Darkness.

The land was shrouded in nothing but darkness. No light could be seen for miles to light up the most blackest of spaces, save for the dim rays emitting off the moon, but not even that could light up the entire land in which is, at the moment, covered in darkness.

Pokemon from all around, living in this particular area, have all retreated to their homes for the night, safe from any predator pokemon out on the hunt. And it just so happens one was on the hunt as a matter-of-speaking.

Red eyes were all one could see, hovering in the air as they scanned back and forth, searching for a late night meal. Every now and then, if one looked closely, they would see the dim glow of blue rings attatched near the pair of red eyes. On an even closer inspection, the outline of a bipedal pokemon with black fur and long ears could be seen.

Of course, the glowing bue rings would most definitely give it away that the red eyes belonged to none other than an Umbreon. And there he stood, sitting upon a small hill scanning the darkness for a stray, wandering pokemon to walk by for him to pounce on. His strong, muscular legs were relaxed for the moment, ready to bound into action at the first sight of a meal. The long, pointy ears twitched every now and then, keeping alert for the slightest sound of movement.

Suddenly, his entire body went rigid, tensing up as his ears stood straight up being alerted to the sound of the snapping of the branch. His eyes turned full attention towards the source of where the noise came from, seeing a rustle of leaves shaking. He arched his back up, readying himself for a chase. His eyes widened with excitement, his heart beginning to race. Suddenly-

"Tsuki!" yelled out a demanding, feminine voice. "You best get in here this very instant!"

The Umbreon winced at the tone of voice used on him, causing him to lose focus on what was to be his meal. "Crap," he thought. "Why now of all times?"

"Tsuki! Don't make me have to come out there."

With a sigh of frustration, Tsuki turned around saying, "Coming mother." He walked back to his small, little clearing, disappointed for being interrupted. But then again, he should have been used to this. After all, this was how his life was lived every day. He rarely got to hunt at nights because of his over protective parents. In fact, the only time they would ever let him hunt was if he was out with his friends.

As it was, Tsuki slowly walked by his mother as she scolded, "How many times must your father and I tell you to never be out after dark, you little runaway brat?"

I sighed, wishing to argue back with her, but there really wasn't any point to doing so. I had talked back to them many times and received punishment for doing so. My life wasn't as grand as everybody else's. In fact, it was downright miserable. After talking back so many times and receiving many a beaten, I've learned to just accept my parent's scolding at me and give up a many things of my life I could have lived.

Every single day of my life I had to put up with all the load of scolding they gave me, whether I was doing something or doing nothing. I always got scolded for something. When I first started talking back to them at first, they responded by beating me, using their attacks, scorching my fur, chunks of it being torn off through biting, my life being threatened daily. And even after I evolved the abuse didn't stop there. They continued to hurt me, my fur being singed, bite wounds left on my body, the usual. I even once had my voice go hoarse from all the backtalking I did and they took advantage of me because of that. But I came around to accept the life I lived later on, despite the constant scolding and mistreatment I recieved.

"Trying to run away again I bet, you little pest," my mom said as I walked over to my little area where I slept.

"Yeah," I said with a sigh. "Pretty much."

"Don't you dare take that attitude with me, brat," my mom said. "Be lucky you still have a home after your stupid evolution. If it weren't for the fact we needed you, it would have been so long to you."

Now what she had said right then and there wanted to cause a smile to spread across Tsuki's face. Just the mere thought of being free from his parents would be better than anything else in the world. But living with his parents for so long, enduring the abuse he's been put under, ceased him from smiling. If he were to show any sign of happiness, it would just give his parents something else to abuse him about.

"Yeah, yeah," Tsuki muttered silently under his breath.

"What was that, boy?" a masculine voice said silently from within the shadows. "You're not backtalking your mother again, are you?"

"What on earth would give you that idea?" Tsuki said. In an instant, fast as lightning, a Jolteon shot out from the shadows, grabbing the back of Tsuki's head by a paw and slamming it down hard onto the ground.

"Now you better listen and you better listen good," the Jolteon snarled softly, his mouth next to Tsuki's ear. "We've allowed you to live here out of the goodness of our hearts, but only because we still need you for certain things. I'd hate to think about what would become of you if we decided to disown you." I gulped nervously, trying to push away the thoughts that came to mind. "Now, I don't want you backtalking us ever again. If you do, I may not be held responsible for my actions."

With one last pain of pressure on my head, he released his hold and walked back to where he was lying before, my mother joining him adding a nasty glare at me. "Your supper's over there, you ungrateful little brat."

I turned away from them, walking over to my sleeping spot. Normally Umbreon such as myself rarely sleep at night, being that we're nocturnal. But in my case, I had no choice but to sleep nights, or at least tried to. There were some nights where I couldn't sleep, and what I couldn't make up for one night, I would do the next. Once, I actually fell asleep as the sun rose. Big mistake. My parents brusied me more than normal that day. And so I worked around a sleeping pattern that would keep me from being abused as much.

I lied down in my spot and took a look at what my supper consisted of. It was the same thing I had every night: berries. Nothing but berries was all I had to eat around here. The worst thing about it was that the only berries I ever had to eat were either sour, bitter, or spicy. Never sweet or tangy like Oran berries.

I sighed, looking at the berries depressingly before looking up at the moon. How beautiful it was, so big and round and radiant from its glow. Staring up at the moon always brought a calm, peaceful feeling to my heart. It made me think how wonderful it would be to be free from my parents and follow her light, leading me to the perfect person I've been searching for all my life.

I smiled to myself though. I guess living with my parents for so long made me start doubting myself. Such silly dreams I had to think there was someone perfect for me out there in the world. But were they really just dreams? Or were they something more than that?

Light.

Nothing but light could be seen everywhere save for the dark areas of the ally ways. All around pokemon were busy walking about, heading into and coming out from buildings, stopping to talk to one another, and practically just filling the area with tons of non-stop noise. The noise could be heard from high up, to a certain point of height that is.

From up upon a balcony sat a pink furred Espeon, staring up into the sky, her ears trying to drown out the noise that echoed its way up to where she sat. But no matter how hard she tried to ignore the sounds, they would continue to reach her. She sighed sadly, not once breaking her gaze away from the moon. The moon looked so lonely with no one surrounding it. All alone in the inky black sky. If only there was something there with her to keep her company, something like her polar opposite. Something like the sun. She had always liked the sun, so bright and warm and-

"How long you gonna stare up at the moon?" someone said suddenly, snapping the Espeon out from her gaze.

"Hmm?" she asked, turning her attention towards a girlish pokemon who looked like she was wearing a white skirt. "What's that?"

"Come on, Taiyou," the Kirlia said. "Most nights I spend here with you you wind up looking up at that moon. I can't tell what goes on in that head of yours. Let me in."

"And like I told you many times, Sansu, it's a personal kind of reason," the Espeon, Taiyou, said.

"Uh-huh," Sansu said. "Sure it is. Perhaps it has something to do relating to wanting a guy perhaps?" At this she grinned, causing a blush to form over Taiyou's face.

"It's like you know me so well," she said.

"Well what can I say?" Sansu asked. "We are best friends after all." Sansu, or Sansu-shi, and I had been best friends since we were just kits. We grew up together, sharing all our secrets with each other and hiding nothing from each other. Though, the ironic thing was, being that we were both psychics, reading each others minds was out of the question. Sansu was the type of pokemon who never worried much about life. She was so carefree and brushed off every kind of yelling and scolding she received. All she wanted to do was have fun in her life and not worry about anything else but doing that.

"Right," Taiyou said with a smile. "I'm sorry for the way I act some times."

"It's all right," Sansu said. "It's normal for someone to have desire for another."

"Yeah," I said half-heartedly. "Only I don't have that kind of desire for Ryoku."

"I hear you," Sansu said. "That bastard only wants you to acheive full wealth of the city. Once he gets married to you, you're life is going to be one miserable hell."

"Tell me about it," Taiyou said. "I tried talking to my parents about it, but they won't listen."

"And they're never going to," Sansu said. "They only do what they think is in their best interest, not yours. They think by you marrying Ryoku that they'll preserve their bloodline and become far more wealthier."

"I know," Taiyou siad with a heavy sigh. "But what choice in the matter do I have?"

"Hey," Sansu said. "Come on now. Let's not worry about it for the moment. This is a sleepover after all. If anyone's gonna do any thinking around here, it's gonna be me."

Taiyou smiled some. "Thanks, Sansu. You always know what to do in situations like this. I don't know where I would be without you."

"Oh. I could think of multiple things," Sansu said with a smirk. Taiyou gave her an evil, nasty glare in play before getting hit by a pillow.

"Oh!" Taiyou said. "Now it's on!" Sansu rolled off the bed, grabbing another pillow as Taiyou threw the pillow she had back at her, thus beginning a pillow fight night for the two as the moon began setting.