Like any other in one of Kalos' leafiest and populated forests, it was a typical day. The sun's rays struck through the trees' leaves and gave an elegant touch of light to the environment. I listened in the background of how the bird Pokemon jumped from branch to branch, chirping, and singing. Sometimes, they sounded too loud and woke me up from my pleasant dreams. That day was no exception.
The combination of sunlight and Pokemon bird songs brought me out of my nice rest. I opened my eyes and was unlucky enough to look directly at the strange, never melting ice placed by one of my sisters in my resting place, which stunned me for a few seconds because of its intense light reflection. When I recovered my senses, I contemplated the cave in which I was for a few moments. Then I got up, stretched, and shook my body. I looked for the traditional tray made of leaves with berries that my brothers used to leave me for breakfast.
We were nine brothers and sisters, myself included. Together we formed a big family quite well known in the woods. They called us the Eevee family, probably because I was the most sociable member of the nine with the other forest's species, or maybe because they all had been an Eevee in the past.
When I finished breakfast, I got ready to leave the cave and visit my friends. We used to meet in an area where the trees were slightly more separated from the rest. My family always told me that it wasn't the best place, but my friends nor I didn't like being trapped among so many trees. At least they were relieved to know that their little sister never went so far from home.
After I arrived at the usual tree where my friends and I used to meet, I only saw two of them: a Scatterbug and a Fletchling. The first was on one of the lower branches, devouring its leaves as usual, while the second continually looked away from the scene. The Fletchling was very happy to see me.
"Nevui!" she yelled. She flew down from the branch where she was and took a few small jumps with her legs together to get closer to me. "Good thing you came. I was starting to feel sick watching our friend eating."
"Is Vispelon devouring the tree again?" I asked.
"Yes! You know he doesn't stop until you or Zilgus show up. And that's being optimistic. One day he'll kill the tree, and we'll have to look for another place to meet."
The Fletchling's wild name was Asaria, but we simply called her Sari among friends. She loved it when we addressed her by that name because she saw it more right for her, a tiny bird with a reddish head, a grey body, and a black tail with a white line in the middle.
Zilgus was the fourth group member and the one I was most fond of because we knew each other practically since we were born. At that moment, Zilgus wasn't there, but he would come soon, so Sari and I went to the tree to hang out while Vispelon continued with his meal.
"Do you want to stop eating already? Nevui is here," Sari scolded the Scatterbug.
The bug Pokemon, also tiny as the Fletching, raised his abnormally big and round head than his body and straightened his three white antennas of his head. With his round tooth, he finished chewing the leaf he was eating, shook the crown of scales that rested under his head, and stared at the bird with his yellow eyes with square and black pupils as most of his body. "You know I can't, and I mustn't," he replied. "I need to eat a lot to create and accumulate enough energy, so other Pokemon like your kind don't devour me."
"You are fortunate that I don't like to feed on your kind. Otherwise, you would have awakened my predator instincts a long time ago with the stuffing you're putting on."
It was always incredible to me that Sari and Vispelon weren't attacking each other because of their predator and prey's apparent positions. Sari didn't like bugs such as Vispelon, but that didn't mean that she didn't eat them. Even so, that didn't prevent them from being friends.
"I really want you to change once and for all so I can be more relaxed in these meetings."
"Let it be, Sari," I tried to calm my friend. "Change will come when he decides it's the time."
"That's easy for you to say, Nevui. Your species doesn't have that pressure imposed by my flock or Vispelon's colony."
I looked away. There was no way I couldn't be affected when the subject of evolution came up. Sari and Vispelon knew it, but the situation had made the reddish head bird completely forget about it.
"I think I'll have to come sooner if I want to meet with you without running into what it seems to be the group's morning greeting nowadays."
Zilgus's voice diverted the attention from the main topic and made all of us notice him. I was delighted to see him, and I showed it by waving my tail while I welcomed him with a wide smile. The last group member finally appeared.
Zilgus approached and sat close to the trunk, right below the branch where Sari and Vispelon were. "Is everything all right?" he wanted to make sure. "When I arrived, I saw Nevui looking in another direction. She seemed to be a bit bothered."
"I wasn't," I clarified. "It was just…well, we reached that subject I don't like to deal with so much."
Zilgus stared at me with his blue eyes. "I see… Sari talked too much and gone mad for something Vispelon was doing, right? And I'm pretty sure it was the evolution topic, as you have said indirectly."
I confirmed my friend's deduction with a nod.
Then, Sari realized the blunder she made and covered her beak with one of her wings. "I'm sorry, Nevui. I wasn't aware of it until now," she apologized.
"Don't worry," I said, accepting her apology. "It was obvious that the conversation would end up on that subject. If I wouldn't have intervened, perhaps we wouldn't have reached it."
"If you hadn't intervened, Sari and I would have returned to our typical species fight, and we would have ended with me the same result of filling Sari's feathers with my thread," said Vispelon.
"It disgusts me by just thinking about it," said Sari, waving her wings as if she was already impregnated with Vispelon's threads. "I must thank you for that, Nevui."
Tension subsided with Sari's performance, and everything returned to a more normal situation, within what our meetings used to be. However, the evolution topic didn't end there, and it was Zilgus who continue it.
"Since I evolved, this subject hasn't ceased to arise in our circle," he said. "I feel a little guilty about that."
"You shouldn't," I replied instantly. "I'm not even safe at home from talking about evolution. Past week, for example, one of my brothers talked too much.
Not long ago, Zilgus was a Zigzagoon. He never revealed how he managed to make his body go to his next evolutionary phase, his last one, according to what I remembered from his comments. We hadn't seen him for over a week at that meeting, but it wasn't the first time we had seen him with the new form of a Linoone he adopted.
"So, can we ask about his new life as one of the strongest Pokemon in his group?" Sari was who got most excited to see one of the four members in our group fully evolved. She always looked for a chance to formulate those questions to Zilgus. "As long as it doesn't bother you, Nevui."
"Go ahead. Now we've started talking about it, I'm not going to be a party pooper."
Sari lifted and flapped her wings in celebration.
"But I've already told you what would become of me when you first saw me as a Linoone," replied Zilgus with little interest. But Sari pretended she had forgotten or preferred to hear it again. He had no choice but to satisfy her supposed curiosity. "Now I'm a collector for my herd. Every morning I explore the forest looking for berries so they can eat, and I also must defend our territory along with other Linoone from any Pokemon that tries to snatch it from us. You happy now, Sari?"
"Is it exciting?" she inquired.
"I don't think collecting berries all day for a herd is what you understand by exciting. Not even in territorial defenses, as it's improbable. And don't think I'll have to defend the territory in the extreme case it happens. My leaders have made clear I'm a collector and, if it's strictly necessary, a combat resource."
"Well, what a boring new life," said Sari, disappointed.
"My species isn't like yours, Sari, and I'm calmer than you. Quite more, I could say. My kind doesn't spend their life competing against the Pidgeot flock to show who should get more air territory. Besides," Zilgus quickly added, "becoming stronger wasn't among my motives for evolving."
"That's obvious. Neither you nor Vispelon is looking to evolve to strengthen yourselves."
"Why exactly did you want to evolve? For what motives?" I asked my friend. Since we were talking about a delicate subject for me, I wasn't going to be the one to remain silent. It was such an impression that I caused my three friends looked at me with curious eyes.
"Helping the herd, honor my parents, give good use to my habit of accumulating things… I suppose those would be the three main reasons," answered Zilgus. "I could also add the great speed I possess now, leaving me at the same conditions as the other species in the forest."
"But not as much as the superiors of my species," replied Sari feeling proud.
Zilgus, Vispelon, and I looked slightly away.
"So… you evolved to help your herd," I continued, ignoring Sari's comment completely. Zilgus nodded. "And you, Vispelon?"
"I've said that before: to avoid birds like Sari to put me on their day's menu," he said instantly. "Birds lose interest in what's not a small bug."
"Or something that has wings quite bigger than its body and is extremely eye-catching," Sari muttered.
"And that's said by the one who has a head covered in red feathers as intense as fire, and that one day it will be able to wrap his entire body in flames."
"Oh, you've been hunted, Sari," said Zilgus grinning.
The three of us laughed while Sari lifted a wing and lowered her head, accepting of have been hunted. That was how we expressed ourselves when that kind of situation occurred.
"So, Vispelon, your reasons are more like a method of… ¿survival?" I tried to guess.
"Exactly."
"And you, Sari?" The Fletchling was the only one who still hadn't revealed its reasons to evolve.
"Overcoming and competition," she said with determination. "I want to prove everyone in my flock of what I'm capable of and that I'll be worthy to participate in the Talonflame versus Pidgeot's competitions for the air territory. Besides, I want to humiliate my brother, who's not stopping blaming me for meeting with you instead of talking with others Fletchling. Especially since he found out that I speak with what he considers food." She looked at Vispelon.
"I see…"
I didn't dare to guess Sari's reasons with one word. She had always been somewhat unpredictable, which caused her current opinion about why she wanted to evolve changed from one day to another.
"Nevui, are you okay?"
Zilgus's concern for me left me confused for a moment until I realized the posture I had taken. Once more, I was downcast and wholly immersed in my thoughts. Unable to get out of the trance quickly if they didn't draw my attention. It happened to me every time I thought about my motives to evolve. My friends had one, but I didn't. I wasn't even sure I had one I still had to find out, or I was simply mistreating myself by just thinking about it.
Zilgus, Sari, and Vispelon already expected that reaction from my part, and they didn't take long to get me out of the trance and make it not the most relevant thing in my lifetime. It was easy for them to say.
"Are you with those thoughts again?" Zilgus asked me. I nodded, and he sighed. "Come on, Nevui, don't hurt yourself like that. When I evolved, I didn't expect this big change from you. You have passed from being the funny, curious, and extroverted Eevee I befriended to probably the most depressing Pokemon in the forest. And I don't like that at all."
"It's true. Before you even liked the constant quarrels Vispelon and I ended up," added Sari. "Now you make me feel bad even knowing they're actually fake. Where is the Nevui that tried to climb the trees just because she wanted to sit along with me in the same branch?"
"I know, I know. I perfectly know I shouldn't treat myself like this, but I can't avert it," I replied. "Seeing you, excited to adopt a stronger, faster o more beautiful aspects and with a compelling reason for reaching that objective makes me question more than I should whether I actually should evolve or not."
Zilgus got closer to me and gently stroked my mane with his two sharp claws. "Evolution is a tough and non-return decision; I, as well as Sari and Vispelon, understand your position and how difficult it must be to take it. The incredible versatility of your kind of being able to change into many different forms can become overwhelming. And each one of them would force you to have a very different life from what you have currently." I looked Zilgus to his face. If that was his way of cheering me up, he wasn't doing it well. "But there is something the three of us envy: that versatility also applies to your actual form. You have a natural balance that allows you to do everything without the need to evolve. You could be a collector like me without any problem, even you could be competitive as Sari if both of you shared the same nature. As for Vispelon, well, no Pokemon feeds with your species, so you don't need to evolve to survive."
"Summarizing, evolution for you isn't an obligation, but an option," said Sari. "Could your species be the only one that doesn't require it?"
"Within those that can evolve, of course."
I shook my head to get rid of the evil thoughts that were bothering my mind and looked at my friends with a broad smile. In the end, Zilgus's speech had been of some use. "Thanks. Sometimes I don't understand how you can bear with my behavior when we talk about evolution."
"Easy. We are your friends, aren't we?" said Sari as if it was the most obvious answer.
And she was right.
After that conversation, the meeting became much more animated. Sari and Vispelon returned to their fake quarrels when the Scatterbug went back to eat the tree leaves again. Sari tried to stop him, but it was useless. Accepting she'd get nothing, she finned and landed on Zilgus's head, who was telling me some anecdotes about his herd, and Sari joined, telling some from her part. From me, Zilgus's were more entertaining than Sari's, but she managed to narrate some equally amusing moments.
Everything went on as usual until, all of a sudden, my head started to hurt. I wasn't intense or long-lasting pain, but it did hurt for a few seconds. My friends looked at me with concerned eyes, but they calmed down after seeing me lifting my ears as I tried to catch better the sounds around me. Then, they guessed nothing wrong was happening to me, but that someone they already knew had contacted me telepathically.
Nevui, I apologize if I interrupted you with something. And if not, for the puncture you'll have suffered when I try to communicate with you using telepathy. I just wanted to tell you that Firia wants you to meet her in the cave's deepest room. I think it's something quite important; your other two natural siblings will be there as well. I recommend you do not keep them waiting. And don't try to answer this message; you know you don't have any psychic powers like me. Just come, all right?
The telepathic message ended as abruptly as it came. I shook my head to get rid of that slight whistling that stayed inside my head for a while.
"Someone in your family has contacted you, right?" asked Zilgus.
"Yes." I shook my head again. "The day when I can foresee Massara's telepathic messages, I'll be able to act more subtly."
"Something like that can only be done by another psychic Pokemon… right?" Sari commented.
"I don't know. Maybe there might be other kinds of Pokemon that could do that without being psychics. But I don't know if that's true," said Zilgus.
"Anyways, why didn't Kiteli come to deliver the message instead of Massara? At this time of the day, he normally goes out to explore the forest as usual," I asked, more to myself than to my friends. They couldn't know the answer, so they kept quiet. "He probably must've gone in another direction, or he must have gone out earlier, so Firia couldn't give him the message," I told myself. I got up and stretched my legs a little after sitting for so long. "I'd better get going to not try her patience."
"Okay. So long, Nevui," Zilgus and Sari said goodbye.
Vispelon took a long time to realize I was leaving because he immersed himself with a leaf he was devouring very slowly. He probably was full already. Only when I approached him, he left his food and said goodbye.
"Will you still be here later?" I asked all three of them. "I don't know how long the meeting will last, but I don't think it will be much."
"I don't think so. Soon I'll go to eat, and then I have to train," Sari replied.
"I'm not sure. Since soon it'll be bird's hunting time, I'll be hiding until it ends. I don't know if I may come back," Vispelon continued.
"I will. I have already collected the berries of the day for my herd, and I will have the rest of the day free. I'll wait for you, but if I see it's getting too late, then I'll return with the herd," Zilgus concluded.
"I'll tell Massara to send you a message about it. Then you won't have to wait longer than you should."
"Good idea. I hope I can withstand the headache that causes a telepathic message," Zilgus joked, sticking out his tongue and winking.
"Don't try to copy me," I followed the flow and gave him a push. "I'll see you later. And you two, tomorrow, if possible."
"Here we'll be," promised both of them.
Then I set off to the cave. On the way, I wondered why Firia called me. Especially when my other two natural siblings were going to be there, too. It was weird that the four of us were going to be together. Very few times could happen, and the vast majority was when we celebrated a family member's day of birth. And if I remembered correctly, that wasn't the day for none of us. But, then, for what? The truth was that I was very intrigued, but I should learn to not be curious about almost anything that happened in my family.
