Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Trial of Life

Part 9: The Next Morning

Eevee couldn't sleep after what happened.
He was petrified by spiders, and he had just seen some larger than him.
It was a justified feeling in his head.

Whenever any sort of rustle of the faraway leaves echoed through the quiet night air, Eevee would flinch.
The only thing keeping him from completely losing himself in his fears was Poochyena.
Their soft snoring always seemed to calm him down.

Slowly the night melted away, sunrise replacing the star filled sky with warm colors.
Poochyena shuffles a little and makes a quiet, unintelligible noise.
They slowly get out their paws, still holding Eevee underneath them.

"Good morning." Eevee tells them.
They make another noise, but one that seems to be appreciative.
Their tail begins wagging slowly and Eevee can't help but smile.

They playfully roll over, letting Eevee squish into their fluffy chest.
His smile only grows as he feels Poochyena's paws try to wrap around him.
Both of them let out a sound, almost like a purr, surprising Eevee.

Poochyena smirks and relaxes underneath the brown fox-like Pokémon.
Eevee uses this moment to carefully cut the webs holding them together.
He rolls off their stomach and lands on their paws.

Eevee turns to Poochyena and smiles.
They smile back and get to their paws as well.
"Last day was fun!" They say, walking in front of Eevee.

He shivers, remembering all of the spiders.
Poochyena notices this and immediately nuzzles their head against Eevee's.
This calms him down considerably.

"Are you... not like last night?" Poochyena asks the scared Pokémon.
Eevee just nods in response.
They wrap their fluffy yet sleek tail around him and nuzzle closer.

"Thank you..." Eevee smiles slightly.
Poochyena purrs again and looks over at him.
"You not like spider?" They guess, and Eevee confirms their guess with a nod.

"I'm... terrified of spiders." The brown Pokémon admits.
"I'm sorry." The gray wolf replies.
"It's not your fault." Eevee quickly tells Poochyena.

"I know, but I feel bad."
"You didn't make the spiders."
"I made noise, which caused them to attack."

"That was just a simple mistake. You also only did that to try to protect us."
"By growling?"
"I'm sure you were trying to intimate them, right?"

"I do not know. It was ins- itn- itsn-"
"Instinct?"
"Yeah. I do that, not thinking."

Poochyena looks away sadly.
Eevee places a paw on their back.
"It's alright. We make mistakes. We learn."

"And... to be completely honest... I really don't judge you for that Poochyena. I can't blame you for being brave. Without how you acted... we could have been... left in the dust. Left to the mercy of the spiders."
A short pause just lets the silent plains around them to really sink in, trees from the jungle still being cast in shadow, and tiny spots on the horizon signal a forest in the direction of the rising sun.
"You also saved my life." Eevee adds.

Slowly, Poochyena's frown transforms into a slight smile.
"I did." They think out loud.
"You did." Eevee rests his head on their shoulder, comfortingly.

Both of them stare into the distance, the sunlight warming their fur.
"You two still talking?" Growlithe's voice interrupts their silent moment.
They both turn, watching as Flaaffy and Growlithe come walking out of the jungle.

"Why did you go back?" Poochyena asks.
"We forgot the bag." Flaaffy responds.
Eevee grimaces, realizing he should've tried to point out or even grab the bag before running away.

"Next time, let's just camp out somewhere safe." Growlithe says, clearly annoyed.
"We thought it safe." Poochyena quietly adds, which causes the orange lion-like Pokémon to glare at them, angrily.
"Parley. Give them a break." Flaaffy tells Growlithe.

Poochyena tilts their head at her remark.
"Parley?" They say.
Growlithe sighs and walks up to them.

"That's my name. Well, human name."
"Oh. Human name."
"...you really don't seem surprised that I used to be human."

"Stories always say about human. Lots of Pokémon have been human."
"Humans have been transformed into Pokémon!? Like regularly!?"
"Yes. Unless they are not real."

"So, there's only stories of humans being turned into Pokémon?"
"No one can prove it."
"Well we were human, Claire and I."

Flaaffy nods.
Poochyena turns to her, slowly understanding whose name is which.
"Can... I have human name?" Poochyena asks.

Growlithe looks at them, both humored and confused by their request.
Flaaffy smiles warmly at their weird yet heartwarming question.
Eevee slowly begins thinking about different names for them.

"Justin." Growlithe suggests.
"Dandelion." Flaaffy adds.
"...Honeycrisp." Eevee quietly says his input.

Poochyena looks at the three of them.
"How about... Dusk." They respond.
The three of them consider this name for a few moments.

"I think it sounds cute!" Flaaffy eventually says.
Growlithe slowly nods in agreement, but still looks a little annoyed that they didn't choose his suggestion.
"It fits you nicely." Eevee compliments.

"Thank you." Poochyena smiles.
Growlithe sighs and walks to their side.
"Why did you decide Dusk of all names? Or words because that isn't really a human name." He half asks, half comments.

"Old rescue team said 'dusk' was their favorite time. I think about that now." Poochyena explains.
"That's... adorable!" Flaaffy smiles as she runs to the other side of the newly named Pokémon.
"Thank you... Claire." Dusk replies.

Parley looks a little peeved by Poochyena calling Flaaffy by her real name, but she gives him a stern glare which pushes away his annoyed stare.
Dusk doesn't seem to notice Growlithe, happily sitting between him and Flaaffy with a huge grin and their tail wagging.
Claire is on Poochyena's left, also content with how this morning has gone, retrieving the bag with Growlithe and now giving this wild Pokémon a cute name.

So in all, Eevee felt terrible.
He wasn't angry that they were all so happy.
Jealousy and uselessness filled his mind.

'I should've helped them get the bag, or just shouldn't have forgotten it in the moment.' One of his self deprecating thoughts pushed to the front of his mind.
'You don't remember your human name, and don't belong in this group. Even the wild Pokémon has a name, so where's yours?' A jealous thought joins the other in his mind's mental center stage.
One last thought grows, but in the back of his head, but Eevee really doesn't fan those flames at all.

"Okay, are we all ready to go?" Growlithe announces loudly, bringing everyone's attention onto him.
Poochyena and Flaaffy nod.
Eevee hesitates for a few moments, but nods anyways.

"Good. We're heading to that forest. It's the safest and quickest path to Rayquaza." Parley flicks his tail towards the faraway forest on the horizon.
Claire looks over to the woods and back to him, and smiles confidently.
Dusk gets up and begins happily shaking his tail harder, excited to be on the move again.

Eevee just gets up and prepares to follow the group, in which he doesn't belong.

* * *
Heyo!
Sorry this chapter is a little later than usual.
Just needed Saturday off y'know.
Anyways, Cy'all! I _ <  <3