I tumble down the loose, leaf-strewn slope with a cry, my voice rising in sudden alarm—and then I land on my arm wrong and feel, rather than hear, the sickening snap that follows.

Well, fuck. That’s not good.

The pain knocks the breath from my lungs. I’m too hurt to scream, to hurt to even cry out, instead squeezing out breath in little “hahhh… ah, ahhhhh…” noises. Somehow, what little bit of coherence remains in the back of my mind tells me that’s a sign that I might be in Real Trouble.

Before long, the pain makes me black out, and I half wonder if I’ll ever wake up again.

---

I do, thankfully, the sharp pain in my arm receded down to an omnipresent ache that lances like fire whenever I so much as nudge or move it. I blink, seeing the trees roll by overhead like they’re on the world’s slowest train tracks. Eventually I realize that the trees aren’t moving, I am.

Craning my neck, I see that a pokemon of the forest has my hood in his mouth and is dutifully dragging me along. Some might have panicked at that—he’s a wild one (no doubt, since I don’t have any of my own) and there are fears that wilds will attack or even eat people. I’m a smarter woman than that, though; I don’t buy into those tall tales. If he wanted to hurt me, he would have gone for skin, not clothes, the moment he found me asleep.

A lithe, spring-green body halfway between canine and feline; ears and a tail that shift to leafy forms; little dustings of brown fur around his paws; yes, I know what this is. My helper is a Leafeon.

“Thank you,” I murmur, for though I don’t know yet what his goal is, I don’t doubt for a second that he has my best interests in mind.

Eventually a lovely green glow fills the gloom of Eterna Forest, and my eyes widen with wonder. Moss Rock… this fabled stone is spoken of as the reason why Eevee evolve into Grass-types here. Leafeon gently rests me against it and I can feel the stone’s ambient energy, present as a hum that tickles your whole body, wash through me. Immediately my exhaustion is gone, my worry scrubbed into relief, and even the pain in my arm fades to an undercurrent. After being satisfied that I’ll be alright, Leafeon dashes back into the forest, emerging a half-hour later with my pack. With one hand, I gingerly fish out crackers and a water bottle, tousling his fur. He rests his head in my lap and, lulled to drowsiness by the verdant hum of the stone, I fall asleep.

---

I’m there for days, and though I can move around gingerly if I wish, I never leave the glade. Not only does the pain start to come back after I leave Moss Rock’s glow, but the soothing hum of the stone starts to feel like second nature to me. I don’t want to leave it.

It’s not as if I’ll be missed. I don’t have companion pokemon or family; that’s why I became a wanderer, traipsing around Sinnoh and doing odd jobs here and there, wandering to see the sights I’d heard of. The lighthouse at Sunyshore… the lake beneath Mt. Coronet… Canalave Bay…

Eterna Forest…

I can afford to take my time healing, and I have the perfect helper in Leafeon. He’s attentive and fussy, always making sure I have what I need to recover. Nights on a bed of soft moss, his comforting warmth against me, the Rock’s pleasant glow against my back, start to feel like the perfect way to pass an evening.

Of course, there are other ways to pass an evening too.