Chapter 1: Stray

My paw stood in a wet puddle that stained my silky black fur with crimson. My body shook without control in pure fear from the harrowing scene before me, none of which actually felt like reality. The full moon's lunar lights reflected off the puddle of blood below me. The blue rings that covered my body pulsed with energy, but in the end, I was too petrified to do anything but stare at the lifeless leafeon lying on the ground. A jagged laceration in her neck gushed out blood and stained the once pure white snow on the ground.

My eyes made contact with the leafeon's, the one I called mom. The eyes that carried a powerful spark in them that I saw every day now had nothing left in them but a sign of terror from her last moment. The wound on her neck continued to spew blood, staining her smooth silky fur as it made its way to the snowy ground.

"This… this isn't happening," I spoke in denial as I shook my head frantically in an attempt to wake up from this nightmare. Tears began to stream down my eyes as my reality remained. This all felt like a really bad nightmare, one that I would wake up from if I tried hard enough, but I knew it wasn't.

A tear fell from my face and mixed in with the blood. I stared at the blood for a moment, before I looked at my paws that were soaked in her blood. A tremor ran through my spine as I moved back from the blood. I began to feel light headed as I swayed back and forth for a moment. My body felt so weak, and after a moment I fell to the ground. My head throbbed with an unspeakable pain, and my nose and even my mouth felt overwhelmed by the pungent scent of blood. My eyes clenched shut as I tried to block out the image of my mother, but the image was burned into my brain, when I closed my eyes all I saw was her lying there in her blood.

After a minute, my eyes opened back up, but I flinched back. A once brown paw that was covered in blood extended out towards me. My mothers head slanted to the side as her neck struggled to support her head. Her paw came closer as I remained in place, not once muscle would respond. Her paw brushed against my head, smearing her blood on my forehead. Her paw withdrew from me as my vision began to fade, soon everything was black.

I quickly jolted up as I sucked in a deep breath as if I was suffocating in my sleep. I remained still for a moment before I allowed myself to exhale a sigh of relief. Feeling groggy from being up so early, I let out a long yawn. I began to stand up, but when I applied pressure on my right forepaw I cringed from a sharp pain. The bones in my leg felt as if they were made of fragile glass. While recovering from the pain, memories from earlier during the day flashed in my head. The memory was a bit blurry, but I still remembered getting the crap beat out of me by three pokemon. The whole ordeal was a long story. Let's just say we didn't get along, and my smart mouth took things from there.

After I felt ready, I pushed myself off the ground. A strong stench pierced my nose, which caused my nose to twitch in pain from the rotten smell. Of course, I was attacked in an alley, and after hours of sleeping in this dump, I probably smelled like trash. A few rays from the sun managed to shine down into the dark gloomy alley I was in. Feeling no need to stay in this alley, I began to limp my way out onto the main street. It wasn't until halfway down the alley I felt my forepaw dip into a puddle of water.

I froze in place as I glanced down at the puddle. Honestly, I was thirsty and needed a drink, but I could never bring myself to ingest anything that came from an alley. Instead of hydrating myself, I stared at my reflection in the puddle. I cringed at the sight of how roughed up I looked, being a stray pokemon usually takes its toll on your physical appearance. Over the years I have acquired a few scars, but none too noticeable, along with scars I was covered in fresh and old cuts and bruises. My once silky black fur that was something I took a bit of pride in was now a dirty mess that was covered in dirt, it was really gross. Although, all that dirt didn't cover up my most notable physical feature, the blue rings on my body that marked me a shiny. Despite the blue rings though, I still had crimson eyes, just like a normal umbreon.

After I finished my inspection, I carried on my merry way towards the main streets of Lumiose city. Once at the end of the alley the rays from the sun blinded me. I moved back into the alley a bit as I looked away. The sun was just not rising, which wasn't something I was happy about. See, I'm an umbreon, and umbreons are nocturnal creatures, so me being the guy I am, I hate morning with a passion. To make things better, many humans were starting their day and the streets were crowded.

"Great," I muttered with annoyance, "Just what I need, humans…"

Luminose city was the Arceus forsaken city I was stuck in at the moment. Like most big cities, there was a good side of town and a polar opposite where you'll die if you're there during the wrong hour. Although, I could always appreciate the humans architecture, it's pretty interesting.

"Now, how do I get around all these humans without drawing attention to myself?" was the question I asked myself. I waited in the shadows of the alley as I waited for the humans to let up, but I soon realized that their was no end to them.

Realizing that I had no choice, I braced myself to run a gauntlet. I crouched low to the ground as I waited for my chance, and once I saw a small opening in the infinite human crowd I took off running on my three good legs. Many of the humans glared at me as I zigzagged around them. Some humans moved away, and some muttered insults as I ran past them.

I scanned the area as I ran down the street. Lumiose was a city full of many shops, most of them I didn't understand. My eyes continued to look around as I ran until I spotted what I was looking for, a food cart. A man tended the food cart as a small group of humans looked at his cart. A sneer formed on my face as I ran towards the cart. In a smooth motion I sprang off the ground and landed on the cart. The old man running the cart stumbled back along with his customers. I quickly glanced at the fruits before I found my target, an orange. I quickly grabbed the fruit with my maw and jumped away as the human reached for me. I felt his hand brush against my tail, but he wasn't fast enough to grip me.

"Thanks for the-," I began to tease while looking back at the vender who was chasing me, but then I looked forward to see a human in my path. I quickly weaved around the human and made it a point to watch where I was going. A turn was coming up in front of me, and I flew around the street corner. My head turned backwards to give that vendor one last glare. Suddenly the wind was knocked out of me as I ran into something at full force. My orange flew out of my mouth, and with a loud thump the obstacle and I landed on the ground. Annoyance rising, I tore my gaze away from the now lost orange to glare at the smaller creature clawing at me. A small yellow fox with air growing out of his ears was making a poor attempt to free himself. A took my eyes off the fennekin to see my orange getting kicked around on the street. A sigh escaped my mouth as I realized it was done for.

"Fucking humans," I muttered to myself, "That was my meal," I spat out with resentment as I got off the small fox. The fennekin remained on the ground in a dazed state. It didn't really surprise me, he did bang heads with an umbreon, and our kind is known for our thick bones.

"W-What was that for?" the fennekin said weakly as he struggled up off of the ground. I rolled my eyes at the fennekin, and I then darted off so I could find somewhere safe.

Everyone was looking at me with accusing eyes of disapproval as I ran through the streets. I could even hear a couple remarks made towards my species as I ran away. It didn't matter to me though, I was used to my kind not being a popular eeveelution. After a couple minutes of running through the busy streets I made my way to the outskirts of Luminose city. Here I actually had some peace and quiet from all the humans and bastards who discriminated my kind. Taking my chance to repose, I stared out towards the countryside. From here I could see the hilly landscape that wasn't bulldozed down for humans to build on. A few tall healthy trees rested on the hills, and in between all the hills was a massive lake. The suns rays danced along the lake, creating a scene worth being awake for.

Feeling relieved, I lied down on my front side. I cross crossed my two paws and rested my chin on them for a pillow. This was probably the only spot in Lumiose I actually enjoyed, you couldn't find peace in the city like you could here. Just as I felt myself relaxing my plans of napping were quickly thwarted by my stomach that let out a loud growl begging for something to fill its empty void. I wish I could comply with its demands, but some asshole kicked my orange away from me. Despite my hunger I continued to lie down and attempt to get some more shut eye.

My ears then pricked up as I heard the sound of light footsteps coming from behind me. In an instant I jumped up and spun around. I crouched low towards the ground as I growled. Facing me now was the same fennekin from earlier. He wore a baffled look on his face as he held a beat up orange in his mouth.

"ummm… hi," The fennekin nervously meeped in a muffled voice from the orange.

'Great, what does he want?,' I mentally questioned. My eyes slowly made their way to the orange in the fennekin's mouth, it almost looked like my orange... I don't know why he would bother bringing me a beat up orange, but I had no interest in talking to him. My eyes rolled at the fennekin as I turned back towards the view I enjoyed.

"You know this is your orange that you dropped earlier," the fennekin said as he walked over towards me, "Would you like it back?" I glanced back at the fire type for a moment, but it was only for a brief moment.

"You're not very social are you?" the fennekin asked as he creeped behind me.

"Leave me alone," I snarled at the fox. Silence followed my hostility, which was pleasing in my opinion.

About a minute passed by before another word came from him, "So, you're an umbreon I noticed," The fennekin pointed out the obvious and my ears flicked up.

"Really? I didn't notice," I replied back sarcastically.

"Well duh, I knew you knew that, I'm just surprised to see a shiny umbreon in Luminose. Umbreon's aren't exactly common, but you're a shiny on top of that," The fennekin said and my patience quickly drained as his mouth kept flapping My mouth opened to make a snide remark, but a loud gurgle from my stomach cut my off.

"Heh, you sure you don't want the orange?" The fennekin asked before he rolled my orange towards me. I eyed the once beautiful orange that had a perfect orange color that showed no sign of bruises or spoiling. Along with that, it was all topped of with a sweet smell that could make me drool just from the idea. But now my precious orange was covered in dirt and lost its once perfect shape. To make things worse it was leaking the juices from the inside, I think I could even make out a shoe print on it... This thing was disgusting now, I could hardly stand to see a thing once so perfect now so… repulsive.

"Yeah I know it got kind of beat up in that crowd, but I know food is hard to get for a wild pokemon," the fennekin smiled with a nervous chuckle.

My eyes narrowed in on the fox, "And what makes you assume I'm a wild?" I questioned the fox.

"I'm guessing you stole it from the man that was chasing after you. Did you steal it?"

"I don't think that concerns you," I retorted with no sign of friendliness in my voice. I had no idea why he was hanging around an umbreon like me. Most people wouldn't go near me, or if they did it was to catch me or discriminate me.

"Well yeah I know, but-"

"Listen, I appreciate you bringing back what's left of my orange, but I really don't want to talk to anyone right now. So, if you could kindly give me some space," I said to the fennekin as I forced a small smile.

Then the fennekin had to open his mouth yet again, "Yeah but if you don't socialize with anyone how would you expect to make friends," the fennekin asked and my patience dwindled to a new low.

"And what makes you assume I want friends?" I growled at the fox. His ears lowered along with his legs as I towered over the shrimp, the fennekin just laughed nervously.

"Well… I didn't say that. I was just trying to make a point," the fennekin stuttered out of his big mouth.

"Well, I'll make a point right now, I'm not looking for friends, nor do I need friends," I growled at him. The fennekin gave a weak nod as he slowly backed away. I sneered as things finally started to go my way.

"There you are Flare, I've been looking all over for you!" A male teenager called out with a smirk on his face. The male looked like he was around sixteen maybe seventeen. His hair was a light blonde that was spiked up towards the front. His eyes were blue as well.. For his clothing he wore a red jacket that had white accents on it and to match his jacket he wore some dark jeans with a matching belt. The loser probably thought he was so cool with this get-up. On his back he also had a big backpack to hold equipment, that's when it hit me and I realized that this kid was a pokemon trainer. The fennekin the human referred to as Flare smiled at the sight of his human, which he then ran to his side.

I was about to take my leave, but then something important dawned on me, "Whoa, whoa hold on a sec. Did he just call you Flare?" The fennekin frowned in response as he sensed my tone, but his reaction proved that was his name. A chuckle escaped me and within seconds it turned into a hysteric laughter that I couldn't stop. In all honesty, I felt bad for the poor fox. he had to live his whole life with that awful name, plus I could have sworn that was the name of some whack-job organization, I mean who names someone that.

"What's wrong with Flare?" the fennekin said as his ears drooped a little and he frowned from the insult. I continued to laugh as the trainer just looked at me as if I was crazy, which must have been an interesting for him since he can't understand me. The human continued to stare at me as a smirk formed on his face.

"Holy crud, I didn't even notice you were a shiny!" the trainer yelled excitedly, which I then chose to stop laughing.

"No! Don't even consider it," I growled at him in an attempt to show my aggression and I revealed my razor sharp teeth.

"Flare you think you can take him," the trainer asked as he glanced at him. The fennekin just gave a confident nod and stood in front of his trainer with a confident posture.

"Sorry umbreon, but I can't turn down a fight if he wants one," Flare said.

"Listen," I snapped at him, "I'm really not in the mood for this today, so I really don't want to fight if possible."

"What you just want to come with us without a fight?" The fox asked with surprise

"No, no!" I yelled back, "I mean I don't plan on going with you, so back off!"

"Sorry, I can't just let my trainer down, that's not how things work with us," Flare responded as he blew out a puff of smoke.

"Listen let's just shake paws and we can both go on with our days." I said as I walked up to the fennekin and forced him to shake my paw. Flare froze up in shock as I turned away to escape the scene. "Anyhoo, have fun with whatever you do on those journeys, toodles." Without another word I picked up my pace, but then something solid whacked into the back of my skull. My head rang as I fell to the ground. I looked behind me to see an open pokeball releasing a light.

"No, this isn't happenin-" was all I managed to say before the light attacked me and I felt a powerful force drag me in.

Chapter End

Author Note: Thank you for taking the time to read the first chapter of this fanfiction. If you didn't like it, then you may show yourself out of this page, but if you did like it, then I just want to give a heads up. This story does not shy away from themes that some might be uncomfortable with, examples being: character deaths, suicide, swearing, cruel treatment of pokemon, racism, sexual themes, torture, and my terrible sense of humor. You've been warned.