Notes: The inspiration for Evie's aunt is an adorable shirt on Etsy called Eevee's Diner. The babies' antics are inspired by funny YouTube videos with kitties.

Chapter Three

Radley was definitely surprised when he came out drying his hair and found the computer on and turned to a webpage. "Huh? What's this?" He went over to read it. "Did Kalin come and bring this up?"

The Eevees all warbled.

Kalin came up from the basement. "Did I bring what up?"

"This article about a Pokemon Contest in the City," Radley said.

"No, I didn't," Kalin said.

"Then . . ." Radley looked down at the Eevees. Ruby especially looked proud. "Oh, then it was you, huh?"

Ruby chirped.

Kalin stared. "She did that?!"

Radley chuckled. "Well, we already know Eevees are smart and capable of using tech. Isla keeps using video chat to say Hi to some of our friends."

"Yeah. . . ." But Kalin still looked bowled over.

"This Contest will be in two weeks," Radley mused. "It's a big deal, the first to be held in the City. You don't suppose . . ." He pondered. "Maybe, even if we can't find Penny's husband tomorrow, we'll have a chance if we go to this?"

Evie ran around in circles. "Eevee-Eevee-Eevee!"

Kalin shrugged. "If they're such a big deal, he'll probably be there. But how could we take all the babies?!"

"Maybe in a couple of kitty carriers?" Radley suggested. "Otherwise, we probably shouldn't try."

"Yeah. They could too easily get away from us and cause havoc," Kalin said. "Maybe people aren't even allowed to bring baby Pokemon."

"It might be allowed if they're kept control of at all times," Radley mused. "And if they're related to one of the contestants. We'll have to find out."

". . . Can we even prove the relation?" Kalin suddenly realized.

"Not on paper, not without DNA tests," Radley said. "But I'm hoping the family seeing each other will be proof enough." He sighed. "The owner might deny it up and down, especially if they're put on the spot. I'm hoping we can talk privately, preferably before the Contest if we can find out who they are within the next two weeks."

"I guess the Contest doesn't have a website and list all current participants?" Kalin suggested.

"It's worth a try." Radley searched and soon came up with a website. "It looks pretty new, but they're trying." He searched around the very basic site. "It says the Contestant list is coming soon." He rolled his eyes. "I'd be more on the ball if I was putting this site together. It's New Domino City's first Contest! They should be going all-out making the website exciting!"

"Of course it wouldn't be that easy," Kalin said in annoyance.

Evie sighed. "Eevee. . . ." Her ears drooped.

Radley looked down at her and smiled. "Hey, it's okay," he soothed, reaching to pet her. "You guys came up with a great lead! I'm sure this information will come in handy."

Evie perked up and rubbed his hand repeatedly. Radley chuckled.

"We should get to bed," Kalin said. "Tomorrow's probably going to be a long day."

Radley nodded. "We'll search harder for Penny's husband then. And probably baby-sit our new littlefamily at some point."

Evie cheered in agreement. The other Eevees warbled.

"With Scotch you seemed to be telling him to let this go, and yet you're still trying to think of finding the husband," Kalin remarked as they headed down the hall.

Radley sighed. "I don't want him to get his hopes up or focus on this when he has all those cuties to take care of," he said. "And I have no intention of letting anyone else get them. But I do think it's important to just try to find the husband and see what the owner has to say about everything."

"So you're taking the burden all on yourself again, as usual," Kalin realized.

"Yeah, pretty much," Radley said. "Only the Eevees have said loud and clear they wanna help. And you will too, won't you?" He looked at his best friend.

"Of course," Kalin said.

Radley smiled. "So I'm definitely not alone in this."

"No," Kalin agreed. "You're not."

The Eevees cheered.

Soon they were all settling into bed. The four Eevees snuggled on the pet couch, as they always did to begin with.

"It's so exciting to think of Penny and all the babies getting to see Ramon!" Evie exclaimed.

"We don't know for sure that they will," Evan cautioned her.

"At least they have a better chance with Radley looking!" Evie said. "He found my parents, and lots of my other family too! We still haven't visited them all!"

"Do they all breed?" Lily wondered. That was not a life she would like.

"My Aunt Eadie runs a diner!" Evie said proudly.

Lily just stared. "An Eevee runs a diner? Like a human diner?"

"Yeah! Well, it's for people and Pokemon both!" Evie said.

"How does that even work?" Lily said in disbelief.

"I really want to meet her and find out!" Evie said.

"Me too!" Ruby exclaimed. "Maybe there's hope for me to work with computers!"

"That would be so fun!" Evie said. "I'm sure you could!"

"I'd just have to find someone who would let me work for them," Ruby said.

"You wouldn't go away again, would you?" Lily frowned.

"Of course not," Ruby insisted. "My place is right here. I'm sure someone in town would let me help!"

"Scotch would probably be your best bet," Evan said. "He would talk to anyone you wanted to work for."

"I'll find a way to ask him!" Ruby determined. "Maybe I could type a message on the computer!"

Evie's eyes widened as a sudden thought occurred to her. "You could help all of us talk to Radley and Kalin sometimes!" she exclaimed. "You could type what we say!"

"I'd love to!" Ruby said.

". . . That would be amazing," Lily said in awe.

"Yeah! We should have thought of it before!" Evie said dreamily.

Eventually they all fell asleep, tired from the long day. Radley and Kalin slept too, thoughts of the morrow strong in their minds.

xxxx

The night was peaceful, but Scotch found it hard to sleep in his excitement. He finally dozed off and slept through the rest, and was awakened by the sound of many skittering movements and what sounded like whispered "Eevee!"

As he laid there and focused, he slowly became aware that his curtains were moving back and forth. Not only that, there were several dark shapes on them. Dark shapes that were carefully moving up.

He snapped awake. "Oh gosh!"

Quickly he ran over. All four baby Eevees were climbing the curtains in delight. None of the adults were present.

"Come on, guys! This is dangerous!" He gently pried Holly off the curtain, but it took both hands to be as careful as he wanted to be. The other three kept climbing. By the time he got Ivy off, Holly was starting up again. The same thing happened with Heidi and Peter.

Finally, overwhelmed, Scotch ran into the hall. "Help!" he exclaimed.

Penny appeared from seemingly nowhere at the cry, wide awake and alert. She rushed into the bedroom and then stared in shocked horror at the problem. "Eevee-vee!" she burst out. All four babies were up too high for her to try to get them down without climbing herself, and she wasn't about to add that much extra weight.

Peter, at least, finally tried to start down upon hearing their mother. But going backwards was scary and soon he was frozen in fear. "Eevee," he whispered.

Gently Scotch pried him off and set him on the floor. This time he stayed.

The other three started down as well. Holly made it all the way, while Ivy and Heidi needed help. But finally they were all on the floor and Penny was alternately grooming and chiding them. She sounded more worried than angry, and the babies soon drooped in guilt. Penny cuddled them close.

Scotch sighed. "Thanks, girl," he said, petting Penny.

Biff appeared in the doorway, holding Isla. Kiryu trotted along at his feet. "Scotch, what happened?" he demanded.

"It's okay!" Scotch said. "Everything's fine now!"

Biff took note of how the curtain was still faintly swaying from all the activity. "Did some of them try to climb that?!" he groaned.

Isla warbled with pride. She was too heavy to try it herself on Scotch's lightweight curtains.

Kiryu sighed and shook his head. It wasn't anything to be impressed by.

"Um . . . all of them did," Scotch almost whispered. "They were doing pretty good too! But Penny helped me get them down!"

Biff slumped against the doorframe. "How are we really gonna keep all of them safe?" he moaned. "Isla'll probably teach them naughty things instead of teaching them to stop!"

That actually seemed to embarrass or sadden Isla and her ears drooped.

Scotch walked over and petted her. "You'll be good, won't you, Isla? They could get hurt if they try to copy all your climbing adventures!"

Finally Isla nuzzled his hand. "Eevee. . . ."

Biff wasn't convinced. He sighed, letting Scotch lift Isla into his arms.

"Is Uncle Robert still sleeping?" Scotch asked.

"Nah, he's in the shower," Biff said.

Scotch cuddled Isla and reached to pet Kiryu too. "We really will have to watch those little guys every minute," he realized.

"Maybe we should get some kinda playpen or something for them to be in at night," Biff said.

"They'd just climb out of it," Scotch protested.

"We could put screen or something over the top of it," Biff said. "We'd have litter boxes in there and stuff. It'd just be until we could teach them better how to not get into everything."

Penny looked hesitant at the suggestion. "Eevee. . . ."

"I don't think Penny wants to do it," Scotch said. "She probably wants them to roam free."

"Even if they'll climb the curtains or do other dangerous stuff?" Biff sighed.

Penny swished her tail with indecision. "Vee . . ."

"Let's see if we can do better today, maybe for a few days, before we try that," Scotch pleaded.

Biff sighed. "Yeah, sure."

"I mean, these little guys only got here late last night!" Scotch continued. "We didn't really have time to do much Eevee-proofing!"

Biff wearily nodded. "Maybe you'll have to keep your curtains off the floor for a while," he said.

"Maybe," Scotch said slowly. "But I'm sure they can jump. . . . Anyway, I think they feel bad they worried their mommy. They probably won't do it again!"

"But what else will they do?" Biff worried. As he looked around the room, perfectly innocent objects took on whole new, worrisome meanings. Electric cords could be a heartbreaking disaster. Bookshelves could become mountains. Even the string hanging from the ceiling fan could be an Eevee plaything. Isla could actually swing like Tarzan on a vine. It was easy enough to picture the babies trying that with a long string. Biff dug a hand into his hair.

Scotch was following his gaze. From his expression, he was realizing similar things. ". . . I guess we still have a lot of work to do," he said meekly.

"Oh yeah," Biff said.

"Eevee," sighed Penny.

xxxx

Radley, Kalin, and their Eevees slept well throughout the night too. By morning they were refreshed and ready to tackle the problem of where Penny's husband was, at least after breakfast.

"I wonder how Scotch made out," Radley chuckled as he flipped a strawberry pancake on the griddle.

Kalin was examining his phone. ". . . The babies climbed the curtains," he intoned.

"Oh gosh. Are they okay?" Radley asked. ". . . Is Scotch okay?"

"They're all fine. Biff is worried. Scotch is getting more worried now himself, but he's still determined to make it work," Kalin said.

"It sounds like we'll all be kept on our toes," Radley remarked.

Kalin grunted in agreement.

After the delicious breakfast, Radley headed for the computer to try a few searches for Penny's husband. Ruby scampered ahead of him and sat down. To his amazement, she opened the word processor and typed with both front paws.

Hi!

Radley chuckled. "You really are talented with a computer, huh?"

Ruby chirped happily.

I can tell what the other Eevees are saying.

"That's wonderful," Radley smiled. The very thought was awe-inspiring. Even though Isla could use a computer too, she had never made this offer.

Kalin was staring. "This is incredible!" Even seeing it, he could scarcely believe it.

I want to work with computers.

"Oh, you do, huh?" Radley said. "Do you want to type our search queries?"

Ruby nodded and went back to the browser. She opened a new tab.

"Try New Domino City Pokemon Contest Champions," Radley suggested. "Or winners."

Ruby typed very carefully and then sat back as the results came up.

Radley studied them. ". . . Maybe this article about a Pokemon Contest in Goldenrod City," he suggested.

Ruby clicked.

Radley scanned over the article thoughtfully. It didn't seem to be helping much, at least at first. A picture included with it depicted several of the contestants, including a very fluffy Eevee.

Evie rose on two legs to look. "Vee?!"

"Hmm." Radley studied it. "It's not telling a name, but we could show this to Penny and see if she recognizes him, maybe?"

"Why not," Kalin shrugged.

They went through several more articles without much success. Then they tried one last one, and finally things got more interesting.

"It's talking about a computer programmer from KaibaCorp who's started entering Pokemon Contests in their spare time," Kalin said in surprise.

"Well, that's unique," Radley mused.

Evie got very excited. "Eevee-Eevee-Eevee!" she squealed, running around in circles.

Radley looked down at her. "Does that mean something to you, pretty girl? Did Penny tell you about her husband and his owner?"

"Veeeeeee!" Evie declared.

Ruby and the other Eevees also looked excited.

Radley kept reading. "Their favorite Pokemon to enter in Contests is an Eevee!" he announced. ". . . An Eevee named Ramon." He stared at the screen.

"What," Kalin grunted.

Evie leaped on the chair next to Ruby to see the article better. "Eevee!" she exclaimed, pawing at the screen.

"Is that him?" Radley asked with a smile.

Evie vigorously nodded. "Vee-vee-vee!"

". . . So now what?" Kalin wondered. "Do we drive to the City and try to talk to them?"

"I'd like to," Radley said. "Maybe I should call Scotch first, though, and find out what's happening there."

"Are you going to tell him?" Kalin asked.

"Now that we've had some success, he deserves to know," Radley said.

Scotch sounded overwhelmed when Radley called. "Hey," he said, managing a smile as he held all four baby Eevees in his arms. They chirped and cooed, with one of them trying to climb Scotch's shoulder and another chewing on the ends of his blond bangs.

"You look busy," Radley chuckled.

"Taking care of babies really is hard work," Scotch admitted. "They're so cute! But they get into everything!"

"Yeah, Kalin said they were climbing the curtains?" Radley noted.

"They were!" Scotch said. "I kind of wish I'd gotten video of it, but I was too worried to get them down!"

"It shows responsibility to think more about their safety," Radley said. "I'm sure Penny is very grateful."

Penny popped up next to Scotch and warbled.

"She is!" Scotch said. "She's a really good mommy."

Radley smiled. "I think we've found her husband."

Penny perked up. "Eevee?!"

Radley turned his smile to her. "He's owned by a KaibaCorp techie and his name is Ramon. Does that check out with you, honey?"

Penny exclaimed for joy.

Scotch looked amazed. "How did you do it, Radley?!"

"We just tried assorted search terms until something worked," Radley said. "Ruby did most of the typing."

"Ruby did?!" Scotch looked starry-eyed. "That is so epic!"

"She's a smart one," Radley chuckled.

"So what are we going to do now?!" Scotch wondered. "You acted like we should forget about the daddy."

"I didn't want there to be false hope, and I still don't, but I wanted to find the daddy and see what the owner would say if we brought up the kids," Radley said. "I'm kinda hoping the owner will have a heart and let them all visit, at least."

"Eevee-Eevee-Eevee!" Evie cried.

"They'd have to have a heart of stone not to!" Scotch said. "But they can't be very nice or they wouldn't have kicked Penny out!"

"I agree," Radley said. "I'm thinking of driving in today to try to talk to them."

"Should we come with the family?" Scotch asked.

"I think we'd need kitty carriers or I don't know how we'd manage," Radley chuckled. "I don't know if it would be better or worse to bring the whole family right now."

Penny looked like she wasn't sure either. "Eevee. . . ."

"I think I'd rather talk to them and see what they're like first," Radley said. "If they've already seen the babies and were still unmoved, I doubt that'd change now. It might just antagonize them to bring the babies."

"Yeah . . . I guess that makes sense," Scotch said slowly.

"You could still come with them if you want," Radley said. "Maybe wait in the van at first. I just don't hold out much hope for it working."

". . . I think maybe we'd better stay here," Scotch said. "We should try to figure out how to better Eevee-proof the house."

"Okay," Radley said. "We'll be going soon. Let me know if you change your mind."

"Right," Scotch said. "Thanks, Radley."

Radley hung up with a sigh. "The Eevees getting into mischief really shook him up," he remarked.

"Maybe that's for the best," Kalin said. "If he really can't handle it, he should know now and not later."

"Yeah. . . ." Radley frowned. "It seems empty to think of Scotch not coming to the City, though."

"Maybe he'll decide he wants to visit the pet store," Kalin suggested. "Penny needs a collar and nametag. The babies are probably too small for them."

"If Scotch doesn't think about that in time himself, I'll point it out before we go," Radley said. "I'm sure he doesn't really want to stay behind."

"I'm sure too," Kalin said.

"Eevee-vee!" said Evie.