By the Light of the Moon (Part 1)

"Umbreon, you have to calm down," I said impatiently.  At this point, I had lost count of how many times I had been saying these exact words over the last few days.

The Dark Type paced anxiously in front of me.  "I can't calm down, Splash!  She was in danger!  The ice sculpture that Snow made?  The one that glows when she's in trouble?  It was glowing for over a day!  I need to help her!"

"Past tense!  It's not glowing now!  She's out of whatever she got into!"

"I need to know if she's safe!  Both of them!"

I forced myself to take a deep breath and speak calmly.  "Umbreon, you have been driving everyone else in camp crazy for the last three days.  Didn't Espeon promise you that she's be back before the full moon?"

"Yes!" Umbreon said, stall pacing.

"And when is the full moon?" I asked, using the same tone that Umbreon had when he had told Three that he could only eat when the hunting patrol came back with food.

"Tomorrow night."

"Right.  So if Sunbeam and Espeon don't show up by tomorrow night, then I'll organize a search party.  Ok?" 

The worried father finally stopped his pacing.  "...Yes.  I'm not happy about it, but I'll wait."

I sat down.  "Umbreon, you won't be happy until they come back, no matter what you'll be doing."

"Exactly."

I let out an exasperated sigh.  He had been more annoying than Bolt and Inferno put together recently.  That was new for him.  He was usually one of the most levelheaded Pokémon that I knew.

Clover suddenly called from the lookout post.  "They're back!  Espeon and Sunbeam are back!"

Umbreon didn't even wait for her to finish her sentence.  He was gone before I could even register what Clover had said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Sunbeam was telling her sibling all about her adventure.  Espeon was... otherwise occupied.

 

Surf approached me, watching the happy couple, still just outside the camp entrance where they had found each other an hour ago.  "They're still at it?"

 

I nodded.  "They haven't stopped since she got here."

 

The pair blissfully ignored us, kissing and whispering things in each others' ears without any sign of them letting up.

 

Surf tilted his head back towards Sunbeam and her younger siblings.  "Come on.  You know you won't hear this story from Espeon any time soon."

 

I smiled.  "Very true."  We ducked in through the camp entrance, and I looked over at Surf.  "Do we act like them, or do we try to focus on the Clan more?"

 

He stopped, looking back at me with a thoughtful expression.  Finally, he answered with a single word.  "Yes."

 

I smiled, sitting down behind Three and Five as Surf chose a seat next to me, letting his tail sit on top of mine.  I leaned over and briefly touched my nose to his before turning my attention to Sunbeam and the rest of her story.

 



 

It was getting dark by the time Sunbeam was wrapping up her story.  Her parents had moved back inside camp, staying in their den.  Espeon had stayed just long enough to tell us how Absol had saved her from the Houndoom pack.  Sunbeam was touched.

 

"Then, just as the chief of police ran back out, BOOM!" she shouted, making Three, Four, and Five jump.  "The entire building explodes!"

 

"That must have been scary..." Five whispered.

 

"It was bigger than any explosion Inferno ever made!" she continued dramatically.

 

Bolt glanced at his best friend.  "Unlikely..." he said quietly.  I smacked his shoulder with my tail.

 

Sunbeam either ignored him or didn't care.  "So we stopped for a bit afterwards and caught our breath, then we find Absol knocked out in the middle of the street.  We used one of Clover's Revival Herbs.  By the way, Clover, you are brilliant with the leaf pouches."  The Leafeon blushed with a sheepish smile as the young Espeon continued.  "So we told him what happened, and he told us that he had fought off practically the entire Houndoom pack on his own, but got beat by the last two at the end.  Then he thanked us and left for the mountains..."

 

"That's it?" Two said.  "Just like that?"

 

Sunbeam nodded.  "Pretty much.  But then, the best part of the trip happened."

 

I leaned back.  "Better than meeting a Legendary Pokémon?"

 

Sunbeam made a face.  "...Ok, it's a tie.  Mother took me back to the library and let me stay the entire day just to read the books!"  I could tell how happy she was, but not many of her listeners seemed as interested.  However, she didn't seem to care as she talked on.  "And when we had to leave, Gardevoir let me check out a few more books for me to read here!  I love books!"

 

Two nodded as her shiny brother spoke.  "That explains the small pile in our den..."

 

She smiled sheepishly.  "Sorry..."

 

Finally, Espeon and Umbreon slipped out of their log den.  "All right, everyone, time for bed.  Especially you, Sunbeam, you need sleep."

 

There were a few groans of complaint, one of which was from Bolt.  Four, however, stood up and approached the storyteller.  "Sunbeam?"

 

"Yeah?"

 

"Can you still use Future Sight?"

 

"I don't know.  I think so."

 

He looked at the ground, his energy field lighting up the area around him.  "Can you...  Try to see what I can evolve into?  I know I can control my energy more now, but..."

 

Sunbeam nodded, sitting down next to her brother and finishing his sentence.  "You don't want to stand out like that?"

 

"More like I don't want to hurt anyone.  I want to be able to control it perfectly."

 

She looked up at the sky.  "I don't know.  I can try to find out, but no promises, ok?"

 

Four looked up at her and managed a smile.  "Thanks, Sunbeam.  You're an awesome older sister."

 

Sunbeam returned his smile warmly.  "Thank you, Four.  Now, come on.  Let's get to bed to I can dream about your question."