The two trainers stood facing each other. A large flat piece of ground was in front of them.

“We each have one pokémon left,” said the first trainer, a guy who had long black hair, one lock covering his left eye, and was wearing a grey shirt and black tracksuit.

“Fine,” replied the other, wearing baggy green pants and a black T-shirt with a charmander on the front, “Let’s battle!”

Each held a tiny pokéball and pressed the button on the middle line. With a swooshing sound the balls expanded to normal size.

Both trainers threw their pokéball into the centre.

“Pokéball go!”

The first one opened and revealed a male umbreon in a burst of red light. The second one bounced off the ground and shot out a beam of light that formed into a female growlithe. The two pokémon looked at each other and knew that the other was the one that they had been waiting for. Oblivious to their pokémon's feelings the trainers began their battle.

“Growlithe, flamethrower!”

“Umbreon, dodge with quick attack!”

The female growlithe charged up a flamethrower, feeling the heat burning in her chest and then released it. Umbreon had seen her nod once just before she was about to fire and knew exactly when to dodge. He shot to the side at high speed and then charged toward his true love.

“Growlithe, counter with tackle!”

Growlithe leapt forward on command but deliberately missed.

<Hey,> greeted the umbreon. <Nice day?>

<It’s getting interesting.>

The two moved past each other, landed on the ground, turned in a cloud of dust and lunged for each other again, at least to their trainers’ eyes. In reality they never intended to hit.

<I think you’re beautiful,> whispered Umbreon as he flew past.

Shocked at his bluntness Growlithe missed her footing and stumbled, crashing to the ground and skidding.

“Well done, Umbreon! It seems your pokémon still needs more training,” commented Umbreon’s trainer.

“Growlithe is ten times better than your dumb umbreon. Show them your roar attack!”

<That’s your fault I tripped!> barked Growlithe. Then, slightly softer, <Do you mean it?>

Umbreon pretended to be scared by the ‘attack’ and trembled a bit, backing away from Growlithe.

<Of course,> mumbled Umbreon, passing it off as whimpering for the two humans watching, <from the first moment I saw you.>

Growlithe looked at the ground, embarrassed by the compliment.

“Take down!”

Growlithe ran at Umbreon.

“Umbreon, shake it off! Use your faint attack!”

Umbreon indicated where he would go then used his faint attack to appear there. Growlithe leapt into him and the two tumbled along the ground.

<I-I like you too.> admitted Growlithe.

<Do you love me?> asked Umbreon.

<Mhmm,> murmured Growlithe as they skidded to a stop.

<Run away with me.>

Then Umbreon leapt away at the call of his trainer, feigning slight injuries. Growlithe got up, panting, pretending to be tired.

“He’s injured; finish him with a tackle attack!”

Growlithe ran at Umbreon. As they met she answered.

<Okay.>

<I love you,> he whispered, then Umbreon pretended to faint, a smile on his face.

“Damn it! I lost!”

The trainer returned Umbreon and stormed off to the nearest Pokémon Centre. Growlithe’s trainer ran up to her and embraced her warmly.

“Well done, Growlithe! We won!”

Growlithe just stood there, a wonderful feeling in her body, threatening to burst out of her. She let out a loud bark of happiness.

*****

That night Umbreon burst out of his pokéball. He had done it before when he wanted to think at night. When dawn arrived it would always find him secure in his ball, but this time was a different. He wasn’t going back. Umbreon took his pokéball in his mouth and bit down. He strained hard against the tough material but eventually his teeth won and the ball cracked and fell to the floor. Umbreon walked to the door of the pokémon centre, looked back at his trainer, who had helped him reach the pinnacle of his power. For a moment, his conscience said he should stay, then he remembered the female growlithe and turned away from his trainer, pushed the doors open with his nose and left.

*****

Growlithe woke quietly. She was lying next to her trainer in his tent, it was her reward for winning the match. She licked her trainer’s face, turned and walked into the night. She paused outside and pressed her paw into the sand, leaving an indentation of her foot.

<Goodbye.>

She raised her nose and sniffed the air. They were camped near the battle site and she could smell Umbreon’s trainer and a faint lingering of Umbreon himself. Growlithe followed the scent and began her search for Umbreon.

*****

<Growlithe!> called Umbreon. <Here.>

Growlithe turned and saw Umbreon standing out in the open, the moonlight making his black fur shine silver. The gold rings on his body were glowing slightly but Growlithe felt no fear as she looked at him, only incredible joy that they were together. He walked up to her and nuzzled her cheek. She returned his affections.

<Let’s go,> he said. <We need to get away from the city.>

<Do you know anywhere?> asked Growlithe.

Umbreon shook his head, <But I’m sure we’ll be able to find somewhere, away from people.>

The two pokémon walked off, side by side, journeying to no where in particular.

*****

They searched for weeks, and eventually found a good spot, a valley with no humans around. To the one side were wide, open plains and occasional trees leading to large forest. On the other side was a mountain with a multitude of cliffs and ridges. There they made their home, underneath a thick bush, and, as time passed, Growlithe became pregnant and then ready to lay her egg in the small hole she had made for it.

Growlithe strained and whimpered in pain as her muscles forced the egg to slide out of her body. She wished Umbreon was there to comfort her but he had gone to get food and she was all alone. The egg was large and stretched her to her limits as it slowly slid out. With a final grunt of effort Growlithe pushed her egg out and it landed softly in the hole. She licked it clean of the specks of lubricant then, wrapping her body around it to keep it warm, she fell asleep.

A short while later, Umbreon returned to his mate, a dead pidgey hanging limply from his jaws. He walked up to Growlithe and they touched noses. She moved aside and showed him the egg.

<You had the egg!> exclaimed Umbreon proudly. <Is it okay? Are you okay?>

<It’s fine,> answered Growlithe, <I’m also fine.>

She took hold of a wing of the pidgey and bit it off with a crunch of breaking bones.

<I’m going to be a dad,> said Umbreon happily, seemingly oblivious to the rest of the world. <I love you, Growlithe.>

She giggled and licked his face.

<I know.>

He lay down with her and they ate together.

*****

In the egg, Umbreon’s dark type DNA had fused abnormally with Growlithe’s fire DNA and created an enhanced fusion DNA. The baby inside was okay but was not a normal growlithe. It had both types’ abilities, it was a mutation, it was Dark Growlithe.

*****

Dark Growlithe stirred in his egg, he was too big now. The confines of the egg pressed up against his matted fur, making him claustrophobic. His body shuddered as he woke up and started to move consciously for the first time in his life. Growlithe felt the movement and she stood up and nosed the egg.

<What’s wrong?> asked Umbreon.

<It’s hatching,> she replied.

Umbreon looked on, fascinated, but stayed a small distance away, leaving his mate to care for their egg.

Dark Growlithe stretched his legs but was stopped by the shell of his egg He tried to move his head but again the shell got in his way. He placed his paws against the inside of his prison and pushed. For the first time he strained his muscles and gradually the stiffness in them disappeared and they increased in strength. He strained his whole body and suddenly the egg gave way and he broke out into the world. He lay on his back in a bed of the eggshells that had been his world, his parents staring down lovingly at him. His body was the right proportions for a growlithe but his fur was black instead of orange and his stripes were dark orange instead of black. At first, they were slightly surprised at his appearance but got over it almost immediately and his mother pulled him over and began to lick him clean. Umbreon stood over them protectively.

*****

A couple of days later, Growlithe and Umbreon were lying together watching Dark Growlithe stumbling around outside their home. He was now glancing under a rock when a flock of pidgey flew into the sky. Growlithe and Umbreon both stood up and looked in that direction. They were near the corner of a valley and now they could here a faint rumbling sound from around the corner.

<Stay here,> commanded Umbreon. <I’ll see what’s happening.>

<Be careful,> cautioned Growlithe.

Umbreon ran in the direction of the sound and Growlithe watched him go. Umbreon was right near the bend when an entire herd of Tauros ran around the corner.

<Look out!> shouted Umbreon.

Umbreon wasn’t able to move fast enough and Growlithe watched in horror as the tauros herd trampled him into the dust. His body was crushed under their hooves and their sharp edges cut his flesh and gored holes in his sides. A hoof landed squarely on his head and crushed it into the dust.

The tauros were now going straight for Growlithe and Dark Growlithe, their bloodied legs kicking up clouds of dust. Growlithe shoved Dark Growlithe under the rock, leapt in front of him and shot off a flamethrower right into the herd at maximum power. She felt her throat burn from the intense heat she was using. The fire burned the hair on the tauros in front of her and singed their skin creating a horrible burning smell. In their enraged stampede it didn’t even make them flinch. They came closer and closer.

Growlithe sent a fire blast directly into the leader’s face. He stumbled then fell but the rest of the tauros just kept coming, charging right over their dead leader. Before she could get another chance the tauros ran her down and she suffered the same fate as her mate. Under the rock Dark Growlithe whimpered as the tauros charged over his little bit of cover, luckily the rock was strong and held even under the immense weight of the tauros herd.

After the tauros had disappeared, Dark Growlithe crawled out from under the rock and headed to the smell of his mother. She was lying a distance away from him. He didn’t understand the red streaks showing where she had been thrown by the tauros nor did he understand why, when he snuggled up against her stomach, he couldn’t feel her heartbeat. If he had looked behind her he would have seen her back had been ripped open and her spine was crushed. Blood flowed out onto the sand behind her corpse but luckily Dark Growlithe didn’t see it, didn’t see his parents were dead.

*****

A lone Ninetales was wandering through the valley; she could sense something was wrong; after all she had been alive for almost four hundred years. She walked down and found Umbreon’s remains, leaving it alone and kept moving until she found Growlithe. Her body was stiff and cold but untouched. In her paws Dark Growlithe lay unconscious. It had been three days and Dark Growlithe was still too young to look after himself. Ninetales walked over to him and looked him over.

<You should grow up into a handsome pokémon,> she said.

She reached down and picked him up by the back of his neck and took him away from his dead parents.