As mankind evolved, so had Pokemon alongside them. Time stops for none, and in a constant state of evolution the only rule that is absolute, is survival of the fittest. That is the cruel truth…

Of this world.

Evolution

Chapter 1: The girl and the boy

The boy extended his hand to her. She took it gladly, and they headed out from her house after she told her mom that she was going out.

"I gotta say, it was a bit of a surprise when you asked me out today, Curtis," she noted. "I figured you'd much rather have that video game competition with your friends."

"Ahaha, you don't know guys as well as you think you do." He blushed. "W-Well, to tell you the truth, I lost a bet to them and it was either this or go into that part of town…"

She smiled. "Aren't I lucky?"

"No, no, I didn't mean it like that!" he apologized. "To be honest, I was thinking of how to plan our third date but came up blank. I guess getting pushed into it is one way."

"Yeah," she laughed. "You look good by the way. Is that a new jacket?"

He looked down at his attire. A red-and-white plaid jacket and blue jeans. "Oh, yeah, it is," he said.

They walked. She waited.

After a few seconds, she spoke up, "By the way, this is the part where you compliment the girl back, if you didn't already do it first."

"Oh crap, sorry!" he said, taking in her peach, lacy, summer dress and tan, low-heeled sandals.

"Don't worry about it," she said smiling, waving it off. "So, where are we going?"

"I was thinking we could go to the movies," he answered, perking up, "The new Haunter House movie just came out and I've been dying to see it."

"Oooh, a horror. Is your plan to scare me into clinging onto your arm when something scary pops up on-screen?" she teased. "I gotta warn you, I don't scare easily."

+x+

Curtis shook her shoulder. "Umm, are you sure you're okay?"

She looked downcast. Her bangs hid her eyes."I'm fine."

"Really? Because ever since the Haunter appeared, you squeezed me so tight, I lost feeling to my left arm."

"W-Whatever. I wasn't all that scared. I just wanted to make you feel better…"

He laughed at her. She would make him pay for that. Just then, something in the corner of her eye caught her attention.

"Hey, let's go do that!" she said, already dragging him.

He turned. "Oh, really? That? H-How about we get something to eat first? If you'd like, we can go to-"

"What's the matter? Camera shy?" she teased.

After a bit of struggling, she finally managed to cram them both into the photo booth, making sure to go in last so that he couldn't escape. She paid the machine for three shots and selected the option for a thirty-second countdown. She saw their faces appear on a screen in front of them, and began thinking of poses that could make him squirm.

"Let's make it look like we're madly in love with each other!"

"I…"

She intertwined her fingers with his and stared straight into his eyes with pure bliss. He smiled back at her, but she could see that he was also nervous and blushing. Good, she had him just where she wanted him.

BLING

"Oooh, now let's make one where I'm the killer and you're the victim!"

"Huh?"

She wriggled her fingers at him and sneered with devious intent. "Mwahaha, I vill suck you d'ry of your various bodily fluids!"

"What the-?!"

BLING

He looked genuinely scared now. She laughed hard. To her surprise, so did he. She decided that she had to take it up a notch.

"Alright," she said, "in this next one, we're gonna do a kiss shot."

She saw his smile fade. "A what?"

The countdown began.

"A kiss shot. What? Don't tell me you've never kissed someone before."

"Well, I… not on camera…"

Ten seconds left.

She grabbed his face and pulled him in. "Don't worry, I don't bite… every time…"

He had shut his eyes in anticipation. She could feel his cheeks quivering. So cute.

3. 2. 1. BLING

She saw his eyes flutter, then open wide. He looked confused.

He touched his lips. "Hey, what-"

She laughed at him again. "Did you really think that you were gonna get a kiss from moi that easily?"

At first, he looked stunned, then embarrassed. Then, he began laughing along with her. Good, he looked like he took that little prank of hers okay. She had to admit, if anything, at least he was fun to tease.

+x+

Curtis was looking over the pictures they took while they waited for their order. "Man, you're really photogenic, you know that? Even without the Espeon hair."

She choked, looked around quickly, and set her glass of water down. "We're not supposed to talk about our species," she answered. "You could cause serious trouble for doing that."

"I know, I know," he said, "but I'm being real here. Even without your hair being that pretty pink color, I bet you still looked great before… you know…"

She looked down at her hands. "Yeah, thanks…"

"… H-Have you heard about Humon?" he suddenly brought up.

She looked up at him. "That big group of fanatics on the news that everyone's been hearing about just recently?"

"Yeah. I heard that they recently began to form in the city's outskirts."

"Here? In Havenport? Are you serious?"

"Yeah, and that's not all. I heard from a couple of guys from school who live near the city's edge, that those Humon guys got their hands on a couple of HM's, and are planning to… look, they're on TV right now!"

She turned around. Since they sat in a corner booth of the diner, she noticed that a few people sitting around them also looked up to the TV.

"… in what appears to be the remains of a wrecked car. The body looks burnt as well so it's safe to assume that both the body and the vehicle were set aflame at the same time, possibly in an attempt to destroy evidence. Authorities are now on the scene, searching for anything that could identify the female victim. The body had already been damaged to such an extent, that it still remains impossible to tell what the young woman's Pokemon species was. One thing is clear though, that ones responsible for the attack are most likely part of the longstanding yet recently-exposed religious group, Humon, due to initial forensic reports stating that although heavily burnt, the bones of the victim were scattered carelessly in the car, pointing to the fact that the limbs were pulled off from the body before the burning. As it is known that Humon targets its victims with cannibalism in mind, it is-quote, unquote-"highly possible that the limbs were pulled off to allow easier feeding". More on this story later. Back to you, Larry…"

"Oh my god…"

"How horrible."

"What is this world coming to?"

A story on sports was being shown now, but the girl's eyes stayed glued to the TV screen. Not that sports interested her, but her mind was still trying to process what she just saw. The body wasn't shown, but if that car she just saw was any indication, then…

"Hey, you alright?"

"Huh?"

She snapped out of her daze. Curtis had said something. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" she asked.

"I asked you what you thought about Humon."

"Oh," she said. "Well, not much to say really. I mean, they go around, eating people in the name of God. That's… That's crazy. They're crazy, and that's all there is to it."

"But don't you think that at the very least, they believe that their own actions are justified? I mean look at this world. Every single Pokemon on Earth is gone. We're all that's left. Consuming other living beings is part of being human, and ignoring that instinct is abnormal, going against millions of years of practice."

"So are you saying that we're the ones who are crazy? The ones who refuse to eat meat?"

"Well, it's not like we've been eating our own fellow humans all this time, so who can you call crazy, really? The ones who ignore their very nature out of preservation for a code of ethics, or those who've adapted to the next step?"

At that moment, they were interrupted by a girl in a blue dress with two plates. "Here's your tomato soup and crouton salad… and here's your tofu burger. Can I get you two anything else?" their waiter asked them with a sunny smile.

"No thank you," she replied.

"Alright, I'll come by later if you guys need a refill for your drinks. Enjoy your meal!"

After their waiter left, she began with a few sips of her tomato soup. She looked over at him. He hadn't even taken a bite of his burger yet.

"You okay?" she asked.

He poked at his burger with his straw, then chuckled. "You gotta at least respect those Humon for being able to actually enjoy their dinner, right?"

+x+

After Curtis paid for their meal, someone had bumped into her on his way out, but Curtis had already caught her before she fell (what a gentleman). The two left for his car, and while he drove, he didn't tell her where he was taking her. "Somewhere classic" he told her when she begged for a hint. That just got her even more curious. When he had turned from the main road and began leading them out of the city, she began feeling nervous. It was starting to get dark, and he was taking them up the mountain path.

"Ah, Curtis, where are we going?"

He took one hand off the wheel to hold hers. "Don't worry. Trust me, it'll be okay," he said, smiling at her.

She could only nod.

Five long minutes later, they'd reached the top of a hill onto a flat area, big enough to fit several cars. He drove them near the cliff and her hand unconsciously began reaching for the door handle. When he parked the car, she raised an eye at him.

"Here?" she asked. "Where are we?"

He turned off the lights and turned to her in the darkness. "Have you ever heard of something called, Makeout Point?"

"… Oh gawd."

He began to laugh. "No really, this is it! We're actually at a very old Makeout Point hill that was popular back in the days."

She laughed too. "This is waaay beyond Classic. It's old school!"

"Blame my dad. He's stuck in the past."

They laughed some more at that.

She looked out the windshield. "Wow, just look at the city from up here. It looks amazing!"

He shrugged and smiled. "Sometimes old school works."

"Wooow", she said again. "Can we go out?"

"Sure. Let's."

The two stepped out of the car and sat on its hood. She gazed over the city landscape, taking in every detail. The sun had just fallen over the horizon, painting the sky orange. The lights, each one different in shape and color, all spread out like a map. It looked like she was looking at a starry night sky.

Her eyes glazed over. "Beautiful," she whispered.

They stayed like that for a few more minutes until the wind proved to be too cold for her.

"Let's head back inside," she pleaded.

"Oh, right, of course."

Before she could even sit down, he was already turning on the heater. She crossed her legs and rubbed the goosebumps on her arms.

She smiled at him gratefully. "Thanks."

He smiled back. "I'm sorry I didn't notice sooner. I just got caught up in the moment."

She shook her head and told him it was fine.

"Oh, here. Take this, it'll help you warm up faster," he said, taking off his jacket.

"Oh, no, it's alright, I'm not that c-"

"I insist."

He had already gotten his jacket around her shoulders, leaving him with just his black T-shirt. She blushed. She had to admit, he looked cute this way too, and she had seen her own fair share of cute guys. Sure she had gone out on dates with other guys before but those were just for fun. Nothing really developed between her and them. But Curtis…

"Hey, hey, you okay?"

She continued to look at him. "Yeah, I'm okay."

The sun had gone down, and although the lights were still off, the rings on his Umbreon ears began to glow, lighting up the darkness with golden light. She could see his face clearly, and she was sure that he could see hers. He was looking at her with a powerful focus. She could hear his breaths. It was dark, but as he stared into her eyes, she stared into his. She wondered what kind of face she was making now. It didn't matter though. His eyes looked down at her lips, and she looked down at his. He started shifting, leaning over towards her; unconsciously, her body began to lean too.

"Helena."