Chapter Five

The Eevees continued to romp and play, loving each other's company. Penny snuggled a lot with Ramon and the babies often joined in, climbing all over their daddy with happy trills.

Scotch sighed as he watched. "They're so cute. . . . I know Penny really longs to be with Ramon, even though she likes it back home. . . ."

Penny couldn't deny that. "It's going to be so hard to leave again," she said softly. "I wish like Evie, that you would be coming with us. I like Scotch best of our owners and I think our children will be safest with him, but . . ."

Ramon nuzzled her. "I think they need to stay with Scotch too. I love my person, but I know she wouldn't know how to handle our children. She just wouldn't have the time to do it herself, so she'd have to hire a pet-sitter."

Penny nodded. "If it wasn't for that, I probably would come with you now that she'd have me. But I need to be with our children. They're too young to be on their own."

"Maybe we can talk about it more when they're older," Ramon said. "At least we have visits now, and we can video chat every night. It's not the same, but it's better than what we thought we'd have."

"It is," Penny agreed, and cuddled closer.

Kelly sighed too. "I feel like a monster to not let them be together now," she said. "I just don't know how I could bear to give Ramon up. . . ."

Ramon looked up at her and warbled encouragingly. He understood, and he still loved her and wanted to stay with her.

"I don't think he wants to leave you," Radley said. "We'll all do all we can to let them be together as much as possible."

"I guess that's all we can do," Kelly said. "I wish there was more. If I just had a good pet-sitter. . . . It would be a full-time job, though. They'd have to live in."

"Yeah," Scotch said softly. He looked down, petting the babies.

Biff frowned. ". . . You're not thinking you'd do it," he said.

". . . I wonder if I should, so they could be together," Scotch said. "But . . . I'd have to leave all of you. . . ."

"Vee!" Penny shook her head. She knew Scotch couldn't bear to do that. She wouldn't ask it of him.

"Then there'd have to be other separations, Lad," Robert said. "Isla would have to either go with you or stay with us."

Isla drooped completely. Her happiness included having both of her owners with her. "Eevee . . ."

Scotch picked her up and hugged her close. "I couldn't do that to you, Isla," he assured her. "I won't go."

That brightened Isla tremendously and she rubbed Scotch repeatedly in joy. He laughed.

"I think the best thing is to do our visits like we're planning," Radley said. "Maybe when the babies are older we can think about other options." Of course, by then they would all be even more attached. He knew that, as did everyone else. It didn't need to be said.

"Six would still be a lot for a working girl with no one to help," Kelly said with a sad smile.

"It really would be," Radley agreed with a sad smile of his own.

"It's better for them to stay with you," Kelly said. "You have the means to look out for them well."

Scotch nodded. "But we should try to visit every week!" he said.

"I'll plan on it," Kelly promised. "Oh, Ramon has a Contest in a couple of weeks. Will you be coming to that?"

"We'd love to," Radley said. "Will we be able to bring the babies?"

"If they're in the carrier, I'm sure it'd be okay," Kelly said.

"We'll all come!" Scotch said. He took out his phone. "And maybe I can get some more pictures!"

"Of course," Kelly said.

More pictures were taken and the group continued to play until at long last the babies wore out in the waning autumn afternoon and snuggled together with their parents for a happy snooze.

"Aww, that's so cute!" Scotch exclaimed. "How will we separate them to leave?!"

"By now it's going to be dinnertime soon," Kelly said. "You're all welcome to stay for that."

"Thanks," Radley smiled. "If it's not any trouble. . . ."

"It's fine, especially since we're all going to be family now," Kelly said with an awkward chuckle. "I'll go in and start throwing something together. Or I could just send for delivery."

"Whatever works best for you," Radley said.

"I think I'll get something sent to us," Kelly said, taking out her phone. "This is a special occasion. I'd like to keep visiting instead of being cooped up in the kitchen."

"Cool," Radley said. "I'd be happy to chip in and help pay for it, if you'd like."

"No, this is my treat," Kelly smiled. "All of you didn't have to come out here. I'll cover the cost of dinner."

Radley smiled. "Sure. Thanks."

"Do you have any special requests for what you'd like?" Kelly asked.

"Pizza!" Scotch immediately exclaimed.

That was agreeable to everyone there, and after some discussion of toppings and side dishes, Kelly placed an order to Domino's.

Kalin stepped away slightly from the group, pulling out his phone as well.

Radley walked over to him. "What are you going to do about Yusei?" he quietly asked. "I know we've been here longer than you were probably planning on."

"I don't want to cut things short," Kalin whispered back. "I already told Yusei things were going well and we'd probably be here a while. Yusei says it's fine and he won't hold us to a visit if it would work out better not to do one today. It will be getting late when we leave. . . ."

Radley nodded. "And there was the question of stopping at the pet store too," he said. "I'd suggest Yusei meeting us there, but we don't know when we might be getting there."

"I'll suggest it anyway," Kalin said, and typed.

Yusei soon answered that he wasn't sure if he could do that amid all the work he needed to get done, but he and Antinomy would come if they could.

"I wonder if he works too much," Radley remarked.

"At least he's doing what he loves," Kalin said. "And Antinomy's right there with him. Crow told me how they pulled three all-nighters in a row right after he first came. They were so involved in what they were doing on the computer."

"That's pretty involved, alright," Radley chuckled.

"Antinomy really has been a kindred spirit for Yusei," Kalin said as he put his phone away. "None of the rest of us were ever as into what he likes as Antinomy is."

"Of course, one doesn't have to be completely into another's interests to be a dear friend," Radley said.

"No, but it's a nice bonus," Kalin said. "And I know Antinomy is better for Yusei than I ever was. Antinomy doesn't cause him endless worry and grief."

Radley looked sad at that. "Oh Kalin. . . ."

"We both know it's true," Kalin said flatly.

Radley gripped Kalin's shoulder. "You don't cause Yusei worry and grief anymore," he said.

Kalin finally smiled at that. "I hope not. Although I'm sure I still do when we're having some of our disastrous problems."

"At least those are out of our control," Radley said with a dark smirk. "We're not going out seeking those 'thrills.'"

Kalin hugged him close. "And there's so much to love about this life as well. I knew I was doing the right thing to choose it . . . and you."

"I'm glad I and this life make you happy," Radley said as he hugged back.

Kalin nodded. "Always. Yusei has found his best life . . . and so have I."

Radley smiled, moved. "Me too."

". . . It looks like the food's here," Kalin noted, seeing a car with a Domino's light on top pulling up.

"Let's go eat," Radley agreed.

Kelly was opening her garage to get out two long banquet tables. They all quickly commenced in helping her set up and setting out the food as it was brought over to them. After paper plates and napkins were acquired, everyone sat down to a delicious meal, including the Eevees. They warbled in approval as they started to eat.

"I'm amazed they can safely eat human food," Kelly remarked. "I couldn't do this with a cat or dog." She watched as Ramon happily chomped a slice of cheese pizza.

"They're basically little people with fur," Radley smiled. "Ruby can type and she told us she wants to work with computers."

"That's incredible," Kelly said.

Ruby chirped happily.

"Maybe she could be customer service for Amazon!" Scotch said. "She'd probably do better than some of the people!"

"I kinda think she has bigger dreams than that," Radley chuckled.

Ruby nodded in agreement. "Eevee-vee!"

"Ramon loves the computer too," Kelly said. "He made an account and likes to send messages to his family."

"Eeveeee!" Evie exclaimed.

Ramon beamed.

"That's so epic!" Scotch gushed. "He and Penny can talk that way too!"

Kelly smiled. "If it's not any trouble. . . ."

"Of course not!" Scotch said. "We want them to stay in touch every way they can!"

"We really do," Radley said with a smile.

"And I like to do concerts with the Eevees!" Scotch said. "When the babies are older, they can be in one too! Maybe Ramon could come watch!"

"How do you do concerts with Eevees?" Kelly asked, genuinely interested.

"They sing and dance," Scotch said. "Of course they sing in Eevee talk, but that makes it even cuter! We did one where they sang Hi-Lili Hi-Lo and it was a smash hit!"

"That sounds adorable," Kelly agreed.

"I'm already researching possibilities for the next concert!" Scotch said. "I'm thinking of doing something totally vintage, like parodies of Al Jolson songs to dance to!"

Kelly gave him a blank look. "Al Jolson?"

"A really popular singer from about a hundred years ago," Radley supplied.

Scotch gave an enthusiastic nod. "The song lyrics aren't usually that rad to me, but the energy in his choreography is so wicked! I totally want to dance to it!"

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

"It looks like you've got a very willing Eevee here," Radley chuckled. He was happy to see Scotch so excited again after his concern over taking care of the babies.

Many of the other Eevees began chorusing their willingness to perform as well. Lily, as usual, was not among them. But she silently watched, certain that a way would be found for her to participate too.

"So, what are the lyrics like?" Kelly asked.

"Well, a big one I want to do is about some guy saying goodbye to his girlfriend before getting on a train," Scotch said. "I guess we could just do the original lyrics, maybe. I mean, they're okay and all, they're just not me. But I'm really anxious to dance it up!"

"I'd like to see what you have in mind," Kelly said. "Especially with the Eevees."

"We'll show you when we've worked it out!" Scotch grinned. "Well, I could show you the human choreography after dinner, but if the Eevees join in then, it'll be totally improvised with them!"

"Eevee-Eevee!" said Evie in glee.

"Won't you get indigestion?" Kelly said in disbelief.

"You'd think so, but no, he won't," Kalin grunted.

Radley chuckled.

After dinner, Scotch got up, put on the music for Toot-Toot-Tootsie-Goodbye from YouTube on his phone, and did a highly charged jogging dance onto his "stage." During the song, he proceeded to clap, twirl, and jump from side to side. Evie led some of the Eevees in imitating some of his movements and was having a grand old time. At the conclusion, Scotch slid into a kneel, the Eevees jumped on him, and all of them earned a steady round of applause from everyone present.

"That was amazing!" Kelly said. "Do you think Ramon and I could do something like that in a Pokemon Contest?"

"I don't see why not!" Scotch said. "Oh wow, that would be so cool! You could sing and dance while Ramon showed off his Eevee moves across the stage! Imagine dancing between the stars from the Swift attack and other epic stuff like that!"

"I love it!" Kelly gushed. "What do you think, Ramon?"

Ramon gave an enthusiastic warble.

"It looks like you've got a winner," Radley smiled. "Do you already have your act for the upcoming Contest planned?"

"A little, but we were struggling over a good hook to tie it all together," Kelly said. "We don't want to take your concert idea away from you, Scotch, so do you have any other fun songs you're not planning to use that we could consider?"

"Yeah, a whole lot!" Scotch said. "I can give you a bunch of suggestions! Radley can too! We love music!"

"Wonderful!" Kelly said. "We'll be all set, Ramon!"

Ramon wagged his tail and chirped.

For a while Scotch and Radley discussed fun songs for performances, both oldies and more modern tunes. Kelly and Ramon listened attentively and looked some of the songs up on YouTube. But finally the group realized they really needed to get going if they were going to have any chance of making it to the pet store in time.

"It's been really nice," Radley told Kelly. "I know we're all happy that things turned out much different than we were thinking they would."

"I'm happy too," Kelly smiled. "I do wish now that I'd known it would have been safe to let Ramon be with Penny, but I know I wouldn't have known how to handle all the babies. It's better they ended up with you."

"We'll visit a lot!" Scotch said. "Both on the computer and in person!"

Penny warbled happily and Ramon nuzzled her.

"Just call before you come, since I might be at work," Kelly said.

"Right," Radley agreed. "We'll be sure to do that."

Scotch opened the carrier, with some reluctance, and Penny got in, also with some reluctance. The babies looked confused and sad, but followed.

"Do you think they understand?" Scotch worried.

"I'm sure Penny and Ramon tried their best to explain," Robert said. "But they may be too young to fully grasp the information."

"They probably are," Radley frowned.

More Goodbyes were exchanged and Ramon cuddled with the others one last time before separating.

"I'll email you tonight!" he said to Penny.

"We'll be waiting," Penny smiled. "You can use Scotch's email address!"

Isla quickly supplied it as they climbed into the van. Ramon warbled, having quickly memorized it.

"That was a really nice time!" Evie exclaimed. "I'm so glad everything worked out happy!"

"So am I," Penny said. "I just wish there really was a way Ramon could be with us. . . ."

"There must be some way!" Evie said.

"I can't think how," Penny sighed. "Ramon's person wouldn't want to move. . . ."

"Maybe she will after she gets to know us more!" Evie hoped.

Evan sighed but smiled, nuzzling Evie close. "I hope you never change, Evie."

"We love your sweetness and innocence," Isla agreed.

"Thank you! All of you are so nice too!" Evie said.

Radley chuckled, listening to all the cute Eevee chirps and trills. "They're pretty happy," he remarked. "And that was quite the show you put on, Scotch. I had no idea you were coming up with something like that."

"It looked really cool!" Scotch said. "I had to try it!"

"Everyone at the diner will get a big kick out of it," Radley said.

"So where did you even hear about this guy?" Kalin wondered. "I've never heard Radley play any music that old."

"I saw a movie about him on TV!" Scotch said. "It was cool!"

"Okay. Out of utter curiosity, if you were going to change the lyrics of some of his songs, what would you change them to?" Kalin wondered.

"I'm not sure," Scotch mused. "I considered having the guy say Goodbye to his Eevee instead of a girlfriend, but that's too sad!"

Isla warbled in agreement.

"Yeah, maybe keeping the original lyrics is the best idea there," Radley said.

"I'll keep thinking, though!" Scotch said. "And I need to get a straw hat and a cane for the act! I'm going to dance out with them!"

". . . I'm surprised you haven't done that before," Kalin remarked.

"Me too!" Scotch said. "Maybe I can get little straw hats for the Eevees! That would be so cute!"

Evie warbled with enthusiasm. She loved the idea!

"That really would be pretty adorable," Radley laughed.

Kalin pulled up at the pet store. "Here we are," he announced.

"Are Yusei and Antinomy coming?" Radley asked.

"I texted Yusei right when we left," Kalin said. "He still said they'd come if they could."

Scotch hesitated. "Should I really get tags made out for all of the new Eevees?" he wondered. "What if we really need to figure out a way for Kelly to take them all?"

"You already used Pokeballs on them," Kalin pointed out.

"I know, but . . ."

"And Penny has shown she'd be very sad without you," Radley added. "Kelly didn't see how she could have the babies, so unless she has a drastic change of heart, they're yours, Scotch."

"Maybe she will have a change of heart," Scotch said. "Maybe we should wait on the nametags, at least until the next visit. . . ."

"It's up to you," Kalin said.

"I think it would be better to have them," Radley said. "You never know when the little cuties might break away and somebody would need to identify where they came from to get them back to you."

". . . That's true," Scotch said. "They get into everything!" He started to get out of the van. "Maybe I'd better do it."

"It's good advice, Lad," Robert said.

Soon they were all heading inside and going towards the collar and nametag section. The clerk who often saw them there did a double-take when she saw the carrier filled with Eevees.

"Oh, how adorable!" she gushed.

Scotch grinned. "Aren't they?! We're getting nametags for all of them!"

All the Eevees warbled in a sweet chorus, including the babies.

"Which one is the father?" the clerk asked.

Scotch drooped a bit. "He's not here, unfortunately. He belongs to someone else. It's a long story."

"Oh." Awkward now, the clerk said, "I hear a lot of stories like that with animals. . . ."

"At least the owner's really nice," Scotch said. "We'll get to visit!"

"That's good," the clerk said.

"Yeah, things could have turned out much worse," Radley said.

Soon everyone had the collar of their choice—Penny with pink, Holly with red, Ivy with green, Heidi with lavender, and Peter with medium blue. All the Eevees conversed happily while the nametags were being engraved.

"So many pretty colors!" Holly said. "Why do we get pretty colors?"

"So everyone will know we belong to Scotch, my darling," Penny said. "He wants to make sure we'll all be safe."

"Scotch is so nice!" Ivy said. "He wasn't even mad when we climbed the curtains!"

"Can we climb more things, Aunt Isla?" Heidi asked.

"You really shouldn't," Isla said. "But it is so much fun, isn't it?"

"Lots and lots of fun!" Peter said. "Except going down. Going down is scary."

"Going up is much better," Isla had to admit.

"Why do I have the feeling they may be plotting some new mischief when we get home?" Radley chuckled.

They all looked up innocently. "Eevee?"

"Aww, they're so cute! I can't be mad!" Scotch gushed.

"I can't either," Radley said in fond amusement.

Soon the nametags were ready and Scotch took them all with excited thanks. "I think I'd better wait until we get home to put them on them," he said.

"Yeah, they could break away from you and start wreaking havoc," Kalin said.

The babies all peered through the carrier door. Heidi reached up to paw at the pretty shiny things.

Scotch had to smile. "These are for you guys!" he said, holding up Heidi's. "You can wear them and everyone will know you're ours!"

"Eevee!" Heidi exclaimed. That sounded fine to her.

"How old are they?" the clerk smiled. "They're precious!"

"Uh . . . you know, I'm not sure," Scotch realized. "They just showed up last night!"

"They look several weeks old, I believe," Robert said.

"If you were selling them, I'd love one or two," the clerk said.

"We could never sell them," Radley said with a kind smile. Normally he'd be all over selling something that might bring a profit, but this was different.

"Oh, of course not," the clerk said. "If I had such darlings, I'd never let them go!"

The Eevees all warbled with pride.

"Have you had any luck finding a breeder yet?" Radley asked.

"I'm on a waiting list, but they weren't sure when there'd be more eggs," she sighed.

"We'll let you know if we hear of any," Radley said.

Scotch nodded. "They're getting eggs for a couple of kids in town!"

"That's wonderful. They'll be so excited," she smiled.

"They've been wanting Eevees for a while," Kalin agreed.

"You're so lucky so many just seem to come to you," the clerk remarked.

"It's funny how that goes, isn't it?" Radley mused. "But yes, we're very happy about it. We want to give every Eevee who shows up a loving home."

Evie made adoring sounds as she snuggled him. She knew they would!

Lily smiled too. She couldn't imagine any better homes than in Satisfaction Town.

"I can tell you're doing just that," the clerk said. "They all love you."

"We do our best to earn that," Radley said.

"You do!" Lily exclaimed.

"I love you so much!" Evie added.

All the Eevees chirped and the babies pawed at the carrier. They fully agreed.

"So how do you feel about things now?" Biff asked Scotch as they left the pet store some minutes later.

Scotch sighed. "I'm still worried, but I'm hoping we can look after everybody okay," he said. "And I'm really happy we'll be able to visit with Ramon. I still feel bad the whole family can't be together, but I know that can't be helped."

"Yeah." Radley laid a hand on Scotch's shoulder. "We're doing the best we can, and I think they're grateful."

Penny nodded. "Eevee!"

Kalin nodded too. "Let's get them all home and you can put the collars on them."

"I guess Yusei and Antinomy weren't able to make it," Scotch said, sounding a bit disappointed. "I wanted them and Monkey to see the babies."

"Actually, I think they might be coming," Radley said. He could hear Duel Runners nearby.

Kalin perked up. "Let's wait a few minutes then and see if it's them."

Radley smiled in agreement. "Let's."