"Ugh…" a soft groan leaves the lips of Prissy as she struggles to open her eyes. Light seems to be sharp as it makes it to her eyes. The sound of buzzing in the distance catches her attention as she fully wakes up. She lifts her head, which is pounding, but she can't stay still. Sounds of buzzing usually means a Beedrill swarm, and that would not be pretty. She stands up, despite her muscles screaming against it.
Looking around her, she can tell that she has been pushed downstream quite far. There aren't any cliffs too see. In fact there is nothing but jungle thick forest. She looks down at herself and knows she still has a three of her pokemon with her.
"I need your help guys," she speaks out hoarsely and tosses the pokeballs up letting out Umbreon, Jolteon, and Sylveon. Seeing Prissy they are first happy, but then they become filled with worry. She is in bad shape. She pets their heads. "I'll be okay. I need your help to get by though. If you guys could find a stick for me to use to walk with?"
Without another word, the three of them disperse to look for the stick she needs. Prissy struggles to walk herself to the nearest tree to get away from the riverbank. She needs to refrain from being out in the open. She knows her pokemon know that well, so she isn't worried about that.
"Any sign of her?" Candii asks Bri after locating her just at the bottom of the cliff. The little Eevee is in her hands with her ears down. Candii pets her head gently. "It isn't your fault, don't worry. We will find Prissy and everything will be okay."
"No, I think she was dragged further down that we thought," Bri states with a frown. She kicks a tree trunk hard. "WHY did she let go?! We had her, but she… UGH!"
"We'll find her," Candii states placing a hand to Bri's shoulder.
Espeon and Leafeon are by the river trying to find clues to see where she is. Espeon keeps using his psywaves to see any residual aura. Water is different than land, as the residual aura moves along with it. Leafeon has been rooting herself to see if there are any vibrations similar to human footsteps.
Vulpix and Gardevoir have been looking together on the other end of the perimeter. Vulpix sniffs around the brush trying to catch any sort of scent that is familiar. Gardevoir keeps pulsing foresight to pick up any figures that is human-like.
Suddenly, the little Eevee's ears perk up as she looks at the riverbed further down. Hopping out of Candii's arms, she squeaks at them to follow. So the group follow the little Eevee up until she stops in front of a wet looking paper. Bri motions to pick up and her eyes widen.
"It's Prissy's map," she shows Candii the map full of washed out smears of where the scribbles and notes were. She holds it out to Vulpix and the others. They each take a sniff at it. "You think you guys can find her?"
Vuplix and the Eeveelutions begin to follow the river sniffing every so often to see if Prissy is near.
"I don't have my map," Prissy muses to herself as she looks through her bag. Luckily she has a granola bar. She splits it three ways and gives the parts to the three Eeveelutions. Petting their heads as they nibbled on their pieces, Sylveon looks up at Prissy. He places the piece given to him and places it on her lap. Prissy looks at Sylveon and smiles. Sylveon's ribbon vectors gently caress her cheeks. There is moisture, and Prissy realizes that she is crying.
Wiping her eyes, Prissy bows her head down and tries to stop the oncoming tears. The gathered pain and the feeling of failure hits her. The three Eeveelutions gather up close and try to comfort her. She laughs a bit as she gives them each a pet and a hug.
"I'm okay," she tells them as she rubs their heads. "I just needed to let that out."
Feeling better emotionally, she stands back up and splits the piece Sylveon gave back to her. She then gives the little bit back to Sylveon, and he takes it. Sylveon was her first of the Eevee to come into her life. He never evolved like Espeon and Umbreon. The bond that grew between them turned to be stronger through the many trials and challenges they faced in life.
"Alright team, let's go," Prissy smiles and trudges on with the walking stick. Feeling the energy, the trio follow her not wanting to let her down. They keep a keen eye and a sharp ear on everything going on around them.
"What's wrong guys?" Bri asks the pokemon as they circle around a certain area of the riverbed. They all look up at her and try to tell her something. Bri and Candii both look at each other and then back at them.
"The trail on the riverside seems to end here," Candii points out. They both look into the thick forest and sigh.
"At least we know she is okay and alive," Bri states. "More than likely she is going to try and find a road leading back to Route 3."
"Should we notify Officer Jenny?" Candii asks as she watches Espeon study the path ahead.
"We don't have time for that," Bri states flatly. She notices Espeon picking up something and points it out. "Espeon seems to have found the trail."
The group runs after Espeon, who is concentrated on the residue trail of Prissy. He is rushing. From his eyes, he can tell that she is weak, and struggling. Espeon growls as he tries to push through the brush without losing the trail. He slows a bit to make sure the rest are following. He stops suddenly, as a loud rustling from the trees startles him.
"Espeon!" Candii yells as the rest of the group catches up to Espeon, breathing hard. "Slow down, we need to be able to find her too without you getting lost."
Suddenly Gardevoir uses protect when a swarm of Beedrill fly out from the tree and zip at them. Espeon uses psybeam on them to break the swarm up. Candii and Bri give each other a nod and they both shout out commands.
"Vuplix use flamethrower!" Bri shouts out.
"Gardevoir use fairy wind!" Candii calls out.
In unison, the two pokemon release their moves. Flamethrower wraps and burns several of the Beedrill, causing them to back away from the group. Fairy wind begins to kick up and violently push back the Beedrill, but at the same time putting them in a daze.
"Let's run while we can," Candii yells. Everyone doesn't need to be told more than once as they begin running from the area.
Once they are far enough, everyone begin to catch their breath. Bri and Candii sit down as they look around where they were. Espeon seems to be in a bit of a panic as he tries looking around, but they are no longer on the trail that leads to Prissy. Leafeon approaches Espeon by his side to calm him down. Espeon explains his worry, and the other pokemon listen in. They all understand, Prissy is still in trouble, even if she is moving.
Thunder claps and everyone flinches. It is only a few seconds when the hooves pounding reaches them. The hard rain falls down making them run even more until they find a cave. They all go inside and wait it out.
"We shouldn't wait here," Bri speaks out angrily. "Prissy is still out there!"
"What good will we be if we can't see anything?" Candii frowns, agreeing, but knowing that trying to look for Prissy would only get them more lost if they can't see. Prissy is usually the navigator. "Want to bring out our Flareon?"
"Yea, at least then everyone will warm up," Bri replies softly. "Come on out Flareon!"
Both of them release their Flareon. The two stretch and seeing the situation they know just what to do. Their bodies begin to faintly glow as they warm up to a comfortable temperature. It was an ability Prissy taught them how to utilize. Candii has always been resourceful, but wet sticks do nothing for anyone. Prissy taught them how to utilize Flareon's natural ability to keep warm when they are unable to make a fire. Remembering this makes them a bit sad.
"Do you remember when Prissy first bred us our first Eevee?" Candii asks when they sit down looking at the rain.
"Yea," Bri replies looking at the ground of the cave. "I remember how happy she was when she came with the eggs. You would have thought she was a professional breeder."
"Hehe, yea," Candii giggles. "She spent days walking around with them and everything. When they hatched, I never seen her so happy. I mean, she really wanted to give us a pokemon she truly cared for. It meant so much to her when we asked to have one each."
"Back then we were the ones that got into this predicament," Bri smiles. "We were the ones who got lost or separated from the group."
"She always came for us too," Candii nods in agreement. They both get quiet for a while.
"You're alright Jolteon," Prissy laughs as she is tucked with her team under an elevated rock. Not much of a cave, but it is drier than a tree. She is using her training towel to dry off Jolteon. She is getting shocked in the process, but it is better than leaving the thick wired fur to remain wet. Her hair stands up every time she rubs the towel. Jolteon protests in mild growls.
Looking at the other two, Prissy sighs as she sits and leans back against a boulder. She winces as she is starting to feel the pain worsen. The trio move up to her to make sure she is okay, but they can tell there is something serious inside.
"I'll be okay," Prissy reassures them, petting Sylveon. She looks at all of them before closing her eyes. "Let me know when it stops raining."
"It looks like the rain is done," Candii states as she looks outside of the cave. She is right, as there is only drips from the left over drops. Bri and the rest come out to look.
"Alright, let's not waste time," Bri states as she fully walks out of the cave. She throws a pokeball releasing her own Gardevoir. "Gardevoir, help Espeon with aura tracking."
"Gardevoir, you help too," Candii calls out.
Both Gardevoir make a psychic link with Espeon, increasing the range of which he could use to see residual aura trails. Espeon stands still for a moment before he sees a familiar aura. He motions at the others, and they immediately follow. They run through the forest until Espeon comes to a stop.
"What's wrong Espeon?" Candii asks when they all come to a stop.
Suddenly a roaring Rhydon emerges. Espeon jumps back and growls.
"Flareon, use smokescreen!" both Bri and Candii shouted. Once both Flareon use smokescreen, everyone dashes while Rhydon is temporarily blinded.
It doesn't stop Rhydon. Thrashing behind them, Rhydon catches up with the group until they find a small crevasse in the side of a wall. Bri and Candii call back their Flareon to leave more room for the rest to fit in. Rhydon angrily smashes against the rock edge.
"What are we going to do?" Candii backs further from the angry Rhydon's spinning horn.
"There isn't enough space for me to pull out Blazekin," Bri shouts out over the drilling.
"Oh no!" Candii cries out when Rhydon starts breaking the rock by drilling the sides of the crevasse.
"It's too late!" Bri exclaims as they block the flying rocks from hitting their faces.
To Be Continued