Eevee had headed straight home. It took a while to get the taxi to understand what she wanted and, once she was home, she spent a good amount of time just freaking out over the days events. Eventually, however, she managed to fall into a long and deep sleep. Surprisingly, she managed to rest for a full 9 hours and when she did come to, it wasn't to a phone call from anyone at the Pokémon company. Instead, she opened her eyes to a great deal of reddish brown fur.

"Okay, enough sleep. Wake up and tell me what happened!"

Eevee just groaned, rolled over and attempted to hide her face in her fluff. This didn't work for long. A loud yipping howl struck her ear drums just a moment later, causing her to jump up and away. Her fur stood on end and she looked wildly around her room, settling eventually on a Vulpix. A very familiar vulpix that was currently giving her infuriatingly smug smirk.

"Seriously? You used roar," Eevee said pathetically. She took a deep breath to try bring her heart rate to normal.

"Well, what did you want me to do? I've been here for two hours already just waiting for you to get up. Desperate times and all that."

Deciding she might as well get ready now, Eevee walked over to a low down tap on one wall which she turned to fill a bowl with clear water. She then dunked her face into this and used her paws to try to comb the fur there into place.

"You could have poked me or something," she complained as she tried to tug out a knot with her claws.

"Tried that. Didn't work."

Eevee just grunted. She moved onto a brush mounted on the wall. Running it down each side in turn, she smoothed out her fur as best she could. The stylists could make her look a little better later on but this would do for now. , something struck her.

"How did you get in here, anyway?" she asked, turning to her friend who was watching her patiently.

"Klefki let me in."

Eevee frowned. "And how did Klefki have a key to my apartment?"

Vulpix just gave her a serious look. "Klefki has all our keys."

Eevee nodded. That was probably true. She then preceded continued to ignore Vulpix as she wandered into her kitchen.

"Hang on!" Vulpix called, scurrying after her. "Come on! Talk to me!"

"I need food." Eevee announced. She smacked a few buttons on a coffee machine in one corner of the kitchen and then pulled a large box of Pokéchow over to a bowl.

"If you want to hear anything then help me with this."

Vulpix sighed but walked over to lend a paw. As a fellow quadruped she understood the difficulty of operating anything that couldn't be just pushed or pulled. Still, with two they quickly managed to poor some of the Pokéchow into the bowl without too much mess.

"So? Come on then!" Vulpix asked a few minutes later as Eevee lapped desperately at her coffee. "Start talking!"

"I don't know what you want to hear." said Eevee. "You watched the press release, right?"

"Most of it."

Eevee rolled her eyes. "Well, that's nice to know."

"I want to know what happened before and after. Have you spoken to Pikachu? Meat any fans?"

"Before was just them getting me ready and briefing me on what to say." After was a debriefing then I talked to Pikachu, avoided the crowds and escaped."

Eevee returned to her food. She heard Vulpix harrumph behind her.

"Come on. You can't tell me nothing interesting happened."

"I'm not," said Eevee. "I'm just saying that it's," she glanced up at a clock, "Nine in the morning and I'm still tired."

"Well, better shake that off. They want you ready for the interview with Let's Chat Pokémon in half an hour."

Eevee choked.

"What!"

She glared at Vulpix. She was looking a bit sheepish.

"Yeah, right. Espeon told me to tell you."

"And now I need to be there in 30 minutes? Vulpix, it probably takes 20 to get to the studio! It is at their studio, right?"

Vulpix was only given time to nod before Eevee had finished bolting the rest of her food and had shot from the room. Within five minutes, Eevee was ready and had jumped into the taxi she had called in the meantime. For whatever reason, Vulpix decided to follow and the two of them sat in the back as their human driver navigated them through the gridlocked streets. He would occasionally look back at the two Pokémon in the back of his car. One of them would just flash him a winning smile whenever he did this as if to say that this was all perfectly normal.

"So," Vulpix finally said once they were well on their way. "We have some time and are due to get there for your interview. Now, tell me. What did you talk to Pikachu about?"

Eevee frowned to herself. She was now much more awake and a bit less grumpy so could look back on her conversation with Pikachu with more clarity. She winced to herself as she remembered how awkward it had gotten at points. No way she was letting Vulpix know about that.

"Oh, you know," she said airily. "We talked about the trailer and peoples reactions and stuff. Nothing interesting. He said he could help with anything I wasn't sure about."

"Oh, he did, did he?" Vulpix raised her eyebrows, causing Eevee to sigh. And so it started. Sh'e could have said anything and Vulpix would have treated it like she'd said she made out with the guy for hours backstage.

... That was a strange mental image for her mind to come up with.

"Yes, Vulpix. I said I hadn't done this kind of thing before and he said he could help out when I asked."

Waggling a paw at her, Vulpix said, "Ah, but that means he wants to see you more!"

"No, you know, there's the possibility it doesn't."

Leaning back in her seat and shutting her eyes, Vulpix said, "Sure, sure. If you think so."

Eevee gave her friend a strange look. "Really? That's it?"

This wasn't like Vulpix. Normally she would be pairing her off like an obsessive fanfiction writer by now.

Vulpix untangled her tails from her seatbelt and smiled as she wrapped them around herself.

"Nah," she said, and Eevee felt a feeling of inexplicable dread. "I'm just gonna let this one sort itself out."

Eevee was bundled into the building almost immediately upon the taxi coming to a halt. Vulpix was left far behind as cameras flashed and questions were thrown every which way. It seamed like one fluid motion as she was ushered in and then out a makeup room, hooked up with a mic in her collar and pushed into the studio.

It was a cavernous room. Lights and cameras were trained on her from all angels. People and Pokémon bustled through the dark around her as she just watched from the sofa of the talk show set.

This was a show she'd watched plenty. SheD even made a few appearances before now. But the half red, half blue sofa had never seamed so painful to her eyes. Nor had the huge Pokéball symbol behind her felt more like a massive eye: judging her.

The presenters, a Plusle and Minun, joined her soon after. They exchanged hellos but nothing else was said. Pikachu didn't appear until it was almost time to record. Despite this, and the fact he was almost running, he seamed remarkably calm. As he weaved between people, Pokémon and equipment he just acted as if this was all part of his plan.

"Hi there," he said as he settled beside her. Eevee didn't quite respond fast enough: instead freezing up the moment the yellow mouse opened his mouth. Worse still, when she finally untied her tongue, the countdown had started. The lights dimmed around the studio.

"5." Her mouth was dry.

"4." Pikachu shifted beside her. A glance showed an easy smile had seemingly effortlessly taken over his face.

"3." Eevee tried to copy Pikachu's expression. She got the feeling it just looked creepy.

"2." What should she say? Would she get a cue?

"1."

In a moment, the lights flashed on. As Eevee blinked away stars from her eyes, Plusle and Minun began to introduce the show.

"Hello! Hello! and welcome. Now, let's chat Pokémon."

That had been Plusle. He was sat to Eevee's left.

"Or rather, let's go chat some Pokémon. Because we have big news to discuss today."

Minun that time. She was to Pikachu's right. The two new mascots had been positioned between the two presenters.

"As many of you know, yesterday a trailer was released for a knew ..."

Eevee stopped listening momentarily. How could she? Blood roared in her ears as she almost began to panic. What would they ask? Would she know the answers? What would Pikachu think of her? Was she shallow for thinking that last one?

Pikachu's voice was what snapped her out of this spiral.

"We're happy to be here. Always a pleasure."

With a recovery so fast it would have made a Jolteon jealous, Eevee pulled herself together and nodded.

"It's been a few years, but I'm so excited to be back for these knew games."

"Trust me. We're just as excited to talk to you about them," Plusle assured. Minun picked it up.

"I guess the first thing to know would be your thoughts on them."

So, the questions had started. That had been quick.

"Oh, I'm," she couldn't say excited again, "looking forwards to it."

She glanced to Pikachu, wordlessly imploring him to take the lead. He didn't disappoint.

"Definitely. I know I'm involved a lot, but I haven't taken the lead like this for a while."

"Detective Pikachu not withstanding?" Minun joked and Pikachu chuckled.

"No. It's more about being a game mascot. It's not knew to me but I'd forgotten how fun it is."

As he finished, Pikachu nudged her. It was subtle, only brushing her fur and not even coming close to her skin. With a jolt, she realised she'd been given a cue.

"It's completely knew for me, though. I have no clue what I'm expecting. Closest I've done is being Blue's starter in Yellow."

"Yeah, you've been put in the spot light here, haven't you?" Plusle asked.

"Oh, for sure. I had to check like three times that I would actually be the mascot when I got the call. It was like "Well, I guess I'm not just a gimmick any more.""

"Nah, you were never just a gimmick." Pikachu said. Eevee beamed.

"Still. It's a promotion. Hopefully it will stick."

"So do I," Pikachu grinned. "This gets exhausting."

"Anyway." Plusle said, and gave them an inviting smile. "Is there anything you can tell us about these knew games?"

The interview went on and Eevee relaxed. Plusle and Minun were good presenters. They kept things casual, made them laugh and were just generally entertaining. Eevee supposed she shouldn't be surprised. These guys had once conducted an interesting interview with a Slowpoke. Pikachu was as outgoing as they came and Eevee herself was normally rather talkative so of course this one went well. Of course, it would have been a lot easier if Pikachu wasn't there.

It was about 15 minutes in that Eevee noticed something. The realisation came suddenly. She had to fight back making a small squee sound when she did. Pikachu was helping her as he'd said he would. He was taking questions on in her stead, giving her easy cues to start talking and rescuing her when she got stock. She was sure that the smile on her face was transitioning from friendly to a straight up simper as Pikachu guided her through the experience.

The show ended after what felt like almost no time. Eevee was tempted to stay behind and talk to the hosts a bit but Pikachu stood and said he should get going. Of course, she jumped up, quickly said her own goodbyes and hurried after him.

She entered into a backstage corridor and glanced about. She was just in time to see his tail vanishing around a corner.

"Pikachu!" she shouted. He stopped, turned and Eevee caught up with him just as he realised it was her.

"Eevee?"

Eevee bounced from paw to paw to paw to paw, wagging her tail. Her inability to talk to him during the interview combined with the fact she knew she didn't have much time left no room for awkwardness in her mind.

"Look," she gushed. "I just wanted to say thanks."

"Huh?" said Pikachu.

"It's just that you made things easy for me. I wasn't really prepared but you were just so reassuring. I know it's because I asked but thank you for making the effort."

"Oh! Uh?"

"But I know there's probably somewhere you need to be so I'll leave you be."

"Well, I ..."

But Eevee was already gone, almost skipping back down the corridor. She would be flushed with this happiness for some time to come. Pikachu, meanwhile, was left standing in one spot and looking overwhelmed.

"Um ... Your welcome?" He said.