Remembering To Forget
"Ok everyone, we did great today; so now it's time to get some rest. We've got a big day ahead of us, so sleep well." Zea said to her pokémon, to which they all replied by saying their names.
Zea and her pokémon, a team of eeveelutions, had just won their final badge, and were resting up for their contest the next day. They were at the pokémon center in a room which consists of two beds. One for Zea and her Eevee, Eve, and one for the rest of her pokémon. It was around 9:30 p.m. when they all went to bed and fell asleep soon after.
About an hour later, around 10:30 p.m. Flareon had woken up. He looked around the room and found that everyone was sound asleep. He looked to his left and right to see Leafeon and Glaceon (respectively) sleeping soundly. He smiled at the sight of their sleeping form. He got up slowly, so as not to wake them, since he was sleeping between the two. When he succeeded, he jumped off the bed and onto the floor, with a really soft thud, so that no one could hear.
He looked across the room at his trainer, sleeping peacefully with her starter pokémon and smiled softly. He then turned towards the rest of his teammates; his family, but focused a lot more on his brother Jolteon, who was sleeping soundly with his partner/mate Vaporeon. Flareon's smile soon turned into a small frown as he made his way to the door. When he got there, he stood on his hind legs while resting on the door with his front for support and balance. He then raised one paw up to the doorknob in an attempt to open the door. But alas, to no avail; for the door was locked. He then got back on all fours and took a step back and looked at the doorknob.
Flareon then put his head down and sighed. "(Great… where's Espeon when I need her,)"
As if on cue, Flareon heard a clicking sound and looked up at the doorknob to see it shake slightly and then turned to finally open the door. He quickly turned from the door to the bed at which his teammates were sleeping and saw Espeon's head up from behind her long time mate Umbreon; a light blue glow from her eyes, fading away. She smile at him and nodded as he smiled back as to say 'thanks'. Espeon then went back to sleep as Flareon exited the room and into the hallway of the pokémon center. He turned around and pulled on the foot of the door so that it was left slightly open for when he got back. He then proceeded down the hall to the lobby.
When he got there, he looked around and saw two people conversing at one of the tables; but the place itself was fairly empty. He looked to the front desk and saw that Nurse Joy wasn't around, but a Chansey was there in her place.
"(What are you doing out of your room Flareon?)" The Chansey asked, when she noticed Flareon. "(And without your trainer too; won't she be worried?)"
"(She'll be fine,)" Flareon replied, "(I just wanted to go get some fresh air; to clear my mind for a bit,)"
"(Oh ok. Well… if your trainer shows up, or any of your other teammates, I'll be sure to let them know where you are,)" she offered.
"(Thanks. I'll be out back by the pond,)" he informed her, as he headed toward the glass sliding doors, exiting the center and head for the back of the center.
"(Careful you don't fall in,)" Chansey called out to him.
--
Flareon sat at the edge of the pond and looked at his reflection in the water. For a brief moment, an image of two Eevee playing happily together, appeared and disappeared a second later. Flareon sighed as he hung his head low.
"(I still remember that day,)" he said to himself.
"(Still remember what day little bro?)" Flareon heard someone ask. He instantly knew who it was, since only one pokémon calls him 'little brother'. It was Jolteon.
Flareon sighed again. "(Hi big brother,)"
"(Are you ok?)" Jolteon asked, as he went over and sat next to Flareon. "(I woke up and realized you weren't there. I saw the door open and when I went into the lobby, Chansey told me you were back here,)"
"(I know by now that you can sense when I'm not around big brother; it doesn't surprise me that you're here already,)" Flareon said.
"(I guess so,)" Jolteon chuckled.
"(I'm fine; but not completely,)" Flareon replied.
"(What's wrong?)" Jolteon asked, concerned.
"(I still remember that day big brother… and the days after; the day that we were caught, and how it was a living nightmare for us after that,)" Flareon said as tears began to form in his eyes.
"(Oh… that day,)" Jolteon said, also putting his head down as Flareon did. "(I know it was terrible for us; but it was worse on you,)"
"(But please little brother… try to forget. We're living a better and happier life now,)"
"(I know big brother.)" Flareon replied. "(I do forget, but there are times that it all just comes back and I try to forget it again, but I just remember more,)"
"(I remember it too,)" Jolteon said.
BEGIN FLASHBACK
"(Now Eevee, it's been four days since your brother hatched and he still doesn't know much about this world, so we can't have him wondering off. So while your father and I go and gather more food, we want you to keep an eye on him,)" said mother Vaporeon.
"(Ok mom,)" the older Eevee replied.
"(Be careful you little rascals,)" father Umbreon said to the two Eevee before he and Vaporeon left the cave at which the family lived.
"(Hi big brother!)" The younger Eevee called out happily as he approached his brother.
"(Hey little bro. What's up?)" The older Eevee asked.
"(Let's play!)" He exclaimed, jumping up and down.
"(Ok. What do you want to play?)" The older Eevee asked.
"(Tag! Not it!)" The little Eevee exclaimed as he ran out of the cave and into the small clearing in front of it.
"(Hey wait up!)" The older Eevee called out to his little brother as he ran after him outside.
END FLASHBACK
"(That day started out as one of our best days, until…)" Flareon paused, "(…until HE came along,)"
BEGIN FLASHBACK
Little Eevee was out in the clearing curiously watching a Caterpie crawl by and what it did. It stopped at a mushroom and started munching on it as little Eevee lay in the grass observing. Older Eevee was resting near the entrance of the cave since he was exhausted from playing with his energetic little brother.
Then all of a sudden, the Caterpie stopped eating and started frantically looking around, like it was nervous about something. Little Eevee was confused by the Caterpie sudden behavior. Then all of a sudden, the Caterpie used string shot on a nearby tree and hoist itself to the very top of the tree. Little Eevee was now completely confused.
"(Um… big brother?)" Little Eevee nervously called, but didn't get an answer.
"(Big brother…)" he called again, still no reply.
Then all of a sudden, little Eevee heard a rustling sound, coming from the nearby bushes. He looked into the direction and out came a human. He was big and gruff like. He was very muscular and wore mostly black. Little Eevee was completely scared now.
"Well what do you know; an Eevee." He said in a gruff voice. "I'm not one for cute looking pokémon, but what I'm interested in is what you evolve into. Go Growlithe!" he said, releasing a fire pup pokémon.
"Growlithe!" the pokémon said after being released from its pokéball.
"(BIG BROTHER EEVEE!!)" little Eevee cried out loudly, which definitely awoke his brother. When the older Eevee woke up, he looked to the direction he heard his little brother's cry and saw a human and a Growlithe ready to fight; and most likely, capture his little brother who was scared out of his mind.
"Growlithe, use tackle!" the man commanded his pokémon. It obeyed and quickly made a run towards little Eevee.
Little Eevee was so scared, he didn't move. Then out of nowhere, the Growlithe got hit on its side before it could take a hit on the young Eevee, causing it to skid sideways. The human and the fire pup pokémon were surprised. They looked to the direction of where the young Eevee was, and saw another Eevee, slightly bigger than the first.
"Well, well. Two for the price of one." The human said upon seeing the other Eevee. "This works well for me; saving me the trouble of finding another Eevee."
"(Quick little brother! Get back to the cave!)" The older Eevee exclaimed.
"(But… big brother; what about you?)" The younger Eevee asked, afraid of what might happen to his big brother.
"(I'll be fine. And I'll feel better knowing you're safe,)" the older Eevee explained at which his little brother obeyed and went back into the cave.
As soon as his little brother was out of danger rage, older Eevee made a dash for Growlithe with a quick attack, which took the fire pup pokémon and its trainer by surprise since they didn't have time to dodge or make a comeback. The battle went on for what seemed like forever. Eventually the older Eevee was getting tired and so was the Growlithe. The human noticed this and decided to take advantage of the situation by switching his Growlithe with a Houndour. Eevee, being completely exhausted, didn't have enough strength left to do anything against the newly released and fully energized pokémon, and hence lost the battle.
The younger Eevee, who was watching the battle go on, was worried about his older brother and made a run towards him.
"(Big brother, big brother. Wake up, wake up,)" the little Eevee shook his brother, trying to wake him up.
"Houndour, quick attack!"
Little Eevee didn't even have time to react before he was hit by the dark fire dog pokémon. Since he didn't have much battle experience like his brother, he was knocked out right away. That's when the human took the opportunity to capture both of them.
END FLASHBACK
"(He captured us both, at the same time,)" Flareon said.
"(I was really surprised when he had captured you too.)" Jolteon said to his little brother. "(I was really knocked out, but when he called out his Houndour I knew I didn't stand a chance because I was exhausted. At the time he had release his Houndour, my first concern was what would happen to you when I was defeated.)"
"(But I told you to stay in the cave for your own safety,)"
"(I WAS YOUNG BIG BROTHER!)" Flareon wailed as tears began to fall from his eyes, "(I didn't know anything. All I knew was that my big brother was hurt and I wanted to help and make you feel better. I knew nothing about humans!)"
"(It's ok little brother. I'm not mad, I understand how you felt; and I don't blame you,)" Jolteon said to Flareon. "(Besides, it's mostly my fault; I should have been watching you,)"
"(Right after he caught us, he made us evolve against our will.)" Flareon added. "(He didn't even train us; he just made us evolve right away!)"
"(After he made us evolve, he didn't even train us right!)" Flareon continued to wail. "(I had no battle experience as an Eevee and it got even worse as a Flareon!)"
"(And to make it worse; he always whipped us with that leather whip whenever we did something wrong.)" Jolteon added.
"(And because of his abuse, we got sick and caught a very high fever,)" Flareon added.
BEGIN FLASHBACK
"You two were a complete waist of my time, energy and stones!" the muscular human said in his gruff voice, as he lashed his leather whip at the whimpering Flareon and Jolteon lying on the ground.
"I don't even know why I bother with you two weaklings!" he added as the two pokémon on the ground continued to whimper.
"You know what; I'm wasting my energy with you two. I think I'll leave you there as the cowards you are." He said as he took out two pokéballs and broke them both in half. A red light engulfed Flareon and Jolteon and then chattered, signifying that they were released. The two pokémon whimpered.
"Good riddance!" the human said, as he turned his back towards the pokémon; leaving them to fend for themselves.
END FLASHBACK
"(He left us… to fend for ourselves,)" Flareon said in a shaky voice, allowing his tears to fall into the pond in front of him and Jolteon. Jolteon had a really sad expression on his face as he went over and rest his left paw on his brother's right to comfort him. Being the older brother, he had to stay strong.
--
Zea and the rest of her team were standing at the corner of the pokémon center, listening to everything Flareon and Jolteon were saying about their past life. Vaporeon, Leafeon and Glaceon had woken up a few minutes after Flareon and Jolteon when they realized they weren't feeling the warmth and comfort of their partners/mates and had awoken Eve, who in turn woke up their trainer. Espeon had sensed the movements in the room and woke up instantly. It wasn't hard for her to wake up her mate since he was a light sleeper at night.
Espeon told them where the two had gone to, so as not to cause her trainer and teammates to panic. When they got into the lobby, Chansey told the group where to find the two missing pokémon. When they got outside and spotted the two, they stayed hidden in the corner outside the center when they heard the two talking. Vaporeon, Leafeon and Glaceon had tears running down their cheeks with their eyes shut tight after hearing what their partner/mate had been through. Espeon, Umbreon, Eevee and Zea all had expressions of sympathy on their faces.
"I had… no idea… they had been through so much…" Zea whispered. All the pokémon nodded in agreement.
"(At least they had and knew their parents…)" Leafeon whispered in a shaky voice, tears still flowing down her cheeks.
"(We didn't have parents,)" Glaceon added in a whisper, "(And if you did have; we never knew them,)"
"I feel sorry for all of you." Zea said in a whisper, sympathizing her pokémon. "We've been together as a team for a long while now, and I'm only now knowing this about you,"
"(It's not your fault Zea; we never told you,)" Vaporeon added her piece, "(I, on the other poképaw, ran away from home; wanting to explore the world, until I evolved into Vaporeon near the lake you found me. So I stayed around that lake after that,)"
"(Zea already knows our story, so we don't have anything to say,)" Espeon said on behalf of herself and Umbreon, as Zea nodded.
--
"(The day after that; after we were abandoned, Zea found us and took care of us,)" Flareon said. "(We were lucky to even be alive when she found us. While we were being treated, the nurse said that we had developed pneumonia and if our trainer – which she thought was Zea – had brought us in 10mins later, who knows what could have happened to us.)"
"(Yea, I remember.)" Jolteon replied. "(Were we lucky or what. And when she asked us if we wanted to join her, we were more than happy.)"
"(She did, and still does, everything our old trainer never did for us.)" Flareon said, as his tears dried up and a smile formed on his face.
"(We lacked confidence in ourselves and in everything we did,)" Flareon continued. "(But she took the time to help us build our confidence and trained us well for battle.)"
"(And we became a vital part of her team,)" Jolteon added.
"(You know big brother… it almost seems like a good thing… that we were caught and abandoned,)" Flareon said. "(I know when we were abandoned we probably wouldn't be here right now if Zea hadn't found us,)"
Jolteon nodded. "(And… we both have beautiful girlfriends that love us, and we're part of a prophecy,)" he added. "(And you… you lucky dog, you've got two that you're willing to protect with your life. I'm really proud of how brave you've gotten.)"
"(Yea; I really do care a lot about them.)" Flareon replied. "(One of the reasons I'm brave is that I remember that they've been through worse than I have, so I need to protect them from anything bad that might happen to them,)"
--
"(They… they called us beautiful,)" Vaporeon said teary eyes.
"(And we sometimes wonder why we love them so much,)" Glaceon added, also teary eyes.
"Come on you guys, let's get back to our room. They'll be back soon, and were learning a little too much about their life," Zea informed the group. They all nodded in reply and turned to head back into the pokémon center. Vaporeon was the last to leave.
--
"(Huh?)" Jolteon said as he turned his head to the outside corner of the pokémon center where he saw a purple tailfin disappear on the other side.
"(What's wrong big brother?)" Flareon asked Jolteon.
"(I think I just saw Vaporeon's tailfin go onto the front of the center,)" Jolteon replied as Flareon followed his gaze to the spot.
"(I see nothing big brother.)" Flareon confirmed. "(You're probably thinking about her too much. Maybe we should head back now, before they wake up and realize we're not there,)"
Jolteon nodded in agreement, as the two brothers stood up and started to head back into the pokémon center.
"(How do you feel now lil bro?)" Jolteon asked while they walked.
"(As much as I feel sad of how our life started, I'm just happy that it turned out better for us later on and that we have a trainer and partners that love and care about us.)" Flareon replied as Jolteon nodded, proud of his little brother.
For those of you who have read my 'Jealousy Hookup' story; you should know where this is coming from.
I hope you all liked it. Please review. And yes, I'm still trying to work on my other fic that all of are DYING for an update. But please, bare a bit more patience for I've got a major writer's block on it.