Pom panicked the moment she heard the bug chasing after her. Her tail dangled behind her as she ran as fast as she could, desperately trying to avoid the wrath of a freshly-sanded Scyther.

And what did this heart-pounding struggle need? A random gifting!

Hideo heard something land nearby, and felt something drop into his hands. His face was frozen, taken completely off-guard by this sudden gift - it even felt like it was still wrapped up. “What the...”

The temptation to open it up was strong, and for a moment, his other hand moved to it. But he stopped the moment he heard the sound of a Pokeball calling back a Pokemon. Doug must have been successful in calling Kama back - which meant a worked-up Rocky was now left without an opponent.

His first guess was that Rocky was going to attack the Oranguru next - a fair assumption, had the Lycanroc not had sand thrown in his face too; in his fury, he charged towards Pom, who caught on and once again resumed running.

Hideo was able to retrieve Rocky’s Pokeball and call him back, the light taking him before Pom needed a new (hand)tail.

For the first time in a while, there was silence. No thief to announce who won, no Pokemon attacking each other. He could still feel his heart beating in his chest, but it was starting to calm.

“I...I guess that’s that?” he asked aloud, walking over towards where he thought he heard Doug. He opened the gift he was given, noting he’d been given some kind of...disc? Weird. Maybe he could get his sister to ID it for him.

Along the way, he could hear Pom approach him. She climbed up his body, onto his shoulder, and neatly deposited a Pokeball into his hand. “Thanks for bringing it back, Pom,” Hideo sighed, earning a giggle from the monkey.

“Sooo what now, Doug? We still gotta return all the Pokeballs, but do we take the Oranguru too?”  Was it even still there?

John Sullivan