EVTF Part 4 Chapter IX

Eevee TF Series
Part 4
Chapter IX

Every night was the same.
In fact, it was possible to say that it almost never changed- not a single detail deviated from the usual course. This was an unfortunate fact that had stirred Victoria's swirling emotions on numerous occasions. Every morning after the dark, banal night, she would recall her wonderful dream, but would then sigh hopelessly, rolling onto her side. Did I really just have that same dream again? she thought.
Every night, it seemed- every night was the same routine. Her dream- that wondrous fantasy of a snowy distant mountain- always pervaded her mind. She almost became annoyed, as if the proud white peak was taunting her with its jagged provocative faces and howling laughter, dissolving away under her feet each time the desert sun crept through the dusty window of her bedroom.
And of course, one other detail never ceased to change. On that glorious summit, right before waking up under the musty blue sheets of her bed, the blanketed bushes behind her always stirred with a scuffling and squeaking. When she turned around, all she would see was a rapid brown flash- whose existence was just short of instantaneous- and then she would wake up, disconcerted.
Of course, for a moment, she would believe that she was still dreaming and would look outside for that rising mountain, or at least the blanket of snow. She looked for any movement of a squeaking creature, but saw none hidden in the motionless orange landscape. The desert sun always blinded her, causing her to squint and groan before rolling out of her bed.
This left her only imagining what the animal could have been. Every morning it was different- a squirrel, a bear cub, a wolf, a fox. The animal only existed as a sound and a flash, and only for a moment. Every time she tried to get a good look at it, or even if she tried to turn around before hearing it, she would immediately wake up. Her futile efforts continued every night- the same dream over and over again, with the same ending.
She never really found out what alpine creature disturbed her dream- but somehow, whenever she thought about it, it reminded her of her childhood. She would smile at the hopeful idea but quickly shook it off. Thus Victoria lived through her nights with the same excitement and disappointment.
Through the warm haze she coughed slightly, waving some of the acidic smoke from her nose. Suddenly she was on the mountain again, looking into the bleak world. Instead of mid-winter it was a dark, scorching evening. The sky and horizon were all the same color of reddish-orange, and the trees were gone. Though confused, she felt the immediate- even if useless impulse to find the creature. Answering her thoughts she heard a squeak- much louder than she remembered. It reverberated against the metallic sky and she was brought back to reality. Ron and Don stood in the room in front of her, and she caught sight of a spectrum of vibrant colors off to the side. Her eyes, wet from the heat, exploded open when she heard yet another squeal. A rapid brown flash seemed to appear out of nowhere, and shot right towards her feet.
Before she knew what was happening, she felt a strong blow hit her chest- and before she realized something had hit her chest she was on her back, eyes straining for answers through a thick brown carpet. She suddenly became aware of a new warmth on top of her, and something small and wet attacking her forehead. A soft cloud tickled her nose and almost made her sneeze. Her hands reached blindly for her now-soaked face and she felt the thing that was on her. It flailed and swiped at her arm furiously before she could get two hands around to tear it from her head. Still squirming in her hands, she heard whatever it was squeal frantically.
Finally she managed to sit up and pry it off, and her hazel eyes were met with a pair of beautiful brown eyes that glowed with excitement and were set in a comparatively small head covered in a layer of brown fur. Immediately beneath the head, she identified the soft cloud that tickled her nose as a bulbous, cream-colored mane that went around the thin neck. A huge light-colored tail hung down along with a set of four fragile legs that dangled and began to kick wildly again.
No, she thought. No.. It can't be....
The fox-like creature confirmed her thoughts with a startling, eager Eevee!
Just as quickly as she would wake up during her nightly dreams, her face lit up and a wide smile spread across it. She gasped in rapture, not stopping to question what was happening. Every fiber of her being told her that this small adorable creature was what she had seen in her dream, and was in fact the thing that brought back the playful memories of her youth. Without another thought the animal had wriggled free from her clutch and tossed itself towards her neck once again in a quick brown flash, crawling all over her, and covering her face with unbridled tongue kisses.
She felt the word surge inside her and burst from her lips: "Eevee!"
A little-known fact about Victoria: as a kid, she had had an unmatched fascination with the popular kids show Pokémon. She devoted every weekend to watching the cartoon, playing the card game, and even the videogames. Her friends considered her a walking encyclopedia on the subject. She was proud to say that she was almost held back in 5th grade because instead of doing her homework she would always watch TV in her room.
One question she was asked often was regarding her favorite pokémon. With enthusiasm she always replied with "Eevee!" Indeed, the small brown fox was the apple of her shady eye. None of the countless others ever came close. Why? For one, Eevees were simply adorable. However, the real reason she idolized the furry character was because of its adaptive evolution. According to her sources, Eevee was able to evolve into various other characters depending on its surroundings.
Unfortunately, her early teen years slowly tore her away from Eevee and Pokémon almost altogether. When she was about 12, her parents had to tell her that they had to watch how they spent their money because of their income- and in doing so, they reluctantly had to sell their satellite dish and  drop their cable, which provided the small family with the majority of its entertainment. The only free local channels they received from then on were news and spanish television, with about twenty channels full of static. Victoria's life became dry and arid like the desert, and school and friends began to replace her cards and videogames. She never saw the furry, bright-eyed outline again until about four or five years later, in a small hotel in Coledge- except instead of a picture, it was the real thing, and it was presently rolling all over her, chewing on her hair, and chirping happily all the while. Victoria didn't mind in the least, and felt a couple of delightful chirps come from her own throat.
In her euphoria she had almost completely forgotten where she was. Seeing the dark-haired figure of Ron come running over to her took her by surprise, and as she realized where she was, she looked for the first time at the still-smoldering door lock.
"What happened?" she groaned. The thin, steamy air lined her throat and made her cough. Though she had suffered through worse smoke inhalation before, she felt the need to draw attention away from her childish daze which had landed her on the floor. Eevee had taken a position on his back in her cradling arms, and allowed his eyes to shut halfway, and a paw dangle gently over his holder's arm.
Ron, with wary eyes on the eccentric infant, leaned forward and offered Victoria his right arm. His figure hovered over hers, and for the first time, she noticed how hot the room in front of her was; she half-expected for there to be a fireplace somewhere in the room- though, why someone would have the fire stoked to such a temperature on a summer night was beyond her. Still, she noted, the idea of a fireplace- no matter what the season- soothed her. With Eevee delicately repsirating in her arms, she felt as if she were a child again, waking up on Christmas morning. She gladly accepted Ron's arm, careful not to drop her sleeping friend.
He pulled her up to her feet, both rising gracefully in a sweeping arc. Victoria was taken aback by his figure. In the light of the room, she could now see that he had a worried look behind a couple of scratches and black marks on his greasy face. His hair was frayed and unkempt, and a couple of patches looked like they were missing. His shirt had several large black scorch marks on it, as if it had fallen victim to a child's magnifying glass. Ron saw her look between him and the door lock. "It's a long story," was all he had to say at that moment.
Victoria was discouraged then, but she understood that Ron either didn't want to talk about it, or he really had no explanation. His eyes were still pointed at the furry creature that slept in front of her breasts, and she looked down at him as well.
"He's so cute!" she chuckled. Ron also gave a slight chuckle in response. She looked up slightly, enough to show her wide, enthusiasitc smile. "Is he also yours?"
"Err, not exa- well, yeah. Kinda," he nodded.
Victoria took a hand and slowly swept it over the fur on the creature's back. In a flash, its large brown eyes opened and a set of tiny fangs landed on her finger. She was blown away by the speed with which it had reacted, but laughed in amusement, as the small white teeth could only leave small dimples in her finger. Still it held on, as tightly as its small jaw would allow it to. All the while it looked up at her with deep, innocent eyes, which only made Victoria laugh more.
Suddenly her laughter was stopped by a gasp. "Wait a minute- how do you have an Eevee?" Eevee promptly released the finger and repeated his name with excitement. "I thought they were just on TV," she said, quietly.
Two pairs of wide eyes stared intently at him as he ran a hand through his hair. He didn't really feel comfortable talking to the strange girl, who he had only met an hour or so ago- especially about a matter that he himself still did not have much of a grasp on. Besides, Crystal had told him that he probably should keep the farfetched matter a soft-spoken secret. Crystal! he thought suddenly. Maybe she can help! Before he could say anything Victoria had started again, taking advantage of his silence.
"I can honestly say that I've never held a real, live pokémon-" She stopped suddenly when Ron turned around and went back into the room without a word, leaving her at the doorway. As she peered into the gaping warmth in front of her, she saw that there was no fireplace in the room, but rather, a collection of several animals over by the bathroom door, each with a distinct color, and all looking at her with dark-colored eyes. Their expressions were as stunned and surprised as hers, and she immediately recognized one of them as Valli, the "cat" she had met earlier. Her eyes passed over each of them and her mouth dropped open further as she recognized the Vulpix, Flareon, and Jolteon, and that "Valli" the cat was really "Valli" the Vaporeon. She looked down at Eevee, who, with deep brown eyes, vivid with simple pleasure, chirped happily. He then sprang out of her arms and bounded over to the group of pokémon. She felt an overpowering impulse to chase after him and meet the others, a privelige which Eevee urged her to take up when he looked back to her and barked at her imploringly.
Like that she flew over to the circle and sat down. No words managed to come from her mouth, except for garble that was as unintelligible as the questioning words of the nervous crowd.
"Who the heck is this?"
"I don't know. I've never seen her before."
Eevee chimed in. "This is my new friend!"
"How can you be friends?" Vulpix commented with kind criticism, "You've only just met!"
"She's nice. She let me play with her." To prove his point, he jumped and took a perch back in Victoria's arms.
"Oof! Hey there, Eevee!" she sang. Again she patted the furry back, and again her face became covered in gooey saliva from the excited pink tongue that hung over the creature's lips. She gently wrenched the fox from her face and wiped some of the warm residue from her cheeks. She reached over and slowly felt Valencia's smooth, wet body. "Hello there, Valli! Nice to see you're up and about!"
"Valli?!" Valencia shouted loudly.
Victoria stopped at the loud, hissing cry. She retreated her hand and continued talking at length. "Ron told me you were his cat, but you're not a cat at all!"
"Oh, goodness..."
"You're a Vaporeon!"
The cat that was no longer a cat, but was now officially a Vaporeon, became very uncomfortable under the teen's hand, and started groaning. She was still trying to wrap her mind around that name that this dark-haired teen had used on her. Valli. That was Ron's nickname for her. But how would she know? Ron wouldn't dare tell anyone about what was going on, would he?
"Oh! I'm so sorry- where are my manners?" The girl with long dark hair and bright hazel eyes straightened herself up and spoke with a kind, hospitable air. "Hello, all. My name is Victoria. I am staying at this hotel tonight with my family; we're on vacation. Tomorrow we're going to that big mountain that's out there. I'm pretty excited about that!" The Vaporeon gave a quick cock of the head and questioned what she had said. "Oh, you probably don't remember me, then. I met your trainer Ron earlier, right when I got here. (You know, I never imagined that Ron could possibly be a real trainer!) He was carrying you in a towel and you were just dead-asleep. Of course all he would tell me was that you were his cat and that your name was Valli- you know, like that musician?" She leaned forward and whispered: "Between you and me, I think your trainer likes me!"
Valencia refused to give any response to the persistent woman. There was an extensive period of silence in the group, which was only broken by the Flareon.
"He's just not that into you!" shouted Corbyn with a false hispanic accent. The whole group laughed, including Valencia. Victoria had no idea what provoking statement was made, but just liked how happy all the creatures all sounded, so she joined in the giddy laughter.

Hello, Ron.
"Crystal," Ron warned over the phone.
Yes, yes, I know... 'I hate it when you do that.' I can't help it. What's up?
"Well, I need your... err, clairvoyant insights."
There was a pause. Is that it, then? No help with homework? No gambling bets? No secret date while Julia's not around?
"Crystal!"
She laughed loudly. All right, all right. I'm sorry. But can you tell me exactly what it is you need?
"Uhhh..." Ron slowly turned and faced the others that were seated in a circle near the bathroom door. Don was standing near him, trying to hear the conversation. "N-no, just- I need you to come over here."
Again there was a pause. Wow, it must really be urgent, then. Okay, I'll be over shortly.
"Thanks, Crystal. I'm at the Black Cat Inn..."
Yeah, I know where that is, she interrupted.
"Thank you Crystal," Ron repeated like a parent trying to teach a child manners.
You're welcome, Ron answered the reluctant child to the parent, and she hung up.