HOW IT FEELS TO DISAPPEAR: DESCENT

Note: As each part continues to get longer, from here on I’ll put the rest of a story under a readmore after the first image. also sorry this is going up before the last poll ends i dont want to post at 2am again

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[Offer it food.]

You think for a moment… Food- that always wins over a feral Pokemon’s trust, right? You nod to yourself, opening up a pocket in your bag you’ve dedicated to the few odd berries you’ve gathered throughout your journey. It’s messy, but you keep them in a little baggie as to not stain everything if they’d get crushed.

You look around a bit, mulling over what the best treat would be to offer… You can see the Eevee’s tension giving way into wary curiosity out of the corner of your eye. Its nose twitches- it can probably smell the berries, you think.

You settle on Oran berries- most Pokemon love these, in your experience, and it has some kind of healing property… Once you manage to dig a few out, you tuck everything away again and hold your hand out to the Eevee.

It jolts backwards, ears flattening again when you reach towards it. But then it’s quick to notice you’re not trying to hurt, or grab, or do anything… Its gaze locks onto the berries, and you can see it immediately start salivating. Though it takes a moment for the Pokemon to muster up its bravery… Finally, slowly, it steps forward, and nibbles on the food you offered it, eating right out of the palm of your hand.

Nibbles turn to bites, and bites turn to it scarfing down the offered snack, until the berries are all gone and its muzzle is stained a soft blue. It licks the juice from its lips and teeth, and you can even see its tail wagging a slight, happy to finally have a snack.

Tentatively, you hold out the hand you fed it with, seeing if it’ll let you touch it now… It watches you closely, before finally…

It bonks its head into your hand, purring and chirping as it nuzzles against you, its tail wagging even faster.

Ohhhh, you can feel your heart turning to mush. It’s so cute!! You’d always adored Eevees, but they’re so rare in Kanto that you’d never been able to catch one. It really does baffle you how anyone could ditch such a precious creature…

You’ve made up your mind. This Eevee simply must come home with you.

But how to do it… First thing’s first- permission, right?

“Hey, little buddy…” you speak softly to the tiny Pokemon. It perks a bit, stopping its adorable nuzzling session in favor of paying attention to you. “You must not have a home, huh?”

At that, its ears droop. It seems to understand you perfectly well. Another pang of anger at its situation, before you continue.

“Well… I think you’re awfully cute,” you say with a smile. “Would you like to come with me?”

It immediately brightens up, excitedly chirping and squeaking and running circles around you. You can almost hear the way it cries, yes, yes, oh yes please, new friend!

“An enthusiastic yes!” you chime, beaming ear to ear. “I probably won’t be able to catch you- if you got dumped here, you’re probably still registered to a Pokeball… But I think I can just carry ya. You look pretty light, hehe~”

Gleefully, it jumps into your arms as soon as the words leave your mouth, rubbing the top of its head against your chin.

“Let’s get you home then, little guy,” you sigh, ruffling your fingers through its thin mane. “I’ll just go and tell Blue that-”

It suddenly hisses. It thrashes and scratches at you, until you drop it unceremoniously, and it hits the floor with a thud and growls under its breath, its gaze darting around as if something were to jump out at any moment.

You rub at your forearms- its needle-like claws can’t cut deep, but the thin marks still hurt. You don’t understand what warranted that reaction- a ghost? Another Pokemon? Surely not anything you said. All you’d mentioned was…

Oh. “Do you not want to meet my friend…?” you ask gingerly, reaching your hand out to it again. It looks up at you with watery eyes, and it nods.

That would be it, then… You understand, at least. It only just warmed up to you… It probably isn’t ready for even more people yet.

“I’ll still have to go see him before we leave, but… I could hide you. You’re so small, I think you’ll fit in here just fine.”

You move your bag to your lap, lifting a flap and unzipping the main compartment. You mostly used this space for battle items and spare clothes, but now that you’re finished with the league challenge, it’s pretty empty- just an jacket, and some healing items in case of emergency. With the Eevee’s already runt-like size and its scrawny statue, there’s more than enough room for it to hide in here with the flap closed. You hold it low and open so it can hop in at its own leisure.

The Eevee approaches slowly, still trembling. It steps up onto your knee, and peers into the bag… Slowly, it crawls inside- thankfully making a perfect fit, as with it laying down, only its ears stick out of the top. You watch it knead into your jacket that lines the bottom, before fully settling in, purring at the comfort and safety the perfectly-sized space provides.

“Gooood boy… Or girl,” you soothe, petting it behind the ears, before carefully laying the bag’s flap over top. Well hidden- not trapped- not suffocating. This’ll do just fine. As long as it stays quiet and still, it’ll be like nothing’s there… And you have a feeling that the smart critter won’t have any issues doing that.

Your new buddy secured, you rise to your feet, and walk back to where Blue is still knelt, tucking the bag partially behind you.

Your friend looks up, smiling curiously at you while you try to act natural.

“Welcome back, Miss Champion. Did you find what you were looking for?” he asks. “I thought I heard you talking to something.”

“Ah, I thought I did…” you sigh, mustering up the most convincing lie you can come up with. “Turns out it was just some other trainer’s Pidgey running amok, haha! It ended up right back where it belonged. All’s well that ends well!!”

“That so,” comes Blue’s unconvinced reply. “Cause you look like you got something else you wanna tell me.”

You bite your lip. Of course Blue of all people could spot a liar! You need to save this- for the sake of the trust of your new Pokemon!!!