Tales of the Eeveelutions

Bet of a life time

Chapter 2

Trace woke up and stretched as he began to stand up in his comfy bed. He slept very well last night on the mattress made of soft wool that the leafeons obtained through trade with the Jolteon kingdom who received it from mareep tribes from different locations. Trace loved how the bed sheets felt too. Silk sheets made from the finest silk in all the kingdoms were from the Leafeon territory only thanks to there friendship with bug type Pokémon who lived in the territory with the leafeons.
When Trace hopped off his bed he went to wash up and groom his fur for the day before heading to the dining hall to eat breakfast with his family who were dining with Queen Levy and Princess Blade, she seemed to be in the same mood as yesterday. She would continuously eye Trace at times which made him feel a bit uncomfortable as if she was preparing to ask him to battle.
After breakfast, Trace was walking with his brother Gabriel, and his sister Tara around a garden outside of the castle talking about how interesting and unique this particular garden was to any they had ever seen before.
"I would love to be a leafeon. Just to be apart of nature and have that awesome nature like body!" Said Gabriel with a bit of excitement while walking in the garden.
"Why don't you suggest to mom and dad if you can ask the queen to become a leafeon? I'm sure it would be okay to just ask." Suggested Tara.
"Because his too shy to ask anyone especially mom and dad." Said Trace who chuckled after he said that.
Gabriel looked at Trace and growled. "I am not shy! I'm just not ready to ask them yet. Besides it would be rude to just ask them since they are here to talk to the Queen about a possible alliance."
"That is actually true Trace. We can't just interrupt our parents just because one of us wants to be a leafeon." Said Tara, making Trace shrug before he walked past the two.
The three continued walking until they reach some roses that were all a different assortment of colors like red, blue, pink, white, even purple. Tara and Trace both stared at the beautiful assortment of flowers, while Gabriel began to sniff each of them and looked like he was on cloud nine. His brother and sister only watched him as he seemed to be in his own little world.
As the three stood in front of the flowers, neither one was paying attention to their surroundings and were unaware of Princess Blade and her maidens walking up behind them as silently as they could. Princess Blade smiled as she spoke up.
"Are you three enjoying the beautiful garden of the leafeons? Good luck ever seeing such a beautiful garden in any of the other kingdoms." She said making her maidens giggle when the eevees jumped.
Trace was the first to calm down as he looked at them while Gabriel slowly began to fill with excitement as he looked at them, the smile on his face never fading for a second after he saw the princess herself.
"Greetings Princess Blade." He said Boeing before her. "I absolutely love this garden! I have never felt so at peace before in my whole life and I could easily be happy walking beautiful gardens and spending time in forests." Said Gabriel which made everyone turn their attention to him. Princess Blade flicked her tail and glared at the eevee as if he had said something offensive.
"We leafeons take a lot of pride in taking care of our beloved territory, and try to help keep this beautiful territory intact, for without us here as nature's care takers this magnificent place would never exist. Other eeveelutions could never match the patience and creativity of the leafeons." She said pridefully. This attitude was beginning to annoy Trace. Luckily Gabriel was with them as he only seemed more excited while listening to Princess Blade speak.
"That is why I love this place so much! The leafeons are very creative, and I can't get enough of it! I wish I could live here and be a leafeon more than anything!" After he said this one of the maidens stepped forward and spoke up.
"We don't accept outsiders like you. Those from any of the other territories would never be able to live up to the standard of the leafeon way. All they would do is make ugly gardens and plants along with trees would more than likely suffer and die. Nature is a thing of beauty and we leafeons will make sure it stays that way." She said a bit fiercely making Gabriel look down.
"Why would it be wrong to have any eevees from other territories evolve into a leafeon?" He said sounding a bit hurt.
"Because you have to be born in the Leafeon Kingdom and grow up here to understand our ways. It takes years to perfect what we have for over several generations to accomplish. So much knowledge and if a Eevee can't live up to the standards we have, they will only be pickers or become lowly basket carriers. Nature needs the best to keep it safe and beautiful." Said Princess Blade making Gabriel feel disheartened.
This made Trace rather upset that his brother was denied the chance of becoming a leafeon. He growled and stood up to the snobby princess.
"Maybe he hasn't been in the Leafeon Kingdom for all his life, but that doesn't mean he can't learn at a faster rate than the rest of you and I bet he has what it takes and can learn about the leafeon ways of nature before we leave here!" Trace said very loudly making several leafeon gardeners turn their heads and stare at the one making a challenge to the princess.
Some of the maidens were about to step forward to confront Trace, when the princess held up a paw to stop them. She smirked at Trace and lowered her head to be at eye level with the young eevee.
"Tell you what, I'll give you two weeks to learn all about what we leafeons know about nature. If you succeed, Gabriel can evolve into a leafeon. If you fail however, you will be my personal servant until I release you from your duties to me. You will also bow whenever you see me and keep silent unless spoken to unless the words "All hail Princess Blade the greatest leafeon of all" comes from your mouth." She said while holding out a paw. "Do we have a deal Trace?"
Trace turned and looked at Gabriel who only looked back at him. He wasn't sure what to say to Trace because he was speechless at the idea of challenging the leafeon princess and cramming everything about nature in fourteen days. Trace looked back at the princess who kept her calm expression the whole time. Trace finally reached up and grabbed her paw as tightly as possible.
"We accept your challenge. We will learn everything about the leafeons in fourteen days or I will be your servant from this day forward." Trace said as calmly as possible.
"Excellent! Your studying begins today. Have fun learning everything and to make things interesting, you won't have access to the royal families library." Said Princess Blade with a large smile on her face.
"That's not fair! How am I supposed to learn about the leafeons without books?" Asked Trace rather loudly.
"That is not my problem. Maybe next time don't be so stupid rushing into a bet without asking for minor details to be added." Said Princess Blade he turned around and left the eevees there.
Trace watched her, as she and her maidens walked away only thinking about the choice he had just made with a royal family member. He was taken out of his thoughts by a rough nudge from Tara.
"So what are you going to do now Trace?" She asked worriedly.
He looked at her and than at Gabriel who kept silent during the time Trace spoke. Trace sighed before looking at a tall tree nearby in the center of the garden. He wondered if he could learn all that he needed in the small amount of time he had.
"Alright Trace, you dug yourself another hole. Let's see if you can actually climb out of this one. Two weeks to learn everything about leafeons and we have to find different ways to learn. Mom and dad won't be happy about this." Said Tara who kept a calm expression on her face.
"Darn it I didn't think of that!" Said Trace who trembled at the idea of telling his parents about this, especially his mother. There is no telling what unexpected thing she would do if he lost this bet. "Gabriel come on we have to start studying now!"
Gabriel nodded before saying, "But where do we start?"
Trace looked down thinking hard for a moment.
"Maybe we can ask the some of the local leafeons about their heritage and stuff. We can start there." He said before taking off and being followed by his brother and sister.
Even with the three Eevees working together, they were going to have a difficult time learning ever bit of history about the leafeons. Why did Trace even make this bet knowing he was going to be punished even if he won this bet against Blade!