It was surprisingly easy, keeping a secret from her clan. Nightpaw  waited until the other apprentices were asleep, and slowly picked her way over her brother and sister. Lovepaw rolled over, grumbling in her sleep, causing nightpaw to freeze. The umbreon cautiously trotted out of the den into the clearing. She looked back at the sleeping apprentices. Gazepaw, circlepaw, stripepaw, fernpaw, lovepaw and softpaw. There had been junepaw and redpaw, but now they were psychtail and ripplefern. Nightpaw smiled fondly. She turned now, and looked out over the camp. The moonlight shone in the clearing, and everything was silent, save for the whispering of the willow tree branches swaying in the wind. Nightpaw inhaled deeply. She loved the smell of night air.

Smiling, Nightpaw leaped into the air, dimming her rings and soaring over the unsuspecting night guard, Frostleaf. The glaceon was yawning, and looking like she wished to be sleeping. As nightpaw flew over the sleeping forest, she thought about the Glaceon, and her kits, Sunnykit, and Asterkit. They were almost apprentices, and Nightpaw realized the den was getting full. Really full. She jumped as a noctowl flew up beside her. It glided for a few more seconds, realized Nightpaw was there, and flew away in a flurry of feathers. Looking down, Nightpaw could see other night pokemon, hoot hoots in the trees, poocheyna and houndour frolicking in clearings, and the occasional purrloin draped over a log or stump. Nightpaw once thought she glimpsed the gleam of a sableeye's eye, and even once swore she saw the flash of an absol, running beneath her, before veering away and disappearing into the shadows. Nightpaw smelled the border approaching, even from up high. She crossed it.

"There's the boulder," she muttered to herself, "turn left at the hill, right at the large maple, left again, and, ah-ha!" She swooped down to the hollow tree. The pichu was awake, which was typical. She had trained the baby to be nocturnal. Nightpaw scooped the baby up in her paws, sitting against the back of the tree. "Hello my little kit."

"Pi-chu!" chirped the pichu.

"i'll name you.. Zapkit." Nightpaw purred, stroking his head.

"zappit!" Zapkit squeaked. Nightpaw jumped. Can they, could they learn to talk like us? She thought.

"Stay here zapkit." Nightpaw warned, padding out and covering vines over the hole. She stalked through the undergrowth. Nightpaw found a bush of berries. She smelled them, and they didn't smell toxic at all. Nightpaw gathered a whole bunch in her paws and mouth, and then she flew back to the hollow tree. She pushed through the vines.

"Chu!" Zap kit greeted her, and Nightpaw was sure that was a smile on his face. She spilled the berries out of her paws. The rolled across the floor of the tree. The pichu sniffed one, and backed away. Nightpaw spat out the ones in her jaws.

"What?"

"chu..." Zapkit moaned, poking one with his paw. "b-bad.."

"did you just talk?" asked nightpaw, dumbfounded. Zapkit looked up at her with pleading eyes.

"b-bad!" he pointed to the berries. Nightpaw understood. She didn't know how the pichu knew, but the berries must be poisonous. She reluctantly rolled the berries out of the tree, careful not to lick the berry juice off of her paws. She spat out the juice in her mouth. Zapkit watched her with interest. Nightpaw finished, and was about to leap off to find more food, but she stopped.

"Zapkit.. do you want to come?" she asked, wondering if he could tell the difference between good and bad berries.

"Chu!" the pichu took a running leap onto nightpaw's back. The umbreon nodded, and leaped into the sky. Zapkit was light, and she didn't find much trouble flying. She flew for awhile, before landing in a nice little clearing. Zapkit sat up on her back. Nightpaw glanced up at the moon. She still had time. Nightpaw picked up Zapkit by his scruff and placed him on the ground.

"stay." she commanded. The pichu smiled back at her. Nightpaw spotted some blue berries by the edge of the clearing. She broke off a branch of them and strode back to Zapkit. The pichu squealed in terror.

"BAD!!!" he screeched. Nightpaw clapped a paw over his mouth. She looked around. The dawn patrol wouldn't be out yet, but predators that would happily eat a pichu or an apprentice would be lurking about. Nightpaw tossed the branch  into the undergrowth. She spotted bright red berries glinting in the bushes, and she grabbed one in her teeth, careful not to crush it. She brought it back to Zapkit, and let the pichu sniff it. The baby scowled. "o-other?" he growled.

"Are they safe?" Nightpaw inquired. The pichu reluctantly nodded.

"s-safe. B-but yu-cky." Nightpaw sighed and ran back into the woods. After awhile, she found a bush of purple berries. She grabbed one and padded back to the clearing. She set the berry down in front of Zapkit. The pichu smiled. "g-good! good!" he purred, scooping up the berry in his paw and eating it. Nightpaw licked his head affectionately and raced away again, looking for the berry bush. she found it, and broke off a branch full of berries in her teeth. She walked back to Zapkit, careful not to drop the branch. When she made it to the clearing, she dropped the berries in surprise. Zapkit was gone. Panic bloomed in Nightpaw's chest.

"ZAPKIT!!!!!" she screamed, "ZAPKIT!!!" She looked around in terror, images of her clanmates slashing his throat dancing through her head. She flared her wings, trying to catch his scent, but the smell of berries blocked out everything else, and then, she saw footprints. Big clawed footprints, leading away from a circle of flattened grass where Zapkit had sat. Nightpaw glanced nervously at the moon. Silverpelt twinkled merrily at her. It was around Midnight. She still had time. Nightpaw made up her mind, and sprinted after the footprints.