Originally posted to Archive of our Own.

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Eevee waits outside the local town church, swinging her leg idly with her hands behind her back. The wind blows in and gently rocks her deep brown hair as she stands.
Soon, Pastor Ampharos opens the door and gestures for Eevee to enter the church.

Inside, it's a deep perspective down toward the front stage where the Pastor gives his sermons, with a single walkway leading up to it which seperates two long rows of pews. The walls adjacent to the outside edges of the pews let in amazing colored light through the stained glass windows, which is something Eevee always loves to see. A few nuns are present inside the main worship hall, and one waves at Eevee with a smile.

Eevee is led by Pastor Ampharos into a hallway off from the main area for worship, and soon at the end of it they stop at the stairs which lead into the church basement.

"Child. You know what you must do." Pastor Ampharos says.
Eevee looks up at him, and she nods. "Yup! It'll get done, don't worry."

Eevee descends down the staircase into the darkness of the basement. At the bottom, she flips on the light switch and sees the familiar room filled with boxes of old Christmas decorations, a few foldable tables and chairs, and a deep freezer. However, Eevee focuses at the center of the floor and sees her recurring foe...

The Flesh Worm.

The Flesh Worm is, as the name suggests, a long, pulsating, slime-covered fleshy thing that has a mouth at the end of it's body. The Flesh Worm spends its time chewing through wires in the basement. It also likes to crawl through the air conditioning unit, as evidenced by the anti-worm gate on vent. Eevee volunteered to kill the pest two years ago, and since then she's been exterminating it every few weeks when it reappears.

Eevee looks at the Flesh Worm with disgust, but she's used to it at this point. As she approaches, the Flesh Worm turns toward her and hisses! Eevee scoffs and kicks the worm over, causing it to seize and convulse in anger.

From her SOUL, it shines out... her TRIDENT! Orange colored and radiating light, her trident is a magic weapon she learned to manifest over the course of her adventures.

Finally, with a quick thrust of her trident, she skewers it. The Flesh Worm screeches in pain and anger, and there it begins to shrivel up before finally poofing away in a cloud of smoke.

"... Eevee, child, is it safe now...?" Pastor Ampharos calls down from the top of the staircase while peeking past the door frame.

Eevee nods happily. "Mhm! It's dealt with!"

Eevee ascends back up the staircase to meet back with Ampharos, and he pats her on the head.
"God bless," he says.

Eevee's work is done, so she goes to leave the church. As she steps out of the front door, she can hear distant panting that gradually increases in volume.

"E-Eevee! H-hey!! Wait! Wait for me!!" a voice calls out. It's Ralts! He's a very small boy boasting bowl cut green hair that covers his eyes, and he wears a long white robe. Eevee and Ralts have been best friends ever since they were little kids.

Ralts finally reaches Eevee, breath heaving, and trips over his own foot right infront of her once he skids to a stop.

"I'm here!! Don't start without me!" He exclaims! At that, Eevee kneels down and hauls him back onto his feet.

"Ralts... I already killed it," she says plainly.

Ralts sweats a little, then looks down at his feet. "Oh, uhm... I was just... running late."

Eevee raises an eyebrow. "... Really?"

Ralts feels like shrinking. His posture slumps further as he looks off to the side. Then, a smirk stretches across Eevee's face and she pats Ralts on the shoulders, snickering, "Hey. It's okay, don't stress. It's okay to he scared..."
"I-I AM NOT!" Ralts snaps back!
"Ahh!!! Ahh! I got you!! Hehe..." Eevee giggles.

A high whistle of air shoots from Ralts's mouth as he breathes out, but it soon leads into Ralts laughing alongside Eevee.

"Okay, come on Ralts. Let's go hang out!" She declares while grabbing ahold of his hand.

Ralts squeaks once Eevee begins dashing off, yanking him along the way. It doesn't take long until they shoot past the luscious tree line and dive right into the woods where deep dark oak trees fly past them! Soon Eevee's sprint begins to slowdown to an idle trot before the two finally stop inside a clearing.

They come across some sort of shrine which is surrounded by a circle of about three yards radius made of dark obsidian chunks. Constructed from deep black basalt, the shrine has a statue which depicts a creature with feathers around its neck, deep-set eyes covered by shadow in every angle, long curving claws, and a mask that lays above its snout. Eevee and Ralts stop by to look at it.

"Huh. The other day, wasn't this thing broken?" Eevee says as she inspects the shrine.

While Eevee is examining the statue closer, Ralts is squatted over the black volcanic glass that makes up the circle. "Hey! Eevee, look at these cool rocks!" he exclaims. He's giggling as he picks up some obsidian from the circle.

Eevee's attention is immediately grabbed and she begins giggling too, and she crouches down with Ralts to inspect the obsidian.

"Woah! How much do you think you can fit in your pockets?"

"Probably three or four pieces," Ralts replies, "It'll look great in my rock collection."

So, they remove some pieces of obsidian before heading off.

The two walk alongside one another and talk about whatever comes to mind. School, cartoons, and Ralts's baseball career.

"... Yeah, and we lost. Again." Ralts says.

Eevee scoffs. "Pfft. It's fine. You'll get them next time."

Then, right out the corner of her eye, Eevee sees a little hut.

"Huh. What's that?" she wonders.

Ralts also looks over. "... Uhm, it looks spooky."

"Exactly! We have to go investigate. You know, to make sure it's not evil or something," Eevee replies.

So they approach the area and hide in a bush. The hut itself is appears very cramped, as if it could only fit one or two people, and the walls are made of simple plywood. It appears that most of its support is provided by the tree which it's propped up against.

A girl sits atop a stool at a table away from from the hut. On top of the table is some sort of creature that is vaguely amphibian, dark eyed, and boasting a dopey smile on its face. Flasks filled with chemicals of amazing colors appear scattered around the table.

The girl herself has fair pink skin, wears a pink dress that goes down to her ankles, and she boasts a big blue bulbous hat with large white dots scattered across it. This girl is named Hattrem.

Hattrem uses a pipette to suck some fluid out of a flask, and then she brings it over to the creature. She squeezes two drops on its head, and its color changes from purple to orange.

Hattrem nods and begins writing down into a notebook. "Interesting."
She then pokes the creature, and it tips over on its side. She writes more notes.

This "experimentation" goes on for a bit. Meanwhile, Ralts and Eevee still watch from the bush...

Eevee whispers to her partner, "Ralts, do you see this? She's torturing that poor creature..."

Ralts takes a closer look. The creature lets out a content wheeze as Hattrem pets it.

"... Eevee it looks happy to me-"

Suddenly, Eevee hops out the bush to confront the girl!

"HEY! What are you doing? Leave that creature alone!" She exclaims as she points at Hattrem.

Hattrem squeaks and then scoops up the creature protectively before locking herself inside the nearby hut!

Eevee goes up to look in through a window. "ANSWER ME!!"

"T-THIS IS MY PRIVATE DOMICILE, AND I WILL NOT BE HARASSED!" Hattrem yells back out!

Ralts approaches, and also looks in.

"... Uhm, what were you doing to that... thing?" He asks.

"... Experiments," Hattrem replies, "Now leave me and Pleeb alone!"

"Pleeb?" Eevee asks.

Hattrem pauses. "That's the name of the creature. He's my pet," she says.

Eevee and Ralts look at eachother.

Eevee whispers to Ralts, "Hey so... maybe she isn't evil...?"

Ralts nods. "Yeah... We should apologize for spooking her."

So, in agreement, they knock on the hut door again.

"Uhm, I think we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Eevee, and this is my friend Ralts. What's your name...?" Eevee asks sheepishly.

"... Hattrem. My name is Hattrem," she replies.

"Okay. Good! Good. Uhm, your pet... he's okay, right?"

"Yes. He's fine. I would never hurt him."

"I'm sorry for scaring you... I thought you were, uhm, evil," Eevee says.

Hattrem slowly opens the door, and she looks at the two. "It's fine," she says. Hattrem steps out of the hut and stands nervously, sighing. "I can't do anything without someone assuming something crazy, I guess."

Eevee stammers for a bit. She feels like melting away now. "Hey! No, we don't think you're crazy... uhm, anymore. You seem really nice!"

Slowly, a small smile creeps across Hattrem's face, and she feels anxiousness slowly dissipating from herself.
"Well then. I suppose you aren't that bad either."

After that, Hattrem sets Pleeb down, and she walks Eevee and Ralts over to her table and pulls up seats for them. All three begin to talk about their lives and what they do, and Hattrem says that she only recently moved into Wysteria, just a week ago.

"... And I really like the supernatural! It's all so amazing to me, to think that there's this layer of reality always around us, but you can hardly ever mess with it..." Hattrem says. "I wonder what Wysteria can offer..."

"Oh, believe me, this town has no shortage of spooky things. Me and Ralts always go around to deal with that stuff!" Eevee says.

Hattrem's face lights up! "REALLY?! Oh my god, what did you see!?"

"Uhm, well, there was this like... evil washing machine that we had to beat up. And also an evil water fountain. My TV turned evil once, so I hit it. You know, a lot of things just turn evil around here."

"... Oh. Wow, that's... something," Hattrem says while turning away.

Meanwhile, Ralts is eyeing down Hattrem's notebook. "What's in there?" he asks.

"Oh! My notebook. I write my research into it," Hattrem replies. She slides it over to Ralts and Eevee.

Together, they look through it and see Hattrem's notes. Amazing drawings that depict creatures of all shapes and types fill Hattrem's notebook!

"Wow. Your art is really good!" Eevee says while looking up.

"R-really!? You think it's cool?" Hattrem stammers out.

"Oh yeah! I really like how you drew these feathers. They're really nice." Eevee replies. "... How do you know about a lot of this stuff anyways?"

"I read a lot," Hattrem replies, "and, if I can, I like to get as close as I can to live specimens."

Then, Hattrem smirks and leans into Eevee
and Ralts, and she whispers to them, "You know, I could show you a real spirit. One that doesn't possess home appliances."

Eevee's eyes light up! "Wow! Did you hear that Ralts!? Didja hear!?" Eevee says excitedly as she grabs ahold of Ralts's shoulders, rocking him back and forth.
All the while Ralts's lip quivers, and he lets out a slow a quiet wheeze as he slumps into himself. "I- uhm- maybe- uhm- I don't-"

Eevee pauses for a bit. "... Oh, come on, Ralts... it can't be that bad. It'll be fun! In and out, quick adventure," Eevee assures him.

So after some convincing on Eevee's part, Ralts finally psychs himself up to go see this spirit Hattrem had found! Then the three all got up and went on a journey through the woods with Hattrem leading.

Hattrem explains on the way, "It should be coming out around this time. I've been watching it for a few days... it's totally harmless. Mostly."

"What do you mean 'mostly'?" Ralts asks.

"Well, it's a tad bit violent. I already set up some protection from it, though, so there's nothing to worry about." Hattrem replies as she shrugs.

Soon, the group walks into a clearing, and they see the shrine that Eevee and Ralts had encountered earlier.

"Here we are!" Hattrem declares! "Welcome to the humble shrine for the Nimmil! I fixed it up so it can manifest."

"... Oh! We've been here already," Eevee says. She points down at the obsidian on the floor. "Ralts picked up some of those black rocks for his collection."

At that, Hattrem's heart sinks, and she turns toward Eevee with the grace of a creaky rusted door, and she stares deep into Eevee's eyes.
"... I'm sorry?" she says.

No one speaks for a bit, and then Ralts taps Eevee on the shoulder. "... Hey, Eevee, I feel like we ruined something somehow," he says.

Eevee places her hand onto her chin, and lightly taps it as she looks up and thinks. "Oh huh. Yeah I guess so too," she replies.

Then, she hears ruffling in the nearby bushes! Eevee's ears immediately swivel toward the sound, and just as she turns, something jumps right at the group!

Eevee shoves Hattrem and Ralts away, and she rolls over just in time! She manifests her trident and stands in a protective stance between the thing and her friends.

Eevee gets a good look. It's the spirit Hattrem was watching, the Nimmil! It stands on all fours, and it's bear sized. Its body is a malformed ursine skeleton made of copper, with only flaps of thin leather laying over it. Around its head are the feathers as seen in the statue, which are made of bronze.

"This is the spirit you said was just 'a tad violent'!?" Eevee yells back towards Hattrem!

"Yes!" Hattrem replies as she gets to her feet! "I have to prepare a spell, okay? But it's gonna take some time!"

Eevee nods. Ralts runs over to help Eevee in her standoff!

So, they enact their secret technique... Screaming at the top of their lungs as they bum-rush the enemy!

Eevee takes the lead, clashing with the Nimmil as it swipes at her and she deflects each hit with her trident!

Ralts take the opportunity and sticks his arm out, and suddenly the Nimmil glows blue before being slammed into the ground! Its gravity increased tenfold thanks to Ralts's telekinesis.

Then, Eevee goes over to stab the Nimmil with her trident! Unfortunately, her trident just pokes through its leather coat into it's copper skeleton. Eevee switches to beating it over the head with her trident like with a bat!

Tremors in the ground dissipate from the Nimmil as it begins to fight the gravity! Sweat beads roll down Ralts's forehead as he tries to keep the beast down.

Meanwhile, Hattrem is circling around Eevee and the Nimmil as she and Ralts keep the Nimmil at bay. In her path, Hattrem is laying a salt trail, creating a salt circle!

"Eevee! I don't think I can hold it down any longer!" Ralts screams out! Finally, with a great upward force, the Nimmil fights back against Ralts's telekinesis and flings Eevee off! Ralts collapses backward from exhaustion!

It swipes wildly at her with its claws, but Eevee blocks every hit!

"EEVEE! Get away from the Nimmil now!" Hattrem says as she prepares the spell!

Eevee and the Nimmil clash one last time before she falls backward out of the salt circle! The Nimmil is about to jump at her, but just then the salt circle kicks into effect! The Nimmil is stopped in its tracks and cannot pass!

Hattrem goes toward the Nimmil, and she begins speaking:
"You who are in my path, I deny you of your defiled existence! Leave such that I may purify that which is impure!"

At that very moment, an amazing pillar of light erupts and consumes the beast! It screams out, and its body disintegrates into flames, and finally into a puff of smoke. The Nimmil has been destroyed.

Nearby, the statue atop the shrine shatters into tiny fragments, catching Hattrem off guard from the sound of its destruction.

Eevee and Ralts are both lying on the floor after the battle. Hattrem goes over lies down on her face alongside them, and in sync they all let out a relieved groan.

Eevee lightly kicks at Hattrem's side, "Hey, I thought what you did was cool. The spirit too, it was pretty awesome."

Hattrem sighs again and speaks with a muffled tone into the grass, "... You're both so stupid."

Ralts suddenly sits up and turns toward Hattrem! "Aw, what?! We literally helped you kill that thing!"

"Yeah! And you also messed with the very obvious protective circle I made to contain it!" Hattrem snarls back at him!

She pushes herself, sits cross legged in the grass, and she pauses. "... But I guess you didn't know any better," she says, "Sorry for calling you both stupid."

"It's okay. We're stupid sometimes." Eevee admits.

Then, they hear more scurrying, and Pleeb pops out of a bush! He runs over to Hattrem and lays in her lap.

"I think it's time to go home now. Isn't that right, Pleeb?" Hattrem says to her pet. Pleeb replies with a deep wheeze.

So all three get up and begin walking out of the woods, and they make their way into the neighborhood.

"... I thought you lived in that hut?" Ralts says.

"What? No, I go there when I want to get away from my mom." Hattrem replies.

Eventually, they stop at a white two story house. It still has the "SOLD" sign in the front yard.
"Well, this is my home," Hattrem says.

"... Oh! Wow, you live right next to us!" Eevee exclaims! "We're neighbors!"

Hattrem breathes in deeply, and then smiles in spite of herself. "... Yeah, it seems so. I think I'll have a good time in this town."

At that, all three decide to say their goodbyes for today, and they all went to their own homes.

THE END