On that day, the empyrean came into one of the new board rooms that Aethereal Queen finished renovating.

But the empyrean were a bit busy themselves. Or on the levels of being busy.

Selena was too busy working on her new curriculum.

Erika was too busy playing the horror game Dead by Daylight.

Chelsea was painting a landscape for fun.

Blair was finishing her midday workout.

Cherie was designing a new wardrobe for the collection.

Bae was creating spreadsheets.

Rebecca was taking a nap.

Still, they all came together and waited outside the newly renovated war room.

Selena blankly stared at her team in confusion, “did anybody receive a text message about coming here?”

“It’s obviously something important…” Cherie said.

“And I was having a good dream, too,” Rebecca groggily stated.

“You’re just sleeping off the alcohol again…” Bae argued.

“Nope, it’s Pokémon Day,” Erika said.

“Pokémon what?” Bae wondered.

“You know, Pokémon!” Erika repeated.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know what Pokémon is! Everybody and their mother knows what it is!” Blair pointed out. “It’s a huge gaming franchise that has more money and popularity than any other franchise.”

“Even Dat Madden?!” Rebecca challenged.

“It’s John Madden football, and yes.” Selena corrected.

Bae was a bit peeved by such childish things, “I don’t get it; you mean to tell me that she has pried us from important work--”

“Making useless spreadsheets--”

“They are not useless spreadsheets. Our Queen wanted these done by today this afternoon.” Bae announced.

“And what were the spreadsheets,” even though Selena already knew what they were.

“I had to categorize 1,025 weird names and separate them into 18 different types. Most of them have two types while others have one.” Bae explained.

Again, Selena just stared at her.

“What?!” Bae snapped.

Selena didn’t even bother waiting and opened the door to see a newly renovated war room… That came straight from a Pokémon video game. The room was colorful but had different emblems of types of Pokémon. Even had emblems of different teams and regions. They also had different maps of regions. They were bag chairs and several flatscreen TVs with the latest video gaming software.

They were shocked to see such a renovation.

Of course, this didn’t go well with Bae, “what in the world is this?!”

“Yeah, how many game rooms does this make? Thirty?” Cheire chimed in while sipping on a cappuccino.

“You do need to tell me she has torn down the UI War Room for this?” Bae complained.

“Yes!” Lycka’s voice said as she stepped out of the room. “I even built a bathroom in this place. With a nice little kitchen right across from the bathroom.”

“That’s disgusting!” Bae said.

“And besides, Bae, the UI War Room was moved to accommodate the augmented reality machine that you bought from Mordecai.” Lycka fibbed with a smile.

“You cheap little rotter! How much did that cost you, a newborn baby?!” Blair accused.

“You will thank me someday!” Bae defended.

“Knowing that little pipsqueak, he probably gave you the outdated model and sold it three times over…” Selena bellowed.

“Ladies, it’s okay. Everybody gets hustled once in our lives,” Lycka teased.

“I don’t care, I got what I wanted…” Bae uttered while twirling her hair.

“Now, onto pressing matters,” Lycka said as she got serious. Today, we bear witness that we want to be the very best that no one ever was. Today, we unlocked the power that is inside. Today, we celebrate our Pokémon Day!” She proudly announced.

And the crowd went… silent.

All because they’re still trying to process a Pokémon inspired room that is possibly going to affect spending and multiple R&D departments.

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Selena, being their leader, tried to see the softer side of things, “Well, that’s really good, your Majesty, but is this really necessary?”

Lycka scowled at her, “Yes, it is Selena! This day means a lot to me. This franchise means a lot to me. Most importantly, this is the first thing that we have bonded together when you came into my life.”

Selena already knew the deep connection between her and the franchise and along with herself. It’s just that when she got older, she didn’t really know how it positively affected Lycka. It was since then she became more hands-on with not just the Empyrean, but with the development of everyone in the Crux.

“Okay…” Selena agreed. “But, what do you want us to do?” She asker with a faint smile.

Lycka smiled as she nodded, “Good question! Bae, the spreadsheets!”

“I didn’t know I was counting imaginary monsters all day… About their codenames for something more important…” Bae complained as she snapped her fingers.

Then, a 75-inch screen TV turned on in the room, and it displayed the spreadsheet that Bae was working on.

“So, as you all know, I had help putting this little spreadsheet together! And together, the eight of us are going to build our team of badass Pokémon!” Lycka announced while being giddy.

The reaction was mixed.

“Oi, I’m just going to say this out loud because I don’t want to hurt your feelings. But I have no idea what this game is!” Blair admitted.

“No worries, this game is easy to play and easy to learn,” Lycka assured. “Let’s all sit down at our Pokémon war table, and I will go over the simple rules.”

As the empyrean take their seats, something is interesting with the chairs and the seats.

They were all color-coded with their own Crucis Sentinel emblems. About less than an hour later she gave a crash course about the franchise and the game in general. Fortunately, they have a grasp of the franchise, and most of them were actually intrigued by it.

(Author’s note: if you don’t know the game Pokémon by now, just google it and read the rules about the game.)

“Okay, any questions so far…” Lycka asked.

Chelsea raised her hand, “do all of them actually say their names in a different language, like a Morse code? And if so, is it possible for the trainer to learn this code?”

“See, this is why we never let you play video games, squeaky!” Blair criticizes.

“It’s just out there for the world to see! Is that wrong?” Chelsea wondered.

“Any other questions?” Lycka running out of patience.

“Yeah, we got no questions. We were down for whatever!” Blair answered.

“I’ve always felt like the Empyrean have always been like the leaders of our community. Like we are literally the gym leaders of the Crux. So that’s what we’re going to be, gym leaders!” Lycka announced.

“This is have to deal with a lot of training and math?” Cherie wondered.

“The best thing about Pokémon is that you can be as meticulous or as lazy as you want to be! But yes, everything has a method.” Lycka answered. “There are actually 18 types to choose from, and there are over a thousand types of Pokémon I know for a fact that can fit your personality.

I even preselected some that I might think will fit you like a glove: Selena, the Dragon type. Your majestic, you’re virtually indestructible, you’re also fierce. But you are also a rare beauty in a land of conventional.” Lycka explained as Selena blushed a little. “Erika, you are dark and mysterious. You also embraced the dark as your own and seek comfort in it. You are the dark type.”

Erika was sipping through a straw as she lifted up her head and uttered, “I am the dark,” with murderous intent.

It almost made Bae run out of the room, but Rebecca stopped her.

“A couple of no-brainers. Chelsea is the fire type, and Blair is definitely the electric type.” Lycka making quick work. “Cherie is a steel type.”

“Not my first choice, but I’ll take it!” Cheire accepts with a smile.

“You’re both an Army brat and a fashionista. I know for a fact the steel type is going to fit you well. Just like Rebecca and the ground type. Underrated but very versatile.” Lycka said as Rebecca nodded.

Lycka then glared at Bae, “normal type.”

This made Rebecca laugh.

“Wait a minute! The normal type is… Normal! Why did you choose normal?!”

“Because you’re plainer than white coastal white rice with no salt and pepper! That’s what you are!” Lycka argued.

This made Bae cry a bit, “Why can it be anything else? Everybody else has something cool. What about grass? I’m a gardener!”

“All because you grow strains of marijuana in your room doesn’t make you a gardener…” Lycka said.

“I KNEW IT!” Rebecca comically instigated.

Bae was mortified as she heavily blushed, “I don’t smoke that anymore, your Majesty!”

“Whoever said you smoked it? Besides, you should do more drugs. I will probably help you chill the fuck out,” Lycka said. “And besides, these are chosen in advance. Normal is a good type for you because you never handle anything extra. So if you want to choose other than normal, you can do that. But as I went down this list, you are afraid of bugs, you are afraid of ghosts, you can’t fight, you’re afraid of birds, you hate picking up heavy things like rocks--”

“Fine, I’ll take the damn normal type!” Bae relented.

Rebecca reached over and rubbed the small of Bae’s back, “Bae-love, this is a computer game. We are here to have fun.”

“Easy for you to say. At least your type actually does something or has something in value!” Bae complained.

“Anyway, I got you all something,” Lycka left the table and ran into one of the storage closets. Then, she pulled out eight boxes that had different names on the front of them. She even distributes them one by one, “Don’t open it yet!”

As she was done distributing the boxes, the seven opened them to see custom-made Nintendo Switch with their signature colors, Crucis sentinels emblems on the docking station, and joy cons.

“Oh, these are so pretty!” Cherie said.

Selena examined the product, “This custom job is amazing.” She praised.

“They even got my favorite shade of blue!” Chelsea praised.

“I was going to buy one, but now I don’t have to. Thanks a bunch!” Blair obliged.

“Awesome, now I have two. Trading won’t be a problem for me!” Erika said.

“I guess you can now officially call me the legendary drunken Pokémon master of my time when I am finished,” Rebecca said with a laugh.

Everyone was very excited and grateful for getting a brand-new custom-made Nintendo Switch.

However…

“Mine is just white…” Bae criticized.

“It’s cream white, Bae. And your dock station is a mixture of cream white and sky-blue!” Rebecca pointed out.

“I took the liberty of downloading the two games, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, that are in your Nintendo Switch game consoles,” Lycka said.

“Okay, so… Would we do? Just play games?” Selena wondered.

“Yes, we are a club!” Lycka said. “And besides, one of Xerxes’ kids is into this game as well.” She fibbed.

“Ooh, is it who I think it is?” Erika cooed.

“Yes, and this one goes by the name of Bowser-Kaga,” Lycka identified.

This made Rebecca laugh out loud.

“You do realize I am going to find out who this person is,” Cherie reminded.

“I know you are but keep a lid on it. This is supposed to be fun,” Lycka said. “But remember, you still have to work and train. So I suggest we do it as a weekly thing.”

“Yes, ma’am,” they said in unison.

“SO, LET US BEGIN!” Lycka happily shouted.

As time went on, the amazing eight would play this game together and come together to play this game. We got the week, and then it became month after month, and then one full year has passed. To say that the Aethereal Queen was impressed by their hard work was indeed an understatement.