Eevee's body begins to stir as his begins to regain conciousness. The pain was still there, but something was different. Why did he feel warm? As he slowly opened his eyes, he could see a fire in front of him. Where could that have from? Struggling with his bruises, Eevee begins to rise to his feet. He doesn't quite make it however, and instead opts to sit on his hind legs before looking around at the niche he had passed out in.

The delicate aroma of poorly butchered meat roasting over a fire fills the small cave as Jameson stokes the flames. With his hands. The black clad man seems to have no issue with this minor hitch though, and soon he sits back roughly on the stone that appeared to serve as his seat. He looks to Eevee, clearly expecting to see him unconcious. "Ah. Looks like you finally got off your ass."

Eevee blinked a few times as he heard the familiar voice of his old..or perhaps current master flow through his ears. Was he hallucinating? Perhaps his mind being cruel to him. Here was the man that Eevee sought to stray from after spending time with Mogwai. Yet here he was again, picking up after Eevee's recent failures. The scent of the roasting meat began to fill his nostrils, and Eevee found his mind suddenly focused towards something else. He glanced towards Jameson first before setting his eyes on the meat.

"It'll taste better if you give it a little longer." Jameson is apparentally extremely good at picking up on body language, nodding to you. "That one's for you anyways. I already carved off my own hunk." He retrieves a flask from his jacket and drinks deeply from it, apparentally content with leaving words there for right now.

It was clear that Eevee had been eating light. His primary goal was to reach the Beast Kingdom as soon as possible. But his recent encounters caused his body to drain him of all of his energy. While taste meant little to the pokemon, he didn't feel comfortable trying to eat it over a raging fire. Instead he just let his ears drop as he stared at the ground. He wasn't sure what to do. Was this really Jameson? Why was he here? Did Eevee..pass away while he was sleeping?

Jameson examines Eevee's state, and grunts. He screws the cap on his flask shut and tosses the metal container over to the pokemon, underhand. "There. Drink some of that. Not too much though, it's a bitch to get into town from here." He eyes the pokemon some more before looking over the meat. "I'll take it that you've been doing well without me before this point. Could have at least tried to figure out where I was."

Eevee eyes the flask as it lands in front of him. He wasn't quite sure what to do at first, but he's seen Jameson drinking from it dozens of times. Using his front two legs, he picks the flask up and uses his teeth to twist the cap off. The words 'not too much' didn't mean anything until Eevee felt a burning sensation upon consuming the liquid within. What in the cleft was this?! Eevee closed his eyes as he put the flask down.

Whatever it was, surely Jameson had his reasons for sharing it with Eevee. This bothered him a little, as Eevee had assumed the two had parted ways some time ago. He never made an attempt to reunite with the former Team Rocket specialist, other than the time he felt strangely betrayed by Mogwai before meeting Sylphid.

Jameson chuckles lightly. "Yeah, it burns, but it's cheap and it's like like yeti hide sells for all that much money. Especially not when it's singed all to hell, thanks for that." He stands up, taking a hold of the spit the meat is attacked to and stabbing it into the ground before Eevee, at a nice eating height. "The meat works though. A little better with the wildflowers around here as spice, but they're out of season."

With the meat now in comfortable distance, Eevee reached forward and began to eat away. The meat did more than simply satiate Eevee's hunger, it also filled him with satisfaction in knowing where the meat came from. The gesture reminded Eevee of the connection between humans and pokemon. Every partnership was different, but the end result was the same.

Still, Eevee had become different from other pokemon. Power of the mana spirits aside, he had fallen deeply for another creature and desired nothing else than to be as intelligent as her. The idea of Jameson before him, giving him warmth and food, felt like a contradiction to his desire for independance.

Eevee was indeed full of questions, not that he could ask. As he finished gobbling up the yeti meat, he laid flatly on his stomache to rest. The strange burning liquid had an affect on relieving some his pain. His eyes then dart between the bowl on the fire and at Jameson, curious to know more before bolting for the Beast Kingdom.

Jameson pulls the bowl up to his lips and drinks the quickly melted snow, before setting it back on and adding some more for Eevee. "Always good to get some actual water in you. Body starts to break down without it." Jameson casts an eye over Eevee, before reaching to the back of his belt and pulling one of the balls that rest there free from it. He holds the pokeball in one hand, and holds the other hand open, empty. "So. Let's make this easy, shall we? I know you're past a normal pokemon. All that mana shit changed things. The question now is, what are you going to be?" Jameson holds up his empty hand. "You could keep on the path you're on. Can't tell you where it'd go. I don't know. I wouldn't even be there." He holds up the hand with a pokeball in it. "Or you could drop everything and come back with me. We make our own lives as freaks with the rest of the people in this place. I'd be able to help you, but you'd lose some of yourself."

Jameson lets both of his hands drop again, the metaphor finished. "That's about the short of it. I'm giving you a choice most of your kind don't get. But, you and I both know that you're different. So. What do you want? The beaten path, or the uncut jungle trail?"

Jameson's words were sound, as even Eevee understood what he was being asked. Surprisingly, Eevee found himself conflicted over the choice. There were parts during and after his adventures for the mana spirits where he desired the simple life he had before. And yet, a being as significant and powerful as Salamando set him on this path for a reason. Perhaps this was Salamando's real intention for Eevee.

Feeling indecisive, Eevee took to doodling his paw on the dirt floor. He began by drawing a circle, with a tinier circle inside. On the top part of the circle, he drew a curved line with yet another circle attached to it. Below this figure, he then attempted to draw a line in the shape of a ribbon. He took a long, hard look at the picture of the 'ribbon'.

Jameson picks up the stone bowl on the fire, and sets it before Eevee. Hot water takes the place that the snow had inhabited before, and Jameson examines the pictures Eevee had drawn. "Your art could use some work, whatever path you choose."

As the hot water is placed before him, Eevee dipped his head close enough to its surface in order to drink out of it. At first, he felt nothing change as he started to lick the water up. But as the hot water made contact with his body, he was reminded of magma river that flowed in Barrel Volcano. Deep inside, Eevee felt like there was another reason he took this journey without his friends.

It wasn't entirely about adventuring with Mogwai or living simple with Jameson. Ever since leaving the palace of darkness, Eevee felt as if a part of him was missing all along. He needed to be alone in order to find what he may or may not have lost. That was his real reason. He knew what he had to do.

With that, Eevee raised his head from the bowl and looked up at Jameson again. His eyes shifted focus a few times between Jameson's hands: the one holding the pokeball and the one that was empty. He raised his paw towards the empty hand.

Jameson nods at Eevee's choice, drops the pokeball to the ground, and smashes it under the heel of his boot. He then bends down, and retrieves a section of the red half of the casing. "Just a second." He pulls a small knife from his jacket and marks an uppercase R on the shell, before offering it to Eevee. "There. Take it if you want. Keepsake. Should also keep anyone trying to catch you off your ass."

Eevee gazed over the shard from the broken pokeball. But before he could get a good look, he strong gust of wind blew in from outside the cave. At the same time, Eevee found himself temporarily blinded as something ambushed him from behind and wrapped around his eyes.

As he violently shook it off, Eevee could clearly see what it was. His eyes lit up as he placed a paw on the yellow ribbon to keep it from blowing away, and his other paw on the shard of the pokeball. The paw with the ribbon, strangely enough, was placed just below the picture Eevee had drawn. Both keepsakes, while representing opposite choices, went perfectly together.

Jameson returns to his rock-seat, and sets the snow bowl back up. "Good luck out there. If someone gives you too much shit, figure something out or drag your ass back here. Either or, good luck out there. Feel free to rest a while longer."

Eevee nodded fiercely towards Jameson before lying down next to his treasures. He was ready to go, but the warmth of the fire made him want to rest just a little longer. At least until Sylphid's power had returned. While fate would tear him away from Jameson for a time, he promised himself that he would someday return. Indivuduals may walk their own paths but many paths find themselves intertwined along the enormous highway of life.