Hello once again all you lovely people! Duffle is back again with another chapter of Tales of an Eevee Pack. Nothing to report here, so let's hop right in, as I do not own Pokemon or any of its subseries.

Chapter 4: The Stench of Failure

The Eevee Pack had been walking for the better part of an hour, through a thick forest. Flareon had started to notice that it was getting a bit harder to breathe. Maybe it was just the humidity of the forest, but it was still worrying nonetheless. He turned to Glaceon and Leafeon. They seemed to breathing a little bit heavier as well, so maybe it wasn't just him…

"Hey, Flareon." Flareon looked over at Leafeon. "Hasn't it been pretty quiet around here lately? Like we've barely run into any wild Pokemon after the first 30 minutes."

"Huh… Yeah, I suppose that is a little weird." Flareon started looking around some more. Now that she mentioned it, it seemed some of the plants were decaying as well the closer they got to the village.

"...I don't like this…" Glaceon said.

"I wouldn't worry about it. It's probably just a weird side effect of the orb landing around here. I'm sure everything's going to be fine as soon as we get there."

As the three leading Eevees stepped out of the forest and into the village, their jaws drop. What they saw was… horrifying.

"No… What happened here?" Flareon looked around. Destroyed houses, everything was deserted….

Glaceon started shivering. Leafeon took a step back. "F-Flareon, what do we do?"

"We have to go and find anyone still here. We've got a mission and we need to fulfill it." Flareon looked to other two. "Spread out and try to find anyone that might still be around."

Flareon ran off into the heart of the town. Jolteon and Sylveon came out of the woods, looking as shocked as the rest of them. "What the- What happened here?" Jolteon asked.

"We don't know, but we need to start looking for people. Hurry it up now." Leafeon said as she and Glaceon left to look for people.

Jolteon looked at Sylveon before running off to the left. Sylveon just sighed in worry and went to the right.

As Flareon approached what seemed to be the village square, he really saw the true damage. A broken fountain, torn down shops, broken debris all over the ground… This was a ghost town if he'd ever seen one.

But there was something unsettling about all of this. If the village was attacked and damaged this badly… Why were there no bodies? Surely someone should be left here… Right?

Flareon lifted a wooden board from one of the shops… No one. Not a single person.

Flareon shook his head and slammed a paw into the ground. "Dammit! What the hell happened here?"

Flareon then saw a little glow in the woods near the square and went over to investigate. When he pushed back a bush, he saw a green shard, sparking and glowing with energy. Could this have been one of the shards of the Green orb?

Flareon moved to pick it up, but received a shock when he touched it. "Ow!" he said, retreating his paw. Sighing, he just scooped it up with his bad and continued on his way.

Leafeon and Glaceon continued walking through the town, finding absolutely nothing. The two girls sighed and sat down after their failure.

"So, like, I know this isn't the best time, but what's going on with you and Flareon?" Leafeon asked.

Glaceon gave her a look. "Are you serious? This an awful time." She sighed. "Besides, there is nothing going on between us. I don't even like him and I don't he likes me. So get that idea out of your head and focus on the mission."

Leafeon rolled her eyes. "Sheesh. I'm just tryna lighten the mood. I've seen the way you stutter around him."

"I do that with every guy."

Leafeon smirked. "No you don't, especially not what you do with him."

Glaceon sighed. "Just shut up…"

Leafeon giggled. As they were walking, they heard a loud screech from the other side of the village.

"Oh no, that's Sylveon! Come on, Glaceon!" Glaceon nodded and ran after her.

Sylveon was in shock. Not because of slash marks on the walls, no. But because of what she saw underneath the walls. Badges. Ones that explorers wear.

Glaceon and Leafeon appeared at the scene and gasped when they saw the badges.

"No way…" Leafeon said. Jolteon zipped to the scene and Tch'd when he saw the badges.

"I did a full loop around the village, there's no sign of anyone other than us."

"This is awful… How could this have happened?" Glaceon asked.

"I think I know why." Flareon walked up to the group and opened his bag, showing the green orb shard. "This is probably the cause of what's been happening around here."

"I see… Well, we should probably take it back and have Alakazam work on it. Surely he can figure out something." Glaceon said.

"Ehehe… I don't think any of you are going anywhere…" Everyone turned to the direction of the voice, as two shadowy figures stepped out of the shadows, a Bisharp and a Weavile.

Flareon got into a fighting stance. "Who are you people?"

Weavile shook his head. "Now now, we're not here to fight you. All you have to do is give us the shard and we won't hurt anyone."

"Of course, if you refuse…" Bisharp lengthened the blades on his arms. "There's going to be some major consequences…."

"Pssh, like we're scared of you! There's 5 of us and only 2 of you!" Jolteon got into a fighting stance as well.

Weavile just snickered. "Your funeral." Weavile charged at the group with a metal claw, but Flareon quickly deflected it with iron tail, blasting him away with a powerful flamethrower.

"Jolteon, Glaceon, Sylveon! Take care of the Weavile. Leafeon and I will take on the Bisharp. Go!"

Flareon charged up a Flare Blitz and charged at Bisharp, who blocked it with an X formation. Flareon bounced back and shot a Fire Blast straight at Bisharp, burning him. Bisharp got up and launched a sonic boom, directly hitting Flareon into a building. Leafeon managed to get a Double Kick on Bisharp before they reset to a neutral position.

Meanwhile, Jolteon and Weavile were darting around, matching each other's speed. They never stayed in the same place for more than moments at a time, making it hard for Sylveon and Glaceon to keep up.

"Drat, I can't see them! Oh I sure do hope Jolteon doesn't do something stupid again…" Sylveon said.

"Sylveon, don't look at where they are, look at where they're going to be. It'll make it easier to keep up with their speed." Glaceon said, starting to keep track of their movements.

Sylveon tried to concentrate a bit more, beginning to have the outlines take more physical form. Eventually, she could see the entire fight happening in front of her, and as soon as she could, she blasted a Moonblast that hit Weavile, sending him into a tree. Jolteon stopped for a second smirked. "Well there you go, girl!"

Leafeon's Leaf Storm sent Bisharp straight into Weavile, heavily injuring both of them the Eevee pack stood in front of them.

"So, ready to give up?" Flareon said, cockily.

Both of the fighters got up. "Dammit… You may have won this round, but we'll be back for that shard. And once we get it, you're gonna feel sorry for doing this to us."

As Weavile finished his sentence, he and Bisharp vanished.

"They disappeared…" Glaceon said.

Jolteon looked at the rest of the pack. "Guys, this is big news. The village is destroyed, our top explorers are either dead or missing, and there's apparently a group looking for the Green Orb shards. We need to report back to HQ immediately.

Everyone nodded and began heading back home.

End of Chapter 4

Alright, that was a fun chapter to write! I hope you all enjoyed and please feel free to write a review as I will always appreciate feedback. Anyways, this is Duffle signing out. Deuces!