What it Feels Like (Part 1)

Two looked at her new form.  "How...?"  Her father's lessons came back to her, as if mocking her.  Umbreons are deeply connected with the moon and the night.  Umbreons evolve only at night when they are content.  It was supposedly a tricky state to achieve, as it could only be after a battle.

Guilt overcame Two.  She had gone against her father's wishes to get what she wanted, at night, which ended up with her gloating over the fight.  She'd hit all three.  "No, no, no...  I didn't want this to happen...   I wanted time, and options, and..." Two stammered while pacing.  No, she couldn't even call herself Two anymore!

Meanwhile, the world was still moving around her.  The two trainers watched the newly evolved shiny Umbreon stand stock-still near the boy's defeated Rhyhorn.  Not even when he returned his Pokémon to its Poke Ball did she react.  Was she waiting for something?

Sarah risked a glance at her bully, who had his eyes fixed on the Umbreon, but he couldn't do anything about it.  He only had one Pokémon, and it was knocked out.  She was in the same boat, but that Umbreon had appeared to save her...  Did it want her to catch it?

She took a careful step towards the shiny Pokémon.  "Umbreon?  Do you want to come home with me?  I can take good care of you..."

The Umbreon only responded by pacing slowly, as if bored of waiting.

She took her one Great Ball out of her bag.  Her mother had given her three to catch a Pokémon, but she had lost one on Starly, having no way to tire him out.  This Umbreon was tired and apparently willing to join her team.  Only one way to find out...

The bully Matt took a step towards her.  "Stop.  You can't."  He tried to look threatening, but he didn't scare her anymore.

"I can, actually.  She wants to be with me!"  She paused, hoping her next sentence would work.  "...And if you don't want to see her in action against you again, you'll stay away from me!"

Matt stopped, then took a step back.  He didn't say a word as he turned and walked back towards his house.

Sarah smiled, looking back towards the Umbreon, who had stopped pacing with her back to her.  They had done it.  She and this Umbreon had made Matt stop bullying her.  And now she had a new friend!  She tossed the Great Ball to herself.  "Ready, Umbreon?"

The Umbreon who couldn't call herself Two anymore stopped pacing.  "Ok...  What do I do?  I have to go back."  But she couldn't face her father.  He had been right.  She'd have to either learn to accept this new form and be confident about it before she got back to camp, or-

Ping!

Something landed on her back.  The next thing she knew, she was trapped in a space that she couldn't see!  She stood in shock for a moment.  What happened!?  Then, she laid her ears back.  "Lousy humans!" she snarled as she tried to throw herself against the sides of her enclosure.  Trust them to take advantage of her while she was vulnerable!  "Stupid, lousy, greedy, awful humans!" she growled, hitting a wall with every word she said.  How could they!?  She had a family and a clan!

Click.

The sides weren't giving way anymore.  She was trapped.

Things started appearing around her that reminded her of home.  A starry sky with a full moon overhead, a small tree to climb, a bed of leaves, and fresh food and water.  She was stuck here.

The Umbreon who could longer be called Two slumped down to the floor, letting her head rest on her paws.  She wouldn't have to face Umbreon now.  She couldn't go back if she wanted to.  Ever.

She closed her eyes, trying to force herself to appear back in camp.  Sunbeam could do it, right?

Nothing.

She knew it wouldn't work, but it was the final blow.  The second eldest of five, toughest and emotionally thick-skinned out of all of them, and newly evolved Two broke down and cried.

 

"TWO!?" I called again.  No response.  "I don't get it.  This is the tree!"

 

Umbreon crouched down, then bounded up into the branches while Snow kept her nose low.  "She was here," the Glaceon muttered distractedly as she continued to track.  "She jumped back into the real world here, but then..."

 

Umbreon called down from the treetop.  "Splash!  There's a Noctowl up here who's seen her!"

 

"What did he say?" I called back, leaning back to see the yellow glow of his fur.  I only heard a few hoots of the bird Pokémon, but I couldn't make out any words.  After a bit, there was no other sound from the tree.  "...Umbreon?"

 

The Dark Type jumped down at dangerous speeds.  "She heard a human bullying another human and ran off to help!"

 

"Great!" I said bitingly.  "Now humans are involved in this, too!"

 

Snow's head jerked up.  "She went this way!"  With that, she bounded away through the fallen leaves with Umbreon and I right on her tail.

 

It only took me a moment to gain my bearings.  "The human town is this way!"  Umbreon growled quietly in frustration and worry.  The more I thought about it, the more confused I got.  "She usually doesn't care about humans at all!  Why would she do this?"

 

"Because she has a good heart," Umbreon answered.  "She acts tough and callous on the outside, but she tries to do what's right."

 

Snow posed a question without turning from her trail.  "Then why did she run away in the first place?"

 

"She hates being ordered around," Umbreon volleyed back.  "When she wants something, nothing can stop her until she gets it."

 

"It's still not your fault," I offered, knowing what Umbreon was thinking.  "You did the right thing.  Clover would have been left alone with three kits and an undefended camp."

 

"But I should have promised her!"

 

My next words were cut off as Snow slowed to a trot near the tree line.  At a glance, it was easy to see that a fight had taken place here, and recently.  Umbreon took a step forward, keeping his rings lit.  "Two?" he called quietly.  Nothing was heard.

 

Snow and I stepped up next to him, Snow's nose going to the ground again.  "She came this way.  Recently.  If she hadn't answered, I would have guessed that she was still here."

 

Umbreon turned to look at her as I walked onto the battlefield, looking for clues.  "My daughter is missing near a battlefield where humans were involved.  Please tell me that you can find her."

 

"I'm doing my best, Umbreon, but tracking in a battle is hard.  I'll have to trace around the edges to see where she left."

 

Something on the ground caught my eye.  Trotting over, I brushed the grass aside with one paw and peered closely at it.  It was a bit of Two's shed fur, but it was black at the end.  I sniffed it carefully.  It smelled an awful lot like...  My gaze trailed to the Dark Type, who was moving so closely to Snow that he looked like her shadow.  "Guys?  I think Two evolved."

 

"What!?" both yelled at the same time.

 

"I found some of her fur!  It's half Eevee, half Umbreon!  She must have shed some while she was evolving!"

 

Umbreon narrowed his eyes in thought.  "She'd be satisfied that she won and got what she wanted, and she won a battle at night.  It all fits."

 

Snow stood back up, worry written all over her face.  "That explain why I can't find her scent anymore...  But even with a new smell, nothing left this area except the two humans."

 

Umbreon froze.  "...You mean..."

 

I stepped closer to him as Snow shrugged.  "It's the only story that fits."

By the Light of the Moon (Part 3)

WHAM!

"OW!"

I shook my head out, rubbing my fin.  If that was Bolt getting back at me for tearing him away from that Dedenne, I swear to Arceus...  I stood up and stretched, still irritated.  Clover may have had that vine installed for a reason, but that didn't mean I had to be happy about it.

Slipping into the pond, I could see Umbreon framed against the night sky on shore.  He looked just as anxious as he did when Sunbeam and Espeon were in danger.  I quickly swam to the surface, leaping out of the water to land in from of him.

He immediately took a step towards me, worry shining in his eyes.  "Oh, good!  You're up!"

"Yes, I'm up.  Slamming one's head against their ceiling will tend to do that."  I immediately regretted the snappy comment, but Umbreon didn't seem to be paying attention.

"Two's missing."

"What!?"  That shook me out of my sleep-deprived mood.

Umbreon nodded.  "She jumped up to the lookout platform with me while everyone was away, asking me if I could take her to see the moon.  I told her no, and she ran off in a huff.  I thought she had gone back to Clover, or was pouting in our den, but no one's seen her!  She's not in camp!"

I thought hard.  What would Two do if she was upset because Umbreon had told her not to do something? 

Do it anyway.

"I bet she went to her tree.  She probably used Phantom Force to get out unnoticed."

His eyes strayed to the bush den.  "That explains why Snow couldn't find her scent near the entrance..."

"The three of us will go to look for her.  You, me, and Snow.  I know where Two's tree is," I said confidently, trying to steady Umbreon with leader-like authority.

He stood up quickly and ran towards Snow's den.  "Meet us by the entrance!"

I nodded and trotted quickly towards the entrance of camp.  Two couldn't be that reckless, could she?  Sure, she could fight, but still...

Umbreon ran back to me, skidding to a halt beside me.  "Snow's getting up.  She'll be here in a second."  He let out a quiet breath.  "I had a nagging feeling that she might do something like this, but I thought she'd have more common sense..."

"It's not your fault," I said as Snow ran towards us.  "She does what she wants, when she wants to do it.  You told her not to, and she went anyway to spite you.  That's her fault, not yours."

"It's a little my fault..." he muttered quietly as Snow stopped beside us.

"Ready when you two are."

I nodded at her, then led the way into the forest.  "Two's tree is this way.  With any luck, we won't need Snow's tracking skills because she'll be there, safe and sound."

Two burst out of the bushes, knocking the Rhyhorn's charge away with a Quick Attack to the snout.  Forced to change course, the charging Rock Type curved away from the exhausted Starly lying on the ground.

Both humans, a young girl with shoulder-length brown hair tied in pigtails and a slightly older boy with freckled cheeks, stopped and stared.  Two didn't like that.  She turned to look at the girl's Starly.  "Well!?"

The Starly flapped into the air again, looking just as startled as the humans.  "R-Right!" she chirped.

Two rolled her eyes and turned back to the Rhyhorn.  It didn't move.  Was it really so dependent on its trainer that it had to wait for orders to attack?

The girl human behind her found her words first.  "...That's a shiny Eevee."

"That's a shiny girl Eevee!" the boy corrected.  "She's ours, Rhyhorn, get her!  Use Fury Attack!"

"Leave her alone!" the girl shouted.  "Starly, protect that Eevee!"

Two laid her ears back, easily jumping away from the Rhyhorn's charge.  It may have been a lot bigger than her, but it was slow and stupid.  "I don't need your protection!" she shouted over her shoulder.  "I came here to protect you!"

No one listened to her.  As the Rhyhorn stopped, attempting to turn around for another attack, the Starly swept in from above and used Wing Attack on the Rock Type.  Two growled in frustration, crouching low and firing Swift from a distance.  She couldn't use Phantom Force.  That was a secret.

Evading the charge again, Two and the Starly both used Quick Attack at the same time, managing to knock their opponent off balance.  It was already slight injured from its previous fight, so this was easy.

"Rhyhorn, change tactics!  Use Rock Blast on the Eevee!"  His Pokémon instead used it against the flying Starly, knocking it out of the air and out of the fight.

"Starly!" the girl cried, running over to her fallen bird Pokémon.

Two fired Swift again as the boy scolded his Rhyhorn.  "I said on the Eevee!  Not-  oh, forget it!  Just attack!"

Two swished her tail.  This was going to be easy.

Two Quick Attacks and a Swift later, the Rhyhorn was barely standing, and Two hadn't been hit once.  She ended the battle quickly with a final strike with Bite.  The Rhyhorn went down heavily.

"Ha!" she said, stepping away.  "And Dad said I couldn't handle myself out here!"

Suddenly, her fur began to glow white.  She was evolving.  Both humans watched in amazement as Two grew bigger, leaner, and quicker.  The light finally died down, and Two blinked in confusion.  She looked at herself.  Short, black fur, rounded ears...  and glowing blue rings on her shoulders and flanks.

She had evolved into an Umbreon.

By the Light of the Moon (Part 2)

I let my eyes drift closed again while sitting on the edge of the pond, my tail in the water.  It was still rather early for me to be awake, and Surf had left with Snow and Inferno on a morning hunting trip.  Smaller Pokémon were out gathering food amongst the falling leaves, so I had decided that we should take advantage. 

However, this left me without motivation to stay awake.  Surf was away, One through Five were still sleeping, their parents were talking quietly about their kits' evolutions (we all knew that Two would become an Umbreon, but until she herself said something, we weren't allowed to make the suggestion), and Clover had gotten Bolt to go looking for Chople Berries for a possible new recipe.  This was actually a ploy to get Bolt distracted so that the rest of us could sleep.  Bolt had two speeds: Off and High.  And last night, he was at High speed.

My near-doze was unceremoniously interrupted.  "Splash!  Splash!" a frantic, energetic, and feminine voice called, startling me so badly that I fell into the pond.  Shaking myself fully awake, I swam back to the surface to see a sheepish Sunbeam.  "Sorry..." she muttered apologetically.

"It's fine.  I probably needed that anyway."  I pulled myself out of the water again and sat down in front of her.  "What happened?"

Her excited aura returned.  "You remember two days ago?  When Mother and I came back and Four asked me to look at what he could evolve into with his extra energy?"

I leaned forward a bit.  "Slow down.  But yes."

Sunbeam took a steadying breath.  "Right.  I finally got the hang of using Future Sight without Cresselia's help, but I still couldn't see much.  Just colors and blurry shapes."  I nodded, wondering where this was going.  "So I had to use logic instead.  What colors do the different evolutions of Eevee turn when they're shiny?"

"Uh..."  Her question took me aback.  "I know a few...  Umbreons turn blue, Vaporeons turn pink, and... Espeons and Jolteons both turn green, I think.  That's all I know."

Sunbeam tilted her head thoughtfully.  "Green?"

I nodded, trying to recall what I knew.  "Yes...  I think the Espeon is a much deeper green."  How did I know about this?

I could almost see the wheels turning inside her head.  "Hm...  That could work...  I'd need to go by the library again to see a picture.  I need to be sure it's the color I saw!"  With that, she turned and bounded back towards her den.

"Wait!" I called after her, standing up.  "What color?"  Sunbeam either ignored me or didn't hear me.  Knowing her, probably the second option.

I sighed quietly and rose to my paws.  Sitting around wasn't going to get anything done.  I trotted over to Clover's den, the occupant of which was busy organizing certain berries into a small pile near a bowl made of ice.  I leaned in as she started counting a certain kind of red, three-sectioned berries.  "Hi, Clover.  I should probably find Bolt.  He's been out all night."

The Leafeon nodded, looking up at me.  "That might be a good idea.  Arceus knows when he'll give up the search on his own."

"When do you think it would occur to him that you could grow them in a few seconds?"

"Not for a while..." she answered thoughtfully.

I nodded, taking my cue.  "Well, I'll go track him down.  Snow's still out hunting, so I'll go solo."

Clover went back to her Chople Berries as she answered.  "I'll tell her to look for you when she comes back."

"Thanks!" I called back, bounding away towards the camp exit.  Fall was nice.  The air was crisp, the trees had turned all sorts of colors, and the ones that had already fallen littered the ground, making everything smell nice and pawsteps crunch on the forest floor.  Hopefully, though, there weren't too many yellow leaves still on the trees as to camouflage any tree-climbing Jolteons.

 

Two stood at the edge of her family's den, watching the stars come out.  Splash, Bolt, Surf, Snow, and Inferno had been gone for almost the entire day, and Sunbeam and Espeon had left later to look for them and check out Sunbeam's book place at the same time.  Umbreon had taken up watch for them from the lookout post, having the best night vision.  Two looked back up at the sky.  She knew the phases of the moon well enough by now to know that tonight was not only a full moon, but a blue one.  She loved blue moons.

 

Unfortunately, with so few evolved clan members in camp, no one would take her to see it.  Her father was busy and Clover was watching her three other siblings until the rest of the clan returned.  Flicking one ear in frustration, she slipped through the camp entrance and jumped up the steps to the lookout post.  "Dad?"

 

He turned his gaze away from the forest, looking at her with mild disapproval.  "Two, you know you're not supposed to be up here."

 

She ignored the comment and continued on.  "Dad, can you take me to see the blue moon?"

 

"No, Two.  I'm sorry.  That would leave just Clover alone in camp with your brothers and sister."

 

Two had expected this answer, but it was still upsetting.  "But I want to see the blue moon!  They don't happen every night!"

 

"You can watch the moon from camp," he father said patiently.

 

"There are too many trees in the way," Two retorted.  "There's this tree that I can climb.  It's not too far from camp and it gives a perfect view!"

 

Umbreon closed his eyes, still keeping his patience.  "Two, not now.  Maybe I can take you when everyone else gets back, ok?"

 

"But then I can't see it come up!"

 

"Not now!  If you keep this attitude up, I won't take you to see it at all!"

 

Two growled angrily.  "Fine!" she yelled before jumping into the ice slide back into camp, seething.   It wasn't even that far!  She could even see the camp from the top anyway!  Why couldn't she go alone if he was too busy?

 

The last thought stuck in her head.  Could she go on her own?  She was the best of all of her unevolved siblings at fighting, if it came to that, and she could escape using Phantom Force any time she wanted.  Another use for Phantom Force would be slipping past her father undetected...

 

She glanced around camp, making sure no one was watching.  Then, she leaped high and opened up a hole between dimensions and landing perfectly on her paws in the dim reverse world.  Resisting a smug grin, she marched straight through the camp wall, directly under her father's watch point.  Breaking into a satisfied run, she bounded towards the tree that she knew so well.

 

Leaping back into the normal dimension as she reached the trunk, Two didn't even pause before jumping up to the lowest branch, working her way up until she was perched at the top.  She sighed heavily.  She was in the shadow dimension for a long time.  That took more out of her than she had expected.

 

A Noctowl flew to the tree, landing nearby.  Two only gave the bird Pokémon a cursory glance before returning her gaze to the horizon, where the first blue rays of moonlight  were starting to appear.  He wasn't going to attack her.

 

"Whoooo are you?" hooted the Noctowl.

 

"Just watching the moon," Two replied without looking away from the sky.  The Noctowl seemed satisfied with her answer, sitting on a higher branch and thinking quietly.

 

After only a few minutes out, noises reached Two's ears.  No.  Not noises.  Voices.  Human voices.

 

"Look who's out past her bedtime!"

 

"Leave me alone!"

 

"Aw, what's that you have there?  Aww, you got a Pokémon, how cute!  Sarah's all grown up now!"  The tone was acidic and mocking.  This was not a nice human.

 

"Go away!  Leave me alone or I'll make you!  Go, Starly!"

 

"Did you catch that thing yourself, or did your mommy do it for you?  Either way, I don't think it'll do too well against a Rock Type!  Go Rhyhorn!"  This was turning into a fight!

 

Two stood up on her branch.  "She's in trouble..."

 

The Noctowl spoke quietly.  'What are you going to doooo?"

 

Two hesitated.  This was a human.  Not only dangerous, but unnecessary.  But...  How could she walk away knowing that someone was being bullied like that?  "I'm going to defend her."

 

"Are yooooou sure?  You're young tooooo begin with."

 

"I can fight!" she snapped back.  "I'm the toughest out of all of my siblings!"

 

The Noctowl looked away.  "If yooooou say so..."

 

Two huffed and started climbing down the tree.  She didn't need the approval of another Pokémon to defend someone.  It was simple.  Fight the Rhyhorn just enough to weaken it until the girl human could take care of it herself, then run.  Not that hard.



By the Light of the Moon (Part 1)

"Umbreon, you have to calm down," I said impatiently.  At this point, I had lost count of how many times I had been saying these exact words over the last few days.

The Dark Type paced anxiously in front of me.  "I can't calm down, Splash!  She was in danger!  The ice sculpture that Snow made?  The one that glows when she's in trouble?  It was glowing for over a day!  I need to help her!"

"Past tense!  It's not glowing now!  She's out of whatever she got into!"

"I need to know if she's safe!  Both of them!"

I forced myself to take a deep breath and speak calmly.  "Umbreon, you have been driving everyone else in camp crazy for the last three days.  Didn't Espeon promise you that she's be back before the full moon?"

"Yes!" Umbreon said, stall pacing.

"And when is the full moon?" I asked, using the same tone that Umbreon had when he had told Three that he could only eat when the hunting patrol came back with food.

"Tomorrow night."

"Right.  So if Sunbeam and Espeon don't show up by tomorrow night, then I'll organize a search party.  Ok?" 

The worried father finally stopped his pacing.  "...Yes.  I'm not happy about it, but I'll wait."

I sat down.  "Umbreon, you won't be happy until they come back, no matter what you'll be doing."

"Exactly."

I let out an exasperated sigh.  He had been more annoying than Bolt and Inferno put together recently.  That was new for him.  He was usually one of the most levelheaded Pokémon that I knew.

Clover suddenly called from the lookout post.  "They're back!  Espeon and Sunbeam are back!"

Umbreon didn't even wait for her to finish her sentence.  He was gone before I could even register what Clover had said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Sunbeam was telling her sibling all about her adventure.  Espeon was... otherwise occupied.

 

Surf approached me, watching the happy couple, still just outside the camp entrance where they had found each other an hour ago.  "They're still at it?"

 

I nodded.  "They haven't stopped since she got here."

 

The pair blissfully ignored us, kissing and whispering things in each others' ears without any sign of them letting up.

 

Surf tilted his head back towards Sunbeam and her younger siblings.  "Come on.  You know you won't hear this story from Espeon any time soon."

 

I smiled.  "Very true."  We ducked in through the camp entrance, and I looked over at Surf.  "Do we act like them, or do we try to focus on the Clan more?"

 

He stopped, looking back at me with a thoughtful expression.  Finally, he answered with a single word.  "Yes."

 

I smiled, sitting down behind Three and Five as Surf chose a seat next to me, letting his tail sit on top of mine.  I leaned over and briefly touched my nose to his before turning my attention to Sunbeam and the rest of her story.

 



 

It was getting dark by the time Sunbeam was wrapping up her story.  Her parents had moved back inside camp, staying in their den.  Espeon had stayed just long enough to tell us how Absol had saved her from the Houndoom pack.  Sunbeam was touched.

 

"Then, just as the chief of police ran back out, BOOM!" she shouted, making Three, Four, and Five jump.  "The entire building explodes!"

 

"That must have been scary..." Five whispered.

 

"It was bigger than any explosion Inferno ever made!" she continued dramatically.

 

Bolt glanced at his best friend.  "Unlikely..." he said quietly.  I smacked his shoulder with my tail.

 

Sunbeam either ignored him or didn't care.  "So we stopped for a bit afterwards and caught our breath, then we find Absol knocked out in the middle of the street.  We used one of Clover's Revival Herbs.  By the way, Clover, you are brilliant with the leaf pouches."  The Leafeon blushed with a sheepish smile as the young Espeon continued.  "So we told him what happened, and he told us that he had fought off practically the entire Houndoom pack on his own, but got beat by the last two at the end.  Then he thanked us and left for the mountains..."

 

"That's it?" Two said.  "Just like that?"

 

Sunbeam nodded.  "Pretty much.  But then, the best part of the trip happened."

 

I leaned back.  "Better than meeting a Legendary Pokémon?"

 

Sunbeam made a face.  "...Ok, it's a tie.  Mother took me back to the library and let me stay the entire day just to read the books!"  I could tell how happy she was, but not many of her listeners seemed as interested.  However, she didn't seem to care as she talked on.  "And when we had to leave, Gardevoir let me check out a few more books for me to read here!  I love books!"

 

Two nodded as her shiny brother spoke.  "That explains the small pile in our den..."

 

She smiled sheepishly.  "Sorry..."

 

Finally, Espeon and Umbreon slipped out of their log den.  "All right, everyone, time for bed.  Especially you, Sunbeam, you need sleep."

 

There were a few groans of complaint, one of which was from Bolt.  Four, however, stood up and approached the storyteller.  "Sunbeam?"

 

"Yeah?"

 

"Can you still use Future Sight?"

 

"I don't know.  I think so."

 

He looked at the ground, his energy field lighting up the area around him.  "Can you...  Try to see what I can evolve into?  I know I can control my energy more now, but..."

 

Sunbeam nodded, sitting down next to her brother and finishing his sentence.  "You don't want to stand out like that?"

 

"More like I don't want to hurt anyone.  I want to be able to control it perfectly."

 

She looked up at the sky.  "I don't know.  I can try to find out, but no promises, ok?"

 

Four looked up at her and managed a smile.  "Thanks, Sunbeam.  You're an awesome older sister."

 

Sunbeam returned his smile warmly.  "Thank you, Four.  Now, come on.  Let's get to bed to I can dream about your question."