The shadow pokemon made his way around the town freely, taking in the scents of baked goods and crisp air. Ah, winter, truly the best of all seasons. Darkrai glanced around at the shops, absolutely thrilled by some of the items they were selling. Entering one of the shops, he adjusted the flower crown on his head and the strands of pink ribbon that trailed down the ghostly plume of his head. The shopkeeper looked a little frightened, but Darkrai was used to that.

"C-Can I help you?" the shopkeeper asked. Darkrai grinned and shook his head before floating out the door. Glancing around, Darkrai caught sight of a small child who was laughing and playing with a Croagunk jump-toy. He floated over to her side, jumping slightly when the toy flipped into the air.

The child glanced back at Darkrai, screaming at the sight of such a scary pokemon. "Help! Mommyyyy!" the child wailed, jumped to their feet and running to find their parent. Darkrai picked up the toy, upset that he had scared the child so badly. It wasn't intentional! He just wanted to play!

"Ahem," a voice coughed from behind. Darkrai spun around, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. "And just what do you think you're doing?" Dawn asked, tapping her foot repeatedly.

"Sorry…" Darkrai apologized, holding out the jump-toy. Dawn looked down at it, sighing and taking it.

"Let's go find the kid, OK?" she said, taking Darkrai's wrist and pulling him down the street. "You need to stop getting out of your pokeball on your own! You scare people!"

"Don't mean it…" Darkrai said, pouting and hanging his head.

"I know you don't, just like you don't mean to give me nightmares when I leave out of your pokeball all night…" Dawn snickered. It was an attempt to make the legendary laugh, but it failed. Dawn frowned and looked forward, not wanting to see one of her best friends look so upset. "Oh look, there's the kid! Go say you're sorry," Dawn said sweetly, placing the toy in Darkrai's hands and pushing him forward.

Darkrai slowly floated over to the child, nervously looking around everywhere. He locked eyes with them, jumping when he saw tears well in the kid's eyes. "N-no! Toy!" Darkrai presented the Croagunk back to the child. Hesitantly, they took it. Darkrai beamed and tried to ruffle the kid's hair, only to have them pulled away by the frightened mother. The two sped away and left the nightmare pokemon alone.

Dawn slunk up to Darkrai's side, petting his arm. "You tried. Some people just think you're too scary…" Darkrai wiped his eyes, sinking closer to the ground. "Hey, why don't we go to poffin house? You can help me make your favorites!"

Darkrai nodded, tugging on Dawn's belt for her to return him to his pokeball. "Better in there, Momma…"

Dawn sighed and slowly tugged the ball off the belt. She tapped it to Darkrai's head and put him back inside before heading to the poffin house. He's not scary…he just wants to play and have fun like any other pokemon…

Darkrai can talk so I make use of the "pokemon referring to their trainers as mommy or daddy" headcanon. Also, Darkrai is my favorite legendary but people always tell me he's too creepy, which is where this came from.

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