* Clash! * The sound of thunder awakens me in the middle of the night, joined with the heavy drops of rain. Somehow, my head feels a little woozy. Did something happen earlier? I see flashes of bright light mixed with red and blue spectrums. I can't recall of what I did last night. Was it because of the bad weather? I think I'm going to be sick. As a matter of fact, I am sick. And I don't know why.

As I check myself out in the mirror, I see my eyes blood red. My entire face is pale. My elbow swords seem blunt – I think I should sharpen them later – and my feet suddenly have these small cuts. Did I engage into a fight? If I did, why can't I remember it? It seems weird. Maybe a quick shower aught to do it. The warm water running through my head to toe feels heavenly. I feel a little better now, but my eyesight is still bad. All I can see now is a fuzzy, white gleam blocking my normal vision; the spectrums have disappeared though. I'll try to keep up the pace. I have something important to do later. Somehow, I still manage to remember of what I'm going to do afterwards and can't remember what happened yesterday or these past few days. What is wrong with me?

As I gaze through my apartment window, I see the air cars swooping down the airways. The people below are happily going to their respective jobs and the skies are turning bright blue with no clouds in sight. Today is going to be a good day. I think. I grab my coat and fedora, gussy up for a bit and lock my apartment room. And then it's time to enter the busy streets of Regal City.

Ah yes, Regal City. A sprawling metropolis with skyways filled during the day and bright city lights during the night. It is the capital of Regalle, a large island country that sits in the middle of Kayward Ocean. The Snivy Family rules this landmass, a wonderful family who always care about the nation. The King & Queen do their best to keep the country alive and kicking. They can't however, solve the biggest problem that's been haunting this nation since its foundation, crime.

Homicides specifically. Everyday when I turn on the black & white holovision and watch the news, the word "Murder" never seems to be out. Killings are pretty common here in Regal. There's even a slight chance that you can witness one yourself. I remember back then when I was heading home, I passed into a narrow alleyway and saw a Lilligant begging a Bisharp for mercy. As a fighting-type myself, I called out the suspect and ran as fast as I could to protect the poor person. But somehow, it was too late. As I dashed towards him, he suddenly disappeared in a flash; leaving the poor Lilligant lying down on the hard concrete, bathing in her own blood. The Dark-types always commit crime. But there are other Dark-types who don't do bad stuff at all. Example is the Darkrai at the cathedral, Father Bright. Another one is the Liepard at the butcher shop, Denver. To make a long story short, not all Dark-types are really bad or evil.

While I'm walking the streets, I pass down for a bit at this little grocery shop a few blocks from my home. The store's owner, Dawn, a Lilligant, always offers me free groceries everyday after I saved her life from another Bisharp – I don't know why Bisharps always hunt down Lilligants, not even the police knows – back then.

"Well if it isn't Eight." She says.

Yes my name is Eight, a Gallade. Eight of Arrow, that's my full name. I don't know why my mother called me that. It must be because of my birthday, which is not really that special. August 9, 1910 is just a regular birthday. If it were multiple eights then the reason would be too obvious.

"How are you Dawn?" I ask. "How's business?"

"Pretty good! Income rose up ten-fold, isn't that great?" Dawn replies with a happy smile on her face. I like her fashion style. Her dress is always pink, filled with pink blossoms, pink ribbons, and a nice huge pink flower on the right side of her hair. She then hands me 2 bags of the good stuff. The bags are filled with canned goods, milk, bread sticks, and frozen food. I thank her, of course. "So, where are you heading next if I may ask?"

"I'm going to the police station. Same job as always, protecting people, killing bad guys and stuff. Maybe do some investigating if I have time to kill." I say with an awkward tone.

"Oh really? You looked so stressed out. What happened to your eyes? You should really take a break from your job." She says. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask okay? I'm just right here." I then nod, give her thanks again for these wonderful gifts and bid farewell. People here are so nice. If it weren't for the crimes, this place would be perfect.

I sit down on a bench at the city park to rest my legs. I slowly regain my normal vision. But still, the white light is still there. The office is still far away from here. Calling an air cab would be too expensive. There's a bike rack in front of me for everyone to use – people here are also really honest – as long as you'll return it. It's a pretty bike. Complete with a basket on front, a small horn, a headlight, and reflectors at the back. I would ride that awesome bike… if I knew how to ride one.

It's time to go now Eight. I say to myself. Strolling while carrying these bags will obviously make me sweaty. But it's good for upper-body strength. And the long walk is also good for my legs since I don't jog everyday. When I arrive at the station, the officers are giving me an awkward look. As I look at the time, I realize that I am 4 hours late. Darn it! For sure my boss is going to scold me again for this. My position in the station is an Agent, Ace Class. Yep, you've heard that right. I'm pretty skilled in fighting, and I have the brains to do anything when trouble is near. The only thing that I can't do well in my career is arriving early.

"ARROW!" a loud shout coming from the boss's office. Holy crud! I'm in so much trouble right now, but it's worth it. Just to see my pretty boss. Our boss is a girl actually, and we're practically the same species. Her name is Xeva, a Gardevoir. She casually wears a red coat with dark fringes so she's easy to know and spot. She's really tough, tougher than I am. She does however, lack power. But she's pretty agile and quick. She slapped me one time because I was messing up stuff in her office and I didn't even see it! That girl is pretty feisty, and hot too. She's sometimes a psycho though whenever her anger limit reaches its maximum level. No one in the office dared to go near her unless it's something important. She doesn't have a boyfriend, since birth. I guess love doesn't belong in her dictionary. I have a crush on her since I started working at the station. It was like love at first sight.

"ARROW! OFFICE! NOW!" screams Xeva again. Oh Arceus.

"Yes… ma'am?" I say in a trembling voice, and then proceed to sit down in front of her table.

"Hello, Arrow." She replies with an ominous tone while holding a really sharp steak knife. "You do know that it's Friday, right? That means it's your time to shine to rid the crime off this city. Call time starts at 7:00 A.M. And what time is it?"

"11:10 A.M… ma'am." I reply, sweating like a pig.

"IT'S FREAKING 11:10 A.M. YOU LAZY NINGKANGPOOP!" she snarls. And then she throws the steak knife directly at my shoulder.

I scream hard, in a manly way. The pain is unbearable. "THE HECK? WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?" I ask horrifically while trying to remove the knife off my shoulder.

"DON'T REMOVE THE FREAKING KNIFE!" she replies. "You've been late for 30 straight days and you only killed and caught 998 criminals? And what's with your eyes? They look as bloody as your shoulder. * Chuckle *"

"998 are a lot ma'am! And I don't know ma'am!" I reply. I try not to cry because of the pain. Blood is already flowing down through my jacket to my legs.

"Well, it is a lot. But 1,000 would've been better!" she says. "You can take that knife off now, I feel a little good. Sorry for the knife throw. I had steak this morning, medium-rare. MOTHERFREAKING MEDIUM-RARE."

I like it when she's angry. She looks cuter, no doubt hotter. Whenever we eat steaks during formal parties she always likes it well done. We don't know why but she twitches a lot and gets mad when she eats steaks that are not her type. I take off the knife Xeva threw a while ago without saying a single word, and quickly block the wound with a cloth. Blood is flowing everywhere, and I become increasingly paler. I don't feel so good…

"Don't worry, the janitor will clean that up." She says. "All I want is, do your job now. Don't be late. Kill or arrest those bad people and most importantly, be safe. If you get a thousand criminals, I have a surprise for you." * wink *

I find it ironic that she wants me to be safe when she just recently threw a knife at me. "Yes ma'am." I respond while gasping for air. I immediately head out the station for a gust of fresh breeze. Then suddenly I'm vomiting blood, pure blood. And somehow, I feel better. I go back to my office and sit down on my comfortable chair, happily chewing up bread sticks that Dawn gave me earlier while cleaning my shoulder up. Relaxing, I receive a distress call informing me that there was another attack. The victim? Another Lilligant. I rush down to the crime scene using the station's police air car. Those air cars always smell brand new.

I arrive at the location. My eyes pop out of disbelief. It's at Dawn's grocery store! To all the Lilligants in the city, they chose to seize her? Great, now I feel dizzy all of a sudden…

When I go inside, everything is a mess! Shelves all destroyed, goods scattered all over the floor. And the funny thing is, the cash register's still intact. Hope Dawn's okay… I tell myself. Dawn's a really nice gal. Heck, every Lilligant in the city is nice. Why do Bisharps always hunt them? In fact, do all Bisharps commit murder? While investigating, I find a trail of blood leading to the dark, deep understructure. I follow the red fluid down, prepare my elbow swords just in case something pops up – forgot to sharpen them though – and carefully made my way into the basement. I flick out the light switch and to my surprise, no one's there. I scan the entire area and find nothing but a pool of blood and basement stuff, and there's still no sign of Dawn.

As I examine the pool, blood suddenly drops out of nowhere. I check the basement ceiling and I freeze for a moment out of shock.

It's Dawn.