(I do not own pokemon. The quoted lyrics are to the song Charlie Brown by Coldplay that I also do not own.)
"Light a fire, a fire, a spark. Light a fire, a flame in my heart,"
Daniel stepped carefully through the forest undergrowth. His stealthy paw steps made no sound against the leaf strewn soil. He paused and glanced upwards at a whole in the tree canopy to absorb the moon's rejuvenating light. Where the garish sun sapped his strength, the soft moonlight replenished tenfold. He felt his amber yellow rings begin to pulsate with its starry stimulus. Daniel was an Umbreon. The moonlight Pokémon. As soundless as ever, Daniel allowed his gaze to travel back to his leafy surroundings. His sharp, red tinged eyes took in every detail of the forest. He could see where several Kakuna were strung together in a nearby tree, where a family of Ratatta had made their den a short walk away, and notice every fresh dewdrop that fell from each blade of grass. He calmly inhaled the brisk night air and sighed. Without the overabundance of light, everything was so much sharper and clearer. He prowled across the ground, his hunt resumed; he had wasted enough moonlight.
Later that night, Daniel walked home at a more even pace, satisfied with his haul. It wasn't perfect, but it would do plus the leftovers from some of his past ventures. A whole bushel of oran berries bobbed up and down in his mouth with each of his steps, faster as Daniel steadily increased his pace. He was ready to be home. He stopped as the familiar scent of his mate drifted to him. She must have been out waiting for him. Daniel smiled through his mouthful of berry stems; Elsie was a welcome sight. He bounded forward with great leaps of joy. While he enjoyed the solitude of scavenging for food, it was always nice to come home to where he could be with his family. He slowed down as he spied her several hundred feet ahead, near the entrance to the clearing that they had made their den in. Daniel slowed down and walked the last stretch; Elsie wouldn't notice him until he was close enough to touch at night. Elsie was an Espeon, the sunlight Pokémon, and therefore was much more vulnerable in the dark, with her main energy source cut off from her. Daniel stopped and sat down a couple of feet from his mate. She still hadn't seen him, which brought down his spirits a tiny bit, but he couldn't blame her for not finding the same comfort in the night that he did. As carefully as he could, he laid his tail over her back to let her know he had come. She jumped in the air with a punctuated gasp, and spun into a crouched attack position. Daniel lifted up his paws to show that it was only him, and Elsie collapsed onto the ground, fur beginning to lie flat. "Daniel, I told you to stop sneaking up on me like that!" she chided playfully as he walked over next to her.
Daniel bent over and placed the oran berries on the ground before lying down beside her. "I really tried not to Elsie, it's just kind of difficult!" he laughed.
Elsie rolled her blue eyes and snuggled up against his sleek black body. Daniel took a moment to appreciate everything about his mate, from her smooth, pale pink pelt, to her dazzlingly bright ruby, that glowed with the same radiance as his amber rings at night. "So how was your hunt?" Elsie asked in a sleepy voice.
Daniel laid his long furred black tail on top of her short furred pink one. "It was alright; I found a bush of oran berries and caught some Ratatta. I let them get away though; they were young."
Elsie gave a small chuckle, "the fearsome hunter, letting his prey run away!" She rested her head on his shoulder and Daniel gave another smile. "Maybe one day someone we will be lucky enough for someone to repay the favor. I shudder to think what would happen to our kids if they met a bigger Pokémon out alone."
Elsie looked up sadly, "It's true though. Fern and maybe Adar would be alright, but Ellie, Benjamin, and Mist… It doesn't bear thinking about. Especially Mist."
Daniel kicked a chunk of dirt loose from the ground. "A sobering thought, but they'll be ok, because before they can defend themselves, we protect them."
Elsie only shut her eyes in response. After a few more minutes of enjoying each other's company, Elsie slowly stood up. "Come on, the kids are probably waiting for you to return now that I'm not there to keep them in bed!" She said with a smile.
Daniel followed suit and leaned down to grab the oran berries when Elsie nuzzled him into facing the clearing. "You go on, I'll get these." She told him sweetly.
Daniel shrugged, gave her a quick kiss, and bounded ahead. As he rounded into the forest clearing, he stopped. It was quiet. It shouldn't have been silent, with four Eevee's and a Leafeon in the nearby den. Something was amiss. Cautiously, Daniel crept to the entrance to the cave where his kids slept. There were two dens dug out of the earth in their clearing, one for him and Elsie, and one for his children. He stuck his head inside and called out, "Hello? Fern? Adar? Kids?"
From the back of the den, a small Eevee came bounding up. Daniel sighed in relief, the tenseness leaving his body. "Mist! Where on Johto is everybody?" He questioned affectionately. Mist rubbed up against the side of her father's face, which was almost the same size as she was. "Daddy! Your back!" She cried.
Daniel licked a rogue hair that was sticking up flat, and asked her again. Mist smiled and pointed behind him. Daniel froze as he heard a voice yell "Now!" and realized he was too late.
Three Eevee's began to pull on his legs, forcing him to the floor and onto his back. A smiling Leafeon placed her front paw on his chest and shook her head laughing. "We got you this time Dad!"
Daniel could only smile as Mist leapt up on top of him and waved her tail fluffy tail against his nose, causing him to sneeze. "That was a good one Fern, I'm impressed!" he laughed along with them.
As the adolescent Leafeon picked up Mist by the scruff of her neck and herded her younger siblings off Daniel allowing him back up, she smiled again. "It wasn't Fern's idea you big fur ball!" came a voice muffled by oran berries.
Daniel turned to see Elsie padding into the clearing. "I should've known! Only you could have been devious enough to devise this!" Daniel chuckled.
Fern set Mist down and began to scratch chocolate brown hairs off her tongue. "Oh, she may have come up with the general idea, but this evil genius stole the show!"
Mist giggled and launched herself at her sister's fore paws in a vain attempt to knock her down. "And she also shed a bunch of hair in my mouth the little Ekans!" She joked happily. Daniel cast a proud eye down at his beloved family. His beautiful mate Elsie, his shrewd eldest daughter Fern, his loyal son Adar, and his twin Eevee's Ellie and Benjamin, named after Elsie and his own father. Finally his eye turned to Mist, his small and inventive youngest child. She was the runt of the litter, but what she lacked in the physical area, she more than made up for in her spirit and resourcefulness. While Daniel may have only been a simple Umbreon, at that moment, he stood taller than a king.
"We'll run wild, We'll be glowing in the dark."