Warrior Eevees #2: Pearl's Shadow

14- Whispering

"Nothing to report," Reed told Pearl.

"Good," she said. "Well, not good but... Anyway, get something to eat."

Over the last three days, this had been the only report Pearl had received from the Pokémon she had sent into the Wildlands. Her skin itched constantly beneath her fur with discomfort. Had she made the wrong decision? Would the Mightyena have moved on, after injuring Shell?

Shell's tail had stopped bleeding, but there was no way Pearl could send him back on patrol just yet. He had lost one of the flukes on the end of his tail, which would mean he would basically have to learn to swim again. He spent most of his time in the kitten's den with Floe, who assured him if she, a Glaceon, could learn to swim, he could as well. But no gentle words would make the wounds close, and so Shell remained in the village.

A Pokémon down, Pearl was hesitant to send too many patrols, since she didn't like to send less than three Vaporeon at once. Progress was slow. Progress was nonexistent. But after what happened to Shell. She had to be cautious, didn't she?

So far, no Pokémon had protested about her patrols, but Pearl heard them talking about her still. Talking about how her pelt color must be a sign, that they just had to wait. Talking about how her pelt color couldn't be a sign, or she would have done something already. Talking about missing Diver's steady leadership.

Pearl, too, missed Diver.

What was she doing next? She'd had a plan for the day. The Eevees were being assessed, that was right. Silent and his siblings were getting close to evolving, so their training was ramping up. This meant Silent was very busy. Pearl wanted the best for her friend, but she missed talking to him. Especially now, when she really didn't know how to feel.

Pearl had never wanted her Tribe to care so much about her fur color, but she also wanted them to be reassured. Whether or not her pelt color was a sign, she had no idea which she would prefer. Maybe Silent would have been able to tell her.

One thing Pearl had learned over her short stint of leadership was to make sure someone else was left in charge of the village when she went out. She had yet to trust Geyser with this, feeling uncomfortably like it would be taken as an insult, some sort of shallow mockery of the leadership he had wanted so badly, and instead found Reed.

"I'm going to check on the Eevees' assessment," she informed him. "Keep an eye on things and I'll be back soon."

"All right," Reed yawned.

The Mightyena's threat could not keep the Lake Tribe from enjoying the sun on the shores of their village. Fishing, at least, was good. The sun was hot, golden light dappling the mud and throwing stripes of brilliance on the water from between the reeds. Land hunting would be difficult, but the Lake Tribe didn't need to hunt on land. The lake water kept even thick-pelted Floe cool, relegating the hot sun to something to bask in during spare moments.

The water pressed against Pearl's overcoat when she slipped into it, enjoying the cool water against her pads. She allowed herself to vanish into the water, something Vaporeon were capable of. This ability allowed her fur to match the exact clarity and reflectiveness of the lake water, effectively hiding her shape in the reflection of the waves.

If her fur had to be a strange color, she was glad she had evolved into Vaporeon. At the very least, it didn't trouble her fishing abilities.

The Eevees were practicing near the western border of the Lake Tribe, closer to the Forest Tribe than Pearl liked to send them, but safer, she hoped, from Mightyena. She wasn't sure the Leafeon were less vicious, but they were at the very least familiar combatants. At very least, Pearl was fairly sure that no Tribe Pokémon would kill an Eevee. Besides, a very gentle stream cut its way parallel to the border. Even the Eevees would be able to swim it if they needed to beat a hasty retreat.

It was in the mouth of this stream where Pearl drove her paws into the mud to stop, alert to the sound of whispering voices. Fearing the worst, she unsheathed her claws.

They've finally done it! They've invaded our territory!

Well- Good, I caught them. I'll run right back to the village and bring backup- Or, or maybe I should warn the Eevees first?

But it was all a moot point, as Pearl recognized the voices moments later. It was just one of the hunting patrols she had assigned that morning. They must be sitting in the reeds, fishing with their paws and chatting.

"They wouldn't have even come here if she wasn't leader," Shore was saying to someone, and Pearl's heart immediately dropped.

She almost would have rather had it be a physical threat she could fight with claws and water.

"Now, we don't know if that's true," came Rapids' measured response. "How would they know if she was our leader or not?"

Pearl flattened her fins. She knew she shouldn't be listening in, but she felt rooted to the spot. She had made the same point as Rapids to herself over and over again to herself, but somehow it didn't matter- The thoughts that Shore was expressing had wrapped around her mind like thorns.

"I'm just saying," Shore continued. "The Legends can't care about her that much, if they're punishing all of us like this."

"Not everything is a punishment," she heard Splash say in a taught voice. "Living in the wild has always been hard."

"But this hard?"

"You're young, Shore. You don't really know."

"Can we just get back to fishing?"

Pearl ducked her head under the surface, afraid to hear more, and powered her way upstream.

Rapids and Splash are right, she reasoned with herself. So why didn't their words sink in like Shore's had? She forced herself to swim faster, relishing the exercise like she could flee the things she had overheard.

She found the shallow slope of the stream where the Eevees were supposed to be practicing fishing in the shallow pond that the stream fed into. Pearl sprang from the water and shook out her coat.

Pearl herself was very young to be running assessments, so she had assigned her own mother, Mist, to watch over the Eevees. Mist was fair and intelligent. She would know what to say.

It didn't take long to find the little patrol's pawprints in the mud, and Pearl tracked them into the underbrush where she found Tumble hunched over a rivulet, practicing flicking small fish onto the shore with one paw. His yellow eyes narrowed in concentration. Pearl tried not to startle him as she approached.

"Oh, hey," Tumble said when she sat next to him on the shore. "What's up?"

"I'm looking for Mist," Pearl explained. "Do you know where she went?"

"Yeah, that way. I-"

He stopped talking as the sound of something crashing through the bracken splintered the still air, and Pearl arched her back and drew back her lips, again expecting to see that long, fang-filled muzzle looming out of the darkness.

Mist skidded into the clearing with Crouch by her side, her eyes flashing with terror, and stopped short in front of Pearl.

"Have you seen Silent?" she asked.

"No," Pearl said.

It felt like she was filling with ice water. It felt like a weird calm. In a horrible way, she felt focused.

"Get Crouch and Tumble back to the village right away. I'll find him."

"Do you think it's that bad?" Crouch asked from where she huddled against Mist's side.

"I don't know," Pearl answered honestly. "I'll find out. Go back to the village."

"Pearl, dear," Mist leaned forward to touch her muzzle to Pearl's forehead. Like a kitten that needed coddling. Pearl flinched back.

"Go back to the village," she ordered, for once able to keep the shake out of her voice. "I will find Silent. I am the leader of the Lake Tribe."