Luna

I sat in my office of sorts, scribbling over locations on a map. I needed to direct a certain Void member to cause some terror in a small village. I had a rather difficult mission that I needed someone to pull off. It involved attacking said small village, which wouldn't usually be a problem, but through further research, I realized that there were quite a few competent pokemon there that may give some of my subjects a problem. Because of this, I decided to reach out to an admin that I hadn't directly spoken to for a few months at this point. He was a very accomplished Void member, but I didn't need his level of skill for anything as of late. However, ever since Rage came back from his mission empty-handed because of a certain Umbreon, I decided I should start utilizing my higher tier members. I didn't think not killing that little Eevee years ago would actually slow my work presently. Not only has he done exactly that, but he also did something that gave me a rather unfamiliar feeling. When I approached him on our ship, I was expecting him to be terrified, not being able to move as long as I was glaring at him. At first, that's exactly what was happening. I saw his muscles stiffen, I could tell he was shaking, and he couldn't speak coherently. However, soon after I began to threaten him, he spoke up not only coherently, but also with a defiant tone. Also… He had a look in his eye. It was a look that said something, a look that I never expected that pathetic child to give me.

It was a look that said 'I will defy you.'

After he blew himself off of the ship along with the Eevee cubs behind him, I felt an uncomfortable feeling creep up on me. For a split second, I felt worried.

Of course, it only lasted for a second. He can't do anything. If he tries, I'll shut him down immediately.

"Lady Luna, your company is here." A voice beside me said, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Let him in Aven." I responded, prompting him to press a button and open the large metallic door that led to my office. My office was rather large. The entire construction of the room was made up of a dark blue metal, along the walls were small shelves made out of the same metal that held a lot of files and maps, as well as profiles for each of the members of the Void old and new. I sat at a desk near the back of the room, the desk was made of a durable type of wood, painted to match the color of the rest of the room. On the desk laid more files, as well as the map that I had just marked. I quite enjoyed my office as a place for me to work, it was an environment that I needed while taking a break from my usual activities.

I looked across the room to see a pokemon walk into my office and stand beside Aven. I looked at him, immediately noticing his freshly sharpened claws. I smiled, knowing that this task would be no problem for the pokemon standing before me.

"Lady Luna," He started, before bowing his head down. "What task do you have for me?"

"It's been awhile since I gave you a direct order." I told him, before getting up from, my seat, holding the map in my maw. I dropped the map in front of the newly entered admin. "There's a village close to Myriad that holds quite a few capable battlers. Knowing your modus operandi, I think you know what I want you to do." He picked up the map in between his claws.

He looked at the map and then smiled before nodding. "I won't let you down." he exited the room, now holding the map. I walked back to my desk, wanting to look through some reports from Kai and Aven revolving around the new Nest recruits, but before I could open it, another Void admin walked into my office, this one I had seen quite a bit recently, and I had a job for her.

"Hi boss! What was the assassin doing in here?" She asked me before walking closer to my desk.

"Your informality would make a lot of other admins hate you." I told her bluntly. I admittedly had a bit of a soft spot for this one. She was one of the first pokemon I recruited to the Void after Aven, and her friendly attitude really didn't say anything about the Leafeon's personality. I'd dare to say that she likes torturing others as much as I do. "I have a task that I'd like you to partake in. You see, we have an enemy right now that I think you'd be perfect for taking out." I told her, making her eyes widen in interest.

"Really? What do I have to do?" She said, very excitedly. Whenever I asked her take a pokemon out of the picture for me, she gets to take them and torture them afterward. Because of this, every time I gave her a mission directly, she almost can't contain her excitement.

"Aven, you can manipulate where our Umbreon friend goes for his Nest missions, can't you?" I asked him. It would make putting an admin after him a lot easier.

"Yes, I can." He simply said. Aven was never one to waste his words.

"Good. Grace, I'll have a location for you in about an hour. After you get that, leave whenever you want." I told her, taking out another map to give her the location.

"Sounds good boss! See you then!" She walked out of the door and back to who knows where. I knew she was the best one I could send after the bloody Umbreon at the moment. Not only was she a skilled admin, but she was the absolute opposite of him when it came to their personalities. Yet, both of them have a goal, and they are both very determined to reach said goal. Kuro wants revenge on the Void, Grace wants revenge on the Nest. Her parents were both criminals, and were both captured by the Nest and most likely killed. Grace wasn't there to witness it, but she swore that she would take down the Nest. In a way, her and Kuro were two sides of the same coin, and she had emotions backing her while trying to take down any member of the Nest, which she has successfully done multiple times in the past. At the moment, she was the best chance we had at taking out Kuro easily without Aven or myself stepping in. Neither of us wanted to, as that would be a huge risk to blowing our cover at the Nest. Seeing as none of the pokemon who know about us are willing to speak up due to lack of confidence, we still had two spies in the Nest, and we didn't want to do anything to risk that.

As soon as that damn Umbreon is out of the way, our tasks will become a lot easier…

Myra

"And that's the situation, do we have a spare bed to give them?" Core asked me.

Apparently, Kuro and Naru now have a small pokemon living with them. According to what Kuro told Core, he found a young Vulpix in one of our old storage areas. That Vulpix was attacked by a Void admin, and Kuro managed to get her away from him and safely get her back to the Nest. He also said that he would have no problem with her living with him and Naru. Right after that, Kuro said he felt somewhat responsible for her because he had been feeding her, so he wanted to make sure she was okay and take care of her. Because of this, they were short a bed last night, leading to 'a rather awkward situation' between him and Naru, so he asked Core if they could get a third bed. I smiled at the whole situation, and Core noticed it.

"We have extra beds in our main storage area, I have no problem with them getting one for their living space." I told him.

"This situation he found himself in… He takes after his parents more that I thought." Core laughed, and I smiled at the thought. "It really is a shame that they met such a brutal end."

I thought about Blade and Storm, and remembered when one of the Nests' leaders told me that Kuro had lost his parents eight years ago, right in front of his eyes at that. The shock that both of them were dead didn't make me feel great for the rest of the day. Both of them were not only great Ravens, but great pokemon as well. They were always caring to the ones around them, and they always brought a positive atmosphere wherever they went. When I figured out both of them were gone, I was upset to say the least. However, I also felt a large amount of guilt wash over me. I found out a few days after I talked with Kuro for the first time, after I had bluntly brought up his parents. I noticed that he was acting strange when I was talking to him, but I assumed it was just nervousness from his new lifestyle. Once I found out about his parents, I knew why he was acting the way he was. He was holding back his emotions. Thinking back, I was able to see the sadness in his expression. I probably brought up a swarm of unwanted memories within him. I was angry with myself for not knowing about their deaths, and even more angry with myself for bringing these memories back to Kuro. I was, however, happy to know that Core gave Kuro a bit of a talk later that day, and told Kuro about his parents' lives at the Nest, as it was something he most likely needed.

"I just wish we knew who was responsible, I'd like to have a word or two with them." I said, clenching my hand into a fist.

"Sadly, looking into someone's past is delicate. We can't get all of the details such as faces, but we get to know the situation." Core said. "Did you ever hear what else happened to Kuro that day? Other than his parents?" I slightly tilted my head, wondering what Core was talking about. "He was also… Abused."

"Abused?" I asked, not fully understanding. "In what way?"

"Well…" Core looked down, as if considering his wording. "He was… To put it bluntly, he was raped." He said, and I flinched. "He was pinned down by one of the pokemon that killed Storm and Blade, and the other two had their 'fun'" Core spat out the last word, sounding angrier than I've heard him for a long time.

"I had no idea…" I said, feeling my anger flare up as well, but I was able to suppress it. "And we have no idea who could be responsible?" I asked, trying not to show the anger in my voice. I took a pledge to not let my emotions take control of me, especially in front of a Nest leader.

"We only made out silhouettes. We have no idea about two of them, but we could make out the one that was closest to Kuro. We think it's an eeveelution, however we aren't sure as to what one exactly." Core scratched his head. "So, even if we have a vague idea of one of them, it's one out of eight pokemon species."

When I heard this, I came up with a possibility. For a while now, I had suspicions of an Umbreon we had working as a leader of the Nest having connections to the Void. There were some inconsistencies with what we saw in her past and what she told us happened. Not only that, but when she went to take out an outlaw, she would come back with their mutilated body. Ravens did need to kill at times, and every member has killed before. We didn't enjoy killing, but sometimes, you save lives by taking one. More often than not, you save a lot more lives by taking one owned by a criminal. The Umbreon, Luna, she had no problem whatsoever with killing. She did it almost happily, as well as mutilated them. This, along with the memory inconsistencies, made me very suspicious. Not only that, but about a month ago, she went on a mission and… Disappeared. We haven't heard from her since.

Maybe she's the one responsible… But where could she be now..? And even if she was sadistic and left, does that mean she's a part of the Void? Or is she just a pokemon that goes to the beat of her own drum?

I tried to collect my thoughts. Sitting here and wondering about uncertainties wasn't going to solve any of them, I needed to investigate further.

"I'm going to go bring a bed to Kuro and Naru's room. After that, I'll go out and see if I can find out any new information about these pokemon." Core said, before turning towards the exit of my office. "Also, don't strain yourself too much thinking about the culprits right now. After all, you have an organization to lead." Core walked out of the room.

I sighed and picked up an old file containing Luna's information.

I'm sure you're up to something… but I can't say anything for sure yet. And who are your cohorts..? Where are they..?

How long until they do something like this again..?

Naru

I looked at a rather peaceful scene. There was a Leafeon, a Vaporeon, and an Eevee, all mindlessly chatting and laughing in a small den. I tried looking down at my own paws, but they were almost completely invisible, plus I was in a place I had never been in before. Putting all of these facts together, I deduced that I was in a dream. It was strange, as I had never been a lucid dreamer, but I was most certainly dreaming right now, and I was very much aware of it. The dream was a bit strange, showcasing what looked like a small family living in a very cramped home. Despite this, the family seemed incredibly happy just to have each other's company. I thought about the small place I used to live in and compared it to this one. This one was much smaller than mine was, which somewhat baffled me due to the fact that the home I lived in was definitely the smallest in Myriad. Whoever lived in this home clearly didn't live in a town or city of any kind. It did however, look comforting. The small wooden table surrounded by chairs of the same material looked very sturdy, and also weren't unpleasant to the eye. The dirt walls were a bit unorthodox, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how little the construction of a home matters as long as it's enough for you to stay safe. While I was trying to take in more of the sight that I found myself looking at, my vision of the place began to blur, and then I found myself looking into nothing but a bright white light.

Once the light faded, I found myself looking outside of the small den I had just been observing the interior of. The entrance looked like a hole of sorts in the ground, and it didn't look very sturdy. Surrounding the dirt entrance was a group of flowers of all different types. Not too far away from the rectangular floral pattern stood a dense-looking forest, one that gave off no noise whatsoever, one that looked peaceful, despite its ominousity and density. Maybe it's not right to say it 'looked' peaceful, more like it just gave off that kind of vibe, it made me feel at ease. I looked in the opposite direction of the forest and found a cliffside. There was a small hill that also led to the same cliff. Under that cliff laid a fast-moving river, along with a group of sharp rocks that looked like they would have no problem tearing your body into shreds of flesh.

Near the cliff, I saw the Leafeon from earlier standing in the presence of three shadows. I couldn't make out who the three pokemon were because all I saw were their shapes, black and distorted collections of matter, along with distant voices that I couldn't decipher. It really bothered me that I couldn't tell who the pokemon were, as it gave me a feeling of uneasiness to cancel out the tranquillity of the forest. The Leafeon was talking to them with what looked like a rather cheerful expression, as if they were reminiscing on past events. I still couldn't make out any words, it all sounded like mumbling gibberish, but I could decipher the cheery and energetic tone coming from the leaf-covered fox. Soon after, I saw the leather-like blue skin of a Vaporeon walk out of the small den, and soon after, the brown and cream-colored fur of a small Eevee. The Vaporeon looked at what I assumed to be their mate, and then put on a rather confused expression. The Eevee behind her seemed to be slightly shaking, looking rather afraid of the splotches of shadow, one of them in particular.

The Vaporeon began to take steps towards their presumed mate and ask them about the other pokemon at their residence.

One step…

Two steps…

Three steps…

Then one of the shadowy shapes quickly stepped forward… and impaled the Leafeon. I watched as the makeshift horn made up of a mass of shadow entered the body of the Leafeon, and watched as it was slowly dragged up their figure. There was an unrealistic amount of blood pouring out from the Leaf fox, and their face was twisted in extreme agony. Once the horn made it to their head, the blob of shadow seemed to do something with its horn, and soon after, the Leafeon's head burst apart, sending a mass of crimson liquid and internal parts of its skull all around the area.

I looked upon the scene. I grimaced with invisible paws. I tried to scream, yell, make a noise, move my intangible body, but no action took place. I couldn't close or cover my eyes. I just floated in place, unable to do anything but cry invisible tears at what I just witnessed.

But it wasn't over.

The Vaporeon had a terrified, mortified look, and looked like she was tensing up to scream. The Eevee behind her just had a blank stare, and was wildly shaking. Before the Vaporeon could let out even a sound, another on of the shadow figures rushed her with a speed that I couldn't track. The blob took the Vaporeon high into the sky, and then seemingly changed its position. It quickly flew to the ground, slamming the Vaporeon into the dirt and grass with immeasurable force. I watched as more thick, red fluid coated the grass outside of the peaceful den. The body of the Vaporeon was now not recognizable. The body had collapsed onto itself, and looked like a small mass of death.

I found myself shuddering with my invisible body. I wanted to look away. I wanted to close my eyes. I wanted to wake up. I wanted to get out of this dream. I wanted to run away. I wanted to forget this ever happened.

Yet I couldn't.

My gaze was forced to the small Eevee, who had a waterfall of tears pouring out of their eyes. Even with these tears, the Eevee didn't even move, make a sound, or even change the look in their eyes. It was just… Blank. They weren't even shaking like a leaf anymore, they were just… Motionless, blank, confused, scared.

Broken.

I watched the scene in horror, when I saw the Eevee get pinned down by one of the masses of shadow. It was then that I heard actual cries coming from the Eevee, and it broke my heart. I watched as the two other masses approached the Eevee, and then they began to…

It was here when I truly wished, above all else, that I could stop watching.

At first, I didn't know what they were doing, as they didn't have concrete shapes, so it was hard to decipher their actions, but as soon as I realized what was happening, I felt my mind panic. As soon as I knew what was happening to this Eevee, my urge to scream, my urge to move, all of it came back tenfold, but I couldn't do anything.

I just had to stay here, motionless.

I just had to watch the Eevee get tortured.

This went on for an hour or two, and I was consciously watching the whole time. After time had just… passed, the shadow masses all got off of the Eevee, and they simply walked off into the forest behind them, acting as if nothing had just happened. Soon after they left, the Eevee stood up, and their legs shook uncontrollably. They seemed to have stopped crying, but their face was already stained with tears and sorrow. Their face also held the same blank stare. I watched as they walked slowly forward, and first arrived at their Vaporeon parent's body. They looked down at the mutilated body, unsure what to do. I saw the eyes of the Eevee begin to leak more tears, and then they picked up the Vaporeon's body in their jaws. They brought the Vaporeon to the top of the hill at the cliff side, and then dropped the body there, before vomiting. After spitting out their insides, the Eevee went to the Leafeon's body, and brought it to the same spot before, once again, vomiting. They then dug a large hole near the edge of the hill, and promptly buried both of the bodies inside of it. The Eevee then walked over to the flowerbed, now half-soaked in a crimson liquid, and took out a few of the clean flowers. They then put three flowers, one blue, one green, and a brown one in the middle. After that, they walked to the edge of the cliff on the hill, and when I say edge, they were almost hanging a paw off of it.

Right then, the Eevee let out a pained and hoarse scream.

The scream was loud enough to make my invisible body flinch, and I caught a mix of emotions from the noise.

Sadness. Confusion. Fear. Anger. Uncertainty.

Despair.

This is just one more thing about this dream that made my heart shatter, but I couldn't help but feel a light pull at the back of mind telling me I knew the voice of this Eevee, but since the only sounds from them I heard were cries and a scream, I couldn't be absolutely sure my mind wasn't just playing with me.

After the scream, my vision faded to white once more, and the last thing I saw before an environmental change was the Eevee sprinting into the forest.

The blinding light filtered out, and I was met with a new sight. I was now looking at a forest, presumably the one behind the den I was just looking at. It was exactly what you would expect from a dense forest, tall, thick-trunked trees of different types, a few feral bug and flying pokemon entered and exited my vision a few times. There were also a lot of plants, large plants growing off of the trunks of trees, growing off of a few rocks, and growing out of the ground. Some of them actually looked like the plants all over the main lobby of the Nest. The forest seemed to be dark, and I mean really dark. I'm fairly certain that it was daytime because of the small rays of sunlight coming from the tops of the trees. While I was observing the vegetation of the forest, something else entered my sight. I saw a slightly familiar brown ball of fur, and a flying pokemon. The Eevee seemed to be running away from what looked like a Fearow, who was attempting to close in and impale the small pokemon with its beak. The sight initially horrified me, but some of that fear vanished when I noticed something in the slightly larger Eevee's face that wasn't present last time.

Confidence, and sincerity.

The Fearow was closing in on the Eevee, but very sloppily. I deduced that it was a feral. The Fearow was inches away from the Eevee, who still kept a steady pace in their run. Once the Eevee had an opportunity, they made their tail glow a brilliant silver. After that, they abruptly jumped up, and ended up above the chasing Fearow. They then struck the Fearow's head with their tail, causing the Fearow to slump to the ground, unconscious. At first I thought the Eevee had straight up killed it, but it almost looked like they took extra care in order to make sure that the Fearow didn't end up dead. After the Fearow was put in its place, the Eevee casually walked off. I could tell it was the same Eevee that I had just seen, they looked exactly the same, aside from now being a little bit larger, due to time most likely. They were just casually walking through the forest, as if they didn't have any task in mind. As the Eevee was walking along, a white light suddenly enveloped them. It looked like their body got slightly taller, and the shape began to change, sprouting larger ears and a more pointed tail that matched their ears. Once the light wore off, the Eevee wasn't an Eevee anymore. They were now an Umbreon.

The newly evolved Umbreon kept walking, almost as if nothing had happened. However, after a few steps, they fell flat on their face. The Umbreon quickly jumped up, back on their feet, before backpedaling, slowly picking up speed with each step, and then crashed into a tree behind them. He looked rather frustrated with his actions, but finally managed to get up and keep his balance. I gave an invisible smile, but then I was pulled out of my amusing thoughts of the newly evolved pokemon.

Him..? Why do I suddenly know…

Then it hit me.

I looked back at the newly evolved Umbreon, focusing. I noticed something that made me shiver. The face of this Umbreon… It looked more than familiar to me. I knew exactly who this was.

It was Kuro.

After realizing this, I connected the dots. Kuro had told me in the past that he lost his parents, right in front of him at that. I then recalled the shadowy figures, as well as a conversation with the leader of the Nest.

The shadow with a horn.

The bulky shadow that flew.

The small shadow that eagerly tortured Kuro.

Kai.

Aven.

Luna.

A Vaporeon.

A Leafeon.

Storm.

Blade.

I had just seen Kuro's past in much more detail than he described it. Of course, I completely understood why he didn't go into that kind of… Detail. I thought so much that the two of us could completely understand each other because we had been through the same kind of event in the past. Both of us had our simple, but happy lives torn away from us over a day. Both of us had what was left of our families taken abruptly, and both of us grieved over it for years.

Little did I know how much Kuro held back from his explanation.

I felt an uncomfortable sadness overtake me upon this realization, but I also thought of something I should have since this dream started.

Why am I having this dream in the first place..? This isn't even like a dream, this is looking into someone else's past! Why is this… Why am I seeing this..?

My thoughts were interrupted, and I was blinded by another bright light.

Only this time, I didn't see anything but the inside of my eyelids, which I slowly opened.

I instantly saw Kuro standing up, not too far away from the bed we had both slept on. I then saw Shiro, who was also awake, and participating in an idle conversation with Kuro. Before I made my awakening known, I felt the remnants of tears on the fur under my eyelids. I quickly wiped them away with a paw.

Did that really affect me enough to cry in my sleep..?

I quickly composed myself, trying my best to release any sort of negativity from my face. I didn't want to be asked what was wrong and have to explain the dream that I had just had. I especially didn't want to have to explain it to Kuro in particular, for obvious reasons. So to give myself some time to compose myself, I decided to listen in on what Shiro and Kuro were talking about.

"Are they a part of your fur?" Shiro asked, and I had no idea what she was referring to.

"No, actually." Kuro responded. "My fur is naturally really smooth, so they look like just another part of the pelt, but they're actually part of my skin." Kuro placed one of his forepaws on the golden ring on his forehead. "They almost feel like fur too, but they're just slightly different from normal skin."

So he's talking about the rings on his body. I thought, smiling at the innocent question that the Vulpix asked. She didn't even stutter when talking to Kuro, and that meant that she was comfortable with him, which was definitely progress from how she talked last night. Now that I think about it, I thought his rings were a part of his fur too…

I took my thoughts away from the rings that surrounded the Umbreon's body and realized that I had effectively drained all negative emotions from my face. I put on a very slightly forced smile and forced my body to get up, making enough noise to cause Kuro to turn his head. As soon as I saw him, he flashed a strange look in his eyes, but quickly shook it off and smiled at me. What was that..?

"Morning, Naru." I couldn't help but notice the same strange glimmer in his eyes that he exhibited when I first woke up.

"Morning!" I tried to make my tone as cheerful as possible, eliminating any remaining negativity in my thoughts. I stretched my limbs across the ground after getting off of the bed Kuro and I shared. As soon as that thought crossed my mind, I resisted the urge to blush, seeing that Kuro wasn't making a deal about it right after I woke up, I figured I shouldn't either.

I looked over at Shiro, who was curiously pawing the bed beneath her. She looked like she had never seen a straw bed, which was probably the most common type of bed, but after considering her memory loss, it didn't surprise me the way she messed with the bed like that. I noticed that she also no longer had Kuro's scarf draped over her, as it was folded up on the floor next to the bed.

I saw Shiro look up from her bed and turn her eyes towards me. She shyly rose one of her paws and did something to simulate a wave while smiling. This further eliminated the uneasiness I felt inside of me. I smiled back at her and also waved. I was happy that her comfort level was high enough for her to do that. Yesterday, she couldn't get a sentence out without stuttering to either of us, but now she was talking to Kuro normally and even gave me a kind greeting. He saw the gesture that Shiro made to me and smiled, as well as gave a small chuckle.

"Well, I need to get going to meet with Kai." Kuro grabbed his scarf with a claw and then tossed it around his neck.

"Oh! Kuro, mind if I go with you?" I asked him once I had a bit of a realization. "I have absolutely nothing to do today, and I've been curious about how you train with Kai for quite a while."

"As long as Kai allows it, I have no problem with it." He said, before then looking at Shiro. "Do you want to come too then? It would probably be better than staying cooped up here all day." Shiro seemed to consider the offer for a bit.

"I-If it's not a problem, then yes." She said, before shyly smiling. I then perked up more. It was definitely a good thing that Shiro would get to see the Nest. Whether for navigation purposes or getting used to being around other pokemon. Hopefully she would get the thought of all pokemon being hostile out of her head. I assumed that was her ideology, considering how she acted after she lost her memories.

"Sounds good, we should probably leave now then, before Kai decides to make my training harder for being late…" Does he actually do that..?

Not wanting to make Kuro's life harder, I promptly walked out of the door behind Kuro and Shiro.

We walked through the many open area of the Nest all while explaining where we were, as well as where we were going to Shiro. She was actually riding on Kuro's back, due to the fact that as soon as she saw a pokemon that wasn't me or Kuro, she froze up completely. Because of this, Kuro and I also tried to explain to her that no pokemon at the Nest would hurt her. We decided not to mention a certain Absol and Flygon to Shiro, as that would just make her anxiety that much worse. Even after we explained all of this, Shiro still felt safest on Kuro's back, and since he didn't complain, she stayed that way. I had no problem with this, as looking at the two gave me a bubbling warm feeling.

After getting all of the places in the Nest and discussion about other pokemon out of the way, the conversation somehow ended up at Kuro's rings again. I inadvertently brought them up when I said I thought they were a part of his fur, and then asked him if they actually had a function or not. I had no idea if they did something, or they were just a part of his skin and nothing more.

"They have a function, but not one I openly show." He started to explain with a strange tone, almost as if he didn't want to tell us said function. "They correspond to my emotions. If I feel a strong emotion of any kind, they'll start to glow. I… Don't really like this, so I spent a lot of time learning how to control them, but if I'm feeling an emotion and I'm not specifically trying to control them, they'll go off whether I like it or not." He finished with a small sigh of annoyance.

"How come you don't like it?" I asked him. It seemed like a rather small feature, and one that I didn't think he'd really care that much about. I also thought back to a few previous experiences with Kuro, and remembered his rings flaring up for a second or two. Back then, I thought I was just seeing things, but after this explanation and the fact that I saw that very thing the night prior, I was convinced.

"I'm not always comfortable with others knowing what I'm feeling." He explained with a different tone that I couldn't really place. "I prefer to hold my emotions to myself. Depending on the pokemon, someone else knowing how strong my emotions are bothers me." I understood that logic, as he wouldn't want an opponent in battle to know when he was flaring up. "However, learning to control the way my rings work benefitted me in more ways than hiding emotions. If I wanted to, I could change their color to match my fur and in turn, make myself almost unseeable in a dark area." In order to demonstrate, Kuro then darkened the rings covering his body. They essentially vanished, blending in completely with his fur. When Shiro realized what he had done, she gave a surprised gasp.

"Wow… That looks pretty useful! How'd you end up learning that?" I asked, wondering what exactly prompted him to try something like that.

"Complete accident." He bluntly said, to which I tilted my head. "I was, at the time, trying to calm down my rings from glowing due to my extreme annoyance with them." I stifled a laugh when Kuro said this. It was funny to think about how he got such a feeling of annoyance from his rings that they began to glow from that feeling alone. "When I realized I wasn't making progress, I stopped trying for a bit, but quickly realized that I had nearly made the coloring of my rings vanish. I held on to that feeling, and learned how to do it naturally because I thought it could help me in the future." He finished explaining.

"Interesting." I said. "I figured out that I had an ability like snow cloak by complete accident. My parents didn't know about it at first either. Once, I accidentally wandered into a snowstorm, and they thought I had run away because I almost completely vanished from them." I laughed lightly, and Kuro gave a small chuckle in response. Shiro looked a bit confused, most likely not knowing what I was talking about when I brought up my ability, to which I made a point to explain it to her later. It felt nice to not only talk about my late family without depressing context, but to remember something joyful that happened in the past.

We continued walking towards the field that Kai and Kuro usually train. During this time, Kuro explained to Shiro that he would be battling someone, and there was no malicious intent, it was just training. To be perfectly honest, it kind of worried me that Kuro felt the need to say this, as it meant the training may emulate a real battle. Just as he finished explaining this, we arrived at a certain field near the edge of the Nest, and in the middle of the dirt rectangle stood an Absol.

Even know I had no interaction with him whatsoever, I still got a little uneasy whenever I looked at him, and the dream I had last night really, really didn't help in the slightest. Shiro climbed off of Kuro's back and walked to stand next to me while Kuro walked towards Kai. Once he was standing in front of him, he began talking to him, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. After a minute of talking, Kuro turned and looked at me before nodding his head.

Does that mean we can stay..?

After that, Kuro walked to one end of the field, Kai to the other. They turned to each other and then locked gazes. Neither of them seemed to move an inch, until I saw Kuro's body lower slightly.

Here we go…

Both Kuro and Kai shot at each other almost faster than my eyes could track. Kai's horn was glowing a bright green. I had a quick flashback to the dream I had the prior night, but I very quickly pushed it down. Once they were molecules away from each other, Kuro stepped quickly to the side and attempted to hit Kai with one of his claws, but Kai reacted fast enough and jumped to the side. Kai quickly then ran at Kuro and smacked him with one of his legs, and it sounded hard. Kuro slid back, but steadied himself to the ground with his claws. Immediately after, he lunged at Kai and swung his body around, connecting an iron tail with the side of kai's head. He ended up flying back, but ultimately landed on his four paws, seemingly unfazed. Kuro then shot off two shadow balls, one hitting the ground to create a thick cloud of dirt, the other rocketing through the smoke and connecting with Kai once again. Once more, Kai did little more than flinch slightly before shooting off a dark pulse through the same thick cloud of smoke, which promptly connected with the center of Kuro's chest. Kuro stood his ground, digging his claws further into the ground and not budging an inch. Soon after, the cloud from Kuro's shadow ball cleared, and the mentor and protege rushed each other once again. They ended up side by side, and both bared their claws at each other. Both of them connected, and both of them drew blood out of one another. There was now one, deep-looking slash on both Kai and Kuro, and I almost flinched at the sight.

They really don't hold back even know it's training…

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Shiro slightly trembling at the sight of Kai and Kuro trading blows with one another. She quite clearly wasn't used to watching others battle, and I was suddenly very glad that Kuro specifically pointed out to her that Kai and him weren't trying to kill each other. I didn't want Shiro to be so on edge though, so I lifted one of my paws and lightly placed it on Shiro's back. She then looked up at me, and I smiled.

"Try not to worry about them too much. Like Kuro said, they're not going to go too far, this is just a way to improve their skills." The reassurance seemed to calm her down a bit.

"They really look like they want to hurt each other…" She said quietly.

"That's just because Kuro really wants to improve. Because of this, he's willing to get hurt for it." I told her, before releasing a small sigh. "Tell you what, if he gets too injured by this, we'll scold him together." Shiro laughed and then nodded, feeling better. I then turned my gaze back to the field, watching Kuro use his tendrils to block and onslaught of projectiles from Kai.

The training went on for quite a few hours. We had passed noon a while ago, and the two of them were still battling. Both of them kept up the same ferocity of attacks, but I could easily tell that time has been taking both of their stamina away. Kuro had been panting heavily every time he wasn't dodging an attack, or sending one himself, and Kai was also slowing down more and more by the minute. Both of them sustained pretty heavy injuries, with a lot blood drawn over the fight, but at the same time, both of them took care to not inflict any serious or fatal injuries. Nonetheless, I could now see why whenever Kuro came back to our room, he was beaten up the way he was. While watching the two of them train, I compared it to how I train with Shard, and it was night and day. Shard would toss me around, but not inflict the kind of injuries that Kai would deliver to Kuro.

After a long while of panting from Kuro, Kai finally decided to end their training. Kuro almost immediately dropped all weight in one of his forepaws and took in a lot of large breaths quickly. I noticed that Kai tossed something on the ground in front of him, and Kuro then picked it up and began to eat it.

At first, I was confused, but after a second of thinking, I realized it was probably just a berry to help him regain some energy. After Kuro ate it, he got back up on all fours, and then stretched his limbs out. Kai then took his attention once again, and I could hear him this time, as the two of them ended up being closer to us than when they started.

"Before you go, I want to check your progress on the latest move I taught you." He simply said. Kuro nodded in response, seemingly feeling much more energy within himself after the berry was consumed.

Kuro stood up straight, and closed his eyes, focusing on… Something. Soon after, I saw a small black glow surround his body. The glow was very small, almost not noticeable, and also almost looked like a mist. A few seconds passed, and Kuro's eyes snapped open suddenly, almost making me jump. Right after that, five or six beams of darkness shot out of Kuro's body, flying into the sky quickly. The beams all arched forward as each of them reached their maximum height and then flew towards an empty spot on the grassy ground. Each one made contact with the earth, making the ground quiver with each one that landed. Afterwards, Kuro's body got less tense, and he let out a large breath.

"Not bad. Work on incorporating it into our next training." Kai said robotically. He then walked away, going further into the Nest until he was out of sight. I walked to Kuro, who was still standing in the middle of the field and Shiro followed right after. Kuro seemed to notice, and then began to walk towards us.

"Sorry that took so long." Kuro apologized, his voice only having a very slight amount of tiredness in it. At least, a lot less than I expected.

"I mean, we're the ones who wanted to come, so I don't think you have anything to apologize for." I told him. "But geez, you weren't kidding when you said he treated your training like a real battle… You two actually looked like you wanted to kill each other at some points."

"Well, I keep improving, so I have no problem with getting injured while training." He stated without an ounce of doubt. "Plus, the injuries aren't even that bad, all it takes is a sitrus berry to give me energy until I sleep it off. I think it's worth it for the improvement."

"Just… Try not to overdo it. This kind of training can get dangerous if you don't watch it." I told him, trying to hide the worry in my voice but failing miserably. Kuro gave me a comforting smile.

"Don't worry. I may not be the best when it comes to knowing my limits, but I'll make sure I don't do anything detrimental." His tone made me feel a bit better, and I returned his smile. "Also, just so you know, I feel like the side effect from using that attack is going to kick in soon, so don't panic when it does." I then tilted my head slightly.

"Wait, you now have more techniques that have side effects?"

"Yes I do." He simply responded.

"What do you mean by side effects?" Shiro chirped in. I had forgotten that she didn't know anything regarding this.

"I just get a bit of a pain spike after I use certain moves." Kuro explained. "It's nothing I can't deal with, just a bit-" Kuro suddenly flinched and instantly slapped a paw over his mouth. It also looked like a huge shiver went up his body, and his eyes shut tightly. His body was tense, but he somehow remained silent.

"A-Are you okay?" Shiro asked, not really understanding the situation. Kuro managed to open one eye and nod his head slowly. After a few moments, he moved his paw and and took in a few breaths.

"And there it goes…" He said, releasing a relieved sigh. "For some reason, that attack is different. It also has a recoil to it, but it's much more delayed." He explained, seeming like he's no longer in any pain.

"I honestly don't know how you can deal with that…" I told him. "That must hurt a ton for you to have to restrain yourself because of it, especially considering how many hits you took against Kai and didn't let out so much as a sound." Kuro awkwardly shuffled his ears and gave an embarrassed smile.

"It's… Manageable." He simply stated. "On another note, I'm done here, so why don't we show Shiro around the Nest some more? It would be good for future reference." I thought about his suggestion.

"Sounds like a good idea!" I responded. "But, will you be okay to walk around more? You looked like you were about to collapse a few minutes ago." I asked.

"I'll be fine. Like I said, a sitrus berry is enough to give me energy until I rest off any injuries that I have." Kuro told me, confident that he could walk around. I just nodded back at him. "What do you say, Shiro?"

"Sure!" Shiro chirped happily. She then climbed back onto Kuro's back after he insisted he could handle it after his training. For the next hours until night, we walked around the Nest, showing Shiro all of its important parts.

Once we were done showing Shiro around, she was fairly tired, as was I, and I'm sure Kuro was as well. We had a rather peaceful time giving Shiro a tour, we even ran into Core and he was able to grant us a third bed. After all of the walking around, we ended up back at our door with a very sleepy Shiro, almost passing out on Kuro's back. Once we walked up to the door, Kuro opened it, but didn't immediately go in.

"Shiro, why don't you go in and sleep? I need to talk to Naru about something." I tilted my head in confusion after Kuro said this, but Shiro was too tired to really complain, so she got off of Kuro's back and slumped down on her bed, which was Kuro's old one. Once she was laying down, Kuro shut the door and turned to me.

"What's up?" I asked him casually, trying to hide my confusion.

"Is something bothering you?" He asked me, and my body stiffened. "This morning, you had a… sad look in your eyes, and throughout the day that look kept coming back time and time again." He said, and I didn't know how to respond.

How did he notice? I could've sworn I hid my uneasiness… My thoughts traveled to the strange glint in Kuro's eyes this morning. I guess he did notice right off the bat… He's probably been looking out for it all day then… Through my thoughts, I didn't notice I've been standing in front of Kuro silently for about a minute.

"Naru…" He said concerningly. "If something is bothering you, talking about it helps. You're the one who taught me that in the first place. Plus, we told each other we'd help one another, didn't we?" Kuro smiled at me. "What's wrong?" I wanted to avoid talking about my dream of the previous night so much, especially to Kuro. It would just bring up more bad memories for him, but that was what was bothering me for more than one reason. Not to mention, I didn't want to lie to Kuro.

So I told the truth.

I told him, from start to finish, exactly what I saw in my dream. I explained the very beginning, when I saw his family living in peace. I explained when the blobs of shadow showed up and began their atrocious actions. I explained when I saw the shadows… Abuse him. Finally I explained that I saw his evolution, but by then, I was trying to hold back tears. I felt guilty for telling Kuro all of this from the very beginning, and I was afraid of what his reaction would be. Once I finished, I just looked at the ground. I was upset that I caved in and basically re-explained Kuro's worst memories to him. Right after I explained my entire dream, I immediately apologized for bringing everything up to him, and apologized that I now knew the things he didn't tell me, the things he didn't want me to know. After that, I just shut my eyes and silenced myself. I didn't know what Kuro was going to do, but I was expecting a scolding for bringing the subject up, or maybe he was just going to walk away, not saying a word.

Instead, I felt a familiar paw rest on the the top of my head.

I brought my eyes up, and locked them with Kuro's. While staring into his deep, red irises, I didn't see a single drop of distaste. Nothing but comfort. He smiled at me.

"You really have nothing to be sorry for." He said with a soft tone. "I've been thinking about those events since they happened, and they haven't left my mind. It's a big part of what motivates me train as hard as I do. You brought no pain to me by telling me about your dream, so you don't need to worry, or feel guilty. If anything, I'm worried that you had to see… That."

"N-No!" I shouted, maybe a bit too loud. "I saw something you didn't tell me, so that makes me think you didn't want me to know, and yet, I ended up seeing it anyway." Kuro still didn't remove his paw, even know my shout came out louder than anticipated.

"You had no control over that, please don't feel guilty." He said, keeping his tone the same. "Besides, the only reason I didn't go into detail when I told you initially… Was because I honestly thought you'd be disgusted." I noticed that his gaze lowered to the ground, but he kept his paw still. "I mean, I don't think I need to go into detail now that you've seen it all. I assumed that, had I told you back then, you would have been disgusted with me. For that reason, I sort of held off, and didn't elaborate."

"Of course I don't think that!" I shouted again, and rose my head, causing Kuro's paw to no longer be resting on it. "You… You had no control over any of that. You were just a cub, you had no way to prevent what happened. What happened to you was… Awful, but that doesn't change you! You're still the same pokemon I sprinted into head-first, no matter what I know about you!"

Kuro looked at me with a surprised gaze, almost like he didn't know how to respond to my words. After a few seconds, he closed his eyes and smiled again.

"I swear Naru, will I be able to cheer you up once without you returning it immediately?" He asked me, and I smiled.

"Isn't that my job as your friend?" Kuro and I locked eyes. "Thank you. You really eased my stress." I told him with an appreciative tone.

"You helped me get over something that has been bugging me ever since I told you about the past, so thank you too." Kuro told me with a similar tone.

The two of us then headed into our room, and both went to sleep, hoping the next day wouldn't be as stressful.

?

I walked through the small town I was appointed to, but the place seemed to be deserted. This confused me, as I was told specifically to come here and exterminate the residents, but I checked every structure of the place, and found not a single pokemon. The entirety of the grassy ground under all of the wooden structures seemed to be well-kept, as well as the structures themselves. There wasn't much plant life around, but the land itself was a peaceful sight to behold. As I was walking around the area, my eyes landed upon a rather large wooden structure, somewhat separate from the rest of the area. From this creaky-looking structure, I smelt the lives of other pokemon.

There they are…

I began to walk towards the place, but I sensed something behind me and immediately jumped to the side, avoiding a water pulse. I swiftly turned my head around to see a Prinplup, staring at me with nervous eyes. The Prinplup looked like a young adult, and seemed to be stopping me from going towards the large wooden structure in the distance.

"W-What are you do-" Those were the last words that Prinplup spoke.

I dashed towards them fast, and jammed a claw into their midsection. A large stream of blood flowed out, spreading itself down my arm. It looked like the Prinplup was about to make a noise, but I stopped it by dragging my claw through its flesh, more blood flooding out of the wound. They were in too much shock to make a noise, and then I decided to end their suffering. I swiftly picked up my other claw, and lobbed the Prinplup's head clean off. The body then went limp, and fell to the ground along with the head.

I started walking to the wooden structure again, wondering how many pokemon were about to die.

Hello readers!

So, I would have had this chapter out a day earlier, but after I originally typed it and read it over, I realized that it came out like total garbage. It wasn't minor errors either, I just completely dropped the ball on the whole thing, so I re-wrote it, delaying the chapter for a bit. Hopefully, I will be forgiven for my sins.

Once more, thank you for the criticism, kind PMs, etc. I appreciate every one of them and they make me feel very happy! (Need time to think of another cheesy line.)

See you next chapter!