"Okay, Eevee! One more time!" Xavier said. "Shadow Ball!"
The Eevee didn't respond, instead staring its paw interestingly.
"Eevee!"
It was like this almost all day. The Eevee refused almost everything Xavier wanted it to do. Probably out of the thousand times he told it to, the Eevee shot a Shadow Ball.
"You've got quite the attitude, don't you?" Xavier said to his Eevee. "Fine, if you do it this time, we'll take a break."
The Eevee's ears perked up as it listened to what Xavier said. It got in its combat stance.
The brown Pokemon gathered its ghostly energy in the form of a ball, and launched the orb straight into a dummy made up of sticks and stacks of straw. The ball collided, and the dummy fell as purple smoke rose from it.
"Excellent, Eevee!" Xavier complimented. He sat down, and yawned. "Time for a break."
It was late in the day, sun dipping into the west horizon. A pink and yellow-ish color pervaded the sky, leaving an colorful, almost abstract-looking sky. Xavier lay down as he watched the sky interestingly, and turned up his headphones to a peaceful and calming tune. He closed his eyes. The soothing breezes and calm and relaxing atmosphere made him unwind. He almost began falling asleep, when he heard a loud noise that pierced the peaceful melody he was listening too.
Standing back up, Xavier took a look at his Pokemon. His Eevee had apparently launched a Shadow Ball at Xavier's Milotic, who luckily managed to dodge it. He ran toward the two Pokemon.
"That's your comrade, Eevee! Don't go around attacking your battle partners!" Xavier warned. Eevee looked away disdainfully. Milotic seemed to be fine. He returned both his allies to their respective Pokeballs.
Xavier resumed to what he was doing before. Time passed slowly, and Xavier fell asleep.
He woke up to a splashing sound.
Xavier looked around, seemingly unaware of what happened. He then realized he fell asleep. The sound he had heard was some water Pokemon splashing nearby. It was nighttime now. The sun had long gone.
Quietly, Xavier released his Pokemon. He had an idea.
"Guys...we're going to have a little battle amongst ourselves. More precisely, you two are going to have a friendly battle. Like a spar. Not to see who's better, but to work on your attacks and techniques," Xavier explained.
The two Pokemon nodded.
"Okay, so take opposite ends of this field we're at."
The two of them split, one at each end.
"Okay, go!" Xavier shouted as quietly as he could. The two Pokemon raced toward each other. Eevee was the first to make a move. It quickly sprinted toward Milotic, and launched itself toward it.
Milotic gracefully evaded the attack, and countered with a well-aimed Ice Beam. Eevee struggled as it tried to withstand the attack, but failed. Cold and shook up, it quickly performed a Double Team, making multiple copies of itself. Milotic tried to attack all of them at once with an Icy Wind, which many of the Eevees dodged. Two of the five mirages, however, disappeared.
The real Eevee snook up from behind and hit Milotic with a strong Iron Tail attack. The Milotic was taken aback. Due to its larger size, however, it managed to stay on foot.
Eevee didn't stop at this. Two copies were still left. Milotic lunged toward one and hit it with an Aqua Tail. The Eevee disappeared. Now only the real Eevee and one copy were left. Milotic took a chance, and with its luck, managed to strike the real Eevee. The other one vanished. Eevee managed to withstand the attack and continued fighting.
As the two Pokemon continued to fight, Xavier tried to analyze each one's battle strategy. Milotic seemed to stay calm despite its surroundings, and fight with smoothness and grace. Eevee, however, was hot-headed and attacked furiously, but had surprisingly good defense strategies.
Eevee launched a Shadow Ball once again. Milotic, instead of dodging it, ran toward it and used an Aqua Tail on the Shadow Ball. The force of the Shadow Ball rebounded toward Eevee. Milotic had reflected the attack successfully.
In shock, the Eevee could do nothing but stand and get hit. It was knocked back several feet in the air and landed on its side, but managed to get up feebly.
"Eevee!" The Pokemon shouted. Struggling, it gathered more energy, and shot a larger-than-usual Shadow Ball at Milotic. Again, Milotic reflected it using Aqua Tail.
This time, Eevee was prepared. It ran toward the incoming Shadow Ball swiftly, jumped up, and executed an Iron Tail. Using its own method, the Shadow Ball returned to Milotic. Eevee grinned to itself.
Milotic reflected once again.
Xavier noticed the Shadow Ball was getting bigger and more powerful each time it was rebounded. It probably leeched off the power of the two moves. It was a matter of time before it would get too powerful to rebound.
Milotic seemed to recognize this fact too, and as the Shadow Ball returned back to it the fifth time, it slid out of the way. The Shadow Ball collided with the floor, leaving a crater. The ground shook slightly, almost knocking Xavier off-balance.
The two continued fighting. Milotic then decided for a change and jumped into the water. It swam around in the deep water while Eevee was stuck on land.
Eevee tried to snipe Milotic in the water with numerous Shadow Balls, but missed. Milotic was swimming around near the bottom of the body of water, forming numerous Whirlpools. Eevee looked around curiously, trying to find Milotic in the mass of whirlpools.
"!!"
Eevee found itself being pushed by Milotic form behind, and into the whirlpools. Eevee spun around and around, being inflicted with damage. Desperately, it tried to swim out of the spiraling water, but couldn't.
Milotic watched as Eevee struggled in the whirlpool. Suddenly, Eevee formed numerous Shadow Balls in the water. Xavier pondered what it was going to do.
Eevee created about five or six Shadow Balls, which were spinning around it at an insane speed. It then smacked the Shadow Balls with its Iron Tail towards Milotic. GIven the speed boost from the whirlpools, Milotic didn't have time to react and it got smacked by six souped-up Shadow Balls.
The whirlpools finally stopped and Eevee swam out of the water. Milotic was still hanging in there. It shot an Ice Beam as Eevee launched a Shadow Ball. The result was a purple, frozen orb that hung in the air.
Xavier rushed forward. "Guys, that's all for today. You both did awesome, even without my help."
It was night now. The full moon hung in the sky and trailed Xavier on his way home.
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All throughout the week, Xavier, Milotic, and Eevee trained with these "night battles." Both Pokemon improved their attack strategies greatly. Their moves enhanced in power as well. Eevee's Shadow Ball was getting more powerful day by day, and its endurance and speed were improving. Milotic's accuracy improved as well as its powerful Water and Ice-type attacks. Its keen movements were raised as well.
Xavier even prepared them for Tate and Liza's battle. The two worked well together, even performing signature combo moves. Eevee would create a Shadow Ball, and the two would work together and bounce the sphere back and forth until Eevee would launch it at maximum power.
Another example would be fusing Milotic's Ice Beam and Eevee's Shadow Ball to create a purple, freezing beam that would render the opponent crippled.
Xavier even noticed Eevee responded to his music, just as Milotic did. Eevee would perk up at jumpy, loud songs that created a lot of noise. Xavier would train Eevee to jump at this beat, attack every time the melody was heard, or launch a Shadow Ball in three counts. The music worked wonders on Eevee's battle strategy.
One night Xavier took his Milotic and his Eevee for one, epic battle that would incorporate everything they've worked on for the past week. He brought a miniature radio with him to broadcast the music to both of them. Xavier turned up a song that neither of them had heard.
Milotic swayed its body gently to the beat as Eevee nodded its head. Milotic attacked as a loud note was struck, spraying numerous, large Bubbles on the field. These Bubbles were stronger and tougher than normal ones. Milotic then released a small, focused Ice Beam on a Bubble. The beam ricocheted off the Bubbles in a peculiar angle to hit Eevee.
Eevee analyzed the beam's travel and leaped up high above the battlefield. It shot three Shadow Balls downward and burst all the bubbles. It then landed and ran toward Milotic while using a Double Team. Four other copies were made.
Milotic listened to the music and struck when the melody was heard. It lashed forward and struck an Eevee. It vanished as the real Eevee snuck upon Milotic and used Bite. Milotic managed to shake Eevee off but still felt injury. The two stood facing each other.
The battle lasted on throughout the night, each performing brilliant strategies that the other one countered. The two were in a dance. A deadly dance, one that used music, a dance that required cunning-edge knowledge of the opponent.
The attacks finally subsided; the battle finally ended. Both Pokemon were tired out. Xavier muted the music.
"...that was amazing!" Xavier exclaimed. He ran toward the two, who were fatigued. He stroked the both of them. "You guys did great."
"...vee," Eevee said weakly, still smiling. He looked up to Xavier, with big, trusting eyes, and collapsed.
Xavier shook Eevee. "Eevee! What happened? Stand up!" He said, with worry in his voice.
"..."
Eevee didn't say anything, but lay on its side.
"Eevee! I'm sorry I pushed you so hard!" Xavier wailed desperately. "I'm sorry, Eevee!"
The Eevee managed to look up at Xavier and smile weakly. Suddenly, a bright white light enveloped Eevee and cloaked it with brightness.
"Is this..." Xavier shielded himself from the white light with his arm.
The brightness stopped, and the white light vanished. Xavier looked up to Eevee. If it could be called Eevee now.
Instead of a small, brown fox-like creature, a dark, crimson-eyed creature with dark pupils and yellow rings around its ears and tail.
"Umbreon," it said.
Xavier stared at this new creature. He whipped out his Pokedex and analyzed the newfound Pokemon. So his Eevee evolved! That was quick. It had only been a week, but Xavier figured he pushed his Eevee and trained it hard.
"All right!" He pumped a fist in the air.
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The next day Xavier was off to train his new Dark-type. He release his Umbreon and tried out all of the new moves that his once-Eevee learned.
"All right...let's see," Xavier said absently. He looked at his Pokedex, checking the abilities. "Try out a Faint Attack, Umbreon."
The Umbreon obeyed quietly, and rushed toward the dummy scarecrow. It drew in close to the scarecrow, and, for a second, it seemed like Umbreon disappeared. Then it reappeared suddenly, striking the dummy with its tail powerfully.
"Uh..." said Xavier, still staring at his Pokedex, not paying attention that much. "Now a Dark Pulse."
Umbreon gathered energy, and its yellow rings glowed. Its eyes glowed as well, and it unleashed a wave of dark energy. It blew the scarecrow down, as well as knock Xavier to the floor.
"Woah," Xavier said.
The next hour or two Xavier trained Umbreon. Its Shadow Ball was much more powerful an larger than normal. Its speed and stamina increased. It learned a plethora of new moves, such as Faint Attack, Assurance, Toxic, Moonlight, Mean Look, Payback, and much more. Xavier had the privilege of watching and perfecting all these techniques.
After a while of sparring, Xavier managed to get all of Milotic's and Umbreon's techniques perfected.
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Xavier stood in front of the Mossdeep City Gym.
I will be here soon, he thought.
Very soon.