---Espeon Day 8

A burden amongst us. That was what Aiden was slowly becoming. He had ignored me for a few days now, and the only time when I tried to speak to him, he glared at me (if he were Pokémon, he would have growled) then walked away. Flint was trying to comfort him, still unsure of the issue but caring all the same. I felt the same feelings I had when we had first met and he had detested me, a growing boredom of his attitude. That dream I had had of him was beginning to become more like that, only a dream. I had started his fire; it would be a while before it went down again.

We had reached Lilycove by midday yesterday, now we had to find a way to get across to Mossdeep. The boat only went on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays, we had conveniently arrived on the Saturday so we had a few days of this. A week or so ago, I would have seethed at this and demanded some local fisherman to get me across but the strength of my determination was fading. That fact scared me.

Now, we just had to wait for the boat. Aiden was sitting on the cliffs, as it was clear enough to see the distant Mossdeep, with Flint napping soundly at his side. I went over to see the island for myself but, as soon as he heard me approach, he stood up, knocking Flint in the process. This broke my last nerve and I broke my silence.

'Oh, for goodness sake, get over it!'

He turned back to me, his fists clenched his face turned the same when he had told me of Hannah. This took me aback, but I soon grit my teeth together and stood my ground.

'What? Am I meant to be scared of you? Yes, I didn't tell you what happens when we use attacks but only because I didn't know. I wasn't certain. How was I to know that you'd go all extreme with the training?'

His face didn't change; the glare feeling like it was really burning into me. Still, I changed my face to match his, one full of grim determination.

'You lost me some of my last precious days. I was coping fine with what I had before, but now... It doesn't matter that you didn't know what I'd do, when you told me about the attacks, you should have told me the consequences. I managed to overlook what you did to Hannah, overlook murder-'

He laughed, this sudden change shocked me, was he going insane?

'I even started to look to you as a friend, but this-'

His face turned back to its stone mask, eyes burning with fierce intensity.

'I don't think I can ever forgive you.'

Those last words hurt, I tried to make a rebuttal, but what can you reply to that? I had hurt him, more than I had with murder, more than Hannah abandoning him. His face grew a touch softer, like he was about to take back his words, but, shaking his head, he walked away.

How... this had been the boy who had forgave me for murder. Forgave me for killing someone he loved. He forgave me for forcing this upon him. Why had Tor given him this punishment? I was the one that should suffer.

Flint sat with me for a moment, watching me fight against the tears and stare aimlessly into the distance, until his worry for Aiden grew too strong. He was torn between us, but Aiden would always win.

I was slowly winning the fight against the tears, but I didn't want to. I found that I would not ever win in the battle for my memories, but the longer I fought, the longer I kept them. I had to keep something, maybe two, or just one? I wanted just one to remember who I was, who I had been.

'Who you will never be again.'

The voice shocked me, I twisted my head to catch a glimpse of the face that went with the voice but they flicked through the air, giggling slightly as they did. Confused, and slightly dizzy, I glanced upwards and spotted what looked like a young, teenage girl, blond haired, blue eyed, how much of a cliché angel was she? Finally seeing the person, I remembered what she had said.

'What do you mean? Who are you?'

She shook her head, still giggling to herself.

'I mean what I said; you won't ever be what you want to be again. But is that really what you want?'

She lay in front of me, holding her head in her hands, looking at me as if expecting an answer. I was growing bored of her personality fast but the fact that she could fly and seemed to be able to know what I was kept me listening.

'And I suppose you know what I want? God knows everyone else does.'

She smiled, her teeth perfect and white. She rolled on her back before answering.

'I know you'll be happier as you are. In fact...'

She looked upwards with such intensity that I looked up myself. I saw nothing but the ever grey sky, the sun only barely poking through. I was about to ask her what the end to her sentence was but she stared back at me, her blue eyes now dark, without pupils, so that they were like small black holes, vortexes. I could not look away, her eyes sucked me in and within them I could see my futures, split in the moment.

***

I found myself walking along a path, with... four feet? I stared down and saw that they were lilac, petit feet. I was Espeon again. The happiness that burst through me was so much that I yipped out in joy, feeling only then a tug at my neck.

'Stop it.'

Looking up, my eyes recognised a face, the blonde girl's, except she was obviously more human. For one, she was walking. Also, her eyes (and voice) had a much harder edge to them which meant that I was to give her no trouble. Still, I was confused. I wracked my mind for answers and found.... nothing. The earliest one was of Quiyelle, a normal day, and then other information spattered up. Nets... smoke.... but no poke balls. Poachers.

No one here was on false information, we knew we were prisoners.

I was walked down an aisle, paved with concrete. Either side of me were cages, containing all sorts of Pokémon. Rattata, Lucario, Persian, but none of them seemed unhappy with their situation. They all looked rather peaceful in fact. This worried me even more, but I was forced on by the brute force of the girl, and the choke chain around my neck helped make me move.

I went deep down the aisle, but I couldn't turn my head to check how far. We turned a corner and found a door, labelled in red. Even though I couldn't read, I knew this was the danger zone and tried to pull back.

'No.'

She was stern, tugging my head forward and choking my air supply. I stepped cautiously through the door only to find a cleaner version of the cages out there. The room was whiter, with a table in the centre of the room and an outside area only a little distance away.

'Up.'

She forced me towards the table and I, grudgingly, jumped. She then checked me over further, my eyes, my fur, my teeth, every part of me. Once she was happy from what she had seen, she lowered me into a cage. I hadn't realised at first, but I wasn't alone. There were two other espeon in there, a male and female, the female asleep. The girl pulled a curtain over the front of the cage and, from what I could hear, walked out of the room.

I turned to the male, who was alert and awake, and he smiled, but it wasn't a welcoming smile. He began to box me in and soon, he had trapped me in a corner, advancing forward. I panicked and tried to attack with a shadow ball but a spray hit me, distracting me from using my attack, covering my face. Then there was something in it... pheromones? It made it harder to think and my mind felt muffled. Soon the male was on top of me. I went to react, to attack him, but the pheromones made me feel so calm, this was good. The female in the corner slept easily, her pregnant stomach swelling beneath her. Something I had never noticed on her before.

Only an hour or so later, did the girl come back. She peaked in at me and saw me sleeping easily, like the other female. Another done. I turned to look at her and found the black eyes again, staring.

***

I fell to where I was, on the cliff. The girl lay next to me, watching me as I searched through my mind again. The fog had gone. My mind, clear.

'I'm not this image; I'm just taking the image of who will keep you in future.'

'How? I'm fast enough to avoid any trainer, and she didn't appear to have any other Pokémon that she used for battle.'

'Why does she need Pokémon when she can just smoke you out of there? It seemed to work with the other creatures. But your life is simple, you move from one cage to the other. I don't think you feel anything though.'

I knew that this happened to many people, breeding farms, town pets, only rarely used for battle, but me? I had always thought I would stay at Quiyelle.

'And that's why you're going to stay human. Because I know you Espeon, you don't want to be like that and you'll help so many more people if you stay as-you-are.'

She emphasised the last few words, her eyes going darker with each syllable. I looked away, but she caught my face in her feather light hands and looked into my eyes.

'You are going to stay human.'

No, I would not. No, I refuse. No, no, no. Who knew if this was the better idea, but I did not trust her and would not follow any ideas she tried to force upon me.

Giving up, her eyes went a lighter blue, her smile wide, but weaker.

'You are stubborn, but fine; you can make the decision then, just don't make the wrong one.'

Why was she trying to help me? And who was she anyway?

'Who says I'm trying to help you?'

I looked at her, frowning but she just raised her eyebrows and span in the air as she disappeared. Her light body soon faded in with the sky. I wasn't 100 per cent sure I didn't dream that little event, because soon I felt my eyes shut and did not appear to open them again for a long time. Even when I did, the sky was bright again with the morning sun and Aiden was sitting just behind me, Flint foraging for food in the surrounding bushes.

'Huh, so did you two come to find me?'

I joked, yawning as I did so. But apparently this joke was not funny; Aiden gave me a weird glance, then stood up, stretching.

'I still have to watch you.'

He mumbled, for no one to hear. Except that I did. I suppose that was some compensation. He didn't want to be here, but he had to, so he was stuck with me. Most people would feel sorry for him but I was going to make the most out of this opportunity, now that I know he can't leave. He will have to forgive me eventually.

---

Every time I add a new chapter, I get, what 50 people or so reading this? This good, I have a few people reading my stories but then when I break it down, chapter by chapter, there's really one about 5 of you. I need to pick up numbers or end it, so I beg you to please tell me what you want in this, or I don't think I actually have the effort to carry on with it. This chapter, if I don't have enough readers, I'm just stopping.

ML