Exactly six months after the day when Jim said "Just for the night.", Lady woke up in their master's bed. She's been sleeping there ever since. Darling didn't want to hear about her sleeping somewhere else because she could get scared and then she won't be able to become an Espeon. Jim agreed, at first unwillingly, but after he started to enjoy it. He really bonded with Lady during her trainings. She was looking more beautiful every day. And stronger. She'll be a perfect Espeon one day.
The owner of the Training Center kept telling Jim how powerful and lovely his Eevee is becoming in a really short time. Behind closed doors, in low voices, they talked about how great battling Pokemon she could make. According to the program Lady was signed up for, she shouldn't learn any attacks, because an Eevee can't learn any damage-dealing psychic type moves. However, Jim thought learning attacks would only do her good, so they practiced Shadow Ball behind Darling's back. It was pretty easy, since she rarely came to the center.
Darling's task was to make sure Eevee looked good and stayed healthy. She took her grooming and massaging, often changing her mind about what was best for her Lady. She just couldn't get enough of her pet. Whenever she walked alone, she missed the sound of Eevee's soft paws on the ground, so she tried to take Pokemon for walks as much as possible. She once tried talking to a nutritionist, but a special diet was not really a possibility, since Lady always managed to get something from the table, using her cute big eyes.
On the mentioned day, when Lady was six months old, she woke up her masters as usual. It was Sunday, but the Training Center was always opened and she really wanted to go. Recently, she began to feel different after exercises. She couldn't quite explain it to herself, but she heard about evolution and she was excited to find out is this really what all that change could feel like. Lady wanted to evolve. It was mostly out of pure curiosity, but she had to admit that one of the reasons was she'd look so good as an Espeon. And psychic powers were cool.
Jim Dear and Darling tried to have their breakfast in peace, but Lady pretty soon interrupted it, demanding some desserts from the table. They looked at each other and smiled. They didn't really want it any other way.
"Oh, Jim, do you think Lady will evolve soon?" Asked Darling, as the mentioned Eevee drank some tea that masters gave her.
"All the Trainers at the Center tell me it's only a matter of days. Don't worry, Darling, soon there'll be no more police." Jim hugged his wife. Over the past few months, police came randomly to their house, demanding to see Lady. Since she could evolve into a dangerous dark type, it was their job to check on her every now and then. They were never nice and they were getting impatient, since it was much quicker and easier to evolve an Eevee with an evolutionary stone or a special rock. On their last visit, about a week ago, they were particularly rude. They gave Jim and Darling a month to evolve Lady or else they'll give their Eevee to the chief of police, so he could decide what to do. Darling was really frustrated with this.
"You know you can always count on Lady, Darling." Jim took Darling's hand. Little Eevee sat up straight, showing off herself. Darling smiled. "I have an idea." Jim continued. "Come to the Training Center today with us. Lady needs all the support she can get."
"It is just the greatest idea, Jim Dear." Darling looked really happy about that. Jim was also happy because he thought of the perfect explanation for that Shadow Ball. He recently found out it was a ghost type move and since Darling asked if Eevee can evolve into a ghost type, he could present this as their little surprise. Besides, a Pokemon will evolve faster if it has some moves to work on.
Lady was the only Pokemon at the Center when they arrived. Daniel, the owner, hurried to shake Jim's hand. They knew each other pretty well because Jim and Lady were there so often. "Hello Jim, hello Lady." Daniel patted the Eevee on the head. Then he noticed Darling. "Would you be Mrs. Trewin? Nice to meet you." Darling smiled and followed two men and her Pokemon to the battleground. Lady was excited to be there again.
"Are you ready, little one?" Daniel took out his stopwatch, ready to measure Eevee's speed. Lady ran like the wind. Espeon was, statistically, the second fastest Eevee evolution, so this made the perfect warm up. This time, Lady worked super hard because there was one more person who cheered for her. She set a new personal record easily and gracefully. Darling was so proud of her. "It's almost like I saw an Espeon running there for a second, she's just excellent." Said Daniel and he really meant every one of those words.
"Now, my Darling, you'll see that your Eevee has learned a very special move." Jim grinned. Darling wanted to object, but suddenly became silent as she saw lady heading to to center of the field, waiting for Daniel to prepare the targets. To make things more interesting, they tried with moving targets this time. Lady looked so focused, so determined. Darling had never seen her like that before. The targets appeared before Lady.
"Show them your Shadow Ball, girl!" Jim shouted a bit too loud. He enjoyed giving commands to Pokemon while imagining he was in a real battle. A little black ball of energy formed in Eevee's mouth and she shakily fired it at one of the targets. She missed.
Darling covered her mouth with her hands, speechless. Lady looked at her with her head down, ready to be scolded for doing that.
"Oh, Lady, you learned a ghost type move, it is just the most perfect thing ever!" Darling hurried to hug her little Pokemon. And then it happened. The thing that Lady missed was Darling's support during training. Now the Eevee could finally let that strange energy completely overflow her. She began to glow. Everything seemed like a dream. Lady could feel every part of her body becoming different, from paws to tips of her ears. Everything was over quickly. She felt different. Really, really different. Daniel brought her a mirror. Carefully, she examined every part of her, the new color of her fur and a different tail. She took a fair amount of time to admire her new eyes and a red gem on her forehead. Jim Dear and Darling looked at her in awe. Then she elegantly turned around to face the moving targets again. Taking a deep breath, she fired a Shadow Ball into one of them. A picture-perfect shot.
Meanwhile, in another part of the small island, an Umbreon was gently awoken by the noise of departing ships. Just to make things clear, the noise itself wasn't gentle at all, but this Tramp was so used to them, he didn't notice them anymore. He crawled out of the old barrel he slept in and stretched. It was a day so beautiful that he almost wished he wasn't a banished creature considered evil and even deadly. But then again, he got used to his dangerous lifestyle. True, if he would ever get caught, things could become really horrible, but on the other hand, he had freedom.
Freedom really meant a lot to him. In that part of the town, among big, noisy ships and huge boxes of all sorts of cargo, there wasn't any of the cleanliness all the people from the town were so proud of. In their heads, that wasn't part of their island. That was good for Tramp and others like him. Those few men who even payed attention to them, didn't notice anything strange, because in their hometowns, dark and poison types were a perfectly normal thing.
The Umbreon smelled the air carefully and started walking around. He was hungry. Around this part of the island were many restaurants and motels that immigrants opened for sailors and workers, so one really saw anything bad in the dark type. In their eyes, he was like any other stray Pokemon. And everyone sure loved him a lot.
There was this one place Tramp was particularly fond of and it was Tony's. The owner, a funny fat guy who was once an aspiring musician, was particularly fond of Tramp as well. Sure, he was kind to all stray Pokemon, he had a big heart and always helped out everyone in need, but this Umbreon was special to him. He named him Butch, after an Eevee he had when he was a kid. Tramp was more than happy to answer to that name. Or any name. When people gave him names, it meant they got attached to him and he could get food from them whenever he wanted. It was just sometimes hard to keep up with all those names and nicknames.
"Butch" cheerfully walked to the back alley, to the back door of Tony's restaurant. He could hear him singing from quite a distance. Good old Tony, never losing his optimism, no matter what.
Tramp scratched the door and Joe, the assistant showed up. He liked "Butch" as well, but sometimes he thought Tony was overdoing things a bit, especially when he stated Butch was talking to him. But Tony was the boss and Joe's job was to obey, which was exactly what he did now, as he brought some leftover saved just for Umbreon.
Tramp quickly ate the meal and went for a quick stroll. As he approached one of his favorite spots by the old fence, he heard voices. No doubt, some Pokemon were in trouble. He knew about it. They all had their stories of how they were thrown out of their homes, pet stores, or just were unlucky enough not to have a home in the first place. Their misfortune made them friends and allies, so they always tried to help out each other, even if it meant just to put a smile back on someone's face.
Tramp looked and saw two of his friends locked by the Pokemon catcher, ready to be taken to the pond. Those nasty guys! Their numbers were increasing and the Pokemon were getting helpless. They needed each other's help more than ever.
Tramp didn't have any difficulties opening the cage containing two of his friends. True, he didn't have any psychic powers so he had to do it manually, but that was a perfect chance to show off his stealthiness. The two now free creatures looked to see who saved them. Tramp was almost blown away by Bull's loud laughter. The big Swalot really couldn't help it. He often got picked on because of being the stereotypical fat person and lately he started to accept it so he laughed even louder and walked even clumsier, but perhaps the latter was due to the fact he put on some more weight. He was silenced by Peg, the greatest singing star among stray Pokemon and Pokemon in general. This little Purrloin always tried to look her best and be cool. Especially when Tramp was around.
Umbreon saw clearly that Bull's extra fat and Peg's strutting won't get them far enough in time, so he had to act quickly. He bit the Pokemon catcher's leg and danced around him as he tried to catch him. By that time, he had definitely lost interest in Swalot and Purrloin and found himself a new catch. The only problem with that catch was that it was really fast.
Statistically speaking, an Umbreon is not supposed to be very fast. On the contrary, its speed is below average for an Eevee evolution. But from the moment he was born, Tramp lived on the streets and speed was very important in such situations. He chuckled to himself. This wasn't a challenge at all. Those stupid catchers didn't even use Pokemon to help them out. Most of those people weren't very skilled or very bright and they just wanted to be the ones who would clean the town once and for all. Unfortunately for them, no one gave them any credit, so they were mostly bitter and short-tempered.
This one was still very young so he could run a lot. But still not enough to catch Tramp, even though he chased him all the way to the fanciest parts of the city. He had finally given up and the black Pokemon found himself in a completely different surroundings. Wanting to prove to himself that his life is better than the ones of pets around here, he decided to stay here for some time and maybe meet someone from the high class.