8: The Search

Pikachu

Everyone has their fair share of problems out there in the world. Ours was figuring out what to eat on our icy mountain since food was scarce. Trips to the nearest grocery store and back weren't exactly easy and the berries in the forest that surrounded the mountain were always hunted by other wild pokemon as well. Team Rocket had been a far more serious issue, threatening the entirety of Kanto and Johto until they were stopped by Red and Gold respectively.

At first, everyone thought that they were nothing but a nuisance, always showing up randomly for no reason and stealing pokemon from their trainers. There was the occasional news story about a Team Rocket member stealing rare fossils, breaking and entering houses, or trying to recruit new members on the Nugget Bridge and no one batted an eye. After all, that sort of thing happened all the time. It was normal.

Until it wasn't. The nuisance suddenly became a problem when we discovered their secret base of operations in Celadon City and then we were shown what they were truly capable of at the Silph Co. building. After that, however, Team Rocket fell rapidly from there and Kanto was freed from the team's iron grasp.

Where Kanto and Johto had Team Rocket, Unova had Team Plasma. Blue, Red and Ethan all had blank faces, clueless as they looked between each other and shook their heads before looking at the siblings one more time. None of us knew who they were, we'd never heard of Team Plasma before so as they looked at Black and White again, I took my normal spot on Red's shoulder to see the human's confused reactions and to better listen what they were telling each other.

"Team Plasma?" Ethan asked curiously. "Who are they? What happened?"

Black and White looked at each other for a moment, disbelief obvious in their faces. Had they really expected us all to know who they were before coming?

White sighed and explained, "When we first started on our journey, there was this guy named Ghetsis that was speaking to people in Accumula Town. He was trying to convince people to let their pokemon go, free them and they would be happy as could be, something along those lines. Some people did it, some people didn't, and they were the smart ones. Long story short, he ended up being the true leader of Team Plasma and the only reason why he wanted people to let their pokemon go was for him to have total control over Unova."

I rolled my eyes. That sounded so original. From the corner of my eye, I saw Espeon roll her eyes. Why did criminal organizations think that ruling the world was such a good idea?

"Ghetsis also has an adopted son," Black continued, frowning. "His name is N and he was trying to raise him to become the king, but he wanted to pull all the strings. Now N… he has a special ability to 'hear' what pokemon are actually saying." He glanced down at Espeon.

Espeon shifted uneasily on her paws and her ears flicked uncomfortably."What does he mean by that?"she asked me and I shrugged.

"He can understand pokemon, converse with them without the use of a psychic-type pokemon and Ghetsis used that to his advantage."

Espeon and I shared an astonished look. A human understanding us through Espeon's abilities was normal. For a human to understand without a psychic around? That was disturbing. Whether or not this N guy was a psychic, I shuddered when I remembered Sabrina. She was creepy enough and after that intriguing experience, I'm happy Red wasn't in any way, shape or form telekinetic. At least she couldn't understand pokemon the way Black and White were suggesting N was able to do.

"So where are you going with this?" Blue asked impatiently. "What does Team Plasma have to do with you and a pokemon watching Red's hotel room and this guy?"

I nodded as well, looking at the siblings expectantly. I really wanted to know why as well and I felt Red tense a bit in his own anxiousness.

"We're getting there!" White retorted. Blue scowled at her but she ignored the look. "So, N managed to leave Team Plasma after discovering what Ghetsis was planning but because of all that psychological bullshit he was put through as a kid, he can still be kind of creepy. Don't get me wrong, he's a good guy and he's really nice, but he has zero social skills and prefers to keep pokemon as company."

Black nodded. "All he wanted was to be best friends with us and that I don't mind, we're friends now but before he left Team Plasma, he would send the Shadow Triad to use their pokemon as spies to watch us on our journey."

"They're creepy too, by the way," his sister said to us. "He didn't really understand that friendship doesn't mean spying on them."

"Plus, when we battled the last time, I think he was staring at White the entire time instead of our battle itself." He ignored White's instant furious face. "She was losing her temper at the time because she was too frustrated to say anything. Come to think of it, Cheren and Alder had to hold her back from literally running to him and punching him."

White huffed. "Shut up, Black!"

"Who are the Shadow Triad?" Ethan asked, trying to get them back on track. I was silently grateful that he could be serious when the situation called for it.

"They are the ones that probably sent out that Bisharp," Black added, looking at Red and I. "It is possible they just want to know more about the other champions from different regions."

"You think he sent them then?"

"I mean, it's a possibility. But back then, they also followed and obeyed Ghetsis," White answered.

Blue crossed his arms across his chest. "What if it isn't them, though? If they wanted to know more about other champions, they would be sending Bisharp to watch everyone, right?"

"Then be glad it isn't them." She frowned and looked at Red. "If you do see it again, don't go towards it. We all might be really strong trainers and could overpower any of them in a battle, but they have ways around that and used dirty tactics. The Shadow Triad are dangerous."

Black avoided eye contact and I watched as he subconsciously rubbed his wrist. He looked suddenly nervous but when he noticed my look, he quickly removed his hand from his wrist and sent me a strained smile as his sister continued. "When he found out N wasn't going to keep going with his plans, he disowned him and naturally tried to kill us," she added nonchalantly, as if it had been an everyday occurrence.

"Thankfully, we beat him and he fled. When he came up again, Rosa and Nate stopped him and he went crazy," Black said.

"He went crazy?" Ethan interrupted.

White nodded. "Woobat-shit crazy."

Black sighed. "Team Plasma tried coming back as Neo Team Plasma but they also failed at the whole world domination thing. Then Ghetsis tried killing Rosa using Kyurem, but thankfully, N saved her and she survived." Red shuddered a little. It wasn't news that Giovanni tried killing us a long time ago as well and I patted his shoulder in sympathy as well as to get his mind off of the past. Attempted murder seemed like a popular theme with these teams.

"What's Kyurem?" Ethan asked and Black smiled at him.

"Kyurem is a legendary pokemon," he replied.

Blue whistled. "That's something I would like to see." I would too. Legendary pokemon weren't called legendary for nothing. Even Mewtwo had been difficult to take down and he wasn't even a 'true' legendary, as Articuno had informed us. I hadn't the heart to tell her that Mewtwo had been far more difficult to take down than her or the other two legendary birds. She likely would have frozen us to death. I shivered thinking about it.

White nodded in agreement and said, "Kyurem is pretty cool. If you ask Nate or Rosa, I'm sure that they'll let you see it."

"Let us see it?" Ethan asked inquisitively, an excited look on his face. "You mean they became friends with it or something?"

"Eh, something like that."

As curious as I was, I decided to ignore him to keep listening to Black when he said, "Anyway, Nate said that the Shadow Triad still fully believed that N was still their king and they were looking for him on their journey parading as the king's ninjas or whatever, but they still went with Ghetsis after Nate and Rosa did their thing and finally abandoned N." He shrugged casually. "I'd be happy if they never show up again."

I forgot how to breathe and Red had gone still. Espeon looked up at us instantly, realization dawning upon us. The gravely low voice of Giovanni repeated in our minds and I'm certain Espeon was the one who repeated to us with her abilities and her near-perfect memory instead of my own,"I am here to warn you; I was visited by three people who claimed to be their king's right-hand men just now. I don't know how they got in, but they asked if Team Rocket could help them with something."

Red looked at Espeon and I, then frowned again in quiet thought before turning his eyes back to the others when they stared at him, noticing his strange and silent behavior. Blue was concerned, putting a hand on his empty shoulder to catch his attention. "Red? Are you all right? And I don't want to hear it from Espeon, either," he said.

Espeon huffed, puffing her chest out. It was obvious she wanted to bite his ankles but decided against it as Red took a hesitated breath. "No," he finally replied but the others frowned when no other explanation was given.

"If you're scared it's okay," Ethan said sincerely, truly worried.

Red shot him one of his famous glares and Ethan gulped.

"Okay, okay, not scared, don't give me the look again, please."

Red picked me up off of his shoulder to hold me in his arms and I glanced up at him as he scratched my fur. If he had nothing else to do with his hands, he always had to find something to fight off worry and nervousness, and both feelings were pouring off of him steadily with a river of confusion.

Ethan seemed confused still and asked timidly, "Then… what happened?"

White looked worried as well, glancing at her brother with a perplexed face, who shrugged quietly as they waited for an answer.

When Red didn't say anything for a while and the frown returned alongside distant eyes, Blue seemed to recognize the look Red subconsciously gave and answered for him, "Giovanni?" Red nodded and looked at Blue as he cursed loudly. "Arceus damn him! What did he do this time?"

"Nothing," my trainer said.

"Nothing? Giovanni did nothing?" Blue blinked, confused. "What do you mean?"

"He came to my room last night to warn me of people who asked Team Rocket to join their cause. He said they claimed to be their 'king's right-hand men.'"

"But… Team Rocket's gone, disbanded twice," Ethan finally said, quickly over his fear of Red's glares. "I got rid of their attempt to come back in Johto."

"And we haven't heard from them since," Blue added before looking at the confused Black and White when they started questioning us about Team Rocket.

"What's Team Rocket?" Black asked. Then I heard him mutter to himself, "And why do they both have 'Team' in their names?"

"Who's Giovanni?" White demanded.

"Tell you later," Blue answered instead of explaining, looking at Ethan as he rubbed his head.

White didn't like that and her temper flared up instantly. "Hey! We told you what Team Plasma is, and even went into specifics, so you should at least tell us who Team Rocket is!" she retorted loudly, her hands in tight, angered fists.

"We'll tell you about it later!" he repeated stubbornly. Blue looked at Red as he completely ignored White's seething glares.

I rolled my eyes at them as she and Blue started to argue but I looked up at Red as he took a breath. "Where is N?" he asked Black and the Unova trainer tapped his chin in thought.

"I think he's still in his castle. That's near Victory Road though, why?"

White suddenly stopped arguing with Blue and shook her head, turning away from the taller trainer. "He's not there," she said.

Black looked at her with a blink. "He's not? Where is he?"

"I saw him the day before we got here, near White Forest; he said he wanted to watch the tournament. He might be in town by now."

Ethan blinked. "You think he'd know more about this?"

"If the Shadow Triad is around here, maybe they still follow orders from N."

"It's a slim chance, though," Black told us. "They'd follow Ghetsis even if it meant dying."

"Yeah, well, we can at least hope they'd listen to N."

Black glanced at her as she frowned slightly but didn't say anything else.

Blue looked between everyone and nodded. "So that settles it, we need to look for N!" he said.

White nodded and looked at us before nudging Black with her elbow. "He's difficult to find. I'm sure Black will be able to find him the easiest but since Reshiram isn't with him anymore, it's going to be even more difficult."

"Using Reshiram as a place marker to find N wouldn't be a practical option anyway," her brother dead-panned. "We could be, you know, civilized people and just go out there and look."

"What's Reshiram?" Blue asked.

Black opened his mouth to answer but White slammed the palm of her hand against it to quiet him. "We won't tell you since you won't tell us who Team Rocket are!"

"Not fair!"

"You started it!"

Red sighed as he ran a hand over his face. It was too early in the morning to keep dealing with the arguing.

White turned away from Blue to look at the others. "I guess we should start looking. He could be anywhere and this is a big city. I also think we stick with someone and not run off alone," she added.

I couldn't agree more, not with the threat ofreal-life freaking ninjasroaming around.

"What does he look like?" Ethan asked, stretching his legs to prepare for a long day ahead.

"He's got really long green hair, generally wears a white shirt with tan pants," Black replied quickly. "And he's got this square thing he has attached to his belt. He's pretty tall and lanky, and will probably talk to your pokemon than you first." Espeon was staring at him suspiciously and I tilted my head slightly. What in the world was she thinking now?

Blue slyly looked at Red and I watched as he turned around. "Ethan, let's go," he said and pulled the shorter boy with him towards the gates by the arm.

"But I wanted to go with Red!" Ethan objected as he was dragged along.

Black laughed as he watched them leave. "I'll go with them, I guess. They'll get lost in the city if we let them roam around aimlessly."

White rose a brow. "Like you?" she asked.

"That was one time!" he yelled back as he ran off to catch up to them.

When we were alone, White looked at Red and I could see there was some worry on her face. I didn't doubt she had some awful run-ins with Team Plasma just like we did with the Rockets. Then she sighed and said in a tone far too gentle for her temperamental self, "N may not look it, but he is a powerful trainer. He defeated Alder with no problems so he is champion material, but he was never recognized as one. Luckily for us, he doesn't enjoy battling. Maybe unluckily, since I'm not even sure why he would come to a tournament like this. We could be looking for a long time and he might not even be here."

Red hummed in agreement and started to walk. We could only find out and hope there were answers about our ninja stalkers.

I walked beside Espeon, who seemed giddy the entire time as we passed the gates and made our way deeper into the city. I already knew what she was so excited about despite the situation as she looked at me."I know we're supposed to be looking for someone, but this is the perfecttime to get the two of them closer together,"she told me.

"You know we're supposed to be finding out about our mysterious bisharp friend, right?"I asked.

"I know but if we're going to be wandering around all day instead of training, we might as well make good use of this time, right?"

I let my scowl show itself and she snickered immediately. I was more worried about the people who were watching us rather than trying to hook Red and White up."Espeon, this is serious!"

"I realize that, Pikachu."I turned my eyes to her again and my ears immediately flattened at the sight of her grim face. She could get scary when she was serious."But there is no use worrying about something that has already happened. It's not like we can do anything about it right this second anyway. That's why we're trying to find N and get information."She sighed and looked back at the two humans that were ahead of us a little bit and her smile returned after a few minutes of silence."I'm going to try and get them to kiss."

I looked at her sharply."Kiss?!"I practically shouted. First she wanted them to just get to know each other more, then she wanted them to get into a relationship, and now she wants them to kiss?

"What?"

"We've only known her for a week!"

"So? I've heard of humans getting married to each other after knowing them for just a couple months!"

I wanted to smack my head against something. Red glanced back at us when he heard us talking and I heard White let out a giggle. "Pikachu is a drama queen, isn't he?"

Without hesitation, Red nodded and I glared up at him. Betrayal, that's what I felt. Betrayed by my own human. I wasnota drama queen.

"She's right, you know,"Espeon said and grinned as she ran ahead to walk beside the humans.

"No, I'm not!"I glared at her as she laughed and I caught up to them as well, all of us on our search for N.

-x-

Red recalled Espeon in the afternoon when she admitted she was starting to get tired and we continued to look all around the city. Driftveil was much larger than I thought and while the area around the stadium was modern and catered to visitors, the rest of it felt rugged and far more relaxed. It boasted the best rodeos in all of Unova and White told us that while she wasn't interested in that kind of thing, she had been to one with Clay, the gym leader. She told us it had been fun simply because he'd made Black try it out and he'd done awful and was not meant for anything cowboy related.

We met Clay at his gym in the middle of the day. He was a nice and hospitable person but unfortunately, he had no idea where N was and 'hadn't even seen the guy' in a while. We bid him farewell and it started to get dark once we reached the edge of the city again. We took a break on a bench near the stadium, full of frustration. How hard was it to find someone that apparently stood out among everyone else?

White leaned back against the bench and watched as the sun started to set. "You think the others had any luck?" she asked.

Red shook his head. I laid limply in his lap, my paws sore and tired from walking around all day.

The city was so full of people all day anyway and I could barely tell which scent was what. It could be possible that we passed N during our search and hadn't even realized it. Red had looked extremely uncomfortable large groups of people and I noticed he stuck close to White as she led us everywhere, clearly knowing where she was going. Luckily for us, most people didn't recognize us or maybe no one cared and left us alone. I bet on the latter since White hadn't been stopped either.

With so many people running around celebrating the fact that many of their favorite gym leaders were battling over the course of the month, it was also difficult to tell if there were any unwanted presences in the surrounding areas either. I looked around for any strange pokemon staring at us while my trainer pulled out his pokegear to text the Blue and ask if they'd found anything on their search.

I groaned loudly when I saw Blue's reply said they hadn't. This was turning out to be more difficult than it should have been.

Red also sighed with mild annoyance and pinched the bridge of his nose then turned his eyes up towards me as I tapped his head."We can try over on that hill, we could see more from that point anyway,"I told him, but knew I had to play charades in order for him to understand. I pointed and he looked over towards a hill that was near the edge of the stadium lot, but at least it would give us a view of everyone in this place.

"The hill?" White asked and I nodded. "Guess we could see more from there, huh?"

Red lifted me up to his shoulder and trudged up the hill with ease, years of mountain climbing finally coming to good use. At least he was better at this than stairs and the thought made me roll my eyes. When we turned around, we took a deep breath at the sight.

It was an amazing view—we could see every single light, all of the stands we had visited and then some, strings of smaller and different colored lights crossing the different stands and games that were set up all around the platform. It seemed as though it had grown ever since we first visited and had transformed half of the parking lot into a giant festival. I could even hear the echoes of music playing from a band that was playing on the small stage near the center of the festivities. The only things that weren't lit up were the benches that faced the ocean and a few of them held couples or friends having fun there as well.

I turned my eyes back in front of us when I noticed White heading up the hill with difficulty while we watched with amusement. She was out of breath as she finally came to stand beside us and I saw Red smirk as she finally took a deep breath and said, "You could have at least offered to help me up the rest of the way."

Red shrugged, looking back out at the many different activities and crowds ahead of us.

"It sucks we can't find N. He usually isn't this hard to find." She paused and chuckled to herself. "And knowing Black, he probably gave up hours ago and went back to the hotel."

That sounded like something Ethan would do as well, and I knew Red thought the same as he nodded once.

"I thought you would've wanted to go back to the hotel by now as well."

He shook his head and looked at her as she finally caught her breath, straightening her back to look up at him with a bright smile on her face. He stood at least a head taller than she did, but she looked happy despite the height difference.

"Since we can't find N, I think us two should have some fun! We deserve a break after wandering around all day. This festival is only here while the tournament is going on, so let's make the best of it."

He stared at her before he tried to say, "But—" He couldn't get out more than that when she reached over and grabbed his hand.

"Come on!"

He stumbled a little when she pulled and I smiled as I jumped off of him as White led the way down the steep hill and back into the crowds. I happily followed, making sure to stay right on their feet to avoid getting accidentally stepped on by other humans or larger pokemon that weren't paying attention. Seriously though, being this small sucked sometimes. Having your tail stepped on hurt, especially by fully grown humans or large pokemon. At least Red was always apologetic when he accidentally stepped on my tail, most humans barely glanced at me—they likely never noticed they'd stepped on something.

"So, what do you want to do first?" White asked once we were in the middle of the games area and interrupted my thoughts.

Red looked around, looking a little uncomfortable, scanning each face that passed by with practiced ease. "Shouldn't we keep looking for N?" he quietly asked.

She scoffed with a roll of her eyes. "You are a stubbornly hard worker," she replied. Finally! At least someone other than Blue agreed with me. "You need to learn to live a little. You don't have to work all the time, and besides, like I said, we'll see him eventually. Trust me, he always shows up at the right moments."

He gave in rather quickly and nodded, delighting her enough to go ahead and find a stall to visit first.

I stayed with them the entire time, making sure none of us got separated and kept begging Red to let me have some of those treats that were on display. White laughed and said she wanted to see me eat a churro just to see a hyper Pikachu and Red instantly declined. Last time I got a hold of sugar, there were lots of expenses Red paid and we were kicked out of a pokemon center. Another story for another time.

We visited several different stands, one of which was a ring game that White pushed for Red to try. He awkwardly accepted it and I allowed White to pick me up so Red could concentrate and so I could see better. My smile only grew bigger when he failed miserably on the first try and somehow shattered three bottles with the second toss, causing even the game keeper to laugh heartily. He was wiping tears as he gave Red a small prize anyhow, simply as a thanks for making him laugh so hard.

White giggled as he took it and she thanked the man as we walked away. "Here," Red said suddenly and pushed the toy to her, making her blink as I squirmed out of her arms to jump back onto the ground.

Her cheeks turned a rosy pink and she took the toy with steady hands. Espeon would hate me for witnessing this. She was blushing around our trainer and I stopped myself when I felt a smile form. Was I was enjoying this? Sure, I had accepted helping her with O.G.A.D. but hadn't truly felt I really wanted it. Watching the two of them now, my eyes widened with realization. Red looked far more comfortable than he had just minutes earlier and White hadn't dropped her happy smile since we entered the festival. Was this a date? This wasn't just going to a festival with a friend, was it?

I glanced back up at them. They were both nervous and Red pointedly looked away from White as she held the toy closely. What was he so embarrassed about? I tilted my head. No, this wasn't just having fun at a festival with a friend.

This was something more. This was O.G.A.D. in the making!

We probably skipped a few steps.

Espeon was going to be so jealous that I was the one witnessing it.

The humans hid their nervousness from each other it under mastered masks of calm and White smiled up at Red, turning the toy around so he could see its front. "Thank you! Do you know what this pokemon is?" she asked and Red shook his head. "It's a duckling, the super cute flying-type. Don't tell Mandibuzz I said that. She hates it when I say other pokemon are cuter than her."

The next two hours passed by quickly and even though they were having fun, I knew they had both forgotten about our search for N in favor of trying a bean bag game to win another toy. I rolled my eyes at them. So much for continuing our search.

It wasn't long after that people finally started to notice and recognize who we were halfway into the game. Deciding that it was getting late and without any luck finding N, we started to head back to the hotel. Once we were alone on the streets during our walk, White smiled as she looked up at Red, holding the Duckling doll in her arms tightly. "Thank you, Red. I had fun. And this little guy is going to be on my nightstand," she said happily.

He turned away to hide his tiny smile. He looked rather proud of himself and quickly turned his eyes away from me when he noticed my smug smirk.

We eventually reached the hotel again, most of the windows dark with a few scattered rooms that still had lights on. White stopped at the entrance to the courtyard and turned to Red, making him blink. "I had a lot of fun," she repeated.

Maybe it was the dark but I swore he was blushing, but he quickly tried to hide it with a nod as he replied, "I did too. Thank you for showing me around."

"Pfft, it was nothing. I'm an experienced tour guide."

My head rapidly turned to look at the two of them. They were standing together in awkward silence and I scowled when the silence dragged on. If they weren't going to do anything and just stand there, I knew exactly what to do. I walked around until I was standing behind White. She coughed awkwardly into her fist and finally said, "I—I guess we should go inside now… yeah…"

Espeon was going to be so proud of what I was about to do. Blastoise, on the other hand, would scold me if he found out. I looked up at the humans as White rubbed the back of her head and Red seemed amused.Sorry, Red,I thought as I got ready to face the consequences and took a step back.

Then without any more hesitation, I ran forward and tackled into White's back, shoving her right into my trainer's startled embrace. I landed on my paws easily as Red fumbled to try and catch her but they both fell to the grass beside the path with yelps of shock. I looked at my handiwork proudly as I saw him land on his back and her on top.

It might be a bit cliché, but hey, it got the job done.

They didn't even seem mad at me and for a few seconds, they stared at each other, their faces only a few millimeters apart. They were frozen solid, staring at each other with similar looks of disbelief and curiosity until the spell was broken and White squeaked. "I'm so sorry! I'll get up!" She scrambled off of him and got to her feet first. As she helped Red up, I heard laughter from behind us on the stairs leading up to the doors.

Both of them jumped and spun around to face Blue as he grinned widely at them. "Are you two done making out yet?" he said loudly.

White and Red's faces flushed pink instantly, but it was White who cried, "It's not like that! It—it was an accident!" She pointed an accusing finger at me. "Pikachu, you see, he—"

"I saw what I saw." Blue grinned as Red scowled at him as his laughter started to die down.

She shook her head. "How long have you standing there?!"

"Long enough to see you two laying on the ground making out."

"We weren't making out!"

Red shook his head rapidly but Blue didn't seem to be convinced and laughed again.

He got off the wall he was leaning against and walked towards us as he wiped his eyes. "We were all wondering where you ran off. It's been hours since we've been back."

"Did you guys find him?" White asked hopefully.

"No, I thought Red would've told you." He looked at Red as White looked up at him. "You forgot, didn't you?"

Red shrugged in response.

Blue rolled his eyes and looked at her again. "You two have been searching this entire time?"

She nodded and grumbled, "No luck on our end, either."

He sighed and then looked towards the gates. "Since we can't find him, we'll probably have to go after the Shadow Triad ourselves."

She frowned and replied unhappily, "I don't like that idea."

"Well, if we want answers and can't find N, or if he doesn't even know anything, then we're going to have to dosomething. I'm not going to wait around while they stalk us." He glanced at Red. "Or try anything."

Red hesitated before he sighed and nodded. Something told me he was already thinking of something and I frowned as we all started to make our way inside. I could only hope he wasn't thinking of doing anything brash.

We bid farewell to White and Blue on our way to our room and Red let out a yawn. I'd almost forgotten how little sleep he'd had last night and along with walking around all day, I was sure Red was downright exhausted. He released the rest of the team as he shrugged his vest off and once he had a quick dinner, he laid in bed and stared at the ceiling for the longest time until Espeon stuck her face in his and practically demanded attention from him. Such a typical cat pokemon to do so; I've seen meowths do that to their humans as well.

She purred loudly as he scratched her ears, and when he yawned, I looked at Venusaur as he used a vine to flip the lights off, the only light in the bedroom now was Charizard's flaming tail. At least it also kept the room nice and toasty. By the time we all squeezed into the room and got comfortable, I grinned to myself and glanced towards Espeon as she bathed herself."By the way, White and Red almost kissed today,"I said and watched her freeze mid-lick.

"What?!"she practically screeched.

Her outburst startled the others and Red even jumped a little. When she was on her paws beside him with the gem on her head glowing, he looked confused and looked to me for answers but had to look back at her when she got closer.

She stuck her face into his again, her front two paws on his shoulders."You almost kissed White?"

He pushed her away immediately. "No, I didn't," he answered too quickly.

"That's not what Pikachu just told us!"

Red glared at me and I grinned innocently back at him. Espeon's mischievousness must have been rubbing off on me. This really was fun.

"What happened? Details, Red, details!"Espeon demanded.

"Nothing happened—!" he tried to say but I interrupted him.

"He had to have a little help; they were just standing there all awkwardly staring at each other with googly eyes,"I told her."So, I pushed White and they fell and their faces were like this close to each other."I pushed my two front paws close to each other, nearly touching but not quite making it.

Red's face betrayed his blush and he instantly tried to hide himself under the covers of the bed as Blastoise looked amused, thankfully not angry that I had pushed White into Red."Googly eyes, Red? Really?"he said.

"You like her, don't you?"Espeon asked, then pulled the quilt down so we could all see his face.

Red was refusing to look at us and turned onto his side but I could see his bright blush even in the dark room.

"It's okay to like someone,"Venusaur finally said after a moment of silence. We all looked at the eldest in the room though Red still refused to meet anyone's eyes.

Snorlax smiled and sat up so he could see us while he said,"We aren't judging you. You would do well to have someone else you are close to."

"I don't like her," he finally mumbled. Charizard huffed in approval though he said nothing.

I snorted loudly."Yeah, right. When we were at the festival, you had eyes only for her when you thought she wasn't looking,"I told him.

He reply and I smiled as Espeon had another startled and excited outburst and looked ready to jump onto our human a second time. Red finally let out a tired sigh, pulling the covers back over his face.I'm very tired, let's get some sleep,his voice came through Espeon's power.

Espeon's eyes softened and she left him alone, nudging the lump under the covers and laid down. I yawned, feeling my exhaustion catch up and I stretched out before curling up on the other side of the bed. I was asleep before I heard Snorlax's snoring.