was going to crash without her wings to pull her out of the dive! With a crushing Flumph! she came into contact with the ground. She lay there for a minute or more, in too much pain to do much other than breathe and observe her surroundings. Where on earth was she?

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Nocturno smirked and closed up the hole, but not before jumping in himself and arriving in Darkwraith with the others.

Suddenly, his mind cleared, and he felt as if a dense fog had lifted. Nocturno's eyes returned to their normal color. He saw what he had done. His three friends, whom had faced so much already, were now at the bottom of a hole, in a fiery underworld of sorts, with broken wings, to boot! Then, he snapped back into his hypnotized state and laughed maniacally at his handiwork. As the real Nocturno fought with Bone, he slipped in and out of control of his mind. He finally managed to fight off Bone for the time being. He went over to Graphite and prodded him with his wingtip. He worried his friends hadn't died- because of him! "Graphite? Guys? You okay?" he whispered, afraid of the answer.

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Luna opened one eye and saw Nocturno. His eyes were back to normal now. She attempted to sit up, and did with a great bit of struggle. "Nocturno, what happened?" she burst out. "What was that?!" She gestured upwards at the hole, but then realized it had resealed itself. They were trapped. She started breathing heavily. A tear escaped her. Where were they? What was to become of them? Why couldn't she lead a normal life?