Vice President

"Now that you've learned to talk," Prez announced, "it's past time to begin your education."

The Digital Age tilted their head. "What do I need to learn?" they asked.

Prez hummed. "We ought to figure that out, first! What do you know so far?"

"I don't understand."

"Don't worry, I just need to know everything you've ever learned in your entire life."

Digital paused. "I am unsure it will be efficient to convey all my knowledge in a form you will comprehend, but I will do my best. Zero plus zero is zero. Zero plus one is one. One plus zero is one. One plus one is–"

"We're going to try something else," Prez interrupted. "Follow me."

He walked out of the room, with Digital close behind. So close, in fact, that when Prez stopped to sniff Kyrie's shoes, they bumped into him. Prez yelped in surprise. "Whoa!"

"Oh," said Digital. "Sorry."

"It's fine, it's fine, just be careful where you're going." Prez shook himself. "In my opinion, what you struggle with the most is interacting with other pokémon."

The Digital Age beeped. "I would agree with that statement. Other pokémon are… confusing."

Prez nodded. "You have the added difficulty of communicating with humans, since you can speak their language. Now, we are not going to cover humans, because they're, frankly, incomprehensible, but you should at least get to know the other eevees here."

"I'm not an eevee anymore."

Prez yelped and spun around to face Dame. The solid black sylveon tilted her head. "Oh," she said. "Did I scare you?"

"No," Prez lied. "Did you want to join our lesson?"

"No," said Dame, and she faded back into the shadows.

Prez rolled his eyes. "Anyway," he said to Digital, "to help you improve, we're going to practice by talking to every eevee–and evolution–who lives with Kyrie. Are you up to the task?"

"Okay," Digital said. Prez waited for them to elaborate, but they just stared at him with their unblinking eyes.

"Okay!" Prez said after a long silence. "Any ideas on who to start with?"

Digital pointed with one paw at a pair of eevees under the kitchen table. "They're closest," they said.

Prez nodded. "Lead the way!"

The eevees were Green Ninja and Quill, sitting with their legs tucked underneath them and chatting. The Digital Age walked over, their paws tapping on the wooden floor, and the two broke off their conversation to stare at them. Green Ninja tilted her head and perked up her ears. Quill flattened her ears to her skull.

Digital sat down in front of them and stared.

"Hi!" Green Ninja chirped. "What's up?"

Digital looked up at the ceiling, then back at her. They said nothing.

"Why are you here?" Quill said.

"Quill, be nice."

"What?" They snorted and tossed their head. "They just come up to us and say nothing! I should get to ask a few questions, shouldn't I?"

Digital glanced back at Prez. "Am I doing a good job?" they asked.

"Uh," said Prez. "You should probably… talk to them?"

Quill looked at him and narrowed their eyes. "Is this your doing?"

"Prez is teaching me social skills," the Digital Age said.

"He's not doing a very good job of it."

"Hey!" Prez barked.

"Don't be rude," said Green Ninja. "Digital is doing the best with what they've got."

"Hey!"

Quill's ears twitched in amusement. "Maybe we should get them a better teacher?"

For a moment, Prez was speechless with rage. "Now listen here," they started, but the Digital Age moved in front of him.

"I don't want a different teacher," Digital said. "I like Prez. He's my friend. There are a lot of people who could teach me, but Prez was the only one who offered."

Green Ninja's ears drooped. "Aw, Digital… I'm sorry to both of you. We shouldn't have been so rude."

"I'm not sorry," Quill said. "The two of them should expect this of me."

"Well, I'm apologizing for you."

"You can't–!"

While they argued, Prez nuzzled Digital's cheek. "I'm proud of you," he said. "Standing up for your friends is very important. I'm glad you consider me one of them!"

"Of course," said Digital. "What am I learning next?"