Hey hey hey! Duffle is back once again with another chapter of Tales of an Eevee Pack! Huge thanks to all of you for reading it, I really appreciate the support you've all given me and it really keeps me going, so thank you! Anyways, with that out of the way, let's just hop right in!

Chapter 13: Conflict of Interests

"Alrighty folks, it's time for the 15th annual Tag Team Tournament! 16 teams have gathered from across the entire land in order to come fight in our esteemed tournament for the grand prize of…" the announcer, a Loudred who seemed especially loud, pointed over to a pile of money, "...10000 Poke!"

Flareon's attention was grabbed at that last part of the announcement, and looked over at Jolteon. "Jolteon, did you hear that? 10000 Poke! We'd never have to worry about funds for our trip ever again!"

Jolteon looked over. "Flareon, last I checked, you weren't exactly the one doing funds for the group. You just left that to the nerds while you and I talked battle strategies."

"I talked about battle strategies. You just sat there and nodded, while occasionally asking how much fighting you'd be doing and how fast you needed to be." Flareon gave him a half-glare.

Jolteon rolled his eyes. "Look, let's just focus on the battles, alright?"

Flareon sighed and looked towards the stands. There was a decent amount of people lined up, but not a whole bunch. It made sense, the doubles tournament was just about to start, people would only really watch the later matches. He shifted his gaze and saw Vaporeon sitting in the stands, right next to Sylveon. Flareon raised an eyebrow at this. Wouldn't Sylveon be in the tournament? I suppose this is a bit of a fighting break for everyone… But where's everyone else? Flareon was a little saddened at the prospect of not having the rest of the group there. He didn't know why, but it stung a little bit more that Vaporeon showed up and not anybody else.

Flareon shook his head. No, I need to focus. Don't worry about that, worry about our opponents. He looked down the two Pokemon that walked into the arena. Nothing too threatening, just a Vulpix and a Growlithe. Not too much trouble, but a threat nonetheless. Flareon looked over at Jolteon.

"Alright, here's the plan. I'm sure you and I wanna finish this quickly so that we don't lose too much stamina, so I'm gonna face both of them head-on while you dash around and charge Thunder. When you're ready, give me a signal and I'll jump out of the way. Got it?"

Jolteon nodded and got into ready position, preparing to start running. The ref for this area of battles, a Machop, walked up to the field and started speaking. "Alright, fighters get into your battle positions."

Flareon got into a ready position, with the Vulpix and Growlithe doing the same. The Machop raised his hand before throwing it down. "Begin!"

Flareon dashed straight in and got into a tackle war with the Growlithe. Jolteon began charging, which Vulpix noticed immediately. She tried to run over to Jolteon, but Flareon backed away from the Growlithe and smacked her with Take Down. Growlithe ran back towards Flareon and tried to hit him with Bite, but Flareon quickly dodged out of the way. Jolteon's Thunder was almost ready, but Flareon was starting to get hit. Growlithe bit down on Flareon and Vulpix landed a Tackle. Flareon quickly got up, shaking out the pain and getting ready to fight them again, but thankfully, he didn't need to. Jolteon gave the signal and Flareon nodded, using Sand Attack on the opposing Fire types before jumping out of the way. The other team could barely react before the Thunder crash down upon them, knocking them both out. Machop raised his hand.

"The opposing team is unable to battle, which means Flareon and Jolteon are the winners!" Jolteon smirked and gave Flareon a hi-five.

"Nothing to worry about." Flareon rolled his eyes at his friend, but he was still smiling ear to ear, so he couldn't complain. He looked over to the stands and saw just Vaporeon and Sylveon, and his mood fell a little bit. However, he quickly shook it off and went to where their next battle would be.

"One chocolate and one Vanilla, please!" Glaceon received both of the cups and balanced them on her head back to where Leafeon was sitting. Leafeon took the Vanilla ice cream and started licking it, while Glaceon set her Chocolate down. Leafeon smiled.

"Wow, this is amazing! I never knew Ice Cream out here would taste so good~" Leafeon exclaimed.

Glaceon smiled back. "Yeah, it is really good, I must say." Glaceon continued to lick her ice cream.

Leafeon's expression lit up. "Hey, Glace, why don't we go watch that doubles tournament? Didn't you say that Flareon and Jolteon were entering that?"

Glaceon thought for a second before she remembered. "Oh yeah, they were! But are you sure you wanna go? I thought this was supposed to be time for us to hang out."

"Pssh. It's fine, I've already had a great time! Besides, we'll still be having fun together, I just think we should go support Flareon."

Glaceon gave Leafeon a look. "And Jolteon."

Leafeon gave a knowing. "Mhm, yeah, sure."

Glaceon rolled her eyes. "Alright, fine, let's go."

Leafeon giggled and walked towards the arena, with Glaceon right behind her.

Sylveon and Vaporeon were looking at the battles from the stands, but idle chatter soon followed.

"So, Sylveon, how're you and Jolteon doing?"

"Darling, for the last time, we're not dating. I don't even like him. I'm here to support the joint group because if we win, we never have to worry about money again."

Vaporeon rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever. We all know you two spend a lot of time with each other."

Sylveon sent her glance Vaporeon's way. "And yet, you rarely spend time with Flareon. What's up with that?"

Vaporeon blushed. "I-I'll have you know that we spend… plenty of time with each other."

Sylveon shook her head. "Honey, I know you're trying. Trust me, I know exactly what you're going through, but what you're doing is not right. It wasn't meant to be, and trying to force it."

Vaporeon looked shocked. "You… found out about that? How did you…"

"I could sense it through your emotions. As soon as I started talking about Flareon, you began to become guilty. Sad. Alone." Sylveon put her paw on Vaporeon's back. "Look, even if this doesn't work out, we all still have you back, and I know he likes you, just not in that way."

Vaporeon's expression sunk. "...He likes Glaceon, doesn't he?"

"It's been pretty obvious, yes. But he's too stubborn and he's too unfamiliar with who he is. He's afraid to say anything about it because he doesn't know what his future is like. He's confused, both physically and emotionally, so I think it'd be best if you and I don't interfere and let the two of them sort it out on their own."

Vaporeon was stuck in thought. She'd never really thought of it that way, and know that Sylveon was telling her this, she started to become more guilty, which Sylveon picked up on.

"Sweetie, don't worry, no one's gonna blame you for what you did. It'll all be fine in the end." Sylveon moved her glance and saw two people she knew walking their way. "In fact, I think you can find that out right about now."

Vaporeon perked up and saw Glaceon and Leafeon walking her way, climbing up the stands and sitting next to them.

"Hey guys, how's it going?" Leafeon asked.

Sylveon smiled. "Oh, it's been lovely!~ The two boys have been absolutely crushing it in the tournament. They're already in the Semifinals!"

"Wow, that's great news!" Glaceon responded.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, the second Semifinals match! In the left corner, we've got the power team, the Pokemon that have been sweeping their way through the bracket, Jolteon and Flareon!" Both of the Eeveelutions stepped out into the arena, waving and smiling as they stepped in, though Flareon was smiling a lot less.

"And in the right corner, we've got the big bads, the terrible dark types, the sneaky Pokemon who've caught everyone off guard, Bisharp and Weavile!" Bisharp and Weavile stepped out of the gate and stared down the two Eeveelutions, smirking whilst doing so. Flareon hesitated and leaned over to Jolteon.

"Psst, Jolteon, aren't those the guys we fought when we got the first shard?"

"Yeah, they are. Don't lose your composure, we can win this one."

Flareon gulped and nodded. In all honesty, he wasn't that confident, especially since he didn't have his confidence booster at his side, but he tried to shake it off. The Machop walked to the side of the arena and looked at both teams.

"The match rules will continue to be the same, as I'm sure you all know. Get ready…"

The 4 Pokemon got into a fighting stance as Machop threw down his hand. "Go!"

Bisharp jumped to the side as Weavile instantly unleashed a Blizzard attack on the two Eeveelutions. Jolteon dodged it and ran towards Bisharp, but Flaroen had a different idea. He ran through the Blizzard and straight towards Weavile, ready to hit him with Fire Fang. However, Weavile was too fast, and smacked Flareon with Metal Claw. Flareon charged up a Flamethrower and was about to unleash it, but Weavile stopped it by using Assurance. Flareon was knocked to the ground, and Weavile pummeled him with Fury Swipes.

Jolteon looked away from his battle with Bisharp. "Flareon!" Jolteon tried to run over to his teammate, but Bisharp caught him with Pursuit and flung him to the ground. Flareon struggled to get out of Weavile's grasp, and so Weavile just smacked him with Crush Claw. Flareon gave out a scream of pain, and Weavile tossed him away, with Jolteon following.

"Flareon, dude, what's wrong? You're letting him run all over you!" Jolteon helped his friend up.

"I.. I'm sorry dude, I just can't focus." Flareon stumbled as he got up. "I can't get the motivation."

Jolteon sighed. "We can't let these guys beat us…"

"Is that really all you've got?" Weavile said, acting very cocky. "I was expecting more out of you guys, but apparently you aren't that strong without your girlfriends, are you?"

Flareon grit his teeth as he looked up, but as he did, he saw Glaceon in the stands cheering for him. Flareon looked over at Jolteon. "You're right, we can't let these guys beat us. I have a plan."

Jolteon listened in on the plan and smiled. "I like that plan."

"Good, cause we're sticking with it. Let's go!" Flareon started running towards the two dark types, and right when Bisharp was about to hit him, Flareon set up a Protect. Bisharp's attack bounced off and Flareon quickly hit him with Fire Fang, knocking Bisharp down. Weavile looked on, shocked, and didn't even see Jolteon coming at him with Thunderbolt. Weavile was smacked over to where Bisharp was, and they both struggled to get up. However, Flareon set up a Fire Spin around them, trapping them in place.

"Jolteon, now!" Both of the Eeveelutions charged up their strongest attack. Flareon with Blue Flame and Jolteon with Thunder and released it at the same time, creating Blue Thunder which collided with the dark types, knocking them out.

"The Dark types are unable to battle, which means the Eevee Team wins!" Flareon jumped up excitedly and fist bumped Jolteon, who was smirking from ear to ear. The other Eevees in the stand were cheering very loudly, happy that they managed to pull through.

Bisharp and Weavile slowly got up, cringing as their wounds began to sting. "You… You worms may have gotten us this time, but we'll be back, and even stronger than before, you hear me?!" Bisharp said.

Jolteon smirked. "Yeah yeah, we get it, the only damage you can do to us is threats. Now get out of here and quit embarrassing yourselves."

Weavile and Bisharp growled before running out of the arena.

The Finals of the Tournament was a complete wash. Two of the Squirtle Bros somehow made it to Finals, in which Jolteon has promptly took care of both of them. Jolteon described it as anti-climactic, while Flareon described it as "free money". As Flareon and Jolteon were leaving the stadium with money in tow, the rest of the group walked out to meet them.

"Wow guys, that was incredible! I didn't know you could fight like that!" Leafeon said.

Flareon just chuckled. "Yeah, well, it certainly wasn-"

He was cut off was Jolteon butted in. "But of course, it's not like anyone was going to give us a challenge. I mean, come on, we're the strongest Pokemon out there!"

Flareon gave an awkward chuckle, but Sylveon saved him. "Uh-huh, yeah, certainly the strongest when you almost lost in the Semis."

Jolteon was visibly upset by this and growled at Sylveon. "Hey, you shut your mouth! I could beat you any day!"

Sylveon got up in his face. "Oh yeah? And you wanna bet on that one?!"

"You couldn't beat me in your wildest dreams!"

"You couldn't even land a hit on me!"

"Yes I could!"

"No you couldn't!"

The other Eeveelutions sighed. "Well, there they go again…" Vaporeon said.

"Yeah, I think it's best if we just let them do their own thing. You guys wanna head back to the inn?" Flareon asked. The other Eevees nodded and headed back.

As the other Eeveelutions were headed to bed, Vaporeon was sitting in the cafe, by herself. She was reflecting on what Sylveon said when Leafeon walked down.

"Vaporeon? What're you doing down here?" Vaporeon looked up.

"O-Oh, um… I was just reflecting, is all."

Leafeon sat down at the chair across from Vaporeon. "Hey, so… I know-"

"Yeah, I know. Look, I'm sorry for setting you guys up like that, I was… blinded. I didn't want to ruin anything, I promise."

Leafeon blinked. "Well I came down here to apologize to you for not doing what you told me to do…"

"No, Leaf, I'm not doing that anymore. I'm not gonna interfere with Flareon and Glaceon from here on out. They were meant to be and I'm going to let them do what they want. Good night." Vaporeon walked away back to her room.

Leafeon looked at her in awe. "Vaporeon…" Leafeon was left to her own thoughts for a while until she, too, went to sleep.

End of Chapter 13

Alright, finally! It's been a long time coming, but I finally cranked this chapter out! Thank you all for being patient, and I'd really appreciate it if you gave this story some support as it'd let me know that you like what I do. Also, don't be afraid to leave a review if you think I did something wrong or if you just wanna send me a nice comment. Anything helps! Anyways, this is DuffleGamer signing out. Deuces!