(A/N: Thanks everyone who reviewed! I hope y'all like this chapter too!
Emerald Milotic: I'm honored that you think this is the best pokemon fanfic you've ever read. I hope this next chapter doesn't disappoint you.
BlueBanglesYRP: Thanks. I know what you mean about the grammar. It bugs me too when the author doesn't care enough to take the time to make sure their work is readable...Sad thing is, grammar doesn't like me too much .; Oh well.
Lunar Sphinx: At first I was a bit upset that my fanfic wasn't quite up to your standards but I am glad you were honest in your review. I hope you think this is a better chapter and I look forward to future reviews.
I reentered this chapter with a few technical changes. Nothing earth-shattering but it would have bothered me to no end if I hadn't fixed it.
And without further ado...)
Chapter 2: Unpleasant Reactions
By the time Gabe reached the farm it was too late to pretend to be just getting out of bed, so she threw her backpack under her favorite willow tree after placing the new pokeball in one of the smaller compartments, and headed toward the garden located behind the shed to start the weeding. The eevee followed playfully behind, occasionally pouncing and jumping for fun. As Gabe knelt to do her work she stopped only long enough to tell Eevee one thing.
"If anyone else comes outside, I want you to run away and hide as if you were wild until I call you. Okay?" The tiny pokemon nodded once before going back to her game.
After finishing a full day's work in five hours less than usual, Gabe was ready to just go to sleep but it seemed that her parents had other ideas.
"Oh Gabrielle! I went into town earlier this afternoon and heard something quite strange." Gabe's foster mother Nadine sounded upset and more than a little angry. Gabe looked up, her worry carefully hidden by a convincing look of innocence. "Mrs. Calcite told me that her little Mikey had seen you at Professor Hemlock's Lab. See the thing is I know you wouldn't have gone there, because you know how we feel about you becoming a pokemon trainer and pokemon in general."
"Yeah well Nad. You can't believe everything you hear." Gabe's voice was conspicuously lacking in emotion, the way it usually got when she was on the verge of an extreme rage. She didn't know what it was about her foster parents that seemed to always get to her. They just did.
Just then Tom, her foster father walked in. He didn't even look at her before stating in his hard, usually intimidating voice, "Watch your tone, girl. And where is the little waste of space. Probably in that bag of yours isn't it." He reached for the bag, ripped it out of Gabe's hands and roughly overturned its contents on the kitchen table. The tiny pokeball stood out sharply against the packets of seeds, pens, pencils, copybook and sketchbook that fell out. He picked it up and opened it. Nothing happened.
Gabe had known something like this would have happened, especially since Nadine was so nosy. She had told the little fox pokemon to wait by the window to her basement room. I wish he would just forget about this whole thing, That would make tonight somewhat pleasant. Tom just growled before dropping the bag on the floor and walking over to the fridge to get something to fill his constantly empty stomach.
Nadine rolled her murky hazel eyes, by now used to her husband's short attention span. "If I ever catch that thieving little beast on our property, it'll be lucky to draw a breath the next morning."
Knowing the woman was serious this time, Gabe fled the room, for the first time scared of what her guardians could do. The first thing she did, once she had settled in her room was open the window so her new friend could join her. As the eevee explored her new surroundings, Gabe slid a crate-sized box out from under her bed. Her practiced fingers effortlessly opened the combination lock that secured the lid before lifting it off. Inside the box were her treasures; things she had collected over the years, things that had traveled with her through every family she had been apart of. A short note written to her by her mother before the woman had left her in the care of her aged grandparents, a single blaziken feather, a few books on pokemon, at least ten empty pokeballs she had collected and a palm-sized intricately carved ocarina.
Everything else in her possession was expendable. Maybe I will go with Briar. There is nothing keeping me here, but there is something keeping me from going with him. With a mental shudder, she lay back on her bed staring blankly at the ceiling, her eevee momentarily forgotten as she fought down the wave of emotions and images that threatened to dissolve her hard earned shell. This was the only thing she had ever kept from him, her worst shame.
What normal, or at least sane, person couldn't control the way their thoughts ran. No, she would not tell him of this weakness. Besides it would go away on its own. The councilor at the orphanage told her that it only happened because she never got settled. Once she stopped house jumping and finally put down roots it would leave on its own. I just need to give it a little longer.
Gabe rolled over, curling into a ball. Her body trembled uncontrollably as she fought the urge to scream and tear through her room, destroying everything she could. A roaring wind sounded in her ears as memories and images of outside fought for dominance. Even though she was exhausted from her day of work, her muscles cried out to be used. The roaring eased a bit and Gabe became aware of a concerned whining sound.
When she opened her eyes, after they cleared of tears, she saw her eevee, sitting patiently by her pillow. A half-hearted self-conscious chuckled escaped past her lips.
"What a homecoming you've had tonight. Evil yelling strangers and a master who can't even go through a day without seeing and hearing things. Maybe I should just give you back, let a real pokemon trainer help you get stronger."
The eevee just nudged her comfortingly and tilted its head in such a fashion that Gabe couldn't help but smile. Although she felt drained, the new trainer felt bad that she had spent so much time away from the her pokemon. She stuck both hands behind her back and then to the eevee's perspective, seemed to magically produce an apple for a treat. Gabe really had stashed one away when she was outside in the orchard and had it hid behind her but seeing the eevee so pleased with the trick she deemed it a worthwhile exercise.
"Now what should I call you? Or do you already have a name?" Eevee let loose a long string of whines, growls and yips causing Gabe to smile once again. "I don't think I'd be able to pronounce all of that. How about...Nika?"
The eevee yipped once, seemingly in agreement.
"Well, now that that is settled, I should be getting to bed. I've got another long day ahead of me tomorrow. I won't have much time to train you tomorrow during the day so you have to stay out of trouble and out of sight, but the night I'm all yours got it?"
Gabe turned off the light and slowly drifted off to sleep as Nika curled up beside her, a warm comforting presence in the otherwise cold night.