I felt excitement course through me, as we walked south on the bridge towards the Petalburg Woods. Eevee was my ever-present partner, but Feebas had also decided to swim alongside us. I made sure to have my hand near her pokeball though - wild predators really were a threat to her still, even if this lake specifically, was fairly low risk. It seems her energy levels have gone up since yesterday; I'm sure her calorie intake skyrocketed after I fed her.
The bridge was also a lot wider than portrayed in the games; a battle would be quite feasible here. A teenager was walking in the opposite direction from me - he took a look at Eevee, then locked eyes with me with a cheeky grin; it was on like Donkey Kong. I quickly returned Feebas, then assumed the position... uh, I mean a trainer's battling stance.
Eevee didn't need to be told what to do; she took up a position about a quarter of the way between me and my opponent. The confident teen threw out a vigoroth; oh barnacles, we were in for a thrashing, weren't we? Well, if you've given up, you've already lost; and I wouldn't let myself be the weak link in a battle, if I could help it. "Swift!" I ordered, taking the initiative.
The teen smirked, "Fury swipes," he said, quite casually. As vigoroth ran forwards, the stars that Eevee had spit out hit vigoroth directly. I could tell though, that they had more annoyed vigoroth, than done any major damage.
Crap, "Eevee, use sand attack in its face!" I yelled out, but was too slow, as Eevee took a bunch of claw slashes from vigoroth. Eevee was visibly on her last legs, but still obeyed my last order by kicking dust and dirt into vigoroth's face, with her hind legs.
The teen frowned at this, but didn't seem frightened of any potential reversal, "finish it off with feint attack, vigoroth," he stated matter-of-factly.
My heart sank - in the games, feint attack always had perfect accuracy. But maybe, if it couldn't get close enough... I made a desperate gamble, "quick attack out of range, then use swift when you can; play keep away!"
I held my breath for a moment, before Eevee shot off at speeds I had never seen her move before; my gamble - that Eevee might know quick attack by now - had paid off! The teen trainer was now visibly annoyed at my tenacity, "use slack off, while wiping your face."
I hummed to myself; I guess it all comes down to if my DPS can outdo the opponent's healing, before they can regain visibility. "Don't bother moving anymore, use swift constantly; take out that raid boss!" I exclaimed, using terminology Eevee probably didn't understand, but I was too caught up in the moment to care; she followed my order regardless.
Unfortunately, healing is OP and vigoroth ran back in with another feint attack, as soon as they could see us. With nothing else in the tank, Eevee went down. Well, there goes my undefeated streak... but anyone who expects to go undefeated, needed a reality check anyway.
I paid out the standard fee to the teen, who seemed smug to have taken out a rare pokemon. "Good battle, I think Eevee got some good experience."
"I suppose vigoroth will know better than to take a sand attack to the face next time," the teen sneered down at his pokemon. Wow, what a prick; getting some Paul vibes from this chuckle-fuck.
Deciding discretion is the better part of valor, I turned away from that ongoing tragedy and began using a potion to heal Eevee's wounds. She was still conscious, if barely, "you did great girl, that pokemon has probably been battling for months now, yet you almost had them. Have a nice rest." I put Eevee back in her ball to heal up more with the potion. Pokeballs make no sense, but I love them anyway.
XX
I continued walking on the bridge, shaking my head at any curious glances I got from other trainers. I stopped to spectate a few battles as well. By this point, Eevee was awake and doing her best scarf impression on my shoulders. I had released Feebas as well and was holding her in my arms; both of my girls were watching the battles with interest.
I got another quick shot of euphoria at the thought of having multiple family members already; life really was better when you shared it with your loved ones. I hadn't really thought about it, but with both my own death and Tobias' parents' absence... I would have been very lonely indeed, if Eevee hadn't essentially fallen into my lap.
Keeping up my good cheer, I carried my small pokemon off the bridge and toward the forest. While there was no hard requirement of where to enter the forest, newbies like myself stuck to the well-marked trails. Not only would aid from passerby and rangers be more likely in case of emergency, but there were simply more people to battle on the way. The games did not downplay the average trainer's lust for battle - but if anything, they had undersold it.
Entering on a path that was clearly marked, 'To Petalburg,' The three of us began our hike through the woods. I was looking for an out of the way spot where nobody else was currently inhabiting; it was time to see if my meta-knowledge was correct: was it really so easy to evolve a feebas?
After walking for what felt like hours, but was impossible to say exactly, without directly being able to see the sun, we found a secluded little grove, not far off the path. That isn't to say no one was using it however; a few beautifly could be seen fluttering around some silcoon, with wurmple roaming around nearby. I suppose this is a colony of bug pokemon. We entered the grove, but pointedly did not walk any further toward them, opting to move to the side opposite them instead.
I set down Feebas on the ground, while Eevee lounged on my shoulders - she really seemed to love this position. I pulled one of the cheap prism scales from my pack: this was the moment of truth. I pressed the scale onto Feebas... and was momentarily blinded by the light of my first in-person evolution.
*Eevee POV*
Eevee's envy knew no bounds, as she watched the small form of the former feebas begin growing into a very long, snake-like form. By the time the glowing had stopped, the tiny feebas was now multiple times longer than Tobias was tall!
Tobias' breath caught in his throat and he seemed to unconsciously utter the word, "beautiful..." Eevee couldn't really blame him; she had been acquainted with the beauties at The Pokemon Fan Club and now Milotic did not lose out to any of them.
Milotic slithered up to Tobias, then kept winding around him, until he was held neatly in the center of her lengthy body. She brought her face close to his, observing him from up close. "Hmm, I hadn't given it much thought, but he really is handsome, isn't he?" Eevee wasn't sure how to respond; that was Milotic's first thought after evolving?
"Yes, I had been thinking about spawning soon... but perhaps my efforts would now be better spent with my trainer..." Eevee couldn't believe her ears - were all fully evolved female pokemon wanton sluts for human men!?
Seeing Eevee's astonished expression, Milotic could no longer keep a straight face, "oh my Arceus; the look on your face, pfft!" Milotic could no longer contain her giggles at the teasing she had just unleashed upon Eevee.
"I feel like I just missed something... rather large," Tobias said, dubiously looking between Milotic and Eevee.
Huffing, Eevee pretended she had seen through the teasing all along, "Well, it's not like he would..." She trailed off, as she realized: Tobias probably would have sex with Milotic if she offered. Now that she understood the concept, there was no way he had gone to a place like The Pokemon Fan Club, just because he was curious... she just hadn't initially understood what he had been curious about.
Milotic raised an eyebrow at Eevee's aborted sentence, "Oh, so you do think he would have sex with me, hmm?" It pained Eevee to hear out loud. Milotic then gave her an impish grin, "don't worry sister, I've seen how you look at him; his first time is yours, fear not." This of course sent Eevee into uncoherent babbling.
"Damn I really wish I had an espeon to translate right now; I can't wait until Eevee evolves," Tobias mumbled to himself, but not too quietly for Eevee to hear.
That simple sentence was the key: with her body slowly strengthening after the battle earlier and hearing just how much her trainer desired her evolution; a dam broke inside of Eevee, as she began to feel herself shift and change.
"Christ on a cracker!" she heard her trainer exclaim as her body lengthened and filled out. She could feel how her once comfortable perch upon Tobias' shoulders was now slightly uncomfortable. But Tobias never let her fall and rode out her evolution, with relative grace.
When her evolution ceased, Espeon could feel the minds of both Tobias and Milotic in a way she couldn't before. Even the pokemon on the other side of the clearing were within her mental sense, though not nearly as clear.
"I now wish for infinite money," she heard Tobias mumble under his breath. A beat later, his shoulders slumped a little, "damn, I knew that was a bridge too far."
Espeon and Milotic both giggled at their trainer's antics. This perked him up, before he tilted his head; "did I just hear a giggle... in my mind?"
Espeon herself was slightly surprised, but sent out a weak, "yes," to him mentally. Even that small sending was surprisingly taxing - this would take some getting used to; but Espeon wasn't afraid of a little hard work.
"Ah, amazing..." Tobias murmured, seemingly at a loss for words. Espeon could feel a riot of emotions from her trainer, not least of which was lust. Whereas before she had been hesitant about her own budding feelings for Tobias, feeling them undeniably returned by her trainer was a heady feeling.
"Uncoil yourself from him, wench," Espeon said imperiously to Milotic, only to crack a small impish grin of her own, "you yourself said I have first dibs."
Milotic released them from her coils, giggling all the while. Espeon then twisted her body over the back of Tobias' shoulders, falling to the ground and landing neatly on her paws. She slowly stalked around to his front, then looked Tobias right in the eye; she sent a feeling of love to him through their mental link.
Tobias' breath caught, as he returned the feeling to Espeon - surprisingly strongly. Espeon hadn't expected his emotions to surge at that moment, but she was almost left reeling by the sheer intensity; she felt a power from her trainer in that instance, one that she hadn't felt before.
Fortunately for the newly-evolved Espeon, the intense emotion didn't last long, but the feeling lingered in her heart... well, if she had ever questioned Tobias' love before, it would be foolish to pretend otherwise now.
*Tobias POV*
Two evolutions back-to-back... not even in my dreams did I think this would happen. I guess the ROB started Espeon's friendship value at a high level... or I'm just amazing, heh.
"So, you can talk to me with telepathy now, eh? That's going to be a game changer going forward, nice," I slightly babbled to Espeon in my excitement.
"Not... much... yet..." Espeon sent, visibly wilting from each word. Dang, now I feel bad for trying to begin a conversation.
"Don't hurt yourself - you still have lots of time to grow into your powers. We still have twenty questions if necessary." I then turned my attention to Milotic, "well what'd I tell you girl: evolution, as promised," I said, feeling a little smug about using my meta-knowledge to do something felt to be rare in this world. Soon, milotic will probably be a lot more common... I wonder if that's why prism scales and feebas are so rare in the games... food for thought.
She trilled happily, and did a stationary dance, that she somehow made look elegant, despite it being basically happy wiggles. "Milotic!" she exclaimed... I'm just gonna assume that one means thanks, or something like that.
I looked around, noticing the lengthening shadows. "I guess this is good enough of a place to make camp, we've still got a good trek to get through the woods and we're in no hurry. Lets get you girls some rest and food after your evolutions; I can't imagine they make you any less hungry after all."
With happy noises from my pokemon as confirmation, I set about setting up the camp. I couldn't keep a goofy grin off my face the whole time. This was a solid step on the road to being a strong pokemon trainer; I'm sure we'll make even larger strides eventually, but this will do for now.