I padded out of Riptide’s den, the sun beaming on my pelt, the wind flattening my fur. It felt great. I couldn’t have been happier that I was out of Riptide’s den, after a while it had started feeling like prison since I wasn’t allowed out because he had to keep an eye on my muzzle to make sure it didn’t get infected.
It had been about two weeks since the battle, and I was still in pain, but it was getting better.
Shadow had stayed by my side the whole time, only leaving to do his leader duties. “Maybe he isn’t such a bad guy,” I thought, padding over to the middle of the camp to take a lap of a large puddle left from the rain a few nights ago. “Maybe I was right all along.”
When I reached the puddle, which was cleaner than I suspected with somewhat clear water, I took a minute to look at my reflection, since I had never quite seen what my muzzle looked like before. It was covered in long jagged scars and I had a bit of lip missing on my left side, showing my teeth ever so clearly. At first, I winced. “Oh God, I look terrible!” But that was quickly followed by a flash of pride. “I look so tough!” I murmured. “Well, at least I look tough,” I reflected. “It might hide the fact that I’m not tough in any way, shape or form.”
I quickly lapped up my share of the water, gagging at its taste. “It definitely looked better than it tastes, that’s for sure!”
Just as I was about to take another disgusting lap of water, I saw Shadow sprinting over to me from the corner of my eye.
“Lance! I have news!” He called.
I spun around, instantly interested. “Oh! Shadow, what happened?”
Shadow had reached me by then and sat down with a thump. He sighed before he spoke, “ It’s my dad, Lance. Remember him?”
Memories flooded through me. That’s when I remembered him: King Fury of the Umbreons. Shadow’s dad. Yes, Shadow was a prince. He left his kingdom to be with Winter and I and because he didn’t really want it if I remember correctly. Shadow had two brothers who could have inherited the throne as well, Night and Ebony. But they were pathetic and not fit to rule. Shadow was the kingdom’s only real chance.
“What does he want?” I responded at last.
Shadow shrugged. “I don’t know. We’ll find out when we get there, I guess.”

Shadow and I sat in the clearing in the middle of our territory where Fury wanted to meet. We had been there for about 10 minutes and I was getting restless.
“This better not have been a trick,” Shadow growled next to me.
“I don’t think it was,” I responded. “I don’t think he would do that.”
As soon as I said that, King Fury padded silently out of the undergrowth, two guards following him.
The once powerful (in strength) Umbreon was starting to look frail because of old age. He had a golden crown studded with rubies that sat crooked around his left ear. He had red rings and amber eyes and was a bit taller than Shadow, who was about a head taller than me.
King Fury sat down with a huff, the guards taking place on either side of him, claws unsheathed.
One guard was a well muscled male, he had yellow and gray splotched rings and blue eyes, he was flexing his claws into the damp earth below him, obviously anticipating a fight. The other, a smaller female, had lime green rings and amber eyes. She was looking up at her king waiting for him to speak.
King Fury soon began after he sat down. “Son,” he swallowed stiffly, glancing at Shadow, his tail lashing.
“Father,” Shadow responded with a stiff nod. He was twitching uncomfortably.
“Shall we begin?” King Fury asked quickly. He obviously had not wanted this meeting, but found it necessary.
“Of course.” Shadow stared him down. “What are you here for? What would you like?”
“I need you to come back to the kingdom. They need a heir after I’m gone.”
Shadow’s neck fur bristled slightly, but I saw him quickly stiffen it down. “Absolutely not.” He said flatly.
King Fury stuttered, glancing quickly at the guard to his left, the male Umbreon.
“Son-” He stuttered. “Our kingdom needs you.”
“I have no interest whatsoever in becoming king of the stupid kingdom. I have my own kingdom right here.” He angled towards me. I ducked my head and nodded nervously.
King Fury snorted. “One Jolteon? One guy? That’s your ‘kingdom’? You’d rather have him than the control of the entirety of the Umbreons?”
“That’s right,” Shadow snarled, lashing his tail. “Anyway, it’s not just Lance. There’s more in camp.”
King Fury twitched his whiskers. “Heh. Very well.” He decided.
“Why did it have to be me, anyway? Couldn’t you just make Night or Ebony become king instead?”
King Fury’s eyes widened. I could tell Shadow didn’t know something. “Oh- about that,” He began. “Night’s dead. He was murdered. Surely you know about that Shadow?”
I saw Shadow’s eyes widen. They quickly flashed something, but I couldn’t tell what. “Oh.” He glanced at his paws and then looked up at the sky while saying, “Yeah, I remember all of that."
“And Ebony,” King Fury continued painfully. “He left. Just like you. He had never wanted to become king which never bothered me. He was never fit for the throne either way.”
That’s when I remembered what Shadow had told me about his younger brother, Ebony. Ebony was the two things that made a bad king: lazy and stupid. He would have single handedly destroyed the kingdom with his bad leadership skills.
Shadow shrugged. “Not my problem. I’m not coming back, father.”
King Fury lashed his tail, his claws digging into the ground in anger and frustration. His guards glanced at him, seemingly waiting for a signal to attack, but the old king shook his head in solemn disappointment. “This was his decision,” he told them. “It’s not my fault he chose to turn his back on his kingdom, to the Vee who raised him.”
He rose to his paws, shaking his pelt. “Now come,” he told his guards. The two guards immediately rose to their paws and followed their king as he padded out into the bushes. Before he fully disappeared into the woods, he glanced back at Shadow saying, “My son, if you change your mind, come back to the kingdom. A kingdom cannot function without its king.”
I glanced at Shadow, wondering what he might do. Shadow had his head turned to the side, staring at the ground, the only response he gave was a quick grunt.
King Fury looked at him for a moment, when he got no real response, he shrugged and him and his guards vanished in the undergrowth, rustling the leaves as they left.
“…and stay out.” Shadow growled at my side. “I don’t ever want to see that old man in my territory again. Good riddance.”
I glanced at Shadow. “He only wanted to help his Vees.” I told him.
Shadow stared at me. “I know,” he said flatly.
Then he glanced at the undergrowth the two of us had come through. “Come on, lets go back to the camp.” Shadow murmured.
He slipped skillfully and quietly into the undergrowth. With a quick glance to were King Fury and his guards disappeared, I followed him.

When Shadow and I slipped through the camp entrance, I was surprised to see half of The Pact waiting for us towards the entrance of the camp.
Seeing us, Undertow’s eyes lit up. The Vaporeon padded over to Shadow and I, seemingly relieved.
“Erm… did something… happen while we were gone…?” Shadow asked uncomfortably.
Undertow shrugged. “You could say that, I guess. There’s this weird Flareon here, she’s asking to join or something like that.”
I felt Shadow stiffen next to me. “Oh, really? Okay…” he started. “Undetow, bring me to this Flareon.” He then instructed.
Undertow nodded sharply and with a flick of her tail, began to lead Shadow to where most of The Pact were crowded around.
I hesitated before quickly following Undertow and Shadow.
Everyone was chattering and making comments about the supposed newcomer.
“Who is she?”
“Why do I feel like I’ve seen her before somewhere?”
“Why is she in our camp? Someone do something!”
“Should she even be here?”
“I swear I’ve seen her somewhere before…”
“Silence.” Shadow flicked his tail to give out that order.
Surprisingly, not a single Vee stopped talking. Everyone was so invested in the newcomer that I was pretty sure no one had even heard Shadow.
Shadow’s fur on his back bristled slightly. He hated not being heard or having orders dismissed. “Silence!” He shouted over all the noise.
Everyone silenced up immediately, their heads turned to Shadow, listening.
“That’s better,” I heard Shadow growl under his breath.
Shadow flicked his tail and the group separated into two lines on either side of him, letting him go through to be able to get a look at the newcomer. I followed him, curiosity gnawing at my pelt.
In the middle of the group sat a female Flareon, her tail was at her side, her ears flattened. She looked very uncomfortable.
Getting a good look at her, I saw that she had gorgeously fluffy light orange fur, yellow fluff that was even more fluffy and gentle green eyes.
"And who are you?" Shadow demanded, placing a paw forward. I stepped back a bit.
The Flareon studied the ground in front of her for a moment or two. "Me? My name is Poppy… and I was wondering if I could join your 'Pact' or whatever you call it," she paused and turned her head away. "If that's alright with you, Shadow." She added.
Shadow opened his mouth to voice his response, but before he could answer, a voice rose up from somewhere behind us.
"Mom?! What are you doing here?"

LCU Note: Hey guys! Thanks for reading chapters 1-7 of Red Moon Rising! (Sorry I ended at a cliff hanger lol) You can expect Chapter Eight to be released sometime in August (If I'm feeling extra creative) but most likely sometime in September. I am going to be posting a lore book for this remastered AU, but don't forget you'd also be more than welcome to ask any questions about the lore or characters or anything like that. Again, tysm for reading what I have so far of Red Moon Rising! I'd love it if you'd let me know what you thought of it in the comments! After RMR is finished, I plan to possibly write a book about Shadow's teenage years/backstop that takes place in the Flipped Rhelm. Thanks for reading! :D
-LCU Out