Usual authors note will be at the end of the chapter. There is a reason for this, but please read the chapter then go down there for the authors note. It is important, trust me.
Wes:
Nayru the Gardevoir (Friend Ball, shiny)
Faye the Cutiefly (Level Ball)
Zero the Type: Null (Luxury Ball)
Sakura the Milotic (Lure Ball)
Inigo the Combusken (Permier Ball, shiny)
Rose:
Shelgon (Great Ball)
Brionne (Poke Ball)
Rockruff (Fast Ball)
Maple the Pikachu (Love Ball)
Riolu (Ultra Ball)
Salandit (Luxury Ball)
"Shouldn't you be getting ready for your lesson?"
Jason sighed, his eyes glued onto the TV that was in their hotel room. Currently showing on the screen was a news woman with glasses on, who was talking about another victory that the Masked Royal had recently in the Battle Dome. "Not much of a lesson honestly. We're just kinda going back to Route 8 and reviewing stuff."
"Well, sadly you still are a teacher, Mr. Grump," Em snickered, causing Jason to give her the side-eye at the nickname. "Besides, you're happiest when around Pokemon, so I don't see why going to study wild Pokemon again is that big of a deal."
"It's not," Jason commented, once again looking at the TV. "It's dealing with the students that I don't look forward to… sure, they're good kids and all, but I know that someone is going to have a comment about how all we're doing is review and that they should've played hooky."
"Eh, well, there's always one student," Em admitted, flipping through the brochure on Alola they had in their hotel room, her eyes sadly looking at an advertisement for a beach that was just outside of the hotel room.
"He currently holds an undefeated record in the Battle Royal Dome," the news lady stated, finishing her story on the Masked Royal. "In other news, a swarm of Eevee have begun to appear on Route 4 and Route 5." This caused Jason to immediately perk up, looking wide-eyed at the TV. "Otherwise known as a Pokemon Outbreak, these swarms happen very rarely, and researchers are still unsure on what exactly causes them. Trainers, if you were looking to add Eevee to your roster, now might be a good time to go out and get one!"
Em looked at the picture of Eevee on the TV, then immediately to Jason, whose eyes still were fixated on the TV. The green haired girl sighed, giving a small grin, "Change of lesson plans?"
"You better believe it," Jason replied, grinning from ear to ear as he stood up and began to prepare for the day.
XxXxXxX
"That awkward moment when your teacher is late," Wes muttered, groaning a little as he paced in the lobby of the hotel room they were staying at.
"Wes," Rose hissed, clearly not pleased.
"To be fair, he is rather tardy," Juan noted, eyeing the stairs that lead to the second floor of the hotel they were staying at. "I wonder what has him so tied up?"
"Maybe he's sick?" Chole suggested, looking a bit worried at the proposition.
"Or maybe he's just playing hooky?" a student suggested, looking like he wanted to do the same thing.
"From how he acts, I doubt that is the case," Lillie pointed out.
It was then they heard hurried footsteps from above, and before they knew it Jason had slid into view. Literally. Instead of taking the stairs, he was sliding down the railing at a rapid speed, coming to a halt at the bottom where he leapt off the rail just in time to prevent himself from falling off, landing and looking at his students with a grin on his face, as if he did not just uncharacteristically appeared before them.
"Change of lesson plans, boys, girls, and those of unspecified gender," Jason stated, pulling out his ride pager. "We're going to learn about Eevee today! I'm calling the Tauros and were heading out to Route 4!"
"I'm sorry what?" a bunch of students suddenly said.
"But Professor," Rose stated, looking a bit sheepish. "Isn't Eevee incredibly rare and hard to find? How are we going to get one to study?"
"First of all, don't call me that," Jason scolded, but it didn't seem like that much of a scold as he seemed in too good of a mood to actually get angry. "And you're right, under normal cases Eevee are very hard to find and therefore it would be very difficult for us to find one to observe. Lucky for us, however, a Pokemon Outbreak of them has just begun on Route 4 and Route 5, so there will be plenty for us to observe."
"Pokemon Outbreak?" Wes asked, confused.
"Essentially, a swarm of rare Pokemon in a particular area," Juan explained. "Most researchers believe that it is for savaging or gathering reasons, but the exact cause of outbreaks are still unknown."
"Exactly," Jason nodded. "And today is our lucky day before Eevee happen to be swarming Route 4 and 5, and since I wanted to do a lesson on Eevee anyway, now is the perfect time."
I feel like he didn't actually plan on a lesson of Eevee at all and that this is just an excuse, Wes thought.
"So, let's go, our rides are here," Jason happily exclaimed, walking faster than any normal human normally would. Em sighed but smiled all the same as she followed him outside, leading the students who were still looking somewhat confused. All students eventually were on a Tauros, and an impatient Jason began to lead the pack, though at a faster pace then they were at when they were to the breeding ranch, forcing many students to cling onto their particular Tauros in fear of falling off.
"What is so special about Eevee anyway?" a student asked.
"Well, they are incredibly rare," Jason explained, looking at the student for a few moments in utter shock at how they couldn't know about Eevee. "Eevee is also very versatile, and cute as well. They can evolve into one of eight currently known different forms, the most of any Pokemon in the world. I say eight because their genetic structure is very unstable, and they adapt to almost any and all environments. Who knows, in the future brand-new types of Eevee may be discovered just because of more mutations in the gene pool. It's happened before."
"Eight different evolved forms?" the student said in awe.
"Yeah," Was turned, holding up his hand to count them off. "The water type Vaporeon, the electric type Jolteon, the fire type Flareon, the psychic type Espeon, the dark type Umbreon, the grass type Leafeon, the ice type Glaceon, and the fairy type Sylveon."
"How did you know that?" Rose asked, stunned. "Eevee aren't native to Hoenn."
"Doesn't mean I don't know about them," Wes pointed out. "Almost every trainer has heard of Eevee at one point or another, since they are so popular."
"Their popularity is what causes them to be so rare in the wild, however," Juan stated. "Most Eevee, or evolved forms of the Pokemon, are pets or owned by trainers. In fact, most trainers get Eevee though breeding just because of this."
"One of our eggs could've been an Eevee, but I guess that would've made the other students too jealous so they didn't think that was a good idea," Chole muttered.
"Well, at least one of us did get lucky with their egg," Rose pointed out, giving Wes the side-eye.
"What'd I do?" Wes asked, not liking her look, but sighed as he brushed it off. "Well, whatever, either way this is a great opportunity! I need a sixth team member, and Eevee would be-"
"No," Jason instantly said, looking over his shoulder at Wes. "We are there to observe, not capture. At another point you might get lucky enough to obtain an Eevee, but while we are in lessons you cannot capture anything."
"But, Rose did," Wes pointed out.
"Don't shift the blame to me!" Rose shot back, glaring.
Jason sighed at that. "Rose caught her Salandit because it wanted to join up with her, plus you two weren't technically part of the lesson at the time, so that gets an exception. However, while we are studying there are to be no captures. Besides, like Juan said, Eevee are rare in the wild. If you really want one, see if you can get one from a breeder."
Wes grumbled at that, his brain on overdrive. Jason seemed to ignore this, however, as they passed the sign that read 'Route 4', the Tauros huffing a bit at the long haul and the pace that had to keep the entire way there. Jason patted one, apologizing softly before leading the students into an open field, where sure enough some Eevee were either sniffing around or at play.
"Halt, here is good for observation," Jason noted.
"They're so cute!" Chole gasped, looking stary-eyed at them. "I've never seen one up close before!"
Rotom flew out of Rose's purse, "This is great time for some pictures and maybe a PokeDex reading! Eevee, the Evolution Pokemon, zzt. An extremely rare Pokémon that may evolve in a number of different ways depending on stimuli. The question of why only Eevee has such unstable genes has still not been solved."
"Let's be careful not to startle them," Jason noted, looking over his shoulder at the few Eevee that were eyeing them. "Anyway, who knows what the unofficial term for Eevee's evolved forms are?"
"Eeveelution, correct?" Rose answered.
"Correct," Jason grinned, before gesturing to the Eevee. "Eevee's evolutions all also have 'eon' in their names at the end, and additionally was one of the first Pokemon discovered that can evolve into different forms, a trait known as a branched evolution. Due to this, and the fact that it can evolve into eight entirely different Pokemon with eight different types, it is very sought after by trainers." Jason grinned at an Eevee approaching them, and began to bend down to pick it up.
"W-wait, Professor!" Lillie gasped, shocked. However, she need not worry, as Jason stood back up with the wild Eevee in his arms, stretching underneath the chin of the brown fox looking Pokemon, who was cooing in joy. "H-how are you doing that?"
"I like Pokemon better then people," Jason stated, continuing to scratch the Eevee.
"B-but that's not an excuse!"
"It is to me."
I'm more concerned about the fact that he is making baby noises at it. Wes thought, listening to Jason as he stretched the Eevee gently, indeed making cutesy noises.
"Alright, I want you all splitting into groups of three to five," Jason stated, looking at his students. "Observe the Eevee and take time to study them in their natural state, which I assure you is very rare and should be treated as a treat. Not even researchers get to do this, so savor it. The outbreak won't last forever, so don't waste it by scaring them or anything stupid. And not a single Eevee is to be caught!"
So with disgruntled sighs and disappointment, the students went off to begin studying the Eevee. Under the watchful eyes of Jason and Em, they were sure not to do anything that even suggested they were going to catch the Eevee, despite most of them wanting to really bad. Chole and Lillie especially, who were big fans of cute Pokemon, were struggling to comply with the rules, practically drooling over the Eevee like they were an expensive dinner and they hadn't eaten in days.
"Hey, don't you think it's weird that none of them are evolving?" Rose asked. "You think if they are that unstable, we'd either see an evolution or at the very least an evolved form with them, don't ya think Wes …Wes?" Rose turned, but the trainer in question was gone, with Nayru also nowhere to be found. "Oh, for Mew's sake!"
"Maybe he went to the bathroom," Juan suggested.
"No, knowing him, he's about to get into trouble again," Rose sighed, shaking her head. "I swear, that kid."
Sure enough, Rose was on the money, as Wes was sneaking through the tall grass as low as possible, practically army crawling on his stomach as he went, stopping to part the tall grass and staring at what looked like a mother Eevee and a bunch of babies, who seemed to be enjoying themselves. Nayru sighed, not trying to blend in as much as she was a Pokemon to. "You're acting stupid, master."
"Oh come on, Nayru, you gotta admit an Eevee on the team would be awesome!" Wes groaned in a wanting way. "We're only gonna get this chance, and dammit am I gonna take it!"
"And how are you going to explain this to Jason when he finds out?" Nayru asked, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.
"I haven't thought that far ahead yet," Wes admitted, causing Nayru to sweatdrop. "But hey, maybe if I let him pet the Eevee, he'll forget all about it!"
"That's about as likely as you running into a legendary Pokemon," Nayru grumbled, clearly not comfortable with this plan.
"Let's go that way," Wes muttered, pointing to his left. "For some reason, that mother Eevee keeps looking over here like she's expecting something." Wes began to move, but a soft yet sudden yelp caught his attention. He raised his body a bit and looked down, his eyes suddenly going wide in shock. Lying there injured was an Eevee with snow white fur, dyed slightly crimson from blood. The creature weakly was eyeing Wes with coal, black eyes with showed fear.
"D-did you just find a shiny?" Nayru asked, looking stunned.
"He's hurt," Wes immediately said, picking up the Eevee, which didn't fight back due to weakness, and stood up. When he did, the Eevee babies scattered, with the mother Eevee hissing a bit, looking at what was in Wes' arms. Nayru seemed to instantly understand the situation, and stepped forward.
"You… did this to him, didn't you?" She growled, getting ready to blast the mother.
"Forget it," Wes ordered.
"But-" Nayru whimpered, but one look at Wes' face told her immediately not to protest.
"Eevee's safety is more important," Wes ordered, racing off. Nayru looked after him, and glared at the mother Eevee for a moment before gliding after her master, as she was faster gliding through the air then running. Hearing them approach, Jason turned to reprimand Wes for going off on his own, but one look at what was in Wes' arms instantly made his jaw stop and caused him to freeze in shock.
"Get out of my way!" Wes shouted at a few students blocking the road, which instantly obeyed. "Injured Eevee coming through!"
"W-Wes!?" Rose shouted, chasing after him. "Wait!"
Jason stood their frozen for a few more moments, before walking away from the students off into the woods. Only Em noticed this, who followed after him. Once he was sure he was out of sight from the students, he instantly wrapped his right arm over his mouth, and wrapped his left one over the right one, before letting out a blood curling muffled scream that, despite being muffled, made Em flinch. Jason's face turned a very bright shade of red, before he dropped both arms and weakly drooped a bit, panting.
"Wow… I haven't ever seen you get that bad before," Em admitted, looking a bit scared.
"Three," he growled. "Freaking three! How lucky can one kid be!? People are lucky to even get one, and this kid gets- …ok no, that's it."
"W-where are you going!?" Em asked, as he stormed off.
"Nayru and Inigio are one thing," Jason hissed. "But to have a shiny of one of my favorite Pokemon out of sheer dumb luck? Not gonna fly!"
"Aren't you being a bit petty?" Em asked, though immediately regretted this.
"No, I am being EXTREMELY petty," Jason admitted, which made Em blink in shock. "I don't care. I will get a shiny Eevee by the end of today! You watch the class, I'm going hunting!"
XxXxXxX
"Eevee," Wes panted, staring at the nurse with a determined look. "Heal. Please."
"I was going to do that anyway," the nurse muttered in a very 'ok psycho' matter, walking off with the weak Eevee into the back room, where an ER light came on over the door, indicating an emergency procedure was going on.
Rose looked over at the door, before turning back to Wes, looking at him with both a shocked and somewhat irritated matter. "How are you constantly getting that lucky?"
"Oh so lucky," Nayru snarled, glaring at Rose, who was stunned at this. "That Eevee is SO LUCKY to be born how he was!" She huffed, crossing her arms and immediately gliding away to the corner of the Pokemon Center.
"Go talk to her," Wes immediately said, not taking his eyes off the door.
"But what did I do?" Rose muttered, still confused. Wes looked at her with a 'just do it' glare, so she signed, walking off and approaching Nayru, who was giving off a very negative aura that Rose could pratically feel choking her as she approached, sitting down next to the shiny with an awkward look on her face. "Hey, I'm sorry. I don't know what I did wrong though..."
Nayru glared at her for a moment before sighing, looking down with a sad look. "You know how humans are all different? How you guys basically celebrate your differences because that is what makes you special? That isn't how it is with Pokemon, we're all supposed to be as similar as possible because that is what we need to do to survive... so imagine how it is to be born a mutant freak, different from your peers just by color, but enough that it makes you stand out."
"I... never thought of it like that," Rose admitted.
"Of course you don't," Nayru shot at her, but sighed. "Sorry, it's hard for humans to understand, after all difference is what makes humans, well, human. That's why you all love shiny Pokemon so much, because the differences are special to you. We don't see it like that in the Pokemon world, however. My mother... she was released by her trainer, so she was quite powerful, and knew Shadow Ball... so imagine being weak to it, and being abused... by Shadow Ball... A LOT."
Rose looked wide eyed at Nayru, who at this point had tears swelling up in her eyes as she talked. Rose reached to comfort Nayru, but backed off at the last moment. "Look, if it's too painful to remember, I can..."
Nayru shook her head, wiping tears away. "No... it's fine. So yeah, one day my mom decided enough was enough. If I wasn't going to go away on my own, she was going to make me go away, her way. So yeah, I'll spare you all the details, but before the final blow could be struck, I was shield by a human child..."
"Wes," Rose realized.
Nayru nodded. "That look he has right now? That is what I saw, that human that I didn't know protecting me, that determined look telling me that no matter what, he wouldn't let me die that way. Eventually, his mom came looking for him and chased off the other Ralts and my mom. They took me home and nursed me back to health, and eventually realizing I didn't want to leave, Wes offered a Friend Ball to be... a sign that he and I were going to be friends forever."
"So, that's why you stick with him no matter what," Rose realized, looking at her in awe.
Nayru nodded, smiling sadly. "He saved by life. I told you before, Wes is different. He doesn't see my difference as just that, sure it startled him with Inigo and now this Eevee, but he isn't going to just catch a Pokemon because of a few sparkles when it comes out of the ball and a different color."
Rose looked at Wes with a small blush creeping across her face. She already had begun to see him in new light these past few months, but seeing him now, with how determined he was to save this Pokemon, and hearing how Nayru was saved by him in the same way, made Rose realize just what kind of person he was. She was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts by the ER doors opening, and the snow white Eevee being carried by the nurse back to the counter.
"Here is the Eevee," the nurse said, handing him to Wes.
"Thanks," Wes breathed in relief, taking the Eevee, who immediately nuzzled Wes in affection. "Aww, he likes me!"
"You did kinda save his bacon, Master."
"So... what are we going to do with him?" Rose asked, looking in worry at the Eevee. "We can't really just let him go, can we? He'll just get hurt out there."
Wes looked down at the Eevee, who was looking at Wes with a look of 'please don't put me back' in his eyes. Wes smiled at this, holding the Eevee up and snuggling him. "I'm gonna call you Blake!"
"Really?" Rose sarcastically muttered, glaring. "It was that easy to convince you?"
"And why Blake?" Nayru muttered, looking confused. "Doesn't that mean black, as in, not that Eevee's color?"
"His eyes are black," Wes pointed out. "Besides, it sounds cool. Huh, do you like that name? You wanna go in the Moon Ball? Oh yes you do." Wes baby talked, holding up the Moon Ball which Blake seemed to play swat at.
"And the baby talk again," Rose commented.
"Let's go," Nayru muttered, shaking her head but smiling all the same. "I think we've worried Jason and Em enough."
As the trio (plus Blake) headed out, though, their eyes went wide as Jason stepped past, holding a second silvery Eevee in his arms as he called out for a first-aid kit. They blinked at the sight, but then heard a low growl, and turned to see the rest of the class being corralled by Em, who had taken a seat on the back of her Salamence.
"We are waiting here like good boys and girls until Jason gets that Eevee patched up, understand? And no more whining, or else you get to feel the power of Dragon Claw FIRST HAND!" Em snarled, glaring at the class.
"Wow, she is vicious," Wes noted. "Though I can't imagine the appearance of two shiny Pokemon in one day made them all that happy... you think there was an up-roar?"
"From the look of them all, probably," Rose commented, blinking in shock at the appearance of the second shiny.
"Wes and Rose, front and center!" Em called out. "The whole class needs a lecture, and that includes you both... though from the look on Nayru, I'm guessing at least one of you already got one."
"Welp, time to face second hell," Rose muttered, walking forward.
"You're welcome," Nayru muttered, not apologetic at all.
"I didn't do anything," Wes muttered.
"You did all the things!" Jason barked, suddenly leaving the center and startling them. "In line! NOW!"
Once everyone was set in place, Jason furrowed his brow. "Now... a lot of you got mad when Wes ran off with that first Eevee. And rightfully so. I had said 'no capturing the Eevee', and what he did, was, essentially, doing just that."
"Yeah, so he broke the damn rules!" a jock student shouted, glaring at Wes as if ready to deck him.
"DETENTION", Jason immediately barked. Once the jock had clammed up, Jason continued. "And, as I was saying, plenty more of you got more upset when I decided we needed to head back with the second Eevee in my arms, with the intent of healing her and capturing her myself. Now, let me ask you a question..." With that pause, he glared at all of them. "Do any of you really know how TERRIBLE a shiny's life can be?"
"Jason, I love you," Nayru immediately chimed in.
"Quiet, Nayru", Jason called back, but still smirking a bit. "To answer that question... there's a reason why Shiny Pokemon are so rare... because it's a deviant to the norm on birth, and unlike us humans, who relish in differences and the unique... a deviant pokemon is essentially a threat to the entire species. If more pokemon of that color are allowed to flourish and thrive, the population could be decimated due to the fact that they are no longer able to use their camoflauge to hide, or unable to use their colors to try and attract a mate. In response to that... the rest of the pack, or even their own mothers, will attempt to kill the baby pokemon."
The entire class shifted uneasily at that, having never thought about it. One girl raised her hand tentatively. "B-but profes- I mean, Jason, y-you were jealous of W-Wes, too... a-after that T-Torchic hatched..."
"Wait, what?" Wes asked, confused.
"You are right", Jason responded, "and I would be wrong to put myself above others for that. My reasoning, though, is that he HATCHED a Shiny. I'm not aware of Nayru's circumstances, but I assume she was also a wild Ralts before she met Wes, and that's a possible reason as to why he reacted so quickly when he discovered the shiny Eevee. I'm not jealous of him for that... if anything, I have seen first hand how poorly Shiny Pokemon get treated, not just by their own kind, but by humans too." He gave a sigh. "When I was a kid, my father owned a shiny pokemon, which became one of my first partners when I started my journey. As I traveled, I got a lot of offers to trade that pokemon for something more powerful or more rare, such as an Eevee, one of my favorite pokemon. I didn't understand it at the time, though; I only met the one, and I thought they were all green. Turns out, the natural color was blue.
"But, to make a long story short... I saw the conditions that one of my potential traders kept their pokemon in, and I was disgusted. I didn't want my partner to end up like that", Jason concluded. "In conclusion... I go crazy about Shiny Pokemon because I want to make sure they are treated with the same love and respect any other pokemon deserves, not because of their color. So... just this once... I'm willing to let Wes' decision slide and allow him to keep that Eevee. Because I know it's the best place that little one belongs."
"...you aren't even going to give him detention for running off on his own?" Juan asked. "That's very unlike you."
"This is a one time deal", Jason stated, giving Wes a glare again. "If he does it again... I'll give him two to make up for it."
"Eh, that's fair," Wes muttered, petting Blake who was cooing.
"Yeah, yeah, sappy happy," Em muttered with a bit of impatience in her voice. "Can we go back to the hotel now? Tomorrow's my last day, and I want to get ready for it!"
"You go ahead", Jason told her, pointing back to the center. "I need to make sure Spirit is safe to move before I bring her back to the hotel."
"... Spirit?" Em asked, raising an eyebrow.
"What, you think I'm just gonna let her go after that speech I just made? She's mine now", Jason countered. "I'm not letting her go back into the wild where she'll get killed."
We sense a bit of jealously, professor. The entire class thought, sweat dropping.
...yes, Wes is going to have three shiny Pokemon. This does not make him "overpowered" as many of you are about to say, as they are just as strong as regular Pokemon... in fact, due to the way shiny Pokemon worked in Gen 2, they weren't even the most powerful a Pokemon could be. A 'perfect Pokemon' would always be a strong as a regular Pokemon in Gen 2.
Wes's team is based off some of my favorite Pokemon. I happen to have a shiny Gardevoir, Blaziken and (insert Eeveelution here), so yeah.
Anyway, thanks for reading the chapter!