Meanwhile, at Neil's house...

"Did you see that last-minute albatross Neil scored on the last hole!?" asked Neil's friend Mario. "Absorutery! I couldn't bereive it!" answered Yoshi. Kid answered, "No one has ever done that to pull the last-minute win out from Mario's hands!" Joe said, "Groovy, man." Buzz said, "First, he beats Kid, and now he's a world golf sensation!"

Neil's house was full of activity that night. He had invited his friends over for a Guys' Night In. They were talking about Neil's last-minute win in the Toadtown Golf Classic. Mario had led the field the entire tournament, but Neil scored a last-minute albatross on hole 18 to win, which had never happened before. Mario was in shock, but he got over it more quickly than anyone expected.

Kritter suggested, "Let's play some games!" They all agreed. First, they played Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Putts and Kid didn't even make it to the $5,000 question, Joe won $5,000, Buzz won $10,000, Neil won $20,000, Mario won $30,000, Kritter won $100,000, and Yoshi (complaining that the questions were too easy) won $1,000,000 without using any lifelines. He made the next suggestion: "Ret's pray Sudoku. You have to prace numbels one thlough nine so that thele's no lepeats in each low, corumn, ol thlee-by-thlee box." Everyone played that game for two hours. Putts completed 4 puzzles, Joe completed 6, Buzz completed 9, Neil and Mario completed 10, Kid completed 12, Kritter completed 16, and Yoshi completed 25. Then the guys had a Pokémon Battle Revolution Kinoko tournament. Yoshi won easily, having been the Kinoko Region Champion for five years. Kritter then said, "Did you know that he hasn't lost a Pokémon battle in over five years?" Yoshi explained, "Is because oliginar Pokémon get too ord and feebre to batoru; they must letile. Must catch new ones to leprace them." Neil scolded him, "Just because someone is old doesn't mean he can't fight properly." Yoshi retorted, "Plopelry? Can you win championship with 'plopelry'? Must be excerrent! Young ones ale best! To make honey, need young frowel, not ord plune!"

While Yoshi was explaining, Mario thought about all the fun he had as a Pokémon trainer, especially with his Charizard. Neil thought about his two-year reign as champion, how his Pokémon would endure great pain just to please him, how he loved them and trained them with positive attitudes, and how he missed them when he went to college. Now that he'd graduated, and was a pro golfer, he decided, "I'm going to adopt a Pokémon and keep it as a pet (as long as it wasn't a psychic, dark, or ghost type--he hated those types). Does anyone know where I can do that?" Mario answered, "The Marion Town Orphanage for Pokémon is nearby, and they're great; they have a perfect-a record and they're rated-a tops-a in the Kinoko region." Neil answered, "Thanks, Mario. Sometime I'll go and check it out!"

Because it was so late when the Guys' Night In ended, Neil let his friends stay overnight. When they were in bed, Neil began crunching some numbers, figuring how much it would cost to adopt a Pokémon. He would have to pay for food and doctor expenses, and he would have to housetrain it. Of course, Pokémon like Bulbasaur and Chikorita would be easier to feed and train than Pokémon like Snorlax and Ursaring. Charmeleon was a bit hot-headed and might not submit to authority, and Swellow was very energetic. He then remembered how affectionate his Meganium had been on his journey before he became the Kinoko Region Champion. He dismissed the thought and considered Treecko. "They're cute and compliant... wait. Ella adopted one; I want a different one. I guess I'll just decide when I get there." And so he made a budget estimating how much it would cost to adopt a Snorlax. Thanks to his successful professional golf career, he found that he could afford to take care of a Snorlax, not that he would. He looked over his schedule, and seeing that next Monday was open, he made a note to visit the orphanage. Then he went to bed, really looking forward to having a Pokémon pet and giving it lots of love and care.

Unbeknownst to Neil, Mario was also thinking about adopting a Pokémon; only he wanted a fire type.

Note: To make Yoshi sound Asian, I switched his R's and L's.

Also, Neil's in for a big surprise when he arrives at the orphanage, isn't he? After all, it's actually a terrible place that mistreats Chikorita, and she's likely not the only one.

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