The Canalave City Gym was surprisingly quiet. It was a simple building, without any of the plants or decor that I’d seen in the other two Gyms before now. The lobby was bland and uninspired, and without the certificates of authentication from the Pokémon League, I probably would have seen it as any generic office building.

  “Would you like to schedule a Gym Challenge?” A bored looking man at the front desk asked.

  “Er, yes, I would.”

  “Great. When works for you?”

  “I, ah,” the question caught me off guard. Normally these things went the other way around.

  “I guess it depends on when Leader Byron is available?”

  The man rolled his eyes, and clicked a few times on his computer. He sighed.

  “How about this Monday?”

  “That soon?”

  “Yes.”

  I waited a little bit more for more information, but none came.

  “Yeah, sure, that works.”

  “Great.” The receptionist strung the word out. “What time?”

  “I don’t know, noon?”

  “No noon doesn’t work.”

  I stared at him, but the man just sighed again.

  “How about one?”

  A few more clicks on the computer.

  “Yeah, sure, that works. Got a Trainer ID?”

  Still a little unsure of what exactly was going on, I passed over my ID.

  “Wow, you look like shit in this.” He said looking at it.

  “I know.” I bit out. “It was a rough time.”

  “Geez, no need to get so testy.”

  The next several minutes were filled with the half-hearted clacks of computer keys.

  “Alright.” The man sighed, and handed back the card. “You’re all set for this Monday at 1:00 PM.”

  With that, he went back to ignoring me, focusing on his computer.

  Flabbergasted at the entire interaction, I wandered back to Ted and Lucas, who were both laughing.

  “Interesting guy, huh?” Lucas asked.

  “Yeah, that’s one way to put it.”

  “Now you know why we wanted to do it separately.” Ted said with a smile.

  “Is this normal?”

  “No, not really. Jake there is infamous among the Sinnoh Trainer community though.” Lucas said. “He’s been working here for years, and treats everybody like garbage.”

  “So why hasn’t he been fired?”

  Lucas shrugged. “I guess he does his job well enough? Or Byron can’t find somebody to replace him? Who knows.”

  “I’ve heard some people say that it’s a test.” Ted added. “Like a pre-challenge to make sure people don’t flip out when they don’t get their way.”

  That sounded ridiculous, but also completely possible.

  “When’s your match?”

  “Next Monday at one.” I said, still distracted over the entire encounter. “You?”

  “Same, except mine’s at three” Ted said.

  “This Friday at noon.”

  We both turned to look at Lucas, that was in just two days.

  “What?” He asked defensively. “My Pokémon are ready to go.”

  Lucas had a point. Out of the three of us, his Pokémon were most suited to going up against a Steel-type Trainer.

  “Well, good for you.” I said. “But I’m going to have to do some more training over the weekend.”

  “Agreed.” Ted said.

  Lucas shrugged, a bit too proudly I thought, but didn’t say much else on the topic.

  “In the meantime,” I continued. “I was thinking about checking out the port.”

  That got a confused look from my two companions.

  “The port?” Ted asked suspiciously. “Like, where all the boats are?”

  “I think they’re mostly ships, but yeah.”

  It wasn’t an entirely unreasonable idea, at least to me. After all, Darkrai regularly visited Canalave City, and one of the sailor’s kids had been the one to get influenced by it in the games.

  I didn’t know if it was the right time for Darkrai to appear, but it was worth a chance in my opinion.

  Did I want a Dark-type Pokémon that lived in dreams and was viewed as a monster by many? No, not particularly, but if the opportunity came along…

  Unfortunately for me, the opportunity did not come along.

  After an hour or so of looking around the port and asking some rather pointed questions, I’d come to the conclusion that nobody had been having any weird dreams or suffering from any nightmares beyond the usual.

  I’d gotten more than one strange look, and a couple people had brushed me off completely, but while the overall mission had been a failure, I wasn’t too disappointed.

  After all, what did a living shadow that spent most of its time in dreams even eat?

  /^\

  The evolution was both unexpected, and anti-climactic.

  We had a fairly relaxing day of exploring the city followed by some training, mostly figuring out how to get Venus to use Bite more consistently, and then some dinner.

  The hotel rooms had come with a small kitchenette, which was just big enough for me to cook dinner for my team, then meet up with Ted and Lucas so all our Pokémon could eat together.

  Venus had her normal meal of fish and veggies, Zetian had lounged on a couch and enjoyed some fruit while her bees buzzed around her, and Kōjin was eating a half-raw steak and rocks.

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  Actual rocks and pebbles, apparently they were important for a Rock-type’s diet according to the nurses at the Pokémon Center.

  He seemed to like them, treating them as little more than candy, so I figured it was all good.

  Ted’s team was a little bit more diverse. Mayfly was a messy eater - as it turns out, having swords for hands meant that it was hard to properly hold food, and her fruit got everywhere. Ted had resorted to buying a tarp to keep the floors of the room clean. Switchback ate some poison berries along with some meat that I was pretty sure was a few days past its expiration date, but he didn’t seem to mind.

  Silver, the Cleffa, didn’t actually eat all that much, instead at night he simply sat in the moonlight and absorbed some nutrients that way.

  Which… didn’t actually make any sense when I had tried asking about it. Moonlight was just regular sunlight that was reflected off the moon, so why did it matter that Cleffa had to do so at night? Couldn’t he just get more nutrients during the daytime with regular sunlight?

  For that matter, did that mean that the Cleffa line were essentially plants, using photosynthesis to provide their nutrition?

  I had asked Ted all of this, and he just shrugged and mentioned a couple of science journals that had investigated the topic.

  Lucas’ team was more regular. Sunny, the Monferno, and Maggy, the Magby, both ate some seared fruit and vegetables, along with some regular PokéChow. Hardy the Cranidos was eating much the same food as Kōjin was, except that his meat was completely raw. Finally Kyūdō, the Dartrix, ate a strange collection of nuts, berries, and a packet of dried insects that Lucas had picked up from… somewhere.

  After an enjoyable evening laughing and chatting with my friends and companions, some light guitar music to help relax, we all went to bed.

  Kōjin was splayed out on the ground next to the baseboard heater of the hotel room, Zetian was sleeping in her Poké Ball, and Venus was in her usual spot, curled up between my arms.

  Our nightly ritual was almost complete, so I turned off the lamp, leaned over and kissed the top of her head. Except this time, instead of drifting off to sleep with a bed-hog, a wave of light washed over me.

  I cried out, throwing my arms over my eyes, but it wasn’t enough to stop the light from searing my retinas.

  It didn’t last very long, and a couple of seconds later instead of a relatively tiny Eevee sitting in my arms, there was a much larger and heavier form in my bed.

  One that was also glowing slightly, although it was hard to tell with the spots in my eyes left over from the wave of light.

  Reaching the lamp on the bedside table took a bit of fumbling, but after a moment I was able to turn it back on and see what was happening.

  Laying down next to me was a very confused Umbreon.

  Venus was now about three times the size she had been, and her long, almost shaggy fur and mane had shortened, turning a deep black. Soft, yellow circles were glowing on her legs, body, and tail, and her ears flickered back and forth as she tried to figure out what was going on.

  I had always seen Umbreon as one of the more dog-like Eeveelutions, but looking at an actual Umbreon my perception changed. Venus was now much more fox-like, except for her ears which reminded me a bit of a rabbit.

  Wait, aren’t foxes technically dogs?

  They were related in some way, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

  Regardless, she looked like a pitch-black fox with rabbit ears.

  Venus opened her mouth and tried to do… something, but instead of whatever noise she had meant to make, instead a surprisingly high-pitched squeak came out.

  My not-so-little-anymore partner reared up in confusion at the noise of her own voice, and then toppled over backwards, unused to the new weight distribution of her body.

  I stared at Venus, currently scrambling around in the sheets and only getting more caught up in them, and then laughed.

  There was no stopping it, it started in the base of my stomach and rolled upwards before bursting out of me.

  Venus’ new, much larger ears twitched, and she stopped flailing around to look at me with big red eyes.

  I swept her up in my arms, letting out a soft oof as I learned that she was much heavier than she used to be.

  That didn’t stop me from cradling her and kissing the top of her head again, but it did mean that I had to put her down sooner rather than later.

  I carefully put her back down on the bed and yawned, rubbing my eyes as I looked at the clock.

  10:32 PM.

  “Alright.” I muttered as Kōjin continued to snore by the baseboard.

  He had slept through the entire experience.

  “Time to go to the Pokémon Center.”

  It was better to get Pokémon who evolved checked out right away, and the Pokémon Center was a 24/7 institution.

  Venus nodded, and hopped down off the bed, walking towards the door of the hotel room.

  Then, with her new, much longer legs, she stepped on her own tail and tripped, sprawling on the ground.

  She stared up at me piteously, but I shook my head.

  “No, I’m not carrying you the entire way there.”

  Venus huffed and got to her feet, much more carefully this time and continued to strut towards the door.

  I did notice that she kept glancing down to see where she was walking, however.

  /^\

  “Hah!” Lucas crowed. “I called it! Pay up!”

  Ted grumbled, but pulled out his wallet and passed Lucas a couple of coins.

  “I’m sorry? Were you betting on Venus evolving?” I asked over the breakfast table.

  We had decided to skip the hotel’s lackluster continental breakfast in exchange for a meal at one of the local Yoshida Coffee branches, and I had revealed Venus’ new evolution to them.

  “Not exactly.” Ted said sullenly.

  “Yes we were! Two different bets, actually. One was when Venus would evolve, and the other was into which form.”

  “I had bet that she wouldn’t evolve for another month, and that she would have evolved into a Sylveon.”

  “And I, on the other hand, had the wisdom and foresight to know that Venus would evolve sooner rather than that, and that she would be either an Espeon or an Umbreon.”

  I frowned. “I’m not sure how I feel about you guys exchanging money on this.”

  Ted and Lucas shared a look, before Lucas smiled and opened his hand.

  Two coins sat in his palm, and they were both a dollar - equivalent to maybe a penny in my old life.

  My frown vanished and instead I rolled my eyes.

  “Idiots.” I said with a smile.

  “That’s us!”

  “In all honesty though, how did this happen?” Ted asked, leaning forwards to look at Venus more closely.

  Venus, the good sport, flicked her now much-longer ear at me and continued to eat her larger breakfast portion in relative silence.

  “Honestly? I’m not exactly sure myself. She evolved last night when we were getting ready to go to bed, nothing out of the ordinary happened, just our usual nightly routine until my retinas got cooked. I was hoping one of you had more information.”

  I looked at Ted, who looked at Lucas, who shrugged.

  “I’d have to ask Rowan.” He said. “Honestly Umbreon, Espeon, and Sylveon are much more esoteric evolutions than Eevee’s other options. You can get away with using Moon Shards and Sun Shards for the first two options, respectively, but in terms of the actual processes which govern the evolution…”

  He shrugged again, holding his hands out helplessly.

  “It’s different for each Pokémon. Some researchers say it’s due to feeling safe and comfortable with their Trainer or their environment, others say it’s a feeling of self-satisfaction and fulfillment, but it’s very complicated. We still don’t understand it, and not just for Eevees, but for all Pokémon that evolve this way.”

  “I’ve heard it referred to as ‘Friendship’.” I said.

  Ted and Lucas both started as they realized I was talking about my otherworldly knowledge.

  “That’s… not inaccurate I suppose.” Ted said slowly.

  “No, it’s not.” Lucas frowned and looked down at his plate. “I don’t think it covers the full spectrum of what we’re talking about, but it does fit nicely into a few categories.”

  “If I remember correctly, Cleffa is another Pokémon that evolves that way.” I offered.

  Lucas shook his head.

  “The entire Cleffa line is even more mysterious than most.” He said. “At least Eevee are bred in captivity, allowing for easier access for researchers to study them. Cleffa and Clefairy, on the other hand, are reclusive at the best of times.”

  “Tell me about it, once we got back to Oreburgh I had to ask Professor Birch and Rowan for any materials they had relating to the evolutionary line.” Ted groused. “And Birch barely had anything. They’re not found in the wild in Hoenn, after all. Some say there’s been sightings of them on the coast near Rustboro City, but nothing’s been confirmed. The few Trainers who have evolved a Cleffa and wrote down their experiences mostly just say that they evolved when they feel safe and comfortable in their environment.”

  “And do you think Silver is feeling that way?” I asked, looking over at the small huddle of our Pokémon who were taking their breakfast.

  Silver, the Cleffa in question, seemed to be getting more comfortable with his new teammates, but he was still actively hiding the last of his breakfast Berries from the greedy eyes of Switchback and Kyūdō. Whenever they would get too close, he would swat at them with his stubby arms.

  “No idea.” Ted said. “I mean, I would like to think so, but it’s hard to tell sometimes.”

  I nodded and was about to say something about the little I knew of the line, but my phone beeped and I sighed.

  “What’s that about?” Lucas asked.

  It took only a second to check the text message, but it caused a strange vortex of dread and excitement in my stomach.

  “Roark just got back to me with a time and location for a meeting.” I said.

  “Oh? With who? And when?”

  I gulped. “Somebody who should be able to help me with the Legend Plate, in thirty minutes.”

  Standing up, I withdrew all of my Pokémon besides Venus, who needed the exercise to get used to her new form.

  “If you’ll excuse me, I need to get to the library.”