Tyler's Search

by Polarissb

Tyler isn't ready to be alone—not that the Catchers care. After they take his family away in their balls, going after them seems like the only choice the eevee has left—never mind that Johto is a big place. Or that he's scared of evolving. Or that everyone knows pokemon taken by Catchers don't come back. He has to at least try—that's what family does.

38. A Safe Place

It took longer than he'd hoped, but eventually Chloe got back with a mouthful of berries. Tyler let out a silent sigh of relief at her return. "Are you gonna be okay, Tyler?"

"I think so," the vaporeon told her. "I was thinking about it while you were gone, and I still want to get to somewhere safer." Even more now. "I need to heal, but I can keep going the same way I made it here from the tyranitar—in the stream."

"What do you mean? I can't swim, remember?"

"You don't have to," Tyler told the eevee. "Just follow along the bank. I'll turn liquid and just let the current carry me. You might not be able to see me, but I'll turn back every so often to make sure I'm not getting too far ahead."

"Are you sure?"

Tyler nodded from his position in the stream, laying on his side. "We have to keep moving. It's safer in the forest, I promise."

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay?" Chloe asked again.

As long as nothing else attacks us… "I will," he said out loud. "It'll just take me a little while to heal and build my strength back up. That was a tough fight." I beat a tyranitar. The realization hit him suddenly. I beat it on my own. That, at least, was something to be proud of. But it won't matter unless I can keep Chloe safe. I need to be back at full strength as soon as possible. "Come on," he told the eevee. "Let's get moving." She nodded after a moment, but didn't move or take her eyes off him. Tyler sighed and slowly dissolved, letting the current carry him. He tried not to disappear completely; Chloe would worry if she couldn't see him. As usual, his vision went blurry, but he was still able to see a brown-and-cream shape that was the eevee. It started to fall behind, but then started moving toward him. That was good. She seemed to be following, so Tyler relaxed for a minute and just let himself drift down the stream.

After a few minutes the vaporeon reformed. The pain hit him again, but at least he was expecting it. Chloe was trotting along, still looking at him. "Are you okay?" he called. She nodded, though Tyler thought she seemed shaky again. "All right then, let's keep going."

He kept up the pace for a while longer, though the sun was sinking in the sky now. Chloe fell behind a few times, so the vaporeon would reform and wait for her to catch up. Once the sun set, he decided it was time to stop. He felt a little better, though not much. "This looks like a good place," he told her.

"Are you sure you're all right?" she asked yet again. "I'm just worried…you haven't gotten up since the fight, and I can't do anything if something goes wrong."

"I've been saving my strength," Tyler reassured her. "I'm getting better. Look." To prove it, he rolled over and painfully rose to his paws in the water. I don't know how much more I can do, but I can get up. His injuries weren't as healed as he would have hoped either; Tyler supposed it was partly because he was so weak, and partly because he had spent most of the time in a liquid state. He lay down again. "I'm going to sleep here tonight," he told Chloe. "As long as I'm in the water, I'll keep healing."

They settled down for the night like that; Chloe curled up on the bank next to a rock. Tyler arranged himself so that water was flowing over his wounds but not his nose and mouth before falling asleep, still near exhaustion.

Chloe's voice woke him. "Tyler?" He blinked his eyes open. It was still dark; even the moon was down, so the only light was the stars. It was still the middle of the night. "I…" the eevee paused. "I can't sleep."

Tyler took a breath. "What's wrong?"

"I keep seeing things. At least I think so…I'm scared."

"What do you mean?"

The eevee just shook her head. "I don't wanna be alone."

"You're not alone," Tyler reassured her. "I'm right here. Just a few feet away."

Chloe's ears were flat against her neck. "But what if…" she didn't finish.

Tyler paused for another moment, unsure what to do. Finally he decided what the eevee needed was to have him there. He remembered how he'd broken down when he got back to his empty den and how Cora had wrapped her wings around him. Chloe needs that now. Without another word, Tyler pushed himself to his paws, anticipating the surge of pain from his half-healed injuries and willing himself to ignore it. With some effort, Tyler managed to climb back onto the bank of the stream. "I'll sleep up here with you, okay?"

Chloe looked up at him, her eyes gleaming in the starlight. "Thanks…Tyler."

Something in her voice sounded close to tears again, so Tyler pulled the eevee close with a paw and wrapped his tail around her. "Shhh. Let's get back to sleep." He lay down, a jerky series of movements as he tried to ease the strain and pressure on his injuries. Finally he was safely on the ground and the vaporeon let out a sigh. "Come here," he said, lifting a forepaw. Chloe tucked herself underneath and Tyler curled his long tail around to touch his nose. "Good night, little one," he said, echoing Cora again.

There was a pause, then Tyler heard a sigh. "Good night."

Tyler woke the next morning to a stirring motion between his paws. He opened his eyes and raised his head; his aching muscles still protested softly, but he couldn't help a small smile as Chloe looked back at him. "Did you sleep all right?" he asked the eevee. She responded with a yawn and a nod. "Come on, sleepy, let's find something to eat." He led the way, sniffing around until he found food. By the time they'd eaten and gotten back to the stream, Tyler was starting to tire again. "I'm going to do the same thing as yesterday," he told Chloe. "I'm still pretty worn out—but I want to get out of this place." Chloe gave him a serious nod, Tyler dissolved himself, and they set off down the stream.

They traveled that way for most of the morning until Chloe started flagging again. Tyler called a halt and they went to find another bush to eat from. Tyler gave the eevee a little while to rest afterward, although he wasn't so sure he didn't need it more than she did. After that it was back to traveling. Tyler could see the green of trees off in the distance now, and his heart started to lift. It was good to know he didn't have to stay out in this desert much longer.

He constantly kept an eye on Chloe's progress down the streambank, worried that something else might attack, but they weren't bothered that day. By nightfall, there were trees here and there. We'll be in the forest tomorrow, Tyler thought happily. He spent a little while sitting in the stream covered in water; his injuries didn't heal while he was using Acid Armor, but he didn't see any way around that the way things were right now. Chloe was staring at him; Tyler wanted to spend the night in the water, but he knew he'd have to stay with her that night too, so he climbed out of the water again and curled around the eevee. He noticed it still took her a while to fall asleep.

"Chloe," Tyler began in the morning, "I'm going to walk with you for a while." I need to get my strength back, and spending all day as water isn't helping. "We're close now, we can find you a safer place to live. Somewhere you don't have to be watching all the time."

Chloe nodded, her eyes distant. "Okay."

Tyler looked at her. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. A few moments later, she added, "I miss Mother. And Trina. And Father. I don't want to be all alone."

Tyler sighed. "I know, Chloe. Life doesn't always give us what we want. Trainers—Catchers—took my family when I was about your age. I've been alone since then." He stopped and thought for a moment. "Well…I guess that's not quite true. There have been a lot of pokémon who've helped me. A pidgeotto named Cora helped me find my way home. Ryan—he's a quilava—he helped me get into a town so I could look for my family there. Some pokémon up on a ridge helped me find my brother and sister." He paused again. "Ryan told me once that we all have a path to walk. Yours isn't over." Tyler turned to look at the eevee. "Don't give up. You can be strong."

"I miss them, though."

Tyler put a paw on her head. "I know, little one."

"What do you think Father is doing?"

Tyler thought about it. "Probably learning about moves and stuff. Humans know a lot about how pokémon energy works. It's how I learned so much."

"Do you think he's thinking about me?"

"I'm sure he is." He's probably so worried about his family. He'll never know what happened to them. Tyler sighed. He couldn't tell Chloe that. I got your daughter away. I'm keeping her safe. Tyler silently made the promise to the vaporeon he'd never meet. "Come on, let's get going."

Chloe nodded, but as they set out she trailed behind him. Tyler started to feel tired shortly after they started, but he pressed on determinedly. I've got to build my strength back up, heal…we both need somewhere safe to stay. He found himself panting for breath, but did his best to conceal it.

"Tyler? Are you all right?"

Tyler sighed. So much for that. "It is taking me longer to heal than I hoped," he admitted. "Mostly because we've been traveling the whole time. We just have to make it a little further and we can find a safe place in the forest. Then we won't have to worry so much about being attacked and I can focus on recovering."

"So you're still hurt?"

Tyler nodded slowly. "This never used to be a problem," he added, trying to change the subject. "I ended up like this after a lot of fights with Claire." That part wasn't quite true—Tyler could count the number of times on his headfins, including when the trainer had found him—but that wasn't the point. "Humans have a lot of medicines and things to heal pokémon. And I didn't have to travel when I was hurt, I was in a ball and I could just focus on healing. Maybe I'm getting soft," he joked. Chloe didn't smile, and he tried again. "Listen. We're almost there. It's not as dangerous where we're going, and I told you I'd keep you safe. I meant it. I'll get to the forest all right, and you will too."

It was afternoon when the trees finally closed around them. Tyler was on his paws, but he'd had to go back to drifting down the stream earlier to rest before walking again. He stopped for a moment and just breathed in the scents of the trees. Everything seemed cleaner here after the dry smells of the rocks and dirt they were leaving behind. Chloe was staring around at the trees that left them in a canopy of shade and the softening ground underpaw. After watching her for a minute, Tyler asked, "So? Do you like it here?"

"I never thought there was so much green anywhere," the eevee breathed. Tyler sighed quietly to himself. She's had a hard life.

"We can find a place for you to live here."

"By myself?" Chloe turned her big brown eyes on Tyler.

"I don't know," he temporized. "Not for now. I need to build my strength back up too. Come on. Let's find something to eat." He started looking around; it didn't' take too long to find another bush that they ate from. The berries weren't Tyler's favorite kind, but Chloe seemed to like them. He noted hopefully that the eevee seemed more alive than he'd seen her since they'd met, ranging around the clear areas, ears and nose twitching this way and that, although she still stayed away from the shadows.

Tyler felt a little better with the food and the few minutes of rest, so they started looking for somewhere to stay. Tyler wistfully imagined a den or something, but they didn't have one here and he didn't have the strength to make one right now—and that would probably take more than the rest of the day in any case. I guess we could always do what I used to as an eevee and sleep in a bush. If I can fit. He angled for some brush.

"Where are you going?" the eevee asked him.

"Just looking for somewhere to rest. I've been trying to keep up a good pace, to get here, so I haven't gotten much chance to heal. Now…" the vaporeon gave a satisfied sigh. "Things are a little more comfortable here. We can rest for a while."

Chloe considered that for a few seconds. "I guess…I'm kind of tired too from all the walking."

Tyler nodded. "We can move on tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be in better shape then. Now come on."

After a while, Tyler found a spot that was to his satisfaction. He would have loved to just submerge in the stream, but he wasn't sure Chloe would be all right staying on her own, even if he was close. He turned and trampled out a circle in the undergrowth before turning to the eevee. "I'm going to rest and heal here."

She nodded and replied, "Okay," before curling up next to him.

Tyler paused. "You might not want to do that. I'm going to be wet."

"I don't care," the eevee replied. "And wet is like…it reminds me of…"

"Your father," Tyler finished quietly. "I get it. Well, if you want to lay next to me that's all right." He lay down; a moment later he felt her scoot up against his back. As he covered himself in water, there was a twitch, and then she was still. Tyler sighed to himself as his injuries dissolved and the aches and soreness that he'd been feeling all day went away.

Nothing else happened that day, and by the time night fell the vaporeon was fully healed. He flipped happily onto his back and stretched, looking up at the moon shining through the trees; there was an answering rustle in the grass beside him. "Oh, sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to wake you up."

Chloe shook her head. "I wasn't sleeping."

Tyler flipped his head around to look at her. "Oh."

She giggled at seeing him upside-down with his headfin flattened sideways, and Tyler's heart lifted again. "Are you feeling better?" the eevee asked him.

Tyler thought about it for a moment. "A lot better. I'm still…I'm not back at full strength yet, but at least I'm not hurt anymore."

"What do we do now?"

"I'm going to eat some more." Tyler's stomach gurgled. "And then I'll keep resting. It helps…and it's dark."

Chloe followed him back to the bush, but didn't take a berry this time. "Aren't you hungry too?" Tyler asked her.

"No," she told him. "I came and got one earlier."

"Oh." She'd gone without him; that was good. Hopefully living here would help Chloe start to feel normal again, and Tyler thought it might be working already.

"Is it really going to be safe tonight?"

"It should be," Tyler replied. "But you can hear better than I can—if you hear anything wrong, you can wake me up."

She did wake him up once about a noise a little way away. Tyler listened to it for a minute and decided it was probably just a paras looking for a new tree. After that he fell asleep again with Chloe curled up between his paws.

Tyler set out again the next day. It was nice; things were still getting warmer, the patches of snow had given way to damp ground, and there were familiar, comforting sounds of pokémon going about their normal routines. "Where are we going now?" Chloe asked him.

"We're not very far into the forest," the vaporeon answered. "And I'd like to find somewhere with a little more water."

"How do you do that?"

"I can sense it," he told the eevee. "It's one of the abilities I got when I evolved."

She was silent, and for a minute there was only the sound of their paws on the soft ground and a spearow chattering at something in the distance. Then she asked him, "What was it like when you evolved?"

Tyler had been expecting the question. "When I evolved?" He shook his head. "Honestly, I don't really know. I was sort of drowning in the river, and I was hitting rocks and things and I couldn't really think about anything. I didn't realize I'd evolved until after I got out of the water. After, though…my energy changed. It was…well, quieter. Not rushing all the time like it did before. Like it finally found the right thing to be." That reminded him of something. "Didn't you say something about that? That you were old enough to start using energy moves?"

"Um…" The eevee gave him an uncertain look. "I don't really know what that is. Energy, I mean. All I know is Father said we were getting old enough for it." She went silent, and Tyler noticed she avoided looking his way for a minute. He thought he knew what was going on.

After a minute he asked her, "Do you feel anything…different? Inside, I mean, different from how you used to feel. Not like sad or scared or worried either."

She finally looked back. "Maybe? There was one weird thing…" She sighed. "It was when I was running away and the pupitar was coming after me. I thought it was gonna get me, but then…I felt all weird, and it…missed. Like it bounced a little."

Tyler wasn't quite sure what that meant. "That's not something I ever learned…" he began thoughtfully. "But…back when I was training as an eevee, all the moves I learned were to make myself stronger and faster. I think there were other ones. Zahna mentioned a shielding move once, but she never showed it to me." Still, it's somewhere to start. Actually, maybe I should explain a little…

"Okay," he began. "You know how pokémon have different powers? Like how I can use water, or your mother could use ice? Those are because of energy. It's just…a power, that all pokémon have inside of them. I don't know where it comes from or why we have it, but it's the same for all of us. It's inside you too."

Chloe gave him a thoughtful nod. "All right. But why didn't my parents tell me?"

Tyler sighed. "It's a little different for eevee. When you're little, you don't have enough power to use, and…I'm not sure, but Zahna told me it's not good for eevee if they push them too hard before they're ready. I think you should start learning about it now, though. It's something you should learn soon, because energy is how you evolve too. It starts building up when you're almost old enough." He stopped and looked at Chloe. "But yeah, usually your parents won't tell you until you're almost old enough for evolution. I guess," he added, wondering how Chloe would take this, "it'll be my job now."

There was silence for a moment. "So then…does that mean you'll stay with me?"

He let out another sigh. "For now, yes. I'm not ready to go off hunting Catchers right now, and this is important for you to learn. We'll find someplace and I'll start training you. At least so you can take care of yourself better."

"Really? Yay!" Chloe practically bounced as she spoke. "So, um, what do I have to learn?"

Tyler thought for a second. "Well, I can tell you some of the things I know about energy while we walk. Zahna told me—"

"Zahna is the umbreon, right?" Chloe interrupted. Then she hunched her shoulders and added, "Sorry."

The vaporeon nodded. "That's right. She did a lot of my training. I mean, we trained with our parents, but the Catchers took them before I ever learned what energy was. I was like you, I discovered mine by accident." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, she told me that my energy would respond to what I was trying to do, like how I could do a Quick Attack—a speed move—by focusing on getting to something. I've also learned that there's a sort of feeling connected to each move. I can teach you the things to do for different moves, but once you've learned how to do one the easiest way to get better at it is to hold onto that feeling, connect it to your energy."

"So that's why you asked me if I felt anything different?"

Tyler gave her another nod, impressed. "That's right. Do you remember the feeling?"

It took a moment before the eevee responded. "Not exactly. I mean, I remember feeling it, but I can't really think of how it felt. But I'd know it if it happened again."

"What about now? If you're getting old enough to evolve you should be able to feel your energy. It's like…I don't know…maybe like something waking up inside you." Tyler tried to remember how his energy had felt when he'd first discovered it; he was pretty sure it was different now that he'd evolved, so he wasn't sure that would help. "It's like…" He sighed and shook his head. "It's been a long time. I don't quite remember how it felt back then. But it should be something inside you. Something different."

Chloe didn't say anything for a minute. Tyler looked over at her a few times, but the eevee seemed to be concentrating on something, so he didn't interrupt her. Finally she said, "I think I feel it."

"Hmmm." Tyler had to think about what to say next. "Let's see…there's one thing you can try while we're walking. It's a speed move—trainers call it Quick Attack. It's the first move I ever learned, and it's really simple. All you have to do is use your energy and focus on getting to something as fast as you can. Okay? Try it."

"All right." The eevee furrowed her brow in concentration, then turned to Tyler again and asked, "How do I do it?"

"Oh. Um, pick something out in front of us. Like a tree or a bush. Focus on reaching it as fast as you can. You can run too if it helps."

The eevee nodded and looked ahead again, taking a deep breath. She took off, sprinting to a tree. When she reached it she turned around to look at him. "It didn't work."

"That's all right," Tyler reassured her. "It's your first try."

Chloe charged unsuccessfully at several other things before stopping and shaking her head. "It's not working. I don't know…" She paused and looked at him, breathing hard with her ruff in disarray. "Maybe…it would work better, with…um, a pokémon?"

"You mean me?" Tyler smiled at the eevee's hesitation. "Well, maybe once we get where we're going. But when I was first learning how to use my energy, I mostly aimed at trees and bushes and things. I only used it for attacking another pokémon once before I started training with Zahna. You should be able to do it."

"Okay," Chloe responded, but she didn't sound very enthusiastic. She made one more halfhearted attempt before falling in next to Tyler. The vaporeon tried to reassure her again, telling her that she didn't have to get it right now and they could try again later. She didn't answer, so Tyler turned his attention to finding a place to stop and hopefully stay. He was getting tired again.

He followed his water sense away from the stream, toward another body he could feel. Without Claire's crystal he couldn't sense that far away, so he knew it would be close enough to reach that afternoon.

Tyler was breathing harder than he liked when they got there, but the spot he'd found seemed like it would work. It was a larger stream—a small river, even, big enough to swim in. There was a satisfying amount of undergrowth around, all leafing out with the arrival of spring. "This looks like a good place," the vaporeon announced. "We might—be here a while, so we should find you a good place for a den." He was still planning to go once he felt well enough, but he didn't know how to bring that up again since Chloe seemed so afraid of being left alone. She'll be fine, Tyler reassured himself. The pokémon here aren't like she's used to.

"Okay." The eevee turned to start nosing through the bushes. "Are you coming with me?"

"Not quite yet," Tyler replied. "There's something I have to check first." He started walking slowly around, looking up into the trees. After a minute he saw the round shape of a spearow nest above him. "Hey!" he called. "Anyone there?"

A large, long-necked bird stuck its head over the side. "What is it? Who are you?"

"I just got here," he explained. "My name is Tyler, I just had a question."

"Hmmm." The fearow considered this for a moment. "All right, what?"

"I just want to know if trainers—Catchers—come into this part of the forest much."

The fearow shrugged. "Not really. That all?"

Tyler nodded. "That's all." He turned and left, aware of the fearow's gaze still on him. He came across Chloe almost immediately. "I was just making sure we're safe from Catchers here," he told her. "It sounds like we are." She nodded. "Did you find a good place?"

The eevee shuffled her paws. "Well…not really…I sort of just followed you."

"Are you still scared of being by yourself? It's okay here, life isn't so hard as out in the desert," Tyler promised.

"I know," Chloe responded, but she didn't look quite convinced.

Tyler decided not to press the matter further. "That's okay, I'll come look too."

It didn't take long before they found a suitable spot under a spreading bush, not too far back from the riverbank but not right next to it either. Tyler also noticed several holes around the general area, but he didn't hear any activity inside, so their occupants were probably out somewhere. He noticed Chloe watching him expectantly. She's waiting for me to start, I guess. "I don't think we'll be able to do it all today," he told her. "I'm tired from coming here today." I wish I wasn't, but... "I can get started, though." He paused. "You might want to stand back."

Tyler moved around the bush to face away from the river. He pulled several branches out of the way, but they just sprang back. I need a clear shot at the ground. After thinking for a moment, Tyler used a weak ice beam to freeze some of them, breaking the shoots with a paw. He backed off again and built up enough power to use a Hydro Pump attack, aiming through the hole he'd just made.

The burst of water rocked him back and sprayed mud everywhere. Tyler stumbled a little, but when the water had cleared out of the air, he could see the beginnings of a hole in the ground.

He heard a shaking noise and turned to see bits of mud splattered across Chloe's fur. "That was a lot," she said.

"Sorry," he replied. "I didn't mean to get you muddy."

The eevee giggled. "You're all muddy." Tyler supposed he was.

"Well, it's a start. I'm going to dig as much of the mud out as I can. It's easier this way." He started at it. Chloe started pushing the mud into a pile, keeping it under the bush. By the time they'd finished, the sun was getting low, Tyler was thoroughly tired, and they were both covered in dirt. They had the definite beginning of a den, with a hole Tyler could easily fit into, though there wasn't any underground part yet. "Do you want to sleep down here tonight?"

Chloe wrinkled her nose. "It's still all wet and muddy down there."

"Don't worry, I can dry it out," he told the eevee.

"Okay then." Chloe started for the hole, but Tyler held her back.

"You're still all muddy. Let's get cleaned off first." He headed to the river and stepped in. Chloe followed, but very hesitantly. "Come on," Tyler said. "This river's pretty slow, it's not going to wash you away." She nodded and took another tiny step. "You know, if you're going to live with me you should probably get used to water," he added.

"It's cold," the eevee said. Tyler thought it was fine, but he didn't say anything.

"I'll tell you what. Let's wash off quick, and then I can get you dry, okay?"

"All right," she agreed. Chloe took two more steps and then slowly lowered herself into the water. Tyler was already on his back, enjoying the water and feeling the dirt slide off of his skin. If he rolled a little further, he'd be floating…Tyler sighed. Probably not tonight. I'm tired and I need to keep an eye on Chloe too.

Her voice broke into his thoughts. "Okay, I'm clean!" Tyler looked up to see the eevee getting hurriedly out of the water. As soon as she was on the bank, she shook herself off, spraying water all around.

Tyler followed a little more slowly, wishing he felt stronger. "All right, come here." She obediently walked over to him, and Tyler started soaking water out of her fur. It only took a few minutes to get her dry, and they walked back to the hole together. When Tyler got there, he realized that it was still all wet. I was going to absorb that…but that would mean laying down in the mud again. "Hmm, maybe we won't sleep in the hole tonight."

He found another bush to stay under, though he thought he would still be visible inside. Chloe curled up next to him and fell asleep almost immediately.

"Are you awake?" Chloe's voice cut through his sleep the next morning.

Tyler opened one eye before flaring his fins as a yawn escaped him. "I am now."

"Oh—sorry," the eevee said contritely. "I just woke up and I was wondering what we're going to do today."

Tyler yawned again, blinking. "What was that?"

"I said, um…I was wondering what we're going to do today. Because you were telling me about energy yesterday?"

"Give me a minute." Tyler lay there for a moment, gauging how he felt. Better, he decided, though the vaporeon wished he could sleep longer. He knew from experience that rest would be one of the best things for getting back to full strength. I don't think I can get back to sleep now, though. Tyler yawned again and climbed to his paws. "Let's get something to eat first."

After they ate, Tyler thought for a minute. "Remember what you were asking me yesterday, about trying to use me as a target? I think I'm ready for that today. We have some time." He paused and looked around, casting about for a good area to train in. There wasn't anything in the immediate area, but after looking around for a minute they found a fair-sized open space between trees. "This looks like a good spot," he remarked.

"Are you sure?" Chloe asked, suddenly looking apprehensive. "You're still hurt, aren't you."

"Don't worry. You won't do much to me. I had a tyranitar beating on me a few days ago, I'll survive somehow." Tyler was a little worried about how he would hold up, but he knew he would probably be all right. Chloe trotted a short distance away and then turned around, getting ready to come at him for the first time. "You remember what to do?" Tyler asked her.

She nodded. "Use my energy and focus on getting to you as fast as I can."

Tyler nodded and got ready, crouching down to brace himself. He twitched his tail back and forth a few times for balance. "Okay, come on." Chloe came charging at him, and now that they were head-on he could see the concentration on the eevee's face. A few seconds later she hit with a soft thump. Tyler flexed his legs a little, but he took the impact easily.

"It's still not working," the eevee said. Tyler saw disappointment in her brown eyes.

"Don't give up," he told her. Let's try again." They set up, and Chloe tried several more times to pull the move off.

"It's not working," she said again. "I'm trying really hard, I don't know what's wrong." There was a quaver in her voice.

"Hey." Tyler wrapped his tail around her. "It's okay. You don't need to learn it right now. This is still your first time learning about energy, and I don't know if I'm a very good teacher."

"I know, but…" Chloe wiped her eyes with a paw. "I want to be able to help. I couldn't do anything when I lost my family, or when you came. I don't want everyone to have to protect me all the time."

"You haven't evolved yet. You don't have to be so hard on yourself."

"I know. I just…when you were telling me about how energy works, I felt like maybe things would be different. But I still can't do anything." She looked up at him again. "I wanna learn how, Tyler. My family…they're gone. I have to start taking care of myself, don't I? You said you can't stay long either."

Tyler sighed. "I don't know. I don't want to leave you by yourself, but I can't bring you along either. And you're right, I can't stay forever. Not while the Catchers have my family."

"But you said Catchers aren't that bad."

"These ones are," Tyler growled, looking past Chloe, off into the forest. "They don't care about pokémon at all. They don't follow the rules all the other ones do. They hunt in groups, and they take every pokémon they can find. They've had my family for a long time now. I can't just keep waiting." He looked back down to see a look of surprise on Chloe's face. "Sorry." I hope I didn't scare her.

When the eevee spoke again, her voice was small. "I get it. So I have to learn how to take care of myself, so you can go."

What am I supposed to do? Tyler asked himself helplessly. I don't want to push her away like this, but I can't stay here. Not forever. "Let's worry about this later," he said, plunging back into the lesson. "There's one more thing you can try. The first time I did a Quick Attack, I wasn't attacking, I was trying to get out of the way. I don't know…maybe it'll help you. Are you ready to try?"

"I…yeah." Chloe's expression was unreadable.

"Okay. I'm going to spray water at you. I won't do it hard enough to hurt, but you'll get wet if you can't dodge fast enough." He watched the eevee back off to a safe distance. "Here goes," he warned. Tyler spat a narrow stream of water, noting with part of his mind that it was stronger than the last time he'd tried. Chloe broke into a sprint, but Tyler's water hit her anyway. She stopped and opened her mouth, but Tyler forestalled her. "Keep moving. Real fights don't stop just because you make a mistake." Her eyes widened and she threw herself sideways as Tyler fired again, avoiding it this time. Not bad, the vaporeon thought, focused on the training now, but not a quick attack either. And now you're on the ground. He sent another stream of water at the eevee, who went rigid as she realized she couldn't avoid it. There was a strange noise, and Tyler's attack glanced off something invisible.

Tyler stared at Chloe, who seemed as surprised as he was. After a moment she scrambled to her paws, seemingly untroubled by her earlier fears. "Did you see that? I did it! That's what I told you about!"

The vaporeon nodded, thinking. "You did. That's not quite what I had in mind, but it worked. And you used your energy, which was the idea." He tilted his head. "Maybe you're not that physical. I learned how to block and dodge and hit and run ever since I was little, and I didn't start using my energy for anything except doing that better until I evolved. Maybe it's different for you." The vaporeon shrugged. "Well, it works for you, so maybe we'll focus on those kinds of moves instead."

"Those moves?" Chloe asked. "What other ones are there?"

"Not so fast," Tyler laughed. "You should work on this one a little more. Do you know how it feels now?"

"Sort of."

"All right, we'll keep practicing. Once you get used to it, you'll be able to do it on your own, not just when you panic. That'll help you feel how to draw on your energy when you want to, too. And once you can do that, I can show you some other things."