Learning Who You Are

Chapter 2: The Guardians

KX: Yep, here's the second chapter. Though this didn't take too long, it went through some major editing, and probably will again sometime in the future. I hope you're excited to see what happens to ze little Eevee. (evil grin)

Y-ran: You're going to hurt me, aren't you?

KX: Wait and see, wait and see…

-----

It was darker under the canopy of leaves than I had expected. Understand, I am used to electrical streetlights and the only time I have ever been exposed to true darkness is in my sleep. Knowing this it is easy to understand that I could not see very well on the dimly lit forest floor.

As I reached the shelter of the trees I stopped running. My paws hurt from all the exertion and I was starting to notice my breathing problem. I shook my head to clear it, for my vision was slightly blurry and walked on, barely noticing the odd hush that had fallen over the normally noise-filled forest.

I must admit that I was quite nervous upon entering this new place. Both my parents were owned by a trainer and were bred at a Day Care Center, where I was born. Almost immediately after my birth I was given to Heather and her at that time 3-year-old daughter. I have never been on my own. I have always been fed the finest of Pokemon foods, have always slept in a warm house on a plush cushion, and have always been groomed until my coat shines. I must say that that kind of life isn't all that bad.

But I was not going back now. Sighing in exhaustion I collapsed at the base of a large weeping willow, the encasing branches offering a quiet comfort.

-----

What do you think it's doing here? The voice of my brother was slightly excited as we watched the little brown and white creature from a safe distance.

How am I supposed to know? I've never seen it before! We both knew the creature before us to be an Eevee, but in our lives had never seen one in the forest before. Mother had said she had once seen a trainer come through with a few, but other than that these creatures were rare.

I am naturally curious, as are all Sentret's, but something about this Eevee told me it would be unwise to venture too close. Red blood stained the fur around his neck and right shoulder. I really didn't know if Eevee's normally had this much blood on them, but my instinct told me that it wasn't right.

A rustling in the bushes behind me alerted me to the presence of Akaenon. He is almost like the guardian of our forest and is the closest to an Eevee I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I don't know how such a powerful Pokemon came to live in our forest, but we all look up to him and he protects us.

Akaenon continued until right next to the small creature. The gold rings that adorned his jet pelt glowed intensely, showing he was suspicious of the newcomer. He lowered his nose to the creature and nudged it gently causing my brother and I to bristle and drawing a low moan from the Eevee. Akaenon seemed content that the Eevee would not wake during his quick check and moved to look at the creature's wounds.

My brother and I, emboldened by Akaenon's obvious fearlessness moved closer, our black noses quivering as we caught the metallic scent of blood and a musty scent that had to be the Eevee's own. As we moved within a yard of the two Akaenon shot us a glance that said all to clearly that we needed to keep our distance. We didn't back away, but we crept no further either.

"Umbre!" This particular exclamation of Akaenon's was meant for the ears of Eevee relations alone, as my brother and I well knew by now. At the seeming command a lithe, deep-purple Espeon we knew as Gren emerged from the shadows, her forked tail moving back and forth lazily behind her.

"Ee?" She looked at Akaenon questioningly, who motioned to the Eevee. She moved closer, then nodded, and Akaenon swiftly moved back into the deeper forest.

Gren took up a square stance by the Eevee's side as the red gem on her forehead began to glisten. A bright ray of sunlight suddenly blared through the leaves overhead and shone down on male, for at this close range we could tell that to be his gender. We knew the healing move to be called Morning Sun, but had never seen it used before. The blood littering that Eevee's pelt seemed to evaporate away, leaving clear gashes that quickly closed, only leaving a small hairless patch of proud flesh in their place. It was quite miraculous.

As Gren finished another moan escaped the Eevee, though it was louder this time. Gren quickly turned and fled back into the shadows, and my brother and I decided we should take our leave as well.

-----

I regained consciousness slowly, and as I did I heard an odd rustling around me. I opened my eyes to look around, but the only sign of the sound I had heard was the faint twitch of a leaf as it hit the ground. There was nothing but foliage in sight.

Shaking slightly to clear dust off my fur I got to my feet. I noticed rather quickly that I could breathe normally again, and I no longer had any pain. Unfortunately, my wounds had been so close to my head that I was unable to look at them, so I figured I must have been out for a long time. Sighing, I sat and wondered what to do now. I had escaped and made it to the forest, but now that I was here I didn't see what there was to do. Surely this should have been more exciting.

"Grr-owrr-rrr." It was at this moment that my stomach decided to complain. It had been a while since my last meal; Maggie had dragged me off before I had had a chance to eat my breakfast. I know nothing of the forest, so I had no idea what was edible around me, or if I was capable of hunting, for I was not at all averse to eating meat. I decided it wouldn't hurt to look around.

Getting to my feet I moved away from the willow that had sheltered me, quietly hoping I would be able to find my way back to it. The forest had busied itself since my little nap and many Pokemon could be seen going about their routines. In fact, I was almost tempted to snatch one of the Rattata's that often scurried across my path, but for some reason I held back.

All at once I was hit with blinding sunlight. The trees suddenly ended a slight distance from the bank of a wide river and then continued again on the other side. The river was deep at its current spot, and many water Pokemon could be seen swimming in its surprisingly crystal depths. And man did those fish look tasty.

Unlike the Rattata I felt no hesitation when it came to lashing out at the Feebas, Remoraid, and other small fish-like Pokemon that swam beneath the surface. I had not yet had much practice with fishing, but it was great fun watching the fish scurry away from my claws. It took a while, but eventually I became lucky and a Remoraid actually became impaled on my claws. It had almost seemed like the fish had purposely done it, though I have never heard of a suicidal fish, so I put the thought out of my mind.

I picked my catch up between my jaws and carried it farther down stream until I came to a shallower area where the water became calmer. The trees made a nice cove-like area around the little pool and I was quite comfortable as I lay down to enjoy my meal. I was only about halfway through, however, when I was alerted to an ominous presence behind me. One much larger and far more menacing that any Rattata I have ever seen.

-----

KX: Well, that's it for chap.2! I hope you enjoyed it, and please R&R! I hope to have chap.3 up soon, so be ready!

Y-ran: (gulp)