Considering that it was the Malasada Shop, I should have expected to see Hau sitting at one of the tables.

"Hey, yo, Echo! How'd the trial turn out!?"

{It went well; I brought Sassafras here for a victory Malasada.}

I'd let her outside her Poké Ball before we went in, and she stood here beside me, silent, and not making any eye contact with anyone.

"'Sassafras,' huh? Cool nickname!"

{I thought it reflected her personality pretty well...At the time at least. She's acting a little different now.}

I thought that she was so quiet and reserved all of a sudden because she was tired from the battles we had earlier, but when I bent down and looked just a little closer, I saw a bit more than just fatigue. She seemed...bothered by something.

{What's on your mind?}

"Crrr..."

She refrained from looking me in the eye, and suddenly found the floor very interesting.

{Come on, Sassafras. A malasada will do you some good.}

I placed an order for three Malasadas; two dry and one sour, and I sat at Hau's table, closer to the entrance. My Salandit was still outside of her ball, and curled up in the seat beside me, a thoughtful look in her normally peering, mischievous eyes.

{What'd you do while we were in the volcano park?}

"I tried out the Battle Royal Dome, and OH, BOY, is it intense! Brionne and I just BARELY won after THREE fights! That Gladion guy showed up there again to train his weird Null Pokémon, or whatever it is...I swear, it's like someone just took a bunch o' different Pokémon pieces and stuck 'em all together to make that thing. It ain't right, I swear. At least he had the mind to come congratulate us when everything was said and done. He said somethin' like, 'So, finally taking this stuff seriously, huh? Keep it up and maybe you'll finally win some more.' Or...something like that...So, the trial went well, you said?"

{Kiawe's team of Marowak can really bust a move. So can the Totem Salazzle, apparently. But Grace and Sassafras showed everyone who was boss by the end of it all, right, girl?}

"Srrr, lan..."

She looked up and nodded, still seeming a bit reclusive.

{What's the matter, Sassafras?} I asked her again. I was starting to get concerned. {Do you feel okay?}

She nodded, then sat up, but still refused to say anything else. I tapped a claw against my chin. What to do about this...

I would have kept thinking if the waiter hadn't arrived with my order just seconds later.

"Three Malasadas! Two dry and one sour!"

{Thanks for that.} I chittered with a grateful nod.

I released the rest of my Pokémon, then divided the three Malasadas among me and the pack. I held up the two remaining pieces to Sassafras once the rest had been divvied up.

{Which flavor do you want? Dry or sour?}

She answered by taking hold of the dry piece in her jaws...surprisingly gently, and she held it in her slippery hands as she ate it. Grace munched on a piece of dry Malasada, and the two avian Pokémon I had worked on two of the sour pieces. Once he was finished, Red gave a bit of a critique.

"Haw, haw, lucha."

"What'd he say, Rotom?" Hau inquired.

"He said that it wazzz alright...But it didn't have enough of a 'kick' to it. Guess he'zzz the kind that prefers spicy stuff!"

{Spicy, huh? Wonder if Anyone makes spicy malasadas...Sassafras, what do you think?}

A smile had actually appeared on her face, and she popped what was left of her victory snack into her open jaws.

{In a better mood now?}

She nodded.

{Would you care to tell me what was wrong earlier?}

That was when her smile faltered, and she eyes Hau before trilling something to Rotom.

"What's that? Oh...Uh, Hau! She sayzzz that she wants to have a, uh...private conversation with us. Apparently, that doesn't include you. Sorry, pal."

"Izzat so, huh? Well, I'll just go hang outside, I guess. I already ate. Mind meetin' me out there when you're done, peeps?"

"Sure thing! I don't think this'll take long! Bzzt!"

He nodded at us one more time before leaving the shop, and that was when Sassafras began turned to Rotom. She chittered something to him, and then the PokéDex turned to face me.

"She says that she hazzz sort of a confession to make. She just wants you to promise that you won't laugh, becauzze she thinks it's stupid."

{I'm not gonna laugh, Sassafras. What's the problem?}

She explained the situation to Rotom so that he would be able to translate it to me.

"That so, huh?...Really?...So, what'd you do about it?...Huh...No, no, she wouldn't do that, I know her well enough that I know she wouldn't...Well, look at Grace. She izzn't like that, and she loves her to bitzzz!...I am serious, and don't call me Shirley."

{What'd she say?}

She gave Rotom a nod, and he told me everything.

"Well...She sayzz that she isn't really...the way you think she is."

{How so?}

"You see...She tellzzz me that she actually isn't the sassy, quippy type that she made herself out to be. She was just doin' it to impress."

{Is that true?}

Sassafras turned her head away, but I could still make out the light nod she gave me.

{Why, though? Why would you do that?}

"She said it was becauzzze that's what all of the OTHER female Salandit are like. They get pretty competitive with each other over how many males they can win over...But she didn't like that. She doezzzn't know why, but she's different from all the other femalezzz. And they put her down for it and made her an outcast.}

{That's horrible...} I chittered to her.

"She spent most of her time battling against other Pokémon; she thought that if she could hone her battle skillzzz, she would at least know she was good at something. The male Salandit didn't pick on her, though; in fact, she would help them whenever she got the chance, and hoped that someday a Trainer might catch her and take her someplace better...That wazzz when she found us. But even though she was excited to see if she could get caught, she wazzz also worried that you might...not want to train her, since she thought her more modest nature would make her look weak. So she put on a façade, making like she didn't want to listen to you. But she wasn't sure if she should keep it up because she thinkzzz that...well..."

{What does she think?}

"She thinkzzz you might be the kind of trainer who'd be okay with that...But she had to know for sure."

The Salandit trilled something to me.

{What'd she say now?}

"She wantzzz your honest opinion on all this."

Now she mustered the will to look me in the eye, a new glint of shame in her gaze. I shook my head in pity for the creature.

{Sassafras,} I gurgled. {You didn't have to put on an act to get me to train you. I caught you because I saw your potential, not because you had an attitude. And I still see that potential in you. It's not just about toughness; it's about wanting to be a part of the team. Look at Grace; she might be on the softer side, but did that stop me from training her? No. And it won't stop me from training you. Besides, someday, you're both going to evolve, and get even stronger! It doesn't matter if you're sassy or mild or anything. What matters is that you want to fight for the team.}

A smile had slowly begun inching its way across her face as I spoke, and by now it was nearly brimming from ear to ear.

{...Come to think of it, did you want a name change? I think I see why you were so against me calling you 'Sassafras' now.}

She shook her head, then chattered something else.

"Actually, she sayzzz she thinks she could use it to her advantage! To make her seem more intimidating towardzzz her opponents! Kzzrt!"

{You sure?}

She nodded.

{Alright, then...Now that the fire trial is all finished up with, would you like to maybe train some? We could head down to Paniola Ranch and get everyone ready for the next trial. Besides, the sun's gone down all the way; maybe we'll see some nocturnal Pokémon.}

The Pokémon responded by grabbing hold of my leg, climbing it and going up towards my head in a spiral motion and wedging herself underneath my hat, pushing it up off the top of my head and above herself.

{I'm guessing you like that idea?}

"Srrrip!"

I returned my other Pokémon and left the shop. Just as he said he'd be, Hau was waiting for us outside.

"How'd it go in there?"

{It went well. I was about to head back into Paniola Ranch from here to train some more before I head in. Wanna tag along?}

"Oh, heck yeah! This is gonna be awesome!"

"Uh...Hey guys?"

We turned to our left, and were met with Lillie and the Professor approaching.

"How are the trials goin, fellas?" the latter inquired. "And...Is that a Salandit on your head, Echo?"

{Yep. Sure is.}

"Wow...Nice catch! A Salazzle will definitely do you some good in the future, yeah!"

"It's been pretty smooth sailing so far," Hau answered him. "Echo and I were just about to head back up to Paniola Ranch to train some more. I'm takin' on the Fire Trial tomorrow, so I wanted to squeeze in a little extra work before hittin' the hay somewhere."

"Wow...That's wonderful, Hau," Lillie smiled.

"Heh heh...Yeah, it's somethin' to write home about, I guess."

It was odd, but I could have sworn Hau's face developed a bit of a red tinge, just for a moment.

{So, did you find what you were looking for in town?} I asked her.

"Ah, no. Didn't find what I was looking for. But that's okay. Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough."

"Pew!"

I looked down to see the little puff of a cloud that was Nebby flitting around behind its carrier.

"Oh, Nebby! You know I don't want you coming out when we're in public!"

I took a quick look around; since it was dark, not many people were out and about to notice the strange Pokémon.

{I think you're in the clear,} I assured her.

"Srrr?"

Sassafras crawled down my snout, and I lowered it to the ground so she could get off and inspect the odd, gaseous creature. She tilted her head curiously, and Nebby slowly floated closer, a cautious glint in its eyes. The Salandit reached a slippery finger out to touch it; once it made contact, Nebby flinched and flitted back behind its owner, eyes squeezed shut. Sassafras trilled something to it, trying to convince it that she was a friend, but Nebby wasn't having it.

"Pew, pew!" it squeaked at her; a pathetic attempt at a growl.

My Salandit finally shook her head in defeat and came back to me.

{You tried,} I encouraged her. {Hey, Professor. Do you want to watch me and Hau train some?}

"Sure, I'll stick around for a bit! Maybe give you guys some tips, if I see the need!"

"Oh. Um..."

{Something the matter, Lillie?}

"Well, I...don't really like seeing Pokémon get hurt..."

"Hey, you don't have to watch if you don't wanna," The Professor told her. "But you could at least tag along, yeah? Hey, you might even lean a couple things!"

"Well...Okay. M-maybe I'll watch some."

"Ey, that's the spirit! Let's get a move on, alright, kids?"

"Last one there's a rotten egg!"

Hau gave himself a headstart. I returned Sassafras to her ball and scraped a foot against the ground, then turned to Lillie and the Professor.

{...See you two there.}

And with a push of my leg, I was off like the wind.

...

"Whoa! This guy's tough!"

{Be glad the ones in the paddock have some discipline under their belts!}

Hau and I had launched a team attack on a Tauros that'd charged us from the bushes. It was immensely aggressive and incredibly strong for what it was; Grace had lowered its guard and whittled it down a tad, but she'd taken a beating, and was on the verge of fainting when I returned her, and Sassafras was just barely hanging on, spewing an assault of poisonous flames at the opponent. Hau's Eevee had also withstood some battle damage, but their smaller sizes compared to the Wild Bull Pokémon gave them the advantage of both speed and precision, and with every Tackle and Ember, the Tauros grew weaker and weaker.

Finally, Sassafras landed a Dragon Rage right to its face, and with a bellow of pain, the enemy fell to its side in a faint.

"Al-RIGHT! We did it!"

I let out a screech of victory...And my Salandit emitted a noise surprisingly similar before returning to me.

"Hey, Eevee, you're gettin' pretty good at this!"

"Vui..."

It shrugged and grinned. It seemed like it was finally warming up to Hau.

"And your Salandit...Man, she's good! I fear the day you send her out AGAINST me! And in her EVOLVED form!"

She beamed at this remark, genuinely pleased.

"Nice work out there, you two!" The Professor complimented. He and Lillie had watched everything unfold from the sidelines. "I like your coordination. Just remember to be careful around stronger Pokémon like that, okay? Don't wanna bite off more than you can chew."

"Yeah. Maybe stick to fighting some of the, um...weaker Pokémon until your teams are up for it," Lillie nodded.

"See, Lillie? What'd I tell ya? You did learn somethin'!"

"Uh...Yeah? Yeah...I guess so."

"Hey! Look!"

Hau pointed to the other side of the patch of tall grass; a familiar-looking brown-furred tail was swishing just within sight.

"Another Eevee..." he whispered. "Wanna teach it how strong TRAINED Eevees are?"

{Grace might like that challenge,} I grinned. {...But I'll have to heal her first.}

I still had the Hyper Potion I found on Wela Volcano Park in my pack, called my Eevee back out and healed her. As the medicine was made to heal up to 200 HP, it definitely did it's job; her scuffs and bruises vanished in an instant, and she was back to her old self.

{Now...} I instructed her. {Would you care to do the honors of showing the wild Eevees here who's boss?}

"Vui, eievui," she nodded.

{Alright...} I gurgled quietly. {Sneak up behind it as best you can, then ram it with tackle.}

Grace nodded once more, then slowly and carefully began to make her way towards the foreseen opponent, just barely making any rustling noises in the grass herself. And then, just when she was almost upon it, the other Eevee's head jolted up, ears perked, and it turned to make sure nothing was behind it...

Only to be pounced upon!

"Now we got it!" Hau exclaimed, sending out his own Eevee. "Alright, Eevee! Use your Growl Attack!"

His own Pokémon ran out into the field snarling away.

We have this one in the bag, I thought. Both of our trained Eevees going up against a wild one? It's impossible to lose!

"Nice! Now, join in her Tackle!"

"EIEVUI!"

It wasn't either of our Pokémon that sounded off, rather the feral one. It's plea for help echoed out across the field, and it was actually loud and sudden enough to make us all freeze where we stood, even our fighters.

A sudden feeling of dread overcame me. I felt as though we were being watched. But by what, exactly, I didn't know...

Until it leapt out of the tall grass not far behind the group of Eevees.

There was a blur of yellow flashing in the darkness as it darted into the two-on-one wrestle match, and before I could comprehend what was happening, our trained Eevees had been forcefully separated from the wild one, and were now under an assault of swift attacks coming from...whatever was on the field. It moved so fast, and I could only make out flashes of yellow and red. I was in a panic; neither me nor Hau knew WHAT was going on!

But even in my fearful daze, I managed to call out one more attack.

{Grace! Counter the next hit with a Tackle of your own!}

"Vui...!"

The blur finished off Hau's Eevee, and went right back towards Grace to seal its victory. But before it could ram into her side, she'd fired up her Tackle, and used what strength she had left to slam into the enemy Pokémon, head clashing against head, to stun it, then another attack to its abdomen to knock it off its feet. The creature let out a surprised grunt, then fell to its side.

"Eievui, vui, eievui!"

While Grace was busy scolding the mystery Pokémon,(an adorably valiant scene, to say the least) I got a better look at it.

{...Whoa.}

What WAS this creature? It had a sleek, black pelt, the moonlight above giving it a gorgeous blue tint. And the yellow rings on its ears, head, sides and tail had a lustrous glow about them, giving them almost as eerie a beauty as its piercing, intelligent red eyes.

"Bre..."

It huffed a bit as it stood to its feet; the wind had been knocked out of it for a moment, but it was still easily capable of putting up a fight.

But instead of finishing what it'd started, the Pokemon lowered its head and picked up the wild Eevee by the nape of the neck in its jaws, then gave me and Hau a strange glare of warning before retreating back into the brush.

I was absolutely awestruck. And frankly, so was everyone else.

"Vui...?" Hau's Eevee groaned, regaining consciousness from its faint.

"Vui, Eievui..." mine whispered, eyes wide with wonder.

"Wow..." the Professor marveled. "That was incredible, seein' a wild one of those."

"Wh...What was that...?" Lillie stammered, thoroughly spooked by the whole ordeal.

"I got a scan while it was down! Allow me! Zzrt!"

Rotom's circuits buzzed a bit as he floated up and displayed an image of the Pokémon on his screen.

"Umbreon: the Moonlight Pokémon!

"One of Eevee's many evolved formzzz! Its black fur lets it blend into the darkness. During the night, when it hunts, it bidezzz its time, and then once its prey appears, it pounces onto it from the darkness, rings glowing brightly! Yikes!"

{Grace...} I rasped. {That's...You could evolve into THAT?}

"Vui..."

She glanced off to the side for a moment, seeming uneasy. But after a few moments, she nodded, flashing a smile.

"Vui, vui! Eie, eievui?"

{What'd she say, Rotom?}

"Ooh! She wants to know if that'zzz what you'd like her to evolve into!"

Grace was smiling up at me. I could tell by the way her eyes glimmered that she wanted nothing more than to make me proud.

{I very well may,} I nodded. {...Do you have anymore information on the species, Rotom? Type? Attacks?}

"Sure thing! Umbreon is a pure Dark-Type! It'zzz weak to Bug, Fighting and Fairy-Type moves, is rezzzistant to both its own type and the Ghost-Type, and izzz completely immune to Psychic-Type Attacks! It looked like the one we just battled was using the move Pursuit; a special move that can land even when a Pokémon izzz returning to its Poké Ball, and even inflicting more damage in that circumstance! It can also learn other Dark-Type movezzz, like Feint Attack, Assurance and Dark Pulse! Bzzt!"

{Wow...}

I looked back down at Grace; I could almost see the shining black coat and gold rings on her already.

{...How does an Eevee evolve into an Umbreon?}

"Well, first off, it has to evolve during the night! And it has to share a strong bond with itzzz Trainer!"

{That doesn't sound too hard...Wow. Imagine being one of THOSE, Grace. You'd strike fear into the hearts of any opponent!}

"Eievui..."

She nodded, but with an indifferent shrug.

{You...DO want to evolve into an Umbreon, right? If not, would you rather be something diff-}

"Vui, vui eievui!"

She shook her head and plastered another smile across her muzzle.

"No, no, she sayzzz that's what she wantzzz to be! She just says she was indifferent to the whole ordeal until you mentioned it! She wantzzz to be whatever you want her to be!"

{Alright, then...Professor,} I continued, Rotom doing his usual job. {Does it take any of my other Pokémon certain things in order to evolve?}

"Don't think so," he answered. "You just have to get 'em strong enough. Your Salandit's female, right?"

I nodded.

"She should evolve into a Salazzle once she gets to level 33, and your Dartrix at level 34."

{Dartrix is going to evolve again?}

"Yep! Some Pokémon have three evolution stages, ya know?"

{What's he going to evolve into?}

"You sure you don't want it to be a surprise?"

"Hrmmm..." I thought. {...I guess that would be more exciting. How much longer until they get to those levels, Rotom?}

"I'll have to take another scan and see! Hey, how 'bout we scan everyone on the team, just to see what we've got goin' for us?"

I released all of my Pokémon for the scan; Sassafras had a notable amount of scratch marks disrupting her slick scale pattern, and was breathing a bit more heavily than usual.

{How about we call it a night?} I suggested as Rotom scanned them over. {We fought plenty; brought down six Mudbrays, three Mareep and a Tauros.}

"Yeah," Hau nodded. "Pikachu and Eevee withstood a lot, too...Brionne's the only one holdin' up much."

"It's a good thing you didn't use your Salandit against any of those Ground-Types," the Professor commented. "She'd have been obliterated!"

"Scan complete!" Rotom announced. "Dartrix is level twenty-nine; not too much longer until the day comezzz! Red's a bit lower at level twenty-eight, Grace is level seventeen, and Sassafras izzz level twenty-six!"

{Not bad. But I might want to go through a bit more training with you, Grace, before we take on the next trial. You know, to get you up there with the others.}

"Vui," she grinned.

"Hey! Training together might even strengthen your bond! That'll make it eazzzier to evolve her into that Umbreon you want! Zzrt!"

"Hey, Rotom's right!" the Professor agreed. "And level doesn't matter when it comes to Eevee's evolutions, so if the circumstances are right, she could evolve at any time!"

{Wow...} I rasped again. Never during my life in the Paddock with my siblings would I ever expected life to be like this; freedom, friends, my own pack.

And the fact that I'd grown to appreciate all of it was yet another thing to be grateful for.

...But...Come to think of it...

HOW had I come to be able to appreciate and comprehend all of this?

Back when I was living with my sisters, we'd all been so...primitive, compared to the state of mind I had now. What happened? I couldn't remember much after running away from the scene of the fight with the strange, white monster; it was a blur. A lot of things about my past were still a blur, and only came back to me in bits and pieces, slowly...I wondered about all of this, and what it all meant.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Hau's voice.

"So, Lillie," he said to my other friend. "I, uh...hope we weren't too rough on the wild Pokémon. What say you?"

"I guess it wasn't...quite as bad as I thought it would be," she told him. "I was really more worried about your own Pokémon...That Tauros seemed especially dangerous."

"Well, it wasn't anything we couldn't handle. Right, Echo?"

I gave him a bark of agreement.

"Yep...Say, if you ever change your mind about not wanting to be a Trainer, you can always ask me if you need any tips, or anything like that, ya know?"

"Well...Alright. I'm not sure yet, though."

"Think it's about time we pack it in, fellas," the Professor acknowledged, looking to the starry skies. "It's gettin' kinda late."

"See you guys tomorrow!" Hau waved.

"See ya later, Feraligatrs!"

"Bye, you two."

They both departed for the town. Hau and I got ourselves out of the tall grass and made our way to the Pokemon Center on Royal Avenue.

{Your plans for tomorrow, Hau?} I asked him.

"I was thinkin' about takin' the ferry back to Melemele to explore some of the caves during the heat of the day. Maybe I'll find a new teammate, ya know? Hey, good luck with the next trial; Sassafras should be able to breeze right through it! It's a Grass trial!"

{Oh, is it? That's good news,} I grinned. {Hey...I wonder why Lillie doesn't want to be a Trainer?}

"Why? Do you think that's, like, odd?"

{Well...Maybe a bit. I mean, Nebby isn't technically HER Pokémon; she's just looking after it. Wouldn't you think she would at least like to own one or two, even if she doesn't use them for battle?}

"Hey. Don't go criticizing people for their own decisions, huh?" he defended, pouting his lips. "It's HER life, ya know?"

{I'm not criticizing,} I corrected lightly; I didn't want to make him upset. {Come to think of it...What even IS Nebby? It doesn't really look like anything you'd find around here, does it?}

Hau huffed out a sigh; I got him there.

"You do have a point about that. Her whole situation is kinda weird; she shows up on the beach one day in front of Professor Kukui's research lab, he and Professor Burnet take her in, and she doesn't want people to see the Pokémon she has with her...I've asked her 'bout it before, but she's, uh...hard to get to, you know what I mean?"

{I feel like there's more to her than meets the eye,} I agreed. {...Also, who's Professor Burnet?}

"Oh. She's the Professor's significant other. Works in dimensional research labs, or something like that. You'd probably like her."

{Ah...Maybe I'll meet her one of these days.}

"Go for it, pal. But as I was saying, Lillie's not exactly quick to trust people. Come on, would I ever stab you in the back?"

I shook my head 'no.'

"'Course not. So I DEFINITELY wouldn't do that to her. What's she hiding that she's so afraid of, huh?"

I shrugged.

"Well, if there's one thing I wanna do, it's find out. Why? So I can help her as best I can!"

I saw the red tinge return to his face.

"I mean, what are friends for, am I right?"

I nodded again in agreement.

"Friendzzz, huh? M-hmm..."

I saw Rotom give him a cynical look.

"Yep. That's right, Rotom."

"You SUUURE that's all?"

"D'oh, why don'tcha make like Nebby and get in the bag?"

The PokéDex let out a cheeky giggle.

"Whatever, dude...But anyway, here we are."

At this point, we were just outside the doors to the Pokémon Center.

"Before we split, how 'bout we have ourselves a victory treat at the café?"

{Sounds like a plan.}

"Cool. Hey, and if you want, we can split the bill this time around, okay? At least...if you're able to."

I nodded eagerly; for the first time, Hau didn't have to take it upon himself to order my drink. After giving our Pokémon a quick heal at the front desk, we headed on over and placed our orders at the café. We both got the same thing; a Tapu Cocoa.

{I don't know HOW these are so good,} I crawed.

"Hey. You can never go wrong with hot chocolate. Besides, it's perfect for helpin' you wind down at the end of the day, huh, bud?"

{It definitely has that relaxing effect, doesn't it?}

"'Scuse me, miss," the man running the café addressed me. "You're the one everyone's been talkin' about lately, right?"

I nodded.

"I'd like to offer you something for your Pokémon on the house. Didn't know if you got the chance to get any yet."

He pulled something out from beneath the counter and handed it to me. It turned out to be a bag of...somethings. I took one out and examined it; the object was heart-shaped, and just barely small enough for me to wrap my long fingers around it all the way. I sniffed it; there was a bit of a sweet-tart smell about it, but it wasn't very strong. I was a bit skeptical about them.

"Oooooh...!"

Rotom seemed pretty fond of them, though. The human could tell I was confused, so he offered an explanation.

"Those are Poké Beans. Feed 'em to your Pokémon, and they might get more friendly towards ya."

"Ahh..." I nodded. {Erm...Thank you for that.}

"Yeah! Thankzzz for that!"

"Not a problem. If you run out, I think there's a place that grows 'em off the east coast of Akala Island here."

{Interesting...} I gurgled, standing up off the bar stool and putting the bean back in its bag.

"What about you, young mister? Got an extra one here."

"Oh, heck yes! Brionne's gonna LOVE these...Thanks a million!"

So we both got a stash of Poké Beans for our Pokémon. I was particularly pleased by this, especially considering what he said would happen to my Pokémon when they ate them. It'd make Grace's evolution into an Umbreon all the more easy.

"Alright, we're gonna head on out," Hau told him. "Catch you later!"

"See you two again soon!"

We headed out of the Pokémon Center. I took in a breath of fresh air and looked up; the starry skies were blotted in a couple of places by scattered clouds, casting an indigo shadow in the light of the moon.

"I'll probably head over to Paniola Town to find a place to hit the hay," Hau told me. "You stickin' around here?"

{I think so. Might do the same thing I did today; take on the first trial in the morning and move on from there. I might be busy, so we might not meet back up until later in the day. Good luck on Melemele Island tomorrow.}

"Same. And good luck with the trials!" he bid me as we parted ways. "See ya!"

He turned to head back to town, and I bedded down next to the Pokémon Center.

{Crazy day, huh, Rotom?}

"Yeah...Tell me about it. Two trials, two new Pokémon...I can see us reaching new heightzzz in the future, if things keep up! Kzzrt!"

{So, after the Grass Trial, what comes next?}

"I think we take on the Grand Trial next! And then we'll have completed all the Akala trialzzz!"

{Wow...We really ARE reaching new heights, aren't we?}

"Betcha never thought you'd be with all of us until now, huh?"

{Yeah...That's just it, Rotom. I'm not SURE how I got here, or how I started thinking the way I did. I...can't really remember anything about coming here.}

"You said earlier that the last thing you remember before showing up outside the lab wazzz running away from the fight with that...monster?"

{That's right.}

"Um...What exactly did the monster look like?"

I felt a cold shiver run down my spine, all the way to the tip of my tail.

"Uh, I mean, you don't have to explain if you don't-"

{It was big, for one. As big as a building. It...There was something strange about it. Its scales were mottled green and brown when it came out of the woods to confront us, but then...They turned white. And its eyes...}

I shuddered again at the comparison my mind came up with.

{They were like an Umbreon's eyes. Bright red and incredibly intelligent...But there was something weird about the way it stared at all of us. Something I've never seen in any Pokémon. It was almost like it was...insane.}

"Doezzzn't sound like any Pokémon in my database. Was it on all fours, or did it walk on two?"

I sighed deeply.

{...Imagine something...dare I say it...Like me, almost. Teeth, tail, claws...It didn't have a bigger claw on the inside, though. And I think it had these...thin quills coming out of the back of its head, and its arms.}

"Soundzzz pretty scary."

{You have no idea. And when it figured out it could speak our dialect, it...It made us...}

"What'd it do?"

{I can't even say it.}

By now I could feel tears burning in the corners of my eyes, and I turned away from him, emitting another, shakier sigh.

{...Can we go to sleep now?}

"Sure thing, bucko. Sorry 'bout that, I-I didn't mean to make you upset."

{Don't worry about it, Rotom...Actually, it felt kinda good to explain some of that to somebody...Maybe one day, we'll know the full story of what happened.}

"Huh...Well, just remember, I'll be right here whenever ya need someone to talk to, alright?"

{Thanks, Rotom.}

I lowered my head, then brought Rotom in and snuggled him into the crook of my arm before curling my tail up around the two of us.

{...You know something?} I chittered. {Even if I never know how I came to be here, and do all of these things, I'm still going to enjoy it.}

"That'zz the spirit, pal!"

I stifled another yawn; any nearby Pokémon would have likely fled at the sight of my rows of pointed teeth.

"Yeah, let'zzz call it a day. G'night, Echo."

{Goodnight, Rotom.}

I lowered my head, and quietly chittered one more thing before drifting off.

{We've got a big day tomorrow...Sleep well, everyone.}