Warrior Eevees #2: Pearl's Shadow

6- The Deserter

Silent stretched out his forelegs and batted at Pearl's frill, trying to make her back off.

"I feel fine now, really," he insisted.

After a few days of lucky fishing, he had seemed to regain most of his strength. Pearl, too, was healing from her fight with the Forest Tribe. She had even gone fishing several times in the last day. Now that Silent was feeling better and the pressure was off, and she was actually catching more.

Silent was still not allowed to leave the kitten's den, but his chest had cleared, and his nose had stopped running. Pearl doubted if he minded much, it was still bitterly cold outside.

Altogether, though, the hunger was easier to bear if one of Pearl's friends wasn't hovering on the brink of death. Now that he was declared "non-contagious" by Rapids, Pearl tried to make up for lost time visiting him.

"I have to get back to hunting," she declared ruefully. "But I'll come back to visit you later."

"All right," Silent murmured. "Hopefully I'll be able to start hunting again soon myself."

Pearl rose and shook herself, padding into the village to try to find Bubbles, who she had been assigned to hunt with. Instead, she was waylaid by Leap.

"I told Bubbles you can't hunt right now," Leap mumbled. "I need to talk to you."

"Oh- Okay," Pearl glanced around. The hunting patrol was, indeed, leaving without her. "Sure, what do you need to tell me?"

Leap glanced around. "Not here. Come on."

She led Pearl out across the frozen lake, which was dotted here and there with Vaporeon hunting in pairs. Floe was stalking something in the underbrush, her ridged Glaceon claws allowing her balance and precision no other Lake Tribe member could achieve in the winter. Crouch and Tumble had been taken by Reed for a lesson in hooking fish out of ice holes.

Despite the cold, the sun was out, turning Lake Tribe territory into a dazzling expanse of white brilliance. Pearl fluffed out her pelt against the chill and narrowed her eyes against the light.

Leap finally stopped in a clump of reeds out of sight of the other members of the Tribe. She took a deep breath and looked into Pearl's eyes.

"I've decided to leave the Lake Tribe," she announced.

Pearl gasped.

"What?" she stammered. "Why? Where will you go?"

"Because I'm miserable," Leap dug her claws into the frozen earth. "I'm cold and tired and I'm scared, Pearl, I'm scared, all the time."

"You don't have to be scared!" Pearl flared her frill, trying to defend her sister from some invisible enemy. "I- I'll never pick another fight with the Forest Tribe, I'll make sure you stay safe- And if you evolve, then you can always hide underwater, and-"

"You didn't do anything," Leap butted her head against Pearl's shoulder, which was about as high as she could reach. "It's not your fault. Pearl, it isn't."

She could say that, but Pearl still felt very much to blame. She stared at the nick the Forest Tribe had left in Leap's ear with a pit in her stomach.

Oh Arceus, I did fail her.

"I've been feeling this way for a long time now," Leap continued. "Ever since what... What happened in the Wildlands. And I can't stop thinking about how close they are, those Mightyena. And now, the thing with the Forest Tribe... It's not your fault, Pearl, but I don't like the way Hollyhock leads. And the time you almost got eaten by a Seaking. And the way the lake is frozen now. I used to feel like we would always have food, but now... Silent almost died."