The Meme King

Show Me Your Memes!

Pepe the Frog is dead. The meme king has fallen. The battle for the throne has begun. A tournament is being held for all memes to find a new king. I am a meme known as "Team Instinct", but my freinds call me Spark. I whistle. My Jolteon dashes towards me. I scratch his chin. I nicknamed my Jolteon "Zaps." He's my strongest Pokémon, followed by my Raichu, "Sparky" and my Alolan Raichu, "Fluffy." Fluffy isn't quite ready for combat, so I'm leaving him here for now.

I'm not staying at my usual place with the leaders of the other two Pokémon Go teams. I'm at my friend's Kappa's house, crashing there until this is over. I don't really want to become the meme king, but I thought I'd try. I've got nothing to lose. It's a beautiful day outside. Perfect day for the qualifiers.

Kappa seems to have already left. Did I sleep in? I take my phone from my pocket. It's 9:30. The qualifiers are in fifteen minutes. I start walking, Zaps and Sparky behind me.

Fluffy tries to tag along. I can't leave him unattended so I return him to his Pokéball. I begin towards the arena. I arrive just before sign ups close. I'm in line just behind Chuck Norris, a very famous meme.

"Hey you're Spark right? He asks.

"Yeah," I reply, "nice to meet you."

"Pleasure's all mind. Just caught all the mons from a landline. I joined Instinct."

"Glad to have you on the team."

"Glad to be on it. Good luck in there." Chuck smiles and proceeds towards the arena. I approach the front desk.

"I'd like to enter," I explain.

"Ah yes," the employee at the desk replies, "Spark. Kappa already signed you up. Your match is starting. Head to the arena please."

I enter the arena with Zaps and Sparky.

I hear the announcer's voice booming through speakers scattered throughout the arena. "Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer's voice booms over the roaring crowd, "we've got a match of old versus new! The leader of Team Instinct, Spaaaarrrk! Versus The Flaming Fist of F-Zero, who wants you to shown him your moves Caaaaaaaptiaaaaan Fallllllcooooon!"

The crowd roars. Captain Falcon? Didn't "Show me your moves," die out years ago?

"Why aren't you at Smash?" I ask, "your meme is dead. You're not a meme anymore. I thought you were at the Smash tournament in the quarter finals."

"Next match isn't for a while," Falcon explains, "thought I'd revive my meme. Now, let's begin! Falcon Kick!"

Captain Falcon dashes forward in a blazing kick. I leap out of the way. The crowd cheers. "Thunder!" I demand. Sparky uses thunder. Falcon leaps out of the way. "Quick attack!" I order. Zaps uses quick attack, hitting Falcon hard in the stomach.

He throws Zaps back hard. Zaps gets back up as quick as he can. Captain Falcon jumps up and prepares to finish Zaps off with a kick.

"Volt tackle!" I yell. Sparky uses volt tackle, jumping and hitting Falcon out of the air. Falcon falls to his knees.

The crowd begins to count down from ten. Falcon struggles to get back up, but can't bring himself to his feet. The crowd yells zero and cheers. I approach Falcon.

"You OK?" I ask.

Falcon glares. "Yeah," he growls, "cheater. What are you doing here? Hiding behind Pokémon. You make me sick. If you ever learn how to fight, look me up. Otherwise, stay out of Smashvile. Instinct? Ha! More like cowardice!."

I fell rage boiling. I kick Falcon in the face. "Don't disrespected me you Valor scum," I growl, "I've seen you in gyms. People like you are the reason the friendship between me and the other leaders is on thin ice. Come whenever you want a rematch. Win, and I'll let you take my place in the tournament. Lose, and you will apologize for your behavior. Deal?"

"I'll be back," Falcon smirks, "and you will lose." Falcon struggles to his feet and limps away. Doctors tend to his wounds. I leave the arena, only to be greeted by a big skeleton, a little skeleton, and a kid. The kid hides behind the shorter skeleton.

"Kid," the skeleton explains, "you don't gotta worry about being on Valor. You haven't done anything bad."

The kid shyly approaches. "Nice to meet you kid," I smile, "how can I help you?"

I see DETERMINATION in the kid's face. I then realize it's Sans, Frisk, and Papayrus. Huh, small universe isn't it?

"Could you sign my Jolteon card?" Frisk asks.

"Sure," I smile. Frisk hands me the card, it's based off of my Jolteon. I sign it and give it back.

"That wasn't so hard," Sans smiles, "was it? You and Paps go get lunch. I'll catch up." Frisk and Papayrus leave.

"You here to see the tournament?" I inquire.

"Close," Sans replies, "I'm here to fight in it."

"What? You're not even a meme."

"You wanna have a bad time? You'll get dunked on."

"Dude, calm down."

"That's the meme, those quotes."

"Ah, I see."

"Anyways, I'm going to Grilby's. Pap, and Frisk hate the place. Wanna tag along?"

"Sure."

"Oh, Grills doesn't allow mons, not since an incident with a squirtle. You'll have to put yours away."

I return Zaps and Sparky to their Pokéballs. Sans takes us to Grilby's. I order. Sans says it'll go on his tab.

"So," Sans gets a serious, ominous expression, "we all know Pepe the Frog is dead, but do we know how? I've been looking into it, and all I know for certain is," his eyes go blank, "it's not easy being green." Sans returns to a relaxed state.

"But hey," he grins, "that's Undyne's job right?" I hear Grilby snicker. "Anyways," Sans continues, "we should hang out sometime, but in the meantime, or I mean, memetime, I'll let you get back to Memevile."

Sans sends me back with my burger. I send out my mons and split it with them. But his words still haunt me, "it's not easy being green." What does it mean? What does it mean?...