“Althi,” I said, turning back so she could see me speaking to her, “are you sure we’re going to the right place?”
“Yep!” came the extremely confident reply.
“Look, I know it might not have looked different for you, but the guide in Pokemon Square said ‘Evolution Forest,’ not ‘Eeveelution Forest.’ That, and there’s supposed to be a river crossing with a nearby store. We’ve come across neither.”
Althi looked past me, then said smugly, “do you mean that river and store?”
I turned around, and as we came across the bend in the road, I saw that there was an immediate decline in elevation, with the road leading to a grassy river valley. And, in the distance, I could make out a small wooden shop at the intersection of the road and river.
I sigh and let out a slight chuckle. Another victory for the egomaniac. “Good eyes, Althi.”
“d’Alin, I can read lips. I have the best eyes ever.”
It was a short walk downhill and across the open fields, and although it was apparently winter judging by Pirth’s now-full winter coat, there was no snow to be had. Different latitudes, I suppose. That was the one thing I missed about the real world, spending the winter holidays with family and friends.
Just how can I get back, I thought, and manage to avoid that terrible fate in my dream?
*I’ve not had it since Arimis first helped me, and thank God for her calm mind since I don’t think I would’ve survived the past two weeks of waiting and interrogation by the Federation after Ruined Roost if I was dreading my one escape from all that.
Although we barely left Pokemon Square for Eeveelution Forest today, all that already felt, finally, in the past.
Althi broke me from my thoughts. “Let’s go inside! I want to eat something that isn’t berries or apples!”
I looked at the store we had just approached and I felt my ears instinctively fall back. Arimis took notice.
Is everything alright d’Alin?
“I- uh, have we been this way before? I feel like I’ve seen this place before.”
Arimis looked at the shop and the sleeping Marill in front of it. Not that I can recall, no.
I looked up and read the sign. Am I missing any memories from when I came here? I thought before I had an epiphany.
Well, it is hard to realize you’re forgetting about something if you can’t remember that something in the first place.
Although I was confused by the words of “Mongolia” and “basket-weaving” floating around inside my mind, I pressed onward to the store to wake up the Marill.
Although I approached the Marill sleeping on the porch of what was apparently his store, I heard Althi scream at the top of her lungs, “WAKE UP! YOU HAVE CUSTOMERS!”
This made Marill jump up, who quickly looked at me and said, “well well, look at the fancy Eevee team pulling up with their fancy little Eevee badges”
“We got it from a Guild where they tax us 90% of our earnings and all we get is room and board.”
“Well, pardon me, mister sleeps-in-a-room instead of outdoors.”
“Our beds are piles of hay. It’s more comfortable sleeping on Pirth there.”
“Well la-dee-da mister Baram Town-brushed tail.”
I held my head up high at that, feeling an inexplicable pride in my tail. “Sorry I believe in good grooming.”
We then stared at each other in silence for a moment before I said, “uh, aren’t you the owner of this store?”
“Yes?”
“You really shouldn’t insult potential customers.”
“Whatever, come on in.”
As Marill got up and walked into his store, I heard him say, “Leavanny! Get the fill ready!”
“Fill?” I hear Pirth who walked in behind me ask.
“Heh, yeah! Another name for food! You won’t believe how many Eevees come through these parts hungry! I thought of the name since it rhymed with my name, Marill. It’s a subtle-”
“Okay, sure,” I say, “ I’m guessing that, according to the sign, you also sell… sill. What even is that?”
“Don’t sell nothing,” came Marill’s reply, “we made a sill! In case you don’t know, a sill is basically an underwater path. The bridge collapsed some time ago, so thanks to me you can cross the river just by walking on the shallow part I built. Great for foot traffic.”
“Oh, well then that works out great. How much for the ‘fill’ by the way? My teammates and I want something besides fruits and apples.”
“Ah! For more fancy-durant eaters we got Slowpoke tail and Chansey eggs. What’ll it be?”
Marill quickly took our orders and, upon brandishing the Poke, screamed out the order to Levanny who I could hear begin cooking in the back.
As we waited I tried to uncover where exactly I had seen this place before by making small talk with Marill.
“So,” I asked, “this place was formerly owned by Shuckle?”
“That’s what the sign says, ain’t it?”
“How’d you come about buying it?”
“Well, from what I heard, Shuckle’s shop was an essential pit-stop for Sylveons coming and going to Evolution Forest. All the other Eevees never cared for it, I guess, so it went out of business.”
I nodded, but before I could ask why that was, Levanny exited the kitchen with a plate in each hand: two Slowpoke tails, what Althi and Armis had ordered with a small portion of our bounty money. Althi, however, didn’t hear Leavanny approaching behind her and got up at just the wrong time, bumping into her and making her drop the plates.
“Whoops,” said Althi.
Marill, however, was furious, not at Althi but rather at his assistant. “Clean it up Leavanny!”
As Leavanny immediately apologized and started to rush between cleaning it, finishing the Chansey eggs Pirth and I ordered, and recooking Slowpoke tail, I observed all this and told Marill, “Leavanny sure does a lot of work.”
“Heh, yeah she practically runs this place.”
“Maybe you should double her pay,” suggested Pirth, whose acute ears overheard everything.
“Done!” said Marill with a wink before he leaned in and whispered to me, “he does it for free.”
After the most delicious meal I’ve had since arriving in this world made only slightly uncomfortable by Marill’s constant berating of Leavanny, who never seemed to get anything right, we were on our way, having walked across the river thanks to Marill’s sill and past the river valley back into the forest.
So, I heard in my head as we walked, what’s the plan for you two?
Althi looked at me, expecting me to go first.
I tried to think about it for a moment, but became instantly bothered when I realized I knew as a human I did have a favorite Eeveelution, but I couldn’t remember what it was. Just how much of my memory is not there? I wondered before taking another moment to answer Arimis’ question.
“Well, I really can’t say what right now, I suppose I’ll just seriously consider all my options when I get there.”
I turned to Althi and asked, “what about you?”
“I don’t know,” she said after a moment of contemplation before she continued, “all I know is that I need to be powerful. I need to be strong, so we can do good.”
“Well sure, but do you have anything in mind? It might be best that we don’t evolve into the same thing, so that way we can cover each other’s weaknesses.”
“I don’t think it really matters; all I’ll say is not to become an Umbreon. I don’t trust dark types.”
I almost choked on my own saliva, and I could make out Arimis in front of us, turning away and looking dead ahead.
“Uh, what exactly do you mean, Althi?”
“Are you kidding me? After Ruined Roost? You saw how Weavile tricked us. Deceived us. Him being an ice type made him strong, but it was him being a dark type that made him evil.”
“Althi, I really don’t think-”
“d’Alin, this is not up for discussion,” she said, much more firmly.
Excuse me? Not up for discussion? “Look, Althi,” I began to say, “I don’t know what I’ll decide to be. But I certainly won’t be forced away from an option that might interest me. Leader of Team Eevee or not, it’s not your call to make.”
Althi just looked at me with contempt, and I continued, “really Althi, look, I can admit that Weavile scared me, sure, but dark types? As a whole? I don’t think that’s really being fair.”
“You don’t hold anything against Pirth when he talks about Deerling,” she replied.
“Althi, you and I both know that’s not a fair comparison.”
“Yeah,” interjected Pirth, “you can’t compare dark types to Deerling.”
“Um, yes,” I said, “thank you Pirth.”
“No problem! It’s like comparing an agent of Giratina to Giratina himself.”
Goddamnit. “No Pirth, not what I meant.”
“We’re dropping this, d’Alin,” Althi said, “my decision is final.”
That really pissed me off. “What decision?” I tried to say, but it literally fell on deaf ears, and Althi opted to stare ahead instead of at me, effectively shutting me up. I tried to walk in front of her, but she just closed her eyes.
How fucking infuriating. I tried, on and off but ultimately in vain over the course of the next mile to speak to her, but she ignored me.
I fell back and walked beside Arimis. “Hey Arimis,” I said before pointing my eyes upward, are you alright?
d’Alin, you already know the answer, came the thought to my head, though Arimis still faced straight ahead.
Well, you never told me why you-
And I don’t intend to, not right now. I really don’t want to discuss it nor be reminded of it.
Arimis, don’t you think it’s especially important to talk about it?
After the very reason I’ve presented myself as an Espeon this whole time came to fruition?
Arimis, you can’t live a secret life forever. What if you get hit in battle? The longer you keep this from someone, the worse it will be when they find out?
d’Alin, I appreciate your concerns. Truly, I do, and I understand your reasoning behind it. Actually, it’s quite sound. I’m not against admitting that.
But ultimately this is something I’d like to determine sharing based on my own merits, not yours. It might bite me in the tail eventually, okay, I can accept that. But right now I don’t wish to discuss with you or especially Althi and Pirth why I have decided to do, this nor can I explain to you why I find it difficult to begin this discussion at all. Please accept that I will talk to you about it eventually, and I will do so for Althi and Pirth as well, alright?
I had no choice but to, of course, respect her decision. And the rest of that evening’s walk was spent in relative silence, listening to the growing din of birds in the sky and the whistling of the cool wind through the trees.
The remainder of the journey on the second day went similarly. Althi, Pirth, and Arimis were all silent save for occasional discussions about directions at forks in the road. At some point, however, when Althi and Pirth got into a conversation about evolution, Arimis began to walk beside me.
d’Alin, came the thought, think, don’t speak.
Oh okay. Is everything alright?
I am of the opinion that Althi and Pirth have forgotten that you’re human.
What?
Yes. I was mulling over what happened back while we were being talked to by the Federation in Pokemon Square. Do you recall how they seemed especially interested in that Weavile was human?
It took me a moment to dredge up that whole experience, something that was not fun to do. Yes, I responded in my mind, I do.
Well, I believe it was by coincidence, but after Althi came out and you went in, Althi was talking about how humans are, well, let’s simply say unpleasant.
And what makes you think she forgot that I said it?
She definitely would have mentioned it to you; I don’t think she feels safe with even the ideas of humans existing.
Oh well I should tell her. I do intend on going to that other guild in Capim that Garchomp mentioned. That it would be better for me. And, well, I guess for us as a team.
The one full of humans? That will be a very difficult sell.
Well, once I remind her that I am actually human, she’ll understand and probably realize that we’re not all humans are the same.
Why don’t you tell her now?
Uh, well… because-
Arimis let out a small grin. Oh, now it’s not quite so easy to speak so freely, hmm?
Well. You got me. But I will tell her soon, just well, I guess I need to think of how to approach it and-
“What’re you two thinking about?”
Startled, I looked ahead to see Althi looking back at us.
“Uh, nothing. Why?”
She glanced at Althi and then tapped her ear. After a moment Arimis turned to me.
She’s asking what we should do about Pirth once we get to Eeveelution Forest.
Damn. I hadn’t considered that.
Nor I.
I let my thoughts run for a moment before I thought to Arimis, honestly, let him go in and interact with the Leafeons. Maybe once he interacts with actual Leafeons he’ll finally realize what he actually is.
I don’t know… this is Pirth we’re talking about…
Tell Althi, get her thoughts on it.
After some silence and glances between the two were exchanged, I once again heard in my mind, she actually agrees. If there really is one way to convince him that he’s a Deerling, it’ll have to be from Leafeons.
Well, there you have it, I responded.
It didn’t take long for us after that to reach a large clearing surrounded by verdant forest, with a massive ridge at the opposite side of the clearing which had a passageway that appeared to be a valley running through it.
Flanking the entrance of said valley were various shades of color running about the field. Although we were on the opposite side of the clearing, already I could feel some strange, mysterious attraction beckoning me to enter.
I took a deep breath and took in the crisp, fresh air.
“We’ve arrived…” “I think we’re here…” “So this is it… “We made it!”
We all said and thought simultaneously.
All of us but Althi, who was still looking ahead and only heard Arimis, looked at each other and shared a laugh before continuing to the entrance.
As we walked on, an Eevee frolicking about looked at us and motioned to another Eevee beside it who then ran over to us.
“Hi!” said the Eevee, “welcome to Evolution Forest!”
“I thought it was called Eeveelution Forest,” I said.
The Eevee looked at me up and down before he said, “you’re not from here, are you?”
My heart skipped a beat. *What? Did he somehow discover I’m human? I tried to stutter a response, but the Eevee just laughed and said, “Mist, I guess? A lot of people from Sand have a harsh accent, and the only other place that calls this Eeveelution Forest is Mist. Different dialects, I guess.”
Ah that explains why the name Garchomp and Starmie told us about was different from what the locals called it.
“Well,” continued the Eevee, “you’ll find that a lot of Eeveelutions are willing to answer whatever questions you have, so feel free to ask around!”
“And uh,” said the Eevee, eyeing Pirth, “non Eevees are welcome inside too!”
“Even Deerling?” asked Pirth.
The Eevee guide, sensing that Pirth was somewhat retarded but not knowing he was also extremely racist, replied with enthusiasm and a smile that could be heard. “Especially Deerling,” he said, giving Pirth a pat.
Pirth sprouted a massive frown and, to be perfectly honest, the cool breeze for a moment turned into a frigid wind, the skies darkened for an instant, and the poor Eevee, not knowing what he had done wrong, backed away with fear in his eyes at the change in Pirth’s disposition.
“Uhhh, well, I guess I’ll leave you to it then,” he whimpered before scampering away.
Arimis and I both glanced at each other and simultaneously thought let’s hope Pirth can handle the truth well.
Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r015_kWPDEg
At that, we all entered the valley, and as we walked further in and were surrounded by the steep walls, the wind rushing past us began to carry what for me felt was an almost magical, intoxicating air.
Then the valley opened up to a crater in the shape of a nonagon, where the valley that served as an entrance was one corner, and a single massive tree occupied each corner all around the crater, the varied canopies soaring high above the crater walls and reaching to the sky, where the din of the chirping birds flying overhead and pierced around the clearing on the ridge of the crater making this place have an atmosphere of an almost heavenly serenity. In the background I could make out a mountain meeting the clouds.
In awe, we all walked towards the center where we ran into an Eevee which, although seemingly frightened by Pirth, looked to the rest of us and said, pointing to the rock that was ever-shifting in color, “th-this is the Center Stone.” It p-p-provides directions t-to all the Trees of Evolution.
But Pirth’s mere presence was enough to make the Eevee run off when it finished speaking, and Pirth simply turned to us and said, “point me in the direction of my fellow Leafeons!”
“Uh, before we all go our own ways, can we agree to stay here overnight like the guide in Pokemon Square suggested? Whenever we wake up let’s all meet back here so we can leave together, alright?” After everyone agreed, Althi looked at the Center Stone, walked over to Pirth, then nudged him until he was directly facing what seemed to be a particularly lush Tree, and told him, “just walk forward, have fun~!”
“You know it! I can’t wait to talk to my fellow Leafeons and tell them how Deerling are Giratina’s agents and that they…” said Pirth, slowly fading away as he pranced happily ahead.
“I really hope,” said Althi, “that they’re able to knock some sense into him.” She then turned to Arimis and said, “well, d’Alin and I won’t make you stick around any longer! Go ahead and go meet your fellow Espeons!”
Arimis glanced between the two of us before, after a moment’s hesitation, nodding and silently heading off.
It was just Althi and I.
“You can’t read since we rescued you, right?” Althi said. “Do you want me to read out all the options?”
“No,” I replied, “I think I can walk around on my own and see what’s what. Thanks though… by the way do you have anything in mind?”
“I do! But you’ll have to wait until tomorrow, unless you happen to join me!” Althi said before taking a slightly darker tone, “just remember, no Umbreons.”
A pang of anger struck me. “Sure, see you tomorrow.”
As I looked down at the Center Stone which I couldn’t decipher, I felt Althi’s presence removed. I looked back around and she was nowhere to be found.
Okay, I thought, where to go…
Explore the Trees of Eeveelution Forest!
After visiting the Trees, I found myself at the Center Stone once again, fixated by its ever-shifting colors.
This is quite literally a defining moment of my life I thought, and I began to mull over everything I had learned.
I looked behind me, at the valley from which Team Eevee entered, and shifted my vision clockwise, looking over all of the Trees.
Some Trees I immediately eliminated; Fire I had no wish to join and, as much as it pained me to say it, even if I wished to stick it to Althi, I was just as scared as her - even if she’d never admit that - of becoming an Umbreon.
Eliminating other potential paths became more difficult, but I looked up and saw that it was nearly nightfall, and I’d have to choose soon lest I force the team to wait around even longer. I mulled over the remaining Trees, eliminating some in my mind begrudgingly until I was left with only a few close choices.
At that moment, when the stars began to appear in the sky and the din of the birds faded as they returned to their nests, I remembered Starmie. How she protected us, standing her ground even despite being hit to ensure that Pirth and Althi would survive, even going as far as to prevent Arimis from getting hurt.
That, I thought, is what I aspire to do. To be. To unwaveringly stand up for what I know to be right.
I believe, then, was when I made my choice, and I began to walk to the Tree, my heart pounding fast. This is it, I thought.
Although some of the Eeveelutions and Eevees there had already drifted off into sleep, I was met by the Eeveelution that had shown me around initially.
I found a place to rest, curing up alone for what was technically the second time here I slept alongside a complete stranger, the first being Arimis that first night nearly a whole month ago.
I then heard a quiet whisper, cutting through the ever-growing silent night, that said, “remember, you’ll have a dream unique to you regarding your evolution, one that you should hold near, for it holds the very key to your soul. It is perhaps the greatest gift Arceus has given each of us.”
I say my thanks and, with the world around me darkening and the energy of the Tree I am laying beside readily flowing through me, gently guiding me into a deep slumber, I faintly recall that, even without Arimis’ calm mind, tonight I will have a dream without that of my ship and crew. And that, when remembering my promise to return, that I have made the right choice.
I woke up, realizing that the dream I had was without equal, truly a gift from the heavens that allowed me to see myself in a light I had never before even known to exist. As the whisper the night before had said, it was among the greatest of gifts to have ever been bestowed upon me.
My focus then shifted to my newly evolved body. I felt… refreshed. Alive. I stretched myself and felt my new body react to my commands.
My heart pounded as I stood up and looked down at my reflection in the crystal-clear pool of water that remained still.
Were my eyes always that color? I wondered. Nonetheless, I took in the sight of myself, a mixture of surprise and satisfaction that I was here, a Vaporeon, in the Pokemon world. After getting used to my body and realizing that I actually had fur like an otter or seal - not blubber like I would’ve expected, but in hindsight this made sense - I managed to walk across the still water of the Water Tree, and with the mystic waters treading under my feet and leaving small waves in their wake, I knew I had made the right decision.
At the Center Stone, I found a massive grouping of Eeveelutions, with far less Eevees than before. It seems, I thought, that many other groups had the same idea as we did. Fortunately, I have a plan. Arimis! I think.
d’Alin? I hear, and soon enough after some difficult navigation I find myself face to face with Arimis, still, unsurprisingly, disguised as an Espeon.
Instantly her mood shifted from excitement to a more melancholic one. “Ah, I see you’re a Vaporeon now.”
Instantly I was confused. “Is everything alright, Arimis? You seem down? Is it my evolution? Or does it have something to do with last night?”
She just bashfully looked away and I heard, Well, I suppose a bit of both. I knew-
But the thought was instantly cut off when I heard a familiar voice scream out “HEYYY!” which sent a chill down my back.
Oh, well, seeing the origin of the voice, the chill down my spine all the way up my now very long tail made perfect sense: Althi appeared behind us somehow looking more smug than before, a fact no doubt aided by the fact that she had evolved into a Glaceon.
“Wow, a Vaporeon. I thought I saw you at the Ice Tree, but I guess you didn’t feel it, like I did, huh?”
“I did,” I responded, which drew Althi’s confusion, “I just decided it wasn’t right for me.”
Althi stared at me confusedly before she said, “well, have any of you seen Pirth?”
“No, I haven’t,” I said, “but now that we evolved, at least we’ll be taller than him! Now he’ll be the runt!”
But out of the corner of my eyeI saw an Eevee scamper away to my right, then two more to my left. I looked ahead and saw Althi and Arimis both looking beyond me, eyes wide in surprise.
I turned around to see a shiny Sawsbuck with a majestic winter coat lumbering over us at twice our height, mouth clearly wavering as if he were in distress.
“Pirth?!” Pirth! “Pirth..?”
we all thought and said at once.
Althi ran up to him, and he sat down and let out, “Arceus, He- He was wrong.”
I glanced at Arimis and heard He’s finally accepted it…
“What exactly happened?” asked Althi.
“Well, they Leafeons and I already started disagreeing, so they pulled me aside and took me to a lush cave in the side of the canyon where they said they wanted to sit and talk with me.”
“And they told you that you were a Deerling?”
“Yes!” Pirth cried in anguish, “I can’t believe that what the Eevee at the entrance said was right. All of the Leafeons at the Tree of Grass were Deerling in disguise!”
The three of us remained silent for a moment, before Althi spoke up once again.
“...what?”
Pirth nodded then said, “yep! Like everyone else they said I was a Deerling and that I wasn’t a messenger from Arceus. So of course I fought them.”
Come. The fuck. On.
“Pirth”, I said, “uh, how exactly did you evolve? You do know that Leafeons can’t evolve any further, right.”
“Well, true Leafeons can feel a connection with the Tree of Grass.”
“And you felt it?
“No! How could I when it had been corrupted by Deerling! But I was so angry at that fact that I guess I got more experienced in fighting after, well, I had a bit of a scuffle,” he said with a slight grin.
“So how did you evolve? And what was it that you were saying about Arcues lying to you.”
“That’s right. Arceus misled me. I was told that Deerling were the enemy, but now I know that, in reality, it's Sawsbucks who should be sent back to Giratina. They have the audacity to not only live in Arceus’ realm, but steal enough food and air from others to live long enough to evolve. Only Giratina is worse, and at that barely.”
But Pirth, you evolved. What does that make you then?
With the biggest grin I had ever seen, Pirth said, “Arceus made me a Super-Leafeon, first of the kind.”
I saw Althi turn back at us and roll her eyes. I glanced at Arimis and saw her plant her paw to her face.
Isn’t this supposed to be impossible, Arimis? I thought only Eevees could evolve here? Pirth evolving, makes no sense whatsoever/
d’Alin, Pirth seems to defy any piece of logic you throw at him. After this, I think it’s just a helpless cause.
“So, Pirth,” Althi questioned, “are you telling me there’s a whole bunch of Lea- er, Deerling that are unconscious behind the Grass Tree?”
Pirth smiled and raised a foreleg high. “Yep! Doing Arceus’ work. Or, well, maybe I should go back and finish the job-”
“No! Please, no. Let’s just go,” said Althi, “so we can avoid any troubles that come next.”
At that, the four of us - Althi the Glaceon, Pirth the Sawsbuck, Arimis the Zorua disguised as an Espeon, and myself, d’Alin, the Vaproeon - all rushed our way to the valley that led us to Eeveelution Forest, ready to make our way back to the Grass Continent and start whatever adventure awaited us. And, of course, to ensure that Pirth wasn’t charged with assault.