FSE

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"Please? Just for a little bit? It'll be fun?"

Feren sighed for what felt like the hundredth time in the last hour. It was a beautiful day - the sun wasn't too hot, the breeze wasn't too cold; the flowers smelled lovely, the sounds of the city were blending together into meaningless background noise. Todd and the other trainers were shopping and there was nothing to do until they got back. It was the perfect condition for a nap, the perfect situation for the Nidoran to stretch out on the warm grass and dose off.

Or it would have been if the Eevee hadn't kept bugging him.

The Eevee had kept to herself when they first met, and Feren had just thought her a loner, but as she had grown used to everything she had become extremely clingy, and Feren had finally realized that the Eevee was just shy and nervous. He turned to look at her - it didn't take much, since she was standing right next to him - and almost felt bad about saying no. The Eevee was sitting up but had her ears drooped and her tail curled around her, as if she was scared or nervous, and her eyes stared at Feren hopefully. But he was tired and he shook his head. "No. I don't want to play that silly game. There's no point to it."

"But... it's fun...? And your trainer said it was good for you, that it was useful exercise?" Her voice was pleading, and she lifted one paw to flex it nervously.

"I'm pretty sure he only said that to make your trainer feel better."

The Eevee rolled her eyes. "Your trainer never says anything to make people feel better." Feren had to agree that she had a point - Todd was honest, sometimes brutally so, and he didn't say things he didn't mean. "You don't really want to just sit here, do you? You'll end up getting fat..."

"Will not. I need to rest after all the exercise we got earlier. You should need a rest too, if you were doing them right; they should have tired you out." Feren's implication - that the Eevee had been slacking - went unnoticed by the other Pokemon.

"Shells isn't tired..."

"Then why don't you go play with him?"

"Because he's talking to that Psyduck and she scares me. Always... walking in circles... and that stare..." The Eevee shuddered. While Feren knew the Eevee tended to be scared of any new Pokemon they met, he found himself forced to agree with her once again - the Psyduck they had met in this town was kind of creepy. Their trainers had seemed to like her trainer, but Shells seemed to be the only one of them who wasn't weirded out by the thing.

Feren raised his head to look down the sidewalk, and sure enough Shells was yammering away at the Psyduck. Feren tilted his head and perked his ears, focusing, until he could make out what the Squirtle was saying. "...and then I chased off all the Beedrill that had swarmed the campsite with my water gun attack, and the trainers were so impressed that the next night they didn't even bother giving Feren or Clara a watch; they knew I'd be enough!"

"Uh...huh..." The Psyduck's slow answer or vacant gaze didn't seem to deter Shells, who kept prattling on.

"Hey, I helped!" The Eevee had obviously been listening in on Shell's conversation, too, but Feren just rolled his eyes. Technically the Eevee had helped drive off those Beedrill, kicking sand into the eyes of the bugs and making it hard for them to land too many attacks, but it had still been largely Feren and Shells that had done the job. And Shells hadn't been given the next night's watches as a reward; it was punishment for muddying up the entire camp in his wild attempts to hit the annoying Pokemon- it had taken two hours of work in the darkness to get the camp moved somewhere dry, and Feren had been very tired the next day.

Shells sighed, and admitted to the Psyduck that yes, Clara had helped but that it was still mostly he that had saved the day... but Feren had already grown bored of that conversation. He lowered his head again, hoping that maybe Shells would distract the annoying Eevee and he could get to sleep... but his hopes were dashed a few minutes later by a nudge to his side.

"Come on Feren, pleaseeeee..."

Feren sighed, and slowly dragged himself to his feet. Yet another perfect day ruined by the Eevee...

The Eevee finally tired herself out playing tag with Feren, but no sooner had Feren plopped back down for a nap than the trainers came back. The Nidoran glared daggers at them, but they didn't go back inside and keep shopping as he half hoped. Instead, Todd walked over and rubbed Feren's nose. "Come on, time to go. Next stop is the PokeCenter."

Feren looked and sure enough, Perry had called Shells back to his Pokeball. Of course the Squirtle wouldn't have to walk. Feren looked back up at Todd, and then to the Pokeball that hung on Todd's belt, but the Nidoran's trainer just shook his head. "A little exercise won't hurt you, especially after all the rest you probably got while we were shopping. You can rest again when we reach the PokeCenter."

Feren grumbled but started walking down the sidewalk alongside Todd. Behind him he heard the Eevee talking to her trainer, sounding way too cheerful and obviously happy to be walking, despite her being almost completely exhausted just mere minutes before. She prattled on about how much fun she had but how she was still really glad Flen was back and how next time he should take her into the store with him and that she promised to be good and that she wouldn't break anything this time.

"Why are you talking to him so much?" Feren didn't look back, instead just speaking to the world in general, knowing the Eevee would easily hear him.

"Because! I'm glad he's back, and he told me the other day he liked hearing me talk."

"You know he can't understand a word you're saying. You could be just making up words, and he wouldn't know any better."

"That's not true! He... he seems to know what I mean a little more each day; I think the more he gets to know me the better he can understand me. Your trainer seems to understand what you tell him pretty well."

"He's just learning my tone and expressions, not what I'm saying. You could be saying 'I'm sad' over and over again in that cheerful voice of yours and he wouldn't know any better. And besides, even if he likes hearing you, it doesn't mean the rest of us do; you could at least be quiet some of the time."

Feren was surprised when the Eevee didn't say anything back right away, and he walked along in relative silence for a few moments, finally able to enjoy the walk...

...until the Eevee bounded in front of him and circled around Todd. "I'm annoying Fer-en, I'm annoying Fer-en, I'm annoying Fer-en, I'm annoying Fer-en, wheeee!" The Eevee ran back to Flen, circling around her trainer, but didn't let up. "I'm annoying Fer-en~!"

"UGH what is wrong with you?!" The Nidoran stopped walking, sitting up on his back legs and glaring at the Eevee, who wore an expression of complete cheerfulness as she stopped prancing to look towards him.

"What? I'm trying your idea out! If you're right, then I'll be able to do this the entire way and Flen won't stop me because he won't know what I'm saying or that I'm doing this on purpose. Aren't you so glad you told me that?" The Eevee blinked a few times, sickeningly cute, before she started prancing around the trainers again. The three trainers exchanged a confused glance... but except for a shrug from Perry, they just kept walking. "I'm annoying Fer-en, I'm annoying Fer-en..."

Unfortunately it turned out that Feren had been right. The Eevee hadn't been bluffing, either- she kept up her chant for the entire walk, though after a few minutes her cheerfulness had faded, and she just seemed sad that Flen hadn't understood her enough to stop her. Feren felt a little guilty about that, despite how annoying the Eevee had been... but for the most part he was just glad to finally be able to hide underneath one of the chairs in the PokeCenter room that the trainers had rented for the night. Shells had come out of his Pokeball and was sitting on the couch with the Eevee, watching television and trying to cheer her back up, though she seemed distracted and kept glancing at Flen sadly. The trainers were sitting at the table and using the phone to talk to their parents, the way they had at the last Pokecenter, so the sound of the television was quiet enough not to be disturbing. He felt bad about the Eevee... but Shells was taking care of it. At long last, Feren could finally relax...

Feren woke sometime later to a scratching noise. He blinked, blearily raising his head, and tried to find the source of the sound. He crawled out from under the chair and made out the shape of the Eevee, scratching away at the door to the room, looking desperate.

Feren hopped over and lifted a paw to shake the Eevee. "What are you doing?"

The Eevee jumped, looking at Feren with eyes wide with fear. "OH! Oh you're still here... I didn't... I thought you had left too..." She was obviously scared, and Feren wasn't sure what was wrong. He took a quick look around, but the room was empty- nothing was wrong.

"Left? What are you talking about?" He turned away from the door, walking back towards the couch. The least he could get out of this interruption was a more comfortable place to sleep, and the couch was empty.

Of course, the Eevee followed right behind him, managing to always stay within two steps of him. "They left... Flen, Perry, Shells, Todd; I thought you had left too. I fell asleep watching that cartoon with Shells and then I woke up and the room was empty and everybody was gone... they left us here... what are we going to do?" Her voice was starting to sound desperate.

"We'll wait here until they get back. Getting some sleep might be a good idea, too." Feren hopped up onto the couch, pausing to look at each of the cushions. The one on the end had a slight depression... and sure enough, it was still warm. He started to stretch out in it, but just like that the Eevee was in his way.

"You're going to sleep?! How can you sleep! They're gone; what if they don't come back???" Her voice had gotten shriller, and Feren sighed heavily.

"Then they'll lose the stuff they spent all day shopping for, which they left on the table, and two of them will be leaving the only Pokemon they have. Humans do some strange things sometimes, but I'm pretty sure trainers wouldn't do either of those things- they're going to come back. They probably just went out for some food and didn't want to wake us up. Now sit down and calm down; they'll be back before you know it."

The Eevee still looked frantic, but she stopped to look at the table, and Feren could see the thoughts going through her head, working her way through his logic. After a long moment she finally sat down on the couch, the motion seeming more like she was clinging to it for dear life than sitting down for a rest, and she huddled against Feren as if afraid he would disappear if she wasn't touching him.

Feren stretched out, and the two sat like that for a long moment before Feren sighed again. "You're not going to be able to get back to sleep again, are you." He didn't ask a question- he already knew the answer.

"I'm scared..." Her voice sounded pitiful again.

"Go get the remote; we'll watch some television."

The Eevee looked uncertain, as if not wanting to step away from Feren, but she finally nodded and hopped down from the couch. It was a few minutes before she hopped back up on the couch with the remote, dropping it in front of Feren with a proud wag of her tail before huddling against him again. He pressed his paw over the green button and the television came to life; the red button on the side adjusted the sound to a comfortable level, and he pushed the remote back so the Eevee could use the yellow buttons on the other side to find something interesting to watch. Hopefully the distraction of having to decide would occupy her and keep her from bugging him.

Unfortunately the Eevee wasn't able to find anything she liked, and she managed to pause just long enough for Feren to get interested in the show before suddenly flipping to a new channel. He grew more and more aggravated, and was opening his mouth to finally say something when the door opened. Todd held the door open as Flen and Perry ducked in, carrying boxes of food in with them. The Eevee cheered out an excited "Flen!" and ran to the door, ducking around their legs with her tail wagging. It was a wonder they didn't trip over her, but the trainers just laughed and nimbly stepped over her to set the food down on the table. Flen reached into one of the boxes, pulling out what looked like a sugary biscuit that he tossed to the Eevee, who caught it before it hit the ground and munched on it happily.

Feren rolled his eyes and shifted, getting comfortable before falling back asleep.

The next day came, promising to be just like the last. The trainers had to do some more shopping, so Feren waited outside with the Eevee. The Psyduck wasn't with them this time, fortunately, and Perry had brought Shells inside for some reason Feren hadn't really paid attention to beyond realizing it meant he would be stuck with her again.

Sure enough, when Feren stretched out for a nap in the grass near the shop, the Eevee came over to bother him. "You're not going to sleep, are you? There's all this room here; we could play tag again!"

Feren kept his eyes closed, ignoring her. Maybe if he didn't say something she would go somewhere else.

"Ferennnnnn! Can you hear meeeee!" He heard the Eevee moving around him, but he resisted opening his eyes to see what she was doing. He could do this, just stay still and pretend-

"HEY FEREN!" The Nidoran jumped, ears in pain from the shout yelled less than an inch from his left ear. He landed and scrambled away from the Eevee, eyes flying open to glare at her angrily... and lost his temper.

"WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?!?" The Eevee flinched, her happy grin wiped away to be replaced by startled shock, but the Nidoran was still angry, and advanced on her, hissing. "Can't you see I'm trying to sleep? That I want to spend this precious little free time I have resting? You... you... why can't you just leave me alone! I don't want you bothering me! You cause nothing but problems for me! You're completely useless, and Shells and I have to do a lot more work pulling your weight and fixing your mistakes! If you hadn't knocked down that shelf in the last town's PokeMart, then we wouldn't even be stuck out here babysitting you! You can barely chase off one Beedrill, you knock tents over on top of us, you wake us up in the middle of the night because you're scared of stupid things that make no sense, you eat more food than any of us, and you won't even let the people who are doing all the work for you EVER HAVE A BREAK! You're useless and you always act like such a child! Why can't you just go one minute without bothering me? Why can't you just grow up and leave me alone?!?"

Feren wasn't sure what he looked like at that moment... but the way the Eevee looked was something he would remember forever. She stood there, completely stunned. Then her ears fell. Her tail sagged. Tears formed in her eyes.

"S... sorry... I'll... I'll go..."

Feren knew he had messed up, had said more than he really wanted to or meant... but it was too late, and he couldn't think of anything to say to make it right. The Eevee turned, a slow, dejected motion, and she walked back towards the store to curl up along the wall by the door, hiding her face under her tail.

Feren couldn't think of anything else to do... so he fell back to the ground. But this time, quiet as it was, sleep wouldn't come.

Perry came out about an hour later, dropping Shells off outside the building. "Feren, your turn; Todd wants to know what you think before buying any berries so you need to try some of the samples. You'll.... Well, you'll hate it, I'm sure." Perry grinned, but Feren couldn't find it in him to give Perry a glare in return. He got to his feet and walked towards the shop, pausing when he passed the Eevee... but she made no sign or reaction to him, still buried under her tail. He almost thought she was asleep... but he was at the right angle to see another tear fall to the damp ground beneath her, and he knew that she wasn't.

There was nothing he could think of to say or do, so he instead followed Perry back into the building.

The store was several stories, and they had to walk up two flights of stairs before reaching Flen and Todd. Feren moved to stand beside his trainer, scanning the rest of the store in case anything decided to attack them, but it seemed safe for the moment. Todd handed him a piece of a greenish berry, and Feren ate it, but the taste was sour and he shook his head. ** ** A pinkish berry followed, oddly curved and way, way too sweet,followed by a red berry which didn't taste too bad,and a purple berry that tasted amazing. He wanted more, and looked up at Todd so hopefully that Perry and Flen both burst into laughter, and Todd began chuckling. "You look just like Clara; I get it, I get it, you like those! Guess I'll be stockpiling a few of these Wiki Berries, then..."

Todd had looked away to talk to the shop clerk, so he missed when Feren suddenly drooped at the mention of the Eevee. Maybe he would give her one of those berries when Todd got them... she always got excited about food, and that berry tasted so wonderful that she would probably instantly forget what he had said.

Hopefully.

Todd turned away from the clerk to look back at Flen. "You sure you don't want to buy some too? As much of your own food you give to that Eevee, I can't believe you're not interested in getting her a treat."

"'That Eevee' is named Clara... but no, not today. I know she'd love it, but..."

"...but you're saving up for that bell, aren't you?"

Flen grinned. "Yeah, yeah, you caught me." His grin faded, and he looked across the store, towards a locked display case of more valuable items. "It's just... I'm starting to get worried. The nurse said she checks out okay, if still a little underweight, but... her nightmares are getting worse. She won't stay in the PokeBall anymore at night- I've tried to keep it quiet so it doesn't disturb you, but she always comes out after an hour or two to find me. And you've seen how she gets when she knows we're leaving. I think that bell will help her, more than the berries will."

Perry nodded, his own expression solemn. "I really hope so. I don't know that anything is as good as the salesman claims it to be- 'instantly calms even the most terrified Pokemon with a single note!'- but I did ask my dad last night, and he said they have a definite positive effect. How much more do you need, anyways?"

"Not too much more; I'm just short 300 poke-dollars. If I can beat one of the trainers here I should have more than enough for the bell, and maybe one or two of the berries too."

Perry winced. "Good luck. Be careful though; Clara's still not much of a fighter, and you don't want to lose money when you're that close."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm thinking about challenging Keith later. That Psyduck doesn't look that tough, and definitely doesn't look that smart. Clara's downright brilliant; she could run rings around him if it came down to it."

Todd and Perry exchanged a glance. "Uhh... maybe you should let me fight him first just in case; that Psyduck is... kind of creepy." Todd volunteered, looking a little nervous at the mention of the Psyduck.

The trainers kept talking, but Feren had lost interest again and gone back to looking around the store for waiting threats. The trainers finally finished their purchases, and with their business concluded, walked downstairs to the exit.

Feren hung back, worried at what waited outside the doors. He could see Shells standing out there and looking in at him, arms folded across his chest, expression stern. The Eevee was huddled next to Shells, but she didn't move when the trainers appeared, instead just leaving her head rested on the sidewalk beneath her.

"Clara? Are you okay?" Flen had already walked outside, and leaned down to scoop up his Pokemon. His voice was full of concern as he cradled her in his arms and looked for any signs of injury, worried by her lethargic manner.

"I'm fine... just tired. Do you think I could go in the Pokeball for a bit?"

Feren felt a crushing weight at those words, and Shells' glare intensified.

"Um... okay Clara... I'll see you back at the PokeCenter, okay?"

"Okay... thank you..." The Eevee had never even opened her eyes, and Feren watched her dissolve into the Pokeball.

Everybody else was outside, so Feren started crawling forward, unnoticed by the trainers. "What was that about?" "She seemed scared... but she was sleeping when I came out here earlier." "She didn't seem hurt... but we should have the nurse check her just to be sure, that was really odd..."

"What. Did. You. Do."

Feren didn't meet Shells' gaze. "I messed up."

"Did you now."

"She was bugging me again and I yelled at her. I told her to grow up and leave me alone."

"Gee. How did the baby Eevee react to that?"

"She just curled and got quiet."

"I can't imagine why she might have done that."

"You're not helping."

"You think you're the one who needs help right now?"

The Nidoran finally looked up at the Squirtle, exasperated. "What am I supposed to do! I didn't... I didn't mean to hurt her! I just wanted some peace and quiet for once, not for..."

"Are you two coming?" Todd spoke up, looking back at them from farther up the road. The rest of the trainers were waiting ahead, too.

"Coming." Feren started walking after them, and Shells followed along next to him.

"You're going to fix this. I don't know how, but you're going to make it right."

"If you get any idea how, let me know."

"Oh, believe me, I will." Shells wasn't looking at Feren anymore, instead passing him to walk next to Perry. Feren walked the rest of the way in uncomfortable silence.

Back in the PokeCenter, he stared blankly at the tv in silence, and ate his food in silence. The Eevee ate in silence, too, and watched the same tv... but the entire time, Feren noticed Shells was always between them.

Night came, and the trainers said their goodnights as they turned in. Clara curled up on Flen's pillow - Flen never slept with pillows and instead stretched out under the covers. Perry sprawled out half on top of the covers in his pajamas, and Shells sprawled out beside him. Todd lay on his back, watching the ceiling for a while... and Feren curled up in the couch in silence.

The Eevee woke up sometime in the night - another one of her nightmares keeping her from sleeping. Feren heard Flen wake up to comfort her, heard her tell him she was scared he had left her alone, and that in her dream she had been calling for him but she couldn't hear him. He heard Flen tell her it would be okay, realized the trainer didn't understand what the Eevee had said but still somehow knew her well enough to say that he was right there and wasn't going anywhere, listened as the Eevee calmed down and fell back asleep. He heard everything, because in the silence Feren had been unable to sleep, instead staring at the blank television as if somehow it had the answer for how to fix things.

The television held no answer... but something Flen had said earlier held an idea, and finally Feren grew sick of the silence. With everyone else sleeping, he went digging through Todd's things... and found his answer.

He ate breakfast without saying a word, but he watched the Eevee through it all. She didn't look at him once, though Shells steadily glared at him the entire time. By this time even the trainers had figured out something was very wrong, and were eating their own meals in silent watch of their Pokemon, as if scared the wrong word would break something. Feren finished his meal, then sat back to watch the Eevee pick at hers, her appetite clearly ruined. Eventually she turned away from it completely and let Flen take the remaining food. The trainers just looked at each other for a bit after that, nobody really sure what to do... so Feren headed to the door, pausing to bark back at the group. "Come on."

Todd exchanged a glance with Perry and Flen, then shrugged and opened the door. Feren hopped out into the hallway, and they followed along, down the stairs, and outside... but then, when they went to continue down the street, Feren stopped, barking a sharp "No!" Everybody stopped to look back at him- well, everybody but the Eevee- and Feren looked up at Flen.

"I want a battle. Against Flen."

The Eevee moved to hide behind Flen, and Shells jerked, raising a fist at Feren. "Are you out of your mind? What you did yesterday wasn't enough; you've got to beat her up physically too?"

"That's not what I'm doing."

"Oh good, cause that's not at all what it looks like from here!"

"Did you come up with a way to help things?"

Shells stopped, looking from Feren back to the Eevee, then back at Feren, expression sad. "No. But that's no reason to beat up on her!"

"That isn't what I'm doing. Trust me- this will fix it."

Shells glowered at Feren. "If it doesn't, I'm going to beat your face into the pavement."

Feren looked back at the Eevee. "If it doesn't, I'll deserve it." The Squirtle had had enough, and waddled back towards Perry. "I'm not going to watch this." He jumped, and with a click and a whoosh dissolved into his Pokeball.

Feren looked back up at Todd, who was looking back at Flen thoughtfully, one hand in his pocket. "I think Feren's right. You and I should have a battle." Feren felt suddenly proud of his trainer - Todd had figured out what Feren wanted to do, and wanted to go along with it.

Flen only looked at his Eevee, who had moved to hide behind her trainer. "I... don't think that's a good idea..."

"I think it's a very good idea. The nurse said she was fine last night; I think a bit of exercise now could end up cheering her up immensely." Feren looked up at his trainer, who managed not to look back at him or give anything away. Flen still looked uncertain, but Todd pressed him. "Come on. If it gets to be too much for her, we'll stop."

Flen still looked doubtful, but nodded, his voice gentle but firm as he spoke to the Eevee. "Go on, Clara. Quick Attack!"

Feren moved off to the side of the road where dirt and grass replaced the pavement, his body held low and ears perked and alert as he readied himself for the coming challenge, knowing this was going to be tricky to pull off right. He was as focused and alert as for every battle he had with Shells, or against other trainers, or whenever he knew he would need to put forth a real effort... but, he realized with a bit of chagrin, never when fighting the Eevee. He didn't even see the Eevee move- he never did, with that move; one minute she was hiding behind Flen, and the next his side hurt from the impact. He turned to search for her, his spines bristling ominously, but he knew she had gotten away without being pricked by them.

He had been careful to make sure of it.

"Poison Sting!"

Feren spotted his opponent and leapt towards her, hearing Flen call for sand-attack. He landed next to her and jabbed at her with his horn, but she managed to duck underneath his attack and scatter dirt in his eyes. He reared back, blinking and shaking his head wildly to clear the stinging, dimly hearing Flen call for another attack. Todd yelled for him to "Focus your energy!", and he closed his eyes and settled down to concentrate... but another impact on the same side flipped him over and sent him sliding.

He climbed back to his feet, opening his eyes to search for the Eevee. Todd started to call for another move, but he was interrupted by another quick attack slamming into Feren, this one sending him skidding back towards Todd. Feren struggled to get back up... but the side of his leg hurt too much to stand on, and he collapsed back down into the ground, unable to continue the fight. The realization surprised him- he had planned to throw the fight, but the Eevee had actually managed to beat him on her own, once she had gotten into it enough. He looked up just enough to grin at her. "Good job... Clara."

He had enough time to see Clara blink in surprise before the world faded to pink, replaced by the by-now familiar surroundings of his pokeball- a nice wooden cottage in a sunlit meadow, a warm fire in the cottage's simple fireplace, a warm sofa in the corner and a plush rug on the center of the floor. His leg already felt much better - he had learned long ago that the Pokeball somehow fixed broken bones and serious injuries, though it did nothing for restoring fatigue or dealing with more serious illnesses - and he gave a happy little hop around the cottage to test it out. He smiled to himself, and stretched out on the rug for a nap... finally able to enjoy the silence.

---

Perry sat next to Clara, the Eevee looking as scared as if she were about to face a firing squad. Todd leaned up against a wall, tossing a suddenly much-lighter wallet into the air to kill time. It had been about fifteen minutes, and Perry was starting to wonder what was taking so long, when the doors to the store finally opened and Flen stepped outside.

Clara wagged her tail, obviously relieved, but still didn't run to him like she usually did, instead looking toward Todd nervously. Flen didn't seem to mind, though, instead seeming far too happy. He walked up to her and sat down, reaching into his shopping bag. Clara's ears perked as she heard a gentle chiming sound, some of the worry draining from her expression as curiosity took over, and she leaned forward to see what Flen had brought her...