Returning Home: Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Meeting Elvin

The team walked through the forest until they reached the dark blue waters with the bright lit center of Luminous Spring. The place itself was in the thick of the forest so even though it was the middle of the day the area looked like it was in the dark of night. The grass was also tall and thick around the lake, fed by the rainfall that the place gets.

When the three entered the clearing Eon told Axle and Shaymin, “Elvin told me he’d meet me first to help me get in the village.”

After telling them that, Eon stood forward and while she looked around for any sign of him she called out, “Elvin?! Are you here?!”

Her voice echoed off among the trees with no response.

“Uhh Eon…are you sure he’s here?” Shaymin asked as he looked around.

“He should be,” Eon answered, her head shifting to and fro. “This is where he said he’d meet me.”

“Did he give you a specific time?” Axle asked. He had his eyes closed as he was sensing the auras around him for any sign of life. “We might be either early or late.”

“I…he didn’t say any specific ti…”

“Someone’s coming,” Axle suddenly said, interrupting Eon. “Look at the trees towards the left corner.”

Axle opened his eyes and looked in that direction while Eon and Shaymin followed. When they concentrated in the direction Axle pointed out they could see the tiniest glint of silver shining out from within the trees. They still couldn’t see the shape but Axle and Shaymin immediately braced themselves for a possible enemy.

“Pretty impressive,” said a voice from that direction. “Not that I was trying to be unseen, but I still didn’t expect you to find me this fast. You’ve made some interesting friends, haven’t you Eon?”

Eon’s ears twitched at the familiarity of the voice. “Elvin!” Eon called out with a smile on her face.

“Elvin?!” Axle and Shaymin both asked at the same time.

A couple of seconds later Elvin popped out from between the trees with a glint in his step. Axle and Shaymin both gasped when they saw him. His shape was that like an eevee’s, however unlike the normally brown fur that coats that an eevee has, his was silver colored.  As he steadily walked through the forest his fur also shown in what little light there was.

“What in the world…” Axle asked breathlessly.

“You’re friends with a Shiny Pokémon?!” Shaymin exclaimed. “Lucky!”

“Shiny?” Axle asked. Eon looked back to him at that question and saw he was looking between Shaymin and Elvin with confused glances.

Elvin reached Eon’s side just as Eon started explaining. “Shiny Pokémon are the name for Pokémon with different colors than normal,” Eon explained. “So Pokémon like Elvin here. No one really knows how it happens or why, but we do know they’re very rare. Some Pokémon live their entire lives without ever seeing a Shiny Pokémon. Heck, Elvin here is the only Shiny Pokémon born to our tribe as far back as it goes.”

“I’m nothing too special though,” Elvin said. “My coat color is just a little different, that’s all.” Elvin nodded in Eon’s direction. “So…you brought your friends then.” They both glanced at each other for a couple seconds, a silent conversation going between them. A couple seconds later, Elvin said with a little hesitation at first. “…Are you going to introduce me to your friends Eon?”

Eon nodded back. She walked forward a couple of steps to get between Elvin and her teammates. She took a neutral position to see both of them before she spoke.

“Elvin, these are my teammates,” Eon said. “The riolu is my partner and best friend Axle.” Axle nodded his hello as he usually did. “And the shaymin is my teammate Shaymin. That’s all he goes by so…”

“What, Axle gets partner and I’m just stuck as that random teammate you picked up?” Shaymin asked with mock hurt. “Oh well, I guess I don’t get to be a part of your ‘special relationship’.”

“Uhh…should I ask?” Elvin asked.

“No…you really shouldn’t,” Eon answered in a bored and almost annoyed tone.

“Anyways, it’s nice to meet you Elvin,” Shaymin said. “Any old friend of Eon’s is a friend of ours, no problem.”

“So, you’re here to help Eon get back into her village?” Axle asked, getting straight to the point.

“That’s my hope anyways,” Elvin told Axle with a nod. “I’ll admit, it might be difficult for a number of reasons, chief among them being: the rules of the tribe do exist for a reason, and giving Eon lenience because of her status as a hero makes the rules seem weak. It invites the younger generation to go off and do the same, getting themselves hurt when they take on the world before they’re ready.”

“So then, I suppose you still think I should have stayed behind?” Eon asked, a slight bitterness in her tone.

Elvin sighed and turned to Eon. “I suppose you did prove yourself to be fine. Saving the world is a rather impressive feet for an unevolved eevee. Even if it was with help, that is still an impressive feat to be sure. Still, not everyone is you. Not every single eevee is able to accomplish the feats you were before you evolved.”

“Still…whether it was right or not for you to leave matters little now,” Elvin finished. “You did so and now you wish to return and as such, you have my full cooperation. I’m just stating that it might be difficult due to our rules.”

“I made a promise to watch your evolution ceremony,” Eon said. “So I don’t care what happens. I’m fulfilling my promise.”

“T-thanks for that, Eon,” Elvin said. He nodded. “Let’s go to the village then.”

Elvin walked off into the direction he came from and everyone else followed him. Axle and Eon stayed behind and followed him while Shaymin decided to fly up to Elvin. Elvin gave Shaymin a questioning glance which Shaymin responded with a smirk.

“So…where’s your whole village place hidden anyways?” Shaymin asked. “We’ve been to Mystifying Forest several times and I haven’t seen it.”

“Our village is on the opposite side of the path leading from Treasure Town to Luminous Spring,” Elvin explained. “So unless you guys decided to head through Mystifying Forest on your way back from an exploration, you probably wouldn’t have even come close to seeing us. Plus we sort of try to keep our village hidden.”

“Why?” Shaymin asked.

Elvin flinched. “It’s…hard to explain,” he said hesitantly. “Please…just don’t ask. I…really don’t want to talk about it.”

Shaymin looked back at Eon for clarification, but Eon just shook her head. “Sorry Shaymin,” Eon said. “They never told me the specifics and all Elvin told me is that I don’t want to know. I know as little about it as you do.”

“It probably does matter,” Axle chimed in. “After all, we’re outsiders. And you said before that outsiders aren’t really welcome in your village.”

Elvin stopped and looked back. “Yes, true,” he said with a nod. “I suppose I should explain about that before we reach the village. You need to know about this for when we end up meeting with the elder.”

“Explain what?” Shaymin asked.

“As Eon has probably told you, outsiders aren’t exactly welcome in our village,” Elvin explained. “Neither did I expect you guys to come here. I prepared the Elders that Eon was coming with me to talk to them but I never thought she would bring her teammates. This…makes things difficult. You should be fine, so long as you stick with me, but nobody is going to be happy when they see you. For the sake of not causing an argument or a fight, could both of you please only speak when spoke to, and maybe not even then, no matter what happens?”

Axle and Eon both glanced at Shaymin. “What?” Shaymin asked in a playful tone. “Since when was I ever the one to speak out of turn?”

“I’ll try but I make no promises,” Axle said, crossing his arms. “If Eon needs my help then I’ll help her. I won’t stay quiet if that happens.”

“You’ll help more being quiet,” Elvin said. “Trust me. But I guess I can’t stop you. Just please try.”

Axle reminded silent.

“Anyways, let’s keep moving,” Elvin said. “The village is really close. Just beyond those trees over there.”

Elvin pointed in the direction they were all heading and Shaymin immediately flew into the sky to take a look at the village. Everyone stayed where they were while they waited for the couple of seconds that it took for Shaymin to get back.

Once he flew back to us he said, “Yep, that’s a pretty well hidden village. And this is coming from a member of the Hidden Ninja Shaymin Tribe.”

“Hidden Ninja Shaymin…Tribe?” Elvin asked, dumbfounded by Shaymin’s description.

“Don’t ask,” Axle said quickly.

“Shaymin came from a village in the mountains that was buried behind an avalanche for a long time,” Eon explained. “So they were pretty much hidden from the world for a while. Also when we first heard of them, some of the Pokémon thought that shaymin were a tribe of ninjas since they were hidden.”

“Let’s keep going,” Axle said.

Elvin nodded back to Axle. “Right. Let’s go.”

They all continued on for a couple more seconds until the trees became much less dense. The trees were also much larger than usual and there were a few large stones as well that were scattered around the area as well. Along with that, there were dirt paths all along the forest, the only indication that this wasn’t an average forest.

“Well…we’re here,” Elvin said. “Welcome, Team Aura, to the Elemental Village of Mystifying Forest.”