Pokemon Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Master ❯ Stage Five - Eevees at Sunset ( Chapter 5 )

It had all the makings of a glorious day, and inside, Aurora felt a stir of relief. It had rained the night she and Laine had left Azalea Town, soaking them both thoroughly and making poor Scar look like a well-used mop in his bedraggled feathers. They had finally been able to take refuge in a Pokemon Center by the side of the road, gratefully spending the evening huddling close to a fire and enjoying bowls of hot stew. Even so, Aurora's long tresses still felt slightly damp as they set out the next morning, and as much as she knew they'd needed the rain, she was still inwardly pleased that she didn't have to get soaked again.

"Would ya hurry it up already?" called Laine from further up the road. "My Slowpoke walks faster'n you!"

"Turnabout is fair play," answered Aurora. "You didn't want to go back to your house in a hurry, remember?"

"What? Ya expectin' to pick a fight with your folks?" asked Laine.

"Well, not exactly," Aurora replied. "Actually, it might be kind of interesting. Dad seemed to think I'd get beaten at the first Gym."

"Then let's go prove him wrong," Laine replied. "Come on! I wanna see the city!"

Aurora obligingly picked up the pace a bit. Having been given permission to travel had done wonders for Laine's energy level; she probably could have easily run a marathon today. She seemed particularly eager for a glimpse of Aurora's home town. From what Aurora had gathered, she'd spent most of her life either in the tiny town of Azalea or wandering the wilderness, and big cities like Goldenrod were a novelty to her. She'd spent the previous evening drilling her friend for information about everything from Aurora's family's shop to the grand Goldenrod Department Store. Clearly, though, stories weren't good enough - Laine liked to see things for herself. Aurora trotted up to the top of a hill, where her friend had paused to stare off into the distance. From that vantage point, something sparkly could be seen in the distance.

"Is that it?" asked Laine.

"I think so. Let me check," answered Aurora. She flipped on her PokeGear and made a quick map reference. "Yeah, that's it. Home sweet home."

"Wow," Laine replied. Even from a distance, the skyscrapers could be seen reaching for the heavens like the towers of a fairy-tale castle, gleaming golden in the strong morning sunshine.

Aurora grinned in spite of herself. "Wait until you see it up close!"

"I don' wanna wait," Laine answered. "I wanna get movin' again!"

The clock was just creeping up on noon as the girls made it to the booth of the gatekeeper who watched the southern gate to Goldenrod. Aurora recognized him as the same gatekeeper she'd passed when she'd left home a few days ago.

"Hi!" she called. "I'm back!"

"Hm?" The man stared at her, adjusting his glasses. "Oh! I remember you - the young lady going to Blackthorn. How was the trip?"

"It's been interesting," she answered.

"So, on your way home now?"

"For a little while. I'm in serious training now," Aurora replied, and Scar squawked an agreement.

"Training, hm? Going to be challenging Whitney?" he asked. "Well, good luck to both of you!"

"Why would he wish good luck to you and Whitney?" asked Laine as they passed through the gate.

"I think he was talking to the two of us," Aurora answered. "You are in training now, aren't you?"

"Who, me? No way!" answered Laine.

"Why not?" asked Aurora. "You've got a Badge now, and Nova. He could probably take on Whitney any day of the week. She only trains Normal types, so he would have the advantage."

"I told ya already, I'm not a trainer," Laine answered stubbornly. "I'm a researcher."

"Who says you can't be both?" Aurora countered.

"Me," Laine answered. "I know what I'm doin', so don' bug me about it."

"All right, all right! Don't bite my head off!"

What might have been an argument was headed off as Aurora shoved the door of the gatehouse open to reveal the city beyond. Laine stopped and stared.

"Wow," she said. "It's a lot bigger than it looked in the pictures. ... So, which one is your place?"

"That's a little further on," Aurora replied. "Look! There's the Goldenrod Department Store! We've got to go there before we leave - there's nothing else like it in all of Johto."

"Cool!" Laine enthused. "I wanna go there first! Hey, I heard those places will buy stuff from trainers. D'you think they'd buy a few of my PokeBalls?"

"Let's go ask," answered Aurora.

They headed for the store. Aurora, serious about her training, headed directly for the front desks to make inquiries about the prices of PokeBalls and Potions. Laine hadn't brought much money with her, but she managed to haggle with a teller and get a good price for a number of her multicolored custom Balls, and she spent several minutes browsing the aisles, searching for ways to spend her newfound fortune. She'd never seen a store that offered such oddities as custom clothing and exercise equipment for Pokemon. She bought a set of training grips for Nova.

Aurora, too, had to admit she was impressed by the number of things available. Having never been a trainer before, and being busy with work and school, she hadn't been a frequent visitor to the department store. Now she herself was amazed at all she'd been missing. She wandered in an aisle of health products, gazing at the shelves of lotions, shampoos, files, hairbrushes, and other odd things that she couldn't even identify. Her gaze fell on a box, and she pulled it out to get a closer look, hoping it was what she thought it was.

She was not disappointed. What she'd found was a care kit for Flying-type Pokemon, complete with clippers for trimming talons, files for beaks, materials for imping feathers - everything that could possibly be wanted for keeping her bird friends in the peak of condition. There was even a bottle of oil she could use for tending to her poor Skarmory. Scar watched her as she studied the box. He wasn't saying anything, but she could read his expression well enough: he knew what was in that box, and how much good it would do him. Aurora flipped over the box, checking the price sticker - and winced. The price was over a thousand coins, more than she'd ever paid for anything in her life. Still... she did have a responsibility to Scar and Rusty to take care of them. As a trainer, that was the first thing she always had to consider. She set the box down and checked her purse, counting out coins. There was just barely enough.

"What do you think, Scar?" she asked. "Do we need this that badly?"

"Spear."

"Well, that doesn't tell me much."

"What's going on?" asked Laine, trotting over to join them, carrying a few shopping bags.

"This," answered Aurora, showing off the box. "I'm trying to decide whether I should get it or not."

"Do you need it?"

"Yeah."

"Can you afford it?"

"Well... I won't have much left if I buy it."

"What else do you need?"

"Good point."

A few minutes later, both of them left the store with their purses considerably lighter, Laine trying to stuff her shopping bags into her pack and Aurora proudly carrying the kit under one arm.

"Where to now?" asked Laine. "We spent all our money, so it's no good going shopping again."

"Well... I guess I should check up on Mom and Dad," said Aurora. "And I promised my little brother I'd let him see my Badges."

"You didn't tell me you had a little brother," Laine said.

"Well, now I have. Hm." She glanced at her watch. "They should be at the store right now. That's good. We won't expect me to stay for dinner or something."

They walked up the streets of the city (Laine took out her camera to take some photos of the buildings) until they had entered a section of the city where the skyscrapers had given way to apartment buildings and modest storefronts. Aurora walked up to one advertising PokeGear sale and repair and swung the door open, making a bell chime musically.

"Hey! You've got customers!" she shouted.

There was a sound of someone yelping in surprise. Then...

"Aurora!"

With a rush, a boy ran out from behind the counter to run up and hug his big sister.

"Hi, Davey! Did you miss me?"

"Did I ever! ... Well, maybe a little," answered Davey. "Where have you been? Are you going to come home now? Did you win any Badges?"

"What's all this commotion?" came a voice from the back of the shop. Aurora's father appeared from a back room, stopping short as he spied his daughter in the doorway. "Aurora! So you've come back."

"Just for a little while," she said, with a warning note in her voice. "I'm passing through on my way to Whitney's Gym, and I thought I would stop in and say hi."

"I see," answered her father, raising one eyebrow. "And you still have your Pokemon with you?"

"Yes," she answered. "He's a great Pokemon. Falkner himself complimented me on him, and he should know birds if anyone does."

"I see," he said again, as if he wasn't sure he believed her. "So you went ahead taking the Gym Challenge, then? I was under the impression you wanted to be apprenticed to Clair."

"I do," she answered, feeling suddenly on the spot. "I will be."

"She will," said Laine, coming to the rescue. "Clair said she just needs to get the rest of the Badges first. Once she does that, she's goin' back to Blackthorn."

"Really? Way cool!" Davey enthused. "So have you got Badges now? Can I see them?"

"Sure," said Aurora. She unpinned the badges from the hem of her shirt so Davey could look at them, but her mind was concerned with what her father had just said. He was right, after all - she had left home with the intent of becoming Clair's apprentice. How far had she come since then? Two Badges, one that had only been given to her without so much as a proper battle. She still had a long way to go...

*She shouldn't have turned me down at all,* she thought rebelliously. *Scar is a good Pokemon... and I'm a good trainer! Everyone says so but her! Why do I have to go through with all of this, anyway?*

And then something else occurred to her, something she hadn't considered before. Laine had implied that there had been an agreement - Aurora would be made a junior trainer as soon as she collected all the required Badges. But there had never been such an agreement. Clair had only said that she might consider taking Aurora, not that she actually would. What if, after all that trouble, Aurora showed up with her Badges only to be told that she still didn't have what it took? What if she never got accepted? Then what?

"Somethin' on your mind, 'Rora?" Laine asked.

"Oh, nothing," answered Aurora. "Just thinking."

"Okay. If you say so," Laine replied. She was looking around the shop. "These things are actually pretty cool. Do you think your parents would sell me one?"

"I thought you didn't want to be a trainer. These are trainer's tools."

"Well, they're also a handy way of carryin' things. Better than this dumb bag," said Laine, scowling at her duffel bag.

"Are you interested in purchasing some PokeGear?" asked Aurora's father. "If you just want something simple, I can get you a very good price on a used one..."

"Really? I could maybe go for that."

Aurora half-listened as Laine engaged in a round of bargaining. Something was starting to gnaw at the back of her mind, and she didn't think she liked the feel of it.

They stayed at the shop for a half an hour, with the two of them retelling their adventures (an edited version that left out a lot about Ember) for Aurora's family. It ended with Aurora collecting her Badges from her brother, promising to come back as soon as she had the complete set. Laine left carrying a cheap used PokeGear, slightly dented but otherwise sound.

"That was kinda fun," she said, strapping the device onto her wrist.

"Yeah, I guess," answered Aurora.

"You don' sound that enthused. What's up?"

"I was just thinking," she answered. "What if I'm wasting my time? I mean, Clair never promised me anything. I could be just running around for no reason. She might decide not to take me on no matter what I do. What do I do then?"

"Kick her butt," Laine suggested.

"What?"

"She's a Gym Leader. If she doesn' want to take you on, just challenge her to a battle, kick her butt, and move on. If you can't prove you're as good as her, prove you're better. Go take on the Elite Four. Go to the Gyms in Kanto. Do whatever you want. The world doesn' begin and end with Clair."

"How do you know?"

Laine gave her an odd look. "How do I know? Girl, I've been a few places you haven't. There's a lot out there."

"Maybe for you," said Aurora. "But this is my dream, the only real one I've ever had. I don't want to lose it."

Laine opened her mouth to say something - and changed her mind and said something else. Stopping short, she pointed and said, "What does that sign say?"

"Huh?"

"Tell me it says what I think it says."

It was Aurora's turn to give Laine a strange look. "That's just the sign for Bill's house. What's so special about that?"

"You mean, the Bill who's the famous Pokemon researcher? That Bill?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Why? What do you mean, why?" Laine shouted. "His Pokemon collection is world- famous! Can we go see him? Can we? I mean, he does allow visitors, right?"

"Well, yeah, sure," said Aurora, a little surprised at the outburst. "He's pretty nice. He comes in our shop all the time. Do you want to meet him? ... Okay, dumb question," she added, catching the look on Laine's face. "Okay. It's not really like we're in a big hurry."

"Thank you!" said Laine, impulsively hugging her friend. "I'll owe you for this!"

Following the sign led to a modest little house on the outskirts of the town. Laine had been thrown into a state of silent excitement, but Aurora strolled confidently up to the front door and knocked. It was opened a moment later by a smiling man in an entirely unscientific outfit of jeans and a t-shirt.

"Ah, hello! Miss Cummings, I believe?" he said to Aurora.

"Yes, sir," she answered. "I have a friend here who wanted to meet you. You aren't busy, are you?"

"I'm never too busy for visitors," he answered. "And is this your friend? What's her name? She looks vaguely familiar, but I can't place her."

"Elaine Harvester, sir," answered Laine. Aurora noticed she was using her full name now, and that her drawling accent seemed to have vanished suddenly.

"Harvester, Harvester..." Bill muttered. "Any relation to Marcus Harvester?"

"He was my father, sir," Laine replied.

"Ah, yes, now I see! Yes, the resemblance is quite clear," said Bill. "I met your father on several occasions. An admirable man. You were with him for some of his studies, weren't you? I'm sure I remember him saying something about that."

"Yes, sir," answered Laine, looking a bit more at ease. "I've been trying to continue his work. I have a lot of my notes here with me."

"I'd like to have a look at them," said Bill. "Here, why don't you two come in and have a look around? I have some things in here I think you'd both enjoy seeing."

The girls allowed themselves to be ushered inside. They found themselves standing in a comfortable sitting room, but they didn't get to stand there for long. He led them through a side door, from which came interesting sounds of yapping and barking.

"I've been doing some experiments lately," he said. "Do you girls know much about Eevees?"

"A little bit," said Aurora.

"They're experimental Pokemon, aren't they?" asked Laine. "Something from a genetic experiment. I don't think you can find them in the wild."

Bill nodded. "Very seldom. Eevees have unstable genetics that makes it difficult for them to breed in the wild. The problem, up until now, has been that no one has been able to come up with a female Eevee."

"Until now?" Aurora repeated.

"Until now," Bill agreed.

He pushed open the door. In the room beyond were several pens, each containing a single Eevee or one of its evolutions. A Vaporeon splashed happily in a tub; an Esperon slept in a puddle of sunlight; a fluffy Flareon was preening its fur. However, most interesting of all was a simple Eevee in a particularly large and well-appointed pen, surrounded by a number of small chirping fluffballs.

"Babies!" Laine squeaked, forgetting for the moment to be formal.

"That's right," answered Bill proudly. "You're looking at the first ever naturally born Eevee pups."

"They're so cute!" Laine gushed. She went to kneel next to the pen, putting her fingers through the mesh. One of the pups came up to sniff her fingers. Aurora joined her. She had to admit, the pups were cute. All of them looked healthy and bright-eyed, tumbling around on the carpeted floor, tussling with each other. One trotted up and licked her fingers.

"Eventually, I hope to start a colony of Eevees in the wild," Bill continued. He appeared to be talking mainly to Laine. "I think it's the kind of project your father would have approved of."

"It is," she said. "Dad never liked to see Pokemon cooped up indoors... I mean..." She looked around at the pens and blushed.

Bill laughed. "Don't worry. These are only temporary conditions. Most of these will be given to trainers after a few more weeks of study. Only the little mother here is going to be kept for further study. I do plan to release the puppies to be trained, though. I need to see how they'll react to that life, and the only way to do that is to actually give them to trainers... Would you two like one?"

"What?" both girls exclaimed at once.

"There's no reason why not. The puppies are old enough to be without their mother now. I know Miss Cummings well enough to trust her to take care of one, and I can't imagine any daughter of Marcus Harvester not knowing how to raise a Pokemon. And they seem to like you. That's important with Eevees."

"That's right," said Aurora vaguely. "They won't evolve if they don't trust you... unless you force them..."

"Which I'd prefer you not do," said Bill. "I can always induce evolution here in the lab. It takes training to make them evolve naturally."

"I can do that," said Aurora.

"Me too," Laine agreed.

"Excellent!" said Bill. "Pick one out you like... or one that likes you... and take it with you when you go. And now, about those notes..."

"Oh, those! They're right here," said Laine, digging through her bag.

Aurora sighed a bit as Laine and Bill left, deep in discussion of various Pokemon and their habits. The Eevee that had taken a liking to her cuddled her fingers, as if to comfort her. She lifted it out of the pen, and it barked happily and licked her face.

"I guess you like me, huh?" she asked. "Well, that's good to know. I don't guess you ever get to feeling left out what with all those brothers and sisters around, do you?"

"Eevee," it crooned, nuzzling her.

Aurora giggled a little. If she was going to be left out, at least she'd have some good company.

It took almost an hour for Laine to wrap up her conversation with Bill. Aurora passed the time looking at the Pokemon in the lab and getting acquainted with her new Eevee. Everywhere she went, it trotted along at her heels, chattering and yipping as if happy to finally be out of the pen. Scar didn't appear impressed by her; he kept trying to nip the end of her fluffy tail, making her yelp. Aurora had to scold him, and he spent several minutes sulking. Finally, Laine came back, looking excited, still scribbling notes in her book.

"Hey, Rora, what are ya doin' in here?" she said. "Ya missed a good conversation."

"I was getting to know my Eevee," she answered. "Besides, I thought you would have more fun on your own."

Laine shrugged. "Whatever! Anyway, Bill's got an appointment somewhere, so we've gotta get goin'. Besides, isn't there a Gym you wanted to go to?"

"Right," Aurora agreed. "I think I'm about ready to have the fight and get it done."

"Y'know, I was thinkin'," said Laine, looking speculative, "you know what you were saying about me being a trainer?"

"Yeah...?"

"Do you really think I could do it?"

"Well..."

"Seriously, now. I don' want you tell me I can if I can't. Tell me straight."

Aurora frowned, thinking. Finally she said, "Well, if you wanted to challenge Whitney, you could probably manage. She only uses Normal types, and Nova would have the type advantage."

"Awesome," said Laine, grinning. "I think I'll do it."

"Oh," said Aurora.

"So where's this Gym already? I wanna go now before I lose my nerve," Laine continued.

Aurora nodded and escorted her friend out of the little house, leading her towards the far end of the town and the Gym. She was quiet during the walk there, but Laine seemed to have her thoughts elsewhere, and didn't notice that her friend wasn't answering as she chattered away about how nice Bill had been to her and how much she'd learned from him. That kind of talk kept up all the way to the Gym doors, where they paused for a moment. Laine stared, duly impressed.

"Whose idea was it to paint the Gym pink?" she asked.

"Whitney's," Aurora answered. "She's... something else."

"Cool," said Laine. "Maybe I can do this! Will you wait for me, Rora? I know if I see you fightin' her, I'll chicken out, and I don' wanna have you see me make a fool of myself."

"Oh, um... sure," said Aurora.

"Thanks. Wish me luck!"

With that, she scooted through the door, waving goodbye before it closed behind her.

"There she goes again," Aurora sighed. Scar croaked sympathetically, and Aurora ruffled his feathers.

They sat and waited some more. Aurora was getting very frustrated. She'd known all along that coming home was a bad idea. She wished she could get out of there right in that moment, go somewhere else - Ecruteak, Mahogany, somewhere, anywhere - somewhere she wouldn't have to be sitting on a doorstep waiting to see if Laine would win a fight or not. She had a brief vision of just getting up and walking away without her.

*But wait - why would I want to do that?* she asked herself. *Laine's my friend. I don't want to leave her... but...*

The door opened, and Laine stepped out. Her Eevee was behind her, yipping excitedly.

"Back so soon?" asked Aurora.

"Yep!" said Laine, flashing a silvery circle pin in the late afternoon sunlight. "That was easy! Nova totally rocked. That girl's Miltank tried to put some moves on him or something, but he said he only likes me and put her lights out. Then the girl started crying, but one of her trainers made her shut up. I can see why you like this trainer stuff, Rora. It's kinda fun."

"Well, that's just great. I'm glad you're proud of yourself," said Aurora. "You think you're really special, don't you?"

"Sheesh, what's gotten into you?"

"I'm tired of you showing off, that's what!"

"Showing off? I'm not showing off!"

"Yes you are! You've been doing it all day long, and it's been driving me crazy!"

"Hey, wait just one minute!" said Laine, beginning to flush. "I don't know where you get off sayin' that, but you're the one with the attitude problem! I woulda thought a real friend woulda been happy if her friend won her first Gym battle."

"Oh, I'm supposed to be happy? 'Look at me, I'm so cool!' Give me a break. You win one battle and you think you're all that."

"Oh? And you win two and think you are?"

"Ya know what?" said Laine. "I think you're just jealous! You wanna be the big bad wonder-trainer. You go around beggin' to be given dragons and whine and cry when you don' get any. You don' want me to be your friend; you just want me to follow you around an' take care of you! Well, forget it! I don' have to put up with this! I can take care of myself. All by myself! I'm fine by myself!"

With that, she turned and ran away, her Eevee scurrying behind, whimpering. Aurora stared. Tears weren't something she associated with Laine, but there was no denying that she was now crying as she ran. Aurora was still for a moment, unsure what move to make. Scar bit her hand.

"Ow!" she yelped. She looked down at the wounded appendage. His sharp beak had left a small pinprick on the back of her hand, a drop of blood slowly welling up. "What'd you do that for?"

"Spear, spear, spearow, spearow," he scolded.

"What do you mean, I'm not being fair?"

"Spearow, spearow, spear." He glared at her, clicking his beak menacingly.

Aurora sighed. "Okay, maybe I was a little harsh with her."

"Spear!"

"All right, all right! None of it was true," she said hastily. She shook her head. "I really blew it this time, didn't I Scar?"

"Spear."

"Well, thanks a lot!" She sighed sadly. "How do I get into these messes? What do I do now?"

"Eevee, eevee, eevee."

"Look for her?" Aurora repeated. She was a little surprised that the Eevee was speaking to her directly; not only had it not done so before, but the way the words came across in her mind was different from the way she was used to hearing Scar or Rusty, or even the Farfetch'd in Azalea. She supposed it was because this Pokemon wasn't a bird. "How am I supposed to find her? This is a huge city; she could have gone anywhere. Besides, she's not going to be really thrilled to see me again, not after what I just said."

In reply, the Eevee hopped a few paces ahead, sniffed the ground, and then scampered ahead a bit more. She paused and looked back at Aurora, clearly asking why she wasn't following it. Resigning herself to a chase, Aurora began to follow.

*What did I have to go and lose my temper for* she scolded herself. *I didn't mean any of it. Laine hasn't done anything wrong. What am I so angry at? I've been out of sorts ever since I talked to my dad... why did I take it out on Laine?*

The Eevee led her to the far side of the city. By the time they reached the gatehouse, it was nearing evening, with the sun turning the sky pink and orange near the horizon, and Aurora was exhausted from running after the speedy Pokemon. Panting for air and clutching a stitch in her side, she staggered up to the counter, where the guard looked at her curiously.

"Are you all right, miss?" he asked, looking at her disheveled and distressed appearance.

"I'm fine," she said. "Please, can you tell me, has a girl been by here? She's about my age, a little shorter than me, dark hair and dark eyes, probably traveling with an Eevee?"

"Yes, she passed by not long ago," the guard answered. "Why-?"

No answer. Aurora was gone again, running out the door. Her feet passed from the tiled floor of the gatehouse to the soft sand of a trail. The Eevee hesitated a moment, sniffing over the sand with a puzzled expression, and Aurora felt a lurch of worry; what if the wind had blown away the scent, and they couldn't find her again? Then Eevee gave a yip of victory and scampered off again, running through the grass that was nearly as tall as she was, and Aurora had to watch carefully to avoid losing her. They ran through a stand of trees and past some bushes. Finally, they came to the bottom of a tall hill. Looking up, she could see a huddled figure sitting on the peak, looking back over the city. Relief flooded over Aurora, and she began dashing up the slope with her Pokemon fluttering and stumbling behind.

"Laine! There you are!" she called.

Laine raised her head a few centimeters, just enough to glare at her. "Go away."

"But, Laine-"

"I said go away. Leave me alone."

Aurora didn't say anything. Laine just sat, staring down at the city that spread out below them, sparkling in the sunset. Her own Eevee sat at her feet, its chin on its paws, its bright black eyes fixed on the horizon. Aurora walked a few feet away and sat down on the other side of the hill, looking out at the trees. A thin crescent moon was rising above them, pale against the dark blue sky. A few minutes of silence went by. Scar stood on the crown of the hill, looking from one girl to the other, waiting to see if they were going to do anything. When they didn't, he hopped over to Aurora's side and nudged her. She sighed.

"I am sorry, you know," she said. "I didn't mean what I said. I was just so angry..."

Laine said nothing.

"I know, I know, I shouldn't have gotten mad at you," Aurora continued. "It was just so frustrating! I went all that way to find Clair, after waiting all my life just to meet me, and she treats me like scum. Then you go and meet Bill, and it's, 'Come right in! Come look at my projects! Have one of my Pokemon! Let me help you with your project!' And maybe I could have handled that. I mean, I've gotten used to you being the researcher; I don't really think I would have been interested in whatever Bill does. But then you went and you beat Whitney, too, and that hurt. Training is what I'm supposed to do, and I was so proud that I was doing well. Then you went in there and took out a strong Gym Leader in five minutes flat and saying it was so easy... All this time I was thinking I had some talent, but if anyone can do it, then what does that make me?"

"An idealistic dreamer with her head in the clouds," said Laine.

Aurora hung her head. "I know."

"You'd have to be, to go out with one broken-down old Pokemon and think you're going to going to become a Dragon Master. You'd have to be to think you could climb Sprout Tower and talk down a rampaging Skarmory. Or fight off a forest fire with just a couple of friends and a handful of Pokemon. Or make a friend out of one of the most poweful Rockets in Johto."

"Yeah."

"But you did climb the tower and catch your Skarmory and fight the fire and all that," said Laine. "And you're gonna be a Dragon Master someday, too, 'cause they say training dragons is all about spirit, and you've got more of that than anyone I've ever met."

Aurora looked up, stunned.

"You mean it?"

"Sure I mean it," said Laine. "And while I'm at it, I accept your apology. After all, you idealistic dreamer types need someone to keep your feet on the ground. Just remember to watch your mouth next time!"

"I will. I promise!" Aurora replied. "You're a good friend, Laine. I don't want to go through this without you."

"You're all right most of the time yourself," answered Laine. "You know... I only wanted to fight Whitney 'cause I knew you were going to. I kinda wanted to share it with you, ya know? So we could do something together instead of us always just doin' our own thing. I'm never gonna be as great a trainer as you."

"You're going to be great at what you do," said Aurora. "Every bit as great as your father, I'll bet. He was great, wasn't he?"

Laine grinned her old manic grin. "The best - and don't you forget it!"

"How could I? Seems like everyone has something to say about him."

"Yeah... hey, d'you wanna see my parents? I got to meet your dad; you oughta see mine."

"How do I do that?"

"Hang on a sec, and I'll show ya."

Laine went rummaging through her duffel bag, and her Eevee sat up to watch, eyes shining with curiosity. From within its capacious depths, she brought out a small cloth bundle. Removing the cloths revealed a framed photograph. Laine passed it reverently to Aurora, who took it and studied it.

The picture showed a man and a woman, their arms around each other, smiling for the camera. The woman was slender and ephemeral-looking, her pale brown hair falling in curtains around a wide-eyed, pixy-like face. Her smile was gentle. The man beside her was a striking contrast, broad-shoulders and robust, with a ruddy face and a familiar careless grin, with the same dark hair and eyes as his daughter.

"That was taken right after Mom and Dad got married," Laine informed her. "Isn't Mom beautiful? I wish I was beautiful. I can do cute on a good day, but I'll never be beautiful. I look too much like my dad."

Aurora agreed mentally that the woman in the picture was very beautiful. She couldn't quite put her finger on how, but there was a kindness that shone through her even through the photograph.

"They look so happy together," she murmured.

"They were," said Laine. "At least, I think so. I wasn't there. But from what I always heard from Dad and Grandpa, they really were in love with each other. Grandpa didn't really want Dad to marry Mom, but they got married anyway. They really must have loved each other to do that." She took the picture back, staring at it, her eyes distant. "Mom wasn't very strong. She was always getting sick, Grandpa says. Dad was all the time having to stay home and take care of her, but he didn't mind. He'd stay home and take care of her, and work on his studies when she was asleep. Then sometimes she'd get well again, and they'd always think, maybe that was the time she'd be well for good. Then something else would happen. Grandpa didn't want Dad to marry her because he thought she was going to die, and then Dad would be heartbroken, and Grandpa didn't want that."

"So what happened?"

"Well, Dad and Mom lived together for a few years, and they were pretty happy, but Mom really wanted to have a baby. Dad didn't want her to, because he didn't think she was healthy enough, but she said-" her voice caught a bit, "she said if she was going to go anyway, she wanted to leave some part of herself behind. So about a year later, she had me." She sighed. "It took a lot out of her. She wasn't feeling well when I was born, and she just kept getting worse after that. She died when I was just two years old. I don't even remember her."

Aurora bowed her head. "That's so sad."

"Not really, not for me. I can't really miss her if I never knew her," said Laine. "Kinda shook up my dad, though. He was scared for me - though I was going to be sick like Mom was and he'd lose me, too. He got the idea I'd be healthier if I stayed outdoors and got lots of sun and fresh air and exercise, so as soon as I was old enough, he started taking me with him on his trips. We went all over the continent together - all the wild places, I mean. Dad never liked cities. We stayed out in the fields and the forests and mountains, hunting for rare Pokemon to watch. Sometimes he'd decide to take a day off and just play with me all day. We'd go hiking and swimming, and at night we'd make a campfire and toast marshmallows. Those were the best times.

"There were some times I couldn' go with him, though. He went dangerous places sometimes, and then he'd leave me at home with Grandpa. That's what happened a couple years ago. He'd heard a rumor there was some kind of rare Pokemon - I forget what it was - up in the mountains above the Ice Pass, and he wanted to go check it out."

"Did he find it?" asked Aurora.

Laine shrugged. "Nobody knows. He went up the mountain an' never came back down. They sent up a search party and found him lyin' there in a crack in the rocks. They figure he musta been lyin' there for days before he finally died..." She choked again. "I have nightmares about it. He's lyin' there callin' for me to help, an' I can't come to him, I'm just standin' there watchin' him die..." She trailed off into sniffling, and Aurora, feeling awkward, put her hand on he friend's shoulder, gently rubbing her back until she collected herself. Laine rubbed fiercely at her eyes and gave a final sniff.

"I'm okay," she said. "You can quit doing that already."

"Sorry," said Aurora, pulling away again.

"S'okay, I guess," Laine replied. "Ya know, it's weird you asked if they ever found the whatever. People are still wonderin' about it. Nobody ever even figured out what it was he was looking for, much less whether he found it. When they recovered his journal, all they found was some mumbo-jumbo about snow and an egg. Nothin' about a Pokemon, just a snow-egg. It's a big mystery."

"Wow," said Aurora. Scar clicked his beak in agreement, and the Eevees murmured to themselves.

"You know what my dream is?" said Laine. "I'm gonna find that thing dad was lookin' for. I'm gonna finish what he started. I'm gonna find what he was lookin' for up there."

"I know you will," said Aurora. "You'll find it, and both your parents will be very proud of you, wherever they are."

"You think?"

"I know it."

"Thanks," said Laine. "Y'know, I don't think I ever told anyone that before. I guess maybe I trust you more than I thought I did."

"Thanks. You're a good friend, Laine."

"So are you, Rora."

Just then, there was an unexpected raise in the light level around them - strange, considering that the sun was going down. Looking, they saw that the two Eevees had started to glow brightly, one staring fixedly at the sun, one at the moon. The lights increased steadily until they couldn't even be seen clearly as Eevees anymore, just two shining forms. Then the sun slipped below the horizon completely, and the spell was broken. The lights were gone. So were the Eevees. In their places were two new creatures. One was a sleek, catlike creature in a shade of pale purple; the other was dark and foxlike.

"Wha' happened?" asked Laine, stunned.

"They evolved!" Aurora exclaimed. "You've got an Esperon, now, and I've got an Umbreon. But I don't see why they would have evolved - we haven't even really battled with them, have we?"

"That doesn' have anything to do with it," said Laine. "Eevees only evolve like this if they trust their trainers... guess they figured if we could trust each other, we must be worth trustin'."

"Maybe so," Aurora agreed.

"Eon!" said Umbreon, rubbing against her. "Eon, eon!"

"I think I'll give you a name," she said. "I'm going to call you Moondancer."

Laine nodded, looking at her new Espeon. "An' I'll call this one Sunset. It fits, huh?"

"Just right," Aurora agreed. "So... what do we do now?"

"Well, you still haven' been to the Gym yet, have you?"

"True..."

"Then if you're gonna show that Clair person you're as good as she doesn' think you are, you'd better get goin' before it closes for the night. Even Gym Leaders sleep sometimes, right?"

"Right!" answered Aurora. "Besides, I've got a new Pokemon to try out now! What do you think, Moondancer? Are you up for a fight?"

"Eon!" she agreed.

"That settles it! Time to head back to the Gym," said Aurora. "Oh, and Laine?"

"Yeah?"

"You fought Whitney... could you give me some pointers?"

Laine grinned. "Be glad to! After all, I am a Pokemon Professor! Now, the first thing she's gonna send out is a Snubbul - he looks dumb, but watch him, 'cause those teeth are something else..."

Side by side, the two girls walked back to the shimmering city, talking happily beneath the last remains of the fading sunset.