Ch 19. Evolution

Having enjoyed his little excursion inside Diglett cave more than he should, except for the short interuption of a bitch, which made him rethink his current trust he had towards others, Ares was slowly moving forward on route 11, going at his own pace. He and his pokemon were currently enjoying themselves near a stream, neither of them doing any training and just enjoying the scenery.

Mew was as usual lazing about on his lap, enjoying the soft breeze of the wind as Ares combed through her soft fur. At some point, Mew fell asleep, followed by Ares placing Mew on his jacket as he continued to brush the fur of his other pokemon.

Eevee was already waiting for his turn as he nestled himself comfortably in Ares's lap and began to purr as the comb ran through his thick fur. He really enjoyed the relaxing time they would spent every now and then.

Training was fun and all and he looked forward to getting stronger, but he enjoyed being in his trainers company even more. Clefairy was sitting on Lapras's back and began to splash water on Lapras, who was returned the splash with one of her own.

Pidgeotto was just looking on from the side as he dug his claws deep into the branch he was perching on, as he ruffled his feathers to clean them from sand and other dirt particles.

Lucario was sitting with his back against one of Ares's arms and was sleeping silently. He had trained a lot before they had started their relaxation time and he was taking the most out of it.

Even the sound of Butterfree flying by didn't wake him up, as he leaned his head on Ares's arm.

Patting Lucario on the head with his free hand, Ares continued to brush Eevee, who had succumed to the same fate as Mew and before that, Pichu. With all of the furry pokemon dozing of in the warm sun, Ares stretched his arms behind his head and basked in the sun as well.

It was nice to take some time off. He had been traveling around for some time now, not too long, but still more than a few weeks. His first thoughts when arriving in this time period was just finding a nice place to live.

He had all kinds of bad experiences and it took a while for him to trust the people around him. The first people he remotely had begun the trust were Professor Oak, Gary, Delia and Ash, only those four. Blue and Red were also included in that, but he didn't see them that often. They were gone too often in search for rare pokemon and adventure. Red especially seemed keen to travel, as he was now off to Hoenn to fill up the pokedex over there.

When Ares left home, he had decided he wanted to start trusting people more, but after his experience in the Diglett cave, he wondered if that was even something he could do. He had tried to do so with Misty, but even then it felt a bit forced, not something he put any real feelings into.

Maybe it would take some time before he would want to try it again. Humans weren't all bad, but he had only met a few that were truly worth his trust. Maybe it would be better to stick with pokemon and skip the humans.

At the moment he just wanted to enjoy life, just like the last ten years. The thought that drove him the most was building a family of his own. Maybe with humans, but more likely to be his pokemon team. Who said that his pokemon couldn't be as close to him as family.

That was also the reason he wanted to leave Pallet. At some point he had decided to travel around this unknown world, as there was more to see than the village he had lived up till now. He even decided to try the gym challenge, as it sounded a lot of fun when Ash rambled on about it.

Despite all those things he had added on his to try list, the main goal, besides the previously mentioned aspirations, was finding out what happened to his birth place and discover his origins. He had already noticed he was far from normal when he lived in Pallet town. The people were nice, kind even. Yet he still didn't discover anyone like him. People that had animalistic traits, people with a massive amount of aura. People like him. So his first goal, besides the gym challenge and catching pokemon to become his friends or hopefully even family, was research about the aura users and find their origin.

If he discovered where the aura users used to reside, he might discover hints about who he was supposed to be. Or where his previous village might be. If he met with Celebi again, maybe she would take him back to when he left, just so he could ask his grandfather what he was. Maybe even ask about his parents, who had disappeared since the day he was born. So many questions he needed answers to, but so few people who could truly answer them.

Caressing the heads of his pokemon, Ares began to doze of.

He needed a tent to patch up later.

.

.

.

It was already night and Ares and his pokemon were all sleeping peacefully in the tent, which had now become more like a tarp than a decent tent. Well, except for Eevee and Mew. Mew had taken Eevee on a little stroll with him, as Eevee had become a bit absent minded these days. It was clear that it had happened ever since Misty talked about him evolving. Eevee was happy to know Ares didn't force him into his own preferred evolution, but Eevee had no clue as to what evolution he even wanted to evolve in. Ares had shown him examples of his evolved form, but he didn't like most of them. Even all the prepared Evolutionary stones didn't really feel right.

He just didn't know what path he should possibly take, as none of them really attracted him to become like that.

As Mew was more knowledgeable in the different forms of pokemon, being their ancestor and all, Eevee had asked Mew for help in figuring out this whole evolution thing. Maybe she had some advice to give, something that would make it a bit easier for him to decide.

A little push in the back, just to keep him going.

"So what do I do, Mew? I don't know what form would fit me best. I already know I don't want to be a Vaporeon, Flareon and Jolteon. Ares doesn't mind what I want to become, but I want to help him. He doesn't say it, but he feels sad sometimes. I want to be there for him, just like Lucario is there for him when he needs to." Eevee muttered as he looked up at the stars.

He prided himself in being one of Ares's first pokemon, being there to stand by his side should he need it. He just wanted to do more... Be more... To be that extra support he needed in difficult times.

[Does it really matter what I say though? You should look into yourself and question yourself. What do I want to become, what can I do to help my trainer. What kind of evolution will help me achieve that goal. Something that just feels like how you truly should be. Everything else doesn't really matter. Just choose what feels right to you, thinking too much on what form to take gives you headaches. Like you are having right now.]

Mew replied as she sat down besides Eevee and patted him on the head.

[Evolution isn't something you should think too much about. It is something that just happens at the right time. In your case, it just becomes a motivation. That motivation will just make it a bit easier to evolve into that form. I am sure that no matter which form you choose, you will not regret it.]

Having said his piece, Mew flew back towards the tent, ready to reclaim his sleeping spot on Ares's chest.

"A certain direction..."

Eevee muttered. What did he want to become? An Espeon would be able to move object with its psychic powers and help Ares with a lot of things in daily life and in battle. A Leafeon could take a few hits, as well as battle well against ground, rock and water types. It could refreshen the mind of its trainer just by the leafy scent it emitted.

Vaporeon would be a constant water supply, should they ever need it, but Ares had Lapras for that already.

Jolteon was not necessary at all, as Pichu already filled in the role as a living dynamo. Besides, he didn't really like how Jolteon looked.

Flareon was a no-no as well, as he really hated the heat, even more than being cold.

Glaceon was impossible, as there weren't any ice stones in Kanto, nor did it help. Lapras once again filled in that role perfectly. Being less fluffy than before wasn't something Eevee looked forward to as well.

So many choices for him to choose from, just as he had so many hesitation in choosing a single of them.

Going over the forms in his head again, Eevee lay down on the ground as he discarded the forms he didn't want to become. That left only two forms, Espeon and Umbreon. Thinking of something, Eevee left only to come back with the top quality dusk stone Ares had found. Looking at the stone, thoughts began to swirl in his mind. An Umbreon or an Espeon. One night and one day, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.

Glancing up at the stars again, Eevee made his decision. A soft glow envelopped Eevee's body, which became brighter as time went on. His body became larger, his ears and tail becoming longer and pointed. Yellow circles appeared on his black fur, glowing in the darkness of the night. Biting firmly in the dusk stone, Eevee took his chance to speed up the evolution even more with the dark energy inside it. He could feel the amount of his own, now dark energy, increase with great leaps. Sending it throughout his body, Eevee could feel his body enlarging even more than before. He definitely got a bit bigger. But if he was bigger than the average only needed to be seen once Ares woke up. With all the energy in the dusk stone spent, it crumbled apart, leaving only a bit of dust as a trace of its existence.

The white glow finally disappeared, revealing Eevee's evolved form, Umbreon.

Umbreon looked around, the scenery around him becoming more clear than it was before. The yellow circles on his body glowed faintly, illuminating his path back towards the tent.

Seeing his usual spot still empty, Umbreon lay down beside Ares, placing his head on the latter's stomach and dozed of again to the land of dreams. All his previous dilemma's solved by this one choice, a choise he didn't want or would regret.