CHAPTER 4: HAIR OF THE TITAN
Eevee had a lot of questions but was unsure of which ones to ask. It suddenly felt unsure about the Titan, because it didn't know what it could sense within Eevee's mind. As it ran towards the Titan's cave, it thought about how Regigigas was capable of so much good yet hid its destructiveness from Eevee. Jupiter did not seem to be lying based on the genuine fear in her voice, and she promised Eevee a way out too. Eevee trusted Jupiter completely, as she could have gotten Eevee caught at any moment but chose to help, even risking her safety. It decided that its best course of action would be to use the help of both sparingly, as it still did not know either of these 'Pokemon' as Jupiter referred to the creatures. The problem would be talking to the Titan. Just how much could the Titan intuitively figure out about Eevee's thoughts? It tried to suppress its fear by digging in the grass a bit before passing the clearing before the Titan's cave.
As it approached the Titan's cave, it spotted the Titan with its back to Eevee, with one of its ginormous hands reaching out towards the sky. A small butterfly landed on its finger.
WHAT? Eevee thought. Did Regigigas create life? Eevee had not seen any life in the box. As it got closer it watched as the butterfly fluttered off of Regigigas' hand and a small crack opened in the sky, swallowing the butterfly whole. Regigigas turned around afterwards, noticing Eevee. Its 6 eyes lit up with something resembling relief.
"Oh my goodness, you made it back safely. I'm glad. I hope things were not too stressful with how sudden you left the box. Do tell me what happened after you used Safeguard."
Eevee looked up at the Titan, trying to suppress the dropping feeling in its stomach.
"Well, first, after I used Safeguard, the Beheeyem wheeled me to a room full of glass enclosures where they injected my and several other Pokémon's thighs with a vaccine. I came to learn later that the vaccine gives great power, but every Po-I mean creature seemed to react poorly to the vaccine. However, I did not. After that, the Beheeyem pressed a button on a red and white ball, and I blacked out."
Eevee trembled slightly, hoping Regigigas did not have any sort of mind reading powers. The Titan looked at Eevee for a moment with an expression Eevee could not discern. It then reached out its hand and stroked Eevee, and a chill went up Eevee's spine despite how nice it felt.
"I'm just glad everything went smoothly. It seems you've figured out what I was going to conclude logically. They appear to be making some kind of PokeRus infused vaccine from my DNA. I am unsure what the PokeRus virus actually does, but if they went to such lengths to extract it into a vaccine, it must do what they are saying it does. Beheeyem use their memory wipe on me too, as I do not remember much of what happens to me outside of the box. I certainly don't make it easy for them though. I- "
Eevee was noticeably shaking.
"Oh, I see. You've been through a lot, I'm sorry. I shouldn't ramble."
"Can you not touch me right now?"
Regigigas stopped stroking the little Eevee, and the two looked at each other.
"Hm. I know something that might help you."
Regigigas' hand glowed pink, and it poised itself into a stance. Its hand moved slowly away from Eevee, pink afterimages flashing behind its motion. It spread its fingers wide and swiftly jabbed the air facing away from Eevee. A snapping noise ensued, and the sky cracked open for a moment. Regigigas dug its arm fully into the tear in space this time and seemed to be awkwardly digging around for something. Eevee looked at the Titan and tilted its head to the side. For such an old and elegant creature, Eevee happened to catch it in vulnerable states quite a bit, it thought. After a moment though, it seemed to find what it was looking for, and withdrew its arm from the tear in the sky, and the gap slowly filled back in. The Titan lowered its hand in front of Eevee, the pink energy dissipating as it did so. In its palm was a branch covered in blue orbs.
"These were my favorite berries as a child. They are called oran berries. Go on, try some."
Eevee put one in its mouth and tugged at the branch until it gave up the berry from its grasp. Eevee placed the berry on the ground and sniffed it a bit, periodically licking the skin of the berry as Regigigas watched in amusement. It pawed at the berry a bit, moving it around. The skin was firm, but gave way when Eevee used its claws, revealing a purple interior with small green seeds. The inside smelled quite nice and had a natural sweetness to it. Eevee lapped up a bit of the juice that leaked from the cut of the berry. Its tail started wagging quite fast for a moment involuntarily, then it ate the berry whole in 3 bites.
"THISISGOOD. THANKYOU."
Eevee's mouth and nose were stained purple as it looked up at the Titan, and Regigigas heartily chortled.
"Hohohoho, let me have some."
Regigigas sucked a berry into its hand, and it vanished completely. Eevee watched in horror for a moment but turned back to the berries pretending it didn't see that, and the two of them quickly picked the branch clean.
"Oran berries are great because of how light they are. If you're hurt, they will help you a bit, but for me they basically do nothing. I'm going to have to teach you some more things if you're going to survive in the real world by yourself. Don't worry though, it'll mostly just be eating more berries, hehe."
Regigigas produced a hollow log and flipped it vertically. Different shapes and colors of berries scattered themselves in the grass in front of Eevee.
"Go on, pick one that looks good. I'll tell you about its properties while we eat. I assure you they are all delicious."
Eevee picked a red and yellow berry with a springy stem, then a yellow pear-shaped berry, and eventually ate all of them. Regigigas explained each one patiently in an easy to process way as they ate the berries. Regigigas truly is a kind Titan, thought Eevee. I don't know why I doubted it. It opened its mouth to speak, but it remembered the fear on Jupiter's face and Regigigas' comment about Beheeyem just now and shoved its face into a pecha berry. After trying them all, Eevee decided that the pecha berry was its favorite due to its refreshing sweet flavor. Regigigas also said it is used to cure poison.
"So, I've come up with a plan to escape."
Eevee looked up, covered in berry juice.
"You're going to use Safeguard again and pretend to fall asleep. Only this time, I want you to stick this onto the Beheeyem when it comes to pick you up."
Regigigas pulled out a leaf from one of its legs.
"When this leaf contacts the Beheeyem, I will be able to command it. Stick it onto the Beheeyem and then I will help you escape from there."
Eevee nodded, sticking its face in another pecha berry.
"Rest well tonight, Eevee. I've created a burrow for you here with some berries and water if you need."
Regigigas then guided Eevee to a stone with dots on it, the other side of which was covered in a comfy looking patch of grass and leaves.
"Thank you Regigigas. I feel much better now. I'll head to bed early tonight."
Eevee began heading towards the bed, but Regigigas blew the wind in such a way that Eevee had to stop.
"Hold on a moment, I know you are hiding something from me. I won't prod though. Just be careful tomorrow, ok?"
Eevee looked at Regigigas, nodded, and headed to bed.
Pink ribbons flashed.
"Are you ok? Are you ok? Eat this quickly, mera noor, mera dil. This is a sitrus berry. It will make you feel better."
Eevee had trouble standing up, and started to eat the berry, but it was too weak to. The blur of pink ribbons sighed.
"I did not want to feed you this, bohat cadva hain… This plant is quite bitter…"
The pink ribbons moved closer and put a pile of leaves with curled ends into Eevee's mouth. Eevee chewed and the most horrible bitterness paired with a strong aroma flooded Eevee's taste buds and sinuses.
"I am sorry, but you must swallow the revival herb for it to work…"
Eevee hesitantly swallowed, but moments later it felt rejuvenated.
Eevee couldn't sleep after waking up from that dream and lay awake staring at the fake moon. It was full tonight. Eevee wondered if the real moon was full tonight too. Hopefully it could see it tomorrow.