The next morning, Selena woke up and walked to the main room stretching, greeting all her Pokemon. Ditto transformed into her and hugged her happily.

"Ditto, this is weird!" she laughed hugging it back. Ditto released and went back to its original size. Eevee was pushing on her leg to get her attention

"What is it eevee?" she asked looking down. Eevee had a small box with a red and orange ribbon hanging in her teeth. Selena picked up the box and noticed a note hanging on its side. where did eevee get this? She read the note

'Sup! its Shadow! I got this for you! make sure to give it to your vulpix

-Shadow'

This guy was getting really really annoying... What could be in the box that vulpix would want? and why vulpix? She didn't bother to open the box and set it in front of the fire fox

She sniffed the box before opening it with her nose. A orange stone with a flame inside was sitting in the box. Selena never seen such a thing.

Vulpix tapped it with the tip of her nose and started glowing. Everyone stared surprised, what was happening?!

Vulpix grew taller, she was now light gold and had nine tails instead of her reddish with 5 tails. "Nine!" the new pokemon smiled. Her coat was shiny and beautiful.

Selena picked up the box and looked at the rock. the flame was gone. there was a note on the bottom.

'Congrates! your vulpix evolved into ninetales!' It said. why would Shadow go through the trouble just to evolve Vulpix... Ninetales.

"Vul- Imean Ninetales. You look beautiful" she smiled, hugging her neck. Ninetales laid her head on her shoulder.

"Why did you go through all that trouble?" Selena asked. Shadow appeared beside her

"You like?" he grinned. She didn't want to admit that she did

"You didn't answer my question" she huffed, standing up right looking at him.

"Well, you had a Vulpix for a while, why not make it stronger and let your bond become strong as well? and if you want to be 'ghost' girl, Ninetales have a rich glossary" he said

"Which is?"

"Ninetales is said to live for 1000 years. if pulled on its tail jokefully, it'll give a life long curse" her eyes widened. Ninetales could actually do such a thing? He chuckled.

"Lets go!" he said grabbing her Poké balls and sending her Eevee, Zoroark, Froslass, Dragonite, Ditto and Ninetales in them.

"What are you-!" she started. Shadow tugged on her hand and took her through the shadows. they landed in a sunny town. She didn't know where she was.

"Where is this?" She asked, surprisingly calm. She looked at her surroundings. There was a Poké school, a few houses and some children running around. Great... she hated people...

"In Aspertia town, I want you to meet my friends" he gave a warm smile, taking off his turtle neck from his mouth. Her face flushed when seeing that smile... Wait, he had friends?

"W-why??? I hate people!" she snapped. he chuckled and took out some dark glasses from his wide pockets, put them on her eyes, grabbed a clip and putting up her hair. Did he seriously have a clip with him? well...he did had long hair

"I know... give me a chance... I want to get to know you, I don't want you to be what lord N tend to be... being alone with only pokemon.." he held her hand. She felt herself get more red

"But-"

"Please?" he pouted, making her heart pound through her chest. She couldn't understand what she was feeling

"F-fine!" she said, looking down. He chuckled and tugged on her hand softly. His hand were soft. her heart felt like it was about to explode.

'I'll just play along for a bit, I wont interact. I don't like people.. Why does Shadow care? it's not like he knows me, but... why does my stomach feel like butterfrees when ever he's close..?' She thought.

Shadow stopped by a nice looking house and knocked softly. Did she really have to meet his friends? Now that she thought about it, she didn't know anything about him. why is he-

A girl with brown hair and two buns on the side of her head letting loose ponytails from the both of them, opened the door, cutting Selena out of her thoughts.

"Shadow! hows it going!?" she cheered, hugging the life out of him. he yelp. Selena wanted to laugh, but she refused

"I..fine..Rosa..let go..cant..breath.." Shadow said between breaths. she let go guiltily

"Sorry!" she smiled. a boy with spiky blue hair walked from behind her. Rosa was a sweet girl that cared for others. she was previously a member of team plasma when N was king. but she prefers not to talk about it exept N and the shadow triad.

"Hey..." he hissed, setting Selena confused. weren't they friends?

"I see you still haven't got use to me yet, fine by me, but I'm telling you, I'm done with Team Plasma" Shadow said.

"Whatever, I'll never forgive you for stealing my sister's pokemon " the boy glared. The two trainers walked out the house.

"Whats up?" Rosa smiled, slapping the boy across the head

"I like to introduce you to my friend, Selena" Shadow smiled, looking at her standing there boredly. She never recalled him as a 'friend'

"I never gave you my name! How did you know my name?!" she almost yelled.

"Lord N got Eevee to told him" he informed. she sighed, looking away. Well, in that case...

"Hello Selena, my name is Rosa! and this is Hugh! my childhood friend!" Rosa said, walking up to her offering her hand. Selena stared at Rosa's hand through her glasses

She stood there looking at it. Rosa closed her hand, feeling awkward. "yeah... well... are you new around here?" she asked awkwardly. Selena stayed quiet

"Yeah, she is, she's ...shy. So she might not open up to you yet," Shadow informed "I wanted her to open up more, I was wondering if you guys could help me."

"Of course! Selena?" Rosa held both of Selena's hands. She twitched from the surprise "may I see your Pokemon?" her blue eyes looked into the dark glasses. Selena hesitated and brought out her Pokemon

"Fros!"
"Nine!"
"Zo..."
"Dra!"
"Ditto!"

They all cried before looking up at the strangers. She didn't want to expose how rare and powerful Eevee was, so she kept her in her Poké ball. They stepped back surprised, keeping Selena behind them

"I-its okay guys... just bare with them... we'll go home soon.." Selena said, looking away. They looked at her shocked, but nodded later on.

"How beautiful!" Rosa squealed. she came up to Ninetales. Ninetales gave a nervous smile. "Selena, your pokemon looks so strong! you should challenge the Aspertia gym in the Poké school"

Selena looked away, basically saying no, "pretty please??" she pouted. Selena sighed in defeat, only because she was annoying. Rosa cheered, "I would like to see this Ninetales fight! if thats okay with you?"

"Ninetales never battled before.." she admitted

"That's ok! this is a beginners gym"

"Fine, I'll go, but only because you're annoying"

"Great!" she cheered ignoring the insult. Selena could feel Shadow stare at her. She turned away from him

"You know Selena," Hugh walked up to her, surprising her that he didn't hiss like he did to Shadow "you look familiar..."

She looked at him, observing him to see if he was familiar himself. He did. he was the 10th challenger in her mansion. Powerful, but not powerful enough

"And she have the same Pokemon as you, minus the Ninetales" Selena felt a sweat coming in. Shadow intruded, thankfully

"She's new to Unova. You might been thinking of someone else" he said

"Whatever" Hugh rolled his eyes, walking away to the gym.

"Sorry, he's still upset about Team Plasma stealing his little sisters Pokemon. He rescued the Pokemon, but still doesn't trust the team. Shadow use to be one of the body guards, and a very sneaky one at that!" Rosa shot her tongue at Shadow. he chuckled. Selena didn't say anything, returning all her Pokemon.

They walked over to the gym. Shadow wrapped his arm around Selena's shoulder and leaned into her ear "you're not 'ghost' girl right now, make sure you battle fair" he said. Again, she didn't say anything, but understood what he said. why was she doing this again?

She and everyone entered the school and into the battle field. Cheren, the gym leader, was talking to Hugh. The two noticed everyone coming in

"Welcome to my gym! I believe you're new around here! I am Cheren! the gym leader! You, challenger, may only use one pokemon, while I use two! is that fine?" Cheren asked. Selena slowly nodded and prepared herself taking out Ninetales. she sat on the floor looking bored

He send out his Herdier. he made the first move. "Herdier use crunch!" he ordered. Selena crossed her arms, not amused. Ninetales stood up and dodged in quick speed. She could tell the leader was weak... She was wasting her time.

"Ninetales, use will-o-wisp" she commanded. Ninetales sended out fireballs, making the Herdier burn, dropping from the pain. Cheren panicked, she was strong!

"U-use thunder fang!" the Pokemon had ran towards Ninetales, but she was too quick

"Finish this up! use flamethrower!" Selena ordered. Ninetales ended the match. Cheren returned his loyal dog

"You are very strong for a beginner" he smiled taking out his next Poké ball

"Who said I was a beginner?" she stated still crossing her arms. Ninetales was brilliant, even for her first battle, she gained her perfect agility from being out in the wild for so long in training. He chuckled sending out his Samurott. Hugh stared at Selena, watching her battling skills. She rolled her eyes, annoyed from him

"What!? Cheren! that's not the Pokemon you use for a gym battle!" Rosa shouted. Samurott was his old Pokemon he once traveled with.

"She's too strong for my basic Pokemon! I have to use one of my strong pokemon to defeat her! Besides! she said she wasn't a beginner!" he explained. Selena was still not amused, even if the Pokemon was big and a water type

Ninetales had sat down again bored, she was too strong for weak Pokemon

"Use aqua jet!" he ordered. The opponent Pokémon had hit Ninetales with great damage. Selena gasped. Ninetales stood up shaking the water and the pain away.

There was no way she's going to loose! Shadow had already defeated her. She shook it off

"Not bad" she smirked "but I'm not through with you yet! Ninetales! hypnosis!" she ordered. Samurott fell into deep sleep

"Oh dear..." Cheren held his chin, intrigued

"Great! now use flamethrower once again!!" Ninetales released its power and defeated the gym leader, Cheren!

"Sigh... congratulations, I guess you beat me. here you are" he said, walking up to her handing her a basic badge. She heard of badges. They were token to help her get her to enter the Pokemon league

"I don't need it" She said looking up at him. He looked at her surprise

"W-why..? you challenged my gym, didn't you?" He asked

"I told her I wanted to see her Ninetales battle. She didn't come to earn a badge... sorry about that" Rosa said, walking towards the two with Shadow.

"I see..." he lowered his hand "you are one tough trainer, you hardly had a scratch in your Pokemon. how long have you had this beautiful creature?"

"I had her when I was 7, she hatched from an egg..." she said petting her pokemon's head. He mouth 'wow'.

Hugh continued to stare at her. As before, this annoyed her "Take a picture, it'll last longer" she spat. his cheeks blushed in embarrassment, walking away

"Don't worry about him Selena! We'll catch up with him later!" Rosa smiled.

"Yes, well Miss Selena, please accept the badge even if you're not planing to use it, it'll keep the memories of Ninetales first gym battle" Cheren smiled.

She looked at the badge, maybe it wasn't bad to keep a memory of Ninetales first battle. she softly took the badge.

"And also..." a kid had run up to him giving him a box "thank you, as a gift for giving me a exciting battle, I would like for you to choose out of these stones" he said, opening the box

The box showed three shiny rocks "a water stone, fire stone, and thunder stone" he said "choose wisely" she couldn't believe she could choose out of very beautiful stone

She stared at every stone. Stones with a thunder bolt, a flame, and blue liquid. She found the red stone familar

"How exciting! every time I see these stones, I think of a Eevee!" Rosa smiled

"Eevee?" Selena asked

"Yes, water stone gets a Vaporeon, fire stone gets a Flareon, and a thunder stone gets a Jolteon!" she informed.

She picked up the yellow thunder stone "good choice" Shadow smiled. Selena hid her blush. What's with him..?