Chapter 4 – They're always there

Lyte

It has been almost 4 months since mom died, and dad has never stopped expressing his pain. In the middle of the night, he goes out into the forest, and uses his psychic abilities to destroy trees, only to collapse on them afterwards in tears. Sometimes, when he goes out for food or just when he misses her, I play my memories of her, from the day I was born. I project them across the cave we live in. That way, her spirit illuminates the walls, and makes me feel safe and whole again.

Once every month, we travel back to the place where I was born, to visit mom's grave. Her ghost still lives there, in the mirror world, with my sister. Since me and dad can use psychic, we can locate them, and move across the barrier, to be with them again. Then, I can actually talk to my mom, and learn what having a twin is like. Dad cries whenever he sees Azure, but with mom, he just sits with her head on his shoulder, and says things like " I love you" and "you have no idea how much I miss you.". I wish I could love someone like that. To be able to love someone so much that even after death, they wait for you. Forever.

Today was the night before the two days dad called the weekend. That means dad trains me on the week. Right?

Weekends are the best days, because I get to go out in the forest and play with blewe and my other friends, mina, lily, and cotto. Mina is a marill, and some days, dad and her work together to teach me to swim. Lily and cotto are eevees too, but theyre twins, like me and azure, even though lily's fur is grey. She told me that it means she's shiny, and there was more of a chance of either her or cotto being shiny, because their dad was a houndoom. They never got to meet him though, because he left their mom for an absol while she was still pregnant. I asked dad how someone could just stop being in love like that. He told me that if someone can leave that easily, they were never really in love. I can't imagine how sick a being would have to be to fake being in love.

Every training week, me and dad focus on a different elemental type. This week, we were working on 14, psychic moves. It was actually an easier week, because dad has psychic powers, even though hes a dark type. Dad said that I was really good this week, and he might be able to manage a trip to see mom and azure. I can't wait to see them again!

Me and dad went berry picking after training, and we found a lot of good ones, even my favourites, pecha berries. Dad learned from blue that if you tie the berried to a small branch that they're easier to carry. We were on our way home, when I spotted a white and purple thing, just down the path. I ran over, curious.

"Hey dad! Whats this thing?"

"Lyte, don't you have a good eye! That there is an orchid! A rare find for this deep in the forest…"

"An orchid?"

"It's a plant some humans grow outside their homes. Say… I know where that would look lovely."

He then padded over, and used his sharpened claws to cut the orchid's fragile stem, right below the blossom, in one clean slice. He then placed the plant behind my ear, gently tucking it into my fur.

"Perfect."

I blushed, not used to such compliments.

"Lyte… I think I should tell you about your psychic powers." He said while placing his berry branch on the ground.

"Well, I kind of know how to use them… sometimes I play memories inside the cave. I even know where there's a time flower!"

"What? Your powers are strong enough to use a time flower? I learned about time flowers at 8 months, and I couldn't even use them THEN! Lyte, I'm impressed."

My blush deepened. "Well, I have a question then… do you think it would work if it was cut off of its stem, like the orchid?" I jestured to the flower behind my ear.

"Well, actually, that orchid probably wont survive more than a few days. You see, plants need to be whole, and planted in soil, to survive. That is, unless you're a grass type. Then, you can use photosynthesis to make the plant root in your fur, keeping it alive."

"So, this flower is going to die? My special flower…"

"Well… you could try using psychic, but it will still wilt eventually…"

"No! You found this for me, and I don't want anything else to die!."

Then, I ran. I forgot about everything else, including dad calling after me. I felt tears coming, as my thoughts went to mom and Azure. I wished they were still here, so I could still have them here, with me… I couldn't hold back. Tears began dripping down my cheecks, flying back behind me. My legs began to feel pained, but I ignored it, and kept running. I had gone a good distance by now. I hadn't realised until now how well dad had trained me. Through my sobs, I tried to pay more attention to my muscles. I could feel them pulsing as I ran. Then, I realised I should probably stop. Both to give my legs a rest, and to give dad a chance to find me, considering that he probably wasn't far behind me. I stopped, and sat down. I was still emitting choked sobs, but they had grown softer, and I decided that I should probably try to dry my cheeks, so I could see through the matted fur beneath my eyes. After about ten minutes, dad was still nowhere to be found. I smoothed my fur with my paws and set out to find something I could stand on, so I could look for him. I padded around the area for a bit, before I came to a small clearing, filled with wildflowers. In the middle was a large boulder, covered in a dark green fungus dad called moss. I often took it home to use as bedding. I walked over to the rock, trying to figure out how to get up on top of it. Then, I figured that I could just jump, considering the power I was capable of building in my legs. So, I crouched down, putting all my weight on my hind legs, and lept. I got close to the top, and began pawing wildly at the moss, trying to get grip, but it was wet, and I slipped, scraping my nose. Then, I landed on the ground in a thud. Then, suddenly, I felt all cramped, and stretched. It was a good stretching feeling though, like after waking up from a good sleep. Then, I got up and shook off the fall, still feeling some pain just below my snout. Judging from the feel, it was probably bleeding. I gave a heavy sigh, and crouched own again, attempting the jump one more time, but, this time when I jumped, I made it to the top with ease. I then lay down on the soft moss, and waited. I didn't need to wait long. Soon, I heard him calling my name.

"Lyte! Lyte, im sorry. I know the topic of death is hard for you, I shouldn't have brought it up. Please come back…"

He then walked into the clearing, still looking frantically for me. He obviously hadn't seen me.

"Hello?"

He looked up, startled by the voice.

"Lyte, there you –" a disappointed look formed in his eyes.

"Oh… im sorry. I thought you were my daughter…"

"Dad, it is me... You don't recognise me? Oh, my snout must be bleeding worse than I thought…" I sat up and began wiping blood from my face.

A look of sock quickly replaced that of disappointment. " Lyte? But… your... you're… Lyte, you're a leafeon!"

I stared at him blankly for a moment, before what he had said sank in. " WHAT?"

"Lyte, look at yourself"

I quickly jumped up and began examining myself. My fluffly collar was gone. It was replaced by a small green tuft of fur on either side of my chest. My legs were now thin and slender, with brown paws. My warm fluffy tail, replaced by a flat leaflike appendage. Even my fluffly brown ears were gone. Just more leaves. I just sat down, dumbfounded.

"But… how?"

Dad sat down for a moment, thinking. He looked around the clearing for a moment, before looking down at the rock I was sitting on. Then, he burst out laughing. He was laughing so hard that he actually fell to his side in the wildflowers.

"DAD! I don't really understand whats so funny about this…"

He slowed his laughter gradually so he could respond, poorly attempting to regain his serious stature.

"L-lyte, look at what you're sitting on…"

I obeyed, looking down at the large boulder. "Yes dad, this is a rock."

"No, but lyte, you don't understand. That rock is called the moss rock. It's where eevees come from all over the world to become leafeons. It has a power inside it, that comes from this whole forest. Anytime an eevee touches this rock with it's snout, the energy is passed on to them, letting them evolve into a leafeon."

"But wait, didn't you tell me before that evolution takes a while? This only happened in a few seconds… maybe… it was when I scraped my snout on the side of the rock…"

"Well, actually that would make sense… the energy must have been transferred more rapidly into your system through the cut."

"I guess that makes sense… so I'm stuck like this?"

"I'm afraid so…"

"This is going to take some getting used to" I said while jumping off the rock. I was actually quite pleased with how little effort it now took to move with these longer, thinner legs. This might not be so bad after all… l flicked my tail to show my enjoyment.

"You know lyte… you look exactly like your mother…"