Chapter Four

The ride to Yusei's was short and pleasant. Evie hopped out as soon as they arrived, calling to them as she hurried up to the garage with tail wagging.

Yusei opened the door with a smile. "Hey there," he greeted.

Evan and Isla called Hello as well. Lily stayed shyly on Radley's lap and just peeked up through the window a bit.

"Hello, Yusei," Kalin smiled as he got out.

Radley gently took Lily in his arms and stood. "This is our newest member. She's shy, but she agreed to come."

Yusei gave her a kind look. "Hi, Lily," he said.

Lily relaxed somewhat. "Eee . . ."

"That's it!" Scotch suddenly exclaimed.

Everyone jumped.

"What's it?" Radley said with a raised eyebrow.

"The Eevees should sing Hi-Lily Hi-Lo in the concert!" Scotch gushed. "It'd be so cute!"

"Eeveeee!" Evie exclaimed. She didn't even know what that song was, but it sounded fun!

Yusei was amused. "What's this? The Eevees are going to sing?"

"Vee!" Evie nodded.

"Well, some of them anyway," Scotch said. "Lily might not want to. But . . . hey, maybe she could be sung to? It'd be like everyone saying Hi to her!"

Lily still looked hesitant. "Eevee," she said, her tail swishing as she laid in Radley's arms.

"It's a cute idea," Radley said. "We'll have to see."

"Well, why don't you all come in?" Yusei said, gesturing to the garage. "Antinomy and Monkey are inside."

"Vee-vee-vee!" Evie scampered in to see more friends.

Chuckling, Radley led the others inside too.

Monkey leaped up from where he was watching Antinomy work. He meowed as he came over, eager to play with his friends. Evie exclaimed happily, bouncing around and apparently introducing him to Lily. He meowed up at her too, to which she gave a quiet "Eevee."

Antinomy also smiled and got up as Evan and Isla joined the fun. "Hello," he greeted everyone. "I see you have a new friend."

"Yes, we all love Lily," Radley smiled.

They visited for a time while most Eevees and Monkey played on the floor. Lily largely stayed in Radley's arms or on his lap, but eventually ventured down to the play group. It did look like fun. She liked playing with the other Eevees, and Monkey seemed nice too.

Evie looked ecstatic. "Come play!" she implored.

"It's okay?" Lily looked to Monkey.

"Yes!" Monkey said.

They resumed their games of Tag and Run and Climb. Monkey showed every part of the garage and his favorite spots. As Lily relaxed, she climbed higher and higher, exploring more of this fun place. She loved the feel of climbing and how free it made her feel. Monkey, however, climbed places she had never considered.

"That's really safe?" she exclaimed as he walked across the curtain rod.

"For a cat!" he said.

Isla was willing to try it regardless. But a fluffy, thick Eevee tail just didn't afford the same amount of balance as any cat tail, and halfway through she slipped and started to fall.

Scotch leaped up. "Isla!" he cried.

Robert jumped up too. It was not unusual for Isla to try to get into things she really shouldn't get into, but it was always a worry when it was something potentially dangerous. He and Isla were both too reckless for their own good. He had mostly learned his lesson, but Isla never seemed to.

Isla grabbed the rod with both front paws and tried to pull herself back up on it. Before she could, Scotch stood on a chair and lifted her down.

"That's no place for you!" he said. "You could have got hurt!"

Isla just rubbed him and started to purr.

Lily shrank back once she saw Isla was safe. "Will we get in trouble?" she worried.

"No, it's fine!" Evie insisted. "They never hurt us!"

Lily remained tense regardless. When Radley approached, she looked up at him with mixed emotions. "Eee?"

"Hey, it's okay," Radley soothed. "I'm just glad no one's hurt." He held out a hand, palm up.

Slowly Lily came over, sniffing his hand and then cautiously rubbing it. He petted her gently until she began to relax. When Evie came over too, he also petted her.

Antinomy looked concerned. "Was Lily abused before you found her?"

"I honestly don't know," Radley said with a frown. "I'm afraid she might have been. Only . . . she was cautious about trusting anyone, but she seemed to warm up to me pretty fast. I wouldn't think an abused animal would."

"If one really sensed you're different, it might," Antinomy said.

"Eevee," Lily said. She moved closer to Radley, snuggling him in increasing bliss. He smiled and held her.

"I know she was unhappy, at any rate," Radley said. "But now she's learning she can have happiness too."

Within a few minutes, Lily was curled in Radley's arms and purring as loudly as any motorboat cat.

"Wow, she's really going at it," Antinomy commented.

"It's really interesting how Eevees have so many kitty traits and behaviors," Radley mused.

Kalin nodded. "They look like foxes and rabbits and act like cats," he grunted.

"Vee!" Evie said proudly.

Radley had to chuckle.

The rest of the visit went without incident. After a while, everyone prepared to ride around the City and the Eevees were strapped in for safety. Lily watched the homes and buildings fly by in awe. She loved motorcycling. It was fun and exciting, and with the other Eevees and Kalin and Radley, she felt completely safe.

Yusei smiled at them as they drove back to the garage after the trip. "That was great," he said. "We'll have to do it again sometime."

"We will," Kalin promised with a smile.

Soon they were heading home and Lily was snuggled with Radley in the van again. Evie and Evan were cuddling with him too, and Isla was content to be with Robert. Radley petted all the Eevees on his lap as Kalin drove.

"So, how did you feel about today?" he asked Lily. "Did you like meeting them?"

"Eee . . . Eevee," Lily mused. It hadn't been bad. They were all nice.

"You'll like Emilio too," Radley promised. "He loves Eevees."

That was encouraging, Lily had to admit. He had seemed sweet on the phone. But she still hoped there wouldn't be anyone else to meet in the meantime. She wanted to be with Radley.

"Scotch and I will be setting up Isla's cat tree when we get home," Robert said.

"Eeveeee!" Isla said in delight.

"It'll probably be a big job," Radley said. "You're sure you won't be too worn-out?"

"I'm alright, Lad, and does Scotch ever wear out?" Robert chuckled.

"Not often," Radley laughed.

"Eevee-vee!" Evie cheerfully agreed.

xxxx

Back in town after their trip home, Radley and Kalin and their Eevees bade Goodbye to Scotch, Robert, Isla, and the rest of the Bunch, and headed inside to relax for a while before dinner. Evie and Evan were soon romping about, while Lily stayed cuddled with Radley before at last deciding to join her friends.

Radley smiled at them as he picked up the evening paper. But as he looked it over, he stopped short in surprise at one of the main articles.

"What is it?" Kalin asked.

"It's talking about this guy who's using Eevees as therapy animals," Radley said. "For years he's been doing it in the Kanto Pokemon region, but now he's starting to branch out and wants to bring the program outside of the Pokemon regions."

Evie looked up from play. "Eevee-vee-vee?"

Radley smiled and turned the paper so she could see the picture of the nice young man around Kalin's age holding two of his beloved Eevees. "He says Eevees make wonderful therapy animals because they're so sweet and loving and gentle, and their size means he can get them into pretty much any hospital or rehab center without trouble. They snuggle up with the patients or get them to play, whatever they think will help most."

"That's interesting," Kalin admitted.

Radley nodded. "I hope he brings his program to New Domino City. There's a lot of places there that could use it."

Evie put her paw on the paper. "Vee?"

Radley smiled, reaching to pet her. "You like this, pretty girl? You think you might wanna do it too?"

Evie nodded and did a little dance and ran in a circle. "Eevee-Eevee!"

"Well, I can sure talk to the guy and find out what he says," Radley said. "Looks like his name's Mike. Huh."

"What's so strange about that?" Kalin quirked an eyebrow.

"The first anime episode that featured Eevees was about a boy named Mikey who loved his pet Eevee and didn't want to evolve it," Radley said. "He decided he wanted to become an Eevee Trainer. I guess it's completely loco, but . . . nah, it must be a weird coincidence."

Kalin blinked. "You think he might be the real kid the episode was about?"

Radley laughed. "It's nuts, isn't it?"

"After all we've been through?" Kalin countered. "I don't even know anymore."

"I'm going to call him regardless," Radley said. "It gives a number here for his organization. You know, why wait? I'll call him right now." He reached for his phone.

Lily stopped running with Evan and tilted her head at their other friend. "Why would you want to be a therapy animal?" she wondered.

"Why not?" Evie said innocently. "I love people and I love to help!"

"You're with your person," Lily said. "Isn't that enough to make you happy?"

"I like to spread the happy!" Evie exclaimed. "And if Radley does it with me, it will make everyone doubly happy! He can be a therapy person!"

Lily drooped at this. "But . . . if Radley does something special with you, maybe I won't see either of you much. . . ."

"Why can't we all do it?" Evie suggested.

Evan sighed and scratched an ear. "Maybe they wouldn't even have time to do it much," he said. "Once a week or even once a month, maybe."

"Oh. Yeah, that could be true," Evie realized. "They have to take care of the town first." She hopped on the couch as Radley dialed the number. "But at least we can hear what it's all about!"

In a moment the phone was answered by a kind young man with light brown hair. An Eevee with a collar and nametag was on his shoulder. "Hello?"

"Squee?" said the Eevee.

Radley was taken aback by the different sound, but then he smiled. "Hi," he said. "My name is Radley and this is Kalin and Evie. . . . And Evan and Lily," he added as they jumped up too. "We just read the article about your Eevee organization and we were wondering if you could tell us some more about it."

"Of course," was the reply. "I'm Mike . . . Mikey, and this is Leo. He's been with me since I was a little kid. I was never interested in battling Pokemon. Leo is my loyal friend and companion. He always gave me so much friendship and love growing up, and I was thinking that Eevees could surely bring that same kind of comfort to anyone in need of it. The local Nurse Joy was thoroughly in favor of it and she helped us get started. Leo started perking up a lot of people lost in depression or suffering from PTSD. My other Eevees have had the same effect."

"That's really cool," Radley said. "I wanted to tell you that New Domino City would be a great place to bring your program. There's a big need, and people love Eevees."

Mikey smiled. "We'll definitely consider it! If we bring the program out there, would your Eevees be interested in trying to apply?"

"Eevee-vee!" Evie said, raising a paw in the air.

Radley laughed. "Evie sure would. I'm not sure the others do, but maybe if the time comes, we could all observe a session and decide then? If it wouldn't be intrusive, I mean."

"That would be fine," Mikey said. "We let other Trainers and Eevees check it out before deciding if it's really for them."

"Great," Radley said.

"I'll let you know if we'll ever be anywhere in the area," Mikey promised.

"Squee!" said Leo.

". . . So, I've never heard an Eevee say that before," Radley said. "It's really cute."

Mikey smiled. "Leo's always been really unique. But every Eevee is. No two of mine have the same personality."

"Oh, of course," Radley said. "All of ours are very different too."

Lily still looked unconvinced when he hung up. She sighed, walking onto Radley's lap. She didn't mind the other Eevees being around, but she hadn't thought she would need to share Radley with so many people. She was starved for positive attention . . . like the patients the therapy Eevees helped. Evie's innocent idea of Radley having the same effect on others was completely accurate for her. She wanted Radley to pay attention to her and keep making her life happy the way she had never known it could be.

"You're not so enthused, are you, honey?" Radley mused. He petted Lily while she purred. "It is a lot to pile on you after everything you went through before you came here. You probably wanna take things slow. Well, we won't be doing anything about it now, if ever. If the program comes to the City, maybe we can talk about it again or go watch them work once, but for now we'll just keep building our lives here in town."

That was satisfactory to Lily, and she curled her tail around herself as she continued to purr.

". . . Do you think Evie will be able to understand Lily's feelings?" Kalin wondered. "They're polar opposites."

"I hope so," Radley said. "And I hope Evan can help her understand if she doesn't." He looked to where Evie and Evan had started to talk on the other side of the couch. ". . . For the sake of curiosity, if the program does come close to us, how would you feel about getting involved?"

Kalin shrugged. "I'm not sociable, as you well know. But it would mainly be the Pokemon interacting with people. If Evan wanted to do it, I'd support him. And I don't think there's anything wrong with at least checking it out."

Radley smiled. "Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that."

Evie was indeed puzzled about Lily's lukewarm reaction to what she found an amazing and wonderful opportunity for them. Evan led her off the couch and into the kitchen as he tried to explain.

"Lily was hurt a lot before she came to us," he said. "You know that, right?"

"Yeah," Evie said slowly. "But I thought maybe helping others would help her feel better!"

"And maybe it will," Evan said. "It's just too soon right now. She's never had a happy home before and she really wants to focus on experiencing that for a while before thinking about doing anything else. You're right about Radley having a positive effect on others. He's having that effect on Lily. He's her therapy, and she needs to heal with him for a while before she'll be ready to think about helping others."

"Oh. . . ." Evie sat down, swishing her tail as she pondered on that. "It's impossible to get enough of Radley! I'm sure he'll make her feel really good in no time! You got okay pretty fast with Kalin. . . ."

"We're all different," Evan said. "Lily needs more time."

"Well, I guess we can't do anything right now anyway," Evie mused. "Maybe by the time we can, Lily will be feeling like helping!"

Evan smiled a bit. "Maybe. Today was a big day for her, getting her collar and nametag and then meeting more people. It was a really big step for her to agree to meet them right now. And she has to deal with Emilio coming soon. Right now she needs to focus on those things. If she can get past those okay, maybe she'll feel like trying something bigger."

"I hope so!" Evie said. "I can help!"

"Right now, the biggest help would be to understand that she needs time and space," Evan said.

"I can do that!" Evie said. "But can I still ask her to play?"

"Sure," Evan said. "We should always let her know she's welcome, but respect it if she doesn't want to join in."

"Yeah!" Evie said. "I'm really happy she came! I hope we'll all be a big happy family!"

"That's what she wants too, I think," Evan said. "It's just that right now it probably seems like a dream that can't last because it's too amazing."

That made Evie sad, and she looked down with a frown. "I hope that she'll know it's real soon."

Evan nuzzled her. "Me too."

Hearing them, Lily sighed to herself. Would she be able to believe in it? It seemed real, and she definitely believed they and Radley were all sincere, and yet it was still difficult for her not to keep fearing waking up from her fairytale. Radley was still petting her and talking to her soothingly. He was everything she had ever dreamed of.

She turned, settling down in a new position on his lap and looking up into his eyes. Sadness flickered in his expression as he looked back at her, but then he smiled wanly.

"You went through so much before you came to us," he said. "And I'll probably never know exactly what happened. But I hope we can all help you heal. We all love you, Lily."

She started to climb his chest with her front paws. Soon she was purring again, nuzzling his chin and his cheek.

He laughed, holding her close. "You've got so much love to give," he said. "I'm sorry the other people you met didn't see that. But I'm glad I get to see it."

Next to him, Kalin smiled too. He loved seeing how gentle Radley was with Lily. It still boggled his mind and devastated his heart that he could have ever thought Radley was cruel. And then he froze, pondering. Evie had accepted him even after hearing about their past, but would Lily? She would need to know sometime, especially since the townspeople still talked about it on occasion and since Kalin himself still had meltdowns about it and needed comfort. But maybe when she was told, she would reject him. Even though part of him felt like he deserved that, it hurt to think about it. It would hurt Radley too.

Maybe he would have to ask Radley what he thought about it once the Eevees were asleep. For now, he didn't want to bring up anything sad. This was a happy moment.

"We should probably start heading to the diner for the party," he said instead.

"Yeah, you're right," Radley mused. "I'll fix something special for dinner. You wanna help me choose it, Lily? It's a party for you, so you should have a say."

"Eee," Lily said in awe. "Eevee!"

"Okay then," Radley chuckled. "Let's go." He stood, and immediately Evie was there for him to pick up too. Evan went to Kalin. Together, the special family headed for the door.