Necessity4Fun
I'll keep trying, even if I'm not good enough...
Zenith
Rushing up Route 6, a lone Umbreon zig-zagged through the trees, sticking to their shadows to avoid being seen. Normally Zenith would be accompanied by his owner and strangers would leave him be because of that. But alone? He was bound to be taken as a wild pokemon, with desperate trainers tossing those red and white balls left and right... It was better to not risk it, at least until his paws touched civilisation again.
'Civilisation'. Right. Full of noisy and smelly crowds, grabby kids and who knows what else... His movement came to a halt near a building. Uugh, this was it. Zenith recalled all the times he had crossed through that path before and the thought of doing it by himself was enough to bring a shiver down his spine. Conflicted, the Umbreon had glanced backwards, in the direction of his home. The quiet and peaceful library, only the sound of nature softly embracing his as he napped on the bookcase... The warmth of his owner's lap and the cheerful humming of his voice as he worked...
As much as he would love to be there right now, Zenith was reminded of his mission.
Lowering his ears briefly in an act of resignation, the Umbreon raised its tail high and turned around, staring at the building right ahead with a newfound determination. Stepping closer to the edge of the shadows, the black and gold pokemon watched attentively, waiting for a good moment to cross. Once it seemed the humans were distracted by their own tasks Zenith made a run for it, speeding up through the gate, a mirage of his trainer encouraging him to keep going-
"Oh, where did you go?"
Of course, Kaipo wouldn't be right on the other side of the gate. The Umbreon felt quite silly for even hoping for it, getting a bit droopy with disappointment as the bright sun of Saffron city assaulted his red, shadow-accustomed eyes. With an annoyed hiss, Zenith shook his head trying to make the lights go away. Great. Something about this painful welcome just seemed to reinforce how stupid this plan was. ...Oh well, too late to go back now! Might as well make the best of it! ...Nope, forcing cheerfulness wasn't working.
Taking a first step forward, Zenith couldn't help but strange the feeling of the sidewalk under his paws. It was, oddly warm... and rigid. The Umbreon had narrowed his eyes at the ground for a while and then attempted hopping one side and another. Nope, weird. He definitely didn't like this. Growling in dissatisfaction, the moonlit Eevee restarted his search, watching his steps as he tried to recall the way his owner would usually go...
Not only had Zenith not found his owner, but he had also almost been run over a couple of times!!! Argh, both humans and big pokemon had continuously rushed past him without looking, the Umbreon having to dash out of the way time and time again. Packed crowds and pet-sized pokemon were a terrible combination... To make it all worse, when he had gotten to the intended locations he had been welcomed with an odd metallic black wall. Now, what was that about?! Zenith had glanced up at the barrier, tail swinging in annoyance. Where was the opening, and the nice talkative human female? Where had all the shelves gone and more importantly... WHERE HAD ALL THE FOOD GONE!??
With a complaining stomach, the Umbreon had crouched down by the door in defeat. Not having eaten anything in almost 24 hours, hunger was finally catching to him. Maybe Zenith should have tried his luck with some of the wild pokemon in the forest, but he had been too focused on getting to his destination that food had been the last thing in his mind. Sad whimpers left the little pokemon's throat as it felt the pain of starvation as well as loneliness. Give up? He had no idea of where to go from here and with the sun mercilessly heating up his dark coat, Zenith was suffering under the current weather.
Resting. Maybe he could take a nap right there? Wake up under a lesser sun... A faint breeze blew through him, softly ruffling the fur of his back, an inviting colder wind that had started lulling the Umbreon to sleep.......
And just as he had closed his eyes the image of Kaipo calling his name sprung the black and gold creature awake.
This was no time for a nap!
Instantly getting up on his paws, Zenith shook himself back into focus. No giving up! Not now, not ever! His trainer could be counting on him, what kind of pokemon would leave their trainer in need like that?! After stomping angrily at himself, the Umbreon raised his head, this time paying attention to the come and go of the humans and their own pokemon. He watched them quietly, --which direction they came from, which direction they were going to-, and came to the realization that one path was receiving tons more humans than the others. Just as he had been considering following it, a pair to giggling human females passed by, engaged in a conversation with each other, a single word being repeated a couple times during the course of the interaction: 'pokecon'.
Now, Zenith had never heard of said word before, or was able to even begin to fathom what it meant and it was exactly why he had gotten so curious about it. A new type of food, new toy, new location? He didn't know, but whatever it was the humans seemed excited for it... Maybe his owner would be excited for it too?!
With a new lead, the Umbreon leapt inside the current of creatures, sticking close by a random human kit that seemed more interested at fidgeting with a strange lifeless tiny bear. Prey? Zenith had tilted his head as he thought about it. Shouldn't the parent be teaching it how to hunt properly? The dark-coated pokemon had tried making sense of the odd scene before it, but the more he looked at it, the more questions seemed to plague his mind. At some point, Zenith had decided to just follow the parent and its kit, not being able to learn anything new about human nature from the experience...
At last, he could see their destination, a gigantic building, bigger than anything he had ever seen, loomed threateningly in the background. The windows reflecting the harsh light of the day-star, blindly bright. The humans really liked their daylight! They liked it so much they had built such a thing to harness its power of illumination!! Zenith was suddenly filled with so much awe, that once he had been by the entrance, he couldn't help but let out very excited "Umbreon! Um! Um!" noises as he gave a couple hops.
Which would have been fine if he had been with his owner, yet, he was not.
"Is this little one accompanying you two?"
A big creature in black and white clothes and dark eye protection had asked the mom and her kit, gesturing towards Zenith. Uh-oh, he had called too much attention! Time to run!!
The humans shook their heads and the big scary thing, that the Umbreon couldn't tell if human or not, had started moving towards him with suspicious intentions. Fearing the worst, the black and gold pokemon had prepared a jump and leapt in the air just as the other attempted to tackle him. Landing on top of the beast, Zenith didn't have to think twice before ducking under the female human's leg and rushing inside the building. Behind him there were angry, irritated voices screaming words too fast to try and make out, as the Umbreon dashed inside a big room and followed one of the corridors. Rushed paw-steps soon being drowned away by the heavy stomping of the creature giving chase.
With his heart beating fast, Zenith had stopped by the new door, glancing behind him to see the black and white monster and then back up front looking for a place to hide. The stomping was getting closer and closer by the second, forcing the Umbreon to make a quick decision. He had leapt across, weirdly enough ending back outside, and zig-zagged right, then left, then right again until he found the perfect spot.
Glancing behind him one last time to meet the figure exiting as well, Zenith rushed around a human male and ducked under the cloth that seemed to be covering a table. Peeking from under the hideout, the dark-coated pokemon came to realize that he couldn't see the thing from that spot and that besides the male, there was also a female human nearby.
Hoping that none of them decided to send him away and back into the monochrome creature's path, the Umbreon laid there with his ears down, unsure of how to proceed... Oh, and still incredibly hungry.
