Sorry this Chapter is SUPER short, but it's still very important and I thought it was best to leave this one on a cliffhanger.
Chapter 5: Prey
"Awk!"
"Come on Gastly! You're pinned! You gotta give up!"
"N-Never!"
The ghost Pokémon wiggled underneath his friend's weight, smearing dirt all over his face, but she didn't budge. Eevee only laughed, "You're just making it harder on yourself!"
"Funny!" he spat out some dirt, "I was going to say the same thing to you!"
Eevee gasped when she felt him turn to purple mist underneath her and gave away. She plopped into the grass, and Gastly reappeared over her and shoved himself into her back, pinning her to her chest, "Got ya!"
She struggled but to no avail, "No fair! You cheated!"
He only laughed, amused beyond belief, "I'm the master of pranks! I always cheat!"
Eevee huffed and rested her chin on her paws, annoyed. Over the years, Gastly had gotten better at physical fazing, and it was just a cheap shot. They had upgraded from playing tag to wresting, and Ghastly never lost despite having no arms or legs.
Another laugh echoed through the dark meadow. The two teenage Pokémon looked up from their position under the Pecha tree to Espeon, smiling, "Hey you two." She walked towards them, "I see you still can't beat him, huh sweetie?"
Eevee whined, "Ma! It's only cause he cheats!"
Gastly mischievously grinned, "Of course I won! I am the mast-aahh!" he floated off of Eevee, but she only tackled him again.
She fazed through him instantly and smacked her face into the grass. She growled and yelled a muffled, "Damn it Gastly!"
He howled in laughter and hid up in the Pecha Berry tree's branches, out of her reach.
Espeon simply watched the two happily. They had both grown so much since they were babies. Double in size and power, not to mention they had become nearly inseparable. It had been 10 years since they met. Eevee was 14, and Ghastly was 16.
If Vaporeon could see her now, he would be so proud how his little girl has grown. She still has yet to evolve though. Eevee would have to venture off on her own to do that. Maybe she'll go off with Gastly on adventures together, trying to discover their evolve forms.
She could defiantly see that happening.
Espeon would be lying if she said she wasn't apprehensive about Gastly the first time they met, but she had grown to like him over the years. He was very trustworthy, and despite his need to goof off he could be very responsible at times.
She had fully accepted their friendship. The other Pokémon in the woods however were a little harder to win over.
Gastly started visiting Eevee in the woods. The horror of the first night when he decided to show up in their burrow kept Espeon up for a few nights, and a few others as well. He started coming only at night to play with Eevee under the Pecha Berry tree.
Other Pokémon avoided them, but they didn't seem to care at all.
"Now kids." She walked around them, "Don't roughhouse too loudly. You know most of us have to sleep at this hour." Espeon looked up into the tree, "And do I really have to ask how Mr. Slowbro's rock collection got in the trees?"
Gastly gave her a sheepish smile, "Uh, well we were bored."
"Uh huh." Espeon smiled. She had gotten used to their mischief, but was surprised that neither of them tried to prank her.
"Well, keep it down. Last thing we need is more animosity." Espeon said with a hint of amusement. Gastly shifted a bit in the branches, "Well, tomorrow you guys can come visit me in the Cemetery instead, Miss Espeon. I've come here enough; it's time to give the others a little breather."
"Okay, we can do that. Right Eevee?" she looked to her daughter, who had by now given up on trying to get Gastly out of the tree and was sitting on the grass, "Yeah, I don't mind."
"Then it's settled." Espeon walked away from the two, back to the burrow, "I'll be going to sleep now. I've been staying up all night."
When she was gone, Gastly floated back down to Eevee and lowered himself so that he was on the ground next to her. He rested his round body against the tree, watching as Espeon left, "I like your mom. She's nice and smells like berries." He grinned, "And pretty too!"
"Ew man! Cut it out." She gave him a playful shove, "This is my mom we're talking about."
"Must be nice having a mom." He said, ignoring her statement, "So gentle and caring, but, you know Eve, there was something I was always curious about. Any kid has to have two parents, a mom and a dad, so where's your dad? Is he away or something? In all the years I've known you, you never told me about him."
When he looked to her, Eevee's shoulders were hunched and sadness was across her face. He straightened up, "Oh no, did I say something wrong? I didn't mean it! Honest and for truly!"
That made Eevee smile. Would he ever outgrow that phase?
"No Gastly, it's not that." She turned to face him, her eyes shiny, "You didn't know, and I'm surprised you didn't ask sooner with how nosey you are." She frowned, "You see, yes, I did have a dad when I was very young. He was a Vaporeon, the water-type Eeveeloution. I only knew him for a few years, but from what my mother has told me and I remember of him, he was very kind and brave. I know that he loved me very much."
Gastly looked down a bit, "What happened to him?"
Eevee dipped her head, "He was killed one night. I was on the beach with my parents, playing in the sand. Then I got away from my parents and fell off of a nearby rock cliff. I didn't know how to swim yet, so I screamed for help before I sank. It was so dark and cold. I struggled and kicked my legs in the salty water, but nothing worked, I just kept sinking deeper into the ocean. I couldn't breathe, and it was just darkness. I knew I was going to die." She shivered, the memory coming back, "Then I remember seeing my father swim down and pull me from the water. I was wet and cold, but otherwise unharmed. Everything was fine, until a Gyarados exploded out of the sea."
She pawed the ground a bit, "We must have accidentally stumbled onto his territory or something because he was ready to kill. My dad tried to hold him off to protect my mom and I. He put up a good fight, but then the Gyarados used Hyper Beam and…" she stopped, sucking in a breath to keep from crying.
Gastly sat in silence, not knowing what to say. No wonder Eevee used to be so afraid of the dark and night time. She must be apprehensive about the ocean too. It was amazing she had been able to heal as much as she had after such a tragedy.
Slowly, her voice shaking, she continued, "After that, we moved from the ocean to here. Mom thought it'd help me, and luckily it did." She darted her eyes to him, "I made a friend."
He smiled, admiring her brown eyes. How envious he was of them, "I'm so sorry Eevee. I didn't realize that was such a touchy matter."
Eevee gave a solemn nod, "It's okay, I'm just glad I got to finally tell someone."
Slowly, she looked up to the brightening sky, "You should get going. It will be dawn soon and I'm exhausted." She stood and stretched, "Thanks for listening."
The sun's interruption was sudden, but he felt it was the right time to break away from the subject, "Anytime buddy." He floated up and shook himself a bit, "But you know, tonight I'm going to still kick your butt in wresting again!"
"Will not!" Eevee yelled after him as he left.
Despite her renewed sadness, she felt content in telling him. It was surprising, she wasn't one to tell secrets easily.
Espeon and Eevee were walking to the forest that night, on their way to meet Gastly in the Cemetery. Normally, Espeon left after she accompanied Eevee to the graveyard, but she enjoyed making short conversation to them both.
"I'm telling you, I'll beat him this time!" Eevee insisted, making her mother chuckle.
As they walked, there was something odd about tonight. The forest was strangely kind of scary, still even. Eevee had a chill that ran up her spine a few times to suggest something ominous was on the rise.
Her mother must have sensed the danger too because she started glancing around. She tried to do it subtly to not alert Eevee, but the teenager was already aware of the uncomfortable feeling.
They continued walking through the dark night, when a clap of thunder caused them to jump. Eevee looked to the night sky and saw the shrouded clouds turn dark. They had been dark for a while now, but she didn't think it'd rain this soon.
Soon after the thunder, lightning lit up the sky.
Her mother nudged her, "Come on, let's not linger. We must hurry to the bell tower and get away from this storm."
Eevee agreed and they both quickened their pace along the grass path.
When they were almost to the exit, movement in a nearby bush caught Espeon's attention. She had felt something following them for a while now, and finally it was going to show itself.
She turned to the bush and hunched down, growling. Eevee watched her with concern, "Mom?"
The two Pokémon watched as a very large figure pulled itself out of the bush, his footsteps thudding the ground loudly.
Eevee felt her heart stop at the sight of the creature before them, "Oh no…" she muttered.
The large Pokémon stood a good height above the smaller types. He was purple and had rock hard, plated skin. Large spikes ran along his spine and under fangs jutted out of his powerful jaws. A huge, bone crushing tail coiled in and out behind him. His muscular legs had pointed white hooves for feet, and his arms held three claws for hands. His ears were oval shaped and green on the inside, and the poisonous sharp horn in the middle of his head shined in the dim light. His triangle shaped eyes glared at them viciously as he opened his mouth into a drooling sneer, revealing his sharp sets of teeth. Five on each side of his mouth lined his lips.
They both knew what kind of Pokémon he was.
A Nidoking.
Espeon snarled as he eyed them both. She knew he hadn't followed them out of territorial instinct.
He was hungry.
Then it started to rain…