And here we are again.

This chapter has a few fillers, and the romance truly begins here.

Sir Aaron: Thanks. I like birthday cake...:) I llike Ciar a lot. He's fun to write about. He's just so...evil. Thanks for the review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.

It was calm in the Tree of Beginning. Kiki had let her team out and they were roaming the immense spring and talking with the Pokémon who lived there. Infernape was racing a Rapidash around the lake, Froslass had decided to snooze, Stunky and a Glameow were sniffing each other, and Weavile had gotten into an argument with an Aerodactyl about his "pink"-ness. Okay, maybe it wasn't so calm, but you get the point. Eevee had gone up to Umbreon and started chatting with her.

"So," she said, "what do you think is the best evolution?"

Umbreon thought. "I don't know," she concluded. "Whatever one fits you best."

"Did Umbreon fit you best?" the Eevee asked. Umbreon shrugged. "Then why did you evolve?"

"Well...can you keep a secret?" she whispered. Eevee nodded. Secrets were always exciting. "I did it...to impress someone."

"In the good way or the bad way?"

"What's the bad way?"

"If there's someone you hate," the brown fox began, "and you train and evolve just to rub it in their face, I consider that bad."

"...that definitely wasn't the case," said Umbreon as her glance drifted up to where Mew and Lucario were talking. "Positively the good way." The two continued chatting for a while.

"Um, guys?" Kiki broke the merry mood. "We've got trouble!" The Pokémon dashed to the opening in the Tree where Kiki had been looking. Ciar was outside.

That morning, Ciar had been rudely awakened by one of his Pack grunts. "Sir!" he shouted as he ran in the door.

"What is it?" Ciar grumbled.

"We may have found the location of Lucario, sir!"

"Where?"

"The Tree of Beginning, sir."

"The Tree of Beginning, huh?" Ciar run his hand through his goatee. "Get my vest!" he shouted to the grunt.

"Sir, yes sir!" he replied and raced to the laundry room.

"The Tree of Beginning. So that's where Mew must have taken them. It's a dangerous climb," Ciar said to himself. "But," he continued as the grunt came back in with the neatly folded vest, "danger is my middle name."

"I thought it was Clarice," the undermine said as he handed Ciar the vest.

"Just get out of here!" The frightened henchman fled from the room. He knew what could happen if the boss got angry. Ciar looked out his window at the distant Tree.

"I'm coming for you, Lucario. You can run, but you can't hide."

"We've got to get out of here!" Mew informed the group anxiously.

"Don't we know it?" Weavile rolled his eyes as he and his other teammates were returned to their Pokéballs.

"What's the safest exit?" Kiki asked the little pink kitten Pokémon. Mew pointed toward a tree trunk.

"Through there," she said. Kiki nodded and ran toward the trunk, but she crashed. "Not there," muttered Mew, "there." The three noticed that she was pointing toward the bottom of the tree, where a dim patch of green light could be seen. Mew floated over and seemed to morph right through it. The others glanced at each other.

"You first," Lucario said to Kiki, Kiki said to Umbreon, and Umbreon said to Lucario. There was silence for a moment. Finally, Umbreon got up.

"All right, I'll go first!" she said. "Scaredy-cats." The dark fox also walked toward the tree and morphed through. Lucario and Kiki were left behind. Until, that is, Kiki decided to push Lucario through.

"Hey!" he shouted as he disappeared. Kiki laughed, then held her nose and cannonball-ed in.

The foursome found themselves in a weird, vertical tube-like hallway. There were bubbles coming up from what seemed like a bottomless pit. "Grab one!" Mew shouted as she lay on top of a blue bubble, looking quite relaxed. Lucario jumped and sat on a purple one, Kiki rode pink, and Umbreon struggled to stay on top of her yellow ride. She reminded herself for the fiftieth time the disadvantages of paws.

"Um, Mew," she said, "what happens when we hit the ceiling?"

"What ceiling?" Mew laughed. They continued to float upward. When it seemed like the end was in sight, the four morphed through the ceiling, just like they had did to enter.

"Remind me not to do that again," stated Kiki, a bit giddy from the heights. "So where are we?...we?...we?" Her echo rang out over the horizon. The Pokémon, plus herself, had reached the cliff leading to the tree. Unfortunately, someone else heard it. Ciar turned their way.

"You said this was an exit, Mew, not a deathtrap!" Lucario snapped at her.

"Um...sorry?"

Ciar smirked. He had them just where he wanted them. The man took out a small ball and threw it. Halfway through the air it popped open into a net and flew toward the quartet of friends. A second later, Mew was snared in the trap. "Not the one I wanted," Ciar said leisurely, "but two is better than one." He pressed a button on his wrist watch and the net reeled in to him.

"Don't even try it," Lucario warned. He shot an Aura Sphere attack that burst the net into millions of pieces. Umbreon closed her eyes and twitched her ears. When she opened them, they were a brilliant blue. Her Psychic attack pushed Ciar back away from them.

"Now would be the time to run!" Kiki shouted. The Pokémon nodded and made a break for it. Umbreon closed her eyes. Her ears twitched again, and a Rock Slide came out of nowhere and blocked the route to them. She sat down and rested. That attack of Lucario's, the unique one, that brought back quite the memory...

-"Eevee, today I'll show you a move only those who can see Aura can learn," Lucario told his pupil. She hopped up and down excitedly.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's called Aura Sphere," he replied. "Watch carefully." He stood with his eyes closed while Eevee watched intently. "First," he said, "you imagine an ocean. Then, you guide that tranquil feeling into your blood flow. Think of a huge wave, building and building, then suddenly..." A blue sphere had appeared between his spiked paws. "...you feel it crash." With that he let go of the sphere and it collided with a nearby tree. "You try."

"Okay," Eevee said. She closed her eyes.

"Now repeat what I said."

"Imagine an ocean," Eevee repeated. She saw the calm waves, going in and out, in and out. "Guide the tranquil feeling into the blood flow." The fox drew the sense of calmness into herself, felt it rush through her circulation. "Think of a building wave." Between her ears there was a small fizzle of blue light. "Feel it crash," she finished. The fizzle morphed into a small sphere and flew toward the tree on the same path that Lucario's did. Eevee opened her eyes. "It wasn't as big as yours," she said disappointedly Lucario chuckled, a rare event.

"Well, it was five times the size of my first try," he told her. Eevee smiled a bit more.

"Eevee, Lucario, time for dinner!" Tama's voice cried through the humid air.

"Coming Uncle!" Eevee called back. "Race you?" she asked Lucario. He nodded, and they both set off. Lucario gained the lead quickly enough, like he always did, but this raced, as Eevee stared at him from behind, she felt something that she had never felt before, like she never, ever wanted him to leave her...-

"Umbreon!" Kiki's shriek broke Umbreon's reminisce. The boulder's she had tossed down were breaking, bursting under an apparent Hydro Pump from a Feraligatr on the other side. How come, she wondered, Ciar always had the perfect Pokémon? The last time she had faced him, that twerp had been a measly Totodile. But there was no time to think about that.

The rocks burst. "Come out and play!" came a menacing voice from the other side belonging to none other then Ciar. The other three urged her to run, but she wouldn't. Lucario was the first to understand what Umbreon meant. She wouldn't run again.

She would stand and fight.

There you have it. Hope it's goin' good! (runs away with massive pencil and birthday cake to write) Hasta la vista!

Umbreon Mastah