Chosen to Rule

Ask more about the evolutions not widely known for eevees, specifically their lore.

Comment on the amount of elements left.

Ask how their frostbite is healing

Attempt to cheer them up.

Or make them feel worse.

“Oh…” Silvan didn’t know much about all of the many moves that Pokemon could learn, only that the move had been incredibly powerful. Their body ached from the whiplash of the wind, but they were happy to be in pain rather than dead.

“You saved my life again.”

“You kinda saved me too,” he shrugged, like it was no big deal, “I’m not Pokeball protected. I asked Haru to capture me, but she said she wanted me to have the chance to find a human like her someday. But frankly, I honestly just don’t want to.”

It had been a shame. Kentarous would’ve been very happy to become Haru’s Pokemon - heck, he knew that many Pokemon would. Being owned by a Pokemon Knight was an honour. 

Silvan felt more tears trickle out. They were always being saved by someone, or helped, yet here they were, embarking on a quest that felt so fruitless. There were only four evolutions to go, and what if they never evolved? 

Then all the help they had gotten, all the kindness they had been shown, all the lessons they had learnt…

… would be for nothing.

Kentarous looked worried as Silvan began to cry again, “hey, what is it? Was it something I said?”

“N-no…” they managed to get out as tears ran down their face again, “I just… I wish… why am I always being saved? Why can’t I just…”

They hiccuped and ground out, “why can’t I just not fucking suck for once?!”

Silence stretched between them as Silvan’s sniffles seemed to echo in the stillness of the room. Kentarous got up and gently bumped his head against Silvan’s wet cheek, startling them.

“You don’t suck. You’re just growing up.”

Silvan blinked at that, both confused and surprised, and Kentarous’s smile was gentle, and for a moment, Silvan remembered that even though Ken was a new adult just like they were, he was still hundreds of years older.

“No one really stops growing, but between when you’re a kid to when you’re like, middle aged? You’re always learning and you’re always growing. Sometimes humans and Pokemon alike mature slower or faster than others.”

“But you? You’ve only just started your life, Silvan. Of course you’re going to suck.”

Silvan spluttered a bit at that, and glared at him, “now who's being rude.”

Ken snickered, “I’m not wrong. But you also have your own strengths, too. You just need to remember that.”

Silvan looked at their still damaged paws, and sighed. It was hard to see themselves as strong when reality had come crashing down on them like a metric ton of bricks.

Kentarous stood up and shook himself, and what looked like sparks of light flew from him. Just like Silvan, it seemed Ken also shed a bit of glitter from his star-kissed fur. 

“Now come on, let’s get out of here and get back upstairs, yeah?” 

Silvan was about to agree with him before their ears stood on end. It was there, in that ancient room, that they finally sensed it.

“Wait.”

“Hm?”

“The Steel Gem… it’s nearby!”

“Huh?” Kentarous blinked and stood up tall, “really?”

“Y-yeah…” Silvan shook themselves as well and jumped off the cot. They looked around the room - there was a large cupboard to the left. They went over it and rubbed their paw of the very thick coating of dust on it. Their foot felt bumps and ridges on it.

“Ken, could you please blow the dust off this, please?” they asked.

Ken walked over and obliged, flapping his wings a couple of times to blow the dust away. This did have the other effect of throwing dust into the air, causing both of them to sneeze. 

“Ugh,” that was stupid. Silvan shook themselves of the dirt as Kentarous snickered. They allowed it - it had been a bad idea.

The cabinet had an intricate puzzle on the front - there was no visible keyhole in it - only the pattern and mechanisms that must’ve been the ‘key’ within it. There were four ridges that looked like holes, and there was an indent right in the middle that was larger than the rest. Maybe a button?

“This is ancient,” Kentarous was in awe as they looked closer at it, “it’s written in the Ancient language, as well.”

“Can you read it?”

“Yeah! It’s super easy~”

“Ugh,” Silvan groaned. Kentarous merely snickered again before he read it out loud.

“Come day and night,

Light and dark,

Beneath fire and ice,

Lies a heart stronger than steel.” 

Silvan blinked at it. They and Ken looked at each other, then back at the puzzle.

“How the heck are we supposed to figure that out?!” Kentarous said in almost outrage, and Silvan had to hide a snicker this time.

“Day and night…” Silvan thought about that. It could mean different things - a literal interpretation was times of day. The other… Silvan looked at Kentarous.

Was a Pokemon that represented night and day, either or, or both. 

“Light and Dark…” Silvan felt over the puzzle as they took in the shapes with their paw. Once again a reference to night and day, but the holes were in the shape of a circle. Maybe this time, it was not the time or the day, but elements? 

The only problem was, while the Dark element existed, there was no such thing as the Light element. And the types that were strong against dark types were Fighting, Bug and Fairy. 

Fighting types were considered strong and proud, and supposedly on the side of ‘good’. The element purely on its own assigned itself to a certain degree of purity, and only turned when mixed with the dark type. 

Bug types all existed in the ‘light’ - the sun. Nocturnal bugs were rare, but that type too also represented light and dark.

And Fairy… they shuddered at that. They knew personally how bright and how devious their own typing was. Thinking about the Fairy Crown incident again made the fur on the back of their neck stand on end again. 

“Beneath Fire and Ice… that one is obvious.” They looked up at the roof. They were quite literally beneath fire from the volcano, and ice from the snow.

And the last line was obvious - the Steel Gem.

As Silvan thought, they looked at the holes in the puzzle for a little bit longer. If there was indeed a Steel Gem in here, then wouldn’t it make sense for the Gems to potentially be the key? Silvan opened their bag. 

“What are you doing?” Kentarous asked as Silvan began to get gems out.

“I think I might know the answer to the puzzle,” they said as they got the gems out. They were very lucky they had each of the four elements.

“The Dark element,” they had to thank Darkrai for letting them keep the Gem. “Where does it say ‘Dark’, please?”

“Oh! Here,” Kentarous pointed to a spot where the text was, and it was right next to a hole. Silvan placed the Dark Gem in it. It was right at the top.

“Light?”

“Here!” Kentarous pointed to the left. 

“Hm…” Silvan thought for a moment. If the Fairy Gem went there, then…

“Where is ‘Fire’ written, please?” 

“Here,” Kentarous pointed to the right, near the next hole. 

Silvan paused to think once more. Fairy types resisted the Bug type and the Fighting type, which meant…

“Maybe… if Fairy Type means ‘light’ against ‘dark’...”

Silvan placed the Fairy Gem on the right, the Bug Gem on the left, and the Fighting Gem on the bottom, opposite the Dark Gem. 

“Now…” they turned to Kentarous, “could you please put your paw in the centre?”

“Me?” he blinked. “Why me?”

“You’re a Pokemon who represents day and night,” Silvan explained, “I think… it might open if you do it.”

Kentarous looked for a moment, but he shrugged and did as he was asked. He figured it couldn’t hurt to do it.

And just like that, when Kentarous pressed on the centre, the lines and words of the puzzle glowed a soft blue light. Both Pokemon jumped back with surprise as the puzzle rotated with a groan and a clunk, as though it had not been opened in a very, very long time. When the door was open, the gems in the door all fell out, which Silvan quickly collected before they both looked inside. Kentarous brightened the gold on his body to see inside too.

It was a metal doll of some kind. Silvan blinked at it - the chest piece of the doll was open, and in it was the Steel Gem. Both Pokemon looked at each other again, and then back at the doll. It looked very similar to a Pokemon Silvan had seen in a book before, but it was very different. Inside the cabinet were meticulous notes and books in delicate, ancient paper that was thick and sturdy, bound together with Tauros leather. 

“Wow…” Kentarous exclaimed as Silvan carefully took the books. They didn’t dare open them for they were worried they would turn to dust, so they very, very carefully put them into the subspace of their bag. It was a good thing that humans had invented subspace technology - inside it, time froze. It was how trainers managed to carry around berries, milk and curry ingredients without them spoiling.

“You’re not gonna read them?” he said as Silvan shook their head no.

“I’ll give them to Haru if I see her again.” 

Silvan turned their attention to the gem. It was firmly stuck in the doll, but there were no life signs coming from it. No… anything. Still, it felt very wrong to take the gem, and yet…

Silvan put their paws on the Gem, expecting something, anything, to happen. Nothing did. They began to yank on it, nothing still. With growing confidence that it was all fine, Silvan tugged more on the gem, even going so far as to put their hind legs on its body before pulling as hard as they could.

With the force, the Gem was finally free, and Silvan yelped as they landed hard on their back. Even worse–

“Oh crap–” the very heavy doll began to fall, but luckily Kentarous prevented it from falling on them and shoved it back into the cupboard. It closed with a loud snap.

Both of them panted with the effort. Kentarous looked at the shiny Gem Silvan held in their paws and smiled, “well look at that! See? Told you you had strengths. I never could’ve solved a riddle that complicated~”

Silvan managed a grin at that, their chest swelling a little with pride. It had been a while since they had felt their usual confidence. They sat up and held the Steel Gem with a small smile. It had been a literal life threatening effort, but they finally had it. 

Their smile slipped, though. Just like all the others… they didn’t feel a connection with this Gem either. Still, they got out their crown, placed the Gem within it, and placed it on their head.

Nothing happened once more.

“... no luck?” Kentarous offered as Silvan slowly took the crown off their head, and they shook their head.

“No.”

Kentarous looked sad as Silvan put the crown and gem in their bag. It had been even more of a crushing let down than the others.

“Silva—”

“Can you fly us out of here, please?”

Kentarous took in their body language. Their ears were low, their bag was on their back, and they were trembling. He could tell that Silvan was trying very hard not to cry, their emotions too raw from before to hide.

“Yeah… of course…” He walked forward and knelt down. Silvan climbed up onto Ken’s back as he walked out of the room and stretched his wings. With a mighty flap, he began to fly up to the entrance of the mine, Silvan holding on tight.

Silvan grimaced - not a discussion for now. Ken seemed to understand, and nodded as they pulled into port at the island. They both waited until everyone else had gotten off before they both finally did.

“Phew, that took a while!” Kentarous stretched his arm over his head and started walking towards the entrance to the highly industrial area, “too bad I couldn’t just fly or something. You ok, Silvan?”

Now that they were alone, Silvan shook their head and rubbed at their chest. The feeling wasn’t going away. Kentarous watched them and said, “your chest hurting?”

Silvan nodded.

“Are you anxious?”

“Anxious?” they finally spoke up, the word foreign in their mouth, “I don’t have anxiety.”

“Don’t have to have anxiety to feel anxious sometimes,” Kentarous shrugged, “it happens!”

Anxiety? Them? Silvan knew that mental health was nothing to joke about, but they didn’t think they’d be feeling anxiety. It was certainly not a sensation they were used to, at least outside of a terrifying incident like nearly dying. Thrice.

Or meeting Darkrai. That qualified.

Still, they knew they had to soldier on even in the face of it, and so Silvan took a deep breath, let it out, and looked ahead at the sight before them. 

There was a complex ore mining rig present over the entrance to the mountain, but it looked as though the mine itself was inactive. The island itself was quiet from human industrial sounds, though there were trainers about. Silvan was grateful even so for their human disguise, though part of them was starting to wonder how on Earth they had managed to just… gain it.

Who had granted their prayer?

They and Kentarous walked forward to the entrance of the mine. There, they were able to separate from the humans and finally had the freedom to turn back to their usual selves. Both of them let out sighs of relief at that.

“Ugh. Walking is so tiring in those bodies…” Ken complained as they stretched. Silvan had to agree.

“So, where do we go from here?” 

Silvan wasn’t sure; “let’s just look around for now.”

They were sure that eventually, they would pick up some kind of sense of where the Gem was located. For now, the best they could do was look around.

The mines were deep, and there was scaffolding everywhere. It made it easier to get around, at least, and also gave Silvan the chance to enjoy a place they never thought they would explore.

While Challengers Cave had some human construction in places, it wasn’t a mine like this was. Nor was it anywhere near as deep. Silvan held some contempt for humans, but they had to admit, their resourcefulness when it came to extracting what they needed from the Earth was quite amazing. They could see where the humans had taken the ore and also where Pokemon had reclaimed it.

Speaking of…

There were many around, and Silvan tried to keep to themselves, however there was one problem.

“Wow, look at what the humans did!” Kentarous exclaimed as they continued walking, “it sure makes walking around here a lot easier, huh?”

Not only was he chatty, he was attracting attention simply by what he was - a Mythical of the very region they were in!

“Kentarous,” Silvan hissed, “can we please keep a low profile?”

“Why?” Ken blinked at them, “no one’s bothering us.”

“Yet,” Silvan emphasized as they continued, passing a large group of Geodude and its evolutions as they continued their own building of their homes and nests. Silvan was quick to bypass the area, knowing that Pokemon were territorial around as such. Kentarous got the hint, at least, and followed.

“Still,” he continued once they were clear, “Pokemon usually don’t get too aggressive if we just walk past!”

“Not in my experience,” Silvan grumbled - the next large open area had Onix and Steelix, which Silvan very quickly took a beeline right around the bend towards the next incline downwards.

“I’ve never had any trouble,” Ken was watching the Onix, and as one turned to growl at him, they stopped still when they saw the Shaymin, who waved, “hello!”

Silvan whipped around as the Onix grumbled something and turned around reluctantly, and they were very quick to grab Kentarous by the paw and drag him off, “Silvan–!”

“You’re a Mythical of this region, Kentarous!” Silvan growled at him, “you’re revered by normal Pokemon! I’m not - I’m just an Eevee to them!”

“But… you told me that Fairy Tale Eevee have special powers over other Pokemon,” Ken detached themselves from Silvan’s hold and trotted beside them, “so why the worry?”

“I…” Silvan sighed, “I discovered that it only works if the Pokemon in question are younger than I, weaker than I, or are receptive to it. It doesn’t work on every Pokemon I encounter.”

“I… was arrogant to think that. And… let's just say I learnt the hard way.”

Kentarous listened on, rather fascinated with the whole story. 

“I’ve never had any trouble, but I guess it never occurred to me that it was because I’m a Mythical Pokemon,” he shrugged, carefree; “I just thought it was ‘cause I’m nice!”

“And loud.” 

“Rude,” Kentarous huffed, “maybe you would get what you wanted more if you were nicer!”

“Oh, trust me,” Silvan growled out, “I’ve learnt that very thoroughly.”

“Hmmm~” Kentartous looked smug at that. Silvan glared at him in return.

The day dragged on as they explored more of the higher up floors. They were still nowhere near the bottom of the deep cavern - Silvan had no idea how many floors there were in this place, but it seemed to go on forever.

Most of the Pokemon here were Onix, Geodude and Golbat, along with their evolutions. Occasionally, they spotted a Riolu and Lucario, along with a Mawile here and there. Silvan was surprised not to see many more steel types here. 

There was a trainer here and there, out there training against each other, or challenging some of the wild Pokemon. Silvan avoided them like the plague, but just when they thought they were in the clear–

“Holy shit, it’s a Shaymin!! And a shiny Eevee!”

Silvan outright snarled, a reaction that got a startled yelp from Kentarous, along with the human’s loud words. Over and over, they had had to deal with humanity and their insistence of throwing balls around, and so, this time, right as a Pokeball went for Kentarous, Silvan readied a Swift.

“UEEVEE VA VEEE!” They shrieked at the humans, firing off a Swift, and throwing the ball back. What they didn’t anticipate, however, was the loud crash against the rocks the attack caused. And they had been right on the edge of the path.

“Get them!” The trainers yelled even so, sending out a Bozong in response. “Use Hypnosis!”

The Pokemon did, and both Kentarous and Silvan flinched at the attack, feeling tired. Silvan tripped, and Kentarous yelled for them as they fell off the side of the path.

“SILVAN!” 

The Eevee woke up pretty quickly as they fell through the air, straight down the shaft. They screamed as they fell - they knew no flying moves. The trainers even ran to the edge as they saw Silvan fall, along with–

“I’M COMING!” Kentarous had jumped off the ledge!

“YOU CAN’T FLY RIGHT NOW!” Silvan bellowed as the ground deep deep below was rapidly coming into focus. They flailed in the air, the fear of death grasping them hard around the throat. The terror was overcoming them, making them almost miss the sound of Kentarous powering up a move, his body glowing.

“MIIII–!!” Air and leaves flew from him as a massive gust of air shot down around them straight at the ground, leaves flying down much faster than their body was. A backdraft from the attack threw wind back up at Silvan’s back, throwing them upwards into the air and straight into Kentarous’s now much larger Sky Forme. 

Silvan had become so wrapped up in their adventure to forget that in winter, the days were far shorter, especially in Sinnoh, and in response…

“Sunset!” Kentarous was grinning from ear to ear as his wings flapped, landing them safely on the ground below. Silvan was staring at him, breathing hard - the panic of nearly dying was making blood pound in their ears and their body was shaking all over. They could barely process the shock of everything that had just happened in rapid succession to process that they were actually safe, flat on the ground, and no longer falling through the air.

Kentarous peered at them, still holding Silvan as he stood on his back paws, the gold parts of his body glowing softly in the darkness. He seemed completely unbothered by what had just happened, as though he knew they would be okay, but Silvan did not.

If he hadn’t been there, this time around, they would most definitely have died. All because they had reacted in temper to those humans. 

Because they were sick of having capture attempts made on them, even if they wouldn’t have worked. No wonder their mother had done what she had done…

All of it was too much. They had nearly died by being frozen solid in ice not so long ago, and the encounter with Darkrai had shaken them to their foundations.

Tears began to leak from their eyes. The feeling of needing to cry while on the boat had only amplified, and now, they disregarded inhibitions and threw their arms around Kentarous’s neck as they began to howl on his shoulder. Kentarous was startled by this initially, but it didn’t take him long to relax and let Silvan cry their heart out. He gently pet their back slowly as they did.

“You’ve been through a lot, huh…” he offered softly into the silence, aside from Silvan’s crying.

Silvan sobs were all that answered him.

Silvan hadn’t expected a companion to suddenly become attached to them, but Silvan had to admit they had a point about looking out for each other. Still, getting used to someone like them was..

Annoying.

“So, where are we going next?” Kentarous grinned. 

The sun was beginning to set, and the last boat to the next location was about to arrive. They were down at the pier for the boats to Newmoon Island and Fullmoon Island, but their next location was the former.

Silvan had heard a lot of really awful rumours about this place. Those who get spirited away into the realm of nightmares, and those who had even died on the island. In a way, Silvan was glad that they had someone to go there with.

“Newmoon Island,” Silvan replied, though their fur was starting to go on end.

“Ooo…” the stars in his eyes seemed to light up at that, “isn’t that the island where Darkrai lives?”

“Darkrai?” Silvan blinked. That was a first.

“Yeah! Us mythics usually try to hide away and make up nasty rumours to scare the crap outta the humans so they leave us alone,” Kentarous shifted easily into a human form as they approached the boat. “You can do this too, right?”

Silvan felt like their brain had been stunned with a thundershock as they also turned into a human, “y-yeah, sure…” 

They both paid for their tickets and boarded the boat. No one else was present, and Kentarous looked around before relaxing and settling next to Silvan with a smile.

“So, Silvan, do you have a nickname?”

“No.”

“You can call me Ken if you like!”

“Yeah… it’d be easier…” Silvan half shrugged, and looked over the water as they moved towards the two small islands.

“You don’t talk much, huh?”

“Not really,” they said quietly.

“I was always surrounded by my family back home,” Ken rocked back and forth a little on the chair, “this is the first time I’ve really been on my own. You don’t have any family?”

“I do,” Silvan replied, “but… I was ready to leave, and I did.”

“I wasn’t ready to leave for a loooooong time!” Ken leaned back on the chair and folded his arms behind his head, “but I decided it was time, too!”

Silvan looked at the man next to them, and wondered… Legendary and Mythical Pokemon aged a lot slower than mortals like themselves. They were only three, but how old was Ken?

“...How old are you?”

“I’m three hundred and twenty four!” Ken grinned, “About 23 in human years, give or take. I’m gonna age a heck of a lot slower now! I won’t be, like, 50 until I’m about nine thousand!”

“N-nine thousand??” Silvan couldn’t help but be surprised at that.

“Nine thousand!” Ken laughed a little, “and then I’ll be an old fart for a few hundred years, then I’ll die at ten thousand or so.”

“...I see…” being alive for anything longer than 50 years was a long time for Silvan, as their kind usually lived a lot longer than a regular eevee, who lived for about 30 years. But ten thousand years was far, far longer than they could really understand or fathom. 

Silvan lapsed into silence as Ken hummed a little and swung their legs out as they continued their path. Having noise around all the time was new, but it wasn’t so bad, they supposed. Kentarous didn’t seem to have much of a mean spirit to him - it was just…

New.

The dying sun cast the water and land into deep shadows. Silvan turned around in their seat to watch as Ken continued to hum beside them. When they took some time to think about it, they had been to a lot of places over the several months since they had left home. So many places…

There were only five gems left, and the stress of that was stopping them from really appreciating everything they were seeing as much as they thought they were. Sure, they stopped to appreciate the wonders of the world before them, but part of them wanted to come back to all of these places someday, and really enjoy them.

Night had fallen by the time they arrived at the island. The boat operator told them both that they would return in the morning, and Kentarous responded in perfect human speech.

That was handy to have around, Silvan thought to themselves as the boat operator left the small island. Once they had, Silvan and Kentarous turned back into their normal forms. 

“Jees, I hate standing on two legs for so long!” Ken stretched their legs and looked up at Silvan, “yeah?”

“I guess…” Silvan looked up at the path that led into a grotto. This island was seriously tiny…

“So… a Darkrai really lives here…?”

“Yep!” Ken grinned, “he probably won’t be too happy that we’re here, so we better just get whatcha want and get out!”

“Um,” Silvan stared at Ken, “the boat has left.”

“So?”

“... How are we going to leave?”

“Flying.” Ken blinked like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “How else didja think we were gonna leave?”

Silvan blinked twice. Flying? How the heck did Kentarous think they were going to do that?! Neither of them had wings!

They couldn’t figure it out, so they just sighed and mumbled, “lets just go.”

“Heck yeah!”

“Keep it down, will you?” they hissed.

“Heck yeeeaaaah…!” Kentarous said much quieter, but with a giggle at the end.

‘Annoying…’ Silvan grumbled in their head as they walked onwards up the path.

An ominous aura was coming from the grotto ahead. It was making the fur on Silvan’s neck stand on end and down their back as well. Even though there were stars out, the moon was not, and it was getting very, very dark the closer they approached. 

Kentarous, on the other hand, was the picture of confidence as they walked on. He didn’t even notice that Silvan was walking slower the closer they came until Ken was far out in front. 

He looked back, looking surprised, “whatcha doing back there?”

“N-nothing,” Silvan looked away. They had always faced their anxieties and their worries on their own thus far. They didn’t want to talk to anyone about it, let alone someone they had only recently met.

Kentarous bounded back to Silvan and peered at them for a moment before an idea seemed to cross his mind. With a smile, the stars stuck into his back started to glow a little bit, shedding a small amount of light.

Silvan looked surprised at that, and Ken grinned brightly, “I probably should tell you another lil’ fact about my subspecies. We’re nocturnal, unlike our daytime cousins! We thrive in the dark.”

“Oh…” It certainly was a polar opposite to the Shaymin they knew of in the legendary and mythical information they knew of. But it was helpful, and they even offered Ken a small smile.

“Thank you.”

Kentarous grinned brightly, and proceeded to bound towards the entrance to the grotto. Silvan followed behind, following the light before they finally entered.

Inside, it was pitch black. The trees hid the skyline except for directly overhead, and all Silvan could see was a small patch of water that reflected it, but it was the only source of light aside from Kentarous’s glowing stars. Still, Silvan was highly on guard, their fur fluffing up more and more as they cautiously stepped forward into the lair.

‘Will the darkness consume you, little Eevee?’

“VEEEEEE—!!” Silvan shrieked at the top of their lungs, startling even Kentarous. 

“Silvan?!”

‘Is the darkness your home?’

Silvan backed into a tree, terrified beyond belief, “G-get out of my head!!”

“Silvan!”

‘You don’t have the strength to handle my typing, little Eevee.’

Silvan was shaking like a leaf, and put their paws over their ears, “get out, get out!”

They couldn’t hear Kentarous shouting to them; they were in a nightmare. Their mind was full of every bad thing that had ever happened in their journey - almost drowning, the constant ridicule, nearly dying, the fairy ring, and it got even worse with the trip to Snowpoint City. Their claws dug into their head, but in the depths of their nightmare…

They saw a light. A glowing, bright gold light.

Silvan finally opened their eyes, and before them was a being they barely recognised as Kentarous.

He was far bigger, brilliant glowing wings that reflected the starlight from his head. His body had wicked gold claws and his brilliant, nebula-like fur was glowing like the auroras. In front of him was the Pokemon Darkrai, who looked thunderous that Silvan had woken up.

“They came here looking for the Dark Gem,” Darkrai’s voice still echoed in their mind as well as spoken out loud, “they need to understand what that element will do to them, Shaymin!”

“What do you mean? Umbreons aren’t bad–”

“Not for this one.”

Silvan blinked at that, and sat up at Darkrai’s words. The mythical Pokemon’s blue eyes shifted to Silvan, and then back to Kentarous.

“They are a Fairy Tale Eevee. To become an Umbreon is signing their life away to my realm. To the land of dreams and nightmares. They need to be warned of what they will be dreaming every night, and every day, for the rest of their lives if they choose the path of the night.”

Silvan looked down at their paws. All of their experiences throughout their journey hadn’t been traumatic, but some sure had been. They had nearly died three times over; their paws still had fur missing from frostbite.

Darkrai seemed to sense it, and spoke directly to Silvan, “Eevee. Trauma memories are the strongest type of memory that any living being holds. It echoes and resonates within a person until their life is spent. If you choose the path of Darkness, your dreams may be pleasant, yes. However, it only takes one brush from those with evil intentions to awaken your trauma.”

“And you will be able to do nothing but endure it, time and time again.”

Silvan finally stood up. They stepped forward, next to where Kentarous was floating in the air, and then a few steps past him. They nodded to Ken, and he floated back down to stand beside them.

“I…” they hated how their voice shook. “I understand…”

Darkrai waited.

“I… don’t want to become an Umbreon,” Silvan offered softly, “but… I need to know. I need to know if it’s my path… and if it is… I simply won’t take it.”

“Are you certain you’ll be satisfied with that, Eevee?”

Silvan thought about it. The yearning that all of their kind felt towards searching for their perfect evolution was a difficult one to obtain. It was hard to imagine a life where they remained as an eevee for the rest of it…

But becoming a Sleeping Beauty Umbreon was no different than dying, to them. To live an existence where you’re awake, but unable to truly wake up ever again…

… was no different than a nightmare.

Silvan knew there was no point lying to Darkrai. They knew the Mythical Pokemon would be able to tell - he was far older than them, and easily far wiser.

They eventually shook their head no.

“No, I won’t be… but… I’d rather be awake and yearning, than asleep and trapped in a nightmare.”

The trees rustled in the wind, and the island was quiet. The clouds that had covered the moon finally parted. It was a new moon tonight, but the faint light it emitted cast enough for Silvan to finally see the mythical Pokemon before them more clearly.

Darkrai’s expression was difficult to make out as most of it was covered by their hair and the red spikes on their shoulders and chest. But his eye… Silvan could tell that his eye held kindness. 

He opened his hand up, and out of it floated a Dark Gem. Silvan looked shocked at it as they took it in their paws, and looked at Darkrai questioningly.

“Well?”

Silvan looked at him, and then the gem. It was a deep, charcoal black, and oddly pretty considering what it was. They stared at it for a while, but eventually…

Silvan held the gem back out to Darkrai, for him to take.

“What?” Darkrai’s eye had widened very slightly, and even Kentarous looked surprised as well.

“This isn’t my element. And even if it was… I’m sure now. I don’t want this. I don’t want to try it, and I don’t want to use it.” 

The silence was palpable, and Silvan remained firm. Their paw shook a little, holding the gem out, but they did not falter. Silvan watched as the Darkrai’s eye crinkled upwards in what looked like a small smile. 

“Keep it.”

Silvan looked surprised, “why?”

“Darkness exists to counter light. To cast shadows in the world. For light cannot burn bright without shadows. The brighter the light, the deeper the darkness. 

“But darkness is not evil. They are two different things. Darkness is simply the opposite of light. And you, Eevee, need to remember that the darkness is always going to be part of you. The opposite of whatever element you do choose.”

Silvan looked down at the dark gem. Even it shined in the faint light, and reflected the gold of Kentarous’s stars. Darkrai was right… even this shadowy gem had light in it.

Silvan put the gem in their bag, and they nodded to the mythical. “Thank you… for the gem… and for teaching me.”

“Do not forget what I have said tonight,” he warned, his eye narrowing, “darkness may not be evil, but it is easy to slip into it if your light burns out.”

“I… I will do my best!” Silvan bowed their head, “thank you.”

Darkrai nodded.

Silvan woke up.

It was morning, and both them and Kentarous were back on the pier. Dawn had only just broken over the water, and Silvan blearily looked out into the lake, the two small islands distant specks on the horizon.

‘What the…’ Silvan slowly got up as Kentarous beside him also got up.

“Huh…” he uttered, and the pair looked at each other, and then back out into the water.

“How did we…”

“Dunno,” Kentarous scratched his head, “I heard weird stories about Darkrai, and you just… you know. Wake up back where you started. I didn’t think it was real though. Did we even really go anywhere?”

Silvan blinked at that. What if it had all been a dream? They quickly grabbed their bag, and sure enough… the Dark Gem was inside it. 

Carefully, they picked it up, and Ken came over to peer at it. In the light of dawn, the gem, black as night, still reflected the light of the sun, the water, and even them. It was beautiful, in its own way. 

The pair looked back out onto the water as the world slowly woke up, and the pair quickly shifted into human form as they needed to take another boat to their next location, but as they boarded, Silvan’s mind was racing as they recalled the events of the previous night.

They sat in their seat and stared at the little black gem in their hand. Kentarous asked if they were alright, but they could only nod.