Chaser and the Rising Mountain

Chaser and Debts

 He could feel the sweat beading against his forehead. Indeed, even his palms felt slick. But he required absolute precision in his movements and actions as he snipped some of the silver fur away with his grooming shears. This was a delicate operation, where one errant twitch could end up harming the subject.

Thankfully, the subject in question was doing an incredible job of standing still.

His fur was a glossy, bright silver, and his eyes were a subdued gray. They both had a certain sparkle of light and life to them as the boy, Goh, continued to trim his fur.

It had only been about six days since the incident that caused this creature to come into Goh's care, and even in that time he was showing remarkable improvements, having come from a place where he was greatly neglected. Goh rescued him from that situation, but not without entwining this creature, Argent, into his own troubles. But after everything was resolved, Argent agreed to join up with Goh and come under his care, entering a red-and-white capsule called a Poké Ball.

Poké Balls were miracles of technology, able to transform creatures from their solid, flesh-and-blood selves into light and energy, enabling them to be contained, carried, and easily cared for. A single Poké Ball could easily fit into one's pocket. And thus, the beings that originally were called magical creatures centuries ago would end up becoming known as Pocket Monsters, though they were usually called Pokémon for short.

Even the modern Poké Ball was a fairly modern invention, being completely made of metal and plastics with a computerized circuit in place for security and transportation purposes. Older Poké Balls were made of wood and stone, and some even expelled steam!

Goh's research into the subject of Poké Balls busied his mind while his hands focused on the task of trimming Argent's overly long hair. Sitting not too far from where Argent the Silver Eevee sat was a brown Eevee. While Argent's rigid and rough tail pattern indicated that he was a male, this brown Eevee's tail had a swooping curved pattern, indicating that she was a female. And though their differences in color and gender may have caused them to be separate, the other Eevee sat perfectly still, mimicking Argent's every movement from the twitch of his ears to the movements of his tail. Even when Goh had to turn Argent's head to reach a certain part of his fur, this Eevee turned her head in the same way.

She was an incredible mimic. Even the Mr. Mime that lived and worked in the lab would have trouble with all the subtleties of her performance.

But more than anything, this female Eevee made an excellent model for Goh to see exactly how to trim Argent's fur. While Argent came from a neglectful home, she was the very image of health and being well cared for. It made sense that she would look exactly like the image of an Eevee in the Pokédex. The girl, a close friend of Goh's from their shared childhood, made sure that her Pokémon was well taken care of.

He gently twisted Argent's head from side to side and picked up a brush to help remove some loose hair from his Pokémon's body. "And... there," he said, giving the tail one more long brush. "I think we're done!"

"Eiebui?" Argent asked, tilting his head.

"Eievui?" the girl's Eevee said back.

Approaching from the side were two more of Goh's Pokémon that had taken a shine to Argent. The first was his always friendly, doting Raichu, carrying a few sweet berries in her arms and tail to give to Argent as a treat for sitting so calmly while Goh brandished the scissors. Argent and Eevee immediately approached her as she set the berries down, and they both partook of the sweet, juicy fruits. Raichu smiled at the sight, wagging her own tail with a cry of "Rai, raichu!"

The other Pokémon that approached was Goh's Voltorb. Much like how Argent's colors were silver instead of standard Eevee brown, Voltorb was a striking cobalt blue instead of the standard crimson red. The two Pokémon had struck up a camaraderie over this common uncommonality, watching out for other Pokémon at the park who may prey upon those who were different.