Author Notes - To make up for how difficult it's been to keep myself on track, the chapters are gonna be a little bit longer from here on out. Not really on purpose, but I'm rolling with it.

CHAPTER SIX - GOODNIGHT STORIES

So it turned out that a Flareon who preferred brute force over anything wouldn't do so well up against a more strategic Espeon, one with the ability to manipulate his movements directly into a tree. Nor could that Psychic-type do so well up against a Dark-type.

Snowy and Whiskers witnessed many kinds of fighting across that day. Sunshine and Rose preferred attacking directly, with little if any status moves or strategy. Ebony played defensive almost the entire battle. Melancholy seemed to make the opponent hurt themselves more than he did. Spring, meanwhile, didn't battle at all. Clearly, his preferred battle strategy was 'surrender, go home, and pretend that the entire mess never happened'.

After all that practise fighting, it wasn't surprising when all the Seven Eevees - except for Ebony, of course - and their guests had to head to bed a little earlier than usual. Blaze, who hadn't done any fighting at all and hadn't even watched it half the time, was exhausted purely because of boredom. Luckily, she was too big to fit inside the cottage so she could be ignored as she slept outside.

Melancholy and Sunshine were in charge of dish-washing duty that night. Melancholy could easily soak and wipe up the plates and bowls with his psychic power, while Sunshine's hot flames caused all the soapy water to evaporate away. It was easy with Ebony licking every plate clean beforehand. Rose was in charge of putting them away in the cabinets once the boys were done.

'OHHH, I'm washing it up!' The Espeon sang. 'Washing it up, washing it up, wash-wash-wash-wa-!'

'WE GET THE POINT, HAPPY!'

Sunshine was alright with doing all that simple labour. Heck, he'd be okay if he was doing the whole job. It was that Espeon who made his work a pain.

The rest of the Pokémon were in the upstairs bedroom, trying to figure out the sleeping arrangements. Well, most of them were. Flash was too interested in hopping onto her soft yellow blanket and conking out almost immediately. Her limbs spread out like she was a ragdoll tossed against a floor, and she drooled all over her blanket. So, it was left to Rivers, Spring, Snowy and Whiskers to figure this out.

Rivers settled on the bed marked with his name by the window, and got himself comfortable. His blue blanket felt as soft as a pond, blending with his scales to make it feel as if he was sleeping in the ocean itself.

'Good thing you and the prince are so small, Princess.' He said, settling his glasses on the nearby bedside table. 'Or this might be difficult.'

Spring used his tail to wipe the dust off the name marked on the foot of his bed. The name was surrounded by simple flowers, and a Starly perched on the 'S'. He had carved it himself, along with everyone else's foot carvings. Whiskers approached the bed marked 'Ebony', and moved his paw across the carvings of the moon and 'spooky' trees - it felt a little rough, like it had been done by an amataur, but the way it looked was more than enough to make up for it. Snowy, meanwhile, sat at the foot of Rivers's bed.

'It's really not that hard!' She said. 'I'll be fine with sleeping on the couch. It looks comfortable enough.'

Spring gasped, and rushed over to her. He tripped over his own paws many times as he dashed across the room.

'Y-You can't do that!' He stammered. 'Y-You're a princess. I-I'll just sleep on the couch again myself. T-That's what I should be doing.'

Snowy shook her head. 'I can't let you do that again. Your bed is so soft and fragrant that you have to sleep in it. It's your bed after all.'

'B-But… you're a princess.'

Whiskers chuckled. 'Well, when we're out of our kingdoms, we're no more royal than you are. We have no laws to uphold, or servants to pay. We're just commoners out here.'

'B-But-'

He stopped. Dead. He felt something touch his paw, and he was about to shriek before he saw what was touching him. Snowy had placed her own paw over his, actively making sure she didn't touch him too tightly or harshly. His cheeks flushed as he gulped down his nerves.

'I just can't let you do that, Spring.' She said, going out of her way to avoid eye contact - a hard task considering how cute his big brown eyes were. 'It isn't fair if you don't get to sleep in your own bed.'

'B-But that's why I want you to have it. You deserve it.'

'Well,' She adopted a cheeky smirk. 'Why don't we split the difference and share the bed?'

Spring gulped. 'W-What?!'

It took Snowy a few seconds to notice the stares coming from the guys in the room, and if Flash were awake she would've shared the looks. Spring's cheeks had never looked so red.

'Uh, your highness?' Rivers said. 'I hope you realise that it's a bit, what's the word, unorthodox to put two Pokémon your age in the same bed.'

Snowy groaned. 'Just because my sixteenth birthday is coming up, you assume I'm just some hormone-driven teenager? Please. You are talking to a princess.'

'You certainly don't eat like a princess.' The Vaporeon said with a sigh. 'But with how many Pokémon will be sharing the room, I suppose we're in no risk of anything bad happening. I'm okay with it. It all depends on whether or not Spring is okay with it.'

'M-Me?!'

The Leafeon felt as if he had to perform in front of a great crowd, with the spotlight glaring right in his eyes. Luckily for him, Snowy knew to avert eye contact, but for just a split second his eyes met hers. It was only for half a second, and his gaze darted away immediately, but for that moment he felt something strange. He dared to look into her eyes again, just to figure out what that odd feeling was, only to end up more stumped than before. Whatever strange feeling this was, it didn't make the eye contact any less stressful for him.

Snowy caught a quick glance of his eyes too, and they had to have been the cutest eyes she had ever seen on a Pokémon. They had a childlike innocence to them, and she could see joy and cheer behind the fear and worry. For a moment, her grip on his paw got a little tighter. It made Spring look her in the eye again, and this time he managed to keep it up. It seemed as if he could keep eye contact with a stranger for more than a split second…

'AHH-CHOOOO!'

*SMASH*

Everyone in the bedroom - except for Flash, who didn't move an inch - flinched.

'SNEEZIE!' Sunshine shouted from downstairs. 'Ugh, you're hopeless!'

'Like I can just turn my allergies off!' Rose yelled back.

'We're indoors! What could you possibly be allergic to?'

'Maybe I'm allergic to big dumb IDIOT HEADS!'

'WHY YOU…!'

Rivers sighed, and hopped off his bed, grabbing his glasses on the way down. He winced slightly as he hit the floorboards a little harder than he was expecting; those old bones really weren't what they used to be.

'You fellas figure this out on your own.' He said, walking across the room to the stairs. 'I have yet another fight to stop.'

The other Pokémon watched the old Vaporeon make his way down the stairs, muttering to himself about how it was his fault for leaving someone as sneezy as that Glaceon in charge of carrying such fragile cargo. Once he left the room, Spring looked back to Snowy and finally realised what position he was in.

'EEK!'

He jumped back and tripped over his own tail, and didn't stop scampering away backwards until his rear bumped into Flash's bed on the other side of the room. The slight knock to her bed got the Jolteon to stir just slightly in her sleep.

'Hey Bashful…' Flash said, before she conked right out again.

The Leafeon blushed once again. At this point, Snowy was slowly becoming convinced that it was his natural skin tone, for she was certain he had blushed more than he didn't.

'So?' She asked with a grin. 'Can I share a bed with you?'

'Uh… u-uh…' He got into his feet and shaky knees. 'Y-Yeah, I-I-I guess so.'

'Well, in that case,' Whiskers said, leaning up against the bed marked with carvings of flowers. 'I suppose I'll ask the Glaceon if she wouldn't mind sharing a bed with me. I know it's odd for a Fire-type to say that an Ice-type's bed was comfortable, but…' He sighed. 'Oh, I don't think I'm ever going back.'

It had taken a while - the fight over the broken plate went on far longer than Rivers wanted, especially considering that the plate could easily be fixed - but finally all the Eevee evolutions and the royal family members had settled down on their respective beds, ready for a goodnight's sleep. Except for Ebony; she didn't seem any less tired now than she did before. It was the one time the other Eevees - namely Sunshine - were happy that she couldn't speak, for her silent laughs and howls could not keep them up.

As arranged, Snowy shared her bed with Spring and Whiskers with Rose. The Leafeon had backed himself as far away from the princess as he could get, laying down somewhat precariously next to the edge of his bed. Whiskers, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind getting close to a Pokémon of the opposite gender with whom he searched an egg group.

The moonlight shone through the window, filling the room with its soft white light. Ebony's rings glowed slightly under the lustre, and she bathed in it the same way a plant bathes in the sunlight. Melancholy's bed, which was right next to hers, was smack dab in the middle of the light, quite fitting seeing as moonlight was simply sunlight reflected off the moon. It was the one thing that the Pokémon needed for a good night's sleep.

There was just one problem. With the exception of Flash - who could always sleep, no matter what - everyone found themselves unable to really get to sleep. Perhaps it was because they had gone to bed early on account of all the fighting, or maybe because they could hear Blaze reinforcing their walls with her mud spit, but something was stopping them from sleeping.

Rose rolled onto her back and groaned. 'UGH! I can't sleep!'

Sunshine huffed, unfurling his fluffy tail. 'Finally. Something we can agree on.'

'I envy you…' Rivers muttered as he glanced at a sleeping Flash.

Snowy looked out the window. She really didn't feel tired, not in the slightest. Outside, she could see a Murkrow perched on a nearby tree. She stared at him for a few seconds - it baffled her that there would be any Pokémon out here in the woods at all, and that Murkrow looked just as confused as she did. He seemed a little familiar to her, but without accessing his scent she wouldn't be able to confirm it. Whatever his deal was, he flew away just seconds after she noticed him.

'This is so cool!' Melancholy declared, hopping back onto his paws. 'Now we can have a proper sleepover, because everyone knows that the one thing you don't do at a sleepover is sleep!'

'OR,' Sunshine said, glaring at him from across the room. 'We could try getting to sleep. That sounds much more fun to me. Anyone got any ideas on how we could do that?' He asked, looking around the room.

Snowy raised her paw. 'Well, we could-'

'Not you!'

The shiny Eevee looked at him with indignation clear on her face, and she turned away from him with a huff. Whiskers's tail lashed a little as he went deep into thought. He thought back on his childhood, when his mother Queen Kanjishi would help him during his sleepless nights.

'When I couldn't get to sleep,' He said. 'My mother would-'

'Can it, prince!' Sunshine yelled. 'We don't wanna hear any of your fancy schmancy royal stuff.'

'I-I do…' Spring squeaked.

The Flareon rolled his eyes. 'None of us sane Pokémon want to hear it. In case you haven't noticed, we're far from royalty. Whatever fancy thing you come up with is gonna be beyond our budget.'

Whiskers sighed. 'I was going to suggest we tell each other stories until we all fall asleep, but good to know that telling stories is beyond the budget of grumpy Flareon.'

The titular grumpy Flareon bared his teeth. 'Why you…!'

Melancholy gasped, and was so overjoyed at the idea that he jumped up and down on his bed. He bounced nearly high enough to hit his head on the ceiling, and that nearly part disappointed Sunshine.

'That's a great idea!' He yelled with a giggle. 'Oh, my dad would tell me tons of stories when I couldn't sleep! Granted, I'm not sure if it was his stories or the light his fur made - oh, he was a Boltund by the way - but it helped!'

The news was enough to make Flash stir in her sleep. 'Stories? Hm, I like stories. They're nice.'

Ebony hopped off her bed, not that she was getting to sleep anyway, and ran over to Rivers's bed. The poor Vaporeon had to deal with the Umbreon poking his forehead about five times before anyone understood what she wanted to say.

'I don't know Ebony very well,' Snowy said. 'But I think she wants you to start, Rivers.'

With a sigh, Rivers put his glasses back on. 'Well, I guess I have some stories. I've been around so long that I'm bound to have heard some good ones.' He cleared his throat. 'Once upon a time…'

'No fairytales!' Sunshine interrupted, his tail lashing. 'I'm not in the mood for it.'

Rose scoffed. 'You're never in the mood for anything.'

'You guys nicknamed me Grumpy! What are you expecting?'

Faced with this complication from a relative, Rivers had to think now. He put his paw to his chin and searched his brain for a good story of his life. Though, he wasn't entirely sure why he was entertaining the irritable Flareon's wishes to begin with. A smile appeared on his face - he found one.

'Well, I suppose if we have to tell true stories,' He started. 'Let me tell you guys one from my youth. I've told you a lot of them, but… I don't think I've told you this one yet.'

Melancholy leaned forward over the foot of his bed, so far that it's amazing that he didn't fall over. Ebony rushed back to her bed and imitated the pose, but far less successfully as she did fall over onto the floor. She was quick to return to her bed and imitate the pose with a bit more success. The other Pokémon got themselves a little more comfortable, and Sunshine turned away with a grumble.

In the process of getting himself comfortable, Spring inadvertently moved his tail a little too closely to the princess. The moment he felt her fur on the tip of his leafy tail, he squeaked and retracted his tail like he had just touched a hot stove.

Snowy giggled. 'Are you okay, Spring? Or can I call you Bashful?'

The poor Leafeon blushed, yet again. 'Uh, u-uh… I-I-I…' He gulped. 'I-I guess you can call me that. I-If you want. O-Only if you want!'

'Alright then. Bashful, would you be offended if I told you that you were the shyest Pokémon I have ever met?'

'N-N-No. I-I get that a lot.'

Rose found herself a little confused by her twin brother's behaviour. Now, he was always this shy in front of strangers, but by night two he usually toned down his stuttering and blushing. He wasn't quite this awkward in front of the prince, so she couldn't understand what was making him even shyer than usual.

Seeing as Spring was done with getting embarrassed once again, Rivers continued his story.

'If memory serves me well, I think I was about in my forties during this time. So, a few decades ago.' He sighed. 'Oh, I hate it when I remind myself of my own age. Anyway, I was still living in Auroria at the time, and I was on my way to buy some more berries for dinner that night. I was just walking along when I noticed the walls were covered in graffiti, which I had never seen before in such a nice neighbourhood.'

'I like graffiti!' Melancholy said. 'I think it looks pretty!' He giggled. 'That rhymed! Kinda.'

'I… right. The graffiti was one thing, but then I heard a cry!' He adopted a more suspenseful voice. 'As I turned the corner, I noticed a fruit cart knocked over onto the ground. The poor Tropius clerk looked so distraught! And then I saw… her.'

The younger Pokémon all gasped at once, and Ebony in particular gasped so hard that she became lightheaded and dizzy. Which meant she fell on her face again. Spring buried his face in his legs and shivered on the spot, and Snowy couldn't help but to giggle. Rose, not one for boundaries, grabbed Whiskers and held him tight like a teddy bear. He was not amused.

'There she was,' Rivers continued. 'The menace who had been causing this whole mess. A young teenager it seemed, with an empty spray can in her mouth and paint all over her paws, and the moment she saw me she tossed that can at my feet. The surrounding Pokémon seemed terrified of her. I told her that if she didn't get her act together, I would have to put an end to her nonsense. But she didn't think I could beat her, on account of my water-typing compared to her electric.'

Melancholy laughed. 'But you're Rivers! Typing never mattered to you, right?'

'Well, that gal was quite the cocky little Pokémon, I can tell you that much. It was clear to me that someone had to teach her a lesson, and since there were no Ground-types nearby, it was up to me.'

In the middle of this story, Sunshine found his attention drifting just a little. Somehow, he had gone from staring at the wall to glancing over at the princess. He wanted to be angry as he looked at her, for he knew that she was going to be the literal death of them all. Yet, he couldn't do it. His blasted heart refused to let him get angry, and that more than anything frustrated him.

'Didya get her, Doc?' Melancholy asked, bobbing up and down. 'Didya-didya-didya-didya-didya?'

Rivers chuckled. 'Melancholy, please calm down. You see, this scamp much preferred all-out fighting more than anything. She relied on her speed and power to get around me, and oh boy did those Thunderbolts hurt.'

Spring gasped. 'S-She didn't hurt you, did she?'

'Oh, she came close, I'll admit. Those electric attacks do a lot of damage to a Water-type like me. But I had one thing that she lacked - experience. She thought that all-out attacking would always save the day, so I figured out her predictable movement patterns, and when the time was right… I delivered a Sand Attack right into her face!'

Melancholy chuckled. 'That'll get 'er!'

Flash laughed, just a little. Despite how small and quick the little chuckle was, it had to have been the most emotion she had displayed in a while.

'Turns out that being robbed of her sight stopped the menace in her tracks.' Rivers said. 'After she smacked face-first into the ground, she begged me not to hurt her again. It was clear to me that she had learnt her lesson, so I let her go. I figured that the embarrassment she must've felt from being beaten by a slow Water-type was punishment enough. It took another ten years for us to really meet again, and by then she had grown up into quite the lazy woman, so her parents kicked her out of the house. She was supposed to get a life of her own, but…' He glanced at Flash. 'She ended up moving into my life instead.'

The titular Jolteon shrugged. 'Hey, you sorted me out the first time. I thought you might sort me out the second time.'

'And look at how well that ended.'

With a giggle, Snowy leapt forward. 'My turn, my turn! Once upon a time...'

While Snowy told her friends a fairytale of princes and princesses - much to Sunshine's chagrin - Queen Nymphia waited by the tallest window in all of her castle. The tower reached heights so crazy that anyone looking out the window could barely see the kingdom down below, and since hardly anyone came up here other than Nymphia herself, it didn't look much different to the room containing the Magic Mirror.

It was just a little more well kept, since most of the Pokémon in the castle knew of its existence, but not by much. It had stacks of books placed haphazardly upon the wooden shelves, and moss grew everywhere thanks to the roof leaking every time it rained. In the middle of this small room was a metallic cauldron, one covered in so much rust that its shiny metal could hardly be seen at all.

She didn't want to stay up, truthfully. She had spent the entire day searching the castle top to bottom for that troublesome Honedge, and since Blade had damaged the magic of the mirror it wasn't like the Yamask trapped within the glass would tell her where he went.

'Get back here, you stupid Murkrow…' She muttered to herself. 'And you best have the information I want, or I will kill you.'

The Sylveon needed not wait for much longer, as she could see a little black speck drawing ever closer to her. Very soon, the Murkrow came in for a landing on the window sill, and used his wing to wipe away the sweat from his forehead.

'Phew! Oh, what a flight.' He said, stretching out his tired wings. 'Seriously, flying all about over the entire forest to look for one stupid Eevee is surprisingly-'

'KARASU!' Nymphia shouted, her feelers fluttering everywhere. 'Listen to me!'

Karasu gulped, and stood up as straight as a bird could. He saluted his queen with his wing, trying to hide his quakey knees.

'K-Karasu, r-reporting for duty!' He stammered.

Nymphia rolled her eyes. 'Why do I associate with you?'

The Murkrow shot her a look of offence. 'Hey, don't be like that! Is that really how you treat your childhood friend?'

The Sylveon cocked an eyebrow. 'Why… did you call yourself that? Did you think I forgot that fact or something?'

'I… I don't know. By the way you treat me, it certainly seems like you've forgotten that I've known you ever since you were an Eevee.'

The queen sighed, and rubbed her forehead with one of her ribbon-like feelers. It seemed as if that the very moment the world considered you the 'bad guy', it became near impossible to get any good help.

'Never mind all of that nonsense.' She said, her tone low and serious. 'Did you actually find my daughter?'

'After about an eternity and a half…' He replied. 'I found your shiny daughter in a cottage!'

Nymphia grinned. 'You found her? Oh, just lovely. Now, I can finally…' Her smile dropped. 'Wait, a cottage? In the middle of nowhere?'

Karasu shrugged as well as a bird could. 'Yeah, I thought that was weird too. But you wanna know what's even weirder? There were other Pokémon living in that cottage too! But do you wanna know what was even weirder-er than that?'

Nymphia slammed her paw into her own forehead. 'You want to get to the point?'

'All those Pokémon who lived in that cottage, all seven of them, were different evolutions of Eevee! All except Sylveon, funnily enough. There was a Vaporeon wearing glasses, this really goofy Umbreon, a kinda shy Leafeon, and-'

The Sylveon's eyes widened. One of her feelers wrapped itself around the Murkrow's beak and held it shut, keeping him quiet to give her time to let what he just said sink in.

'Seven evolutions of Eevee?' She repeated. 'Including a Vaporeon wearing glasses, and a goofy Umbreon, you say? There wouldn't happen to be three females among this family, would there? The Jolteon, Glaceon, and Umbreon more specifically? Which would be an oddity with such a male-dominated species such as Eevee, wouldn't it now?'

Unable to answer verbally, Karasu nodded his head 'yes'. Nymphia stared into space for a few seconds, her feeler slowly unwrapping itself from the Flying-type's beak.

'It can't be…' She muttered. 'It can't be them…'

'At the risk of sounding really stupid,' Karasu said. 'Who, exactly?'

Nymphia gritted her teeth. 'Do you remember ten years ago, oh sweet Karasu, when young Prince Whiskers of Auroria nearly died from poisons in his soup? The poisons of which had been traced back to an Umbreon?'

Karasu gasped. 'Oh my Arceus, it's them! It has to be. Do… do you think they know?'

'I can't be certain. Of course they wouldn't blame their own kin, but I don't think there's a single Pokémon outside of you and my ancestors who know about the magic that lies within this very room. With Snowy in their company, this could be very, very bad.'

She could still remember them so well after all those years. Except for the Espeon, but that was only because he wasn't at the banquet at the time, and thank Arceus he wasn't. The thought of him ruining her plans by smelling the toxins made her shudder.

'I need to think about how I'm going to do this…' She muttered.

Her eyes fell upon one of her books on the shelves. She used one of her feelers to reach out, grab it, and put it on the nearby table. It, along with most of the books in this room, was dusty and tearing away from so many years of use, dating back to long before she was born.

'It's too late to go out now.' She told her Murkrow friend. 'Because I need to, ya know, come up with a plan. I'll have to come up with a way to deal with that princess myself tomorrow night, and you'll take me directly to her whether you want to or not.'

Karasu chuckled. 'Yeah, have fun with that. It's one against, uh… ten, I think, if you count the Mudsdale? And there aren't many Sylveon around the place, let alone any Sylveon who are female. They'll burn you at the stake before you ever get to pull out the knife.'

Nymphia gave him a look. 'Well, duh. That's why I'm looking through this book, to get a spell ready for tomorrow night. You can't honestly think I'm that much of an idiot. Surely.'

Though this book was her favourite, she hadn't picked it up for a good decade, so many of these words were unfamiliar to her. Still, she understood every one. Every species of Pokémon known to exist around Forressidon and Auroria could be found in this book, all helpfully organised in alphabetical order.

Hoothoot, Hoppip, Horsea…

'Aha!' Queen Nymphia exclaimed with a grin. She slammed a feeler into the page as she continued, 'Houndoom. It's perfect! Its body shape is not too different from mine, there's plenty of Houndoom in this kingdom so it won't be too suspicious, and its Dark-typing should keep me safe from that Espeon's psychic powers.' She turned to her Murkrow friend. 'And you're gathering the ingredients for me!'

Karasu gasped. 'What?! Why me? Don't you have enough male servants to slap with Attract?'

'None of them can fly, idiot. And beside, if any of them go missing, that's just going to raise suspicion. And raising suspicion - which is already high enough - is the last thing I need. No one will notice if you're gone, though.'

The Murkrow sighed. 'Of course. Will you at least give me a Dusk Stone if I do your bidding?'

'Hm… maybe, maybe not. Depends on how good of a job you do.'

Snowy suddenly awoke in the middle of the night. It was not due to a nightmare, or a loud bump in the darkness, but because something gave her a little kick to the face. It didn't hurt too much, but it was enough to wake her up immediately.

'What the-?' She muttered.

It didn't take her long to see what had kicked her - the Leafeon who she was sharing a bed with was squirming and whimpering in his sleep.

'S-Spring?'

He muttered something that Snowy couldn't understand. She looked around the room to see if anyone else was moving around, but she couldn't see any movement in the room. Even Ebony had gone to sleep, which must've been a miracle to witness. The only movement she could find was Whiskers rolling over and getting a little closer to Rose, and that was it.

She stared at Spring for a moment. It was clear to her that he wasn't going to be getting out of whatever nightmare he was having any time soon, and she couldn't bear the thought of putting him through it any longer. So, she gently tapped him on the shoulder.

'Bashful?'

'Eep!'

The Leafeon jolted awake with a slight yelp, just quiet not to wake anyone else up. He breathed heavily as his terrified eyes darted around the room, searching for the perpetrator in his dreams. When he saw the shiny Eevee looking up at him with worry, he took in a deep breath and rested his head on his grass-like blanket.

'Are you okay?' Snowy asked. 'It seemed like quite the nightmare you were having.'

He nodded. 'Y-Yeah. But it's fine. I have that nightmare sometimes.'

Her ears twitched. 'The same one? That doesn't sound good.' She paused. 'Is it about your mother?'

Spring stared at her for a moment, and whimpered. He couldn't bring himself to say 'yes', but his silence provided all the answers she needed.

'Don't worry about it.' She said, rubbing her cheek against his face. 'You don't have to give me the details if you don't want to. I… I know what it's like to lose a parent. I still miss my father.'

Spring must've been too sleepy to care about the physical contact, for if he were more awake he would've shrieked the moment a stranger showed him such physical affection.

'I-I remember when King Absalom died.' He said. 'H-He was such a nice king. It wasn't much later that my mother…' He choked. 'Oh, Momma…'

'I'm sure your mother was a lovely Pokémon, just like you.'

They fell silent, but neither could get back to sleep just yet. Spring feared what he would witness in his dreams, and Snowy didn't want to drift off until he did.

'If you don't mind me asking,' She said, trying to fill the silence. 'How did your sister take it?'

'Not much better.' He admitted. 'She's always been braver and stronger than me, ever since we were hatched, but… I don't think she can look at any Garchomp the same way again.'

'Wait, Garchomp? I… never mind. It isn't something I need to know.'

As the silence returned, Spring did something he never thought he'd do. He wrapped his big leafy tail around Snowy, warming her up and making him feel like he had a little more support. She felt so warm and fluffy, like a little plush Teddiursa toy.

'W-We were telling stories earlier tonight.' He said. 'W-Would you like to hear another one, about why I chose to be a Leafeon?'

Snowy's ears perked. 'Oh, I would love that!'

'S-See, my mother was a Leafeon too. And our father is a Weavile, if you're wondering. A-Anyway, Momma was so sweet and kind, and she loved me. She n-never pushed me too far, and she would always make me feel safe. That wasn't easy, since I was afraid of everything, but she never gave up on me.'

'And you wanted to be a Leafeon, just like her?'

The young Grass-type shrugged. 'When I was really young, I wanted to be a Vaporeon, so I could be invisible in the water so no one would look at me. B-But Momma died before she could see me evolve, and because she was no longer with me… I chose to be a Leafeon like she was, so a part of her would stay with me forever.'

When Spring finished telling his story, Snowy wasn't sure what to say. She was at just the right level of energy to retain that information, yet not to react to it properly. So, she just cuddled closer. His tan fur was even softer than his green blanket.

'That's beautiful, Bashful.' She said. 'And I'm sure your mother would be very proud of you. I've been thinking about evolving into Umbreon so I can be a Dark-type like my father, but it just doesn't feel the same. An Absol is just too different from-'

She cut herself off once she realised that Spring had already gone back to sleeping away. Was he bored by her own story, or did her voice lull him to sleep? Snowy wasn't sure, but she didn't mind. After his horrible nightmare, she was just happy to see him sleeping with a smile on his face.

With nothing better to do, she cuddled deep into his soft fur. The aroma of fresh grass emanating from his body was more intense than ever, and it helped lull her away back into DreamLand too.

As she drifted off, her sleepy brain couldn't help but to make an interesting connection. She knew a Garchomp once, one named Jett who used to work for Queen Nymphia before he seemingly went mad and murdered a few Pokémon who had loving relationships in Forressidon, one of whom was a Leafeon. Jett must've been driven crazy by the death of His Majesty the Absol. If Snowy didn't know any better, she'd say that the Leafeon…

She went to sleep before her mind finished making the connection.

Author Notes - I have so much backstory in my head for all of these characters, and I really wanna try to get out as much of it as possible without completely disrupting the flow of the story.