Somehow, mother’s friends could annoy her even here. That was terrible, of course, but it was also kind of amazing. After all, this was Hoenn. But mother frequented circles made up of people all over the world. And she had stayed with a certain family while visiting Alola, at least for a few days. That connection, then, somehow had led to this situation. It was odd and a little bit awkward. After all, she personally knew neither parents, nor children. But she could relate to their issues, at least a little bit.

Hence, she’d agreed. But that did not make it any less weird. Especially since apparently she was going to be working with someone else she did not know. On one thing, that meant she wouldn’t have to do it all alone and had someone to talk to that could answer in a more adult manner.
Well, hopefully. She had arrived a bit early, but due to certain circumstance, that meant she missed the farewell. Ah, well, such was life. These people did want to get away somewhat badly, after all. Eve did wonder what they wanted to do, but figured it was best not to wonder too much. Nothing good could come from that, in the end.

However, she would show up again soon after, wearing white shirt and black skirt for the day, a deliberately muted outfit to make a more neutral, formal impression.
Sadly though, she only ended up getting there in time to witness grand theft pokeball in process. “Well, seems like you got your work cut out for you already.” A bit of schadenfreude maybe, but she was watching carefully. If this was a good trainer, then these Pokemon wouldn’t just obey some random kids. But Eve did ready her Ghastly’s ball, just in case she needed to sneakily retake them.

Adrian scurried off as a new voice rang out to him. Ah, must be his help. She seemed more...hands off though, particularly in this situation. She also sounded and looked more like a business woman. While Kee...well, he wore a red T-shirt with a Snubbull design on it, baby blue capris, and rainbow colored sneakers. He was very visible. Kee decided to make a remark at her. "Houndour I'm not worried about, same with Tyrunt. Poor Spheal is going to be too easy on them, Sizzilepede will burn both them and the house down, Grubbin will hide behind Spheal or Houndour, and I have no clue how Beldum is going to react. So yeah, I am slightly worried how they're going to treat my friends. So, if you don't have anything useful to add, I'm going to hunt some brats..." Yes, he was a little bit aggressive to her. But the least she could do is help!

So he stomped off. He went to the second floor, where the little girl, Aimi, had caught the three Pokeballs Adrian had tossed. He opened each room and looked thoroughly before moving on to the next one, listening carefully for any giggles. The boy seemed to have disappeared for now, but he heard little girl giggling. Dashing out, he saw her at the end of the hall, where he just came from with one of his Pokeballs in hand, the rest likely in the little purse she had. Growling, he took a step before looking around. Yep, she had rigged a few traps. That, or he didn't see them the first time, and didn't trigger them somehow.

And so he ran after her. First, doing a front-flipping to avoid the first trap, going into a roll, then zigzagging like a boss between the second round of traps, and almost dancing between the last set. Aimi ran off in shock down the stairs. Keenan jumped the stairs, and managed to trap her between the stairs and him. Then Adrian struck, and managed to pull down his britches down to his ankles before pushing him, making Keenan face plant onto the floor. It also revealed his bright pink boxer briefs. Which made both kids laugh hysterically before running off again. Rubbing his nose, Kee got up and pulled his pants up. And tightened his belt up another couple notches. And the chase continued...

Oh my. That was quite aggressive. And verbose. He didn’t exactly have to list off every Pokemon he had along with the most likely reaction. Really, she only needed one example to understand that he had badly trained his Pokemon to the point where a toddler accidentally activating a ball could cause issues.
But she understood. This kind of person was not new to her. Especially when it came to young men. He probably did not know better. Boys that age were not exactly known for their maturity, after all. So, she just sighed and did not allow his borderline insult to get to her. That, after all, would be the embarrassing thing here.

Besides, she did have better things to do indeed. Instead of running after the children and getting drawn into acrobatics and the like, she decided that, since Pokemon were the issue, a Pokemon would be the solution. Settling on a course swiftly, she took up one of her own Pokeballs and called forth Ghastly, after all. “Go, get those balls. Try not to scare these kids too much. A little is fine though, they kind of could use that,” she instructed the ‘Mon, which then proceeded to float up and through the walls.
No need to take much care about traps if one could just go through the house itself, after all.

While Eve leisurely followed along, the Ghastly, a kindred spirit to the children, did go through the floor and watched their preparations briefly. It started to quietly pocket at least one of the balls from behind the waiting boy when he suddenly lunged forward, undressing and embarrassing his older peer.
Which, naturally, saw Ghastly laugh out loud, forsaking any potential stealth of its own.

While Keenan was readjusting his belt, he heard unusual laughter. It didn't exactly take long to notice a Ghastly. His little brother would adore the ghost. The children may have noticed it, but ran away from it. Walking over to the laughing Pokemon, he noticed it had something very familiar. "Nice to know your trainer is going to be helpful...and yourself. By the way, is it really that funny?" The blonde was oblivious. He certainly wasn't embarrassed that anyone saw what he had underneath his capris. If Adrian had grabbed the next layer and stripped them off, then that would be a different story. Nevertheless, he grabbed the Pokeball. Opening it, it revealed his Grubbin.

"Hey Grubby. We have a bit of a dilemma on our hands and I need you to be brave. Think you can do that for me?" The bug tilted her head cutely and Kee explained the situation. And a tentative plan. Thankfully, Grubbin knew string shot. And that was going to be their ace in the hole. Kee could be a little shit when he wanted to be. And the plan was set. Now, it was time to find the brats. Kee listened to their giggling, and stood outside a door just off to the kitchen. He peeked inside, just to make sure they weren't paying attention to the entrance, and moved to the other side.

He listened to them calm down, then check on their loot. Aimi immediately started to panic when she saw only five pokeballs. That Ghastly was very useful. Poking his head out, he stuck his tongue out at them, making a noise to alert them. While also tossing Grubbin's empty pokeball up and catching it with one hand. Both kids got angry, and started to chase him. Kee went past the kitchen back into the foyer. Behind a decoration lied Grubbin in wait...

One did not catch fish without bait. And for kids, well, they were usually quite predictable. Evette had decided to turn a different way altogether, once she heard Ghastly laugh above. That Pokemon had everything under control, she assumed. Or maybe it just added to the chaos. Either way, it was not completely her problem. She had sent assistance. Anything else going on up there would be up to the boy, she reckoned.

However, Eve was not idling completely, and instead had headed for the kitchen. First, to start brewing some coffee. This was probably going to be a bit more of an endeavour and keeping their side awake was probably paramount. However, she also released her Swablu, sending it upwards to the higher reaches of the shelves.

Kids, even those of rich people, were predictable. And a lot of maids and servants, as well as parents, had the same kinds of solutions for certain problems. Kids were short. Shelves were high. Math was easy.

With some assistance by Swablu, Eve found the nearest cookie jar, got it down, and simply opened it, putting it on the ground far from where she would continue making coffee. And should the kids wander into the kitchen and actually stay, Swablu, on the shelf, would start to sing, hopefully putting them to sleep.

Kee turned around to find only Aimi. He didn't know where Adrian went to, but he thought he saw a glimpse of his helper in the kitchen. Maybe she had something to do with it. Oh well, his priority was Aimi, who threw a pokeball. Out came Sizzilepede. She tried to order it to attack me, but instead, it got angry at her and looked at her threateningly. "Easy there, bud. Just use smokescreen...we got the rest." And so the fire type bug bellowed out an all encompassing smoke. At the snap of his fingers, Grubbin let out her String Shot attack. After opening up some windows, Aimi was wrapped quite well, with only her head and purse untouched. Grubbin joined her buggy partner, and Kee patted both of their heads. Retrieving his pokeballs, he recalled both Pokemon.

Going back to the kitchen, he saw Adrian fast asleep on the floor, with a cookie jar in his hands. Giggling a little, he went off to find some Ducklett Tape. Finding some, he taped the boy up and sat him with his sister. Taking out a sharpie, he drew on both of their faces. Nothing inappropriate, just typical childish things like cat whiskers and stuff. Aimi fumed. Hopefully his helpful partner joined them or was their the entire time. "Thanks by the way. I appreciate it. Ghastly couldn't have picked a better partner to wrap this up." Then he paid attention to the brats. Adrian was just waking up and saw that he was taped up, and his sister was wrapped in sticky threads. "Ok, kiddos. That wasn't cool. If you'd kept trying to give Sizzilipede orders, they'd have attacked you outright. You don't know any of my Pokemon, nor how they would react. What you did was dangerous and reckless. You don't ever mess with someone's Pokemon without permission, or wild ones. Since Adrian was dreaming of cookies when I drew on his face...well, now you know that I did something..." He took a quick picture and showed him what he looked like, also making him even madder, but still ashamed.

Adrian looked at his sister questioningly, and she explained how one of my Pokemon nearly hurt her if I hadn't started commanding it. "Now, I get it, you're probably lonely, and want to spend time with your parents instead. But you got us. If you want to play with my Pokemon, I got four friends that may not mind entertaining you, so long as you're observant and gentle with them." That got them both to look at him with sparkles in their eyes. Grinning nicely, he released Houndour, Tyrunt, Grubbin, and Spheal. The blonde found some scissors, and gently cut them loose without hurting the kids or their clothes. The boy immediately went to his puppy and dinosaur, while the girl went towards the sweet bug and seal. Adrian got a big ball, and took Houndour and Tyrunt outside, while Aimi took to Spheal and Grubbin.

They were easily in areas where they could be supervised easily. For now anyways. "Thanks for the assist, by the way...how did you put Adrian to sleep?" clearly a Pokemon, but what else did she have up her sleeves besides a cool ghost type?

“I just had Swablu use sing on him,” she replied, nonchalantly. Now, usually just using Pokemon moves on children should not be advised or advised for dear readers. However, in certain, exceptional situations and in the most controlled of circumstances, it could be allowed. Like this one.
Besides, that other guy had not just done the same, but was also physically tying up both children. If he were ten years older, that all would take on a very, very different character. Fortunately, he wasn’t. It still seemed kind of wrong to her, but she shrugged. He apparently knew this family and these kids better than she did. So, it was probably alright.

Either way, not her problem. She shrugged, and continued sipping her coffee. There was a cup ready for him, too, if he wanted. But she enjoyed the taste for now. Plus, he was closer to them in age and possibly mentality. He seemed to ‘click’ better with them already. So, who was she to interject in that? For now, she recalled Ghastly and Swablu, since they had had their fun so far. But now they would probably cause more problems than they’d solve. “And no problem. I did sign up to help, after all. Though Ghastly and Swablu really did all the work,” she commented, before sipping again.

By then, the sing was wearing off and the young man started to explain some things to the kids. She doubted that they would truly get it, but if it got them to behave at least for a while, then that was good enough for her. Then, she brought her Alolan Vulpix out, adding to the Pokemon to cuddle and play with. “I am going to keep an eye on things from now on, if you want to properly play with them.” After all, she was a bit too mature to properly play with kids – and didn’t have any of her own to awaken any maternal instincts. Probably didn’t have any. At least she believed that.

Kee looked around and spotted the bird Pokemon. Cute, and had a useful move. Still, it was a random guess that the children wanted to play with Pokemon, since they couldn't play or otherwise interact with their parents. He'd met some rich folk before. Not a lot and only at a distance, but it was easy to tell. Most wouldn't consider him that observant. "Maybe so, but you also trained them. At least give yourself some credit." In his mind, it takes at least a little bit of training to get Pokemon to either do as you say in battles/circumstances or trust them to act independently and get the job done. Even if they did all the work, you helped them get to the point to do the job.

The woman released an Alolan Vulpix to add to the party. Even after offering to watch and keep an eye on things, Keenan just sighed and sat on a stool. "I think I need a breather first before checking up on them. Those traps weren't easy to avoid. Oh, I'm Keenan by the way...and sorry for snapping earlier..." He blushed and rubbed the back of his head. He shouldn't have done that, but frustration of that happening so quickly and how worried he was over his buddies made him...a little testy. Still, he was a little ashamed how he acted towards her, even more so since she did help out fantastically.

“Evette,” she simply replied to his introduction, continuing to sip her tea. The children seemed to be taking to the pokemon, which meant that they were allowed a break. Though, admittedly, her partner had been taxed a lot more than she had. Still, they had both contributed to this outcome, so they both deserved to partake in this break of things. “And do not mention it. I am used to people being….rather much ‘themselves’ in stressful situations.” The smile on her face was genuine and gentle. Really, she was not mad at him. Having grown up in show biz, she had heard enough otherwise decent people calling other names in the heat of the moment. It was rather common. And this boy was rather timid in that regard.

Plus, he was young. Much younger than herself. Couldn’t be mad at kids for being kids, in the end. “You should work on that, however. Not everyone is as calm and forgiving as I am.” Maybe that was a bit of grandstanding, but it was nevertheless true. A lot of people would have blown up in the boy’s face by this. She just stayed as was and enjoyed a nice little coffee break.

He got a simple introduction, and she seemed to have forgiven him. Though something kind of seemed off with her. Even with a genuine and warm smile on her face. Evette even gave him some advice. "Like with everyone, certain buttons can be pushed to get you there. Stealing my friends is one of my buttons. I'm usually pretty chill, everyone that knows me well can tell you that. But don't mess with my friends, human or Pokemon, or family. Also, do not make me try to do idol work. Ever. Our ensemble class was bad enough..." He grabbed his shoulders and shivered. He was one of his class's better dancers and singers, hence his selection. And it sucked so much. The clothes were fun though, but that was the only redeeming quality.

He got up and started to move to where Aimi was. "I'm going to check on Aimi." He went up the stairs and soon found her in a room with Grubbin having a cute silver bow on it, and the Alolan Vulpix had a red one. Spheal had a cool collar on him. Aimi spoke up to him. "Hey there, Pinky." She grinned at him maliciously. "What? Guys can wear pink." She frowned, and the two started to argue. Then they heard a scream. It sounded like it came from outside, where Adrian was playing with Houndour and Tyrunt. All of them got up and ran outside to see what was wrong...

“One of these buttons is fairly common, one is…peculiarly specific,” she replied, musingly. That was not exactly something that most people even thought about. For him to state this to a random person such as herself, that meant that he had some rather peculiar demons to contend with, obviously.

She could relate. While he went away to check up on the girl, Evette decided to start humming a little, one of the songs she had performed a few years ago in Lumiose. It wasn’t really her own, though. Back then, she had only done covers and renditions. Once she got back, it was expected of her to have come up with some of her own.
Eve leaned back. So far, she didn’t have a single one. A sigh escaped her lips, briefly breaking the humming – right as she heard a loud sound from outside. That was too sudden to be good. And for once, she did not feel like there was a lot of control for either of them, so she swiftly got up and followed the others, hot on their heels.

As they went outside, they saw that Adrian's back was against a tree, in front of him was Kee's Houndour and Tyrunt. In front of them was a swarm of Beedrill. The ball that they were playing with was on the ground to the left. This wasn't good. Kee didn't want to antagonize the bugs too much. But at the same time, he wasn't going to let all three of them pinned there. Both of his Pokemon out there had moves that would knock the crap out of the Beedrill. Grubbin could help with crowd control with string shot, and Spheal could use powder snow and rollout. Sizzilipede could also add in his ember attack with Houndour's. But was violence really the only way out?

No, a thought hit him. "Aimi, go get earmuffs or headphones, anything that would stop us from hearing anything. Evette, can your Swablu's sing attack get everyone?" If they put all of them to sleep, then move Adrian inside, and move the Beedrill back into the forest surely would get them to forget it, right? Or maybe just taking their target off of their hands would do it? He hoped Evette had an idea of which one would do it.

Well. That did indeed escalate quickly. Somehow, that little boy had managed to rile up a whole swarm of Beedrill in record time. How that had not happened before this day was an immediate mystery to her. However, it was not like she had the leisure to ponder that too much. A small child like that was probably in immediate lethal danger. She was already getting serious and reaching for her Pokeballs to do something when the other boy came up with a quick plan on the fly.
Or rather, he suggested for her to repeat her last plan. But that was both reasonable and somewhat easy to implement, so she was all for it right then.

Swiftly, she brought out her Swablu, then started to head back to the mansion. “No need to find anything. Just come with me back into the house. Swablu, sing as loud as you can when we are out of range!” That plan was even simpler. It didn’t even rely on a small girl finding something suitable on short notice. Just good, old-fashioned acoustics.