Chapter One- The Pack

Midnight's POV:

Dawn streaked the sky in faint bands of red, pink and lavender, while the branches of the gigantic oak trees swayed in the wind,creating a soft and familiar rustling that quickly mixed with the singing and chirping of various bird Pokémon.

My steps were almost noiseless as I made my way through the forest green. My eyes kept on closing involuntary as exhaustion weighed down on my shoulders, and I wondered again why I had gone for a walk instead of sleeping like everybody else.

"Good morning." I muttered.

Morning, Nightmare yawned from inside my head, she sounded exhausted as well despite not having done anything during my walk.

I blinked trying to stay awake, forcing my tired legs to move faster as I thought of the well-deserved rest that awaited me.

A flash of purple fur and the sound of a tiny heartbeat pushed my sleepiness away. Immediately I dropped into a crouch and made my way through the undergrowth trying to stay silent as I neared a distracted rattata that was practically begging to be cuaght, the mouse froze sensing something before continuing to nibble a seed,however its shoulders were tense and the normal-type seemed ready to flee at any given moment, not willing to let my catch flee,I sprang forward, the rattata zipped into the grass the moment my paws left the I gave chase always a bit behind it,the violet rodent led me through the forest and squeaked as it ducked into a tiny ice cavern.

Hissing I dived behind it and madly tried to flush the purple mouse out of hiding, but it was hidden too deeply in its I jumped onto one of the icy shelves created by the Ice-covered-rock and waited, ready to pounce on the rattata the moment it put a paw out.

I shivered the cold that emanated from the stone pierced my thick black pelt, slowly seeping into my skin.I waited trembling until the sun had completely risen over the nearby mountains,sighing I sprang off the icy ledge and carefully peered into the hole,my good nocturnal vision saw...nothing; the cavern was empty.

I sprayed poison around myself and glared at my reflection, who proceeded to glare back with an icy green gaze before it distorted due to the mixing of the dawn light that flooded the sky,the thin wispy shadows that fell on the spiky ice-covered-rock and the darkness and light of Our Our mirror image was nothing more than a silhouette,a stretched silhouette with thin spinity legs and a huge round body.

I laughed at the over exaggeration of Our features and stared at my own breath; now turned into a tiny white cloud that billowed up into the air.

Your in a good mood, Nightmare noted.

"And you haven't said a single curse!" I chuckled for a bit before stopping as my eyes demanded rest,I yawned and stretched kneading the ground with my large furry paws.

Eh, the day's still young, there'll be plenty of time for swearing.

I bounded through the thinning grass, completely unaware of where I was going until it was too late. I leapt back as my paws hit the water, it wasn't cold, but I shivered anyways, seeing the lake in a lovely blood and guts hue, instead of the usual blue.

My vision blurred and became tinted with red, I couldn't move, couldn't breath, I could only hear wicked laughter and smell my own sour fear as I tried in vain to fight against a monster.

Midnight! Nightmare's voice sounded distant and ripplely as if she were underwater, yet it was enough to snap me out of my memory.

Jerking my head upwards, I kept my eyes focused on a cloud and I backed away trying to control my just noticed, rapid pulse and breathing.

You ok? Do...you want me to take over?

Taking deep breaths I politely shook my head and turned around staring at the nearby trees before charging into the greenery. My large black paws kicked up leaves, dirt and other forest waste as I moved among the trees, I ducked under a fallen oak, startling a few sentrets in the process and ran around the gigantic moss covered rock that was placed in the dead center of our trail.I pushed myself forward for a few more meters and tumbled into the clearing,slightly dazed I growled softly as the sunlight shone into my eyes.

Sweat clung to my fur and I stumbled to my paws before shaking myself free of toxic substance .The exhaustion returned to my legs and I nearly fell forwards thanks to my ears dropping and my long messy tail dragging in the dirt as I trudged towards the bramble bush that served as a den, slipping through the too-wide-for-me entrance.I swayed on my paws,feeling as if my legs would snap at any given moment,asI searched for a possible place to rest.

Due to the rarity of Nightmare or I sleeping in camp, We had no nest and on days like this when We decided to return to camp and rest We usually rested next to Raiden,Ariada and in Nightmare's case with Link,but today they had already left to hunt, leaving me with just Caleo...

Are you seriously going to sleep next to her?

"Yeah, I guess I will, moss isn't as comfy as a bunch of warm fur."

Nightmare muttered something I couldn't understand as I made my way towards the exceptionally large flareon.

Caleo's rusty brown sides rose with each breath, and her eyes rolled in her head as she dreamed. I crawled towards the fire-type and snuggled into her thick brown and yellow fur, praying that she wouldn't be angry later on. The warmth and softness of her fur made me feel the sleepiness even more and Nightmare's angry muttering faded into the background.

By the time I woke up, the sun was peeking through the cracks of the den, giving the bramble bush a magical kind of glow.

I got up carefully freezing as I felt Caleo's warm fluffy body shift, the flareon murmured in her sleep and rolled. Allowing myself to breath, I carefully stepped out of the mossy nest and jumped through the large round exit.

The day looked promising, tree branches swaying in the warm breeze, bracken and ferns unfurled themselves in the western edge of camp, seemingly glowing in the sunshine.I purred and stopped wondering how long this peace would last.

This place will be like home until Caleo wakes up, better take advantage of it.

"I just got out of the Mindscape."

Yes, but you've said yourself the Mindscape is the closest you've got to home.

"I know...but today has an optimistic bribe don't you think?"

You aren't going to mope around again are you?

"I promise I won't mope around." I say going around the bramble bush and picking the clearest less torn-filled route out of camp via the east proved difficult due to the lack of eeveelutions walking and following a specific route though the plants, but somehow I managed to get through with only a few scratches.

I didn't know what was with today but the forest was bright, sun beams filtering through the canopy creating a pattern on the forest floor that I could only describe as a 'leaf dapple',the leaves and grass sparkled with evaporating dew, and everything smelled warm and filled with and other minor creatures moved among the plants, filling the air with rustling,chirping,and of this was evidence of New-leaf transforming into Green-leaf.

The Equinox is almost here! Nightmare mewed excited.

"I'll never get why the Equinox is so important to you."

Its tradition passed down from generation to generation in Relta, so of course it matters to me.

"I know but,do you really think that burning things and praying to a god that we don't know actually exsists is a good thing?"

I don't care for the results, I just participate cause its tradition.

"You weren't even born in Relta!"

I was never born, I was created; but what about it?

"It just isn't your birth culture."

Maybe it isn't but who knows...maybe it is Our culture. Nightmare didn't give me time to answer. Remember the story about Cloudberry and Ryewhisker?

"Kind of," I mumbled already losing about forbidden lovers were always predictable, they either got caught, were forced to fight each other,ran away, or one of them died.

Their half-pack kits were said to have been taken to Silvta after Cloudberry died.

"Your point?"

They say that legends come from the truth so who knows...maybe there is Relta blood in Us.

I sighed and instead focussed on a blade of grass that bobbed back and forth in the breeze,and dropped to the floor stalking it, quick and light on my paws before pouncing and happily grasping it between my teeth before I began rolling around in the grass,lying on my back to watch the pidgeys fluttering in the trees.

"Why can't it be like this everyday?"

Because most days,you stay in the Mindscape while I wander around and take care of Our body while trying to avoid the shit going on at Camp, and help with you deal with a lot of unpleasant memories as well,while pushing my own negative emotions away...Nightmare trailed off and I growled swishing my tail,flattening my ears and dropping my blade of grass.

Hey, don't be like that. Today's a nice day, why don't We go and wander through the woods with a smile on Our face?Let's try to be white eyes, for a while.

I nodded unenthusiastically due that in my opinion being a white soul was stupid, they were too happy to the point that it was better considered as mania,and while I had only met one white eyes-a houndour during a pack gathering; his endless happiness had been enough to allow me to decide that white eyes were the most bullshit crazy kind of souls.

I rolled around in the grass a few more times before getting back to my paws and ducking into the undergrowth.

"Why do you want me to be a white eye?" I ask Nightmare as I wandered through the forest in opposite direction of the lake."If I were one,I wouldn't have gotten lonely and sad and there would be no reason for you to exist."

Eh,

I glanced around looking for something interesting, despite all the decoration the forest to me looked just as static as the Mindscape, there wasn't anything else to do than just stay in Nightmare's company.

"I got no idea of what I want to do!" I complained, before stopping to investigate a small creek that snaked its way through the woodland. Nightmare took a moment to reply, as if she too were contemplating the little stream.

I don't remember this creek.

"You don't?" I mewed surprised, scampering over to a little waterfall and following the twisting,winding water path."I have a feeling that I've seen this river before."

Eventually the river came to a stop and I froze, wondering where the fuck I was.

Where are We?" I asked looking around for any familiar landmarks before scrambling up a tree to get a better view. Perched on a relatively low branch I breathed out seeing the mountains and the lake and rows and rows of trees all a good distance from where We were,it was quite the south side of the forest thinned out, way too much to be considered natural. The lush green turned to an unappealing brown, the trees looked like skeletons, thin and dark, the ground was a mix of dead matter and brown sun-hardened mud imprinted with the large paw prints.
Then it hit me like a very large rock.

"This isn't our territory!" I shrieked nearly falling off the branch "We're on Ignalta's lands!How the hell did We not smell their border markers!"

What's so bad about Ignalta?

"If they find Us here, they'll rip Us to shreads or declare war on the pack!"

And?

"Don't you remember all the problems that came up between the packs becuase of their hostility? Sunburst and Malichor always fought at the gatherings!"

Oh, that was the shit Sunburst was yelling about during the gatherings,I always thought that it was her being a bitch.

"Did you even pay attention to the gatherings?" I ask jumping off the branch,landing neatly on the ground.

Of course I wasn't paying attention I was too busy pointing out every pretty female I saw to Raiden,her reactions were funny.

Rolling my eyes at my counterpart juvenile behavior I sniffed the air warrily and slinked across the ground,there were no fresh houndoom scents and that both relieved and made me nervous.

The majority of the houndoom territory was barren with little undergrowth to hide and mingle scents and I winced as I my tail dragged behind me spreading my scent, it was simply too long and heavy to lift in the air.

"We're going to die." I whimper ducking behind a log as I heard a bush rustle.

Stop being so paranoid! Ignalta isn't even a big problem anymore, it's been three years since the merge and we've never had problems with them,most of our problems these days are Caleo and her bitchiness.

"You blame Caleo for everything."

Not for everything, if it weren't for her bitchiness, I wouldn't exist. I'm grateful for that at least.

None of us said a thing as a patrol of houndoom and houndour stepped into the open, despite the apparent wasteland that their territory was; the dark-typed canines had sleek well-groomed fur and thick muscles,their scent while bitter carried the slightly irritating smell of a fire-type.I prayed to whatever gods existed to allow me to pass through the territory undetected,that my own dark-type scent was lost in dogs passed, not even batting an eye at my hiding place as they renewed the border markings in the disgusting way that canines always did-urinating over everything and promptly left.

I waited flat against the ground until I could no longer hear the crunch of the branches and leaves that they trampled underfoot,sighing in relief I picked my way through the territory, my legs feeling too stiff for me to break into a run.I wrinkled my nose at the scent of Ignalta's border marker and did my best to ignore the pungent odor as I passed over the now visible borderline and into my own on instinct I swept my tail over my side of the border and I spat on the ground repulsed by the musty dog odor and rushed upstream back to the multi-scented forest.

Now We were wandering though the woods, sniffing the air in search for failed hunt for earlier today was fresh in my mind and I growled determined to catch something, with so many prey scents I doubted that I wasn't going to catch anything and after picking out one of many I dropped into a crouch and began stalking the prey.

The sentret pushed itself onto it's striped tail,nervously scanning the area before dropping to the ground searching for seeds or worms or whatever sentrets ate.I took a few steps, watching how the normal-type's long ears twitched, it rose onto its tail again and I flattened myself against the ground,hidden by the tall grass.

I crawled forward keeping my gaze on the plump body of the rodent as it whipped around to scan the other direction;my nose caught an odd bitter-sweet scent and I pushed myself to my paws and tackled the distracted gave out a shrill squeak as I pinned it down,struggling with the size and weight of the creature,before dislocating its spine with a swift bite.I gripped my catch and began hauling it into the bushes, feeling self-pride build up in my out that the sentret had mostly been fur indicating that it was going to be a very shaggy furret, due to this minor detail It had taken me forever to spit the hairs out of my teeth.

Once I was done I sniffed the air,and followed the sharp unnatural smell of ozone to its source,pushing a few branches out of the way to look at the large bulky jolteon.

"Raiden, without Ariada?"

With Ariada Nightmare corrected Look closer.

I squinted and scanned the forest, but found nothing else than a few ferns and other leaves.

Ariada's good at hiding.

I nodded observing as the jolteon sniffed the air in search of prey, her large nicked ears twitched the fur on them becoming electrified quills just like the rest of her pelt.

Raiden would appreciate the help considering that Ariada only tagged along for the sunlight,exercise,and for Raiden and not for the actual prey.

"Your turn." I whispered to Nightmare, shutting my eyes and allowing my consciousness to fade away into the Mindscape.

Caleo's Pov:

I groaned, turning around in my nest, opening my eyes slightly to see a blur of sunlight and shadows mixing together before I shut my eyes again, but my ears were now picking up the bothersome sounds of chatter and my vision turned blackish-red as the sunlight fell directly on my face.

I lifted my head, blinking the drowsiness den was empty and I yawned puffing my fur and releasing the excess heat that my body had stored up during the cool night.

Glancing up at the tangle of thorny branches over my head, I wondered what time it was, the woven bramble didn't allow the sky to be seen, so I could only guide myself by the amount of sunshine that slipped through the cracks.

Yawning again I began to stretch, getting rid of even more excess heat as I did, the den felt too warm even for me, fluffing myself up again, I wondered if I had slept tough New-leaf and woken up on some arid Green-leaf with my stretching I got to my paws and quickly made my way to the exit squeezing through the shrinking hole.

The clearing was peaceful, which wasn't a big surprise considering the small size of the 'pack'. The sun was directly above the forest, marking the hour as midday as the trees danced in the soft breeze, and the scent of fresh-kill lingered in the air.

I immediately began walking towards the leafeon, jolteon and sylveon that sat in at the western edge of the clearing eating what I assumed was lunch.

"Good afternoon, I guess?" I said as I sniffed the patch of grass where I was going to sit, it had the bitter scent of a dark-type so the umbreon responsible for it had probably just left.

Raiden made a strange crackling sound at my comment and began to rip her prey apart with more viciousness.

I ignored the jolteon's unfriendly gesture and puffed out my thick fur once more, disturbing Ariada in the skinny leafeon stopped kneading the ground with her tiny brown paws and looked at me annoyed.

"How's everything?" I mumbled, lifting my paw and giving it a few licks as I sat down.

"Everything's fine, as alwa- Raiden, stop playing with it !" Ariada chided starting at the bloody tendon that hung from the jolteon's jaws.

"I'm not playing!"

"Just hurry up and eat it!"

"That's what I'm doing!" The jolteon hissed scarfing down the remains of her rattata.

I glanced at Link,the small sylveon laid on the ground head on his paws, his blue-tipped feelers twitched slightly, the fairy-type opened one blue eye, stared at me, then closed it, making a sound deep in his throat.

I wanted to fluff my fur again and my paws pricked with the need to walk in an endless repetitive cycle.

"Is it just me or is it hot?"

"Today's as cool as a cucumber Caleo, it's probably because you slept all night and half of the day." Raiden mewed washing her yellow flank in an attempt to keep her fur needles flat.

"What's a cucumber?" Link asked, sitting up and raising his dancing feelers to the air.

The jolteon shrugged "Misty always said stuff about cucumbers, she never explained what a cucumber was. I think its a plant." She glanced at Ariada for a confirmation.

"Just because I'm a grass-type, doesn't mean I know every plant in existence." She hissed, violet eyes flashing venomously.

"Maybe, but you know about healing herbs."

"Healing herbs." Ariada repeated "Viridis never mentioned cucumbers."

"What about Slate?" Raiden inquired "He was a domesticated pokemon after all."

Ariada was thoughtful for a moment, her foreleaf dropping to cover the space between her eyes "I never asked, but fro-"

I ignored my packmates and got to my paws, the conversation was foreign to me anyways I knew nothing about herbs or whatever customs had been created by the other pack before the merge.

I walked to a patch of burnt grass which had become in recent years my 'pacing place'. It had become a habit to walk and walk and walk, think a bit about my problems and rid myself of the excess energy.

Eventually I lost track of time, engrossed in my habit, it took various taps on the shoulder to snap out of in.I stopped and looked at Raiden, her fur was slightly spiked up.

"Midnight was in a good mood when she left, perhaps you should go and walk in the forest and meet up with her, all this heat will give Ariada a stroke." I glanced at the small leafeon who was laying on the ground, on her side, not injured or sickened at all.

I bit my lip and growled sending out a wave of heat in annoyance.

"What did I just tell you!?"

"Ariada's fine, stop overreacting."

"So being concerned for the well being of my mate is overreacting?" The smell of ozone became stronger and the crackling sound that Raiden made whenever she exhaled had become mixed with a low snarl. I could faintly hear Ariada shouting at Raiden.

"If I, by any chance bother Ariada , you two can go SOMEWHERE ELSE!"

The jolteon gekkered at me, the white ruff of fur around her neck stood up, and electricity spun and twirled around her body in arches that lasted for mere seconds.I snarled in reply feeling my chest fill up with flames, my thick mane and tail began to glow and flicker, the area of blacked grass around me glared at each other, ears flat against our heads, tails - if Raiden even had a tail- swishing back and forth, jaws wide open displaying our fangs.

It seemed that we had stared at each other for hours, and my paws had begun to prickle,I was getting tired of the 'standing still game'.I was about to raise myself on my hind legs in an attempt to scare Raiden off when a pair of feelers came between us.

My inner flame dimed as the calming fairy-type energy spread throughout the camp and filled the air.

Ariada made her way towards Raiden in quick little steps, I could hear the annoyed tone in her soft voice as she lead the pissed off jolteon away into the forest. Link walked past me his paws barely touching the charred ground around me as he moved in quick,long,graceful steps, his long blue and pink feelers trailing behind him.

I growled once he left, and turned I would go and see if Midnight was around, if not; at least I would get to fight.

Tracking them down was easy, Midnight tended to avoid the area around the lake and her demon usually lingered in the more isolated parts of the forest.

I fluffed my fur for what seemed the thousandth time, and I pushed aside some grass with my paws and growled as I scented the distinctive bitter odor of a dark-type. As I followed the scent trail though the forest, the trees became bigger and less sunlight peeked through the branches, the chirping pidgeys were replaced by silent hoot-hoots and the soft tall grass became thick and untamable. Eventually the trail came to a stop and I searched among the tree branches knowing that Midnight's bitch of a companion liked climbing.

"Look at that Midnight, a wild bitch."

I jumped startled and turned around coming face-to-face with the dark-type. I snarled igniting my mane and tail.

"Calm down Caleo, I'm just saying the truth, after all, lying is a terrible sin." The demon chuckled softly, red eyes flashing.

"I'm not here to listen to your shit, I'm here because I want to fight."

There wasn't any swearing or snarling as I expected, instead I received an eye-roll. I guessed that they were in a really good mood today.

"Go fight with Raiden, isn't that what you always do?"

"Why aren't you swearing, isn't that what you always do?"

The demon shrugged, "Eh, the day's still young, and besides, Midnight's happy, so I'm happy, we're white eyes for today." the red-eyed umbreon smiled and skipped around me, I blinked confused "There is no reason to worry, I am here to do what you failed to do as a sibling.I'll take care of Midnight, you've already lost."

I bit my lip and growled.

"Maybe I could have had done my job if you hadn't turned Midnight against me, you demon!"

"Some of these problems have been around long before I existed, not when you had your chances to redeem yourself in Our eyes-" The voice sounded echoed as if there were two speakers instead of one,but only for a brief moment ."- I even fucking encouraged Midnight to try to close the gap between you two; and you-" her voice became a vicious snarl "-only made the fucking gap wider."

The umbreon shook her head, and stayed still for a moment ears twitching while I wondered when I had been given this 'other chance'.

The demon then spat onto the ground, and regained her cherry cheerful attitude."If We are needed, We'll be in the woods!" The voice was echoed once more and I watched as they skipped around me, before diving into the bushes.
I remained staring at the undergrowth where the umbreon had disappeared confused and angry.