After getting dressed, Malcolm quietly left the room, taking the elevator down to the lobby. From there, he exited into the hotel's huge outdoor garden courtyard. Malcolm walked idly along the pathways, staring at all the flower bushes and decorative trees and plants all around. It was a nice night for a walk; it was cool, and the full moon shone brightly down on the courtyard. Malcolm sighed, unable to keep from thinking about the match as he walked. From everything he had heard and read, Umbreon sounded like a fierce battle machine, and he wasn't looking forward to it. Given Umbreon's record, not only did Pikachu not stand a chance, but Umbreon would probably crush him. He was so lost in thought that he almost didn't notice two figures sitting in a small grassy clearing. From where he was, it looked like a trainer and their pokemon. He was surprised, slightly -- Malcolm figured he would be the only trainer awake at this hour. It wasn't until he was close enough for the figures to notice him as well did he realize who it was. He was surprised to see none other than Umbreon and his trainer!
Umbreon's trainer waved at Malcolm, who apprehensively went towards the two. He walked up, and Umbreon's trainer -- a middle-aged Japanese man -- stood up to greet him, bowing. Malcolm bowed back.
"You are Malcolm, are you not?" Umbreon's trainer asked. Malcolm nodded. "It is an honor to meet you. My name is Kyosuke, and this is Umbreon." Umbreon, whose head was turned slightly to look away from Malcolm, nodded; Malcolm, who had never seen Umbreon before (save for some rather low-quality pictures online), stared at Umbreon, amazed. Umbreon sat motionlessly on his haunches in the grass next to where Kyosuke was sitting before, and Malcolm was absolutely overwhelmed by Umbreon's suit. Two main things about it really caught Malcolm's attention; the first was the sheer quality of Umbreon's suit. It was a quadruped furry suit, and it was covered from head to tail in shiny, obviously extremely high quality, black fur. He had a short, cat-like muzzle, two large rounded ears, and a big fluffy black tail. The whole suit was solid black, except for several rings of yellow fur: a circle on the outer middle of each of his front legs, a circle on each front middle of his upper hind legs, a circle on the middle of his forehead, a ring around the center of each of his ears, and a ring around the middle of his tail. The yellow fur was coated in a fluorescent chemical substance which collected light and was able to give off a controlled glow, the control for which was directly in Umbreon's suit, allowing him to make the rings on his body glow brightly at will. Umbreon's eyes, almond-shaped and red with black cat-like pupils, reflected the moonlight. The main thing which really made Malcolm marvel was the fact that, from head to toe, Umbreon looked like a real animal. His limbs were in proportion with his size and shaped absolutely perfectly; even the suit looked like a furry pelt over real quadruped muscles underneath. All four of his legs, while they were large and powerful, didn't look at all like they were wrapped up the way all of the other quadrupeds Malcolm had seen were; rather, they looked more like a real animal's legs. Malcolm couldn't even figure out how there was somebody in the suit!
Kyosuke cleared his throat softly, and Malcolm snapped back to attention.
"Ah! I'm so terribly sorry, I was just admiring your Umbreon's suit's craftsmanship. It's extraordinary, did you make it yourself?" Kyosuke smiled slightly.
"I did. It is handmade from scratch, specifically to fit Umbreon."
"It really shows. I can't even begin to describe how great it looks." Kyosuke sat back down on the grass next to Umbreon.
"Please, Malcolm, won't you join us?" Malcolm nodded, sitting down in the grass across from Kyosuke and Umbreon.
"Thank you very much."
"So, Malcolm, what brings you out here this late at night? It seems such a coincidence that we should meet the night before our battle." Malcolm chuckled.
"Well... actually, to be honest, I was so nervous about the match tomorrow, I couldn't sleep. I thought I'd come out here for a walk and clear my mind." Kyosuke smiled.
"That is what brings us out here as well. Meditating in the moonlight helps Umbreon and I to relax, and to focus our energy to do well in our battles."
"Well, from what I've seen and heard about you guys, it's sure seemed to work so far. From what I've heard, you two are practically unbeatable!" Kyosuke laughed.
"Unbeatable! That is quite far from the truth. While Umbreon is more accomplished than most other pokemon, both he and I -- like every other pokemon out there -- are not without flaws and weaknesses. We are looking forward to battling you and Pikachu, Malcolm. Umbreon and I live for the challenge of battle, and after watching you and Pikachu throughout this tournament, we can see your partnership and friendship has much, much potential. I know you will give us a great challenge tomorrow, Malcolm, and I wish you the best of luck."
"Thanks a lot, Kyosuke. I really appreciate it. But you better believe Pikachu and I are definitely going to give you two everything we've got and more tomorrow; we didn't come all this way to go home second-best, after all!"
"I am truly happy to hear that, Malcolm," Kyosuke replied with a grin. Umbreon startled Malcolm as he stood up, walking over to Malcolm and softly nuzzling his arm.
"Bree!" Umbreon squeaked, also glad to hear Malcolm would be giving his all. Kyosuke laughed.
"Ha! Umbreon is happy to hear of your resolve as well. It looks like he has taken a liking to you, Malcolm," Kyosuke laughed as Umbreon walked back over to where he was before, laying down. "He is usually not this quick to befriend other trainers. Umbreon is an excellent judge of character." Malcolm laughed.
"That's good to know. You know," Malcolm said, "from everything I had heard, I thought for sure you and Umbreon would be monsters. That, or extremely stuck up, or... I don't know, something else. But you're not, and I'm really happy for that fact. It was just a silly fear on my part, and I'm really, really glad I got the chance to meet you!" The end of Malcolm's sentence drifted off into an unintelligible yawn, and he chuckled. "Looks like it's about time I try getting some sleep now." Kyosuke nodded, as he stood up.
"Yes. It is important to have both the mind and body rested to reach your full potential. Umbreon and I shall take our leave now as well, it really is late. I really enjoyed meeting you, Malcolm," Kyosuke said as he bowed to Malcolm once more. Malcolm bowed in return.
"Likewise, Kyosuke. I'm really looking forward to our match tomorrow!" With that, Umbreon stood up, standing at Kyosuke's side, and the two walked off towards the hotel. Malcolm, whose room was in the opposite direction, also returned to the hotel.
With his fears gone, Malcolm was able to sleep soundly. The next morning, Malcolm woke up to his alarm, and went out into the living room, finding Scyther was already awake. He noticed Malcolm come out, and smiled.
"Good morning, Malcolm! I already made breakfast, and I also already dropped your Playground 1 card off to the judges for the finals match."
"Well, thank you, Scyther!" Malcolm chuckled. It was a shame Scyther would be kept as a full-time pokemon when he wasn't off doing random battles; he would have made a great housekeeper!
"Are you ready for today's battle?" Scyther asked. Malcolm nodded.
"Yeah. I was really nervous about it yesterday, but I feel a whole lot better now that I've met Umbreon and his trainer."
"You met them? When did that happen?" Malcolm told Scyther about his walk last night and Kyosuke and Umbreon. Scyther nodded.
"Well, how about that? I always figured Umbreon and his trainer would be... I don't know, different than that somehow."
"Me, too. It turns out they're both really nice. But I can't let that stop me or Pikachu from trying our hardest to win! We've got to!"
After breakfast and once everybody was ready, the three headed down to the arena, arriving about ten minutes before the battle began. Malcolm and Pikachu headed down to the arena, finding their usual receptionist waiting for them. As they walked up, she smiled.
"Good morning, Malcolm and Pikachu! Congratulations on making it this far in the tournament, and good luck in your finals battle!"
"Thank you very much." The receptionist nodded.
"Just a final word of warning for you today. Be very careful, your opponent has used a level four Graveyard field card, and the inner arena is rather cluttered at the moment." Malcolm was about to reply, when he suddenly stopped.
"Hold on. Did you just say level four card?" The receptionist nodded. "I thought you told me before that field cards only went up to level three, and that four and five were only available through merging."
"That's ordinarily right. But very rarely, pokemon and their trainers who have done something particularly noteworthy or who have achieved a great number of victories are awarded level four and five field cards. From what I remember, there are only about five level four field cards in circulation worldwide, and only two level fives. Your opponent, Kyosuke, has one of each." This left Malcolm speechless. Kyosuke must have been an excellent trainer from the sounds of things. With that, Malcolm walked into the arena to make his way to his booth. He was surprised at the sight -- the arena was very dark, making the arena look like it was nighttime inside. The lighting was reminiscent of the full moon last night. The entire arena was covered in dirt; his Playground card only earned him a tiny patch of grass and a single ball near the rear of the arena next to his booth. Thick fog hung over the entire arena, and tombstones stuck up from graves everywhere. Some of the graves were even hollowed out, dug out into pits! Whole skeletons, partial skeletons, and just random bones, all from human and animal alike, littered the ground, making movement difficult.
Malcolm began to make his way towards his booth, doing his best to avoid stepping on any of the bones. He was suddenly startled by a loud shriek which sounded like a young girl coming from behind him. He spun around, only to see a huge green ghost flying right at him! Malcolm screamed in terror, dropping to his knees and covering his head with his arms, huddling and shaking in fear. The receptionist, hearing Malcolm's scream, peeked in, and laughed.
"Malcolm! It's okay, don't worry about that. That was just a hologram. You see, the noises are just sound effects played at random times from a CD, and the ghosts are just holograms projected onto the fog in the arena. They're both designed to mess up and distract your vision and Pikachu's hearing during the match." Malcolm, feeling rather silly, stood back up (although still thoroughly shaken up), trying to catch his breath.
"Aha! Of course, I... I knew that," he said as nonchalantly as he could. The receptionist went back outside, and Malcolm practically ran to the safety of his booth, darting inside and closing the door behind him.
He noticed Kyosuke entering the arena moments later, who went to his own booth. The booths rose, and Pikachu and Umbreon were led into the center of the arena. While Malcolm waited for the match to start, he looked over the immediate surroundings of the two pokemon. While he was looking, he suddenly heard a loud scream come from Pikachu's microphone, and noticed Pikachu jump back, startled. Malcolm laughed.
"Don't worry, Pikachu, there's screams and shrieks and other sound effects that come from the arena in this field. If you hear screaming or crying or any other sort of noise, disregard it. It's just sound effects." Pikachu nodded affirmatively, re-taking his place in the circle. Malcolm chuckled. "If it makes you feel any better, buddy, it scared the heck out of me, too!" Pikachu giggled, and resumed waiting for the match to start. "By the way, Pikachu," Malcolm added, "there are a lot of tombstones and large piles of bones in this arena, so be careful. I'll guide you as best I can, but if I say stop, make absolutely sure you come to a full, immediate stop! The last thing we need is you falling down into one of those hollowed-out graves."
"Pikaaaa," Pikachu whined a bit nervously, shuddering at the thought. He would have to make sure his reflexes were in top condition for this match.
The match's countdown timer began, and Malcolm gave some quick thought to how Pikachu should begin. Offense or defense, he wondered? He was about to tell Pikachu to charge at Umbreon, but the orders never quite made it out. As the countdown hit 1, Malcolm noticed Umbreon crouch down, ready to pounce at Pikachu. Malcolm gasped.
"Get down!" he shouted to Pikachu, just as the timer hit zero. Umbreon sprang, and Pikachu obediently dropped to the ground, laying as flat as he could manage. As Umbreon sailed neatly over Pikachu, Malcolm got a great idea. "Pikachu, donkey kick, now!" Umbreon landed neatly on his feet, just behind Pikachu, but he wasn't expecting Pikachu to hop up on all fours and put all his weight on his front feet, delivering a swift, powerful kick to Umbreon. Pikachu's feet managed to catch him right in the butt, sending the startled Umbreon tumbling forward with a yelp. Malcolm grinned. "Good work, you nailed him! Now get out of there before he gets up and counters, run 10 degrees left as fast as you can!" With that, Pikachu darted off, but Umbreon took hardly any time at all to get back on his own feet, charging after Pikachu.
It was everything Malcolm could do to keep Pikachu aware of all the tombstones, open graves, and bones all over the place. Helping Pikachu avoid all these hazards left him no time at all to issue any other orders. Umbreon was matching Pikachu's pace, and the two shot off in the direction opposite of Malcolm's trainer's booth. Malcolm quickly found the fog was making it harder and harder to keep an eye on Pikachu's progress, and he was getting dangerously close to disappearing in the fog. Worried, he had to think of a quick way to get Pikachu back onto Malcolm's side. Malcolm suddenly got an idea, and he hoped Pikachu could pull it off.
"Stop, 180, full charge, Pikachu!" Malcolm ordered as quickly as he could. He could just barely make out Pikachu obediently do just as he was ordered: in mid-stride, he made a 180 degree turn, pivoting on his front foot, and used his back feet to kick off, changing direction and charging directly towards Umbreon! The two pokemon just barely missed each other as Umbreon screeched to a halt, spinning around to continue pursuing Pikachu. Malcolm was, at least, able to see Pikachu now, but he was still stuck giving him orders to keep him safe.
With a sudden, surprising burst of speed, Umbreon charged forward, and before Malcolm could react, Umbreon pounced at Pikachu. He caught Pikachu in mid-run, and the two tumbled forward, Umbreon managing to control the roll so that he landed on top. Before Pikachu could move, Umbreon pinned Pikachu down, using his front legs to tightly pin Pikachu's arms to his sides, holding them there, and using his rear legs to spread Pikachu's own feet widely apart -- painfully so -- preventing him from moving them. Pikachu yelped, and began to struggle, but it was no use -- Umbreon was far stronger than he looked.
"Pikachu!" Malcolm cried. Despite Pikachu's struggling, Umbreon held him fast, skillfully shoving his cock into the squirming Pikachu's tailhole. Pikachu whined, and Umbreon began to fuck Pikachu roughly. Malcolm watched helplessly, clenching his teeth with worry. "Pikachu, you can't give up!" Malcolm shouted. "Fight him! Fight him with everything you've got!" Umbreon was drawing close to a victory, but Pikachu suddenly began thrashing and struggling with all of his strength. Pikachu got a lucky break, and caught Umbreon by surprise as he managed to use his feet to knock Umbreon's legs out from underneath him, sending Umbreon tumbling down to the ground, freeing him! Malcolm sighed with relief, and decided going for an immediate counterattack would be too risky with how strong Umbreon was. "Pikachu, get up and get out of there on the double! 30 degrees R!" Pikachu managed to squirm out from underneath Umbreon, and took off running once more. Malcolm needed a plan, and fast!
Umbreon shook his head, surprised Pikachu managed to get free, and got to his feet, chasing Pikachu once more. This time, however, Malcolm noticed Umbreon was running unevenly, as if he was limping slightly. Umbreon quickly dashed behind a nearby tombstone, out of Malcolm's line of view.
"Stop! Pikachu, Umbreon is hiding... it might be a trap. Turn around, and there will be a tombstone about 20 F, 4 L. He's hiding behind there, get ready to..." Malcolm was cut off, caught off guard as Umbreon suddenly jumped back out from behind the tombstone. Pikachu had, by this point, turned around already. "Charge forward, Pikachu, tackle him, 20 F!" Pikachu charged forward, and lunged at Umbreon. Malcolm grinned; it was going to be a direct hit! His happiness quickly turned to fear, however, as Pikachu's "direct hit" turned into "direct miss" as Pikachu sailed right through Umbreon, as if he wasn't even there! As a shocked Malcolm tried to figure out what just happened, though, the real Umbreon charged out from behind the tombstone, his red eyes aglow, catching the also-startled Pikachu by surprise in the side. Before Malcolm could react and give Pikachu an order, Umbreon darted back behind the tombstone once more. Malcolm frowned; he had no idea what was going on, but Pikachu was in danger if there were fake Umbreons! "Pikachu, draw back, do a 180 and keep running until I order otherwise!" Pikachu turned and ran, and Malcolm gasped as five Umbreons jumped out from behind the tombstone this time, all chasing after Pikachu!
Malcolm had to figure out what was going on and fast. Pikachu couldn't fight back if Malcolm didn't know which Umbreon was real! Pikachu was beginning to get tired, and he was also coming dangerously close to being pinned against the arena wall. Malcolm stared, wondering how there were five Umbreons, when he almost fell out of his chair as a huge green ghost flew right at his booth, scaring the living daylights out of him! Malcolm grabbed his chest, breathing hard... when it suddenly hit him! Malcolm grabbed his card pile, and looked frantically through it, finding the one card he really needed -- the Sunshine card! He wasted no time shoving it into the card reader, and grinned as the arena's lights began to power up, turning on. The dark, nighttime-looking arena slowly brightened up into daylight. This brought two main changes Malcolm was glad to see -- one was the fog, which slowly faded away as the heat from the lights fully evaporated it. The other were the four fake Umbreons, also fading away as the lights got brighter! When the ghost scared him, Malcolm remembered it was just a hologram being projected from the arena onto the fog, and Malcolm realized just why Umbreon's eyes were glowing -- he apparently had miniature holographic projectors of his own inside, making fake Umbreons on the fog as well.
"Pikachu, five o'clock! Full speed headbutt, now!" Pikachu used the same maneuver he used earlier in the match to spin around, maintaining most of his speed as he charged head first into Umbreon, sending him flying backwards into a nearby heap of bones laying on the ground. Umbreon yelped, and landed in the bone pile with a loud clatter.
Umbreon tried to get back to his feet, just barely managing to do so. Malcolm noticed Umbreon was very wobbly as he stood. Suddenly, Umbreon's rear right leg gave out from under him, sending Umbreon falling back to the ground, screaming in pain with a loud "bree!" This time, Malcolm knew it was no trick.
"Pikachu, Umbreon's just in front of you! Make sure he's all right, he's not moving!" Worried, Pikachu carefully approached Umbreon, shaking him. Umbreon whined softly in pain, and Pikachu nodded, indicating to Malcolm he was at least conscious. Malcolm sighed with relief, when he heard a soft click in his booth.
"Trainer Malcolm," one of the judges' voices said over the speakers, "we have a request to deliver an important message to you from Trainer Kyosuke. We are patching him through now."
"All right." The speaker beeped, and switched over to Kyosuke.
"Malcolm! Tell Pikachu to take his victory. Umbreon is unable to battle." Malcolm's eyes widened in surprise.
"What? What's wrong?"
"In Umbreon's previous battle, the one against Flareon, Flareon fought very dishonorably. He intentionally tried to break Umbreon's leg during the course of the match. While Umbreon managed to escape and take the victory, his leg had been bothering him all day after the match. He said it was better this morning, and neither he nor I wanted to pass up the battle with you and Pikachu. I am most sorry to have to end it this way, but it is my fault and I will not end the match by surrendering. Tell Pikachu to take his victory!" Malcolm was stunned.
"Kyosuke, we could postpone the battle until Umbreon's leg is healed, or..." Kyosuke cut Malcolm off.
"This is not the time to talk, Malcolm! I shall explain further momentarily, but for now, give Pikachu the order to win! You have earned it!" Before Malcolm could protest any further, the speaker clicked off. Malcolm shrugged, then turned his attention back to Pikachu's communicator.
"Pikachu... go for a passive victory! And go kind of easy on Umbreon, his back right leg is hurt." Pikachu nodded, and did as he was told, kneeling in front of Umbreon and using his paws to softly stroke Umbreon's sheath. Kyosuke had, by this time, already told Umbreon to allow Pikachu to win, and Umbreon did not fight back, sighing. Pikachu continued working Umbreon's sheath until his cock began to come out, and once it did Pikachu took it into his muzzle, gently sucking on it and playing with it with his tongue. Umbreon whined softly -- in all his years of battling, every single one of his losses had come from aggressive victories, and he was not used to being on the losing end of a passive win at all. He unconsciously began to gently hump at Pikachu's muzzle, and Pikachu just grinned, working at Umbreon's cock with his tongue and massaging his balls with his paws until Umbreon could hold back no more. His body tensed, and he came into Pikachu's muzzle quite forcefully as Pikachu swallowed obediently. That clinched it; Pikachu had just officially beaten Umbreon, winning the entire tournament!
Needless to say, the crowd was in an uproar of excitement. Nobody really expected Malcolm and Pikachu to win, being as inexperienced as they were, and especially not against Umbreon! The trainers' booths descended, and Malcolm and Kyosuke made their way over to the pokemon. Kyosuke arrived first, and knelt down next to Umbreon.
"Umbreon! How is your leg?" Umbreon sighed, and with a great deal of effort managed to shakily get to his feet without using his bad leg. He touched it to the ground softly to make sure it wasn't broken; to his relief, it was okay until he put weight on it. It was probably just sprained.
"Bree!" Umbreon squeaked, relieved. Malcolm had, by this time, walked up.
"I'm happy to see Umbreon's okay," Malcolm said. "I was scared for a minute. But you didn't have to just give up like that, Kyosuke! We could have postponed the match until later or whenever Umbreon's leg was better, and..."
"It's all right, Malcolm," Kyosuke said, interrupting Malcolm. "If I were to postpone this match, it would just be cheating. I told you before, it is because of my faults as a trainer this happened." Kyosuke knelt down, picking up Umbreon so that he wouldn't have to stand, then stood back up. "You see, not only is Umbreon injured, but he is exhausted as well. We're constantly training and traveling from place to place and country to country to compete in tournaments worldwide. We never get any time to rest, and it seems as all of it has finally caught up to Umbreon and taken its toll. I am honestly surprised it didn't happen sooner, with how hard I push him. But he knows I push him because I want him to be the very best that he can be, and I can see now that it's time to give Umbreon a break." Umbreon lifted his head up, nuzzling Kyosuke softly, then laid back down in his arms. Malcolm chuckled as Pikachu stood next to him.
"I'm impressed, Kyosuke. I didn't even know Umbreon's leg was hurt until it gave out on him, and even then he gave the battle everything he had. It's not hard to see he's doing it all for you. He's an amazing pokemon, and you're an amazing trainer, Kyosuke. There's no sense beating yourself up over it now; these things happen, after all." Kyosuke nodded.
"You are correct, Malcolm. Thank you. We should take our leave for now and go to the awards ceremony, but I regret after that I must go tend to Umbreon's injuries. Perhaps it is about time for us to take a break from tournament battling for a little while and get some rest. With your consent, we could maybe stop by and see you in your room later?" Malcolm nodded.
"Of course! We'll be around, and I look forward to it, Kyosuke." Kyosuke nodded, bowing slightly, and turned to walk away. "Oh, one more thing!" Malcolm said. Kyosuke looked back.
"Yes?"
"I hope your leg feels better soon, Umbreon. You did a great job, and I hope sometime in the future when you're at your best, we can have another battle!"
"Pika!" Pikachu agreed with a nod. Umbreon smiled, wagging his tail.
"Bree!" With that, Kyosuke walked off towards his exit of the arena. Once they left, Malcolm knelt down next to Pikachu.
"Pikachu! I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of you! I didn't really think we'd even do well in this tournament, let alone win! But we did, and it's all thanks to you, buddy!" Pikachu giggled, happily.
"Pika!" he squeaked, jumping at Malcolm and hugging him. Malcolm squeezed Pikachu back, and Pikachu nuzzled him. Pikachu was very happy to win, too, but he was mostly happy to be able to live up to Malcolm's expectations of him.
"I think a reward for doing such a phenomenal job in this tournament is in order a little later," Malcolm told Pikachu with a grin. "But for now, let's get back to the room. I bet you're exhausted." Pikachu nodded, and with that, the two exited the arena to the deafening cheers of the crowd, who were chanting "Malcolm! Pikachu! Malcolm! Pikachu!" quite loudly. Malcolm waved, and picked Pikachu up, holding him up into the air, sending the crowd into thunderous applause!
The receptionist was there to greet the two, and she led Malcolm and Pikachu towards the hall where he and Pikachu had participated in the pet show at the beginning of the tournament. As they entered through the main doors, Malcolm noticed it had been completely changed, now instead of a pet show setup, it looked more like an auditorium. Rows upon rows of seats circled the huge stage against the wall, and all the seats were already packed solid with trainers and other tournament goers. Kyosuke and Umbreon were already up on stage (Umbreon was standing on his own now; he just kept his rear right leg slightly off the ground to avoid putting weight on it), and so were two of the judges. The receptionist told Malcolm to go ahead up to the stage, and he and Pikachu made their way up, joining the others on stage. One of the judges walked up to the microphone.
"As you all know," she began, "the finals match has just finished, and Malcolm and Pikachu are the winners of this year's Pokemon League U.S. Northeast Division Tournament!" The crowd applauded at this. "We, as league judges, would like to award Malcolm and Pikachu with these prizes!" The other judge went to one of the two tables on the stage; on the one he approached sat a huge gold trophy and a couple of pieces of paper. He picked up all of the papers, going over to Malcolm and handing them to him. "Along with 250 points and a free pass to compete in any other league tournament worldwide, the judges have also rewarded your outstanding performance with several battle cards and a brand new tournament field card!" The judge handed Malcolm two envelopes, one which Malcolm could feel was quite full of cards, the other (he assumed) holding the pass. "Malcolm also, of course, wins the tournament first place cash prize of one million dollars!" The crowd cheered again, and the judge this time handed Malcolm the huge gold trophy, inside of which was the check. Malcolm was, of course, ecstatic. "We would also like to award our second-place runners-up, Kyosuke and Umbreon, with 50 points and a cash prize of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars!" The other judge took a large silver trophy and an envelope off of the other table, handing them to Kyosuke. Kyosuke took them, and bowed. "Thank you all for attending this year's Pokemon League U.S. Northeast Division Tournament! Remember, the European Tournament is coming up in two months, and we look forward to seeing those of you who plan on attending there!"
Once the awards ceremony ended, Malcolm and Pikachu tried to make their way back to their room, but it was obvious they weren't going to be getting back there anytime soon. Between fans, crowds, and mobs in general asking Malcolm for his autograph, pictures with him and Pikachu, and all sorts of other things, they were going nowhere fast. Once the excitement finally died down almost two hours later, Malcolm and Pikachu were finally able to get to the elevator, taking it up to their room. Malcolm just wanted to take a nap now that all the excitement (and worrying about tournament battles) was over, and he knew Pikachu would appreciate one as well. Malcolm opened the door, only to find an overjoyed Scyther waiting for them. As soon as the door opened, Scyther jumped up and almost knocked Malcolm over as he charged at him, tackling him in a hug.
"You did it! I don't believe it, Malcolm, you and Pikachu won! You really won your very first tournament, it's just so... unbelievable! Nobody except for Umbreon, back when he was still an Eevee, ever won their first tournament! Oh, by the way, Malcolm, Paul said to meet him up in his room, he's got something for you!" Malcolm, still a bit taken aback by Scyther's usual overenthusiastic greeting, sighed. So much for their nap, he thought to himself.
"All right, let me just put this stuff up, and we'll go!"
The three headed up to Paul's room, Scyther incessantly chatting to Malcolm about how amazed he was with their success the entire way. Once they reached Paul's room, Malcolm knocked, and the door almost immediately swung open.
"Malcolm, come in, come in!" Paul said with a grin. Malcolm walked in, only to see that Paul, Charmander, and Scyther had gathered all of Malcolm's new friends he had made during the tournament there -- Paul and Charmander, of course, Treeko and his trainer, Furret and his trainer, and Kyosuke and Umbreon (whose back leg was now wrapped up in an elastic bandage).
"Surprise!" they all yelled. Malcolm was stunned, unable to think of anything to say, and everybody ran up to him, congratulating him. Scyther and Pikachu walked into the room as well. Scyther walked into Paul's kitchen to retrieve something, and Pikachu walked in only to get pounced upon by Charmander, who hugged him excitedly. Pikachu giggled, and all the other pokemon came up as well, hugging, licking, and nuzzling Pikachu to congratulate him as well.
"Malcolm! Look what the league sent up for you!" Scyther called from the kitchen. The trainers turned to see Scyther wheel out a gigantic seven-layer cake, at least the size of a wedding cake (and probably bigger), the word "Congratulations" written on the cake's side in frosting, and a huge Pikachu made out of frosting sitting on top.
"Wow, that's amazing! Thank you all, everybody! You've really made my day... and Pikachu's too, from the looks of it!" Malcolm laughed as he saw all the pokemon in a giant pile, playing happily.
With that, Paul and Malcolm cut everybody huge slices of the cake, passing it around for Scyther and all the trainers to share; they even put huge slices of cake in dishes on the floor for the pokemon to eat. Everybody stood around, talking, while the pokemon contentedly ate their cake. This peace only lasted for all of about two minutes, though; Charmander grabbed a big clawful of his cake, tossing it playfully at Pikachu, who was eating next to him. It hit him in the side, and Pikachu yelped in surprise. He playfully growled, grabbing a pawful of his own cake and tossed it hard right back at Charmander, catching him right in the head with it as cake spattered everywhere, getting on Treeko. Treeko squeaked, and joined in, throwing cake back at Charmander. In a matter of seconds, there was a huge cake war going on -- Pikachu, Charmander, and Treeko were tossing cake wildly at each other, giggling gleefully as they did; poor Furret got caught in the crossfire, and joined in as well. Umbreon, the only one who was far enough away to avoid getting covered in cake, picked up his plate in his mouth and limped off away from the others, not desiring to get caught up in such a childish endeavor. Of course, once he was safely out of the way, even he couldn't resist playfully tossing a small pawful of cake at Pikachu! It wasn't until the food fight had erupted into a full-scale cake war that the trainers even noticed what was going on. Everybody started laughing except for Scyther and Furret's trainer; Scyther ran over to try to stop the food fight, but the other four quickly turned on him, pelting him and covering him in cake as well, and Furret's trainer began to spaz, complaining under his breath how it would take days to get all the cake out of Furret's fur!
Scyther gave up trying to stop the pokemon, and went off to the bathroom to get cleaned up. By this point, Treeko and Furret began to grow bored of the cake fight, trying to brush as much cake off of themselves as they could -- a difficult task, considering they were completely covered head to toe in a thick layer of cake and frosting. Treeko didn't have too much trouble brushing it off, but Furret was having a lot of trouble, whined as he quickly found that when he tried to brush it out, his efforts only smeared the cake further into his fur. Once Treeko finished mostly cleaning himself, he went over to Furret, and began to try to help Furret groom himself. Furret squeaked happily in gratitude, but even Treeko's extra dexterity (thanks to having hands instead of just paws) wasn't getting them anywhere. Pikachu and Charmander, meanwhile, were facing off head-to-head now. Both of them were holding a giant handful of cake, and they were slowly circling each other, waiting to make a move. Charmander charged at Pikachu first, his arm outstretched as he attempted to shove his handful of cake in Pikachu's face, but Pikachu could hear him coming a mile away, and simply stepped to the side, holding his foot out. Charmander tripped and fell, his face landing in his own cake! Charmander sat up, spitting some cake out of his mouth, but Pikachu shoved his own handful of cake into Charmander's mouth. Charmander, caught by surprise, began to cough slightly, but Pikachu -- excited from being so messy and covered in cake -- shoved his already hard cock into Charmander's muzzle. Charmander could do nothing but accept his "loss" in the cake war, and did the best he could to work Pikachu's cock with his muzzle full of cake. Pikachu grinned, pumping his cock in and out of Charmander's full muzzle, deeply enjoying the unique feeling. The cake in Charmander's muzzle was warm and mushy with Charmander's saliva, and while it was soft and slippery enough to give him a great lubricated feeling, it still had enough substance to provide resistance. Charmander whined; he desperately wanted to spit the cake out and cough, as he had some stuck in his throat, but he waited obediently to let Pikachu have his fun. It took a few more moments, but Pikachu's body began to quiver, and he squeaked loudly as he could hold back no longer, exploding inside Charmander's muzzle. Charmander, overjoyed that Pikachu was finally finished, spit the whole mess out of his mouth, coughing to try to get some of the cake that had managed to find its way into his throat out.
It took a while, but the excitement died down and the pokemon calmed down somewhat. Once that finally happened, everybody pitched in to clean up both the room and the cake-covered pokemon. After about an hour and a half of cleaning, the room was mostly cake-free, and so were the pokemon -- all except for Furret. Furret's trainer had to head back to his room to give Furret a bath, and Treeko and his trainer also had to leave to take care of some things. While they waited for them to return, the others sat on the couch, talking. Charmander, exhausted, was laying sound asleep in the middle of the floor. Umbreon laid in the corner, resting, and Pikachu was sleeping curled up next to him, hugging his tail. Scyther and Kyosuke were engaged in a discussion about Umbreon and his suit's construction, and Malcolm had gone to the bathroom to finish cleaning it up from washing Pikachu, who was the last one to be washed. Once Malcolm finished up in the bathroom, he joined the others back out in the living room.
"Whew! Your bathroom's all cleaned up," he said to Paul, "and I think we got most of the cake out of the carpets," Malcolm said. Paul, who was busy staring at Charmander, just nodded vacantly. Malcolm sat down next to him, tapping him on the shoulder. "Hey, is anything wrong?" Paul sighed.
"No, don't worry about it. It's nothing." Malcolm began to get worried -- it wasn't like Paul to be depressed about something.
"If it's about the mess, don't worry. I'll even pick up the charges if the hotel tries to charge you for it..." Paul shook his head.
"It's not the mess, Malcolm. It's just..." Paul sighed, and took a breath. He really didn't want to tell Malcolm what he was about to tell him, but he decided it was better now than never. "You see, the majority of my money was invested in something at the advice of a very good friend of mine. But a few months back, it started to tank. My friend guaranteed me it was just a temporary thing, and not to worry, but it kept dropping and dropping. Malcolm, I don't have very much money left right now. It's hardly enough to pay the mortgage on my house, and it's certainly not enough to take care of both Charmander and myself. I... I don't know if I'll be able to keep training Charmander anymore, Malcolm."
Malcolm was speechless. He had no idea this was happening.
"Paul, I... I'm sorry to hear that," Malcolm said. "Does Charmander know?" Paul nodded.
"Yes. I made sure he knew right from the beginning when things were beginning to look bleak. That's why I only keep him as a pokemon some of the time -- the rest of the time, we both have to work. We entered this tournament to get the prize money, but now that we lost, my reserves are running dangerously low. If this keeps up, we'll probably have to find somewhere else to move to, and we'll probably have to give up the whole pokemon thing altogether." Malcolm frowned; he felt terribly sorry for Paul, and wished there was something he could do. Malcolm racked his brain, when he was suddenly struck with a brilliant idea!
"Say, Paul," Malcolm asked, "I'm sure a lot of your money goes towards rent, and food, and utilities, and the like, right?"
"Yes." Paul thought for a moment, and glared at Malcolm. "If you're even thinking of giving me money, I won't have it! I have to deal with this without your help, Malcolm!" Paul said. "Charmander and I will have to deal with it alone," he sighed.
"Actually," Malcolm continued, "I wasn't even going to offer to pay for you. In fact, I was going to suggest selling your house. That way, not only would that cut out a ton of your expenditures, but you'd get a tidy little profit from the sale, I'm sure." Paul scoffed.
"And then what, be homeless?"
"Hardly! I was going to suggest that you and Charmander look for a roommate."
"A roommate!" Paul echoed, incredulously. "I'm sure there's plenty of people out there looking for a weirdo and his pet pokemon!"
"That's right," Malcolm continued. "Maybe a roommate who trains pokemon as well. And ideally, one who could offer you a live-in job as an assistant trainer... especially if you could find someone who, say, would need help taking care of their Pikachu and Scyther," Malcolm said with a grin. "That would be great." It took Paul until Malcolm's mention of Pikachu and Scyther to realize what he was talking about. Paul was about to say something, when he gave the idea some serious thought. He certainly wouldn't mind living with Malcolm, and if he did, not only could he help train Pikachu and Scyther, but Charmander as well, who would be able to remain a pokemon full-time! Paul laughed.
"Wow, man, you had me going for a minute! You mean you really wouldn't mind that, Malcolm?"
"Of course not! You've seen the size of my house, there's more than enough room for you and Charmander. So what do you say, Paul?" Paul grinned, grabbing Malcolm's hand and shaking it.
"I say you've got yourself a deal!"