Meissa woke up that morning to see that she was alone in the burrow. "Where is everybody? Am I the last one up?" she thought to herself. She was very surprised that Rigel could be up and about before her, because he usually slept much later. She stood up and stretched, then walked out of the burrow into the cool morning air, where her parents were talking to each other with sad looks on their faces. "Good morning." she said to them. "Where's Rigel?"
"He said he was going to play with his friends, and then ran off." said her mother. "Anyway, you're father and I have been discussing something and we're going to have to talk to you about it Meissa."
"Alright mom, what is it?"
Meissa's parents both looked at each other before her mother spoke. "We wanted to tell both you and your brother at the same time, but he went away before we got the chance. You two are growing up, and you may need to leave a bit earlier than we first thought."
"What? How could we leave now?" Meissa said, not believing what she was hearing. "We're only Eevees!"
"We're not saying you are leaving now, just soon." said her father. "You and Rigel are welcome to stay with us longer, but you have to go out and make your own lives eventually"
"Your father is right Meissa." said her mother. "You two have to go out into the world, grow up, and find your place."
"Fine!" Meissa said as she ran away with tears in her eyes. "If you want me gone I'll leave as soon as I can!"
"Meissa, wait!" her father said, but it was too late, she had already run off into the woods.
There wasn't much that Meissa liked more than the forest in the morning, and the sounds of the wind through the trees helped sooth the pain she felt because of her parent's words. "Why would they want us to go? Did we do something wrong? Ah, who cares, I don't need mom and dad, I'll be fine on my own." she thought to herself as she walked to her favorite spot, a small pool that she loved to visit. "I don't know about Rigel though. He may be bigger than me, but he won't do well if he doesn't get over his fear of bugs."
Soon she arrived at her spot, and saw two odd looking creatures swimming in the pool. One seemed to be some sort of amphibian, blue in color, and not much bigger than her, with small horns coming out of each side of it's head. The other was about the same size, but white in color, with green hair on it's head that covered it's eyes."Hi Yippy, hi Emily." Meissa said to the creatures. "How are you doing today?"
Upon hearing the greeting, the blue creature turned it's head towards the shore with a smile. "Hey Meissa, we're doing pretty good, how are you?"
"Not so good." Meissa responded. "My parents told me that Rigel and I will have to leave home soon, and I have no idea what I'm going to do." She did not really want to tell her friends about the talk with her parents, but she knew that if she kept a secret, Emily would know.
"Really?" Yippy said. "Are they sure you're old enough?"
"They seem to think so." said Meissa. "Besides, I don't I need them to take care of me any more."
"You're lying" the green-haired creature said quietly. "You doubt that you'll make it, I can feel it."
"Emily, what have I told you about reading my mind?" Meissa said angrily. "I don't like you looking at my thoughts."
"Sorry, Meissa." Emily said. "I couldn't help but notice your feelings. Can we help you in any way?"
"I don't need any help." Meissa replied. "I'll be fine."
"You're lying again" said Emily. "I'm sorry, but you can't hide what you feel."
"I've got an idea!" Yippy said with excitement. "We'll help you get tougher, so you can overcome anything that gets in your way!"
"I'm tough enough!" Meissa said, somewhat annoyed. "How would you help me anyway?"
"I'll just guess he doesn't know." said Emily.
"Of course I know. You think I would say something like that without having a great idea?" Yippy said back. "We'll all go climb The Hydreigon's Teeth. That should toughen us up."
"One problem Yippy." said Meissa. " That is a terrible idea. The stones at The Hydreigon's Teeth are just too dangerous to climb."
"It's true Yippy" said Emily. "That place is a deathtrap. My parents once told me about a Machop that tried to climb The Teeth for training. He was walking through the stones when he stumbled over a small rock, and it took him three days to get to the local Audino to get a shard of stone removed from his knee."
"Yikes, I never heard about that." Yippy said with surprise. "I guess now I don't know how we can help."
"It's alright guys" said Meissa. "I just want to take a swim and get my mind off of this."
"Okay then Meissa, if you say so." Yippy said. "Sorry we couldn't help you."
"Yeah, Meissa I'm sorry too." said Emily. "But I know you'll be able to make it on your own, I just know it."
"Thanks guys." Meissa said with a smile. "Now let's stop dwelling on this and go for a swim shall we?"
