"Wha...?" I flinched as I felt the pain all across my body. "What the hell?"
"Phyc." I turned to see Shard leaning over me, beaten up, just like the last time I passed out. "Are you...awake now?" At my nod, he stepped away, and almost fell to the floor.
I jumped up, my body protesting greatly, and put my weight under him to hold him up. "You okay? I could go get-"
"It's alright." He interrupted. "Hey Phyc?"
"What?"
He laughed dryly. "You...you're really strong."
I was confused before smiling gently, leading him into a nearby room and onto a large pillow. He hissed in pain as he fell to the soft cloth. I winced at the sound and layed beside him. "W-What..."
He looked at me. Though his body was a wreck, his eyes held the glow of a leader, of a man. "You just passed out then ran after me and...went wild." He smirked up at me. "You are one. Tough. Girl." Then he reached up and licked my cheek.
"SAI!" We looked down at the young eevee that had squeezed in between us. "Saip!"
I giggled. "I think he's trying to say my name." I leaned towards the fox-like pokemon. "Ph-y-c." I pronounced each part individually.
"Ssss...ich! Ph...Ma!" I choked slightly. Did he just say...?
"Ma! Mama!" I glanced over. Shard was beat red and looked like he was about to pass out. Shino was frozen, unresponding. Raize was in the corner, chuckling to himself. My gaze drifted back down to the kit at my side- he was looking up at me innocently, if a bit questioningly, as if checking if the label was correct.
I gulped quite audibly. "I-uh..." I was speechless.
Raize chuckled again, walking over to us. "Why correct him? If you're completely honest with yourself, you're pretty much his mother. And he can't pronounce your name anyways. Give the kid a break." He was walking over to us.
"Well..."
He laughed and ruffled my fur. "Don't worry about it. There's no reason to get so flustered." Then he leaned in close and whispered in my ear. "Besides, you two'd make a good couple."
I screeched and leapt up, throwing him halfway across the room.
Raize rumbled with laughter as he rolled, before finally landing on his belly. "You are Too Easy!" The raichu bellowed. After a moment he stood up, whipping away tears of joy. "Don't worry about it. I was only kidding." He patted me on the head before walking threw the open door. "I'll go get Daton!" He called back to us.
I smiled softly before leaning down to lick behind Fallon's ears, as he was still looking up to me expectantly. He curled up in my chest fur in response. "My kit."
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"Come on! Come on!" Daton shouted, motioning to the cab of his truck. I bound in with Raize and Shino.
Then I peaked my head out the door to Hydro. "Sure you don't wanna come?"
He shook his orange head. "Naw. I'm off. Gonna go find a mate or something."
I nodded in agreement before giving him one last lick on the cheek. "Thanks. For everything." I jump back as tears run down my face, but this time tears of joy. My best friend would finally have a life of his own! I was so happy, I was sobbing.
I jumped in and Daton patted his lap, but I layed down against Shino, curling up slightly. "You tired?" He asked, draping a paw over my side.
I simply nodded, burying my face into his side. Then he started cleaning behind my ears and before I knew it, we were there.
We were at the Country Fair.
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"Everybody out!" Me, Raize, and Shino complied, me a bit more grogily that the others. Some other pokemon piled out of the back, all of us waiting to be told what to do. Daton looked at us and smiled. "Follow me. You all need registered."
Turns out, Daton wanted to enter some of us into various contests and competitions. When I saw what he had in for me, I nearly fainted. He'd set me up for a normals type battling competition, a Dressage, a plain out beauty contest, a dancing competition, a hunting one, a child-friendship thingy, and an all-out battle competition. Everyone else only had oe or two to deal with.
Seeing my look, the large man scooped my up in his arms. "Don't worry, Hun. I just want to see all you're good at. You'll do fine." He kissed my forehead and placed me on his shoulders. I heard Ino hiss from behind me, but ignored her. I'd see her soon enough in the Beauty Padgentt.
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"And our final battle this evening, Phyc and Daton verse Glade and Takimoto!"
The crowd roared, but I froze. No. I told myself. It's just a coincidence. Some other random pokemon. I sighed in frustration as Daton petted my head. I was perched on his shoulder while we waited for our opponents. The rest of Daton's pokemon had already battled in various contests, so I was the last. The others sat behind us, waiting until we could settle down for the night.
The crowd roared again and I looked up at my opponent.
Silver fur.
Blue eyes.
Calm demeanor.
Glade. My paws wouldn't move. Even as the referee called for the fight to start, I was still. My legs trembled slightly and my eyes burned from dryness. I felt like my mouth was full of cotton. I could hear daton calling my name, but it was nothing more than an echo.
The glaceon looked at me curiously, inching forward, as if I was playing some game and would attack at any moment.
He doesn't recognise me. I realised. "G-glade!" I choked out.
Glade looked at me as if I'd gone crazy. "Yes." He responded slowly, and I noticed that his voice was a bit lower than I remember. "Sorry, but have we met?" He continued politely.
"Don't you remember me?" I pleaded. "We spent years together. You couldn't have forgotten!" Tears fell down my face, soaking my fur, as silent sobs racked my body. "I-it's me!"
A pause.
Then his eyes widened and he took a step back. "No. You're not..."
"Yes!" I called. "It's me. Phyclone!"
He was still for a moment, before taking a defiant step towards me, a snarl gracing his face. "No! It's just a coincidence. My Phyclone died years ago! How dare you defile her name?!" He leapt at me, clawing out.
My paws moves instinctively, dodging every blow with stresses muscles. I forces my body not to fight back, as it so begged to. "Glade!" I pleaded, backing into a corner of the taped-on rectangle, him closing in quickly. "Please, it's me!" But it was no use. The silver-furred pokemon leapt at me, sinking his teeth into my scruff. Despite not wanting to seem like a threat, I refused to utter a sound. My instincts wouldn't let me show my pain.
"Fight back, Kit!" Glade lashed out at my back, and I could feel blood bubbling out. He snarled at my lack of resistance and leapt away, baring his teeth a few feet away. "Attack!" He ordered.
I just shook my head. "No..." I whispered. This was one pokemon I could never hurt, even if he was to take my life.
I saw a flash of doubt in his eyes, but it disappeared quickly and he lunged. I closed my eyes and waited for the pain.
Which never came.
I opened my eyes slowly to see Chaz holding the silver pokemon down, snarling in his face. My confusion grew as Shard and shino stood between me and the lashing pokemon. Fallon licked my paw, which was covered in dirt. "What...?"
"The call was made to end the fight." Shard explained, not looking at me. "A while ago. But neither of you reacted to it."
Shino knelt down to me and examined my wounds before looking me in the eye. "What happened?" He demanded sternly, and I was reminded of the first time we met. The time when he treated me as a dangerous stranger. But it was different now- I wasn't a stranger.
Instead of replying, I just burying my face in my filthy paws, whimpering slightly. I heard his footsteps leaving, along with my two other rescuers'.
Quiet sobs racked my body once again, and I let the tears flow freely. Glade didn't recognise me. I'd thought he was dead for so long, as did he I. He'd thought I was an imposter. My would-have-been-mate had rejected me completely. I cried into my paws and quietly whispered. "You are my moon in this endless night. Without you, the dark would be undefeated."
He turned, wide-eyed.
"Didn't you know? The sun's only another star, and the Earth is too familiar. So you must be my moon."
"No..."
"I won't let anything bad happen to you." We both froze then. Tears still streamed down my cheeks, but I was silent. I looked at the ground in silent loss. "I'll always be here. No matter what." I repeated his words from long ago, longing to go back. Even if I belonged to Owner again, even if everything went exactly as it did before, I wanted to go back. I wanted to feel his fur against mine and hear his low, comforting voice. I wanted him to praise my successes and scold my wrongdoings.
I wanted him again.
"Phyclone..."
I was silent.
"You're dead."
I closed my eyes.
"Oh my God..." I heard him take a step forward. "Phyclone!" He stumbled forward and presses his body roughly to mine, pushing the air from my lungs. "Oh my god, Phyclone, you're alive! You're actually alive!" I felt a wetness on my shoulder and suddenly buried my face in his fur.
"Glade..." I whimpered. "I missed you so much. I thought he'd killed you..."
"N-no. He just sold me. But I thought without me there... Oh, God. How could I have been so idiotic? Of course you'd make it through." He licked my cheek, backing up to look me in the eye. "You're plenty strong enough."
"ahem." We turned to see Shino and Shard standing a few yards away, fur bristled. I noticed Chaz behind them, cracking up into his paw, a faint pink powdered across his face.
"Oh!" I gasped. "Shino, Shard, this is Glade, my..." I trailed off, blushing.
"I'm her mate." Glade declared, unfazed, while I quickly transformed into a beat.
Shard clawed discretely at the dirt. But Shino was a little more blunt. "Like Hell!" He hollered, leaping onto the slightly larger pokemon.
They wrestled for a bit, me gaping at them from the sidelines. Just then, at the worst time possible, the medic came to take me back to a tent and look at my wounds.
I wrestled with the large man, crying out desperately to the two most important people in my world. "Glade!" I cried. "Shino!" Then a wet rag was pressed to my face by a grim-looking chansey and it all went black...