This is the story of one little Eevee that suffered through many hardships to brighten the world's future relations of humans and Pokémon. I will tell this story to you as this has been told by the Eevee himself for many years.
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Chapter Two: Darkness Wake
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One is now five months old. He is very playful with the other little Eevees in the pack, and his caretaker, the Vaporeon, is quite overprotective of all of them, still. Espy and Umby, the biological parents of One and leaders of the pack, were always coming along to visit him, as well. Fortunately for the pack and by Umby's word, there have been no humans coming through their part of the forest, and that moment of worry has been forgotten.
Over the course of the last few months, the Eevees in One's family have been growing up to really start showing their personalities. Freya has become quite the troublemaker as of late, and is always worrying her parents. Starra is still quite cautious and afraid of the world outside of their safe den, so she usually is around their mother. She wants to be a mother, someday, too. Kroa is still a serene, blissful Eevee, seemingly oblivious to any kind of suffering. The family has found out that he cannot speak, during one night when the pack was having a roaring contest. They told him that he should've mentioned that he was mute long ago, but he didn't know what to say about that. One is a bit of a mix of all of his siblings. He loves adventure, being around his family, and calm days on the plains.
---
The four siblings along with some other Eevees from the pack were traveling in a small group in the deep forest, led by none other than Freya. They were going farther and farther from their home and many of them were getting a bit scared. They came to a stop.
"We gotta get those fruits!" Freya had commanded to the other little Eevees, and pointed to a tree chock full of shiny, juicy heart-shaped fruits that we humans call Pecha Berries. Some of the Eevees' mouths were drooling. One was a bit worried, much like Starra. Kroa was quite calm.
"I'm not so sure this is a good idea..." Starra explained. "We're a bit far from our territory, and if we take what's not ours..."
"Oh, don't be that way, Starra. We don't get these kinds of trees in our territory..." Freya has had a habit of gesturing with her paws often when she speaks. "If we can get a few of these and plant them, we could have them all of the time!" She had a confident look in her eyes.
Starra caved in. "Well...I guess you're right..."
All of the Eevees in the little group stepped up to the tree. Someone blurted out, "Now...who wants to go up there?" The tree was rather tall, and would be quite a dangerous fall if that so happened...
However, One stepped up first. "...I'll do it, you cowards!" He stood a few steps from the tree, gathered energy, and jetted up the tree almost blindly, nearly missing the branch that was close to some of the fruits. One almost lost his balance, but he calmed himself down and steadied his feet, remembering the times when he was with Kroa. He couldn't raise one paw to reach for one of the fruits, or else his balance will tip and he was certain that he would fall down. Instead, with some slow but accurate coordination using his mouth, One managed to remove one of the fruits from the tree. He looked down below, and saw that one of the Eevees was ready to catch any fruits that fell down. He let it go, and the Eevee down below caught the fruit with his tail, to make the landing as soft as possible.
As you may already know, Pecha Berries are one of the softest berries discovered; if you drop them just from your arm's length, they would get horribly bruised. Of course, the pack knew this as well, albeit if you drop most any berry from about fifteen feet from a thin tree branch, the berry would most likely be horribly bruised.
The other Eevees watched him in suspense and awe; some wondering if he would fall down, some watching his paws move ever so delicately, and some just drooling over the sight of the fruits. One managed to fell seven fruits, although one of the fruits went splat on the ground because the catcher wasn't paying attention. So therefore, they had accumulated six Pecha Berries in total, which is not very many, but they could plant them and make their own trees.
Now, One was supposed to come down. However, the moment he was getting ready to come down, a nerve struck him and he was too afraid to move. He clasped himself on the branch in fright and let out all of his emotion that wasn't shown while he was getting the berries. The other Eevees watched him shudder in fear, and couldn't stop watching him... they thought they couldn't help him at all.
"Come on!" Freya shouted. She directed three more Eevees to gather around under One's position, preparing to catch him. One looked down, and he was quite unsure of jumping down to the Eevee net. He had no choice, however. While he was looking down at them, he began to slip, and in a blink of an eye he was falling. This was unnerving to most of the little Eevees in the group, and they were scared for One just as he fell...
Freya did not fret, though. While the others were paralyzed with fear, she took in a deep breath and jumped as high as she could to catch One. They smashed together and she caught him in midair, and they both tumbled to the ground. One held onto her tightly, and opened his eyes and looked at her.
"Freya..." He said softly, with tears in his eyes. Freya grinned. "One, you can thank me later! This is just all in a day's work for a future leader!" All of the Eevees gathered around to see that One was okay, and many made a great sigh of relief, and some jumped for joy!
Their little celebration was going to be cut short, however... In the nearby bushes, pairs of yellow eyes were watching their every move...
The Mightyena pack was ready to strike.
Their leader, a Mightyena with blood red substituting the regular black fur colour, ordered his Poochyena and Mightyena cohorts to surround the young Eevee group that were a bit too far from their home territory...
The Mightyena pack, with great agility, had very quickly surrounded the little Eevee group that was crowded around One and Freya. The Eevees immediately looked around in all directions nervously, and many became terrified. Their pack was growling ferociously with the occasional bark, and the Eevees, frozen or shaking in fear, couldn't think of any way out of this situation. Freya was trying to concoct a plan to escape, but she knew they wouldn't get away fast enough, and they were all too far from anyone in their pack to come help them, and she herself was beginning to doubt their survival. Kroa didn't seem to be shaken at all, however.
One Mightyena said, smirking, "Heheh... what're you little pups doing all the way out here, huh?" and took a few steps forward. An Eevee closest to him moved back as far as he could, but with all of them huddled together, he was trapped against a wall. "D-don't...please don't hurt us!!" He was crying. The Mightyena grinned. "Oh, we won't hurt you..." He went quite close to the Eevee, put his head to the side of him, and said, "We're going to do something even better..." And licked the Eevee on the cheek. Immediately after doing this, the Eevee sat there paralyzed and shaking, and the Mightyena pack sans the leader began to drool and step slowly forward.
"Stop!" said the red Mightyena leader in defiance. "You had your fun... We don't have any reason to attack these defenseless pups." One Mightyena quickly said, "Yeah we do, we haven't had these in a while..." and was drooling and staring at the closest Eevee. The Mightyena leader shouted, "No! If we do anything to these little ones, we would no longer have any allies of our own! Their pack is the only one left, no thanks to some of you!" He continued on, and shoved aside anyone in his pack away from the Eevees, and went closer to them. "I'm sorry for causing you this trouble, but I hope you all learned a lesson about trespassing."
He softened his expression. "What were you doing here, anyway? You're just about out of your territory and into ours." The Eevees were still frightened, but calming down. Freya, with confidence in her eyes, jumped up and said, "We came here to find some fruits to eat. We noticed that we didn't have these kinds of fruits in our territory, so we had decided to pick some of our own to plant in ours."
The leader Mightyena was surprised at this confidence, and Freya immediately gained his respect. "That's perfectly understandable, but this is still our side of the territory. However, because you didn't cause any kind of harm, I'll let you go, this time." Freya and One made a sigh of relief, and so did a few other Eevees.
The leader sharply said, "Don't be relieved just yet, though; I'm going to speak to your leaders about this, and see that our pack gets a kind of fruit that grows only for them, as well." One looked over to the Pecha Berries that he picked. They were behind one of the Mightyena, still untouched and shining in the sun. One said nervously, "Umm... can we go now...?" and sat up.
The leader said, "Yes, you may. I'll be dropping by your pack's territory during the sunset. Make sure to give your leaders and guards fair warning so that I don't have any troubles coming in." He grinned. "I hope our fruits grow well for you. Farewell." He gave a motion with his head accompanied by a bark, and all of the Mightyena and Poochyena in his pack ran back into the deep forest just as quickly as they came.
An Eevee shouted, "Let's get outta here!" and sprinted off back to home. Everyone else followed, but One stayed behind to gather the Pecha Berries and carry them with his tail. There were quite a few, though, so he had trouble carrying all six.
Freya looked back after she noticed One wasn't following them. She ran back to One. She smiled. "I feel dumb for forgetting the fruits... do you need any help?" One looked down. "I-" "OK!" She interrupted him and grabbed three berries with her tail, walking alongside One.
Without looking over at Freya, One said, "You know, I thought that was pretty brave of you to speak out so well against the Mightyena leader..." Freya blushed slightly. "Aw, that was nothing! Like I said, all in a day's work for a future leader!" she said cheerfully.
One looked over at her and smiled. He wished he could be as brave as Freya was...
---
One and Freya, walking alongside each other, came to their pack's section of the forest, a rather dense part to help hide their location and to keep out the unwanted. Their father, Flary, jumped down from above. This spooked the two and they had nearly dropped their fruits when they jumped up. He said in a rather parent-like tone, "One, Freya, I hope you didn't cause too much trouble. Your siblings and friends were running in such a hurry back to their mothers..." One and Freya looked at each other worriedly.
He sniffed their fur. "Ah! The Mightyena pack...!" Freya quickly said, "Please don't tell anyone, especially not mommy... I don't want everyone to suddenly get worried about us... We were lucky to get out alive, though..." Flary looked quite relieved. "Next time, bring me or one of the other guards, okay? We'll protect you, we promise, and don't be embarrassed. I'll be on the lookout for any of them coming through here." "Ah..." Freya remembered something. "Wait, I think the Mightyena leader was going to come to our leaders to discuss this during the sunset. He wanted me to give you fair warning before he came through." Flary looked down and thought deeply. "I'm not sure if that's such a good idea, but I'll consider that and talk to our leaders." He jumped into the shadows of the forest, and One and Freya couldn't spot him anywhere. "Don't forget, I'll protect you... I am your father, after all."
They looked at each other. "Do you think the others are okay?" One said. "Mmm..." Freya looked down in sadness. "I just hope they won't be affected by this so much..." The two continued to walk into their pack's forest.
---
"Mommy! Father!" One exclaimed. His parents and leaders, Espy and Umby, were on their backs on a sightseeing hill, enjoying such sights and each other's company. They turned to the side and saw One and Freya trotting quickly toward them, also trying not to drop their fruits.
Espy looked over and said happily, "One, how are you today?" One turned around and showed them the Pecha Berries carried by his tail. "Look! Me and the others found these fruits from a tree that wasn't in the fruit patch."
Espy sat up. "Oh, how lovel-" he stopped for a moment, and sniffed around One's fur. One looked nervous. "Umm...what's wrong, mommy?" "Oh...you have a Mightyena smell on you..." The Espeon immediately looked worried. "You didn't go into their territory, did you!?" "Umm...well..." One didn't know how to explain what happened.
Freya stepped up. "Espy, to tell you the truth, we were on the border of the Mightyena territory..." Espy gasped. "We wanted to find some fruits to eat, then we found these. We wanted to get them so we could plant them in the fruit patch to add to our collection." She looked down. "We got into a bit of trouble with the Mightyena tribe, but luckily their leader let us go..." She sighed. "I think we're lucky we're alive..."
Espy's lover, Umby, sat up and asked calmly, "Was anyone hurt?" "Not physically..." Freya said, sadly. "I'm sure that some of the other Eevees were scared stiff, though..." A picture of the Eevee being licked by the Mightyena immediately popped into her head. "I hope they're alright..."
Espy hugged One tightly, and he dropped the Pecha Berries. "Mommy..." Freya said, "Espy, the Mightyena leader is going to come during sunset to talk to you two about this..." One wriggled and looked at Espy's face, full of tears. "Don't be mad at him...we were just being dumb, okay?"
Umby walked over to One and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Be careful, alright? Next time you do something like that, bring an adult, okay?" Umby scratched One on the head. "I will..." One grinned and said, "Can I go to the fruit patch to plant these, now?" Espy released One and wiped away the tears. "Okay, One..."
One picked up the Pecha Berries again, and began walking towards the path to the fruit patch, looking back towards his parents as they see him off.
"Umby, I don't know what to do..." Espy started to cry again. "I don't want to lose him..." Umby had a sad, defeated look in his eyes. "We're the leaders of the pack... If we show signs of weakness, we have no choice but to pass this honour to someone else. I'm very pained to say this, but we can't be leaders if One will drag us down..." Espy couldn't argue; they both knew that was right. One was their weakness, a possible trump card for the enemy.
Umby took his lover and they embraced. "We must talk to the leader of the Mightyena pack. If you don't think you can handle this, we should resign as leaders..." Espy looked down, and didn't say anything.
---
The sky was beginning to turn purple, and was currently getting a bit drafty. Large, dark clouds were gathering up above.
One and Freya were walking on the path to the fruit patch of the Eevee pack's forest. They weren't saying a word to each other, but their thoughts were practically racing with things to say.
They came to the great fruit patch. In every direction, you could see the many colourful trees and bushes chock full of things to eat, and parents gathering up fruits for the evening meal. There's been good weather for the fruits this summer. One and Freya looked for their Vaporeon mother, or guardian in One's case.
One and Freya looked all around, but couldn't find her anywhere. "One, where's mommy? She's always getting fruits at this time..." Freya was becoming a bit worried. Her mother was always quite a stickler for getting food back to their den on time.
One was a bit worried, too. "Let's look for her... Maybe she came here a bit early. But first, let's give these fruits to the patch keeper."
A green Vaporeon, the fruit patch keeper named Leaf, manages the fruit patch and makes sure everything grows properly. He's quite good at doing so and really loves flora, despite not being a grass-type.
Leaf smiled when One and Freya approached him. He was watering an Oran Berry tree. "Hey there, little ones. What have you got, there?"
One and Freya showed him the Pecha Berries, which were getting a bit dry for being out so long. "New fruits, I see! Wondrous! I'll find a place to plant them, right away!" He took the fruits, and happily pranced off deeper into the forest, to find the nearby river.
One watched him skip into the forest. "One, let's go." Freya broke into a run without hesitation. Because of this, One became even more worried... He managed to catch up to Freya, the forest rushing past them. The sky was darkening some more, and the clouds began to drizzle rain onto the forest.
One looked over to Freya. "Freya... Do you know if the Mightyena leader came yet?" Freya nearly tripped. "I don't know, but..." She made a very fearful gasp and came to a dusting halt, after seeing something up ahead. One did the same a moment later.
Up ahead, lying in the dirt, surrounded by blood and several fruits, were the bodies of a Vaporeon and two Eevees.
In blinding speed, One and Freya dashed to their fallen mother and siblings. Many claw and biting wounds were found on their bodies, a few marks sizzling with poison. They looked into their hurt sibling's eyes, knowing that their last moments were painless... Their mother lay there motionless with her face pained in defeat.
The rain began to come down. Freya laid over her departed mother, hugging her neck, and unable to control her emotions. One became sad, but he couldn't cry... He only sat down and curled up into himself, only hoping that this was just a meaningless dream like last time...
cough...cough
Their mother coughed up blood. They both were quite startled, and quickly shuffled over to look her in the eyes. She opened them slowly and looked over at them, with whatever strength she had left. A soft, scratchy voice came from her mouth. Although rain was pouring down, they could hear every word as if the world were silent.
"Freya... One... I need you... to save... all of us..." She let her head down. Freya began to cry again, and One didn't hesitate. "I... Freya... We have to get her back to the fruit patch and find something to help her, as fast as we can..."
She spoke again. "Ahh...are...they okay...?"
Freya checked closely to see if her brother and sister were still breathing... They seemed to be breathing fine, but...if their poison goes untreated, they'll certainly die. "Y-yes, mother..."
"Oh...good...please...take them to the patch...I couldn't forgive myself...if I let them die..." She coughed up blood and fainted.
Freya sniffled and nodded her head. With help from One, they put their dying siblings onto their backs after saying their goodbyes to their mother. They tried their best to run as fast as they could through the muddy forest.
---
With tremendous speed and accuracy, the blood red Mightyena leader slashed Espy across the side, and fell back. "Espy!! No!!" Umby quickly ran to his lover, caught, and cradled Espy in his arms.
The Mightyena leader trudged past the bodies of several slain or broken Eevees and evolutions, and sat on the tree trunk stand at their meadow. His loyal followers faced him.
He claimed this land as their own. He chuckled. "Those foolish little Eevees... They gave us the opportunity we needed. We don't need a weak race like this anymore..." The leader and all of his followers howled into the rain. Umby watches in horror as he begins to doubt the existence of the rest of his life, and tears form in his eyes as he looks into his lover's hurt expression.
With all the energy they could muster, the two contacted Flary, the strongest in their pack and guard leader of their forest, through their psychic powers. Flary is normally taking a nap at this moment in a hidden area underground.
Flary jolted awake, and burst through the ground out into the rainy forest, sending dirt and mud in every direction. Normally, rain would weaken a fire-type Pokémon, but he has trained himself to where he is not bothered by the rain at all. He dashed towards the meadow in a beeline at full speed, tearing clean through the thickest of trees and logs, hoping he's not too late.
He was there in a moment's notice, coming to a dead halt and immediately entering a fighting pose loyally in front of his leaders. Several Mightyena knew how strong Flary was, and hesitated and stepped back from him when they noticed he appeared. The Mightyena leader stared Flary straight in the eyes. Umby said, "Flary... Please, hurry, we need to save Espy..." He tried his best to stop his lover's bleeding.
Flary suddenly jumped very high in the air, and everyone watched him. He started flipping quickly, and before he touched the ground, he unraveled himself, his right paw glowing, and he punched the ground with all the force he could muster. Everyone could feel the earth shake. In front of the point he hit, a crack opened up and widened into an endless pit. Several Mightyena and Poochyena fell in, never to be seen again. The survivors ran away, but the leader had jumped off to the left of the stand right when he saw the crack. The two took a fighting stance, and they peered into each other's eyes, not blinking once for what seemed like hours to them.
The Mightyena leader made the first move, howling and charging straight towards Flary.
---
Freya and One had arrived at the fruit patch. The patch was untouched, much to their relief. The two could see that Leaf was huddled behind a tree, shaking fearfully. Several members of the pack were here for sanctuary, as well, because the fruit patch was made to be well-hidden.
"Leaf! Please, help us!" Freya cried. Leaf looked out to the two, and saw their dying siblings on their backs. He gasped. "Okay...quickly, come with me...!" He followed a path to the left. One and Freya followed him to where they could see the new Pecha berries being planted, and he was getting them ready.
"I found out that these fruits can cure the poisons inside...here, feed them two...I can plant the other four. I'll take care of them, okay?" He laid Starra and Kroa under a nearby tree.
Freya said, "Leaf...we need to go back for our mother...she's really hurt..." He looked at her in shock. "Q-quickly! Take these to her!" Leaf gave both of them a Sitrus berry. Freya and One nodded. They carried the Sitrus berries on their tails, and sprinted off back into the forest to save their mother.
---
"Heheh...what should we do with her?" said a Mightyena grunt. He stood over Freya's mother, eyeing her body. The Mightyena standing behind him replied, "Hm...it's been awhile for us, you know..." He stared down at her, and assumed she was dead. "But, defiling the dead is dishonourable. I can't do it." The other Mightyena scoffed at him. "Humph...it's not like she can do anything. She's de-" At that moment, she raised her head and let out an Ice Beam in their general direction. They managed to dodge the attack, and she wearily put her head back down again.
"Huh...well, she's alive. You still unsure about doing it?" The other Mightyena shook his head. "...I can't." He turned away and walked into the forest to meet his leader. "Humph...what a fool...missing a chance like this...!"
He walked closer to the Vaporeon, and he could see her looking at him weakly with an eye. "Alright, little missy...I'll teach you some manners...heheh..." He flipped her onto her back, and stood over her, looking her in the eyes. He couldn't tell whether she was crying or not, but it still aroused him all the same.
One and Freya saw them up ahead. "One...! Mommy!! We have to save her!" She let go of the Sitrus berry, and dashed to her mother's aid. One, without thinking, followed her. As the Mightyena was busy licking their mother's shuddering body, he was met with two fierce headbutts into his right ribs. He yelped and was sent flying about a dozen feet, plopping in the mud.
The two didn't look to see if the Mightyena was hurt. They only focused their attention on their mother laying there. "Mommy...are you okay...?" Freya was crying. She gasped. "One, the fruits...!" One jumped up and ran back to get the Sitrus berries they dropped. The Mightyena, in pain, tried to get up but to no avail. He watched them just ignore him completely, and quickly became angry.
One quickly shoved the Sitrus berries to his surrogate mother's mouth, both him and Freya watching her every movement. She took the berries into her mouth and chewed slowly. A moment after she gulped, several of the wounds on her body healed, but not all of them. She seemed to calm down though, and her breathing was returning to normal. One and Freya let out a sigh of relief and hugged their mother. She was still weak, however, and she struggled to get up. She couldn't stand, and fell back onto her side in the mud. They rushed to her side again.
"One...Freya...thank you...I can take care of myself..." She finally fainted in exhaustion. One and Freya looked at each other in sadness. They both looked at their mother, and they tried to lift her up. She was much too heavy for them to lift up or even carry, they realized. One suddenly jumped. He had forgotten something.
In a moment's notice, the Mightyena they had attacked before had attacked One with his sharp claws. One didn't quite dodge in time, and was cut over his left foreleg. The Mightyena landed and stumbled on his right side. He coughed up blood, but turned around and looked at One with ferocity. Freya was too scared to move, after seeing what the Mightyena had done to him.
The Mightyena was trotting up to move in for the kill, but suddenly, another headbutt had met his left ribs. One was in far too much pain to look over and see if the attacker was Freya, but she was still standing by her mother's side. The attacker was his previous partner Mightyena.
The attacker's partner fell into the mud, presumably dead after such a brutal ramming attack. He looked over at the two Eevees and the Vaporeon and had shown a sad look in his eyes. He slowly walked over to Freya.
"You, Eevee...I know this may surprise you, but...I'm on your side. I never agreed to cause all of this..." He looked down sadly at Freya and her mother. "But, we shouldn't hesitate. I will carry you all to safety. Just tell me where to go..." Freya hesitated, but she knew she had no choice. Even if she led him to the fruit patch, it would be relatively safe with everyone else from the pack around. If she declined, she knew that One and her mother would either become ill or even die...
Freya nodded. The Mightyena loaded up their mother and One, and Freya jumped onto his back and grasped her arms around his neck. She proceeded to show him where the secret fruit patch was, and they galloped off into the fog of rain...
To Be Continued