Chapter Two
"I'm sorry," she said again.
I licked my chest, annoyed. Not because of my wounds; except for a nasty gash across the shoulder, my injuries were quite minor. No, it was because the Furret was apologizing. Again.
"It's all right," I told her briskly. "It was an accident, Mrs. Furret."
She twitched. "Please call me Flora. This is my son Sonny." She brushed the Sentret's head with her tail. "And your name was...?"
"Eevee," I replied flatly. She looked at me in surprise.
"Yes, it's obvious that you're an Eevee," Flora said hesitantly. "But what I meant was, do you have a name?"
"Nope," I answered bluntly. "I'm just plain Eevee."
The Furret frowned. "That's not good. Everybody deserves a name."
"Well, apparently, he thought I wasn't worth giving a name to," I said. I gasped. Too late.
"He?" Flora seemed interested. "Your father? Do you come from a pack?"
I shook my head guiltily. "No...I'm...I come from the city."
She jumped, startled. "The city? You live with humans?" She spat the last words out like they were poison.
I nodded. "But my trainer--I mean, I ran away from him. And I ended up here." A prickle of shame ran through my back at the lie.
Flora's expression softened. "Oh. Well, I guess that's fine." Then, absentmindedly, she added, "Do you have a place to stay? If you don't, you could always live here with us."
I gasped. "Here? I couldn't!"
She shot me a suspicious look. "And why not?" she asked sharply.
I shifted uneasily on my paws. "W-Well...because...I wouldn't want to intrude...I mean...I would cause trouble..." I shuddered at the thought of the big fire creature.
"Not at all!" Flora cried, waving her tail around. "It's the least I could do, after giving you a scare like that."
I shook my head. "I better not. I...I'll find a place of my own." I flinched. In the city, of course!
"No, stay with us!" She sounded impatient now. "You'll see. It might not look like it, but this place has enough room for twenty of us!"
I glanced around. True, the hollow tree in which the Furret nested in was warm and cozy. She had covered the 'ground' with soft, sweet-smelling herbs and hay. The hole that was the entrance gave a spectacular view on the fields of grass below. Of course, we could always close up the entrance with the branches of leaves that grew nearby. And if I stayed here, my scent would probably mingle with the Furret's. Maybe the big Growlithe creature wouldn't find me!
"Okay," I said slowly. "But just for a short while."
Flora beamed at me. "Great! I'll show you to your room."
I gazed confusedly at her. Room? We were in a small hole!
"Follow me," she chimed. She leaped high into the air, landing gently on a wooden platform over our heads. It had been hidden in the shadows, so I hadn't noticed it. Aha. So that was another 'floor'.
I followed her. I had a little more trouble jumping up than she had, but when I finally managed to scramble up the platform, I knew it had been worth it. It was a small hole, just like the 'floor' down below, but this one had no entrance or exit, and was covered in fresh green moss. The 'room' was round, with plenty of space to stretch and sleep. In one corner stood a small pile of nuts.
Flora blushed. "Those are the provisions we've made so far. I had been planning on stocking our food here, but now that I think of it, I could always dig another floor. You can have this room."
"You dug this room?" I asked incredously. The walls were perfectly smooth, and the shape of the room was absolutely natural-looking. It was hard to believe that someone had dug this.
"Yes, yes, that's why we Furret have claws!" She held them up proudly. "Digging through wood is no problem."
"Wow," I breathed. "I wish I could do that." I could dig my own shelters in trees!
She shrugged. "Why don't you learn. You have claws. You can leap. You can be just like us."
I blinked several times. That thought had never ocurred to me before. I had always thought that each species of Pokemon could do their own thing, but that there was no way other species could do the same thing. Could they?
"I'd be glad to teach you," Flora said brightly. She gave a little jump of excitement. "You could learn at the same time as Sonny!"
My whiskers twitched. Not that anyone could have noticed, of course. They were so thin you could hardly see them. "I don't know. I'm different from you guys."
"Tch," Flora scoffed. "Different. All of you people really have a problem with that word, don't you? Does it matter if you're different, if you can do the same things? A Kakuna can do what a Metapod can do, right?"
I considered it. Finally, I smiled. "Maybe you're right."
The Furret sniffed. "I am right. Now come along, it's time for you and Sonny's first food gathering lesson."
As I leaped down the platform, this time going down easier than going up, I was faced for the very first time the possibility of doing something different. With different people. Strangers, almost. I shook my head at that thought, smiling again. No, not strangers. These people could be my family one day.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Flora tapped her paw impatiently. She and Sonny were already waiting at the entrance. Or exit, it depended on how you looked at it.
"Coming," I half-sang as I hurried to them.