[ WP ] You are a pokemon trainer ( or any other profession ) before pokemon balls were invented .

His five pokemon always walked to his sides. Well, four of them walked, but the small Eevee usually rode on one of his brothers or sisters, or even on his trainer's head or shoulders. They were a family, and four of them had evolved, but the smallest, the runt of the litter actually had remained in his original form. Alex did n't mind, and it was nice having the one still smaller and a bit more playful than the others. 
 
 He'd found the five when he'd stopped poachers who had been capturing the pokemon and stuffing them into cages. They had said something about how rare they were, and he'd fought them off with the help of his lone pokemon, a wartortle. Unfortunately, saving the other pokemon, Wartortle had suffered too much damage and his shell had been cracked. Alex decided that even though he'd had the Wartortle from a Squirtle, he could n't keep pushing him on his journey. The Eevees and Alex made sure to visit the old Wartortle at Alex's parents home each year. 
 
 It was n't too long after he'd saved them that the first Eevee evolved into a Vaporeon. All of the other Eevee and Alex had been so excited, and Alex was sure that Eevee had evolved in adoration of the Wartortle, to be more like her hero. Vaporeon loved the water and would splash around even in the smallest of puddles whenever they were out on their journey. 
 
 Jolteon had been the second one to evolve, him during a thunder storm. They had gotten lost, and were out in the mountains. Eevee went on ahead, running, running to find shelter for his family, and when he came back he was the lightning and faster than he could have dreamed. Alex always appreciated that Jolteon evolved to help them all. 
 
 Flareon had been the third, a few days after Jolteon. When they'd found their path again, they'd ended up winding through some dark caves. Jolteon kept sparking to keep the light, but everyone had to stay back to make sure that they would n't accidentally get shocked by Jolteon. When Jolteon had gone ahead to explore a fork, the group was ambushed by a Steelix. Vaporeon's attacks did n't seem to do much as the water just ran off it's body, the Steelix creating a cave in and opening up a lava gout. When Vaporeon was lookiing to be in a pinch, Flareon evolved and was able to drive back the Steelix with his bright flames. 
 
 Leafon had been the most unusual though. No one else had seen one before Alex's, and the Proffessors that had seen her begged to let Alex leave her with them to study. Alex always refused, with the same comment. `` They're my family, how can I possibly let them go?'' Leafon had evolved one day just basking in one of the only bright spots in a forest. Her leaves were sharper than many swords, but she was always so calm and relaxed. 
 
 Somehow, after years of traveling with the five, Alex had become The region's pokemon champion. There was rumors going around of a new invention called a pokeball. Alex was reading over the news late one night of how the pokemon world would be revolutionized by this invention, but Alex just looked into the eyes of his Eevee as he said, `` I would n't ever want to have my family in tiny balls like that.'' And then Eevee started to evolve, bright blue rings forming on it's ears, forehead and tail as it's fur went black.
