Cynthia sighed as she laid her money out on a table in her apartment. It's been nearly a month since she started working as what was essentially a sentient billboard. Aside from food and rent, Cynthia didn't spend a single dime of what she earned, in hopes she could maybe leave New York City and explore this new world. The huge pile of money made her smile, maybe she could in a couple of weeks, maybe a couple months? She had no clue, it was hard to estimate how much money she'd need with a currency she wasn't familiar with. Off to the side in her apartment, her Pokemon were lounging about. Milotic was seemingly missing.
The serpent suddenly lifted its head onto the table, an empty bowl was in its mouth. "Did you finish your food?" the champion placed a hand on her Pokemon and started rubbing its neck. Despite the rough appearance each of her Pokemon had, they were actually pretty cuddly. With the exception of Spiritomb, who just seemed to not like anybody, Cynthia could tell it was a big softy. Still didn't make it enjoy being touched in any capacity. Milotic chirped before taking her dish off to the sink. "I believe in a few weeks, we can get out of this cramped apartment," Cynthia announced. Every one of her pokemon silently cheered.
Each one had come to work with her in a cycle each week. On Monday she brought Garchomp and then went down the team, switching out each Pokemon with each coming day. It was safe to say they were also fed up with having to work, which wasn't even that hard of a job; it was just boring. Just standing next to a cardboard stand with two games on it, helping to promote them to people. It worked surprisingly well, those games sold a lot more than expected, but it was just boring. Lucario raised his paw and let out a bark. "I know, people seem to want to lay their hands all over me, which is why I'm just as excited to leave this job as you are," Cynthia said.
A couple of weeks ago, it was just a normal day of work. It was Lucario's turn to come with Cynthia to work. "Okay guys, a news reporter is coming in today," the manager said. He stopped in front of the champion and pointed at her. "They wanna film you a bunch, so don't be surprised when these guys start taking photos," he said. "That's not too bad, I've dealt with stuff like this before," Cynthia said. Lucario crossed his arms before sighing, even if he was used to having to take photos, he didn't like it. All the bright lights, all the directing from the photographers, all the noise just didn't set well with him. Specifically the noise, which did hurt his very sensitive ears a lot.
"Alright, I'll go unlock the store, get in place you two," the manager walked away while Cynthia let out a sigh. She patted Lucario on the head with an assuring smile. "I'm sorry about bringing you in today, I know how much you hate news reporters," she said. Lucario let out a growl at the thought , but didn't point any of his anger towards her. "I still don't know why our boss didn't tell me a couple days in advance. If you don't want to take photos, then you can just hide behind me," Cynthia continued. Lucario stepped away from his trainer and took his position on the other side of the cardboard stand. Cynthia didn't know why until she heard voices start filling the store. "Hopefully today will go well," she said.
The reporter was one of the first people in the store, being followed by a camera man, he stopped just in front of Cynthia. "Set up a bit of a perimeter so nobody interrupts our filming," the reporter ordered. The camera man nodded before going to do what was asked. Lucario kept his arms folded while he twitched. "Is something wrong with that thing?" The reporter asked. "He hates being filmed," Cynthia said. "Well, that's too bad," the reporter said. Lucario stepped around the cardboard and his behind Cynthia like a child would with its mother. "Can you not?" The reporter tried to shove Cynthia out of the way to get at the Aura Pokemon, which ended up being unsuccessful.
"Can't Lucario just sit this one out? I'm not going to let you film him if he doesn't want to be filmed," Cynthia folded her arms. She wasn't a fan of how pushy reporters were, even before she was swept up into the weird light. "The perimeter's done," the camera man grabbed his camera and got ready to film at a moment's notice. "I'll tell your manager to have you fired if you don't let me film that damn beast," the reporter said. "Don't call my Lucario a beast, he has a more levelled head on his shoulders than you do," Cynthia said. "I thought we were just here to film this lady, not her Pokemon," the camera man said. "I want to film the Pokemon. You know how good of a headline we could make if we say a Pokemon is working at Nintendo New York?" The reporter asked.
This time, instead of haphazardly pushing Cynthia out of the way, the reporter grabbed her and moved her aside. "We'll just get a couple of photos of that stupid thing, then we'll interview you," he said. Lucario quickly moved back behind Cynthia, which only made the reporter angrier. He then pushed Cynthia out of the way again, which caused the champion to lose her balance and fall on the ground. Lucario, this time ran to make sure his trainer was alright. Cynthia sat up pretty quickly and started petting Lucario. "I'm fine, Lucario," the champion stood up and dusted herself off. Lucario got in between Cynthia and the reporter, who realized what he just did.
"And… that's what happened," Cynthia said. She had moved over to the couch, her Pokemon surrounded her like they were children. Spiritomb was knocked out in the corner, it didn't care for its trainer's stories. Garchomp looked like he was going to jump out the window and find the reporter who did that to his trainer. "Garchomp, you are not going to hunt somebody down and kill them," Cynthia said. She placed her hands on her hips and stood up. Garchomp lowered himself before nodding, and sat back down on the floor. Lucario shook his head while quietly barking to himself. "Lucario, you were ready to punch a hole through that guy's chest," Cynthia said.
Lucario acted surprised before shaking his head in denial. The champion giggled as the jackal jokingly tried to act like a little angel. Cynthia stood up and went to get changed into her pajamas in the bathroom. She came back out in completely black pajamas to match her everyday attire. She laid down in Milotic's coils and let out a sigh. Milotic didn't look too excited about being used as a bed, but didn't complain. She knew the rest of her team were likely annoyed, since Milotic didn't let anyone near Cynthia when the two of them cuddled. Lucario hopped up on the couch and was out in a minute. The lights were then turned off with a blue glow, showing that Spiritomb was awake the entire time. "Spiritomb, I am going to make you spend the day with me tomorrow," Cynthia said. The Forbidden Pokemon hid its excitement from her, it let out an indescribable noise before hiding itself in the corner again. "Good night guys," Cynthia closed her eyes and go to sleep.
"Man… I can't believe this isn't Sunyshore," Ash said while complaining. "Hey now, we still can camp out, and I've got enough supplies to last us a lifetime!" Brock pulled out his trusty frying pan and laid it on the fire they had just made. "Sure, we can do just fine out on the road, Brock, but I want to sleep in a nice warm bed," Dawn said. "Yeah, and I wanna get my last gym badge before Barry does," Ash sighed. "I just can't believe none of the places we went into would take our money," Brock cracked an egg and put it in the pot. He then pulled a full sized grill from his backpack and placed a couple slabs of meat on it.
All of the gang's Pokemon were already out, enjoying their food, and completely ignorant to the situation they were in; just like their trainers. Somehow, despite having met several gods, Ash couldn't have guessed if he was in a new world or not. Dawn certainly didn't either, not knowing that other regions used the same currency as Sinnoh. Brock just assumed that he didn't have enough money on him, having spent all of it on supplies ahead of time, before heading out on their journey. "Whatever, we'll find some hotel to stay in at some point. Let's just be lucky we got Brock, or we wouldn't be eating anything," Dawn said. Brock grinned. "I remember when Ash started out on a journey without me… he and Pikachu nearly starved!" Brock laughed at the thought. Truly, he was a key component to Ash's success while traveling; you can't get badges if you've got an empty stomach.
Brock then placed the eggs he put in his pot on three plates, then took the slabs of meat off of the grill. "Now eat up you two, we've got more traveling to do tomorrow," he said.