AN: Just a quick note to let you all know that I'm doing alright. Just been busy with work, but still keeping healthy. Here's hoping you're all feeling alright as well.

The Bunny Hop

"Princess, Bubble attack!" Lincoln instructed.

"Dusty, throw up some Stun Spore!" Lana called out to her little Scatterbug.

"Isabella, Ember!" Lola ordered loudly.

"Timburr, Rock Throw!" Girl Jordan exclaimed to her faithful starter. It had been a few days since they had left the Pokemon Center toward the start to Route 2, and the closer the group had gotten to Glenvale, the more opposing trainers they found themselves encountering. Not that any of them were really complaining, however; each win got each of them a little more prize money and more experience for their pokemon. Currently, Lincoln's Frillish was engaged in battle with a floating rock creature with two long arms with large fists on the end, but not for long. The bubbles she spat at it caused it to faint in no time flat. Lola's Litleo was battling a small blue sheep with yellow wool, and seemed to be doing decently well as she breathed tiny sparks of fire at it. Timburr, on the other hand, was up against a Zubat, whose trainer felt pretty confident upon seeing they had the type advantage. However, this confidence faded quickly when their bat pokemon ended up buried in stones. Lana was kind of the odd one out on this venture, as she was battling a wild pokemon; a monkey like pokemon that was mostly head with a pig snout that looked utterly ticked off about something. Her little wormy monster had sent a cloud of dust at the angry chimp, which caused all of it's muscles to go very stiff. Unfortunately for Dusty, the opposing fighting pokemon was able to fight its way through the paralysis. Fortunately, however, its Low Kick hardly fazed the Scatterbug.

"You got this, Dusty. Now to catch it!" The hat wearing twin drew a fresh pokeball from her bag and threw it right at the pig monkey pokemon. It put up quite a fight within the pokemon containment sphere, but it was eventually captured. "Yes!"

"Mankey, the pig monkey pokemon. It lives in treetop colonies. If one becomes enraged, the whole colony rampages for no reason. It's unsafe to approach if it gets violently enraged for no reason and can't distinguish friends from foes. This particular Mankey is female and possesses the Vital Spirit ability." Her pokedex informed her.

"Sweet! Think I'll keep her on the team," She said before she looked at her belt of occupied pokeballs. This was always the hardest part for her, picking one of her pokemon to go to the box. She sighed and eventually settled on sending Pidgey to the box. Just then, her Scatterbug started to glow with a bright white light. "Huh?" Before her eyes, the caterpillar started to change: he lost the three hairs on his head, grew a little bit and looked like he was now surrounded by a light gray cloak with dusty patches in certain spots. Once his metamorphosis had concluded, he turned around to look at his stunned trainer.

"Spewpa!" He cheered, jumping in place in joy, sprinkling some dust from his cloak in the process.

"Dusty...you evolved!" Lana cheered as well, rushing her little bug and pulling him into a big embrace (getting lots of dust and dirt all over her in the process). "My first evolved pokemon, and the first in the group to evolve a pokemon! This is so cool!"

"Congratulations, Lana," Her brother said to her with a smile after he had collected his prize money and gave Princess her props with a pat on the head. He didn't have the heart to tell her that bug pokemon tended to be the easiest to evolve, seeing her so happy about it. Her short tempered twin seemed somewhat upset about this, however.

"Well, my pokemon are prettier and cuter," Lola said, petting Isabella's back. "Isn't that right, Isabella?"

"Leo!" The fiery lion cub replied happily. Lana just rolled her eyes, but she didn't care. She wasn't going to let Lola's saltiness spoil her mood.

"It shouldn't be much longer before we reach Glenvale now." Jordan said after she recalled Timburr.

"Right. We should get there by tonight." Lincoln agreed with a nod.

"Good. I desperately want a shower…" Lola said, looking relieved. "...and a good hot meal...er, no offense, Lincoln." The one son kind of frowned at her for that comment, but held his tongue.

It took the four of them a few hours to reach the little town of Glenvale, with only a few trainer ambushes slowing them down. It was fairly late into the night when they arrived. The town was smaller than Royal Woods, but not by much. Apart from housing a league sanctioned gym, the town had at least two pokemon centers (one close to the gym and the other nearest the residential areas) with Pokemarts included, a few different stores (including clothing and a handful of grocery stores), a movie theater, a few hotels/motels, and a handful of restaurants. One restaurant in particular was the most welcome sight for the four of them: a Burpin Burger. Lincoln thought his cooking was pretty decent, but he and his sisters were seriously craving a hamburger for a few days by now, so as soon as they saw the sign, they gravitated right for it. Girl Jordan had no issues with this, as Larchton didn't have a Burpin Burger and she used to love that place. They ordered their food and sat down at the patio seats so they could feed their pokemon at the same time. The food tasted amazing after several days of a limited diet. However, during their meal, they discovered Princess loved strawberry milkshakes after Lola shared a little of hers with the Frillish. This, of course, led the floating pokemon to want more. "Hey! Stay back! I said you could have a taste! One taste!" The prissy twin tried to keep Princess held back with one hand as she held the cup out of tentacle reach with her other hand.

"I feel like I should do something about this," an amused Lincoln said as he sipped on his soda and watched the scene unfold.

"Probably," Jordan agreed, finishing up her order of fries. "Are you?"

"In a moment." He responded, which got a giggle from his friend. Lana, on the other hand, was just laughing like a hyena at the sight. What they didn't know was Lincoln was recording this all take place. He suspected when Lola found out about this, she would have his head for it, but the family would probably get a kick out of this. As the pink jellyfish and the Loud in pink became more aggressive with their offense and defense, the one son decided to step in, pulling Princess back. "You know you shouldn't have too much, Princess. You could get sick."

"I'll take my chances." Princess replied, with Lana translating and struggling against her trainer.

"...Tell you what. Next time we go to a restaurant that has milkshakes, I'll get you a little milkshake all your own if you leave Lola be." He offered, which gave the many tentacled pokemon pause for thought.

"...promise?"

"Promise." Princess mulled this over for a moment, then nodded. She seemed satisfied, and so did Lola.

Once their meal was finished, the group recalled their pokemon and made their way to the Pokemon Center closest to the Glenvale Gym. Unlike the one on Route Two, this center was MUCH larger, which included free rooms for licensed trainers, a counter for the PokeMart, and a series of machines on the second floor all crowded with trainers. To the left was a similar machine they saw back at Lisa's lab (the one that looked like a giant pokeballs with pipes sticking out at either side). In the center was a series of computers set in front of a massive holographic device which was showing an image of the globe with several tiny red dots scattered across the world. Beside each dot showed an image of a pokemon with some information beside it. To the right was a contraption similar to the first, but instead of the pipes, it had a hatch in the front of it, with a monitor and keyboard attached. They considered for a moment checking them out while they were waiting for their pokemon to get healed, but it was far too crowded up there and they were too tired. They could investigate later. "Excuse me, Nurse," Lincoln started to ask as the pink haired nurse returned Lana's pokemon to her. "Does the Pokemon Center have any rooms left?"

"Oh yes, young man," She told him with a soft smile and a nod. "We only have two rooms left, but they're big enough for two people each."

"Thank you, ma'am," He answered before he looked back to his sisters and his friend.

"Looks like we'll each have to share rooms," Girl Jordan commented. Lola and Lana considered taking this as an opportunity to get Lincoln and Jordan together, possibly help boost their relationship. However, they quickly dispelled this idea without saying a word to one another, as if they were speaking telepathically. Might be too soon for such a step, they both thought, and Lincoln might get the idea they were meddling.

"I'll stay with Linc," The animal loving twin offered. She had no issues sharing a room with her brother, and thought Lola would be more comfortable with Girl Jordan as a roommate, and vice versa.

"Guess it's you and me, Lola," The teen girl with the light brown hair said with a light smile. The four trainers all nodded in agreement as they all headed off for the rooms provided by the pokemon healthcare facility. The rooms were very basic: with two beds, one closet, and one small television with local channels, and a bathroom. Still, they weren't going to argue with a free room for the night, especially after several days of camping. Lola was laying on her own bed, looking like it was the most comfortable place to sleep in the world. "You look happy," Jordan commented with a light giggle.

"I am. I really don't like camping much," The prissy princess wanna be admitted. "At least, not with tents and sleeping bags."

"Weren't you and Lana in the Bluebells?" The dodgeball champ asked with raised eyebrows.

"Well, yes," Lola responded, sitting up and looking surprised. "How did you know that?"

"Lana told me a few nights ago."

"Oh...yeah, we were, and it was a lot of fun, but I couldn't stand the camping part," The blonde haired, short tempered teen explained. "It took me bringing an air mattress and jumbo sized tent just to tolerate it. Lana loved it though."

"Hehe. I got that impression about her," Jordan responded as she pulled out her phone to check her messages.

"Soooo...you've known Lincoln a while, right?" Lola inquired innocently, making it seem like a throwaway question.

"Not as long as you, I wager," She answered, the two girls giggling a little. "But seriously, I've known him all through our time in school, up until my family moved to Larchton."

"Curiosity question: what did you think of him then?" Jordan paused for a moment, lowering her phone as she thought about that question for a moment.

"I thought he was a nice enough guy. Bit of a nerd, but so was Clyde. Couldn't play dodgeball to save his life. But he was nice, kind of smart, quick on his feet, and kind of funny too. Not to mention caring." She looked over at Lola with a smile. "I mean, holding off on his journey to help his family and care for his little sisters? I can't think of many siblings that would do that."

"Oh, he is definitely caring," Lola agreed. "He's always made time for all of us, even his older sisters. He even coached me through my whole pageant career."

"No way! Really?" Girl Jordan looked utterly amazed at her.

"Honest. Linky had my back through every pageant I went to: he learned all about beauty pageants, helped me with my makeup, even cheered on me from the audience."

"Wow. I would never have guessed that about Lincoln. I mean, no boy I know would put that much effort learning about something like pageants like that."

"Don't I know it. And that's not all. He's helped out all of us with our hobbies and learned a lot too. Me with my pageants, Luna with her music, Leni with her fashion...well, before they moved out, that is...Lynn with sports-"

"Whoa whoa whoa. I'm going to stop you right there." Jordan interrupted her with a disbelieving smirk. "I've seen Lynn play. Do you really expect me to believe that Lincoln helped her and picked up sports tips from her?"

"-Ok, I see what you mean, but seriously, he did. I never said he ended up becoming good at these hobbies as a result. Just that he learned." Lola replied with a shrug.

"Fair enough. Still, Lincoln's more multifaceted than I thought. I always thought he was all about video games and comic books," The girl with the light brown hair commented, laying back on her pillow. "You think you know a guy…"

"To be fair, he kinda still is...and pokemon, but aren't we all?" Lola laughed softly before she continued. "But I bet you could teach him a thing or two about that."

"Hmm?"

"About pokemon. Afterall, you've had about a five year head start on him." Girl Jordan shuddered a bit and felt an ill feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Oh...yeah…" She replied, almost glumly, but then followed up with more cheer than warranted (with just a hint of nerves), "But he's a really bright guy. He already seems to have the hang of it, and I'm sure he can come up with all kinds of tricks of his own." She was sweating a little as she took a sidelong glance at Lola.

"True. He is the man with the plan, after all." Lola said with a nod, not really taking note of her tone. Jordan breathed a sigh of relief with this as she pulled her trainer card from the case on her phone. On it, it had her name, birthday, a picture of her, and eight blank spaces on the lower half. However, her eyes were focused on the date issued: about two weeks before she met up with Lincoln and his sisters. She cringed, then put her trainer card back into the case. "So, what's your plan, Jordan? As a trainer, I mean."

"Oh. Well, I'm thinking I'll take a crack at the Micha League Tournament and try to dethrone the champion," Girl Jordan answered, pleased at the change of subject.

"I wish you good luck with that...but not too much," Lola told her. "After all, I'll be cheering Linky on too, as he tries to be number one himself."

The next morning, the one son was still asleep when Lana had woken up. He didn't necessarily need to be up early, so he hadn't set an alarm, and his sister didn't have the heart to wake up (since she knew Princess would wake him up when she was ready). Besides, seeing the floating pokemon hugging her trainer in her sleep was positively adorable, so she left them alone while she went to go shower. By the time she had finished, gotten dressed and emerged from the bathroom, Lincoln had woken up on his own, but Princess had not. "Morning, Linc," She greeted him with a smile.

"Morning, Lana," He responded as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Heh. To think, we used to have to fight you tooth and nail to get you to take a bath." Both he and his sister laughed a little at that.

"Times change, bro," She responded. "I'mma head out and get some breakfast, maybe check out the stuff on the second floor."

"Sounds like a plan, Lana. I'll meet you and the others later over by the gym."

"Ok. See you later, Linc." The hat wearing twin waved to her older brother before she emerged from her room. She didn't see Lola or Girl Jordan out and about yet, so she decided she'd go check out the machines upstairs while she waited for them. The crowd was much thinner than it was the other night; the first was currently not being used, and the third only had a small line. However, the array of consoles in the center still seemed the most popular, surrounded by trainers young and old. She was considering looking over their shoulders to see what they were up to when she felt someone tap on her shoulder. She turned to her left and saw an eight year old boy in a hat much like hers, in a t shirt that was way too big for him and shorts.

"Hey...do you have a Pikachu you'd be willing to trade?" He asked hopefully.

"Trade?" She asked in return.

"Yeah. You know. Exchange one pokemon for another." The child explained. "I had gotten a pokemon from surprise trading a few days back, but my mother won't even let it into the house, so I have to trade it away..."

"Surprise trading? What's that?"

"What are you? New?" The young boy asked, somewhat rudely.

"...yeah, actually." Lana replied with a frown.

"...oh. Well, you see that machine over there?" He pointed over to the device to the far right. "You can trade with anyone in the world with that one, but it's completely at random. You could get anything from anyone. You just put a pokemon in, and get a new, surprise one in return, hence the name."

"Cool! I gotta try it sometime." She said, grinning as she looked over to the pokeball shaped trade machine. "Hmm...a new, surprise pokemon...for a Pikachu," she mused for a moment, the little one looking at her with big eyes as she thought. She wasn't sure what she thought about the idea of trading pokemon, but she had to admit that she didn't really use that Pikachu of hers much, if at all. Plus: New pokemon. "Well, I guess…" She finally answered, pulling her Pikachu's pokeball from her belt.

"Great!" The eight year old ran over to the oversized pokeball with the pipes at either end.

"Huh? Where are you going?"

"To the trade machine. Come on." He motioned her over as he put his pokeball under the right pipe. Lana was a little confused, but followed suit, putting her Pikachu's ball under the left pipe.

"See you later, Pikachu...hope you have lots of fun with him," The animal loving Loud said, tearing up a little as she watched the pokeball get sucked up into the machine. A screen turned on in the center of the pokeball, showing two silhouettes of pokemon: her Pikachu heading to the right, and a blob like pokemon moving to her side. Within a matter of seconds, the trade was complete, the boy snatching up the Pikachu's pokeball as soon as it landed.

"Thanks! Oh, and don't let that pokemon out in here. The nurse won't like it," He said quickly before he bolted.

"...Did I just get ripped off?" Lana asked herself, looking at the red and white sphere in her hand. As she was returning to the first floor, her twin and Girl Jordan were just about to leave.

"Morning Lana," they called to her.

"Morning," she responded, sounding kind of out of it.

"Something wrong, Lana?" Lola inquired with a tilted head.

"I just traded one of my pokemon to someone...but after they got my Pikachu, they ran away and said not to open the ball in here," She explained to them. This set off alarm bells in Lola and Girl Jordan's mind, who both looked serious.

"Let's go check this out," Jordan said firmly, gesturing to the front door. She had a feeling it was the kid avoiding a possible trade back, but it sounded very suspect. Lola was about ready to go hunting down this kid; no one scams her sister but her. But first, she needed evidence. The moment they emerged from the center, Lola took the pokeball from her sister and tossed it in front of them all. In a flash of light, a small, oozing gray pokemon appeared. It has a mischievous look in it's eyes and a yellow glob along its chin. Lola recoiled in horror at the sight, while Lana looked at it in surprised interest.

"What is that?" Lana wondered aloud as she scanned it with her pokedex.

"Grimer, the Sludge Pokemon," her pokedex replied robotically.

"Grimer? It's not like any Grimer I've ever seen…"

"This particular pokemon is the Alola variant. Brought to Alola to solve the garbage problem, Grimer seems to relish any and all kinds of trash. There are a hundred or so of them living in Alola's waste-disposal site. They're all hard workers who eat a lot of trash. This Grimer is Male, with the Gluttony ability. He also possesses the egg move Curse."

"Cool! A trash eating pokemon!" The handy person twin exclaimed excitedly. "Who would want to trade him away?"

"Ugh! A trash eating pokemon!" The pageant princess cringed in disgust. "Who would want that?"

"Heh. I think you both answered your own questions," Girl Jordan responded with a soft chuckle. "And I think I see why that kid was so eager to trade him away. Grimers are known for being dirty, toxic pokemon."

"Grimer," The blobby pokemon responded with a shrug.

"Still, I wonder where that kid got it. Alolan form pokemon are very rare around here."

"He said he had done some surprise trading. He probably got it from a trainer from Alola through that," The proud new trainer of an Alolan Grimer told her.

"They have a surprise trading machine in there? I thought only the major cities got those." Jordan commented in surprise. "It must be new…"

"Please tell me you aren't planning to keep it…" Lola whined as her twin leaned down close to the mound of sludge.

"You bet your sweet bippi I am," Lana replied enthusiastically. "Welcome to the crew, Flan."

"Grimer!" The trash eating monster cheered in response.

"...I'll never be able to eat flan again." The prissy twin groaned, turning a little green.

Meanwhile, back in the Pokemon Center, the one son was taking an opportunity to get a shower of his own, while Princess was still sleeping soundly. The feeling of the hot water against his skin was so luxurious that he nearly fell asleep again right in the shower. He resisted that urge however and, about twelve minutes later, emerges from the shower to start drying off. As he did so, he failed to notice two things: first, the window (which was somewhat small and at about head level) was open slightly. Not a big deal; it let out the steam and aired out the bathroom. However, there were also a pair of long red and white ears sticking up from just under the window. He finished drying and wrapped the towel around his waist before wiping the steam off of the mirror over the sink.

He took a good look at himself within the reflective surface. He was still kind of scrawny looking, with only a vague hint of muscles on his arms and legs. His stomach had a slight pudge to it, but he was far from fat. Still, it was hardly a six pack. 'More like a juice box…' He thought to himself as he looked at it. It wasn't something he really concerned himself with back home, but now...being out of the house to make his way in this crazy world he called home...he started to feel a little more self conscious about his body. He looked up to his face and smiled slightly. "At least I got the Loud family good looks." He muttered with a light chuckle. Just then, he felt the towel get swiped right off of him. "Huh? Hey!" He turned quickly to see a little red and white rabbit running back toward the window with the towel, springing back out the window. The one son ran to the window, his cheeks kind of red as he glared out at the bunny pokemon. It had stopped a few feet from the window, turning and laughing, waving the towel as if taunting him. "Why you…" He grumbled, about to attempt to climb out of the window, but he froze before his leg was halfway to the window. "...Lincoln, use your common sense." He told himself, his face turning even more red.

Seconds later, the white haired boy was giving chase through the streets and alleys of Glenvale, wearing a pair of jeans and slippers, trying to catch the rabbit that stole the Pokemon Center's towel. The little long eared pocket monster was running well ahead of him, laughing all the way. "Get back here, you!" Lincoln called out. Being the target of bullies in his youth and living in the Loud House, he could run fairly fast when he needed to. He could just about catch up with Lynn at his best when she was only half trying. However, he didn't have the endurance to keep it up for long, so he needed to run smarter if he were to catch this little towel thief. Unfortunately for him, the rabbit was not only quick, but clever in his own right. It would use its size, speed and agility to its advantage; ducking under benches, dodging between trash cans and dumpsters, and slipping between the legs of passersby, forcing its pursuer to slow down to go around the obstacles, and apologize for nearly running into the people he nearly ran into.

When they reached a straight, open stretch sidewalk, he took the opportunity to start sprinting after the fleeing pokemon. To the bunny's surprise, the middle Loud was starting to gain on it. It didn't seem too alarmed by the fact though; in fact, it was grinning as he got closer. The red and white lapin was about to speed up as Lincoln's hands got closer to it...when he suddenly stopped. The pokemon skidded to a halt a few feet further along, looking back at the white haired lad as he was doubled over, trying to catch his breath. The rabbit tilted his head a little before jogging over to Lincoln. "Scorbunny?" It asked him.

"You're...asking me if...I'm ok?" He inquired in return between gasps for air. The bunny nodded in reply. "Yeah...I'm fine. I...just need a moment." The pokemon nodded in reply and just stood there, swaying to the left and right a bit as it waited for him. Lincoln was very much surprised. Why was this long eared pokemon giving him a chance to recover like that? Then it hit him. The Scorbunny wasn't being malicious, at least not intentionally; it was just playing. As he started to get his strength back, the one son started to plan his next move. When it seemed the rabbit wasn't paying attention, he lunged at it. The pokemon wasn't startled by his sudden move, instead hopping out of his reach. While he missed the rabbit, he did get the towel, which was his goal to begin with. Scorbunny blinked, then smiled, walking over and holding out a hand paw to him.

"Scor scor," It said to him.

"Huh? Oh, thanks," The white haired boy said, shaking the little pokemon's hand.

"Scor!" It suddenly exclaimed as it yoinked the cloth from his hand and bolted down the sidewalk.

"Huh? Oh, for the love of...how did I fall for that one?" Lincoln scolded himself as he got to his feet. "...if I'm going to catch that rabbit, I'm going to need to wear him out. Hmmm…" He tapped his chin as he pondered the issue. How would his sisters deal with him when he was too full of energy to calm down or stop?

Back with the Loud twins and Girl Jordan, they had just finished having breakfast at a waffle house a stone throws away from the center. "Mmmm. Those were some great waffles," Lana commented, licking her lips.

"I agree. I especially liked the fresh strawberries in the syrup," Lola said with a smile.

"Princess would have probably loved that too," Jordan added, carrying a carryout container with her. "Speaking of, think your brother is up and out yet?"

"He was awake when I was heading out-" Lana started to say, but then they witnessed something very off: Princess had just floated through the wall of the Pokemon Center, looking frantically, eyes filled with tears and looking on the verge of a panic attack. The moment the pink Frillish spotted them, she flew over to them, sobbing and babbling in pokemon.

"Princess? What's wrong?" The once popular girl asked in concern.

"Frillfrillfrillishfrillfriishillishfrillishfririllishillishfrillfrillllllll!" The distraught pokemon spat out rapidly before tears poured from her eyes like fountains.

"...I can't understand her the way she's speaking…" The tool savvy twin admitted with a frown. "Princess, you need to calm down," She told her firmly, taking hold of the jellyfish with both hands and making her face her. "Take a deep breath, slow down, and try again. We can't help you if we can't understand you." The Frillish sniffled a few times and whimpered, but eventually, took a calming breath and spoke again. "She said she woke up this morning and Lincoln wasn't there. She looked all around the room and nothing. Knocked on the bathroom door, no response. Looked out into the Pokemon Center. No sign of him. She says he left her all alone."

"That doesn't sound like Lincoln at all…" The beauty centered sister said with a frown. "We better check this out. Follow me."

"Here. You can ride on my back for the trip," Lana offered the sobbing Princess, who took up her offer, clinging to her back as the trio of trainers ran to Lincoln and Lana's room at the center. When they arrived, they spotted a few things that worried them right off the bat: almost all of Lincoln's belongings were still there. The Loud in pink ran to the bathroom door and checked it. It was still locked, yet she couldn't hear any water running.

"Lana...we need this door open yesterday," She instructed, looking serious. Her twin nodded, running over to the door and looking over the door knob and lock for a moment. She narrowed her eyes a bit as she considered her options, then pulled out her trainer card and slid it between the door and the frame. Within a few seconds of fiddling with it, the lock popped open. Lola shoved the bathroom door open and found the bathroom empty, which did nothing to ease their fears.

"Where could he have gone?" Girl Jordan asked, scanning the room from the door as Lola checked the closet and Lana the window. The shower curtain was open and clearly empty, but there were signs it was used, so Lincoln was there earlier.

"The window sill is kind of damp still." The animal loving Loud commented.

"And it looks like his clothes are over here…" Lola said, pointing to where Lincoln left his change of clothes. "And I don't see any sign of a struggle...is he running around naked again?" Girl Jordan could hardly stop herself, nearly guffawing when she heard that.

"Again? Does this happen often?" She asked, a few giggles slipping out. Lola froze a bit, having forgotten that she was right there. Not wishing to ruin her brother's chances with this girl by making him look like a weirdo, she quickly went into damage control mode.

"Er...well, no," She answered, truthfully and nervously. "It only happened once or twice, by accident." Lana kind of side glared at her sister at that response, thinking,

'Yeah...accidents caused by you or Luan…'

"At least we can assume he's alright," The pageant princess said quickly, in an effort to change the subject. "Probably around town somewhere. If we split up, we should find him."

"Right. I'll check around downtown, near the southern exit. Maybe he's chasing down a rare pokemon or something," Girl Jordan commented as she turned to leave, snickering as she added in her mind. 'Possibly in just a towel. Hehehe.'

"You had to say that…" Lana growled at her sister as she climbed out of the window herself to try and trace Lincoln's steps.

"I didn't mean to...it was a slip of the tongue…" Lola defended herself, looking apologetic, though her twin wasn't having it at the moment, just hurrying off to find her brother.

A couple seconds later into the chase, the Scorbunny had ducked between a pizza restaurant and a flower shop, hidden behind a steel can and giggling. It was sitting on top of the towel as it waited and listened for Lincoln. It slowly peeked around the can, eyes glancing up and down the street seeking out the human chasing after him. The rabbit was so focused on the street in front of it that it never saw the white haired trainer creeping up behind it from the other side of the alley. It only realized this when it saw his shadow over him, but by then, it was too late. The Scorbunny quickly turned just as Lincoln grabbed him by the sides. "Gotcha!"

"Scor!" The bunny cried out before it burst out laughing as the one son gently squeezed its sides.

"Like laughing at me, huh? Let's see how funny you find this," Lincoln said, tickling the little red and white pokemon as it wiggled about in his grasp. He gently set the rabbit creature down, but didn't relent, skittering his fingers all around its belly as he sat down on his own knees. The Scorbunny was in absolute hysterics, curling up into a ball and twisting to each side. When it did that, the middle Loud simply went to a new target: back to its sides, its ribs, its feet. The long eared towel snatcher went absolutely nuts at the last one, tears of laughter spilling from its eyes as it flailed its arms around. That was when enough was enough in Lincoln's perspective as he put an end to his tickling assault, leaving Scorbunny rolling on the ground laughing. "Ok. Ok. That's more than enough. Calm down, little one," He said gently. It took a couple seconds for the pokemon to calm down. Lincoln suspected that the playful pocket monster would be good and tired now. He couldn't have been more wrong.

The one son leaned forward to make sure the bunny was alright when it quickly sprang to his feet and rushed him. He was so startled that he couldn't react in time as Scorbunny ran its tiny fingers all over his stomach. "Bwahahahahahahahahahahaa!" Lincoln laughed helplessly before he tried to catch the rabbit pokemon, but it was too quick for him, swiftly dodging around behind him. It was tickling him back the same way he had tickled it, only it was running all around him to accomplish this. And any time the white haired boy made a grab for the Scorbunny, it zipped away to attack him from another angle. It even swiped his slippers to get at his soles. Within seconds, the little rabbit had the much larger trainer on his back, tickled near to the point of utter exhaustion. "Hahahahahaha! I give up! You win!" He cried out, his face turning a little red. Scorbunny smiled and started to do a little hopping dance as it threw its little arms up in celebration. "...don't you ever get tired?"

"I doubt it," Girl Jordan commented, in a fit of giggles of her own at the sight, and she wasn't the only one. Lincoln's face turned a beet red as he turned to see his friend, his sisters, and Princess standing right there, chortling at his position.

"...how long have you been there?"

"Since the bunny had you pinned," Lana confessed, making Lincoln groan in embarrassment.

"Serves you right for leaving me all by myself," Princess said with Lana translating.

"Sorry Princess...but this pokemon stole that towel right off of me at the Pokemon Center…" He gestured to the Scorbunny beside him, who waved to them all.

"What's that?" Lana asked curiously as she and her sister drew their pokedexes to scan the pokemon.

"Scorbunny, the rabbit pokemon. A warm-up of running around gets fire energy coursing through this Pokémon's body. Once that happens, it's ready to fight at full power. This particular Scorbunny is a male."

"Aww. He's a little cutie," Lola commented, smiling at the happy little rabbit.

"Not to mention a little bundle of energy...he could put that battery powered rabbit from the commercial to shame," Lincoln added as he got up from the ground and grabbed the towel. Before they could start to leave, Scorbunny took hold of the other end of the cloth like it was a tug of war.

"Scor scor scor…" The red and white hare said, looking sadly up at the white haired trainer.

"I think the little guy has gotten attached to that towel," Girl Jordan theorized, watching the rabbit pulling with all his might.

"But this towel belongs to the Pokemon Center…" He looked back at Scorbunny, who was looking up at him with big, sad eyes. 'Oh no...here we go again…' The one son thought to himself, wincing at the sight of his greatest weakness. However, an idea came to him rather quickly. "How about this, Scorbunny?" He started to suggest, kneeling down to get closer to his level. "You let me take the towel back to the center, and I'll get you a brand new towel or blanket or something of the like. How does that sound?" The little lapin looked up to the sky as he pondered that deal for a moment, but then nodded with a big, bright smile. "Alright. Let's just bring this back and let me get my stuff, and we'll head to the store." He gave the Scorbunny a pat on the head before he started to walk back toward the Pokemon Center, Princess looking all pouty and huffy as she followed close behind.

A few minutes later, the one son (in his usual outfit and with all his gear) stepped into the nearest Mass Spaces store, with the Scorbunny in his arms. He had a feeling the store wouldn't take too kindly to a wild pokemon in the building, so he opted to carry him. The two look around the business for a moment, passing aisles of snacks, sodas, juice, office supplies, and pet food. They were just passing an aisle of baby care items when the rabbit pokemon jumped from his arms and skipped along the shelves. "Huh? Where are you going, Scorbunny?" Lincoln asked as Scorbunny stopped in front of a variety of baby blankets. His eyes were on a little lavender blanket, examining it critically before he ran his little paw across it and shaking his head. He touched the baby blue cloth next to it and nodded a little. He liked how it felt, but didn't seem to like the color. He tried it a few more times with each blanket he could reach, a frown spreading on his face as he didn't seem satisfied with any of them. He looked upward and his eyes lit up at the sight of a single orange colored blanket. The only problem was it was too high up for him.

"Scor scor?" The rabbit pokemon asked, pointing up at the blanket.

"Need a lift?" Lincoln asked as he gently lifted the Scorbunny up to the blanket. He chuckled a little as the bunny brushed his paw along the orange cloth. He seemed to like how it felt. He took the blanket from the shelf and nuzzled it with his cheek.

"Scorbunny!" The pokemon exclaimed cheerfully. Looked like they had a winner. They proceeded to head to checkout and pay for Scorbunny's new blanket before heading outside to reunite with his sisters, friend, and the cranky looking Frillish.

"Did he find something he liked?" Lola inquired. She got her answer when the rabbit pokemon hopped out of Lincoln's arms and proudly showed off his new blanket. This brought a chorus of Awwwws from the twins and Girl Jordan as they all converged on the adorable little pokemon. Princess huffed even louder, angrily looking away from the scene. Lincoln's eyes turned to his starter; he knew the look of jealousy when he saw it, and it was written all over her pink face.

"Princess, you don't need to be jealous over Scorbunny," He told her softly as he walked over to the floating pokemon.

"Frill ill frillish…?" She responded snippily. Lana was too busy doting over Scorbunny to translate, but Lincoln felt he got the gist of it.

"I've lived with a LOT of siblings. I know what jealousy looks like," He informed her, which only made her hmph again. "Yeah, he's getting a lot of attention now, but you're still my first pokemon; my partner," He continued, gently putting an arm around her. "And no one, person or pokemon, can take that away from you."

"Frill...Frill…" The Frillish said, gently nodding her head.

"Not only that, but you're the only pokemon who can ride on my back, right?"

"Fri frill rillish…" Princess answered with a soft giggle. "Frill fri frill, frillish."

"...I thought we talked about that steed stuff…" He muttered in annoyance, which made Princess laugh.

"Huh? Are you talking with Princess without Lana translating?" Lola asked in complete surprise, all eyes turning to them. The one son blinked in surprise when he realized he had.

"Yeah, I guess we are," Her brother responded.

"That's not surprising," Girl Jordan interjected with a smile. "The longer trainers and pokemon work and exist together, the better their bond, and the better they understand one enough. Even if we can't always understand what a pokemon is saying -certain exceptions aside, of course." Lana smiled proudly.

"So...what are you going to do about the Scorbunny?" The hat wearing twin asked, the little rabbit tilting his head curiously. Lincoln thought about this for a moment.

'Hmmm. He is a quick and wiley pokemon…' He thought. 'I wonder if he could be strong in battle.' The one son smiled as he turned to Princess. "What do you think, Princess?" The pink frillish looked at the red and white rabbit with a certain amount of disdain...until she witnessed the bunny turn his blanket into a little cape. The twins and Jordan once more expressed their adoration of the hare, Lola recording him with her pokedex, and even the jellyfish creature couldn't help but smile at it. However, she did have an image to maintain, so she quickly looked kind of snootily at Lincoln and answered,

"Fri frillish fri…" The white haired boy nodded and turned his attention to Scorbunny.

"Hey, Scorbunny." The rabbit pokemon hopped over to the middle Loud, smiling up at him. "How would you like to join our team?"

"Team?" Scorbunny asked, with Lana's help. He looked kind of confused.

"My team of pokemon. It would require quite a lot of battling, if you're ok with that…" The rabbit grinned and started punching at the air, showing he was all set for battling.

"Eeeeee! He's so cute, I think I'm gonna faint," Lola squeed with delight.

"Hehehe. As I was saying, the battling may get a little rough sometimes. If you think you can handle it, though, we'd be more than happy to have you in our little family."

"Scor…?" The bunny pokemon asked before his eyes got all big and starry again, before he sprang up to Lincoln and hugged his chest, much to the young man's surprise. "...Bunny!"

"...Lola, please tell me you got that," Lana said quietly, looking like she had witnessed the most beautiful thing she ever saw.

"Sure did. What just happened?" The pageant princess asked, wondering what she was missing.

"...Scorbunny just called Lincoln 'Daddy'." Princess was frowning slightly as Lola and Lana squeed in stereo once more, her jealousy returning again. However, Scorbunny wasn't done yet. He looked over at Princess, jumped off Lincoln and threw his little arms around her as well, much to her shock.

"Mommy!" The Frillish blinked as she looked down at the bunny holding her closely. This was enough to melt her heart (wherever it was) as she smiled and wrapped her tentacles around Scorbunny as well. The one son looked pleased as he pulled an empty pokeball from his bag, pressing the button to activate it. Seeing he was ready to catch Scorbunny, the ghost/water pokemon set the rabbit down and floated back, pointing over at her trainer. He turned around, looking at the red and white ball with interest.

"Alright then...here we go!" Lincoln hurled the pokeball toward the young fire pokemon. As the ball got close, Scorbunny kicked the sphere into the air and proceeded to start juggling it off his feet, knees and his head. He laughed as he played with the catching device. "...not quite what I thought would happen," Just then, Scorbunny's forehead contacted the center button, causing the ball to spring open and absorb the rabbit pokemon with a bright red light. The ball hardly even moved before it clicked, indicating a successful catch. The one son smiled as he walked over to the ball and picked it up. "Welcome to the family, Scorbunny."

AN: Just as a side note, I didn't really plan for this chapter to prominently feature a rabbit pokemon so close to Easter. It's more a coincidence. Also, special thanks to Neon Starch for the suggestion of Scorbunny.

Main Characters current pokemon teams:

Lincoln

Frillish aka Princess
Water Ghost
Ability: Cursed Body

Pidove
Normal Flying
Ability: Super Luck

Scorbunny
Fire
Ability: Blaze

Lola

Furfrou aka Brittany
Normal
Ability: Fur Coat

Pichu aka Brat
Electric
Ability: Static
Egg Move: Volt Tackle

Litleo aka Isabella
Fire/Normal
Ability: Rivalry

Lana

Tympole aka Hops
Water
Ability: Hydration

Spewpa aka Dusty
Bug
Ability: Shield Dust

Bidoof aka Nibbles
Normal
Ability: Unaware

Mankey
Fighting
Ability: Vital Spirit

Alolan Grimer aka Flan
Poison/Dark
Ability: Gluttony

Girl Jordan

Timburr
Fighting
Ability: Guts

Pinsir
Bug
Ability:Mold Breaker