In her nest, the Eevee awoke. She had begun living with Petal a while ago, helping the Leafeon at Soothing Scent sometimes. Rarely would the Eevee hang out with the other kids and if she did, she’d sit out on what they were doing and watch silently. Even though the Pokemon of Lylow didn’t mind her, it was infuriating to have no one know what you’re saying. “Eevee,” she said disappointedly as a Tangela left, covered in flowers. She could go for the story about a Piplup right about now, although she knew it was nothing more than that.
A series of licks at the top of her head followed, Petal’s way of cheering up the normal-type. The Eevee pouted in silence, waiting for this stop as another Pokemon entered the shop. It was a penguin in two different simple hues of blue; light blue feathers covering his lower body and flippers, and dark blue feathers covering most of the light ones that may be on his head, extending down his back and around his neck, sort of like a cape.
“Hello!” he said, running up to the counter. “Hey, long time no see!” greeted Cotton. “How’s the guild treating you?”
“Great!” the Piplup replied. “Could I buy some reviver seeds?”
The Whimsicott nodded as Petal set three of the requested item down. “That’ll be 800 Poke each,” said Cotton. The customer rummaged the small pouch on him, getting every coin he could find. “Here.” As Cotton proceeded to count the amount handed, Petal began to talk to the Piplup. “What a hard worker you are,” she commented. “Mhm,” joined Fragrance. “You must have a hard mission coming up if you’re coming here for reviver seeds.”
“It’s nothing,” the Piplup replied bashfully. “I’m just on break so I wanted to catch up with Lylow.” The three continued to converse, a brown fox watching them. It was like she met her fairytale hero in person. Once the penguin got his seeds, he said his goodbye to the grass-types, but not before noticing an Eevee staring at him from behind the Leafeon. Upon the attention, the Pokemon immediately hid behind her grass-type evolution. Luckily, the Piplup didn’t think much of it. “Congrats on your child, Petal!” he shouted out loud, cheerily before exiting Soothing Scents.
All three adult Pokemon laughed about it as the Eevee slipped away in embarrassment. “It’s okay,” said Petal, licking her again. “Eevee…” she said, annoyed until the Leafeon stopped and gave her space. “You know Lily needs to hang out with her age group more,” the Whimsicott said. She could hear them talk. “She won’t stay a kid forever.” The sentence was followed up with a sigh from Petal. “I know.”
“Are you going to teach her how to speak?”
Not a word dropped out of the Leafeon’s mouth, but the Eevee could tell she nodded. How she wished she were a normal Eevee; just an Eevee who knew who she was, didn’t suffer memory loss, and played with all the other kids. Petal’s adoptive daughter, Lily. How easy would it be if she was that.
* * *
People walked left and right in the afternoon light, cars drove through the streets just as well like any normal day, everyone minding their own business. At a mall, a boy decided to spend his time. Up the escalator he went, eyeing all the stores he’d go to; the food court set up with the names of popular fast-food restaurants and the smell of grease in the air, the toy shops crowded with kids around his age range, just a year or two younger, and the clothing stores, customers there showing off their money in the expensive clothes they wore. Ben knew where he was going first.
Hopping off the escalator, he walked to GameStop first, hand in pocket to protect his money as he entered the store. “I have arrived!” he announced aloud. The video game was clean of customers, most anywhere else, mainly the food court. “Hello too, Mario,” the man at the counter returned. “Or are you feeling Link today?” His name was Patrick, Pat for short, a friend of Ben coincidentally. The younger kid shook his head. “I’m Master Chief.”
“Ah,” the older boy reacted, unsurprised. “I’m sorry bud, but I’m afraid you can’t.” He put his hands under his chin, setting his elbows on the counter. “How old are you again?” asked Pat.
“Cut the crap,” replied Ben. “My friends are playing this game and I finally got enough money to buy it.”
Pat had his eyes at the side. “Language!” He spoke in a puppet voice a ventriloquist would use. “Alright, but you need an Xbox, One or Series X/S.”
“Who cares.” Ben turned away from the counter. “I can find a better place to use my money.”
“And where would that be?” Pat poked, a smug grin evidence of his bask in victory.
“Oh, nothing,” he said. “Just going to McDonald’s.” Ben opened the door and looked back at the GameStop proud employee. “Didn’t you say Patricia works there? I guess Pats attract Pats.” The boy left the store, running as he laughed out loud. The look on Pat’s face before Ben left was worth it.
As he made his way towards the food court, Ben skipped for the line at McDonald’s. Bump! The boy backed away from the direction he crashed. “Sorry about that,” he apologized casually, looking up to face the customer in front. It was a man, middle-aged and bald. There was a hidden badge in his coat’s pocket as the adult glared at the boy. “It’s alright,” he said, turning back for the line. Ben didn’t respond, waiting in line, embarrassed who he was with. Eventually, the boy gave up eating at the mall and went home.
On his way out, as he left the large building, the sky had gotten noticeably much darker. It was a sunset orange, Ben on his walk back. He was going to be in trouble for coming home late, aka by night. What a day it was, from messing around with Patrick to running into a detective or police officer. It wasn’t an eventful one either, which made it weird how time moved so fast.
Just as he reached the park, the boy heard a boom, turning his head in the direction of it. It was by the swings, eerily soft, but loud enough for anyone at the park to hear. Once Ben was at the swings, he looked at the ground beside the left one. There was a hole deep down from the woodchip surrounded playground. It was so deep, it seemed like someone could die from a fall. Peeking into it further, Ben saw someone unconscious. Moving his head to get help, the boy paused when he noticed someone come from a tunnel connected to the hole, lifting up the body. The unknown figure looked up to see the sky and as they made eye contact with Ben, the figure ran away with the body. Simultaneously, Ben recoiled from the hole, sweating the most he had ever in his life, heart racing as he ran the rest of the way home.
