The sun was at its highest point in the sky by the time Shadow and Leaf emerged from the forest. While Leaf had initially been eager to resume training immediately, they only managed for a few minutes before the newly evolved Leafeon became curiously fatigued. Shadow at first thought Leaf just needed to catch his breath, so when they tried again after a short rest, Leaf's mood plummeted, and he insisted that he was too tired to continue.
So that put an end to their training for the day. Bee-Bee had directed them towards the exit before gathering up her freshly-evolved sibling, leaving Shadow alone to guide the increasingly moody Leafeon out of the forest.
Now that they were out of the dark forest, Leaf's spirits seemed to climb a little bit. However, Shadow still practically needed to drag him away from the forest path.
"Seriously, Leaf, it's not much further," Shadow said, unable to keep the irritation out of his voice. Leaf had been ridiculously uncooperative ever since they started to leave the forest, and Shadow had to endure the constant complaining about how long they had been walking, and how dark the forest was, and how tired the Leafeon was, and how much longer did they have to go?
"That's what you said before! Let me sleep!" Leaf whined, now refusing to even operate his legs of his own free will. Shadow growled in annoyance. Even at his worst, Leaf was never THIS bad, and the fact Shadow was so susceptible to headaches lately only made the situation more frustrating. And boy did he have a doozy of a headache now.
"Ugh, fine!" Shadow growled, stepping to the side and allowing Leaf to fall into the grass. Unfazed by the rough landing, the Leafeon stretched out comfortably, practically basking in the sunlight, and then he was asleep. Shadow glared at the sleeping Leafeon for a good five minutes, silently willing himself not to just tackle Leaf out of spite. Every morning for the past several nights, Leaf had made things difficult for him, waking him up at obscene times of day for food or attention, but the moment HE got tired, suddenly the world needed to stop moving just so he could nap. To hell with safety and convenience, Leaf needed his sleep.
Seething, Shadow lay down away from Leaf, keeping the dozing grass Eon within sight, but putting plenty of distance between them. Maybe this was a good chance to catch up on his own sleep. He just needed to relax, and maybe purge some of the negativity welling up inside him.
His head throbbed painfully, and Shadow cringed. It felt like something was slowly tightening around his head, the pressure starting off almost unnoticeable, but gradually getting stronger and stronger. Was this a normal headache? Or was it related to his evolution? He had never gotten headaches this badly or frequently when he was an Eevee, nor had he heard anyone in his family complaining of such pain. The only thing that had drastically changed in his life...okay, the most drastic thing that changed that actually might be related to the headaches was his evolution.
This was even more problematic the more he thought about it. He didn't have anyone older or more experienced to turn to with questions like this. He didn't even have a peer that might be able to shed some insight into his problem, or give him advice on how to use his evolution's abilities. He was in the dark on the matter, but simultaneously had to serve as Leaf's guide to his evolution and natural growing process.
This was too much for him to take in all at once. Sleep offered him no comfort, not with his memories corrupting his dreams and forcing him awake again. His body shivered involuntarily, and he soon noticed the faint tickle in the back of his mind, the odd awareness that something was changing in his surroundings, but an inability to understand what the change was, or why it was happening. Or even why he knew about it.
The Espeon groaned and clutched his head. Why didn't his life make sense anymore? Why did everything have to pile up on him at once. Struggling with his own evolution was more than enough stress for him to put up with, and now having to put up with Leaf's evolution as well? And the growing unease about staying in their current location? Leaf had thrown such a fit about walking out of the forest because he was tired. What were the odds he'd be content traveling further than that, with no set destination, for days at a time?
Shadow flinched. If by some chance the parents had survived the incident and made their way here...what would they think if their kits weren't waiting for them? What if Shadow had somehow made a mistake in where they were supposed to meet up? What if right now the parents were searching desperately for them, just like he had been waiting desperately for them to arrive? What if the parents were starting to assume that their kits hadn't survived, or that a Pokemon trainer had captured them?
Shadow's chest tightened with emotion, and tears seeped from his eyes, try as he might to contain them. Between the aching in his head and the constricting feeling in his heart, he had no change of stopping the flow of sadness.
Life was so unfair.
Shadow awoke abruptly, his eyes darting about. He had no idea why, but his heart was pounding in his chest. The sun had continued its natural arc in the sky, and as far as he could tell, at least a few hours had gone by, but the unease he felt was not the same as he normally experienced after one of his nightmares. It was something far worse, something more immediately urgent. His head throbbed painfully, but that was just something he was growing accustomed to. It wasn't what was troubling him now.
Across the way, he could see that Leaf was still sound asleep, the sprouts along his body looking more vibrant than they had before, which Shadow had to admit was interesting, but another tingle along his spine forced him to refocus. At that moment, he wished for nothing more than the ability to understand the odd signs his body kept giving him. Something was different. Something close...
For a moment, Shadow registered the fact that by allowing his mind to drift around aimlessly, he would get little flashes of insight about the warning signals. Nothing concrete, just momentary flickers, a random hunch, but it didn't feel wrong, just...unclear.
Something moving...not a deadly enemy, but something to be wary of. Something to fear.
We're in the open!
Shadow sat upright with this realization. Whatever was nearby was coming too close. It would see them for sure if they didn't move out of the open immediately.
Shadow could already feel the mild aches in his body from his tackling practice with Leaf, but he ignored such minor issues in favor of getting his tail over to where Leaf was sleeping, and hastily prodding Leaf.
"Leaf. Leaf. Wake up. Seriously!" Shadow urged, clenching his teeth at the last word. Leaf stirred, but whined quietly and covered his eyes with a forepaw, denying the sun's rays from forcing him awake. "Leaf! We need to move!" Shadow snapped, losing patience entirely. His heart was pounding harder than ever, and imagination or not, he could almost hear the footsteps of the unknown threat approaching, growing louder with each passing second. Moving leisurely, oblivious to them for now, but not for much longer.
"Five more minutes," Leaf mumbled.
"Are you kidding me?" Shadow snarled, his tone easily communicating that he'd love to be saying a different word. His silver eyes darted about anxiously, unsure exactly what he was anticipating, but definitely uninterested in sticking around. Even so, there was no way in hell he'd leave Leaf here, no matter how poorly behaved the little guy was sometimes. He had to keep his brother safe at all costs.
Once again throwing caution to the wind, Shadow clamped his teeth on the leafy end of Leaf's ear. Despite its appearance, it was definitely fleshy and resisted his bite like a normal ear would, and for a moment he felt a thrill of satisfaction in hearing Leaf's wail of pain. That moment did not last long. Leaf was on his feet in an instant, his brown eyes burning with pain and rage. Before Shadow could do anything to react, he sank his teeth into Shadow's shoulder in furious retaliation. The Leafeon's teeth were much sharper than they had been as an Eevee, and Shadow had not been prepared for the attack.
Pain seared through his shoulder, the bite even managing to draw a bit of blood from the wound, but before Leaf could bite him again, Shadow felt the pressure that had been building in his skull finally hit its breaking point. An odd sensation flowed through Shadow's body, and Leaf was abruptly shoved backwards with incredible force. Shadow could only stare at his brother's body in shock, but the Leafeon recovered quickly, getting to his feet and shaking his head as if in a daze.
"What was THAT?" the Leafeon wondered, amazement somehow overriding his anger at being bitten awake. Before Shadow could even think of how to answer that, the alarm bells that had been ringing in his mind reached full volume.
"Oh my god! Is...is that a shiny?!"
Shadow and Leaf both turned in surprise towards the unfamiliar voice, and Shadow's heart sank. Standing a mere thirty feet away from them was a human youth, almost definitely male, with some sort of bag draped over his shoulder. A pair of red-and-white spheres were hanging in plain sight at his waist. Shadow knew what the youth was, although he had never seen a Pokemon trainer before, at least never this close. And the youth was staring directly at him.
"And a wild Leafeon? This has to be a dream," the youth was saying, taking notice of Leaf. Excitement radiated from the human's flushed cheeks, and he grasped one of the spheres, tossing it in their general direction.
The ball expanded in mid-air, more than tripling in size, and then opened, a beam of white light escaping and striking the ground a short distance in front of them. The light expanded, forming the silhouette of a creature, and then the light faded, revealing the Pokemon's true appearance.
A short, bipedal Pokemon stood there, with long, curled up ears that each ended with a tuft of cream-colored fur. The same kind of fluff covered its lower body. The rest of its body was covered in dark brown fur. Upon emerging, it uncurled its ears and looked around, its eyes lighting up with determined curiosity. Although Shadow found it difficult to determine the Pokemon's gender by glance alone, it seemed very cutesy and feminine.
"Laura, hit the black one with Fake Out," the trainer commanded, the voice drawing Shadow's gaze towards him. The Buneary darted forward, and Shadow forced his attention back to it, readying himself to dodge the tackle or blow that he was positive was coming. The Buneary suddenly clapped its paws together, bafflingly out of range of actually hitting Shadow, but a wave of air expanded from the contact point, pushing Shadow backwards with impressive force.
"Shadow!" Leaf shouted as the Espeon hit the ground on his back, wincing from the impact, and although Shadow couldn't see Leaf, he knew the young Leafeon was running over to him.
"Stay back, Leaf!" Shadow ordered, rolling back to his feet and shaking his head to clear the momentary fog in his brain. "Get yourself out of here and hide!"
"But..."
"That's an order, Leaf!" Shadow snapped, using every ounce of his no-nonsense tone to compel the Leafeon into obedience. If Leaf didn't listen, then everything here was going to get much worse. "Use the forest, or bushes, whatever you need to do, just get out of sight. Now!"
Leaf clearly hesitated, but then spun around and bolted into the underbrush. They were close enough to the forest boundaries that Shadow was confident the grass Eon would be able to blend in there. The forest was dangerous, but so long as Leaf was safe, then Shadow could focus everything on his fighting. The first chance he'd get, he'd flee as well, but he couldn't run while Leaf was too close, because the human would certainly chase after him, and might stumble upon Leaf anyway. That left it up to him. He'd stall this fight out to ensure his brother's escape.
"It's okay, don't worry about the Leafeon!" the human trainer called out, and Shadow saw that the Buneary had hesitated, staring in the direction Leaf had run. "Don't give the Espeon time to attack. Use Agility!"
The Buneary chirped in acknowledgement and darted towards Shadow. In the time it took for him to blink, the Buneary was suddenly several paces to the left of where it was before. And then behind him. He didn't see the bunny's paw being pulled back, but the back part of his brain was warning him, and it was almost as if he could visualize the punch.
Trusting entirely in his odd instinct, Shadow hurled his body to the side, sticking the landing less gracefully than he would have liked, but even with the training this morning, he still hadn't fully adjusted to his larger body. As he looked back, he saw the Buneary's paw strike the spot he had occupied a moment before.
Shadow charged the surprised Pokemon and slammed his head into its stomach. It squealed in pain and flew backwards, hitting the ground with a satisfying thumping sound. However, it somersaulted backwards, using the momentum from the hit to put itself back on its feet.
"Nice one, Laura! Use Quick Attack to get close, then hit it with Endeavor," the trainer commanded enthusiastically. Shadow gritted his teeth. While in theory, humans calling commands should forewarn him what was coming, but it was nearly impossible to focus on the Pokemon in front of him and still process what the human was saying in time to react. The Buneary raced towards him, her arms pointing behind her as she ran, and like before, a split second later she was several paces to the other side. Trying to keep his eyes on her only earned him a splitting headache and a strong need to shut his eyes and refocus.
Praying that the tactic was identical to the last one, Shadow lunged his body sideways, only to find the Buneary blocking his path. Her paw lashed out and struck his left thigh, and Shadow's weight gave out from under him.
The headache pounding in his skull again reached its breaking point and just as the Buneary was preparing another punch, a warm sensation pulsed from Shadow's body, relieving the pressure in his head. The Buneary squealed in surprise as she was hurled away from Shadow by an invisible force, and she hit the ground in front of her trainer, her eyes glazed and unfocused.
"You did enough, Laura, good job," her trainer said. The human picked up the second Pokeball at his waist and tossed it forward, another burst of white light emerging from its depths and forming into a smaller feline Pokemon with blue-grey fur covering most of its body. Its back side was entirely black, and a yellow star-like shape decorated the end of its tail. Its eyes and inside of its ears were both electric yellow, and it let out a cute, confident cry on being released.
"You okay, Laura?" the Shinx asked, taking notice of the barely conscious Buneary. When she only made a vague mumble in reply, the electric Pokemon fixed Shadow with a glare and growled, sparks of electricity hopping from its fur.
"Don't overdo it, Sparky," the trainer said quickly. "I want to capture him. Just make sure he doesn't run. Use Thunder Wave!"
"You better apologize to Laura when Marcus lets you out of the ball," the Shinx said seriously, and circular waves of electric current expanded from its body. Shadow cringed away from the currents as they struck him, covering his body like a spider's web. It didn't hurt, but he could feel his muscles locking up and refusing to move. His body felt sluggish and heavy, and with the wind knocked out of him from the Buneary's kick, he was rendered completely helpless.
"Damn it..." Shadow growled, trying to will his legs to move, but they only made half-hearted attempts to break free before collapsing again. Another sensation of warmth flowed through Shadow's body, and a brief yellow aura surrounded the Shinx. Sparky glanced at the glow nonchalantly, as if he had been expecting to see it, and seemed similarly smug when nothing visibly happened.
"Electric-type!" the Shinx said brightly. This was utter nonsense to Shadow, but all he could think about now was getting away. His mind was practically screaming to him about nearby danger, but his body refused to respond.
The human trainer opened the bag he had slung over his back, and within a moment of searching, he withdrew another one of the small red and white spheres.
"Awesome! Go, Pokeball!"
Shadow saw the Pokeball leave the youth's hand. Saw it flying towards him in a simple overhand arc, watched it spin lazily at it descended. All of it was in slow motion, and still his body would not react. Yet Shadow felt an odd sense of peace regardless. He had failed to get away. But he had kept Leaf safe. He had gotten Leaf to run for freedom, and hopefully...he would grow stronger on his own.
It still hurt to imagine how Leaf would feel about Shadow disappearing from his life. The young kid had already lost his parents and didn't even know it yet. And now his brother, too?
Pain in Shadow's chest began to overwhelm his senses, and his eyes began to tear up again. Keeping Leaf safe had been all that had mattered to him, but sometimes, safety wasn't enough. Leaf would be safe, but alone in a hostile, unfamiliar world. Was that really much better off?
The Pokeball descended upon Shadow's body, casting a dark shadow over the grass as it came down. Shadow closed his eyes, bracing himself for impact.
"Oof!"
The cry was forced from Shadow's lungs as something slammed into him with enough force to send him tumbling across the grass. He was still locked in place and unable to look back at what had hit him, but he distinctly heard the Pokeball landing in the grass with a hollow clicking sound.
"What the-?" he heard the human trainer say, and the rest of the sentence was cut off by the Shinx's growl. The growl then segued into pained yips. Alarmed and more than a little confused, Shadow struggled harder than ever against his protesting muscles, managing to prop himself up into a sitting position that enabled him to see the trainer and his Pokemon.
His jaw dropped.
Leaf was clawing at the Shinx's face, twisting his own body out of the way of the Shinx's half-blinded retaliation only to throw himself right back into the fray, delivering vicious bites to the electric type's legs and ears. Stray bolts of electricity littered the ground beneath them, charring the strands of grass under their feet. Yet Leaf continued to strike at his opponent until the Shinx collapsed on the ground, all but whimpering.
The human trainer was just staring, dumbfounded, at the fallen Shinx and the hyper-aggressive Leafeon. And in that time, the recovering Buneary hissed in anger and lunged herself at Leaf, her paw taking on a fiery red glow.
"Laura, don't!" the human attempted to say, but it was too late. Leaf ducked under the punch and slammed his head against the Buneary's stomach, forcing her backwards a pace. "Laura, get back! Back!" her trainer yelled, sounding panicked.
And Shadow could see why. Instead of the playful, innocent shine to his eyes that Leaf normally had, even during their earlier training, the Leafeon's gaze was vicious and focused. He was breathing harder and whenever he growled, his jaw was set in a way where one of his fangs was visible.
Laura ignored her trainer's warning, lunging at Leaf again, swinging her paws violently. It was at this point that Shadow realized the Buneary was drawing Leaf's attention away from the fallen Shinx, protecting him from any further attacks. It was so reminiscent of how he had baited the Beedrill's aggression to steer it away from his helpless brother the other day.
Leaf ducked under the Buneary's swing and pounced at her, scratching at her back and then leaping away when she tried to dislodge him. The moment after he landed, he pounced again, this time sinking his teeth into her left ear. She swung at him with a squeal of pain, but hit nothing but air.
"Laura, use Charm!" the trainer urged.
"I'm not going to act cutesy towards him!" the Buneary snapped. Her paw blazed with fiery energy again. "Why aren't you scared of fire?!" she demanded.
"Fear would hold me back," Leaf replied. Shadow flinched. Leaf's tone was way too casual for the situation. It wasn't cocky, there was no boasting in the Leafeon's words, but yet the way he said that gave the Espeon an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was so unlike Leaf, just like the way he was fighting seemed...off. It was too aggressive, it was almost...feral.
Was all this a side effect of Leaf's evolution? Shadow had been under the impression that rushing evolution at a young age could screw up the natural growth cycle of a Pokemon, though his mom had never gone into detail about what this could mean. Maybe she hadn't even known the details.
"Sparky, come back!" the trainer said, holding up a Pokeball. A beam of red light lanced out and touched the Shinx, absorbing its shape into the beam and returning to the Pokeball. The trainer hastily grabbed the other ball and pointed it towards the Buneary. "Laura, return!"
The beam fired towards the bunny Pokemon, but either she had interpreted the statement as a command, or she was deadset on continuing the fight, because she lunged at Leaf again, the recalling beam hitting the grass harmlessly. With impressive speed and force, she slammed her body against Leaf, knocking him backwards. He growled and touched a paw to his nose, inspecting it afterwards.
"Laura!" the human shouted again, and this time the Buneary hesitated, and the recalling beam drew her back into the confines of the ball. Leaf turned to face the trainer, and Shadow couldn't see his brother's expression. "Okay...okay...I'm going," the human said, raising his hands up to show that he had nothing in them. He began to back away from the area.
Once the human had left, Leaf turned back to Shadow, and their eyes met. Shadow flinched, blinking his eyes several times to try to refocus them. For a moment, it had seemed like Leaf's eyes had been a distinct shade of golden-brown. But after peering at Leaf's face again, he saw that they were a light shade of brown.
"You okay, Shadow?" Leaf wondered. His leaf-like tail was swishing happily, with no trace of the aggressiveness he had displayed earlier. His ears drooped a bit, before Shadow even replied. "I'm sorry...I know you said to run and hide, but I couldn't leave you behind. You were teaching me how to battle, and what good is knowing how to fight if I can't use it to help you out? You'd do anything to protect me...and I don't want to be a burden to you anymore! I want to be able to protect you, too! So please don't be mad..."
"Leaf..." Shadow began, but words failed him. Leaf was sniffling a little, focusing on the grass in front of him. "I'm...not mad at you."
"Really?" Leaf asked, still not making eye contact. Shadow groaned a little and stretched his legs, relieved that his body seemed to be regaining its mobility.
"Really. Thank you for helping," Shadow said quietly.
Leaf smiled weakly, but then brightened. "You're welcome! So...how'd I do? Did I battle good?"
Shadow didn't answer right away. He was replaying the fight over in his head, recalling how fluidly the Leafeon had moved, and how it contrasted with the sheer viciousness of his style. Whether the feral style was a result of his evolution or his emotional determination to protect his older brother didn't feel important right now.
It was a bit scary, though. Not only did the style go against everything Shadow would have expected from someone as gentle and playful as Leaf.
It also meant Leaf fought better than he did.
