Pious Odyssey

[Zeromus]

Synopsis: Evolia, a secluded continent whose culture is made unique by the Hallowed One, a single eevee chosen each generation charged with the duty of retaining peace in the world. Nine years ago though, he dissapeared. So when Iskander is invited to travel across Evolia and the group runs into the next chosen, the ensuing adventure is one that will change their lives forever.

Hello everyone, before you start reading, I'd just like to start off by saying... hi! As well as maybe clarifying and giving more insight into this story. Pious Odyssey is a story that I started planning back in August of 2014, and over the course of 5 months I on and off spent time planning. I've tried to put as much thought into the story as possible, my notes and such reaching a staggering 36,000 words/ 88 pages. This is because while I have no intention on ever writing professionally, I'm pretty set upon creating a literary work that shows how much this story means to me. I really want this to be something for many to enjoy, and to create something that stands out from most other things you may read in the Pokemon fandom.

Because I value the idea of creating a high quality story, I value the idea of receiving constructive criticism. I would hate to ruin my own story just because of my sub-par writing skills or inability to properly articulate certain story-telling elements so if there is anything that you see that really just bugs the crap out of it, tell me. I won't be offended. I've played games with some of the most toxic communities ever, I've been called many things that aren't appropriate enough to be mentioned on these forums; just go nuts. Alongside that, if there's something that you think is the most amazing thing you've ever seen and you want to tell me how awesome I am and that my writing could bring tears to even the most stone hearted person, mention that too! I know what a great person and writer I am, but it doesn't hurt to hear it from others as well!

...Okay that last part was obvious sarcasm, but if you do see something that you like, but more importantly dislike, mention it. I've never written informal pieces of work before, so this whole thing is a learning experience for me!

I won't ramble any more than that, so without further ado, I present thee fine sir and or madam, Pious Odyssey!



Table of Contents
Prologue (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?5479-Pious-Odyssey&p=126542&viewfull=1#post126542)
Chapter 1 (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?5479-Pious-Odyssey&p=131485&viewfull=1#post131485)
Chapter 2 (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?5479-Pious-Odyssey&p=136538&viewfull=1#post136538)
Chapter 3 (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?5479-Pious-Odyssey&p=151114&viewfull=1#post151114)
Chapter 4 (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?5479-Pious-Odyssey&p=155237&viewfull=1#post155237)



Next on the to-do list: rough drafting the next (few) chapter(s).

[Zeromus]

Prologue - Armageddon


In a time, long, long ago, the planet Earth was inhabited by two very different and distinct groups of beings; pokemon and humans. For as long as either race could remember, the two had existed in perfect harmony alongside each other, never having had any sort of long-lasting dispute before. Together, they complimented each other with their own strengths and weaknesses. Where the pokemon were strong, able-bodied, and displayed unusual and unique abilities, the humans were smart, industrious, and always looked for a way to make the world around them a better place. For the most part, the planet was a living paradise. Sightings and rumours of violence between the two races were almost unheard of, and so, after centuries upon centuries of peace and unity, both sides became complacent.

This complacency however, would be their downfall. For as unlikely as it seemed for problems to arise in between pokemon and mankind, it was not an impossibility. For conflict did happen, time and time again, and although it was dealt with, even swiftly at that, unease began to settle in amongst some of the pokemon. It was always the humans who started the problem, for one flaw they had to combat more fiercely amongst themselves that their pokemon allies didn’t, was the fatal flaw of greed. Greed drove the rotten few to sour the almost immaculate friendship they had established with the elemental-wielding creatures. Almost everyone was willing to forgive and forget each time, knowing that there would always be the small group who would rise up time and time again to wreak havoc among the populace, and so they knew than to let their viewpoints of those few individuals tarnish their views of the other humans.

Of course, in a perfect world, perhaps all would be forgiven, and everyone would move on without a second thought; but this isn’t a perfect world. Even if it seemed so to some, even if some liked to believe, or had fooled themselves into believing it, the world was far from perfect.

No. Far from perfect indeed.

As time came and went, some pokemon began to grow restless. In their eyes, the humans wanted nothing more than to gain complete control over them all. Sure they were stopped each and every time, but surely if they tried enough times, they would succeed eventually? Perhaps the humans were not nearly half as nice as they had all “fooled” themselves into believing. Perhaps it was all a façade into convincing them into letting their guard drop down completely.

They couldn’t risk it. The humans had to be stopped. They wanted to take away their freedom. They wanted to take away their rights. They wanted to use them as nothing more than tools. They were only a means to an end. The pokemon had to strike back, and strike back hard. So hard, so swiftly, that the humans would never even get a chance to strike back.

And strike back they didn’t.

Through the efforts of a single group of pokemon, they were able to wipe out the entire human race off the face of Earth, wiping out any signs of their civilization in the process. They were free now. Free from the doubts and worries of enslavement. Surely the world was a better place now?

What of the others though? Of course not all of their fellow pokemon shared the same views as them. The group had forgotten to take into account the important fact that they were the minority amongst their race. A tiny, almost non-existent, minority.

Itt was too late now though. Only upon seeing the worldwide spread of mania and havoc that they had caused, did the group realize their mistake. Instead of helping their race from the burden of their insecurities and flaws, they had only caused more to flourish. Any form of bonds and unity, of civilization and organization, had now been abolished, and for many decades to come, the world would be plunged into a state of violent disorder.

Only through the help of the legendaries, was some semblance of civilization able to form. A brand new civilization that was akin to that which existed before, had been created. The only difference this time was that it was made of one race, rather than two, and for a time, it seemed as though things may very well work out. Despite the tragedy and violence, to some it seemed possible that balance could once again be restored. The pain and loneliness of losing their loved ones had slowly begun to heal itself amongst the hearts of those whom had survived, and while the scars remained, the pain eventually subsided to nothing more than a dull ache.

Villages began to sprout across the world as pokemon shifted away from their nomadic lifestyles, instead adopting one to that which the humans used so long ago. Through teamwork and unity, pokemon were able to settle down, and create more stable lifestyles. While it was nothing like which the humans accomplished, it was still something. The world had once again settled into a relatively quiet and stable era of peace and prosperity.

The peace and prosperity was never meant to last however, as strange and unexplainable events began to take place across the land. Natural disasters began to occur with increasing frequency, pokemon had begun to disappear, last seen in certain areas, and even some of the legendaries had begun to lose control of themselves, corrupted by this unseen and malevolent force. With the very balance of the universe upset now that one of its inhabitants had been wiped out, the forces that had kept the world together were beginning to deteriorate. The events that continued to follow as a result, no one would’ve ever guessed.

In a desperate gamble to try and restore balance to the Earth, and with the help of the remaining legendaries that had not fallen under the influence of the corruption, Arceus plucked several humans from parallel timelines, and brought them to this one, giving them the bodies of pokemon to help shield their identities, hoping that their very presence would help stabilize the planet. For a while, it seemed that his plan had worked, as they even went so far as to help sort out all of the various calamities that were happening. Perhaps now they had finally found a solution to their problem. Many breathed a sigh of relief. Surely this was the answer to their problems all along?

It wasn’t the answer they were looking for once again, for one of the humans that Arceus had brought to their timeline went missing without a trace. Panicking and unsure of what to do, he could only hope that there would not be any additional problems that would come with yet another human casualty. In his shame, Arceus failed to take any real action towards tracking down the missing human, hoping only that the mistake wouldn’t come back to haunt him.

Of course it came back to haunt him twelve years after the young and heroic charmander’s disappearance, and in a much more severe manner than he could’ve possible imagined. The event in fact took place exactly twelve years after the hero’s unexplainable disappearance in the young fire-type’s “home town” of Pokemon Square. A charizard wearing a hooded cloak of the deepest midnight black possible, and whose scales were only a slight shade lighter, appeared, and wiped the entire settlement clean off the face of the planet, leaving no sign that it, or even its inhabitants, had ever existed there. The curious thing that was noted though about the whole thing, is that this pokemon had not given a second thought towards wiping out every last living thing in site except for one; a blastoise that only some of the legends recognized due to his involvement in the prevention of the great meteor that had threatened to crash into the planet twelve years prior. The water-type did not perish in the same manner as his friends, but instead was personally mutilated by the charizard, serving as an example to all the other pokemon before they were all killed.

Even though it was clear that this mysterious pokemon had dangerous and destructive motives in mind, none of the legendaries dared. They reasoned that it was not their place to get involved, and that surely some pokemon would be strong and able enough to take him down, maybe even one of the humans. And so, forcing themselves to relax and tend themselves to other matters, they purposefully paid a blind eye to the tumult and turmoil that took place around them, believing that everything would work out in the end. They hid themselves away from the truth of the matter.

The truth that they were scared, and had no idea what to do.

For even if they pretended to ignore the rampaging and ruthless flame pokemon, they could see that he was no ordinary pokemon. His powers were unnatural, their source; unknown. Looking into his mind, there was no mercy nor regard for life that existed within his mind, though there was no need to look. His actions said everything. He enjoyed every bit of what he was doing. He wasn’t killing all of these pokemon because he needed to. He did it out of nothing more than wanting a thrill and enjoyment. The fire-type’s senseless rampage continued to rage on as Arceus and his helpers continued to do nothing even after thousands upon thousands of lives had been lost. Pokemon from all around the region set out to put an end to the fire-type’s blood-thirsty rampage, but no matter how many tried, no matter how strong they were, they were never a match for him.

The legendaries were losing more and more hope of a solution showing itself. Minor action was taken to help reduce the number of casualties that were beginning, but in the long run, hardly accomplished something. Finally, the legendaries stoic pacifism was broken when “The Reaper” as he had come to call himself struck down another key figure; the two heroes of Post Town. The loss of yet two more well known and powerful figures had finally sent them over the edge. In an ultimate display of panic, Arceus began to evacuate the legendaries and humans through opening portals; able to be entered by only humans, across the continent and anywhere else around the world where they existed, spreading the word that they were to all return to their own timelines and places. Not wanting to lose their own lives as well, Arceus opened up a separate set of portals for the legendaries to take to escape to another plane of existence of their own, leaving all everyone else behind to fend for themselves.

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _____________________________

“Nova, what are you doing? The portals are going to close soon! You need to get out of here right now!” shouted an impatient and worried eevee to his human-born friend.

The two had been running as fast as they could, travelling alongside Nova’s fellow humans and their various team mates and partners. Nova and the rest had been ordered by the legendaries to return to their own dimensions through specially created portals, much like the ones that had originally been used to bring them here, in an attempt to prevent any further human casualties. There wasn’t much time left, as Arceus could only hold them open for so long before they would close forever, leaving anyone who didn’t make it behind to face the impending wrath of The Reaper and his minions. Some legendaries were tasked with guarding the way there to ensure that all of the humans made it through safely, but they too had to make their own escape.

Star followed the frozen pikachu’s gaze, seeing it locked upon two figures just off to the side of the path. The eevee looked over and watched the scene that had caused his friend to stop in her mad dash for safety, unfold for himself.

Heatran whom had been charged with protecting the portal located near the eastern outskirts of Treasure Town, was satisfied that his job was done and that everyone would make it. Letting himself at last to be pulled towards the portal located up in the sky that would lead him to his own salvation, he was surprised when he felt someone grab onto one of his legs; a distressed and panic-stricken ursaring whom the eevee and Nova recognized as one of the long-time inhabitants of Treasure Town. Neither had seen the hibernator pokemon so distressed in their entire time that they had known the calm and docile normal-type, for the ursaring was now clinging on desperately for dear life to the legendary’s foreleg, shouting with all of his might at the great beast he had latched onto.

“You’ve got to take me with you! Please for the love of all that is good and holy, I beg of you!” the ursaring cried as Heatran desperately tried to shake the crazed pokemon off. “Please! I don’t want to die!”

Scowling down at the ursaring, Heatran couldn’t help but be disgusted by the mortal’s pitious pleas for mercy. “Let go of me, you crazed animal!” he shouted before at last lifting his leg up and flinging the helpless pokemon off of him, hard enough to knock the wind out of the ursaring. “If you don’t want to die, then figure out this whole mess yourself! This matter no longer concerns the legendaries; we are done with you all. You are all on your own now,” he spoke harshly as he continued his ascent into the clouds, until at last disappearing altogether, leaving the broken form of the ursaring, and speechless pikachu behind.

So it’s true. They really are leaving everyone behind to die. They don’t care what happens to them any more, Nova thought to herself as a cold and haunting shiver of confirmation and finality coursed through her spine. And they expect us to leave them all behind too. Leave them all behind to die and suffer at the claws of this monster…

Nova’s gaze was still locked on the wheezing and crumpled form of the ursaring still laying in the same position as he landed in when he was flung downwards. If she left, the ursaring wouldn’t be the only one who would surely perish. All of her friends, her team mates, everyone whom she now considered family, would die. Everyone would die a meaningless and gruesome death, including Star.

Star! If she went through that portal, she would be leaving Star behind! There was nothing he could do on his own if she left! He would surely perish alongside everyone. The Reaper was too powerful. And even by himself, he was an unstoppable force, but he wasn’t alone. He had help now even. What could they do?

What could she do?

Maybe it was better if she went back home, pretended this whole thing never happened. There was nothing she could do if she stayed. Tearing her gaze away from the ursaring, she focused it instead on the direction that lead to the portal and her one chance at getting out of this whole ordeal alive. Perhaps… it was better if she at least tried to save herself. Her death would only be yet another amongst the thousands that had already happened…

Then the news of the Post Town heroes’ murders came back and smacked her right in the face, but more importantly than that, the Pokemon Square’s hero! That Blastoise! His death wasn’t like the others. No, rumours floated around that his had been especially long and drawn out. All because he had worked alongside that charmander that had disappeared fifteen years ago. Rumours of the event and her own imagination began to swirl together, creating an image of The Reaper breaking Star’s small and diminuitive frame. Images of him being torn apart, bones being broken, organs being crushed, and the most painful of torture methods used in slowly ending his life in the worst way possible. There wasn’t just a chance that The Reaper would make Star’s death slow and painful. The Reaper would do it without a doubt. And she was going to leave her best friend behind to face an inevitable and horrendous fate...

“…Nova! We have to go! Now!” Star shouted, his golden eyes flaring with determination as he snapped his friend out of her internal debate. “Heatran is already gone, meaning the portal could close any minute now, so it’s time to stop day dreaming, and get you the hell out of here before it’s too late!”

The pikachu still gave no signs that she was going to start moving, so with an impatient huff, scared that she might get left behind, Star began to push her down the road with his head.

“I’m not leaving.”

Star stopped at once, surprised by the pikachu’s sudden words. The eevee paused for a moment to recollect himself, “What do you mean you’re not leaving? Of course you are! The portal’s still open. Now let’s g-“

“I said I’m not leaving, Star!” she shouted this time with much more conviction and force, digging her feet into the dirt and stopping her friend from moving her any more.

Growling at the electric-type, Star couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Have you gone completely insane? You can’t stay here, you’ll only be throwing your life away!”

“And so would you! But unlike me, you don’t have the ability to choose whether or not you want to stay. It’s not fair!”

“Of course it’s not fair, but what will staying here accomplish?” Star demanded. “You have a chance at saving yourself - take it! Leave this place and live on for our sake!”

“Then what? Spend the rest of it knowing that I ran away like a coward, leaving you all behind to be picked off one-by-one, left behind to face all of this with no hope for survival!” Nova retorted angrily, stomping her foot down on the ground. “I know that if you were in my position, you would stay too!”

“You don’t know that, I would leave t-“

“Don’t lie to me in my face, Star! If you were honestly about to tell me you would be willing to leave everyone behind to save yourself, then that’s the largest pile of trash I’ve ever heard you say!” Nova had put the eevee at a loss for words, who was now unsure of what to do. He so desperately wanted to save his friend, knowing there was no chance for survival if she stayed. That fire-breathing monstrosity would torture and mutilate her if she didn’t leave, just like the rest…

The two were alone now with the exception of the ursaring whom had cried himself into unconsciousness now. Standing in solitude, a grave silence surrounded them as the eevee searched desperately for a way to get his friend through the portal that would surely save her life. A strong gust of wind blew past them, ruffling the fur of both pokemon as they continued to stand there, the direness of the entire situation sinking in more and more.

“He’s going to come for you specifically…” Nova whispered suddenly, dread lacing itself amongst her words as she stated the obvious. “He’s going to tear you apart in the worst way possible, and I won’t even be here to help defend you when he does…”

“M-maybe he won’t if you leave. M-maybe if all the humans escape, he’ll stop this all and leave us alone,” Star replied, still desperately trying to find a way to convince Nova of leaving, but only earned a shake of her head instead.

“No… he won’t. If this was only about humans, he would’ve killed me and everyone else a long time ago. He’s only toying around with us, delaying the inevitable. He’ll still come for you; I mean look at what happened to that blastoise. The human that he was associated with had disappeared long ago, and he still ripped him to shreds regardless. If I leave, he’ll still come for you… At least if I stay, I can say I died trying to do something.”

“Nova… please… don’t do this,” Star pleaded, tears slowly forming in his eyes.

The pikachu merely shook her head again before she pulled the eevee into a strong embrace. The eevee buried his head into the fur on her chest, as he cried tears of both fear and sadness. He felt helpless to stop the one he loved most from throwing her life away in a futile attempt to save him. He felt sadness for those around him as he had watched the world crumble around him ever so slowly, and while he didn’t want to admit it, he felt scared because he knew Nova was right. He was scared of the fate that undoubtedly awaited him, and was ashamed that he was scared for his own well being. He was no different than the ursaring, even if he didn’t show it on the outside. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was scared for his own life. He wanted to grab a hold of that heatran, and fly away to that portal up in the sky with Nova. She had been half right about him not leaving everyone behind had he been in Nova’s position. He could never bring himself to leave her and everyone else behind to fend for themselves, but if he had the chance of leaving with Nova by his side, he would selfishly take that chance without another thought. She was the only one he truly cared about any more. She was his only shining light left in the world. The only reason he hadn’t taken extremes to avoid the cruel ending that awaited him.

He loved her with all of his being; even if she would never return it.

When at last the tears could come no more, and Star no longer had the energy to exert much more emotion, he shifted into a prone position, leaning his body weight against Nova whom had sat down on the ground behind him, stroking his head in order to help calm him down. Staring out across the plains with a wistful expression, Star laid there in silence with the pikachu, finally accepting that his friend had made her decision.

It wasn’t after several lone minutes of comforting silence as Nova continued to stroke him, was Star able to speak. “So… what now? Do we just sit around idly and wait until The Reaper finally decides it’s time, and comes to kill us? Is this the end?” the eevee asked, his tone lacking any sort of emotion outside that of one that showed resignation and fatigue.

“No… it can’t be. Surely there’s someone out there strong enough to take him down. There’s no way this is how it all ends,” she replied after a moment’s hesitation, no longer stroking the quadruped’s fur. Looking down the road towards the east once again, she was no longer looking at the portal, but of a land far away from here, across the ocean, where she imagined the pokemon who could save them all had to be.

“It just can’t.”


Little did the pikachu know though, was that she was correct though. Out there, living on a separate continent that was blissfully unaware of the destruction that was soon to spread all around them, was one individual whom was destined to put a stop to the marauding charizard’s plans. An individual whom would’ve never guessed what fate had in store for them, for even fate itself would’ve never guessed it would be that pokemon that would end up saving the entire world. Unfortunately, Nova wouldn’t be meeting that individual before experiencing much more pain and loss. For her, it would be a long, long, wait. One that would last for over two hundred harrowing and slow years.

[Zeromus]

Chapter 1 – Bed Time Stories


“Hey Papa, can you tell us that story again? The one about the hollow… the hallow… the Hallowed One? You know, the eevee who has all of those kick butt powers and no one can beat?” a 5 year-old Iskander asked his father, causing him to stop on his way out of the bedroom.

“Well… I don’t know,” Alyosha began, drawing out the first word of his sentence, looking upwards in thought, trying to seem unsure about the request. “Haven’t I told you that story enough times already? I don’t see what’s so special about my kind. We’re really not all that great.”

“Of course you are!” Iskander retorted angrily, offended by his father’s mock humbleness. “Especially you. I bet you could take on a flock of zapdos with your eyes closed and your legs tied together if you wanted to!”

“How would that be possible when there’s only one Zapdos, and it was last seen hundreds of years ago,” his younger sister interjected, secretly agreeing with Iskander, but simply wanted to be a nuisance to him.

“How do you know there’s only one zapdos, when you’ve never even seen one yourself!” the older eevee retorted.
The two siblings stood up and glared at each other, low growls emanating from their small forms.

“Settle down you two, there will be no fighting between family members in this household,” Isana reprimanded her two kits sternly. “Now, let your father tell his story without any more interruptions.”

Sticking their tongues out at each other, both eevee settled back down into their beds before turning their attention to their father. Chuckling at his kits, his sky-blue eyes lit up with merriment at their childlike behaviour, wishing he was still as young as they are, the espeon took a deep breath and began his tale.

“Once upon a time, our planet was inhabited by a species completely separate from pokemon called humans. They were different from us in that they had no elemental powers. They couldn’t breathe fire like an arcanine, nor lift boulders twice their size like a machoke. They couldn’t sore through the sky like a pidgeot nor dig underground like an onix. Their bodies were weak and fragile compared to that of a pokemon’s, but what they lacked in brawn, they made up for in brain. The humans came up with all sorts of different inventions and technology to help compensate for this weakness, and it was through their need to better themselves, that they came to rule the world.”

“Or so they could’ve. Humans had no desire to conquer us pokemon, and instead chose to work along side us, becoming our friends, allies, and sometimes even family members. Through the combination of human creativity, and the raw power of pokemon, the two races intermingled and became one driving force that sought to make the world a happy place for all to enjoy. For centuries, humans and pokemon lived together happily in harmony.”

“But just as every pokemon is different from each other, so too are humans. There were humans who saw pokemon as nothing more than tools; as an inferior race, and so they began to capture our kind in order to use them for their own selfish purposes. Running a crime syndicate to make money, attempting to alter nature and reshape the Earth itself, creating new worlds for their own selfish desire, enslaving us all in order to conquer everyone else, and even creating machines meant to wipe out our entire race. These are only some of the goals that the humans abused our relationship in order to try and achieve.”

“They were always stopped however through the combined efforts of both human and pokemon alike. Through the joint efforts of everyone, was the planet’s balance able to be preserved. And so peace on our planet was able to be safegaurded. Under the surface of everything however, more and more pokemon were becoming restless.”

“Some pokemon could no longer bring themselves to trust the humans. Every time one group would be stopped, another would rise in their place. Who knew when one of these organizations would finally succeed? The pokemon couldn’t just sit around and wait for the humans to finally succeed in their plans. So they formed an organization whose goal was to see the destruction of the human race. And they had the perfect way of doing so.”

“The last major crime organization that appeared bent on harming pokekind had the goal of wiping out our entire race, planning on doing so through a special machine, originally built prior thousands of years. What the genocidal pokemon wanted to do was change the effects of the machine so that instead of killing all pokemon, it would instead kill all humans.”

“So work immediately began on the machine. Doing so in secret and creating it deep underground where no one from the outside world would know about it, the organization spent months collecting the parts and putting them together. The project however was kept a secret from even most of its members. The only ones who knew of the machine’s construction were the highest ranking members of the group, and the select few who were working on actually creating the machine.”

“The machine was eventually complete, and was only discovered by the legendaries after Yveltal, whom shared a distaste for the humans, but more importantly held a grudge against his sister Xerneas, tricked the legendary into helping power the machine. For the rest of the world, they didn’t have long to register their incoming reckoning as the pokemon extremist group revealed their machine to the world mere minutes before setting it off, ending billions of lives.”

“All signs of human civilization were wiped off the face of the planet. The unthinkable had been done, and everyone was thrown into turmoil. Some pokemon had lost friends, others; travelling companions. To many, they had lost the most important people in their lives.”

“The legendaries, appalled by the actions of their kind could only attempt to calm down the tumultuous masses of pokemon as chaos and disorder began to ensue everywhere. Pokemon turned on pokemon, and many died to the madness and grief of their brethren.”

“It took decades to restore order, but when they finally had, pokemon began to band together and put aside their previous differences. A new age of civilization had begun, one built and created by pokemon much like that of humans. At first they were only small settlements of two or three homes. Those settlements began to expand and grew into villages. Those villages grew into towns, and those towns grew into large cities. Arceus had watched over the whole thing himself, and pleased with how pokemon had been able to construct a society and civilization of their own, saw it fit that the legendaries take their leave since it was their fault for both interfering and not interfering that the world was the way it was now. Before He and the rest of the legendaries left for their own plane of existence, they divided up Evolia into eight different kingdoms, and transformed the lands to best suit the different elements that they would represent. The reasoning behind this was tied to the tournament that He decided to host.”

“This tournament was not just any ordinary tournament, though. The Hallowed Tournament was created to test the body, mind and spirit of its contestants. Should whoever came out on top be worthy in Arceus’ eyes, then they would not only receive unique abilities, but increased strength, power, and speed. There was only one catch to entering the tournament; entry was restricted to eevees and eons and eevees and eons alone. This wasn’t done because Arceus favoured our species over the rest, but because of our unique DNA structure that allows us to master not just one or two elements, but nine of them. Arceus wanted to create a pokemon that would be powerful enough to retain order over the land, but also wanted to do so without bending the laws of nature that had been set in place too far.”

“Arceus named his chosen the ‘Hallowed One’; a pokemon who not only had enhanced strength, speed and stamina, but could also change into any eight evolutions that eevees are capable of undergoing. The tournament did not grant them the ability to shape shift outright, instead they must to prove themselves worthy of such powers further by passing the tests of all eight kingdoms. It was up to each monarch, also known as the most powerful or most respected pokemon in the kingdom, to come up with and conduct the test. Should the Hallowed One pass their test, they would be given the Alpha Shard, a mystical artefact created by Arceus that would grant them the evolutionary form affiliated with the element of the Shard.”

“With these great powers, the Hallowed One also has the great responsibility of retaining order and peace throughout all of Evolia and its eight kingdoms. Should something happen to them, then the whole process shall be undergone once more, and Arceus shall choose a new champion to take their place.”

“And so that is that,” Alyosha said at last, having finished retelling his story. “So if something were to happen to me, Arceus would then choose another mon to replace me. While it’s not guaranteed that an eevee or eon will be picked if they win the Hallowed Tournament, it still greatly increases their chances of being picked. Even then, many enter just for the sake of bettering themselves.”

Noticing his son’s admiring gaze, Alyosha couldn’t help but feel a rare sense of pride in having his kit look at him that way. That feeling was quickly wiped away when he noticed his daughter Hypatia sound asleep, no doubt having lost interest in the story long ago.

“I can’t believe you were chosen by Arceus, the god of all pokemon to be the world’s strongest pokemon,” Iskander exclaimed excitedly, quickly lowering his voice and ears in shame though when he heard his younger sister begin to whimper in her sleep from him being overly vocal. “I bet if I entered that tournament, I could win with ease. Then I could take over for you someday beating up all the bad pokemon, and saving the day!”

This earned another laugh from his father as the young eevee sat on his haunches. Lifting his front paws up, he began to jab at the air, imagining himself beating up some imaginary foe. It was only when he noticed the yellow florescent light shining on the wooden walls in front of him did he remember that his mother was also in the room.
“Hey Mama, what do you think about me entering the-“he began but stopped when he noticed the look on his mother’s face.

Isana had locked her eyes onto Alyosha’s, staring at him with unblinking eyes, not moving a single muscle with a small frown set upon her face. The espeon had now noticed the umbreon staring at him, frowning with a remorseful look on his face as he quickly figured what was bothering her.

“Mama, are you okay?” Isana was startled by her son’s sudden inquiry. When she looked down, she saw her son looking up at her worriedly. He began to rub his head against the sleek midnight black fur on her chest.
Giving her son a rare, yet sad smile, she replied to him “I’m fine sweety, don’t you worry about me.” Licking the back of his head, the mother umbreon began to soothe her son’s nerves, causing him to snuggle into her warm body.

Alyosha could feel the happiness radiating off the mother and son as they shared a rare and touching moment. The fact remained however that it was still late, and both him and his mate needed their rest.
“I’m sorry to take your pillow away from you son, but your mother and I really need to get our sleep,” the espeon yawned, giving Iskander a sleepy grin. “And so do you. How do you expect to take over my job someday if you don’t get your sleep?”

Giving a yawn of his own then nodding, Iskander let go of his mother and walked over to his father and hugged his leg before slowly walking over to his bed and laying down. Resting his head on his paws with his eyes still partially open, the eevee seemed to have fallen into deep thought. The two eons not noticing this began to make their way out of the room, when suddenly, lifting his head up and looking at Isana, Iskander finally spoke his mind.

“Mama, can I sleep with you and Papa tonight in your bed?”

Isana stopped to look over her shoulder at her son. “Why would you want to do that, is your bedding not comfortable enough?” Isana questioned.

“It’s not that. It’s just… I’m scared of being alone. I don’t want you and Papa to leave me,” Iskander responded, looking down in embarrassment.

“But that is part of growing up Iskander. Learning to live by yourself is something you have to learn to do,” the umbreon turned around fully and began to walk towards the distressed eevee. “And the first step towards doing so is learning to sleep in your own bed.”

“Besides,” Isana began, placing one of her front paws on Iskander’s head gently, “no matter what I say, no matter what I do, no matter where I am, whether it’s in this life or the next, I will always love you no matter what, and I’ll never have truly left you, because I will always be with you in your heart.”

Hearing those words, Iskander couldn’t help but leap into his mother again despite his exhaustion, latching himself onto her leg. Giving him that same sad smile as before, she gently pried her son off of her leg and placed him back down on his bed. Giving one last big yawn, Iskander laid his head down, this time closing his eyes completely as he prepared to drift off to sleep.

“Good night Iskander,” Isana spoke softly, making her way out of their children’s bedroom with Alyosha.

“Good night Mama… good night Papa… I love you.” Iskander mumbled to himself quietly before he finally drifted off to sleep.


* * *

Morning had arrived to take over its part of the day cycle, and with it brought its companion the sun. Only too happy to share its presence with every living being in Psyonia, it shone its rays through the window of Iskander’s makeshift bedroom window, causing the teenage eevee to slowly blink his amber eyes open. Giving a large yawn, Iskander uncurled himself from his sleeping position, and shifted onto his back instead, staring up at the wooden boards that served as the roof over his head. He remained in this position, sullenly staring upwards, revisiting what he had just dreamed about. He could no longer remember the exact events of what had happened, only that it was of a time where he didn’t feel so lifeless and unmotivated.

The happy mood that was present in his dream, had translated into a foul one now that he was conscious. Turning his head over to the right, he spotted the other bed in the room, vacant, its owner not having used it in at least nine years. His cheerless mood deepening further, he arrived at the conclusion that it wouldn’t do him any good to continue to lay here idly. Getting up, the eevee made his way out of the room, deciding the first thing he should do is get something to eat. Walking through the living area, he couldn’t help but pause at his parent’s doorway, considering to go in and look but figured he shouldn’t as this was the type of thing he was trying to keep himself from doing.

Stepping into the kitchen, he took a moment to survey the area and decide what he wanted to eat. Along the wall in front of him were three separate cupboards used to sort all of the different berries that his house held. He knew that he had at least nine different types to choose from and while normally having so many berries seemed like a waste of money since there was no way he could eat them all in time before they would rot and decompose, the cupboards were enchanted to preserve the foods inside them indefinitely. They were a gift from the queen of Mystania to his father for helping her kingdom with some sort of problem he had long forgotten about.

The sudden thought and reminder of his father suddenly caused Iskander to narrow his eyes and grit his teeth together. Thoughts of how he would never see him again began to churn around in a tumultous rage inside his mind, and he could feel his suppressed outrage towards the one who was the cause of his death to beat furiously on his mental dam like a raging tempest, begging him to unleash his anger upon someone or something.

Doing just that, the irate eevee began to charge as much energy as he could into his tail, causing the normally soft and fluffy appendage to become as hard as iron. Swinging it around in a circle around him, he swung his tail as hard as he could into the leg of the table behind him, causing it to explode into a mass of wooden splinters, and making the table crashed into the ground having now been made lopsided. The troubled eevee was breathing heavily now from his emotional outburst. Yearning for escape away from the place that held so many terrible memories to him, he made his way past the piece of cloth draped over what served as the main doorway to his abode. Leaving the house, Iskander continued his search for food in town to instead.
__________________________________________________ _________

It was early in the morning, so not many shops and stores were open, but this also meant that not many residents were out to bother him either. Evolia as a continent was known for having put its eevee and eon population above the rest of its citizens. Psyonia being even more notorious than most for taking this fact a step further, Iskander’s species as a whole were more or less treated as royalty. They were after all chosen by the Alpha pokemon himself to take his place as the ruler of the entire world what with being charged as the Hallowed One, a pokemon considered a demi-god to its mortal bretheren. Where normally pokemon were not allowed access to certain places in cities unless they had proven themselves as an important figure in the community, eevees and eons alike were born to this right. They were treated with utmost respect regardless of their profession, could treat anyone however they liked, and could get away with whatever they wanted. This was a widely accepted way for the eevees and eons to live, and so often there was never an issue with this pompous attitude.

Patras was not like the rest of Psyonia though. Located in the north-eastern reaches of the psychic kingdom and far away from the influences of the capital city Mentali, Patras was a backwater town and was unlike any of its other neighbouring cities. Its citizens were pokemon who could not stand the tyranical and snobby attitude of their self-entitled overlords, and hated any and all of eonkind. This meant that the pokemon of Patras were not exactly too friendly towards Iskander, and he had experienced more than a few dangerous encounters with its residents in the past, sometimes having even gotten into fights with other pokemon his age in the past, but after realizing that he was much more powerful and skilled in combat than they were, they had long since given up antagonizing him through confrontation, but it didn’t mean they had let him live his life in the small town peacefully, still choosing to take a more passive aggressive approach.

While the small town was not poor, it wasn’t rich either and so the ones who ran the stores that Iskander would visit treated him with nothing more than the cold indifference necessary towards running their business. To the eevee, this was sufficient for his needs as he sought no companionship and only did what was necessary to make it through the day. Walking along the main road that lead from his house to the main square, Iskander shifted his glance left and right at all of the different buildings as he passed by, not really looking for anything in particular to eat, only something that would provide him enough sustenance for the day. Arriving in the central plaza, he came to an intersection of five dirt roads leading in different directions. Iskander glanced at the one leading to the north-west, deciding to see if Maarit’s café was open. The furret’s café did not have fixed hours, instead the owner chose to open and close depending on how she felt that day, so it was impossible to tell whether she would have the place open or not.

Maarit was an early riser though, so she was much more likely to be open early in the morning than she would be late in the afternoon. Making his way to her place, Iskander was thankful for running into no one, and even more thankful when he noticed that the door to the place was open, signalling to all that the normal-type was open for business. Perhaps today wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Stepping onto the door mat, a glass orb overhead emitted a “ding” sound that announced his arrival; yet another creation of the Mystanians. Iskander made his way to the counter at the back of the café, and jumped onto one of the stools, waiting to be served. Behind the counter was another door way that lead to the kitchen of the café and through it came the owner of the place, a bright smile radiating from her face. Upon seeing whose order she was taking, her energetic aura changed instantly changed to that of a drab, emotionless one as she stared expectantly at Iskander, waiting for him to make his order. Without wasting a second to take note of the furret’s change in behaviour, the eevee spoke up.

“One Bluk and Razz smoothie,” he said, his facial expression mirroring that of the furret’s.

“Do you have the berries yourself?” Maarit asked.

“No, I don’t,” Iskander responded after a moment of hesitation, cursing himself mentally for forgetting to bring them with him amidst his emotional outburst earlier.

“That will cost you an extra 300 poke then,” she said before turning back around to make his drink.

The furret returned no less than a minute later with his order placed in a wooden bowl designed for quadrupeds like Iskander. Dipping his head down to take a small drink of the berry smoothie, Iskander began to contemplate what he should do for the rest of the day. Eating would only take up so much time, and there was no way he was going back to his home if it meant sulking. Even such a brief thought of the subject caused his temper to rise, and he had to dip his head back down to take another drink of his fruity concoction to help soothe his temper. Sighing, he continued to brood over his decision making for a while longer.

He must’ve lost track of time as when his mind came back into focus with the outside world, he noticed that other pokemon had begun to enter the café as well. Not wanting to be around them, especially considering how volatile his emotions were being today, he lifted the bowl up to his mouth using his two front paws and quickly gulped down the rest of its contents. Iskander waved his paw at the furret to grab her attention when she came out to greet her other customers so he could pay his tab. He couldn’t help but notice how polite and happy her demeanor was towards everyone else in the room, and the way it paled in comparison to the one she used with him. It frustrated him greatly when he had never done anything wrong to her, and she only treated him the way he was because of what he was.

The eevee had very little time to rest his mind on such troubling observations. Looking over at him, her facial expression changed like a flick of a light switch and she walked over to him. She didn’t even allow him a word before she spoke, wanting to be rid of him as soon as possible.

“Your drink comes to a total cost of 400 poke,” she spoke with an impatient tone, putting her paw in front of her expectantly, waiting for her payment.

Iskander reached to his left side to grab the money from the leather pouch on his side. He immediately froze when he realized that he had left it at home. A sense of dread began to well up inside of him as he looked back up slowly at the furret still waiting, who was now cocking an eyebrow at him in an inquisitive manner.

“I… forgot my money back at my house. If you’d wait just five minutes, I can go get the money and-” but he never got to finish his proposal as he was suddenly cut off.

“Oh? You “forgot” your money at home did you?” the café owner began, her voice taking on an accusing tone which garnered the attention of the other patrons in the café. “You know what I think actually happened? I think you planned this from the start. You left it at home on purpose so that you could leave to go get it but never come back so that you wouldn't have to pay for your drink.”

“What? How does that make sense when-” but again the eevee was cut off before he could make any sort of rebuttal.

“Don’t think I don’t know how your kind work. You think you’re above the law. You think you can just get away with stealing from those less fortunate than you. You believe that you’re better than us just because of what you are,” the furret continued to accuse the eevee.

“Fortunate? You think I’m fortunate after I lost my-” Iskander began to respond, the deep burning anger from earlier returning with force.

“Yes, yes. We all know what happened. It’s been nine years and you’re still moping about it,” the furret replied with an exasperated tone. “Everyone is tired of you using that as an excuse to try and get everyone to pity you. If I were you, I would just get over it already.”

Iskander was stunned by the normal-type’s words. His jaw felt like it dropped down through the floor, as he tried to form words in response, but none came. This pokemon whom he had never caused harm to in his entire life, was trying to put words in his mouth, and frame him for actions he had never commited nor had ever planned on. Then if that wasn’t enough, she had even gone the extra mile to metaphorically kick him in the gut by telling him to get over the fact his father had been killed. Murdered. Murdered by…

Sighing, the furret cut Iskander’s train of thought off as she looked at him with a bored expression on her face. “Look, if you really feel that you’re above paying me for my services and only came here to feel bad for yourself, fine. But you are no longer welcome here,” she spoke in a deadpan voice. “Now get out of my café.”

Still unable to fully comprehend what was happening, Iskander managed to slowly turn around and hop off the stool, doing so in a trance-like state. As he made his way out, a primeape had gotten up and purposely stuck his foot out, causing Iskander to trip and fall face-first into the ground. Snapping out of his stupor, Iskander jumped immediately into a battle-stance and glared at the fighting-type, completely livid now.

“Why you little piece of-” only to be cut off once again not by another pokemon, but himself this time as he noticed the rest of the café patrons beginning to get out of their seats, waiting to be given the slightest reason to jump him.
Disgusted by everyone’s behaviour, the eevee settled for spitting at the monkey’s feet before making his way outside.

Turning to his left, Iskander began to angrily storm his way down the road, not caring where his paws took him. He had barely been awake for a little over an hour, and already he wished the day was over. There was no possible way things could get worse no matter where he went. When he came across an intersection, he swung to his left yet again, deciding to get away from the hustle and bustle of the town before more pokemon came out to see if they could drive his day any further into the ground.

Angrily mumbling under his breath and kicking any stones in his path, Iskander continued down the dirt path leading to the suburbs of Patras not even bothering to look up to see where he was going. This was probably not a good idea in foresight, knowing how crummy his luck had been today thus far, but the incensed eevee didn’t care. He just didn’t care. He was beginning to reach the point though where he was simply repeating the same angry verses to himself and upon realizing this, let out a deep breath before he looked up. Iskander was surprised to find himself at the lake located at the south-western part of the town, quite possibly the one place that could help soothe his nerves. Taking a long look at the body of water, he was relieved to find that just like most parts of Patras at this time of day, the lake front was vacant of any other patrons. Large, bountiful oak trees with their late spring green leaves littered the grassland area surrounding the lake, and willows dotted the boundaries of the lake. Iskander spotted a particularily healthy looking one. Trotting over to it, he flopped down and rested himself on his stomach.

Iskander took a long, deep whiff of the clean lake air before letting it out slowly, releasing some of the pent up tension in his body. Finally feeling at ease from discovering some solace, away from the horrific memories that were attached to his home, from the unrighteous townsfolk who vehemently despised his kind, and tucked under the cool shade of a willow away from any other troubles that could violate his privacy, he rested his head onto his front paws. The eevee’s eyes began to droop and gained a faraway quality to them. A small smile made its way onto his features as he let his mind wander free from the worries of his conscience. Slowly, they drooped down even further until they shut all together. The last thing he remembered was the wind whistling a sweet lullaby upon his ears before he finally submitted himself to the realm of dreams without meaning to do so.
__________________________________________________ ____________

“Get away from me you freaks!”

At the sound of the distressed voice, Iskander jumped awake and his battle senses kicked in immediately. Shooting a quick glance around him, Iskander saw nothing within a few feet of him. He took a double take of his surroundings, and upon doing so located the source of the commotion. On the other side of the lake, a group of pokemon were formed in a circle around another individual. He couldn’t see who was in the middle of it, but he could see who the pokemon were that surrounded the lonesome mon.

Oh great, of course they would find someone else to bother after I put them in their place, Iskander thought exasperatedly. Stretching himself out briefly, he prepared to dash his way to the rescue of this unknown pokemon when suddenly he stopped himself.

What am I doing? Have I learned nothing from today? If it was any day but today, I wouldn’t hesitate in the slightest to go help this mon out, but if I go in there, something disastrous is just begging to happen. Besides, these group of morons couldn’t beat a blind spearow in a thunder storm. I’m sure they’ll be fine without my help.

This prospect was challenged though when he saw the group of bullies begin to tighten their circle around their victim. A bead of sweat began to form on the short chestnut coloured fur that covered Iskander’s face as the indecisiveness of his actions created a battle within the walls of his mind. His front paws began to shift forward as the war to go help this stranger began to con him into taking action.

“Take one step closer, and I’ll break every single bone in each of your bodies!” the voice shouted again.

Now that he was awake and focused, he could distinctly tell it was feminine. He knew that he had made his decision at this point, and it was only a matter of time before he finally gave in.

Damn it! I can’t believe I’m actually getting myself involved in this whole thing. There must be something wrong with me today. Or perhaps it’s my fate that I land myself into as much trouble as I possibly can today.

Having made up his mind finally, Iskander bunched up the muscles in his legs and pushed off the ground in a dash as he began to make his way around the lake towards all of the commotion. He was a very fast runner from all the training he had personally put himself through, on top of having ran missions at the Assistant’s Guild in Patras, it was not long before he had made his way around the body water, only having enough time for one more fleeting thought before he confronted his foes.

I just hope this decision doesn’t ultimately get me killed in the end.

[Suicune's Fire]

Zeromus

Errors first, then comments! :D


“Nova! What are you doing?” a male eevee shouted at his friend. “All of the legendaries and other humans are leaving! You need to hurry up and make it through the portal back to your time before it’s too late!”

Moments ago, the pikachu had been running with her friend towards the portal that would lead her back to her timeline and place that she originally had come from.

It seems a little redundant to have the dialogue explain pretty much exactly what's going on, and then for the narration to then reiterate it. It's kind of like, "here, have too much exposition!" xD


She was hesitent to leave though in the first place, after all this world had come to be her new home

Should be 'hesitant.' :]

Secondly and much more importantly, I've spotted your first recurring error. That comma after "place" should be a semicolon. I would also say that there should be a comma after "after all" considering it's one of those small phrases that you'd take a breath at. Getting back to the semicolon/comma issue, do you see that by reading that sentence, you can notice that there is no joining words between the text before and after the comma? If there is no joining word, then there must be a semicolon or a period. If the two halves of that sentence (i.e. either side of the comma) can stand on their own and make sense, then you know there should be a semicolon. Let me show you an example:



She was hesitant to leave though in the first place. After all this world had come to be her new home.

You'll notice that both sentences stand on their own. However, by adding a "because" (a joining word) and subtracting the "after all," we see this:



She was hesitant to leave though in the first place, because this world had come to be her new home.

However, trying to put both halves on their own as separate sentences, we get this fragmented piece of text:



She was hesitant to leave though in the first place. Because this world had come to be her new home.

I could give a better example, such as this, where a comma should occur: "If you separate this quoted text with a period. The first half wouldn't make sense as a standalone sentence." The appropriate variation of that sentence where a semicolon is used would be "You can separate this quoted text with a semicolon; now both parts are fragmented and can stand alone." When this occurs and the two halves are very similar and warrant a semicolon rather than a period, a semicolon can be used. "No joining word? No comma!


To her, her exploration team was more than just her team, it was her family.

Same applies here with the semicolon rule. However, I'm not going to point out every time you do this, as it would take me a long time, so I'll leave it up to you to find and edit things yourself. xD


He wanted to set an example for the entire world to see, to forewarn us of events to come.
I find it odd that you've used a first person expression here (us). The story isn't being told from first person, so I see no reason for that to be in there. Perhaps a switch to "everyone within distance" or something. xD


and his laughter that would continue to echo through her dreams every night for the rest of Nova’s life.

I would switch around "her" and "Nova" so her name comes first. You haven't mentioned her in a good number of sentences, so it reminds us who you're talking about.


he proclaimed that his actions today were merely a showcase of his capabilities

I'm quite confused due to the fact that you've used "today" and then in the next paragraph, you stated that it happened three years ago. That's inconsistent time management. o:


“Let go of me you freak!

Because Heatran is addressing someone, there needs to be a comma after "me."


shaking the giant bear off of his leg and sending him falling back onto the grass below.

A little pet peeve of mine in pokemon stories is when people refer to pokemon solely as animals. They are not animals. They are pokemon. Unless there are bears in the pokemon world and Nova is comparing him to a bear which she has either heard of or encountered before, then there is no reason that noun should be used. UNLESS it's written as "bear-like pokemon" because that...makes more sense. xD


Growling at the persistent pokemon, he bellowed “I said, you are on your own! Figure out how to sort this entire mess out yourself if you don’t want to die!”
After "bellowed" there needs to be a comma. Before all speech, you need punctuation. Some quotes are different, but for speech, you always need a comma or a colon before it. :]


Still rising into the darkened and cloudy sky, Heatran noticed Nova looking at him.

Nova could only stare wordlessly as she watched the Lava Dome pokemon continue his ascent into the heavens until she saw him disappear into the clouds above before there was a bright flash of light.

...I am so confused. xD Since when could Heatran fly?! They're fire and steel types?



She then shifted her gaze towards the crying and crumpled form of the ursaring laying on the ground
"laying" should be "lying." If he was laying, he would be setting something down on the ground. Lying is not only telling a fib, but it is also the verb for reclining.


When she had first met him in Treasure Town not long after her arrival, she remembered him being a carefree and relaxed mon, spending most of his days hanging around his teddiursa best friend.

If you're going to use "mon" as an abbreviated term, it would be appropriate to put an apostrophe before it. :]


Ursaring was a mess after that,

I don't understand why most pokemon have names except this ursaring and also the heatran. xD


Star shouted once again trying to grab a hold of his friend’s attention.

You need a comma somewhere in here. It should be after "shouted" or it should be after "again." Is he shouting once again, or is he shouting, once again trying to grab her? Comma clarify these things!

Righto! 8D That wasn't the end of the grammatical errors due to the places I neglected to point things out in, because I want you to go through and find them all. I have two major points for you to focus on in regards to grammar thus far:

1. Commas. You seem to have a lack for them. Think of writing in terms of speaking--not in regard to phrasing and vocabulary, but in terms of pauses. Pauses are where you need the commas, as well as other grammatically correct places, such as when you use a comma before addressing someone.

2. Commas vs. semicolon sentences. I hope I explained this well enough for you to recognise them when you come across them now. It's a very common error, and I've explained it to countless writers. :] There were many instances where you need to change commas to semicolons.

Overall, the plot seems interesting. I think that a lot was explained in this prologue, but at the same time, it went pretty quickly. I think you could have taken the time to explain a few more things, such as why there was a random heatran in the middle of nowhere, and where they actually all were. The only thing that was given to us was the mention of Treasure Town, and I don't even know if that's where they were. I imagined them in some random field somewhere. I also don't know if this charizard is going after random pokemon, or if he's just sitting in a throne somewhere, or what. It's like you gave us a bit of context but then left some out. Also I don't think that a hug between two would last for several minutes, like you described, as that seems a little bit long. ESPECIALLY in the frenzy of pokemon running toward a portal. That's another thing! Where is the portal? Who opened it? Who's going, exactly? Why can Nova and Star run so easily toward it while the ursaring was stuck there like a helpless child, probably only a few metres away? He could just have easily run to the portal, right? I don't know. xD

I do like the set-up. I'm curious to see what happens, but since it's so early, I can't give much more feedback than this. I've only read the prologue, so I'll comment on chapter one next time. :] Keep it up! Hope this helped.

[Zeromus]

Wow.

Thanks for the massive grammar lesson, while I haven't read through all of it extensively, I will definitely read through it at a more appropriate time. I will definitely be re-writing the prologue (for the third time) as the plot holes that you've pointed out, are while not that large, they are stupid and I could handle them a lot better. Like there are reasons behind why some of them seem to be weird, but there's a reason behind (most) of them.

Like for example, "Ursaring" for example never had a name. He's always just been called that. His friend on the other hand, to avoid complications, gave himself a name upon his evolution so as to avoid confusion. But how are people supposed to know that? They can't. I don't mention or hint at anything at all to that, and it actually just makes me feel so dumb. The other issue with a random Heatran just kind of chilling out in the middle of nowhere who *seemingly* has the ability to fly; same issue as before. Lack of explanation. I know why he's there, he was sent by Arceus to make sure all the humans got through the portal in time, and upon seeing them all making it to safety, starts "flying" up into the air. But he's not actually flying. What's really happening is that there's a portal leading to the "legendary" plane (Or so I'll refer to it as such for now) that is blocked out by the clouds that is sucking him up to it. It's like on the final episode of Digimon Tamers when all the digimon start getting sucked into the sky because they have to go back home to the Digital World.

But how the hell are people supposed to know either one of those things if I don't explain it?

The whole switch between first and third-person is just me being dumb and lazy and not reading through what I wrote the second time around.

I'll keep in mind to avoid referring to pokemon by real-animals. At the very least I'll do the honour of referring to them as "giant-bearlike pokemon" as I can see where you're coming from. It's akin to writing out the names of attacks directly, rather than describing them, or worse yet, having your characters actually call out their attacks as they use them... it can come across as a little on the cheesy side.

And finally, I'm really glad you critiqued me on the whole "Why explain what's already been said?" thing. I was thinking about it as I was nearing the end of writing chapter 2 and thought "Should I really be doing this? This seems stupid, but I don't do this when I talk to people in real life and I can't seem to get my point across to them then, how am I supposed to do it through text without the benefit of tone?" I never really wanted to have to "double-explain" everyone's dialogue, but I couldn't help but feel that if I didn't, a lot of people wouldn't be able to grasp the context behind what someone was saying. I see now that it's better to say "Screw it, if the reader doesn't get it, then either they're dumb for not understanding, I'm dumb for not wording it correctly, or we're both dumb period."

Any ways, like I said, I only skimmed through your whole spiel of ripping me apart on my use of commas and semicolons, but you can be sure I'll go be going through it, fixing chapter 1, fixing chapter 2 before I even publish it, re-writing the prologue, smacking myself in the face for letting myself get ripped on so badly, and then proceed with fixing any new mistakes I may have incurred in Chapter 1.

Don't feel guilty about my self-deprecating comments, that's just how I am and I'm only being somewhat serious when I say I'm going to beat myself over the head with a shoe. I'm somewhat of a perfectionist, so to have someone point out the million and one mistakes in my story, it hurts my pride. But I'll survive, and learn from it in the end, and it's critiques like yours that prevent me from making any more rookie and obvious grammar mistakes in the future, so with that, just know that I'm very grateful towards you for helping me out.

P.S. : The whole Heatran just being called "Heatran" thing is another one of those "There-is-a-reason-behind-it-but-I-don't-explain-it" is probably going to remain like that because to me anyway, it just seems like an obvious thing for legendaries to not have names. Hopefully I don't get any more people being bothered by that. Regardless, it's a fair point and at the very least could be used as a joke at some point in the story. Who knows.

[Suicune's Fire]

Orange is a pain to read sometimes so all my longer posts will be in black. xD

No worries! :D That's fine. Sometimes it's a lot to take in. xD Haha, not so much stupid, but more like what you've been explaining this whole post--that it's information YOU know, but forget to relay to the reader. Trust me, that's common. xD I do it a lot, mostly in conversation. I'll start talking about something and then realise halfway through that I forgot a vital bit of context. xD Such as "Oh yeah, this is a dream, by the way." So no worries. It's not me being like "OMG YOU'RE SUCH A BAD WRITER FOR NOT DOING THESE THINGS" or anything. I feel like it's somewhat my duty to point out things I see when I read people's stories to help them improve, and so often nobody else takes the job of doing so.

Yeah, I see. xD Nah, you don't have to feel dumb! And I wasn't pointing out the name thing because I thought it was odd that one pokemon had a name and the other didn't--it was that the other didn't have one by default. I just expect every wild pokemon to have a name because, well, I assume all parents would name their children or if the pokemon grew up without parents or siblings, they'd just give themselves a name. Or, in the case of a non-PMD story, if the pokemon was raised by a trainer, they'd give it a name. Even if it already had one. xD (Awkward.) I see. After the recap of what The Reaper was doing since he arrived, maybe mentioning that Legendaries had been sent in to help round up the humans would be a plan. :] At least, in regard to Heatran.

LOL POKEMON CALLING OUT THEIR ATTACKS. Sounds almost...familiar... *COUGHDIGIMONCOUGH*

Nah, that's okay. xD It was only one part, right? And yeah--sometimes it's up to the reader more than the author to figure things out and actually pay attention so they understand the context. xD Otherwise it becomes like a children's show or game where they have to repeat the same thing about four times before they leave it alone. xD

You don't have to be so hard on yourself! I didn't rip you apart. I gently pointed out places for improvement and helped explain where you could further improve, right? x) Or is my definition of "gently" a little skewed? (OMG I just had a blank on how to spell that word and had to google it. xD) I'm glad you're very grateful! 8D Because I put a lot of time and effort into critiquing. >:3 It's the worst when people don't end up listening... *GLARES* No, but seriously, it sounds like you'll take my advice well. :] I'll give the prologue a reread once you're done. ;D

P.S. I suppose that's a thing, but to me, legendaries should still have names. xD Even if they're just kept to themselves, maybe, and everyone else knows them as "Heatran" or "Lugia." I dunno. I'm big on names. I never liked how Game Freak didn't want to give any pokemon actual names. -_- Okay, now let's make an animal game and name all the dogs "Dog" and all the cows "Cow"!


On a totally unrelated note, you should considering joining the new Gotta Catch 'Em All roleplay. :] It's like a regular roleplay, but it's point-based and you keep track of items, pokemon, badges, events and more in a trainer card, which you keep separate. :] It's fun! And good if you like to write. ;D Anyway, I'll get to Chapter One soon, hopefully. ;3

[Zeromus]

Chapter 2 – Convergence of Two Fates




This whole situation seemed ludicrous Rosa thought to herself as she angrily glared at the pokemon around her. Not being a native citizen of Psyonia, this was the first time she had spent any time inside the kingdom, but it didn't mean she was ignorant to their customs and ways of life. She had been sure to read up on all the different places of Evolia before she set out on her journey so as to make sure the whole thing went smoothly. In her books that she had read through, she found that the Psyonians held eevees and eons in such esteem that the only other kingdom to rival their dedication were the Obsidians, thus surpassing her kingdom's own devotion. To find that they held her kind in even higher regard than her people did was astounding to her, and given her background, she was more than looking forward to being pampered and looked up to upon traveling through the psychic kingdom.

When she decided to make a pass through the small town that had no marking on her map, she had failed to notice the angry glares that she was receiving from the native dwellers, and failed to notice that she was being followed when she made herself to the south-western reaches of the town to take a rest by the lake she had chanced upon. Because she had remained ignorant to the true nature of her predicament, she made the poor decision of stopping to rest, feeling almost as though she were back in Tidania. It was when she had fully decided to settle down did she realize the folly in her actions, and noticed her assailants as they had begun to surround her. To Rosa, it was insulting enough as it was that these random group of brats were rude enough to cramp her personal space without her consent, but then had the audacity to threaten her for some reason unbeknownst to her.

It didn't matter what their reason was, their behaviour was inexcusable. She could get answers later however once she put these runts in their place as the circle was beginning to shrink, the female eevee poised herself into a battle pose, and began to size up her opponents and take into account who she was dealing with. There was six opponents: a phanpy, bidoof, machop, nidoran, ledyba, and litleo. While she couldn't accurately judge just how powerful they all were, she could tell the phanpy was the leader of the group as he was the one to make the first move towards her slowly, the bidoof being the last showed that he was most likely the weakest link. She would have to keep this in mind when the fight broke out.

"If you leave now, then perhaps I'll be nice enough to not notify your town guard of your incredulous behaviour. That is, after you answer a few of my questions," Rosa began to threaten, only being half serious about the statement as she tried to bide for more time.

This earned a snicker from the phanpy as he continued his slow advance towards his victim. "You hear that you guys? If we leave the eevee alone," he said, putting emphasis on Rosa's species' name, "she won't go run crying to the other mon and get us in lots and lots of trouble!"

"I guess we have no choice but to comply with her demands Aries. She is after all one of Arceus' chosen." The ledyba grinned, but it was clear she was mocking Rosa as she made no movement to stop her advancement.

"I have an idea. Since it seems our humble visitor is new around here, why don't we give her the ol' Patrasan welcome that we give to only our most illustrious of visitors?" the nidoran offered.

"I think that's a great idea," the machop laughed. "In fact, why don't I be the first to do so!" the machop responded as he broke away from his group's formation, charging at Rosa with his fist raised.

Doing an hundred and eighty degree turn, Rosa had no time to charge up an attack of her own and could only brace herself for the oncoming attack that was sure to leave a mark given her type disadvantage. However, just as the machop's attack was about to connect, a blur rammed itself into her opponent and sent him flying into the lake with an audible sploosh. Surprised by the sudden interference, Rosa could only stare at the new arrival until she was snapped out of her stupor by the sound of his voice.

"Welcome to Patras," he said without looking at her, his eyes glued to that of the annoyed phanpy's.

It seemed to Rosa that these pokemon knew this eevee quite well as they had stopped moving altogether and diverted their attention away from her to him. Their expressions were all similar except for that of the phanpy who looked like someone had injected his breakfast with cough syrup. For the rest however, their body postures had stiffened, and their expressions had changed from that of surefire confidence, to uncertain fear, as it became unclear as to who would win this fight now despite it being five-on-two. Hmph, figures I was right about most of them being spineless cowards. They still have over twice the numbers and yet they're afraid.

"What do you think you're doing here, freak?" Aries demanded, directing his insult at Rosa's savior.

"I should be asking you the same question. What could this random traveler have done to warrant you picking a fight with her?" the eevee frowned, returning the question. "Actually, knowing you guys she probably did nothing since you don't seem to need a reason to pick on others."

At this, the blue elephant began to laugh causing his opponent to frown even further, and Rosa's confusion to deepen.

"That's a great one. Pretending we don't have a reason for putting the four-legged freak in her place," Aries replied with mirth.

Surprised by the phanpy's offhand remark, Rosa took a few steps forward, hackles raised as she began making her own growling sounds. "Why you little... I'll show you who the four-legged freak is," she shot back as she began to charge up a Shadow Ball, but stopped when the male eevee turned to gaze into her blue eyes with his striking amber ones. They continued to stare for only about five seconds; long enough for her to get his message.

This was personal, and the eevee wished to get through this alone.

Recognizing that, she backed away from him but remained standing in case any of the others decided to take a cheap shot at her.

Convinced that she got the message, the male eevee returned his attention to the phanpy. "We've ran through this whole scenario who knows how many times now," he began, motioning with his head all of the other pokemon, "and only now has the irony of this whole thing dawned upon me."

"Oh? And what irony might that be?" the phanpy sneered at him, snorting air out of his trunk.

"It's the whole reason why you decided to pick a fight with this innocent pokemon. It's ironic because you're treating her the same way that you scold my kind for treating everyone else. It's humourous and down right pathetic really."

This statement earned an exchange of questioning glances from Aries' companions as they recognized the eevee had a point. Aries however was not so easily deterred in his goals however, and he began to paw at the ground as his temper began to rise, and his teeth became exposed as he lowered his head into an attack position.

"You think you're so clever huh? Let's see you talk smart when I grind your bones into dust!" Aries exclaimed as he lifted his head and then shouted, "Patras Pranksters! Attack!"

At the sound of the loud command, any apprehension that the others had before vanished in a second as they too began to charge into the middle of their circle towards the two eevee. Backing away through the open space in the formation still left by the absent machop, Rosa placed herself at a safe distance as she watched the ensuing chaos from the sideline, trusting that this stranger knew what he was getting himself into.

There was no doubt that he did as he give a rather large smirk before doing a double back flipping over all five of his opponents, causing them to smash into each other. Due to the fact that she was flying rather than running on the ground, the impact of running into everyone had less of an effect on the ledyba so she was the first to remove herself from the pile of bodies and charge the still smiling eevee.

"You're mine!" she exclaimed as she let loose a fury of punches, but failed to land a single one on the fox pokemon whom dodged every single strike.

Shocked that none of her punches landed, the eevee punished this lapse in concentration and swung his iron-hard tail in the bug-type's face, sending her flying towards her nidoran teammate into an opposing tree. Not long after he sent the two females tumbling away, he rolled to the right as three small embers were fired at him. They hit the trunk of the oak tree behind him but sizzled out upon impact, hardly leaving even a small scorch mark behind. Rosa took note of this as did the male as he began to charge quickly forward towards the litleo who looked like she was less than confident in her attacks now. Not knowing what else to do, she fired more poorly made Embers, but they had no effect on the charging quadruped as he rammed his skull into hers and sent the fire typing flying a few feet before she landed on the ground, unconscious.

"Rolling phanpy! Two o'clock!" Rosa shouted in warning to her fellow eevee, causing him to turn just in time to see the leader of the group rolling at him like a wheel. Rosa was astounded when instead of dodging the attack like he had with the others, he took the same approach as he did the second ember attack and lifted his front paws in front him as he tried to stop the spinning Aries in his tracks.

His face contorting with effort, the eevee dug his paws into the ground in order to stop himself from being pushed back. It seemed that the confident battler had made a mistake as it seemed as though the attack was too powerful for him until the eevee's slow push backwards began to slow, until it gradually came to a complete halt, the phanpy's attack still continued as the elephant's body spun. A smirk returning to his face again, the eevee used his opponent's momentum against him and shifted it with his body as he tossed him back the way he came into a tree, causing a loud crack sound as the phanpy's back made contact with the dense wood. With that, the brutish elephant joined his companion in a dreamless slumber.

By now, the ledyba and the blue-coloured nidoran had regained their senses and decided to attack together, charging the eevee from the same-direction so that they couldn't run into each other this time. They knew something was wrong when he didn't move from his that he threw their leader away from. Their suspicions were proven correct as they seemed to make contact with nothing but thin air, charging right through the fake image of the eevee, both pokemon running headlong into a tree he had been standing behind, rendering themselves unconscious. Looking up, Rosa found the real eevee balanced upon one of the lower branches, smiling down at the two fallen opponents.

With a large gasp, the machop finally resurfaced from the lake he had been knocked into. His arms clutching onto the shore and his head resting upon it, his breath came out as deep, wheezing gasps, as he tried desperately to catch his breath.

"Stupid water… Stupid lake… Stupid eevee… I swear when I get my hands on him, I'm going to karate shop him in the windpipe, and then I'll-" stopping his furious rant, the machop's face went pale as his angry rant was cut short when he looked up into the eyes of said eevee, whom stood right before him giving him a look of pure child-like innocence.

"Lovely day to go out for a swim, wouldn't you say?" the eevee inquired, giving the tired machop a jovial smile.

The machop could only stare at him with wide-eyed shock at his sudden appearance, words unable to make their way out of his mouth.

The eevee gave a frown of pity and looked at the machop with sympathy, before he began to smile again. "Wanna go for another?" he asked as he began to charge up a ball of dark energy.

"No! No! No! No! N- ahhhhh!" the poor machop shouted before he was pushed to the middle of the lake with an explosion.

Turning his gaze towards his last opponent, a cowering zigzagoon, the eevee gave a small "Boo!" causing the tiny racoon pokemon to let out a yip before making his way back towards town, running in a zigzag pattern. Letting out a sigh of relief, the amber-eyed eevee relaxed his facial expression and looked over at Rosa, making his way over to her. He held a smile on his face, a genuine one this time, and his amber eyes maintained contact with hers. Looking into them, she suddenly felt uncomfortable as she unknowingly began to blush and diverted her gaze towards the lush grass in front of her.

Rosa became agitated by her own reaction to the male's approach, and whether or not she understood why, she knew it was dumb and childish. It was like she had turned into one of those stupid and helpless princesses from the many storybooks she read through. They always melted beneath the stunning and commanding gaze of the "brave" and "powerful" knight whom had saved the "poor" and "defenseless" young maiden from the evil dragon. She knew now that she could've handled those six pests on her own. She knew that the whole thing was personal between the eevee and the group and not a single part of what he had done was for her sake. He didn't fight them to protect her. He fought them for his own pride. She was not helpless, and she was not weak. She made sure that was not an issue anymore. So why did she suddenly feel like a jumbled mess? She didn't care to find out, or better yet, she was too scared to find out. Either way, when she looked up, she was met with the confused and wondering gaze of the pokemon in question.

"Are you okay? You look as though that patch of grass just shot a pretty mean insult at your mother," he inquired.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine," she visibly winced, looking up. Rosa returned her gaze to the ground again, but this time for a different reason altogether.

Noticing the unnecessary joke did more harm than good as he accidentally hit a nerve, the amber-eyed eevee decided to try and turn the conversation towards a different topic. "I'm sorry your first encounter with this town was such a poor one, although it comes as no surprise."

Rosa lifted her head again as she remembered her initial question that she had for the group of bullies that had ganged up on her. "I forgot to ask what the whole deal was back there! What was up with those guys, and why were they so quick to pick a fight with me?"

"I'm afraid you'd get pretty similar treatment out of almost everyone here in Patras," he replied with a grim tone. "There's some stuff you should know. Just know that they were the ones at fault here. But let's not talk here, my house is just east of here in the southern suburbs of the town. We can talk there where we'll be much more secluded, and don't have to worry about any more surprises."

Granting the stranger at least the benefit of the doubt after he "saved" her from those pests, Rosa nodded, and decided to take him up on the offer. "Hold on, let me just grab my stuff. I tossed it over here after those goons started to make a move on me," she said, trotting over to a leather bag that was laying beside one of the willow trees. "I hope nothing fell out of it…" she mumbled to herself as she gave it a quick look through. Having accounted for everything as being there, she sat down and slipped each forearm through the straps one at a time before standing back up and making her way back to the male eevee's side. Gesturing with her head, she commanded, "Lead the way."



The walk to Iskander's house was a quiet and wordless one as both pokemon were deep in thought. The stranger whom he had saved was deep in thought, so Iskander took this as a chance to study her so as to maybe figure out what her story was and why anyone would ever come and pass through a place like this, let alone an eevee at that. He guessed it came as no surprise that someone of his own species would be ignorant to the culture and ideals of the pokemon who lived here, after all there was no reason really for others to know about Patras. The town was secluded from the rest of the kingdom as not many roads led through it, and news neither entered nor exited as its citizens had no interest in the outside world, only in what happened around them as they shunned Evolian culture.

So why was this eevee here? It was clear that she had had no intentions of doing nothing more than pass through here judging by the fact that she was intercepted outside of town, and the way she remained ignorant towards why she was attacked proved she knew nothing about the town. She had a rather strange bag with her that looked like it was not originally made for someone of her stature, rather it was redesigned to do so; something that was not native to Psyonia so she was not from this kingdom. She seemed to be somewhat prideful of her species, so she came from somewhere where she is highly valued, so she must've been from either Obsidia or Tidania as she was clearly not of Psyonian descent. So she was a traveler, but why was she traveling? Why… why… why…

No matter, he could ask her himself soon enough as they had arrived at his place. "Hey, sorry to snap you out of your daydreams, but we're here," he said, grabbing his traveling companion's attention away thoughts of her own. Looking up in surprise, she saw him holding open the cloth door for her. Nodding her head in thanks, she entered his home, with Iskander following close behind her. Leading the blue-eyed eevee into the kitchen, he decided to attend to her personal needs before they got down to playing twenty questions.

"I have a lot of questions for you, and I have no doubt that you have the same for me, judging by your far-away look you had on your way here," Iskander said, walking over to one of the cupboards. "But I'm guessing between traveling all this way, and having a run-in with our local welcoming committee," he said sarcastically, "I'm sure you're as famished as me."

Nodding her head half-heartedly, more eager to find out more about what happened back at the lake, the female eevee walked over to inspect the contents of the wooden storage unit with Iskander. "I've got all sorts of berries in here, not much else other than that though. I usually handle all of my non-berry needs in town, or at a friend's place. So what would you like? Cheri? Chesto? Pecha? Rawst?" he began, listing off some of the most common berry types. "I think there's some Sitrus and Lum berries and some other strange stuff in the other cupboards if you're looking for something more exotic."

"Anything will do, I'm not feeling particularly picky at the moment," she replied, setting her bag down, but pausing while doing so when she noticed the broken table.

Sensing that she had suddenly stopped moving, Iskander turned around after he had grabbed a random assortment of berries. He saw the eevee staring at his recent piece of work. "I guess you could say I got up off the wrong side of the bed this morning," he said dryly.

The female simply nodded, not wanting to get sidetracked from her goal. Both quadrupeds made their way into the living room, with Iskander following behind carrying their berries in a scarf that he kept in the kitchen for the purpose of moving food around. Sitting down on both piles of hay placed in front of the living room fireplace, Iskander gently placed the berries down on the ground between the two of them. Grabbing an Oran berry out of the pile, the female traveler began to eat while she watched Iskander with mild interest as he turned on his fireplace by clapping his front paws together.

"Gift my father received from his travels. The flames appear and disappear just by clapping. Was installed by a-"

"Mystanian. The logs have been enchanted with a magical dust that ignites with a simple set command, and while it's not the same kind of fire that can be produced by a fire-type, it still has similar qualities such as providing light and heat," the female interrupted. "I've done all sorts of studying of the other kingdoms. My parents wanted me to know this kind of stuff because of… reasons. Before they were murdered anyway."

Iskander was caught off guard by the eevee's sudden revealing of facts, along with her knowledge of his father's enchanted fireplace. Deciding to not push his luck after having learned so much so quickly, he decided to keep the conversation away from facts that might upset his new companion. After all, he understood how parents could be a touchy and volatile subject to talk about…

"Judging by your interest in general knowledge and the rather strange bag you carry around with you, I'm guessing you're from Tidania?" Iskander asked, earning a nod from his new companion.

A thoughtful silence settled upon the two as they absent mindedly plucked a couple berries from the pile and began to eat. Iskander was organizing his thoughts as he pondered what he wanted to ask first based on what he had figured out thus far, when suddenly, he realized that he had skipped over the most obvious of questions, and hadn't even asked his guest what her name was. At this, he smacked himself in the face with his paw, earning a questioning look from the other eevee.

"I can't believe I could forget such an obvious thing. We don't even know each other's names!" he exclaimed with embarrassed humility. "My name is Iskander. What would yours happen to be?" he asked, bowing his head towards her in an apologetic manner.

The female eevee blinked in confusion, somewhat taken aback by his respectful gesture before she nervously replied, "Ma…Rosa. M-my name is Rosa. Th-there's no need to be apologetic over something as simple as forgetting to greet someone. I mean, you did just come out of a fight with five other pokemon not that long ago. So much has happened in such a short period of time, i-it's no surprise that you did. Besides, you're acting as though you're speaking to someone of importance. If anything, I should be the one treating you with such respect."

Rosa looked down as she stopped talking, seemingly uncomfortable with the whole conversation. Thinking it was due to him acting so strange himself, Iskander took it upon himself to help defuse the emotions that were beginning to climb in the room.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable," he said with a sigh. Grabbing another berry from the pile between them, he began to bat it back and forth between his front paws while he continued. "I suppose I've fallen out of touch with talking to a mon who doesn't hate my guts just because of what I am. It really is nice to have someone else besides my best friend whom I can talk to without getting the death glare."

"But enough about me. What gave you the crazy idea of walking through this dump of a place, and why are you traveling by yourself?" he asked, looking up at her.

"To be perfectly honest, according to my map, this town doesn't even exist. Coming up on this place, I was confused at first as I thought that maybe I had gotten my directions wrong and had ended up in Veria or Trikala," she said, referring to the towns located to the south-east and north-west respectively. "There was no town sign indicating the name of the place however, and on top of the whole place just giving off a weird vibe, I decided to try and make my way around the outskirts of town. As you found out though, that plan didn't end up going so well."

Chuckling slightly, Iskander couldn't help but be amused by the cartographer's intentional omitting of Patras' location on the map, no doubt hoping to dissuade others from visiting the rebellious group of pokemon.

"As for why I'm traveling…" Rosa began, pausing slightly before continuing, "My parents used to run a library back in Aquali. In Tidania, we have laws that prohibit any pokemon from running any sort of business until they become the age of sixteen. While my parents' death would normally mean that the library would have to be shut down, I'm fortunate enough that my parents had others who worked for them that are qualified enough to take control of the place until I am ready to do so."

Nodding in understanding, Iskander was secretly mystified by what exactly her parents did, as he had no idea what a "library" was, or a "law" for that matter. That was something he could figure out some other time however. Instead, he decided to cock his head to the side in confusion as he had another question he wanted to ask.

"That doesn't really explain what you're doing, traveling all the way out here by yourself though. I mean, you must not be sixteen yet if you're not running the 'library', as you call it, but you must be close. I mean, to me you do," he corrected himself awkwardly. "Surely going on such a long journey as traveling across the continent will cause you to miss your birthday. Wouldn't your superiors be displeased if you were to not be there?"

Suddenly taking interest in the shrinking pile of berries in front of her, Rosa began to mimic Iskander's action of playing with a berry, she became disconcerted by the question directed at her. It seemed that he was very good at asking the wrong questions. For a while it seemed as though Rosa wasn't going to answer at all, having become enticed with her personal distraction, until finally she looked up at him.

"I told my superiors that I wished to travel around the continent and learn more about it so that I could… gain a better understanding of it, hoping that it would help aid in running the place in some way," she replied, before heaving out a sigh. "The truth is I've already come to the age where I'm old enough to take over, but the whole idea of taking over such an important job seems… daunting and… impossible. Having watched my parents do it for so long, I never thought about what it'd be like for me to take over one day. I guess you could say that…"

"You're running away from the job. The idea of having to commit your life towards something so important that your parents have forced upon you is more than just daunting, it's terrifying. You're afraid of failure, and you can't help but compare yourself to them, to pokemon you've looked up to your entire life. You can't imagine ever being able to match their expertise, and you think by failing to match their success, you will be tarnishing everyone's memories of them. That, and you know that everyone will be comparing you to them. So instead, you do whatever you can to bide your time until you inevitably have to do what must be done," he cut her off, finishing with an empathetic smile on his face. "I understand, I'm in the same exact situation as you."

"You-you are?" Rosa asked with surprise.

Nodding, Iskander shifted his gaze towards the glowing, enchanted, fireplace, losing himself to the dancing waves of orange, red and white. "Just like you, I lost my parents by unnatural means, along with my little sister. My father's job… was a rather demanding one. One that very few can do," Iskander spoke in a solemn voice. "About ten years ago, he revealed to my entire family with utter certainty that someday, it would be my responsibility to take over for him. He told us it was not his choice, but his boss' instead. This came as a shock to everyone, as this was the first time that two pokemon from the same family would have the… 'honour' of serving under 'Him'."

Perplexed by his bitter toner, Rosa couldn't help but wonder what was so bad about that. "But surely that would be a good thing right? Obviously your father's boss saw something in you that showed great promise. How could something like that turn into something bad?"

At her question, Iskander couldn't help but give a scornful and mocking laugh. His temper beginning to rise once again as the events that led up to the tragedy which would ruin his life began to play through his head. "My 'mother'," he began, spitting out his parent's title, "had other plans for what she wanted to do with me. She wanted to move the whole family to Obsidia where it would be easier to train me for my future obligations. My father heavily disagreed with the idea, saying that it was no place to raise a family, regardless of the circumstances. The subject turned into a large topic for debate, and things escalated until finally one day she… she…" he trailed off, gnashing his teeth together in anger until finally it became too much and he sent one of the last remaining berries flying into the fireplace, watching it burn to a crisp and turn into soot. When he continued, Rosa noticed his amber eyes had suddenly softened, and could now sense a deep feeling of sadness emanating from the male eevee.

"Now he's dead, and my mother and sister are gone who knows where. They could be in Hadesius for all I care," he finished.

His body began to shake as he fought back the urge to cry, scream in anger, and cause destruction to his home. All he could do was place his muzzle on the ground and cover his eyes with his paws as his body began to shake with effort, choosing to remain in that position until he could get a hold of his emotions once again. Iskander remained in this position when suddenly he felt a warm body place itself beside him, and someone place their neck over his in a comforting manner.

"I'm sorry… I'm so so sorry you had to be put through that," he heard Rosa speak as she continued to try and calm him down. The two eevees remained in the same position for several minutes; Rosa continuing to apologize and make Iskander feel better. Eventually the tears had stopped flowing from his eyes, and his restrained crying had been reduced to that of hiccups. When at last even those came to a stop, both laid there in silence as they took comfort in the other's presence. Minutes passed by, and still neither fox pokemon made any sort of movement. Silence continued to pervade the room, challenged only by the crackling of the fireplace until at last it was broken by the blue-eyed female.

"What is it that keeps you here then? Why do you insist on staying in a place plagued with memories that haunt you everyday, surrounded by pokemon who detest your very existence?" Rosa asked, lifting her neck off of Iskander's so that the tear-stricken eevee could lift his head. When she did though, he made no movement to do so, instead remaining in his forlorn state of staring into space.

"Iskander?" Rosa asked, thinking that perhaps he hadn't heard her.

After a few seconds of remaining still, he at last lifted his head up and directed his attention towards her, a lost expression on his face. "I don't know," he spoke at last. "Part of it is that I'm scared that if I leave here, my father's employer will come and force me to finally follow in my father's footsteps. The other part… I just don't know," he finished.

At this, Rosa looked down at her paws in thought for a moment before looking back up again, smiling at Iskander as she came up with an idea. "Well, the way I see things, you seem to be against the idea of me traveling all by my lonesome and would rather I had some sort of travel companion, as well as it seems that sticking around this trash heap of a town isn't doing you much good," she stated, wrinkling her nose in disgust at mention of Patras. "And I think it's about time we both sidle up and face our fears. I mean, it's like what you said. We're only biding our time, we'll be forced to face them one way or another anyway."

"Besides, I wouldn't mind having someone as strong and handsome as you act as my escort," she mentioned, winking at him.

"I'm not following what you're saying," Iskander replied, shaking his head in confusion. "What are you suggesting?"

"I'm suggesting that you come with me on my journey around Evolia! Come see what the world is like outside of your small shell that you've entrapped yourself within. You'll find that pokemon will treat you with a lot more respect, and life is actually much more enjoyable than you might think," she replied, subconsciously standing up and rubbing against him to help further convince him.

Weighing his options, Iskander could see that getting out of Patras for a while could do him a lot of good. The positives of leaving far outweighed those of staying, and he could always come back in the end after all. Smiling to himself, it was no difficult decision to make on what he wanted to do. Standing up, he nodded his head in affirmation.

"Okay! You're right, I think I'd be helping solve both of our dilemmas by coming with you," Iskander said, standing up and crossing his neck over Rosa's as a form of hugging. "Thank you Rosa, you have no idea how much better you've helped make me feel."

Backing away from him and returning the smile, Rosa nodded her head. "Don't mention it, what are friends for?" she asked rhetorically.

Iskander gave a short laugh but stopped when Rosa's words suddenly sunk in, causing him to raise an eyebrow. "Wait a minute… did you just call me strong and handsome before?"

At that, the female eevee's eyes widened, and her muzzle had stopped half way open when she was about to respond, as she turned into a statue upon realizing that she had accidentally expressed her feelings towards Iskander. The blunt compliments, the wink, the rubbing of bodies, even laying down beside him in an effort to comfort him while he was crying was now suddenly coming off as extremely awkward and too forthcoming for her.

"W-w-what? I-I never s-said that! You-you must've heard me wrong, or imagined it! Y-y-yeah… i-imagined… ha ha ha ha…" she responded, laughing nervously.

"You definitely said that, you even winked at me to make sure the point got across," Iskander responded suspiciously.

Rosa couldn't think of a counterargument to that, as she knew she had been caught. She could feel her entire face begin to heat up and she began to sweat as she continued to stand there in embarrassed silence. When it became clear that Rosa was making no move to reply, Iskander let out a sigh.

"Look, it was just an honest question, I didn't mean to make you feel bad by asking," Iskander said, causing Rosa to let out a sigh of relief upon realizing she had somehow not been caught. Focusing his mind on the journey instead, and the idea of leaving Patras behind, he instantly became upbeat. "Okay, unfortunately a lot of my traveling supplies are kept at my grandparent's place, so we'll need to make a detour to their place to get my proper gear. They live up north of Tanta on the Blazidian coast. It's going to take us nearly a couple of weeks to get there if we travel up north to Trikala, then head west to Heraklion and go from there…" he trailed off, mumbling to himself. He headed into his room looking for his money bag, and traveling sac which was just large enough to hold the amount of supplies needed to make the trip.

Following after him into his room, Rosa saw Iskander looking into a large wooden chest set beside his bed. Standing on his hindlegs so that he was tall enough to reach in and look for his things, Rosa had to more than once dodge a flying projectile accidentally thrown at her as Iskander tossed out various objects, tools, and items, in his search for what he was looking for. With a shout of triumph, Iskander pulled his head out of the chest, dragging out of it with his teeth a satchel with two bags on it. It was just big enough for a pokemon his size, and when slipped on over him, the two leather bags came to rest on either side of his flank. Rosa couldn't help but screw up her face in apprehension. The bag was akin to that which was used by numel, rapidash, and other beasts of burden who were used for nothing more than transporting goods around. She was quick however to wipe the look off of her face when the male eevee turned around to look at her with a look of triumph.

"Now I just need to grab some berries, my Rampardos Scarf, and maybe some other types of food. I think there's still some meat left in the freezer that I could bring… no that would take too much room, and would be too heavy and annoying to carry," he thought out loud to himself. "I could still bring that weird hat with me to protect myself from the sun. It's really hot in Blazidia… Or maybe I could bring it for Rosa. She's used to the cool weather of Tidania. I should bring another item on top of that just in case…"

At that, he stopped talking altogether as another great idea hit him. Iskander's grin widened in size and his tail began to swish back in forth in excitement. The jovial and uplifting mood that the male eevee was exhibiting was making Rosa nervous as she had a bad feeling about what Iskander was about to suggest.

"W-what's the matter Iskander?" she asked nervously.

"We should get my best friend Galen to tag along with us! I'm sure he'd love to get away from that farm, since that's where he spends pretty much every waking hour of his life," Iskander responded with a smile.

"S-so, there'd be three of us…?"

"Yup!"

"So that would make you, me, and…"

"Galen!"

"Are-are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, he sure sounds like a busy pokemon and all…"

"Non-sense! Even if he declines, which he probably will…" Iskander said with annoyance, "I'll get him to come anyway! He needs the travel as much as I do, if not more."

"I-I think we're better off leaving your friend behind…" Rosa responded, trying desperately to keep the annoyance of having her plans altered unfavourably.

"Come on, follow me! I'll die before I let him turn down this offer of a lifetime," Iskander said as he dropped his satchel onto the ground. Not having heard Rosa's last suggestion amongst his excitement, he dashed into the kitchen and out of the house towards his friend's fields down the road.

"Oh joyous day, what a wonderful turn in events…" Rosa muttered under her breath sarcastically as she ran to catch up with her friend.

[Zeromus]

Chapter 3 - Greetings and Farewells


Dirt flew, and pebbles skidded out of the way as Iskander dashed madly down the dirt road towards his best friend’s farm, weaving around the occasional and irritated passer-by. The spring-time sun was at its apex in the clear and cloudless sky, and shone its blinding, life-giving beams of warmth onto his neatly kept, brown fur, shading it in a lighter tone than it actually was. Air swept past him, billowing through his fur, and caressing his skin underneath, instilling a sense of joyous freedom, and augmenting the excitement within himself first created by the idea of going to travel the land, accompanied by a new friend, and most definitely his best friend as well – how could Galen say no to such a proposal?

Iskander felt as though a fresh breath of life had been blown into him, and he felt like a newborn kit again – the world recreated into something new and wonderful, beckoning him to come and explore it, and witness all of its wonders. Thinking back on how he felt only an hour ago, or maybe it was two? He couldn’t exactly remember, he had lost track of time when he decided to take that nap, the young and excited eevee couldn’t help but laugh at his previous demeanour. How could’ve he been so down, and angry earlier? Had he honestly been sad and angry just because of what his inconsiderate, abominable, loathsome, despicable mother had done? And the townspeople? They were all ignorant, selfish, inconsiderate morons who knew nothing about his kind, for they forgot who is father was, and what he stood up for; and Rosa! She seemed pretty nice, and he couldn’t forget about Galen, and his family whom helped take care of him.

Iskander managed a short chuckle out amidst his sprint, unable to fully understand how the Patrasians could be so hateful and vulgar towards his species just because a small group that may have done a poor job of presenting themselves. Surely their attitude was merely misplaced and the crimes they spoke of were exaggerated, right?

No matter, he would see soon enough for himself just how wrong everyone was about eevee and eon kind, and when he returned home from his journey, he would put an end to their ignorant points of view, and finally set things right. He would honour his father’s memories by making him proud!
Passing left, right past his friend’s home, Iskander made his way down the path, and stopped at the small building that marked the entrance to the wide expanse of fenced off land. He was just about to push the cloth door aside when he was stopped by the sudden shouting of his female companion.
“Wait!” Rosa shouted in exclamation, stopping Iskander from setting a single paw into the wooden structure. Perplexed, he turned around to face her as she caught up to him.

“Why, what’s the matter?”

“You can’t just barge into someone’s workplace unannounced; you have to request permission to enter first!” Rosa replied, giving him a look as though he was crazy.

“Huh? Sure I can,” he said, cocking his head to the side in confusion, “besides, Galen’s parents are pretty much my parents too at this point. They won’t mind in the
least, and I’ve done this many times before.”

“Yes, but-“

“Come on, you should relax,” Iskander replied, rolling his eyes in mock exasperation. “Just wait until you meet his parents, they’re two of the calmest, and happy pokemon I’ve ever met. I don’t think we could upset them, even if we tried. Now come on, I want to get this show on the road as soon as possible!”

Seeing that there was no room for further argument, Rosa let out a long sigh, and reluctantly followed her companion into the building. Walking around a counter, Iskander lead them through a doorway and down a hall past a few rooms whose purpose he never was able to discern, nor did he care about right now. Brushing past another clothed doorway, the two exited, and found themselves standing before a large expanse of cultivated land.

Laid out in front of them was a long, tightly packed dirt path that ran in between rows of ploughed and dug up earth. Along the boundaries of the area was an orchard of various fruits and berries, their heights and colours varying widely from every spectrum of the rainbow, helping protect the inside view of the area. It didn’t take a grass-type to appreciate the safe, secluded and serene scenery. It was very therapeutic, and helped calm Iskander down from his overly excited mood; even Rosa visibly relaxed, much to his benefit. He knew he would need all the help he could get to make sure everything went according to plan with getting both eevees to come together with him. While he had no doubt in his mind that neither friend would object to travelling as a trio, he wasn’t going to take any chances. Surely his two friends would get along, even if they may somewhat be polar opposites. Galen had never objected to another ‘mon’s presence, and Rosa didn’t seem to mind him inviting his friend along. At least, he didn’t remember her seeming bothered by it…

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Iskander let out a gasp when he lifted his head up to the sudden appearance of a lavender body appearing right before him. The unexpected arrival caused him to take a step back in shock, but when he did, he was pressed into the stranger’s chest as they wrapped two slender forelegs around him in a warm embrace. For a moment, Iskander thought that he was under attack, alarmed by the sensation of being completely immobile. His unknown assailant’s grip was strong enough to make him realize that they were more powerful than him, and if they meant him harm, then he was in less than a favourable position. He let go of such silly thoughts upon hearing the familiar voice, knowing full well they would never even think of harming him in any way.

“Iskander, what a lovely surprise! It’s so good to see you here,” the voice exclaimed jubilantly, letting him go from their grip.

Distancing himself from the feline pokemon, Iskander had to take a few deep breaths to fully recompose himself before he was able to look up and return the espeon’s smile. Galen’s mother had always been a source of never ending joy and happiness, posing as a stark contrast in comparison to everyone else he had ever come to know or meet in Patras. Even living in a community that shunned her kind could not dampen that merry smile that was ever present on her face. Iskander wondered how she could keep such an outward attitude like that all the time; perhaps it was because she always kept her eyes closed, maybe she couldn’t see what a terrible place she lived in, or perhaps she had seen it all, and merely found no use for them anymore.

“So what brings you to our humble abode? Is something the matter?”

Shaking his head once more, Iskander cursed himself inwardly for losing track of his surroundings, only imagining how strange he must seem right now, standing there like a lost kit. Mirroring the espeon’s smile again, Iskander looked up at her in a reassuring way.

“No, nothing is the matter. Sorry for making you think otherwise, Luus,” Iskander replied. Looking behind him, he saw Rosa looking at the espeon with a strange look.

“Right… I should probably introduce you to my friend here, but first, is Galen around? It’d be easier if I explained everything with him here, rather than doing it twice.”

“Of course he is, I’ll go get him right away,” and with that, Luus disappeared with a flash of light, leaving the two eevees behind momentarily. Taking the lapse in conversation as an opportunity to get an answer to a question of his own, Iskander rounded on Rosa, giving her a quizzical look.

“Nice pokemon, isn’t she? I bet you’re wondering why and how she walks around without using her eyes all the time,” Iskander said, giving a light chuckle. “I wish I could answer that, but honestly, I’ve never been able to figure it out, even after all of these years of knowing her.”

Shifting her paws slightly, Rosa glanced off to the side, “Psychic-types can read your thoughts and mind right?” Rosa questioned, taking the conversation in a different direction, but a direction that Iskander was hoping for anyway. Nodding his head, Rosa continued on.

“How can you tell if they’re, you know…” she now shifted her gaze, staring right into his eyes now, “reading it. Is there any telltale signs of it?”
So that’s what she was nervous about, she was just worried about her privacy.

Holding her gaze while he dug through his memory for what he had been taught about psychics by his adoptive mother, Iskander recalled what he knew about telepathy and mind reading. “Well, the most obvious sign that a psychic is going through your mind is that you’ll feel their conscience within your own. Of course, you can only detect them if you’re a strong psychic yourself, or their skills are not very adept, so often you won’t be able to tell they’re there. The other sign is that their eyes will glow a certain colour, an effect that is even more difficult to hide than the presence of their mind,” upon mentioning this, Rosa visibly flinched, but Iskander expected this.

“Don’t worry, Luus would never intrude in your mind unless she had reason to suspect that you might be a danger to Galen or I, and like I said, she’s the kindest, most gentle pokemon alive, so you have nothing to worry about anyway,” Iskander reassured.

Nodding slowly, Rosa said no more, seemingly convinced that she was in no danger. Her body language said otherwise, and Iskander couldn’t help but frown slightly, unsure of why she was still unnerved by the kind and gentle espeon. He didn’t force the issue any further though, and turned around again to await Luus’s return with her son.

Sure enough, moments later there was two flashes of light, and materializing from them were two quadrupeds, the larger one of the two he recognized as Luus. The other was smaller by a decent proportion, only slightly smaller than himself, though with a much larger frame. The bodies of light burst, and in their places stood the same espeon as before, and a slightly dazed eevee. The eevee’s violet eyes adjusted themselves to the sudden change of surroundings, and his caramel coloured fur settled back into place as he finally got a hold of his surroundings.

With his body and mind fully recovered, the eevee noticed him standing a few feet away, a buoyant smile present on his features. “Iskander? It really is you,” the eevee said with a hint of disbelief in his voice.

“Of course it is, who else would I be?” he responded with a chuckle, amused by his friend’s disbelief. “Why do you sound so shocked to see me, you’re acting as though me being here is the strangest thing you’ve seen all week!”

At this, Galen couldn’t help but frown a little, “That’s because it is. You never come here to see me while I’m working, and we usually plan ahead of time if and when we’re going to meet up and do something.” The eevee’s violet eyes glimmered from the sunlight cast down from above as they began to soften with worry and uncertainty, “Is everything okay? Did some bad happen, and you’ve come to ask for help?”

“What? No, nothing happened. Well… okay something happened, but it didn’t happen to me, but I did have to get involved, and…” Iskander shook his head, “Gah, look I’m okay. In fact, for once something good happened, and that’s why I’m here.”

Galen’s gaze had shifted to behind Iskander while he was talking, redirecting it to him, he nervously responded, “O-oh? N-nothing bad, huh?”

“Yeah, but before I get to that, let me first introduce you to my newest friend,” Iskander replied. “Galen,” he said, turning around to gesture at the female standing behind him, “meet Rosa. Rosa, meet Galen,” paying no heed to her oddly neutral expression.

Stepping away from between the two so as to allow them both a better view of each other, and grant him sight on both of them, Iskander sat down on the ground and waited for them to exchange greetings of their own, his tail wagging slowly, excited to see how the two would interact each other. Galen could only stare in silence, a nervous and frightened air surrounding him as his female counterpart mimicked his posture, albeit in a much less tense manner.

Misinterpreting the situation, Iskander decided to intervene. “Come on Gale, no need to be shy, she won’t bite, I promise. Heck, let me help you out here just to show you I’m right,” grabbing him by his fluffy cream coloured mane, Iskander unceremoniously swung his petrified friend into Rosa, surprisingly not even causing her to budge in the slightest. However now, Iskander could see the furious scowl present on her face, and the sheer terror his best friend was experiencing now.

“Err… maybe we should start things over,” he said, realizing that the situation had only been made worse now. Gently pulling Galen back to his original position, Iskander cleared his throat before beginning, “Rosa, I’d like to introduce to you my best and only friend, Galen. Him and his family have been there for and taken care of me ever since everyone… vacated. They’ve been the moral supports in my life, and have helped me cope with everything, being the one constant and positive aspect of my life. Without them, I don’t think I would’ve made it this far in life, and for that,” he said, turning to smile at his best friend, “I owe them everything that I have and ever hope to gain.”

Embarrassed by his praise, Galen diverted his attention to the ground in front of him, while Rosa’s scowl had reverted back to its previous neutral form, however, there was something about it that set it apart from the one she had before. Her eyes; they looked like they now held… gratefulness? Whatever it is, it seems that I made things right again, Iskander thought, smiling inwardly. Spending no more time on speculation and interpretation, Iskander quickly resumed his introduction.

“Galen, meet Rosa. She’s a ‘mon from Tidania travelling around Evolia as a form of training before she takes the lead position at the librory-“

“Do you mean library?” Galen corrected.

“Yeah, that,” Iskander replied, surprised by his friend knowing what a library was. “I met her while I was napping by the lake – she was about to be attacked by those group of idiots again, but I-“

“So you are here because something bad happened,” Galen interrupted again.

“No! I mean, sure it had a part in why I’m here, but that’s not-“

“Did she get hurt? Is that why you’re here, because you need help treating her for injuries?” Galen questioned.

“Does she look hurt to you? She’s fine; and before you ask, I’m fine too, but if you want to know why I’m here, then stop interrupting me,” Iskander said, exasperated now by his friend overly concerned nature.

Luus on the other hand, whom had been quietly watching the exchange ever since fetching her son, had other plans, instead becoming intrigued by the circumstances under which Rosa was travelling under. “My, what an interesting young eevee you’ve happened across, Iskander! Sixteen and already taking on a challenge so daring as traveling the entire continent by yourself. There’s no doubt that such a feat would require one to be competent in the ways of battle; such skills not befitting nor appropriate for a profession such as that of a librarian,” the espeon said.

“T-that’s true. I took lessons in combat before I set out. If I had never decided to make this trip, I w-would’ve never taken up such training,” Rosa responded.

“And what is your reason then, for making such a trip?” Luus asked.

“W-w-well, I thought it would aid in my duties as a l-librarian, a-and honestly, I-I’m kind of-of nervous about taking over the duties of my parents… th-they kind of held themselves, and me, to high standards… I-I don’t want to soil my memory of them by taking over as an incompetent ruler,” the young eevee replied, scuffing the dirt with a paw.

“You don’t want to soil your memory of them?” Luus questioned.

For a moment, all her nerves seemed to disappear as the question struck a tender cord in Rosa’s heart, “They’re not around anymore, they were murdered six years ago…”

At her response, Luus’ smile faded, and her voice became eerily sympathetic and serious. “I’m sorry to hear that, I hope that your parents’ killer is brought to justice one day for their actions,” she said. Taking a brief pause to acknowledge everything said, the espeon then posed her next question, “You said that you work as a… librarian in Tidania, correct?” she asked, seeking confirmation about the eevee. When Rosa responded with a nod, Luus continued, “And you just turned sixteen not too long ago, most likely before you left, which means that someone else was running the place for you for the past six years, as you already implied.”

‘Where is she going with this?’ Iskander thought, unnerved as well by the espeon’s change in behaviour. The psychic-type rarely, if ever presented herself with anything other than her jubilant nature, so to see her acting the way she was now, even Iskander knew now that Rosa hadn’t been completely truthful about who she was, or at least even less truthful than he had first guessed. He trusted Luus with his life though, and knew if there was anyone who was a good judge of character, it was her, and that she would deal with the whole situation in the best way possible; deciding now to remain silent, he watched how things would play out.

“How did you know that?” Rosa asked, posing the obvious question, not comfortable with where the discussion was heading once again.

“A mixture of common sense, and the fact that I’m well aware of your kingdom’s laws, having travelled all over the continent myself when I was younger,” Luus answered with a soft laugh. “My question to you now though is,” opening her eyes now slightly to gaze into the young female’s, daring her to lie on her answer, “who is the name of your guardian?”

The question drained the blood right out of the eevee’s face, her eyes widening in shock and finality. Her reaction caused Galen to tilt his head to the side as he tried to figure what was so upsetting about such a simple and arbitrary question, while Iskander continued to stare on with a blank expression, waiting to see what Rosa would answer with, and how Luus would respond.

Luus’ piercing gaze held Rosa’s own petrified one, and as the silence stretched out for what felt like an eternity, it was clear that whatever the espeon wanted to hear, she was going to get it no matter what, and giving a false answer could result in consequences that Rosa did not want to find out about, so bracing herself for whatever would come next, she finally answered the name of the pokemon her interrogator had been waiting for.

“…Camilla.”

The answer left both male eevees surprisingly unsatisfied, as the name held no meaning to either of them. Luus on the other hand seemed quite the opposite, as she closed her eyes once more, freeing Rosa from her paralysing gaze, causing the eevee to let go of her breath she had unknowingly been holding. Luus patiently waited for her to get a hold of herself before responding, “It would seem you are exactly who I first thought you to be.” Iskander could now see in her eyes that Rosa was on the verge of a panic attack, and was now certain for sure that Rosa had indeed been untruthful to him, a fact that gripped his heart tightly. He may not know who Rosa was, but Luus did and it was only after watching how his adoptive mother dealt with her, would Iskander then finally fully gauge his understanding of Rosa, before making his move, remaining outwardly calm through out.

When Rosa made no attempt to speak, Luus continued, “You see, Camilla is actually a long-time acquaintance of my mate and me. Our work history go back… rather far, so we’re well aware of your future endeavours as taking over as the head of the library.”

Luus’ statement had caused Rosa’s panic to now melt into that of confusion, then uncertainty, and finally stopping on surprise, her mouth opening then closing as she sought out an appropriate response. “Long-time acquaintance… library?” she tried saying, but too many thoughts and ideas were whirling around in her head, causing her response to barely stumble out and come out broken. Her eyebrows knitted together in focus and thought. The eevee did not elaborate on her response, instead choosing to stare quizzically now at the eon.

The already nonsensical and confusing conversation became even more so as Luus threw out more names that Iskander was unfamiliar with, “I’m sorry once again about Porfirio and Elda. They were… good pokemon with rather… interesting morales.”

It seemed though that Galen had gotten a hold of the situation now as he spoke out, “Porfirio and Elda? But wait mother, aren’t those the names of the Tidanian m-“only to be cut off by his mouth being forced shut. Now Iskander was the only one who was completely unaware of Rosa’s true identity; a fact that greatly vexed him.
The espeon waited to see how the eevee would react, but she seemingly didn’t care about having been discovered anymore, or perhaps something else had grabbed her interest? Whatever the reason may be, Iskander would have to wait and find out for himself, though it seemed that whoever Rosa actually was, she posed no real threat to neither him nor Galen, otherwise he doubted that the fully-grown espeon would be acting in such a docile manner.

“It’s understandable that you would feel the need to keep yourself up to such high standards,” her radiant personality returning once again, “they accomplished a lot in their time so you have rather large foot prints to fit into. I’m sure you’ll fit into them just fine though, and I wish you the best of luck in your travels. Now with all those ‘not-so-important’ facts and the formalities out of the way,” now turning towards Iskander, ”why don’t you tell us now why you came to visit?”

“Oh, right…” Iskander said, dragging his mind away from the enigmatic conversation he just listened to. “Well, after I helped sort Rosa out of a run-in with the local ‘gang’, she offered me the chance to join her on her journey. Of course I accepted, I mean, why not? Change in scenery, little exercise, and I think the only ones who will miss my presence around here are you guys. It seemed exactly like what I needed in my life, but then I thought to myself, ‘You know what would make it even better? If I got a certain workaholic eevee to tag along with us, since I thought he needed it even more than me.’ So what do you think, buddy? Up for exploring the grand, wide ol’ Frontier with two of your closest friends?” he asked, giving Galen the biggest eyes and smile he could muster.

The bright-eyed eevee seemed to share the same attitude attitude as him, as he immediately turned around to look at his mother, earning a curt nod of approval from her before turning back around to acknowledge his friend’s request. “That’s a great idea, Isk! I’ve always wanted to see all the other kingdoms after reading… so much… into… it…” his voice now trailing off.

“So is that a yes?” Iskander asked. He noticed that his friend’s gaze had momentarily shifted behind him again, so he looked back to see what he was looking at, only to see an innocent looking eevee.

“Well you see… I mean, you kind of already have a travelling partner, so I don’t know if you really need me to be there…” Galen spoke uncertainly.

“Sure I do. Remember that saying that I told you I heard about once? ‘Three’s a crowd’,” Iskander responded.

“That’s kind of what I mean.”

“So you’ll come?”

“Yes… no! Look, I don’t think you fully understand the meaning behind that saying,” Galen replied, still seeking a way to convince his friend to go on without him.

“Sure I do! It means three pokemon make a crowd, and everyone knows that crowds are a good thing.”

Swiping a paw across his face in exasperation, Galen took a deep breath before speaking again, “That’s not what it means. What it actually means is… well,” he turned towards his mother once again for help.

“Aww, I see what’s the matter, sweetie! You’re worried that your father might not let you go, is that it?” Luus asked.

“Yes! That’s it! You know how father is about me, all protective and stuff. He’ll never let me go on this adventure,” Galen said, relieved that he had a legitimate excuse to not go.

‘That’s a good point,’ Iskander thought, knowing if there was ever to be a reason that Galen couldn’t go, it would be because of his father. While the male espeon had the same outward happy manner as his mate did, he knew inwardly just how protective he was of Galen, ensuring that the young eevee would only be able to go
anywhere he knew there was no chance of his son would be harmed. Travelling around Evolia, no matter how prepared, came with a lot of inherent and unpredictable risks, and there was no telling who or what they could run into. Now it seemed that the perfect trip might not be so perfect anymore, as if he had to go on without his best friend by his side, it would no longer be as enjoyable as it could possibly be. Besides, he knew now that Galen or no Galen, he had to make this trip; he had a duty to fulfil that he was destined to inherit…

“Well you’ll never know until you actually ask him,” Iskander replied.

“I don’t see much point in do so, he’ll probably say no anyw-“

“I’ll call him over right now!” Luus interrupted, ceasing all body movements, earning a wide-eyed and surprised look from her son who did not expect her obvious and planned out betrayal, as she used her telepathic powers to call out to her mate.

No more than a few seconds past before a glowing white silhouette appeared beside her. With a flash of light, now sitting before the three eevees was a second espeon, his frame similar to that of his son’s, and his facial expression an exact replica of his mate’s. Turning towards him, most pokemon would’ve felt reassured by the psychic’s jovial attitude, but Iskander knew well enough that it meant nothing towards his chances of getting his friend to tag along; if anything, it actually made him feel worse, knowing that whatever decision he was about to make, he was obviously already set upon. It wouldn’t surprise Iskander if he had been somehow listening in on their entire conversation already; a psychic-type’s powers were versatile, and as much as they cared and trusted Iskander, they never divulged what exactly boundaries their abilities stretched to.

“Iskander, what a wonderful surprise to have you here!” the male espeon exclaimed happily, the smile on his face never wavering. “What’s the matter? Does what you’re doing here have something to do with your mysterious young friend standing behind you, making rude and unwelcome looks towards my son?”

What?

Turning around to look towards Rosa again, he found that she wore a shocked and frightened expression. Iskander’s attention was torn away from her though as he heard an audible smack sound come from the direction he just turned away from. When he looked back, Galen’s father had finished righting his head up again, acting as though nothing had ever happened.

“Pankaja, Iskander and his friend Rosa here are preparing to take a trip around Evolia and they invited our son to travel with them. He already has my approval, but he would like yours as well,” Luus said.

At this, Pankaja’s wide smile stretched even further across his face, and he turned to direct it towards his son, “Hmm, a dangerous and potentially life-threatening journey across an entire continent with two pokemon who are far from being strong enough to defend you? I think the answer is obviously n-“he never got to finish his answer before it was swiftly cut off by his jaw being forced shut by an unseen force. Turning towards Luus, the two espeons looked towards each other with their unseeing gazes, resembling two lifelike statues as they entered what Iskander could only assume to be a telepathic conversation.

Of course he was listening in the whole time; I wonder how many times he’s done that in the past? Not that it really matters now; there’s no he’ll ever change his mind, Iskander thought to himself pessimistically, already preparing for the worst. It would seem that he would have to make this journey with less pokemon by his side.

Silence blanketed the area, the three eevees observing the adults as they had their silent exchange; the only signs of life they showed was the odd quivering of Pankaja’s mouth as he struggled to maintain his smile, Luus on the other hand never wavered; a fact that gave Iskander a small sense of hope, that perhaps maybe, just maybe, she would be able to persuade the overprotective parent to let their only child go. Seconds felt like minutes, and minutes felt like hours as Iskander stared nervously on at the two, his gaze never wavering, silently willing Pankaja to give in. Iskander understood where Galen’s father was coming from, but he thought that Galen was old enough to make these kinds of decisions for himself. Galen understood that there was every chance that he could get hurt out there, but was still willing to take that risk.

Not only that, Iskander himself was about to transition into the next part of his life, a part that he knew from talking to his father all those years ago, would end up transforming him into someone else for the rest of his life, and he didn’t want to do that alone. It was nice that he would at least have Rosa there when he finally initiated himself into his father’s old position, and he was more than thankful for her presence after helping him more than she could possibly realize, but he wanted his best friend to be there too. His closest companion, the one who had seen him through his worst, someone who’s seen where he’s come from, and what this all means to him, to see how far he’s come, to witness the true momentousness of his decision, and to make him feel like he wasn’t doing this alone. Iskander had lost those he had cared for the most before, and it had increased Galen’s worth in his eyes all the more. That’s why it meant so much to him to have his best friend come along with him.

At last the two espeons began to show signs of life once more, as they broke “eye contact” from each other to meet the quizzical and nervous stares of the eevees patiently waiting for the verdict on the matter at hand. Not a word was spoken at first, as no one could seem to find the will nor words to do so, causing tension to set into place and nerves to rise, until at last, it became too much and Galen broke the ice.

“W-well father? Did you two come to a consensus?” he spoke nervously after clearing clearing his throat.

The espeon did not speak right away, instead allowing his facial muscles to drop down, his expression becoming unreadable. He merely looked at his son, contemplating if he really was sure about what he had decided upon. That uncertainty however seemed to disappear soon after, as he straightened himself upward, having decided now that he wouldn’t go back on what he had planned. “Yes son, I have. After discussing everything with your mother, we have both decided that it would be best to let you go.”

Was that a yes? Did Pankaja really just say that? Had the impossible actually been done? Iskander couldn’t believe it, he couldn’t believe what he had just heard. Pankaja had just granted Galen permission to join him on his journey! He knew all along that there was a chance, a small and tiny chance that maybe he would let him go, but it was like praying for a miracle to happen; this went against everything that Galen’s father was known for about his son. Iskander was beyond happy that he had been convinced, but what had pushed him over the edge? What could’ve possibly been the reason that finally convinced him? Risking his son’s safety in any way was almost beyond imaginable to Iskander: so what did it? What reason could’ve possibly been so large and important?

And then it hit him. ‘It wasn’t because of me, was it? Because of who I- what I am…’ letting the thought drift off quietly, not wishing to consider the idea that a parent was willing to risk something they cherished so much such as their own child, just to keep him satisfied. Then again, how was that reasoning any different than his own? He was already willing to risk having Galen get hurt just for his own selfish reasons…

“Really? You mean it, father?” Galen said, his tail wagging back and forth in glee.

“Yes, I am,” Pankaja replied, his smile coming back, this time however, it was a different smile, one that was more genuine, as he couldn’t help but do so given his son’s reaction.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you so much! You won’t regret this, I promise you! Even if something goes wrong, Iskander will be there to help take care of it!” he stopped though when he quickly looked over and remembered that he was traveling with more than one other pokemon, “Oh, err… and Rosa will be there too, so I’ll be extra safe! Don’t you worry at all!”

Iskander nodded in agreement, “All three of us will be there to take care of each other. There’s no way I’ll come back home without Galen making it back in one piece, that’s a promise.”

“I wouldn’t doubt for a moment that you would, though I trust that all three of you will come back in the same shape as well,” Luus said, standing up. “We’ll start packing Galen’s things while you prepare your own. Once you’re ready, meet us on the north-western outskirts of town: I assume that you’ll be heading to your grandparent’s place first?”

Iskander nods, “I have most of my stuff picked out already, so we shouldn’t be long.”

“Then we’ll see you two soon,” she said, motioning Galen over towards her.

“See you guys there!” Galen said, waving at the two eevees with his parents shortly before they all disappeared with a flash of light, heading home.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Iskander turns towards his new friend as he was prepared to go finish packing of his own. “Let’s go,” he said, heading towards the entrance. He didn’t make it too far though before noticing that Rosa had not moved from her spot, merely staring at him, making it clear that she had something she wanted to say. “Is everything all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine. It’s just,” she paused for a moment.

“You’re weirded out that Galen’s parents know who you are?” he asked, deciding to hide his own apprehension on Rosa’s true identity.
“I am kind of shocked by that,” she replied, squinting her eyes in thought, “but that’s not what really concerns me. What really concerns me is how they know who I am,” she said, lifting her gaze up to him, giving her a questioning gaze, urging her to continue. “Have you ever noticed anything, you know, peculiar about them in the past?”

Did she know? There’s no way she possibly could. Luus and Pankaja’s secret was one that they hid from everyone, even Galen. It was of utmost importance that they did; it was for everyone’s good, and the only reason Iskander knew about it was because of their relationship to him, and even then they had been skeptical about passing off such information to him.

Staring at her in a mixture of thought in deciding he should answer, and pretending to think longer than he actually had: “No,” he replied, before walking away without another word. He didn’t look behind him to check how she reacted to his short and terse response, nor to see if she was following him; he did not want to give anything away to her. He paid the subject no more mind, completely shifting his focus towards the task of deciding everything that he wanted to take with him, as he made his way back home.
__________________________________________________ __________________________
The rest of the walk back as well as all of the time spent packing was done without an exchange of a single word. Making their way to the rendezvous point, Iskander did whatever he could to keep his mind off of all the possibilities of things that could dampen his mood and threaten what should be one of the happiest days he had had in a long time. He didn’t think about his family, he didn’t think about Rosa’s ambiguousness, nor his adoptive parents secrets. He wanted to think of all the positive things ahead of himself, how everything was finally going to change, and he would be able to leave his past and all of its issues behind him.
And so he did; and he did so in silence. Having caught on quickly to his emotional tendencies, Rosa thankfully respected his need for mental solitude, though while he decided to take this as a chance to distract himself from all of his problems, Rosa took it as an opportunity to do the opposite, keeping a mental note to revisit some of them with Iskander at a later time.

As the sun found itself in its early afternoon position in the sky, the two eevees found themselves coming upon their destination; two espeons, and a slightly nervous eevee awaiting their arrival. Upon seeing the three quadrupeds sitting and waiting patiently for them, Iskander snapped himself out of his reticent attitude, smiling at the family. Situated by Galen, Iskander noticed that his friend’s normally plain travelling bag that he took on their trips to his grandparent’s had been replaced by one identical to Rosa’s, as well as the fact that the pack was unusually full, with everything just barely fitting inside.

“Did you two have everything you need?” Luus asked, seeking confirmation that everything was in order for their big trip.

“Yeah, we should have everything we need to at least make it to Tanta,” Iskander replied. “Besides, anything we may end up needing the rest of the way, we can pick up at their place, and not to mention we’ll be able to restock if need be. We should have no problems making it there.”

Luus nodded, “I thought as much, but I packed a few extra things just in-case into Galen’s stuff – and yes, before you worry your poor heart away, Galen’s more than capable of carrying the extra baggage for you. In fact, it was his idea to throw in a few extra things for you. He seemed rather adamant towards making this trip as smooth for you as possible,” the last part eliciting an embarrassed gesture out of her son.

“Just remember that all three of you are on this journey together; that means you stick together at all times, and never leave anyone behind. No doubt you’ll come to have some issues with each other – that’s unavoidable, and so you’ll have to learn to sort them out like the mature young adults that you all are. No one gets left behind, no one wanders off, no one picks fight with the natives, and no one gets themselves caught in life-threatening situations. I want both my children – yes, that means you too Iskander, coming back in one piece. Am I understood?” Luus demanded politely.

Galen and Iskander both nodded in response. “Don’t worry mother, we’ll come back without a scratch on us as the same pokemon that we are now,” Galen said, attempting to soothe his mother’s nerves.

“Oh, I hope that’s not the case,” she replied incredulously.

“Really?” Galen said, surprised.

Turning towards her son, she placed a paw on his head as she spoke, “That’s the whole reason we are letting you take this trip: so that you can grow as a pokemon! What you’ll see out there will be very different from not just what you’ve seen staying here with us, but also in Blazidia. You’ll find that pokemon in other kingdoms function in much different ways than you; both positively and negatively. You may not like everything that you see, but it’s important that you see it, because if you don’t now, you will eventually, at least, that is what we want you to. You don’t want to be like the rest of the pokemon who’ve lived in this town and place their entire lives, and never seeing what the rest of the world looks like. There’s so much to see and do, it’d be such a waste, and selfish of us as your parents to keep you away from it. I want the both of you to come back to me not as the same innocent eevees that you are, but ones who are grown up, and can tell me all about what is out there. I want you to come back, and tell me everything that there is that you’ve seen.”

“I want you to live a full life; to your very best. You think going on this trip only means something to you two,” telekinetically grabbing Iskander, she embraced the two eevees in a hug, now speaking quietly, with a slight unevenness to her voice, “but it actually means just as much to us as your parents. That’s why no matter how important you are to us, we’re willing to letting you go despite all of the risks.”

Luus’ words caught Iskander off-guard. He could sense the sincerity in what she said, and for that one moment, he could see nothing more than a mother who was reluctant and sad to see the two most important pokemon in the world to her leaving. For that one moment, Luus didn’t feel like an adoptive mother to him, but instead his actual, biological one. He returned the espeon’s embrace with one just as sincere, and for that one moment, everything in the world felt right for him.

“Thank you, mother,” causing Luus to flinch in surprise by his use of the name he never used for her in his life, “we promise to do everything we can to get the most out of this journey. When we see you again, we’ll be new and improved pokemon; inside and out. Isn’t that right, Galen?” he asked, looking at his shocked best friend.

“Yeah! Twenty years from now, we’ll look back on this day and laugh at how much we’ve changed,” Galen laughed.

“And to think you were going to deny our son this opportunity, honey,” Luus said, teasing her mate. Pankaja said nothing, but merely replied by smiling at his son and best friend’s enthusiasm.

Slipping his pack onto his back once more, causing his two companions to do the same with theirs, Iskander took a few steps down the path before turning around to look at the espeons. “Well, I guess this is finally it,” he said, looking up at the sky to observe the sun’s position. “If we leave now, we should make it to Trikala by tomorrow evening.”

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, Iskander waved goodbye, “We’ll see you again someday, whenever that may be! See you then!” Turning back around, the eevee started walking away down the trail.

“Goodbye mother! Goodbye father! See you again someday!” Galen said, before running to quickly catching up to Iskander.

Rosa hesitated before deciding it was best to say nothing. However, just before she could go anywhere, calling out her name, Luus stopped her in her tracks. When she turned around to look at the espeon, she had that same cold expression etched onto her face, and for a few moments, the two held each other’s gaze as they held a private discussion, the espeon’s words ringing through her mind with an icy clarity. The psychic-types words froze her to the ground as their implications set in. Then, without an outward utterance or so much as a simple flinch, she ran to catch up with her two companions, her temporary absence having gone unnoticed.
The two espeons sat on the road, watching the three brown and cream coloured quadrupeds slowly fade into the distance. Though through their own past experiences of having travelled across Evolia, and seen even more beyond that, and though they anticipated that no matter how optimistic they were that they knew the journey the three would make would change them forever, years later when they looked back on this day, they realized they would’ve never been truly capable of anticipating what future events were in store for the trio.

For if they had, they would’ve never let the two of them go on the pious odyssey that would change, revolutionize, and scar them for the rest of their lives.

[Zeromus]

Chapter 4 - Reasons and Purposes

Dirt flew, and pebbles skidded out of the way as Iskander dashed madly down the dirt road towards his best friend’s farm, weaving around the occasional and irritated passer-by. The spring-time sun was at its apex in the clear and cloudless sky, and shone its blinding, life-giving beams of warmth onto his neatly kept, brown fur, shading it in a lighter tone than it actually was. Air swept past him, billowing through his fur, and caressing his skin underneath, instilling a sense of joyous freedom, and augmenting the excitement within himself first created by the idea of going to travel the land, accompanied by a new friend, and most definitely his best friend as well – how could Galen say no to such a proposal?

Iskander felt as though a fresh breath of life had been blown into him, and he felt like a newborn kit again – the world recreated into something new and wonderful, beckoning him to come and explore it, and witness all of its wonders. Thinking back on how he felt only an hour ago, or maybe it was two? He couldn’t exactly remember, he had lost track of time when he decided to take that nap, the young and excited eevee couldn’t help but laugh at his previous demeanour. How could’ve he been so down, and angry earlier? Had he honestly been sad and angry just because of what his inconsiderate, abominable, loathsome, despicable mother had done? And the townspeople? They were all ignorant, selfish, inconsiderate morons who knew nothing about his kind, for they forgot who is father was, and what he stood up for; and Rosa! She seemed pretty nice, and he couldn’t forget about Galen, and his family whom helped take care of him.

Iskander managed a short chuckle out amidst his sprint, unable to fully understand how the Patrasians could be so hateful and vulgar towards his species just because a small group that may have done a poor job of presenting themselves. Surely their attitude was merely misplaced and the crimes they spoke of were exaggerated, right?

No matter, he would see soon enough for himself just how wrong everyone was about eevee and eon kind, and when he returned home from his journey, he would put an end to their ignorant points of view, and finally set things right. He would honour his father’s memories by making him proud!

Passing left, right past his friend’s home, Iskander made his way down the path, and stopped at the small building that marked the entrance to the wide expanse of fenced off land. He was just about to push the cloth door aside when he was stopped by the sudden shouting of his female companion.

“Wait!” Rosa shouted in exclamation, stopping Iskander from setting a single paw into the wooden structure. Perplexed, he turned around to face her as she caught up to him.

“Why, what’s the matter?”

“You can’t just barge into someone’s workplace unannounced; you have to request permission to enter first!” Rosa replied, giving him a look as though he was crazy.

“Huh? Sure I can,” he said, cocking his head to the side in confusion, “besides, Galen’s parents are pretty much my parents too at this point. They won’t mind in the least, and I’ve done this many times before.”

“Yes, but-“

“Come on, you should relax,” Iskander replied, rolling his eyes in mock exasperation. “Just wait until you meet his parents, they’re two of the calmest, and happy pokemon I’ve ever met. I don’t think we could upset them, even if we tried. Now come on, I want to get this show on the road as soon as possible!”

Seeing that there was no room for further argument, Rosa let out a long sigh, and reluctantly followed her companion into the building. Walking around a counter, Iskander lead them through a doorway and down a hall past a few rooms whose purpose he never was able to discern, nor did he care about right now. Brushing past another clothed doorway, the two exited, and found themselves standing before a large expanse of cultivated land.

Laid out in front of them was a long, tightly packed dirt path that ran in between rows of ploughed and dug up earth. Along the boundaries of the area was an orchard of various fruits and berries, their heights and colours varying widely from every spectrum of the rainbow, helping protect the inside view of the area. It didn’t take a grass-type to appreciate the safe, secluded and serene scenery. It was very therapeutic, and helped calm Iskander down from his overly excited mood; even Rosa visibly relaxed, much to his benefit. He knew he would need all the help he could get to make sure everything went according to plan with getting both eevees to come together with him. While he had no doubt in his mind that neither friend would object to travelling as a trio, he wasn’t going to take any chances. Surely his two friends would get along, even if they may somewhat be polar opposites. Galen had never objected to another ‘mon’s presence, and Rosa didn’t seem to mind him inviting his friend along. At least, he didn’t remember her seeming bothered by it…

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Iskander let out a gasp when he lifted his head up to the sudden appearance of a lavender body appearing right before him. The unexpected arrival caused him to take a step back in shock, but when he did, he was pressed into the stranger’s chest as they wrapped two slender forelegs around him in a warm embrace. For a moment, Iskander thought that he was under attack, alarmed by the sensation of being completely immobile. His unknown assailant’s grip was strong enough to make him realize that they were more powerful than him, and if they meant him harm, then he was in less than a favourable position. He let go of such silly thoughts upon hearing the familiar voice, knowing full well they would never even think of harming him in any way.

“Iskander, what a lovely surprise! It’s so good to see you here,” the voice exclaimed jubilantly, letting him go from their grip.

Distancing himself from the feline pokemon, Iskander had to take a few deep breaths to fully recompose himself before he was able to look up and return the espeon’s smile. Galen’s mother had always been a source of never ending joy and happiness, posing as a stark contrast in comparison to everyone else he had ever come to know or meet in Patras. Even living in a community that shunned her kind could not dampen that merry smile that was ever present on her face. Iskander wondered how she could keep such an outward attitude like that all the time; perhaps it was because she always kept her eyes closed, maybe she couldn’t see what a terrible place she lived in, or perhaps she had seen it all, and merely found no use for them anymore.

“So what brings you to our humble abode? Is something the matter?”

Shaking his head once more, Iskander cursed himself inwardly for losing track of his surroundings, only imagining how strange he must seem right now, standing there like a lost kit. Mirroring the espeon’s smile again, Iskander looked up at her in a reassuring way.

“No, nothing is the matter. Sorry for making you think otherwise, Luus,” Iskander replied. Looking behind him, he saw Rosa looking at the espeon with a strange look. “Right… I should probably introduce you to my friend here, but first, is Galen around? It’d be easier if I explained everything with him here, rather than doing it twice.”

“Of course he is, I’ll go get him right away,” and with that, Luus disappeared with a flash of light, leaving the two eevees behind momentarily. Taking the lapse in conversation as an opportunity to get an answer to a question of his own, Iskander rounded on Rosa, giving her a quizzical look.

“Nice pokemon, isn’t she? I bet you’re wondering why and how she walks around without using her eyes all the time,” Iskander said, giving a light chuckle. “I wish I could answer that, but honestly, I’ve never been able to figure it out, even after all of these years of knowing her.”

Shifting her paws slightly, Rosa glanced off to the side, “Psychic-types can read your thoughts and mind right?” Rosa questioned, taking the conversation in a different direction, but a direction that Iskander was hoping for anyway. Nodding his head, Rosa continued on.

“How can you tell if they’re, you know…” she now shifted her gaze, staring right into his eyes now, “reading it. Is there any telltale signs of it?”

So that’s what she was nervous about, she was just worried about her privacy.

Holding her gaze while he dug through his memory for what he had been taught about psychics by his adoptive mother, Iskander recalled what he knew about telepathy and mind reading. “Well, the most obvious sign that a psychic is going through your mind is that you’ll feel their conscience within your own. Of course, you can only detect them if you’re a strong psychic yourself, or their skills are not very adept, so often you won’t be able to tell they’re there. The other sign is that their eyes will glow a certain colour, an effect that is even more difficult to hide than the presence of their mind,” upon mentioning this, Rosa visibly flinched, but Iskander expected this.

“Don’t worry, Luus would never intrude in your mind unless she had reason to suspect that you might be a danger to Galen or I, and like I said, she’s the kindest, most gentle pokemon alive, so you have nothing to worry about anyway,” Iskander reassured.

Nodding slowly, Rosa said no more, seemingly convinced that she was in no danger. Her body language said otherwise, and Iskander couldn’t help but frown slightly, unsure of why she was still unnerved by the kind and gentle espeon. He didn’t force the issue any further though, and turned around again to await Luus’s return with her son.

Sure enough, moments later there was two flashes of light, and materializing from them were two quadrupeds, the larger one of the two he recognized as Luus. The other was smaller by a decent proportion, only slightly smaller than himself, though with a much larger frame. The bodies of light burst, and in their places stood the same espeon as before, and a slightly dazed eevee. The eevee’s violet eyes adjusted themselves to the sudden change of surroundings, and his caramel coloured fur settled back into place as he finally got a hold of his surroundings.

With his body and mind fully recovered, the eevee noticed him standing a few feet away, a buoyant smile present on his features. “Iskander? It really is you,” the eevee said with a hint of disbelief in his voice.

“Of course it is, who else would I be?” he responded with a chuckle, amused by his friend’s disbelief. “Why do you sound so shocked to see me, you’re acting as though me being here is the strangest thing you’ve seen all week!”

At this, Galen couldn’t help but frown a little, “That’s because it is. You never come here to see me while I’m working, and we usually plan ahead of time if and when we’re going to meet up and do something.” The eevee’s violet eyes glimmered from the sunlight cast down from above as they began to soften with worry and uncertainty, “Is everything okay? Did some bad happen, and you’ve come to ask for help?”

“What? No, nothing happened. Well… okay something happened, but it didn’t happen to me, but I did have to get involved, and…” Iskander shook his head, “Gah, look I’m okay. In fact, for once something good happened, and that’s why I’m here.”

Galen’s gaze had shifted to behind Iskander while he was talking, redirecting it to him, he nervously responded, “O-oh? N-nothing bad, huh?”

“Yeah, but before I get to that, let me first introduce you to my newest friend,” Iskander replied. “Galen,” he said, turning around to gesture at the female standing behind him, “meet Rosa. Rosa, meet Galen,” paying no heed to her oddly neutral expression.

Stepping away from between the two so as to allow them both a better view of each other, and grant him sight on both of them, Iskander sat down on the ground and waited for them to exchange greetings of their own, his tail wagging slowly, excited to see how the two would interact each other. Galen could only stare in silence, a nervous and frightened air surrounding him as his female counterpart mimicked his posture, albeit in a much less tense manner.

Misinterpreting the situation, Iskander decided to intervene. “Come on Gale, no need to be shy, she won’t bite, I promise. Heck, let me help you out here just to show you I’m right,” grabbing him by his fluffy cream coloured mane, Iskander unceremoniously swung his petrified friend into Rosa, surprisingly not even causing her to budge in the slightest. However now, Iskander could see the furious scowl present on her face, and the sheer terror his best friend was experiencing now.

“Err… maybe we should start things over,” he said, realizing that the situation had only been made worse now. Gently pulling Galen back to his original position, Iskander cleared his throat before beginning, “Rosa, I’d like to introduce to you my best and only friend, Galen. Him and his family have been there for and taken care of me ever since everyone… vacated. They’ve been the moral supports in my life, and have helped me cope with everything, being the one constant and positive aspect of my life. Without them, I don’t think I would’ve made it this far in life, and for that,” he said, turning to smile at his best friend, “I owe them everything that I have and ever hope to gain.”

Embarrassed by his praise, Galen diverted his attention to the ground in front of him, while Rosa’s scowl had reverted back to its previous neutral form, however, there was something about it that set it apart from the one she had before. Her eyes; they looked like they now held… gratefulness? Whatever it is, it seems that I made things right again, Iskander thought, smiling inwardly. Spending no more time on speculation and interpretation, Iskander quickly resumed his introduction.

“Galen, meet Rosa. She’s a ‘mon from Tidania travelling around Evolia as a form of training before she takes the lead position at the librory-“

“Do you mean library?” Galen corrected.

“Yeah, that,” Iskander replied, surprised by his friend knowing what a library was. “I met her while I was napping by the lake – she was about to be attacked by those group of idiots again, but I-“

“So you are here because something bad happened,” Galen interrupted again.

“No! I mean, sure it had a part in why I’m here, but that’s not-“

“Did she get hurt? Is that why you’re here, because you need help treating her for injuries?” Galen questioned.

“Does she look hurt to you? She’s fine; and before you ask, I’m fine too, but if you want to know why I’m here, then stop interrupting me,” Iskander said, exasperated now by his friend overly concerned nature.

Luus on the other hand, whom had been quietly watching the exchange ever since fetching her son, had other plans, instead becoming intrigued by the circumstances under which Rosa was travelling under. “My, what an interesting young eevee you’ve happened across, Iskander! Sixteen and already taking on a challenge so daring as traveling the entire continent by yourself. There’s no doubt that such a feat would require one to be competent in the ways of battle; such skills not befitting nor appropriate for a profession such as that of a librarian,” the espeon said.

“T-that’s true. I took lessons in combat before I set out. If I had never decided to make this trip, I w-would’ve never taken up such training,” Rosa responded.

“And what is your reason then, for making such a trip?” Luus asked.

“W-w-well, I thought it would aid in my duties as a l-librarian, a-and honestly, I-I’m kind of-of nervous about taking over the duties of my parents… th-they kind of held themselves, and me, to high standards… I-I don’t want to soil my memory of them by taking over as an incompetent ruler,” the young eevee replied, scuffing the dirt with a paw.

“You don’t want to soil your memory of them?” Luus questioned.

For a moment, all her nerves seemed to disappear as the question struck a tender cord in Rosa’s heart, “They’re not around anymore, they were murdered six years ago…”

At her response, Luus’ smile faded, and her voice became eerily sympathetic and serious. “I’m sorry to hear that, I hope that your parents’ killer is brought to justice one day for their actions,” she said. Taking a brief pause to acknowledge everything said, the espeon then posed her next question, “You said that you work as a… librarian in Tidania, correct?” she asked, seeking confirmation about the eevee. When Rosa responded with a nod, Luus continued, “And you just turned sixteen not too long ago, most likely before you left, which means that someone else was running the place for you for the past six years, as you already implied.”

‘Where is she going with this?’ Iskander thought, unnerved as well by the espeon’s change in behaviour. The psychic-type rarely, if ever presented herself with anything other than her jubilant nature, so to see her acting the way she was now, even Iskander knew now that Rosa hadn’t been completely truthful about who she was, or at least even less truthful than he had first guessed. He trusted Luus with his life though, and knew if there was anyone who was a good judge of character, it was her, and that she would deal with the whole situation in the best way possible; deciding now to remain silent, he watched how things would play out.

“How did you know that?” Rosa asked, posing the obvious question, not comfortable with where the discussion was heading once again.

“A mixture of common sense, and the fact that I’m well aware of your kingdom’s laws, having travelled all over the continent myself when I was younger,” Luus answered with a soft laugh. “My question to you now though is,” opening her eyes now slightly to gaze into the young female’s, daring her to lie on her answer, “who is the name of your guardian?”

The question drained the blood right out of the eevee’s face, her eyes widening in shock and finality. Her reaction caused Galen to tilt his head to the side as he tried to figure what was so upsetting about such a simple and arbitrary question, while Iskander continued to stare on with a blank expression, waiting to see what Rosa would answer with, and how Luus would respond.

Luus’ piercing gaze held Rosa’s own petrified one, and as the silence stretched out for what felt like an eternity, it was clear that whatever the espeon wanted to hear, she was going to get it no matter what, and giving a false answer could result in consequences that Rosa did not want to find out about, so bracing herself for whatever would come next, she finally answered the name of the pokemon her interrogator had been waiting for.

“…Camilla.”

The answer left both male eevees surprisingly unsatisfied, as the name held no meaning to either of them. Luus on the other hand seemed quite the opposite, as she closed her eyes once more, freeing Rosa from her paralysing gaze, causing the eevee to let go of her breath she had unknowingly been holding. Luus patiently waited for her to get a hold of herself before responding, “It would seem you are exactly who I first thought you to be.” Iskander could now see in her eyes that Rosa was on the verge of a panic attack, and was now certain for sure that Rosa had indeed been untruthful to him, a fact that gripped his heart tightly. He may not know who Rosa was, but Luus did and it was only after watching how his adoptive mother dealt with her, would Iskander then finally fully gauge his understanding of Rosa, before making his move, remaining outwardly calm through out.

When Rosa made no attempt to speak, Luus continued, “You see, Camilla is actually a long-time acquaintance of my mate and me. Our work history go back… rather far, so we’re well aware of your future endeavours as taking over as the head of the library.”

Luus’ statement had caused Rosa’s panic to now melt into that of confusion, then uncertainty, and finally stopping on surprise, her mouth opening then closing as she sought out an appropriate response. “Long-time acquaintance… library?” she tried saying, but too many thoughts and ideas were whirling around in her head, causing her response to barely stumble out and come out broken. Her eyebrows knitted together in focus and thought. The eevee did not elaborate on her response, instead choosing to stare quizzically now at the eon.

The already nonsensical and confusing conversation became even more so as Luus threw out more names that Iskander was unfamiliar with, “I’m sorry once again about Porfirio and Elda. They were… good pokemon with rather… interesting morales.”

It seemed though that Galen had gotten a hold of the situation now as he spoke out, “Porfirio and Elda? But wait mother, aren’t those the names of the Tidanian m-“only to be cut off by his mouth being forced shut. Now Iskander was the only one who was completely unaware of Rosa’s true identity; a fact that greatly vexed him.

The espeon waited to see how the eevee would react, but she seemingly didn’t care about having been discovered anymore, or perhaps something else had grabbed her interest? Whatever the reason may be, Iskander would have to wait and find out for himself, though it seemed that whoever Rosa actually was, she posed no real threat to neither him nor Galen, otherwise he doubted that the fully-grown espeon would be acting in such a docile manner.

“It’s understandable that you would feel the need to keep yourself up to such high standards,” her radiant personality returning once again, “they accomplished a lot in their time so you have rather large foot prints to fit into. I’m sure you’ll fit into them just fine though, and I wish you the best of luck in your travels. Now with all those ‘not-so-important’ facts and the formalities out of the way,” now turning towards Iskander, ”why don’t you tell us now why you came to visit?”

“Oh, right…” Iskander said, dragging his mind away from the enigmatic conversation he just listened to. “Well, after I helped sort Rosa out of a run-in with the local ‘gang’, she offered me the chance to join her on her journey. Of course I accepted, I mean, why not? Change in scenery, little exercise, and I think the only ones who will miss my presence around here are you guys. It seemed exactly like what I needed in my life, but then I thought to myself, ‘You know what would make it even better? If I got a certain workaholic eevee to tag along with us, since I thought he needed it even more than me.’ So what do you think, buddy? Up for exploring the grand, wide ol’ Frontier with two of your closest friends?” he asked, giving Galen the biggest eyes and smile he could muster.

The bright-eyed eevee seemed to share the same attitude attitude as him, as he immediately turned around to look at his mother, earning a curt nod of approval from her before turning back around to acknowledge his friend’s request. “That’s a great idea, Isk! I’ve always wanted to see all the other kingdoms after reading… so much… into… it…” his voice now trailing off.

“So is that a yes?” Iskander asked. He noticed that his friend’s gaze had momentarily shifted behind him again, so he looked back to see what he was looking at, only to see an innocent looking eevee.

“Well you see… I mean, you kind of already have a travelling partner, so I don’t know if you really need me to be there…” Galen spoke uncertainly.

“Sure I do. Remember that saying that I told you I heard about once? ‘Three’s a crowd’,” Iskander responded.

“That’s kind of what I mean.”

“So you’ll come?”

“Yes… no! Look, I don’t think you fully understand the meaning behind that saying,” Galen replied, still seeking a way to convince his friend to go on without him.

“Sure I do! It means three pokemon make a crowd, and everyone knows that crowds are a good thing.”

Swiping a paw across his face in exasperation, Galen took a deep breath before speaking again, “That’s not what it means. What it actually means is… well,” he turned towards his mother once again for help.

“Aww, I see what’s the matter, sweetie! You’re worried that your father might not let you go, is that it?” Luus asked.

“Yes! That’s it! You know how father is about me, all protective and stuff. He’ll never let me go on this adventure,” Galen said, relieved that he had a legitimate excuse to not go.

‘That’s a good point,’ Iskander thought, knowing if there was ever to be a reason that Galen couldn’t go, it would be because of his father. While the male espeon had the same outward happy manner as his mate did, he knew inwardly just how protective he was of Galen, ensuring that the young eevee would only be able to go anywhere he knew there was no chance of his son would be harmed. Travelling around Evolia, no matter how prepared, came with a lot of inherent and unpredictable risks, and there was no telling who or what they could run into. Now it seemed that the perfect trip might not be so perfect anymore, as if he had to go on without his best friend by his side, it would no longer be as enjoyable as it could possibly be. Besides, he knew now that Galen or no Galen, he had to make this trip; he had a duty to fulfil that he was destined to inherit…

“Well you’ll never know until you actually ask him,” Iskander replied.

“I don’t see much point in do so, he’ll probably say no anyw-“

“I’ll call him over right now!” Luus interrupted, ceasing all body movements, earning a wide-eyed and surprised look from her son who did not expect her obvious and planned out betrayal, as she used her telepathic powers to call out to her mate.

No more than a few seconds past before a glowing white silhouette appeared beside her. With a flash of light, now sitting before the three eevees was a second espeon, his frame similar to that of his son’s, and his facial expression an exact replica of his mate’s. Turning towards him, most pokemon would’ve felt reassured by the psychic’s jovial attitude, but Iskander knew well enough that it meant nothing towards his chances of getting his friend to tag along; if anything, it actually made him feel worse, knowing that whatever decision he was about to make, he was obviously already set upon. It wouldn’t surprise Iskander if he had been somehow listening in on their entire conversation already; a psychic-type’s powers were versatile, and as much as they cared and trusted Iskander, they never divulged what exactly boundaries their abilities stretched to.

“Iskander, what a wonderful surprise to have you here!” the male espeon exclaimed happily, the smile on his face never wavering. “What’s the matter? Does what you’re doing here have something to do with your mysterious young friend standing behind you, making rude and unwelcome looks towards my son?”

‘What?’

Turning around to look towards Rosa again, he found that she wore a shocked and frightened expression. Iskander’s attention was torn away from her though as he heard an audible smack sound come from the direction he just turned away from. When he looked back, Galen’s father had finished righting his head up again, acting as though nothing had ever happened.

“Pankaja, Iskander and his friend Rosa here are preparing to take a trip around Evolia and they invited our son to travel with them. He already has my approval, but he would like yours as well,” Luus said.

At this, Pankaja’s wide smile stretched even further across his face, and he turned to direct it towards his son, “Hmm, a dangerous and potentially life-threatening journey across an entire continent with two pokemon who are far from being strong enough to defend you? I think the answer is obviously n-“he never got to finish his answer before it was swiftly cut off by his jaw being forced shut by an unseen force. Turning towards Luus, the two espeons looked towards each other with their unseeing gazes, resembling two lifelike statues as they entered what Iskander could only assume to be a telepathic conversation.

Of course he was listening in the whole time; I wonder how many times he’s done that in the past? Not that it really matters now; there’s no he’ll ever change his mind, Iskander thought to himself pessimistically, already preparing for the worst. It would seem that he would have to make this journey with less pokemon by his side.

Silence blanketed the area, the three eevees observing the adults as they had their silent exchange; the only signs of life they showed was the odd quivering of Pankaja’s mouth as he struggled to maintain his smile, Luus on the other hand never wavered; a fact that gave Iskander a small sense of hope, that perhaps maybe, just maybe, she would be able to persuade the overprotective parent to let their only child go. Seconds felt like minutes, and minutes felt like hours as Iskander stared nervously on at the two, his gaze never wavering, silently willing Pankaja to give in. Iskander understood where Galen’s father was coming from, but he thought that Galen was old enough to make these kinds of decisions for himself. Galen understood that there was every chance that he could get hurt out there, but was still willing to take that risk.

Not only that, Iskander himself was about to transition into the next part of his life, a part that he knew from talking to his father all those years ago, would end up transforming him into someone else for the rest of his life, and he didn’t want to do that alone. It was nice that he would at least have Rosa there when he finally initiated himself into his father’s old position, and he was more than thankful for her presence after helping him more than she could possibly realize, but he wanted his best friend to be there too. His closest companion, the one who had seen him through his worst, someone who’s seen where he’s come from, and what this all means to him, to see how far he’s come, to witness the true momentousness of his decision, and to make him feel like he wasn’t doing this alone. Iskander had lost those he had cared for the most before, and it had increased Galen’s worth in his eyes all the more. That’s why it meant so much to him to have his best friend come along with him.

At last the two espeons began to show signs of life once more, as they broke “eye contact” from each other to meet the quizzical and nervous stares of the eevees patiently waiting for the verdict on the matter at hand. Not a word was spoken at first, as no one could seem to find the will nor words to do so, causing tension to set into place and nerves to rise, until at last, it became too much and Galen broke the ice.

“W-well father? Did you two come to a consensus?” he spoke nervously after clearing his throat.

The espeon did not speak right away, instead allowing his facial muscles to drop down, his expression becoming unreadable. He merely looked at his son, contemplating if he really was sure about what he had decided upon. That uncertainty however seemed to disappear soon after, as he straightened himself upward, having decided now that he wouldn’t go back on what he had planned. “Yes son, I have. After discussing everything with your mother, we have both decided that it would be best to let you go.”

Was that a yes? Did Pankaja really just say that? Had the impossible actually been done? Iskander couldn’t believe it, he couldn’t believe what he had just heard. Pankaja had just granted Galen permission to join him on his journey! He knew all along that there was a chance, a small and tiny chance that maybe he would let him go, but it was like praying for a miracle to happen; this went against everything that Galen’s father was known for about his son. Iskander was beyond happy that he had been convinced, but what had pushed him over the edge? What could’ve possibly been the reason that finally convinced him? Risking his son’s safety in any way was almost beyond imaginable to Iskander: so what did it? What reason could’ve possibly been so large and important?

And then it hit him. ‘It wasn’t because of me, was it? Because of who I- what I am…’ letting the thought drift off quietly, not wishing to consider the idea that a parent was willing to risk something they cherished so much such as their own child, just to keep him satisfied. Then again, how was that reasoning any different than his own? He was already willing to risk having Galen get hurt just for his own selfish reasons…

“Really? You mean it, father?” Galen said, his tail wagging back and forth in glee.

“Yes, I am,” Pankaja replied, his smile coming back, this time however, it was a different smile, one that was more genuine, as he couldn’t help but do so given his son’s reaction.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you so much! You won’t regret this, I promise you! Even if something goes wrong, Iskander will be there to help take care of it!” he stopped though when he quickly looked over and remembered that he was traveling with more than one other pokemon, “Oh, err… and Rosa will be there too, so I’ll be extra safe! Don’t you worry at all!”

Iskander nodded in agreement, “All three of us will be there to take care of each other. There’s no way I’ll come back home without Galen making it back in one piece, that’s a promise.”

“I wouldn’t doubt for a moment that you would, though I trust that all three of you will come back in the same shape as well,” Luus said, standing up. “We’ll start packing Galen’s things while you prepare your own. Once you’re ready, meet us on the north-western outskirts of town: I assume that you’ll be heading to your grandparent’s place first?”

Iskander nods, “I have most of my stuff picked out already, so we shouldn’t be long.”

“Then we’ll see you two soon,” she said, motioning Galen over towards her.

“See you guys there!” Galen said, waving at the two eevees with his parents shortly before they all disappeared with a flash of light, heading home.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Iskander turns towards his new friend as he was prepared to go finish packing of his own. “Let’s go,” he said, heading towards the entrance. He didn’t make it too far though before noticing that Rosa had not moved from her spot, merely staring at him, making it clear that she had something she wanted to say. “Is everything all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine. It’s just,” she paused for a moment.

“You’re weirded out that Galen’s parents know who you are?” he asked, deciding to hide his own apprehension on Rosa’s true identity.

“I am kind of shocked by that,” she replied, squinting her eyes in thought, “but that’s not what really concerns me. What really concerns me is how they know who I am,” she said, lifting her gaze up to him, giving her a questioning gaze, urging her to continue. “Have you ever noticed anything, you know, peculiar about them in the past?”

Did she know? There’s no way she possibly could. Luus and Pankaja’s secret was one that they hid from everyone, even Galen. It was of utmost importance that they did; it was for everyone’s good, and the only reason he knew about it was because of their relationship to him, and even then they had been skeptical about passing off such information to him.

Staring at her in a mixture of thought in deciding he should answer, and pretending to think longer than he actually had: “No,” he replied, before walking away without another word. He didn’t look behind him to check how she reacted to his short and terse response, nor to see if she was following him; he did not want to give anything away to her. He paid the subject no more mind, completely shifting his focus towards the task of deciding everything that he wanted to take with him, as he made his way back home.

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ________________

The rest of the walk back as well as all of the time spent packing was done without an exchange of a single word. Making their way to the rendezvous point, Iskander did whatever he could to keep his mind off of all the possibilities of things that could dampen his mood and threaten what should be one of the happiest days he had had in a long time. He didn’t think about his family, he didn’t think about Rosa’s ambiguousness, nor his adoptive parents secrets. He wanted to think of all the positive things ahead of himself, how everything was finally going to change, and he would be able to leave his past and all of its issues behind him.

And so he did; and he did so in silence. Having caught on quickly to his emotional tendencies, Rosa thankfully respected his need for mental solitude, though while he decided to take this as a chance to distract himself from all of his problems, Rosa took it as an opportunity to do the opposite, keeping a mental note to revisit some of them with Iskander at a later time.

As the sun found itself in its early afternoon position in the sky, the two eevees found themselves coming upon their destination; two espeons, and a slightly nervous eevee awaiting their arrival. Upon seeing the three quadrupeds sitting and waiting patiently for them, Iskander snapped himself out of his reticent attitude, smiling at the family. Situated by Galen, Iskander noticed that his friend’s normally plain travelling bag that he took on their trips to his grandparent’s had been replaced by one identical to Rosa’s, as well as the fact that the pack was unusually full, with everything just barely fitting inside.

“Did you two have everything you need?” Luus asked, seeking confirmation that everything was in order for their big trip.

“Yeah, we should have everything we need to at least make it to Tanta,” Iskander replied. “Besides, anything we may end up needing the rest of the way, we can pick up at their place, and not to mention we’ll be able to restock if need be. We should have no problems making it there.”

Luus nodded, “I thought as much, but I packed a few extra things just in-case into Galen’s stuff – and yes, before you worry your poor heart away, Galen’s more than capable of carrying the extra baggage for you. In fact, it was his idea to throw in a few extra things for you. He seemed rather adamant towards making this trip as smooth for you as possible,” the last part eliciting an embarrassed gesture out of her son.

“Just remember that all three of you are on this journey together; that means you stick together at all times, and never leave anyone behind. No doubt you’ll come to have some issues with each other – that’s unavoidable, and so you’ll have to learn to sort them out like the mature young adults that you all are. No one gets left behind, no one wanders off, no one picks fight with the natives, and no one gets themselves caught in life-threatening situations. I want both my children – yes, that means you too Iskander, coming back in one piece. Am I understood?” Luus demanded politely.

Galen and Iskander both nodded in response. “Don’t worry mother, we’ll come back without a scratch on us as the same pokemon that we are now,” Galen said, attempting to soothe his mother’s nerves.

“Oh, I hope that’s not the case,” she replied incredulously.

“Really?” Galen said, surprised.

Turning towards her son, she placed a paw on his head as she spoke, “That’s the whole reason we are letting you take this trip: so that you can grow as a pokemon! What you’ll see out there will be very different from not just what you’ve seen staying here with us, but also in Blazidia. You’ll find that pokemon in other kingdoms function in much different ways than you; both positively and negatively. You may not like everything that you see, but it’s important that you see it, because if you don’t now, you will eventually, at least, that is what we want you to. You don’t want to be like the rest of the pokemon who’ve lived in this town and place their entire lives, and never seeing what the rest of the world looks like. There’s so much to see and do, it’d be such a waste, and selfish of us as your parents to keep you away from it. I want the both of you to come back to me not as the same innocent eevees that you are, but ones who are grown up, and can tell me all about what is out there. I want you to come back, and tell me everything that there is that you’ve seen.”

“I want you to live a full life; to your very best. You think going on this trip only means something to you two,” telekinetically grabbing Iskander, she embraced the two eevees in a hug, now speaking quietly, with a slight unevenness to her voice, “but it actually means just as much to us as your parents. That’s why no matter how important you are to us, we’re willing to letting you go despite all of the risks.”

Luus’ words caught Iskander off-guard. He could sense the sincerity in what she said, and for that one moment, he could see nothing more than a mother who was reluctant and sad to see the two most important pokemon in the world to her leaving. For that one moment, Luus didn’t feel like an adoptive mother to him, but instead his actual, biological one. He returned the espeon’s embrace with one just as sincere, and for that one moment, everything in the world felt right for him.

“Thank you, mother,” causing Luus to flinch in surprise by his use of the name he never used for her in his life, “we promise to do everything we can to get the most out of this journey. When we see you again, we’ll be new and improved pokemon; inside and out. Isn’t that right, Galen?” he asked, looking at his shocked best friend.

“Yeah! Twenty years from now, we’ll look back on this day and laugh at how much we've changed,” Galen laughed.

“And to think you were going to deny our son this opportunity, honey,” Luus said, teasing her mate. Pankaja said nothing, but merely replied by smiling at his son and best friend’s enthusiasm.

Slipping his pack onto his back once more, causing his two companions to do the same with theirs, Iskander took a few steps down the path before turning around to look at the espeons. “Well, I guess this is finally it,” he said, looking up at the sky to observe the sun’s position. “If we leave now, we should make it to Trikala by tomorrow evening.”

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, Iskander waved goodbye, “We’ll see you again someday, whenever that may be! See you then!” Turning back around, the eevee started walking away down the trail.

“Goodbye mother! Goodbye father! See you again someday!” Galen said, before running to quickly catching up to Iskander.

Rosa hesitated before deciding it was best to say nothing. However, just before she could go anywhere, calling out her name, Luus stopped her in her tracks. When she turned around to look at the espeon, she had that same cold expression etched onto her face, and for a few moments, the two held each other’s gaze as they held a private discussion, the espeon’s words ringing through her mind with an icy clarity. The psychic-types words froze her to the ground as their implications set in. Then, without an outward utterance or so much as a simple flinch, she ran to catch up with her two companions, her temporary absence having gone unnoticed.

The two espeons sat on the road, watching the three brown and cream coloured quadrupeds slowly fade into the distance. Though through their own past experiences of having travelled across Evolia, and seen even more beyond that, and though they anticipated that no matter how optimistic they were that they knew the journey the three would make would change them forever, years later when they looked back on this day, they realized they would’ve never been truly capable of anticipating what future events were in store for the trio.

For if they had, they would’ve never let the two of them go on the pious odyssey that would change, revolutionize, and scar them for the rest of their lives.