Part 4: Darkness in the Light
Editor's Note: This is a short chapter, but a fairly important one. Don't think too far ahead.
* This entire story was written on a Nintendo 3DS *
The next day, Katherine woke up early. I was sleeping on the couch when she woke me up. "Cloe. It's time to wake up." Katherine had to work today, so she got up early to show me the way to the park. It is odd how supportive Katherine is that I'm working on a rescue team. However, I won't argue. She is old enough to understand, I guess.
The path to the park is a fairly simple one. From the doorway to enter the apartment, you can go down the road. Once you reach the corner, you take a left and go up these stairs. These stairs lead to a bridge that's over the road. From there, it's a straight walk to the park.
"Alright, Cloe. I'm going to work. I'll come by once I'm done with work to pick you up." Before she turned to leave, I noticed she was wearing a necklace. I hadn't seen her wear that necklace until today. I nodded and left for the pond.
I waited at the pond for Vale. About 15 minutes passed, when Vale appeared. "So..." She said softly, "How did it go?" I smiled, "She understood everything. I can go to work every day." She looked really happy "Really? That's great! I'm glad it turned out well.
"I am too." Then, I had a question that I needed to ask myself. How did she know so much? It was a little awkward how she knew. I decided not to tell Vale anything about it for now.
"So, what's our job?" I asked, quickly changing the subject. "Well, I got a patrol job yesterday. So let's start with that." I knew what to do in a patrol, so I didn't ask any questions.
We walked around the park for about two hours, when vale brought up Katherine. "Katherine seems like a nice person." "She is a nice person at heart. She works at the Pokemon Center." Vale wasn't surprised at her occupation, "She is? Well, she did understand that you wanted to help others. I guess her need to help rubbed off on you." She chuckles and continues walking.
That's when I remembered the promise. "You'll have to meet her sometime." Vale hesitated a little. "Would she want to see me? It would be awkward meeting her for the first time." I replied, giving some relief. "She actually said she would like to meet you. I want to hold true to that promise."
Vale thought for a second. After a moment, she smiled. "Alright, I'll join you when we are leaving." I gave a smile, and we went back to being on patrol. We patrolled for another 4 hours. Nothing major happened for the entire patrol.
It was 5 P.M. and now was about the time Katherine left work. We had just finished the patrol, and were being debriefed. I took Vale to the tree, and waited for a few minutes. Katherine showed up, and saw Vale.
"So, this is your partner Cloe?" I nodded, so did Vale. Katherine smiled, and had a small expression on her face. An expression that she had a serious secret nobody knew but her. I tilted my head, and Katherine noticed. "Listen, I would like to show you something. Do you two know a place that's well hidden from plain sight?"
We showed her to the pond, behind the tree-lined spot where the entrance to the base is. Ironically, on that day, in the same place, everything changed. Katherine looked around to make sure nobody could see.
That necklace she was wearing this morning started glowing. A brief, bright flash stunned our eyes. When the flash went away, all we saw was a lone Umbreon in front of us. Both Vale and I couldn't believe our eyes.
Did Katherine just turn into a Pokemon?