Pokémon: Raising Abandoned Pokémon into Legends

Chapter 120: A Special Eevee

Outside the Celadon Gym.

Gengar looked at a brat who was about eight years old and still didn’t know how to wipe his own nose, wearing an expression of pure annoyance.

While Froakie had been training, people occasionally passed by. Most, upon seeing a Froakie—a Pokémon not native to Kanto—immediately wanted to catch it. But Gengar had persuaded them to leave. Only this little brat refused to listen no matter how many times Gengar tried. He kept trying to throw Poké Balls, which Gengar deflected with Psychic. But the kid was stubborn and kept coming back.

"You’re lying! It doesn’t have a trainer—you just don’t want me to catch it!" the brat said angrily, two long snot trails dangling from his nose. "If you won’t let me catch it, then I’ll catch you!"

He threw a Poké Ball at Gengar. Predictably, Gengar deflected it with Psychic—this time sending it flying onto a rooftop hundreds of meters away. That infuriated the kid, who pointed at Gengar, stammering, "You—you—you—"

"You what? What are you gonna do? Hit me?" Gengar floated in midair, using its chubby hands to stretch its mouth grotesquely, sticking out its tongue and making a taunting face. At the same time, it used Psychic to snatch the other two Poké Balls from the kid’s pocket and toss them away.

"AAAAHHH!!!" The kid burst into tears and threw himself on the ground, throwing a tantrum, screaming for his sister to come beat up Gengar.

"Go ahead and call her! Old Ghost is waiting right here! You can’t handle it, you little brat, nyah nyah~" Gengar didn’t hold back, hovering nearby and sticking out its giant tongue in mockery. Not satisfied with just that, it floated down beside the kid and started fake-crying too, competing to see who could wail louder. The kid was furious—he couldn’t catch it, and he couldn’t out-cry it.

"Just you wait! I’m going to get my sister to come and beat you up!" The kid wiped his tears and snot with his hand and stormed off.

"If you don’t, you’re my son! Nyah nyah~" Gengar taunted, hands on its hips, tongue out.

Once the kid was gone, Gengar turned around—and realized Froakie had disappeared. It looked around and spotted Froakie hopping away on its own.

"Hey, little Froakie! Where are you going? Don’t you want revenge anymore?" Gengar floated over.

Froakie shot it an annoyed glance. "Froakie~" — Don’t you think you’re being too loud?

"Not at all! That brat went to get his sister—you can train in peace now."

"Froakie~" — And what if his sister comes?

"Then I’ll make her cry too, and send her to get their mom. I’ll make the whole family cry, and then no one will bother you!"

Froakie gave Gengar a deadpan look, said nothing, and kept hopping away.

"Sigh—no one appreciates a good-hearted ghost," Gengar sighed.

Froakie eventually hopped into a quiet, empty bush—and froze. Right in front of it was an Eevee, tears glistening in its eyes. Frog and fox stared at each other, both frozen. After four or five seconds, Gengar’s voice echoed in both their minds:

"Are you two about to have a love-at-first-sight moment?"

The voice snapped Eevee out of it. It turned its head away and wiped its tears with its paw. Froakie looked at Gengar with an expression of pure exasperation. Gengar ignored it, focusing on Eevee instead.

"Little Eevee—what’s wrong? Why are you hiding here crying?"

Eevee ignored it and walked off to lie down by itself.

"Do I look like a bad ghost?" Gengar turned to ask Froakie.

"Froakie~" — What do you think? Froakie rolled its eyes, then hopped over to Eevee and asked what was wrong. But it got the cold shoulder too—Eevee turned its head away.

Gengar laughed: "Hahaha! If I’m a bad ghost, then you’re a bad frog!"

Froakie shot it another glare, tried a few more times to get a response, and got nothing. So it hopped back and started practicing its moves. After seven or eight Water Pulse attempts, Gengar’s voice echoed in its mind again:

"Little Froakie—that little Eevee is over there crying into its paws."

Froakie looked over and saw Eevee curled up, its body trembling. After watching for a few seconds, Froakie couldn’t focus on training anymore. It looked around at the fallen leaves, picked out a soft one, and hopped over.

"Froakie~" — Can you tell me what’s wrong? If there’s anything I can do to help, I will.

Eevee didn’t respond, keeping its head buried as it sobbed.

"Little Froakie, you’ve clearly got no experience with girls—watch a pro at work," Gengar’s voice chimed in.

It floated over to Eevee and started pulling its face into funny shapes with its fat hands, making ridiculous faces. "Little Eevee, look at me—don’t I look just like that little frog next to you?"

Eevee stirred, lifting its head slightly to see Gengar pulling a stern face that mimicked Froakie. Despite its sadness, a smile crept onto Eevee’s face.

Froakie blinked in surprise—it couldn’t believe that had actually worked.

"See, little Froakie? That’s how you charm the ladies. Isn’t Old Ghost amazing?" Gengar’s voice echoed smugly.

Froakie rolled its eyes, then started making funny faces too. "Froakie~" — Look at me!

But its faces weren’t funny—Eevee glanced over and showed no reaction.

"Look at me! Look at me!" Gengar continued, and its faces were hilarious. Eevee watched for a while and started laughing again.

Froakie kept trying, hoping to make Eevee smile too. But no matter how many faces it made, Eevee never laughed at them. Froakie felt dejected, left to watch enviously as the old ghost Gengar worked its magic.

Eevee was happy for about five minutes—then its expression suddenly changed. It collapsed in pain, its body beginning to glow with the light of evolution. It first evolved into a Flareon, then into a Jolteon, then into a Vaporeon, and finally reverted back to an ordinary Eevee.

Gengar and Froakie were completely dumbfounded.

"Whoa—is this still an Eevee?! What happened in the last hundred years? Can Eevees just evolve and devolve at will now?! Gus, are you seeing this?! A hundred years later, Eevees can freely control their evolution!"