- Chapter One: The Last Day -

Blood rushed through my veins. Sweat glistened on my nose. Exhaustion seared my muscles. This was it: the peak of the battle.

I narrowed my focus to the pokémon in front of me. As a combusken, he had natural agility and strength. His movements were flawlessly smooth. He deftly flowed around my attacks, striking at my vulnerabilities quickly before darting out of range. Sweat dripped into my eyes. My body groaned as it tried to match my opponent's pace, but another kick sent me flying.

Slowly, I pushed myself to my feet. I shook my head, vainly trying to clear it of the approaching fog. I gathered my energy within my body and felt it push at the surface of my skin. With a valiant cry, I charged, white energy forming in a cone around me.

My opponent stood in the center of the field as I drew closer. Just before my attack connected, he pivoted on his right foot and swung around with his left. His foot slammed into my unprotected back, sending me face-down into the dirt.

Soil seeped into my mouth, and I laid prone on the ground for a split second. Recovering quickly, I charged a different kind of energy into my paws and dug into the ground. In the space of a second, I was gone, leaving a hole in my place.

Down below the surface, I dug a small maze of tunnels to confuse my opponent. The darkness pressed on me, but I ignored the feeling. Sensing no movement on the surface, I surged upward and broke apart the ground. I saw that I had emerged behind my opponent, and excitement welled up within me. Finally, I might have a chance of emerging victorious.

Energy gathered into the front of my mouth, manifesting in a ball of shadows. When it fully charged, I shot it down, momentarily slowing my descent with the kickback. The condensed shadows flew at an incredible speed and exploded when it smashed into my target. Dust clouds expanded from the point of impact and covered the field in their radius.

I clumsily landed on four paws, then almost fell over. The fight had taken ample amounts of energy out of me. My legs shook with fatigue, and my lungs wheezed from dust inhalation.

Did I really do it? I though, peering through the dust for any sign of my opponent. Did I finally beat him? After all this ti—

Whumph!

My breath rushed out of my lungs, and I soared over the ground. I landed roughly and rolled for several feet before stopping. I tried to move, but my body wouldn't respond; it was too tired.

In my downed state, I heard footsteps stride over to me. A foot crushed into my abdomen, and a glowing, fiery fist entered my vision.

I looked up to see hardened eyes stare down at me. My opponent pulled back his hand. I closed my eyes in dreaded expectance.

"Enough!" a voice called. The heat faded from my face, and the pressure on my stomach lifted. I opened my eyes to see my opponent offering a hand. I turned my body to push my scruff closer to his hand. He grabbed it and pulled me to my paws.

I nodded, appearing thankful on the outside. On the inside, I was in turmoil. I had let my guard down for a second, thinking the battle was over, and he took advantage of my moment of weakness to finish me.

No matter the situation, somehow, he finds a way to pull through, I mused. Always has.

From the far end of the field, a machamp was clapping. The machamp called out, "What an excellent fight, you two! Mona, you made an excellent move with your Dig. Kyle, congratulations for dodging that Shadow Ball! Truly, what a wonderful fight!"

I sighed in defeat. No matter what the instructor said, the truth was still obvious. I was outmatched against Kyle. His talons moved like the wind, and his tan-feathered arms held more strength than they showed. Not only that, but I barely rose above his knees.

The instructor must have noticed my frustration because he walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. He kneeled, but, to my chagrin, he still had to look down.

"Don't be hard on yourself, Mona. You fought excellently for having a type and height disadvantage." At his last two words, I heard a couple of snickers at the sidelines of the field.

Ignoring the sounds, he continued, "Go get some water. A workout like that deserves a little refreshment."

I hung my head. "Yes, Mr. Horace," I responded, a similar response to another of his carbon-copy speeches.

My feet dragged the ground, though not completely from exhaustion. As I passed the crowd on the sidelines, a couple of my classmates jostled me roughly. I snarled, but they just laughed in response. My snarls were high-pitched and sounded like a kit. Not exactly threatening, especially with my one-foot stature.

"Great job, as per usual," someone said on my right. I snapped my head toward the pokémon, immediately recognizing his voice. Zane, a luxio, glared down at me. I snarled at him, and he responded in kind.

I'd love to see you go out and fight Kyle like you did a week ago. I'm sure you'd be whistling a different tune, I thought irritatedly.

"Mona," someone said softly to my left. Turning my head, I smiled when I saw a familiar breloom peeking her head over the back of another student.

"Eris! I didn't see you this morning. When did you get here?" I asked, my mood lifting.

"I, um, got here right before class started. Uh… I didn't miss anything, did I…?" she asked. She followed me over the pond, which lay next to the training field.

"If you don't count Rylie tripping over flat ground, then no, you didn't miss anything," I responded. Reaching the pond, I lowered my head to the clear surface. I paused when I saw my reflection. The face of an eevee stared back at me, its fur matted from the morning workout it had endured. In respect the entire pond, it seemed small and insignificant. Huffing, I thrust my muzzle into the reflection and greedily gulped down refreshing mouthfuls of water.

A clashing sound reverberated from the training field. I heard a few pokémon shout excitedly.

"Want to head back over?" Eris asked me.

"Yeah, sure," I said after I pulled myself back from the water. When we walked over to the side of the crowd and saw who was now fighting, my interest piqued. Kyle was back in the center again, and he was facing a much worthier opponent: Blade, a bisharp. Steel hands clashed with feathered ones, and fleet talons were matched with iron boots.

In a brief pause between attacks, a set of translucent swords spun around Blade. His strength vastly increased, Blade charged a bright white energy in the blades on his forearms. He swung his blades rapidly at Kyle, driving the combusken backward. As Blade sliced in a wide arc, Kyle ducked under the blow and back flipped out of range. In the few seconds he had before the next attack, his body glowed orange.

Blade jumped close to Kyle and cleaved his glowing white blades downwards. Kyle leaned to side, taking a glancing hit, and retaliated with a super effective Fire Punch. Kyle had taken a hard hit but had dished out a much more painful one.

Blade shuffled back from the force of the blow, hissing. I nodded in admiration. What a quick use of Bulk Up. Still, I'm not surprised that he managed to pull off the maneuver, I thought.

With his increased strength, Kyle leapt high into the high air. He pulled his right leg back until his knee was protruding. A white-orange glow encased the knee.

Blade moved his eyes skyward and squinted, trying to spot Kyle through the glaring sun at Kyle's back. The Sword Blade Pokémon only had time to swing up both blades before Kyle's knee rammed into his chest.

The resulting dust cloud remained for several seconds. As the dirt settled, I could barely discern two shadows. Both were upright. The finals specks fell to the ground, revealing Kyle and Blade standing off at opposing ends of the field. I waited with baited breath. Neither pokémon moved.

Suddenly, with a soft groan, Blade sank to one knee, then fully to the ground. Kyle finally showed a reaction as well, softly sighing as he uncurled his claws.

Mr. Horace, clapping once more, said, "Magnificent! The victor is Kyle! Despite the shortness of the battle, both of you gave everything you had. I couldn't have asked for anything better."

I watched Kyle stride over to the fallen bisharp and extend the same claw he did to me. However, Blade slapped it away with thinly veiled anger. "I don't need pity from you," he spat.

Staggering to his feet, Blade turned his back to Kyle and sauntered to the water pond. Even from my distance, I could feel palpable waves of anger rolling off of him.

Blade has never lost that badly before. He must be having an off-day, I thought. I'd hate to be the one to cross his path today.

"That will be all for this class. Remember, your finals start tomorrow, so don't blow all of your energy today," Mr. Horace said, noticing that the class hourglass, which, when turned, marked the length of time designated for that class period, had fully drained the sand to the bottom and was radiating a bright yellow light.

"Finally…it's over," Eris sighed in relief.

"Yeah, the last one ever. I'm actually kind of sad," I said solemnly.

"Heh. I, um, really can't say the same," she said.

Laughing, I said jokingly, "Really? I thought you loved this class."

She laughed softly along with me, shaking her head. Falling into a companionable silence, we slipped behind the rest of the class as they walked back to the school building. On the way, we grabbed our school bags, Eris helping mine onto my shoulders.

For a rather recent structure, the building was dingy. Many planks on the walls had started to split. There were few windows, and the storage bags that held our books were crammed together with hardly a foot in between. The wooden ceiling hung low enough to cause a few of the taller pokémon to bang their heads occasionally. Muddy footprints caked the warped wooden floor.

"Guess I'll see you at lunch," I said, waving a paw good-bye.

"Uh, well, same. See ya," Eris said, waving back.

She shuffled down the hall to my right, heading to her next class, history. Our second and third periods were swapped classes: mine, math, then history; hers, history, then math. Oftentimes, Eris mentioned that she wished we had math together; she always struggled with grasping the more advanced concepts.

My storage bag hung a few paces to my left. Sauntering over to it, I balanced on my hind legs with practiced ease. I lifted the flap of my storage bag with my mouth and bit the wooden casing of my math workbook. Lifting it out of the bag, I dropped it against the wall and reached back in for my history textbook.

My mouth had just clamped down on a corner when I heard a crash behind me. Startled, I turned to face behind me. Blade was lying on the ground, rubbing his bottom. In front of him, Zane stared down at him. His thin tail swished in annoyance, the four-point star at its end twirling.

Blade growled and stood up to his full height. The other pokémon seemed to only grow angry at the move. Jabbing his blade in the quadruped's face, Blade growled, "Get out of my way, or I'll slice—"

He didn't get to finish his sentence. Zane's left foreleg shot out and swept Blade's legs out from under him. Electricity coursed through his black and blue fur, then jumped onto Blade's body. Blade's body instantly froze, and he fell like a tree to the ground. His eyes, somehow free of the paralysis, stared angrily at Zane's own yellow ones.

Zane lowered himself until his eyes were a mere inch from Blade's. He then spoke in a low growl. "Next time, think before you speak. If you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of my way."

Briskly, Zane whirled around and calmly strode down the hall. My glance stole to Blade's prone form. He looked like he wanted to pursue Zane, but his muscles would not respond. I grit my teeth in anger at seeing such a strong-willed pokémon laid low by a dirty move.

When Zane neared me, he stopped. His eyes glinted dangerously, and a low growl formed in the base of his throat. My eyes connected with his. His growl grew slightly louder.

He snapped his left forepaw toward me. Reacting, I took a step backward. Immediately, I cursed myself for making a submissive move. With a smug snort, Zane continued striding down the hallway.

I sighed in relief when he entered his next classroom. Noticing that I had drawn plenty of uncomfortable stares, I shyly ducked my head down and darted into my classroom, which happened to be right behind me.

I waited until I heard feet shuffling again before I sighed, then groaned softly in annoyance. Why can't I do anything? I thought.

Shaking my head, I dragged my slightly sore body to a desk in the front of the classroom, which had had no backing on its seat for a quadruped like me to sit comfortably. As I dropped my bag next to the desk, I glanced around the room.

I wonder where she is? I thought. She said she would be able to make it today. I guess her trip took longer than she thought.

Resigning myself to boring review lectures in my next two classes, I sighed and pulled out my math workbook. My Levi-pen, a magical writing utensil capable of receiving the mental commands of all types of pokémon, hovered out of my bag. I scratched open the workbook to the back and began working through the problems that were pre-written on the board.


Even after two classes, she still hasn't shown up? I wondered. I sat outside of my history classroom, my lunch box resting against my side.

"Hey, Mona," someone said excitedly. After one final scan of the hallway, I turned toward the direction of the voice. Eris stood on my right, bouncing from heel to heel. In her hands, she held a thin wooden sheet.

"Is that your math test? What did you get?" I asked. Our math teacher, Mrs. Beatrice, had distributed our last math test back to us in class.

"I got a…B!" Eris cheered. She broke into a small dance, waving the test in the air carelessly.

"That's great!" I said with a smile.

"It was, um, all thanks to you. I could hardly understand it until you, uh, h-helped me," she complimented.

"Don't mention it," I said, picking up my lunch box. We started walking to the cafeteria for lunch in a companionable silence. Though Eris's success had brightened my mood, the other students in the hallway soon darkened it. As I strode across the worn wood floor, I could feel eyes upon me. Despite my height, I always attracted stares.

Concentrating my eyes in front of me, I asked Eris, "Have you seen Lucy?"

"Hmm?"

"I said, have you seen Lucy?"

"Oh… No, I haven't… Didn't she, um, say that…she might be late?"

I thought for a minute. "I think so, but still, this is pretty late."

Eris simply shrugged her shoulders. By this time, we had nearly reached the cafeteria. Just before I entered the room and escaped the hallway, I heard whispers on the edge of my hearing.

"Hey, look at her."

"Who? That one, low to the ground?"

"Yeah. Isn't she...?"

"That sixth year? Pretty sure."

"Have you ever wondered why she never—"

I stopped listening right then. I did not want to hear the conversation finish. Not when I already knew the ending.

Nobody saw me. They saw a failure.

I drown out the noise of the hallway with the roar of the cafeteria. A long line extended from the lunch line. Appreciating my sudden desire this morning to bring my own lunch, I joyfully skipped to my usual seat at the back of the cafeteria. I nearly dropped my lunch box in surprise when I noticed who waited patiently at the table.

"Lucy!" I mumbled around the handle in my mouth.

A glaceon regally perched on a seat at the end of the table. Her pale blue fur glossed in the sunlight from a nearby window. She had been staring outside at a nearby tree when I had called out to her. Snapping back to reality, she turned toward me.

"Oh, Mona! Eris! So good to see you two," she purred. Her voice, while soft like Eris's voice, rang with a confidence that Eris lacked.

"Same, Lucy…," Eris replied. She placed her lunch box on the table and sat across from Lucy. "How, um, was your trip?"

"It was wonderful. The Westilan Nurse's Association liked my application, and my interview went phenomenally. I had to stay an extra day because they messed up my interview; somehow, it was scheduled a day later than I had asked for. That's why I'm late today," Lucy explained.

"Nice," I said. "So, when do you hear if you got into their college?"

A smile spread across her face. "Actually, I got accepted," she stated proudly.

"Wait, back up. When?" I asked excitedly.

"Just this morning. When my parents and I got back home, we found the acceptance letter in my mailbox," she said. "Here, I brought it to show you guys."

Reaching into her fine leather bag on the seat beside her, she pulled out a neatly folded sheet of parchment with her mouth and gently set it on the table. Delicately, she unfolded the letter.

"That's wonderful," Eris said.

"I can't believe you got accepted so quickly. Don't they take weeks to get back to you?" I asked.

Lucy pulled herself up straighter in her seat. "They must've really loved me," she stated emphatically.

"Sure, Luce," I said with a roll of my eyes. Lucy glared mockingly at me; then, her expression sobered.

"You know, Mona, maybe you should have applied for a college yourself. You're quite intelligent; you could get into Hawthorne," Lucy said. I opened my mouth to reply, but she cut me off, adding, "I know you said you wanted to be an explorer, but you would really fit in well at a college."

Shaking my head, I replied, "I have thought about it, but I really want to become an explorer. Going through Mystery Dungeons…it's unlike anything I've ever experienced."

"You…went in another one again?" Eris mumbled around a mouthful of salad.

"No, Eris. My mom fussed out my dad after he took me inside of the one in Oran Forest. He hasn't taken me into one since then," I said.

"I still can't believe you went into one when you know that it's illegal without an explorer's license," Lucy commented. "I might just take back what I said about you being smart."

I sighed, shaking my head. Technically, my dad had an explorer's license, but he was not sure when, or if, it had expired. Even so, Eris and Lucy could not understand, having not entered a Mystery Dungeon themselves. No thrill brought such a joy to me as journeying through the unknown, a realm of possibilities. Even though I had been with my dad, a fierce, bold feeling of independence had grasped me that day. I could still detect traces of it burning in my soul.

Our conversation fell into a lull, and we dug into our lunches. When I opened my lunch box, a heap of carrots and berries greeted me. In the center of the mix lay a chilan berry poke puff. Smiling at the sight of the dessert, I eagerly scarfed it down before touching the rest of my meal.

Lunch period had nearly ended when the sound of claws clacking on wood drew near us. Dropping my last, half-eaten carrot, I glanced over my shoulder to see who was approaching us. At the sight of them, my joyful mood at Lucy's return utterly soured.

A grovyle and kirlia sauntered to the end of our table. The grovyle laid her arm on the table, the leaves sprouted from her wrists glossing in the afternoon sunlight.

"Hello, Lucy. Good to see you back," she said in a smooth tone.

"Gloria. Grace," Lucy replied, glacing at the grovyle and kirlia in turn.

"What do you want, Gloria?" I asked. My reminiscent mood had crashed into reality. I struggled to keep my dislike for the two girls contained. Our relationship was complicated at best and downright hate-filled at worst.

"We just wanted to invite Lucy to come chat with us for a bit," Grace said. She crossed her arms over her chest and batted her long lashes.

"I'm good. Thanks," Lucy answered simply.

"You sure, Lucy? Eric and all of us really wanted to catch up," Gloria pressed. She leaned a little closer to Lucy.

"No, Gloria, I'm fine," Lucy said, this time a more forceful tone in her voice. Her right ear flicked a little bit sideways.

A scowl formed on Gloria's face. "Well, ain't that a shame. I thought you might say yes, what with it being the last days of school." Snapping her head toward me, she said roughly, "Runt. You never deserved her."

Why the nerve—!I thought in rage. Nevertheless, I maintained the shreds of my composure, a glare the only hint at my anger that I allowed to slip past my impassive expression.

With a snort, Gloria lifted her arm off the table. She swung her back toward us and coolly strode to a table on the opposite side of the cafeteria. Grace glared at us, her gaze lingering on me the longest, before following Gloria.

"I am so glad that I am no longer friends with them anymore," Lucy muttered. She bit sharply on an apple, the last item in her lunch box.

"Me, too," I agreed, Gloria's age-old taunt ringing in my ears. Exasperatedly, I crunched the last bite of my carrot into microscopic pieces. In this manner, the remaining few minutes of our lunch passed in relative disquiet.


The last two classes of the day, Language Studies and Exploration and Rescue, passed by in the blink of an eye. Lucy and Eris shared those classes with me. In Exploration and Rescue class, I always enjoyed exploring dungeons with them, even if the dungeons were only Entercard-created, "normal" dungeons.

Entercards functioned as the most far-reaching method of transportation known to date. Using just four of these Entercards and a special relay, one could bend the very ley lines that ran beneath the earth to form Mystery Dungeons that link any two areas in the world. While the technology had first been invented in Kathar, a distant continent to the northeast, dungeon researchers here in Westil had discovered a way to remove all traces of mysteriousness from Mystery Dungeons. Now, people could safely travel long distances in minimal amounts of time, provided they have the poké or the skills to make an Entercard dungeon.

Unfortunately, most of the people here could not afford such luxury. That fact that our exploration class even had a set of Entercards was truly a blessing. Our Exploration and Rescue teacher, Mr. Ace, a serperior, had joined the teaching staff this year. He was supposedly an explorer of decent repute, and he had brought some Entercards to supplement class instruction.

After Exploration and Rescue class, the last one of the day, Lucy split from me and Eris to head home. Her house lay on the east side of the school in the direction of Apple Woods. Eris and I lived to the west, deep inside of Oran Forest.

"So, Eris, are you ready for the finals tomorrow?" I asked Eris as we ambled down the beaten path to our homes. She jumped a little bit, clearly once deep in thought.

"Um…not really. I'm gonna flunk the math final...," she replied. Her tail drooped lower to the ground. She kicked a stray rock abjectly.

"Hey, you're going to do great. You just need to watch your arithmetic," I said, raising my eyebrows hopefully at her.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I guess…"

We soon reached a familiar crossroads. On one corner, a tall post with a single sign pointed to our right. It indicated that the town of Evergreen was only eight tenths of a mile down the road.

"Well, see you tomorrow, Mona," Eris said, waving goodbye. When I waved back, she turned down the road to Evergreen. After she had traveled a fair distance, I resumed my forward travel. The road narrowed into a root-covered path. Bushes and small trees crowded along the edges. Patches of flowers emitted a pleasantly sweet scent, and I lingered for a moment beside a particularly enticing bunch.

Soon, a tiny track peeked out from behind the undergrowth. Had I not frequently traveled down it, I might have missed it for its innocuous appearance. A wooden mailbox, slightly tilted to the side, timidly guarded the path's entrance. The abelias beneath it had spread their petals in full bloom, the result of my mom's hard work.

Turning down the path, I followed it past a plethora of flowers, from gorgeous lilacs to still-budding morning glories. Instead of padding on dirt, my feet landed on carefully arranged stones. I had to retract my claws to keep from scratching them.

A humble abode rose into my view as I reached the end of the path. Dappled sunlight highlighted certain features of the stick-and-mud home: a circular window, a leaf-curtain doorway, and a clay brick chimney. Jogging up to the entrance, I brushed past the curtain and into my home.

The smell of cooking berries wafted in the air. A kitchen wrapped along the left wall, separated from the rest of the house by a low wooden counter. The chimney sat in the kitchen's center, a pan of berries simmering over its flames. Tending the pan was a leafeon; she hummed a merry tune as she tossed a light seasoning over the dish. The roar of the fire in the fireplace sounded muffled and tame as if the lax atmosphere calmed it.

A table resided on the opposite side of the room as the counter. Two curtained-off sections, one smaller than the other, encompassed the back wall. A mat of woven leaves covered the area in front of the curtain. Painted on it were the words, "Home is where the heart is." A little heart was painted below the words.

"Hey, Mom. I'm home," I announced. Stopping her humming, the leafeon glanced over her shoulder and smiled.

"Hey, sweetie. How was school?" she said. She placed the pan on a metal rack above the fire and, using the two vines that had grown from her shoulders, reached for the plates and cups cabinet.

Internally, I winced as the memory of Gloria and Grace visiting me at lunch resurfaced. "Oh, it was great," I said dismissively. "Lucy came back today."

"Oh, really? How's she doing?" Mom inquired. She opened the cabinet and pulled out three plates and three cups. Using one of her vines to set the dishes on the table, she resumed preparing dinner with her other vine.

"Good. She got accepted into Westilan Nurse's Association College," I replied.

"Really? So soon?"

"Yeah, no kidding. She claims that she really impressed them, but…," I said, shrugging my shoulders. As I dropped my bag near the smaller curtained-off room, a rustling came from the larger curtain. Sleepily, an umbreon emerged, the rings on his black body glowing faintly. "Ree? Is someone here?" Dad said, half-asleep.

Mom rolled her eyes. "Yes, Umon. Mona is home."

Dad perked. "Oh, welcome home, Mona," he said. He nodded at me with half-lidded eyes, a tiny grin on his face. I grinned back at him.

The clacking of a spoon on a counter drew my attention back to Mom. She lifted the pan away from the fire and walked with it over to the dining table.

"Umon, could you pour the drinks? I still have some water in the pitcher from this morning's draw," she asked. Without needing to answer, Dad's eyes glowed a bright aqua blue. Energy of the same color formed around the pitcher, which sat at the end of the counter. The pitcher levitated in the air, and one by one, it poured water into the glasses. The energy now encasing the glasses, they floated over to the table and were set gently on its rough wooden surface.

Finishing with dishing up the food, Mom placed the pan on the counter and reclined on one of the cushions that served as our seats. Dad and I joined her at the table. Together, we said a prayer to Arceus over our meal; then, we dug ravenously into the stir-fry. Mom had used a delectable combination of pecha and sitrus berries, sweetened with what I thought was rosemary.

"So, I heard something interesting in the market today," Mom said as we silently ate. "Apparently, a week or so back, a coal mine near the outskirts of Hawthorne blew up."

Dad raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Blew UP? How horrible! Did anyone survive?"

"Not that I heard. The police are still trying to sort through everything."

"Do they think someone purposefully blew it up?" I asked Mom.

"I don't know. It's not exactly easy to blow an entire mine sky-high," she answered dryly.

"You know, that's the second time you've mentioned some sort of incident like this happening in the country," I remarked thoughtfully. I gulped down my last bite and exhaled satisfactorily.

"I know. First the monastery, now this. It worries me," she said, shaking her head. She swallowed her last bit of her dinner as well. "Anyway, I have a surprise for you guys."

"What is it?" Dad asked around a mouthful of sitrus berry.

"Well, it's not technically mine, but earlier today, Mrs. Ilima brought us a cake. She said that she had family visiting and made one extra cake than she needed. She thought that we'd appreciate having it," Mom explained.

"Can we have it now?" I eagerly begged. Mrs. Ilima baked the best cakes out of anyone that I knew, even my mom; although, I never told her that.

"Of course," Mom said. She walked over to the back wall of the kitchen and, sprouting her vines once more, opened a box that had inconspicuously sat in the corner. Inside the box was a decadent pound cake topped with a coba berry.

"Umon, could you take this out for me?" Mom asked. She pulled out a plate from the plates and cups cabinet and set it on the table.

"Sure," he said. An aqua blue glow surrounded the cake, and it floated out of the box. Gliding across the room, it landed squarely on the clean plate. Taking out a knife with her vines, Mom returned to the table and deftly cut three slices from the cake. She had barely finished serving us when Dad and I dug into the cake. We devoured the delicious slices far more quickly than we had our dinner.

"Man, that was good. That was one of the best cakes I've had in my entire life," Dad sighed in satisfaction.

"And my cakes aren't?" Mom said though she had a teasing smile on her face.

"Of course, your cakes are good. They're the best ever," Dad answered with a grin, drawing out the last two words.

Their happiness infected me, and I could not help but feel cheery. I loved seeing my parents smile. They looked so carefree as if nothing in the world could ever bring them down.

Dropping my plate in our sink, I left them to their banter and strode into my section of the house. Pushing past the curtain, I took in the sight that had welcomed me for the past seventeen years.

A small bed dominated the cramped space. A window opened above the bed's headrest, letting in ample amounts of the late evening light. Small sketches adorned the walls. Some depicted rough copies of a leafeon, an umbreon, and an eevee. Others depicted a Chilan Berry, random Pokémon, and an exploration badge.

My gaze lingered on the image of the exploration badge. Lifting a forepaw, I traced the edge of the badge with a claw, scoring it slightly deeper into the wood. The claw dangled at the edge of the drawing for a brief moment before dropping back to the ground.

Not many in our school had discovered the passion that they wished to pursue after graduation. As for myself, I had known since I was little what I wished to be. Initially, I had been mildly intrigued, but more and more, the reasoning had morphed into a desire to prove myself. If someone like me managed to become an explorer, then maybe, just maybe, I could earn some respect from others.

Plus, I had never forgotten that feeling when my dad had taken me into my first Mystery Dungeon. That experience had been life-changing in more ways than one. It narrowed my focus and honed my drive. Now, at the end of my sixth year, that dream was on the cusp of merging with reality.

Sighing, I jumped onto my bed and loosely curled up. Grabbing a book from under my bed, I immersed myself in my favorite book, Gilded Tears, written by Lucan Lorraine. I did not know what species of Pokémon Lorraine was, but his prowess in writing rivaled that of a psychic type. His fictional works not only possessed a stunning literary quality but also valuable teachings on the most essential lessons and virtues of life. Every time I opened one of his books, I found it immensely difficult to tear myself away. Thus, I remained entranced in its pages until the last rays of daylight faded.

I closed my book and slid it back under my bed, unable to decipher any more text under the closing darkness. I leaned back against my fluffy, homemade pillow. I had been so close to finishing it again, but the sunlight dictated that I must wait another day.

Shifting around, I found a comfortable position. Sleep had almost overtaken me when I heard soft words in the night.

"Is she asleep?" a light voice asked.

"Yes. I saw her curl up not too long ago. She's probably fallen asleep earlier than usual for her finals tomorrow," a heavier voice responded.

"...Umon, is she going to be okay? She hasn't made the choice yet, and she's going to graduate in less than a week. When I was her age, I had already become a leafeon. I know her friend Lucy's evolved into a glaceon," the light voice said worriedly.

"Ree, we have to give her some time. I know that she should have made the choice long ago, but she might be waiting for the right moment. We all can't have our minds set from the very beginning. Some need more time, more deliberation, before they choose. We just have to accept that Mona is taking longer to reach a decision," the heavy voice said back.

"But she can't wait forever. I don't know a single Eon that took this long to make the choice. I don't want to see her grow up with indecision. No eevee should ever be stuck in that position, and I don't want our little Chilan to become that. We need to ask her about it, and soon."

"We shouldn't pressure her. She's been busy studying for the finals, and the last thing she needs from us is doubt about her future. These tests will decide how well she graduates and how many higher-end guilds she can join. She's always dreamed of forming an exploration team. If us pressuring her makes her do poorly on her exams, we would blame ourselves until the day we die. Let's wait for a little while longer."

A small silence ensued. Then, the light voice broke the silence. "I will wait until she graduates. No longer, Umon. She needs to evolve."

The heavy voice sighed. "Alright, dear. After graduation. We'll both talk to her and see if we can convince her to make the choice."

Feet padded from the area of the eating table to the second sectioned-off area of the house. The curtains swished, and the bed creaked. Then, all fell silent.

Despair began to take root in my heart. Even my parents don't believe in me. They shouldn't, anyway. It's not like I don't want to make the choice. I can't, I thought, despair constricting my heart.

My head ducked between my legs, and I struggled to stifle a sob. I can't physically to do it; I never will. Unwillingly, tears slid down my cheeks. I will never be able to evolve.

My chest was heaving, and tears were streaming down my cheeks and dripping onto the bed. They did not stop for a long time; only when they ended did sleep finally overtake me.


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