Samuel was stuck inside the pokeball for what felt like forever. He didn't know how to get out, or even if he could get out. He tried to shake around and move, but nothing happend. After trying to get out of the ball for the 5 minutes and failing, he finally gave up. He hoped that someone would come and get him out of the ball. Maybe Dallas would come and find the pokeball and get him out. Sam didn't want to be stuck in this ball forever. He thought it was impossible for a human to get sucked into a pokeball, yet, here he was. Maybe he had a bit of pokemon blood in him that he never knew about and the ball mistook him for a pokémon-he really didn't know. After he gave this a thought, he heard a click and saw the ball open as he was thrusted outside. The bright light from the ball opening blinded him for a second, but before he could see again, he heard a voice talk to him.
"Hey, are you alright?" The person said. Sam had never heard this voice before, so it wasn't someone he knew. When the bright light had diminished, he looked for the person that talked to him. However, what he saw was not what he was expecting. In front of him was a pink, cat-like pokémon with a split tail. It was an espeon.
"Yeah I'm fine." Sam replied, looking around for this espeon's owner and presumably the person who just talked to him, but he didn't find anyone else around.
"What are you looking for?" The voice came again. Sam looked back at the espeon and as he did, he realized three things. One: this espeon in front of him was the voice that was talking to him. It seemed impossible, but there was no one else around. The voice was coming from the espeon's direction. Two: If the voice he heard was indeed this espeon, then he understood what it said. Humans usually couldn't understand pokémon. It would just come out as a growl or whatever their species name is. Three: The espeon was the same height as him. This was odd because espeons were considerably smaller than the average human. Sam was trying to piece together what was happening before the realization hit him. He looked down at himself and what he saw confirmed what he thought. Instead of hands, he saw brown paws as well as a tan bundle of fur on his neck. This new information hit Sam like a ton of bricks. He almost fell over in shock. However, he caught his balance at the last second.
"Are you sure you're okay?" The espon said again when he saw that Sam almost fell over without a reason.
"Yeah, just… a bit winded is all." Sam replied, while in reality he wasn't okay. He wasn't just 'a bit winded'. He had just been turned into a pokémon from some weird mishap and now he wasn't even sure if he could turn back into a human. This was all just too much for Sam to take in at one time.
"I can see you're pretty ruffed up. Here, I know a place where you can wash up." The espeon said. "Follow me." Sam did as he was told partly because he didn't really have anywhere else to go and partly because he was still in shock. They walked back towards the entrance of the forest where Sam had come in from to catch the eevee that he got turned into. After a few minutes of walking in silence, it was broken by the espeon. "I'm sorry," said the espeon, "but I don't believe I caught your name earlier." Sam wondered if he should tell him his real name, but then decided that it would cause no harm. Besides, he wasn't going to stay with this pokémon for long. He needed to get back to his house and somehow undo the transformation.
"Sam will do." The now eevee replied.
"I'm Cassius." The espeon said back. Sam nodded in acknowledgement.
Nothing more was said until they arrived at their destination. It was a cool blue lake in the middle of a group of trees. Sam must have missed it when he walked in earlier. It was almost like it was a hidden oasis inside the desert of a forest. Sam approached the water cautiously and stared into it. He knew what he was going to see. He didn't want to face the truth, but he also knew that it was inevitable. Indeed, just as he had predicted, what he saw in his reflection was not a his face, but the face of an eevee. He washed himself up with water and afterwards he started to head out of the forest. Sam needed to get back to his house. If anyone knew how to get him back into a human, it would be Jason.
"Where are you going?" Cassius asked him as he walked away from the pond.
"Home." Sam said simply. He then walked out onto the streets of the city and noticed a map on the road. "How convenient." Sam thought to himself. He walked up to it and stared at it intently. The map showed the entire town. He knew his house was on the opposite side of the town and so therefore he would have to g-
"Where do you live?" Cassius asked behind him. Sam jumped at the espeon's sudden arrival.
"Over there, on the other side of town." Sam said as he recovered from almost having a heart attack. He then started to walk down the street away from the pink pokémon, homeward bound.
"I hope you don't plan on going to your home through the city, do you?" Cassius spoke up again from where he was sitting.
"Why not?" Sam asked.
Just then a child came into view from down the road and Sam froze. Once the child saw Sam, however, he reacted exactly the opposite.
"Whoa, an eevee!" He said as he took out a empty pokéball and threw it at Sam. He just narrowly dodged it as he jumped away. The ball landed right where he had previously been. Sam started to run back in the forest in fear of being captured. He didn't want to become someone's slave. He felt another ball wiz passed him as he heard the kid behind him say "Come back here! I want to catch you."
Yeah, because that will change my mind. Sam thought as he ran into the cover of the forest. He didn't stop running until he was sure that the kid wasn't following him. Sam stopped to catch his breath.
"Who does he think he is?" he said "Trying to capture me! ME!"
"That's what humans do." Cassius said casually from behind him. Sam jumped again, and then growled at the espeon.
"Stop that!" He yelled. "And you! You didn't even try to help me! You just stood there watching! Enjoying the show?!"
Cassius shrugged. "The burned hand teaches best." Sam sighed. There was no point in arguing with him. Then a thought occurred to him.
"Hey if I was already in a pokéball, that means that no-one can catch me right? Because I already have an owner."
"Well yes, that would be true," Cassius responded "if your pokeball wasn't broken."
Sam stopped and looked Cassius in the face. "Broken?" He asked
"You didn't see it? There was a crack on the side of your pokeball. I was surprised that it was able to hold you in the first place."
Sam was stunned by this new revelation. He had never seen a crack in the ball. No, he didn't look too hard at it, but he felt like he would have seen a crack. This might also be the reason that all this was happening. Sam dwelt on that thought for a moment before he realized that this meant that getting home was going to be a lot harder than he had originally thought.
"So how am I going to get home?" Sam asked with a little bit of hopelessness in his voice.
"You would have to go around the city through the forest." Cassius replied
"How long will that take?"
"Hmm. I'd say maybe a week."
"A week!?"
"The city is quite large and it takes a while to go through it. Even longer if you go around."
Sam sighed as he realized that his fantasy of just being able to leisurely walk to his house wasn't coming true.
"Well, guess I should get going." Sam said as he started to walk deeper into the forest.
"I hope you don't mind, but I would like to accompany you." Cassius said as he caught up to him.
Sam didn't know if he should let him follow. Then again, he knew the area better than Sam did. Also, if he did get to his house and got turned back into a human, he could then catch the espeon. Sam responded with a nod.
After about a half-hour of walking without any kind of stimuli to distract him from the walking he was doing, Sam was dying of boredom. He decided to strike a conversation with Cassius. Even if he was a pokemon, it would still be better than not talking to anyone right now.
"So, why did you want to follow me?" he asked.
"Well I don't really have anything to do." Cassius replied. "And I always like helping out fellow eevees.
"Alright." Sam said. They walked a little farther in silence while Sam tried to figure out another question to ask him.
"So… Why did you decide to evolve into an espeon instead of the other 7 choices?" Sam asked.
"I didn't."
Sam was a bit confused by this answer, seeing that Cassius was indeed an espeon.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that I didn't decide to become an espeon. It just came to me."
"How so?"
"Well back when I was owned by a human I didn't really know what I wanted to evolve into. I hadn't put much thought into it. My master wasn't the wealthiest, but he still offered to either buy me a stone, or take me to either the mossy rock or the icy rock. The problem was I just didn't want to evolve. I was fine with being an eevee. But there was one day when I woke up early to watch the sunrise, which I did every day, when I just evolved. Right then and there."
"Do you regret evolving into an espeon?"
"Not at all. I might even like it better than when I was an eevee."
"So you lived with a human once?"
"I did indeed."
"Why?"
"Well I was born and raised by a breeder actually. Then a man came and bought me and I lived with him for about 6 years.
"So how did you get out into the wild?"
"Well…" Cassius stopped talking for a second before continuing. "My master died about 3 months ago."
"Oh…" Sam replied. For some reason, Sam felt sorry for him. But that all went away when he remembered that it was just a pokémon he was talking to. "I'm guessing you were close to him?"
"Very." Cassius replied. "In his will, my master said to release me to the wild. So here I am."
Sam looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was setting. "Where are we going to stop for the night?" He asked.
"I know some other pokémon that live nearby. We can stop there for the night."
"Are you sure that they will let us stay with them?"
"Sure. They love to help out other pokemon in need. They also owe me a favor."
Sure enough, about ten minutes later the two pokémon arrived at the house where presumably Cassius's friends were living. It was a human built log cabin, but it was obvious that it hadn't been inhabited for a long time. It was a very run down building, seeing that it was falling apart. Nature had also taken its toll. Vines and grasses were growing up the walls and there was a tree that had fallen into the side of it.
"This is where your friends live?" Sam asked.
"I think. Unless they moved since I was here last." Cassius responded.
The two walked up to the door. It, like the house, was at the point of decay. The wood was rotting and was also turning a sickly green color. Cassius stood there for a moment and then Sam heard three knocks on the door. Because Cassius was about 2 feet away from the door, Sam assumed that Cassius had used his psychic ability to knock on the it instead of using his paws. Sam didn't know If he did this just to look cool, or if it was actually easier than knocking with his hands. After a few seconds of silence, the door creaked open and out came a red and orange pokemon with the same body structure as an eevee. It was a flareon.
"Oh, Cassius, what brings you do our house today?" he asked
"Greetings, Drake. We would like to stay here for the night if it is not to much trouble." Cassius responded.
"Of course. Anything for you Cassius. Who's this?" Drake asked when he saw Sam standing there.
"This is someone I met when I was just walking around. Drake, this is Sam. Sam, Drake."
"Nice to meet you." Drake said while nodding. "How about we get you out of the cold. Come in." he said. Sam hadn't even realized before that it was cold. Must of been the fur. Both Sam and Cassius when inside the house after this.
If the outside of the house was bad, then the inside was atrocious. It wasn't very big, it only had one room. The tree that had fallen into the house let a lot of moisture in, which really didn't help the decaying that the whole house had. In the corners of this small abode, there were 4 hay beds that were surprisingly dry for being inside a rotting house. There was a berry basket in the middle of the room with a few berries already in it. Sam couldn't identify them all. There were oran and pecha berries, but the others he didn't know the names of. However, the thing that caught his eye the most was a light blue creature that sat next to one of the walls. It had crystal like ears and had two hair like strands coming down from it's head. Sam recognised it as a glaceon. He couldn't believe that three out of the four pokemon that he still need to catch were right here inside the same room with him. Sam then heard his stomach growl. He hadn't eaten in a while and seeing the berries reminded him just how hungry he was. Drake must have also heard this as he then told Sam "Go ahead and eat some." Sam did not hesitate. He took one of the pecha berries and sat in one of the bed corners and took a bite out of it. It was surprisingly sweet. Drake went and sat by the glaceon and Cassius sat by the opposite wall.
"So what brings you here today Cassius?" Drake spoke up.
"We are stopping here before heading up north." He responded.
Drake just looked with a face of horror at Cassius.
"You know what's up north right?" He said. Cassius nodded.
"Yes but it's the only way to get Sam home."
"What's up north?" Sam asked. He had been there a few times and so had Steven. He didn't think anything was out of the ordinary. All he knew was that it was more forest.
"Houndoom territory." Drake said grimly.
"Houndoom territory?" Sam questioned.
Drake just nodded. Sam knew that there were a lot of houndoom in the area, but he didn't think that it was their territory.
"Is it really that bad?" Sam asked.
"Have you never seen a houndoom?" Drake questioned back. Sam thought about it for a moment. Of course he'd seen one, he got it by trading to some guy and then trading right back. Sure they looked scary, but how bad could they be.
"He is a house pet, so he probably hasn't seen many other pokemon." Cassius defended.
"Oh," Drake replied whilst looking at the ground. "You live with humans. That explains it."
"What's wrong with humans?" Sam snapped at Drake. He was angry that this little pokemon could say that we, humans, were bad in some way or another.
"Don't mind my brother," the glaceon that was beside Drake said. "He's just not to fond of them. I'm Lily." She stated.
"Hm," Sam grunted an acknowledgment. Lily went and sat by his brother again and then spoke up.
"Hey Dray?" Lily said to get her brother attention.
"Yeah?"
"What if we go with them?"
"With them?"
"Well it's just that… I'm afraid that they won't make it through the houndoom territory. You know how dangerous it can be. You also remember what Cassius had done for us right? This is the least we can do for him."
"I guess." Drake sighed "Fine."
"Thank you for your assistance." Cassius said. "We'll leave tomorrow morning. Now if you'll excuse me." Cassius then sat down, closed his eyes, and his breathing rate slowed down as if he was asleep.
"Is he asleep?" Sam asked.
"No, he's not." Drake answered. "We don't actually know what he's doing. And when we ask him he just says he's 'meditating'."
"Do you not believe him?"
"I don't know. He just seems really vague about it." Drake said before yawning. "I'm going to sleep. Good night." Sam then realised just how tired he was too. He laid down and closed his eyes. "Since we are all going to my house," ,Sam thought,"I can just capture them all." Sam couldn't believe his good fortune, but then he stopped as he fell into a deep sleep.