CHAPTER 10

"Whoa Shade, are you alright?" Slice asked me when I woke up. I went over to the mirror and saw that there were bags under my eyes. I was still a bit sleepy.

"I"m alright." I said to my best friend.

"What happened to your leg?" Slice pointed at the partially healed wound I got when it got scratched on the barbed wire.

"Oh, I uh...tripped when I went to the bathroom last night."

Slice shook his head. "Man, you can be so clumsy sometimes y'know?" He gave a friendly punch to my shoulder before we left for breakfast.

Berg, Chi and Scuttle also noticed the bags under my eyes. I told them what I said to Slice and they went back to breakfast except for Chi. She looked at me a bit longer before going back to her food.

"Attention all teams! There's an announcement!" Hitmonlee instructor shouted and everyone in the room froze and faced him.

"First of all, starting today until Sunday, there will be no missions!"

Almost everyone in the room groaned. They wanted to get away from training and do something else. The instructor waved them down for silence before continuing.

"If you're wondering why, it's because the Crimson Council is planning something big this coming Sunday. And when I said big, I mean big so they want you guys to go through more training until then."

"There's one more announcement!" the instructor yelled out. "We have discovered last night that one prisoner has escaped from prison."

"Shine..." I whispered as the Pokemon around me began to talk.

"The prisoner has been identified as a female Espeon by the name of Shine. I ask that anyone with any information to her whereabouts to come forward at once."

He left and the whole room went back to talking. Some about what was going to happen on Sunday while other spoke about Shine.

"Shine...isn't she that Espeon we captured?" Berg asked me.

"Yeah, I guess so." I replied.

"I wonder where she could be." Chi said glancing at me for half a second.

"Why? D'you wanna find her Chi?" Slice asked and Chi shook her head.

The horn sounded and we went outside to begin training. I didn't really pay attention to it. Nor did I pay attention to the afternoon training. I was just thinking about Shine, hoping that she'll stay safe at my house. Even when I was alone in our room with Berg and Chi, I thought of her.

Saturday came after a few days. I got up before Slice could wake me but we still went to breakfast together. After eating, the five of us went to the gate that led to the city. It opened and we were let out.

I said bye to my teammates before I set of to my house. While walking, I decided to pass by Dahlia's shop.

"Hello Shade. How are you?" Dahlia said when I entered her shop.

"I'm fine Dahlia. I'm just going to buy some flowers." I said to her.

"Oh, OK." Dahlia turned to get some roses.

"Um Dahlia...I'm looking for something different today." I said before she got the roses.

"Hmm? What are you looking for then?"

"Do you have any...Gracidea flowers?" I asked.

"Gracidea? That's a strange flower to give to your parents."

"They're not for my parents...They're for...someone else."

Dahlia smiled at me. She went to the back of her shop and came back with a bouquet of Gracidea flowers. She gave them to me and I was off.

In a matter of minutes, I was at the street where my house was. I reached the front door and, still holding the flowers, opened it and went inside. I closed the door and spoke into the house.

"Shine. Shine, are you there? It's me Shade."

I heard footsteps coming from the stairs. Then, Shine appeared in front of me. I breathed a sigh of relief seeing her OK before she hugged me.

"Shade..." she said and I hugged her back.

"I've got something for you." I step back and I showed her the flowers. Her eyes widened as she took them and gave them a sniff.

"Thanks Shade. You're really sweet." I smiled and we went to the living room.

"So how're you doing here?" I asked.

"I'm alright. Nobody saw me so everything's good." she replied.

I looked around and everything seemed cleaner. "Have you been cleaning?"

"Yeah. This place was pretty dusty so I decided to clean it up."

"Yeah, I've never actually cleaned up before." I admitted.

"I've s also read some of your books."

"Yeah, I'm a bit of a bookworm."

"Well, besides reading and cleaning, I've done nothing else."

I suddenly felt guilty. It was my fault that she had to be locked up here. "I'm sorry I kept you in here the whole time."

"It's alright Shade." Shine smiled at me. "It's best that I have to be hidden or we'll both be in big trouble."

"I know. They're already searching for you." I told her. "I think...tonight's when I sneak you out of the nation."

Shine's eyes widened in shock. "How'll we do that?"

I opened my mouth to answer but then my stomach grumbled in hunger. "Can we eat first? I think better on a full stomach."

Shine giggled before we went to the kitchen and got two plates. We filled them with berries and went to my room to eat. We sat down on my bed and had a nice lunch, just the two of us.

After eating, I put both of our plates on a desk nearby. Shine asked: "So what's the plan?"

I took a deep breath. "Tonight at midnight, I'll sneak out of the academy again and come back here. I'll pick you up and we'll sneak past the guards an head to the gate. You'll be able to get to the forest and on your way home. Got that?"

Shine nodded but then, she looked sad. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's just..." she said sadly. "Since I'm going back...doesn't that mean we'll never see each other again?"

Shine's question made a loud THUMP in my heart. She was right; after she leaves, I doubt we'll ever see each other again. Yet, both of us knew that she couldn't stay forever. The thought of her leaving me forever was more painful than anything else.

I looked at Shine,whom I love with all my heart, and saw a tear from her eye. I went over and brushed it away with my paw. She looked at me and I looked at her.

"...Shade..."

"...Shine..."

I put my arms around her and kissed her. We closed our eyes and Shine put her arms around me. After several moments of kissing, I lay down on my side. Shine did the same and she buried her head in my chest. I put my arms around in a protective way and, though it was still daytime, we slept.

When we woke up, I saw that it was sunset. We got I told Shine that it was time for me to leave. She kissed me goodbye before I went back to the academy.

I couldn't concentrate on anything else when I arrived. Not on the food nor on my teammates talking to me. But luckily, only Chi noticed that I wasn't concentrating right.

Like the night I snick Shine out, I couldn't sleep. This time, it wasn't excitement nor determination that kept me up but sadness. I'll never see her again. Maybe we could both end up on a mission together but then, we'd have to act like enemies. I'm going to miss her so much. I'll miss her smile, her eyes, her beautiful voice...I tired not to but I let a tear fall from my eye. I can never be with her because of this war.

THE WAR! I had to bite my lip to avoid screaming. It's all because of this war. I can't be with the one I love because of this stupid war. Another tear came from my eye but this time, its sadness was mixed with rage.

After what seemed like an eternity, I felt that it was midnight. I got up and left the room. I got past the guards the same way I did the first time and in a matter of minutes, I was at my house.

When I opened the door, Shine was there sitting in front me. We didn't say anything to each other;our final good byes will have to wait. Still silent, we left my house and went back to the academy. After sneaking past more guards, we found ourselves at the gate to the forest.

"This is it..." was all I could say. "Shine...take care of yourself alright?"

Shine remained silent. Both of us were holding back tears with much effort. We could cry later, when we were already far apart. Shine looked at me with watery eyes.

"G-good bye Shade..."

"Good bye Shine..."

I had lowered my lips to hers to give her one last good bye kiss before a loud siren sounded through the night.