Chapter 18: Staying Awake
"What are you even working on?" Tulip asked her coworker once she fixed her makeup and exited his shower.
"A game," Her new coworker, Dishon, answered simply, his eyes still glued onto the computer screen in front of him.
"What's it about?" Tulip continued asking as she took a seat on his bed, seeing as she currently had nothing better to do than simply look at whatever he was doing.
"It's a platformer about a robot inside a cave," He answered her, and Tulip got ready to ask more questions to deal with the incoming boredom that usually happens when she's hit by her Partner's Misty Terrain.
"I've been working on this almost twelve hours every week for the past month in order to get it ready enough to upload a demo clip onto a Kickstarter website and start raising money," Dishon told her, causing Tulip to hold her questions as her coworker kept speaking.
"If everything goes well, I'll be able to give myself a bit of promotion on Fanny and I's weekly blogs, making it visible to a small audience who will hopefully spread the word about it," Tulip stood up from the bed and walked to stand behind him, looking over his shoulder at the screen to see him typing line upon lines of code. Her eyes slowly moved down to catch a glimpse of his exposed chest before she caught herself and looked back to the screen.
"Why are you making a game, if you mind me asking?" Tulip asked as she placed her elbows on his shoulder, leaning forward to rest her head over his shoulder, her eyes already getting tired as Misty Terrain kept her from falling asleep.
Dishon paused as he felt Tulip's soft breath reach his neck as she leaned next to him, resting on his body, before he continued typing, moving his leg to roll the computer chair that was next to him over so Tulip could take a seat.
She pouted seeing her coworker not fall for her tease before she grabbed the chair and sat down.
"Money," Dishon said as soon as Tulip took the chair, "I'm making this game for money,"
"That's it?" Tulip scowled at that reasoning, "You don't care about the game itself, just make money?"
Dishon stopped typing as he slowly turned to look at Tulip, who couldn't help but squirm under the gaze of the taller man.
"Of course I care about the game," He told her, "I love Video Games, If I didn't care about games I wouldn't have gone into coding in the first place," He crossed his arms as he looked at her.
"I just really need money, and making a video game for that reason seemed like a good idea at the time. I probably could have made something much quicker and cheaper in a week, but it wouldn't have had the same impact," He said as he looked away from her and towards the White Salandit sleeping on his bed, claws poking holes into his mattress.
"Taking care of Pokemon isn't cheap, and there are so many things I still want to do in life, and to do them I need money," He explained to her as he smiled at the image of the sleeping Salandit.
Tulip looked at him in thought before she went back to asking him more questions, "What about the money you saved from your journey?"
"I never went on one," He answered her simply before he turned back to the computer, saved his progress, and exited the software before moving to sit on his bed, his hand moving to gently scratch the back of his Salandit's neck.
"You never went on a Journey?!" Tulip exclaimed loudly.
"Nope," Dishon answered, continuing to play with his sleeping starter.
"Wow... I never met a trainer that never gone on a Journey... You're from Unova, right?" Tulip asked.
"Yep, Opelucid city," Dishon bullshitted without batting an eye, repeating the backstory he came up with.
"Opelucid City... Isn't that where-" Tulip began.
"Where Team Plasma froze everything? Yeah..." Dishon said, slowing down his scratches on the Salandit, "I was in Virbank City at the time, so I can't speak much about how things went,"
"Damn... You still play games?" Tulip asked, quickly changing the subject.
"I don't have any of my consoles, my phone was issued by the Battle Hotel, and I spend most of my time either working on the computers here or on Fanny, I haven't played a Video Game in weeks," Dishon told her, still petting his sleeping Salandit, and still not bothering to button up his shirt.
"Okay then, Final question-" Tulip began, ignoring Dishon asking "Is this a game show?"
"Do you wanna' play some Super Mario 3D World?"
"Sure," Dishon answered and stood up, following Tulip as she went back to her room, her eyes drooping tiredly yet unable to sleep as the Helping Hand powered Misty Terrain lingered on her like perfume.
......
In the morning, Tulip and Dishon will both be found passed out on a couch in front of the TV in Tulip's room, Wii U controllers in hand, and a paused game of Super Mario 3D World on the screen.
But that is a story for another time.
"I'm going to kill him," Lorenz whispered to Orchid, who responded by slapping the back of his head and telling him to "Leave the kids alone, They're adults now,"
"She'll always be a kid to me..." Lorenz whispered to himself as he walked away to his Gym, leaving Orchid behind to cover the two sleeping trainers with a blanket, allowing them to sleep in.
"Good Morning Boss Lady! Did you see Dishon or Tulip anywhere- What the heck?!" Dendra yelled.