The darkness was pressing. Only a thin beam of light from a street lamp showed the two figures standing huddled in long coats and scarves.
"Where are they?" breathed one of them; the voice was female.
"I don't know... I heard from the force that they would be here by now," replied the other, a male, in a whisper.
"We've been tricked," mutterred the female in a sing-song way.
"No," said the man harshly. His voice bounded off the icy ground and the figures tensed, heads whipping around in search of anyone who could have stumbled upon their night watch.
There was no-one.
"That was a clever thing to do," remarked the female quietly. "And you being my superior."
"Shh!" the man hissed.
"What?"
"I will not have you talking to me like that! You are despensible, you know!"
"Oh, yes," breathed the female. "SO despensible, because I know all the company's secrets, thanks to you, don't I?"
"You--you cannot speak like this to me! I am your boss!" whispered the man, anger choking his voice into strangled speaking volume.
"Shhh," the female said, laying a hand companiably on his arm. He jerked it away and glared at her. The woman sniffed contemptuously and then flung a Poke Ball out from the layers of her coat.
An Espeon landed neatly on the ground in front of them. It's eyes were luminous in the dark.
"Search around, Espeon," whispered the woman. Espeon bounded lightly into the shadows.
"What?" asked the man.
"What do you mean?"
"Why send that thing?" The man's voice was thick with sarcasm. "I mean, it's purple. It's going to stand out."
"Oh, right," said the woman. She did nothing to call back Espeon, so the man threw his own Poke Ball. She could see nothing until three glowing yellow patches appeared in mid-air. Then two yellow eyes opened and surveyed the couple with disdain.
"Umbreon," muttered the woman. "Typical, I should have known."
"Go," said the man shortly.
Umbreon slipped into the shadows.
"Hurry up!" Dawn hissed, not wanting to raise her voice too much in the dark quiet street.
"I am," Ash said. He struggled with Pikachu, who had fallen asleep wrapped around his legs and was weighing him down considerably.
"Come on, come on, come on," Dawn muttered, hopping from one foot to the other with the cold.
"I am!" Ash repeated. He managed to disentangle Pikachu from around his legs and followed Dawn down the side street leading to the small bed and breakfast where they were staying.
"I told you we shouldn't have gone 'late night training'," Dawn scoffed.
"Shh," Ash said, stiffening suddenly. "I heard something."
"Course you did," Dawn said. "Hurry up, Ash, please, it's freezing out here."
"I will in a minute," Ash said, wandering off in the opposite direction.
"Ash!" Dawn complained.
"I heard something!" Ash insisted. "Wait a min-- Woah!"
Ash tripped over seemingly nothing. He went sprawling onto the ground. Dawn saw a flash of yellow and heard the smallest of mewing noises.
"Ouch!" Ash said. Dawn shook her head, thinking, I'm just tired, and pulled Ash to his feet.
"Now come on!" she hissed, dragging him off.
Ash looked around and was sure he saw a dark shadow leap over a small fence blocking someone's house from view.