Shameless self-insert time!

"I've gathered that." The sarcasm was good-natured though. "What about you?" She volleyed the question right back at her.

"What about me?" Phoebe asked delicately, bringing the cup of punch up to her lips.

"Why aren't you out there dancing either?"

"As you so gracefully put it, it's 'not my thing.'"

"Does it have anything to do with the absence of your friend?"

"Morty has nothing to do with it!" Phoebe insisted, a bit too quickly.

"I never specified him." Rei looked deeply amused at the other woman's flustered realisation.

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"They look like they're having fun though," she commented, staring at the crowd on the dance floor, and then giggled at the sight of Brawly practically throwing Roxanne over his shoulder in a particularly bold dance move.

"Fun," Rei repeated with a small smile, as the Rock-type gym leader protested loudly to be let down. Good-humoured as ever though, Brawly merely flashed the cheering crowd a grin and began twirling his partner around in a sort of enthusiastic ballroom dance. Rei caught sight of Wallace and Winona standing together off in the crowd, and the former champion extended his hand to the Flying-type gym leader, gesturing with his other hand towards the current couple in the spotlight. It must have been an invitation to follow them, for Winona took one look at how Brawly was throwing Roxanne around, and shook her head in alarm.

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Drake nodded. "Well then, I suppose that's settled. So Wallace is our new third Elite—"

"Third?" Wallace cut in, repeating the word as if it were a vulgarity. "What on earth are you talking about? The Elite Four is ranked in order of strength, are we not?"

"Yes," Drake said a bit grudgingly, seeing perfectly clearly where this was going.

"And I daresay the former Champion is—shall we say—a tad bit more capable than a mere third rank Elite? Not that you're weak, Glacia my dear," Wallace added hastily at Glacia's bemused expression, "but you must admit—"

"Oh, for Pete's sake," Drake interrupted, folding his arms. "Alright, if you insist—so Wallace is our new fourth Elite, and Drake the Dragon master is now third in line—"

"You musn't sound so bitter!" Wallace scolded, sounding aghast. Rei caught Drake's eyetwitch from beneath the shadow of his sailor hat, and she resisted the urge to laugh. Judging by Phoebe's strained expression and Sidney's sudden fit of coughing, she wasn't the only one.

"Well, in any case, you should register the change tomorrow," Glacia said with an amused smile, "preferably when I go to resign. Since you two seem to have agreed on the rank distribution..."

"'Agreed,'" Drake repeated, raising his eyebrows. "I'm assuming the term is used very loosely there."

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"It's nothing, I just tossed on something random. Sidney was outside my door demanding that I hurry up," she laughed, and Sidney rolled his eyes, grinning.

"Girls," he sighed, nearly dropping the plate of curry he was balancing as he sidestepped Phoebe's mockingly indignant ankle sweep. This motion was not missed by Glacia, who raised her eyebrows.

"I'll have to be careful about raising my child around you lot," she commented with a teasing smile as she flitted around the kitchen, cleaning up, "or he'd start to learn from you."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Sidney groused, as the rest of the dishes gradually made their way to the table.

"But it happens to be true!" Wallace interjected oh-so-helpfully. "One Sidney around here is already plenty enough!"

"One Wallace, too," Drake said. "See there?" he added when the former Champion looked scandalised.

"How could that even be?" he demanded, nearly whacking Phoebe in the face by accident with his wild hand gestures. "We would want him to grow up an elegant and graceful man, not some rustic barbarian!"

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"Alright, Arcanine," Green said as the Fire-type canine leapt up to lick his face. He turned his head sideways towards Rei and quickly appreciated that he had the better deal; Rei's two Mawile were nipping affectionately at her legs with their large jaws, and there were many alarming scratching noises as the denim on her jeans threatened the tear under the sudden barrage of teeth.











Bluh bluh should be doing English bluh bluh