Backtrack-Kyuso

***EDITED (exclusively for lakevalor.net): cover image available at fanfiction.net***
***EDITED (exclusively for lakevalor.net): summary from fanfiction.net: Just another day in the life of Kyuso with his 'family'. Canon one-shot. Spoilers for those who haven't yet read Homeward.***
To anyone who haven't read my current main story, Homeward, I recommend you do before reading this because as it's mentioned in the summary, spoilers! If you want to see if you'd get interested in reading Homeward, you can try reading this as a demo too, if you don't mind the spoilers that is. For everyone else, just read, see if my writing style interests you, and review if you'd like. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, but I do own Bactrack-Kyuso and its characters.

Backtrack-Kyuso

November 25

Kyuso wondered if there was another way to get it. He had to have it. He wasn't getting it for himself, but for them. And if he didn't get it for them, well, he didn't even want to think about the agonizing torture they'd deal him if he failed his mission. Every time the 16-years-old Eevee took their request, he had completed his mission with no problem (you could almost call him a professional at this point), but this time, the package that he had to deliver, with every detail correct, to his clients, by the scheduled time, was gone. There was only one word that could define him at this defeated moment: dead.

"You've got to have at least one!" he yelled to his provider.

The Vanillite warily answered "I'm sorry sir, but we just don't have it in stock anymore. Our new shipment has been delayed for three hours so at this point all the contents may be ruined. A new delivery will be arriving within an hour."

"Please, you don't understand. I need to have one bucket of Rawst, and one bucket of Vanilla ice-cream. I can't leave without it, I need to buy it here, and I need to buy it now!"

The Vanillite backed away a little "I'm sorry but we just don't have any at this moment. Please wait an hour and-"

"I don't have an hour!" he finished before walking out of the store.

Upon stepping out of the automatic sliding doors of the Poké Mart, Kyuso puffed out a breath of air from being dealt this 'brick wall' type of situation. He tiredly closed his eyes, breathed in some of the fresh morning air, and tried to think of a way to solve his problem.

Okay, I've got two little brothers waiting at home, expecting me to bring back a gallon of Vanilla and Rawst ice-cream each, but there's going to be no ice-cream here for the next hour. I've got maybe ten minutes before Mason and Ray finish with their business and come to pick me up. How do I get the ice-cream here, at this exact market, in ten minutes, so that Jun and Flick don't ruin my life for the next month? Whatever it takes, I've got to find a way to get those two their ice-cream soon, or else!

...

Ten minutes later

HONK HONK

"Crap!"

The poor Eevee sat outside the Poké Mart the entire time, trying to come up with some sort of solution, with no result. Before he knew it, ten minutes had already passed, and now Mason's green van drove up to him. It was too late.

He saw Mason in the driver's seat "Hey Kyuso, sorry for the wait, ehehe. Did you get the boys' ice-cream?"

Kyuso still remembered the time when he tried introducing himself to humans. They didn't understand Pokémon speech so why should he waste his breath? So instead of answering Mason (in this case, the "human"), he used body motions that Mason had grown accustomed to. Right now, Kyuso turned his head to the side, which told Mason No, but it's an unpleasant experience so I refuse to talk about it.

"That'd be a "no". Well too bad, but you know what? We saw an accident on the street today and noticed that it was the delivery truck for this Poké Mart. We thought it may cause trouble with your "ice-cream situation" so we went and got something. Ray?"

The way Mason talked interested Kyuso so he looked back at the professor. He saw Ray, his older, foster, Kadabra brother, hand Mason a couple of things that Mason then held up for Kyuso to see. He couldn't believe it, what Mason held so casually in each hand was a bucket of Rawst and Vanilla ice-cream! A relieved smile spread across Kyuso's face but it was quickly erased.

"No good," he explained to Ray "those two want their ice-cream from this store and nowhere else, remember? They think this store is better for some crazy reason. And they're going to want to see the receipt. They'll see that you got them from another store."

His Kadabra brother telepathically translated his message to Mason who had set aside the buckets and was already reaching into his lab coat pocket. He pulled out a piece of paper and presented it to Kyuso. Kyuso read the "Store #" that was printed above the contents of purchase and saw that it...was the same as this store?! His confused look must've given him away because then, Mason spoke up.

"I asked the manager of the store if he could have two receipts printed up; one original and one fake. There was some trouble at first but after paying a hefty fee, he agreed and printed this fake receipt too."

Kyuso was dumbfounded. He never imagined that Mason would do something like this for him. It made sense since they were family after all, but that didn't mean that he acted like a good son, recently. He had gotten caught a few times sneaking out into the woods to practice battling, which didn't sit well at all with the man. So this act of kindness made him feel relieved and guilty too.

"Thanks Mason" he managed to mutter.

Obviously Mason wouldn't understand what he said. But the Pokémon Professor did understand his slouched shoulders, embarrassed look on his face, and the tone of his words. Putting that all together, even Ray knew that he didn't have to translate this.

His foster dad smiled warmly "Hey no problem son. Come on, get in and let's go home."

Mason pulled a switch on the driver-side door, and Kyuso saw that the window closest to him was lowering. He easily jumped through the window and landed in the back seat of Mason's green van. Being an adolescent Eevee, Kyuso's height was approximately half a meter, but he had no problem with his jump (admittedly because of all the battle training). After he put on his seat belt, they were off, driving through the streets to reach the edge of White Wave City.

There was a road there that led them back home through countryside within a valley with lots of low hills. The grass there was so healthy that it could have been mistaken for a lake with the way it shined whenever wind lightly blew over it on a sunny day. The sight was so beautiful that it was his favorite part in going along with Mason and Ray on their monthly trips to the city. The first time he saw it, he no longer wondered why the city's name was "White Wave". What confused him was why Mason only brought along him and Ray, and not the rest of the family as well. Whatever the reason was, it, along with all of his other troubles at that time, were temporarily 'washed' away from watching the grass.

Today, the weather was heavily clouded so what little sunlight there was, was blocked, making it harder for him to see the 'ripples' of the 'grass lake'. It was unfortunate that he couldn't see the beautiful sight he enjoyed every month. It was solely the reason why his favorite season was Spring.

...

Mason opened the driver-side door "We're baaack!"

What came next were a little Eevee and Vulpix through the first floor kitchen window. More specifically, they were Kyuso's younger brothers, Jun Eevee and Flick Vulpix. Technically, Jun was his only sibling here that was related by blood, and Flick was another foster brother. They saw the two familiar buckets in Mason's hands (the fake receipt was already taped to the lid of the Rawst ice-cream bucket) and ran over to him, almost causing him to trip.

"ICE-CREAM!" Jun and Flick shouted with glee.

Mason smiled and raised the buckets higher above his head "*chuckle* Alright that's enough. Now, if you boys want your ice-cream, you know what you have to say."

"Thank you Kyuso" they simultaneously said half-heartedly. Their gaze never wavered from the icy treats above them.

Mason cautiously lowered their ice-cream and then set the buckets down; the Vanilla to Flick, and the Rawst to Jun. As soon as his hands left the ice-cream buckets handles, CHOMP, the two young brothers grabbed the handles with their teeth and ran for it. Flick jumped up at the front door to pull the door handle down, and the sound of cartoons were heard as two little tails disappeared into the house.

...

"So, those two still can't calm down can they?"

"No, and the ice-cream doesn't help either. But as long as I don't get tortured for a month straight about it, it's fine by me."

Ray and Kyuso passed a ball back and forth in front of the house on the grass. The first time Ray asked Kyuso if he wanted to spend time together like this, Kyuso was a bit uncomfortable with the idea. Kyuso wasn't the most interpersonal member in their family. After that first time though, they both knew that Kyuso had a great time. How? Because he had played till sundown without noticing! It only took a few more games after that for Kyuso to open up more about his feelings in this family. After the first game, the two had made some sort of unspoken agreement to pass the ball back and forth anytime one wanted to. All they had to do was bounce the ball in front of the house, and the other would join in a few minutes. While they played, they spoke about whatever they wanted. The last time they passed the ball around like this, Kyuso talked about how bothered he was with the fact that he was already 16 and still hadn't evolved yet. They both knew that Mason would get 'upset' (to say the very least) if any of them evolved or learned new moves (Kyuso had already done this) so Ray, being the honorable son that he is, failed to understand Kyuso's issue efficiently.

Ray laughed as he smacked the ball "Yeah, better you than me."

"You suck, jerk!" Kyuso jokingly retorted, head butting the ball right back.

"No, that wasn't being a jerk. This," Ray caught the ball with Psychic "*grin* is being a jerk" he revolved the ball around him counter-clockwise like a satellite to keep Kyuso guessing.

Kyuso crouched and got ready to leap "*laugh* Cheater, we said no battle moves!"

Ray just laughed as well and fired the ball when it reached his right side. The ball rocketed far above Kyuso at an alarming speed, but he had already seen it and jumped. In the blink of an eye, the ball was smacked back by his hind legs, when he completed a front flip, and smacked Ray right in the forehead. The ball hit so hard that it ricocheted into the air five meters, and made Kyuso's older brother do a backflip.

Ray groaned loudly and landed on the ground on his chest "Oof!"

Kyuso approached his defeated, older brother, victorious "*smirk* And that's why we don't cheat."

"As you say oh tall and humble champion"

"Ouch. At least that insult hurts less than that smash you took to the head"

Ray got up, dusted himself off, and relaxed on the ground next to Kyuso. He still had that shocked look on his face when he was hit on the head, but there was a little bit of worry now. He brought his head down closer to Kyuso and whispered...

"That was a little too good Kyuso. Have you been...you know...sneaking out, again?"

"Ah-...yes"

"Kyuso you can't! Mason is our father and he strictly restricted us from-"

"I know I know! But still...it's just frustrating how he doesn't tell us anything about why we can't. I thought we were family. How does he expect us to listen to him, if he doesn't have a scrap of faith in us?"

"Have you considered he is a man? A man who may have his own personal problems that may be too painful to face? He may have his own reasons for forbidding us so we, as his children, must respect his decision."

"His decision is too unfair and unjustified."

"Maybe so, but rules are rules. No more training, alright?"

Kyuso didn't like lying to family, but he was almost an expert at it at this point "*sigh*...Fine, now let's go inside and eat. This is depressing the heck out of me and beating you built up an appetite"

"Hehe, you keep getting cocky like that and you'll have your ass handed to you on a silver platter next time"

...

Boy, I sure am glad that Ray isn't here to see me like this for two reasons! I can only imagine the scolding AND mocking that he'd give me if he was here. Whoa! Jeez, that was too close!

The three Zigzagoon that he was fighting now weren't to be taken lightly. It also didn't help that the battle was 3:1 against him. Sure Kyuso was pretty skilled in fighting in this point in his life, but no matter how much one trained their body and mind, they were always at a disadvantage if their focus was divided. His concentration had to be divided evenly to each of the three Zigzagoon, and it only made things harder for him how these guys were so fast. They mainly stuck to attacking him with a hit-and-run tactic; they'd strike fast and then get out while 'the next one in line' attacked to stop Kyuso from getting a hit in. Their attacks never ended with this three-Pokémon maneuver and even though he managed to dodge every hit, he tired himself out three times faster while they only spent one-third of their energy.

It was a good thing Kyuso entered this battle prepared.

Kyuso attempted to taunt "*Pant Pant* Is this all you guys got? I'd say that I'm not surprised but *Pant Pant* that would be a lie. *Pant* Pathetic really"

"Argh, shut up you damn brat!" the next Zigzagoon leapt at him with Tackle.

The agile Eevee ducked and slid back so the Tackle went over him "*Pant* It didn't work the first twenty times. *Pant Pant* It's not going to work now" he chuckled.

The Zigzagoon after that rocketed towards him with Double-Edge but he quickly rolled to the side, dodging the powerful blow.

That was Double-Edge! Well now I know that these guys are super pissed. Although they must be pretty desperate to hit me at least once if they used a move that includes recoil damag-WHOA! Got to get my head back in the game!

For the next thirty seconds or so, this was how it went. They attacked and he merely dodged. Of course he planned to attack soon; a battle couldn't be won by simply defending obviously (this was actualy sort of like exercise for him). But when he did attack, he planned to take them down swiftly, with one hit per enemy. Then, he heard it. The river. It was close now so he even though Zigzagoon were born to be fast, he turned tail and sprinted away.

He could hear hungry laugher, like those of predators, behind him "Hehehe, hey what's the matter? Didn't you call us pathetic?"

Kyuso ran for the source of the sound, pouring on the speed. His legs pump furiously fast, so fast that it was just short the speed of a Quick Attack. Amazingly, he pulled ahead of the Zigzagoon, but he knew his rush wouldn't last. He heard both the pounding of feet behind him, and the sound of the river, getting closer, so he forced one last burst of speed before jumping over some foliage.

He landed, rolled, and spun to face the enemies as he stood at the edge of a cliff, close enough where he could clearly hear the rush of the stream below.

One, two, three Zigzagoon came out to greet him with astonished looks, panting heavily. The looks on their faces showed their surprise from seeing his speed just now.

"You should've just left us alone brat. Why couldn't you just leave us in peace, huh?" the one in the middle growled.

Kyuso lowered his face but kept his eyes trained on the foes. He gave an evil sneer and licked his lips before he spoke "Why? Because I'm the devil, and I like to play with my food before devouring it whole. Now come at me so that I may consume your souls. Your time has come!" he let loose a maniacal laughter as the insane, "cherry on top" finish.

The three Zigzagoon looked at each other weirdly. Kyuso read their faces and knew that they were thinking something like What the hell is up with this asshole? Is he on something? The act he just did shocked him too. He had absolutely no idea where it came from. He was originally going to taunt them one last time, but as long as this got the job done, he wasn't complaining.

The three hesitated a second before charging at him again, but with noticeably slower speed this time.

It worked!

He stood his ground and waited for them to attack...except they didn't. They were slowing down in their charge the whole while as they approached him. Now, they stopped about ten feet each away from him. The expressions on their faces told him that they were intimidated to take a step closer. Instead, they all used Toxic at him. He knew that Toxic was a lethal move but he really didn't want to see the result of a body after it took three Toxic attacks at once, much less be the owner of that 'triple Toxic hit' body.

Kyuso jumped over the triple Toxic attacks and landed behind the Zigzagoon on the left. He swiped the Zigzagoon's tail out from under him with Tail Whip, bit the Zigzagoon's left hindleg, swung him around, and threw him over the cliff.

"HOLY CRAAAAAAAAaaaaaaap!" was the last thing the three heard. The splash was heard a LOT later.

"..."

"..."

"...Next" Kyuso said with a smile to break the silence. The other two flinched when they heard his voice.

They looked at each other once and silently agreed to try a different approach. They stalked to opposite sides of Kyuso to surround him. Kyuso held his ground and stayed wary of them both, while keeping up an image of cockiness to draw them in. When the two were at opposite sides of him (so that he couldn't keep his eyes on them both simultaneously), they moved. The one on the left threw a Sand Attack at Kyuso's face and at that moment the one at the right attacked with Headbutt.

Not the best of combinations he chided silently.

While sliding forward, he spun 180Ëš in a counter-clockwise direction, so that he now faced both foes. Using the momentum from the slide, he bent his legs and shot forward with the strongest Tackle attack he could muster at the "Headbutt" Zigzagoon, who was stunned from taking his ally's Sand-Attack to the face. The Tackle smashed into the Zigzagoon's right side and sent him of the cliff, following the first.

The remaining Zigzagoon stumbled back in shock after seeing both of his friends thrown over a cliff in such a short amount of time. The Zigzagoon's bravado broken, Kyuso rushed at him and conjured up the fiercest Growl he could, as if he really was hungry for souls. The Zigzagoon stumbled back even further and fell out of balance when he did, since he had just realized that he was standing at the edge of the cliff. Falling over, he reached out and just managed to grab onto the edge but the loose dirt crumbling away from his grip showed that he wouldn't last long.

"Please, help me!" the Zigzagoon yelled "I won't-we won't ever meet you again. I swear it! Please, pull me up! Save me, please!"

Knowing that this was probably a lie (and a trap), Kyuso thought about whether to help or not. He could help the Zigzagoon who would then probably bring back a whole bunch of friends for revenge. Or he could not help and then the Zigzagoon would definitely bring back an army for revenge. Then there was always the third possibility; that he was overthinking things again and the Zigzagoon really would leave and never come back. He really didn't want to help, but he knew what his decision would be as soon as he started feeling sympathy for that poor bastard.

He groaned in disgust, reached over the edge, and grabbed the back of the Zigzagoon to pull him up. Honestly, it was very easy to pull the guy back up, a little too easy even. At that moment, Kyuso was blinded and tasted mushy dirt in his mouth. The blast of the Sand Attack was so sudden, and hit his face, so he was momentarily thrown off balance.

Damn it!

The next hit was a Tackle attack right to his gut that knocked all the air out of him until he suffocated for a split second; an unlucky critical hit. A Double-Edge smashed into his head next, making him see black dots in his vision and fly back several meters.

In the space of five seconds, Kyuso went from winner to loser, all because he felt pity for his enemy.

He lay crumpled on the ground. The Zigzagoon was laughing at him, calling him a dumbass for believing his act. He tried rising to his feet but fell back down when his head throbbed in waves of pain. Right now, he really did feel like a dumbass too, with the way he couldn't even get up. Chuckling at his attempts, the Zigzagoon approached. Gritting his teeth, Kyuso braced his feet on the earth and forced his body to obey, despite his head telling him not to. The Zigzagoon saw this and grinned; Kyuso may have gotten up but he was still swaying a bit.

His foe bent down, preparing another Tackle attack.

At least that's what was probably happening. Kyuso couldn't tell for sure because at this point, he was seeing three Zigzagoon again and they were floating around like ghost-type Pokémon. He shook his head to try and fix his vision but that was a mistake as evident by the throb of pain he felt next. His eyes just wouldn't focus on the Zigzagoon.

If I can't dodge, I'll have to defend he managed to think.

The Zigzagoon rushed at him.

No!

The Zigzagoon was now coming at him in a zig-zag path. Left. Right. Left. Right. With his vision still tricky, he knew he wouldn't be able to block this. He guarded his left. Then he switched to his right. Then left. Then right. Left. Right. Left. Right. It was no good, he just couldn't keep up in this state; he had taken two huge hits ater all, it was amazing enough how he was still up on his feet.

Right! he decided.

Too late he saw that the Tackle came from the left, and under his guard.

BAP BAP

?!

The Zigzagoon was knocked back a few feet, his Tackle canceled. Kyuso's vision was starting to clear, so he looked to his left. A familiar duo consisting of an Eevee and Vulpix stood aside him.

"What're you two doing? It's dangerous!" Kyuso warned his younger brothers.

"We're helping!" Jun answered.

Flick followed up with "Yeah, you were getting your butt kicked"

"It's because of you two that I'm fighting right now. Run!"

But his brothers didn't abandon him. They remained at his side, defiant against the last Zigzagoon. At this point, Kyuso's sight was good to go, so he crouched down into attack position. He didn't want his brothers to be harmed again, so he decided that they should end this here and now.

"Alright then, if you guys want to go, then let's finish him off!" he yelled.

The Zigzagoon was stunned a bit from the counter hits, so Kyuso chose this moment to rush him. He ran at the Zigzagoon, ignoring the protests from his body, and threw a Tackle with all the energy he could muster up at the face.

Payback you bastard!

The blow made the Zigagoon spin around, and following after him, Flick tripped him with Tail Whip. Jun hit the Zigzagoon's back with Tackle, which sent him over the edge for real this time.

They walked over to the cliff in time to see the Zigzagoon go splat on the water and sink down.

Jun and Flick both hissed "Oooh" while Kyuso winced and covered their eyes with his paws.

Farther downstream they saw two other Zigzagoon on the shore of a tiny lake and if they were really quiet, they could hear certain swears that Kyuso judged Jun and Flick weren't ready to hear, so he told them to cover their ears. A few seconds later, the head of the Zigzagoon they dropped together popped out of the water below and a scream of agonizing pain could be heard as the river carried him downstream.

The three brothers turned around to head back home. As they walked Kyuso asked the two questions about what had happened beforehand. It turned out that after the two had some ice-cream, they ran outside to play tag, but their game had led into the forest without them realizing it. The next thing they knew, they were being, as Flick put it, "bullied by the jerks". When Kyuso heard their cries while he was taking a walk, he ran towards the source, interrupted the confrontation, and aggravated the three Zigzagoon with crude insults, so that his two younger brothers could sneak away.

Since, he did just got their monthly ice-cream and saved them, Jun and Flick agreed to keep this fight a secret, and not blackmail him or something, the adorable imps.

...

It was dinnertime and nothing provoked "family" more than a family dinner with all family members present around the dining table. All six members of the family were here too, sitting around a circle table in a hexagon shape, so the mood was pretty good. Kyuso loved Mason, Ray, Jun, and Flick, no matter how annoying they may get at times. In a family, you just had to trust and accept them for who they were, regardless of their faults (he learned that himself the hard way...).

"Can someone pass the salad?" Jun asked.

"Coming your way" Kyuso offered.

"Hey, I can't see the T.V.!" Ray complained.

"Oops, sorry" Flick laughed.

"Where's the butter?" Mason called out.

"..."

Yes, the six of them were a happy family indeed.

...

Kyuso got up from bed and walked to the bathroom around midnight. Turning on the light, he splashed his face with some cold water and dried himself off on his towel. He shut off the light before silently making his way down the hallway. Everyone was asleep so he didn't want to wake them up at this time. Everyone that is, except for one (not including him). When he reached the stairs at the end of the hallway, a dull, faint light was flashing different colors on the walls and he could hear quiet chatter. Obviously, the T.V. was on and at this hour, there was only one person who could be up awake (again not him included).

He walked down the stairs, perfectly aware of her presence, knowing that she knew that he was here, knowing that she knew that he knew that she knew that he was here, etc. He walked around her so he didn't block her view of the T.V., headed into the kitchen, took a drink of water, and returned to the living room, where she hadn't budged in the slightest from her position on the left side of the couch. He jumped up to the couch, on the far right side, and sat as far to the opposite edge of the couch as comfortably possible. There was only the one couch since Mason was too busy with work to buy another couch, chair, or whatever piece of furniture they wanted.

The horror movie she was watching went to commercials.

CLICK

The screen changed to a drama that she maybe liked (at least that what he thought from seeing her watch it a lot) which they watched for five minutes until she switched back to the movie.

He honestly didn't know why he came down here almost every night. It wasn't to build a relationship with her, that much was obvious. She wasn't willing to either, and she made that 'painfully' clear. But for some reason, she loved Jun, his only blood-related brother in this family, with a passion that almost rivaled his own. Everyone else, she was, well, 'neutral' with.

On the screen, a doll girl in a clean white dress merrily chopped off a man's right arm with an axe. He screamed.

It pained him (literally) how he tried to be a good brother for her, but she was too stubborn to accept his kindness. At least, it pained him at first. He learned quickly that the more they had in common, which were a lot of things, the more she despised him. He believed that she hated him because she thought that he was just copying her like an annoying, copy-cat little brother. But the intensity of her hatred told him that there was a more serious reason than that.

The doll chopped off the left arm of the man after giggling at him. He was yelling and crying in agony. There was blood everywhere.

Honestly, he wasn't copying her on purpose. It just couldn't be helped that they had a lot in common. This was a pretty good example too. He didn't come down here in the middle of the night just to imitate her. He could understand why she did it. She was an Umbreon after all; it was only natural that she would feel restless during the night. As for him, he honestly had no idea why he woke up at this ridiculous time of night. He just woke up sometimes and couldn't fall back asleep without spending his energy.

The she-doll now dragged the armless, screaming man away by his broken legs with surprising strength towards a dark closet.

...

Kyuso's eyes were starting to feel strained, so he got up from the couch to go back to bed. During the whole movie (the surviving humans were now just suspecting the doll girl, the idiots), they had not said a single word to each other or even looked at each other, but this was how it usually went anyway.

When he reached the first step of the stairs, he stopped instantly, muscles tensed, when he heard her say...

"You're going to bed now?" Luna asked in a light-hearted tone. He knew she hadn't even looked up from the T.V.

"Yeah" he replied in the same fake-happy tone. He didn't look back either.

"Sleep tight" she told him. What a caring death-threat that was.

"Right back at you" he repiled, still cheery-toned.

"I hate you" she called to him lovingly.

"I hate you too" he smiled, knowing that she knew that he knew that she knew he smiled.

When he reached his room and plopped down into bed, he got restless again. He knew why this was too. It wasn't because of the usual crap he handled with Luna, his older, foster sister (younger than Ray); he was used to it by now. No, this was because of a certain thorn in his mind that poked at him each and every day, no matter how great his family was. After all, this wasn't his true family was it?

Mom. Dad. Where are you?