~ Sylveon

After cleaning her scratches, I put emergency patches all over her arms and legs. Once I was finished, I slowly started cleaning up her left knee.

I flinched everytime I saw her clench her teeth in pain yet I tried my best to stay calm. I made two trips to the river behind her so I could clean off the dirt with a my wet hankerchief.

When I finished scrubbing her knee I set the bloody cloth aside and pulled out my Super Potion. Once I sprayed it, Eevee couldn't even attempt to hide her pain this time.

"Aah!! Owwww...That stings a lot more than I thought it would..."

"I know. Sorry."

I was trying to focus on her knee so I could ignore the smell of vomit beside her.

"You keep clenching your nose. Is it because I threw up?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry. Usually I'm not this bothered by it at all, but it's hard to ignore such an awful smell."

Eevee said nothing, obviously embarassed, so I didn't push it. And it didn't look like she was in much pain anymore. So I just finished up with wrapping bandages.

"Does it hurt anywhere else?"

"The back of my head does but other than that I'm okay."

She showed me the spot where it hurt but luckily it was just a bruise and I only needed to wrap it up once.

"And up you go."

I sat down so she can crawl up my back. She was very light too so I shouldn't have a problem with carrying her.

"Well we can't go back up that's for sure. So we're going to have take the detour. Okay, Eevee?"

"Which way is that?"

"Down the shore until we find an easier hill the climb up on."

"That's the plan?"

"That's the plan. It should take about an hour before we get back to the stadium but it's better than nothing."

I waited for her to respond and she looked like she wanted to argue for a minute but thought better of it.

"Okay. Let's go then."

"Right."

"As long as we make it in time before curfew than we're good."

I just laughed and kept on walking.

We were walking for about 15 minutes and Eevee was always finding something to complain about. But I was hardly listening to her and just kept on going.

I stopped once the shore came to an sudden end. If I wanted to keep walking like this I was going to have to swim across to the other side.

"Looks like I'm going to have to swim. You're okay with that right Eevee?"

"Y-y-yeah of course I-I am. Let's j-just get it over with."

"Okay. And-hup!"

She shook her head at my comment and held onto me a little tighter.

But before I could even take a step in the water I felt her arms suddenly start clenching my neck.

"Augh!!! Eevee...You're choking...me..."

I turned to her and eyes were just filled with fear.

"E-Eevee...Can't breathe..."

I stepped back.

"He...huh?"

Eevee looked at me very confused.

"Ummm, why are bluer than usual Sylveon?"

"Choking...Can't breathe..."

"Huh? Uh... Oh! I'm so sorry Sylveon. I didn't even realize what I was doing, I'm so so sorry."

She let go and my throat felt instant relief.

"It's...ahem...okay but..."

"But what?"

"Eevee, are you...Are you afraid of the water?"

Eevee looked at me in shock and turned away in embarassment.

"Eevee?"

She said nothing.

So I set her down on the shore and I hoped I could reason with her about her fear. I sat down in front and faced her.

"Eevee. Do you at least want to talk about it?"

No response. She wasn't even moving. She looked like a statue.

"I can't understand until you tell me what's wrong. I mean it won't hurt will it?"

She moved but she looked like she was too ashamed to say anything.

"Eevee."

She relaxed at my concern and looked like she decided to heck with it.

"Well not necessarily water...I mean I still take baths and drink it...I'm just afraid of swimming and drowning...And I don't know how to fix it, you know?"

"You don't have to worry. You'll be on my back the whole time and hardly touching the water at that. So you will be okay. Really."

"I can't do it."

I froze and listened.

"I just can't. I can barely look at it without fainting from a distance. Especially since the accident..."

"What accident? Did something happen to you?"

"Well..."

"Eevee. I'm here to listen. So it's okay. Don't be afraid to tell me. I just want to help you. Okay?"

I managed a small smile and she was only partially convinced.

"Okay but please don't tell anyone about this, alright Sylveon?"

"Of course I won't. I can promise you that I won't."

"Okay. It was..."

I listened intently.

"The accident...where a two year old...fell into the ocean from the docks...and nearly...d-drowned..."

"What?!"

"And that two year old...was me."

(Note : What happenned that caused Eevee's fear of water? What will Sylveon do to help her get over it? Find out in Ch 22 ~ Sylveon!)