Disclaimer: I own nothing!
The chirping of starly gently pulled Rok from the realm of sleep, his eyes blinking drowsily open to his sunlit room. Standing in the pile of pidgey feathers and mareep wool he used as a bed, he blearily surveyed the small room.
"Rok?" a voice called from the next room, "Are you awake yet? Come out and eat your breakfast or you'll be late for your final test!"
Final test, Rok mused as he stretched and yawned, final test…
The final test!
Suddenly all tiredness was shocked out of his limbs with a jolt, and Rok scrambled out of his bed, kicking up feathers and fluff in his haste. He scampered into the next room, where a bowl of mashed fruit sat ready and waiting on the table.
His mother, a beautiful pink and white creature with what looked like ribbons attached to her body, smiled at him as he started gulping down his breakfast. "Easy Rok, or you'll choke."
Rok didn't reply. Talking would mean he couldn't eat.
His mother chuckled. "So, have you given any though on what guild you'd like to join?"
"Leafeon." Rok answered shortly.
"So you think you did well on your agriculture test then?" she prompted.
"Uh-huh."
She narrowed her eyes in mock sternness. "Rok, if you don't start giving more than one-word answers, I'm going to make sure you're late for your final test."
Rok hurriedly gulped down his mouthful of fruit. "Yes, I think I did well."
His mother perked her pink ears, pleased. "Good. It's your battle test now, right?"
"Yeah. Silvo's really excited about it. He wants to be in the Jolteon Guild."
She chuckled. "Why does that not surprise me?"
Rok licked up the last remnants of fruit from his bowl and rushed for the doorway. "I'll see you at the feast Mom! I've gotta go."
"Try hard." She called after him. Rok waved his fluffy brown tail in acknowledgement.
The village was bustling with activity that morning. Leafeon ran up and down the walkways, bulging bags of fruit held in their mouths. A few vaporeon even made a rare appearance, though in their bags they held seaweed and magikarp eggs, and some of them even had fish-pokémon strapped to their backs. The warm glow of fire rose from the ice chambers as the flareon melted the frozen food, with the occasional bluish spark of ice-power from the glaceon trying to protect the other stored food. The remaining flareon and glaceon, Rok knew, would be patrolling outside the village wall along with the jolteon.
Nearly everyone was preparing for the feast that evening, to celebrate the newly graduated eevee.
He dodged past them all, finally reaching the class-space, fenced-off from the rest of the village. Already a few other eevee were sitting and whispering excitedly to each-other while they waited for the teacher to arrive.
"Hey Rok!" one of the eevee called over to him. "Over here!"
"Coming Silvo!"
"So," Silvo said as Rok plopped down next to him, "you excited?"
"You even have to ask?" Rok said, flashing a grin.
"Well, knowing how much you suck at fighting, I'd think you'd be dreading this test." Silvo replied.
"I'm not that bad!"
"Uh, yes you are."
"Alright eevee, that's enough."
Everyone turned their attention to the espeon standing in front of them. His eerie glowing eyes surveyed them each in turn, and Rok fought the urge to shiver.
"Your test is simple." He said, "You will all leave the village, and carry out a mock patrol outside the wall. Some of the warriors will attack you, to simulate a real invasion. You will defend yourselves and try to subdue them. You will return here at sunset. Any questions?"
There were none. Rok wasn't sure if it was because of the simplicity of the task, or because everyone was too tense.
"Begin."
Silvo practically shivered with excitement as he and Rock walked through the forest. They'd decided to go together to watch each-other's backs and reduce the chance of a trip to visit the sylveon for healing after the test was finished. At least, that's what Silvo said. Rok suspected it was really because his friend thought saving him would make him look good.
"When do you suppose they'll attack?" Rok whispered.
"I hope it's soon. I'm just itching to get into a fight!" The silver eevee said, bushy tail wagging excitedly.
"Well I'm not! You might want to be a jolteon, but I just want to be a leafeon! I don't need to know how to fight!"
Silvo rolled his eyes. "Oh please, you worry too much. Besides, you don't even know if the teachers will decide you should make a good leafeon. Keep your options open!"
"I know I did well on my agriculture test Silvo."
Silvo grinned cheekily. "Yeah, but did you do well enough?"
Rok bristled, opening his mouth to reply, when the snapping of twigs jarred him out of his thoughts. His long brown ears perked up, and he looked around, alert and fearful.
"This is it." Silvo said, practically quivering with excitement. "Our final test!"
Rok sniffed the air and a shiver ran through him, though it definitely wasn't excitement. What was that smell? "I-I don't smell any guards."
"They're probably downwind." Silvo replied airily, already creeping towards the source of the noise.
Rok shivered, but followed. The guards wouldn't let anything happen to them on their final test. That smell was probably just some weird plant he hadn't encountered yet. Nothing to be worried about. Absolutely nothing.
Silvo inched his way towards some bushes, perking up as they gently quivered. He flashed a grin back at Rok, who couldn't quite bring himself to return it.
"Use your Swift to flush 'em out!" Silvo whispered excitedly.
"Um, aren't we supposed to wait until they attack us?" Rok asked him.
"What, you think on a real patrol the guards spot a threat and just wait for it to charge at them? Come one, don't be a scaredy-meowth."
Rok glared at him, but didn't argue further. He kinda had a point. Right?
Taking a deep breath, Rok conjured a set of glowing yellow stars that spun around his small body rapidly, before finally being released into the bushes, where, somewhere within the foliage, they exploded into showers of golden sparkles.
"ZANG! ZANGOOSE!"
Rok gulped an exchanged a glance with Silvo. For the first time since they left the village, the silver eevee looked fearful.
That was not a guard.
A group of large white and red furry… things erupted from the bushes, roaring their strange cry furiously.
"Rok, come on, run!" Silvo cried, already turning tail in the face of the very real threat.
But Rok couldn't move. He could only stand there, frozen by the sight of the creatures' massive black claws, their sharp teeth, and the rage burning in their red eyes.
One of them charged forward and Tackled him, sending Rok flying into a nearby tree. The little eevee screeched in pain, flopping to the ground with stars dancing in his vision. Never before in his life had he been hit that hard before!
A clawed paw gripped his throat tightly, pinning him to the tree. The creature growled in his face, and Rok struggled desperately, the very same terror that had frozen him in place before now making him writhe in the creature's grasp.
"Leave my friend alone!"
A silvery body charged out of nowhere, ramming into the creature with the full force of a Take Down. The creature screeched in pain, flinging its arms out wide with the force of the impact and sending Rok flying through the air.
Rok crashed to the ground, skidding and tumbling under his own momentum. He curled into a ball as he bounced and rolled, trying to shield himself, in any way, from the damaging tumble.
Until the rough, hard ground gave way to ice cold water.
Rok's eyes snapped open as he desperately kicked to the surface, gasping for air as the rough currents and waves buffeted his small furry body. This water was way rougher than the lake back in the village. Rok had always considered himself to be a pretty good swimmer, but in this river, he was as floundering and helpless as a magikarp on land!
Just stay afloat, he thought to himself as he struggled, Keep your head above water. You can find Silvo and the guards later, just focus on keeping your head above water so you can breathe.
The water roughly tossed around the eevee, sending him crashing into sharp rocks, and tumbling head over paws. By the time the waves finally cooled down some, and Rok could actually control his direction, the sun had set, its warm light replaced by the silver glow of the stars and the full moon.
Panting and shaking with exhaustion, Rok dragged himself onto the shore. His fur felt like it was a pile of frozen rocks dragging him to the ground. He swore that every inch of him was covered in bruises. He barely made it a few steps out of the water before his legs gave out and he collapsed to the ground.
Groaning, he rolled over onto his back, staring up at the night sky. The moon seemed to glow just a little bit brighter as he gazed upon it, its soft light caressing his bruised and battered form like a mother cradling her baby.
It'll be alright, it seemed to say, I'll take care of you. I'll keep you safe.
Rok sighed, letting the light wrap itself around him, finally allowing his eyes to slip shut, as exhaustion finally took over, and he slipped into unconsciousness.
A/N: My first pokémon fic! I've been meaning to make something for pokémon for a while now actually. I'll probably update this about once a fortnight or once a week, depending on how busy I am. I hope this fic is interesting so far! Please review!