Not gonna lie to y'all. I sometimes feel ashamed of myself for posting stories, not updating them, and then next thing you know, there will be a story and I will already have posted a story and come up with multiple chapters so quickly. A lot of people are sick of writers putting up stories and not updating them and… I happen to be one of them.

Self-hate? Nah… Self-shame though… yeah.

Ash was the first to wake up the next day, still stuck in the pile of demon girls he was in yesterday. Pikachu was lying happily curled up in the arms of one of Cerberus' bodies, the aforementioned demon had smiles on all their faces, Modeus was practically attached by his arm, getting drool on it… minor inconvenience but not the end of the world, and Monica was still snuggling into the crook of his neck.

Never in his life did he think he'd find demons acting or even looking cute. Part of him was glad Brock wasn't there otherwise.

The position wasn't as uncomfortable as one would expect it to be, but the boy still wanted to get and move around a bit. He moved as carefully as he could, slipping out from the pile, Monica surprisingly holding on tight and Modeus being the hardest because of how much she was gripping his arm. As he freed himself, they thankfully weren't woken up by his presence missing.

He sighed, turning around before stopping. He forgot about the bottles strewn about the room. So, being even more careful, he stepped around the bottles, making sure not to step on any or cause any to clank against each other. Thankfully the door wasn't closed all the way so he could slip through it, no problem.

Walking down the hall, he stopped and looked around the living room, spotting Malina not on the couch, but sitting at a desk on a laptop, a bottle of alcohol next to her. Seeing how much she drank and knowing her sour attitude, he couldn't help but feel bad for her. There had to be a reason she was the way she was and he was pretty sure it was not because she was a demon.

"Hey-" He walked up to her to say.

"HOLY FUUuuuu-" She freaked out for a moment. "Oh, it's you." She says before groaning and rubbing her face. "Can you not sneak up on me like that?"

"Sorry."

"So, what's up, kid? Something you need?" She took a swig from the bottle afterward.

"Well uh…" He started before she was done. "I was actually hoping we could talk."

"Huh?" She says before staring at him, then she looked surprised. "You serious?" She asked before he nodded. "You wanna talk with me?"

"Y-yeah. Is there something wrong with that?"

"N-no, just… I-I'm not one for conversations, especially since I'm on my own most of the time."

"So you don't talk to anyone?"

"I just said that."

"Oh right, uh." Ash scratched the back of his neck. "If you want I could tell you some things about my life in the… 'mortal realm'."

"Nah, I don't really give a shit." Malina tells him, which made his jaw drop a bit.

"Well, is there anything you want to talk about?"

"I mean, if it's video game talk, I'm down."

"Alright. Well, what kind of game were you playing just now?"

"Uh, the best game ever." She scooted to the side to show her screen. "Heroes 3!"

The boy took a closer look and saw the full title, then smile. "Oh yeah. I remember that game."

"Wait, you've played it?"

"A couple of times. Sometimes when I get back home from traveling I like to play some games and this used to be one of them."

"Nice." She chuckled a bit. "You into turn-based strategies?"

"Yeah. That's probably my favorite game genre."

"Awesome, you got nice tastes, kid." She says before she realized. "Aw, shit. Sorry, I didn't ask your name."

"It's cool. I'm Ash."

"Huh, that's a pretty cool name."

"Thank you."

"Wow… this is probably the longest I've talked with anyone without them annoying me." Malina says as the boy smiled, seeming to make progress. "So, uh… you up for a game? I got a few multiplayer ones that I haven't been able to play."

"Of course."

"Awesome, go to the couch." Malina then got up and headed for a rack that was filled with games.

"Alright." Ash went over and sat on the couch before looking at the ground. "This place could use a bit of a cleanup. No offense."

"It's fine. I don't care too much about keeping this place tidy, to be honest." She then plucked out a game and popped it into her gaming console before tossing him a controller. "Alright, you ready?" She asked while walking over to the couch with a controller herself.

"Sure, but what are we playing exactly?"

(Sometime later)

Ash and Malina have been playing for about an hour. Despite what the boy says about him not playing many games due to traveling, he was keeping up with the sour demon pretty well, much to her relief. The two were having fun which was a good change of pace for the trainer after all he was put through in Hell.

"Yes!" Malina shouted as they completed another level.

"Nice!" Ash followed up.

"Man, shame you're already planning on leaving."

"Well, I'm not dead. I just wanna get back home."

"I hear ya, but…" She paused for a moment before sighing. "Would've liked to have someone like you around here more often. At least someone I could hold a conversation with."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah, I don't usually talk to many people. And the people I happen to talk to are…" She gestured to where the others were.

A small silence followed afterward before Malina scratched the back of her neck. Ash was relieved to see that she was starting to soften up to him enough to be more open, but after hearing what she said, he couldn't help but feel bad for her. It must've been lonely for her while living out there.

He thought for a moment, wondering if he should ask her. Sure he already had a lot of companions joining him currently, but she seemed to be more tolerable. He figured he might regret it later, but his soft side got the better of him.

"Well, you know, if you want, you could come with." He tells her.

"What?" She asked with a brow raised.

"I said you could come with me if you want."

She stared at him, a small tint of red on her cheeks. "Like come with you to the living world?"

"Yeah, that's what I said."

She stared again, cheeks turning redder before she looked away while rubbing the back of her neck. "I-I mean, maybe… but…"

"I got a few games you could play." He offered.

"Well, I guess."

"Yeah, you could come with me and the others."

Then the red disappeared from her cheeks before she frowned. "They're coming too?"

"Well, yeah. I kinda promised Monica I'd take her, then it just kinda went from there."

"Oh… okay…" Malina says before looking annoyed. 'Guess I won't be getting away from those braindead idiots. Least I could still get away from that bitch.' She thought to herself before they heard some rustling outside. "Ugh, not again."

"What's that?"

"Nothing, just some stupid Pokemon outside making a mess of the trash. I tried to chase em off, but they always come back."

"I could take care of it." Ash says while standing up.

"It's cool. You don't have to do that."

"No, I insist. Let me see what I can do."

Malina looked at him before sighing. "Okay, good luck."

"Thanks." He then took out and left out the door.

She stared for a bit before chuckling. "Ah, that kid's too good for this place." She says before she takes a swig.

Ash stepped out and rounded the corner, finding the trashcans sitting at the side of the house. He could see some small purple legs sticking out from a trash bag and what looked like a gold totem next to it. He couldn't tell what Pokemon it was, but he was prepared to be scared by what kind of demonic version it was gonna be.

"HEY!" He called as it flinched. "Get out of there! You can't be digging around in that." He says while taking out Cyndaquil's Pokeball.

It pulled back and looked over the totem it had, then stepped into sight, picking up the totem. It didn't look as freaky as the previous ones, but it still looked creepy, to say the least. This Pokemon, is a Sableye.

An eyebrow was raised at the sight. A normal Sableye was already kinda spooky, but this didn't look much different. He shrugged before tossing his Pokeball, caught it, then reeled back.

"I choose you! Cyndaquil!" He called while tossing the ball and releasing the aforementioned Pokemon.

The crystal Pokemon stared for a moment before stepping back. It spun the totem before creating a ball of darkness and sending it at its opponent.

"Dodge it!" Ash called as Cyndaquil jumped out of the way. "Use Tackle!"

The molten Pokemon, then charged as the crystal Pokemon used its totem to block the attack. Then it charged its fist with dark energy before punching its opponent, sending him back a bit.

"You good?" Ash asked as the molten Pokemon shrugged it off. "Alright, Lava Burst!" He then called.

Cyndaquil wasted no time in firing a blast of lava at his opponent. The Sableye attempted to use its totem as a shield once more, however, it was sent flying back, rolling across the ground. As it recovered a bit, rubbing its head, it found its arm on fire, freaking out as it started rolling around to put it out.

After putting it out, it growled in annoyance before getting up and lifting the totem over its head, charging at its opponent. The trainer called for Cyndaquil to dodge, and he did so, dodging several swings from the crystal Pokemon's totem.

"Let's make things easier. Use Defense Curl!"

The molten Pokemon manifested a spherical shield around himself, blocking the totem. However, the Sableye didn't relent and kept bashing against the shield, causing it to crack a bit.

"That's not what I hoping for. Tackle!"

Right as the shield was cracked open, the molten Pokemon wasted no time in ramming into its opponent, sending it stumbling back. At this point, the Sableye was annoyed and spun before slamming its totem into the ground then formed an impossibly wide and creepy smile on its face. Immediately the trainer got a bad feeling.

The Sableye opened the totem and a gust of wind nearly blew its opponents off their feet. The boy was forced to squint, but could still see the two Pokemon on the battlefield. Several tendrils emerged from the totem, wrapping around its molten opponent. Cyndaquil roared out as a purple glow went from it through the tendrils and into the totem.

"Oh, no, no, no! Use Lava Bomb! Quick!"

Cyndaquil thrashed about, losing some of the tendrils before firing a ball of lava out at the totem. The impact caused the crystal Pokemon to go flying back, rolling across the ground again. The molten Pokemon felt the relief of not being retrained. The Sableye sat up, enraged, but its totem hit it on the head and fell to the ground, seeing stars.

Seeing this, Ash quickly pulled out an empty Pokeball and threw it. It hit and the Pokemon went inside with its totem before the ball fell to the ground and started shaking around with the red light blinking.

"Okay, please work, please work." The boy says while crossing his fingers.

It went on for a moment, but then the shaking started getting harsher and the ball was even bouncing a bit which made him anxious. Fortunately, the ball eventually stopped shaking and after a moment, there was a ding. Hearing it, Ash fell to his knees and let out a big breath of air.

"Oh, I've never been so stressed about catching a Pokemon before." He says before scratching the chin of Cyndaquil. "Good job bud."

After calling the molten Pokemon back to his ball, he stood up and went over to the one he just caught. He picked it up and examined it before sighing. This one was clearly more ferocious and vicious than the other one he caught, so he was gonna be even more hesitant to even be in its presence, much less take it out.

"This is gonna be Charmeleon and Charizard all over again." He says before attaching the ball to his hip.

"Yeah, that was fucking awesome!" He heard laughter before looking in the direction and saw someone leaning against the house. "That's something you don't see every day."

She had the normal demon qualities, apart from the hair being much shorter, her outfit looked messy, and she had her hair over her eye. Not only that, but she was wearing a crucifix around her neck and was smoking up a storm.

"Um… hi." Ash says with a wave.

"Sup, kid." The woman while walking over to him. "Never thought I'd see a guy coming around my house catching a Pokemon like that."

"This is your house?" He asked.

"Eh, it belongs to my sister, but I like to crash here sometimes. Highly doubt you're gonna see her around much."

The boy coughed at the smoke from her cigarette, waving it away. 'Yeesh, I can already tell this girl smokes too much. Malina never mentioned anything about a sister before.' He thought to himself.

"Wait… wait, wait, hold on." She then took a closer look at him. "Ah shit, either I'm seeing a human in front of me or this shit's working." She chuckled while gesturing to the cigarette as he waved more of the smoke away.

"Well, I am a human."

She squinted her eyes as she looked at him again, her smile never fading. "Well fuck me. A mortal in Hell." She laughed again. "Ah, can't believe this is happening."

"Yeah, well, it is. My name is Ash." He says while holding his hand out.

"Yo, sick name, kid." The woman then shook his hand. "The name's-"

"Ash!" They heard as they turned in the direction, seeing Malina go around the corner. "Did you finally take care of-Oh fuck." She stopped as she saw who he was talking with.

"Hey, little sis! How you doing?!" The woman asked.

"Zdrada, you just have to show up to ruin this day, don't you."

"Oh, come on don't be like that."

'Zdrada? Wait, Modeus mentioned her earlier… oh, her sister is the one who gets on her nerves-Oh okay.' The boy thought to himself before the smoking demon then looked back and forth between the two.

"Oh no way, you're hanging with a guy?" Zdrada laughed.

"Please, go away." Malina groaned.

"Nah, nah, you actually are talking to a dude. Oh-" The smoking demon's smirk then widened before she went up to her sister's ear. "Have you two been fu-?"

"NO! I mean, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" The sour demon pushed her away, only getting a laugh out of her.

"Oh come on. You know, he's kinda a keeper, not gonna lie."

"Uh, I was just helping Malina with a Pokemon problem out here. Took care of that by the way." Ash says while showing the Pokeball.

"Right, thank you, Ash. You can just… go inside." Malina explains.

"Wait, you're letting him in the house?" Zdrada asked.

"I only let him in my house 'cause he doesn't piss me off!"

"Really? No one else in there?"

"No, no one else is-"

"MASTER/MY LOVE!"

The sour demon's face cringed before she covered it with her hand, the boy had a nervous look on his face. Out the front door was Modeus who was looking around frantically, Cerberus then followed behind, one gripping his hat as if for dear life. As they all spotted him, he stepped back while defensively putting his hands up, only to get tackled down and smothered by all of them.

That made Zdrada burst out in laughter while Malina just stared at her, annoyed.

"No one else, huh?" The former says.

"Do not!" The latter says.

"Ash!" Monica then ran out with Pikachu on her shoulder then ran over to the group. "Geez. Knock it off!" She started pulling them away from the boy, allowing him to catch his breath.

"Oh, thank you." Ash says before he was grabbed and pulled up to his feet by his shirt.

"Why did you just leave me there?!" The tired demon yelled at him, uncharacteristically annoyed.

"Woah, okay. I was not expecting this from you of all-"

"Answer the question!" She says while gripping his shirt harder before he pulled her off of him.

"I just wanted to move around. I didn't think it was a big deal." He says while looking annoyed.

She seemed to calm down instantly and rub temples. "Sorry, just… I got worried when I woke up and saw you weren't with me."

"Hey, no harm, no foul." He says before Cerberus put his hat on his head. "Plus, I figured you deserved to rest for a bit."

"Well, that's…" Monica scratched her cheek while blushing. "Really sweet of you."

"Damn, what have we got here?" Zdrada says, catching their attention. "A whole menagerie. What's this about?"

"Ash is building a demon girl harem-" Modeus cheerfully says before Ash covered her mouth with Pikachu.

"No! No! I'm not-" He started to say.

"Building a harem? Oh, I'm in!" The smoking demon says.

"I'm sorry, what?!" Malina says, looking even more annoyed.

"Yeah, I'm bored and could use some excitement."

Ash and Pikachu looked shocked as the lust demon got out of their grip. "I mean… I'm not gonna be down here for long. I just wanna go home." He explained.

"The mortal realm? You're going there with all these girls?" Zdrada asks.

"Basically, and I don't-"

"Oh, I'm definitely coming now."

"NO! NO! You are not!" Malina shouted at her.

"What you're the only one who gets to go with him?" The smoking demon then walked up and threw an arm around the boy. "Come on, little sis. You're pretty selfish to wanna keep a cute boy like this to yourself." She then got close to his face as he tried to pull away.

"Zdrada, leave him alone. You're making him uncomfortable." Monica tells her.

"And if I don't?"

"Alright, that's enough!" Malina says. "I'm not dealing with your shit right now. I was having a good morning until your bitch ass showed up, and I'm not about to deal with 'her' shit-" She gestured towards Modeus. "And yours at the same time."

"What did I do?" The lust demon asked.

"Too bad, I'm coming anyway. Go ahead, try to stop me." Zdrada says while pulling away from the boy and laughing as her sister growled in annoyance.

"Doesn't this get you excited? Growing your harem this much and getting so many girls in it with them practically fighting over you." Modeus clung to the trainer's arm and was drooling yet again.

"I need an adult." Ash sighed.

"I am an adult." She whispered back to him.

To be continued…