Natasha and Mai had successfully turned their room into a sort of recording studio, the kind you often see in low-budget podcasts. In general, the girls have turned their dorm room into a pink hellscape, lined with furry pillows and fairy lights. One of the tables was turned into a small shrine dedicated to Kuromi, and Henry quickly found out it belonged the Natasha.

  The set-up was simple, it consisted of a small camera, conneted to just two microphones, and a small reflector that Henry quickly came to despise, since it was adamant on burning its white light straight into his eyes.

  Not to mention, the boy had found the whole ordeal highly uncomfortable. Sitting amongst the small mountain of pillows wasn't exactly his favourite thing, and interviews weren't his forte anyways. However, Lesley lost the bet, so he had to sit through this.

  The other four boys didn't seem as uncomfortable. Surprisingly, Andrei seemed to find the idea of being in a Youtube video rather fun. He was probably longing for a chance to trash talk Lesley for the past few weeks. Lesley, on the other hand, chatted with Natasha, with both of them blushing every few seconds. Not that Henry minded young love, but this whole thing came to be exclusively because Lesley had lost a battle to Natasha, and Henry really though Lesley ought to be training instead of doing interviews. Dean seemed comfortable enough chatting away with Mai, and actually giving her advice on overcoming camera shyness. Marc seemed to be on edge, but mostly because he had something planned with Joe for later, so he was in a hurry to get this over with.

  "Are you all ready to roll?", Tea said, preparing the camera, as 7 kids took their places on the bed.

  "Ready", Natasha signs her off, and the girl let's the camera roll.

  Natasha's voice changes instantly, turning sharper, almost as if she's a news anchor, which Lesley finds creepy.

  "Hey everyone, and welcome to our Youtube channel", she shoots of, "on here, we give you a sneak peak into daily lives of Old King's students, one of the best schools for pokemon trainers in the world".

  "Today, we decided to sit down and chat with a few of our classmates", Mai adds. It sounds very rehearsed, which Henry doesn't exactly like.

  "Right next to me is Lesley", Natasha takes over instantly, "Lesley, please introduce the rest of your team".

  "Right, so my name is Lesley", the boy goes stiff for a moment, and Henry is surpised by the fact he's the type to have stage fright. "Uh, these are Dean, Andrei, Henry and Marc, and we are one of first year teams here at Old King's".

  "Right, for people who might not know, Old King forms teams out of their students", Mai clears her throat before delivering another rehearsed line, "tell us, what do you think about that, Lesley, the whole team thing, how has it affected your experiance in this school?".

  "Uh, the team thing's good, I mean, I like it", Lesley scratches his head, looking for right words.

  "Is it alright if I take this one over?", Dean says in an even voice, ready to help Lesley out. Again, Henry is surprised by how natural this feels to Dean.

  "Sure Dean, what do you think about the team thing, how has it coloured these few weeks for you?", a small smile appears on Natasha's face, as she's happy to have found someone who can follow her.

  "I think the team thing is very unique", Dean states confidently, "it's much different than other school, for instance, I come from Paldea region, and where we have Naranja academy dedicated to raising future generations of trainers, they don't implement the team rhetoric, and that must lead to a much different experiance".

  "Exactly, Old King's is the only school that sorts its students into teams", Natasha nods along with Dean's explanation.

  "Yes, it is", Dean agrees, "it's an interesting decision that leads to many good things, but can create complications as well".

  "Please, leave the complications to me", Andrei says dryly, causing Dean to gice him a dreadful look.

  "Right, the best thing about the team", Dean clears his throat, trying to ignore Andrei, "is that you get a set of friends you can train and do things with, it's fun, it makes things easier, since you're facing the problems together, and you always have people you can count on".

  "The worst thing about the team thing is that you get a set of people you're forced to go along with", Andrei points out before Dean can continue.

  "That's not true", Marc says instantly, "the only one who ever drags you along is Lesley, don't call all of us out".

  "I know, it just seems unprofessional to target Lesley", Andrei shrughs it off.

  "It is unprofessional", Natasha sighs.

  "Can I do it anyways?", Andrei pleads.

  "No", Natsha and Mai say in unision.

  "Please?", Andrei tries.

  "Just let him do it", Tea says from behind the camera, "I want to hear it, and we can just cut it out in post production".

  "No", Dean decides this time around, "absolutely not, the two of you can hold out on trash talk for omce, we're doing this like normal people".

  Henry kind of respects how dutiful Dean is about this.

  "Anyways", Dean clears his throat, "living together with 4 other people can get messy and comolicated, the school is pretty stresfull, so problems arise, but I'd say the good outweighs the bad".

  "Oh, now, that's just a convoluted way of saying Lesley is an overbearing asshole", Andrei sighs.

  "Oh, come on Andrei", Marc sighs out, "stop with the act, Lesley's like your favourite person here, you just act like you dislike him".

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  "That's not true", Andrei protests.

  "It is true", Henry nods, "the two of you are always together".

  "That's because he's always dragging me along", Andrei says.

  "But you always end up going with him", Marc shrugs.

  "Exactly", Henry says, "you might complain about it constantly, but you do appreaciate the fact Lesley's always trying to push you forwards, otherwise, you wouldn't ever talk to him".

  "Right, if you really disliked me as much as you say, we'd be like those five", Lesley concludes.

  "Please, don't mention them in our video", Natasha sighs, "they are a can of worms I'm not willing to open".

  "I think it's fine if we mention them, we'll cut most of this out in post anyways", Tea says with a mischevious smile.

  "Well, truth be told, we can't even say that much about them", Marc says, "I mean, Hen and I can tell you a few things about Joe, and Lesley probably knows a bit about Ace, but that's all, we don't really know them that well".

  "This is not about them though, so let's not get into it", Dean says firmly, "this is about the school, so we'll keep it at it".

  "Exactly", Natasha says decisevly, "so, since this is a school for pokemon trainers, I have to ask, do you guys feel like you've improved in these few weeks that you've been here".

  It's a training question, Henry thinks, probably the only part of the interview he can confidently take.

  "On a personal level, I feel as if I had improved in a short amount of time", he takes the question, since Natasha hasn't specified who she was asking. "The good thing about having us in teams, and having this many students is that it's really easy finding people who can help you grow as a trainer", he decides to incorperate the whole team talk into it. It ties-in well, Henry thinks.

  "How do other people help you grow as a trainer?", Natsha takes the opportunity to ask.

  "Some, like your teammates, help you out by just being there, training with you and exchanging strategies", Henry explains calmly, "others become rivals, they help you grow by challenging you".

  "You have rivals, please do tell", Natasha tries sniffing out the story here.

  "There are two people here I don't want to lose to", Henry admits, "but I'll keep it at that".

  "Yeah, you do seem like a type to keep lowkey on things like that", Natasha sighs, "anyone else here has any rivals?".

  "I don't think I have any rivals", Marc admits.

  "Yeah, me neither", Dean scratches his head.

  "That's cause you're too nice to everyone, you physically cannot have a rival, Dean", Marc says.

  "I do have a rival", Lesley clears her throat, "she's pretty damn strong, and she isn't lacking on cuteness either".

  "Oh", Natasha's face turns red instantly.

  "Just keep it PG, you two", Tea remarks with a laughs.

  "Shit up", Natasha clears her throat.

  "So, how does your rival help you get stronger, Lesley?", Mai decides to come to rescue.

  "Uh, well, as I said, she's pretty strong, so battling her is always fun, I think that's the most important thing", Lesley lowers his gaze, "other than that, I don't know, she has the drive and it's really easy falling for that, I mean, her energy is contagious and it makes me want to get better".

  The silence befalls them, as both Lesley and Natasha become red again.

  "Uh, maybe we should let our pokemon out, so people get to see them as well", Dean says to Mai, as soon as he realises nobody else has a plan on how to continue this interview.

  "Yeah, I think that would be a good idea", Mai claps her hands together.

  "Okay, I'll go first", Dean says, quickly producing his pokeballs.

  Petilil and Aaron appear on the floor before him, and Tea moves the camera down to capture them.

  "So, Petilil was the starter I recieved, he's not exactly the best battler around as of right now, but it will grow stronger, and Petilil really does his best", Dean explains as he raises the small grass type in his lap. The flower child merrily twist around to look at his trainer. "He smells really nice though, which comes in handy when you're sharing a room with 4 other people", Dean jokes.

  "Oh, you use your partner as an air freshener?", Mai says in surprise.

  "Sometimes", Dean admits, "trust me, it's necessary".

  "Strange, but okay", Mai says carefully.

  "Right", Dean clears his throat. He bends down, petting Aaron's head. "This little dude is Aaron, I actually recieved him from Rex, Canalave's gym leader, he's still very youmg, but he does pretty good in battles, and takes his training very seriously, so I'd say we're coming along nicely".

  "May I add", Mai raises her finger, "they are both cuties".

  "Yes, yes they are", Dean nods proudly.

  "I can go next", Marc announces, releasing his partner onto the pile of pillows. Natasha gives him a dirty look for it, but Marc doesn't notice. "My partner is Sneasel, he's pretty swift and likes to battle, he doesn't really like ice cream, which is weird, because thought an ice type would love ice cream".

  "It does like my apple pie, though", Dean points out.

  "Yeah, yeah, he really likes Dean's apple pie, we all like Dean's apple pie", Marc concludes.

  "4 out of 10 on a cuteness scale though", Mai twists her face.

  Henry decides to keep the train rolling by calling on Mienfoo. He makes sure to let him out onto the floor and not the pillows.

  "My partner is Mienfoo", he says calmly, "he takes our training seriosly and always gives his best, we make a good team".

  "Like trainer, like pokemon", Andrei adds.

  "5 out of 10 on cuteness scale", Mai has mass de this a full on game for herself, "can get a higher score by accessorising correctly".

  "We are definitley not doing that", Henry says flatly.

  "Not to toot my own horn", Andrei says, "but actually, I have the best patner". He lets Dreepy out of the pokeball and the small dragon immediatly nests onto the boy's lap. "This is Dreepy, and he has the derp factor, which automatically makes him the best pokemon to have".

  "Eh", Mai shrugs, "6 out of 10, lacks the appeal for wider audiences".

  "It's called being nieche", Andrei rolls his eyes.

  "Whatever", Mai winks at him.

  "My God, not everything has to be commercialised", Andrei scoffs.

  "Alright you two", Natsha gives them a warning look, "we already have too much stuff that has to be cut in post production, let's not go down this path". As soon as the two of them shut up, Natasha turns to Lesley: "it's your turn now".

  With her permission, Lesley eagerly picks up his pokeballs, letting Spoink and Pancham hit the stage.

  "My first partner is Spoink", Lesley tries making his voice sound important, "he's not the greatest battler right now, but we are always working to get stronger, so I'm really proud of him".

  "He is a cutie though", Mai chimmes in, "8 out of 10, could use a bow".

  "My second partner is Pancham", Lesley ignires her, looking at Natasha instead, "I only caught him recently, but he really enjoys battling, and he's good at it, though we definitely need to put in some more training".

  "10 out of 10", Mai announces loudly, "he's an aboslute cutie".

  "Wait, why does Sneasel get the lowest score, it's not fair", Marc complains.

  "Life's tough", Mai shrugs.

  "But it will negatively affect his confidence", Marc crosses his arms, "raise his score, Mai".

  "Nope", the girl laughs, "no changing scores".

  "This is not fair", Marc comolains.

  "Alright, everyone stop it, we need to get enough footage for the video", Natasha raises her voice.

  "Well, just go along with more questions", Dean says impatiently.

  "We don't have anymore questions prepared", Natasha confesses.

  "Really? You didn't prepare any more questions?", Dean wails.

  "To be fair, I tought we'd spend more time talking about the whole team thing, and that conversation would develop naturally from there", Natasha sighs.

  "That sounds highly unprofessional", Andrei states.

  "Hey, they are new to this", Lesley says defensively.

  "Exactly", Natasha crosses her arms.

  "Great, so then we just have to raw-dog the rest of this thing", Andrei sighs.

  "I thought you would be used to that", Natasha rolls her eyes.

  "Lesley, tell your girlfirned to treat me nicely", Andrei says.

  "We are not a couple", Lesley reddens as he points out.

  "It's fine guys, we can come up with more questions", Mai tries calming them down.

  "You can always let me trash talk Lesley and keep it in", Andrei offers, throwing himself back on the bed.

  Hemry can sense this is going to be long afternoon, and he already wishes it was over.