Story Notes:
I'm not too sure what I'm doing, so I can't say that it is good. In fact, the first chapter came out rather strangely.
Childhood Memories
I'm Flar, a flareon. I live in the forest with my four best friends Skye, Tia, Leaf, Glacia, Jolt my brother, and - my secret love - Myst. Personally, I like it here, with it being so warm and humid all the time. Rather, the reason we stay here is because this is the place where all our happy childhood and pack memories were.
But this forest was also where the pack lay beneath the earth. We lost everything when we were still eevees, our whole pack murdered by a sadist lusting for revenge. I still think back to those times that seem so far back now...
Jolt and I were abandoned by our parents when we were
young, and we would never have survived if Skye and the others hadn't found us while they were playing. Their parents treated us rather well for a bunch of complete strangers, and we always felt welcome in the forest. The pack had their doubts at first, warmed up to us before long. It certainly helped that Myst's father was the alpha of the pack, though. Skye and Glacia thought of me as a sibling, whereas Leaf and Tia were closer to Jolt. Then there was Myst, who was an only child. We were all mentored by senior members of the pack on life skills such as foraging and the like, but we didn't quite like those lessons for they were a bore.
Skye was a natural leader, always deciding what we should do for the day. Glacia, was nearly the opposite, always sitting down beside Leaf. It was obvious what her emotions were, but Leaf seemed completely oblivious to her. Leaf was very laidback, always lying against a tree and watching us while we wrestled with each other playfully. If anyone got hurt, he would be the first one to help us up or treat a wound. Tia wasn't nearly as conservative. She was easily the most playful of all of us. She could always come up with some quirky thing to do, and with her around, we never had a boring moment in our lives. Nor safe.
It was then I noticed that Myst never joined us, and I wondered why. One day, instead of playing with the others, I pretended to feel sick for a chance to talk to Myst alone. Leaf, lying down and watching us as usual, stopped me with a stare.
"You okay there, Flar? I know where I can find berries for sickness. Need me to gather some?" Leaf asked worriedly, placing a paw on my forehead. "You feel alright to me..."
"I don't have a fever. I just have a throbbing headache. Nothing a drink of water can't fix." Before Leaf could ask anymore, I dashed through the bushes and ran out of his sight.
"Where's Flar going? He doesn't want to wrestle?" I heard Skye and Jolt ask in unison. Leaf shrugged.
"He says he's not feeling well..."
----
"Myst?" She raised her head, her ears perking up. When she saw that it was me approaching her, she immediately sank back down on the floor, whining softly as she pretended to be asleep. "What's wrong? Are you sick?" I asked worriedly. Sniffing at the air, I smelt no sign of sickness or of anyone else. Her father's scent was stale, which meant he probably went foraging.
"Nothing's wrong at all, Flar. Just go back and have fun with your brother." She replied, disappointedly. "I'm just tired. Now let me rest."
"Suit yourself." I dejectedly turned to leave, when she placed a paw on my shoulder, almost begging me to stay. "Please Myst... If there's something wrong I can help you with it. But I can't if you keep everything a secret from us. We're your friends." She looked down, deep in thought, before sighing.
"Alright, but you must promise me that you won't tell anyone else." I nodded my head. "Take a seat on my father's bed." I backed away fearfully. Myst's father had made it clear that no one was to mess up his carefully constructed bed of straw. To my surprise, Myst began to cry, her tears staining the fur on her cheeks. Hastily, I nuzzled her, but that only made her cry harder.
"Stop crying, please. Myst, I didn't mean to hurt you. I didn't know that my sitting down meant so much to you..." Tenderly, I started licking the salty tears off her cheek. After a while, she stopped crying save for the occasional sob, and I sat down beside her.
"Ever since I was born it's been my father this, my father that. So what if I'm the leader's daughter? I just can't live with this stigma over my head! Every time I perform a beautiful move, I never get praised by anyone except my father. Everyone shuns me because they are afraid of my father... I don't want to have the pack alpha as my father!" Her tears started to flow again as she poured out her stored emotions at one go. "Why can't I be like you? Skye already treats you like a blood brother after barely a week, but I'm not even his friend although I've known him for a year! I HATE MY LIFE!" She ended with a ferocious yowl. Letting her cry on my shoulder, I cooed in softly in her ear to comfort her.
"You shouldn't keep your emotions inside you like that. None of us knew that you felt left out because you never told us about it. I'm sure Skye and the others don't hate you. I know for one that my brother won't." She looked up at me with impossible hope in her eyes. Without saying anything more, I looked sincerely back at her.
"You really think so? As in really? You're just saying this to make me feel better, right?" Her ears flopped, but I continued to look her in the eyes.
"No one's given up on you, and you've already given up on yourself. If you don't believe me, why don't we go to see them now? I'll prove to you that you're not the outcast you think you are." Myst reluctantly got to her paws, following behind me. She wasn't very confident, as her head was down and her tail was low. This wasn't what I'd expected from the daughter of our charismatic alpha. Comforting her by wrapping my tail around her own tail, I whispered softly in her ear. "I promise that I will always be there for you, alright? Even if you can't make friends, you'll always have me."
"Ahem." Myst's father had returned from his hunting. With a quick taste of the air, he gasped in horror. He had an ominous look on his face as he padded forward, glaring angrily at me. "What have you done to my bed?" I quickly scampered behind Myst, who giggled softly at my fear. All of a sudden, Myst's father screamed. "Oh god no! It's ruined!"
"Leader... I didn't mean to disobey your rules...bu...but Myst asked me to sit down beside her to keep her company and..." Myst's father glared sadly at me.
"You have no idea how long it takes for me to arrange my bed everyday..." Myst's father rubbed his pelt against his ruined bed, almost as though it was his love. "Now it's ruined! With your scent!" Peeping out from beside Myst, I replied timidly.
"May I ask why the bed's so... important to you? Isn't a bed just a bed? I can help you make it back if you want me to..." Myst's father snarled.
"You have no idea how much damage you've caused! My bed's irreplaceable! Fortunately for you... some of her scent's still there... at least there's something for me to remember her by..." The alpha umbreon whined softly as he wiped his face with the back of his paw. "This is the bed of my mate. I put fresh moss and straw over it every day to preserve what's left of her lovely scent. Then I sleep on it, so that I will dream of her. All the times we shared, all the times we didn't, and all the times we could have shared if not for... Archaxis."
"Who's Archaxis?" I asked, unaware that I was beginning to ignore my manners.
"He was the one who killed my mate. Till this day, I've sworn to avenge her, but I'd never caught his scent in the forest ever since. I can only assume he's dead or gone for good. I watched my mate burn and die before my eyes from his flames, how he laughed sadistically as he continued to burn her writhing body leaving naught but cinders behind."
"That's why I don't see your mate around." I said naively.
"Dad...you never told me...you always said that I was an adopted orphan..." Myst nuzzled her father gently to comfort him. It was her father's turn to cry on my shoulder. I felt awkward as the much bigger umbreon leaned on me, and I struggled to keep my balance. After an uncomfortable eternity, his tears continued to flow, but he was smiling.
"Thanks Flar." He placed a paw on my shoulder.
"What for, alpha? I've offended you in such a bad way. Aren't you... angry with me at all?" Myst's father shook his head.
"While that is true, you also helped the two of us in a way nobody else in the pack could. I've never wanted sympathy from anyone, much less from any of my pack members. What would they think of me if I could not get over something as small as a death of a loved one? When I told you my story, I told you two years of my welled memories, which I could not have told anyone else. Same with Myst. I heard her share her thoughts and emotions with you, thoughts that even I was unaware of." Father and daughter nuzzled one another. Myst's father pawed at the straw bed, throwing the old straw out of the den.
"Alpha, why did you do that? I thought you wanted to preserve her bed with her scent?" The umbreon shook his head.
"Your simple words have convinced me to look to the future, and in my daughter. For the first time, Myst, I noticed you have your mother's eyes...I'm sorry I was never a good father to you before..."
"Never mind that, I know you still love me, and that's all that matters. Dad, was my mom beautiful? I didn't have the chance to see her before she died." Another teardrop formed in the umbreon's eyes as he pictured his mate in his mind.
"She was a beautiful espeon with a slender body so thin and sleek that I thought she was a dream. Her
purple
fur was sleek and shiny, within it reflected the dim light of the stars. Her eyes were brilliant pools of intelligent purple, and when I met her, it was love at first sight. I only wish she were still here." He licked Myst's cheek. "Now, go and play with Flar and the others like you were going to." Myst followed me out of the den as I started following the way back to the open clearing.
"I'd thought I'd find you here." Leaf was looking at me in a strange way. "Well at least someone else other than me noticed that Myst was feeling left out." Myst blushed, apparently afraid of Leaf, who merely shrugged. "Perhaps you'll get used to us one day, then you'll see what you've missed all this while. For now, I think the two of us shall suffice."
"So, Leaf. Are Jolt and the others still playing?" I asked. Leaf shook his head.
"They're home to eat their dinners. Well, except for Jolt. Jolt's still looking for you desperately." My mouth fell open.
"Since you knew why didn't you tell him? Jolt's probably worried sick! Leaf, how could you?" Leaf and Myst both laughed at something behind me. "What's so..." Before I finished my sentence, Jolt knocked me to the ground from behind.
"Why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling well? You know how worried I can be. Heck you even went to tell Leaf, but not your own brother." Myst's father stepped out of the den to see what the commotion was about.
"Oh my. It's time for dinner. Off you go, Myst and Leaf. You have battle training tomorrow, and I don't want you missing any meals."
"Aww, dad...what about Flar?" I continued to squirm under my brother's weight, but I couldn't find the breath to respond.
"I want to talk to Flar and Jolt for a while, if you don't mind me." He pushed Jolt gently onto the floor, and I heaved a sigh of relief.
"Come on, Myst. I know where I can get your favourite hondew berries." Myst glared at Leaf in shock.
"But how could you have known? I've never told anyone else that I like hondew berries, not even my father!" Leaf smiled obscurely.
"Maybe you don't know me well enough, but I'm quite observant. I noticed that the hondew berries are always missing from the berry pile even though nobody else I know likes them." The two of them left for their dinners still engaged in conversation, while all the talk about hondew berries was making me realise how hungry I was. Myst's father was looking at us seriously.
"It's been a long time since I've lusted for more children. And now I think I shall once more. Two children, in fact. I was just thinking if I could welcome you into my family? I think Myst would benefit from having siblings, and I know that you'll benefit from having a father. So, what's your decision?" Jolt turned to leave.
"I understand your goodwill, alpha, but I cannot accept your offer. I won't benefit from having a fake father." Jolt walked away without another word. The alpha sighed.
"And I guess you feel the same way, Flar?" Excitement flowed through my body at the prospect of having a real father who would care for me for once. While most of the pack was nice to me, I felt lonely sleeping in the apprentice den with Jolt. Now, after being offered the chance I had been waiting for ever since I joined the pack, how could I refuse?
"Alpha, I would love to be your son. I promise I'll treat Myst as my sister from now on." The umbreon raised an eyebrow.
"You'll be scrutinised by many members of the pack, who will think you're power hungry. Also, your brother may get the wrong idea about you. Are you sure you want to take these risks? They may ruin your life in the pack forever." I looked up into the blood red eyes of the umbreon without blinking.
"I promised Myst that I'd be there for her. And so I will be. I can be a good brother." He stroked my back fur with his chin in a show of affection.
"Even if you must love Myst as much as you love Jolt? Even if you can never have an easy relationship with Myst if you happen to love her when you grow up? What would you do if your brother happened to fall in love with Myst?" I closed my eyes and whined deeply in thought. The alpha was painting a prophetic vision of the future, one that I had never taken into consideration.
"In that case, I'll kill myself. I know Myst will always feel uncomfortable having a half-brother for a mate, so it would be better if I just disappeared from their lives forever.
"Can you take the sacrifices and repercussions that such a simple action may hold for you? Can you even kill yourself without further thought? If that scenario really happened, will you still kill yourself if I'm gone?" The barrage of relentless questions continued as my mind struggled to take in everything.
"Alpha. Either you trust me, or you don't, but nothing you say can change my mind. I will become Myst's brother. And I will love her as my own sibling." The umbreon stayed silent for a while before smiling.
"Thanks Flar. You have no idea how much you must mean to Myst for her to open up to you like that. I don't deserve to be the father of such a beautiful eevee, so take care of her for me. I know you'll be a good brother, and I'll keep this adoption secret until the pack gets to know you better. But now, it is time for your dinner. I can't expect my son to go unfed, can I?"
"So I call you dad from now on, then?" The umbreon frowned.
"Call me by my real name. I'm night. All the 'alpha's and 'dad's grind on my ears after a while, and it would be refreshing to hear someone else other than..." He murmured a name, too softly for me to hear. "call my name for once." Night nibbled on my ear gently before bending down to nuzzle me. This was the father I had expected. A father who would show me affection and take care of me.
It didn't matter that I carried none of his genes or blood.
For I treated him as my father and he treated me as his son.
----
By the time I reached the pile of berries, there was no one else left there. Night sniffed at the air with a look of disdain on his face. "No good. I doubt there's anything good left here." He paused to paw through the mass of berries, pulling out a measly Aguav berry. "Here. Sate your hunger with this, then we'll go fishing together."
I wanted to offer the berry back so that I would not eat before him. However, I must have been hungrier than I thought for I subconsciously started taking bites off the berry. Before long, it was finished, and I licked my lips hungrily for more.
"Flar, do you know the way to the river?" Night asked. I nodded my head, pointing the way with my tail.
"But I can't see when it's so dark...there's not even any moonlight." Looking for a suitable place to bury the seed of the berry, I promptly tripped on a rock on the ground, hitting the floor. "Ow..." Night chuckled, picking me up by biting my mane.
"I'm not a cub! I don't need to be carried!" Hissing, I struggled against his bite, trying to get free. Night murred, amused. He placed me on the ground carefully.
"Fine, have it your way. I don't quite like the idea of falling over every now and then, however." His tail traced my chin lightly, leading me as I followed blindly behind. After a while, I regretted acting tough. There were many branches and thorns along the way that wither weren't there before, or I'd avoided them because I could see. Finally, after one too many scratches, I gave up.
"Alright, dad. Just carry me there" Night murmured in amusement.
"And for what? We're already there. I was wondering how long it would be before you asked me." I tasted the scent of running water, and I knew he was right. Suddenly, Night's yellow rings glowed brightly, illuminating the river and the part of the forest we were in.
"Hey! Why couldn't you have done that along the way? Why did you let me stumble about in the dark just now?" I accused, eliciting another chuckle from Night.
"Because you didn't ask. You have to learn that not everything goes your way in life, Flar. Anyway, see those shadows near the surface of the water?" I tried, but all I could see was a gentle yellow glow on the vast pool of blackness that swallowed the light of the stars.
"I can't see anything, dad..." Night sighed.
"I forget sometimes that not everyone has my extraordinary ability to see in the dark. I've more or less forgotten what it's like to be young again." His rings glowed so brightly that they turned white, and finally I could see properly. "Aim your paws at one of those shadows and scoop as fast as you can."
Reaching into the water, I got nothing but my paws wet. "But I swear I saw one there a moment ago. How come it vanished?"
"Well...I don't think being taken out of your home forcefully is a nice thing. Did you think that they would stay still for you to catch? Aim slightly below the shadow. The water tends to play tricks on your eyes." Night placed his forepaw into the water, dimming his rings except the one underwater. The fish curiously investigated the source of the light, almost as though some unseen force was pushing them closer.
Breathing deeply, I reached into the water again. This time, I felt something squirm in my paws and I pulled it out. It was a fish. I breathed a sigh of relief and looked at my father, expecting praise. "I did it!" Night murred in amusement, his yellow rings glowing again.
"I suppose you want me to praise you? Not a chance. You could've been faster, like this." He plunged his head underwater, and resurfaced with a fish in his jaws. My ears flopped as I realised how strict he was. Putting it down, he continued. "In time, you'll find that a praise now might make you feel better now, but a lesson will make itself worthwhile later." I wondered how Myst lived with all this before...
Night swallowed the fish in one gulp, bones and all. "Go practise fishing with Myst tomorrow. I'll just go patrol around our pack hunting grounds to burn off some extra energy. You just go home and tell Myst the good news, okay?" Before I could say anything, he left. The forest slowly became dark again, and I sighed.
"I'm gonna stumble home again." Just thinking about it spoilt my appetite, and I threw the fish back into the river.
----
I didn't expect then that my father wouldn't ever have the chance to go fishing with me again...
----
When I reached the alpha den, my body was bruised, battered and bleeding slightly. God knows how many brambles I stepped into, how many branches I tripped over, and how many times I fell. Exhausted, I curled up in a tiny ball beside Myst's empty bed, my head resting on my soft tail. Shifting carefully, I avoided sleeping on the sore parts of my body. Cooing contentedly, I went to sleep.
----
"Flar!" I was rudely woken by Myst's loud scream. Opening my eyes, I felt Myst's tears falling onto my pelt. "Please don't be dead..."
"What in the world are you talking about? Myst...you woke me up. I was having a good dream, too." Myst wiped her face on my pelt, wiping her tears.
"I saw you lying there with so many wounds...and I thought...my father brought you here because you were gonna...die..." Night interrupted her as he barged into the den, blood flowing freely from a gash in his stomach.
"And you two will soon be if you don't get out of here. Most of the pack is lying dead in their dens, killed in their sleep by Archaxis. I fear for the future of our pack. He hasn't come this way yet, and he hasn't reached the apprentice den. You two get Skye and the other eevees to run. I will finish the hunt I started for my mate. Sorry I couldn't be your dad for long, Flar." Tears streaked down my cheeks as I realised what he was about to do.
"You speak as though you are going to die. Please. We can just escape together..." I pleaded, but he turned a deaf ear.
"Here he comes. Get out through the back entrance while I distract him and get the others out of here. I'll hold him off as long as I can." I stood still in a canid salute before squeezing through the back entrance of the den, Myst following behind. To my dismay, the fallen corpses of our pack lay there, lifeless. Most of them didn't even have their eyes open. Archaxis had come like a flash of lightning, wiping everyone off. Worriedly, I searched for Jolt, hoping that he was still alive.
I found him at the apprentice den, huddling with Skye, Tia and Glacia. Leaf was the only one still asleep, so I shook him awake.
"What is it now? Why did you wake me up so early?" Leaf whined.
"We need to get out of here now! Only Night is still alive, and everyone else is dead! Even our pack leader is gravely wounded." Loud paw steps soon corrected. Archaxis stood at the entrance of the den, his claws and muzzle stained with blood. Tia and Glacia started crying, and it wasn't long before Myst joined them. Skye and Jolt were visibly shaken, and I felt my legs collapse underneath me. This would be a fight to the death. A fight that we could not win. The fully grown mightyena was so muscular he could have been mistaken for an arcanine in the dark. His body bore no signs of injury or even a scratch.
"I will not kill cubs, in case that's what you're thinking. I will come back when you all are grown up, and kill you all one by one. I'd like to see if the pack can still survive." Archaxis snarled at us in a warning.
"Why are you doing this to us? First my mother, then my pack, and now my father! What have we ever done to offend you, Archaxis?" Myst asked, through violent sobs. Archaxis' ears twitched at her response.
"Simple. I courted your mother, and she turned me down. Then, I hated everything to do with your mother, and that included your pack. That's why I killed them all. But, what's left of my moral compass tells me that I should spare your lives...so I will return and finish the job when you are grown. Only then will my sense of loneliness be satisfied." Archaxis hissed, scratching Skye's left eye out with his claw. Skye exclaimed in pain, now blind on one side. The rest of us froze there in fear, unable to stop the powerful mightyena.
"Take that as a memory. That I'll be back one day. Now..." He dragged Night's body into the den, dumping it on the floor with a sickening crunch. Night moaned softly. He was still alive. "You can watch him die. I bid you farewell." Archaxis left the den, his muscled rippling as he walked.
Night moaned again, beckoning me to come closer with a weak flick of his tail. "Under...this rock...here...there's a pile of stones that will...evolve you. Skye...eat the leaf that I wrapped them with. I'm sorry I couldn't...go through the ceremony with you guys...especially Myst...and Flar..." Our pack leader lay dying in front of us, but only I had the ability to continue talking.
"Dad, you mustn't die...there's so much we still have to do..." Night smiled at me.
"Flar...my time on this world is up...use the stones to evolve. I trust...you've all learnt how to use them from your mentors..." Night stopped to cough out blood as his eyes closed. "I couldn't do it...take revenge for me...and my mate. Flar, remember what you promised me." More blood came out his muzzle. "Flar, Myst...I..."
"NO!" The two of us shouted in unison. He must not...he could not be dead.
"Love you." Silence. Night was gone forever.
Without further ado, Skye dug out the rock to reveal a package wrapped tightly with a large leaf. He tore it open with his teeth, letting the stones inside fall out. There were two smooth crystal stones that formed a yin-yang, a firestone, a waterstone, a thunderstone, a mossy rock and a very cold pebble. "Shoot. There are only enough evolution stones for us to evolve into one evolution each." Skye remarked. "How are we gonna decide who become what?"
"Let's draw lots, but make it tomorrow. I don't think the girls can take it now. They're so shaken and you bloody well know what must be done to become an espeon or an umbreon with that stone..." I whispered in his ear. The girls were still shivering violently from their encounter with Archaxis.
"You're right...but the girls don't know, and I'd find it best if we didn't tell them..." He whispered in return, before grooming Tia's fur to calm her down. We bunched together and tried our best to fall asleep, hoping that this was all just a horrible nightmare, and that everyone would still be alive when we woke up.
----
Night's corpse was still there when I woke up in the morning, and a tear rolled down my cheek. I barely knew him but I felt I owed him so much, that I never had the chance to return. Dragging his heavy body out, I dug a grave with my paws and placed his body inside before covering it up. While that helped my mental condition a little, I felt my belly rumble from hunger. Sighing softly to myself, I padded over to the berry pile.
Nothing there either. Nobody else was picking any berries off the huge pile. Flies hovered over the corpses of my former pack, the stench of death and rotting overwhelming my nostrils. Picking up an Oran berry with my teeth, I followed the path to the river, reminiscing everything my father had done and said along the way.
When I reached the river, I half-expected Night to be there, smiling, but he wasn't. Sadly, I washed my paws in the river. All of a sudden, something pulled me into the river. Struggling violently did nothing to keep me afloat. Just when my lungs started filling with water, another thing floated me gently to the surface of the river. Taking a good look, I realised that that thing was Myst.
"Morning, Flar. I assume that was a nice morning bath?" Myst was much bigger than me now as she formed a protective cradle around me, keeping me afloat. Her fur was no longer brown, but instead a pristine shade of blue. Her thick, finned tail propelled her like a boat as I 'rode' her around the river.
"Myst? You're a vaporeon now? It's hardly fair to the others that you picked your evolution first..." Myst continued to bob up and down slowly in the water, before teasing me with her forepaw.
"I know I jumped the gun, but I've always wanted to become a vaporeon. Besides, what can they do to change my evolution now?" Myst laughed, making her body tip over. I grabbed on to her body frantically, trying to stay with her and not drown. "My bad..." She started swimming back to shore, and I placed all four paws on the soil of the riverbank with relief.
"I can't see why you're so interested in the water...frankly..." 'From now on, I will hate water.' I added in my mind.
"Well, that's for giving me a scare yesterday." She nuzzled me playfully, and I felt her fins rub against my face. Myst was much larger than me now. I almost envied her evolution, in fact. In the process, many painful memories are weakened in order to bring the body into a suitable state for evolution. That would explain why Myst still had the heart to play a prank despite her father dying yesterday. My belly grumbled again, and I remembered my oran berry. A quick look told me that it was floating in the middle of the river. "Aww...is my widdle Flar hungry?" She picked me up by the mane and I hissed like I did yesterday.
"You're not a very nice sister, you know..."
----
When we returned to the berry pile, the others were waiting angrily for me and Myst to show up. "Myst! How could you?" Tia asked, shocked at Myst's cheating.
"This is not the time to be fighting amongst ourselves..." Skye pointed at the berry pile. "Now I know this isn't exactly a fair method of deciding who evolves into what, but it's the best I could think of. We'll plunge our heads in through the berry pile and pull out a random berry. Then we match the colour to the evolution stone."
"What if you get a berry that isn't any of the colours of the evolution stones?" Glacia asked.
"I thought of that earlier. If you get a berry that isn't blue, green, red, or yellow, then you'll get either espeon or umbreon, to be decided by the two of them." Leaf whistled worriedly.
"Urm... Skye? You do know what happens if let's say, you and Flar get to become espeon and umbreon, right?" Skye nodded, placing a paw on his forehead.
"It's a chance I'm willing to take, Leaf. It's a chance
I'm willing to take. Now, I think I'll pick first."
Sticking his head into the mound of berries, he reappeared with a pecha berry in his jaws. Shocked, he dropped it on the ground. "Oh dear...I think you may have cursed me, Leaf. You next, Flar, and you'd better not get another pecha berry..." Skye added worriedly.
The girls weren't too sure what we were talking about as their teachers didn't explain this part about the sacrifice of the espeon and umbreon evolution stone. While espeons and umbreons evolved from happiness, they could also evolve from special evolution stones if the conditions were right.
Closing my eyes, I forced my head through the berry pile, overwhelmed by the numerous scents inside. Biting the stalk of a berry, I pulled my head free before opening my eyes. It was a cheri berry. "I guess that means that I'm a flareon now. Wish me luck..." Picking up the red stone, I swallowed it with a sickeningly loud gulp, feeling its warmth course through my body. My fur slowly grew longer, changing from a dull brown to a pale red. My mane remained, albeit thicker than before, and my tail changed into a mass of fur. I felt the surroundings grow cooler as my body temperature increased, and my body was growing in size before my very eyes. Soon, I was as big as Myst. "Congrats, brother." Jolt was smiling at me.
There were so many new sensations going through my mind. I was taller, and I saw and heard much more than I did when I was an eevee. While I used to sweat on a hot day, the forest actually felt cool for once, a refreshing change. So many new thoughts and ideas ran through my mind, feelings I had never experienced before now running rampant. For the first time, I saw how beautiful Myst actually was, and I was torn between my promise to Night and my attraction to Myst. I padded over to her side, where she started to blush. Evidently, she felt the same way about my body.
"Tia, it's your turn..." She just sat there, looking at the berry pile before her. "What's wrong? Don't you want to evolve?"
"It's just that...I want to be an espeon, and nothing else. Can I be an espeon please?" Tia asked, her tail in between her legs. Skye smiled, and Leaf breathed a sigh of relief.
"I see nothing wrong with that." Skye said.
"I'm rather happy about that. It's better than me becoming an espeon, that's for sure." Leaf calmed down. Shivers ran down the four males' fur at the same time as he finished his statement.
Tia swallowed one of the clear stones, but nothing happened to her. "Why am I not evolving?" The four males swallowed loudly, but it was Jolt who spoke first.
"You must have missed the lesson with your mentor. Now if you don't mind..." Jolt picked up the thunderstone and swallowed it, making the change into a jolteon.
"Hey! Jolt, that isn't fair to Leaf and Glacia!" Skye protested. Jolt sniffed, ignoring his statement.
"I doubt that Myst had thought of that when she evolved, did she? There's no need to go through all this nonsense just for our evolutions." Jolt said coolly, sparkles of electricity bristling on his back. Skye snarled angrily at Jolt, who returned the aggression. Jolt swiped with his paw, scratching Skye's blind side. Skye yipped in pain, pawing back.
"Play dirty will you?" Skye prepared to fight against -now bigger- Jolt, shifting into a fighting stance. Angrily, I stood between them.
"You two should stop fighting right now! What would Night say if he saw you two like this? Skye, obviously neither Glacia nor Leaf minds, so there's no need to be territorial about it. Jolt, next time think before you act, okay? We're one big family now, and if we're fighting like this there's no way we can ever stand a chance if Archaxis came back, alright!" The two of them kept quiet, looking away. It was tough being the brother of three unrelated people, but I think I handled that quite well.
Leaf and Glacia both made the evolutions into leafeon and glaceon respectively, and that was it for the childhood part of my memory.
But this forest was also where the pack lay beneath the earth. We lost everything when we were still eevees, our whole pack murdered by a sadist lusting for revenge. I still think back to those times that seem so far back now...
Jolt and I were abandoned by our parents when we were
young, and we would never have survived if Skye and the others hadn't found us while they were playing. Their parents treated us rather well for a bunch of complete strangers, and we always felt welcome in the forest. The pack had their doubts at first, warmed up to us before long. It certainly helped that Myst's father was the alpha of the pack, though. Skye and Glacia thought of me as a sibling, whereas Leaf and Tia were closer to Jolt. Then there was Myst, who was an only child. We were all mentored by senior members of the pack on life skills such as foraging and the like, but we didn't quite like those lessons for they were a bore.
Skye was a natural leader, always deciding what we should do for the day. Glacia, was nearly the opposite, always sitting down beside Leaf. It was obvious what her emotions were, but Leaf seemed completely oblivious to her. Leaf was very laidback, always lying against a tree and watching us while we wrestled with each other playfully. If anyone got hurt, he would be the first one to help us up or treat a wound. Tia wasn't nearly as conservative. She was easily the most playful of all of us. She could always come up with some quirky thing to do, and with her around, we never had a boring moment in our lives. Nor safe.
It was then I noticed that Myst never joined us, and I wondered why. One day, instead of playing with the others, I pretended to feel sick for a chance to talk to Myst alone. Leaf, lying down and watching us as usual, stopped me with a stare.
"You okay there, Flar? I know where I can find berries for sickness. Need me to gather some?" Leaf asked worriedly, placing a paw on my forehead. "You feel alright to me..."
"I don't have a fever. I just have a throbbing headache. Nothing a drink of water can't fix." Before Leaf could ask anymore, I dashed through the bushes and ran out of his sight.
"Where's Flar going? He doesn't want to wrestle?" I heard Skye and Jolt ask in unison. Leaf shrugged.
"He says he's not feeling well..."
----
"Myst?" She raised her head, her ears perking up. When she saw that it was me approaching her, she immediately sank back down on the floor, whining softly as she pretended to be asleep. "What's wrong? Are you sick?" I asked worriedly. Sniffing at the air, I smelt no sign of sickness or of anyone else. Her father's scent was stale, which meant he probably went foraging.
"Nothing's wrong at all, Flar. Just go back and have fun with your brother." She replied, disappointedly. "I'm just tired. Now let me rest."
"Suit yourself." I dejectedly turned to leave, when she placed a paw on my shoulder, almost begging me to stay. "Please Myst... If there's something wrong I can help you with it. But I can't if you keep everything a secret from us. We're your friends." She looked down, deep in thought, before sighing.
"Alright, but you must promise me that you won't tell anyone else." I nodded my head. "Take a seat on my father's bed." I backed away fearfully. Myst's father had made it clear that no one was to mess up his carefully constructed bed of straw. To my surprise, Myst began to cry, her tears staining the fur on her cheeks. Hastily, I nuzzled her, but that only made her cry harder.
"Stop crying, please. Myst, I didn't mean to hurt you. I didn't know that my sitting down meant so much to you..." Tenderly, I started licking the salty tears off her cheek. After a while, she stopped crying save for the occasional sob, and I sat down beside her.
"Ever since I was born it's been my father this, my father that. So what if I'm the leader's daughter? I just can't live with this stigma over my head! Every time I perform a beautiful move, I never get praised by anyone except my father. Everyone shuns me because they are afraid of my father... I don't want to have the pack alpha as my father!" Her tears started to flow again as she poured out her stored emotions at one go. "Why can't I be like you? Skye already treats you like a blood brother after barely a week, but I'm not even his friend although I've known him for a year! I HATE MY LIFE!" She ended with a ferocious yowl. Letting her cry on my shoulder, I cooed in softly in her ear to comfort her.
"You shouldn't keep your emotions inside you like that. None of us knew that you felt left out because you never told us about it. I'm sure Skye and the others don't hate you. I know for one that my brother won't." She looked up at me with impossible hope in her eyes. Without saying anything more, I looked sincerely back at her.
"You really think so? As in really? You're just saying this to make me feel better, right?" Her ears flopped, but I continued to look her in the eyes.
"No one's given up on you, and you've already given up on yourself. If you don't believe me, why don't we go to see them now? I'll prove to you that you're not the outcast you think you are." Myst reluctantly got to her paws, following behind me. She wasn't very confident, as her head was down and her tail was low. This wasn't what I'd expected from the daughter of our charismatic alpha. Comforting her by wrapping my tail around her own tail, I whispered softly in her ear. "I promise that I will always be there for you, alright? Even if you can't make friends, you'll always have me."
"Ahem." Myst's father had returned from his hunting. With a quick taste of the air, he gasped in horror. He had an ominous look on his face as he padded forward, glaring angrily at me. "What have you done to my bed?" I quickly scampered behind Myst, who giggled softly at my fear. All of a sudden, Myst's father screamed. "Oh god no! It's ruined!"
"Leader... I didn't mean to disobey your rules...bu...but Myst asked me to sit down beside her to keep her company and..." Myst's father glared sadly at me.
"You have no idea how long it takes for me to arrange my bed everyday..." Myst's father rubbed his pelt against his ruined bed, almost as though it was his love. "Now it's ruined! With your scent!" Peeping out from beside Myst, I replied timidly.
"May I ask why the bed's so... important to you? Isn't a bed just a bed? I can help you make it back if you want me to..." Myst's father snarled.
"You have no idea how much damage you've caused! My bed's irreplaceable! Fortunately for you... some of her scent's still there... at least there's something for me to remember her by..." The alpha umbreon whined softly as he wiped his face with the back of his paw. "This is the bed of my mate. I put fresh moss and straw over it every day to preserve what's left of her lovely scent. Then I sleep on it, so that I will dream of her. All the times we shared, all the times we didn't, and all the times we could have shared if not for... Archaxis."
"Who's Archaxis?" I asked, unaware that I was beginning to ignore my manners.
"He was the one who killed my mate. Till this day, I've sworn to avenge her, but I'd never caught his scent in the forest ever since. I can only assume he's dead or gone for good. I watched my mate burn and die before my eyes from his flames, how he laughed sadistically as he continued to burn her writhing body leaving naught but cinders behind."
"That's why I don't see your mate around." I said naively.
"Dad...you never told me...you always said that I was an adopted orphan..." Myst nuzzled her father gently to comfort him. It was her father's turn to cry on my shoulder. I felt awkward as the much bigger umbreon leaned on me, and I struggled to keep my balance. After an uncomfortable eternity, his tears continued to flow, but he was smiling.
"Thanks Flar." He placed a paw on my shoulder.
"What for, alpha? I've offended you in such a bad way. Aren't you... angry with me at all?" Myst's father shook his head.
"While that is true, you also helped the two of us in a way nobody else in the pack could. I've never wanted sympathy from anyone, much less from any of my pack members. What would they think of me if I could not get over something as small as a death of a loved one? When I told you my story, I told you two years of my welled memories, which I could not have told anyone else. Same with Myst. I heard her share her thoughts and emotions with you, thoughts that even I was unaware of." Father and daughter nuzzled one another. Myst's father pawed at the straw bed, throwing the old straw out of the den.
"Alpha, why did you do that? I thought you wanted to preserve her bed with her scent?" The umbreon shook his head.
"Your simple words have convinced me to look to the future, and in my daughter. For the first time, Myst, I noticed you have your mother's eyes...I'm sorry I was never a good father to you before..."
"Never mind that, I know you still love me, and that's all that matters. Dad, was my mom beautiful? I didn't have the chance to see her before she died." Another teardrop formed in the umbreon's eyes as he pictured his mate in his mind.
"She was a beautiful espeon with a slender body so thin and sleek that I thought she was a dream. Her
purple
fur was sleek and shiny, within it reflected the dim light of the stars. Her eyes were brilliant pools of intelligent purple, and when I met her, it was love at first sight. I only wish she were still here." He licked Myst's cheek. "Now, go and play with Flar and the others like you were going to." Myst followed me out of the den as I started following the way back to the open clearing.
"I'd thought I'd find you here." Leaf was looking at me in a strange way. "Well at least someone else other than me noticed that Myst was feeling left out." Myst blushed, apparently afraid of Leaf, who merely shrugged. "Perhaps you'll get used to us one day, then you'll see what you've missed all this while. For now, I think the two of us shall suffice."
"So, Leaf. Are Jolt and the others still playing?" I asked. Leaf shook his head.
"They're home to eat their dinners. Well, except for Jolt. Jolt's still looking for you desperately." My mouth fell open.
"Since you knew why didn't you tell him? Jolt's probably worried sick! Leaf, how could you?" Leaf and Myst both laughed at something behind me. "What's so..." Before I finished my sentence, Jolt knocked me to the ground from behind.
"Why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling well? You know how worried I can be. Heck you even went to tell Leaf, but not your own brother." Myst's father stepped out of the den to see what the commotion was about.
"Oh my. It's time for dinner. Off you go, Myst and Leaf. You have battle training tomorrow, and I don't want you missing any meals."
"Aww, dad...what about Flar?" I continued to squirm under my brother's weight, but I couldn't find the breath to respond.
"I want to talk to Flar and Jolt for a while, if you don't mind me." He pushed Jolt gently onto the floor, and I heaved a sigh of relief.
"Come on, Myst. I know where I can get your favourite hondew berries." Myst glared at Leaf in shock.
"But how could you have known? I've never told anyone else that I like hondew berries, not even my father!" Leaf smiled obscurely.
"Maybe you don't know me well enough, but I'm quite observant. I noticed that the hondew berries are always missing from the berry pile even though nobody else I know likes them." The two of them left for their dinners still engaged in conversation, while all the talk about hondew berries was making me realise how hungry I was. Myst's father was looking at us seriously.
"It's been a long time since I've lusted for more children. And now I think I shall once more. Two children, in fact. I was just thinking if I could welcome you into my family? I think Myst would benefit from having siblings, and I know that you'll benefit from having a father. So, what's your decision?" Jolt turned to leave.
"I understand your goodwill, alpha, but I cannot accept your offer. I won't benefit from having a fake father." Jolt walked away without another word. The alpha sighed.
"And I guess you feel the same way, Flar?" Excitement flowed through my body at the prospect of having a real father who would care for me for once. While most of the pack was nice to me, I felt lonely sleeping in the apprentice den with Jolt. Now, after being offered the chance I had been waiting for ever since I joined the pack, how could I refuse?
"Alpha, I would love to be your son. I promise I'll treat Myst as my sister from now on." The umbreon raised an eyebrow.
"You'll be scrutinised by many members of the pack, who will think you're power hungry. Also, your brother may get the wrong idea about you. Are you sure you want to take these risks? They may ruin your life in the pack forever." I looked up into the blood red eyes of the umbreon without blinking.
"I promised Myst that I'd be there for her. And so I will be. I can be a good brother." He stroked my back fur with his chin in a show of affection.
"Even if you must love Myst as much as you love Jolt? Even if you can never have an easy relationship with Myst if you happen to love her when you grow up? What would you do if your brother happened to fall in love with Myst?" I closed my eyes and whined deeply in thought. The alpha was painting a prophetic vision of the future, one that I had never taken into consideration.
"In that case, I'll kill myself. I know Myst will always feel uncomfortable having a half-brother for a mate, so it would be better if I just disappeared from their lives forever.
"Can you take the sacrifices and repercussions that such a simple action may hold for you? Can you even kill yourself without further thought? If that scenario really happened, will you still kill yourself if I'm gone?" The barrage of relentless questions continued as my mind struggled to take in everything.
"Alpha. Either you trust me, or you don't, but nothing you say can change my mind. I will become Myst's brother. And I will love her as my own sibling." The umbreon stayed silent for a while before smiling.
"Thanks Flar. You have no idea how much you must mean to Myst for her to open up to you like that. I don't deserve to be the father of such a beautiful eevee, so take care of her for me. I know you'll be a good brother, and I'll keep this adoption secret until the pack gets to know you better. But now, it is time for your dinner. I can't expect my son to go unfed, can I?"
"So I call you dad from now on, then?" The umbreon frowned.
"Call me by my real name. I'm night. All the 'alpha's and 'dad's grind on my ears after a while, and it would be refreshing to hear someone else other than..." He murmured a name, too softly for me to hear. "call my name for once." Night nibbled on my ear gently before bending down to nuzzle me. This was the father I had expected. A father who would show me affection and take care of me.
It didn't matter that I carried none of his genes or blood.
For I treated him as my father and he treated me as his son.
----
By the time I reached the pile of berries, there was no one else left there. Night sniffed at the air with a look of disdain on his face. "No good. I doubt there's anything good left here." He paused to paw through the mass of berries, pulling out a measly Aguav berry. "Here. Sate your hunger with this, then we'll go fishing together."
I wanted to offer the berry back so that I would not eat before him. However, I must have been hungrier than I thought for I subconsciously started taking bites off the berry. Before long, it was finished, and I licked my lips hungrily for more.
"Flar, do you know the way to the river?" Night asked. I nodded my head, pointing the way with my tail.
"But I can't see when it's so dark...there's not even any moonlight." Looking for a suitable place to bury the seed of the berry, I promptly tripped on a rock on the ground, hitting the floor. "Ow..." Night chuckled, picking me up by biting my mane.
"I'm not a cub! I don't need to be carried!" Hissing, I struggled against his bite, trying to get free. Night murred, amused. He placed me on the ground carefully.
"Fine, have it your way. I don't quite like the idea of falling over every now and then, however." His tail traced my chin lightly, leading me as I followed blindly behind. After a while, I regretted acting tough. There were many branches and thorns along the way that wither weren't there before, or I'd avoided them because I could see. Finally, after one too many scratches, I gave up.
"Alright, dad. Just carry me there" Night murmured in amusement.
"And for what? We're already there. I was wondering how long it would be before you asked me." I tasted the scent of running water, and I knew he was right. Suddenly, Night's yellow rings glowed brightly, illuminating the river and the part of the forest we were in.
"Hey! Why couldn't you have done that along the way? Why did you let me stumble about in the dark just now?" I accused, eliciting another chuckle from Night.
"Because you didn't ask. You have to learn that not everything goes your way in life, Flar. Anyway, see those shadows near the surface of the water?" I tried, but all I could see was a gentle yellow glow on the vast pool of blackness that swallowed the light of the stars.
"I can't see anything, dad..." Night sighed.
"I forget sometimes that not everyone has my extraordinary ability to see in the dark. I've more or less forgotten what it's like to be young again." His rings glowed so brightly that they turned white, and finally I could see properly. "Aim your paws at one of those shadows and scoop as fast as you can."
Reaching into the water, I got nothing but my paws wet. "But I swear I saw one there a moment ago. How come it vanished?"
"Well...I don't think being taken out of your home forcefully is a nice thing. Did you think that they would stay still for you to catch? Aim slightly below the shadow. The water tends to play tricks on your eyes." Night placed his forepaw into the water, dimming his rings except the one underwater. The fish curiously investigated the source of the light, almost as though some unseen force was pushing them closer.
Breathing deeply, I reached into the water again. This time, I felt something squirm in my paws and I pulled it out. It was a fish. I breathed a sigh of relief and looked at my father, expecting praise. "I did it!" Night murred in amusement, his yellow rings glowing again.
"I suppose you want me to praise you? Not a chance. You could've been faster, like this." He plunged his head underwater, and resurfaced with a fish in his jaws. My ears flopped as I realised how strict he was. Putting it down, he continued. "In time, you'll find that a praise now might make you feel better now, but a lesson will make itself worthwhile later." I wondered how Myst lived with all this before...
Night swallowed the fish in one gulp, bones and all. "Go practise fishing with Myst tomorrow. I'll just go patrol around our pack hunting grounds to burn off some extra energy. You just go home and tell Myst the good news, okay?" Before I could say anything, he left. The forest slowly became dark again, and I sighed.
"I'm gonna stumble home again." Just thinking about it spoilt my appetite, and I threw the fish back into the river.
----
I didn't expect then that my father wouldn't ever have the chance to go fishing with me again...
----
When I reached the alpha den, my body was bruised, battered and bleeding slightly. God knows how many brambles I stepped into, how many branches I tripped over, and how many times I fell. Exhausted, I curled up in a tiny ball beside Myst's empty bed, my head resting on my soft tail. Shifting carefully, I avoided sleeping on the sore parts of my body. Cooing contentedly, I went to sleep.
----
"Flar!" I was rudely woken by Myst's loud scream. Opening my eyes, I felt Myst's tears falling onto my pelt. "Please don't be dead..."
"What in the world are you talking about? Myst...you woke me up. I was having a good dream, too." Myst wiped her face on my pelt, wiping her tears.
"I saw you lying there with so many wounds...and I thought...my father brought you here because you were gonna...die..." Night interrupted her as he barged into the den, blood flowing freely from a gash in his stomach.
"And you two will soon be if you don't get out of here. Most of the pack is lying dead in their dens, killed in their sleep by Archaxis. I fear for the future of our pack. He hasn't come this way yet, and he hasn't reached the apprentice den. You two get Skye and the other eevees to run. I will finish the hunt I started for my mate. Sorry I couldn't be your dad for long, Flar." Tears streaked down my cheeks as I realised what he was about to do.
"You speak as though you are going to die. Please. We can just escape together..." I pleaded, but he turned a deaf ear.
"Here he comes. Get out through the back entrance while I distract him and get the others out of here. I'll hold him off as long as I can." I stood still in a canid salute before squeezing through the back entrance of the den, Myst following behind. To my dismay, the fallen corpses of our pack lay there, lifeless. Most of them didn't even have their eyes open. Archaxis had come like a flash of lightning, wiping everyone off. Worriedly, I searched for Jolt, hoping that he was still alive.
I found him at the apprentice den, huddling with Skye, Tia and Glacia. Leaf was the only one still asleep, so I shook him awake.
"What is it now? Why did you wake me up so early?" Leaf whined.
"We need to get out of here now! Only Night is still alive, and everyone else is dead! Even our pack leader is gravely wounded." Loud paw steps soon corrected. Archaxis stood at the entrance of the den, his claws and muzzle stained with blood. Tia and Glacia started crying, and it wasn't long before Myst joined them. Skye and Jolt were visibly shaken, and I felt my legs collapse underneath me. This would be a fight to the death. A fight that we could not win. The fully grown mightyena was so muscular he could have been mistaken for an arcanine in the dark. His body bore no signs of injury or even a scratch.
"I will not kill cubs, in case that's what you're thinking. I will come back when you all are grown up, and kill you all one by one. I'd like to see if the pack can still survive." Archaxis snarled at us in a warning.
"Why are you doing this to us? First my mother, then my pack, and now my father! What have we ever done to offend you, Archaxis?" Myst asked, through violent sobs. Archaxis' ears twitched at her response.
"Simple. I courted your mother, and she turned me down. Then, I hated everything to do with your mother, and that included your pack. That's why I killed them all. But, what's left of my moral compass tells me that I should spare your lives...so I will return and finish the job when you are grown. Only then will my sense of loneliness be satisfied." Archaxis hissed, scratching Skye's left eye out with his claw. Skye exclaimed in pain, now blind on one side. The rest of us froze there in fear, unable to stop the powerful mightyena.
"Take that as a memory. That I'll be back one day. Now..." He dragged Night's body into the den, dumping it on the floor with a sickening crunch. Night moaned softly. He was still alive. "You can watch him die. I bid you farewell." Archaxis left the den, his muscled rippling as he walked.
Night moaned again, beckoning me to come closer with a weak flick of his tail. "Under...this rock...here...there's a pile of stones that will...evolve you. Skye...eat the leaf that I wrapped them with. I'm sorry I couldn't...go through the ceremony with you guys...especially Myst...and Flar..." Our pack leader lay dying in front of us, but only I had the ability to continue talking.
"Dad, you mustn't die...there's so much we still have to do..." Night smiled at me.
"Flar...my time on this world is up...use the stones to evolve. I trust...you've all learnt how to use them from your mentors..." Night stopped to cough out blood as his eyes closed. "I couldn't do it...take revenge for me...and my mate. Flar, remember what you promised me." More blood came out his muzzle. "Flar, Myst...I..."
"NO!" The two of us shouted in unison. He must not...he could not be dead.
"Love you." Silence. Night was gone forever.
Without further ado, Skye dug out the rock to reveal a package wrapped tightly with a large leaf. He tore it open with his teeth, letting the stones inside fall out. There were two smooth crystal stones that formed a yin-yang, a firestone, a waterstone, a thunderstone, a mossy rock and a very cold pebble. "Shoot. There are only enough evolution stones for us to evolve into one evolution each." Skye remarked. "How are we gonna decide who become what?"
"Let's draw lots, but make it tomorrow. I don't think the girls can take it now. They're so shaken and you bloody well know what must be done to become an espeon or an umbreon with that stone..." I whispered in his ear. The girls were still shivering violently from their encounter with Archaxis.
"You're right...but the girls don't know, and I'd find it best if we didn't tell them..." He whispered in return, before grooming Tia's fur to calm her down. We bunched together and tried our best to fall asleep, hoping that this was all just a horrible nightmare, and that everyone would still be alive when we woke up.
----
Night's corpse was still there when I woke up in the morning, and a tear rolled down my cheek. I barely knew him but I felt I owed him so much, that I never had the chance to return. Dragging his heavy body out, I dug a grave with my paws and placed his body inside before covering it up. While that helped my mental condition a little, I felt my belly rumble from hunger. Sighing softly to myself, I padded over to the berry pile.
Nothing there either. Nobody else was picking any berries off the huge pile. Flies hovered over the corpses of my former pack, the stench of death and rotting overwhelming my nostrils. Picking up an Oran berry with my teeth, I followed the path to the river, reminiscing everything my father had done and said along the way.
When I reached the river, I half-expected Night to be there, smiling, but he wasn't. Sadly, I washed my paws in the river. All of a sudden, something pulled me into the river. Struggling violently did nothing to keep me afloat. Just when my lungs started filling with water, another thing floated me gently to the surface of the river. Taking a good look, I realised that that thing was Myst.
"Morning, Flar. I assume that was a nice morning bath?" Myst was much bigger than me now as she formed a protective cradle around me, keeping me afloat. Her fur was no longer brown, but instead a pristine shade of blue. Her thick, finned tail propelled her like a boat as I 'rode' her around the river.
"Myst? You're a vaporeon now? It's hardly fair to the others that you picked your evolution first..." Myst continued to bob up and down slowly in the water, before teasing me with her forepaw.
"I know I jumped the gun, but I've always wanted to become a vaporeon. Besides, what can they do to change my evolution now?" Myst laughed, making her body tip over. I grabbed on to her body frantically, trying to stay with her and not drown. "My bad..." She started swimming back to shore, and I placed all four paws on the soil of the riverbank with relief.
"I can't see why you're so interested in the water...frankly..." 'From now on, I will hate water.' I added in my mind.
"Well, that's for giving me a scare yesterday." She nuzzled me playfully, and I felt her fins rub against my face. Myst was much larger than me now. I almost envied her evolution, in fact. In the process, many painful memories are weakened in order to bring the body into a suitable state for evolution. That would explain why Myst still had the heart to play a prank despite her father dying yesterday. My belly grumbled again, and I remembered my oran berry. A quick look told me that it was floating in the middle of the river. "Aww...is my widdle Flar hungry?" She picked me up by the mane and I hissed like I did yesterday.
"You're not a very nice sister, you know..."
----
When we returned to the berry pile, the others were waiting angrily for me and Myst to show up. "Myst! How could you?" Tia asked, shocked at Myst's cheating.
"This is not the time to be fighting amongst ourselves..." Skye pointed at the berry pile. "Now I know this isn't exactly a fair method of deciding who evolves into what, but it's the best I could think of. We'll plunge our heads in through the berry pile and pull out a random berry. Then we match the colour to the evolution stone."
"What if you get a berry that isn't any of the colours of the evolution stones?" Glacia asked.
"I thought of that earlier. If you get a berry that isn't blue, green, red, or yellow, then you'll get either espeon or umbreon, to be decided by the two of them." Leaf whistled worriedly.
"Urm... Skye? You do know what happens if let's say, you and Flar get to become espeon and umbreon, right?" Skye nodded, placing a paw on his forehead.
"It's a chance I'm willing to take, Leaf. It's a chance
I'm willing to take. Now, I think I'll pick first."
Sticking his head into the mound of berries, he reappeared with a pecha berry in his jaws. Shocked, he dropped it on the ground. "Oh dear...I think you may have cursed me, Leaf. You next, Flar, and you'd better not get another pecha berry..." Skye added worriedly.
The girls weren't too sure what we were talking about as their teachers didn't explain this part about the sacrifice of the espeon and umbreon evolution stone. While espeons and umbreons evolved from happiness, they could also evolve from special evolution stones if the conditions were right.
Closing my eyes, I forced my head through the berry pile, overwhelmed by the numerous scents inside. Biting the stalk of a berry, I pulled my head free before opening my eyes. It was a cheri berry. "I guess that means that I'm a flareon now. Wish me luck..." Picking up the red stone, I swallowed it with a sickeningly loud gulp, feeling its warmth course through my body. My fur slowly grew longer, changing from a dull brown to a pale red. My mane remained, albeit thicker than before, and my tail changed into a mass of fur. I felt the surroundings grow cooler as my body temperature increased, and my body was growing in size before my very eyes. Soon, I was as big as Myst. "Congrats, brother." Jolt was smiling at me.
There were so many new sensations going through my mind. I was taller, and I saw and heard much more than I did when I was an eevee. While I used to sweat on a hot day, the forest actually felt cool for once, a refreshing change. So many new thoughts and ideas ran through my mind, feelings I had never experienced before now running rampant. For the first time, I saw how beautiful Myst actually was, and I was torn between my promise to Night and my attraction to Myst. I padded over to her side, where she started to blush. Evidently, she felt the same way about my body.
"Tia, it's your turn..." She just sat there, looking at the berry pile before her. "What's wrong? Don't you want to evolve?"
"It's just that...I want to be an espeon, and nothing else. Can I be an espeon please?" Tia asked, her tail in between her legs. Skye smiled, and Leaf breathed a sigh of relief.
"I see nothing wrong with that." Skye said.
"I'm rather happy about that. It's better than me becoming an espeon, that's for sure." Leaf calmed down. Shivers ran down the four males' fur at the same time as he finished his statement.
Tia swallowed one of the clear stones, but nothing happened to her. "Why am I not evolving?" The four males swallowed loudly, but it was Jolt who spoke first.
"You must have missed the lesson with your mentor. Now if you don't mind..." Jolt picked up the thunderstone and swallowed it, making the change into a jolteon.
"Hey! Jolt, that isn't fair to Leaf and Glacia!" Skye protested. Jolt sniffed, ignoring his statement.
"I doubt that Myst had thought of that when she evolved, did she? There's no need to go through all this nonsense just for our evolutions." Jolt said coolly, sparkles of electricity bristling on his back. Skye snarled angrily at Jolt, who returned the aggression. Jolt swiped with his paw, scratching Skye's blind side. Skye yipped in pain, pawing back.
"Play dirty will you?" Skye prepared to fight against -now bigger- Jolt, shifting into a fighting stance. Angrily, I stood between them.
"You two should stop fighting right now! What would Night say if he saw you two like this? Skye, obviously neither Glacia nor Leaf minds, so there's no need to be territorial about it. Jolt, next time think before you act, okay? We're one big family now, and if we're fighting like this there's no way we can ever stand a chance if Archaxis came back, alright!" The two of them kept quiet, looking away. It was tough being the brother of three unrelated people, but I think I handled that quite well.
Leaf and Glacia both made the evolutions into leafeon and glaceon respectively, and that was it for the childhood part of my memory.