Desolate [Pokémon Arven x Protagonist]

Finding Umbreon

Koraidon grew quiet and shrunk down, understanding the routine. I took out my fifth Pokéball and readied my stance on throwing it. I crept up to the resting Pokémon. It was in a very grounded stance so even if it did hear me, it would take a few moments for it to get up and flee. Fortunately, I was able to get really close to it without it noticing and tossed my empty ball to catch it. It went into the ball easily, and it didn't shake once. Koraidon ran over to inspect the new teammate and dipped his head in an odd sadness.

I pet his nose. "What's wrong? Are you weak to dark-types?" Koraidon didn't answer. "It's okay. Lycanroc got over his anxiety seeing how nice Numel is." Koraidon frowned, and I stroked the side of his head. "Let's head back, buddy. Umbreon will have to introduce himself to everyone."

Thankfully, the way back down the rocky cliff was a lot smoother than climbing up. "Wouldn't it be cool if you were a ghost-type," I told him as we traveled. "Psychic-types are also quite rare." I gasped. "You're the only one in Paldea that we know of. You're rare enough. What if you were both?"

We arrived at the gates of Mesagoza as the sun began to lower itself towards the horizon. Koraidon allowed me to stay on as he brought us up the gruelingly long flight of stairs to the academy then returned to his ball, knowing to wait until I was inside my dorm to force himself out. Though he wasn't prohibited from walking around the school, his large size made it difficult for him to do so among the other students, so he chose to let me take my turn in carrying him. I took the elevator upstairs and walked the long hallway, wondering how my new umbreon would act around my other teammates. I was fortunate enough to have a kind group of Pokémon who were very accepting and compatible with each other. Even Numel who joined us the other day felt at home.

I opened my door with a scan of my ID and let out all five of my Pokémon out to scatter about and have the evening's last meal before bed. Umbreon had continued to lay on the ground, unmoving. Lycanroc went over to sniff him and the umbreon didn't even flinch. I walked around him gingerly to look him in the face. His red eyes were distant and empty, staring blankly at nothing. "Are you feeling okay?" I tried to ask, but I got no answer. I took out my phone. "Maybe Penny would know what's wrong with it."

I went into my contacts and found Penny again. Believing she may be asleep already, I texted her:

I caught the umbreon, but it's not acting very happy. Do you think it's sick?

Almost immediately, I saw Penny's icon appear with a speech bubble next to it, telling me she was currently typing.

I'll take a look at it

She replied. I assumed she was asking for a picture. I pulled up my camera app and knelt down in front of the umbreon. "I'm just taking a few pictures to show my new friend so she could figure out how to help you," I told it. He still didn't react. I took several snaps in all different angles and opened up the gallery to scan through the captures in order to figure out which photos to send. After deleting the blurrier photos, someone knocked on my door. I wondered who was still outside at this hour and went to open it.

Penny was standing quietly in the center of the frame and waved shyly. I was rightfully baffled on how she was able to find my room. I had never sent her my location. "How did you find my room?" I asked her.

Penny tensed up and nervously adjusted her already straight glasses. "I—uh—guessed." I squinted disbelief at her, but I didn't question it, and I allowed her inside. Penny walked straight to the curled up umbreon and began studying its body language until she sat down beside it and began to pet its oblong ears. "She's not sick."

I sat beside her. "This one's a girl, too, huh?"

Penny nodded. "She's just sad. Her previous trainer abandoned her."

"That explains why there was an umbreon in the wild," I realized.

Penny shrugged. "It's still possible if they have a strong friendship with another Pokémon, but it's rare an eevee knows not a single fairy-type move."

"So if any eevee end up evolving in the wild, you're saying a lot of them would be sylveon?"

Penny nodded. "A really cool thing I know: if you see any wild jolteon, flareon, vaporeon, leafeon, or glaceon, they'll often be hanging out in groups. That means there's an evolution stone nearby."

I laughed and Penny flinched. I took note of it, but I didn't point it out. "I could imagine an eevee taking its friends out to show them a cool stone it found and having them all evolve."

Penny relaxed again. "It's actually a lot like that."

"You really do know a lot about eevee and its evolutions."

"My team is made up of them," she timidly confessed. "They've all meant a lot to me growing up."

I sighed and began to pet the umbreon as well. "It would be fun to go on an adventure looking for a silly stone with a group of friends." I remembered my own quest. Maybe Penny would be able to help. Her reserved behavior would in no way tick off Arven. The only issue is that I didn't know how she'd help. I had a hunch the last titan wouldn't be a massive sylveon. I did consider the idea for the future if need be.

"It feels like that with Team Star in a way," she said. "We don't have a 'stone' to chase after per say, but I guess our big goal we're all journeying after is no longer being bullied." Umbreon actually tilted her head to bring her attention to our conversation. "The weird part is that we've already achieved that."

I was confused. "What do you mean?"

"The bullies left the school a while ago," she explained. "But I've brought the team leaders' egos so high that they don't want to disband the group."

"What's wrong with the group staying together?" I asked.

"Director Clavell was considering expelling every one of them from the Academy."

I frowned. "So he's not going to expel them if they split up?"

"Basically."

I shifted. "I can't believe the head of the school would do all that to avoid fixing the original problem."

Penny shrugged. "I'm working on it. I hack—I found this weird new student I thought would be my physical embodiment in shutting the group down. After I... contacted him, he was overly confident in wanting to help me out with it all."

I smiled. "Good luck. Don't you have to sleep earlier on the weekends?"

Penny stood up. "Am I keeping you up? I'm sorry."

I followed her up. "No, I was just wondering why you were up so late. It takes me a while to fall asleep."

"I'm up pretty late. I don't have any classes for tomorrow anyway." Penny tinkered with her fingers. "I'll get going through. Good luck with the umbreon." Without a proper goodbye, Penny saw herself out of my room and let the door close on its own.

I turned to the umbreon and gave her a pat. "I understand not feeling wanted."

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"But I promise you, it won't happen again." She at least looked at me for a moment before blinking away. I laid down on my bed and shut my eyes, hoping I could get to sleep without a struggle as I usually did. Tomorrow would be a training day. Hopefully the umbreon would perk up after she saw the rest of the team in action.