11

"Extreme Pokémon Home Makeover"

A sequel to "The Amazing Pokémon Race"

By Joseph "Maniac" Cirillo III

Episode 1

Writer's Note: What you're about to read is my vision of a Pokémon themed reality television show which could take place in the real world. In certain cases, the names of real people, or people associated with Nintendo or The Pokémon Company may be used. This work is entirely fictional and is protected as parody under the First Amendment.

The scene opens on a beautifully lit spring morning. The birds are chirping all around, as the camera pans through a quaint little home's front yard. As the sun rises in the eastern sky, we see the suburban neighborhood the quaint home inhabits is still asleep, because all of the lights inside are still turned off.

A familiar face inside one of the television vans parked next to the home began to speak, "Welcome, everyone! I'm Bill from Nintendo, joining you all once again. After the incredible success of our previous series, The Amazing Pokémon Race, we decided to give you guys a brand-new Pokémon show! Welcome to Extreme Pokémon Home Makeover!"

The opening theme from Pokémon Red & Blue began to play in the background as Bill hopped out of the van and onto the house's front lawn. Microphone in hand, Bill walked across the fresh green lawn up to the house's front door.

Raising his microphone, Bill set the scene for the television audience, "Inside this house is an unsuspecting duo currently unaware of what we are about to do for them. You may remember them as the winners of last year's Great Pokémon Journey, they were the members of Team Five, Trainer White and Trainer Black."

Several video highlights from Trainer Black and Trainer White's Pokémon Journey began to flash on the screen. There were the hard times, when Trainer Black had to assist Trainer White through the Eiffel Tower due to Trainer White's debilitating fear of heights, and the good times, when Trainer White won the Pokkén Tournament challenge against Trainer Red and Trainer Blue of Team One at the show's grand finale.

"Trainer White and Trainer Black were an inseparable couple brought together by their mutual love of the Pokémon franchise. Since winning they have gotten married and let me tell you, it was an adorable wedding...provided with a little help from yours truly."

We cut to footage of Trainer Black and Trainer White's wedding. It was an enormous ceremony, held in a beautiful banquet hall. Pokémon decorations adorned the venue, making the hall look like the guests were actually in the Pokémon world. The bride and groom were both dressed as their Generation Five namesakes. As the ceremony began, Bill stood behind Trainer Black, dressed as the best man, and handed Trainer Black their wedding rings.

The show cut back to the present as Bill walked up to the front step of the sleepy suburban house.

Bill knocked gently on the door and continued to fill the viewers in on the unsuspecting couple's troubles, "Since getting married, these two Pokémon Trainers have fallen on hard times. Neither of them have been able to find steady employment, and because of that they have been forced to live with their folks. Not exactly the best situation for a newly married couple, but we have an enormous surprise for the both of them that should solve all of their problems. Let's see if we can make their day a lot better!"

Bill knocked again and the door slowly opened. Trainer Black stood in the door groggily dressed in only his pajamas. As he wiped the sleep out of his tired eyes, he slowly began to realize what was happening.

Trainer Black looked up at the host and said, "Bill?"

Bill nodded and said, "That's right."

Trainer Black looked suspiciously at the camera crew behind Bill and then looked back at Bill and asked, "What's going on?"

Bill smiled and said, "Congratulations, you're on Extreme Pokémon Home Makeover!"

Trainer Black's eyes widened and he called out to his wife, "Honey, come out here! Bill's here!"

Trainer White came to the door dressed in an adorable one-piece pajama suit, made up to look like a Charmander. She looked at her husband and asked, "What's going on honey?"

Trainer Black looked over to Bill as if to ask the same thing.

Bill looked at the newly married couple and said, "Since you two have been such loyal Pokemaniacs, to celebrate the incredible success of Pokémon Go and the upcoming release of Pokémon Sun and Moon on the Nintendo 3DS, we are going to find you two the house of your dreams and make it over in Pokémon style!"

The groggy couple's eyes immediately perked up.

Trainer White smiled and asked, "We're going to get a house?"

Bill nodded and said, "Yes, but not just any house, we're going to make you the definitive home for any Pokémon Trainer!"

The two cheered and hugged each other tightly. After they concluded their hug, they both ran over and hugged Bill in unison. Bill was surprised by the sudden group hug but welcomed it and hugged them back.

After the hugging concluded, Bill told the trainers what was going to happen, "Before we deliver you the perfect Pokémon Trainer home, we first need to find you a home that is going to serve as the basis for it, and that means we're going to need to do some house hunting! To help you with your house hunting, we have retained the advisement of one of the best home sellers on TV. You may remember him as the host from HGTV's Love it or List It, David!"

On cue, the co-host of Love it or List It walked into the house. David smiled at the couple and introduced himself, "My name is David, and the people from Pokémon asked me to come down here to help you guys find the house of your dreams. My question for you both is what are you looking for in a new house?"

Trainer Black spoke first, "Well I would like a modern house with plenty of space. I like to host LAN Parties…"

David cut him off and said, "Wait, what…LAN Parties? What are LAN Parties?"

Trainer Black nodded and said, "Well they're a party where a bunch of people get together to play video games. We usually bring our PCs, HDTVs, and game consoles to one person's house, and spend all night playing games together using WiFi and some network cable. It's still a lot faster than playing games over the internet, and you don't need to have a headset for voice chat since the other player is in the same room with you. Most recently we've been playing a lot of Pokkén Tournament…"

David continued to look puzzled so he asked, "Right. So what would you need to make that a reality?"

Trainer Black thought for a second and responded, "A large room with a lot of space, like a big den, would do the trick. If the room had a bar with a mini-fridge we could use to keep sodas and energy drinks chilled, that would be a plus."

David nodded and said, "Okay. That can be done."

Trainer White spoke next, "I'm not as much of a fan of modern homes as my husband. I would like an older house, preferably a charming Victorian one with an enormous walk-in closet and a master bathroom with claw-foot tub!"

David responded, "Wow, you two are not even on the same chapter, let alone the same page when it comes to house hunting, are you?"

The couple nodded uncomfortably.

David just smiled and said, "It's okay, I'll try to split the difference. Is there anything else?"

"Finally," Trainer Black said, "regardless of what house we get, we're also going to need good internet service and cellular reception."

Trainer White nodded and said, "Absolutely. If I can't get good cell phone reception in the area I don't want to even look at the house."

David's eyes widened and said, "Wow! That is probably the most unusual set of requests I have ever received in the years I've been finding homes for people. I'm sure my co-host Hillary would have a lot to say about all that if she was here. Well, I've got three houses to show you today, so pack up your Pokedexes and Poke Balls, we are headed on an all-new journey to find you the ultimate Pokémon Trainer house!"

The entire crew cheered for the lucky couple as they rushed into their bedroom to get dressed for the day.

The couple changed out of their pajamas and into their familiar Pokémon Trainer gear. Trainer White looked nearly identical to her GEN 5 namesake, wearing black sneakers with pink laces, jean shorts, a white tank top and black vest. Trainer Black decided wearing a heavy blue coat was not going to be such a good idea during a hot summer day, so he chose instead to wear his Ash Ketchum hat with jeans, sneakers, and a black shirt.

Once dressed, the two rushed back into their living room where David was waiting with the television crew to fill them in on what he had found, "As you guys were getting dressed I found three great houses in your area that meet your prerequisites perfectly, and all of them are in your area. I already called the local internet providers and confirmed they will service each of these houses with something called gigabit high-speed fiber optic, so hopefully that meets your internet service request."

Trainer Black nodded and said, "It does."

"That's good," continued David, "because unfortunately we'll have no way to know how good a home's cellular reception will be until we get there. So what do you say we head to house number one?"

The couple smiled and raced outside to check out the first house. David drove them to a home located about five minutes away. The house looked enormous and from the outside it appeared as if it perfectly suited Trainer Black's request for a modern home. As they pulled into the driveway, Trainer Black checked to see if he could get any cellular reception on his iPhone, and he was happy to see his phone was picking up five full bars of 4G.

Trainer White looked at her phone and confirmed she was getting full cellular coverage as well. She looked over at the camera and said, "Well that's one request down, hopefully David can deliver on the others."

As they walked in, David began his tour, "This home was going to be put up for a private sale, but the buyer passed on it. It was built very recently and should have all the modern amenities a young couple like you need. Note the brand new stone floors all throughout the first floor."

With the camera crew following closely behind him, the three walked into the kitchen.

"First up, we have a brand-new kitchen with gas appliances and granite countertops. It also has plenty of cabinet space for all your dishes and cups."

Trainer Black nodded and said, "That's good, I really like cooking and it'll be great to finally have my own kitchen."

David nodded and the three walked into the living room. It wasn't very big but it could fit a large TV and a decent sized couch. Unfortunately, that looked like that would be all it could fit.

Trainer Black spoke up, "This room looks a bit tricky, David. It's too small to fit guests for a LAN Party but it's also too open to put something like surround sound in here."

David nodded and said, "Understood, hold that thought and let's move on."

The crew moved upstairs. First, David showed them a spare bedroom and said, "Spare bedroom, it could be used as a guest room or…"

Trainer White smiled in anticipation for what David was about to say.

David concluded his sentence, "…you could use it as an office."

Trainer White's smile faded slightly but she nodded in compliance with David.

The three then walked into the master bedroom. The room was undoubtedly the biggest bedroom in the house, with plenty of space for a California King bed, a large HDTV, and a 7.1 surround sound system.

Trainer White nodded and said, "This looks good, does it have a walk in closet?"

David turned and said, "Right over here, miss."

David walked over to a sliding door and pulled it open. Inside was an enormous walk-in closet prefinished with plush carpeting. The walls were adorned with empty shoe shelves and coat racks for dresses.

Trainer White smiled big and said, "Honey I think I want to live in this room."

Trainer Black nodded in compliance.

After showing the couple the house's three bathrooms, David had one final surprise to share with the married couple, and he led them downstairs to the house's lowest floor.

The modern home's basement was fully finished and provided more than enough open space for any LAN Party Trainer Black had in mind.

Trainer Black smiled and said, "Wow, this is perfect. I could set up bean bag chairs and my friends would be able to fit all the gaming equipment they'd need. Of course if we all wanted to play Pokémon games, we'd all have to be down here. I don't know if we'd be able to get a stable 3DS wireless signal out of this room."

David nodded and said, "I'm glad the room fit your specifications for size. Sadly there is no bar or fridge in here, but I'm sure you'd be able to install one without much fuss."

The couple nodded, and David brought them outside to discuss what they thought about the house.

Trainer Black spoke first, "It's a good house but it has some problems. The living room is just too small, and it doesn't work if I wanted to install surround sound or a projector in there. Plus the finished basement is nice, but I'd still need to install a bar and fridge. My friends would be able to play games down there, but with the house configured the way it is we'd all be stuck in that one room for the whole night."

Trainer White voiced her concerns, "I loved the master bedroom but the house itself is not really my style, and there's only one guest bedroom."

David nodded and said, "All concerns understood. Are you ready to see your next house?"

The young couple nodded and in a flash, David drove them to their next destination, a beautiful Victorian home that looked like it had been built a hundred years ago.

David smiled at Trainer White and said, "Is this not the quintessential Victorian House?"

Trainer White smiled and said, "Yes it is."

She pointed to the top tier of the house and said, "The roof kind of reminds me of Lavender Town's Pokémon Tower."

David looked at the couple and said, "I'm glad you like the outside. Let's go in, shall we?"

Before going inside, Trainer Black checked the cellular connection on his iPhone. He held up his phone's screen at the closest camera and said, "I'm only getting half the signal I was getting at the other house. I don't know how I feel about that, it could work fine, or it could just go out at any time. I don't know if we'll be able to play Pokémon Go."

The three headed into house number two and immediately David guided them into the house's kitchen. In comparison to house number one, the kitchen was much smaller with older appliances.

Trainer White voiced her interest, "This is quaint."

Trainer Black nodded his disapproval, "This kitchen is not very big, honey. The appliances will all have to be updated, and even if we did that, cooking in here is going to be cramped."

David explained, "This kitchen is original to the house, but if you don't like it we can move on."

The three headed out of the kitchen and into the Victorian house's living room.

As they walked into the living room, David commented, "This is a very large living room. It should be able to fit a decent sized home theatre system just fine."

The married couple nodded their approval, and then the three moved on upstairs.

As they headed upstairs, David explained the upstairs layout, "There are five bedrooms on the second floor, including the master bedroom."

Trainer White responded, "Wow, five bedrooms. A lot we could do with that..."

David opened the door to the master bedroom and the couple was just taken away by its overwhelming size. It looked as if it had been designed for a royal family, with big windows filling up one of the room's walls and a working fireplace. The attached bathroom even had the home's original claw foot tub.

Trainer White looked around the room and asked, "I love the tub, but is there a walk-in closet?"

David answered, "This master bedroom doesn't have a walk-in closet, but you could easily convert one of the spare bedrooms into a boudoir."

Trainer White said, "Well, I do have a lot of shoes…I may need an entire bedroom just to fit them all."

Trainer Black just rolled his eyes when he heard his wife say that.

As the tour concluded Trainer Black asked, "What about a LAN party area, David?"

David answered, "There is no finished basement, so your friends will need to party in the living room."

Trainer Black nodded and said, "That shouldn't be too much of a problem. I'm just a little worried about what might happen when we start opening up these walls. Who knows how old the wiring is in a place like this?"

David responded, "Well, I'm sure we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Let's head out, because I have one final house to show you. This next one has a special surprise I think you both will love."

The three headed out of the older home and headed back into David's car.

As they left, Trainer White said, "I really like this house, honey."

Trainer Black just laughed and said, "Oh I know you do, but I'm curious what David's going to show us next."

The three drove away from the Victorian home and drove about twenty minutes away. As the car stopped, the trio got out of the car and the married couple remarked just how quiet the area they were in was. As they walked on a path to the house, the only sounds that could be heard were the chirps of tweeting birds nesting in the trees above them.

Trainer White remarked, "These paths would be perfect for finding Pokémon while playing Pokémon Go. I feel like I could take a hike every morning and find new Pokémon every time."

Finally the path came to an end and the home revealed itself to be a beautiful log cabin which looked big enough to be a commercial lodge. The house appeared to be made from local logs, as the home's exterior perfectly matched the color of the natural trees around it. In fact, the entire home blended perfectly with the beautiful scenery around it.

Trainer Black checked his cell phone and was surprised to see that he still had five full bars of 4G coverage. Surprised, he showed his phone to David and David told him, "This area hadn't had cell phone reception for the longest time, but the providers brought in new cell phone transmitters last year and the coverage is perfect."

Trainer White checked her phone and confirmed her coverage was good as well. It was nice to see that such a secluded area still had all the modern amenities of civilization.

David opened the door and began his speech, "Your husband told me that he wanted a modern home and your wife told me she wanted an older home, so I thought this beautiful log cabin home could split the difference. Don't let its appearance fool you, it was built fairly recently, and has all of the modern amenities and the beautiful style you both wanted."

The three walked into a large entryway which provided access to the living room, kitchen and dining room. David began to show the couple around the house's kitchen and said, "This kitchen has been recently refurbished with gas appliances and granite countertops."

Trainer Black looked around and saw that the kitchen was not only beautiful, the stone countertops blended beautifully with the house's enchanting design. There was plenty of space for either of them to cook, and tons of space for all their cups and dishes.

In an unusual move, David decided to show the couple the upstairs of the house first before revealing the rest of what was on the first floor, "This main stairway leads to the house's four bedrooms. Let me show you the guest rooms first."

Each guest room appeared to be identical, capable of fitting a decent sized desk, bed and television stand. Trainer Black nodded as he looked at the room's configuration, knowing he could easily set up each room with surround sound if he needed to.

After the young couple saw the house's third bedroom, David said, "This house has one amazing master bedroom. Let's take a look at it right now."

The three walked into an enormous master bedroom looked big enough to fit a California King bed and still provide enough room to fit a 70" curved 4K UHDTV and 7.1 Home-Theater system. Trainer Black nodded silently as they walked in.

David smiled and said, "I don't think I need to say anything about this master bedroom that you don't already see in front of you. Oh and Trainer White, your walk-in closet is right over here."

David slid open a hidden door and Trainer White was immediately floored when she saw the closet's size. It was nearly the size of one of the house's guest bedrooms, and had plenty of shelves for all her clothes and shoes.

Trainer White slowly took a few steps into the closet and was smiled when she felt the closet's soft plush carpeting under her feet. After Trainer White left the closet, David pointed to the second door in the master bedroom and said, "I'm glad you liked that, now what do you say you take a look at your master bathroom?"

As soon as she saw the room, Trainer White's eyes lit up and she said, "Honey, it has a claw foot tub!"

David nodded and said, "This master bathroom has a claw foot tub and separate shower, with his and hers sinks. We're not done here yet, because I have more to show you."

The three walked down the stairs and David said, "The house has a fully finished basement, but you will need to wire it for surround and put in a bar yourself."

Trainer Black nodded in compliance. Then, with an enormous air of confidence, David said, "And now, let me show you the surprise bonus room I have for you."

Suddenly the three walked into an enormous room that took their breath away.

David saw the couple's reaction and said, "This is the den. As you can see it should be big enough to accommodate all of your friends for those LAN Parties you want to have. It has several enormous windows all along the left side providing an excellent view of the outdoor landscape. To top it all off, we have this beautiful original fireplace made of natural stones."

Trainer Black was barely able to get his words out, "Honey, I don't think I would want to put a TV or a surround sound system in here, but our Pokémon dolls would go perfectly with this room. I think this would work best as a library and reading room."

Trainer White nodded and said, "Well, it looks like we have a place to put all of your strategy guides and all of my art books."

David could tell the couple was still processing the three houses and so he said, "I can see you two are speechless, so why don't you discuss the three houses you saw while I lock up?"

During the drive back to their parents' home, the couple started talking about the houses they saw. Trainer White spoke first and said, "Any one of those houses would make for the perfect Pokémon home."

Trainer Black responded, "Yes, but we need to pick one, so why don't we try to narrow it down?"

Trainer White nodded and said, "I loved the Victorian house, it was like something out of my dreams when I was a little girl."

Trainer Black shook his head and said, "Yes, but it didn't have your walk-in closet, or decent cellular reception. Plus who knows how much we will have to deal with when we start renovating it? There could be old wiring, and who knows if the house is up to modern building codes?"

Trainer White shook her head and said, "You're probably right, so what about the log cabin?"

Trainer Black smiled and said, "It may be designed like a log cabin but it has a kind of a modern feel about it and I really like that. Plus it had everything you wanted, minus the Victorian style."

Trainer White put her arms around her husband and said, "It did, would you be willing to give up your dream of a modern house to compromise on this?"

David's car finally pulled into the driveway, and the three got out and walked back inside. As Trainer Black started to make coffee for everyone, David went over to talk with Bill about how the day went. Trainer Black finished the pot of coffee, and started handing cups to everyone on the crew who wanted one.

Coffee in hand, David finally asked the question, "Have you decided on which house you were going to pick?"

Trainer White held Trainer Black tightly and said, "We've decided we're going to go with the log cabin home."

David nodded and said, "Well congratulations, the lodge is a perfect home for a young couple like you two! I will start the paperwork immediately, this house will be yours soon."

Suddenly a familiar person walked into the room and said, "And that's not all!"

The familiar person entered the light and was revealed to be Bill from Nintendo.

Once Bill was clearly visible he said, "This place may be great, but we still need to give it an Extreme Pokémon Makeover! Tune in next time, because we're going to be building this couple the ultimate Pokémon themed pool!"

The couple smiled in glee, they had no idea they would be getting a new pool with the house.

Pleased with the excited faces he was seeing, Bill looked back at the camera and said, "That's all for us from Extreme Pokémon Home Makeover. I'd like to thank David from HGTV's Love it or List It for joining us today, and all of our wonderful crew. From all of us here, I'm Bill from Nintendo, thanks for watching!"

To Be Continued