It was late at night. DuffleGamer had just finished his training session for Dragonball Z Budokai and Smash Brothers Melee and decided to wind down by talking with his friends on Discord. When he opened it up on his phone, he noticed a little DM from one of his friends. It read:

"Hey, sorry to bother you, but when's the next Eevee Chapter coming out?"

Duffle sat there paralyzed for a second before running off to his computer.

So yeah, if that little intro wasn't obvious, I kind of… Forgot about this story. And really haven't written anything in awhile. Maybe I was subconsciously putting it off, who knows. Either way, I'm back with another chapter for you all, and hopefully it's gonna be a good one!

Chapter 9: We Told Them Not to Bug Us

It was midday when the group continued to walk through the swampy area. Espeon, as per usual when it comes to these things, was shaking like a crazy person. Everytime she even heard a small splash she would jump and hide behind Umbreon. To say the least, things were not favorable towards her.

In fact, it got annoying to Flareon that not only was she not fighting, but she was also keeping Umbreon weighed down during them. This made it a lot harder for everyone else, and he knew he wasn't the only one getting annoyed by this. Umbreon kept sending nervous glances towards Flareon, and Flareon just gunned him down with his stare. He was not happy.

Needless to say, everyone was gonna be happy to get out of this swamp. If they ever did…

Espeon, do you think it would be possible if you could hold onto me a little less? Umbreon thought.

B-But Umbreon, I-I…

No, don't give me that. I am positive that you are stronger than I am, and yet you still insist on bringing me down with your clinging. Just let go and you'll realize that you can deal with it.

Espeon let go, both a little shocked and upset at what just happened as Umbreon separated himself from Espeon. Glaceon watched from a distance and couldn't help but frown. She didn't know what they were saying, but she could definitely tell from their expressions. She sighed and looked at Flareon.

Those two were inseparable before, what happened? Are all relationships that flimsy? I just don't know at this point…

Glaceon decided to just continue walking by herself through the swampy waters, head down and deep in thought.

Meanwhile, however, Vaporeon thought this would be the perfect opportunity to talk to Jolteon about his love life. Y'know, get some quips in and all that. She mosied on over to the area next to Jolteon and smirked.

"Sooooo, Jolteon, how's it going?" Vaporeon asked.

"Not in the mood."

Vaporeon huffed. "How rude! I just wanted to strike a conversation, that's all!"

"Save it for when I care. Or for when we're out of this swamp. Though those will probably be at the same time."

Vaporeon scoffed and turned her nose away from him, walking by herself. Leafeon and Sylveon were watching this all unfold and were very worried.

"Sylveon, next time we have a break, I think you need to talk to everyone." Leafeon said.

"I agree. The lack of friendship and compassion going on right now is simply dreary. It's as if my powers are getting weaker by the second. Oooh I just can't bear to see love within our ranks shattered…"

"It's not just the love that I'm worried about, girlfriend. If we go into battle like this, people are just gonna run off on their own, without working together. We already had to worry about Flareon and Jolteon doing that, but now everyone's incredibly annoyed at each other! And quite frankly, they have no reason to. They haven't gotten nearly as many bug bites as I have!" Leafeon raised her arm to show many red bumps all over it.

"Mm, I agree with you, sis. We need to get this group back into one big, loving family again~"

Suddenly, a Caterpie jumped out of the water. Espeon gave a shriek, but it wasn't long until Flareon blasted it and it fell into the swampy waters, fainted. Flareon just kept on walking while everyone stared in shock.

Leafeon gulped. "If he's gonna be our leader, I feel like we might be in a little bit of trouble…"

It was getting closer to evening and the entire party was getting worn down.

"Ugh, Flareon, are we getting any clooooser?" Vaporeon asked.

"Yes, we are, so shut up and keep walking." Flareon huffed.

Right after he said that, a Goliosopod burst out from the shade and smacked Flareon in the head with a First Impression attack, knocking him out cold. The entire party jumped and tried to prepare for battle, but multiple string shots burst out and wrapped them up, immobilizing them. Espeon and Umbreon were the only ones able to move, but Espeon was clinging on to Umbreon as if her life depended on it.

Jolteon started to struggle. "Ugh, string shot! Get me out of this thing!"

The bug Pokemon started to walk towards Espeon and Umbreon. Umbreon tried to move to attack them, but Espeon's grip was too tight.

"Espeon… Let… Me… Go…" But it was too late. The Goliosopod smacked Umbreon in the head and knocked him out. The last thing Espeon remembered was the Pokemon laughing before knocking her out, too.

Espeon started to open her eyes, but immediately she was confused. Wait a second, why is everything upside down? As it turned out, all of the Eevees were caught in a cocoon and were hanging upside down, seemingly no way to shake free. Espeon struggled for a little bit before sighing and staying still.

"Great work, Espeon. Now we're all trapped." Jolteon said.

"Look this isn't my fault, they ambushed us!" Espeon retorted.

"Well maybe you should've used those psychic powers to foresee the attack!"

"That's not how it works you imbecile!"

The two eeveelutions glared at each other, sparks forming between their eyes as Sylveon intervened.

"Alright you two, that's quite enough! I won't have members of my family squabbling at each other like little children!"

The two looked away and huffed.

"That's better. Now then, we should try and find a way out of here. Any suggestions?"

The Eevee Pack thought for a little bit before Glaceon spoke up. "Ooh, I have an idea! Flareon can burn his way through these webs!"

"Sweetie, I appreciate the thought, but..." Sylveon motioned to a spot of ground, where there laid an unconscious Flareon.

"Oh no!" Glaceon gasped. This was not good...

"Hey wait, there are still some flames!" Vaporeon said, and she was right. Flareon's breathing did create some small flames.

"How're we gonna get him to burn the webs? He's still, y'know, unconscious." Leafeon said.

Espeon gulped and used her psychic, levitating Flareon's body up towards Glaceon's and having him breathe on the webs. The fire started to catch on as the flames trickled down the webs, burning them and disappearing. Glaceon quickly jumped out of her pod to avoid getting burned.

"Geez, that's a lot of heat..."

Espeon dropped Flareon and he landed on the ground with a thud. Glaceon looked at Espeon angrily. "Hey, don't do that to him, he's already injured!"

"Oh come on, he should be fine."

Glaceon growled before starting to help everyone else get out of their webs.

End of Chapter 9

Alright, that was a nice little chapter to bang out before bed. Again, so sorry it took this long, but I'm glad I finally got it out. Thanks for reading, and this is Duffle signing out. Dueces!