An irritating, insistent poking paw kept jabbing into Sora's side. He reached out and swiped in the general direction that the irritant was coming from without removing his head from where it was stuffed completely underneath his tail to block out the light of the sun that was creeping through the partially parted curtains covering the window. The poking stopped for a moment and he let out a sigh; snuggling deeper into the nest that was kept warm by his dark coat. Unfortunately, after only a short time the poking continued, this time at a more rapid pace, and the whining voice of his youngest brother, Cane, assaulted his ears, "Sora! Wake up! I'm hungry and I don't wanna go downstairs by myself."

A low groan pulled itself from his throat and he pulled his tail away from his eyes to glare at Cane who was staring at him with watery brown eyes. "Why don't you go and bother Storm and get him to go with you," he grumbled and looked over towards their middle brother's nest. The gray-brown ball of fur that was Storm seemed completely undisturbed and content to continue sleeping despite the whining that was happening.

Cane pouted and drooped his ears, "Because he's mean to me and I don't wanna go with him."

The long sigh that came from Sora was impressive as he rolled onto his side and then hauled himself to his feet and shook out his fur. The struggles of being the oldest of the three. "Just give me a second and I'll come down with you alright." Cane's eyes lit up as Sora walked over to Storm's nest and hunted for where his brother's ear was flattened against his head in sleep. He stuck his head close and took a deep breath before blowing a stream of air directly into the other Eevee's ear; sending Storm at least ten feet into the air with a yelp.

He jumped backwards out of the way as Storm hit the ground and immediately swiped at him with yellowish eyes narrowed. Cane giggled delightedly behind him as he turned to walk back towards the door, "Breakfast is almost ready and I can hear everyone else already up and moving. If you don't hurry up there won't be anything left." He could hear the grumbling as his brother started shuffling around the room to wake himself up and come downstairs.

Cane followed happily behind him as he stepped out of the now well lit room. He wished he could stay in bed for longer in the deep greens and browns that decorated the room like a growing forest, but he knew he'd never hear the end of it if he didn't go downstairs with Cane. He could smell the different foods being cooked by their dad and he shook off the last of the dredges of sleep as his stomach began to growl instead. He could also hear all four of his sisters already down at the table and quickened his step a little bit so that he could get into his seat before everything got served.

"Morning," he called out to everyone and Cane echoed him shortly after as he plopped into one of the chairs at the table. His tail began to wag slightly as he looked across the bread and everything on the table.

"Good morning," his father returned his greeting and glanced over to just see the two of them, "Where's Storm?" he questioned with a slight frown.

Sora glanced towards the stairs but he didn't see his middle brother on his way down yet, "He's coming. Didn't want to get out of bed this morning as usual." He tried to excuse his brother's behavior but he was getting more and more irritable and rude as time went on. Either way he was looking forward to whatever food was being made by his father and what was going on today. "Aren't the adventurers coming back today?" He directed the question towards his sisters, "Are we gonna go see them?"

Lumi's excitement for the adventuerers return to Sunspear was infectious and Sora couldn't help the smile that crept up on his or the wag of his tail. "I bet they're all super strong. Maybe like a Tyranitar or a Garchomp, that'd be awesome to see!" It would be so cool to get to leave the city and explore remote caves and forests, fight dangerous villains, and return home to a city that cheered for them. The whole family could make like a team or something, that'd be super cool. Though he doubted that Sable or Storm would want to join. The two of them were always grumpy and would probably just want to stay in bed all day. Speaking of his middle brother, Storm had finally made his way downstairs to join them at the table, but didn't talk to anyone beyond a mumbled greeting to their dad.

He was dragged out of his thoughts by their father coming to the table with a number of plates and Cane practically vibrating his seat across the floor with how excited he was to see the adventurers. His mouth immediately started to water at the delicious looking food in front of them. "Thanks dad!" he chirped with Cane immediately echoing him again.

Of course Sable didn't want to tag along and watch them, she never did. Still he wasn't going to let her, or Storm's, bad attitude take away his excitement. Honestly, they were old enough that they could watch themselves, they didn't need Sable there to tell them what to do, but he didn't want to argue with his father before he had to leave for work. Maybe he'd bring it up tonight at dinner.

He met Lumi's eyes as she spoke and his own widened in awe, "Woah, that's awesome! I bet they're bigger than dad is from ears to tail. Maybe bigger!"

Cane gasped and turned to look at the rest of his siblings, eyes wide, "What if some of them are like us?! Or even evolved!" He didn't think it was possible but the younger Eeevee's tail began to wag even harder at the thought.

"There might be, but you gotta finish eating if we want to get there before everything starts." Sora told him with a fond look as Storm rolled his eyes. "How long is it gonna take us to get there so we know when to leave to get the best spot to see?"

More visions of grandeur flooded Lumi's mind as she imagined the adventurers. A Swellow with big wings? A giant Tyranitar or an awesome Garchomp! Or maybe, just maybe, there would be some just like them, like what Cane said. An Eevee, or maybe even a Flareon, or Vaporeon... it'd be absolutely amazing, like a dream come true. The only evolved Eevee she had seen was her father, since their mother hadn't been of their evolution line in the first place. Her heart hurt for their mother, who had died when most of them were so young. Even now, when she tried to remember, her face was just so foggy...

"The walk to the city square should take about thirty minutes, so you better finish up your breakfast quick," their father said once he made sure everyone was eating. His brown eyes sparkled with something that Lumi didn't quite recognize. "Please, be careful out there. Stay close to Sable, alright?"

Lumi nodded, stuffing another piece of the omelette into her mouth. Her father's cooking wasn't anything great, but it was tasty enough to get the siblings to eat most of their food. Toffee picked at her food as if she was uninterested in it, though, while Fawn filled most of her belly with the warm loaves of bread their dad had left out for them. Only a few minutes passed before the Leafeon in question turned towards the clock on the wall and blinked in surprise.

"I need to get going! Sable, remember what I told you!" he told her, which only prompted an exasperated look from the long-earred Eevee. He rushed about the table in a haphazard frenzy, nuzzling each of them before he darted out the door and left them on their own.

Lumi turned to the rest of her brothers and sisters, perking up her ears. "Is everyone almost done? We're going to be late if we don't hurry!" She fidgeted in her chair as she giggled. At this point, she wasn't even hungry anymore.

"I've been done," retorted Sable as she pushed her plate away. The most elegant of her siblings cast a dull half-glance at the reddish Eevee not too far from where she sat. "How about you, Toffee?"

Toffee let out a nervous chuckle, lifting her paw to scratch her nose. "I'm done, but I think I'm gonna stay and clean up this mess. I don't think Fawn wants to go, either..."

"I wanna stay home and draw!" Fawn yapped loudly as she fluffed out her already very fluffy mane.

Sable's ear twitched as an annoyed light shone in her eye, but she turned to Storm without saying anything to her sisters. "How about you, Storm? You coming?"

Lumi frowned. Why couldn't Toffee just clean all of this up when they got back home? And Fawn had the whole day to draw. She hoped that Storm and Cane would come, at the very least.

The excitement, of at least some of them, at the table was palpable and Sora couldn't help but get caught up in the possibilities. It'd be so cool to one day be one of those adventurers. Maybe they'd even get to work with some of the Pokémon they saw in the parade today. That would be even cooler.

Thirty minutes! That was a long walk and it was already getting closer to when the parade was supposed to start. They'd have to hurry if they wanted to get a spot where all of them could see. He stuffed more of the omelet into his mouth and nodded at his father vigorously, "We will be!" He didn't really want to stick close to Sable. She was always grumpy and if she'd just suck the fun out of being there. Maybe she'd just leave them to watch while she went and did something else. That way Lumi, Cane, and himself could have a better time.

"Bye dad! See you later!" He called after their father as the Leafeon rushed out the door. He wished that he could've stayed and had breakfast with them, but he knew that work was important. They'd at least get to eat dinner together later, and maybe they could bring him back some cool souvenir or something from town. He downed the remainder of his juice and nodded at Lumi with an excited grin, "Ready!"

Cane shoveled the last of his omelet into his mouth before nodding hard and jumping out of his seat to wait on the rest of them, "Let's go, let's go! I wanna get a good spot!"

Sora watched Sable talk to their other sisters and frowned. Why didn't they want to come? It would be less fun if they weren't all there, but he didn't want to try and force them either. They'd be able to tell them about it anyway.

Bored yellow eyes met Sable's as Storm pushed his food around on his plate, "Yeah, sure. Not like there's anything else to do around here anyway."

As grumpy as Storm was it was still nice that he wanted to come with them, hopefully he wouldn't drag the mood down along with Sable. Sora hopped down off his chair to join Cane and Storm followed shortly after. "Ok that's everyone! Let's go!" Honestly, the walk would probably be shorter than 30 minutes just because of how excited they were. At least if Sable and Storm didn't slow them down. Either way he wanted to get to Sunspear as quickly as they could.

Sora bounded after Lumi towards the door with Cane shortly behind him. Sure he was a bit older than them, but he still felt the same amount of excitement that he had every time that they got to go into town to do something cool or fun. Storm followed after at a more bored pace but still gave half-heartedly to Toffee as they all left the house and began the walk down the street towards the city proper.

"Sure, whatever."

Why did he even bother coming if he was just gonna be miserable the whole time?

"Don't get too far ahead!" he called out to Cane who had bounded down the stone path the second that the door was opened tail fluffed and wagging with excitement. If any of them were going to get into trouble it was Cane. He didn't mean anything by it, he was just too excitable for his own good and got carried away sometimes.

Thankfully the sky was clear and the mountains were shielding them from the worst of the weather as they always did. He could already smell the city scents on the wind. The mix of Pokémon of all kinds along with the smell of cooking foods, particularly sweets. He was pretty full from breakfast but he'd never say no to sugar. He doubted Sable would let them though and Storm wouldn't want to deal with Cane while he was hopped up on sugar. Still it was the perfect day for going into the city to see a parade of powerful adventurers.

He bounded up to walk beside Lumi as they all looked around the hustle and bustle of the city. The adventurers would be walking the main street so they needed to find someplace there to set up. "Yeah! We should try to find something to bring back for dad since he has to work. He said he would've come with us if he could." He knew their father worked hard and wished the Leafeon could take a break sometimes. It was the least they could do really.

A frown crossed his face as Sable talked about leaving. She would really just walk out and leave Sunspear, just like that? He hadn't really thought about what he would do when he got older, did he want to leave too? See the world and everything else it had to offer? Maybe even become an adventurer!

"Come on, let's go find a spot close to the road so we can all see!" Cane called out from a little ways ahead of them on the path they were walking.

He grinned slightly at Lumi before rushing past Sable and Storm to catch up to Cane who squealed and turned to run towards the main part of town. If they were gonna be here might as well have some fun for a bit.

Sable's call fell on deaf ears, despite their size, as Sora zigzagged between legs and around swinging tails of the larger Pokémon that were heading towards the square to wait for the adventurers to return. He could feel the smooth stones underneath his paws and let the excited grin stay on his face as he raced after Cane. His brother was quite a bit smaller than he was, so it was a little difficult to keep him in sight, but he managed to do so even after turning to look back and see Lumi racing after him.

He put on a burst of speed when they got to a clearer part of the square in between several little, colorful market stalls that were selling a number of fun and different things. He was pretty sure he saw cotton candy at one, their father would really like that. The additional speed allowed him to catch up with Cane and carefully tackle his younger brother to the ground.

Cane yelped in surprise as they both went tumbling to the ground, thankfully not into anyone else's legs, breathless and laughing. The smaller Eevee shoved Sora off with a paw to the face, "Get off! You're heavy!" Though there wasn't a lot of force behind the shove.

Sora let himself get pushed and they both got to their paws, still slightly breathless, and began to look around the square. The other three had to be somewhere. Thankfully it wasn't too crowded yet and Sora easily caught sight of Lumi's pale pelt and waving paw. "Come on Cane!" He quickly bounded through the circle of other Pokémon that were there and flashed Lumi a grin as he arrived with Cane shortly behind.

"This is a great spot! We'll be able to see everything from here!" He looked around the area and gave a friendly smile to the Tauros who was laying nearby before peering through the crowd to see if he could see Storm and Sable. He caught sight of them fairly easily and waved a paw at his brother who tapped Sable before they came to join them.

Storm's expression was indifferent as always, but he could see the gleam of annoyance in his brother's eyes and had to fight not to roll his own. "They should be here soon, I think!" He plopped down onto the ground to finish catching his breath, but he couldn't stop his tail from waving excitedly at the prospect of the types of Pokémon they'd see.

While Sora kept his fur flat, though he could feel Lumi's fluffed with excitement next to him, he couldn't stop the rapid wagging of his tail as he looked around the area. Cane was sitting on his other side, next to Sable, and Storm was standing slightly to the back looking disinterested. Though Sora could see his eyes flicking back to the road every so often, so it was obvious he was excited to some degree about the adventurers returning.

His eyes followed Lumi's up as the Raichu blew the horn and had to stop himself from fully vibrating with excitement, though it wasn't going very well. Cane sprang to his paws as the announcement that they'd returned rang through the streets, and even Storm fully turned his head to look through the crowds.

The huff that came from Lumi was echoed by him at almost the exact same time as the Tauros blocked their view of the street. As his sister leapt up onto the back of the larger Pokemon he quickly scrambled underneath and stuck his head out from in between their front legs. His eyes went wide as he looked across the small group that was standing there, the Swellow that his sister had mentioned wasn't gliding through the air and was instead standing, head slightly down, next to the rest of the group. He stuck his head out slightly further and could see a Sandslash and Absol as well amongst the team, but none of them looked exuberant or happy to be home. This was certainly not what he'd expected.

His head turned upwards at the Tauros' question, and he heard Cane behind him, "Hey I wanna see!" as Sable pulled him closer in silence.

The questions flooded from the crowd and his head turned every which way trying to pick up on who was saying them. Storm finally came up next to him and he could feel the fluff of his brother's fur. Not with excitement, but concern and fear. He met Storm's eyes briefly before they both looked out to the crowd as the Luxray made his statement.

Immediately there was a eruption of noise and questions from the Pokémon around them. Sora flattened his ears against his head and turned to look back towards Sable for some sort of guidance as to what they should do.

The amount of noise was uncomfortable as it assaulted Sora's ears as he continued to look through the legs of the Tauros. He pushed himself up against the gray-brown fur of his brother next to him as the Luxray spoke about Ember Cave. He was pretty sure he had heard about the mission leaving but he didn't know any of the specifics. Feral Pokémon? He didn't remember anything being mentioned about that other than their father telling them not to go outside of town after dark, or stray too far, but that was something he had always said.

"Arceus, they didn't decide to turn back until three of them were dead, that's ridiculous." Storm's voice was bitter, as it always was, but there was an undertone of disbelief and sadness to it that wasn't common for his brother.

He looked at his brother with a slight twinge of annoyance, "They had a job to do and they were trying to keep us safe, you can't blame them for that." He looked back at the ruffled feathers, fresh scars, and broken claws that turned the powerful adventuring party into a group of beaten down failures. "They knew what they were getting into." Even he wasn't sure he really believed what he said.

"Did they?" Storm asked him with a scoff, and it was obvious he didn't believe that either.

As the Luxray made his final statement the crowds around them began to disperse. He scrambled away from where he had posted up underneath the Tauros' body in order to not get stepped on as the larger Pokémon moved away from the square. The noise had faded a bit but there were still several others who ran up to the group with a barrage of questions. He didn't know what to feel. How had they failed? They were a group of the most powerful Pokémon in Sunspear, yet they'd lost the fight. It didn't make sense.

He moved slowly to stand next to Lumi as Sable herded them together to take them home. He flinched slightly at the force in her voice as she bundled Cane along. Storm followed shortly after with a look in his yellow eyes that Sora couldn't place.

"Why're we leaving? I wanted to go see them and talk to them!" Cane whined from where he was pushed along.

Sora met Lumi's look before just shaking his head slightly, "Let's just go." The excitement from the morning had faded hard and fast. All he wanted to do now was get home and bury himself in his nest. Maybe their father would know something more about what had happened.

Sora's ears drooped even further, if that was possible, as Sable growled at them to not tell their father. He felt a flash of indignation at his older sister since she seemed to be focused more on himself and Lumi than the other two; especially since Cane was usually the blabbermouth. He didn't want to get in trouble though, or make their father upset, so he kept his mouth shut and just turned his head away from Sable as she began to lead them home.

Storm walked next to Sable, occasionally muttering something to their sister that Sora couldn't hear. Not that he really cared all that much. They were probably just talking about what exactly to tell dad, but he couldn't help but feel upset that they were being excluded. They weren't the worst when it came to not listening, and Storm always had his tail in a twist. Maybe that's why the two of them got along so well.

His younger brother was walking a step in front of him and Lumi, his fluffy tail now dragging the ground and his head down. He felt a pang of sadness for Cane. He'd been so excited to see the parade and meet the adventurers, and now his memory of them was one of stress and fear. Cane usually bounced back pretty quickly from disappointment, but this was something that meant a lot more than just a dinner he didn't like. Cane had been very young when they'd lost their mother, but he'd heard stories, and seeing the team like that must hurt more than he could imagine. He wanted to try and cheer him up but he didn't know how.

As Lumi's fur brushed up against his darker coat he swiveled an ear towards her, but kept his eyes on the others to make sure they weren't listening in. "I dunno. The Luxray said something about feral Pokémon, and that they were protecting the Sage Stones, but I don't really understand what that means." He hadn't thought much of it when the team left, it happened often enough, but this one was definitely weird. Pokémon didn't just go feral, it didn't make sense.

He paused for a moment to really make sure that the other three weren't paying attention before whispering to his sister, "Do you think we should go and check it out? I know they said to stay away, but we're a lot smaller so maybe we'd see something they missed." He was also just really wanted to know about what was in that cave. It had to be super strong and the prospect of that made his fur prickle with curiosity. They could sneak out, they'd done it before, and just come back before anyone noticed they were gone.

The Eevee adventuring team was a go! Sora's tail started to wag, just the smallest amount, as Lumi whispered back to him. Exploring some dark, spooky cave, keeping to the shadows, and maybe seeing some crazy cool stones with his sister. What could be better? They just had to make sure that no one else heard about it, there was no way that Sable would allow it, and Cane would just go blabbing about it to everyone in the house. No, this had to be a secret just for the two of them.

He nodded subtly in agreement with his sister, "And we're so much smaller than the team that the crazy Pokémon in there probably won't even see us." This was gonna be so cool!

As Sable turned back towards them he met Lumi's eyes and saw the warning in them. No way he would spill what they were planning, "It's a secret" he told her; meeting his sister's eyes and then looking at Cane hoping she fell for the bluff that they were talking about a way to cheer up Cane. If they found something cool in the cave it also wouldn't be a lie. Hopefully.

---

They'd picked a night when their dad had work early the next morning, so he would go to bed early and leave them with free reign to escape out the windows in their room to meet up at the front of the house. Hopefully they would be there and back before anyone noticed they were gone. Sora could only imagine the trouble that they would get into if Sable saw them. Still his excitement at doing something so daring overrode the voice in his head that screamed this was a bad idea.

He waited until Cane and Storm had both settled down into their nests and their breathing evened out before he stood carefully and crept over to the window. He had unlocked it earlier in the day to avoid the noise. He took a deep, quiet breath and...

"What're you doing Sora?" Cane's faux whisper called out to him.

Dammit He pulled his paws off the windowsill and turned back to face his brother who was staring at him from his nest. "Um, I was just gonna go out for a nighttime walk, less crowded you know."

"Oh! Can I come?" The attempt at a whisper died and Sora flinched at the loudness of Cane's voice; looking over quickly to see Storm lift his head with blurry eyes and an annoyed expression.

This was not going as he had hoped. Why did Cane have to be such a light sleeper? He sighed, Lumi was going to kill him, but there was no way he would be able to get out of the house without Cane or Storm going and telling Sable he was sneaking out, or worse telling their dad. "Fine, fine you can come, but you have to promise to be quiet, quieter than you've ever been, and listen to everything that I say without questioning me ok."

Cane nodded vigorously and made a show of snapping his mouth shut.

He looked over at Storm to see his brother still watching him through narrowed eyes. "If you're planning on doing something stupid, don't."

Sora rolled his eyes in response, "Well if you want to stop us from doing something stupid you should just come along too." He knew Storm would go and wake up Sable and he was desperate to keep that from happening. He watched Storm grumble a bit before pushing himself to his feet and walking over to join them. He was honestly surprised it took so little convincing, but he wasn't going to complain. Lumi was probably already waiting for him and they needed to go, time was ticking.

He helped push Cane out and then followed after Storm. The three brothers crept around the side of the house towards the meeting point that he and Lumi had decided on to make their way to Ember Cave.

It was more of a pain to herd Cane quietly around the side of the house than Sora thought it would be, but once they finally crested around the corner to where their sister was waiting under the bright moon he prepared himself for the anger that would no doubt come from Lumi. "I know!" he told her in a loud whisper, "Cane is a light sleeper and then he woke up Storm. I figured it'd be faster just to bring them along rather risk them going to tell dad." He tried to ignore the sting of anger as he flattened his ears down in response.

"So where exactly are we going then?" Storm's disinterest tone rang from behind them as they began to pad quickly down the road in the direction of Ember Cave.

"You'll see," Sora told him. He didn't want to tell either of them anything in case they tried to back out and run home to tell dad or Sable what they were doing. He just heard an annoyed grumble from his brother as they continued on.

He was grateful for the fact that Ember Cave wasn't far away from home since he knew Cane would start to lag if they had to go too far. He kept their younger brother in between himself and Lumi with Storm trailing in the back as they shoved through thorns and splashed through puddles. By the time they got to the mouth of the cave their pelts were a thorough mess. Not to mention the faint shaking he could still feel in his legs after he'd looked down off the side of the narrow path they'd been on to the dark, watery depths below.

The excitement hit him hard though as they finally stood in front of the open mouth of the cave. The heat wasn't stifling, but he was grateful that his fur wasn't any thicker than it already was. He just hoped that it didn't get hotter the deeper they went. He glanced towards Lumi as she puffed out her chest and declared that she would lead the way. He wanted to argue that he should get to lead the way since it was his idea to come check out Ember Cave in the first place, but he already screwed up getting out of the house so he let her have it.

Cane looked a mix of nervous and excited as he peered into the darkness of the cave, but Storm looked apprehensive as Lumi spoke to them. "Ok, I can do that," their youngest brother said with a faint quiver to his voice.

"This is stupid," Storm told them, "If the adventuring team couldn't survive in there what makes you think we can?"

Sora looked back at the gray furred Eevee, "We're not gonna go super far in, and we're small which means they won't be able to see us as well. Besides we aren't looking for a fight, we just wanna see." Even with his words he could tell that Storm was still suspicious of the situation, but he sighed and followed after Lumi into the darkness of the cave.

His nerves were starting to get the better of him as they were forced into the narrow spaces of the tunnels. There was no noise that permeated the air around them except for the sound of their breathing and his own heart racing in his ears. Cane was pressed as close to either himself or Lumi as he could get when the opportunities arose, but Storm still trailed behind a bit; looking nervously around the tunnels with pinned ears.

Sora sucked in a quiet, sharp breath as he saw the torches illuminate the space ahead. The shadows cast across the walls reminded him of the nightmarish type abilities that their dad told them some Pokémon could have. He followed low to the ground after Lumi as she pulled them to the side. He peered out around the side of the wall of pointed stone to get a better look around. He couldn't see any small openings around the edges of the room, but he pulled back sharply as he saw a long tail pull itself deeper into the shadows that hid the edges of the room. A big part of him was starting to think this wasn't such a good idea.

He looked back to Lumi to tell her that he couldn't see anything, and as he did he noticed that the small, fluffy form of Cane had vanished from where he had been standing next to Lumi. He felt a massive spike of panic as he began to look around the area for his brother, "Lumi, Storm. Where's Cane?" Storm's yellow eyes went wide as he also began to look around the space nearby.

Sora was about to throw caution to the wind and call out for Cane when he caught sight of his brother's head poking out of a crevice in the wall a little ways deeper in the room. He looked rather pleased with himself as he waved a paw at them. Sora let out his breath slowly and Storm visibly sagged next to him. He padded up to Cane and whispered frantically to him, "We told you to stay close! This place is dangerous and you need to tell us when you're going somewhere."

"Oh, right, I'm sorry," Cane told him, ears drooping. "I found a way out though."