A/N: For those who reviewed, favorited, or reading this story, thank you so much! I love everyone who takes the time to read my stories, and it's such an honor to know that people out there love my work. Thank you, and enjoy this chapter.
I've been walking for about two hours from the moment I departed from our den, my claws now covered in mud.
The heavy rain had settled down to a small drizzle, the sound of other pokemon coming to my ears, but hunting was not my goal right now with the addition that I was not hungry. I come up to a lake in which I see several water type pokemon just beneath the surface. The first thing I spot is a magikarp jumping out before going back into the water, the splash going into my face.
I get slightly agitated as I shook it off and decide to start walking on the outskirts of the body of water. I remember about the pyroars I pissed off earlier, thinking about if that if they would track my scent down and try to kill me. Or track the scent of the Litleo back to Abigail. I shook these thoughts off and continued.
When I reached the end of the lake, I heard yelling from what sounded like it came from not too far, and I can tell that the talking voice didn't seem to friendly to whatever it was yelling at. "You useless eevee!" a masculine voice yelled. I moved closer to the voice. When I got there, I saw the earlier-adressed-eevee on the ground, cowering from a very angry jolteon.
"Pl-please, I'll do better next time! Just please give me a second chance!" the eevee pleaded.
"Second chances are just an excuse to screw up again Brat," he responded.
"I'm serious. I can please you with whatever! JUST DON'T LET ME LIVE OUT HERE WITHOUT HELP!"
"What did I say you need to call me when I took you in?" he added, a look of cruelty on his muzzle. "The one I am pretty sure we agreed on?"
"You're... my daddy," he whispered, obviously feeling angry saying it. "And I need to do what you say without question. In return, you'll take care of me."
"I see your lips movin', but they ain't making the sound the sound I want to hear," he teased. He raised his paw, claws sprouting from the tips. Electricity coursed through his foreleg then he moved it toward the little guy.
"NO PLEASE I'LL DO ANYTH-" but it was too late, he was already getting shocked. The cruelty this jolteon harbored was quite an ugly sight. He was just prodding him very slightly, the shocks scaring the eevee each time. With a closer observation, I saw the he was crying his eyes out. It was by the looks of it through size and inability to defend himself, it seemed like a cub. The attacking stopped and he moved his head down to the eevee's eye level.
"Anything you say?" he repeated, pleased with the child's willingness.
"YES! JUST LET ME CO-LIVE WITH YOU. I WON'T LAST A DAY OUT HERE ALONE!"
The jolteon was nodding in approval. "That is very true, but is the 'anything' part actually true? That's what I am curious about," he asked.
"Yes daddy," he hesitated, but said in a firm voice.
"That's my boy. But first, how about we get something we eat? Pretty sure the lake near us have berries and a lot of magikarp we can eat. Lets see if you can kill yourself a magikarp, then I'll let you have some of the berries I eat."
"Okay..." he whispered.
"I CAN'T HEAR YOU," he yelled, covering his ears with his paws. The little guy just decided to go to the lake and do what he said it seemed like. "About time you take the role of leader. You're already learning." With that, the jolteon followed close by.
How other pokemon raise the little ones like that is beyond me, and when he repeated 'Anything?' I can just imagine what the kid would see, most likely things he's not ready for. I thought about confronting that jerk-of-a-father jolteon and teaching him a lesson or two.
I followed close by, making sure not to give any hint of my presence to them. I don't exactly want to engage on him first, just not with the kid too close. I want to see if the jolteon is even worth taking down, so I stalk for the next few minutes.
When they reached the lake, the eevee turns around to the jolteon, who currently was only interested in the berry trees off in the distance. "What do I do now?" he asked him. I decide to hide in a bush not too far, and I was quick enough for the bush to not rustle.
"What are you? Tone deaf? Go kill a magikarp," the jolteon answered.
"K-kill?" he repeated, not liking the word. "How am I supposed to do that with my bare paws? I don't have the claws to ki-"
But before he could finish his sentence, the jolteon's claws were slashed across the eevee's muzzle. "Don't question me kid, make do with what you have and do what I say!" The eevee started to cower with his front paws covering the open wound where blood had leaked out. It went to the point where his tears was mixing with the blood. "Hmph, seems like the wild is too much for you. Find yourself a trainer or something. I'll leave you to that magikarp. Either kill yourself one, or find a human to capture you. I'll come back later to see what you've done and how you've done it. Who knows, maybe a predator more dangerous than me will come by and eat you. Hey, are you even listening!?" The eevee just moaned in response. The jolteon raised his fore leg where electricity coursed through it and tapped the eevee on the forehead.
I knew now that this jolteon didn't want anything to do with him, it seemed to me that the little guy was just a slave needing attention and someone to look after him. A cruel life for safety, a deal that seemed terrible. Then again, he was just a child.
"Pl-please stop! I'll get that magikarp!" the eevee blurted out, the electricity shocking him. By the time he stopped shocking him, I saw that the electiricty was running through his body. Paralysis was obvious with him.
"Good, when I come back and see a magikarp under your paws, I will give you the chance for evolving." With that, he left the eevee alone.
"He-he's right about me not being able to handle the wild... maybe I should just stay here and... die like mommy. I'll get a m-magikarp later, I just need some sl-sleep," the eevee whimpered as he closed his eyes.
The rain had finally stopped as the sun was able to break through the dark clouds. I exited the bush I was in and walked closer to the eevee, his collapsed form lay there motionless. However, I moved my head closer to him and I was able to hear his breathing, but it was too shallow for it to be healthy. I thought about earlier to put it out of its misery by having it as a quick meal, but upon closer look, the poor thing may have a cold.
I looked in the direction of where the jolteon headed, seeing that he was nowhere in sight. I thought about it as I examined the wound on his face. It wasn't too deep, just enough to draw blood. I can tell that this was more of a "warning cut" instead of one that wanted to really hurt him. However, the only thing my instincts were telling me was to save this eevee. But... why? I've tried to kill other eevees before and I have even gone against all of its evolutions and been victorious in all of them but one. I don't get it... why do I want to save this eevee?
These questions constantly poked at me, wanting to be answered. It irritated and annoyed me, I simply hated it.
My train of thought crashed as I heard a roar come from behind me. It was too close for me to get comfortable, as I saw a female pyroar jump into my view, her teeth bared. She looked over to the unconscious eevee to my side and glanced back at me. "Looks like you had another kill. Guess one loved one isn't enough for you today?" she ask, her voice clearly still angry. I can tell that this was the same one from my Litleo kill.
"Tell me, what makes you think that you coming back will change a thing? Or did you come back just to relive the moment of you getting embarassed by others?" I answered with a smirk.
"Shut up you impudent absol. You have no idea what you're dealing with right now. I assure you, I'm a force to be reckoned with."
"Then explain why I managed to put your face into your mate's hind quarters?" I tried not to, but I chocked back a laugh, but I was sure she heard it. Not that I cared.
"It was the stupid rain. Now that that stupid factor is out of the way. However, this I want to be a one-on-one. Just us, no strings attached."
"I'm curious. What is winning going to do for you exactly?"
"This is actually an offer I am proposing right now. You can feel free to turn away, take the eevee to your family, and pretend that this conversation never happened. However, if you take this offer up, and defeat me, I will tell my pack to leave you alone and your mate. How about it?"
"How exactly do you have power over your pack? You're a girl. So what happens if I lose?"
"You will leave this forest along with your mate, you also have to give me the eevee as something I can bring back. After all, I'm the leader's mate and I can basically convince him. Along with the added bonus that eevees taste delicious."
"Aren't females less dominant than males there? Last time I checked, a male was the one calling the shots."
"That's because I can seduce him to do the many things I want, and he decided to leave the planning to me."
It was tempting, defeating her will make sure that my mate was safe along with the cubs. But at the same time, I left her because I didn't want to do anything with her. However, if I lose, the eevee would be out of my possession and lost, something that I didn't want to do. The only thing that mattered to me was keeping him safe, I cared more about him than my mate herself. I closed my eyes thinking about it.
"Strange. I was honestly expecting a much quicker answer," she said.
After a while of thinking, I finally start to make eye contact with her, preparing my simple answer. "No," I say in a sort-of whisper, but loud enough for her to hear.
"Really? Keep in mind that my mate plans on attacking you guys, you sure you don't want to make sure that doesn't happen?" she pestered.
"Feel free to hunt me down, but keep in mind that I was able to defeat you guys from a one versus four. Not to mention I was able to stop a strong fire type move with a physically weaker one. There's also another reason I said no," I looked back to the eevee behind me, who was still unconscious, "I no longer need my mate in my life."
"What do you even plan on doing now?"
I was surprised by her curiosity to know what was going on, but I just put it to the side and gave her a straight answer. "It's none of your business." I walked to the eevee and grabbed him by the tuft of fur around his neck. He slowly moved his paws around as if he was running, but it was short lived as he was simply too tired to do anything at all.
"Are you blind? That eevee is still alive, why haven't you killed it?" she adds.
Seeing that my mouth is full, I start to walk away from her, and in the opposite direction of where the jolteon went.
I set down the eevee on the ground before I looked around to see some berry trees close to me, along with a large fallen, hollow log near me . The closest berry to me were oran berries. The amount of berries were abundant and looked just right. I try one myself as I pick one off with my teeth and eat it in a single bite. It had the right mix of flavors that I knew that many other pokemon loved. However, I took notice of the small plant near the tree.
"A revival herb," I say out loud. I remember taking one of these from my father. I tried to take on a luxray while I was newborn and uninformed of what's dangerous and what's not. My father found me before I was about to be finished off by it. He fed it to me and as unexpected, it was extremely bitter. I wanted to spit it out, but I felt my body's wounds heal. I knew it would work for this eevee if I can feed it to him.
I took the top in my teeth and cut off half of it with my claws. Just to confirm I took a small bite of it, and just like I hoped, I didn't want to swallow the bitter taste. I turned around to where the eevee was resting, only for it to not be there.
I simply looked to the fallen log across from me, seeing the eevee hide in there from what looks like me. Another shock of electricity paralysed him, and I can tell that he was also in pain. I approach slowly, not realizing that I dropped the herb.
"GO AWAY!" he yells. He attempts to run away, but another shock of electricity stopped him. I didn't want to hurt him, as I grabbed his tail in my teeth and dragged him out. He starts screaming as I hold him upside down, trying to attack me with his front paws. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"
I drop him right there in front of me and begin laying down on my stomach where I was eye level with him. He gained composure and started to look at me, his eyes still full of fear and uncertainty. "Calm down kid," I tell him.
"Wh-what? You aren't going to e-" before he could finish it, another shock. He was falling in my direction, but I was able to use my head to hold him up. After it was done, he opened his eyes and saw that I kept him up. I smile as he gets off.
"No, I'm not going to eat you kid," I answer. "You got a name?"
"N-name? My name is... Brat," he whispered, obvious that it's not a name he likes.
"That's... your name?"
"Y-yes, my daddy gave me it."
"You mean that jolteon is really your dad?"
I can see the color drain from his face as he looks at me. He starts to play with his paws until another shock coursed through his body. I thought it would be awkward to have a conversation like this, so I look back to the berry trees again. I walk over behind the oran berries to see some cheri berries. I stab one with my claw and picked it off the branch. I put it in my teeth and walk over to him, who was breathing heavily. I spit out the berry in front of him. He looked at me in confusion.
"Trust me, this will help with the paralysis, but the taste will probably be a bit... undesiring," I warn.
He looks at it then back at me showing that it was still hard for him to trust me. Finally, he took it in his mouth and started to chew slowly. His cheeks turned red, most likely due to the berry's heat. He swallowed and stuck out his tongue. "It's so hot!" he yells.
"Yes, but how is the paralysis treating you now?"
He blinked and inspected his body. He ran around the small area in circles, seeing that he wasn't getting shocked by what the jolteon did to him. "It's... gone," he says in disbelief.
"Now lets go do something about that scratch on your face," I add. 'Brat' looked at the open wound on it, and covers it, either in pain or embarassment.
"Not right now, I know where I can get it treated," he insist.
"If you really want. However, I want to ask you a question now."
"And what will that be?"
"What's your REAL name?"
"Brat, I already said it didn't I?"
"Do you like that name?"
"Umm... no."
"Why not change it?"
"What else can I change it to? I don't know a lot of names."
"There's a lot of names! There's Flare, Shade, Shard, Ruby, Emerald, or Zephyr! And that's not even all of them. And it just feels awful to call you by your name right now," I suggested. I sounded more excited than I needed to be, but it felt fun to say those names.
"I liked the second one you said: Shade."
I gave him a comforting grin before I placed my paw on his shoulder. "Well, it's nice to meet you Shade, my name's Sapphire."