.
Yeah, uh, this is late. Super sorry about that. I've had a hard time writing it. That combined with having multiple busy weekends in a row lead it to not coming out for a long time.
There's also going to be a shift in methodology. Im going to stop treating it so seriously, at least for now, and start writing more just… how i feel like writing it. Ofc, still review. Please, but just know that if there seems to be a shift in tone, or inconsistencies, its likely intentional, or just because im shifting how i go about writing it.
Anyways, heres chapter 5.
Chapter 5, A close encounter.
Ian found himself in his bed, in his human life, his human body, his human house. Everything was normal. Ian didn't think twice about getting up to check his phone.
8:12 Am
He got up out of his bed, and walked out of the room, and upstairs. The rest of his family wasn't up yet. He walked up the stairs, and into the kitchen, creaking the wood floor beneath him
'I feel like I'm forgetting something… hmm…' He thought, as he reached into the pantry and pulled out a box of presidents choice raisin bran. The box's odd combination of purple and white was odd for a cereal box, but wasn't too weird. The screen door across the kitchen table was closed, with sunlight pouring in from outside, reflecting off the mid February snow.
Ian walked over to the refrigerator, and scanned through it. After a moment, he found the milk. It was in the door, nestled between a bottle of mustard and a bottle of hot sauce. The fridge was never very organized.
As he pulled out the milk, he realized what was missing. His glasses.
'Oh yeah. That's it. My glasses. I didn't put them on. But why would I forget?' He thought questioningly.
As if on cue, his phone buzzed, He pulled it out, and checked it.
"Wake up."
'Oh, mom doesn't know I'm awake yet.' he believed, before shooting back; "I am. I'm in the kitchen."
Suddenly, he got another text. This one was from William.
"Wake up."
"What the hell?" he said aloud, before he started getting messages from all his contacts.
"Wake up"
"Wake up"
"Wake up"
His Discord app began to buzz repeatedly, every single channel sending the same message.
"Wake up"
"Am I dreaming?! What the fuck is going on?" he yelled, before he got a splitting headache all of a sudden. He keeled over, onto the floor, writhing in pain, a foreign voice echoing through his head,
"WAKE UP"
"WAKE UP"
He couldn't stand the pain anymore and opened his eyes.
Instantly, it all came to a stop, but something wasn't right,
He wasn't in the kitchen anymore. He was in a black void. He looked around, and then down at himself.
'No…' he thought, as he got a good look at it.
He was an Eevee again, on his side. Suddenly, the voice came back.
"WAKE UP! REMEMBER WHO YOU TRULY ARE."
Ian burst awake with a scream, sweating and panting hard.
"Are you ok?" a voice next to him asked concernedly.
It was Ava, and she was kneeling down next to the scared Ian, as he looked around, worried.
"I think you were having a nightmare." she said, as Ian began to calm down. "Do you remember what it was about?" Ava asked.
Ian thought for a moment, before looking at her and shaking his head. 'That's odd. I should be able to remember it… but… nothing. '
"Uh… you there?"
"Oh, sorry. Um… no. I can't remember it." Ian made his best attempt at a shrug.
"Well, we should head out soon. You got all your stuff ready?" Ava asked.
"It hasn't been not ready since yesterday morning, so yeah, let's go." Ian paused, and took out his map.
"We were supposed to continue the path we took yesterday, the west side of frosted mountain, correct?" Ian questioned.
"Yep. Ms. Neo said we need another day of searching over there." Ava clarified.
"Well let's get going then!" Ian said as the pair walked pushed open the door, and walked into the street, which was very busy this time of the morning.
As they passed the Kecleons stall, it was still only Saul there. Tenpepper was nowhere to be found. The 2 Eevee approached.
"Hey Saul, where's your brother?" Ian asked.
"Oh I don't know! He's been gone for days now and I haven't heard from him. He's very strong, mind you, but if he's gone any longer, and I may have to put in for a rescue. They are very expensive though, mind you!" Saul said quickly, quite visibly panicked.
"Hey, chill out. We'll keep an eye on him while we go out today! If we see him, we'll help him out, ok?" Ian said, giving Saul a smile.
"Oh thank you! You don't know how much this means to me!" Saul said happily. "Do be careful out there!" He said as his younger customers walked slowly towards the western gate.
As the two of them continued down the trail they took yesterday, they made light conversation. Eventually, they reached a split path they had walked through yesterday.
"So, yesterday, we took the left path, right?" Ava asked
"Yep. Today, we take the right path, and hope to find something I guess." Ian confirmed, as he began to walk down the path.
As they walked, the pines trees grew thicker and thicker, sunlight shining through less and less. The ground was covered in a thin layer of brown moss, and rocks stuck out of the barely visible path everywhere.
Eventually, they had to get into a single file line to stay on the route. At one point, they even had to crawl under a fallen tree, where Ian's fur became filled with dirt and twigs. His fur had gotten much worse in the last few days, and was now noticeably matted at patchy, with the occasional spit of mud.
You know, Ian, why don't you bathe at all? You're a mess right now, and I haven't seen you do it at all." Ava asked him, as the two continued down the trail.
"What do you mean?" Ian asked obliviously.
"Look at yourself! Your fur! Its a mess!" Ava said incredulously
Ian scanned himself, and quickly got what she was saying. "Well where should I do it? There wasn't a bathhouse in the village!" He retorted.
At this point they had stopped walking. "You just… use your tongue! That's just what you do! The only ones to use bathhouses are the bipeds, and there's none in the village! Jeez!" She almost yelled. Ian slightly recoiled.
"Look, I'm sorry, just… I'm not used to that at all. How about this? Once we get back, i can find somewhere to bathe, ok?" He said weakly.
She seemed to think for a moment, before nodding. The pair of foxes then continued to walk down the new trail.
Eventually, however, they found something.
They had stumbled upon some old stone ruins in a large clearing. Pine needles littered the ground around it, killing off any grass. The old ruins resembled an old stone hut, with stairs around the outside. Large rocks were scattered around it, having fallen off the destroyed structure.
"Whoa… what do you think this thing is? It looks like an old ruined… something." Ian remarked, fascinated at the old structure. "Is there a way inside?"
Ava prowled around it, searching for anything of note. Eventually, she found something.
"Hey Ian, come here!" She yelled over to him. He quickly ran over, and found what looked like a doorway to the inside of the structure.
"Ladies first? Hehe?" Ian remarked. Ava rolled her eyes, before walking inside, Ian close behind.
It was dark on the inside, and quite damp. The ground was coated in thick moss that squelched with every step by the two. After a few minutes, they were unable to see.
"Should we turn back?" Ava asked. "Its kinda nasty in here."
"I have an idea, actually. Maybe if there's a fire type outside, we can trick it into lighting a torch for us? What do you say to that?" Ian explained.
"I mean… it might work. But we wouldn't be able to hold it very well… lets try at least." She said, quickly turning around and running outside. Ian ran out behind her.
Outside, they scanned the surrounding area for wild Pokémon, and found nothing but a few bug types.
"Hey… is that a Larvesta?" Ian said, gesturing to a bug type at the edge of the clearing.
"Lets sneak up on it!" Ava exclaimed, lowering herself and crawling over around the oblivious fire type. "Grab a stick!" She whispered.
Ian quickly grabbed a good sized stick from the ground near him in his mouth, and started slowly creeping up in front of the Larvesta in such a way to avoid its sight. He could see Ava on the other side of it, grinning evilly.
Eventually, he stopped, and after a moment, Ava pounced on the Larvesta. It let out a squeak, and tried to escape, but couldn't. Ava held it in her front paws tightly. "Quick! Get the stick!" She yelled.
Ian moved his head so that the stick was in front of the Larvesta. Ava squeezed it for a moment, prompting it to spit out a small ember, which caught on the stick, setting it ablaze.
With the stick lit, Ava tossed away the Larvesta, which glared at them for a moment, before scurrying off into the woods.
After a moment…
"Yes! Did you see that? It was so surprised when I got it! That worked so well! You too Ian! We both got it!" Ava exclaimed, literally jumping for joy
'She's so happy we got that… I am too. We make a good team.' Ian thought, a smile creeping across his face.
"Oh, do you want me to take the torch? You, uh, cant really talk can you, oh fearless leader of the stick." She teased.
"I'm gffd" Ian said through the stick. "Thnks 'nywys"
The two of them began to walk over to the ruins from earlier, and walked inside the little door, the lit stick helping them see.
"Lets hurry. Its really gross in here." Ava said, running ahead.
After a little bit, they could see a chest in the back. "Look at that! We found a treasure!" She said excitedly, running towards the chest. She pushed it open with her snout, and…
"Its empty? Aww… you wanna head back out? We at least found the ruins and the new route here." Ava said, disappointed.
"Uh huh." Ian nodded his head, and they began to walk out of the ruins, leaving the chest behind.
As they walked outside the entrance, Ian dropped the torch on the ground. It went out quickly. "Blegch. Remind me not to eat sticks like that again. That was kinda nasty. But hey, you didn't need to do it, so I don't mind." Ian said to Ava, smiling.
"Aw, thanks. So we're going back now?" She asked?
"Yep. I guess so." Ian confirmed.
They begun to walk away from the ruins, before something happened. A Trevenant materialized in front of them, followed by 4 Phantump surrounding them.
"Yoouu… yoouu should not have cooome heeeree…" the Trevenant bellowed deeply. The sound seemed to surround them.
"Wha… what do you mean? What do you want? What did we do?" Ava said, as she stopped in her tracks, quivering.
"Yoouuu desecrated this plaaaceee… you must paayy…" It said.
"What, are you going to attack us? Just because we came to your old ruins?" Ian said defiantly, although a hint of fear was apparent. The Trevenant was almost 5 times his height.
"Paayyy…" the Phantump all echoed ominously.
"Ok…" Ian whispered to Ava. "These guys are ghost types I think. If we bite them, its more effective because of how biting is dark type… you got it?" He explained to a terrified Ava.
"O-ok… sorry… I just… ghosts. I don't do well with ghosts at all." Ava whispered back.
"Its ok, just… we can do this." Ian said, before taking a deep breath. "Look, Mr. Trevenant, we didn't-"
"Silence… face us… noow." It interrupted.
"Whelp. Worth a shot. Lets go!" Ian yelled, before the two Eevee each charged after one of the Phantump.
Ava first reached one, and attempted to bite down on the small grass type, but it quickly dodged out of the way, and fired a black blob at her. Ava screamed, but was as confused as the phantump when it washed over her harmlessly.
"What the…" she said, before snapping out of her confusion, and pouncing on the Phantump, biting down into its wooden exterior.
Ian, meanwhile, attempted to bite, but the Phantump he had tried to attack fired a sharp leaf at his face, screwing up his running, and giving him a small cut across his face, and leaving it a little bit red.
Ian got mad at this, and tried again to pounce it, but dodged a second leaf flying his way, and managed to sink his teeth into the wood.
"That's what you get for cutting up my face, asshole." He said angrily, before slashing at the Phantump with his claws.
With 2 of the Phantump out for the count, Ian and Ava quickly regrouped, and stared down the last 3 enemies. They were back to back, and both quite angry.
The next pair of Phantump both fired a swarm of seeds out incredibly quickly. Ian managed to dodge them all, and dashed at the Phantump.
Ava wasn't so lucky, and got hit by most of the seeds fired at her, and fell down. She looked at the Phantump that had fired them, and tried to spit at it, but instead, fired a black blob similar to the one that had been shot at her earlier. In both her and the Phantumps surprise, it landed, and the Phantump let out a small screech, before falling down, also out for the count.
Ian had gotten close to the last Phantump, and tried to bite it, but it swooped out of the way, and hit him with a chunk of wood. He fell on his belly from the attack, and couldn't get up in time.
"Ian!" Ava yelled, before trying again to shoot another black blob at Ian's general area.
Right before the last Phantump got another swing in on Ian, the black blob collided, and sent the Phantump down nearly instantly.
"Thanks" Ian said, as he got up and walked over to Ava.
"Don't mention it." She replied. "Should we finish this?"
"Yeo. Lets go."
They ran back to each other, and stared down the Trevenant, who had been watching the whole ordeal. "Yoouuu darree?! Then perish…!" It bellowed loudly, before charging at them at a surprisingly fast speed.
They both jumped opposite directions, with ava planting herself and firing a shadow ball, while Ian quickly did a 180 and pounced at the Trevenants face.
The Trevenant Didnt just stand there, and instead swiped at Ian with a wooden arm once he got close, bashing him a few feet away. Then the shadow ball struck, and it turned to Ava, very angry.
It rushed up to Ava, and before she could get away, she got hit with another wooden arm.
"Don't touch her!" Ian yelled, before quickly getting up, and pouncing at the back of the Trevenants head. He landed on it, and dug his claws into the wood to anchor himself.
In a fit of rage, he bit into its neck ferociously, and tore out some wood and splinters. The Trevenant let out a screech, before clawing and grabbing at the back of its neck to get the angry fox off.
It managed to pull Ian off after a moment, and threw him at the ground, preparing to stomp on him. He couldn't move, and was terrified now.
Just before the leg landed on the struggling Eevee, a large shadow ball hit it where Ian had attacked it earlier, and the Trevenant fell over, unconscious. As soon as it hit the ground next to Ian, its body and the bodies of all the Phantump faded back into disappearance. They were gone.
Ian took a moment to breath and calm himself down, before struggling to stand up again. His face was bloody from the Phantump leaf and being thrown on the ground. He glanced over to Ava, and saw she wasn't doing much better. She was covered in matted fur, and was quite tired out.
"Ava! Are you ok?" Ian said, running over to her.
"That… was… terrifying. Let's never do that again." she said, pausing for emphasis, before standing up. "But hey, we actually did it! And you were really good during that, saving me! Again. But still!" Ava exclaimed.
"Oh come on, you know I wouldn't have been able to do it without you either." Ian said sheepishly. If he could, his arm would be on the back of his own head. "What was that move you pulled off? It looked like a shadow ball."
"I don't know. But… it doesn't matter. We got out of there." Ava said
Just as she finished speaking, as if on cue, they heard a voice from behind them.
"Oh golly gee! That was harrowing, now wasn't it!"
They turned, and saw a purple Kecleon head out of the stone ruins. He was walking towards them, a large pack on his back.
"Ah, hello there! You two must be my "saviors" he said cheekily. "My name is Tenpepper. I run a shop with my brother up in Frosted Village!"
"Uh, not to be rude or anything, but we know. Your brother, Saul, wanted us to keep an eye out for you on our missions." Ian explained.
"Ah, that old chap. Always worrying about me! Well, for helping me with that ghastly Trevenant, why don't I treat you to a stay at the springs tonight in the village!" Tenpepper said.
"Ooh, that sounds nice." Ava said, turning to face Ian. "Plus you can clean yourself off, you dirty idiot." She laughed. Ian turned bright red.
"Oh come on. That was low." he said, before the 3 of them began walking back towards Frosted Village.
4 hours later
The three of them walked up to the familiar west gate. Tenpepper spoke first. "John? Are you up there? We need to get in the village!" he said.
"Yep. sure am." A Flareon poked its head down, and saw the three standing there. "Ah, Tenpepper! Been a few days, eh? How you been?" John said, as the gate opened.
"Quite good. And yourself?" Tenpepper responded.
"Ah, the usual. Seems you met some o the new recruits!"
"Yes, it seems I did! Fine kids! Anyways, we must get going! Saul is probably dying to know what happened to me."
"Yep! See ya later you three!" John said as they passed through the gate and into the village.
After a little bit of walking, Tenpepper dashed off towards the Kecleon stall. Saul quickly noticed, and ran out to greet him.
"Tenpepper! So good to see you brother! I was worried for you!"
"Ah, I apologize brother. There was a Trevenant, and These two saved me!" Tenpepper stepped out of the way, revealing Ian and Ava standing there. Ian had a small smile on his face.
'Wow, they are REALLY similar. Same accent, mannerisms, hell, they call each other brother.' Ian thought.
"You're welcome Saul! We were out on our mission today and found Tenpepper there!" Ava said.
"Ah yes, I promised you two a trip to the hot springs, didn't I?" Tenpepper said.
"Yeah, I think so." Ian responded.
"Well, I had forgotten about the fact I will have to sort out my belongings and such. Therefore…" Tenpepper dug around in his bag for a moment, before pulling out two tickets. "When you report the mission to Neo and Nova, give them these."
"What are they? Tickets for the hot spring?"
"Yes. usually it costs 500 Poké, but you two get it for free!"
'Bit of a cheapskate. Guess it makes sense for Kecleon though. He was like that in the games, too.' Ian thought, as he took the tickets and put them in his bag.
"Thanks!" Ava said, as she turned around. "We'll see you guys later!"
"Yes! I supposed we must get back to our work here as well." Saul responded as the two Eevee walked away to their house.
The two of them had dropped off their bags, and began travelling a little bit farther up the mountain. There was a small route that led to the springs. Eventually, by the time they reached it…
"Who's there?" a female voice called from up ahead.
"Um, just Ian and Ava. We have hot spring tickets. Is this where to go?" Ian responded, as a Vaporeon came out from behind the cliff to meet them.
"Yeah, the springs are back here." she said, before looking them over. "Oh. you two. You're the ones from last night, aren't you. Oh well. Come back here, and I can show you to the springs." the Vaporeon said, before walking back to where she came from.
The Eevee glanced at each other, before Ava shrugged, and they followed the Vaporeon.
After some time walking, they entered a half open cave like overhang with the springs under it. It was open to the now starry night sky, and had a few other Pokémon in it, most notably 2 other Eevee.
"Oh, you two finally bothered to show up. Took you long enough to get back." Edison said, smirking at them.
"Can it Edison. We got free tickets for saving Tenpepper. What did you do today?" Ian said, as he and Ava walked over to the springs, and into them.
"Not much. Only completely destroyed that dungeon!" Edison laughed.
"Damn right we did. Wasn't even hard." Kelvin followed up.
"I'm sure it wasn't. Now please stop talking. These springs are nice, and I don't need the noise in my ears the entire time I'm here." Ava said, as she lowered herself further into the water.
"Wow, these are nice. They remind me of hot tubs, but less bubbly, and warmer." Ian said.
"What's… never mind. But yeah, I agree. It's nice here. The cold wind amplifies the warmth of the spring, and the night sky completes it. I'm glad we got to go here." Ava said, closing her eyes, and taking in the mood of the area.
"Me too…"
Back at their hut, about an hour later, the two of them walked in, laughing and chatting all the while.
"That was so nice! We gotta do that again some time!" Ian said excitedly, as he shut the door behind them.
"I'll be over heading to sleep, so if you want to write in your journal again, now's the time." Ava said, as she tossed her bag on the floor, and walked over to the hay pile.
"Sounds good." Ian said, walking over to the small table in the corner, and taking out his ink and journal again.
"Not much happened today. It's been a week of my time as a Pokémon, and I think I've adjusted well. I've stopped tripping and stuff, as well as learned some basic fighting techniques like tackle and bite. Don't like bite, though. Kinda gross. Other than that, the entries might slow down for the next while until something happens. If playing the games told me anything, it's that humans always have a reason to be here. Nothings happened yet, but you never know. I guess we went to some mountain hot springs. They were super nice. Open air, and fairly close to the peak. The fur really helps keep me warm too. Plus I took some time to clean myself off, too.
September 27, 2021. Ian Eevee."
He closed the journal again, and without a second thought, went over to the hay pile, and lied down next to Ava. it was calming, having her near him. If he ever had to go back to the human world, he would miss her.
Unfortunately, he would likely never go back.
Yeah, uh, sorry. This took absurdly long to come out. I started a long term rp on discord, as well as have a lot of schoolwork to catch up on. Even the weekend this was supposed to release i had an out-of-town skiing trip. Got my new cover photo there. So thats fun. Other than that, im sorry this took so long. Obviously im ditching the one weel upload schedule, as i clearly cannot keep that up. And as i mentioned in the beginning, im gonna be shifting how i write it to be more just "how i feel like it." makes it easier, and will likely end out with a result i judge from my own view, instead of trying to judge it from an outside perspective
Thats all i guess. Best case scenario, you get one more chapter before easter break is done, worst case, its a fucking month or something. If you want to just… talk to me, shoot me a message on discord Laggianput#6693