"No, but they won't make it for humans," Jennifer said.
"Besides," she looked around nervously, as though the Minority
Leader and a horde of journalists would pop out at any second, "it's
not...becoming of someone of your position to be seen drinking
that, Mr. Senator."
"I didn't become the Majority Leader by giving a damn what people think
of me, Jennifer," Hank Reed replied, taking another sip of coffee as he
continued down the hall. "I certainly wouldn't be trying to do what
I'm going to do today, if I gave a damn about that."
"About that, sir," Jennifer said, as the pair approached the
old oaken doors to the Senate Floor, "I don't think the Potion Party is
going to go along with this. It could be a mess out there."
"Could be?" Reed sighed. "I wish I had
your optimism." He opened the door to a sea of shouting. The Deinocrats
looked almost as miserable as the Rhypublicans, many of whom Glared down at
Reed as he walked towards the microphone, as though hoping to inflict paralyz.
Reed allowed himself a quick glance and the audience as he ascended the
podium; there were far too many senators wearing small, purple buttons for his
comfort. The Potion Party was picking up more members from the
Rhypublicans every day. Reed sighed. The Midterms were going to
be Hell anyway, he told himself. If you don't do this, the base won't
turn out.
"As
announced yesterday, we will now begin debate over Senate Bill 151, the bill
proposing mandatory public education for children," Reed paused, bracing
himself for the Uproar, "beyond the age of ten."
The crowd
didn't disappoint. Too many "blue" Deinocrats kept silent, or
even joined the Rhypublican calls of "treason!" and
"communist!" Eventually they quieted down as Mick O'Connell, Minority
Leader of the Senate, stood up to speak.
"You cannot seriously expect me to go along with this," he
said, staring Reed down. "First we completely destroyed the liberty,
the right, of a trainer to learn to care for his pokémon..." Reed rolled
his eyes. The Affordable Pokémon Center Act had been law for three years;
five out of the nine psychic-types on the Supreme Court had declared it
constitutional. The fact that the Rhypublicans had conclusively lost that
battle still hadn't sunk in.
"And
now, now you will Snatch away our children from a wholesome life of pokémon
battling? For what? Learning to read?" The Potion-Partiers murmured in
agreement. "Last time I checked, this was Unova, not Kalos, and in Unova, our kids' four moves
are Battle, Battle, Battle, and Battle!"
"The
Team Plasma crisis was a Wake-Up Slap," Reed said. "As much as
we would like to simply ignore the facts, our current system simply isn't
sustainable. We need to prepare for the day that Pokémon may not listen
to us anymore..."
"Over
my fainted body," O'Connel snarled. To Reed's horror, he lifted his
hands from his desk, revealing a pokéball in one hand and a black cap in the
other. O'Connel put on the cap, twisted the brim so the cap was on
backwards, and threw his pokéball. "Filibuster! I choose you!"
he yelled.
Reed
groaned. "Filibuster" was the name of O'Connel's Blissey, and
the bastard had EV trained it to soak up ungodly amounts of damage.
According to senate rules, if Reed could not muster enough pokémon to
join Cloture (his Slowbro) in attacking Filibuster to make it faint, his bill
wouldn't receive a vote. The last time Filibuster had gone down, it took
sixty senators. Already Reed knew he was facing an uphill battle; only
fifty-five Deinocrats had put on their caps, signaling their willingness to fight.
He was going to have to give it a shot.
"Go!
Cloture!" he yelled, and his Slowbro stood alongside the Deinocrat caucus:
Barbara Kikboxer and her Hitmonlee, Liz Ward and her Cloyster, already using
Shell Smash, Alex Franklin and his Farfetch'd, dozens of pokémon stood, ready
to fight. "Everybody! Strongest attack!" Reed yelled. The
room erupted with the sound of punches and kicks, roars and shouts and Blissey
laughter, as fire and ice and thunder fell like rain.
It was close.
O'Connel started to sweat when Ward scored three critical hits with her
Icicle Spear, and with five pokémon left to go Filibuster was already in the
red. But, by just a sliver, she hung on. "Well, then,"
O'Connel sniggered, "I guess that concludes business for today."
"I guess so,"
Reed said, through gritted teeth. Without a word to the five Deinocrats
that simply looked on and watched, he stormed out of the Senate.
Jennifer was waiting for
him, with another mug of coffee. "What happened out there?" she
asked.
"Democracy,"
Reed said bitterly. "Democracy, Jennifer, and democracy has 255 HP
and Leftovers."
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