A/N: I'M SORRY I FORGOT AGAIN - I was editing a part I didn't like and then got distracted. The tournament continues next chapter! See you on Saturday!

16: Rest Day

Pikachu

Although I was burrito-less, I slept like a rock the entire night. I woke up feeling refreshed and still a bit sore, but nothing a good stretch could take care of. Red was already up and moving around with Mew flopped on the top of his head and Espeon at his feet. I knew they were bothering him about trying to make plans with White but judging by the look on his face, he was listening to them. Maybe they were actually giving him good ideas for once.

"Good morning, Pikachu!" Mew said cheerfully when I walked out of the room. "The Earth says, 'hello!'"

"Huh?" I shook my head. I didn't want to deal with her antics when I first woke up in the morning. Red offered me a sympathetic look and patted my head as he went to the kitchen to get everyone's breakfast started.

I yawned and saw that Snorlax was, of course, still fast asleep, and Charizard was halfway out the balcony door, laying down with his front half inside and the other outside while his tail swung lazily back and forth from beneath the barrier. I wondered who was in the room directly under us and if they could see the fiery tip.

Espeon sat on the floor near the table, patiently waiting for Red to set a bowl down for her, and looked at me. "Guess who's coming over soon?" she asked.

"I don't know—Arceus?"

"Pfft, no, silly. White is!"

I hummed. I'd fallen asleep early yesterday and no doubt the others did as well, Red must've texted her then. "Why is she coming over?"

Espeon shrugged. "I dunno, but I'm not complaining. It's good for O.G.A.D."

"You haven't been giving Mew any bright ideas, have you?"

"Me? I would never." She smirked at her own sarcasm and I sighed.

Red unintentionally interrupted us when he set our breakfasts down in front of us and plucked Mew off his head and set her down beside us with her bowl clutched in her arms. He then gave the three starter pokemon their food before starting the chore to get Snorlax up. It was always so difficult to get him up if he knew we weren't doing anything. By the time Snorlax finally began to grumble sleepily, I was already halfway through my food. He pushed himself into a sitting position and took the bowl twice as large as me from our trainer. "It's too early," he complained quietly.

"It's always too early for you," Venusaur told him.

"And I will keep saying that until the day I die."

As Snorlax started to eat, Red, oblivious to our conversation, took one look at the bowl and then up at the large pokemon again. "Don't eat the bowl this time," he said and went to get himself a glass of water.

Mew giggled. "I like sleeping in, too. Humans are the weird ones that like to keep schedules."

Blastoise rose a claw. "Schedules make sense. I like schedules," he said.

"You would."

He scowled at her. "What does that mean?"

Mew was about to likely say something snarky in return but Red sighed and told them, "Stop it."

I didn't know Mew was translating and Espeon snickered while Charizard glanced up briefly before returning to his almost completely devoured meal.

"She started it," Blastoise grumbled before he started stuffing his face again as a knock sounded on the door.

Red gave him a look that clearly said, and I'll finish it, and then went to let White into the room. As they greeted each other and hugged, I heard Espeon let out a giggle. "It's so cute when they hug," she said.

"I think they should kiss," Mew said. She wiped her mouth with her arm and floated next to Espeon, both of them staring at Red and White. "That'd make things a lot more interesting than hugging."

I stood next to Mew to watch the humans and crossed my paws across my chest. "Just be grateful they're at least doing that. Red hates physical touch," I told them.

"Ready to go?" White asked.

Red looked at us to make sure we were all done eating, then nodded. Once the others were recalled, he took my pokeball and was about to recall me and I scowled. "Hey! I want to see what happens!" I snapped at him.

I hadn't realized Mew had translated and he shook his head. "Not today," he said.

"That's not fair—" Another knock on the door caused us all to look at it curiously.

White blinked a few times and then asked, "Were you expecting someone else?"

Red shook his head and got up. Cautiously, he peeked through the little hole near the top of the door and seemed confused when he saw who it was. I tilted my head and when he opened it, I could see why he was so bewildered.

Leaf tackled Red into a tight hug and while Blue yelled at her to be more careful, Red's mother and Professor Oak stood behind them. "Good morning, Red! Oh, hello, White!" Red's mother said and smiled at them.

My ears flicked in irritation. I had believed that today would have been a good day to finally get O.G.A.D. done, but no, it had to be interrupted again. I heard Mew snickering next to me, albeit invisible. "Please don't do anything dumb," I told her.

"Define 'dumb,'" she replied.

"What are you all doing here?" Red asked, letting the group in.

"Well, since we're finally here, I figured we should all have breakfast at least once all together!" his mother answered.

"Leaf insisted I come with you guys," Blue said.

"Yeah, because I'm starving, Red doesn't eat breakfast, and you're up really early all the time anyway!" Leaf said and smiled as she looked at White. "You should come with us!"

"I—uh, sure, I can come," the Unovan stammered. She looked at Red when he turned around to finally recall me. "Might as well let Pikachu stay out, he looks like he doesn't want to go into his pokeball."

Red looked at her and then at me as I smirked and allowed Leaf to pick me up. He scowled when I stuck my tongue out at him. "Serves you right!"

I can be a brat sometimes, so what? Besides, pokeballs were too cramped in my opinion. They were only really good in-between battles or if I was injured.

"Yeah, you tell him, Pikachu!" Leaf said happily and laughed as Red sighed.

"You're an enabler," Blue said to her as he walked out of the room.

"Be nice," the professor reprimanded him.

Blue sputtered. "Wha—I am!"

Red's mother chuckled and waited for Red to grab the room key before we all left. "You don't have any new bags under your eyes—good! Means you're finally sleeping," she said to Red.

"You're not sleeping?" Leaf asked. I looked up at her. She sounded worried and she looked up at Red as he shrugged. "That's not good."

"It's just nerves," Blue assured. "I mean, we haven't been on the big screen in so long, much less battled in front of this many people before."

"What are the battles like in Kanto?" White asked curiously, walking beside Red to the elevator.

"Well, gym battles are generally pretty small. You can watch battles, but they aren't as popular as the Indigo League. It's a… eh, I guess you can call it a stadium, it's generally just two people: you versus the Elite Four." Blue shrugged. "There are five rooms: one for each member and one for the champion. You can watch the battles on television, but normally people who get to challenge the Elite Four don't make it past Will so people don't normally care about those."

"You know what's cool about our League?" Leaf added and looked at White. "It's shared by both Kanto and Johto."

"How does that work?" White asked curiously. "That doesn't mean you're the champion of both regions, does it?"

Blue shook his head. "No, you need the badges from your respective region and then you get to challenge the League. Before, the Indigo League was a thing just in Kanto, but after Red and I beat Lance and became champions and then went to do our own thing, Lance decided to just integrate it into both regions. Makes sense, really, since they're both right next to each other."

As they all spoke and compared the Indigo League to the Unova League, I squirmed out of Leaf's hold to jump from her shoulder to Red's. I can only stand being held like a baby for so long, after all. Once I'd settled myself, I looked at Red to try and get him to scratch my cheeks but blinked when I noticed he was ignoring the conversation the other humans were having. He seemed guarded, constantly checking every single face we walked past and hyper-aware of everything.

I frowned a little. I knew he was on edge because of the Shadow Triad. Being out in public like this, especially with family and friends, likely made him nervous. White fell into step with him as Blue and Leaf started to bicker about which League was cooler than the other. She gently nudged Red with her elbow and smiled as he looked at her. "You all right?" she asked softly when we neared a restaurant.

"I'm fine," Red replied.

"You seem a little distracted." She looked ahead at the others. "Is it 'cause of Leaf? She seems to be… very eccentric."

He snorted. "She's hyper most of the time."

"I think she's nice. She obviously cares a lot about you, are you family?"

"Practically. We've all been neighbors our entire lives. We call it the Pallet Curse. Once you enter, you can't leave."

She laughed. "Isn't that just most small towns?"

"Yep!" We looked at Leaf as she went to walk on Red's other side. "The curse can never be lifted, either! My parents said that they tried to move out of Pallet Town but didn't like Viridian City, or Saffron City, or even Goldenrod, so they came back to Pallet and stayed there after I was born!"

Breakfast was delightful. In Kanto, we didn't normally eat pancakes and eggs for breakfast and five-star meals for dinner. We were lucky to find anything remotely like that up in the mountain so we would normally feast on berries and whatever poor fish Red could wrangle. Desperate times called for desperate measures—we wouldn't have been the first to prey on other pokemon to survive, how else do you think ones like growlithe survived? They don't eat grass!

Anyway, breakfast was more Kanto-like than anything else I'd eaten in Unova, and to be honest, it felt good. Although I had already eaten, a bite of Red's fish, a little rice, and a sip of his soup made it taste like home again. White had trouble using chopsticks, much to Blue's amusement, and had Red show her how to properly use them.

I noticed Leaf glancing at them every once in a while and eventually, she whispered something to Blue. Even though I couldn't hear what she had asked, I had a feeling what it was when he replied, grinning, which caused her to nearly vibrate in her seat with giddy joy.

The only ones who couldn't see that Red and White had a thing for each other were Red and White themselves. Yes, they would hug every now and again and were stopped from having their first kiss, but they hadn't directly admitted their own feelings for each other. Even Professor Oak had started to ask White some questions about where she was from, how her journey went, what her brother was like, etcetera.

"So, what do you want to do? I've done a bunch of touristy stuff, and I can show you guys around!" White suggested. She pointed towards the stadium. "We can go back and see what shows are being played. The festival has loads of little games, too. Red and I did a few already, but that was in the middle of the night."

"Oh? You have already?" Leaf asked and smirked as White's face flushed a bit.

"We were looking for someone and we got distracted, that's all."

Leaf looked at Red and then giggled. "I'm only giving you a hard time."

I felt Red's shoulder relax and I rolled my eyes.

"You kids go have some fun. I have to get some work done—it's not every day I can have a chat with Professor Juniper! I'd like to see how her research is going," Professor Oak said.

"Normally when people take vacation days, they actually take a vacation," Leaf said.

The professor laughed. "A scientist's work never stops, even on vacation."

"Suit yourself, Gramps. I'm gonna stay here," Blue said and jabbed a thumb in our direction. "He at least takes breaks."

"Oh, you should come with Cynthia and I!" Red's mother said and looked at the professor. "We were going to go hiking; it's a great way to unwind!"

Professor Oak shook his head. "I do not think my old bones can handle a hike anymore." He looked at the rest of us. "You should take the kids."

"Gramps, they're almost eighteen." He grinned and looked at Leaf, Red, and White. "I can babysit them if you need. They need an adult at all times."

"So you're saying you're old," Leaf said and grinned as he glared at her.

"I'm eighteen!"

"Old man." She cackled as he made an objecting noise. "What? Got nothin' to say? Meowth got your tongue?"

"That's enough, Leaf," Professor Oak said and looked at Blue. "Just behave, please. Don't get mixed up in anything I wouldn't."

"No promises, Gramps." He turned around and gently pushed Red and White to start walking and let Leaf follow him. "You guys have fun on the hike!"

I jumped off of Red to walk and stretch my legs, then looked back when I heard Red's mother sigh. "Hopefully they don't spend too much money," I heard her say, and when we turned a corner and they were out of sight, I heard Blue groan.

Leaf was laughing. "You should see your face! Old man Blue!" she said loudly.

"Can you not yell right in my ear? Thanks," he grumbled.

I let out a sigh. Today was going to be a long day.

-x-

Over the day, it was clear that White and Leaf were two peas in a pod. They both loved and could talk about pokemon for hours on end—not like Blue and Red couldn't, either—but then they started to talk about other topics like makeup, celebrities, and worst of all, shopping. The moment 'shopping' was spoken, I saw Red and Blue look at each other with dread in their eyes and I snickered.

White and Leaf practically dragged the other two into different stores, and while I knew Red was making a conscious effort to stay interested in all the stuff we were looking at, he was quickly growing bored and his social battery was depleted for the day.

And this was only two hours after breakfast.

We stopped at a clothes store and to my surprise, it was for trainers specifically. Leaf looked at Red up and down. "You need a new outfit, you've worn the same thing for literal years," she informed him.

He looked down at his outfit and then at her. "What's wrong with this?" he asked.

"It's old. Outdated. And look, your cap is fraying at the edges here." She poked his cap and then turned to Blue. "You can use a new outfit, too."

Blue looked at himself as well. "Maybe some new shoes—"

"No, a new outfit. You look like an old man in those clothes." She smiled as Blue huffed.

I watched her take Blue by the arm and dragged him to a different section of the store despite his protesting and I blinked when I looked up at White. Had this been on purpose? White's face was a little pink, but with Red actually looking at different clothes, she seemed relieved he couldn't see her face.

I rubbed my chin. If Leaf was acting just like Espeon, then she probably wanted to separate them to give them time to themselves. "Actually, I gave Leaf that idea," I heard Mew say and I nearly flinched.

"I honestly thought you didn't come with us—wait!" I was shocked. "How—why would you reveal yourself to Leaf?!"

"She's nice! And she's one of Red's BFFs, right?"

"Yeah, but she isn't—"

"But what? Isn't a champion? So what? She wasn't scared. She probably already knew about me." I sensed her near me and although I couldn't see where she was, I had a feeling she was smiling. "Red probably told her. Or Blue. Those three are stuck together like glue!"

"Still, isn't that dangerous?"

"Psh, nah, I can squish brains if anything bad happens! Pop them like pimples!"

"Ew." I shouldn't have asked.

I saw White shift nervously and I looked at her curiously. "You don't have to get new clothes if you don't want to," she said. Red turned away from the clothes he was looking at and he tilted his head a bit as he hung the shirt he was looking at back on the rack. "If you want, we can bust this joint and go somewhere else without them."

"You make it sound like we're breaking out of prison," he said and smiled.

She chuckled. "I guess. Come on!" She took his hand and I eagerly followed them as they jogged out of the store.

The rest of the day went by smoothly after that. It was nice to just have a day to relax and goof around and as we walked around the little fair outside the stadium, I finally got to try cotton candy. It wasn't much, but the sugar rush I felt was immediate and I didn't care if Red threatened to put me into my pokeball if I got us into trouble—all I wanted to do was give into my instincts and play.

White called it cute and couldn't stop laughing. I'm not sure why she found my sugar rush to be so amusing, but I did catch glimpses of Red smiling as he looked at her. I smiled during those times; if I made a fool of myself to make him happy, then I'd keep doing it.

We stopped at a stand that had loads of keychains hanging on the walls and while the stall owner was in shock (I was worried we'd have to call someone to help her breathe again), Red looked through the keychains until he plucked one from the wall. I jumped onto his shoulder to see what he'd chosen and I snickered when I saw the ducklett keychain. "He's so smitten with her," I heard Mew say.

"It's so adorable, I think I'm gonna puke," I said.

"Don't be so dramatic."

"I could say the same to you."

I looked at White as she paid for one and just before Red turned, she quickly hid it behind her back. "You know you were supposed to hide what we got," she said after he paid for the keychain.

"It's not my fault you got done first and looked at what was in my hand," he replied.

She huffed but smiled as she held the ducklett keychain. "It's so cute." She looked back at him. "How do you like yours?"

He held the keychain she had given him and I scowled at the pikachu figure attached to the chain. That looked nothing like me! "Looks just like Pikachu."

I swiveled my head at him. "No, it does not! My fur is soft, I'm not made of plastic, and that one is fat!" I snapped.

White laughed when she heard me. "I don't think he agrees."

"We can make you look like it with a few extra meals and days off," Mew teased and laughed as my tail thumped against Red's back irritably.

Red took White's bags for her as we started to walk back to the hotel and he seemed surprised by the weight. "What is in here?" he asked. "You've been carrying this all day?"

"Yep! It's just a bunch of stuff I needed. Potions, repels, you know the deal. I got a few other little things for my team—they love berry treats and I got stuff to make poffins."

My mouth watered. I love poffins so, so much.

"Did you get anything for yourself?"

"Nah. I don't need anything."

Red rose a brow at her. "Yet you want me to get an outfit for myself?"

"That was Leaf, not me."

"I think we should get something for you. I wouldn't know what to get you, though. Maybe a jacket for when you get cold?"

White's eyes widened a little and she smiled as she shook her head. "No, don't get me anything, I don't want anything!"

He rubbed his chin with his free hand. "Well, then how about I make you dinner?"

I choked on the air. He never initiated like this! It's always been White! I wanted to cry, I was so proud of my trainer. I smiled and bobbed my head up and down to make sure White could know that I wanted her to accept.

She glanced at me and smiled before she nodded. "Yeah, I can go for some food. You a five-star chef?"

Red snorted. "Hardly. Ever had monjayaki?"

"Monja-what?"

He chuckled. "It's a Kanto dish, really popular at home. Technically, it's street food and considered to be a snack, but I like to make it for dinner sometimes."

She seemed interested. "I have no idea what it is or what's in it. Is it good?"

"It is good with other people with you."

"That answers absolutely nothing."

"Essentially, it's a pancake. It has meat and vegetables that are smushed together and there's batter you fry in it, too. You can add whatever you want to it, too. I should have everything I need already."

"Well, let's drop off my stuff in my room, and then we can head into yours!"

As we entered the hotel and went to White's floor, she dug for the key in her pocket. "Excuse the mess, I haven't had time to pick up anything." She opened the door and I blinked a few times as I looked around. Since her room was in the middle of her floor, she didn't have as many windows as we did. The layout was very similar, and I wondered if the slightly extra space made up for the lack of windows.

I jumped off of Red as he set the bag in his hand onto the table and sniffed the air. White's scent was everywhere, which was expected, but it threw me off just by how different it was when we were out in public or in Red's room and she came over. Otherwise, I couldn't see any mess other than a pair of shoes haphazardly thrown to the side and a shirt hanging on a chair.

White dug through the bag on the table and pulled out the berry treats. "I think your pokemon would like them, too, so I'll just bring the whole thing," she said.

Red looked at me when I eyeballed the bag. "After dinner," he warned.

I pouted and then nodded. "Fine," I drawled.

A few minutes later found us in Red's room and as the two humans moved around in the kitchen, I scratched the fur on my chin. Why hadn't Red let anyone else out of their pokeballs? Normally, he'd let us all lounge around and saw that White had set her things down on the coffee table, including the bag that held her own team's pokeballs. I took one glance to make sure the two were distracted and then took both of the teams and went into Red's room.

Mew was laying on her stomach on the bed, staring off into space and she blinked when she saw me come in and drag the pokeballs. "What are you doing?" she asked curiously.

"I wanna have a talk with everyone. I don't think everyone's gonna fit, though. All of us barely fit into the room, so all of us and White's team won't fit at all."

Mew patted the bed. "The bed's huge, most of us can fit on it, right?"

"It'll be hard, but I guess we can."

I tapped the pokeballs one by one, and while most of us were small enough to stay on the bed to allow the larger ones to have room, it was still a tight squeeze. Stoutland took up most of the end of the bed, while Espeon, Mienshao, Mew, and I took up the other half. Mandibuzz perched on one of the bedposts while Reunclius floated above us to keep out of the way.

Snorlax and Venusaur were the two largest pokemon, but we were so familiar with each other, that they didn't mind being next to each other to allow room for the others. Charizard seemed unhappy with the sudden room arrangement, keeping his wings close to his body. "What is going on?" he asked.

"I want you all to just look in the kitchen—if you can," I said and pointed. Eleven heads turned towards the door, while Mew and I glanced at each other before looking as well. Red and White were oblivious to all the noise we were making, instead listening to some music White had turned on as she helped chop some cabbage.

"Ooh, what are they making? It smells good!" Mienshao asked enthusiastically.

"Monjayaki," Blastoise answered. "It's about the only thing Red can make since it tastes good when it's burnt and thrown together and doesn't have to look pretty."

"The hell is monjayaki?" Mandibuzz asked, but she went unanswered.

"Tell me that isn't O.G.A.D. happening right in front of our faces!" I told them all.

Espeon's eyes lit up. "Oh my—it's happening, everybody stay calm!" she said loudly.

"Man your positions!" Mew shouted and snickered as Venusaur let out a sigh.

"What are you talking about?" Stoutland asked, confusion lacing his tone.

I didn't have a clue, but I've long since learned to ignore stuff like that. "Red is making White dinner—"

"If she said Red could call her Hilda, you might as well call her Hilda, too," Reunclius told me, but he was watching his trainer with interest.

"That's going to take some getting used to—but, he's making her dinner and we spent the whole day just goofing off. Oh, yeah, they held hands most of the time, too."

I proudly grinned as Espeon gasped, "In public! Without me!? The audacity!" Her tail twitched and she snapped her head at the two trainers. "Look! Look! Look!" she chanted suddenly.

Those of us that could move enough swarmed the doorframe the instant we saw Red look at White—no, Hilda and the poorly chopped vegetables on the cutting board in front of her. I winced when I saw her chopping a carrot. It was so close to her fingers, and when Red turned around to check on the vegetables, even he winced a little.

When she noticed him looking, she turned her eyes to see him. "What'd I do?" she asked.

He nodded at the board and said, "You're going to chop your fingers off doing it like that."

"No, I'm not!" She lifted the knife a little. "I'm doing it just fine, right?"

"They need to be a little smaller. Here, I'll show you." He set the bowl in his hands down and came behind her, then with his right hand, he took her right arm and did the same on the left.

I heard Zebstrika suddenly squeal and stomp her hooves as Hilda's ears turned red. Espeon and Serperior nearly shoved me aside so they could get a better look as well. "Ow!" I complained.

Hilda swallowed hard after Red motioned his arm with hers to show her the proper way to cut vegetables, and then looked up at him as he stepped away and went back to his task. I noticed his ears were pink, too. There was a pause in Hilda's movement and she snapped her head towards the door. Mienshao smiled and gave her a thumbs-up as her trainer tried to hide her blushing face.

Reunclius chuckled and when the door suddenly closed, those of us closest to the door instantly made an unhappy noise. "Hey! It was just getting good!" Espeon whined and looked up at the other psychic-type.

"Hilda requested for us not to watch, so that's what we're going to do. Not watch," he replied calmly.

"But what if they kiss? We're going to miss it!" Mew whined.

"I'm sure if they kiss, then they ought to do it again. We should all take this time to rest because in case you haven't forgotten, our battles are tomorrow."

"I guess, but I'm hungry," Snorlax mumbled.

"They're probably going to let us out when they're done making their food," Venusaur said.

"Let them have some time to themselves. It's a rare commodity nowadays," Serperior suggested.

As we settled down for however long it would be until dinner, Espeon kept her eyes locked on the door and her tail constantly twitched. No doubt she was spying on them, and the gem on her forehead was glowing constantly. "Espeon, what're they doing now?" I whispered as the others started to chat amongst themselves.

Espeon glanced at me with mild amusement. "I'm so glad you asked." She looked back at the door. "Red's trying to find a spatula, not the plastic one—oh, he found it. They're just talking about what kind of food there is in Kanto and what kinds are here. It's very different, and Hilda is saying she wants to go on a food tour. She is very motivated by food, isn't she?"

"I mean, most of us are. I don't blame her." I sat down next to her. "I wish they'd hurry up, though. I'm hungry."

"They aren't going to give us any of that, we're getting our normal food."

"Human food tastes better, though."

"It's also not good for us."

"It's not good for them, either!"

"No, I suppose it isn't." She suddenly laughed and the gem stopped glowing. "Oops, he caught me snooping."

I scowled at the door. I wanted dinner, and with the two of them taking their sweet time making their own, I wondered how many more hours it would be until they remembered that thirteen pokemon were waiting impatiently to eat. We were the ones that were going to be moving around and pushing ourselves tomorrow, we needed the energy!

As if my thoughts had been heard, the door opened a few minutes later and Hilda looked at all of us. "How did you all fit in here?" she asked as we instantly started to filter out of the room. Venusaur and Snorlax were the only two that had trouble getting out but with a lot more room in the main room, we could at least have an arm's length space between each other.

Red watched as we came out, almost impressed that all of us had squeezed into it and no one had gotten hurt. He started filling bowls for us and Hilda did the same for her team. As soon as I got mine, I ate quickly and watched as the two humans went to the table, where a still sizzling griddle full of monjayaki rested on it.

I kept my eyes on them most of the time, only looking down to see what other pieces of food in my bowl I still had.

"Technically, you're supposed to eat this with little spatulas, but since we don't have any, spoons will do," Red said and immediately took a bite of the goopy substance.

"It looks like someone threw up on a griddle and now you're eating it," Hilda said.

She laughed when Red looked offended. "I never said I can make it look pretty. I just know how to throw it together and call it good. Mom's the chef, not me."

"I'm only kidding." She followed what he was doing and after she swallowed, her eyes lit up. "It's good," she said and went in for more. "Is there a recipe you're supposed to follow?"

"Not really. Just throw everything in and once you like the taste, dig in."

The two chatted as everyone ate and as much as we all wanted to keep watching to see what would happen, our full stomachs and tired selves were starting to fall asleep. I yawned after an hour and once I saw Hilda do the same, I blinked a few times to get rid of my weariness. I nudged a sleeping Espeon with my paw. "Wake up, I think something's gonna happen!" I said.

She immediately woke up and after Hilda had recalled her team, she looked at the pokegear that was sitting on the counter. "Blue hasn't stopped texting, has he?" she asked and laughed as it made a little noise when another message came through.

Red glared at it, then sighed, "I'll talk to him tomorrow."

"Speaking of tomorrow, you excited?"

That put a smile on his face faster than a lot of things could. "I expect you to win," he said.

"Against Rosa? Hm, she's tough and we know each other's strategies inside and out so I don't know if—"

"I think you can. You think too little of your skills. I've seen you train with Black and the others, you're stronger than you think."

She looked at her pokeballs and smiled. "Yeah, we're strong." She then looked back up at him. "And I expect you to win, too. Maybe in the second round, we can battle each other!" As they approached the door, she paused and looked up at him. "Thanks for dinner, by the way. It was good."

Red nodded. "It wasn't the best, and you did most of the work by chopping everything up, but you're welcome."

They fell into a brief silence, awkwardly standing there and not knowing what else to say. I saw Espeon roll her eyes and then blinked a few more times when I noticed the others were awake and watching them as well.

"You're all perverts," Blastoise suddenly said.

"What makes you say that?" Espeon demanded.

"Excuse me, but you're watching the show, too," I retorted. I looked at Charizard. "Even Charizard's pretending to be asleep!"

"I am asleep," the fire-type grumbled. His eyes were closed, but maybe if I looked away, he'd open them to watch, too.

"I'm going to go to bed. You should, too." Hilda suddenly did something I hadn't expected her to do right then and there—she got onto her toes and without stopping, landed a short kiss on his lips. Stunned, Red didn't move—I don't even think he could breathe—even when she quickly said her thanks again and bolted out the door.

All of us looked at Red and when the door closed and he finally showed that he was breathing, he turned around slowly. Espeon was delighted and tackled into him hard enough to knock him off his feet. "You did it! Well—she did it, but still! It happened! It happened!" she shouted, her gem glowing again.

"Ow," was all he answered.

"Holy shit, I didn't actually think she'd kiss him on the lips," I managed to say after a few seconds of silence. Usually, Blastoise would have reprimanded me for my language, but I knew he was in just as much shock as I was.

Espeon got off our trainer as he sat up and rubbed his chest. He seemed to be in a daze, and he even gingerly touched his lip with a fingertip. Whatever was going through his mind, it was going a thousand miles an hour and Espeon nudged his other hand to get his attention. "What's on your mind?" she asked with a smile.

She must have already known, but hearing it out loud sounded like a reward for us all. Red was quiet and then he swallowed before he muttered something we couldn't hear.

"We can't hear you," Snorlax said.

Red swallowed again. "It… tastes like monjayaki…"

I snorted with laughter. "You got your first kiss and that's all you can think about?" I teased.

He eventually picked himself back up and started to clean up the mess they'd made in the kitchen. Once he was done, he had composed himself again and while I figured he was thinking about tomorrow's strategies, I was happy he finally got his first kiss.

The berry treats tasted the best that night.