Black Mist threw a vase in rage. He was tired of being stuck inside without going outside! It was driving him nuts!

He swept his hand across everything, dropping and breaking everything in his path. Hope saw this and immediately knocked him out. The kids around them were scared to death, but they knew that Black Mist was just impatient. Still, they couldn't help but feel fear.

Hope carried Black Mist down to the cellar for what was probable the fiftieth time this month. Yes, month. Black Mist still hadn't healed enough to go back to his home in the town. It was much too rough for a recovering Number to go, so he had to stay.

Once in the cellar, Hoe got the metal collar with a chain attached to the wall and snapped it on his son's neck. Cuffs with chains attached to the collar went around his wrists, and shackles clicked on his ankles. It pained the Light Number to do this to him, but it had to be done. If it wasn't done, he would run rampant.

Finally, Hope tied a blindfold over Black Mist's eyes so that he wouldn't see things that may make him even more angry.

~.~.~

Black Mist awoke a few hours later. He opened his eyes, but all he saw was the familiar blackness that surrounded him. Once again, he felt some figures moving about. They didn't harm him, but they always came around him.

"Master," they hissed. "Master..."

Black Mist's ears twitched as they hissed around him. Some hands touched his arms, feeling the scars from his childhood, caressing them. Somehow, they seemed to soothe those old wounds.

"Master..." That seemed to be the only word they knew.

Black Mist wondered why they called him "master." He never seemed to be able to form words, though. Those figures always seemed to take the words away, leaving a calm feeling.

A cold hand fell over his face and fumbled woth the blindfold. Black Mist was confused. Why was this thing trying to untie the blindfold?

Finally, it came free. Black Mist blinked several times to finally make out some outlines. They were shadowy and smokey. They seemed to have no form, and the only things completely visible were their white, glowing eyes.

"Master...sees us..." one of them said.

Black Mist wasn't scared of them. He was actually relieved that he knew the figures around them. They all surrounded him in a semicircle in a close yet respective distance. They didn't want to cause their master to hyperventilate because of such a close space.

Finally, he formed some words. "Who are you...?"

The shadow creatures looked at each other with confusion. One of them, who seemed to be the more intelligent one, spoke.

"Shadow Creatures. Master made us. He needs company until out of here."

"I made you? How?"

The Shadow Creatures all shrugged in unison. "Master make us. We keep company."

Black Mist didn't question this. He did need some company while he was down here. He was kind of mad at Hope for putting him down here, but he understood that this was the only way to keep him out of trouble, to not scare the kids. Still, he wanted someone, anyone, to talk to.

"I see..." Black Mist looked around at them. Looking closer at them, they seemed to have defining details. One had a third black eye, another had four arms, another had no arms, another had only one eye, another had a square head, another had a wide mouth that seemed to be always smiling, another had a large head, so on and so forth.

With these details, they were easier to tell apart. They no longer looked sompletely identical.

"You all look different..." he commented, thinking out loud.

The Creatures all made a hissing chuckle. The intelligent one spoke again.

"Master wants us different. We different for Master."

Black Mist nodded again.

A light opened, and the Shadow Creatures hissed and disappeared. They seemed to be afraid of the light.

Hope stepped down and walked to Black Mist. He looked worried. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, Papa."

Hope was astonished. He hadn't been called "papa" by Black Mist for a long time. Then, he noticed the blindfold off. "What happened?" he asked, unchaining him. "Why is the blindfold off. You counldn't have reached it."

"Shadow Creatures, Papa," the Dark Number explained. "They took it off."

Hope knew about beings called Shadow Creatures. They were animated forms of a Dark Number's Dark Energy. They were formed in their sub-conscience and only came out when their master called on them. It was rare that a Dark Number had them, though. Since it took a lot of Dark Energy just to make one, most didn't have even one.

"How many?" he asked his son, helping him up.

"Tens of thousands," Black Mist answered. That was how much he saw around the room, so that was his answer. "So many just gathered around!"

"Tens of thousands?" That was astonishing. "How did you come up with the Dark Energy to make so many?"

Black Mist shrugged and allowed Hope to lead him out. "I dunno. I just did, I guess."

Hope sighed. He must have more Dark Energy than I first thought. I knew that a 96 had a lot of Dark Energy, but enough to make thousands of Shadow Creatures?

Black Mist blinked in the light. It took him some time to get his eyes to adjust. The kids were still running around, and some of them ran to Black Mist.

"Onii-sama, are you okay?" one asked in concerm.

"You were so angry today," another said. "Why?"

Black Mist shook his head. "I don't know." It was true. He actually had no idea why. Sure, he was frustrated, but he didn't think it was enough to make him go into a full out rage!

"Come play with us!" a child squealed. He and Goldie were playing tag, and they wanted Black Mist to join.

Black Mist smiled and nodded. "Okay." He rushed at them. "I'm it!"

The kids squealed in delight and ran off.