Total Pokemon: Re-Action

by Dark Arcanine 33

After Underdogs, it was obvious that things needed to change. However, with Victini still involved, we know that the changes would come with a price. So, what happens when you take the newbies from Action, warp their memories, and make them compete again for 1 million Poke? Tune in to find out. (Season 8)

1. Act One

(Note: Underdogs is not complete as of this release)

000

With the conclusion of Total Pokémon: Underdogs, Mew was finally free from the series. No more irritable contestants, no more dangerous or idiotic challenges, and no more immense stress from having to deal with it all for weeks to months on end.

Their eighth season had proven to be their worst one yet, as it was panned by numerous critics and fans on forums despite him, Xerneas, and Virizion trying their hardest to make it better from the merge onwards.

A month or so had passed since then, and it seemed like competition shows as a whole were quickly beginning to die off, with people becoming bored of the repetitive format and predictable outcomes. At this point, many of the Legendaries were either lazing around the hall, exploring the world, or still working on shows anyway.

As he lay on his black jawbreaker-colored bed, Mew let out a sigh of relaxation before taking a sip of his tea. Just then, he heard a knock at his door, immediately causing him to pale.

Every time there was a knock at his door, he would be afraid that Victini would be on the other side with a new idea for a season. "Who is it?" he inquired.

He heard a familiar, female voice respond, "It's me…"

"Zera…" he whispered to himself. He put down his cup and floated over to the door. Opening it revealed a gorgeous, yellow, black, and blue bipedal feline standing on the opposite side.

"Hey," she greeted with a faint blush.

Mew chuckled, hiding a blush himself. "So, what'd they say?" he inquired curiously.

"Um… They're pretty much giving me my hosting trial now since I've been here for a while," she explained. "And they said that we need to make an ad and put it online to get people to sign up, and Giratina said that you may be able to guide us…"

Mew raised a brow at her wording. "We…? Us…?"

"Oh, right… They put me with Silvally," the Thunderclap Pokémon explained. "They're punishing him for some stuff that he did that annoyed them."

"Makes sense," Mew chuckled. "He's been thirsting for Giratina ever since he first laid eyes on him and shitting on Arceus ever since he found out they were married."

Zeraora paled. "Does that mean he's just gonna be an asshole the whole time?"

Mew shook his head as he gestured for her to come inside. "Nah, he's actually alright when you get to know him and he's not talking about them. He's kinda like a tamer version of Entei."

Zeraora nodded in understanding as she watched Mew grab his laptop. Just then, she remembered something, "Oh, and on the way here, Victini told me to tell you that he needs to talk to you with Arceus and Giratina and that it was urgent."

Mew froze, his left eye starting to twitch. Why? Just why? Why couldn't the Victory Pokémon just stop? He took a deep breath. "Okay," he said with a forced smile. "Let's get you guys' ad set up and I'll… see what the devil wants from me now."

000

After aiding Zeraora with her and Silvally's ad for their show, Mew grumbled to himself as he made his way toward Arceus and Giratina's room. He was not looking forward to anything that was going to happen; he already knew.

Victini was just going to do another dumb pitch about how the series needed to continue, despite the poor ratings of the last season, and force him to be the front man once again. It wasn't happening this time. He was not about to be forced into another crappy season.

As he entered the main couple's room, the first thing he noticed was that Virizion, Xerneas, Terrakion, and Heatran were there as well.

Upon seeing the New Species Pokémon enter, Victini groaned, "Finally…"

"I'm just gonna get this out of the way now…" Mew began. "NO! I am not hosting another season of this show. I am tired. The last season was shat on. Leave… me… alone…"

There was silence for a few seconds before Victini stifled a laugh. "Get over yourself, lover boy. I wasn't even gonna ask you to host anything."

Mew scoffed, "Bullshit… You always do that now. We start a season, then you leave, get replaced by Viri and X, and we have to do the rest of it…"

"Not this time," Victini explained.

Arceus spoke up. "Now, it is true that this past season has been poorly received, however, Victini has proposed something interesting that could very well benefit your series without your involvement."

"Yes sir! We're doing a reboot!" Victini exclaimed.

Mew gave him a look of dissatisfaction. "You're what?"

The Victory Pokémon began, "Well, it's like you said. It's the same old thing lately. We start a season, I get bored and leave, someone else takes my place, and you just mope or half-ass the rest of it."

Mew glared at him, folding his arms as the rabbit continued.

"So, we're cutting out the middleman and expanding," he explained. "Virizion and Xerneas are gonna be hosting, Terrakion and Heatran are gonna be hosting, hell I even convinced Reshiram and Zekrom to host from time to time."

Mew sighed as he looked at the others, "And all of you guys are okay with this?"

"Mew, you've been burnt out for a while," Virizion explained. "You deserve as long a break as you want."

Xerneas added, "Yeah, plus we're pretty much a part of you guys' history now, so it wouldn't be that hard."

Heatran concurred, "Our show got cancelled, so this is good for us, too. We get another chance at something possibly bigger!"

Mew turned back to Victini. "So what's the deal? You gonna get a bunch of newbies this time?"

"Nope," Victini explained. "At least not yet. We have a ton of contestants already. So, we're gonna temporarily wipe their memories and have them compete in the seasons they were brought into."

"You're gonna WHAT?!" Mew exclaimed, a look of horror on his face. Xerneas and Virizion also expressed looks of concern.

"Keyword: temporarily," Victini explained dismissively. "It'd wear off after they got eliminated. I just want to see the difference between them playing as newbies as teens and playing as newbies as adults."

"Y-You realize that this could probably fuck some of their lives up, right?" Mew replied.

"Most of their lives are already fucked up," Victini argued. "Plus, the memory wipe will mainly just be about them in the game, some of them may still remember being married and all that."

"You just don't care, do you?" Mew scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief.

Victini shrugged. "They'll be fine. And who knows? It may end up fixing some problems some of them have."

Arceus and Giratina exchanged worrisome looks. It was temporary, sure, but it still felt morally wrong. However, even if they said not to do so, Victini would more than likely disobey them and do it anyway, so they remained silent.

"Well, if I'm not involved, then I guess good luck," Mew commented, very annoyed by the idea that the Victory Pokémon laid out. He had absolutely no respect for the competitors or their families. It was despicable. "Have fun ruining these guys' lives, ya jackass…"

He teleported out of the room, with Victini rolling his eyes at how overdramatic he was. "Alright, anyways. We're only really rebooting the first three seasons because of nostalgia and the fact that I want to see what happens. There's gonna be some additions and subtractions here and there, but it'd mainly be the same game."

Virizion and Xerneas were much less inclined to host these shows now. Neither of them wanted to see the contestants that they'd come to know act completely new to the game. However, it would still be a way for them to keep watch over them.

On the other hand, Terrakion and Heatran had no real connection with any of the contestants aside from the few that directly spoke with or had to work with them for challenges. So, despite the memory wipe sounding like a bad idea, they were still down for it.

"Okay, I guess. So, are we doing them in order, or… Which one are we doing first?" Terrakion inquired.

000

There was a close-up shot of an abandoned film lot as the camera slowly panned out, revealing the four Legendary Pokémon that would be in charge.

"Greetings Total Pokémon fans!" Terrakion addressed the audience with a smile. "Hope you guys are excited, because a new season is coming straight at ya! You're probably sitting at home right now, scratching your heads and panicking. 'WHERE'S MEW?! WHERE'S VICTINI?!'"

"Well," Virizion chimed in, stepping forward. "For this season, and the few following it, the four of us will be in charge, and you'll get to see your favorite old school players play again. However, and this is something you have to remember, they no longer have their total memory of their previous outings."

"So, consider this a reboot…" Heatran spoke up. "Same competitors, but with brand new hosts!"

"And a million Poké prize!" Terrakion added.

Xerneas nodded in agreement before finally stepping forward as well. "So, get yourselves hyped up because this is Total…"

Virizion followed, "Pokémon…"

"RE-ACTION!" Terrakion and Heatran exclaimed cheerfully.

000

After their introduction, the four hosts stood outside of the lot, waiting for the contestants to arrive. Unlike the island-based shows, there was no Pokémon transportation like Wailord or Lapras. However, also unlike the original second season, the contestants weren't already hidden away offscreen.

"So… When exactly is the bus supposed to be coming?" Heatran inquired.

"I don't know, but it shouldn't be too long," Xerneas reassured him.

Virizion groaned, "I swear if our first episode is delayed because of a late bus, I'm gonna be pissed."

"Hey, hey," Terrakion spoke up, not liking the negative thinking coming from the Grassland Pokémon. "Come on, guys. Let's not be pessimistic. We could use this time to like… throw out ideas or give each other pointers…"

"I mean, it's a reboot season," Virizion responded. "We're pretty much gonna be doing things similar to how they did it the first time. Though, things will hopefully be a lot better with us at the helm…"

"Now, the main thing that you guys need to know is that we're all treating them as if we never met them before," Xerneas brought up. "That way, we won't confuse them and derail everything."

"I mean, we haven't really met a lot of them, so that would've been a given for us, anyway," Heatran giggled.

Xerneas only nodded in response, "That's fair…"

Virizion suddenly spoke up once again, piggybacking off of what her wife had said. "Another thing is that you can't let anything they say get under your skin," she stated. "And at the same time, don't be dicks to them. Just be yourselves and that's all that matters."

The other couple nodded in understanding just as the purring of a bus engine grabbed their attention.

A red and white megabus slowly pulled up to the film lot, driven by none other than the bizarre bruiser himself, Zahku.

As the Hariyama pulled up, the hosts smiled as they could see some of the contestants moving away from the windows and getting their bags. The doors of the bus opened and the first player stepped out: a Shiny Manectric with a drawstring bag on his back.

"And our first contestant is Ebony!" Virizion introduced. "How are you doing?"

The Manectric huffed. "I'm alright, I guess… besides that annoying-ass wannabe gangster…"

"Ey!" a new voice shouted from inside the bus, causing Ebony to jump.

The Discharge Pokémon growled to himself before whispering, "Why am I not surprised?"

A Magmortar began pushing past all of the other contestants before finally stepping off of the bus wearing a pink Wigglytuff backpack. "You got a fuckin' problem, 'cuz?! 'Cause I can smoke yo punk ass right now..."

Ebony rolled his eyes at the weak threat as someone else finally spoke up.

"Yes, yes… You are certainly intimidating us all with your 'Wild Wiggly' backpack…" a Feraligatr remarked sarcastically as she stepped off of the bus carrying a rolling suitcase.

"And here we have Hayden and Marie…" Xerneas introduced, despite being slightly alarmed by the immediate hostility.

Ignoring the hosts, Hayden turned to the Big Jaw Pokémon with a glare, "Mind ya own business, bitch! And fuh yo information, this was the only shit I had."

"And I'm supposed to care… Why?" she responded with a straight face before moving past him and standing behind Ebony. This caused him to growl before he begrudgingly took his place behind her in the line that was forming.

"Uh… alright then," Heatran commented, unsure of what to make of the interaction that just occurred. Deciding to move past it, he introduced the next few competitors that were making their way off of the bus. "Next up, we have Solis, Carman, and Aura."

A Gardevoir, a Roserade, and a shiny Glaceon climbed off of the bus, one after the other, each with their own bags. Solis had a purse and a rolling suitcase similar to Marie's, Carman had a sport's bag, and Aura had a rolling backpack.

"Not sure if I'm looking forward to this or not," Solis commented. "These shows are always so dangerous and mean-spirited."

"If you think that, then why would you sign up in the first place?" Marie inquired, raising a brow.

"Peer pressure," she responded with a sigh as she walked over to the end of the line.

"I just hope that not all of the guys here are jerks or idiots," Aura commented as she followed the Gardevoir, with Carman in tow. "I've seen some people actually find love on this show, and I've been curious if it's something that's bound to happen or not. Plus, I've been single for most of my life and wanna try something new…"

Carman chuckled as she stood behind her. She whispered, "Well, we weren't supposed to talk to each other on the bus, but just based on who we saw, I don't think that there's gonna be a whole lot of love on this show. Case in point-"

The Roserade gestured back toward the bus, as a Serperior with a fedora slithered out of the bus with a serious expression on his face.

"Next up, we have Swift!" Terrakion presented. "Hope that all is well for you."

Speaking in an accent reminiscent of a Kalos native, the Regal Pokémon huffed, "Uh-huh… Just keep that tooty-fruity dragon away from me and everything will be fine…"

Considering that all of the hosts were LGBT, this caused a bit of a reaction, notably from Heatran, who growled softly to himself. He despised the fact that some people were still blatantly homophobic and didn't care about what they said and who they could affect.

"Wait, there's fags here?!" Hayden shouted, causing the others to flinch.

"You really lack self-awareness don't you?" Ebony commented.

"Fuck you," Hayden retorted. "Just because you'd be fine with a fag suckin' ya dick in ya sleep doesn't mean I have to be!"

"Whoa whoa, watch yaself now," Swift hissed. "My first cousin is gay and I love 'im to death. I just don't enjoy being flirted with by other guys."

"You ain't cap that fruitcake? Man, this world just keeps on buggin', I swear…" Hayden shook his head.

"Hey!" Heatran shouted angrily, startling the contestants. "For your information, homie, Terrakion and I are married, and so are Xerneas and Virizion. So, it'd be appreciated if you kept your homophobia to yourself…"

"See that's different. Y'all are married," Hayden argued. "I don't gotta worry about y'all. I still won't like seein' ya gay shit when ya do it, but I don't gotta worry about ya tryin' shit with me."

Swift rolled his eyes as he slithered to the end of the line. Heatran growled softly, as Terrakion nudged him and shook his head. The Lava Dome Pokémon huffed as a new player spoke up.

"Don't flatter yourself, buddy…'' a Hydreigon stated with a huff as he hovered out of the bus with a couple of tote bags in each of his head-hands. "Just because people are gay doesn't mean they want you."

"Well said, Draco," Virizion complimented with a nod.

"Whoa, whoa… Dafuq? You're the fag?" the Magmortar retorted, surprised by the revelation. When he saw the Hydreigon on the bus, he was the last person that he expected to be gay. "How?!"

Draco gave him a look before deadpanning, "I like dick… That's all there is to it. Now, if there are no further dumb questions…"

He turned to the hosts. "Hell-o you guys. It's nice to meet you and I'm really looking forward to this…" he commented, receiving smiles from them in return.

As the Brutal Pokémon flew to the end of the line, Xerneas whispered, "Wow… He's far less aggressive with his desires here…"

"Well, their memories are temporarily gone, so they're bound to act much differently than they usually do," Virizion whispered back.

"And up next we've got Connor," Terrakion introduced as the Bouffalant stepped off of the bus with a backpack hanging off of one of his horns.

"Hey," the Bash Buffalo Pokémon greeted. "Nice to meet you guys."

"Back at ya," Heatran replied. "Did the ride here treat you well?"

"Well…" the Bouffalant began before being cut off by another player.

"Mother of Arceus, can we get on with this, already?!" an Absol with a scar over his eye shouted as he pushed past Connor. "The fuck's the point of making us 'wait our turn' and stand on the damn bus so you can chat like you're old friends?!"

"Mason… Don't start," Virizion warned.

The scarred Absol huffed as he just went to the back of the line.

Solis decided to speak up. "I mean, he's rude, but he kinda has a point… We were on that bus for hours, and I'm pretty sure most of us are glad to be off of it."

"Especially with that dumb thug constantly rambling on and on about how 'fine' all of the girls are and talking about he's gonna win this whole game easily," a Blastoise said as he stepped off next, a suitcase in hand. "The driver told us that we had to be quiet and just observe each other, and yet he couldn't shut up."

"Man, shut yo punk ass up. Y'all pussy asses seriously let the driver tell you what to do? His job is to drive. He ain't shit!" Hayden huffed.

Growing visibly annoyed by the Magmortar, Virizion called, "Zahku!"

A curious hum was heard moments later as the Hariyama moved his head forward to see the Grassland Pokémon.

"Can you go ahead and escort Hayden to the multipurpose building?" she inquired.

The Magmortar scoffed, "Really, lady? I will barbecue that muhfucka if he puts his fatass hands on me…"

Suddenly, he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder, startling him, as well as the others who witnessed it. Turning around, he saw that Zahku was now behind him giving him a glare.

"Zahku no appreciate threats. You either come willingly or I take you forcefully," he stated with a firm glare.

The Magmortar almost peed himself, but, not wanting to look weak, he huffed. "M-Man whatever," he said, yanking his shoulder away as he started walking into the lot, with Zahku in tow.

"Much better," Heatran said with a sigh of relief as he turned his attention to the two that were still in front of the bus. "Anthony, Connor, you guys head to the back of the line."

As Connor did as he was told, Anthony responded with a question, "Why does there need to be a line anyway? We're not in grade school…"

"It's for organizational purposes, now if you'd please…" Xerneas explained.

Anthony rolled his eyes before walking to the end of the line.

The next three off of the bus were literal floaters: a Mismagius, a Cryogonal, and a Porygon-Z.

The Mismagius grumbled to herself with a scowl, "I can't believe I'm stuck doing this because Tom got food poisoning…"

"Uh… Hello Monica," Heatran hesitantly greeted, noticing her expression. "Everything okay?"

"I'm gonna be straight with you… no," she responded bluntly, dropping the bag she was holding. "I wasn't even supposed to be on this dumb show, a co-worker was, but because he got sick, the job made me the rep…"

"Oh... So you're here to represent your job…" Terrakion replied in surprise. "That's interesting… Where do you work?"

"The Ghastly Gazette…" she deadpanned. "Fucking… Can I just go? I'm not interested in talking right now."

The Mismagius floated to the end of the line, with the Cryogonal stifling a laugh. "Well, if it wasn't obvious, she hates her job," he commented.

"Yeah…" Heatran replied. "How are you doing, though, Freezeo?"

"Eh, I'm chill. Not much to say…" he joked.

"So… I'm guessing by your lack of luggage, you're just gonna go with the flow?" Terrakion hypothesized.

"Pretty much…" Freezeo answered. "What's the point of bringing anything on these shows, anyway? People steal, and things could get broken or damaged."

"People enjoy having personal comfort items," Heatran shrugged.

"I guess," Freezeo replied before floating to the back of the line.

-000-

Near the end of the line, Mason was growing more and more annoyed by how long this was taking. They didn't need to waste their time. They were on that bus for hours and now they were going to just stand there while the hosts chatted away? What kind of crap was that?

"Man, this is some fucking bullshit…" the Absol groused.

"Hey, it's their show. They're gonna do what they want," Connor spoke up.

Mason glared, "I don't seem to remember asking you anything, bub… "

"And nobody asked for you to be negative," Draco retorted.

"You're fucking gay, nothing you say matters," Mason shot back, earning an eye roll from the Brutal Pokémon.

-000-

A few people ahead, Aura, having overheard the conflict going on at the end of the line, sighed, "I really hope that neither that guy nor Hayden is on my team."

"Like I said, hon, not a lot of love…" Carman replied, shaking her head.

-000-

"And as such, that's why I'm the designated winner of this game," the Porygon-Z finished.

"That's… really interesting, Kevin…" Virizion replied, sweatdropping. The Virtual Pokémon had spent the last two minutes going on and on about how he was going to win the game based on algorithms and statistics.

"Go ahead and head to the end of the line…" Terrakion instructed.

The Porygon-Z did as he was told, much to Virizion's relief. "Note to self: Make sure to get him wet as soon as possible…"

Soon enough, a Delcatty climbed off of the bus with a small purse hanging from her tail, followed by a Persian. Being the first in line, a smirk formed on Ebony's face. He had seen the two of them on the bus and immediately found them attractive.

"And here's Ivory and Morgan. How're you gals doing?" Xerneas greeted.

Ivory nodded in greeting, "I'm doing fine. Just curious to see how well this goes, considering I'm putting this on my resume."

"Huh, that's interesting," Virizion commented, "Not sure what being on a show like this will show, though."

"It'll just show that I'm outgoing and what I'm capable of doing, depending on what you all have us do," she explained.

"Okay…" the Grassland Pokémon nodded in understanding before turning to Morgan. "And what about you, Morgan?"

"I'm doing alright," the Persian explained, sitting down. "Mainly here since my brother, husband, and I made a bet that if I got on one of these shows, they'd have to sign up for them as well."

Xerneas and Virizion exchanged looks of surprise. Though, of course, it fit perfectly with what Victini had in mind for the reboots.

Terrakion spoke up, "Well, we'll see if that's true once this show is over and we start looking through applicants."

Morgan giggled as she started moving toward the end of the line, with Ivory in tow. As they moved toward the end of the line, Ebony turned his head. His eyes focused on their rears, earning a scoff from Marie.

"Eyes forward, Romeo," she commented. "One's married and one's all about business, no point in even trying."

Ebony chuckled, "You don't know that for sure."

Marie rolled her eyes, "Well, if you wanna be harshly rejected, then be my guest when ya get the chance."

The girls behind her smirked. Aura opined, "Yeah, it's probably not best to try and flirt with a married woman."

Ebony sneered, "Hey, you never know if they have an open relationship or not."

"How about you don't find out?" a new voice stated.

Ebony turned back around and saw that a Staraptor was staring down at him with a glare. He took a couple of steps back. "Whoa, too close…"

"I despise when desperate men try anything to get with a girl, even if it means ruining another relationship," the Staraptor snapped.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down Sabrina," Virizion stated, stepping between the two. She looked down at the "Ebony is just kidding, isn't that right?"

"Uh… sure?" the Manectric replied, unsure of how to feel.

"Ha… WEAK!" Mason called from the back.

The Predator Pokémon glared at the Absol, which was met with a glare of his own. She huffed, "Whatever. I just don't want any stupid men trying to fuck us over, since that's apparently all they're good for…"

Anthony looked toward a camera with a bored expression, "You see ladies, this is why you deserve less. Don't be a feminazi..."

"WHAT WAS THAT, FUCKFACE?!" Sabrina squawked as she happened to fly by.

"Okay…" Terrakion said as one of the cameras went back to him and the other hosts. This time, though, they were accompanied by a Gliscor and a Banette, as the argument unfolded in the background. "Klavier… Marion... How're you two doing?"

"Um… I guess I'm alright," the Fang Scorpion Pokémon stated. "Not sure about that girl, though. She seems… high maintenance…" he whispered.

"Nah, she's just one of those girls who think men are the root of all evil," Carman explained, folding her arms. "Best not to take what she says too seriously."

Having overheard that, Sabrina scoffed while shaking her head, "You girls are all brainwashed."

Morgan gave her a look as she turned around, "Or, we haven't had as many bad experiences with men as you have and don't automatically default to 'all men are scum'."

"Uh huh… How's life as a house slave treating you?" Sabrina retorted, having eyed her wedding ring.

The Persian growled softly to herself. "I am not a slave!" she snapped.

Ivory nudged her before whispering, "Hey, it's best not to argue with her. She's set in her ways; I've met girls like her before. Like the Roserade said, it's best not to take her seriously, especially if you're married."

Morgan huffed before glancing back at the Staraptor. "Whatever."

Satisfied, Sabrina smirked. A few moments later, Marion walked toward the back of the line, with Klavier flying overhead and landing behind her.

"Uh… H-Hi there," Klavier greeted, waving ahead.

While some players acknowledged him and either nodded back toward him or waved in greeting, Sabrina only huffed, turning away from him. Having expected her response, he just sighed and turned to Marion, "So, what made you wanna sign up?"

The meek Marionette Pokémon hadn't really said much in front of the hosts, having responded simply and started walking away. "Um… I guess just to get out of my comfort zone?" she answered.

Klavier nodded in understanding, "I get that. Heck, to be honest, I didn't even sign up for this. My friends signed me up as a joke."

Hearing that, Sabrina huffed, "Figures…"

Klavier rolled his eyes as the camera focused back on the hosts, who were standing with a Girafarig that had a couple of bags next to her.

"Farra! What's up, girl?" Heatran greeted.

"What's up?!" she replied with a smile. "It's nice to meet everyone!"

Just then, a Charizard with a scar over his right eye walked off of the bus, toting a duffel bag, ignoring the hosts and immediately heading to the back of the line.

Noticing this, Virizion called, "Hey, Flame! You don't-"

Xerneas nudged her, "Just leave him be. I didn't really want to talk to him, anyway." Her opinion of the Charizard was still extremely low due to what happened in All-Stars. Regardless of whether his memory was changed or not, she didn't really like him.

Virizion sighed before nodding in response. "Well Farra, you can head to the back of the line," she insisted.

"With the big scary Charizard who didn't even speak… Great…" the Long Neck Pokémon replied sarcastically. She started walking toward the end of the line, her bags following her.

The next Pokémon to walk, or flop off of the bus was a Dewgong. He wore a pleasant smile and had a small knapsack with him. "Hiya everyone!" he greeted with a wave.

A few of the other players seemed to have gained smiles upon his appearance and greeting. Some responded, while others ignored him. The negative nancies had their own opinions, though, as Mason reacted with disgust, Sabrina shook her head in disapproval, and Flame rolled his eyes.

"Good to see you, Darren," Terrakion responded. "Life been treating you well?"

"Mhmm," the Dewgong responded affirmatively. "Trying to have more experiences."

"Well, you're here now, so you're bound to have some experiences," Heatran chuckled. "Go ahead and head to the back of the line."

Nodding, the Sea Lion Pokémon used Ice Beam on the ground, creating a slippery surface for him to slide toward the back.

Virizion and Xerneas giggled at the display as the white dugong slid toward the end of the line. Sliding behind Farra, the Dewgong greeted her, "Hi there!"

Farra let out a sigh of relief. "Finally, someone positive to talk to…"

Flame blew out smoke from his nostrils as he rolled his eyes.

Back with the hosts, they were now with a long, blue serpent with wings on the sides of its head. She had a horn on her head and orbs on her tail and chest. She had a satchel around her neck as well.

"Welcome to the show, Sapphire," Xerneas greeted. "I hope all is well."

Sapphire nodded, "Yes. And thank you."

Without being asked, the Dragonair slithered toward the end of the line. The other conversing contestants didn't really pay her any mind, too engaged in their own conversations. The only one who gave her so much as a passing glance was Swift, who smirked to himself as she slithered past.

"Alright, and now for the last competitor," Terrakion began.

Who stepped off of the bus last was a stranger to everyone, even the hosts. It was a Pokémon that looked like it was made of two different parts. The front half was yellow and raptor-like with red cheeks and lightning bolt-shaped wings. Her lower half was large, though, being green and pink. Its claws were pink and it had pink spikes and stripes decorating the legs and tail.

"Hello~," the Dracozolt greeted, its tone feminine. "It's nice to meet you guys. I'm Kimberlyn. But, you can just call me Kim."

"Right, uh… Hi, Kim," Virizion responded, despite not being familiar with the Fossil Pokémon. "Glad to see that you've made it."

Victini had told the four of them that a new player was going to be included to make sure things were even. He didn't tell them the name or anything, as he wanted it to be a 'surprise', but it didn't really make much of a difference.

"Alright!" Terrakion announced. "Everyone's off of the bus, so let's get this show on the road!"

000

The twenty-three players that were still with the hosts followed them as they approached a trolley car with a Poké Ball symbol in the front. The tram was very large and lengthy, being about ten feet tall in order to accomodate everybody, and having six cars in total, not including the driver's car.

"Alright, everybody hop on," Virizion directed. "We're gonna give you guys a tour of this place before we start anything."

The contestants approached the tram, each of them taking a seat with players they were either comfortable with, or players they already detested. The tallest players, Swift and Sapphire, had to sit together in the furthest car so that nobody accidentally stepped on their bodies. The Serperior was happy with this, while Sapphire was rather indifferent.

Once everyone was aboard, Terrakion turned to Xerneas. "Uh… where's Zahku? Isn't he supposed to be the one driving us?"

"Zahku is here," they suddenly heard as they saw the Hariyama approach them, dusting his hands. "Weird fire hoodlum needed to be put down for while."

This raised a bit of concern from Heatran, as well as the other players who overhead this. "Uh… You didn't kill him did you?" the Lava Dome Pokémon inquired.

The contestants' eyes widened upon hearing that, as it was very concerning. Did they not have control over the Hariyama?

Eventually, their minds were set at ease when the Arm Thrust Pokémon explained, "No, Zahku no waste time. He just put to sleep."

"Okay, well in that case, let's get on with the tour," Terrakion said as he and the other three hosts approached the second tram car. Zahku went to the front car and started the tram, beginning to drive around the lot.

000

They passed by multiple large warehouses, some of which were open, revealing set pieces, lights, and even a few costumes that had gone unused for years.

As they slowly rode past it, Heatran explained, "These are simply storage spaces that were used to keep all of the equipment used for movies and television shows. None of your challenges will be impacted by these places, they're simply here as remnants of the lot's old life. "

"So… you guys think to clean them out?" Anthony inquired.

"Why would we?" Virizion retorted. "Like Heatran said, they're inconsequential to your experience here. So, we decided to just leave them alone."

"Sure, but considering this is going to be broadcast on television, I'd just think you guys wouldn't wanna be seen as lazy…" the Blastoise countered.

"Hey, jackass," Marie chimed in. "It's an abandoned lot, meaning that most of the stuff here was like this when they got here. They don't have to change or clean up anything that they don't want to."

"Especially when we're not gonna use them," Sabrina chimed in. She then scoffed, "Men can't ever just listen…"

"Anyways!" Terrakion shouted, not wanting the argument to continue. As they were riding past a large makeup trailer, Solis gasped.

"Is that… Is that a makeup trailer?" she inquired, her eyes locked on the structure.

Xerneas giggled, "Yes, it is. The makeup trailer will act as the confessional for you guys. You can go inside and vent, explain plans, confess feelings, or whatever you want to do. You'll just have to hope that the editors don't include anything embarrassing."

000

Sapphire was sitting in one of the makeup chairs with a smile, looking around. The table and mirror were behind her, with different makeup brushes splayed out on it and a few boxes on it. "Wow, this is neat…"

000

As they drove past a western movie set, Terrakion began explaining the gist of the season. "Now, I'm sure you all have seen shows like this before, players go on an island, on a plane, or in a hotel and compete in random challenges."

"Yeah, all of these shows are pretty much the exact same but with different Legendaries…" Monica deadpanned. "It's pretty pathetic…"

Xerneas and Virizion exchanged looks of irritation, the negative commentary already getting old. Heatran ignored the comment, expounding, "Well, for this season, all of the challenges will be based on different movie genres."

"Oh god… Don't tell me we're gonna have to do softcore sex scenes or anything," Mason commented, the dread oozing off of his voice.

"Maybe, maybe not," Virizion responded with a shrug. "Depends on if you last long enough to get to that genre."

"Speaking of lasting long, we are approaching the ceremonial area," Heatran explained.

A large stage came into view, with a podium standing in the middle of it. Navy curtains were draped against the back wall. The letters T-D-R were etched into the front of the stage. Adjacent to the stage was a set of metal bleachers. In front of the bleachers was a long, red carpet.

Zahku stopped there, allowing the hosts to elaborate on what could happen there.

"This… is where all eliminations will take place," Terrakion explained. "After each challenge, one team will lose and come here to participate in an Award Ceremony, where you will receive either a Gilded Mew award or a Gilded Victini award."

"Uh… why those two in particular?" Carman inquired. "Seems kinda random given that the four of you are the hosts…"

The four hosts exchanged looks of uncertainty, as Victini was the one who supplied them with the awards. Luckily for them, Kevin spoke up.

"It's obviously a nod to the first competition like this that truly had an impact," the Porygon-Z explained. "It was hosted by Mew and Victini, and the Hariyama that's currently driving us was even a competitor decades ago."

Swift stifled a laugh. "Couldn't have been that impactful. Never even heard of it…"

"They stopped after the one season due to the backlash of the finale, where the jury voted for the boring housewife that was flirting with a gay dude to win, instead of the actual frontrunner who dominated pretty well," Kevin explained. "It was still the highest viewed out of all of the other survival competitions and it's what really got a bunch of people into auditioning for and making these shows again."

"Uh… How do you know all of that?" Farra inquired.

"Sliggoogle is your friend," the Virtual Pokémon replied.

"Uh… Yes," Virizion replied, clearing her throat. She wasn't expecting that lengthy explanation from him, but was glad that they didn't have to explain it. "Thanks for that, Kevin…"

"Now," Terrakion continued as Zahku began driving once again. "Whoever doesn't receive an award will have to take the walk of shame down the burgundy carpet and take a ride in the Limo of Loserdom."

Zahku drove past a silver-colored limo, which got nearly everybody's attention. Some were intrigued, some were indifferent, and others were simply shocked.

"So… You're saying that the losers get to ride in a limo, and then everyone else just has to keep dealing with the bullshit challenges and people?!" Mason chided. "What type of logic is that?"

A few of the other players glared or rolled their eyes at him.

Given his surprised reaction, Freezeo explained, "Yeah, you've probably never seen one of these shows have you? The good stuff always happens once you're voted out. It's essentially a payoff to not being able to last as long as everyone else."

"Yeah, there's a resort or whatever that people usually go to once they're voted out," Ebony spoke up. "But, I'd rather still have a chance at that cash prize than just be stuck at some cushy resort."

"Then your priorities are shit," Mason stated bluntly. "If the competition is annoying or lame, I'd much rather be at a resort until this shit's over."

"Well, maybe your wish will be granted," Xerneas commented under her breath, already irritated by the Absol.

They came up to a large, brick building that was about two times bigger than the makeup trailer that they saw earlier. Through the windows, one could see a few tables and stools, as well as a door that led to the back. Surprisingly, this structure had a feeling of novelty to it compared to the rest of the rundown lot. Zahku stopped the trolley, allowing the hosts to explain its significance.

"Alright, here we have the Craft Services Department," Virizion explained. "This is where your meals will be served and where we will explain your challenges."

Xerneas added, "You guys will be served breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the regular, so don't worry about possibly starving."

"I mean, we're not on an island, so I'd like to hope that we're being fed," Kim opined.

"Girl, judging by those thighs of yours, we know that you're not down for missing any meals," Draco teased. "And that's a compliment…"

Kim slowly nodded, feeling a bit perturbed by her fellow Dragon-type's comment. She was pretty self-conscious about her appearance already, so even as a compliment, the comment didn't sit well with her.

"Jeez, even gay guys can't talk to women correctly these days," Sabrina scoffed.

The Brutal Pokémon rolled his eyes as the hosts got back on track. Clearing her throat, Virizion continued. "Anyways, yes. This is where you'll meet and be served every day."

Swift chimed in, asking, "...And uh... Who exactly's gonna be cookin' for us?"

"Why Zahku, of course," Heatran revealed, looking toward the Arm Thrust Pokemon. "He's really versatile."

"Oh god…" Mason muttered.

"Either you eat Zahku meals or don't," the Hariyama stated firmly from the front car. "You starve? That on you."

"And then we can sue," Monica countered haughtily.

The hosts all gave her a look, as did a few other players. Carman stifled a laugh, "So, you're gonna sue them because you're a picky eater? Wow..."

Xerneas chimed in, "In addition to that, the contracts that you all signed stated that you may not sue us for any reason…"

"Wait, what?" Anthony spoke up, shocked to hear that. "What kind of shit is that?"

"Just a precaution since we've seen people in the past try to sue other shows because they didn't win or because they made false claims," Virizion fibbed. "We're not dealing with it…"

Sabrina scoffed in disbelief. "Oh, so if one of these animals decides to sexually assault one of us, we're just supposed to let it happen and we can't speak out or sue? Wow… You guys really don't care, do you?!" she snapped.

A gruff voice huffed in response, "Don't flatter yourself."

Turning, the others saw that voice had come from Flame, who'd been silent until now. Hearing the Staraptor's incessant whining, and then assuming that anyone there would want to be with her was the last straw. He continued, "With your screechy attitude and feminazi ideals, no one here would touch you with a ten foot pole. So sit down, shut up, and let's get the damn tour over with."

There was silence. Some were surprised that he spoke up against her, while others were surprised that he spoke up at all. Sabrina, of course, didn't take kindly to this, her face turning red.

The Predator Pokémon countered, "And with your attitude and appearance, I could say the same thing about you. You look like you've beaten a few women in your life..."

"Hey, hey, don't start that!" Heatran shouted. "The game hasn't even started and you guys are already making stuff personal. You can argue later. Now-"

"Well…" Ivory began. "In her own rude way, Sabrina has a point. What happens if we get injured? What if, like she said, impropriety occurs? What happens if something unfair occurs in the game? There are tons of negative possibilities, given the history of these types of shows. What are we supposed to do?"

Marie deadpanned. "Um… you guys realized that they said that the contracts said that right? Y'know… The things that you're supposed to read and agree to. If you're complaining about this and you didn't read the contracts, then that's your problem, not theirs…"

"Oh, I read and understood," Ivory explained. "I was just asking that if we can't sue, what are we supposed to do? That doesn't sound entirely legal."

"We'll explain later," Xerneas answered, growing more and more annoyed. "For now, please be patient and bear with us. The tour is almost over."

Zahku began driving the tram again, passing by other abandoned sets and set pieces strewn about the vicinity. They approached an enormous white building with multiple windows. Zahku started slowing down before parking the tram again.

"And here we have the multipurpose building," Virizion introduced. "Here is where you guys may spend your downtime if you see fit. There are multiple floors with different equipment and methods of entertainment inside. It may also be a site for challenges."

"And the homophobic wannabe gangster is in there?" Freezeo inquired. "Wow, he really got rewarded for being a dick…"

"Oh no, there are plenty of rooms with nothing inside of them," Xerneas explained.

"Zahku put sleeping man in closet," the Hariyama explained before continuing to drive, leaving a few of the contestants still wary of him.

"And we're approaching the last stop of the tour…" Terrakion stated with a relieved smile.

Zahku pulled up to an area with four townhouse buildings side-by-side, with other fake cut outs of buildings on either side of them. The two townhouses on the left were gold in color and had white roofs and accents. The two townhouses on the right were silver in color, and also had white roofs and accents.

"This is where you guys will be staying during your time here," the Lava Dome Pokémon revealed.

Everyone stared at the large buildings for a while, a few oohs and aahs escaping the contestants' lips. "Townhouses?" Connor inquired, looking up at the buildings. "That's neat…"

"Yep," Virizion replied, "And they're separated by team and gender." She made sure to make that clear for the worrywarts before continuing, "Now, you guys are adults and can do whatever you want, but just know that any sexual misconduct or pregnancy will result in you being pulled from the game."

"Oh god, I really hope that nobody here is that desperate," Farra commented, looking around.

"You'd be surprised," Kevin chimed in. "It's happened in these kinds of shows a few times before."

"Yes, which is why we don't want it happening here," Xerneas reiterated. She took a breath before stating, "Now, the tour has essentially concluded. We've shown you all of the major spots of the lot. The rest of it is left up to you to explore."

"But, feel free to ask for reminders or any questions that you may have," Heatran replied.

Darren raised a fin, "Are you guys living on the lot, too?"

"Yes we are," Terrakion answered. "We'll be on the very far edge of the lot in that direction," he explained, turning and nodding to the right. "You'll be able to identify where we are pretty easily."

Mason moaned, "Whatever. Can you just tell us who we're stuck living with already?"

"Can you let them do their jobs and just shut up?" Marie retorted gruffly. "Jeez…"

"Thank you, Marie," Heatran replied, visibly irritated by the incessant complaints and interruptions. "We were about to get to that, anyway…"

"Zahku, go ahead and take us back to the multipurpose building," Virizion replied. "Let's get this actual show on the road."

Zahku turned around and started driving back toward the multipurpose building.

000

"First confessional, huh?" Klavier inquired, looking around. "Well… I'm not entirely sure what to make of some of these people just yet."

He hesitated, "I mean… I guess some of them seem alright, but a lot of them just seem really… angry and bitter for some reason."

"Maybe things will change going forward. I just hope that whatever team I'm on isn't too bad…"

000

Pulling up to the white building once again, Zahku parked the tram. The four hosts, as well as the contestants, began filing out before entering the multipurpose building.

The sudden drop in temperature was felt immediately as a smell of foam and sanitizer filled the contestants' nostrils.

The first floor of the building was nothing special, but somehow odd at the same time. The hardwood floors shined bright thanks to the lights in the ceiling, and there were a few potted plants strewn about.

In a corner, there were two red couches sitting across from one another, a glass table between them. There was a small shelf of magazines and books nearby, as well as a water dispenser. This gave that section of the floor a very 'doctor's office waiting room' vibe.

There were numerous other doors that led to different rooms, though apparently some of them did not have anything in them, according to Xerneas. A staircase leading to the next floor was near the back, as well as a set of doors that led into a hallway.

"Jeez, how the heck do all of these buildings give off the exact same feeling?" Ebony inquired, looking. "I feel like I'm in gym class or something."

"Gym class?" Morgan inquired, confused by his choice of description. Eyeing the couches and table in the corner, she commented, "More like 'doctor's office you wait in for hours'..."

Understanding that the first floor was rather sterile, Virizion sweatdropped. "Yeah, well… This is just how this place is."

"I mean, do you guys really expect the entrance area of a building to be exciting?" Heatran inquired, unbothered by the building's layout.

"Can we move on and just get the teams situated?" Anthony deadpanned, folding his arms. "We can figure out this place on our own, I'm pretty sure. We're not children."

The hosts all gave him a look, with Xerneas replying tonelessly. "You sure?"

Anthony didn't respond, giving them his own serious look in retaliation. Sure, a few unsavory comments were made, and there were a few arguments among the players already, but they were still capable adults. At least he was pretty sure they were.

Letting out a soft sigh, Terrakion looked at Zahku as he entered the building. "Zahku," he began, getting the behemoth's attention. "Where did you put Hayden?"

Zahku moved past the contestants and towards one of the doors on the furthest left wall. Opening it, a Magmortar fell out with a THUD, still completely knocked out.

The hosts all exchanged looks before looking back at Zahku, who was picking up the unconscious Magmortar. They turned back and saw that some of the contestants were still very much concerned about the Hariyama, their varying expressions speaking volumes.

000

"Okay, that guy Zahku freaks the hell out of me," Freezeo commented. "How is any of what he's doing allowed?!"

000

The contestants all gathered around the couches, with some of the ladies and guys sitting down on them while others either sat on the floor or stood up.

"Alright, uh…" Virizion began, unsure of where to start given what they just saw. "Well, Hayden is still out, but that's probably a good thing. He'd probably just throw out more slurs and complain…" she ended with a sheepish giggle.

Those who came off of the bus after Hayden was removed from the line were surprised to hear that. With this now known, him being knocked out did not seem too bad.

Clearing her throat, Xerneas took over. "But, anyways, let's get you guys separated into teams," she stated.

"There's gonna be two teams: Gold Team and Silver Team," Terrakion explained. "Whatever team you're on, that will correlate to the townhouse that you stay in."

000

Draco huffed, "All I know is that I don't want Hayden, Mason, the snake guy, or the man-hating chick on my team."

"I've dealt with enough homophobes and annoying bitches throughout my life. Though I will say… I'll happily take that Charizard on my team~" he purred.

000

"So, with that being said," Heatran began. "The Gold Team will have… Anthony…"

The Blastoise folded his arms in interest.

"Marie… Draco…"

The Feraligatr rose a brow, glancing at the Blastoise. He looked back, hurtling to himself. Two fully evolved Water-types? This could be very useful.

The Hydreigon was indifferent so far, waiting to see who else was on his team. Sure, having two Water-types was useful, but he didn't really care. He wanted to be able to talk to people and feel good vibes, and with those two, he didn't feel like he was going to get any.

Heatran continued calling names. "Monica… Freezeo… Farra…"

The Mismagius remained stone-faced. She still didn't want to be there, but so far, she had to admit that her team was looking to be pretty strong, barring the Cryogonal and Girafarig.

Speaking of them, Freezeo chuckled, while Farra simply smiled. So far, their team was looking pretty good.

"Mason…"

Immediately, the feel-good air surrounding the team disappeared as the Absol huffed upon hearing his name.

000

Marie sighed, "Things were sounding decent until he was brought up…"

000

Heatran continued, "Solis… Ebony… Aura… Flame… and… Kim."

Ebony was a bit bummed that neither girl that he was really interested in was on his team, but at least Aura was pretty cute.

Aura was a bit disappointed, but also relieved, as her team just felt strong. She was a bit upset that they were stuck with Mason, but he was better than the other yahoos. At least she felt like he was.

Solis didn't really have much of an opinion, nor did Flame. He was just glad that his team didn't seem to have too many nuisances. Though, little did he know that Draco had his eyes locked directly onto him.

Kim was a bit excited about her team. She didn't really know how things would shake out, but her teammates all looked either moderately or exceptionally strong.

"Now, I'm pretty sure that by process of elimination, you guys know that the rest of you are on the Silver Team," Heatran began. "Carman… Connor…"

The Roserade and Bouffalant exchanged looks. Carman smirked, while Connor wore an expression of uncertainty. He already knew who else was going to be on his team and he was not looking forward to it.

"Ivory… Darren… Marion…"

Darren smiled, while Ivory maintained a composed expression, and Marion kept her worried look.

"Hayden… Morgan… Klavier… Sabrina…"

Sabrina huffed, already annoyed by the guys that she was going to be stuck with, as well as the girls, who in her mind, were just brainwashed.

Morgan wore a slight look of annoyance as well, but tried to keep a neutral expression. Not only was Sabrina on her team, but so was the supposed asshole. She could already tell that she was going to be stressed.

Klavier wore his own look of dissatisfaction, as he had a feeling that his team was going to be the more dysfunctional of the two. These shows always had one team that gelled well, and the other that was just in complete disarray. "This is gonna be a long competition…"

"Kevin… Sapphire… and Swift," Heatran concluded.

Kevin didn't really care about his team configuration. He had bountiful knowledge on these kinds of shows, so he felt that he would be fine.

Swift smirked to himself, as he would actually have a chance to see what Sapphire was all about. She looked very attractive, so he was eager to try and see if a girl like her would be interested in him.

Sapphire, on the other hand, shared the slight annoyance of her fellow teammates. However, her parents had always told her to make the best of a bad situation, so she remained silent.

With the teams now settled, Virizion took a single step forward. "Alright, now that you all have been divided into teams, let's get you guys back to the townhouses so you can put your stuff away. Then, you'll be free to roam the lot."

"It's currently the afternoon, so we'll call you all down when it's time for dinner," Xerneas added.

"Is there going to be a curfew?" Ivory inquired.

"You guys are all adults," Heatran countered, though he understood why she asked. "Whether or not you stay up all night is completely up to you. However, it may not be in your best interest. You never know when we'll call you for challenges."

"Now, let's get you all back to your living quarters and then you'll be free to do whatever you want," Terrakion explained. "Though, we will say that your first challenge will take place tomorrow, so make of that what you will."

000

Monica let out a sigh, "As much as I don't want to be here, I guess I can say that my team is decently stacked. As long as we're able to win these dumb challenges, I guess things will be okay."

"I already know that if I quit or tell them to vote me out, people back at work are gonna come at my throat for being a poor rep," she explained. "So, I'm going to have to do whatever it takes to make it far, whether I like it or not."

000

Darren chuckled, "Well, there may be a few sour grapes on our team, but that doesn't mean that we're not just as strong as the others."

000

Back at the townhouses, the teams split up, with each group entering their designated building. All of the townhouses had similar setups, although the layout would be flipped depending on what side they were on.

They were extremely spacious, despite how they looked from outside. Upon stepping in, the first thing the contestants saw was a staircase to the left, for the guys, and to the right, for the girls. A hallway that was next to the staircase led to a living room area, with a large sectional sofa that matched the color of their team name. A large coffee table sat in front of the sofa, a rug sitting underneath both.

Surprisingly, there was a flatscreen television hanging on the wall, with a stand sitting on the floor underneath it. There was a single DVD player sitting on the stand, with numerous movie cases sitting on a shelf to the left of it.

A pair of Kalosian doors sat against the wall, allowing them to peer into the back of the buildings. All of the buildings led to the same area, which was simply a concrete patio and a few folding chairs, so there was nothing special there.

The second story of the buildings had a large bathroom, as well as two bedrooms. There were three beds in each room, so the competitors would have to decide who they wanted to share a room with. Each room had a window to the outside, with no blinds or drapes to cover it.

000

"Wow…" Anthony said, entering his team's building. "I mean… I guess I should've expected this, but still…"

The other guys from the Gold Team all piled in to see their living arrangements. Upon entering and seeing the conditions, Mason huffed, "You're gotta be shitting me… This place is a dump."

"Overreact much?" Ebony countered gruffly, moving past the Absol, who glared back at him.

Moving toward the living room, Freezeo chuckled as he moved toward the couch. "Dudes, they gave us a big-ass TV and a buncha movies to watch!"

As a few of the other guys came to the living room to inspect the setup, Flame ascended the stairs. He didn't really care about 'exploring' the rest of the house, he just wanted to check the bedrooms and claim his spot.

Taking note of this, Draco flew after him, his bags in his head-hands. While the others began perusing through their movie selections, the Hydreigon decided to try and talk to the Charizard and get to know him a bit.

Flying upstairs and poking his head into the rooms, he saw that Flame was in the room that was closest to the bathroom. The Charizard was lying on his chosen bed, which was near the back of the room, close to the window. Draco flew inside of the room, placing his bags onto the bed next to him.

Flame's eyes wandered over to the Hydreigon before they went back to the window. Draco cleared his throat, "So… Flame, was it?"

The Charizard gave him a look, allowing Draco to continue. "You certainly came up here fast. Didn't wanna look around the living room?" the Brutal Pokémon inquired.

"We're gonna be living here until we get voted out," he gruffly answered. "I'm gonna end up seeing it anyway… I just wanted to get my bed figured out without any bullshit..."

Draco shrugged, "Fair enough. Kinda the same thing for me…"

The Hydreigon pulled a red and purple blanket out of his tote bag before posing another question to the Charizard. He could already tell that he was going to be a tough nut to crack, but he was more than willing to act as a nutcracker. "So… what made you wanna sign up?"

The Charizard rolled his eyes. He wasn't planning on talking to anyone for a while, but he had a feeling that the Hydreigon was not going to leave him alone. Luckily for him, the sound of footsteps saved him as the other members of the team came up to check out the rest of the house.

Seeing that the two of them were already in a single room, Mason huffed, "Well, I know which room I'm not gonna be in…"

He moved on as Draco scoffed. "That kid really doesn't get that him not being in here is good for us, right?"

Flame shrugged, sitting up. Now that the others were starting to come up, he was going to have to be ready for some conversations so that they wouldn't write him off as 'shady'.

Ebony came up a few moments later, with Freezeo and Anthony in tow. Upon seeing Mason in a different room, he immediately entered the same room Draco and Flame were in, quickly sitting on the remaining bed.

000

"Yeah, I'd rather be in the room with the gay dude and the antisocial dude than Mason," Ebony commented. "That's how annoying he is so far…"

"I'm here for myself, so I'm gonna do whatever I need to do in order to keep myself sane and win this game," the Manectric explained.

000

"Oh, are you kidding me?" Freezeo groaned, seeing that the other room's only occupant was Mason. "I have to room with the Absol with a bad attitude?"

"You act like rooming with you assholes is gonna be a great experience for me," Mason growled.

"Didn't ask," Anthony countered as he walked past Freezeo and into the room. "It's not like we're all gonna be in here that often, anyway."

As he tossed his suitcase on his chosen bed, which was near the window, Freezeo finally entered the room, taking the last bed, which was luckily a good distance away from both guys.

Just then, Ebony decided to exit his room, heading toward the stairs. "Well, I'm gonna check on the girls. See how they're getting settled…"

"None of them are gonna fuck you!" Mason shouted to him as Ebony made his descent.

"I'm pretty sure none of them are gonna fuck you, either," Anthony retorted, earning a glare from the Absol.

000

The ladies of the Gold Team had already explored their own house, which was essentially the same as the guys', but flipped. A good number of them had already chosen who they were going to room with, with Aura, Solis, and Farra all taking residence in one room, and Kim, Monica, and Marie taking residence in the other.

"Well, this place doesn't seem too bad," Marie said, putting her rolling suitcase on her chosen bed. "Pretty spacious…"

"Yeah," Kim concurred. "I'm actually a bit surprised. Aren't these shows supposed to just strip away our access to technology?

"Don't know and don't care," Monica responded dismissively. "I've never really cared enough about these shows to watch them and know what they usually do."

Marie chimed in with an actual answer. "Well, from what I know, they do usually keep technology away from us so that we don't spoil the show. But, I guess since this show is on a film lot, they gave us a ton of movies to watch," she surmised.

Kim nodded in understanding, while Monica floated out of the room, "I'm going out."

Aura, Solis, and Farra all entered the room, passing by the Mismagius. None of the ladies asked about where she was going, knowing that they likely weren't going to get an answer.

"So… What are you guys thinking?" Solis inquired.

"About what?" Marie inquired. "The team?"

Solis took a seat on Kim's bed. "Well, yeah, but also about some of the guys here," the Gardevoir explained. "I mean… I honestly have no clue what to think."

"First impressions wise?" Farra began. "I feel like a majority of them are going to be… kinda jerky in some way."

Kim hummed, "Well, we can't really judge them all too quickly. There's some guys that look mean, or act jerky, but they're actually sweethearts."

"And there's also nice guys that turn out to be monsters," Aura added. "So, we can't really judge by appearance. Though, I'll say that so far… none of them have really caught my eye or anything."

"Well…" Marie began, stretching as she got to her feet. "This is a competition, not a dating show. Shouldn't really be too focused on trying to get a boyfriend…"

"I know that," Aura replied. "It's just-"

"Yo!" the girls suddenly heard from downstairs, getting their attention.

"Is that… What's his name? Ebony?" Farra inquired.

"Sounds like it," Kim replied as Aura exited the room, heading downstairs to see what was going on.

-000-

Ebony looked around and saw that the girls' building was the same as theirs. He had honestly expected things to look more girly and pink. Hearing footsteps, he looked at the stairs and saw that Aura was coming down. She was one of the other ladies that he thought looked pretty cute. Though, he wasn't quite sure of her overall attitude.

"Hey Ebony," the Glaceon greeted her fellow shiny Pokémon. "What's going on?"

"Nothin'," he replied as the other girls began making their descent as well. "Just wanted to come over and see how things were going."

"Oh, things are going just fine, lover boy…" Marie commented, coming down the stairs. She hadn't forgotten how the Manectric behaved at the start, much to Ebony's chagrin. "What about you guys? Having fun with Mason over there?"

Ebony scoffed. "Screw that guy. I can already tell that I'm not gonna like him. I'm lucky that I'm not sharing a room with him…"

The Feraligatr nodded. "Well, I'm going back to the multipurpose building," she explained. "You all have fun doing… whatever you plan on doing until dinnertime…"

The Big Jaw Pokémon exited the house, leaving Ebony with the other girls. He turned back around, "Alright then, uh… I dunno what you girls are planning on doing now, but I'm gonna head out, myself. Need to get a good grasp of where everything is around here."

"Oh, uh… alright?" Solis replied, a bit confused as to why he came over if he was just going to leave a few moments after. "Good luck?"

The Discharge Pokémon made his exit, leaving Aura, Solis, Farra, and Kim in the house. Farra honestly thought that it would be a good idea for them all to get to know each other first before just dispersing, but it looked like that wouldn't be happening.

"Well," Aura sighed. "If everyone else is leaving, I guess we should go check this place out, too."

Solis shrugged, "I guess." She didn't think people would go off so quickly, but then again, she didn't know these people.

Farra chimed in, "I mean, I thought that we'd get to know each other first, but I won't stop anyone who wants to leave."

"I mean, we could still do that," Aura replied. "We can walk and talk at the same time."

Farra shrugged as the three of them started making their way outside. Kim, not entirely keen on going out just yet, decided to just head to the living room and just start watching movies.

000

Kim sighed, "I'll admit, I'm not too social. I mean, I'll still work with them in challenges and I speak when spoken to, but otherwise, I just keep to myself."

000

As the guys and girls from the Gold Team all got settled and proceeded to venture around the lot, the members of the Silver Team were having a few conflicts already.

-000-

Carman was sitting in her chosen room, simply watching what was transpiring in front of her. Morgan was currently arguing with Sabrina, who was still insisting that since she was the only married woman there, that she was just a brainwashed slave.

"Ugh, will you just shut up already!?" Morgan growled. "Me having a man in my life that loves me doesn't make me a slave!"

"Keep telling yourself that," the Staraptor crowed. "It's just really funny how a bit of dick will make a woman compromise her own self-worth."

Morgan growled angrily. Was she serious? She didn't care about her self-worth because she actually settled down with someone who loves her? Who did the Staraptor think that she was?

Carman could only roll her eyes at what she was hearing.

000

Carman let out a soft giggle, shaking her head. "If these people are just gonna act like this the whole time, then this game is going to be a cakewalk."

000

Seeing how upset Morgan was getting, Ivory got between the two. "Sabrina, I don't know why you're so anti-male, but if we're gonna be a team, you're going to need to drop the attitude."

Sabrina huffed, "You don't have to worry about me; I can hold my own. You should be more worried about the pathetic bozos that we got stuck with."

"What do you mean?" Sapphire inquired. The guys on their team didn't seem too bad aside from Hayden, in her opinion. "The guys that we have are fine. Except for Hayden…"

"And we haven't really gotten a chance to get to know them," Marion added. "They all could be great in their own ways."

Sabrina narrowed her eyes at the two of them, believing that their statements to be stupid. "You're kidding me, right? Compared to the other team, we got screwed over big time. Their bunch of idiots look more impressive than ours."

"Hey now," Carman chimed in, finally speaking up. "Looks aren't everything. Just because their guys look strong doesn't mean they truly are. We have just as fair a chance."

Sabrina huffed, "I sincerely doubt all of that… Men are already dead weight, but the guys we have… They take it to a whole 'nother level."

000

"Oh, hell naw!" Hayden shouted. "How many of you are fucking fags?!"

In an attempt to get to know each other, per Darren's suggestion, the guys were talking about their family lives and what they did for work. Unfortunately, when they got to Connor, he mentioned having a boyfriend, triggering that response from Hayden.

"Geez, dude," Klavier huffed. "Him having a boyfriend is not that big of a deal."

"Boi, I know you is not tryna defend this shit," Hayden countered.

Swift glowered at the Blast Pokémon in annoyance. Like he told the Magmortar earlier, one of his cousins was gay and he was fine with it. So, he was not too keen on hearing derogatory terms still being thrown around.

"We get it, you don't like the homosexuals," the Serperior deadpanned. "But ain't you say that you didn't care that the hosts was gay since they was married?"

"Bein' married and datin' is two completely different things, bruh," Hayden retorted. "So many of my bros cheated and got cheated on by folks they was dating. My few homies that are married are loyal as a muhfucka."

"Statistically speaking, half of all marriages still end in divorce," Kevin included. "So, loyalty only matters half of the time."

Growing annoyed, the Bash Buffalo Pokémon growled to himself. "Look, let's just move on," Connor fumed. "I'm loyal to who I'm with and that's that. You don't have to worry about me trying to be with you or whatever delusion you've made up in your mind."

"Yeah, sure," Hayden scoffed, still not believing him. "All I know is that you ain't sleeping in the same room as me."

"Fine by me," Connor chortled. It felt like the Magmortar thought that he would be upset by that, which the Bouffalant found humorous.

000

"I'm actually bisexual," Connor revealed. "But, you know how homophobes are with sexuality… It's either one or the other, no in-between."

"And they think that you're a threat to their own sexuality because they decide to sexualize you," he continued.

"I doubt he'll be here that long…"

000

Darren sighed. He just thought that the guys should get to know each other and maybe they could all be cool with one another. But, of course, with Hayden, peace could rarely ever be an option."Well, that was something…"

"Man, I need to get some air or somethin'. Y'all fools buggin'," Hayden said as he left the living room.

"Okay… All in favor of voting him out if we lose a challenge?" Klavier inquired, raising a claw.

"Aye," Connor stated in an instant. He didn't want to deal with the Magmortar longer than he needed to.

"Hold on, hold on," Darren spoke, shaking his head. "We still don't really know him. For all we know, he could just have issues."

"Yes, but therapy exists for a reason," Swift countered. "So, he's willingly acting like a jackass. I wouldn't mind seeing him gone sooner than later if it came down to it."

"Well," Kevin began. "As good as that sounds, it'd probably be better to keep him. Not only is he our team's only Fire-type, but people with attitudes like his never win anyway. So, it'd be a waste."

"We haven't even done our first challenge, guys!" Darren bellowed, astonished by the elimination and probability talk already. "Why are we talking about the voting and all that already? Shouldn't we wait to see how we all do before deciding all of this?"

"Good point," Klavier replied. "Just brought it up since I'm pretty sure all of us are gonna dislike him and his attitude."

Darren understood that reasoning. He just felt that it was far too early to be trying to target people over personality conflicts.

Connor suddenly yawned, "Well, I'm gonna go check out the rooms and take a nap."

"Doesn't sound like a bad idea," Swift concurred as the guys gathered their things and started heading upstairs, leaving Hayden's 'Wild Wiggly' backpack on the floor.

000

"Folks in there acting like I'm the one being wrong ," Hayden whinged. "I just ain't tryna deal with all o' that bullshit."

"I already know that they probably gon' be talking 'bout votin' me out over that shit," he surmised. "That LBGTXYZ shit annoying as fuck these days. Can't say nothing without some punkass getting offended."

"I'mma win this game regardless," he continued. "I may be from the streets, but I know what I gotta be doing."

000

After a few hours had gone by, it seemed like everybody was doing their own thing. Some of the competitors were still exploring the lot, others were in the multipurpose building, and a few of them were still in their townhouses.

-000-

Ebony was walking past the makeup trailer, taking in all of the sights. All of the different sets and buildings were interesting to him. He wasn't really a big movie guy, but he could appreciate all of the insane work that went into making one.

As he continued along his path, he spotted Morgan and Ivory walking toward the Craft Services Department. A smile crept onto his face as he picked up his walking speed, wanting to catch up to them. They may not have been on the same team, but he could still talk to them.

Catching up to them, the Manectric cleared his throat before greeting, "Hey there, ladies…"

Both felines turned around to see the shiny Electric-type smiling at them. Given that they hadn't even heard him come up, nor seen him, they both grew a bit unnerved. "Uh… Hi?" Morgan hesitantly responded. "Not to be rude but… Where did you come from?"

Ebony explained, "Oh, I was just trying to get a lay of the land. I want to figure out where everything is beforehand so I don't ever get lost."

Ivory nodded in understanding, "Smart…"

Ebony nodded. "But yeah, I just thought I would uh… say 'hi' and everything. Name's Ebony, by the way."

"Right," Morgan responded with a nod, recalling his name in the multipurpose building. "Well, I'm Morgan…"

"I'm Ivory," the Delcatty introduced. "We were just about to go to the Craft Services building to see if there's anything there already."

"Oh, right," Ebony said, looking at the orangish-blue sky. "Does seem about that time for dinner, but who knows?"

"That's why we're going to check it out," Morgan responded. "There's not too much around here that's worth checking out, really."

The two ladies continued walking, with Ebony deciding to stick with them. "Eh, I beg to differ. There's a few cool sets and equipment around here. Folks could have a pretty fun time if they know what they're doing…"

Morgan tilted her head in a shrug, "Fair enough…"

The Manectric kinda felt like the conversation wasn't really going anywhere and that they weren't really interested in talking to him. In one last effort, he inquired, "So… What do you girls do for a living?"

Ebony's sudden appearance behind them, then deciding to stick with two of them rubbed Morgan the wrong way. She was sure that he was a nice guy, but how the whole situation just felt awkward to her.

On the other hand, Ivory didn't seem too bothered, smugly answering, "I'm still in law school. I've gone to three different ones trying to absorb as much as I can."

She then let out a sigh, continuing, "However, one of my advisors told me that I was doing far too much and that it would be best for me to take a semester off in order to actually have a social life. So, I just took the opportunity to try something new and put something else on my resume."

Ebony stifled a laugh. "Three law schools? Someone's an overachiever…" he commented.

Ivory huffed with a smirk, "Better to be an overachiever than an underachiever…"

"True enough, I guess," Ebony concurred with a smirk of his own, happy that he was getting somewhere with at least one of them. "What about you?" he inquired, looking at Morgan.

Despite her hesitance, the Persian answered, "I'm a stay-at-home mom. So, I just cook, clean, and care for my daughter. Pretty typical life." She didn't feel like disclosing much else, wanting to downplay her life in order to avoid further questions from the Discharge Pokémon.

Sensing that he wasn't going to get anywhere with Morgan, he decided to cut his losses. He was just trying to be friendly, so he wasn't sure what her deal was.

"What about you?" Ivory asked, turning the question back on the Manectric. "What do you do?"

The trio made it to the Craft Services Department, with Ebony holding the door open for the two ladies. As they went in, he answered, "I'm actually a bounty hunter."

"Wait, really?" Morgan responded in surprise. "Bounty hunters are still a thing?"

Ebony nodded in affirmation. "Yeah, it's a lot more niche now, but the job still exists," he asserted.

Morgan nodded in understanding before proceeding to look around, heading to the back through the set of doors. As she did, Ivory and Ebony continued talking for a bit.

"Bounty hunters are outlawed in some cities," Ivory stated as she sat at one of the tables. "How long have you been doing it? And more importantly, what is the pay like?"

Ebony thought about it momentarily, faltering, "Uh… I think it's been… about eleven years. Got a 100% track record. Caught every perp I've been sent after."

Ivory was taken aback by that revelation. He really didn't seem like the type to do that. Though, there was always a chance that he was just lying.

"As for the pay… It's alright," he responded with less confidence. "Like I said, it's become a bit more niche where I live, so I don't get as much work as I used to."

Ivory nodded. "I'm guessing that's why you're in this competition."

"Pretty much," Ebony chuckled before finally looking around at the building.

The Craft Services Department resembled a cabin on the inside, with almost everything being constructed of wood. There was a large counter in the back right corner with a few chairs for people to sit on, akin to a bar. Six large tables occupied the rest of the space, with only the only other things that stood out being the doors that led to the back.

"Place looks alright," he commented. "Not as good as my place, but… yeah."

Ivory rolled her eyes at that.

000

"Ebony's an interesting character," Ivory stated. "He seems to be a decent guy. He could make for a good ally."

"I'm surprised that he's a bounty hunter of all things," she marveled. "I would have thought that he'd be working in the food industry or as an electrician to be completely honest."

"He could just be lying to make himself seem impressive to us. People do that all the time," she considered. "But, if he's really a bounty hunter, then he must be much stronger than he looks."

000

"I dunno what's up with Morgan, but Ivory is definitely feeling me," Ebony chortled. "At least that's what it felt like."

"She's a pretty smart girl… Though, why the hell would you need to go to three different law schools?" he questioned. "Did she graduate from each one or something? I mean, I guess some schools teach more than others? But still!"

000

"Three… two… one… GO!"

Anthony and Marie dove into the large pool, engaging in a race to see who could complete three laps the fastest.

The multipurpose building had numerous amenities for the competitors to enjoy during their time there, such as the large pool and a basketball court. Those were the main things on the first floor, though. The second floor was essentially a workout floor, with gym equipment everywhere and walls composed of mirrors. The third floor was a media floor, having multiple oversized versions of board games, normal boardgames, as well as a section for video games.

The two Water-types weren't the only ones in the vicinity, as they were accompanied by Sabrina, Sapphire, and Swift.

As they swam back and forth across the pool, Sabrina smirked. "No way Marie's gonna lose this. Turtle-boy's too fat…"

Sapphire raised a brow at her statement, "Don't they usually swim at the same speed?"

"I don't know and I don't care," the Staraptor squawked. "I just know that the big boy doesn't look too fit, even as a Water-type."

"Yous can just say that you hate all us men and leave it at that," Swift deadpanned, knowing the real reason why she was saying that.

Sabrina ignored the Serperior, continuing to watch as Marie finished just a few seconds before Anthony. The Feraligatr smirked, "And that's that… I'm the team leader."

Anthony huffed, rolling his eyes. "You're taller than me. Of course you're gonna have an advantage."

"Hey, Franklin!" Sabrina spoke out. "Don't try to downplay her kicking your ass because you're too insecure."

Marie rolled her eyes as she climbed out of the pool, while Anthony stifled a laugh. "Wow, does being a feminazi mean that you can't differentiate between an obvious joke and serious insult?"

Sabrina scowled at him as he climbed out of the pool. She didn't appreciate the label that the Blastoise was giving her, especially since he didn't know her.

000

Sabrina groused, "That bastard doesn't know shit. I'm not a 'feminazi'. He's lucky that he's on the other team."

000

"That was a really close race," Sapphire commented as the group decided to leave the pool room. "You guys were pretty even."

The pair exchanged looks with each other, with Marie shrugging. "I guess," she teased.

Hearing this, Anthony threw her a look. "You guess? Pfft…" he replied, rolling his eyes. "I was right on your ass the entire time."

"And you didn't beat me, now did you?" Marie countered, silencing the Blastoise, who only grumbled in response.

000

"I'll admit, Marie's a tough cookie. I dig that in a chick," Anthony commented. "But if she thinks that she's gonna be the head bitch in charge, she's got another thing coming."

000

Aura, Farra and Solis returned from their walk, with Solis now having a pink feather boa around her neck, as well as star-shaped glasses and a pink hat. Aura was wearing a pair of purple sunglasses, while Farra had on a fake golden necklace. They had just walked around and inspected the different sets and props that they found.

"This place really has some good stuff," Solis commented, tossing one end of the boa around her other shoulder.

The girls heard the television on in the living room, so they went to investigate. Going in, they saw Kim sitting on the sofa watching a movie.

"Hey Kim," Farra greeted. "What're you watching?"

"Some movie called 'Darkness'," she explained. "It's pretty boring so far."

"Well, we went around and scoped out some sets," Aura explained. "This place is pretty interesting."

Kim nodded, "Did you guys see or talk to anyone else?"

"Nah," Solis refuted. "We didn't really see a lot of the others, surprisingly. I think most of them went to the multipurpose building."

"You guys didn't go check the place out?" Kim asked in surprise. With how long they were gone, she'd expected them to have checked out all of the major spots.

"No, not yet," Aura answered. "Why? Is there something cool there?"

"Uh… I… well… I…" the Dracozolt stammered before letting out a sigh. "I don't know. I haven't left the house since we got in."

"How come?" Farra inquired.

Reaching the remote, Kim paused the movie. "I'm… I'm not really a social Butterfree. I'm sure mostly everyone here is nice, but it's only the first day and I… I guess I'm still a bit…"

"...reluctant?" Aura finished, hopping onto the couch beside her.

Receiving a nod in response, the shiny Glaceon passed her a smile. "I used to be like that. It's not easy for everyone to break out of their shells. But, once you're free, a whole new land of opportunity opens up for you."

Kim nodded, as she felt a hand on back. She looked and saw that it was Solis. "She's right," the Gardevoir began. "We all have our own personal issues and things that we struggle with, but having people to talk to is always good."

Farra then chimed in, "What do you say we ditch this 'boring' movie and go checkout the multipurpose building together?"

Despite her hesitance, Kim nodded in agreement.

000

"I can relate to Kim," Aura stated. "I used to be shy and less willing to go to parties and everything like that. It can be stressful dealing with so many different people."

"Though, it does bring up the question as to why she signed up in the first place…"

000

Connor let out a yawn as he woke up in his bed. Looking around, he saw that he was the only one in his room. He expected this, as the others were likely out and about getting to know one another. So far, he didn't have a real opinion on his teammates aside from the fact that they all seemed alright, except for Hayden, of course.

He already knew that he and the Magmortar were going to have problems, all because of his sexual orientation. What was this? The olden days?"

He let out a sigh, deciding not to harp on it. He exited his room and proceeded to head downstairs to see if anyone was still in the townhouse in general. Going to the living room, he saw that nobody was there.

"Guess I'm the only one still here," he reasoned. Before going out, he figured that he would take a shower first.

Before he could head back up the stairs, though, the door opened back up, revealing Hayden. Upon seeing the Bouffalant moving from the living room, the Magmortar scowled at him. "Dafuq were you doing?"

"Look Hayden, I don't want any problems," Connor stated. "I literally just got up and I came back down to see if anyone was here."

"Uh huh…" Hayden responded, still suspicious, as the Bouffalant started heading back up the stairs.

The Magmortar went to the living room to see for himself, and saw that his bag was still on the sofa. His eyes widened as growled to himself.

"EY FAGGOT! YOU BET' NOT HAVE TOUCHED MY SHIT!" he shouted up to Connor as he unzipped his bag. Looking through it, he saw that all of his things, which only included a blanket, toothbrush, and a switchblade, were still present and accounted for.

He zipped his bag back up, but decided to keep it on him as he went back out. He didn't trust Connor in the slightest.

000

"I don't like the fact that he was close to my shit when I wasn't around," Hayden stated, his arms folded. "Folks like him are sneaky as fuck and I ain't trustin' that shit."

000

Inspecting the large bathroom, Connor saw that there were six showers in total: three against the left wall and three against the right. Going straight down that path led to an area that held both urinals and stalls. At the very rear, there were three sets of sinks and a large cabinet, which presumably held towels.

"Wow, I'm getting real highschool vibes here…" he commented as he approached the showers. Being a quadruped, Connor needed an automatic shower, but he wasn't exactly sure if any of the showers were automatic or not.

Using his horns, he drew back the curtain of each one, trying to see which ones had the right fixtures.

"Uh… Connor, what're you doing?" a voice inquired.

The sudden voice startled him as he turned back around, only to see Klavier there.

"Oh, I'm about to take a shower, so I'm trying to see if any of these are automatic," he explained.

Klavier hummed to himself, preparing to help the Bouffalant out by checking each one himself. "Uh… the two in the back are automatics," he said. "Sidenote, why the hell does it feel like a locker room?"

"No clue," Connor responded. "But, thanks…"

"No problem," he replied. "I honestly wanted to talk to you afterwards."

A bit surprised, Connor faltered, "Oh… uh… Alright?"

"Alright," Klavier repeated with a nod.

As Connor entered the shower, Klavier exited the bathroom, heading back downstairs.

000

Flame was sitting on the workout floor, lifting a couple of 100 lb dumbbells. Aside from Hayden, nobody else was on the floor, instead choosing to go to the third floor or stay on the first.

Hayden was lifting a 25 lb weight, passing a jealous look over to the silent Charizard. "You must live at the gym or somethin'," he commented.

Flame simply shook his head in response. He didn't want to talk to the Magmortar, seeing him as a measly punk.

Having gotten no verbal response, Hayden nodded in understanding. From his experience in school, he knew that the quiet guys were always the most dangerous. Plus, given the Charizard's scar and overall demeanor, he knew that he was better off leaving him alone.

A few moments later, Draco flew up to the second floor. Upon seeing Flame, he chuckled, as the Charizard had left without telling anyone where he was going. "So this is where you went?"

Flame didn't respond, only giving the Hydreigon a look of annoyance. He had flown out of the house through the window in their room just so he could have a bit of peace. Granted, coming to what was essentially a glorified recreational center for peace didn't exactly make much sense.

"Well, I guess I'll leave you alone," Draco continued. "I'm just checking this place out to see if it's somewhere worth coming to in my downtime." He flew toward the next set of stairs, teasing, "Good luck with your 'gains'."

He flew past a scowling Hayden, who still couldn't get over the fact the Brutal Pokémon was gay. Having witnessed how he talks to Flame, he cautioned, "If I were you, I'd watch that one. These fags are not only weird as fuck, but they sneaky shits. We got one on our team, too."

Flame tuned out the Magmortar as soon as he said the f-slur again. Now, him being a punk was most certainly the case, especially since he didn't say it when Draco was around.

"But, then again, you probably know that already," the Blast Pokémon surmised, putting his dumbbells down. "I was gonna go up there for myself and see what else they got, but I ain't finna deal with him, so I'm finna dip."

Flame watched as Hayden passed him and went back downstairs. The Charizard rolled his eyes as he put down his dumbbell. His eyes went toward the stairs leading to the third floor, considering going up to see if anything was going on.

000

Up on the third floor, there were multiple people enjoying their time with the games that were there. Darren was playing a game of Giant 4-in-a-row with Anthony, while Kevin and Freezeo engaged in a game of chess. Having noticed that Marion was playing a game on a Switch, Draco had gone over to see what she was doing.

Upon closer inspection, he saw that she was playing a blocky game on a Switch. "So, uh… What's this game all about?" he inquired. "People keep talking about how popular it is, but I don't really know anything about it… Is it really just digging and stuff?"

"Nah," Marion answered. "I mean, sorta. Uh…"

Kevin suddenly spoke up, not even breaking his focus from his chess game. "GeoWorld is a 3D sandbox video game that has no specific goals to accomplish, allowing players a large amount of freedom in how they play the game."

"You just got that from Sliggoogle didn't you?" Anthony deadpanned.

"Yes," Kevin affirmed. "Quickest source I could use in my head."

"Uh… What's your name? Freezie? You might as well give up," Anthony stated, turning his attention back to his own game. "You're practically going against a computer."

"Nah, I can do it…" Freezeo said, moving a pawn forward.

Moving his Queen to the left three spaces, Kevin stated."Checkmate…"

Anthony stifled a laugh as Freezeo just stared down at the board in confusion. "I told you…"

Just as Flame came up the stairs, a loud voice boomed throughout the building. "IT IS NOW TIME FOR DINNER! I REPEAT, IT IS NOW TIME FOR DINNER!" Terrakion announced.

"'Bout time," Anthony commented as he started getting up.

Darren put his last chip inside of the game, connecting four-in-a-row. "I win!"

The Blastoise gave him a look as the others on the floor began heading down, passing by Flame. With Draco being the last one, the Hydreigon smirked at the Charizard. "You coming? Or do you plan on being this way the whole time?"

Flame gave him a look before the Brutal Pokémon flew back down the stairs. Flame looked around the area, seeing the different games and chairs that scoured the room. Just then, his stomach began growling. Letting out a groan, he headed back downstairs with the others.

000

As the Craft Services Department began to fill up, Mason grumbled to himself. He had spent the majority of his time away from everyone, not wanting to associate with any of them. Even now, the scarred Absol was isolating himself, sitting at the furthest table away from the door.

He knew a bit about these competitions already. He knew that a guy like him would either get eliminated early or get close to the end due to his personality. Those were the two most common occurrences in these shows. So, he knew that if he wanted to have a chance, he would need to align himself with people he could trust. Not only that, but he would need to try and change the perception that everybody likely had of him already.

000

"Guys like me rarely stand a chance in this game," Mason emphasized. "We're just seen as the resident assholes and the other morons band together to kick us off. Or, they keep us around thinking that we won't win anyway."

"So, I'm gonna have to try and find people that I can trust. Or at least people I can fool," he continued. "I could play it off like I was just having a rough day and that I'm not really like this, yadda-yadda-yadda…"

"I just need to find someone who'll listen…"

000

Once all of the competitors were inside of the building, each of them sitting with different groups at different tables, Zahku came out of the back doors pushing a cart with two large platters covered with lids. The four hosts followed him, with Heatran holding a bag of paper plates in his maw.

"Alright," the Life Pokemon began, looking around. "Glad to see that all of you are still alive."

"Well, most of you, anyway," Terrakion joked, looking at Monica and Marion.

Monica rolled her eyes at the joke attempt, while Marion only sweatdropped.

Virizion pressed, "Hopefully you all have gotten to know each other a bit during your time alone so far. Teamwork is going to be extremely important in this game."

"Until a certain point, and then we're all on our own," Kevin added.

The hosts narrowed their eyes at the Porygon-Z. "Yes, thank you, Kevin," Xerneas replied in irritation. She then sighed before continuing, "Now, tonight's dinner is pretty standard."

Zahku lifted both lids off of the platters, revealing one stack of burgers on one platter and a large pile of fries on the other.

"Burgers and fries…? Really?" Sabrina deadpanned.

Hayden scoffed, "Dafuq you mean?! Burgers and fries is a classic!"

"This is just the first day," Heatran explained. "We're not gonna immediately dive in with some kind of gourmet masterpiece. So, this is what you've got."

"You can either eat it, or just wait until breakfast tomorrow," Terrakion stated.

"Once you're finished with dinner, feel free to go back to doing whatever you like," Virizion offered. "But, like Terrakion mentioned earlier on, your first challenge starts tomorrow, so be smart."

"We're gonna head out," Xerneas disclosed. "If you all need anything, just remember that we're on the lot as well."

The four hosts, along with Zahku, returned to the back room, leaving the twenty-four contestants to their own devices once again.

-000-

Nearly all of the competitors got up immediately in order to grab a plate and fill it with food. Given the fact that this was going to be their first meal since they got to the lot, a good number of players were famished.

Seeing some of the guys grabbing two burgers instead of one, as well seeing them going first, Sabrina huffed. "Pigs. What happened to 'ladies first'?"

"What happened to 'gender equality'?" Anthony countered, walking away from the cart with two burgers and a bunch of fries on his plate. "And I hope you realize that complaining about everything we do won't do anything but give you a headache."

Sabrina glowered at the Blastoise as he took a seat next to Flame, who didn't bother getting up yet. After a while, almost everybody had gotten food and were beginning to converse as they enjoyed their meals. Er… Well, at least some of them did.

"These burgers taste… off," Sapphire commented after taking a bite. "And the fries are pretty soggy, too."

"-and bland," Morgan added, smacking her lips. "Like there's no salt or anything…"

"Hey, that works for me," Ivory opined, nibbling on another fry. "My doctor said that I needed to lower my sodium intake, anyway."

"Well, if you want it, there's salt and pepper on that bar counter back there," Ebony said, gesturing to the back corner.

"Thank Arceus," Morgan sighed as she got up and moved to retrieve the spices.

"Food's not great, but I guess it'll do," Swift remarked, taking another bite of his burger. "Shouldn't really be expecting high-quality cookin' from a lug like that, anyway."

"Eh… I think it's just him in specific," Ebony disputed. "I know some big guys that can cook their asses off."

"Maybe," Swift huffed. "All I know is that, from my experience, big bruiser guys like that… Their cooking ain't worth a damn."

-000-

Hayden was scarfing down his fries and burgers as if it was the first time he had eaten in years, much to the disgust of Monica, who was sitting at the table that was next to his.

"Disgusting…" she murmured.

"Say, you and Marion are ghosts," Marie acknowledged, popping a fry into her mouth. "Do you guys even need to eat?"

The Mismagius explained, "We don't need to eat, but we will if we want to. And in this case… I am not eating this…"

"I'll take that off of your hands, then," Anthony said, grabbing her plate and sliding it toward himself. It only had a single burger and a couple of fries, but he took it anyway. This earned him a look from Marie.

"Seriously?" the Big Jaw Pokémon deadpanned.

"What?" Anthony shrugged, "She said that she wasn't gonna eat it."

"It's whatever," Monica responded, rolling her eyes. She then let out a sigh, "I think I'm just gonna head back to the townhouse. Not hungry and not really interested in anything else."

The Feraligatr nodded in understanding as the Magical Pokémon floated out of the building, leaving the two Water-types at their table. Once she was gone, Anthony huffed, "Well she's gonna be fun to be around, isn't she?"

"She doesn't wanna be here in the first place," Marie recalled flatly, picking up another fry. "So, that makes sense for her."

After taking another bite of his burger, Anthony snorted, "Even better. If we lose, we can vote her out first and end her suffering. I'm sure being in a competition for a cool mill is devastating her."

Marie threw him another look, growing a bit more annoyed the more the Blastoise opened his mouth. "Maybe we wait until the challenge happens before we decide anything…" she stated.

Anthony shrugged.

000

"The game hasn't even completely started yet and he's already starting to annoy me…" Marie groused, her arms folded.

000

"So… uh… What did you want to talk to me about?" Connor inquired softly, sitting next to Klavier.

The Bouffalant's shower had taken longer than Klavier anticipated, mainly due to the buffalo's large afro. The Gliscor didn't want to speak in public, as he wanted to only talk to Connor at the moment. So, with them being at a table, with Marion, Darren, and Freezeo sitting across from them and Draco next to them, it was definitely the wrong time.

"We'll talk later," he whispered back.

"So, how do you guys think the game will go?" Freezeo inquired. "I haven't really seen or heard about anybody doing this type of show on a film lot."

"I have no clue," Darren replied. "Maybe they're gonna have us remake different movies and stuff."

Hearing that, Marion shook her head. "I sincerely hope that they don't. I'm not a good actress…"

"Neither am I," Freezeo stated. "I mean, my species' faces are literally frozen into a frown."

"Imagine if they brought like famous actors here and they're the ones who make the challenges for us to do," Klavier chuckled. "That would be crazy…"

"Crazy awesome," Darren added on. "Imagine having someone like Shellby Watts or Jessica Rivers come here… Meeting them would be amazing!"

"Well, we shouldn't get our hopes up," Connor replied. "As cool as that'd be, I doubt legitimate actors would go out of their way to come and help in a show like this."

"Hey, you never know," Freezeo chuckled. "It'd be great if they did…"

Draco, who was sitting in silence, was watching Flame, who was sitting by his lonesome. He thought about going over to keep him company, but he didn't want to risk irritating the Charizard by being too 'clingy'.

Eventually, Flame decided to get up and leave. He had finished a majority of his meal and was willing to throw the rest of it away. Seeing this, Draco let out a soft sigh and looked down at his plate, which caught the attention of Darren.

"You okay, Draco?" the Dewgong inquired.

Draco nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just been trying to get Flame to open up a bit more with... pretty poor results."

"Well, it's only the first day," Klavier responded, popping a few fries in his mouth. "You can't really expect him to soften up when we've barely gotten to know each other."

"I guess," Draco grumbled.

"Yeah, he'll open up when he feels like it," Freezeo explained. "No need to rush it."

Draco nodded back in understanding.

000

Scanning the area, Sabrina only huffed in annoyance. "Only a day in and I already can't stand the majority of these guys here. Not a single one of them has displayed an ounce of maturity."

Hey, it's just the first day," Solis responded. "I mean, sure, some of them may be a bit odd, but we don't really know them."

Aura concurred, "Yeah, we haven't even spoken to everyone yet."

Sabrina huffed, "Ever heard that first impressions are everything?"

Carman stifled a laugh, "If that's the case, then your first impression hasn't done you any good."

Sabrina raised a brow, questioning, "What do you mean?" The Staraptor knew what she was going to suggest, but wanted to hear how she was going to describe it.

"Well, you're pretty much throwing all of the guys under the bus for no reason," Carman described. "We barely even know most of them. Not to mention you insulted Morgan for being married."

"...And?" Sabrina deadpanned.

"And… If this is a team game… looking down on half of our teammates for being a different gender may not be a smart move," Carman elaborated. "And looking down on another for having the gall to marry someone from the opposite gender is… just stupid."

"Hey, I have the right to speak my mind," Sabrina defended. "As long as we manage to win challenges, what I say shouldn't matter."

"I mean… sure," Farra spoke up. "But if your teammates are put off by your attitude, then they could just vote you out whenever you lose a challenge."

"And they'd just be proving my point that they're idiots," Sabrina replied.

The other girls at the table exchanged glances, now unsure of what to make of the Staraptor.

000

"I have no clue what the deal is with Sabrina's whole 'anti-man' agenda," Aura commented. "All I'm gonna say is I'm gonna feel bad for the guys on her team…"

000

After a while, the players began leaving the Craft Services Department. While some decided to go ahead and head back to their townhouses, some returned to the multipurpose building, and others decided to venture to different areas of the lot in order to talk.

-000-

The guys from the Silver Team decided to head back to their townhouse, having decided to heed the hosts' warnings about not staying out too late. Hayden was irritated by this decision, groused, "Man, this some bullshit. Why dafuq we gotta come in early? There's still some light out!"

"Nobody said that you had to follow us," Klavier defended.

"Ye, yous can do whatchu want," Swift concurred. "Just know that if yous cost us the challenge since yous was tired or whateva', it's your ass."

"And that's why my ass is stayin' right fuckin' here," Hayden huffed, pushing past them to go up the stairs. "I ain't tryna hear nunna that shit, so I might as well just stay here."

"Uh… Okay?" Darren sweatdropped before looking around. "Wait, has anyone seen Kevin?"

"He's in here," the remaining guys heard as they looked down the hall and saw Connor standing at the entrance of the living room.

Heading down, the guys entered the living room and saw Kevin floating in front of the TV watching what looked like another competition. It appeared to take place inside of a hotel of sorts.

"Ey, cyber duck, what is yous doin'?" Swift inquired, slithering closer.

"The hosts supplied us with season DVDs of other competitions," Kevin explained. "So, I'm just rewatching a few to get a good grasp of different dynamics and the like."

"Oh, so… Which one is this?" Darren inquired, dragging himself closer.

"It's the one that happened in Alola," the Porygon-Z disclosed. "It's one of the only ones that has a similar setup to this season, so-"

As the Virtual Pokémon explained the season, Klavier nudged Connor before gesturing toward the door. Understanding what he wanted, the Bouffalant followed Klavier toward the door.

-000-

"So… what did you want to talk about?" Connor inquired, as he and Klavier stood outside.

"I wanted to ask if you were willing to be in an alliance with me," Klavier explained. "This game is gonna be pretty long, and we all need somebody that we can rely on completely."

Connor was surprised by the offer. "An alliance, huh?"

"You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours," Klavier responded. "Given that we have people like Hayden the Homophobe and Sabrina the Man-eater, some of us are gonna have to watch ourselves."

Connor nodded in understanding. The other team definitely had a huge advantage over them and he already had two people on the team who disliked him for their own biased reasons. It would definitely help to have an ally.

"So, what do you say?" Klavier pressed. Connor was one of the only guys on the team that he felt he could trust.

He took a while, but eventually Connor nodded. "Okay, I'm in…"

"Nice!" Klavier exulted.

"Though, I have to ask… Why me?" Connor asked. "I mean, aside from Hayden, the other guys seem cool."

"It comes down to who I think I can trust the most," the Fang Scorpion Pokémon explained. "Darren is a bit too nice for my liking. I feel like if someone tells him something, he'll blab to someone else if they just ask. Kevin is smart and has a lot of knowledge on these shows, but that makes him dangerous, because he could just do whatever he wants. And… frankly, Swift kinda scares me."

Connor blinked a few times, taking in the Gliscor's explanation. "Um… alright then."

Klavier expounded, "You and I are already on the same page with wanting Hayden gone as soon as possible, so us working together wouldn't be that hard."

"Fair… But, I don't think that just the two of us will be able to do anything impactful," the Bouffalant explained.

"So, do you think we need to bring in one of the girls?" Klavier inquired.

"Probably," Connor answered. "We'd have some kind of eyes and ears over there."

A pensive expression formed on Klavier's face. "Okay, give me some time to think about that. We've barely spoken to the girls to really know them just yet."

"Okay, well…" the Bash Buffalo began, looking back at the door. "We should probably head back inside before the others get suspicious."

"Right, right," Klavier concurred. It definitely wouldn't look good if the other guys saw the two of them talking in private.

The pair went back into their townhouse, where they saw that Swift's tail was still in the living room. Klavier raised a brow, "Uh… did they even know we left?"

"Probably not," Connor replied as they started walking back toward the area. "But now I'm curious about the season they're watching if they're that into it…"

000

Klavier hummed to himself, "The girls on our team seem smart, but we may just have to wait to see how we do in the challenge tomorrow."

"It seems easier that way since we'll see how well we work together and who I may be able to trust."

000

Mason climbed to the third floor of the multipurpose building, wanting to check it out for himself. He had seen that a majority of the players were heading back to the townhouses, so he was expecting to have some alone time so that he could think and explore.

Unluckily for him, two other people were already up on the third floor. Marion was once again playing on the Switch, while Freezeo was just watching her. The Absol growled to himself, annoyed by their presence on the floor. However, an idea formed in his head.

000

"Hmm…" Mason mused. "This may be the best chance for me to get some easy allies. And, luckily for me, there's nobody else around."

000

Approaching them, he cleared his throat before addressing them. "Hey… You two…" The Absol hadn't even remembered their names.

Turning around, Freezeo internally groaned to himself upon seeing the Absol. However, wanting to be cordial, he responded, "Oh, hey Mason. What uh… What brings you here?"

"Oh, nothing," Mason answered. "Just wanted to check this place out before I headed back to the house."

Surprised by his somewhat calm answer, Freezeo explained, "Well, there's just a bunch of games up here. Pretty damn cool."

Seeing the large 'Connect 4' game, as well as the stack of board games and video games, the Absol grew impressed and interested. However, his focus needed to be on the larger game at hand.

"That's cool, but uh… I actually wanna ask you two something," he divulged.

Marion halted her game, as Freezeo sighed internally. He had a feeling that he knew what was coming.

"Ask us what?" Marion inquired.

"Would you guys be interested in making an alliance with me?" he asked, taking a seat in front of them.

Marion's eyes widened a bit, while Freezeo's face remained the same. The Banette hesitated, "Uh… um… I'm… I'm on the other team. So, I don't know if that will really work well."

"Yeah, and no offense dude, but uh… You were kinda a dick," Freezeo explained. "So, I'm not so sure."

Mason let out a sigh, "Yeah. I know… Sorry about that. I was just dealing with some… personal stuff. Kinda why I just kept to myself afterwards."

"Oh…" Freezeo sympathized.

"Yeah…" Mason fibbed, looking down. "A close friend of mine died before I had to come here. So, I've just been… bitter and… angry. So, sorry that I came off like a dick."

"Aw… I'm sorry for your loss..." Marion apologized.

Mason shook his head, "No, it's fine. I just needed some time to myself. Thanks, though."

"Well…" Freezeo began. "If that's the case then… I guess I'm willing to work with you."

Mason smiled, "Thanks."

"And… well… I guess that I could work with you guys, too," Marion added. "I'm not so sure about how it would work, though, since we're on different teams."

"Hey, as long as people don't know that you're working with us, I think you'll be fine," Freezeo assured her.

Mason nodded with a smile. "Yeah, as long as nobody figures it out, we'll be fine."

000

Mason chuckled, "That was much easier than I thought. All I have to do is keep this act up and I'll be at the end before I know it…"

000

The four hosts were inside of a townhouse of their own. However, unlike the ones that the competitors were staying at, it was much larger both on the inside and the outside. They had a full kitchen and a much larger living room. Their bedrooms were larger as well, as were their bathrooms.

Xerneas let out a soft sigh as she rested on their couch in the living room. She was in front of multiple monitors, each of which was playing footage of a different area of the lot.

"Something wrong, hon?" Virizion inquired, approaching the Life Pokémon.

The two shared a kiss, with Xerneas letting out a soft breath. "I just can't help but feel… scummy about this. I mean, so many of these guys have families and they're gonna be greatly affected by this. And even if it all gets explained, there's going to be a huge fallout, I just know it…"

Seeing her wife rest her head on the arm of the couch in depression, Virizion looked back at the monitors and sighed. "Victini and his stupid ideas…" she groused. "He could've just had new players sign up, but he wanted to make a point…"

"Well, he'd better be ready to take the brunt of the hate from everyone if things go sour," Xerneas mumbled.

Virizion huffed, "We already know that he won't care. We're just gonna have to hope that they all don't do anything too drastic."

-000-

Heatran and Terrakion were inside of their room, which also had multiple monitors. As awful as Victini was and how messed up the circumstances were regarding the contestants, the two couldn't help but be happy that they were being given another chance to have a show to host.

"So, how do you think things are gonna go?" Heatran inquired, looking at the screens.

Terrakion sighed, "Um… It's kinda hard to say. The Gold Team looks like it has a lot of heavy hitters, but egos could cause problems. And the Silver Team seems to have a decent underdog setup, but there's quite a bit of… bias in there that could disrupt the team synergy."

"Yeah…" Heatran concurred. "Really don't enjoy the constant homophobia and sexism…"

"True, but the diversity of people works," Terrakion explained. "Not everything can just be 'clean'. Especially with these guys."

The Lava Dome Pokémon sighed, "I guess…"

"Let's just hope that things don't get bad like they usually do," Terrakion said. "I wanna break that trend…"

Heatran smiled, nuzzling against him. "Well, we're just gonna have to wait and see…"

000

Gold Team - (Anthony, Aura, Draco, Ebony, Farra, Flame, Freezeo, Kim, Marie, Mason, Monica, Solis)

Silver Team - (Carman, Connor, Darren, Hayden, Ivory, Kevin, Klavier, Marion, Morgan, Sabrina, Sapphire, Swift)

000

Well, here we are again. New season, but luckily Mew and Victini aren't hosting. Maybe things won't be as bad as they were in previous seasons…

Oh, who are we kidding? Victini manipulated their memories, so who knows what's gonna happen? This is gonna be a long season. But, at least we get to see the season two newbies without all of the original contestants overshadowing them. That's something, I suppose. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it and I'll see you next time on Total… Pokémon… Re-Action! See ya guys, BYE!