Despair: It is the lack of soul in a being. Most cases are in fact voluntary. If the body is missing it's soul for too long it'll eventually perish. Getting the soul back isn't very difficult at all. However, convincing one's self of taking it back is a different story.

Balth: the Lightning
Chapter 1: Scent of Life

Our story begins in province of Leigh. As one of the provinces that borders Gin's country, it is constantly having to fight in honor of Kyle just as it was doing now. Never mind those who wish to live in piece. The bastards that felt proving themselves was the most important thing in the world paid no mind to what exacty they were doing.

There was no way in hell to tell who they were fighting. It's not like the provinces handed out uniforms for everyone to wear. Sure it was easy to tell at first as Frey marched Leigh's army towards the opposing general from Kernos.

Roars from both sets of infantry filled the crimson sky as claws and teeth clashed. Clouds of dust immediately covered the battlefield. It was truly chaos. Pokemon killing pokemon. Only a Flareon and a Sandslash stood out. It wasn't long before they were surrounded by dead pokemon. They weren't generals for nothing.

The battle became more ferocious. Blood splattered from necks, staining the ground and pelts of many bystanding pokemon. They just killed whatever they didn't immediately recognize. Often times having no idea that they had just killed a family member. It was a rather horrific site for bystanders. Even more so when they got dragged into it.

Such is the case of a young female. An Eevee. A rather young one. Very petit. Her fur was full of dirt. It's color had been grayed from years of living in it. Her tummy bloated from having lived in starvation. Barely eating just enough to stay alive.

Despite her fatigue she was doing a rather good job making a run for it. She had just finished making a delivery to the watch tower when the sirens had gone off. But running wouldn't do her any good. She had seen this happen many times before and knew that the army of Kernos would eventually be in the town. There wasn't much time left. She had to hurry.

A second thought was not worth taking when she found an unpopulated shed. With haste she dove inside. Taking no precautions she buried herself under the harvest that had been taken. Normally it wouldn't have been enough to hide any pokemon, but she was especially small so it was just enough.

She covered brought down her ears as best as she could, trying to blot out the screams of death. Her mission was simple. Stay put until all of the disturbing noises stopped.

Meanwhile, the armies continued to slay each other. Frey constantly releasing his fury of flames to oncoming opponents. He killed many, biting down into those who managed to get past his flames and injected them with heat through his fangs. His expression becoming more drunk as he inhaled the life burning out of his victories.

He combusted all of the dead bodies surrounding him as more fools charged in. They didn't stand a chance. Frey only became stronger as he took in the energy of the flaming bodies around him.

"You're mine!" a Sandslash cried as he fly high above the wall of dead flames; He was completely curled in with his spines erect as he spun at great velocity. Frey had no time to react. As it was he barely had enough time to stop being blood drunk before he felt his back being stabbed in multiple places simultaneously. The speed of the shrew's rotation so great that the Flareon got thrown in the direction of the spin but not before having chunks of his flesh ripped from his back. The Sandslash opened himself up from his formation as he bounced and suspended in the air from his attack for the moment to gain back his lost speed.

"How..." Frey whimpered, paralyzed from the attack. He couldn't move at all. He remained on his back helpless. "You got too cocky, you bastard!" his attacker shrieked, digging one of claws into the ground on his way back down. With the use of great strength he used his rotation to change his direction of flight straight into the Flareon. "You blinded yourself like a fool with your own attack."

Frey's eyes widened in fear. He watched the Sandslash curl up once again. His form was like a rock stuffed with blades. His eyes began to slowly white out; fear possessed him. "N-No! Stop! I swear! I'l-AHHHhhhh" He screeched, quills once again invading his body. His life torn out piece by piece, the shrew continuing to spin into his stomach and tear through his body. The Flareon twitched and screamed in agony. His blood and insides splattered into the surrounding flames, giving him one last sniff of his favorite incense before the his murderer made his way into the ground underneath him.

He never liked to see his victims. Looking back was against his way. What's done is done. There was no point in looking at ones accomplishment when the time could be better spent making another. He was outside the wall of flames in no time. Burrowing the dirt was much easier then cutting through bone.

However when he opened up from his position to see what to attack next he noticed that the fighting had stopped. All the pokemon were staring at him. It would seem that even the sound of Frey's soul leaving him cleared over the entire battlefield. He stared back for a moment, taking in the awe that poured out of everyone's eyes. The just continued to stare back at him in an almost lifeless matter. This was getting rather annoying for the shrew. His eye twitched slightly before calling, "Kernos! What are you doing! Stop being idiots and finish them off!"

"AYE~!" his men cried. Charging into the demoralized army that Frey once controlled. His troops were too shaken up to fight back. They sat frozen in complete terror as they got skewered, decapitated, and got their throats torn. The battle was now completely one-sided.

The general from Kernos took off towards the main town of Leigh, effortlessly taking down any pokemon opposing pokemon that got in his way while repeatedly ordering, "Get in there and take any food, water, and anything else of value you can find. Take it all! Avoid confrontation if possible!" It would seem that this battle was more then just proving a point. These pokemon were starving. Winning a battle meant that they could eat the food of the conquered.

Finding a family harvest shed was no problem for the Sandslash. He stopped just short of the entrance and ordered two Mightyena to gather the food inside. "You two, gather that harvest from inside. You're allowed to take one bit each, but don't you dare take another otherwise I'll be eating you."

"Thank you so much!" The two dogs praised, running in on opposite sides of the harvest. Both of them were eager to get their one bite reward. They both take in heavy sniffs of the food; It was invigorating. The scent alone revived their spirits. Oh how they long to taste good food once again.

Both of them drew their maws near, savoring every moment of this. Their mouths drooled in anticipation. They were ready to get their feast. That is until an expected "yEEEEEk!!" jumped out of the harvest and scratched one of the Mightyena across the nose.

"What the hell!" he yipped, placing his paw over his nose.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a little meat, brother!" the other snarled, jumping into the air and pinning the gray Eevee into the ground. The injured Mightyena recovered his focus at the sound of being able to eat meat. The little Eevee was terrified. She couldn't speak at all. All she could do

was keep her eyes shut. Hearing the two draw closer- it was scary. She didn't know what was going to happen to her. All she knew was that she might not exist any longer. The thought was to much for her- she lost consciousness but still maintained her state with clenched eyes.

The first Mightyena took a bite into her right ear. He let out a heavy groan as warm blood spilled into his maw, "Mmm... I haven't tasted anything this good and warm in a long time. Come feed with me brother. There's plenty." His injured brother nodded, taking a bit out the tip of the other ear. The warm flow clouded his mind. It was the flavor of hope. They were tasting good food once again. They swallowed their pieces of eevee meat and then looked down at their prey. Blood dripped from their maws and significantly stained her fur in patches. Her blood soaking into the floor. They both gave a look and nodded at each other to finish her off.

"You two have been in here a while. I hope you haven't eaten all th- WHAT the hell!" The Sandslash gasped, having entered the shed to see the two Mightyena eating a pokemon "Why are you eating a pokemon! I'm pretty sure that I specifically said to avoid all confrontations. Did I not?"

The two brothers whimpered and quickly erected themselves while avoiding any eye contact as they stammered, "B-b-but sir, you said we could take a bite out of the harvest. She was hiding inside; So we thought it was ok."

The Sandslash let out a heavy sigh and took a look at the inside of his claws. "Useless..." he groaned before taking a leap and driving his claws through the chest of the Mightyenas.

"Gah~ugh~uh but-" the two groaned, blood tricking out of the maw and spilling out of the chest.

"It's a fucking child!" he roared, tearing out the hearts of the two canine. They dropped to the floor instantly. The Sandslash let out another heavy sigh, taking a look at his blood stained claws with a pair of complimentary hearts that were still stabbed through. "Maybe not totally useless," he laughed taking a bite into the muscles. "Pleh! Nevermind, I take that back" he spat, swinging his claws so the hearts were flung off. "Worst meat I've ever tasted."

"Ugh..." the eevee groaned, catching the attention of her savior. She was slowly beginning to awaken.

"Not good" he whimpered, driving his claws into the ground in an attempt to clean the blood off of them. It was not good; The blood was all over him and the room. He had even gotten some of it on the innocent child. He may not have been able to clean up the mess but he could at least not let the Eevee see the mess he had made.

He ran outside and climbed on top of the shed proclaiming, "Finish gathering the food and then rendezvous at the barracks. Remember, avoid all confrontations!" With ripped a hole through the ceiling, grabbed the Eevee into his blood claws and made a mad dash. He prayed that no one would see him carrying this child.

...

"Wait, why am I still carrying you?" he asked himself, face-clawing himself three-fourths into the run. "I should've dropped you off into another spot in the village. Man am I stupid," he sighed, looking down at the child in his arms. "I could just leave you here in the middle of no where you know," he grunted watching the eevee churn in his grip.

...

The little Eevee finally arose to see herself in a building she had never been in before. She quickly spotted the Sandslash and without a single hint of shyness asked, "What happened to the Mightyena?"

He turned to her direction smiling and ignored the question, "It's good to see you're awake. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," she smiled, noticing her head felt a bit lighter. "Hey, some pieces of my ear are missing," she laughed.

Wait, why was she laughing? Has she not known that she was going to be attacked. Perhaps she was suffering a case of amnesia. None the less, why was she so calm about this? Anyone else would've been freaked. The Sandslash thought long and hard about this. He couldn't come up with a decent answer, and he figured asking her was not in either of their best interests; So he ignored it for the time being. "So they are," he smiled, rubbing the wound he
had burned close.

The Eevee was fine. She thought nothing of the situation. As far as she knew everything was dandy. Course now she was getting a little bored. Like most children she began to explore her curiosity. "How old are you?" she asked with an innocent expression and a slightly cocked head- a look that most that would find irresistible. However this wasn't the case this time.

"Lets get going out of here," he replied, ignoring her question once again.

"Ok," she responded naively. "But can I at least know your name?" she added.

The general stared at her for a long moment, letting out a heavy sigh before finally answering, "I cannot tell you my real name, but for the time being you can call me Slash. That's what everyone else calls me."

"Ok, Slash!" she smiled, jumping down from her resting spot and running to his side. "My name is Balthamos, but you can me what everyone else calls me- Balth."

"Alright," he nodded, taking her into his claws and jumping out of the room.Chapter End Notes:I'm having some major C&P issues. I apologize if any of you read the format mess that was here earlier.

I feel a bit uneasy about the chapter being short. Perhaps that's just how I begin stories. I'm having a problem with dialogging. Like with all the grunts and cries. I'm just not sure how to do it yet.

So yeah, I guess I don't feel to confident. If someone could tell me what I'm doing wrong here I'd really appreciate it. x