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The third years don’t realize when it releases; there had been a test in English to study for, and they had spent the evening with their noses buried in books, despite the way Suga kept poking Daichi in the stomach to try to get him to laugh. But they’d studied, they’d stayed off their phones and computers, and Daichi is fairly certain they all passed. At least, he did. It was easier than anticipated. So, that’s good.
What is not good is coming to afternoon practice. Morning practice had been canceled, partially due to studying and partially due to the weather getting colder again, so they’re completely blindsided by the absolute mess the team has become by the time afternoon classes let out.
They hear Noya’s shout long before they make it to the gym. Kiyoko gives Daichi a perplexed look, but he shakes his head, because he has no idea what’s going on now. Asahi makes a worried sound.
“This way!”
They barely make it to the gym doors before the problematic second years come barreling out. Kiyoko jumps out of the way in time; Asahi and Suga don’t. Daichi doesn’t realize that it’s not just Noya and Tanaka until he sees that Hinata ended up on top of the dogpile, still holding his phone aloft.
“Captain’s gonna kill you,” Tsukishima calls and Yamaguchi snickers after quickly stashing his phone.
“Are you alright?” Kiyoko asks as the boys untangle themselves.
The truly shocking thing is that Tanaka and Noya only pause long enough to nod at her before racing off again. Hinata follows them with a, “Wait for me too!”
“…What’s the rush?” Suga asks uneasily and brushes himself off. “Did we miss a fire somewhere?”
“It’s just their new game,” Tsukishima scoffs.
“They’re trying to skip practice for a game?” Daichi growls. Suga puts a hand on his shoulder, reining him back in before something terrifying could come out, and they make their way inside the gym. Kinoshita squeaks and shoves something in his bag, kicking it away, before hurriedly starting on warm-ups. Ennoshita and Narita are nowhere to be seen, and Yachi is on the bench, nose almost touching her phone’s screen with how closely she’s tapping away.
“Is this some kind of infection?” Asahi asks.
“Zombie phone apps!” Suga says with his best spooky voice. He even waggles his fingers.
“O-Oh, Kiyoko-san!” Yachi sits at attention, fingers tightening on her phone to the point where Daichi begins to worry for it. “Hi! How are you? Do you, um, have the—I mean, I was hoping, if you’ve caught something already, we could, um, trade? If that’s okay? I caught a metapod and I evolved it and I think you’d like butterfree, because they’re pretty but also pretty competitive, unless you don’t like bugs! Oh no, of course you don’t—”
Yachi can normally be a little hard to follow at times, especially when she gets going, but Daichi can feel that point fly far, far over his head. Kiyoko’s eyes widen and she hurries over to the bench, already soothing. “No, no, I don’t mind bugs.” Of course not; she’s usually the one who kills the bugs in the clubroom. “I love butterfree, Hitoka-chan.”
“What the hell is a butterfree?” Daichi asks. It sounds vaguely familiar.
Suga gasps in sudden realization. “Oh no, did that release today?”
“Wait, Suga, what is it—?” Daichi wants to know what the hell he’s lost half his team to. But Suga is gone, too, back to them as he yanks out his phone and furiously taps away until he’s downloading whatever it is that he wants.
Daichi eyes Asahi. “Don’t look at me like that,” the ace mumbles, physically shying away from him, “I have no idea what they’re doing.”
“You look lost,” Ennoshita remarks, finally showing up. Daichi resists rolling his eyes because holy hell yes he is. Ennoshita holds up his phone with a sunny smile. On the screen is a picture of a green field and a small zebra frolicking in it. “Pokemon Go released this morning.”
Daichi looks at the nearly-empty gym. Then back at Ennoshita and his happy little zebra pokemon. “…So I lost most of a team of teenage sports players to not only a phone game, but a pokemon game?”
“Daichi, Daichi, what should I pick as my starter?!” Suga asks suddenly, throwing one arm around Daichi’s shoulders and shoving his phone in his face.
“Most of the team and your boyfriend too,” Tsukishima drawls flatly.
--
“Alright, let’s get this over with before practice—who downloaded the app and who wants to trade pokemon? Or help me train up my beautiful eevee?” Oikawa asks with a glittering smile. His hands are on his hips, phone stowed, but there’s a blinking pokeball charm on the bracelet he’s wearing.
“How did you get an eevee already?” Hanamaki asks, nose wrinkled.
“Because I’m amazing.”
“Which of your fangirls gave it to you?” Matsukawa asks in a flat tone.
Oikawa gasps, scandalized, hand pressed coyly over his mouth. “I’ll have you know I haven’t traded with anyone yet! I wanted my precious teammates to have the first opportunity to receive one of my amazing pokemon. I already have three.”
“Are you… talking about pokemon?” Kunimi finally asks with a suspicious squint.
“Of course.”
“Fuckin’ nerd,” Kyoutani growls under his breath. Iwaizumi slaps him upside the head for the language (and insult) without looking at him.
“C’mon, jackass, let’s get practice started. No one wants your pokemon.”
“Both of you get to donate to the swear jar today,” Oikawa sings and walks off to stow his bracelet. Yahaba laughs at the expression on Kyoutani’s face and Iwaizumi rolls his eyes at both of them.
Practice starts without a hitch, and they play as smoothly as ever, but halfway through, Iwaizumi notices that Oikawa seems to be working Yahaba harder than usual. The second year looks pleased with this, and okay, it’s actually really nice to see Oikawa acting as a proper senpai who’s thinking ahead for the future of the team, but then Oikawa uses Yahaba as a substitute for himself during a couple of practice sets.
Oikawa never switches out willingly.
Iwaizumi grits his teeth when he sees him plop down on the bench and take out his phone and that stupid goddamned bracelet again. Matsukawa calls over some vague insult for the show of laziness, but Oikawa ignores him with a flap of his hand.
Kunimi’s expression is sheer outrage for approximately .2 seconds, then he wanders off the court without properly switching out and sits by the captain. He, too, pulls out his phone and Oikawa’s face lights up as they begin talking about their game.
“Oi, dumbasses, can your pokemon play volleyball?” Iwaizumi shouts.
“Not yet, but give me another week!” Oikawa calls back, undaunted.
“Get the fuck back on the court!”
“Swear jar!”
“Oikawa, I am going to drag you back here—”
“Only if you beat me in a pokemon battle! Shi-chan, you’re doing fine!”
Hanamaki snickers at Iwaizumi’s expense. Well, whatever, he’s not their goddamned babysitter, and for the time being, they have a working team. The coach raises an eyebrow at Oikawa and Kunimi, but he hasn’t said anything, and Yahaba could use the practice.
But still.
Iwaizumi is just thankful he remembered to turn his own phone off before practice.
--
“Kenma,” Kuroo starts. Kenma hunches further over his game. “Kenma. I know it’s a new game, but you promised it was real-time and that you’d come to practice like usual.”
“I need to socialize with my team,” Kenma mumbles. He taps the screen and Kuroo sees him feed a treat to his meowth. It meows happily back at him and Kenma smiles, just a little. Kuroo’s heart may stutter a bit in his chest.
“Kenma, they’re not tamagotchi. They’ll be fine for a couple of hours.”
“But it’s… cute.”
“I’ll battle with you after practice so you can get the experience,” Kuroo tries. Kenma looks up at him, eyes shining, and Kuroo grins. Finally, a victory. Kenma already has a full team, and is already leveled high enough that the few encounters he’d had—a kid on the train to school, a few classmates at lunch—aren’t giving him the challenge he needs.
Not that Kuroo is necessarily a challenge, but it’s not the first time Kenma has farmed experience points off of him, and Kenma was nice enough to trade him a half-trained pidgeotto earlier, so at least he has something.
Practice, surprisingly, goes well. Kenma has to be talked into taking off the charm—“What if it breaks?” is thankfully all the convincing he needs—and he sets it face-up on top of his towel so he can keep an eye on it, but he actually works with them. He does extra stretches with Yamamoto, doesn’t complain about extra practice with Lev, and during a practice set, actually pushes himself. Usually it takes Hinata to be in his proximity for Kenma to apply himself so seriously to volleyball. Kuroo couldn’t be happier.
The set is winding down to a close when Kenma’s charm buzzes and flashes. Kenma practically teleports to the side of the court, checking it, and Kai raises an eyebrow at him. “I’ve never seen him move so fast,” he remarks.
“New game,” Kuroo replies, and that’s really all the answer he needs. “Oi, Kenma, put it down, we’re gonna go do our laps now—”
“Shinx,” Kenma says and sprints out the door.
“…Holy shit,” Yamamoto says after a long pause.
“Wait, did he say shinx? I need an electric pokemon!” Inuoka exclaims and bolts, too, Lev on his heels.
Kuroo clenches and unclenches his fists until he feels himself calming down a little. He’s used to Kenma getting lost, but rarely actively trying. Not to mention his errant first years. “You said we were going running,” Kai points out, trying hard not to smile.
“…Are we gonna follow them? Because I could use another pokemon, too,” Shibayama pipes up.
So that’s how Nekoma volleyball team goes out for a jog in who knows what direction, using Kuroo and Shibayama’s phones as a compass, trying to follow the tag for the shinx before it disappears.
--
Day two of pokemon hell dawns and Daichi is prepared. He arrives early to morning practice, the first one there, and waits. As his team arrives, he takes their phones, to their general annoyance and confusion. (He notices that it’s spread; Kageyama has it now, too, arguing with Hinata about whose team is better when they arrive, and Kiyoko is tapping away with her new butterfree. Yachi is cooing at a lillipup.) Even Asahi looks a little nervous when handing his phone over.
Practice goes normally. Daichi breaths a sigh of relief.
Until Suga pulls out a device on his lanyard from his pocket and checks on it while they’re cooling off. “Daichi, look what I caught last night!” he says happily, showing off a little screen with what appears to be a bluish blob. It’s smiling just as much as Suga is.
“I thought that was a phone game.”
Suga gives him a pitying look. “You’re never going to curb this if you don’t get out ahead of it, Daichi.”
“C-Captain!” Kageyama says loudly, drawing their attention. Daichi finds him standing stiffly, a little red in the face, and not meeting their eyes. Hinata hovers behind him, clutching his own matching red and white charm, also looking nervous. Great.
“Yes?” Daichi asks carefully. Suga tilts his head curiously.
“Hinata… I mean we were thinking…” Kageyama fidgets and Hinata prods him hard in the small of his back to keep him going. “The team! Most of us have these now, and Nishinoya-san and Tanaka-san both have shown that we’re excited to capture new pokemon. So what if we… worked with that?”
“Worked with it how?” Suga asks. Daichi crosses his arms and wants to be against the idea, but of course his vice captain wants to hear them out. Daichi doesn’t want more distractions for them in practice. Or, heaven forbid, a game.
“We could do our running from pokemon to pokemon,” Kageyama mumbles.
Hinata nods enthusiastically behind him, then jumps out in front and exclaims, “I don’t know if pokemon are super randomized or anything yet, but I’ve passed a starly nest twice now on my way to school! And I bet there are other places that always have pokemon, and I’m sure some of them aren’t far from where we normally go, and—”
“That’s a good idea!” Suga interrupts excitedly. He tugs on Daichi’s sleeve and adds, “I need a bird!”
“Oh my god.” Daichi was not prepared.
They agree to run out toward where Noya says there are poliwag and yanma near a creek by his house, about two kilometers from the school, and Daichi should be ashamed at how many of these names are coming back to him. Suga falls into a light jog beside Daichi, grinning at him, while the two noisy first years bolt ahead with matching cries of “water pokemon!”.
Tanaka tries to trade pokemon with Ennoshita as they’re running, but the game’s sensor apparently doesn’t like doing things while moving, so they give up after a little while. They pass a flock of swablu on the way, and Noya, Asahi, and Suga break off to find them. Daichi wonders if this is how he’s going to have to try to corral people from now on. Ukai hadn’t complained about it, but maybe he should.
“You know, the app itself is free,” Ennoshita says lightly. “You don’t need the extra charm to use it.”
“Why would I want to give in and play this?”
“Because it’s fun. And I’m sure Suga-san would give you plenty of the dragons he seems to be amassing.”
Wait, shit, Suga was training dragons? Daichi isn’t current on all of the newer pokemon, so he hadn’t realized, but he supposes swablu does turn into altaria. “…Do you think he has a gible?”
--
It only takes three days for Iwaizumi to forget to turn off his phone once. Oikawa’s charm flashes with the notification of a new nearby trainer when Iwaizumi walks into practice, and Iwaizumi watches the realization dawn across the captain’s face. “Iwa-chan is a pokemon trainer, too!” he gasps, starry-eyed.
There’s no one nearby for him to blame it on. Kindaichi and Kunimi, already there, give him matching raised eyebrows. “It was a free app,” Iwaizumi grumbles and drops his bag by the bench. He digs out his phone and goes to turn it off, but Oikawa stops him with a hand on his wrist.
“I want a battle,” he says seriously.
“I want to practice,” Iwaizumi replies.
“What kind of pokemon do you have?” Hanamaki asks, inserting himself into their conversation, trying to look at Iwaizumi’s screen. Iwaizumi jumps, not having seen him arrive, and well, there goes any hope for not getting teased over pretending not to have the game. “I wanna see, dude. I’ll pay your swear jar debt if you let me see your team before Oikawa.”
“Deal.”
“Rude!” Oikawa squawks, clutching his chest. “I’ve been saving such a great pokemon for you, Iwa-chan, and this is how you repay me?!”
“Why would you save a pokemon for him? Your team needs all the help it can get,” Matsukawa tells him, and Oikawa glares at him.
“My team is beautiful and strong and perfect.”
“Holy shit, where’d you find a heracross?” Hanamaki asks with an impressed whistle.
“The woods by my house.”
“I’m coming over after practice.”
“Don’t just invite yourself over!”
The boys scatter once the coach gets there, shoving phones and charms into their pockets as they go, and practice isn’t interrupted after that. Iwaizumi ends up with all three of the other third years following him home, and they take a detour to try to track down an abra, although it gets away. Oikawa’s the only one who stays for dinner after Hanamaki and Matsukawa catch a heracross, however.
They’re doing homework after their meal when Iwaizumi’s phone beeps with a notification for a trade. Oikawa’s chewing on his pencil, not looking at him, but his charm is beside his notebook and is clearly on. Iwaizumi rolls his eyes and accepts the invitation.
The screen tells him an eevee has been offered. Iwaizumi raises both eyebrows and looks over at Oikawa. “I thought your eevee was your pride and joy.”
“That’s not my eevee! I would never trade away Andromeda!” Oikawa exclaims in a falsely hurt tone. Iwaizumi fixes him with a flat look, so he relents and sets his pencil down. “I caught two of them on the first day. And I know he wouldn’t be your starter, but still, I thought I’d be nice and give you the other. Before Makki tries to steal him.”
How… strangely thoughtful. Iwaizumi’s definitely taking the eevee now. “I don’t really have much to trade.” He only has two pokemon, and he’s definitely not giving up his heracross, so that leaves a wurmple.
Oikawa doesn’t complain, and in fact smiles, one of those rare genuine ones. It falls away almost immediately when he notices that the bug is named Tooru, however, but Iwaizumi’s still glad to have seen it. “You named a worm after me?! And after I gave you Vega!”
“You texted me when I was trying to catch it. So that was my revenge worm.”
“That’s so mean!”
Iwaizumi punches him on the arm, lightly, and tells him, “Stop complaining. And thanks, nerd.”
The next day, Kyoutani and Kindaichi both have Pokemon Go as well, and in between Kyoutani challenging Yahaba to battles—“I don’t have the app, stop it, jackass!” “Swear jar, Shi-chan!”—Oikawa flits from team member to team member, promising them good pokemon if they give him ideas of what they like. Hanamaki and Matsukawa ask for legendaries, just to be little shits, but most of the kouhai actually answer him with varying levels of interest.
The day after, Oikawa actually starts handing out pokemon like candy for good plays. Iwaizumi facepalms when he realizes that he’s giving positive reinforcement via pokemon, of all things.
--
“Kuro, c’mon,” Kenma says with a sudden tug on Kuroo’s sleeve.
Kenma dragging him out to capture pokemon is a far sight better than Kenma wandering off and getting lost, but he’s sore from practice and they’re almost home. “Again?” Kuroo grouses.
“Shouyou said he can’t get zorua out there,” he replies, already following the compass, and Kuroo has little choice but to trail after him. And it’s cute how eagerly Kenma trades with Hinata, already figuring out a lot of differences in the type of encounters they have (Kuroo supposes there’s some advantage to being a country boy). It’s been only a week but Kuroo has already lost the ability to catch anything that Kenma hasn’t already found, so at least he’s getting the novelty from somewhere.
They catch the zorua and mercifully it’s the last interruption before home. Kenma follows Kuroo to his house, as he often does, still tapping away on his game. Kuroo makes it as far as his bedroom before flopping down onto the nearest available flat surface (thankfully his bed) and groaning.
Kenma perches on the edge of his bed and hands Kuroo his phone. “Let’s trade.”
Kuroo rolls onto his side, head propped up with a hand, and opens the app. He’s confused, but Kenma’s probably just giving him another high-level pokemon to battle against. But it’s not: it’s a luxray, growling cutely on the screen, and Kuroo’s eyes widen.
“You said they were your favorite,” Kenma mumbles. “It just evolved today, so here you go.”
“That’s so sweet, Kenma!” Kuroo coos, pitching his voice purposefully high, and Kenma’s face reddens. He ducks his head, letting his hair hide him, and hunches his shoulders. “…Seriously, thank you. But all I have to trade are hoothoot.” That’s all Bokuto keeps giving him, and it’s not like he catches several new pokemon a day like Kenma does.
“Whatever works.”
Half of Kuroo’s team is now from Kenma, but the luxray is the highest level among them, and its animations are really neat. He happily opens up the socializing bit and starts petting it with a finger. He doesn’t see the way Kenma smiles at him, but he does notice when Kenma gets up and goes to leave. “Woah, wait, just leaving like that? Hand me a kickass pokemon and then ditch us both? …You don’t even want to battle?”
“Um, well, there’s an espurr down the road…”
Kuroo laughs, then gets up. “You and your cats. Alright, let’s go.”
“I thought you were tired,” Kenma says with a squint.
“I can’t say no to more kittens.”