A/N: Thank you WyldClaw for your review!
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Up in the sky, the moon sat suspended amongst the stars, barely starting to wane. Rok tried to ignore it. Why? He wasn't sure exactly. As some sort of…retribution, he supposed, for his unwanted evolution. But, as it turns out, ignoring the moon was proving to be rather…difficult. Not just because it was a giant glowing ball in the sky, but because he could feel it, as if its silvery light was a gentle breeze, soothing the aches and pains he'd accumulated throughout the day.
The feeling was uncomfortably familiar. It had led to Rok's current circumstances after all. So, he tried to distract himself; by listening for the wild pokémon that hunt at night, by searching the path for any sign of a patrol from his village, but mostly by listening to Reaper's ranting.
"How do your "guards" know where to go in this place?" she hissed, kicking away some stray rocks. "There are no paths, no landmarks, just a bunch of trees and rocks and plants that look exactly the same as each other!"
"You learn to recognise the land eventually." Rok explained patiently, "It just takes a bit of time."
"Pretty sure what really happens is you get marched along the same paths so often you wind up memorising the number of steps your supposed to take to get to your next destination." Reaper muttered.
Rok chuckled. "I can guarantee that's not it."
"Well, maybe you don't do it consciously, but I can't see any other way for you to actually find your way in this death-maze."
"I think the word you're looking for is, "forest"."
"Nope. Pretty sure it's-"
Suddenly, Rok shushed her. He was more than a little surprised when Reaper actually did fall quiet, instantly growing tense as she looked around herself. Rok held himself still, hardly daring to breath for the noise it might cause. He pricked his ears and scanned the dark trees and bushes.
He though he heard…
He was sure he heard…
"I think it's over here."
He'd heard.
Through the thick trunks, he could just make out the bright yellow and red fur of a flareon, carefully picking its way along the bushes. A glaceon trailed close behind.
"I don't know Ruby," the glaceon muttered, looking around suspiciously, "wild pokémon don't talk, and as far as I know the only pokémon that do talk around here are just other guards and the lucky fellas back home that are actually sleeping tonight."
"Better safe than sorry Cloud." The flareon muttered back.
Then she saw Rok and Reaper.
She growled and pounced forward, her fur glowing and warping the air with heat and Rok felt his heart thunder in his chest as he recognised a Lava Plume attack. Beside him, Reaper readied herself for a fight, the scythe on her head glowing with a strange, purple energy.
No! They couldn't fight! If they did then the guards might think her and Reaper were wild, and then he'd never be allowed back home!
Without thinking, Rok jumped between them, and the gentle moonlight on his fur seemed to grow warm as he found himself caught between two attacks.
Reaper's eyes widened and she tossed her head to the side at the last minute, sending arcs of purple light crashing into a nearby bush. But the flareon didn't hesitate, narrowing her eyes as scarlet flames erupted from her body, bearing down on Rok and Reaper. Quickly, they dived out of the way, and Rok gasped in pain as a few stray sparks seared his fur. Unfortunately, those stray sparks were enough.
Fire erupted all over his body, burning and scorching his skin and fur. In less than a second, it was over, but Rok was still left gasping from the pain.
A sharp cry of pain made him look up in panic. Did Reaper get caught in the blast? Was she Burned too?
But no, the cry had come from the flareon, as the last embers of a Burn drifted away from her fur.
But…she was the one who'd launched the attack. How could she be burned?
"Ruby!"
Oh Giratina…
The glaceon from before bounded through the bushes, the moonlight making his icy fur sparkle as he reached the flareon. His face twisted in a snarl as he looked up at Rok and Reaper.
He opened his mouth, and his teeth glowed blue-white as he readied an Ice Fang.
Rok felt panic well up inside him. His heart pounding in his chest, and he still felt hot from the Burn. Wait, no, this heat wasn't on the outside. It was from the inside. Growing and pulsating, filling up every pore of his body and just begging to be let out-
So he let it out.
The rings on Rok's body suddenly glowed brightly with yellow light, illuminating the forest and the two guards in front of him. But the light wasn't gentle like the moon or the stars. It was forceful, like if someone had ripped the sun out of the sky and shoved it in your face. It demanded attention, it was a power of its own, and it wouldn't allow itself to be defeated.
The flareon and the glaceon both suddenly froze, their eyes wide with terror. All around him Rok could hear the frightened squeaks and squeals of wild pokémon as they scrambled to get away. Behind him there was a snap of a twig breaking, and Rok turned to see Reaper.
And she looked scared.
The shock was enough to quell the panic building inside of him, and the light of his rings faded to darkness. Though Reaper still shook with fear, even after the light was gone, and when Rok looked back at the guards, they too were still gripped by terror.
He took a step forward. They took a step back.
He sighed. "Look, we don't want any trouble." He said, ignoring them as they flinched with surprise as he talked. "My name is Rok. I got lost away from the village two days ago, during my final test as an eevee."
The glaceon found his voice first. "You can't be part of our village." He protested, "You are not an eevee, or an evolution."
"I am an evolution." Rok assured him, "Just, not one we've encountered before. I'm an umbreon. It's a bit like an espeon, except it evolves in the moonlight instead of the sunlight."
The flareon finally managed to push aside her fear and glared at him. "And why should we believe you?"
"I managed to find the village, didn't I? And you know I'm not wild."
The glaceon and the flareon looked at each other, seeming to hold a silent conversation. Rok glanced back at Reaper. She'd stopped shaking, and instead was scowling at the guards, tapping her claws against the dirt with impatience.
Finally, the flareon and glaceon looked back at them. "We're going to have to take you to the elders."
A/N: So, you know how the pokédex usually says that pokémon have a bunch of really cool abilities but we can never actually see them put into practice (like gardevoir making black holes and lucario learning everyone's embarrassing secrets)? Well they're finally getting put into practice!
Please review!