Call of the Wind: Lune

Holly led autumn to yet another one of the many tall piles of trash in the Junkyard. As the orange Eevee stopped to look at it from afar, she could see there was a gaping hole beneath it, much like the pile where Storm had been.

"Come on!" Holly motioned with her leaf-tail for Autumn to follow. "In here!"

Holly ducked under the low entrance as Autumn followed her under. The green Leafeon stepped aside once they were both inside so the Eevee could see. This pile was hollow also, like the sleeping den had been. This one somehow hollow all the way to the top, much like a volcano, The other pile had a ceiling that had not been much higher than Autumn. Autumn Winds looked up and could see that there was a hole in the very top of this pile, and also a ladder which led up to the hole had been stationed in the middle of the room.

"This is the sentry tower." Holly said as she walked towards the ladder. "Come on up!" Holly's glasses flashed as she turned around and began to climb the ladder. Autumn hastily came behind her.

Holly and Autumn came off the ladder when it ended at the highest point of the pile. Outside now, Autumn could see the whole Junkyard and beyond. A platform made of thin metal extended to the side. It was surrounded by a short 'fence' made of the same material. As Holly stepped aside once more, Autumn could now see its inhabitant.

A white Umbreon was sitting there, turned around and facing the other way. He wore a red scarf around his neck and another around his front paw. He hadn't seemed to notice that Holly and Autumn were there.

"Lune! Hey Lune!" Holly called.

"Oh wha-?" the Umbreon looked startled and spun around to face them. Noticeably, his white face became reddish as he blushed and looked at Holly. "Oh, h-hi, Holly!"

"Hey, Lune!" Holly didn't seem to notice his embarrassment. "This is Autumn Winds! I'm showing her around."

"Nice to meet you, Autumn!" Lune said as he stuck out his paw for the orange Eevee to shake, which she did. "Would you like me to tell you about the sentry tower?"

"Sure." Autumn shrugged as she sat down. The metal platform was surprisingly spacious and allowed Lune, Holly, and Autumn to sit up there with room to spare.

"Well, the sentry keeps watch up here." Lune explained, "Like, for trespassers and stuff like that. It's really a good spot to be, 'cause you can see the whole Junkyard from up here. And it's real pretty at night when you can see the lights from the city and the stars."

He sighed and Autumn saw that he was looking at Holly again, but quickly turned away when he saw Autumn had noticed. Autumn tried to suppress a giggle.

"What's so funny?" Holly asked, clearly oblivious to what had just happened.

"N-n-nothing." Lune was blushing fiercely.

"Uh… do you mind telling me how you got here?" Autumn tried to change the subject. "I mean, to the Junkyard and Jag's Gang? Holly's told me everyone else's story."

"Uh, sure." Lune said. He began telling the story.

"Unlike everyone else, to what I am aware of, anyway, I was born normal-colored. I was just a normal, brown Eevee. But that was going to change. It probably wouldn't have, if not for my situation. I was born in a science laboratory. The humans there did tests on many different Pokemon there. They mutated them, transformed them. Oh, it was horrible. No Pokemon there looked like they should. They had stitched-on limbs, strange colors, unusual abilities... Just not… normal."

"Well, of course it's not!" Autumn cried suddenly. "What kind of twisted person would experiment on Pokemon! It's not right!"

"You're telling me," Lune cracked a grin. "Anyway, it finally came to when they would test me. I believe they were trying to create a new Type. They called it Light."

"Light?" Autumn echoed.

"Yeah." answered Lune. "I don't know exactly what that would do, but it was their goal to make a new type. And I was the one who would be changing my type."

"Why'd they choose you?" Autumn asked.

"I guess that it's pretty easy to manipulate an Eevee's DNA." Lune explained. "The scientists called my experiment Lunar Eclipse. That had probably something to do with the Light Type, but I just kept that as my name and shortened it to just 'Lune'. So anyway, the scientists started experimenting. They put me in weird machines, injected strange fluids into me, and even gave me odd things to eat. They also tried less modern methods like Stones. Like you'd touch a Fire Stone to evolve into a Flareon, right? They tried to get me to evolve with a Dawn Stone, but that didn't do anything. Finally, after so many failed attempts, they succeeded."

"What?" Autumn cried out. "They changed your type to Light?"

"No," Lune shook his head, "They changed my color. Somehow, they turned me white. But that didn't change my Type. I was still Normal-Type, like an Eevee should be."

"But I'm guessing they didn't give up, right?" Autumn said.

"Unfortunately..." Lune continued, "When the scientists realized that only my color was changed, and not my Type, they only tried harder to make me Light-Type. And someone finally thought they had a way to do it."

"What was it?" Autumn asked. "What was the way?"

"They wanted me to evolve into Espeon." Lune said. "They thought that, since Espeon are related to the sun and light, that if I evolved, that my Type wouldn't be Psychic, but it would be Light, like they wanted. But they couldn't get me to evolve."

"Why not?" Autumn asked.

"Love." Lune uttered the single word. "An Eevee needs to love if it wants to evolve into Espeon or Umbreon. But I hated the scientists, and they couldn't evolve me."

"But of course, the scientists would not give up. They finally found a way to force me to evolve, with or without love. The process involved lots of sharp needles, and I was to be strapped to a table. The scientists started coming towards me with the needles, and I struggled to get free of the straps. Finally, the bonds came loose and I jumped up and ran just as the needles went where I had been only a second before. I leaped off the table and scrabbled around on the smooth floor until I found my footing, and I raced down the hall. The scientists tore off after me as I ran. As it turned out, I came to a dead end. There was only a window above me. I jumped on the sill just as the scientists turned the corner. And then, with them watching, I shattered the glass and their precious experiment fell two stories onto the hard ground."

"But you were okay, right?" Autumn said. "You had to be okay from that fall, right?"

"I was almost unscathed," Lune started, "But I landed on my paw. But it didn't break and was only twisted. I quickly got back up and continued running."

Lune held out his paw, the one with a red scarf on it, for Autumn to see. He pulled down the scarf a bit, and Autumn could see that it looked a bit bent. "That's why I have this scarf here." Lune said. "My paw's better now, but it's bent a bit and this scarf makes it feel straight to me."

"Anyway, I eventually came to the city and I was found my Jag's Gang. It had started not too long before I got there. In fact, only Holly and Jag were there. But they let a strange, white Eevee stay with them, because of my color."

"Hey wait," Holly suddenly interrupted. "I think I should put my story in now, 'cause Autumn hasn't heard my story yet. And plus, I'm in Lune's story now, so it's kinda needed."

"Uhh-uh…" Lune stuttered, "Sure, H-Holly. The floor's yours. I'll finish when you're done."

Holly nodded to him in reply and faced Autumn. "Don't worry, mine's not as long."

Holly began to tell her story. "I don't really remember much of my past." She began. "I was found my Jag at the end of the alleyway you came down, Autumn. At this time, Jag's Gang wasn't formed yet. Jag was just an odd, purple Jolteon roaming the city. But then, he found me. I was just a little, green and red Eevee at the time. So he took me in at the Junkyard. I guess he was like a father to me…"

Holly drifted off for a bit, but then was knocked out of her reverie. "Yeah, so anyway… we were alone here in the Junkyard, when Mint and Flint came along. They were both already evolved, and had odd colors like Jag and I; and this was when Jag's Gang really started. Flint and Mint were, and still are two very helpful members of the gang, and Jag acted as a sort of leader, and he is now. When Ivory arrived, and later, Storm, Jag and I began to drift apart. I hardly saw him anymore. I was actually pretty surprised when he chose me to show you around today, Autumn. Anyway, even though I was the first arriving in the Gang, I was still the youngest, and the only Eevee. But then, Lune came, and he was an Eevee at the time."

"W-we b-became good friends." Lune said. He was smiling while looking at Holly.

"Yep!" Holly said. "So we had lots of fun together, but I really wanted to evolve. Everyone else, besides Lune and I, were evolved forms of Eevee. Lune and I wanted to evolve too. So we searched and searched for evolutionary stones, but we couldn't find any in the Junkyard. And finally, one night, when the moon was big and bright, Lune came and got me and we went out searching again. We came to a small hill on the edge of the Junkyard, right close to the city. We climbed up a hill and from there, the city lights were really pretty. But Lune had been carrying something all this time, wrapped up tight, and he handed it to me then."

"It was a Moss Rock." Lune said. "I had found it in a flowery window box in the city."

Holly continued the story. "And I asked him, 'Why didn't you use this? You could've evolved!' and he said…"

"Uhh..uhh-uh…" Lune's face was turning red again.

"Come on!" Holly nudged Lune in the shoulder. "Tell her what you said then."

"I-I...I said…" Lune stuttered and his voice became a whisper, "I-I said that she'd be pretty as a Leafeon."

"Really?" Holly cocked her head. "That's what you said? Gosh, I could've sworn you said something else… like… oh I dunno. Whatever, I guess."

"So anyway," Holly continued, "Lune gave me the Moss Rock and I took it and surprisingly, even though he didn't have a Stone, we both began to transform. I became a Leafeon, and he became an Umbreon."

"But doesn't an Umbreon need love to evolve?" Autumn quickly realized what she had said, but the question was already out. She clamped a paw over her mouth.

"I-I- um, I- uh, I—I…" Lune's face was completely red now. He grinned sheepishly and stammered. "I—I um… I-I, I guess… I…"

"I guess he felt the love from all of Jag's Gang." Holly finished for him. "I mean…" she looked at Lune for clarification, but his eyes were still wide and his mouth was clamped shut. "I mean that he had never had a family before, so that must have been enough to evolve into Umbreon."

"Okay," Autumn looked back and forth between both of them. "That's a real nice story. I mean, it had a better ending then Storm's did, for sure."

"Yep," Holly looked at the sky. The sun was setting behind the city in the distance, and long shadows were casted through the plains surrounding the Junkyard.

"Well, I guess we better go." Holly stood up, along with Autumn. "See ya, Lune!"

"See ya…" Lune sighed.