It was a quiet night in Hearthome City.  The streets were empty, and everyone had retired to the comfort of their homes...well, almost everyone.

Suddenly, the peace was shattered by the sound of breaking glass.  On one of the city's largest streets, three men dressed all in black were breaking into a jewelry store.  The owners had closed up and gone home several hours earlier, and the thieves were taking advantage of the empty store to help themselves to all the jewelry and cash they could get their hands on.  Once they were satisfied with their haul, they left as quickly as they had come and headed for the other end of town, unaware of a mysterious figure watching them from the darkness.

Eventually, the thieves reached an abandoned warehouse at the far end of town, where they promptly began gloating.  "Man, this was our easiest heist yet!” exclaimed one man, the tallest of the three.  "At this rate, we'll be set for life!"

"Yeah," agreed a rather short, stocky man as the three removed their masks, "and the best part is, the cops have no idea what's going on!  Good thing we decided to make our targets seem so random.”

“Perhaps,” cut in the third crook, whose face showed a number of scars in the dim light, “but it won’t be long before they catch on, and then we’ll have to hightail it out of here.”

“So what?” asked the tall one, who seemed to be their leader.  “We’ll just set up shop somewhere else, that’s all.  Besides, a couple more big jobs like this, and we won’t have to worry about it.  We could retire like kings!  Now come on, let’s divvy this loot and get out of here.”  As the trio began to split the stolen goods among them, none of them noticed a figure staring at them through a high window at the other end of the warehouse.  Silently, the small figure jumped off the stack of crates it was using for a perch and began heading back into town.  As it walked, it caught the glare of a streetlight, revealing the lithe form of an Umbreon, striding as though with a purpose—and it had one.

As much as it had wanted to attack the thieves, doing so would have gone against its orders; its master had simply told it to follow the thieves, find out where they went after a robbery, and report back to him.  Umbreon dearly wanted to fight, but it trusted its master; besides, it might get a chance to fight the crooks anyway.

A few minutes later, Umbreon arrived at its destination—the Hearthome City Pokémon Center.  The lights were off; everyone had gone to bed, and the powered doors had been shut off.  That wasn’t a problem for Umbreon, though; its master had left another way in.  Besides, it was a creature of the night; it could tolerate light, but it preferred to stay in the shadows whenever it could.  Skirting around to the side of the building, it found the open window, bright light shining through it, and jumped through.  Inside the brightly lit room sat two of Umbreon’s best friends—one, a violet-furred Espeon, and the other, their human master—or Trainer, as he called himself.  They seemed to be gazing at each other, evidently awaiting its return.

The human, a young man with a slightly pale complexion and still dressed in his street clothes, looked at Umbreon with interest upon noticing its entrance.  “So, have you found their hideout?” he asked without preamble.

Umbreon nodded wordlessly to indicate that it had; knowing what would be done next, it gently hopped to the floor and sat next to Espeon, waiting for what was coming.

“Then let’s get this done so we can all get some sleep.  You ready, Espeon?” the human asked the lavender-furred Pokémon as he climbed off the bed, closed the window, and knelt on the floor next to them, holding out his hand.  Umbreon did the same with a forepaw.

<Of course, Jeffrey,> the Psychic-type communicated via telepathy.  Placing its forepaws on Umbreon’s paw and Jeffrey’s hand, it began to focus its energy, establishing a psychic connection between the three of them.  Thoughts and images began to flow as Espeon acted as a bridge, linking Umbreon’s mind with Jeffrey’s.  As Jeffrey allowed himself to relax, images began to form in his mind—Umbreon’s memories, a record of everything it had seen in the last several hours, including the location of the thieves’ hideout, what they looked like, even the details of their conversation, all in the space of a few minutes.

As the images eventually faded and the connection was released, Jeffrey knew what he had to do.  He now had everything he needed to put an end to this crime spree once and for all.  However, that was for tomorrow.  Right now, he and his Pokémon needed to get to bed.  “Soon, Umbreon,” he said, having sensed Umbreon’s desire to battle while they were connected.  “Very soon, we’ll give those crooks exactly what they deserve.”

---

The next day dawned bright and clear; and as news of the jewelry store robbery spread, Jeffrey spent most of the morning talking to the police; being a 2-time Pokémon League champion, and something of a celebrity because of it, afforded him a measure of clout, and Officer Jenny was more than happy to take any help she could get in solving the week-long rash of robberies; the jewelry store was just the latest target.  Jeffrey also went around town talking to other contacts he had come to know, and generally conducting his own little investigation.  However, most of it was just done for the purpose of appearing to be doing something; in truth, Jeffrey already held the answers in his mind, and he had a plan to stop them.  But he had to wait until nightfall to act, and in the meantime, he wanted to at least appear to be doing something productive.

After following up on his latest leads, he headed to the local park to engage his Pokémon in some battle training, to keep them in top fighting shape.  His team consisted of six different evolutions of Eevee; in addition to Espeon and Umbreon, there was also a Jolteon, a Vaporeon, a Flareon, and a Leafeon.  He considered them all his friends, and he took pride in every one of them; after all, it was, in part, their abilities (and their friendship and loyalty to him) that had made him a 2-time champion; to him, they were as much the champions as he was.

Their private training didn’t get very far, though; word of his presence spread, and soon he found himself fielding challenges from young Trainers itching to make a name for themselves.  After defeating several challengers in a row—all of whom he encouraged to continue practicing in order to become both better Trainers and better friends to their Pokémon—he declared that he and his Pokémon were getting tired and left, much to the disappointment of those still waiting to battle him.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, and soon enough, the sun was setting once again.  Jeffrey had made his way to the roof of a tall office building, so he had an excellent view of the city.  The height served two other purposes, however; one, so he could do what he was about to do without anyone seeing him; and two, so that he could easily get to the warehouse once he’d done it.  His glasses were missing; he’d left them in his backpack at the Pokémon Center, along with most of his other equipment; he didn’t need them tonight.  Calming his mind and steeling his nerves, he slowly held out his arms and put his hands together to form a hand sign.

Focus, Jeffrey…you’ve done this before…It’s no different now… But it was… When he had used this power in the past, it was just for fun, or for practice matches with his own Pokémon.  Now he was actually going to test them in battle—a battle which he knew could very well get him hurt…or worse.  Putting the morbid thoughts aside, he continued to focus, envisioning it in his mind…and as he did so, a pale-green aura of energy erupted into existence, engulfing his body.  Gradually, he began to calm down as the power hidden within him was brought to the surface…and his body began to change.

It all happened in a matter of seconds, but to Jeffrey, it felt as if it were happening in slow motion.  If anyone had been around to watch, they would have seen his skin turn from pale tan to an equally pale green, large red domes begin to form over his eyes, and two long, dark green horn-like appendages grow out of the back of his head.  That wasn’t all, either; behind him, a long, striped tail was growing out of his pants, and diamond-shaped wings sprouted from the back of his shirt.  Finally, his shoes and socks appeared to fade into nothing as three-toed feet replaced them, complete with claws.  Similar claws had grown on his fingers, which, other than that and the change in skin color, were still normal.

As suddenly as it had begun, it ended, and the aura faded to reveal an entirely different creature.  If anyone were to walk out onto the roof at that moment, they would have seen what appeared to be a humanoid Flygon—albeit one still wearing human clothes.  Indeed, said clothes didn’t appear to be torn or otherwise damaged—it was as though they had been specially tailored to fit his new size and appearance.

Slowly, Jeffrey opened his eyes and once again gazed out into the night, this time with a sense of purpose.  As sensations of freedom coursed through his mind, he suddenly thought of his old childhood friend, Ash Ketchum.  It’s been too long since I’ve spoken to Ash…I wonder what he’d think if he could see me like this…  At the thought, a small smile appeared on his face, before he refocused on the task at hand.  He stepped out onto the edge of the roof, and, with one last deep breath, jumped off, allowing his wings to catch the wind and propel him into the sky.

It always amazes me just how liberating this is…If this isn’t freedom, then nothing is.  It wasn’t just the ability to fly that excited him; that was part of it, but, more importantly, in this form, he felt like the bonds of human society no longer applied to him; he could do almost anything he wished.  Of course, it didn’t hurt that no one had ever seen him transform; in fact, no other human had ever seen him in this form before.  He knew he was taking a risk exposing himself like this, but he figured that by the time word got out, he would be long gone and no one would be any the wiser.  However, right now, he had a job to do, and nothing was going to stop him.

Drawing on the memories he had received from Umbreon the night before, he flew through the darkness to the other end of town, to the warehouse his Pokémon had shown him.  His sharpened vision picked out the lights within, a beacon in the darkness; his sensitive ears picked up conversations that suggested that the criminals inside had pulled yet another heist.  But no more; tonight, he vowed, their thieving ways would end.

With a skill sharply honed by endless practice, he landed soundlessly on the roof of the warehouse.  He crept up to the edge just as silently and nimbly hopped down onto a stack of crates—which he recognized as the same perch Umbreon had taken during its recon mission.  Peering into the window, he saw the three men, dressed all in black, gathered around a pile of loot on the far end of the building, the contents of which Jeffrey couldn’t see.  All three men had their backs turned to him, but he could see enough to know that these were indeed the ones he’d been looking for.

Steeling his nerves for what was to come, he managed to squeeze his way through the window and dropped to the floor, his wings serving to both cushion his fall and maintain his silence.  He wanted to get as close as possible before he struck.  Skirting to the left between the wall and the giant stacks of crates, he suddenly had an idea.  It was a risk, but if it worked, it might make his job that much easier.  He reached for his belt and removed a Pokéball, the six of them being the only items he had brought with him.  Pressing the button to expand it, he signaled the Pokémon inside to come out.  With a pop and a flash of light, his Leafeon appeared beside him.

“What was that?” came the voice of one of the thugs.  As expected, they had heard the Pokéball burst open.  “I don’t know,” came a second voice.  “I’ll go check it out.  You two stay here.”

This was exactly what Jeffrey was hoping for.  Crouching down next to Leafeon, he whispered in its ear, “Use Grasswhistle on him when he comes around.  I’ll go around the other way.”  After receiving a nod of acknowledgment from Leafeon, Jeffrey began to head to the other end of the crate stack and approach the other two from the right.  Within seconds, he had reached the edge of the crates and could peer around them to see the two crooks standing guard.  The tallest one was gone; apparently, he was the one that had gone to check on the noise.  Holding up one hand, Jeffrey began to gather energy in it, forming a small sphere.  Wait for it…

Jeffrey suddenly heard a thud on the other end of the warehouse, where he’d left Leafeon; it sounded like the Grasswhistle had done its job. One down… he thought to himself as the remaining two thieves snapped to attention, having heard their comrade fall to the ground asleep.  Now!  With the thieves distracted, he came out from around the corner and fired his miniature Hyper Beam at the short, stout thug.  By the time the target saw it coming, it was too late to stop the ball of energy from hitting him and sending him flying off his feet, only to land hard on his back.

Okay, it’s go time!  Without hesitation, Jeffrey charged at the one crook still standing.  By this time, the thug was too flustered to react; he managed to turn around just in time to see a green mass charging at him, then he keeled over as a punch to the gut took all the wind out of him.  The last thing he saw before blacking out was a second fist flying at his face.

Taking a look around, Jeffrey saw the thug he’d shot with the Hyper Beam getting to his feet.  He was about to go knock him out, too, when he heard running footsteps behind him.  Turning, he saw the third thug—the one Leafeon was supposed to have put to sleep—practically upon him, swinging a steel pipe.  As the weapon connected with his chest, he staggered backwards, grunting in pain, and eventually stumbled and fell on his back.  He felt something move painfully in his torso.  That’s a broken rib or two, for sure.

“Well, well, what do we have here?” asked the thief with the pipe, a wicked grin on his face.  “Some wannabe hero coming to break up our fun, I bet.  Was that your Leafeon I just knocked out?  Well, guess what—you’re next.”

“I don’t know what you did to me,” cut in the shorter man, getting to his feet and taking a position next to the other, “but I’m gonna make sure you don’t live to regret it.”  To emphasize his point, he cracked his knuckles menacingly and flashed an equally sadistic smile.

Jeffrey wasn’t fazed; he still had a few tricks up his sleeve.  Breathing heavily as he struggled to his feet, he said, “I’m not a hero; just an ordinary guy with a bit of an advantage.  And you’re just ordinary thieves.  Besides, I think my friend has something to say to you.”  With that, Jeffrey pulled a second Pokéball from his belt and threw it open, summoning his Umbreon to his side.  “Well, my friend,” he spoke to the Dark-type, “looks like you’re gonna get your wish after all.”

Umbreon responded by barking a few words.  To the thieves, its speech was naught but gibberish, but Jeffrey’s powers had an added bonus; he could understand Pokémon as though they spoke English, and Umbreon had said, “I’ve been looking forward to this.”  For a brief moment, the two sides simply stood there, staring each other down.

The thieves made the first move; predictably, they rushed at Jeffrey and Umbreon, swinging pipe and fist.  With an almost unnatural level of coordination, Jeffrey and Umbreon jumped to opposite sides, Jeffrey landing next to the crates, Umbreon on the other side, neatly flanking their foes.  Before either thief could react, Umbreon had charged the stout crook with a Quick Attack, knocking him to the ground again.  At the same time, Jeffrey attacked the tall man with a Dragon Claw, taking care not to seriously hurt the man—they were criminals, but they didn’t deserve to die.  Regardless, that one attack was enough to render the thug unconscious, and he turned his attention to the one remaining crook—just in time to see said crook get blasted with a Shadow Ball.  The thug let out a scream of pain, then collapsed, out cold like his buddies.

As the adrenaline wore off, Jeffrey fell to his knees, clutching his chest as pain and fatigue came in full measure.  That was fine; to him, the pain served as a reminder that, even with his powers, he wasn’t perfect.  It kept him from becoming arrogant, something he knew he could never afford to become.  He had never considered himself a hero; anyone in his position would likely have done the same, he was sure.

As he sat there recovering, Umbreon walked up to him, a look of concern on its face.  “You okay?” it asked.

Jeffrey gave a slight grin, still clutching his chest, and answered, “I’ll be alright.  Go check on Leafeon for me, would you?”  Umbreon nodded and headed to where Leafeon had been.  As it did so, Jeffrey turned to look at what the thieves had stolen this time.  An assortment of tools and building supplies lay scattered around the bags; it seemed like they’d hit a hardware store.  A minute later, Umbreon returned, carrying an unconscious Leafeon on its back.  “It’ll need treatment, but it’ll live,” it said, setting the Grass-type down on the floor.  “You look like you could stand to be looked at yourself.”

“Yeah, probably.”  Jeffrey gave a weak smile, when suddenly, his ears picked up the faint sound of police sirens heading in their direction.  It appeared that the fight had made more noise than expected.  He sighed—the last thing he wanted was to be spotted like this, especially after what had transpired.  “Let’s get out of here,” he said, recalling both Pokémon into their Pokéballs and somehow finding the strength to leave through the same window by which he had come.  By the time the police arrived, there was no sign that he’d ever been there.

---

Two days later, Jeffrey was standing outside the city limits, back to normal and wearing his glasses once again, silently pondering his next move.  Leafeon had stayed at the Pokémon Center all day and overnight, while Jeffrey had gone to a human hospital to get himself looked at.  As predicted, he had broken two ribs, and his torso was now bandaged tightly so they would heal properly.  The doctor hadn’t even bothered to ask how he’d gotten injured.  He hung around long enough to pick up his Leafeon, as well as to hear that the thieves had finally been caught and were awaiting trial.  He figured they’d spread rumors about him, but even if anyone believed them, they’d never make the connection, and he’d be gone anyway.

What to do now… he thought to himself as he looked back on the magnificence of Hearthome City.  Maybe it’s finally time to find Ash again…Yeah, that’s it…I’m sure he’s become a fantastic Trainer by now.  At any rate, I won’t be coming back here for a while…not until the buzz has died down, at least.  Reminding himself to call Professor Oak about Ash’s whereabouts when he arrived, he set out for Oreburgh City, content in the knowledge that he had done good.  He also realized, however, that this was just one of what would no doubt be many exciting adventures to come.