Chapter the First;

I Must Forget

Moon sat by the side of the river debating whether she should take her life or not. She had totally screwed up everything good about her life so death didn't seem as bad to her as it once had. Her mate had left her under false suspicion of cheating. Her kits had all died because of an attack from a rival clan, which had been blamed on her, causing her clan to disown her.

Moon stood. No, this would not be the end of her life. She would find something to live for, if it was the last thing she did. She fled the river. Ran as far as she could away, Moon did. She had to find somewhere to start new. Clean her slate. Forget her past.

…

Moon waded through dense reeds and hoped over boulders. She climbed up the face of a mountain to find the Pokémon she needed. Her paws ached as she found a small cavity in the mountain's rocky surface. It would have to do for an overnight den.

Moon climbed into the small cavern and curled into a ball. The cool of night dug into her fur but didn't get far. Her internal flame sac made sure of that. It warmed her body, but could become almost unbearable during the summer when the sun shone its hottest.

Moon shivered though the cold could not reach her. She was afraid. Afraid of the terrors she would have to face without any memories or ideas of the world. She would be a newborn Eevee kit trapped inside the body of a mature Flareon. It was wrong, and she knew it. To forget one's past or to take their own life for their pleasure. It was selfish. It was wrong. But she had to do it.

The night gave Moon little sleep. Between the noises and freezing breezes, slumber had been nearly impossible. But Moon still found strength enough to continue. She needed to find the Hypno that would grant her wish to forget.

Climbing the mountain was fierce. The wind batted at Moon's sore muscles and skinny frame while the rock repelled her claws and only made it harder to move. It didn't help that dust and dirt fell from the mountain's sides, blinding Moon.

It took ten days' time to complete the journey to the top of the mountain, but Moon wasn't surprised. She had gone less distance in more time. It was like a new record that she could keep until Hypno's spell.

She marveled at the sight in front of her. There were plants and trees as far as the eye could see. A lake was just hearable over the wind. The wind? Moon was confused. Wind and rain echoed through her ears but the trees were stone-still and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

She took a few steps forward to find that the sound of crunching snow echoed through her ears every time her paw touched the ground. But that wasn't right. It wasn't right at all. There was no snow. The ground was as clear as, as, as a sheet of fresh ice.

Moon cautiously took a few more steps before breaking out into a full-fledged run. The sound of crunching ice continued as she ran. The sound of a lake became softer in her ears, confusing her senses. She stopped at the edge of the lake. There was something wrong. The water seemed alive as it rocked back and forth, but it didn't make a sound. All Moon could hear was the sound of her beating heart and snow and wind and rain. It confused her.

She looked out into the middle of the lake, breaking her eyes away from the terrorizing trance water gave her. In the center of the lake stood an island made of what looked like white sand. Moon had never seen sand so white. She focused on the island to see that it wasn't sand, but snow! That also didn't make sense to Moon. How could snow be in the middle of a lake? It wasn't even melting!

The only thing Moon knew as true was the one thing she dreaded most. She needed to reach that snow. The snow surrounded by water, a lake.