Chapter 1

Labor's a Pain

The year is 1984

I

The sun shone brightly on among the trees. If one looked up, the sun would nearly blind you. Good thing for the creatures around here, they had no intentions of looking up. Their eyes were all on the ground. The creatures here were Noctowl. Noctowl usually did not gather in the southern forests of Viridian in Kanto, but usually gathered in the northern part of the island. These Noctowl only came here because of food, food that would last them days.

Underneath the trees, the ground rustled. All the Noctowl looked down to see what was the matter. A Rattata was sniffing the ground, looking for something to eat. In a second, the claws of one of the Noctowl were upon it.

"Hey, nice catch," one of the Noctowl exclaimed. The other Noctowl simply nodded. The other Noctowl looked at him and said, "Hey, Winafliza you've been acting weird lately. What's eating you? You seem sad." Winafliza was silent and did not answer him. Shifting his weight from foot to foot on the branch, the other Noctowl, Glorishatrn, waited impatiently. All the other Noctowl waited silently for him to answer.

There was one thing about that always disturbed others. Noctowl never, ever let go of a question. If you waited a year to answer it, they would wait too, listening for an answer. And now they would wait for one too, and if they would not tell them, they would find it out a different way, asking anyone that might know about it. Today, there would be no differences.

"Winafliza, answer me. What's is up? Did a family member die, or what," Glorishatrn inquired. Winafliza looked up from the ground with a morose look on his face.

"Fine, I will only tell you, but you must promise not to tell anyone else,' Winafliza said, beckoning Glorishatrn to come over to a secluded branch. Glorishatrn nodded and they both flew over to another tree. The other Noctowl watched filled with awe as they flew so gracefully over the brown grasses to a place near a small burrow in the ground. Glorishatrn looked at him and asked, "why this place?"

"Before I answer your questions, I need you to answer mine. What I'm going to ask you is have you felt anything weird lately," Glorishatrn asked quizzically.

"No…have you?"

"Actually, I have. Look in the burrow near here."

"What is wrong with it?" "Believe me, just look in it. You'll see something, I'm not playing a trick on you."

With no further conversing, Glorishatrn flew off to the ground. Only standing there for a split second, he looked inside the burrow. Then, with a flap of his majestic wings, he came to the oak branch where Winafliza was sitting.

"So, what did you see," Winafliza asked.

"I saw a pregnant Espeon. Why, is something wrong," questioned Glorishatrn.

"Yes, something is terribly wrong. I went to a Xatu median, because there was something creeping me out in the trees When I told her, she told me that a lot of Pokémon that she saw had the same complaint, of feeling uncomfortable during the night. She said to come back the next day.

"When I came back the next day, she told me that I needed to go to Viridian forest, and that something was there that was very interesting. She also said to look into a burrow near the southern edge of the forest, near the city. She also told me to take this vial, and to keep it." Winafliza resumed looking back at the ground with disgust this time "What's in the vial?"

"Poison. To kill the pregnant Espeon. Now, I know this may seem harsh, but I must do it, even if it may be the wrong thing to do." Glorishatrn seemed shocked. He looked at him and asked, "why do you have to give her poison?"

"To kill her. Why didn't you think of that yourself?" Glorishatrn didn't move, and kept a shocked look on his face. "I have to kill her and I have a deadline. I have to kill her before she has the babies, because one of these babies will end up being dangerous, and if we do not get rid of it, we will all be in grave danger. This Eevee baby, if born, will be a blackish color. As it grows up, it will become a Umbreon, a rabid, bloodthirsty Umbreon. We must have it killed before it becomes more of a problem than we bargained for and kills us, and our children." Glorishatrn gazed in amazement as he spoke.

"So if we don't get rid of it, we'll all be dead, right?'

"Possibly. Doing this is dangerous, but less dangerous than flirting with death when he is not dead." Glorishatrn nodded, then said, "when are we going to do this?"

"As soon as possible, which means right now. Here, you take the vial in your beak as I go fly down there. When I give you the all clear, you come down and give the vial to me. I'll go do all the dirty work. Does that sound like a good plan to you?"

"One thing. What will the signal be for the all clear?"

"I'll nod in your direction. Got that?" Glorishatrn nodded and picked up the vial, as Winafliza flew to the ground. As he looked inside the burrow, there came a small scream, and then a woman's voice said, "who is that?" Then, a man's voice spoke up.

"I don't know. Want me to go look?"

"Go ahead." There came a rustling sound from inside the burrow and a male Espeon trotted out. As he looked around, Winafliza had already flown off into the distance. He went back into the burrow without another word. Glorishatrn looked for Winafliza, and when he found him, he nodded to him. Glorishatrn flew over to him and asked, "how did you get away without him seeing you? If it had been me, than I would have been caught."

"I knew that he would come out, so I flew off. Great idea, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Here, here's the vial." Glorishatrn gave him the vial, he nodded to him, then flew off into the trees.

II

Inside the burrow, Jonkin lay on a bed of pine branches and twigs. He was still worried about what was outside, and if it would harm them in anyway. It had gone a way, so it probably would not end up hurting them, but what it had done. He was still worried if it would come back, and hurt anyone in his family, especially Ferann. He could hear a faint rustling of trees, and knew right away that it was the Noctowl that he had saw earlier. Jonkin was not at all pleased. Walking slowly, careful not to disturb Ferann, Jonkin looked out of the burrow to have a better look at what was going on in the forest. A small Rattata was sniffing the ground in search of a trace of food. Some Pokémon was digging a small hole in the ground, also looking for some food, and far off in the distance, a shadow of an owl could be seen. Jonkin, now utterly relieved that the danger had gone, went back to comfort Ferann, who was pregnant at the time, and she was expecting to have the babies soon (live, not eggs!). Jonkin was still afraid of what would happen if those owls did come back. As he listened, he seemed to embrace the normal sounds of the forest. The chitter of Rattata, the tweets of Spearow and Pidgey, and even the mating call of a wild Executte, way off in the distance. Then, he heard faint voices.

"Hey, didn't I tell you to stay away while I did the dirty work?"

"Yes, but I wanted to tell you something."

"What?"

"Good luck with them. Now kill it"

Jonkin felt chilled to the bone. Not only was some freak bird going to eat him, he was going to kill and eat Ferann, too, but he must save Ferann, even if it cost him his life. Looking up as he revised his doom, he saw a shadow crossing his burrow, making his fur prickle. Taking one last look at the pinkish ball in the corner of the room, he trudged out into the open.

A loud scream pierced his ears, making Jonkin look behind his shoulder. The sight was hideous. A large Noctowl, probably taller than a small child, flew straight at him. Intimidated, Jonkin lunged upon it, ripping and tearing at feathers and flesh, not caring or paying much attention to the screams of the owl or his own pain, but soon, realization always sets in. Ripping less and less now, he started to feel faint. As he looked down, he knew why. Blood was gushing out of him in turrets, streaming out to the Noctowl, who was just as bad or even worse off than he was. After he stumbled around for a moment like a drunken sailor, he fell to the ground, turning everything around him red, and eventually, the blood pool stopped rising.

III

The scene was horrible.

Feathers were everywhere, and so was blood. One figure was mangled tremendously. Starting with its head, she worked her was down, looking at it. The head was drenched in blood, and its skull was nearly ripped out of its head, its silver brain gleaming. Its throat was slashed in many places, and its arteries were caked with blood. Its body was completely ripped open, its organs also gleaming in the sunlight. One leg was ripped clear off; the other was at an odd angle. Flies and other insects were all over it, along with a few Rattata ripping off pieces as it went, making throaty sounds of delight. Ferann was making throaty sounds of puking.

The other body, Ferann did not care to look at, for she knew who it was, and she was already grossed out enough. So she instead ran back into the burrow, saddened by her loss, and was looking for a reason for why it happened. Completely unwittingly though, she had accidentally stepped on top of the vial of fresh Arbok poison, milked by hand.

A pain jolted through Ferann's body, making her completely alert. She immediately knew what it was. Labor pains, and now all she had to do was have her babies before the poison.

And those weren't too good odds. Arbok poison will kill an Espeon in forty minutes, and she would have to have a very fast labor to meet those odds and have her children.

~~~~~-*-~~~~~

About twenty minutes later, the first one was coming out. Ferann winced at the tremendous pain, and to add to it, she had severe nausea and a headache. If only Jonkin was here, he would comfort me, and he would know exactly what to do.

She could feel the first one coming out, and a purple sack began to appear, along with a lot of fluid. The sack flopped on the stony ground, and she licked it dry, and when the Eevee began to appear, she knew it was not an Eevee at all.

She screamed, and became overwhelmed by the nausea, and also flopped on the ground. Then, the only noise to be heard was the mating call of the wild Executte.