(Read and review, please.)
A full moon shined in through the window, creating a square patch of light for the sleepless Gastrodon to stare at. She had been sent to her own bed earlier, but sleeplessness had given the Champion reason to allow them to share a bed on this night. Alas, it hadn't helped. "Cynthia... Hey Cynthia. Let's go out tonight." Turning, she nudged her bedmate's shoulder until she woke with a groan.
"What...?"
"It's been a while. Let's go." She squirmed out of bed and grabbed a handful of comics from the corner in her short stubby arms. "Please?"
"Oh, Gastrodon..."
"Pretty please?" she begged, her eyes growing big and shiny.
Cynthia laughed sleepily. "Oh, alright... Just let me get changed..."
Within the hour, they walked down the neighborhood streets, eying the rooms of children. Streetlamps lit the pair at regular intervals, and they whispered conspiratorially with each other.
"How about that house?"
"No, we went there last time."
"That kid wets his bed..."
Cynthia held in her arms a small pile of their favorite comics, and Gastrodon nudged against her leg as she sped ahead. She never got far, just a few feet, before she fell back into line with her trainer and started the cycle all over again.
"What about this one?" Gastrodon asked quietly. Their pace had been slowing, their gazes drawn to one house in particular... They had stopped.
"I couldn't have picked a better one myself." Cynthia smiled at her partner and challenged, "I'll race you~"
"Hey! No fair!" She protested good-naturedly as she ran after her trainer, to the side of the house. Smiles split their faces; Cynthia stood on the first story sill while she waited for her Pokemon to catch up.
"Hurry up!" she teased, then turned and leaped onto the drainage pipe, shimmying up before glancing down at her Pokemon. Gastrodon, determined as ever, just switched from crawling on the ground to crawling up the wall. That was her one advantage: She didn't have to take all the detours her trainer did. Cynthia shimmied her way all the way up to the second story, then leapt onto the sill nearest her. "Whoa!" she whispered, flailing an arm and grappling for balance on the narrow ledge in her high heels. But she was practiced; her balance quickly returned. Unfortunately, the waiting in tandem with that instance of balance loss gave Gastrodon the edge her shortcut needed to beat Cynthia to the boy's window. She had to wait while the slug opened the window and slid inside before she could jump over and quickly follow her through.
They dashed across the room beneath the resident boy's bed, and giggled like schoolgirls as they chose their first comic. Gastrodon flicked on her flashlight, and they read for hours, taking turns picking. At last, Gastrodon felt her eyes growing heavy. She snuggled up to Cynthia's side, eyes drooping closed. "Cynthia... Thank you..."
"It was my pleasure." She kissed her Gastrodon on the head, and shut off the light.
Up above the mattress, a boy hid under his covers, terrified of the monsters beneath his bed.