I blinked open my eyes, squinting in the bright light. The blurry faces of 
people stared down at me from above. Soft murmurs of confusion could be heard 
from all directions. 
    “I’m telling you, this Umbreon was a girl! A teenage girl! Except she looked 
different... looked like mutant... she had black skin and long ears and-”
    “John, calm down. You were overexcited at the site of the Umbreon riding the 
Rapidash. You were seeing things.”
    “No I wasn’t! I know what I saw!”
    “John. No more. Keep quiet. I think the Umbreon is waking up.”
    At hearing this, everyone was quiet. Hundreds of eyes were now staring at 
me. John, the man I saw before turning into an Umbreon, stepped back. His eyes 
widened with fear. I stood up, my legs shaking. I was in what closely resembled 
a jail. Big sturdy metal bars stood in the middle of all the people and I. 
    “Hey Umbreon,” The man who was talking to John whispered, grinning. “You’re 
famous.” He pulled out a newspaper from behind his back and pointed at the main 
heading. The heading showed ‘UMBREON RIDES RAPIDASH’. A big black-and-white 
blurred picture showed me starting to fall off the Rapidash, a look of intense 
fear on my pitch-black face. Just like the man had said, I’m famous.
    Exactly what I didn’t want to happen to me.
    Now I was trapped. Now everybody knows about me. My only hope was to have 
Midnight rescue me... again. A voice interrupted my thoughts.
    “Hey, look at that jewel on the Umbreon’s necklace! I bet it’s worth a lot 
of money.” 
Another man said, reaching out through the bars to grab my jewel. I jumped back 
and growled. I wasn’t about to let anyone touch my jewel. Not after what had 
already happened to me. The man fell backwards, surprised. I was about to try to 
bite him, but the sound of an opening door stopped me. 
    A teenage boy at the age of sixteen walked in. He weaved his fingers through 
his pitch-black hair. It was Midnight! He was completely human at that moment. 
His eyes showed no expression, and he seemed to be staring off into space. 
    “Have any of you seen an Umbreon around here with a necklace that has a 
white jewel on the end of it?” Midnight asked. The man with the newspaper nodded 
and stepped out of the way so that Midnight could see me. His eyes wandered from 
face to face until they reached me. I shot him a look that said ‘Please help 
me!’. 
    “Yes, all of us have. This Umbreon here was found riding a Rapidash. He’s 
now famous.” The man with the newspaper answered. “Or is it a she?” He added.
    “It’s a female Umbreon.” Midnight said. “And she’s my Umbreon too.”
    “Well, your ‘Umbreon’ was a teenage girl when I first saw her! She had black 
skin and long ears and even a tail!” John cried out. Everyone laughed. Midnight 
raised his eyebrow, pretending to look amused.
    “I can assure you that my Umbreon can’t turn into a girl, mutant or not.” 
Midnight said calmly. John sighed in frustration. 
    “Well, you can have your Umbreon back.” The man with the newspaper said, 
pushing a button on the wall. The metal bars lifted up into the ceiling. 
    “Hey, wait!” A woman cried out. “Who says that this Umbreon really belongs 
to that boy? What if he claims this Umbreon is his just so that he can become 
famous?!” Everyone stared at Midnight. I sensed a small hint of fear from him. 
    “Well boy, do you have any other pokemon?” A policeman asked, walking in 
into the scene. Midnight shook his head no.
    “This Umbreon is my only one. I’ve had her since she was an Eevee.” Midnight 
answered.
    “Okay then. Show me your Trainer ID Card.” The policeman said. Midnight 
looked around nervously at everyone. “We’re waiting...” The policeman said, his 
eyes darkening.
    “Run!!” Midnight shouted to me. He sprinted towards the door, me running at 
his side. We pushed open the doors. Sunlight streamed down onto our faces. It 
was now daytime. The voices of the policeman and others echoed from behind.
    “Catch them!!” The policeman shouted. 
    We ran through the village, never stopping, never looking back. It made me 
think back to the day when we were running away from my father’s lab. The day I 
felt like I was in a never ending dream. Angry crowds of people popped up in 
random directions. We were forced to run down an empty dark alley. Our footsteps 
echoed off of the walls of abandoned buildings that were surrounding us. At the 
end of the alley we found yet another angry crowd of people. We were trapped.
    “Step back! I’m not afraid to make this Umbreon attack all of you!” Midnight 
warned.
    “That Umbreon doesn’t even belong to you! How do you expect it to obey 
you?!” A man shouted from the front of the crowd. There were shouts of 
agreement.
    “Just watch!” Midnight said. “Umbreon, lay down.” 
    Midnight ordering me around like a dog annoyed me, but I obeyed his command. 
I laid down on the hard cold concrete. 
    “Good. Now stand back up, Umbreon.” Midnight ordered. I obeyed him once 
again. Everyone stared at Midnight and I in fear. They stepped back, talking to 
each other in horrified whispers. Midnight looked pleased with himself. We 
started running forward. That’s when a young boy, about the age of eleven, 
stepped out in front of us. In his hand he held a poke ball.
    “The only way you’re getting past me is by winning against me in a battle.” 
The boy said, a determined look on his face. Midnight sighed.
    “Fine then. I’ll battle you with this Umbreon.” Midnight said. I looked back 
at him, a worried expression on my face. How did he expect me to win the battle? 
I still didn’t know how to use any attacks! I didn’t have any choice though, for 
that’s when the boy tossed the poke ball carelessly into the air, revealing a 
blinding flash of red light. A Charizard emerged in the light, roaring at the 
sky, sending dirt flying everywhere as it flapped its giant wings. I stared at 
it in horror. I looked at Midnight again. He appeared to be looking around the 
area. Of course... I don’t have to battle the boy’s Charizard. I just have to 
get past it and escape from this village. 
    “Well then, since your not attacking, I guess I’ll go first.” The boy said. 
“Charizard, flamethrower!”
    The Charizard opened its mouth, and a beam of fire came out, heading 
straight towards me like a hawk attacking its prey. I leaped out of the way just 
in time, the fire just barely touching my back. I panted. That was a close one.
    “Well, aren’t you going to attack me?” The boy asked. Midnight sighed.
    “No. I’m skipping my turn.” Midnight answered. He looked at me as if to say 
‘Any moment now.’. 
    “Okay then. Charizard, seismic toss!” The boy shouted. The Charizard 
carefully lifted up into the air, flapping its wings. It roared into the sky 
once again, and then flew at me. I shut my eyes tight. I couldn’t watch. My 
heart thumped fast. Any moment now I’d be in intense pain. Any moment.
    But instead of tackling me, the Charizard picked me up and soared through 
the air, flying higher and higher. Wind swooped down and pushed at my face and 
ran through my fur. As I looked down at Midnight, whom was growing smaller every 
second, the Charizard clutched me tighter. It was getting hard to breathe. Soon 
the Charizard started flying in a circle, going faster and faster. Everything 
around me was a blur of spinning colors. I didn’t know which way was up and 
which way was down anymore. 
    Then the Charizard dived. We came closer to hitting the ground every second. 
This was yet another moment that I felt like I was going to die. Just ten feet 
away from the ground, the Charizard let go of me and flew away, keeping its eyes 
on me. I was about to shut my eyes when Midnight ran underneath me, holding his 
arms out. He was going to try to catch me! With an “Umph!” I hit Midnight, 
tackling him to the ground. He had cushioned my fall. I quickly jumped off of 
him. He groaned in pain as he tried to stand up, clutching himself. He was 
covered in bruises. The boy just stared at him.
    “Well, when you enter the battle and prevent your pokemon from getting hurt, 
the battle’s automatically over and you lose.” The boy said, placing his hands 
on his hips in triumph. “Charizard, return.” The poke ball he held opened up, 
and his Charizard returned to it. I looked over to the area where the Charizard 
once stood. Now we could escape! 
    “Well then, good for you. I think I’ll be leaving now.” Midnight said, 
grinning weakly.
    “What?!” The boy cried. But it was too late. Midnight had already managed to 
stand up and was running towards the open field. I followed after him. We kept 
running, never looking back. Midnight was breathing more heavily than usual, and 
was still clutching himself in pain. The clouds above us darkened as we finally 
reached the field. We both collapsed to the ground. Tiny droplets of water fell 
onto my face. We both morphed into our poke’ morph forms
    “Thanks... again.” I said, staring up at Midnight. He avoided my eyes.
    “You’re not welcome.” He replied.
    “What?!” I said, staring at him in disbelief. 
    “You heard me. You’re not welcome. The only reason I’ve been saving you is 
so that I can turn back into an Umbreon.” He said, staring at the ground in 
anger. “You think you can just go heading off and cause trouble and that 
everything will be fine because I’m there to rescue you all the time!”
    “That’s not what I think!” I said. It started pouring.
    “Well, you sure act like it!” Midnight said. “After a little while I thought 
you were special. Thought you weren’t like most humans, and that you’d 
understand the darkness. Ends up that I was wrong. You’re just another annoying 
and loud human.”
    “Loud?!” I shouted. I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand. “Did I just 
shout?” I asked in a small whisper. Midnight just stared at me, trembling in 
furry. 
    “I’ll meet you at that lab up north. Good bye.” Midnight said coolly, 
walking away. I just stood there, staring after him.
    “Fine then! Be that way!” I shouted at him. I started walking north, but 
took a different way than Midnight took. I kept walking, flustered. Rain dripped 
down my cheeks, which were now red with furry.  
    But was it rain... or something else? 
    I wasn’t walking for long when I saw a bright flash of white light from 
where Midnight was. I heard Midnight scream.
    “Midnight!!” I cried. I ran to the place where I saw the white light, rain 
prickling my face. I came to a sudden halt at the site of Midnight. He was 
sprawled out on the ground, his eyes closed.
    He wasn’t breathing.