/This is probably gonna be the first story I finish that's actually a multiple chapter book. I hope so at least. Actually, I updated every single chapter at once as soon as I was done with editing and stuff. Anyways, enjoy the book and have fun. Also, there may be a few grammatical errors. Sorry if I don't catch them all, but it can't be helped. We all make mistakes sometimes.
Disclaimer: I only own the characters. I don't own Pokémon or the pictures.
Warning: This story may contain swearing, blood, and other scenes that might be disturbing to younger children. You have been warned.

The sun shines high above Post Town, nothing to block its heart-warming and refreshing waves. The sweet smell of saltwater reaches the nose of any Pokémon lucky enough to be near the ocean at the moment, or at least have a strong sense of smell. Pokémon walk through the town excitedly, buying and selling anything that they'll need or not need, and some are even conversing in the square with each other. However, amongst them all, a lonely Rockruff named Aaron stood out from the crowd.

Aaron groaned and grunted as he was pushed to the side by many different kinds of Pokémon. He noticed that not even one of the larger Pokémon, even those who had actually been slightly tripped up by him, had glanced at his tiny form. He was already bruised from being hit by a Rampardos earlier that day, but the other Pokémon only seemed to be pushing it in as the hits caused multiple bruises that only became even worse against his already weak and battered body. He was sure that all the dirt and bruises along his body would take weeks to heal and clean fully, and that was even with the help of a few of his Oran berries.

After a bit more of being pushed around and being ignored, Aaron gave up trying to even let himself be recognized. With a slight whimper, he slowly limped out of the town. He could feel as confused stares from all of the Pokémon bore into his rock-hard fur, but just ignored it like they had all ignored him. His battered body and legs caused him to limp, which also made his movements slow and painful. He positively hated how it felt when his legs were almost broken from nearly being crushed several times. Not that he had any experience with it. He just hated the feeling overall.

Barley focusing on anything else, Aaron wandered into the nearby forest and limped for what felt like hours before he finally felt the fatigue take over his system, and he collapsed onto a riverbank. The adrenaline blocking most of the pain from his system finally went away, and he felt the full force of the bruises that covered his body. None of that was compared to how he felt emotionally. He couldn't quite explain it, but he felt a bit betrayed and hurt inside.

Through his mental complaining, a soft whimper reached his ears. He instantly knew it wasn't his as it sounded more feminine than masculine. Sighing lightly, he pushed himself to his paws and started to walk towards the voice. It seemed to follow down the river, but it still sounded rather far away. He was actually surprised he had even heard the voice in the first place.

After a bit, he could hear the whimpering stop, but the rustling of nearby leaves told him that this was the location that he had been looking for. He ruffled his bruised fur as he stepped forward and pushed his way through the bushes and to the other side. Almost instantly, his gaze landed on a small puff of brown and cream-colored fur. He instantly recognized the small ball of fur as an Eevee.

Shock flooded his system as he watched the small Pokémon laying there in the bushes. He couldn't believe what his eyes were even seeing. Eevee was such a rare Pokémon to find already, but here one was just lying behind a bush where literally anyone could find it. His shock was short-lasted, however, as he noticed that her body was covered in bruises much darker and more clustered than his own. It was almost as though she got into a fight and kept using the same part of her body to block.

Worry quickly took over what he felt, and so he padded over to check on her. His paw gently brushed against her fur, but he found her to be warm, and that even her heartbeat was normal. There was something wrong with this though. He could feel that she was scared just by her breath, but her heart only beat like she was in peace. It was as though she was asleep, but very much scared.

After a bit more poking around, Aaron felt the Eevee starting to stir, and quickly pulled away in fear. He only begged that she wasn't a feral, but his fear quickly faded when he saw her surprisingly bright blue eyes look into his. He felt his heart stop instantly as he noticed that the Eevee was staring right at him. Right back into his own eyes as if studying who he was. Either that, or she was checking if he was dangerous or not.

After a bit, her eyes pulled away from his own and shut once more. A sigh escaped Aaron's maw as he saw her slowly pushing and stretching her body. Her movements seemed a bit stressed and confused, but that was quick to fade away. It probably could have been from the bruises or because of how long she could have been sleeping. With how heavy her scent was around the area, it had to have been several hours that she had been.

Aaron sighed to himself as he stepped closer to the Eevee. In return, her ears twitched and she shifted slightly so that she was more or less looking away from him. Aaron could tell that she was tired, but he didn't give up as he still moved closer until he was lying right next to her. He could feel an odd warmth coming from her body, but thought nothing of it as he simply laid and tried to comfort her with his rocky pelt.

After a bit of the awkward silence, Aaron felt the Eevee slowly move away as though she were uncomfortable with the contact. This caused disappointment to flood Aaron's mind, and he slowly stood up and padded back over to her. This time, he didn't try to lay near her, but instead tried to get her up. He knew that he'd be able to get her to, but it would probably take a while for reasons that he didn't know about just yet.

"Why won't you just leave me to die?" Eevee asked him feeling as his soft, yet very rocky, pelt pushed against her own fluffy body. "I would expect you to abandon me just like the rest. Why don't you?"

"Well, it's because I probably know how you feel," Aaron responded which earned a slight flinch from the Eevee. "And why would I ever want to pass up the opportunity to help someone? You look positively terrible with all those bruises along your body. Perhaps I can bring you to my place where you can heal up."

The Eevee slowly turned and opened her bright blue eyes before she said to him, "I'd love to accept, but I don't think I can. I mean, thank you for this and all, but I'm absolutely nothing," she responded before looking over his own body. "And you look much worse than me right now. You should just leave me be here."

Aaron sighed and shrugged as he gripped her scruff with his sharp teeth. He couldn't care less about what she had just told him, but he really did want to help her. With a rough pull, he pulled her up from the ground and onto her unsteady paws. He could feel her wobble lightly, but he held a firm grip on her collar with a raised head.

"Come on, Eevee," Aaron mumbled through her thick fur. "There's really no need to think at all like that. I mean, it doesn't matter how bruised I am. I can still walk, but you're barely able to stand as it is. That reminds me. Please tell me what attacked you. I noticed just how bruised your pelt was when I first saw you, and it really made me curious."

The Eevee growled and looked away as he spoke about her battered pelt and markings. After a bit of hesitation, she responded by saying, "I don't remember what attacked me, but it just said that I wasn't meant to be here. And there's no need to call me Eevee. Please just call me Shinko. It's what the weird being called me."

Aaron nodded as she told him what had happened, but still tried to get her to walk alongside him. He could feel as she tried to stand upright, but there was something wrong with her back-left paw. He could feel it as he eventually got her to lean on him. Her leg was held just barely above the ground, and she would flinch every time she would have to put it onto the ground.

"Are you okay on that leg?" Aaron asked already noticing that she really wasn't okay. "There aren't that many bruises on this side of your body, but that seems to be the worst injury that you sustained. Would you like me to carry you to town, or can you still go like this? And please call me Arron. It was nice to meet you, Shinko"

Shinko shrugged lightly and tried to continue walking forward. With every step she took, Aaron could see that she was in pain, but didn't try anything as she tried to walk. Sure, he wanted to carry her back, but he was sure that she'd be fine until they got back to his base. He was quickly shaken from these thoughts as he heard a light groan and rushed beside Shinko to assist in her walking.

"Thanks for that, Aaron," Shinko mumbled as she leaned onto Aaron once more. "I'm not sure if I can walk very long after all of this. I feel like I've only gotten a few seconds of sleep."

"Then perhaps you should spend a bit of time at my place then," Aaron suggested with a soft smile. "Not that you have to if you don't want to. I just want to be able to help you since you're so... tired."

Shinko nodded as she could feel Aaron's warmth all along her body. She may have been a few inches smaller than the rock-hard pup, but she could still lean on him like it was natural. She shivered softly as a cold breeze blew through the air, and tried to push herself to walk even faster. Sure, she was tired and all, but she'd rather be tired and quick than have to sleep out here in the woods. She had been out here for what felt like days, but this was the first time she had seen anyone but the shadow. She didn't want to even think, let alone talk, about it.

After what felt like hours of run-walking, the duo finally returned to a dirt road, which they then followed north and close to a town. Aaron quickly turned left at a split path, and headed for what looked like a small hut. As they walked closer, Shinko's eyes widened slightly as she looked at the place that Aaron had brought her to.

To her, the place was absolutely enormous. It had a completely brown outside, and the trail leading up to it was rocky, but the lawn on either side was pure grass. She saw that rocks completely lined the doorway and all around the base, and several fence-like structures stood behind and to the sides of the hut.

"This place looks positively amazing!" Shinko gasped forgetting about her pain for a split second, flinching as she did. "Do you really live here?! It's blood huge for a Pokémon of your size! Are you sure you even want me to stay here? I really can find somewhere else if you'd like."

"I told you that it's okay, Shinko!" Aaron chirped as he looked up to his little hut. "And about this being my place? It really belonged to my brother before me, but he headed of to Treasure Town to take his rightful place at the Wigglytuff Guild. And it's not really that large. He was a Midnight Lycanroc after all. That's just about a single foot taller than me. Actually, that's almost two feet taller than you, so I guess I can see where you're going with that."

"My point exactly," Shinko whispered as she limped closer to the entrance of the house. "I can't believe that someone would just hand this down to you. You'd think that they found someplace better to live. Either that or they decided to get a new house and hand this one down to you."

Aaron shrugged in return as he padded up to the entering door and pushed it open. He looked around the one-room living area and sighed lightly. All the way in the back was his brother's old nest. Above that was a small window, and to both the left and right were stone pillars with scratch marks clawed into it. Near the front-left was a wooden table, and to the front-right was a basket of apples and several jugs of water. His brother had it all set up like this, and never did he think that it would all be his one day.

"This place kind of feels familiar to me," Shinko mumbled under her breath a she stepped forward and looked around the one-room hut. "Not like in a real-world aspect, but kind of like a familiar dream. I swear I might have seen this place in one of my dreams."

Aaron hadn't exactly heard what she had told him, but still nodded as he stepped up to the nest. It was just about four feet in length, so it'd be perfect for the two of them to actually share. With a sigh, Aaron carefully pulled the nest in two before fluffing them back up to their original shape. Sure, he could make it where they rested together, but she needed privacy.

Shinko sighed as she limped behind him and looked at the nests. He could feel as her hot breath brushed against his fur, and her bright blue eyes watched over the bed as if calculating how they were. Before long, she took the one on the left and quickly settled down.. She seemed to be doing much better than before, so Aaron let her do as she wanted to. If she got worse, Aaron could probably head to town and ask around for a doctor or something.

After a bit of thought to himself, Aaron could hear soft snoring coming from Shinko and laughed softly. She had fallen asleep so quickly, and this caused a small smile to form on Aaron's maw. After checking that she was fully asleep, Aaron silently backed out of the house-like structure and headed to town. His battered and bruised body still needed to be healed, but so did her own as well. He just hoped he had a few Oran berry or two for the both of them.

When he reached town, the first thing he noticed was that the square was actually quite empty now. Just a few hours ago, at least it felt that way, it had been completely filled to the brim with humongous Pokémon, but it was practically empty now! He took the serene silence to heart and rushed over to Kangaskhan's storage where he then retrieved two Oran berries, which he luckily had, before rushing back to base.

When he entered once more, he noticed that Shinko had awoken, and was now sitting next to the window that looked out to the world. Aaron could tell that she was thinking of something, but was unsure what it was until he stepped closer and noticed that she was sitting normally and without pain.

"Are you okay over here?" Aaron asked padding over with the two berries on his maw. "Here. I got you an Oran berry for those injures of yours. It'll help to heal you and get you back to your normal strength."

"Thank you very much," Shinko mumbled as she took one of the berries straight from his maw and bit into it.

As soon as she did, she could feel as the juice started to flow down her chin. It had a rather sweet taste, but she didn't mind as she quickly ate what remained of the already very small berry. Sure, it wasn't very much at all, but it felt so refreshing to eat it. It kind of reminded her of this sweet treat that she had once before, but she just couldn't remember what it was or where she had gotten it.

"It's no problem at all," Aaron laughed lightly as he bit into his own berry with a playful grin. "I just want to make sure that you're at the top of your game. I mean, not that we're going to be doing anything for a bit. Your leg is broken after all, so it only seems fit that you rest."

"There ain't no rest for the wicked in this world," Shinko mumbled as she bent her head and hid her eyes with shadows. "That includes those who came here to only cause problems for people like you. It's my fault anything in this world is happening. I'm the cause."

"What are you talking about?" Aaron asked her tilting his head. "What do you mean by you're only here to cause problems for us? You've done nothing of the sort. Well, you haven't just yet, but I believe that you can be a great person if you wanted to be!"

Shinko sighed and shook her head as though he had the wrong point. She knew he wouldn't understand what she had meant, and so she racked her brains for ideas. If he really was this clueless, it would be best not to tell, but she just couldn't live with herself like that. Eventually, she had an idea and raised her head to look at him.

"As soon as I'm healed up, I'm going to take you somewhere where we can talk undisturbed," she told him tapping her paw lightly. "I don't care whether you want to or not, but we'll be going. It's pretty far away, so you have some time I guess."

Aaron nodded to her slightly confused, but he just shook it off as though he knew what she was talking about. Of course, he had next to no idea about what the hell she was saying, but he tried to go along with it. Now that he thought about it, he had next to no idea about who she was, but he could use that time to figure out what she meant. She must have been here for a while if she was talking like this.

"Right. I thank you for that offer," Aaron told her as he sat down and scratched behind his ears. "I just hope we can find out who you are and why you're here. If anything, that's actually the top on my list to complete. I hope we can find that out very soon."

Aaron suddenly stopped when he didn't hear her respond, and turned only to see that Shinko had fallen asleep once again. He sighed softly before shaking his head and smiled as he slowly padded into his nest alongside her. Quickly wishing her goodnight, he laid down and slowly started to fall asleep. He got an odd feeling just before he fell asleep, but it still didn't bother him as he fell under.

Somewhere else in the world, a dark figure loomed over what looked to be a bowl of water. Instead of its own reflection, the creature was instead looking over the Pokémon world from wherever the moon was currently located. He was smirking softly, but showed no sign of anything other than joy in what it saw. The world was silent and dark, and that was all it needed.

"It's time," the creature whispered before disappearing into the shadows around it, leaving the bowl behind to be used for another. "The meteorite grows even stronger, and so do I."