Why did it end up like this…?

I found myself crouched over the gravestone I've come to be so familiar with. The calming wind blew over my ears and softly brushed them. You would think that coming to the top of the same hill for…. Eight years now? I think? Who knows at this point, I lost my perception of time after the events that transpired in the past. I had no reason to ever pay attention to the time, after all, it's not like I ever had to do anything on a schedule, I don't speak to, or even interact with anyone, so what's the point of schedule? The wind around me started to pick up, bringing my attention to the surrounding area and its vegetation. I glossed over the slowly graying clouds and the short, green grass lightly blowing in rhythm with the wind. The many trees to my back had luscious green leaves doing the same. I took in a deep breath, and turned back to the forest behind me. The interior of the forest was dark, and I mean dark. If I wasn't a dark type myself, I probably wouldn't have been able to navigate it as many times as I have in the past. The trees were tall, the grass was long, nothing out of the ordinary for a large forest.

You're probably wondering about the situation that I find myself in. I'm not any different from any other umbreon, I have glowing yellow rings on my appendages, although I'm a bit smaller than the average umbreon, I look exactly like any other with all regards besides size. I am in my teenage years, as for how old exactly…. Sixteen….. I think…. I've stopped keeping track of time, so I'm not one-hundred percent sure how old I am. Everything… every day after my eighth birthday has been the same thing, day by day, with maybe a few exceptions in between where nothing significant happened, but a small event may have transpired that set the day apart from the usual, but nothing worth remembering. For example, I may have run into some kind of civil pokemon who tries to take me somewhere, or maybe find a few items left behind from an unknown traveler. Nothing any more memorable than that.

I've had the same life for so long now….

(^^^ These lines, when they don't have a character name under them, indicate flashbacks.)

I woke up from my small bed, a very comfortable straw bed that I've grown to love since my hatching. Here I am, waking up on my birthday, an eight-year old starting today. I've been very excited for my birthday for the longest time, so I jumped out of my bed very quickly, so ready to start off the day, to which I immediately tripped and fell face-first on the floor. You'd think that an eight year old eevee would be able to get out of his bed without falling down, but I tend to do so quite a bit. As soon as I got up, I pressed a paw to my head, and my mother came to my room wearing an indifferent expression.

"Kuro…. You really need to stop jumping out of your bed like that, one day you're going to give yourself a concussion." The newly entered vaporeon came over to her son and set a paw lightly on his head. "Also… Happy Birthday darling!" She then set her head next to mine and set a small kiss on my forehead. Slightly annoyed, but happy by the gesture, I rolled my eyes and then followed her down the hall to the rest of my home. The only other room other than bedrooms was our dining area, which had dirt walls that weren't the most pleasing to the eye, but still provided shelter and comfort. Our furniture was all made out of wood from the trees of the forest right behind our house that I have been scared to set a paw into ever since I was told certain stories about it from my Dad. All of our furniture consisted of a few chairs and a table, nothing more. It wasn't a lot, but I still found it very peaceful, and I wouldn't change it for anything. Although, I have also been told stories about towns in other parts of the world that contain large buildings, and even giant machines that fly you through the sky! I always thought the world was an amazing place.

I have always had such kind parents. They gave me a home that i've loved since day one. As we walked down the short, cave-like hallway built into a hill, I started to think about how my life has been since day one. My mother and father, a very caring vaporeon and leafeon, have always given me all of their love, and everything I've ever needed. They were incredibly kind pokemon. Even know we didn't really live near any kind of civilization in order to be in a safe environment, I can tell that if my parents were to interact with the ones outside, they would become friends, no matter the pokemon. I took in a small breath and prepared myself for the day ahead of me. I was very excited to have another day with my parents, and another day to have a fun time. This day will be an amazing one!

I've never been more mistaken in my life.

I walked outside the entrance to our home expecting to see my leafeon father greet me and wish me a happy birthday. What I found instead was him with three other pokemon, which I tried to dig through my head and recognize the species of. Because we live away from almost everything, I never see any other pokemon, but my parents have taught me about many other species, even a few legendaries, thanks to my Dad being so interested in myths, but even he doesn't know what a lot of legendaries are like. I recognized one of the pokemon as an absol, the one next to them being a flygon, which greatly towered over my father. The flygon looked to be talking to my father, as to what they were talking about, I had no idea. The last pokemon was a species I recognized all too well. It was an umbreon, standing behind both of their assumed acquaintances, but something wasn't quite right. The umbreon was eyeing me curiously, and had an almost lustful stare hidden within the red irises it held. It maliciously smiled and wandered over to its two companions and began to whisper to them. My mother then began to approach my dad with a careful pace, presumably to ask him who these pokemon were.

"Dear, who exactly ar-" My mother was cut off abruptly, and what had happened in front of my eyes was something I couldn't comprehend. The absol had stabbed its horn into my father, straight through his heart. My dad froze, obviously caught off guard. The absol then took its horn, and slowly dragged it up my father's body, all while a pool of blood poured out of his wounds and made the air thick. Once the absol got to the head of my Father, it began to charge up a blast of darkness, and then I was thoroughly scarred. My father's head had blown apart, the blood and bits of his brain and skull soaring through the air and landing all over, completely tainting the lovely area we lived in, especially the flowers we grew near the end of the cliff we lived by.

I slowly backed away, taking what felt like one step a minute, until I felt the rush of pain in my heart, I felt the tears run to my eyes, and didn't even try to prevent them from pouring out into a puddle below me. I tried to scream, I tried to call out to my father, but no words would form. All I could do is stand there in horror, staring at the assailants, and watch them go for my equally horrified mother. The flygon flew up towards her and grabbed her with its talons. While she was screaming her lungs out, a sound that would never leave my memory, the flygon quickly flew up to the sky, changed his position, and then plummeted down to the ground, promptly crushing my mother against the ground. Once more, the air thickened as crimson liquid spread throughout the nature surrounding our home. I looked at my mother's mutilated body, this time finding myself frozen, at a loss, not being able to move, not being able to feel. That was until… I looked over at the umbreon, only to see it start to bolt towards me at an incomprehensible speed.

The umbreon then pinned me down.

Its gaze still held the same amount of what I thought was lust in its eyes, it then slowly brought its face closer, and closer to me. It lowered its head beside my ear, and whispered.

"Now you're all alone, time for me and my friends here to have our fun." Her tone was sadistic, and I would have made a noise if I was anything short of terrified.

The flygon then came over to me and took the umbreon's place, pinning me down. I could tell that the umbreon was female, based on its voice, and judging from what murmuring I heard from the absol earlier, I could tell it was male. As for the flygon, it hasn't spoken. However, these thoughts weren't processing properly through my head. The only thing that I could feel was an immense fear for what may come next. I felt my entire body shaking, even under the massive flygon's grip, and I felt many cold chills go up and down my body as time passed. I thought they would kill me, slice open my body and decapitate me, fly me up to the sky and crush me, maybe just bludgeon me to death.

I wish they had killed me.

After a short while of being pinned down was passed, The absol and umbreon decided to do what they had planned. They didn't kill me, they began to….. Abuse me.

They did so many things to me, while all I could do was lie down… completely helpless. I felt hot tears continuously fall down my face, and I really wished that one of them would just kill me. I didn't care who did it, whether it be the umbreon and absol, who keep on violating and torturing me, or the flygon, who had still been standing over me, pinning me with a seemingly emotionless glare.

As I was laying down, painfully pinned to the ground, time passed. After what felt like days, but probably equated to two hours or so, The umbreon and absol finally stopped, and the flygon stopped pinning me, leaving red marks on my body where its claws had previously been. I didn't move… I couldn't move… No matter what I told my body to do. I just layed there, stuck, frozen in a puddle of vile fluids. The three of them began to turn away and walk into the forest, but not before all staring at me on the ground. I cast my gaze upwards, staring at them. The umbreon still had a malicious glint in her eyes, the same glint she had while she was abusing me. The absol put on a similar expression, but his was more smug. The flygon kept its iron mask on. It didn't speak a word or change its stoic expression, it just took its partners, and flew away.

I was now alone.

I looked over at the corpses of my parents, and felt a new stream of tears come to my body. I began weeping, still unable to comprehend what had just happened to me. My body finally started to listen to my movements after forcing it to do so. I stood up wearily, my legs were shaking harshly, as was the rest of my body. I walked over the the mangled corpse of my Mother and stared at her.

Why did this happen?

Why did this have to happen?

What did we do to deserve this?

What can I do now that i'm alone?

Before I collapsed, I decided there was one more thing I had to do here, one thing I had to do before I inevitably ran away and most likely died somewhere in the woods. I walked closer to my mother's corpse, and picked her up in my maw. I then brought her to the edge of the hill we lived on while using the still rising sun to guide me. I set her down, and then went to get my father to bring him here too. I vomited multiple times on my trips to bring both of my parents' corpses to the end of the hill, but I didn't care. I didn't care that I was carrying the dead bodies of my parents, I didn't care that their bodies were mutilated beyond recognition, I didn't care that I was probably going to die soon after I was done properly burying them.

I didn't care.

After I buried both of their bodies at the end of the hill and covered them up, I took some of the few non-bloodied flowers from the small bed, three to be exact. I placed a blue flower on one side of their buried bodies, a green flower on the other, and then a brown one in the middle. I walked to the end of the cliff that connected to the hill. I started down onto the rocks connecting with a fast flowing river below, an easy thought came to my head. After feeling the light wind blow past my ears though, I dismissed it, knowing it's not what my parents would have wanted me to do. I turned around and looked at the place that I just buried my parents, including the sickening trail of blood that led to the dug up spot with red grass. I then looked at myself, still covered in the umbreon and absol's vile fluids. I then looked out past the cliff once more… and found my voice.

I found my voice in the form of a blood-curdling scream, all while a waterfall was pouring out of my eyes. I screamed for about a minute straight, feeling my throat growing hoarse afterwards. I then bolted off into the forest behind my house, and ran with no goal.

There was one thing I was sure of however, I wasn't going to let myself die.

As much as I wanted to at that point, I know my parents wanted me to live.

I knew they wouldn't be happy in the afterlife if I died.

I knew that I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I died.

So I would live.

I had to live, no matter how painful it became.

I wandered away from my usual trails in the forest that I now know like the back of my paw. The beautiful, flowing green trees are still the same as they were when I was little. This forest is avoided by everyone who doesn't live here… so everyone except my late family and I. It get very dark, even during the day you can sometimes find yourself having a very small line of sight in front of you. After aimlessly walking around, looking for miscellaneous berries to eat, I decided to take a break and leaned up against a nearby tree.

This was my schedule:

Wander around the forest looking for food until about midday.

Climb up to the apex of the hill.

Pay my respects to my parents' grave.

Wander around the forest aimlessly until I fall into a restless sleep.

I have had the same format in my life for who knows how long now, and I can't say that I am exactly bored of it, but there is one feeling that I carry with me constantly, and that one feeling will never leave me. I can be sleeping, I can be fighting off ferals, I can be running, I can be praying, it doesn't matter.

I always have a constant feeling of emptiness. A feeling that this is how i'm going to live the rest of my life, following this schedule… until the day I die.

That is, until I figured I would try to do something I've never done before.

Until I decided to go find civilization.

Because my family and I have always lived away from everything, I've never been to the various towns I know are located outside of the forest that I reside in. I have seen a few civil pokemon travel into this forest every now and then, but I usually stay away from them, I've never talked to anyone that wasn't my parents, despite any attempts they made to communicate with me.

For this reason, even know I was set on my decision to find a town and try to find… something there, I was feeling quite a bit antsy. I didn't know how to interact with other pokemon, while my parents taught me what I need to know about being in a social environment, I've never put it into practice.

I guess it's finally time to put some of my parents' teachings to use… At least teachings other than battling... Hopefully.

Ignoring the tug of pain in my heart as I thought about my parents, I turned towards the exit to the forest and headed in that direction.

While I was walking, I looked down at the black fur on my paws. I also pressed one of my paws to the soft fur on my ears, right about where my golden rings are. I shuddered a little bit and kept walking.

It wasn't exactly my decision to evolve into an umbreon. I never really put any thought into what I would want to evolve into as an eevee, my evolution just kind of naturally happened for two reasons.

One: I always felt comfort within the moon, or nighttime in general. It was always quiet, and I was able to be alone with my thoughts wherever I went and rested, night became a time of blissful peace to me.

Two: My state of mind. As much as I don't like to admit it, my dark outlook on all of the things around me since my parents were killed may have triggered part of my evolution.

I was one with the night, and I had a very dark outlook on my situation, thus I became an umbreon.

However, I am scared of my own form.

Well, maybe scared wasn't the right way to put it, but I wasn't comfortable. Simply because I was abused by an umbreon on the worst day of my life, and that image of her lustful smile still makes me shiver to this day. Everytime I see the reflection of myself in a body of water, I get reminded of what that umbreon did to me, and what its companions did to my parents.

After shivering at the memories that were brought up in my head, I shook my body and continued walking down the trail I've come to be so familiar with. Before I knew it, I was outside the forest, and in the distance, I saw a group of buildings, some tall, some short, some designed, some plain, but overall, none were identical to one another.

I took one step out onto a new trail that seemingly led to the town, and I saw many civilians walking down the path. Most of them were in groups, holding conversations with each other, while others seemed to be going along with their day, with seemingly nothing bothering them. I tried to walk by without drawing any attention to myself, after all, this is my first time being around other pokemon that weren't my parents, and I didn't want to get into trouble less than five minutes after I left my home for the first time. Not to mention, if someone tried to address me, I would probably just do something stupid. Because of this, I hoped I would make it to the town without the issue of interaction with others.

If only fate didn't seem to think the opposite of everything I said.

Only about halfway to the city, while looking towards the end of the path, I saw a medium-sized dark-type pokemon walking towards me. I froze in my tracks as it continued to approach me, I was unable to move, my muscles didn't allow it.

The absol was about to cross paths with me.

I stood there, still frozen, and began to shiver. If I had any reason to talk, I wouldn't be able to form words in my mouth. I was completely petrified, worried about what would happen when the absol got to me and recognized me as the kid who he let go, the kid who knows what he did, and the kid that can be easily abused again. I felt more tears well up in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. As soon as the absol got close enough to reach out a paw and touch me, I braced myself.

But nothing happened.

I opened my eyes and turned around to see that the absol had walked past me, and is seemingly continuing to walk despite the fact that I was standing less than ten feet away from him.

It was the when I realized.

I evolved.

The absol didn't recognize me because I had evolved, I looked completely different, and that plus the gap of… Eight years, means he couldn't recognize me.

I let out an enormous sigh of relief as my mind and body began to calm. I looked at the beautiful flowers planted in the grass around me. With this environment, and the realization I had just come to, I felt something that I had genuinely not felt in who knows how many years.

I felt at peace, and the ends of my mouth curved upwards a small bit. It wasn't a full smile, but it was the closest that I've come since my parents were alive. It was the first time since that day eight years ago that I actually felt hopeful, and was glad to be alive. However, that didn't deter me from the initial mission I set out to accomplish by coming here in the first place. If anything, it only boosted my confidence that, in due time, I can succeed in my goal. I didn't come to a town after so long without anything in mind, I wanted answers. I wanted to know who the ones who ruined my life were, and how I can make sure nothing like this happens to anyone else.

Using my thoughts as a mantra of sorts, I continued down the path to the large town I saw in the distance. I took a second to focus on my surroundings, namely the path I have been walking on for the past hour. I pressed my paws against the cold cobblestone path, feeling the individual stones. Some other parts of the path were also made out of dirt, which slid through my paws softly and occasionally got stuck in my fur. I always just brushed it off easily, it was never really a nuisance, if anything it was a peaceful change from the poison ivy and vines in the forest. I noticed a small wooden bench slightly ajar from the path, and I decided to head towards it. I have been walking for quite a few hours now, and despite not feeling very tired, I thought it would be a good idea to rest my muscles a bit, after all, I was about to go into a place that where I had no idea what to expect.

I finished my walk to the bench, and ran a paw across it, feeling the smooth wood that made up its construction, definitely different from the uneven and rough wood from the trees of the forest. I then sat down on the bench. The wind started to pick up a little bit, adding a perfect addition to the warmth of the weather. I decided to be alone with my thoughts for a bit, and spaced out.

I wonder what that town is going to be like…. I really have no idea what to expect. In fact, what are civil pokemon going to be like? I'd imagine that it would be similar to the way that my parents acted, but I can't assume everyone will be that friendly, if anything, they were in a minority. I just hope that nobody in this town is like… Them.

Once more dismissing the disturbing thoughts that kicked up in my head and sitting down for a decent amount of time, so I set my paws back on the ground and stretched out my muscles. I then continued my trek to the town in the distance, which was getting larger with each step I took. I saw many different species of pokemon walking around the town, whether it was a gardevoir looking like it was in an enormous rush, or an infernape walking slowly down the sidewalk.

Or the glaceon bolting directly towards me.

A skull slammed into mine, knocking me to the ground and sending me quite a distance. I felt a throbbing pain start to form in my head as I began to steady my body and put my weight under my legs once more.

After I finally managed to stand up, I looked over in the direction that I was rammed into from. There I saw a glaceon, sprawled out on the ground a small distance away from me. They seemed to be in a similar state of pain as well, as they placed one paw in their head and slowly rose up off of the ground. They then looked in my direction.

They locked eyes with me for a few moments, as if observing me.

I did the same back, trying to sense the glaceon's intentions.

Minutes passed, and finally, the silence was broken.

"I-I-I'm sorry! I was in a hurry! I wasn't looking where I was going! I wasn't paying attention! I have something important to do! I-"

The glaceon, female by the sound of her voice, began to blurt out many different things to explain why she ran into me. I tilted my head in slight confusion, wondering why she was so intent on explaining more than ten different reasons as to why she accidently slammed her head into mine.

After what seemed like five minutes passed, she was still slurring out her reasons to me. After I realized how long it's been going on, I took a step forward. She almost seemed intimidated by this, as she then stopped her gibberish to look at me once more. She almost looked… afraid. Afraid that she had done something that would cost her the life of her loved ones.

Afraid of me.

I sighed, and then brought my eyes to hers once more.

"It's not a problem, I wasn't in any kind of rush, so stop spouting apologies. I understand your situation, so don't feel bad for accidentally rushing into me."

The glaceon then tilted her head, seeming surprised that I didn't lash out at her.

"W-Wait, y-you're… not mad..?" The glaceon whimpered. "You're not going to hurt me?"

I cast her a sympathetic gaze. It's clear that this glaceon is either very timid, or has a very negative outlook on strangers, but was she really expecting me to hurt her? Has this happened to her before and ended with the other hurting her? Or is this just how things transpire here with other civil pokemon?

Doing away with my confusion, I responded to the glaceon.

"Why would I hurt you? It was just a simple accident, wasn't it? I have no reason to do anything to you." I felt sort of awkward talking to someone I wasn't familiar with.

The glaceon then, once more, stared at me with an almost dumbfounded gaze, as if she was expecting a completely different response. The silence began to make me even more uncomfortable, so I decided it was time for me to make my leave. I began to walk past the glaceon, making my way back to the town, when I was stopped once more.

"Wait!"

The glaceon shouted at me and I turned my head around to see her.

"What's your name? I haven't seen you around here."

Now it was my turn to be dumbfounded, why would she want my name? Aren't I just some random stranger that she was afraid of a few moments ago?

Regardless, I gave a short, simple response.

"Kuro. My name is Kuro." I then turned my head back in front of me, but I didn't move yet, as I was admittedly curious as to what her reaction would be. Needless to say, it wasn't what I was expecting.

"My name is Naru, nice to meet you Kuro!" I once again turned my head, only to see her giving me a bright smile. I felt my body tense, but I wasn't sure why.

The glaceon then turned around and continued on her way.

Shortly after, I began to enter the town.

The town that I entered was very lively, and surrounded by many tall buildings, as well as a large number of small buildings, seemingly houses. The entire place was paved with a smooth road of solid rock. It didn't feel rough at all, not like the slight roughness of the cobblestone path, it was completely smoothed out, and felt admittedly pleasant. After reveling in the thought for a bit, I continued down the road, observing all of my surroundings as I went. There was a huge variety of pokemon all around me, and while I recognized most of them, there were still quite a few that I couldn't quite place in my mind. My parents taught me a lot of species, but I suppose they missed a few… Or ran out of time.

I swiftly shook my head to get negative thoughts out. Now was not the time for negative thoughts, now was the time to search for answers. I picked myself up, and went into a nearby store for to get a bag, which I figured I was going to need somewhat soon. As I entered the store, the alakazam cashier greeted me with a smile, and I walked down the nearest aisle of the store. It was an enormous place, towering above other buildings, you really would sooner think this was an office building than your local grocery store. I then located the aisle where I would find a bag, and bought a brown shaded, decently large bag. While it was a decent size, it wasn't enough to hinder me from walking, or from any movement for that matter.

It was at this moment that I began to remember my parents again. I tried to stop the memories as best I could. Why was I reminded? Because of the purchase I made. Since I was never really allowed to leave home, I never had a way to earn poke, the same cannot be said for my parents, while neither of them would tell me their profession, they allegedly both did the same thing, earning more poke than we could ever need. For this reason, I knew I would never have any poke problems while I was on my own, at least not for a long, long while. By that point, I should have found a way to make poke for myself. Not only that, but they were the ones who taught me what to do had I ever found myself in a store, so I had a flashback to that as well. After finalizing my purchase, I decided to make my way back to the entrance, although, on the way there, something caught my eye.

It was in a small section of the store close to the entrance, where many different objects related to one's apparel were being sold. I walked into the area and began to observe the object that I spotted. It was a beautiful teal scarf, it didn't look too long, nor was it short. It was a perfect size for most pokemon. However, its beauty is not what made me eye this scarf.

It was a very similar scarf to the one that my parents would wear when I saw them come back from wherever they worked. I slowly lifted my paw up to it and lightly caressed it. It had a very soft texture, but at the same time, it was firm, like firm enough to withstand a scyther's claws.

I very quickly took the scarf off of its holder and brought it to the cashier. After purchasing the scarf, I walked out of the store, and immediately wrapped it around neck. The scarf was decent fit, even if it ran down my body a bit further than I expected. Regardless, I felt its comfort. I put a paw to feel the texture of the scarf once more, and I felt its warmth and protection. It may have been warm outside, but I didn't think I would ever become tired of the heat that came off of this scarf.

It almost feels like… I have my parents with me again.

I slightly smiled at the thought, and this time, it was genuine. The first time in what I assumed was years that I was actually happy enough to smile genuinely. With that sentiment in mind, I wandered about in the streets, hopefully to find some answers.

Hello Readers!

This is me from the future, as I just edited a lot of this chapter because it was more than necessary.

Honestly, I just think I'm terrible at proofreading, every time I read through the thing again, I find another grammar error, another missed capitalization, a misplaced comma, a spelling error, the list goes on. Regardless, this is the second chapter I've made somewhat significant changes to in post, so hopefully you enjoy the better version! (For those of you who may not see the original, it's pretty bad. I was proud of it at first, but these changes were necessary.)

Anyways, I would say see you next chapter, but this is me in post, not me presently, sooo…

See you in thirteen chapters!