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Year of the Cold Stone

Time passed, as it does in most of the realms of reality. For Ephraim, Vasil-Tor was a sleepy, quiet place; and the inhabitants accepted him with open arms to become part of their community.

The biggest and most boisterous group within the village were the vaporeon, as they were the fisherman and providers for the town. After that, most of the adults were jolteon or flareon. Rachael and Jarven, the village guardians and leaders, were the only exceptions as a leafeon and an espeon respectively.

As an eevee, Ephraim appeared to be just on the cusp on his teenage years. Saying he did not know his age, the village decided to celebrate what they declared was his thirteenth birthday on the first anniversary of his appearance in the woods.

It was sometimes easy to forget, in those first few years, he was what he was, as Jarven helped him learn the skills of any other eevee under his care. He learnt to swim, to fish, and to cook. Rachel taught him the art of growing berries and planting the fields that surrounded the town. She even taught him the knack of churning butter; he had quite a talent for that apparently. And probably a good thing too, after his many tries with a net on the boats just ended up with him catching several grumpy looking vaporeon.

When the winters came, the snow line from the mountains would descend, and the cold winds of the north would cover the valley in a blanket of frozen water; freezing the lake hard enough to walk across.

In the crisp silence and bright white days, Ephraim and the other eevee would make figures in the powder and construct great forts of ice and snow. Eventually a snowball would be thrown and the combat would begin, not ceasing till everyone's paws were almost frost bitten, and then Rachael would call them all into the village hall for hot milk and stories and lessons of the land.

Ephraim learned how their nearest neighbour, Vasil-Manire, was another town of pokémon much like themselves. He listened to how in the spring, travelling merchants would visit them both, trading their berries, seeds, and smoked fish for cloth, exotic foods, little electronic gizmos the jolteon could use, and helpful trained feral pokémon. Not only that, but they'd always bring news from the cities and lands beyond.

Jarven explained they were part of something called 'The Independent Republic of Greil', which sounded fairly important. It covered most of the small continental landmass they lived on. But in the south 'The Empire of Sakaki' had built a city. The eevee did his best to follow, but from the sound of it, those in the southern lands of their region (known as Nocet) were definitely a dislikeable bunch and had kept creeping and insisting their borders were a little bigger every year.

The eevee all agreed that didn't sound very right, they should have their bit and Sakaki should have their bit and that was fair. After all they had a whole region to themselves in the south. Jarven agreed and began to ramble on, about who owned what and to whom it should belong, till Rachael saved them all. She told them of a superhero named Incinerus who, it was said, roamed the Imperial city in Sakaki, doing good deeds and righting wrongs. The eevee much preferred that story, but Ephraim's mind drifted as he gazed out the windows. Why dream of other places when they had all they needed right here?

---

Summer: Year of the Returning Spirits

Summer in the valley of Vasil-Tor was always the time of year Ephraim hated the most. The air would grow dry and still, and hanging out by the lake only brought very little relief. The sun seemed to bake the water straight into the air and there was never a cloud in sight. The warm winds would draw up and blow all the moisture far away across the mountains. And even the mountains themselves looked parched, bare and sear as the snow caps would retreat until only the highest points of each peak had white, and there were empty brown and black patches on the usually snow covered slopes.

Sighing, the young eevee leant on his elbows and stared out of the window of his bedroom toward the lake. Maybe he should go swimming, but the walk down to the shore would be torture. Here in his bedroom he could get away with nothing but a pair of shorts. If he tried to go outside his father would make him get dressed properly. Pawing at his thick eevee floof, Ephraim contemplated turning into something that could whether the heat easier.

"Yeah," Ephraim whispered standing up, fingers working at the catch on one of his everstone armbands, "Dad need not know..."

<Needn't know what Eph?> The espeon's voice echoed inside his mind, <What has you so excited, you're leaking and...>

Ephraim hurriedly cut contact and squirmed, hoping Jarven hadn't plucked the idea out of his head. He really did have to be more careful with his daydreams. The door opened a few moments later and the pale purple furred psy-cat poked his head inside and smiled at his son.

"You're feeling restless again aren't you?" He walked the rest of the way in, dressed only in a pair of shorts and a light cotton over-robe, "Or are you just feeling grumpy about the heat? Should we sit down, maybe try to explore your memories a bit? That way we don't have to run away getting sticky in the heat."

Ephraim smiled at his adopted father, hugged him, then sat down on the bed, "Ok. I was going to go swimming but that'd mean wearing clothes and I hate clothes in this heat."

Shaking his head the espeon sat cross legged before his son and smiled, "You hate clothes at the best of times Ephraim, you've been here for three years now and I still can't get you to keep your clothes on. The heat is just another excuse."

Smiling the eevee removed the everstone bangles from around his wrists and set them aside. "I'm meant to be small, four legged and float around the world causing mischief. Clothes suck but... at least I'm safe here."

"Indeed, now then," the espeon reached out and lightly placed his hands on either side of the disguised mew's temples. "Let's go inside and have a look. Guide me in, let's see if we can unpick the troubles with your childhood... I can feel that still weighs heavily on your memory."

Closing his eyes, Ephraim let his thoughts drift, his conscious-self drifting quietly backwards through the recorded history of his life. He had a silent passenger with him, his step-father's calm and organised mind following. They floated down past happy memories of life, of the village, of Ephraim's few excursions out and about as himself. Until they reached the night on the mountain, the night Ephraim's mother died as the storm raged outside and rain slashed the world. The strange creature tracking them had injured her, she was dying in Ephraim's hands, his healing powers incapable of bringing her back.

The mew quailed at relieving her death and the image flickered, the memory jerked and suddenly they were early in that evening. He was sitting by a fire in an ancient stone temple. There was another jerk, a strange pulsing sensation and another image. Fire... three more mew glowing with power, a wave of darkness, and then the memory jerked backwards to the fire in the temple, the female mew reading a story to a tiny kitten.

<Something is wrong,> Jarven's voice whispered, <concentrate, Ephraim. These memories feel wrong... try to see beyond what you remember.>

<I... I can't, Dad don't make me...> the connection wavered, Jarven felt Ephraim's emotions rising, threatening to push them both back out of the memories.

<No... Ephraim, listen, we are close... set aside your emotions, follow me... our minds are one... I will walk with you.> He kept talking, a soothing presence dampening, engulfing the turmoil filled mind of the younger pokémon. It was hard, Ephraim wanted to fly into a panic, to shy away from the dark memories, but Jarven was there. Ephraim was strong but undisciplined, but every time his emotions rose or he wavered the espeon was there, gently shepherding him back towards calm.

The memory played out before them... it jerked and jumped again, flickering between images, scenes of time spent with his mother. None of it was coherent though, none of it went back far enough. <We are nearly there Ephraim! I need you to focus, push your thoughts forward, focus on the first memory you have.>

Ephraim's thoughts bounced around, flashing from memory to memory, the first time he flew, the feel of the wind on his fur, his mother holding him... then flash... the memory of the camp fire, the story... flash... another flash... bright light and then... then Ephraim was crouched on all four feet, staring out at the storm. The cave was behind him, the rain outside was drenching the world... he was alone and awake in the cavern.

Jarven felt something shatter... the memory of story-time by the fire crumbled and a wave of memories rolled into them both. Ephraim was picked up, Jarven held on tightly with his mind, as they rushed back into the night outside. Time reversed, it was sunset. Behind them an ancient temple reared up into the sky and Elinora floated sedately before the statue of mew that dominated the alter. She was old, her blue fur dark with age but her mind was elsewhere, watching the three pink mew racing up the side of the mountain toward the temple. Three pink flashes of light indicated a teleport and then they were inside the temple, spinning around in a circle around her.

<You must flee!> one of the mew cried. <It is nearly here, Elinora you must go! It has found you!>

<I will not leave you... you cannot ask me to leave!>

One of the mew turned, it was Lira. <You must... the hunter cannot...> she died before she could finish. A flash of dark energy shattered the wall and engulfed her and the pink mew was gone. Elinora screamed as Lira's presence was cut off. Hanare and Nox turned, they flashed through the air as a shadowed shape floated into the temple through the hole it had made. Bright eyes scanned the room and there was a hum... a bolt of dark energy snapped across the room. Hanare deflected it, somehow, a pulsing sine wave of psychic energy warped it in a circle so it only bored through Elinora's side.

She fell out of the air, the blue mew landing with a thud as Nox dived down to land by her side. There was another flash of light, a crack of energy and Hanare screamed. His body dropped, head hitting the floor hard about eight feet away from the two remaining mew. The light was already fading from his eyes when Nox engulfed them both in a bubble and teleported them with a blampf of light.

<Elinora... please, please don't be dead...> the pink mew begged, placing his paws on her wounded side, pink energy spooling through his claws and into her, trying to heal the damage caused by the dark energy.

Taking a deep breath that stuck as her left lung collapsed, Elinora coughed up a mouthful of bloody foam and touched the pink mew's face. <It is too late, Elinora's time is over... I must renew.>

Nox stared into her eyes, tears falling down his blunt, round kitty muzzle, <You can't leave us, the hunter...>

<Will be following your trail... Nox... I must... begin but it must not get me...>

He lowered his head then embraced her. <I'll drive it off, be safe... another one of us is here... I could feel him, reaching out... he'll keep you safe.> Nox wavered then vanished with a faint "blampf" of displaced air molecules. Closing her eyes Elinora focussed her power internally, reached out with all that she was and touched the essence that made her mew. The power rose, filling her, consuming her, a restorative surge of psychic energy and life that would grant her new life. Outside the night was rent asunder by an explosion that flattened trees, destroyed life and injured the hunter. Nox had blown himself up to buy her time for this... closing her eyes one last time she let life flow through her.

Ephraim opened his eyes, weak, confused, resting on all four paws in the cave, outside the rain was falling. The storm was raging endlessly but this time... he was not alone. Jarven was there, the espeon's mind filled with confusion at what he had just witnessed. Then there was the ghostly spectre of Elinora, smiling down at Ephraim.

<My son... you have woken the past, this means you are old enough to know.> She landed before him, standing on all four feet and pressed her nose to his. <You are the blue mew, there is only us...>

For a moment she wasn't alone, there was an endless line of blue furred mew, stretching off into infinity behind her. <We are always us, a life lived until the world brings us low and we renew. Mew to mew to mew... we are us.>

<What was that thing... the thing that attacked?> Ephraim asked, desperate to know. It terrified him just knowing it existed.

<That is the hunter of mew. Since the end of the great war, when Humanity fell by treachery, it has hunted us. Be safe and continue to shield yourself so it may not find you.> Her expression turned mournful. <The balance of the world slides towards darkness, the mew are nearly gone. You must be safe so that when the Hunter is destroyed you can restore us all. But for now... you must learn.>

The unbroken line of mews smiled, their eyes glowing white with power as her voice continued. <We are the genetic memory of the mew, of all pokémon. Within you rests the power of new life, of balance. When a population of pokémon is threatened, we are there. When the world requires new life to balance changes, then we are mew.> The light in those eyes started to glow brighter, the mew were circling Ephraim now. <Those of the pink fur are our guardians and hold but a part of the world, a single segment. You... we contain all that is, can be, and should be. It is your birth right and you are ready Ephraim...>

Jarven screamed as a massive mental force kicked him out of Ephraim's mind, his son barely registered his father leaving. He was lost in a sudden deluge, places, names, powers, skills, pokémon... so many pokémon. He understood it all, the world... the reason why... life. Opening his eyes he looked over at the Espeon who was his stepfather, he understood the reason why Eevee were, it all made sense. Jarven made a slight gurgling noise at the back of his throat as he caught the edge of Ephraim's thoughts, the depth and power were nearly overwhelming, and what was worse it was reaching out to him.

<The genetic memory of the mew is here.> It was the voice of the female mew from the vision, <He came to it too early, the trauma of our renewal did not bring him all the way to maturity as it should.> She was in Jarven's head, smiling. <He would not retain sanity to hold it all at once. We learnt this lesson once before. He shall forget most of what is his, but I will be here, whispering in his ears when he needs to know something. For now know that Ephraim is mew. Guard him well, child of template.>

Shakily Jarven picked up the tiny blue cat and placed him on the bed, one pink furred paw stroking his ears. He mewled in his sleep and curled up, and the espeon sat down next to him. "Well my little one, that was... unexpected." He pulled the blankets over the cat and tucked him in, then kissed his forehead. "Sleep well Ephraim... I'm here... and your mother is here too... we're both very proud of you."

---

Spring: Year of the Cascading Waves

Sitting at the desk in his bedroom, Ephraim stared out of the window. The village was quiet at this time of the morning; the eastern sky was pale, and the only sounds were the occasional splash or call of the village fishers preparing to cast off in their little single-sail sailing boats. The disguised mew sighed and watched as the daffodils filling the embankment opposite started to uncurl as the slowly rising sun bathed them in glorious spring time warmth. Several tiny crocuses and pansies were also opening their delicate faces to the sky, each petal scattered with dew drops that made them glisten and reflect the fine spring sunshine.

The quiet moment of the dawn was so easily missed, taken for granted, but Ephraim tried to get up and watch it when he could. It was a special time only seen by those few villagers who had to get up before the sunrise. Looking down at his diary, the eevee picked up his pen, forming words in his mind to go onto the crisp heavy parchment. He paused as footsteps sounded on the plank-lined path that curved past the cottage toward the lake. It was Robin, Lisa and Daryl. They walked this way most mornings to see Ephraim on their way to the boats. Robin and Daryl were both a year older then Ephraim's supposed age, sporting blue scaled skin, neck ruffs, and hands and feet of waterproof webbing. They had both chosen vaporeon for their evolution and fished the lake with their fathers and brothers. Lisa was the same age as Ephraim, fluffy and eevee still but thinking about the boats as a career.

"Morning Eph," Robin greeted him with a wave of his hand. "You going to come out on the lake with us today?"

"No thanks," Eph laughed, "Not unless you want me to capsize the boat again. I'd also rather not spend the next week smelling of wet eevee." Daryl and Robin laughed at that quip, remembering how Ephraim had fouled up his trip to the fishing fleet by catching the rigging of their boat, not the magikarp they were aiming for, and causing the entire vessel to tip spectacularly into the water.

"Are you saying I smell?" Lisa asked with a teasing grin as she leaned on the windowsill and poked her head into the eevee's bedroom.

"Nope, never you," Eph cheerful declared, leaning forward to rub his nose against hers. "You all coming tonight?"

"Of course," Lisa said, nipping the eevee's nose.

"We want to hear what you've chosen," Daryl rumbled, the massive vaporeon pulling his sister back before she climbed into the other eevee's bedroom. "But for now, we have a boat to catch."

Ephraim watched them leave, then turned his head to stare at his diary. It was really nice and thick and would last years. Jarven purchased it off a merchant from Vasil-Manure the year before, to allow Ephraim to express himself safely and freely. He put pen to paper and started to write.

"Well today is the day, my sixteenth birthday... at least everyone thinks I'm turning sixteen. They all think I was ten when I got here... if only they knew the truth. That's not my biggest worry though, everyone is expecting me to pick an evolution today. Everyone's spent weeks wooing me, son of the mayor, even an adopted son, whoever gets me will be well set up. Will I be jolteon or vaporeon, flareon or am I going to surprise everyone by picking an exotic transformation. Espeon like my dad, leafeon like Rachel, there is even a rumour floating around that I'm going glaceon or umbreon."

Ephraim stopped writing and stared out the window, picking at one of his everstone bracelets.

"What's worse is I have to pretend I've not decided yet. Dad says the evolution ceremony is big and public for safety reason as well as being a point of pride. I can't transform from eevee to something else without going through mew first. Until we come up with some plausible way for me to "evolve" out of sight of the others I've got to stay eevee."

"He says it's not unheard of for someone to not decide straight away, he took several months to decide. But I won't be considered a full adult until I evolve. We need to come up with something though, he says we can't tell anyone else about me and he can't cover for me evolving in private. So today I have to announce in front of everyone I'm staying eevee for the time being. It's gonna be really awkward... anyway I better go wash and get dressed Dad will be up for breakfast soon and I need to rake out the ashes from the fireplace before we can cook anything."

"Well diary I'm back! I'm writing this in the dark practically I daren't turn the lights on as I'm not alone! My party went really well and everyone was really understanding about my choice! But more importantly Lisa is in my bed! She snuck in here through my window and... we totally made love! It was so good, I had no idea it felt that amazing! She's sleeping in my bed right now, she's decided she doesn't want to evolve yet either she's going to tell everyone else at her party next week. The sun's coming up again, I think today is going to be good, Oooh Lisa's awake ah... bye diary! Gotta go!"

"Well spring is here in full, the trees are covered in blossoms and I'm being hassled by nearly everyone to make a choice about evolution. Lisa, Robbie, Trent they've all said not yet now and their parents are fuming. They all blame me for not picking at my birthday. Mr. Deriel, Trent's father was really horrible to me last night when he stormed over here to have a go. Dad told him to get lost in the end, reminding him that the choice of evolution for a young eevee shouldn't be rushed and was our decision to make. Dad says we are going to have to think of something soon though, some way for me to "evolve" out of sight of everyone."

"Well Trent caved into his dad's badgering the picked a evolution today, he picked umbreon! Mr. Deriel is fuming, he's a flareon and has been raging at anyone who will listen. Thankfully he seems to have pissed most people off with his constant moaning over the last few weeks so everyone says it serves him right if his son has picked an evolution different from him. The ceremony is tonight, we're all going including Trent's mom, it should he pretty magical getting to watch him evolve into the dark type eevee evolution."

"Well people are getting used to the idea I've not decided on an evolution yet. Dad's been successful in dropping hints that I've actually decided but not ready to change. People seem to have accepted this as an excuse, I think they're waiting for me to become an Espeon and this takes a lot of training so that's something. It's only a reprieve but summer will be here soon so I think I have a couple of months to come up with something."

---

Autumn: Year of the Drifting Frost

Standing in the shadows of the smoke house, Rachel watched Ephraim walking out of the village. The twenty year old eevee kicked his way joyfully through the piles of brown, gold, and red leaves coating the forest floor, leaving a trail heading south and a little bit west. The leafeon followed, her leaf like ears and tail blowing in the errant pre-dawn breeze that was rustling through the dying autumnal foliage overhead. Her bare feet made no sound as she passed through the fallen leaves. Her own foliage was starting to droop and turn golden and red as her body reacted to the change of seasons. It'd still be a few weeks before her body finished the seasonal transition but thankfully the trees were still awake enough to track Ephraim.

He was hiking southeast toward the foothills of the valley, weaving a slow meandering course through the woodlands as the sun slowly rose and set fire to the forest with its golden light. The dying, drooping, desiccated leaves of the forest looked amazing; even here in the midst of autumn's decay the forest was so full of life. Rachel's mind, however, stayed focused on Ephraim. He was no longer weaving around quite so sporadically but walking with a purpose in a single direction. He'd been coming out into the forest for years now, exploring, staying away from everyone but his closest friends. Jarven was very closed-lipped about what he was doing out here, so today Rachel was following him.

It took an hour to reach the foothills, and as Rachel followed, she realised that the eevee had stopped; so she caught up with him and watched from the trees. Blending into the natural background of the forest, he would never see her, so she got quite close. She watched as he wandered around inside a shallow cave, then ten minutes later he set off again, wandering higher into the hills as he ranged back and forth as if searching for something.

Twice he stopped to look into caves before moving on and up. The trees were growing sparse, the edge of the forest was rapidly approaching, when Ephraim found a cavern that was more tunnel. He vanished down it and Rachel lost all sense of him for over an hour before the forest informed her he'd appeared higher up the hill. Three more times the young eevee went spelunking, vanishing down tunnels in the hillside only to emerge elsewhere later.

After the third time Rachel stopped hurrying to catch up. She perched up a tree right at the edge of the treeline where the forest gave way to sear grass, scrubby thorn bushes, and the like. She just listened to nature for Ephraim's footsteps returning to the outside world. After the fifth trip underground ended with Ephraim appearing over a mile above her, Rachel decided it was time to talk to the adventuresome eevee about his behaviour. She was half a mile away when the sense she had of him standing on the grass faded. Freezing, the leafeon stared up the slope of the mountain and started to run as a blue light sparkled into life atop the moss coated ledge Ephraim had been standing on.

Scrambling over a stand of fallen rock, Rachel pulled herself up onto the ledge just behind Ephraim and froze at what she saw. The youngster's clothes were scattered all across the rock, his everstone bracelets weighing down his vest. Of the eevee however there was no sign; instead a svelte feline pokémon was floating in mid-air, short blue fur blowing in the wind as he sat still on nothing. Their eyes were closed but they seemed to be dancing, their movements rhythmic, feet kicking at the air, tail coiling back and forth behind them. It was a mew... it was a blue mew just casually dancing atop the remains of Ephraim's clothing.

"There is something here," the mew suddenly murmured in Ephraim's voice, "I can feel them... something...."

"Ephraim... is that really you?" Rachel started to ask but the question was lost as the mew jerked around in surprise, overbalanced, and crashed onto all fours atop the moss. That contact answered her question, it was definitely Ephraim. The plant life confirmed it as she climbed up on top of the rock and sat opposite him. "Well... this explains a lot... you're a mew."

The psychic cat squirmed then stood up on his hind legs and smiled a charmingly adorable disarming grin. <Who is this Ephraim?>

Chuckling softly, Rachel reached out a hand and smooshed his snout. "It's much too late to try that Ephraim, I heard you talking and the moss says it's you. The plants have been watching you all morning."

"Oh well... fudge, dad's going to kill me," the mew muttered as he flicked his tail from side to side, "He's going to flip out big time when he finds out you saw me like this."

Smiling gently, the leafeon gathered the blue cat in her lap and petted his ears, "Why did you drop your disguise? I can imagine why Jarven wanted you to keep it a secret. This does explain a lot... like why you have remained an eevee, for one."

"Yeah... it's meant to be this big public ceremony and I don't know how to shift from eevee to something else without, you know... returning to mew first."

"Mmhmm," Rachel lifted the psychic cat and set him in her lap facing him. "But why did you drop your disguise here, and today? Anyone could have been watching you here. It was incredibly dangerous."

Ephraim squirmed and shifted from side to side, looking everywhere but at the leafeon until she gripped his head and forced him to look into her soft green eyes. He whined and wriggled and then licked her hand in defeat, he was too adorable like this. "I... there is something here, these are the caves where I died last time... and was reborn as me. There is something calling to me in the caves... Nox brought us here because he felt it too."

Frowning, Rachel shook her head. "I think you had better start at the beginning and don't leave anything out."

It was a long story but Ephraim told it well, hesitantly at first but with growing enthusiasm. The blue mew seemed pleased to have someone to share it with at last, and Rachel was a good listener. She was a little alarmed by the whole story. The creature hunting mews, the fact Jarven had been hiding Ephraim's secret for ten years, it was a lot to take in.

By the time Ephraim finished his tale the afternoon was wearing on, the sun was sliding toward the west, and a chill breeze was blowing over the slopes. The leafeon looked down at the mew in her lap and then brushed a hand across his ears. "Well I am glad I know the truth and I think I can help with your disguise problem."

Ephraim sat up and mewled softly, tilting his head as his feet left Rachel's lap and he bobbed in mid air, "What do you mean?"

"Well, turn into a Leafeon now. I evolved out here on my own, you spend enough time sneaking off to the forest that your father and I can make it believable that you've been training with me." She gestured back toward the village. "We can return tonight with you as a leafeon and no one will question it."

Ephraim squirmed a bit, shifting back and forth in mid-air. "Shouldn't we tell dad first?"

Shaking her head Rachel stood up and held out a soft, green furred hand, "No time. Let's do this now and get it right. Copy me and change, Ephraim; from everything you've told me you shouldn't be out of your disguise for long."

Sighing softly, Ephraim lifted up into the air, reaching out with his senses. He touched Rachel's body, felt her pattern of life and let the memory of it wake the template within himself. It was always a strange sensation, transforming; he'd not been something else in a very, very long time. Once he had the image of the leafeon in his mind he adjusted it for the male form and anthropomorphic shape, then let it flow out into his body. Blue light engulfed his small feline frame, a skin tight pulse of light that spun him around in a gentle circle before changing his body.

Rachel stared in awe as the mew's limbs grew, his torso lengthened and the shape of his head adjusted itself. Feline features were being subsumed by vulpine, blue fur was retreating, the shade and colour adapting, transforming, becoming a pale green, mixed with a light dusting of tan fur. His ears spread, budding into long, streaming leaves, whilst his tail skipped and flowed and crinkled behind him, folding open to form one incredibly long, vibrant green leaf! His hands and feet were shaded with dark brown socks, white claws poked out of each fox-like foot, and his eyes were a magnificent shade of amber.

Falling out of the air Ephraim landed on all fours and stared at nothing for a very long moment. Rachel knelt down next to him, a hand on his back and smiled at him. "That is very good disguise, your fur is more green then tan but that is okay. Every Leafeon is different."

He lifted his head and accepted her help in standing up, shivering a bit as the cold breeze blew through his leafy ears and tail. "I... I can hear the trees?"

"Yes..." She picked up his clothes and held them out to him, "Get dressed and let's walk down. I think we are going to have to take a few hours to help you acclimatize and then we had best go tell your father what we have done." She grinned softly at him and winked. "He is going to be quite surprised."

Ephraim nodded and followed Rachel back down the mountain, looking around with wide opened eyes. Rachel recognized that look from when she'd felt it on her own face so many years ago. He was hearing the trees, the plants... there was so much life all around. For him, it was going to take a lot of getting used to this leafeon lark... but it should hopefully make life better in the village.

"Well I'd finally evolved, I had a place, a forest guardian alongside Rachel. And now when the sun shone upon my body, it tingled with energy. Dad was relieved I think that someone else knew my secret and the whole village erupted into celebration. Lisa was a bit miffed I kept it secret but I gave her a "private" show of my new body and that cheered her up! Still I knew I had to return again though. There was still something up here, in the hills. Something I had to find. But it could wait a little longer, for I was of the forest now!"