"Yikes... it feels like we've been walking in circles!" Ryan said, scratching the back of his head while the Eevee siblings cried out in agreement. Stifling a yawn, Ryan tried peering around the forest for a clear way out. Perhaps wandering aimlessly wasn't the best idea, he thought as he noticed the sun was barely in the sky. The air also started to feel slightly colder.
"Maybe we should take a quick break," Ryan suggested to the pokemon. As he turned to look for Squirtle's response, he noticed that the tiny turtle pokemon had already taken the initiative and was already relaxing against a nearby tree.
"Well, Squirtle's got the right idea..." Ryan thought as he went over to the save tree and sat down. The Eevee leapt off of his shoulders and started to stretch their legs. They were laying on there for a long time, almost an hour! Regardless, they still had energy to burn, judging from their hyper jumping.
"Um... you guys can play for a bit while we're relaxing, if that's alright," Ryan suggested to the playful duo. Within a split second later, the siblings ran off into the forest, with one sibling chasing the other. Ryan chuckled a bit before turning to Squirtle.
"Hey Squirtle, think they'll be alright?"
Squirtle silently nodded as he turned his body away from Ryan and closed his eyes to take a short nap. Slowly, Squirtle started to withdraw into his shell as he fell asleep. Ryan shrugged as he closed his eyes and slowly drifted into slumber. Squirtle knew them better than he did, so he didn't need to worry, he thought.
"I'm gonna get you!" Eevee's sister said as she jumped at her brother.
"I don't think so sis!" Eevee said with a smirk as he dodged his sister at the last minute and took off running.
Eevee's sister was "it" this time, in their game of tag. Tag was almost a daily occurrence for them, since Squirtle took frequent breaks during their travels; even though they had energy to spare. It was a few minutes of blissful, fun playtime to get away from their daily troubles. And as an unexpected side effect, the Eevee siblings have gotten quicker with each game of tag! The brother was always the quicker of the two and was able to outrun his sister, but this time...
"Yay! I'm catching up!"
The brother looked back in surprise; his sister was only a couple of feet behind him! The gap between them was shrinking, inch by inch!
"What! I left her in the dust yesterday... I'd better think of something, or she's really going to get me!" Eevee thought while looking back at his sister, who was less than a foot away from tagging him!
"Hah! I got'cha this time!" The sister said, smirking, as she was inches away from diving at her brother. It was all or nothing, as she finally dove at him! Time seemed to slow down slightly as Eevee looked at his sister coming at him. He wasn't quick enough to get out of this one! Unless...
"Tag! You're it!" The sister declared as she grabbed her brother- or rather, where he used to be. She looked to the side as she fell forward. Her brother was sitting on the side, returning her earlier smirk!She blinked a couple of times, taking in what had just happened. He was about to be it and then he suddenly appeared on the side, she thought.
"H-hey, no fair! You used Quick Attack!" the Eevee sister realized in annoyance as she recovered from her fall.
"It's fair... we never made any rules for tag!" The brother managed to say his thoughts as they were occurring. He was hoping he was right, but his sister shook her head.
"Nuh-uh! You said no attacks, remember?"
"I-I did?" The brother stumbled at his mistaken memory. It was no use trying to get out of this one now, he thought.
"Yeah! Besides, I don't even know how to use Quick Attack yet! No fair-"
A sudden delicious aroma filled the air and both of the Eevee siblings' noses, making their mouths water. It... it smelled like cooking food! The brother had caught his break, as the both of them were now taken with the delicious food scent. They started sniffing the air, trying to pinpoint where the smell was coming from.
"Hey, brother, let's go find some food!" The sister said as she leapt through the bushes to follow the aroma's trail before her brother could tell her to wait. The brother quickly followed through the bush his sister had gone through, but she had vanished!
"Hey, sis! Where are you?" He yelled as he looked around. There was nothing but a mini clearing with more trees and bushes surrounding it. The brother did the equivalent of a facepalm as he began to sniff the smell's trail. Knowing his sister, she'd be there at the end, especially if it involved food or flowers, he thought. As he followed through another line of bushes where the scent led him, he ran into something unexpected.
"Hey, Piplup, where are you? Dawn's looking for you!" A yellow mouse with red circles on its cheeks called out. As Eevee emerged from the line of bushes, the mouse looked at him and ran up to him.
"Hey, excuse me, but have you seen a Piplup hiding around here? He's about my size, blue... and a bit clumsy?" The mouse, named Pikachu, asked Eevee.
"Oh! Uh... I haven't seen him. Sorry... did he get lost playing hide n' seek?" Eevee curiously asked.
"Well, not exactly... It's kinda complicated, but the short story is that he's hiding from Draco Meteor," Pikachu said with a sigh.
"What's Draco Meteor? It sounds... weird," Eevee thought as he tried imagining what Draco Meteor was supposed to be.
"It's an attack that's supposed to cause a bunch of meteors to fall from the sky when the user shoots one into the air," Pikachu explained.
"Oh... then Piplup's running from another pokemon who's using Draco Meteor on him?" Eevee asked. He started to feel sorry for Piplup, and couldn't blame him for hiding from a scary sounding attack.
"Oh, no! Gible wouldn't attack him like that on purpose, it's just... Draco Meteor always hits him, even if Gible's aiming in the opposite direction. It's... odd." Pikachu scratched his head as he defended Draco Meteor's user.
"Gible?" Eevee had no clue what a Gible even looked like. Pikachu noticed as Eevee unknowingly tilted his head, trying to imagine what Gible was. Pikachu started miming Gible's appearance, drawing back his arms, kneeling slightly to mimic Gible's short, stubby appearance. His ears also came together.
"He looks somewhat like this," Pikachu explained before he stood back up. While Eevee was picturing Gible in his head, Pikachu looked up and suddenly gasped. A sphere of energy was hovering in the air for a split second... before it dropped down into the forest like a guided missile!
"Mmm... It's not food, but it smells just as nice!" Eevee thought as she continued to take in the smell of the flower next to her. While she was in pursuit of the delicious scent, another one suddenly caught her attention and guided her into a small clearing of beautiful, in bloom flowers. The flowers' nostalgic power on Eevee made a smile creep onto her face as she was reminded of simpler times.
"Mama..." Eevee's thoughts started to wander, but not before a sudden explosive noise shook her from them.
"OW!"
The ground rumbled under Eevee as she turned to see what the cause was. A blue penguin-like pokemon, named Piplup, was on the ground, twitching and clutching the top of his head. She ran over to the fallen blue penguin.
"H-hey, are you okay?" Eevee managed to ask, through her dazed state. Piplup failed to notice Eevee as his anger and pain blinded him.
"Why is it always me, Gible? Why!" Built up frustration was evident as Piplup ranted out loud. Piplup's angry rant continued as Eevee, the onlooker, quietly sat through it. Without knowing, she had tilted her head in confusion as she wondered who "Gible" and "Dawn" were, and what "Draco Meteor" was. It felt like hours had passed before Piplup stopped mid sentence, realizing Eevee was sitting next to him,
"Oh! W-were you there the entire time?" Piplup asked through his burning scarlet cheeks. Eevee nodded as she contained a chuckle while PIplup rose to his feet with a tattered explanation of his rant:
"I-I-I just fell, that's all!" Piplup put his wings against his hips, making a proud stance. It masked most of his embarrassment, minus the hue of red on his face and the bump on the top of his head.
"I don't know... that looks like a nasty bump on your head! And it sounded pretty loud!" Eevee noted as she looked at Piplup's head. Looking around Piplup, she noticed steam coming off of a small rock on the ground.
"Are you sure this didn't fall from the sky and hit you or something?" Eevee asked, not knowing the truth of what she had just asked. Piplup stood with a blank face.
"...Well, actually... yeah," Piplup said, cheekily rubbing the back of his head. There wasn't really any way to hide it any longer, Piplup reasoned.
"Haha! I knew it! By the way, who are you? I'm Eevee!" Eevee said. Before Piplup could introduce himself, a familiar yellow mouse popped out from the bushes nearby and ran up towards them, calling out Piplup's name.
"Hey, Pikachu!" Piplup said while waving to his friend. Pikachu's eyes caught the bump on Piplup's head, and the small rock nearby.
"Draco Meteor hit you again, didn't it?" Pikachu asked Piplup, who nodded ruefully.
"Were you out here smelling flowers again?" Pikachu asked, grinning.
Piplup looked like he was taken aback. "H-How did you know?"
"You have pollen on your beak," Pikachu pointed out. Piplup wasted no time in removing the pollen. Eevee couldn't help but laugh, catching Pikachu's attention. He began to introduce himself to Eevee.
"Hey there! My name's Pikachu! Is your brother looking for you by any chance?"
"I'm Eevee! And... I think so," Eevee said as she gulped, realizing she had left her brother behind when she dove after the aromas from earlier.
"Because he's looking for you, and I think he was following behind me," Pikachu pointed in the direction he came from. Almost as if on cue, the brother leapt through the bushes.
"Sis! There you are!" The brother exclaimed with relief as he approached the small huddle. Eevee felt her ears drooping as tangs of guilt started aching.
"So-Sorry brother..."
"Hey, as long as you're alright, its fine! Although you could do something about that hyperness of yours," Eevee remarked with a smirk. The sister felt her watering eyes drying as she glared at him.
"Hmph! At least I don't jump up and down like a Charmander with it's fire out when I see the mo-"
Eevee stopped his sister in a frenzied panic before she could finish and turned to Piplup, lowering his head a bit. "Thanks for finding my sis!"
"No problem! It's what I do. And it's Piplup," Piplup introduced as he put his wings at his waist. Pikachu couldn't help but grin a little at the proud penguin's comment.
"That's not all you do...?" Pikachu nudged Piplup.
"W-What do you mean, Pikachu?"
"Remember... oh, I don't know, Rotom? Or Rhypherior? Yeah, I remember what you told me!" Pikachu finished with a chuckle.
Piplup backed up in his trademarked dramatic shocked pose with his wings up. The memories flooded back to Piplup instantly. He had tried to shake Rotom's hand as a sign of forgiveness back in the Old Chateau, but got shocked in a hilarious manner and when he tried to go back to Sandgem Town alone... he shuddered. It was like he was the world's punching bag!
"I don't know why I thought Dawn would be behind that bush..." Piplup thought, stuck in his shocked pose. He eventually shook it off and turned to the Eevee siblings to ask them a question.
"Anyways, what brings you two to Sinnoh? I didn't know any Eevee lived here!"
The Eevee siblings looked at each other. They knew exactly how and why they were here, but they weren't comfortable telling anyone yet. Maybe they didn't have to give all of the details... just recent ones, they thought.
"Well, me, my sis, and Squirtle met this human a little while ago and we're trying to find a way out of this forest," Eevee explained.
"Really? How did you meet him?" Pikachu asked. Eevee explained everything that had occurred within the past hours. He mentioned the fact the human looked like a trainer, but he acted like he had never seen a living pokemon before! When Eevee finished, Pikachu suggested:
"Maybe you could get the trainer to come with us to our camp! I'm sure Brock wouldn't mind at all!"
"That's a great idea! But... who's Brock?" Eevee asked.
"He's one of my trainer's best friends and he's a really great cook! Once you try some of his food, there's no going back!" Pikachu explained. "Also, our trainers know where they're going: Sunyshore City! If you guys tag along, you won't be lost anymore!"
The Eevees' faces lit up with happiness with the great news. The light at the end of the tunnel was finally shining!
"Yay! We gotta go tell Squirtle and him about it!" The sister said, jumping in excitement. Before Eevee could stop her, she ran off again, leaving a sweat dropping Eevee.
"I-I'll go and get them and meet you guys later," the brother said to Pikachu and Piplup.
"Okay, we'll be waiting back at our camp. See ya!" Pikachu waved goodbye to Eevee as he ran off to follow his hyper sister. When Eevee disappeared into the forest, Pikachu turned to Piplup.
"By the way Piplup, Dawn has been looking for you!"
"R-Really?" Piplup asked.
"Yeah, she thought up of a new combination for the Grand Festival... and she's been waiting for awhile now."
A panicked look shot onto Piplup's face as he dashed into the bushes and began racing back to the campsite. He couldn't leave his trainer hanging like that! A sweat dropping Pikachu sighed and shrugged as he looked around the flower filled area. Who would hide from a meteor in a field of flowers? Sometimes, Piplup was, for a lack of words... Piplup.
"Huh, I wonder where Pikachu went off to..."
A boy with messy jet black hair, named Ash, looked around the camp he and his friends had set up. His Pikachu was nowhere in sight as he scanned around the area. Gible stared blankly into space as it stood next to Ash.
"Hey Gible, why don't ya go eat dinner? I gotta go look for Pikachu," Ash said. Gible nodded before it walked over to the picnic blanket, where a group of various pokemon of different shapes and sizes sat and conversed while they ate. Ash began to walk towards the edge of the campsite, but he was stopped at the sound of his name. A girl with a white beanie over her long blue hair came out from her tent and went over to Ash.
"Hey Dawn, what's up?" Ash asked her.
"Have you seen Piplup? I wanted to try a new combination for the Grand Festival, but I haven't seen him lately!" Dawn said as she crossed her arms.
"Piplup's gone?" Ash asked in slight shock. "Pikachu's missing too!"
"You don't think..." Dawn trailed off as she and Ash started thinking of what possibly happened. Specifically, their thoughts turned to a trio of thieves that constantly followed them; consisting of a purple haired guy, a redheaded lady, and a talking pokemon.
"Nah, they blasted off pretty far away the other day..." Ash recalled.
"Well, I guess... but then where's Piplup and Pikachu?" Dawn wondered. Ash shrugged as he said a suggestion.
"I was about to go looking for Pikachu, wanna come along?"
"Yeah, of course," Dawn nodded. Before the two of them could begin their search, their third companion, Brock, suddenly yelled:
"Hold on a sec! Where are you guys going?"
"No need to worry! We'll be back soon!" Dawn yelled back as she and Ash disappeared into the forest, with Brock worriedly shaking his head.
"No need to worry? That's when everybody worries the most..." Brock thought, turning his attention back to the boiling pot of stew.
A pair of arms reached for the sky as Ryan gave a refreshing yawn, waking up from his short slumber of a nap. "Ah, that was refreshing! Still a bit tired, but I'll take it."
Taking a moment to look around, he noticed the sky was darker than he saw it last. The once plentiful orange hue that overtook the sunset sky was slowly vanishing, making way for the night sky. He could feel the chill of the night starting to grow as he looked around the forest.
"Where did the Eevee go?" Ryan jumped up from his resting spot and looked at where Squirtle was before. Squirtle was still asleep.
"I'd better see if they're anywhere nearby..." Ryan put his pack on and was about to run off to find the Eevee, but he remembered about Squirtle.
"Wait, I can't just leave Squirtle here! Then again, I probably won't get the happiest response from it if I wake it up from 'LaLa' land..." The teen pondered on what to do for a brief moment before a solution came to him, causing him to snap his fingers.
"I got it! I'll just put Squirtle in here," Ryan thought as he dropped his backpack and opened it to shift some stuff around, leaving a small void of empty space in the center. He took the Pokedex out and stuffed it in his jeans' pocket. "I'd better leave this in my pocket, just in case... now for the hard part."
The teen left the pack open as he crept over to Squirtle. He made no sudden movements as he slowly picked Squirtle up and gently placed him in his backpack. Squirtle's head stuck out from the pack, but Ryan didn't mind as he carefully swung the backpack onto his back.
"Well... that takes care of one small problem. Time to go find-"
Squirtle was drowsily shifting around in Ryan's backpack, interrupting his thoughts as he suddenly froze in place. After a brief period of panic, Ryan started moving again, testing to see if his movements would really wake the pokemon up. He slowly jogged in place, slightly mimicking the backpack's actual movements. Squirtle remained fast asleep. Ryan sighed as he finally began his search of the Eevee, walking into the forest.
"Wait... is that Mount Coronet?" Pikachu said as he saw the range of mountains in the distance. Mount Coronet stretched far across the horizon, which separated Sinnoh into an East and West side, Pikachu recalled.
"Now I know we're definitely lost," Pikachu sighed. Ever since he and Piplup parted ways with the Eevee siblings earlier, Pikachu was forced to chase Piplup, who had strayed around the forest, frantically looking for the campsite without a second thought. However, Pikachu had already known how to get back to the campsite from where they originally were. Pikachu eventually caught up to the penguin pokemon and calmed him down, but thanks to that, Pikachu was lost as well!
"Hey, let's try this way!" Piplup suggested. Pikachu sighed as he figured they couldn't get any more lost, so why not? The two pokemon set off in the direction Piplup pointed. Thanks to the growing darkness, they failed to notice a trio that lurked in the bushes nearby, peering at them. Two people were wearing white uniforms with red R's on the front and with them was a cat with a charm on its forehead.
"Say... weren't those the twerp's Pikachu and Piplup?" The purple haired man, named James, asked his accomplices, Jessie and Meowth.
"Yeah, what're they doin' out here?" Meowth confirmed. He and James began speculating before Jessie suddenly struck a fiery pose and glared at them, stopping them in their conversation.
"Never mind that! We're going to finally catch Pikachu and present it to the boss! James, Meowth, let's put Plan Super Ultra Mega Mecha into effect, now!"
"But," James held a wallet upside down, emptying its contents. The air escaped from it, almost like a sigh. "We're kaput from the last robot we used a week ago!" As he stuffed the wallet away, Jessie suddenly roared in frustration, causing him and Meowth to flinch!
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THE TWERPS' POKEMON ARE RIGHT HERE, RIPE FOR THE TAKING, AND WE'RE GONNA PASS JUST BECAUSE OF AN EMPTY WALLET?"
"Shh! You're gonna let 'dem know we're here!" Meowth warned. His warning fell on deaf ears as Jessie continued her roaring rant.
"DREAM ON! WE'RE GETTING THOSE POKEMON, EVEN IF IT'S THE LAST THING WE DO!"
James and Meowth sighed together as they looked at Pikachu and Piplup walking away. It was beyond a miracle that they failed to hear Jessie's screaming! Either they were going nuts, or Pikachu needed an ear exam, they thought. Jessie could be a bit much at times...
"James, do we still have any nets?" Jessie asked. James nodded as she continued. "Then what are you standing around for? Get them and let's go!" Jessie commanded as she hopped into a hot air balloon basket and began firing it up. A giant Meowth balloon began to inflate, slightly lifting the basket up.
"Pikachu! Piplup!" Ash and Dawn yelled out into the forest. The two trainers spent the last thirty minutes carefully combing through the forest, looking for their pokemon. Night had completely set in within that time, limiting their vision into the forest.
"We've been looking for them for a while now... where could they have gone?" Dawn thought before being jumped out of her thoughts when Ash suddenly yelled:
"PIKACHU! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, ANSWER ME!" Flocks of nocturnal bird pokemon flew out from the trees, fleeing for another spot away from the sudden noise.
"A-Ash! I'm right next to you!" Dawn said as she nudged Ash's arm. She rubbed her ringing ears. "I didn't know Ash could yell that loud!"
"Huh? Oh, sorry Dawn..." Ash began apologizing. "I'm just worried about Pikachu, you know?" Ash explained, feeling a tang of guilt as he noticed Dawn feeling her ears. She stopped and placed a hand on Ash's shoulder.
"It's okay, no need to worry, right? We'll find Pikachu and Piplup for sure!" Dawn reassured him. Ash smiled at the gesture. She really was a great friend, he started to think before a flash in the sky caught his and Dawn's attention. A lightning bolt illuminated the night sky a distance away, acting like a beacon!
"It's Pikachu! He must've heard me!" Ash said, grinning.
"Piplup must be with him too! Come on!" Dawn said as the two of them began to run in the direction of where Pikachu's Thunderbolt shone through the sky.