"Sadness is always the legacy of past, regrets are pains of the memory."
~Unknown

A long gray ear twitched at the sound of flying-types chirping in the trees early in the morning. The silver furred eevee yawned lazily, inhaling the scent of morning dew and faint mist. The smell relaxed her. Maybe the trip to that foreign place of cold white lights and hard, slippery ground was just a nightmare. Maybe it never happened and she was actually still in the forest, sleeping hidden from the eyes of possible predators. That would be nice. The normal-type opened its blue eyes slowly, taking a moment trying to adjust to the light of the morning sun. As soon as she did she blinked a couple times in disbelief.
The face of that trainer from yesterday was right in front of her.

It was unbelievable. She had tried so hard to escape from that weird brunette boy, yet she still got caught? The eevee looked around. Well at least she wasn't inside a pokeball, that was for sure. Yet still…
The normal-type soon realized that there were, in fact, two humans sleeping there near her. She narrowed her eyes at the sight. Were those two the same type or something? Same species of human? They seemed so similar, nearly identical.

After a brief moment of simply staring at the two trainers the eevee shook her head and turned to look at the narrow pathway that led outside the tent. She shot a hesitating glance at the humans, wondering if they would wake up if she made a run for it right now. The brunettes both seemed to be fast asleep, so the normal-type decided to take a risk and leapt off the pile of blankets that had worked as her sleeping nest during night. She didn't get far before she was stopped by a quiet voice.
"…oi. You. Silver-fur."

The eevee froze in place, alarmed. She turned to look at the other trainer, the older one, who was now sitting up and looking straight at her. She allowed her fur stand up more than before to try and look intimidating, to try and scare the human. The chocolate eyed young man wasn't impressed by the act though, but neither did he approach the normal-type by any ways. Just stared at it from afar with a calm, understanding gaze in his eyes.
"I'm not going to force you to stay", Touya said in a silent voice. "but I'm saying you really should reconsider. You were badly injured yesterday and the healing process takes quite some time."

Even though the silver ball of fur couldn't understand the words the brunette was saying, she could tell by Touya's eyes and body language that the boy was not going to hurt her. Either that or that human was a pretty damn good liar. The latter wouldn't have really surprised the eevee. Not after all that she had seen and experienced.
"I can see that you don't like us humans, but you need to hang in there", Touya continued, quickly checking if Kyohei was going to wake up. "We'll take you to where there are others of your kind. I promise."
The blue eyed pokemon narrowed her eyes and gave a meaningful look to the other brunette who was still sleeping as if not even a bomb could wake him up. Touya smirked faintly and shook his head.
"He's harmless. I can guarantee you that. If my word turns out to be a lie, I'll personally take you to Kanto", he laughed, granting the eevee a warm smile and offering her his hand. "So… will you stay?"

There was a moment of hesitation. The normal-type stared at the taller brunette for a long time without blinking, determined to find if the guy was bluffing. She wouldn't be fooled this time. She wouldn't trust these humans.
But that didn't mean she couldn't benefit from their offerings, right?
Instead of offering the brunette her paw, the silvery ball of fur sighed and walked back to her pile of blankets. She quickly jumped on top of it again and laid town without a single sound. Touya sighed in relief and smiled a little to himself. Perhaps he had learnt something from his former green-haired friend after all.

The smile faded as soon as the image of that long and fluffy green hair came to his mind. It almost felt like a cold hand was clutching at his heart. Touya frowned a little, letting all a small hum as he allowed his back to hit the mattress once more. His brown eyes investigated the inner walls of the tent thoughtlessly, mind wandering somewhere really far away.
It was already 2 years since he had last seen that guy. Maybe even longer, or at least it felt like that. It felt like it had been an eternity.

Natural Harmonia Gropius. That was his name. The name of the guy with the fluffy green hair that resembled that of a zoroark's. Though the image of that trainer was vivid in Touya's mind he could still see that some details were missing. He couldn't remember the color of that the guy's, N's, eyes. He couldn't recall if N had actually had a necklace or if he was just remembering things incorrectly. It saddened him very much and made him want to tear his mind apart for having forgotten things about someone so important to him.

Did the details really matter in the end? The brunette could still remember the things that really mattered. The gentleness. The fiery passion towards pokemon. The slight social awkwardness and how Touya helped him through the worst moments. He remembered their first meeting in the crowds of a little town, their first battle. He could recall the several times they would bump into each other while adventuring and the time when the green haired boy had practically dragged him onto a ferris wheel.
Not to mention those words of betrayal that pierced his heart during that very same ferris wheel ride.

Touya repeated the words he had heard that day in his mind a couple times. He released a sigh, scratching his head covered with brown hair that was now almost as messy as Kyohei's. His brown eyes roamed to glance at the said messy haired boy and he startled as he saw the other boy staring at him, smirking.
"Morning", the rookie greeted cheerfully.
The older brunette rolled his eyes, huffing in slight amusement.
"How long have you been awake?" he asked.
The other shrugged, his smirk growing a hint wider and becoming more devious.
"Long enough", he replied, reaching out his hand to poke Touya's nose. "What'cha thinking about this early in the morning that makes you frown like that?"
"Stuff."
"…you're boring, you know that?"

A smile rose to decorate Touya's lips as well. He shook his head in amuse, sitting up.
"Obviously. I'm your mentor, your teacher. Being boring is part of a teacher's work", he replied in a formal voice.
Kyohei laughed and threw a pillow at the older brunette's face.
"And here I thought you're a cool guy. Seems like I stand corrected."
"Are you saying that I'm not cool?" Touya asked in a low voice, picking up the pillow the rookie had thrown. The said messy haired boy stuck out his tongue at the older one, getting a pillow thrown at his own face for a change.
And thus a morning pillow fight war began.

A/N: Sorry for the late update, everyone... goddamn school. I swear to Arceus it's trying to kill me. I've got a speech to prepare for next week as well as a really really big test. This is going to be hell...

Please try to be patient with the next chapter as well. I'll write it as soon as I can but it might take some time seeing that school is being a bitch.