A/N: Here you go. R & R, and Enjoy!
Jax sat silently in the center of the NormalTribe camp, assessing the everyday sights and sounds he had grown used to. Most of the grassland where his Tribe had made their home was silent, with the exception of a few oddish or a pinser rustling the long, dry grass. The meeting hadn't gone well at all. If anything, it had made things worse between the Tribes. Tension crackled in the air, and the other pokémon could sense it, and were keeping quiet and out of the way.
However, in the NormalTribe camp, the eevee were trying to pretend that the tension wasn't there, and were trying to act as if this war had never happened. Felan placed the berries he had foraged from their territory on the berry pile like usual. As if on cue, the kits that Jio was taking care of tumbled away from her, disturbing the others as they fought over the pecha berries.
A blazing sun shone on from above, making the brown fur all around camp glint. The sandy clearing that Jax was sitting in was full of all different sized paw prints, but now nobody stepped foot in it, as it was starting to heat up quickly. His Tribe was perfect, Jax decided, not being able to imagine living in a different Tribe. He was one of the few eevee currently in NormalTribe that didn't have the interest to evolve. He had been leader so long because of his normal status, long enough to remember all of the Tribe's leaders when they were still kits.
Jax sighed, his long ears dropping sadly. He had been leader for such a long time. He remembered when the twins, Tigua and Lua were hatched, watched their strife as they separated, and shared their joy as they each became leader of their own opposite Tribes.
Who would take over when he wasn't fit to lead his eevee anymore? Felan was a good choice, but he rushed into things too quickly, barely ever thinking things out. Lynto was also smart, but he had a hot temper and would challenge everyone to a battle over the smallest things.
Shaking his head to try and clear his thoughts, Jax needed a distraction. One thought kept pestering him, though, and he couldn't shake it away. "To be leader of NormalTribe," he whispered to himself, no longer paying attention to the outside world, "one must show no desire to evolve." That is why Felan and Lynto weren't that good a choice. Felan was dead set on becoming a flareon the second he turned three, and Lynto admired vaporeon, even though he always said that he didn't want to evolve just yet.
Such big responsibilities were required to be leader of NormalTribe. The eevee weren't supposed to be in the middle of the fighting, but neutral. There wasn't a pokémon in his Tribe now that he fully trusted to take care of his only love, NormalTribe.
He felt someone behind him, watching quietly, and the eevee leader felt an immediate chill that came from the memory of last night. He whirled around, his hackles raised, half expecting the dark, sarcastic umbreon leader to be behind him.
However, it was not Lua, but Jio. She dipped her head in respect, keeping the chattering kits out of the way with her long bushy tail. "We are down to three kits, Jax," she told him. "And I know that Reo of IceTribe was expecting Craw's kits."
Jax nodded, grateful for the distraction of his melancholy thoughts. He didn't want to grow old, and relinquish his leadership over NormalTribe. "Yes, Jio," he said. "It's time to go collect kits again. Arceus knows that if they keep the kits, they'll only evolve them before they are one. We are the best place for those little eevee."
"It is that time again," Jax yowled to his Tribe. Their young ears pricked up, for kit-collecting offered chances to check out all of the Tribes.
"I choose Udol, Grene, Frak, Ari, Felan, Elete, Tadag, Jio and myself to go," he called out, picking those to go carefully. Knowingly, he picked one eevee that wanted to go to each Tribe, so that they could carry the kits back from that Tribe, and not hang around with the rest of the group. They all wanted to be different eeveelutions, all except Jio who, like Jax, didn't want to evolve, except she wanted to take care of the kits.
The rest of the Tribe settled into a normal routine, still trying to act naturally and ignore the arising tension. The chosen eight waited for their leader near the camp entrance, all waiting calmly and still, except for Frak, who, being the youngest, couldn't keep still.
"Which Tribe are we going to first?" Frak asked, his fur raised high in excitement and his body wriggling in pleasure of being chosen.
Jax thought quickly, for the sun was high in the sky, and if they were to make a round trip to all of the Tribes, they would need to start immediately. WaterTribe's camp was in the middle of a large lake, and was one of the worst, but it was tied with IceTribe's, who had their camp on top of a snow capped mountain.
"IceTribe," he stated, and began to trot off, ignoring Felan's hiss of disgust and Elete's large grin in response. His group had to catch up, for he had started earlier and was trotting at a quick pace. Frak was last in line, for he had no intention of going to IceTribe quickly, and was now staring in wonder at the pod of jumpluff floating along the warm breeze in the clear sky.
"Hurry up," Elete hissed, turning around and batting Frak's nose with her paw. The younger eevee yelped, and rushed up to the front of the group, wanting shelter near Jax. They travelled fast, with Jax keeping them all in a rapid jog, even when the WaterTribe marsh stuck to their belly fur and slowed them down.
Finally, about fifteen minutes after their departure from NormalTribe, they reached the base of the mountain. Frak, forgetting his encounter with Elete before, pranced over to a sleeping geodude and poked it. The angered pokémon rose up and bellowed at the small eevee, challenging it to a battle.
Jax growled at Frak's unintelligent maneuver, and shoved him aside, ready to take on the geodude himself. The angered rock type charged at the NormalTribe leader, trying to tackle him. Jax dodged and aimed a scratch, which hit its mark, but barely took anything out of the geodude.
It tried again, this time hitting Jax squarely in the chest, and sending him flying back twenty feet. The leader skidded to a halt, and shook his fur out. His eyes were blazing in anger, and he wanted to make this pokémon faint. The other eevee watched on in horror, unsure of what to do.
Jax growled, and launched himself at the geodude, aiming to tackle it. Before he could make contact with the rock type however, an ice beam came from higher up on the mountain, making the geodude faint on the spot.
"Lilia!" Elete shouted, and scrambled up the rocks towards her best friend. The glaceon dipped her head, and smoothly glided down the rocks towards Elete.
"I see that it is time to collect kits again, no?" Lilia gently asked a touch of humor in her voice.
Jax nodded. "Thanks for that," he said quietly. Lilia chuckled quietly, and then led the group up the mountain easily. The eevee followed, their soft under paws becoming ragged and bleeding quickly. Jax leaned on Udol, not only because of his paws, but because his chest ached.
Soon later, the pokémon reached snow, meaning that the IceTribe camp was close. A snorunt scampered out in front of them, and Frak went to go chase it, only kept back by a stern glance from Lilia.
Jax shuddered. Up here was much colder, and the sun rarely shown, because of the constant cloud cover that provided the snow. The snow rarely melted in the IceTribe territory, and when it did, it just turned right back into ice, which is what the glaceon like best.
They came to a small cave entrance, and Lilia squirmed through it first, followed by Elete and then the rest of the group. Inside, the cave widened out, forming an ice sheeted cave, with large icicles on top, and silvery ice on the floor.
Lilia trotted over the ice quickly, to the center of their camp, where Frigi waited. Jax treaded carefully, going slow to avoid slipping on the ice, which Frak just did. When he reached the center, he breathed a sigh of relief, for this was the only part of the cave that was not covered in ice.
"Kit collecting time?" Frigi asked, shaking out her fur. When Jax nodded, Frigi continued. "You are lucky, then. Reo's kits just hatched yesterday. Follow me."
She glided gracefully over the ice, reaching the place where a female glaceon stood, with two playful kits tumbling around her. Jio immediately went to them, and examined them. "Two very healthy eevee," she muttered, and then repeated it for all to hear. "What are their names?"
"The male is Barafu, and the female is Yela," Reo told them, her tail wrapped protectively around Barafu. Yela, however, was curious about the visitors, and playfully tumbled around them.
Frigi nodded, and with a sigh Reo let Elete take her kits. "Soon we shall be together," she called out as the group went again to the center of the camp, where their footing was steady. "That is if you choose correctly."
Frigi looked at the kits that she was giving up, and then at Elete, who was almost three. "I do not understand, Jax and Jio, why you refuse to evolve. That geodude is weak only to your attacks. You stay as an eevee, even though you can get much stronger by evolving."
Jax growled. "I have made my choice long ago, Frigi. Nobody can change that, and I like being leader of NormalTribe, thank you." He motioned for his group, and they all began to move cautiously across the ice, Elete with Barafu and Yela in her mouth.
Frigi kept up with them easily, moving over the ice as if it were solid ground. "We are always willing, Jax, to have more members of IceTribe. Please consider."
He wriggled out the cave entrance, and looked back as the rest came out. He ordered Elete to take the kits back to their camp, and let the others wait. When Frigi stuck her head out to continue to try and get Jax in their Tribe, he scratched her nose, making her yelp in pain.
"I am not weak," he growled, turning tail and setting their course for the FireTribe camp, so that they could warm up in a desert.
Frigi stepped fully out of the cave, watching Jax with anger in her eyes and blood welling from her nose. Kif joined his leader, and cocked his head, asking what was making her so angry.
"Jax would be an asset to any Tribe, yet he remains as an eevee," she growled, wiping her bleeding nose in the snow. "I just wish that he would join us, and then we would definitely win the war. The other Tribe's would never expect it."
Kif thought hard, only one problem arising to Frigi's plan. "How are we going to get Jax to Route 217 then?"
"I have no clue, Kif. No clue at all." Frigi said, going back into the cave to think about it.
A/N: Review please, and tell me how I am doing.
