The sun shone down on the earth with beams of warmth as it dominated the winds. Shine snorted as she walked through the forest, paying no mind to the Pokemon that kept complaining about the heat.
"What is it with everybody and the sun? Summer is the best time of the year," Shine muttered as she looked back to her tail. It was wrapped around a medium sized piece of wood, in which a pile of berries would be seen on it. Berries of all colors and sizes: Pecha, Oran, Sitrus, Aspear…. But the Luxray made sure to grab her favorite berry: Cheri berries! The thought of eating a spicy and flavorful berry made Shine's mouth water. It was incentive enough to make the Luxray trot faster to her cave, where her friends were surely waiting on her.
"I'm baaaaack! And I got breakfast!" Shine called out as she padded to the mouth of her cave. Malum and Ashtad looked up from what they were doing and stood up, going to meet Shine and ask their pleasantries.
"Oh! G-g-g-good morning S-S-Shine! How wa-as your sleep?" the stuttering female asked. Shine walked over to Ashtad and nuzzled her, then to Malum, who pat her head with a friendly smile. Shine purred and went over to her berry pile, sitting down with a wagging tail. "My sleep was alright. How about you two?" Shine asked.
"Good thank you," Malum said as she sat down. "So, you I see you brought berries. You didn't have to bring them you know," Malum said as she reached out for a berry. Shine smiled.
"Yeah I know. But I like to know that you've eaten. You tend to skip breakfast," Shine said with a light scowl on her face. She used her tail to grab a Pecha berry and gave it to her, then grabbed her a Cheri berry and ate it with a contented sigh. The three ate their food as they talked to each other, wondering how they were to go about their day.
But little did they know about their activities in the near future.
As the three comrades ate in the sun, Shine sensed something was amiss. She looked up and perked her ears, swiveling them around to tune in on the noises within the forest. Malum was the first to notice Shine's sudden attentiveness to the trees.
"Something wrong?" the girl asked. Shine looked to her left, then her right, then to Malum.
"I don't know yet. I sense something wrong…. Like something is out there. I could be wrong though," Shine said with a low voice. Ashtad stopped eating and whimpered, searching the trees for something she didn't know what to look for. Shine waited for a moment before shrugging it off and going back to her berries.
"Perhaps it was nothing," the Luxray sighed.
But before she got to her third berry, Shine barely heard the snapping of something in the distance, so faint it was puzzling how she heard it over her munching. The Luxray jerked her ears up again, this time a growl forcing its way out of her mouth. Malum looked up again.
"Now what? I thought you said it was nothing," Malum commented as she watched the Luxray stand up and give a few paces to the left.
"Yeah, but it's hard to ignore it now. Something's out there - an intruder. And you know how I feel about that," Shine said as she flicked her tail. She huffed and extended her curled appendage, then went to wrap it around the wooden platter of berries and drag it to the cave. Malum and Ashtad watched Shine come out of the cave and pad over to the side of the clearing where she heard the distant noises, her fur lightly zapping with electricity as she readied herself for a battle.
"Could be Houndoom, could be Liepard… I'm going with a Houndoom…. Stupid mutts," Shine commented with a huff. She looked back to Malum and Ashtad with a tilted head. "Guys? You going to stay or go to the cave? I wouldn't want for you to get hurt," the Luxray said with concern. Malum shook her head and grabbed her staff, twirling it around before stilling it.
"I think I'll come along. You might need some help," Malum teased. Ashtad whimpered and waved her hand. "I'll s-stay back here," the woman said before she ran back to the cave, where she disappeared into the darkness the further she went. Shine nodded and huffed. With everyone in their places, Shine took the step forward and went into the treeline, with Malum following behind.
The two friends slowly turned their senses from their relaxed state to their fighting state as they snuck deeper into the territory. Shine and Malum were often ready for any battle, and this time was no different. The feline sniffed the air to see if she could figure out who was hiding in the distance, but she couldn't pick up anything. Strange, normally Houndoom had a strong and distinguishable scent on them - one that was like a mix of burning fur and sulfur. It was easy to pick up unless it was covered up extremely well.
Shine decided to use her X-Ray vision to find her intruder. She had to look for a short while, but she eventually found them. The way the creature was positioned made it hard to pinpoint what it was, but she was ready to attack nonetheless. Malum and Shine jumped up a tree and continued on until they got to their target, and kept themselves still as the mysterious creature moved within the brush. The two females waited for a good minute, eyes fixed on the bushes that kept their enemy hidden. A few seconds later, Shine bunched her muscles and launched herself at the bushes with a roar, aiming to startle the intruder with the sudden noise. Malum watched as her friend tumbled in the bushes, yowls and snarls suddenly filling the air from below. A minute later, a Luxray was thrown out of the bushes. Malum kept her eye on the one thrown out, and immediately knew it wasn't Shine.
Seeing the stranger to be a Luxray, Malum readied her staff quietly, waiting for the moment that Shine needed help. The enemy Luxray snarled and slowly approached the bush that he came from - the same one Shine hadn't come out of yet. He stalked closer to the bush with bared teeth, and right when he brought his nose to the leaves, he was met with a harsh smack on the snout. He roared in pain and stumbled backwards, bringing a paw up to his nose to rub it.
"Why you little-"
The Luxray growled as Shine came out of the shrubbery. Ears flattened against her head and fur sparked loud as she approached her enemy, the two beginning to circle one another as they examined each other. Shine noticed that she was a smidge larger than this male, but that didn't mean anything since he was a good fighter. But so was Shine.
"This is my territory and you are trespassing! Leave or face the consequences." Shine warned. The male Luxray chuckled a little.
"You think you can overpower me? Please, I'll pin you down before you can lay a claw on me," the Luxray said with a cocky snort. This got under Shine's skin and made her angrier. Her eyes narrowed as they glowed red, signifying Shine's eagerness to prove the male very wrong.
"You're going to eat those words," Shine snarled before she lunged at the other Luxray. She and the other Luxray met headfirst, and the two felines snarled and spat at each other while trying to get the upper hand. Claws racked through mane fur and teeth clenched around shoulders and legs. Then, the male Luxray made a particularly hard swipe across Shine's face. She yowled in pain and fell to the ground, scratch marks bleeding across her muzzle. Slightly dazed, Shine stumbled to her feet to face the male, who rushed her again with claws outstretched.
Shine, who felt she was in no way going to lose to the likes of a Pokémon like this Luxray, moved out of the way and steeled up her tail with Iron Tail, aiming to finish the male off with powerful blows. When the male slashed at her again, she countered with a swipe of her own, right across the muzzle. He howled in pain and anger, but before he could recuperate, Shine whirled around to slap her tail across his head again. When he fell down on the ground, she then lunged at the fallen Luxray and wrapped her tail around his neck, the Luxray making small choked pants as he tried to get out of the metal binds.
"Told you I'd make you eat your words," Shine said with a victorious huff. She lifted a paw to make a final blow, but before she could, familiar voices shouted at her.
"Shine! Don't do anything!" a female voice called out.
The Luxray looked up to see Malum running towards her. She ran up to Shine and seconds later she pulled up Shine's face close to her own. "Shine are you alright? Your snout! You're bleeding!" Malum exclaimed. Shine nodded and lifted her head away.
"Yeah, no thanks to this intruder," Shine said with an irritated snort. She turned to growl at the still struggling Luxray, who growled back at Shine despite his position.
"I am not the only one here you know! I didn't travel alone, so let me go!" the Luxray snarled. Shine narrowed her eyes and tightened her tail's coils. Then another voice came to her ears.
"Jax? Jax! Are you over here….?" A male voice spoke from behind the three.
Shine and Malum turned around to face the second male. They prepared themselves for another fight, until they both recognized the Luxray as he slowly came into view. The male Luxray stood tall, ears slightly lowered as he kept a small distance.
"Shine..."
Shine gasped as her eyes widened.
"Henry?"
A.N ~~
Okay, I'm so sorry for this huge gap in time! I never forgot about this, but things kept distracting me...
a.k.a life
I'm gonna try and put more effort into this, cause I wanna see this through myself... p
