Criminals

Narrator-POV:

With the conclusion of the tournament, the delivery of their interviews and the distribution of rewards done, the students wanted to celebrate.

They wanted to celebrate a lot of things.

Akari being the number 1 student, Swole receiving 20.000₽, Barry and Dawn managing to pass school, without being held back and finally, they had not yet properly celebrated their first pokemon.

However, some pokemon were still knocked out for the rest of the day. And some trainers had a lot of battles behind them and were tired as well.

That is why they pushed the celebration date to Saturday.

This would also coincide with the Platinum League finale and they could use the public events and stalls, to have a fun day of joy and jubilation in Jubilife City.

But for this evening after the tournament, instead of celebrating, the time was simply spent with more cooking, talking and winding down from an exciting day.

At some point Barry brought in the news of the Platinum League semi finals.

Cynthia had won her match, of course, and proceeded into the finals.

And Tobias Ryushu fought with his team of dragons against Candice Kiai, the new Snowpoint City gym leader. 

Despite the type disadvantage, he managed to claim a close victory against her.

Tobias Ryushu had to show off his 5th and final pokemon. He managed to make global news in the process.

"I seriously cannot believe that guy managed to capture a legendary pokemon. Now I'm really excited to see the finale tomorrow." Said Swole when he heard the news.

"I know, right?" Said Lucas. "It's unbelievable that he got one. Aren't there like only one of each legendary pokemon? How can I get one too?"

"There are multiple Celebi." Countered Dawn.

In truth, there are some legendaries who are not unique, like Mew. 

There are multiple Mew spread out all over the world but seeing multiple in one place is an event that is so extraordinarily rare, that there might as well be just 1 Mew.

There are also some truly unique, legendary pokemon.

Like Mewtwo, Arceus or Regigigas.

And then there is also 1 pokemon that just happens to be something in between.

Celebi, the time travel pokemon.

There is only 1 Celebi, but whenever she decides to travel back in time, a new instance of her appears, because the previous instance exists at the same time.

"As far as I know, there might be multiple Latios." Said Swole. "He was spotted all over the planet. But it could be that he is just incredibly fast. We will know for sure if he is spotted again somewhere, now that he was captured."

The students have also tried to find anything about their own tournament, but there was nothing in today's news.

The yearly school tournament is an important event for companies that wish to prospect for new trainers. But it simply is not important enough to make it into the news the very same evening.

However, what they did find in their search through the news, were some particularly bizarre articles.

A new weekly section was added to the Jubilife TV News, titled simply: 'Bizarre Adventures'.

---

Sudden mother of twins

On a cursory glance, dear readers, this story seems like any other misdiagnosed pregnancy. 

A mother to be, expecting a single child, is suddenly surprised when two come out.

But this is not what this story is about.

No, dear readers. This mother has been a single mother for a little bit less than a decade already. But one morning, a morning like any other, she woke up and went to her son's room to wake him up for school.

In the bed, she found not 1 sleeping boy, but 2. At a cursory glance, they were entirely identical. They had the same sleepwear, the same face, the same hair.

One might suspect that a Ditto broke away from its trainer, and so the mother did the reasonable thing, and called an Officer Jenny for help.

The Officer came in together with a pokemon ranger and the boys awoke by the time they arrived.

They managed to determine that neither of the boys are shapeshifting pokemon.

In a more in-depth questioning and a body inspection done by a local Nurse Joy, it was determined that physically and genetically, they are identical.

When questioned separately about their personal knowledge, they also responded with the same answers.

Only when questioned about general knowledge, a difference was found.

One boy believed that all pokemon are cuddly and friendly. The other was aware of the wilderness zones.

The mother insisted that she did teach her son about the possible dangers of the pokemon world and so the original and the 'fake' were discovered.

Our current understanding is that the boy arrived from a world parallel to ours.

The League has swiftly given the child citizen status and the mother has elected to care for the boy.

'I can't imagine how scared my boy must be here, knowing that his real mother is somewhere in another world. And the poor mother. If she is anything like me, then I know that she must be devastated about her son, suddenly vanishing. The least I can do is make sure he is being cared for.'

---

Miracle plane

The new, highly discussed, supersonic passenger aircraft 'Rayquorde' has had a catastrophic accident.

Just outside Mistralton City of the Unova region, the unthinkable has happened. The plane crashed and was destroyed in its entirety.

From flight logs recovered from the plane's black-box, a piece of debris broke off the plane and punctured a tire during takeoff.

The blowout of the very high pressure tire caused fragments to be thrown into the underside of the wing and resulted in damage to a fuel tank.

This went unnoticed during takeoff but significant amounts of fuel leaked all over the interior structure of the airplane.

An electrical spark has then caused the fuel to ignite.

At first, only the wing was severely damaged by the burning and an attempt was made to make an emergency landing.

But the fire had turned the situation untenable and the aircraft went out of control.

Unable to gain the altitude to reach back to the airport of Mistralton City, the plane ended up crashing into a hotel on the outskirts of Mistralton City.

The remaining fuel then exploded.

Emergency teams were immediately sent to the crash-site, fully expecting to recover only a plane and half a hotel's worth of bodies.

However, miraculously, everyone survived.

There were lots of broken bones and very serious burns but for some reason, not a single death occurred.

Jupiter, the codename of a representative of Team Galactic had this to say on the matter:

'This kind of accident was bound to happen with the design of the aircraft. Building a supersonic passenger aircraft must have been the dumbest idea ever conceived. But we are incredibly lucky that it took until now for the accident to occur.'

She also gave us this piece of information that had been classified by the League until now.

'We have found out that the fundamental rules of our universe have changed recently. Explosions and falls from great heights are somehow not deadly anymore. They still produce property damage the same way as before, but humans and pokemon are now resistant to it.

There are also a few more things that are not as deadly as they should be but as you might expect, trying to kill someone to see if it's possible, is not an experiment many want to do or be submitted to.'

Dear readers, especially our younger readers, please do not attempt any dangerous stunts.

It is unknown to what extent our new resistance functions, and it is equally unknown whether or not this fundamental change in our universe can suddenly reverse itself again.

Stay safe.

---

"Yawn." 

Today, Swole Solo awakes with a yawn. 

His trusty pokemon Buneary is already awake and eying him with scrutiny.

Like a protective mother-hen watching over her nest. 

Or a lairing dragon watching over her hoard.

"Good morning."

But Swole only sees a guardian angel who protects her charge from the harsh world outside.

A mutually beneficial relationship. 

One gets protection, the other property to lay claim to. 

Swole being the property of course.

"Buneary." She greets her trainer back with her own good morning wishes.

The other trainers in the luxurious student dormitory are still asleep. 

It is finally the weekend after all and there are no immediate preparations left to do anymore either.

Swole starts leafing through the GTS brochure, while he absentmindedly pets Buneary's back and neck.

The pokemon lets him do it. 

She has started to enjoy the small gestures of attention but will deny it, if it is ever brought up.

At some point, the alarm goes off and Barry and Lucas get themselves ready to meet up with the girls for a shared breakfast.

Swole has already washed himself and Buneary yesterday, due to the vast amounts of blood and dirt that had already dried in her fur.

Thus, he does not need much time to get prepared.

He only needs to exchange his pajamas for his casual clothes. And to brush his teeth. And to brush his hair before shaking it up for his usual wild appearance.

Actually, all he saved was his time under the shower.

The little extra time he gained, he spends it brushing Buneary's fur.

It is an enjoyable pastime for him and Buneary rather enjoys the feeling of the brushing too.

Buneary has also begun to put more value into her own appearance, since she started seeing the well manicured pet-pokemon of the Jubilife citizenry.

'But there is no way I will ever be pranced around like that Growlithe.' She thinks as she remembers a particularly well groomed pokemon she saw. 

While she was a little jealous of his glossy, almost sparkly fur, she did not want to end up like that sexual deviant, who let himself be led around by a leash.

'Pervert.' Is what Buneary labels him as.

They continue their morning rituals, meet up with the girls, get some breakfast started and discuss how they plan to celebrate today.

Barry informs the group about the massive, public TV that is placed above the entrance of the Jubilife TV Station. And that it will be showing the live finale of the Platinum League.

All of the yearly celebrations of Jubilife City, also happen to center around the plaza in front of the building. 

The course of the day becomes clear.

They go out together, with every pokemon out of their pokeballs for the occasion.

Akari wears her usual kimono, but she has added a handmade, Quilava-themed kitsune mask for the festival.

Her Quilava has to walk now because she became too heavy for her to carry all the time.

Instead, now Akari carries her new pokemon egg.

She explains that the unnatural artificial heat cannot possibly be healthy for the egg, and she wants to use body heat instead.

In truth, the artificial heat has no negative influence on the egg. But the new-born pokemon will view her more as a mother now.

Zoey is dressed in a tight fitting jeans, together with a very loose blouse with some cleavage, which does not manage to show a lot with her A cup chest.

Her Glameow is walking right beside her legs and her Misdreavus is hidden away in her shadow.

With how long the students have slept for, the morning has already passed by the time they left the school's dormitory.

Many people are out and about, trying to enjoy the festivities surrounding the end of the year celebrations.

And many people are already dressed for the approaching Sinnoh summer.

Like Dawn. She wears a black, sleeveless Piloswine sweater, pink hot pants and a pink scarf. Her Piplup, held in her arms.

The day is bright and sunny and a decent 16°C are predicted for the day.

As they walk across the city, they notice a peculiar thing: Lots of people are walking around with their shiny new poketch wrist watches.

And it is especially peculiar, that they seem to be complaining about a serious lack of features.

Apparently, the newest model comes only with a clock and a calculator app.

Competing companies outside of Sinnoh already have new 'phone'-models with integrated pokedexes, GPS, calling functions and even internet connections.

The current sentiment of the people is that the Platinum League needs to stop protecting the failure of a company, that is Poketch.

"Isn't it weird how we couldn't buy a poketch and suddenly everyone has one and they are shit?" Comments Lucas after an especially disappointed man tosses his poketch in a garbage can.

"Hello there!"

The group is approached by 3 brightly dressed clowns. 

1 woman who stopped them with her high pitched voice, 1 normal-sized man and 1 midget.

All of them are wearing bright orange afro wigs and elaborate clown makeup.

"Why don't each of you take one of our new, celebratory poketch watches!?" The normal sized man follows up.

"All the cool kids are wearing one these days and it'd be even cooler to wear it while you sleep!" The midget finally says with a raspy voice, and hands each of the students a pink or blue poketch watch. 

Blue for the boys, pink for the girls.

'That is a little sussy' This, or something with similar meaning went through the heads of the young people as they took the offered devices with a thanks and continued their stroll.

"Yea, so that's some kind of scam, everyone agrees on that?" Swole asks once they are out of earshot of the clowns.

"Could be industry sabotage." Counters Lucas as he inspects the wristwatch. "Sentiment is noticeably against Poketch with these obvious fakes being circulated. Whoever organized this could have been hired by foreign competition."

Dawn and Barry add themselves to the discussion for a few rounds. Talking about how the price is usually 500₽, how the brand symbol is all wrong and how it's already losing color.

"Dude. What if that was Team Rocket?" Swole eventually states. "The midget could have been their Meowth."

"Dude. Don't be a bigot." Reprimands Barry. "Just because he is short doesn't mean he is a pokemon in a clown costume. Besides, they prefer to be called little people."

"Do they? You don't know any midgets."

"Guys, stop focusing on the midgets." Dawn interrupts. "We should tell an Officer Jenny. They should know, no matter who the clowns are."

"I believe Dawn is correct. An officer of the law should be notified as soon as we can. But how do we find one? And the midget was certainly a Meowth. You need to be blind and deaf not to realize that." Akari's question has everyone stumped. 

How are they supposed to find one? 

They do not possess a telephone to call one.

And they do not know where the local police station is.

And there are so many people around, it would be impossible to just randomly find one.

"Hey, I found one." Barry says. "HELLO! OFFICER JENNY! WE WANT TO REPORT A CRIME!"

Zoey, Swole, Dawn, Lucas and even Akari all look away in absolute shame as Barry makes a scene in public.

---

Swole-POV:

Why?

Why is Barry like this?

Was he dropped as a baby?

Either way, Officer Jenny heard us out, took our trainer IDs in case she needed us again and went to arrest the possible international saboteurs.

I was surprised that none of us were needed to help with the arrest. 

Officially, that is one of our tasks... At least for Dawn, Barry, Lucas and I. 

No clue about Zoey's and Akari's responsibilities. 

Do they even have any income?

Anyway, I didn't want to waste our celebration day, chasing some clowns, so I didn't bring up our responsibilities to Officer Jenny.

The rest of the way to the main plaza was uneventful.

We didn't get accosted by any other kind of suspicious street peddlers. And thus, the nice smells of the carnival foods drove us ever forward.

At the plaza, the place is crowded. 

Too crowded in my opinion. I don't like it.

But the others seem perfectly fine in these crowds. Well, Akari looks a little nervous too.

Buneary insists upon staying on my shoulder for a better overview of our immediate surroundings.

In the distance I can see the truly massive TV screen of Jubilife TV Station. And there are speakers built into the street lamps so we can all hear what's going on right now.

The battle of Cynthia versus Tobias will start in a few hours but ads, commentary and predictions are already being played.

From what I'm hearing, most people think Cynthia will continue her unbeatable record. 

How many years will this be now? Won't this be her 13th year in a row? I'm pretty sure it's 13. She unironically managed to stay the champion for almost as long as I have been alive for.

I really hope she stays the champion. I want to at least have a chance of being the one to beat her.

"Let's play some games before the fight starts!" Shouts Dawn, loud enough that all of us can hear it over the noise of the crowd.

"Which do you want to start with?" I ask and she points out the closest to us.

'Applin maze', is the name.

It's a weird hedge maze. Weird in the way that instead of a hedge, it is brown... vines?

The rules say that a group of people can enter and they must find a hidden Applin within the time limit. The one who touches Applin first is the winner.

Pokemon are allowed to participate with their trainers.

"Sure. Let's all go in together as a group?"

The others nod and we get in line.

...

"You six together?" A teenager, a little older than us, asks.

Lucas handles the talking for our group. 

Earlier, we had democratically selected him to do all the work. 

We would have considered Barry because he was last in the tournament but we agreed that he can't be trusted with that level of responsibility.

Once we enter, I finally understand why this is a challenge.

"Fuck." - "Eeyup."

There are apples everywhere. The ground is littered with heaps of apples. And those are just the heaps we can see from the entrance.

... There is supposed to be 1 single Applin somewhere in the maze.

"Now that's just mean." - "Eeyup."

The walls are moving.

"Thanks for the comedic responses, Zoey." - "Ain't no problemo."

I think they are some pokemon's roots. Like from Ingrain or Growth.

Lucas sits down and gives up. 

Barry starts running around, checking as many heaps as he can.

By checking, I mean he looks at the heaps and then runs to the next. 

Does he even know what an Applin is?

"You're no fun, Lucas." Zoey calls him out and then he gets up and we all try looking through heaps of apples.

...

...

...

Suddenly, the internal walls of the maze come down, giving us a clear view on everything. 

Barry is somewhere on the other side and none of us look like they have found an Applin.

"Too bad." The teenager says with barely hidden boredom. "You didn't find him in time."

"Is he even in the maze?" Lucas asks and from the top of a heap right next to Barry, jumps an apple.

... Indistinguishable from a normal apple, except for 2 tiny eyes in a twin pair of leaves.

"Better luck next year. Only 1 attempt per group."

Prick.

I blame Galar for this. 

Only a region that doesn't have spices would invent a 'game' like this. And no, their curry doesn't count. 

They stole that from Kanto and made it their regional dish.

...

...

...

"What about that game?" Asks Zoey and she points out a pool filled with swimming Ducklett.

The area is roofed over with a carnival gazebo tent. 

All four sides are easily accessible and the woman who owns the stand on a podium in the middle is easily identified by her dress, which is styled after Swanna.

She has her hair styled like the plumage of a Swanna, wears a revealing dress that covers her breasts in two large blue feathers and has two fake wings on her back. 

She's also very tall and wears high heels too.

Pretty hot.

She explains the rules to our group and they seem simple enough. 

You throw a fake pokeball at whatever Ducklett you like the most and if it is carrying a special feather in his or her plumage, you win.

Lucas signs all of us up and I ask for Buneary to also get an attempt. The nice looking lady agrees.

With how many of us are going at it, we are bound to get a prize this time.

I also have one in mind already. 

That cutie with the extra thick baby-blue plumage on her head and chest. 

All of them are at least a little cute, but that one just looks a little more cute and fluffy.

I throw the fake pokeball and hit it with no issues. 

The years of practice-throwing pokeballs that the guys, Dawn and I got as children, are finally paying off.

The fake ball bounces off her head, she looks a little annoyed at that, but dutifully picks up the floating ball and brings it to me.

I pet her a little and inspect her plumage for any strange feathers but find none. Tough luck.

Buneary also has her target picked out. She aims, throws and hits the weakest looking Ducklett of the bunch.

"Did you aim for him?" - ~"Yes." - "Why?" - ~"Emergency food."

Did she just say 'emergency food'?

The little fella apparently heard it too and doesn't want to come closer to us. 

"I swear, we're not going to eat you. She just has weird humor."

"Bunnie." She disagrees.

The Ducklett still has a job to do and eventually swims to us. 

Buneary orders him to present any weird feathers and he scurries away after proving he has none.

"Piplup! Piplup!" - "Yippee! I think I got one!"

"Congratulations! That is a Genius Feather. The second place prize. You get to keep the feather and a big bag of candy." 

The Swanna-lady grabs Dawn's prizes as we gather up to find the next event. 

"And you know what?" She says when she hands over the prize. "Here's a little extra to share with your little friends.

Wow. Thanks!

... But come on. We aren't children.

"Thanks! I promise I won't eat it all alone!" - "Wuhu!"

Well... most of the time we aren't children.

...

...

...

"I suggest we go to this establishment next." Akari points out a... Is that a bar?

There are a few Sinistea and Poltchageist working as waiters and waitresses in an open air bar. 

A Gothorita is acting as their manager while the human barkeeper is interacting with the patrons.

The people sitting there are drinking sake, beer, wine and tea while talking with each other. 

None are drinking anything in excess. Yet. Probably because the fight hasn't even started yet.

I wonder how many people are getting drunk later and accidentally grab a Sinistea or Poltchageist instead of their drinks. 

And does the barkeeper have to chase off drunks who mistake Gothorita for a human goth-girl?

"We can't legally drink yet." Lucas points out the obvious error in Akari's suggestion.

"But could we not drink... illegally?"

"Did you drink before?" I ask.

"Many of times. My father used to make the best sake and wine in the village... But then our fields were burned down and we were relocated to Sinnoh with a few other settlers."

"Settlers?"

"Oh. Uhm, did I say settlers?"

"And you said you were relocated." Adds Barry.

"Huh. Uh... By that, I meant we moved here... From Kanto! Like a normal person would. Hehe. And it was just a few families that went with us. Nothing abnormal. How about we get back to the alcohol later? If it is illegal, we should buy it later in the evening."

If it's illegal, we shouldn't buy it at all. 

But 14 and 16 years old isn't all that different, really... And it's not like we will get shitfaced-drunk... right?

"Uhu. One day I will get the truth out of you." Says Zoey.

Akari directs our attention to the next attraction. Right next to the bar is another game to play.

"Now this is a proper game! And not just badly disguised gambling." Lucas says as we come to a classical throwing game.

Before us is a smooth, wooden counter and a few meters from us are a couple of Moomoo milk bottles stacked on top of each other.

"My favorite game! I hate those bottles!" Shouts Zoey, excited to destroy her family's competition.

Rules say, when you sign up for a game, you get 3 oddly shaped balls to throw and you have to knock over all bottles to win.

By oddly shaped, I mean they are small dark blue balls with tiny blue feet, tiny stitched-in faces and some green leaves on top of their heads.

They are supposed to look like Oddish.

I sign Buneary and myself up for a round but then the guy comes to us. 

"The normal range would be too easy for a pokemon." He says before moving us to the side where there is a whole 10 meter distance between the bottles and us.

"Can you still hit that Buneary?"

~"Easily." She answers confidently.

'Easily', huh? "Well, let's see it then. I will think of a surprise for you if you win this." 

I know I wouldn't be able to hit that. 

Maybe with a lot of luck but that's just such a small target over this distance and only 3 attempts.

Buneary takes up an Oddish and weighs it a little in her paws.

I pick up my own Oddish and throw it against my own, closer target. 

Sweet! 

It hit one of them in the bottom left corner and knocked down a whole bunch of Moomoo milk bottles at once!

Buneary continues to weigh the Oddish and she seems to be really focusing on her target. 

My 2nd throw misses. I shouldn't let myself get too distracted.

For my 3rd and last throw, I take my aim seriously. I still need to knock over 7 bottles. 

Come on Swole... Pretend it's a nice pokemon to capture. Then it's just like the stuff we did as children all the time.

I toss the fake Oddish and... 

Hit! Fuck yea! 

The last 7 bottles tumble over themselves. 

It was a close battle but I managed to win.

Smash... Clatter

Holy shit! 

Buneary absolutely destroyed her target!

She's now smugly standing on the counter and looking down at the others who are still playing. 

Two Oddish-es? No, that sounds odd. -- Two Oddish are still laying at her feet.

"Wow! What a lucky throw!" The guy says. "You can still win more with the other two throws. Let me set up the bottles, alright?"

"Bun!"

I'm not so sure that was luck. "Can you do it again?" She nods eagerly and starts getting her focus back into the game.

This time she doesn't weigh the ball as much. Just quickly checking if it's identical or not.

She goes straight into aiming and into looking angrily at her target. 

She's looking at the Moomoo milk bottles as if they are standing between herself and a nice steak.

She winds her tiny arm back and then I see it. Just for a fraction of a second--

Smash... Clatter

I get pulled out of my musings as the Oddish ball hits the bottles and knocks all of them over again.

"Another lucky throw! You two are not cheating, are you?" 

I think we are. "Nah." Yes. "My Buneary is a pure physical attacker. She doesn't have any projectile moves." She might actually have one now.

"Physical attacker? Are you some kind of battle trainer?"

"I am. I will become the next Sinnoh champion. But this is our first year trying."

"Well. Good luck with that! Have you seen the matches until now? Are you sure your little Buneary can handle that?"

Hey! Fuck you. 

"Bu-bun! Buneary!"

"Yea! Tell him!" That sounded a lot like an insult.

"Ahaha, alright, alright! Calm down, kiddo. You will have to prove me wrong though." He builds up the 3rd stack of Moomoo milk bottles for Buneary to wreck. 

"I will be watching the next Platinum League too. But for now, how about proving those throws weren't just pure luck!"

"Just one more time, Buneary. I believe in you." I say as I give her shoulders a reassuring squeeze. 

I need to play it up a little. I shouldn't let the guy know that we are totally cheating his game. 

I'm pretty sure she is using some kind of move to improve her aim and throwing power, I just don't know which move it is yet.

I have to figure that out later.

It looked a little bit like a fighting type move?

Anyway, Buneary took her sweet time aiming and gathering some type energy again, and just when Buneary's arm started turning darker... And just when the guy was starting to look at us with suspicion, Buneary throws the ball at high speed.

The Oddish ball just barely arcs through the air in an almost straight line and hits the lower, center bottle on the right side. 

This pushes the center bottle to the left and the bottle to the right was grazed by the ball too. The right bottle tumbles over and smacks into the one on the far right side.

All the bottles stacked on top just fell down after their support was knocked aside.

15 bottles, knocked down in 1 throw.

"Well, I'll be damned. 3 throws and 3 first place prizes for the pokemon. And for the trainer 1 first place prize. You can select any item you want from the prize-pool." He points up at a bunch of stuffed pokemon, toys and candy.

The first idea that comes to my mind is a Buneary or Lopunny plushie for Buneary.

... But after seeing the stuffed Lopunny... I have to dismiss it as an option and take the Buneary one instead.

Why does the Lopunny look so sexualized? 

Seriously, they gave her stockings, a far too short schoolgirl skirt and a blouse that only covers the top-half of her torso, showing a lot of stomach.

Oh, Arceus, why?! She is wearing panties too!

How can they offer this as a prize for games where children could be playing?

Normally, Lopunny, like all pokemon, are naked. 

How is it possible that she looks so much more sexualized with clothes, than without any clothes at all?

"I'd like the Buneary plushie for my Buneary." I say to the guy. 

That one is just a smaller, less muscular version of my Buneary.

"Bunnie! Buneary!" Buneary immediately complains about my decision.

"Wait a second please." I turn to Buneary before whispering to her. 

"I'm not getting you the Lopunny plush."

"Bun!"

"Nuh uh."

"Bun! Bune-Buneary."

"Seriously? ... If I get you the Lopunny, you will help me out with the girls?" She nods to that.

I look back at the indecent Lopunny. 

She is a little taller than my Buneary and has bright pink glass eyes with black sclera. 

"We're going to store that in the backpack and not let it out with others around, alright?"

Another nod. 

Arceus damn it.

"Ahem... Could we get the stuffed Lopunny instead?" I say quietly to the guy.

"Do you mean the schoolgirl themed one?! Sure!" He says. Way too loudly. 

Fuck you!

He hands me the questionable children's toy and I cram it into the backpack for later.

Then Buneary hops around and points out different plushies that she wants as her 3 prizes.

She's a genius.

It's a Piplup, a Misdreavus and a Cyndaquil since they didn't have a Quilava.

Perfect gifts for Dawn, Zoey and Akari. "What would I do without you?"

"Swole, what's taking you so long?! We're going to get some snacks for lunch. Are you coming with us?"

---

Narrator-POV:

Swole and Buneary returned to the group to look for food stalls. 

Food was all around them, but as they looked for the 1 thing that all of them wanted, Barry got lost and they had to look for him too.

After finding a frightened Barry in the crowd and reassuring him that they wouldn't have left without him, they then continue to the closest ice cream stand.

It just happens to be the one that Swole had visited before in Floaro Street. 

The owner has moved his stand for the day because the main-plaza sees far more foot traffic today, than the otherwise popular tourist location.

"What does 'harvested ice cream' even mean?" Asks Lucas.

"Oh? You don't know?" Responds Swole, smugly. "Lucas, you should educate yourself a little more. It is a traditional Sinnoh practice where the ice for the ice cream comes from Snover. I can't believe you don't know that kind of thing. Does our traditions mean nothing to you?"

Akari nods along sagely as Swole reprimands Lucas. "He is right. You should read a book on Sinnoh culture, when you get the chance."

This time Swole nods along. 

Even though he had no clue about it either, until he managed to stumble upon the traditional ice cream stand 2 weeks ago.

They all line up together, with their pokemon standing beside them or in some cases being carried. 

Most pokemon have not yet experienced ice cream before, and due to their young age are quite excited for the promised treat.

Buneary, Quilava and Misdreavus are busy herding the other pokemon so they don't cause any trouble.

Quilava and Misdreavus are taking up an active role, chasing the younger pokemon, while Buneary just glares from her spot on Swole's shoulder at any misbehaving pokemon until they stop doing it.

The old owner of the ice cream stand with the weird headband greets Swole and his Buneary as they approach. 

"Oh! It's you 2 again! Let me guess, caramel and hazelnut? How many scoops?"

"You remember us? 2 scoops each, again."

"Of course I remember you. I may be old and brittle but I'm not dement, yet! Haha." 

He laughs as he writes down the order. "I try to remember all my trainer customers because you never know which one might end up famous. And I like the look my grandchildren give me when I tell them that Cynthia's favorite flavor is blueberry."

"You met Cynthia?"

"That's the look I am talking about! Hahaha!" He slaps his knee over his own little joke. 

"14 years ago, exactly, was the first time I met her. Fresh out of trainer school and celebrating with some of her friends and her Gible. She ordered a massive cup of blueberry ice cream because her Gible won the school tournament the day before. What about you? I haven't had the chance to read the news yet. Did you win?"

"It was close. We got third because of Akari." Swole points her out and she looks surprised at being talked about. 

"But we would have beaten the second place and it's not like I can't become the champion just because I lost a school tournament."

"Right you are, Swole." Akari says. "Do not ever give up on your dreams and you shall achieve them eventually. That is what I believe."

"Truer words have never been spoken, young lady. Only those who give up can never win. I assume your pokemon is the Quilava? What will be your order?"

"Do you happen to serve fig flavored ice cream? I would like one scoop for Quilava."

"We have every flavor imaginable! And I will make it 4 scoops. Don't worry about the price, the city pays for the whole event today."

A carnival would be a much less fun event if the people had to cover the costs themselves.

Everything would be overpriced and scams would be rampant. 

A world with an uncaring or effectively bankrupt League would be a truly terrible place to live in. 

The miserable creatures who live in such worlds are just pitiable.

"Oh. Thank you very much." Akari says with a blush of embarrassment over her own financial situation.

They both head to the side as the old man takes a few more orders before he starts the ice-harvest process.

In the back of his little shop, he scrapes flakes of ice off a Snover's head. Then mixes it with Moomoo milk and sugar. 

And another smaller cup uses Gogoat milk instead.

Once the milk has turned cold and creamy, he transfers it to smaller, portion-sized cups and adds the flavor syrup to it.

There is the light brown caramel and hazelnut, Akari's purple-ish red fig flavor and some purple, blueberry flavoring goes into Zoey's Gogoat ice cream.

The blue stuff, 'blue moon flavor', is for Dawn and Piplup, mint goes to Barry's team and cherry is for Lucas and his pokemon.

Swole takes a mental note of the weird coincidence of pokemon choosing flavors based on their own color-palette.

"Here you go!" The old man says and the students grab their ice cream cups. "I look forward to reading you in the news! Don't you dare disappoint!"

"We won't disappoint!" - "You can read about the future champion soon enough!" - "Tell your grandkids about us!" - "Don't die before I'm the next professor, old man."

"Hahaha! I guess you need to hurry up with your success. Death waits for no one. Now, hurry along and get some proper lunch too! You can't be a good trainer on ice cream alone!"

The students laugh at the perceived joke of the old man and head out as they eat and share their ice cream with their pokemon.

However, a healthy lunch was not on their minds at all. After finishing their ice, they went to a small confectionary instead.

There they order the shop's signature cotton-candy-cake. CCC for short.

The base is a large, yeast-risen cake. It is prepared by a human worker with the help of a Fidough - the puppy pokemon.

Fidough is a dog-like pokemon with a doughy consistency, his ears resemble pastries and he has a dewlap of dough growing on his neck that can be repeatedly harvested to refine bread and pastries for a fluffier texture and taste.

His breath also contains yeast that is better, and faster at making dough rise.

The cake base is then covered in cream-frosting, which is provided by Alcremie - the cream pokemon. 

She was evolved from a Milcery with a strawberry candy, and mixed in a way that resulted in a strawberry taste.

And finally, cotton candy as garnish is freshly harvested from Swirlix - the cotton candy pokemon. 

This pokemon only eats sugary foods, even meat must be sweet for her to eat. And she can use the sugar from her food to thicken her fur.

Her fur is effectively cotton candy. It smells like cotton candy, it tastes and melts on your tongue like cotton candy, but it is healthier than cotton candy due to... pokemon-magic.

Nobody knows what exactly makes it healthier and reproducing it in a laboratory has not been successful yet.

The human confectioner puts the 3 parts together and the young customers then get an incredibly good tasting strawberry cake for lunch.

After they stuffed themselves with ice, sweets, treats and niceties, they continued their tour around the plaza. 

To look, and partake in more fun attractions.

Barry raced a couple of young children on a Hippopotas; The safer and child-friendly version of Rhyhorn-racing.

Dawn and Zoey competed in a game of 'dress up Burmy'; A game designed for girls, where they help a Burmy decorate herself with colorful ornaments. 

The winner is decided by the Burmy and Zoey won the competition because the Burmy preferred the goth-girl look over Dawn's pretty-pink-princess design.

And as the final event, they went into a haunted house where ghost pokemon controlled walls and props, to scare children.

Then, announced by the speakers built into every lamppost, the main attraction of the day finally starts.

The long awaited battle between Cynthia Shirona versus Tobias Ryushu!

The battle of the century, as the commentators are calling it already.

Televised, live on the big screen of Jubilife TV Station!

Tobias' legendary Latios versus Cynthia's unbeatable team!

---

Swole-POV:

Oh. My. Arceus!!!

That fight was bloody amazing!

A true once in a lifetime amaze-fest of a battle between some of the greatest trainers to ever live. 

And chances are, that we will never, ever see this kind of a battle ever again.

Tobias comes from Johto, last year he was fighting in Hoenn and this year in Sinnoh. 

Chances are he will leave for some other region next time and we won't see the up-and-coming legend fight against the legendary Cynthia again.

And the grand finale of their battle! 

Latios versus Mega Garchomp. I have never seen such a fight before.

"Holy crap."

"You can say that again!" Shouts Lucas against the cheering crowd.

"Holy crap!"

The crowd is still wild over the battle and fireworks are still going off high in the air.

I'm not sure when, or if, the fireworks for the battle ended and when the ones for New Years started.

Only very few people look disappointed right now: Those must be the gamblers who just lost in a really stupid way. 

Never bet against Cynthia.

Cynthia actually stomped Tobias with her main-team but that's only because he had just 5 pokemon. Cynthia's Roserade, Milotic, Spiritomb and Togekiss all went down while defeating Tobias' Seadra, Dragonite, Flygon and Zweilous.

Her Lucario wasn't even revealed this year until the prize ceremony.

Latios tried his best against Mega Garchomp but the big girl just went ham on his ass with Dragon Rush, after setting up a Sandstorm. 

Latios couldn't even get off the ground with the beast of a dragon hot on his tail.

I wish we could have seen that in person. I can only imagine how impressive the fight would have been in person.

Buneary can already shake up some trees and the ground sometimes with her strongest attacks but Mega Garchomp must have made the whole arena shake with every move. 

The air, reverberating with every of her counters.

"Are you excited too?" I ask Buneary and she nods with fervor.

This fight really pumps me up. 

On Monday, our adventure will finally begin for real. 

"Bun! Buneary!" She says.

"It wasn't just amazing. It was super amazing! And in one year, it's going to be us on the big screen!"

A tap on my shoulder snaps me out of my amazement.

"Come on, Swole! We're going shopping for some alcohol!" Dawn got caught up in the excitement too and doesn't care anymore about Akari pulling us into a life of crime.

Well, very small scale crime. But still crime, nonetheless. 

"Alright. I'm coming."

---

Together, we went into a nearby convenience store. 

We put beer, cider, wine and sake into a shopping cart, gave Akari a bunch of money and she bought the booze for us. 

Akari looks the oldest and was most likely to get away with it.

Beer for us guys, cider for Zoey, wine for Dawn and sake for Akari.

Luckily, the clerk didn't care about his job.

He was watching the replays on a little TV in front of him and just waved Akari through after getting the money without checking her ID first.

From the shocked murmurs coming from the display, it must have been the scene of Spiritomb one-shotting Dragonite. 

The commentators had been certain that Spiritomb's Destiny Bond would be saved up for Latios.

If our plot to buy the alcohol hadn't worked, we could still have asked someone else to buy it for us. 

Most people wouldn't mind a little bit of underage drinking today.

The laws around underage anything are fucked up anyways, and the League should fix them.

I can risk my life as a trainer, but I can't take up a safe and cushy office job.

I can get drafted as a soldier in a war, but I can't legally drink alcohol.

I can legally start a family and have sex, but I can't gamble in casinos.

The laws just don't make sense.

"Watcha thinking about?"

Huh? "What?"

"You've been gone for a while now. Monologuing again? About what?" Dawn asks again.

Have I? 

Oh yea! 

We already made it back to the dorm kitchen, where Akari, Zoey, Barry and Lucas are making a couple of snacks for the group.

Dawn already got a glass of wine and we sit down, out of the way of the others.

"Uhhh, underage laws. Officially we're adults with 14, right? But we can't drink or have a normal job until 16. That sucks."

"Huh. You're right. I never really thought about it before." She says as she takes a sip from a glass of wine and pulls a face in disgust. 

"Well, why would you want a normal job? They suck? But if you do become the pokemon champion, you could make it legal for trainers to drink with 14."

"When."

"What?"

"When I become the champion. Not if."

"Pfft. Yea yea. When." She laughs out loud.

Wow! 0 confidence in me! "You know? I've been thinking. My fight against Akari was pretty close. Maybe Buneary and I should focus on ourselves and not spar with Piplup anymore... What do you think about that?"

"Hahaha. Alright, you will definitely become the next champion. Will you please continue to train with us?"

"And! Barry will eat my dust."

"Sure. And Barry will eat your dust. Haha."

"Hmmmm... Buneary, what do you think?"

She looks to be deep in thought and Dawn starts sweating about her response after a dozen seconds of waiting.

In retrospect, it's not like focused training would have made such a huge difference against Quilava. 

It's just unlucky that our sparring was just tangentially applicable against her.

And if we can get Piplup up to speed, then we can spar more effectively too. 

It's a win-win for both of us.

Eventually, Buneary nods her head and gives Dawn the evil grin of someone who just pulled off a prank successfully.

"Whew. Thank you! I wouldn't know how to keep up with Zoey without you both." She says as she takes another swig from her wine.

"No problem. Oh, by the way, we got you a gift from the carnival games."

"You did?! Show me! Show me!" She leans forward and almost knocks her glass over with her boobs.

"Alright! Alright! Calm your tits."

I reach into my backpack while Dawn leans back and blushes. 

I pull out the first plushie I grab but quickly push it back in when I see the brown fur.

With a little more focus I manage to grab the fake Piplup.

"Piplup! Piplup!" - "Oh my Arceus! You got me a Piplup plushie!? Thank you so much! He is sooo cuuute!"

"Piplup!"

"Of course you are cuter. But now I have 2 cute Piplups to cuddle with!"

I look over to Buneary. 

An image of Buneary and I, cuddling in bed with the Lopunny flashes through my mind. 

I quickly purge that thought before I get a boner.

"Welp, gotta go." I say.

"No, wait! Here, you can have some of my sweets." She digs through her bag until she pulls out the smaller bag of sweets that she won at the carnival.

She opens it and inside are even more smaller bags of candy. She pulls out 2 of them and holds 1 out for me to take.

"Thank you. What kind are they?" I grab the offered bag.

"I shouldn't be eating so many sweets anyway."

"You're right. They are unhealthy."

"And I don't want to get fat." She says but she keeps holding on to the bag of sweets tightly.

"Then let go."

"What?"

"Let go."

"You let go."

"I thought you wanted to give me the sweets."

"I do... Just... Like... Rip it away. Like a band aid-- NOO! My candy!" 

I overcome her weak, womanly grip with a quick and sudden tug.

Inside the bag are individually wrapped Sniggers, Saturn and Andro-Meda chocolate bars as well as a large, flat Hishe's chocolate bar and Ice Balls: The off-brand version of Zinkies.

Personally, I prefer Ice Balls. They are a little more refreshing than Zinkies.

"Do you want a Snigger? You're not yourself when you're hungry."

"Sniff. Yes, please."

"Here you go." I unwrap a Snigger for her and she devours it straight out of my hand. 

Like some sort of Impidimp. 

"Are you alright?"

Dawn pauses for a bit before saying, "... This never happened." Then she gets up and goes to refill her glass of wine. 

My laughter accompanied her all the way.

---

After we finished preparing snacks for the evening, we all moved from the public kitchen to our private boys' bedroom. 

The thought of getting drunk in public, where there were potential witnesses behind every corner, especially when we weren't allowed to get drunk, didn't seem like the brightest idea.

In the end, I found myself downing a couple of cold ones with the guys. 

The bitter taste of our first, cheap beer was hard to swallow, and I couldn't help but voice my displeasure. 

"Disgusting," I mutter. 

"Why do people drink this? It's like drinking poison. No, it is poison!" Replies Barry.

"Don't be such pussies. It's not that bad." Lucas replies before downing the rest of his beer and almost puking right then and there from the taste alone.

Zoey comes to our rescue! Bottles of cider held high in her hands. "Ya'll should try this instead." 

After a few drinks, her Solaceon accent has started to come through.

I hope she didn't get bullied in Snowpoint City for that.

Lucas isn't convinced. "Go away with that girly drink. We guys stick with bitter and manly beer! Right, Barry?"

"Right you are, Lucas," Barry agrees, though the regret was clearly visible in his expression as he forced down another sip of the bitter brew.

"Hey, Zoey... Actually, I picked up a gift for you at the fair... um, it's over there!" I point to the direction where I had stashed the Misdreavus plush.

We split away from the guy-group surrounding Lucas's bed.

The girls are currently all over my bed, talking about gossip and boys, I bet. 

Barry's bed in the middle, remains unoccupied, so we move there for some privacy.

"Zoey, you need to save me from this... this piss water!" I say. "I can't drink anymore of that shit."

"B--Buneary!" Buneary chimes in with her own input.

"Watcha sayin', Buneary?" Zoey tries to understand Buneary's response, but she ultimately couldn't. 

And probably not only because of our current state of inebriation.

According to mom, many trainers eventually learn to understand their own pokemon to varying degrees. 

For some, it's like talking to a human; for others, it's merely distinguishing 'yes' from 'no.' 

But I think understanding another trainer's pokemon is a whole different challenge.

"I think she wants to try a sip." I say, observing Buneary for a moment. "I mean, I know pokemon can digest everything a human can... But is that really such a smart idea?"

"Haha! Are ya tellin' me, that we all get to be drinkin' but she don't? How's that any fair?"

"You know what? You're right! Here you go, Buneary. But I already told you that it tastes bad, so you don't get to complain."

Buneary confidently took a sip from my beer bottle and her reaction was priceless. 

Her nose wrinkled, and she quickly shook her head, her fluffy ears bouncing in the process.

Zoey and I burst into laughter at Buneary's reaction. "Well, Buneary, I guess you've learned a valuable lesson today." I chuckle, patting her head. "Beer sucks."

"How 'bout ya try cider instead?" Zoey suggests, passing her bottle to Buneary. 

Buneary took a more cautious sip this time, her ears perking up at the taste. 

"Does it taste good?"

She went in for another, larger swig and seems to enjoy this a lot more than the beer.

I look around the room.

Barry leans in closer to Lucas, still displaying his distaste. "You know, Lucas, maybe this beer isn't so bad after all." He says, but his face still shows clear disgust.

Lucas nods in agreement, though a hint of pain remains in his eyes. "Yeah, you might be onto something, Barry. It's an acquired taste, as they say."

On the other side of the room, Dawn, now increasingly getting more and more drunk, complains to Akari about the poor performance of the Poketch company.

She desperately wants the newest model to take photos, especially of Zoey and me, who are supposedly too deep in conversation to notice them.

"I mean, she even pulled her pants off! That is perfect blackmail material for later. Just look at them... actually, don't look. I think Swole hears us."

"I do!"

And my view moves down to Zoey's bare legs and her black panties with a red bow on it. 

My view stays a little too long and now I'm stuck with a boner now. 

Shit.

"So," Zoey eventually says and gets me to look up again. "Well, I reckon that gift was just a lie, and ya we're aimin' for some private talk with me, weren't cha?"

"Uhhhh, oh! Oh! Right! I actually got something for you." I got up, feeling a bit flustered, and almost stumbled as I retrieved the Misdreavus plush from my backpack. 

I also take a short moment to realign my junk so it won't be immediately visible.

"Tada! Buneary and I won a bunch of prizes at the fair, and we thought this would be a good gift for you."

This is technically correct.

"Oh, so that's what that was all about, with you and Dawn earlier. Y'all got her a gift too, huh? Well, I reckon I know just the perfect gift to give in return."

She then gets up from the bed and grabs me by my head.

Then, she moves in and plants a big smooch on my mouth, but she pulls back far too soon!

"So, this here was what ya we're aimin' for with that surprise present, wasn't it? Ya sly dog! Hahaha!"

Then she just leaves and returns to the other girls.

I was left stunned for a moment before returning to Barry and Lucas.

"Buneary, you're an absolute genius."

"B... Bun" she slurs, clearly affected by just one bottle.

It's best to stop her from drinking further, so I take her almost empty bottle away and drink her rest. 

Hey, that's pretty good.

"That's enough for you. I don't want you to get sick."

"B... Bun"

---

From that point on, everything started to become a little blurry. 

The guys and I drink some more. 

Barry and Lucas, too drunk to notice that I switched to cider, and the girls are gossiping and playing spin the bottle on the other side of the room.

Most of the pokemon were left to their own devices for the evening. 

They ate junk food, played around and eventually tuckered themselves out and went to sleep in the corner of the room in a big, cute pile.

Quilava and Misdreavus were occasionally getting some sips to drink from Akari and Zoey. And Buneary got some more from me whenever she asked, my earlier resolve to not let her have any more entirely ignored.

Because the pokemon were enjoying some nice petting and cuddling with their trainers the whole evening.

Including Buneary, who became a lot more cuddly after drinking. On her own, she curled up in my lap and let me pet her.

I catch Dawn looking at us a few times in jealousy because Piplup is too young to drink and he is fast asleep in the pokemon pile by now.

"Grrrr!" Buneary even growls at me whenever I stop petting her!

"So cute!" I say.

...

... Did Akari just tell us something? I think I heard her say something. 

Something about not needing to finish all the alcohol we bought. 

Is she worried about us?

"We're fine! Right guys!?"

"Right! The beer finally tastes good too!" - "We can't let the alcohol go bad!"

I think I forgot to give Akari something... But I just can't remember what, no matter how much I try.

... Woah! Holy crap!

"Wuhu!" I whistle and move Barry's and Lucas' attention to what's going on, on the other side of the room.

For no reason at all, Zoey just started making out with Dawn and then with Akari right after.

My eyes are kinda heavy but I need to stay awake and view the spectacle. 

This is something I want to remember for the rest of my life.

The details are getting a little clearer now. 

Zoey is all over Akari's mouth right now. 

Her arms wrapped around her neck and they are hugging tightly.

Akari's pretty, steel-blue eyes are wide in shock, and she seems to try to halfheartedly push Zoey off herself.

Buneary starts to move a little. Is she asleep? Maybe she has a nightmare? 

I better continue petting her or she gets angry again.

After, like, half an hour of them making out, Zoey sadly lets go of Akari and says, "Well, this is what... what I had done with him. Now I reckon I get to spin again."

"Nuh uh!" Says Dawn. "I saw it! You just gave him a peck on the mouth! Not this! Now you need to do it like that or else it doesn't count!"

"Alriiight, hiccup! I'm not losing again!"

Zoey then gets up from the--... from my bed and stumbles over to us.

She is only dressed in her underwear. Another little red bow between the cups of her bra.

All of a sudden, she grabs Buneary from my lap and plants herself down instead!

"Huh? Holy Arceus!" My boner is about to rip through my pants and she is sitting right on little Swole with only her panties and bra on.

Her ruby eyes lock into mine. 

The smells of cider, sweat and a hint of blueberry enters my nose.

Then she puts her arms around my body and hugs me... before sticking her tongue in my mouth!

Holy Arceus and Mew!

My eyes widen in surprise and take in every detail of Zoey's face. 

Her slight tan, a few barely noticeable freckles, her wild, red hair, her perfect nose and her closed eyes.

Her tongue is moving all over my mouth, my teeth and my own tongue... 

I'm supposed to move my tongue too!

I move my own tongue, scraping past hers and taking in the taste of cherry from her lips. 

The inside of her mouth tastes of apple cider.

I take in the shape of her molars. 

She closes her mouth a little, trapping my tongue between her incisors.

I try the same and she lets out a moan into my mouth. The moan's vibrations, passing through her mouth into mine.

I move my arms behind her back and neck and pull her in tighter.

Her mouth lets my tongue move again and I re-attack her with fervor. Pushing my tongue deeper and wrestling against hers.

My heart beats heavy in my chest and I feel Zoey's heart beat just as hard against my body.

Her hands explore downwards and end up grabbing my ass, I lean further into her and move my own hands down.

All of a sudden, she pulls back.

My eyes shoot back open and I see a widely grinning Zoey. 

Her ruby eyes locking back into mine and I take a deep breath. 

She leans back but is still locked in my embrace. Her own arms are still wrapped behind my back too and she gives my ass another squeeze.

I take a deep breath. 

I forgot to breathe the whole time and she is heaving and breathing heavily too. 

Her chest rises and falls. The little red bow on her bra moving in tandem with her breasts.

"Holy Arceus."

"Haha! Yer can say that again!" She says as she extracts herself from our embrace and waddles back over to the other side of the room, giving me one last wink before sitting down with the girls. "I say ah won that round!"

"Holy Arceus!" I shout and the girls start laughing.

Buneary grumbles a little in annoyance, but she still returns to her place on my lap. 

She pokes a wet spot on my trousers and glares at Zoey for some reason but eventually curls up and lets herself be pet again.

Where did it even come from? Did I spill some of my drink earlier?

"Damn dude." - "Wicked."

Barry and Lucas say... or was it Lucas and Barry?

Anyway, this requires celebration! 

I think I will try some of that sake that Akari brought in!