The Hybrid Experiment

Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End

*Jake's POV*

*Two weeks earlier*

Today, I'm going to do it! I'm gonna finally prove the other Eevee wrong- I am not a useless runt! I look around at the other Eevee gathered in the largest hut in the village, the town hall. The place also serves as our village's school when the council of elders is meeting in the schoolhouse, but, today, many of the schoolkids had organized an event to determine who was the strongest among them. Even though I know my previous failed attempts at ascending the awe-inspiring climbing wall will hold me back, but I raise my head high. Immediately, this gesture earns me the attention of the three-time champion climber, as well as the schoolyard bully, Brutus.

"Well, look who it is? Look, everyone, it's Jake!" one of his more burly friends barks to the crowd, before whispering in my ear,

"How's your leg, hero? Still holding up after your last pathetic attempt at the climbing wall? Haha, that's OK- I'll be sure to be gentle..." He and a few of the crowd began to slowly approach me, and I know that they would beat me up again. Quickly, my eyes dart around for an escape route, and I gaze at the looming climbing wall behind me.

This is my only chance! Here goes nothing! I brace myself before pouncing at a foothold about four feet up. The bully, upon seeing my jump, marvels at its height for a few seconds, until he starts to slowly climb up after me. I know that I only gave a few seconds before he catches up to me, so I swallow my fears and press on up the wall. However, inevitably, I make a mistake while ascending.

Noo! I'm slipping! I try to grasp the small crevasses in the wall, but my paw misses the next foothold entirely, and I begin to fall.

"What is going on here!?" a loud voice echoes around the chamber. I turn my head to see an elder, disturbed at all the commotion, appear in the doorway.

Markus! I'm saved! I breathe a sigh of relief, until I remember that I'm falling from about thirty feet up.

The Espeon sees me falling and doesn't waste any time waiting for his question to be answered. Immediately, he closes his eyes behind me and forms a Psychic net under me, woven like a spider web, to catch me before I hit the ground. The web catches me, and I soon realize that the safety net actually is a spider web, crafted by Markus' Psychic powers. I lie there, entangled, with failure written all over my face, while Markus dismisses the rest of the Eevee.

Why am I destined to always fail? Why can't I be strong, like any of the other Eevee? They can all climb that wall with little to no problem... Why can't I? A tear rolls down my left cheek, and Markus stretches out his paw to catch it.

"Don't worry- you may fall behind the rest of the crowd, but, don't ever give up! Not yet, Jake. Not yet... But soon..." the elder calmly tells me. The words ring in my head, incessantly nagging me to the point that I unceremoniously leave the schoolhouse, tears in my eyes. The anticipation of a better life is killing me- it is almost my twelfth birthday, but I am too impatient to wait the arduous two weeks until then. It is every young Eevee's dream to evolve and grow, and our village founders had proposed a rite of passage that measures both the physical and mental maturity of each Eevee as they grow. On his or her twelfth birthday, the Eevee is invited to the small stone pillar in the center of the village, where the elders gather. The congregation of Espeon then assesses the Pokemon and rules a final judgement on whether he or she should be allowed into the Cave of Reckoning. Nobody really knows what the inside of the cave looks like, because everyone who enters is sworn to secrecy, but no Eevee ever comes out the same, regardless if they evolve or not.

There is something, perhaps someone, waiting for me in that cave that I just know I need to find...

"Jake? Where are you- It's way past your bedtime!!" my mother calls from inside the small wooden hut that I call home. I had been daydreaming so long that I didn't notice the sun go down, and it was pitch black outside!