The Viterals

Chapter 12: The Split

Zakana had never seen a Pokémon . . . what was the word Yumin had used . . . evolve. He watched Bambi's Eevee pant and whine as it pushed its back against the tree further. This Pokémon was in pain, Zakana knew. The hound Pokémon continued to lick Eevee as the boy dabbed it with the rag.

"Makua!" Bambi said, naming the boy. "Isn't there anything we can do?"

"A natural birth is better. Unless anyone has any beezleberries?"

Was it a trick of the eyes? Zakana wondered. Was this how a Pokémon evolved? Eevee's brown and beige fur changed, began to shimmer underneath a heavy moonlight. Yellow bands materialized on its ears as if by magic. Another band wrapped around its tail. Everything—from this pregnant mother's ears to its feet, began to grow in size. Wavering eyes turned inside its head and the shade of its coat darkened, matched the night around them.

"Here comes the baby!" Makua said, adjusting himself on the ground, his fingers long and skeletal.

Bambi stepped forward as Eevee let out a blood-lashed cry. Zakana hoped it would be over soon. He saw the tiny thing slip out of its mother, a whitish-brown sac of ooze.

"Oh!" Bambi cried, taking the baby in her hands. "It's so tiny!"

It was difficult to make out any features, but Zakana imagined it was the same thing as its mother. That made the most sense. When he pointed his Pokedex at the newborn, Oodi confirmed it as Eevee. Zakana shifted the sensor to the evolving Pokémon. He wondered what new thing it was changing into. Oodi reported the same thing. It was still an Eevee.

"It's fighting the evolution!" Farore said.

"That's not good," Lyres piped in. "Bambi, you have to help coax it into its evolved form!"

The bands of yellow began to fade and the mother Eevee became a muted shade of beige again.

Zakana wondered why making it evolve was the best thing, but he kept quiet. He knew he was the only one there who didn't know that answer. He could ask later.

"Twins!" Makua said. "Get ready!"

"She's having a second one?" Isaque asked. "A second baby?"

"Yes, and a third," Makua replied, his hands soaked in blood. "I mean there are twins coming out now, in the same sac—actual twins in the same litter!"

Isaque cocked his head to the side to see the next babies be pushed out. The mother Eevee squealed in distress. Zakana watched this boy—Isaque—thought back to his words. Did he really know him? How did he know him and what was he going on about? Zakana wracked his brain and tried to remember.

"This sac hasn't broken!" Makua took the twins and turned to Bambi's Hower. "Hower, get them out of here!"

Zakana turned away and heard the savage gnarling as Hower ate away the sac. Tiny pips of fear sounded from the three baby Eevee. Yumin grabbed one from Makua's hand and cuddled it close to him. Zakana noticed he was the next closest and took the other twin. The lump of flesh in his hands felt cold and slimy, and he realized blood stained his t-shirt at the stomach. It mewed and cooed, tried desperately to open its eyes.

Eevee continued to yell and at that moment, Zakana realized how much noise this tiny Pokémon was making. It was enough noise to draw every creature in the forest to them. While most things remained quiet and still at this hour, mother Eevee was the opposite, shrill and writhing as its coat continued to change from light to dark colors. Zakana heard things—birds hoot and howl from above. A snap of branches sounded nearby. This birth was not welcome.

"Holy Miltank!" Makua said. "Another one! That's four babies! I've never seen a birth like this!"

Zakana wondered how many births this young boy had seen as Farore wrapped the next baby into her cradle of wrists and arms.