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Chapter 4

Lo and Yan made it back to the pack area with Kilki in tow. The younger eevee still had a nervous expression and trembled as though she expected something to snatch her away at any time. Lo was still trying to process how all of this happened and how quickly it had. The kits were with her therefore making them her responsibility. Now they are gone and the only one left is probably too shaken up to remember exact details about who attacked them. The more she thought of it, the stronger her guilt became, threatening to overwhelm her with panic. Yan seemed to have picked up on her new stress and was trying his best to comfort her. With things this bad, how were they ever going to face the elders of the pack? Children were precious in the pack, and losing just one was enough to cause a wide spread of panic. Four were missing and according to Kilki, they were kidnapped by a ghost Pokémon. She could only imagine what kind of chaos this would bring and the one thing that she was sure of and that never left her mind was that it was her fault. What was she going to do?

Soon they reached the spot where the ceremony of stones were to take place. Ayra was still there along with a clever looking leafeon and an intense looking houndoom. Lo and yan stopped as they looked at he young eevees approach. With her being nervous at its peak, Lo began to shake with anticipation for what she was in for. The houndoom looked back to Ayra and the leafeon and nodded before turning and walking away. Lo felt a string of relief flow through her.

"Back from your game, Lo?" Ayra asked as she slowly walked towards the eevees. Yan looked to Lo and she looked back. He gave a reassuring nod that didn't really accomplish its job. Lo tried to nod as well but only turned back to Ayra who was now in front of her.

"Something... S-Something happened.." Lo spoke nervously.

"Oh?" Ayra hummed. The leafeon came up behind her.

"Kilki and the other kits were a-attacked and the others were taken." Ayra's eyes widened and so did the leafeon's. "I'm sorry..."

"Are you certain, child?!" The leafeon asked. His voice light and full of worry. Lo looked at him and nodded. The leafeon turned to Ayra. "Lady Ayra, the houndoom spoke of something like this happening but I never expected it to be so soon." Ayra had a grim look on her face and that only added to Lo's anxiety. Suddenly her expression turned calm and she looked to the leafeon.

"Hano, gather the members of the elder council. Tell them it is an emergency that cannot wait. I will meet with you and them in the Sacred tree." Without question, the leafeon sprang off to accomplish his mission. Ayra looked to Lo, Yan and Kilki. "Kilki, what was it that attacked you?" The young eevee came from behind Lo and yan and softly spoke.

"It was a mean ghost." Ayra was starting to grow restless.

"Did you see what it looked like? Anything?"

"It had a scar under its eye. How does a ghost get a scar anyway?" Kilki said with sudden curiosity. Ayra sighed.

"I feared this would happen. I thought that I would never see him again." Yan and Lo looked at each other I confusion.

"What do you mean, Ayra?" Lo asked.

"I will explain later. It is a matter that now involves the three of you as well as the rest of the pack." Ayra stood to walk away. "I want all of you to come with me to the sacred tree. You have a story to tell. Lo and Yan had never been to the sacred tree before. It was a place that only the elders went to, and even they rarely went themselves. What was so important that they had to go there? If it has Ayra of all pokemon worked up over it, then it must be more serious than just a kidnapping.

Ayra knew exactly who Kilki had just described. A ghost pokemon that forever haunted her memories of those terrible times. His name still fresh in her mind of when she had met him. Sain. Though he was still in the dark corners of her mind, the only pokemon that was clear in her mind's eye was the Umbreon that hated him. Her younger brother, Tif. Where could he have gone? If things were going as she thought they were, she was going to need him. Badly./

Xen awoke to his daughter gone and the den being empty. He was used to it by now. Lo would usually disappear and go to be with her friend Yan. It didn't bother him. He knew yan and what kind of pokemon he was. He was a good pokemon and Lo's friend. He saw how much she trusted him and didn't worry about him hurting her. In all the time that they've been friends, she didn't seem to have any problems with Yan, so in a way, The young eevee had earned Xen's trust as well. He stretched and gave a long yawn to wake his senses. He could still smell the rain clouds that passed earlier that day, even from inside the moist den. He must have slept longer than he thought because it was mid day. He walked outside and breathed in the fresh spring air. There was a feeling that all creation knew when this season occurred every year. A feeling that couldn't be explained no matter how hard one may try, but it was familiar to all. A sense of renew and peace that flows with the wind and ruffled the wild jolteon's fur. He instinctively lifted his nose in the air in an attempt to absorb as much of the feeling as he could.

"Hi Xen." A female voice greeted. Xen opened his eyes and looked to see a glaceon smiling and walking past him.

"Oh hi, Pelica. Visiting from the mountains?" Pelica nodded as she stopped in front of Xen. Pelica was a glaceon that chose to stay in the mountains of snow point when she evolved. She began learning about the different types and what different effects they had on certain pokemon. Being from a pack that had so many types only helped her studies. Topping that, she was as free spirited as a leafeon, so she didn't mind doing what she felt to learn something new. She and Xen had become friends after He lost his mate, Loka and after Tif had disappeared. She knew nothing could make up for losing two people so close and wouldn't try to either. That didn't however stop her from attempting to show him feelings she had toward him. She then suddenly moved forward and nuzzled him. The action caught the jolteon off guard and he released a tiny wave of electricity.

"What are you doing?!" He gasped. Pelica giggled and moved away from him. Xen could see a small spark dance across her sleek and frosty fur as she smiled triumphantly.

"I always wanted to see if that would work." she said as she absorbed the last of the remaining static. Xen looked confused.

"What are you talking about?" Xen asked still feeling a little surprised at what Pelica just did. A flareon walked by them and Pelica quickly raised a paw and gave him a little jolt. He jumped and turned to glare at her.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to shock you." She giggled. The flareon looked from her to Xen with a bit of confusion. Xen shrugged having no clue of what she was doing. The flareon then slowly turned and walked away, keeping an eye on the still giggling glaceon as he went.

"Okay.. That was for..." Xen started. Pelica turned to him.

"Its static, silly!" She blurted. "I was experimenting and it worked." Obviously it failed, but she didn't feel the need to tell him that. She thought that he may have shown a little more appeal to her attempt, but she was wrong. She was happy that she could play it off so well. She giggled again. Xen shook his head in amusement.

Suddenly the two evolutions watched a leafeon rush past them. Just as quickly as it had gone, it came back and stopped on front of them.

"Xen! You have to come with me!" He gasped. Xen was yet again caught off guard at the suddenness.

"Well hello to you too, Hano.."Pelica said, feeling ignored. Hano looked at her and then back to Xen. She gave a loud humph and turned her head away from him.

"What for, Hano? Is something wrong?" Xen asked.

"It's Lo. Ayra asked her Yan and A younger eevee to the sacred tree. I think you should come too." Xen's heart pounded. Pelica looked at Hano and then to Xen.

"Lo?! Is she alright? What happened?" Xen asked

"I'll explain on the way. Right now we must go!" Xen nodded as the leafeon took off toward where the tree was. Xen bounded off after him.

"Im coming too!" Pelica announced as she followed behind them. What was happening with Lo that she was summoned to the Sacred Tree? What could have happened? Is she hurt? What about Yan and the younger eevee? What was going on?/

Lo and the others followed Ayra to an enormous tree that reached up and seemed to pierce the clouds. The branches were large enough to hold whole families of eevee on them. Had it not been for the fact that they were much too high to be reached easily, that could have been the case for this pack. The limbs stretched out and covered a large part of the forest and towered over smaller trees. The giant leaves held white flower buds that were barely opening and still had a bit of green on their base. At the bottom of the tree were roots that emerged from the ground. The way they came up formed a large area that came around and made out what was used as a gathering place. This was where the elders came. Lo and Kilki gasped at the size of the place and the looked equally astounded. They all felt so small next to it. Though they lived so close to the tree, they were never allowed to come this close to it as it was a place that was sacred and only the head members of the pack could come here.

Ayra lead them past the gathering area to a large hole in the tree that looked like an entrance. It was the size of a nidoking and inside was nearly pitch dark. Lo and Yan walked beside each other and Kilki walked closely behind Lo. She has been close to Lo since she found her in that cage and wasn't leaving any time soon. As they approached, Ayra stopped and turned back to the three eevee. They all stopped in front of her. Ayra lowered her head and closed her eyes.

"I fear the outcome of this situation." She said as she looked up to them. Their looks of awe turned into looks of concern and fear. "I hope that I am wrong about what is coming. If not then I meant that this will involve the entire pack." When she said that, Lo felt that she was talking directly to her. Ayra shook her head slightly. "Forgive me, little ones. I don't mean to frighten you. Please follow me." The espeon then proceeded in the tree. The three eevee looked at each other. Kilki looked to Lo.

"What does she mean, Lo?" She asked. Lo could see that she was afraid. Given how Lo had found her and the fact that the other young ones were kidnapped, who could blame her? The question was where were they taken and why? Yan had the same questions as Lo. What was happening? What was going to happen? Lo looked into Kilki's eyes and tried to find an answer for her. Something to assure her that she was safe. That there was nothing to worry about. But Even with the ceremony of stones so close by, she was still young. The only answer that she could come up with was:

"I don't know.." Kilki shuddered and looked at the tree.

"Well. Here goes-" Yan started.

"Lo!" Someone called from behind them. The three turned to see Hano, Xen and Pelica rushing toward them. Lo felt a strong sense of relief wash over her when she saw her dad. A strong sense of protection. She felt safe. Xen had a look of worry on his face.

"Lo, are you alright?" He asked as he and the others approached. She nodded. Han and Pelica stopped beside him and looked to the sacred tree.

"I take it that Ayra is inside?" Hano asked. Lo nodded again. Kilki still behind her, Xen looked at the grey eevee and realized that this was who Hano was talking about. He remembers her from the talk from the others in the pack of how rare it was to find an eevee with her fur. Especially a girl given the eevee gender ratio. She was actually quite popular among the pack even without her knowing. The kit seemed really attached to Lo and peeked at him from behind her.

"Well we should meet her. We have much to discuss when the elders arrive." With that, The six pokemon proceeded into the tree. Inside was enormous. The tree's walls had what seemed like stairs that spiraled to the top. Above the stairs were torches that mustve been lit by a flareon. But even with the flames light, the inside was still dark. They could see, but they couldn't make out any specific details other than how the tree's inside walls seemed to be carved and twisted up in the opposite direction of the stairs. Under their feet was some type of moss that tickled their paw pads. It was so soft that Lo couldn't help but smile at the feeling. Yan smiled at the openness of the closed area. It seemed to be bigger than the outside of the tree, which seemed impossible. How could all of this fit in here? Pelica gasped at the inside and felt it to be an art form. There was clearly something sacred about this place, but she couldn't even begin to imagine what it is. Hano had never been inside, but with Ayra, he was given a really vivid description of what it looked like. Still he was amazed at what he saw. Kilki stuck close to Lo for fear of getting lost inside and Xen, though he admired the sight, kept his attention to Lo and what happened while she was gone.

They all walked up the spiral stairs in search of Ayra. She must have been waiting at the top for them. Hano lead the way as the rest followed. It took several minutes before they finally reached the top and found Ayra sitting in what seemed to be a designated place for her. There were three more of these spots that were obviously for the rest of the elders. Four elders. Everyone would tend to forget that Ayra was an elder. She rarley shows that she is one, so one could hardly tell. The other elders were usually off greeting the north and south packs. When they were home, they were only around for a short time before setting out again or at their dens resting from their last journey. No one in the pack really saw them for long. That actually explained why even they rarely came to the sacred tree. They were well respected and looked up to however. Luckily they were home these days. Great timing for the events that just occurred.

Ayra greeted them all as they approached her.

"Welcome to the sacred tree. Forgive the dust." She joked. Hano walked over to her and sat beside her spot.

"The elders are on their way." He said. She nodded.

"Well I was already here..." A voice said from the darkness. Everyone looked in a dark corner to see an Umbreon emerge from the shadows in a very in character way. Kilki whimpered a bit and pushed herself into lo's fur.

"As usual, You make quite a disturbing entrance Sake." Ayra said with her eyes closed.

"I missed you too.." Sake said in a bored dark type voice. He then walked to one of the empty spots and sat himself. Yan looked at the umbreon with fascination. He would usually do that with the other umbreon in the pack. It was clear that he saw them with Tif in mind. Sake looked at the group off eevee evolutions that were in front of him.

"This must be important if there are so many here. What exactly happened?" Ayra looked at him and simply said:

"Sain." Sake looked at her in shock. Sain must've been a really big deal. Who was he? Ayra then nodded to Lo and Kilki and Sake looked himself. Lo felt his eyes and soon she felt everyone else's as well. They were all waiting for her to speak. With a nervous and guilt filled sigh, she told them what happened and how she and yan found Kilki. As she went over the story, Sake and Ayra would give an occasional nod to assure her that they were listening. When she finished her side, Kilki shyly told her part. Of course she had a longer story because she witnessed her friends being taken. She told he what Sain looked like and even which way he floated away towards.

"He said that I was a message to you." She finished. There was silence for a moment. Sake looked at Ayra whose expression only grew more and more grim. The elder umbreon sighed. He then looked at Lo again.

"Lo. Have you decided your evolution yet?" Lo looked to Ayra who gave a nod. She wasn't entirely sure that she should tell him about her feelings towards evolving. She remembered the talk she had with the espeon only hours ago. That guilt from earlier was coming back. She looked at Xen who was waiting for an answer as well. He knew what she felt, though not entirely. Even her best friend Yan didn't understand. What should she say? She inhaled and closed her eyes.

"No.." There was another long silence.

"No?" Sake said with a bit of surprise. "As in you haven't decided, correct?"

"No. As in I don't want to make a choice." Lo kept her eyes closed, afraid of how everyone would look at her.

"What are you saying?"

"I don't want to evolve. I want to stay an eevee." She slowly opened her eyes and saw everyone waching her. Yan and Xen both had mixed expressions. Sake had a look of complete disbelief. Hano looked back and forth between Sake and Ayra who had a proud grin on her face. Lo felt a bit better that she finally told everyone her true feelings.

"Well this is... Quite unheard of." The umbreon said. "I'm not sure what to say."

"Why not support her decision?" Ayra said. Sake looked at her.

"Well I... I just.. Um... Well Its not for me alone to decide." Ayra giggled at his blubbering. That made everyone else chuckle as well, making the umbreon blush a bit.

"I've never seen an eevee not want to evolve. They're usually excited about these things." Sake was truly confused about this and that really seemed to amuse Ayra.

"Sake is correct. Its unheard of.." Said a voice from behind everyone. They all looked to see a flareon and a vaporeon coming from the stairs.

"Nice of you to join us, Kose." Ayra said as two eeveelutions walked around the group and took the remaining two spots. The flareon seemed intense and angry even. Lo felt heat coming from him. The Vaporeon seemed much more kind than the flareon. She shook her head at the heavy entrance that her partner had made.

"Is this the emergency, Ayra?" The Vaporeon asked. Ayra shook her head.

"Im afraid the young one's decision may be the least of our worries, Tear." Ayra said. The flareon was watching Lo who shrunk down, feeling as vulnerable as Kilki. Ayra explained the situation to Tear and Kose. They both sighed.

"It sounds like it was her responsibility to care for the kits and obviously failed." Kose said with little emotion. Lo felt hurt. "And it only seems to add selfishness seeing how she doesn't want evolve for the pack." Lo shrunk even more. She knew how someone would reject the idea of her choice. Even with Ayra's support, the others didn't seem to feel the same way the espeon elder did. She felt alone.

"Thats enough, Kose." Sake said. The flareon glared at him. Sake didn't flinch. "She has enough to worry about. We must make a plan."

"I spoke with Rome from the houndoom pack earlier." Ayra started. "He told me that there were happenings near their territory. They are preparing for the worst. I feel that we should do the same." The elders nodded in agreement.

"What should we do?" Pelica asked.

"I apologize that you had to return to a troubling time, Pelica. But we need you. If you choose to stay, then you should ready yourselves for anything. We will need a team to find the kits."

"I want to go!" Yan blurted. Everyone looked at him. Kose smiled nearly coldly.

"Admirable. But you haven't evolved yet. As you are, you would only get in the way. You are no use as an eevee." Once again, Lo felt that he was talking to her. Yan frowned and wanted to protest but Xen held him back.

"I will go." The jolteon said. Lo and Pelica gasped. What was he doing?

"Are you sure?" Tear asked. Xen looked at Lo who had a worried and fearful expression.

"Yes." The elders all nodded. "Fine. We will leave it to you to assemble your team. We will help you if you need it." Xen nodded. With that, they all left the tree. Lo and Yan helped Kilki find her den and told her parents what happened. They didn't tell them of the meeting with the elders though. They thanked them as they left. Yan walked Lo back to her den. As they walked, there was silence between them. Now that Yan knew what was bothering Lo and how she felt about evolving, he didn't know what to say. She was obviously upset about what Kose had said. Though neither of them liked the flareon, Yan couldn't help but wonder: What if he was right?

They both came to her den and said their goodbyes. There was such a heavy air about them that they had trouble even doing that. Yan left and Lo went inside. Xen and Pelica were waiting for her. Lo had nearly forgotten about Pelica. She didn't even greet her when they all arrived at the sacred tree.

"Hi Lo." Pelica said as cheerful as she could. Lo remained silent.

"Are you alright, Lo?" Xen asked. Lo felt her eyes swell. She didn't answer. Instead, she tried to go to her room. "Lo." Xen called sternly. The young eevee stopped. "Tell me what is bothering you."

"Im fine..." She said unconvincingly.

"Thats not the truth and you know it."

"Dad, please.." Her voice was cracking now. She was trying to hold back.

"Lo, I am here for you-"

"Are you!?" The eevee barked as she turned to him, tears running down and soaking her fur. Xen was surprised at her outburst. "You just stood there! You just let him say those things to me! And now you're leaving me! How are you here for me, dad?!" Pelica watched in shock as Lo let out her feelings. "It was all my fault. They were with me and I let them get taken. Now I can't even help get them back... Now you're going to clean up my mess.." Xen rushed over and nuzzled the stressed kit. She bawled into his fur. Though he was there, she still felt alone. This was a terrible feeling. it was too much. Too much for her to handle.

She then pushed herself from Xen's fur and bolted out of the den.

"Lo!" The jolteon called. Lo ran. She ran as fast as she could. As far as she could. Tears flowed from her eyes as she blindly sprinted ahead. She ran until her legs could move no more. Her paws bled and her limbs were sore, though that was nothing compared to how she felt at that moment. So much guilt. So much betrayal. So much confusion. Her heart ached Was this all for her choice to stay an eevee? Was she wrong? She felt so alone. So alone.

End of chapter 4

Sorry about not posting. A lot has been going on and its kinda hard to do so many things at once. I am still writing for this fic and its actually growing on me more and more. Thanks for your patience. Enjoy. Please review and tell me what you think.