Leaves rustled on shrubs that clung around the tall trees of the forest. The wind played with them as if they were wind toys, and quite strongly while the scent of rain hung in the sky. It was the middle of the day, yet because of the dark and ominous clouds, it looked to be night time already.
One of the bushes rattled, and then a flash of yellow fur as a figure darted from cover to cover. Then another, green this time, and twice the size as the last. There was another, and then another after that. Altogether there were at least five of them that were racing to cover and closing in on a single point.
In the distance there stood a wooden house made of old boards. From the outside, it looked like the house would fall apart at the slightest breeze, but as Intel held, it offered more protection than it was letting on. The yellow figure twitched its lightning shaped tail, dipping it twice to the left, and twice to the right. Without so much as a sound, the four other figures raced off in the directions indicated and created a large circle around the rickety old house.
As they all got into their positions, one of the Pokémon that was hiding among the shadows used telepathy to talk to everyone. "Is everybody in position? We're only going to get one shot at this. If we fail here, they'll escape, and we can't chase them any further." Spoke a rather gentle voice, though it sounded full of determination.
“I’m ready over here Michael.” Thought the yellow figure, who had been giving the orders earlier. “What about you, Sylvia?”
The green figure, who was watching the house from her position in a circle of ferns to blend in. "All set here, and ready to go on your mark," Sylvia told him. “What about you over there Karsel?”
“All set and ready to start this party.” Karsel let everyone know, puffing out a small flame from his mouth, but careful not to set the brambles he was behind on fire.
“I’m good to go over here as well.” Said the second female voice; only slightly older than the first from the sound of it.
All of the pieces were in place now, and all they had to do was spring the trap. "Karsel, you're up. Michael, trap everything and everyone inside. Be wary as she has strong psychic powers like you." Said the leader to their resident psychic type.
As he was ordered, Karsel inhaled a large amount of air before exhaling and making sure to push his breath out far. While he was continuously blowing air at the house, he was also letting out a highly combustible gas from inside of his mouth. The gas traveled towards the wooden home slowly but spread out quickly as it soon engulfed the outside of the house in a matter of minutes. Once he was sure that the gas would surround the house, he did the only thing left, and that was light it up. With a quick scrape of the fire type's teeth, the gas was set ablaze, and the entire house went up in a giant ball of fire. The force of the explosion sent pieces of the house's walls shooting in every direction, some flew close to the five in hiding, but nothing hit.
When the initial blast was over, and the smoke began to clear: each one of them stared at the house, interested in seeing what had become of the house's occupants. Slowly growing visible behind a cloud of black smoke, a pink psychic barrier had kept a section of the house untouched by the flames and explosion. Standing inside of the barrier was an Espeon and Umbreon, and standing under and between them, huddling together, were five Eevee children.
The barrier came down after the smoke cleared, but the Espeon’s eyes were still glowing pink. Her body was shaking with what they could only guess to be rage and fury. “You all have made a grave mistake attacking my family in our own home.” She snarled at all of them. Even though she couldn’t physically see all five of them, she knew they were there.
As to try and rattle her, the yellow figure called out to her. "Yani, we have a capture kill order out for both you and Zander. This doesn't have to come down to a fight to the death." He tried to explain to her. "Surrender, and we'll make sure that your kids are taken care of."
Yani didn't see reason, only the blood of her enemies as she snarled. "You think I'm going to let you have my children you self-indulgent piece of shit?" She snapped at him, as another barrier surrounded the family and then, as a shockwave, was sent in all direction, hitting each of the five Pokémon and knocking them out of hiding.
Sylvia managed to stand her ground, despite how much it hurt to have her body compressed to a tree. Michael had repelled a small portion of the psychic barrier so that it did not hit him or Karsel. Both of the other two had found a way around it as well without worry. Yani scanned the clearing for any sign of motion but could have the reaction time fast enough for what came next. In her blind spot, a Gallade showed up, and without giving her a chance to put up a shield, he threw an already charged up Shadow Ball straight into Yani's side.
The blast was up close and bound to do damage as the Espeon ended up getting shot quite a ways away from her family. When he attacked her, the blast would've been enough to send the children flying as well, but he had put up his shield to block them from the force, but not the father. Zander too had felt some force from the explosion and tumbled across the ground.
It was then that a Pikachu stepped out from the shadows, slowly coming towards the Espeon as she got up. Her legs were weak from the blast, but she was still ready to fight off her attackers. "Yani, why won't you give up? As long as you're living the life of a criminal, you won't be safe." He told her, crossing his arms while he spoke.
She glared at him, still snarling in anger about what was going on. “Why do you think it is that I would trust you? All of you guild rats are the same. Taking orders that you shouldn’t, and meddling in other Pokémon’s lives that you don’t need to be.” The Espeon said as she got ready to attack him. “This isn’t over between us, Spark. Not by a long shot.” Without warning, she teleported to her kids and stood over them.
Zander, only a short distance away blended into the shadows, his rings disappearing with him as he quickly rematerialized by Yani. "Kids, grab hold." He told them all as he drew in a breath of air before exhaling. While he blew out his breath, thick, black smoke came out of his mouth, clouding the entire area and making it incredibly hard to see what was going on. All five of the Pokémon in the clearing were shielding themselves with their aura, keeping the smoke away from their bodies while filtering the air, so they didn't breathe in the smoke.
When it finally faded, and all of the smoke had cleared, the family was nowhere to be seen, save for one Eevee. The male Pikachu looked around the clearing to search for the family briefly before turning his attention to the Eevee once more. He approached it, coming in slow and crouching in front of it. He could tell just by looking at the Eevee's posture that it was a girl, and she was shaking in fright. Appropriate, he thought, since they were all strangers to her and they had just got done attacking her family.
"Hey, little one." He greeted her, looking into her eyes as he did. She continued to shake even as he spoke to her, but as he looked into her eyes, her body began to relax slowly. "What's your name?"
The little Eevee sniffed, trying to fight back the tears she wept as she puffed out her chest and tried to look intimidating. “Saphire.” She stammered, and ultimately failing in trying to sound courageous for facing her attacker.
“Saphire, eh?” He asked, looking deeply into her eyes, and noticing how brilliantly blue they were. “I wonder why they call ya that." With his right paw, he pets the top of her, rustling her head fur before rubbing along her ear as well. "Saphire I hate to tell you this, but your family has left you behind."
It was harsh, but she had to hear it. “I already know that!” The Eevee told him, and the complete opposite reaction he was expecting. “That’s why I’m sad.” Her voice trailed off slightly, and it was easy to tell she was on the verge of tears.
“Hey, hey now.” The Pikachu told her, taking his left paw and wiping away one of the tears that had started to fall down her face. "There's no need to be sad. We came here to rescue you and your siblings." His words were sincere, and he knelt on the ground and gave her a light hug. "I wish I could've helped your other brothers and sisters as well, but your mother didn't like that." He paused for a moment as he pulled back and looked at her, their noses just barely touching every few moments. "Would you like to come with me? I would love to have you stay at my house. I would feed you and take care of you, and let you grow up to be whatever you wanted."
Saphire looked at him, her blue eyes gazing into the Pikachu’s green eyes for a long time after he spoke. It was then she broke down in tears more and leaned against his shoulder. “Yes, please.”
“Sh, sh, sh. It’s alright. I’ve got you.” He told her with a small smile. “You can call me Johnny, alright? Saphire? I'll be with you all the time, so you don't have to feel alone ever again."
“Thank you, Johnny.” She stammered, her body still trembling from how much she was crying.
Johnny looked at the other four that had gathered around him. “Sylvia, Michael, Karsel, Chanler.” He said, each and unison and calling them off. “Let’s head home.” Michael nodded to him as the Gallade got up close to Johnny and knelt on the ground. The other three crowded around as well and were touching either Michael or Johnny in preparation to leave.
Out of the corner of his eye, Johnny could see a pair of glowing eyes hiding in a set of bushes. It was too late to think about that however as the group of six had disappeared, and gone without a trace. Out of the bush stepped Yani, and she was not happy in any meaning of the word. "Mark my words, Johnny Spark. I. Will. Kill. You.” She snarled at open air. “I will kill all five of you!”
