II

"Off to a Rocky Start!"


"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, Eevee! Slow down! You know don't have to be in such a hurry, y'know! We're going to be in Sinnoh for a while! Wait for me, buddy, slow down!" You shouted, darting after the furry creature as quickly as you could.

He only looked back at you once, seemingly laughing at the look on your face before he ran even faster!

You knew that you shouldn't have taken your eyes off of him for even a minute. Typical! You thought with a groan as you chased after your Pokemon down the route two oh one, the grassy path bounding against your feet as you went. Well, this is what you get for grabbing your bags. Eevee needed to be guarded like a hawk when he was in new environments. Who knows what kind of trouble he could get into if he didn't listen to you?

Oh, wait.

You knew exactly what would happen. The last time had involved a very craggy cliffside and a dip into the water. It seemed like he was walking you right back to that same outcome.

He darted into a row of trees and you did the same.

Your heart was pumping in your ears and despite how annoyed you were with your Eevee, you felt like you were having fun. You would never admit it but you liked it when Eevee made a game for the both of you to play. He often did things like this when he wanted attention, or when he felt like it was something that would bring a smile on your face.

Except, you had really wanted to get to town first before any mayhem ensued!

You kept running after the mischievous rascal passing thickets of brush and trees until it grew tighter and tighter.

Eevee walked right into what seemed like a dead end.

There was nowhere for him to go, the grassy path ended and there seemed to a lake up ahead. If he took any more steps forward then he would be tumbling down into the water, or right near the water. He wasn't exactly a fan of that. His hesitation to run any further proved that to you, so, you put your hands on your hips and declared your presence.

"Stop right there! Oh no, you don't!" You grinned, feeling victorious that you had caught him before he had caused any more trouble. "This is a dead end, mister, that means I won our little game."

Eevee looked at you and then back at the drop.

You began to walk forward towards him and when you reached him, you scooped him up into your arms before he could make a run for it again. You let out a laugh and spun around with him in your arms. "Next time you want to play a game, please, give me a little bit of warning first! Just for that, I'm not going to give you any treats after our meal tonight!"

"Eee Eevee, vee!" He returned, dropping his ears a little bit to look pitiful.

You sighed, and shook your head. "... Alright. One treat, but no more than that. Do you hear me? One treat!"

Eevee beamed. He seemed more than happy with himself. The spoiled little Pokemon knew just how to get his way. You adjusted your hold on him and began to look for the path that you ran in on only to see you couldn't see it.

Then -

Out of nowhere, there was a crack.

You looked down and saw the ground crumbling beneath your feet. Before you or Eevee could make a move to get out of the way, it caved and you both went tumbling down the path towards the water. Closing your eyes, you braced yourself for the first and held Eevee close. You flopped down onto the grass after a few short seconds and landed on your butt right afterward. To you, it felt like you were still falling! Either the fall had shocked you so much you lost track of the time before you hit the ground, or you had been knocked stupid enough to think you were still falling.

"Eevee! Vee vee!" your Pokemon called out to you.

Surprisingly, you were the one still shrieking about the drop, and when you opened your eyes again and looked behind you, you realized that you had only fallen a few feet from the edge.

"Oh." You murmured, embarrassed. "I hope nobody saw that."

You let Eevee free from your arms and he dropped to the ground. He had lead you to some sort of lake. It was a really big mass of water and you couldn't see the end of it. There were trees on the other side but you didn't know how far they were away from you. You frowned and stood on two legs.

"Where the heck did we wind up?" You muttered, looking at Eevee who couldn't really give you any answers.

In spite of how you wound up here, you weren't upset. These things just happened when you were on a journey. You had heard of kids getting caught up in crazier things than you had! And besides that, this place was picturesque! Sinnoh really was a sight to behold.

You weren't one to complain about seeing the sights.

You had grown up in the city and despite all of your travels, you had never seen a place that really took your breath away. Sinnoh was proving to be a lush place, and you really hoped the rest of this region was just as lovely. With the flowers and evergreen all around you... and the faintest smell of honey in the air.

Wait, honey?

That hadn't been there before.

Eevee seemed to pick up on that scent as well, but unlike you, he bounded straight for danger without even blinking. "Eevee, wait!" You called after him, but he zoomed forwards towards a tall patch of grass... once again leaving you behind.

You let out a groan and chased after him only to stumble into somebody. It was a guy... with white hair and the faintest tip of pink on the edges of his hairline. That wasn't all, either. He was dressed rather strange as well, with a bright overcoat and slacks. He seemed rather peculiar sitting at the lakeside, with his bag at his side and his hand outstretched to pet your Eevee.

"Is this your Eevee?" He inquired, his voice soft.

You nod, a bit quietly. "Yeah. I'm sorry if he's bothering you, or anything. He's just a little excited. We just got to Sinnoh today... and he's a little eager to explore little thing he sees or hears... or this case... smells. Eevee! It's not nice to try and take from other people, you know that."

Sure enough, your Eevee had dived-bombed him to get a taste of honeysuckle of all things.

"It's alright, miss, I'm not bothered by him," he reassured you as he failed to meet your gaze. Instead, he brushed his fingers against Eevee's silver mane and Eevee purred. "I really don't mind either... I've never seen an Eevee with this coloring before but I've read about them. I should thank you for this chance encounter with a shiny. You don't see a Pokemon this well taken care of very often, his coat is very brilliant for his kind. He looks beyond healthy for an Eevee, I can tell just by looking. You must care for him dearly since he looks so well groomed... and a girl as lovely as you... of course you would care for your Pokemon dearly."

Your cheeks turned pink, suddenly embarrassed. "Oh, thank you. Yeah, he's my best friend... we've been together for a long time, believe it or not. I do my best to make sure he's always taken care of. It's the least I could do for his friendship with me," you smiled. "You could tell all that just by looking at him? Wow, that's impressive! You wouldn't happen to be a breeder, would you?"

This time it was his cheeks that turned pink. "Oh, no... I'm not." he shook his head.

You cocked your head to the side. "That so?"

"I just... love learning about all kinds of Pokemon. I've often read much about as many breeds and variations since I was young... I read far too much for my own good, sometimes, and my brain is like a sponge, I'm afraid," he explained to you, picking up his things and returning them to his bag. He fiddled with his bag and tucked it back on his shoulders. "I hope you continue to care for your Eevee as much as you do, miss. People as kind as you are very rare in this region. This world is filled with all sorts of people who mistreat abuse, abandon, or harm their Pokemon that look just as you or I do right now... and those types... they should be stopped at all costs."

That tone in his voice was sorrowful, just it was filled with a fit of gentle anger.

"...Well, I can promise you that I'll never do something like that! Isn't that right, Eevee?" You looked down at your partner, and he returned to your side at last. "People should never do something malicious with Pokemon. I agree with you on that... there must be some kind of trouble in this region, huh? Guess there's good and bad everywhere you go on the planet."

Those words seemed to ease the worry that had grown on his face. "That's good to hear," he murmured.

"What is this place, anyway?" You looked around the lake once more to get a better view of it. You hadn't seen a sign or marker that could tell you where you had found up. "Eevee didn't conveniently go in the front gate to let me know."

"This is... Lake Verity," he answered. "It's one of the three great lakes in this region, there's two more spread out a ways away from here... but I'm most fond of this one. This atmosphere... it's quiet, and there's nothing but you and your thoughts. It's on the edge of Twinleaf Town. If you follow that pathway to our right, then it will take you back out to the main road and back into town."

You clasped your hands together, "Thank you! Eevee and I would have never gotten out of here if you didn't give us advice. I have a bad sense of direction just like him, haha." you smiled, looking at the path and then back at him.

What a relief. You hadn't ventured too far out as you thought.

"My name is (Y/N)," you inform him. "It's nice to have met you!"

"You as well," he returned your words. "I hope you continue to have a pleasant journey."

Just as mysterious as he seemed to be when you first saw him, he got up and headed on his way on a different path than the one he had directed you towards. Huh. Maybe he had wanted to do more exploring of the place since he seemed to like it so much? Really, you wouldn't have normally thought too much about meeting a stranger like that but for some reason, you thought you would be running into him again very soon. You stared after the boy with a strange feeling in the pit of your stomach.

Who was he and what was he up to?

"Hey!" you called after him before his figure had disappeared into the treeline. "You didn't give me your name!"

His head turned back in your direction for just a moment and replied in a voice that you almost didn't hear above the winds.

"It's... Ray."