Author Notes - Hey, you know what I like? Deleted scenes! Just like the chapter with the soup, this chapter and the next will focus on another deleted scene. More specifically, the one where the Dwarfs work together to build Snow White a bed.

CHAPTER SEVEN - BEDKNOBS AND BROOM-GIFTS

In contrast to how hard it was for them to get to sleep the previous night, they slept soundly while the sun rose and shone through their window. The room was almost completely silent, and hardly anyone stirred in their sleep. Even when Ebony rolled over far enough to fall off her bed, she didn't wake up upon hitting the floor nor did the loud THUD sound wake anyone else up.

In the peaceful quiet, it was clear who slept the most happily, and for once it wasn't the sleep-loving Jolteon. Snowy had cuddled deep into Spring's soft fur in her sleep, and Spring ended up cuddling her tighter than ever. He had her wrapped up all nice and cosy in his tail, snug as a Blipbug in a rug. It seemed that nothing could interrupt these Pokémon from their soundly sleeping.

That was, until, Prince Whiskers turned over in his sleep, moving around in such a way that his tail brushed against the Glaceon's nose as he passed by. The consequences of which, you'll find, were painfully predictable.

'Ah… AAHHH-CHOOOO!'

In the tranquility of their cottage in the middle of the deserted woods, Rose's sneeze hit all the sleeping Pokémon like a nuke. They all jumped awake at once, groaning and moaning as they all felt like they had been drinking too much fermented berry juice the day prior. All except Flash, who could sleep through the apocalypse.

Melancholy was the only one who woke up with a smile, and he jumped to the floor and struck a pose while his fur positively glowed under the sunlight.

'Sounds like we just found ourselves a new alarm clock!' He yelled, bouncing with all-fours at once down the stairs before anyone else even left their beds.

Sunshine rubbed his aching forehead. 'I swear to Arceus… I'M GONNA MOUNT YOUR HEAD ON THE WALL ONE DAY, HAPPY!'

The Espeon just giggled from the foot of the stairs. 'Remember to hang me over the fireplace!'

Sunshine groaned in frustration, and squeezed his 'fingers' together like Melancholy's head was in his paw. Some day, he swore, he would do it for real, as soon as that Psychic-type's charm wore off. For now, all he could do was drag himself out of bed for what was sure to be another annoying day.

Rivers stretched out his legs as far as they could on his bed, cringing a little as he heard a distinct crack sound. For a moment, the disk in his back refused to move or do anything other than give him pain, until he managed to twist his body around enough to get it moving again. It still hurt a little as he climbed down the bed onto the floor. It was like his bones were done with life, but the rest of his body refused to give in just yet.

At the same time, Ebony looked around in confusion. She could've sworn the world was the right way up before she went to sleep. So why was the ceiling on the floor? When she realised that she was just upside-down, she giggled at her own silliness and got onto her feet. Immediately she hung her tongue out of her mouth, hungry for some breakfast. In fact, she was so excited for breakfast that she tripped as she ran down the stairs. Just like she had the day before. And the day before that. And the day before that…

'Nggghhh…' Rose groaned as she got to her paws. 'I've had less painful awakenings.' She flinched. 'Oh, my throat hurts.'

Unsurprisingly, Whiskers had been the first to awaken after her. His fur stood up on end, either because of the burst of freezing cold air or because he had the daylights scared out of him. It was likely both. He patted and licked all his fur back into place, though he failed to get a couple of patches.

'Do you always do that?' He asked the Glaceon.

Rose stretched her legs, and leapt to the floor. Despite her exhaustion, she managed to land on all her paws. He followed soon after her.

'Eh, sometimes.' She answered with a shrug.

'You seem a bit nonchalant about that.' Whiskers remarked.

'I'm allergic to everything. I'm kinda used to it.'

None had a rougher awakening than Spring. Now, the Leafeon was very used to his twin's explosive sneezes, so that wasn't at all the problem. The sunshine fell upon his fur, and in moments his body got to work at converting its light into energy. His big brown eyes fell upon the much-more-awake princess, who was still cuddled up so tight in his tail that most of her body was making contact with his. When his tired mind processed the scene…

'EEP!'

Emitting a sound even louder than the Rose nuke and higher in pitch than a Dedenne on helium, he leapt three times his height into the air with his limbs and fur out like needles in a pincushion. After he seemingly floated in the air for a moment, he fell flat on his face directly into the floor. All the other Pokémon in the room turned to this magnificent display.

Snowy gasped and jumped down to him. 'Bashful! Are you alright?'

The dazed Leafeon in question lifted his face off the floor, only to make another squeaky sound upon seeing Snowy in his face, and he scampered onto his legs with all the grace of a drunken Spinda. Like always, his cheeks were blood red, and he just wanted to disappear into the water forever just like a Vaporeon.

Rose chuckled. 'Don't worry. He's been doing this since he was little.'

He gave her a look. 'N-No, I haven't!' He turned to the princess. 'D-Don't listen to her.'

'He also sneezes like a baby Skitty!'

'N-N-NO I DON'T!'

By some miracle, all this commotion managed to wake up Flash for real. She glanced over at the shiny Eevee, who was giggling at Spring's ever-intensifying blush. It brought a small smile to her always exhausted and stoic muzzle.

'Happy birthday, Princess.' She muttered, barely audible and not even trying to get up.

Snowy gave her a smile. 'Thank you, Flash.'

Everything fell silent, and the princess found herself being stared at by practically every Pokémon in the room, except for Flash who was already going back to sleep.

'... What?'

She blinked just once, and when she opened her eyes again, Melancholy had somehow reappeared right in front of her face like a monster in a horror movie.

'OH MY!' She exclaimed, jumping back.

Ebony had attempted to get back up the stairs as quickly as he did, but she had tripped over the highest step and faceplanted into the floor. From downstairs one could hear Sunshine groaning in pain thanks to the cheery Pokémon knocking him off the stairs as they ran by.

'IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY?!' Melancholy yelled.

'Uh… yes, it is.' Snowy replied, slightly weirded-out. 'I didn't mention it because I didn't think a big deal needed to be made about it, but I didn't account for Flash casually wishing me a happy birthday.'

'You're welcome.' Flash said with a smirk.

The Espeon gasped. 'Not a big deal?! Princess, this is your sixteenth birthday! That one's special, ya know. We can't just sit here and go about our day as normal on your sixteenth birthday. We gotta do something special! COME ON, DOPIE!'

Before the princess could tell him to stop - or say anything for that matter - Melancholy zipped right back on down the stairs. A very unlucky Sunshine had gotten back on the stairs, hoping to get back up to the bedroom to smack some sense into his younger brother, before Melancholy zoomed past fast enough to launch him clean off the stairs again. The poor Flareon landed on his back, and growled through his teeth louder than any Ursaring or Pangoro ever could.

'I'M GONNA KILL YOU, HAPPY!'

Snowy sighed, her ears drooping just a little. 'See, this is exactly why I didn't want anyone making a big deal over this.'

'COME ON, PRINCESS!' Melancholy yelled from the kitchen. 'We're gonna prepare you the greatest dang breakfast you have ever eaten!'

With another sigh, she made her way down the stairs, past the angry Flareon, and into the kitchen. It had taken a grand total of three seconds for Ebony to end up with various kinds of berry juices all over her body, and she joyfully panted like there wasn't a problem at all. Melancholy had half of the pots and pans floating around in the air, filled with berry concoctions of all kinds.

'I was gonna make only enough for you,' He said. 'But I think I added a few too many berries, so we're ALL having it now!'

'Oh wonderful.' Sunshine muttered as he got back to his aching paws. 'Fantastic. That makes everything better!'

'You're welcome!'

Meanwhile, the other four Eevee evolutions and the prince remained upstairs in the bedroom, trying to process this new bit of information. Flash just grinned at them, taking great delight in being the only one to have remembered the princess's birthday.

'It's the fifth day of spring already?' Whiskers asked, putting his paw to his chin. 'I was never good at tracking dates, but this is bad even by my standards.'

'We have to throw her a party or something!' Rose declared, throwing her 'arms' up into the air. 'The fifteenth birthday-'

'Sixteenth.'

'Sixteenth birthday is a big deal!'

Rivers shook his head. 'The princess said she didn't want to make such a big deal out of it. We'll have this big breakfast with her, and then we will go about our day.'

The young Glaceon groaned and pouted. She would've sat there like a petulant child had Rivers not given her a stern look, and she responded to it with a nervous smile. At the same time, Spring stared off into space. His thoughts bounced around in his head, and sooner or later one of them was sure to come tumbling out of his mouth.

'We need to give her something!' He blurted out. 'F-For her birthday!'

The other Pokémon in the room all turned to him, and it made him flinch.

'Fantastic idea, bro!' Rose said, tucking her paw into the best fist she could manage.

The prince gave her a grin. 'I'm with you on that one. We can certainly spend the whole day like nothing is different, but we simply must give her a gift. But what, exactly, did you have in mind, Spring?'

The Leafeon shrugged. 'I-I don't know. I was hoping you guys would have an idea.'

Rose gritted her teeth. 'Oof. Can't help ya there, bro. That nasty sneeze knocked the ideas right out of me.'

Rivers shook his head and sighed, perfectly encapsulating his frustration even if it almost made him smile. Sometimes he wondered why he dealt with them over things like that. Flash, on the other hand, chuckled to herself. She proceeded to get herself out of the bed the same way she did every morning - by rolling over until she fell off and landed on her paws.

'I've got an idea.' She said, speaking like she figured no one was listening and she didn't care. 'How about we make her a new bed?'

Rivers rolled his eyes. 'Flash, I love you, but I'm afraid that your mind is a little-'

'That's a great idea!' Spring yelled, making everyone else jump back. 'It's homemade, so it has heart. It doesn't move, so it'll never run away. It's practical, so she can use it. We should make her a bed!'

The bashful lanky Leafeon was so happy with this idea that he did a little dance, running around and jumping all about like he wasn't usually the most clumsy guy in the world. As he scampered about, he sung a little chant to himself that went simply - 'We're gonna build a be-ed! We're gonna build a be-ed! We're gonna build a be-ed!'

Rivers adjusted his glasses. 'And how are we going to do that? I would love to give the princess such a nice gift for her birthday, but I'm afraid I don't know how to build a bed.'

'I do.' Flash said, stepping forward just a little. 'I know a lot about beds. You need a frame, a nice soft mattress, a big blanket to cover it up…'

She began to doze off a little during her own speech, almost falling asleep while standing up. The only reason she didn't was because Spring was still dancing and chanting, and she didn't want to miss a single second of that.

'Well, I guess that settles it.' Rivers said. 'We'll make the princess a bed for her birthday. If we can find the resources for it, of course.'

'Oh, that's easy!' Rose declared. 'Those dusty old fabrics that do nothing but make me sneeze my brains out oughta make for a decent makeshift mattress if we stitch 'em together and stuff it with something soft.'

'A-And we have plenty of wood from the trees!' Spring added, finally stopping his little dance. 'Oh, this is going to be perfect. I can't wait to see how happy we'll make her!'

The group of Pokémon embarked down the stairs, where the elaborate breakfast awaited them on every plate. Well, except for Rose's plate. Her breakfast was nothing but the usual berries, something she noticed almost immediately.

'Sorry Sneezie!' Melancholy said as he hopped into his seat. 'I kinda got carried away with this birthday breakfast and ended up using a lot of berries you're allergic to. Sorry!'

Rose groaned. 'I keep telling you, can you stop ca-?! You know what, never mind.'

Like before, there weren't enough seats for everyone so the Pokémon of royalty had to sit on the table instead of having their own chairs. They didn't mind, for Melancholy's creation was simply breathtaking. Snowy adored it, but there was a sour feeling in the pit of her stomach - her mother hadn't given her such a wonderful meal ever since King Absalom died.

The entire time that everyone was eating their meals, Spring couldn't keep his eyes off Snowy. He had a particularly nervous smile on his face, but despite his usual aversion to eye contact he couldn't stop staring or giggling.

'Uh, Spring…' The princess said. 'Are you okay?'

'DO YOU LIKE BEDS?!' He blurted out.

The room went silent and all eyes were on him. He stared back at them for a bit, before he bashed his face into the table and whimpered to himself. It only made Snowy even more confused.

Rose's eyes darted around. 'Uh… he doesn't have any reason to ask you why you like beds! W-What made you think that? He totally doesn't want to gift you a bed or anyth- OW!'

Sunshine smacked her upside the head, just hard enough to knock some sense into her. Once she had recovered and was rubbing the impact site, he smacked her upside the head a second time.

'Hey, OW!' She cried, glaring at him. 'Why did ya do that twice?!'

'Once for being an idiot and giving away the surprise.' The Flareon replied. 'Twice for, most importantly, deciding to give a surprise to the princess!'

'It wasn't my idea. It was Bashful's. But-don't-hit-him-please-that-would-be-mean.'

Sunshine grunted. 'I don't hit Bashful. Who else?'

'Uh, it was Sleepie's idea to make a bed.'

Sunshine leaned over Ebony's lap, and proceeded to give Flash a good ol' smack to the back of the head. The Jolteon didn't even so much as flinch, perhaps because she was still too tired for her reaction time to be worth anything.

'Sunshine, can you stop smacking your family members please?' Rivers requested.

'I'll stop when you guys stop giving this intruder so much stuff just because she's a princess!'

'It's her birthday.'

'And it was my birthday a few weeks ago, and none of you celebrated it!'

'That's because you're a jerk!' Rose yelled back.

Ebony dipped her forelegs in berry juice to make them look yellow, held them up to her neck and twisted them around to mimic Sunshine's mane. Her expression shifted to one of exaggerated anger, and she 'glared' right at him. Whatever attempt she was making at imitating his attitude were for naught as she began guffawing at her own joke. The urge to strangle someone had never been so clear on Sunshine's face before.

'So… I take it I'm gonna get a new bed for my birthday?' Snowy asked, not even trying to make it sound like she didn't know the answer.

'D-Do you want one?' Spring asked.

'It's a strange gift, I'll say that much. But I think it would be lovely!'

The Leafeon leaned back in his chair and raised his paws into the air, punctuating it with a little 'YES!' as he did so. He gulped down the rest of his meal in two bites, and ran out the door before the plan had even been decided on. The moment he made it out the door, however, he came face-to-face with the house guest he had forgotten about.

'What's gotten you so excited this morning?' Blaze asked, staring him down.

'AAHHHH!'

'Flash, you're in charge.'

Rivers had no idea what he was thinking when he said that, but regardless he put the sleepy Jolteon in charge. After all, she knew more about building a bed than he did, but… While he kept the princess busy in their cottage, Flash took her younger siblings - and the prince, with his reluctant steed close behind - out into the forest. Spring danced the entire way there, unable to contain his excitement, and Ebony couldn't help but to dance along with him.

'First, we'll need wood.' Flash said as she led them through the woods, ignoring Rose's snickering. 'And there's a lot of wood in the forest.'

Rose snickered to herself again, which made the Jolteon roll her eyes. She walked up to a tree that appeared quite old and dying, and pointed to it.

'This tree is good.' She said. 'Bashful, cut it down.'

The Leafeon flinched. 'M-Me? Why m-me?'

'Your tail is sharp enough to cut down trees. You're the only one who can do it without turning the tree to ash. Give it a shot.'

Spring gulped, and approached the tree that Flash had chosen out. He could feel everyone staring at him, waiting for him to hurry up and cut down the tree so they could begin. With a gulp, he concentrated on sharpening his tail into a Leaf Blade. When his tail began to glow a bright green, it morphed into a thinner shape resembling a sword. Taking a second to gulp again, he jumped and spun around.

His tail sliced straight through the trunk like he was cutting through water, and Flash gave it a very light bop with her nose.

'TIIIIMBEEEEER!' Melancholy yelled, much to the frustration of Sunshine who was right in front of him.

'Wouldya shut up?!' The Flareon yelled back.

The tree tumbled over, missing all the other trees by some miracle until it hit the ground with a mighty CRASH. Spring smiled, feeling a little proud of himself.

'Grumpy will do the heavy lifting.' Flash said, looking at the Fire-type.

'Me?!' Sunshine cried. 'Why me?'

'You're the strongest one. Happy can help you.'

His eyes widened. 'Wait, nonono! That's even worse!'

Melancholy cheered as he lifted up the top half of the fallen tree with his mind alone. Sunshine, groaning quite heavily, spent a few good seconds trying to heave the mighty trunk up onto his back. If Melancholy wasn't doing most of the work, the Flareon's spine would've crumbled. Blaze rolled her eyes. She didn't understand why that annoying Espeon didn't just get her to do all the heavy-lifting, seeing as she was built for it.

It didn't take them long to come across another dying tree, one quite a bit bigger than the last one. Spring cut through its trunk just as easily as the last one, and before she knocked it down Flash turned to the Mudsdale.

'Blaze, I want you to get under this tree when I push it over.' She said. 'So you can carry it.'

'What?!' Blaze yelled. 'Hey, I didn't come here to do your labour!'

'You seemed annoyed I didn't choose you for the first tree, but I needed to save you for this one instead.'

Blaze muttered to herself, but still did as the Jolteon ordered. It was odd to her that the Electric-type didn't seem to fear the giant Ground-type that she was, but Blaze figured she was just an idiot.

'... And that was how I managed to save Ebony from a Hydreigon.'

Rivers wasn't certain how to entertain a young princess, so he did what seemed to work before - telling her stories. Both him and the shiny Eevee were sitting on the old couch, while he recalled various events that had happened over his long life. Snowy rested her head on her 'elbows' and looked up at the Vaporeon with sparkling eyes as he told his stories.

'Wow…' She murmured. 'You've been through a lot, haven't ya?'

'Well, of course I have.' Rivers said. 'I've lived for decades, so long that my bones are already done with it. You'll have plenty of stories to tell your own grandkids when you're my age. If you end up having kids and grandkids, of course.'

He had told a lot of them already, but with everything he had gone through in his life he wasn't even close to being finished yet. There were still some favourites that he was saving, like when he convinced Spring to face his fears and sing on stage for a massive crowd of Pokémon, or when he saved that poor Larvitar from her watery grave.

'There's something I've been wondering about for a little while now.' Snowy said. 'So, you see the other Eeveelutions as your little brothers and sisters, right?'

Rivers nodded. 'Correct. Why do you ask?'

'Well, it's pretty obvious that it's not a blood connection considering the age gap between you and Flash. Which is fine, by the way, but I'm just wondering… if they're not your kids or anything like that, why are they part of this family?'

The Vaporeon sighed, and lay down on the couch just like the princess was. He would've loved to say that this question took him by surprise, but he had been expecting it since day one.

'They all have a story.' He replied. 'Each and every one of them. You've already heard why Flash is part of this family, but I don't think you know about anyone else, do you?'

She shook her head. 'Would they be okay with you sharing their stories, or is it too personal for them? Because I'm okay with that.'

'No, they'd be fine with it. I wouldn't say anything about it if I didn't think otherwise. Sunshine wasn't all too old when he joined our family, only a few years after Flash did. I had known him since he was an Eevee, but just as a neighbour at first. He was just trying to make a life of his own, but he… didn't have it so easy.'

Rivers cringed. While the times since Sunshine was still an Eevee were so far away that he hardly remembered them anymore, he could still remember the things that other Pokémon said to him soon after he evolved…

'Really? Of all the evolutions, you chose FLAREON? HA!'

'You idiot! Everyone knows that Flareon is the worst option you could take.'

'Aw, what a waste of a perfectly good Eevee.'

As for Sunshine himself…

'SHUT UP! Flareon are cool. I know they are!'

'You might be aware that Flareon have a… reputation as being a poor choice for an Eevee to be.' Rivers said.

Snowy nodded, frowning. 'Yep. A combination of poor speed and an inability to learn a lot of good moves. Since I'm a princess who's still an Eevee, I've heard a lot of rumours about what I'll evolve into. Oh, we never see her so she'll be a mysterious Umbreon. No, she keeps cool under pressure so it's Glaceon. But she's a quick thinker so maybe a Jolteon or an Espeon. Everyone's got their own theories, but almost no one ever says I might become a Flareon. The one guy who did got laughed at.'

'Sunshine wanted to become a Flareon because his mother was one too, and from what he's said about her she's quite the feisty one. A lot of other Pokémon thought he was crazy to choose a supposedly-awful evolution, and…'

'Look out for the Stealth Rocks!'

'Hey Sunny, taste the Scald-ing hot water!'

'OW! ... Stop it! I… I… I HATE ALL OF YOU!'

He flinched again. It was tempting to stop the story there and move on to someone else, but the princess was looking up at him. She wanted more. So, he sighed and continued.

'Look, I don't think he'd want me to go that deep into what he went through, but I had to watch what he was going through for years until he came crying to me for help. Since I had already taken in a certain freeloading Jolteon, I let Sunshine into our family. It's quite a shame, really. I remember his name being a little more fitting before he evolved.'

'Oh.' Snowy said, her ears drooping. 'Is he happy living with you guys?'

The Vaporeon chuckled. 'Depends on your definition of 'happy' there.'

The more… painful parts of bed building had been taken care of. Once the irritated Flareon and Mudsdale delivered the wood required, Melancholy had washed those dusty old fabrics and sewed them together to make the mattress, seeing as his telekinesis was a fine replacement for hands, which every Pokémon in the vicinity completely lacked.

Prince Whiskers watched as he worked on the last few threads. 'If you don't mind me asking,' He said to the Jolteon. 'Why were those old clothes doing there anyway?'

Flash shrugged. 'I dunno. Doc thinks they were from the previous owners. Whoever they were.'

The one problem was that when Melancholy finished putting it all together, the only place he could put it was on the ground. The 'frame' was still just a few logs laying on the floor, and the mattress didn't even have anything inside it. Ebony jumped into the middle of it the moment it settled, and rolled around in it.

'Now what?' Sunshine asked, more frustrated than anything.

'Now we split up the work.' Flash answered. 'I'll draw up some measurements on the logs for Bashful to cut. Since Happy is the only one with any dexterity, he'll thread the blanket together. And Grumpy-'

The Flareon held up his paw and looked away. 'Ohhh no! I'm not being a part of this anymore than I already am!'

'Oh. Well, you're going to use your flames to give the bed a nice pattern.'

Sunshine groaned. 'What did I just say?!'

Flash did not feel like dealing with him any longer, and so took herself and Spring over to the cut logs to cut them down further. Ebony followed her in hopes of having something to do. As the others went to their posts, it left Sunshine, Rose, Blaze, and the prince together. The Flareon perched himself on the grassy ground and huffed.

'Nice patterns… bleh!' He groaned. 'Why does he think I'm gonna do something like that?'

Prince Whiskers smirked. 'I couldn't agree more. A horrible brute like you? No way you'd manage to create something lovely.'

Sunshine glared at him. 'Oh, you don't think I even could do something like that, huh? Just because you're some high and mighty prince? Well, I'll show you! The moment Sleepie hands me that piece of wood, I'll make the most gorgeous patterns you've ever seen!'

Without another question, he rushed over to the fallen logs and awaited to receive his work. As he ran off, Rose's agape expression drifted over from him to the smirking Litleo.

'How… how… how did you do that?!' She asked. 'I've never been able to get Grumpy to do his work before!'

Whiskers flashed her a little grin. 'It's simple - appeal to their ego. Stubborn types like your Flareon brother live to prove people wrong, no matter what. When you're a member of royalty, you learn how to deal with Pokémon of all types.'

Her eyes sparkled, and she lowered her head onto her forelegs. 'You're so smart…'

The Litleo lightly blushed. 'Well, it isn't much. Just some diplomatic skills I've learnt over the years, that's all.'

Flash, using the white spikes surrounding her neck, dug into the bark of the tree to indicate exactly where Spring had to cut. As she made the marks, she made sure to account for any possible evolutions she might decide on, as well as the strong possibility of her sharing it with a future prince or princess. When she was certain the measurements were right - not that she was exactly the 'measure twice, cut once' type - she returned to the remaining Pokémon and let Spring do his thing.

'We'll need someone to gather up some soft things to fill the mattress with.' She said. 'There's enough blooming dandelions to loot from, and we get some feathers when flying Pokémon fly over us. Prince, Dopie, if you may…'

The prince and Umbreon nodded, and dashed off into the woods to look for anything soft to stuff the mattress with. Ebony didn't get very far before she picked up a rock with her teeth, and presented it to the Litleo prince. He could only give her a look.

'Ebony, that's a rock.' He said. 'That's not gonna make for a comfortable mattress.'

She glared at him, not dropping the rock. Whiskers's eyes widened in realisation.

'Oh, you just wanted to show that off.'

She nodded, and placed it back down on the ground before running off. Whiskers wanted to ask about a hundred questions, but she had already disappeared by the time he got his words back. So, he just accepted the fact that he wouldn't understand her, and with a shrug went into a different part of the woods.

Blaze snorted, and turned around. 'Well, when you're done, let me know.'

'We still need you.' Flash said.

The Mudsdale paused her movements, rolled her eyes with a groan, and turned around. She couldn't believe how brave that lazy Jolteon was, seeing as Blaze - purely by being a Mudsdale - could easily crush her into smithereens. Either that, or the Electric-type was incredibly stupid. Blaze could see it happening both ways.

'For what?' She demanded with another snort.

'When Mudsdale, such as yourself, mixes dirt with its saliva, it creates a mud with highly-resistant properties. We'll coat the frame with some of your special mud to make it a little hardier.'

Blaze smirked. 'About time someone recognises the special properties of some genuine Mudsdale mud. I'll do it.'

Rose jumped forward with a smile. 'What about me? What can I do?'

Flash frowned, but hardly any more than she usually did, so no one noticed. Since the beginning of this operation, she had struggled to come up with something for the Glaceon to do. Not only were most of the important jobs already taken, but there was an obvious problem.

'Yeah, about that,' She said. 'You can't do anything to help.'

Rose flinched. She may have been used to Flash's blunt nature, but she found herself rather indignant at such a response.

'What?!' She responded, turning her head away. 'Hmph! I don't see why. I'm just as capable as everyone else, if not more. Give me one good reason why I can't… I…'

It shouldn't surprise you that just as she was asking for a reason why she couldn't help, her question was about to be answered by Rose herself.

'Ah… AHHH-CHOOO!'

The force was enough to throw her onto her back. She groaned as her head slammed into the hard dirt underneath her. As she grumbled to herself, Flash looked down upon her.

'Yeah, that.' She said. 'I don't want a random sneeze to ruin everything.'

All the Glaceon could do was pout on the ground. 'Could I at least nail it together or something?'

'Too risky. And Blaze's spit does the job just fine.'

Indeed, they had no need for nails when they had sturdy glue. After Sunshine dragged a burning paw all the way down a long plank of wood - leaving a rather lovely ribbon-like pattern down the side - he lifted it up into place with his mouth against another plank that Spring was holding up. Blaze took a big bite out of the dirt, mixed it up with her saliva, and spat at the spot where the two planks met. The special mud hardened around the corner in seconds, bounding them together stronger than any nails could.

Spring wrinkled his nose. 'Ew…'

Blaze's ears perked. 'Hey now! I'll have you know that Mudsdale spit is the strongest glue you'll ever find. No need to act like that.'

'And besides,' Sunshine said with a grunt, letting go of the plank. 'I need you ta stop complaining and help me out with the head graving.'

The Leafeon's eyes widened. 'Y-You want to do… w-what? C-Can I really do that? I-I know I carved all those pretty patterns on our beds, but…'

Sunshine sighed. 'Dang it, Bashful…'

Meanwhile, Melancholy came bouncing out of the cottage carrying a couple of blankets with his mind. The patches of lilac and black fabric waved about slightly in the wind, and quickly joined a pile with a blue blanket laying by a tree. Using his telekinesis to levitate a spool of thread with a needle around, he got to sewing them together.

'I hope Snowy loves my blanket!' He said to himself, dancing about on the spot to contain his excitement. 'And Dopie's too!'

At the same time, Rivers had entered the bedroom to fetch something…

'Does anyone know where my blanket went?'

'Do you have any idea what the queen is doing?!' Kiriki asked her fellow doorguard.

Chevalier rolled his eyes. 'For the one-thousandth time, no. Nor can I go and ask her because - as a male Pokémon - I am liable to be hit with her dreaded Attract. How about you go ask her instead? You are part Steel, are you not?'

'She knows Mystical Fire!' She frowned. 'Oh, the princess is missing her birthday right now and there's nothing we can do about it!'

'Precisely. So stop freaking out.'

Queen Nymphia tapped her paw against the stones making up her bedroom windowsill. She never expected much from that Murkrow, but he was taking a particularly long while this time. Far too much time had passed before she could finally see his little black body flying towards her with something new in his claws.

'Oh, finally.' She remarked as he came in for a landing on her bed.

This was just the last of many flights Karasu had taken that day, unable to do anything else until he completed his task thanks to that horrible Attract clouding up his mind.

'Here you go, your highness.' He said, without any tone whatsoever.

He dropped the last object into a little pile on the bed, and the Sylveon grinned when she saw everything together.

'Well, well, well… what have we here?' She said as she searched through the pile. 'The fluff of a Swirlix. A tooth from a Steelix. A dab of goo from a Muk, nicely wrapped up. A piece from the antler of a Sawsbuck…. I'm impressed. Just about everything is here.'

Karasu nodded. 'As you wished, your highness. We can now begin.'

She shook her head. 'Not yet. It's the middle of the day, you Bidoof. We have to wait until nightfall before we can do anything.'

Author Notes - I wanted to include the entire bed-building scene, but it got a little too long. It'll continue in the next chapter, so don't worry. I allocated the tasks a little differently than how they were in the deleted scene, for I wanted to assign them the jobs best suited for their species. So, Spring the Leafeon ended up doing a lot of the work, since his species basically has a built-in axe.