Homeward

*EDITE Please know that this is my first fanfiction, so although my quality of work sucks now, it gets better later on. Thank you for your patience if you choose to stick with this story to the end as I know that introductions can either grab or lose readers.*
***EDITED (exclusively for lakevalor.net): cover image available at fanfiction.net***
***EDITED (exclusively for lakevalor.net): summary from fanfiction.net: For an average ambitious Eevee like Kyuso, evolving is a dream come true. So when it finally happens, why does his life become a living nightmare? Kicked out by his own family, he faces the hardships and cold reality of the world. Life outside isn't so hard with allies, even with Aurora, a sheltered Espeon girl, but when he learns something dangerous, can he race back home in time?***
***EDITED (exclusively for lakevalor.net): please note that some words will be missing their italic form, which is used often in the story as characters' thoughts, so it may be tricky at times to differentiate between chapter content and characters' thoughts. The 'italic included' version of this story is at fanfiction.net, but if you'd like to read it here at lakevalor.net, then enjoy***
Homeward
Ch. 1
December 24
"Damn, we finally got him..."
"Yeah, how long were we at this?"
"Uhh...about six days."
"Hell man, this little asshole better be worth it. I bet they started already by now."
KICK
Bastard
"Whoa easy Max. We still have to get him back to the Pit in one piece or he won't be worth crap."
I hate you Max.
"...Yeah...let's go. Put him on the truck."
Get your hands off me!
"ARGH! The little ass bit me!"
"*chuckle* I think it was payback for the kick."
"Shut up and help me get him on the back."
HEAVE
"There, let's get moving."
"Let's stop by the Pokémon Center first though my Greninja and Flygon are beat from this stupid Umbreon."
"So is my Charizard. I'll drive. You put on 'the clothes' and get those three healed."
I've got to get out of this net!
...
"We're here."
"Help, I can't put on this stupid tie."
"Here you idiot."
Now's my chance to escape!
"Alright, I'll be parked a block that way Pat."
"Alright. *ahem*NURSE JOY, PLEASE HELP! I'M LATE FOR MY MEETing and my poor Pokémon have..."
VROOOOM
"*sigh* Where's my magazine? *shuffle*."
I have to leave, NOW!
BITE BITE BITE
Almost through the net
BITE BITE BITE
"Thank you so very much Nurse Joy!"
BITE BITE RIP
I'm free! Now I got to run fast and silent.
"We're good Max, let's go."
CHUCHUCHUVROOOOOM
"They're gone...ahh"
Kyuso was dead beat. Six days. Six days they chased him to put into some 'Pit'. He had to leave. He had to move. Why wouldn't his legs respond though? He couldn't even move! Wait what's that wet feeling below him? He looked down to see that his knees were slashed raw from the Flygon before. By now he lost so much blood to the point where he crumpled to the ground.
Maybe I can drag myself with my chin.
He scraped his chin along the icy sidewalk, onto a hill of December snow, and tried as much as possible to slow the bleeding. After, he used his chin to roll down the hill which was a big mistake as he felt all of his injured knees be crushed under his weight while the whole time he had to hold in his cries so that nobody heard him. At the bottom of the hill, he rolled to a stop, buried his face in the snow and screamed in pain.
This is the worst Christmas Eve ever. I can't believe this crap happened to me. Why did those stupid hunters have to choose me? Now I'm bleeding out on the freaking freezing snow and it's their entire fault. Their entire fault. I can't believe it. I should be home now with my family. By now they're probably worried to death that I-"
CHUCHUCHUVROOOOOM
"No! Don't! Please, just leave me alone already damnit *sob*."
"No, I can't. I've got a long drive ahead of me."
"Huh?"
He looked up from the snow and saw an old looking man in his pickup truck talking to a young man. Both of their backs were to him so Kyuso saw this as a sign from almighty Arceus and dragged with all his might toward the back of the truck. Once he got there, he had no idea how on earth he was going to get onboard.
"Alright well, have a great Christmas."
"You too."
Now was the time when Kyuso started to panic. If he wanted to live, he had to think fast. Acting on the only thing that came to him at the moment, he dragged himself under the truck with his ripped, bloody chin, bit down as securely as he could onto the underside while forcing his hind legs up to rest in the curve of a towing hook, and prayed for life.
1 hour later
Kyuso dropped to the ground as soon as he felt the truck stop. He lay there for a good twenty minutes and listened to the old man go into his home, greet his wife and son, and start on a delicious smelling Christmas Eve dinner. He felt something dripping on his eyes and blinked, trying to see where from the truck's underside it came from. It was after a few seconds that he realized that he was crying.
"Get a hold of yourself Kyuso *sniff*. Just suck it up and get home."
Kyuso steeled himself as best as he could and pushed through the pain. He crawled out from under the truck and headed toward the top of a snowy hill with a snow-frosted tree that he judged would be efficient enough in hiding him from plain sight. It looked like to him that he traveled to some kind of rural area. He could even see a castle as he neared the top of the hill. A castle of all things! Being an Umbreon did have its merits, but that didn't include invincibility. Everyone had their own limits and he felt that he would meet his soon. As he approached the base of the tree, he heard a party from the castle before he fell to unconsciousness.
***EDITE About half a year ago I got a suggestion to post Homeward on the website Lake Valor, but I never did because honestly I was too scared I wasn't good enough. But then I got the same suggestion for a second time, and since I have a little more confidence, I've decided to go through with it. As of now (now: currently up to Homeward Ch. 38) I'll be posting Homeward and my other stories on Lake Valor as well. Don't worry, FanFiction will still be my primary website to post my stories, I just thought it would be good to get as much feedback as possible, and new readers can only help. If any new readers from Lake Valor is reading this, don't worry, even though I was here on FanFiction first, you guys will get the same material as the guys here on FanFiction. I may update my FanFiction profile and Lake Valor profile separately because updating BOTH with the same stuff seems like too much of a hassle, but if you guys want to learn more about me, go right ahead and check out both of my profiles!***

 

Sorry for the long update and if the chapter is too small. There was an error so I couldn't upload new chapters. Anyway, I won't be using POVs anymore so that I can focus on the story more, but if you want the POVs back then please review. Also, this is my first fanfiction so just keep that in mind. I've pretty much thought about the plot layout for this story like a year ago or something, so I'll try to regularly upload a new chapter every Sunday. Finally, thanks to shadow55530, beanboy21, and Zombie12 for Following or adding to their Favorites either me or Homeward. I REALLY didn't even expect this story to be attracting people until I wrote at least the 3rd chapter or something, thanks guys. So now here's the 2nd chapter of Homeward.
Homeward
Ch. 2
December 24
The perfect princess. That's how everyone viewed her as. She was tired of playing the princess role and definitely didn't want to spend her whole life as one. Sure at first she liked the pampering, but now she had grown tired of the endless maids doing every little thing for her. What they did made her feel scared of the outside world. Like she would never survive on her own if the time came for her to do so. Heck, her sister loved the princess life. Never got tired of it actually. They were even fraternal twins born only minutes apart, but Aurora came first. Yippee. That meant that she HAD to study harder and know everything about being a queen so that she could take her mother's place one day. Crystal, her Glaceon sister on the other hand could take it easier on her lessons, was given more and longer breaks, and could even go to the city without having to sneak out. Aurora though was 'destined to become a queen' and had to sneak out to the city with her best and only real friend, Frost, a Glaceon too.
"Pst. Hey Aurora" whispered a familiar voice from a bush off to her right. Aurora had left the party for some fresh air and sat outside on a bench.
Speak of the devil.
"Hey Frost" Aurora whispered back.
"Another party night huh?"
"Yeah, unfortunately. Do I look nice?"
The bush parted a bit so that Frost could get a better look. Frost was absolutely the most beautiful and even sexy looking Pokémon Aurora had ever seen and she knew that she was right from seeing all the billboards, magazines, and movies from their trips to the city whenever her parents went out for their weeklong trip every month. Frost's whole appearance was perfect except for the scar on her hind leg that she refused to talk about for some reason. Also, for the 3 years that they've been friends she's never known what Frost does while they aren't together.
"Yeah, unfortunately. How many?"
"Ugh! Just 1 but that means no competition which means no one to get in his way."
"What's his fancy ass name? Does it have 'the Third' or something like that in it?"
"IDK. I didn't even pay attention. They all come and go you know?"
Aurora wore a red and white dress that her maids found fitting for a princess on Christmas Eve and that she felt that she would trip on if she even thought about anything faster than a walk. She was a very cute Espeon although she didn't think she even came close in comparison to Frost. Especially since whenever the 2 would go to the city the boys would ignore her and stare at Frost almost in a trance-like way. She asked Frost how she always looked like a goddess but of course that question was also met with a big no.
"So then let's ditch this party for some snowball fighting. I promise I won't cheat."
"No, I can't. This one is really persistent and cannot take a hint at all. He's only gone now because I asked if he could personally get me a drink in that proper lady-like voice."
"Oh, is that him?"
Aurora turned around and sure enough she saw the Raichu prince coming toward her.
"Yep."
"Do you want me to ice slip him?"
"Yep."
Sure enough Frost blew an Icy Wind and created a patch of ice between Aurora and the Raichu.
"Well what are you doing out here in the cold-whoa!"
The Raichu slipped and threw the drinks over to Aurora who saw them coming and easily sidestepped them.
"This stupid ice is-ahem. Excuse me my lovely princess, I shall return with new drinks."
The Raichu walked back to the party.
"Haha!"
"I see him talking to some other dude so you got a few minutes I think."
"Thanks a bunch."
"I have to go now but I'll see you next week."
"Okay. Merry Christmas!"
"Yeah, you too."
Frost disappeared back into the bushes. Aurora was all alone now with only the party to go back to. She couldn't go back to that arrogant Raichu, no way. She decided to sneak off to her secret spot just long enough for everyone to leave; Crystal could make the midnight speech to the party guests in her place. Aurora left the bench, made sure not to leave any tracks in the snow, and went toward the hill with the tree on top that she knew so well.
...
What the heck? Are those...
Footprints. There were footprints that led from the bottom of the hill to the top toward the tree.
Someone is here!
Aurora made sure to step in the footprints already laid in the snow to avoid alerting others if there was more than the 1 stranger she sensed at the top of the hill. As she neared the top though, the presence seemed to be getting fainter and not stronger. At the top she saw no one and doubted if she would in the total darkness of a winter night. Still she felt the shrinking mind of another right in front of her. She stood still like that until she couldn't sense the presence anymore, and then went to lie at the base of the tree.
Eep!
She saw him now. Her face was an inch away from what she could now make out to be an Umbreon's. He looked to her to be asleep or dead. Either way she took no chance and slowly backed away.
December 25
SCREEEEEEEEEeeeeee...BOOM
The midnight fireworks. It's Christmas now.
She saw the fireworks shooting up from the castle and imagined all the chaos when everyone noticed she was gone.
"Here! She over here!" said one of the Aggron guards.
No way. I made sure! How did they-
"Princess Aurora everyone at the castle is worried deathly sick! Why have you gone?"
"Uh...well I was kinda-never mind that now. There's a poor Umbreon here that needs help!"
"Where? I cannot see it"
"Watch your step or you'll crush him! Just reach down and you'll feel him."
Several other Aggron guards hurriedly approached and wore relieved expressions when they saw Aurora. They hadn't seen the Umbreon yet.
"You've found the princess!"
"Yes, she is safe, and I've found an injured Umbreom too."
"Bring them both back to the castle and we'll have the Umbreon treated"
...
"How did you guys even find me?"
"We placed several Skarmory scouts on the lookout due to your many previous absences princess."
"Hmph."
...
At the castle, everyone broke down into predictable cries of joy.
"There she is!"
"Princess Aurora!"
"Oh thank Arceus that you have not been harmed!"
Crystal erupted into a steaming rage like a Fire-type.
"I prepared nothing at all! You didn't even like leave me a card or anything to say!"
Her parents were the worst. They just looked disappointed with nothing to say at all which left Aurora feeling worse than if they had given her the usual "How dare you..." or "You must..."
"..." her father stayed silent and just looked at the ground.
"Aurora..." was all her mother said.
The only good thing that came from this is that most of the guests, including that Raichu, left. Aurora saw the guard with the Umbreon in his arms head toward the infirmary. Just as he rounded the corner she saw the Umbreon's eyes open and saw nothing but sadness and begging in them. The only thing she could give him was a reassuring smile before she went up toward her room, prepared for bed, and slept.
Merry Christmas whoever you are.

 

Homeward

Ch. 3

December 27

When Kyuso woke up, the first thing he noticed was the orange sunset blinding him so he kept his eyes closed. The warm glow felt good though so he snuggled into the blankets more comfortably.

Wait...blankets?

He was on a bed with a pillow and blankets from what he could tell by feel. He didn't know where he was or how he even got here. Before he opened his eyes, he heard footsteps so he pretended that he was still asleep. He slowly tried to shrink deeper into the bed. The footsteps sounded like they were coming closer. He curled himself into a ball. Now they sounded right next to his bed. He felt the covers being taken off him and a soft hand over his heart.

"It's okay. Don't be afraid" a female voice said.

!

"You don't have to pretend. You're safe here."

If he lost his stealth, he would at least play the first move. Kyuso jumped out of the bed and twisted to face whoever it was behind him with the sun at his back. He heard her shriek in surprise a little so while she was stunned, he kept the blurry pink image in front of him while waiting for his eyes to adjust. He saw the Blissey now. She looked like she took a splash of ice cold water to the face. It was then Kyuso realized that his silhouette was terrifying the poor Blissey. He decided to keep her in that silent state of shock to sneak out of wherever he was undetected. Where was he anyway, in a Pokémon Center? He crept past the Blissey with her in the same frozen pose still looking in fear at the sunset behind a large window.

Almost there.

He kept walking to the exit while quietly growling at her to let her know that they were both still here. He made it!

Oh no.

There were three hallways to take; either left, forward, or right. The right hallway smelled delicious so he thought it to be a cafeteria and rejected it. He thought he could heard bird Pokémon from the left hallway and went to take it until he saw a foot rounding the corner from the left.

Crap. He took the middle.

He sprinted down the hallway at full speed and searched desperately for something to hide behind. He saw nothing except the stairs leading upward.

What...stairs in a Pokémon Center? He hurriedly climbed the stairs.

Now out of sight from whomever that was, Kyuso sat and tried to catch his breath. Although a second later, he heard another coming down the hallway he sat at. He panicked, looked around, and found more stairs leading up to the next floor. He sprinted up the stairs in a flash and again sat to rest. He just finished listening to the footsteps of his would-be discoverer fade away when he heard a door from his right unlocking.

Oh come on!

Again he panicked and again chose stairs.

Many stairs later

"This...hasgot...tostop" he said as he ran up the stairs.

When he reached the top, he came face to face with an Aron, Froakie, and Meditite.

Crap.

For some reason the Aron came right up to his face.

"I'll prove it to you guys that I'm gonna become guard captain like my father one day by beating this intruder out of the castle!"

"If you beat anyone, that'll be on the day when Grumpigs fly!" the Froakie teased.

Kyuso was out of breath by this point "Hangonasec...Idon't...wantto...wait...castle?"

"Titan, is there someone up there with you?" Kyuso heard from a lower floor.

Ah damn! "Sorry about this kid."

Kyuso shot a Confuse Ray at the Aron he guessed to be Titan and watched as the Aron's eyes rolled over from disorientation. A second later, the Aron fell over and rolled down the stairs. His friends lost it after seeing that and chased after Titan down the stairs. Kyuso looked around but saw no stairs. He saw only 3 doors, one each on the left and right, and one in front (the one in front was a double doors entrance). He knew that he had limited time so he went with the left door.

Maybe I should have chosen right.

Kyuso took one look at the room and the first word that came to his mind was 'pink'. The room had light pink walls, heavy pink bed sheets, and more different shades of pink on its furniture. At once he knew he stepped into a girl's bedroom and wondered if the room next door was the right choice (no pun intended). Before he could even take a step back though he heard a stampede coming up the stairs and looked desperately around for a hiding place.

Under the bed? No, too obvious. In the wooden chest? No, there's a lock.

The steps were just outside the door now so he had to choose now! He saw a long closet full of dresses and decided that it would have to do. The closet was full of clothes that was perfect to hide behind, but at the end of the closet was still a square of shadow left from the sunset pouring through the bedroom window. Kyuso hid better in shadows more than anything else, and he wasn't fully onboard with the idea of hiding under a girl's dress, even if it was vacant. Just as the bedroom door burst open, Kyuso melted into the closet's shadow and prayed.

He saw two buff Aggron enter the room followed by an angry Espeon girl who looked ready to rip the two to shreds.

"Get out! I told you that I would sense him if he was here and I definitely don't-"the Espeon trailed off. Was she looking at him or her clothes?

An Aggron came up from checking underneath the bed "Sorry princess but we must check the all of the castle and that includes your room."

The second Aggron slowly crept into the closet. "This is the last spot to search before we finish"

The Espeon was definitely looking at him. He was sure of it now.

Oh great, I get stepped on, or she rats me out. Either way, I get screwed!

The Aggron was right in front of him now. He was still hidden but he would never be intangible.

Guess it's getting stepped on. I better bolt-

"Wait!"

The Espeon's outburst froze all three intruders in their tracks.

"I just sensed the Umbreon and he's down in the kitchens. He may be trying to steal food."

That was all the encouragement needed to send both Aggron out of her room. She checked the hall, locked her door, came to the edge of her closet where there was still light and looked right into his eyes like he wasn't even hidden at all.

"Don't worry, you are. So well in fact that we couldn't see you, even when you were right in front of us."

What? But my hiding never fails. How did-

"I just sensed your mind. Not many can, but I'm pretty good at it. Sorry if I'm interrupting. So, are you going to come out and explain or what?"

 

Okay, really sorry about not posting new chapters guys but even now I got a lot on my plate cuz school started again. But that's not a good enough excuse because we're all busy right? So again, sorry and I'll try to stay more frequent with the updates. 5, 6, and 7 are coming up pretty quick to make up for the lost weeks and here's 3 and 4.

Homeward

Ch. 4

December 18 [1 week before Christmas]

Wow, today looks great! Kyuso Eevee thought when he looked outside the window.

The sky was sunny with just enough clouds. The slight breeze coupled with the sunlight over the grass made the field around the lab Kyuso lived in look like paradise. This was the kind of weather he could just fall asleep from. The familiar sound of rapid, light footsteps coming down the stairs told him that his younger Eevee brother, Jun, was the source.

"Kyuso, I'm sososososooo bored!" Jun whined.

"So why are you bothering me? I was gonna take a nap." Kyuso asked.

"There's no one to play with."

"Watch TV then."

"I don't want to watch TV. I want to PLAY, Tackle attack!"

Kyuso turned around, crouched, went under the charging Jun, and threw him so that he went through the open window. He looked back at the window to see that his brother had landed on his feet, still determined to use Tackle again.

"You know, you really shouldn't declare your attacks before you actually attack." said Kyuso as he stepped through the window.

"Who cares? Tackle is the only move that I know."

"That isn't true."

"Oh please, what can those other ones do except waste energy?"

"..."

"See, I'm right aren't I?"

"Tell you what; you can use any of your moves that you want, while I'll go without Tackle or Swift, my only attack moves. If you win, I'll teach you Swift. If I win, you'll be grateful for the moves you have. Deal?"

"That's not fair, Professor Mason told us not to learn new moves or get stronger. You got into crazy trouble for learning Swift last week. Plus, you're my older, stronger, faster, better brother!"

"Fine, if you win, I'll bring you something back from the city next time I go out with Professor Mason."

"Now that is a good DEAL!"

On "deal" Jun used Tackle again, trying to catch him off guard with his shout. If it didn't work the first time, it won't work now Kyuso dodged to the right on his nimble Eevee legs and watched as Jun went flying past, spun around, and used Tackle again. He's got heart, I'll give him that. This time he jumped over Jun's Tackle. For the third time, Jun charged in with a Tackle, and again he dodged it. This process repeated until about the sixth Tackle where Jun lost it.

"Ugh, stop it!"

"Why when it's working so well?" Kyuso taunted.

"Then I'll use THIS, Sand Attack!"

The spray of sand flew from the ground at Kyuso's face, but thanks to Jun's warning Kyuso easily dodged it. Kyuso kept dodging Jun's Sand Attacks and laughed at him. Does he think shouting his attacks out give them more power or something? What's his deal?

By now, Jun had tired himself out. Jun's next move was another Tackle, but this time he stayed silent. Kyuso prepared to dodge when Jun suddenly stopped in front of Kyuso and switched to a Sand Attack. Kuso countered the spray with his own Sand Attack. He then closed his eyes, leapt through the sand cloud like a Jack-in-the-box, and used Growl right at Jun's face who fell on his back in surprise. Kyuso mounted Jun and got into position for a finishing-blow, victorious.

"Argh, you always win everything..."

...

"How are you so good? Can you tell me your secret?"

The two had cleaned themselves in the large pond by the lab after their battle, and did some walk-and-talk on the field. By now the day changed a lot from the afternoon when they started their battle. It was a few hours later, and while their conversation changed from multiple topics, Jun kept coming back to battling.

"Just let it go man."

"You got to tell me where I went wrong so I can beat you next time!"

"There's no secret move to fighting like in those movies you watch. I train to get stronger."

"But Professor Mason says-"

"What Mason says makes no sense to me. I don't see what the harm in getting stronger is. Mason refuses to even give us a reason on why it's bad. Did you notice him covering up his reasons every time he tells us that training isn't allowed with gifts and food?"

"Well you shouldn't continue training."

"No. What I should do is eat. Let's go back to the lab...Wait...Where are we?"

The two looked around to find out that they were in some forest. They were so into their own conversation that they paid no attention to where they were going. Every bush and tree looked exactly the same.

"Great, we're lost. This is your fault!" shouted Jun.

"How the heck is it my fault?" said Kyuso.

"You're the big brother, so of course it's your fault!"

"No."

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Shut up."

"Make me."

"Ugh, you're such a brat."

"Well, you're ugly!"

"So? I'm a guy, idiot."

"Hmph."

"Look, sorry I got us lost, but we gotta get out of here before Professor Mason gets back and finds us gone!"

"Fine, let's go."

"Uhh, which way though?"

The two sat on the ground and tried to think of a way to get back to the lab. They sat for nearly 20 minutes before Jun cried out so loudly that it scared Kyuso into thinking that Jun was in trouble.

"What's the matter?" Kyuso asked, getting ready to run to his brother's aid.

 

Homeward

Ch. 5

December 27 [Present Day]

"Well are you going to come out of there or not?"

It was tempting. She had just helped him, not turned him in. So what did he do, come out slowly or rush her?

"Stop thinking so much and come out already! I just proved that I'm friend."

That's right, she could sense his emotions. How was he supposed to get out of this? He couldn't lie unless he was one of those robotic liars. He was going to have to be up front with her. It was the least she deserved for helping him, but he wouldn't tell her too much.

"I'm fine right where I am thanks."

"Suit yourself. I'm Aurora by the way"

"Kyuso. It was miracle to meet you Aurora."

"Well your welcome Kyuso. So, why are you freaking out and hiding in the castle?"

"Just trying to survive here."

"We took you in and cared for you for two days while you were out. What are you trying to survive? I know it isn't us."

Two days, they must be worried sick about me! "Hunters who've been chasing me for a week now."

"Hunters! Well, I guess mom and dad were right; never trust a human."

"...Some humans are real jerks, not all. Cut them some slack."

"Oh, I'm sorry do you have a trainer? I didn't mean to insult them."

"No, I have a Pokémon professor that I need to get back to alive."

"Okay, so how'd you end up there? I mean at my tree."

Arceus it's just question after question! "I hitched a ride. Am I being interrogated or something?"

"No, of course not! How rude of me to just start shooting off questions when you must be dead tired. Here-" Aurora walked away from the closet for a few seconds and came back with a bowl of clear liquid "would you like some water?"

"Sure, but could you just slide that over to me?"

"Unh uh, I'm not going into my own closet with a weird boy who snuck into it. It's creepy"

"Well, I'm not coming out until you're gone. Nice try princess, but I'm staying right here."

He saw a flash of annoyance on her face that was quickly hidden by her looking down to hide her face. He wondered if he crossed some sort of line before she spoke.

"First of all, don't call me that. I hate being seen as the helpless princess. And second-" she suddenly had a big smile on her face "And second, I'm gonna see you sooner or later because you're running out of shade."

He looked down and saw that she was right. His small island of shadow was getting smaller by the second due to the sunset. The stretch of shadow in front of him seemed to be a more longer-lasting hiding spot but it was too far, right behind Aurora in fact. He would never get there before she saw him in the sunlight. He tried to get farther back, deeper into the closet, but it was impossible, his back had already touched the wall. Slowly his little island of shadow was shrinking. His feet would be visible soon and even that thought unsettled him, the less people who saw him, the better.

He looked up to see her face and she looked like she was ready to yell 'Happy New Year' from a countdown. What was the harm in one more knowing how he looked like? Especially since she was a princess. Her parents seemed like they didn't exactly favor humans, and she would be staying in a castle all her life anyway. Maybe...

"Alright, I'm coming out."

He came out of the shadow shyly and approached her until they were standing two feet from each other with the bowl in between. All of a sudden, their initial greeting didn't seem sufficient so he reintroduced himself.

"H-Hi, I'm Kyuso." he looked to the side and blushed but didn't know why.

"Hi, I'm Aurora!" she still wore that sunny smile on her face.

Up close, Kyuso could now see the details of how she looked. Her fur was a lighter shade of lavender and shined as if it was brushed every day which he guessed to be true. Her body type looked to be feisty and agile. She was probably around his age and her eyes glowed faintly like the dawn.

"So, I'll just take that drink now." he bent down towards the bowl, looking anywhere but up.

"No, don't drink that! That's my actually my washbasin; it's what I use to clean my face every morning."

"What-"

"Sorry, but I thought it was a good way to get you out of that closet. Though I would have seen you sooner or later."

"AH COME ON!"

"Shhhhh not so loud, you'll draw the guards or someone else in here. Here, you can hide under my bed; the bed sheets are long enough to cover the bottom."

Kyuso muttered a few curses to himself before going under the bed. He saw the bed press down a little and guessed that Aurora jumped on top so that they could talk more. Yippee. Before she could get so much as a word out, there was a knock at the door. Maybe he did yell a little too loudly. He saw Aurora appear under the bed.

"That's probably dinner my dinner call. I'll be right back, and don't leave the room or you'll be caught and I'll get into more trouble."

Saved by the bell. "Sure, I'll be waiting right here."

"Stop lying to me, it's rude."

Damn it. I got to remember that.

Aurora dropped the covers and went to the door. Kyuso heard the door unlock and heard another voice that sounded kind and as soothing as honey. He recognized the voice as the Blissey he scared downstairs, and couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt toward the Blissey by the time the door closed, even after all the other things he's went and done during the past week.

"Miss Aurora, it is time for dinner."

"Thank you, Sunny. Are you feeling okay? I heard that you got paralyzed by that Umbreon earlier. I didn't know they were capable of paralysis. You're very strong to have recovered so quickly and returned to work."

"Oh, just more gossip in a quiet castle Miss Aurora. I was only frightened, nothing more."

"Okay, well I was thinking if you could..."

CA-CHUNK

Kyuso sent a silent thanks to Aurora. That had gotten embarrassingly awkward really fast. He wasn't the victim. He wasn't the one who apologized. Yet all he did was hide underneath the bed. The other times things went this sour (or worse), he didn't feel anything because he was already gone by then. It was hell what he did to the others; he damned them in a way. All he wanted was to get home, but he only got farther away.

He had to get out, escape, and leave before he hurt anyone else. His first attempt was the door, the easy way. He only got to the top of the stairs before he heard familiar, heavy footsteps coming up from below, looked down to see two Aggron coming up, and retreated back inside Aurora's room. When he closed the door and went back under the bed, he heard them stop just outside her room and guessed that they were going to be on guard at least until she came back. That would be too late.

He spent the next five minutes trying to find a hatch, an A.C. vent, anything to crawl through undetected like in the movies. He slapped himself after when he realized that he was in a castle, not in house. You dumbass! He wasted his next five minutes looking for secret book switches, hidden levers, disguised bed frame buttons, and then slapped himself a second time for watching too many movies.You dumbass!

Finally, he came to the window. It was the only other way he found to escape. This was crazy, suicidal even. Definitely the result of too many movies, but what other choice did he have? Rush the Aggron? There's probably dozens more of them from the looks of this castle. Speaking of which, what floor was he on? He opened the window quietly and instantly made the mistake of looking down. His stomach did a flip when he saw the ground below.

Oh my Arceus! What is this, the 20 floor? There aren't even any ledges, just a smooth stone wall to slip on before you die!

In the fading light of the sunset, he saw the silhouettes of three Skarmory, which he watched with envy. It was only until he noticed them flying in a patrol like path and figured that they were guards too that he climbed back down and closed the window so as to not get caught. He gave up and went back under the bed. There was no way out of here. His only option was to wait until Aurora came back from dinner to let the guards leave, and then slip out undetected. In the meantime, he had to be cold and distant to not befriend her until she fell asleep. It was for her own good.

 

Homeward

Ch. 6

December 27

"Okay, well I was thinking if you could post a couple guards at my door to make sure that nobody goes in?" Or comes out.

"I will see to it that they are posted immediately, Miss Aurora. Some advice before dinner my princess."

"Yeah?"

"You have snuck off on Christmas Day two days ago, and brought home a random Umbreon that is now either gone, or wandering around here as the guards double check the castle. Also, you falsely stating that the Umbreon was in the kitchen has not only disorganized many guards, but has ruined most of dinner due to the guards trampling into the kitchen and turning over many dishes. I advise you to take mercy on your parents and try not to cause more trouble that will stress everyone further."

"I...promise I'll try."

...

Sunny was right about both the stress level and dinner. The table was so quiet with no conversation being made whatsoever. Aurora sat at a long side of a rectangular table and barely touched her soup. Aurora's sister, Crystal, sat at Aurora's left along the lengthy table, and didn't eat as fast as she always did to escape to her own personal space or friends. Instead, she took her time with her thick soup with her head down, ignoring the crusty bread as if were a bomb. Her mother, an Espeon as well, had taken a more bold approach and her bread crunches were the loudest sounds in the room which actually wasn't saying much. She looked both tired and anxious, like a high-school student studying late into the night for a test they just found out about.

Her father, a Flareon, had eyes old from the experience of running a kingdom. They could be soft and loving (like Sunny's) at one moment, and then hold an inferno of anger the next from what she heard around the kingdom's markets. He didn't eat or speak anything at the moment, but Aurora could tell there was something working in his head right now as he sat still. She sensed that he was contemplating back and forth between one decision and the other, but she doubted it was whether to eat the soup or bread first as his eyes waved from the two foods. She couldn't get any info about the decisions her father was thinking about, except that his head sounded something like "But if I _ then _..." and "Maybe I should _ before I _..."

It must be hell inside his head now Aurora thought.

Suddenly, she heard her mother's voice resonate within her head. Honey, be kinder to your father.

While Aurora's powers were limited to being able to feel people's emotions and general intentions, her mother could do more and better. Aurora's mother could not only sense minds within a greater range, she could also read them, communicate with them, hide her own mind from intrusion, and accurately see enemy intentions in battle which gave her an edge in combat. What was the way her mother summed up her abilities? Boring, absolutely boring. Everyone is an open book to me whether they like it or not, there's no mystery in my life anymore, and I don't even have to use my mouth to speak. Trust me when I say this Aurora, you don't want what to be like me. It's a waste of time to pursue after. Nevertheless, Aurora couldn't help but get a little excited and wonder how it would all feel if she could just be in her mother's place for a moment.

Sorry, mom I just wish dad would come out and say what's on his mind right now.

I've spoken with him about his subject, and he'll speak to you both when ready.

It was then Aurora realized that her mother had been speaking to both her and Crystal simultaneously. The two twins looked up from their bowls and looked at each other for a moment before going back to their soup.

...

After dinner, Aurora's father, who had still not eaten, asked for his family to remain at the table. He ran his paw through the yellow flame of hair on his head a few times before he revealed his plans. He wanted to increase Crystal's studies to match Aurora's, and he wanted Aurora to 'consider' "Voltar III", whom she learned to be the name of the Raichu from the Christmas Eve party after a quick description.

Nice guess Frost she secretly thought.

"WHAT?!" both sisters screeched after they recovered from their shock.

"I can't 'consider' this random guy out of nowhere, much less marry him!"

"You can't give me more lessons! I get barely enough time to hang out with my friends with the eight hours a day I still have."

"Girls please," their father looked at them tiredly like their mother "we only want what's best for you two."

"Aurora," their mother said "you're too wild. You constantly bicker with Crystal and anyone else who upsets you, you pay minimal attention, if at all, to your lessons, and you always sneak out of the castle where most of the times, we can't even find you. You worry us too much honey."

Aurora looked away in shame.

"And Crystal," she continued "you're sister has..."

Aurora didn't hear the rest. She locked herself in her own head to escape from this conversation. Sure she was a rebel, sometimes a little too much, but marriage would imprison her completely. The marriage might be mutually good for both kingdoms, yet she would be living in a lie that would kill her little by little from the inside. And then the kingdoms would expect them to have a child, or children! The thought made her sick to her stomach, forced to marry for others. Omigosh, I'm gonna be sick. I should have had the bread. She heard Crystal grumble something about cities before their father spoke.

"You won't have to marry anyone Aurora if you don't want to, but you must start showing restraint, respect, and interest with your various subjects. Do you understand?" she nodded and he finished off with "Good. You are now both excused and may return to your rooms."

Somehow, she remembered about Kyuso by the end of all of this, which she blushed at. It must be the marriage crap thinking, not me.By the time she reached the bottom of the stairs, she remembered and made her way back into the kitchen, and asked for a loaf of bread from the chefs. The fact that she didn't have to marry immediately gave her little comfort as she zombie-walked upstairs. When she reached her room, she thanked and dismissed her guards. After that, her actions were extremely sluggish and automatic: open door, go into room, lock door, walk to bed, drop bread for Kyuso, climb into bed, weep, pass out.

 

Homeward

Ch. 7

December 27

Kyuso had been lying under Aurora's bed, bored out his mind, when he heard her steps from outside the door. When she came in, he saw that the guards were gone, and that she held a loaf of bread between her teeth. He went to greet her but she didn't even look at him.

"Hey, you're back. Was dinner okay?"

She didn't even respond to him, as if her body was on autopilot. Her gaze was directed at empty space as she walked to her bed.

Oh great, more talking. Just what I need, to give away more info about myself.

At least, that's what he thought until she released the loaf of bread to the ground, and jumped up on top of her bed. The whole time, she hadn't said a word. He saw the bread she left for him and took it underneath the bed. He waited for another thirty seconds and she still didn't say anything or move.

"Umm, thanks" he finally said. This is going to be easier than I thought. I won't have to talk to her.

He suddenly realized that he was starving, so he dug into his bread dinner. If she was already asleep, he could just sneak out using the night's shadows, no problem. The old man whom Kyuso hitched a ride from would be his ticket back to the city, where he hoped to find another means of transportation to get home. He would find his way back to the old man's home, far from the kingdom. There, he could just wait until the old man left for the city again in his truck, and jump into the back unnoticed. Though, he had no idea where the old man's home was. Last time, Kyuso's limbs had been incapacitated by the Flygon of the Pokémon hunters, who had relentlessly tracked him for six days, and Kyuso had to cling onto the underside of the truck with his teeth for an hour drive. His jaw got sore just from thinking about it. But now he had gotten a full two days rest from his week of chasing, so he was reenergized and ready to go.

He was about halfway though his dinner before he heard the weeping. Was that Aurora? She was crying and he immediately guessed that it was because of something that happened over dinner downstairs. He paid her no mind after he remembered to be distant from others for their safety. So he did nothing but finish his bread in again, that awkward state. He did nothing to interfere. The next ten minutes were hell. Even when compared to the Mightyena that nearly killed him, the hour long ride by teeth, or to the Pokémon Hunters that chased him for 144 hours, it killed him inside to think that he may have caused Aurora her grief and did nothing to help her.

Her sobs gradually died down into what he heard to be hiccups, which turned into sniffles, which turned into shakes. Finally, all was quiet and nothing moved in the black darkness of the room.

Did she pass out?

He crept silently out from underneath the bed and climbed on top of it to see that Aurora was indeed unconscious. Her face had dry-tear streaks over it, and the blanket beneath her face was wet. It was too hard not to take pity on her, so he pulled the blanket out from under her with his teeth and covered her with it. Thinking that he already went way too far, he went back under the bed. She just fell asleep which made things so much easier for him. He would wait until she was deeper in her sleep so she wouldn't wake up and then he would make his escape unnoticed.

Two hours later

It was time to go. Kyuso was sure that Aurora was too deep in her sleep now so he started to leave. He came out from under the bed and made his way to the door. The door was strangely easier to use than other doors he previously used. It was bigger to allow the Aggron through the doorway, the lock on the door was small wooden bar that was within easy reach, and it was opened with a bigger handle that seemed purposely made for Aurora's height which meant that it was easy for him to use too. He lifted up the wooden-bar lock, pulled the handle down, and went out of the room effortlessly. It was like this castle was made for Pokémon use, not humans.

Are there any humans at all in this castle? Probably not since Aurora hinted that her parents didn't like them.

He made his way down the castle taking the same way he came from last time which was much less tiring now since he was going down and not up. Even these stairs, he noticed, seemed easier to climb than the stairs humans used. This time, he only ran into one or two maids who were retiring to their rooms but he easily melted into the big, heavy shadows of the castle and they went right past him. He got to the cross of the hallways where he was cut off last time. He remembered to take the right hallway as the hallway back to the infirmary where he awoke, he saw, was straight ahead. So he took the right hallway, and after a few minutes of backtracking and hiding, he reached the exit. One problem though, there was some kind of security lock on the front doors.

At the right of the doors there were several levers lined up in a row connected to a box with cones attached. There were five levers in all to pull, the left lever had the number 1 carved into its handle, and the order continued till the last lever on the right had the number 5 carved on its handle. From what he could see, this was a sort of number code lock where all levers had to be pulled in a specific order. How many combinations were there? He didn't waste his time trying to figure it out, and thought he should start from the beginning and try to go up from there. So he pulled...

12345

The door stayed closed, and the levers had reset back into their original positions. Disappointed but not entirely surprised, he made to try again until he heard something from the box.

CLICK

What the heck was that?

He looked into the box from the cones and saw a big bell inside. An alarm bell. Probably to prevent people like him to just guess random combinations until they got the correct combination.

What now? I can't just keep guessing anymore, I have to get this door open and escape!

He thought about going back and trying to find some other way out besides alarm or suicide, when thought he heard a soft tap from the hallway he came from.

Probably just some maid.

He went back to the levers and decided that he would have to risk it since he didn't want to spend another second in the castle. Again, he pulled...

54321

CLICK CLICK

Crap. I'm definitely not trying that again.

One click and now two clicks. He didn't want to imagine what would happen when he heard three clicks. He was seriously considering going back and trying to find another way now.

A whisper right at his ear asked "Going for a midnight walk?"

...

Aurora woke up late at night with a gasp. She just woke up from a nightmare where she and Voltar III were at an altar, and she was dressed in white bride's dress, about to be married.

Her mind was screaming No, not to you! Not like this!, but her mouth moved against her will and said I do.

As soon as she did, everything went black and she was inside a gigantic bottle with the lid too high up for her to jump to. A gigantic Voltar came out of the black space, picked up the bottle, and 'drank' from it. Aurora slid straight down the smooth glass with nothing to grip. The lid was too big for her to stretch out and plank herself on so she slid easily into his huge mouth. The inside of his mouth felt like a sauna, and she was sure she was going to be swallowed. Saliva coated her whole body which completely grossed her out so she tried to use her Psybeam, but the rainbow ray splashed harmless on his tongue. Then, he had swallowed her whole down his huge throat and she felt like falling faster and faster down a tube.

That was when she woke up. She was drenched in sweat and felt too warm. She found that her thick blanket was over her which was odd because she didn't remember going under them. She guessed that Kyuso must have pulled them over her, so she went under her bed to check up on him.

He's gone!

Kyuso wasn't under the bed so she instantly thought that he tried to leave so she looked to the door.

That idiot left the door open.

Aurora went to her towel to wipe away her sweat, and then made her way down the stairs and to the front doors where she thought Kyuso would most likely be, probably still stuck at the security code. In a minute, she was at the front doors and sure enough, Kyuso was too. He looked like he was going to freak any second now. Since he snuck away from her, she would repay the favor.

...

Kyuso nearly jumped out of his skin when he spun around and saw Aurora, out of bed.

What the-how did-when did she-

Kyuso put on his best angry face and whispered "What are you doing out here?"

Aurora's attitude was no different and she hissed back "You were going to leave on your own when I told you to stay put!"

"It would have been too late if I waited for you to wake up. You passed out so how was I supposed to pass up a chance like that to get away?"

"By waiting for me to help you escape! Besides, everyone is asleep so no rush."

"Really, you're going to help me escape?"

"Yes, now step back. Once I unlock the gate we'll have to sprint for it if we want to get away before everyone gets here. This gate creaks like a police car siren."

"We?"

"Yeah, I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not. I won't have anyone else getting screwed because of me."

"I'm coming with whether you like it or not. How else are you going to get out smart guy? There's guards stationed throughout the kingdom and you're stealth with my perception is the only way to escape without being caught."

"I thought you said nobody's up right now?"

"I forgot to include the guards. So are we leaving or not?"

By this point, he was ticked off royal. His plan went up in flames as soon as he reached the front gate. "Why do you even want to tag along? You live literally like a princess here."

She shivered a tiny bit before saying "I have my own reasons okay? And don't flatter yourself; I plan on meeting up and with a friend." She made sure to put emphasis on 'going'. Hopefully, Kyuso didn't ask questions about Frost; questions that she had no answers to like 'Where does your friend live?'

Kyuso thought about her offer for a long time. She said that they had time so he sat and weighted everything. There were two choices. One included his freedom and family while the other probably led to a 20-story drop from a window, which he didn't want to test his Umbreon defenses on. But if he chose the former, then he knew it would eventually lead to that again, given enough time. Maybe if he just flat out warned her at first, things would go differently. At least, he hoped that it would. He couldn't bear to condemn one more Pokémon to them. Before he spoke, he swore to never let it happen again. If it does happen, then I'll never return home again. I'll just have to check myself frequently.

Kyuso finally spoke "Before we go, understand one thing. We will not become friends at any time. Our status will be known as allies. Any action I take toward you will be completely for my own personal reasons, none of which contain anything about companionship. Remember that you don't ever want me as a friend. In fact, be on your guard at all times, even around me. Given my history, I'm a traitorous poison to anyone and everyone. Knowing all this, do you still wish to travel with me?"

"Yes yes yes already! Now may I please open the gate?"

Aurora walked over to the switches and pulled...

31425

Kyuso took a step toward her while her back was turned, and prepared a Confuse Ray almost automatically. It's for the best Kyuso reasoned. I did warn her about me, and this way she could blame me for forcing her to open it and stay out of trouble herself. He was about to shoot, but suddenly he was tackled down onto his back. She had pounced on him, taking them both to the ground.

"I didn't think that you'd pull this crap on me so early. Remind me to sleep with one eye open."

She's fast! I've got to watch that in the future.

Aurora stepped off of him and said "From now on, you lead so that I can keep an eye on you."

...

Sure enough, there were guards posted thin throughout the kingdom. Aurora turned out to be right about her perception and detected patrols several seconds before Kyuso saw them. Kyuso spotted shadows for Aurora to hide in and he covered her with his body so that they were both hidden from sight. This way, both of them made it past the homes and businesses, and had reached the outer wall. The outer wall faintly reminded Kyuso of the height from Aurora's window, though it was much taller, and very thick. The outer wall's gate was made of many crisscrossed wooden bars. When they reached it, Aurora directed them to nearby stairs that led up to the top of the wall. They didn't go all the way up however so that they remained unseen.

"Great, we made it to the outer gate. Now how are going to get on the other side? It's your bedroom window all over again!"

"I'm going to create a distraction. When the guards look away, we're going to step off the section of the wall right above the gate and grab onto the gate when we fall. We'll use it to climb down."

Aurora's distraction turned out to be pretty simple. She used Psychic to pick up a few rocks and dropped them rapidly one by one in a line that started near the gate and led away from it. This ended up sounding like as if someone was running on top the outer wall, and the noise drew the guards away. Kyuso and Aurora ran for the wall closest to the gate and Kyuso helped Aurora drop down by hoisting her down as low as he could so that she didn't have such a long fall. This way, she dropped and grabbed the wooden beams without difficulty. Kyuso was about to drop himself until he heard a voice behind him.

"Hey, you're the same Umbreon from before! What are you doing up here?"

Kyuso turned back to the wall to come face to face with an Aron. He realized that it was the same Aron he used Confuse Ray on back in the castle. Kyuso remembered his name to be Titan.

He panicked just like before at the castle for just a moment before he said "I'm just leaving your castle in peace now. What're you doing up here so late?"

"I'm always up here every night on duty with my father" Titan replied "What was that pink thing you were dropping over the wall just now? It better had not been litter."

"Me, a litterer? Pft no way man! I'm just a traveler trying to get by in life."

"I'll ask you again. What did you drop over the wall?"

"You look pretty young. Are you already training to be a guard captain like you said before at the castle? You must really look up to your dad. He must be proud."

"That's right! I will be the greatest guard captain this kingdom has ever had. Then, my-wait! Stop dodging my question! I'll just check what it was you dropped by myself."

Before Titan could take a step, Kyuso used Confuse Ray but Titan saw it coming and jumped away. Titan sensed that whatever Kyuso was trying to get away with would be bad for the kingdom so he used Mud-Slap which Kyuso dodged with ridiculous ease from his years of training. He sure is no Aurora that's for sure. Kyuso decided to finish things quickly so he used Feint Attack followed up with Assurance but Titan blocked both with Harden.

"Hah, you'll never get past my Harden defense!" Titan taunted.

Titan countered with Headbutt and his attack hit Kyuso cleanly on his face, but Kyuso remained where he stood. Thinking that he won, Titan took a step back to let Kyuso fall over, but Kyuso took a step forward so that his face was still on Titan's. Kyuso shoved Titan back hard with just his face so that Titan fell over onto his back.

"What the-how are you still standing?"

"Umbreon are known for their tough defenses. I won't be going down with just one hit."

Kyuso used Confuse Ray again and since this time Titan was on the floor; his Confuse Ray had hit its mark. Titan tried to get back up but he didn't know which way up was so he just flopped pathetically on the floor. Kyuso knocked him out with another Assurance, and then looked around for the guards. They were still nowhere in sight so he dropped himself over the wall and caught the gate's wooden beams. He found that Aurora was only halfway down and was in fact waiting for him.

"What took you so long? What happened up there?" she asked him once he climbed down next to her.

"Just some guy called Titan. I took him down though. Let's go."

"Titan? He's always hanging around the castle with his friends. I didn't know he'd be up here."

"Turns out that he stays up on the wall every night with his dad. Let's go."

"He's so young. Did you know he's the youngest Junior Guard ever in the kingdom? Junior Guards are basically the kingdom's Guards-in-training with the age requirement to be at least 13. Titan is 13 now but he started when he was 10. I didn't know that he's this devoted to becoming a Guard Captain like his dad..."

"Wow that was really moving. Maybe I'll send him a postcard or something. Let's GO."

"Alright jeez. Just trying to acknowledge the guy and give him some credit here."

 

Homeward

Ch. 8

December 18 [1 week before Christmas]

"I know how to get home!" Jun said while hopping up and down. He looked excited like a child who was praised after learning how to tie his shoes. "The sun comes up from the west and goes down at the east. We need to go east because we walked with the sun in front of us this morning!"

"Wow, where did you even learn that?"

"Movies."

"Wait, the sun is in the middle of the sky so which way is east?"

"Let's ask that guy" Jun pointed at a Swellow. "He looks like he knows this place pretty good."

Jun walked up to the Swellow and asked for directions. The Swellow pointed them to the direction of east, and soon the two brothers were on their way home. At least, they thought they were until they had walked for such a long time that it had reached sunset. By then, Kyuso of them began to doubt they would ever get home.

"How is this even possible?" yelled Kyuso "We must have walked longer and faster than we did before we found out that we were lost. Is this some kind of freak forest or what?"

"Umm..." Jun looked at the ground away from Kyuso.

"What's up?"

"Listen, please don't be mad, but I might have been wrong about the west and east thing. I think the sun actually comes up from the east, and sits at the west...sorry." ("For all the readers who caught this before Jun did, give yourselves a pat on the back.")

"..."

"Umm...you okay?"

"..."

"Kyuso?"

"..."

"Hello?"

"Yeah. No I'm fine. Just...trying not to blow up here hehe."

"I am sooo sorry, but I just remembered like 5 minutes ago. I just didn't know how to tell you. Let's just go back the way we came from while there's still some sun left alright?" Jun noticed that his brother's eye twitched when he said 'sun'.

"Sure." Kyuso's face dropped as they turned around.

...

It was around 10 pm when the two made it to the halfway point where they met the Swellow, and saw that he was asleep. Even Jun was lagging behind with his half-open eyes, but Kyuso seemed only to gain more energy as the night, including his mood, darkened. Seeing the Swellow sleeping told Kyuso how late it really was, and all those previous hours of walking without releasing his anger had suddenly caught up to him. It took all his effort to grunt and hold in the urge to scream at the Swellow. Because of the darkness of night, he tripped on a tree root when they had only gone 30 feet past the Swellow, and roared into the night sky, waking the Swellow and several others in the area. Even Jun woke up to fully-alert mode.

By midnight, Jun had fallen asleep, so Kyuso had to carry him on his back. Suddenly, he saw a small light beyond the trees. He refused to believe in the tiny light at first, but as he got closer, he could see the forest thinning and the light growing. He even heard Mason and the other Pokémon he befriended in the lab calling for them. Filled with renewed willpower, he started to sprint for the forest exit. He took about 3 strides before he was forced to stop by a huge, dark shape that jumped in front of him.

"Hey, watch where you're going dude." Kyuso said

"I'm a lady you idiot!" a feminine yet husky voice shot back.

"Well madam, excuse me for being blind in this darkness, but we're trying to get home!"

"That voice...So, you're the one who woke up my babies with your damn scream. Now they won't go back to sleep without something to eat."

"Wow. Sounds like some bratty kids you got there" Kyuso knew he crossed the line, but his sleepy-deprived mood refused to allow him to stop "You know it's unhealthy to eat so much right before sleeping."

"You tiny asshole, I should kill you right now for that. Actually, I really should kill you both; we haven't had meat for a long time."

Kyuso dropped Jun on patch of grass and got into a defensive stance "You'll have to get past me first."

The Pokémon that Kyuso couldn't see leapt, used Bite on his foreleg, and threw him to a tree. As she approached to finish him off, he acted KO'd and waited till she was close. At the right moment, he shot a Sand Attack at her, escaped, and used Swift while she was using Bite blindly around her. She countered with her own Sand Attack which he blocked with his own Sand Attack, but had to stop using Swift. She pinned him down with Bite at his shoulder this time, and clawed with Assurance on his injured leg for double the damage. Kyuso's legs gave out at that point so that he lay on his back, vulnerable. She's too strong! Even though he could see her beating down on his leg and biting his shoulder, he felt no pain for some reason. They're broken he realized. I just lost my shoulder and foreleg! His opponent realized it a second later too.

She switched shoulders and pounded the other foreleg introducing Kyuso to new pain. He cried out in agony, hoping that his cries of pain would persuade her to stop, to show mercy, but the pounding continued. Finally, his other shoulder broke, followed by his other foreleg, and she released him.

He was lying in a clearing and saw the full moon above, shining its glow over him. He didn't need to know how much blood he lost or even look to the side to see how much because his vision was already turning black.

"Kyuso?" Jun had woken up when Kyuso screamed and backed away from the dark shape that had beaten his brother.

Kyuso didn't know what would await him in death but he knew he was going to be free. Free from the pain, Mason's rules, and every care in the world. His blood pooled around his fallen body. He welcomed the moon as his guide into Arceus's kingdom, and admired how beautiful it looked, glad that something so perfect was to be his last vision in the world.

"Kyuso, help me!" He couldn't even hear Jun now "Somebody please help me!"

He really wanted to help Jun, but he couldn't even move. The only thing he could do was pray in his head that they were close enough to Mason's lab for someone to hear Jun and save him. The white light was coming; he felt it all over him. The light was lifting him from the world, lifting him into the heavens. But then why did he still feel the ground? He was rising as far as he could tell, but he still felt the blood-soaked grass on his back. And he wasn't feeling any lighter, he was getting heavier. He felt his body stretching him so quickly and dramatically he felt itchy all over, especially at his ears and tail.

At last, the light died away a bit, and now he saw the forest again except this time, he saw the forest. Every leaf, tree bark, and flower was now clearly visible to him. His body felt reenergized, fixed, full of blood, and he noticed that he could move again. He took a look at his forelegs and tail to see that they were black as shadows and had golden, glowing rings on them.

I evolved...not died...I'm still alive.

A scream above caused him to look up to the treetops "Oh jeez, someone please help me!"

Kyuso could now see that their hunter was a Mightyena who was currently trying to climb a tree Jun had managed to get up in. Kyuso felt like ripping that Mightyena apart with his new power, but he remembered how his last fight ended so he decided to be smart and take the quiet approach. He crept up to the Mightyena, slapped her leg so that she fell from her climb, quickly crouched so that he didn't become a silhouette against the moonlit clearing, and blended into the forest floor.

"Who did that?" screamed the Mightyena when she spun around and looked for whoever smacked her down.

She completely missed Kyuso who was literally, right under her nose. He waited until he heard her gasp upon seeing that his body was gone from the clearing. Then, he opened his blood-red eyes, willed his rings to glow, and laughed/screamed in a psychotic way. She was so terrified that she couldn't even scream, and just choked on her own breath for a full five seconds before passing out.

Scared the crap out of her thought Kyuso until he remembered Jun and told him to come down.

Poor Jun was affected by the scare too but not as much because he was only shivering violently and not KO'd like the Mightyena.

"No way! You're not taking me evil demon! NEVER!"

Kyuso huffed, how was he supposed to get him down now? He wasn't as good a climber than Jun. He needed to talk him down.

"Jun, you wake up every morning and the first thing you do is watch cartoons. You listen to Mason and do whatever he asks exactly, when he asks for it. You're friends with all the guys back home at the lab. You're favorite fruit is Rawst Berries. We've been walking in this forest since morning because you mixed up east with west, and I was so pissed at you for that but I carried you for the last 2 hours anyway. Now get your butt down from that tree now!"

Jun jumped down to land on his brother's back "Kyuso! I'm so happy that you're not dead I...*yawn*...I so haffy tha...*snore*."

"Dang, how does he do that? I mean I almost died and he just-ugh."

With the sleeping Eevee on his back, Kyuso Umbreon walked toward the lab and got ready for a serious lecture. Learning new moves pushed Mason a little too far. Evolving, now that was the final straw.

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon but I do own Homeward and its characters.

Homeward

Ch. 9

December 27 [Present Day]

When Kyuso and Aurora climbed down low enough of the gate, they jumped the last few feet and found themselves in a clearing in the forest which was still lightly coated with snow. Kyuso breathed in his freedom and smiled to himself. Aurora just stared at him and waited for him to come to.

"Well, where are we headed to?" she finally asked.

Kyuso was coming out of a sweet dream of being back at home when he said "We're going to head toward the same tree I'm guessing that you found me at on Christmas Eve."

After he explained his plan of sneaking onto the old man's truck, they ran toward the trees to the right of the castle while making sure not to step in the snow with Aurora still behind him. When the two reached the trees, they took one last look back at the kingdom and saw lights grow within it and heard bells ringing in alarm. They both knew that the guards must have found Titan unconscious by now so they resumed making their way to the tree, this time at a sprint to put as much distance between them and the castle as fast as possible. In the forest, they didn't have to worry as much about leaving snow tracks because the trees' leaves had blocked some of the falling snow.

After about 10 minutes of sprinting, the two finally reached the tree. The trip took longer than Aurora expected because of the snow, and it was also more exhausting so they sat at the base of the tree, panting for breath. Both of them noticed that their sprint had become a race of some kind. Kyuso had chugged along at a strong pace with his speed hardly dropping because of his high stamina. On the other hand, Aurora had frequent bursts of speed after recovering from a slower pace. She even pushed ahead of him sometimes. Right now, the two just sat at the tree and relaxed from their 'race'.

When he got some of his breath back, he chuckled a bit though he didn't know why. Then she giggled a little but she didn't know why either. He chucked a bit again and they both turned toward each other simultaneously. They panted for a few seconds and their heavy breaths made mists in the cold air. Right then, the two burst out laughing and held quickly covered their mouths to muffle the noise. Kyuso hugged the tree and put his head to it, laughing into his foreleg to muffle the sound. Aurora laid back and rolled down the hill laughing.

"ROFL!Hahahahahaha!" she laid incapacitated on the grass at the bottom of the hill.

"Shhhhahaha. ..b-be quieahahaha." Kyuso still tried to silence his laughter because he was afraid they were making too much noise.

"Wh-what the heck is wrong with usahahahahahah!"

"I think...I think...Ithinkit'sbecausewehahahahahahaha!"

Aurora saw that Kyuso's emotion was white and pink like a carefree kind of happiness. It seemed cute in way to her and she wished that he was like this more often instead of acting like a jerk most of the time. The two calmed down after another minute of giggles. They agreed that their laughter was due to the thrill of escape and coughed awkwardly back into their professional attitudes toward each other. They went to the top of the hill to find a small community of homes, farms, and a school. The structure closest to them, a small house, lay at the bottom of the hill, and sure enough a truck was parked at the side of the house. Since it was so late (and also because the cold of the snow had started to get to them), the two went to find somewhere to camp nearby for the night and decided to sneak onboard the truck early in morning. They went back to the forest's edge and once Aurora sensed a vacant area, she went to dig a big crater as their sleeping spot. She stopped midway when she realized that Kyuso wasn't helping and was instead digging another crater away from her own.

"Hey, aren't we going to sleep together for warmth?"

"No, we're not." He focused on digging his crater and avoided looking at her.

"Okay, let me ask again. Why aren't we sleeping together for warmth?"

"I told you before. We're only allies working together for our own individual goal. Any companionship is not to be included in our little pact, and besides you'll be fine with your own body heat. Now that I think about it, we don't even need to be working together anymore since we've escaped from your kingdom. So where's this friend of yours? Aren't you supposed to meet up with her and leave me?"

At the end of his speech, he had already finished with his own crater and settled down in it to sleep. Aurora now read Kyuso's mood to be cold like the snow around them which seemed like a dramatic switch from the warm, happy mood she had read earlier from him.

"Um, I need to take the truck into the city just like you; it's how I always sneak away from the castle to meet up with her."

"Fine, but don't expect me to be cuddling up next to you while we're still traveling together."

After that, Kyuso closed his eyes to fall asleep. Aurora meanwhile still hadn't moved from when she stopped to talk with Kyuso and was paying the price for it now. She stood shivering after not moving for a while, and her body had gotten stiff to the cold. Her body had gotten cold fast from inactivity and she felt like curling up as tight as she could. She tried to reach her paw across to push away more snow but the icy air cooled her exposed side so fast that she had to retreat her paw.

I guess the blood rush from our sprint earlier is gone now.

The wind was picking up so she tried to think up something quick. Maybe she'd sleep in a bush for tonight. She found a bush close by that looked like it could fit her and started to move in but stopped. The bush was heavily covered with snow, no way was she going to waste time ruffling all of it out. Maybe she could just jump into it really quick. Nope, the loosely hanging snow just fell and froze her whenever she caused it to move. She was really freezing now so she went back to her previous crater to finish digging it out. Unfortunately, the wind picked up some snow that filled her crater somewhat. She was really shivering now and in a last desperate attempt, she tried to lay down in her crater and swipe the snow away with her tail.

Stupid snow. Stupid Kyuso and his dumb tough-guy attitude. I'm gonna freeze my tail off out here.

Seeing that she was getting nowhere fast, Aurora was about to start begging to Arceus for her to live until Kyuso was suddenly by her side. Without a word, he helped Aurora to her feet and took her to his now-empty crater. He lowered her into it, ran to her crater, and started digging. Kyuso's heat still lingered inside the crater, and Aurora snuggled into its warmth. She gave a grateful smile to him, but his back was turned to her, purposely it seemed. When he settled down into the newly dug crater he kept his back to her and Aurora felt a cloud of silent fury and rage from him that was directed at his own self. Before she fell asleep, Aurora wondered just what he did to make him hate so badly. Surely it couldn't have been that bad could it?

...

No way. No way I just did that right? I must have just imagined it.

Kyuso had settled into his newly dug crater and although it took a while for his body heat to make things comfortable, it wasn't the cold that was the problem. He had just given his crater to Aurora. He did an act of kindness for her. He was dreaming. He had to have been. He was mostly angry with himself for doing it, but he also blamed the weather. He told her and himself that there was going to be no 'buddy-buddy' actions between the two of them. So why did he do something like that?

I must have just felt guilty about leaving her in the cold like that. We're still allies, nothing more. Just allies. If I'd let her freeze out here, it would have been just as bad as doing again. And then I'd never be able to go home.

Kyuso tried to fall asleep, but his mind was busy thinking about the whole thing. He actually felt pity for her. If he kept thinking like that then it would just be a replay of last week all over again. He decided that he needed some air so he got up and went for a walk in the forest. The cool air didn't even faze him, but the icy snow kept his feet moving for warmth. The feeling was nice and helped to take his mind away from all the drama in his head. After a couple of minutes, he started to head back to Aurora, but stopped when he heard heavy footsteps coming from deeper in the forest. They were really loud like a stampede and were coming closer to him by the second. He hid behind a tree's shadow and waited until he could see the source of the stampede. In a few seconds, he saw the source and rushed back to camp as fast he could to get Aurora.

...

"Aurora, wake up right now!"

"Uhhwha? *YAWN* what's going o-"

"Shh, Not so loud! We got to get away from here as fast as we can right now. Here, I'll help you up."

After Aurora fully awoke from her drowsy state, Kyuso let go of her so that she could run by herself. She also put her face to the snow to help her wake up faster. The two ran through the human-populated town without a problem since everyone in it was asleep at this time.

"What about the truck?" Aurora asked.

"Keep moving!"

Kyuso took occasional turns that Aurora guessed were meant to ditch whoever or whatever was chasing them. When the two reached the edge of the town, Kyuso led them to a road that looked like it came from town which they ran down away from the town, and after it was gone from their sight, he took them off-road into the trees. The two jumped behind trees to catch their breaths. Then Aurora totally blew up.

"Alright, what the heck?! Who or what was so dangerous to be chasing us for you to not even talk to me? And what about the truck? How else are we going to get to the city without sneaking onto it?"

"Come with me, I'll show you exactly what was after us."

Kyuso led Aurora up to the top of a tall hill so that they could spy on the town. What Aurora saw amazed her. She couldn't believe seeing all the Aggron Guards and Skarmory scouts around one little town. There were so many of them. There were too many of them. She had no idea how they had tracked her and Kyuso so quickly but she knew that their plan on taking the truck was now thrown right out the window.

"How did they track us so quick?" she asked.

Kyuso already had an answer ready "The Skarmory must have managed to catch a glimpse of us right before we went into the forest. We're just lucky right now that we got away before they caught us napping."

"So what now? Without the truck we'll probably have to walk all the way to the city."

"We'll still be taking the truck."

"How are going to do that?! There are so many guards that it'll be impossible to sneak back into the town. And something tells me that they'll be staying there till dawn."

"We're not going to sneak into town for the truck. We're going to wait for it."

...

It was morning and just like Kyuso said, Aurora saw the truck coming down the road they slept by the previous night.

"It's coming. Get ready to go!" she told him.

The plan was to drop a tree into the road so that the driver would stop the truck long enough for Aurora and Kyuso to sneak onboard. The tree couldn't be too big of a problem so the driver could continue onto the city. Also, the tree had to be placed the previous night because if the driver noticed the freshly disturbed dirt, he would get suspicious of their sabotage. Totaling together all the time Aurora and Kyuso spent awake last night, they had escaped Aurora's kingdom, spent themselves on a 10 minute race, had to escape a second time from the kingdom's guards, and spent another hour hacking away at a tree for it to finally fall. Having no clock, they didn't know how long they stayed up for, but they were ready to collapse as soon as they got onto the truck.

For once, things went without a hitch for Kyuso. The old man got out of the truck completely unaware of sabotage and instead blamed the winter weather. He popped out a Poké Ball for his Gurdurr to remove the tree. Kyuso and Aurora both sneaked into the back of the truck undetected. They got an hour rest before arriving in the city where he had first hitched a ride from the old man, and where Aurora went to visit with her friend. The truck shook sometimes and the hard metal wasn't the 'most comfortable bed in the world', but after a long night, the two slept like Geodude. The only thing that upset Kyuso was that when he fell asleep, he and Aurora were at opposite ends of the truck; when he woke up (thankfully before Aurora did), he found her cuddled over his shoulder.

Shit. It's already started.

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon but I do own Homeward and its characters.

Homeward

Ch. 10

December 28

Kyuso gently slipped out from underneath Aurora, crawled to the other side off the truck, and checked where they were. They were at a street corner. He saw the Pokémon Center where his hunters had gone after they had captured him, and found the snowy hill where he rolled down. Deciding to not take pity on himself like some weakling, he woke Aurora so that they could get off the truck. He didn't want to get lost in this big city.

Aurora awoke "Uhhwha? Are we there yet?"

"Yep we're here. Let's get off over here while I still know where we are in this city."

"Hey wait...weren't you sleeping here and wasn't I sleeping over there?"

"No! You must have imagined it..."

"Hmm, okay. We were really tired after all." That's strange. I could have sworn I slept on the right side and Kyuso slept on the left. And why did he freak out for a sec?

The two jumped off the truck while it was still at a rest and landed on the sidewalk. Wasting no time in trying to get rid off Aurora, Kyuso faced her and finally asked the big question.

"Alright, where's this friend of yours supposed to be?" You said she lived here didn't you?"

"Actually...I said that I planned on meeting her here. I didn't really...er...well...say that she lives here."

"So what are you saying?"

"I have no idea where she lives."

"..."

"Uh...sorry Kyuso."

"You know, it's a real shame that I can't yell at a cute girl like you within a populated city."

Aurora saw this as her chance to disarm him and turned her shoulder "You think I'm cute?"

"Don't you dare try to charm your way out of this!"

"Sorry." her shoulders dropped.

"I should've left you back at the castle."

"Hey, you never even would've gotten out of that castle if it wasn't for me!"

"Well since you lied to me, this is where we're going to part ways 'comrade'. See ya."

"Don't count on it you ungrateful jerk!"

...

Kuso and Aurora went down opposite ends of the sidewalk. Aurora was trying to get mad but felt a little guilty for not mentioning earlier that she had no idea where Frost lived. She had to though otherwise she would have never been able to leave the kingdom. Kyuso was her window of opportunity and she sure wasn't going to just stay at home to be married off for the benefit for her kingdom just because she was a little too wild. Also, this was her chance to prove that she was not as helpless as everyone treated her back home.

He left me just like that! Fine, who needs someone like him anyway? I know this city well enough to make it on my own.

When she went around the corner of a windowless, brick building, an Ampharos blocked her path and smirked at her. She ignored him and tried to go around him but then a Heliolisk blocked her from the side. When she tried to turn back, she bumped into a Raichu who looked at her with a hungry look on his face which reminded her of her nightmare of Voltar the previous night. The trio backed her into the brick so that now she was surrounded.

The Heliolisk was obviously the leader as he came closer to her "Well aren't you a fine piece of ass in our city little Espeon."

"Get the hell away from me you creeps!" Aurora posed defensively, but there was simply not enough room for her to maneuver.

"You know what girl?" the Heliolisk was two feet away from her now "You're a lot more hot compared to the other girls in our city that we enlighten. So where are you from?"

"I don't tell trash like you anything!" Aurora prepared her Psybeam at the advancing Heliolisk.

The Heliolisk and his 'pals' were ready for her. The Raichu paralyzed her instantly with Thunder Wave, the Ampharos used Confuse Ray, and the Heliolisk used Eerie Impulse. Through it all Aurora still managed to fire off her Psybeam that she suspected would be her only attack in this fight. Her Psybeam's power was hugely weakened thanks to the Heliolisk's Eerie Impulse, but the attack still sent him flying into the middle of the empty street.

The Heliolisk looked like he wasn't hurt too badly though, dusted himself off, and laughed "*Howl*! We got a fighter here boys! I'm gonna enjoy this tasty lady to the last drop."

No. Not like this! I thought it couldn't get any worse than an arranged marriage, but that's a walk in the park compared to this! No. Don't. Stay back!

Aurora couldn't get up from the paralysis and even if she did she was sure that she'd fall back down as she watched the gang of three multiply into a gang of six, then nine, then twelve, then too many! They were all really close to her now or were they actually farther? She couldn't tell. All she knew was that she had to fight till the very end and to never give into these Pokémon.

The Raichu and Ampharos had just grabbed her forelegs when someone behind the Raichu shouted.

"Get your hands off her you horny corpses."

...

Kyuso was all too glad when he and Aurora split up. He loved it when she called him an "ungrateful jerk"; it only served to make her hate him more. He had a feeling that the situation was heading toward that all over again, but how Aurora had crawled onto him in their sleep only proved his theory. It was for the best, because whatever mess she could get into by herself, he'd bet his life that nothing was worse than that. So why'd he go back to her when he heard the Psybeam, he'd never know.

...

The Raichu turned to face Kyuso "Get the hell out of here you punk, before we make you."

"Let go of her before this punk beats the shit out of you."

"I got this brat guys." the Ampharos released Aurora's right foreleg and went around the Raichu to get between him and Kyuso.

"So you feel like a big shot today do you? Got the balls to fight us all on your own like some kind of hero?"

"I do feel like a big shot" Kyuso replied "but I am no hero. Not even CLOSE!"

Kyuso burst forward with a Feint Attack to the stomach so fast that the Ampharos doubled over and exposed his head. Then, Kyuso gave an Assurance uppercut to the Ampharos's jaw which knocked him out. Then, Kyuso mounted the unconciouss Ampharos and slammed down a second Assurance to his face to both intimidate and enrage his friends into attacking.

The Raichu dropped Aurora's left foreleg and charged at Kyuso with a bloodthirsty scream. Kyuso saw that the Raichu didn't even prepare an attack when he charged him and knew that his intimidation had worked; the Raichu had no real intention of attacking him. Kyuso didn't blame him though; stealth and fear were an Umbreon's specialty. Sure enough, the Raichu's charge hesitated as he drew closer to the defensive Kyuso and when he did, Kyuso feigned a step to his left which stopped the Raichu entirely and made him guard his right. Kyuso then quickly rushed to the Raichu's unguarded left, hugged his shoulders so that he couldn't defend, and used Screech directly into the Raichu's left ear. When Kyuso released him and pushed him away, he didn't resist at all and his body tipped over and fell over the ground.

Kuso looked around for the Heliolisk, but he was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, he felt weight, that wasn't as heavy as him, on his shoulders that slammed him down to the ground. He looked up and saw that the weight was the Heliolisk who snuck away during the fight to get in a sneak attack.

He must have jumped down on me from above!

"Not so fast now that your pinned on your back huh you little bastard!"

The Heliolisk used Parabolic Charge while Kyuso was down. He couldn't move and had to take the hit. He was an Umbreon though so his natural defenses allowed him to absorb much of the damage, but he wasn't invincible. Given enough time, the Heliolisk would steal all of his energy for his own. Kyuso had to think his way out fast, but it was hard when he was being zapped with leeching electricity on his back. He was beginning to feel faint when the Heliolisk's Parabolic Charge stopped all of a sudden and the Heliolisk himself started to fly with a surprised look on his face. Then, the Heliolisk slammed straight into the ground, rose up, slammed into the ground again, flew up again, and repeated this two more times. He was KO'd on the 4th slam, but he got slammed one more time for a total of five slams, before he was hurled onto the sidewalk across the street.

That was a Psychic that knocked him out. Then that must mean...

Kyuso got up and half turned half spun around to see Aurora on her feet looking at the Heliolisk with the satisfied look of vengeance. Her look completely changed into a worrisome one when she saw Kyuso tip over from trying to get up too quickly. She went over to him, helped him to his feet, scanned his health, and read that his life presence was small. Just how much of his energy had the Heliolisk taken?

"Are you alright you amazing dumbass?" She smiled and hoped that he would make a joke, smile back, or do anything that would lighten the mood of the mess they were in.

She read his emotion and saw that it was conflicted between two options. Just when she read that he was starting to favor one option, he switched all of a sudden to the other option and she read that his emotion was a 'ah what the hell' kind of one.

"You're too cute for...it to be healthy...Thirty seconds...I was gone for thirty...and you...*HUFF HUFF HUFF*..."

She decided to take advantage of his tired state and smirked "I knew you thought I was cute."

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, but I do own Homeward and its characters.

Homeward

Ch. 11

December 28

"We need to get you healed from that Parabolic Charge you took. I don't know how long that Heliolisk had hit you for but you're not looking so hot."

Aurora walked down the sidewalk by Kyuso and made sure to support him if he started to fall. For his sake, they walked at a slow pace so that his legs wouldn't trip over themselves. She would've asked if he wanted her to carry him using Psychic, but history told her that even if he wasn't a Dark type, which was immune to all Psychic attacks, he would've declined her offer. So they walked slowly down the street. Though Kyuso seemed like he knew where he was going.

"I'm fine. Just need to go slow and rest. Over there."

Aurora looked to where Kyuso mentioned as they rounded a corner and she saw a Pokémon Center.

"No! No way we're going there!" she stopped walking immediately.

"Why? What's the problem?" Kyuso looked at her with worry.

"The problem is that humans...humans...I-I don't know. I don't know what the problem is. Sorry. Reflex. If you think we should go then we'll go" the two resumed walking.

"...Your parents must really hate humans huh?"

"*SIGH* Yeah. I tried to ask them why but every time I ask my mother she just changes the topic. With my dad, he just gets mad really fast for some reason. I guess their belief about humans influenced mine. I don't know what Crystal thinks though."

"Crystal?"

"Sorry. Crystal is my Glaceon sister. We're fraternal twins, but I was born first so I had to learn the princess life while she got to live it...Again, sorry! We've just met and I don't know why I'm talking to you about my family life. I guess I just like to ramble on don't I?"

"...It's okay. Even if we have just met, we've gone through a lot of crap together in the last 24 hours. It's alright if you want to talk about your life when you're scared. Those jerks must have shaken you up pretty hard."

"I wasn't scared of those pervs! But thanks for being cool with me Kyuso. You wanna...I don't know...talk about your family?"

"NO." Kyuso suddenly got defensive and his sudden movement made him trip.

Aurora caught him but he shrugged her off "Jeez, I'm sorry I asked!"

"No, I'm sorry. It's only fair after you said something about your family that I say something too...I have a younger Eevee brother, Jun, and when I get back home, I will see him again."

...

When the two went into the Pokémon Center, there were no trainers there, which was good. Kyuso explained how his hunters disguised themselves and brought their Pokémon to the Pokémon Center to be healed in record time. Aurora and Kyuso learned that there were only two staff members who worked in this Pokémon Center: a Chansey who, like all other members of its species, was female, amazingly kind, and had a voice that was as pure as honey, and a human who went by the name Nurse Joy and mirrored her Chansey's character. Both of them reminded Aurora of her castle's head nurse, Sunny, and Kyuso wondered if the Chansey and the human nurse managed the whole Pokémon Center by themselves. Nurse Joy and the Chansey didn't even question the random Umbreon and Espeon that entered the building but instead gave them both a treatment (even though Aurora wasn't really hurt), and Pokémon food that sated Kyuso who was operating on just a loaf of bread, and Aurora who had overcome the urge to collapse with only half a bowl of soup. Both hadn't realized how long it was since their last meal and quickly learned that from now on they should eat whenever they could since it could a while before their next meal.

"Hey, if she's Nurse Joy" Aurora asked the Chansey "then what's your name?"

"Chansey" the Chansey answered.

"Yeah, I can see that you're a Chansey, but what's your name?"

"Chansey" the Chansey repeated.

"Okay I get it, but can you please tell me your name?"

"Chansey" the Chansey's cheery mood hadn't dimmed in the slightest.

Kyuso stayed silent and resisted the urge to laugh.

"Alright already, you're a Chansey, congratulations! But tell me your name already!" Aurora was furious. How dare this Chansey mock her, and why wasn't Kyuso helping her?

"Chansey" the Chansey said again and walked away.

"What the heck?! I-I can't..." Aurora turned to Kyuso who had silently doubled over "Can you believe her?"

Kyuso lost it "Ahahahahahahaha!"

Aurora blushed "What? What is it? Be serious!"

Kyuso managed to control himself and answered "You don't watch much T.V. do you?"

"Shut up."

...

Kyuso and Aurora left the Pokémon Center in about an hour after they went in. Aurora couldn't believe how a random human nurse just cared for them and fed them for free.

I guess humans aren't as bad as mother and father make them seem.

"Hey Aurora, stop daydreaming and hurry up or I'll leave you again!"

"I'm coming, wait up!"

...

Kyuso led them through the city from pure memory of his last visit from the back of the hunters' truck.

"So why did you come back for me?" Aurora asked Kyuso as they walked.

"Uh...w-well I...I guess I thought you might still be useful to have around."

"Liar. You totally thought your 'knight in shining armor' act would get me to have the hots for you."

"No way. You're being delusional and desperation reeks off of you" it was his turn to blush. Damn. It's completely unfair how she can lie to me but I can't lie to her.

"I heard that."

"Arceus, can't I have a little privacy in my own head!"

"So was that really the reason why you came back for me or what?"

Kyuso sighed and stopped walking "I told you. I'm a traitor to others and history shows that in desperate moments, I would turn my back on my friends just to save my own ass. I honestly don't know why I didn't just leave you, but I'm guessing that SUPER deep down, maybe I did want to be a hero for once...But then again, there's the possibility that I may be lying again just to wear down your defenses, so as advice, forget you ever even heard this from me okay?"

"You're not lying to me now Kyuso. I know for a fact that you're not."

"...Let's just keep moving okay?"

VROOOOOM

The two of them thought that the roar of the truck was just a typical city truck so they allowed it to pass them. A second after it passed them though, the truck suddenly screeched to a stop and then drove backward so that it reached next to Kyuso. He thought this was strange so he looked up into the truck's window and was face to face with the Pokémon hunter, Max. Behind him, Kyuso saw his partner Pat at the wheel. The three of them stayed in that frozen state, while Aurora just blinked and watched the three in their staring contest. She didn't know what else to do and didn't want to be rude breaking the silence so she read the emotions of all three. She read that the two humans in the car felt a mixture of disbelief and excitement so she guessed that they were friends of Kyuso. That was until she read his emotions and although his disbelief was just as big as theirs, it was accompanied by an aura of dread.

"Son of a b****. Is that him? I think it's him." Pat said.

"What'd I tell you man? Just wait till he comes back to retrace his steps and he'll come to us." Max said.

No Kyuso thought. No. No. No no no. NO! This can't be happening to me. I-I-

"Let's nab 'im!" Max shot out of the truck and grabbed for Kyuso's neck.

Kyuso leapt out of the way, just barely dodging Max's grip, but fell over Aurora.

"RUN!" he told her.

The two of them sprinted back the way they came as fast they could, but they knew they would never outrun the hunters.

"Max, get back in the truck and let's go!"

This wasn't a friendly race in the woods anymore; this was a race for their lives. The sidewalk was slick with leftover snow, but they didn't care and just ran even faster. Not many people or Pokémon were in the street, but Aurora still called out directions for Kyuso and her to head to in order to dodge around the pedestrians' initial reflexes for getting out of the way.

"Right! Right! Jump left! Right! Jump!"

Some humans tripped to the side while some Pokémon got in front of their owners to defend them; either way, the two of them couldn't afford a single trip or the hunters would catch up to them. Already, the hunters were catching up to them and were at the moment only 100 feet behind them.

"Hahaha, look at him run! He's ours now!"

Kyuso headed off course from his memory trail and headed diagonally through a snow-covered park filled with children playing with sleds and snowballs.

Kyuso smiled "They'll have to go around. No way will they go-"

"AHHHHHHHH!"

"Mommy!"

"Everyone get out of the way!"

Kyuso looked back and saw the truck still after them, but not around the park as he guessed. No, the truck was still heading straight for them, its speed barely dropped from the snow for the many families of people and Pokémon.

They went through the swing sets and slides to slow down the truck. Kyuso heard the terrified screams but his legs wouldn't stop running All he cared about was saving his own life. Nothing else mattered. Not the children. Not the Pokémon. Not the families who would be forever broken in spirit with a single death. Not even Aurora who was running for her life as well right alongside him. They don't care whether they kill anyone, even children. I've just damned everyone in this park and I'm running away. I've condemned the innocent to death again. What the hell is wrong with me!

Somehow through the overwhelming fear, Kyuso remembered that he swore to never come back home if he allowed this to happen again. He dodged left so that Aurora could run past him without ramming into him, and he turned around to face the hunters.

"Ah! Kyuso what are you doing? Run!" Aurora called from behind.

He tuned everything out and closed his eyes. Tuned out the truck, the screams, Aurora, everything. He had to calm down and think quickly, even though the truck would probably hit him in about 5 seconds. How could he stop the truck and save everyone? The problem was the truck. He was the tool. He could fix this. Feint Attack? What, was he going to punch a truck coming at him at 30 mph? Nope. Assurance? Again no, same outcome. That left Confuse Ray and Screech. He could've confused Pat with Confuse Ray if it wasn't for the windshield, but maybe...

He dropped down to the snow, aimed for the truck's windshield, and used Screech.

Kyuso's Screech was so powerful that the snow from the ground, like he hoped it would, picked up and splashed across the truck's windshield. Not only that, the truck's windshield cracked too. The sudden blindness surprised Pat, and he stepped on the brakes. Kyuso jumped to the side to avoid the incoming truck, but he was too late and his left hind leg got hit by the truck. He crashed into the cold, white snow which was rapidly turning warm and red from the blood that spilled out from his leg. He screamed in pain. Pain was good because that meant his leg wasn't broken, but this was pure agony. He clutched at his leg and begged Arceus to put him out of his misery. His vision blurred from tears as if he was looking underwater. Both the roar of the truck and the screaming in the park started to quiet down at the sound of a loud crash. He heard rapid snow crunching behind him getting closer and he started to panic.

That's Max and Pat. I gotta go now! Ohgodohgodohgod!

He started crawling across the snow, ignoring the pain as best as he could. When the sound of crunching snow was right behind him, he spun and swiped at his pursuers with a Feint Attack.

"Just leave me alone damn it!"

"Hey, it's me!"

Aurora jumped back from his attack. Thankfully for her, he was hurt so his attack was slow and weak. Kyuso moved his injured leg when he attacked so he groaned in pain and clutched at his leg again.

"Are you okay? What hurts? Do you need help?" Aurora shot out.

It took a while for him to reply "How's Max and Pat? Are they still alive?"

"You mean your Pokémon hunters that tried to run you over? They've hit a tree and are banged up pretty bad...But yeah, they're still alive."

"Damn. Okay, help me up. I'd kill those two now while I've got a chance, but there's no many witnesses and I've hurt my leg. We've got to move and lose them for now."

"Should you be moving? I mean you just got hit by a truck and you're bleeding out really bad-"

Kyuso growled and grabbed Aurora "We move NOW!"

Aurora stared Kyuso down for a while and then finally agreed with him. She went to his left side to support his injured leg and they started to limp out of the park.

Did he just tell me that he would've killed them?

 

I don't know if this is going to be a set pace: 3 story chapters, one past chapter, repeat. But it would make things more organized I guess. Anyway, here's Ch. 12 of Homeward.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, but I do own Homeward and its characters.

Homeward

Ch. 12

December 19 [6 days before Christmas]

Kyuso had left the Professor Mason's lab with nothing. No food. No water. Nothing at all. He was kicked out after a serious yelling from a furious Mason. Even his 'family', if he could still call them that, just stood by and did nothing but glare at him. The loudness of Mason's lecture even woke Jun up. When he heard that Kyuso was "taking a long trip away from home", he wanted to go with his big brother. Everyone disagreed, even Kyuso. He wouldn't have Jun traveling outside with no one but a rebellious brother, especially when Jun was fine at the lab with protection, food, and a safe place to sleep. So Kyuso said a hasty goodbye to Jun and went for the door. Before he left, he whispered to his best friend and 'brother', Ray the Kadabra, to take care of Jun to which Ray promised that he would.

Ray wasn't Kyuso's real brother. Nobody (except Jun) in the lab was Kyuso's real family, but they all lived together and loved each other (mostly) to the point where they could've been seen as a real family, although Professor Mason was obviously the exception in this case.

Ray was Kyuso's 'oldest brother' and an adult. They related fairly well and he was always up for a talk with Kyuso whenever Kyuso wanted one. The flip side was that he was mostly busy alongside Mason as Mason's personal assistant so Kyuso rarely got any time with him at all. Like Jun, Ray got along with everyone and anyone, even Luna.

Luna was Kyuso's 'older sister' at 17, and she was an Umbreon. Kyuso and Jun were first taken in by Mason when Jun was just a baby, and when Kyuso was so young that he could practically be called a baby as well. After all this time, the relationship between Luna and Kyuso only worsened, even though they were so alike in so many ways. In fact, their similarities seemed like the things that Luna hated the most about Kyuso. For some reason though, she seemed to adore Jun like how a real, loving sister should. When she saw Kyuso come home as an Umbreon, she spited him even worse than before. Now, she teased him cruelly as he left Mason's laboratory.

Jun was Kyuso's younger brother, but Flick, a Vulpix, was Kyuso's 'youngest brother'. Flick was always full of energy just like Jun which was good for Kyuso. That meant Jun had someone to play with while Kyuso could do his own things. Kyuso didn't know much about him since he spent much of his time with Jun. Although one time, Kyuso heard him say that his favorite ice-cream flavor was vanilla. Other than that, Kyuso knew nothing about him.

Kyuso left the lab when it was midnight so technically it was the next day, but it was still dark as dark could be even with the full moon. The only thing that bothered him was the chill December weather. Being an Umbreon, the darkness was no problem for him so when he was far enough from the lab, he looked back. Nobody could see him in the dark so he saw them still standing in front of the lab. He forgot about Luna though and she gave him one last sneer, which she knew he would catch, before he finally turned his back on them all and left.

I'll be back one day for you Jun. When I'm old enough to take care of us both, I swear I'll come back for you.

...

It was now early morning and Kyuso got up from the base of the tree he chose to sleep at. It wasn't the most comfortable of sleeping choices in a forest but it was the quickest so after ten miles, Kyuso decided to stop for the night. Now he was thirsty and hungry since he left home last night without dinner. He left the path he was taking and went into the trees to see if he could find any food.

Wow, that has got to be some crazy kind of luck or something.

After one minute of searching, he found a single Leppa Berry, his favorite kind, in a bush. Also, behind the bush there was a river that ran slowly away from the path he was taking. He went for the berry but a Fletchinder came out of nowhere and swiped it first with its beak. Kyuso was already tired, and being new to the whole traveling business he thought he could find plenty more food elsewhere so he left the Fletchinder alone and went for a drink. At the river, he bent down to take a drink but a bright orange flash shot out of the water right below him and sent him flying back to the bush.

Kyuso sputtered out water before he spoke "Alright who's there and what's your deal?"

The river remained calm for a full three seconds before five orange shapes with crowns surfaced out of the water dramatically.

What the Magikarp? I got knocked back by Magikarp? You've got to be kidding.

The Magikarp in the middle spoke in a deep voice that was obviously forced "Who dares to violate upon our river? Speak fool!"

Yeah, like I needed your freaking permission to speak "Cool it man. I'm just here to get a drink from the river, not violate it."

"Thou lie through his teeth. I have never heard from such a blacker tongue!"

His friends agreed simultaneously "Nor we!"

Kyuso got up on his feet "Okay first of all, stop with all the 'thou' and 'nor' crap, it's annoying the heck out of me. Second, what's your problem with me? I didn't do anything to you."

"Thou did not commit evil upon us, but thou presence reeks evil through its pores."

"I'm going on a guess that you just insulted me, but I'm still parched so I'm getting that drink one way or another."

"I shall defend this river with all mine strength against evil in any form."

What is he talking about me being evil? If he's talking about Dark types in general, that's prejudice. "I don't want to fight you and your groupies. It wouldn't be fair."

Immediately, Kyuso realized his mistake "Oh thou think us as weaklings does he? Men, assume cannon formation!"

"Nonono I'm sorry man I didn't mean it I just-"

The Magikarp ignored him and what he saw next amazed him. The two Magikarp at the middle Magikarp's sides stuck themselves to him. Then the two at the ends threw all three of them into the air. At the peak of their incline, the two midair Magikarp spun and slapped the middle Magikarp from behind so that he flew at Kyuso like a rocket. Kyuso was too stunned to believe what he was seeing to move. How were Magikarp capable of this? The flying Magikarp crossed the distance between him and Kyuso in less than a second, kamikazed Kyuso, and backflipped seven times before landing back in the river perfectly. Kyuso would've given him a perfect 10 if he even saw it all. All he witnessed was a Magikarp flying and then he was suddenly on his back on the ground, the air knocked out of him.

"Ha! Do thou submit to us already?"

Kyuso lay on the ground for a long while to get his breath back before he rose back up "Alright, now I'm pissed off."

He ran at the river and prepared for another shot. Sure enough, the Magikarp repeated their "cannon formation" but this time Kyuso was ready. When they fired, he crouched into a defensive position and took the hit. As an Eevee, he would have been blasted back to the bush, but he was now an Umbreon so he only got pushed back two feet. Before they could reload, he sprinted and jumped for the water but a Magikarp at the end saw him and used Tackle. Kyuso meant to use Swift to shoot the Magikarp down, even though he was exhausted, but instead used Confuse Ray. His new attack caused the Magikarp to lose focus and harmlessly bump into Kyuso with one shot.

Did I just use a new move? Awesome!

Kyuso closed his eyes, dived into the cold river, and literally drank in his victory. The river felt freezing at first so he curled up, but the cold water tasted amazing in his dry mouth so he relaxed after going used to the cold water. He just went limp and enjoyed the refreshing feeling on his body.

"Enjoy the water for it shall be the last thing thou feels demon!"

Kyuso opened his eyes and saw the five Magikarp charging for him all at once. He was in their territory so they all used Tackle and charged at him.

Crap, I should've gotten out while I could!

Kyuso tried using his new Confuse Ray at the leader Magikarp but since they were in the water he easily dodged it. The Magikarp went back and forth around Kyuso repeating their Tackle attacks and knocking more and more breath out of Kyuso. He swam for the surface but two Magikarp bit at his hind legs and dragged him back down. The other three kept bashing away at him with Tackle attacks, while Kyuso pounded at the two Magikarp that held him. Since he wasn't a Water type though, his punches were slowed underwater, and the two Magikarp didn't let go of him. He kept trying to swim upward, but knew it was no use; you just couldn't compete against a Water type when it came to swimming unless you were one yourself. His muscles failing, Kyuso felt like his chest was going to explode if he didn't get air soon, and the barrage of Tackle attacks he took were only speeding up the process.

He was starting to see spots in his vision when suddenly the two Magikarp holding his legs released him. He felt something wrap itself around his chest and pull him backward away from the Magikarp. Although he was glad to be getting away from the Magikarp, he still needed to surface for air. "Air" he tried to choke out to whatever was pulling him, but it still only pulled him away from the Magikarp. The Magikarp weren't fast enough though but he saw that they were still pursuing him. He went further down the river to a section that was more populated and every now and then the thing that held him would take him behind different Water type Pokémon to lose the Magikarp. Kyuso was done for. Whatever breath he had left was now all used up and he started to black out. His last thought before he passed out was how stupid he was to trade his life for a drink of water.

...

CHOKE CHOKE GASP

"Sir...no......twelve hours..."

Kyuso choked out water when he felt a foot stomp his chest. For some reason he couldn't move his limbs. He instinctively tried to roll over to his side to spit out the remaining water, but the foot kept him firmly on his back. He did his best to curl up his head and retch out the river, and after some more retches he had gotten out enough water to feel slightly better. He collapsed on his back and went limp. The sunlight was directly above him and warmed him a little from the freezing water on his body. There was talking around him but he barely heard it. What he did hear came in parts so he couldn't get the full conversation.

Behind him, the deep, clear voice was obviously human "On the trail to the west...subject K133 in the water...yes sir."

To his side there was more silent chatter between what he made out to be a Charizard and Flygon.

"...2 minutes..."

"...generous...50 seconds..."

He looked down and saw that he was tied up in a rope from his tail to his neck. Above him, a Greninja was the one who kept him from rolling over.

"Good morning. Did you have a nice swim?" the Greninja mocked him.

"W-who are you guys, and w-why am I t-tied up?" Kyuso asked.

"Well I'm the one who saved your sorry ass from drowning so you better behave yourself. As for why you're tied up, it's for our protection. We have no idea who you are so this should ensure your cooperation."

"Stop lying to the kid's face man" the Flygon said as both he and the Charizard walked over to Kyuso "Just tell him he's gonna die. I like the scared, scrawny ones; they make for a hell of a show."

Kyuso was fully alert now "D-d-die?! How-what-what are you talking ab-b-bout? Who are you g-guys really?"

"There, that's the face of terror I love!" the Flygon soared.

The Charizard explained to Kyuso with a dark smile "Our humans are Pokémon hunters so I guess you could call us PokémonPokémon hunters, Umbreon. Lucky for us, you just happened to be our catch of the day. As for dying we're taking you to a cozy little place we call the Pit."

I know I don't ask for reviews or anything, but anything, even a 1-5 rating of how you like the story so far would be great. Just so I know what your thoughts are on this story. Thanks for reading the 12th chapter of Homeward.

 

Sorry, I know I've missed last week's update, but I've been busy the week before Spring Break. I'm going to take the time this Spring Break to catch up with the update I missed though. Hopefully, I'll have written another two good chapters by then. To make up for it in advance, I've made this chapter extra long so enjoy Ch. 13 of Homeward.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, but I do own Homeward and its characters.

Homeward

Ch. 13

December 28 [Present Day]

Kyuso and Aurora made slow progress away from the hunters. Not only did Aurora have to support his left leg, but he also asked her if she could use Psychic to pick up his dripping blood so that they wouldn't leave a trail for the hunters to follow. They were both lost because of the chase and couldn't even find the Pokémon Center again, so they just went anywhere as long as it led away from the hunters. By the time the hunters came to, the huge crowd of witnesses made them take longer to leave the park so that when they tried to get away, the police had already sighted them and were able to give pursuit. Meanwhile, Kyuso and Aurora were still traveling (more like limping) by foot and the double effort tired out Aurora twice as fast so that they both needed to take a break every once in a while. Later, she tried her to hold some snow around Kyuso's leg to keep him from bleeding out, but her fatigue kept causing the snow cast to break slowly apart.

It happened again. Damnit!

Aurora immediately sensed Kyuso's fury "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

She knew he was lying but decided not to call him on it.

Well, it didn't actually happen. It only almost happened. I can still go home...

...

After about an hour, they reached the slums of the city and found an abandoned, 3-story building to take cover in. Aurora tossed the floating ball of snow and blood to the side and blasted the door open after two Psybeam shots. They decided to stay here till the next day for Kyuso to heal and went into a room at a corner of the first floor. Aurora searched the building for anything or anyone and came back to him five minutes later with a few medical supplies hovering behind her. She set them down and started focusing on his leg.

"I found a few things while I was up there. It looks like this was an old HQ for a gang or something. There's graffiti all over the walls on the third floor too."

"Thanks I guess."

"Mm hm."

"Hey, why are you even helping me? Don't you feel like you'd be better off without me? I know you just got jumped as soon as we came into this city, but my luck is worse beyond belief. Just look at me, I've had to get fixed up twice in the same day now! If you continue to help me, I won't be the only one getting hurt."

"Well you did help me escape my home so I guess it's only fair if I help you return to yours."

"Still, you shouldn't do this if you don't want to."

"What made you think that I don't want to help my friends?"

"First of all, we are not friends. Second, you've already been jumped by a gang and chased by Max and Pat, and we haven't even been in this city for a half a day. You really shouldn't get involved with me. I've gotten into a lot of trouble in the past week..."

"What are you trying to say, that we should split up again? Kyuso this is just like our crappy argument we had two hours ago, which is also the reason why we're in this mess!"

"How does that work out?"

"We split up and got attacked. Then we spent time in a Pokémon Center long enough for Max and Pat to pass by us. Because of all that, you got hurt and now we're lost so stop trying to play the tough loner act! And what was that back there? You said that you'd kill those two if you could've! Where did that come from?"

"You don't know either them or me so quit pretending that you do."

"I'm not trying to act like I know you. I'm just-"

"Then stop interrogating me!"

"Fine, but if nothing else, at least trust me when it matters most. We have to cooperate if we want to live.""

After Aurora patched up Kyuso, they both checked the building for a second time to see if they could find food. On the third floor, they found several blood-encrusted handcuffs and burned keys that looked like they were used for interrogations. They also found a gallon of brownish water that they decided not to take a chance on. Other than a chain with a scratched up combination lock on the end that they found on the roof, there was nothing else that they found around the abandoned building. The two went back downstairs to the room they were in on the first floor. Aurora lay on the floor against a wall, so Kyuso took up a spot against the wall opposite from Aurora and looked down. She rolled her eyes at this, but he continued to space out staring at the space between his paws.

I'm so bored now. I can't believe we have to wait in here until tomorrow. I wonder what he's thinking so hard about...I'll just take a quick peak...

Aurora read his emotions and got feelings of anger mostly, but all that anger seemed to be hiding something. What was he hiding...was it...fear? Also, she could tell his mind became like a calculator; almost like he was planning something. Whatever he was planning, she would just have to be on her guard and be ready to act for when he made his move.

What could he be plotting? He wouldn't try to hurt me would he? No. No. Of course not, this is Kyuso I' m thinking about here! Still he didtry to get the drop on me as soon as my back was turned when we were leaving the castle. So what could he be thinking about? Hmm...definitely something that would benefit himself. Maybe he could be thinking about a plan of action for us for tomorrow morning? Just to be safe, I really should wait until he sleeps first. Even if he is an Umbreon, I can't allow myself to fall asleep first, but...

["You're too cute for...it to be healthy..."]

Argh! Now that I think about it, what was with that? He could have said anything but he said

["Hey wait...weren't you sleeping here and wasn't I sleeping over there?"]

["No! You must have imagined it..."]

It turned out okay after falling asleep next to him at that time. And if he doesn't like me, what kind of reaction was that?

"Hello? Earth to Aurora. Are you in a coma or something?"

"What?"

"I asked why you were staring at me."

Aurora hadn't realized that she was staring and turned away to hide her blush "N-Nothing, just thinking about what we're going to do tomorrow."

"Oh, I've already got that covered. We're going to wait until the afternoon, when many people are already out working or whatever, and then sneak away unseen by any witnesses."

"Oh, o-okay. Sure, we'll do that! Ehehe..." Phew, I don't think he pieced anything together, that would have been embarrassing. I guess he was thinking about our plan for tomorrow after all.

"Well, I'm going to rest up, goodnight." Crap, I just lied to Aurora! Still, she didn't call me out so she must have been super absorbed into whatever she was thinking about just now. That was too close.

Kyuso relaxed and closed his eyes to sleep.

This is the best for the both of us, even if she won't accept it. It's already started and I need to ditch her while ditching is still okay to do.

...

When it became night, Kyuso began his plan; his real plan that is. It was pretty much the same thing as the one he used back at Aurora's castle, the one where he ran for it when she fell asleep. Except this time, he told her that he was going to sleep early so that he could heal. While he got a good sleep and would awake more energized in the middle of the night, she would be tired from staying up all day, which he knew she would do from her distrust of him. He just had to sneak away and then he would get at least a 6 hours head start to run. By then, he would backtrack to the park, look around, find the Pokémon Center, make his way out of the city from his memory of going through it on his hunters' truck, and then return home to Jun.

He got up as quietly as he could, which wasn't easy because his leg was still sore from its injury.

Sorry Aurora, but I did warn you about me. Hope you make it on your own okay.

Kyuso lightly stepped out of the room and headed for the door that Aurora poorly leaned against the doorway. He slowly moved the door for a path just large enough for his body and slipped through. The whole process wasn't too difficult with his light and lanky build, and once he was outside he started going back toward the way he came from. He melted perfectly into the shadows created by the streetlamps and went toward the park. Pokémon were stronger and healed quicker than humans did, and Aurora did a pretty good job of patching up his leg being a Pokémon. Then again, when you had both psychic powers and a prehensile tail to grab things, human objects weren't that difficult to handle, even if you were a quadruped. Even so, it did sting quite a bit whenever he stepped with his left hind leg. It was hit by a truck after all, he was just glad it wasn't any more serious. Because of this, he could only walk slowly with a limp every time he stepped with his injured leg.

Just when he put about 100 meters between him and the abandoned building, he heard from behind his ear...

"I'm not falling for that old trick again you know."

He immediately froze in place; one, from the shock of being caught by Aurora at all, and two, so that he didn't hurt his leg any further. Instead, he let her walk in front of him coolly, so that she now blocked his way. He could see her scornful face clearly as if was daytime thanks to his night vision, but he doubted that anyone needed night vision to see the red gem on her forehead that seemed like it was glowing with hatred. Was she going to shoot him?

After a long, uncomfortable silence, she finally asked "Why?"

This shook Kyuso out of his daze and he regained himself bit "I told you before, it's better if-"

SLAM

Kyuso didn't even see her tackling him, she was just too close. The next thing he knew, he was laying on the ground with her on top of him. His leg hurt when it hit the ground.

"That's no reason to run away like that!" she hissed into his face.

Kyuso got mad, really mad, at what she said. He used Screech full power at her face to blast her off him, and although she did get off of him, she did it to dodge his attack.

"You...you...you...attacked me?!"

"Shut the hell up about my reasons! You don't know a single damn reason about why I'm trying to get back home so who are you to talk!"

"Then just talk to me! Talk to me about it for Arceus's sake! You can't ditch your partner whenever you feel like it!"

"Ha! Partners? We weren't even partners, we were allies! Don't tell me what I can and can't do. You were my tool to I used to help me get home just as I was your tool you used to escape yours!"

"You think we were allies? We are allies damnit and by Arceus I am going to help you till the end whether you like it or not!"

"Oh spare me the lies princess. You're just scared that once we split up, you won't know where to go or what to do due to your privileged life!"

"I AM NOT WEAK! DON'T CALL ME A PRINCESS!"

From her anger, Aurora grabbed a whole wave of snow with Psychic and shot it toward Kyuso. He countered with a Screech that sounded like it came from a banshee and made the snow tsunami collapse. This was the point where all hell broke loose. Both of them exploded with anger and unleashed everything in their arsenal at each other. It was amazing how by the end they only caused minor property damage and a snowy mess. Since Kyuso was down by a leg and Aurora was faced with a type disadvantage that went both ways, their fight was even. To elaborate further, their battle was one of those fierce 'Yin-Yang' duels that the world would probably never know because it was too busy sleeping.

Both locked eyes and refused to yield from their glares. Kyuso was quick to counter and shot a Confuse Ray propelled forward by a Screech.

Aurora saw this but it was much too fast to dodge normally so she used Double Team to evade.

So that's her third move! I'll have to be on my guard for the fourth one, considering that she has one...

Half a dozen Auroras surrounded Kyuso instantly, from the sides, back, and front, in a hexagon formation. They rushed him.

Kyuso focused power into his Feint Attack and he immediately felt drawn to the Aurora behind him at the left. So she's going for my bad leg huh? He gritted his teeth against the pain, spun to face the real Aurora, and punched her in the gut with a Feint Attack.

"Hrk!" The Feint Attack cleanly landed on Aurora and she was sent flying back while her copies vanished into thin nothing. His attack caused her double pain since it was a Dark-type move, which were her weak nesses aside from Ghost-type moves and Bug-type moves.Dang, I forgot that fact that some moves like Feint Attack can't miss!

He didn't even let her catch her breath and followed up with a Confuse Ray. He would've used Assurance, but because it was a physical attack, he knew that he would never limp to her in time to land the blow.

Aurora shot the Confuse Ray down with her Psybeam. She then focused all of her mental prowess into using Psychic to pick up random cans, bottles, twigs, and any other small object she could find when she scanned the area. She gathered them all into a corkscrew behind her and launched them one by one rapidly, like a machinegun, at Kyuso.

Kyuso hesitated to react at first since he didn't want to move his injured leg to dodge and he paid the price for it a half second later. A never ending stream (Aurora was picking up the fallen projectiles that had hit him, and added them to the end of the corkscrew) of trash hit Kyuso so he turned to the left to shield his injured leg. He tried deflecting as many as he could by punching them out of the air with his Feint Attack, and although every punch had hit its mark there was simply too many that came too fast for him to hit every single one.

"Ow!" PUNCH PUNCH PUNCH "Ow!" PUNCH PUNCH PUNCH PUNCH "Argh!" PUNCH PUNCH PUNCH

This went on for a while until a lucky shot from a cardboard box caught Kyuso to the head and twisted his head back. He saw a glimpse of something before he quickly looked back at the trash coming for him. Screw it, I'm walking!

Kyuso backed up cautiously while punching away the flying trash. Although he did get hit with more often from Aurora's projectiles, he managed to limp over back to the shadows and dived back into them when he came close enough.

The trash stopped flying at him before Aurora laughed "Did you honestly think that you'd be safe in there? I can sense you remember? How else do you think I found you here when you were trying to sneak away?"

Aurora prepared to resume shooting the trash at Kyuso, but right when she was about to, she saw two dark shapes emerge from the shadows. Even though she sensed that the one on her right was Kyuso, she looked at the left shape, and made it out to be a black trash bag filled with garbage. Suddenly, the trash bag charged at her like a screaming jet.

Kyuso had used Screech to shoot the trash bag at her which had smacked her in the face, causing her to flip over, lose focus, and drop all her trash missiles.

"Oof!"

"You want to play dirty? Let's play dirty!"

She got back up on her feet but something inside the bag had hit her head and now she felt disoriented. What was in there, rocks?

Kyuso ignored the stings of his bad leg and charged up on rage, ran at Aurora. This time, Aurora was the one who was tackled to the ground, and while he was on top of her, he used Confuse Ray which couldn't miss now.

Aurora's vision went spinning and she felt like at that moment, she could've sworn on her life that the sky was the ground and she was on top of Kyuso. She couldn't make out anything except that he was right in front of her. So she closed her eyes to block out the dizzying images and prepared her last weapon.

Sorry Kyuso, I didn't want to resort to this, but it's the only way.

Aurora suddenly grabbed at Kyuso and hugged around him with her legs. Then, she started to glow a blinding bright light.

"Hey, let go of-whoa! Are you evolving?"

"Sorry Kyuso, but it's the only way!"

"What're you-"

He couldn't speak anymore because Aurora was getting really bright, really fast. She was getting hotter too, literally hotter, she felt like a backpack on fire against his fur. The light that came from within her felt like it went into Kyuso, burned his blood, and then burst out the other side.

Her fourth move!

He didn't know what move this was exactly, but knew that it was super-effective against him. How else could it hurt so much? That meant that she had either used a Fighting-type move, a Bug-type move, or the most likely...

"It's called Dazzling Gleam, a Fairy-type special move. I'm sorry; I know it burns, but just please stop..."

"Aahhhh!"

The light was blinding him and burning him at the same time. He closed his eyes to block out the light but it was just too intense. She held onto him tighter to prevent him from pushing her off. This was agony. She was frying him. It felt like he was going to melt violently. Then, it was over. Her attack ran out of energy after ten seconds, which wore her out a lot. He could tell because her grip on him had slackened considerably. Her attack felt too powerful after being beaten up twice in one day, and it looked like he was tapping out for a third time now. His legs wobbled and they crashed to the ground. He was no longer able to support their combined weight so he collapsed on top of her, going limp. The last thing he felt was her soft fur. As for his sight, all he saw was white so he closed his eyes and it took a long time for everything to fade to black.

Arceus...please...save me...

A.N.: Who enjoyed the battle between Kyuso and Aurora? I think this was one of my better chapters that I wrote. Not everything is going well between the two of them, if anything at all! Just what is the truth about Kuso's past? What will he wake up to? Will he wake up at all? Thanks to all for reading and stay alert for more chapters to come!

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, but I do own Homeward and its characters.

Homeward

Ch. 14

December 29

"Ughh...whathuwa?"

"Good morning."

Kyuso awoke in a daze and was partly blinded when he did since sunlight from a window frame was in his face. He immediately noticed that his injured leg felt much better and gave a few kicks with it to test it. When he didn't feel any pain, he felt satisfied. He tried to raise his right paw to block the sunlight but it was pulled back down when it rose halfway up to his face.

"What the-"

He felt tension around his wrist when he kept trying to bring his hand up so he sat up instead. With the sunlight out of his face, he looked down and saw something that made him jump a little. One of the small handcuffs he found yesterday was locked around his wrist and its neighbor was locked around Aurora's left wrist.

Kyuso grimaced in disbelief "Oh you've got to be freaking kidding me."

Aurora kept her voice even and explained "It's for your own good. You kept trying to get rid of me and you act like a jerk most of the time. At least like this I can sleep in peace."

"Where's the key?"

Aurora wagged her prehensile tail teasingly behind Kyuso which was gripping a slightly rusted silver key. He tried to reach for the key with his inside paw, but tripped since it was currently chained to Aurora's. He tried his left paw but it was on the outside area between him and Aurora so he still couldn't reach it.

"Give me that key!"

"Not until you calm down and talk to me about what's troubling you."

"No, it's my business and you don't need to get involved in it."

"If you don't tell me and we continue to travel in this state, I'm going to get involved anyway. I want to help you Kyuso, I really do, but you're making it really difficult for me to do so."

"You don't understand. If you get involved and help me, something really bad is going to happen to you."

"Come on, nothing that will happen can be any worse than what we went through yesterday."

"Trust me when I say it's definitely worse, and it's something that I can't control."

"Well when it does happen, I'll be there to help."

"Did you not hear me just now? It'll only happen if you're with me! You have to let me go!"

"I heard you alright and I don't care. I'm going to stick with you and help you get home. That's what friends do" she cut Kyuso off before he could dispute "I don't care if you believe that we're only allies. If so, why did you come back for me before when we had split hmm? To me, you're not just an ally, you're my friend. Also, I don't know why you call yourself a traitorous coward but what I saw back at that park was a hero."

"Do not call me a hero! Now tail over that key."

"Forget it. If you want to keep your secrets to yourself then fine, just keep in mind that I'm keeping this key until then. You're just lucky that I'm not as good as my mother at mind-reading. She can read anyone's innermost thoughts like books."

"*Sigh*, this can't be happening to me."

"Well, I'm sorry that I roasted you with my Dazzling Gleam last night, especially while you were injured. Being an Espeon means that I'm naturally powerful with special attacks. I didn't want to hurt you so badly, I just wanted you to get some sense and stop running away."

"Yeah, watch it with that attack next time okay? That move really burned me like I was being roasted or something."

"So I guess you're not going to tell me what's going on with you?"

"No, now unlock these handcuffs."

"No, now what're we going to do? What's our plan for today?"

"Jeez, guess I have to go with it for now since my hands are pretty much tied here, literally...Okay, we'll backtrack to the park, look around for the Pokémon Center, and just make our way from there by my memories from last time I went through this city."

"Like how you were going to do last night on your own if I didn't stop you?"

"Exactly, now come on, we're wasting daylight."

...

It was now an hour since they left the abounded gang HQ building. Kyuso and Aurora had passed the Pokémon Center and got plenty of funny looks from both humans and Pokémon along the way. During that time they had gotten used to stepping simultaneously with their handcuffed legs and no longer accidently kicked/stepped on/tripped each other (as frequently). When they passed others, the two would hear them talking behind their back and most of them commented on how they thought Aurora was a something called a "bounty hunter Pokémon since she obviously held the key". The comments both thrilled and confused her. The title sounded cool but she had no idea what bounty hunter Pokémon were. Just what were they and what did they do?

Aurora looked toward Kyuso "Hey Kyuso, what're-"

"-bounty hunter Pokémon?" he interrupted "They're Pokémon who are masters in combat and choose to hunt down wanted criminals for a living, both human and Pokémon. Pokémon hunters would like to capture them, but they're so skilled in battle that it's not even worth it to try. Bounty hunter Pokémon communicate with humans about their mission, reward, etc. with a device that looks like a collar or a choker. I don't know how it works or who invented it, and I've never seen the thing up close myself, just on television. Also, 'bounty hunter Pokémon' is the explanatory term used by people who aren't deeply familiar with what they are. The official term used for a 'bounty hunter Pokémon' though is 'Raider'."

"You sure seem to know a lot about them."

"Not really, they were on the news a few times but I'm guessing that you don't have a T.V. in that castle of yours."

"Why do people think I'm a Raider anyway?"

"Well, you do have me in handcuffs."

"Do Raiders use handcuffs?"

"I'm guessing no but how are they supposed to know that right? Besides, an Umbreon handcuffed to an Espeon with the Espeon holding the key? Given the type disadvantage and the situation, of course they'll think you're powerful."

"Well, I did kick your butt last night so-"

"That wasn't fair; I was down by a leg and had already been beaten that same day, twice!"

Aurora just smirked and held herself a little taller as the two made their way through the city. After about another two hours walk, they finally made it to the edge of the large city and now faced the dirt road that led into a forest. Aurora looked happier all of a sudden and even had a smile on her face. Kyuso just looked at her but she just kept her eyes closed and breathed in the forest air.

"What's the matter with you?" he finally asked her.

She opened her eyes and gave him a cheery smile "Hmm? Oh, I'm just really excited to get my chance to go on an adventure and prove to everyone back home that Aurora Espeon is no helpless princess. I'm going to prove them all that I have the ability to take care of myself!"

"Cool but save that happy mood for after we get through this forest."

"Should be no problem since you remember your way through here right?"

"Not exactly..."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't have the best of memories and it is a forest after all. I can get us lost in there easily."

"Well it's no good standing here talking about going through it, let's get going!"

...

"Whoa! What the hell!" Kyuso shouted as they both stepped back to avoid a String Shot.

"Where did they even come from?" Aurora yelled before she shot down a charging Poison Jab with her Psybeam.

The two had completely by accident stumbled into a Cascoon hive just ten minutes after entering the forest. Kyuso felt so sure and had insisted that they cut straight through the forest as a shortcut as to going around a hill. When the two came into the Cascoon territory, they were all still sleeping until Aurora unbelievably stepped on a twig and woke them up. The Dustox that now pursued them, to defend the Cascoon, shot String Shot attacks and dived at them with Poison Jab. Aurora and Kyuso could only defend themselves because whenever they tried to attack, the Dustox simply used Protect and advanced. Also, the two had to do a sort of hop since they couldn't run three feet without tripping each other. There was also no time for Aurora to take a second to unlock their handcuffs so they walked/hopped for their lives, hoping that the Dustox would give up on them.

"It was bad enough when I was fighting you when I was down a leg. Now I'm fighting without a leg against a swarm!"

"Just hang tight, we can keep them back."

"For how long though? I've just gotten us into the worst possible situation seeing as how we're both faced with a type disadvantage."

"It doesn't seem like they know how to use a Bug-type move besides String Shot or they would've used it by now."

"Let's get out of here either way!"

The two tried their best to get away, hoping that they would find the road, but the Dustox attacked relentlessly. Kyuso couldn't hit them away properly because he was stuck with Aurora so he had to use Confuse Ray and Screech. Likewise, Aurora couldn't use Double Team and she didn't dare use Dazzling Gleam with Kyuso so close to her. Both of their arsenals were cut in half and whenever one Dustox was shot down, another would just take its place.

We're going to run out of energy soon they both thought.

Then, they saw a trio of Dustox surround them so Aurora and Kyuso became immediately wary of the three. All three Dustox used String Shot at their feet so even though they dodged two shots at least one had stuck them to the forest floor. The two Dustox that missed then rushed with Poison Jab forcing Aurora and Kyuso to defend. While Aurora and Kyuso shot them down with Psybeam and Screech respectively, nobody defended against the third one which used Poison Jab too, but at a later time.

Aurora saw it first but too late. A distraction!

The Poison Jab struck her right side. By some freaky unfortunate luck, that first hit poisoned Aurora but her special ability Synchronize allowed her to take the Dustox down with her.

"Ahh!"

"Aurora no!"

At the same time she saw the Dustox starting to drop to the ground from the poison; she was feeling a little tired herself and started leaning a little onto Kyuso. Kyuso quickly finished off the Dustox with a Confuse Ray, then went to support Aurora but couldn't because they were handcuffed together.

"Shit, I can't carry you like this!"

"Sorry, I never thought the handcuffs would get in the way of our fighting. I didn't think things through. I'm such an idiot"

"Stop thinking like that and help me figure a way out of this!"

The Dustox sensed that victory was near at hand so they started spreading out to completely surround them. While some went around completing the circle, others attacked them from both sides. Kyuso could either defend against the Dustox coming for him and save his strength to try to get Aurora and him out of trouble, or he could defend Aurora and hope that the Poison Jab strikes meant for him didn't land any lucky poison conditions. He took the latter, shooting down two of the Dustox coming for Aurora with his Confuse Ray while Aurora managed to bring down the other two by herself with Psychic. Consequently, he took one, two, three, four Poison Jab direct hits! He thought about how lucky he was at that moment at both being an Umbreon and not getting poisoned from the barrage of poison attacks.

"I got it! Swing your hind legs over my back and I'll carry you over my shoulders, that'll work!"

Sure enough, they were able to manage this tricky maneuver. Kyuso carried Aurora on his shoulders, got out of the nearly-completed circle before the Dustox had surrounded them completely, and ran through the forest trees carefully. This way, they were making even faster progress than before and Aurora was pretty light so Kyuso didn't have too much trouble getting them both away from the Dustox. Every once in a while though a Dustox would catch up to him and Aurora had to shoot it down so that he could focus on running.

This is my fault. It's my fault that we got into this mess. I've got to run faster!

He sprinted through the forest with all the focus and energy he had. His legs burned with the double weight but that only made him want to run faster, to push himself for Aurora. They were almost back on the road, he could feel it! Just beyond those trees and they would be safe. No, he didn't just feel it; he was seeing it, the trees just ahead thinned to a point where he could see the road beyond them! He pushed through the branches and leapt over tree roots with renewed vigor, they were going to make it! But then, a Dustox was suddenly in the way. He thought that it must have been fast to catch up to him like that and too late, ran into its Poison Jab, which stopped him in his tracks, pierced his stomach, and poisoned him. His special ability Synchronize, the same as Aurora's, kicked in and the Dustox too was poisoned the instant he was.

"Get out of my WAYYYYY!"

Kyuso used Screech and blasted the Dustox away from him. Beyond the trees, he saw the Dustox fall through the air, but it vanished through the ground without even a thud. Curious, Kyuso stepped out of the trees and saw no road. No, instead he saw that they were near a cliff that overlooked a lower section of the forest.

Shit he thought. We're trapped.

When he turned around he saw the first of the Dustox swarm emerge from the trees which were soon followed up by the rest of the swarm. Before long, the rest of the swarm that had managed to keep up with them (Kyuso now counted that there was nine remaining) formed a wall between them and the trees so that there was no escape.

Aurora raised her head to speak "I'm so...sorry...this is my-"

"Shut up, stop talking like that because we're not dead yet!"

Kyuso looked over the cliff. It looked to be at least a 100 feet drop and the trees covered the bottom so he couldn't tell what was underneath them. He looked back at the Dustox who were now in position for a combined attack and looked super pissed. As if making Kyuso's choice for him, the Dustox started to flap their wings harder and faster. Kyuso realized too late that they were using Gust to blow them off the cliff and then they were in the air.

"Okay, now we're dead!"

As they were blown farther away from the Dustox, the combined Gust started to lose its effect on them and that's when the two started to fall. Aurora fell off of Kyuso's back during their free-fall so he turned around, wrapped his left foreleg around Aurora, tucked both their handcuffed arms between each other, and fell with Aurora on top of him to the forest below.

 

First off, I'd like to say sorry for the LONG delay in updates. I realize that I'm about 3 chapters behind and I'll get right to them. I really appreciate any reviews I get and the one I got while I was away.

[OLD INTRO TEXT DELETED FOR NAME RESOLUTION]

And now, here's Chapter 15 of Homeward.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, but I do own Homeward and its characters.

Homeward

Ch. 15

December 29

You must let her go young Umbreon.

Kyuso had just grabbed onto Aurora when he heard the soothing voice in his head. The voice was so alluring that when he heard it, he almost did exactly what it told him to do without even questioning why. When he heard the voice, he just felt something. A feeling that he knew could guard him even from the despair of death. Hope. It was hope that he felt when he first heard the voice. So when he felt his grip on Aurora loosening as the voice in his head had commanded him to, he thought fast and bit down on his tongue hard to regain his wits.

I can't believe I thought about letting her go to save myself. I'm a selfish jerk after all.

I am a friend, not your consciousness, Umbreon. And as your friend, I need you to release the Espeon so that I may save you two.

Mind reading. That was still a bit annoying for Kyuso, but at this point he didn't care so he let go of Aurora so that they now fell side by side. For a while, nothing happened and now they were only 50 feet from hitting the trees.

Kyuso laughed bitterly "So what now?"

Now they had just reached the treetops and went crashing through branches and leaves but nothing too thick. Kyuso thought they were going to make it until they broke through the leaves and saw the boulder less than 50 feet below. Before they could even fall lower though, Aurora started to glow again and Kyuso was about to scream no until they stopped falling all of a sudden. More specifically,she stopped falling, while he was just lucky enough to be handcuffed to her so although it hurt when his handcuff cut into his wrist, he was thankful that he didn't go splat on a rock.

"Whoa! I didn't know you could do that with your Psychic Aurora!" Kyuso said but he got confused when he saw that Aurora had fainted from the poison.

Your rescue was thanks to me, Umbreon.

"Who's there?" Kyuso asked when he noticed that whoever had used Psychic on Aurora was dropping her slowly so that they both gently approached the forest floor.

As I had just told you, I am a friend.

Kyuso almost bought what she told him. She? It had to be a she right? The voice in his head sounded feminine to him he just realized so he guessed that a girl was talking to him now. Whether it was a she or he, he knew that their savior had to be close by. Why else would they wait until they fell so close to the ground? They were now 40 feet from the ground and he saw that they were going to be set on the grass next to the boulder.

"Where are you? I know you're close! If you're really our friend then come on out!"

He reached up and grabbed Aurora so that he could better shield her just in case their so-called 'rescuer' would turn out to be an enemy.

No don't!

"Don't what?"

Suddenly, Aurora's glow ended, and they started dropping normally to the ground. The sudden drop made Kyuso's stomach flip, and his grip slipped from Aurora so that he no longer held her. Kyuso saw that his face was now going to eat rock from free-fall. An instant after he released her, she started to glow again and her decent was slowed so that his face was just 1 foot above the boulder.

"A-ah...ha..."

I said no did I not?

Aurora's glowing body gently floated over to the grass next to the boulder so that Kyuso could land first and grab her. When she landed down on his back, positioned so that he could carry her like before, he grunted with the effort and his legs buckled a bit.

The poison has really kicked in now. And Aurora feels like getting hotter. Great. Just perfect.

"Do not strain yourself, I shall assist you."

Kyuso looked up and saw a Gardevoir emerging from the trees. As he guessed, the Gardevoir was a woman, but that hardly seemed important now. All he knew was that so far, mostly everyone from his week before Christmas up till now had turned out to be some enemy. So of course when he saw a mysterious lady emerging from behind trees to greet him, he immediately got defensive.

His legs trembled with the double weight but he still shouted "Stay back! Tell me who you are and what do you want!"

The Gardevoir stopped walking towards them and kneeled down so that she was eye level with Kyuso. Then, she bowed her head respectfully to them, which made Kyuso feel really awkward, before she spoke.

"My name is Faith, and I apologize for intruding upon your mind, Umbreon. I assure you that my only intent was to save the two of you. Even now, I would assist you two in any way I could in hopes to become your friends, if you would allow me to."

Kyuso responded dumbly "Umm yeah...okay." Jeez who talks like that? She talks like those Magikarp from last week, except nicer and less annoying.

Kyuso felt that 'Faith' was the perfect name for such a polite and kind woman like her. Now he felt guilty for distrusting her and yelling at her earlier. The Gardevoir smiled faintly which made Kyuso blush and feel a little happier for some reason. Hopefully her smile meant that she'd forgiven him for his rudeness because although he was still wary about her, he didn't want for the relationship between the two of them to be cold.

"Excellent. Now may I will help you in carrying the Espeon to shelter so that you two may rest for the day?"

Kyuso almost forgot that Aurora was still on his back and he saw that he was now sitting up so that he could better see Faith, but Aurora had fallen off his back. Well, kind of saw. His vision had started to get a little bit blurry but he could still see everything that was right in front of him in detail. Still, he felt really hot which he guessed to be from guilt, but he was only half right. The poison was catching up to him now and soon it would knock him out like it did Aurora.

"Oh, my apologies; it was cruel of me to ask you to partake in additional work while you are wounded. I am perfectly capable of lifting you both like how I did before."

"No no, it's fine I can help you with her!" What the heck is with me? I can't stop being nice, she's just too charismatic!

Before Faith could use her Psychic, Kyuso turned to Aurora crawled under her so that she was on his back like before, and prepared to lift her.

I'm glad that Aurora is so light; it should make it at least bearable to carry her.

Kyuso then lifted them both off the ground. No, they were both still on the ground.

What the heck?! C'mon, I can't let Faith do this by herself. I have to help her!

Kyuso tried again, but he still remained on his stomach under Aurora.

No, I'm too weak now. Maybe I can help instead if I...

Kyuso tried to get out from under Aurora, but her light body, that wasn't too big of burden for him to carry before, now felt like he was carrying two clones of himself. Also, his vision was getting worse since he could barely make out the blades of grass in front of his nose.

He didn't want to admit to such a beautiful lady that he was stuck, but Faith didn't even have to read his mind to know this. She didn't seem to mind this though and gladly lifted Aurora off of Kyuso with her Psychic, eager to help. She then went a step further and started to lift Aurora higher so that she could lift both Aurora and Kyuso. When Kyuso managed to say that he could walk himself, Faith countered that he'd only slow them down, so he reluctantly went limp and let Faith carry them both to her supposed shelter.

...

"Kyuso get up."

Kyuso slowly obeyed the soft command and he felt that he'd been sleeping on a thick, soft bed, different than his thinner, harder bed. He was opening his eyes when he realized just how thirsty he was, and automatically swung his legs over to climb out of 'his bed' to get a 'drink of water' like how he used to do when he still lived in Mason's lab.

He was halfway out of the bed when he felt a tug on his wrist which was followed by a weight crashing onto him so that he fell to a wooden floor.

"Eep!"

"Ah Jun, what did I tell you about-"

The whole thing was so similar to how his mornings usually began back at Mason's lab that Kyuso almost finished his sentence. A few things were off though that informed him that he wasn't back in home just quite yet. For one, the voice that told him to wake up was gentle and suggestive, unlike Jun's chaotic yell in the morning. Also, the body that was on top of him was heavier than Jun was and had an unfamiliar yet pleasant scent of Oran Berries. The last thing was the "Eep". Jun's voice wasn't that high, and he certainly didn't say "Eep". So who was on top of him? He knew the answer to that question already, but was afraid to open his eyes to see her himself, even though he would have to eventually.

When he did open his eyes, he saw that Aurora wore the same expression of shock and embarrassment as him.

It took five seconds for Kyuso to reset himself and say "Uhh...you can get off me now, you know that...right?"

Somehow he must have said something wrong because Aurora got upset and yelled "Of course I do you perv!"

Aurora slapped him with her free right paw before getting off of him.

He clutched his cheek with his free left paw "Ow! What the hell was that for you jerk?"

Aurora looked away and muttered "Just shut up."

Kyuso got up after she did and looked the other way.

Oh my Arceus! I've never slept in a bed with a girl before. No, that came out wrong! Never mind that, I didn't mean sleep as in

Aurora sneaked a glance over at Kyuso while his back was turned.

That could have gone way better. Jeez that was so embarrassing; I just fell over him like that! Wait...I hear his thoughts...he's just as embarrassed as I am. What's with that?! I'm the one who fell on him and then slapped him!

"It is good to see you two are up and well." spoke a cheerful voice.

"Ah!"

"Eep!"

Aurora and Kyuso both turned toward the sound of the voice that spoke to them and saw an older looking Gallade in a doorway, holding the door open for Faith. Kyuso immediately saw that they were holding hands together and felt just the tiniest bit jealous. Aurora noticed this too and also sensed Kyuso's jealousy, and although she felt something, she wasn't entirely sure what it was.

"Oh, uh, hey Faith! Thanks for helping us out!"

Aurora guessed that the Gardedvoir was the one Kyuso called "Faith".

Faith gave a warm smile "It was my duty and pleasure to have assisted you young Umbreon."

Although Kyuso was happy to hear Faith say such kind words to him, he winced a little when Faith called him "young Umbreon" in front of the Gallade.

"Oh Faith, my name is Kyuso, and this is Aurora. Aurora, this is Faith, she's the one who saved us."

"Hello."

"It's a pleasure to meet both of you."

"Yeah, so who's this Faith? Is he your brother or something? He looks pretty cool."

"My brother? *Giggle* Heavens no Kyuso, but I appreciate your compliment." Faith gave the Gallade a peck on the cheek "This is my husband."

Kyuso's eye twitched for a fraction of a second which only Aurora caught.

Ouch, crash and burn Kyuso. She felt something, but what? Relief? No way, what would she be relieved about?

Kyuso gave a smile "Really? Nice to meet you...uh-"

The Gallade's voice was deep and sounded powerful when he finally spoke to introduce himself. Aurora and Kyuso both thought that his voice sounded tougher than any of Aurora's castle guards. While Faith would move people with her charisma, her husband would rouse people with the voice of a naturally born leader.

"The name's Knight. It's good to meet you Aurora and Kyuso."

 

Hey people. Extremely sorry about the 3 weeks without updates. I know that you'd like to get on with the chapters (yes chapters, I wrote two for you guys to make up for my absence) so let's just say that during the last three weeks, I've had to stay up till at least 1:00am, and at no time during his was I able to write! I'll try to catch up as fast as I can for the other 4 chapters I owe you guys.

Anyway, I'd like to start by saying YES! For years, Kingdom Hearts has been ahead of Pokémon by several thousand stories, but now finally...Pokémon...CONTAINS MORE STORIES THAN KINGDOM HEARTS! YEAH! It's only by a a little but it feels so good to see Pokémon at the top where it 'belongs' (at least I believe it does). I rejoiced and told my little brother about this:

~
"Check it out; Pokémon is finally at the top of the list under "Games"! Awesome right?"
"Wait what's Kingdom Hearts?"
"Exactly!"

I've only contributed one story, Homeward, but nevertheless I am proud to have supported Pokémon. I knew this day would come eventually though; Pokémon has the larger list of characters to suit more writers' tastes. To everyone of Team Pokémon, let's all help keep it in 1st place! To anyone of Team Kingdom Hearts, sorry but I am a Pokémon fan.

And now, I proudly give you Ch. 16 and 17 of Homeward (especially since I stayed up till 11:00pm to write these two)

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, but I do own Homeward and its characters.

Homeward

Ch. 16

December 20 [5 Days Before Christmas]

"Shut him up already!"

"Eyes on the road dumbass!"

Kyuso was currently tied up in the back of a truck that belonged to Pat and Max. After they fished him out of the water, they loaded him onto the truck and went down a road unfamiliar to him. The back of the truck was covered by a strong bungee net so that he couldn't wiggle over the side and escape by falling off the truck. Yesterday, he kept yelling out for help, but no one had either heard him or didn't come to his aid, and his throat was now sore and dry from yelling for a whole day. Still, he was determined to be free of his bonds. Not exactly determined but plenty desperate to survive that is. Today, he could only moan loudly for someone to come and help him, but he'd been moaning since he awoke and now it was really making his captors 'upset'.

"Helllp...someone...anyone please...hellllllp..."

"I'm gonna stop this goddamn truck if he doesn't shut the f*** up!"

"Just shut up Pat, we're already almost there."

Upon hearing this, Kyuso got terrified. They were almost at the place his hunters called the "Pit". After Max's Charizard gave very vague details about the Pit, which Kyuso assumed was just to scare him, he figured that the Pit was some huge, deep 'pit' underground where the ones thrown in were left to starve to death. The horrifying part was that it was lucky if you were a land-based or water-based Pokémon; all Flying-types had their wings permanently damaged or ripped off, depending on the strength of the Pokémon. Other than that, the rest of the Pit's description was left up to Kyuso's imagination. When Kyuso got over the shock that he was being taken to such a hellish place, he demanded why his captors would do something like this to innocent Pokémon, to which the Greninja answered: ["Because we can!"]

If I don't want to die, I have to escape right now!

"HELLLLLLP! SOMEONE PLEASE HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLP!"

"That does it!"

SCREEEECH CLICK SLAM

"Pat, get your ass back in the damn truck, we've got a schedule to keep!"

"I can either shut you up or this Umbreon, your choice!"

"Well, if we're really stopping then I want at him too. Annoying little bastard this one."

Kyuso was scared but also relieved a bit. They were going to beat him, but to do that they stopped the car which meant they stopped making progress toward the Pit. This was the first good (in a way) thing that happened to him in a while so he almost smiled. Almost. He heard the passenger side door open and slam shut too and soon both Pat and Max were at the back of the truck glaring down at him. Pat reached for the latch so that they could get at Kyuso, but then he stopped.

"Wait a sec..."

"What's up?"

Pat looked at Kyuso and backed away smiling "You clever son of a b****!"

"What is it?"

Why is he stopping?!

"He's stalling for time! He wants this beating! Sorry Umbreon, but we're smarter than you think!"

No!

"Let's go, we're on a strict schedule."

"I already told you that!"

Kyuso was panicking now. He unintentionally had pushed them too far, so the beating he would've taken was unexpected but welcomed. Now though, they caught on about his idea so they weren't going to be stalled at all. What could he do? He had to think. Think fast before they started the truck again. Think. Think! THINK!

Wait, he remembered that when he went to the city on a trip with Mason, he would try to communicate with young human boys and girls, but they became confused. He overheard a few kids asking "Mommy, why does that Pokémon say only 'Umbreon Umbreon Umbreon'?" He was confused just as they were; surely he gave them his name and asked for theirs in attempt for a conversation, didn't he? He guessed that Mason saw the look on his face because he explained to Kyuso how although Pokémon could understand human speech, the same was not for humans.

If there was ever a time when you gave me good, honest advice, that was it. Thanks Mason!

He didn't even have to think about what he would say as long as he said something. Since anything he said would sound like 'Umbreon' to the hunters, he repeatedly shouted and this is what it sounded like to the hunters:

"Umbreon Umbre Umbre Umbreon Umbre Umbreon!" [My name is Kyuso and I'm an Umbreon!]

"Let's keep moving Pat, he's just trying to bait and stall us."

"Umbreon Umbre Umbre Umbreon Umbre Umbreon!" [My name is Kyuso and I'm an Umbreon!]

"Goddamnit, I can't wait to drop off this little prick at the Pit."

"Umbreon Umbre Umbre Umbreon Umbre Umbreon!" [My name is Kyuso and I'm an Umbreon!]

CLICK SLAM VROOOM

"Umbreon Umbre Umbre Umbreon Umbre Umbreon!" [My name is Kyuso and I'm an Umbreon!]

The truck was now moving again.

"Umbreon Umbre Umbre Umbreon Umbre Umbreon!" [My name is Kyuso and I'm an Umbreon!]

"Umbreon Umbre Umbre Umbreon Umbre Umbreon!" [My name is Kyuso and I'm an Umbreon!]

"Umbreon Umbre Umbre Umbreon Umbre UmbreooooooOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNN!"

"Argh, my ears!"

"Handsonthewheel!Stopthetruckyouidio-"

CRASH

...

"Argh, my head. What'd I hit, a rock?"

Kyuso couldn't see very well when he came to seconds after the truck crashed. His vision was sort of swaying but other than that dizzy feeling, he was unharmed.

THUMP

A voice came from above him "Whoa dude, did you even need our help or are you good now?"

Kyuso turned toward the sound but the sun was in his face and he was still a little bit dizzy so he couldn't make out who or what was speaking to him. Judging from the voice though, it was a male probably around his age.

"Don't speak like that Flash" spoke a feminine voice "otherwise why are we even a rescue team right?"

"Uh right, sorry! So dude, you okay? Can you move alright?"

Kyuso was more or less "okay", so he just grunted and tried to get up on his own, but fell because of the rope that tied him up from top to bottom.

A 3rd, male voice ordered "Stand by, I'll assist you."

Immediately after that, Kyuso heard a huge rip, felt his bonds tug, and fall off. He tried to rise up again but tipped a little because of the bang he took to the head. He felt some soft 'things', arms maybe, hold his shoulders and sides to stop him from tipping over, so he gave his thanks to his unknown rescuers. After being helped down from the truck by being guided down from the soft 'arms', he asked who they were. He was also starting to feel less dizzy and could see more clearly.

The 3rd rescuer said "Not here, let's get away first before we make introductions."

Kyuso didn't argue as they pushed him up a hill and helped him avoid the few trees there were. After a few seconds, he saw things in more detail, but didn't turn around to see his rescuers because he wanted to get away more than they did. So he just kept running through the forest. Finally, they came up to the hilltop and when Kyuso felt the 'arms' release him, he ran a few more feet before falling to the ground. He was exhausted from throwing up and screaming for a whole day for help, so all he wanted now was some easy water without having to throw it back up again. Still, he did want to finally greet his rescuers, so he turned around to do so.

What the-

He saw a Jolteon, Sylveon, and Leafeon.

These were the most Eeveelutions he ever saw at one time including him which shocked him a little since there was hundreds of other Pokémon. He thought that maybe meeting another Eeveelution was rare, but this was meeting 3 at once! The Jolteon was closest to him while the other two hung back so Kyuso guessed that he was the one who he was going to have to talk to first. The Sylveon was breathing just a little hard like the Jolteon, but again no one was out of breath as much as Kyuso. The Leafeon hardly sounded tired as his two companions, so Kyuso guessed that he either must be tough or one of those who tried to looked tough. You never really knew which of the two someone was until you got to know them better.

The Jolteon strode over and said "Okay, so now that we're far enough away, you mind telling us how you got yourself stuck in that situation back there?"

The Sylveon walked up and slapped the Jolteon on the shoulder with one of her ribbons. It was at this point that Kyuso realized that the 'arms' that guided him through the forest were the Sylveon's ribbons.

"Stop being a jerk Flash and introduce yourself before you go asking questions like that!"

The Jolteon stuttered "Uh r-right. Hey, the name's Flash and I'm a proud member of Crimson Base's Rescue Team, Team Blitz!"

The Sylveon followed with a warm smile "Hi, I'm Claire, and I'm also a member of Team Blitz!"

The Leafeon approached and extended his fist toward Kyuso "Lance Leafeon of Team Blitz. Pleased to meet you..."

Kyuso pounded his fist against Lance's and answered "...Kyuso. Thanks for your help back there whatever you guys are."

"I told you, we're a Rescue Team!" Claire said in a high voice that made her seemed cuter than she already was.

"What's that?"

Flash laughed "Nice one, but I guess Team Blitz isn't that famous of a Rescue Team just yet."

"I'm serious right now, what's a 'Rescue Team'?"

"What the heck?!" You don't know what a Rescue Team is? How closed off were you raised to not know what a Rescue Team is? Every single Pokémon in the wild knows what a Rescue Team is!"

"Well there's your problem; you assumed too quickly. I'm from the city. So I'll ask again, what's a Rescue Team?"

"We're groups of Pokémon that saves others who're in trouble and in need of assistance."

"So basically...you guys are the forest police?" Kyuso laughed.

Claire giggled in a cheery tone "Not exactly, but enough about us tell us what happened to you. How were you caught by those humans?"

After he told them everything, from when he started into the forest to the present, Kyuso realized that he had some crazy bad luck, but maybe some good luck too.

At the end of Kyuso's story, Lance said "So you know both Confuse Ray and Screech?"

"I-I think so. Maybe..."

"You must be stronger than you look Kyuso."

"Not really, I just evolved yesterday."

"Hmm, that is...unusual to say the least."

"What is?"

"Ordinarily, when Pokémon evolve, they just grow stronger. It is rare for them to learn a move immediately after they evolve, which usually only occurs if their evolution was due to exposure to extreme stress or a dangerous situation. However, I've never heard of such a thing happen where a Pokémon learns two new moves immediately after evolution."

"Well I don't think I actually learned two moves."

"Hmm, I wonder..."

Claire spoke up "Well this is nothing to worry about, why don't we take Kyuso back to back to base and then-"

"Wait, I want to know." Lance interrupted "Kyuso, what is your move set that you believe to wield at this moment?"

"Uhh, my Swift changed into Confuse Ray, so I should still have Growl, Sand Attack, and Tackle."

"Then who used the Screech that alerted us to your presence?"

"Uhh..."

"Judging from your move set description that you've given us, it seems that your Growl may have been replaced by Screech. Could you sate my curiosity and try to use your 'Growl' now?"

Kyuso nodded, turned away, and crouched automatically into the combat position he trained himself over the years to stand comfortably in. In fact, when he was just standing casually, not doing much, he would start to feel hot and felt the need to shift his feet until he stood in at least a poor imitation of his combat stance. He didn't know if people looked funnily/suspiciously at him, but he just felt...normal, when he stood like that so he didn't give others much thought.

So when he used Screech instead of Growl, it was quite a surprise to him.

"Whoa! Awesome!"

He used Screech again, aiming for a tree this time and blew off all its leaves.

"So awesome!"

"Nice shot dude!"

"That was great Kyuso!"

"..."

Kyuso shot a couple more Screech attacks into the air along with his newly learned Confuse Ray and earned some more compliments from Flash and Claire. Lance stayed quite through it all though.

Kyuso noticed this first and asked "Hey Lance, you okay?"

"...Could you use your other moves now?" Lance asked back coldly.

"Okay...I'll use Sand Attack next..."

Kyuso brought his arm down low to prep himself for a Sand Attack. He wondered why Lance was being so rude to him. They'd just met after all, so it probably had something to do with how Kyuso learned two moves right after he evolved.

He's probably just jealous or something. I don't want to push him so I'll make this Sand Attack look weak.

Amazingly when he brought up his paw to throw earth, it formed a fist, and the Sand Attack became a genuine Feint Attack uppercut right in front of Kyuso's eyes!

"Wha!"

The Feint Attack seemed to pull him forward on its own and he stumbled a few steps forward.

The Feint Attack felt powerful, but moreover, it felt accurate. This is a focused attack Kyuso thought. There was no way he would ever miss with this sort of attack. He knew this because the feeling of finality he felt when he used to use Swift was felt again with this move, Feint Attack.

"That didn't look like a Sand Attack." Flash said.

"No, that was a Feint Attack!" Kyuso said as he used his new attack against imaginary foes "This is so cool!"

Claire smiled "Wow Kyuso, that makes three new moves you've learned in just one day!"

Kyuso was very happy for having learned Feint Attack. He really liked the accuracy Swift came with and was glad that he got a move to replace its efficiency. The whole time, Lance looked very grim.

Jeez, is he really that jealous? Maybe I shouldn't have shown off with the Feint Attack. Although to be fair, it wasn't really my faul-

Lance interrupted Kyuso's thoughts "Your last move, Tackle. Use it."

"Hey Lance, calm down!"

"Please don't be so rude Lance!"

"...Fine. You want a Tackle attack? You got it."

Kyuso got into an offensive stance for attacks and got ready to use his 'Tackle'. Hopefully, it would actually be 'Tackle' and not something else...

"Here I go!"

There's no way this guy will have learned moves.

For Lance's sake, please Kyuso...

Who does he think he is? I'll show this guy!

Kyuso Umbreon, are you the

"HYAAA!"

Assurance

The move that Kyuso used was Assurance. Not Tackle, but Assurance. They all saw it, and Kyuso felt it. In a word, he'd have described it as aggressive. At the end of his right-shoulder charge, his shoulder flashed an intensely bright purple which faded as quick as it came. He believed that this shade of purple wasn't a color that one would use for the grape flavor with certain candies or paint all over a little girl's room. This purple looked lethal and he liked it.

Kyuso was amazed. Feint Attack and Assurance. He just couldn't help himself and tested them both out in a combination. He used Feint Attack quickly twice and finished off with an Assurance. He did this again at the imaginary foes' imaginary boss.

One one two! One one two! One two two two!

His strikes flew in flashes of bright purple energy and he loved it. He couldn't stop himself. The power felt amazing. He felt incredible just from punching air and suddenly wished to test his strength out on a real foe. He used one more Assurance and relished the purple glow of his attacks, before he realized that everything was quite. He got worried so he made to turn around and apologize to his rescuers for having acted crazy. Suddenly, he was knocked off his feet, slammed to his back on the ground, and saw Lance atop his chest...pointing the leaf atop his head as a Leaf Blade at his neck.

While Kyuso looked shocked, Flash and Claire yelled.

"Hey what're you doing Lance? Get off the guy!"

"Ah! Lance, that isn't how a Rescue Team behaves!"

Although he was terrified, Kyuso gritted his teeth and changed his face to glare defiantly back at Lance, refusing to show weakness in such a situation like this.

"What are doing?" Kyuso growled with as much venom in his voice that he could muster up.

Lance stared down at Kyuso and said "Those Magikarp friends of yours were right; you are evil, demon."

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, but I do own Homeward and its characters.

Homeward

Ch. 17

December 29 [Present Day]

The sunlight was shining directly above them which Aurora loved. It felt like a warm, relaxing bath, relieving her stress. So since Kyuso was an Umbreon, her polar opposite, she didn't know if she could say the same for him. Speaking of whom, he looked a bit better from before when he heard that Knight was Faith's husband. Even now, he still looked a little disappointedly at Faith, but he must have realized by now that she was too old for him. Still, Aurora even felt a little jealous of Faith who had Knight. Knight looked like to be such a confident and powerful Gallade, and his voice sounded so strong too, like a gentleman. But no! He was already wed to Faith. Besides, they were both too young, Kyuso and her, to be even capable of marriage...NO! That came out wrong! What was wrong with her? Why did she start thinking of Kyuso all of a sudden?! It was probably just because out of the four of them, two weren't even partners, while the other two were husband and wife. It was actually kind of interesting to think about actually. Well, Kyuso did have that young look about him with his small build. She'd already guessed that he must be close to around her age, but she didn't know for certain which of them were older than the other. Maybe she'd ask him later how-

"Aurora!" Kyuso had yelled at her for some reason.

"...What?"

"I said are you okay? You look like you're spacing out way too far. Come back to reality a little okay?"

Aurora blushed a little "Ah, okay sorry. Are we there yet?"

"Almost, watch your step for these tree roots. They're tricky to spot with the snow covering them."

When she awoke, Kyuso explained what had happened and how Faith had caught Aurora with Psychic and saved them. It turned out that Aurora lost the key during their fall, and that was when she started to panic. She was shaking Kyuso and screaming at him about what they were going to do to get free until Knight came up to them and slashed their bonds off with a Psycho Cut (which Aurora thought was amazing and thanked excessively for). Then, Faith said that she would take them to the emergency shelter for Kyuso and Aurora to sleep in. She said that since there wasn't any room in the winter cabin, which was the cabin Kyuso and Aurora woke up in, for the four of them to stay in, Kyuso and Aurora could use the emergency shelter that Faith and Knight built at the top of a hill to rest in. At first, Kyuso obviously tried to refuse her offer after he noticed Knight, but she only had to insist once for him to agree. Aurora didn't know whether to feel relieved or annoyed at this, but she also agreed that they could do with a quick retire for the day after the horrible Dustox incident she and Kyuso experienced. So now, Faith and Knight were leading her and Kyuso to the shelter that they spoke of.

She asked "How's the weather Kyuso? Are Umbreon okay with the sun?"

"Of course, it's a bit warm, but it's not too bad. The snow helps too."

"...Yeah it's a bit cold for me but I'm okay too."

"Oh, umm, good then. Good for you."

Aurora huffed.

Faith giggled quietly.

Knight shook his head just a bit.

...

"We have arrived. This is where you shall be staying for the night Kyuso and Aurora."

Faith smiled and opened the door for Kyuso and Aurora.

Oh shit.

Arceus, no!

The emergency shelter's size was a bit smaller than the winter cabin they woke up in, and it had less too. It lacked the mirror and wash basin that the winter cabin provided. Also, there were no books or any other forms of entertainment like back at the winter cabin. In common, the shelter and the cabin both had a pantry and several chests meant to hold provisions, a table with two chairs to eat meals at, and a small fireplace with a few logs already gathered up next to it. Faith did mention that the shelter was a new project that she and Knight had started just recently and warned Kyuso and Aurora that there wasn't much in it. Both had said that this was fine so it wasn't the shelter's lack of furnishing that bothered the two of them. It was the first thing that every guest looked for when they entered their room: the bed.

Faith read their reactions to the letter and asked "Is the bed not to your liking?"

Aurora recovered first and answered "Faith, you didn't say that the shelter only had one bed!"

"My apologies, I just assumed that you had already known that there would only be one bed here since you experienced firsthand how our cabin only held one bed as well."

At this, both Kyuso and Aurora shuddered and refused to make eye contact.

Kyuso suddenly grinned and spoke up "It's okay, really! We've slept close to each before. We'll be fine with this."

Knight stepped up and asked "Are you sure Kyuso? We are entirely fine with-"

"No no," Aurora interrupted "You two have both done so much for us already. Kyuso and I'll be okay with this."

Knight looked a little uneasy but was assured by Faith when she smiled and said to leave Aurora and Kyuso alone. Knight didn't worry a second longer and gave the two guests a charming smile (which Aurora sighed at) before leaving for home. Following him was Faith who said that that they could help themselves to anything in the shelter and that if they needed anything they should follow the path back to the cabin and feel happy to ask. Then, she winked cutely (which Kyuso gulped at), closed the door after her, and followed Knight back to their home.

"..."

"..."

"...Thanks for going along with me."

"Yeah, no problem though I think that Faith knew the whole time that-"

"Of course she did, I just didn't want Knight to keep insisting that-"

"No, because that would be very-"

"Rude, yeah I know..."

"..."

"..."

"...So I guess that you know how we're going to handle this?"

"Yeah, I'll take the bed and you'll take the floor right?"

"Uh huh."

"No, I mean, oh jeez that came out wrong. I didn't mean to seem rude I-"

"It's okay; it'd look weird if the girl was on the floor while the guy was on the bed anyway. This is just protocol right?"

"Right."

"..."

"..."

"Damnit."

"What?"

"Faith and Knight are husband and wife."

"Yes Kyuso, I think that point is very clear to everyone by now."

"What I mean is, spouses are supposed to have no secrets between each other. They're supposed to tell each other everything."

"Does that mean that Knight will come back to offer help again?"

"No, it'd just look weird. Besides, if he were to go through with that, he'd be back by now. And are you smiling?"

"No I'm not!"

"Well I think we're alone now."

"Don't say that!"

"D-don't say what? What'd I sa-"

"Just stop talking!"

"Okay!"

"..."

"..."

"Sorry Kyuso."

"It's fine. I could've said that in a better anyway."

"So then, are we going to talk about this?"

"About this...you mean-"

"About them, us..."

"Depends."

"Depends on what?"

"Do you want to talk about-"

"No."

"Me neither."

...

After that, the day for the two for them went on very slowly and dryly. Kyuso and Aurora had a few berries and herbs with separate canteens of water for lunch. They ate slowly too, trying to both take it easy after their poisonous beating and trying to burn as much time as they could. Then, they headed out for a walk, found a stream that ran over a ledge, and took a quick shower. Aurora took a verylong shower and afterwards Kyuso mocked how typical it was for a girl to take such a long shower. Aurora shot him down by saying that the goal of their activities was to burn away as much time as they could. To this, Kyuso just slapped himself, and took a shower longer than he usually did too. Next, Kyuso just sat outside by the stream and thought of home for a bit. Aurora was doing the same at the shelter but couldn't keep it up as long as Kyuso and got antsy quick. She headed over to him to ask if he wanted to play tag since there was nothing else she could think of but figured that he didn't want to play. So instead she snuck over to him and pushed him into the water.

"PFF! What the heck?!"

"Tag you're it!" she laughed and escaped.

Kyuso smiled just the tiniest bit "Damn, get back here!"

...

"So was today eventful enough for you?" Kyuso asked happily.

It had gotten dark enough for the two to go to bed and now they lay at their arranged sleeping places. They had the same meal they had for lunch for dinner, except this time they had more berries than herbs.

"Maybe." Aurora teased.

Aurora checked up on Kyuso's emotion and read it to be white and pink like the time when they had their race in the forest. Our game of tag really improved Kyuso's mood Aurora noted. Neither of them could go to bed though. For 30 minutes they just lay there fully awake and silent.

Aurora finally called "Kyuso."

Kyuso answered "Yeah?"

"I can't fall asleep."

"Me neither."

"Do you want to talk?"

"Not really but fine, what do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know...how about...what was going on between you and Faith?"

"What?! T-t-there was nothing going on between us! She's married for Arceus's sake! What about you? What was with you acting all funny around Knight?"

"IwasnotactingwierdaroundKnight!"

"You were totally acting weird around him; he smiled like a freaking prince and I heard you sigh!"

"I did not sigh at that guy! I sighed at...you!"

"Me? Why would you even-"

"You were falling for Faith, a married woman!"

"No less than you were for Knight!"

"I wasn't falling for Knight!"

"Oh my Arceus! I thought you said that you didn't want to talk about this."

"Well I did a little bit..."

"*Sigh* I'm sorry."

"W-what are you saying sorry for? We're not engaged!"

"No I'm just saying sorry for acting like a jerk! Why are you talking about us being engaged all of a sudden?"

"Irk! No reason just shut up!"

"..."

"..."

Well, I guess it's up to me to pick up the pieces.

"So from lunch, are Oran Berries your favorite?"

"...Yeah *sniff*, are Leppa Berries your favorite?"

"Yeah, hey are you crying Aurora?"

"No."

"Well...good. I need you to be strong and ready to move for when we leave tomorrow."

Did he say that he needs me? I think he did. And I also think that makes me...happy.

"So you're okay now right Aurora?"

"Yep, I'm okay. Thanks Kyuso. Goodnight."

"Night."

"...Oh hey Kyuso, I forgot to ask you one thing."

"Sure. Shoot."

"How old are you?"

"...16. How about you?"

"I'm 16 too. What about your birth date?"

"*Chuckle* Jeez, what's with this interrogation all of a sudden?"

"Sorry sorry! You don't have to answer if you don't want to. I was just curious about which one of us is older that's all. Here, I'll tell youmy birth date: January 1st. My mother told me that I was born right after New Year's Day began. Incredible isn't it, how my birthday is so close now? But don't feel obligated to tell me your birth date. This was just for fun anyway."

"..."

Hmm I guess he doesn't want to tell me. That's fine. It was just trivia anyway, nothing really impor-

"My birth date is..."

!

"...January 1st, and I was born immediately after New Year's Day began too."

 

So the reason I didn't post this chapter yesterday was because...I went to a BBQ for a late lunch. I had to finish this chapter up today. I'll just say this now, it was totally worth it! But I was so full after that I didn't really have dinner. Sorry for being selfish but the offer was too great to resist! Also, in Chapter 16 I introduced the "Rescue Teams" of "Pokémon Mystery Dungeon" I believe? I've never played the games, and I've only watched the first episode of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Team Go-Getters Out Of The Gate! so I'm sorry if I get things messed up there. I'll try my best but I'll be focusing more on how the Rescue Teams stand as 'a force for good' rather than all the little details. Finally, I hope all of you guys had a good Memorial Day today.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon but I do own Homeward and its characters.

Homeward

Ch. 18

December 29

By now both Aurora and Kyuso were no longer laying down, but were sitting straight up. It took Aurora a moment to process Kyuso's words. When she did, she had a huge look of surprise on her face.

"N-no way, we both have the same birthday? And at the same time too?!

"...Yeah, I guess we do."

"HOLY CRAP!"

Kyuso was amused at Aurora's sudden burst of rude language and smirked even though he knew she couldn't see him in the dark.

"That's the first time I've ever heard you use filthy words. And here I thought you were a nice little 'Ms. Goody-Goody', princess."

"I told you not to call me that!"

"Whatever, you stopped being a princess ever since you went AWOL so quit getting angry at me."

"Rrr! You still irritate me when you say that though. You know what? You're just like my annoying sister, Frost; you both get on my nerves sometimes and you both just had to be born on the same..."

"Same...what? What? Same what? Stop spacing out already!"

"You...me...and she...we were all...no way...no way that you can be..."

"Be what already? Speak!"

"Do-do you live without a mother or father?"

"Yeah I do. So?"

"Then does that mean that...we're related?"

"R-r-related? Are you crazy? Of course we're not related! I've never even heard about having a sister, no sisters,from my parents before when they were still around! Also your parents are a king and queen, so are you saying that I'm some long lost prince of your family? If so I'm not amused!"

"Alright jeez I get it! My mother and father never mentioned anything about a lost brother to me so relax you big jerk!"

"Hmph. Do you see where casual talking got us to? Why couldn't you just stay quiet and tried to go to sleep huh?"

"You were the one who agreed to talk with me!"

"After you proposed the idea!"

"I didn't force you to have a simple conversation with me!"

"You would've talked anyway!"

"No I..."

"See I was right!"

"Shut up!"

"Gladly!"

...

December 30

When Kyuso woke up, the first thing he did was look over at Aurora on top of the bed.

Calm down Kyuso. So what if she was born at the same time you were. No big deal. There are billions of Pokémon in the world. No biggie if you just happened to meet someone like her right? Still I feel like an ass for yelling at her last night.

When Aurora woke up, the first thing she did was refuse to get up.

Oh Arceus, I can sense Kyuso and he's right there! Wait, he feels just as guilty as me. What should I do? Should I get up to apologize for last night or should I just pretend to keep sleeping? I think I'll just stay down. Maybe if we don't talk about it for the rest of the day, we can just forget about it!

They had both woken up at the same time that morning.

...

Knight was the first one to greet the two "Good morning Aurora and Kyuso. Did you sleep okay?"

When Aurora didn't respond, Kyuso surprised him by saying for both him and Aurora that they did. Then, Faith came out of the cabin, asking if the two would like to join her and Knight for breakfast. This time, Kyuso was the one who couldn't speak so Aurora refused for them both and explained that they'd already eaten before they left the shelter. Also, the two wanted to leave as soon as possible because they felt super uncomfortable around the spouses and each other.

After the husband and wife picked up on this, Faith offered to pack them a sack of berries which Aurora accepted to not seem rude. Meanwhile, Knight asked them where they were headed so that he could help put them back on their path. Kyuso told him that they were headed to the next city and swept his paw across a whole foot length. This could've misled anyone but Knight instantly knew of the city Kyuso was talking about and told them that he would put them on a path that would lead right to the city they wanted to reach.

Faith then came out of the cabin carrying two sacks of food and gave one to Knight. Then, Faith hung her sack around Aurora's neck while Knight hung his around Kyuso's. By now, it was clear that everyone knew that everyone knew what was up and it became uncomfortably silent for a few seconds until Knight broke the silence by saying that he'd lead them to the path now.

"Goodbye and good luck my friends" Faith said when they reached the path Knight spoke of.

Then she went up to both Aurora and Kyuso and gave them both a hug. Aurora hugged her back a little but Kyuso just hesitated on whether he should hug too or not. Before he could finish deciding, Faith backed away and Knight stepped up to shake hands. Because it was Knight, Kyuso recovered and was able to shake hands confidently with Knight. When he came up to Aurora though, she barely even gripped his hand and when they released their grips, she couldn't decide if she felt either disappointed or relieved.

Knight stepped aside and said "Good luck on your journey you two. Watch each other's back out there."

And with that, Kyuso and Aurora walked up their path, resuming their journey once again. Though now, there was even less communication between them than there was before (which was still pretty small). They walked in silence during the whole time and only when they reached the road again did they turn around and give Faith and Knight one last wave goodbye. They walked in silence for while after that so that they would put more distance between the couple and also so that they could think of what to say. It took a total of twenty minutes of walking until they reached a reached a sharp turn in the road for the two to stop walking which they both silently agreed was the place to talk but when they stopped walking to talk neither one knew how to start. Another minute passed by and the two of them still stood like idiots, looking at the ground.

"So-"Kyuso started to say before he was interrupted.

"Ah cool, two Eeveelutions!"

The two looked up and saw four, young trainers blocking their way. Really young in fact, they looked like they'd just started their "Pokémon journey" recently, as the two heard it. There were two girls and two boys. The boy who yelled wore a backpack that had a lot of stickers of Pokémon on it. Behind him, one girl had pink-dyed hair and dressed in so much pink and that it hurt Kyuso's eyes just to look at her. Man, and here I thought that Aurora was pink! Next to her, the other girl wore so much heavy winter gear that it looked really silly on her. At the back, the second boy wore a lot of black and glasses.

What a ridiculous group both Kyuso and Aurora thought.

'Sticker-boy' yelled out "Dibs on them both! I need them as a set."

"Hey, I already said that I wanted to catch a lot of Dark-type Pokémon!" 'Glasses boy' said.

"Well I want at least one of them. They look strong." 'Gear-girl' said.

'Pink-girl' hopped up and down and yelled "No! I need that Espeon! It'll look so great with my outfit and hair!"

Aurora was a bit scared right now and she asked Kyuso "Hey are they going to try to catch us?"

Kyuso nodded "Don't worry though, I've got a plan."

Before Aurora could ask what that plan was, all four trainers each threw a Poké Ball and four Pokémon appeared before them. Sticker-boy had a Voltorb, Glasses-boy had a Murkrow, Gear-girl had a Riolu, and Pink-girl had a Sylveon.

When Kyuso saw the Sylveon, he froze up and stared at her. The inexperienced Sylveon thought her ability, Cute Charm, was so strong that it was working on Kyuso before he even attacked and decided to use that to her advantage in battle, so she winked cutely at him. Aurora saw this and looked over at Kyuso.

"Kyuso, what the heck is your plan?" she hissed at him.

He still just stared at the Sylveon.

Aurora got angry at how Kyuso was so easily distracted by a pretty girl so she decided to check up on his emotions, just to see how deep in trouble he really was. When she did though, she didn't read any emotions of lust but instead read fear and despair. She also heard him breathing a little harder.

What is this? Is he afraid of that girl?

"Kyuso, you've got to wake up right now!" she hissed at him again.

It was so quiet that only Aurora heard but she definitely heard Kyuso whisper "...Claire."

Claire? Who's Claire? Is she another Sylveon that he knows?

"That Espeon is mine! Sylveon use Quick Attack!" Pink-girl commanded.

Aurora saw the Sylveon charge at her with a Quick Attack. Since she was a lot faster she easily dodged the novice's attack and looked over at Kyuso. He still stood there looking at the space where the Sylveon was just a moment ago. This time Aurora yelled for him to snap out of it right before the other three trainers ordered attacks too.

"Voltorb, use Thunderbolt on that Umbreon."

"Murkrow, hit that Umbreon first with Shadow Ball!"

"Let's make sure to deal the finishing blow Riolu, use Force Palm!"

Taking three attacks at once would definitely be a bad thing but Aurora could still get to Kyuso in time. She just had to tackle him aside and then he'd wake up for sure. But when she stepped forward to save him from the attacks, she felt something smash into her side and was knocked to the ground away from him. The Sylveon had attacked her with Quick Attack while she was distracted! Aurora could only watch as Kyuso first got hit by a Shadow Ball to the face, which woke him up, was zapped down by a Thunderbolt, and was then sent flying ten feet back by a Force Palm to the chest. Kyuso grunted when he was hit by each attack but yelled when he was hit by the Force Palm because it was super effective on him.

"No Kyuso!"

Aurora figured that she'd have to finish things quickly with the Sylveon if she wanted to help Kyuso. She used her Psychic to grab the Sylveon and threw her into the air. While the Sylveon couldn't dodge in midair, Aurora shot her Psybeam at the Sylveon, knocking her out with one shot. The Sylveon fell on the soft snow beaten and her trainer whined sadly as she drew her Sylveon back into her Poké Ball. Now Aurora was able to assist Kyuso. Before she could take a step though, Glasses- boy pulled out a round thing that was white, black, and yellow.

"Alright, that Umbreon is mine now! Go Ultra Ball!"

Aurora saw it all happen so quickly. The boy threw the Ultra Ball at the fallen Kyuso. When it hit him, the Ultra Ball popped open, shot a golden ray at Kyuso, converted him into energy, and captured him. The Ultra Ball hit the ground and the Umbreon was nowhere to be seen.

"KYUSO!"

...

Inside the Ultra Ball Kyuso felt like his body was reformed but all he saw was black. Just pitch black all around him but it didn't feel suffocating because he was an Umbreon of course. The darkness actually felt comforting like a soft blanket and he felt like he was floating in nothing. Other than the injuries he received from the trainers' Pokémon he felt great in the Ultra Ball. He was only in there for a few seconds and already it felt homey. But he knew that that homey feeling was just a trap to lure him to stay so he resisted the urge to give up and tried to escape.

"No! I won't be caught! I have to get out of here now!"

As soon as Kyuso began even thinking about resisting though, he didn't feel weightless anymore. Also he felt that some kind sphere had suddenly formed around him and was shrinking. He figured that what the Ultra Ball was trying to do now was "catch" him by shrinking smaller and smaller until it restrained him. With this in thought, he tried his best to brace his feet on the round surface below him and pushed against the wall of the sphere.

"It's no good. The shrinking hasn't even slowed down. Push harder damnit!"

Kyuso kept trying to push but he was still hurting from the triple hit he took when he was outside the Ultra Ball. Still the sphere was shrinking at an undisturbed pace and he started to feel a bit of fear now.

"Okay then, try this on for size!"

Kyuso pulled back his right paw and launched what he hoped would be an Assurance attack at the sphere's side. Unfortunately, no bright flash of purple energy was seen around his paw like when he usually used Assurance. It looked like his moves were disabled inside the Ultra Ball and by this point the sphere had shrunk to the point where he had to start to crouch.

"Oh shit! No no no no NO!"

He tried punching regularly at a single point repeatedly but eventually he just couldn't bring his paw back far enough to get any sufficient power behind his makeshift punches. So he switched back to pushing at the point on the sphere where he had punched several times.

"*PANT* You think you're going to catch me with this? HAH!*PANT* I'll get out of this and then I'm going to beat all of you!"

Now the sphere shrunk so small that Kyuso felt like he was being crushed. There was no room for him to maneuver anymore and he knew that if he wanted to escape, he had to do it now.

"*PANT* No...way... I'm...gonna....lose...Jun...I'll save you!*PANT PANT* RrraaaaAAAAAAAAA!"

It was too late. The sphere was hurting him badly now. It shrunk so tightly that Kyuso couldn't even push at the point he punched earlier anymore. Now he could only push straight up ineffectively because the round surface below him prevented him from being able to get a good base. He had to join all four of his legs directly below him at a single point, curl into a ball, and tuck his head down if he wanted to push anymore.

"Oh...my...Arceus! *PANT PANT PANT PANT* Damnit damnit damnit DAMNIT! Let me go! *PANT* Let me go!*PANT PANT* LET ME GO RIGHT NOOOOOWWW!"

CRACK

!

CRICK CRACK CRICK....PSSHH

...

When he escaped the Ultra Ball, Kyuso heard both a moan and a cry of happiness.

POP PSSHH

"Ah Kyuso!"

"Aww man, I was so close, and that was my only Ultra Ball!"

Aurora was so happy to see Kyuso out of the Ultra Ball. If he was caught, she didn't know what she'd do. Would she continue fighting? Would she run away? Would she just simply give up? Thankfully she didn't have to find out because Kyuso escaped and since he did; now they could regroup and fight! She went over to his side so that they wouldn't fight separated.

"Kyuso, you okay?"

He didn't answer but just looked straight at their opponents "Huff huff huff..."

Gear-girl smiled "Well it looks like that Umbreon is still up for grabs. Riolu, use Force P-"

She never finished her command.

"RRRAAAAAAA! ALL OF YOU ARE SO DEAD!" Kyuso screamed in a rage.

"Wha-what was that just now, Roar? Riolu, hang back for a second. Go Poké Ball!"

Aurora saw Kyuso and he looked super pissed off. His eyes looked a darker shade of red and full of killing intent. His teeth were bared in anger and he looked ready to pounce too. Before Gear-girl threw the Poké Ball, Kyuso stepped defensively in front of Aurora. At the right moment he opened his jaws, caught the baseball-sized capture device thrown at him between his teeth, and crushed it with his teeth, destroying it.

"Ah! How did it do that to my Poké Ball?!"

Aurora was amazed at how aggressively Kyuso handled the second capture call thrown at him today.

Kyuso smiled devilishly and laughed "HAHAHAHAHAHA! PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR COMBAT BECAUSE HERE I COME!"

 

Hey guys really sorry for not updating in so long again but summer vacation started and I had stuff to take care of. Also I really wanted to take some time for myself and catch on some Avabel Online. So I apologize again for my laziness. I made this chapter pretty big so I hope it makes it up to you guys soemwhat. Also, any people who still read the story and also any new followers, thank you. Honestly I felt guilty from being lazy because of you guys . And now here's Ch. 19 of Homeward.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon but I do own Homeward and its characters.

Homeward

Ch. 19

December 30

"R-Riolu, c-counter attack with Quick Attack!"

Kyuso charged, still smiling devilishly, at the scared Riolu who hesitated before using Quick Attack.

The Pokémon and the trainer are no longer in sync. They are now weak and will be easily beaten Kyuso thought.

Kyuso approached the Riolu and noticed that the Riolu was slowing down as if he was scared of even getting near him. At the last second the Riolu stopped moving at all, got into a defensive stance, and a round wall of blue light formed around him.

"No Riolu I said Quick Attack, not Protect!"

Kyuso jumped over the Riolu and surprised everyone by tackling the Riolu's trainer down to the ground and baring his teeth to look like he was going to bite her neck out. While everyone was stunned from seeing how dirty Kyuso fought, the Riolu got angry and ran at Kyuso.

"Get off of her!"

Kyuso waited till the last moment to turn around and then flashed his rings intensely at the Riolu's eyes. The level of brightness should've been above what Umbreon were capable of but the golden flash still blinded the Riolu.

"Argh my eyes!"

"Riolu no!"

Kyuso bit the Riolu's leg and swung him around and around. After several spins he threw the Riolu at his trainer dangerously fast. He was going to smash into her!

"Whoaaawhoaaawaa!"

"Riolu return!"

The trainer brought out her Poké Ball, pressed the button, and sent her Riolu back into its Poké Ball just before he smashed into her.

Glasses-boy recovered after seeing this and yelled "Murkrow, use Wing Attack!"

Sticker-boy also yelled "Go Voltorb, get behind the Umbreon and use Thunderbolt again!"

"Teamwork huh? That's good but it won't work on me!" Kyuso said.

To frighten his opponents, he used his rings again to glow brighter, then turned them off, and repeated even brighter. Kyuso gave the Murkrow in front of him an evil looking smile and even licked his lips a little. The Murkrow showed a terrified expression after that and used his Wing Attack with lots of power, but with his eyes closed. At the same time, the Voltorb got behind Kyuso to use Thunderbolt.

Idiots, I've got you now.

Kyuso saw this and countered with a 'half Feint Attack'. Normally when he would use Feint Attack, he would feel a slight 'pull' within him that led him to his target. The 'pull' was to guarantee him the location of his enemies to counter against evasive/hindering moves, such as Aurora's Double Team. When he moved, his body would look like it was fading in and out of existence. This effect would cause enemies to doubt his own location and become distracted. Then he'd deliver a blow that would flash purple the instant he made contact with the target. Feint Attack helped him with closing distance between him and the target, and delivering an 'inescapable' blow.

However, this time he only used the 'pull' of the Feint Attack to keep track of the Voltorb's location while he watched the Murkrow. Right as the Voltorb shot the Thunderbolt, Kyuso used his Feint Attack's body fading effect to evade the Voltorb's aim and dodged the Thunderbolt. Immediately after, the Murkrow flew straight into the Voltorb's Thunderbolt, suffered super effective damage, and fainted.

"Murkrow no!"

While Glasses-boy withdrew his Murkrow back into its Poké Ball, the Voltorb looked around for Kyuso who had completely disappeared.

Sticker-boy called out "Above you Voltorb!"

Kyuso wasn't an outstanding climber like his brother Jun, but he somehow managed to climb 10 feet up a tree in just a second. When Sticker-boy warned his Voltorb, Kyuso had already leapt off a tree limb toward the Voltorb with anoher 'half Feint Attack' ready. While he flew thorough the air, his body faded in and out and he gave a bloodthirsty smile at the Voltorb who thought Kyuso was literally aghost. So even though the Voltorb couldn't be paralyzed by normal means since it was an Electric-type, it was still 'paralyzed by fear' of Kyuso.

"Rrraaaa!"

Kyuso landed right in front of its face. The Voltorb's eyes widened in fear and since it didn't have a mouth instead it released sparks faster and faster from its Poké Ball-like body. Then just like the Mightyena Kyuso faced in the forest last week the Voltorb fainted.

"Oh my poor Voltorb retreat for now!"

Gear-girl said "These two are just way too strong. Let's run back to the Pokémon center guys!"

After Glasses-boy withdrew his Voltorb and ran away to catch up to his friends, Kyuso finally relaxed. He finished off all the opponents, minus the Sylveon, as promised and felt victorious and powerful. He even wanted to follow the trainers to the city so that he could fight more trainers but he controlled his battle fever and turned to Aurora to see if she was alright. Her eyes were wide open and she stood crouched just a bit but other than shocked she looked okay. As soon as he looked at her though she flinched and took a step back with her left forepaw. When he saw this, Kyuso winced a little and took a good look at himself.

The two of them had only known each other for a few days now but they'd grown very close during that time. No. 'Close' wouldn't be the word that he'd use to describe their relationship. He'd say that if anything, they were 'cooperating' with each other. He couldn't possibly get close to anyone now that he was almost halfway to his goal. And now she must be disgusted with him. He'd acted really insane in that fight just now but he couldn't help it. He didn't like to start a fight but when he was in one, he'd let himself loose.

But if he really scared her just now then this was bad but good too. Sure it was horrible for him to look like that for others but her reaction was beneficial. It was full of terror and dread as if she was disgusted by his ruthless battle style. This time, he knew that he would be able to leave for sure. One because he knew somehow that she wouldn't stop him. Two was because of how he battled just now. Sure he did it just to win so that they wouldn't be captured, but he also fought for the thrill of domination. Even though those Pokémon and trainers were only novices he still felt 'natural' when he beat them all. He felt scared of this feeling of domination now that he lost his battle fever and wanted to leave before he hurt anyone anymore, especially Aurora.

Because of this, his wince instantly became a smirk and he walked past Aurora to leave.

Now's the perfect time; she's terrified of me right now. I should leave now while she'll let me, especially since I went all berserk just now like how I did before at that time.

"Don't."

"Eh?"

Kyuso stopped walking away and turned back to Aurora. She gave him a sad, and also maybe desperate, look and her purple eyes were starting to water. Her long ears hung down which made her look more even more sad. She took a step closer to him without breaking eye contact. With this, his cocky attitude was broken and he stumbled a step backward.

"Don't." she said again.

"D-d-don't what?" he said nervously.

"Don't go...Don't leave...Don't make me..." she stepped forward again.

"Uh...don't make you do what exactly?" he stepped backward again.

"*sniff* Don't make me have to stop you *sniff*." another step closer.

Kyuso didn't notice the tree until he backed into it. Aurora got up close, hugged Kyuso around his neck so that he couldn't evade and started to glow brightly. Kyuso was all too familiar with her move Dazzling Gleam and knew that she was prepping to use that move right now.

"I wasn't scared for myself if that's what's on your mind. I was scared that you'd lose yourself somehow." her Dazzling Gleam was still charging up "I don't disgust you Kyuso. I worry about you."

"Ah! O-okay okay just relax! Look, see I'm not going anywhere, I'm sitting down right now! I'm staying, so just relax!"

As if to prove his point Kyso sat firmly down and made no move to get up. Once Aurora saw this she wiped her tears away with the back of her paw and settled herself next to Kyuso. Her Dazzling Gleam was also dying down much to his relief. She sat so that they were touching shoulders and she leaned her head on his shoulder.

Kyuso started to blush and stand up "Umm Aurora, you're kinda too-"

"Please" Aurora started to glow again "Please just relax with me here."

Kyuso really would've liked nothing more than to leave this girl someplace safe and leave to journey home on his own. The memory of last week and his actions during that time still haunted him. He knew that the longer he stayed with anyone, the more likely they'd end up hurt beacause of him. But the memory of her Dazzling Gleam 'burning him alive' was still fresh in his mind and he felt that right now, the most important thing was to not upset this girl who sat right next to him and could fry him in a flash, literally. Also, she wrapped her tail around his. His own tail wasn't as flexible as an Espeon's so there was no way he could evade her Dazzling Gleam now.

"Please promise me that you won't leave me anymore. You don't have to worry about me. Please promise."

"Um..."

She was still glowing but Kyuso felt that he had to draw the line right now. He was about to say no to her promise until he made the mistake of looking at her in the eyes. Her eyes weren't watery anymore but they still looked a little shiny from having finished crying a second ago. They were a little puffy and a bit red too. He suddenly got an image in his head about a girl crying alone on the snow and immediately felt guilty.

No! What the hell am I thinking! I can't let her ge to me so easily, I can't agree to something like this, and I definitely can't promise it! Okay Kyuso, just breathe and calm down. Yes just like this. Now look at her and tell her no. Say no. It'll hurt at first but it's for the best. Just one simple word. No. Again. No. Again. No. One more time. No. Alright you've got this.

"No, I can't do that Aurora." Kyuso told her firmly.

She immediately hugged his foreleg, tightened her tail around his, and her eyes started to tear up again. Amazingly, all in one fluid movement.

"What? B-b-bu-bu-but..."

That killed him.

"Ahaha! Just kidding! I was just kidding okay so you can stop crying. Come on now!" What the hell, I wasn't kiding around! Why am I saying this?!

"*Sob* N-n-no you're lying to m-me! *Sob*"

Oh shit, I'm making a girl cry! I am so gonna pay for this later!

"No I swear I'm not. I'm speaking the truth right now. Here, look at me. I'll even agree to your promise!' Wait what?! "I promise to never leave you until our adventure is complete. Okay?" WHAT THE HECK AM I SAYING?!

"*sniff* Y-you...you r-really are telling the truth right now aren't you? *sniff* I don't feel that you're lying to me now at all."

I was being honest?!

"Uh yeah. Yeah I'm telling the truth. I promise you that we'll stick together." Shut the hell up damnit! Stop making things worse!

Aurora finaly relaxed and leaned on Kyuso's shoulder again content.

"Thank you Kyuso. Truly thank you."

...

"Argh, my arms still hurt."

"Maybe that's because you drove us into TWO damn trees in the past TWO weeks!"

"Shut the hell up. Those were that freaking Umbreon's fault."

"Yeah well that's why we're here aren't we? So stop your yapping and let's just wait for this "Zero" fella."

"Where the hell is "Zero" anyway? Whoever he is he's late."

"No, we got here early to show him that we're 'respectable and willing businessmen' remember? So shut up and behave."

...

"*sigh* I should've brought a magazine."

"Now who's not behaving?"

"The hell you talking about?"

"I've seen some of your weird shit that you're into. *chuckle*You got some freaky fetishes man."

"Up yours!"

CLICK

!

!

STEP STEP STEP STEP

"...S-So are you the Raider known as "Zero"?"

NOD

"Perfect, let's get down to business. Me and my coworker Pat have had some trouble within our organization recently. One of our members has gone suddenly AWOL with valuable secrets of the organization. We believe he may have been a spy of a rival organization. Those secrets can be leaked out and cause our competition to gain the upper hand, so we've tried to grab him on our own. Unfortunately he has evaded us for over a week now, and that's where you come in."

"..."

"We'd like you to assist us in capturing this spy and bringing him back to us so that we can make a deal with whomever he was actually working for. We know little about him, about his possible next destination, and his new partner. Do you accept our request?"

NOD

"Okay then, Pat you take the rest."

"..."

"...Umm right. You're target is an adolescent, male Umbreon. He has an average build for his age and knows the moves Feint Attack, Assurance, Confuse Ray, and Screech. *rubs neck*Watch out for the Screech. By now he's probably headed toooo *pulls out a map* here *points on map*. Intercept him at this city and if you can't he'll probably be heading straight for this city *points on map* as fast as possible. If you can't stop him by then the mission is a failure, understood?"

NOD

"Now about his partner, we don't think she knows exactly what kind of situation she's got herself into so as a precaution, we'd like for you to bring her in too so that we can help her in the aftermath. She is an Espeon but as for her moves, we know nothing. The reward will be doubled as a bonus if you can bring them both to us, understood?"

NOD

"Any questions?" That oughta get you to talk you weasel.

SHAKE

"None really? So will a reward of P500000 be okay?"

"..."

Alright then, you're dismissed."

STEP STEP STEP STEP

...

"Damn...Pat did you get a good look at what Pokèmon Zero is?"

"No. I even tried to get him to talk but he just stayed silent the whole freaking time. I got nothing."

"Yeah, I couldn't see anything underneath that huge ass cloak either."

"So should we try to get Zero too or what?"

"Hmm...aren't Raiders basically Pokémon badasses?"

"Yeah so I don't even know if we can."

"Why is 'he' called Zero again?"

"Ah lemme check...The file doesn't say why...oh wait! It may not say why but you can pretty much tell why on your own?"

"Then why?"

"Under "Mission Failure Rate" it says "0%". Son of a b**** is a 'straight A' student if you know what I mean."

"How many missions did he-"

"127 successful missions."

"Holy shit! Now that's a merc with a rep. No wonder that Raider Mission Organizer recommended Zero."

"So my question again: should we try to grab Zero too?"

"...Directly he may be more than we can handle but for us, the stronger, the better..."

"...Then let's ambush him. Right as he captures the Umbreon and Espeon for us, we take him while he's tired."

"Hehe, you mean if he gets tired. And we're dealing with a pretty huge if. Not only is he a Raider but 127 successful missions man!

"Well we're doing this either way. We've been gone for almost two weeks. We've got to have something to show for after all this time."

"...Alright, guess we're gonna have to...At least we know one thing for sure now."

"What?"

"*smirk* That Umbreon is as good ours."

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon but I do own Homeward and its characters.

Homeward

Ch. 20

December 20 [5 days before Christmas]

"Lance get off of him now!"

Kyuso didn't wait for the Leafeon to get off of him. Instead he brought his hind legs under the Leafeon, pushed, and threw the Leafeon over him. They both got up quickly and faced each other. Claire and Flash on the other hand didn't know who to help so they both just stood to the side.

"Care to explain yourself?" Kyuso asked trying to keep cool-headed.

"You are the one" Lance answered.

"The one? What do you mean the one?"

"The one destined to destroy us all!"

"Destined? What the heck are you going on about?"

"Claire, Flash, don't tell me you two have forgotten? Remember what Slowking said? About how someday we will meet an abnormally powerful Pokémon who will doom us all?"

"We do remember but still, we can't kill him" said Claire "We are still a rescue team."

Flash spoke up "Lance you've got to cool down and think about what you're thinking of doing!"

"I'm cool I and I know what I'm doing. As Lance Leafeon of Team Blitz, I am rescuing the world!"

Lance suddenly leapt at Kyuso and slashed at him furiously with Leaf Blade. Kyuso dodged Leaf Blade after Leaf Blade but immediately knew that Lance was either as skilled as he was or more so. When he dodged a Leaf Blade the next would slash a little bit closer. Desperate to counterattack, he ducked under the next Leaf blade and shot Confuse Ray. Lance was ready for this and slashed his Confuse Ray in half but as soon as his guard was down Kyuso threw a Feint Attack at him. The Feint Attack was ony inches away from a hit but it was still blocked by

Aerial Ace! He's fast!

In an instant Lance switched back to using Leaf Blade and Kyuso was once again on the defense. After dodging more slashes he decided to counterattack again. This time he jumped over Lance and his Leaf Blade when he saw an opening. He did a half flip, used Screech directly down on Lance when he was above him to push Lance down onto his knees, and completed the flip. When he landed behind Lance he spun around with his tail and swiped Lance's legs out, causing Lance to fall to the ground. Kyuso siezed his chance and slammed down his left forepaw with Feint Attack down on Lance. It was quickly blocked by Aerial Ace but Kyuso predicted that, which was why he saved his right forepaw and stopped sending power to his Feint Attack. While pushing down with his normal left forepaw, his right formed an Assurance, which was bursting a deadly purple light from the double power effect, and slammed down.

Gotcha, you're mine now!

CLANG

What?!

Kyuso's Assurance was blocked. It was blocked by an Iron Tail. His Assurance was blocked by an Iron Tail. It shouldn't have been possible but here it was; a Pokémon using TWO moves at once. Lance had curled up and brought his tail up to block Kyuso's 2nd attack. Both of his paws were caught and both of Lance's leaves were being used so this would been a stalemate situation. Kyuso should've stopped sending power to his Assurance and use Confuse Ray but something about Lance's smirk told Kyuso to retreat so he jumped back, letting Lance go.

No freaking way!

Leaf Blade

Right at the moment when Kyuso jumped off of Lance, Lance's right ear extended with bright green energy in the form of a Leaf Blade and slashed at where Kyuso's neck was just a split second ago. At a safe-ish distance Kyuso took a good look at Lance. The Leafeon's head leaf, tail, and right ear glowed white, silver and bright green respectively. The Leafeons posture was relaxed as if he thought he'd already won, but his hateful eyes targeting Kyuso told a different story. But obviously the most interesting thing was seeing a Pokémon use THREE moves at the same time!

How is he-

"How am I using three moves?" Lance finished as if he could read Kyuso's mind "It's because I am better than you demon. You simply can not beat me. Surrender now and I promise to finish you quickly and painlessly as possible."

So far into the battle Kyuso had been losing his confidence bit by bit after seeing how outclassed he really was. However, the 'deal' that Lance gave him sounded more like an insult so his fighting spirit was reignited somewhat.

"If you really think that I'd just give up and die you must be more stupid that I thought you were." Kyuso said with a growl.

"Have it your way then."

Lance raised all three of his moves into the air in preparation for a charge. Kyuso didn't know what to do. Lance was just too strong for him to fight up close and his Confuse Ray and Screech didn't work on Lance either. He needed to think about how to properly fight Lance but no ideas came to mind...except running away that is. If he stayed and fought, he would surely lose and be killed. However, if he ran away, then how could he ever get over himself? He would've only proven himself to be a coward when the going got tough. Deciding to fight till the end, Kyuso got into his fighting stance and was about to use Feint Attack until he remembered something important.

[I'll be back one day for you Jun. When I'm old enough to take care of us both, I swear I'll come back for you.]

!

"This is the end for you demon!" Lance roared before he charged.

I have to survive!

Kyuso turned around to run, swallowing his pride.

''AH!"

"Claire no!"

Kyuso turned back and saw that Lance was already right behind him but instead of attacking, he was holding Claire who was injured from appearantly an Iron Tail. Blood was spilled all over Claire's chest and she had difficulty breathing. Kyuso knew that her chest was crushed from the Iron Tail and that she didn't have much time.

Oh no Kyuso thought. Oh Arceus no. Why did she take that for me? It was meant for me!

All the hate was gone from Lance's eyes and was replaced with worry "No. No. No no no! Claire I'm so sorry I never meant to hit you I swear! I swear on my life I didn't! I'm so sor-"

"Lance." Claire weakly weazed.

"Shhh it's going to be alright Claire just look at me! Shshshh it'll be alright." Lance was hugging her now.

"L-Lance...I...al...ways...l-l-"

Lance's eyes were starting to water now but he refused to cry. He had to stay strong for Claire so that her last memory of him wouldn't be so pathetic.

"Shh save your breath. I understand Claire. I-I love you too Claire. Every day I've always loved you from the day I first met you. You are the only one I...I'm so sorry it turned out like this, I never should've lost control. Please don't leave me! Don't do this to me please!"

"I...love...y-y..."

Lance couldn't hold back his tears now. Slowly but silently they fell into Claire's open chest, mixing in with her blood.

Arceus why did it have to come this Kyuso thought. It's my second day. It's only my second damn day and I've already gotten a girl killed! What the hell! What the hell did I do to deserve this?! I should just leave now. Yeah that's what I'll do. Just leave before I make things worse somehow. Wait, no. That's the cowards' way again. I've already tried that and look at what happened. I've got to do something, anything! Think you asshole!...I should apologize at the very least. Not to Lance or Claire right now, it'll just make things worse. I'll apologize to Flash first.

Kyuso looked around but couldn't find Flash immediately. He found Flash a little farther away from the scene. He was curled up on the ground, shaking, and Kyuso could hear him crying quietly to himself. At this Kyuso started to tear up a little, even though he just met these Pokèmon, and he approached the miserable Jolteon.

"Flash, I'm so sorry, this was all my fault."

Flash whimpered.

"Lance."

"Yes what is it Claire? What do you need?"

"K-kiss...g-good...bye..."

Lance was shocked at this sudden request but realized that this would be the last time he would ever see Claire, the only one he ever loved, ever again, so he nodded and granted her last request. He came closer to her lips to kiss her, at least he was going to until...

WRAP WRAP WRAP WRAP

...all 4 of Claire's ribbons grabbed Lance's legs.

"Gotcha sucka!" Claire shrieked with a smile.

"What the?!" Lance was too stunned to react.

She quickly grabbed his face so that he was now completely immobile, brought him closer to her, and used Draining Kiss full blast on his cheek.

Kyuso was stunned. What?! I though she was...

Lance had all of his health drained out of him "Gaaah!"

When he went limp, Claire finally released Lance from her multi-grip, stood up, scooped her blood off her chest with her ribbons, and began to drink her own blood.

"Mm, yummy!"

"What're you doi-HMPH!" Kyuso threw up "*gasp gasp gasp* What the hell are you?!" he started to back away from her.

Flash exploded "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Kyuso looked back and forth between Claire and Flash, keeping his distance from them both.

"What the hell is going on here?!" he demanded.

Flash just continued to laugh with tears in his eyes, rolling on the snow.

"Relax Kyuso everything's fine now! Look it's just Cheri Berry juice see." Claire explained before she threw her 'blood' at his face.

SPLAT

"...H...ha...ha...AAHHHH! WHAT THE HECK?! GETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFF!"

Kyuso dived for the snow, crashing his face into it, and rubbed his face against the snow trying to rub all the 'blood' off. Flash laughed uncontrollably at this and cried some more but was kicked by Claire who called him rude. Most of the 'blood' was wiped off onto the snow but a bit still remained on his face and trickled down into his mouth now that it was mixed with snow which was heavier. At first he wanted to spit it out, but stopped because it tasted spicy. Although it was cold from the snow, it tasted like Cheri Berries just like Claire said, so instead he swallowed a tiny bit and found that he liked the taste. After that, he swallowed the rest in his mouth.

"Th-this is just Cheri Berry juice" Kyuso said finally relaxing a bit.

"Hey that looks good! I'll have some." Claire said. She mixed the fruit with some snow and ate the combination. "Mmm, this reminds me of snow cones! Oh those were the best!"

Flash had finally settled down and was lying on the snow.

"Hehehe. Hoo boy Claire, that almost killed me!"

"Too bad it didn't though." Claire said before kicking some snow at Flash. She was almost done with her 'snow cone'.

"Okay, I think I understand what just happened although it's a little hard to believe." Kyuso said.

"Yeah sorry we put you through that Kyuso, but we figured it was better if we take you for a ride instead of them," Flash pointed to the general direction of where Max and Pat's truck should've crashed "or Lance."

They all looked at the KO'd Lance.

"So what now. Are you guys going to try and kill me too?" Kyuso asked while stepping into his combat stance.

"Goodness no!" Claire said "We just saved you. Why would you try to kill you?"

"Ask him." Kyuso pointed at Lance "You know what? A lot of people and Pokèmon have been trying to kill me this week ever since I evolved. Is this common or something for Umbreon?"

"Nah, you've just got terrible luck my friend." said Flash who was given another kick by Claire.

"Lance did have a point though Kyuso; it's highly possible that you are the one." Claire said.

"He said that the destined Pokèmon would be abnormally strong and I don't know where you guys were but what I saw was a Pokémon using 3 moves at once!"

"Lance does not count because Slowking said that the Pokémon would be a figure of black and yellow with red eyes."

"So you immediately accuse me?"

"No," Flash spoke up "but we should really take you back to Crimson Base and take you to see Slowking, he'll know what to do."

"And why should I?"

"Because Slowking never told us what to do if we acually found that Pokémon. Now help me with Lance, he's heavy. Claire you got the Escape Orb ready?"

"Yep, we're ready to teleport back to Crimson Base." Claire said while holding up a wierd looking ball that Kyuso never saw before.

Kyuso got under Lance and picked up Lance's front side while Flash took up Lance's back and hindlegs.

"Wait did you say teleport?"

"Yeah, pretty cool huh? Hit it Claire!"

When Claire held up the Escape Orb, the four of them started to shine and dissolve into golden dust. Claire and Flash were indiffersnt to this, since they were on a rescue team. Kyuso on the other hand, was both fascinated and terrified from seeing his paw, legs, and then chest disappear right before him.

"How does this even work?" Kyuso asked before they all vanished from the winter forest clearing.

Yes I included the Escape Orb into this chapter. I know I said that I wouldn't focus so much on the details of Rescue Teams but I couldn't help myself so I went and downloaded the ROM version of PM Red. I got into it so maybe I'll use more items like the Rescue Team Badge. Speaking of, anybody know how that thing transports you out of dungeons? I just finished a rescue and then WOOSH my team and the Pokémon we ahd to save just came back home! Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter so please review.