Team Moonshine: The Evolution Situation
Prologue
A machamp and a golbat sat in their camp, drinking to their success. The forest they’d set up camp in, formerly known as Apple Woods, made for a perfect campground. After some mysterious events rumored to have involved the Clover Guild, the forest had found itself in a perpetual inferno. Because of this new hazard, and the lack of the perfect apples the forest had once been known for, many of its inhabitants had fled the woods and common pokemon stopped traveling there. The only pokemon going through the woods these days were usually smugglers trading in rare treasures. The thick smoke constantly permeating from the woods made these smugglers easy pickings for ambitious outlaws.
In just two weeks of escaping jail, Machamp and Golbat had already racked up a large stash of valuable treasures. In such a short time, they’d turned from fugitives without a penny to their name to some of the wealthiest thieves in the territory. Their treasure pile stacked high and spread all over the camp.
“I tell ya, Golby. Not a single gang’s gonna mess with us with all this loot,” Machamp boasted while roasting a skewered bean sausage over a bushfire.
“I thought gangs hunted people with the most treasure, though,” Golbat said.
“Well, we’re not keepin’ all of it. We’ll just sell off some of it and hire a bit of muscle. Y’know, besides me, of course,” Machamp laughed.
“Maybe we could start a gang of our own with this?” Golbat suggested. “We could claim these woods, make it our home. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
“Eh… I’d prefer a place that isn’t constantly on fire.”
“Maybe we could find an island somewhere, then. A tropical paradise for ourselves?”
“That ain’t sustainable, mate,” Machamp said. “Besides, we’d be all alone there. A big ol’ island with just the two of us doesn’t sound like a great time to me.”
“I mean… I wouldn’t mind,” Golbat mumbled.
“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” Machamp glared.
“N-nothing! I just, you know it’d be-”
“I swear to the fuckin’ gods, Golby, you cut that queer shit out or I’ll-”
“STOP RIGHT THERE!” A high-pitched voice called.
The two outlaws turned to see a familiar sylveon, vileplume, and bellossom.
“Well I’ll be! If it isn’t the bastards who put us in that rotten jail,” Machamp said with a fiendish grin.
“You two lost to us last time!” Enny declared. “Surrender now, and we’ll show mercy!”
“I don’t think we’ll be doing that, ‘princess’,” Machamp chuckled. “If I remember that last fight right, I wailed on your two seeders, and you were busy gettin’ mauled by Golby here.”
“Hey, our sleep powder worked eventually!” Vileplume yelled.
“Yeah, well good news. I won’t be making that mistake again,” Machamp said as he walked over to the treasure pile. He reached inside and pulled out two chesto berries.
“Not so strong without your little sleep powders, huh?” Golbat mocked.
“That wasn’t our plan,” a dark voice growled from the treasure pile.
As Machamp turned to identify the voice, he was assaulted by a wave of psychic energy, along with several valuable jewels and orbs. Adrian, who had been hiding inside the treasure pile, leaped out from his hiding place and pounced on Machamp. Enny joined in the attack, shooting off disarming voices at the outlaw.
Golbat zipped across the camp to Bellossom and sank his fangs into her. Vileplume tried to wrestle him off, only to get knocked back by his wings. Bellossom was completely overwhelmed by Golbat, unable to produce any powders or spores while she was being attacked. Vileplume quickly rustled through his bag, looking for something to use that would get the creature off his sister. He found a bundle of corsola twigs, which he quickly threw at the bat.
As soon as Golbat was hit by the twigs, he let go of Bellossom and flew towards Vileplume. Before he could reach his new target, Vileplume shot out a cloud of stun spores, paralyzing the bat in the air. As soon as the creature hit the ground, Vileplume ran over to his sister.
“Oh my god, Bell!”
She laid on her back, barely able to move and covered in scratches. In the short time Golbat had attacked her, he left some pretty bad injuries. A dark purple poison oozed from her wounds and dripped from her mouth. Her eyes were covered in a thick fog, and she was completely unresponsive.
“Bell, I’m so sorry I let this happen! I should’ve gotten him off! I should’ve- damn it all!” Vileplume cursed to himself as he picked up Bellossom’s bag and searched for something to save his sister. She carried so many tools he didn’t know how to use, and all kinds of bottles with purified berry juices. He continued digging until he found a bottle labeled “Pecha Extract”. Without hesitation, he opened the bottle and poured it down Bellossom’s throat.
Bellossom choked down the medicine. As her eyes cleared up, Vileplume saw her look directly at him. Through all her coughing, and all the pain she must have been in, she managed to give off a small yet reassuring smile.
Vileplume continued to fix up Bellossom, ignoring everything else around him. Adrian and Enny could handle the machamp. Vileplume had to ensure that his sister was safe, first and foremost. He eventually found a large bottle of oran juice and a roll of gauze. He soaked the bandages in juice and wrapped them around his sister.
“Use the… tape when you’re done,” Bellossom muttered.
“How do you remember all this stuff?” Vileplume chuckled as he reached back towards the bag.
“You guys give me plenty of practice.” Bellossom giggled.
“Shut up,” Vileplume laughed as he finished bandaging his sister.
He helped Bellossom back onto her feet. As soon as she was steady, she wrapped her arms around Vileplume in the tightest hug she could manage. Vileplume smiled as he returned the hug.
This brief moment of comfort between the two was interrupted by a loud crash and a bright light. The two turned to see Machamp running towards Golbat and picking him up, while Enny stood still, staring at the crumbling treasure pile. Bellossom and Vileplume ran over to Enny.
“Why’d you let Machamp go?” Vileplume asked.
“Where’s Adrian?” Bellossom asked.
“He’s in there,” Enny said while pointing at the treasure pile with a ribbon.
The two siblings went silent as they watched the pile continue to shift. The light eventually died down and the treasure pile settled. The three explorers immediately searched the treasure, calling Adrian’s name and digging through all the treasure.
They searched for several minutes with no sign of the umbreon. Vileplume felt so stupid. He shouldn’t have agreed to this plan. Bellossom got badly injured, and Adrian was probably dead. How could he let this happen?
“Guys…” Bellossom’s voice quivered. When Vileplume and Enny turned to look at her, they saw her holding Adrian’s defense scarf, his badge still pinned on it.
The two feared the worst. They walked over slowly, ready to console Bellossom. As they approached, they noticed something moving in the pile.
Suddenly, an eevee, covered in cuts and bruises, burst out of the pile. It panted heavily as it slowly looked up at Bellossom before turning to look at Vileplume and Enny.
“What the fuck happened?” It questioned in a soft and angry voice. “Where's Machamp?”
“No way. No fucking way,” Enny muttered in disbelief.
The eevee examined itself, its panic made apparent.
“WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?!” The eevee yelled in a high-pitched tone.
“How is this even possible?” Bellossom asked.
“How do we explain this to the guildmaster?” Vileplume wondered.
Returning Home
After a few nights, Team Moonshine finally returned to the guild just before sunrise. When they arrived, they found a small, cone-shaped pokemon sleeping on a bench outside the guild. It suddenly awoke as the explorers approached the guild.
“Finally! You must be Team Moonlight,” he said.
“Uh… ‘Moonshine’,” Vileplume corrected.
“Whatever. Did you get my merchandise back?”
“You’re the snorunt who posted the contract?” Enny said, looking weirdly surprised.
“Obviously!” The snorunt rolled his eyes. “Now, where is my merchandise? You were the team sent to get it, so where is it?”
“Your stuff is in the bag here,” Vileplume said while presenting a bag he’d been carrying on his back. “If anything’s missing, you can check with the magnemites. They should be sorting through-”
The snorunt snatched the bag from Vileplume’s hands and started digging through the contents, catching Vileplume off guard. He tossed aside several scarves and coin pouches, showing little care for any of them.
“Did you wait out here the entire time we were gone?” Enny asked.
The snorunt ignored Enny and continued to empty the bag. When he finished searching through the bag, he looked back up at the team.
“Where is the red orb?” He demanded.
“The what?” Vileplume asked, confused.
“The bright red orb! The biggest one on the list!” The snorunt yelled in Vileplume’s face. “That was the most important thing on the list, I circled it in RED ink!”
“Um… we didn’t find a red orb in the pile,” Bellossom whispered.
“Silence girl! I’m speaking to your leader!” The snorunt snapped.
“Hey, don’t talk to my sister like that!” Vileplume warned.
“I’ll speak to you reprobates however I please until you tell me what you’ve done with my orb! You’re the leader of this team, so I will hold you personally responsible for-”
“I’m not the fucking leader! He is!” Vileplume interrupted.
Vileplume pointed to where he believed Adrian had been standing. When he looked over, he noticed Adrian wasn’t there anymore. The newly devolved eevee ran behind Bellossom, eyes locked on the furious snorunt.
Snorunt noticed Adrian sitting there.
“YOU USED THE DEVOLUTION ORB?!” He exploded. “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU’VE DONE? ANY IDEA HOW RARE THOSE ARE? I SPENT A FORTUNE ON ITS DELIVERY! IT WAS SUPPOSED TO PAY FOR MY RETIREMENT! ”
“We didn’t mean to use it!” Bellossom explained frantically. “It got activated in the middle of the fight. We’d never steal from a client like this, it’s an honest mistake!”
“This is the last time your guild will ever see business from the likes of me again!” Snorunt declared. “Ever since I’ve been working with your guild, I’ve been putting up with ceaseless incompetence and all these derogatory remarks regarding my type! You are all a disgrace! How your guild even became recognized by the federation will forever remain a mystery to me. And since you morons failed your mission, you can say goodbye to the reward money!”
“Now wait just a minute!” Vileplume said. “We worked hard to get through those woods. My sister and I are both grass types. We could’ve died in there easily! And our leader was turned back into an eevee because you didn’t give us the details of what we were retrieving! We got back everything else on your list, so you’re not leaving until we see at least half of what you owe us.”
The snorunt laughed. “I’m not about to be bullied around by an incompetent team that can’t follow the most basic of instructions!”
“This is ridiculous! You can’t just refuse to pay us over a single-”
“Viley,” Enny interrupted. “Let me handle this one.”
Enny took a deep breath and looked the merchant in the eyes. He entered a flamboyant pose, catching everyone off guard. Enny then gave a little wink as he released a couple pink balls of energy around him, taking the form of hearts. The hearts then shot out towards the merchant.
“Enny, stop!” VIleplume shouted. “We can’t fight our clients!”
“Oh relax, silly. Haven’t you ever seen Attract in use before?” Enny giggled before pointing towards the snorunt, now staring longingly at Enny.
The rest of Team Moonshine watched as Enny approached and flirted with the merchant for several minutes. When the two finally parted ways, Enny went back over to his team.
“So the merchant was planning to pay us with the profit he’d have made off the devolution orb. Since he doesn’t have it, he said we can take the rest of the stuff we brought back as a reward,” Enny explained.
“Wait… that doesn’t make any sense,” Vileplume said.
“Yeah, what exactly are we getting paid for? He won’t have his orb or his stuff,” Bellossom pointed out.
“Oh, that’s the other part,” Enny noted. “I struck up a deal. See, he wants to apologize for Adrian being devolved. Everything else was just gonna be resold to the kecleon market, so it’s of no major value to him. Especially now that his orb is gone.”
“With all the sugar talk you two had, I don’t really believe that explanation. Why did he actually pay us?”
“Well… let’s just say I won’t be available for any missions tomorrow.” Enny said with a smile.
Team Moonshine gathered all the items their client had haphazardly tossed around the front of the guild. Once they scrapped everything together, Vileplume estimated it was collectively worth a little under half the reward for their mission. At the very least, they did get paid. Once they got all their stuff together, the team went back to their room to rest for the day while Adrian met with the guildmaster for a mission report.
That is until Vileplume noticed him following the rest of the team.
“Adrian, aren’t you gonna meet with the guildmaster?” Vileplume asked.
“I don’t really want to…” Adrian mumbled.
“What do you mean you don’t want to? You always meet with him. You’re the leader!” Enny pointed out.
“I think he’ll be mad…” Adrian said, to the shock of his entire team.
“When have you ever cared about people being mad at you?” Enny said.
“Adrian, are you feeling alright? You’re acting strange,” Bellossom asked.
“I’m fine! I’m just… not used to being an eevee, that’s all.”
Enny sighed. “Well, unfortunately, you’re still the leader of our team. You have to tell the guildmaster how our mission went, even if it was a failure.”
“But I don’t wanna do it! I haven’t screwed up a mission like this before. I don’t know what he’ll do!”
Vileplume decided to step up. “What if I go with you to see the guildmaster? I can explain the situation. You won’t be in trouble.”
Adrian looked up at Vileplume. “Would you?”
“I’m not that tired. I can stay up another half hour if it means you’ll do your job,” Vileplume said.
“Alright, let’s go then,” Adrian said as he headed off to see the guildmaster with Vileplume following close behind.
“Heh, that mission was kind of a mess,” Lliam chuckled after hearing the full report of the mission from Adrian and Vileplume. “I don’t think I’ve heard of a mission going that bad since Apple Woods was burnt down in the first place.”
“Yeah, it was pretty bad,” Vileplume said. “Wait, did the guild have something to do with Apple Woods?”
The guildmaster quickly shifted the subject. “So did you guys get paid for the stuff you did bring back?”
“Oh, right! Enny struck up some kind of deal with the merchant. We got about half of what we were supposed to be paid,” Vileplume mentioned.
“Alright. You guys can keep it, and I’ll cover the Federation’s taxes. I figure you’ve dealt with enough problems for this mission. If there was some kind of transaction though, whether official or not, they’ll probably assume we’re evading taxes and try to have us shut down.”
“They wouldn’t shut us down for such a small amount of money, would they?” Vileplume asked.
“Oh, believe me. They’ve been trying to have us shut down for a long time,” Lliam said. “You don’t need to worry about that, though. Adrian, what are your plans now that you’ve been made into an eevee?”
The two looked over at the eevee. He shook like a leaf and didn’t say a word.
“Yeah… he’s been acting like this since we pulled him out of that treasure pile,” Vileplume explained.
“I see,” Lliam noted while keeping an eye on Adrian. “Well, I don’t think Adrian’s really fit to remain the leader of your team right now. You’ve been taking a lot of initiative in your missions, so maybe you’d like to take his place for the time being, Vileplume?”
Vileplume was caught off guard by the sudden promotion. “Woah, I don’t think I can really lead a team. I’ve done it once in an emergency before, and we nearly died. I’m not qualified for it.”
“Well to be honest, I don’t think anyone on your team is really qualified to lead,” Lliam stated bluntly. “Adrian was only set up as your leader because of his prior experience, and because his skills were being wasted in his bedroom. Your sister’s nice, but she can’t really handle pressure. Enny might be competent, but I don’t think you want him representing you guys. Plus, he only knows like one move,”
“Actually two apparently,” Vileplume interjected. “He learned Attract at some point, and apparently it turns pokemon gay.”
“Excuse me?” Lliam said with surprise. “That move leverages the target’s attraction, not the user’s. It can’t ‘turn pokemon gay’.”
“Well our client seemed pretty horny when Enny used Attract on him,” Vileplume said.
“Your client was a snorunt merchant, correct?”
“Yeah? Why does that matter?”
“I keep tabs on some of our frequent clients. Enny didn’t turn that mon gay. His preferences are pretty well known at the Blue Claw Inn.”
“Hey, can we change the fucking subject?” Adrian suddenly piped up. When all the attention came back to him, though, he quickly lost his nerve again.
Vileplume looked over at Adrian. “You know, I think that’s actually something I wanted to ask about. Do you know if we can undo what happened to Adrian?”
“Hm… I’m not too familiar with devolution orbs. They aren't exactly common, even by orb standards…” The guildmaster said. “As far as I’m aware, its effects aren’t reversible. If you want Adrian back to normal, he’s gonna have to evolve.”
“That’s not possible,” Vileplume said. “My sister and I waited years for our chance to evolve. It’ll be years before Luminous Spring opens again!”
“Well that’d be true… if Luminous Spring was the only place where pokemon can evolve,” Lliam hinted.
“What are you talking about? Where else would we go to have him evolve?”
“Luminous Spring is pretty well known, but it’s not the only one. There are evolution ‘zones’ all over the world, Vileplume.”
“Do you know where they are?”
“I know a couple,” Lliam said. “The problem is, for most zones, you’ll need an item for him to evolve. That is, unless you’re okay with having two sylveons on your team.”
“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Adrian shouted.
“You said most zones. Are there any that don’t require items?” Vileplume asked.
“Well I know of one zone. To reach it, you need to go through Primeval Forest and see the Xerneas there.”
“A Xerneas?!” Vileplume gasped. “There’s no way we can do that, especially with Adrian in the state that he’s in.”
Lliam nodded. “The last place I can think of, within reason, is in the Air Continent. A long time ago, a meteor threatened to destroy the world, but Rayquaza shot it out of the sky and destroyed it. One of the fragments landed in a pokemon village there. Supposedly, that fragment has the power to evolve pokemon.”
“That’s just another human legend, though,” Vileplume said. “There’s no way that actually happened.”
“You’re in a guild surrounded by former humans and a Rayquaza shooting a meteor out of the sky is the part you don’t believe?” Lliam questioned.
“Okay, good point… We’ll still need to get an item for him though.”
“A lunar ribbon!” Adrian blurted out. “I won’t accept anything else!”
“Woah, slow down there,” Lliam said. “Evolution is permanent. You have the opportunity to completely change your type, and that could be a huge advantage for your team. Are you sure you don’t-”
“I’m not reconsidering this!” Adrian argued. “I liked being an umbreon, even if it ruined my sleep schedule. Besides, we’re Team fucking Moonshine. Me, and our nocturnal behavior, are the fucking symbols of our team!”
“He’s not wrong,” Vileplume admitted, agreeing with Adrian. “Besides, it’s his choice. If he says he wants to be an umbreon, I’m not gonna stop him.”
“I wasn’t trying to dissuade you, I just wanted to make sure you were certain,” the guildmaster said. “If you want to be an umbreon, I can’t take that away from you. It will narrow your options down, though.”
“I made my decision!” Adrian declared.
“At least he’s got some of his energy back,” Vileplume chuckled.
Vileplume awoke in his bed the following afternoon. When he looked around, he saw the Bellossom was already awake and Enny had already left. Adrian was still sleeping in his nest of pillows. When he finally woke up, the three went to the mess hall for dinner.
Upon entering the mess hall, Vileplume noticed a couple odd stares from some of the people eating. He noticed most of the staring was directed towards Adrian. It seemed nobody in the guild recognized him as an eevee.
Bellossom and Adrian sat down while Vileplume went to pick up food for his table. He returned with three bowls of chili, one smaller than the rest. The team ate silently for a while until a very ecstatic wooper suddenly approached their table.
“Hi! Is that a new member of your guys' team?”
“Uh… Wooper, this isn’t-” Bellossom tried to interject.
“Hey eevee! I heard you like mudkips!” Wooper said.
“Shut the fuck up,” Adrian replied
“Another human!” Wooper declared triumphantly. “It’s funny. The umbreon on your guys’ team had the exact same response.”
Vileplume began to say, “Yeah, that’s probably because-”
“Wooper!” A chespin called out, chasing after his partner. “You can’t keep running off every time you see a new-”
“Chespin, you won’t believe it! Vileplume and Bellossom found another human, and it’s an eevee!”
“He’s not another human!” Vileplume blurted out. “This is Adrian, the umbreon, our team’s leader.”
The two were taken aback. “That’s the umbreon who tried to kill Cyndaquil in the mess hall?” Chespin asked in disbelief.
“He wasn’t trying to kill him,” Bellossom said in his defense.
“It’s not important right now. Adrian got turned into an eevee by some orb and we’re trying to figure out how to get him back to normal,” Vileplume explained.
“A devolution orb?” Chespin guessed. “Wooper and I have had a few run-ins with those before.”
“And you’re both still unevolved?” Bellossom questioned.
“Yeah! That’s why we went looking for them in the first place!” Wooper said with a somehow wider smile.
“Wooper and I thought it would be a good idea to evolve when Luminous Spring opened up, but we ended up regretting it big time,” Chespin said.
“But didn’t it make you stronger? More mature?” Vileplume asked.
“It didn’t make us mature, it changed who we were completely! Wooper and I acted like totally different people. Being a Chesnaught made me talk like a kid larping as a knight, impossible to enter my own room, and I wasn’t able to feel my blanket anymore. It was horrible.”
Vileplume tilted his head in confusion. “Larping? I… guess I could see a human finding evolution strange. Wooper though?”
“I just wasn’t the same as a quagsire. Besides, we work better with each other this way,” Wooper said.
“How so?” Vileplume asked.
“Well when Chespin and I fight, he usually picks me up with his vines while I shoot at people,” Wooper explained. “It lets me use my Hydro Pump at its full power without having to deal with the recoil!”
“That’s pretty creative, actually. I’m impressed,” Vileplume said.
“Evolution doesn't always make you stronger. Physical power isn't everything in a fight,” Chespin said.
“I don’t think Viley and I changed too much when we evolved besides acting more our age. We never learned to fight as oddish, though,” Bellossom said. “I guess it just depends on the pokemon.”
“I just wish Adrian took his devolution as well as you two did,” Vileplume said. The two teams looked over at Adrian who, now having everyone’s attention, immediately ducked his head under the table.
“Has he always been this timid?” Chespin asked.
“No!” Adrian shouted from under the table.
“I’m not really sure why he's acting this way,” Vileplume said.
“Well I mentioned how when I evolved, I started talking like a knight. I think it’s safe to say your form can have some impact on how you act. Maybe him getting turned into an eevee has made him more like a kid in some way,” Chespin speculated.
“You might be onto something there.”
“Yeah… so do you guys have a plan for how you’re gonna get Adrian evolved again?” Chespin asked.
“Yeah actually. Right now we need to find an item that’ll let him evolve. We already know where we’re going for this,” Vileplume said.
“Would you guys like some help? We could join you,” Chespin offered.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. It’ll be a long trip. We’re going to the Air Continent. Apparently Pokemon Square has a spot that lets pokemon evolve.”
Wooper got really excited upon hearing that. “I know that place! That’s where my parents evolved!”
“So it’s not just a legend?”
“Of course not! Luminous Cave is like, THE place where pokemon evolve in the Air Continent!”
“Well at least we know it’s reliable. That’s where we’re going, though,” Vileplume said.
Chespin nodded. “Well if we can’t join you for the trip, maybe we could give you some supplies?”
“That would actually be really helpful,” Vileplume said. “We only got paid half the reward for our last mission, so we’re kind of low on cash.”
“Cool! Just stop by our room before you leave. We’ll see what we can get you.”
Chespin and Wooper left Team Moonshine to finish eating. After dinner, Vileplume and Bellossom dropped Adrian off at their room as they went out to the Capim Town market to try their luck at finding a lunar ribbon.
“Sorry, but we're all out of lunar ribbons right now,” the green Kecleon brother apologized.
“We do have evolution stones right now at 10% off,” the purple one said.
“Do you think Adrian would be fine with any other elements? A Vaporeon would cover our weakness to fire,” Bellossom suggested.
“He was pretty adamant when he said he wanted to be an umbreon,” Vileplume sighed before turning to face the kecleons again. “Do you guys know when you’ll be getting any lunar ribbons again?”
“Oh, it’s hard to say. The only place they're known to appear in this continent is Zero Isle,” the green kecleon said.
“It could be weeks or even months until we can order another one!”
Bellossom and Vileplume hung their heads in disappointment.
“There's no way we can take on Zero Isle,” Bellossom pouted.
“Maybe we'll get lucky and find one in the Air Continent somewhere.”
“You’re headed to the Air Continent?” The two brothers asked in unison.
“Uh, yeah? It’s the only place where we can get our friend evolved right now,” Vileplume said.
“Well if you’re headed there, our brothers in Pokemon Square will surely be able to help you get a lunar ribbon!” The green kecleon said.
“In fact, if you’d be willing to do a delivery job for us, we could get you a voucher for whatever item you want from their shop!” The purple kecleon offered.
“You guys have more brothers? I thought you were a local business?” Vileplume asked.
“Kecleon Brothers is an internationally recognized brand with ties all over the world!” The purple kecleon declare proudly.
“And right now, we’re working on tying something up in the Air Continent right now!” The green kecleon said. “All we need to finalize the deal is for this package to be delivered.”
Bellossom looked to Vileplume and he nodded in response. “Alright then! We’ll do it!”
“Excellent!” The green kecleon said as his brother reached under the counter and presented a finely crafted wooden box wrapped with a tight string.
“A few miles north of Pokemon Square, there’s a shopkeeper who goes by the name ‘Floatzel’. Deliver this package to him and return to Pokemon Square for your voucher.”
Vileplume picked up the box. It was oddly heavy despite its small size, but it seemed ordinary enough. “Is there a date this needs to be delivered by?”
“No, you can take as much time as you need. However, under no circumstances should you open that box.”
“Also, the contents inside are fragile, so do take good care of it.”
“Alright. We’ll get it delivered as soon as possible,” Vileplume said.
“Wonderful to hear! Good luck with your journey!”
And with that, Vileplume and Bellossom set off to the guild. With a new plan to get Adrian back to normal, and a new mission, they felt far more hopeful for the future than they had in a while.
Floatzel's Shop
The next afternoon, Team Moonshine started preparing for their journey to the Air Continent. Enny had returned at some point while they were asleep. Vileplume tried to ask him about his night with the merchant. Enny’s answer was brief and to the point. “Ice types cannot keep a person warm at night”.
The plan was explained to Enny. Get to the air continent, deliver the package, and evolve Adrian. After this was settled, the group split up. Adrian and Enny worked on packing up their supplies while Bellossom and Vileplume went over to see Team Cozy.
When they arrived at Team Cozy’s room, Chespin and Wooper started digging through their bags, scrounging up some stuff they figured would be useful. A few oran berries, an escape orb, and some blast seeds, (to keep the chillers at bay).
“Oh, and one more thing,” Chespin said as he reached into one last bag. He pulled out two bottles and handed them to Vileplume. Vileplume read the labels. Spinda’s Grass Gummi Soda.
“Wow… these aren’t that cheap. Are you sure it’s fine if we take these?” Vileplume asked.
“Don’t worry about it. Wooper and I have plenty,” Chespin said.
“Where did you get the money for all the drinks?”
“First mission we went on gave us some pretty good treasure. A whole chest full of frisms, believe it or not. I don’t have any other flavors right now, otherwise I’d give you some for Adrian and the sylveon on your team. Hopefully you and your sister like them, though.”
Vileplume was still surprised by the kind gesture. “I don’t really know what to say. All this stuff is really helpful. Thanks, guys.”
Chespin dismissed it. “Don’t worry about it. Everyone in the guild needs to be in their best shape.”
Vileplume and Bellossom traveled out to the docks of Capim Town. Adrian and Enny were waiting there for them. Vileplume quickly ran down the list of things errands, making sure everything they needed for this trip was done. Once he was sure they were ready, the team booked a Lapras to take them to the Air Continent.
The journey to the Air Continent would take about two days thanks to the jet streams connecting it to the Grass continent. There was plenty of space on the lapras’s shell, but they couldn’t use their blankets or pillows because of the chance for them to fall into the ocean and get soaked. The nights were very cold as a result. Worst of all, while Vileplume made sure they were prepared for pretty much any situation they could come across in the Air Continent, boredom was not something he’d thought of.
“Do you guys have any questions about the plan when we get there?” He asked his team.
“This is like, the third time you’ve asked us since we left the harbor,” Enny said.
“Sorry, I’m just trying to find something to talk about. You got any ideas, Bell?”
“Um… Enny, do you have any more stories from the human world?”
“I’ve kind of told most of the stories I remember at this point. What about you two? You’ve lived in this world your whole lives, I’m sure you’ve got some interesting stories.”
Vileplume shook his head. “We’ve lived pretty ordinary lives. I’ve said this before, but our mom raised us herself after closing down her inn at Capim Town.”
“What about your dad?” Enny asked. “Is he still around?”
“No, not really,” Bellossom said. “I’ve never met him myself.”
“I was old enough to remember him,” Vileplume said. “He was an explorer before he met our mom. He left a few months after Bellossom was born.”
“He just left you to go treasure hunting?” Enny asked.
“It wasn’t like that! At least, that’s what ma told us,” Vileplume explained. “He really did love me and Mom, and he wanted to raise Bellossom. It’s kind of complicated. You see, he used to be part of a team. ‘The Summer Storms’ is what they went by. Dad left his team so he could work a normal job and raise his family, you see. When he left, his two partners continued the team.”
“So what happened to him?”
“So, a little after Bell was born, one of his old teammates, a galvantula, sent him a letter. Apparently, a mission to clear some bandits out went south and his partner got captured. Galvantula asked Dad to come back and save him, and he felt he had to. So, he left to save his team and never came back. Maybe he got killed, maybe his team betrayed him, or maybe he just didn’t feel like being around us anymore…”
Vileplume felt the touch of a ribbon on his side. Enny had placed ribbons on both him and Bellossom. “I didn’t mean to make you guys sad.”
“It’s alright, Enny,” Bellossom said, brushing the ribbon off herself. “Let’s just shift the subject.”
The team went silent again for a minute. Nobody's quite sure what to say. Enny thinks of a good topic, though. “So… Adrian?”
The eevee's ears perk up. He was content spectating the conversation, but now the focus was on him.
“Have you considered what form you'll evolve into?”
“I want to be an umbreon. That's why we're traveling to the Air Continent to begin with,” Adrian said.
“Yeah, but have you considered that maybe it’d be more helpful to evolve into something else?” Enny pointed out.
“Um…”
“It’s true, Adrian,” Bellossom agreed. “If you were to become a Vaporeon, you could cover our fire weakness.”
“I-”
“Or if you were a flareon, I wouldn't have to fear steel types at all!” Enny said.
“I don't really-”
“Jolteon would cover flying and steel, Enny,” Bellossom argued.
“Yeah, but flareons cover bug, ice, and steel. Also, they’re so fluffy! He could light our campfires AND snuggle with us at night!”
“Guys!” Vileplume interrupted them. “You can't pressure him. Adrian's gotta make this decision for himself. If he's gonna be an umbreon, let him!”
“But think about the advantage we could-”
“Enny, it doesn't matter. You two are scaring him,” Vileplume pointed past Enny towards Adrian.
Bellossom and Enny turned and looked at him. He was covering his ears and shivering.
“Oh.”
Bellossom and Enny apologized profusely, but Adrian didn't ease up. After several minutes of trying to calm him down, the team just gave up.
“I knew his tough guy act was hiding something, but I never could've imagined he’d be so unstable,” Enny whispered to Bellossom and Vileplume.
“You’re right,” Bellossom said. “Eevees aren't really known for bravery, but Adrian's pretty skittish.”
“All the more reason to finish this job quickly,” Vileplume said as he walked closer to the lapras’s head. “How much longer until we reach the Air Continent?”
“Only an hour or so,” she answered. “You should be able to see it on the horizon.”
Bellossom and Enny ran up to see. Far off in the distance, there was a huge landmass slowly growing in size. It filled everyone's eyes with wonder. Enny, of course, had never seen the Air Continent in person. Vileplume and Bellossom never got the chance to travel, so they appreciated the view. Nobody was more excited than Adrian, however.
The eevee ran between Enny's legs and stared off in the distance with wonder. Vileplume and Bellossom didn't really understand his fascination. Regardless of their confusion, this was the first time they’d seen Adrian look genuinely happy. Definitely an interesting sight.
The shore grew closer and closer until eventually they reached the docks of Baram Town. Everyone dismounted and, with no time to waste, set off towards the Floatzel's shop.
The first day was uneventful. They didn't get too far until sunrise, so they set up camp outside of town. The warmth of a fire was a true gift compared to the cold of the sea. They could finally use their blankets, too.
When they awoke the following day, they continued walking the trail until they spotted something off.
A pawniard was lying on the ground, covering his stomach and crying for help. Bellossom, Enny, and Vileplume all ran towards it while Adrian kept his distance.
“What's going on?” Bellossom asked. “Are you hurt?”
The pawniard looked up. “I got jumped by bandits. T-they took my st-stuff and l-left me here.”
“It’ll be alright, we’re an exploration team! Let me see the wound.”
“Sure thing,” the pawniard said as he slowly moved his blades, revealing a bright orb underneath. He smashed the orb, creating a bright flash and stunning the three explorers.
“You idiots!” Adrian called. “That was such an obvious tra-AAAHH”
Vileplume heard his voice growing distant. When his sight returned, he saw the pawniard had run off and Adrian had been picked up by a beedrill. As Enny prepared to shoot the bug out of the sky, he was interrupted by a sudden slash from a bisharp that had been hiding on the side of the road.
With the fight properly started, Bellossom ran over to support Enny while Vileplume dealt with the beedrill. While in the air, the bug wrapped Adrian in a cocoon using String Shot and dropped him to the ground. Vileplume realized very quickly that he had no way to reach the flying pokemon.
Vileplume tried to reach into his satchel, but the beedrill just swooped down and jabbed him. Thankfully, whatever the attack was didn’t hurt him too badly. Vileplume’s type pairing wasn’t enough to resist the bug’s attacks very well, but he could manage a few more hits. The beedrill was only attacking when it knew he was distracted. This gave Vileplume an idea.
Vileplume looked back at his bag, pretending to reach into it. When he heard the beedrill getting close, Vileplume released a set of stun spores into the air. When the beedrill make contact with the spores, it immediately froze up and crashed into Vileplume. The two slammed into a nearby tree. Vileplume was now pinned under the weight of the beedrill, but at least it wasn't able to move anymore.
Vileplume watched Enny and Bellossom battle the bisharp. Enny was being forced to dodge a constant flurry of cuts and slashes from the bisharp. As Enny’s stamina started to drain, the attacks started connecting more and more.
Vileplume knew he had to help somehow, but he couldn't get the beedrill off of him. He called over to Bellossom for help. She abandoned her fruitless attempts to take down the bisharp with powders to help her brother. With their combined strength, they were able to get the beedrill off of Vileplume.
Vileplume quickly scurried over to his bag and dig around inside it. He pulled out one of the blast seeds Chespin had given him and threw it at the bisharp. The explosion sent it flying away from Enny. As the bisharp slid across the dirt road before it slowly tried to stand back up. Before it got the chance, Enny shot another disarming voice at it. The bisharp fell back to the ground, and the fight was finished.
Vileplume walked over to where Adrian had been dropped and started tearing the webbing off of him. Adrian's head burst out of the cocoon, gasping for air.
“I swear to God… we are getting this job finished NOW,” he declared.
“Not a fan of being all soft and delicate?” Enny mocked in a high-pitched tone.
“I will fucking kill you when I evolve again.”
After a brief medical checkup and finding nobody severely injured, the group continued their journey and eventually arrived at the shop marked on their map. There was a small market stand set up around a large tree with various shelves nailed to the trunk. Hanging from one of the branches was a sign that read “Floatzel's Affordable Groceries”. Standing at the front counter was a well dressed Floatzel.
“Ah, new customers!” Floatzel greeted the team. “Welcome to my shop. It's been a while since I've been able to get supplies due to the bandits, so please don't judge the selection too harshly.”
“I think we actually took care of your bandit problem on the way here.” Vileplume said. “Took care of two thieves on the road, and the third one ran off.”
The Floatzel seemed amazed. “Really? That's wonderful! I swear, those bandits have been targeting my shipments and customers for weeks! If I didn't know better, I’d have guessed they were working for the Kecleon Brothers.”
Everyone's eyes went wide at that remark.
“The Kecleon Brothers?” Vileplume asked, wanting to make sure he hadn't misheard him.
“Oh, I couldn't prove it, but I swear those bandits have only shown up after I declined that buyout offer from the Kecleon Brothers,” Floatzel said. “It's not proper etiquette to gossip, though. I posted a reward for those bandits, and it seems like you four earned it.”
Floatzel reached under his counter and pulled out a larger stack of coins. When Vileplume counted it, the total was at least 5,000 poke.
“There's no way we can accept this much,” Vileplume tried to decline. “We didn't know there was a bounty for them.”
“Oh don't be modest, the service you’ve done for me is far more valuable than any payment I can offer you,” Floatzel insisted. “Besides, there's a good chance that money will just wind up back in my shop.”
“Um… we weren't here to buy anything actually,” Bellossom explained.
Vileplume explained. “We were actually sent here to deliver a package.”
Floatzel looked confused. “From one of my suppliers?”
“From the Kecleon Brothers.”
Floatzel's expression went from confusion to dread. “What's in the package?”
Vileplume got really nervous. “I-I don't know. They told us not to open it.”
Floatzel's eyes darted around for a moment, as if he was looking for someone. He took a deep breath before saying, “Alright then. Let's see it.”
Vileplume reached into his satchel and pulled out the box. He handed it over to Floatzel who took it with shaky paws. Floatzel slowly unwrapped the string and tried to open the box. The lid was on tight, so he pulled hard on it. When the lid finally snapped off, something inside the box detonated, creating a massive fireball that consumed Floatzel and his entire shop.
“Jesus fucking Christ!” Enny shouted. “What have we done?!”
Evolution
Team Moonshine stood in front of the Kecleon Market in Pokemon Square. They all felt very drained after completing such a horrible mission.
“So you’re the team our brothers sent to deliver our package!” The purple brother said.
“Yeah… that’s us,” Vileplume said with a hint of shame in his voice.
“I’ll never get a good night’s sleep again,” Enny muttered.
“You’ve done us a great service, Team Moonshine!” The green brother said.
“Indeed! That shop was driving away a large number of our customers!”
“Couldn’t you have just competed with him like a normal business?” Bellossom asked.
One of the kecleons laughed as the other one explained. “Why would we waste several months and thousands of poke on such a gamble when we could just spend one thousand on a blast seed, a small box, and an exploration team to deliver it?”
“Maybe because it was fucked up and illegal?” Enny argued.
“Oh, I’m sorry, are you trying to blackmail us?” The purple kecleon asked in a threatening tone.
“We’ll have you know, solicitation is considered a lesser crime by the Air Continent, so the penalties are much lighter.”
“And while we can afford the fines and bail for our jail sentence, you almost certainly cannot!”
“So is that your plan? You’re just gonna screw us after we did your dirty work?” Vileplume growled.
“That was never our intention!” The green kecleon said, seemingly insulted.
“The Kecleon Brothers run an honest business! We would never scam our customers like that!”
“So now they have a moral compass,” Enny sneered.
“Your team will receive their voucher for one evolution item as promised by our brothers in the Grass Continent,” the purple kecleon assured.
“You may redeem it any time you wish at our location here in Pokemon Square.”
“Thank god, I’m so done with this mission,” Vileplume sighed in relief. “Adrian, get your lunar ribbon and-”
“Wait!” Adrian interrupted. “Can we… wait until tomorrow?”
“Why?” Vileplume asked. “We can get this done tonight and leave.”
“I… kind of want to see what this place is like before we go,” Adrian said to Vileplume's confusion.
“The sun will be rising soon,” Bellossom pointed out. “We can take a day off. Maybe head out to some of the rescue team camps? I heard the jungle there is really nice, and it’s not far from town.”
Vileplume groaned. He really just wanted to get Adrian back to his leadership role and be done with this whole job. He was tired, though, and the ocean wouldn't be very pleasant to sleep in.
“Fine. We can go to the jungle. Not sure how Adrian and Enny’ll like it, though.”
“Don’t worry about us, Viley,” Enny said. “We can go to that one place for the eeveelutions. What’s it called again?”
“Evolution Forest!” Adrian answered instantly. He seemed genuinely excited, kind of like when they arrived at Baram Town. That was kind of odd to Vileplume. Also, how did he know the name of the forest just like that? Before he got the chance to ask, Adrian and Enny already set out. Vileplume figured it probably wasn't important, so he set the thought aside and left with his sister to find the jungle.
Vileplume and Bellossom reached the jungle around sunrise. There were plenty of signs to help tourists find their way. When the two entered the campgrounds, they immediately felt how comfortable the environment was. The air was thick and humid, but not too hot. The soil was soft, and the grass was perfect, like a massive blanket spread across the ground. Vileplume laid back on the bright green grass and basked in the sunlight.
For the first time in months, he felt at peace. Joining the guild was a great experience for him, but Adrian had them going out on missions nearly every day. Their few days off were usually spent preparing for another mission Adrian wanted to go on. He never wanted to relax, and Vileplume had kind of just gotten used to it.
He never realized how much stress he’d been building up all this time. Getting into fights, nearly getting killed on so many missions, worrying about the safety of his sister and the rest of his team. At the same time, he felt a lot of guilt for some of the things he'd done. Some of the missions he failed, all the times his team got injured, the innocent floatzel he’d JUST killed. There was so much to think about that he’d just been ignoring all this time.
At that moment, resting in the grass, he realized something else. Since he’d joined the guild, he hadn't really spent any time with his sister. The only time they were alone together was when Adrian and Enny went missing in that cave, and they spent most of their time worrying about whether or not they'd come back. Now, he was just relaxing with her in a calm, peaceful environment like they were kids again.
“It’s kind of nice, isn't it?” He heard Bellossom ask.
“Yeah. I didn't realize how much I needed something like this,” Vileplume answered.
“We really should take more trips like this,” Bellossom suggested.
“Agreed…”
Vileplume felt himself drift off slowly. He wasn't exactly sure when he fell asleep, but when he woke up, Bellossom snuggled up closer to him. Not in any hurry to leave, he wrapped an arm around her and continued to lie in the grass and soak in the evening sun.
He realized then how he’d kind of missed waking up in the mornings. The night shift wasn't really an issue for him since he could still get most of his sunlight while he slept. The way that sun made him feel when he was awake was just different, though. If only Adrian wasn't nocturnal by nature. Maybe when he evolved again, Vileplume could see about getting him on a proper sleep schedule. It's not like all umbreons were forced to be nocturnal, and it was kind of ridiculous for the team to focus their sleep schedule around one member's preferences.
“Good evening, Viley.”
Vileplume lost his train of thought as he realized his sister just woke up. “Good evening, Bell.”
Bellossom sat up and looked around the jungle. “This is a really nice place. I see why all the merchants talk about it.”
“Yeah…”
“How are you feeling, Viley?” Bellossom asked.
Vileplume was caught off guard by the question. “I’m… doing alright. That delivery turned out really badly, so I'm glad we got this chance to relax.”
“You know it's not your fault with what happened to Floatzel, right?” Bellossom asked.
“Bell, quit worrying about me,” Vileplume dismissed.
“I’m worrying about everyone in our team! Can you imagine how Adrian and Enny are feeling about that?”
“I don’t have to imagine Enny’s feelings. He was pretty vocal about them,” Vileplume joked. “He's an overdramatic sylveon. He’ll get over it.”
“Okay, you're right,” Bellossom said. “I'm still worried about Adrian, though.”
“He’s never felt bad about any of the psycho shit he’s done before.”
“Yes, he has,” Bellossom said. “He tells me about it all the time. Well, not directly… but I can tell when he’s not happy!”
“What are you talking about?” Vileplume asked.
“Since that mission we did with all the beldums, he and I have started talking a bit more,” Bellossom explained. “He’s still not really open with me, but I know he feels bad about some of the stuff he does.”
“Like?”
“Well…” Bellossom paused. “That time we got separated from him and Enny. He never told me what happened there, but he was really upset after that if you remember. I tried asking him, but he refused to talk about it. He just kept saying it wasn’t important.”
“Yeah, that was a pretty awkward week,” Vileplume remembered. “Adrian had us do like, four different jobs in that week alone. When we’d come back to the guild, he’d just take another poster off the board and say we were doing that mission tomorrow.”
“That’s what I’m talking about!” Bellossom exclaimed. “He’s feeling something, but he won’t talk about it with us, and now he’s been turned into a literal child.”
“He has been acting a little strange, but I don’t want to make any assumptions as to why. It’s not my business.”
“Something about him is different, and I think it’s a big deal. We’ve never seen him scared before. I think it means something.”
“Look, I don’t know what any of this means and I don’t really care. If you think it’s an issue, then maybe the best solution is to get him back to normal.”
Bellossom sighed. “You’re right. Let’s go fix Adrian.”
Vileplume and Bellossom finally got up and left the jungle. After around thirty minutes of looking around and asking for directions from some of the locals, they found their way to Evolution Forest. It was filled with large trees with massive roots that covered the ground. Some of the trees’ leaves and trunks had changed colors, from vibrant reds to dark purples. Some of the trees’ parts resembled elements like fire and ice more than actual leaves and branches.
The two saw many different eevees and eeveelutions sleeping under the trees. There was definitely a unique feeling in the air, like some unseen force was coursing through and transforming the environment. Whatever that force was, it must've felt incredibly good to the eeveelutions in the area.
Eventually, Vileplume and Bellossom found Enny sleeping with a group of sylveons and eevees underneath a pink tree. He was sprawled across one of the roots like a cat. Vileplume approached him and prodded him awake.
“Wuh… oh hey guys,” Enny yawned.
“Good evening, Enny. Sleep well?” Vileplume asked.
“Wonderful,” Enny said while stretching. “You guys should feel this tree. Its trunk is like a giant pillow.”
“I’m good, but thanks,” Vileplume declined. “You know where Adrian went?”
Enny snapped out of his tired daze and looked around his area. “Uh… not sure. There were a couple other eeveelutions who came over to talk to him last night. Apparently it's common for the locals here to invite eevees and try to persuade them to evolve into different forms.”
“Ooh! How’d that go?” Bellossom asked excitedly.
“Well, he told the sylveons to fuck off immediately. After that, I saw him talk to a few different groups in the area. Most of the umbreons were sleeping, but the few that were awake seemed to get along with him. He spent a while talking to the flareons and the jolteons, too.”
“Wow,” Vileplume said, genuinely surprised. “Do you think he was actually considering evolving into something else?”
“Maybe,” Enny shrugged.
One of the sylveons poked its head up and called out to the team. “That eevee last night had SO many repressed feelings. He’d make a great sylveon if he learned to express them!”
“That’s exactly why he wouldn’t be a good sylveon,” Vileplume called back before turning his focus back to Enny. “So, you still haven't told us where he went.”
“No, I told you I didn't know where he went,” Enny corrected. “He might have slept with some of the other eeveelutions.”
“Alright, let's split up and find him then. Couldn't have gone too far,” Vileplume said.
The three then split up to talk to some of the locals. Bellossom and Enny went to talk to the flareons and jolteons respectively, while Vileplume went to see the umbreons. Their tree’s bark was dark. Most of the leaves were wilted, but the few that were alive glowed bright yellow and blue. All the umbreons and eevees at this tree were awake and watched Vileplume approach.
“Hello?” Vileplume asked, a little nervous. Their red eyes gave off very menacing glares.
“What do you want?” One of the umbreons answered.
“Uh, I’m looking for a friend,” Vileplume answered. “An eevee. He should’ve stopped here yesterday morning.”
“A lot of eevees stop here.”
“Well this one was different,” Vileplume said. “He used to be an umbreon himself, but he got devolved. He had a name, too.”
“That eevee?” The umbreon said with a smirk. “Yeah, I remember now. Real nervous fellow.”
“So do you know where he went?” Vileplume asked.
The umbreon shrugged. “I couldn’t tell you. If he’s not sleeping with another crew around here, he might’ve gone to the stone in the middle of the forest. A lot of indecisive eevees go there so they don’t get harassed.”
Vileplume nodded. “Thanks for the help.”
“Don’t mention it. Good luck finding your friend.”
Vileplume left the umbreons at their tree. They were kind of strange pokemon. Quiet and to-the-point like Adrian, but way more polite than him. It made Vileplume wonder. Was Adrian’s personality influenced by turning into an umbreon? Maybe he was turned into an umbreon because of his personality.
When he got to the stone in the middle of the forest, he noticed Enny and Bellossom also arrived at around the same time.
“No luck?” Vileplume asked.
“The jolteons remembered him, but don’t know where he went,” Enny said.
“Flareons said the same thing.”
“Well unless he visited another group of eeveelutions, this is the last place he could be,” Vileplume said.
The three looked at all the eevees gathered around the large stone in the middle of the group. As they approached, they noticed the eevees all seemed to have small differences amongst each other. Some of the eevees had colored eyes, some had lighter and darker fur. The fur colors varied, but were mostly different shades of brown with a few rare exceptions.
“Did the evolution stone mutate them or something?” Enny wondered aloud.
The eevees, now noticing Team Moonshine, were startled by the sudden presence. A few of them ran off into the woods, seemingly out of instinct. Most of them just froze up and stared at Team Moonshine, clearly viewing them as some sort of threat. Bellossom decided to take the initiative.
“Hey, we’re not here to hurt anyone,” she said in the most calm, innocent voice she could manage. “We’re looking for a friend of ours. We were wondering if any of you saw him.”
One of the eevees was pushed forward. Its eyes were tinted slightly blue, and its fur was whiter than some of the other eevees. “Only eevees c-come through h-here, Miss,” it stuttered in a soft, trembling voice. They couldn’t tell whether it was male or female.
“Our friend is an eevee. Just a normal eevee. No… changes like you have,” Bellossom said.
“A lot of eevees come through here,” the eevee reiterated.
Vileplume stepped in and said, “Okay, well our friend had a name. Adrian. He used to be an umbreon, but he got turned back into an eevee. Does that remind you of someone?”
The eevee that was speaking got quiet again, but one eevee in the crowd shouted out “I talked to him!” A few other eevees started saying similar things. As the eevee pack continued chattering between each other about Adrian. Vileplume heard plenty of mentions about how mean he was. Vileplume yelled over all the chattering eevees, “Do any of you know where he went?”
Most of the eevees went quiet again. One eevee, (with leaves growing on its ears) poked its head up through the crowd and answered, “He said something about going to Mount Green!”
“That’s pretty far from here,” Bellossom said. “We should probably head out there now.”
“Ugh. Let’s go, then,” Vileplume grumbled.
“Thanks for your help, eevees!” Enny said.
The three traveled to Mount Green to see if they could find Adrian. The whole trip, Vileplume got more and more annoyed.
“Why would he travel all the way out here without letting any of us know?” Vileplume wondered. “And this place specifically?”
“Oh, uh… he probably heard about it from some of the locals,” Enny quickly spurted out.
“Is it famous or something?” Vileplume asked.
“Uh… yeah?” Enny said. Something about his tone sounded odd, but Vileplume was in no mood to question it. He was more annoyed at Adrian than anything.
After another thirty minutes of traveling, the trio found themselves in Mount Green. Vileplume felt it was a pretty nice area, but he wasn’t sure why Adrian would be drawn here of all places. He must have been tired when he decided to go up here. What was he thinking?
The place seemed oddly empty to them. The other camps had many more pokemon. Vileplume saw far fewer pokemon on Mount Green for some reason. He noticed one cubone and a geodude in the area, and not many more. The two were sitting by a campfire sharing a roasted apple. Vileplume asked if they’d seen an eevee around, and they pointed towards a cliff off in the distance.
As the three approached the cliff, they saw an eevee sleeping near the edge.
“Adrian!” Vileplume called.
Adrian shot up immediately startled by Vileplume’s sudden voice. “What’s going on?!” he asked.
“You tell me, Adrian!” Vileplume yelled. “You left Enny alone in the forest without telling him where you went. We spent at least an hour trying to find you!”
“I-”
Vileplume continued. “Seriously dude! What the hell were you thinking? If we didn’t ask the eevees where you went, or if they told us the wrong place, we’d have had no idea what happened to you! We might’ve even left without you! Do you realize how stupid that was?”
Adrian stood there for a moment, trembling. Vileplume thought he saw tears in Adrian’s eyes when he looked up at him.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Are you alright Adrian?” Enny asked.
“Yeah, I just… it’s not important,” Adrian answered with an empty tone. “You guys can go to the docks in the square. I’ll meet you there in an hour.”
After that, Adrian walked past the three and headed off towards town. While Vileplume watched him leave, he realized something was definitely off with him. Vileplume was so used to arguing with Adrian. After seeing the way Adrian looked at him, though, he realized his sister might’ve been right.
Vileplume, Enny, and Bellossom followed Adrian back to Pokemon Square, taking a detour towards the docks. On the trip back, nobody said anything to each other. Adrian kept his distance from everyone, and nobody was sure about how to approach him, or if they should at all.
Eventually, Adrian split off and went towards the town square while Vileplume, Bellossom and Enny went in the direction of the docks. Now that Adrian wasn’t around, Enny felt a little more comfortable talking “That was… kind of odd, wasn’t it?”
Vileplume sighed. “I didn’t need magic ribbons to tell how upset he was there.”
“Do you guys think he’s feeling okay?” Bellossom asked.
“Obviously not,” Vileplume said.
“Yeah, same here,” Enny agreed. “It’s so hard for me to tell what he’s feeling without using my ribbons. He’s really closed off.”
“Maybe we should ask him about it,” Bellossom suggested.
Vileplume shook his head. “Why do you think you should? You said it yourself Bellossom. He’s really unstable right now. If you really think that’s the case, why would you want to add to that?”
“I don’t think these are new feelings he’s showing, Vileplume,” Enny said.
“Enny’s right,” Bellossom said. “I don’t really want to assume anything too crazy, but he’s told us all that he had a pretty bad relationship with his family. I think he learned at some point growing up that he shouldn’t talk about how he feels. Turning into an eevee hasn’t changed that part of him, but I think it’s made it harder for him to hide them.”
“That’s possible,” Vileplume admitted.
“And also really unhealthy,” Enny added. “We should totally confront him about it. Maybe after this whole experience, he’ll be a little more willing to open up to us. Then he wouldn't feel like he has to hide how he feels behind all that edge.”
Vileplume wasn't as confident. “I don't know if that’s-”
“That’s a wonderful idea!” Bellossom said, interrupting her brother. “We can talk to him on the lapras ride back! Maybe we can get some drinks, too.”
“That sounds like a ba-”
“That sounds like a great idea!” Enny exclaimed. “You should see if they're selling drinks here in Pokemon Square!”
“Sure thing,” Bellossom said. “You guys can book the lapras. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Bellossom then darted off towards the markets, causing Vileplume to sigh internally. He and Enny went to the docks and made the arrangements for their trip home. Once everything was in place, they waited around for Bellossom and Adrian to return. Enny noticed how annoyed Vileplume looked. “Something wrong?”
“This isn’t gonna play out the way you think it will,” Vileplume warned.
“Oh Viley, you’re starting to sound like Addy,” Enny said with a giggle. “Relax. I know that bre better than anyone here.”
“If you did, I’m sure your friendship with him would be much more stable.”
“Hey, all my little jabs at him serve a purpose,” Enny said. “I’m slowly breaking down that ego, getting down to the core of who he truly is.”
“All you’re doing is pissing him off,” Vileplume said. “I don’t see how that’s beneficial in any way.”
“Just trust me Viley. I know how boys work better than anyone.”
“Shows in all the dates you’ve gotten without using Attract.”
Enny got really defensive. “Hey, I know who's interested and who isn’t! If the guild can't appreciate my style, it’s their loss!”
“And you think Adrian deep down is interested in you?”
“Absolutely! When he’s cuddling that bear, you know he’s wishing it was me!”
“Hold up, what bear? What are you talking abou-”
“Oh look! She’s back!” Enny shouted abruptly.
Bellossom approached Vileplume and Enny, holding two glass bottles with pink and black stained glass. She seemed really excited as she got closer. “We haven’t done anything like this since our first mission together, guys!”
Vileplume didn’t say anything as Bellossom handed him the bottles, which Vileplume then packed into his satchel. She then went over and talked to Enny. Both of them were very excited to put their plan into action.
Vileplume wondered about the possibilities of this plan actually working. He didn't know Adrian the best, but he figured he understood him pretty well. Whatever he’d told Bellossom about, it never seemed to affect him. Nothing really seemed to bother him except other people. If Adrian was hiding a soft side, there was probably a reason for it. He was a very practical leader.
As the team continued to wait for Adrian to return, Vileplume’s mind drifted back to the last time he had taken the leadership role during a mission. Back in the power plant, he nearly got everyone killed. He tried not to blame himself, considering how wounded everyone was and the type matchup, he still felt really bad for it. As a leader, his team was relying on him.
He wondered if Adrian had those same worries as him. Most of the humans at the guild were odd, but they were nice pokemon who did care for each other in their own ways. Was it possible that humans feel that kind of guilt as well? They were known for being smart, so surely they could see when things weren't their fault. Then again, Adrian wasn't really that different from him. He was smart sometimes, came up with all sorts of tricks to keep everyone safe. He wasn't good with his anger, and he didn't always think things through. Maybe he felt the same way about leading this team.
Vileplume got pulled out of his thoughts when a stranger approached him and his team. A flareon, which initially startled Vileplume. He hadn't seen any eeveelutions in town. Did it follow them from the forest or something?
Then, the flareon spoke in a very familiar voice. “You book the lapras yet?”
“Adrian?” Vileplume muttered in disbelief.
“No, Santa Claus. Who the fuck did you think it was?” He mocked.
“You’re… a-”
“OH MY GOD! Adrian’s a flareon!” Enny shouted.
“Did they not have a lunar ribbon?” Bellossom asked worriedly. “We could’ve gone somewhere else to-”
“Shut the fuck up, both of you,” Adrian demanded before turning back to Vileplume. “Did you book the lapras or not?”
“Yeah. We were just waiting on you,” Vileplume said.
“Good. Let's go home then. We can talk on the way back.”
The first hour of the ride, everyone stayed silent as an awkward tension filled the air. Adrian coming back as a flareon was a huge surprise, and it took a while for them to process it.
Eventually, Enny worked up the nerve to ask, “So… how are you feeling Adrian?”
“No.”
“You know, we’ve been a little worried about you, Adrian,” Bellossom said.
“Why?”
“Well, you were acting a little odd as an eevee. You were all scared, and then you ran off to that mountain without telling anyone,” Bellossom explained.
“Okay, first off, I don't know if you guys noticed, but most eevees are cowards,” Adrian said. “For fuck’s sake, their ability is called Run Away. I could tell something was wrong with me the moment I devolved, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't something with me. I talked to the eevees in the forest to confirm that, and it turned out I was probably right.
“Secondly, I went to Mount Green for two reasons. One, because I didn't want to sleep with Enny and his slumber party. Two, because I had to decide whether I should evolve into an umbreon or something else.”
“So you chose to become a flareon?” Enny asked.
“It was a better tactical choice,” Adrian answered. “As an umbreon, I haven’t been able to cover anybody’s weaknesses. On the contrary, Enny has had to cover for my fighting, fairy, and bug type weakness on several jobs now.”
“We’ll still have to cover your ground, water, and rock weaknesses,” Vileplume pointed out.
“I feel that’s very reasonable with two grass types on our team.”
“Fair enough. Just wanted to make sure you considered that,” Vileplume said.
“Of course I did.”
Then Adrian got quiet again. At least that part of him hadn’t changed. Enny and Bellossom seemed really disappointed, however. Enny walked over to Vileplume and reached into his satchel, pulling out two bottles and going back over to Bellossom to share a drink. Vileplume looked over at Adrian, sitting by himself and staring out at the ocean. Looking down into his satchel, there were still two bottles left. Vileplume sighed to himself and walked over to Adrian and sat down.
Adrian looked over at him, somewhat surprised. Vileplume opened up his satchel and offered him a black-tinted bottle. “We were expecting you to come back as an umbreon. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Better than nothing,” Adrian said while staring at the bottle. He then kept staring at the bottle, even starting to squint at it to Vileplume’s confusion.
“Something wrong?”
“No more Psychic.”
Vileplume let out a chuckle. He set down his own bottle and opened the cork on Adrian’s drink before holding it up to his mouth for him to drink. Once Adrian had enough, Vileplume set the bottle to the side and opened his own bottle, taking a long drink. It was incredibly sweet, but it had a bitterness that tasted similar to durin berries. He hadn’t had durin berries since he was a little kid.
“These things are great,” Vileplume said. “How’s yours?”
“Surprisingly good, actually,” Adrian said. “The dark gummi flavor is quite as good as I remember, but it’s still pretty good.”
“At least we didn’t waste our money,” Vileplume chuckled.
“So… why are you actually here sharing a drink with me?” Adrian asked.
“I just wanted to talk. Thought you looked a bit lonely over here.”
“Don’t try to pull an amateur psych analysis like those two did.”
“I wasn’t planning to,” Vileplume assured. “I just wanted to know what made you change your mind.”
Adrian looked at Vileplume. “W-what are you talking about.”
“Bell and Enny don’t know how set you were on being an umbreon, but I do. You weren’t even willing to discuss it with the guildmaster, and now here we are,” Vileplume said, gesturing towards Adrian. “What made you shift your position so suddenly?”
“You want the truth?” Adrian asked.
“Wouldn’t be asking if I didn’t.”
Adrian took a deep breath. “I felt bad taking the lunar ribbon. We never should’ve had to take this mission.”
Vileplume was taken by surprise. “You’re not… you don’t think Floatzel’s death was your fault, do you?”
“How is it not?” Adrian asked. “If I just accepted an evolution stone in Capim Town, we wouldn’t have had to do this mission. This is me finally doing what I should’ve done.”
“Adrian, you didn’t know anything about that job,” Vileplume said. “If there’s anyone to blame for that, it should be me. I should’ve checked what we were delivering.”
“That was literally your first time running a full mission as a leader. In fact, you wouldn’t have been put in that position if I let you and Bellossom handle Machamp instead of trying to get the jump on him.”
“Why are you giving me a pass for my mistakes, but not yourself?”
“I told you, no psych analysis.”
“Sorry, my bad,” Vileplume apologized. “I just want to say, I get where you’re coming from. I feel terrible about what we did to Floatzel. To some extent, we’re all guilty for that. We all made a terrible mistake.”
“You shouldn’t feel bad for that.”
“Then why should you?”
Adrian didn’t answer. He looked at Vileplume for a bit before turning away from him.
Vileplume continued. “I’m not gonna try to change your life in one conversation here, but maybe you should see that growlithe in the guild.”
“I don’t need a therapist.” Adrian said.
“Well it wouldn’t hurt to talk to someone.” Vileplume said.
“It’s a waste of time.”
“Well the rest of us would appreciate it if you gave it a shot.”
“Any other life-changing conversation topics you got for me?”
Vileplume thought about that question for a bit. Only one answer came to mind.
“I guess we’re gonna need a new team name.”