Akito and Estelle at the Plaza

chapter 9

Leon was waiting for them and looked down to meet the other Pokemon who were in the hotel. The Pokemon only seemed to stare back at him. Leon bent down and reached out for them.

"Mama!" Teddiursa wailed and clung to Estelle, burying his face against her shirt.

Estelle wrapped her arms around her Pokemon and looked back to Leon. "Sorry, he's terribly shy around others."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." Leon said.

"Shh... Shh... Teddy~..." Estelle cooed to her overwhelmed Pokemon and gently stroked the back of his head. "It's okay..."

Teddy began to calm down as he was in his mother's arms. Estelle cooed to her Pokemon and hummed a sweet and gentle lullaby. Teddy sniffled and hugged her close.

"Better?" Estelle asked.

"Uh-huh..." Teddy nodded.

"Okay, let's get back to work then, shall we?" Estelle smiled.

"Agreed." Teddy nodded.

"Come on, sweetie." Estelle smiled, being her Pokemon's surrogate mother, she had raised him from an egg after all.

Eloise took them around the hallways and the others followed as close behind as possible. "He's in one of these rooms, we'll just have to go through every one." she whispered as she was anxious to meet the prince.

Leon panicked. "You mean by breaking in?"

"Oh, my lord, no!" Eloise objected. "We'll just make everyone open their doors to us."

"Uh-huh, and exactly how are we going to do that?" Vincent asked.

"Just follow my instructions," Eloise said as she came up to one door. "Screwdriver."

Misdreavus picked up the tool and floated next to the blonde girl.

Eloise took the tool and started to use it on the device she was working with and popped the top off with ease. "Wrench." she then requested.

Vulpix carried the wrench in his mouth and handed it to her. Eloise took it and was about to use it.

"This is wrong!" Leon warned.

"What, do you think wrench, then screwdriver?" Eloise misunderstood.

"Did you even listen to what he said?" Akito asked.

"Oui, we shouldn't really be doing this..." Felicity sounded anxious.

"Don't worry, I'm very good at this," Eloise reassured. "Besides, I've never been arrested."

"And besides, even if we do get caught, I can just use Smoke Screen that I learned." Vulpix smiled.

Vincent pet his Fire Fox Pokemon in response to that.

"All right... This way now." Eloise said as she rolled to across the hallway.

Ditto rolled across the hallway to follow his mistress. The others followed as the thermostat flickered slightly and smoked once it was faulty. This made several guests come out of their rooms, feeling incredibly hot.

"Now, pretend you're an orphan," Eloise instructed Leon before they continued on. "Get all limp and bend to the side. It helps to look sort of sad in between the arms."

"Yeah." Estelle nodded.

Leon followed them, doing his best to pretend to have a limp.

"Now, let's find my date." Eloise said with a smile as they explored the hallway.

"I just hope that what we're doing doesn't affect the five stars." Akito said.

"Ooh, I do not like this heat..." Felicity panted as she felt very hot now like many of the other guests.

Eloise rolled into one room where there were men inside and they appeared to be playing Poker and had their door way open since it was hot on this floor now thanks to her. "Nope, not here." she told the others and they went off to a different room. "Come on, next room."

"How many rooms do we have to check?" Larvitar asked.

"All of them." Eloise said.

"How many is that exactly?" Vulpix asked as they followed her.

"More than you can count." Ditto whispered.

"This going to take forever!" Vincent groaned.

"Get used to it." Ditto sighed.

They then came through yet another door as there were two young adult women on the couch, doing one's nails, as one of the girls came out and wore a huge, fluffy, and pink dress.

"Can't we just split up and look through every door much faster?" Larvitar whispered.

The young adult women forced compliments to the pink dress that their friend had on.

"Are you blind?" Eloise chimed in. "You look like a circus clown."

Akito, Estelle, Vincent, and Felicity's eyes widened at that sudden remark.

"That bad, huh?" the girl wearing it had an amused smile however.

"I was being kind." Eloise replied.

"Yeah." Ditto nodded.

The girl then took a seat as an older woman walked by and oohed at her dress.

"Mrs. Daniels!" Eloise approached the woman.

The woman gasped once she saw the little blonde girl.

"I've been looking for you," Eloise said as she came with Leon, her cousins, and their Pokemon. "It seems we haven't received our invitations to the ball. I'm sure it was just an oversight."

"I beg your pardon?" Mrs. Daniels glanced down at Eloise, seeming to not enjoy her company at all.

"Our invitations to the ball." Estelle told her.

"My mother was a Debutante," Eloise added in. "She wore dior and roses in her hair. Can you think of anything more wonderful?"

"Look, young lady, I don't know who you are, but--" Mrs. Daniels tried to start.

"I'm Eloise, I am six," the blonde girl gave her usual greeting, she then took out a card that she obviously wrote on. "Here's my card. You can send our invitations to my room."

"Yeah and please, don't dilly dally." Estelle said.

"Come along, Leon." Eloise then told her new friend.

With that, they all then took their leave as Mrs. Daniels let out a very long-suffering sigh of encountering Eloise.

"I don't think that lady likes you, Eloise." Ditto said.

"She'll get used to it." Eloise shrugged as they went off.

"Let's hope she does." Vulpix said.

Eloise picked up Ditto in her hands as she went off with them and Leon. "I wonder what my daddy is doing right now..."

"Probably missing you..." Felicity soothed.

"Yeah." Misdreavus said.

"Has he ever been to the hotel?" Vulpix asked.

"Uh-uh..." Eloise shook her head. "My mother says he can't leave where he is now for long... She lives in Paris and Daddy lives under the sea, and I live here."

The cousins couldn't help but think that Eloise had a rather sad life despite being spoiled in the hotel because everybody loved Darla and Nanny so much. They wished there was something they could do to help their poor little rich cousin.