Jake Baker looked out over the rolling hills that surrounded him, losing himself in the picturesque scenery. He stood at just over six feet tall, had short blond hair, and hazel eyes. He'd often come down here in the mornings for a run, and this had produced a healthy tan. He lived in a rural area, but the property on which he and his mother lived was actually quite small. There were no fields to work, no Miltank to milk. It was quiet, and peaceful, but Jake couldn't help but feel bored at times. There were also few people his age nearby. Only two, in fact. They were brothers, and lived a couple of properties over. They were also obnoxious, spoilt brats, so Jake only visited them when he had absolutely nothing better to do. The elder one, Simon Grey, was seventeen, and his brother, Chris, was fourteen. Jake himself was sixteen, as of two weeks ago. The boy's father, Peter, used to be a Gym Leader in the Hoenn region, before he left and handed over leadership to his brother, Norman. Peter was in fact a very nice person, and Jake found he enjoyed his company more then his son's. Peter would often recount to Jake his various adventures and memorable battles, both as a trainer and gym leader, as well as letting Jake play with some of his less powerful pokemon. It was this generosity, in fact, which had led to his sons being the spoilt little kids they were, despite their age. It was also why the entire family was off on vacation to visit Peter's brother in Hoenn.
Today was one of those days when Jake probably would have visited the Greys, but he knew they were not home, so he decided to explore a little further around the landscape. He knew all the farmers in the area, and they all let him run around their properties. He'd occasionally bump into one of them, though this was rare, given the sheer size of the paddocks.
His usual run took him close to a small patch of woods, though he'd never ventured closer. It wasn't as though he had any reason not to; he'd just never got around to it. He decided now was as good a time as any to check it out. As he approached, he heard the sound of heavy machinery somewhere in the distance. He slowed to a jog, and then a walk, as he started making his way around the edge of the forest. He got to the edge of the property he was on, and climbed the fence. He wasn't sure who owned this land, but figured they wouldn't mind him wondering around.
After a few minutes, the source of the sounds came into view from behind the trees. Heavy machines were scooping up fallen trees, while others were cutting them down. He could hear wood being fed into a saw, and he saw planks being loaded onto a truck. He suddenly remembered seeing some of this machinery in town the other day. He also thought his mother might have mentioned it, but he wasn't sure.
"Well, it's nothing to do with me," Jake said to himself, as he turned to continue his run. But he was upset. He didn't like the idea of trees being chopped down. It was strange, though. He was sure that the woods in this area were protected, because they were supposed to contain some rare species on pokemon. He dismissed it. He was probably wrong.
Seeing the forest being cut down put Jake in a bit of a bad mood. It was getting hot, and he didn't feel like running anymore. He ducked into the forest, welcoming the cool shade that enveloped him. The logger's machines were still very loud, so he began walking away. Once the loggers were only a distant rumbling in the background, he stopped. Jake wanted to explore deeper inside the woods, but he knew he shouldn't without protection of some kind. Pokemon could get quite nasty if you trespassed on their territory. He hadn't seen any since entering the forest, though, so he assumed they must have all been scared off by the noise. The forest called, and in the end, he obliged.
The trees got progressively denser, and the light dimmer, the further Jake walked. He tried to keep the edge of the forest in sight at all times, but a couple of times it disappeared from view. He corrected himself each time, however, and continued on. He was just thinking about how lucky he was that he hadn't run into any wild pokemon when he heard a rustle nearby. He spun around, but saw nothing. He could still hear the loggers fairly clearly in the distance, so he assumed that was what he'd heard. He kept his eye out, though, and when he heard the rustle for a second time, he saw it too. It was coming from a small group of bushes. Curiosity overcame any fear, and he carefully approached. He peered over, and saw what appeared to be a ball of brown fur. Then he saw the blood, and realised the creature was hurt.
He rushed around the bushes and knelt down beside the injured pokemon. He was stunned when he realised he was looking at an Eevee. It was curled up into a ball and bleeding freely, but from where he couldn't tell, and as he looked around he saw a trail of blood leading back towards the machinery.
"Must have been hurt by those loggers," he said to himself as he reached towards the paws.
"Ee-eev," panted the injured Eevee, as it tried to protect itself. Jake looked closer at the paws and saw that they seemed to have been crushed by something. They were disfigured, and he realised that they were the source of the blood.
"Geeze, what happened?" Jake wondered, to no-one in particular. "Maybe one of the falling trees hit it. Hey, don't worry," he said to the Eevee, trying to calm it down. "I'll take you home and we'll get you fixed right up."
It was at this moment that he heard some other, muffled noises coming from somewhere underneath the Eevee. A tiny shape crawled out from under the pokemon. Jake couldn't believe his eyes. It was another Eevee, but this one was a baby, less than the size of his hand. Even more incredible, it was silver.
The tiny Eevee started growling at Jake, defending what now appeared to be its mother. Two more Eevees crawled out, and they too began to growl, albeit more timidly. These two were of more common colouring, one a deep chestnut, another slightly lighter. They were also slightly larger than the silver one, but still obviously infants.
Jake started to back away. He knew he was in little danger from the small pokemon, but he didn't want to startle them, nor did he want to attract the attention of any other Eevees, who may be more willing to attack. He couldn't leave, however. He couldn't leave the poor mother to die, orphaning the cubs. He sat down against another tree, hoping to show the infants that he wasn't going to hurt their mother. After about a minute they seemed to relax, but they didn't move, and Jake could feel their eyes watching him.
Jake was starting to worry about the mother. He wasn't sure, but he thought her breathing was getting shallower. He was worried about the amount of blood she must have lost. It just occurred to Jake that she could have been there long before he arrived, and that he really had no idea how much blood she'd lost. Finally, he decided to try to get all the Eevees back to the house. He was dreading the trip. He could imagine what it would be like carrying a fairly large, bleeding Eevee and three squirming cubs all the way back.
"Why don't I have my bloody mobile!" he exclaimed, a little louder than he'd meant. This startled the cubs, and put them back on guard.
"Sorry guys, but I can't wait any longer," Jake said to the cubs as he stood up. "Your mother's in trouble and needs some help. I'm not going to hurt her, don't worry."
Jake wasn't even sure they understood him. He actually knew next to nothing about pokemon, at least when it came to understanding humans. He knew that trained pokemon could understand, but he wasn't sure if it was an age thing, or a training thing. All he knew is that the cubs didn't react in the slightest to the words he'd said. He silver one began to tense, as if to attack, as Jake approached, before he heard the mother whimper something.
Jake heard the Eevees talking, but he had no idea what they were saying. Finally, the cubs backed down, and parted to allow Jake through. Jake tore off some strips from his shirt, and tried to bandage the mother's paws as effectively as he could. The mother squealed as he put pressure on the paws, and the cubs once again started growling, but the mother seemed to calm them again. He went back to work, and eventually, the bleeding seemed to stop.
He picked up the mother, but as he did so, the cubs started whining. Understanding that they didn't want to be left alone, he gently placed her back on the ground. He figured that the reason the mother calmed the cubs was that she could understand what he said, so he told her, "Tell your cubs to climb on top of you. That way, I can carry all of you."
He heard the mother whimper some more, each sound getting fainter and fainter. Finally, the darkest of the cubs climbed on. The lighter one followed right behind. The aggressive silver cub was more hesitant. It was obvious that it didn't trust Jake. Finally, with some more urging from its mother, it climbed on.
Satisfied, Jake picked up the group, and headed back towards the edge of the forest. With every step he took he worried that he was hurting the mother. He was also worried the cubs might fall, as they were precariously placed. He noticed that he never came across the fence he climbed over on the way there, so figured that he must have passed onto this property while in the woods. This came as a great relief. He'd been walking as fast as he could without dropping the pokemon for about five minutes when he saw a truck in the distance. It was driving along a dirt road. Jake hurried over to the side of the road to try to get his attention.
The truck slowed and came to a halt when it reached Jake. A large man got out of the car. His name was Rod Wilson, and he owned the property. He was a friend of both his mother and the Greys, and he saw him often at both places.
Seeing the injured Eevee and its cubs, he asked, "What happened here, Jake?"
"I don't know, Mr Wilson. I just found them in the forest. I think she might've been injured by those loggers." Jake looked hopefully at the truck. "Could you give us a lift back home?"
"Yeah, yeah, of course!" said Mr Wilson, astonished that Jake felt the need to ask. "Get 'em in the truck quick."
Mr Wilson opened the passenger door for Jake as he climbed in.
"We'd best go to my place. I've got some medicine and things I keep for injured livestock. It'll be a bumpy ride, so don't let those cubs fall, and try to support the mother."
"Well, I'll try," said Jake, not entirely sure he'd be able to.
The drive only took about five minutes, but they were the longest minutes of Jake's life. More than once it seemed that the cubs would fall, especially the silver one, who refused to lean against Jake for safety. He almost dropped the mother once as well, as they went over a particularly deep pothole.
They finally arrived at Mr Wilson's house, where his mother, Liz, was waiting outside. Mr Wilson had called her on the way, telling her to drive over and prepare a first aid kit.
"Jake!" shrieked his mother frantically as they pulled up. "Are you alright? What happened?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine. It's this Eevee that's hurt."
"Oh, OK, then hurry inside and we'll have a look."
Jake almost ran inside with the Eevees in his arms. As gently as he could, he set the pokemon down on the kitchen table. The cubs jumped off and watched as they quickly got to work. Liz removed the makeshift bandages, which were now soaked with blood, and applied some fresh ones. By this time the mother didn't even have the energy to wince, which worried Jake a great deal. Her breathing was getting shallower by the minute, as the three of them worked.
"Jake," said Mr Wilson with forced calm, "Go get those pokemon antibiotics from the stables. She may have an infection."
Jake hurried outside and appeared a minute later with the medicine.
"Did you grab a syringe?" Mr Wilson asked. Jake nodded and handed it over with the antibiotics.
Jake's mother injected the Eevee with the antibiotics.
"That's all we can really do right now," said Mr Wilson heavily, after about five minutes of work. "I'll call the Pokemon Centre in Olivine and get them to send some better help. Jake, keep an eye on the Eevee. And her cubs for that matter. Tell us if she gets any better or worse."
Jake pulled up a chair while Mr Wilson went to call for help. His mother made them all some tea in silence. Jake rested his head on his fists as he sat there, slumped in his chair over the table. Under any other circumstances, his mother would have scolded him for such bad posture. The Eevee cubs, who had been there the whole time, worrying, now curled up next to their mother. It was a position that was very similar to the position they were in when Jake first found them. He could only just see the head of the silver one poking out from beneath the mother's ruff, keeping a protective eye out, despite its diminutive size. Jake guessed (correctly) that this was a position the family often adopted in the forest. And it was in this position that the mother Eevee drew her last breath.