Club: Eevee House (MA) Vs. 26

[The_Missing_Link]

Alright! I would like to enter Jewel for the Water Race.

Jewel
Staryu
Category: 1-30
Speed: 18

Two questions: when is the race and how does this work?

It basically works like the land and flying race in that the Pokemon have to run a certain distance and whoever is the fastest and/or most strategic wins (and if you want to send specific attacks to the ref, you have to do so before the race or during it). The different races depend on the prize, like the land race win was 2 levels and this time is an item from the Reward Center

The date of the race(s) depends on when the ref is free and/or how many participants are in each category


I will enter Lyra:

Lyra (female Wartortle)
Lv. 34
Speed: 65 (61-90)

[classy_cat18]

Thanks for the info. By the way, Jewel grew a level so I'll update the entry.

Shonta's POV

We were back at the House, relaxing outside. It was time for another meeting. "Okay, we have come to a little problem. My business at the Dragon Tamers has halted for now, so the adoptees will have to take a little vacation here until things pick up again." The adoptees hung their heads. "I'm thinking about going to Expedia soon, so I can pick two Pokemon to come with me. Beacon and...Cinder."

"Why those two?" Beaky said grumpily.

"Beacon will take a while to grow and Cinder..."

"I don't mind if I stay here. Beaky can take my place," Cinder interrupted.

"Actually, I wouldn't mind if Swoop comes with us," Beacon said. "I know she'll be causing some sort of trouble if she stays here."

I nodded. "Jewel, you have a race coming up! We can practice at the pool," I continued.

<Will my opponent be more challenging than my last?> she asked.

"I hope so," I whispered. "If you win, you can get something at the Reward Center. Probably some wicked TM." I turned to Beacon. "And I have something for you." I pulled out a box with a raindrop pattern. "It's a Rain Dance TM. Use this in battle and your electric attacks will be more powerful." I opened the box and poured the sparkling contents on her. "I don't want anyone complaining about the rain, so we can try it out later."

She smiled and nuzzled my arm. "Thanks!"

[The_Missing_Link]

<Aries's POV>

I was surprised at the response of my little joke. I wasn't exactly known for my comedy skills, that came from Nightshade. After looking at my subdued face, Nero's incessant laughing stopped and looked rather meek.
"So I really have to do this, huh?"
I gave a brief nod.
"All right. But one question. Do you think I should attempt this now, or should I work on something else first? I'm not quite sure how to start."
"Just begin to meditate like before. When you feel that your mind is clear enough, dig down into your psychic powers and bring them out. I'll know when you've tapped it and by then, thoughts or memories of mine will begin to start up. If you see any of them, memorize them and then after you can't see anymore, tell me what you saw."
Getting settled once more, Nero began his meditative state again. Within ten minutes, he was focused and I finally let some of my memories free, starting with my evolution as a teenage Eevee, the exhilaration running through my body as I changed into what I was today. I also sent out my tag team battle with Nightshade, a gruesome match with two Nuzleafs that were tough to beat, especially for Nightshade.
I sighed inwardly as I reluctantly released my last image...of Nave, my first love. Somehow, she just lost interest in me and coupled with her owner's decision to leave for a while, I've been alone without her. I tried to fight against the tears but one escaped and fell to the ground. Angrily blinking them away, I kept the thoughts going as I waited for Nero to tap his power.

[Wolfsong]

I'll make an actual post later for here. Right now, I'm going to sign up Jas for the water race.

Jasmine
Level 15 Female Mutant Winged Dratini
Knows: Wrap, Leer, Blizzard, Hidden Power Flying, Thunder Wave, Extremespeed, Surf, Supersonic, Aeroblast, Twister
Speed ( 29 )

[Crystalmaster Mike]

I'm going to enter Rays in the Water Race.

Rays
Level 7 Female Chinchou
Bubble, Thunder Wave, Supersonic, Thunderbolt
Speed: 18

[Angel Blossom]

I'll be entering my Lapras in the Water Race. ^_^

Aurora
Lapras (F) Lv. 9
Category - 1-30
Speed - 21

[classy_cat18]

Shonta's POV

I looked up at Beaky, upset about our recent defeat. "I'm sorry, Beaky. I should've checked out the stats before challenging that trainer. We'll win the next one."

He turned his back to me. "I didn't have a chance! You just dragged me in so that Espeon could get an easy win! Admit it!"

I felt my anger rise. "That's not true. You could've won if you were faster. We'll work on that."

"No, you won't! You're too busy with the adoptees! Me and the other captees mean nothing to you!" He puffed his feathers.

"That's going too far, pal!" Cinder shouted. "Shonta's busy with the Dragon Tamers, but it's not without good reason!"

Beaky took off towards the house. I plopped on the grass. "If I could only gather up the cash..." I scratched Cinder's head as he sat in my lap. "I could go there if there wasn't so much chaos going on. This is getting difficult. But I'm not giving up on you."

<Shonta, our training...> Jewel spoke up.

"Oh yeah. Let's get to the pool." I got up and followed Jewel. "Cinder, could you and Kawaii talk to Beaky for me?"

"Can do!" Cinder said cheerily. The two of them went inside the house. Swoop went after them after a few seconds of hovering.

Jewel bobbed in the pool while I fiddled around with my digital watch. "Okay, I got the stopwatch mode up. When I give you the word, step on the gas! Go!" Jewel jetted straight across the pool and back. For a first level she wasn't bad, but I heard that there were going to be Pokemon of higher levels in the race. "Okay, that was good. Just do a few laps by yourself."

Swoop's POV

Where did he go? I hopped around the Eevee House, looking among the crowds of Pokemon and their trainers. I finally found Kawaii and Cinder standing under a support beam that Beaky was perched on.

"Come on, Beaky!" Kawaii shouted. "You win some, you lose some!"

"Yeah! I lost my first battle, remember?" Cinder joined in.

I sighed and flew up to the beam, sitting next to Beaky. "You're so pathetic," I said calmly.

He leered at me. "How would you know? At least she's training you and the others. All I and the other captees can do is wait for someone to challenge us."

"I can see why. I mean, why would she want something like you? You have drab colors, stubby wings, and a personality that probably got yourself kicked out of the nest out of annoyance. I, on the other hand, am beautiful, powerful, graceful, and a perfect companion. I wouldn't be surprised if Shonta gave you to someone else the next day." I chuckled as a growl escaped from Beaky's throat.

"Why are you telling me this?" he growled.

"Because you probably don't believe a word I'm saying. I know Spearow. No matter what other birds say, they work hard to become stronger. When you evolve you'll be able to kick those Pidgey's butts. Until then, act like a Spearow and stay in your flock. You'll be torn apart if you fight alone." I flew off and landed on Shonta's shoulder.

"So how did it go?" Shonta asked me.

"Get him in a battle quick. The guy's pathetic!"

[Charizard04621]

Ancalagon the Black, the male Bagon’s POV:

Solitude… Silence… Peace. I stared over the hill’s edge, lying on my belly in the soft grass. The sun was beginning to inflame the sky with brilliant hues, flaming reds, oranges, and golds that burned in the heavens as if they were fire, and the clouds their smoke.

I sighed, twirling around a blade of grass with my claw. To my relief, I lay in the midst of some sweet-smelling flowers. Despite the utter turmoil of my soul, I felt calmed by the soothing fragrance. I closed my eyes to breathe in more. No other sense mattered.

For a moment, in the cool, dark silence, I thought I heard something over the whisper of the breeze… But in a flash it was gone, and I judged it to be a figment of my imagination. I continued to breathe deeply, gradually taking longer and longer breaths to calm myself. I had to focus… I had to think. But whatever I had heard earlier never gave me the chance.

Suddenly I felt something wrap around my face, something cottony and soft but thick. At first I thought it might have been some pollen from the flowers, but I couldn’t remove it, and I felt heaving breaths, so I could assume that it was alive. So here I was, blinded by I didn’t know what, unable to remove it from my face. This was my punishment, I guessed. But what did this thing want? What was it going to do…? For a fleeting moment my heart filled with fear, and the thought occurred to me that my mother had sent someone after me to kill me. But that didn’t make sense… There was only one way for me to find out what was going on.

“Who… who are you? What do you want?� I asked, my voice trembling slightly, although I attempted to mask my fear.

Giggling. “That’s no way to talk to a new team member.� A female voice.

Now I was confused. “Huh?�

“What’s your name?�

What a strange time to ask. “Um… Ancalagon the Black. Ancalagon for short.�

More giggling. “That’s still too short,� she said. “I’ll call you Cali.�

“What? No. No.�

“Cali.�

“Argh… Fine. You still haven’t answered my question.�

“What question?�

“Who are you? What do you want? …And would you mind uncovering my face?�

“Who am I, huh?� I sensed a mischievous tone in her voice. “Well, you’ll have to find that out for yourself. For now, I’ll just tell you that my name is Alqualin. As for what I want, I just wanted to introduce myself to everyone. I’ve already talked to all the others.�

“Uh… Okay. Um… Nice meeting you. Now would you please take your whatever-is-covering-my-face away so I can see?�

“No, actually, I think I’ll just sit here for a while. Watching a blind Bagon is funny.�

Great… Just great.

Ai’s POV:

It was so exciting to watch darling little Aiko try to take her first steps, but scary at the same time. What if she fell? What if she got hurt? I looked over at Dakota, who was anxious as well, but all we could do was watch. Aiko looked determined to walk, and I knew that she would try until she could do it. I let her keep going, but was prepared to step in if she was about to hurt herself by going too far.

Nero, the male Umbreon’s POV:

Even with Aries’s assurance, I was afraid. But I had asked him to help me, and he knew better than I did how we had to get about to stopping me from seeing unwonted images… So I put my trust in him and closed my eyes. If it took me a while to fall into a deep meditative trance, I did not notice. All I remembered was a gentle blackness… And then the world around me began to light up with color.

I saw an Eevee… I was the Eevee… At least, I felt his feelings. I became aware of an intense light… A great power… And I realized, as the evolution progressed, that I had felt this once before, back when I was younger. But I didn’t understand it then. It had happened to me too early… Now I felt the true meaning, the extent of Aries’s joy. Evolution was sacred.

The scene shifted, and now I returned to a spectator in the audience of a significant event. I was in a forest where the ground was untouched by light. The treetops were thick and drowned out the sun, and evil branches curled their claws inwards as if to grasp at unsuspecting victims and steal away their souls. I saw Aries fighting alongside Nightshade, battle-worn, in a tough situation. The Nuzleaf they were against seemed like tough opponents. After the pair finally claimed a decisive victory over the Rocket pokémon, I heaved a great sigh of relief. My lungs felt as if they were pierced by knives and about to explode… I just realized that I had stopped breathing for I didn’t know how long. My trance was abruptly interrupted, and the next image that I was supposed to see passed by in a flash. I could only sense some deep emotion, negative perhaps… And whether or not it was a figment of my imagination, I thought I saw an Umbreon, and she was definitely not Aries.

My POV:

I’d gotten some decent TMs this time, so I decided to do another round of giving. I went to Kalazeth first, because he was closer, practicing for the race in the pool with Elwing. When I handed him the TM, he blinked in surprise, but eagerly opened it. “It’s Rain Dance,� I told him. “It’ll help you a lot in your race, hopefully.� When he was done, he thanked me, then decided to try and test his new move. I left him with Elwing, who had known Rain Dance a while ago and was ready to teach him to use it.

Then I embarked on the more difficult task of finding Lune. I had seen him head outside earlier, but he was so good at slipping out of sight that you could never be sure where he was and when. To my relief, he was close by and repeatedly slashing at a stone, then healing his paws after. He looked a little startled when I came up from behind him, but then he stopped and regained his composure.

“I’ve got another TM for you,� I told him.

“Three in the course of a week?� He was surprised. “Am I being rewarded for something I did not do?�

I shook my head and smiled. “I’d just recently realized that I haven’t been paying as much attention to you as I was the others who wanted to evolve. I’ve really been concentrating on them and arranging more battles for them, especially Ryu and Elwing. It’s not really fair to you, and I’m sorry for that. I feel that I have to compensate you in some way.�

He shrugged. “It’s all right. I know how much time and effort you need to put into the others, Ryu especially. I’m quite all right on my own. A battle once in a while would be nice, when the opportunity arises, but you don’t have to go out of your way to find me a fight. I admit I’d enjoy more battles, but I can find other methods of training that work just as effectively and keep me occupied.�

“I’m glad you feel that way.� I kneeled down to face him. “I know you haven’t been feeling that great recently, and I’d like to help, but I know it’s up to you to sort things out on your own. I’m pretty sure this will be useful to you, though.� I produced the little TM box. “It’s Frustration.� He gave me a meaningful look and nodded before touching the box. A dark aura enveloped him, and when it was over, the box was gone.

“When you’re feeling lousy, it’ll help you take out your anger… You’ll feel calmer after using it. I hope this will be useful to you.�

“Thanks.�

Lune, the male Eevee’s POV:

I watched as Karin walked back inside the Eevee House. The power she had given me was priceless. Previously I had expressed my emotion in other ways, but it did not help. It had only made me gloomier, more frustrated.

I turned my attention to the rock I had been practicing on. Exhaling deeply, I fell into a berserk frenzy, ripping and tearing at the rock until my paws bled, and still continuing after. With every stroke I felt a part of my deep pain lift, slowly, but it did lift. It would take some time to heal my wounded heart, but this venting brought me slightly closer. I stopped and sighed, satisfied for now, gazing down at my bloody paws that glared raw under the dreadful rays of the fading sun. Closing my eyes, I took a gentle breath, and felt myself enveloped in a glowing light. The material pain from my injured body went away as my body healed itself, almost flawlessly, as if by magic. Thus replenished, I went inside the Eevee House to recover my strength. Magical as my new ability was, energy was necessary to keep it going. Recover was a tough move to maintain.

Kalazeth, the male Horsea’s POV:

Elwing and I were darting about the pool, chasing and racing each other when Karin came up and called to me. She had told us both earlier that we would be in the race, and now we were trying to prepare for it. I wondered what she wanted?

It turned out that she had a TM for me, which made me surprised. How wonderful! She told me that it was Rain Dance. If this was so, I would have a better chance of doing well in the race to come. After the TM had finished taking effect, I felt enriched with the knowledge of my new move. I just needed to perfect my technique beforehand. It would be embarrassing to arrive on the day of the race, only to find out that I couldn’t use my Rain Dance attack properly.

“Ooh, I can help you with that,� Elwing offered.

“Really? That would be swell.�

“Yup. I’ve shown it to Daddy before. I’m really quite good at it. At battling in general, actually, though Daddy and Uncle Blade are the best, of course. Battling is fun.�

“Yes, you’re actually good at a lot of things,� I told her, thoughtfully. “It isn’t just battling.� She smiled, flattered.

Élan, the *male* Unown’s POV:

I watched from afar as Switchblade searched for me all over the Eevee House. When I did not want to be found, I would not be found. Currently, the Porygon was at the pool, talking to Nimrodel. The Lapras had been one of the first members on Karin’s team, even before me. It was difficult to notice her, though; she never talked much. That was a pity, because she really was very nice once you got to know her. But that didn’t matter much anymore…

“Nimrodel, have you seen Élan?� I heard Switchblade inquire.

She shook her head no. “I haven’t seen him for some time,� she said, somewhat sadly. “Did Karin ever tell you anything about him?�

“No, she hasn’t said anything. Why, would she know something?�

Nimrodel sighed. “Do you remember Elendil? I miss him.�

Switchblade blinked, stopped to think for a minute, and then nodded his head. “Yes, I do, actually. He was nice, but then he got quiet and left to join another trainer’s team.�

The Lapras nodded. “I used to talk to him. We could… understand each other. He’d come to the pool and we’d just chat, you know? About things. You know me. You know that I don’t usually talk a lot… But Elendil and I, we got along nicely, I think. I looked forward to his visits every day. But one time, he just stopped coming. I remembered maybe noticing someone that looked like him here and there, but I was never sure.� She continued, sounding slightly hurt. “He never came to say goodbye, not to me, and not to any of us, I think. One day, suddenly, Karin just came and told us about his decision to leave the team. Do you remember?�

Switchblade nodded somberly. I was surprised at how serious he looked. The Porygon had really changed since the first time that we had met. I knew I would miss him… dearly. “I guess it was partly all our faults,� he admitted. “All our faults but yours. We never really talked to him, and we never really tried. I think you were his only friend, but still, because of the rest of us, he felt like he didn’t belong.�

“I don’t think anyone is at fault,� Nimrodel answered softly. Her eyes seemed to stare far away, back into a past that only she could see. “It’s just… pokémon change, and no one really is to blame. It just… happens. And it’s a very sad thing to happen, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t real. Time changes pokémon, and I guess… Those who drift apart… Were never really meant to be.�

I turned away, fading back into the dark corridor from where I had come. I had heard enough. For me, it wasn’t a matter of distance… It wasn’t a matter of belonging. But what difference did that truly make in the end? I would still be gone… No matter how much I loved all of them, it was my time to claim my destiny. Yes, I would miss them all dearly indeed.

[*Murkrow]

~Hannah~

I smiled and happily hugged the egg closer as I entered the Eevee House- I could tell that it was going to hatch sometime soon.
But first, there were a couple of things I wanted to get done, hopefully before my new captee emerged.
‘Hey, Deveus, can you do me a favour?’
I patted the head of the Houndoom as he cantered over, looking curious.
‘I’ve got this new egg that’ll be hatching soon, but I’ve got a few items that I want to give to some of my other Pokémon, so do you think you could look after it for a second until I come back? I promise that there’ll be something in it for you.’
He thought for a second then shrugged.
‘Sure, it’s not as if I’m doing much at the moment.’
‘Great, thanks Dev.’
I hugged him quickly before gently placing the egg at his feet.
Now all I needed to do was find my other Pokémon.

~Fizz~
I stretched my wings lazily as I surveyed the crowds below.
They looked like they might need some entertainment…and I knew where that could be found.
I chuckled quietly to myself, preparing to jump off the beam, when I noticed Hannah waving at me, motioning that I should come over.
That was weird.
I glided off the beam and swooped over to where she was standing.
‘What’s up? You’ve never called me over like this before.’
‘Nothing’s up, I just wanted to give this TM to you.’
She held out a small, feather shaped box.
‘It’s an Aerial Ace TM-you need some more moves, and this one’s a good place to start.’
‘Great….thanks!’
I happily perched on her shoulder as she broke the box open, briefly dousing me in light; instantly, I found I knew the attack.
‘You alright?’
‘Yeah!’
‘Ok then, I’ve got to rush-I’ve got a captee egg due to hatch any second now.’
She patted me briefly before rushing back off the way she came.
I returned to my beam, eyeing the crowd again-I wanted someone to help me test out my new move.

~Hannah~
One down, two to go.
Hurriedly looking round, I spotted Heat Wave lying relaxed on the floor, close to Zazar and Latino.
‘Hey, Heat Wave, I’ve got this for you! It’s an Eruption TM, I’ve been waiting for ages to get you it, and now, well, it’s yours.’
I placed the flame shaped box in front of her, gave her a quick hug then jumped back to my feet.
‘That ok with you?’
‘Yeah, thanks.’
‘Alright…bye, we’ll test it out later, ok?’
She nodded and I dashed back into the crowd, looking for Pock.
There, by the window with Si.
I ran over, pulling the earring from my pocket as I went.
‘Hi guys, Pock, this is for you-it’s a Pokémon Earring, it’ll raise your special attacks by 50%. Now, I’ve got to rush, so enjoy it.’
Quickly, I attached the earring to Pocks ear, heard his stuttered thanks, then I dashed back over to the corner where I’d left Deveus and the egg-hopefully it hadn’t hatched while I was gone. I spotted him-with Caelest crouching by his side, and to my relief, I saw that the egg hadn’t hatched yet, but it was obviously close-the shell was pulsing slightly, while inside small scratches could be heard.
‘Thanks, Dev…and as promised.’
I reached into my bag and pulled out a small, red box, which I fixed gently round Deveus’ neck.
‘These Matches will raise your speed by x2, so they should help you out in battle. ’
His eyes widened in surprise.
‘Wow, thanks.’
He flicked his tail happily, when Caelest let out a squeal.
‘It’s hatching!’
I glanced down, just as the egg shone, then disintegrated, leaving the small Pokémon slumped on the floor.
‘Awww, it’s ok, Ryua.’
I bent down and scooped her up.
‘Ryua, is that her name?’
‘Yes’
‘Cute Pidgey’
Deveus nudged her gently as Ryua scanned the surroundings.
‘Welcome to the team…er’
He jumped back as Ryua suddenly pulled free from my arms, flapping her wings desperately…and promptly fell straight to the floor.
Quickly, I bent down to comfort her, but she just pulled away.

~Ryua~
Looking up, I could see others of my kind and many other flying Pokémon perched on the rafters that stretched across the roof of this place.
I wanted to be up there with them.
I took a deep breath and began flapping my wings again..harder..and harder…..but nothing.
What was going on? Why couldn’t I fly?
I took another breath and tried again.
Nothing.
Fighting back tears, I looked up at my new trainer and her two Pokémon.
One of them-a purple Wurmple crawled closer to me.
‘Don’t worry about that-you’re too young to really be able to fly properly yet.’
‘What? Why? I want to fly now.’
‘But you’re too young and too small….but if you want, when I evolve, by then you should be ready to learn, so I could help.’
‘Really?’
She grinned and nodded.
‘Well….thanks.’
I looked round.
‘Where are we?’
‘The Eevee House-I could show you around if you want.’
‘Hang on a second….I bought this in advance for you, Ryua’
I glanced at my trainer as she held out a cube shaped box to me.
‘It’s a Double-Edge TM.’
‘Woah..thanks.’
I tapped the box with my beak, activating it; once it was finished, the Houndoom walked over, picked me up and dropped me gently on his back.
‘Ready?’
‘Yeah!’
I happily flapped onto his head and held on as he ran off into the crowds.

~Hannah~
‘Thanks for that, Caelest.’
‘No problem.’
She scampered up onto my shoulder, then sighed.
‘Though I do need to evolve first.’

[classy_cat18]

Beaky's POV

"Man, I'll never get a chance!" I flapped my wings in frustration. I squawked as loudly as I could, making a few heads turn. "And that Taillow..." My thoughts went to when she boasted of being better than me. But her wings, her feathers, she was perfect.

"What am I thinking!?!" I said in disbelief, shaking my head free of her image. There she was, across from me. "Swoop! Hey, Swoop!" I squawked at her.

The Taillow looked at me and blinked. "Who's Swoop? I'm Fizz. Remember me? My friend attacked your Mareep friend earlier."

I hung my head. "Yeah, I remember you. I just thought you were one of my teammates." I looked down and saw that Kawaii and Cinder were still below me. "Maybe they know where she is."

Kawaii's POV

"That bird is not coming down," I grumbled.

"Yeah, but at least he's not tearing up the place," Cinder said hopefully. He sighed. "So, what are we going to do now?"

I rocked my head from side to side. "I got it!" I concentrated on Cinder's body and cleared my mind of all thoughts.

"Why are you staring at me?" Cinder said shakily. His body started to glow and he was lifted two feet in the air. "Let me go, Kawaii! I know you're doing this!"

"No way! I'm having a blast! So let's just practice my, I mean our, attacks." I chuckled as I made him flip over and over.

"Hey guys!" Beaky yelled out. I lost my concentration and dropped Cinder. On his head. Beaky landed in front of me. "Where did Swoop go?"

I shook my head. "Swoop? If she's not with Shonta by the pool, they probably went off again." A thought came to me, and a smirk appeared on my face. "Why are you looking for Swoop all of a sudden?"

"I was just...getting her back for mocking me!" My bluff didn't work, though. My face got hot.

"Is he blushing?" Cinder asked, amusement in his voice.

"He is!" I yelled happily. "Someone finally broke through that tough shell!" I lowered my head and nuzzled Beaky's cheek.

"Cut it out!" he groaned. He started to growl, and I lifted my head. "So what was with the Amazing Flying Cyndaquil?"

"We were practicing, but we can do that later. I bet you're hungry."

[Wolfsong]

(Amy's POV)

I smiled as Tiana and I made our way back to the Eevee House from the battle tower. She had asked me the other day to help her reach her goal of getting to L.10 like Zale. She was willing to do her best and do her part so i couldn't refuse. She proved it too somehow winning four battles in a row. Her training must have been helping somewhat becuase she somehow managed to pull off two critical hits in two different battles that were only a day apart. "Tiana?" "What?" she asked, her forked tail swaying back and forth as we walked. "You do know that you get a TM for reaching L.10 right?" She blinked and shook her head. "Yeah, but i forgot. Can't believe i did that. So what TM am I getting?" she sked excitedly. "I thought that the move Calm Mind might help. Also, it can help you with your move set. I'll give it to you when we get inside. I also have another TM that I bought for you. At that point, words were useless as she spotted the Eevee House and Raced ahead. She was waiting for me at the door, and as soon as we entered she sat down. I placed my backpack on the floor and first gave her her free TM. As the powder disappeared, she went in som sort of trance but it only lasted for a couple of second, and she was back to her bouncy self. "I also bought you an iron tail TM. I thought you might enjoy it." I once mroe sprinkled the powder over her. As the last traces faded away, her tail glowed a metallic silvery color for a few seconds before returning to normal. "You might have to practice that for a bit before you can actually get it to turn out decent though." Tiana nodded before running off to find Nightshade for her lesson.

I went to find Lani next. She was lying down looking for signs of Huan. She had already gotten her free L.10 TM. I had chosen overheat for her as she had a natural flare for fire moves. Her type was not only fire but her hidden power as well. "Hey Lani." She looked up and smiled. "I bought you a dragonbreath TM. I saw it and though that you might enjoy it. She nodded her head in agreement, before somethign caught her eye. I turned my head and saw that it was Huan. He hadn't spotted Lani yet, so i hurried up and sprinkled her with the TM powder. Soon as i had finished sprinklin her with the power, and she knew that she now knew how to use dragonbreath, she ran off and pounced on Huan and tickled him. I laughed when he eventually ended up on top and began to tickle her.

I took a deep breath, before grabbing a pokeball off of my belt. Once i had it in my hand, I enlarged the hyper ball and released my new chikorita. "Willow, you can come out now." He emerged and immediately turned his back to me. I sighed. "It's all right." I said, reaching for him but he stepped away. "Well, you can be that way, but i have a few things for you." He turned his head to look at me, but avoided looking me in the eyes. "I got you a four leaf clover and a TM. The TM is leaf blade." At that point he allowed me to get close enough to give him his TM and then he stepped away again. "I hope one day we can be friends." I told him, meaning everything that I said. "I'll leave the clover lying here so you can get it when you want to. But if you're not careful anohter pokemon could get it." With that said, I got up and walked away. I watched him out of the corner of my eye. He waited until I was far enough away that i couldn't of reached him even if i had tried. Then he picked up the clover and placed it around his neck.

I went off to find Blazer next. He shouldn't be too hard to find. He was the only black and silver one around. I decided to check the back yard first and sure enough, thats where he was. I watched him practice on the moving targets that were set up. Finally, i approached him. "Blazer I got somethign for you. Well, two somethings actually." "What?" "A slash TM and an aerial ace TM." "Nice, but how? Wait, never mind I forgot that you can use stamps again. Sorry?" "Yeah, I know. It seems so weird after not being able to for so long but still. I wanted to get you something since i havne't been able to get you anything in a while." He nodded and placed his huge head on my shoulder as if saying thanks with out actually speaking. I scratched the fur between his ears, before pulling out the tms. After i had given them to him, he began to practice again. This time trying out his new moves. I picked up the vulpix and carried her inside.

(Lani's POV)

I had been looking for Huan when Amy showed up. She had a tm for me and right before she gave it to me, I spotted Huan. I grinned when I realized that he hadn't seen me. Amy picking up on my eagerness, hurriedly gave the the TM. I hurriedly, but silently ran up behind Huan and pounced on him. The look on his face was priceless as i began to tickle him. "Miss me?" I asked. I sure missed you?" He quickly flipped me over and began to tickle me back. I was laughing, but i was happy too.

(Willow's POV)

I felt myself being released. I didn't want to be captured anyway, much less my someone stupid enough to trip over a tangela. My new trainer didn't seem too perturbed at my attitude. In fact, she had even gotten me a few items. I allowed her to give me the tm before i put distance between us again. She sighed, and walked off. If she proved to be a competetant trainer things might change otherwise i would be happy being a thorn in her side so to speak. I wouldn't go as far as throwing a battle but i had some ideas to test her.

(Tiana's POV)

I was in a good mood. I think my lessons were finally starting to pay off and Amy had even given me a TM that might help. I couldn't wait. My mind strayed to Zale once on the way to look for Nightshade, but i didn't let it stop me. I think that thay had been helping me as i had won four battle in a row. It didn't take me as long to find him as I thought it would. "Hi!" I said cheerfully. I was in a really really good mood.

[classy_cat18]

Beaky's POV

"Okay, first is the Stomp attack!" Kawaii shouted. She turned around so that her back was facing the tree and kicked it as hard as she could. I shook my head as an acorn fell on my head. "Of course, there's the two-foot Stomp and the four-foot Stomp."

"I shouldn't be asking this, but how do you do the four-foot Stomp?" Cinder asked.

Kawaii gave an evil smirk and trotted a few steps from us. "Like this!" She crouched and rocketed high in the air. Cinder panicked a few seconds and ran behind me just in time to see Kawaii land where he once stood. Dirt flew up in the air. "I'm still working on how to do Astonish."

"I hope she never finds out," Cinder whispered to me.

"How about Future Sight?" I asked. Cinder furiously shook his head while mouthing "no".

Kawaii smiled sweetly and lowered her head to my level. For a moment her eyes turned a nice blue color then went back to their normal brown. "That's how I do it."

Cinder pushed me aside. "That's it!?! Not much to it."

"I should go airborne right now," I muttered. I took off and watched a huge orb appear far off and go straight for Cinder, who ducked so the orb could go right over him. "I knew it was called Future Sight for some reason." I continued hovering and watched the crowd of Pokemon. Someone caught my eye -- a shiny Espeon. I felt my temperature go through the roof.

"Is there something wrong?" Kawaii asked.

She dare show her face around here! I took off and charged straight for the Espeon. "You're mine, Miss Cheapshot!" I growled. She looked up, her eyes widened. I was almost there...

"No, Beaky!" Kawaii cried. My body froze in midair, just a few inches from her. "Stop this!"

"She took advantage of me, the cheat!" I growled as I struggled to free myself from Kawaii's psychic grasp. "I want a rematch!"

"Are you crazy!?! If you couldn't beat her then, you definitely can't beat her now!" Cinder told me.

A Kadabra stood nearby, leering at me. I didn't care; I wanted a rematch. "Cinder, help me out! I can't hold on to him much longer!" Kawaii grunted. "Beaky, calm down or I will have to knock you out. Try counting to ten."

[Wolfsong]

(Tiana's POV)

No sooner had I called out "Hi!" to Nightshade than I head an angry voice shout at me. "You're mine, Miss Cheapshot!" I looked up and it was the Spearow I had battled the other day and he was flying straight at me. My eyes widened and I froze. He was close to me, and from the look on his face whatever he did when he reached me wasn't going to me good. MY good mood went bye bye at that moment. "No Beaky! Stop this!" I heard a voice shout as if it came from far away, and the spearow was frozen in place just inches above my face. "She took advantage of me, the cheat!" My heart sank I didn't cheat. I started crying and took off running. I know i ran past the pool, and i saw a spot between a chair and the corner of the room, and I dove in and just started crying. I hadn't done anything wrong. I had been looking forward to my lesson, but now i just wanted to be alone.

(Zale's POV)

I was working on my surf when I saw Amy return. I tried not to pay much attention to them, becuase I was having my own difficulties. For some reason, everytime that i got the wave halfway built, it crashed. I would groan, and try it again. I had almost succeeded in actually pulling off the manuever, when I saw Tiana run past clearly upset, and once more the wave collapsed and I fell into the pool in a very nongraceful way. I looked over at Lyra who had also seen Tiana run past. "Can I please see about my sister?" I asked. I knew my lessons were important btu something just didn't seem right. Lyra frowned, but nodded, and i climbed out of the pool and hurried off to find my sister. I heard her long before i found her and she was crying. I walked up to the hiding spot she had found. "Tiana whats wrong."I don't want to talk about it." "Come on Sis, we're here for each other right." "Zale, just go away please." I wasn't giving up. Tiana was clearly upset about something. "Come on, you can tell me." "I said LEAVE ME ALONE!" she shouted, her gem glowing. "Yikes!" was all I could get out before I was sent flying across the room and slammed into Nightshade. I saw Lyra watching me as I sailed past. "Sorry." I apologized, as I climbed to me feet. Man, i didn't realize Tiana could perform such a strong move. "What's wrong with my sis?" I asked him. "I tried to find out but she sent me hurtling all the way across the room into you somehow." It was only then that i noticed the spearow in mid air struggling. Whatever happened didn't seem to be over just yet.

[classy_cat18]

Kawaii's POV

The Espeon's eyes filled up with tears and ran off crying. This has gone too far! "Beaky, get ahold of yourself! You lost and that's it! It's no reason to take it out on her!"

"Let me go!" he repeated.

"I guess there's no choice." I flipped him upside down and banged his head on the ground until he clocked out. I slowly set him down on the grass.

The Kadabra glared at the unconcious Beaky. "What was the problem?"

Cinder poked my leg until I looked down. "Um, Kawaii? There's someone else who wants an explanation." He pointed to a Shiny Vaporeon.

"What happened to my sister?" he growled at me, glancing at Beaky. I stood over him.

"Well, Beaky lost to her the other day and he took it pretty hard. See, that was his first battle and he was really psyched. We don't get challenges very often." I looked down at the ground. "It only took two hits. He's been like this ever since. I can't really apologize for him, so your sister will have to wait until he comes to."

"And takes two aspirin," Cinder added.

"To add to it, a good friend of his is off somewhere. She may be the only one who can cool him down. By the way, my name's Kawaii and this is Cinder." I gave a nervous laugh. He didn't seem to soften any.

[The_Missing_Link]

<Aries's POV>

"Now, what did you see?" I asked, breaking Nero from his trance.
"umm...I saw you evolve into an Umbreon and you were looking very happy. Then I saw you and Nightshade battling two Nuzleafs and finally, I had a tiny glimpse of a female Umbreon, who looked different from most. Who was she?"
I looked down and inwardly sighed. I'd rather have him know now than invade my memories by accident one day.
"Her name was Nave," I began. "She belonged to a trainer named Steve and she used to be in the house almost everyday a year or two ago. I thought she was the most beautiful thing in the world and couldn't stop thinking about her. Eventually, I learned she felt the same way about me and we became a couple. Everything was great for a while but then her trainer started to come less and less and when she did come, she spent less time with me. What really got me though is that when she finally had a kid, she didn't have it with me." I laughed bitterly. "I can't really be angry with her that much about it since I had my own offspring with someone else but by then, I barely saw anything of her and I wanted a child so bad."
I unsheathed my claws and raked the floor angrily.
"Now I can't even see my son," I spat. "If trainers know that they can't be around the house anymore and their Pokemon have family here, they should at least be considerate and leave them in someone else's care. At least then they'll grow up knowing whether they had a family or not."
I got up abruptly and started walking towards the back door.
"I think we're done for today. If you need me, I'll be outside griping about my love life."

<Nightshade's POV>

The break over, Tiana rushed back to me, all flushed and excited.
"Hi!" she said happily.
Just then, a Spearow came diving down and almost struck Tiana but a Girafarig hurriedly stopped him. The Spearow then accused Tiana of cheating in a battle and apparently hurt, she ran away towards a small space in the corner of the room. The Girafarig started to argue with the Spearow and then knocked him unconscious with her psychic powers.
"What was the problem?" I asked, half angry, half incredulous.
They didn't answer me but talked to Zale, who heard the commotion and came over, mad as could be.
"Well, Beaky lost to her the other day and he took it pretty hard. See, that was his first battle and he was really psyched. We don't get challenges very often." She looked down at the ground. "It only took two hits. He's been like this ever since. I can't really apologize for him, so your sister will have to wait until he comes to."
"And takes two aspirin," a Cyndaquil added.
"To add to it, a good friend of his is off somewhere. She may be the only one who can cool him down. By the way, my name's Kawaii and this is Cinder."
It looked like Zale wasn't satisfied and I wouldn't have been either but I decided to intervene.
"Look Zale, nothing will be accomplished if we all stand around so you go over to your sister and cheer her up a bit. I'll talk to Lyra for you if you want. How about it?"
He glared at Beaky but nodded and went over to his sister.
"Now, who is the friend of Beaky?"
"A female Taillow named Swoop. We have no idea where she is," Cinder lamented.
"Guess I'll have to send a psychic message. If Swoop is in the vicinity of the house and at least a mile beyond it, she'll hear it."
They nodded eagerly as I closed my eyes and sent out the message.
Swoop, you may not know me but I have a message from Kawaii and Cinder. Beaky has gotten himself into trouble and if you're not there to set things right, me and a colleague of mine will and I can assure you that it will not be pretty.
I opened them to find Kawaii glaring at me.
"I couldn't hear what you said but I could tell it was mean."
"No one messes with my pupil or my friends, no matter the situation," I told them grimly. "And don't try to argue with me further because you really don't want to."
I walked a few feet away from the both of them to talk to Lyra.
<Lyra? Please forgive Zale for running away from his lessons again. Tiana isn't in a good mood right now and she needs cheering up,> I said telepathically.
<And why can't her uncle help her out?> she said, irritated.
I looked over at Nero and saw him laying down with his head on his paws, looking just as bad as Tiana.
<Because it seems he's in the same mood as Tiana. Please Lyra, don't reprimand Zale again. He's a good kid, you know that.>
She sighed resignedly. <I know. Thanks for telling me.>
<No problem.>
So many problems today, I thought to myself as I walked over to Nero.
"What's wrong with you?"
He sighed. "Aries gave me memories to decipher and one was of this female Umbreon that he once loved, Nave I believe. When I asked who she was, he started to explain but I guess I struck a hidden nerve and he became mad. He left a few minutes ago to go outside, feeling depressed."
He looked up at me, tears in his eyes. I stepped back, forgetting that Nero was still young and not the adult I usually thought he was.
"I shouldn't have asked, Nightshade. Now I'm afraid Aries won't teach me anymore."
"Nonsense," I replied. "Recovering bad memories may leave you down for a while but then you realize what's done is done and you can't change the past, no matter how hard you try. Aries will be back soon, I promise."

[classy_cat18]

Kawaii's POV

"Swoop's around here, right? Tell me she's still around!" Cinder whispered frantically.

I shook my head. "Neither are the other adoptees. The good thing is that the Kadabra doesn't know that yet. So..." I picked Beaky up by one of his legs and switched to my telepathy. <We'll have to hide him. No one messes with my friends either! What Beaky did ws typical Spearow behavior, is all. Part of him is still wild; he hasn't spent enough time with Shonta. So I'm defending him as best as I can!> I walked off towards the inside of the house with Cinder following me.

"What if Beaky comes to and still wants to go after that Espeon?" Cinder asked me.

<If my guess is right, Beaky will be thinking of nothing more than the lumps on his head when he wakes up. Those Pokemon will have to face it. Beaky was just having a temper tantrum.> Beaky gave out a groan. <Don't worry, buddy. I'll protect you.>

"Do I have to protect him, too? I can't do a lot, you know."

"If you want to see the day you evolve into a Quilava, you will." I stopped at another room and lay in a corner. "Cinder, guard the door. If anyone suspicious comes, tell me."

"Sheesh, you're some big sister!"

[Wolfsong]

(Zale's POV)

I wasn't pleased at all. In fact, i was about as angry as before, if not more so. The air around me crackled with electricity*, showing my displeasure. This was all becuase Tiana had won against him in a battle. Talk about bein a sore loser, and now my sis was upset.

"Look Zale, nothing will be accomplished if we all stand around so you go over to your sister and cheer her up a bit. I'll talk to Lyra for you if you want. How about it?"

I glared at the unconscious spearow. It was a good thing that he was already unconscious because i probably would have shocked him into it for messing with my sister. I turned and looked at Nightshade before nodding and heading back to where Tiana was.

I could still her her crying before i reached her hiding spot. "Come on Tiana. Its okay. I heard about what happened." Her crying slowed enough that she spoke. "Then you're... not mad at me..." "Of course not. Why would i be?" "He said... I... cheated." At which point her crying intensified, and making me use every ounce of restraint i had not to go and show that spearow a piece of my mind. "Why did he say that?" "I think... cause i won." "You didn't have any super effective attacks did you?" "No." Her crying was startign to slow down now. I even had my status dice with me, and I didn't even use it. I could have and given him a status condition but i didn't cause i wanted to be fair." "Then its obvious you didn't cheat." "Really?" Her crying had finally stopped. "I think he's just a sore loser. Why don't you come out of there?" "I don't want to. What if he comes after me again?" "If hes around when i am I won't let him. If he does and I'm having lessons or somethign just come and tell me and i'm sure we can get someone to keep him from messing with you." "All right," she said, slowly inching out from the spot. Her eyes were red and swollen. I gave her a gentle nuzzle. "I heard you reached level ten. So what TM did you get?" I asked her. Now that Tiana was feeling better, I was too.

* = Zale's hidden power is the electric type

[classy_cat18]

Kawaii’s POV

I laid my head down and watched Beaky carefully. He was starting to come to, and that was both a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing was that, well, Beaky wasn’t in a coma. The bad thing was that as soon as that Vaporeon finds out that he’s awake, he’s going to want an apology for his sister. Beaky may not want to give her one.

Beaky’s eyes finally cracked open. “What…� he groaned. He took one good look at me and rubbed his head with a wing. “Ow! What was the meaning of that?� he growled.

I lifted my head, only half-surprised of his reaction. “Of what? My knocking you unconscious or my saving your butt? I hope you know that you were in danger of being grounded by two Pokemon, or more. You need to control that temper of yours at least a little bit!�

He looked down. “I lost! It was my first battle and I lost! Do you know how important a first battle is? It wasn’t even a battle; I was taken down in no time.�

Cinder looked back at us. “I know how you feel, buddy. My battle just dragged on and on as my energy was taken away from me. If I could rewind time, I would just decline that challenge.�

“Sometimes I think that the only thing that matters is how fast you are,� I said.

Beaky groaned. “I was a total jerk for taking my anger out on that Espeon. I’ll talk to her; where is she?�

I froze; he was going to apologize! We didn’t even need Swoop! Cinder peeked out the door and smiled. “She and her brother are just down the hall! Do your stuff!�

He took a deep breath and flew out of the room, straight for the two ‘eons. I slowly got up and stood behind Cinder as we peeked out of the door. Just don’t die out there, buddy.

Beaky’s POV

I approached them in confidence, knowing that I had to say something sooner or later. The Espeon froze as I landed in front of her and her brother.

“Listen, I have something to say to you. I’m sorry I acted like a hot-headed sore loser.� I stopped the Vaporeon from saying anything and continued. “I know you’re not a cheat, but I hope you didn’t get too happy over that little win. You shouldn’t expect much from a weak little Spearow like me.�

“Excuse me?� the Vaporeon asked in a voice of different emotions.

“That was my apology. If you want mushiness, find a Pidgey.�

“Are you insulting us?� the Vaporeon asked angrily.

“No, I’m trying to get a point across. I’m trying to say next time, find a bigger challenge. You’ll feel much better when you win and the loser won’t feel as bad. Like I said, I’m a hopeless little Spearow that probably will be knocked around by other Pokemon even after I evolve. I have crummy stats, you know, and my moveset’s the worst. But you’re an Espeon, for crying out loud! You can talk the talk and walk the walk! I’m just all beak. I know you find better opponents than me.� I took a deep breath. “Sorry, I’ve been holding it in for a while. So, do you accept my apology or not?�

The Espeon hesitated before answering. “I guess.�

“You’re strong; you know it and I do too. I’m not even going to ask for a rematch; you’re just going to beat me again. In fact, I’m going to advise my trainer to avoid matching me up with Psychic types altogether. It was one that got me in a pokeball and brought me here in the first place. I’m a misfit, a part of a misfit team. Heck, my trainer’s a misfit! An overoptimistic misfit. But you know what? I couldn’t ask for better teammates.� I stepped forward and extended a wing toward the Espeon. “We don’t have to be friends. Just stop thinking of me as the biggest jerk that ever hatched out of an egg.� I turned around and went back to Kawaii and Cinder.

“How do you think it went?� Kawaii asked eagerly.

I sighed. “I’ll find out soon.�

[Wolfsong]

(Tiana's POV)

I smiled up at Zale i was lucky to have him as a brother. "Thanks." I whispered to him. I had finally stopped crying completely and was about to answer Zale's question when that spearow showed up again. I froze not knowing if i was gonna get attacked or not. Zale stiffened up too.

He began talking. “Listen, I have something to say to you. I’m sorry I acted like a hot-headed sore loser.� Zale looked like he was going to say somethign but didn't get the chance as the spearow began talking again. “I know you’re not a cheat, but I hope you didn’t get too happy over that little win. You shouldn’t expect much from a weak little Spearow like me.� I was still a bit frazzled over the whole thing, but Zale seemed to be confused as well.

“Excuse me?� he asked. “That was my apology. If you want mushiness, find a Pidgey.� “Are you insulting us?� Zale asked angrily.

"No, I’m trying to get a point across. I’m trying to say next time, find a bigger challenge. You’ll feel much better when you win and the loser won’t feel as bad. Like I said, I’m a hopeless little Spearow that probably will be knocked around by other Pokemon even after I evolve. I have crummy stats, you know, and my moveset’s the worst. But you’re an Espeon, for crying out loud! You can talk the talk and walk the walk! I’m just all beak. I know you find better opponents than me. Sorry, I’ve been holding it in for a while. So, do you accept my apology or not?�

I waited a bit before answering, I still wasn't sure that I coul completely trust my voice just yet. “I guess.� I finally answered

“You’re strong; you know it and I do too. I’m not even going to ask for a rematch; you’re just going to beat me again. In fact, I’m going to advise my trainer to avoid matching me up with Psychic types altogether. It was one that got me in a pokeball and brought me here in the first place. I’m a misfit, a part of a misfit team. Heck, my trainer’s a misfit! An overoptimistic misfit. But you know what? I couldn’t ask for better teammates. We don’t have to be friends. Just stop thinking of me as the biggest jerk that ever hatched out of an egg.� the spearow said before walking over to a girafarig and a cyndaquil.

I was confused. I wasn't near as strong as Zale or my other teammates. In fact, I still looked like a midget next to Zale. I just got lucky, thats all. "Are you going to be okay?" "Yeah." In fact, I was already feeling like my normal self. The only evidence of the earlier problems, were my red, swollen eyes, and they'd eventually be back to normal. "I have something I want to do first. Then i'm gonna try and attempt my lessons again. Anyway, the TM Amy gave me for reaching L.10 was Calm Mind.

Zale nodded before walking off over to the pool. He was a little nervous, half expecting to get in trouble I could tell from the way he moved. I hoped he wouldn't be. I took a deep breath and walked over to the Spearow, Girafarig, and Cyndaquil. Looking at the Spearow. "Its okay, I can't really stay upset for long," i told him while thinking and concentratiing as well. "Anyway, My name is Tiana." They told me their names. "Nice to meet you, but i have to go. I need to get to my lesson."

With that, I ran off to find Nightshade. I saw him talking to Uncle Nero. I waited in the distance till they were through talking before I approached. I was a little nervous as i wasn't sure what Nightshade's reaction was going to be.

[classy_cat18]

Jewel just got to level 9 so her speed went up to 25. Just wanted to tell you that.

Kawaii's POV

"She sure is nice. Good thing she doesn't hold a grudge like you," Cinder sneered at Beaky.

Beaky ruffled his feathers. "Watch it. I would like to see what you'll do when you find that Lotad that so beat your butt."

"I'll beat him, of course," I said proudly. I watched Tiana go off for lessons and felt an empty spot or a hole. Something about her made me long for something. I hung my head and whimpered softly.

"What is your problem?" Cinder asked me.

I shook my head. "Nothing. Just had a feeling. We better go apologize to that Kadabra, Beaky." He flew up to my head and we both started walking over there.

"So what happened? Are you getting homesick or something?" Beaky asked me as we went outside and passed the pool.

"I think I'm starting to remember something, but I'm not sure what. I don't really remember a lot about my past. I remember my mom, but not my dad. I remember being in the North Caverns, but I don't remember how I got there. I just have bits and pieces of my memory."

Beaky bent down and looked in one of my eyes. "Are you saying you have amnesia?"

"I'm not sure." We found Tiana and the Kadabra. The Kadabra glanced at Beaky and narrowed his eyes. "Go on, Beaky."

Beaky bowed. "I'm sorry I attacked your student."

I looked in the Kadabra's eyes and got another feeling, stronger this time. My head swam with thoughts and voices. What's happening? I looked down at Beaky and his clones...what?

"Do ya need to lay down or something, Kawaii?" the three Beakys asked in a worried voice.

I waited until two of the Beakys disappeared. "I just need a rest. Go back to Cinder or something; I need to be alone for a while," I groaned with a smile. I stumbled away from the group and found a shady spot to lay down. "What's going on?" I closed my eyes for a second.

"Someone help me," a shadowy figure groaned. He shifted in his miserable cage, and a light shone in the darkness in the shape of a star. It lit up his face, a black Kadabra with red eyes.

"Papa..." I whispered. I leaned against a tree and felt everything go cold and quiet.

[*Murkrow]

~Hannah~

I took a deep breath and slowly made my way slowly over to the swimming pool, full to the brim with Pokémon, glancing round for one of my own.
He spotted me before I did, and came tearing over, smiling.
‘Hi! Have you got Pearl with you? I know you took her away a while ago, but is she going to be back now?’
‘Well, yes, in a way, but…-sorry, Kai-but she evolved while she was away, and it’s really affected her.’
His eyes widened in surprise, and his smile faded.
‘Affected her? How?’
I bit my lip and pulled her Poké Ball from my belt.
‘Here, see for yourself….oh, and she’s not called Pearl anymore-her name’s Fera.’’

~Kaiko~

Fera?
That didn’t sound like the sort of name that’d suit Pearl normally.
My heart began to pound as I watched her ball open, and the bright light spill out. It condensed…and she was a Huntail.
I gulped and automatically took a step back.
Her powerful tail sawed through the water, and she hissed threateningly at us, neck swaying slowly from side to side.
I half-glanced at Hannah, but she wasn’t doing anything, so I took a deep breath and stepped forward.
‘Pearl? Fera? It’s me, Kai. Um, congratulations on your evolution.’

~Fera~

Something was speaking.
I saw a flash of blue step in front of me; a Mudkip. He seemed familiar, and was acting as though he knew me.
Stuff that.
I hissed again, twisting my head to get a better view of him-he stopped, looking worried.
Good.
Then I struck, lunging forward, grabbing him and dragging him into the water. He squealed and struggled; I let him go, then pounced again.
Nothing.
I looked up and saw him, dangling in the air above me, tightly gripped in the mouth of that bothersome Tropius.
I snarled at her, then noticed my trainer holding out something towards me.

~Tropitorm~

Once the Pearl-Huntail was safely back in her Poké Ball, I relaxed and let Kai drop to the ground, then turned away, pausing as I went past my trainer, and hissed in her ear.
‘You evolved her.’

~Hannah~

I knelt down and gently patted Kai on the head.
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t know that she’d change so much when she evolved-if I had, I wouldn’t have evolved her.’
‘I guess so-but why’d she change so much just because she evolved? I don’t want to end up like that.’
He shuddered, then turned away from the pool and stumbled away, after Tropitorm, as fast as he could.
I watched him go and sighed, but before I could do anything, Ryua came hopping across to me and jumped into my arms, and frantically pointed over to where a group of my captees where gathered around something.
‘Who’s that? She says she’s Caelest, but she’s not! But she sounds like her, and she knows me! Who is she?’
‘That’s still Caelest, Ry, she’s just evolved, that’s all. She’s now a Silcoon instead of a Wurmple-and in a few levels she’ll be a Beautifly, which means that she can get around to teaching you to fly.’
She froze and her eyes widened.
‘Fly? Wow…bye.’
‘Hang on a second! Here, take this, it’s a Berry, that’ll restore some of your health in a battle.’
‘Wow! Thanks!’
She flapped her wings happily, then jumped from my arms and went skidding back across the room, shrieking excitedly.
‘Caelest! Caelest! Fly!’
I chuckled slightly, then got to my feet and headed over to my usual corner.

[classy_cat18]

Shonta's POV

"Tell me again why you wanted me to come back here. I thought you wanted to train!" I told Swoop, who was circling high overhead.

She landed on my shoulder. "I just have a bad feeling. Beaky didn't look too good when we left. What if he's in trouble?"

Cinder spotted us and ran over. "Nice to see you! I thought you were training for the Unicorn Games."

"We were," I said. "But Swoop had a bad feeling about Beaky."

"Your feeling was pretty good, because he did get into a little trouble." He looked down at the ground and gave a nervous chuckle.

"Define 'little'."

"He attacked that Espeon that kicked his butt. But Kawaii got him out of trouble!" he added quickly. "He apologized, so don't worry."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm starting to worry about you guys. Should I even continue to train the adoptees while you're running into trouble right and left?" I picked up Cinder. "So where's Kawaii?" He started whimpering. "She's not in trouble too, is she?"

He rubbed his face with his paws. "Well, I don't know. She started moaning and groaning and told us to leave her alone for a while. She may be just stressed out or something, but that doesn't stop me from worrying." He jumped down and started walking off with me following.

We found Kawaii not too far from the House, but she was out cold. She was shaking and muttering to herself. I knelt down beside her. "Kawaii? Wake up!" I shook her. No dice. I laid her head on my lap and sat down. "This isn't good. Her head feels warm." I looked around for Swoop, but she was gone. I stroked Kawaii's head while waiting for her to come back.

Kawaii gave another shiver. "Papa..." she groaned.

"Papa?" Cinder and I said together.

I let out the adoptees. "Lily, try a Sweet Scent." Lily swayed from side to side, letting out a pink cloud of dust.

Swoop returned with Beaky, an annoyed look on her face. "That's the last time I go anywhere without you!"

Kawaii opened her eyes and looked at me. "Oh, you're back. I thought..."

"We were training. What, I can't come and check up on you? So what's with going off by yourself and falling out?"

"I saw...a black Kadabra. I think he's my papa."

The adoptees looked at each other. "Papa!?!"

Beaky flew down. "There's no way a Kadabra could be your papa! It's genetically impossible!"

"But I saw him. And I remember him! He has to be my papa!" Kawaii cried in indignation, tears streaming from her eyes.

<That could be any superpowered Kadabra,> Jewel sent.

"Do you think your memory's coming back?" Beaky asked. "You may remember him, but your memory may still be a little scrambled."

Kawaii got up suddenly, hitting me with her neck. "He's my papa! Don't try to say anything else!" She ran off crying.

Swoop glared at Beaky. "What is it with you and Psychic types?"

"I'm just saying that Girafarig and Kadabra can't breed!" he shouted. "Look it up!"

"But Kawaii knows Future Sight. No one here taught her that attack. She must have been born with it," Cinder said. "Girafarig can't learn that naturally, but Kadabra can."

"Yeah, and so can Natu and Xatu. The only one that can give her that attack by breeding is either another Girafarig or a Psyduck. Or a Golduck."

I leaned back. "So we have a Girafarig with a messed up memory that insists that a Kadabra is her father. Maybe she just called him that. I mean, I call my stepmother Aunt Shirley, but that doesn't change her relation to me."

"She called him her papa," Beacon said firmly. "Someone has to talk to her. Besides Beaky." Beaky winced. "I'll do it."

[Charizard04621]

Ancalagon the Black, the male Bagon’s POV:

“…You’re never going to get off my head, are you?� I asked.

“Nope. I like it here. The view is pretty.�

“Fine. You’ve ruined the sunset, anyway. I’m just going to head inside now. I don’t feel like staying out here in the dark. …I guess you’re coming too.� I wished that she would fly off instead of sitting on my head like that, but she made no signs of wanting to leave. I sighed. “So be it.�

Walking back inside, I wondered why the Swablu would behave like this. She was nearly a complete stranger, and if she had talked to my other teammates first, she would certainly have heard that I wasn’t a very nice pokémon. So why was she so bold? …It didn’t matter. All that I cared about now was the fact that I was about to walk into the Eevee House with a blue cloud bird for a hat. I would probably have to hide my face from everyone for a week in embarrassment. That is, if Alqualin would allow me to have my face back.

Just as I expected, as soon as I walked through the door, pokémon began to stare at me and nudge their friends, then they would all point and laugh, indicating with gestures that I had gone insane. Great. Just wonderful. I could have died of shame. Now that I was the laughing stock of the entire Eevee House, I might as well go and apologize to everyone that I had previously offended. I couldn’t have felt any more embarrassed, anyway. Sighing, I headed over to the pool, where I could see the Horsea and that pretty Dratini racing each other. This day just kept getting better and better.

Huan’s POV:

It was another normal day, boring, as usual. I wished that I had someone to do something with, but I didn’t see anyone around, so I just sat, unable to release all my pent up energy. I was about to doze off when suddenly someone pounced on me. Within moments, I realized that it was Lani, because she tickled me where only she knew that I was ticklish. My face twisted into one of torture, and I began to laugh hysterically, unable to control myself.

“Miss me?� she asked. “I sure missed you!�

“Hahaha! Of course, Lani. It’s been forever! I’m glad to see you.� With that, I turned her over and got her back, getting my revenge for her tickling me. “So,� I said, after I felt she was about to explode with laughter, “How have you been?� I nuzzled her tenderly. “I haven’t gotten to do much at all. I missed you.�

Nero, the male Umbreon’s POV:

I knew at once after I had told Aries what I had seen that I had made a terrible mistake. My words awakened old memories that hurt him, and almost immediately he became very bitter. When I saw the way he walked angrily out of the Eevee House, I wished that I had never opened my big mouth. The last thing I wanted was to make Aries feel bad.

Sighing, I collapsed to the ground, biting my lip to prevent myself from crying. This didn’t work, though, and tears began to flow freely from my face, although I tried to hide them. Eventually I just gave up and covered my head with my paws, sobbing softly. I’m such a baby, I thought. I can’t stop crying and I can’t do anything right. Now Aries is mad and feels really bad and it’s all my fault.

“What's wrong with you?� The voice startled me, but I recognized it as Nightshade’s.

I sighed. “Aries gave me memories to decipher and one was of this female Umbreon that he once loved, Nave I believe. When I asked who she was, he started to explain but I guess I struck a hidden nerve and he became mad. He left a few minutes ago to go outside, feeling depressed.� I looked up at Nightshade miserably. “I shouldn't have asked, Nightshade. Now I'm afraid Aries won't teach me anymore.�

“Nonsense,� he replied. “Recovering bad memories may leave you down for a while but then you realize what's done is done and you can't change the past, no matter how hard you try. Aries will be back soon, I promise.�

“If you say so…� I answered, not very confident. “He looked so down, though… It’s all my fault, Nightshade… All my fault…� I broke down, unable to stifle my sobs anymore. “I can’t do it. I can’t do anything. I’m always messing up. I saw what I wasn’t supposed to see and I opened my big fat mouth and now look what’s happened. And now, I can’t even stop crying. Gosh, I’m so useless.� I hid my face under my paws in a whimper. “Even if Aries helps me, I’ll probably never get it right. I’m so bad at everything.�

[Syberia]

<Kyle's POV>

It had sure been a while. I had been meaning to do this for a week now, but had never gotten around to it. And if I didn't do it now, chances are I'd forget again. After all, it's always been what Chrysanthemum wanted - the chance to unlock her full potential - ever since she was the first pokemon I adopted.

The other Grass-types looked on with awe and wonder as I pulled the magnificent Leaf Stone, glimmering with the bright green of a springtime morning, from the pouch in which it had been given to me.


<Chrysanthemum's POV>

I knew what it was the moment my trainer pulled the shimmering bit of elemental stone from its pouch. It was what I had been waiting for all along. As he pressed it up against my body, I could feel my new form take shape almost immediately - where moments before I had been a disjointed, empty collection of eggs, I now rose up from the ground on a mighty wooden trunk, my three coconut heads protruding amongst a crown of leaves.

[The_Missing_Link]

<Orion's POV>

Stupid water. I've been training for almost a year and I still wasn't fully used the dang thing. At the moment, I was swimming with Shade since Lyra was in a pissed off mood about Zale. I knew he had a good reason to leave at that moment but he did it too often. If he kept it up, she would have to reject him altogether and she rarely gave up on something once she started it.
"How many more times will it happen before she explodes?"
"Not sure," Shade rumbled. "She's a rather patient Pokemon but this is getting to be too much for her. I mean, she knows a big brother has to protect a little sister but she's from a fighting team, each Pokemon knowing how to stand up for his or her own self in times of danger or petty insults."
I nodded, amazed at Shade's infinite wisdom. When you looked at a Venusaur, you would expect them to be big, lumbering oafs but Shade was the complete opposite.

Something caught the corner of my eye and I saw the same Bagon walking towards the pool, his eye on Drake's daughter and her friend. I choked back a laugh as I saw a Swablu sitting on top of his head.
"Any particular reason why you have a Swablu on your head?"
He stared at me hard for a second before answering.
"Why don't you ask her?" he grumbled.
"Do you mind getting off his head for a bit, please? I don't think he appreciates someone on his right now."
She nodded slowly and flew off towards Karin. I guess she was her trainer.
"Thanks," he mumbled. "I'm...I'm sorry for how I acted towards you. I was going through some stuff and I didn't know the truth of things at the time."
I looked him over, seeing if he was truly sincere. I don't know how he changed in that short of time but his eyes said it all. It was full of remorse and for some reason, pain.
"Of course I do. I wouldn't be much of a Pokemon if I didn't give someone a second chance. You do know that you have a lot of people to apologize to, you know that?"
He looked kind of irritated for a second but it disappeared and he nodded. Just then, he noticed I was surrounded by water and a look of surprise came over him.
"How in the world can you stand water? I thought it was impossible for ground, fire and rock Pokemon to swim."
"It's not impossible, you just need a lot of practice, determination and will power to actually be in it. I'm still not used to it but the stinging lessens each time I go in."

<Nightshade's POV>
"If you say so…" he said, looking remorseful. "He looked so down, though… It’s all my fault, Nightshade… All my fault…" he broke down, sobbing. "I can’t do it. I can’t do anything. I’m always messing up. I saw what I wasn’t supposed to see and I opened my big fat mouth and now look what’s happened. And now, I can’t even stop crying. Gosh, I’m so useless." He hid his head under his paws. "Even if Aries helps me, I’ll probably never get it right. I’m so bad at everything."
That's it, I couldn't take it anymore. Roughly jerking Nero into the air with my psychic powers, I heard Tiana cry out in fear but I didn't care.
"Look," I growled, shaking him. "As far as I'm concerned, you haven't failed at anything, especially raising your niece and nephew and learning your lessons. Stop thinking you're to blame for every little thing that goes wrong in the world. Aries chose to release that little piece of history to you under his own power. He wanted you to see it but it wasn't his intention to get mad about the whole deal, much less hurt your feelings. Why he did it in the first place, I don't know but all I know is that you are not a failure but a smart, loving uncle who anyone would admire. Aries will continue teach you because he knows you have potential. So be quiet and take care of your niece!"
I brought him back down and stalked outside towards Nero, who was sprawled out on the grass, his head resting on his paws and eyes dried.
"I'm exhausted," I said and flopped down on my back. "Wish I had a girlfriend to comfort me."
"Same," he quietly said. "Would a brother be some consolation?"
"Anyday of the week," I weakly smiled and patted his paw.

[classy_cat18]

Cinder’s POV

“You talk to her!� Beaky hissed at me as we stood in the doorway.

I took a couple of steps back. “Why me?�

“I’m the one that has a bad history with Psychic types. If I make her mad, both of us will suffer!� He pushed me in the room.

I looked under the table and saw her just laying there, staring into space and no longer crying. Is there something in the air that’s making Psychic types act like this today? It’s like some dang melodramatic soap opera! Where did I get “melodramatic� from? I cautiously walked to her. “Um, Kawaii? Are you feeling better?� She shook her head. “Do you want to talk about it?�

“Who is he?� she whispered. “If he’s not my papa, why do I think he is? He just looks so familiar…� She turned her head away from me.

I searched for a response that wouldn’t end with me going through a wall. “Well, maybe he just raised you. He doesn’t have to be your biological dad. Like Shonta said, she refers to her stepmother by Aunt, like she’s related by blood.�

She looked at me with clear eyes. “So you think he’s a different kind of papa?� I nodded. “Thanks, Cinder. That makes me feel a little better.�

I chuckled. “Man, I’m good at this. Maybe…hey!� I felt my paws leave the ground as I floated in front of Kawaii’s eyes. “Please no more Spacewalk.�

“Too bad!� Kawaii shouted eagerly. I started to flip in midair.

“Someone’s feeling normal again,� Beaky mused as he watched us. Kawaii looked down at me and I once again fell on my head. “You need to work on your concentration, sis.�

[Aipom Of Doom]

Dan's Perspective

"Wow, haven't been here for a LONG time," Thunderblast said, excitedly. "The Eevee House was always a fun place."

"Sounds cool," Eesha replied, gliding along behind us. "I take it you used to go here a lot?"

"Yeah," I replied as we reached the door. I opened it, and we went in, finding the house full of people and Pokemon; some we recognized, some we didn't

My Pokemon all scattered off around the house, to find old friends or make new ones, and to see what awaited them.

~~~~~

Yay I'm back... I'll post more of what my Pokemon are doing sometime later tonight I guess.

FYI, my Pokemon are:
Sai (Male Lv. 53 Scizor)
Thunderblast(Female Lv. 41 Raichu)
Flatten (Male Lv. 16 Snorlax)
Aipom (Male Lv. 14 Aipom <_<)
Hydro (Male Lv. 12 Wartortle)
Zippy (Female Lv. 11 Spearow)
Aqua (Female Lv. 9 Totodile)
Blaze (Male Lv. 9 Quilava)
Flare (Female Lv. 9 Charmeleon)
May (Female Lv. 9 Eevee)
Eesha (Female Lv. 8 Taillow)
Mopia (Female Lv. 8 Aipom)
Tulie (Female Lv. 8 Baby Dratini)
Tyrant (Male Lv. 8 Larvatar)
Gaea (Female Lv. 7 Sandshrew)

[Kirei]

As I entered the Eevee house, I was overwhelmed by the amount of activity going on inside! I hadn't been for quite a while but it was a nice break from my revision. Ade would be meeting me shortly but for now I decided to see who else was around. Kirei had already dashed off to see if there was any food, leaving me with a sulky Kassandra.

"Why does he always ignore me?" she asked.

I knew that Kassandra was referring to Beckham, Ade's Wartortle who she had developed quite an interest in lately. I wasn't sure what to say; crushes were hard to rationalise to a young girl full of energy!

Anyway, I decided to sit down with her and have a chat, but she had stopped paying attention to me. I followed her glance towards a cute Wartortle with a trainer I'd seen before but didn't know that well who was called Danny. "Want me to introduce you?" I asked her.

Kassandra hid behind me. "You're embarrassing," she said quietly.

"Fine," I replied. Then I noticed the Wartortle was approaching us, Kirei by him with a cheeky expression that told me she had overheard and gone to tell the Wartortle about Kassandra's crush.

This will be interesting... I thought to myself.

[classy_cat18]

Beaky's POV

Cinder came to us after a drink of water. "We have new arrivals!" he announced excitedly. He led us back inside to a crowd of Pokemon. "I'm going to introduce myself to the Quilava."

"Knock yourself out," I muttered, turning around to leave.

"Hey! Don't you want to say hi to the Spearow?" he called after me.

I stopped and looked back. There seemed to be a Spearow looking around. A female Spearow. "Um, I don't know if I should," I said shakily.

"Come on! Spearow don't come along everyday!" He shoved his face in mine. "If you don't introduce yourself, I'll do it for you."

I stopped him in his tracks. "Oh, no you don't! Beacon told me what happened with you two and that Eevee! I'll do it!" I flew over to the other Spearow. She didn't seem to notice as I landed beside her, so I cleared my throat. "Hi. I'm Beaky. What's your name?"

Cinder's POV

"Too bad there aren't any Girafarig around here," Kawaii said softly, not seeming to care about Beaky's communication problem. These guys need someone to talk to other than each other.

I rubbed my face with my paws. "Oh man, he's gonna blow it!"

She frowned. "Don't you have a Quilava to annoy?"

"Fine! I'll show you!" I ran up to the Quilava and waved. "I see you're new around here. I'm Cinder." I pointed to Kawaii, who was looking at me with a confused look on her face. "This is Kawaii. She's really down in the dumps, so I wanted to try to find her someone. Hey Kawaii!"

She laughed nervously. <I'm going to kill you when this is over,> she told me telepathically.

[Aipom Of Doom]

Eesha's perspective

I hovered around this Eevee House, not really knowing what to expect since, unlike the rest of the team, I had never been there before. I looked around for other bird Pokemon; being a Taillow, it would have been nice to meet some.

The first one I spotted was a Spearow. He had apparently noticed Zippy, and had landed next to her, and said something. I gulped; I hadn't been on this team long, but it was long enough to know that Zippy was quite antisocial.

Zippy simply turned her head and flew away. I felt bad for the Spearow, so I flew over and landed next to him.

"Hi! I'm Eesha," I said. "Um, sorry about Zippy there, she's just like that. She hates everyone, unfortunately."

Hydro's perspective

I had only sat down and chatted with Dan for a few minutes when a large, grinning Espeon walked up next to me and tapped me on the shoulder with her tail.

"Hi, I'm Kirei," she said. "You're Hydro, right?"

"Yeah," I replied. I wasn't sure if someone had told her my name or if she'd used her Psychic powers to extract it from my mind.

"There's someone over there who wants to meet you, I think," she winked at me. I looked in the direction that she was pointing. I saw Soo, a new Dragon Tamer, sitting down, and a cute Charmander sort of hiding behind her.

"Uh, okay," I replied, and followed her back over to her trainer. The Charmander timidly came out from behind Soo. Kirei the Espeon told me Psychically to say hi to the Charmander.

"Uh, hi," I couldn't think of anything better to say. "I'm Hydro. Who are you?"

Blaze's Perspective

I walked through the crowded Eevee House with May, both of us looking for people or Pokemon that we recognized. I didn't see any at first, and before I could look farther, a Cyndaquil walked up to me.

"I see you're new around here. I'm Cinder." the Cyndaquil said; I replied with a simple "Hi, I'm Blaze". I was about to say that I wasn't quite new, since I'd been here many times before, but he pointed to a Girafarig and continued, "This is Kawaii. She's really down in the dumps, so I wanted to try to find her someone. Hey Kawaii!"

The second to last sentence took me by surprise. I couldn't interpret it as any way other than that he was asking me to be this Girafarig's boyfriend. That was quite awkward, especially since I already had a girlfriend; she was standing next to me.

Thankfully, May came up with a good way of dealing with that rather quickly. "And I'm May," she introduced herself. "I'm Blaze's girlfriend," she said, rubbing affectionately against me, and acting like she didn't even realize what the Cyndaquil was asking.

~~~~~~~~~~

classy_cat18 - Uhh sorry about that xD. your Pokemon made two bad picks for which Pokemon on my team they should date, I guess. Nothing against you, tho =p.

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Seeing as my visits to the Eevee House are so sporadic I created a brief team summary here. For those of you who can't be arsed to read my little synopsis my team goes...

Pearl - L33 female Ninetales
Katnip - L31 male Raticate
Beckham - L30 male Wartortle
Sindel - L21 female Alakazam
Lucky - L20 male Meowth
Milliardo - L20 male Umbreon
Scratchy - L14 male Paras
Kasumi - L14 female Growlithe
Pandora - L11 female Houndour
Bolovayr - L7 male Gastly
Megan - L7 female Marill
Rhiannon - L7 female Eevee
Marius - L6 male Dratini
Ryo-Ohki - L5 male Pichu
Brandy - L5 female Onix

Tho I should recommend checking my personality summaries first. We are, it has to be said, a prickly bunch on the whole. h:

-----

It had been a while, and so much had changed. But still the Eevee house stood strong, as welcoming as I remembered it. Why had it been so long? I really had no idea.
"Why is it that you only think of these things when you run into somebody else who reminds you of them, Ade?" my Umbreon, Milliardo, scoffed. "If you hadn't have bumped into Danny earlier you would have probably never thought to come here."
"Not true. We were meeting Soo here, remember?"
"Only because you mentioned it and she wanted to tag along. Face it, Ade, you're a ditz, pure and simple." Eventually we reached the front door and let ourselves in. It was a lot busier than I remembered it, all kinds of pokémon running around the place in their own chaotic manner.
"Hey!" My eyes alighted upon Soo, busy teasing her Charmander, Kassandra. "Weren't you supposed to be revising for your exams?"
"Hey, I need a break, Ade!" my fiancée complained.
"After ten minutes?" I rolled my eyes. Soo was harder to motivate than I was at times! "Fine. Just be sure to get on with it later, okay?" I flopped myself down besides her, tired from the day's activities. Arguments could wait, I decided.

"Okay!" Beckham, my Wartortle, made his usual shameless entrance, calling out loudly to invite one and all to join him. "Anyone up for a game of something? I can play tag, soccer - and no, it wasn't me who broke that vase last time we got a game going, blame Caledor since he's not here and can't tell you what really happened - or pretty much anything you like."
"I'd play tag but my legs are too short, you know you always catch me," Megan, Beckham's Marill companion complained. "Has anyone got a ball? We could play with that."

Meanwhile, what had to be considered the most cynical family the world had ever seen - the Umbreon Milliardo, his volatile partner Pandora and their adoptive son Marius - settled down to see if there was anything on the television. Eventually they were rewarded with a showing of Disney's 'Finding Nemo'.
"Hey," Milliardo yawned after half-watching the movie for a few moments. "Doesn't that Dory character remind you of someone?"
"Yeah," Pandora giggled. "Megan, without a doubt."
"Uh huh. Only Dory's got a far better attention span from the looks of things." The Umbreon yawned, picking himself up from his position curled up on the floor. "Have fun with the pixellated fishes, guys. I think I'l go out into the garden and see if rat-boy wants his butt whipped." With this Milliardo wandered over to find out what Katnip was up to.

"Right!" Almost immediately Sindel had found her niche. "It looks like the kitchen's low on a few things, we could do with more eggs, flour, some chocolate drops, vanilla essence, syrup, oh and some cheese or something if anybody fancies anything savoury. Now if somebody would be kind enough to go get these things for me... no, not you, Ryo-Ohki, dear, you're not old enough to go wandering around on your own... I can make a start and everyone can have some freshly baked snacks. Anyone?" There was something in the Alakazam's tone that indicated that she was going to start complaining if nobody offered to help quickly.

"And what's up with you today?" Despite the fact that she had a baby to worry about - and little Celeste was doing great, now looking like a tiny little Vulpix as opposed to the hairless bundle she had initially been - Pearl could still notice when something was amiss. In this case it was Kasumi, who had a look in her eyes that could only spell trouble. "Don't tell me you're going to cause even more trouble? You know you've already managed to get Iael totally petrified of you, you really don't need to make that list any bigger."
"No, no, of course not. Just wondering..." The Growlithe grinned broadly. "Know much about Danny's pokémon, by any chance?"
"Not really," the Ninetales admitted. "Why?"
"Well he does have some real cuties on that team of his, doesn't he? Bet you I can at least get flirting with one of them by the end of the night."
"Flirting? Sumi, I..."
"Relax, Pearl! I'll be a good girl, I promise. No funny stuff. At least not until I'm well in there." Already the Growlithe was trotting over to her targets. Pearl just rolled her eyes. One way or another, this was going to be a disturbing encounter, that was for sure.

[The_Missing_Link]

<Lyra's POV>

My eyebrows raised as two new trainers came into the house, or rather, trainers who hadn't been around in a while. One, I didn't know that well but the other was Danny, who used to come around a lot. After letting all of his Pokemon out, my inquisitive look turned into a frown as my ex-boyfriend appeared.
"Hydro," I softly hissed.
Not like he was much of a boyfriend anyway. He was rarely around, thanks to Danny, and nothing progressed in the relationship.
"Come off it," Shade said, quietly floating beside me. "Everyone knows you deserve better than him. Take your mind off of him for a while and look to his right."
I slowly nodded and shifted my eyes slightly. Right next to him was the only Pokemon Rebecca gave up due to her quiet demeanor. No one wanted her to go but she deserved a better team than us.
"Gaea," I whispered. "Shade, use your vine to bring her over here. I want to see if she can still swim."
He hesistated a bit but after a nudge, he snaked a vine towards the unsuspecting Sandshrew. Slowly wrapping it around her body, she barely had time to struggle before she was yanked over to the edge.
"Hey Gaea, remember us?" I smirked.
"L-Lyra? Shade? Is that really you guys?" she asked, amazed.
"Yup. As you can see, Shade evolved, as well as Drake, Aries, Nightshade and Blade. We also have a new member on the team, Orion."
I pointed to him, who was talking to a Bagon.
"How's life been treating you?" Blade asked, hovering above the pool without us knowing.
"Blade..." she whispered. "A lot has happened since I left."
"Not really," Drake said from the edge. "Aside from me and Aries having kids, all of us are still swinging bachelors and bachelorettes."
All of us grinned and relaxed. I couldn't remember the last almost all of us were having a good time.

[classy_cat18]

No harm, no foul. Although Kawaii might die of embarrassment.

Kawaii's POV

I instantly felt six inches tall and very stupid. Cinder must die. "A pleasure to meet you, May. Can I talk to you in private? Without Cupid over there?" I shot a poisonous glare at Cinder. We walked off a little.

<Cinder, I suggest you make yourself invisible by the time I'm done with May,> I telepathically sent to Cinder.

"Look..." May started.

"It wasn't my idea!" I blurted out. "I wasn't even going to introduce myself to your boyfriend. My stupid, big-mouthed teammate put me on the spot. I'm not even looking for a boyfriend, I swear! I'm too busy looking after my teammates to flirt with anyone right now. Just...see you later. I have a rat to hunt down."

Beaky's POV

I hung my head. "Um, tell her I'm sorry. I don't mix well with other Pokemon myself." I looked up and saw Cinder race past me at top speed. "That was my teammate, Cinder."

Cinder turned around and looked back, a terrified look on his face. He went back to running, now faster than before. What now?

"Is everything alright?" the Taillow asked me.

"Yeah. We're kinda new around here, and we just keep getting into trouble." I gave a nervous chuckle.

Kawaii walked over to me. "Where...is...Cinder?" she asked me with extreme anger in her voice.

I gulped deeply. "Seriously, I don't know. Try one of the rooms." She galloped in the other direction. "Excuse me. I have to go save the little Cyndaquil from certain destruction."

[Aipom Of Doom]

Thunderblast's Perspective

I walked around the Eevee House for a few minutes to refamiliarize myself with it. Eventually, I made my way back to the main room, and began chatting with Flare, Aipom, and Tyrant about our old memories; we had plenty of those. It wasn't long, however, before the door opened again; this time in came Ade and his group of Pokemon. They dispersed around the house soon; however, after a few moments, his Growlithe walked over to us.

"Hi!" the Growlithe seemed too happy, "I'm Kasumi. I haven't seen you guys before, have I?"

"I don't think so," I replied, "I'm Thunderblast, she's Flare, he's Tyrant, and he's Aipom.

"yeah, well, with Ade and that daft rabble over there," Kasumi replied, "Don't blame me if I get bored with theoir squabbling all the time. Thought I might come over and extend my circle of friends a little."

"Ah, okay," I responded, since none of the other Pokemon seemed to be willing to talk to this energetic Growlithe; Aipom seemed scared by her and Tyrant was apparently interested in something else. "Uh, anyway... What do you like to do?" I continued the conversation.

"Oh, all kinds of things, I just like to have as much fun as I can, really." Kasumi grinned, "For some reason I think I put a lot of pokémon off if I ask them to play with me, though, maybe I'm too enthusiastic for my own good,"

"Err, okay," I wasn't sure what the Growlithe was trying to insinuate with this. Regardless, she seemed nice, so I continued questioning her, "Well, I can't say I mind enthusiasm in friends... How does that 'put them off'?"

"Dunno, really... I guess I'm just too boisterous for them. Although, if we're being honest, there's been one or two I've wanted to get a little TOO firendly with, and I have to admit I usually put my foot in it at that point," Kasumi responded; however about at the point that she said "if we're being honest", my Psychic lie detector went off; however, the Growlithe's mind seemed to be well-guarded from further psychic intrusion.

Not sure what to make of that, and not wanting to psychically probe too hard to find out, I asked, "So, you want to go do something? Maybe go get some popcorn and watch TV?"

"Heh, sounds good to me," Kasumi responded; after tossing a microwave popcorn package in the microwave, we walked over to the couch and sat down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By now, we'd been watching television for about half an hour; our popcorn supply had long since ran out. Kasumi was laying back on the couch, trying to make herself as comfortable as possible. She shifted her position once again, rubbing against me; I couldn't help but notice that this was about the third time in the last minute she'd done this. I wasn't quite sure what her intentions were, nor if she was even conciously doing this. Being the bold Raichu I was, I decided I might as well make her aware of it, so I started leaning against her in the same manner.

However, after getting a reaction, Kasumi continued moving closer to me, in a more agressive manner, until she was halfway lying on my lap. I wasn't quite sure where this was going, and I didn't mind at all, but my curiosity got the better of me, so I had to ask, "Err, any reason you're cuddling up with me?"

"Any reason why I shouldn't be? It just feels so comfortable, you know..." Kasumi trailed off, before snuggling even more.

"Ah, okay," I replied. "You're right, it is comfortable." I slid down the sofa until I was laying down, as Kasumi continued her quiet snuggling. I was getting an idea where this was going, but decided not to do anything else for the moment.

"Hey. Is it me or is that television even important any more?" Kasumi finally said.

"Hmm, yeah, I think it is," I said, not having actually paid attention to the television for the last few minutes. "Yeah, this is much better," I added, giving Kasumi a hug.

Kasumi looked surprised for a moment, before shifting herself so she was able to nuzzle me. "You know, we don't have to sit here all day, we could do tis somewhere else... it's probably easier, I think we're getting a few odd looks all of a sudden."

Indeed, we were getting some odd looks. "Okay, I guess," I kissed her discreetly on the cheek, before we both got up and left for a more secluded part of the Eevee House.

[classy_cat18]

All of my Pokemon are listed in the link in my sig. Just click on that and then on Pokemasters Stuff. Bored, bored, bored...

Shonta's POV

Another battle, another rest. I really need to see how Kawaii's doing.

"Shonta!" Cinder cried, slamming into me. "I'm so glad you're here!"

I sweatdropped. "What did Beaky do now?" I asked him, prying him off of my shirt.

Beaky landed on my shoulder. "For once, I didn't do anything. He embarrassed poor Kawaii by trying to hook her up with some Quilava that already had a girlfriend."

Cinder rubbed his face. "I was only helping her out!"

I put him down on the ground. "Well, I think you should let me handle this." I let out my adoptees and looked around my backpack. "Meanwhile, enjoy this." I pulled out my Frisbee. "Trinity, go long!" I threw it with a flick of the wrist. Cinder ran with the rest while I went off with Beaky. "So, where is she?"

We walked down the hall, passing by several rooms until we heard crying. "There she is. Leave us alone for a few minutes, Beaky." I entered the room and knelt beside Kawaii.

"Just let me curl up and die!" she sobbed.

"Beaky told me what happened. Making new friends is hard, huh?"

She turned away. "You have no idea how I feel."

"Are you kidding? I still sometimes think that my first crush changed schools just to get away from me! And that was way in the second grade. I couldn't make friends in school because making conversation in any language was too awkward."

Kawaii stood silent for a while. "What should I do? Something always happens. At this rate no one will even want to talk to me."

"Love hurts, but I didn't name you 'cute' for no reason. You just have to try another approach. If you have trouble approaching others, make them come to you. Don't talk to much: make small talk and let it go from there. Now, I want you to go out there with your head up high and look cute." I took out some Kleenex and wiped her eyes. Kawaii stood up and trotted out of the room.

Beaky walked in and sighed. "Hope she does better than me?"

"What happened to your crush?"

"She's antisocial."

[Wolfsong]

(Jovi's POV)

I made my way into the Eevee House, coming back from the battle tower. I was hyper as usual, but it couldn't have prepared me for the sight that had greeted me. There were a lot more people than normal at the EH. I shrugged, and saw Dad. He grinned when he saw me. "You won huh?" "Yeah, how did you guess." "You're still hyper. The only times I've ever seen you down were after a loss." "You know me too well Dad." I said with a laugh. Then i turned to run off, and accidentally ran into a girafaig. We went tumbling to the ground in a pile. I shook my head groggily. I saw the girafarig, and she didn't look very happy. If it would have done any good, I would have zapped myself. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to run into you. I hope you're not hurt." She didn't say much, and I wasn't sure of what to do. I shrugged. "My name's Jovi." I said, before sitting down.

(Tiana's POV)

It seemed that Uncle Nero was down in the dumps about something, and Nightshade was talking to him. All of a sudden Uncle Nero was lifted real rough up into the air, and I cried out. I was scared that something was going to happen to him. But instead of harming him, I heard Nightshade telling him somthing. "As far as I'm concerned, you haven't failed at anything, especially raising your niece and nephew and learning your lessons. Stop thinking you're to blame for every little thing that goes wrong in the world. Aries chose to release that little piece of history to you under his own power. He wanted you to see it but it wasn't his intention to get mad about the whole deal, much less hurt your feelings. Why he did it in the first place, I don't know but all I know is that you are not a failure but a smart, loving uncle who anyone would admire. Aries will continue teach you because he knows you have potential. So be quiet and take care of your niece!" I wasn't sure what was happening but I knew that Uncle Nero needed some cheering up like Zale knew I had needed it.

"Uncle Nero?" I said as I walked over to him. He didn't say anything, so i tried again. "Uncle Nero?" This time I succeeded and got him to look at me. "You're the bestest Uncle in the world, and don't let nobody tell you otherwise." I told him. He looked at me for a few minutes. "Really?" he asked. "Yep." I nodded. "Zale's the bestest brother ever and you're the bestest Uncle." At last, he finally seemed to cheer up. I ran over to him and gave him a hug.

Then we both turned to watch Zale a few minutes. He was trying to master his surf. I knew i needed to be practicing, when suddenly I saw an image. Zale was talking with this rather pretty Absol. She said somthing to him and he looked shocked, before saying something. She spoke to him again and this time he drew closer to her. They said some more things to each other, before heading into a different room. The vision didn't stop there though i wanted it to. "Make it stop!" I cried out. I felt myself being pulled close to someone, and finally the vision stopped. It was Uncle Nero. He was holding me close. "Tiana, whats wrong?" he asked worriedly. I buried my head into his chest and started crying again. "Was it me?" "No," i answered. I was upset, and began crying again, pressing myself closer to the comfort that was my Uncle.

(Lani's POV)

“Hahaha! Of course, Lani. It’s been forever! I’m glad to see you.� Huan easily flipped me over. He was still stronger than i was, but at least I was slowly getting stronger myself. He began getting me back for tickling him, and soon i was laughing my poor head off. Finally, he stopped tickling me. “So, how have you been?� he asked nuzzling me. “I haven’t gotten to do much at all. I missed you.�

I returned his nuzzle. "Not much. Amy's been finding me the occasional battle. In fact, I just recently earned my first free TM." I said proudly. Then I grinned, made a play bow, and tagged him. "Catch me if you can?" I called after him. Then I ran off away from the pool. Huan sat there a few seconds, but soon he was off running after me. I laughed. It was good to have fun.

(Kaida's POV)

As i was sitting at the waters edge, I saw the bagon from earlier enter. Blinking, i had to make sure i wasn't seeing things. He had a swablu on his head. For a minute i had hoped it was sora, but it wasn't. Soon, she flew off. I sighed, knowing that i needed to apologize for losing my temper at him earlier. The only thing was one, i wasn't sure how he would react, and two he was talking to a cubone. I stood up, shook my hands dry and made my way over. I hung around in the background, since i didn't want to interrupt anything.

(Zale's POV)

Lyra was talking with her teammates, and I was a bit sure of what her reaction was going to be so i immediately set to work trying to get surf to turn out halfway decent. For a while, I didn't make any progress. Until finally, one came out perfect. I rode it for all of two seconds before it fell back in the pool. It wasn't a spectacular wave, but it was enough to say that it had actually worked. My mind floated back to earlier events. Soon I was smiling an even bigger smile.

[classy_cat18]

Beacon's POV

Trinity raced past the Frisbee and did a fantastic leap in the air, catching it. She said something, but it muffled by the Frisbee in her mouth.

"Come again?" Lily asked her.

Trinity spit out the Frisbee. "I said that was both embarrassing and exciting. So, do you want to play with it or not?"

"Why? It's not like any of us can throw it," Swoop remarked, showing us her wings.

I got an idea and smiled. "I have an idea of a game. The object is to keep this baby airborne using our attacks. No catching it unless you have a way to throw it. Trinity, you think you can start us off?"

"No problem!" She picked the Frisbee back up and threw her head back and forth, releasing the Frisbee as she shook. It flew in the air, and Jewel went after it. She hovered in the Frisbee's path and fired a Water Gun at it, sending it in the opposite direction.

"I got it!" Lily yelled. Her short legs carried her to the spot she needed to be at. She spun around and released a bunch of leaves at the Frisbee, knocking it upwards. "What now?"

"My turn!" I said confidently, my blood already pumping. I shot a Thunderbolt into the air and launched the Frisbee toward Swoop. "Get it, Swoop!"

Swoop hovered in place as her body was surrounded by a red aura. The Frisbee bounced off of her at twice the speed as it was coming. It was going straight for...

"Heads up, Kawaii!" Cinder yelled.

Kawaii's POV

Be confident. Something will happen. "Whoa!" Something crashed into me, and the both of us fell to the ground. Something happened, alright. I struggled to my feet, ready to yell at whoever tackled me.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to run into you. I hope you're not hurt," my attacker said. It was a Jolteon, and a nice looking one at that. I opened my mouth to say something, but all that came out was random gibberish.

"My name's Jovi," the Jolteon added.

Say something! Anything! Small talk! "It's okay. Stuff like that happens to me all the time. I'm Kawaii." That wasn't bad. No high pitch, no stupid comments...

"Heads up!" someone yelled.

I looked over just in time to see a Frisbee head straight for me. Not this time. I stopped the Frisbee dead in its tracks with a Confusion attack. Playing Spaceman with Cinder's paying off.

Beacon trotted over with a sheepish (no pun intended) look on her face. "Sorry, Kawaii. Swoop's Counter attack has been getting stronger." She picked up the Frisbee and walked off, Lily and Cinder following her.

I looked back at Jovi, feeling more comfortable. "Those are my friends. They've been training for a while."

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Pearl blinked, unsure as to whether she was hallucinating or not. And just when she thought that she had seen everything that Kasumi could possibly come up with... had she really just seen her friend sidle off with Danny's Raichu?
"Yo." The thoughts of the Ninetales were interrupted by Katnip, who was taking a break from his training in order to check up on his girlfriend and her daughter. "Penny fer yer thoughts. Ya look like ya just had a really weird dream or somethin'."
"No... no, Katnip, it's nothing, really." Pearl shook her head. "Just Sumi being really weird, that's all."
"Well no changes there then!" the Raticate laughed heartily, kissing Pearl on the cheek. "Come on, lighten up. I'd have thought that gettin' Celeste out of ya would've cheered ya up by now!" Katnip gazed fondly at the baby Vulpix flopped upon Pearl's back.
"You always did have a way with words, Katnip," Pearl chuckled, returning the kiss. "Yes, I'm happy now that it's all over. I just had no idea how great being a mother could feel."

"For the last time will some kind person or pokémon get me my ingerdients????" Sindel was looking about ready to burst by now. So far not a soul had responded to her requests. And not for the first thime the Alakazam was feeling as if she were invisible to the world. "I don't get what's so hard about it. All I ask is one little favour so that I can bake some cookies and scones, you'd think that nobody wants to eat around here or something."
"Nah. It's just that you're the great Invisible Girl, and nobody's actually noticed you yet." Milliardo wandered back into the house, having grown bored of the garden since Katnip had given up on his exercises. "Not sure why they haven't heard you, though, you're making enough noise to wake the dead. And stop looking at me like that, Thingy, I couldn't help you even if I wanted to. No hands, see? Teleport over to the grocery store if you're that desperate, you'd probably be faster than anyone else anyway." Leaving the Alakazam to mull this over, the Umbreon wandered over to where his little family were still engrossed in the television.

"Hey." By now the featured film was long since over and Pandora and Marius had to content themselves with reruns of Friends. Seeing as that was one of the few programmes their trainer actually liked it seemed as if that was all that was ever on lately. "Doesn't that Chandler character remind you of someone?"
"Yeah," Marius nodded at his adoptive mother's comment. "Father, without a doubt."
"Uh huh." Pandora eyed Milliardo mischievously out of the corner of her eye, well aware that the Umbreon could hear every word. "Only Chandler's far less prone to putting his foot in it from the looks of things."
"Hey! What have I done now?" Milliardo complained bitterly.
"Nothing. I just felt like randomly having a go, that's all." Pandora shifted up so that Milliardo could squeeze in next to her. "I love you really, tactlessness and all."

[Kirei]

The Wartortle came over, looking confident, with a cheerful expression and introduced himself to Kassandra. Kass was still hiding behind my legs.

"This," I said, picking up my little Charmander and holding her in front of Hydro, "is Kassandra, the bravest and strongest Charmander in the world, and she's very pleased to meet you!" If Charmanders could blush, I was sure Kassandra would be right now.

"Nice to meet you too," said Hydro as I put Kassandra down.

"That's right, you know, I am really strong," replied Kassandra, her confidence returning to her. "You wanna take me on, huh?"

"You're a feisty one, Kassandra," said the Wartortle, laughing.

"Hmmm..." said Kirei, with a wink that almost reminded me of Sumi, "let's leave these two alone."

We saw Ade and some of his team watching videos so decided to join them and were recounted the story of what had happened with Sumi and Thunderblast. I must admit I was not that surprised.

Celeste was really cute, I'd always like Vulpixes. I sat wondering what kind of personality she would develop as she grew older.

As I snuggled Ade and watched the TV with Kirei on my lap, I could see Kassandra and Hydro were getting along, playfully joking and having fun together, and I smiled...

[Charizard04621]

My POV:

I looked at the lonely pokéball in my hand, slightly sadly. Tenderly fingering it, I pointed it outwards, hoping that its resident would come out… But as usual, he did not.

“Come on, Mandragora,� I whispered softly. “Don’t you want to meet your teammates? It’s been a while…�

The only time the timid Lileep had shown himself was when he knew that no one else was around. There was nothing wrong with him, although on average he seemed to have a lower self-confidence than Lune at his worst. It had been more than a week since I had adopted him, and the only living soul that he had dared to show himself to was me. None of his teammates had seen him, or even noticed his pokéball on my belt. Until he decided to come out, to them, he might as well not have existed.

“Please? They’re really very nice. I’m sure they’d like to meet you.� Still no response. “All right,� I sighed. I walked to a quiet corner, then tried again. This time, the Lileep came out of his ball. I knelt down to talk to him.

“Don’t you want to go out and make friends with the other pokémon?� I asked him. He shriveled backwards when I said the word ‘friends’, then began to tremble uncontrollably. “It’s okay…� I picked him up and held him close, stroking him gently. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.� Whatever had happened to him had left him emotionally scarred. Severely. He was afraid… Of what, I did not know. But until he overcame his fear, I knew he was not going to talk to any of his teammates, or any other pokémon in particular. In order to help him, I had to find out what was bothering him… But if this behavior kept up, it would be very difficult.

Ancalagon the Black, the male Bagon’s POV:

Well, it wasn’t easy, but I did it. And to tell the truth, it didn’t feel half bad. The Cubone took my apology pretty well, and to my eternal gratitude, he got Alqualin off of my head. Finally, thanks to him, I was free!

As it turned out, Orion – I recalled his name from earlier – was actually a very impressive pokémon. To my surprise, he stood in the pool water without seeming excessively bothered. “How in the world can you stand water?� I asked. “I thought it was impossible for ground, fire and rock pokémon to swim.�

He shook his head. “It's not impossible, you just need a lot of practice, determination and will power to actually be in it. I'm still not used to it but the stinging lessens each time I go in.�

I felt foolish for what I was about to say next, but I said it anyway. “So… If I want to fly… I can do it without wings…� I fell into a sort of trance, imagining the short moments of flight that I had experienced as the sun was setting. It was the best time I had had in my life, and from that instant, I had decided that someday, I was going to fly… on my own. It was currently the number one goal in my life: to fly.

Waking up from my little daydream, I saw Orion looking at me somewhat with amusement. “Yeah, it’s stupid, I know. It’s just that… Ever since I saw the sky… Felt the wind in my face… I knew I wanted to fly.� I turned my gaze towards the Horsea and Dratini swimming on the other end of the pool. Behind them, standing in the background, I recognized the Bagon that I had treated roughly earlier. Great… I had a lot more to do before the day was over. “Well… I’d better go apologize to some other pokémon that I haven’t been quite civil to,� I said to Orion. “And don’t tell anyone I said those things. About flying, I mean. They’ll laugh at me.� With that, I turned to go, sighing deeply. I hoped it wouldn’t be much more difficult than apologizing to Orion.

Nero, the male Umbreon’s POV:

Before I knew it, I felt myself thrown roughly upward into the air. I looked at Nightshade in shock; I heard Tiana’s scream in the distance. He seemed very angry.

“Look,� he hissed. He shook me about vigorously. “As far as I'm concerned, you haven't failed at anything, especially raising your niece and nephew and learning your lessons. Stop thinking you're to blame for every little thing that goes wrong in the world. Aries chose to release that little piece of history to you under his own power. He wanted you to see it but it wasn't his intention to get mad about the whole deal, much less hurt your feelings. Why he did it in the first place, I don't know but all I know is that you are not a failure but a smart, loving uncle who anyone would admire. Aries will continue teach you because he knows you have potential. So be quiet and take care of your niece!�

When he dropped me, I was speechless. I saw him stalk outside to Aries, then noticed Tiana close by. “Uncle Nero?� she said hesitantly, as she walked towards me. “Uncle Nero?� With a delayed reaction, I turned around to look at her. “You're the bestest Uncle in the world, and don't let nobody tell you otherwise,� she told me.

I looked at her for a while. She sounded like she meant it, but I still wasn’t sure that I was really all that she said. “Really?� I asked.

She nodded. “Yep. Zale's the bestest brother ever and you're the bestest Uncle.�

I couldn’t help but smile to that. She came over to me and gave me a big hug. I immediately felt a whole lot better.

Tiana’s attention turned to Zale, and I followed her eyes. Suddenly, I felt her tense, and the hairs on her tails stood on end. She looked afflicted, and began to shudder slightly, her eyes wide with horror, staring straight ahead but unable to see the things before her. Then her mouth opened and she began to scream, “Make it stop!�

I pulled her close to me urgently, supporting her against my body. “Tiana, what’s wrong?� I asked, unable to hide the concern in my voice. From how I had seen her act, though, I thought I knew. She had seen something, some sort of vision.

She lay her head against me and began to sob.

“Was it me?�

“No,� she said, still trembling. Her crying grew louder now, and I pulled her closer, rubbing her back softly with my paw.

“It’ll be okay,� I told her. What had she seen? Gruesome images, like me? Death? That was the only thing I could think of that would make her so upset. I didn’t want to ask her about her vision, as she was in no condition to tell me, but my theory made sense, so I stuck to it. “Don’t worry, Tiana,� I said softly, trying to comfort her. “If there’s anything bad out there, your Uncle Nero won’t let it hurt you. I’m always here for you. I promise.�

Huan’s POV:

“Catch me if you can?� cried Lani, dashing off. She ran away from the pool, to my relief. Even with the Water Shield that she had given me, I wasn’t too keen about going near that horrid place again. At first I just stared at Lani as she ran away, sitting in my spot. My mind wasn’t really working, I guess. Then I realized that we were playing a game, and I was way behind, unless I picked up some spectacular pace. Or…

I checked to see where Lani was headed, then turned around and headed for a corridor. In her absence, I had done some exploring and discovered different ways to get where I needed to. It got old, though, even though the Eevee House was big, because I didn’t want to go too far for fear of getting lost. So, I pretty much knew this area inside out by now.

If I knew Lani, she would probably try to slow down and wait for me if she didn’t see me close behind her. As if to confirm my thought, I saw her looking backwards expectantly as I rounded the corner. Before she could react, I came up on her and pounced. “You’re it!� I laughed, then took off in the other direction. Boring days had their benefits.