Chapter 16

After a short period of mourning the exams had to proceed. Firedancer would have waited longer but there just wasn’t time to wait. Life moved on and the other eon packs would suffer if they were deprived of their leaders for too long. Everyone assembled outside on the banks of the river, the eevee separated from the regular members of the packs and the five leaders in a group standing between the pokémon and the gap in the mountains that led away from den.

“I hope I get an easy task,” Cream confided in Kitten.

“I think that’s what everyone is hoping,” replied Kitten, looking around at the other eevee surrounding them.

All the eevee were showing signs of nervousness, fidgeting, licking their lips and short bits of conversation about nothing in particular.

“I wonder where Bramble is,” stated Cream.

“Why?”

“No reason.”

“There’s Dark Growlithe,” Kitten offered, pointing out the black and orange dog amongst the eevee evolutions.

Cream tried to catch his eye but Dark Growlithe wasn’t looking at her.

“He’s not looking! Why not?” she asked worriedly.

“I don’t know. Maybe he’s just looking at something else?”

“Like what?”

“How am I supposed to know? Does it matter?”

“Yes!”

“Okay.”

“He’s supposed to watch me.”

“You’re not doing anything yet. He’ll watch when something happens.”

“Yeah... you’re right.”

“Attention!” barked Aquafang over the noise of conversation.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him.

“This is the start of each eevee’s individual examination,” began Steam. “Each individual will be given a set task, decided upon by all the pack leaders. When that task is completed then they will be allowed to join whichever eon pack they choose. During their exam they may stay with any pack they choose but no more than a year at a time. If they manage to evolve during the course of their task then they will be able to join the appropriate pack, but there is no obligation or need to finish their task if that happens. I would just like to finish off by wishing you all luck. No matter whether you receive a difficult or easy task I hope you will attempt it to the best of your abilities until you succeed.”

The pack leaders then took turns calling out each eevee from their pack and informing it of the task it was to complete to become a member of a pack of eons.

“Bramble,” said Steam.

Bramble hurried to out of the shrinking group of eevee to stand in front of his leader.

“Your task is to travel until you find the rare Tapaz flower that is rumoured to cure almost all illnesses.”

Bramble nodded determinedly and joined the growing group of eevee who had received their task.

The other pack leaders each called up one of their own and then it was Steam’s turn again.

“Cream.”

Cream swallowed, took a deep breath and walked forward.

“Good luck,” whispered Kitten.

“Cream, you will head to the east. There you will find an old Jolteon who lives alone; you will have to beat him before he will tell you a password. Come back and then tell me the password. That is your task.”

Cream showed she understood before joining Bramble. After the next group of eevee was Kitten, her task was to hunt for any pack she chose and to catch at least one prey per day for two weeks. After all the eevee had been given their tasks then Steam gave a speech about trying their hardest and strengthening the bonds between their allied packs.

*****

“What do you think of your task?” Cream asked Kitten.

“It’s okay. I think I’ll spend some time just getting experience before I actually try to accomplish it. And you?”

“I’m hoping that jolteon’s too old to battle properly.”

“He’ll probably be tough, all the battle experience he must have,” mused Kitten.

“And it will be my first time away from the pack.”

“But you still have to get there. I’m sure on the way you’ll gain some experience, some of it in battles.”

“I sure hope so. Do you know which pack you’ll go to for your task?”

“The jolteon pack.”

“Why? You could stay here.”

“I want to become a jolteon so I think it’s only natural to learn to catch prey in their territory.”

“And when will you leave?”

“Tomorrow, with the rest of the pack.”

“So tonight’s our last night together. After this we’ll be on our own,” realised Cream sadly.

“Don’t get so depressed. We can still see to each other every now and then.”

“I suppose. I guess I should travel tomorrow too, not too much point in waiting here for ever.”

“What about Dark Growlithe?” asked Kitten, “What will he think about you leaving so suddenly?”

Cream looked startled, “You’re right!”

“I don’t think he’ll be happy if you leave just after you’ve got your task. You should wait a bit, talk about it. Here he comes now.”

Dark Growlithe had finished congratulating and talking to Bramble and was now making his way over to Cream and Kitten.

“Sorry I took a while,” he apologised, “I thought I should see Bramble before coming to you two. So, well done. You two now have your tasks all you have to do is complete them and you’ll pass your exam.”

“Thanks,” said Kitten, “I’m going to leave tomorrow so I’m going to go say goodbye to everyone.”

Kitten then left Cream and Dark Growlithe alone.

“What do you think?” asked Dark Growlithe, “Do you think you can do it easily?”

“I guess it’ll be okay.”

“I suppose you’re going to be leaving some time too.”

“Yeah, I suppose.”

“When?”

“I don’t know. I thought maybe tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow’s fine.”

“Huh?”

“I’m not exactly doing anything right now,” said Dark Growlithe, “I’m sure Steam wouldn’t mind me going with you.”

“You’d do that… for me?”

“I can’t just let you go alone into the unknown. What if you have an accident? It’ll be much safer if I went with. And of course I don’t want to be separated from you.”

Cream was speechless; Dark Growlithe was going to come with her! He was going to travel with her into an unknown world.

“Thank you,” she finally choked out, she wasn’t going to be going this alone after all.

*****

The next day after Kitten and the other packs left Dark Growlithe and Cream went to see Steam. When they entered his cave they found him lying on his back on a smooth rock that was half submerged under water.

“Uh, Steam?” said Dark Growlithe softly, seeing his eyes were closed.

One eye opened and looked at them, the Steam sighed and the vaporeon rolled over, disappearing under water for a moment before jumping out onto dry land.

“Isn’t this just typical? First chance I have in ages to relax and it gets disturbed.”

“We’re sorry,” apologised Cream.

“I wanted to ask you something,” explained Dark Growlithe.

“I bet I know what it is but ask away.”

“Well since I don’t have a class any more I wanted to know whether I may go with Cream on her task. But I won’t help her, she’ll still do it all by herself.”

“I didn’t think you’d do it for her, I trust you and I don’t see a good enough reason to keep you here.”

“So I can go?”

“Yes. Protect Cream and I suppose you’ll probably want to join whatever pack she joins?”

Both pokémon nodded agreement.

“Then I’ll probably need to talk the leader of that pack, but we’ll worry about that later.”

“Thank you,” said both Cream and Dark Growlithe as they walked to the door.

“Good luck and have fun. This is your opportunity to travel freely, you don’t have that in a pack.”

*****

Cream and Dark Growlithe said their goodbyes and left that afternoon, they didn’t see any need to wait. As they entered the forest they turned and made a path that headed east. They had travelled a fair distance before there was a flutter of wings and a pair of pidgey landed on a branch behind them.

“Dark Growlithe!” chirped one of them, “We’ve been looking for you.”

“What is it?” he asked.

“We thought you would be interested to know about that rogue eevee that killed the forest pokémon.”

“You found Bandit! Did you kill him?”

“We found him but he’s still alive.”

“Why?” asked Cream, shocking Dark Growlithe, “You said you’d kill him for what he did to those innocent pokémon!”

“We tried,” replied the second pidgey. “Some of us died trying.”

“He managed to beat the whole flock?” asked Dark Growlithe, he was sure Bandit wasn’t that strong.

“No. Bandit travelled to the west, staying close against the mountain. I don’t know if you two have ever been up that way.”

Cream shook her head.

“Well the forest eventually ends and opens up onto a flat plain still next to the mountain. Those plains are ruled by a Ninetales and she’s taken your eevee into her pack. We weren’t able to get to him then.”

Dark Growlithe’s eyes widened in shock. Ninetales! What if Bandit helped her hunt him down? Bandit knew where the pack was. No, Ninetales couldn’t hope to beat the vaporeon; she was at a type disadvantage. But he was still in danger. Then again, she hadn’t found him after weeks, months; maybe she’d have given up. Dark Growlithe hoped so, if not both he and Cream would be in danger. Their only chance was to get as far away as quickly as possible. None of the eon packs would help Bandit nor would they remember Cream’s task and tell any of Ninetales’ pack, as it was only Steam’s pack knew he had gone with her.

“What is it?” asked Cream, seeing Dark Growlithe’s sudden distress.

“Uh, I’ll tell you later,” he muttered before turning back to the two pidgey, “Thank you. You’d better tell Steam as well, the leader of the vaporeon pack. He should know.”

“We’ve already sent a message there. We heard you’re on some sort of mission or something. Good luck.”

“Thank you,” replied both Cream and Dark Growlithe.

The two pidgey then took off and flew back to their flock, a loose feather falling out of the pidgey’s wings and floating gently to the ground.

“Why were you so shocked back there?” asked Cream after they’d walked a couple of minutes in silence.

Dark Growlithe took a deep breath and sighed.

“You don’t know how I came to be part of your pack do you?” he asked.

“Sure, some of the vaporeon were hunting in the river and found you. You were alive and they waited until you woke up and then Steam let you join our pack.”

“That’s true but you don’t know what happened before that because I never talked about it.”

“No one told us anything about your past.”

“You should at least know, just don’t tell anyone. It isn’t a good past.”

“I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

“I don’t know who my parents are, obviously my mother was a growlithe or an arcanine and my father was some kind of dark pokémon, because they died before I can remember. Then I was found by Ninetales.”

“The same one Bandit’s with?” asked Cream.

“The same one. She took me in and raised me, treating me specially. In her pack the females had all the power; I was the only male who wasn’t bullied by the Vulpix Squad, her own little group of pokémon that enforced her rules, because I was her favourite, practically second in command. I was stronger than most of the pokémon, and she’d occasionally make me kill a pokémon that disagreed with her.”

“That’s horrible!” exclaimed Cream, “Why’d you listen?”

“I didn’t know anything else... Ninetales raised me since I was tiny, all the time brainwashing me and moulding my views the way she wanted. I eventually began to doubt when one Vulpix rather jumped to her death rather than let me kill her. Then I started to see the pack slightly differently. After that Ninetales told me to be her mate, I refused and she got angry and told me I didn’t have a choice. That’s when I left. She sent pokémon to retrieve me but I had decided not to return. I jumped into the river, fully expecting to die but I survived. You know the rest.”

Cream couldn’t think of anything to say. Nothing she could say would help heal him after what he’d gone through, his whole life had crashed down around him and he’d chosen death only to survive. But his life had changed for the better but she knew the horror was still there, even more so because he’d killed the pokémon for no good reason … just like Bandit. Only he’d turned his life around.

“I’m so sorry,” said Cream, her eyes beginning to tear, “I never knew what you’d gone through and now she was mentioned again. I can’t imagine how you’re feeling but you do know that I’m here for you. Whenever you need me, just ask.”

“I know,” said Dark Growlithe quietly.

They’d stopped walking and just stood silently together consumed by their thoughts and memories and pain.

Bandit's story (Song chapter to ‘The Forest Whispers my Name’ by Cradle of Filth)

Black candles dance to an overture

But I am drawn past from their flickering lure

To the breathing forest that surrounds the room

Where the vigilant trees push out of the womb

Bandit knew he wasn’t going to be able to outrun Dark Growlithe, so instead he led Dark Growlithe to his trap. Underneath a cover of leaves Bandit had dug a hole and filled it with sharpened branches. A stake pit! If he was ever unable to beat an enemy he was planning to lead them over the pit. The cover branches could take his weight but anything much heavier would break them. Dark Growlithe was much heavier. Bandit ran over the trap, feeling the branches under his paws shake, hoping that running wouldn’t be enough to break them. Soon he felt the shaky branches change into firm earth, he was safely over the trap.

I sip the blood-red wine

My thoughts weigh heavy with the burden of time

From knowledge drunk from the fountain of life

From chaos born out of love and the scythe

The forest beckons with her nocturnal call

To pull me close amid the baying of wolves

Where the bindings of Christ are down-trodden with scorn

In the dank, odoriferous earth

Behind him he heard the branches crack. Dark Growlithe had fallen, he was about to allow himself the pleasure of seeing the dog die but a powerful fireblast hit the ground just behind him. The explosion catapulted him into the air and flung him through some branches in front of him. His small body crashed into the wooden structures and they snapped into sharp pointed weapons that cut and tore his flesh. He cried out in pain as he somersaulted through the forest’s revenge and, as he was upside-down, and looking behind him he saw Dark Growlithe suspended by an espeon’s psychic power. He swore to himself before he crashed to the earth and forced himself to run again.

We embrace like two lovers at death

A monument to the trapping of breath

As restriction is bled from the veins of my neck

To drop roses on my marbled breast

I lust for the wind and the flurry of leaves

And the perfume of flesh on the murderous breeze

To learn from the dark and the voices between

Bandit struggled through the undergrowth of the forest, panting heavily. His body was burning in pain. Luckily for him he hadn’t broken anything but the branches had cut him badly and his own fresh blood oozed out of his wounds and mixed with Dawn’s congealing blood in his matted fur. He knew there was dirt in his cuts, he was in bad shape and there was no one to tend to his injuries. He almost regretted what he’d done, but no! He was right, the pack hadn’t appreciated his talents and now they were suffering. True he was injured but he would recover, wounds of the body heal, the wounds he left in the packs' hearts would remain forever. He paused to clean his wounds. His small pink tongue lifting dirt out of the cuts he could reach and he spat it away. He smoothed his fur out and licked his own blood out of it. He enjoyed the taste of his own flesh when he cleaned himself and he wondered why. He could almost feel a desire to tear a chunk of his own flesh off and feast on it. He pushed the thought out of his mind but he couldn’t deny that he was hungry, starving even, he hadn’t had breakfast and he’d had a stressful last two days. Bandit climbed to his feet, his muscles aching. Even after only a small break his body had become stiff, that couldn’t be a good sign.

This is my will...

The forest whispers my name...again and again

The forest whispers my name

‘I wonder if it could have been different,’ Bandit thought to himself, ‘If they’d loved me... If someone, just one person had cared. Maybe I’d still be there, maybe I’d… No! I don’t need anyone! They aren’t worth my time!’

But still he wondered. Maybe it was the blood loss; it was messing with his head.

‘Where am I going? I’m lost. Stupid.’

Bandit pressed on, not allowing his body a rest; he was worried he wouldn’t make it if he stopped. He hadn’t stopped bleeding and was feeling weak. He let the thick, red liquid stain his fur freely, he couldn’t stand the taste any more, it now made him feel sick. He wanted a drink of water. But where? The river was hidden in the mountains and he had no strength to climb through the mountains.

‘This is it,’ decided Bandit with finality as he collapsed onto the ground, ‘I can’t go on. It’s over.’

He rubbed his face against the soil he lay on, it was the only thing left for him. When he died his body would decay and be covered by the soil. He closed his eyes; it was too much effort to keep them open.

“You’ve spread enough rumours, trash! It’s time you died!”

“That’s right just kill me! You can’t keep this up, if you kill your own pack you’ll only kill yourself!”

“Shut up! I can’t stand your voice!”

‘Voices? Who’s there? Maybe … maybe …’

I walk the path

To the land of the dark immortals

Where the hungry ones will carry my soul

As the wild hunt careers through the boughs

Bandit decided to try to live again. If he could, he would take life over death any time. Groaning, he pulled himself up to hear the painful cry of a dying pokémon. He knew the cry well. How many pokémon had in the last few weeks made that same final cry between his jaws? He staggered in the direction of the voices. After passing through a bush he came upon the victim he’d heard, a dead male vulpix. As he passed he tore two mouthfuls of flesh, gaining a little strength from the life it gave him.

Come to me, my pale enchantress

In the moon of the woods we kiss

“Is he dead?” came a voice in front of Bandit.

“Yes, Queen Ninetales.”

“Good. Who’s there?”

Ninetales had heard Bandit and he stumbled through a bush, almost blindly.

“It’s an eevee,” observed a female vulpix, there were three with Ninetales.

“I can see that, idiot.”

“Sorry.”

“What do you want, eevee?”

“Heal … me,” begged Bandit, tripping over his feet as he moved closer to her.

Artemis be near me

In the arms of the ancient oak

Where daylight hangs by a lunar noose

And the horned, hidden one is re-invoked

“Why?”

“I can… help you.”

“You look half-dead,” commented Ninetales, “You can’t help anyone.”

“I’m stronger than I look now,” growled Bandit weakly, “I’m … not weak.”

“Who burned you, eevee?” demanded a vulpix with blood on her muzzle, “There are no fire pokémon in the forest.”

“Dark … Growlithe. Almost killed … him.”

“Dark Growlithe!” exclaimed Ninetales, a hungry gleam entering her eyes, “So he’s still alive.”

“He’s alive.”

“Where?”

Dark faerytales in phallustine

Symbols and signs to know us by

“Heal me...”

Ninetales glared at him, Bandit glared back and the three vulpix looked to Ninetales for any command.

“Very well,” agreed Ninetales.

She indicated two vulpix with her head, “Carry him to my den. If he dies, so do you.”

The two vulpix immediately went forward and gently helped Bandit, their survival depended on his. Ninetales turned and went home, smiling. Things were falling into place. Soon Dark Growlithe would be hers again. This time she would make sure he didn't leave.

The principle of evil

Evolution has been recalled

Beneath the spread of a magickal aeon

I stand enthralled

...in the whispering forest