Chapter 9: Night Reflections

O.K. So here I was alone in the ever thick forest of Viridian Forest. Not too bad, right? After all, I am an Umbreon, and as such, I am not afraid of the dark. I have my night vision to help guide me along, one of the greatest advantages of being an Umbreon. It kept me from bumping into such things like trees or being attacked by an unseen enemy. In fact, I think I can recall the time I evolved into an Umbreon. However, it is too much of a private detail to go into. Too painful to think about, so I just moved on, pushing the thought away.

But even when I was still an Eevee kit did I want to become an Umbreon. Now that was a story right there that I could tell without any painful memories coming back to heart. But where to begin was hard to think about. The beginning was always easy, so I think I'll start from there.

(Flashback begins)

I could feel the drops of rain pelting against my face, causing me to blink and shake my head. My fur was soaked to the bone, sagging close to the ground, but I could care less. After all, I was already dirty with mud clinging to my fur. I grinned to myself, my ears picking up the slightest sound of squishing mud. Playing with my friends in the rain was always fun, flinging mud at each other, wrestling around in the mud. I loved playing in the mud when it was raining. But ONLY when it was raining. It wasn't much fun when it was sunny. The mud would dry too quickly, making it difficult to get off, a lesson I learned the hard way.

I looked up into the dark, gray sky, keeping my attention away from my surroundings while keeping my ears alert. I smirked as I heard the sound of mud being scraped up and molded into a mudball. An Eevee's hearing was one of the best senses we had. Of course, that doesn't mean to say it was effective all of the time.

My attention was brought back as my ears concentrated on the sound of the mudball being thrown at me. I heard the whistling of wind as it came my direction. I smiled and tilted my head far right, the mudball zipping past my head

"No fair!" someone cried. I took a look over from where the mudball had come from to see a Poochyena coming out from hiding. "You cheated!"

"I didn't cheat," I proclaimed. "I was looking up the entire time."

"Yeah but you heard it," a feminine voice said. I turned towards the speaker to see another one of my friends, a Nidoran, walking out from behind a tree. "And don't try to deny it. I know Eevee such as yourself have a good variety of hearing."

"Guess you know me pretty well, don't you, Lizzie?" I said with a smirk.

"Perhaps too well," Lizzie said, smacking her paw down into the mud and throwing a good chunk of it into my face. This provided her and the Poochyena to tackle me. However, even though I was going to be tackled either way I jumped, I had decided to jump to the left, getting tackled by Lizzie. I always did like Lizzie. She was my first and closest friend I've met.

The two of us tumbled down a slippery, muddy hill, our fur being covered in nothing but mud. And though I couldn't see, I could feel myself sliding around in the mud. It was so exhilarating that when I stopped sliding, I began laughing. I heard Lizzie laughing along with me.

"You should see how muddy you are!" she laughed. "You look so hilarious!" I could only keep laughing not from how she described me, but from the thrill of excitement I was having. After a good while of laughing, I could feel Lizzie by my side, helping me up. "Come on. Let's all get washed up."

"Do we have to?" I asked. "I like being muddy."

"We'll always have tomorrow," Lizzie said.

"Great!" I said with a smile. "As long as it's raining."

"Let's hope it still is," Lizzie said.

However, as we began walking upslope, I heard Poochyena cry out, "Watch out behind you!"

Being that I had mud blinding me for the moment, I really couldn't see what was behind me. All I knew a couple seconds later was that I was lying on my side, whimpering from the pain that I now was feeling. "What do we have here?" I heard a voice say. "Fresh meat for my younglings!"

"Leave Zack alone, you big bully!" I heard Lizzie yell. "Pick on someone your own size!"

"Seeing as how you seem tough, I'll take care of you first," I heard the voice say before hearing the crackling of electricity and Lizzie screaming in agonizing pain. "You and your little friend here will be quite the meal for my younglings."

"Stop!" I yelled, struggling to get up. "Leave her out of this. If it's me you want, it's me you'll get. Just don't touch one hair on her or I'll-"

"Mighty big talk for such a weak pokemon," I heard the pokemon say, his voice getting closer, indicating that his attention was turned to me. "How about I promise you this deal? I'll let you watch your friend die slowly by hand. Then when I'm done with her, I'll come back for you." As he said all this, he slammed his paw down upon my body. I could actually feel some of my bones crack. I felt a furry arm wipe across my eyes a few times until I got a clear enough vision of my attacker.

The pokemon I was looking at was white with a sort of red zigzag or something upon his body on his sides. He stood upon two legs and he had very sharp claws. He had a smirk upon his face. "D-Don't!" I cried as I tried to breathe. I looked around, hoping to see my Poochyena friend somewhere nearby, but to no avail did I see the gray pup. All the pokemon did was smirk even wider before he turned around, walking back over to Lizzie who was unconscious upon the ground. The pokemon stood before her, facing me to make sure I was watching. I whimpered, knowing what was about to happen.

The pokemon raised up his claws and was just thrusting them down to puncture through her when a black call made contact with the pokemon, knocking him off balance. Time seemed to slow down for me at that moment as a black canine with yellow rings glowing upon his body entered the area, his red eyes gleaming in the dark. Time resumed just as suddenly as it stopped, the canine standing right in front of me, yet not entirely blocking my view.

"Get up," he said in a gentle voice. "I know that attack didn't do you in. It omly took you by surprise."

I watched as the pokemon slowly got up, looking angry. "Got me all figured out, don't you?" he said. "I wasn't expecting anyone to be out here, so of course my guard was down. But that still won't stop me from killing this meal for my younglings." The pokemon ran forward again, thrusting his claws right into Lizzie, or at least where Lizzie lied a few seconds ago. All I could do was watch as Lizzie was being moved to the right by some invisible force, saving her from becoming a pokemon's meal. I saw the canine turn about to look at me as Lizzie was gently placed down next to me before turning his attention back to the pokemon who's claws looked like they were stuck in the ground.

The canine chuckled. "Looks like you're stuck," he said.

"Shut up," the pokemon said. "Once I get out of my situation, I'll kill you along with the little brats." With a great, big pull, the pokemon pulled his claws out and charged at the canine pokemon, leaping into the air and coming down to strike at the canine when his face suddenly changed to that of fear, somehow being stopped in midair.

"Now," the canine pokemon said in an angry, yet calm tone. "I want you to leave this part of the woods and never return. If I receive word that you have ever been here again or that you harmed or even killed kits, I will not show you any mercy the next time we meet. Understand?" The pokemon gulped and slightly nodded his head. "Then leave," the canine said, jerking his head to the right, the pokemon being thrown a good distance in the same direction. "And never come back." The pokemon got up and fled, running as fast as he could.

I stared after the pokemon for quite a bit before looking back at the canine pokemon. His rings were no longer glowing and his eyes no longer held the gleam I saw. All I could see was the pokemon staring down at me, smiling softly as he said, "It's O.K. You're both safe now." I just gazed in awe at the pokemon, replaying everything that just happened. I could feel my heart begin to beat faster as a weird feeling came over me by just staring at this pokemon as my parents, along with Lizzie's, came running down to us, worried looks upon their faces.

(Flashback ends)

The sound of a Hoot-Hoot snapped me back to reality, causing me to realize where I was, completely losing myself in a flashback. Or was it a daydream? Definitely a flashback. There's no such thing as having a daydream at night, is there? It would have to be called a nightdream, and that wasn't even a real word, I don't think at least.

Anyway, I went to continue my night hunting for pokemon when my perephial vision caught sight of light to my right. Why there was light in the forest was beyond me. Curious to know what this strange light was about, I began walking towards it, like it was beckoning me. Had I known what was about to happen, I probably would have just walked right along and minded my own business.