The following is based off actual events. Names and identities have been changed to protect the innocent.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, nor do I own any of the copyrighted material that may be mentioned.

It was a slow day for every member of the household. At this very moment, four out of five of its inhabitants were currently sitting in the living room, doing one thing or another to preoccupy their time. Fia was reclining back in the large arm chair while the sounds of Linkin Park's "Numb" drummed inside her head, Galian was racking his brain trying to finish an expert level Sudoku puzzle that had cost him the better part of the day, the klutzy Gallade known as Kiel was re-watching his favorite show for maybe the twelfth time and Ema was just lying down on the sofa, relaxing. The only one missing from this picture was-

"Hey guys!"

Speak of the devil. Four pairs of eyes glanced over as Loki happily ran into the room, carrying something behind his back. He had a devilish smile on his face, which did not bode well for anyone who knew the annoying Sneasel well enough. Without another word, he pulled the object out from behind his back, revealing it to be a colorfully painted rectangle box. The words "Monopoly: The Sinnoh Edition!" was clearly written across the top in the brightest red writing imaginable.

"Anyone wanna play Monopoly?"

Since such an odd request had come completely out of nowhere, the question hung in the air without an answer for several seconds. Noone else had anything better to do with their time and none could remember the last time they had all sat down and played a game between them. After nearly a minute of silence, they all unanimously agreed to Loki's suggestion.

Five minutes later, the board had been set up and all five players were seated around the table. While Loki had volunteered to be the banker, the role had quickly fallen to Galian, who could be trusted more with money then a certain Sneasel. At the moment the pieces were being assigned from eight possible options of a car, a sack of money, a Poochyena, a running shoe, a top hat, the S.S Anne, a Pokeball and, oddly enough, an iron. Galian had chosen the moneybag seeing as he was the banker, Fia had picked the top hat and Ema had selected the S.S Anne. Loki and Kiel, on the other hand, were both fighting over who got to be the car.

"I'm the car!" Kiel made a grab for the little piece of metal, but Loki slapped his hand away, while making his own grab for the piece.

"No, I am!!" This in turn started a shoving match that would have quickly escalated if Galian hadn't separated the two.

"Enough! If this how you two are going to act, then neither of you will be the car!" Snatching the car piece away, the Noctowl grabbed two random pieces and dropped them into the hands of the quarreling Gallade and Sneasel. Kiel was glad to see that he had gotten the Poochyena (which was better than nothing), while Loki was in a state of dismay upon receiving the iron, of all pieces.

"But I don't want to be the iron! No one ever uses the iron! Can't I be something else?"

Galian sighed. "Alright, just hurry and pick something so we can start!"

In the end, Loki decided on the running shoe. After a quick roll to determine the order of play, the game was on.

30 minutes later…

"C'mon, give me a pair just this once!" Only a half hour into the game, things had progressed pretty smoothly. At least half of the properties had been purchased already, with Galian somehow being able to get his talons on Victory Road, while trying to get the League as well. Kiel and Loki had raced to see who could get all four railroads, but each had only managed two apiece. Fia owned the commodities, Silph Co. and the Windmill factory, while Ema already had both complete sets for Vielstone and Oreburgh town and was currently debating whether she should purchase a few houses or not.

Something else to note was that in this time, Kiel had been in and out of jail several times, with this being his fourth time in the represented prison. He was madly wishing for a pair so he could escape once and for all.

"Oh please, oh please, oh please!" Tossing the dice across the table, Kiel was overjoyed to see a pair of identical values land face up.

"Yes!" Grabbing the metal figure, Kiel quickly counted down his total, simply glad to finally be free. He was even more excited upon landed on a Chance space. Plucking one of the yellow cards from the pile, he read the text out loud for all to hear.

"You have been caught stealing from the mart. Go directly-"He cut off mid-sentence as the Gallade finally realized what it was he was about to read. "- to…jail." The card slipped slowly from his open hand, his mouth dropping open as Galian took the liberty of return the Poochyena piece to the spot marked "jail". Ten seconds later, everyone was greeted to the sound of Kiel's head slamming fiercely against the table in frustration.

1 Hour 15 Minutes Later…

"4150!"

"4155!"

"4160!"

At this point, the game had picked up steam with still no end in sight. Galian had fulfilled his goal and now owned both Victory Road and the League, each with already 2 houses purchased between them. Every player had at least one or two properties mortgaged for one reason or another and only a slim number of locations remained unclaimed on the board. One such location was now being bid for by both Kiel and Loki respectively. The latter had originally planned to get it for a fraction of its asking price of $4200 by putting it up for auction, but then Kiel had chimed in and a bidding war had begun between the two sides.

"4175!" Kiel again raised his bid for maybe the 20th time.

Loki was starting to get pissed off and, without thinking, shouted "4190!"

Instead of raising his bid again though, Kiel simply shrugged and said "Fine. It's yours."

Loki was flabbergasted. "Wai…what?" Instead of getting it for barely anything, Loki had somehow been tricked into buying a near worthless property for near full price, which was almost all he had. "But...but I don't even want it!"

Kiel just shrugged his shoulders again before responding "Tough luck. You bought it, you pay for it."

"But…but…Arrrg!" A blue streak shot across the room as Loki tackled Kiel to the ground, chair and all, his claws grasping for the Gallade's neck.

1 Hour 45 Minutes later…

After Galian and Fia had managed to pry Loki away from Kiel, the game had continued. Galian, being the business man that he was, always seemed to have an answer for every problem and was currently in the lead by a sizable margin. Loki had somehow managed to convince Kiel to trade for his two railroads, but the cost had outweighed the benefits, as all Loki had left were the railroads and two incomplete sets of properties under mortgage. Fia had been forced to mortgage the commodities not long ago and was beginning to run out of funds, while Ema was in a similar situation.

Rolling the dice, Fia growled as she landed on Galian's Victory Road, complete with mansion. Not wasting a moment, Fia slammed her remaining money on the table before rising from her chair rather quickly. Truth be told, she had begun to get bored of this game after the first hour and had been looking for a way out since then.

"I'm going to go take a shower." Leaving the room, the Blaziken made her way over to the hallway closet and grabbed a towel from one of the many stacks. Before she could even close the closet door, she heard the sound of Ema saying "I'm done.", before she saw her leave the room via the same route as her. That left only the guys remaining to fight it out amongst themselves.

As Fia made her way up the stairs, she turned to Ema and asked "How long do you think those three will keep playing?"

"Don't know. But it couldn't be that long, could it?"

3 Hours 55 minutes…and counting.

The sun had long since set, giving way to the veil of night, yet the evil known as Monopoly was still underway. While the game had gone up and down since Ema and Fia had left, Galian had consistently remained in the lead for the most part. Only a few of his properties were under mortgage, while both Kiel and Loki had next to nothing left to their names. All it would take was one fatal roll and…

"Damn it!" Both rivals swore at identical times, as Galian finally claimed victory in the most maniacal game ever conceived. As he began putting everything away, the Noctowl looked over at the bitter losers.

"You know, this could have been over hours ago if you both had realized one crucial fact."

"Huh?" Loki was confused.

"What fact?" Kiel inquired.

"It's very simple really. He who claims both Victory road and the League almost always wins. Didn't you know that?"

Kiel and Loki just looked at the nocturnal bird for a moment, a look of shock clearly visible on their faces. Then… shock became replaced with rage in almost record time.

"Galian!!!"

"Uh-oh…" Galian immediately took off across the house as the pair of sore losers pursued him with a vengeance. If this experience had taught any of them anything, it would be this: Monopoly is not for the faint of heart. Play at your own risk!

End Chapter

AN: As I said at the top, most of what you just read was based on actual events. My little brother has recently become a monopoly addict and is constantly begging me and my family to play. But all it takes is one game to last over three hours…and no one ever wants to play it again.