Sweet as an Angel

Sweet Potato tucked their paws underneath their chest, settled down in the grass, and stared at Lili. The angel eevee tilted eir head. "So we're gonna spend all day doing nothing?" ey said.

"Yeah," said Potato. "You got a problem with that?"

"Well, yeah," Lili said. "I know you're supposed to watch me or whatever, but I thought we could at least do something fun."

"Your idea of fun is too chaotic." Sweet Potato closed their eyes. "So you're going to stay right here, and I'm going to take a nap."

No response. Potato opened their eyes again and saw that Lili had disappeared.

"Oh no."

They jumped to their feet. Lili had the advantage of flight, and by the time Sweet Potato spotted em, ey was already aloft and heading towards the park. Potato barked in alarm and ran faster. "Lili! Lili, get back here!"

If ey heard them, ey didn't respond. Lili flew up higher and spread eir wings to catch the breeze. A strong gust of wind rattled the trees and sent em spiraling out of control.

"Lili!"

The wind blew Lili deeper into the forest. Sweet Potato changed direction and ran through the brush. They heard Lili's yelps as ey fell through branches, and finally, a thud when they landed. Potato pushed themself to run faster, faster, their paws aching–

They barely stopped themself before the creek.

Lili lay sprawled on a tiny island in the middle of the stream, unreachable unless Potato wanted to swim. They put one paw into the water and shivered. "Lili!" they called out. "Are you okay?"

Ey groaned and picked emself up. "I'm okay, I think," ey said. "Kinda dizzy, though."

Sweet Potato eyed the rocks sticking out of the water and determined they wouldn't be able to cross over them. "Can you fly back?"

"I dunno…"

Potato put their paw back in the water, but it was too cold to consider wading to the island–not to mention too deep. They paced back and forth, trying to think. Maybe a water-type pokémon could get across and carry Lili back, but Potato didn't know any water-type pokémon. If only their trainer had scheduled their evolution ceremony just a few days earlier, then they would be a vaporeon and they wouldn't have a problem.

Wait.

Sweet Potato raised their ears. "Wait there, Lili!" they called. "Don't try to fly, or swim, or anything. I'll be back!"

"You're leaving me here?" Lili whined.

"I'll come back soon, don't worry! Just stay put!"

They turned and ran before Lili could protest further.

The cabin wasn't too far from the stream, but Sweet Potato pushed themself to run the whole way, and their legs were aching by the time they burst through the door. "No time!" they barked at Kyrie. "I need the water stone, now!"

"What?" said Kyrie.

Next to them, the Digital Age looked up, the lights on their mane blinking. "They need the water stone," they said in human language.

Potato bobbed their head up and down.

"What? Why? I know Loop's evolution didn't go quite as planned, and Dame ended up evolving on her own, but–

Sweet Potato decided they wasted enough time and barreled into the bedroom.

The water stone was kept in the closet. Potato clawed the doors open and pulled all the drawers open, searching through piles of clothes until their paw touched something cold and an tingle ran through their body.

"Sweet Potato!" Kyrie yelled. "What's going on?"

They barked back mid-evolution, which made their words garbled and incomprehensible even to other eevees. The white light hadn't faded before they were moving again, back outdoors and running through the forest.

Soon enough, they were at the stream. Sweet Potato barked happily at Lili, who stared at them with wide eyes, and dove in.

The water flowed through their new gills, providing them with oxygen without needing to breathe. They popped their head up and paddled to the island, climbing up next to Lili and shaking their head. "I did it!" they said. "Get on, I'll carry you!"

Lili frowned. "But you're all wet," ey said.

"And you're all stuck-on-an-island! Come on!"

"Lili?"

The two looked up at Kyrie, standing on the shore. They sighed, kicked off their sandals, and waded into the water. At its deepest part, it went up to their waist, but they made it to the island. Lili happily jumped into their arms.

Sweet Potato's ears drooped.

Kyrie smiled at them. "You're fine," they said, "but next time, you can just get me instead of an emergency evolution, alright?"

Potato whined and plodded into the water, swimming back to shore. Once they were on dry land, Kyrie patted their head.

"Don't feel bad," they said. "We'll just have the nice dinner tonight. You ready for your favorite food?"

"I am!" Lili said loudly.

Sweet Potato perked up and followed Kyrie back to the cabin.