Well, here's chapter three! Whooton! Thanks for reviews, my readers, they make me happy. Oh, by the way, the other title didn't seem to work, so I changed it to 'Seasons Of Change'.

Seasons Of Change – Chapter Three

After a day or two's walk, Kaivo had passed the river that he used to drink from every morning, passed the outer limits of the packs hunting grounds, and crossed the border line into Outsider land, where the forest suddenly turned thin, the trees withered and small, and the soil dry under his paws. He had gone without water since the day before he was exiled, and had not felt it right to drink out of the river when he passed it. Food wasn't a problem though, photosynthesis served him well. Heck, he felt full nearly all the time. He shuddered whenever he thought about his father's thoughts on Outsiders and how he wished his brother had believed him. It forced incredible guilt onto his little, cream colored shoulders, being something that his father hated, and a source of such great pain his brother must be feeling. If only he had listened, they could mourn their parents deaths together…

He was worried of what would become of himself lately. He had, after all, been terrified of what he now was… No. He had made up his mind; he was going to be an Outsider, and he was going to be a good one. Of course, he was still terrified as hell, but maybe if he could convince the other Outsiders that he wasn't a weakling, then they would accept him and maybe he'd have half the life he had. He was just worried about what types of Pokemon they would be, since he knew he could truly never get along with them. After all, he wasn't a criminal, but they were.

It was hard to keep his head up though, because he was dreadfully dehydrated and just about ready to collapse any second. He glanced up at the sun, almost directly over head, hot, and bright. He never thought being free of being a prince as he had dreamed of for so long would be this hard.

Soon though, he walked into a familiar odor, that of a Leafeon. He remembered this smell; it was the one of the Outsider he had seen a few days ago! Its essence so strong out here in the wild undergrowth of the father parts of the forest, not like the scents of the Leafeon back in the pack, where the smells of each individual aroma were meshed together. You could find one distinct one just about as well as you could find a needle in a haystack.

This time, more knowing than curious, he followed the scent on purpose, trying to find this Leafeon. He knew the one with dark rings around his eyes could help the new Outsider.

As soon as he felt himself getting close, something began to hiss ferociously at him, warning him. Don't come any closer, and I won't kill you, he could imagine the hiss saying. Still though, he crept through the thin shrubbery. He stopped. The bushes to the left, there was a rustle. No, no, it was definitely from the right…Oh great. Now it was coming from behind him. Or was that just his vision faltering? Oh, there it was, coming right for him, twelve o' clock…

His visualization was too blurry for the Leafeon head that popped out of the bushes to be truly scary, but it was still startling none-the-less. It growled at him as his world began to sway, and he struggled to stay upright. The Leafeon, now with one of its eyebrows raised, watched as Kaivo struggled to stay up on his legs, but failed. He fell onto his stomach with a plop, dust clouds rising from the disturbance in the long dry loam.

"Um, are you alright?" It asked. Its voice was clearly feminine. It didn't seem to see him as any threat, Kaivo was glad.

"No, not really. Are you an Outsider, by any chance?"

She seemed to start to reply, but then gasped. "Hey, I remember you; you're the one who bumped into me the other day!"

"Yes, yes…" he started to remember. "Terribly sorry, but-"

"You're cute when you're scared." She winked. He just stared.

"Alright…Anyways, Outsider, right?"

"Yeah, I already told you that didn't I?"

"Yes, yes you did…well that's good, because-"

Giggle. "You're funny too."

"Yes, that's all fine and dandy; um, can I ask you something?"

"Sure. Knock yourself out."

Big sigh. "Alright, I've been looking for you, and-"

"That's not a question."

"No, no it's not, the question part's coming."

"…oh. Continue."

"Thanks. Um…where was I?"

"You were looking-"

"Yes! Been looking for you. Exiled out of pack; long story. Is there by any chance I could tag along with you for awhile? Know of anywhere that has water?"

"How do I know I can trust you? How do I know you're not just a…spy?"

"Go ask my pack. I bet my life on it, they'll tell you I'm not a spy. Heck, if I'm seen on their land they'll probably kill me."

"Oh." She looked up, contemplating. She turned back to him with a smile. "Sure, you can come. Actually, I was just on my way back home right now; oh, and don't worry, there's a stream right before we get there."

It seemed as though Kaivo had found an angel, albeit a talkative one. They walked for who knows how long. All Kaivo knew was that it seemed like a year; since he was just about ready to die of thirst and the female who was leading him wouldn't shut her mouth.

---

The sun was just ending its setting when Kaivo and his tour guide, Jani, as she had introduced herself, reached her home. It was amazing, really. Instead of trees as nests, they had constructed these strange things Jani called "huts", made of reed grass and strange, braided stuff she described as rope. There was also no grass in the clearing the many huts were built in, just soft, moist soil, softer than the ground where they had first met, with many paw prints littered over the ground. Since there were lots of lights coming from the huts, Kaivo assumed there were a lot more here than just he and Jani. It was also cold, because all the body heat of the Pokemon was trapped in the huts, not like the warmth of the clearing where his former pack had lived. The sky was still bright with the lights from the sun, shining oranges and pinks upon the clouds, painting a stunning picture, stars just beginning to poke through. A few Jolteon came from the right of the clearing and headed into one of the huts. Jani said that this was the Outsiders lands in Transform Forest.

"Transform Forest? This forest has a name?"

"Yep. You never knew? You poor child…" she shook her head, despite the fact that she was only about a year older than him. "Well, aside from a few of our prey, lower leveled Pokemon of course, us Eevee evolutions, and Eevee, are the only Pokemon in this forest."

Kaivo nodded as they stood at the edge of the clearing, waiting for Jani to lead him into one of the huts. She just stood though, looking around the huts as if she was waiting for something.

A Leafeon, a large, male one, came out of one of the biggest huts, and walked out to them after he noticed them standing there, smiling broadly. "Ah, hello there Jani. Who do we have here?" He grinned, turning his head to Kaivo who really didn't have any specific look on. He tried to smile, but it was weak. He opened his mouth to speak, but Jani beat him to it, not surprisingly.

"Oh! Right! This here is Kaivo! He was almost dead when I found him, saying he was exiled. By his own brother! Isn't that just awful, Guida?" The Leafeon said, almost cheerfully. You could tell she liked to talk. Kaivo's face darkened as she finished.

The Guida's face also darkened. "Kaivo?" he said to himself slowly as he turned to said Leafeon.

"Guida?"

Seeing the scared look in his eyes, Guida smiled again reassuringly. "Well then Kaivo, welcome! Feel free to explore." Jani turned to Kaivo as Guida turned back to the hut he had come out of, muttering to himself.

'Well," she grinned. She leaned in close to his ear, whispering. "That was Guida; he's the strongest Leafeon this pack has!" she giggled. "Have a good night, you can come stay in my hut when you're done exploring, and I'm right over here." She pointed to a small hut just big enough for three a little ways away with her paw. After she had wandered off and her leaf resembling tail had disappeared into the light filled hut, Kaivo turned around 360, taking in his surroundings. He began walking around the camp as the sun set further, the colors in the sky slowly dying.

Soon he came to a large rock wall, housing a few caves. He could see roots growing through the rocks and dirt of the wall, suggesting maybe an earthquake long ago had shifted the land. One of the caves was lit, and glowing, which intrigued him. It wasn't like the fiery, incandescence of the dancing light coming from the huts, but more of a luminescent radiance. As he passed the dark cave, a couple of Glaceon walked out, cold mist emitting from their mouths like hot breath comes from your mouth in winter. They, also with dark, black rings around their eyes, glared at him silently as they passed, heading out into the campgrounds. Slightly anxious, he continued on to the glowing cave, only to hear what sounded like sobs coming from inside.

Coming close to the mouth, the glow started to dance, almost as if it was moving closer. As he began to poke his head into the cavern, a masculine, muscled looking Umbreon walked out, growling lowly. Only this one, he had white rings on the fur around his eyes, so that they would show up on his sinister ebony fur. The moonlight Pokemon watched Kaivo with his crimson red eyes, frowning as he passed. So that's what the light had been; his golden rings had been lighting the cave. Only, what had that sobbing been? The Umbreon obviously didn't seem sad, the sobbing sounded slightly feminine, and it was still escaping from the cave into his ears…

He turned into the cave after he had watched the Umbreon head off out into the forest, taking the same path that the Glaceon had taken. It now had gotten very dark since he left.

Suddenly he began to sweat coldly again, the darkness reminding him of his parents cave when he had found them dead. The weeping became more eerie, bouncing off of the rock-strewn walls. It sounded something like "Tiron…".

"Hello?" He called out unsurely. The crying stopped and as he ventured further into the cave he bumped into something, sending him back onto his back end with an "oomph". There was an "ow" to accompany it.

"Hello?" He said again, only this time more surely.

"Wh-who are you?" a voice asked while sniffling.

"Are you alright?"

"I said who are you?!" It growled, trying to intimidate him.

"Oh, um…I'm Kaivo."

"Oh."

There was an uncomfortable silence as the two shifted nervously. "Who're you?"

"Suvi." It replied. Kaivo could gather that from its name and voice it was female.

"Well, um…Suvi, are you alright?"

"I guess…" she sniffled. "I've never heard of you before…are you…new?"

"Yeah. I just got here today."

"Oh. Um, let's get out of here, my brother'll be mad if he comes back and sees you in here." The sound of paws walking across the floor and past him echoed around Kaivo. He stood up also and followed her outside.

Into the light of the moon, Kaivo emerged from the black of the cave to set his eyes on a fragile looking Espeon, with tear streaks down her purple fur. He looked at her wide eyed. "Uh…" He struggled to remember her name. "…Suvi, are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine…" she sniffled, wiping away the tear streaks with her arm.

His look softened as he could picture himself as she, crying over his parent's bodies. It wasn't evident what she was crying over, but he knew what it was like to be sad…He thought back hard and as he looked into her eyes tried to think of what he would want when he was sad.

Sighing, another tear dropped down her face. "It's not like you'd understand anyways…"

"Hm, well I guess I wouldn't. They're your matters anyways."

There was another awkward silence between the pair. "Hey, how come you don't have rings?" She asked, obviously meaning the black rings around her eyes.

"I'm not an Umbreon."

She smiled weakly and Kaivo smiled at the success of his own joke.

"You know what I mean."

"Actually, I don't. I don't know where to get any; Jani didn't mention them to me."

"Jani? Oh, so you met Jani."

"Yeah. She kind of talks a lot."

"True," Suvi said sort of dreamily, thinking of the chatty Leafeon.

"So, you were saying something about rings?

Suvi let herself smile a little. "I've got some paint back at my hut, you know, I've got to replace it after it fades in the rain or something. You can come back to my place and I'll give you some."

"Well, alright."

With Suvi leading the way, the pair walked through the thick darkness settling over the huts until the Espeon turned into a small lit home. It was warm and cozy, with the warmth from the small fire in the dirt floored fire pit staying in the cave but the smoke drifting out of the top of the cot. Once inside, she picked up a rock bowl and turned around to Kaivo, who was looking around with interest at the inside of the hut. Once she dipped her paw into the murky paint, she carefully traced the outlines of his eyes with the coal black cover. "There…" She drawled out as she finished his second eye. "You look much better like that."

"Thanks." Going cross eyed he tried to get a look at the fresh paint staining his cream colored fur.

They shared a laugh as the small framed Espeon put the paint back into the corner of the room. They chatted for awhile after that, as Suvi seemed a little brighter after forgetting what she was sad about, which Kaivo didn't have the heart to ask her about now that she was happy. They talked till the moon had been up in the sky for quite a long time. Jani was asleep by the time Kaivo got to her hut.