The girl ran as fast as her little legs could carry her; the Pokéball in her hands seemed much too large for her. Branches swished and swayed as she ran past, deeper into the forest, where it was darker, quieter. Abruptly she came to a stop and sank down into the side of a tree trunk, clearly too exhausted to take another step. All was silent except for her ragged breathing, as she cradled her prize protectively in her hands.
"Hey! Come back!"
Startled by the voice, the girl scrambled back to her feet and took off running again, only to stumble and fall. The Pokéball flew out of her hands and rolled away into the bushes.
"There you are..." A young man appeared. After pausing to catch his breath, he lifted the girl back to her feet and brushed away the dirt from her face and arms. "Please stop running away like that. It's not safe for you to be out here alone." The girl pouted and looked away, but she allowed him to inspect her for cuts and bruises. Satisfied, he looked around and frowned. "Where's the empty Pokéball you took with you?" Still not looking at him, the girl pointed in the direction it had rolled. With a sigh, he walked over to the bushes and started searching for the Pokéball. She watched him with crossed arms, obviously not intending to help search for the precious object.
After a minute the man returned with the Pokéball. He was staring at it strangely. "That's strange, this is the Pokéball, but it's not empty anymore... Pokéball, go!" The man tossed the ball into the air, and an Eevee appeared in a blaze of light.
The small creature was barely larger than the Pokéball. It looked scratched and beat up, with a rather large scratch on its left ear. Dazed after being in the pokéball, the Eevee turned around in an attempt to run but tripped over its own feet. "Eee!" it cried pitifully. "Eeeeeeeveeeeeeeeeeee!" Its pain filled cries filled the silence of the forest.
The girl gasped. "It's a baby Eevee!" She walked over to the Eevee and gently picked it up. The Eevee, startled, stopped its crying and stared at the stranger who had lifted it up. "Hi there," the girl whispered. "Where's your mom and dad? Are you lost?" The Eevee whimpered. "Are you hungry?" The girl sat down, carefully positioned the pokémon in between her legs, and pulled some bread out of her dress pocket. She held it in front of the Eevee's face, and bit by bit the Eevee ate until the bread was all gone.
The Eevee seemed satisfied, and, with a yawn, it snuggled into the girl's leg and fell fast asleep. The man watched all this, astonished at how easily the child had dealt with this baby pokémon. He realized that what he saw here was a connection, one that he could not ignore. "We should take this Eevee back to the school with us and make sure it gets proper medical attention," he said softly. The girl nodded, carefully picked up the sleeping Eevee, and walked back in the direction she had first been running away from, with the man walking behind her.
"I'm gonna call her Nevaeh," the girl said excitedly.
The man chuckled, amused at the girl's enthusiasm. "Who knows, it could be a boy you know."
The girl huffed, not amused. "It could be a girl," she said defensively.
"Well let's take it back and get it healed up first..." Their footsteps faded away, until the forest was silent again