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Ai might be three times Eon's size, but she was also four times his weight, and when she sat on him Eon yelped and scrambled backwards to get away from her, narrowly missing her bite.

Andarien was also racking his brain to think of what Eon should do. Ai was superior in speed, power, size and weight, all of which put Eon at a severe disadvantage. All Eon had was his sheer will to do his very best for Andarien.

"Shadow ball!" he shouted, hoping that the attack would stun Ai for at least a moment and let Eon try something else.

Eon braced himself and summoned the black shadowy orb in his mouth. He was shaking as he did so, clearly affected by the battle so far. Purple light sparked around it and taking careful but quick aim, he lobbed the orb at Ai.

"Eon, protect!" Andarien cried. If Ai hit him with a body slam, she would do serious damage - he was so much smaller than she was!

Eon closed his eyes in concentration, and a pattern of clear squares flashed around him just as Ai leaped towards him. The squares stopped her attack, but Eon vanished from sight, seemingly swallowed up by shadows.

"Eon!" Andarien cried out in terror, his eyes wide behind his lenses. He lifted the goggles from his face. "Eon! Where are you?!"

It was dark outside, but it wasn't that dark!

In the misty shadow where Eon had disappeared, glowing red slits appeared, followed by blue rings that glowed in pulses. Above them, the clouds parted, and the moon shone down. The blue rings glowed more brightly, but aside from that, there was no movement.

"... Eon?" Andarien whispered, half-afraid.

Then, without warning, a black and blue blur burst from the shadowy darkness and slammed against the unprepared Ai. Without slowing - in fact, seeming to gain in speed, the creature whirled and lowered its head for a headbutt, feet blurring as it sped towards Ai once more.

Andarien was at a loss for words. He was just staring at Eon's new form, shocked at the transformation. Eon was now bigger than Ai, about a head taller, and much faster thanks to a few factors: his long, slim legs, the fact that he was a shiny pokemon, and - though Andarien didn't know it yet - because of the fact that it was night.

Eon was fighting on his own now, without Andarien's input, but after the morning's fight, he knew what to do. Without wavering, he kept his course, head down, and rammed directly into Ai as she ran into him. He was heavier than her, and it would affect her more than him, though it stopped him dead in his tracks. He didn't hesitate, though, but ran forward, bracing himself for another body slam.

Once again the two collided, and once again Eon's extra weight, size and speed helped his more powerful attack to be even more powerful. This time, he didn't stop when he hit Ai - the force from her wasn't enough to reflect back to him and make him stop, though it did slow him. Instead, the brunt of it was taken by Ai.

Despite the coldness of the night, Eon was sweating now - a poisonous sweat, unbeknownst to all. He was barely tired, just working hard. His evolution had given him new strength, just as Ai's evolution had done for her in the morning battle. Now he stood again and, as he waited for Ai to get up, once more summoned a Shadow Ball, whirling black shadows surrounded by purple sparks, and prepared to hurtle it towards Ai.

Eon closed his mouth, and the shadow ball vanished. He stood tall, black ears pointing towards the sky, his stance proud and majestic. Gone at last were the shadows.

But Eon wasn't quite finished yet. Earlier, Ai had tended to him; now it was his turn to help her out. He padded silently over to her and began to lick her gently. He could taste the poison on her. He wasn't sure where it had come from, though he knew it had to be from the battle. He lifted his face to the sky and, using one final 'attack' (though it wasn't offensive), he used his Heal Bell to make the sound of a tinkling bell and help to dispel Ai's poison.

River, Jess and Aranxia were looking at each other anxiously.

"Are they all right?" Aranxia inquired anxiously, stepping forward, careful not to touch the still-flaming Ponyta.

Andarien ran forward and knelt next to the two pokemon. He was also confused, and he wanted to find out what was going on.

"Eon, why did you use Heal Bell?" he asked, putting one hand on his pokemon's back.

Eon took a break from licking Ai and turned to look at Andarien. He explained in his own sounds that even though he didn't know how it had happened, Ai had been poisoned somehow.

Andarien blinked in surprise. "That's odd," he murmured. He looked over his shoulder at Miyuki and the others. "Eon says Ai was poisoned ... but none of them used poison attacks, and they don't know how it happened."

"And what does Heal Bell do then?" River asked curiously.

"Heals any status problems for anyone who hears it," Andarien replied, sounding as if he were quoting a textbook. "We should get them inside so they can rest."