The exact borders of the Big Leagues' domain were a little hazy; it was in charge of the town and the surrounding area, but the term 'surrounding area' was subject to debate. There was the Power Plant, operated by Rachel, and Stadium City, managed by Ace, both left to do their things but still very much in the Big Leagues. But the farther you walk away from those places, the harder it is for you to say you're in the town's 'surrounding area,' but where exactly does one draw the line? So, those living in or under the Big Leagues generally follow this rule of thumb: if you can see Junko's gym, you're on Junko's land.
The gym wasn't as big as Stadium City, but it was still big - big enough to dwarf the town that it had been built in the center of. It had been made to seat 10,000 people, which was a frankly outrageous thing to expect. It was no wonder that it had been abandoned before Ren, Junko's former trainer and current pet had decided to renovate it; the whole town wasn't going to drop everything to watch a trainer battle the gym leader, which meant there was no way said gym leader could ever make enough money to pay the obscene property taxes the bloated building garnered. But then the Shrinking happened, and the international economy, regional governments, and humanity's influence on the planet evaporated overnight. Money was made of social trust, which meant after the people who had put so much trust into vast amounts of paper bank notes became 3 inches tall, the idea of money, never mind property taxes, was left in a state of hiatus.
This is all to say that when Junko claimed the 94-foot-tall, roughly 145-foot-wide property for herself, there was no (human) institution to protest such a move. Six months after the Shrinking, Junko could be found in the middle of what once was the battling ground, though it was more accurate to call it a throne room, even if the throne was made from a bunch of mattresses and pillows she was currently laying back on with her barrel-thick limbs spread wide. Her imposing, hulking, 1,500 lb body did a great job at making the room feel smaller than it was, her white-chocolate-colored stomach raising up and down with each gentle breath she took in her sleep. Her flabby, teal blue back did not necessarily need the many mattresses to sleep on - her flabby, so well insulated with fat that it looked more comfortable than any bed.
Of course, while Junko's mounting back fat was impressive, it paled before the rising dome of her belly. The wobbling hill of adipose rounded out far beyond her body, and atop that grand mountain, tucked in amongst the soft tufts of cream-colored fur, was Ren, sleeping in supreme comfort on his Snorlax's warm, yielding stomach flesh. Of course, this state of rest could not last forever, and, ironically, it was Junko who woke up first.
The big Snorlax's stomach let out a particularly heavy rumble, not loud enough to wake the tiny human resting directly on it but persistent enough to stir Junko from dreamland. It was a gentle yet firm reminder from her body's internal clock that the tank had gone empty and would need refueling shortly. Junko's maw opened up to its full extent as she let out a tired tawn, revealing the two cute little fangs on the top of her jaw and a tongue many times bigger than her former master before she smacked her lips closed. With a grunt, she put one of her thickly-fleshed arms to the ground and was about to push herself up to an upright sitting position before deciding, eh, what's the rush? There wasn't much for her to do nowadays other than sleep, eat, and play with Ren. There was running the Big Leagues, of course, but most of the boring stuff of the job had been delegated away, so she was free to relax and do what she wanted for a few hours more.
Ren was on the same train of thought, cocooned strands in sheets of belly fur, breathing in contentment as he let himself submit to the inescapable comfort of his 'bed.' A new day awaits to be tackled at his own pace - or so he thought. "Mornin', Ren…~" Junko's heavy, deep voice pierced through his slumber in a cheery, lazy greeting. Ren responded with an indecipherable greeting, tumbling out from his chapped lips. "Aren't I supposed to be the lazy one here?" A playful snort bellows out from Junko's grinning face, restraining herself from laughing.
"...Bwuh…" Ren murmured, tossing in his half-awake state so that his face was pushed up against the noise-muffling fat of Junko's gut. Indistinct vowels and consonants jumbled together into something approximating an answer rattle out from his mouth. Each blink the human took was a great effort - Junko's play sessions have left him increasingly exhausted lately, and his body needed extra time for rest. "What…time is it…?"
"Uh…breakfast time? From the color of the sky…" Junko looked up to the skylight of her gym and looked at the slowly collapsing cobalt blue, the last of the brightest stars starting to blink out. "... I'd say dawn, maybe? Remember when you made us all wake up at the crack of day like this? Now look at you~" Junko teased. Propping himself atop an elbow that sank into the Snorlax's yielding fat and fur, Ren couldn't help but wonder why, in Arceus' name, his past self would ever want to wake up at such an ungodly hour. His past life as a Pokemon trainer felt like it was years in the past, even though it had only been just under 200 days. He voices this bewilderment with a moan.
An empathetic sign rumbled out from Junko's throat. "Yeah, I always felt the same way, honestly. Call it karma if you want." The Snorlax's husky and heavy voice, laced with tiredness of her own, breathed out in an amused huff across Ren's form in humid, warm bellows that rustled the belly fur blanket he was snuggled in. It was all playful ribbing, though Junko couldn't help but get nostalgic. "Yeah...your sleeping schedule was killer, Ren, but other than that, being your Pokemon was a pretty sweet deal..."
Junko never thought that life would end up this way for her. Oh, sure, she had always known that she had been strong and big, even before becoming an Alpha, and that two attributes taken together often resulted in getting things done. But for the longest time, that was it; she was just big and strong - when you were a Pokemon battler under a trainer, she wasn't encouraged to explore what other strengths she might have. That's not to say Ren was a bad trainer, far from it! They had known each other since she had hatched from an egg, and they had been inseparable ever since. He groomed her, fed her, played with her, gave her space when she was upset, didn't let her be alone when she was sad, trained her to be the best fighting member on his team, mediated issues that arose between her, and his Pokemon (to his best ability; language barrier), let her sleep outside her Pokeball whenever she wanted, and, well, loved her. But despite all of that, there was no denying that a lot of that praise Ren always showered on his Snorlax came from her fighting abilities, keeping up a hefty cash flow to his wallet. Most of that money went into paying for her food, but still.
So when the Shrinking happened, it was a surprise to Junko that it was her out of all the people to come out on top in the area. She discovered things about herself that she never thought about - she was analytical, open-minded, naturally curious, and prone to imaginative solutions. Without meaning to do it, Junko acted as a rock for the Pokemon and humans in the area to latch onto, doing her best to calm the chaos down. She gave orders, organized the Big Leagues, made her gym a sort of town hall, dealt with outside Pokemon looking to raid her new home, negotiated with other Pokemon with their fiefdoms, mediated issues just like Ren did, helped Rachel get the Power Plant back up and running, helped Ace set up Stadium City, and did her best to make sure the humans were well taken care of.
The good ones, of course.
The jerks were dealt with.
Junko liked the idea of being in charge. Most of the boring stuff was delegated away, which gave her lots of time to spend with one of the humans who was not a jerk: the best non-jerk human out there, in her opinion, Ren. With the power balance very obviously in her favor, she tried to be the trainer for him that he was to her: tolerant, flexible, open to suggestions, allowing of a good amount of relative freedom, and high expectations for his performance in the many, many play sessions they had. "Horgh..." Junko was shaken out of his reflection as Ren finally found enough energy to get up from his bedding, standing unsteadily on his feet, bobbing like a fishing lure atop the pond surface of her tummy. "Hey, what's with that -" The human smacks his lips as he cracks his back. "- look on your face?" Ren smiled through the exhaustion, and Junko deemed that the 3-inch version of her old trainer's signature grin was still as adorable as ever.
"Nothing." Junko grinned in return, raising a broad paw above her trainer-turned-pet, casting an ominous shadow over the 3-inch Ren. Before he could protest, he was back lying on his 'bed,' rendering moot his previous struggle to stand up as Junko's paw gently enveloped his torso and legs. It was the closest the two could get to a proper hug. "I just love you, that's all~."
What's the first item of the agenda for the leader of the Big Leagues and her beloved pet?
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