An Eevee's Life

Chapter 7: Switched Roles

The rain let up a little soon and Midnight was on his way. Midnight was almost to the waterfall again when the rain finally stopped completely. He was glad for the pause in the tormenting rain, though he still got wet from all the dripping undergrowth and trees.

He quickened his pace as the rain stopped and soon after, he found the waterfall once again. The view once again captivated him. The view from the pool of the waterfall was even more impressive than from above. Midnight came up to the pool and quenched his thirst from the calm pool.

He started to sniff around the pool, hoping to find some trace of Jolt. But it seemed that the rain had washed all the scents away. Midnight cried out in frustration. How would he find Jolt now?

Midnight headed downstream, hoping to find Jolt. He had been walking for about an hour, when he saw a peculiar sight. The trees so far had been growing about ten feet away from the river, but up ahead, a tree on either side of the river grew only a few mere inches from the river's edge. They were so close, the branches above had connected and formed a sort of walkway across the river. On the walkway were three Aipom.

Midnight was just going to pass them by, when he realized that they may have seen his son. He came up to the trunk of the tree on his side of the river and called out to them, "Hey."

An Aipom, the largest of the three, answered, "Yes, me mate."

"I was wondering if you're here all the time," Midnight asked

The Aipom started to look suspicious, but still answered, "Yes, we live here in our pad. What's it to you, mate?"

"I need to know if you've seen a Jolteon come by," Midnight answered.

All three Aipom shook their heads, "Nope, mate, we haven't seen a Jolteon in these parts. Hope that helps."

"Actually, it does. Thanks," Midnight said. He turned and ran back upstream.

He reappeared at the pool, but he still couldn't find a scent. Undeterred, Midnight started to search through the surrounding area. The pool was the most likely place Jolt had got out, for the banks downstream were much more slippery.

Midnight continued to search and eventually started calling out his name, though he had to stop when he heard Pokemon yelling at him to shut up. He continued until the sun started to go down. He found a berry bush and decided to turn in for the night. He ate supper and laid down in some undergrowth near the bush. He felt much better now that he knew Jolt had been able to get out of the river.

Midnight woke up and ate a quick breakfast. He searched in a new direction. He looked around and around, knowing Jolt couldn't have got far after the fall. None of the Pokemon were any help. In fact, Midnight started to think they were trying to avoid him. He searched and searched, but hadn't found anything by sunhigh.

He came back to the berry bush and ate his lunch. His body felt much better now that he had a regular meal time started again. Midnight chose another direction and started down it. He looked this way and that, but he seemed to not be getting anywhere.

He was just about to go back to the berry bush, when he saw a flash of yellow through the undergrowth. He headed for it and found himself standing in front of a clearing. It was a small clearing, but he knew it was a den, at least temporarily, with the Pokemon made leaf ceiling about five feet up. A small food pile was right next to Midnight from where he was standing.

He stopped stunned as he saw a Jolteon. His excitement faded as he realized it wasn't Jolt. It wasn't Jolt, because he could see it was a smaller and younger Jolteon than Jolt. The Jolteon was standing, speaking to . . . something at a low level.

Suddenly, the Jolteon moved and he saw what it was talking to: Jolt. His heart raced as he realized that Jolt was alive. He seemed unable to move, his emotions rendering him paralyzed for a second. But that was all it took. He realized that Jolt was lying on his side, his back left leg was held at an awkward angle.

The Jolteon had been saying something and then pressed a paw against Jolt's leg. Midnight saw pain flash in Jolt's eyes. Midnight felt anger rise up in him, adrenaline started flowing through his veins, and he charged out with a Quick Attack. He hit the Jolteon in the side. It was completely unprepared as he used surprise as his main weapon.

Since the Jolteon was not prepared, his attack lifted it off its paws, and Midnight continued his attack, sending it into the nearby undergrowth. He launched himself into the air above the stunned Jolteon, turned, and brought his tail down with Iron Tail. He saw fear flicker in the Jolteon's eyes. He was just about to hit it, when something hit him in the side.

Midnight flew further into the undergrowth. He got up and ran back to the Jolteon and saw the Pokemon that had hit him was Jolt! His own son had hit him. Jolt got between him and the Jolteon, keeping his bad leg off the ground.

"Stop! Don't you hurt-" Jolt started. His eyes suddenly grew round in amazement. "D-dad, is that you?"

Midnight ran up to his son and wrapped his paws around him. "Of course, son. I would never give up on you. Rain told us that you fell and I came after you," Midnight said.

"Oh Dad, I'm so glad-" Jolt said, before letting out a yelp.

"Oh, sorry son," Midnight said, getting off Jolt's bad leg. Midnight's attention went back to the Jolteon as it started to get up. He felt his fur start to bristle again.

"What's wrong?" Jolt asked. He looked back at the Jolteon, who had crouched down behind Jolt still scared, and then looked back at Midnight with a little more of a glare. "That's right, I need to ask. Why did you attack Yellow?"

"I saw her press her paw against your leg and give you pain. I thought she was attacking you," Midnight said, still unsure about the Jolteon.

"She was just checking my injury. Here let's go back to the clearing. There's a lot we need to catch up on," Jolt said.

They headed back to the clearing and Jolt laid down while Yellow sat behind him, still trying to keep some distance between her and Midnight.

"Okay, I think I need to start at the beginning," Jolt said, "I was walking through the forest and then Rain came. I remembered you said to avoid her, so I ran. We ended up at the river. I was about to turn, but I slipped and fell into the river. Soon, I was at the waterfall and I fell over into the pool. At that point I blacked out.

"Yellow found me soon after and took me to this clearing. She watched over me and I woke up two day ago. Yellow brought me food and has cared for me up to now. She was checking on my leg to see if it was getting better. That's when you came in," he finished. Suddenly he smacked himself on the head, and said, "Oops, I forgot introductions. Okay, dad, this is Yellow. Yellow, this is Midnight, my dad."

Midnight nodded at Yellow, "Hello. I'm sorry for what happened. I thought you were hurting him. I hope we can start over."

Yellow relaxed a little, "Oh, good. I would like that." Jolt relaxed when he heard them getting along.

"Thanks for taking care of my son," Midnight said. She nodded and he was sure her cheeks turned slightly red.

Jolt yawned just as his stomach growled. Midnight and Yellow both burst out laughing. Yellow grabbed the last two berries from the pile and brought them for Jolt to eat. He thanked her and ate them. He fell asleep soon after.

Yellow started to leave the clearing. "Where are you going?" Midnight asked.

Yellow looked back over her shoulder at him, "I'm going to collect some more food."

"Mind if I join you?"

Yellow looked surprised, but shook her head. Midnight followed Yellow through the forest to a large berry bush. Before they started, though, Midnight had to tell her something.

"Once Jolt gets a little better, we'll be headed back to our group," he said.

Yellow turned her head away from him, though he could tell she was very sad. "I know. He hasn't stopped talking about it since he woke up. I knew he would be going back, but-" she started, but her voice failed her near the end.

Midnight put a paw on her shoulder. "You love him, don't you?"

He could see tears were about to form as she nodded slightly.

"You could always come with us," Midnight said.

She shook her head, "What would it matter? He doesn't like me like I do him."

"Now how do you figure that?" Midnight asked.

"I can tell. I'm just a friend to him, nothing more," she said.

"But how can you really know unless you ask?" Midnight pushed.

"But if I ask, and he says no, then we won't even be friends," Yellow said.

"Now that there's not a possibility. I know my son well enough to know that he would be friends with you still even if he would say no," he told her.

"Really?" she said.

"Really. And what do you have to lose? If he says no, then you still be here as if you hadn't of asked, while if he says yes, you'll be happy. Another thing is, if you don't ask now, you'll regret it for the rest of your life and always wonder what his answer would have been," Midnight said.

He saw understanding enter her eyes. She dried to half formed tears and raised her head. "Okay, I'll ask him first thing tomorrow."

"Good for you," Midnight said. He had to hold back a laugh as he realized the positions were now reversed. He used to be the one fretting about asking, while he was encouraged. Now he was the one encouraging another to ask.

They gather the berries and headed back to the clearing. They put the berries up and they fell asleep, waiting to see what tomorrow would bring.

Midnight got up when Jolt did and they ate quickly. Yellow got up soon after and Midnight left in order to give them some privacy. He retraced his way to the cliff and made sure he knew how to get there quickly.

After he had been gone a little, he headed back to clearing. When he saw them lying next to each other and the look of pure joy on Yellow's face, he knew what Jolt's answer had been. He congratulated the new couple and then had Jolt test his leg. It was almost completely healed.

Jolt insisted he was ready for travel, so Midnight led them to the waterfall. Once there, Jolt and Midnight started to dig a tunnel up, though Jolt was slower than normal. Yellow learned how to do it and soon took over from Jolt.

After about half a day, they had tunneled a slight slope up the top of the cliff. They got to the top of the cliff and took a short break. Midnight was glad that they would be home soon. Soon, he would be back with Luna.

When they started again, Jolt and Yellow started to drag behind, going slower than Jolt needed to. Midnight understood what they were feeling and, to give them privacy and to get to Luna sooner, he ran ahead. He soon passed over the border and ran straight for the den.

Soon, the covered entrance came into sight and Midnight slowed down. He pushed his way through the undergrowth and entered the den. Everyone but Luna was in the main entrance. As soon as he entered, all of them looked at him. Something was wrong.

All of them, including Violet, looked as though they had been franticly been doing something earlier. When they saw him, every one of their faces paled as though he was a ghost. He paused, stunned at their welcome. Suddenly, Leaf and Lucy started crying hysterically. Something was definitely wrong.

Then it hit him. Luna wasn't there. "Where's Luna?" he almost shouted, their expressions starting to make him panic. When he didn't get an immediate answer, he did start shouting, "Where's Luna?" Now he was really starting to panic.

Blaze approached hesitantly. He drew in a shaky breathe and said, "Luna's disappeared."