It didn't take long for the three to get situated once they moved in, either. After studying Malcolm's training style for a few weeks, Paul now not only helped Malcolm take care of the pokemon, but he also helped train them as well. Charmander, now that he didn't have to work to help pay rent and bills anymore, was able to remain a full-time pokemon, which he did quite happily! Paul sold his house to move in with Malcolm, giving most of the money from the sale to Malcolm to take care of him and Charmander living with him from now on. Matthew stayed mostly out of suit at home when he wasn't out doing random battles or doing practice battles against Charmander and Pikachu, acting mainly as another assistant trainer and caretaker to the pokemon and Malcolm's housekeeper. Matthew's salary that he received for being a league random battle operative also mostly went to Malcolm to pay for rent, food, his new suit, and other miscellaneous expenditures.
The three stayed in guest rooms until the construction of their own rooms finished. To ensure they would feel right at home living with him, Malcolm made sure the three had full say-so over the design of their new rooms: layout, decoration, everything. Paul and Charmander, after making sure it was all right with Malcolm, held nothing back with what they wanted. Between a fully-furnished kitchen, huge bedroom and bathroom, and second living room complete with a projection screen TV and a huge entertainment system, they practically had a new wing added onto the house. The lavish furnishings, once the rooms' construction was complete, were decorated primarily in reds and yellows similar to Charmander's coloring, making their living quarters look like they were kings! Matthew, on the other hand, asked for something very simple. All he really wanted was a small, plain room with an attached small bathroom for him. As far as furnishings went, he really only wanted a bed, a TV, a radio, a place to put his computer, and a lot of open room for bookshelves (which didn't surprise Malcolm at all). Malcolm did make sure, though, that Matthew had a huge, fully mirrored walk-in closet which would not only give him plenty of storage space but also a place to change and get ready when he had to get in and out of suit for battles.
Besides the new bedrooms for Paul, Charmander, and Matthew, Malcolm also did some remodeling to the backyard. He had a huge play area put in which covered just about all of the entire back yard, complete with an obstacle course, small pits, mud, a wading pool, tires, targets and hoops for ball practice, and more. Malcolm also expanded the indoor gym and training facility, adding weights, balance beams, an indoor pool for resistance training, and making the whole thing generally bigger.
All of the construction finished not too long ago, and everybody settled in nicely very quickly. All five of them were training hard in preparation of the Southwest U.S. league tournament which would be going on in about three months. In preparation, Malcolm purchased a few new cards from the league's official website for buying cards, seeing just how useful they ended up being during tournament battles. Thanks to all his generous donations from everybody he met and his tournament win, Malcolm had a veritable wealth of points to spend, the majority of which were spent on new item cards. Malcolm picked up a few of the cards he saw in use at the last tournament, like the ring gag item and the hot wax and oil slick hazard cards, but also several others he saw that sounded good!
Malcolm, now that he was an official league trainer, had a new way of keeping Pikachu in suit. Instead of just the crude duct tape job he did on Pikachu originally, he had refined his methods a bit to allow for an easier way to do maintenance on Pikachu. (Paul adopted the same thing for Charmander, after seeing how well it worked.) Malcolm required the pokemon be fully shaved, at the very least from the neck down since the new undersuit would cover their head hair. Their eyes were next taped shut with a special medical tape -- while it was opaque, waterproof, and it was difficult to remove, it didn't hurt at all when it was removed. This ensured that their eyes would remain closed at all times, even during routine suit maintenance. Next was a full-body open face spandex undersuit; this helped to absorb sweat, hide any remaining hair on the pokemon's body, keep the rubber suit from chafing, and also to keep their bodies bent in the proper positions. (Both Pikachu and Charmander had the same basic undersuit design -- legs kept bent, and arms held against the torso from the shoulder to the elbow.) After that, the rubber suit could go on as normal, followed by the mask or prosthetic. This made Malcolm and Paul's jobs easier when it came time for maintenance; the undersuit helped to keep the pokemon cleaner and drier than they were before, so it was a simple matter of a quick washing and a clean undersuit, then back into the suit they went!
Besides the house's remodeling, the addition of roommates, and the purchase of new cards, Malcolm also had one final change to his daily life: he had a brand new pokemon! Malcolm had contacted the official league suit designer, the same one who made Matthew's original random battle scyther suit, and he and Malcolm had been working together to make a new, tournament acceptable, scyther suit. It took several months, as Malcolm was also getting his help with new suits for Pikachu and Charmander, but they would be arriving soon. Matthew was excited, to say the least, but the day before the suits were supposed to arrive, Matthew got called out to do a random battle. He was disappointed, but Malcolm promised him that as soon as he returned, he'd be put in his new suit and they would start his training to be a league scyther!
Three days later, Matthew was due to arrive back at the house. Malcolm was sitting on the couch in the living room with his laptop, making some notes on alterations to the training of his two pokemon (and some suggestions for Paul and Charmander as well), waiting for him. Malcolm heard the door open, and looked up to see Matthew carrying his two bags in -- one with his clothes, the other with his scyther suit. He looked pretty proud of himself, leaving Malcolm to guess that he did well on his battle.
"Hey! How'd your battle go?" Malcolm asked.
"It was great! Especially since that win only increased my lead against Grovyle," Matthew said with a grin.
"Grovyle?"
"Oh, that's right, you don't know. I was one of the first random encounter operatives, along with about seven others. One of them was Grovyle, and he was always ahead of the rest of us as far as statistics went. I'm normally not competitive, you see, but it was just how smug he was about it. So I made it my personal goal to catch up to him or even overtake him one day! Well, for the last year or so, he and I have been neck and neck as far as wins go, and it's absolutely ticking him off, even more so now that I've been way ahead of him for the last month! This just puts me even further ahead now, and I was able to rub it in his face back at league headquarters!" Malcolm laughed.
"Well, congratulations on that, then! By the way, I've got a surprise for you," Malcolm said with a smile as he pointed to a huge box over in the corner. Matthew practically squealed in delight.
"Is that...?" he asked, his voice trailing off in excited anticipation. Malcolm nodded.
"That's right. Your new suit! You go ahead and take a shower and get yourself prepared. I'm going to go start getting the workshop ready. Meet me in there when you're all done." Matthew nodded, and went off to his room to get ready.
Malcolm dragged the box into his workshop, which was a garage he converted into an indoor room for him and Paul to do suit work on the pokemon. Malcolm opened the huge box, finding three smaller labeled (but still large) boxes inside. Malcolm took the three boxes out, and grabbed the one that read "Scyther," taking it over to the table and opening it up to inventory the parts. He took out all the parts, laying them out on the table, finding everything he needed inside: the suit itself, a green spandex undersuit, facial prosthetics, the collar, and various other implements that would be used in the suit, such as motors, batteries, wiring, nozzles, canisters, and more. As Malcolm made a mental checklist of everything, Matthew walked in the door, in just a t-shirt and underwear, looking at everything.
"Is all that for my suit?" he asked, excitedly. Malcolm chuckled.
"No, just everything in this box here. The other two are things I ordered for Pikachu and Charmander. But don't you worry about that. Let's get you into your new suit, hmm?"
Malcolm started by making Matthew strip. Since he was usually in his own suit anyway, Matthew kept himself fully shaved from the neck down, so Malcolm didn't even have to worry about shaving him. He first took the green spandex undersuit, and had Matthew sit on the floor, helping him into it and zipping it up the back. His legs were now kept bent and his arms held to his sides, only his face exposed. Matthew tried to stand up, but quickly found it wasn't as easy as all the other pokemon he had seen made it look. Malcolm laughed.
"I know this is going to be very new to you, so it's going to take you a while to get used to this. Just take it easy for now, I'll get you into your whole suit first, then we'll work on standing up, okay?" Matthew nodded. The next thing to go on was the actual rubber scyther suit. Like Matthew's original suit, the tournament suit was made out of thick rubber, painted and detailed to look like a bug's hard exoskeleton. It was mostly green, with peach-toned underbody areas where the green "shell" didn't cover it. Once it was fully on, it would look basically like his random battle suit, just smaller. Malcolm worked the suit up to Matthew's waist, and Matthew wiggled his new legs.
"This is a lot tighter than I thought it would be," Matthew said.
"I warned you it would be tough to get used to. And speaking of things that will be tough to get used to, this is going to be the hardest of all for you!" Malcolm said with a grin. He grabbed the collar off of the table, fastening it around Matthew's neck. The new collar design was a lot thinner than the original, allowing for a more comfortable fit and making it completely invisible under the suit. It also had a new added feature: the same electrodes that shocked the pokemon for saying anything they're not supposed to also constantly stimulated the voice box. This meant their voice would always come out sounding like the pokemon they're supposed to be, whether it be a raspy Scyther or a high-pitched squeaky Pikachu.
Once he got the collar on, Malcolm nodded.
"All right. From this moment on, as long as you're in this suit, you are a Scyther. My Scyther. So for your own benefit, I suggest you learn to follow directions and speak like one."
"Scy!" Scyther responded. Malcolm grinned.
"Good boy." Before Malcolm pulled the suit up any further, he helped Scyther into a backpack-like contraption -- straps around his shoulders and chest to keep it on, and a thin, flat panel-like metal box against his back. It was very thin, and once the suit was on it would hardly be visible. "This is your wing control mechanism, Scyther. I'll explain how it and everything else work once your suit is fully on, okay?" Scyther nodded, and with that, Malcolm worked on pulling the suit up further, making sure to adjust the cock and ball holding sheath and the opening for his ass to their proper positions.
The suit came further up, Scyther's arms going into the suit next. Malcolm, taking another hint from Scyther's old suit's design, asked that the suit's hands be two green three-fingered paws. Scyther looked at them, but Malcolm picked up the blades. He took one of Scyther's hands, pushing the blade down onto it. Like Scyther's old suit, they simply slipped on and off, but as Malcolm put it on, they both heard a loud "click" -- a magnetic lock would ensure the blade would not come off of Scyther's hand unless Malcolm specifically released it. The next blade followed shortly after. Again, like his old suit, the blades looked sharp and menacing, but they were actually very blunt and somewhat soft, like very thin Nerf bats.
"Oh, by the way, Scyther -- I don't know if you've noticed yet, but there are buttons in your paws. Don't press them, I'll explain what they do later, okay?"
"Scy!" Scyther said as he nodded obediently. Malcolm pulled the suit up to Scyther's neck now; the suit was nearing completion.
"Okay, Scyther, ready to be blinded?" Scyther nodded, and Malcolm took the roll of medical tape from the table, cutting off two squares and pressing them against Scyther's eyes, making absolutely sure he won't be able to see. With that, he glued the prosthetic to Scyther's face. While the glue dried, Malcolm took the wings of Scyther's suit from the table. They were paper-thin and almost translucent, but they were very hard, stiff, and durable. He connected the wings to the mechanism under the suit on Scyther's back through small, invisible slits in the suit's back. Once the prosthetic's glue had dried, Malcolm finished pulling the suit up around Scyther's head, gluing it in place around the mask and using some green liquid latex to hide the seam. Once that was dry, Scyther's new suit was fully complete!
Malcolm picked Scyther up, and laying him on his back next to the corner of the room.
"Scyther, you wait right here for me, okay? I'll be right back. I laid you in the corner of the room, next to the wall, so while I'm gone you can try getting used to standing up and walking in your new suit. Use the wall for support if you have to, okay?" Scyther was about to answer, but he already forgot he wasn't allowed to talk. He tried to say "okay," but yelped in pain as he felt a stinging electrical pain shoot through his balls. He whined, curling up in a ball as best he could, whining "Scyyy..." softly. Malcolm shook his head, and went off to the gym. As he expected, he found Paul in the gym, making some notes about Charmander and Pikachu as the two pokemon played. Paul looked over as Malcolm came in.
"Hey, what's happening?" Paul asked.
"Scyther's in his new suit if you want to see," Malcolm said with a smile. Paul laughed.
"Oh, you bet! I wouldn't miss this for the world! You two can stay in here and play, we'll be back in a little bit!" Paul said. The pokemon, busy playing, all but ignored him. Paul and Malcolm went back to the workshop, where they found Scyther had already learned to stand (in a very wobbly manner, though) using the wall for support, taking a few tentative first steps. Paul, overwhelmed at how cute and helpless Scyther looked, couldn't hold it in any longer and began cracking up. Scyther, startled that Malcolm and Paul were there, fell forward, landing flat on his face. This just made Paul laugh even harder, and even Malcolm couldn't resist chuckling at the sight.
"I-I'm sorry!" Paul said between laughs and gasps for breath. "I didn't mean to scare you, Scyther, it's just... you look so cute!" he laughed. Scyther, who had stood up again by this time, was about to yell at Paul, but screamed in pain as he fell forward onto his face again, getting shocked. He curled up and whined.
"Now, now, Scyther. Remember, no talking!" Malcolm snickered.
"Scytherrrrrrrrrrrrrr!" Scyther whined, angrily.
"Learning to communicate with more than words is one of the challenges of becoming a pokemon, Scyther. You've been spoiled for a long time, and now you'll have to learn the hard way how to be a pokemon!"
"The good news, though," Malcolm continued, "is that your new suit is equipped with quite a few special attacks. For one, you've got the same kind of sticky skin on your feet that Treeko's suit has. That's on my controller, though, and I can turn it on in times when you might need extra traction. It will also give you some limited climbing ability as well. Most of your special abilities will be under your control, though. You know those buttons in your paws? Feel around for them, but don't press them yet." Scyther found the buttons -- they were conveniently placed on the rear tip of the paw, about where his fingernail would hit if he stretched his finger backwards slightly, but not in a position he could easily hit accidentally as long as he kept his real hands, under the blades, relaxed or in a fist. He nodded to let Malcolm know he found them. "You've got a one-time use sneezing powder spray. The nozzle is on your back, right near your wings. Feel that button by your left thumb? Go ahead and press that." Scyther pressed the button, even though it wasn't obvious he had done anything -- the blades hid his paws, and the paws covered his own hands. The mechanism on his back kicked into action, silently making Scyther's wings flap (rather quickly, at that), creating a small breeze. "That button controls your wings, so you can make them flap at will. The button near your left pointer is for the sneezing powder, so don't hit that right now. Just make sure when you do use it that you're facing away from your opponent, then use your wings to spray the powder at them. Oh, and don't worry about inhaling it yourself; as long as you breathe through your nose, you'll be fine. Your prosthetic has a special filter in the nostrils."
Malcolm paused to think what other special attacks Scyther's suit was equipped with. "Let's see... the last thing you'll probably be using a lot is your string shot attack. The nozzle is inside your muzzle, so you'll have to have your mouth open to use it. It'll probably take a lot of work learning how to aim it properly though, so we'll definitely have to practice with it. That button is next to your right thumb. Your string shot is another one-time-use deal. There's a tiny canister inside your face's muzzle full of sticky foam-like material. When you activate your string shot, it will shoot out through the nozzle with extremely high pressure and escape all at once, so it will come out as one thick, sticky mass of goo. It hardens quickly, so you can only use it at medium to close range. You could use it to hit an opponent in the muzzle, sealing it shut; you could try hitting a paw or foot on the ground and getting it stuck in place; or you could even get them in the cock, preventing them from being able to fit in your tailhole. They can get it off, but it takes quite a bit of effort, which means in a best-case scenario you'd probably have some time for a golden attack opportunity! Even if it wasn't a perfect shot it would still most likely hinder your opponent somehow."
With the overview of Scyther's new suit's abilities done, Scyther continued to get used to his new body. After about half an hour, he was doing better, and Malcolm decided to go get the other pokemon.
"Scyther, you stay here with Paul. I'll be back in about five minutes, you just keep practicing moving around in your new suit, okay?" Scyther tried to answer "okay," and yelped as he received yet another shock. Frustrated, and obviously unhappy with the whole not being able to talk thing, Scyther was about to scream out some less-than-couth words in anger, only leading to him getting shocked again. He curled up on his side on the ground in pain, whining softly, and Malcolm just shook his head, turning to leave. "Pikachu didn't have any trouble at all getting used to not speaking," Malcolm thought to himself as he walked out. He went back to the gym where, as he expected, Pikachu and Charmander were still busy playing with each other. Malcolm whistled, and the two ran over.
"Pi pikachu!" Pikachu squeaked happily as he charged at Malcolm. Malcolm laughed, and kneeled down, catching Pikachu and hugging him.
"Hey, guys! Listen, I've got a huge surprise for both of you. Come on, follow me!" Pikachu and Charmander both squeaked excitedly, and followed Malcolm back to the workshop.
Paul had already opened the remaining two boxes, and laid the parts out on the table by the time Malcolm and the pokemon got back: new suits, undersuits, and prosthetics for Pikachu and Charmander.
"Great, thanks, Paul!" Malcolm said. "Go ahead and take off Charmander's suit and undersuit, I'll do Pikachu's." Paul nodded, and he and Malcolm carefully peeled away the latex sealing Charmander's mask and Pikachu's prosthetic to their suits' hoods, allowing the trainers to remove the suits. With the rubber suits off, they unzipped the undersuits, allowing the pokemon to be fully free. Pikachu and Charmander were both happy to be able to stretch -- it had been about a week now since the two were last out of suit. With the new, easier method to change and clean their suits, the pokemon were rarely taken out of suit anymore; only once every week for a quick washing of them and their suits, then a change into a clean undersuit, then back in they go, all of which takes less than five minutes. This time, however, the pokemon were caught by surprise as their mask and prosthetic were removed, which Paul and Malcolm didn't usually do, and even more surprised when they removed the tape covering their eyes. Malcolm chuckled. "You two go ahead, stretch, and let your eyes come back into focus. I know it's been a while since you've been able to see," Malcolm said with a grin.
Pikachu and Charmander, even though they were free, still sat on the floor, stretching. They kept their eyes closed, the room's bright light coming as a small surprise to them. It took a minute, but their eyes got used to the light, and they were finally able to open them. Once their eyes came back into focus, they could finally see. They stood up, and looked at each other. Charmander giggled.
"Hi there, I'm James," he said with a smile. Pikachu just blushed.
"I'm Jason," he responded meekly. Unable to really think of anything else to say, the two simply hugged each other, overcome with emotion as they were happy to finally be able to actually see each other for the first time.
Malcolm chuckled, and walked over.
"All right you two, break it up. There'll be plenty of time for getting to know each other better later. Right now, though, it's time to put you two into your new suits!" Pikachu and Charmander looked at each other. "New suits?" they wondered. They looked over at their trainers, and Malcolm and Paul held the new suits up for them to see. The new suits were designed a lot like Scyther's random battle suit; their arms, rather than being kept in a bent or restricted position, would now be fully free. While their legs were mostly free, the bodies of the suits still came far down to give the legs a slightly digitigrade look. That design left only about from the mid-calf down free for their feet and legs to move, making the bottoms of their suits like very relaxed hobble skirts, in effect. The suits were still designed, though, to look just like a pikachu and a charmander, but a bit more human-like in form. The suits had larger, more exaggerated cartoon-like features than their tournament suits did, and the tails (Pikachu's still a large thunderbolt-shaped tail, and Charmander's a long, reptilian one with an attached fake flame to the end) were inflatable, attached to the suits. Pikachu and Charmander's new undersuits were like the other ones, but instead of keeping their limbs restricted and bent, it was a simple full-coverage, open-face suit. Malcolm and Paul helped Pikachu and Charmander into their undersuits, then into their new suits. The final things to go on were the prosthetics; while they looked roughly the same as their tournament suits' prosthetic and mask, the biggest change in these is that while their eyes still looked like simple black, opaque orbs, they would be able to see!
As the prosthetics' glue dried, Malcolm and Paul smoothed out the suits and adjusted all of the openings.
"You both did so well in the tournament," Malcolm explained as he worked, "that Paul and I figured we'd give you a little reward. Since you're both so well acclimated to being pokemon now, we think you've earned a bit more freedom while you're not doing training. Plus, this will give you some battle practice in these forms; that way, you guys can battle against Scyther and each other in your normal tournament suits so you can all get practice against random battle pokemon and larger opponents." Pikachu looked like he wanted to tell Malcolm something, but now that he was back in suit, he was obviously afraid to speak. Malcolm laughed. "Oh, and don't worry about talking. I'll leave your collars off when it's just us around the house, since you've gotten so well accustomed to communicating as pokemon." Pikachu, catching Malcolm off-guard, squeezed Malcolm tightly in gratitude.
"Oh, thank you so much!" Pikachu cried. "Only being able to say 'pikachu' all the time is so frustrating!"
"Tell me about it!" Charmander echoed as he hugged Paul. Scyther, still wandering around in the corner learning to walk and completely unaware of everything that was going on, sighed.
"Scy scy scyther scyyyyy!" he whined, which everybody guessed roughly translated to "Rub it in, why don't you." Malcolm nodded.
"Anyway," he said as he began to clean the workshop up, "your new suits are completely on now. You two go ahead and have fun." Charmander and Pikachu looked at each other, giggled, then ran off to explore the house, seeing as everything was practically brand new to them -- Pikachu had never seen it before at all, and it had been a long time since Charmander's last out-of-suit visit.
With the other pokemon busy and Paul occupied helping Scyther, Malcolm went to his den to take a break and check his e-mail. He found mostly fan mail and replies from trainers he had been in contact with lately. Ever since Pikachu's win in the tournament, Malcolm and Pikachu's popularity had skyrocketed, some of his more rabid fans even contacting him in hope to get exclusive information or pictures (or anything at all, really) to put on their fan sites! Malcolm began replying to some of the e-mails, when he noticed a message from Kyosuke in his inbox! He hadn't heard much from Kyosuke since the end of the tournament, so he was a bit surprised. He opened it and read the message.
"Dear Malcolm," the message read, "I hope this message finds you, Pikachu, and the others in good health. Umbreon and I are doing well, and we shall be taking a vacation soon in the United States. We will be near you, and Umbreon and I would love for you and the others to visit us. I look forward to hearing back from you, and if you are able to, I shall reply with the trip information as soon as I get it. --Kyosuke" Malcolm grinned; he had hardly heard from Kyosuke and Umbreon since the end of the tournament, and he was looking forward to catching up on things with them. Malcolm replied to the message.
"Dear Kyosuke, it's great to hear from you. We would all be more than happy to visit, and I'm really looking forward to seeing you both again a lot. Keep in touch more! --Malcolm"