We had arrived at Pewter city and Ash and I were arguing on whether or not to go to my contest or his gym battle first because he wanted to test out Pigeotto and Butterfree's, his newly caught Pokémon, strength. "I have an idea," I said, "Instead of bickering over it, why don't we split up. I'll go to the contest and you can go to the gym."

 Misty decided to go with Ash so it was just me and the Evee twins. I hadn't caught any other Pokémon yet, and all the ones that we had run into I didn't want to catch. I went to the Pokémon center to register for the contest.

 When I went into the waiting area, I saw a familiar face. "Hi Anthony." I say walking over to him. "Oh," He replies, "Hi Naru. I didn't think we'd see each other again. Did you practice? I know you defiantly practiced for the Viridian city contest."

"Actually," I reply, "I wasn't planning on being in the Viridian city contest. Nurse Joy asked me if I wanted to do it so I gave it a try. I just made it up as the contest went along. I think I'm going to do the same here." Almost like I do when I fought the shadows, I thought. I just attacked and dodged in random fashions.

"Wow," Anthony said, "If you won your first contest like that, I know you will be a great coordinator." I felt something then. I felt death right around the corner. It was the presence of shadows. I concentrated on the presence and tried to pinpoint where they were. They were coming this way from all directions.

I was called up then, so I returned the Evee twins to their poke balls (even though I would only use one of them per round), and went on stage. "Evee," I yell, "Show time."  She popped out of her poke ball gracefully.

 "Shoot up three energy balls and hit them up with your tail again as they come down." I ordered. This course of action worked great. "Now hit them all up then jump and use quick attack on them." This sent the green shower of sparks I wanted.

 "Use energy ball on the ground, land around the area you shot at then spin."  When the energy ball hit the ground a cloud of dust came out. When Evee spun, the cloud of dust cleared sending green sparks everywhere, even in her fur. I bowed when people clapped and exited the stage with Evee.

 I called out the other Evee twin and explained to them that I felt shadows approaching from all sides and that I needed to summon Mastaru to hold off the shadows while I participated in the contest. "Have one of us go too." They said. "Which one of you did I use for the first round?" That Evee twin walked up to me and I returned her to her poke ball. "Okay, I'll summon Mastaru and you two will go hold off the shadows."

I summon Mastaru and explained what the situation was and she diligently left with the other Evee twin. I walk to the waiting area where they are showing the results of the first round. I'm first on the list to continue again and Anthony is right behind me. The matchups for the first battle has me versing a coordinator named Lily. I won that battle and Anthony won his. The next round has the same result and we are versing each other again in the final round.

I walk over to Anthony. "We're versing each other again." I say. "Yah," he replied, "But this won't be like last time where you defeat me in two minutes." "I look forward to it." Then I hear a telepathic voice say "The shadows are getting restless. We're trying to prevent them from moving forward, but they won't stop." "Can you hold them off a little bit longer? The final round is about to begin." "We'll try."

 I walk out on the field deciding what to do if the shadows infiltrated the facility. I know I will have to protect these people from the shadows, but they might get scared of me. I look up and notice that Ash and Misty are in the audience watching me. When I summoned my Persona and protected them from the shadows in Viridian forest, they didn't treat me like I was a monster. They still treated me like a friend and companion. I'll fight the shadows here if I must, no matter what the consequences.

 "Evee, show time!" I yell throwing out her poke ball. "Go Pigeotto." Anthony yells throwing his own poke ball. The battle starts with and aerial ace from Pigeotto. "Protect." I order. "Now quick attack and charge up an energy ball." Her quick attack hits as she charges up energy ball and Pigeotto uses sand attack. "Jump, spin, and fire the energy ball."  The sand attack is blown back and the energy ball hits.

Pigeotto uses air cutter and I order Evee to dodge it. I can sense the shadows getting closer every second. I had to finish this battle soon. "Naru," a telepathic voice says, "Some of the shadows got passed us and are heading your way." "If they get here," I replied, "I'll prevent them from causing harm."

 I put one hand over the Blade of Friendship and I feel its power surging through me. Then a giant crash happens as shadows come through the wall. They start heading toward the battlefield. I draw out the knife and run towards them attacking. I was destroying the shadows alone this time. Mastaru and one Evee twin were trying to prevent more shadows from coming and the other Evee twin was helping the audience evacuate.

 A few shadows headed towards Anthony, so I threw my knife to destroy them. I run over to him and say, "Call back your Pokémon and get out of here. I can handle this myself." He obeyed and left turning back just before the door. I was in the midst of shadows using my knife to attack and block, and moving around to dodge. I look at the door and see that Anthony is still there.

"Go!!" I yell. Just then more shadows came through another wall and Anthony is knocked to the ground. I throw the Blade of Friendship to destroy the shadows around me and run over to protect him. I brought up the force field to defend against the ziongas that the shadows threw out. I threw my knife once more and it destroys most of them, but more keep coming. Then two energy balls and a panta rhei came out of nowhere. I look around and see that the Evee twins and Mastaru had come back to help me. Together, we were able to defeat the shadows.

 I walk over to Anthony and say, "Let's go. We have a battle to finish." "No," he replied, "You take the ribbon. You saved us from near death. I'll work harder to become as strong as you are." "I can't take something I didn't earn." I reply.

"No," he said, "You did earn it." He stands up and says, "Would you mind being my rival? I want to have a goal to follow so I can get stronger." "I don't approve of rivals, they're just people you hate and want to prove to everyone you're better then." I reply, "But, I guess I can make an exception." I take out something from my pocket, then hold out my hand and say, "We're rivals from now on." He takes my hand and I drop the thing I took out into it.

"If a shadow finds you, flash this and run away. Your Pokémon won't be able to fight it, and you don't have any other weapon or a Persona to fight them. When you flash this, a bright light will come out and frighten them."

 "Thank you." He replied. I went over to the judges table and picked up the pewter ribbon. I would not forget his compassion, and thank him for not considering me a monster.