Previous: The Abandoned Church | Bring Us Into the Digital Age | Next: Tunneling (coming soon!)

"I have called you here for an important meeting," the eevee announced, sitting with his head high in front of the other three. "Aether, Snow Queen… where's Sweet Potato? And–come on, where's Loop de Loop?"

"They're busy," the purple eevee said brightly. "Both of them."

"Busy," he repeated. "What could be more important than this?"

"I dunno. Sleeping?"

"Ridiculous." He snorted. "So we're missing Sweet Potato, Loop de Loop, and Dame?"

"I'm right here," said a voice right next to him. The eevee yelped and jumped back, his fur standing on end. The purple eevee shrieked in laughter. The brown and white eevee next to him let out a refined purr.

"Oh," said Dame, still shrouded by shadow. "I guess Prez didn't see my ribbon."

"You should wear a bell!" said the purple eevee between laughs.

"Quiet, Aether!" Prez smoothed down his fur with a few quick licks. "Apologies, Dame," he said. "You… took me by surprise."

The pitch black eevee walked out from under the table, her tail hanging low. "I scared you," she said. "I always scare people. Why are we meeting here at night, anyway?"

Prez sat back down with his ears held high. "Because," he said, "I want to share my concerns about the new eevee our trainer has obtained."

Aether just laughed harder. The eevee next to him twitched zir ears. "Do you mean Quill?" ze said softly. "They're not so bad."

"No, I'm not talking about Quill, or Green Ninja, or even Lili–" Prez laid his ears flat against his head. "I am talking about the Digital Age."

Simultaneously, all four eevees looked to the next room over. The bedroom door was cracked open, so the eevees could go in and out, and they all knew the Digital Age was standing stiff and straight next to Kyrie's bed, glowing like a nightlight. The android eevee was, presumably, also asleep, but it was hard to tell. They stared for a few moments in silence before Snow Queen broke the silence.

"I think they're cool," ze said.

"I think you're cool," Aether said with a giggle.

Ze turned to him with an inscrutable expression. "Wow," ze said, "I've never heard that one before."

"Yeah, I'm going to be insufferable when you evolve."

"Focus," Prez said, but Aether and Snow Queen continued.

"Maybe I'll evolve into something else," Snow Queen said. "I don't have to be a glaceon."

"You should evolve into flareon!" Aether said in delight. "That'll be really funny!"

"Hey!" Prez snapped. "We have a purpose for this meeting, and it's not idle chatter!"

Dame tilted her head. "What is it?"

Prez gestured with his tail back at the bedroom door. "Look," he said, "I know Loop de Loop says he trusts them, but the Digital Age isn't something to trust! They're barely an eevee, and the circumstances under which Kyrie found the egg…" Prez shook his head. "I don't trust them. I don't trust them at all."

"Okay," said Aether, "so what're we gonna do? Bully them out?"

"What? No."

"Oh, really?" said Dame. "I kind of thought you were leading up to that."

"What!" Prez exclaimed. "I'm not a monster! Let me show you."

He twisted around and grabbed something in his mouth. With one quick flip of his head, he tossed the item out in front of the others. "Look closely," he said as the three eevee leaned forward to peer at the paper.

"That's the note Kyrie found with the egg," Snow Queen said.

"Yeah," said Dame. "What did it say?"

"'Bring us into the Digital Age,'" Aether said. "Which is where they got the name from."

Prez puffed out his chest. "We're going to track down whoever left this note," he said. "By investigating their origins, we'll know for sure if we can trust the Digital Age."

"That's silly," said Snow Queen.

"It is," Aether agreed.

"Oh," said Dame. "I thought it could be fun to go."

"Oh, definitely!" Aether jumped to his feet. "I'm in. Let's do this!"

"What, now?"

"Of course," said Prez. "It's a shame Loop de Loop and Sweet Potato couldn't join us, but the situation is both important and urgent. We cannot afford to wait for them."

"This is all very sudden," Snow Queen said. "Can't we do this in the morning?"

Aether stuck his tongue out. "Don't be a killjoy, Queenie."

"My name is Snow Queen."

"Enough arguing." Prez pointed his nose away. "Onwards!"

He marched towards the front door, with Aether running after him. Dame glanced at Snow Queen, then shrugged and followed them. Snow Queen sighed and figured ze had to go with them. It should be fine. What was the worst that could happen?

---

It was quiet, this time of night. Prez kept his ears perked, twitching at the slightest noise. Dame and Snow Queen stuck close to him, while Aether tried to, but every faint noise or movement sent him bounding off away from the group to investigate.

"Please focus, Aether," Prez said sternly. "We're on a mission."

"I'm checking for sabotage," Aether said with his head stuffed under a tree root.

"Who would sabotage us?" Snow Queen said. "No one knows we're here."

Prez snorted. "Someone might find out if Aether doesn't quit it!"

"Wow," Aether said, "rude. Mind giving me a hand? I can't get my head out."

Once Aether was freed, they continued. Finally, they reached their destination: behind the pokémart, where Kyrie had found the Digital Age's egg.

Dame sniffed the air. "I smell a lot of trash," she said. "It's kind of gross."

"Of course," Snow Queen said. "We're next to a dumpster. Aether, don't you dare go in there, that's disgusting."

Aether jumped up on the top of the dumpster and looked down at them. "What? We're supposed to be investigating, right?"

"He has a point," Prez said. "Maybe there's evidence in there that someone tried to get rid of."

"Evidence of what?" Snow Queen shook zir head. "If any of you go in there, I'm going home."

"Killjoy," Aether muttered.

"I hear something," Dame said. "Someone's coming."

The four eevees fell silent. They could hear footsteps coming closer, accompanied by human voices:

"I told you, it was right here!"

Prez motioned with his tail and darted under the dumpster. Dame took off her ribbon and disappeared into the shadows, while Snow Queen reluctantly joined Prez.

"Well, it's not here anymore," another voice said. From their hiding spot, Prez could see two sets of human boots. "Someone must have stolen it."

A flashlight clicked on. Prez scooted himself backwards. "Yeah, obviously! It's not like it could've gone off by itself!"

"Even hatched, probably. Didn't he say it needed to be taught, y'know, everything? Poor thing's practically braindead without its programming."

One pair of boots went right up to the dumpster. "You think someone scrapped it?"

"Let's check."

"Uh-oh," said Prez.

The lid of the dumpster creaked open. Aether launched himself at the two humans with a yowl.

Prez darted out, his fur standing on end. "Everyone, run!" he shouted. "Aether, come on!"

"I'm gonna claw this guy's eyes out!" Aether shrieked. "You call them braindead?! I'll–wagh!"

The human managed to pry Aether off their face and throw him to the ground. He landed on his feet and whirled around, but Prez blocked his way. "You're gonna get yourself hurt!" he said. "We're leaving!"

Snow Queen was already running towards the forest park. Prez and Aether followed, and Dame–well, they couldn't see her, but she was probably fine. The humans didn't follow. Prez could hear one of them cursing.

Once surrounded by trees, the three of them stopped to catch their breath. "Roll call!" Prez barked. "Aether?"

"I'm literally right next to you."

"Snow Queen?"

"Here."

"Dame?"

"I'm here."

Prez looked around. "Are you sure? I can't see you."

A paw tapped him on the shoulder. It took all of his self-control not to jump.

"Sorry," Dame said. "I took my ribbon off to hide, so it's hard to see me. Are we all okay?"

"I am," Snow Queen said. "But Aether seems upset."

Aether turned away from them, his ears flat against his head. "I'm fine," he grumbled.

Prez shook his head. "Did something those humans said upset you?" he asked.

"That obvious, huh?" Aether snorted. "They called the Digital Age braindead. They're not! We've seen them!"

Snow Queen tilted zir head. "That seems an odd thing to be upset over."

Aether mumbled something.

Prez leaned closer. "What?"

"Sorry, you have to be at least a level four friend to unlock that part of my backstory."

"Ah," said Prez. "That's fine. At least we're all safe."

"Wait," Snow Queen said.

They all turned to look at zir. "What is it?" Dame asked.

Snow Queen focused on her. "You took off your ribbon," ze said.

"Yeah? I had to hide."

"You took off your ribbon right there by the dumpster."

"Uh," said Dame.

"The ribbon that has our trainer's surname embroidered on it!"

None of them spoke for a few moments.

"That's not good," said Prez.

Aether shrugged. "Nothing we can do about it. Let's head home."

---

The four arrived home just as Kyrie was having breakfast. "Oh!" they said in alarm when Prez pulled the door open. "You went out? Where were you?"

The Digital Age sat next at their feet, watching the other eevees enter. Aether glanced at Prez, then went straight to the android eevee and placed a paw on their head.

"You're not braindead," he said firmly. "And you're not untrustworthy, either. You're a good eevee, okay? I'm glad Kyrie found you."

The Digital Age beeped and tilted their head. Aether nuzzled their cheek.

"Oh," said Kyrie, who only heard the conversation as eevee noises. "I'm glad you're getting along! It feels like most of you have been avoiding Digital here."

Prez sighed. "Sorry," he said, though they couldn't understand him. "Aether's right. There's nothing wrong with them, and I'll trust them from now on."

Kyrie smiled. "That was an apology, right? How about you watch them for the day while I take Loop out to train?"

Prez nodded. It was, he thought, the least he could do.

Besides, if those humans were right, and the Digital Age had to be taught everything–well, Prez was mostly a leader, but he could be a teacher, too. And with how nicely they sat and listened, he was certain Digital would be an excellent student.