Life of Flareon and Eevee 2

Unheard by Team Rocket Eva had ushered a second command to their Pokémon directly after the first one. As soon as the explosion had occurred, both Emolga and Crobat had dashed forward with immense speed, Emolga even utilizing its Agility attack to become faster, and had attacked Team Rocket’s Pokémon while their trainers had been robbed of their sight. Emolga had charged from one Golbat to another, to a Mightyena and onward, using its Nuzzle attack on all of them to make sure they were paralyzed and unable to react to Crobat’s follow up. Using its claws, Crobat had smacked many enemies unconscious with Cross Poison, before firing several Venoshock’s to cover its and Emolga’s retreat.

Eva watched with amusement how one of the squad members, a slightly chubby man in a too small uniform, screamed at the others for being useless and how Mr. Giovanni would hear about this, but in the meantime completely ignored the fact that both his Pokémon had fallen to the surprise attack as well. She nodded toward her Pokémon. “Good job, both of you. I’m so proud of you!”

<~Molga!>

<~Cro!>

Eva stepped forward and ruffled both her Pokémon’s heads. “That should have taught them a lesson, don’t you think?” She was so preoccupied with praising her Pokémon, that she overlooked the fact that halfway during retreat the chubby man had taken some kind of rocket launcher with a large claw attached on top of the barrel out of a bag carried by one of his underlings. After sighting down the barrel, he sought out the most vulnerable target, which in his eyes was the little girl sitting all by herself absent from the others. He aimed carefully and when he was absolutely sure he got it right, pulled the trigger.

A thundering crash split the air as the missile surged towards the girl. Halfway down the distance the black shell split and dropped down to earth, leaving only a red and white orb flying through the air.

Eva had flinched heavily when the explosion happened and instantly whirled around to face the supposedly defeated squad. When she saw the strange gun the squad leader was holding, she crooked her head for a moment. A split second later the squad leader pulled the trigger again and the sharp metal claw surged off. A thin metal wire made sure that it remained connected to the barrel, while still sailing towards its target. “No way…” Eva mumbled. “They can’t have finished this already…” For a brief moment she stood there in shock. Then she whirled towards her Pokémon. “Cut the wire!” She yelled, momentarily panicking. Before any of her Pokémon could react, Eva had already turned away again and scanned the sky for the primary projectile of the weapon that the squad leader had fired.

F136 had watched the entire action with mixed feelings. He still wasn’t sure how to feel about the woman and at first had actually thought that she had been the one that had led the men onto their trail. He had discarded that thought quite soon again after seeing how quickly the woman and her Pokémon had taken out the men’s Mightyenas and Golbats. Even after the men’s defeat he had watched them and tried to memorize their faces so he could recognize them should they meet again. Due to this he had noticed the squad leader preparing and firing his strange weapon. He had also noticed whom it was targeted at.

Her.

He had watched the projectile sail through the air and saw its outer shell split off. He knew what the red and white orb that had been inside the projectile was. He had seen the scientists at the laboratory use it on multiple occasions. He knew that somehow the little orb possessed the ability to lock up and seal Pokémon inside it. And he knew from the laboratory that both him and her were partially Pokémon due to the experiments conducted on them. He suspected that also accounted for the powers of the red and white orb. It would be able to lock her up and seal her away. But he would not allow that to happen.

Utilizing every little bit of strength that was left in his worn out body, he launched himself towards her, into the path of the flying orb. A moment before it would have hit her, he managed to intercept its path and make it strike his back instead of her.

Another moment later his world drowned in crimson.

“NIIII!!!”

After watching her beloved brother disintegrate in crimson light, the girl emitted a high-pitched scream that momentarily stunned both Emolga and Crobat. It caused Eva to press her hands against her ears in a vain attempt to block out the sound, while at the same time even the Team Rocket members stumbled momentarily at the intensity.

Hot, salty tears flowing down her cheeks, the girl took the Pokéball into her hands and pressed it against her chest. “Nii… ~vee…” She mumbled and didn’t even notice the metal claw that buried itself into the ground in front of her.

Angry at his miss, the squad leader threw the weapon at one of his underlings and stomped off, ahead of the others. The underling pressed a button on the side of the barrel, causing the metal wire to retract quickly and pull the claw, alongside with a large chunk of grass and dirt, back to the gun. Then he followed the other members of Team Rocket on their walk of shame back to headquarters.

Eva released a huge sigh of relief when she realized that the claw had missed and the Pokéball was still with them. Then she steeled herself for what was to come and slowly made her way to the girl. “Nii…” The girl kept mumbling over and over again, while she cried onto the orb. Eva realized that she had no idea at all what exactly had been done to her and F136 in the laboratory. Nor did she know what a Pokéball does.

“It’s alright.” Eva said. “He’s safe, don’t worry.”

“~vee…?” The girl looked at her utterly confused.

Eva crouched down in front of the girl. “I know, this must be weird for you, but you can believe me when I say that he’s alright.” Eva went on explaining what had happened and why F136 had gotten absorbed by the metal orb in the girl’s hands, however E133 wasn’t even listening anymore. Instead she focused on Eva’s jacket, or rather its inside pockets. When Eva had crouched down, the jacket had partially opened and revealed the small pocket Eva carried her unused Pokéballs. With lightning speed the girl’s mind connected the orbs inside Eva’s jacket with the orb that had sealed her brother. She realized that those orbs would most likely have the same effect on her. And that if she were to activate them, she would be with her brother again. Without giving second thoughts to her idea, she lashed out at Eva’s chest and pressed the button on front of the first orb she managed to reach.

“Wha…” Eva exclaimed surprised when she was pushed back by the little girl’s punch. A moment later she had to watch how the girl’s body disintegrated and left the Pokéball that was occupied by F136 drop onto the ground. “B-but…” Eva mumbled shocked. A soft beep from her inner pocket told her that the Pokéball had locked and bound the girl for good.

Eva sighed heavily. This was the one thing she had hoped to prevent when rescuing the two children from the laboratory. With the knowledge gained during her time on the island she had hoped to be able to find a solution to at least make both of them immune to being caught by a Pokéball. However, the two orbs in front of her proved that she had failed miserably.

<~Molga…?> The Pokémon had landed on Eva’s head and softly prodded her hair.

“I know… we need to go. I just wish I could have prevented this from happening.”

Eva took both Pokéballs containing the siblings and stashed them safely in her inner pocket. Then she shouldered her backpack and whistled for Emolga and Crobat to follow her. “Let’s get out of here before reinforcements arrive…” Eva mumbled.

The rest of the day Eva and her companions spent walking through the heavy rain towards a large range of limestone mountains. Somewhere in the middle of them, Eva knew, lay the Indigo Plateau that housed the Pokémon League and lite four of Kanto and Johto. However, that was not Eva’s goal. Instead she wanted to reach one of the many cave systems below the mountains. Once inside, Team Rocket would have no chance of following them other than sending scouting parties into the cave systems. And Eva knew from experience that it was literally impossible to find a single person in those caves. She planned to cross the mountain range and then traverse further towards the Sinnoh region to get as far away from Team Rocket’s grasp as possible.

At the end of the day Eva reached the first foothills of the mountain range and decided to take a break in a small cove next to one of the many springs of the region. The rain had stopped about an hour ago, so Eva used the low hanging branches of the trees around her to dry her clothes. Once she had switched to her spare gear, she took the two Pokéballs into her hands and stared at them for a long time. Finally, she took a deep breath and pressed both buttons at once.

“~v-vee…?” The girl mumbled confused upon reappearing, before a coughing fit shook her frail body.

The boy on the other hand only stared at Eva, his eyes glistening with anger and hatred. Eva tried to find the right words to initiate the conversation, however F136 beat her to it. “Why?”

The single word pierced through the air and almost made Eva flinch at its intensity. She took a deep breath and looked up directly, into his eyes. To her surprise he soon averted his gaze and mumbled: “S-sorry, mi… mistress…”

She saw how hard he tried to suppress the last word. She could imagine how much he hated himself for saying it. Yet, the Pokéballs powers left him no choice. “No.” Eva started. “I am sorry. I did not mean for any of this to happen. I had hope by rescuing both of you from the lab, I could spare you this fate. Turns out that I was wrong… can you forgive me?”

Slowly the boy looked up at her, his cheeks wet by tears. “J-just… wh-why…?” He whispered and protectively wrapped his arms and tail around the girl.

Eva realized what the problem was. It wasn’t so much that he had been caught by a Pokéball, quite the contrary in fact as he had voluntarily flung himself in front of his sister to protect her from this fate. No, what made him so upset was the fact that his sister had still been caught as well.

Eva sighed. “I never meant to catch her. It was her own actions that caused this.” Slowly she explained how she had tried to comfort the girl after she had had to bear witness how her brother simply disappeared into red light and only left a small orb lying on the ground. How she had crouched in front of the girl and attempted to calm her down. The boy listened with wide, unbelieving and angry eyes as Eva told how the girl had lashed out for her unused Pokéballs and activated one of them.

“LIES ~EON!” He shouted even before Eva finished her last sentence. “Don’t lie to me! You planned this all along! You wanted this to happen ~flare!” He jumped up and tried to attack Eva, however both Emolga and Crobat instantly intervened and took position in front of their trainer.

<~Molga!>

<~Cro!>

“Get. Out. Of. The. Way.” He growled angrily.

<~Crobat!> The Pokémon protested.

“Please…” Eva begged. “Don’t fight. There’s no need for this…” However, no matter what she said none of the Pokémon wanted to back down. Then suddenly a squeaky voice interrupted them as the girl tried to speak.

“N-nii…” She whispered weakly, before a heavy coughing fit prevented her from talking on. Even after several seconds, she still didn’t stop coughing, causing the boy to scuttle over to her in panic.

“Imouto!” He cried out and softly tried to soothe her. His efforts were in vain as the girl didn’t stop coughing at all. In fact her coughing only got worse and worse. “P-please…” he begged Eva. “S-save her… m-m-mistress…”

Eva sighed inwardly again at the last word, but then focused on the task ahead of her. She nodded reassuringly to the boy and immediately dug through her backpack. After several seconds she found what she was looking for and moved to the girl. Carefully she unscrewed the lid from the small spray bottle and began to administer it onto her forehead and various other parts of her body. While Eva took care of E133 the boy stood behind her, watching her every move, and ready to intervene the moment he would need to. Much to his relief however his fears were uncalled-for.

“~vee…” The girl mumbled weakly.

Instantly F136 pushed Eva aside and took his sister into his arms. At first Emolga and Crobat wanted to react to the brute treatment, but Eva signaled for them to let it be. She could quite well understand what was going on in the boy’s mind. After casting one last look at the two, she began to make dinner for the night.

An hour later everyone had finished their bowls thick stew that Eva had made. With a satisfied sigh Eva licked the last bits of stew from her spoon. She set the bowl aside and glanced across the fire to F136 and E133. The girl was leaning against her brother and he had protectively wrapped his arm around her. “Well…” Eva began. “I know we started off on the wrong foot back in the lab. So I propose we leave what has happened be and start over again.” Neither of the two hybrids reacted, causing Eva to sigh. “I’ll just go ahead and take that as a yes. My name is Evangelia Stone, though I really prefer just Eva. This is my first partner Crobat and that is my other partner Emolga.”

<~Cro!>

<~Molga!>

“Why were you working for Team Rocket?” F136 asked without moving a muscle.

“That’s a long story.” Eva admitted. “But it’s only fair to tell you everything. You see, I actually work as a journalist. I have quite the history of busting some shady things that were going on in various regions. Several of them involved organizations similar to Team Rocket. At some point about one year ago I got a hint about something big that was going to happen in the Kanto and Yohto region. Something involving a scientific experiment on a scale larger than anything ever done before. And Team Rocket was the key to it. Thus, using my degree in molecular biology that I acquired before becoming a journalist, I gained access to Team Rocket. Because of my hard work I got promoted quite quickly and eventually got invited to a certain island we all know very well. There I was given an offer to join a secret project that would go beyond anything that science has done before. They called it the ‘Pokémon-hybridization-program’. I agreed to join the project of course and came to know all its dirty little secrets. The first experiment with a female Glaceon proved to be very successful, so apparently Giovanni DeLucca, the leader of Team Rocket, decided to go further and capture more test subjects. You.” After the last word Eva remained silent for some time. “That’s my story so far. I regret that I was unable to safe the Glaceon lady. I just hope she can rescue herself…”

“You are no part of those men?” F136 inquired again.

Eva shook her head. “I never was. I only tagged along to find out more about their plans.”

F136 relaxed noticeably. “Then…” He mumbled. “Do… do you know who we are…?”

“No.” Eva sighed heavily. “I didn’t even get informed about the fact that you had arrived at the lab. Let alone who you were and everything. And that bastard Giovanni blocked my access to the database, so all I was able to find out is that you are siblings.” She smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry. I wish I could tell you more. I’ve been told that you cannot remember anything about what happened before the hybridization process, correct?”

“Yes, m-m-mistress…” F136 growled, again trying to suppress the powers of the Pokéball.

“Nii…” The girl mumbled and hugged him tightly.

“I’m sorry.” Eva said and lowered her head. “I should have been more careful. I didn’t know they had finished developing that weapon already… I wish I could have prevented this.”

Instantly F136’s eyes hardened. “Stop lying, mi… stop lying!” He snarled. “You wanted this to happen! You wanted to… to… to catch us both! You wanted this!!!” In his anger he pushed away the girl and jumped up, the air around him heating up with anger. “You-”

“Sit!” Eva commanded all of the sudden, the sharpness in her voice making everyone present flinch heavily.

Instantly F136 dropped down. “S-sorry, mistress…” He mumbled.

Eva released a heavy sigh. “No, it’s me who has to apologize. I should not have raised my voice. Can you accept my apology?”

F136 and the girl just stared at her.

“I wish I could take it back. At least for you.” She looked at the girl. “I can understand your reaction after your brother got caught, but it’s only making things more complicated.”

The boy gasped unbelieving and looked at his sister. “Imouto… is… i-is she…”

The girl nodded with tears in her eyes.

“B-but…”

“I was scared ~vee… y-you were gone a-and I was a-all alone… she also carried those things ~vee. I thought I c-could follow y-y-you…” The girl whimpered and buried her face into his chest. “I don’t want to be alone, nii!”

Eva watched how the boy struggled to calm his sister down again and decided to act. She moved around the campfire and crouched next to the pair. Softly she reached out and patted the girl’s back. “I know this is a really awkward situation that none of us actually wants. Sadly enough I cannot undo what has been done.”

“You won’t-” The boy started angrily, but Eva silenced him immediately.

“I do not consider either of you my Pokémon. I will try to not invoke the Pokéball and I won’t attempt to force you to anything you don’t want to. Though what I will do for now is ask you both to travel together with us so Team Rocket will have a harder chance of catching either of you.”

Both the boy and the girl stared at her.

“I think we’d better start off with giving you decent names. I did not manage to find your files in the system, so all I know are your lab-subject names. And I’d rather not use those. So… any preferences for your names?” Eva smiled.

The next morning Eva redistributed all their baggage into two backpacks, one for her and one for the boy. Over the course of the night she had talked a lot with him about the things that had happened in the laboratory. She had explained exactly what he and his sister had become and how it would affect their lives from now on.

The girl had had quite some trouble in choosing a name for herself. Eventually she had become too tired to search for names and had asked Eva to tell her a bedtime story. Since she loved the little girl about as much as a mother and partially felt responsible for what had happened, Eva agreed. She told the girl a story about Celebi, a shy Pokémon that loved to play at a small pond and hide in the water lilies to scare passing by Pokémon. When Eva finished her story, the girl drowsily announced that she wanted to be named Lilly, before falling asleep on her brother’s lap.

Her brother had eventually settled for the name Blaze as a reference to their escape from the laboratory. He could barely remember anything about the incidents of that night, but he knew one thing. He had protected his sister at all costs.

Eva had smiled at both of their choices, content that they weren’t scared of her anymore. It was still quite a hassle when she innocently asked for something, since even the slightest request would invoke the Pokéball’s powers. And whenever one of them asked her something they’d call her ‘mistress’.

“It’s been several days now.” Eva sighed. “I told you often enough that you can just call me Eva. That whole mistress thing makes me feel old…”

“I’m sorry, mistress…” Blaze mumbled and winced again at the last word. “We just can’t help it.”

“Sorry ~vee…” Lilly added.

“I understand that it’s the Pokéball’s doing, but can’t you find some other phrase? Anything but mistress would be fine actually.”

“Like what for example…?” Blaze asked, however Eva failed to be able to provide an answer.

The small group progressed quite quickly through the mountains and soon they reached a small crossing. To the left was a broad path, marked as the way to the Indigo Plateau. To the right was a tiny trail. It was so small that Blaze and Lilly would have walked right past it, had Eva not stopped them and made them aware of it. “That way.” She said.

Blaze glanced down the trail she had indicated. After only a few meters it turned sharp left and clung to the steep walls of stone. Several hundred meters below he could see a vast river gushing through a narrow gorge. The trail itself continued to hog to the walls and slowly descended downwards into the gorge.

“No.” Blaze stated and stepped back from the edge. “No way. There’s no way I will expose imouto to such a dangerous path!”

“Nii…” Lilly mumbled and clenched tighter to him. She had also looked down the path and instantly regretted her decision.

“Look, I do understand your point.” Eva said. “But there is no other way. We can’t take any of the major roads. Team Rocket has more than enough funds to easily guard any means of transportation out of this region. They can even close down some of the lesser roads with the statement that they’re not safe and have to be rebuilt. That bastard Giovanni would surely not mind to spend some peanuts to get both of you back in his greasy little fingers again. The only option that’s left for us is to take paths only few people know about. Paths that have been closed to public years ago and are only traversed by hobbyist adventurers. There is absolutely no other way. And we can’t stay here either.”

“But… what if imouto stumbles, mistress? What if something happens to her?” Blaze tried to argue, though he already knew that he was fighting a losing battle.

Eva sighed heavily. “The only option I can give you is to return to your Pokéballs. And let me walk the path on my own.”

“NO!” Both Blaze and Lilly instantly exclaimed with horrified expressions.

“You have no idea what it’s like, mistress…” Blaze mumbled.

“~vee…”

“I already figured you’d decline that.” Eva answered. “Then the only option you have left is to walk the path with me. I’ll walk ahead. I’d suggest that Lilly follows directly after me so you can keep an eye on her.” Without waiting for their reaction Eva turned and slowly began descending the path.

Seeing no alternative, Blaze gave in and motioned for Lilly to move ahead. “Be careful, imouto, will you?”

The girl nodded with a determined expression. “Hai, nii.”

Together they followed after Eva on the thin path.

“Careful, sometimes streams cross over the path and leave it quite slippery.” Eva called from the front.

Silently Lilly followed after her, her gaze fixed on the two meters ground in front of her to avoid accidentally gazing down into the gorge. A few steps behind her, Blaze followed with a frown on his face. He kept switching his gaze between Lilly, the path in front of him and the gorge to his right. After one such glance down the abyss, he had to stop momentarily to calm down again. Then he hurried after Lilly, whom had gotten quite a bit ahead of him during his short stop. Because of his haste he failed to notice one of the streams that Eva had mentioned and stepped right into it.

The splash he made distracted him just for a moment, but it was enough to not notice the tiny ledge on the path. With a surprised yelp he stumbled over it. His arms flailing wildly, Blaze attempted to regain his balance.

A moment later he lost it completely and fell down into the gorge.

“WHAAAaaaaa…!!!” His scream echoed of the walls, slowly fading away.

“NII!!!” Lilly screamed and ran back up the trail to get closer to him.

<~Crobat!> Instantly Crobat charged her and pinned her to the wall so she wouldn’t make the same mistake her brother did.

At the same time Eva whirled around and reached into her jacket. A moment later a bright crimson beam shot out after the falling Blaze.

A few seconds later the beam cut off again. Breathing heavily, Eva slowly slid down onto her bottom. Guided by Crobat Lilly approached her with tear filled eyes. “N-nii is…” She mumbled.

“It’s alright, little one.” Eva replied and brushed a strand of hair out of Lilly’s face. “I managed to catch him.” Upon Lilly’s confused expression, Eva held up her hand and showed Lilly the Pokéball. “He’s safe, don’t worry about him.” She pushed herself up from the ground. “We should get going. It’s not that far to the bottom.”

“B-b-but… n-nii…?” Lilly asked.

“I’ll release him again when we’re safe down there. In fact it would probably be better if you’d also return to your Pokéball.”

“N-no ~vee!” Lilly heavily shook her head and backed off a pace.

“Suit yourself.” Eva answered. “Just be careful, will you? Crobat, keep an eye on her. If the worst comes to the worst you should be able to catch her.”

<~Crobat!>

Even more Careful than before, Eva and Lilly descended down the remaining trail. At its end Lilly found herself standing on a small, stony beach next to the roaring river.

“Finally we’re off that path.” Eva said and stretched herself. “I hate that part.”

Softly Lilly tugged at her pants. “C-can you release nii, m-mistress… ~vee?” She mumbled with big eyes.

“Of course.” Eva smiled, reached into her pocket and pressed the button on the Pokéball.

With a crimson flash Blaze reappeared sitting in front of her on the stony ground. Before he could orientate himself at all, Lilly had jumped onto him already and nuzzled against his chest. “~vee!”

“What… what happened ~eon…?” Blaze asked Eva after having given his sister a soft pat on the back.

“You slipped and fell down the gorge. The only thing I could do was use the Pokéball to safe you.” Eva explained herself.

“You…”

“Yes, I broke my own promise. But I’d rather do that at the risk of you losing respect of me, than you dying.”

“Th-thank you, mistress ~flare…” Blaze muttered.

“I couldn’t prevent you getting caught by a Pokéball. So I can at least put it to use to save your life. And it was my idea to go down that path anyway.” Eva smiled. “At least now we’re safe. I highly doubt Team Rocket will check for us in this gorge. They probably don’t even know a path exists down here.”

Blaze looked at her slightly confused. “There’s a path down here…? All I see is rocks and water.”

“There is a path. I’ll show you after you both got some rest.” Eva grinned and opened a pack of dry cookies.

After having filled all their water bottles directly from the river, Eva led the siblings towards the riverside and showed them several large stones that were scattered over its width. “You can jump from one of those rocks to the next. Most of them are loose and jumping on them will cause you to fall into the river. However, there are a few rocks that are stable. I’ll show you which ones. Just do exactly as I do.”

Without waiting for an answer, Eva went ahead and jumped over several rocks before she reached a tiny island in the middle of the river. When she turned around, she noticed that both siblings were still standing at the water’s edge. “Come on!” She shouted. “It’s not that hard!”

“~vee…” Lilly mumbled and clutched tighter to her brother. “I’m scared…”

“I know…” He mumbled back and patted her head. “But I guess there’s no other-”

<~Cro!> Before Blaze could finish his sentence, Crobat swooped down from the skies and grabbed Lilly’s back, before lifting her of the ground.

“WHAA!!” The girl screamed and flailed her arms heavily. A moment later Emolga joined Crobat and helped it to carry the girl over the river.

“Or that.” Eva commented with a slight grin. “Good thinking you two.” She praised her Pokémon once they had delivered Lilly to the other side of the river. Quickly Eva jumped the remaining few meters and joined Lilly.

<Crobat.> Crobat commented as it landed on a rock next to Lilly.

Eva smiled at both of them, before focusing her attention on the boy. “It’s really easy!” She called out. “Don’t look down, just do the first jump! Emolga and Crobat will get you out of the river if something happens! But they can’t carry you, because you’re too heavy!”

Blaze gulped as he watched the water surging past him only mere inches from his feet. He knew he had to cross the river to get back to his sister. But the natural fear of water due to his Pokémon nature threatened to get the better of him.

On the other side of the river Eva frowned. “You need to get moving! Or, I you’d prefer that, I could use the Pokéball again!”

“N-NO!” Blaze instantly shouted and jumped to the first rock. For a brief moment he attempted to glance down at the river, but instantly caught himself again. ‘I won’t make that mistake twice!’ He growled in his thoughts and jumped to the next stone. Within a few jumps he had managed to reach the little island. Another few jumps later he found himself heavily panting next to Lilly and Eva.

“Good job.” The woman said and instinctively reached out to pat his head. Briefly he wanted to shake off her hand, but the he realized that he actually like the feeling of being petted.

“Now, let’s get going.” Eva stated after another few minutes rest. “It’s just walking from now on, no more jumping or risky paths.”

Both Lilly and Blaze released heavy sighs of relief upon hearing that. Eva smiled at them and then walked ahead. She pushed back a few bushes and led the siblings through some undergrowth until they reached a small path some meters above the river. “It’ll take us a few hours of walking, before we get to the village. We should be able to make it before darkness falls though.”

“Village?” Blaze questioned.

“You’ll see.” Eva smirked and walked ahead again.

After exchanging a confused look, Lilly grabbed on to Blaze’s tail and they followed after the woman.

Over the course of the last hour darkness had begun falling over the gorge. Even though it was still early afternoon, the low position of the sun prohibited its rays from reaching down to the bottom of the gorge. Once the sun had left, the warmth slowly seeped out of the rocks and the cold of the river took over. Blaze had already given his jacket to Lilly so she wouldn’t have to freeze that much. Being part fire type, he could withstand the cold easier than her.

Suddenly Eva, who had been walking several feet ahead of them, stopped.

“Is something wrong, mistress?” Blaze asked.

“Not wrong.” Eva stated and put down her backpack to sort through it. “Just you two that need to change.” She handed both of them a piece of rope and a woolen cap.

“~vee…?” Lilly stared at the rope, utterly confused.

“What are we supposed to do with this?” Blaze looked at the two items with a confused expression.

“Well, for starters the cap should hide your ears. You’ll need to tug them in a bit, but it should be fine. The rope part you won’t like. It’s for securing your tail. Just tie it around your waist below your clothes and tug your tail in.”

“WHAT ~eon?” Blaze exclaimed agitated.

“I know you won’t like it. But we are about to visit a village with other people around. Even though I can guarantee that none of them will harm you, I won’t take any chances with you. The people here are a little bit superstitious. I have no idea what they might do if they find out what you are.” Eva explained. “I really can’t think of another way to hide your identity…” She apologized.

“Oh…” Blaze muttered. “That makes sense… kind of.”

“~vee…” Lilly nodded and tried to tug her ears under the cap.

With some help of both Blaze and Eva, they managed to hide away Lilly’s tail and ears. A few minutes later Blaze had also managed to conceal his true nature.

“Much better.” Eva smiled. “Thank you.”

Blaze merely nodded and attempted to hide the fact that Eva’s solution was quite uncomfortable.

“~vee.” Lilly mumbled and tugged around at her tail.

“Lilly, stop it.” Blaze mumbled to her.

“But nii… it’s itching!” The girl complained.

“I know it is, but mi… mistress asked us to ~eon.”

Eva sighed when she heard what he said. ‘I wish I could have prevented this…’ She thought for the hundredth or thousandth time. Together with the now disguised siblings, she walked ahead to cross the last two bends in the road. After several minutes of walking, the path widened to a large open area. It was at least two kilometers in diameter and almost completely round. At the top there was only a small opening that allowed a direct view of the sky. Other than that the whole basin looked like an upside down bowl with a hole at its bottom.

“Wow ~flare…” Blaze whispered.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Eva smiled.

“How… how is this possible?” The boy asked.

“Millennia ago there was a large volcano nearby. When it erupted, the lava flowed over all the land around. Only that its speed was so slow that the outer crust hardened, while the lava core remained fluid, thus creating long, natural lava pipelines. At some point the stream dropped into this gorge here. It was much smaller back then, but still deep enough to channel the lava on its path. The basin you see here is surrounded by a hard type of rock that could not be melted as easily as the other types of rock around. Thus, the lava got trapped in here and tried to flow out again. Only on its way out it collided with the incoming lava streams, which created a large maelstrom of lava that eventually shaped the area you see here. Originally this whole thing was underground, however at some point the roof was weakened too much and crashed down. Several centuries ago my ancestors found this place and decided to build their home here.”

“Your… ancestors ~vee…?” Lilly asked with big eyes.

Eva nodded. “Indeed. The village up ahead used to be my home for several years.” She smiled softly. “Anyway, we should get going. Standing here won’t get us anywhere. Just remember to make sure no one notices what you actually are, okay?”

The siblings nodded and together the group crossed the remaining distance to the village.

As they closed in on the village, Blaze could make out a large crowd that had gathered at its gate. “What are all those people doing there…?” He asked and looked at Eva. He was quite surprised to see her sigh in annoyance and defeat.

“They are waiting for me.” She mumbled with an agonized expression. “Let’s just get this over with…” Without giving Blaze or Lilly a chance to ask her what she meant, Eva walked on towards the gathered villagers.

As they reached the village gates, every single villager that had gathered bowed down. “Welcome back, princess.” “All hail princess Evangelia!” “The princess has returned!”

Utterly confused Blaze and Lilly looked at their trainer, only to see her fidgeting with her bundle, her face flushing redder than a Flareon’s fur.

Suddenly the crowd parted and three figures approached. Two of them were standing rather tall. Both wore ornamented capes and their clothes seemed to be made of finer material than those of the villagers around them. Additionally they both wore a red leather band around their foreheads. The aura they emitted was one of royalty and dominance. Maybe even slightly arrogant. Lilly clutched tighter to her brother as they approached. For a brief moment Blaze smiled down at her. Then he looked back at the approaching figures. However it wasn't so much the two leading ones that interested him. Rather he tried to get a good look at the third figure. Contrary to the first two, it wasn't standing tall and graceful, but instead walked crooked and limping. A large, feathered cloak was drawn around its body and made it impossible to judge its proportions. Even its face was hidden behind a curtain of thin grey hair. Several beads of varying colors were woven into its hair. Blaze had studied the reactions of the villagers when the trio had arrived. Upon noticing the first two, they had given way in a respectful and coordinated manner. However when they saw the third figure, their reaction became more of a fearful retreat. He would have to be careful. Things might not be as they would seem at first glance.

“So you have returned.” One of the first two figures stated. She was a large woman with a rather lean and muscular body. Only very little of it was actually covered by her clothes, yet she didn’t seem to mind this at all. The short sentence she had spoken told Blaze that this woman and his mistress knew each other from the past. And judging by the acidic sound of her words, they didn’t part in good spirits. Judging by her appearance, the woman must be a very important person in the village. Possibly even the chieftain. Blaze glanced at the man standing by her side, an even taller, heavily muscled man. He hadn’t said a word yet, but his gaze for the woman in front of him told Blaze that he also regarded his mistress with hostility.

“Nii…” Lilly whispered. “I’m scared…”

Blaze pressed her hand softly. “It’s fine, little one.” He mumbled. “Just stay close.” After making sure that Lilly was standing slightly behind him so he could protect her if something were to happen, Blaze once more studied the woman from the village. He hadn’t noticed it at first, but on second glance the woman bore a striking resemblance with his mistress. In fact, if he were to ignore the tribal clothing and imagine her with similar clothes as his mistress wore, they would look almost the same.

“Yes, I have returned.” Eva stated without emotion. “However, I do not plan on staying. In fact I will be gone again by sunrise tomorrow.”

“Hrmph. Very well.” The woman stated and whirled around.

“If you don’t leave this village at sunrise, consider yourself dead.” The man growled and followed her. However, he stopped after a few steps and glared at the villagers around him. “Don’t you have work to do?”

Within a few seconds every single villager had departed and left Eva and the siblings alone. Blaze shivered disgusted. “Those people…” He mumbled and once more pressed Lilly’s hand to tell her that he would protect her. Only then he noticed that the old figure was still standing in front of Eva.

“Follow me.” He cackled in a broken, almost incomprehensible voice. Slowly the old man turned around and began to limp away, using a large stick as aid. After a short moment Eva and the siblings followed as well.

It took several minutes for the old man to reach a small cabin somewhat distanced from the rest of the village. It had no real door, but instead separated inside and outside by a patched curtain of undefinable material. Both Eva and Blaze had to stoop low to actually enter the hut. Lilly on the other hand was small enough to fit through the door without problem. The lighting inside the cabin was incredibly gloomy and Blaze took a moment to adjust to it. Once that was done he realized that the entire interior was filled with bones, bundles of feathers and other strange trinkets. Instinctively he moved closer to Lilly.

“I’m glad to see you’re still alive, Theodore-sama.” Eva said and hugged the old man.

“Oh Evangelia…” He croaked out and a broad smile lit up on his face. “You are so formal as always.” He softly shook his head as they parted again. “You know that just Theo is enough.” He continued to scold her.

“Apologies.” Eva smiled.

“Accepted.” Theodore answered. “Now, my child, don’t you think it would be appropriate to explain your friends what is going on here? And while you’re at it, why don’t you tell me how those two came into being?”

“Wha-what are you saying, Theo-san?” Eva stuttered.

“I am saying,” The old man started. “that I would like to know why those two are only partially human. And especially, why they seem to be connected to those two Pokéballs you hide in your pockets, Evangelia.”

For a brief moment Eva, Blaze and Lilly were absolutely lost of words. Then Blaze reacted instantly. “Get out!” He shouted, grabbed Lilly’s hand and wanted to drag her out of the hut. However, just as he neared the entrance, a Pokémon suddenly appeared in front of him. Its whole body was to be covered in greenish goo and two arm-like structures.

<~Reuniclus!> The Pokémon shouted, its arms spread wide to bar of the entrance.

Lilly was hiding behind her brother, whom was glaring at the thing angrily. Yet, he did not dare to attack it, as he had no clue about its abilities. Eva halted behind the siblings and now spun around to face Theodore. “What-” She began, but the old man immediately held up his hand and silenced her.

“Calm, calm. No one here is going to hurt anyone. Now, come sit back down please.” Theodore smiled brightly and spread his hands in apology. “I did not mean to scare anyone.”

<~Reuniclus> The Pokémon exclaimed and twirled around its axis, much like Eva’s Emolga always did. Slowly it floated closer towards the floor until its face was about level with Lilly’s. <~Reuniclus?>

Blaze readied himself to attack the strange Pokémon, however somehow he could feel that it had no malicious intent to his sister. Nevertheless, he remained wary, ready to react at the slightest sign of aggression.

“You… ~vee” Lilly mumbled surprised.

<~Reuniclus!> The Pokémon exclaimed and dashed backwards in shock.

“Why…” Blaze mumbled and stared at the Pokémon.

<~Reuniclus uniclus?>

“Yes, we hear what you’re saying ~vee…” Lilly whispered. “But…”

Eva cleared her throat to gain their attention. “Perhaps we should all sit down again and then we can clear this up.”

All three Pokémon did as told with the Reuniclus floating onto the old man’s lap, begging to be petted. After a few moments of it rubbing its head against his hands, Theodore complied and started softly petting its back. When Lilly noticed this, she climbed onto Blaze’s lap and moved his hands onto her head. Taking the cue, Blaze softly rubbed her head, paying special attention to the soft fur below Lilly’s ears.

“Well…” Eva started, somewhat unsure how to explain this. “You know why I left the village, Theo-san.”

The old man nodded. “To avoid your sister, if I recall correctly.”

“N-not that reason!” Eva stuttered and blushed slightly.

“Your sister ~vee?” Lilly asked.

“The woman at the gate. The one with the red headband.” Blaze answered and turned to Eva. “Correct, mis…” He coughed violently to mask what he had been about to say, but nevertheless Theodore chuckled.

“I know very well what Evangelia means to you two. There’s no need to hide it.” He smiled encouragingly at the siblings, before focusing on Eva again. “I know why you left the village, my dear, even if you don’t want to admit it. However, your two friends here don’t. It would be only fair to tell them the whole story.”

“I guess you’re right…” Eva sighed. “Yes, the woman at the gate was my sister. Twin sister even. Twenty-one years ago on a summer day I was born alongside my sister. I was the first one to see the light with my sister following only several minutes behind. However, those few minutes meant that I and not she would take over our mother’s place as the chieftain of this village. My sister never accepted this. In her eyes I had cheated her on her right to lead this village. The fact that I never wanted to rule at all didn’t even manage to get into her thick skull. Several years later during our fourteenth summer, she tried to get rid of me during the ceremonial trip to the holy caves. She had arranged for one of the guards, her husband by now, to ‘accidentally’ drop his spear in such a fashion that it would land between my feet and cause me to stumble. And a slight stumble on the path to the caves meant almost certain death.”

“Why’s that ~vee?” Lilly asked.

“Remember the path we took to get down into this valley?” Eva asked, causing both siblings to nod fearfully as they remembered Blaze’s fall. To assure herself that he wasn’t hurt, Lilly immediately hugged onto her brother. “Well, the path to the caves is about twice as steep and narrow. And sometimes it’s not even an actual path anymore, but one has to climb over broken boulders. It’s very, very dangerous to say the least. So you can see why my slight stumble would almost certainly mean certain death. My sister had arranged for everything to look like an accident, though even so she knew that the guard she had bribed to drop the spear could just get executed for his act. She however was prepared to make that sacrifice, not that she would do much of the sacrificing. Anyway, I survived the fall, since I got caught by a thorny scrub that was growing on the edge of the path.

It took me some time to figure out that it had been her who had initiated this assassination attempt. Ever since I’ve known that my sister wouldn’t leave me alone until I was gone for good. After all in her eyes I could always take the throne from her for as long as I lived.”

“But you didn’t even want to rule ~vee! You said that yourself!” Lilly protested.

“Of course I did. I even told her so directly. She wouldn’t listen. To her it was just a ruse to stop her plans of getting rid of me. Two years later I left the village together with my Zubat. Since then I’ve never returned here. Sadly at the moment we have no other choice…” Eva sighed heavily. “I just hope my sister doesn’t plot anything tonight. Or her husband for that matter… both are as dangerous as Ekans when they see a threat to themselves.”

Theodore nodded solemnly. “Sad but true… this village would have been way better off with you as its leader, my dear Evangelia.”

“That might be true, Theo-san. But you know as good as I do that my sister would not have given up. To her those few minutes that separated us at birth were unrighteous and cheated. In her mind she would have been born first and not I. I would have had to kill her to feel completely safe without having to jump at every shadow.” Eva shook her head. “But let’s leave that talk about the past be. I have left my claim to become chieftain and I did not return here to take it back. In fact I would be more than happy to be gone again before dawn tomorrow. Much rather I would like to know how you did so easily see what my friends truly are, Theo-san.”