Chapter 3 – Separated

(Keelia)

Will’s question hit me like a ton of bricks. I had been trying to seem strong, but I knew deep down that I was scarred by recent events. I know that he had told me that I would never be a burden, but I really just wanted to carry this weight on my own. Like the little girl I still was, I fell apart when he brought up that question. I was supposed to be tough, I was going to evolve soon! With Will though, saving face did not matter. I felt as though I could tell him everything, and it would be okay. So after a long few minutes of sobbing and sniffling, I replied to his question in a shaky voice.

“I-I was hoping that this wouldn’t come up now, but it seems unavoidable. Please don’t think any less of me, I didn’t mean to break down like this.”

“Oh Keelia,” Will said softly. I looked up and caught his eyes. They were deep green, and brimming with concern. “What happened to you?”

“I-uh…It’s a long story,” is all I managed to get out. Though I was finding it difficult to speak right then, my personal resistance was becoming weaker. I was going to tell him everything. “Can we go back to your den? I’ll tell you everything,” I said quietly, still feeling no less downcast.

“Yeah Key, we’ll go back. And, thanks,” He said, “Allow me.” I looked up again to see his beaming face as he scooped me up into his arms. I was just a little too depressed to be surprised, and I just laid limp in his arms for the duration of the trip back to the apartment. I really should have thanked him or acknowledged him or something, but I was too caught up in trying to figure out how to tell him everything. In no time at all it seemed, we were back in his apartment. So we sat and I told him all about what was bothering me and why I was alone. Whenever I would feel the pain coming back, I would stop and we would sit there for a few minutes until I could move on. I will spare the details of what I actually said, because that would be me just reciting the babbling mess I spewed out onto Will. Here is a more level-headed version of what I told Will that night.

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Tall grasses buffed be on all sides as I searched for my prize. I could have sworn that I had caught wind of it somewhere around there. I paused for a moment, closing my eyes and allowing my sense of smell to take precedence. After a few moments, I smiled and raised my head, having determined the direction I needed to go.

“Aspear Berries,” I muttered to myself as I stole away into the wall of foliage.

Today was a winter day quite similar to many others, I was out foraging for food for my mother and I. Berries were rare around this time of year, so I was very lucky to have found some, especially Aspear berries. They had this wonderful warming effect, and the tart taste was to die for. They weren’t easy to find, as they were tucked away down in a small creek hollow that had almost never had a breeze blowing through it. Fortunately for me, the winds were blowing in an odd way today, so I had managed to catch the alluring scent from the hollow. My mother and I had been traveling around, so I didn’t know the area too well. That didn’t discourage me from following my nose wherever it took me; it never failed me.

I burst through the tall grass into a narrow stretch of forest bordered on both sides by a small creek. That heavenly aroma of the berries was especially strong now as I trotted against the breeze. The creek proved to be no problem as I hopped quickly from one rock to the other. Upon reaching the top of the creek bank, I saw the scraggly aspear berry bush directly in the middle of the tiny stretch of forest. There were maybe a couple dozen of the fruits in total. Almost all of them were plump, yellowish-green, and ready to eat. I wasted no time plucking them off by the bundles of 2 that they grew in. In all, I managed to get six of the large berries by their stems hanging out of my mouth. Feeling satisfied, I turned around and headed back to where I knew my mother was.

On my walk back to the little encampment, there was a bit of extra pip in my step that didn’t come from the score with the aspear berries. I mean, yeah, I was pretty happy that I had found them, but something much more important was on my mind. I was going to have the choice to evolve soon at a ceremony my family participated in. All of my kind from across the region gathered for this huge event in our culture. Every Eevee above the age of three (and I had just turned three a few months ago) came to this event and publically chose which form they would like to evolve into. There were all these different kinds of stones in the cavern that we met at that would cause you to evolve. In fact, we had just said goodbye to my dad the day before. He was going to make the journey to Mount Silver, where the ceremony was being held so that he could make preparations and gather the kin. My father was an Umbreon named Brennen. He was stoic and collected, a true warrior and leader of this loose group of our kind across the Johto region. March was not coming fast enough, as that was when the ceremony always was.

With berries in tow, I made my way through the grassy field. The wind had changed slightly, and now I was catching whiffs of my mother’s scent. She was likely making a small den for us to sleep in tonight. We had travelled a day’s walk from our normal home near a human city to see Dad off, so this was the best that we could do. My mother…she would be so happy to see me coming back with the aspear berries. She was such a great mom, and I loved her so much. She was a beautiful Espeon by the name of Vui. She was so protective and kind to me, and exuded a certain grace and regality. I would wager that she is one of the strongest Espeons in the world too! I wanted to evolve and be strong just like her! I could not wait!

My ears stood up and the fur on my neck bristled before I even knew what was happening. I caught something on the wind that was not mom’s scent, and it was coming from just up ahead. Right where I knew my mom was. I slowed my pace and got low to the ground, dropping the aspear berries for the time being. Running on instinct, I stalked up a gentle slope up to the clearing where my mother was setting up camp. It was at this point that I could identify the scent. It was a human…just a human. I relaxed a little bit, remembering all the times that human trainers had tried to cross my mother. It never ended well for them.

Soon, I reached the top of the slope and almost walked right into the clearing. I expected my mother to be standing proudly against whoever this human was. What I saw deeply worried me. There was the human standing with his back to me on my side of the clearing. He was wearing, for some reason, all grey clothing. He simply stood there between me and my mother. My mother was standing on the far side of the clearing, eyeing the man wearily. I realized that something was wrong when I saw her expression. It was of terror and pain. Her beautiful purple eyes were screaming silently at the sight of this man. This confused and worried me greatly. She would have no problem dispatching this person’s captured pokemon just like every other time, right? The man took a step forward and pulled out one of those red and white capturing devices that humans used. My mom took a step back at this, and then another. What was going on with her, she could take this guy! It was then in my mind that I began to hear her stress thoughts.

If my mom ever became very worried, angry, or stressed out, she would have these weird things start coming out of her brain that we called stress thoughts. It was something that ran in the family if you chose to evolve into a psychic. The normal telepathic communication that my mother would sometimes use would become a flood of her personal thoughts in these times of stress. It was as if a filter in her telepathic link was removed and everything just started rushing to anyone that was nearby.

I could feel them now, flying at me like angry Beedrills. I staggered a little bit as I began to make sense of them. I could hear ~Where is Keelia?~ and ~They’re back…oh no they’re back! How are they back!?~ and ~Don’t take her! NO-I can’t lose her! Where is my little girl!?~ over and over again layering over each other. There was one other thought that I could not quite understand, but it was the clearest among the chaotic noise in my mind. It was some sort of word that started with an “a,” but I could not make sense of it. I was pulled from my mind by a loud masculine voice; I was hearing it with my actual ears.

“Heheh…That’s right! You better believe it! We ARE back!” the man in grey cackled. “And you are exactly what we need right now! Now just calm down and don’t resist if you know what is good for you!”

My mother’s stress thoughts quieted down as she regained focus. I had no idea what this man had meant by this, but it had begun to boil my mother’s anger. I could see a fire in her eyes as she stared down this man. She must have been speaking telepathically with him, because he soon laughed and yelled back at her.

“I don’t give a shit about your daughter, bitch! I told you, it is you that I’m after!” he retorted angrily. My mom began to growl at the man. The gem on her head started to glow as she charged up an attack. “Oh, so that’s how it’s going to be, eh? Fine! Go! Zoroark!” the man bellowed as he threw the ball that was in his hand.

My brain barely registered what happened next. There was a flash as the man in grey’s pokemon was released. I only caught a glimpse of its form before it disappeared. It was some sort of black and red bi-pedal fox. It vanished though, and I was confused. Was there a problem with the capturing device? I got my answer when I saw the fox thing re-appear behind my mother and deliver a blow to her side. She cried out and tumbled several feet before coming to a stop.

“No!” I yelped. I could not help it. This was not going the way it should have been going! Luckily, no one seemed to hear me.

My mom shot back up and growled ferociously. Her lavender fur was dirty in spots, which I knew from experience was something that she would not stand for. She became a blur as she moved in for an attack on this strange pokemon. Normally at this point, the trainer would start barking orders at his pokemon. As I watched, he simply just stood there watching the battle with a smug expression. My mom made contact with the fox with her head-butt attack that I was sure would knock the thing out, but something was wrong. The fox that she hit simply disappeared into a puff of smoke. Confused, she saw what was happening a split-second too late. The fox appeared several feet away with a fully charged shadow ball attack. It leveled the ball of ghostly energy and fired before my mother could react. I watched in terror as my mother was blasted off her feet in a cloud of dust and forest debris. The force of the impact nearly knocked me off my feet as well. After the dust had settled, I looked on at the battlefield and saw my mother on the ground bloodied and bruised. She was not moving. The man and the odd fox chuckled at this.

“NO!” I shouted as I dashed forward in the glowing energy of a quick attack. Something in my head just sort of snapped. I had never seen my mother take a hit like that. Maybe if I could just catch that black fox by surprise, I could help my mom out. I was getting strong! I could do it! In a couple of seconds I was up top of the surprised fox. My head impacted the fox’s chest, and I heard a couple of ribs break. There was a grunt and a growl as the fox staggered backward. Yes! I had done it! Now it was time to follow up! I was going to hurt this pokemon who had hurt my mom! I quickly shook the dazed feeling out of my head and went in for another quick attack. To my horror, the fox disappeared from in front of me with a very angry glare. Before I had completely processed what had happened, I felt a horrible pain rip through my belly. The fox had appeared behind me and slashed me across the belly with its claws. I was sent flying through the air. What happened? Why was this happening? These thoughts raced in my mind as I flew through the air. I hit the ground hard and rolled a few times before coming to a stop a few feet from my mother. The pain was unbearable. I tried to cry out, but it seemed as though the breath had been knocked out of me. So I just laid there, sobbing.

“How pathetic,” came the voice of the human. I could not see him and his voice was slightly muted because of a loud ringing in my ears. “Time to cash in! Return Zoroark! Heheheh,” he said happily as he withdrew the fox into the capture device. I wanted so badly to just hurt him in any way I could, but I was paralyzed by pain. The way I had landed had put me facing my mother, but now I could barely see this man on the edge of my vision. He fished something out of his pocket and pointed it at my mother. I knew what it was, and I tried to scream. I tried to do anything to get this to stop, but I was just too weak. There was a bright flash and my mother was sucked into one of those red and white capture devices. I lay there sobbing uncontrollably. The man looked down at me and chuckled and shook his head. He kicked some dirt into my eyes, and then I lost consciousness.

I came to feeling awful physically and mentally. The pain in my underside was nearly unbearable, and my whole body felt sore. My waking thoughts were of my mother, and the events that had just transpired. She was gone. My mother was gone and I had no way of knowing where she was or if she was okay. I began to cry and cry. I had heard of this happening to others, but I thought my mom was the strongest! I closed my eyes and willed for this to all be just a dream. When I opened them, nothing was different. There was the pain, there were the tears, and I was alone.

Eventually, I managed to stand up. It was a pitch black cloudy night. My stomach growled, and I realized with or without mom, I was going to have to eat something. I looked around the battle-ravaged clearing and found where I had come up the slope with the aspear berries. I found the fruit sitting where I had left it surprisingly. Wasting no time, I ate as much as I could. That familiar warming sensation greeted me with every bite and improved my morale the slightest bit. However, I could not help but to think about how much my mother enjoyed aspear berries too. The thought made me cry even harder than I already was. To make things worse, it started raining right as I finished eating. I whined as the cold rain began to pelt my fur.

I wallowed a little bit longer in my sorrow until I came to my senses. I had to do something about this, and I had an idea of where to start. I would not be able to catch up with my dad and tell him what had happened, but I could go back home and get help there. There were a few families there who I know would help. Maybe they would know how to track down this man in grey. Yeah, I would do that. I had to do it for the sake of my mother! Through my pain and the awful weather, I resolved to travel back home. I picked up the last of the berries and headed back to the clearing. From there, I determined the direction back home. I was sure of it, even if I could barely see.

On I walked, for hours and hours. I began to get cold and weak, so I ate the last of the berries.
The berries helped me to feel a bit better, but I still felt cold for some reason. I did not dare slow down though, I had to make it back for mom! On into the grey morning I walked and walked. An acute tiredness began to overtake me after a few hours of walking in the dismal grey daylight. I must have gotten a little bit turned around in the night, because I did not recognize the terrain around me. I had to keep telling myself to keep walking. It was weird, I do not remember much of what happened to me. I felt very cold and my thoughts became less and less sane and logical. I vaguely remember seeing lights up ahead and feeling mildly alarmed. I was not in the right place, but it did not matter. I needed shelter and rest. I did not want to be noticed by any humans, so I found a box of sorts among a pile of garbage and crawled under it.

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So that was it, I told him everything. Or at least, he knew the rest from there. I looked up at Will, he was now crying too. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. Instead he wrapped me up in his arms. We just sat for a while crying, waiting for the pain to pass.