Kaneki the Spectreon and Hide the Riolu [Laverre, Ace]

Kaneki Ken had a pretty average life at first. He had two loving parents that despite his black and white fur, loved him as well as they could. Kaneki never really knew his father, he had died before he had even gotten to really know the guy. Though through later curiosity, Kaneki found himself wondering what his father was like. After Kaneki's father passed away, his mother was left to hunt for Kaneki, as well as care for her own sister who insisted that she was having a hard time. Kaneki's mother was none the wiser and helped them both, not noticing how her own health was deteriorating.

As inevitable as it was, it still hit hard when Kaneki came home one day to see his mother sprawled out in the den, unmoving and not breathing. After a few moments to check, Kaneki confirmed that she was dead, having overworked herself to death. Kaneki moved in with his mother's sister, who at first welcomed him with open arms, but soon the odd shiny was forgotten as the other Eevee cared for their own child, making him hunt for himself at a young age.

Kaneki was getting sick of living with his surrogate family, and the fact that he was treated like shit wasn't helping. More than once he would spend the night away, just sleeping on his own so that he didn't have to face his new family. What was the point, if they all treated you like you weren't there anyway? It wasn't like they'd miss him if he died out there in the open.

On one such night, Kaneki was approached by a Riolu when he was playing around with a few twigs and berries. They looked different to the other Riolu around the area, they were more of an orange color than the usual blue, and so Kaneki greeted them and introducing himself. The Riolu's name was Hideyoshi, but Kaneki shortened it into just 'Hide'. The Riolu didn't mind, and the two started up a friendship. It was a common thing for Kaneki and Hide to escape during the night and spend the night watching the stars or writing things in the dirt as they spent all night goofing off and shirking their responsibilities.

One of these nights however, was one that neither pokemon would be forgetting any time soon.

A young Liepard, maybe a little older than Kaneki came past one day, wanting to talk to the two of them. At first Kaneki was apprehensive, not wanting to go, but then Hide talked him into following the Liepard. They introduced themselves as Rize, and after the cat had led the two shinies over to a dark alley, where then the cat disappeared into the shadows, a trainer coming up soon after. Kaneki didn't even have time to shout a warning before both Hide and him were captured.

When the Eevee was finally released from their new pokeball, they were in a completely different area. Kaneki looked around wildly for Hide, calling the Riolu's name. A young voice answered him, saying that the Riolu had been released, but they had plans for the shiny Eevee that were a lot more fun. Kaneki lost consciousness soon after, not waking up for another three hours, when he was returned to the pokeball.

It wasn't long till he was let out of the ball again, this time Kaneki was thrown into a fighting ring where he was pitted against the Liepard from earlier - Rize. Demanding what was going on, Kaneki's answer was only to have the Liepard attack him. Kaneki's Detect saw the attack coming and he dodged, only to be hit with a powerful Slash, which Kaneki Endured, but only barely. It took him a moment to realize that he could no longer see on his right side, and the Eevee began panicking, which forced the humans to take him from the battle to save him before he died from blood loss.

In a last ditch effort to save his eye, Kaneki had a new one transplanted in, but the Eevee's body rejected the replacement. The violent rejection caused the white sclera to be dyed black and the previously blue eye was now a bright red with a darker red pupil. The red veins through his eye were a stark contrast over the dark grey, almost black sclera. After an emergency surgery and a few injections, the eventually got Kaneki's body to accept the new eye, and with only a few weeks to get used to the new optic, Kaneki was deemed able to fight again and was thrown back into the ring.

One such day, Kaneki escaped his pokeball on the way to the ring, shattering the capsule and racing off. He lost the humans in the back streets, stopping a moment to rest, Kaneki heard a familiar voice call out to him. Looking around, the Eevee's now bi-colored eyes locked with a familiar brown gaze. Hide.

The peace didn't last long though, and soon after Kaneki had explained the situation to Hide, he heard the sounds of humans coming, and after a quick goodbye to Hide, Kaneki ran off, promising to meet the Riolu again. As he left he gave Hide a pair of orange headphones that he had found at the ring, as a parting gift. Ignoring his friend's cries to come back, Kaneki ran until he was no longer in familiar territory.

As he ran, Kaneki bumped into an odd human, who was dressed in the strangest of clothes. While the style choice was not to Kaneki's taste, he backed away slightly. The last thing he needed was to be recognized as a fighter of the ring. He was very well known in the ring as the odd Eevee with the creepy eye.

It seemed luck was not on his side as the human looked down at the Eevee, an off grin growing on their face. Kaneki's eyes widened as he took a step back. This was a really bad idea. He didn't know this area and he didn't know any escape routes.

"When you die your tail would make a molto bene scarf."

Wait, what?

Kaneki didn't have time to think about the words before all of a sudden there was no longer a human there, but now a shiny Zorua who was currently charging at him to attack. Kaneki's Detect allowed him to dodge the attack that was coming at him, and using a Quick Attack to get away, Kaneki looked around for an escape before realizing that he was cornered. Not a good idea.

Before he could think much more on the subject, a purple flash zoomed past and a large X appeared on the Zorua. He knew the attack, it was one he had seen once or twice in the ring. When the pokemon stopped, Kaneki was surprised at how small it was. It was a very small Crobat, which after attacking the Zorua and forcing them to flee, gave the Eevee the same advice. Kaneki wasted no time in waiting around, he ran.

The new area was not forgiving to Kaneki, but luckily he ran into the Crobat that saved him from the crazed Zorua, who after a little persuasion, allowed Kaneki to stay with them, but he had to get his own food. For the first few days, the Eevee had no troubles, but then food became more scarce, and he had to go out further each day to try and find a decent meal.

While he was out searching for food, Kaneki ran into an odd human who smelled a little funny. They offered Kaneki food, who at first was very apprehensive at taking the food, but after a little bit, his hunger won out, and the Eevee tentatively took some of the food, still keeping an eye on the human. Something about them seemed familiar, but the Eevee could not place it.

As he was eating the food offered to him, Kaneki did not notice the human - now a shiny Zorua charging up an attack until his Detect saw through it. Suddenly on full alert, Kaneki dodged the attack and turned tail, running from the crazed fox.

Much to Kaneki's dismay, the dark fox began pursuing him, chasing the Eevee through the streets, away from the Crobat's safety and into more unknown territory. Kaneki hadn't noticed that the fox was no longer following him until he skidded to a halt and looked around. Out of breath from running, Kaneki could only walk slowly along the once more unfamiliar streets. As he walked along, an odd disk caught his attention. Though the disk did not work on him, the Eevee decided to keep it, in case it became of use to him later on.

The Eevee didn't even notice that he was being followed until a Power-Up Punch hit him straight in the side, sending the Eevee flying into a wall. It was all he could do to set up an Endure before the normal type hit the wall and fell to the ground, too weak to even stand. A dark laughter resounded around him, but Kaneki was far to out-of-it to take it to heart. He didn't even realize he was being picked up until a pair of black eyes looked into his own, the Pangoro's face twisted into sadistic grin. The last thing he saw was the duel type's cruel eyes that promised nothing good, before Kaneki's world went black.

When the Eevee woke, he found himself chained to a table, with the Pangoro from before looking down at him with a scary smile that sent shivers up Kaneki's spine. Something told him that this would not be fun, at all.

"What is ten minus one?"

It was a simple question, and Kaneki almost glared at the duel type. What was this? Force the young and helpless Eevee you help you with maths? The normal type growled at them. "It's nine you idiot." He said, but he did not expect the grin the Pangoro gave him.

"Good. That way I can keep count."

Oh no. Kaneki's eyes widened, this was not good. The duel type cracked their knuckles and their fist glowed a purple color. Kaneki braced himself and shut his eyes. If he could just Endure it maybe--!

Pain.

All along his side was nothing but pain, but he did not die. Kaneki let out a cry that was of no intelligible sentence, instead just a pained scream that almost ripped his vocal chords. But his Endure had worked. He was not dead, yet. The Eevee was panting now, the pain had subsided to a dull throb in record time, and the Eevee realized why - he was hooked up to one of the healing machines that the nurses in a Pokemon Center would use. What was this, some sort of torture chamber?

Kaneki's eyes widened. This was a torture chamber, wasn't it? Oh god no he was going to die here and there was nothing he could do about it. I don't want to die, I don't want to die please no, no, no, no I don't want to die! Let me just see Hide again please God no I don't deserve this what did I do to deserve this?!

"What is nine minus one?"

Oh god no they weren't going to stop. Kaneki was still biting back tears from the first round, how was he going to Endure a second, or even ten rounds of this? Once he saw the purple glow, Kaneki acted on instinct, bracing himself for the attack. This was going to be a long, painful trip. "E-eight..."

Down came the fist, and pain flared up from his shoulders this time, and though he was sure he felt something break, Kaneki gasped and gaped for air, before his dislocated bones were roughly shoved back into place. The pain subsided and the Eevee was allowed a small grace period where he could catch his breath. Eventually, he subdued into his subconscious, talking to himself as he tried to cope with the constant pain.

His tail bones had been shattered beyond repair at this point, and Kaneki had lost feeling in his legs a while ago. He only stayed alive through the help of the machine, and his Endures were getting weaker and weaker. Soon they wouldn't work at all.

"What's one minus one?"
"Ze... Ro..."

There was pain for one brief moment, and then, darkness. Sweet, sweet darkness. Was this it? Was he dead? Was he never going to see Hide, or the Crobat or even Rize again? Didn't he promise Hide they would meet again? Kaneki's eyes shot open. No, he could not die here! He still had a promise to Hide, and he damn well was going to keep it!

A bright light enveloped the Eevee's dying body and the normal type's shattered tail became a fine red gas that split and stretched out like odd snakes, each one phased through whatever it touched, before the Eevee's fur grew darker, three white bands snaking down his back from there the ribs had been broken far too many times to heal properly. Two white stripes appeared where the Pangoro loved to break the bones on his wrists. Red mist appeared on each wrist and ankle, and his white mane turned to a gaseous mane that swished like an angry flame. The evolving fox's ears became the same as his mane, white gaseous wisps that flattened in anger. A white puff of gas appeared on his forehead, and now fully evolved into a stunning Spectreon, Kaneki regarded the Pangoro with a fury he had reserved for this moment. The previously forgotten TM now was used by the Spectreon, who then rounded on his torturer.

"What's ten minus one?"

Kaneki's claws shined with a purple glow, and he stood up, the ghost now phasing through the previously in-escapable chains. With a feral snarl, he lunged at the bear, his Payback hitting them square in the chest. The Spectreon's claws raked up to the Pangoro's chin, awarding him with a refreshing flow of blood. "How does it feel, to be on the receiving end now, you bastard!" He snarled at them, dodging a Power-Up Punch, Kaneki threw another Payback, knocking the Pangoro back a fair way. With a last growl, Kaneki delivered one last Payback, knocking them out. With that, the Spectreon fled the area, trying to find Hide.

On his travels to find Hide, Kaneki meets back up with the Crobat he remembered from when he was still an Eevee. Now fully able to thank the bat, Kaneki was told of the bat's brother, who was currently one of the higher-ups of a powerful gang. Seeing the opportunity to get stronger so he could protect Hide better from any danger, Kaneki made his way over to where the gang was said to be. On the way, he found another TM that would be useful for later when he found Hide. Eventually Kaneki found the gang's base, and after a test of strength, Kaneki was accepted into the gang, as a sub-ordinate at first, though the Spectreon planned to change that.

He climbed the ranks quickly, meeting up with the Crobat's brother, the two went on many missions that were often very dangerous. On one such mission, Kaneki had a run-in with a rival gang, and after defeating them, Kaneki was threatened with the promise of trying to kill him. He had already died once, it'd be very hard to kill something that was already dead.

Despite his status at being almost impossible to kill, the others in the gang were liabilities. A few months after his first run-in with the rival gang, they attacked in full force, going straight for Kaneki and the other higher-ups. The death toll on each side was staggering, and eventually Kaneki had to flee otherwise he would be added to the list of casualties.

On his way to a safer location, Kaneki heard a familiar voice calling out orders and taking some. Curious, the Spectreon went to investigate, only to see a very familiar orange form staggering away from a fight. Kaneki's eyes widened and he stepped forward to look over his friend, softly calling their name. Hide looked up and stared at Kaneki, his eyes wide.

"K-Kaneki?"

Racing forward to greet his friend, Kaneki reared up and gave Hide an odd quadruped hug, smiling when he saw that the Riolu still wore the headphones he had given him. With a grin, Kaneki stepped back and beckoned for Hide to follow him with one of his tails. Hide eagerly followed, and Kaneki wasted no time in going over what had happened to him, even the most gruesome parts, like when he was with the Pangoro.

As they travelled back home to Hoenn, Kaneki took every moment he could to teach Hide the move Endure, since it had saved him so many times. He also presented Hide with a TM to help him in fights. The two friends soon realized that their feelings towards one another was definately in the more-than-just-friends way, and while the two knew there would probably be conflicts, it wasn't as though they were about to let that get in the way.

The peace didn't last however.

Hide and Kaneki were out at the time when they got news of The Epidemic. The two raced back home, only to find most of it was a broken ruin that was crawling with bug types and other forest natives that had fallen to the virus. Kaneki wasted no time in taking Hide and bolting.

Now, unable to return home, the two travel around trying to find somewhere else to live that was away from the dangers of the infected.

Hide was an only child, born to a shiny mother and a normal blue father, and it wasn't as though he was spoiled. His parents did everything they could to care for the orange-furred Riolu, and Hide was happy for it. His full name was Hideyoshi, but most other pokemon called him just Hide. It wasn't like he minded the nickname, in fact, he loved it.

Hide was extremely adventurous, and it wasn't uncommon to see the Riolu surrounded by other pokemon as he talked about his interests and anything else he had heard about. Hide became known as the 'local dictionary' because of how easily he explained things, even going so far as to explain words that the other pokemon did not know.

One night Hide was wandering around, when he found an odd Eevee sitting alone in a clearing, drawing in the dirt. They had black fur with white flecks through their mane. He hadn't seen an Eevee with that colouration before and he was curious to see what drove the unusual shiny outside, knowing that humans often came past and they were always looking for new and unusual pokemon.

The Eevee's name was Kaneki, and after Hide introduced himself, the two became fast friends. Kaneki's life with his family was utter crap, so it wasn't uncommon for Kaneki to seek out Hide's companionship for that night. The more time the two spent together, the better they knew each other, and the closer their friendship got. Hide was always there to cheer up Kaneki, even if the Eevee was in the most depressed of moods.

One night, they were approached by a gorgeous Liepard, who asked the two to follow her. Kaneki was hesitant, and didn't want to go, but Hide saw it as a great chance to explore something new.

Eventually Hide talked Kaneki into them going with the Liepard, who introduced herself as Rize. The two friends followed the Liepard to a dark alley, and soon Hide was getting the idea that this wasn't the best place to be in at that moment. A quick glance over at Kaneki told the Riolu that his friend thought the same thing.

He looked back over at Rize, only to find that the Liepard was no longer there. Instead there was a human there, and Hide heard Kaneki start to shout something, when all of a sudden everything went black as he was hit with a Pokeball.

When Hide woke up, he was back in the alley, with a broken Pokeball beside him, but Kaneki was nowhere in sight. The Riolu looked around wildly trying to find his friend, even calling their name, but he couldn't find the odd Eevee anywhere. Eventually Hide gave up searching in that area and began roaming around the city, trying to find Kaneki.

As he roamed around, Hide hid himself as a normal Riolu by staining his fur blue with Oran berries. Hide heard about a fighting ring in the center of the city where one of the main stars was a black furred Eevee. Hide, thinking that it was Kaneki, started making his way over to the ring.

Tired from travelling all night, Hide took a moment to rest, when he heard a loud noise in the next alley over. Going to investigate, Hide was surprised to see a familiar Eevee rounding the corner and almost running into him. Hide called their name, and the Eevee locked eyes with him.

Something had happened to Kaneki's right eye, and it was now black with a red iris and pupil. As creepy as it looked, Hide found it really cool, and gave Kaneki a hug. The Eevee was glad to see him, but a sudden noise from behind them spooked the Eevee into wanting to run.

Before he left, Kaneki gave Hide a pair of orange headphones that, even though they didn't work, the Riolu treasured. Kaneki promised that they would meet again, but he didn't know when. Hide agreed and wished him luck, and Kaneki ran off, rounding the corner and disappearing.

On his travel back to the forest, Hide found an odd stone that had been shattered into many small pieces. Hide decorated the headphones with the stone, and after asking about it, he learnt that the stone was Everstone. He still refused to get rid of the stones since they made the headphones look amazing.

As he exited the city, Hide heard a rumour about a gang that has seen an odd Eevee with two different eyes roaming around with a small Crobat that had been known for being hostile to newcomers. Hide was torn between going to help and going home, but eventually he decided to go find Kaneki and joins the gang that had been looking for the Eevee and some other pokemon.

Hide was sent on a mission with another gang member to find this Pangoro that had been going around capturing pokemon and torturing them. After a few days of searching, they found the Pangoro's hide out and broke in, only to find the bear injured and half-dead on the floor, with blood on the table and all over the bear. They never found the pokemon that had injured the Pangoro, but the thanked him for making their job a little easier.

Soon after the Pangoro incident, Hide's gang attacked a rival gang, trying to get at a Spectreon that had been terrorizing their members. As Hide got word of the battle, he found out that the Spectreon had disappeared from the area, and no one could find it. By this stage there wasn't much they could do except keep fighting otherwise they would all be killed.

As they were fighting, Hide took a moment to duck into an alley, planning to go around and flank them, when he was stopped by an odd flash of red that caught his eye. When Hide went to investigate, the Riolu saw nothing. Hide was about to turn back, when he heard a familiar voice.

"Hide..?"

It was almost a whisper, and the Riolu almost missed it. Hide turned and came face to face with the Spectreon he had been told was a merciless killer, but when he looked into the ghost's eyes, he saw something else.

"K-Kaneki?"

The Riolu didn't have much time to prepare when all of a sudden Kaneki was hugging him, and Hide returned the hug after a moment. With a smile, he looked over the Spectreon. Kaneki had definitely changed since he last saw him. With a grin, he complimented Kaneki's new look, before looking around and following Kaneki as the Spectreon ran from the battle.

As they travelled home to Hoenn, Kaneki told Hide about what happened after he left Hide in the city, and told Hide about how the Pangoro had tortured him before killing him. When Hide asked about how he was still alive, the ghost replied with, "I had promised you we would meet again, didn't I? What sort of friend would I be if I broke promises?"

The fact that Kaneki had come back because of him touched Hide, and he realised his more-than-just-friends feelings soon after. While he knew that Kaneki had the same feelings, the two agreed to make it just between them, because of the advantages that would give their enemies.

It was while they were out getting food that Hide found out about Kaneki's mood swings. They were collecting berries, when a Pidgey swooped down and tried to attack Hide. Tried being the key word there. Before the Pidgey could even touch Hide, Kaneki had jumped in front of it and hit it with a powerful Payback, snarling at the Pidgey that was now regarding the Spectreon with fear.

Hide looked at his friend and was surprised to see how deadly the Spectreon had become as it shot a Shadow Ball at the Pidgey, spooking it into fleeing. Kaneki went to give chase, when Hide told him to stop. Amazingly, Kaneki stopped and looked back at Hide, almost apologetically. Afterwards, Kaneki explained to Hide about his unstable mental state and how it brought out such different sides of him under stress. Hide found it odd, but he accepted it, much to Kaneki's surprise. They spent the next few days training, and Kaneki helped Hide to relearn how to use Endure, telling Hide that the move was the only thing that kept him alive during the torture with the Pangoro.

Only a few months after they had settled in at their home, The Epidemic hit.

Kaneki and Hide were out at the time, and when they returned home, they found that it had been destroyed by bugs and other forest natives that had succumbed to the virus. Kaneki grabbed Hide and the two ran, deciding that they could find another home. They began wandering around, hoping to find some other living that could help them.