At this point, I feel like I should let you know a little more about my friends. I've known Mike ever since we were little kids. He's a buff dude, but in a lovable sort of way. In a way, he's like a big teddy bear. He's a bit gullible at times, but he's an all around good person who's looked out for me whenever I was down. I couldn't ask for a better friend, he's the brother I never had. Cassie, on the other hand, was more of a spitfire. She was always there to light a fire under my ass and get me moving. She wanted to see me get ahead and she was not afraid to push me towards it. I appreciate her blunt honesty, it's helped me at times when I really needed it, and even stopped me from making a fool of myself at times.

Cassie and her husband Jose own their own restaurant, Corner Slice. Mike and I like to meet her there before closeting for some free food and to just enjoy each other's company. Tonight, however, they were curious about the new girl I brought with me. They were fairly quiet while I explained who she was and why I was bringing her here. They were silent for some time before Cassie broke the silence. "You know, Dave," She said, shaking her head, "could it kill you to meet a normal girl?"

Umbreon raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Don't get me wrong," Cassie explained, "she's got a pretty convincing story. However, do you really expect me to believe this stuff? If anything I'm starting to wonder if there's something in your tap water to come up with this crap."

"I can prove it." Umbreon bristled, clearly offended. "I can still understand what other Pokémon say."

Mike sighed. "Okay, I'll bite, ask my Raichu something." Mike pulled out a Pokéball and released his Raichu.

Umbreon, to her credit, managed to hold some sort of conversation with it, of course I could only understand what she was saying and not Raichu. She thank it and then looked to Mike. "He said that if I want you believe me," she said, "then I should tell you that some nights Mike will wear a woman's dress and sing-"

"Okay!" Mike interrupted, his face awash with red. "That's a good place to stop, I believe you!"

Cassie's face practically lit up. "Micheal! You never told me! I knew I should have telex you to look at wedding dresses!"

Mike scowled Raichu as he returned him to his Pokéball. "Okay, cool, can we talk about the human Umbreon please?"

"Yeah," I agreed, despite really wanting to rib Mike about the dress revelation, "we need to figure out something to do here."

Cassie shrugged. "Like what? I don't think there's much we can do."

"Well we can't just sit here and do nothing." I said.

"Pokémon don't turn into humans for no reason." Mike explained, taking the words out of my mouth. I knew he'd have my back. "There's obviously something weird going on."

"I fell asleep and I was an Umbreon. I woke up in front of David's home and I was human." She scratched an itch on her neck. "I'm not clueless so I knew I'd need clothes and I had his Ampharos let me in."

"That Ampharos is the worst security system ever!" Cassie laughed. She didn't like Ampharos that much. She thought he was a poor Pokémon partner. Of course, I didn't think that her smug Heracross was much better.

"Well it certainly benefitted me." Umbreon wasn't laughing. "I'd rather not run into your police."

"So you decide to break into Dave's house and wear his clothes, got it." Cassie shook her head and looked to me. "I take it you didn't even get her underwear?"

"Do I look like I have women's underwear laying around my home?" I asked.

Cassie continued to shake her head in feigned disappointment. "You poor thing." She said to Umbreon. "Come on, let's teach you the finer points of being a lady." She grabbed Umbreon's hand and led her away. Tentatively, Umbreon followed, she really didn't like being pulled around so much. Cassie and Jose live above the restaurant, so my guess she was going to give her some underwear or something.

Once they were gone, Mike leaned in to talk to me. "So, you like her?" He asked.

"I mean, if I didn't know she was a Pokémon I'd say she pretty cute."

"Dude, you know what I mean by like. I see the way you look at her."

"We were sort of friends when she was still a Pokémon, so of course id think more of her than a stranger. But I don't think I'd actually consider anything more."

"What if she likes you?"

"I don't think she likes me like that."

Mike shook his head. "Dave, she could have gone anywhere, she could have done anything-"

"But she came to me for help." I finished his thought. True, the idea had crossed my mind, but I wrote it off. The concept seemed to foreign for me to entertain the thought too much.

"She seems like a good girl, don't hurt her man."

"You know a lot about how girls think, huh?"

"Fuck you Dave."

"Hey, no fucking anybody, I just cleaned the tables." Jose came from cleaning the kitchen, drying his hands with a rag. He was a shorter guy, but still wide shouldered. He had stubble on his face and he spoke with an accent. "Do you two ever do anything normal?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"Well you show up with a magic Pokémon, and he dances around like my sister on her quinceañera."

"I didn't exactly choose to have an Umbreon show up on my home."

"Women do that." Jose tossed the rag onto his shoulder and crossed his arms. "She seems to know you well enough, help her be human."

"How am I gonna do that?"

"Take her out." Mike suggested. "She needs clothes, you need a girlfriend."

"Hold up the there ese, he doesn't need to go that far. Just treat her like you treat Cas."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Now," Jose turned his attention to our food, "are you going to eat or should I take your food?"

After a short time, Cassie came back with Umbreon, who was newly ordained with clothes that were more obviously made for a woman to wear. She certainly seemed uncomfortable about it however, no doubt it would take some time for her to get use to tighter clothing. She tugged at what I'm guess was a bra loaned to her by Cassie. "You'll get use to it sweetheart." She slapped Umbreon's back.

Umbreon gave her a scowl. "Can I take this ridiculous thing off now."

"I admire your attitude but save it for when you're home." Cassie and Umbreon sat back at our table. "So what have you ladies been talking about."

"Getting our nails done." I said. Mike glared at me as Cassie laughed.

Mike changed the subject. "So what should we call her?" He asked.

"I'm Umbreon" she said, deadpan.

"That sucks and it's boring." Cassie said. "How about Kristen?" No response.

"Yuri?" I suggested.

Cassie and Mike just stared at me. "We need to talk about you and your anime." Cassie said. It isn't that weird to watch anime, is it?

"How about Brianna?" Mike said. Umbreon actually seemed to like that one. We all agreed with her, preferring it over saying Umbreon all the time. It made it easier to forget that she was a Pokémon at heart. "Cool, can I call you Bri then?"

"No." She nibbled on a french fry.