Shine

You know, I haven't taken refuge in this town for very long, but the streets already felt so… empty to me. Not literally of course, there were tons of pokemon of all different species walking by me, minding whatever business they had, but that didn't really matter. My mind was just sort of… gone. I could never really think about anything, not without getting distracted at least. Now, not a day went by when I didn't think about the information that Cyan gave me a little while ago. I couldn't get it out of my head… I was barely able to accept that it happened in the first place. Even after going there myself… Seeing all of it right in front of me… still wasn't enough for me to accept what had happened.

The place hadn't been cleaned yet, and I went back there over and over, seeing the same thing every time, except the bodies became less and less recognizable. I also got sick every time, but I stopped caring after the second visit. The condition of my body wasn't a concern of mine anymore, not at all. In fact… I couldn't really think of much that I was concerned with at this point. The rest of my siblings that Cyan was watching didn't take it any better than me… probably worse. A lot of them won't even move, and although my mind is just blank ninety percent of the time, at least I can will myself to leave and walk around. I'm the only one who can though. All of the others just don't do anything but sit there, looking like soulless shells of pokemon. Well, I probably looked pretty soulless myself, so It's not like I could judge them for any part of it in the first place. The only difference was that I was walking down the street of a town, as opposed to sitting in a building, just slowly wasting away.

I pretty much memorized the layout of Myriad, as I've spent quite a bit of time here now, and whenever I felt troubled, I just sort of walked around it. I also liked to train my stamina by sprinting around the town as fast as I possibly could, which was a good exercise really. It helped a lot, but I haven't done it since I got the news. I couldn't focus on running… not for more than ten seconds before my mind went elsewhere. After my mind went there, I couldn't do anything. All I could do is walk steadily, and sulk in my mind. I knew this had to change, I knew that something needed to happen that would make me feel different, that would make me accept what had happened, but I just… couldn't. I couldn't find the motivation, I had no idea where to go or what to do now. Before, I had a goal, but now… I just didn't know what to do…

While walking through Myriad, I noticed someone on the side of the road get shoved, a nuzleaf was pushed into a small alleyway by an electabuzz. That wasn't an uncommon sight in the past few days. Maybe it's always been like this, and I just never noticed because I was usually sprinting by everything, not paying too much attention. Now that I actually was, this place really wasn't too pure of an area… I saw a lot of pokemon get dragged away by others time and time again, but I could never will myself to try and help, I was too… distracted. I honestly would help if I got into the mindset, I had the ability to do so, I just… couldn't tell myself that it was worth it.

The nuzleaf tried to escape, but the electabuzz grabbed them by the neck and dragged them back into the alleyway. I glanced around me and took note of how nobody was even paying them any mind. I would call it gross that this was happening… but I was right there with them. I wasn't doing anything to help, I just stood still, unable to will myself to do anything for a long while. I couldn't think of something to motivate me… and I hated myself for it, but I couldn't deny it at all. I should help… but I just…

"I'll look forward to the day you share this symbol with me."

A sentence echoed in my head… one that came from someone I respected a lot… I felt myself take a step forward, towards what looked like a mugging. Where did you go that day..?

"Okay, I need all of you to calm down."

He said it so calmly… Even though he was scared too…

"I'll make sure everyone is safe, but for now, I need you to be brave. I know you don't know where you are, or what you're doing here, but I need you to stay strong."

I felt my body move forward more. So what if you don't have any motivation? That's not what matters! Why have I been hesitating so much!? I mentally scolded myself. This wasn't the first time I thought back to the two experiences I had with Kuro. In all honesty… thinking back to how he acted both times… that was the only thing keeping me from… doing not good things to myself out of frustration. I hated thinking about that more than anything, but with my motivation gone, and with half of my family getting taken away in the blink of an eye, I didn't see a way out. Not a good one at least. I'm such an idiot…

I found myself dashing at the alleyway, these things were way too common in a town so big, and you couldn't even tell them apart. I turned the corner to the entrance and saw the two pokemon from earlier, the electabuzz pushing the nuzleaf into the one of the walls in either side of the rather narrow alleyway. The nuzleaf fell to the ground, groaning in pain. What is even the point of hurting pokemon like this… I ran up behind the electabuzz, and kicked him farther down the alleyway. He slid on his feet and turned to me, giving me a nasty glare, and a growl. He knows that I want to stop him…

I crouched down, evenly spreading my paws over the ground under me to support my body mass. I took a deep breath, readying myself to fight. I've… never done this before…

Before I could think any more, the electabuzz ran at me, lowering his fist under his stomach, looking like he wanted to uppercut me. I dashed forward and headbutted the electabuzz in the stomach, pushing him back. I then concentrated on the gem stationed on the center of my forehead, and conjured a shadow ball, shooting it off and connecting with the head of the electabuzz, making them slide back more and grunt, but not fall over. I… I hit him…

As the electabuzz was recovering, I thought back to that day again. The day where I was taken into some kind of ship, and Kuro had to defend me, along with my siblings. I focused on everything Kuro did back then, every way his body moved, every way he created an opening and then attacked. I tried my very best to imitate it… and it looks like I pulled it off for the first move. Now don't screw it up!

The electabuzz shot off a large bolt at me, that I rolled away from, while it singed my fur. I jumped up one of the walls on either side of me and pushed myself off of it, getting above my opponent. As I fell, I took a breath, and focused on my gem again. Once I was about to land in front of the electabuzz, he attempted to punch me again, but I released a powerful wave from my gem, forcefully sending him into the wall behind him, while I made a less than graceful landing. I recovered quickly, and looked up at my opponent, who was now right on top of me. He reached both of his hands out and grabbed me, squeezing hard enough for all of my bones to crack. I let out a shout, not ready for the pain. I then felt small shocks all over my fur, which wasn't a very good sign. My instincts told me to bite, so I did. I bit the hand of the electabuzz as hard as I could, getting an uncomfortable sensation of metallic tasting liquid in my mouth, although I was released.

As soon as I hit the ground, I spit out the blood, and took a deep breath, while my eyes began to glow a calm yellow. I focused all that I could and pushed the electabuzz back again as hard as I could, knocking him into the wall. Blood began to leak out from his back, and drip to the ground. Did I… hurt him too much..? I took a breath, because it looked like he stopped rushing me and trying to attack. At first, I thought I knocked him out, but he had his eyes opened, and was just groaning. I stepped back, wanting to check if the nuzleaf that was here was okay from the attacks that he took, but instead, I felt a hard, sharp scratch on my back, which made me screech and fall forward. I immediately forced myself to turn around and back up more, only to see the nuzleaf I was just helping standing over me with a grin.

"Thanks for the help, kid." The nuzleaf said in a really high voice, higher than any other I've heard before. What..? Why is she hurting me..? What did I… Just as I was thinking, the electabuzz from earlier ran passed me and slammed their knee into the nuzleaf, causing her to cough.

She then shot off a bunch of seeds from her body, each one scraping against the fur of the electabuzz, and taking off bits of it, along with his skin as well. What is… going on..? I shook my head and pushed myself up, despite the burning pain on my back begging me to do otherwise. I looked up to see the nuzleaf kick the electabuzz in the head, and then he retaliated with a punch to the stomach. The two then traded blows back and forth for a bit, and I just stood still, barely sure of what was happening in the first place. I had no idea what was going on, what I should do, who was the good one, who was the bad one, I had no idea. I started to breath heavier, feeling the fear I had within me really rise to the surface. I was just so confused, I had no idea what I could possibly do… so after a few seconds of mental panic, I did the logical thing. Slam my head into the wall of course.

The impact dazed me, but also cleared my mind, making me only focus on the pain. I then shook it off, and watched as the electabuzz got pushed back, and seemed to really be fighting a losing battle here. The nuzleaf was aggressively pounding the electabuzz, and it looked like this wasn't going to last much longer. I still just had no idea what to do though… I had no idea who I should be helping here. I took a close look at the expressions of both pokemon, seeing a stare that screamed bloodlust on the nuzleaf, and a pained, almost angry expression on the electabuzz. She's going to kill him… I can't let that happen!

While the nuzleaf was still wailing on the electabuzz, I ran up to the two, sliding passed the electabuzz and looking at the nuzleaf. My back was burning like nothing else, but if anything, the pain helped to distract me. Not only from my fear, but from… other things. I took a breath and jumped to the nuzleaf, headbutting her stomach. She backed off a bit and glared at me. "Who's side are you on!?" She shouted, still sounding very high pitched.

"I don't know!" I shouted back, my voice sounding a little raspy. I hadn't been talking much lately, so I wasn't surprised. The nuzleaf quickly ran at me, and I paused for a second, feeling my fear build up again, but I broke out of it quickly and took a step back, my gem beginning to glow. "J-Just stop!" I shot off a green and yellowish beam, that moved in a spiral pattern. It connected with the nuzleaf, and she released an scream filled with agony, with made my body tense.

She fell onto her back and started to breath hard, not liking what I just hit her with. What did I just hit her with..? I shot my attack off on auto pilot to be honest, I have no real clue what I just did, but it was effective, so I wasn't about to complain. The scream she released was still ringing in my ears though… I didn't like that, not one bit. Listening to other pokemon in pain wasn't a good feeling.

I spent some time staring at the now downed nuzleaf, and it didn't look like she was getting up anytime soon. I did, however, notice that she had a small pouch hanging on the side of her body. It didn't look too significant, it was just something that I took note of. While I was curious about it, I was more curious about whatever just happened. I mean… what was that? I had no idea who either of these pokemon were, and I very well could have still been in danger. I turned to look at the electabuzz to see if he was alright, but he was already walking passed me, observing the nuzleaf. He grabbed the pouch that she had strapped to her body, and then looked straight at me.

I felt myself shrink under his gaze. I had no idea who this was, but I can't deny that I just attacked him, stopped to attack the pokemon he was attacking, before turning to him again, and just staring. I had no idea what this was leading to, but this guy didn't have the nicest of faces on right now, and I can't say I really blame him after I nearly got him killed. I did help him though, so maybe he wouldn't be too angry..? I took a deep breath and readied myself to ask the obvious question, but before that, I needed to say something else. I bowed my head. "I'm sorr-" I felt his foot collide with the side of my body, sending my back directly into one of the buildings that made up the walls of the alleyway we were located in.

I let out a hoarse, pained shriek and fell to the ground. My entire body began to ache, and my back felt like it was in the middle of an inferno. I was shaking, and I couldn't make myself stand up. I glanced upwards at the electabuzz, still unable to really move at all. "You nearly got me killed you idiot!" He yelled in a gruff voice. He was ticked, like, really ticked. I could tell by his tone. I still didn't blame him for being angry, but kicking me into a wall was most definitely not necessary.

"I-I'm sorry…" I managed to get out in a pained voice. I was still shaking pretty badly, and I still couldn't really move. All I could do is hope that my apology was good enough for him. He wasn't young, but he didn't sound old either. I hoped he was older so he'd be more understanding, but then again, maybe it would work the opposite way. Regardless, I just hoped he wasn't fuming at me anymore.

"You're 'sorry?' You think that's enough!? I almost died!" He walked to me and gave me another hard kick to the ribs, making me screech again. It was louder this time though, because I felt two of them snap. I curled up a little more, but every small move I made just increased the pain flowing through my body. So I just started taking heavy breaths and layed still while gritting my teeth. "Who do you think you are to get in the way!? That should've been easy!"

"I-I-I'm… sorry…" Was all I could manage. It hurt like nothing else just to talk, and I felt my eyes start to tear up. I wasn't sure if that was the pain talking to me, or my fear though. "I-I'm really… sorry…" He just glared at me.

"You're pathetic." He drew his arm back, and I closed my eyes and braced myself. Two seconds passed and I was expecting to have another rib shattered, but I didn't feel any new pain. My back was still on fire, and my ribs were no longer complete, but the blow I was expecting to feel next never came. I slowly opened my eyes, and saw the electabuzz's arm constricted by… something. I couldn't tell, my vision was blurry for just a few reasons. Whatever it was though, there was more than one, and they were white and blue. Those weren't the only colors, but that's all I could see.

"Hey! Way too far!" The electabuzz got yanked away from me while I heard a female voice shout out. I was barely conscious of what was happening to me, like, to the point where I just wanted to close my eyes and see if I could pass out. That would just make everything easier. Sadly though, my mind kept going, and I kept processing information, despite not wanting to really. I was about to give a shot at moving again, but I felt something wrap around my body, and then another of the same thing begin to wrap around my head. I felt a comfortable warmth begin to wash over me, and I felt my body relax. It felt so… relieving. Like I was suddenly at total peace of both body and mind. My pain then began to slowly sap away as I calmed down. I kept my eyes shut and let myself naturally breath, as if I was sleeping.

"The kid nearly got me killed, you shouldn't help him." I heard the electabuzz say. I said I was sorry… I assumed that whoever stopped him was a companion of his, but I couldn't be too sure. Whoever she was, she still spoke against him and got him to stop before he broke more of my ribs, so I honestly didn't care at this point, I was just happy that my body was intact.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You were about to break him!" She retorted at the electabuzz. You're not wrong…

"So what? He's none of our concern. I have the crystal thing, that's all that matters." Crystal thing..?

"You're disgusting, you know that? Keep doing things like this and I'm blasting you to the nearest medical ward."

"And what makes you think I won't fight back?" Because we need to be more violent nowadays…

"Why does that matter? You're a weakling, the weakest one out of all of us. You pick on anyone who you can, go after the easiest possible targets, and even then, you nearly screwed it up! I can blast you away at any time and you know it." Ouch…

The electabuzz stopped talking after that, probably taken down by this girl's words. I was grateful for that. I may have been sorry, but breaking my ribs and irritating my wounds sort of took away some of those feelings. It's hard to be sorry to someone you don't know after they just impaired you from moving without extreme pain to couple it.

After a few minutes of me resting in silence, I felt the… whatever was wrapped around my body slowly leave me, removing some of the comforting warmth, but most of my pain was now gone. I opened my eyes while on the ground, and lifted my neck up, not feeling my body scream at me. Sure, it still hurt, but I could move now, which was a much needed improvement. The burning on my back also subsided for the most part, now just having a dull ache that was barely noticeable. How was I healed so fast..?

I pushed myself off of the ground and stood up on all four of my paws, stretching my limbs, feeling each one pop and crack. I shook my head and looked in the direction the voices were coming from earlier. I saw the electabuzz a little ways away, and right in front of me, stood a sylveon, retracting her ribbons. I guess that's what was wrapped around me… The sylveon looked at me and smiled. "Hi there! Are you doing okay..?" She asked me with a friendly tone.

I took a second to collect myself before responding. "Yes… I think so... " I bowed my head down. "Thank you for helping me." I didn't want to look up, scared that the electabuzz would be giving me another hateful glare. I don't know why I dreaded it so much, but he suddenly scared me a lot. Maybe it was his brutality, but I didn't even want to look in his direction. I still had to give my thanks though, this sylveon did just save me a very, very painful walk home.

"No problem! If anything, I should be apologizing to you." She bowed her head too. "I'm sorry…" I looked at her and tilted my head.

"Why are you-" I coughed a little. "Why are you apologizing..?" My voice still sounded kind of dreary, like I was someone recovering from a bad cold.

"Because my idiot of an associate over here just hurt you really badly." She looked up at me. "We didn't mean you any harm, this guy just has a really bad temper, and I probably should've gone with him from the start." She let out a sigh.

I saw the electabuzz look away, which admittedly satisfied me a bit, but then I shook my head. "Don't worry, it's not-" I coughed again. "It's not your fault." I kind of wanted to avoid conversation because, not only my voice, but I haven't really felt up to it for a long time. That being said, I didn't want to be rude to the pokemon that just saved me so much pain, so I could deal with it.

"Hey, are you okay? You sound a little… meh." What does that even mean..?

"I'm alright, just haven't been-" I coughed. "I haven't been talking much lately, so my voice needs to warm up." I'm also still feeling pretty down, but she doesn't need to know that.

"What's been keeping you from talking?" She asked and tilted her head. I had really hoped this didn't get brought up of all things, but I kind of led to it on my own…

"I'd rather… not talk about it." I said and looked away. I felt bad for not telling her, seeing as she just healed me, but I wasn't too sure I could even talk about it without choking up, so I wasn't ready to try really. Plus… I didn't even know this pokemon's name.

"Oh! Sorry about that, didn't mean to bring unwanted memories up." She bowed her head again.

"No… It's not your fault." I said, still averting my gaze. I started to think about everyone else again, and I pushed the thoughts away as soon as they began to clutter my mind. I couldn't think about them right now… I got them out of my head for a little bit, and I wanted them to stay out of my head for now.

"Well, on a brighter note then, what's your name?" I looked back at the sylveon, and she was smiling at me brightly. I could tell that it was a little bit forced, but I appreciated the effort at making the mood lighter.

"Sh-" I coughed again. "Shine." I answered. She let out a small giggle, to which I tilted my head, but it ended up being brushed off.

"Nice to meet you Shine! My name is Crescent!" She bowed her head. "I hope we can get along well!" I nodded towards her, and as much as I wanted to give her a smile, I couldn't force myself.

"Nice to meet you too, Crescent." I bowed my head like she did. Although, assuming you don't live here, we probably won't be 'meeting' much after this.

I coughed a few times again, and then shook my head to snap myself out of it. Crescent gave me a concerned look. "Are you sure you're okay..? I understand not talking for a while, but that sounds like an actual cough…" she took a step closer to me. "Have you been taking care of yourself..?" I almost let out a fake chuckle in response, but didn't want to be rude to someone who had been so nice to me.

"Not… particularly." I answered. It's not like Cyan didn't provide for us. If anything, he did his very best and I appreciated that a lot, but I haven't really been eating like I should be… or resting normally… "I'll be okay though." Crescent just looked at me with an unimpressed stare.

"Oh come on, I met you less than ten minutes ago and I can already see through you…" She sighed, and I got a little annoyed admittedly. "You need to work on making sure you're healthy, Shine. Proper health is important! Especially because there's something bothering you!" She nodded her head a few times and smiled.

"Listen, I'm sure I'll be okay. I can handle myself." I tried to assure, resisting another cough. Now I felt like I couldn't show her that I was feeling bad at all. Or at least, try not to. She just gave me a skeptical look.

"Can you really? You look like a mess right now, and that's without the beating that was just given to you. You're not really showing much emotion either, so are you really okay, Shine?" Crescent took an authoritative step forward. Why is she prodding me so much..? I haven't known her for half an hour…

"I… I can." I said, still resisting the same cough, though I felt like it was about to explode from my chest. Crescent took another step forward and just stared at me. I stared back. We stayed in the same position for a long time. I felt like she was testing me, but on what? I had no idea, so I just kept on staring. Once some more time passed however, I pulled my head away and started coughing furiously. It went on for about thirty seconds, which was longer than any other coughing fit I've had. Of course, holding back didn't help.

"You need some help, Shine. It's obvious by looking at you." I wanted to give a retort to Crescent, but nothing came to mind. I mean, it's not like there was anything I could retort with, was there? She just said exactly what the truth was. I needed help, and I looked like a mess. There was nothing false about that. But for some reason, I still felt the need to push help away.

"I-I can handle myself… I have to." I started to cough a little more. "I need to for my siblings." That last part kind of slipped out.

"So that's what it is…" Crescent looked like she pondered in thought for a few seconds. Once those few seconds were over, she brightly smiled. "Let me ask you something Shine. Do you have a goal in mind right now? Anything you're trying to accomplish?"I thought about it for a second, and… no. I really didn't. I was just mourning, and that was it really. I never tried to do anything new or think of what I wanted to do next. I had a goal before, then I had a bombshell get dropped on me, and that goal was dissipated along with it.

"No… I don't really…" I said, a little shyly. I wasn't sure why, but admitting that embarrassed me.

"Well, there are a lot of ways to help your emotional state, and one of the biggest ones is to have a goal that you work towards!" She said excitedly, though, I didn't get much of the point.

"But I don't really have anything to work towards… So how does that help me at all..?" I asked curiously. It kind of sounded rude, which wasn't my intention, but it was just the truth. I didn't have a goal anymore… so how did this help me really..? She wasn't wrong… but… "I don't have a goal…"

Crescent walked a little closer and put a ribbon on my head. I looked up at her and she looked back.

"How about I give you one then?"

Hello readers!

Oh my… I got a chapter out on time!? HOORAH! And then it's… a… short one… I'M SORRY! OkAy, I swear, I have an excuse! The next part of the story would've pushed this chapter and made it rather… disjointed. I felt like it was too much of a jump from one event to another to keep it going, so I know what I'm doing for the next few chapters, so YAY! My story plans are finally falling into place! Kind of… Give it time. :p

On another note, I want to say hello to a certain person reading this! (I think you know who you are…) I want to let you know that not talking to you like I have been feels… odd. I got used to it and transitioning back is just strange :p But I hope you're doing well! And Sis is still hanging in there, so don't worry!

Anywho, I want to thank everyone who has sent a PM, a Review, all of that stuff. I'm still kind of in a rough patch right now, so I'm sorry if this chapter suffers at all because of it, but any messages I get from you guys, any messages, any reviews at all, any communication… It really keeps me going! I love all of it! Thank you!

See You Next Chapter!

[Hey guys, if you find any mistakes I overlooked, please feel free to send me a PM and tell me where it is. Anyways, have a good day!]