This is the final chapter of the Whitefang Pack. My thanks goes out to everyone who has ever given me a review.
Thank you Kitsune for your kind words. I understand how late this chapter is, but it couldn't be helped. To everyone still reading this, I have a question for you all: Does anyone want a sequel to the Whitefang Pack?
Chapter 12
It was as if Fern's yowl had woken them all up. Humans with nets and dart guns were finally being put in their place by the quite livid forest Pokemon. But Umbreon was only looking at one Vaporeon, his fur standing on end. "Takula." He growled, advancing on her with the teleporting Faint Attack.
"You look like you were hit by a car." Takula observed, stalking around him, "But I guess you were."
Umbreon shut out the sound of her laughter. "It is none of your business."
Takula lunged at him and tore at his bandaged leg with her unnatural claws. Pain flew up Umbreon's leg as it was exposed and he retreated away. "Coward!"
"The only coward here is standing before me." Blazewind said this with a cool flick of her tail. The glass dome that had held the fiery-spirited Pokemon was no more. "You would fight one that is wounded, Takula?" She dropped into a battle crouch and growled.
The Vaporeon said nothing, just kept her claws un-sheathed. "If it pays off, yes."
"You would kill one with the help of a human?" Blazewind's voice was beginning to grow lower, into more of a hiss. "And perhaps, kill one that trusted you? A certain Jolteon that was defenseless to stop you."
"Yes, old fox! Didn't I make that clear before?" Takula lunged without giving any warning. The Flareon she was attacking moved calmly out of the way.
"So you show your true colors to us at last Takula." The leader of the Whitefang Pack shook her head and rammed into her opponent's side, just as a furry something pounced on Umbreon's back.
"Pidgey feathers Umbreon!" Fern cried, burying her muzzle in his shoulder, "You're such a reckless-"
"Hey Fern, are you going to be making a scene now, or are you going to watch your grandmother make mince-meat of Takula?" Riken barked with laughter. Umbreon, looking slightly pleased by Fern's change of heart, looked over her head at the cages, where most of them had their locks snapped in two. Psychic powers were dead useful, he decided, watching Myra bend and break the last lock on a Jolteon's cage.
"Scene? Watch it fox boy!" The Eevee snapped as she licked Umbreon's cheek and stepped away, for the meantime. He guessed she would have a lot more to say to him when they got out, and turned back to the battle at hand. More Rockets had fled the attacking Pokemon, and the ones that where left were seriously outnumbered. None of them were trainers, he decided, as the only Pokemon that was against the forest was Takula.
Takula cried out to the humans for help, her body pressed down to the ground by the heaver Blazewind. No help was coming in time, and another of her enemies shouldered her way forward and grinned down at the Vaporeon. "Now you'll know what it feels like to be outnumbered, for the last time, Takula." Pyrone said smugly as her mother nodded slightly.
The Vaporeon let out one last cry and Umbreon turned away, not wanting to see what was indeed Takula's end.
It was still night when large crowd of Pokemon was finally free of the snowy-white building. At the heart of them all were two Pokemon that stood out from them all, the Umbreon that carried himself along by using Faint Attack and the Espeon, Myra, which had been more useful than anything else.
Tetzleflame and Blazewind, along with the single Houndoom, a tall Manectric, and the new leader of the fifth pack to walk the forest: The Blackstar Pack, walked at the back of the crowd. The Mightyena with this honor was none other than the elder, the one that all of the Pokemon from Whitefang had thought to be more stupid that a kit until this night.
A discussion of peace was at hand back there, one that was to be agreed upon sooner rather than later. One of the better things this all had shown was how useless fighting among creatures so much alike was. Most everyone had one ear cocked back to hear what was going on, including Umbreon.
"The forest is for us all to enjoy." Blazewind was saying, "From Whitefang to Blackstar, it should be territory for us all."
"Agreed." Tetzleflame said, casting the leader of Staticstrike a dark look, "Even though occasional scuffles between packs shall be alright, seeing as how much Staticstrike eats in a moon."
"Those of your clan live longer than those of mine. You know that, old fox." The Manectric leader, Blosten, replied, "I do not see why we should not eat what we please."
"Oh please!"
"Fellows, don't start, please." The Houndoom snorted and pushed his way in between Blosten and Tetzleflame, "You'll give us all a headache."
"They've already given me a headache." Blackstar's leader said conversationally.
"You know, I wasn't done with you Umbreon." Fern whispered into Umbreon's other ear. Startled, he jumped to the side and blinked down at her.
"We thought you were dead." Noric purred, flanking his left side while Fern flanked his right.
Umbreon, felling slightly like a sandwich now, purred in amusement. "It'll take a lot more to kill me."
"Yeah, if the pain doesn't kill you first, right?" Noric's reply was cheeky, but his friend nodded anyway.
Myra was walking a bit away, in deep conversation with her sister, who had thought she was long-lost. Umbreon knew for a fact that he had never heard Pyrone talk in such a happy tone.
The group stopped as one at the front doors of the Pokemon Center. Many heads turned to look at Myra, who had a trainer and her kit waiting inside for her. Umbreon followed her with a mewed apology to the Flareon whose tail he stepped on. He looked up into the eyes of Pyrone and shrank away until she licked his forehead. "You're a good apple Umbreon." She said and nodded, "Go on."
Too stunned to say anything at all, Umbreon followed Myra into the Center to be picked up by the loopy-haired Nurse Joy. He gave her hair a playful flick with one paw as she took him into a room he didn't recognize and was set down on a cold table. The nurse looked over his bandaged leg and paws for a couple of moments before taking his leg and gently unwinding the tattered and broken dressings.
The leg was wrapped again and Umbreon was set down. "You are free to go." The Nurse said with a nod to the open door. He turned away and nodded, moving towards it just as Myra and her trainer exited.
When he got out of the Center, Myra was standing at the edge of the forest. "I suppose you want to go with your family and friends." Her trainer said, placing two red and white balls on the ground. Myra mewed and nodded with her kit by her side. They gave one another one last look before the human stepped on one ball and shattered it, then moved to the next.
Myra and her kit mewed one last goodbye before they turned and left into the darkness of the trees. Only Fern had stayed behind for him, as she silently padded next to him. "Umbreon?" She said, her tone slightly distant.
"Yeah Fern?" He rolled his ears to the side, just incase.
"The next time you decide to save my life and hurt yourself, make sure it's not from a truck, okay?"
"I think I've had enough of trucks to last a lifetime." Umbreon responded truthfully.
The next morning dawned bright and snowy, nature had not stopped pelting the land with cold white flakes. At the center of the forest, five packs met together. They circled around the five leaders and the tyros that had tried a rescue mission. Umbreon and Myra were looked upon as being heroes, not freaks, as were the rest. "As you all know, these all were the tyros that risked their skins for us all." Blazewind started with a proud glint in her eyes as she looked across at them.
"Most, as you can see, have come from the Whitefang Pack. There is one from my own, though." Tetzleflame seemed to smirk as Riken stepped forward. "We have already decided what the reward this lot will get…"
"Yes, they will become warriors as soon as their training is over." Blazewind continued, and spirits seemed to fall between the tyros assembled there.
"But that's only because Umbreon needs to heal." The Blackstar leader grumbled.
"Of course most of you all know the faces here, but the new one is not as familiar. Myra, my lost little one, is the purple one. Know her and respect her, would you all?" Blazewind's voice had a touch of humor to it.
"We will be calling meetings like this one more often." The Houndoom continued, "So we should all get more comfortable with each other. The next time we meet will be to introduce the warrior versions of these to you, a joint warrior ceremony."
The meeting continued on with Myra and Umbreon telling the assembled packs about what they found to be true of what Takula had done. From being the killer of Scarfang to the reason Myra was captured, everything was said. For once in his life, Umbreon was given respect in the eyes of those watching. And that was probably the best thing, the unsaid honor of respect.
Late spring, a group of tyros met up by the Whitefang Pack's lake. "I'm ready, are you guys?" Umbreon asked, stretching his newly-healed leg. It felt good to be able to walk again, and not have to move around by teleporting.
"You don't know how ready I am." Terros replied, yawning. "I already know what I'm going to become."
"So do I." Added Riken, "But I don't have much of a choice."
The Vulpix's cheek excited mewing laughter from the others. Myra flicked her tail impatiently, "Well, come on! I've been waiting far longer than you all for this!" She exclaimed, leaping into the underbrush. She was followed quickly as they headed deep into the heart of Eaglefire's territory.
Umbreon's new mentor throughout the middle of winter, after his leg had healed up, and the rest of spring had been none other that Pyrone. She had even admitted once to him that his rescue of Fern had given her a soft-spot for him. He and Noric had trained long and hard under her, seeing as they had much to learn.
Fern, on the other hand, was not as lucky as to get her mother for a mentor. Instead, the old Vaporeon Makos had trained her. She walked ahead of him with grace and the walk that suggested very good balance.
The soon-to-be warriors came out into a large clearing that glittered with the colors of three small stones. Umbreon and Myra paced to the center of the clearing and watched as the rest split across the three areas.
The new Flareon raised her head high, "By my ancestors, I have become the flame version of my kind." Fern said, "My new name is Freda."
Yowls came from the crowd as Blazewind nodded proudly to her granddaughter and moved on to the Jolteon that was Terros. "I have chosen the lightning version of my kind, and choose to remain Terros, as that is what has always suited me."
Respectful cries came from the watching Pokemon as one by one, the newly evolved Pokemon said their new names. Myra the Espeon became Myrone, in respect for her sister. The single Ninetales remained Riken, Noric's Vaporeon sister became Floran. Mira became known as the Jolteon Nora. Noric surprised them all in his Flareon form by keeping his old name.
And when Blazewind walked up to Umbreon, she turned her head back to the watching crowd. "Umbreon has not been given a name, and for that his warrior name may be anything." She nodded to him and gave a slight Flareon-smile.
For a second, as Umbreon looked out at the watching crowd, he thought there was another Eevee watching whose fur glittered with ghostly light. He shook his head and blinked at the image, but it was only Myrone's little kit, peaking over the shoulder of Flamedance, who was trying to relax her three cubs into watching quietly.
"I wish to be known as Kashen." He said finally.
The others yowled and cheered for Kashen, some of the Ninetales raised their nine cream or golden tails in honor of him. Cubs and kits alike from all packs rolled around and played, mostly uninterested in the excitement.
It was a day none of the new warriors would forget, the day they were honored for becoming warriors. And for Kashen, that meant the world to him, as he took the first steps as a real warrior to his waiting pack.