Hey hey hey! Duffle is back again with a new chapter of Tales of an Eevee Pack! It's been a long time coming, so I hope you all enjoy this chapter and of course, I don't own Pokemon.
Chapter 8: Leave Desert Sands for Distant Lands
Krookodile struggled to get up. It had been half an hour after that Vaporeon came in and destroyed his plans. He rubbed his eyes and growled.
"Everything was going as planned… How did we fail?" Krookodile muttered.
"Maybe if you had prepared for this you would still have everything you were supposed to give me." Krookodile looked back and saw a figure in a hood floating in.
Krookodile growled. "Look, I'll just send some of my men to follow them, then we'll have the shards for you, alright?"
The figure lifted his arm and Krookodile floated up before being thrown into a wall painfully. Krookodile grunted in pain.
"You'd better. If you care about the fate of your town and the people in it, you better give me those shards and one of the Eevees. If one of their bodies isn't surrounded by multiple shards and at my feet within 2 weeks, I will level this entire city and cover it in the desert sands, do you hear me?!"
Krookodile just whimpered and nodded. The figure chuckled.
"Glad we've got that covered. Now get up. We've got some… business to discuss."
The Eevees continued on their way to the next shard. Flareon and Jolteon had gotten over their recent altercation relatively quickly, now continuing to talk about the battles and what they're gonna do.
The biggest change was Vaporeon, who seemed like a completely different person at that point. She was now integrated in the main group, talking about basic stuff. Before she was distant and pushy, but now she was much more open.
"I gotta say, Vaporeon, you seem like a whole different girl!" Glaceon smiled as she said this.
Vaporeon giggled. "Well, that shopkeeper made me realize something. I can't just keep being rude to everyone my whole life. So I thought I should open up to you guys and have a little fun, I suppose."
Sylveon smiled. "Well, I'm glad to hear that, darling~ It's more fun to have everyone back together again."
Leafeon jumped up. "Yeah! Oh man, we're gonna have so much fun, you won't even believe it!" She started bouncing all over the place as Vaporeon nervously chuckled.
Flareon just turned to Jolteon. "So, anyways, what's your plan from here? I heard the next town is a swamp, so…"
"Pfft. Like a swamp is gonna ruin any of my electric abilities. Trust me, I'll be fine." Jolteon had his signature cocky grin on.
That was the thing about Jolteon. Whenever he was doing something, he always had that grin on, as if he knew that he was going to succeed. It was inspiring, but also kind of… annoying? Flareon never really thought about it that way.
"Yeah, sure, whatever. Either way, I need to discuss the movement plan to everyone else." Flareon turned back and cleared his throat.
"Okay everyone, we're gonna be going through some swamps up here. Since our speed is going to be reduced, I want us all to be clustered together in order to cover each other. Espeon should be able to detect anyone incoming, but it's best if we all proceed carefully regardless."
Everyone nodded and looked up as they heard a voice.
"Hello, hello? Testing, 1… 2…. I swear to god if I hear Slowking's snoring again, I'm gonna-"
Espeon spoke up. "Yes, Alakazam, we can hear you perfectly."
"Ah, Espeon! Good to know this thing works. I presume you are all well?"
Flareon nodded. "Yes, sir! We just got the 2nd shard relatively easily."
Alakazam laughed. "I see… Well, I expect nothing less from you all. You're going to the swamp land next, no?"
"Yes, sir. It's the closest to our location." Espeon responded.
"If so, then I'm afraid you'll all have to be careful. There are a lot of bug types roaming around, and it seems that many of them have joined forces with the team working against you."
Espeon grimaced and shivered. "I… I'll b-be careful, s-sir…."
Alakazam's tone changed. "Flareon, I'm counting on you. Keep everyone safe."
Flareon gulped and nodded before Alakazam's voice disappeared. Espeon was still shivering, wide-eyed.
That was another thing. Espeon was scared of bugs. Like, deathly scared. She would start shivering like it was Christmas whenever she got near one. For someone so calm, she really did freak out around those things. It was charming, but also incredibly weird.
Umbreon began patting her back and having a little mind talk with her, trying to calm her down. Eventually, she did take a deep breath and continued walking.
"It'll be fine, Espeon. We're a pack, it's not like one of those things will actually kill you, not when we're all together." Umbreon thought.
"You don't know that. What if Flareon wants me to go alone? I'll be slaughtered!" Espeon responded.
"You always lose reason when it comes to bugs. It's not like you hide your fear, Flareon knows these things. He wouldn't do that to you and if he did, none of us would let you go alone. Flareon doesn't control us, after all."
Espeon smiled. "Thanks, Umbreon. I appreciate that."
After walking for a little while, the group found themselves at the edge of the rainforest. Flareon sat down and opened up his bag.
"Alright, this is probably a good place to stop for now, we've been travelling all day."
The Eevees all set up the camp and proceeded to do their thing. Jolteon tried to start a fire with his electricity but let Flareon light it after making a mess.
Sylveon offered to start managing Glaceon's fur while the other 3 girls started talking with each other.
This left Umbreon who was… sulking. He was just looking up at the night sky, sitting there. He got bored pretty quickly and decided to talk with the other guys.
"Whatever dude, just because you light a fire doesn't mean you're stronger than me. I could take you on any day!" Jolteon said.
Flareon just rolled his eyes, smiling. "Yeah, whatever you say, Jolteon." Flareon looked over and noticed Umbreon sitting near them. "Oh, hey Umbreon! I was waiting for you to join us."
Umbreon nodded and smiled. Jolteon looked at him and smirked. "Yeah, maybe now you'll spend some time with us instead of being attached to your girlfriend all the time."
Umbreon rapidly shook his head and Jolteon just laughed. "C'mon dude, it's so obvious. Like, you two spend everyday together. Literally every day."
Flareon just smiled at Umbreon's denials. It was pretty funny, he wasn't gonna lie. He'd never really gotten this kind of interaction with his human friends.
...Wait what?
Flareon was immediately snapped out of his thoughts when Jolteon said something along the lines of "...Flareon likes…."
"Sorry, I was thinking. What did you say?"
"I know who Flareon likes, don't I?" Jolteon said with a smirk.
"Pfft. That's impossible since I don't feel that way about anyone. Nice try, but you're gonna have to try harder than that to get under my skin."
Jolteon rolled his eyes. "Such a killjoy."
"Well maybe if you told me I'd tell you."
Jolteon glared at him. "So you lied to me! Argh…" Jolteon looked away. "Fine then. You two wanna know?"
Flareon and Umbreon nodded.
"Alright, fine. Who do you guys think is the person I spend the most time with?"
Flareon and Umbreon looked at each other.
"Well, me. You and I literally live together."
Jolteon shook his head. "Nope. The person I spend the most time with is…"
He smirked. "Sylveon."
Umbreon and Flareon just blinked before Flareon started to snicker a little bit.
Jolteon gave him a look. "What's so funny?"
Flareon just bust out into laughter.
Jolteon gave him an annoyed look. "Yeah yeah, laugh it up! Whatever." Jolteon just walked away.
Flareon stopped laughing and looked at him. "Oh, he left. Ah well, he'll be back."
Umbreon nodded. He rested his chin on his paws and Flareon did the same.
"Umbreon, do you think we're gonna be able to do this?"
Umbreon closed his eyes and nodded. Flareon smiled at this. "That's good to hear."
Meanwhile, the girls were starting to have a talk of their own. Sylveon started it up as she usually did.
"So girls, it's starting to become that kind of season again~ Have any of you found that special guy who's gonna take care of you?"
Espeon just huffed. "Like I have time for that. There are more important things to worry about than men, especially considering the dire circumstances we have put ourselves into."
Sylveon frowned. "Now now, darling, just because you haven't found that person yet doesn't mean you never will! I have complete faith that someone of your stature would just be attracting mates~"
Espeon blushed. "No, that's not what I meant, I-I…"
Vaporeon smirked. "She's just trying to hide the fact that she and Umbreon already hooked up~"
There was a collective "Ooo" from all the girls as Espeon blushed even more.
"No, we haven't hooked up, and I'm not even interested in him."
Leafeon grinned. "Girl, you couldn't be a worse liar if you tried! You're around this guy 24/7, it's painfully obvious you two like each other."
"That's cause he's my assistant. It's for a job. Nothing else."
Glaceon rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you keep telling yourself that…"
Sylveon smiled. "Well, personally, I think your two look good together, darling~"
"Thanks, Sylveon." Espeon turned to her. "Since you were the one who started up this conversation, why don't you tell us who you have your eye on?"
Sylveon giggled. "I suppose that is only fair. Well, since you asked, there's a wonderful Electric type in our group that I've been keeping my eye on for a while~"
Everyone's jaw dropped as Vaporeon broke the silence. "Jolteon? You like him?!"
"Why yes, indeed! The dashing little hero himself."
"You'd think with all the bickering you two would be an old, married couple…" Glaceon replied.
"Girl, I'm not gonna lie, you can do so much better than him." Leafeon said.
Sylveon got legitimately angry. "How rude! We are both perfectly young and he's the perfect fit for me! He's super strong and helpful, and whenever we're out together he's always a nice guy."
Vaporeon just smirked. "Whatever you say, Sylveon."
Sylveon just glared at Vaporeon. "Well, since you're the master of love, why don't you tell us who you've got your eye on, miss?"
Vaporeon smiled and stood up. "Well, if you really want to know what I real man is like, why don't you just look in front of you?"
Vaporeon did a little pose. "Handsome, strong, caring, and the one leading us all to victory right now!"
Glaceon's heart dropped when she heard that last bit. Flareon….
Sylveon just giggled. "Of course, of course. I will admit I did keep my eye on him for a while. Not a bad choice at all."
Vaporeon just giggled. "You know I'm right~" Vaporeon sat back down and smiled. "In fact, I'm probably gonna go make my move once me get to the next town."
Glaceon flinched and her heart sunk even lower. She stood up, a little wobbly.
"Hey, sorry guys, I'd love to stay but I'm not feeling so great, I'm gonna go and take a little break."
"That's fine, take as much time as you need, we'll still be here." Sylveon said.
Glaceon nodded and ran off. Leafeon had a worried look as she decided to go after her.
Glaceon sat at a little hill and looked out on the horizon, a sad and worried look on her face.
I can't believe this… Vaporeon has her eye on Flareon? How long has this been a thing? Why is this a thing? I just don't understand…
Glaceon looked down but perked back up when she heard a familiar voice.
"Hey, Glaceon… You doing alright out here?"
Glaceon looked back and sighed. "Oh… Hi Leafeon." She turned back around. Noticing something was definitely wrong, Leafeon sat next to her.
"Look, I know something's up with you. You'd never just bolt out of a room unless something was bothering you."
"I… Leafeon, I think I messed up. I took too long."
"Messed up? Took too long? What're you on about?"
Glaceon looked to Leafeon. "Vaporeon's gonna make her move and I'll just be left lost and forgotten, just like I always am…" Tears started to form in Glaceon's eyes.
Leafeon suddenly understood. "You like him, don't you? You like Flareon."
Glaceon whimpered and nodded.
"Awe, come here, girl." Leafeon took Glaceon into a hug. "It's not too late. I have a feeling that Flareon doesn't even care about her. What you need to do is start making your move."
Glaceon left the hug and looked at her friend. "B-But…"
"No buts. You're gonna go out there and get that guy to love you, alright? Vaporeon's got nothing on you, nothing!"
Glaceon couldn't help but giggle. "Thanks, Leafeon. But I'm gonna need your help to do it."
Leafeon smirked. "Of course, just leave it to me. He's gonna notice you more than ever."
The two gave each other a hi-five and wandered back to camp.
End of Chapter 8
Alright, finally done with that! Sorry for the lack of uploads, I'm really sorry and I'm gonna try and fix that going forward. Anyways, if you liked this chapter, make sure to follow it so you're notified when it's updated and make sure to leave a review to tell me how you felt. Either way, this Duffle signing out. Deuces!