Hey everyone! Another chapter right here for you! I feel like this one is the best so far. A special thank you goes to FlareAeon who has given me tons of great advise that has really helped my story writing.
Chapter 5
Unexpected Results
Hearts beat fast and hard, threatening to jump out of place, claws scratched the tile floor, and a nervous quiet fell over the Eevee. They sat on the chairs just behind a white wooden door, waiting to be called in.
Today was the day. Today was their test. Figuring out what they would be strongest as. They didn't know what to expect when they went in. They only thing they had heard were the stories from their parents. Despite the major technological advances from their parents' time, this was one of the only things that did not change.
Most of them breathed through their half open mouths, too nervous for their bodies to remember to breathe through their noses. Steph was the only one who remained totally calm...on the outside.
On the inside, she was feeling confused. What did she want to become? I was fine a week ago, so why do I care now? she thought. I was going to choose whatever the test said. One question remained in the back of her mind: What does Leonardo think I'm going to be?
To her, Leonardo seemed so strong and confident in who he was, and Steph was too. She loved being herself and thought any evolution would be the best. Was it Leo's confidence that was throwing her slightly off?
What threw her off even more was the fact that Leo was here right now, approaching them with his confident walk. "Hey guys," he greeted casually with a friendly smile. "You ready?"
All of them simply responded with grimacing faces.
The shiny Eevee laughed. "Don't worry about it."
"Are you not worried?" Liam asked with a surprised face.
"Nope. I mean, it might be because I'm not going to evolve today, but it's just a test. A simple test doesn't decide your future. You do."
"What are you thinking about choosing?" Steph inquired, thinking maybe his opinion would help.
"Well…" He paused for a couple seconds, knowing he wasn't going to tell them one of his options. "...I've considered all of them but I think I've narrowed it down to Sylveon, Glaceon, and Vaporeon."
"Those would be some unique colors when you evolve," Jason pointed out with an entertained smile.
"One can only hope," Leo joked. Despite his effort to lighten the mood, he could tell that none of them felt any better. "Don't worry about it, guys. Whatever happens is up to you."
With only one test room, the five Eevee had to take turns, but the process still went the same. Jason went first, walking into the dimly lit room. In the center was a glowing, circular, multicolored panel. Connected to the panels were wires, and those were plugged into a few machines near the back wall. Several scanners, built like a robotic arm were attached to the ceiling. He was unsure of what most of the devices were.
The Meowstic cleared her throat. "Step onto the panel."
Jason nodded and quietly complied. As soon as he stepped onto the circular pad, it lit up blue. The Meowstic typed several things onto her keyboard, and the robotic arm moved in response. It startled the Eevee when it started circling around him, making all sorts of buzzing and clicking noises. When told to stay perfectly still, he did so, but the noises still bothered his ears. The arm tilted up and down, emitting a blue light, and scanned his body.
After the machine was done collecting data, he was shooed off the panel and the device on the ceiling fired up. It projected blue lights down, creating a 3-D model of an Eevee. He looked at it in wonder, but his attention was quickly drawn to the eight floating symbols around the Eevee, one for each of the evolutions he could become.
"If you touch one of the symbols, it'll show you how strong you'll be as that evolution."
Jason's eye caught sight of the water droplet symbol. Vaporeon was his rumored evolution, and though he felt like it wasn't for him, he decided to see what the test said about him evolving into the water type.
When Stephanie had to glance through the evolution choices, she also chose her rumored evolution: a Sylveon. Seeing as it would massively increase her strength, it seemed like a good fit, but she still had seven more to look at.
Leona dreaded the fire symbol that floated in front of her face, but she had to see just how it would affect her. Flareons are beautiful she reminded herself. I think they're great and strong and probably the strongest. Why do I care if I'm more like Leone?
Liam, like his sister and cousins, wanted to see his rumored evolution first. A Leafeon was something he almost never thought of as his evolution. Sure, it was cool, but it didn't feel like him.
Leonardo knew he shouldn't have, but he did. He was desperately trying to forget those times and learn to live in his new life, but his culture and heritage was apart of him. I have to know how much of the Wild One is in me.
After all of the results were presented to the Eevee, they were each told their strongest evolution and asked to make a decision. Leonardo, without much thought, simply said that he wasn't going to be evolving.
As for the royals, their original plan was to evolve today. They told all their friends, including Carson and Kai. On Monday, everyone was going to be expecting four new Eeveelutions to walk into school. Now, though, they were so shocked by their strongest evolution.
None of them chose to evolve.
…
Stephanie, Jason, Leona, and Liam didn't want to go back to school. It wasn't because they had to wake up early, or that they had a test, or even because they didn't want break to end. The knowledge of their strongest evolution hit them hard, really hard. None of them were really expecting what they got, and at dinner that night none of them said a word, not even when their parents asked.
Stephanie, being the only one who wasn't concerned with her test results, was confused. Sure, she was still unsure of what to do. She wanted to evolve, to become what made her the strongest. She believed that an Eevee needed to be strong because an Eevee is the only one with eight evolutions. But, her brother and cousins were hit harder by their results. She chose not to evolve that weekend, trying to show that she related to her family, but she didn't. Sure, she was nervous before taking the test, but after it didn't seem like such a big deal.
The royals knew what to expect at school. They knew what everyone else expected. Students, probably more than usual, would be waiting in the main hallway where the royal Eevee came in everyday. They would be waiting for the royal Eevee, who would be expected to not be Eevee anymore, and cheer when they saw the newly evolved pokemon.
No one cheered when the blue eyed Eevee walked through the door, alone. She simply pretended not to notice their stares and whispers as she walked by, but she knew what they were thinking. Why hadn't she evolved? Why was she walking to school alone? Where were Liam, Leona, and Jason? The royal Eevee were always together.
Stephanie noticed that she and her brother and cousins had drifted away from each other after the evolution test. She needed time to think, and they needed time to think. Eventually, they would come back together and talk about it. It's what they always did, but she was unsure if they wanted to go to their parents or not.
Everyone was still uncertain about what their parents were hiding, if they were hiding something. Carson had made a plan with them after school to go looking for another book, but with the way everyone felt right now, Stephanie was unsure if the plans were still in action.
"Hey Steph!"
The Eevee turned her head and stopped when she saw another, white furred Eevee jogging to her. "Hey Leo."
"I see you didn't evolve," he stated. "Why? What did you get?"
She gave him a little "it's complicated" look while forcing a few ums.
Leo nodded in understanding. "Sorry, but hey. I got Descending, if that makes you feel any better. I have a huge decision to make, but-oh you didn't get Descending, too, did you? I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"
"No, no, you're fine. I didn't get Descending." Steph smiled to reassure him. "I got one result, but I don't know what the others got. They're completely shut down and freaking out, but I just..."
"Don't feel the same?" Leo shot her a half-smile, and her awkward smile told him he was right. "Is that why they aren't with you?"
"Yeah. I think they're too distracted to come to school, so I just left without them, but don't worry. We'll probably talk about it tonight."
"That's good." The ring of the bell interrupted Leonardo. He waited until it stopped before continuing. "Before I go, remember: just because the test told you that evolution would be your strongest, doesn't mean that's who you're meant to be. All it's doing is telling you which makes you the strongest after evolution, but not how hard you train after evolving."
He smiled, and followed the line of traffic out of her sight.
She didn't see Jason until her third class, which meant he probably skipped first and second period, but she was unsure when Leona and Liam came because the first class she had with them was fifth period. They seemed absent-minded during the entire class. When called on, they both claimed to not be on the right page, and the teacher nearly gave them both a detention.
At lunch, Carson was the first at the table. Then, Kai and Steph. The other three Eevee moved like Slakoth, and didn't even join the conversation. They simply sat down and ate, until Carson forced them into the conversation.
"Alright, all of you, talk to me. You four are being way too quiet and it's annoying me. What happened with your evolution test?"
"I got Sylveon," Stephanie bravely stated as she bit into her sandwich. She wasn't ashamed or disappointed in her result. It was her strongest option, and she wanted to be strong.
The other three Eevee immediately looked up from their plates and smiled excitedly at Steph. "Really?" Leona asked, her tail swishing slightly back and forth.
"That's what you wanted, right?" Liam had the same light in his eyes as his sister and the same amazed smile.
Her answer was quick, and seemed somewhat critical of his question, though she didn't mean for it to be. "Nope."
Jason tilted his head in confusion. "But, you said you'd love Sylveon."
"I would absolutely love to be a Sylveon, or a Vaporeon, or a Glaceon. I wanted any evolution because it doesn't matter."
Liam looked disappointingly back at his plate. "You always say that."
"But you never listen." Steph words were starting to mean something. "I was worried about my evolution for the first time last week, but not because it was a huge decision to make. It was because of you guys. You're worrying made me nervous when I had no reason to be."
"This is getting good," the Rockruff whispered to Carson, only getting an elbow in the ribs in return.
"I'll be the one to tell you that I was going to choose whatever made me strongest, and I probably still will. But, just because Sylveon is my strongest evolution, doesn't mean that it always will be. If I evolve into a Vaporeon and train as hard as I can, a Sylveon might not even compare. It's just a test. It doesn't say anything about me, and it can't determine my future. What you evolve into should be who you feel."
"It's kinda hard when we can't try out each one," Leona stated. "But I see what you mean."
"Well, you know me and Carson don't get a choice, which kinda sucks for us." Kai shrugged as he glanced between the four Eevee. "It's not exactly easy on our side either."
"Everyone's got their problems," Carson stated. He placed his paws dramatically on the table and switched topics. "What we can all relate to-"
A loud, three part ring sounded through the cafeteria, interrupting the Riolu and causing everyone in the cafeteria to pause. There were a few moments of silence, the sound of someone clearing their throat, and then a female voice, "Attention all students. Recently, several students were caught in the natatorium with a restricted book."
A few shocked whispers and glances around the room were noted by the guilty pokemon.
"I should not need to remind you that restricted books are not allowed to be read without proper age or approval. Should any of you know who these students are, you are expected to report to the front office immediately, and to the students who broke the rules, if you confess, your punishment will be less severe than if you are caught."
As soon as a click ended the announcement, everyone burst back into loud chatter. That is, everyone except the ones who caused the announcement.
Leona covered her eyes in disbelief. "I totally forgot about that."
"What are we gonna do?" Jason asked everyone, starting to panic a little. "You heard her! If we get caught there are serious consequences."
"Well we can't go turn ourselves in!" Liam snapped in a hushed voice. "We're supposed to be on our best behavior twenty-four seven. If they find out-"
"I'm really starting to regret listening to you Carson," Stephanie sighed, scratching her claws against the bench.
Meanwhile, the Riolu simply chuckled in disbelief. "They're scared."
"Haha, sorry, what?!" Kai half-chuckled, half-whimpered.
"C'mon guys. Even you know that was a desperate attempt to try to find the pokemon who read the book."
"And that means they're scared how?" Steph questioned, her voice filled with doubt.
"They're scared that we know what they don't want us to know," Carson pointed out, his eyes widening. " We read that book and they think we know something they haven't given the proper guidance for." He put air quotes around his words. "And by proper guidance you should know I mean they're lying to us and telling us what to think."
"I don't think they're lying to us," Steph voiced.
"Well they're at least keeping something from us," Kai stated. "And it's really not fair. These new evolutionary discoveries could not only help you guys, but maybe me and Carson too."
"Wouldn't they tell us, though?" Liam inquired. "Evolution is super important in Equilibrium, so wouldn't they want everyone to know about these supposed new kinds of evolution?"
"You're right on that," Carson admitted with a nod of his head. "Like I said, I think we need to get our paws on another copy and figure out more before we can make a decision. So are we still up for looking after school today?"
The bell signaled the end of lunch. The six pokemon looked around to see everyone moving out of their seats, and then peered back at each other. Carson was clearly interested in getting another book. The Rockruff and Eevee exchanged unsure glances, and when four of them got the same idea, they looked to Jason. He nodded to them, and in turn they agreed to Carson's plan. Carson and Kai left first with their class being the farthest away, while the Eevee all headed toward Mrs. Sandomir's classroom.
"Did you remember to study for the test?" Liam asked.
Fear sunk into Leona's chest and her eyes widened as she realized, "I completely forgot."
…
"I took the L on that test," Leona sighed. She was at the point to where she was so stressed that she was calm.
"Quit complaining. You should've studied." Steph looked aimlessly through the books, searching for a right title. "Carson I hope you know where we are."
"I do," he said tiredly. "Have you found the book yet?"
Jason coughed as a cloud of dust rushed at his face when he pulled a book out. He squinted through the cloud, checked the title, and sighed. "Nothing."
As soon as they were dismissed, the group followed Carson all the way to the west side of Geomancy City. None of them knew the terrain very well, a result of staying close to home most of the time, and so everyone was on their toes, except the Riolu. He had been looking around all weekend, finding multiple books stores that looked completely abandoned. Right now, they were in the trading market in the least populated part of Downtown Geomancy. The bookstore was dusty and falling apart.
"I think we should get going soon," Steph stated. "We've been looking for hours and none of the other stores had the book. I don't even think it's safe to be here."
"We have to keep looking." Carson spoke absent-mindedly. He dug through shelves and crates full of books, carefully reading the titles. He seemed so focused on the task at paw.
Liam cleared his throat. "Not that we don't care, Carson, but why are you stressing out over this?"
"They're lying to us!" The Riolu paused and exhaled, attempting to calm himself down. He sat down, staring at the floor. "Our parents, our Representative Council, could be lying to the entire kingdom about evolution, and it's not fair."
Steph's eyes softened and she sat beside her friend. "I didn't realize you were so determined to prove that we're being lied to. They might just be lying to protect us."
He shook his head. "Your great uncle Zen lied to your dad about Leone. He lied to his own family and kingdom, and look where he is now."
"Does it really bother you that much?" Leona asked, not accusingly, but meaningfully.
He met her brown eyes with thoughtful ones. "Of course. Family is everything. You shouldn't lie your family members, and if our parents are lying to us-"
The owner of the store, a female Persian, walked through the door that led to the backroom. She smiled what Carson thought to be a smile of greeting, but the Riolu felt something off about her. Almost immediately after she spoke, Carson felt another presence nearby as the appendages on his ears rose.
"May I help you find anything?" the Persian asked with a friendly smile. She quickly recognized the trademark blue eyes in two of the Eevee, and could only assume that the other Eevee, the Riolu, and the Rockruff were the other royals.
Steph stole a quick glance at Carson, but made a decision herself and stood up. "Hi, we were looking for a book called The Legend of the Sun and Moon. Do you maybe have it somewhere?"
Only Carson saw the small shift in the Persian's expression and voice. It became more threatening. "You know, I'm only allowed to sell that book to pokemon of proper age."
The Riolu knew something was wrong and reacted on that feeling quickly. "It's fine. We were just looking for a friend. We should really get going."
He attempted to lead everyone out by pulling Kai's shoulder and gesturing for the Eevee to leave. However, the Rockruff, not understanding Carson's need to leave, pulled his shoulder back, gave him a confused look, and whispered. "I thought you wanted to find this book?"
They missed their opportunity to leave as the Persian slid in front of the door, blocking the way out. Light reflected menacingly off the jewel on her forehead. "And I know for certain that you six are not old enough to be reading a book like that."
Carson changed from flight mode to fight mode. He grit his teeth and bared a fang, looking angrily at the large normal type. "Then you probably also know how important we are, and if you don't let us leave now, you're going to have a lot of problems."
"Oh, really?" She stalked closer to him, lowering her head and spreading her claws.
He remained close to his friends, who had also begun to grow suspicious of the situation. "And in case you haven't noticed your luck, it's six against one."
"Actually, with the most important pokemon in the kingdom walking down the same road as I, I'd say my luck is excellent."
A gang of pokemon all rushed from the back room, surrounding the royals. All of them immediately felt the gravity of the situation. Someone wanted to hurt them. Being targeted because of their royalty was something they weren't used to. It occurred to them that not everyone in Equilibrium was happy with the rule, and the best way to get control over the kingdom was to take something important to the rulers.
Steph's instincts kicked in. She pushed past Carson and body slammed the Persian with a Tackle. The Persian took the hit hard, falling back into the door. The other pokemon in the room were about to attack, but the Persian signalled them to stand down. She looked back toward the small pokemon, who was now in the perfect attacking stance with bared teeth, and laughed.
"You're outnumbered little cub," the Classy Cat pokemon stated. "I suggest you come with us quietly to avoid injuring yourself."
Steph was about to attack again, when Jason held her back. "Steph, what are you doing?" He asked what everyone was thinking.
Unlike them, she reacted on fear by facing it. Jason was calm on the outside, but on the inside he was shutting down. He thought that listening to them would ensure that nobody got hurt, especially since that's what they were taught in school, but that didn't stop him from shaking with fear. Leona's eyes were filling with water, but she didn't dare let herself cry. Kai and Liam were too shocked by the situation to do anything other than watch. Carson was willing to attack if they tried to hurt his friends, but other than that he waited for an opportunity to get at least one of them out of there.
Stephanie immediately pulled out of her brothers grip, charged her electric type Hidden Power in half a second, and fired it at the Persian, who dodged with ease. The sparkling orb smashed through the window, causing a shattering noise to vibrate through the air and catch the attention of a passing pokemon. The Persian retaliated, too fast for Steph to even realize what was happening, and slashed her across the face. The Eevee flew across the room, her back and head smacking against a bookshelf, and she flopped to the floor, unconscious.
Carson's pupils shrank in rage, and he growled ferociously at the Persian. As soon as he leapt forward with his tail of iron, the other pokemon surrounding the royals jumped into action. They were able to restrain Jason, Leona, Liam, and Kai without much fight, leaving the Classy Cat with the Riolu. He swung his body around, aiming the Iron Tail at the Persian's head. She, however, was much stronger and faster than he was, and simply caught his tail with her teeth. Then, to make sure he would keep fighting, she slammed him against the ground, quickly picked him back up, and whipped him against a bookshelf.
The four pokemon who hadn't fought back watched as Carson slumped to the ground. Immediately, the reality of the situation sunk in deeper as they watched the pokemon tie his paws behind his back and snap a metal collar around his neck. He was picked up carelessly and brought to the back room of the store. The five quadruped pokemon had their front paws tied together, back paws tied together, and metal collars put on their necks.
Leona spotted someone outside and screeched, "HELP!"
The pokemon carrying her slammed her against the ground, held her mouth shut while another brought him a small vile, and forced Leona to drink the purple liquid inside. She tried to resist it, but failed, and fell unconscious just seconds after she swallowed. Liam's ears fell back in true fear, and he looked with wide eyes at the pokemon who hurt her.
"Don't fight us and we won't have any problems."
Someone picked Liam up by the scruff of his neck and carried his limp body into the back room. He followed most of his other friends, the only one behind him being Leona, down the storage halls where he saw another pokemon unconscious. He could only assume it was the real owner of the store. Outside was a trading cart pulled by two, large pokemon that he had never seen before. They were quadruped with brown fur, black manes, and orange-red mud coating their legs. If he wasn't so scared, he would've been awestruck by the physical fortitude of the pokemon.
The pokemon carrying him opened the back of the trading cart, revealing many crates and boxes. The group of six friends were brought into the very back, where several cages were sitting among the boxes. Each of them were placed in a different cage, and heavy locks were slapped on. It was only a few minutes of rearranging boxes to hide the kidnapped pokemon before they felt the cart starting to move.
Steph, Carson, and Leona were knocked out, leaving Liam, Jason, and Kai to themselves. However, none of them dared to talk after the threat made earlier. The three conscious pokemon were silently crying to themselves, fear knotting their stomachs and clouding their vision. Eventually, they all fell asleep due to the emotional exhaustion.