Well, here we are again. Me making a promise to get the next chapter to you all sooner, and yet I don't update till nine months later. Big shout out to all of you who liked, favorite, followed and commented on my story thus far, and a special spotlight shout out to JP4Demonking for his (or her) persistent pestering and letting me know that at least one person is enjoying my story. So, with my cross country move behind me, and a brand new laptop to break in, let's dive into…

Cloaked in Darkness

Chapter 9: Eclipsed Earth

The invasion of Earth had always been on Timothy's mind. From the moment he had decided to begin his crusade to conquer the Universe, he had been plotting and planning every move, every strategy, and every variable. It had to be perfect. Not only would it prove that he truly was the greatest wielder of magic for doing the one thing so many of his Evil adversaries had tried and failed countless times to achieve, but it would serve as the true launching point of his campaign.

With six billion converts to the darkness under his command, give or take the doubtless many who would have to be put down due to their unwillingness to embrace the dark powers and himself, Timothy knew he would be able to then set his sights on the rest of his galaxy. He knew not to imagine too far into the future, as envisioning himself seated on the throne of the Universe before he had even taken his first and home planet was practically begging for failure and for his whole conquest to crash and burn after only just starting to take off.

Still, it was hard to keep the smile of silent triumph off his face as he received his first pair of battle reports from his generals on the ground; Francis and A.J. The godsend team of brain and brawn, Timothy's smile simply grew and grew as he read further and further into the report.

****Francis****

The sun broke over the skyline of Dimmesdale, birds flitting among trees, flowers shining their colors brightly, the air crisp and cool. It seemed to be the perfect day, and the residents of Dimmesdale were doing their best to pretend it was. But they all knew it was fake. Fake when someone smiled and waved at someone else, fake when someone told a joke around the water cooler. Fake when someone blew out the candles on their birthday cake and made a wish.

Happiness and blissful ignorance were long forgotten ideas, fear and barely veiled terror the new emotions of choice. No one in the city could forget the events of Timothy's display, the unspeakable horror and pain that had been inflicted by a mere snap of his fingers.

So it was no surprise that when Francis kicked down the door to the mayor's office and shot him a look of pure darkness, the mayor submitted without so much as a whimper. As soon as he was converted, Francis picked up the phone on the mayor's desk. "A.J., the Mayor is with us. You are go for the invasion." As he hung up, Francis noticed Chompy the Goat cowering in the corner. With a grin that betrayed a shimmer of his old life, Francis shot a beam of darkness at the terrified animal, his grin growing wider as the powers took effect.

Chompy's coat became black as oil, his eyes a shimmering violet. His teeth became pure ebony, and his horns grew to the size, shape and sharpness of a demon straight from a nightmare. The demon warrior goat walked over to his new master, and Francis smiled as he mounted his new steed. The grin never left his face as both he and Gnasher, Chompy's new name, leapt from the window of the Mayor's office and onto the streets below, where the battle of Dimmesdale was already waging.

Although it wasn't so much a battle as it was a hostile takeover. All around him, Francis could see people being converted to Timothy's cause, their eyes becoming the same shade of black and violet as Timothy's. However, he also saw several stumps of blackened ash, no doubt the charred remains of the pathetic resistance trying to stop the invasion.

As Francis rode Gnasher and directed the new additions to his army back to the massive transport craft serving as a base for the Earth invasion, his darkened mind sensed something was wrong. Almost like a mini alarm bell in his head. And a moment later he was proved right, as out of the shadows of a nearby alleyway jumped a unit of special force police, who had managed to escape the initial contact of the attack.

With a coordinated attack they threw themselves at Francis, guns blazing in what they hoped would be an un avoidable hail of bullets. But with a simple snap, Francis caused every single bullet to flip in mid air, and scream at the head of the soldier who had fired it. Each bullet burrowed into its respective soldiers brain, and each one fell to the ground, seemingly dead. However, each one opened their eyes in turn, and with soulless black pits they stood and bowed to Francis, acknowledging their new master. Francis in turn smiled, pleased with his new zombie warriors and the fact that he had found a way to not only remove the threat of unwilling minds, but had managed to make belong to Timothy anyway.

All in all, the takeover of Dimmesdale had taken only half a day. Having grown up in the place for most of their previous lives, A.J. and Francis had had little trouble searching every nook and cranny of the town. Finally, with their home town well and truly conquered, and with people such as Remmy Bucksaplenty and Wandissimo converted to Timothy's cause, Timothy's Generals set their sights to the rest of the planet.

***Timothy***

*Two Months Later*

Timothy smiled as he received his latest report from Francis and A.J. Just as he had planned, the takeover of Earth hadn't posed even the slightest challenge for his Generals. All in all, more than Six billion men, women and children had been converted to his army, and Timothy knew that with such numbers it would take a force larger than was physically possible to stop him. The message from Francis and A.J. ended with a statement that a larger fleet of ships was going to be needed, due to the massive amount of people that had been added, but a single wish to his demons had solved that problem.

With Earth his, Timothy knew he could set his sights on the only other place that posed any form of a threat to his new Empire. With Francis and A.J. returning with his new army, Timothy ordered his new fleet to advance on their new target.

Yugopotamia.

So there you go. Not only do you get a new chapter, you are all now official member of the Darkhand Army! Also, I have some exciting news to report; Yugopotamia is the last script piece before I really start taking ideas from you guys about where Timothy goes, who he fights, and which girls he takes. So if you have any ideas or favorites you want to see, make sure to leave them in a review. Also, I am so very very very sorry that this took so long. I really do feel horrible for making you guys wait so long. But thanks again for sticking with me, and I promise I will update with more frequency in the future.

JMAHWK