Mond the Umbreon [WIP]

There is a breeding facility that was controlled by a family of humans. They bred Pokémon specifically to have special traits that set them apart from others of their species through years of careful breeding. One of their most popular species were their Eevee and the Eevee’s evolutions, because they had managed to not only change the color and sometimes the texture of the fur of their Eevees, but they also tended to be much smaller than normal Eevee. Such unnatural experimentation with genes naturally had concequences; many Eevee died due to failure of organs. Others were left with birth defects that marred them for life. Ranging from blindness, deafness, muteness, brain defects, and all manner of illnesses, many of these Eevee perished not long after birth. Those who survived were rewarded by being murdered, for few customers wanted Eevees that would require special care and the company sure wasn’t going to waste their money providing that care themselves. Eevee who were not exotic enough met the same fate even if they were healthy; no customer was paying for a normal Eevee, after all.

Forced to breed early and often, females barely even knew their kits, and vice versa. Two little Eevees who hatched from the same clutch of eggs were no different. Having been hatched via incubator, they barely even knew what a “mother” was. They were simply moved to a pen full of other Eevee that had hatched along with them. Being the smallest of the group, they stuck together at all times, the girl caring for her often very sick brother. As she fought to keep him alive, the Eevee were inspected one by one for any kind of birth defects. At the same time, they were also being gauged on their appearance.

The brother and sister’s turn soon came, and the outcome looked grim. While they mistakenly believed that they were simply being evaluated for their health and that the brother would finally be taken care of, the inspectors were having completely other ideas. The girl, although rather healthy, looked too normal. Her fur was exactly the color a normal Eevee should have, the only real difference being a slightly fluffier coat. Her eyes were another matter entirely; they were wide, clear eyes that reminded those who looked at her of sunsets. The perfect mix of golds, oranges, and reds, looking at them was like looking at fire. Eyes alone could not save her, however, and she was marked for death on their clipboards.

The boy was next, and he looked promising at first. His fur was pitch black, with the parts of an Eevee that should be a lighter tan being a silvery white. His fur was much fluffier than even a normal Eevee, and his eyes were a dark scarlet. But while he passed where appearances were concerned, his health could only be described as an epic fail. His immune system was incredibly weak, and as a result was constantly sick, to the point where he could barely keep food down. His mental health proved to be not much better; he was so easily terrified that to be examined he had been sedated to prevent a panic attack. Such an Eevee would require careful attention and very gentle handling. That was something that no one would want to have to give. So, though the inspectors all agreed it was a shame, as he would have fetched quite a price had he been healthy... he, too, was marked for death.

However, it seemed as if the baby Eevees had a guardian angel looking after them. The next day, as they were about to be disposed of, an excited employee informed his superiors that his distant relative—a rather wealthy man—was searching for a present for his daughter, who was turning sixteen in about a month. His daughter adored psychic and fire types and specified that although she wanted a psychic type, she wanted the Pokémon to have a trait that would remind her of fire. The girl also hinted that she wouldn’t mind a unique dark type Pokémon too, if her father would be willing to spend a little more on his princess.

The supervisor was overjoyed; the fire-eyed Eevee and her brother would be perfect! All they had to do was be evolved into an Espeon and an Umbreon, and they would fit the bill perfectly. Why kill the creatures if they could manage to sell them? They’d still have them off their hands, but this way they’d be paid for it.

The two Eevee were quickly moved into a large, comfortable room with cozy beds, lots of toys, and the finest food the company could find. The boy, suffering from the flu at the time, was given proper medical care. Only two people cared for the Eevee; the elder female paid special attention to the girl Eevee, and the younger female cared primarily for the boy Eevee. However, the elder only came during the day and the younger only at night. Besides simply feeding them and caring for the male Eevee’s illness, they also played with them. When he was too sick to play, the younger female would sit with the sick Eevee and simply pet him.

The baby Eevee did not know what was happening. They didn’t even know they had been going to die just that morning. They simply accepted this strange, but much more welcome change to their lives.

By the end of the week the Eevees had grown strongly attached to their primary caretaker. The next day, the female Eevee evolved. That night, her brother did as well.

The care continued for the sake of making the newly evolved Umbreon look as healthy as possible. In the hopes that the girl’s father would pay more if the two Pokemon were battle ready, they went through careful training and were each taught TMs. The Espeon grew depressed, realizing that the ones they had bonded to had never really loved them, as they’d never returned. She hid this from the Umbreon, as she didn’t want to worry the already fragile creature. Her brother remained hopeful that his human would return and waited by the door every single night for the human who would never come.

When the girl actually came to the facility to receive her Pokémon on her birthday, things got as worse as they could.

The two Eeveelutions were shoved into a large crate and carried outside to the customer’s car. While he was inside discussing his purchase with some employees of the company, the teenager opened the crate; first she smiled, then she frowned, and she closed the lid. When her father came to leave and the employees followed to see him off, the girl explained that she detested Umbreon. She wanted no part of the cowering ball of fluff in the crate.

As the employees opened the crate to take the Umbreon out, one of them mistakenly muttered that he would be glad to see the creature die, as the Umbreon cried a lot.

Naturally the young one began to cry, begging for his life even though the humans couldn’t understand him, twisting in the man’s grip as he was grabbed by the scruff of the neck and yanked out.

His sister leaped out at the same time, right into the guy’s face and latching onto his head with her claws. The shock and pain surprised him and he yelled out, dropping her brother. The father stared at the man as he ran around, still recovering from the shock. When the man’s friend tried to help, the Espeon hit him with a psychic attack and leaped off the person’s head. She screamed for her brother to follow her, and she ran off with him hot on her heels. By the time the humans had calmed down, they were long gone.

At first the sister enjoyed the wild, loved it. It was beautiful, and they had never been outside before. Her brother feared it, as it was large and unfamiliar, but because of his sister’s encouragement he still found beauty in it at times. Life was still not kind to them, however. Besides the Umbreon being nearly constantly ill, food was hard to find and even harder to lay claim to when you were only a foot tall. The bigger Pokémon chased them away. They were soon starving to death and completely lost. No longer was the wild beautiful, and with the Umbreon now so sick he couldn’t walk, it looked as if his sister would soon be alone.

A trainer changed that.

Fifteen year old Henry Walker spotted an Espeon brazenly stealing some berries from his backpack, but decided to follow her to see where she would take them. When he saw the nearly-dead Umbreon he caught them immediately and brought them to the Pokecenter. No one could explain their odd traits but were able to treat the Umbreon. His sister allowed them to because she was completely out of options, but she hissed at anyone who spent too much time being too close to him. After the Umbreon was deemed well enough to leave, Henry brought them home, where they were immediately much beloved by his six year old sister, Kaitlin. She tied a pink bow around the Espeon’s neck and called her pretty, stunning the Espeon. No one had called her pretty but the one who had evolved her.

Searching for names, the boy’s mother suggested naming them after the sun and moon, not only because one was an Espeon and the other an Umbreon, but also because they were opposites in personality, yet also so very right for one another, as if they were made for one another. Kaitlin chose the names Mond for the Umbreon and Sonné for the Espeon. Henry made sure they were comfortable in the house and that Mond received the antibodies prescribed to him in the hopes that this would help strengthen his immune system. Months passed and Mond was now quite healthy, his medication keeping sickness away. He finally had the strength to run and play like a normal child, and Sonné’s stress drained away as he worries and problems disappeared. On top of this, Kaitlin played with them every single day, and even requested that they sleep with her when she had to take her nap. Those afternoon naps snuggled against the little girl’s right side while her brother snuggled against the girl’s left were the best of the Espeon’s life. Everything seemed right again.

But then Henry started to train them, to use them in Pokémon battles. And found that dark and psychic types just didn’t click with him. They just didn’t feel right.

He was not abusive. He was not neglectful. But he was very goal oriented and if something hindered his attempts to reach his goal, then he disposed of it. Unlike the company, who would have murdered them, he simply released them back into the wild. Believing that he was letting them out to play, they took off into the forest. By the time they got back, he was gone.

At first Sonné and Mond were certain that he’d simply gone on some sort of errand and so they waited for him. But as the days passed Sonné could no longer deny the painful truth and told her brother they needed to move on. Mond, just as he had the last time he had been abandoned, insisted that Henry would return for them; perhaps he had gotten lost? Or worse, hurt? Sonné agreed to try to find their way home to find out and after almost a week they finally got there.

Mond was excited; he couldn’t wait to be home! But his heart shattered when he peeked through the backyard fence to find his beloved trainer speaking to his father about why he had released them. And so it was with a heavy heart that the two went back into the forest to try to eke out a living in the wild again.

Thanks to the medication, Mond no longer contracted illness as easily... but the defect was still there and he still grew sick fairly often. For the next several years the youngsters tried their best to survive, wandering through cities and forests, desperately wishing they belonged somewhere but too afraid to try again to find a family. With the epidemic broken out, their life has once again taken a turn for the worst; both have stumbled upon many a corpse and have also witnessed infected killing other creatures twice. They kept up their usual roaming lifestyle, trying to avoid death while slowly losing their minds from the horrors around them.

Sonné was willing to spend time with a stranger for the sake of crossing the sea in hopes of escaping the epidemic; though the Lapras ferrying them did his best to protect the two young creatures, a storm washed Sonné and Mond overboard.

Mond awoke on the beach of an island, with his sister nowhere in sight.

He roamed the island, frantically searching for his beloved sister, his mental state deteriorating even further without her protecting and comforting presence.

Orique you godsend

I have no idea

• fragile
  

-afraid of anything unfamiliar or anything he perceives as a threat
-and a "threat" could literally just be someone raising their voice
-especially includes new people, particularly those who are larger than him
-suffers from nyctophobia
-phobia originates from living in the breeding facility (early days), the nights in the forest after being released, and the nights during the epidemic

• fears abandonment
  

-unlike his sister, he thinks that it must have been his fault that they were abandoned; wasn't strong enough
-believes he is largely the source of their misfortune because of his extremely different appearance and his medical issues
-usually reacts to threat of abandonment with tears and apologies

• dependant emotionally and physically
  

-cannot survive on his own
-very trusting to those who have managed to break down the barriers and bond to him
-ridiculously obedient, always eager to please
-doesn’t feel that any abuse hurled his way is undeserved, so he holds no anger towards those who hurt him and will keep coming back despite any abuse

• easy to be taken advantage of
  

-see above

• can occasionally spawn a backbone
  

-don't hurt his brother
-you likely get a shadow ball to the face if you try
-loves him above everyone else; they are rarely apart, especially after losing his sister
-therefore, he is aware of and understands the concept of desperate times driving people to desperate measures
-he thinks very hard before turning judgement on people, and is always willing to offer a hand of forgiveness

• not bitter towards humans
  

-surprisingly they don't make him afraid or angry
-seeing them simply makes him sad
-has in the past sometimes tried to make friends with humans he finds sitting by themselves, but his sister always caught him and scolded him for it
-would still try to befriend humans... if any could be found

wip

♏ [url=???]Orique[/url]: He and his sister are Orique’s half-siblings, related to him through their father.  He is unaware of this, and calls him his brother moreso because of the relationship they have.