Chapter 9

Dark Growlithe stirred and opened his eyes. He looked around and saw that he was still in the healing cave. He couldn’t hear or see anyone and slowly got up. His whole body was stiff and felt very heavy. His leg was bandaged and it hurt when he tried to walk on it. Limping on three legs Dark Growlithe left the healing cave and decided to find out how long he had been asleep and what had happened.

*****

Steam was going back to his cave for a nap after lunch when he saw Dark Growlithe limping down a passage in front of him.

“Dark Growlithe!” he called, running up to the fire pokémon, “What are you doing up? You’re supposed to be resting.”

“I woke up and no one was around, so I came to find someone.”

“You’re injured. I’m taking you back so you can rest more. I’ll make sure Vaporeon comes to see you now. Are you hungry?”

“Yeah. How long was I asleep?”

“About a day. You lost a lot of blood but Vaporeon managed to give you a substitute.”

Dark Growlithe was led back to the healing cave by Steam and put into bed.

“Now stay here. I’ll send Vaporeon and some food.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t worry. Vaporeon-sensei also wants to speak to you. He’ll come after he’s finished teaching.”

*****

After Dark Growlithe had eaten, Vaporeon gave him a full check-up.

“You heal surprisingly quickly, Dark Growlithe,” she commented, “You should be able to walk around in a day or two. But don’t do anything strenuous, okay?”

“Okay. Thanks for everything.”

“It’s a pleasure. It’s actually fun to have to treat a different pokémon every now and then, breaks the monotony.”

“You think I’m only a fun distraction?”

Vaporeon laughed, “No. I’m just as concerned about you as about everyone else, you’re just different.”

“How are the eevee that were with me?”

“They’re fine. They seem concerned about you, well all except Bandit.”

“He’s probably happy about this. You think he could have done it on purpose?”

“I have no idea what goes on in his twisted little mind. If I were you I’d keep an eye on him.”

“I figured that out already.”

*****

Two days later, when Vaporeon released Dark Growlithe from her care, he went to see how the eevee were. Everyone was assembled in a group in front of Vaporeon-sensei and the other vaporeon.

“It’s good to see you’re better,” said Vaporeon-sensei, “and you’ve got good timing to come here now.”

“I do?”

“Yes. You know I told you about the evolution exams the eevee have to complete?”

“Yes.”

“Well, yesterday I got a message saying that the exams will be in about five weeks. To help the eevee the most I’ve decided that they need personal attention. Obviously this is impossible in this group so Vaporeon has agreed to train the eevee he took hunting. You will also train the eevee you took hunting and I’ll do the rest.”

“Okay, but I can’t do that much for a few days.”

“I know, but you can still advise them and set tasks. If you need help just ask me. Alright, everyone go to your teacher and behave.”

With the last comment Vaporeon-sensei glared at Bandit who acted completely unfazed as he walked up to Dark Growlithe with his other three teammates. Dark Growlithe then led the group to the shade of a large tree.

“Are you alright?” asked Bramble, voicing everyone, except Bandit’s, concern.

“I’m alright enough. I just mustn’t do anything too difficult,” answered Dark Growlithe. “So today we’re going to practise hiding ourselves, at least you four will. I’ll watch and tell you what you need to work on. I’m going to away for a few minutes and when I return I want you all to be hidden around here. Just don’t go past that tree or that rock.”

Dark Growlithe then left the four eevee so that they could hide.

A short while later, Dark Growlithe came back to the spot where he had told the eevee to hide and looked around. He could almost immediately spot Cream and Bramble who were both hidden in bushes, Kitten, hiding in a small cave, was harder to spot but he saw her next and lastly Bandit who was extremely well-hidden amongst a pile of rocks.

“Cream, your ears are poking out above the leaves,” criticised Dark Growlithe, “and you moved the leaves too much when you went into the bush. Your path is pretty obvious.”

Creams ears drooped down and she crawled out the bush, dragging her feet sadly.

“Bramble, if you weren’t trying so hard to see what was going on outside you’d be much harder to spot. All your moving is pretty obvious. Stay still and wait for something to move into your line of sight. You can listen for anything that might come for you without alerting them to your presence.”

Bramble sighed and came out to join Cream.

“I thought I was hidden well,” complained Bramble to Cream.

“At least you didn’t have your ears sticking out the top or something.”

“Kitten, the only mistake you made was not getting dirty.”

“What?” asked Kitten, thoroughly confused, “Not getting dirty?”

“You’re trying to hide in a shadow, which is a good idea, but not when your coat is light. An umbreon could do it but you can’t unless you cover yourself with mud or sand, like Bandit.”

Kitten came out and looked around, “Where is Bandit?”

“In the rocks there,” indicated Dark Growlithe, “You can come out now, Bandit. You hid very well. If I hadn’t known you were around I might not have found you.”

“That’s because of the difference in our skill levels,” stated Bandit smugly as he came out of the rocks, his coat covered in dust which made him the same colour as the rocks he had hidden amongst.

Dark Growlithe ignored Bandit’s comment although a flicker of irritation showed on his face.

“Let’s move to another place and we’ll try this again. Don’t forget what I pointed out this time. I don’t want you making the same mistakes a second time.”

“Of course that doesn’t apply to those of us that didn’t make mistakes,” said Bandit, “Oh wait, only I didn’t make mistakes. The rest of you messed up.”

“Bandit!” barked Dark Growlithe, “Stop insulting the others. You aren’t that much stronger than them.”

Bandit snorted and glared.

*****

Dark Growlithe made the four eevee practice hiding all day and they constantly improved until even Cream and Bramble were taking a long time to be found. At the end of the day Vaporeon-sensei came to tell them to stop and ask Dark Growlithe how the lesson went. Dark Growlithe explained what they’d done and dismissed the eevee. The whole pack had supper and then went to bed. Dark Growlithe now had to worry about where to sleep. For his first two nights he’d slept with Steam and the last three he’d been in “hospital”, but now he needed to sleep with the rest of the pack. Families and groups of friends would all sleep together in a single cave but Dark Growlithe didn’t know where he should go and began wandering around aimlessly. In one room he went through he saw two pairs of vaporeon on one side and on the other side were Cream and Kitten. The two were talking to each other quietly but stopped when Dark Growlithe entered the room.

“Hi,” greeted Cream and Kitten

“Hi,” replied Dark Growlithe.

He was about to continue on when Kitten called him.

“Hey, do you have somewhere to sleep?”

“No, I was looking for a place.”

“Why not sleep with us?”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, it’ll be fine.”

“Okay.”

Dark Growlithe joined Kitten and Cream and curled up next to the two eevee. Kitten pushed Cream up against Dark Growlithe’s back and then lay next to her and the three went to sleep.

*****

The next day Dark Growlithe decided to try a simulated hunt in the forest just outside the pack’s territory.

“Bramble, you’ll be the prey.”

“Why me?” whined Bramble, “I don’t want to be the prey.”

“Because I said you’re being prey. Someone else will be next time. You stay here and wait until the others come to catch you.”

“Then what?”

“Then you’ll try to run back home. I want everyone to be careful. No one must get hurt, do you understand?”

“Yes,” chorused the eevee.

“Good. Bramble, wait, the rest of you, come with me.”

Dark Growlithe then walked away with the other three eevee, leaving Bramble standing all alone in the forest. A short while later he heard Dark Growlithe shout.

“Go!”

Bandit, Kitten and Cream ran out from the bushes behind him and began to split up to encircle him. Bramble immediately began to run back home, twisting and turning to try and avoid his pursuers. Dark Growlithe followed a short way behind, not able to run at full speed because of his injury but still fast enough to keep up with the eevee.

“Kitten, don’t let him fall back!” commanded Bandit, “Cream, move forward on your side and help me cut him off.”

“Right,” called back Cream as she increased her speed and began a wide turn to cut off Bramble while Bandit did the same on his side. Bramble decided he would have a better chance of escaping Cream than Bandit and turned to her side to escape Bandit’s pincer manoeuvre.

“Get him Cream!” shouted Bandit.

Cream lunged for Bramble but tripped on a small rock she had overlooked and crashed into the ground. Bramble jumped over Cream and fled to the safety of the caves.

“You idiot!” screamed Bandit, “Don’t you ever look where you’re going? I can’t believe you couldn’t stop him! If the pack depended on you for food we’d all starve! You can’t do anything right!”

“Stop it, Bandit!” commanded Dark Growlithe; “I’ll make the comments.”

“Yeah,” agreed Kitten, “So leave her alone.”

“But he does have a point, Cream.”

“But-”

“No, you should have been watching where you were going. You need to be aware of surroundings.”

“I just wasn’t concentrating.”

“You have to. What if you were hunting a pidgey and were so focused on it you didn’t notice it was flying off a cliff, fell off and killed yourself.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” protested Cream quietly.

“It was an example. When you were hiding you still didn’t pay attention to your surroundings and the result was your ears stuck up.”

“I think she knows her mistake,” stated Kitten, seeing Cream was about to cry.

“She needs to listen,” said Dark Growlithe, “This is important. You also didn’t see your surroundings when you were hunting the rattata and that’s why it escaped.”

“And that’s why it’s your fault Dark Growlithe got injured,” added Bandit.

“That was your fault! Don’t blame Cream!”

But it was too late, Cream ran off, tears streaming out the corners of her eyes and sparkling as they flew behind her. Dark Growlithe shot Bandit a dark look but the disobedient eevee just smiled back at him.

“Nice going!” shouted Kitten at Dark Growlithe, standing right in front of him.

“What?” asked Dark Growlithe, backing away.

“Are you totally insensitive? How could you do that to her?”

“Do what?”

“Criticise her like that! You probably crushed her spirit!”

“I was just-”

“Did you know she actually liked you? Now you go and help Bandit point out all her weaknesses! I hope she hates you! Jerk!”

Kitten then ran after Cream leaving Dark Growlithe totally confused.

“Nice going,” commented Bandit as he walked past Dark Growlithe and back home.