If someone were to listen close outside of the poffin house in Hearthome city at around ten o'clock at night on this particular week, one would hear what could only be described as chaos.

Shouting. Explosions. Odd techno tunes. More shouting.

It could be likened to a war-zone, after all, why would such a quaint little building offer up such hectic noise? A tough question perhaps, but a question that needed answers none the less. Or so thought one red-capped individual who happened by. Well, perhaps 'happened by' isn't the phrase here; 'purpose-driven' would be more appropriate.

Lucas Kouki was a busy person, what with being champion and all, but even he had time to treat his Pokemon right. In fact, he'd come to Hearthome for the sole reason of visiting the poffin house; Checkers, his Pachirisu, loved sweet poffins to bits and Lucas had every intention of rewarding it with said poffins for helping defeat his latest challenger. It was remarkable that the tiny mouse Pokemon could take a draco-meteor to the face and still have enough strength left to take down a Tyranitar, but checkers had done just that. Exactly why it deserved the sweetest, most delicious poffin Lucas could possibly make, and since the poffin house was the only place in all of Sinnoh where they could be made, Lucas's visit was pretty much foretold.

What the red beret wearing boy wasn't warned of was the apparent discord in said poffin house. Like any reasonable person would be, Lucas could only be concerned, all the more reason he burst through the front door of the building; Checkers close behind him.

"What's going on in he- Barry?!"

Of course, who would be causing all this chaos but his eternal rival. The happy-go-lucky and scatter-brained prodigy, Barry jun. Lucas wasn't sure what he expected when he opened the poffin house door, but he was certain it wasn't Barry, covered from head to toe in burnt berry slush. It was everywhere; the walls, the ceiling, Barry's clothes and hair.

"What the hell have you been doing in here?!" The red-capped boy shouted.

A good question, and considering the volume of the music Barry was listening to (whatever silly techno song it was), shouting was perfectly justified. Barry on the other hand, well, he'd only just realised someone else was in the room besides himself, which is why he turned the music coming from his phone off so he could talk.

"Uhhmmm, s-slorry luukas" The blonde-haired boy replied with his mouth half full.

What the hell was he eating?

Barry swallowed before he spoke again.

"I'm making poffins!" He began, exclaiming it proudly with glee "... except I can't get them right" Barry finished; his earlier cheer dulling, showing small signs of frustration.

Lucas could only shake his head.

"How did you manage to get the 'results' everywhere Barry?..." He asked, taking a moment to be in awe of Barry's handiwork.

"Uhhh, ya see, I kinda maybe sorta... added too many berries..." Barry replied with embarrassment, yet not avoiding Lucas's eyes.

"How many is 'too many' exactly?" The other boy asked with his left brow raised.

"About fifteen."

"What?! Barry! The poffin makers can only hold four! What the hell were you thinking?!"

Lucas was accosting the other boy for being foolish, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't find the results funny by themselves. It was really just Barry getting carried away again like usual, but this was definitely one of his more eventful fits of silliness.

"I wanted to make the best poffin ever! When everyone else was around they kept telling me that adding more berries would help make better poffins, so that's what I did! I didn't think I'd make this much mess..."

Well, he was genuinely sorry, of that Lucas was sure; if he wasn't originally then the burnt poffin he'd tested surely made him regret what he'd done. Or so Lucas reasoned; really, it was hard to be mad with someone so honest and forthright.

Especially when they were draped with burnt poffin.

Lucas sighed, resolving to at least fix the technical part of the mess. The red-capped boy walk toward his friend and the poffin machine, calling Pachirisu into it's ball so that it could avoid any possible collateral damage of more poffin-based bombs.

"First of all, you should only use four berries, and secondly, more people also helps to make better poffins Barry. So, since I need poffins too, how about I help you out." Lucas said with a sincere smile.

"Really?!" Barry exclaimed excitedly, half surprised and half overjoyed.

"Really." Came the happy affirmative.

It was a long and arduous process, mixing berries into the pot and stirring them to prevent them from sticking to the it required attentiveness from all the people involved. Of course, the real challenge was not over stirring the mix and causing molten berry chunks to fly everywhere as a result. More than once after starting their mix did Lucas think he was going to be charred by berry-magma. Barry was an excitable person and put more effort than was necessary into stirring, the result were several near-spills and it was all Lucas could to keep the mix in check.

Though it took some time, and much effort to keep everything stable, Lucas and Barry got there in the end. Lucas had advised as to which berries to use together to get the sweetest poffin possible and Barry happily obliged. The fruit of their efforts was four pink poffins, one of which Barry promptly tested.

"T-Thwiss ish amzhing luukash" The excitable boy almost shouted with joy; his mouth half full.

Lucas just laughed in response, even when he was eating Barry couldn't stop talking.

"Anyway, I'm gonna go train some more on route 209! Now that I have these poffins my Pokemon and I can work extra hard on full stomachs!"

"Wait wha-"

Lucas's question was swiftly interrupted by a rushed, yet gentle and chaste kiss on the mouth by the other boy, before said boy rushed off toward the door.

"And make sure you come help me train! Don't be late either, or I'll fine you one million dollars!" Shouted the blond as he opened the door to the poffin house.

SLAM.

The door shut with great force, enough so that it was amazing it didn't come off it's hinges. Barry always did have a really bad habit of slamming doors. Of course, Lucas Kouki wasn't really thinking about that.

No, Lucas's thoughts were focused far more on the fact that he'd just been the victim of a kiss 'n' run without any prior warning, something that evoked a feeling in him he had little experience with. Still, that feeling was largely eclipsed by a bigger, more urgent emotion.

"Barry! You left me behind to clean you're Arceus-damned mess!"

That emotion was anger.