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"An eevee village without any umbreon?" Smoke said, frowning, "That's… strange."
Rok reluctantly looked up from his bowl of stew. It was unlike anything he'd ever tasted! Creamy and slightly sweet, but also spicy, with just the right amount saltiness. It made everything he'd ever eaten before seem bland and plain in comparison. If he had his way, he'd probably keep eating this non-stop until he died. But unfortunately, he couldn't eat and talk at the same time.
"Sorry, but, what's an umbreon?" he asked, hastily swallowing another bite of stew.
Reaper groaned. "Does your ignorance never cease?"
"Reaper, be nice!" Smoke chided, "And Rok, an umbreon is what you are. It's a type of eevee evolution."
"An eeveelution!" Rage said cheerfully, his muzzle covered in sauce.
"Yes, that."
Rok looked down at his sleek, black paws, and the yellow markings that had begun to glow ominously in the dim lighting. So, this thing he'd become had a name? He was an "umbreon"? Did that mean there were other umbreon out there who could explain whatever was happening to him?
"Maybe it's just really hard to evolve into an umbreon, and that's why there aren't any in my village?" Rok said tentatively.
"It is an exceptionally hard evolution." Smoke admitted, "But… do you have any espeon in your village?"
"Espeo-? Uh, yeah?" Rok answered, taken aback by the sudden question.
Smoke's shoulders slumped. "Then I'm afraid that can't be it. Do you know how espeon evolve?"
Rok nodded. Finally, something he knew! "They train really hard, and when they get strong enough, the sun blesses them with its power, allowing them to evolve."
"That is the most pretentious description of espeon I've ever heard." Reaper said dryly.
"But it's not wrong." Smoke said, mouth twitching into a smile. "They do get the energy they need for evolution from the sun, after all."
"But, what does espeon's evolution have to do with umbreon?" Rok asked.
"I KNOW THIS ONE!" Rage suddenly bellowed, sticking up his hand like he was in a classroom.
Reaper flinched away from him. "For Arceus's sake, we're right here! Don't you have volume control?"
"It's because umbreon and espeon are, um, "polar opposites"." Rage said, ignoring Reaper. "Their evolutions are really similar!"
Smoke nodded, smiling fondly at the giant beast. "That's right Rage. The only difference between espeon's and umbreon's evolutions is umbreon get their energy from the moon instead of the sun. Does that sound right?"
Rok thought back to when he finally got tossed ashore by that river. The cool assurance that everything would be fine that seemed to be coming from the moon itself. The way the silver light seemed to caress and hold him in a motherly embrace…
The entire event took a darker tone in his mind with the knowledge that it had led to his evolution. The evolution he didn't even want, and still didn't want. Everything about this, about being an umbreon, felt wrong.
"Probably came as a shock, huh?" Smoke said gently, "I'm guessing umbreon wasn't your first pick."
"I wanted to be a leafeon," Rok said quietly, looking into his bowl of stew, "I wanted to help with the farming and the feasts, and spend all day in the sun."
Something big fell gently on his back, making Rok jolt in surprise. But it was only Rage, gently stroking him with a giant paw, his bright eyes now shining with sorrow.
"I'm sorry." He whispered, "I didn't want to evolve either. But everyone said I had to. Now, everyone's scared of me."
Rok smiled at him, patting the giant red cat's foot reassuringly. "It's okay. When I get back to my village, the elders will be able to fix me. Then I can have the evolution I've always wanted."
"Well that's dumb."
Rok jumped again at Reaper's sharp voice, looking over to find her scowling at him. "You can't undo an evolution. Like it or not, you're stuck as an umbreon for the rest of your life. So let go of those false hopes, and grow up already. The world's not gonna wait for you to lose your naïveté before coming after you."
"Reaper!" Smoke barked sharply, "Be gentle with the boy, for Arceus's sake! He's in an entirely new situation, after evolving into a form he didn't want, surrounded by hostile pokémon, and the last thing he needs is you roughing him about!"
"Just because you live in a fantasy world where everything can work out okay doesn't mean that I have to." Reaper snarled, "You wanna be gentle with him? Fine. But don't blame me if he gets himself killed because you didn't prepare him for the harsh reality of the world. What would you have me do, say yeah, go ahead, pursue your useless hope that you can undo your evolution?"
"It-it doesn't matter if I'm stuck this way, really." Rok stammered, "I can still help out my village in some way like this, and my friends and family will be worried."
Reaper shook her head, growling in frustration. "Don't you get it Rok? You're definitely not the first umbreon your village has had. It's just not plausible, especially if you have espeon since umbreon evolve in nearly the exact same way. Your little community has definitely had your kind before."
"Then why haven't I met any umbreon before, or learned about them? Why don't they have a role in the village like the other evolutions?" Rok asked.
"Reaper…" Smoke said warningly.
But Reaper wasn't discouraged.
"Because they've all be driven out, that's why, obviously!" she snapped, "As soon as you go back to that village of yours, those "elders" you have so much faith in? They'll kick you out, come up with some dumb story to explain to the other villagers why this black and yellow creature just showed up out of nowhere, and everyone will move on with their lives!"
Rok quivered, shaking his head fervently. "The elders look out for everyone. They wouldn't do that. No-one would do that!"
Reaper barked a laugh. "Hate to break it to you Rok, but it's happened in a bunch of settlements. All the pokémon that aren't trusted get tossed out because everyone just assumes we're gonna do something bad. It's like that everywhere, and your village is no different. They'll just cast you out, and pretend you don't exist because they think that that new form of yours means you're gonna do something to disturb the peace or they'll come up with another, even dumber reason."
"REAPER!"
All eyes snapped to Smoke, standing in the centre of the room. His lips were curled in a snarl, baring his sharp teeth, and thin wisps of stinking smoke curled out from his jaws.
"We need to talk." He growled, "Outside. Now."
A/N: Reaper… you might have taken it a bit too far my girl.
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