An Eevee's Story
She huddled against the cold, a small Eevee lost and alone, abandoned by the one she had thought would always be by her side. Desperate for warmth, she fluffed up her brown fur as the snow swirled around her, wishing he would come back for her. But she knew he never would. He had made that clear when he broke her Poke Ball, saying he "didn't need a Pokemon that refused to evolve," then stamping down hard on the red-and-white sphere, shattering it and rendering it useless. With that, he turned and walked away, without giving her so much as a backwards glance.
Eevee had tried to follow him, but the boy's only response when he saw her had been to kick her away. The kick had hurt physically, but that was nothing compared to the emotional hurt she felt. He had rejected her, kicked her off his team, simply because she refused to evolve into an Umbreon as he wanted. It wasn't that she had a problem with Umbreons, but being asked to evolve without being given any say in what she evolved into . . . There was no way she was going to do that. If and when she evolved, she wanted it to be her own decision and she wanted to decide for herself which of her evolved forms she became. Unfortunately, he was one of those trainers who believe Pokemon have to abide by their trainer's wishes whether they want to or not.
It hadn't always been this way. When he first started out on his Pokemon journey, he had treated her well, told her they would always be together, that she was going to help him become a Pokemon Master. She wasn't sure what a Pokemon Master was, but she soon learned that, in order for him to become one, she had to battle other Pokemon - and she was expected to win. If she didn't, he would scold her severely, though he never showed any sign of wanting to get rid of her. Until the subject of evolution came up.
The boy - he had a name of course, but there was no way she was going to use it after what he had done - was on the road to Twostreams Town, so-called because it was situated roughly halfway between two streams, when failing light and the fact that it looked like it could start snowing at any minute prompted him to stop off at a roadside Pokemon Centre. As usual, she and his other Pokemon (Golbat, Totodile, Gible, Salandit and Throh) were given a check-up by the Centre's resident Nurse Joy; all six received a clean bill of health. But, for Eevee, what followed was one of the worst experiences of her life.
It all started when he let her out of her Poke Ball. At first, she thought nothing of it; the boy usually let his Pokemon out when he stopped at a Pokemon Centre. But she quickly noticed that something wasn't quite right. Where were the rest of his Pokemon? She couldn't see Golbat and the others anywhere. Why would the boy let her out and leave them in their Poke Balls? Unless she was going to battle, but there was no sign of an opponent, just the boy sitting in a chair and looking at a small device called a Pokedex which he carried everywhere. At length, he turned the Pokedex around and showed her a picture of a black fox-like Pokemon with yellow rings on its forehead, legs, ears and tail. Then she heard an electronic voice coming from the Pokedex.
"Umbreon, the moonlight Pokemon and the Dark Type evolution of Eevee. Under cover of darkness, Umbreon lies in wait for its prey. When this Pokemon attacks, the rings on its body light up."
Eevee tilted her head to one side, wondering where all this was leading. She knew the boy consulted his Pokedex from time to time, but he'd never shown her the screen before. So why was he showing it to her now? And why was he showing her the entry for Umbreon? She soon found out.
"Take a good look," he told her, still holding his Pokedex with the picture of an Umbreon on the screen before her eyes. "Because that's what you're going to look like soon."
Eevee did not need to be told what he meant. He was planning to evolve her into an Umbreon, without even asking her if she was ready to evolve, without even asking her if an Umbreon was what she wanted to evolve into. And he'd said he was going to evolve her "soon", which meant he was going to start training her more intensely, especially at night since exposure to moonlight is what causes an Eevee to evolve into an Umbreon. That and forming a close friendship with its trainer. Which, Eevee realised, meant the boy was going to do everything he could to strengthen the bond between them. The only trouble was, he hadn't asked her how she felt; he had simply decided that she was going to be an Umbreon and she was expected to go along with it.
She shook her head, slowly and deliberately, then gave a dismissive "vee", which translated as: "Thanks, but no thanks." She tried to explain that she didn't feel she was ready to evolve yet, that she wanted some say in which of her evolved forms she became. But, though she could tell the boy knew exactly what she was saying, she could also tell he was not prepared to respect her wishes. As far as he was concerned, the trainer called the shots in the trainer/Pokemon relationship, which meant he had every right to evolve her whenever he wanted into whatever he wanted. And he was not happy about her refusal.
In that moment, he seemed to change before her eyes. Until then, though he had demanded a lot of her and scolded her if she failed to measure up, he had not treated her badly. He was strict with all his Pokemon, but she had never expected him to turn on any of them, least of all herself, his very first Pokemon. Which is why his next words came as a shock to her. "You'll do as you're told, you little furball!" He glared at her, letting her know there would be serious consequences if she did not agree to evolve into an Umbreon as he wanted her to.
She tried once more to tell him how she felt about being made to evolve, but he was having none of it. "In that case . . ." he said, pointing her Poke Ball at her. "Eevee, return!" As she was drawn into the core of the Poke Ball, she briefly registered the anger in his voice before she entered the dormant state which all Pokemon enter while in their Balls.
She emerged from her Poke Ball to find herself outside with snowflakes swirling around her. The boy, the hood of his black jacket pulled up, looked down at her, the expression on his face conveying disapproval. She braced herself for the inevitable scolding, but what followed was far worse. "You brought this on yourself," the boy said, placing her Poke Ball on the ground and raising his foot over it. "I don't need a Pokemon that refuses to evolve." And, as Eevee watched, he deliberately broke the Ball by stamping on it, letting her know that, as far as he was concerned, she was no longer his Pokemon.
As the boy walked away, heading back to the warmth of the Pokemon Centre, she tried to follow him. She couldn't believe he would get rid of her like this, especially after they had been together from the moment he left his home in Dawnglade Town to begin his Pokemon journey. Until then, the local Daycare had been the only home she knew; she had hatched from an egg produced by a female Flareon and a male Herdier which had been dropped off there by their trainer. Shortly after, however, that trainer was killed in a plane crash, leaving the Flareon and Herdier to be adopted by the couple who ran the Daycare. And it was they who gave her to the boy when they learned that he was planning to start a Pokemon journey. He had been so proud of her, eagerly showing her off to all his friends, telling them: "Me and Eevee are gonna go far." She'd thought that meant they were always going to be together no matter what and, even though he had broken her Poke Ball in front of her, she still believed that.
She called out to him, telling him to "wait". He stopped walking, enabling her to catch up with him, and turned round. He was not pleased to see her. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. "I said I don't want you any more, so get lost!" That was when he kicked her, knocking her away with the toe of his boot, treating her as though she was nothing more than a piece of rubbish. Then, before she could get up and go after him again, he began to run through the snow, determined to put as much distance as possible between himself and the Eevee which, as far as he was concerned, had let him down. Tears filled her eyes as she watched his retreating back; she wanted to follow him, but she instinctively knew doing so would only earn her another kick.
Now, she sat shivering in the snow, her fur fluffed up in a desperate attempt to keep warm. Night had fallen and the weather was getting worse; she had to find shelter or she wouldn't last until morning, but there was no shelter around that she could see. That meant she had no choice but to get up and start walking. She staggered to her feet and began to struggle her way through the snow, barely able to see where she was going, feeling the harsh bite of the winter wind penetrating her small body. But that was nowhere near as harsh as the sense of betrayal she felt. How could he do this to her? How could he leave her like this, just because she had refused to evolve as he wanted? And in the middle of winter. He had always been a demanding trainer, but he had never been cruel to his Pokemon and he had never given any indication that he wanted to get rid of any of them - until now. And why did it have to be her he got rid of? Had she ever really meant anything to him?
Eevee continued to stagger through the snow, but cold and exhaustion were taking their toll and she eventually collapsed, unable to go any further.
Freya left the cabin, making sure to wrap up warm and taking the Poke Balls containing her Delibird and Fennekin with her. The snow had stopped falling overnight, leaving a magical landscape of pure white in its wake, but it was still cold and Freya was grateful for the padded jacket, pink scarf, matching hat and gloves and winter boots which she wore over her indoor clothing. In her hand she carried a shopping basket, her destination being the grocery store in Twostreams Town; her mum had mentioned that they were running low on a few things, so Freya had offered to go into town as soon as the weather cleared, which it had now done.
She let her Pokemon out of their Poke Balls. Soon, the three of them were making their way through the snow, heading for Twostreams Town, Fennekin trotting at her trainer's heels, while Delibird flew ahead. With his plump body and a tail which resembled a sack, Delibird looked rather comical, but he could fly as well as any other Flying Pokemon and, on a crisp winter's day like this, he was in his element. He flew through the air, as Freya and Fennekin followed him on the ground, girl and fox leaving a trail of footprints and pawmarks in the snow, a trail which led back to the cabin that was home to Freya, her parents and the two Pokemon. That cabin had been Freya's home since she was a baby, but, in a few months time, she would be setting out into the world with Fennekin and Delibird at her side as she began her Pokemon journey.
In the meantime, she noticed that something had attracted Delibird's attention. The Ice/Flying Pokemon had come to a stop a short distance away and was descending towards the ground. With Fennekin running beside her, she hurried over to see for herself. "What is it, Delibird?" she asked. "What have you found? Oh!" Her gasp had been caused by the fact that she had just seen for herself the thing which had caught Delibird's eye.
An Eevee lay on the ground, her eyes closed, her brown fur covered in snow. Freya went to pick up the small Pokemon and was relieved to feel a faint heartbeat, indicating that Eevee was alive. But how did she come to be here? Eevees were not native to this area, so she had to belong to someone who was probably looking for her at this very moment. Unless they had deliberately left her here like this, but Freya hoped not. The idea that anyone could be cruel enough to abandon a Pokemon, especially in this cold weather when the Pokemon wasn't an Ice Type, caused her to feel a surge of helpless anger towards whoever was responsible. But she quickly suppressed it. However Eevee came to be here, the fact was that she was here, half-frozen, barely clinging to life. And, looking down at the bundle in her arms, Freya resolved to do whatever she could to save Eevee.
"Quick, Delibird," she said to the red-and-white bird beside her. "Give me one of your Aspear Berries." She knew Delibird always carried a variety of Berries in his tail to give to sick or injured Pokemon they might come across. She also knew Aspear Berries healed Frozen Pokemon, so giving one to Eevee might do her some good.
"Deli!" Delibird replied, opening up his tail and pulling out a yellow berry with green spots. "Delibird!" He held the Aspear Berry out to Freya, who took it and tried to feed it to Eevee, only to find that the small brown Pokemon was too far gone to respond to the fruit which was being held directly in front of her nose. There was only one thing for it, Freya realised. She would have to take Eevee to the Pokemon Centre which lay between here and Twostreams Town and hope Nurse Joy would be able to help. Shopping for groceries would have to wait; Eevee was more important.
She quickly called Fennekin and Delibird back into their Poke Balls, gathered up Eevee and tucked her into her jacket in the hope of warming her with body heat. Then she began to run inthe direction of the Pokemon Centre.
"Nurse Joy! This Eevee needs help!"
Nurse Joy looked up as Freya entered the Pokemon Centre and made straight for the front desk, opening her jacket to reveal an unconscious Eevee. Her medical training kicked in immediately and she called on a nearby Chansey to bring in a stretcher for a small Normal Type Pokemon. The Chansey, who wore a nurse's cap identical to Joy's, disappeared through a door; she returned moments later, pushing a stretcher. "Just leave your Eevee with me," Nurse Joy told Freya. "I'll take good care of it."
"Actually, it's not my Eevee," Freya replied. "I just found it like this." She looked down at the bundle of brown fur in her arms and placed her on the stretcher.
"In any case," said Nurse Joy, "I'll do whatever I can to help it." With that, she and her Chansey went through the door, taking the stretcher bearing Eevee with them. The door closed behind them and a light showing a stylised image of a syringe lit up above it, indicating that a Pokemon was undergoing treatment. Freya sat down on one of the chairs in the Pokemon Centre's reception area to begin what felt like the longest wait of her life.
Presently, Nurse Joy emerged and, after pausing for a few seconds, gave Freya a triumphant smile. "Eevee's going to be just fine," she said. "I've placed her under a heat lamp and she's resting." So Eevee was a female. Freya had been too worried about her condition to check what gender she was, but obviously Nurse Joy had found the time to do so. "It's lucky you got her here when you did; the poor thing was half-frozen. Who knows how long she was out there?" A frown crossed her face for a moment as she thought of the possible circumstances which had led to Eevee being out in the open in the middle of winter. But it was quickly replaced by another smile as she asked Freya: "Would you like to see her?"
Freya nodded and Nurse Joy led her into the recovery ward, where Eevee lay curled up under the heat lamp which Nurse Joy had mentioned. The small Pokemon looked so adorable lying there with her eyes closed and her bushy tail curled round her body; it was hard to believe she had been so close to death when Freya had found her. As she looked at the sleeping Eevee, Freya wondered once more what had happened to her, how she had come to be out in the snow. She put this question to Nurse Joy, who responded with a shrug.
"No-one's reported a missing Eevee," she replied. "So . . ." She did not need to complete the sentence; she and Freya both knew exactly what she was thinking, that they were dealing with a case of Pokemon abandonment. But there was no proof of this, so all she could say was: "I'll keep her at the Centre for a few days, just in case her trainer comes for her."
Since there was nothing more she could do for Eevee right now, Freya elected to head for Twostreams Town and pick up the groceries her mum needed. So, leaving Eevee in Nurse Joy's care, she set off, making her way across the snowy landscape until she reached the town that was the nearest large settlement to the cabin she called home. Reaching the first of the two streams which had given Twostreams its name, she noted that the surface was frozen, but that didn't mean it was safe to walk on, so she took a slight detour and crossed the stream via the wooden bridge which had been built across it.
Twostreams Town only had a few shops, one of which was the PokeMart which supplied everything a Pokemon trainer needed. But Freya was interested in the grocery store next door; she entered, purchased the items her mum needed and left, just as a boy a little older than her appeared on the scene. He was talking on a PokeVice, the latest handheld communicator issued to travelling trainers, and, as he drew level with Freya, she overheard a little of what he was saying. ". . . so I ditched her outside Twostreams. The stupid furball tried to follow me at first, but I soon put a stop to that."
It only took Freya a moment to realise what he was talking about. He was the one who had left Eevee in the snow and, as if that wasn't bad enough, it sounded as though he was pleased with himself for doing so. Again she felt a surge of anger and, before she had time to consider whether or not confronting the boy was a good idea, she marched over to him. "Why did you abandon your Eevee?" she demanded, planting her hands on her hips and giving him a look which said she wanted answers and she wanted them now.
The boy clicked off his PokeVice. "How do you know about that?"
"Because I'm the one who found her. Do you realise she could've frozen to death?" Freya remembered running to the Pokemon Centre with Eevee tucked inside her jacket, hoping against hope that she would make it in time. Thankfully, she had and Nurse Joy had been able to save the small brown fox, but that didn't excuse what the boy had done. Pokemon were living creatures, not possessions to be discarded at will. From the five Poke Balls on his belt, Freya knew the boy had other Pokemon besides the Eevee he had so cruelly abandoned. How long, she wondered, would it be before one of those Pokemon met the same fate?
"Why should I care?" the boy shot back. "She's the one who refused to evolve."
"So you just left her out in the snow." Freya made no attempt to hide her disgust. "How would you like it if someone who'd raised you and cared for you did that to you, just because you didn't want to do something?"
"Don't give me any of that "Pokemon are our friends" crap! As far as I'm concerned, it's the trainer who makes the decisions and the Pokemon has to do as it's told. I told Eevee I wanted her to evolve into Umbreon, but she wouldn't obey me, so she had to go. And I don't give a damn what happens to her now; you can keep the little furball for all I care!" With that, the boy turned and walked away. His parting shot was: "As far as I'm concerned, I never had an Eevee."
"What?! That's terrible!"
Freya had just finished telling Nurse Joy about her encounter with Eevee's former trainer and the expression on Joy's normally cheerful face was a mixture of disgust and horror. As a Pokemon nurse, she was only too aware that there were trainers who didn't treat their Pokemon with respect, who forced them to do things they didn't want to do. "Well, you can be sure I'll be keeping an eye on that young man in future," she told Freya. "And I'll be asking my relations at other Pokemon Centres to do the same." Freya had given her a description of the "young man" in question, a description which matched that of a boy who had been at this Pokemon Centre only yesterday, a description which Joy resolved to pass on to her various sisters and cousins. Which only left the problem of what to do with Eevee.
"Nurse Joy," Freya said at length, "can I keep Eevee?" Since Eevee's trainer clearly wasn't coming back for her, she would most likely end up being sent to the local home for abandoned Pokemon. But Freya felt the small Pokemon deserved better after what she had been through. She deserved a loving trainer and Freya was willing to be that trainer, to raise Eevee with as much love as she was already raising Fennekin and Delibird. Love. That was what Eevee needed and that was what Freya would give her.
Nurse Joy smiled in reply. "Yes, of course you may," she said. "But I think you should ask her first." With that, she opened the door to the recovery ward and told Freya to enter.
Eevee was now awake and sitting up, looking around with her large brown eyes. She knew she was at a Pokemon Centre, though she couldn't be sure if it was the same Pokemon Centre she had last visited with her old trainer. Her old trainer, the one who had turned on her and left her out in the snow because she had refused to evolve. He had made it all too clear that he didn't want her any more. He had broken the promise he had made at the beginning of his journey that they would always be together. Tears welled up in her eyes at the memory of his betrayal and she started whimpering, feeling as lost and alone as she had felt when he first kicked her off his team.
Suddenly, she felt a hand stroking her soft brown fur. At the same time, she heard a voice whispering to her, telling her that everything was going to be all right. A human voice. She looked round to see who it belonged to and found herself looking at a fair-haired girl who appeared to be a little younger than her old trainer. "Hey, Eevee," the girl said. "I'm Freya. I'm the one who found you. And I'd like you to be my Pokemon if that's what you want."
"Vee?" Eevee said doubtfully. There was something about Freya that she instinctively trusted, but she'd already put her trust in one human, only for that human to betray and abandon her. How could she be sure Freya wouldn't do the same? How could she be sure of any human after the way she had been treated?
Freya saw the look of hesitation on Eevee's face. "Look, just give it a chance," she said. "I promise I won't force you to evolve or anything like that."
"Eevee eev?" Eevee was asking Freya if she meant what she'd said. Part of her wanted to believe what she had just been told, but she'd believed her old trainer when he'd promised that they would always be together, only for him to break that promise. She looked at Freya, hoping her promise not to force her to evolve had been sincere, but at the same time fearing the girl would go back on her word, just as her old trainer had gone back on his.
"Cross my heart," said Freya, tracing an X on her chest. She reached out to stroke Eevee's soft fur. Eevee looked up at the human who was petting her and, as she did so, she began to think that maybe not all humans were like her old trainer. Just because he had abandoned her didn't mean it would happen again; for one thing, Freya genuinely seemed to care about her, whereas the boy had, she now realised, seen her as little more than a tool that could be discarded at will. She would do it, she decided. She would become Freya's Pokemon.
"Vee eevee vee," she said, nodding to let Freya know what her choice was.
Freya picked her up and held her close. "Welcome to the team, Eevee. Now let's go home."
And so Eevee began a new life in the cabin where Freya and her parents lived. Once they were over the initial surprise caused by their daughter bringing back something besides groceries from her trip to Twostreams Town, Freya's parents grew to love having another Pokemon about the place. And Eevee became close friends with Freya's other Pokemon, especially Fennekin; for the rest of that winter, the two fox-like Pokemon could often be found curled up together by the fire, using their bushy tails as pillows. Occasionally, especially in the beginning, Eevee had nightmares about being lost and alone, waking Fennekin by whimpering in her sleep. But, with Fennekin's reassurances, she slowly came to accept that she was safe here, that Freya was not going to get rid of her like the boy who had once been her trainer. She also decided that it was best for all concerned if she pushed him to the back of her mind, forgot he had ever been part of her life.
Winter came to an end. Trees which had lain dormant budded into life, as the snows melted to reveal a green carpet dotted with spring flowers. Spring, the season of renewal. And it was during this season that Freya, with Delibird and Fennekin in their Poke Balls and Eevee walking beside her, left home to begin her Pokemon journey.