Story Notes:
"World in Turmoil" is my first set of stories. I don't know what people here like really, so I hope it's written in a way you'll all enjoy (or at least think it's ok...). I don't want to run out of steam when writing, so give me plenty of comments/suggestions to improve it. Thanks in advance ;) ! By the way, more characters will be introduced in subsequent chapters as the story progresses.
Change
Run...
Run...
Run...
The word wouldn't stop going through his mind, even though he knew that he was not being pursued. Normally he would run with his breathing and steps perfectly timed for maximum efficiency, as is expected of a predatory pokémon who grew up as he had. However his hunting prowess abandoned him here, his mind flooded with normally insane thoughts as he tried to piece together how recent events had led to this, to all of this. The Zangoose continued to run through the forest thicket, losing his predatory awareness of his surroundings as all his thoughts turned inwards. As he ran, small twigs grasped at his face in the murky night shadow, like the claws of weak pokémon seeking sanctuary from the hunt. Crashing through the forest clumsily, his thoughts turned to how much had changed, how such a turn of events changed him so very much in such a short period of time. He had hated them on principle for so long, how he had to suffer while they thrived. Now, he was going after one for them, not out of rage nor jealously nor revenge, but out of friendship. Yet this friendship was unusual for him, he felt something more stemming from the very base of it that he was unsure of. Like a flower brighter than all others pushing itself through the tangled, chocking weeds of his life, it shone and caught his attention far too strongly. What does this mean? He thought, why this one person in my mind? Especially if I should hate them? He'd never felt like this before, so he had no ground to go on in answering this. Then it dawned on him, an answer with implications unknown to him; love... With that, he stopped running as he slammed at full pace into a tree. He fell to the ground hard, not knowing what had just taken place. Laying there holding his throbbing nose, the Zangoose came to the realisation of what had just happened. He growled at himself for getting carried away with such thought, making him lose his focus and drop his awareness of his surroundings. Every pokémon in the forest probably knew where he was now after making such a racket! He got up and walked in a composed manner forwards amongst the trees, treading lightly with his eyes closed much of the time to pick up on any other pokémon's movement by sound in the dark area. He kept his mind clear of all thought to concentrate, but he couldn't shake that feeling over his head, of the Luxio. The remaining walk was short and the forest thinned out as the Zangoose approached a cave that led underground from a rocky outcrop most likely created by a wild Onyx. He decided to sleep inside in order to take cover for the night, so he relaxed a little as he approached its gaping entrance. As it was already night, when he entered the dark cave, his sense of sight became completely useless. He knew he was safe inside now, so his mind drifted to thoughts of the Luxio again, how he'd only just met him ... ouch! Again his drop in concentration led to injury. This time he banged his head on a low part of the cave ceiling. Damn it! He thought to himself, enough is enough. He just gave up and curled up on the cave floor where he was, it was comfortable enough and he'd had worse places to sleep in before. He'd slept alone in the wild after long days of hunting alone previously, but this time it felt different.
Only that day he had decided it was time to leave home and make his own way, for various reasons. He hadn't even told his parents, mostly because the recent events prevented him from coming in contact with them. He had many siblings that his parents had to support and living on the lower end of their feudal society didn't make anything easier, so leaving somewhat of worked out for them all in a way. Still, his parents would inevitably be a little concerned by this choice, mainly due to the fact that he hadn't found a mate yet to live with, and a life of solitude was not easy in the wild for most pokémon, but then again he was not like an ordinary pokémon. He always felt that solitude was better for him. Because of it, he could hunt and fight far beyond any other pokémon of his age could hope for. Yet, deep down he harboured a flame of loneliness that was periodically caught in a gust of sadness and burned bright on the fuel that was his life of isolation. He tried to ignore it, but he knew it was there and he could not escape it. To make things worse, this Luxio he was after brought the loneliness to the front of his mind and he felt compelled to help the pokémon to cease his own suffering. The Luxio is from the Luxray clan, which is in the highest of the high classes in the Zangoose's society, whose family sometimes treated those below as slaves. Much of what is caught in hunts goes to the high class, so families in the lower classes have little food to call their own. The Zangoose experienced many events relating to this while growing up and always thought it was unjust. He reasoned that because he had superior hunting skills compared to most if not all of the high class hunters, then he and his family should be entitled to what he caught. This led to a hatred for the Luxray clan among others, even the younger members who had nothing to do with the oppression. At least that's how he felt about this Luxio a few days ago, but now everything was different. He dwelt on the events that took place earlier that day, which led him to where he was now, recalling them all in detail.
...
They can't get away with this! It's just not fair! They say they're there to help us fight theft and make a fair society, but whatever! Damn I hate them... The Zangoose was filled with anger as he reflected on what just happened, which was in no way a unique event.
After bringing down a Ponyta all by himself for him and his family to eat, a pack of Mightyena came out of the murky forest shadows, eagerly eyeing his newly acquired prize. He tensed up as soon as he saw them, knowing what was going to happen next. He could never escape them, no pokémon the forest could. The leader whom the Zangoose recognised all too well stepped out from the pack and blatantly demanded him to hand over what he'd just caught.
"You know the consequences if you don't give us that meat!" The pack leader yelled out, with a snarl. The entire Mightyena clan had recently made a deal with the Luxray clan to act as their eyes, ears and warriors among the other pokémon, if they got the security of food and safety in the society. The Luxray did have many other forms of protection, but having more allies is always seen as beneficial in this world. At first, everyone thought they would try and overthrow the Luxray clan for power. They possessed much strength and if they had any allies themselves in nearby regions, then calling them in would boost their numbers to the level that they could potentially pose a real threat. Unease was felt among the forest pokémon; mistrust was bred in the cold climate of fear. However, the clan has so many allies protecting them in an intricate web that it would be such a bad move for the Mightyena, and they knew it. Still, the Zangoose had never really trusted their primary promise of protection. At first they attempted to befriend the pokémon under the Luxray clan's dominion, but the waves of mistrust they received was intense and the loathing turned their attitudes briskly. Now they patrol the forest and surrounding plains, bullying those below them for food and just for the fun of it. Sure they were corrupt and vile from the beginning in the Zangoose's eyes, but now they had gone so far that they gained a stronger hold on the pokémon than the Luxray clan did using belittlement and fear.
"Thi ... this isn't fair and you know it! I can see blood on your mouths so I know you've just eaten! You don't need any more!" This happened nearly every time he went hunting, no matter how covert he tried to make himself. The Zangoose wanted to lash out and tear them apart, even though he knew he shouldn't. Besides, they were very powerful pokémon and they outnumbered him, an attack on them now would be suicide. Even if he somehow succeeded, other packs would go after his family and nothing good would come out of it.
"We'll take whatever we want, whenever we want it. So move aside." The glare from the lead Mightyena was too much, boring deep into the Zangoose. The others followed suit; it was too much for him.
"..." The Zangoose just clenched his fists, turned around and walked away. He could hear the Mightyena laughing at him as he left, which only made walking away even harder.
Now after looking back at it, he found it hard to calm himself down and just wanted to get home as soon as possible. His mind drifted on that topic, as he knew he had to leave home permanently soon and he was truthfully glad about it. He though, I can move out of this stupid forest controlled by this stupid Luxray clan and have a fair life of my own, he desired to have a life dictated by no one other than himself desperately. He liked the thought, used it to keep himself going in times like this. The only reason he hadn't left yet was because he felt obliged to stay and help his family. However, if his catching continued to be taken from him like the last couple of days, he would be nothing but a burden to everyone he was trying to help.
At that instant, he heard a subtle yet distinct rustling of leaves in some nearby bushes. Good, he thought to himself, even if it's something small like a Rattata, its better than bringing home nothing hey? He stood perfectly still, even though he was in the open. It was a new hunting technique he developed to fit his style and abilities and most other pokémon couldn't use it because they didn't have the skill. By staying in the open, his prey knew where he was and often made stupid mistakes purely out of fear. Often it was a sharp intake of breath or a clumsy attempt at an escape, so he could pinpoint their location with his ears alone and pounce on them quickly. A quick attack is often what he used in this situation, even though it was weak it was enough to stun his prey and follow up with a lethal attack like crunch or slash. He closed his eyes, held his breath and crouched into a poised position. He needed total silence and concentration for this. He waited ... but no sound could be heard. He thought that either the pokémon was frozen in fear or, for some strange reason, was watching him out of curiosity. He frowned inwardly, why would anyone want to hang around when he was going to kill them? It had to be prey frozen from fear, but he smelt no fear at all in the air. His lungs began to burn from a lack of oxygen, but he held on. He'd been forced to hold his breath for far longer than this, but he was getting impatient after what had just happened with the pack of Mightyena and ... there! He sound he was looking for! He used a quick attack faster than any other pokémon in the forest to get behind his prey, throwing himself into the target to stun them. He was about to finish with a slash attack, but he saw his target and stopped out of shock. It was a Luxio who was spying on him most likely, or trying to take any food he had on him, but he seemed pretty weak to he Zangoose.
"Ugh, get off me!" The Luxio said dazed from the quick attack.
"Sorry I thought you were...", first he was caught off guard by the pokémon, then the Zangoose recognised the Luxio; he was from the Luxray clan! He must have been travelling with the Mightyena secretly and caused him to lose the Ponyta he'd caught. He was back into the mood to kill and raised his sharp claws.
The Luxio opened his eyes at that instant, which became filled with fear and yelled "I wouldn't do that if I were you! I'm from the Luxray clan and any harm you cause me will not turn out good for you."
He's right, like all of them he's protected thought the Zangoose. He looked at the Luxio for a few seconds more, to let his dominance sink in, and then let go. "Fine, but get out of here, you're not welcome".
"Sorry you feel that way, I just wanted to learn a little about the forest. My parents have never really let me explore and if I'm supposed to run this place when I'm older, I thought I should get to know it at least a little bit of it." He said this smiling with an innocence that surprised the Zangoose.
Hmmm, he's the son of the head of the clan and the eldest at that. This could be bad, I'd better not say anything stupid to make him angry... There was a long silence between the two pokémon.
"Ummm, anyway, my name's Luxon, what's yours?" The Luxio extended a paw in welcome to the Zangoose.
"...Fashar", said the Zangoose reluctantly, who took Luxon's paw in his own hand.
"Nice to meet you Fashar! Anyway, about before, I wasn't spying or anything. I mean, well, I guess I kinda was." Luxon was visibly nervous to Fashar, clearly not wanting to anger him, yet he still wore a smile. "I wanted to see how other pokémon hunt, so I ended up following you quietly, watching you when all of a sudden you froze and looked like you were going to catch something. Ummm, so I just sat still trying to be as quiet as I could to watch, but then it turned out you were hunting me hehe..." Luxon rubbed the back of his head out of embarrassment, which Fashar found strangely cute. He didn't dwell on the thought long however, as he was stilled angry about his encounter with the Mightyena and had to take it out on somebody, and a member of the Luxray clan seemed like a fair victim.
"Hrmph ... sure, whatever you say. Just don't be around me when I'm hunting, or I'll probably kill you", Fashar said with a hint of malice.
Luxon giggled playfully, clearly not picking up on the anger emanating from the all too composed Fashar. "Yeah, I'll have to watch out next time won't I!", still smiling in a goofy way that again Fashar saw as ... cute.
"I've gotta go" the Zangoose said bluntly, wanting to end this encounter as soon as possible for too many reasons. He stood up and turned hastily, but was cut short by Luxon.
"Wait ... errr ... can I hang around with you a bit more? I've been wandering for a while now and I can't find anyone to hunt or explore with. Besides, if you do my Dad'll probably be happy that you took care of me and reward you and your family somehow!" Luxon said still grinning. The word of the request appeared more like a command of protection at first inspection, which is what Fashar expected from a Luxray member. Yet, the tone gave it credence and made it look genuine, so he could only oblige to the task. Besides, and rewards he could get would only be beneficial.
"*sigh* ... Fine, but stay close and try not to talk, or you'll scare away all the prey", this was of course not true at all, Fashar just wanted quiet, especially from his companion.
They walked for about thirty seconds before Luxon said, "This is a nice forest. I never knew it was so beautiful." Farshar opened his mouth to reiterate the same point he had made only half a minute ago when Luxon said, "I know you're not hunting. Firstly you're far too relaxed, secondly I was following you before you found me and you weren't hunting then and thirdly ... I saw your encounter with the Mightyena pack". He looked down at his feet in discomfort as he said this last part.
"WHAT!?! Did they know you were there? Did they do it because of you?" Fashar was not pleased.
"No no no no! They had no idea I was there at all! I just thought that if I was going to watch anyone hunt, it might as well be a pack of powerful pokémon I know will protect me if anything bad happens, even if it is ultimately for their gain. So I followed them" His mood shifted to melancholy, as he knew he had angered Fashar about something that wasn't just temporary. "While I was following them, they seemed kinda rude and not nice pokémon at all. I did see them catch something, but it wasn't very exciting so I decided to stay for a little longer. They didn't see me at all, so I though whatever." He looked away from Fashar, feeling an irrepressible sense of guilt. "I was about to leave when they saw you. I saw the Ponyta at your feet and I thought 'Wow! He took down an entire Ponyta by himself? Damn that's impressive!' I was surprised when you started yelling, 'cause I thought you'd be sharing with them kindly or something. Instead they took your catch and turned you away, laughing at you to top it all off." He looked to be on the verge of tears, though it seemed like genuine sympathy to Fashar. "I didn't know that my Dad's own 'henchmen' were like that. If this is a regular thing, then I'm really, really sorry." He fell to the ground and began sobbing softy, obviously coming to the realisation that what admiration he felt for his father and the nobility of his family was utterly misplaced.
Fashar was caught off guard. Was he really as innocent in all of this as he seemed to be making out? "Hey ... it's not your fault ... don't..."
"No! It's not fair that I've been living at your expense like this my whole life! To make it worse, I didn't even know! My parents have never really let me go out and talk to anyone. They don't even know I'm out now ..." His sobbing didn't quieten.
Still awe-struck by what he saw in front of him, Fashar was frozen in thought. What? He's not what I expected him to be like at all! The Luxray clan are meant to be greedy and ruthless, not forgiving and mopey about what they do! It didn't make sense to him at all. Luxon was caught up in all of this unwillingly, after being kept from it his whole life. They shared the same feeling, being in a position of almost tangible despair that hung like a noose around their necks; if they struggled to fight the evil it would surely be the cause of their death.
"What do I do? I don't want to be a part of what's going on here! But it's not like I can just back out of it all or anything!"
"Hey, look at me", Fashar placed his paws on Luxon's shoulders and said, "This isn't your fault. I'm the one affected by all this and I'm telling you now not to blame yourself, so you have no need to." For some reason he partially believed what he just said. He said it to calm Luxon down so they could just get moving again, but the comfort he brought Luxon we reciprocated back to himself in a satisfying, if not confusing, way.
Luxon looked into Fashar's eyes and gave a weak smile in return. He knew Farshar shouldn't be trying to comfort him, if anything their roles should be reversed. "I'm sorry. For me crying now and just everything. I only just met you and already I've found out how much you've suffered because of me." He reached out to embrace Fashar, who felt obliged to return the gesture.
Fashar thought that such an action was not surprising; the Luxio's parents had sheltered him for so long that naturally he would be a bit emotionally dependent on affection. As he held the sobbing Luxon, Fashar felt the pangs of his loneliness rise from within him. He'd been alone for so long in order to hone his hunting and combat skills, that he never truly knew the feeling of emotional dependence, care, friendship nor love. His family was one thing and supported Fashar as much as a struggling family can, but this warranted something different. He shunned his family in his search for combat perfection to a great enough degree so that he even felt isolated from them. If what he was feeling now with Luxon was anything like the feelings of family and friendship, he thought that he had certainly deprived himself of too much to justify his actions.
They held each other, thinking in their own lines of thought. Neither had really had the opportunity for self-evaluation on their topics of thought before and as such this experience was new for them both in many ways. There was silence between them until Fashar said, "C'mon, let's get up and go. I did promise you that we'd spend some more time together." He smiled kindly to Luxon, who smiled back. Once more Fashar looked at Luxon and thought; ...cute. Thought like this were not uncommon to him, so he did not think too much of it. In his solitude he had been able to reflect on these feelings he felt for other males, deciding after years of debating with himself that if this is who he was, then so be it. Yet he had never displayed such feeling outwardly, nor had he even told anyone about his position, not even his family. He liked keeping his innermost thoughts to himself. Fashar had never engaged with another male whom he saw as attractive in this way, so despite his meditations on the topic he felt highly unprepared for this. Looking ahead the next few days would probably prove to hold more thinking about this than any preceding this meeting of theirs. He almost forgot what he had just said out of distraction of what he held in his arms.
"OK. There's not much I know about the forest, but I do know a nice place we can go. I found it when I was wandering around alone before I followed the Mightyena". Luxon got up eagerly and dug his muzzle into the fur on Fashar's chest to prompt him to follow suit and get up.
"Hehe, that tickles!" The Zangoose replied playfully as he grabbed Luxon and wrestled him back on to the ground. They eventually settled into a light embrace, savouring the feeling of being with each other.
"Alright, now it's time to get up", Fashar grinned broader than ever and got himself up, then helping Luxon up. "Lead the way Luxon"
"Sure, but you can walk by my side!" said Luxon, with a slightly worried expression, thinking that Fashar meant they were to walk separated in single-file with himself at the front.
"I intend to", Fashar said in an affirming manner. They both smiled at each other and began walking through the forest. Despite his rapidly changing attitude towards the Luxray clan member, all the years of hate he harboured for the clan could not be fully quenched by what had just happened, so there was inevitably some remaining unease deep within he Zangoose's mind.
After about an hour of walking, mostly in gratuitous silence from being in each other's presence, Luxon chirped, "We're here!" The forest thicket opened up to reveal a beautiful, clean grassy clearing with a small pond of water situated in the centre, in turn surrounded by immaculate trees.
Fashar stood there open-mouthed, taking in what he was seeing. He'd been hunting in the forest so many times, yet he'd missed this amazing spot every time? It looked like every other pokémon had missed it as well; it seemed completely untouched.
"You just ... found this place today? I never knew it was here." Fashar was still surprised by what he saw. He managed to break himself from his trance, partly from his own will, but mostly from Luxon's energetic leaping. He walked towards the pool, kneeled down next to it and peered into the water. He saw his own reflection in the perfectly still water. It was like looking into a sheet of perfectly rolled silver, but with depth and it held a beauty he'd never seen before.
"Uhuh! I knew you'd like it!" Luxon lay down next to Fashar and looked at his own reflection much in the same fashion as the Zangoose next to him. "So anyway ... you know about my family and I'm not that interesting. Tell me about you, if you don't mind that is", he added in a gentile manner.
"Well, I spend most of my time hunting or training and I live at home with the rest of my family ... I'm not that exciting either really", he laughed quietly as he thought of the truth behind what he'd just said. How all he had worked towards was insignificant in the face of family and friendship; those joys in life that he had not indulged in. "But I'm thinking about moving out of home soon, very soon actually. I want to get away from it all; everything in this forest gets to me. *sigh* Maybe today should be the day." He honestly felt that recent events appeared to justify this course of action. As he spoke those words he looked up at the clouds, speculating how he would break the news to his family.
"It's a bit soon, surely. I mean, c'mon I only just met you and you're already moving away?" Luxon's mild manner of concern returned in his voice again, reaching out to Fashar and giving him focus, calming the cacophony of his thoughts.
"Heh, it's not your fault, I've just decided that after today it needs to be done. I've been putting it off for so long out of nostalgia. Even though I want to leave this place and live a successful life by myself in the wild, I've been with them for so long it just feels weird ... I'll kinda miss the company too." He thought he would be prepared for the solitude, after years of readying himself, but Luxon had changed that in an instant.
Luxon responded sympathetically with a sad look on his face, "I know how you feel. I've never really wanted to be the head of the clan and the whole forest region. Now I know that's true more than ever after what I've seen and heard today. It's my duty, but I don't want it, the responsibility and all that hatred everyone probably has for my family and me."
The two continued to talk for a number of hours, sharing memories of their younger days, Fashar showing Luxon some of his special hunting techniques, Luxon explaining much of the political workings of his family and many more topics were discussed. Throughout this time, Fashar's deep unease subsided as he truly befriended Luxon. It was their lives of social isolation that let them connect here in such a way, even if Fashar's was by choice and Luxon's forced upon him by his parents. Eventually, it was getting late enough that the two had to make a move; the sun was setting and Luxon's parents would most likely have discovered he was missing by now.
"Well, it's been fun here, but it's time to leave. You have to get home before search parties are probably sent out, and if I'm going to tell my parents I'm leaving home today, I want to get home to tell them before the end of today." Fashar smiled and Luxon looked a bit disappointed, making him look cuter than ever to the Zangoose. Fashar rose to his feet and helped Luxon do the same. They were about to both walk away from the beautiful scenery when Fashar heard a moderately loud sound coming from behind one of the tress, so he instinctively took a combat stance.
"More prey huh? Cool, I'll lay low and watch." Luxon stood still and eyed Fashar.
"No, this is something different. Whoever's there is bigger than you or me ... and there are quite a few of them", he said with tension and he smelt the scent of a number of pokémon around him. It's an ambush! This is bad... The two were surrounded evenly, there was no break in the enemy's defence so any escape route was non-existent. He smelt the air once more, recognising the scent. Then he remembered, that's the scent of the Mightyena, strong and repugnant fitting their brutish manner rather ironically. "I know you Mightyena are there. We don't have any food so you can just leave us alone!" shouted Fashar with a slight tone of concern.
The pack leader then exited from the shadows of the forest trees slowly, saying with a low growl, "We're not here for food. The Luxray are not happy their eldest son is missing, so we were sent on a search mission to find the kid and kill his captor. Hehe, who knew it would have been you? Well, we're going to have a little fun with this one aren't we?" He smiled menacingly, laughing under his breath. The rest of the pack came out of the shadows laughing with their leader. Each had a glint in their eyes, what looked like a thirst for blood with no mercy.
"No, it's OK! He's got nothing to do with me missing! I just left home secretly to explore and ..."
"Shut up kid, we don't care how you got away from your parents. We know you were following us earlier today and we've been keeping an eye on you ever since", the leader started to pace around the two in a large circle, always looking at them in the eyes. "We wanted to keep you from going back home for as long as possible, to get your parents all worried and that. Luckily this pathetic guy here did the favour for us", he smiled, nodding at Fashar. "When they did find out you were missing, we feigned ignorance and came out to 'look' for you. In their surprise of the situation, they ordered us to isolate and protect the rest of their family from any further abductions, thinking that this was the work of a neighbouring clan who wanted to gain control of this region from the Luxrays. Hehe, fools, we have complete control over the situation now. With you in our grasp and he rest of them alone with the rest of our pack, we can wipe you all out and take control of this forest. Finally, it's our turn for some fun!" The leader began to laugh loudly, with the rest following his example.
Suddenly, another Mightyena came dashing out of the forest into the open area. He appeared to be a messenger who had been caught up in some sort of battle; he had various lacerations and was bleeding, but nothing too serious. "Sir, they found out what we were doing. The rest of the high class regiment took us by surprise and too the clan out of our custody, forcing us to retreat. We didn't kill the Luxrays, because we hadn't received word of your situation and were clueless. Most of us have survived, but we're fleeing to our base in the mountains, like you said to do if this were to happen", he said out of breath, but composed.
"Damn! There's not much we can do now, the whole forest probably knows we're the enemy now ... Kill these two and let's get out of here!" The leader barked with fury after receiving this news.
"Wait sir, before I fled, they gave me an ultimatum. They said that we should return their son or they'll hunt us down and kill us all. They even threatened to unite with neighbouring regions to kill us. If we kill him over there, we'll be deemed a threat to all high clans wherever we go, so them amassing a grand army to hunt us down is not out of the question." The messenger continued warily, not wanting to incur the wrath of his leader if he hadn't done so already. "We may have strength and numbers far beyond what they know, but we cannot stand against an army like that."
"Grrr ... fine. Take the kid and follow me back to our base; we need him as leverage from now on. We were going to take each region in more of a quick sweep, but now that our cover has been blow we have no choice. It looks like our plan of regicide has turned into one of genocide and war!" he barked at the top of his voice, he anger hardly subsiding from the initial shock of what was happening. "Scout, alert the Absol division in the neighbouring region and then move on to the Houndoom division to return to our base before doing so youself. Since we failed before they even got a chance to execute the plan, they have no hope now. We all must return to the mountains to reunite and prepare for war. After they talk to each other about what's just taken place, the high clans will realise what we were planning all along." The messenger nodded and leapt out into the shadows. "You three", the leader looked at the three Mightyena closest to Fashar and Luxon, "kill the Zangoose and meet up with us ahead. The rest of you take the kid and follow me! We should use the twilight to our advantage and make a quick escape. Break!" With that, one of the Mightyena used a quick attack from outside of Fashar's peripheral vision, knocking him to the ground. Then he grabbed Luxon and ran, with the rest close behind.
Fashar could hear the leader still barking orders in the distance after they had left. He could also hear Luxon calling out Fashar's name, not out of fear of his own life, but fearing the Zangoose's life. The three remaining appeared weaker than the rest of the pack that left; it seemed the leader had underestimated Fashar. Maybe he could get out of this situation safely. As he was kneeling bent forwards from being struck with that quick attack, he used dig attack quickly to get underground. This surprised the Mightyena, as Fashar looked wounded and weak in his position, leading to them not suspecting this move. They looked around, stupefied and unaware of what was happening. Fashar then burst up from the ground, landing a very powerful and well placed punch that lifted the Mightyena off of he ground. He followed up with a sky uppercut attack, aiming for the pokémon's throat. His sharp claws hit their mark and the target's neck exploded in a rain of blood, dealing instant death. The other two were utterly stunned by this and watched mouths agape. When Fashar landed on the ground, he did not hesitate with his next attack performing a quick attack on the second Mightyena. It fell to the ground, exposing its stomach, which promptly was hit by a slash attack. The final Mightyena snapped from its trance of terror and resumed a combat stance. At this stage, Fashar has just dealt the death blow to the second of the three with his back turned to the last of them. The remaining Mightyena fired a shadow ball at the Zangoose's back, aiming to break his spine. Fashar was aware of this, so quickly executed agility to evade the powerful ball of energy. He disappeared out of the Mightyena's sight due to his amazing speed, with the Mightyena using foresight immediately. Fashar appeared out of the trees' shadows and used double-team, running at his opponent at an alarming pace with the effects of agility still in play. He was about to finish with a slash attack, but the Mightyena used his foresight to pick out the real Fashar and swiftly used iron tail, bringing him to the ground.
The Mightyena laughed mockingly, "Nice try, but I've got you now. You lost." The laughter brought back the memories of earlier that day, and in turn all the oppression he had experienced in this forest. This, along with the fact that they had taken Luxon brought up an anger from within Fashar that was so powerful, it blocked out all other emotions he was capable of feeling.
"Lost? Not me..." Fashar intended to use a power he had been exploring through the mediation in his training. His eyes rapidly gained a purple hue as he felt the psychic energy coursing through him, a power new and mostly unknown. Few opportunities had presented themselves for such an attack, so he intended to unleash the full power upon the Mightyena. He began to yell in anger, radiating energy about him to identify and attack his enemy. The Mightyena felt itself being pulled up from the ground into the air, with a force like a vice grip on every atom of its body. Fashar got to his feet, turned around and looked into the eyes of the quivering Mightyena. Without saying a word he willed the body of the Mightyena to be torn asunder and it was done. The mangled corpse fell to the earth a mess. The power of such an attack drained Fashar exceedingly, and as such he could no use it again for some time.
After surveying the scene around him, his thoughts turned to Luxon and his captors. Fashar decided to quickly clean the blood from his fur in the pristine water of the pool in front of him, for if he followed the Mightyena pack drenched in the blood of their comrades, he would surely be a sitting target. He dived into the pool, breaking the perfect surface and replacing the calm with chaos. The blood on him mixed with the churning water, spreading out to all points in the pool. No part was safe from neither the chaos nor the bloodshed. He rose from the pool to face a world he once new, changed by what had happened that day, now changed into something that will become much like the disturbed water behind him; filled with unease and ripples of war. At least the feudal system before kept a status quo, now everything would become like a tumultuous mass, writhing out of any ruler's control. Even after the passing of what was to come, ending in one way or another, the people once oppressed by their leaders and subsequently racked by war would surely revolt thought Fashar. They'd had enough, and if any other regions were like his, this would become a widespread problem.
It was getting dark now and Fashar had to run if he was going to find shelter for the night. If he was spotted by any of the high class regiment alone fleeing the forest, he could be associated with the Mightyena pack and killed on the spot. He woefully thought about how he was going to have to leave his family without actually telling them like this. As he ran, he thought of Luxon and how much had happened today...
Run...
Run...
Run...
...
And so his thoughts caught up to where he was in the cave. So much had happened that day and enough time was spent dwelling on the events. Now he needed sleep if he was to pursue and find the Mightyena pack, ultimately stopping them and getting Luxon back. He missed Luxon already, wishing he was lying with him in this dark and lonely cave. Once more the flame of loneliness rose up, filling Fashar with sadness and longing for Luxon. All day he knew that every time he'd had a thought like this, it was supposed to be 'wrong' for him to think about another male like this, but he was strong of mind and character enough to dismiss such concerns. He knew he was his own pokémon and no one could hold control over him in such a way, especially after he planned to move into the uncontrolled wild. Yet solitude breeds privacy and vice versa in a vicious cycle, putting him into the position he was in. These were his last thoughts before he fell asleep, exhausted after everything. He would have to think about everything in subsequent days and find some truth in what was happening in his head. However, for now he dreamt.Chapter End Notes:Hope you all thought it was OK. Any suggestions/comments would be greatly appreciated, so fire away
Run...
Run...
The word wouldn't stop going through his mind, even though he knew that he was not being pursued. Normally he would run with his breathing and steps perfectly timed for maximum efficiency, as is expected of a predatory pokémon who grew up as he had. However his hunting prowess abandoned him here, his mind flooded with normally insane thoughts as he tried to piece together how recent events had led to this, to all of this. The Zangoose continued to run through the forest thicket, losing his predatory awareness of his surroundings as all his thoughts turned inwards. As he ran, small twigs grasped at his face in the murky night shadow, like the claws of weak pokémon seeking sanctuary from the hunt. Crashing through the forest clumsily, his thoughts turned to how much had changed, how such a turn of events changed him so very much in such a short period of time. He had hated them on principle for so long, how he had to suffer while they thrived. Now, he was going after one for them, not out of rage nor jealously nor revenge, but out of friendship. Yet this friendship was unusual for him, he felt something more stemming from the very base of it that he was unsure of. Like a flower brighter than all others pushing itself through the tangled, chocking weeds of his life, it shone and caught his attention far too strongly. What does this mean? He thought, why this one person in my mind? Especially if I should hate them? He'd never felt like this before, so he had no ground to go on in answering this. Then it dawned on him, an answer with implications unknown to him; love... With that, he stopped running as he slammed at full pace into a tree. He fell to the ground hard, not knowing what had just taken place. Laying there holding his throbbing nose, the Zangoose came to the realisation of what had just happened. He growled at himself for getting carried away with such thought, making him lose his focus and drop his awareness of his surroundings. Every pokémon in the forest probably knew where he was now after making such a racket! He got up and walked in a composed manner forwards amongst the trees, treading lightly with his eyes closed much of the time to pick up on any other pokémon's movement by sound in the dark area. He kept his mind clear of all thought to concentrate, but he couldn't shake that feeling over his head, of the Luxio. The remaining walk was short and the forest thinned out as the Zangoose approached a cave that led underground from a rocky outcrop most likely created by a wild Onyx. He decided to sleep inside in order to take cover for the night, so he relaxed a little as he approached its gaping entrance. As it was already night, when he entered the dark cave, his sense of sight became completely useless. He knew he was safe inside now, so his mind drifted to thoughts of the Luxio again, how he'd only just met him ... ouch! Again his drop in concentration led to injury. This time he banged his head on a low part of the cave ceiling. Damn it! He thought to himself, enough is enough. He just gave up and curled up on the cave floor where he was, it was comfortable enough and he'd had worse places to sleep in before. He'd slept alone in the wild after long days of hunting alone previously, but this time it felt different.
Only that day he had decided it was time to leave home and make his own way, for various reasons. He hadn't even told his parents, mostly because the recent events prevented him from coming in contact with them. He had many siblings that his parents had to support and living on the lower end of their feudal society didn't make anything easier, so leaving somewhat of worked out for them all in a way. Still, his parents would inevitably be a little concerned by this choice, mainly due to the fact that he hadn't found a mate yet to live with, and a life of solitude was not easy in the wild for most pokémon, but then again he was not like an ordinary pokémon. He always felt that solitude was better for him. Because of it, he could hunt and fight far beyond any other pokémon of his age could hope for. Yet, deep down he harboured a flame of loneliness that was periodically caught in a gust of sadness and burned bright on the fuel that was his life of isolation. He tried to ignore it, but he knew it was there and he could not escape it. To make things worse, this Luxio he was after brought the loneliness to the front of his mind and he felt compelled to help the pokémon to cease his own suffering. The Luxio is from the Luxray clan, which is in the highest of the high classes in the Zangoose's society, whose family sometimes treated those below as slaves. Much of what is caught in hunts goes to the high class, so families in the lower classes have little food to call their own. The Zangoose experienced many events relating to this while growing up and always thought it was unjust. He reasoned that because he had superior hunting skills compared to most if not all of the high class hunters, then he and his family should be entitled to what he caught. This led to a hatred for the Luxray clan among others, even the younger members who had nothing to do with the oppression. At least that's how he felt about this Luxio a few days ago, but now everything was different. He dwelt on the events that took place earlier that day, which led him to where he was now, recalling them all in detail.
...
They can't get away with this! It's just not fair! They say they're there to help us fight theft and make a fair society, but whatever! Damn I hate them... The Zangoose was filled with anger as he reflected on what just happened, which was in no way a unique event.
After bringing down a Ponyta all by himself for him and his family to eat, a pack of Mightyena came out of the murky forest shadows, eagerly eyeing his newly acquired prize. He tensed up as soon as he saw them, knowing what was going to happen next. He could never escape them, no pokémon the forest could. The leader whom the Zangoose recognised all too well stepped out from the pack and blatantly demanded him to hand over what he'd just caught.
"You know the consequences if you don't give us that meat!" The pack leader yelled out, with a snarl. The entire Mightyena clan had recently made a deal with the Luxray clan to act as their eyes, ears and warriors among the other pokémon, if they got the security of food and safety in the society. The Luxray did have many other forms of protection, but having more allies is always seen as beneficial in this world. At first, everyone thought they would try and overthrow the Luxray clan for power. They possessed much strength and if they had any allies themselves in nearby regions, then calling them in would boost their numbers to the level that they could potentially pose a real threat. Unease was felt among the forest pokémon; mistrust was bred in the cold climate of fear. However, the clan has so many allies protecting them in an intricate web that it would be such a bad move for the Mightyena, and they knew it. Still, the Zangoose had never really trusted their primary promise of protection. At first they attempted to befriend the pokémon under the Luxray clan's dominion, but the waves of mistrust they received was intense and the loathing turned their attitudes briskly. Now they patrol the forest and surrounding plains, bullying those below them for food and just for the fun of it. Sure they were corrupt and vile from the beginning in the Zangoose's eyes, but now they had gone so far that they gained a stronger hold on the pokémon than the Luxray clan did using belittlement and fear.
"Thi ... this isn't fair and you know it! I can see blood on your mouths so I know you've just eaten! You don't need any more!" This happened nearly every time he went hunting, no matter how covert he tried to make himself. The Zangoose wanted to lash out and tear them apart, even though he knew he shouldn't. Besides, they were very powerful pokémon and they outnumbered him, an attack on them now would be suicide. Even if he somehow succeeded, other packs would go after his family and nothing good would come out of it.
"We'll take whatever we want, whenever we want it. So move aside." The glare from the lead Mightyena was too much, boring deep into the Zangoose. The others followed suit; it was too much for him.
"..." The Zangoose just clenched his fists, turned around and walked away. He could hear the Mightyena laughing at him as he left, which only made walking away even harder.
Now after looking back at it, he found it hard to calm himself down and just wanted to get home as soon as possible. His mind drifted on that topic, as he knew he had to leave home permanently soon and he was truthfully glad about it. He though, I can move out of this stupid forest controlled by this stupid Luxray clan and have a fair life of my own, he desired to have a life dictated by no one other than himself desperately. He liked the thought, used it to keep himself going in times like this. The only reason he hadn't left yet was because he felt obliged to stay and help his family. However, if his catching continued to be taken from him like the last couple of days, he would be nothing but a burden to everyone he was trying to help.
At that instant, he heard a subtle yet distinct rustling of leaves in some nearby bushes. Good, he thought to himself, even if it's something small like a Rattata, its better than bringing home nothing hey? He stood perfectly still, even though he was in the open. It was a new hunting technique he developed to fit his style and abilities and most other pokémon couldn't use it because they didn't have the skill. By staying in the open, his prey knew where he was and often made stupid mistakes purely out of fear. Often it was a sharp intake of breath or a clumsy attempt at an escape, so he could pinpoint their location with his ears alone and pounce on them quickly. A quick attack is often what he used in this situation, even though it was weak it was enough to stun his prey and follow up with a lethal attack like crunch or slash. He closed his eyes, held his breath and crouched into a poised position. He needed total silence and concentration for this. He waited ... but no sound could be heard. He thought that either the pokémon was frozen in fear or, for some strange reason, was watching him out of curiosity. He frowned inwardly, why would anyone want to hang around when he was going to kill them? It had to be prey frozen from fear, but he smelt no fear at all in the air. His lungs began to burn from a lack of oxygen, but he held on. He'd been forced to hold his breath for far longer than this, but he was getting impatient after what had just happened with the pack of Mightyena and ... there! He sound he was looking for! He used a quick attack faster than any other pokémon in the forest to get behind his prey, throwing himself into the target to stun them. He was about to finish with a slash attack, but he saw his target and stopped out of shock. It was a Luxio who was spying on him most likely, or trying to take any food he had on him, but he seemed pretty weak to he Zangoose.
"Ugh, get off me!" The Luxio said dazed from the quick attack.
"Sorry I thought you were...", first he was caught off guard by the pokémon, then the Zangoose recognised the Luxio; he was from the Luxray clan! He must have been travelling with the Mightyena secretly and caused him to lose the Ponyta he'd caught. He was back into the mood to kill and raised his sharp claws.
The Luxio opened his eyes at that instant, which became filled with fear and yelled "I wouldn't do that if I were you! I'm from the Luxray clan and any harm you cause me will not turn out good for you."
He's right, like all of them he's protected thought the Zangoose. He looked at the Luxio for a few seconds more, to let his dominance sink in, and then let go. "Fine, but get out of here, you're not welcome".
"Sorry you feel that way, I just wanted to learn a little about the forest. My parents have never really let me explore and if I'm supposed to run this place when I'm older, I thought I should get to know it at least a little bit of it." He said this smiling with an innocence that surprised the Zangoose.
Hmmm, he's the son of the head of the clan and the eldest at that. This could be bad, I'd better not say anything stupid to make him angry... There was a long silence between the two pokémon.
"Ummm, anyway, my name's Luxon, what's yours?" The Luxio extended a paw in welcome to the Zangoose.
"...Fashar", said the Zangoose reluctantly, who took Luxon's paw in his own hand.
"Nice to meet you Fashar! Anyway, about before, I wasn't spying or anything. I mean, well, I guess I kinda was." Luxon was visibly nervous to Fashar, clearly not wanting to anger him, yet he still wore a smile. "I wanted to see how other pokémon hunt, so I ended up following you quietly, watching you when all of a sudden you froze and looked like you were going to catch something. Ummm, so I just sat still trying to be as quiet as I could to watch, but then it turned out you were hunting me hehe..." Luxon rubbed the back of his head out of embarrassment, which Fashar found strangely cute. He didn't dwell on the thought long however, as he was stilled angry about his encounter with the Mightyena and had to take it out on somebody, and a member of the Luxray clan seemed like a fair victim.
"Hrmph ... sure, whatever you say. Just don't be around me when I'm hunting, or I'll probably kill you", Fashar said with a hint of malice.
Luxon giggled playfully, clearly not picking up on the anger emanating from the all too composed Fashar. "Yeah, I'll have to watch out next time won't I!", still smiling in a goofy way that again Fashar saw as ... cute.
"I've gotta go" the Zangoose said bluntly, wanting to end this encounter as soon as possible for too many reasons. He stood up and turned hastily, but was cut short by Luxon.
"Wait ... errr ... can I hang around with you a bit more? I've been wandering for a while now and I can't find anyone to hunt or explore with. Besides, if you do my Dad'll probably be happy that you took care of me and reward you and your family somehow!" Luxon said still grinning. The word of the request appeared more like a command of protection at first inspection, which is what Fashar expected from a Luxray member. Yet, the tone gave it credence and made it look genuine, so he could only oblige to the task. Besides, and rewards he could get would only be beneficial.
"*sigh* ... Fine, but stay close and try not to talk, or you'll scare away all the prey", this was of course not true at all, Fashar just wanted quiet, especially from his companion.
They walked for about thirty seconds before Luxon said, "This is a nice forest. I never knew it was so beautiful." Farshar opened his mouth to reiterate the same point he had made only half a minute ago when Luxon said, "I know you're not hunting. Firstly you're far too relaxed, secondly I was following you before you found me and you weren't hunting then and thirdly ... I saw your encounter with the Mightyena pack". He looked down at his feet in discomfort as he said this last part.
"WHAT!?! Did they know you were there? Did they do it because of you?" Fashar was not pleased.
"No no no no! They had no idea I was there at all! I just thought that if I was going to watch anyone hunt, it might as well be a pack of powerful pokémon I know will protect me if anything bad happens, even if it is ultimately for their gain. So I followed them" His mood shifted to melancholy, as he knew he had angered Fashar about something that wasn't just temporary. "While I was following them, they seemed kinda rude and not nice pokémon at all. I did see them catch something, but it wasn't very exciting so I decided to stay for a little longer. They didn't see me at all, so I though whatever." He looked away from Fashar, feeling an irrepressible sense of guilt. "I was about to leave when they saw you. I saw the Ponyta at your feet and I thought 'Wow! He took down an entire Ponyta by himself? Damn that's impressive!' I was surprised when you started yelling, 'cause I thought you'd be sharing with them kindly or something. Instead they took your catch and turned you away, laughing at you to top it all off." He looked to be on the verge of tears, though it seemed like genuine sympathy to Fashar. "I didn't know that my Dad's own 'henchmen' were like that. If this is a regular thing, then I'm really, really sorry." He fell to the ground and began sobbing softy, obviously coming to the realisation that what admiration he felt for his father and the nobility of his family was utterly misplaced.
Fashar was caught off guard. Was he really as innocent in all of this as he seemed to be making out? "Hey ... it's not your fault ... don't..."
"No! It's not fair that I've been living at your expense like this my whole life! To make it worse, I didn't even know! My parents have never really let me go out and talk to anyone. They don't even know I'm out now ..." His sobbing didn't quieten.
Still awe-struck by what he saw in front of him, Fashar was frozen in thought. What? He's not what I expected him to be like at all! The Luxray clan are meant to be greedy and ruthless, not forgiving and mopey about what they do! It didn't make sense to him at all. Luxon was caught up in all of this unwillingly, after being kept from it his whole life. They shared the same feeling, being in a position of almost tangible despair that hung like a noose around their necks; if they struggled to fight the evil it would surely be the cause of their death.
"What do I do? I don't want to be a part of what's going on here! But it's not like I can just back out of it all or anything!"
"Hey, look at me", Fashar placed his paws on Luxon's shoulders and said, "This isn't your fault. I'm the one affected by all this and I'm telling you now not to blame yourself, so you have no need to." For some reason he partially believed what he just said. He said it to calm Luxon down so they could just get moving again, but the comfort he brought Luxon we reciprocated back to himself in a satisfying, if not confusing, way.
Luxon looked into Fashar's eyes and gave a weak smile in return. He knew Farshar shouldn't be trying to comfort him, if anything their roles should be reversed. "I'm sorry. For me crying now and just everything. I only just met you and already I've found out how much you've suffered because of me." He reached out to embrace Fashar, who felt obliged to return the gesture.
Fashar thought that such an action was not surprising; the Luxio's parents had sheltered him for so long that naturally he would be a bit emotionally dependent on affection. As he held the sobbing Luxon, Fashar felt the pangs of his loneliness rise from within him. He'd been alone for so long in order to hone his hunting and combat skills, that he never truly knew the feeling of emotional dependence, care, friendship nor love. His family was one thing and supported Fashar as much as a struggling family can, but this warranted something different. He shunned his family in his search for combat perfection to a great enough degree so that he even felt isolated from them. If what he was feeling now with Luxon was anything like the feelings of family and friendship, he thought that he had certainly deprived himself of too much to justify his actions.
They held each other, thinking in their own lines of thought. Neither had really had the opportunity for self-evaluation on their topics of thought before and as such this experience was new for them both in many ways. There was silence between them until Fashar said, "C'mon, let's get up and go. I did promise you that we'd spend some more time together." He smiled kindly to Luxon, who smiled back. Once more Fashar looked at Luxon and thought; ...cute. Thought like this were not uncommon to him, so he did not think too much of it. In his solitude he had been able to reflect on these feelings he felt for other males, deciding after years of debating with himself that if this is who he was, then so be it. Yet he had never displayed such feeling outwardly, nor had he even told anyone about his position, not even his family. He liked keeping his innermost thoughts to himself. Fashar had never engaged with another male whom he saw as attractive in this way, so despite his meditations on the topic he felt highly unprepared for this. Looking ahead the next few days would probably prove to hold more thinking about this than any preceding this meeting of theirs. He almost forgot what he had just said out of distraction of what he held in his arms.
"OK. There's not much I know about the forest, but I do know a nice place we can go. I found it when I was wandering around alone before I followed the Mightyena". Luxon got up eagerly and dug his muzzle into the fur on Fashar's chest to prompt him to follow suit and get up.
"Hehe, that tickles!" The Zangoose replied playfully as he grabbed Luxon and wrestled him back on to the ground. They eventually settled into a light embrace, savouring the feeling of being with each other.
"Alright, now it's time to get up", Fashar grinned broader than ever and got himself up, then helping Luxon up. "Lead the way Luxon"
"Sure, but you can walk by my side!" said Luxon, with a slightly worried expression, thinking that Fashar meant they were to walk separated in single-file with himself at the front.
"I intend to", Fashar said in an affirming manner. They both smiled at each other and began walking through the forest. Despite his rapidly changing attitude towards the Luxray clan member, all the years of hate he harboured for the clan could not be fully quenched by what had just happened, so there was inevitably some remaining unease deep within he Zangoose's mind.
After about an hour of walking, mostly in gratuitous silence from being in each other's presence, Luxon chirped, "We're here!" The forest thicket opened up to reveal a beautiful, clean grassy clearing with a small pond of water situated in the centre, in turn surrounded by immaculate trees.
Fashar stood there open-mouthed, taking in what he was seeing. He'd been hunting in the forest so many times, yet he'd missed this amazing spot every time? It looked like every other pokémon had missed it as well; it seemed completely untouched.
"You just ... found this place today? I never knew it was here." Fashar was still surprised by what he saw. He managed to break himself from his trance, partly from his own will, but mostly from Luxon's energetic leaping. He walked towards the pool, kneeled down next to it and peered into the water. He saw his own reflection in the perfectly still water. It was like looking into a sheet of perfectly rolled silver, but with depth and it held a beauty he'd never seen before.
"Uhuh! I knew you'd like it!" Luxon lay down next to Fashar and looked at his own reflection much in the same fashion as the Zangoose next to him. "So anyway ... you know about my family and I'm not that interesting. Tell me about you, if you don't mind that is", he added in a gentile manner.
"Well, I spend most of my time hunting or training and I live at home with the rest of my family ... I'm not that exciting either really", he laughed quietly as he thought of the truth behind what he'd just said. How all he had worked towards was insignificant in the face of family and friendship; those joys in life that he had not indulged in. "But I'm thinking about moving out of home soon, very soon actually. I want to get away from it all; everything in this forest gets to me. *sigh* Maybe today should be the day." He honestly felt that recent events appeared to justify this course of action. As he spoke those words he looked up at the clouds, speculating how he would break the news to his family.
"It's a bit soon, surely. I mean, c'mon I only just met you and you're already moving away?" Luxon's mild manner of concern returned in his voice again, reaching out to Fashar and giving him focus, calming the cacophony of his thoughts.
"Heh, it's not your fault, I've just decided that after today it needs to be done. I've been putting it off for so long out of nostalgia. Even though I want to leave this place and live a successful life by myself in the wild, I've been with them for so long it just feels weird ... I'll kinda miss the company too." He thought he would be prepared for the solitude, after years of readying himself, but Luxon had changed that in an instant.
Luxon responded sympathetically with a sad look on his face, "I know how you feel. I've never really wanted to be the head of the clan and the whole forest region. Now I know that's true more than ever after what I've seen and heard today. It's my duty, but I don't want it, the responsibility and all that hatred everyone probably has for my family and me."
The two continued to talk for a number of hours, sharing memories of their younger days, Fashar showing Luxon some of his special hunting techniques, Luxon explaining much of the political workings of his family and many more topics were discussed. Throughout this time, Fashar's deep unease subsided as he truly befriended Luxon. It was their lives of social isolation that let them connect here in such a way, even if Fashar's was by choice and Luxon's forced upon him by his parents. Eventually, it was getting late enough that the two had to make a move; the sun was setting and Luxon's parents would most likely have discovered he was missing by now.
"Well, it's been fun here, but it's time to leave. You have to get home before search parties are probably sent out, and if I'm going to tell my parents I'm leaving home today, I want to get home to tell them before the end of today." Fashar smiled and Luxon looked a bit disappointed, making him look cuter than ever to the Zangoose. Fashar rose to his feet and helped Luxon do the same. They were about to both walk away from the beautiful scenery when Fashar heard a moderately loud sound coming from behind one of the tress, so he instinctively took a combat stance.
"More prey huh? Cool, I'll lay low and watch." Luxon stood still and eyed Fashar.
"No, this is something different. Whoever's there is bigger than you or me ... and there are quite a few of them", he said with tension and he smelt the scent of a number of pokémon around him. It's an ambush! This is bad... The two were surrounded evenly, there was no break in the enemy's defence so any escape route was non-existent. He smelt the air once more, recognising the scent. Then he remembered, that's the scent of the Mightyena, strong and repugnant fitting their brutish manner rather ironically. "I know you Mightyena are there. We don't have any food so you can just leave us alone!" shouted Fashar with a slight tone of concern.
The pack leader then exited from the shadows of the forest trees slowly, saying with a low growl, "We're not here for food. The Luxray are not happy their eldest son is missing, so we were sent on a search mission to find the kid and kill his captor. Hehe, who knew it would have been you? Well, we're going to have a little fun with this one aren't we?" He smiled menacingly, laughing under his breath. The rest of the pack came out of the shadows laughing with their leader. Each had a glint in their eyes, what looked like a thirst for blood with no mercy.
"No, it's OK! He's got nothing to do with me missing! I just left home secretly to explore and ..."
"Shut up kid, we don't care how you got away from your parents. We know you were following us earlier today and we've been keeping an eye on you ever since", the leader started to pace around the two in a large circle, always looking at them in the eyes. "We wanted to keep you from going back home for as long as possible, to get your parents all worried and that. Luckily this pathetic guy here did the favour for us", he smiled, nodding at Fashar. "When they did find out you were missing, we feigned ignorance and came out to 'look' for you. In their surprise of the situation, they ordered us to isolate and protect the rest of their family from any further abductions, thinking that this was the work of a neighbouring clan who wanted to gain control of this region from the Luxrays. Hehe, fools, we have complete control over the situation now. With you in our grasp and he rest of them alone with the rest of our pack, we can wipe you all out and take control of this forest. Finally, it's our turn for some fun!" The leader began to laugh loudly, with the rest following his example.
Suddenly, another Mightyena came dashing out of the forest into the open area. He appeared to be a messenger who had been caught up in some sort of battle; he had various lacerations and was bleeding, but nothing too serious. "Sir, they found out what we were doing. The rest of the high class regiment took us by surprise and too the clan out of our custody, forcing us to retreat. We didn't kill the Luxrays, because we hadn't received word of your situation and were clueless. Most of us have survived, but we're fleeing to our base in the mountains, like you said to do if this were to happen", he said out of breath, but composed.
"Damn! There's not much we can do now, the whole forest probably knows we're the enemy now ... Kill these two and let's get out of here!" The leader barked with fury after receiving this news.
"Wait sir, before I fled, they gave me an ultimatum. They said that we should return their son or they'll hunt us down and kill us all. They even threatened to unite with neighbouring regions to kill us. If we kill him over there, we'll be deemed a threat to all high clans wherever we go, so them amassing a grand army to hunt us down is not out of the question." The messenger continued warily, not wanting to incur the wrath of his leader if he hadn't done so already. "We may have strength and numbers far beyond what they know, but we cannot stand against an army like that."
"Grrr ... fine. Take the kid and follow me back to our base; we need him as leverage from now on. We were going to take each region in more of a quick sweep, but now that our cover has been blow we have no choice. It looks like our plan of regicide has turned into one of genocide and war!" he barked at the top of his voice, he anger hardly subsiding from the initial shock of what was happening. "Scout, alert the Absol division in the neighbouring region and then move on to the Houndoom division to return to our base before doing so youself. Since we failed before they even got a chance to execute the plan, they have no hope now. We all must return to the mountains to reunite and prepare for war. After they talk to each other about what's just taken place, the high clans will realise what we were planning all along." The messenger nodded and leapt out into the shadows. "You three", the leader looked at the three Mightyena closest to Fashar and Luxon, "kill the Zangoose and meet up with us ahead. The rest of you take the kid and follow me! We should use the twilight to our advantage and make a quick escape. Break!" With that, one of the Mightyena used a quick attack from outside of Fashar's peripheral vision, knocking him to the ground. Then he grabbed Luxon and ran, with the rest close behind.
Fashar could hear the leader still barking orders in the distance after they had left. He could also hear Luxon calling out Fashar's name, not out of fear of his own life, but fearing the Zangoose's life. The three remaining appeared weaker than the rest of the pack that left; it seemed the leader had underestimated Fashar. Maybe he could get out of this situation safely. As he was kneeling bent forwards from being struck with that quick attack, he used dig attack quickly to get underground. This surprised the Mightyena, as Fashar looked wounded and weak in his position, leading to them not suspecting this move. They looked around, stupefied and unaware of what was happening. Fashar then burst up from the ground, landing a very powerful and well placed punch that lifted the Mightyena off of he ground. He followed up with a sky uppercut attack, aiming for the pokémon's throat. His sharp claws hit their mark and the target's neck exploded in a rain of blood, dealing instant death. The other two were utterly stunned by this and watched mouths agape. When Fashar landed on the ground, he did not hesitate with his next attack performing a quick attack on the second Mightyena. It fell to the ground, exposing its stomach, which promptly was hit by a slash attack. The final Mightyena snapped from its trance of terror and resumed a combat stance. At this stage, Fashar has just dealt the death blow to the second of the three with his back turned to the last of them. The remaining Mightyena fired a shadow ball at the Zangoose's back, aiming to break his spine. Fashar was aware of this, so quickly executed agility to evade the powerful ball of energy. He disappeared out of the Mightyena's sight due to his amazing speed, with the Mightyena using foresight immediately. Fashar appeared out of the trees' shadows and used double-team, running at his opponent at an alarming pace with the effects of agility still in play. He was about to finish with a slash attack, but the Mightyena used his foresight to pick out the real Fashar and swiftly used iron tail, bringing him to the ground.
The Mightyena laughed mockingly, "Nice try, but I've got you now. You lost." The laughter brought back the memories of earlier that day, and in turn all the oppression he had experienced in this forest. This, along with the fact that they had taken Luxon brought up an anger from within Fashar that was so powerful, it blocked out all other emotions he was capable of feeling.
"Lost? Not me..." Fashar intended to use a power he had been exploring through the mediation in his training. His eyes rapidly gained a purple hue as he felt the psychic energy coursing through him, a power new and mostly unknown. Few opportunities had presented themselves for such an attack, so he intended to unleash the full power upon the Mightyena. He began to yell in anger, radiating energy about him to identify and attack his enemy. The Mightyena felt itself being pulled up from the ground into the air, with a force like a vice grip on every atom of its body. Fashar got to his feet, turned around and looked into the eyes of the quivering Mightyena. Without saying a word he willed the body of the Mightyena to be torn asunder and it was done. The mangled corpse fell to the earth a mess. The power of such an attack drained Fashar exceedingly, and as such he could no use it again for some time.
After surveying the scene around him, his thoughts turned to Luxon and his captors. Fashar decided to quickly clean the blood from his fur in the pristine water of the pool in front of him, for if he followed the Mightyena pack drenched in the blood of their comrades, he would surely be a sitting target. He dived into the pool, breaking the perfect surface and replacing the calm with chaos. The blood on him mixed with the churning water, spreading out to all points in the pool. No part was safe from neither the chaos nor the bloodshed. He rose from the pool to face a world he once new, changed by what had happened that day, now changed into something that will become much like the disturbed water behind him; filled with unease and ripples of war. At least the feudal system before kept a status quo, now everything would become like a tumultuous mass, writhing out of any ruler's control. Even after the passing of what was to come, ending in one way or another, the people once oppressed by their leaders and subsequently racked by war would surely revolt thought Fashar. They'd had enough, and if any other regions were like his, this would become a widespread problem.
It was getting dark now and Fashar had to run if he was going to find shelter for the night. If he was spotted by any of the high class regiment alone fleeing the forest, he could be associated with the Mightyena pack and killed on the spot. He woefully thought about how he was going to have to leave his family without actually telling them like this. As he ran, he thought of Luxon and how much had happened today...
Run...
Run...
Run...
...
And so his thoughts caught up to where he was in the cave. So much had happened that day and enough time was spent dwelling on the events. Now he needed sleep if he was to pursue and find the Mightyena pack, ultimately stopping them and getting Luxon back. He missed Luxon already, wishing he was lying with him in this dark and lonely cave. Once more the flame of loneliness rose up, filling Fashar with sadness and longing for Luxon. All day he knew that every time he'd had a thought like this, it was supposed to be 'wrong' for him to think about another male like this, but he was strong of mind and character enough to dismiss such concerns. He knew he was his own pokémon and no one could hold control over him in such a way, especially after he planned to move into the uncontrolled wild. Yet solitude breeds privacy and vice versa in a vicious cycle, putting him into the position he was in. These were his last thoughts before he fell asleep, exhausted after everything. He would have to think about everything in subsequent days and find some truth in what was happening in his head. However, for now he dreamt.Chapter End Notes:Hope you all thought it was OK. Any suggestions/comments would be greatly appreciated, so fire away