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Disclaimer: Pokemon is owned by GAMEFREAK/The Pokemon Company
Darren and Harmony are owned by ScruffyEevee
Chapter 5
Keys could be heard unlocking the door to what was once a silent and tranquil home. The door opened to reveal Martha, carrying her handbag along with her. She put the keys used to unlock the front door back in her purse, before taking a look around the room she had just walked into.
"It's good to be home," she thought to herself and sighed before closing the door, making sure to lock it tight as well. She then walked towards the coffee table in front of the living room couch and placed her bag on it, before checking the time on her small watch worn on her right wrist. The device read the current time in black digits, telling her that only a small part of the day had gone by since she and her children left to do their respective activities.
10:20 AM was the time it displayed.
She looked away from her watch over to her purse again and figured to herself that her pokemon deserved some free time after behaving so well during their trip to the nurse. She leaned over into her purse and brought out the 3 pokeballs belonging to the pokemon that joined her for the trip, and one-by-one released them into the room. Darren was first, then Sorrel, and last but not least was Harmony. Once she materialized, Harmony whipped her head around to the room to confirm that she was inside her own house. The two boys did the same after they were released, and all of them sighed in relief seeing as they were now back home. Harmony in particular now seemed even more excited than when she was the last time she was home.
"We're back finally," Sorrel commented before watching as Martha put the pokeballs back into her purse. The three eevees watched her ruffle through her bag before Harmony decided to walk over to where the brothers were sitting. Darren decided now was as good a time as ever to groom the fur that was messed up from being outside. Though it was only a slight breeze, it was more than enough to mess up the fur of a small Eevee. While he licked his fur straight, Harmony came over and bounced in front of him, looking as chipper as usual.
"So, can I go into the PC now? I got my Pokeball finally!" Harmony stated proudly. Darren looked up from what he was doing to see the prideful look in his sister's eyes. He tilted his head as he looked at her.
"Well, sure. They said that's how it works right?" he said before looking at the paw, "You should ask Martha first since we can't really reach the PC though."
"Yessss! I've never been in the PC before! Is it cool?" she asked enthusiastically. Darren looked at her strangely, but understood her excitement since it was true that she never once experienced the world inside the PC.
"Well, of course it's cool; A virtual world you can live in yourself sounds great. Anyway, for the PC itself, I think we have sixteen boxes in it. I haven't been to all of them, but the ones I have been to usually are forested. Box 1 has a town in it since it has that larger capacity a trainer can upgrade to once they get all gym badges or something, and that's all I know to be honest. I've only been to one or two boxes, maybe Sorrel has been to more," Darren explained to her. As he talked, Martha started heading away from them to go into the kitchen, and Harmony figured that if she was ever going to get into the PC, she had to do it before her trainer began another task.
"Right, right! I'll talk to him about that later, for now, I just wanna get inside already!" she quickly said to her brother before turning around and heading off in Martha's direction. Darren sat and watched as she trotted over to their trainer, and looked over to Sorrel with a questioning look. He returned the stare before nodding, then getting up to go with their trainer. Darren did the same and walked over to them with Sorrel.
Harmony reached Martha as she began going through the cabinets in the kitchen as if to look for something. She felt something tug at one of her pant legs, and when she looked down to see what it was, her eyes were met with a pair of ruby irises. Harmony looked at her needily, which prompted Martha to feel a little concerned for the Eevee kit.
"Hmm? Is there something you need Harmony?" she asked. The Eevee's ears perked up as she was acknowledged, and she responded by beckoning the human to follow her. She scurried over to the small terminal that gave access to the pokemon boxes and stood next to it.
"Eev-Eevee!" she said to her trainer. Martha looked puzzled for a second, before realizing what her pokemon wanted.
"Oh, I see now! You've been wanting to visit your mother in the PC all day after all. How could I have forgotten," Martha said as she heeded her Pokemon. Harmony bobbed her head around, signaling that her trainer was correct. Martha walked over to the terminal next to the Eevee and began pressing the screen, which seemed to turn on the device. The three eevees watched as the device made a few audible sounds before Martha turned to look at Harmony.
"Now Harmony, listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you," Martha began. "This PC has hundreds of pokemon inside, and all of them are separated between sixteen boxes. I have the current setting on Box 1, so when I transfer you inside the box, it will take you to Box 1. I put your mother in Box 1 before, but since she's on my main team she can teleport to any box she wants using the terminals located inside the Boxes themselves. You're also on my main team since I have your guys' pokeballs with me and all, so you can travel wherever you want once you're inside."
As Martha was explaining, the little Eevee in front of her was bouncing up and down in place as if she had to be somewhere and soon. Martha noticed this after a second and tilted her head with an adoring grin.
"You really just want to be with your momma huh?" she said to the Eevee, to which she nodded.
"Alright, fiiine. I'll let you go already," Martha stated before taking out Harmony's Pokeball and touching the screen with it. The screen lit up with a flash as soon as the object made contact with it, and all of Harmony's information appeared in a blur on the touch screen. It then gave a prompt asking if the PC should save the pokemon's data to her trainer profile, to which she accepted.
"Alright, I loaded your data onto the PC, so you should be able to access it whenever you want. Just scan your paw on this little screen below the big screen and it should beam you up into the system," she explained. Harmony was doing her best to listen to her trainer's explanation, and as soon as she realized that she could go into the PC on her own, she took that opportunity without a second thought. The Eevee just barely let her trainer finish her sentence before practically lunging at the scanner, which was conveniently located not too high above her head. The PC responded with a chirp-like noise and Harmony quickly was transformed into a red energy much like when a Pokemon is called back into their Pokeball. This energy quickly traced back into the terminal and was gone just as quickly as it had appeared.
After the transaction was completed, the larger screen read these bold words: POKEMON DATA HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY TRANSFERRED
Martha blinked for a moment before turning to look at her other two eevees who also have been watching the entire time, and smiled at them before talking again.
"Well then, she will most likely get herself lost trying to navigate the boxes… would you two mind?" she asked, gesturing towards the PC terminal. Darren looked to the terminal, then back at her before nodding.
"Thanks, you two!", Martha said, putting her hands together, "I'll be out here if you need anything; I have no other plans for the day."
Darren got up to walk over to the PC terminal before he felt a paw on his shoulder. He turned to see Sorrel looking at him concernedly.
"You actually want to go in there?" he said to him. Darren looked away from his brother and shrugged.
"Well, she's right when she said Harmony will probably get lost. We should help her out… and I'm curious to see if anything changed in there since I've been gone," Darren explained.
"Well, you know I could always go instead and you can stay out here. I know you've had trouble with the pokemon in there before," Sorrel offered.
"No, it's alright," Darren sighed, "I don't have any plans today anyway."
"Okay," Sorrel simply replied.
He began walking towards the terminal again as Sorrel followed close behind. They stopped in front of the device, which was still active. Sorrel looked at Darren before touching the sensor on the device that Harmony had touched before, and was quickly beamed up into the machine. Darren quickly followed suit and went after his brother into the world of the PC.
The feeling of being flung into the digital world felt exactly how Darren remembered it. The sensation of falling endlessly as a whooshing sound decimated your eardrums and numbed all your senses in general. It all abruptly came to an end after a few seconds. Darren now felt a completely different sensation. He could hear faint sounds of bug Pokemon chirping and buzzing, and a few bird Pokemon using their special dialect of chirps and tweets to communicate with each other instead of speaking normally.
Darren opened his eyes as he realized he was now inside the PC, and was welcomed with the sight of a large, green forest surrounding him. There were tall oak trees, some with roosting bird pokemon and many more with bug pokemon, as well as many types of bushes and flowers that took up his sight.
"Hey! Bro!" a faint voice in the distance sounded out. Darren snapped away from all of the newfound wildlife in front of him to see where the voice was coming from. He turned to view his brother, who was quickly padding over to him. Sorrel found him almost immediately after he arrived, so Darren figured that he had spawned into the PC not too far away from him.
"Did you see where Harmony went?" Sorrel asked as he stopped in front of his brother. Darren looked around a bit before answering.
"No clue, but she can't be far," he said. As if on cue, the two eevees heard a high-pitched cry behind them. When they looked to see what could have made such an unpleasant sound, they both saw the figure of their little sister running towards them. It appeared like she was running away from something, but there was nothing behind her.
"Found her," Darren remarked to his brother as they kept watching the little Eevee in front of them scamper over. Sorrel simply rolled his eyes before going back to the sight in front of him.
"True, but what's she running from?" Sorrel questioned. They both watched concernedly at their sister as she came up to them finally.
"MONSTER! THERE'S MONSTERS HERE! B-BROTHERS! HELP ME!" she cried as she jumped in front of the two. She quickly buried her face in Darren's chest, hoping for safety and comfort within his fluffy mane. Darren was quite surprised by this and stood stiff, not knowing what to do. The little Eevee kept a firm grip on him before whipping around to where she was running from and pointed.
"There's s-some scary monster in t-there!" she said between rushed gasps for air. Sorrel and Darren both looked that way again, only to find nothing.
"Uh, Harmony? What are you talking about? I don't see anything over there," Sorrel tried reasoning as Darren awkwardly attempted to calm her down by patting her head. She kept her grip on him before turning her head to Sorrel with tears just beginning to form in her eyes.
"IT WAS A MONSTER! I-I SAW IT!" she exclaimed as Sorrel looked at her worryingly.
"Harmony! Just calm down for a second. We're here, alright?" he said, trying to reassure her. With both brothers comforting her, she did appear to calm down a bit. She loosened her grip on Darren and put her paws back on the dirt, while still looking very disturbed.
"Good. Now, what did it look like?" Sorrel tried asking. Harmony kept staring at the ground with a cringed look on her face while both brothers watched her concernedly. After a few seconds with no response, Sorrel began wondering just how much what she saw had scared her.
"Harmony?" Darren decided to ask. She looked surprised and tilted her head up at him as if he had just snapped her out of a trance. She wiped the one or two tears that almost began sliding down her face before looking back at the ground again.
"Well… it looked like some giant bug… creature," she feebly explained. This seemed to make Sorrel even more confused.
"Giant… bug creature?" he asked, "You mean like a bug-type Pokemon or something?"
"Yes, I think so," Harmony replied. Sorrel thought about that for a second. Darren was listening as well and thought about what could have scared Harmony that much. He stopped patting his sister on the head in order to focus, but as soon as he stopped, she started pawing at him. He quickly looked down at her, wondering what she was doing, and saw her looking directly at him. He could tell by the look in her eyes that she wanted him to keep comforting her, so he began scratching behind the ears to see if that would make her happier. It seemed like it was working as a small purr started to emit from the little Eevee.
"Hmm... I've thought about it, and I don't remember there being any bug-type Pokemon that lived in this box. What about you Darren?" Sorrel questioned. Darren just shrugged in response, much to Sorrel's disappointment. He could barely remember the last time he had been in Box 1, so how could he remember what type of pokemon lived in there let alone what type?
"I got nothing, sorry Sorrel... Wait a minute," Darren paused for a moment. Sorrel looked at him strangely
"Do you… do you guys hear that?" Darren said as his ears began picking up something in the distance. Sorrel looked puzzled and tried listening in on whatever his brother was talking about.
"Hear what?" Sorrel asked. "Wait, I-I do hear something. It sounds like… sounds like… s-someone yelling?" he said as he tried focusing on whatever sound.
"Yeah, that's what I'm hearing, but why would someone be yelling in the middle of a forest?" Darren said before being interrupted as the sound they were listening to started getting louder.
"Hellooooo, little Eevee-friend. Where'd you gooooo?" the voice could be heard getting louder. It was quite high-pitched, but nobody could tell if it belonged to a male or female
"Little Eevee-friend? Who is talking right now?" Darren thought to himself. As the group could now clearly hear the voice getting closer, Harmony returned her iron grip to Darren's chest fur, making him grunt in a bit of pain.
"T-THAT'S HIM!" she whimpered, "I-IT'S THE SCARY, BUG-MON!"
"Uhm… Scary?" Darren questioned in his mind as he held Harmony once again. While looking at the broken Eevee in front of him, he noticed something fast zip through the forest out of the corner of his eye. Sorrel seemed to catch it as well and turned towards where he thought he saw it, before hearing a much louder high-pitched voice ring throughout his ears.
"EEVEE-FRIEND!"
That was the last thing Sorrel heard before he felt something knock him straight off his feet and into the dirt. Darren and Harmony both turned quickly to see what happened; Frozen in place and unable to do anything to save their brother. Sorrel quickly regained his senses and struggled to move his arms as whatever had just tackled him was currently sitting right on top of him.
"Hey! You're not Eevee-friend..." the entity said to the pokemon currently pinned below them.
"W-WHAT?! NO! GET OFF OF ME!" Sorrel yelled at them as he continued struggling. The entity quickly moved off of him, and Sorrel sat up to catch his breath. The entity looked very concerned for him despite what they just did to him.
"A-AH! I'M SO SORRY! It… It's just that uh...you Eevees... all l-look the same! Yeah and... and I got confused! L-like you're all the same shade of color, same fur, same paws, same ears, same tail… yes! Same fluffy-mane-thing, same eyes, same… oh wait your eyes aren't brown h-huh…" the entity rambled as Sorrel got back on his feet. He spit out some dirt that got thrown into his mouth when he was bulldozed into the ground, then finally looked up towards whatever it was that rammed into him. The entity before him had a round head and round body with a small pair of black feet and a pair of black antennas on its head. They had a small pair of wings on their back and had two sets of arms. Their body was mostly a solid red/ white-ish color; their limbs and antenna had a black coloration.
"It's a Ledian," Sorrel thought to himself as he looked back into the large, blue eyes of his assailant. The two of them continued to stare awkwardly at each other in silence, with neither of them moving an inch. After a long pause, the Ledian began scratching their head.
"Soooo," they began while scanning the Eevee in front of them up and down. "You sure you're not my Eevee friend?"
"Wha-HUH? NO! I'M NOT YOUR STUPID EEVEE-FRIEND! W-WHO EVEN ARE YOU?!" Sorrel shouted, obviously in a very hostile mood. The Ledian covered their ears in pain as they endured the Eevee's shouting. They looked back up at him surprised.
"Geez, fine! I'll just have to keep looking for her then," the Ledian said as they looked away from him, seemingly lost in thought. This just seemed to annoy Sorrel even more.
"Uh, HEY! I just asked you a question!" Sorrel called. The Ledian glanced back at him quickly.
"Oh, yeah!" they said before they quickly flew over to Sorrel and started shaking his paw vigorously.
"Hiya! My name is Trevor; Trevor the Ledian!" he said enthusiastically. Sorrel glanced over to where his siblings were, both of them having seen the entire event unfold. Darren looked to be almost as surprised as Sorrel was, meanwhile Harmony just held a frozen look of terror.
"Trevor?" Darren asked from behind the two of them.
"Eeep!" the Ledian, now called Trevor, squeaked in surprise before turning around to see the two eevees huddled together. His face lit back up with excitement as he realized there were more Pokemon around him.
"HOORAY! Even more Eevee-friends!" Trevor chanted before flying over to the two. Before he could say another word, however, he froze in midair as he saw the smaller Eevee looking directly at him while grasping the larger Eevee. She looked like she was face-to-face with death itself, but the Ledian she on the other hand looked like it was about to burst from excitement.
"AH YES!" they yelled with outstretched arms. "I've found you Eevee-friend! There's no mistaking it this time! Let's play!" he said as he flew closer to the Eevee. She flinched at his sudden advancement towards her and cowered into Darren's fur as if she wanted him to protect her. Darren knew he had to intervene quickly.
"Woah, hold on there," Darren said before putting his paw out to stop Trevor from getting any closer. Trevor quickly stopped before he could slam into the paw before looking up at Darren.
"Oh hiya! Are you Eevee-friend's friend too? Do you want to play with us?" Trevor said, genuinely curious.
"No, not exactly. Trevor… don't you… remember me?" Darren asked slowly. The pokemon in question gave a puzzled look. They put a hand to their chin while they thought, staring at the Eevee in front of them all the while.
"Hmmm… Nope!" Trevor said with full confidence.
"What?" Darren asked with surprise. "But we were in the same training classes together, and we used to play together, and… well everything! You seriously don't remember me?"
The Ledian just waved his head back and forth, signaling he did not recognize the Eevee in front of him in any way. Darren just looked dumbfounded at him.
"We talked all the time too! Darren, remember? That's me! The Eevee with the… larger ears, as everyone liked to point out," he said. The Ledian just tilted his head in confusion with the expression on his face remaining blank. Darren sighed as he face-palmed in irritation.
"Um, Egg-eyes?" he said, trying not to sound too loud. Upon hearing this, the Ledian seemed to light up a bit more as his eyes grew wider.
"Oh! OH! Egg-eyes! That's who you are!? Now I remember yes, yes! How could I forget such a silly nickname!" he said while doing a happy twirl. Darren couldn't help but smile as the pokemon in front of him remembered him.
"Heh, yeah," Darren said, embarrassed he had to bring up a negative thing from his past in front of his siblings.
"I guess all the excitement from seeing so many eevees again made my memory a bit out of whack! There haven't been many around here in a long time you know, and I've always loved playing Eevees! You all should come and play sometime! We could play hide-and-go-seek! Or Tag! Or Freeze Tag! Or Hide-and-go-seek Tag!" Trevor went on extensively listing different games they could play. As that was happening, Sorrel approached Darren and Harmony with a troubled look on his face.
"So… you're friends with him?" Sorrel asked his brother as he sat down near him and Harmony, who currently was still focused on the Ledian in front of them as they kept rambling.
"Yeah. A long time ago, we were best friends. We both had the same pokemon training class that was available inside this box around the time I was only a few months old," Darren told him.
"Well, that's interesting. I didn't know they had a school here," Sorrel said.
"Not a school, more like… 'Pokemon 101' you could say. They taught us how to use our base moves more efficiently, what each type of berry does, what type advantages are, and just the basics of being a pokemon. Nothing special or anything," Darren explained.
"Yes, yes!" Trevor suddenly interrupted their conversation. "Egg-eyes was the best in the class!… err I think," Sorrel glanced at Darren after hearing the Ledian shout out.
"Haha well, I was the only one that probably listened. Newborns that are a few weeks old don't tend to listen very much," Darren retorted, presuming Sorrel was going to ask him about it. His brother was curious about him, but that wasn't what he was particularly wondering about.
"Egg-eyes?" he said with a half-smile. "Is that what the locals nicknamed you? " Darren frowned at him.
"No, brother," Darren sighed. "There were a few blockheads in that training class I was in, alright? Remember me telling you about them before," he informed Sorrel.
"Oh, right. Just wondering," he playfully shrugged before both of them looked back at Trevor.
"Anyways, I'm glad we get to see each other again Trevor, but what are you doing out here?" Darren asked. Trevor looked at him questioningly before responding.
"Huh? Well, I live out here! It's so roomy and wonderful!" he said joyfully.
"Right, but also, why were you chasing my little sister?"
"Eh?" he responded, looking a little dumbfounded. "You… have a little sister?"
"Yes, this is my little sister. Her name is Harmony," Darren said, looking down at Harmony while he brushed her fur. Trevor's face turned surprised.
"Ooooh! Eevee-friend is your sister?! How fun! Yes, now it makes sense why you're here!" the Ledian said with a smile. "Actually… What are you doing here anyway? I thought you had left the PC for good after not coming back for so long," Trevor wondered.
"Well, we're here to find my mother, but we can talk about that later. For now, can you tell me why you were scaring my sister?" Darren said, trying to push the topic. Trevor looked back confused, but also feeling a little guilty.
"Eh? S-scaring?" he said, sounding worried. "Eevee-friend is… afraid of me?"
"Yeah, it sure looked like it! What was all that about?," Sorrel interjected. Trevor then looked over at him.
"Other Eevee-friend, what do you mean? She wanted to play! ... I thought" he said, sounding a little unsure of himself.
"No, she did not! Didn't you see her? She was quivering with fear when she ran out of those bushes away from you! Also, we are NOT friends. I know you have some history with big bro, but that doesn't make us buds or anything," Sorrel tried getting through to the Ledian.
"Big… bro? So Egg-eyes has two siblings now?" Trevor said, completely deterring from the topic.
"Trevor ... you know my name is Darren. Can you not call me that anymore?" Darren sighed from behind them.
"Haha, sorry!" Trevor laughed, scratching his head. The two brothers rolled their eyes while Trevor turned to look at Harmony, who was still cowering at him. He then slowly flew over to her, watching as she seemed to become more uncomfortable as he got closer to her.
"Hey um, Eevee-friend? I'm sorry for scaring you… I… just really wanted to play with you! I haven't seen eevees around in forever, and I guess I got carried away," he said while trying not to sound too awkward.
"So, ya think you can forgive this poor Ledian?" he asked, holding out a hand to her, wanting her to shake on it. Harmony looked hesitant at first but eventually reached out to grab his hand slowly.
"I… guess so," she mumbled while lazily shaking his hand. The Ledian however, quickly dismissed the handshake in favor of a hug, taking the Eevee totally by surprise.
"GREAT!" he yelled happily as he embraced the Eevee. He put her down as fast as he scooped her up, before looking away from the startled Eevee to her brother sitting beside them.
"I'm glad you two could make up," Darren said smiling.
"Yes, yes! I'd hate to make my friends mad... or scared! I'm sure Eevee-friend could use some playtime, but later maybe?" he said while shrugging.
"Heh sure. When I need to find a playmate for her you'll be the first one I'll contact alright? Anyways, my siblings and I have to find our mother now. That is the whole reason we came to the box in the first place," Darren explained. Harmony seemed to get a bit happier at the mention of finding their mother, though Trevor seemed to get a little more confused.
"Your… mother? Ain't she a Flareon?" Trevor asked.
"Yes, Trevor. Have you seen her today?" Darren replied.
"Hmm… nope!" he responded cluelessly. "I haven't seen her in a very long time. What could she want in the PC though? She's on the main team, right? What would she be doing here? Nobody on the main team comes to see losers like us Box-Pokemon!" Trevor bluntly replied.
"Well ... you're right. She is on the main team, and I know Box Pokemon and the Main Team Pokemon never got along well, but she is different from them. Anyways, I don't know what she's been doing here since she never tells us the reasoning behind her visits, but we're going to find out when we eventually get to her," Darren said, trying to answer all of his friend's questions.
"You're right bro," Sorrel intervened, "but where should we even look? We're just stuck in the middle of this forest it looks like."
"Well, Trevor, you live here don't you? Do you know where the town is?" Darren asked, looking around at the flora surrounding them.
"Oh, the town is just over there!" Trevor responded while pointing to his right. Everyone looked to see a clearing in the trees in the direction Trevor was pointing.
"There's a small path leading that way. It should take you right to the place!" he continued before looking over to them with a sullen look on his face.
" Wait...You aren't planning on leaving so soon, are you?" Trevor asked worriedly. Darren frowned as he saw his friend's disappointment.
"Sorry Trevor, but maybe later we can play with you. We have to be off as soon as we can to find our mom," Darren replied.
"Right! So let's get going shall we?" Sorrel pressured, trying to get out of this weird place that he believed looked pretty ominous despite there being bright sun and flowers around them.
"I agree!" Harmony said, making sure to add her input regarding these matters.
"Aw… okay then!" Trevor responded with a smile, "Just call me whenever you want to play!"
"Of course Trevor, of course. Okay, come on you guys!" Darren said as he began walking towards the small path to their side. Trevor called out to them as he flew away in the opposite direction.
"Farewell, Eevee-friends! Remember that Trevor is always ready to play~!" they could hear him yelling as they traveled further away. Darren snickered as he listened to his friend getting more distant.
"He hasn't changed a bit," he thought as he padded away.
The eevees continued down the small path for a few more minutes until the trees around them started spacing out and became less crowded. They eventually opened up enough so that all three pokemon could see a small clearing of grass in front of them. Beyond that, they all saw a collection of small, colorful buildings with a few straw huts around as well. It was the Pokemon village.
"Huh, so that Ledian was telling the truth!" Sorrel said, now content with Trevor's advice.
"Obviously! He's lived here his entire life," Darren told him. "Anyways, what's the plan once we actually get there?" he asked as they all kept walking towards the town.
"Well, I've been here quite a few times in the past looking around the shops and such, so I'm friends with a couple of shopkeepers. We can ask them if they've seen Mom since they know her as well," Sorrel explained.
"Hm okay… so who are these shopkeepers?"
"It's been a while since I've seen them, but one is a Miltank named Ruby, and another is a Sigilyph named Azul," Sorrel said, looking at the ground as he walked.
"Huh, they don't sound familiar," Darren thought to himself. "I don't think I've met them."
"They've never mentioned you before, so I assume no. They're very friendly though, so you'll get along," Sorrel continued. Darren gazed at the computer-generated sky for a second as he thought about meeting these pokemon.
"If you say so…" he said as he looked away and towards Harmony, who had been walking side-by-side with him the whole time they've been traveling. She hadn't said a word the entire time, and would either gaze around looking at the trees or flowers or just stare at the ground. Darren had assumed she was just a bit uncertain of this place since she hadn't ever been in here before and her very first experience involved being chased by a total stranger.
"Hey, are you doing alright Harmony?" Darren said, deciding just checking on her wouldn't do any harm. The Eevee perked her head up to his question and looked at him curiously.
"Oh, I'm alright," she said quickly. Darren didn't want to pressure her any further, so he just nodded his head and looked straight to where their destination was. The town was quickly growing larger as the trio approached. While it wasn't the largest settlement, it still had a fair amount of places to visit. Pokemon didn't really have a currency of their own, so they had a few shops where they bartered their personal belongings. As well as an arena so they could practice their skills or spar with each other. Most of the town was made up of clay buildings and wooden huts/dens, much like that of a human village. It turns out that pokemon under the care of a trainer adapted more than just fighting skills.
Before long, the eevees were at the front gate of the town. The settlement was completely surrounded by a long wooden fence that didn't appear to be in the best condition. They all assumed it was just there to mark the territory of the village; Not to keep anything from getting in or out. Not everyone in the PC must have been friendly towards each other, so some pokemon probably stayed in groups and away from other pokemon to establish their own nesting grounds. Pokemon living in the forest and the residents of the village likely didn't associate much, but weren't on particularly violent terms either. Or at least that's how it seemed to Darren just by viewing the fence surrounding the entire village. It was too out of the way to be regarded as decoration, so what other purpose must it have?
"We're here, finally" Sorrel mentioned as they started walking past the fence closer to the town.
"My paws hurt a bit from all that walking," Darren commented.
"Same. We should rest once we make it to the village. It's weird because I've never spawned into the PC this far from the village before. Bad luck I guess," Sorrel figured.
"Well, I hope so. I wonder if anyone I know still lives here," Darren thought out loud.
"I'm sure there are quite a few. People know I'm your brother mainly because we're the only eevees that our trainer has. The shopkeepers I told you about specifically asked me about you once when I met them, and looked pleased when I told them you were doing just fine."
"I see. Well, that's nice," Darren said. "Where are they located anyway?"
"Ruby's shop should be close. I remember it being near one of those red huts over there," he said, pointing towards two clay houses on the outskirts of the village. Pokemon were wandering around in and outside of the huts, as well as throughout the streets. Most locations in the village were clay houses, as opposed to wooden or straw. They were all dull shades of different colors, so each building held its own uniqueness.
As the trio came closer to the houses, they noticed they were now walking on a dirt street that went throughout the village. The street must have just begun as they passed the wooden fence, so now their paws had soft ground underneath them as opposed to the dirty twig and rock-infested turf they were traversing before.
As the group walked down this dirt path, they received waves of curious looks from the residents. Eevees were rare in the village because, as Sorrel mentioned, they were the only Pokemon of their kind Martha owned. Ignoring the looks, the group came up to the red houses with the hopes of locating the shop they were looking for. Their hopes increased as they noticed a small straw stand located next to one of the clay houses. The stand was so small that it was hidden between the clay house and another much larger clay house with a basic gray coloring.
"That's it!" Sorrel exclaimed. He began running over to it without a second thought, leaving Darren and Harmony in his dust. The two just stared at each other before quickly trying to catch up to their brother. Sorrel arrived at the stand with high hopes of seeing his Miltank friend, but as he stopped in front of the stand, he realized that nobody was inside. The stand contained a variety of potions, along with lots of milk stored in glass bottles. Darren and Harmony caught up to him as he was inspecting the contents of the shop, but he didn't acknowledge them.
"Hello?! Ruby, you there? It's me, Sorrell!" the Eevee yelled loudly. His siblings looked surprised at his actions and noticed a few passerby's looking their way with questioning stares. A small bump could be heard inside of the stand following Sorrel's call, and then a loud crash as the sounds of bottles toppling overfilled the air. The three Eevees were startled by the noise and watched as a Miltank suddenly appeared from under the stand whilst clutching their head.
"What the…? Oooh, heya Sorrel!" the Miltank said when they noticed the Eevee standing in front of them. Sorrel awkwardly waved his hand at them.
"Hi, Ruby! Sorry, but did I interrupt something?"
"Huh? Oh no-no, I was just trying to get something is all!" Ruby told him while rubbing her head. "But hey! We haven't talked in quite a bit, huh? What's it, like, a few months?"
"I think around 3 or so," Sorrel replied with a smile.
"Aye. About that time I reckon, but hey! You're back!" she said, widening her arms so as to welcome him to her stand. She then put her arms down and rested an elbow on the front of her stand with a hoof on her chin before continuing.
"So, how has my favorite Eevee been lately? You're also bringing even more of 'em I can see," Ruby said referring to the newcomers behind Sorrel.
"Oh right! Well, I've been doing pretty good since we last spoke, and as for these two… they are my siblings, Darren and Harmony!" he said as he presented the two eevees. Darren nodded while Harmony gave a small wave. Ruby looked surprised as she listened to Sorrel say their names.
"Oh ho! So that's the brother I've heard so much about from you! I must say, his eyes are pretty intimidating!" the Miltank commented with genuine interest. "I don't believe we've met yet my friend. That being said... I'm Ruby! Nice to meet ya!" she said while holding out her hoof as if offering a handshake
"Hello there. As you've already heard, I'm Darren," he said, accepting the handshake. "And this is me and Sorrel's little sister, Harmony. She's new to the PC," Darren said. Harmony smiled as she looked towards Ruby.
"Hello," she said meekly.
"Nice to meet ya Harmony!" she said enthusiastically before crossing her arms. "Wow, so Dahlia decided to have another kit? I'm left in the dark about everything it seems," Ruby groaned.
"Right," Sorrel chuckled. "And speaking of Dahlia, that's actually the reason I came to see you today."
"Oh? Your mother wants some more milk for you to pick up or somethin'?" Ruby questioned. "Actually now that I think about it, she could have been ordering all that milk from me to give to her newborns! Geez, how could I not piece two and two together?"
"You're right," Sorrel chuckled. "But I don't think she's looking for milk right now. Supposedly our trainer sent her into the PC a few hours ago, and we're trying to find her right now," Sorrel informed her. "We just got here about twenty minutes ago, and we spawned in that forest so we had to walk all the way here."
"Yeesh. That must have been pretty rough," Ruby commented. "So I reckon you're curious if I've seen her around lately?"
"Pretty much. I know she visits you sometimes, so I thought it would be a good idea to start here first," Sorrel explained.
"Well, I'm gonna have to disappoint you lad, since I ain't seen your mom around here in months," Ruby shrugged, much to the dismay of the eevees. "I don't know the slightest where she could be either. I've been out and about lately too, and haven't seen the slightest speck of an orange and yellow pelt the whole time."
"Mm, I see. Well, thanks for telling us," Sorrel said with disappointment. "Would you happen to know if Azul is in his shop today?"
"Now that, I do know!" Ruby said while pointing to him. "I've seen the lad in his shop ever since I first woke up this morning. I reckon he's still there... not much else he does, to be honest."
"Got it. Thank you for your help, Ruby! It was nice seeing you again, but we really need to find our mother as soon as possible. We'll chat another time alright?" Sorrel said, taking a few steps away from the stand.
"Aw, you not even gonna buy something from poor old Ruby? Eh, I guess it's alright. A boy wants to find his mother after all. You lot come back now, hear me?" Ruby said to all of them.
"You can count on that Ruby. See ya later! Come on guys!" Sorrel replied to the Miltank as he beckoned his siblings to follow him. They went to leave before looking towards Ruby one last time.
"It was nice meeting you Ruby. Thank you for helping us," Darren said before moving on to follow Sorrel.
"Yeah! Thanks Ruby!" Harmony said, seeming a bit more comfortable than before. Ruby chuckled and waved at the two of them, watching them leave.
"Heh, no problem! Take care you two, and come back if ya ever need some fresh fruit!"
"We will. Don't worry!" Darren said before turning back to catch up to his brother. Ruby watched as they disappeared past the edges of the building adjacent to her stand, and sighed to herself.
"Heh, what nice boys. Dahlia must be proud," Ruby said to herself. She then realized that she was doing something before the eevees interrupted her, and bent down under her stand to continue the endeavor.
"Alright, you little bastard... Grrgh, where the hell did I put that stupid Chesto berry?!"
Sometime after parting from Ruby's shop, the Eevees made their way deeper into the pokemon village and were almost to the heart of it. They continued to receive weird looks from the residents as they had when first coming into the town, though a problem never arose from it. It was strange seeing as how all the residents partook in their own hobbies and beliefs, but the one thing they had in common was that they never really wanted any problems with another mon'. Some may truly have the urge to bring attention to whatever problems they had on their mind, but nobody ever acted on it. Not only that, but while some interacted with each other, Darren noticed that many kept to themselves. It was as if not only the town had been keeping to itself for the most part, but the residents as well.
That or something happened in the town that made it a rather unwelcoming place. At least, that's what it seemed like to Darren. He had only a few faint memories of walking around inside the village, for they were the first in his life and his mind could barely comprehend itself then. He could clearly remember interacting with the Pokemon here before though, and they were quite loquacious from what he could remember, or so he had thought. The quiet town just didn't seem to line up with Darren's memory of it, but after all, he had not visited in such a long time, and he figured the town and residents must have changed completely since then. He would have to quiz Sorrel about his knowledge of the town's history later, for now it seemed they were approaching their next destination. The Eevees kept to the road during their short walk from Ruby's shop, but now it seemed like their leader was deterring from the path and gravitating towards a building off to the side of the road.
"Have you found the place?" Darren questioned as he watched Sorrel move away from them.
"Yep. I know where we are now, and I'm certain this is Azul's store here," Sorrel replied as he pointed towards a small clay building that was similar in shape to that of Ruby's shop, but just a little larger and colored blue instead of red. It was decorated in patterns much like those you would find on pottery or carpets. Stripes and swirls of pink were just one of the many designs on the hut, along with two drapes on either side of the large front-facing window that had similar patterns on it.
"So, Ruby sells berries and potions. I imagine this "Azul" fellow makes scarves or something like that?" Darren decided to question his brother.
"Yes. He is a skilled potter, but he makes stuff like scarfs and rugs too! I'm not sure how he makes pottery since he's a Sigilyph, and you know, it's not like they have hands or anything. Plus, I asked him where he gets the materials he uses to make scarfs, and he just stared at me like… I asked the dumbest question in the world," Sorrel said while reminiscing about his past encounters with whom they were about to talk with.
"He sounds like... um," Darren said after thinking for a moment. "Well, very passionate about his job I guess."
"Oh, most definitely. He loves making pots 'n stuff... though not much of a talker," Sorrel replied. "Anyways, I think it's just about time for you two to meet him!"
Sorrel then turned to face the building supposedly containing their next, but let out a yelp of surprise as he stared into a pair of lavishly painted red eyes on what seemed to be a large gourd pot. It was about the same size as him, yet it floated right before his eyes without anything touching it. Sorrel had about a million questions flooding through his head while he just stared at the painting of what appeared to be some dragon-like creature, but had no time to act on them as the pot suddenly began floating away from him and towards the hut where Azul was said to reside.
"Oh… did my art… frighten you?" a soft voice could be heard in front of them. The pot was shifted to the right by the same mysterious force to reveal the figure behind it. The creature made itself visible to the Eevees, and as they stared at it, a Sigilyph was identified to be what was staring back at them. Their large wing-like appendages and single blue eye overshadowed the much smaller Eevee in front of them, making Sorrel pretty uneasy.
"U-Uhm, well sir, it's not that… it was just… mesmerizing! Haha," Sorrel laughed nervously. The Sigilyph looked away from the Eevee in front of them and gazed at the pair that was located further behind. Darren and Harmony both seemed in a trance as they kept their eyes on the pokemon in front of them, neither sure on how to respond.
"Would they… be interested?" the Sigilyph said, referring to Darren and Harmony. Sorrel looked away to see what they were referring to.
"No, I'm afraid we aren't," Darren gulped, "...but we are interested in this fellow named 'Azul'. Would you happen to be them?"
The Sigilyph widened their eye in response, and the pot that floated next to them was placed down on the ground. At that point, everyone figured it must have been floating due to the influence caused by Sigilyph's psychic powers.
"That name… belongs to me… but who is asking?" Azul responded before Sorrel stepped into his field of vision so he could get the Sigilyph's attention.
"Don't you remember us Azul? It's me, Sorrel! You know... Like, the only Eevee in this box?" Sorrel remarked.
" An Eevee… I do remember… but there is more than one now it seems."
"Yes! These are my siblings, Darren and Harmony. Guys, this is Azul. The town's potter and seamstress," Sorrel said, formally introducing each 'mon to each other.
"Hi!" Harmony waved at him while Darren nodded his head, feeling her greeting was enough for them both.
"I was not aware of… multiple Fox pokemon in this box… would you care for some earthenware? Perhaps a scarf… or two?" the Sigilyph implored.
"Oh no, Azul. We aren't interested in any pots right now. We've come to ask you something," Sorrel quickly said.
"Oh? Something more on the... porcelain side perhaps? Sorrel… I remember… you liked seeing all of my designs… on your previous visits... correct?" Azul wondered, looking confused as to what the Eevee was trying to say.
"Of course! I loved seeing what you had on display, but that isn't what we've come here for. We were wondering if you've seen our mother come by here today. A Flareon named Dahlia - do you know her?" Sorrel inquired the Psychic pokemon.
"A Flareon… has not yet visited my gallery today. Perhaps before… your mother has visited me… but not as of late. She seems… quite intrigued by my… Bone Johto collection... If memory serves me well."
"I see…" Sorrel sighed at another failed attempt at getting a lead on where their mother might be. Harmony looked to the ground in disappointment upon hearing the news as well, but Darren felt a little bit different.
"Azul.. you say that our mother has visited your shop in the past. How long ago was it?" Darren inquired, trying to make their situation better by making more possibilities for answers.
"Around… one month maybe… that was the last time my eyes laid upon a Flareon."
"Did you see her go anywhere after leaving your shop?" Darren said while tilting his head in curiosity. The question seemed to stump the Sigilyph as they looked away from the Eevee, staring off into space.
"I do believe… they continued further down… into town. Their destination, however... is not known," they said while looking back towards Darren.
"Oh yeah! There's a terminal in the center of town isn't there? Maybe she went there to go to another box!" Sorrel revealed with newfound excitement.
"Well Sorrel, even if that's the case, remember that we're talking about something that happened a month ago. It's likely our mother didn't even use the terminal at all today, and could still be in this box," Darren reasoned. Sorrel grabbed his face with his paws in frustration. He knew his brother was totally correct, but he just didn't want to believe it.
"Y-yeah. I get it, Darren. It's just that we spent forever walking here, and now we just can't get any leads at all. I'm getting desperate," Sorrel said with his face in his paws. Darren walked over to Sorrel who looked on the verge of hitting someone. Harmony lowered her ears in a shared sense of defeat at the sound of her brother's situation.
"Hey now-" Darren said, putting an arm on his brother's shoulder.
"It's just that… I didn't even feel up to this in the first place. Why couldn't we just find mother and get this over with? Why must it be this way!? WHY?! GRRgh, I WISH WE WERE ALL OUT OF THIS STUPID PC!" Sorrel started yelling as the pent-up frustration inside of him grew too large for him to contain. Darren winced before looking back towards his brother.
"Hey, it's fine! We'll find her soon, trust me," Darren tried calming his brother down by reassuring him. "Actually… now that I think about it, our mother may have gone to a-"
"HEY! PIPE DOWN YOU ASSHOLES!"
Darren flinched as a sudden scream pierced through the air. The loud voice echoed throughout the town, and every resident in the area stopped what they were doing and looked over to see what was going on. The group swiftly turned their heads to see who was yelling at them. A Snivy could be seen standing in the middle of the street with their arms covering their head and a look of pain all across his face. Close behind him were a Geodude and a Croconaw, who both looked very displeased as well. Darren and Sorrel each met their glares with a shocked expression meanwhile Harmony and Azul looked more nervous than anything.
"Good Arceus," the Snivy said while rubbing the sides of their head with their arms. "Can't a guy just take a stroll through this garbage town IN PEACE?" he continued as he opened his eyes towards the pokemon in front of him.
After a few seconds, his jaw dropped as they stared at the three pokemon in front of them. The same occurred with the two behind the Snivy. The three of them looked dumbfounded as they registered the three Eevees in front of them. Sorrel couldn't think of anything to say as he staggered back onto his feet. Meanwhile, Darren took a few steps in front of him and got into a defensive stance. The Snivy didn't take too kindly to this, as his look of surprise morphed into an ugly scowl. He slowly raised an arm towards Darren and pointed one of his fingers at him.
"It… It's YOU!" the Snivy snarled, anger becoming very apparent in their voice.
"Here we go again…" Darren sighed as he continued glaring at his sudden oppressors.
Ever since she had sent her team of eevees into the PC to visit Dahlia, the pokemon trainer Martha had taken it upon herself to relax for a bit after a short but eventful day of errands. Her study was usually the place she would visit first whenever there was some time to spare, though the only reason was just to grab a book or two. She always preferred reading over any other activity to pass the time, but that didn't mean she never used her laptop or watched the television sometimes instead.
Today just so happened to be when the new issue of her local magazine was to be released. She took the opportunity at the pokemon center to grab a physical copy to read as opposed to viewing the issue online; something she frequently resorted to. The Nimbasa Times was the highest-rated magazine in not only the main cities of Unova but a few smaller ones as well - including Driftveil. Martha found them to be very entertaining to collect and has been keeping up-to-date with their releases for a while now.
Despite what others may think (namely Brian, who complains that half of the magazine is just "boring news and advertisements") Martha used them as her main news source to stay updated on the events happening in her region and the Pokemon battling industry. For this week's issue, she had found herself most comfortable sitting on the green couch located in the living next to the front entrance; Sorrel's favorite place to snooze. After having only read for a couple of minutes at this point, Martha's attention was caught by one of the news headlines near the beginning of the periodical.
"BREAKING: Due to a surprisingly anomalous number of Pokemon disappearances occurring within the city limits of Driftveil, an outrage of Pokemon trainers and local tradesmen has erupted across the city. The incidents have grown exponentially since the first few cases were reported almost 2 weeks ago, and though no significant data has been presented to the public as of yet, the majority of victims appear to be Pokemon smaller in size and also less likely to be found in the wild. Primary targets include Castform, Marill, and Eevee. It is worth mentioning that 100% of the reports during the first 3 days of the now 2-week string of missing Pokemon incidents involved Eevees specifically"
Martha flinched a little after reading that last sentence. She remembered seeing those angry trainers at the Pokemon Center but didn't think much of it. She knew that Pokemon kidnappings were growing more common lately, but not to this extent. Martha figured she would have to take this matter a little more seriously now that she knows Eevee are supposedly the most sought-after Pokemon for these thieves. She let that thought rest in the back of her head as she kept reading:
"These events, in tandem with the recent disbandment of Team Plasma and the sudden meteor shower occurring directly afterward, have made it incredibly difficult for regional authorities and nearly impossible for local authorities to properly assess and manage the situation. The Driftveil Gym has also been temporarily closed due to the emergency shutdown of Driftveil Drawbridge and Tubeline Bridge. Both structures received critical damage after the sudden shower of meteors, and repairs will begin early Friday morning. Gym Leader Clay has yet to comment about the situation."
Before reading that last paragraph, Martha had only been a little bit worried before about the whole situation going on just outside her doors. Now the reality of the events she had merely heard about before was suddenly weighing down her mind. The Gym was always a safe place to go when you were in danger since it is protected by staff and the Gym Leader. Seeing as it was now closed, and with all these disappearances of Pokemon happening as well, she only had one thing that concerned her: The safety of her children.
Martha had a flurry of thoughts going through her head as she closed the pamphlet she was reading and stood up from the couch she had previously been resting on. Of all the things she could think about right now, she decided on a plan that could resolve her predicament. She would need help to do it though.
She set the magazine down on the coffee table in front of her couch, and quickly went over to the kitchen to where her landline phone was. In the past, she had agreed with a few of her colleagues to use their landline phones to contact each other only in the case of something important, otherwise, they could just use their cell phones. She needed a response as soon as possible from the person she was about to call, so this was the best way to get it.
She knew his number by heart, and despite knowing he was busy today, she dialed his number anyway. The number on her landline was different from her cell, so she knew the person she was calling would recognize this as something not to pass off.
As she finished entering the last digit of the number, Martha whipped her head around towards the window looking into the kitchen. She was already a bit out of it after thinking a lot about the events the magazine had told her about, but she could have sworn she just heard the sound of glass being tapped on. It was barely audible, assuming the sound had even existed, but she knew that she must have heard something otherwise she would not have reacted in such a manner. After a few seconds of listening to nothing but the hum of the phone ringing, she went back to looking at the wall, tapping her fingers on her waist as she waited for the person on the other side to pick up. After a little more time, the person did pick up, as evident from the humming sound ceasing.
"Umm… Martha?" the person on the other side of the line asked.
"Yes, hello Brian. It's me," Martha replied, looking back behind her to where she thought she heard the tapping noise earlier.
"Um, right. You're… using the landline? You know I would've picked up no matter how you decided to call me. I'll always pick up for y-"
"Brian, listen to me," Martha interrupted, "You know all of those incidents happening lately?"
"Uh… incidents?" Brian questioned after a moment. "Like kidnappings or whatever?"
"Yes. Pokemon disappearing from their trainers without any rhyme or reason?"
"Well, yeah. There's a group of douchebags just past the door I'm looking at right now that won't shut up about it. How couldn't I hear about it?"
"Right," Martha sighed, "Well, get this. Did you know most of them were rarer pokemon such as Eevee?"
"Uhm… yeah, uh Martha? You realize everything you're sayin' sounds like PokeThief 101 to me right? No shit a thief is gonna steal 'rarer' pokemon," Brian informed her.
"Brian, stop. I know that obviously. What I'm trying to say is that there's been a lot of recent disappearances of my kind of house pokemon. You know? Eevees? And it's all happened in the past two weeks," Martha attempted to explain. It was silent on the other side for a moment.
"Ah, okay. So you're worried these big-bad thieves are gonna take your Eevees or something?"
"Yes, I am. Not only that, but I'm a bit concerned for our children's safety while they're out on their own. Something could happen to them, you know?"
"Well, parents always think that when their kid is out on their own. It just sounds to me like you're anxious about the whole thing. Martha… you're the strongest trainer I know. You just wouldn't let some random thieves come in and take your Pokemon right? And besides, even if they were taken somehow, I bet Dahlia would do everything she can to beat their asses and get her kits back."
"Heh, well, you are right about that," Martha chuckled. "It's just that, this is happening so fast you know? Anyways, I don't have any other plans today, so I was thinking we cou-"
Martha stopped talking immediately as she faintly heard the sound of a whirring noise behind her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she quickly whipped around to see what just made the sound. It was all quiet for a few seconds before Brian started speaking up.
"Martha?... What is it?"
"..."
"Martha? I was listening... "
"..."
"Martha, I know you have a short attention span but-"
"B-Brian! Shut the hell up for a second!" she yelled in a whisper to him.
"Well… I mean, my voice isn't THAT bad is-"
"N-No you dumbass! Just shut up for a minute!"
"...Okay."
Martha set down the phone as she looked across the kitchen towards the PC terminal. The device had activated while she was on the phone with Brian, which concerned her considering the device can only be activated by touch. She crept towards the computer with a blank stare on her face, keeping her eyes locked to the screen on top. The screen glowed a light blue color and also looked to have a line of text displayed on it. Martha couldn't read what it said from where she was, so she continued moving closer to the device. She eventually came to a stop in front of the device and noticed that there was also a small but noticeable puddle of water in front of it. She quickly dismissed it, thinking it was someone's drink that spilled earlier today during breakfast, but something she couldn't ignore quite as easily was what the text on the screen in front of her displayed.
POKEMON DATA HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY TRANSFERRED
Her eyes slowly widened in horror as she read the words on-screen, instantly realizing that something was wrong.
Author's Note:
Well then… been a while since I've updated huh? The last time I posted a new chapter was April 6th I believe? Trust me when I say that it wasn't my intention to make this chapter take this long, I've just been incredibly busy is all. April 6th was a Sunday or something right? If that's the case, then literally the next day I went back to school after I updated was when they decided to bombard me with work and preparations for the end of the year, even though it was about 2 months away at the time. I was able to get a small bit of writing done during that time, but I was sitting at about 2,000 words by the end of April. I was pretty disappointed by that, and just figured I would have to focus on finishing my senior year of high school instead of stressing over getting another chapter out as soon as possible.
By the end of May, I was pushing 4,000 words, and at that point, I decided I would treat myself and you guys to a larger chapter than normal to commemorate not only my graduation from High school but also as some sort of an apology for falling off the face of the Earth for quite some time.
Seriously, I just went nuts out and made this chapter over 10k words long haha. That's absolutely insane of me in hindsight, considering that's practically the length of a short story. Yet I still did it anyway, and man did it suck ASS to write. I seriously don't get how authors like PokeMaster64 can just regularly shit out chapters with 8k words in them every week or so and retain good quality with them as well. Authors like that are just insane. Also, I should mention that it took 3 straight hours of revision and editing even after I finished writing the entire thing. That's a testament to how dedicated I am to this story that hasn't even really begun in my opinion haha.
I don't really want to add more words to this already gigantic chapter. This will likely remain as the longest chapter in the story, not to mention that the next 2 chapters will probably be relatively long as well. Despite this, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even if it takes the average reader 45 f***ing minutes to read completely. Most of this stuff I didn't even plan on adding, to be honest. In the original prompt, the part where Darren and Sorrel find Harmony in the forest just contained them immediately heading to the village afterward. I threw in the 3,000-word segment introducing Trevor at literally the last minute, so that's fun.
Anyways, I truly hope you guys enjoyed this 11,540-word chapter either way! I have plans to create a prompt for a brand new story now that I've been freed from the shackles of the public education system. It's a little inspired by the webcomic Weak Hero on Webtoons and the fanfic That Sylveon. Both are 10 out of 10 pieces of art that I would absolutely recommend to everyone, especially the former. Anyways, enough advertising. For now, my precious readers, stay awesome! :)