Coming down from my battle-high, I brought Eevee over to a picnic table for a well-deserved grooming. I knew it would theoretically increase our friendship, but I was more motivated by happiness. She had gone beyond anything I had expected, even if that wurmple was probably weak.
Humming songs from my past life, I gently pulled my brush through Eevee's coat. Her purring was music to my ears and my heart swelled at how much I loved this little eevee. I hadn't really thought about it, but Eevee was the only member of what I could consider my new family. A resolution was formed in my heart - I would do whatever it took to help Eevee and all new members of my family thrive.
After I was finished grooming Eevee, I looked at my watch; there were a couple hours before we needed to eat again. I decided to take a stab at the plan that had been percolating in my brain... it shouldn't even be that hard.
I rummaged through my bag, before bringing out the fishing rod I had bought at the pokemart. This should be more than adequate to catch my current target: feebas. It made sense to me; I might as well get my own milotic, before exposing the secret.
We ambled over to the lakeshore and I cast my line into the water. I slowly reeled it in, not really expecting anything soon. I amused myself by watching Eevee explore our surroundings and take many pets from passerby; nobody could resist her cuteness, heh.
It took about an hour before I finally got a bite; considering I was only using a lure with no bait, I wasn't really surprised. I reeled it in easily; there was almost no resistance at all. Finally, out of the water came exactly what I had been hoping for: feebas. The magikarp of Hoenn, but with even less chance of randomly evolving, they were basically everywhere.
*Feebas POV*
Feebas swam through the water, heedless of where it would take her. She was theoretically looking for food, but honestly, what was the point? It's not like she would ever become a beautiful milotic. Her fellow feebas mostly felt the same: they were just killing time until they died. They had none of the appeal of almost any other water pokemon; useless in battle, almost impossible and unknown how to evolve, and ugly by others' standards, they were the butt of many jokes made by other pokemon. There would probably be an even higher feebas population if ninety percent weren't clinically depressed.
Even the rare milotic that took pity on their pre-evolved brethren, weren't quite sure how they had evolved. They were, however, always in the ten percent that hadn't been depressed; more like, the one percent who were actually happy with themselves... it all felt impossible to Feebas.
Feebas turned her head, only to see what looked like a small nincada slowly swimming back to shore. Nincada were a rare delicacy for feebas; they were rarely in the water, or small enough to easily eat. Feeling motivation for the first time in days, she swam quickly to claim her prize - only for a hook to pierce her lip, instead of a delicious nincada.
Ah, so this is how she died - humans eating her. It was not an uncommon occurrence; almost every carnivore ate feebas, from time to time. She supposed it was only karma, for feeling so elated at the thought of eating a nincada herself. Feebas had already come to terms with her death; it was something every feebas had only been staving off as long as possible after all, but that was often not very long at all.
Feebas was slowly pulled from the water, only to see a human male on the other end of the rod. His blonde hair was close-cropped; about a centimeter in length. His blue eyes were set, in what she assumed, was a handsome face for a human; it barely mattered to Feebas.
The man set about getting Feebas off the hook. Once she was free, - albeit still trapped in his hands - he lifted her to his face and asked her a question: "how would you like to join my team and become an awesome milotic?"
Feebas was so shocked by his casual bombshell, she went still for several moments. But she soon nodded her head: as much as she could, as fast as she could. Just not being eaten was an amazing first step, but actually evolving... well, she would believe it, if it happened.
*Tobias POV*
I pushed a pokeball against the feebas and they were consumed into a line of red light. I had no idea of their gender, but that didn't really matter to me - a milotic's a milotic, at the end of the day.
I decided I would let Feebas out next when we were eating. I would wait to evolve them, until we got to the Petalburg Woods; much better privacy.
For now, Eevee and I had just enough time to get in a workout before dinner; I wasn't going to slack on my own body if I was going to make my pokemon train. We would be comrades in arms, even if I don't do much of the actual fighting. I hope this will also help me access aura and mega evolution later.
*Eevee POV*
After an easy workout, - she hadn't wanted to make Tobias feel too bad about his poor fitness, but she would definitely be pushing herself harder from now on - Eevee lounged around on the picnic table, while Tobias prepared their meals. He also let out his newly caught feebas. Feebas looked around a bit before uttering in slight disbelief, "so it wasn't a dream..."
Eevee snorted lightly, "of course it wasn't a dream; you've been blessed to become a part of Tobias' team. Welcome aboard." Eevee awkwardly pushed her paw against Feebas' fin, in an approximation of a handshake. "I'm sure you won't regret it; Tobias is a man of great ambitions after all!" Eevee hyped up Tobias, even if she herself wasn't quite sure exactly what his ambitions were.
"Great ambitions indeed... if he can make good on his promise to evolve me into a milotic, I'll follow him willingly for life," Feebas answered with a cynical tone.
Eevee had absolute faith in Tobias, after it was tested by those nasty beauties, so she could only smile beatifically at Feebas, "I'm sure he has a plan. He's always seemed to have one since I've known him."
"Oh, you must have known him quite a while then," replied Feebas, who seemed to be humoring her more than anything.
Eevee spluttered slightly, "well, it's only been a few days, but I believe we've become very close in that time." Feebas only hummed noncommittally.
Realizing the meal prep had taken quite a while longer than usual, Eevee turned to see what the holdup was. Tobias was stirring a pot over a portable stove, while reading a book in his other hand. He kept mumbling to himself about cook times and what order to add ingredients in. His prepared ingredients were close by, ready to be added as needed.
Eevee was pleasantly surprised at this; Tobias had been eating only pre-prepared meals, or simple fair, such as berries and sandwiches, since she'd known him. He really was taking steps to improve himself; he had been mumbling "self-improvement, self-improvement" under his breath as a mantra during their earlier workout.
Feebas perked up at the smell wafting off the pot, "damn, that actually smells really good. It seems just the food alone will be an upgrade over living in the wild." Eevee beamed at this; now this downer of a feebas saw Tobias' true worth. "Not that living with a trainer could be any worse than being constantly hunted and barely finding enough food."
This brought Eevee immediately up short; pokemon in the wild were hunted and starved? "What do you mean by that?" She decided to go the direct route.
Feebas seemed a bit embarrassed, "well, feebas as a species are on the lowest rung of the food chain. We have to constantly be on the lookout for food, which can be taken away by any more powerful pokemon at will; and predators, which are quite common. Our species mostly continues on due to large spawns being born from single egg-deposits; and the rare milotic, who protect their young and other nearby feebas, to make our lives easier. Rumor has it, that milotic are more common in areas where they have been active in the past - but we lake feebas have none."
Eevee was slightly stunned by this deluge of information; she certainly hadn't taken Feebas to be the talkative type. But it seemed that under her bitter facade, was a passion just waiting for a chance to spill out. Tobias had promised Feebas to evolve her into a milotic; Eevee found herself hoping it would be soon: her new friend deserved to be happy in her own skin.
Their conversation was interrupted by Tobias gleefully proclaiming: "dinner's ready!" It seemed he was as interested in his own creation as Eevee and Feebas. He brought the pot over to the table, and set out a bowl for each of them. Feebas hopped over slowly to her own bowl, but didn't have a very good angle to eat it with. "Ah, I should have thought of that... it won't be long before I can evolve you; until then, I'll just have to feed you by hand."
Eevee felt mild jealousy at his bold statement; Tobias had never fed her by hand! But she decided to be the bigger woman and not make a fuss; she would get her personal hand-feeding from Tobias eventually: she would make sure of it.
*Tobias POV*
After some light conversation during our meal, - such as finding out that Feebas was female - I set up the tent, to sleep in for the night. It wouldn't be long before dark and I hate setting up tents in the dark. Fortunately, Eevee and Feebas seemed to have built a rapport while I was cooking, because they chattered away to each other while I worked; I was actually a little envious of their easy ability to communicate. Although, if 'Operation: Acquire An Espeon' was ever fully realized, the communication barrier between myself and my pokemon should be completely removed. Or if I got a shiny ralts... whichever came first.
I decided to just listen to my pokemon talk, as I looked up at the sky; which was beginning to turn shades of pink and orange as the sun slowly set over the horizon. Soon, the stars became visible, in an inky black void. The light pollution here was still a factor, being only a half day's walking distance from Rustboro; but, it felt like I was seeing more stars than I had seen in person for years.
My pokemon's conversation slowly died as they joined me in taking in the majesty of the stars. I knew I would get bored of this sight eventually, - note to self, get a solar battery bank and a pokenav to watch poketube and stuff on - but for now I just drank in the celestial beauty.