It had been a full day since Alexis and Eevee had departed from Bariloche City, leaving behind civilisation and its comforts. For the first time, they would spend the night out together.
"Eevee, don't wander too far while I set the tent," Alexis told it while taking off his backpack in a small clearing he had found earlier before they chose to rest in it.
Eevee, like a loyal knight, stood close to Alexis, observing their surroundings with vigilance, expecting danger to pop-out at any moment. Clearly, its early experiences with Ursaring and the forest had left it distrusting of nature. Still, Alexis said nothing about its attitude, since it was definitely the correct way to thread while out and about in the forest.
Once Alexis was done setting the tent and lighting a small fire to cook, Eevee rested by his side as he stirred a pot with some berries and dried meat he had bought earlier.
"Ok, now I just have to let it simmer," Alexis muttered while digging inside his backpack for a small metal plate and a bag of Pokémon food. Filling the plate with food, Alexis set it by the tent. "Eevee, your food is ready!"
Alexis walked into the tent to leave his bag inside and grab a bowl, but his attention was picked by a startled cry from Eevee. Rushing out of the tent prepared to defend his small friend, he found a very comical situation.
"Waddle?" A small caterpillar-looking Pokémon with a leaf covering the top part of its body and its round yellow head. It looked at Eevee, its heal tilted cutely as it continued to chew some of the food Alexis had served Eevee. The Evolution Pokémon, on the other hand, was staring at the Sewaddle menacingly, growling at it.
Alexis could not stop himself from chuckling seeing the scene in front of his eyes. "Calm down Eevee, he is just hungry."
Alexis slowly approached the small Sewaddle, which seemed young—younger even than Eevee, if he went off of how trusting it was and how innocently it had approached them. Once he saw the small creature would not run away in any way, Alexis grabbed a couple Oran Berries from his bag and offered them to the Bug type. It quickly climbed up Alexis arm, eating the berries in his hand while resting there.
"You can eat at peace, Eevee," Alexis said while patting Sewaddle's back, lulling it to sleep.
That was when something he could not even begin to understand happened. After all, there were clear pre-requisites to use his System on a Pokémon.
[Sewaddle]
[Type: Bug/Grass Gender: Female
Nature: Adamant Ability: Overcoat]
[HP: 45 – IVs: 31 – EVs: 0 – Total: 16
Attack: 53 – IVs: 31 – EVs: 0 – Total: 9
Defence: 70 – IVs: 30 – EVs: 0 – Total: 10
Sp. Attack: 40 – IVs: 20 – EVs: 0 – Total: 7
Sp: Defence: 60 – IVs: 30 – EVs: 0 – Total: 9
Speed: 42 – IVs: 31 – EVs: 0 – Total: 8
BST: 310 – CST: 59]
[Moves: Synthesis, String Shot, Tackle.-]
'Is it... that easy to bond with Pokémon?' Alexis thought, before he looked at the Sewaddle comfortably sleeping on his arm—he could feel its soft breaths against his palm, its warmth spreading from his forearm up his shoulder—without the smallest of worries. 'No... you are just an innocent baby.'
Alexis chose not to catch the Sewaddle while it was asleep, even though he knew it would probably not mind it. He felt like that would be betraying the trust the small guy put on him. Instead, he would try and catch it during the morning, after asking him if it wished to travel with him.
Then he thought about how some Pokémon seemed to split from their parents easily. Eevee was still at an age in which it wouldn't have been weird for it to still live with its parents, and Sewaddle seemed to have been born barely a few days ago. That just went to show the true brutal nature of the Pokémon world. If Ursaring attacking Eevee had been a small show of how harsh it could be, then finding the lone Sewaddle just born and already alone was the final proof. This was reality, not a game.
Carefully removing Sewaddle from his arm, Alexis placed the baby Bug type inside the tent, letting it sleep peacefully. Then he went back out and patted Eevee as it finished eating its food, until his own stew had simmered for long enough. The broth had taken a slightly sweet and spicy flavour from the Pecha and Cheri berries, while the flavourful umami of the meat perfectly balanced it.
"Oh, how I wish I had some noodles or at least some potatoes," Alexis wished as he savoured the warm stew in small spoonfuls, careful not to burn his tongue. "That would really bring this to the next level."
After eating and carefully putting off the fire, Alexis lifted Eevee in his arms and went into the tent, laying down with care to not bother the softly breathing Sewaddle—it was sleeping so calmly Alexis would have felt bad for making even the smallest of sounds. As soon as he lay comfortably inside the tent, he felt two bodies snuggling up to him, their warmth making him smile contentedly as he peacefully fell asleep.
"G'night Eevee, g'night Sewaddle..." He muttered softly as his mind disconnected from the real world.
*
The following morning, Alexis was woke up to a soft nibbling on his left arm, his right holding onto Eevee tightly. As he groggily stood up, he heard a small cry calling out to him anxiously. Opening his eyes, he saw the small Pokémon that had unexpectedly visited their camp the previous night.
"Sewaddle-sewa!" The Bug type called out to him, drooling in a show of hunger. Clearly, Alexis had not taken into account that Bug types like Sewaddle have an accelerated growth when compared to other types, and they spent most of their first stages eating—much like actual caterpillars.
"I'll feed you in a minute, please be patient..." Alexis muttered groggily, inadvertently waking Eevee up with his movement. As soon as it woke up, Eevee yawned before shrugging off the stiffness from its small body.
"Eev!" It called, also asking Alexis for food.
"Yes, yes... you too," Alexis answered before standing up and leaving his tent.
Once outside, Alexis was quick to prepare two bowls of food for each Pokémon, Eevee's with the food he had bought, Sewaddle's with softer berries that were easy to digest.
"Come eat... I'll start packing everything up..." He told hist two babies as he started to disassemble the tent. Once he was done, he ate a light breakfast—a couple oran berries, a granola bar, and a piece of jerky—and packed everything he used on his backpack, which was clearly holding more than it looked like it could.
'Hmm... the game's must've been up to something,' Alexis thought after his short realisation. Then he looked at the two small Pokémon who had also finished eating and were looking at him expectantly.
"Come on, let's go," he called as he allowed Eevee to jump into his shoulder. "Sewaddle, do you want to come with us?"
He grabbed a Pokéball and presented it to Sewaddle. If it got into it, he would officially take it with him. If not... then he would just leave it some berries and walk away. The Sewing Pokémon stared at the device, its head tilted in confusion, before it cheered merrily and touched the button—probably thinking it was playing and totally not aware it was actually entering a Pokéball.
The capture went through seamlessly, no shaking by the Pokéball. Officially, Alexis had now caught his second Pokémon.
"Well bud, you're now coming with us I guess," he said while staring at the Pokéball before letting Sewaddle out of it, allowing it to climb on his available shoulder.
"Waddle-sewa!" The small Bug type exclaimed merrily, nibbling on Alexis's hair as a sign of affection.
With his new partner now set, Alexis smiled confidently and started walking once again, the sunlight shining through the dense canopy of the forest.