Author's Notes: It's been a while since I last updated (namely I haven't updated since the beginning of the semester). The fact of the matter is that I'm lazy. There, I admitted it. Without any big motivation (namely Reviews), working on this story is moved to the back burner, while watching anime moves up to the front. So to all those people who are reading my story (looks around), please review, and that way I'll be more motivated to write more of this story.
One more comment about the story before I let you go: I am currently debating exactly what year this story takes place, and I am edging towards 1369 DR (Dale Reckoning), which is three years before what could be called "the present." I'm still debating this however, so it is not final yet when this story takes place.
And now, on with the story
"Where No Pokemon Has Gone Before"
Chapter 8: The Kidnapping
Yunt stared at the dead dragon in awe, completely and utterly dumbfounded. Killing a dragon is never easy. With its scales being impervious to all but the most powerful weapons, its claws and teeth able to rip through all non-magical armors, and also include a breath weapon that can kill anything at a good distance away, plus the magic and cunning that seems that all living things seem to develop when they live for several centuries.
And yet, as far as Yunt and his men could find, there was only one wound: it was as if another dragon, a red one, had breathed fire directly into this blue dragon's open mouth, burning him from the inside out.
{Of course, a powerful wizard could have done the same, but why go through the mouth? Why not just blast it directly with fire?} Yunt was truly confused. Magic and dragons weren't one of his strong points. There was no other sign of another dragon. And except for the area blasted by lightning, there were no signs of battle. There was a grave, which Yunt's men were currently digging up, so that meant the survivors cared enough to bury the dead, instead of just incinerating it {like a wizard would} or eating it {like a dragon would}.
Yunt was just too bewildered by this. He was just a patrol leader. It wasn't his job to deal with dragons (well, maybe negotiate with one, but only with prior consent from the Tharch). He was just supposed to catch escaping slaves, and make sure no one sneaked into Thay. He had been chasing after the girl with the monsters, and now this falls into his lap.
Yunt sighed, and stared at the dragon's corpse, its eyes and flesh rotting, and swarms of flies buzzing about. Tral walked up to him, his nose wrinkling from the smell and asked, "Now what, Commander?"
Yunt continued to stare at the corpse, and replied in a dead tone, "I don't know. I just don't know." He sighed and said, "Anything that could take out this dragon could take out our patrol with no trouble at all. I just wish I had something good to tell Pyrados about this failure. Too bad the only witnesses are dead." His nod indicated the dragon and the grave being dug up.
Yunt paused, and considered something. Tral noticed the change in emotions. "Commander?"
Yunt smiled, and turned to Tral. "When did being dead ever stop the Red Wizards of Thay? If we show the dragon's head to Pyrados, she'll be so interested in this case that she'll let us off the hook so she can dive into this personally. Also, we'll give her the corpse for her to interrogate." He turned back to the dragon with a smile full of teeth. "Tral, get some men and chop off the dragon's head, and tell the others to hurry up with the body."
"As soon as we have them ready to go, we're leaving."
It had been several weeks of hiking along the mountains, but it was well worth it, now that they were out of Thay and were now in sight of the port city Sultim in Mulhorand, a step closer to freedom for the former slaves. While there were still slaves in Mulhorand, slaves were treated much better in Mulhorand, plus once they got onto a ship they would be away from the slaving countries' grasping hands.
After much deliberation, Rowryn had decided to take Felix to Elminster, the Sage of Shadowdale, the only person Rowryn knew who was a friend of the Harpers and might be able to help Felix get home. According to rumor, Elminster was over five hundred years old, and would surely have some idea of where the girl's home was located, and know how to get her back. At least that was what Rowryn hoped for, since he had never actually met the powerful wizard and he wasn't sure if Elminster would help the young girl. As for the former slaves, Rowryn had a Harper friend in Sultim who would take them on the rest of their journey. Originally Rowryn had planned to go all the way with the former slaves, but now he had to deal with Felix, and he didn't want to hand her off to one of his contacts.
After all, he knew more about her than anyone else in this world. Plus she would trust him more than a stranger charged with her safety. Yes, Rowryn would take Felix to Shadowdale to see Elminster, a journey of around one and a half thousand miles, with most of it on the sea, fortunately.
Still, there was the problem that Sultim was going to be first city Felix had been to in this world, and Rowryn wasn't sure how she would react to the city. It would be best to keep an eye on her till he could find his friend and book passage on the next ship to the Dalelands.
Felix stumbled after Rowryn, almost tripping over her feet as she looked all around, her mouth slightly parted. "So many different people," Felix thought as her wide wondering eyes took in everything.
To her left a dark-haired, dark-skinned human merchant was arguing with a pale, golden-haired, pointy-eared elf over the price of some dried plants. They were speaking in a beautiful melodious language that she had never heard before. On the other side of the street a creature with a pig snout and olive green skin, Rowryn said it was an orc, was haggling in another language Felix didn't recognize over the price of a wicked-looking barbed sword with a blue-skinned, pointy-eared humanoid whose hair fluttered around in an invisible breeze. Ahead of her a man dressed in the robes of some political position led a group of guards who were carrying a large chest that jingled and rang of money.
Tax collectors apparently exited in this world as well as her own, Felix realized.
People and beings of all sorts of races were everywhere, though most were human, as far as she could tell. It was like the big the cities back home, only no pokemon, no buildings more than two or three stories high, no cars, and a lack of cleanliness. The road they were on was dirt and stone, with much of the dirt being kicked up as dust to cover the people of the city, as well as covering the travelers, such as Felix and her party.
Felix glanced over herself and felt her hair. She definitely needed a bath, but judging from what she had experienced over the past few weeks, and considering the look of the people standing and walking around, it looked like baths were a luxury, and showers were definitely out of the question. Felix sighed, and consigned herself to being a lot dirtier in this world then in her own.
With Rowryn's hand on her shoulder making sure she didn't wander off or stop to stare at the things she had never seen before, the group made pretty good time, leaving the markets behind and arriving in the residential area where the folk of the middle-class stayed. Rowryn approached one house in particular, a boarding house where traveling merchants would room while in the city. He told everyone to wait outside until he and Tory came back, and then they went inside to talk with his Harper friend.
Rowryn came back out with Tory and his friend ten minutes later, having called in a couple of favors to get the escaped slaves taken care of, though Rowryn's friend hadn't known exactly when the next ship would be casting off to the west to the Dalelands. He and Felix said their goodbyes to the former slaves, wished them luck, and continued on their journey.
Rowryn, with Felix in tow, found an inn, and got a private room (instead of a pair of beds in the commons), and left Felix in there so he go find out a ship. He planned on being gone for no more than hour, hopefully having found a captain that would allow a pair of passengers on his ship to the Dalelands. Hopefully, within a couple of days, he and Felix would be on their way towards Shadowdale.
Unfortunately, things didn't go completely as he had planned and hoped. You see, Pokemon Trainers (Felix in particular), don't like waiting around in a room with nothing to do for an hour. It's one of their character flaws, one that makes them leave home and go on their pokemon quests. Felix decided she had better things than just waiting around, twiddling her thumbs.
She decided to go explore the city.
As she wandered back towards the market place to watch all the people, she was spotted by a Red Wizard. One who had been alerted by Tharch Pyrados to keep an eye out for a young girl, with reddish-brown hair, weird clothing, and possibly a strange monster or two hanging around her. Unable to scry the girl since she had never seen her herself, the Tharch had tried alerting some of her apprentices who were in Mulhorand, as well as in other regions around the Sunrise Mountains, where the girl was first spotted. A girl able to command monsters and possibly kill dragons was definitely worth looking into. If Pyrados didn't find anything, than very little resources would be wasted on the search. But if she was found... then the Tharch could personally question her to find out who she was and what she was. It was truly bad luck that one Pyrados's apprentices spotted her.
[Author's Note: Or could just be a plot device to get Felix kidnapped by someone who has a reasonable reason to kidnap her... Naaah, couldn't be...]
Kurin, the apprentice of Pyrados, trailed after the girl, pretty sure this girl was the one his master had told him to keep an eye out for. He wasn't completely sure, and considering his master, it was best to be completely certain. He waited until there were very few people in sight of the two of them, and then he cast a quick Sleep spell. The girl stumbled, and would have fallen face first into the ground if the mage hadn't caught her and dragged into a nearby alley.
Feeling the clothing the girl wore as he dragged her out of the street, travel-stained, but made of a material he had never felt before, the apprentice knew he had found the girl. Searching her more carefully for any weapons, Kurin found six red and white balls, each with what looked like a button on them, attached to a belt around her waist. Curiosity and eagerness over this obviously magical item overwhelmed his common sense of dealing with the unknown, and he tugged one of the balls off of the belt and pressed the button.
The sphere suddenly expanded in his hand from an inch across to about three inches in diameter, and then split open down the middle, releasing a surge of white energy that surged towards the ground to coalesce into the form of a monster.
Surprised and cursing himself for his stupidity, Kurin dropped the sphere and stepped back, an offensive spell ready in his mind to deal with whatever he had inadvertently summoned. The glow of the monster died down and revealed what looked like to him to be a cute, little creature, apparently a cross between a rabbit and a cat. The beast immediately saw the sleeping girl and Kurin standing over her and its cute features were erased by a fearsome growl as it bared its teeth and got ready to pounce.
Experienced with dealing monsters at such a close range, Kurin went into the gestures and arcane words to blast this beast into submission. By the time the animal finally pounced and was a few feet away from slamming into the wizard, his spell went off and several bolts of light slammed into the animal in mid-air and sent it flying to the edge of the alleyway.
The creature crashed into the ground, but got up quickly enough, though one of its front legs was obviously broken, judging by the way it hung of the ground at an angle not possible if it had been unbroken. It whimpered and growled at the same time, wanting to help the girl, but unable to stand up to the mage.
Kurin began casting another spell, intent on capturing the beast so he could be handed over along with the girl to Tharch Pyrados. The animal, seeing the gestures and hearing the words, whimpered one more time, and then sprinted away as best it could on a wounded leg.
Heading towards the harbor.
Kurin raced after it, but by the time he reached the street, the beast was out of sight. He cursed himself again at losing the animal and went back to the girl's body, thinking of what his master would say to him for losing one of the monsters. He grumbled and thought about what do about the monster, when his eyes fell upon the empty sphere. {That's it!} Kurin thought. He could keep the empty sphere for himself and let Pyrados only think that the girl carried five of these monsters with her.
Kurin was about to pick up the sphere when he realized that Pyrados would check to make sure he didn't steal anything off of the girl. He had to hide the sphere, Kurin realized, and he quickly dug a shallow hole in the ground in the alleyway, which unlike the road, wasn't covered in stones, just dirt. He buried the sphere and made a mental note of its location before picking up the girl's body and carrying her away.
Rowryn was walking back towards in a very happy mood. While he hadn't found anyone heading directly for Scardale, the closest port in the Dalelands to Shadowdale, he had found a captain willing to take two well-paying passengers, about to leave for Selgaunt in Sembia, which was south of the Dalelands, but still fairly close. They would leave before dawn tomorrow with the tides for a voyage of about two weeks, maybe three depending on the weather and pirates. Now he would return to the inn to buy supplies with Felix for the voyage, because feeding and keeping five pokemon hidden aboard a ship will take some doing.
Passing by an alleyway, he heard some children crying something out in their native tongue, Mulhorandi. Rowryn knew a little bit of Mulhorandi, to help with contacts and such in Mulhorand, and Rowryn could make out a few words that the children were saying, like "play" and "monster."
Frowning slightly, Rowryn strolled a few paces to get a better look at this monster the children and stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted it.
Eevee, battered, dirty, and cowering was surrounded by children, many of them with long sticks to poke at the curious creature. Rowryn could see the terror and helpless in her eyes, as tried to stay away from the sticks without putting too much pressure on her broken leg.
Rowryn drew his sword and shouted at the children in crude Mulhorandi to get away from Eevee. The children turned, and seeing the foreigner with drawn steel, promptly dropped their sticks and fled, wailing.
Rowryn sheathed his sword and approached Eevee, dropping to his knees and asked, "Eevee, where's Felix? What happened to her?"
Eevee mewed piteously in its language, but Rowryn couldn't make heads or tails of what she was saying. "Damn it," he cursed, and gently scooped Eevee into his arms, avoiding the broken leg. He looked into her eyes, and sighed deeply. "I wish I could understand you," he said to her, forlorn and fearing that the worst had happened to Felix.
As if in response, Eevee began to glow brightly, so that all Rowryn could see was her outline, and then as he gasped and stared in amazement, he saw the outline change, and felt Eevee change in his arms. She grew longer, from about a foot long to three feet, and her weight doubled, and the doubled again, making Rowryn almost drop her as her weight suddenly increased. Then the light faded and Rowryn could see all the changes. Her short fluffy tail had grown long and split near the end. Her legs had lengthened as well, and the white ruff around her neck had disappeared. Her brown and white coloring had been replaced by a strange light purple, except for the ruby-red jewel like protrusion in the middle of her forehead, between two dark purple eyes, formally black. Two tufts of hair came out of her long ears, making her look like she had two pairs of ears instead of one.
And to top all of the other surprises, Rowryn heard a voice in his head, a soft female voice: {Felix has been kidnapped).
Ending Notes: Okay, I have spent a LOT of time thinking about where I want this story to go (when I wasn't watching anime or playing computer games). I have done a good bit of research into the Forgotten Realms world, specifically in Mulhorand (where Felix currently is) and in the Dalelands (where Felix is going to end up (eventually)). The more research I do, the more my ideas start to solidify themselves, the better able I am to put the words down on paper (well, down on the computer in this case). Rowryn is definitely playing a big part in the story ahead, and more evolutions will be upcoming (though I currently have no ideas for any NEW evolutions).
Next chapter Rowryn and Espeon go and rescue Felix. It will be up sometime, definitely at Spring Break if not before.
One more comment about the story before I let you go: I am currently debating exactly what year this story takes place, and I am edging towards 1369 DR (Dale Reckoning), which is three years before what could be called "the present." I'm still debating this however, so it is not final yet when this story takes place.
And now, on with the story
"Where No Pokemon Has Gone Before"
Chapter 8: The Kidnapping
Yunt stared at the dead dragon in awe, completely and utterly dumbfounded. Killing a dragon is never easy. With its scales being impervious to all but the most powerful weapons, its claws and teeth able to rip through all non-magical armors, and also include a breath weapon that can kill anything at a good distance away, plus the magic and cunning that seems that all living things seem to develop when they live for several centuries.
And yet, as far as Yunt and his men could find, there was only one wound: it was as if another dragon, a red one, had breathed fire directly into this blue dragon's open mouth, burning him from the inside out.
{Of course, a powerful wizard could have done the same, but why go through the mouth? Why not just blast it directly with fire?} Yunt was truly confused. Magic and dragons weren't one of his strong points. There was no other sign of another dragon. And except for the area blasted by lightning, there were no signs of battle. There was a grave, which Yunt's men were currently digging up, so that meant the survivors cared enough to bury the dead, instead of just incinerating it {like a wizard would} or eating it {like a dragon would}.
Yunt was just too bewildered by this. He was just a patrol leader. It wasn't his job to deal with dragons (well, maybe negotiate with one, but only with prior consent from the Tharch). He was just supposed to catch escaping slaves, and make sure no one sneaked into Thay. He had been chasing after the girl with the monsters, and now this falls into his lap.
Yunt sighed, and stared at the dragon's corpse, its eyes and flesh rotting, and swarms of flies buzzing about. Tral walked up to him, his nose wrinkling from the smell and asked, "Now what, Commander?"
Yunt continued to stare at the corpse, and replied in a dead tone, "I don't know. I just don't know." He sighed and said, "Anything that could take out this dragon could take out our patrol with no trouble at all. I just wish I had something good to tell Pyrados about this failure. Too bad the only witnesses are dead." His nod indicated the dragon and the grave being dug up.
Yunt paused, and considered something. Tral noticed the change in emotions. "Commander?"
Yunt smiled, and turned to Tral. "When did being dead ever stop the Red Wizards of Thay? If we show the dragon's head to Pyrados, she'll be so interested in this case that she'll let us off the hook so she can dive into this personally. Also, we'll give her the corpse for her to interrogate." He turned back to the dragon with a smile full of teeth. "Tral, get some men and chop off the dragon's head, and tell the others to hurry up with the body."
"As soon as we have them ready to go, we're leaving."
It had been several weeks of hiking along the mountains, but it was well worth it, now that they were out of Thay and were now in sight of the port city Sultim in Mulhorand, a step closer to freedom for the former slaves. While there were still slaves in Mulhorand, slaves were treated much better in Mulhorand, plus once they got onto a ship they would be away from the slaving countries' grasping hands.
After much deliberation, Rowryn had decided to take Felix to Elminster, the Sage of Shadowdale, the only person Rowryn knew who was a friend of the Harpers and might be able to help Felix get home. According to rumor, Elminster was over five hundred years old, and would surely have some idea of where the girl's home was located, and know how to get her back. At least that was what Rowryn hoped for, since he had never actually met the powerful wizard and he wasn't sure if Elminster would help the young girl. As for the former slaves, Rowryn had a Harper friend in Sultim who would take them on the rest of their journey. Originally Rowryn had planned to go all the way with the former slaves, but now he had to deal with Felix, and he didn't want to hand her off to one of his contacts.
After all, he knew more about her than anyone else in this world. Plus she would trust him more than a stranger charged with her safety. Yes, Rowryn would take Felix to Shadowdale to see Elminster, a journey of around one and a half thousand miles, with most of it on the sea, fortunately.
Still, there was the problem that Sultim was going to be first city Felix had been to in this world, and Rowryn wasn't sure how she would react to the city. It would be best to keep an eye on her till he could find his friend and book passage on the next ship to the Dalelands.
Felix stumbled after Rowryn, almost tripping over her feet as she looked all around, her mouth slightly parted. "So many different people," Felix thought as her wide wondering eyes took in everything.
To her left a dark-haired, dark-skinned human merchant was arguing with a pale, golden-haired, pointy-eared elf over the price of some dried plants. They were speaking in a beautiful melodious language that she had never heard before. On the other side of the street a creature with a pig snout and olive green skin, Rowryn said it was an orc, was haggling in another language Felix didn't recognize over the price of a wicked-looking barbed sword with a blue-skinned, pointy-eared humanoid whose hair fluttered around in an invisible breeze. Ahead of her a man dressed in the robes of some political position led a group of guards who were carrying a large chest that jingled and rang of money.
Tax collectors apparently exited in this world as well as her own, Felix realized.
People and beings of all sorts of races were everywhere, though most were human, as far as she could tell. It was like the big the cities back home, only no pokemon, no buildings more than two or three stories high, no cars, and a lack of cleanliness. The road they were on was dirt and stone, with much of the dirt being kicked up as dust to cover the people of the city, as well as covering the travelers, such as Felix and her party.
Felix glanced over herself and felt her hair. She definitely needed a bath, but judging from what she had experienced over the past few weeks, and considering the look of the people standing and walking around, it looked like baths were a luxury, and showers were definitely out of the question. Felix sighed, and consigned herself to being a lot dirtier in this world then in her own.
With Rowryn's hand on her shoulder making sure she didn't wander off or stop to stare at the things she had never seen before, the group made pretty good time, leaving the markets behind and arriving in the residential area where the folk of the middle-class stayed. Rowryn approached one house in particular, a boarding house where traveling merchants would room while in the city. He told everyone to wait outside until he and Tory came back, and then they went inside to talk with his Harper friend.
Rowryn came back out with Tory and his friend ten minutes later, having called in a couple of favors to get the escaped slaves taken care of, though Rowryn's friend hadn't known exactly when the next ship would be casting off to the west to the Dalelands. He and Felix said their goodbyes to the former slaves, wished them luck, and continued on their journey.
Rowryn, with Felix in tow, found an inn, and got a private room (instead of a pair of beds in the commons), and left Felix in there so he go find out a ship. He planned on being gone for no more than hour, hopefully having found a captain that would allow a pair of passengers on his ship to the Dalelands. Hopefully, within a couple of days, he and Felix would be on their way towards Shadowdale.
Unfortunately, things didn't go completely as he had planned and hoped. You see, Pokemon Trainers (Felix in particular), don't like waiting around in a room with nothing to do for an hour. It's one of their character flaws, one that makes them leave home and go on their pokemon quests. Felix decided she had better things than just waiting around, twiddling her thumbs.
She decided to go explore the city.
As she wandered back towards the market place to watch all the people, she was spotted by a Red Wizard. One who had been alerted by Tharch Pyrados to keep an eye out for a young girl, with reddish-brown hair, weird clothing, and possibly a strange monster or two hanging around her. Unable to scry the girl since she had never seen her herself, the Tharch had tried alerting some of her apprentices who were in Mulhorand, as well as in other regions around the Sunrise Mountains, where the girl was first spotted. A girl able to command monsters and possibly kill dragons was definitely worth looking into. If Pyrados didn't find anything, than very little resources would be wasted on the search. But if she was found... then the Tharch could personally question her to find out who she was and what she was. It was truly bad luck that one Pyrados's apprentices spotted her.
[Author's Note: Or could just be a plot device to get Felix kidnapped by someone who has a reasonable reason to kidnap her... Naaah, couldn't be...]
Kurin, the apprentice of Pyrados, trailed after the girl, pretty sure this girl was the one his master had told him to keep an eye out for. He wasn't completely sure, and considering his master, it was best to be completely certain. He waited until there were very few people in sight of the two of them, and then he cast a quick Sleep spell. The girl stumbled, and would have fallen face first into the ground if the mage hadn't caught her and dragged into a nearby alley.
Feeling the clothing the girl wore as he dragged her out of the street, travel-stained, but made of a material he had never felt before, the apprentice knew he had found the girl. Searching her more carefully for any weapons, Kurin found six red and white balls, each with what looked like a button on them, attached to a belt around her waist. Curiosity and eagerness over this obviously magical item overwhelmed his common sense of dealing with the unknown, and he tugged one of the balls off of the belt and pressed the button.
The sphere suddenly expanded in his hand from an inch across to about three inches in diameter, and then split open down the middle, releasing a surge of white energy that surged towards the ground to coalesce into the form of a monster.
Surprised and cursing himself for his stupidity, Kurin dropped the sphere and stepped back, an offensive spell ready in his mind to deal with whatever he had inadvertently summoned. The glow of the monster died down and revealed what looked like to him to be a cute, little creature, apparently a cross between a rabbit and a cat. The beast immediately saw the sleeping girl and Kurin standing over her and its cute features were erased by a fearsome growl as it bared its teeth and got ready to pounce.
Experienced with dealing monsters at such a close range, Kurin went into the gestures and arcane words to blast this beast into submission. By the time the animal finally pounced and was a few feet away from slamming into the wizard, his spell went off and several bolts of light slammed into the animal in mid-air and sent it flying to the edge of the alleyway.
The creature crashed into the ground, but got up quickly enough, though one of its front legs was obviously broken, judging by the way it hung of the ground at an angle not possible if it had been unbroken. It whimpered and growled at the same time, wanting to help the girl, but unable to stand up to the mage.
Kurin began casting another spell, intent on capturing the beast so he could be handed over along with the girl to Tharch Pyrados. The animal, seeing the gestures and hearing the words, whimpered one more time, and then sprinted away as best it could on a wounded leg.
Heading towards the harbor.
Kurin raced after it, but by the time he reached the street, the beast was out of sight. He cursed himself again at losing the animal and went back to the girl's body, thinking of what his master would say to him for losing one of the monsters. He grumbled and thought about what do about the monster, when his eyes fell upon the empty sphere. {That's it!} Kurin thought. He could keep the empty sphere for himself and let Pyrados only think that the girl carried five of these monsters with her.
Kurin was about to pick up the sphere when he realized that Pyrados would check to make sure he didn't steal anything off of the girl. He had to hide the sphere, Kurin realized, and he quickly dug a shallow hole in the ground in the alleyway, which unlike the road, wasn't covered in stones, just dirt. He buried the sphere and made a mental note of its location before picking up the girl's body and carrying her away.
Rowryn was walking back towards in a very happy mood. While he hadn't found anyone heading directly for Scardale, the closest port in the Dalelands to Shadowdale, he had found a captain willing to take two well-paying passengers, about to leave for Selgaunt in Sembia, which was south of the Dalelands, but still fairly close. They would leave before dawn tomorrow with the tides for a voyage of about two weeks, maybe three depending on the weather and pirates. Now he would return to the inn to buy supplies with Felix for the voyage, because feeding and keeping five pokemon hidden aboard a ship will take some doing.
Passing by an alleyway, he heard some children crying something out in their native tongue, Mulhorandi. Rowryn knew a little bit of Mulhorandi, to help with contacts and such in Mulhorand, and Rowryn could make out a few words that the children were saying, like "play" and "monster."
Frowning slightly, Rowryn strolled a few paces to get a better look at this monster the children and stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted it.
Eevee, battered, dirty, and cowering was surrounded by children, many of them with long sticks to poke at the curious creature. Rowryn could see the terror and helpless in her eyes, as tried to stay away from the sticks without putting too much pressure on her broken leg.
Rowryn drew his sword and shouted at the children in crude Mulhorandi to get away from Eevee. The children turned, and seeing the foreigner with drawn steel, promptly dropped their sticks and fled, wailing.
Rowryn sheathed his sword and approached Eevee, dropping to his knees and asked, "Eevee, where's Felix? What happened to her?"
Eevee mewed piteously in its language, but Rowryn couldn't make heads or tails of what she was saying. "Damn it," he cursed, and gently scooped Eevee into his arms, avoiding the broken leg. He looked into her eyes, and sighed deeply. "I wish I could understand you," he said to her, forlorn and fearing that the worst had happened to Felix.
As if in response, Eevee began to glow brightly, so that all Rowryn could see was her outline, and then as he gasped and stared in amazement, he saw the outline change, and felt Eevee change in his arms. She grew longer, from about a foot long to three feet, and her weight doubled, and the doubled again, making Rowryn almost drop her as her weight suddenly increased. Then the light faded and Rowryn could see all the changes. Her short fluffy tail had grown long and split near the end. Her legs had lengthened as well, and the white ruff around her neck had disappeared. Her brown and white coloring had been replaced by a strange light purple, except for the ruby-red jewel like protrusion in the middle of her forehead, between two dark purple eyes, formally black. Two tufts of hair came out of her long ears, making her look like she had two pairs of ears instead of one.
And to top all of the other surprises, Rowryn heard a voice in his head, a soft female voice: {Felix has been kidnapped).
Ending Notes: Okay, I have spent a LOT of time thinking about where I want this story to go (when I wasn't watching anime or playing computer games). I have done a good bit of research into the Forgotten Realms world, specifically in Mulhorand (where Felix currently is) and in the Dalelands (where Felix is going to end up (eventually)). The more research I do, the more my ideas start to solidify themselves, the better able I am to put the words down on paper (well, down on the computer in this case). Rowryn is definitely playing a big part in the story ahead, and more evolutions will be upcoming (though I currently have no ideas for any NEW evolutions).
Next chapter Rowryn and Espeon go and rescue Felix. It will be up sometime, definitely at Spring Break if not before.