From the Ashes

[LKWayvern]

Chapter 4

(RL) Thanks to the speed of Eric and Ren’s wings, they managed to make it to where Rosie supposedly was within a day. Ren immediately left for his home and family, after a brief goodbye.
Eric walked through the dark forest, glancing about for signs of danger. After a brief bit of consideration, he undid the ties from his sheathes, and tucked them into his Expert Belt. Better safe than sorry, and the sharp blades might ward off wild Pokemon.
After roughly a half hour of walking, Eric came across what looked like an abandoned Clan’s home. A mish-mash of different kinds of dens, from squarish, squat ice-houses to leafy huts similar to Raider’s, stony caverns converted into sleeping areas, and even simple shallow dips in the ground used as a nest for sleeping under the stars, ash pits and small ponds, so much diversity that Eric had never experienced before. In the Rahzyne Clan, since the only Pokemon there were Scyther, all the dens had been carved out of fallen trees. Although useful in battle, scythes were not built for construction.
Eric realized that this must have been the Clan that the two Eeveeloutions had lived in. It seemed as if there had been no battle, no bloodshed. Almost as if all the inhabitants had, of their own free will, simply gotten up and left.
Eric frowned. He wondered how long it had taken Rosie to find the two young Eeveeloutions huddled in their ghost town of a home, and how they had managed to remain there.
He began trekking through the deserted Clan, observing where Eevee and their evolutions had previously slept, worked, and played. He noted with curiosity how a large amount of pawprints tramped through and out the town, each one similar to the others but not quite the same.
He had just noticed three sets of pawprints heading away from the others, when he heard something whistling through the air behind him. By then, however, it was too late to dodge as a massive thwunk!! rattled his skull and knocked him unconscious…

The high-pitched voices of children drifted into Eric’s ears as he slowly became conscious again.
“Hey, Gadzooks, it’s working! He’s breathing!”
“I told you I knew how to do it, Koray!”
“Let’s ask him why he’s after us, she’ll be so proud of us if we find out!”
“What if he’s with Team Reva? What if he knows where Mama and Papa are?”
Eric straightened up when he heard them mention Team Reva. “I’m not…” he muttered before the back of his head began throbbing again. He slouched down again. “I’m not…” he groaned, softer than before. “One… Of…”
“Look! He’s talking!” One of the voices said, excitedly.
Eric slowly opened his eyes. Fuzzy lights spiraled and spun for a moment, before aligning into an Umbreon and… A shiny Sylveon?
They both looked male. The Umbreon was wearing a blue scarf with a pocket sewn into the side of it, similar to Raider’s. The Sylveon, on the other hand, was wearing what appeared to be a beret, and a comically oversized bag on his back secured to his body with multiple straps.
Eric looked down. His scythes were back in their sheathes, but the ties on the sheathes were poorly done. He seemed to be tied up with hopeless, seemingly neverending piles of… yarn? This was a rather odd day for him.
Ignoring the two children staring at him quizzically, Eric bent down towards his sheathes. The yarn was mostly around his legs, wings, and upper arms, so it didn’t bother him too much. He used his teeth to pull apart the ties, before shaking the sheathes off his scythes. He brandished the blades briefly before quickly cutting the yarn off himself.
“Oh, no you don’t get away from me that easily, Scyther…” a female voice suddenly rang out. Eric stopped, and sighed.
“Aunty Rosie!” both Eon children yelled gleefully.
In the door stood a rather odd looking Cubone. She clutched in her hands two bone knitting needles. Instead of a skull mask, she had a mask woven from black yarn, with a single red thread going from the tip of her snout to the base of her neck. There were holes for her eyes, which were squinting with anger, and a zipper for her mouth, giving Eric the impression that she was some sort of psychopathic Banette. Secured to her back was a small bag, from which more yarn spilled out.
Eric sighed, exasperated, upon hearing her words. “You’re Rosie, that member of the Phoenix League?” he asked.
The Cubone nodded, brandishing her needles. “Yes. And you are not taking these children, Reva scum!”
“This is just a misunderstanding,” Eric replied right away. “I’m a newly recruited member of the Phoenix League, my name is Eric, I was sent here to give you a hand with escorting the chil--”
(RL) Gadzooks suddenly shot out his ribbons towards Eric, wrapping them around the Scyther. Koray jumped backwards, multiple lights pulsing different colors randomly formed in front of him. Rosie looped some yarn around each of her needles and got into a battle stance.
Eric froze. He didn’t want to hurt the kids, or his team member. But they seemed more than willing to hurt him.
His wings buzzed to life, and he shot upwards. His leg was yanked out from Gadzooks’ ribbons, and Koray’s Confuse Ray missed him.
Eric figured that he would have some breathing room up near the ceiling, with him being far out of the other Pokemon’s grasp.
Let’s see… I really don’t want to hurt them. I wonder if I could just talk to them, while hovering up here? No, I don’t think that would work. They don’t seem to be in the mood for tal--
Suddenly a bone needle that Rosie had thrown nailed Eric right between the eyes.
The little Cubone waved cheerfully. “Hey! You may be a Flying type, but that doesn’t mean I can’t mortally injure you, doofus!”
Eric fell to the ground. Koray gleefully hit him with another Confuse Ray.
Eric screamed. His vision filled with painful strobing lights flashing unpredictably on and off, switching colors and intensity at whim. His head was throbbing both from the repeated whacks to it, and the painful pulsing strobe lights. He closed his eyes as tightly as possible, and put his scythes on his head trying to block out the lights. Which was stupid of him, seeing that that was also rather painful.
“Hai-yah!” Gadzooks yelled, using Disarming Voice. Eric slightly opened one eye. A light pink mist was around the Sylveon’s mouth, but that might’ve been an afterimage from the painful effects of Confuse Ray.
“Bet you didn’t expect us to be so strong, did ya, Reva scum?” Gadzooks asked, still taunting the Scyther while using Disarming Voice. “You didn’t expect anything from two newly evolved Eevee hatchlings. Well, this is what you get for taking away our entire Clan, and then coming back like nothing ever happened!”
Eric growled in response the pain. Rosie hurled another bone needle at him, and Koray hit him hard with a Toxic attack. He felt sick to his stomach, like he wanted to vomit. He wanted to tear out his eyes to make the terrible throbbing stop.
“I’m not from Reva…” he growled, sinking his scythes into the dirt floor. Koray kicked out the blades from under him, his paws coated in dark energy as he used Foul Play. Eric crumpled into a small green heap of scythes and wings.
Rosie chuckled, descending on Eric as she returned his scythes to their sheathes, and began tying him up again with something that felt much sturdier, like metal. As Eric’s vision faded to black, he thought he saw the Eeveeloution brothers high-fiving each other…