Knightly the Furfrou {Adopted}

Being a Furfrou, it's always been in her very blood to push herself over the limit in battles and become the best, to fiercely guard kings and be able to protect them with her life. But, called Fluffy for most of her life, she was never even permitted to bark loudly or glare at a stranger; Fluffy was born under the authority of a nasty woman in Lumiose City who bred expensive Furfrous for Coordinators and upper-class snobs, and so she was raised to be appealing to such people. Of course, having a black coat that was sought after like gold only raised the bar higher for Fluffy; Her human had spent years trying to breed a shiny Furfrou to sell, and she wasn't going to let mere instincts get in the way of the impeccably proper behavior she expected of Fluffy. So she trained the Furfrou pups with shock collars.

But young Fluffy didn't understand. Her human walked into the room while the pups were playing one day, but the siblings were far too invested in the drama of their imaginary battle to care about the real world. So Fluffy, in her best Tyrantrum impression, went in for the kill - barking as loudly and deeply as her tiny voice could muster, she tackled a sister and rolled around on the floor with her as she lightly chewed on her sister and the latter flailed around with pursed lips like a Magikarp.
Then there was the screaming. Everywhere. Screeching yelps that cut in and out rapidly as if it had a bad signal. Fluffy jumped back from her sister and froze. Then she realized the noise was coming from her sister... and the other pups. And then the noise grew louder, as Fluffy's own mouth opened and screams for help poured out from her burning lungs. Pain... there was so much pain... what was happening? Then... Fluffy seemed to have suddenly teleported to the basket she slept in, with no more pain and no more noise. Just silence... Shaking from fear, she got to her small puppy feet and glanced around. Her siblings were curled up beside her in the basket, all but the one whom she had tackled before. All but her favorite... her best friend. Fluffy never saw that sister again. Nor did any of the siblings, any of them, ever play with each other again or even make any sudden movements in the presence of humans.
They all soon learned that any rough play or violence, as well as barking or making noises of any kind, would result in their human shocking them harshly by somehow using their collars. Fluffy didn't know how this was possible, but she didn't have to. She didn't want to.

Fluffy was adopted just a month later. Her new humans were a young man and woman who lived in a house even bigger and more luxurious than the one she had been born in, and Fluffy even had a section of the house that was just hers. Granted, the section was only one room, but it was marvelous. There were other humans that stayed in the room with Fluffy, though these humans couldn't have been nicer - they never spoke a word to Fluffy, but silently tended to her every need and then some. It should've been paradise... but it wasn't for long. She was pampered, but not respected. Obsessed over, but not loved. Fluffy continued to feel the pain of electricity whenever she did not behave as elegantly as her humans wanted, and though it was never as dangerously-harsh as it was before, it still brought her to tears every time.
She began to be taken around the city and entered into a variety of contests and shows as she grew older, but even this was torture - the shock collar was replaced in public by a prong collar that sharply dug into her throat and forced her to walk uncomfortably with her nose up and shoulders back in what her humans saw as the proper way for a Furfrou. Even her fur was shaved regularly into haircuts so ridiculous that other Lumiose Pokemon cruelly insulted her, and she could no longer stand even her own reflection. Fluffy hated her life. She hated herself. And the angrier she got, the more she wanted to battle; The more she wanted to battle and fight, the more she was abused. It was an endless cycle.
Life for Fluffy soon became repetitive and boring as she did nothing but lie down all day, and contests became predictable - if she won, nothing happened. If she lost, she was shocked. Whoop dee doo. She had become immune to the pain after a while. So Fluffy decided one night to force her way out of the house, as she could run faster than the humans could wake up and stop her. She wandered the streets of Lumiose in a peaceful dream-like state of awe, with the cool night air blowing against her skin and the rainbow city lights flashing above her. During her journey through the streets she met a strange female Umbreon, whose fur was not black but a fluffy light pink, with white ring markings and the palest blue eyes she had ever seen. It was shocking.

But the Umbreon, whose name was Alirah, looked that way naturally. Fluffy was intrigued. The two began talking; First making small talk, then diving into deep conversations that were long overdue on both sides. Fluffy felt drawn to Alirah's fun-loving, sweet nature and optimistic outlook. She slowly opened up about her own life, and in return learned that her new friend lived in Lumiose with a Trainer but roamed the streets at night alone...  Fluffy was quick to catch on that the Umbreon was being abused. But strangely, Alirah was insulted by such claims and defended her Trainer's actions. She said that her Trainer was going through a hard time and Fluffy didn't understand, and thus had no room to judge. But Fluffy didn't judge Alirah. She just didn't know what to think. So she let it go. The two Pokemon parted ways after several hours of talking that night, vowing to meet again some day if fate allowed it.
Fluffy returned to her mansion for reasons she really didn't know. Perhaps it was more instinct than anything though, as it was all she had ever known and a comfortable-yet-boring place to be when she wasn't being punished for something. But as the time passed by slowly each dreaded day, Fluffy thought about Alirah and longed to see her again. She had found a friend, something she would've never thought possible. More than that, she had found a reason to live; A reason to not just survive, but truly be free.  So athough Fluffy had certainly paid the price of agony for running away before, she knew she had to do it again. But this time, she was leaving Lumiose for good - and she planned on taking Alirah with her.

It wasn't long before she busted out of her palace imprisonment again and into a new life in the streets, this time for real. Her escape was exhilerating, as she skulked around the noisy, flashing city sidewalks as cars whisked by and sprayed recent rain puddles against her bare skin, cooling her nervous sweat as she took her first steps into a life of freedom. But despite it all, there was only one thing on Fluffy's mind: Find Alirah, and share this gorgeous freedom with her.
But she did not expect to find Alirah lying broken on the steps of a grungy apartment building, blackened with bruises and her happy pink fur tinged red and sticky in places where patches were missing. Fluffy already knew from the hollow, lifeless look in Alirah's eyes that her Trainer had done this. After making sure Alirah was otherwise okay and able to walk, a new side of Fluffy made itself known. She didn't know where it had been when she herself was being abused, but it didn't matter. "This ends now," she told Alirah. "We're going to Laverre city where all the other outcasts go, and we're starting a new life there free from the weight of someone elses baggage. Look, if your Trainer wants help he'll get it. But if you want your life to change then you've gotta change it yourself." Talking Alirah into accompanying her was a challenge. But it was a challenge Fluffy was up for, and with a final "Don't make me leave you here," she won the Umbreon over and the two took off together to Laverre city.

The eerie trails of Route 14 were difficult to navigate, to say the least. The heavy rainfall was cold as ice and hard to seek shelter from, the many swamps were like quicksand that trapped the girls and struck fear into their hearts countless times, and plenty of lowlife Ghost-types thought they had hit the jackpot upon finding a lost Furfrou and her innocent pink friend. The girls were inseparable by the time they made it safely into Laverre city, and Fluffy even changed her name to Knightly as she took it upon herself to become Alirah's personal bodyguard and unleash her species' protective instincts. Despite their struggles, they didn't regret their decision to run away together in the slightest.
They celebrated their freedom together mostly outside Laverre city's Cafe, where the unique locals flocked to just to see the black Furfrou and pink Umbreon. But strangely, Knightly and Alirah didn't mind the kind humans there, especially when they shared their pastries. They especially fell in love with one peculiar young woman who came to the Cafe every morning, always wearing fairy wings and some sort of pretty sundress with white stockings. Though the woman already had a Pokemon, a tiny Togepi that never seemed to leave her shoulders, not a morning passed that she didn't buy pastries just for the two girls. She even tried to play with them and pet them, something that at first made Knightly wary because she had never been pet before and Alirah had been abused, but the woman was gentle with them like fragile porcelain dolls. Knightly had never seen Alirah happier... and she herself had never felt so loved. So they gladly accepted when the woman offered them Pokeballs one morning, and they went with the woman to a new home together that couldn't have been more cozy and perfect. The woman introduced Alirah to poffins, belly rubs, and an easy life of play and relaxation, and Knightly finally got to become a guard dog, able to bark as loudly at strangers as she wanted to and protect their humble little home like the precious castle she saw it as. Knightly even learned Dark Pulse via TM as her Trainer taught her how to battle, something she didn't even know was possible.

Knightly and Alirah never saw the Epidemic coming. Who would've? Knightly certainly didn't see it coming during the night while she slept at the foot of her Trainer's bed, confident she could protect her human from any harm. But Knightly was fast asleep when she awoke groggily to the sheets repeatedly being tugged from underneath her, at first not thinking anything of it but soon growing annoyed after the third time or so. Alirah's such a blanket hog... she thought to herself, knowing the Umbreon liked to sleep directly beside their Trainer under the covers and had a habit of pulling the sheets up too far, which thus took them away from Knightly. But when Knightly turned to pull the blankets back downwards with her teeth, the soggy comforter gushed bitter blood into her mouth. Her tired eyes shot open wide as she spit the sheets out and rolled off the bed, coughing and choking on the warm fluid that was thick in her throat. Gasping for air, Knightly's eyes darted around in the dark before they found the light switch on the wall and she stood on her hind legs to flip it on. Bright light filled the room, but Knightly really wish it hadn't; A Mawile stood on the bed where the girls' Trainer was, a large gash in its stomach causing its intestines to spill out onto the bedsheets and slip onto the floor with sopping splashes. Their Trainer no longer was in the bed, but in the mouth of Mawile's giant back jaws, completely unrecognizable aside from her flowing blonde hair and lacey pink nightgown. And Alirah just slept there beside the monster, unaware that her Trainer had been mauled to death in the silence of everyone's sleeping.
Instincts kicked in. Knightly wasted no time. She pounced onto the bed and tore the blankets off of Alirah, then grabbed her with her teeth by the nape of her neck and flung her off the bed. Alirah woke with a start and began screaming as soon as she saw the gruesome scene in front of her. Knightly's head felt like it might explode from the adrenaline and Alirah's crying and screaming that reminded her far too much of her days of wearing a shock collar. "Shut up! You have to go, now! It's too late for her!" Knightly used her teeth to drag Alirah out of the bedroom by a hind paw as the Mawile slowly turned to them, still chewing up their Trainer right before their eyes as her body parts crunched and fell from its massive jaws like bloody crumbs. They trampled over colorful white eggshells crushed in the cabin hallway, and Knightly nearly threw up when she realized they were the remnants of the tiny Togepi she saw as a baby sister. Knightly busted down their cabin door and shoved Alirah outside, planning to get her to safety and return to the bedroom for her vengeance, but even Knightly froze where she stood at the scene outside: Mutilated Pokemon - no, monsters- roamed the streets, some wandering aimlessly with gore dripping from missing limbs, others dragging themselves along the ground in pursuit of crowds of Wild Pokemon fleeing the city covered in blood and torn clothing. There were screams, everywhere, some human wailing, others the same sort of yelping Knightly heard from her own mouth whenever she was electrocuted as a pup. "We-- We have to go... I have to get you out of here. C'mon!" Knightly half-carried the crying Umbreon to the nearby Cafe where their dreams had come true... now the city was a living nightmare. Knightly forced Alirah to hide upstairs in the terrace underneath the table farthest from the staircase, while she boarded up the windows and doors with whatever she could find. She quickly joined the traumatized Umbreon in hiding, holding her in a tight embrace as to both comfort her and restrain her. With love and concern for her safety, Knightly quieted Alirah's screams by gently but effectively holding her fluffy tail over the Umbreon's mouth, feeling Alirah's streams of tears soak her fur while she held back tears of her own. "Hey, hey, it's alright, it's alright," Knightly whispered softly into her ears. "We're safe, I've got you... all--all of this will be over soon..."

But Knightly was wrong. They were far from safe... and it was only the beginning.