Misty towelled herself off. “Thanks for the swim Corsola!” She waved back at the little pink pokemon. At her side, Staryu and Starmie bowed politely. Misty glanced at her only other pokemon, her Goldeen that was happily still swimming around in the pond that Brock had steadily been developing.

It had started as a simple pond, but now it ran a loop up to the plateau. It even had sections were you could go down a series of rapids if you wanted to! It was a surprising inclusion to a Rock type gym, but it made sense with some of Brock’s latest acquisitions.

She hopped to the side as said pokemon reached out with their fronds to touch her. “Lileep!” said the happy Grass type pokemon.

Misty giggled and tapped it on the frond, amused at how it wiggled in glee before dipping a root into the water and relaxing.

“Morning Misty!” shouted Greta as the other Pallet trainer approached. She paused as flicked her eyes up and down Misty’s form “Have a nice swim?”

“Yeah! No better way to start the day than to have a swim in my opinion!” Misty shot the other girl a thumbs up.

A zap of lightning had her flinching and finishing off her towel down. Greta glanced in the direction that the lightning had come from. “Ash is up and training I take it?”

Misty nodded. “His match against Brock is this week, and he wants to be ready.”

Greta tilted her head. “Has he caught any new pokemon?” Misty shook her head, Greta pursed her lips. “Has he taught his pokemon a fighting, or Steel type move?” Misty shook her head and raised her hands. Greta facepalmed. “He is such a doofus.”

“Yeah, yeah he is.” Misty agreed before opening her bag and pulling out her shorts and top to wear over the top of her swimsuit. Greta crouched down and raised her near ever-present Pokedex onto Misty’s Goldeen.

Goldeen, the water queen pokemon, this pokemon posses an elegant fin that billows out around it. The fin provides an incredible amount of control over the water around it that helps propel it through the water in times of threat. It has been known to use its fins as a method of evading attacks by creating a veil for where it actually is. It has been thought to be similar to Tauros fighters in that regard. It is not unusual to see this pokemon leading Sharpedo into rocky outcroppings or metal hulls of ships, sometimes to the detriment of the ship.

Greta nodded and then snapped a few pictures before hitting another button.

This Goldeen has a slightly longer horn than most of its species. It is in a good weight range for speed without being too bulky, making it ideal in a pokemon fight. This Goldeen knows Horn Attack, Agility, Fury Attack, Supersonic, and Tail Whip.

“Huh, that’s new,” Misty said, glancing towards Greta as she stood.

Greta raised two fingers in victory. “That’s because Professor Oak was impressed with the work I’d put in to add all of Brock’s pokemon in the reserve into the Pokedex with some observations! I also have been going around with Crystal and Yolanda to watch matches on the Battle courts! I have over a hundred pokemon recorded on my pokedex in less than two months!”

“Neeeeeerd!” shouted a voice, interrupting what Misty was going to say. Greta and Misty turned to find Crystal riding her scooter towards them and waxing manically. “Hey! Morning nerd!”

Misty scowled, only for Greta to roll her eyes. “Morning to you too Scooter girl!” Misty relaxed realising it was a nickname and Crystal wasn’t being mean… like Misty’s sisters would have been.

Crystal hopped her scooter and landed, only to stumble as she tried to adopt a cool pose. She coughed. “You didn’t see anything!” Misty giggled at the younger girls antics, while Greta merely pointed at her pokedex.

“I got everything on video!”

Rather than be annoyed, Crystal merely huffed. “Cool show me it later so I can see what I messed up!”

“Morning!” Called another voice. The girls all turned to find Yolanda trudging towards them with her ever-present starter pokemon in her arms. Terra waved in greetings at them, and Misty leaned down to coo at the little baby pokemon. One day this pokemon would be a terrifying powerhouse, Misty was sure but right now she was this tiny cute— Heavy! Misty almost buckled as Yolanda handed the pokemon off to her. She had not been ready for such a heavy pokemon.

Misty adjusted and returned to cooing at the pokemon while rubbing at her back. Ow.

Yolanda glanced around as Misty subtly lowered the dense little pokemon to let it toddle around. “Where’s Forrest? Anyone seen him?”

Misty indicated behind her and over a few boulders that some Geodude and Aron were sitting atop. “He’s over there fighting Ash.”

“Uhmmmm, is that a good idea? They always get sort of heated when they’re left alone,” Yolanda said reasonably.

“Your dad is with them,” Misty assured the other girl.

Yolanda did not look assured. “I think I’ll just check in on them.”

“Tar!” said Terra as she wobbled her way towards the rocks. Another blast of lightning radiated out only to wash over the Geodude and Aron without bothering them more than making them shift about. Misty supposed that with their Rock typing, they wouldn’t be all that bothered with the lightning, especially only the minor stuff that was splashing out from Pikachu’s attacks.

It didn’t stop Yolanda from scooping Terra up protectively, as though that would. Greta skipped up to Yolanda. “You know that Larvitar are ground-rock dual typed yeah? Out of all of us, she’s the best off to handle Pikachu?”

Yolanda sniffed. “That’s not the point. It’s about teaching her not to run into a pokemon fight. She only vaguely understands it right now, especially with pokemon and trainers she considers friends.”

Misty nodded along to that. It was a good point.

When they got through the boulders Misty spotted Ash squaring off against Forrest. It was Pikachu versus a very smug-looking Graveler. It was named pokemon wasn’t it? That had a meaning, didn’t it mean it was more powerful? Or at least it wanted to be stronger?

“Challenger! Use Sandstorm!” Forrest said with a grin causing his pokemon to flick up a huge torrent of sandblasting up.

“Woah! Quick! Pikachu, use Quick Attack around the Sandstorm!” Pikachu did just that only for it to not be quick enough to effect anything with the Sandstorm.

“Use Earthquake!” Forrest said gleefully causing Pikachu to stumble and skid only to be bounced up into the air before slamming into the ground as the little mouse pokemon collapsed with a sad ‘Chaaaa!’

“Pikachu is unable to battle! Forrest has won the three-on-three match!” Flint shouted over the top of the howl of the wind.

“Urgh!” Ash said as he stepped forward to collect his pokemon only for the Sandstorm to hinder him.

“Onix if you could, blow away the Sandstorm please,” Flint said calmly. Releasing a very large Onix that roared lowly before thumping its tail. It caused the Sandstorm to die off almost immediately.

Challenger whipped her head around to glare at the Onix. Misty could see that the Graveler was sizing up the much, much larger Onix. Forrest stepped up and patted her on the back. “Hey, settle down girl! You just won! Thanks for that! You did great!”

Challenger relaxed slightly before smiling at Forrest and shooting him a multi-armed thumbs up. With the fight over, Misty followed Yolanda up to her brother.

“Forrest, why are you using Challenger against Ash? She’s way too strong for his pokemon, forget his Pikachu!”

“I asked him,” Ash said, stepping up before Forrest could even open his mouth. “I wanted to get stronger, and the way to do that is sometimes to fight against pokemon stronger! I know it's helping us! Pikachu is faster, and he’s been able to learn Thunderbolt properly now!”

Yolanda frowned. “What about learning something to help you against Brock?”

“I have a strategy ready for him! I’m looking beyond him!”

Misty who’d been chuckling at Ash’s naivety, stiffened. Beyond Brock? He’d been preparing to fight against her sisters!? Oh no! He was going to tear through them!

“You really need something that will work against Rock types as a whole! You’ve got one solution against Brock at a low level!”

Ash raised a finger only to open his mouth and nothing but a croak of disbelief escaped him. “Oh no! I need to practise way more moves!”

Greta giggled. “That’s just like you Ash!”

“This isn’t funny, Greta! If I don’t get the badge, we won’t be able to continue on to Cerulean!”

Greta blinked. “Uhmmm Ash? I’m not coming with you? Remember?”

“What? But…” Ash floundered for a moment, his mind unable to handle what he was being told. “But aren’t you worried about not competing this year?! With the surge, we need to make up time!”

Greta shook her head. “I’m actually going to go and talk with Brock about staying with his Gym. There’s a lot that he can teach me about being a trainer. And I think I can make a better impact next year.”

“Next year!?” Ash shouted.

Misty flinched before shaking her head. Was there an echo? It must have been one of the caves that ran under Brock’s reserve. Ash shook his head. “Next year is forever away! What are you going to do for an entire year in one place?”

“Get strong with Bulbasaur. It’s not like I can’t leave Pewter as well, I’ll be able to make expeditions out to catch a team and keep working on them. Any badges I earn are also valid for next year.” Greta made a circle gesture. “There are going to be a lot of trainers that might stick around for the other half of Indigo and do the Johto circuit next year which will make it the crowded side. I’m not confident enough to go over to a region I’m not familiar with but I can get stronger. If you continue next year and collect enough badges I will see you at the end of next year’s circuit.”

“Okay…” Ash said with the tone of a person that had just been told the pokemon fight he’d been looking forward to was now cancelled.

Misty gave Greta a nod and a pat on the back. “I think it will be a good idea! Brock has a lot of impressive pokemon and if you are able to get some for your team you’ll be way better off!”

“That’s a perk!” Greta agreed.

Forrest sighed. “I’ll probably head out next year as well. With a starter now I think I’ll be able to do pretty well.” He patted Ash on the back. “It’s not unusual to spend a year building yourself up before you leave for your journey you know Ash?”

“I know,” he said kicking a rock. “I just thought it would be nice to travel with another Pallet trainer… especially one that isn’t Gary.”

“Or that Damian kid,” Forrest said.

Ash got a confused look, and Greta sighed. “The kid that came in the last year and tried to take the top spot only for me and Gary to beat him out on the exams.”

Ash nodded in a manner that Misty knew meant he had no idea what she was talking about. Forrest laughed, apparently also used to Ash’s mannerisms after spending a bit of time training with him. “Hey, how about we head around to the battle courts?! We can fight some trainers there!”

Ash perked up at that. “Yeah! Come on! Last one there’s a rotten egg!”

“Oh no you don’t!” said Forrest as he sprinted off. “Come on Challenger! With you and Onix, we’ll roll these wannabes!”

Misty sighed and shook her head fondly, only to catch Yolanda watching her in amusement. “What?”

“So, I take it you’re going to stick with Ash? You didn’t say anything about not going with him?” asked Yolanda carefully.

Misty nodded. “I’ve put some thought into something your brother said, I’m going to claim some badges and make an attempt at the circuit.” Misty stretched as she followed Ash and Forrest around to the battle courts. “I think your brother had a good point that I shouldn’t be afraid of facing the other Gym Leaders. Eventually, I’m going to be one of them!” She clenched her fist. “Maybe even one of the best!”

“Well… good luck with that. It’ll be between Brock or Sabrina by then,” replied Yolanda.

“Really? I would have thought you’d back your brother?” Misty asked. Greta nodded while Crystal shot Yolanda a surprised look.

“I’ve seen her fight, she’s just as creative in her battles, but she knows how to pull the rug out from underneath my brother. She might not have his diversity, but she’s spoken with me, and she has a few pokemon she’s looking into. I think she’ll be just as diverse soon. She’s already considered one of the strongest with Blaine, Giovanni, and Koga.” Yolanda shrugged.

“And they’re all old, and Koga is going to become an Elite Four member at the end of the year.”

“Huh?!” said the other girls as one. “He’s getting promoted?”

Yolanda blinked slowly. “Oh, has that not been announced yet?” she tilted her head and chewed her lips. “Hmmm I know Brock has mentioned it in passing.”

Greta got out her transceiver and started furiously searching through the League pokenet page for any official announcements. “It only says that Agatha is stepping down? At the end of the year? But it does say that one slot will be to a worthy challenger?!” Greta looked up. “I thought they meant that two slots would be open for grabs! It’s not really all that clear!”

Yolanda nodded. “Forget I said anything?” she said while knocking on her head. Terra copied her and squinted, making Misty sigh. The younger girl and her starter were too cute sometimes.

Crystal giggled. When they got to the battle courts, they found the boys searching for opponents that were roughly their level.

“What about him?” Ash said. Misty glanced over to find a young man that had his nose up in the air, it almost seemed like he thought everything and everyone was beneath him.

“He’s got an Arcanine. I saw him hop off on top of the hill and unless that is just a travel pokemon it will have a lot of power behind it.”

“Hmmmm Butterfree wouldn’t do well against him then… Her?” Ash said pointing to a girl with a Poliwhirl.

She decided to speak up. “No, that Poliwhirl is way stronger than a normal Poliwhirl. You can tell with how it’s body is starting to gain muscles, specifically in the arms and legs. It’s trainer is probably going to evolve it soon. They’re just looking to get a bit stronger from a few more fights I would assume.”

“Pikachu could take it if he wasn’t tired!” Ash said back with a huff.

“Yeah, no,” Misty said.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“How about him?” Crystal said pointing to an old man that was twizzling his moustache. Crystal was sadly loud and obvious enough with her pointing that the man perked up having noticed them.

Ash narrowed his eyes. “He’s… kind of old?” he said, like that should disqualify him.

The man huffed. “I’ll have you know I have the second-best Rattata around young man! I’ve even staked money on it and won during battles and Rattata races!”

“What are Rattata races?” Ash asked.

Crystal sniffed. “Cutesy racing events that you can bet on at the track. Mum says it's for small timers to dip their feet in. The real money is in Rapidash, Dodrio, or Pidgeot races!” She nodded seriously, speaking as though she was an authority.

“Huh, well… I guess he’ll do?” Ash said stepping forward and raising a pokeball. “Ready to battle old man?”

“My blood runs—” the man started to say only for a loud shout to cut through the pre battle banter.

“Yahoo!” “Yeah!” “Check it!” shouted some boys as they rode in on their bicycles. They skidded to a halt in front of Forrest and grinned at him. “Yo Forrest! Where you been?” the lead boy eyed the group and Misty bristled when his eyes paused on her and his smirk grew.

“Oh? Been hanging out with your girlfriend and the little babies!”

Terra nodded and happily waved her hands out excitedly, very much not understanding that she was being insulted. Misty sniffed, whereas Ash growled and stepped forward. “Hey! I’m not a baby!”

“Indeed! And I am a gentleman, I will have you know! One decorated at that!” said the man opening his jacket to reveal a number of what Misty thought looked like medals of some sort.

“Whatever! We weren’t talking to either of you!” said the boy. He jerked his chin at Forrest. “Hey Forrest? What gives? You ditching us for these twerps?”

“It’s not like that, I’ve just been spending time at home with Dad back. He’s shown me all these cool tricks!”

“Is that so?” said the boy. "Well, I’ve got something cool to so you as well!” The others in the group perked up and nodded quickly.

“Yeah! That’s right! You gotta come check it out! We have a Secret base and everything!”

Ash stopped growling. “A secret base?!”

Misty scoffed loudly. “What? Did you find an old derelict building?”

“No way it’s way cooler than that! It’s this ol—”

“Barney shut up!” growled the leader. “You in Forrest?”

“Can I come?” Ash said indicating himself and his desire to see the ‘secret base’.

The other boy sniffed. “Only cool kids with bicycles can join!”

Misty leaned around and pointedly looked at the boy that had glitter and pink paint that had flaked off his bike. That obviously had been a hand me down from a sister.

Forrest huffed. ‘Not cool man… buuuuuuuuut you’re not wrong I haven’t hung out with you guys in ages and today is my day off from the Gym and school. Surprised you guys got out of school so early.”

“Eh, it was no trouble,” said the kid in a way that Misty just knew meant he hadn’t gone. Forrest waved goodbye after bringing out his bike to ride off with his friends.

Yolanda giggled as Terra waved goodbye enthusiastically. Ash moped. “I wish I knew someone that had a bike that I could have borrowed.”

Misty narrowed her eyes and clenched her fist. “You did.”

----------------------------------------

Munchlax kicked his feet and resisted the urge to do a happy dance as he spread some mayonnaise around on his lettuce. Then he slathered up some peanut butter, bluk berry jam, and whipped cream on top before placing the final piece of bread on top.

He eyed it thoughtfully before stabbing a Chesto berry onto a small skewer like they did in movies for those fancy people, and he inserted it on top of his meal.

Perfection.

Eevee walked into the kitchen and spotted the sandwich. She sniffed tentatively. “That’s disgusting!” she barked at him.

Munchlax shook his head. “You just don’t know art when you see it.” He then inserted the sandwich into his mouth. His jaw closed around it as he munched to his heart’s desire. The various tastes mixed and blended together wonderfully.

Eevee made gagging noises.

This caused Nanny Grav to enter the kitchen. “Urgh! You’re cleaning that up little one!” she said crossing both pairs of arms and glowering at him. Munchlax swallowed and shrugged it off.

“No problem! Once lunch is over!” he said.

Eevee made a face. “I’m no longer hungry,” she said as she turned to walk away.

Munchlax tilted his head. “What’s got into her?”

“Eh, no idea?” said Nanny Grav as she reached into the pantry. She drew out some pebbles that the kids had collected and melted some honey into. She tossed it into her mouth and crunched away loudly. “Must be feeling sick?”

Munchlax considered this. “We’ll have to check with Yolanda.” Both of them nodded at that only for Flint to walk in with a pile of laundry.

“Urgh, there’s so much laundry to do! I really should have worn some… oh hello there, you two!” he nodded to Munchlax and nay Grav.

“Wanna join us for lunch?!” Munchlax raised up his lunch sandwich, that was merely five layers of lettuce and tomatoes and cheese and cucumbers.

Flint blinked slowly and stared at Munchlax’s sandwich. “I’m still not sure we can afford to let you eat like this.” Munchlax gasped at him and used his Baby Doll Eyes.

Flint huffed. “Yeah, that’s not going to work on me.”

“Damn, I never should have taught Suzie and Tilly how to use that move!” Munchlax said. They were way too good at it… Then again, maybe the little bows in their hair helped? He’d need to put some on and try again to find out if they helped.

He took a bit of his sandwich and considered it. It needed pepper and salt. He hopped down from his special stool. It apparently had his name on it an everything! Got the pepper and salt with the help of a stepping stool and then sprinkled it on his sandwich before putting it back.

“How come you don’t raid the pantry anymore?” Nanny Grav asked from around a mouthful of pebbles. She idly offered Flint some and he considered it for a moment before shaking his head.

He instead took some already cooked tauros steak for his lunch. Munchlax shook his head. It didn’t have anywhere near enough condiments. With lunch done, Munchlax took a moment to enjoy how his meal had been. Should he start on post-lunch now… or hold off? He thought long and hard before deciding to pack away what he’d used.

He put the dirty dishes and knives in the sink and then checked the pantry for his after-lunch mint. Brock always got a funny look on his face when he had a mint after a proper meal but Munchlax enjoyed how it made his tongue tingle. He shook his box of mints and nodded.

He had enough for today and tomorrow morning, then he’d put the box where Brock or Yolanda could see it and they’d put it on the list for Flint to fetch while they worked! It was such a good system. He was glad they got Flint as live-in help.

It amused him that they claimed he was their father, but Munchlax wasn’t that naive. That was obviously Brock. Flint was the helper.

Munchlax turned only to bump into Flint. “Oops! Sorry about that Munchlax I didn’t see you down there!” said Flint.

“Oh that’s alright… wait! Where’s my treat?!” Munchlax whipped his head about looking for said treat only to not find it. He certainly hadn’t eaten it yet! He’d know!

Flint tilted his head and frowned. “I’m… not sure what you’re saying?”

“My treat!” said Munchlax checking his box. “One, two,threefourfivesixseven! Ha there were eight before and now there’s only seven! I knew I got it out! Where’d it go?”

“I have no idea what you’re saying,” Flint said fondly. Flint merely patted him on the head and moved off. Munchlax slumped, he was a good helper for everyone else in the family it seemed, but not for Munchlax.

Munchlax turned his head to look at Nanny Grav but she merely shrugged her shoulders. “I know I saw you grab one, but I don’t see it now. You sure you didn’t eat it?”

“No! I did not eat it yet!” he said stamping his foot.

Grav hummed. “Well just grab yourself another then.”

Munchlax huffed. “That wasn’t right! I've read the book!” Nanny Grav raised a granite eyebrow at him. Munchlax huffed. “Brock read it to me! There! I can’t read! Are you happy?”

“Same, I can’t read either, but alright then let’s clean up and see if we can find it.” she then cleaned up the kitchen, slowly, making sure to check before she wiped anywhere down, lest the mint be squashed or tossed way.

Munchlax helped.

Sadly, they found no mint. Munchlax felt his stomach shrivelling up, he felt like he was wasting away to nothing. He collapsed to the ground and groaned, only for Nanny Grav to huff, pick him up, and deposit him on the lounge near Flint as he folded laundry.

Munchlax groaned sadly. Flint shot him a look. “Eat too much food?”

“Not enough,” Munchlax replied.

Flint nodded as though he agreed. “Well that will teach you.” Munchlax nodded. Next time he’d make sure to put it in his mouth before he lost it! This was like all the other times he’d lost his food! Like the pineapple pizza slice!

“Wait!” Munchlax sat up. He’d found those? Where had they been?

Flint continued to fold up clothes, occasionally he’d check a piece of paper that seemed to have pictures of how to fold up the clothes. Munchlax idly took a pair of socks and helped him fold them as he tried to recall where he’d found the stray pizza slice. Mmmmmm pizza it had tasted pretty good with some of his fur…

Munchlax stopped folding one of Tilly’s shirts and reached into his fuzz to search around. Nothing under this arm or leg, or his belly. Behind his head? Nothing.

Munchlax slumped back down and sighed. He’d been so close to eating it and getting that wonderful tingle. Then he would have had a whole hour of delight on his tongue!

He could almost… wait, he could smell it! He sat up just as Flint stood and marched off with the folded laundry. Munchlax sniffed the air. Flint! It was on Flint! Or the laundry!

Munchlax sprinted out into the hall and carefully hid behind the furniture as Flint deposited the laundry into the kids' rooms. Munchlax followed him in, searching the clothes and then refolding them when he found nothing.

The hunt continued, from Tilly and Billy’s room, to Tommy and Cindy! Then Suzie and Timmy, then into Salvadore’s room. When Munchlax raided Forrest’s room and found no mint, he glared after Flint. Where was it!?

“Yolanda, I’m coming in!” Flint said while he was knocking on the door. Now that most of the laundry was finished Munchlax could smell it. His precious. He licked his lips and silenced his raging stomach. Right now he needed to stalk his prey, like the Munchlax of old that stalked and brought down wild burgers and pizza in the wilds.

“Come on in!” Yolanda said. Flint stepped in with the last of the laundry and Munchlax did a tactical log roll down the hallway like Samurai Furret to get close before darting into the room and hiding among the plushies.

“Hi! Hello! It’s nice to see you friend Munchlax!” shouted Terra in greeting. Munchlax put a finger to his lips to tell her to be quiet only for her to tilt her head and look to Yolanda. “Mummy Yolanda! Munchlax is being funny!”

Munchlax held in a sigh. Trust an infant pokemon to not understand the importance of remaining quiet on the hunt.

“Yolanda, can I ask you a question?” Flint said.

Yolanda nodded, her attention drawn away from Terra who was pointing right at Munchlax. “Yeah Dad?”

“Why has Munchlax been stalking me all day?” Flint glanced around, and Munchlax ducked lower into the plushies hiding, like Janine did that one time they played a game.

“Oh? Did you take any of his food?”

“No, Brock was very adamant that I never cut him off… despite knowing that we’re overfeeding him.”

“Hmmm no, no, we’re not. Brock has shown me the calorie count that Munchlax has. He takes as much as he needs and not much more. Most of his meals are bulk, with occasional treats for simple sugars. The rest is pretty empty, like all the vegetables he eats.”

“I saw him eat two sandwiches just for lunch.” Flint mimed a tower. “Big ones.”

“And he has normal Munchlax meals for dinner. The others are all empty.”

“Alright… so why’s he stalking me then?”

“Food, it’s usually food.” Yolanda looked him over. “What’s that in your top pocket?”

“Huh? Oh it’s a… when did this get here?” Flint pulled out the precious. Yolanda giggled and Flint sighed. “Really? An after dinner mint?”

Yolanda nodded. “Leave it with me; I’ll give it to him when I see him.” Munchlax wanted to grumble. That was not how Munchlax of the wilds did it. Or did they? As long as it was successful, then it was a good hunt, no?

Flint departed, and Munchlax prepared to leave the plushies, only for Terra to poke her head into them. “Hi! Hi there! What are you doing?!”

Munchlax sighed and stood from the plushies. “I was stalking down my precious!” he announced.

Yolanda blinked in surprise.

“Oh, hi there Munchlax! This what you were looking for?” she said handing over the mint. Munchlax grinned, opening his mouth wide only for Terra to bounce on the spot.

“Precious?” Terra said while tilting her head. “Is it tasty? I’ve never had a precious before!”

Munchlax faltered in the face of her… her innocence. She’d never had a precious treat before? He considered his square of mint chocolate and licked his lips. He eyed it carefully and then snapped it into two parts. That made it count as half and half right?

“Here,” he said offering her the smaller half.

Terra took it from his fingers and giggled. “It tastes funny!” she said as she smeared it all over her mouth. Yolanda took a picture with her transceiver.

Munchlax popped his half into his own mouth. It tasted wonderful, like victory and goodness.

And with his mouth tingling in just the right way, the world was good and put to rights.

----------------------------------------

The world was a dark and unjust place Jenny mused. But it would be put to rights soon. She looked to her newest recruit/pokemon. “Alright you blitzed through the training course, but don’t let your head get big!”

Across from her Haunter nodded seriously as his head started to swell. Jenny bit her lips and coughed. “Precisely, good to hear you’re listening.” Haunter nodded and pretended to explode his head with a pin. In reality, he just made a banging noise and turned his head invisible.

“Alright, you’re an official police pokemon now, alongside Arcanine, Growlithe, Machamp, and Pidgeot! Prestigious company, to be sure. The streets out there are dark places Haunter, I want you to understand that! There are lots of thieves and vandals afoot!”

Haunter nodded, munching on some chocolate that had Jenny squinting. Was that her emergency bad-day chocolate? Haunter ate another bite of it and produced a note from her that reminded her to get rid of her stash as she was trying to slim up for summer in a few weeks.

“Good call recruit!” she said through gritted teeth. Damn past Jenny for writing such a note!

She snapped her fingers. “Alright we’re going to apprehend some criminals that have made off with my…” she coughed, “Police property!”

Haunter nodded. “For that purpose, we have tracked them down to a section outside Pewter to the northeast. You are to infiltrate a few suspicious sites and if you discover their base, you will open it from the inside! Understand?”

Haunter saluted with the chocolate bar before finishing it off. Jenny nodded and returned her pokemon. It had been an odd capture but she had high hopes. He was a joker but she’d make him a force for good in this world! She knew it!

She stood and strode out of her cubicle, ignoring some of the detective’s snickers before approaching the other patrolmen and women that would be joining her on this raid. One of whom she was keeping a very close eye on. Hopefully, she could use today’s mission to get some more reasons to linger around the potentially corrupt policeman.

With a few nods, they all rose and marched out. The others all had to hop on their bikes while she released her Arcanine and led them to the northwest area where she’d lost the trail last time.

"Alright, so this is where you lost the trail last week. What do you hope to change?” asked Kimbal, the potentially corrupt cop.

“This is the area where I lost the scent, yes, but we’ve got more options this time. For one! I have done some extensive research on this area. This used to be the location of a number of military bases that were decommissioned. You can tell from the indents left in the rockface. While it would take a lot of time to create a full-on military base once again, criminals will only need a single room to stash their ill-gotten gains!”

“Which we can’t get into if they’re using pokemon to get into. None of us have pokemon capable of teleport? Are you going to call up Sabrina for help? Good luck with that!” chuckled Kimball.

Jenny coughed, deciding not to mention that she had met Sabrina before. That was on a need-to-know basis, and technically, she hadn’t qualified for that list. She’d just been the first on the scene thanks to Brock and then been in a great position to watch some pros in action!

Captain Bosco had been initially impressed with her debriefing before getting annoyed at her loss of police property. Not that it would matter soon. The blemish on her record would be cleaned up, and justice would be served!

She coughed into her fist. “I have an answer for that! I have Haunter we will be able to use to investigate the areas within the cliffs. If a base is present, he will indicate where we need to excavate!”

This got a few surprised murmurs and some approving nods. Jenny released her Haunter and he saluted officially. She liked that about him. He might be all snarky and sassy in private, but in the field, he was a reliable police pokemon!

“Where’s the site Haunter? Think you can find the base?”

He nodded and swung around into the rockface. Jenny turned to the others. “Look around for anything suspicious to help narrow down the search!”

They began to look around and it wasn’t long before they found bicycle tracks. “They must be getting around on bikes!” said one officer dropping to one knee. “Official Poketech speedsters that are moded for off-road or highway cruising! Heh they must have some connections! Those aren’t cheap…”

He then inspected another tie track. “Actually, I take that back only two of these are expensive. One of these bikes is dirt cheap… probably many times secondhand, and judging by these rust flakes, poorly maintained too.”

Jenny nodded and they followed the tracks over a rocky outcropping to a section of wall that had gravel in front of it. There wouldn’t have been anywhere to leave tracks but while bike tracks came up, they never left. Jenny nodded and spotted a square indent with a boulder badge symbol impressed into it.

Ah, she’d been right! An old, decommissioned military base site! She signalled to the others to cordon off the area. She didn't want the thieves, if they were here, to get away.

She was just about to give an order for Kimball to pair up with someone trustworthy when the rock face in front of them swung open like it was a door, and Haunter appeared, grinning widely.

"Stop that Pokemon!" cried out a voice within the base.

"Send in the detention pokemon!" Jenny shouted as she hurled her Machamp into the cave.

she then released her Arcanine to have it at her sides as other officers released Machoke to follow her pokemon in. Cries of surprise and shouts echoed outward.

"Champ!" shouted her pokemon as Haunter shot her a thumbs up. All clear given, Jenny marched with a skip in her step.

Her eyes swept over the base, instantly locking onto the very obviously stolen police bike.

She grinned and looked towards the thieves.

Kids faces looked up. she huffed, alright it looked like this was going to be a simple scare them straight… she trailed off as her eyes locked on one of the boys.

Forrest blinked back at her, dazed and highly out of place. Kimball walked up next to her and spotted what she'd seen.

"Oh well, this is a catch!" he said greasily.

Jenny cursed in her head. Damn it, she'd meant to keep her enemies close, not give them rope to use.

Forrest shot her a hesitant smile, which she grimly returned.

This had just gotten a whole lot more complicated.