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As the three pairs of fathers and sons left the school grounds, the dads all walked side-by-side as they began laughing. Ammon was laughing out loud with no restraint, Claude laughed with some pull back so he wasn't as loud, and Kasai chuckled through his closed mouth as their sons followed close behind.

"Oh, Claude! You cannot be serious!" Ammon shouted out.

"No, it's true. I totally embarrassed myself on my honeymoon when Serena dared me to eat a bowl of her tamato soup. I swear my throat never fully recovered and my ego still needs some mending since I made an absolute fool of myself, trying to cool off by stealing some kid's glass of Moo-Moo milk," Claude admitted.

Kasai shook his head. "How utterly rude to steal from a child. But then again you've never been one to back out of a dare Serena puts on you. She always insinuated that you were of the scaredy chicken variety back in middle school when she first dared you and you backed out. And considering the intensity of that dare, I don't blame you since that was the closest drink that would help quench that heat."

"True. Well, I guess this is where we part ways, huh?" Claude said, looking downcast.

"It doesn't have to be. Why don't we spend the rest of the day together with our sons? They did a valiant thing standing up for each other like that! I say we go and celebrate!" Ammon replied with vigor.

Claude dropped his head. "Unfortunately my boss won't allow me to be on break for much longer. I have to get back to work."

"Let me handle your boss. I think I can knock some sense into him if you want," Ammon whispered before cracking his knuckles.

"You incompetent oaf! Do you not use that brain of yours! Allow me to reason with him. That way we don't have to deal with a lawsuit on top of everything else today," Kasai jabbed at Ammon who shrugged at him while Claude sighed, knowing that this wasn't going to end well.

Once inside the restaurant, yelling could be heard from the kitchen as Stolas sat at a vacant table with Sasuke and Shadow. Stolas seemed nervous about the shouting but he didn't have to wait long as he felt a hand rub his arm. He looked over and saw Sasuke eyeing him with concern. "Are you doing okay?"

Stolas simply lowered his head down before responding, "Da's boss is mean to him and I don't like him. He scares me."

Shadow leaned over as whispered, "Want my dad to beat on him until he's not?"

Sasuke glared at him. "That would solve nothing. Besides, all our fathers are already back there trying to get Stolas' father out of work today so he can spend the rest of today with him."

That's when Shadow's dad peeked his head out from the back and called out to the three of them. "Hey, kids. This may take a bit longer than we thought. Why don't you all run across the street to the park and play while we get things settled?"

Shadow beamed at this. "Awesome! Come on guys! Let's go, play!"

Sasuke sighed as he grabbed his book. "I suppose I don't have an option to opt out?"

"Nope!"

"Figures," grumbled Sasuke as the two got up and began to walk to the door until they both stopped and looked back to see that Stolas wasn't following. "Everything okay, Stolas?"

Stolas blinked as he looked over at them. "Oh! Y-Yeah. I'm fine." He lied.

The Froakie and Litten looked at each other before walking back as Sasuke smiled at him and said, "We won't force you to go with us but if you do join us, we can have a fun game of tag or red light, green light or something we all can enjoy."

That's when Shadow placed his hand on Stolas and smiled. "But before we head out, I should give this back to you." He pulled out the tupperware from his backpack that held the piece of cake Stolas got for lunch as he blinked at it, surprised to see he still had it.

"I picked it up when we carried you to the nurse. Put it in my backpack to ensure no one would eat your cake. Enjoy it! Come on Sasuke! Let's go to the playground and wrestle!" Shadow cheered as he began running to the park down the street while Sasuke growled at the suggestion but followed regardless.

Stolas was ecstatic to have his birthday cake back as the Rowlet grabbed a fork off the table before going to open the tupperware. But he suddenly stopped as a feeling washed over his body as the sugary aroma of the cake enveloped his senses. One that made his stomach turn with a foul taste in his beak. He wanted to believe it was because he was simply hungry for not being able to eat lunch but he knew it wasn't. Knowing what it was, Stolas got up and began making his way to the park.

At the playground, Shadow and Sasuke sat in the wide-open grassy field that was curved down to form a big bowl with sloping hills to walk in and out of it; The perfect place to play a match of soccer. The two sat at the top of one hillside with the playground behind them. Sasuke's face was buried in his book again while Shadow picked at blades of grass, completely bored.

"Let's play tag, Sasuke," Shadow suggested.

Sasuke rolled his eyes before replying, "We need more than two people, otherwise we'll be running after each other like morons."

"Then how about red rover?"

"Who's going to run through our conjoined arms?"

"Oh... right. Then why not-"

"Shadow, there's nothing the two of us could play together that would be considered fun. I'd rather just read my book."

"Books are for school and we're not in school! We should find a game we can both play."

The two glared at each other as they were about to start screaming if not for the meek voice of Stolas cutting them off. "A-Are you two gonna fight again?"

The Froakie and Litten spotted Stolas standing behind them as both looked to the other and gave each other a silent truce before glancing back to the Rowlet.

"No no. We're good. Why don't you join us, Stolas?" Shadow requested as he patted on the patch of grass between the fire and water type children as the grass boy shyly smiled at the gesture before following through. He plopped down beside the two as they both stared at him.

"Is everything okay, Stolas?" asked Sasuke.

Stolas nodded. "Uh-huh. I was just wondering. Why did you two help me back in the cafeteria?"

Shadow seemed surprised by the question. "I can't answer for Sasuke but as for me, why wouldn't I?"

"What do you mean? You don't really know me so why put yourself out there for me?" questioned Stolas.

Shadow smiled. "Because I hate bullies. Seeing them go after defenseless kids is infuriating and I just couldn't sit by and watch them take advantage of you anymore. Besides, I can tell you're a cool kid and I wasn't gonna miss an opportunity to help you. If I just sat by and did nothing like all those other kids, I'd be hating myself for not doing something."

Stolas was surprised by this response as he smiled at Shadow, who gave him a big, toothy grin, before his eyes darted over to Sasuke. "And what about you? You don't seem to like conflict."

Sasuke closed his book as he looked at Stolas with an unreadable expression. "You're right in that assumption. Unlike our fiery companion here, I try to stay out of situations that would lead to me getting into trouble."

"Then why help me at all if Shadow was already involved?"

Sasuke paused before he looked down to the ground. "If I'm gonna be honest, I'm not completely sure myself. I've seen countless kids at school being bullied and all I've ever done is report it to a teacher. But seeing you being harassed, it just... upset me. I can't explain it but I was overwhelmed seeing someone like you being hurt. My father doesn't like me getting involved in conflict but I just had to step in and help you. Besides, Shadow was doing a terrible job exposing Marcus and his lies so I guess I was obligated by that point."

"Hey!" Shadow shouted as Sasuke merely smirked at him.

Stolas smiled at this as he then held up his tupperware. "Well, I want to thank you both properly so I want you two to have my piece of cake."

Both Pokémon kids were shocked by this as Sasuke spoke up first. "No, I shouldn't. You haven't eaten lunch because of those bullies and it wouldn't be right eating your birthday cake."

"I agree. Besides, I probably have one waiting at home for me tonight," added Shadow.

"Wait what?" Stolas was puzzled by this.

"Yeah, today is my birthday too," Shadow admitted.

"It is?!"

Sasuke then said, "It is true as it is mine as well. Last year in Kindergarten, we found out we share a birthday. You can look at the calendar I mentioned that Miss Willis has if you don't believe us."

"It's not that I don't believe you, I'm just having a hard time believing the three of us have so much in common," Stolas told them.

"We do?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah. I mean we all have the same birthday, all our names start with S, and we all seem to be different colors from other Rowlets, Littens, and Froakies from what I know." Stolas pointed out.

"The colloquial term is shiny. But now that you mention it, we do seem to have more in common than I initially thought," Sasuke added.

Shadow smiled widely at this. "This must be destiny for us!"

Sasuke then deadpanned at the red and white Litten. "What are you babbling on about now?"

"Don't you see it? All our dads seem to know each other and now all their sons who share so much in common just happen to reunite them after helping each other today? It seems Arceus wants us to be friends!" Shadow told them with major enthusiasm.

Sasuke looked thoughtfully at this. "It is very coincidental for so many traits to line up so easily."

"Quick, Stolas! Tell us more things about yourself! What else do we possibly have in common?" Shadow asked him excitedly.

Stolas looked nervous as he looked at them. "Uh... well... I'm not sure what I could share. I'm pretty boring."

Shadow shook his head. "Nonsense! Everyone's got their own things! You can think of something! Anything!"

"W-Well... I'm an only child and I only have my Da."

"Where's your mom?" Shadow asked as Sasuke glared at him for being so blunt with his questioning.

But before he could scold him, Stolas replied, "Da told me she died the day I was born. I don't remember her." There was a chilling silence that seemed to accompany the winds that nipped at their bones from the reveal. Stolas shuffled a bit as he rubbed his wing with his free hand. "Sorry if that brought your moods down."

"No, it's fine. Besides, I share that aspect too, unfortunately. My mom also died sometime after my birth." Shadow confessed, leaving Stolas agape with stunned horror.

Sasuke shook his head. "I would have berated you for your insensitivity by asking that kind of question but I think telling us that makes up for it. Also... I too have lost my mother but Father will not tell me why. Says I'm too young to understand."

"Same! My dad tells me the same!" noted Shadow. Stolas nodded in agreement.

"Well, not the similarity I was hoping to discover but there is a bright side to that," said Sasuke.

"There is?" Stolas asked him, confused.

Sasuke nodded. "Indeed. We now have colleagues besides our fathers to comfort us in case we ever feel down about not having a mother in our lives. Heck, we may be able to do so much for each other because of how much in common we seem to possess."

"Then I think we need an official name for our friendship!" Shadow insisted.

Sasuke and Stolas both blinked at him. "What?" They said simultaneously.

"We should think of a name we can call ourselves so we can be friends forever like our dads! Something like... um... Oh! I know! We should be the S-Brothers!"

Sasuke looked even more dumbstruck as he blankly stared at Shadow. "The S-Brothers?"

"Yeah! All our names start with S, we're all shiny which also starts with an s, and in a way we're like brothers because we all share a birthday!" explained Shadow.

Sasuke somehow looked more baffled than before. "That last point doesn't even make sense! Just because we share a birthday does not mean that automatically makes us brothers! The logic behind that statement is ridiculous!"

Shadow huffed at him. "Oh, really? Because you really seem to love to argue with me like an older brother would!"

"At least I can keep my cool like an older brother could! You're the definition of a younger brother who just loves to annoy everyone with your hyperactive cat brain and that talking-with-your-fists personality!"

"Oh yeah? Well, I think-"

"Wow, that's a first," Sasuke taunted.

Shadow shot up as he glared at Sasuke. "You wanna take this outside!"

"We already are, you incompetent oaf!"

"STOP FIGHTING PLEASE!" Stolas shouted out, making the two jump as they looked at the Rowlet and his watery eyes. "I don't like seeing my two best friends fighting! P-Please... no more."

Shadow and Sasuke both felt shame seeing Stolas looking upset as they looked back to each other and sighed.

"Hey, I'm sorry Sasuke. I got mad for no good reason." Shadow apologized.

Sasuke shook his head. "No, I'm the one who should be sorry. I let my temperament get the better of me and allowed myself to stoop so low by insulting you. However, I'm even more ashamed you had to witness that, Stolas. I apologize."

"Yeah, man. I'm sorry too."

Stolas soon smiled at the two as he wiped away at his eyes to dry them off. "Thank you guys. Now, why don't we celebrate the beginning of the S-Brothers and our shared birthdays by eating my cake." Stolas then took off the lid and revealed the mostly intact birthday cake slice. After all the abuse the tupperware took that day, the cake piece wasn't in bad condition all things considered with some frosting lightly smeared around the inside.

"No, Stolas. That's your birthday cake. That should be yours alone!" Sasuke argued.

Shadow nodded and then added, "Yeah. Besides like we said before, you had nothing to eat at lunch! You need it more than we do!"

"Well, this is my cake and I get the final say with what I want to do with it. And I say that we all get to share it together to celebrate all our birthdays! So sit down and let's eat!" Stolas smiled at the two as both Sasuke and Shadow couldn't help but find his smile intoxicating as they smiled back before sitting down.

Sasuke looked at the tupperware with his eyes darting about as if he was looking for something. He confirmed that by then asking, "Where's the silverware?"

Shadow then let out a chortle. "Ha! You don't need no fork or spoon! Not when you got hands!" With that said, Shadow dipped his hand in and broke off a piece of the cake with his fingers before lifting it to his mouth and consuming the piece, sucking on his fingers as he pulled them back out of his maw.

Sasuke looked like he was gonna hurl. "Th-That's unsanitary!"

"Relax! I went to the bathroom at the restaurant so I washed my hands there." Shadow reassured him. "I didn't know you were a germaphobe."

Sasuke groaned out in response. "Why does that not help ease my queasy stomach? Also I'm not a germaphobe but some of us have standards. I'm not that barbaric to eat any food that requires at the very least some kind of silverware for consumption."

Stolas smirked as he looked at Sasuke before pulling a fork out of his pocket. "You mean like this?"

Sasuke blinked as he shook his head as if trying to make sure he saw this correctly. "Where did you get that? Surely you haven't been carrying around a metal fork all day!"

Stolas shook his head. "Nope! I borrowed it from the restaurant. I was gonna use it myself but I think you should use it. I don't mind using my hands this time."

He held the fork out to Sasuke who smiled at this and gratefully took the fork. "Thank you, Stolas. I appreciate your kind gesture. I'll be sure to eat from this side where you'll be eating since I believe you have better personal hygiene out of those using their hands."

"Hey!" Shadow barked out.

"Guys, please. Don't start this again. How about this? Each of you gets one side and I'll eat down the middle. That way your sides won't touch and there won't need to be any reason to get at each other's throats. Is that okay?" Stolas questioned them with an expectant look.

Sasuke nodded. "That will be doable."

"Yeah, yeah! Enough chit-chat! Let's enjoy this birthday cake!" Shadow cheered as the three new friends began devouring their part of the cake piece as they all swooned in sugary bliss.

"Oh my Arceus! This is so delicious!" Shadow squealed with his mouth full.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes towards Shadow. "Watch your language. But I do concur that this cake is simply divine. Where did your father buy this cake?"

"Da didn't buy it. He bakes my cakes," Stolas informed them as both looked at him with huge eyes.

Shadow began speaking once again with his mouth full of cake and frosting. "That's amazing! I wish my dad could cook like this!"

Sasuke decided at this point to ignore Shadow's awful manners as he looked to Stolas. "I agree. My father is decent in the kitchen, but nothing compares to this delicacy. It's lemon flavored with a vanilla frosting, yes?"

Stolas nodded enthusiastically. "Uh-huh! It's my favorite flavor!"

"Let me guess. This is your favorite flavor too, Shadow?" Sasuke asked but Shadow surprised them both by shaking his head.

"It's an okay flavor and your dad makes me like it more now, Stolas, but nothing beats chocolate with a real cherry filling inside! Mmmm! That kind of cake is always my go-to!" confessed Shadow.

Sasuke giggled. "Glad to see the three of us are still unique despite all the similarities we do share. I will admit that lemon is one of my favorites but not my all-time favorite."

"What is yours then?" asked Stolas, curiously.

Sasuke smiled as he answered, "Carrot cake!"

Shadow suddenly was caught in a laughing fit as he gripped his sides with Sasuke glaring daggers. Shadow saw this as he held his hands up defensively and explained himself.

"I'm sorry! I don't mean to be mean, but I thought it would be a flavor that most kids actually liked such as strawberry shortcake or something sweet!"

"Carrot cake does have frosting on it, so it is sweet! Besides, yours has cherry in it so why are you bashing on my flavor?"

"But it's only a small layer of the cake with the rest being chocolate! It's sweeter and sugary than anything else!"

"Fine if you want to play that way then why don't I point out how your name doesn't fit you? Like seriously. What kind of name is Shadow for a shiny Litten?"

"Hey! My parents weren't exactly expecting me to be shiny and they were dead set on my name before I was even born! I could have been a girl, and I would have still been named Shadow!"

Sasuke blinked at him. "It's not only sad to know that but it's sad that even you know that fact."

"Oh, look guys! There's only one last piece of the cake left," Stolas pointed out to diffuse the situation. The three looked at the tupperware at the final piece. "So, who wants it?"

Sasuke and Shadow both looked at each other and nodded. "You take it," they said in unison.

"But I offered to share it with you both. I have more at home, so I want you guys to-"

"Stolas, we allowed ourselves to share the cake, but the fact is you didn't get lunch. We did eat so it wouldn't be fair to you if you didn't get to eat the last piece," Sasuke told him.

Shadow nodded. "Exactly. Now no more trying to sway us. Eat the cake now before I have to shove it down your throat myself."

Stolas didn't hesitate as he reached in, wiping up the frosting stuck to the bottom of the tupperware and scooped it up with the last piece of cake before sticking his finger in his beak and sucking on it as he pulled it out to clean his feathery finger of the frosting before he began chewing.

Shadow and Sasuke smiled at this as Stolas put the lid back on and set the tupperware to the side. "Well, now that we're done eating our birthday piece, what do we do now?" Sasuke asked.

"We are at the park and now that Stolas has joined us, we can play!" cheered Shadow.

"Sure! Sounds like fun!" Stolas chimed in.

"Okay but what do we do first?" Sasuke asked again but failed to see Shadow sneak behind him.

"How about tag? You're it!" Shadow suddenly pushed Sasuke as he went tumbling down the hillside while screaming, having not expected this as Stolas was flabbergasted by this.

Sasuke soon reached flat ground inside the bowl-like field as he began lightly scratching at parts of his face. "You jerk! You made my skin rub against the grass! I have an allergy to grass!"

"Oh stop whining! It's only because you're a water type! It's only a light rash too! It's not hives or anything! You'll be able to ignore it!" Shadow called down to him.

"And you stained my nice dress shirt! My father's going to be furious!" Sasuke screamed even more angrily.

Shadow spat at that. "Pfft! Dude, then don't wear fancy church clothes to school! We're kids! We're supposed to get dirty!"

Sasuke glared at him as he lowered himself to the ground. "Oh really? Like this?" Sasuke then scooped up a clot of dirt and chucked it at Shadow with lightning fast reflexes. Shadow's face was pelted as he began spitting out the dirt that landed inside his mouth. Sasuke smirked at Shadow before calling out, "You're it!"

Shadow had a look of disbelief that Sasuke did that but then his eyes narrowed and Stolas thought he was going to get mad and attack him but then a smirk appeared as he grabbed his own dirt clot before turning to Stolas. Stolas felt the color in his face drain as he made the connection and began running as Shadow began chasing him with a roar as he began chucking dirt clots at Stolas.

Sasuke began running alongside them from the bottom of the hill as he waved to Stolas. "Come down here with me!"

Stolas was quick to comply as he began running down the hill but tripped and began tumbling down like Sasuke did before but this time Sasuke was there to catch Stolas as they crashed into the ground together with Stolas on top of Sasuke.

"Are you okay, Stolas?" Sasuke asked with concern. But then blinked when he saw dirt trickling off the back of the Rowlet's head. Stolas slowly lifted his head and couldn't hold back his giggle or smile.

"Looks like I'm it," But then promptly shoved a dirt clot on the top of Sasuke's head, leaving the Froakie's mouth agape from this betrayal. "But not anymore!" Stolas then took off towards the sky as he began flying.

Sasuke couldn't hold back his smile as he sat up and began throwing dirt clots at Stolas, trying to peg him as Shadow came down the hill and tried to sneak up on Sasuke, dirt clot in hand. But Sasuke whipped around and hit Shadow in the stomach with his own clot, surprising the Litten enough to drop his clot.

"You're it!" Sasuke called out as Shadow grinned widely before grabbing a big dirt clot and began chasing after the two with a wild scream. The three boys continued playing and laughing together having the time of their life as the sun seemed to shine brightly over the cityscape and the children's escapades.

Eventually the three fathers approached the boys with smiles on their faces as they stopped playing to watch their fathers slowly making their way over. Ammon spoke first. "So after some... reasoning with Stolas' dad's boss, we got him the rest of the day off!"

Stolas went starry-eyed at this news. "R-Really?!"

Kasai eyed his son before he seemingly forced a smile onto his face. "That's right. And to properly celebrate you boys and your shared birthdays, Mr. Valentine has invited us to join him at his place for cake and ice cream!"

Shadow smiled. "Yeah! We get to spend more time together! That's awesome!" He then grabbed onto Stolas and gave him a light noogie as Stolas laughed and shoved Shadow off.

"The cake is delicious by the way, Mr. Valentine. We appreciate the gesture," said Sasuke with sincere appreciation. He then quickly elbowed Shadow, who blinked in confusion for one second but then immediately realized what Sasuke was silently telling him.

"Oh, right! Thanks for the cake! It was extremely good!" Shadow added.

Claude raised an eyebrow in confusion. "How would you two know?"

"That's because we all shared the piece you gave me for lunch today, Da!" answered Stolas.

"You shared your cake piece?" Claude asked, looking slightly bewildered.

Stolas nodded. "Yes, Da! I figured they both deserved to enjoy your cooking as much as I do since it's their birthday too. Besides, there's more cake at home so I figured it would be nice to share it with them."

Claude's stunned expression soon grew a smile as he patted his son's head. "I'm proud of you, son! Really, I am."

"You are?"

"How can I not be? You showed generosity like I've taught you not once but twice today. You did get involved in a fight but it was to help these young boys who were defending you and now you shared your cake with them. It makes me so happy to see you are taking my lessons of kindness and compassion to heart," replied Claude as the father and son hugged each other happily.

Ammon let out a boisterous laugh before slapping his hand against Shadow's back. "You said it, Claude! I gotta say I am also proud that you did go out of your way to help Stolas the way you did, Shadow! A true friend always sticks out for those in need and you whooped those little punks good too!"

Shadow flashed his teeth in a grin at his dad. "You know it, Pops!"

Kasai sighed as he rubbed on Sasuke's shoulder. "While I am not terribly happy about you getting involved in the fight or dirtying your clothes, Sasuke, I will say it was admirable of you to assist Stolas the way you did and I am proud that you kept yourself level-headed through all of this like I taught you."

Sasuke smiled happily at this. "Thank you, Father!"

Ammon sighed. "Enough! We can be gushy with our boys later. Let's get to Claude's place and get our party on!"

Kasai groaned. "You're hopeless."

Claude chuckled before looking at their sons. "Let's enjoy the rest of your birthday, boys."

"Yeah!" All three boys cheered out as they all made their way back to Claude's apartment. The fathers conversed with each other throughout the afternoon when their sons didn't drag them into a game or to eat dinner and cake. Stolas, Sasuke, and Shadow grew closer as the hours passed and their non-stop partying continued together late into the night with them all sleeping over when the three boys had a sugar crash and fell asleep together on Stolas' bed. Claude made sure to snag another picture of them as they slept, smiling at how cute they all were before turning off the light and closing the door.

He made his way back into the kitchen where Kasai and Ammon were still talking before looking at Claude. All three men had a seriousness come into their features as the Decidueye took his place across from his two friends before looking at each of them. "So... you guys didn't seem surprised about how Serena died. Care to explain?"

"Ammon and I were discussing it while you were with the kids just now. Seems our sons share even more than we'd like to believe." Kasai told him.

Ammon growled. "Do you really think their deaths are all connected to the same murderers?"

Claude looked down in sadness. "I hope not but if Wilma and Mizuki also died the same way as Serena did, then I'm worried about who those murderers are and what their goal is. And what that could mean for our sons."