#noeditingwedielikemen

oOo

It was a warm, calm day in Harbour Town, Bonoba. And as with most calm days, people would be out in their boats, fishing for, well, fish; relaxing on the beach or maybe an ice cream. Like the town usually does.

But today, everyone was glued to their television screens.

Today was the day of the league finals. And down south, beyond the gap of water between landmasses, on the Island of Champions, Jensen was crapping himself.

oOo

"Dude, chill," a stocky 5'9" boy with hair that looked like a geodude said, grabbing a hold of Jensen's shoulders and shaking him out of his anxiousness.

"How do you expect me to chill, Garth?! I'm about to go up against the champion! I'm everything but chill!" Jensen whined, tearing his face from his hands to glare up at his friend. The dolphynus that was standing nearby slapped him over the head, chittering some chastization at it's trainer.

"I don't need to be abused by my own pokemon!" Jensen cried, while Garth tried to placate his friend.

"Pull yourself together! You're on in five minutes -- actually, 3 minutes and 34 seconds, but anyway -- it's time you took the champion title away from Keith! He's held onto it for like five years now, don't you think it's time for a change of pace?"

"Let's be real here; I'm probably going to trip on my way up there."

oOo

Standing upon the final stage, Jensen felt an odd wave of calm wash over him. Even with the massive crowd cheering, even with the camera drones buzzing about, there was something that pushed him into the zone, where he was focused. This was his time to shine, and his pokemon were ready to deliver. Everything but the arena and his oppenent melted into background noise. He knew what he needed to do. He had studied the man in front of him thoroughly. He knew how he fought. He knew what needed to be done.

Plus, he had like three full restores, so if anything went really badly, he had another three chances!

"Challenger Jensen! Are you ready?" The champion's voice boomed from the other side of the arena. Jensen smirked, his hand lightly grasping a regular pokeball.

"Fuck yeah I am."

oOo

Thirty minutes later…

oOo

"That was kind of humiliating."

"...Yeah...basically."

The two boys sat outside a pokemon centre, licking at ice cream they had bought from an ice cream man that was going around. They had been sitting for about 8 minutes now, and Jensen shifted around a little. His buttocks were honestly feeling kinda numb.

"Those full restores didn't even help."

"Not really."

"It's kinda like you didn't even have them."

"Yeah."

"What's up with you guys?" Jensen looked up from his pity ice cream to see Anne walking over, her blonde hair moving with the wind.

"He lost to the champion," Garth said, jerking a thumb at Jensen. A nod of confirmation and Anne began to laugh.

"What?" Jensen asked, eyebrow raised.

"Sorry to break the news like this, but...you're looking at the new champion," Anne said with a playful smile.

Jensen and Garth blinked.

"Bullshit."

"Lies." They both said at the same time.

Anne silently pulled out her official certificate from her bag and showed it to the two boys.

And that's how Anne became two ice-creams poorer on the day she became the champion.