Arcane Explorers: An Eeveelution Story

Chapter VIII

[Lipo POV]

I slowly began to wake up. I felt the cold stone floor of the cave beneath me. However, there was a different feeling, one that I didn't recognize. I could feel something warm wrapped around my front right leg. I opened my eyes, and that's when I found out what I was feeling. Two blue paws, each connected to a white leg, were wrapped around my leg. I looked towards the owner of the paws and recognized her almost instantly. It was the Glaceon I'd helped just the day before. 'But what is she doing here…?'

I looked over the Glaceon. She seemed to be in good health and was very much asleep. 'Come to think of it, she's actually kinda cute when she sleeps… hold on, what?' I now had a choice to make. Do I move my paw and risk waking her up, or do I just wait for her to wake up? I chose the latter. I wouldn't be waiting long, however.

Just a few minutes later, the Glaceon began to wake up. She yawned and opened her eyes. It was at this point that she realized that I was there. "Mornin. Sleep well?" She flinched slightly before shyly nodding. I then ever so slightly moved my paw. She quickly looked down at our paws, and I could see her face heat up a bit. "A-ah…" She quickly pulled her paws away and looked at me. I chuckled.

"So, you never told me your name. You mind telling me now?" She looked towards the stone floor for a few seconds. "... A-Aconi…" That's not a name I've ever heard before. Although that's probably because the only names I remembered were my parents' names and some names of characters from books I'd read. "That's a nice name. I'm Lipo." She glanced back up at me for a moment. I noticed that her face still had a light tint of red.

Distant pawsteps soon caught our attention. We both turned to face the entrance of the cave. Within a few more moments, a familiar mon came into view. Anion walked up to the cave entrance. "Mornin, seems like you two made it through the night. I brought some oran berries from a friend of mine." He walked a bit closer but stopped and laid down a few feet away. He took off a small bag he was wearing and tossed it to me. "Catch." I caught it and set it down on the ground.

I opened it up, and sure enough, there were oran berries inside. I pawed some to Aconi, and I took out 3. "Thank you Anion…" I was still nervous around him, though not as much as I had been when we met. "No problem." Aconi and I ate our berries. "U-um, m-mister Anion…?" Anion looked at Aconi. "What is it Glace?" Aconi was nervous, but she seemed curious about something. "W-what’s that m-mark on your face…?" She was talking about the strange orange jagged stripe on the left side of Anion's face. "Oh… that. It's a mark that my ancestors have passed down through the generations. I wish I didn't have it."

He'd piqued my interest now. "What’s bad about it…?" He was now looking at me. "Well… it's not something I'd like to talk about… but… Let's just say that one of my ancestors was a bastard of incredible proportions, and that's passed down through the family since. It's only now ended with me." Interesting. Aconi perked up. "S-sorry for b-bringing it u-up…" Anion shook his head. "Don't worry about it, I can't say I blame you for being curious. Anyway, are you two headed somewhere in particular?" Aconi and I shook our heads. "Huh, alright. The two closest towns would probably be Evesight or Vioclear. Evesight is in the Espeon province. It's probably the closest town. There is a settlement near here... No, I shouldn't take you two there."

I was now curious as to why he didn't say anything about the settlement. I didn’t ask about it, though. Anion stood up. “Tell ya what. There’s a map somewhere in that bag with different routes on it. I’ll let you two decide where you want to go. Anyway, I’ve got to head out. Someone’s waiting for me. Stay safe out there.” We nodded as he turned and walked out of the cave, heading deep into the forest.

I looked towards Aconi, who seemed to be very nervous about something. "Hey, are you alright?" She slightly shook her head. "What’s wrong?" She looked at me. "M-my brother… h-he's looking for me… I… ran a-away from home…" Aconi? Ran away from home? What could've caused that? "Oh… would you like me to help you find your brother?" She hesitated for a moment. "... I-i… no… not yet…" That was a surprise. The Glaceon looked away.

I just stayed quiet. "... I-i need some time away from h-him… he f-forces his views and thoughts on me…" I placed one of my paws on one of Aconi’s paws. She quickly looked up at me, and we locked eyes. "I-i… I'm sorry that's been happening… I'm sure t-things will get better, I'm here for you if you need anything." We didn't break eye contact as she slowly nodded, a hint of red returning on her face. "... T-thank you…" I nodded.

I looked out towards the entrance of the cave, as did Aconi. The leaves on the trees were varying shades of red and orange, making for a quite beautiful scene. I glanced back at Aconi, who seemed to be watching a couple of the leaves that were falling from the trees. We continued looking out into the woods for a few minutes, and I suddenly realized something. I was still holding Aconi's paw.

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A/N

Hey, I finally got chapter 8 done! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and I hope you all liked it as well! There might be a decent delay (like a week or so maybe) between now and chapter 9, since I'm currently doing some work on my rc trucks. From those that are curious, I've been working on getting my Axial SCX10 III back up and running properly, and I'm also working on getting a set of Traxxas TRX4 portal axles swapped onto an original SCX10 I that I've got. The parts won't be here for a while, so I've at least got time to start. Anyway, nerdy stuff over. I hope y'all enjoyed, and as always, leave a comment if you have any fun ideas for future chapters!

-Volt

(10/25/23, 23:27, -5 GMT)