Pokemon - Solo's Strange Journey

Narrator-POV:

Another morning in the Sinnoh region. 

The Pidgey are awaking in the parks, the Hoothoot are falling asleep in the forests and the eyes of a sleepy young hero slowly creep open in the bed of a dormitory room.

What the young hero sees is a Buneary that is cuddled up on his chest. She is staring at him intently before quickly closing her eyes. 

A Buneary that is noticeably trying to pretend to be asleep. Oh, how the turns have tabled. 

"Must have been a trick of the light." Mumbles Swole Solo.

"Shhh, Buneary, are you awake?" He hisses out to his Buneary, who opens a single eye and nods in a slow and exaggeratedly tired motion in confirmation. 

Obviously pretending to be sleepy. 

"Let's get to the shower before the alarm goes off. I don't want the others to find out it's us who use up all the hot water." 

Another nod and Swole picks up his bunny and his backpack and heads into the bathroom.

... A far too long shower later, the fluffy bunny and her human return to the dorm room to the sight of two roommates struggling to rush out of their beds.

Lucas gets up first and runs with his own yellow backpack into the shower. Barry hurries too but only ends up slamming into a locked door. 

"Lucas come on! I need to take a shit!"

"Hold it in! You're just going to hog all the hot water again!"

The party of two, who are actually guilty of the hot water thievery, sit down to spectate the struggling Barry. "Hey Barry, do you still want to go see that church today?"

"The Sainte-Rin church?" Barry ensures they are on the same topic. "Yea. I read up a little more about it yesterday and apparently it is named after a Queen Rin of Kanto. She is the Queen who sent the Galaxy Expedition Team to Sinnoh. A bunch of refugees and outsiders who got a second chance and founded Jubilife City... Well, Jubilife Village back then... OI! Lucas! Hurry up in there! I'm Diglett holing here!"

"Really?" Swole asks, enraptured by Barry's exposition, and wholly ignoring Barry's side comments on the current state of his anal pressure. "Hard to imagine this place started out as a village."

"I know right? Anyway, later the Galaxy Expedition Team eventually had to integrate the original Sinnoh locals and they built a church for Arceus and turned their former Queen into a Saint."

"Does the Galaxy Expedition Team have anything to do with--?" Swole tries to ask but gets interrupted by Lucas returning from his shower and Barry immediately rushing into the bathroom next.

Disturbing sounds follow shortly after.

"Sheesh, he wasn't kidding." Mumbles Lucas to himself before turning to Swole and Buneary. "Morning you two. You guys looking forward to class too?"

"Bunnie." Buneary shakes her head in denial but Swole nods his head.

"Yea. I want to see what they teach us. It must be pretty good considering how much our parents are paying for it."

"I'm a little concerned that it will just go for three weeks. How much can they actually teach us in that time?" Lucas counters.

"Huh. Three weeks? Right. After we are through with school, the next league year starts and we have to go travel. There is no way they can teach us much in that time." Swole slowly comes to the realization that school was not going to be what he thought it was.

"Right... I hadn't thought the whole school thing through in the past but I think you were right to be a nerd all the time. I have a lot less time to study pokemon than I thought, man." Lucas is also coming to the slow realization that being a pokemon trainer starts long before a trainer acquires his or her first pokemon.

All children in Twinleaf Town are taught the basics about pokemon. The type charts, the common attack moves and what the pokemon look like that live nearby. 

But only Swole has focused most of his free time into studying his fathers books.

"I told you so. But noooo, I have to be a lame nerd." Lucas ignores Swole's sassy remark and heads to his bed and backpack.

Lucas pulls out his own notebook and starts writing down strategies. 

Things like, what he could have done better in the past. How to fight electric types. What he needs to focus Chimchar's training on. But he does not get far. 

Because at some point, Barry finishes his shower and all three pack their bags and head out of their room together.

"Did you open the windows?" Lucas asks and Barry hurries to fix the bathroom.

---

Swole-POV:

The guys and I arrive at the door leading to Dawn's dorm room. 

After we have knocked, we hear Dawn screeching about how her hair is still messy and an unknown girl's raspy voice complaining how her hair is fine. 

That probably means that hair has been fine for some time now.

Eventually, Dawn opens the door for us. She is wearing a dark blue kimono today, which goes down to her thighs. With matching dark blue leggings. 

"Good morning Dawn. I like your outfit, but why the traditional clothing? Is there some event today?" I ask. 

But Dawn simply ignores me and just stares at Lucas, deep in thought, before returning to the land of the present and chuckling at something.

Damn, so I really have forgotten some special day? The other guys only shrug their shoulders: They don't know what day it is either.

"I am not Dawn. My name is Akari Platinum. It is a pleasure to meet you." She says with a slight bow. Platinum?

Barry is appalled. "Dawn, impersonation of royalty is illegal."

"Excuse me..." The 'not Dawn' says as she turns to something in their room. Fat chance, that she isn't Dawn. She is just pulling a weird prank on us. "Dawn! Stop hiding in the bathroom and tell your friends I am not you!" 

The girl who supposedly is not Dawn speaks loudly to their bathroom door. 

She is really sticking to her character. "N- nevertheless, I- I am not impersonating royalty. I just happen to have the same family name. That is it. It is a coincidence."

"Come on Dawn, the prank failed. Just give it up." Says Lucas as the unknown voice is laughing her ass off from within their room and as Dawn's face looks visibly crestfallen.

Disappointment in her face over her failed prank is clearly visible as she resumes staring at Lucas.

The bathroom door opens and the third roommate walks out... 

Except... It's Dawn again. This time in her regular black and pink dress. 

"What?" - "Huh?" - "There are two of them?"

The unknown, laughing girl also becomes visible through the open doorway in their room and turns out to be a cute girl with shoulder length, spiky orange hair. 

I can't tell if it's orange or actually red. Is it dyed? Her eyes are a matching red, so it's probably natural.

Is she foreign? Haven't really seen many people without blue eyes before. Everyone in Twinleaf Town has blue eyes except the Pearl family. But they have an ancestor who married a foreigner.

She certainly looks exotic and it suits her really well. She's wearing a purple sweater and light blue jeans. The only correct jeans color. 

And a pair of aviator sunglasses struggles to rest on her forehead, with the frame sticking in her hair. They look like they are about to break out of her wildly styled hair due to her laughter.

She is literally rolling on the ground in laughter. Are we in a cartoon or something?

Piplup is also laughing from Dawn's bed and on another bed is a Cyndaquil struggling and failing to keep herself from laughing. 

The small mouse pokemon tries to hold in chuckles but whenever it gets too much, her back erupts in flames and a chuckle douses the flames again.

"Alright you three. Calm down. It's not that funny." Says Dawn with a nod from Akari. "And YOU three, what do you mean she looks like me? Her skin is clearly paler than mine, and her eyes and her hair are both a darker shade of blue than mine too. What kind of friends are you?" Another nod from Akari.

Now that they are side by side, the differences are noticeable. Not obvious, but noticeable. Akari is also a little bit taller and her muscles are more pronounced. But even their voices are slightly similar. 

They should cut us some slack here.

"Should we call her DawnTwo?" Asks Barry who reignites the laughter of the girl on the floor. We might end up killing her at this rate. Let the poor girl breathe a little.

I can't tell Buneary not to kill anyone if I don't even listen to my own advice. "Ahem. Good morning Akari, I'm Swole Solo. Those two are Barry Pearl and Lucas Diamond. It's nice to meet you." 

Akari bends at the waist in a bow to greet back. A very formal person. 

"Who is the girl on the ground?"

"Oh, that's Zoey. Zoey, get up and greet them. Were you raised in a barn?" Says Dawn.

The redhead eventually gets herself together and stands up to greet us with a wave. "Actually, my family owns a farm in Snowpoint City. I was pretty much raised in a barn. Howdy guys, mah name is Zoey Evans. Nice tah meet'cha." She says, with the final greeting in an exaggerated Solaceon accent.

Lucas steps forward and grabs her hand... then he raises her hand to his lips and gives her the greeting reserved for nobles. 

Zoey blushes deeply at that. "May I ask what kind of trainer you want to become?" He finishes his play.

We were all taught how to behave properly around nobles since our families are either closely related to the remaining Sinnoh nobility, or have worked with them in my family's case.

But we're also taught, when not to use these greetings. That means that Lucas is obviously trying his moves on the girl. "What are you doing dude?" Asks Barry. 

Lucas pulls back to whisper to Barry, "Dude. That's the first girl around our age we have ever seen, who isn't related to us. We need to seize the opportunity." 

Barry ends up blushing, realizing that Lucas is right.

However, since I was able to hear Lucas' explanation, his whispers were clearly not quiet enough and Zoey actually looks a little angry now.

She has probably realized that Lucas would have greeted any other girl like that too.

Except Akari. Since she is most likely related to Dawn, and therefore to Barry and Lucas too.

Barry seems to try and psyche himself up to greet Zoey too, but in the end a choked "Hi" is all he manages to deliver. 

Good grief. Come on guys. You two need to work on your skills.

"Well Dawn, your friends, besides Lucas, are a riot." Says Zoey. "They can hang out with us." She decides for the trio, while Lucas hangs his head in dejection and Dawn pats him on the shoulder reassuringly.

"And to answer your question, I will become a top coordinator. Before Dawn! ... I mean, I don't plan to be one overnight, haha."

Oof. That pun was awful. Especially since the guys and I made the same pun hundreds of times before we finally grew up.

"Cringe." Someone says, too quietly for me to hear who.

"Come on, let's go get breakfast." Dawn ignores the pun.

Her suggestion manages to stop Lucas from pouting even more and Zoey from making any more unnecessary puns. 

We start walking towards the cafeteria and Piplup hops into Dawn's arms while Cyndaquil hops into Akari's arms. Perfectly in sync. 

That's a little suspicious.

---

While we walk towards the mess hall, I ask Zoey about her private life. "You said your family has a farm in Snowpoint City. What are you growing in that cold place? Doesn't it snow all year round?"

Zoey answers. "We don't grow much but we have large Gogoat, Piloswine and Bouffalant herds. My grandparents used to live in Solaceon Town but the economy drove them out when Moomoo Milk became the industry norm. The Town gave the competition tax exemptions and always ruled in their favor in land conflicts."

"Your family makes Piloswine wool?" Injects Dawn to a nod from Zoey. "All my favorite clothes are made out of it! It just feels so warm and cuddly! My dress is actually made from it." She twirls around to show off her usual outfit.

"Yep, we are the biggest producer of Piloswine wool. Not even Johto can compete with us. The Piloswine in Sinnoh grow wool faster because of the cold." 

Huh. Someone is actually happy about the cold in Sinnoh. Who could have known.

"What about you, Akari? Where are you from?" I ask. The mess hall should be just behind the next turn.

"Oh, ehm, I am from Celestic Town. Right. A very... A very rural and traditional town. Not much to tell really." Akari responds. 

Celestic Town? The author of the history book was from there, wasn't she? Something Shirona. Grandmother of Cynthia Shirona.

"Isn't that where Cynthia is from?" I ask her but only receive a bit of mumbling from Akari that I couldn't understand. "Could you repeat that? I didn't understand you."

"Eh, right. Um, I do not know. I have never interacted much with the others in the town."

And there is the door to the mess hall. 

I think Akari has some confidence issues... Mistaking her for Dawn can't have been good for her self image either. She is a mumbling mess.

We open the door and... Oh no! No way! That fucking guy goes to school here?

"Urgh! That guy is here too?" Lucas sees him too. And then Dawn and Barry spot him and their mood sours as well.

"Who?" Asks Zoey. 

"That guy." Dawn points him out. 

Sitting there, alone at a table designed for six people. Just eating. What an asshole.

"Why do you look like you have bitten into a rotten potato mochi when you look at him?" Huh? Akari, what the fuck is that analogy?

Anyway, I explain to her, "That guy beats up his own pokemon when they don't perform good enough. And then Lucas challenged him to a fight and got his ass handed to him." 

Akari, Zoey and Cyndaquil are all immediately disgusted and look like they had eaten some kind of overdue starch based dessert.

"What the fuck? Seriously?" Zoey asks and receives nods in return. "What an asshole. Come on, let's get some food and sit on the other side of the room."

We go and pick up breakfast. I choose scrambled eggs with bacon, toast and tomato wedges for me and Buneary. There is also Miltank milk or Gogoat milk to choose from. 

... I prefer Miltank milk but I guess I have to drink Gogoat milk from now on.

Besides, there was this whole thing, where I saw how Miltank milk is made, that I try to forget. It's kinda gross now.

As we sit down at a table, I notice that Akari and Dawn are also sharing their food with their partners. The others are probably feeding store-bought pallets to their pokemon. 

We 3 are also the only ones who have their pokemon outside for breakfast in the entire room. I guess normal people just don't like their pokemon enough...

Piplup and Cyndaquil are directly eating from their plates or with his flippers in case of Piplup. Meanwhile, Buneary is struggling a little with the silverware so I decide to help her out.

"By the way," Starts Barry. His mouth is still half filled with a sandwich. "Does anyone know what classes we will have after breakfast?" 

Right. We weren't here for the introduction and didn't get a timetable.

"You should swallow your food before speaking." Answers Akari after chewing through her food properly. "The classes for Monday are called Gym-Challenge and Coordinator."

Her plate is filled with noodle salad and large meatballs. "Apparently, those classes are only this week and then we are free on Mondays. Thursdays are also free. Survival and Care for pokemon is tomorrow. Wednesdays, we have Biology and Nutrition and on Friday we have Sports and Battle."

Sounds interesting. I'm really looking forward to learning about all that stuff.

"Why do we have sports?" Asks Barry who is now washing down his sandwich with a glass of Miltank milk. What an ass. "I thought we were learning to become pokemon trainers, and not train ourselves."

"What?" Does he expect to get through Sinnoh without being fit? "You realize you will need to travel all over Sinnoh, right? And I doubt Turtwig is going to carry you anytime soon."

I wonder if Buneary is strong enough to carry me. Possibly. This will need experimentation some day.

"I, for one, am very excited for our classes." Zoey exclaims while staring daggers at Barry. "I believe they are going to be very interesting and fun."

---

Narrator-POV:

But classes have turned out to be not interesting at all.

For the next 4 hours, an adjunct instructor droned on and on about the various legalities of a pokemon trainer. Rules and regulations in battle and some other stuff that nobody was awake for.

He gave his name at the beginning but everyone forgot it after they listened to his monotone voice for 20 minutes. Swole could have sworn that he has seen the guy once before.

The first to fall asleep was Buneary. The boredom was just too much for her to handle and Swole chose not to wake her up, only to force her to partake in the misery.

The lecture went over the basics of official battles. How a pokemon may only bring a single item to battle.

How processed recovery items like potions, elixirs, X-items and similar items are not allowed. And how often a trainer is allowed to swap their pokemon out.

How an official gym leader must have multiple teams for battle, and use the team according to the challenger's number of badges.

How, in the Sinnoh region, the first gym challenge will be a 3 versus 3 and the last a 6 versus 6. The gym leader cannot swap out pokemon and the challenger can swap out pokemon following the standard rules.

And a referee does not actually end the battle, the battle is over when a pokemon passes out.

Failing to hold back and killing your opponent's pokemon because the referee was too slow is still a harshly punished crime. The referee only exists for spectators and to write down official results.

The next to fall asleep were Piplup, Cyndaquil and Barry. The pokemon are left to sleep out of mercy. Barry was left to sleep because the others were just about to pass out as well and did not notice him at all.

Eventually, the bell to end the class rang and startled half the class awake. They went to eat lunch together and discussed whether or not they could skip the Coordinator classes.

In the end they went together out of solidarity for Dawn and Zoey who needed to participate for their careers.

The same instructor was leading this class. A lot of students groaned and passed out immediately.

The few who didn't pass out instantly, were thinking how the adjunct professor looked a little familiar, somehow.

Buneary even asked to be returned to her pokeball to sleep in peace and only the future coordinators ended up enduring more than 3 hours.

But when the bell finally ended the classes, none of the students were awake anymore.

The lecturer has spoken to an empty room for at least 20 minutes without noticing or perhaps without caring.

Who knew, classes about rules and regulations would not mesh well with a bureaucrat lecturing the student for hours without a hint of emotion in his voice.

---

Swole-POV:

Ding Dong.

What!? Where am I? What the fuck happened? People are waking up all around me... Buneary is gone! Shit, shit, shit!

My heart is hammering in my chest in panic. 

Where is she? She was with me the entire day! 

Dawn is looking at me worriedly but I don't have time for that. 

Akari releases a sleeping Cyndaquil from her pokeball-- Why does her pokeball look so weird? It's wooden? 

Never mind the fucking pokeball design, where is Buneary's pokeball?

On my belt.

Now I remember...

She asked to be returned to the pokeball to sleep in peace. 

I release Buneary from her ball. She was still asleep but woke instantly with the new noise around her. First thing I do is hug her tightly and let out a relieved sigh.

The others are looking at me weirdly. "You alright?" Asks Barry, "You went really pale, dude. You looked like you were about to be sick, all over your desk." 

... I'm not sure how to brush this off convincingly, to be honest.

"I'm fine. Just a nightmare. Don't worry about it." I brush it off but predictably, no one believes me. "Let's just finally go sightseeing, alright?"

I simply force my shaky legs to stand up in order to force an end to this topic and then the others end up following me outside.

I won't let them know that I'm a mess without Buneary around. I can't show weakness around the guys. Or the girls. They will think I'm a pussy.

...

We end up leaving the school together. 

The others are chatting about something and I only listen enough to understand that the first sight seeing target is the Sainte-Rin church. 

We should probably do something more productive though.

Maybe map out a route for the gym challenges? We have to fight all eight gyms but we can choose the order ourselves. The route should both eliminate backtracking and ensure that our teams have the best chance to win.

"Guys, do you know where you will go after we are done in Jubilife City?" I ask them but all I get is "What?" and "To the first gym." Duh. Fucking Barry.

"I mean, after we are done with trainer school, we need to actually choose what gym we take on. Or where you go for your contests." I specify as we enter the park from yesterday again.

Today there are just some children playing in the park with their family pokemon, and no psychopaths in sight.

The park seems actually enjoyable like that. It's almost as good as back home. 

Only the variety of pokemon is a little disappointing. It's just stupid bird pokemon and a few flower pokemon like Bellossom, Sunflora, Roselia and a Lilligant.

The dumb birds are kind of ruining the place.

"I haven't thought about it yet." Says Dawn while the group slows down our walk to a stroll and Lucas and Barry harass the local pokemon by asking to battle them. 

None of the publicly owned pokemon dare to get close to us because of Buneary. "I will participate in the Jubilife City contest and then I will just follow one of you guys on your gym challenge journey."

Wow. That's cheating.

"Hahaha, good idea Dawn. I'm totally going to steal that." Zoey is ruthless. 

And the coordinators seem to be no help at all to answer my question.

"Barry, what gym will you go to first?" I shout over to the guy who is currently chasing a Pidgey. Lucas at least realized what he looked like and stopped running after the park pokemon.

"I'm going to Oreburgh City. Everyone goes there first." He answers before resuming his wild chase.

Oreburgh City has a rock type gym. Buneary has a pretty good fighting type attack. But Canalave City has a steel type gym. Buneary is equally good against them.

And Canalave City is at the edge of Sinnoh. If I go anywhere else first, then I will need to do a lot of backtracking to get there later.

"What do you mean everyone? You only know like 4 people." Lucas asks the important questions. And Barry looks as if there is nothing wrong with his logic.

Actually, it makes sense for Barry to go there first. His Turtwig has the best chances there. But his reasoning is just trash: "My mom and dad both went to Oreburgh City first." 

Alright. As expected, 'everyone' is a very small group of people. And I'm pretty sure his parents traveled together so he knows just 1 group of people that went there first.

After talking and walking some more, eventually, our slow stroll leads us to the church that is placed at the edge of the park. 

The building is large enough that the dome and towers of the church are visible past even the tallest park trees. 

A sparkling, golden symbol of Arceus is placed at the very tip of the central dome. An X shape with a full inner circle and 2 outer semicircles.

The building is absolutely massive. Around 100 meters tall? And a lot of decorative pillars and impressive molding around the windows and towers. 

The roof has a beautiful shade of turquoise: Rusted bronze I think. 

Honestly, this looks more like a cathedral than a church. Not that I know what the difference is.

As we get closer, more details become visible, like a 5 meter turquoise, bronze-statue of a scantily clad woman high above the entrance. 

She has long wavy hair and a golden diadem on her head. The diadem must be made of actual gold to have kept the color. The massive, embedded emerald would also be either glass or a real emerald. Her flowing bronze dress just barely hides the inappropriate places.

In addition to the centerpiece, multiple bronze statues of all sorts of pokemon circle the central dome. I can see statues of Pidgeot, Rapidash, Arcanine and Ninetales from here.

When we get even closer, we see a massive mural right above the front entrance and below the statue of the woman. The same woman is painted here. 

Her hair is golden blonde and her breasts are just as impressive as on the statue. Around her are depictions of refugees and beggars who are seemingly praying to her and trying to reach out to her like some kind of higher being.

"Wow." Dawn voices our thoughts for us. "That is so impressive. And they built this hundreds of years ago?"

Yea, it is impressive. But everyone is shocked into silence when we pass through the open doorway. 

The interior is even more impressive. Golden ornaments, wall murals and statues of pokemon are everywhere. But what truly takes the cake is the tall statue at the end of the room.

All the light in the room is funneled to a slightly elevated platform and on it is a white marble statue of Arceus himself. Accented with golden ornaments. 

The details are amazing. He looks so lifelike. As if he was really standing there.

"Almighty Sinnoh..." Mutters Akari. Her jaw is hanging open. Same as mine. Even Buneary is impressed with the sights. 

Honestly, this is worth it.

---

Narrator-POV:

Amazement. Awe. Inspiration. And excited determination.

This is what the young heroes and their friends feel in the holy halls of the Sainte Rin church.

The realization that the young people, who have never even left their quaint little town before, now have the whole world to explore ahead of them fills them with purpose.

The group of friends spend most of the evening inspecting the many paintings and plaques of pokemon, Arceus and Queen Rin.

The other trainers who have not already done so, also let their pokemon out to share the enjoyment.

On the way back to the school, the trainers buy themselves and their pokemon ice cream and Barry and Lucas have a casual battle in the park.

All in all, it was a very great evening that strengthened the bonds between themselves as friends, as well as the bonds between them and their pokemon as trainers.

It also had the benefit of making the young people forget about their terribly boring day at school.

After sundown, Swole spends the early hours of the night, by planning the general route out for his pokemon journey.

The first goal ended up being Canalave City for the Mine Badge.

Reasoning that there would be the least amount of backtracking and reasoning that steel pokemon are known to be among the slowest type of pokemon and therefore the easiest for the quick Buneary to handle.

Rock pokemon are also very slow but there are a few exceptions to the rule like Onix and Rockruff. Both are known to be in the Oreburgh City gym leader's lineup.

And there is also Rock Polish which is a move learned very early on for many otherwise slow pokemon.

Steel pokemon also have the speed increasing move Autotomize but they tend to learn that on a much higher level. Therefore the steel gym becomes the first gym in Swole Solo's journey.

Canalave City is right at the ocean and his chance to find a good water pokemon is pretty good.

Finding one would increase his chances in the fights against the gym leaders in both Canalave City and in Oreburgh City.

Therefore, for the second target, Swole chooses Oreburgh City and the Coal Badge.

After that, he will head north to travel around Mount Coronet and pick up the gyms along the way.

There used to be paths that lead through the mountain range but those have become far too concentrated with wild and dangerous pokemon for even experienced trainers to travel through safely.

Swole asks his roommates and his pokemon for opinions occasionally and then gets useless responses from Buneary and Barry.

Lucas, on the other hand, is helpful and gives both ideas and solutions.

For example, he knows that there is a ferry crossing the gulf between Jubilife City and Canalave City and that a bridge shortcut exists between Oreburgh City and Eterna City.

Lucas knows that because he has already studied the Sinnoh map in preparation for his own journey but when questioned where he will go, he answered to be still unsure about it.

With a general route mapped out and written down in his notebook, Swole starts to strategize against steel pokemon.

Double Kick is certainly a good move for the time but even if it has great maneuverability and speed, it lacks a little in the power department.

Countering a stronger move or getting a swift victory might be impossible with just Double Kick. After wrecking his brain for the next move he could train with Buneary, he eventually remembers one.

Because Buneary has already shown promise at learning a new fighting type move.

Jump Kick.

A risky move with a large amount of fighting type energy behind it, where the user jumps with both legs ahead into their target.

Buneary accidentally has already used that move against a Nuzleaf that ambushed them and tried to attack with Rollout.

When missing the target, Buneary will not only land in the dirt but the fighting type energy will backfire violently. A relatively high risk move, but one that deals significantly more damage than Double Kick.

The 'how?' for Jump Kick also happens to be very simple. Buneary just needs to charge more fighting type energy than usual and jump against a target until she can do it reliably and quickly enough.

Eventually, after lots and lots of preparations and strategising, the boys turn off the lights and go to bed.

Buneary on her usual spot on Swole's chest. She does not even mind his nightly embrace anymore.

A restful slumber awaits the trainer and his pokemon.