FSE

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I slid to a stop right behind my wisp, hiding in the shadows it cast from nearby garbage. I panted from the run but focused instead on the building across the street from me. The pawn shop, the unassuming store where the Raticate worked at. Where he had sent out the order to burn down the house, safe behind his desk while that little girl was strangling on smoke.

That was about to change.

I looked over the building in an analytical way I never had before. I considered the walls and the roof, the windows, the doors. The doors would be the easiest way to get out. I would have to block those off first. But the windows would also let him escape, so I would need to make sure they were unreachable too. The walls had some bricks near the bottom but were mostly wood and plaster. It would need to be a little hotter than most, but a fire could still consume them easily enough. There would be a risk that they would break and crumble as fire consumed them, creating new ways to escape, but if I planned it right that wouldn't happen until smoke had overwhelmed anyone inside.

Until anyone inside was like that child I had just helped drag out of another fire.

I shook my head to clear away the sight of the unmoving girl and worked to catch my breath enough to stop panting. The run had been faster than I realized, and I would have trouble setting the fires fast enough if I were huffing and puffing.

Finally my chest stopped heaving with effort and I turned a glare at the building, inhaling deeply and focusing the fire in my belly to grow hotter and hotter, preparing to exhale and unleash it and my fury on the Raticate's building...

"Vulpix! Stop, don't do it!"

I turned to glare back at the Umbreon, watching the shadows stretch towards him as my wisp flared and drew closer to me. He was panting, but his expression was one of pain, and he was keeping his weight off his bad leg. I felt a bit of regret - he must have run as fast as he could have, faster than he should have, in order to catch up to me. But I could also see soot covering him - it was hard to make out against his black fur, but it was obvious over the yellow rings. Soot from the fire that Raticate had kidnapped a family to have set, that almost killed that girl. "I have to! I can't let him get away with this - you saw what he did! He'll just keep doing it, more homes destroyed, more people hurt! _He_sent the Poochenya after me, and he'll send others... he won't stop until I'm out of his way for good, and he can go back to ruining more lives. With or without me, preferably without me - I'm just a miserable, deceitful, traitorous fox, and with nothing to show for it all but hurt for the ones I tried to help." All the hurt and frustration and anger boiled over, and I spat back the insults that had been hurled at me the past few days. "It's time I embrace it, and finally send fire at somebody that deserves it!"

The Umbreon slowly sat up on the sidewalk, being careful as he moved one of his legs. He looked at me with blood-red eyes that held something more terrifying than anything I had ever seen in the face of a dark type: Hurt.

"Who says?"

I was still too shocked at the pain staring back at me to really understand the Umbreon's words. I blinked, then shook my head in confusion. "What?... Who says what?"

"Those things about you." The Umbreon's words were soft and calm as he repeated my words back at me. "Miserable. Deceitful. Traitorous." He paused again, then glanced down at his left leg. The one he always favored when I saw him walking. "Hurting the Pokemon you wanted to help." His head rose slowly upwards again and he stared back at me with those sad eyes once more. "Who says?"

"The... them." I tilted my head back towards the building across the street. "The Raticate... Poochenya... Growlithe... everybody." I felt myself shaking... but I couldn't tell what it was from anymore. It didn't feel like the smoldering rage that had carried me from the burning house. That fire drowned in what I saw held in the Umbreon's eyes.

"I don't."

The shaking grew worse, and I was suddenly certain it wasn't from rage anymore.

"I say you're a confused Pokemon that just wants to survive. That doesn't want anybody to get hurt. That you've found people have been hurt by you... and that you're hurt because of it. Because you aren't miserable, or deceitful, or traitorous. Because you're really caring, and honest, and loyal... but you haven't had the chance to be allowed to be." The Umbreon closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and glanced back across the street. Towards the building. "But... it doesn't matter what I say you are, either. It's not up to me to decide that - all I can decide is who I am. It's up to you, Vulpix. What do you want to be here? The type of Pokemon that would burn down a building to hurt somebody you're mad at? No matter who else might be hurt? Or the type to be angry, even enraged, when somebody innocent is hurt... but to hold back from causing that hurt yourself?"

I whirled away from the Umbreon and glared back at the building. He was right. I hadn't thought about that. If I burned down the building, it wouldn't stop there. The bar next door would almost certainly go up in flames with it. And even if somehow the fire didn't spread... anybody in the building with the Raticate would be caught. The Sentret's family... were they being held there? Was the Sentret in there even now, pleading with the Raticate to let them go?

Anybody that could help would be rushing to what was left of the Mercers' house, trying to stop that fire from spreading. The terrible fire I wanted to unleash would spread, and nobody would be there to stop it. The Sentret was an amateur compared to what I could do...

People and Pokemon would be hurt. Would die.

Because of me.

And I_wanted to do burn it down anyways._

That thought more than any other scared me the most. I stared at the pawn shop, all too easily imagining it in flames... and all too easily imagining what would happen if it didn't go up in smoke tonight. Being chased from my den. Being hunted down by the Raticate, or the Poochenya when they got free, or who knows what else that might work for him. Nowhere would be safe, even if I ran to some other city. He would send somebody to find me anywhere I went. "He won't stop... it doesn't matter what I want to be; I have to. I _can't_hold back!"

The Umbreon just stared back at me with that same gentle, pained expression, letting my last words echo angrily in my ears... until he finally spoke in a soft, lyrical whisper. "But I know you wish you could."

It took me a moment to understand, and when I did, I felt my ears droop. "This isn't a song, Umbreon, this is my life... He is going to kill me, like he tried to do to that girl, and then he'll just keep hurting and killing others too. What other choice do I have...?" I stared down at the street, struggling to find any other answer.

"Come with me."

I jerked and looked back up at the Umbreon. "What?"

"Come with me. That's the other choice you have." He looked past me and nodded towards the building. "We'll do this the right way; we'll stop him from hurting anybody else. And not just him, either, but the Pokemon and people he's working with - I've been poking around town and know enough already to know he's not the only one involved in this. We'll stop them all, and we'll do it without getting anybody hurt who doesn't deserve it. No more families out on the street. No other buildings burnt to cinders. Just what must be done, and nothing more. My trainer has friends, people from other cities who will help; they won't be able to wiggle their way out through loopholes, or bribe and intimidate the police. You know a lot about what they do, and who all is involved - you can tell us what we need to know, and we'll stop them. All of them."

I heard the Poochyena's words echo in my thoughts once more, and how she had screamed when the Growlithe mobbed him. Traitor!!

If I went with the Umbreon... if I helped him like that... then... I would be one. I would be betraying all the people I had known, everyone that had made my life possible up until now, and much more thoroughly than if I simply unleashed fire upon them right here and now. The group I had worked for and been sheltered and fed by. Every one of them.

But... after all I had seen them do... after what they had done to me... did I want to be loyal to them? Were those the types of Pokemon that I really wanted to be friends with, if I could be friends with ones like the Umbreon instead?

I looked back at the building. The heat in my belly grew cooler as my anger and determination faded. All the Pokemon I had worked with... even if they hadn't been nice to me, they still gave me food, and kept the Growlithe from getting me... well... as long as I did everything they told me to. As long as I helped them hurt people - once I stopped doing that, they had shown they were more than happy to hurt me themselves. That wasn't really loyalty to me, was it? But... could I trust this Umbreon? I didn't even know his name. He had given me food, even though I hadn't done anything for him, and had helped keep me safe from the Poochyena when the Raticate sent them after me... and he had done it without expecting or demanding anything from me. Even now he wasn't trying to force me to do what he wanted, just making an offer for another way, one that wouldn't hurt anybody. Wasn't that the kind of Pokemon who deserved my loyalty? My trust?

What did loyalty even mean, really? They had always said it as an insult about me - I was a fox Pokemon, so what could I know about being loyal? But... they were right.

I didn't know.

I felt hurt overwhelm me. I didn't know what to do. It had all been so easy just a minute ago; I could hurtle my fire at the building, and everything would be fixed... but now... now my anger just stabbed at me. Even the wisp that had lit the night and guided my way was just an ebbing flicker of light now. I was lost in the dark, without any clear idea which way I should go.

A cool yellow-white light formed in the air above me, a small ball of light that overwhelmed what remained of the dwindling fires I had summoned. It shown steadily, stable, without any of the flickering my own fire had caused; it was a certainty. A guiding light.

I looked back towards the source of the light - the source of the Flash. The Umbreon's yellow rings glowed with their same soft light, and he had that same certainty about him as he watched me. His eyes were gentle and patient, somehow making me think that... even if I was lost, I wasn't alone in the darkness.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "I don't trust the Growlithe." Being trapped by them was just as scary as the idea of being trapped by the Poochenya. More, even.

"You won't have to. My trainer will help - you can trust her, and you can trust me. We'll keep you safe."

"Okay." I opened my eyes and looked back at the Umbreon. "What do I do?"

I followed the Umbreon back to the street of my den. He led me past my home, towards the building he had pointed out the night I had first met him, and walked right up to the front door without a second thought. The door slid open for him, and he started to walk in, but I stopped outside and shook my head. The smaller homes had plenty of ways I could get in and out of, and I had lots of experience doing exactly that... which was how I knew just how easily I would be trapped inside that building the second those doors closed behind me. I wanted to trust the Umbreon, wanted to believe he was telling the truth, wanted everything to be okay... but there had just been too many times when they weren't. "I... I can't go in there."

The Umbreon looked back at my words and frowned. I could tell he was about to tell me it would be okay, or that I was safe, or something... but after a moment he just nodded. "Could you just wait here for a bit then? I'll go bring my trainer out?"

I took a quick glance back up and down the street. It was dark, but I didn't see anybody... the building itself was huge and could hold any number of people, or angry Growlithe, but... they would have to come through the door, and I could see them coming if they did. It wouldn't be too much of a risk. If something happened, I could just run the short distance back to my den. "Okay." I glanced up - and up, and up, and up- at the huge building. "Just... don't take too long?"

The Umbreon smiled and nodded. "No problem."

I wasn't sure how long the Umbreon was actually gone, but the thought of sitting exposed in the light cast through the clear door of the building made it feel like weeks. I was sure that something had gone wrong and that the Umbreon wasn't going to come back, or that a group of Growlithe were moving around just out of sight to ambush me, or maybe the Poochenya were already back ou-

Something moved behind the door and I tensed, getting ready to run. The door slid open... but it was the Umbreon. The Umbreon, and a human standing beside him.

She wasn't as tall as most of the humans I had seen, but she was still taller than I was. Her red hair looked a bit disheveled, and her bright green eyes seemed to hold an expression of fatigue and maybe a bit of sadness to them, even though she was smiling gently. Her scent reminded me a bit of the PokePuff the Umbreon had given me, though it was more hints of the sweet and citrusy treat than of anything overt. A thin layer of soot had settled over her skin and clothes, and I grimaced - she must have been at the fire.

I watched her nervously, but she simply lowered herself down onto the ground in the doorway. "Sorry I took so long - I just got back; Phoenix and Constella wanted to help with a fire near here, and I was just about to take a shower." She glanced back over her shoulder and motioned at the Umbreon, who stepped up to sit next to her, then looked back at me with that same soft smile. "Hello, pretty Vulpix. I'm a train... no, I'm a gym leader now, from another city, though... not really, at least until I actually finish school, and..." The frown that had been growing as she spoke changed to a soft smile, and she shook her head. "That doesn't matter right now. It's nice to meet you. I'm Sara, the Gym Leader of Time - Opal tells me you need our help?"

"Clarity. Though, for short..." Flen paused and looked closer at the little Eevee that had just re-emerged from the Pokeball, frowning down at her. "Clara? Why do your eyes look like that?"

Flen felt he had been waiting for hours when the door finally swung open and the doctor stepped out. The heavy frown on the expression encouraged all the worries that had been going through the new trainer's mind. He got up from the chair and stepped away from Todd and Perry - Todd had fallen asleep at some point, and Perry was occupied by doing push-ups with his Squirtle, so neither noticed him walk after the doctor.

The doctor just led him back through the long hall and into a small room, where Flen saw Clara lying on a table. Flen felt a spike of worry at first - he had refused to leave her side at first, but the doctor had been insistent, and now she looked... but after a moment he saw her chest rise slowly, and he realized she was just asleep. There were several IVs hanging above the frail Eevee - most in a group on one side of her, but another one hanging ominously apart from the rest - but Flen noticed that none of them had been hooked up to Clara. The doctor paused beside the table and hesitated before looking back at his chart.

"We finished checking out the Eevee you brought in-"

"Her name's Clara." Flen interrupted the doctor sternly, not liking the 'sterile' manner in his attitude.

The doctor bit his lip and looked back at the boy. "Kid... it... might not be good to get too attached to it."

The words stunned Flen and drove another spike of fear through him.

"We finished running all the tests, and... it's... not good. She's badly malnourished; she probably hasn't eaten in nearly a month. Which has probably been most of her life at this point; she's very young, but she isn't growing properly, so it's impossible to say exactly how old she actually is. When..." The doctor hesitated. "Young Pokemon_need_ food, badly; their bodies are still growing and... when you don't get the food you need, the body kind of... prioritizes. It picks the most crucial parts and sends the nutrients it does have to those areas, and... it breaks down the other parts, the less crucial ones, so it can keep those other areas working."

Flen shook his head and looked back up at the doctor. "What are you saying?"

There was another sigh, and the doctor sat the clipboard down on the table. "This Eevee's body is a wreck. Her muscles are deteriorating, her skeleton is barely strong enough to support what little weight she still has, her liver and kidneys are only just managing to handle the flood of toxins that her own body made when it broke down those other parts, and her eyes have degraded..." The doctor shook his head. "She might still be able to make out bright lights, but other than that... kid... she's blind."

Flen stared down at the Eevee on the table. No! At Clara. She did look really thin, but... no, she couldn't be that bad... could she? The doctor could fix it, right? "How do we help her?"

The doctor grimaced. "That's... a harder question to answer." He looked towards one of the IV bags that was resting unhooked from the Eevee. "We can put her on IVs for a while to help her get the nutrients her body needs, and we can put her on dialysis for a little bit to help take the strain off her kidneys and liver while they finish growing, and run some mild antibiotics to help compensate for her weakened immune system, but... she's going to be suffering during this. Her body just isn't up to the task of handling solid food with all the damage that's been done to it, and she'll feel like she's starving even though she'd actually be getting the nutrients and calories she needs. And she's probably going to come down with some sort of illness, if she hasn't started to already. But after two or three weeks, assuming nothing major goes wrong, she'll probably be back on her feet - her muscles and bones should get back on track, and her other organs should be built up enough that she'll be able to walk around and eat her own food."

"And she'll be able to see again?" Flen looked up at the doctor, but he just shook his head.

"There's just too much damage. She might, might, be able to make shapes out some day, if she's very lucky, but..." The doctor shook his head again and looked to the IV bag hanging off by itself. Flen glanced at it and saw a brown sheen to the liquid, something none of the other clear bags of fluids had. He wasn't sure why, but he felt a sinking feeling inside when he looked at the brownish tinge. "Son, I've only seen a Pokemon recover from this much internal damage a handful of times before, and never one that was this young. It's... her life isn't going to be a good one, not with what she has to overcome, and she'll be in a lot of pain while she tries to pull through this, and... there's no guarantee she'll actually be able to. It might be better to just leave her with us so we can make her comfortable, and... you can find another Pokemon."

"No! No; you can't do that!" Flen felt the blood draining from his face as he realized what the doctor was really suggesting. He had promised her he would take care of her; she was his Pokemon. What kind of trainer would he be if he just abandoned her to... to... no. It didn't matter if she was sick, or in pain, or even blind... she was his Eevee. He would take care of her. "Start the nutrients and medicine and diathing. I'm not giving up on her."

The doctor sighed, but he nodded and pushed the brown IV away, then turned to begin hooking one of the clear IVs into Clara's foreleg. "Okay. It'd be good to let her sleep - her body will need the rest, and... it'll keep her from noticing the pain as much... but if you want, you can stay with her for now. I'll come by in a few hours to take another look at her."

Flen nodded and moved to pull the room's chair closer to the examination table. It didn't matter how long it took, or if she was awake or asleep - he would be there for her.