(A/N: Good evening. For this disclaimer, I have brought in Mr. Satoshi, aka Ash Ketchum to read. Satoshi!

Satoshi: Ms. Ari-kitty-kiddo-sugar-hooker does not own pokemon. And Ash/ Satoshi Ketuchum is a godamn... HEY! I'm not a pokemon abuser!

Me: Yeah? Tell that to Primeape. And Muk. And poor Pikachu, picking up your slack all the time.

Ash/Satoshi: (sputters): Why... you... PIKACHU, THUNDERBOLT!

Me: (rolls eyes): Azrael, use Fire Blast.

(Excessive gore and crispy mouse goodness follows.)

The force of that brought her to tears, as she wept with a mother's grief. Somewhere in the Shining City, the Pidgeot landed. The man was about to recall it, but Luna screamed, "No! He says it hurts him!" The man paused and grinned. "Does he, now? Well, how do you know?" Luna hesitated, but the man raised the pokeball. "Because I can…"

"NO! I'm not worth it, Luna!" She walked over to him. "I'm screwed either way, so don't worry." She turned around. "I can talk to pokemon." He clapped. "Lovely." He took her hand, and nodded to the Pidgeot. "Come." The Pidgeot shreed mournfully. "Oh, Luna…"

Azrael followed behind, and whispered, "Luna, don't worry. We'll make it out, I promise." The last words she heard from him. A bunch of men and women in white coats took away Azrael. "No! NO, AZZIE!!" He fought valiantly, along with Luna, but what could they do?

A child and a Houndour, fighting against five scientists, and their pokemon. "Help me! Help US!" She pleaded, but they turned a deaf ear to her pleas, fighting with all of their strength. Until, suddenly, the Pidgeot who'd brought her swept down on them in a blaze of fury. "You shall not hurt the child!" He tore his way to Luna.

"Come, you and I will flee this place of sin and death." She nodded, and hopped on his back. "Your name is Ezylri." He chirped, and raised his wings in flight—but was immediately brought down by the crack of a gun, and the spiral of a bullet.

Luna felt his body slacken under her. "Ezylri! Get up!" No response. He was dead.

A bubble of blood issued from his beak, then popped. The fight went out of her and Azrael then, and she said nothing as they took her inside the lab, tossing her in a cage. There were only a few children, whose bodies had been left to rot in their cages. She screamed. One corpse was in her cage. It was almost unrecognizable, but it appeared to be a boy her age.

Horrified, she curled up in an effort to block the images out of her head. "Why do they want me? Why am I so special?" She stroked the bars of steel. She didn't feel special, just terrified. She listened to the tortured wails of pokemon, and the nightmares in between. She picked out a crunching, slamming noise next to her, and looked over at the other wire cage. "Hello?" She whispered. "I just want to die! Why won't I die!" The thing moaned.

"Hey, my name's Luna. Why do you want to die?" It looked up. "You? You can talk to me? You're human, how is that possible?" "I can talk to pokemon. It's why they brought me here, apparently. What're you?" It moaned. "I think I'm a Vulpix. Hell, I'm not even sure, after what happened." Luna was confused.

"What'd they do?" The Vulpix shuddered. "They tied an Everstone and a Fire Stone to me, at the same time. Most pokemon were ripped to shreds, but I was too stupid to die." It spat bitterly. "So now I'm an in-between, like the rest of these rejects. And now I'll finally get a chance to die." Luna was horrified. "Don't! Why?!"

The Vulpix raised an eyebrow. "You're kidding. What reason do I have to live?" "I'll be your friend." Luna responded. The vulpix's eyes widened. "But could you please come out of the shadows? I want to see you?" The vulpix shuddered, but obliged. Luna was shocked.

The slim Vulpix body was present, but the tail split into nine sections, and it was Ninetales-sized. There was no crown of fur normally present on the Vulpix and Ninetales heads. The entire body was soot-black, though whether from oil or evolution, Luna wasn't sure.

It wasn't as graceful or pretty as it sounded; it had to struggle to support nine tails on such malnourished legs. Still, Luna was unfazed. "You look really cool!" The vulpix/Ninetales snorted angrily. "Would like to live your life as a Halfling?! I'm a freak!" Luna sat on her haunches.

"Well, I'm here 'cause I'm a freak, I guess. So we can be freaks together!" The Vulpix/ninetales laughing, a harsh, grating sound. "Well, alright. So, where'd you come from?" She told the Vulpix everything about Aurice City and her mother. She told her all about Azrael, and how they trained, and all of her mother's pokemon.

She talked until her throat was rough, in an attempt to keep the Vulpix/Ninetales alive. When she finished, the Vulpix/Ninetales grinned. "Well, I suppose that's a pretty nice life. Mine was rough-and-rumble. My mam and da skipped out, so it was just me, and I was hungry one day, and I decided to root around in the garbage cans behind here. They found me, and, well…" She gestured at the cage with her tails.

"This was the end result." Luna sighed. "Will we ever get out?" "Dunno, squirt. Maybe if we sprout wings." Luna began to wail. "I WANNA GO HOME!" She began throwing herself at the bars, wailing and kicking. "AZZIE! AZRAEL, I WANNA GO HOME! I WANT MY MOMMY!!" The man in white approached the cage, and opened the door. "Well, Miss Luna, would you like to get out?" She nodded. "Well, come on."

Puuurrreeese, review. Or the bunny in my head dies. Don't let the bunny die.