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'Okay bitches, I'm gonna-''Language.' Director Clavell interrupts with a disappointed eyebrow raise. The only people in the classroom now were Director Clavell himself, Arven, Penny, and Nemona. Nemona has no idea what this is all about, but she's hyped regardless. Penny is scrolling through fanfiction on her phone, and Arven is watching the entire scene unfold with a confused look.'Pardon me. So anyway, in this presentation I'm gonna tell y'all everything about Rika's pokemon and why I think.' Slam! The screen now has the words RIKA LIKES CUTE THINGS in size 100 Comic Sans font on it. 'Our favourite Elite 4 who could impregnate people with just a wink adores the most adorably cute and funny little guys ever.'Clavell sighs once again, but it was clear to him that the presenter is too unhinged to listen to logic.Click! Whiscash is now enlarged on the screen, and the rest of Rika's party is displayed in little 2D graphics at the bottom. 'Look, my homies.' Clavell's ears perk up and he begins taking notes. Penny looks over in curiosity and cringes upon realising that he was writing down the word 'homie' in perfectly illegible cursive, and was using his Rotomphone to look up what the word means. She prays that he doesn't get the U*ban Dictionary definition in his search results. 'Whiscash. Goofy as fuck. Look at him. He smiley. Would you say no to a face like that?' It was a rhetorical question, but Arven nods and voices his agreement anyway. 'Look at that goofy little chonker. Rika's got a taste for cuties. In a world where Krookodiles, Hippowdons and so many other Ground-type mons exist, she leads with this happy little fella! Next up.' Click! Goodbye, Whiscash, and hello Donphan.'Okay now you must be wondering. Donphan ain't no cutie. How could he be relevant to my argument? Well, my little NPCs.' The audience looks around at each other more confused than ever. Penny mumbles under her breath about 'weirdo self-aware main characters', but pretends not to acknowledge the other NPCs' confusion. 'So! Do y'all know what this thing evolves from? Question for the floor now.'Nemona's hand pierces the air. 'It evolves from Phanpy at level 25!' Finger guns. 'Only the best from the bestie. That's right, y'all! And what's Phanpy considered? Cute as all hell! Now this is one of the weaker arguments since most pre-evolved pokaymans are cute as all heck, but Donphan is an absolute unit. Like, the most absolute unit of all absolute units in Rika's team. So it shows without a doubt that it has some cute appeal! Unconventional, but still is! Anyways, next!'It's Dugtrio's turn to shine. 'Do I even need to elaborate on this? It's literally 3 do-''Bruh, there's literally children in here!' Arven pipes up, panicking. 'We are in a school!'Penny's face scrunches up in cringe. 'You are talking about the school that allows adults to enrol-''Okay okay fine, so. It's 3 pills. 3 Digletts put together. No mouths. Less stretchy than a Wugtrio, but look at it! Three whole fellas! Little buddies! The homies! Not sure what's underneath their little heads, but we don't have to know that! And then we have Camerupt-' Slide change. 'Literally the fluffiest boy ever. Or girl. I don't know man I put these together in 30 minutes-''Rika's Camerupt is female, FYI.' Nemona yells from her seat.'You really got my skin, Nemona. What could I ever do without you? Okay so anyways, fluffy. Droopy eyes. Floppy ears. Equals. Huggable. You may not like this, but this is peak mon performance right here. I bet she hugs Camerupt more than she hugs Grusha too.' Arven almost spoke up to ask about how the hell such private information was ever uncovered, but then again, he thinks, same person speedran the titans, becoming champion, and resolving the Team Star thing all in the span of one treasure hunt, so what does he know. He sits back, and stops thinking.'And then finally, we have the bestest king of dirt. The one we have all been waiting for.' Bam. Giant Clodsire on the screen. 'Clodsire. The bestest of boys. A bestie who can only be trumped by Nemona. But if it's Rika, he's probably a better bestie than Grusha. There's just no way this is an accident. Homegirl looked at this eclair and was like. I'mma make him my ace. And we love her for that. I love her for that. In this game where you can terrastalise anything, and you have the sharpest pointiest mons like Garchomp and Sandaconda(?), Rika's out there destroying dreams with a Clodsire. I will have you know, I had to restart like 5 times-''Please keep on track, you only have 1 last minute to present on your topic.' Clavell was tired. Everything he has heard so far was simply beyond his expectations for all the wrong reasons.'Okay okay, soz my man. So. Through basic observation and all that, you can see that Rika has a preference for the cutest of pokemon. I would have included Grusha in there too, but he's not a pokemon and this is my last minute to present so mic drop.' A loud screech pierces the air and everyone winces upon the mic's sharp contact with the ground. 'Hasta la vistar fam, that's all folks.'There was a brief moment of silence before Nemona began clapping. Director Clavell stops the recording device with concern written all over his face and wrinkles.'Before I open the QnA session, I have to ask just one question.' Clavell adjusts his glasses and looks at the grading rubric on his Rotomphone. 'As a candidate undertaking this assessment, are you aware that every individual's presentation has to be recorded in order for a fair assessment? I believe this was mentioned in the handouts distributed beforehand.''Yeah lmao, waddup.' 'So, do you hug Clodsire more than you do me?' Grusha was in bed with Rika watching the video from his Rotomphone, while Rika was feeding Clodsire some snacks. Her side of the bed was surrounded by an army of derpy looking pokemon plushies.'Ehhhhh.' Rika's hand pauses mid-air, and Clodsire tries to reach out to snap the pellet out of her hand. Alas, Clodsire has no teeth, and the pellet remains out of reach despite his best efforts at standing up. 'I guess Clodsire's been with me for way way way way longer than you, so I probably hug him more by default.' She whips back to drop the pellet into Clodsire's mouth. 'Sorry, li'l buddy, eat up!'Grusha hums in response, mentally noting that getting jealous of a giant quadrupedal mud fish is the opposite of cool. 'So it looks like this video isn't malicious but it's definitely weird. Who sent it to you?''I'unno, unknown address, unknown sender.' Rika shrugs. 'I only opened it 'cuz I saw the kiddo was in it. Izzat the school?''Yeah, it's the classroom. I remember we had some presentations as part of the assessments in the academy.' Grusha sinks back into the blankets. 'Did you ever tell anyone about me?''No?' Grusha sighs. Looks like he's gonna need to have a chat with the new champ in the coming days. 'Dat aside though, how accurate do you think it is?' Rika grins cheekily at him. He fishes out the Clodsire and Cetoddle hand puppets that were scattered about somewhere among the sea of toys and plushies that shared their bed space and formed a barrier between them.'Aside from labelling me as cute when I'm actually pretty, I'd say it's spot on.' He gives his verdict while animating the mini Clodsire and Cetoddle with his hands. Once he was done, he lunges his Cetoddle'd hand forward and catches her nose in Cetoddle's grasp. 'Cetoddle used Bite!''Arrgh~! That's illegal, Cetoddles can't learn Bite! Hahahaha!' Rika turns and throws her weight into his arms. 'Rika used Slam! It was super effective!'She feels his arms wrap around her waist as the soothing tremors of Grusha's laughter bubbled up from his chest. 'Grusha toughed it out so you wouldn't feel sad. Can I get some healing now?'Rika looks up, grinning like a Weavile, before she nuzzles up against the crook of his neck.