Sapphire watched in terror as the two experienced Pokemon advanced on Rustfur. Desperately she looked at Cinder; he'd fallen unconscious from struggling to break free, but the two dozen sticky threads were too stubborn. I'm on my own. she thought grimly. Taking a deep breath, she ran to Rustfur's aid. She had gotten no farther than the equivalent of her own body length, than the pain seared through her, twice as intense. She collapsed, gasping from the shock. She glared angrily at her leg wound. Then, turning her gaze to Rustfur, her eyes softened. I'm sorry, Rustfur. I'm not strong enough to protect you. Blinking back tears, she angrily smacked her forepaw into the dirt.
A loud roar caused her to swiftly look up. An aurous beam of energy flew directly at Rustfur. He made no move to avoid it, and Sapphire soon saw why. Another semi-transparent barrier flew up in front of him. The beam slammed directly into the barrier and stopped. Angered by this, the Salamence put more energy into the gold beam. Rustfur showed no extra effort in sustaining his psychic barrier against the increased intensity of the attack.
Finally, the beam fizzled out, its user exhausted. Rustfur was beginning to feel some physical fatigue from continuous use of psychic energy. This newfound energy in his mind, however, was as strong as ever, and Rustfur intended to use it. A blue glow outlined the Salamence and Drapion, effortlessly lifting them both off the ground. However, using this amount of psychic energy was quickly tiring Rustfur. He had to finish this quickly. Focusing the energy surrounding the two Pokemon, he tightened his hold on them.
It wasn't until one of them let out a pained roar that Sapphire knew what was happening. "Rustfur, stop! You're killing them!"
Again, he didn't hear her. There was only one way to get Rustfur's attention now. Gritting her teeth against the pain shooting through her, Sapphire stood up and limped in Rustfur's direction. When she reached him, she brushed against him as best she could, for he was twice as tall as she was. Looking up at him, she gently whispered, "Rustfur, stop. This isn't like you. I know you better than this. You would never kill another Pokemon; you're too kind to do that."
The combination of her soft voice and the light touch of her fur against his forelegs snapped him out of his trance-like state. The blue glow faded from his eyes, and so too did the glow surrounding the Salamence and Drapion. Rustfur was vaguely aware of what he'd done before he lost consciousness from exhaustion.
"Rustfur!" Sapphire hadn't expected him to faint. "Please...say something." She knelt beside his head and gently licked his cheek, trying to revive him. Suddenly the sand-colored fur on the back of her neck stood up, as if she were being watched. Looking in the direction she felt the sensation coming from, she exclaimed, "There's no way you two can be willing to fight! You shouldn't even be able to stand!"
The Salamence and Drapion apparently had amazing powers of recovery; calling up strength from some deep reserve, they had actually stood up and were plodding towards Sapphire, still crouched by her companion. Again she truly was afraid; both Cinder and Rustfur were unconscious, and there was no possible way she could defend both of them, even if her leg weren't injured. The situation was hopeless. Sapphire turned her ocean-blue eyes back to Rustfur, wondering what would happen to him if J had her way. As she bravely swung her head back to the approaching Pokemon, several things happened at once.
Like a bolt of yellow, greased lightning, Needlefur shot onto the scene, followed by her mate and Rustfur's parents. Needlefur flew straight at the Drapion, and Torrentpaw straight for the Salamence. A Thunderbolt from the Jolteon and an Ice Beam from the Vaporeon easily dispatched their respective targets, as they had been weakened by Rustfur's psychic assault.
Leafpool and Fireheart made a beeline for the tree that Cinder was bound to. A quick Leaf Blade easily severed the sticky threads of silk. Cinder slumped to the ground as his sister freed him from his bonds. "Cinder! Where are Rustfur and Sapphire?" Leafpool called to his unconscious form.
Hearing Rustfur's name, Cinder snapped into wakefulness and sprang to his feet, looking around wildly. "Where's J!?"
Leafpool's stomach did a backflip. "J's here? Again!?"
"There!" Fireheart spotted the Pokemon Hunter and pelted toward her. She was in the process of recalling her battered Pokemon, and didn't see Fireheart racing at her.
"Aaagh!"
Fireheart knocked her completely off her feet, and the Poke Balls slipped from her hand. Fireheart stood on her chest, snarling into her face. Even though he knew she couldn't comprehend him, he shouted, "Where's my son!?"
"Get off me!" J yelled into his face. When he didn't, she backhanded him and knocked him off her.
Before Fireheart could respond to this, he caught sight of the bundle of light purple fur and the small brown figure hunched over it. One name flashed through his mind. "Swiftclaw!"
Needlefur and Torrentpaw spun around and followed Fireheart's gaze. The Flareon was already next to the Eevee crouched at the Espeon's side. "Rustfur, what happened to Swiftclaw?"
Leafpool stepped up behind her frantic mate. "Fireheart, calm down. That's not Swiftclaw and that's not Rustfur. That is." She indicated the unconscious Espeon with a nod of her head. Fireheart opened his eyes wide as he stared at the Espeon. It wasn't quite as big as his brother; it must be Rustfur.
Then that must be Sapphire. Fireheart reasoned. He was proven right when the Eevee looked up at him through deep blue eyes.
"Is he all right?" she sniffed.
"Let me see." Leafpool answered. Despite her apprehension, she couldn't help feeling a glimmer of pride. It wasn't long until she saw the slight rise and fall of his chest. "He's fine." she proclaimed.
Sapphire's sigh was distinctly audible. Tenderly, she stroked the space between Rustfur's ears with her tongue.
Here Leafpool saw the cut tracing a scarlet ribbon down Sapphire's right leg. Shivering, Leafpool looked back at her own right leg. Hers were almost indiscernible, but Sapphire's couldn't be more than an hour old. "Hold still for a second, Sapphire. Let me clean up your leg. You don't want it to get infected."
She twitched her ear in acknowledgement, and Leafpool bent down to wash the scratch on Sapphire's leg. She didn't flinch in the least as Leafpool gently rasped her tongue over her wound.
"Unnh, my head..."
Rustfur's closed eyelids fluttered and the forked end of his tail twitched slightly as he stirred.
"Rustfur?" Sapphire stopped caressing his head long enough to call his name. "How are you feeling?"
His eyelids flicked open, revealing gentle amethyst eyes. "Apart from a splitting headache, I feel perfectly fine. How's your leg?"
"It's all right. It's just a scratch" she assured him.
"If that's just a scratch, I'd hate to see what an actual injury looks like."
Sapphire looked to her right and Rustfur followed her gaze as best he could from his current position. "Torrentpaw, Needlefur. Where's everyone else? Still asleep?" he asked wearily.
"Actually," Needlefur started, "they're awake. They're looking for something for breakfast. Torrentpaw and I came this way with your parents because they wanted to watch you two training. It's a good thing we did, judging by J's appearance."
"J!" Fireheart whipped around, scanning the forest for her, but he was long gone by now. "Darn it! She's gone!"
"Don't worry about it, Fireheart. Look at the ground right there." Leafpool told him. "There's that machine that used to be on J's wrist. It's completely trashed. It'll take a long time for her to get another one."
Rustling in the undergrowth drew Sapphire's attention. Being around Rustfur's family, she was learning their individual scents, and she identified the approaching noise as Fireheart's three brothers. Sure enough, a jet-black head popped out of the bushes.
"Morning." Ravenpaw called, swiftly looking over the small group. "Where's Rustfur?" "Right there." Swiftclaw pointed out, padding up beside Ravenpaw.
"Rustfur? Is that you?" Ravenpaw asked.
Sapphire answered for him. "Swiftclaw is standing right beside you. Do you know any other Espeons?"
"She's got a point." Frostpelt observed, joining Ravenpaw. "How did you evolve?"
"What do you mean?" Rustfur asked.
"I thought Eevees could only evolve into Espeons through a strong bond with their Trainer, as long as it was during the day." Frostpelt responded.
"Not necessarily." Swiftclaw explained. "It's not just a bond with a Trainer that can trigger an evolution. All that's needed is a strong feeling towards someone, and that 'someone' doesn't have to be a Trainer, it can be a Pokemon as well. I have a good idea where that strong feeling was directed." he finished, smiling at Sapphire. "Although I wouldn't have expected you to evolve at so young an age, Rustfur. I myself didn't evolve until I was about a year old."
"Well, I didn't expect to evolve either." Rustfur added, heaving himself into a sitting position. Looking down, he now realized how much taller than Sapphire he actually was.
"Is your head feeling any better, Rustfur?" asked his father.
"Yeah, a little bit. I don't know why I even had a headache to begin with."
"All Espeons get one after they first use any sort of psychic ability. It's because they often tend to overuse that new energy, almost to its limit." Swiftclaw informed him.
"That still doesn't explain mine, though?"
"How so?" the older Espeon inquired.
"I didn't sense any decrease in that energy, even while I was using it."
"Really? Can you use any of it?" Swiftclaw asked intently.
"I don't know. Give me something to try it on and I'll give it a shot."
"How about," Swiftclaw looked around a bit before settling on an object, "that tree?"
"So what do you want me to do with it?"
"Focus on it, and see if you can snap it off, right above the base."
Rustfur closed his eyes and focused on the tree Swiftclaw had indicated. Swiftclaw suppressed a shiver; most Espeons kept their eyes open when focusing on a target, himself included. He only knew of one other Espeon that did what Rustfur was doing now. Then, suddenly, psychic energy began pouring from Rustfur, at a rate that surprised the older Espeon. It didn't seem to weaken over any amount of time, either.
Rustfur's eyes now opened, a sky blue glow radiating from them. Swiftclaw expected to see the same glow surround the tree he had told Rustfur to focus on.
Then a cacophony of splintering and crackling filled the air. Swiftclaw looked over his shoulder and saw what was causing the noise. A large tree outlined with a blue aura, was listing dangerously towards the small group. "Rustfur! Stop!"
Swiftclaw's panicked cry shattered his focus. At this point, he heard the splintering wood, and swiveled his head around to see what it was. By now the tree was almost to the point of falling completely over. Then...
Crrrack!
The tree parted from its stump with a noise like a lightning bolt. The rest of the tree dropped like a stone. Rustfur closed his eyes and began focusing again. Again he was interrupted by Swiftclaw. "No, Rustfur. I'll do it." he said, eyes already glowing.
Again the tree was surrounded by a blue light. The falling tree halted its descent. "Now would be a good time to move." Swiftclaw suggested. "This tree is bigger than I thought. I won't be able to hold it for very long."
Fireheart took his brother's not so subtle hint and quickly got out of the way, followed by everyone else. Swiftclaw was the last, letting the tree thud heavily to the ground as he dodged out of the way. "Are you okay, Swiftclaw? You're looking a little tired." the Flareon asked.
"You try holding up a tree that size with your mind and we'll see how tired you are." he remarked.
Rustfur stared in awe at the tree he'd just felled. With his mind, no less. He shuddered at the power he now knew he possessed.
There was a stunned silence as the ten Pokemon gazed at the impressive tree trunk lying on the ground. This was broken by a low gurgle. Leafpool smiled at her Espeon son. "New body, same old stomach. Come on, Rustfur, let's go find something to eat. You too, Sapphire. After that, maybe you two can get some more training in."
"Actually, Leafpool, I wanted to train Rustfur. Besides, a little bit of rest might be good for Sapphire." Swiftclaw put in, furtively flicking his eyes at Sapphire's injured leg.
Leafpool understood immediately. "You're right. She can still come and get something to eat."
"Okay." The Espeon answered.
"Come on, you two. Let's go find some breakfast." Leafpool beckoned, turning and trotting off in search of berries, Rustfur and Sapphire following her.
Rustfur was extremely excited; he was now an Espeon, and he could do things he couldn't do before. He bounced along happily behind his mother.
Sapphire was excited too, but something else weighed on her mind. Will things be different between us, now that Rustfur's evolved? This thought whirled around in her head as she padded along behind Rustfur.
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Author's Notes:
Evolution changes many things, and this is no exception. Now we just have to
wait for Sapphire's evolution.
To those who don't feel like waiting to read chapters that I have not yet posted,
allow me to refer you to my deviantArt page under the same name; "Eeveexpert".