He'd been so close...

Hey, Crona! He'd shouted, having spotted her with some human. He looked about Maka's age with jet black hair that had three stripes on one side of his bangs. He was standing over her and she was looking really upset. Ragnarok had followed her scent all the way to that part of the city and was just a measly ten feet, give or take, from reaching the timid sylveon. He started forwards to run to her, but then everything changed.

His eyesight was filtered red and the world slowly broke apart into pixels, falling away from view as he then found himself shrouded in a thick darkness.

No...

He was so close, so damn close that it was pathetic! How could he have failed when he was so close?

Crona...

She'd been right there in front of him. And she was sad, crying. He thought of that human and hate flowed through his veins with natural ease, bringing a chill to the once warm space. Just what had that human been doing with her? Was he hurting her? Torturing her? Why was she with him in the first place? All these questions and many more surged forwards, fueling his anger as he pushed against the darkness, hoping he'd make it budge if he used enough willpower.

Soft blue eyes and white fur marred black passed through his mind as he pushed, feeling the world around him flash with varying shades of color before settling back into the thick blackness. A glitch. That meant he had done it. He made it move.

Kill her...

She's no longer needed...

You're both expendable...

Please, Crona, be my friend.

Just those few words had set all this into motion. Their abandonment seemed like the end of them having to deal with humans and their cruelty, but as soon as Crona grew a soft spot for Maka and joined up with her, he found himself tagging along. Why he had to follow after her he had no idea. Habit, most likely. That's what he reasoned, anyway. She was just a puny little eevee and was, in all honesty, stupid for joining up with a human right after being abandoned by her first, the one she considered her mother, despite how others persistently pointed out they were of two different species. Then again, Crona had always been pretty naive.

Trusting that stupid, pig-tailed brat to not lose her? What more proof did one need? Maka wasn't as stupid as she could've been, but she wasn't a genius. Not by a long shot. Maybe only in Crona's eyes, but she wasn't that bright herself.

I did it! I did it, Ragnarok! I evolved!

He faltered for a moment, distracted as he recalled that day just a few weeks after they'd joined Maka's team when the eevee he'd known for so long became a sylveon. She'd gotten slightly bigger and a tad more graceful thanks to a combination of training and anatomical change. And her looks had also been improved tenfold. One would think she'd have changed personality wise as well from how different she appeared, but she was still shy and naive. The only major difference was that thanks to those dumb ribbon feelers of hers she could grab things.

To be more specific, she could grab onto others. He'd found this out when she ran up to 'hug' him and had startled him, earning a rather hard headbut to the face. She was lucky he hadn't clawed her. Otherwise, she'd have been permanently scarred like Soul was, healed claw marks running across his chest just beneath all that thick, untrimmed fur. It'd been easy to view when he had his kabuki trim due to his fur being shorter and not as thick, but after a while of leaving it uncut his fur grew out to cover his scar up.

Nevertheless, Crona had been too happy to let him attacking her upset her for long. He supposed it was because she'd started thinking she would never get the chance to evolve. Ragnarok figured she'd have become a glaceon.

Maka had once purchased a thunder stone just in case Crona decided on becoming a jolteon. But that had just been because they were trying to be practical about it. Black*Star was a water-type, Tsubaki grass-type, Soul was normal, and Ragnarok was a dark/fire combo.

Crona and Maka had been trying to figure a type Crona could become without becoming the same type as one of the others, which wasn't so bad since Ragnarok hated the thought of her changing into a leafeon or umbreon. Distasteful memories ruined that for him. So for a short while they settled on jolteon or espeon; however, Crona eventually started whining about how she wouldn't be able to deal with spiky fur so they hocked the thunder stone, concentrating on their other options, but after some time she felt she wouldn't like being psychic.

So, for some time they focused on her being a glaceon and that seemed unwavering until one day, unintentionally, Crona learned a new move called baby-doll eyes when she hit level nine and when Maka took them to some amie place Crona changed into a sylveon. A fairy-type.

In a way it fit her. She was just as shy and friendly as her appearance suggested. And in a way, she was a lot more attractive, too.

Too bad Soul and Black*Star had to be the ones to point it out, too bad others had to notice it as well, it was just...too bad...

Now that human had her. Only Arceus knew what it was he or his pokemon were doing to her. What if she were crammed in some small cage or getting beaten around? He was the only one supposed to do that. Not only that, but it was his job to protect her, dammit! It always had been...and maybe...maybe it was more than that. He'd become so accustomed to having the pipsqueak around that he found it virtually impossible to think of himself without her nearby. It was like...he just...he couldn't explain it, but knew he had to get out.

He had to get out and save her NOW!

And just like that his world of darkness vanished in a brief flash, everything was pixilated for a couple of seconds, and then the outside world appeared in a quick burst of color and solidity. He felt the hard, uneven surface of hot city sidewalk beneath his paw pads and without any further thought he started to run.

"Hey!" He heard the familiar sound of Maka's voice exclaim. The sound of her footsteps picking up pace behind him came in sync with her cry of, "Where are you going?!"

Wait! Soul called, as he padded alongside the confused girl, teeth bared as he gave a growl of frustration. Hey, wait up! We still need to find– That last part was cut off. Then again, Ragnarok wasn't really listening to begin with.

"Great!" Maka huffed, as frustrated as her partner who stood next to her, looking up at her with uneasy ruby orbs. "First we lose Crona then you three run off and we lose Black*Star just to find Ragnarok who we've lost again! Ugh, I swear this is the last time I come to a city without leashes!"

C'mon, Maka, Soul tried to soothe, you don't mean that.

"You're right," she groaned, feeling somewhat defeated, "but what else am I supposed to do? I was going to look for Crona but now I have to look for Black*Star and Ragnarok, too. At this rate we'll never find her."

Look, Maka, forget about them. They can take care of themselves and chances are they'll find their way back. If you really want to find Crona then we'll look for Crona. Besides, don't ya think the chances of finding her are better with our team spread out?

"You're right, Soul. I guess I should focus more. Okay, so let's check the pound first, and then we'll ask around. I don't think sylveon are common around here so luckily people will be able to give us some helpful information."

And if that doesn't work out, Soul added with a sigh, then we always have those stupid flyers you keep on hand.

"Hey," Maka murmured, "it's a good thing I do. Someone has to have a plan when you guys pull stunts like this."

Right, Soul muttered more to himself than anyone else. The furfrou rolled his eyes, padding after his mistress. He knew she was partly right, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

Meanwhile, back at Kid's place Crona managed to wander her way upstairs where she found Kid tapping furiously on a black laptop that had a white, cartoonish looking skull on the back instead of a rounded berry like the one on Maka's pretty green laptop. She dared to enter his room, small paws moving silently across the floor, heading in his direction. A misstep caused a board to creak, alerting him to her presence, but he didn't look up. Maybe it was to spare her feelings or maybe he was too busy to really care, either way she was just glad he hadn't pointed out her flaw. Lifting herself up, Crona placed her front paws on the edge of his bed, peering up at him curiously. He noticed her with a smile, turning the laptop around to show her a picture of herself that had been pasted to a blank page. It was the one he said he'd liked.

Crona stared at the bolded words, Found Sylveon,resting centered at the top.

Below her picture she found her name, the location she was being held, the date she was found, the date the posters would be put up, and a very vivid description of her, mentioning details that went beyond physical appearance such as her weight, gender, and an estimated age that was surprisingly accurate to smaller details such as her likes, dislikes, and temperament.

He even mentioned she had 'an apparent dislike for Umbreon' in the description. And to top it all off, a couple spaces below that, near the bottom of the page was Kid's cell and home phone numbers along with an email address. The words, Please Call, Text, or Email with a time frame of Between 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM, which seemed rather pointless since he didn't seem to go to bed until nine or ten, sat below the given numbers/address. Nevertheless, she was happy he'd been so specific about everything.

"What do you think?"

It's really nice, she complimented, smiling sincerely as she stared at it for another moment. Tail wagging, she could feel her hopes rising once again. Maka's sure to see these. They're perfect!

"There's just one thing I'd like to change."

Huh? What is it?

"I think we should use a different picture. Maybe you could put on that new collar? I'm sure that'd be eye-catching and I can put your tags on it if you like."

I guess so... Crona watched as he got up, leaving his laptop alone to go get the tags from her old collar. He sat the tags aside, leaving the old collar on his desk to try and mend later. She watched as he brought out the collar he'd bought, feeling almost breathless as he placed it around her neck. It was black like her old one, but had genuine diamond studs lining the center like the spikes of Ragnarok's collar. She wondered how much it cost him to buy it. Surely it was expensive. He then snapped a picture using his cell phone's camera feature, chuckling.

"Are you blushing?"

N-no! She lied pathetically, pawing her muzzle in a vain attempt to rid her face of the heat. It, unsurprisingly, failed and she sat there flustered whilst he uploaded the picture to his laptop, effectively replacing the first picture. He then added a footnote to quickly mention how her original collar had broken so he'd purchased her a new one.

"You're quite beautiful, Crona. I can't see what Ponera had against you."

Kid! She whined, gently pawing him as her ears flattened against her skull. Her face was getting unbearably hot as she listened to his compliments. Don't say things like that! It's embarrassing!

"All right," he chuckled, patting the empty space next to him, "all right, stop your fussing and I'll let you up here."

Okay... Crona mumbled, pulling herself up onto the bed where she then sat next to Kid. He patted her back, murmuring about how she was a good girl and patted her back.

Sighing, she supposed she needed to enjoy this human's affection while it lasted. Once Maka found her, Crona had the feeling it'd be a long time before she saw Kid again. If she ever saw him again. Apparently, Kid was having the same thoughts because when she turned to look at him, just to get a good mental picture of his face, she found him staring down at her with a sad stare of his own.

"It might sound awful," he murmured, "but I'm not sure if I can do this."

What do you mean?

"I've just...gotten so fond of you..." he murmured sadly, rubbing between her ears as he continued speaking, "hard to believe you'll be leaving." His rubbing stopped and he gave a sigh, giving her a forced smile. "But I want you to be happy and I don't suppose you'll ever be happy here, hmm?"

Kid...it's not like that. Crona said, surprised at how weak and pathetic that came out even to her own ears. I just...if I could...I would stay here, but Maka...Maka moves around a lot and I need to be with her. I need her, Kid, just as much as I need you right now. I can't imagine my life without my family, Kid. I love them.

Nuzzling against him, she gave a sigh when he pushed her away so she opted to rest a gentle feeler against his hand, hoping he'd get her message one way or another even though he couldn't understand her spoken words.

"You're sweet," he murmured, "but we really should get these posters printed. We'll put them up tomorrow."

Okay, Crona sighed, giving a reluctant glance to the doorway. Okay, she thought sadly, I'll wait, Kid. I'll wait if you really want me to. And from what she could tell, he wanted her to stick around.

And she gladly would. If only for one more day.

Another chapter gracefully executed.

;)

I really like how well this is going and if my hectic schedual will allow it then I'll try to update again at one point later in this week. If not for school and studying and tests and all that jazz I bet I'd already have this thing done! Or maybe not...again, I have bad time management skills. I'm working on that though! See? This chapter is proof! I set aside time to update!

xD

Yay! It's a victory for me!

Anyway, I thank you lovely readers for sticking around despite my previous lengthy updates. I'll try keeping things short from here on out, unless I go on a writing binge. That's all I can say on that matter.

Finally, I do believe that I'll have this story wrapped up by the end of this month, if not sooner and want to once more thank you all for your support! You guys have no idea how much your support means to me. I enjoy writing and am glad for those of you who are enjoying this. I wish you all happy wishes and think I'll take a short little break for now. Bye-byez!

~With Luff, Fairylust~