'Why should I care whether they hug or kiss?'
*glug* *glug*
'It's not like we have any special relationship. Besides, I'm only doing this for Furina.'
*glug* *glug*
"-is?"
'Yes, that's right. I have no other feelings for him! The reason why I want to hold his hand and hug him is because of the t-.'
"Hey, sis!"
"Huh?"
Focalors looked beside her in a daze and saw the concerned expression on her sister.
"Are you alright? You've been drinking glass after glass of alcohol."
"N-no, I'm fine. I just found the drink this time to be more suitable to my palate."
"If you say so…"
Furina looked dubiously at Focalors. After learning her lesson last time, Furina avoided drinking too much in today's celebration. In contrast, her sister now became the one who got herself drunk.
Well, everyone in the room had gotten more or less plastered. On the side, a drunken Candice had her arms around Kachina as she told the poor girl the story of how she encountered Snover for the 8th time.
Meanwhile, Dante was on the sofa watching the replay of Shinobu's match. The said girl's head was on his lap, muttering some drunken nonsense. Possibly due to the joy of having won her first badge, Candice was able to coax her into drinking until she got wasted.
"So you used the Petaya Berry, huh? Coupled with Accelgor's Unburden Ability, she became a beast in the arena."
Petaya Berry can temporarily boost a Pokemon's Special Attack by 20% when eaten. On the other hand, Unburden is an Ability that doubles the user's speed when they lose the item they are holding.
Accelgor's already fast speed being doubled, coupled with her Special Attack increasing, was enough to tip the balance of the battle in her favor. Of course, Accelgor withstanding all that boost with her body had left her drained after.
Dante stroked Shinobu's hair with a proud smile on his face. The girl hummed in satisfaction and subconsciously snuggled up to him, uncaring about the eyes of the others.
Focalors, who had been peeking at the two through the corner of her eyes, looked away and took another swig of alcohol.
"We've got the rooms ready!"
Dawn and Mualani came down to call everyone. The two of them had gone upstairs to prepare the bed. Because there were no classes tomorrow, the group went a bit overboard during the celebration. Everyone was too tired and agreed to sleep here for the night.
As the 'mansion' dormitory assigned to the rank 1 Trainer, even if not as extravagant as a real mansion, it was still quite large. There were four guest rooms and a main bedroom, which could fit two people each.
After some discussion, the arrangements became: Mualani and Kachina (Main Bedroom), Focalors and Candice, Furina and Dawn, and Dante and Shinobu, occupying one guest room each.
"Woah, it's already 3 in the morning and you're still drinking? I didn't see you as such a girl, Focalors."
Mualani came over with a hop and helped the wobbling girl with Furina. She took the glass in Focalors hands and drank it herself.
As expected of a senior, even though she drank no less than everyone, only her slightly flushed face was a hint that she was even inebriated.
The sober Kachina and Dawn also assisted Candice in getting up the stairs. Meanwhile, Dante carried the almost unconscious Shinobu in a princess hug.
"Good night, everyone."
""Good night!""
Entering the room, Dante placed Shinobu on the bed. At this time, Shinobu seemed to have woken up a little. Seeing Dante's face before her, she smiled and pulled him together on the mattress.
"Why are you standing there, babe? Come, let's sleep together."
The drunken Shinobu didn't care that they were in somebody else's house. She stretched her arms around Dante's neck, and her legs wrapped around his waist. Their lips collided into a fiery kiss.
Dante tasted the slightly bitter taste of alcohol in her mouth. His hands moved with practiced ease, reaching and groping Shinobu's perky butt.
They fell together in the bed, their hands all over each other's bodies. Just as Dante was beginning to get aroused, he suddenly noticed Shinobu becoming still. Looking her over, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
On the bed, Shinobu's mouth was hung open, letting out a light snore. It seemed that was her last moment of clarity before falling asleep again.
He looked down at the tent pitched in his pants and sighed.
"Now I have to deal with a blue ball. Just great."
Lying down next to Shinobu, he tried thinking of other things to get himself to calm down. He thought about Pikachu and the others sleeping with the other Pokemon earlier in one of the bedrooms.
He felt both relieved and lost when Teddiursa was finally willing to separate from him and sleep with the other Pokemon 'friends' he had made, particularly Horsea and Piplup.
'Is this how parents feel when their children reach their teenage years?'
The second thought that came to his mind was about the Guild Expedition tomorrow.
3 hours ago at midnight, Dante and his Pokemon sneaked to the restroom to travel to the PMD world. Nothing special happened during their stay in that world, except for Chatot announcing the list of Explorers participating in the Guild Expedition.
And just like in the game, the list that Guildmaster Wigglytuff gave him included everyone in the guild.
'It's finally time. I don't remember whether it's Mesprit, Azelf, or Uxie who we'll meet at the end. What I do know is that they should be much stronger than the ones in the game.'
Remembering their battle against Zapdos, Dante had a grimace. Even against Zapdos, just a Legendary Pokemon in charge of the Thunderstorms, they already had a hard time fully defeating him. If it weren't for Pikachu being able to absorb the bolt of lightning at the beginning, maybe they wouldn't even have a fighting chance.
And now, what they are about to face is one of the three Mythical Pokemon in charge of knowledge, emotion, and willpower. Pokemon created by Arceus just right after Dialga and the others. Born even before all the other Pokemon in the world.
Dante honestly had no idea how Grovyle could defeat them in the games and steal their Time Gears. And he didn't intend to find out. He already made plans to prevent endangering their team as much as possible.
As he lay on the bed, thinking about the future, the sound of the door opening interrupted him.
Turning his head, he saw Focalors leaning on the doorframe, confused as she looked at Dante and Shinobu on the bed.
"Hey~ where's Furina?"
Looking at the girl wobbling on the door, Dante stood up in concern before pointing behind her.
"Their room is on the opposite side. Are you alright?"
"Yeah~ I'm just fine. What happened to Shinobu?"
"Her? She passed out."
Focalors looked at Shinobu's back on the bed and lowered her head. Her arms trembled. Then, as if resolving herself, she asked.
"H-hey Dan, can you accompany me to the toilet?"
A/N: To be honest, when I began writing this arc, I had planned for Focalors to lose the battle so that Dante could comfort her and for some development to happen between them.
In the final moment, Donphan having so much momentum with rollout should've been able to knock down Dragonair. But as I wrote that part, I remembered the move Protect. With that move, coupled with the backstory for Focalors I had in mind, there's no way she would be so stupid as to not use it.
I tried to think of other ways Donphan could defeat her, such as utilizing his greater attack and using Ice Shard. However, Dragonair already has a much faster speed than Donphan, coupled with Extreme Speed, it's highly unlikely he would be hit while having enough dodge space. So I had to give up and concede that Focalors would win this match.
Instead, it was Shinobu who had 'supposedly' studied Erika to a great extent who should win, who I found a difficult time thinking of a way to win. I had thought it was simple at first, utilize Accelgor's super fast speed and kite Erika's Pokemon to death. Except, I forgot to take into account just how low Accelgor's Special Attack is right now.
Accelgor has no moves that can cause super-effective damage to Victreebel. Even with Guard Swap, Victreebel can just continue using Stockpile and then Ingrain to recover his lost energy and wait for Accelgor to tire out.
I was thinking, what could be the method that Shinobu can think of to win against Erika. It seemed all hope was lost until I looked at Accelgor's Ability and found Unburden.
In the games, Unburden for Accelgor is redundant due to him already having a very high Speed. In this world, however, it almost seems like a cheat. A double in speed just by losing a held item, yeah…
Anyway, hope you enjoy the story! Next up, we'll have a slight lemon and the beginning of the Guild Expedition!