Chapter
9

Dark
Growlithe stirred and opened his eyes. He looked around and saw that
he was still in the healing cave. He couldn’t hear or see anyone
and slowly got up. His whole body was stiff and felt very heavy. His
leg was bandaged and it hurt when he tried to walk on it. Limping on
three legs Dark Growlithe left the healing cave and decided to find
out how long he had been asleep and what had happened.

*****

Steam
was going back to his cave for a nap after lunch when he saw Dark
Growlithe limping down a passage in front of him.

“Dark
Growlithe!” he called, running up to the fire pokémon, “What are
you doing up? You’re supposed to be resting.”

“I
woke up and no one was around, so I came to find someone.”

“You’re
injured. I’m taking you back so you can rest more. I’ll make sure
Vaporeon comes to see you now. Are you hungry?”

“Yeah.
How long was I asleep?”

“About
a day. You lost a lot of blood but Vaporeon managed to give you a
substitute.”

Dark
Growlithe was led back to the healing cave by Steam and put into bed.

“Now
stay here. I’ll send Vaporeon and some food.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t
worry. Vaporeon-sensei also wants to speak to you. He’ll come after
he’s finished teaching.”

*****

After
Dark Growlithe had eaten, Vaporeon gave him a full check-up.

“You
heal surprisingly quickly, Dark Growlithe,” she commented, “You
should be able to walk around in a day or two. But don’t do
anything strenuous, okay?”

“Okay.
Thanks for everything.”

“It’s
a pleasure. It’s actually fun to have to treat a different pokémon
every now and then, breaks the monotony.”

“You
think I’m only a fun distraction?”

Vaporeon
laughed, “No. I’m just as concerned about you as about everyone
else, you’re just different.”

“How
are the eevee that were with me?”

“They’re
fine. They seem concerned about you, well all except Bandit.”

“He’s
probably happy about this. You think he could have done it on
purpose?”

“I
have no idea what goes on in his twisted little mind. If I were you
I’d keep an eye on him.”

“I
figured that out already.”

*****

Two
days later, when Vaporeon released Dark Growlithe from her care, he
went to see how the eevee were. Everyone was assembled in a group in
front of Vaporeon-sensei and the other vaporeon.

“It’s
good to see you’re better,” said Vaporeon-sensei, “and you’ve
got good timing to come here now.”

“I
do?”

“Yes.
You know I told you about the evolution exams the eevee have to
complete?”

“Yes.”

“Well,
yesterday I got a message saying that the exams will be in about five
weeks. To help the eevee the most I’ve decided that they need
personal attention. Obviously this is impossible in this group so
Vaporeon has agreed to train the eevee he took hunting. You will also
train the eevee you took hunting and I’ll do the rest.”

“Okay,
but I can’t do that much for a few days.”

“I
know, but you can still advise them and set tasks. If you need help
just ask me. Alright, everyone go to your teacher and behave.”

With
the last comment Vaporeon-sensei glared at Bandit who acted
completely unfazed as he walked up to Dark Growlithe with his other
three teammates. Dark Growlithe then led the group to the shade of a
large tree.

“Are
you alright?” asked Bramble, voicing everyone, except Bandit’s,
concern.

“I’m
alright enough. I just mustn’t do anything too difficult,”
answered Dark Growlithe. “So today we’re going to practise hiding
ourselves, at least you four will. I’ll watch and tell you what you
need to work on. I’m going to away for a few minutes and when I
return I want you all to be hidden around here. Just don’t go past
that tree or that rock.”

Dark
Growlithe then left the four eevee so that they could hide.

A
short while later, Dark Growlithe came back to the spot where he had
told the eevee to hide and looked around. He could almost immediately
spot Cream and Bramble who were both hidden in bushes, Kitten, hiding
in a small cave, was harder to spot but he saw her next and lastly
Bandit who was extremely well-hidden amongst a pile of rocks.

“Cream,
your ears are poking out above the leaves,” criticised Dark
Growlithe, “and you moved the leaves too much when you went into
the bush. Your path is pretty obvious.”

Creams
ears drooped down and she crawled out the bush, dragging her feet
sadly.

“Bramble,
if you weren’t trying so hard to see what was going on outside
you’d be much harder to spot. All your moving is pretty obvious.
Stay still and wait for something to move into your line of sight.
You can listen for anything that might come for you without alerting
them to your presence.”

Bramble
sighed and came out to join Cream.

“I
thought I was hidden well,” complained Bramble to Cream.

“At
least you didn’t have your ears sticking out the top or something.”

“Kitten,
the only mistake you made was not getting dirty.”

“What?”
asked Kitten, thoroughly confused, “Not getting dirty?”

“You’re
trying to hide in a shadow, which is a good idea, but not when your
coat is light. An umbreon could do it but you can’t unless you
cover yourself with mud or sand, like Bandit.”

Kitten
came out and looked around, “Where is Bandit?”

“In
the rocks there,” indicated Dark Growlithe, “You can come out
now, Bandit. You hid very well. If I hadn’t known you were around I
might not have found you.”

“That’s
because of the difference in our skill levels,” stated Bandit
smugly as he came out of the rocks, his coat covered in dust which
made him the same colour as the rocks he had hidden amongst.

Dark
Growlithe ignored Bandit’s comment although a flicker of irritation
showed on his face.

“Let’s
move to another place and we’ll try this again. Don’t forget what
I pointed out this time. I don’t want you making the same mistakes
a second time.”

“Of
course that doesn’t apply to those of us that didn’t make
mistakes,” said Bandit, “Oh wait, only I didn’t make mistakes.
The rest of you messed up.”

“Bandit!”
barked Dark Growlithe, “Stop insulting the others. You aren’t
that much stronger than them.”

Bandit
snorted and glared.

*****

Dark
Growlithe made the four eevee practice hiding all day and they
constantly improved until even Cream and Bramble were taking a long
time to be found. At the end of the day Vaporeon-sensei came to tell
them to stop and ask Dark Growlithe how the lesson went. Dark
Growlithe explained what they’d done and dismissed the eevee. The
whole pack had supper and then went to bed. Dark Growlithe now had to
worry about where to sleep. For his first two nights he’d slept
with Steam and the last three he’d been in “hospital”, but now
he needed to sleep with the rest of the pack. Families and groups of
friends would all sleep together in a single cave but Dark Growlithe
didn’t know where he should go and began wandering around
aimlessly. In one room he went through he saw two pairs of vaporeon
on one side and on the other side were Cream and Kitten. The two were
talking to each other quietly but stopped when Dark Growlithe entered
the room.

“Hi,”
greeted Cream and Kitten

“Hi,”
replied Dark Growlithe.

He
was about to continue on when Kitten called him.

“Hey,
do you have somewhere to sleep?”

“No,
I was looking for a place.”

“Why
not sleep with us?”

“You
sure?”

“Yeah,
it’ll be fine.”

“Okay.”

Dark
Growlithe joined Kitten and Cream and curled up next to the two
eevee. Kitten pushed Cream up against Dark Growlithe’s back and
then lay next to her and the three went to sleep.

*****

The
next day Dark Growlithe decided to try a simulated hunt in the forest
just outside the pack’s territory.

“Bramble,
you’ll be the prey.”

“Why
me?” whined Bramble, “I don’t want to be the prey.”

“Because
I said you’re being prey. Someone else will be next time. You stay
here and wait until the others come to catch you.”

“Then
what?”

“Then
you’ll try to run back home. I want everyone to be careful. No one
must get hurt, do you understand?”

“Yes,”
chorused the eevee.

“Good.
Bramble, wait, the rest of you, come with me.”

Dark
Growlithe then walked away with the other three eevee, leaving
Bramble standing all alone in the forest. A short while later he
heard Dark Growlithe shout.

“Go!”

Bandit,
Kitten and Cream ran out from the bushes behind him and began to
split up to encircle him. Bramble immediately began to run back home,
twisting and turning to try and avoid his pursuers. Dark Growlithe
followed a short way behind, not able to run at full speed because of
his injury but still fast enough to keep up with the eevee.

“Kitten,
don’t let him fall back!” commanded Bandit, “Cream, move
forward on your side and help me cut him off.”

“Right,”
called back Cream as she increased her speed and began a wide turn to
cut off Bramble while Bandit did the same on his side. Bramble
decided he would have a better chance of escaping Cream than Bandit
and turned to her side to escape Bandit’s pincer manoeuvre.

“Get
him Cream!” shouted Bandit.

Cream
lunged for Bramble but tripped on a small rock she had overlooked and
crashed into the ground. Bramble jumped over Cream and fled to the
safety of the caves.

“You
idiot!” screamed Bandit, “Don’t you ever look where you’re
going? I can’t believe you couldn’t stop him! If the pack
depended on you for food we’d all starve! You can’t do anything
right!”

“Stop
it, Bandit!” commanded Dark Growlithe; “I’ll make the
comments.”

“Yeah,”
agreed Kitten, “So leave her alone.”

“But
he does have a point, Cream.”

“But-”

“No,
you should have been watching where you were going. You need to be
aware of surroundings.”

“I
just wasn’t concentrating.”

“You
have to. What if you were hunting a pidgey and were so focused on it
you didn’t notice it was flying off a cliff, fell off and killed
yourself.”

“I
wouldn’t do that,” protested Cream quietly.

“It
was an example. When you were hiding you still didn’t pay attention
to your surroundings and the result was your ears stuck up.”

“I
think she knows her mistake,” stated Kitten, seeing Cream was about
to cry.

“She
needs to listen,” said Dark Growlithe, “This is important. You
also didn’t see your surroundings when you were hunting the rattata
and that’s why it escaped.”

“And
that’s why it’s your fault Dark Growlithe got injured,” added
Bandit.

“That
was your fault! Don’t blame Cream!”

But
it was too late, Cream ran off, tears streaming out the corners of
her eyes and sparkling as they flew behind her. Dark Growlithe shot
Bandit a dark look but the disobedient eevee just smiled back at him.

“Nice
going!” shouted Kitten at Dark Growlithe, standing right in front
of him.

“What?”
asked Dark Growlithe, backing away.

“Are
you totally insensitive? How could you do that to her?”

“Do
what?”

“Criticise
her like that! You probably crushed her spirit!”

“I
was just-”

“Did
you know she actually liked you? Now you go and help Bandit point out
all her weaknesses! I hope she hates you! Jerk!”

Kitten
then ran after Cream leaving Dark Growlithe totally confused.

“Nice
going,” commented Bandit as he walked past Dark Growlithe and back
home.