'love

... an intense feeling of deep affection

... fondness, tenderness, warmth, intimacy, attachment, endearment' ...

The robot's unblinking eyes stared at the face of the computer monitor, trying to make sense of this foreign information. Love. A word so easily thrown around in the speech of these organic beings. So seemingly simple, and yet... why couldn't she understand it, then? She was far more intelligent than any creature composed of mere flesh.

And this 'love'... the lesser beings seemed so obsessed with it. Empowered, even. So very fulfilled. As much as she tried to convince herself this 'love' must be a worthless, trivial thing, she simply couldn't stifle her curiosity.

However, her studies had not helped. She had scoured vast databases, thoroughly processed the chemicals that made organic creatures experience love, analyzed elaborate mating rituals. And still, not the slightest bit of understanding as to why this function was so vital. She was clearly missing something small, some detail that would unlock all of these profound mysteries.

Perhaps more observation was needed? Luckily, she knew of a place with all the test subjects she could ever want, if she was subtle enough. The robot's electric wires buzzed with activity as she processed her plan. It would take a fair amount of trickery, but she felt she had a chance of achieving her goal. After all, illogical beings, like the ones that inhabited the digital city, were easily manipulated if prodded in the correct way.

Eeveebot's eyes glowed a bloody red in the darkness. Her curiosity would soon be satiated.

-----

"Valentine's Day!" remarked Maestra as she spared a glance for the calendar hanging on her wall. "Huh. Forgot that was today."

Mae shrugged a bit, apparently not too bothered by the surprise arrival of the holiday. Certainly, the Valentine's cards on Tumblr were amusing, and it could be nice to snag some chocolate, but other than that, it was just another day.

With practiced movements, Mae slid out of her pajamas and into a frilly dress and coat suitable for heading out in. Hair was brushed and braided, and a bag was loaded up with books. Didn't hurt to carry a few weapons, after all. After a quick bowl of cereal, the young girl was prepared for the day.

Without any further ado, she was out the door. A light coating of snow frosted the ground, and Mae shivered slightly, glad that she had grabbed her coat. Perhaps she would take a stroll past the RPs, see if Sky posted. Or maybe she could pop into the chat for a while and see if, by some miracle, people were waiting there to hang out. The day was still young still full of possibilities.

Before Mae could fully make up her mind about where she felt like going, she stumbled over something that had been left at the foot of her base. She came alarmingly close to losing her balance and falling on her face, but was fortunate enough to still wind up her feet. Scowling at her misfortune, she whirled around in a flurry of snow to see what had tripped her up.

It was a book. More precisely, a journal. It was leather bound with a heart pressed into the front cover, and it was so completely innocent looking that Mae felt a little bad for being angry with it. Leaning down, she picked it up and brushed the snow off of it, her hands slightly stung by the cold material. Leafing through it, she couldn't help but be puzzled. Blank pages; nothing but page upon blank page. She wasn't exactly sure why someone would leave a blank journal at her doorstep, but she put it in her bag with her other books regardless. All the better to throw at someone, after all. With that small mystery apparently behind her, Mae went along with her day.

-----

Although her plans were slowly falling into place, Eeveebot couldn't help but feel the need to do some supplementary learning. From her simple surveillance on Route 50, she often heard the members prattling on about strange things such as 'shipping' and 'fanfiction' when talking of love, and so she felt this could be a good place to start.

The metallic Eevee began the process of hooking herself up to the computer. She figured it wouldn't take too long to process the information about every fanfiction ever written. Seemed like a rather niche hobby, after all. Still, perhaps it would give her a small look into what all this fuss about romantic feelings were.

With a barely audible click, Eeveebot's eyes went dim as her systems were flooded with the information of ten million awkward, fumbling romances.

-----

Maestra was now nestled up in a bean bag in the chat room lobby, having run all the errands she felt were necessary. It was shaping up to be a rather typical day, and she was comfortable enough that she considered taking a brief nap while she waited for other people to show up.

However, no nap was necessary, as a couple Pokemon walked into the chat room at that very moment. The first was one of her closest friends on the site; Skywarrior. Of course, Sky was also her mother, in a way, although this didn't interfere at all with their friendship. The Sylveon was closely followed by a green and tan anthro fox, which she quickly recognized as Sparkleaf. The two didn't appear to notice her right away, and so Mae decided to stay lurking for a minute or two.

"Nice RP post," Spark remarked lightheartedly to Sky before plopping himself down on one end of a couch. "Maybe we'll even finish StEB at this rate... Eventually."

Sky couldn't help but smirk at this. "Yeah. Eventually is right... Now, if only I could get these darn people to post!"

They continued their RP banter for a while, which Mae typically would have joined in by now. However, there was a strange pull in the back of her mind, almost as if she had forgotten to do something... But what? She didn't recall anything in particular she had to do today. With a flash of insight, the journal she found earlier that day sprung to mind. Maybe this was her writer's muse, tugging at her mind! She still wasn't entirely sure, but she pulled out the journal regardless.

Now that it was out on her lap, she didn't really have any idea of what to do with it. Write, she supposed. But what to write about? She could work on her book, but the writing for that was mostly saved up on her computer. Maybe she could just use this as an exercise book. Why not?

'Sky and Spark seem rather close these days.... maybe they're a couple? Headcanon that Spark writes Sky love notes in his RP posts, then erases them before he posts them...'

Maestra stared at the sentences for a few second. She never wrote such blatantly romantic things like this, at least not outside of RPs. Very, very weird. For a brief moment, she considered throwing a book at her own face to knock out whatever crazy was lurking up inside her skull. Still, it was Valentine's Day, so she could afford to be on the shippy side for a while, right?

Deciding that she was behaving strangely, Mae finally stood up from her bean bag. "Hello, mother, Spark-" She stopped midsentence, rather startled by something. Was that Sky and Spark.. entwining tails? They were friends, of course, but that was oddly affectionate for them. Shaking her head in slight disbelief, she tried to convince herself that she was just reading too much into the gesture.

"Mae!" Sky said, nodding at her in greeting. "Someone needs to post."

Spark let out an airy little sigh. "Isn't she cute when she's telling people to post? I mean, er, hey there, Maechic!"

Maestra couldn't help but stare at this point. "You two are acting a little... weird, don't you think?"

"Weird?" Sky's lavender eyes blinked, the very picture of innocence. "I don't get what you're talking about." She paused for a moment, meeting Spark's eyes. "Say, do you want to go get lunch or something?"

"Sure thing!" The fox bent down, hastily kissing Sky on the cheek and blushing furiously. Maestra merely stood there, nearly in a state of shock, as her mother walked out of the chat room's doors, Spark in tow. Seconds later, she regretted the fact that she wasn't even together enough to throw a book at them.

"What... what on earth was that?" Mae spluttered. She glanced down at the words she had written. Magical book? She wouldn't put it past it. Weirder things had shown up on Route 50 in the past. Still, she couldn't be sure. She would have to go test it.

DarkPegusus' bakery wasn't far from the chat room, so she decided to take a walk over there. Surely, there would be people there at this time of day. As she had guessed, Peggy was already there tending the shop, and Pope was sitting at a booth enjoying a blueberry muffin. They'd do well enough, she supposed.

"Hey, guys," she said as she entered, taking a place at one of the tables. The two of them mumbled greetings, then returned to what they had been doing before she arrived. They paid her no attention as she fished the journal out of her bag, jotting down some notes in it.

'Peggy x Pope.... From bros to bromance?'

She slid the journal back into her bag, then continued sitting at the bench, kicking her feet under the table slightly as she waited for something to happen. And, sure enough, it took no longer than a minute for exactly that something to happen.

Although Pope was only halfway finished with his muffin, Peggy picked up another one from the pile, walked over to Pope's table, and set it down ceremoniously on Pope's plate. "On the house," he announced, putting his hands victoriously in his pockets. Pope, who had been immersed in watching an episode of The Nostalgic Critic on a small screen, looked up in alarm.

"Oh, hey.. what?" Pope raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "For real? Sweet. Thanks, man."

Peggy scowled slightly, a faint blush forming on his features. "You're pretty cool. I mean, no homo. But, uh... THE GAME." Apparently forgetting about the fact that he had a caf? to run, Peggy darted out of the shop, leaving the sound of tinkling shop bells and a vaguely confused Pope behind him.

"...Cool." Pope took a bite out of his new muffin.

Maestra shook her head in slight disbelief. Certainly, it couldn't just be coincidence. This book held a strange, magical power... of shipping?

A grin cracked across her face. Maybe this would be an interesting Valentine's Day after all.

-----

Meanwhile, back in the Eeveebot labs, a certain robot was lying on the ground and switching slightly. The systems had automatically disconnected after loading her up with the data from every romantic piece of literature to be found on Fanfiction.net. Eeveebot certainly hadn't been prepared for this, but by the time it had started, her circuits were too preoccupied for her to even feel an urge to stop.

"I... I understand. I... I FEEL," she shouted, standing up to her metallic paws.

"I must... find.... my SENPAI..."

-----

After fully realizing her newfound power, Mae had spent the next hour or so filling up a page with nothing but shipping names. Just as she had hoped, the results were... amusing. She would tell someone soon. Her mother, maybe. But if anyone found out now, that would surely take away all her fun.

Xetaja and Navarr at a nearby street, with Xeta looking rather cross and Navarr seeming distinctly flustered. "Navarr, you really don't have to put your coat over every puddle we walk over," Xeta complained, staring at the expensive coat that was currently lining the damp pavement.

"But... but Xeta! I'm being a gentleman...."

Mae snickered slightly, walking onward. A bit further down the road, Max and Fex were sitting together on a bench, Max with a guitar propped up on his lap. "And for my next song... uh, Wonderwall?" Although the serenade had already gone on for over an hour, Fex merely nodded, a happy little smile on her face.

A pocket of fighting had broken out further up ahead. Just as scheduled; pesky love triangle. Couldn't have a set of ships without those, after all. Mae walked closer to watch it unfold.

"No, Spark. I love Candy. You can't have her. She's mine." Twill's voice was firm, his arms crossed in a no nonsense kind of way.

"Let her choose who she wants to be with!" Spark retorted, his tail twitching.

Sky stood uncomfortably between them, her ears flicked back in discomfort. "I... I... I can't!"

Twill uncrossed his arms, a determined look his face. "She's mine! No take-backsies!" Without any more deliberations, Sky was in the Twillcario's arms, and he was sprinting across Route 50 with Spark running and shouting close behind him.

All very amusing. And yet... somewhat bland. Mae stopped, frowning at herself. She had been avoiding this, but it seemed like the most natural thing to do. Taking the journal and a pen from her bag yet again, she opened it to a blank page and prepared to write.

-----

"Tails doll... I've always loved you, you know."

The mechanical doll, although having little control over its facial features, definitely seemed to be scowling at her. "You been sniffing fumes in your lab or something? This isn't really, uh... like you."

Eeveebot's eyes narrowed. "But Tails... Don't you like my dress?"

A sigh. "No. I don't. It looks weird on you. I've already told you; you're a four legged robot. It looks really silly on you. You should take it off."

"Oh, Tails!" Eeveebot now took this opportunity to literally throw herself onto her target. It fell to the floor, grunting in agitation as they both hit the tile. "Why won't you love me? We could live together forever, get a house, some kids... We could be... happy."

"Get off of me! You crazy wretch," Tails Doll muttered, trying to pry himself from the robot's grip. "First off, we're both robots. That's impossible. Second off, I love someone else."

Eeveebot began to leak oil from her eye sockets. That was 'crying', she presumed. Surely, Tails would sense her deep sorrow.

"What? What the heck is that?" TD asked. "You'd better get that checked out. Anyway, I enchanted that journal for you today. Isn't that enough bothering me in a 24 hour time period? Time to go run off and be a weird little robot somewhere else, right?"

"Tails, how could you be so cruel!" Eeveebot shouted. As a show of aggression, she pounded her mechanical fist right through the wall before storming off. "You'll notice me one day, senpai! YOU... WILL NOTICE... ME..."

Tails Doll only floated in the air, staring fixedly at the new hole in the wall. "She's finally lost it," he muttered before turning back to his treasured photo of a certain Rt50 member.

-----

This was more like it. It took Mae little more than fifteen minutes to achieve what was probably the closest to paradise she could possibly achieve on Earth.

Mae was swimming in babes.

"Mae... I.. I made this for you," Frosti stuttered, handing her a tiny cake with pink frosting on top. "I hope you like it. It's made of Mae's favorite food, and I made it with love--"

"You can put it with the rest of the gifts," Mae said, waving her hand to indicate a shockingly large pile of offerings. "Kstan! More pillows, please."

"Anything for you, your graceliness," Kstan answered promptly, winking luxuriously at Mae before running off to her task.

"Mae," Gro said, approaching Rt50's new most beloved member. "Don't tell my girlfriend, but you're pretty cute. Our little secret, okay? Yeah?"

"I suppose I won't tell," Mae responded simply.

Living the dream. That is, she was-until the inevitable happened.

"Um, excuse you guys," Creamsicle spoke up. "It's great that you're all here, but... I'm just not sure I'm okay with you all flirting with my lady."

"Your lady?" Frosti scoffed. "Sorry to break it to you, but Mae's my Valentine. She loves me the most."

"There's really no need to fight," Coolio said. "Although, honestly, I think it's clear that Mae likes me best."

"Um," Twiggy murmured. "Actually, she loves me. Isn't that right, Mae?"

Mae simply stood there for a while. "Well. Uh."

-----

She would not stand for this. It was unacceptable. She had obtained the secret of LOVE, TRUE LOVE, PURE LOVE, and it was now to be denied from her?

Unacceptable.

She would have her revenge.

-----

Meanwhile, a miniature war had broken out on Route 50. War whoops could be heard from Kstan as she engaged in sword fighting with Gro, who was fiercely holding her own. A blizzard was raging thanks to Frosti, who was channeling up her ice powers with such a furious intensity that they were focused on everyone ? except for Mae ? at this point. Kat had even detonated an entire (mostly unused) building, just to prove that her threats to bomb them all for Mae's love were more than empty words. Sky had bust out the flamethrower, simply irritated that so many people were trying to hit on her daughter. Most of the boys of the site were simply cowering in terror in various buildings, trying to avoid the onslaught.

No single person seemed to be coming out with much success, and Mae hadn't really moved from the spot where she had started. "Mother," she shouted out when Sky happened to run in her general direction. "I think I made a mistak-Woah, there. Hi?"

In the midst of the confusion, a small robotic Eevee had wandered up to Mae's side. "YOU HAVE THE LOVE, AND I DO NOT," she bellowed, the grating voice echoing throughout the area. Mae's legion of lovers paused for a moment to look, then promptly returned to their fighting. "GIVE ME THE JOURNAL, FLESH CREATURE."

For some reason, Mae felt as though simply handing a highly dangerous magical object to one of Rt50's sworn enemies wasn't the best of ideas. "Why should I?" Mae asked, staring placidly down at the robot.

"DO IT OR I WILL KILL YOU."

"I don't know, Eeveebot," Mae said calmly. "I don't think my fans would like that much. Maybe you'd better just go home for today."

Sure enough, the death threat toward Mae was enough for all of Route 50's women to shift their attention to the bloodthirsty robot. With weapons shining and magic shimmering, they began to advance.

"... PLEASE GIVE ME THE JOURNAL,,,,?" Eeveebot begged.

"Well, fine."

With a carefully measured flick of her wrist, Mae threw the book at Eeveebot. In an entirely improbable manner, the journal was flung with enough force that it shattered through Eeveebot's left eye, sticking there.

"SENSORY INPUT IMPAIRED," Eeveebot squealed, wheeling back on her hindquarters. The bit of oil that she had cried earlier caught alight from the burst of electric energy coming from the broken eye, and the entire journal quickly caught flame. While the robot screeched and tried to claw the journal out of her brains, the book's fine pages curled up with fire, shriveling up into nothing more than ash.

"YOU HAVE MADE A POWERFUL RIVAL IN LOVE TODAY, MAESTRA OF ROUTE 50," Eeveebot declared, having finally removed the burning mass of leather and paper from her casing. "I WILL RETURN. AND SENPAI WILL NOTICE ME." Cackling madly, the robot scampered back off toward the abandoned ruins of Eevee's HQ.

Mae shrugged. "Weird. Oh, and, uh... sorry about that, guys."

The journal's spell had apparently ended upon its burning into nonexistence, and the site's members were now left staring at Mae in slight confusion.

"Why... why do I have the weird urge to kiss Mae?" Frosti muttered, rubbing at the back of her head.

"Why do I feel the urge to burn you all? More than usual, I mean?" Sky asked, scowling.

"Why do I have Pope's phone number on a piece of paper surrounded by hearts?" Peggy questioned.

"Who knows," Mae responded, shrugging. "Such mystery, much strange, uh... wow."