Night and Day

Truth be told, Umbreon wouldn't have minded sleeping inside Goldenrod City.

He got that his trainer wanted to push as far ahead as much as possible, for as long as possible. Catching more pokémon, winning more battles, winning more badges, all that kind of stuff. And that was to say nothing about sleeping outside its poké ball . Yeah, like, sometimes it got pretty boring in there, but at least it was warm. Least it wasn't snuggling by the fire in an attempt to keep cozy. An attempt that was somewhat successful mind you, but still, poké ball. Warmth. Cosiness. Wouldn't have minded. Just saying.

But then, it was a special night, wasn't it? It had been a special day as well. For today, his trainer's pair of eevees had evolved. Twelve hours ago, the first eevee had evolved into an espeon. And two hours ago, he'd stopped being an eevee and evolved into an umbreon. A double whammy, as his trainer had called it. What his other pokémon had called it, Umbreon wasn't sure, but there'd been cheering, whooping, high fiving, even a song about catching 'em all that turned out to be from a car passing by. Another thing Umbreon wouldn't have minded taking, at least if his trainer had the idea that he was walking all the way to Ecruteak City, because if that was the case, he had another thing coming.

Still, he was happy. He was content. Weird as it was to have your body re-arrange itself in a light show (where did the light come from anyway? Eevees certainly weren't bio-luminescent), he was happy being an umbreon. Dark types were cool. He looked cool. If his trainer kept him in rotation, he'd be able to develop some neat skills to do neat things, to win neat battles, and maybe even get his picture on the wall somewhere. The Johto League did that right?

He let out a yawn and gave his ear a rub before snuggling closer to the fire. All was well. All was warm. Might finally be able to get to sleep now and-

Wake up.

Or maybe not.

Wake up.

It was hearing a voice in its head. Like, not one of those crazy voices that whispered about fire and brimstone, more the "I'm psychic, listen to me mere mortal" voices. The type of voices that came from psychic types who thought they were oh so perfect, and oh so powerful, and-

I can read your thoughts you know.

Drat, Umbreon thought to himself.

Just get up and follow me.

Follow you where? Umbreon wondered, even as he did get up and stretched his legs.

Look to your left.

Umbreon did so. In the bushes it could see something. Or someone. Technically both. Everything was a something, but you were only a someone if you-

Oh just come on over!

"Okay," he whispered. He gave a look at his trainer, wondering if he should wake him. If this was a trap, if Team Rocket was up to no good, then this could end badly. Or maybe it would end with them being reunited and learning something about the value of friendship. One or the other.

He trotted off. Friendship. Reportedly eevees only evolved into espeons and umbreons if they had a strong enough bond with their master. Weird how biology worked like that. Weirder still that it was down to the time of day as to what evolution happened. Couldn't imagine what would have happened if that point of friendship occurred at the wrong hour, and an eevee who'd wanted to be an espeon became an umbreon or vice versa. Thing about evolution was that there were no do-overs.

Sweet Arceus you love to over-analyse things.

There was still the voice inside his head. Least it wasn't going on about fire, brimstone, and the end of all things. That alakazam they'd encountered yesterday had been weird. But still, it wasn't thinking much about spoon-wielding Pokémon when it finally cleared the bushes.

"Hello Umbreon."

When he finally saw what had been calling him.

"Espeon?"

Or rather, whom. Because it wasn't just any old espeon. It was his trainer's espeon. The espeon that had come into existence earlier in the day in a similar light show.

"Yes, it's me," she said. Her tail wagged from side to side. "Glad I can talk. Believe it or not, telepathy is pretty hard to do."

"Can't say." He smirked. "I'm an umbreon now baby! No silly psychic tricks for me."

"Ah yes, because you're a dark type, you get to act all cool and edgy."

"What can I say sister? New kid, new type on the block."

"You're not a new type, you're only called that because you were discovered recently."

"Eh, you're just jealous."

Espeon frowned. "I am not jealous."

"Yeah, you totally are." Espeon didn't say anything, so Umbreon kept talking. "So, is there a reason why you brought me away from the fire?"

"Well yes there is actually," Espeon said. "And don't worry, it's not going to be too long. I just want to establish something."

"Oh sure, what?"

"It's this," she whispered, before walking forward and circling Umbreon.

Um…

"I evolved first," Espeon whispered. "You may have big ideas that our trainer loves you more, or that because you're a so called new type you get to be the big boy in town-"

But we're not in town.

But I want you to remember your place, Espeon said, completing her sentence through telepathy. Whatever magic of friendship happened tonight, I came first. So whenever you're sent into battle, whenever you win a badge, whenever you're stuck in a poke ball pondering life, the universe, and everything, I want you to remember this – don't overstep your bounds.

She brought her paw down on Umbreon's, causing him to yelp in pain.

"Are we clear?" she whispered.

Umbreon said nothing. He just stood there, shaking.

"Are we clear?" she repeated.

"No."

"What?"

"No," Umbreon said. "We're not clear. And given that you're a piece of work, we never will be."

"What?"

Umbreon took a step forward. "We'll fight on the same side. We can love our trainer. We might even get a picture together in the Johto Hall of Fame. But I'm not going to step aside just because you've got a serious case of insecurity."

"Least I don't have a case of broken bones."

"What are you-"

The jewel in the centre of Espeon's forehead shone. A moment later, Umbreon was knocked back into the bushes.

"Hmm," Espeon said as she walked over. "Don't think I did that hard enough. Here, let me try again."

"What are you-"

Espeon was raised into the air, before being brought back down to the ground hard. He let out a yelp, before letting out a second one as the process was repeated. Then a third. A fourth. A fifth.

"Just say it," Espeon said. "Just say that you'll keep your place in mind."

"Is this…how you're going to treat…everyone else?"

"What? Other eevees?" Espeon sneered.

"Other…everyone."

"Well that's far too broad. All I want from you are those magic words." Espeon slammed Umbreon down on the ground again. "Go on, say them."

Umbreon grit his teeth.

"Say them," Espeon hissed.

"When our trainer finds out-"

"He'll never know. You can yammer on, and I can yammer on, and he won't know what we're saying. And besides…" Espeon grinned, reminding Umbreon of a feraligatr that had just spotted dinner. "Haven't we both evolved through the magic of friendship? Haven't we-"

A dark wave emanated from Umbreon. Enough to send Espeon hurtling back through the darkness.

"Talk about yammering on," he murmured. He ran up to confront Espeon, who now looked more like a flareon – certainly she was red enough.

"You…you…"

"Guess the first is the worst," Umbreon said.

"You think that just because you're this dark type you can-"

Umbreon did a quick attack, ploughing into Espeon.

"There. Normal attack. Does that make you feel better?"

Espeon sprung up and struck Umbreon with her tail.

"I'll never be eclipsed by you," she whispered. "Not now. Not ever."

Umbreon said nothing.

It was a battle. And in battle, you didn't talk.

You fought.

A/N

I actually tried evolving my eevee via friendship back in Gen 2. Wasn't long before I said "screw that, I'm not wasting my time."

I know, I'm a monster. :P

Update (6/7/19): Corrected spelling of Johto.