Chapter Seven
The rest of the preparations were taken care of easily enough. Soon everyone was ready for the arrival and they waited with anticipation and excitement. When the private plane landed, they hurried to greet the newcomers.
"Radley!" Emilio squealed. He leaped into Radley's arms and Radley laughed and held him close.
"Hey there!" Radley smiled and hugged him and looked to their mother. "Hi, Mom."
"Hello, my darling!" Marisol embraced him too. "Hello, Kalin."
Kalin nodded. "Hello."
Evie danced around at their feet, while Evan sat patiently and Lily followed his lead, watching everything in wonder.
Emilio was swift to bend down to greet them too. "Hi, Evie! Hi, Evan!" He petted them in delight and looked to Lily. "Hi, Lily! Can I pet you too?"
"Eee . . ." Lily replied. She moved forward slowly, cautiously.
Emilio stroked her fur. He was gentle like Radley and Lily began to relax. This was fine.
"I wish I could have an Eevee too," Emilio said.
"I hope you can someday," Radley said. "But will Grandma allow it?" He looked to Marisol.
"She is naturally still not pleased at the idea of pets," Marisol sighed. "But if there comes a chance for Emilio to have a darling Eevee, the rest of us will try to impress on her to let him have it. I remember how happy you were with little Evie, and how broken-hearted when she disappeared. If you had been allowed to officially adopt her back then, she would have been with you at night and that horrible Team Rocket couldn't have taken her."
"Yeah," Radley said softly.
"Vee," Evie agreed. But she rubbed Radley comfortingly and he chuckled, petting her. They were together again now and that was what she wanted to focus on.
"Do you guys want lunch?" Radley asked. "We have strawberry pancakes."
"Yeah!" Emilio exclaimed.
"That sounds delightful," Marisol agreed.
Lunch was enjoyed by all as they visited and shared happy moments. The conversations continued as the meal wrapped up.
"I found this the other day," Marisol said, holding out a magazine. "I thought you would like to have it for the pictures."
Radley took it and opened it to a story about the Ramon family. One picture showed Radley as a nine-year-old boy, holding Evie. Both were beaming at the camera.
In the present, he smiled. "I would," he said. "Thank you, Mom."
Evie looked up at it. "Vee?"
Radley bent down to show her. "See, girl? Do you remember when this was taken?"
Evie wagged her tail. "Eevee-vee-vee!" She promptly rubbed the edge of the magazine. Radley laughed.
"How did that happen?" Kalin wondered. "I'm surprised your grandmother let her be in the picture."
"These people were interviewing everyone for the magazine and came to the villa," Radley said. "They were being given a tour and Evie was scampering around saying Hi to them when they got to the meadow. They thought she was really cute and said a picture with me and her would be great publicity. Grandma agreed." He sighed. "I hoped she'd let me have Evie after that, even if just because of the publicity. But she didn't."
"Eevee," Evie sighed.
"She was really determined for you not to have her," Kalin frowned.
"That's so sad," Emilio said.
"We were really disappointed," Radley said. "But we made the best of what we had anyway."
"I wish an Eevee would come visit me," Emilio said. "Could we go outside and play and look for Eevees?"
Radley chuckled. "Sure." There didn't seem to be any others around, but that didn't mean they couldn't come. Lily had shown up after months of no Eevees wandering in, after all.
Scotch met them all when they stepped outside. "Hey!" he greeted. "Here's Isla!"
Isla warbled happily and jumped down to go to her friends and see Emilio. He petted her too. "Hi, Isla! Do you still like to play a lot?"
Isla rubbed him and ran around in circles.
"She sure does," Radley laughed. "It's hard to get her to stop."
The other Eevees greeted Isla and soon they and Emilio were all playing happily on the lawn.
Kalin was surprised. "Lily's joining right in."
"She's really into it too," Radley said. Instead of being shy like before, Lily was happily bounding over the grass to play with Emilio as well as her friends. It was a beautiful sight.
"Do you think she's just doing it for you?" Kalin wondered.
"I don't think so," Radley mused. "She looks too happy, too genuine. She really wants this and is having a lot of fun with it."
"I wonder how she'd take to visiting the Shiny Eevees," Kalin remarked.
Radley considered that. "That might be too many new people at once. She's doing great here, but we don't wanna push it. After she adjusts some more, we can ask her then. I know Evie would love to introduce her to them. It might get confusing with two Lilys, though." He chuckled.
Kalin shrugged. "It could be nice for her to meet her namesake."
Radley nodded thoughtfully. "It's a really sweet idea. I hope Lily will want to do it sometime."
The day was filled with fun and play and getting to know Emilio and Marisol. Lily was surprised by how much she was enjoying everything. It was so freeing to not have to be afraid, and Evie and Radley especially were happy to see her having fun.
"I like this," Lily said to Evan when they all entered the diner for dinner.
"I'm glad," Evan said.
"I wish we could find an Eevee for Emilio," Lily said. "He would be nice to one."
"Do you have any friends you could ask?" Evie hoped.
Lily shook her head. "Not really, no."
"We'll find one for him someday," Evie said. "Or one will find him! He should have one."
"Hey," Radley mused, "I just had a thought. While it's true we can't buy Eevees in pet stores, there is a surefire way to get one. We could contact a professional breeder to get an Eevee for Emilio."
"Eevee-vee!" Evie exclaimed in delight.
Kalin gave a thoughtful nod. "That should work . . . maybe. Would they sell one for someone under ten?"
"You can have Pokemon earlier than that if they're pets," Radley said. "It's only if you're gonna be a Trainer and travel and do the gym circuit that you have to wait, or that's my understanding."
"Great," Kalin said. "But what about your grandmother?"
Radley paused and frowned. He certainly didn't want Emilio exposed to the heartache of not being able to have an Eevee after thinking he would get to. "I'd better ask Mom before making any calls," he said.
Marisol smiled a bit when Radley told her of his idea. "Emilio was hoping all along he would find an Eevee on this trip," she said. "So I suppose I was planning for that, at least in part. Yes, let's go ahead with this."
"I'll help talk to Grandma, if you think it would work," Radley offered.
"We'll see," Marisol said. "I'll call her right now." She took out her phone and dialed.
Lucia was definitely still not pleased by the concept of a pet joining their family at the villa. But to Radley's and Marisol's relief, she was resigned to Emilio's longing and even seemed to regret not having allowed Radley to have Evie in the past. She wouldn't stand in the way of Emilio having a sweet Eevee.
"That's a relief," Radley said when they hung up. "I'm really surprised, though."
Marisol smiled. "Your grandmother is changing. It's very welcome."
"It sure is," Radley said. "Well, I'm going to start calling Eevee breeders for Emilio now." He took out his phone.
Emilio came over to the table with a tall glass of ice soda. "Are you trying to get me an Eevee?!" he exclaimed in delight.
Radley chuckled. "Yeah!" he said. "We'll find a breeder who'll either sell us an egg or a newborn Eevee."
"Thank you!" Emilio cheered.
"Maybe we can even get one of Evie's relatives," Radley mused. "A lot of them were bought by breeders."
"That's a great idea," Kalin said.
"Eeveeee!" said Evie.
"Yes! We could even go there and visit!" Scotch said as he appeared.
Radley grinned. "There might even be some for sale right now," he said. "It doesn't hurt to check them first."
Two phone calls later and Radley was hanging up triumphant. "Evie has a cousin who just laid a clutch of eggs," he announced. "They weren't all spoken for and I got one reserved for Emilio. We can go get it tomorrow!"
Emilio beamed. "I'm getting an Eevee! Thank you, Radley!" He hugged his brother around the neck.
Radley laughed and hugged back.
"Eevee!" Evie cheered. The other Eevees looked happy too.
Radley looked to Lily. "Do you wanna come with us tomorrow?" he asked. "I know you weren't planning on even more people right now, and I wasn't going to ask you about going there to meet more for a while, but I'd like to get this Eevee egg for Emilio. You're welcome to stay here or come with us but wait in the van."
Lily pondered that. "Vee. . . ." She really didn't want to stay behind. And if she went with them, she figured she might as well meet the ones they were going to see. Seeing Evie's cousin sounded nice, really. "Eee!" she declared at last, and rubbed Radley's hand.
"You're coming?" Radley smiled.
Evie cheered. Evan and Isla looked happy too.
"Vee!" Lily agreed with a nod.
"Great," Radley smiled. "It'll be a really nice family outing."
"Eevee-Eevee!" Evie said.
Lily felt almost in a wondrous daze when they went home that night and snuggled on the pet couch for bed. It had really been a wonderful day, and tomorrow she had agreed to go on an outing. She never could have dreamed such a thing would be possible.
Evie was still so very excited. "This will be so fun!" she gushed. "I can see some of my family, we can get an egg for Emilio, and maybe we can visit Comfry and his Lily!"
"Comfry?" Lily said in disbelief.
"Yeah!" Evie said, not finding anything odd about the name at all. "They're Shiny Eevees and they live at my old house! Well, kind of! They live in a beautiful cave connected to the house! I think Radley named you for Comfry's Lily! She's really nice. He is too!"
". . . I'd like to meet them," Lily said.
"They'll love you!" Evie declared. "We can all play!" She rambled for a bit, describing the beautiful cave and its immense flora sustained by the hole in the ceiling through which the sun could shine.
"What do they do when it rains or snows?" Lily wondered.
"They go closer to the house!" Evie said. "There's some nice parts covered up that they stay in."
Evan smiled. "We'd better try to sleep. It's a big day tomorrow."
It was hard for Evie to settle down, but she tried. Lily stayed awake, pondering on it all, before at last she too dozed.
xxxx
The next day was filled with a delightful breakfast shared by all and final plans made for their day trip. When everyone finally set out, Emilio and Marisol were riding in the van with Radley, Kalin, Robert, and the Eevees.
As usual, Isla could not sit still. She happily scampered across laps on the middle seat to look out first one window, then the other. Emilio laughed at the cute antics. "Is she always like this?"
"Pretty much," Radley chuckled. "At least she knows not to do it up front while Kalin's trying to drive."
"Eevees are smart," Emilio declared.
"Vee!" Evie said with pride.
The ride was peaceful and soon they were arriving at the breeder's home in Hydrangea Town. They all got out, with Emilio excited but nervous.
Radley smiled at him. "Are you ready to do this?"
"Yeah!" Emilio declared. "Let's get my new friend."
They went up to the porch, with Evie and Isla scampering ahead. They called greetings as Radley rang the doorbell, and soon answering greetings came from within the house.
The breeder looked amused as he opened the door. "Hello," he said. "Our Eevees are very sociable, aren't they?"
"Very," Radley chuckled.
Evie's cousin danced on two legs and skipped over to greet her. They rubbed each other and warbled in joy before Evie happily introduced her friends and her cousin introduced her husband.
"They're so cute!" Emilio said. "What's their names?"
"This is Katie and this is Harvey," the breeder said. "And if you want to come inside, you can choose your egg."
"Really?" Emilio said in amazement. "I thought you'd just bring one out."
"I let each person pick what egg speaks to them," the breeder replied. "Anyone who truly loves Pokemon should be able to form a bond with one of my Eevees, even in an egg."
"That's so neat!" Emilio exclaimed.
"Do you have any others for sale?" Scotch had to ask.
"Not right now," was the answer. "You were lucky to get one. The others will be arriving in a day or two to get the ones that they reserved."
Emilio hurried inside and looked around the living room. "Where are they?" he asked.
"Come on, I'll take you to them," the breeder chuckled.
The group followed him down a hall to a warm, well-lit room. Most of the eggs were in portable incubators on shelves, but several were down in soft beds with furry Eevees wrapped around them to keep them warm. They all looked up at the arrivals and Evie delightedly started a new round of greetings.
Radley was amused. "Are any of the others related to Evie too?" he wondered.
"Yes, I have Katie's sister Rachelle, her daughter Felicia, and Rachelle's son Anthony," the breeder said.
Evie jumped up and down in excitement.
Lily was sticking close to Radley through all this, but she was watching everything in amazement and greeting the Eevees as they greeted her. There were so many! She had never seen so many Eevees being cared for and loved before. It was an awe-inspiring sight for a little Eevee who had never had love until recently.
Radley smiled, bending down to pet her.
Emilio took the idea of choosing his egg very seriously. For some time he walked around the room, examining each egg and talking to and petting the parents. They chirped and warbled and thumped their tails, happy for the attention. Finally Emilio ran his hand over an egg being watched over by a peaceful female Eevee. "This one," he said. "I think this one wants to come with me."
The breeder smiled. "Then this one is meant to be yours. I'll get an incubator and the instructions for how to care for your egg."
"Is it difficult?" Marisol asked uneasily.
"Oh no," the breeder assured her. "They need to be kept warm, and the incubator is always doing that. I also like talking and singing to the eggs."
"They respond to that?" Kalin said with a raised eyebrow.
"Of course, just like human children do," the breeder said.
"I can do that!" Emilio said happily.
"Just let me know if you have any other questions," the breeder said as he handed the instruction sheet to Marisol and the incubator with egg to Emilio.
"Thank you. We will," Marisol said. She started looking over the instructions.
Emilio cradled the incubator with reverence. "My own Eevee," he whispered. He looked up at the breeder. "Thank you so much!"
"You're very welcome," he said.
Radley, who was still somewhat contemplating breeding Eevees himself, waited until Emilio was occupied playing with the darlings who weren't warming eggs to quietly ask, "Do they ever seem to feel bad to give up their eggs?"
"Sometimes," the breeder admitted. "I let them keep those. I need to have a lot of breeding couples anyway, so it's not a bad thing to retain some of the eggs."
Radley nodded thoughtfully. "It's a good thing you have a large house," he chuckled as the Eevees scampered up and down the hall outside the incubation room.
"No kidding," the breeder smirked.
"How many do you have altogether?" Kalin had to ask.
"Twenty right now," the breeder said. "Eight couples and four kids."
"Wow," Radley said. "Any plans for more?"
"Sometimes they come completely unplanned," was the reply.
"All of ours have," Radley said in amused agreement. "And they've all been the most wonderful surprises."
Lily looked up at him in awe. She was a wonderful surprise? No one had ever thought that about her before. That felt wonderful too.
"Eevees always are," the breeder said. "I can see you're a perfect one to look after Eevees. Yours clearly think the world of you."
Radley smiled. "That goes both ways," he said as he cuddled Lily.
After a few minutes Lily decided she wanted to join the games and talk to Evie's cousin some more. They all romped and played up and down the halls with a chorus of happy warbles while Radley and Scotch took videos with their phones.
"You'll come visit more, won't you?" Katie asked when they finally took a break and draped over the furniture.
"Yeah!" Evie promised. "I'm so happy to see you and meet everyone else here! Can you use a computer? We could stay in touch that way too!"
"I can use one," said Harvey.
"Smashing!" Isla beamed. "We can video chat!"
"Do you ever get caught doing that?" Lily wondered.
"Once or twice," Isla said. "Scotch thought it was 'epic.'"
"So no one was mad then," Lily wanted to confirm.
"Oh no! As long as we don't damage anything, it's fine!" Isla insisted.
"And Isla's good about not damaging things!" Evie beamed.
"I always wonder what they're saying when they get so involved in talking like this," Scotch said. "It's so cute!"
Radley smiled. "It really is. Maybe someday we'll know more about it."
Kalin glanced at the clock. "Were we going to see any of Evie's other family today?" he prompted.
"Eeveeee!" Evie exclaimed.
Radley chuckled. "Evie sure wants to. What do you think, Lily? Are you up for more socializing?"
Lily pondered. "Vee," she finally nodded. She hoped they were thinking of the Shiny Eevees Evie had talked about. They had sounded so fascinating.
"Okay then," Radley said. "Thank you for the egg and the hospitality!" He looked to the breeder. "This means so much to my brother."
"You're welcome," the breeder smiled. "Let me know when your egg hatches!"
Emilio beamed and hugged the incubator close. "I will!"
Evie warbled happily. "Then we'll have a new friend!"
So many new friends. . . . Lily looked at the egg in awe. It was amazing to think there was an Eevee in there, already bonding with Emilio.
"What are you thinking about?" Evie chirped.
". . . Do you think Emilio's Eevee will like me?" Lily asked in wonder.
"Of course!" Evie exclaimed without hesitation. "And all the Shiny Eevees will too!"
"I hope so," Lily said.
"Why wouldn't they?" Isla said.
"It was always so hard to make friends before," Lily said. "It's still hard to understand that now it's not."
"Anyone who doesn't like you is mean!" Evie said. "You're so nice!"
Lily had to smile. "You really feel that way. . . ."
"Yeah!" Evie said. "And all of our people do too!"
That definitely seemed to be true, and Lily beamed.
"Now, let's go see more new friends!" Evie declared.
Everyone agreed.