Author's note: Stop the presses! The fic's been updated!

Haha. Hi, everyone. Long time, no see, right? I haven't felt like updating this angsty fic in so long, but now I'm finally ready to get back into it again. Hope you enjoy it!

Also, this chapter's title is a song by The Used.

(Spoilers: most of the songs I use for titles are songs I've never even listened to. XD Haha. I read the lyrics online, though.)

P.S. I hope the chapter is of sufficient length. I tried my darnedest to break through my writer's block to write it. So please enjoy!

P.P.S. I made a slight goof-up with the timeline, so that has been fixed.

Chapter Nineteen: Dark Days

It had been two months since the day that Pikachu and Buneary had met. In that time, training had continued as normal, with Buneary gradually improving each day. Predators had occasionally reared their ugly heads, but had all been dealt with relatively swiftly by Pikachu. The more major threats had, thankfully, been avoided, as the mouse had learned to keep his head down and stay out of trouble.

Every day, he'd continued to think about what the Eevee had said to him several weeks ago. As interesting – and convenient – the idea of being a trained Pokemon was, could he really leave the forest? Could he really leave Buneary? Unless he could find a way to bring her with him – that would kill two Pidgey with one stone, so to speak – but he wasn't sure. The forest may be dangerous, but it was his home. He'd lived in one his entire life, so it would be quite the culture shock to leave it for a life of travelling and Pokeballs.

Speaking of a culture shock, he'd been trying his hardest not to eat meat lately, for more than one reason. He knew how much his carnivorous side upset Buneary, so he'd made a special effort to keep her happy and comfortable around him. He also still felt the sting of eating those he should have been protecting. In order to feel more like the hero he was supposed to be, he had to stop. Some days, however, the cravings would kick in rather fiercely. To avoid this, he'd try to focus all his energy on thinking about berries – sometimes biting into them extra hard to remind himself how good they tasted and how little he needed meat – but it was almost unbearable.

"Thundeeeershock!" he cried.

A full-power Thundershock shot from his body and hit Buneary. She let out a cry, then gritted her teeth and clenched her paws to fight it off. He was so proud of her. She'd come so far in just a couple of months.

Once the electrocution ended, he smiled at her. "Great job, Bun-" He paused. She was frozen in place, slight sparks crackling around her. Her eyes looked pained. "Oh, you've been paralysed again. Hold on a sec!"

He dashed into the burrow and grabbed a Cheri berry that he'd stashed there. He'd been needing these things a lot, as of late. Rushing back outside, he broke off a small piece – ignoring the foul spicy smell that he disliked so much – and placed it in Buneary's mouth. She chewed it the best she could, in her current state, then swallowed. A few moments later, she cringed, then sighed in relief.

"Thanks, Pikachu," she said.

"No problem," he replied.

"Hey, bro!" a male Pikachu said cheerfully. "Look what I found!" He held up a Chesto berry.

A female Pikachu scowled at him. "We're meant to be picking Sitrus berries today, remember?" she said.

"Aww, come on, sis! This is my favourite berry!"

"Dad specifically said Sitrus berries."

"I know, but they're too sour!"

"I prefer spicy berries, but you don't hear me complaining."

He smirked. "You kidding? You're always complaining!"

Her eyebrow twitched at this remark. "Just put that awful thing down."

"Neverrrr!" He ran off with it.

"Stunt! Put it down!"

"You'll have to catch me first, Scout!"

She heaved a sigh, then glanced to the side in exasperation. She suddenly paused. "Hmm? Champ?"

The second male Pikachu of the group looked over to see a male Pichu hiding behind a tree. The moment the tiny mouse Pokemon was spotted, he gleefully ran over and grabbed the male Pikachu by the arm.

"You caught me! You caught me!" he said. "So, can I collect berries with you?"

The female Pikachu faltered. "Well..."

"Please, Aunt Scout?"

She paused for a moment, then smiled. "Alright then, Champ. You can help."

"Yay!"

She wasn't really his aunt, but the male Pikachu found it adorable anyway. In reality, she was his mother's cousin.

"Well, I'd best go find Stunt first." She began walking away. "Arceus knows where that idiot's gotten to..." She stopped in her tracks. "Isn't that right..." She turned around, a dark scowl on her face. "Brother?"

The male Pikachu blanched. Looking down at the Pichu, he saw tears leaking down his face.

"How could you leave us, Uncle? I thought you loved us!"

"I..." the Pikachu replied meekly.

Looking around him, he noticed the forest being bathed in a dark green fog. The trees sprang to life with sinister smiles, cackling into the night sky that washed away all trace of daylight.

"You left us, brother..." the female Pikachu said, slowly walking towards him with that dark scowl still etched on her face. "How could you leave us?"

"I..."

Suddenly, the male Pikachu from earlier reappeared, a malicious grin on his face. "What's the matter, bro?" he asked, slowly advancing on him. "Got nothing to say?"

Terrified, he couldn't move. He merely stared, wide-eyed, at the two Pikachu before him.

He then felt the Pichu rip away from him. Looking down at him, he saw the same dark look in his eyes. "I used to look up to you!" he yelled. "But then you left!"

The male Pikachu sneered. "Left to play the hero with that little Buneary friend of yours. How is she, anyway?"

"I'll bet she's as ashamed of you as we are," the female Pikachu said.

"Heh. She knows you're a fraud."

"Yeah!" Pichu cried. "A total fraud!"

The female Pikachu took a few more steps, until their noses were almost touching. She paused.

After a moment, she smirked. "Not much of a hero, after all... are you?"

Around him, the entire forest burst into flames.

Pikachu jolted awake, panting for breath. He paused for a moment, then looked around him. On one side was a dark burrow entrance. On the other side was a sleeping Buneary. After a minute of processing this, he relaxed.

Once he'd eventually calmed down, he rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. It had been a while since he'd had a nightmare. Since Buneary had been staying here, the number of nightmares had decreased drastically, for some reason. Maybe it was just some odd luck. It was strange how they'd suddenly come back full force, though. Tonight's nightmare had been particularly vivid. He shuddered. Rolling over, he attempted to go back to sleep.

"Pikachu..."

"Uhhhh?"

"Pikachu..."

"Mmm?"

"Pikachu."

"Whuh?" Pikachu cracked his eyes open to see Buneary giving him a worried look.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Uh?" he replied.

"You kinda slept in. Didn't you sleep very well?"

"Uh." Suddenly, Buneary moved and a blinding light shone in his eyes. "Aurgh!" He grabbed a handful of leaves and threw them over his face.

"... Pikachu?"

"Naw, Ah din slee' we'."

"... Sorry?"

"... No... I didn't sleep well."

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that."

A half-awake thought drifted across his brain. Arceus, I'm useless... He brushed it off and rolled over.

"So, um... should I just leave you to sleep?"

"Yuh."

"... Okay then... See you later, Pikachu."

"Suh yuh."

Buneary looked nervously around her as she hopped to her destination. This was the first time she'd travelled to the lake by herself. It was daunting. She was so used to having Pikachu around to protect her, but he was still half asleep. Maybe she should have waited for him?

No, she thought. I have to learn to do things by myself. I have to prove to Pikachu that I'm improving! She paused. But have I improved enough?

She was also worried about the mouse Pokemon. It wasn't like him to sleep in and even less so to brush her off. He must have really sleep poorly the previous night. She had to wonder why.

Soon enough, she arrived at the lake, which was – as always – occupied with a vast number of other forest Pokemon, who were either eating, splashing around or sunbathing. Eyeing each one carefully, she hopped over to the water and looked down at her reflection.

She was about to lean down and take a drink when she stopped, whipping her head around to look behind her. There was nothing there. She sighed and looked back at her reflection. It was so unsettling trying to drink and wash without Pikachu here to look out for her.

She shook her head; no, she had to do this herself. If she was ever going to be any use, she had to learn to take care of herself. Tuning her ears to the surrounding area, she leaned down to drink.

It wasn't as if she'd never multitasked before. Back when she'd been living in her own burrow, she'd had to drink and watch her back at the same time. Granted, she'd been very bad at it and had almost been eaten several times, but still. Each time, she'd only managed to get away by pure luck. One predator had just outright given up on chasing her. Another one had been injured and unable to keep up with her. Another had tripped and fallen into the lake.

It had only been when the Ninetales had shown up that her life had truly been on the line. If Pikachu hadn't been there that day... She shuddered. Leaning down to drink, she tried not to think about it.

After quenching her thirst, she scooped up some water and splashed her face with it. It felt so refreshing on her skin. Splashing more over herself, she rubbed away the dirt that she always picked up from sleeping in the burrow.

It was a few moments later when she heard it. The noise was very slight, but her ears immediately pricked up. Spinning around, she came face-to face with a male Mightyena.

He gave her a lopsided grin. "Darn it, you caught me," he said.

Her breathing picked up in her terror. Spreading her feet apart, she tried to stand her ground. "Wh-What do you want?" she asked.

"Breakfast. Duh." Her eyes widened and her breathing increased. "Nothing personal, babe."

Oh no... she thought, her heart pounding with adrenaline.

Without warning, he lunged at her. Shrieking, she leapt to the side to avoid him. He landed on the grass and skidded, then quickly turned around.

"Well, aren't you a fast one?" He opened his mouth and lunged again. "Crunch!"

Shrieking, she dodged again. Thank Arceus for all the speed training that Pikachu had given her. She was only just avoiding the Mightyena, but the point was that she was still alive.

Speaking of Pikachu, I could really use him right now!

Smacking her foot into the ground in a vain attempt to hold him off, she turned and hopped away as fast as she could. Immediately, she could hear him chasing after her.

"Hidden Power!"

After a moment, something hit her rather hard in the back. She grunted in pain. She had no idea what type the move was, but it didn't seem to be too painful, so she was guessing that it wasn't either fighting-type or dark-type.

Around her, she could see the other Pokemon scurrying away and hiding. Some of them ran into the bushes and others ran up into the trees, away from the Mightyena. A lump formed in her throat. Was this what had happened the first time? Was this was happened every time? Did no one actually want to help a fellow Pokemon in need?

Pikachu...

"Get back here, you! Incinerate!"

Leaping to the side, she felt the burst of fire scrape across her skin. She hissed in pain.

I need you... Suddenly, clarity hit her like a thunderbolt. Wait... no! She skidded to a halt on the grass. I'm not going to let this predator win! She turned to face the Mightyena, who stopped opposite her and stared her down. She frowned. I'm going to fight!

The Mightyena grinned. "Oh, so you're going to fight, are you? Awesome. I love it when my food fights back." He got into position. "Alright, toots, show me what ya got."

Growling, she sent power to her ears. Desperately fighting down the urge to turn around and run, she leapt at her opponent. "Dizzy Punch!"

The Mightyena's eyes widened before her ears smacked into him, one after another. Each time, he yelled out in pain.

"Argh, you little... Snarl!"

He made a loud noise somewhere between a growl and a roar. Buneary cried out in a mixture of pain and fear, flying backwards slightly. Landing on the grass, she stared down the Mightyena.

"D... Dizzy Punch!"

She leapt forward again, once more pummelling the dark-type. He cried out in pain before growling.

"Crunch!"

He opened his jaw and attempted to snap it down on her arm. One look at his sharp teeth, however, made her dodge out of the way. He clamped down on thin air.

I'm doing it! I'm actually doing it! Pikachu, are you watching? I'm actually doing it!

She felt a sudden surge of energy flow to the tips of her ears. It was like the adrenaline had gotten stronger. Her ears felt like they were throbbing with power.

For a moment, she caught the Mightyena's eyes widening before she continued to pummel him. He shrieked in pain.

This continued for a short while longer until he seemed to collapse on the grass. Satisfied, Buneary hopped backwards and observed him.

"You... little... Darn, you're good. Better than I expected."

She smiled. "You think so?"

"Yeah..." He struggled to his feet, smiling. "Though don't think you've won yet, babe."

Her smile fell off her face. "Huh?"

Once he was on his feet, he took a deep breath, then aimed his muzzle at the sky. She was perplexed, until he suddenly started howling.

She froze. Surely, this didn't mean what she thought it meant. Surely, he wouldn't do that. Then again, he was a predator – a predator that was actually losing against her – so why wouldn't he do it?

Once he finished howling, he looked back at her, smiling once more. "Like I said, nothing personal, babe."

It was quiet for a few moments. She wasn't sure what was going on. She wanted to run – knew that she probably should run – but her feet felt like they were glued to the floor.

After what felt like the longest, most agonising wait of her life, she heard it: footsteps. Lots of footsteps. Fast-approaching footsteps.

Within moments, she saw the most horrifying sight. It made her heart drop all the way into her stomach. There, in front of her, were four more Mightyena.

Three of the five bite Pokemon gave her frightening glares. The immense intimidation suddenly made her feel considerably less powerful.

"Well, what have we got here?" one of the females asked.

"You're too kind, offering to share your breakfast, dude," one of the males said.

One of the females giggled. "Can she even be split five ways?" she asked. "She's tiny!"

"Fooood!" one of the males cried, hopping up and down in excitement.

"Yeah, probably not..." the original Mightyena replied, "but this one's a toughie, so I had no choice."

The second female giggled again. "You're such a wimp!" she said.

"Yeah," the first female agreed with a smirk, "I was enjoying a nice sunbathe when you freaking called me."

"Breakfast! Breakfast! Breakfast!" the second male cried.

"Looks like you need more training, dude," the first Mightyena said.

The original Mightyena's ears drooped in annoyance. "Don't remind me..." he replied.

"Well, I am hungry," the first female said, "so let's get this over with."

"Fooood!" the second male cried.

"Hey, let's make a game of it," the first male said, getting ready to pounce. "First one to catch her gets rabbit for breakfast!"

"I'm game!" the first female replied.

The second female giggled. "Yeah, let's do it!" she said.

"Food! Food! Food!" the second male cried.

They all looked at the rabbit Pokemon, their red eyes glinting maliciously.

Buneary suddenly found it very hard to breathe. Crud... she thought weakly.