Sunbeam and Moonlight - Ace Detectives! (Part 3)

Four trotted after Three, looking up at the trees rather than down at the ground.  He wasn't really sure where they were.  They hadn't really been allowed to go too far out of camp...  "Three?" he asked quietly.  "Maybe we should go back...  We've been gone a while, and I don't want anyone to worry..."

Three spoke over his shoulder as he walked.  "It'll be fine!  Sunbeam always knows where we are anyway!"

"I guess..." Four responded with a shrug.

Five skipped around her two brothers, stopping suddenly as they came near a small clearing.  "Ooh!  Look at this pretty purple flower!" she called out, picking it and adding it to her growing collection.  Having run out of space in the ruffle around her neck, she was now weaving a chain to go on her head around her ears.

Four turned to look, trying to push the worries from his mind.  Three was right.  Sunbeam always knew where they had gone. 

A glitter caught his eye as he was walking towards his sister.  "Look!  I found something!" he called, bounding over to it.  It was hidden under a few leaves, but had the glitter of a polished stone.

His siblings' attention was instantly drawn to Four's discovery.  "What is it?" asked Three, looking excited.

"You found it, Four, you get to dig it up!  That's how you play Treasure Hunt!" Five added.

Four smiled and started pawing the leaves off of whatever he had found.  Usually, it was Five who got the first find when they played Treasure hunt.  She was naturally good at it.

Finally, he uncovered the stone.  It was mostly transparent with a gleam of sparkling yellow in the center.  "A shiny stone!" he said with a satisfied swish of his tail.

"Wow!" both Three and Five shouted at once.

Four moved to pick it up when he noticed a small string near the stone.  It led back under the leaves...  Curious, he grabbed the string in his teeth and pulled, freeing a small cloth from the ground.  Five tilted her head as Four put it down to examine it.  "What's that?"

Three cautiously stepped closer.  "I don't know...  It looks like something a human would have to hold stuff..."

"What kind of stuff?" Four asked, looking up from his find.

Three shrugged.  "I don't know.  Let's find out."  He grabbed the bottom of the bag in his teeth and lifted it, spilling the contents onto the ground.  All three quickly jumped back as a bunch of stones fell onto the ground, including fire, water, and thunder stones.  Luckily, the only stones that hit Three's paws were ones that would not affect him, and Four and Five were far enough away.  None of them were ready to evolve yet.

All three started in silence for a few seconds before Five whispered quietly.  "Wow..."

Four looked up.  "Now what?"

"Uh..." Three muttered, unsure.  "We should probably leave these here..."

Five nodded.  "They probably belong to someone anyway...  But good find, Four!"

A voice spoke from behind them.  A human voice.  "Whoa!  Good find, Kadabra!"

 

Moonlight trotted on through the trees, nose close to the ground.  She was no Snow, but she was a good tracker.  It helped that her siblings hadn't exactly been trying to hide their trail.

 

Sunbeam was following her anxiously, though neither of them spoke.  Usually, Sunbeam could talk enough for two Eevees, but she got quiet when she was worried or something was bothering her.  Which, in this case, allowed Moonlight to focus on tracking.

 

Naturally...  "Moonlight, I'm worried."

 

She sighed.  "I know.  We'll find them."

 

"What if something happens to them?"

 

Moonlight tried very hard to keep a level tone.  "Three's with them.  They'll be fine.  Can't you ...do some Psychic thing to look for them while I track?"

 

Sunbeam fell quiet again, casting her senses, Moonlight guessed.  Whatever she was doing, it gave Moonlight a chance to focus.  Sunbeam followed in her pawsteps, hopefully getting close enough to their unevolved siblings so that Sunbeam could pick them up.

 

After about a minute, Moonlight felt her older sister visibly tense.  "I found them!  They're in trouble!"

 

Moonlight jerked her head up, preparing to run.  "Where!?"

 

Sunbeam tore ahead.  "This way!  There's a trainer!"

 

Moonlight snarled as she bolted after her Psychic sister.  It had to be humans.

 

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

 

They passed their siblings as they fled the clearing, just as the young trainer ordered his Kadabra to stop them.  Sunbeam and Moonlight jumped over their brothers and sister at the same time, landing between the human and the Eevees.

 

"You want to catch them?" Moonlight snarled.

 

"You'll have to go through their sisters first!" Sunbeam finished, standing tall and looking menacing.

 

The trainer, who looked just older than a kit himself, ignored them.  "Kadabra, don't let them get away!  Use Mean Look!"

 

Moonlight said nothing.  She didn't have to.  Sunbeam leaped out of the way as Moonlight bounded up and struck the ground with Dark Pulse, casing the Kadabra to waver.  The Trainer didn't order his Pokémon to attack, instead, taking out another Poke Ball.  "Go, Nidorino!"

 

"Go what?" Moonlight called back to her sister as she charged up her energy again to take the Psychic Type down and free her siblings.

 

"Nidorino!" Sunbeam responded as the Pokémon appeared.  "Poison Type!  I've got this!  Don't let it stick you with its spikes!"

 

"Got it!"  Sunbeam fired up her mental abilities, quickly using Psyshock to attack the Nidorino as Moonlight fired Dark Pulse again.  The Kadabra went down.  "Go, sis, quick!"

 

Sunbeam finished the combo by using Quick Attack to knock the Nidorino, which had barely withstood her attack before, down and out of the fight.  The trainer called both Pokémon back, suddenly looking daunted.  "Uh...  Cacturne, Lampent, go!"

 

Moonlight sized up the new foes as Sunbeam instructed her.  "I'm not good here.  Cacturne's Grass and Dark, Lampent Ghost and Fire."

 

Moonlight only nodded before leaping into the air and striking with Dark Pulse again.  Sunbeam ducked out of the way, but the Lampent was less fortunate, taking a serious hit that made it flinch.  The Cacturne, however, was barely affected and took advantage of Moonlight's attack to strike unseen with Payback.  It didn't do too much damage, but Moonlight was still thrown to the ground.  Sunbeam focused on using Future Sight, then stood back up and prepared to act again.

 

Since using Phantom Force was out of the question, Moonlight stuck with her other three moves instead.  She rounded on the Cacturne, using Swift this time, which did more damage.  Both foes moved to attack her at the same time, one with Flame Burst and the other with Payback again, but Sunbeam was quicker.  She darted in front of her sister and threw up a barrier with her mind just in time to deflect the incoming attack and keeping her sister from harm.  Moonlight gave her a confused but thankful look.  "When did you learn Protect?"

 

"I've been working on it for a while, but I never had to use it in battle."

 

Without anything else needing to be said, both leapt at separate foes at the same time, Moonlight summoning and hurling Shadow Ball at the Lampent, and Sunbeam using Quick Attack for the second time on the Cacturne.  The Lampent fell and the Cactus Pokémon was barely standing, but had enough strength to use Sucker Punch.  Moonlight reacted instantly, tackling Sunbeam out of the way and taking the hit for her.  Both got back up, though Moonlight's head was spinning.  "Not as good as a Psychic barrier..." she muttered, "but good enough."  Sunbeam smiled.

 

The trainer sent out a Machoke next, which Moonlight could guess was a Fighting Type without Sunbeam's commentary.  She was already dizzy from the Cacturne, which was still a threat, but she'd have to rely on her sister's capabilities to protect her from the Fighting Type.  Instead of attacking, Sunbeam used Protect again, blocking the Cacturne's Seed Bomb and the Machoke's Mach Punch.  Moonlight looked at her sister.  "What was that for?  I'm fine!"

 

"Just watch!"  A second later, a huge buildup of Psychic energy smashed into the Machoke, knocking it out cold in one hit.  Moonlight glanced back towards her sister.  "Future Sight is powerful," she said with a smile.  Moonlight grinned and crouched low, firing Swift through her sister's barrier and finally taking the Cacturne out.

 

The trainer now looked very unsure of himself.  Sunbeam lowered the shield as he sent out his last Pokémon, a Simipour.  Sunbeam peered at the trainer.  "...Don't attack.  He's going to run."

 

"We did it?"

 

"We did."

 

"Nice teamwork, there, sis."

 

"I think we're pretty good at this."

Sunbeam and Moonlight - Ace Detectives! (Part 2)

Four trotted around the meadow, hunting for Three, Moonlight, and Sunbeam.  Where could they have hidden...?  He looked at Five, who was trailing behind him.  "Where could they be?"

Five shrugged, speaking around a few flowers that she had in her mouth.  "I don't know.  But Three's really lucky and Moonlight's really good at hiding..."

"But Three's shiny!  It's like trying to look for me!  We don't blend very well..."

"Well, you glow," Five said with a tilt of her head.  "Three's just sparkly."  Four nodded, thinking.  After a few seconds, Five added to her thought as she stood back up and began hunting for more flowers.  "I mean, Moonlight's sparkly, too, but not really."

Four nodded again quietly.  He wondered how his two evolved sisters could act so much older than them...  They were the same age, right?  How come they could act like all the grownups?  Four wanted to be like that.  But more than that, he really wanted to stop glowing all the time.  He was getting the hang of shifting his buzzy energy around, but it was never gone.  He could never hug anyone.  Five always liked being hugged.  So did Four, but he also didn't want to hurt anyone when he did.  Mommy and Daddy were better than most Pokémon at not getting hurt from him, but he still tried not to stay too close for too long.  He wondered if there was anything he could evolve into that would help him control his radioactivity better.

He became aware of Five calling him.  "Four.  Four!"  He blinked and looked over towards her.  There were now even more flowers in her fur ruffle.  "What are you thinking about?"

"What I could evolve into."

"Oh.  I don't know what I want to be.  Maybe a Leafeon because I like flowers, but I really like playing as an Eevee, too!"

"I like playing, too.  I just don't like glowing all the time."

Five looked very serious.  "I like you glowing.  And you humming.  It makes you special.  And I can always see when it's dark when you're around."

Four smiled.  "Thanks, Five."

She perked up again.  "And think about it!  Being shiny is cool, but Moonlight and Three are both shiny, so they're not as special.  You glow in the dark!  And you're not even an Eevee that's supposed to glow!  That makes you super special!  You're...  You're one of a kind!  Unique!" she chirped, sharply pronouncing the last word.

"What's unique?" Four asked with a curious tilt of his head.

"It's one of a kind.  Like there's nothing else like it anywhere!  Sunbeam taught me that word."

"Sunbeam knows a lot of words."

Another Eevee's voice called from across the meadow.  "Heeeey!  You guys stopped looking for me!"  Four stood up and turned around to see Three bounding towards them, his silvery-blue fur glittering in the sunlight.  "I got bored!  Let's do something else!"

"Like what?" Five asked with an excited wag of her tail.

Three stopped, suddenly looking unsure.  "Uh...  We could play treasure hunt!"

Five bounced up and down excitedly.  "Ooh!  I love this game!"

"And we're in a new place!  There'll be even more cool stuff to find!" Three said.

Four was unsure.  He liked looking around to see what kind of cool things Three's luck could help them find, but going somewhere without their evolved sisters seemed like a bad idea.  "I don't know...  Sunbeam said not to go more than 20 steps outside the meadow..."

Three crouched down on his front paws, wagging his tail.  "Come on, Four!  We won't go far!  And we can take care of ourselves, right?"

"I...  I guess..."

"Come on, don't be a Torchic!  We'll come back before they even know we're gone!" Three goaded.

Four was conflicted.  They'd be breaking a rule that Sunbeam had set for them...  But Three's luck could keep them out of trouble, right?  And even if not, Four now knew how to fight better...  Finally, he stood up.  "Ok.  But not too far!"

Five bounced into the air.  "Yay!  We'll find so much cool stuff and pretty things!" she shouted, leaping and bouncing happily.  Four smiled at her.  He loved how happy she always was.  Maybe they'd find more flowers to add to her current chain.  She'd love that...

 

Sunbeam blinked awake, rays of strong sunlight filtering through the leaves and onto her fur.  She sighed contentedly...

 

Then snapped awake with a jolt as she realized that she was NOT supposed to be asleep.

 

She sat up on the branch, shaking her head out and searching for her unevolved siblings telepathically.  She almost had a heart attack as she couldn't locate or contact them.  They must have wandered out of range!  With no sign of any of the three Eevees in the meadow, Sunbeam shot down the tree as fast as she could, not yet having the skill to teleport without time to focus.

 

She dashed across the meadow, just about to where she thought her Dark Type sister might be.  "MOONLIGHT!" she yelled, scanning the branches for blue light.  She had seen where Three through Five had gone, right?  "MOONLIGHT" she called again.

 

Finally, she heard a familiar annoyed grunt from a nearby tree.  "Ok, ok, you found me..." she muttered groggily.  Sunbeam tried to stay calm.  Had Moonlight fallen asleep, too!?

 

The shiny Umbreon slowly climbed down, pausing when she saw it was just Sunbeam.  "...Where did our siblings go?"

 

Sunbeam couldn't keep the worry out of her voice.  "You don't know?  I thought we were watching them together!"

 

"No," Moonlight began as she jumped to the ground, landing perfectly.  "You told me I could take a rest!  You said you'd keep an eye on them!"

 

"I never said that!  When did I say you could sleep!?" she shouted back, quickly losing her calm aura.

 

"It was implied!" Moonlight shot back, getting angry at her sister's attitude.  "And what about you!?  You blame me for sleeping on the job, but you clearly did the same thing!"

 

"Yes, but I didn't mean to!"

 

"Oh, because that's SO much better!"

 

"I thought you could cover for me if I slipped up!"

 

"I thought you were giving me a break!  I thought you were being nice to me!"

 

"We were supposed to be watching them together!"

 

"And look how well THAT turned out!"

 

"I can't believe this!"

 

"I can't believe you!  Aren't you supposed to be the responsible older sister!?"

 

Sunbeam stopped.  Moonlight may not have meant it to, but that remark had really hurt.  She looked away, feeling guilty.

 

Moonlight apparently picked up on it, because she wound down very quickly.  "...I'm sorry, sis...  I...  didn't mean that..."

 

Sunbeam didn't move.  "...This is stupid.  Why are we fighting?"

 

Her rebellious sister sat down.  "I don't know...  I guess I was just worried..."

 

"Me, too..."

 

For a while, neither said anything.  Finally, Moonlight broke the silence.  "Well, we have to track them down."

 

"We do?"

 

"Do you really want mom or dad finding out about this?"

 

She had a point.  "But how?  They're too far away.  I can't contact them."

 

"So we'll track them," she said simply, standing up.

 

Sunbeam turned back towards her.  "Track them?  Like by smell?"

 

"Yeah, like the rest of the Pokémon world does it." 

 

Sunbeam ignored the slight attitude in her tone.  That was just how Moonlight worked.  "But I'm not very good at it..."

 

"Lucky for you, I am," she replied confidently, walking at a brisk pace towards the middle of the meadow.  Sunbeam trotted after her to catch up, stopping a few steps away as Moonlight began sniffing the grass.  "I know they were here, so that's where I'm starting," he said, copying their father's teaching voice.  "If I can't track them around the meadow, I'll walk around the edge until I catch their scent again."

 

Sunbeam tilted her head.  "Why wouldn't you just start like that?"

 

"Because it's quicker this way.  And depending on how long ago it was, the scent on the edge might have faded, so I might miss it by accident."

 

Sunbeam nodded, taking notes.  All of the sibling had agreed that Sunbeam was the most book-smart, and it was true, Sunbeam had a rather large repository of random information bouncing around her head, but Moonlight was smart, too.  Just in a different way.  Where Sunbeam could probably name any species of Pokémon on sight, Moonlight would know how to track or fight each one of them. 

 

One sister book-smart and the other sister street-smart.  Between them, there was nothing they couldn't do, right?  Sun and moon, light and dark.  It was part of what made their parents such a good team.  They could do this.

 

Hang on, Three, Four, and Five!  Sunbeam and Moonlight are coming to save you!





Sunbeam and Moonlight - Ace Detectives! (Part 1)

I padded alongside Surf through the forest, which was growing more and more familiar by the second.  We were coming home.  I hoped that nothing too important had happened while I was away...

A new Shell Bell bumped against my chest, courtesy of my mate, who had promptly given it to me after I had told him that we would spend a day at the beach, just for old times' sake.  I smiled as I recalled the moment.

I made you this.  I know Bolt said I was only supposed to find a present for my Secret Stantler, but what was I supposed to do, not get you a present for Snow Day?

I loved him so much.

We hadn't been away too long, mostly because I was constantly worrying about my Clan in the back of my mind, something that Surf could apparently see (and cure) easily.  The original trip had taken us two weeks, but since we knew the way and subconsciously kept a faster pace, it took us only about one week to get back into our territory.

I glanced at Surf as we walked.  "Nothing too huge could have happened while we were away, right?"

Surf shrugged.  "It could have, but it probably didn't.  What are the odds of something like that happening in the exact week that we've been gone?"

"Higher than it should be, apparently..."

"Splash, Espeon is very capable.  That's why you put her in charge.  Sure things have happened suddenly in the past, but-"

"No, Surf, look!" I said, staring at our camp, just visible through the trees.  Smoke was rising from the top.  Was our home on fire?

Surf stood tall.  "Looks like a job for two Vaporeons, then..."

I only nodded before tearing towards camp as fast as my paws could go.  So much for a calm ending to our romantic getaway...

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

 

I skidded into camp, stopping myself from using Surf just in the nick of time to avoid attacking the Rapidash that Espeon was talking to.  Surf, who was running behind me, didn't see that I had stopped until he turned through the camp entrance, resulting in his careening into me a full speed.  Both of us fell very spectacularly, drawing the attention of nearly everyone in camp.  I flushed bright red.

 

Espeon looked at the two of us with a small smile.  The Rapidash just looked confused.  "Are...  These Splash and Surf?"  I turned an even deeper red.

 

"Yes," Espeon said, still looking at us.  "They were on hiatus for a while and just returned, apparently."

 

I tried to untangle myself from Surf.  "I'm so sorry...  We saw smoke and thought there was a fire..."

 

The Rapidash shrugged.  "You'd be surprised how often I get that...  And how often I get attacked by Water Types because of it..."

 

Surf got to his paws, somehow still looking dignified.  "Lucky Splash stopped before we could, then," he said with a polite, but apologetic smile.

 

She nodded.  I cleared my throat and sat down, trying to retain some amount of professionalism.  "So, were you here for some help?"

 

"Not anymore, actually.  Espeon and Umbreon took care of it, thank you."

 

Oh.  I guess everything really is going smoothly.  Huh.  I shook my head.  "Well, thank you, then."  The fire horse Pokémon dipped her head politely, then backed up and took a flying leap over the barrier.  I watched in awe.  I loved watching Rapidashes in action.

 

Espeon stood back up and turned to look at us.  "Welcome home, I suppose."

 

I smiled.  "Thanks, Espy.  How did everything go here?"

 

"Well, you missed Moonlight's harrowing Power Quest, but aside from that, nothing much."

 

Surf sat down next to me.  "Oh, so she went on her Power Quest?"

 

"Yes, and both she and Umbreon are hesitant to talk about it.  Apparently, it was a bit of an ordeal.  So I'm giving them some time off," she finished quietly, looking towards her den.  I could see a yellow glow from Umbreon's rings inside.  He must be sleeping.

 

I nodded while still looking at the log den.  "Probably a good call...  Where are Three through Five?"

 

"In the meadow, being watched over by their older sisters."

 

"Oh, good," Surf said.  I nodded.  It was nice that the five of them cared so much about each other.  Even Moonlight, who apparently got back from a nerve-wracking Power Quest only a few days ago.  Good for them.

 

 

Moonlight was exhausted.  How could her younger siblings possibly have this much energy?  Even Sunbeam was looking worn out!  Sunbeam! 

 

Since Splash and Surf were both still on a romantic getaway, their mother was busy with a customer, their father was sleeping (seeing as he had taken the patrol the night before and hadn't slept in two days), and her three younger siblings were getting underpaw, Espeon had asked her and Sunbeam to entertain them until she was done or they calmed down.

 

Sunbeam bounded over to Moonlight's side, breathing heavily.  "I don't know...  How much longer...  I can do this..."

 

Moonlight shook her head.  "Me either...  Four rounds of wrestling...  Six races..."

 

"And now two hours of Pokerus..." Sunbeam panted.  "We need a new plan..."

 

Moonlight only nodded, watching Three dash around the field, chasing his giggling younger sister.  Finally, he tackled her.  "Got you!  Now you have Pokerus!"  With that, he dashed away as quickly as he could as Five bounced to her paws and ran towards Four. 

 

Moonlight lit up.  "I've got an idea...  Hey!  I thought of a new game!" she called out, trotting over and trying to look energetic.  

 

All three instantly broke back towards Moonlight, stopping short in front of her.  Five bounced up and down with excitement.  "What is it, what is it?"

 

"Why don't we play Hide and Seek for a little bit?"

 

"Yeah!!" came the unanimous reply.  Sunbeam shot her a look that clearly said "Smooth, sis."

 

Moonlight gave her older sister a tiny smile in reply before turning back to her younger siblings.  Patience, she reminded herself.  Who knew that they could be at such different maturity levels even though they were practically the same age?  "Who seeks first?"

 

Five and Three both jumped up instantly.  "I will!" both shouted at once.

 

Sunbeam stepped up next to Moonlight.  "Ok, Four, you can go first.  You were patient."

 

"Really?  Yes!" their radioactive brother said with a satisfied swish of his glowing tail.  I'll start counting!"  He laid down and covered his eyes with his paws.  Moonlight secretly wondered if that irritated his eyes at all.  Probably not.  "I'll count to 50!"

 

"No going outside of 20 steps of the meadow!" Sunbeam added.  Moonlight loved her sister...

 

"Ok!  1...  2...  3..." Four began, sending Three and Five bolting in different directions.  Sunbeam inclined her head one way and Moonlight nodded and followed as both ran at a moderate pace to the tree line.

 

Sunbeam stopped, looking at the branches above her.  "Nice call on the game change..."

 

"Thanks..."

 

"If one of us can hide in a tree here, and the other on the other side of the meadow, we can cover all angles.  I'll try to keep a Psychic monitor on them if you want to..."  Moonlight nodded silently.  She knew what Sunbeam meant.

 

Without another word needing to be said, Moonlight bounded away, jumping into the shadow dimension to cut straight across the meadow undetected.  Technically cheating, but whatever.  She loved the fact that she didn't feel drained here anymore...  But that didn't mean she planned on staying here.  She had to play fair, even if it meant she was found first.  No powers, just hiding.  And hiding was something that Moonlight was very skilled at.

 

Jumping back into the normal world as she reached the other side, she didn't slow down as she found a tree to climb.  She leapt up to the first branch and dug her claws in, slowly working her way up.  She didn't come all the way to the top, stopping about halfway up.  She could still hear Four counting and see the entire meadow, but she was well-hidden in the shadow of the trunk.  A perfect spot.  She loved being an Umbreon.

 

Time dragged on.  Moonlight's eyes were already starting to drift closed as Four finished counting.  Sunbeam had said that she could drift off if she wanted to.  She'd watch them.  Moonlight would probably take watch during the next round.  But for now...

 

She took a soft breath and let her eyes close, wondering how Three, Four, and Five could possibly have more energy than both she and Sunbeam combined did.

Shadows of Nightmares (Part 3)

Umbreon could only watch as is daughter struggled in nightmares.  Her eyes were screwed shut, and she was jerking every which way, like she was fighting an invisible enemy.  He nudged her shoulder again, pawed at her fur, yelled her name, nothing worked.  What had happened!?

He dove back to Clover's leaf bundle, looking for a Chesto or Lum berry.  Anything that would help her.  Finding the round Lum berry first, he did his best to get Moonlight to swallow it, a task made difficult by her thrashing, screaming, and occasionally trying to bite him.  Even when he finally managed to get her to eat it, she remained in her fit of nightmares.  He went back for the Chesto berry.  It was stronger.

A shout from nearby the den made Umbreon glance away from his daughter.  They were still in an enemy clan's camp, after Moonlight had destroyed part of their sacred grounds, she had fought their clan leader, left her knocked out in the energy-draining shadow dimension, and brought down half of the den with her.  None of those Pokémon in camp would be pleased to see them.  He fought harder to get Moonlight to swallow the Chesto berry, resolving that, if this didn't work, he'd carry her out of here and to a safer place.

However, it seemed like he wouldn't have to.  The Chesto berry didn't fully complete the job either, but it roused her enough so that she and Umbreon together could pull her back into the waking world.  Her fur was coated with toxic sweat and she was breathing heavily.  Her eyes flicked around the collapsed den.  "Wh-what happened?"  Umbreon had never heard her so scared.

"It's ok.  You had...  Some kind of nightmare.  It's ok, I'm here.  You're safe."  Well...  As safe as she could be right now.

Moonlight started to calm down.  "I...  Never want to do that again."

"What happened?"

She didn't meet his eye.  "I-"  She stopped suddenly as more shouts came from outside.  She snapped out of her nightmare-induced daze and struggled to her paws, pushing Umbreon away when he tried to help.  "I'm fine!  We need to get out of here!"

Umbreon hesitated before letting her get up on her own.  She was strong and independent.  She'd figure it all out.

 

Moonlight leaned out of the den, looking around for any members of the Clan of Darkness.  Seeing none, she glanced back to her father.  "All clear for now.  Let's get out of here."

 

He nodded and followed her out, saying nothing.  Moonlight focused.  Stealth was her specialty.  She could get out of this.  She tried to ignore and shut out her still-trembling paws.  It had just been a dream.  Just a dream.  An inexplicable, horrifying, nightmare of a dream, but still just a dream.  Unless Dream Eater was involved, dreams couldn't hurt you.

 

She forged on, leading the way towards the camp exit.  She had turned her rings off easily, this time being able to manipulate the shadows to make herself nearly invisible.  She could sense Umbreon doing the same thing behind her.  At least she had full control over her type now.

 

In Dark Cave, she had known how to fully exploit her Dark Type powers, even to the point of using the Dark energy of the other Pokémon attacking her.  She had drawn power from the area, the Pokémon attacking her, and somehow from the shadow dimension, even when she hadn't been in it and despite the fact that the other side of Phantom Force was supposed to drain the user, not power her up and give her more energy.  She had never felt so powerful.  Looking back on it now, it scared her a little.

 

Her senses and reflexes had been so sharp.  Moonlight couldn't remember what it had felt like (it felt like she was almost at top performance levels right now), but she knew that it wasn't natural ability.  She had landed a savage counterattack just after her foes had thought about attacking her.  No Pokémon, not even the sharpest Psychic Type in the world, was that good.  She had felt the aura around herself, jumped into the shadow dimension to power herself up further, drawn the energy into a concentrated mass in front of her, Shadow Ball, she realized, then thrown it.  It was actually less like Shadow Ball and more like Shadow Explosion.  If she hadn't been using Phantom Force, she would have been killed in the explosion and collapse that had followed.  She'd torn down a good portion of Dark Cave with one attack.

 

And then she did the same thing in the fight with Brightclaw!  Shadow Ball wouldn't have even been very effective, and yet it knocked Brightclaw out and blew up half of her den!  And then she had turned the supernatural ability off, easy as breathing.  Then...  She felt the same feeling that she had when Darkrai had been nearby and passed out into nightmares.

 

That must have been what the legendary had given her.  Most Pokémon were drained by the shadow dimension, but Moonlight's...  Hyper power or whatever was fueled by it.  If she wanted to reactivate that, all she'd have to do is draw power from the shadow dimension.  But since that was Darkrai's power...  She collapsed into nightmares after she'd used it.  It made sense...

 

The other part of Darkrai's deal came back to her.  "Dad?" she furtively whispered.

 

He stopped, looking at her in concern.  It was hard to make him out.  "What?  Did you smell something?"

 

She shook her head.  "No, I need that stone on your neck."

 

"What?"

 

"Just give it to me."

 

He hesitated, then pulled it off and pushed it towards her, still looking confused.  Moonlight said nothing as she grabbed the stone in her teeth, used Phantom Force to open a small hole in reality, then threw the stone through and closed the opening.  She kept moving without saying anything.  Umbreon moved to catch up.  "What was that for?"

"Not now.  Maybe after we get home without dying."  She kept walking to stop him from asking further.  She really didn't want to talk about it.  Just get out and go back home.  No more superpowers.  Ever, if she could help it.

 

She slowed down as she smelled a Mightyena and a Houndoom.  Apparently, Brightclaw still had guards on the entrance even after the explosion.  She and Umbreon were both too tired to fight effectively, and something was telling her that Phantom Force wasn't an option, either.

 

Umbreon stopped next to her.  "We might be able to fight them off if we take them by surprise..."

 

An idea came to Moonlight.  She flashed her father a sly smirk.  "Or we use diplomacy instead."  With that, she shed her shadowy camouflage and let her rings light up again, shoving Umbreon with her shoulder.  "Move it!" she barked, doing her best imitation of Brightclaw.  "Don't try and sneak away, you pathetic excuse for a Pokémon!"

 

Umbreon almost turned on her until he caught onto what she was trying to do.  He backed away from Moonlight, staying low to the ground and acting defeated.  Moonlight marched towards the entrance, occasionally shoving her father along just for show.  She felt a little weird about this, but as long as it got them out.  "I'll show you what we do to traitorous sneaks like you..." she growled as they slipped through the entrance.  The guards watched them pass, but said nothing.  The ruse had worked.

 

She kept up the façade just long enough for them to get out of earshot of the dog Pokémon before she relaxed and Umbreon stood back up to his full height, giving her a stern look.  "If you ever try anything like that again without a very good reason or bring this up to anyone..."

 

"Got it, got it, sorry, Dad..." she said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes again.  This was more like it.  This was the relationship with her father that she was used to.  "I just figured that, since shiny Umbreons aren't exactly common, they'd be used to seeing one and not messing with her."

 

"So you pretended to be Brightclaw," he said, falling into step next to her.  "That doesn't mean you get to behave like that."

 

"Well the alternative was getting killed or captured, so."  She picked up her pace to end the conversation.  She was heading away from the Eevee Clan right now, but that was just so that they could use Phantom Force to lose their scent trails.  The last thing the Clan needed was a feud with the Clan of Darkness.

 

Still, they were away from the danger, the moon was out and shining despite the dust still in the air from the explosion, and Moonlight now had full control over her Dark Type powers, even more so than is normally possible, in fact.  But she dismissed that thought.  It was over, and she was going home.  That was the important part.