FSE

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From Life, Death. From Death, Rebirth. From Rebirth, Life. But only outside of obscurity can you live for all eternity.

And like the wind, I shall sweep the land forever.

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I am Zerobi. I am also dead. But don't worry; I was able to douse myself in sufficient blood right before being killed. A Kojondo burned through my chest from behind with an Aura Sphere while I was fending off other assailants. I shall be paying him a visit soon to carve myself something to remember to watch my back more often.

... I'm bored. Are you a fan of the occult, by any chance? If so, do I have stories to tell you! Have you heard about a group called Evolution's Gate? I was a part of that, you know. One might even say that I was the founder and ringleader. But the truth is that I didn't create Evolution's Gate as much as it created itself - I was merely present and kept it running out of interest as to what would happen.

It all began in Cerulean City, where I lived most of my life. It was a peaceful city, but one that harbored many dark secrets. The greatest of these had to be the cave located in the city's outskirts, better known as the Cerulean Cave. The area to it was closed off by strong water currents as well as barbed wire, not to mention that it was also guarded by humans armed with very powerful Pokémon.

With a place like that just outside of town, you simply cannot stop rumors from spreading. The most famous one said that the cave was inhabited by criminal Pokémon, so powerful that all the safety measures were to keep them in instead of keeping us out. My favorite rumor was that a genetic clone of the legendary Mew was housed in the cave, crushing anyone who dared to disturb his peace. Out of all these rumors, one thing was very clear - It was a place that no sane person would ever want to visit.

Luckily, I was not a sane person.

After years of scouting, I finally found a secret entrance through an old cave filled with water nearby. The pitch-black darkness underwater would deter even Water-type Pokémon from entering, but with my keen eyesight it was no problem. I tried to convince my classmates to come with me, but none of them would believe me. One night after school I was quite bored, and so I went inside the Cerulean Cave for a quick look.

As I broke through the surface at the end of the secret passage, I was met by disappointment. After all the legends and speculation, from what I could see it was just a typical cave. No heavy odors from big and powerful Pokémon, no rumbling in the ground from a portal to another world and no magic of the legendaries that would exceed one's ability of understanding. Nothing but dank air and rocks.

Plenty of dank air and rocks, to be precise. I wandered around for half an hour without finding anything but that. But such a well-guarded cave simply had to contain some kind of mystery! Had the secret entrance led me astray, after all?

"I'm putting my life on the line for this?" I said out loud before shouting, "Hello! Is anybody there!" As expected, there was no answer, but after coming this far I decided not to return until I had explored the entire cave. I never got that far, since just a few moments after that I noticed that something was behind me. Worried that it might be one of the guards or someone that had followed me, I turned around quickly and yelled "Who's there!"

It was an Eevee, or rather, an Eeveelution. But it was nothing like I had ever seen before. Instead of fur, it had a body donned with rocks, with sharp edges sticking out of the sides. It reminded me of a suit of armor, the type that humans used to wear in the past. Its skin had a grey, brownish hue, and its eyes were black like a pair of onyxes. Onyxes that fixed upon me for about half a second before the creature took off.

"Wait! I'm not here to hurt you! Please!" I yelled, conflicted as to whether I should act harmless or just throw caution to the wind and capture it. The latter would have been a bad choice, as the Eeveelution suddenly halted and carefully looked back at me.

"T-That's right, I just want to..." I started, before the guide on how to act if you ever met a legendary Pokémon from one of the occult magazines popped up in my mind. "... My name is Zerobi." I said calmly, and extended my claws in a friendly gesture, "What is your name?" "..." the creature was silent, but then responded "Astrid" with a soft, weak voice.

"Astrid" I repeated, thinking that the guide was doing well so far, but I should probably cut out the whole "weaken it and throw a Pokeball" part of it. The magazine was written by and for humans, after all. We simply stood there and looked at each other for a while, and I started to fear that it might take off simply because of the awkward silence.

"You..." I said as softly as I could, "You are an Eeveelution, aren't you?" "Eevee... Lution?" Astrid repeated shakily, "No, I'm... Astrid." "What I mean is, you were an Eevee once, right?" I said, now having gained confidence after starting a dialogue, "You know, when you had brown fur and no rocks?" "Oh..." she whispered quietly, "Yes, I did... But how would you know that, outsider?" "Outsider?" I said out loud, finally deciding to see if my theory was right, "Let me guess -You have been living in this cave your entire life, right?"

Astrid looked visibly startled now. "Y-Yes, b-but how would you know that?" she stammered, not completely unlike another Eevee at my school. Speaking of which... "Oh, I have a friend just like you at my school!" I answered, "She's just like you! I mean, she's still an Eevee, but I'm sure she'd love to meet you!" "Really!" she exclaimed in joy, "Someone just like me? On the outside? She... wants to meet me?" "Definitively!" I responded. "Is... Is she cute?" she asked, and a bright blush appear on her face. "Oh, the cutest!" I said, far too exhilarated to realize that maybe Astrid wasn't female after all, "I'll bring her the next time I come here! Will you be here, too?" "Huh? I..." the peculiar creature hesitated, "Y-Yeah, sure! Of course I will!" "Great!" I said while curiously studying her, "In the meantime, would you mind telling me a bit about yourself...?" "M-Me?" Astrid said with a surprised look on her face, "I'm a regular Eevee, living here with my father... Or at least, until recently, he passed away." She looked down on the ground and let a strong sigh escape her lips. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that" I said when an urgent question consumed my empathy, "Was he an Eevee like you?" "Y-Yes, but not like me" she said and looked up, "He was a Fire-type. He had really warm skin!" Must have been a Flareon, I thought to myself. I felt like asking her who her mother was, but realized that I had far too many questions to be covered right now. Besides, there was one person who just had to know about this.

I made Astrid promise to meet me at the secret entrance the next day, as I left. My heart was pounding so ferociously in excitement! My blood was rushing around my body like a rollercoaster! Finally, I had made a discovery of something no one would ever believe, and what a discovery! "Eeveelutions - Still Evolving!" I laughed to myself as I went back home and instantly fell asleep.

The next day, two creatures broke through the surface in the secret entrance - I, as well as my best friend Eve. She was a timid Eevee girl in my class who I tried to convince that there were more Eeveelutions than publicly known. She didn't believe me.

"S-So c-cold..." Eve shivered, "Y-You have to remember..." She suddenly went silent when she noticed there was a shadow of someone standing by the water. "Come on, don't be shy! Come closer and show yourself" I said, wanting to erase all doubt that this was a trick or joke of any kind. However, the shadow just stood there completely frozen. "H-Hello?" Eve said, "Are you, um... Astrid?"

There was no response, and I was starting to worry that something was amiss. I swiftly got out of the water and carefully approached the mysterious figure. Immediately I realized that the shadow was Astrid, and she was staring at Eve with such a bright blush on her face that I thought she was using Flash to light up the cave. I didn't know whether to sigh at the silliness or scowl at the stupidity, but I decided to be completely blunt.

"Eve... This is Astrid, a Bouldeon" I said, while getting behind Astrid and pushing her forward. After a quick glace downward, I suddenly realized that Astrid was definitively not a girl. I shuddered, and looked over at Eve. Her mouth as agape in shock.

"You... I... Are you for real!" she burst out in a manner that visibly embarrassed herself, "Wow! How did you evolve like that?" "Umm... I..." Astrid said in a low voice, "Hello..." "Did you find some kind of Rockstone, or wait, is that a disguise maybe?" Eve said while running up and started tugging at Astrid who flinched, "No! I can't believe it, but... How?" "Hehe, might want to be a bit careful there!" I said with a snicker, "But seriously, how did you become like that, Astrid?"

"I... Well..." Astrid said, starting to regain some degree of composure, "It happened right after I was eaten by a big Pokemon. Oh! It was a Rock-type, too." "Wait..." I interrupted in shock, "What?" "Oh!" Astrid said, "You see, there are some really mean Pokémon in these caves, and one day one of them picked a fight with me. Really strong, I was covered in sand and mud and rocks by the time it ate me." "But it didn't chew me... At least not all that much..." he continued with a bright smile on his face, "And when I was lying in its stomach, things got really violent! I was thrown around like crazy and heard a bunch of muffled sounds from the outside! Finally, everything stopped, and I could hear the heartbeat of the creature I was lying in slow down and then stop."

"It died?" I asked, and looked over at Eve who had the same face as when I had once done a quadruple somersault in gymnastics. A face of utter disbelief, that was. "Yeah, and whoever killed it started eating it" he said, "That was lucky, because there wasn't much air in the belly, and it started to burn a bit. Anyway, as I was lying there, I felt a tingling feeling on the inside as well. There was, like, a warm feeling all around me, and when I came to it, I was a Rock-type! Then, it was time for my daring escape! As soon as the light peered through, I wiggled out and made a leap for..."

Astrid didn't notice that Eve and I snuck away to have a private discussion. "Ohmygosh Ohmygosh Ohmygosh" Eve repeated while making tiny leaps, "It's real! It's really real!" "I told you!" I giggled, "You know what this means?" "We've discovered a new Eeveelution!" she exclaimed. "No... I mean, yes, but..." I said, trying to formulate my words right, "Don't you remember that article? About how Eeveelutions are still evolving?" "Huh?" she said while staring blankly, "No, not really..." "Come on..." I sighed, but quickly perked up again, "This is just one of many new Eeveelutions! He evolved without an elemental stone, Eevee can become any type they want to!"

"Um... He?" Eve said before shaking her head, "So what... You have to get eaten to transform?" "That sounds strange" I responded and thought for a bit, "Surely it shouldn't matter if you're in the stomach or on the outside. No, rather, I think it had to do with something else." "Like what?" Eevee asked. "Hmm... There were a lot of things going on in his story" I said while realizing that I had a perfect guinea pig right next to me, "They're worth a try... Oh, yes..." "W-Why are you looking at me like that...?" Eve said while taking a step back, "No way! I don't want to be swallowed alive!" "Come on, it's for the benefit of Eevee everywhere!" I said while approaching her slowly, "We'll just cover you in sand, maybe some rocks..." "Noooo!" Eve shouted and stumbled backwards, "I told you, I want to be a Vaporeon!" "Oh, right" I said with a whicker, "We could always feed you to a Gyarados, if that's what you want!" "We-We should contact the p-police about Astrid!" she stammered, "They'll know how to handle this!"

"NO!" I shouted while giving her a menacing look, " Absolutely not!" Finally I found something this exciting, a true secret of the world with limitless potential, and she wanted to hand it over to the bloody bobby? "We can't let them know about Astrid, or the humans will know too!" I said harshly while Eve cowered, "You know what they'll do to someone like him? They'll cut him open to see what makes him tick, set him on fire just to know if he burns and puncture his eyes until they grow back, only to puncture them again! "ARGH! NO, PLEASE NO!" we heard Astrid scream from behind us. Apparently our shouting had snapped him out of his monologue coma. "Please, don't tell anyone about me!" he yelled as he ran up to us, true terror showing across his face. "OK, OK, I get it!" Eve said flustered, "I won't say anything! I mean, who would believe us about finding a... A..." "Bouldeon" I said, filling her in. "... Bouldeon?" she said with a sarcastic tone, "Really?" "What?" I responded, "All Eeveelutions end with -eon, right? Would you prefer Pebbleon, or Stoneon?" "Why not just go with Rockeon?" she asked, "Even Stoneon is better than Bouldeon!" "Oh!" Astrid said, "I'm a Flareon! My father used to say that all the time!" "No, you're not!" Eve snapped back while I said "Yeah, stay out of this!"

From that point on the three of us spent a lot of time together, talking about stuff and generally having fun. Astrid couldn't swim and detested the 'outside', so we came to visit him once or twice a week. This quickly turned into four times every week and then finally to the point where we went there more often than school.

One time when we met by the secret entrance, Eve wasn't alone.

"Who the heck are these two?" I asked, looking "Don't worry, they're cool" she said calmly, "They just want to see Astrid." "What the-" I stammered in disbelief, "You told them about our secret! What about the cutting open and the eye puncturing and..." "It's OK" she interrupted while the two Eevee she had brought with her looked nervous, "It's not like they can just say they went to the Cerulean Cave, anyway..." "But... That's..." I stuttered at a loss for words, "I mean, if they speak to a single soul about this..." "We won't!" the two of them chimed at the same time. It was so cute, even my heart melted at the spot. "I guess they can come tonight, but tonight only!" I said forcefully, "And if you don't swim, you drown. This will become highly relevant in a few moments." I looked over at the pool of water.

"Wait, uh... What was that about eye puncturing?" I heard one of the Eevee frightfully say, to which both me and Eve simply laughed.

Astrid was pleased to see new faces from the outside, even if they were always contorted in shock during the first few minutes. He definitively liked the attention. Every now and then there would be more Pokémon at the not-so-secret-yet-well-hidden entrance, wanting to meet Astrid or even me. Soon it was more like a secret club than a revolutionary discovery, and we would all have a lot of fun in the Cerulean Cave talking to Astrid, reading about the occult and experimenting with evolution. And that's how Evolution's Gate got started.

... Well, kind of. There is one more thing... OK, since you have listened attentively so far I will tell you, and only you, about what happened to me three months after first meeting Astrid.

The few experiments we had conducted hadn't really gone that well. We covered one the Eevee in sand and rubbed it against a Rock-type Pokémon for a day or two, but it didn't work. I was distraught and a little bit disappointed that my plans of creating all kinds of Eeveelutions were shattered, and so I once again became rather bored. Astrid wasn't exactly the mysterious miracle of nature I had expected, and more of a naïve goofball.

"Hey, Astrid" I asked him one day after the others had left, "What's really in this cave?" "Huh?" he said, still flustered after getting his first peck on the cheek by a visitor, "Whaddaya mean?" "I know there's more to this cave" I said sternly, "You've lived here your entire life, what can you tell me? What's at the end of this swirling passage?" "Y-You don't want to go to that part of the cave" he answered with a frightened stare I hadn't seen in a while, "It's filled with Pokémon that are really mean, and really powerful!" "Like, the one that ate you?" I calmly said, to which he flinched. "Yes, like that one!" he said loudly, "Going there is suicide!" "Heh, according to most people, going here would be suicide" I said and started walking down the passage. "No, wait! It's too dangerous!" Astrid said while making a jump clinging on to me, "I don't want to see you die!" I shook him off and turned around.

"Don't be such a baby!" I snarled, annoyed by the fact that my only discovery so far had been an utter coward, "I'm just going to take a look! Besides, I can handle myself in battle." With that, I resumed my journey into the unknown. I was half expecting him to try to stop me again, but instead he just remained where I had left him, probably in tears or something.

Déjà vu hit me like a rock and dank air as I was once again walking through an empty cave. However, unlike before this didn't culminate in finding a Bouldeon sissy. Little by little, the faint odor of other Pokémon began to infiltrate the air, and I realized that this cave was anything but empty. To be honest, I was starting to worry about what Astrid had said, but I was also too stubborn to turn back. And if I were to really find the legendary Mew or her genetic clone, that would show them all!

Then suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my lower back as I was suddenly on the ground. Something fairly heavy was weighing me down, but before I could reach back it was gone. Looking up, I saw a Pokémon a few feet in front of me.

It was a Kadabra, a Psychic Pokémon. I quickly got up, and smiled to myself - No Psychic Pokémon could ever frighten someone of the Dark-type.

"Why did you do that!" I shouted at the assailant, "What do you want!" "Kadabraaa!" it shouted. Crap, repeating its name like that, it had to be completely feral. "Bastard, you wanna fight me!" I yelled as I ran towards him, "You're in for a lot of trouble!"

As I approached it, I could feel the ground shaking. I hesitated for a bit, but then threw my gloves away and quickly dashed at him to try to try to slash him with my claws. It took a quick step back, and dodged my attack. Furious, I swiped at him over and over with a barrage of cuts that would knock out most enemies even when the gloves were on. With what appeared to be a seamless movement, it every attack, before suddenly teleporting a few feet away.

"Not bad..." I whispered to myself, "But you won't be dodging these." I inhaled deeply to fill my cold sack, and shot hundreds sharp icicles at the Kadabra. The icicles covered the entirety of the cave, so it had no place to escape to. With a simple flick of its wrist, the Kadabra made every single icicle shatter and disappear.

"N... No way!" I said to myself, completely stunned. It was so powerful! My fastest attacks couldn't hit, and my strongest ability didn't even make it flinch. Instead, the Kadabra started floating in midair before unleashing a psychic attack against me. The ground behind me was razed by an unseen force as I was completely immune to the attack.

The Kadabra started staring at its spoon in disbelief. It must've never encountered a Dark-type before. Seeing this as my best chance, I ran away from it. All I wanted was to get away, to run back to Eve and Astrid and everyone else. I managed to make it about five feet before a blunt instrument hit me in the head and knocked the wind out of me. I fell over on the ground, drifting in and out of consciousness.

I heard the psychic Pokémon approaching. Since it was feral I knew that murder, rape or both awaited me. Quickly realizing that I could attack him head on, I discretely inhaled and started freezing the ground in front of me. Slowly I crawled my way across it as not to raise any suspicion, until the Kadabra was within my reach. Without hesitating, I turned around and lounged at the Kadabra. It tried to dodge my attack, but slipped on the ground beneath it, and with the opening that was created I thrust both my claws into its abdomen. No matter how strong your psychic powers are, your body is still soft. I rejoiced as the Kadabra gasped loudly, and blood splashed over my arms.

That is when my life changed forever. A burning, yet pleasant sensation which stemmed from my arms and reached throughout my body, slamming my every nerve with pleasure on the way. The warm, dripping blood was no longer a source of revulsion in my mind, but rather the essence of joy. I felt it caress my skin, I felt it seep into me to soothe my pain, and I felt my body craving more.

The Kadabra took his turn as well, and flung a sharp rock with his psychic abilities which pierced my right leg. I looked down, hardly even noticing the pain before I lounged at him again, slicing through his ear and severely damaging his right eyeball. The creature howled and fell back, after which I lay on top of him and stabbed him repeatedly. His arms, his face... The brown parts were especially fun since they made a cracking noise after a while. Every plunge into his soft body supplied me with a shower of the splendid blood, and I was in ecstasy hours after the Kadabra had stopped moving altogether.

When the blood had dried and I was done, I felt a twinge of disgust. After all, I was lying on top of what could only be described as a pile of gory, completely unrecognizable from the living, breathing Pokémon that had once been there. But to be fair, the bloody thing attacked me! That would be me lying there if I hadn't done anything! Whether my actions were justifiable or not, one thing was clear - My life had changed forever.

Not only my life, but my body as well. Some of the blood that dried into my body remained red, and on that very day I noticed a new growth on my head. Under the duration of the following month, I evolved into a Weavile. Not only that, but I felt invigorated for weeks to come, and became noticeably more powerful. Not to mention that where the wound from the rock should have been, there was only a red patch which healed in a single day.

I wanted more. I needed more. The thought of locating hidden legends that had previously consumed my mind was ebbing away, and all I could imagine was a crimson shine covering my body once more. But how would I get it? I wasn't ready to throw my life away and go on a killing rampage, that was for sure. At least not at that point. And my friends... Would they understand? I was conflicted as to what to do, when I remembered something that I had thought before.

A true secret of the world with limitless potential

Perhaps I would be able to make something out of the discovery of Astrid, after all. Perhaps it was time to step up with the experiments. Perhaps the time had come to not only sate my curiosity, but also my thirst for blood.

Yawn... Now I'm getting a bit tired. No, I'm not going to die, silly. Rebirth is a tiresome thing, and I have a lot of things to do when I return to life. I think I'll take a break. When you're dead, I'll tell you the rest of my story. Until then...

---

Author's Section

"Question!" Zerobi asks while raising her claw, "The cliff notes called for me to say 'And like the wind, I shall sweep the land forever'. Must I remind you that I'm..."

A Dark/Ice Pokemon, yeah.

"Also, in character?" she says out of annoyance.

Do you know of the classic elements - Water, Fire, Wind and Earth?

"What, all that and no grass?" Tsutaja chuckles, having listened in on us, "Barbarians, the lot of 'em!"

Well, see, if you look at the cliff notes closely, you'll realize that Tsutaja's Story started in the rain, Eve's Story started with fire, and Zerobi's Story had her thinking of herself like the wind.

"What, really?" Zerobi says while looking confused, "You honestly believe anyone is going to catch that?"

Nope, not a chance.

"Then why the heck would you even..." she says while trashing about, "And what about the last one!"

What about what?

"Earth!" Zerobi shouts, looking irritated, "You left... Oh wait... The next cliff note is going to start with something involving Earth... That means it's got to be Astrid's..."

You figured it out? Good. Now, I can't let you spoil anything more, so I'll just edit out your next couple of sentences.