Unforgivable

The eevee family tree isn't well known for thriving in the wild, but we actually have all sorts of survival tools. For example, vaporeons are practically invisible in water. Who knew? I've never seen this happen, but I suppose that's kind of the point. I certainly felt invisible as I walked through this silent forest path.

Was this even a path? I was fairly small compared to the rest of the world. Just because the ancient trees seemed to make way for me didn't make it a path. I supposed I was wasting my time, wondering if I was on a path or not. I didn't even have a destination. Maybe from the outside I appeared like I knew where I was headed. Each step was firm and strong, like I was pounding the ground. My eyes stayed straight forward, narrow and unmoving. Yes, it may have looked like a purposeful march, but it was actually just a random string of inconsequential choices. I was just some poor fool wandering around in the dark.

The dark. I thought. I'm afraid of the dark.

Yet here I was, going for a stroll in the pitch-black night. I have, or had been afraid of the dark since I was a child, ever since an unfortunate incident with a rattata. The dark wasn't passive, it tears into your soul and throttles. I shake myself into paralysis when confronted with the dark. I lash out at friends. I abandon them.

The tree's cleared away, and I stepped into a clearing. I took a deep breath as I looked up into the starry sky. The full moon swooped out from behind a cloud, briefly exposing the meadow in light. All was still, quiet… but for a second I could make out a shape blocking the light from the stars as it flew across the sky.

I couldn't deny it. I was no longer afraid. When had that changed? "Don't be an idiot, Ricochet. You know exactly when it changed."

Five hours before sunset

I pushed my small eevee body out of the towels I'd been hiding in.

"I'm starving!" I told no one in particular. My trainer, Lin-Ka-Ota, wasn't around. Neither were any of the other members of our team. Lin had suggested we all split up to search for food, then come back here to share. She even called it a team building exercise. Seriously. I wish I could say she was joking, but my trainer never jokes about… well, training. I had no doubt that at this very moment, she was out there trying to pass on stealth tips to another member of the team.

We weren't supposed to be here. We were stowaways on a boat called the S.S. Anne. My trainer had an 'in', a couple of people on board who felt like they owed us a favor. Which they did. I saved their lives after all. They got us on the ship, but to protect themselves that was the end of their involvement. I didn't blame them after what Lin had been accused of.

"I'm still hungry!" I said a little louder. My plan was simple in theory and execution. We were all suppose to split up to find food. I, however, would circle back to our hiding spot to wait for the others to come back. They'd have food, and I wouldn't have to waste any energy. The perfect plan. Of course, they'd want to know why I didn't have any food. I'd have to come up with an excuse for that. Luckily, I had just made a lot of free time for myself.

"I have a bunch of excuses! Really would feel like a waste if there wasn't anyone around to hear them." I would have at least expected Lin to come back. The idea that she'd been captured crossed my mind, but I dismissed the thought. I told myself she'd never get caught, but part of me knew I just didn't want to consider the alternative.

My stomach started to doubt my brilliant plan. My brain protested in response. My stomach growled at my brain, starting to wonder why it had ever listened to the grey matter. My brain thought that surely, we could wait a few more minutes. My stomach retorted that, as a simple digestion organ, it had no concept of time. My brain questioned how my stomach has a concept of "self" if it was just a-"

"That's enough of that!" I told them. "I'm going out to find food."

I'm still hungry. I thought as I looked up toward the moon again. I don't know why I kept doing that. Maybe it has to do with the silhouette that keeps passing overhead. I really hope that's just a very persistent cloud.

But there was some light at the end of the tunnel. Well, more like moonlight covering the clearing I'd just found. It wasn't a pristine grove by any means. Granted, I'd only been through one proper forest before, but this one felt… I don't know… primal? I guess? Maybe it was just this land. Johto was wilder, less civilized and less populated, at least by humans. I'd spent most of my time in the Kanto region which everyone told me was the crowning jewel of the land. Well, everyone in Kanto said that.

I walked into the grove and looked through half opened eyes for some bed making material. Lot of leaves. In the middle of a forest. Who would have thought? Perfect for a place to rest, unless the leaves are covering up a bunch of rocks.

The light of the moon flickered again and I sobered up. I noticed a wispy string of silver against my fur. Instinct screamed at me to keep still. Instinct. I didn't even know I had such a thing. Yet my instincts were telling me that if I wasn't carful, I would die. My head started to catch up. The grey matter was telling me that I had nothing to worry about. Since when had strings ever been a problem? Then my brain noticed that the string seemed to cling to my fur, kind of like a string shot from a bug type. I started to scan my environment with a new filter. Instead of bed making materials, I started to spot problems. Silver strands covered the sides of the grove, with the exception of the area I had walked through.

Were those there when I first came in? I thought, then cursed my stupidity. I'm being attacked you idiot! Worry about the time-line latter!

I had to get out of this place, but I had to choose a direction. I'd have one shot at escaping this fight, so I had to get it right. I could run back the way I'd come in, but was that exactly what the- And then I realized exactly what I was dealing with. I'd fought a pokemon that used webs like this months ago. It had attacked me from-

Above! I thought, throwing myself back. The ariados, with its stinging horn and venom drenched pincers, wasted no time in chasing me. I was never the fastest pokemon, even compared to other eevees, but I turned around and put as much distance between us as I could.

I calmed as I reached the edge of the grove. I glanced behind me to find the ariados was already backing up into its trap. In a strange way, I thought I actually understood the predator's thinking. Why waste energy on prey who wasn't caught? Something else would come, and he'd kill and eat that. By not getting eaten myself, I'd just condemned some other pokemon to death.

I shivered, then slunk back into the night.

Four hours before sunset

Taka was hard to miss. The chansey dashed down a hallway with a plate of food. I almost leapt for joy before I realized she was headed away from our rendezvous point.

"Hey, Taka!" She must have confused Lin's plan. I didn't know Taka well, but she seemed the type to get distracted. "You're going the wrong way!"

"Oh!" Taka said as she spotted me. She didn't stop though, instead she waddled her way over to a door and started to knock. "Ricochet! I didn't notice you. I'm sorry I never came back. I just noticed all these poor refugee's were hungry too and the kitchen staff was so under staffed, well, I just had to help!"

"So you picked up waiter-ing?" I shook my head. Taka liked to help people. Don't get me wrong, helping people is great. I just wished she'd have remembered the members of the team that were waiting for her in a storage shed. Like Lin. I wondered if I'd missed her by coming out to search. Then an idea came to me. "Wait… so you just went up to humans and they gave you food to give to others? No questions asked?"

"Oh, no!" Taka corrected. "Aza was in the kitchen. He set this up."

"Ha! Sure it wasn't Nilo?" I cringed as soon as I said it. Taka did as well. Her relationship with her, I guess you'd call it… adopted brother, was strained. 'Strained' meaning tried-to-kill-her-that-one-time.

"Haven't seen him." Taka's voice lost a lot of it usual bounce. She seemed eager to change the topic, but just kept on talking. "It's not that I don't love him, you know. It's just that, well… after what he did… I just don't…"

Taka let the unfinished sentence hang in the air, which was unfair. I hate awkward silences. Sweet lady luck was looking out for me though because the door Taka knocked on opened up to reveal the most beautiful pokemon I'd ever seen.

I really want to tell you about his fur but I'm afraid if I start, I'll never stop. So let's get all the other crap out of the way. He was about a foot taller than me, not counting his huge ears. I think his paws might have been smaller though, but he pulled the look off. He started making me think that my paws were too big for my body, that my ears were stubby nubs, that my fur- ahg! Already talking about the fur. OK, last details before I lose myself. Gem in forehead and forked tail, but seriously, that fur! It was a rich green, yet smooth like lime ice cream, the good stuff, none of that bulk crap.

"UHMPH!" I grunted as the pokemon tackled me. I knew I should be worried about an unprovoked attack, but I was distracted by the feel of the greatest fur that ever existed. I couldn't help myself, I just had to-

"Did you seriously just nuzzle me!?" The pokemon asked in a vaguely familiar voice. "Seriously, Ricochet?"

That was a bit undignified. I tried to pull myself together. Wait, do I know this guy?

"You must have been one of my fans." A deep instinct told me that he was one of the eeveelutions. Nearly all the eevee's I'd ever met were back on the farm I grew up on. He must know me from my outstanding reputation from the good old days. Well, you only have one opportunity at a first impression, and I have to salvage what's left of this one. I got back to my feet and dusted off my bragging skills, though I admit there wasn't much dust. "I was always the sneakiest eevee at the farm"

AAAHHH! I screamed in my head. What are you doing!? You went with sneaky? Sneaky? Who brags about being sneaky?

" Oh Arceus, you don't recognize me." The pokemon said. "It's me, Jade. You know, from the other side of the farm?"

Gears in my head started warm up with a few memories. My farm had two sides, two different groups of eevee's that were kept separate because... huh. I didn't really know why. I only ran into one, a particularly difficult eevee in the kitchens. After that battle of wits- Wait a minute…

"You're Jade?" I checked this pokemon's face for any signs of my former rival. "The guy who surprised me in the kitchen?"

"More like scared you in the kitchens." I may not have recognized him from behind his new evolution, or maybe it was the year I've been away from my farm, but that inability to distinguish surprise from fright was a dead giveaway.

"Ha! It is you!" I suddenly felt very small. The Jade I knew was an eevee, while I still looked like a child. I look like an idiot! Pull yourself together! "What happened to you? Looks like you put on weight."

"Oh! I am going to enjoy this." Jade started to get into a tackle position. "I've got the evolution advantage, Ricochet. This is going to be ov- HORMMM!"

Jade had to stop talking as Taka shoved a bit of her egg down his throat. I was just as surprised. I couldn't believe Taka would heal my rival; I'd thought she'd already grown out of the whole 'hurting people is always bad' phase. Then I remembered the side effects. Chansey eggs also alter your mood. Anyone who eats them can't help but be overcome with happiness.

Well, I thought back to a few weeks ago. Almost everyone.

"Oh my!" Taka squeezed both Jade and I with surprising strength. "I'm so happy to meet one of Ricochet's old friends!"

"Rivals." Jade and I choked out.

"Friends." Taka spoke a bit more firmly, though her voice never lost that cheerful tone. "You two must have so much catching up to do. Or perhaps you'd prefer to reminisce? Oh! Jade! you have to introduce us to your family!"

Jade snorted as he gracefully slid his way out of Taka's embrace. I tried to get out of it too, but had to whisper to Taka to let me out so I wouldn't look weak. I'm not proud of that. My fur felt all ruffled, but when I looked over to Jade his fur was immaculate, which just wasn't fair. Jade was also glaring at me, which might have been intimidating if he didn't have a big grin on his face.

"Arceus!" Jade swore, still trying to hold his glare. "What did you feed me? I feel like I got kissed by the sun."

"Chansey egg." I was confused. "You haven't had chansey egg before? How do you get healed after a battle?"

"I don't really battle, I'm more of a pageant pokemon." Jade must have decided enough was enough and ditched the glare. "You're a member of a battle team I take it?"

The team! That's it! I had no idea what a pageant was, but I was a member of a battle team. Jade didn't seem to be. His looks might outshine a melotic, but if I could show him all the tough pokemon I hang out with, he'd have to be impressed. I could start with Taka! Heck, she's one of the toughest pokemon in existence if Lin was too be believed. And rare too! Why, there may not even be a need to see any of the others with Taka around.

"You don't battle? Ricochet, we should tell Lin to look into this whole pageant thing." Taka crooned. " What do you do all day? You have to tell me all about it! "

"Uh, get brushed I guess." Jade looked at me questioningly, like he was trying to ask me, "Just how much better is my life than yours?"

"Oh yeah, we're pretty good." I tried to speak over Taka. She might not like battling, but I needed her to impress Jade. "We actually fought a blastoise the other day."

Jade looked at Taka.

"He did!" Taka smiled. "It was so tough it knocked both of us out!"

"There it is." Jade said.

"We won that fight!" I quickly added. What was I thinking? Taka wasn't a sure bet. I needed another member of the team that actually wanted to be here. I wished I could have just taken Jade to see Lin. She had like, seven badges which I hear are all the rage. And her tough look! Too bad the whole wanted criminal thing got in the way. "Seriously though, I should introduce you to the rest of the team. Is your human OK with a quick trip?"

Jade closed the door with his back paw, not even looking back. "I guess I could use the stretch. OK, show me what you got Ricochet."

"Here!" Taka shoved another bit of her egg down Jades throat, then winked at me. "Just in case."

I took care to keep the grove directly behind me. The trees in my path forced me to veer off course, but I felt confident the ariados was at my back. That knowledge was kind of relaxing. I'd been wandering these woods for a few hours without any sort of plan or direction. Now I had a goal, 'don't go back to the clearing.'

A little voice in the back to my mind whispered to me that I should find a place to sleep for the rest of the night. It was the voice of an old habit; I wasn't tired at all. The voice told me I should be exhausted, that night is when the world sleeps.

"Not all of the world, apparently." I whispered as I spotted a strange new pokemon.

I paused my march, still obscured in the darkness and undergrowth, sure in my invisibility as I studied this newcomer. It was about a foot smaller than me. It's brown body was round with a fat tail sticking out the back and two very long thin ears. Twitching around nervously, it would sniff the air, dash towards a tree, then perked its ears before repeating the same process.

I was unsure of what to do. My history with wild pokemon usually ending with us fighting, minus one memorable experience. Maybe I should give the little guy a chance. Besides, I was pretty sure I could take this thing out if it came to a fight.

I waited until it was practically on top of me, then cleared my throat. The small pokemon jerked back and fell on its butt. At first, I thought I knocked it over with fright , then the tail of the pokemon lifted its stout body up into the air. It's making itself look bigger.

"Are you trying to intimidate me? Because, it's not working." The calmness in my voice weirded-me-out. Like talking to a stranger in the night that I'd surprised was the most common situation in the world. I should be freaking-out right now! I was about to add 'Don't worry, I'm not going to eat you,' but decided I wouldn't believe that statement if I were in this pokemon's fur.

The brown pokemon didn't relax one bit. It kept complete focus on me, waiting for me to make the first move.

"Look, I'm new to the forest." I continued. "I was just thinking, I mean, you look kind of stressed. There's not an ariados hovering above me is there?"

"I'm not worried about an ariados!" the pokemon said swiftly. He finally broke eye contact with me by looking up into the sky. "I'm worried about noctowls. They hunt at ni-"

A smooth form swept down in front of me, as soft as a whisper. It was as brown as an eevee, but it was covered in feathers, not fur. It had a short, stubby beak and long, terrible claws. As it seized the smaller pokemon, it turned its head to look directly at me. Then, barely living a gust of wind, it was gone. And so was the round pokemon.

I wasted time saying, "Who's that pokemon?" before bolting back to the grove of the ariados. Sounds insane, right? Well, let me walk you through my thought process. My mind had reached a few important conclusions. First, no matter where I went tonight, something was going to try and eat me. Second, the ariados can't fly and seemed to want to stay in its grove, making dealing with it preferable to the noctowl. Third, and most important, I recognized the shape of that pokemon, obviously the noctowl the small pokemon had tried to warn me about. It was the same shape I'd been seeing in the sky all night. There were a lot of them, and they were hungry.

Three hours before sunset

"Espeon, huh?" I said as I guided Jade towards the kitchens where I hoped Aza would still be. "That's a psychic type?"

"Yeah," Jade affirmed. "Kind of surprised you haven't evolved. I thought pokemon trainers were supposed to be all about the power. Why hasn't she evolved you?"

"I… guess it's never come up." That wasn't exactly true. Talk about becoming a vaporeon had come up last time Lin and I were on this ship. I guess the polite thing to say was that she liked me just the way I was. That was bogus though. Lin liked to win. She liked pokemon that could help her win. And I'm OK with that because it just so happens that I liked to win, too. Come to think of it, why hadn't Lin evolved me? "Maybe she couldn't afford one of those fancy stones."

"I didn't need a rock to evolve."

"Then how-"

"This is it, right?" Jade interrupted, pointing towards the big double doors in front of us.

"Yep. Taka said Aza would be here."

I pushed open the double doors to see that Taka hadn't lied. She also had not prepared me for what I was about to encounter. Aza had indeed worked out some sort of deal with the kitchen staff, and it seemed to involve Aza taking over the place.

The kadabra was standing in the middle of the room with some sort of silly white hat on his enormous head. The psychic type had a large pot right in front of him. Humans were rushing up to him and putting bits of food in the pot. Every once in a while, Aza would turn to a page in this gigantic book that was in front of him and point something out. The humans would all start shaking their heads in agreement then rush off to do whatever it was the psychic type would ask. He'd then dip in that spoon he was always carrying around and gorge himself right in front of the humans! My jaw almost dropped when I saw him start to feed some of the people surrounding him. All in all, it was a surreal sight.

"You rattata!" I called out to him. "You've been here stuffing your face all day!"

The kadabra's mouth was full, but that never stopped Aza from talking.

"Finally made it out of the closet I see." He pulsed to me psychically.

"No! That was like, an hour ago! How did you pull this off?"

"Well, when I was sent out to find food I thought, 'where could one possibly find such a thing?' In the engine room? Perhaps food was hiding in a closet. But the pieces of the puzzle only started to come into place when I started to think like the food-"

"No, I mean-" I gestured to the crowd of people at Aza's beck and call. "This! Them! I thought you lost your psychic abilities. Only Lin can understand you."

"Oh, there's more to communication than talking, Ricochet." Aza motioned to another line in his book, which a human read, then started shouting out orders to the rest of the kitchen. "Why look at you! You don't need to open your mouth for people to understand how pathetic you are."

"Hey! I'm intimidating! People fear me!"

My calls of 'eevee' attracted one of the cooks to the side of me. "Poor guy, you sound so hungry. Here you go!" She slid a piece of stir fry off the counter towards me, which I ignored.

"I guess being weak has it's advantages." Jade's grinned. "Ya' goanna eat that?"

"Oh, he has far too much pride to eat food that while we're looking." Aza pulsed. He then made a very deliberate wink at me and pulsed, "Whoa! Jade! Look over in that other direction! There's something super interesting! Let's all pay attention to that and not Ricochet for a few moments!"

Jade laughed, then made a big show of turning around. "Quick, Ricochet. Now's your chance!"

"So, yeah, this is Aza." I introduced the two psychic types to each other while being careful to not eye the food. "He could be smart with a brain that big, but he stores his ego there instead.""It's the curse of being psychic type." Aza finally spoke out loud, having found a break in his schedule. "We're the most intelligent pokemon on the planet, but the uncultured masses just can't understand that fact."

"Aza, you should tell the story of how our trainer caught you." I said. Aza may think he's the smartest being in Kanto, but that hadn't stopped Lin from catching him. In fact, she'd outsmarted the kadabra more than once. "Never mind, I'll do it. So Jade, Aza here was-"

"Why don't you go find Nilo." Aza was back to work, waving us away. "He probably hasn't killed anything in a while. I think I saw him in the dining area."

The ariados was dead.

I'll spare you the worse details. It was a noctowl though. That species of flying type was probably all over this forest. Still, I couldn't help but think of them as one big enemy.

This thing is good. I thought, as I scanned the area. It doesn't only hunt the weak, it hunts the hunters.

But which was I, hunted or hunter? I could keep running. There wouldn't be any shame in that. I think, out here in the wild, ideas like shame got you killed. The name of the game was survival and you had two main strategies, fight or flight. And if I was right, if there were more than one of these things hovering over the trees, then running wasn't the winning strategy.

"Ok, Ricochet." I whispered to myself. "Time to fight."

Two hours before sunset

Unfortunately, my last chance to impress Jade was Nilo. We found him in the dining room, just as Aza said. He was standing alone, surrounded by dirty dishes. The scyther was still eating, which was kind of weird. Had he only just found food? We'd all split up hours ago. Wasn't this guy suppose to be some kind of great hunter? Well, hunter may have been the wrong word. Technically the word for pokemon that just go around killing humans and pokemon for fun is murderer.

Why on earth did Lin let this guy join our team? I thought, not the first time. I wanted to say that Lin thought she could change Nilo. I wish I could say that it had nothing to do with his raw power. But I knew Lin too well, well enough to know what she'd do to win. So far I'd been OK with how she'd run this team, but Nilo here definitely strained my trust.

"Hey, Nilo!" I probably shouldn't introduce Jade to a famous man killer. People were looking all over for Lin, and I'm pretty sure one of the only things people had heard about her before the… incident, was that she had been the one to put an end to Nilo's reign of terror. Still, I didn't want to look like a wuss in front of Jade.

Nilo barely spared me a glance. He didn't even stop ripping into his meal, which seemed like some sort of meat. I could only hope that it was dead before Nilo got to it. Looking around the clustered room, I could spot a few places he could hid a body.

"So, this is your trainers last pokemon?" Jade tried to ease us all into a conversation, a classy move which annoyed me. "You look intimidating. Scyther, right?"

Nilo spared Jade a glance, ignored him and redoubled his efforts with the lump of flesh. At last, he finally spoke, though he didn't bother swallowing first. "Making friends with an opponent again?"

"He's not my friend!" I dodged a flake of food that sprayed from Nilo's mouth. Disgusting. I don't want anything 'Nilo' on my fur. I glanced at Jade apologetically. "Jade is an old rival of mine. Man, you should have seen our battles back in the day!"

That got Nilo's attention. He stopped eating and stared at Jade and I. The way he silently stared at us, red juices covering his face and claws, made my blood run quicker. That's Nilo though, never one for much talking or apparently hygiene. The sight almost made me wish I was back with Aza.

"Yeah," Jade, ever social, started up. "Remember the time I scared you in the kitchen?"

"Surprised." I corrected. "And remember the time I scared you in the kitchen?"

"And…" Jade hesitated. "I guess that's it."

We lost Nilo's attention.

"Putting up with you is Aza's job." Was all we got from him.

"Hey, Nilo," I started, preparing to tease Nilo about his apparent lack of foraging skills.

"Bug type, right?" Jade cut me off. The guy must have been trying to keep the conversation civil. "I'm actually weak against that type. Not sure why. That whole type thing is confusing."

"Seems like one of those things only humans understand." I agreed. "I'm weak against fighting types but immune to ghosts. What does that even mean? Like I can't be possessed, but I'm vulnerable to punches? Can't wait till I evolve and that weakness disappears. And Nilo here is weak against-"

"Nothing." Nilo spat a bone onto the ground. Then he gulped down the rest of his food and left the dining hall. Jade and I stood alone, surrounded by his filth.

"But… he knows he's weak against stuff like electricity and rocks, right?" Jade said as Nilo left the room. He seemed concerned.

"There's no telling with that guy." I shook my head. "He's got issues. I once saw him trying his 'I'm-to-cool' act on a slowpoke."

"Wow." Jade started giggling. "Talk about a try-hard. So he doesn't even realize how goofy that makes him look?"

I'd never thought about it that way. I mean, I knew what Nilo was capable of. He almost cut Lin in half, so 'goofy' was never a word I'd associate with him. Still, now that Jade was mentioning it, I guess Nilo's unrelenting tough guy routine was kind of silly. His weakness was 'nothing?' Who did he think he was fooling?

"So that's your team, huh?" Jade said. "A chansey, kadabra and a scyther…"

Jade's voice trailed off.

"Hey, don't forget about the most important member of her team!" I was going to follow this up with 'me, of course.' Which, now that I'm thinking about it was a bad idea. It left way too much room for Jade to come up with a clever line, which I knew he'd be able to make up on the spot.

Luckily, I was spared. Jade excused himself, mumbling something about losing track of time, and bolted out of the room.

"Well," I said into the empty room. "I guess I'll go find my trainer."

Li-, my train… well, she was better at this sort of thing, the planning. Not me. Actually, now that I was thinking about it, I didn't come up with the plans back at the eevee farm either. That was my friend, Bullet. They'd both been the planers. Well, no sense on dwelling on either one of them at this point. I'd have to save my own fur.

I gazed over my materials. Tree's. Lots of tree's. Lot's of leaves too. Not enough to be useful, but I suppose I can grab some more. Not like the forest is lacking. And the ariados webs. Maybe I can use those, but what are a few webs and a bunch of foliage going to do against the hunters? It didn't do much to help the ariados. The noctowl will just dive in and- I shook my head clear. I couldn't think about what it would do to me. Now was the time to think of a way out of this.

What would they do? I thought back through my adventures and childhood. With a clarity that comes from age, I suddenly realized an important truth. The games from my childhood were preparing me for now… all of it was to make me a better fighter! So, Ricochet, what game applies to being hunted by a flyer?

I made my preparations in few heart pounding moments. The temptation to keep an eye on the sky was powerful, but I knew I'd never finish in time if wasted time looking over my shoulder. Discipline. She'd taught me that. No more battle arenas or playgrounds though. It was time to see if everything I have struggled through was worth it.

"I'm here!" I shouted into the night. "Come and get me!

One hour before sunset

My trainer, Lin-Ka-Ota, was dutifully waiting for me back at the hiding spot with a bag of stolen food. She was an odd one, an odd human I mean. I remembered when I first met her, I couldn't even tell she was a she. Lin had been completely covered in ugly brown winter apparel, with only her face poking out behind a beanie and scarf. Now here she was, in shorts and a tank top, with whatever was left of her black hair falling down to her shoulders. It was truly ugly by the way. I'm talking about the hair. See, she got this Mohawk thing a while back… well let's just say that it was probably the first thing you'd notice about her.

She glanced over at me as I came in. "Hey, you ready to eat?" Lin's voice was probably the second thing you'd notice. It was lower than most adult humans, scratchy and crooked.

I noticed that bag she with seemed full to the top. Which meant she hadn't eaten yet. That… worried me? I thought I would have been happy that there was so much food for me. Yet here I was disapproving of her choice to put me first.

"The others have already eaten." I said. Although Aza wasn't in the room, the psychic type still had a connection to Lin that let her understand me. As long as we had that connection, and Aza was doing his job, Lin could understand me. "No one else came back. Taka was too busy helping everyone but the team. Aza got caught up showing off. Nilo, let's face it, was never going to bring food back. And I…"

Lin smiled. "You were going to stay here and just wait for us to bring you food. At least until your gut forced you out into the ship. I'm sorry I couldn't make it back here in time, I can't move as freely as you guys."

Lin tugged at her black scarf, the lone holdout from her winter clothing fashion sense. Well, at least this one was new, a gift from a total nerd. I guess it was Lin's fifteenth birthday or something a few days ago. Who knew? That's supposed to be important for humans, or so Aza says. I'd never heard Lin mention it. The only topics we ever talk about seem to be related to training, fighting, our deep feelings towards one another, and how our deep feelings for one another effect our training and fighting.

Lin and I sat in silence as we ate. No pep talks or battle strategizing, just enjoying one another's company. This was kind of weird for me, as I can't even be quiet when I'm alone. I was, well, I guess the word is 'comfortable.' That emotion doesn't sound like that big of a deal, but maybe it didn't have to be. It's not that grand of a feeling, no works of art are dedicated to it, none of its songs are topping charts. Still, I had a hard time remembering when I last felt this comfortable. I wasn't worrying about what she was thinking of me. I felt no pressure to put on a show, or be super clever, or make her laugh. It wasn't nothing, mind you, not apathy. There was something else there too, some kind of emotion that just wrapped around the two of us.

Of course, not being able to name this emotion started to get my brain working again, which would have caused my mouth to start going, which would have totally ruined the moment, if Lin hadn't spoiled things just before I could.

"I guess we should talk about this." she said as she pulled out a blue stone from her fanny pack. It looked familiar, but took me a second to place it.

"A water stone!" Evidently Ct. Carol hadn't just stopped at getting us on this boat. "That's the thing that makes me a vaporeon, right?"

"Yeah," Lin said softly, well, as softly as her voice would allow her. "I got to admit, I wouldn't mind if you became a vaporeon. They're great defensive pokemon, which fits into your specialization perfectly. But…"

Lin's voice had trailed off. She sat there, gazing at the rock. I understood what she must have been feeling. It was a big change, one you couldn't go back on. I was barely able to start analyzing my own feelings when we were interrupted.

"Ah ha!"

Lin and I whipped around to see the person that had caught us. It was a little girl! Seriously, a very little girl. She was smaller than even Lin, though not by much. In other ways, she was the complete opposite of Lin. She had the darkest skin I'd ever seen on a human, and the brightest hair. Her extremely long hair had such a vibrant neon pink color that I wouldn't be surprised if it glowed in the dark. Each strand was meticulously placed, truly a masterwork of hair care. The rest of her followed through with the motif, neat. Neat clothing, neat makeup, neat little bag hanging over her shoulders… neat.

"I've finally found you, Lin!" She declared. "Now I'll finally- HEY! Get back here!"

Lin had grabbed me by the back of the neck and taken off.

"Everyone!" Lin communicated through the psychic connection Aza maintained for the team. "We need to get off this ship now! To the life boats!"

I didn't hear the voices of the others pulse through my mind, but I could safely assume they had heard. Just as well, as I needed time to catch up. My mind was still on that whole evolution thing. Yeah I know, we'd just been found out and now a bunch of refugees were going to try and lynch Lin. But that only effected someone I cared about. The stone in Lin's possession would affect me directly. I'd process the whole, 'she's totally going to die' thing in just a bit, promise.

A vaporeon? I thought. I mean, that's permanent. No more brown fur. Not that I have anything against blue. Green is more my style.

You would have thought that I would have put more thought into this before. I mean, I knew that evolution was inevitable. It's kind of like growing up into an adult. You know it's going to happen, but it still takes you by surprise. We reached the life boats, so I was spared from growing up just a bit longer. Unfortunately, the neat freak knew this ship a bit better than us. The girl was in front of us with her pokemon-

"Jade?"

"Ricochet!" the espeon stared at me triumphantly. "Looks like we're going to get that battle after all."

"Ah man!" I kicked myself for not thinking up that line in time. Well, he got a head start I guess, knowing that this battle was going to happen for a bit longer than me. Still, he looked pretty cool saying it. Maybe this was for the best, I didn't know if I could have pulled it off.

Lin decided to address some bigger issues. "Look kid, I know you think you might know me-"

"I know exactly who you are!" the girl growled with intimidating force. "You're Lin-Fa-Ito! Team Rocket's top general and oddish abuser!"

"'Fa?'" I was slightly less intimidated now. "Wow. None of that was accurate. I mean, I kind of feel like even the people hunting us at least know her real name."

"I don't know who you are-" Lin began.

"My name is Reyna." Reyna hissed. "And you blew up my island!"

That gave Lin pause. But she shook herself out of it soon enough. She started to look over Reyna's shoulder at the life boat beyond, as if she could just teleport herself into it. I understood what Lin might be thinking. We hadn't really done anything wrong… sort of. Lin didn't blow up Cinnabar island. She smuggled the machine that did that into Fuchsia City. But that wasn't really her fault. It was the chansey egg- yeah, no way we were explaining all that in time to escape the S.S. Anne, even if Reyna would believe it. I'm not sure I would believe it.

"I challenge you to a pokemon battle!" Reyna gritted her teeth. "Your eevee vs. mine."

"Technically he's not an eevee." I interjected. "Maybe we should postpone this until I've evolved, just to be fair."

" Ehh. I'm pretty sure you've evolved into a bigger loser since you left the farm. That counts." Jade smirked. "

"Don't agree to this!" Aza pulsed to us. "A battle is bound to attract attention. Let Nilo take care of them."

"They won't wait." Nilo pulsed. "Lin won't quit. "

"It is one of her best qualities." Taka, of course, trying to give everything a positive spin. The worst part is that she's sincere.

"Ok," Lin nodded to Reyna. "I guess I owe you this."

Reyna and Jade readied themselves. Lin and I stood together against our opponents, as we always did, right from the very beginning.

"All right, Ricochet!" Lin, despite everything that was at stake, had that look in her eyes I'd become so familiar with, the thrill of a pokemon battle. "Let's do this!"

The noctowl was here. I was certain of it. I refused to move. From my perch up in one of the trees surrounding the small clearing, I saw the moonlight flicker. I had chosen this branch with care. The noctowl would circle first, as it did with the small furry pokemon. Failing to find me, the flying type would silently perch in a tree. I just had to make sure that it wasn't the branch I was on. That pokemon easily outweighed me, so I picked the flimsiest branch I could trust and held still for what seemed like hours.

I waited, bidding my time, until the faintest sensation of wind brushed my fur. At first I thought it found me, and I should leap down or scream in fear. I ignored these feelings, though keeping them in check got harder when I started feeling vibrations through my tree.

It's on this tree! My mind thought through the numbness of surprise. I had planned for this. but I didn't really think it would happen. The noctowl had an entire grove to pick from, and it choose my tree? I mean seriously, what were the odds?

I slowly forced my head to the side, fighting the nervous energy threatening to send every muscle in my body exploding outwards. I could see it! Well, part of it. Its head was poking out from behind the trunk, studying the clearing down below. It's head scanned right to left- then flipped completely upside down!

I don't know how that will help. I thought as I did a scan of my own. But I need you off this tree. Or at least I can't be on this tree. Ok, Ricochet… time to improvise… which at this stage of the plan is probably not a great sign.

I found my answer, an acorn was hovering just to my left. Moving as carefully as possible, watching the noctowl out of the corner of my eye, I stretched out my mouth to the acorn and nibbled it off its branch and held it between my teeth. Then I waited for the flying type to twist his head away from me. As soon as he did, I shook my head to toss the acorn as hard as I could down into the clearing where it crashed into the dry leaves I had flooded the meadow with.

I didn't even have time to see the noctowl take off. I just felt the tree sway a bit. I locked my eyes onto the noctowl flying over the clearing as I blindly leapt to a lower branch on a different tree. Believe it or not, descending back to the ground was actually part of the plan. The clearing now had at least a couple feet of dry leaves all over it, which I was hoping would be enough to hide me and not the noctowl. It seemed to work. The noctowl swooped down into the dry leaves just as I made a not‑so‑graceful landing onto the lower branch- and slipped.

I fell hard on my back and felt tempted to use every curse I knew. No time! Do you hear it! I listened for the crackling of dry leaves. The foliage was doing its secondary job, coving my butt. I may not have been able to see the so called emperor of the night, but I could hear it. By the rustling of the leaves, I could tell that it was still searching the spot where I tossed the acorn, making too much noise to hear my mistake. I knew it wouldn't stay there long though. I rushed to the ariados web I had positioned along the edge of the clearing and bit my way through the support strand. I wasn't certain that I'd be able to get this right, after all, the plan was to drop the webs from the branches. Thankfully, the web gently dropped over the clearing, partially creating a canopy.

So far so good. I thought right as the sound of crunching leaves stopped. Out of pure reflex, I tossed the nearest thing to me into the clearing. I'm not certain what it was, a rock maybe. Maybe a bone from the ariados's last victim. It didn't matter. I needed to move to the next set of webs. I was half way to them when I heard the noctowl tearing towards the tossed object. I was still OK.

I reached the next web. As I gnawed off the support, I risked a glance towards the noctowl. It was staring right at me.

No! I'm not ready yet!

The noctowl didn't care. It lifted its wings and started to go air born when it's head suddenly jerked up, finally noticing the webs. They had done a good job covering the clearing but there were still holes I had to cover. In perhaps the only stroke of luck I'd had in the last twenty four hours, the sudden appearance of the webs caused the noctowl to hesitate, and thumped back to the ground. This gave me plenty of time to trigger the last web and close the gap.

Now I go on the offensive. I thought as I barreled into the clearing.

Both I and the noctowl were making noise at this point, the difference being his large frame was looming above the leaves while my smaller body hid inside them. I'd have to attack eventually though, potentially giving away my position. I jabbed my front legs into its soft feathery body and ducked back into the leaves, hoping to lose the hunter. The noctowl finally broke his silence when I attacked, a low grunt of pain. Hearing that felt good, but I had no time to stop. I followed it up with another quick attack. Whatever else I thought of this killer, it wasn't weak. It immediately lashed out at my retreating form.

The noctowl tried changing tactics next; I heard it stop moving and quickly froze myself. It was trying to hear me now. I switched into stealth mode, maneuvering through the brush until I'd reached the beast. No time for a cute tackle now. This wasn't just any Pokemon battle. This was a battle for my survival. I leapt out from the underbrush and managed to get my mouth around the noctowls neck. I bit. I bit hard.

The noctowl let out a ear piercing shriek and started to shake me off. My recent change may have made me stronger, but only when compared with my last form. I was quickly tossed off my opponent. Still, I wasn't worried. As long as the webs and leaves were still here-

The noctowl started to flap its wings with a sudden ferocity. I wasn't sure what it was doing at first, but then the wind started lifting the leaves. Now it was my turn to be stunned into stupor. The leaves started swirling around me, even cutting through the webs. Through the storm of leaves, I could see the noctowl staring at me. It was watching me now, and I had nowhere to hide.

I tried to make another quick attack, but a final push from the noctowl shoved all of my traps and clever plan into my face. Suddenly, there was pressure all around me. It took me a second to figure out what happening. I was being buried alive. I thrust myself out of the pile- only to be thrust into the sky. The noctowl had me by the tail and was carrying me into the air! I'd be helpless and it would have all the advantages. Visions of the previous noctowl victim flashed through my head, of the noctowl crushing me in its talons, ripping me apart with its beck or simply dropping me from the air. I was dead. I was dead if I couldn't think of one last trick.

Luckily, I had just picked up a trick or two.

Five minutes before sunset

"This is for all the people of Cinnabar!" Reyna shouted as our battle started.

"We're doing the sand attack variation, right?" I pulsed psychically.

"No." Lin pulsed to me, through Aza's psychic link. "We don't know the extent of his psychic powers. He could reflect that right back at you."

"Whoa!" I pulsed. "That's a thing! Like, a thing pokemon can just do?"

"Yep. Best to just go for the straight forward attack." Lin's voice had the eagerness it always had in battle, but it had an edge to it. I had to keep in mind that this battle wasn't for badges or pocket change. "Espeon's aren't known for their resistance to physical damage."

I preformed my quick attack, eager to get this battle done with as soon as possible. Jade's forked tail twinged as he dodged my attack. No problem, I've missed an attack before. But then it happened again and again, and again, and… something was wrong. I'd never been this inaccurate. Just to add to my embarrassment, I saw Aza and the others start to arrive. Now my incompetence had an audience.

"Ok!" I shouted in frustration. "What's the deal? Why can't I hit him?"

"Oh, did I forget to mention that espeons can read minds?" Reyna looked very pleased with herself as I whizzed right past her pokemon.

"Swing and a miss!" Jade taunted.

"Ok, there has got to be a rule against reading your opponents mind!" I called out to Aza. "Hey, could you have been doing this the whole time?"

"Reading my opponents mind?" Aza spoke calmly. "Usually takes me a bit of time and concentration to do that. Of course that's not what your brother from another mother is doing."

"Sure seems like he is." I grunted as my next attack whiffed.

"Ole!" Jade kept up his assault on my pride.

"He's right, Ricochet." Lin explained. Her voice was reassuring, but I could read her better than that. She was worried. She didn't really think this guy had a chance of beating me, did she? "The fur on an espeon is so fine, it can sense every movement of your muscles."

"Crap!" I shouted as I missed Jade again.

"It's ok!" Taka helpfully said. "I believe you can still win, Ricochet!"

"It's not that! I know I can win." I geared up for another pass. "It's just getting harder to not be impressed by him."

"Let's start attacking, Jade!" Reyna looked like me right before taking a bite out of a juicy fruit.

"Dude, if you think that's cool," The glowing jewel on Jade's head started to pulse. "Check this out!"

I tried to dash at the psychic type. I say try because I didn't seem to be getting any closer to him. I glanced down at my feet. They weren't touching the ground.

"Awe man! That's so coooooooo-" Jade tossed me into the air like a baby. Unfortunately, he didn't catch me like I hoped he would catch a baby.

"Ok." I said as I stood up. "How high did I go! Seriously, I'm not that heavy-"

"Says you." Aza chipped in.

"But that had to be at least a hundred feet!"

Aza snorted.

"Ricochet," Lin's voice took on a tenser tone, which she usually reserved for a life threatening situation. I was intimately familiar with that tone. "Please try to not be impressed by the girl who's trying to send us to our deaths."

"I forgot how tough you are." Jade's jewel started pulsing again. "Guess you need some tenderizing!"

"Crap!" I squeaked as I sailed through the air. "He's good at one liners too!"

Well this battle is going nowhere. I made an undignified sound as I hit the ground. I'm not taking too much damage, at least nothing I can't heal with my wish technique. But people are going to start to notice this if we carry on too much longer. Can't Lin think her way out of this?

I turned back to Lin. I could see the truth of it on her face. I could outlast Jade, but she couldn't. Someone would notice her and recognize who she was. And then we would be stuck on a boat filled with more dangerous trainers than this newbie. They'd tear Lin to pieces. And by the way she was fondling that water stone in her pocket, she knew that we didn't have time to waste. She looked me in the eyes, and I knew what she was asking. A decision had to be made.

They say that right before you die, your life flashes before your eyes. Well, something like that happened for me. I saw every moment of my life since leaving the eevee farm. There were some good times. There were bad times. And as I looked through them, I realized I didn't need to impress Jade. Even if my body hadn't changed, or evolved, I wasn't the same eevee he'd known. I was stronger than ever. And you know who made that possible? Lin.

And as I looked towards Lin, my trainer, I knew that I could not lose this battle. Not because of what Reyna or Jade would do. Not because of some fancy stone. Not because of the people on board the ship. Not for what they might do to me. It was Lin, because of Lin, because I now knew what emotion I felt for her. Because I loved her.

The sun set.

Energy started to well up in me, starting from my heart and warming me to the tips of my fur. I could see my paws giving off a pale light. Looking a bit closer, I could see them… shrinking? No, they were growing, but I was growing taller. My body started to cool, well most of it. I could feel the warmth from certain patch's of fur. The middle of my tail, the sides of my legs, the middle of my ears and the center of my forehead seemed to get hotter.

"NO! You can't evolve now!" Jade said as my evolution was completed. "Not now! Not when I'm so close!"

I looked down at the new form my body had taken. At first, I was taken aback by my lack of fluffiness. I was, what's the word… sleek. And my fur was pitch black! No, not all of it. Checking out the sides of my front legs revealed a yellow patch of fur in the shape of a ring. I didn't know what I was, but I knew how to find out.

I opened my mouth and yelled out, "Umbreon!"

"But we've already hit him!" Reyna shouted. "We can still beat him Jade!"

The jewel on Jade's face lighted up again, and my mind exploded with understanding. Jade was trying to grasp my body with psychic energy, but to do that he'd need to see me in his mind's eye. Instincts I hadn't felt before showed me a multitude of possibilities. I emptied my mind, voided my entire sense of self. The psychic energy came, but it couldn't quite get a grip on me.

"What?" Jade's eyes glazed as he looked past me. "Where… I see you but… where did you go?"

"Huh," I smirked, as I realized I'd never have to put up with Aza's tricks again. "I guess the evolution advantage is with me now. Hey Lin, lets-"

"Unforgivable! It's unforgivable!"

It was Lin's voice, but it took me a second to let the words catch up with me.

"Lin?" I turned back towards my trainer, and I was not prepared.

She was pale, paler than usual as though all trace of color was stolen from her body. It was most noticeable at her fists, which were clenched around each end of her black scarf. Her jaw was tight but her eyes were huge. And they were almost red with rage.

"Get away from me!" She growled at me in a voice scratchier than I'd ever heard.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I glanced over at the rest of the team. Taka, Aza and Nilo all looked dumbfounded. Even Reyna and Jade just stood there.

"I said LEAVE!" Lin screamed at me. Then she ripped my pokeball from her waist and snapped it in half. As she discarded the broken device, I felt an inner connection break.

"I…" Mumbling was the only thing I could seem to do. No, there was one other thing. I could leave. And that's what I did.

This pokemon, noctowl, considered itself the emperor of the night because it could see in the dark. Well, so could I. And that's not all I learned to do.

I activated mussels on my body by pure instinct. The yellow rings in my fur glowed bright. The noctowl stopped it's flight, momentarily stunned by the sudden light. I spared a glance down. It wasn't too far to the ground, I could make it. I just couldn't stop there. Slick sweat started building up underneath my skin, becoming pressurized. When I couldn't take it anymore, I sprayed it out onto my opponent. The so called emperor released me back to the ground.

I let the light in my fur disappear. Then I turned my gaze to the sky. The noctowl was still hovering, but slowly descending as it blinked in surprise. It was as though the predator couldn't really comprehend what was happening. It's inaction didn't last for long. Realization started to cross its face, much like the sun that was now rising. It was not the predator anymore, it was prey. Of course, it was far too late for that now.

I kicked up dirt into its eyes. The flying type swung wildly around until it crashed into a tree. It crumbled, falling down until it struck a tree branch. I was already there waiting for it. I crunched down on its wing with far more force than I had ever bit anything before, then tossed the noctowl to the ground. By the time I closed the distance between us, the noctowl was back on its feet, trying to pull off some sort of last stand. I feinted an attack, causing the noctowl to flail at nothing. I didn't miss though. I hit the pokemon. Then I hit it again. And again.

"Unforgivable!" I yelled at the unconscious noctowl. I hit it again.

"It's unforgivable!" I shouted to no one. "Unforgivable!"