Vaporeon was spellbound. She was face-to-face with her great grandmother, Leafeon. And while she stood there, she breathed heavily as Zeraora looked back and forth between the two. While they were different types, they definitely had similar features.

After a few seconds, Vaporeon uttered, "Oh, um, hello," Leafeon replying, "Hi to you too," before she started to examine the blue fox with her eyes narrowed. Needless to say, Vaporeon felt a touch uncomfortable while Zeraora was simply confused.

After a few seconds, Leafeon took a deep breath and asked, "Alright, be honest, are you related to me?" Vaporeon staring in stunned silence and thinking, 'Who starts a conversation like that?' before she uttered, "I beg your pardon."

"It's a simple question!" Leafeon retorted, "Are you related to me!? Because you look really similar to my family, like, really, really similar, so much so that you have my mom's eyes!"

Zeraora pursed his lower lip before Vaporeon chuckled, "Oh no, it's pure coincidence. I just happen to be the same species," only for Leafeon to retort, "Do you think I'm stupid!? You pulled that same bullshit with Barbaracle and Golduck and you came off as just as awkward! Honestly, the fact that they fell for that is shameful!"

'Oh, shit, she caught onto that!' Vaporeon thought with a look of dread, 'Although she does have a good point. I can't believe that worked either.'

"Is she right?" Zeraora uttered, thinking, 'Now that I think about it, I don't even know who this is.'

Vaporeon bit her lower lip and thought, 'Okay, Scorbunny managed to pull this off with Raboot without spilling our secret. I could probably do the same. Now, what did she tell him?' But while the idea of her being a cousin seemed legit, there was one major problem, and it was that before Eevee was born, members of her family never had biological siblings. And if she claimed to be related to Jolteon, she was certain Leafeon would ask her.

With that in mind, she took a deep breath and said, "In all honesty, I don't really know. I've been wondering that my whole life. I've always noticed the similarities between me and your mother, but I've heard nothing about whether or not I'm related to you, so I just kinda tell people that I'm not so they don't ask further questions."

Zeraora blinked and thought, 'This fox's mother must be really famous for her to even know that,' while Leafeon narrowed her eyelids. However, after a few seconds, she let out a sigh and remarked, "Well, why didn't you just say so in the first place instead of beating around the bush!?"

Vaporeon stared in stunned silence. Even though this was the only good answer she could give without revealing the truth, she still could not believe it had actually worked. Nevertheless, she was beyond grateful, thus she sighed with relief and said, "Well, I thought if I told you, you'd waste time and try to find the truth for me."

"Well, of course I would!" Leafeon squealed with a big grin, "Seriously, I might have found a long lost sister! How cool would that be!?" the blue fox blinking as the tan fox clasped onto her hands and added, "All this time, I thought I was an only child, yet I might have a sibling!"

She then pulled out her phone seemingly out of nowhere and asked, "Should I call Mommy right now!? It is two hours earlier in Bangkok, so she'll still be awake!"

Vaporeon gulped before thinking, 'What am I so afraid of? The worst that'll happen is she'll say she doesn't know me.' With that in mind, she took a deep breath, nodded and uttered, "Okay, yeah, go for it. I'd really like to know what she has to say."

Zeraora blinked and asked, "Um, should I...?" Leafeon gasping, "Oh my god, we've been ignoring you this whole time!"

She bowed her head and said, "Sorry about that. The name's Leafeon," before Zeraora bowed back and replied, "Zeraora," only for the tan fox to chuckle, "I know your name. After all, I've seen your matches so far, and I gotta say, you're a pretty awesome tag partner for my possible sister," winking at the two.

Vaporeon laughed nervously while Zeraora chuckled and blushed. Either way, Leafeon was soon invited into the house to join the duo for dinner. After all, it would have been rude for Zeraora to just send her away like that.

Leafeon smiled wide at the spread placed before her. While Zeraora, with his lack of money, often had the bare minimum of food to live off of each week, Vaporeon was a master at cooking since her father, Popplio, had taught her advanced recipes since she was eight. As such, she was able to take the simplest of ingredients and turn them into a feast, and she managed to do so with three pieces of fish, a small number of greens and rice. When Leafeon took a bite, she felt like she was in heaven.

"Wow!" Leafeon squealed, "My could-be long lost sister is a master chef!" Vaporeon giggling, "I wouldn't say master."

"No, she's right," Zeraora replied while biting into it, "I still remember our first night together after we started training. I was going to prepare some ramen in the microwave for us, but then you put the noodles into a pot and added a whole bunch of other stuff to make it so much better. I swear, if it hadn't been for you, I'd have spent my whole life living off of average meals."

"Well, my daddy taught me how to cook," Vaporeon replied before she pursed her lips, Leafeon blinking before she slapped herself on the forehead and said, "Doy! You mean your adopted father!" before asking, "So, what's he like, anyway?"

The blue fox smiled and replied, "He's not what you'd expect. Most of my moves come from him. See, he actually grew up in a circus, but he didn't want to be a performer, so get this, he actually went to Hero School against Grandma's wishes."

"Wait, your dad attended Hero School?" Leafeon uttered, "But the school was built five years ago," Vaporeon covering her mouth with her eyes wide open with horror. Why had she said that? She knew this, she had heard it many times and yet she could not help but blurt it out.

"Oh, that must have been a mistake," Zeraora uttered, "I think she meant he went off to become a hero behind his mom's back," Vaporeon chuckling, "Yeah, that's exactly what I meant!" thinking, 'Thank you, Zeraora.'

Leafeon nodded and replied, "Oh, okay, that makes sense," though she had a look of suspicion now. Either way, she would still call up Jolteon later before bed, but for the time being, she simply wanted to enjoy the rest of her meal.

Zeraora asked about Jolteon, Leafeon going into great detail about her. The most noteworthy detail was that Jolteon had a tendency to talk at a super fast pace due to the fact that she lived on a diet of nothing but coffee. For some reason, she was the only member of their family who could do that and not suffer health problems.

Once dinner was over, all three heroes had their own separate showers with Vaporeon agreeing to go last. As it so happened, not only could she lower the temperature of water that touched her body, but she could also increase it. This meant that even if she took a cold shower, she could make it feel warm. Thus it only stood to reason that she allow the others to use as much hot water as they wanted.

When her turn came, Zeraora set up a futon in the living room. After all, he only had one bedroom in his home, and he was currently sharing it with Vaporeon. Luckily for him, though, the tan fox was more than okay with this arrangement.

Once he left her alone, she pulled out her phone and called up her mother. As expected, she received an ear full of words at a rapid pace, but since she had grown used to it, this did not bother her in the slightest. And once Jolteon was finished talking, Leafeon took a deep breath and said, "Hey, Mommy, you'll never believe this, but I found someone who might be a relative of ours who isn't in our records and I'm currently staying at the same place she is. Could you come here and confirm her identity?"

Jolteon's eyes and mouth widened as for the first time in her life, she was unable to find a response right away. But after a few seconds, she cleared her throat and replied in her usual fast voice, "Alright, Leafeon, you wait right there. I'll take the next flight lickety-split and be there super duper fast. Or maybe I should just run there across the ocean. No, then I might have to stop and fight sharks on the way and I'm not in the mood for that. Anyway, goodnight."

Leafeon chuckled and lay down with her arms folded behind her head, thinking, 'She's definitely related to me, but I don't think she's my sister. She can't be a cousin either, and she's way too young to be a lost auntie. I just can't put my finger on it.'

During this time, Scorbunny and Blaziken stayed up a tad late so they could work on a little training in advance at a local gym. The rabbit delivered multiple kicks to a punching bag while Blaziken went to town on a practice dummy. Nevertheless, both felt more than ready.

"I'll admit, I'm kinda surprised you're going this far for a match with a friend," Blaziken stated, "Granted, I'd do the same, but I'm wondering what your reason is," Scorbunny chuckling, "Well, truth be told, Vaporeon was the first hero I ever faced. See, much like Melmetal, there was a time when I, Drizzile and Rillaboom used to serve evil. We all lost in less than a minute. This is my chance at having a proper rematch with Vaporeon. I don't wanna waste that."

"That makes sense," Blaziken replied with a grin, "I'm sure she's hard at work, too. But with my help, you might just come out on top this time."

She then took a deep breath and added, "You know, I'm really surprised I've never heard of any of you. You all sound like you've lived such fascinating lives, much like us. How is it that we've never seen news coverage of you? You're all great fighters, most of you are former villains and it sounds like you've defeated a ton of noteworthy opponents over the past. I mean, Drizzile turned a powerhouse like Melmetal to the side of good. You'd think that would have been broadcast worldwide."

"Yeah, you'd think so," Scorbunny replied, "Honestly, I wish I could explain that, but I really can't," thinking, 'That's right, if I did, it could ruin the future. Still not sure how, but I'll take Shaymin's word for it.'

Luckily, Blaziken dropped the issue as soon as she heard that. She had a feeling Scorbunny was hiding something, but she also suspected there had to have been a reason for it. After all, the rabbit had given her no reason to distrust her yet.

All the while, Gallade lay down in a hotel bed beside another one that Drizzile was in, saying, "Oh, yeah, the doctor said Hitmonchan should be all better in the next couple of days. That means she'll be there to cheer us on. That makes me so happy!"

He then sighed, "I hope she's not upset that I replaced her so quickly," Drizzile uttering, "But you said she'd be okay with that. You sounded really certain of that, too."

The green man chuckled nervously and replied, "Well, yeah, Hitmonchan's often okay with just about every decision I make and I know she wouldn't have wanted me to drop out of the tournament because of her. But even so, it took me less than a minute to just accept you as my partner. The least I could have done was thought about it for a few more hours before-"

"Don't beat yourself up," Drizzile chuckled, "If anything, I bet she'd be really happy to hear that you're actually competing in the second round," Gallade nodding and replying, "Yeah, you're right. That's exactly how she'd react," before sighing, "But seriously, Drizzile, you've really helped me out. And I don't just mean helping me get this far. Like you said, I've always tried my best no matter how many times I lost over the past, but even then, I've never had the highest self esteem."

Drizzile rose an eyebrow while the green man added, "I'm often the butt of so many jokes. I mean, I have a better track record than Magnemite and Squirtle, yet people make fun of me more often. I've even put myself down in the past. But, well, these last two matches have given me a great boost in confidence. Now I truly believe that I could actually win this tournament. So thank you, Drizzile."

The chameleon smiled sweetly and thought, 'Wow, to think I had this kind of effect on my idol. I can only imagine how he'd react if I told him he defeats a villain on his own nine years from now.'

Rillaboom and Aipom, much like Blaziken and Scorbunny, had also decided to get in some extra training. Though for them, it was mainly due to who they were fighting next. There was no way they would allow Palkia and Dialga to defeat them.

The whole time, the monkey could not fight this feeling that there was more to this than simply winning the match and avenging Shaymin and Melmetal's loss. After all, even before the match, she could tell that Rillaboom and the others were dead set on defeating those two. But as much as she wanted to ask about that, she had a feeling she would not get an answer, at least not yet.

When the following day came around, everyone was hard at work. Leafeon had even offered to help Zeraora and Vaporeon train in a mostly empty gym. The blue fox was uncertain of this as she wanted to build up Zeraora's skills herself, but at the same time, a part of her also wanted to see what her great grandmother was capable of. After all, Eevee had based her second signature move off of one of hers, so Vaporeon figured if she studied it closely enough, she might be able to learn it as well.

Zeraora whipped his tail repeatedly into a sandbag only to show no results while he thought, 'Dammit, how do I cover it in electricity like before? There has to be some kind of secret.'

Vaporeon noticed this and approached him before she asked, "Still not sure how you used it?" the cat groaning, "Yeah. It's just, I feel like I've gotten lucky so far. If I can't figure out how to use my electricity, I get the feeling it'll turn on me again, just like in our match with Scolipede and Geodude. Think about it. We almost lost our advantage because of that."

Leafeon rose an eyebrow and thought, 'Oh yeah, that did happen, didn't it?' Zeraora enquiring, "Okay, I really need some advice. Vaporeon, how did you master your abilities? I mean, not only can you make water, but you can alter your body temperature and turn it into ice. How did you master that?"

"Well, it was difficult," Vaporeon sighed, "Believe you me, it really was, mostly because this ability is unique only to me. I don't know why, but it's always been that way with family. Every female has been a fox with a different typing."

Leafeon's eyes widened when she heard that. This described her family to a tee. Although now she could not help but feel even more confused when the blue fox added, "See, Mommy's a normal type, so I only got basic fighting moves from her, and while Daddy's a water type, he doesn't have the ability to alter his body heat."

Zeraora nodded and replied, "Well, that's certainly-" before his eyes widened. He then stared silently at Vaporeon before she blinked and uttered, "What?" But after a few seconds, she suddenly realized what she had just said. Sure, to reveal that her father had gone to Hero School when it had not been invented during Jolteon's time was one thing, but there was no getting around a slip-up like this.

And Leafeon realized it too. Her suspicion was correct. Vaporeon was related to her, but she was connected to someone else. As such, she frowned and marched over to the blue fox, grunting, "Now, hold on just a minute! Yesterday, you said you didn't know anything about your true family! However, our family is the only one that fits the description you just gave! But on top of that, you describe your adopted parents as if they're your biological parents! But we have no normal types in our family tree, at least not that I know of!"

Vaporeon gulped nervously while Zeraora uttered, "Why would you lie about that?" Leafeon growling, "That's what I wanna know!"

But just as things were about to get their worst, everyone's eyes widened when they heard the door open. And when they turned, a yellow fox with spiky fur stood by the entrance. She smiled upon seeing Leafeon and squealed, "I found you!"

Then in the blink of an eye, she was already right up against the tan fox while she held her in a tight embrace. She then let go of her and said, "And you must be those new friends she told me about. Hi, I'm Jolteon, but you probably already knew that," pulling out a cup of coffee and taking a sip of it, "Anyway, Leafeon called me here to discuss something. Do you have time?"

Vaporeon was truly astounded. As if meeting her great grandmother was not enough, now she was face-to-face with her great, great grandmother. And it was not long until everyone was seated, Jolteon taking another sip of coffee with a big grin on her face. Though that grin quickly left her when Leafeon and Zeraora both explained what Vaporeon had just said.

"Wait, what's all this?" Jolteon uttered, Leafeon staring in shock since for a split second, the yellow fox's voice had actually been at a normal speed.

Jolteon stared deep into Vaporeon's eyes and narrowed her own. The blue fox breathed nervous with a look of terror, like she had just ruined their entire plan. And yet strangely enough, Jolteon's suspicion soon became shock as her eyes widened and she pursed her lips.

She then cleared her throat, took a sip of coffee and barked, "Are you telling me I have a long-lost normal type sister!? Oh my god, this is incredible! And she even married a water type circus performer!? Wow, I need to know more about my family tree! I would ask my Mommy about this, but I don't even wanna think about the possibility that she might have cheated on Daddy back in the day! Or maybe she just-"

"Okay, okay, that's enough!" Leafeon snapped with a look of terror in her eyes, "Please, please don't go into more detail," before breathing heavily and looking at Vaporeon who sighed, "Well, now you know the truth."

Leafeon and Zeraora both stared at her while she fibbed, "Yeah, it's true, my mother is my Aunt Jolteon's long-lost sister. Yeah, she met someone else before your dad, a normal type Hero who turned out to be a massive scumbag before she left him and met my uncle. Yeah, turns out she wanted nothing to do with him, so she disowned Mommy and had her sent to a foster home instead. Yeah, both of them prefer not to talk about it and Mommy refuses to meet either my aunt or uncle in person. Yeah, if she found out I was talking to Jolteon right now, she'd be really pissed off, so it's best we don't try to contact her."

She then took many deep breaths and enquired, "Yeah, did I say 'yeah' too many times?" Leafeon blinking and narrowing her eyelids. But just as she was about to question this further, Jolteon gasped, "Wow! I always suspected I had a long lost sibling somewhere, and now I know the truth! Thank you so much! That was so enlightening! I need a while to let this process!" sitting still for half a second before squealing, "Okay, I'm done!"

Leafeon stared at her mother in shock. The tan fox had a talent for telling when she was being lied to, hence why she knew Vaporeon's coverup yesterday had been false. As such, she knew Jolteon had just made up all of that to make it seem like the blue fox had told the truth. And when she noticed this, she figured there had to have been a good reason, thus she took a deep breath and forced a grin.

"Well, why didn't you just say so from the start?" she asked, "Seriously, it would have saved us so much drama," Zeraora nodding and replying, "She's got a point."

"I figured if she didn't want to meet any of you in person, she wouldn't want me to tell you of her existence," Vaporeon chuckled with nervous sweat, thinking, 'Wait, did Great, Great, Great Grandma Espeon really meet someone else before she met Gamon?'

Either way, while Leafeon really wanted to ask more, seeing her mother playing along with Vaporeon's obvious lie told her it was time to drop the issue. She knew it would eat away at her for a while, but deep down, she also figured she could avoid letting this whole thing bother her too much.

After a while, Jolteon was seated with the group for a lunch that Vaporeon had made and brought with her. Her eyes sparkled as she squealed, "Wow, I can't believe a member of my own clan can cook so well! There's a lot of things I can do, but I sure as Hell don't do all the cooking in my family! That's my husband's job!" slurping down some Pad Thai.

Vaporeon giggled, "Well, it was the same with my family. Daddy was the one who taught me how to cook," Leafeon slurping on her own noodles herself and trying her best not to let all this talk of family bother her. All the while, Zeraora eyed Jolteon before she looked at him and asked, "Something wrong?"

"Actually, if it's not too much trouble, I wanna discuss something with you privately after lunch," the cat replied while he bit his lower lip, eyeing Vaporeon nervously. The blue fox blinked and darted her eyes back and forth before Jolteon nodded with a sweet smile.

Once the yellow fox finished her lunch, she and Zeraora walked away from the other two, Leafeon smiling at Vaporeon and suggesting, "Well, cousin, what say we spar a little?" the blue fox nodding and replying, "Oh, okay, sure, why not?"

Once they were out of earshot, Jolteon tried not to talk too much and asked, "So, what is it?" her body bobbing up and down while Zeraora asked, "So, going by the word jolt in your name, I take it you're an electric type, right?"

"Oh, yes, how very clever of you to catch onto that!" Jolteon replied with multiple rapid nods of her head, not having the heart to point out how obvious that knowledge should have been before the cat sighed, "Well, in my last match, I was able to use my electricity, but I'm not sure how I did it. I was wondering if maybe you could help me master my power before the next round."

Jolteon stopped shifting her body and put on a more serious look. She gazed briefly into the cat's eyes before hers sparkled and a big grin formed on her face. She then held his hands, shook them vigorously and squealed, "Of course I will! We can get started right away! Assuming you want to start right away. I mean, I certainly wouldn't wanna force you-"

"Yes, that would be great," Zeraora chuckled, "I wanna get this down as quickly as possible," Jolteon about to tell Vaporeon only for him to add, "Don't tell her exactly what we're doing. Vaporeon seems dead set on shaping me into a perfect fighter and if she finds out you helped me with this, it might shatter her pride."

Jolteon blinked and stared at her before thinking in a surprisingly calm and mellow tone, 'Oh yeah, she's definitely related to me.'

With that in mind, Zeraora approached Vaporeon, who currently had Leafeon caught in a headlock and said, "Um, Jolteon and I are gonna go out for a little bit. You don't mind, do you?" the blue fox replying, "Well, alright, but don't be out too long. We still got a lot of training to do."

Leafeon used this chance to break free from Vaporeon's hold before sending a roundhouse into her gut, the blue fox grunting, "Oh, you'll pay for that!" forming a ball of ice on her tail before Zeraora and Jolteon exited the building.

But while Zeraora made it sound as if they would head far from the area, Jolteon simply led him to a nearby Basketball court that was thankfully empty right now. With that in mind, she took a deep breath and said, "I can understand why you're struggling with this. Mastering electricity isn't easy, let me tell you. It took me a really, really, really long time to figure it out myself, but with hard work and determination, I know you can pull it off!"

And so, she knelt down into a meditative state and signalled Zeraora to do the same. Needless to say, this certainly surprised him. After all, Jolteon seemed like someone who would never be able to pull off a calm state of mind and yet here she was doing just that.

Nevertheless, he followed suit as she said, "Now, try to focus really, really hard. If you can at least light up a spark by your own volition, you might just be ready for step two."

Zeraora closed his eyes and focused hard. After a few seconds, Jolteon noticed a small spark form on his right whisker. However, it faded after a few seconds, thus she nodded and said, "Keep at it. This might take a while," the cat trying his hardest. Though each time he got even a tiny spark only for it to vanish again, Jolteon could continually tell him to keep at it only for him to open his eyes and grunt, "You know, you're kinda distracting me right now."

The yellow fox blinked and squeaked, "Oh, sorry! As someone who moves around a lot, I don't have a whole lot of patience. In fact, that might explain why mastering electricity was so hard for me. In fact, it took me forever just to be able to sit still like this for hours and hours and hours and-" only for Zeraora to narrow his eyelids, thus she pursed her hands over her lips and breathed and out through her nose.

As such, she sat there quietly while Zeraora concentrated again. Now that Jolteon was no longer talking every few seconds, he was able to clear his mind. Thus he was finally able to keep sparks flying around his whiskers. Sure, they were small and he had not been completely conscious when he pulled it off, but he had still done it. Perhaps he could master the ability in a much smaller period of time than it took Jolteon.