Chapter 4: The First Day

Dave left the house and headed straight for the river. He thought it best not to follow the road for now, at least he was far away from his home. That would make it harder for Team Rocket to find them.

Eevee happily walked beside him, sometimes running ahead or circling around him. The Pokemon was clearly very happy, as well as Dave, who couldn't take his eyes off his partner who followed at his side.

As Dave watched Eevee walking alongside him, he suddenly thought of something.

"Hey Eevee, I was thinking... Don't you think it would be a good idea to get into pokeball?" Dave offered, taking a pokeball from his belt. "That way no one will see you."

Almost instantly, Eevee appeared terrified and assumed an attack position, as if it was ready to fight with him.

Confused, Dave immediately went to appease the little, fluffy Pokemon.

"Okay! Okay... Calm down! It's okay if you don't want to go in. I won't force you. You are my friend. If you want to leave, you can leave whenever you want. I promise I won't stop you."

That last part came out unintentionally and Dave felt a pang in his chest. Even though he was telling the truth, he didn't want Eevee to leave.

"Ee—vee!" it yelled, jumping onto Dave's shoulder and proceeded to lick his face.

"Thanks for not leaving," Dave smiled "But why don't you want to get into the pokeball? That would be the safest place for you to hide from Team Rocket."

"Eevee, Eevee!" Eevee cried out, shaking its head at the same time.

"I'm not sure I understand what you're saying," Dave murmured, puzzled. "Oh! Now I get it. Team Rocket kept you in a pokeball, didn't they? That's why you don't like to stay in them."

"Ee—vee!" the brown Pokemon nodded affirmatively.

For hours, Dave and Eevee strolled side by side while chatting and laughing excitedly. Much had changed in the scenery. They were no longer surrounded by trees or farmland; instead, a narrow river was on their right and a large grassy plain surrounded them on all other sides.

Sometimes, Dave would hear a number of splashing noises coming from the river, but he had forgotten to bring a fishing rod, and Eevee couldn't fight in the water. So, he just ignored it and kept going.

On the opposite bank, some hills and hills could be seen, albeit they were still very far away. Although they weren't very high, he had no intention of climbing them—at least not for now.

He hoped to find a way through them and get to the other side. Then it was just a matter of following the road and in a day or two he would be in Cardo, his first stop.

Cardo was considerably a bigger city than Grene, but it wasn't exactly a metropolis, and it didn't even have its own gym. The plan was to capture at least one new Pokemon before getting there, then use the remaining time for training.

'Speaking of training, I still don't know anything about what Eevee can do in battle. I didn't see it fighting the Rattatas, but if it managed to fend them all off while also suffering injuries, he must be more powerful than he looks,' Dave thought.

He then looked a little further ahead and saw that he was approaching a bridge. They had arrived at last. Cardo City was just a few miles up ahead.

It was already a little after noon and both him and Eevee were already very tired and hungry. They decided to keep at it and make it to the bridge. There they would rest in the shade by the river and have something to eat.

Dave and Eevee shared one of the meals that his mother had prepared. He knew that that wasn't the ideal diet for a Pokemon, but at the moment this wall he got.

In fact, he didn't even know how to prepare the most basic Pokemon food. Eevee didn't seem to care, though. It was very satisfied with its lunch.

After a filling meal, Eevee went to drink water on the riverbank and Dave took his Pokemon encyclopedia from his backpack. He wanted to know more about his newest friend, Eevee.

He discovered that Eevee was not known as a great fighter and had a rather calm personality, but that they can be quite strong if well trained. When Eevee returned, Dave went to ask how it rescued him that night.

Dave recognised moves like Bite and Quick Attack, among others. Eevee then went on to show its next move, which caused it to headbutt the book Dave was carrying and send it flying into the river.

"Eevee! What was that? How am I going to identify the Pokemon that we would find along the way? The book is completely wet now," Dave said angrily.

"Eevee..." It murmured, lowering its ears and holding its head with one of his paws. Soon after he was crawling between Dave's legs.

"Oh well, nevermind. But please don't do that again, okay? Better save your strength to fight other Pokemon."

As soon as Dave said that he heard voices coming from the other side of the bridge. Quickly, he picked up his things and whispered something to Eevee.

"Stay here under the bridge and keep silent. I'll go up and see who it is. Don't leave here! It could be someone who is after you."

After that, Davee went out to see who was coming. He carefully made his way to the top of the bridge, when he saw a small boy approaching from the opposite side. He was dressed in a red shirt and black shorts and was tossing a pokeball in his hand.

'A trainer! How cool!' Dave thought.

The trainer was now crossing the bridge and finally noticed Dave standing on the other side. With a smile on his face, he waved and started walking toward him.

"Hello, my name is Chris from Cardo City," the trainer introduced himself, reaching out to shake Dave's hand.

Hi, my name is Dave Mick. I'm from Grene. You're a Pokemon trainer, aren't you?" Dave asked while greeting Chris.

"Yes. I just got my first Pokemon in Cardo from Professor Noah! Are you heading there?"

For a moment, Dave was unsure of how to respond. He didn't know there was a Pokemon researcher in Cardo. It seemed he would have to spend a little more time in that city. Realising that he had gone silent for a while, he picked up where he left off.

"No, I already have a Pokemon. I mean, it's not technically mine because I didn't even capture it. He came across me, and we hit it off... It's a very long story," Dave explained.

"Wow, that's great! So, where is your Pokemon?" Chris asked, looking around.

Just then Dave remembered Eevee, who was still hiding under the bridge.

"Just a second," Dave said, turning down to the bridge. "Eevee, come out!"

A moment later, Eevee came out of hiding and trotted over to Dave. It nuzzled up against Dave's legs and gave Chris a curious look.

"You have an Eevee? So cool! How do you feel about a battle? Are you up for it?" Chris proposed a fight, surprising Dave.

"I was just about to say that! Bring it on!" Dave replied, accepting the challenge.

Wasting no time, the two youngsters stepped back and made room for the fight that was about to unfold. Chris then threw the pokeball he was holding into the arena with all his strength.

"Go, Squirtle!"

"Eevee! I choose you!" Dave yelled immediately after.

As a Squirtle came out of the pokeball, Eevee stepped into the temporary ring.

Dave found it hard to believe that he was about to have his first battle. He was serious and determined not to let this victory slip away. He knew he had a good chance to win this since he knew how strong his Eevee was.

The first one to make a move was Chris. "Squirtle, Water Gun now!"

"Squirtle!" A powerful water jet was spit out of the mouth of the Pokemon with the brown shell in the direction of Eevee.

"Eevee, dodge it and use Headbutt!" Dave shouted.

Eevee did what it was told and jumped to the side just in time to avoid Squirtle's attack. Before Squirtle could finish its current attack, Eevee was already charging in its direction. However, it was able to jump over Eevee at the last second.

"Well done Squirtle! Now use Rapid Spin!"

Still in the air, the turtle Pokemon prepared its next attack by retreating into its shell and started to spin, gaining speed as it fell.

Dave reacted a little late and Squirtle had already moved in for a direct blow on Eevee. However, just as he was about to raise his hand to surrender, Eevee made a lateral shift to avoid Squirtle's strike. It then struck Squirtle, using its glowing tail to strike the lower, more fragile section of its shell.

At first, Dave and Chris found it difficult to accept that Eevee had managed to avoid Squirtle's strike, let alone that it had attempted to use its tail as a weapon. But, as soon as Eevee's tail connected with the Squirtle, it was flung away, landing next to Chris, dazed and stunned.

'That attack must have been Iron Tail! How does Eevee know how to use that?' Dave thought.

"Squirtle!" Chris shouted and sprinted over to his Pokemon.

When he realised that his Pokemon had just lost consciousness, he exhaled in relief. After that, he returned Squirtle to its pokeball. He then got to his feet and gave Dave's Eevee an admiring glance.

"Congratulations, Dave. Your Eevee is really strong! It must have taken a lot of work to train him."

"Thanks!" Dave only gave a simple reply, still unable to process what had just happened to pay attention to what Chris was saying.

"I guess I'll be leaving then. I'll have to get to Grene so I can train my Squirtle as soon as possible. See you again, Dave!" After saying goodbye to Dave, Chris continued on his way to Grene.

Turning his attention back to Eevee, Dave broke into a huge smile.

"Eevee! You did great! I didn't know you could use Iron Tail!"

"Ee—vee!" Eevee yipped, elated and a little proud of itself. Dave didn't know it, but despite being well trained, that was the first real battle that Eevee had participated in, and just like Dave, that was his first victory.

"You're really full of surprises, you know?" Dave said, taking Eevee into his arms.

And so, they crossed the bridge and headed towards the mountains. Little did Dave know that this was only one of the many surprises that this Eevee still had in store for him.