"Breaking news just in!"
"Jubilife City's famous Pokémon idol group, the Meow Family Trio, has announced that its Persian member will be temporarily withdrawing from the group, as declared earlier today by its Trainer and manager."
"According to reliable sources, Persian is now frightened of anyone it sees and may be suffering from a psychological condition. It is currently undergoing rehabilitation."
"For now, the Meow Family Trio will continue activities led by the remaining two members. Their manager stated that a new member will be joining soon, so fans are asked to stay tuned."
"Next up, yesterday morning at the Ginkgo Guild Plaza, two men—"
Lumiere listened to the evening news while riding a shared bike toward the abandoned construction site.
"Didn't expect to end up on the news myself. I thought you only got on TV if you accidentally kicked the bucket."
He looked fairly relaxed, but Eevee, sitting in the basket at the front, was clearly nervous.
Rowlet stood in the basket, gripping the edge with its claws, gently patting Eevee's head with one wing to signal it to relax.
"Eevee…"
Eevee still looked like a student about to take a physical fitness test. The closer they got to their destination, the more nervous it became.
With a soft screech of brakes, they finally arrived.
Using his phone as a flashlight, Lumiere surveyed the surroundings. The place looked much the same as it had two months ago—some traces of the earlier battle were still visible.
He parked the shared bike to the side and locked it with a scan, stopping further charges.
These bikes were equipped with Rotom tracking, so they could be parked anywhere—very convenient.
Apparently, they were manufactured in Celadon City in the Kanto region. Rumor had it there were even shared electric scooters for seniors, though those were still limited to Kanto for testing and hadn't rolled out everywhere yet.
Lumiere lifted Eevee out of the basket and set it on the ground. He crouched down, looked into its eyes, and asked seriously:
"Eevee, are you ready?"
"Eevee!"
Eevee nodded, a bit stiffly. At this point, there was no backing out. Becoming stronger was its own decision—it couldn't retreat now.
"Alright then. Rowlet! Core conversion—GO!"
"Rowlet!"
Rowlet shot up from the basket into the night sky. Midair, it switched from its Snorlax outfit into its Flareon costume. Surrounded by the effects of a Fire Spin, it descended into the field.
Lumiere nodded lightly. "Barely passable. Still not flashy enough for an entrance."
"Rowlet…"
Watching their little performance, Eevee finally smiled, its tension easing.
"Alright, let's start. If we wait any longer, it'll be too late."
Lumiere had prepared several approaches to test. Whether they would work or not was unknown—but trying came first.
"Rowlet, use Fire Spin on Eevee!"
"Rowlet?"
"Trust me. Take it slow—just surround it first!"
Though confused, Rowlet complied, releasing flames that encircled Eevee, trapping it within a ring of intense heat.
Lumiere's reasoning was simple: to learn a Fire-type move, Eevee first had to understand what Fire truly was.
Though the flames didn't touch it directly, the heat within the Fire Spin was still extremely hard to endure.
"Don't just focus on enduring it," Lumiere reminded from nearby. "Feel the Fire-type energy radiating from the flames. Familiarize yourself with it."
"Eevee!"
In the pitch-dark abandoned construction site, the blazing flames illuminated the surroundings.
Several Murkrow were drawn by the commotion. They flapped down onto a concrete beam, tilting their heads as they watched.
"Hang in there!"
Eevee's body swayed slightly, but it held on. All Lumiere could do now was encourage it.
Then suddenly, Eevee stopped swaying.
Its eyes widened, and an excited smile appeared—as if it had grasped something.
Lumiere: "!!!"
But before he could rush over, Eevee collapsed straight down, still frozen in that pose.
"..."
Checking its condition, Lumiere quickly stripped off his T-shirt and shouted, "Rowlet! Switch to the Gyarados outfit—Eevee's overheated!"
…
A short while later, with Eevee wrapped in a shirt soaked by Water Gun and its body temperature lowered, it finally woke up.
"That was still a bit too much, huh…"
After all, Eevee was only a month old. It wasn't a Saiyan or some legendary prodigy. No wonder it struggled. Meanwhile, Cynthia's Gible was still happily playing around.
"Eevee!"
Seeing the determination in its eyes, Lumiere asked, "Do you want to continue?"
Eevee nodded.
"…Alright then. Rowlet—"
Fire Spin returned once more. Eevee stood within it, eyes closed, continuing to feel the heat. It felt like it really was catching on to something.
The Murkrow, having watched for a while and grown bored, flapped their wings and flew off.
Perhaps because the concrete beam was poorly built, it shook violently as they launched, collapsing to the ground with a loud crash.
Rowlet was focused on controlling the Fire Spin, making sure it didn't strike Eevee directly.
But the sudden crash startled it, causing a momentary loss of control. The flames shifted slightly.
Eevee, deeply immersed in sensing the Fire-type energy, suddenly felt its body heat spike—especially its tail.
Is this the breakthrough? it wondered.
But then pain followed… along with a strange smell.
Realizing something was wrong, Eevee opened its eyes and looked back—its creamy white tail was on fire!
"Eevee!!!"
Hit by Fire Spin, Eevee lost the ability to battle.
On the way home, Rowlet retreated into its Poké Ball, thoroughly depressed. One-shotting Eevee—it felt completely at fault.
Lumiere looked at Eevee in the basket, its tail now bandaged by Nurse Joy, and felt that he had indeed pushed things too far.
"Eevee…"
Feeling the cool night breeze of the city, Eevee slowly opened its eyes, grabbed the edge of the basket, and stood up, staring at Lumiere with a defiant expression.
"Huh? You still want to keep going?"
Eevee nodded firmly.
Lumiere thought for a moment, sighed, and agreed. "Then we'll continue tomorrow. It's already past midnight."
Hearing that, Eevee happily bounced in place.
"Careful! Your tail's still injured," Lumiere said fondly. Then he asked, "Did you… figure something out back there?"
"..." Eevee nodded—then shook its head. It wasn't sure. It just felt subtle and hard to explain.
"Then that means there's hope."
Lumiere didn't fully understand either, but he freed one hand to rub its head.
"Take it slow. No rush. We've got plenty of time."
But just as he finished speaking, a Bibarel suddenly darted out from a roadside flowerbed!
Startled, Lumiere lost balance—one hand was already off the handlebars—and bike and rider toppled straight into the flowerbed.
"???" Bibarel stared blankly for a moment, then hopped away.
So yeah… traffic safety really matters.
Over the next period of time, Lumiere brought Eevee to the abandoned site every night for special training. Accidents were common, and Eevee often ended up knocked out by mistake.
On weekends, they trained in the neighborhood park during the day, frequently being mistaken for contestants in a Pokémon Contest and surrounded by curious kids.
Whether Eevee had made progress was hard to say—but it definitely seemed to be building resistance to fire.
Sometimes it could tank a Fire Spin and stay conscious for five or six seconds before collapsing.
Another month passed. Just before Cynthia's school was about to start summer vacation, the special training finally showed a clear change!
"Let's treat tonight as the last night," Lumiere said from nearby. "Once Cynthia's on summer break, we'll have much more time during the day."
He signaled Rowlet to use Fire Spin again, just like usual.
After trying many methods, this was the one Eevee itself had chosen—perhaps because it felt the most effective.
Eevee continued to feel the heat around it. After so many days of absorption and understanding, it felt as though flickers of flame were visible within its fur and skin.
Lumiere observed quietly, then suddenly noticed flashes of firelight appearing on Eevee's body!
This wasn't the light from Fire Spin—the color was subtly different, and the flames weren't even touching Eevee.
"Could it be…?"
His heart jumped, excitement surging.
"Eevee, hold it! Push a bit more!"
Eevee kept its eyes closed. It could feel Fire-type energy originating from Flareon—no, from Rowlet's Flareon form—within its body.
But the energy was chaotic, impossible to synchronize with. It couldn't be converted cleanly into its own power. It felt like it was just one step short…
"Not enough fire energy?" Lumiere realized, puzzled.
Fire Spin was already boosted by 50%. And Rowlet's other Fire-type moves weren't suitable. Was he supposed to use Flare Blitz and crash straight into it?
Eevee clearly seemed to be at a bottleneck—just a tiny push away from success.
Lumiere didn't want to give up this opportunity. If it failed now, it might even cause setbacks.
This had to work!
Suddenly, an idea struck him.
"Eevee! Use Helping Hand on Rowlet!"
"Eevee!"
Eevee acted immediately. Its ears and tail stood upright as a faint yellow glow burst forth from its flame-lit body and shot into Rowlet.
"Rowlet!"
Rowlet cried out as its power surged. The flames ahead intensified.
The Fire-type energy grew stronger, slowly seeping back into Eevee's body, organizing the chaotic energy and bringing it into resonance!
"Eevee!"
Eevee cried out, controlling the Fire-type energy radiating from its body. The flickering firelight suddenly expanded!
Flames engulfed its entire form, yet Eevee wasn't harmed at all. It kicked off the ground and, eyes closed, charged straight through the Fire Spin—colliding into Rowlet!
The flames were immediately absorbed by Rowlet's Flash Fire ability.
Eevee reverted to normal and sat down blankly, staring at its pink paw pads in confusion.
Everything that had just happened was clearly seen by Lumiere—and the information he perceived about Eevee had changed as well.
〔Pokémon: Eevee (Pseudo-Partner / Shiny) ♀〕
〔Type: Normal〕
〔Ability: Anticipation (can sense danger in advance and flee)〕
〔Moves: Mud-Slap, Tackle, Tail Whip, Helping Hand, Sizzly Slide〕
〔Status: Congenital genetic defect (cannot evolve), Confused (what just happened?)〕
〔Friendship: 100 (loves big sister, loves mommy a lot)〕
"Sizzly Slide! It worked!" Lumiere exclaimed as he scooped Eevee up in excitement.
This was the result of a full month of effort—and proof that his theory was right. Partner Eevee truly could be cultivated!
Eevee looked dazed, but it could clearly feel that it had grown stronger. With a little effort, flames suddenly ignited around its body again—nearly causing Lumiere to drop it in surprise.
The flames flickered once before fading. It clearly still couldn't control them properly yet, and Eevee looked a bit disappointed.
Lumiere rubbed its head and smiled. "You just learned it, of course it'll take practice. For the next few days, train with Rowlet—its Flash Fire ability means it won't be afraid at all."
"Rowlet!"
Rowlet flapped its wings, indicating that it really wasn't afraid.
Eevee nodded excitedly. At this rate, it wouldn't be long before it could protect its sister too!
Since they had succeeded, it was time to head home early and get some good rest.
But on the way back, Lumiere fell into deep thought.
The disciplinarian's Flareon had just been a casual choice, yet even that hadn't been strong enough.
Which meant that for the remaining Partner Moves, he'd have to find truly powerful Eevee evolutions—
—and strip them of their "clothes."
"Slowly does it," he muttered. "At least it worked. Now the real question is… where do I find other strong Eevee?"