#hulbury stadium

[pokemonunderdogtournament]

Best Underdog From Hulbury Stadium 🎖️🌊🏊8️⃣

Round 1 - Match 2

Our Contestants:

This poll is part of an event that allows the early eliminees from the main tournament have more time in the spotlight!

#uptunderdogtournament #pokemon #polls #best underdog from hulbury stadium #goldeen #corphish

[echantedtoon]

Dragon's Treasure Ch15 Hammerlocke Homelife

Raihan was leaving. For a full year, and he wouldn't be back until the very next year. Sometime around next March. You were in shock when he first broke the news to you, then heartbroken. You guys were just starting out and now he had to go away for another full year!? It wasn't fair! But there wasn't anything either of you could do anything about it. After all this was a big opportunity for him and it was an honor to compete in the very first ever Master's League so...You understood. That doesn't mean you didn't like it though. Raihan was one of the first Galar gym leaders to leave. He had one month to prepare to go on this extended trip so he spent it filling out the required paperwork, packing, and spending as much time with you and the triplets as possible. That's right. You weren't the only one who was upset he'd be gone for such a long time. And then soon it was time for him to leave at the end of the month. He'd be heading to Hulbury to catch a ship which would take him to the Pasio Region. Almost all of Hammerlocke had gathered to see off their gym leader which was filled with a few congratulations and goodbyes and of course he'd take a few pictures of his departure. He made sure to hug the triplets good bye.

"Keep an eye on the gym and don't worry about paying the staff alright? The Chairwoman's already taking care of that for me. You just make sure they do their jobs and keep your grades up. If you need anything just put it on my tabs. And whatever you do, don't let Camilla burn down the kitchen with her cooking."

He then turned to you when all was said and done and you two stared at each other for a silent moment, before he held his arms out offering you a hug and you gladly took it wrapping your arms around his middle and him hugging you back.

"And YOU be careful living out there," he mumbled, "I don't want you getting hurt again and I can't be here to help you. Just the thought of that happening makes me mad I gotta go. If you need anything, have one of my kids call me. I don't care about the stupid Masters League. I'll swim across the ocean and come back if I have too."

You chuckled. "Don't be so dramatic. I'll be fine. You just go and send everyone flying out of the stadium. Besides it's only until next March right? It won't be that long."

Although it would sure feel like it. He then left. Picking up his suitcase and giving the crowd one last good bye before he entered the taxi and took off for Hulbury leaving you to stand there and just watch it before it faded into the tiniest black speck, and then into nothing.

The following months were peaceful but almost bland and boring as you settled into a routine. Get up, go to work, get paid, and then come back home. All day every day. You still on instinct looked over your shoulder expecting the loud man to come walking in pestering you for another date or waking up expecting him to be at your door ready to walk you back to work but he never did and you would feel disappointed. You still did other things. You were shaking the fruit trees to gather more fruit for food. Or going into town on days off to shop for the necessary household items. Or continuing to pay on your little cottage. Or playing with Silver or your other pokemon including your new Golden Goodra you affectionately named Slug. She was the most precious thing you had ever seen! Often giving you or the other pokemon hugs which did make your daily laundry pile bigger with all the goo covered clothes but you didn't mind. Or you'd just go to one of the cafe's or the small movie theater if you didn't have anything else better to do on your days off as days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. Spring turned into Summer. Summer turned into Autumn. And Autumn turned into Winter. During all of this the triplets would sometimes come to the cafe and you made small talk with them and they would relay messages from Raihan to you from their calls.

"Raihan says hello." "He wants to know if you're doing alright." "Is there anything you want to pass onto him?" "He wants to know if you need him to send you anything." "Raihan just called this morning. Is there anything you'd like from Pasio?" "Raihan says to wish you a Happy Halloween."

And so on and so forth. At least until Christmas time once again rolled around and one morning you were surprised when Sebastian showed up holding a small gift wrapped in shiny golden wrapping paper and white ribbon. He walked right up to the counter and you greeted him with a smile.

"Hey, Sebastian. Long time no see. Stop by to get another hot coco?" You blinked when he instead placed the small box on the counter. "..What's this?"

"It's a gift for you from Raihan," he said muffled by the scarf wrapped around his face, "It was mixed in with ours so I figured I'd stop by and give it to you."

A gift from Raihan huh? Well that was nice of him! You made a mental note to remember to get him something in return once he returned. Well you decided to open it right then and there with Sebastian watching curiously. You untied the ribbon and pulled the lid off to peer inside and blinked for a moment before smiling widely. The lid was dropped and your hands reached in only to pull out the cutest goomy plushie you had ever seen. It was the cutest thing you had ever seen! You'd be sure to thank him when he got back.

"It's so cute! Thank you so much Sebastian. ...You look cold. How about a hot chocolate on me?"

"Really!? I mean-...*ahem* Yes. That'll suffice me."

More time passed. New Year's came and went and you went into January with a much better feeling. Raihan would soon return now, just after March. It made you start putting a smile on your face and a pep in your step again waiting for the day he'd finally return. It seemed all good things were happening to you now. The fruit from your fruit trees was sweeter than usual this year. In February you got your cottage finally paid off so now you fully owned your very first house! Your boss gave you a small raise for all the hard work you put in. And then it was FINALLY March! The day all the Master League finally took place was here and everyone gathered around the cafe including you to watch the hours long battling between trainers and gym leaders and champions from around the world! You saw Piers in one battle and Gloria in another and then there was Raihan who you paid very much attention too. He certainly made it very fair. To the third round in fact before he lost to the Sinnoh Champion Cynthia who proceeded onto the second to last round. It did hurt a little watching him fail so close to the finally but he did make it very, very far into the event and he tried his best which was all that mattered. The entire event ended in a tie between your very own Unbeatable Champion and Cynthia who didn't look the least bit bothered by sharing the winning title with another Champion. And soon after the event was over...Which meant one thing-

RAIHAN WAS COMING HOME SOON!!

The thought made you as giddy as a munchlax at an all you can eat buffet. Helped that Aria stopped by the cafe one day not too long after the event also happy as can be to let you know Raihan had just left Pasio and should be back any day now. So every day you waited. Waiting for that fateful knock on your door. Waiting for him to walk into the cafe where you were working. Waiting for that all too familiar voice. You did get a visitor however it was NOT the one you expected to ever see or wanted and it all happened the very same of Raihan's return. It was just one regular day. You had already arrived at the cafe humming to yourself and was already a few decent hours into your shift and you were just behind the counter again restocking some new baked goods into the glass display cases after a large group of tourist bought out most of the already displayed goods. It was good to know business was still booming around here even after Raihan had gone. You were still kneeling behind the counter restocking the cases so you didn't see the person who angrily pushed the door open with a glare on their face setting off the little bell above their head as they stomped in with an aura of entitled enforcement. 

"Y/N!?", a voice akin to that of a raspy old witch called out with the volume and force of a police siren shaking the small cafe. 

A few people seated at a table looked over suddenly from the yell and you froze. Body going rigged as the volume washed over you and the unmistakable realization of that voice washed over you in waves. A spike of cold fear rushing into your mind as your eyes went wide and the baking pan in your hands slipped from your grip and crashed to the floor with a thud. A deadly silence swept through the cafe as you stayed frozen in your kneeled pose. No...NO!! There couldn't be any chance it was-...No it COULDN'T BE!! She couldn't have possibly have been transported here with you too-...Right? You gulped dryly..and slowly, S L O W L Y stood up shaking from behind the counter at who was calling your name so angrily. And you froze eyes widened to the size of plates.

"...M-Mom?"

Standing there hands on her hips was a middle aged woman around Mrs. G's age with the same f/c hair and f/c eyes as you staring back at you with that all too familiar glare of disapproval on her face you were so used to seeing. Her foot was tapping away on the floor but something seemed...off. As if this was suddenly all so...too real to be real. You couldn't put your finger on it, but it was the same feeling you got when you suddenly got that ID card but your horrified brain didn't even think to register that right now. Too whiplashed by the fact that your MOTHER in some way, shape, or form was standing here in front of you angry as a wet purrloin. But at the SAME TIME a certain taxi was landing secrectly just outside of Hammerlocke, and a man was rushing out of the taxi suitcase in hand, smile on his face, and super excited to surprise you. Knowing by now that you were most likely waiting for him to come see you. And so he sped walked right into Hammerlocke right for the cafe and at the same time your 'mother' pointed at you.

"IS THIS WHERE YOU RAN OFF TOO!?," she demanded in a voice that sounded like hers but seemed more monotone and flat sounding, losing some of it's bite..She sounded..almost robotic- "I can't believe you would do this to me! After everything I've done for you THIS is how you repay me for all my years of hard work!? Running off to Arceus knows where away from home!? After I worked so hard to make sure you'd be able to get engaged to that gym leader!? Do you know how stupid I looked when you left him standing at the alter and ran off!?"

By now your boss had poked his head out the back room wondering what was going on as you still stared at her in disbelief. "H-How did you-"

"Find you?," your 'Mother' scoffed and rolled her eyes as someone approached the door. "It was almost too easy! My friend's son happens to be a fan of that gym leader whoever he is, that lives here! When he saw that nice picture of you and him he obviously told me!" The door opened and the bell went off but you were so focused on your 'mother' you didn't even notice. "It wasn't rocket silence to figure out where you went! You leave more tracks than a herd of mudbrays! What were you thinking, Y/n!?" The man stopped in the doorway. Registering what was happening in front of him. "How could you do this to your own mother!? I went through so much to give you that better life!!"

You didn't move. Didn't react. Brain on the fritz. What WERE you going to say to this? What were you supposed to do?! There was yet another silence as you stared at her..before a deeper voice cleared his throat behind the woman and both of you looked up. And your eyes widened yet again when none other than RAIHAN was standing right there behind your mother. He gave the shorter, older woman in front of him a deadpanned half lidded look before raising a brow and looking her up and down. 

"....Can I help you?," was all he asked in a flat tone to which she scowled again.

"Absolutely NOT!! This is between me and my daughter!"

"Really?," he asked lightly surprised looking the woman up and down before looking back to your frozen form noticing the similarities between the two of you. You..both looked enough alike to be related. "Is that so?...Well I'm afraid is does concern me considering the fact that the person you're yelling at happens to be my girlfriend."

At this your 'mother' scoff yet again and crossed her arms now staring down (or up considering Raihan's height) and glared harder at him. "Boyfriend? HA!! You don't even look like you'd be the kind of man to settle down let alone give her a good life!"

"And..you can?"

"Of course I can! I was ALWAYS there for her!," your mother immediately responded before saying something that WOULD snap you out of your frozen stare. "I was there where she born, when she went to school, and even when she broke her arm after climbing that dumb tree after I told her not too! What have YOU done!? HUH!?"

You had been staring numbly brain still unsure how to take both your 'mom' AND Raihan suddenly showing up. Before it was like a fist finally slapped some realization across your face and you blinked...before shaking your head and scrunching your brows at the woman in front of you.

"W-W-Wait a second." Both lady and gym leader looked up at you. "I-...Never had a broken arm."

Raihan blinked and the woman seemed to freeze up as horror flashed across her eyes for a moment before she scowled again. "Yes you did! Don't argue back with me-"

"No. I didn't." Now you frowned narrowing your eyes at the woman. "I never even climbed any trees when I was little. I never had time to do that." The woman again looked horrified as you continued. "And what do you mean you got me engaged to someone? I was never engaged to anyone before." She stood there stunned. "Who ARE you?"

The woman didn't answer. In fact she didn't even say anything at all-

"AH!! HEY-"

Raihan shouted as the woman, whoever she was, BOLTED!! Shoving Raihan with surprising speed and strength out of the way and slamming the door back open making the bell rang like crazy. You went after her, coming from behind the counter and making Raihan blink as you also went out after her only to stop in front of the cafe and looking the way she ran...But it was as if she poofed into thin air and disappeared...And you leaned against the wall of the cafe just staring...What the HECK was THAT!? You still stared even as Raihan stepped outside after you and gave you a look before also gazing off to where the woman disappear..then gazed back at you. You jumped and snapped up to him when his hand grabbed your shoulder. 

"Hey. Are you ok?"

....You groaned facepalming. "Lovely. Just lovely."

"Who was that woman?"

"My mom...But she wasn't- I mean that wasn't my-..UGH! It's hard to explain."

"Oh...Do you wanna talk about it?"

"......Hmph. Where should I start?,'' you asked looking down.

"Anywhere you want is fine," he assured rubbing your shoulder. "It's alright to tell me. Was she always like this?"

"She..Well, no." You furrowed your brows. "She was always difficult to deal with but it wasn't always on such a bad level. She...never did a whole lot but things weren't bad until my parents divorced when I was around eleven or twelve. That's when things were hard." You took a shuddering breath. "It's...h-hard to explain. But it's like as soon as he left a switch flipped. Everything was...wrong. Anything fun was wrong. Anything..I l-liked was wrong." ..You shrugged. "B-But then again thing's weren't easy once Dad left. E-Everything was more expensive now. M-Mom had to work a w-whole lot to support us. All I e-ever knew w-was that I was a-always supposed to 'help' and 'take care of her' and 'never do anything that's bad for me'!" You shook your head. "I-..She-...*sigh* She was a narccisst that n-never let me do anything or live my own life outside what she wanted. I-...I h-haven't even seen her in over three years since I arrived in Galar..Or at least..." You glanced back the way the woman disappeared. "Someone that was pretending to be my mom?..I dunno who or what that was b-but it really shook me up."

There was a long silent pause as the two of you stood there...before he spoke as well looking down.

"I-...Know how you feel. My parents are the same way." You froze blinking for a moment, before looking up at him as he sighed. "Can't say I relate to everything that happened to you b-but I have a pretty good idea. Y'see...Both my parents always had really high expectations for me. They always pushed me to be the best no matter what. School. Training..There was some nights I didn't sleep because I was either studying or training to be the best. I wanted to meet those expectations they put on me. And then there was the gym challenge when I was about eleven or twelve years old." He gave a dry joyless chuckle as he put his head back and you blinked at him. "Of course..I didn't get to beat the old Champion. Someone else filled in that role."

"Leon," you muttered without thinking and he nodded.

"Yep. Gotta say they were not happy about that. So they did what any idealistic parent would do. They got me under the apprenticeship of the old Gym Leader of Hammerlocke. Can't say that I hated it because I didn't. The old gym leader was a really sweet lady and it gave me the freedom I needed away from my parents to breath. And I only grew stronger and stronger every day. Then before I knew it the lady had retired and handed over the title and everything that came with it." He frowned a little bit you didn't miss and shrugged. "I still continued to grow though. I competed a whole lot and still trained hard. Next thing I knew I became the strongest gym leader, and everyone likes me enough to make me famous...But there was one thing I could never get. The one thing my parents wanted me to get the most. ...The Champion title." His hands tightened. "No matter how many battles I have with him-...No matter what I try, I always lost to Leon and now always will."

Your eyes widened in realization. "....That's why you used to document your failures."

He only nodded. "Yep. Until I stopped that is. Because I realized that...Being Champion would be cool and all, but I'm happy with where I am now. My parents however don't believe that. People say if I wanted too I could go to a different region and easily become their new champion, and my parents had the same idea but I refused. I don't plan on going anywhere else and leaving my home. I'm happy right where I am. But of course, they didn't like that either and it was-...A messy situation. I haven't seen them in a long time too...." he sighed looking down towards you. "I-..I don't wish my experiences upon any kid."

"Was that the reason you took in your trainers?"

"Partically yeah. I guess I saw a bit of myself in them..." He smiled. "But that's the best thing right? Us getting to live out own life outside them?" You nodded with a shaking smile his way. Another moment of silence passed between the two of you..before you blinked as he reached over to pick back up his suitcase and smiled at you. "Hey. The day's still young..Let's go get my crew and make a day of it!"

You blinked.."A-Are you sure-"

He was already putting an arm around your shoulder and walking you off towards the gym. "I've been waiting to tell you and my little siblings all about my adventures. ....Plus I missed Aria's curries. I'm hungry."

That got you to chuckle and gave him a bigger smile as he proceeded to walk you to the gym.

#Dragon's Treasure #pokemon shield #pokemon swsh #pokemon sword #pokemon sword and shield #reader x raihan #pokemon raihan x reader #raihan x reader #pokemon raihan

[pokeexehasstoppedworking]

A Champion Time For The Heart Ch39 Pasio Adventures P2

(This is just a compilation of the events that happened with most everyone on Pasio Island in Pokemon Masters EX with all the substories I can remember. If I miss any I apologize. Will be labeled with time skips and Months to keep track of time. The time everyone's away is one year. If I get any of Pasio's city or landscape described wrong in this story I apologize.)

-JANUARY TO MARCH-

Leon had arrived.

That's why there had been such a big fuss this morning, everyone on this side of the region was leaving their homes in waves towards thee docks and Pasio's Star Arena to await the arrival of the famous unbeatable Champion. You had arrived a month earlier in January along with Bea and the guys at Leon's insistance. He had to prepare a few things before he left and didn't want his brothers and sister to be running around Pasio by themselves or Allister for that matter and you agreed since it meant keeping these guys out of trouble as well. So he had quickly gotten you a passport and cruise ticket, made sure you were fully packed, explained everything to your boss, helped set up your rotomi phone with your new rotom you decided to name 'Sparky', given you his phone number, and had sent you on your way with Hop and the twins. Sonia wasn't too far behind and you had met up with Bea and Allister at the Hulbury docks, and one seasick cruise later arrived in Pasio where you were set up in one of the hotel's and Allister was handed over to you to start watching over for the next ten months you'd be here. ....Sigh. How did you get yourself into these things. A few things had happened while Leon was gone. You ran into Bede as he finished chasing off a couple weird people with masks when walking around with Allister. Team Break if you recalled it right. You were more surprised Bede was picked to come here without Opal. Then again he did make it very far in the Battle Tower, it must've impressed Prince Lear enough to invite him along. Gloria and Victor started training together and had ran into Raihan and Gordie for a battle before Nessa and Melony decided to jump in and spar a three on three boys vs girls battle. Hop and Victor went hanging out with that boy Scottie they seemed to become quick friends with. And Gloria met Scottie's twin Bettie, while training in the Pasio woods not too far from the hotel you all were staying at. Having two pairs of scottish twins made it a bit much but you were glad they were making friends, meanwhile you were keeping an eye on Allister and helping the shy boy navigate the crowds. Until the news that Leon had arrived with Piers and Marnie that is. Gloria had practically busted down your doors and immediately demanded you get up and meet them at the stadium while she went off to fetch him. ..Which lead to you now sitting in the arena stadium with Allister sitting to your left nervously looking around at the crowd and Hop and Victor to your right who were excitedly cheering on the exhibition matches at hand. You were used to big crowds by now and only watched with a smile as they played. But they sure made you wait long enough, they had to unpack and get situated with Sync Stones before they could even get to the arena. So it went. Gloria vs Alder and her winning. Marnie vs Karen from the Johto Elite Four, Karen winning. It seemed Piers chose to not fight, and then it was Leon vs another Region's Champion, Blue. When it was all over you knew it'd be a while before Leon even got away from the crowds so you decided it would just be best to take Allister to get some lunch away from the big crowds to help with his anxiety. You expected Allister to cling to you as you both left the stadium but what you weren't expecting was Sparky to come flying out of your pocket with a buzzing sound and incoming call.

"*PZZZT* Incoming call from Leon! Do you wish to Accept or Decline?," the rotom asked with your phone ringing.

Leon was calling you from the middle of the arena? Holding Allister's hand you smiled. "Accept call, Sparky."

Soon enough a familiar voice came through the phone. "Hello? Y/N!?"

"Hi, Leon," you answered back with a smile and there was a relieved sigh through the other side. "Oh thank goodness I can here your voice. Where are you? I can't find you in the crowd."

"Allister needed some food." Said boy was holding your hand and excitedly pointing at a nearby hot chocolate stand, being January it was still fairly chilly outside so it made sense he'd want some. "And I think he was overwhelmed in there so I wanted to give him some space."

"O-Oh," the voice now sounded a bit sad. "Oh I understand. Did uh-...D-Did you see me win?"

"Of course I did! Great job out there by the way! I think you did a great job getting the crowds excited."

"Thanks! I think so too....Hey. Listen. There's a few things I need to do here as a part of my deal to come here with Prince Lear so it's going to be a little bit before I can actually see you again."

That stung a bit, after all you all hadn't really had time to see one another for almost a month by this point but you understood it was just his duties as a Champion. "Hey. No worries. I have my own hands fully taking care of Allister. Just do what you have to, and you can always call me."

He again sighed relieved. "THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I promise I'll try to get everything finished as soon as possible. When we get back together I have a surprise for you!"

"Oh?"

"Yeah. There's someone I want you to meet. But I can't tell you because it's a surprise."

A surprise huh? And he wanted to introduce you to someone? Well guess you were going to have to wait and find out who exactly it was. Well almost four weeks went by again and you still didn't see him. Gloria made more friends with two girls called May and Leaf, and Leon made sure to keep in touch by calling you and making sure everything was going ok and kept you in the loop of what had been going on. He got lost on his way to a pokemon center and got seperated from Charizard, luckily he ran into Scottie who helped him out. Scottie ran into him again battling a different Champion, Steven Stone, and the two almost caused a rock slide with their battles and almost getting lost again trying to find the Pasio woods. You facepalmed twice at that. And then he did a few promotional things for Galar, probably for the Chairwoman to help straighten out Galar's good name. And he got into a debate with two other Champions, Lance and Mr. Stone again, over...Capes?? You shook your head at that one and had to assure him his cape was in fact very dapper on him. Which made him super happy. Then February came and the holiday called 'Palentine's Day' arrived. It was essentially a Pasio holiday similar to Valentine's Day but it was less heavy on the romance aspect and was more about showing love towards your friends and family. So you received a few Palentine's Day treats from the trio and a couple wild flowers from Allister he picked for you and Bea. In the mean time you busied yourself with just caring for Allister and met a couple other people from Pasio and different Regions, some you remembered from the previous games you met some you didn't. Cynthia was very nice when you ran into her at a local ice cream shop and Allister bumped into her legs...Oh. There was also a couple villains chased off the islands. Giovanni was one of them. Yeah. After all your adventures, you weren't surprised in the least that one of the game villains was here. Unfortunately it meant pushing some plans for the Master's League. Sigh. Luckily by the time the end of February came around you were FINALLY able to meet up with Leon when he called you and asked to meet him at a cafe close by to the current hotel you were staying at. Quickly agreeing you gathered Allister and made for the cafe that he mentioned. The stone streets flew with your quick steps, holding Allister's hand to keep up pace until you came to the small cafe called 'The Lazy Rockruff' and walked on in. Already the cafe was PACKED with locals and trainers alike chattering and eating food and there you spotted Leon when he stood beaming that smile and waved over towards you both! Two people were next to him. One was Hop who looked as excited to see you as Lee was, and across from then was a girl who looked to be around the same age as Leon.

"Beauty! Over here," he called out beckoning you to come over.

Smiling you headed on over with Allister and the first thing you did upon reaching Leon was embrace him fully throwing your arms around his neck and felt him practically crush you with how close he pressed you to himself.

"Oh thank Arceus." He breathed relieved with a sigh and smile. "I missed you so much! I'm finally able to see you again."

"Hey!" You spoke back beaming pulling away from him. "I missed you too. I hope you don't mind me bringing Allister along."

"Of course not!," he quickly clarified shooting a smile to the boy holding onto your pants leg and he perked up seeing a familiar face. "Hey, Al! It's so good to see you again! Are you hungry?" Allister quickly nodded making the Champion chuckle, "Then you're in luck! This cafe happens to have some of the best food in Pasio! Oh! That reminds me." Smiling back to you Leon stepped aside and threw a hand at the woman sitting there smiling at Leon amused. "Y/n. I want you to meet someone special to me. This is our cousin, Iris. She's the champion from the Unova Region. She's here competing in the Masters League too!"

His cousin!? You blinked surprised over to her and were surprised to see how similar this woman looked to Hop and Leon. She had her hair up in a styled ponytail that was a darker shade of purple than Leon's, but her skin tone was the same. Her eyes though were a dark brown instead of that shiny gold that all of Leon's other family had. On her head was a small golden crest with green emeralds and she wore a pretty pink and white Nessa would've loved.

"Your cousin?," you asked surprised before smiling. "Um. Hi. Nice to meet you. I'm Y/n!"

"Oh I know," Iris said happily glancing at Leon, "I've heard all about you. Mostly because someone wouldn't stop gushing about you the entire time." Leon froze...before his face lit up a red and he rubbed his neck making his cousin chuckle. "I swear you're such a kid! You haven't changed one bit since I last saw you."

"H-Hey! I was just twelve then! I'm much better than I was-"

"You still get lost on your way to the bathroom!," she stated back more amused making Leon squawk an embarrassed noise before she turned to Hop and reached up to pat her younger cousin on the head. "But not you! Look at you all grown up saving Galar and becoming a professor!" She cooed making Hop groan. "But when are you gonna stop really being a kid and ask that Gloria girl out already?"

And it was Hop's turn to light up red face. "IRIS!? DON'T SAY THAT OUT LOUD!! SOMEONE MIGHT HEAR!!"

"So you're a Champion too huh?" You asked catching her attention, which was your plan to give these two boys a break. "Wow. I knew Lee and Hop would have impressive positions but I didn't know it ran in the family."

She shrugged at your compliment but still smiled. "It wasn't just handed to me so you know. I had to work for it same as them, but I don't think you're here to compete either right?"

You shook your head gesturing to Allister climbing on a chair. "I was hired to be Al's caretaker since he's too young to be by himself."

"Oh, how cute!" She gushed at Allister who sat down and looked at you expectantly. Oh right. He was hungry. "How are you enjoying Pasio so far?"

"It's a beautiful region," you answered sitting down by Allister and picking up a menu, "I've been having a fun time meeting all the different people and seeing so many pokemon!" You handed the menu to Allister so he could read over it to see what he wanted. "Some of the mini events the Prince put on have been entertaining too-"

"Oh wait!," Leon interrupted you two, making you look at him as he fumbled with something in his pockets, before pulling out a small pink box and shoving it towards you with a nervous smile. "H-Happy Belated Valentine's Day, Y/n!! I-I-I know it's late b-b-but I don't know when I'll see you again with the events coming up and I wanted to make it up to you for missing the holiday! I-I hope you like chocolate."

You blinked at his gift for a moment before smiling pink cheeked and taking it. "I do...Thank you."

Leon smiled. "Anything for you Beauty!"

"Beauty..You called me that twice. Is that your new nickname for me?"

He nodded. "Of course! Because you're beautiful to me.~"

Now it was your turn to light up red faced at his woods, but a small slam of Iris's hands against the table startled you both and Hop and Allister into looking at her determined face as she inhaled and pointed at you two.

"OK! SPILL! I want details on these two! Tell me all about your traveling and how you two got together! And don't leave out a single detail! I need to know how you two got together so I can help Hop overcome his dating crisis!!"

"IRIS!! DONT SAY THAT!!"

Well to say Iris was excited to meet you was an understatement. She was a lot like Hop in some ways and Leon in others with her own personality slipped in. Oh well. At least Allister was able to get something to eat. And Leon wasn't lying when he said he was going to be busy for a while either. There was going to be a Festival of Champions, a.k.a all the Champions coming together to entertain the masses until the actual major events could happen taking place later this March. Leon wanted to take this chance to be with you and introduce you to some more of his family before you both had to part again. Can't say you didn't enjoy the time...but it was funny to see both the brothers get flustered by their cousin's antics.

-APRIL TO JUNE-

It was fairly warm now and things were starting to pick up this month especially with all the events scheduled in the next two and a half months. Leon was training hard after the Champion event to train with Raihan for the Time Trials. You managed to convince Allister to join a couple harmless but fun events like a fun little easter egg hunt and a small Tea Party held by these two Twin Subway bosses running into Marnie and Sonia there. You also ran into Gloria battling Bettie in her old dojo suit from the Isle of Armor, apparently she had been wired the urshifu to care for a little bit and she wanted to try her luck with battling with it. Then there was the New Stars of Pasio Tournament and the Friendiversy surprise Raihan and Leon planned for the Prince who was busy running around planning the main event and trying to control everything. You didn't blame the two for trying to get the Prince to relax. Seemed Lear had a lot on his plate as it was with all this planning for the end of the year with the few villains pushing everything back by two months and spontaneously coming up with these smaller events to keep everyone entertained in the meantime...But you were glad he wasn't pestering you like he did at the party. But SOMETHING happened halfway through June. The Time Trials event had just ended and you thought you'd be able to see Leon after he took a break from the events, but that wasn't meant to be. Imagine sleeping in the middle of the night and feeling the entire earth suddenly shake with an earthquake under your feet. It was so hard you fell off your bed and onto the floor with a loud yelp and cry of pain as the ground continued to shake and the fair off cry of multiple loud dynamaxed pokemon reached your ears-...Making your eyes pop open in panick because the only other time this happened here was because those goons were forcibly dynamaxing pokemon. But...THIS COULDN'T BE HAPPENING HERE!! There wasn't any natural dynamax particles in Pasio! And no one brought their dynamax bands with them on the trip over here. You had just gotten up as the shaking stopped, the distant sounds of giant pokemon getting more distant ready to go see just what the heck was going on but those plans were dashed when your door was suddenly thrown open and in ran Allister who immediately ran straight for your legs throwing his arms around you and burying his face into your pants leg.

"Y-Y/N!!," he wailed clearly terrified and shaking, "What's going on!?"

"I don't know." You flinched and turned your head towards the ceiling as a far away pokemon cry was heard. "...But let's just stay inside until everything calms down, ok?"

Safe to say neither of you got a wink of sleep that night staying awake for the rest of the night and waiting for morning to come before daring to venture outside again at all and when you did everything seemed-....Normal?? Well normal-ish. There was lots of other people walking around confused and looking around at seemingly nothing. There wasn't any signs of giant pokemon anywhere and after a couple hours most everyone just went back to their normal lives and seemed to shrug off last night's events. But you and Allister were still on edge. Was there another villain visit? What even HAPPENED last night? You tried calling Leon to no avail and you couldn't find Hop or the twins anywhere you searched! You were getting worried at this point asking around but it seemed like no one saw any of your friends or boyfriend. You got your answer later that day when the sun was just going down and Sparky again alerted you to something.

"*PZZZT* Incoming call from Leon!", he called out flying from your pocket, "Do you wish to Accept or Decline?"

"Accept!," you answered immediately and Sparky accepted the call to which you rose a brow at. "LEON!! I've been trying to get ahold of you all day! Did you feel that shaking last night?! I can't find anyone anywhere!"

There was silence from Leon's end of the line before he finally answered. "U-Um...Eeeeh. Oh. Uh-...YYyyeaaaahh. About that-.." He started out in a low tone making you raise your brows. He sounded EXTREMELY nervous and stuttered as he spoke. "Um...I-Is Allister with you?''

You glanced to the little boy who was currently holding you hand with one hand and drinking a soda with the other watching a nearby pokemon battle (probably because one of the battling pokemon was a Haunter-) and not paying attention to you at all. "Of course he is...Why do you ask?"

"Could you meet Bea at the Lazy Rockruff cafe so she can watch him for a b-bit?" Your brow rose higher.

"...Why?"

"I- Uh-...G-Got something important to show you. Can you meet me by Pasio's woods? Please? I promise I can explain everything!"

Your brow rose higher? What was this so about? And so close to the end of the day. Well can't say you didn't want answers and Leon did ask you. Sigh. The things you got yourself into for the people you cared about. Well you did drop off Allister with Bea who thankfully took him before you made your way for he woods...Except Leon didn't say WHERE in the blasted forest to meet at!! By the time you even got there in was dark and you spent twenty mintues now just walking around shouting his name and straining your eyes to search for him in the growing dark-

"Y/N!!" You screamed and whipped around arm swinging on instinct and Leon ducked at JUST the right moment your fist went flying over his head but knocking his hat off and onto the ground with a thud. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Cease fire!" He quickly snapped back up holding his hands with a panicked expression. "It's just me!!"

You froze arm still raised staring at Leon...before sighing in relief. And slowly lowering your hands. "ARCEUS LEE!! DONT. DO. THAT!!" The man chuckled nervously as you frowned and crossed your arms. "Where have you been!? I've been looking for you all over this creepy forest! And what are you even doing here in the middle of the night?! It's creepy out here!"

"Uh-...Ye-Yeah. Um-..." His hand rubbed the back of his neck. "Hey, Y/n. Do you remember when you met Iris?"....Your brows furrowed more as he slowly and shakily reached down to pick up his hat and smile nervously. "W-Well-...I want you to meet someone else, but I know a lot of people would freak s-s-so I asked ya to meet me here."

"....I'm sorry. You lost me there. Can you start from the beginning?"

He opened his mouth and closed it multiple times, moving his hands around as he gestured at nothing and anything and went between fiddling with his hat and rubbing his neck between those gestures as he went between stuttering and silently opening his mouth seeming to try and form words. Meanwhile you stared at him harder trying to figure out what the heck he was trying to say before he just froze...Like literally just froze as if someone pressed pause on him. Gold eyes going wide and going behind you panickily, sweat forming on his face. What was- You froze as a breath of warm air suddenly hit the back of your body and a shadow blocked out the moonlight behind you. The hair on the back of your neck stood on end feeling the presence behind you as something VERY large towered over you-...and every SO SLOWLY you turned your head to look behind your shoulder. And your jaw dropped in a silent terrified scream!! Standing above you was a MONSTER!! A glowing black and red reptile snake skeleton thing floated just above you taking a few curious sniffs at your iced form. It made some kind of rumble grunt noise before tilting it's head at you curiously like a curious yamper. Meanwhile Leon continued to sweat furiously and smile even more nervously.

"U-Um...So! Uh-..S-Surprise! Ahaha! Um. Y-Y/n, you remember Eternatus right? Wo-Would you believe he crash landed here on Pasio!? HAHA!! F-Funny coincidence right!?"

You continued to stare at the thing above you before you took the deepest and loudest inhale of air you ever took, and slowly turned back to your boyfriend. "Leon." Leon flinched. "You have exactly ten seconds to explain what the frick frack snick snack in Arceus's name is going on before I lose my crap and scream!"

-JULY TO SEPTEMBER-

Well you took the news that not only did Eternatus survive but was now a permanent member of Leon's team well-.....Eventually. He had to explain everything and then had to have Hop and Gloria RE-explain just so you could wrap your head around it. Oh and apparently Steven Stone had requaza so Leon said there was nothing to worry about because if one Champion had a legendary pokemon then surely he could handle it. You however took a while to come to terms with that fact and decided to keep your distance from the thing for now. Of all the luck in the world right? Sigh.

How did these things keep happening to You of all people?

Leon begged you to give it a chance and that he'd make sure it was kept in safe hands and to not hate him for this. Sigh. You could argue with the puppy eyes he was giving you and agreed but said he had better keep a close eye on it. He couldn't stop hugging you and thanking you for over an hour. Sigh. Oh well. At least the thing was contained by the strongest trainer you knew. There was comfort in that at least. In the meantime you had others things to keep you busy. Taking care of Allister 24/7 was one of those things. He had a tendency to wonder off in the middle of the night to search for ghost pokemon so you had to keep an extra close eye on him. But today seemed like a normal day. You were able to see Leon for a bit before he had to leave since he agreed to meet up with some trainers that day to practice some battles before you gave him a kiss good bye on the cheek and going on your way. Everyone you knew was busy this day. Marnie and Gloria were running some kind of beach cafe stand with some new summer outfits Nessa slapped together for them and asked to borrow Silver for one of their games, Victor was training with Nessa for the Masters League, and you were pretty sure Hop was collecting some fur samples from some native Pasio pokemon for Sonia today. Everyone else was doing something else or competing in the new mini event the prince announced over the TV today. It was called The Battle of Gold or something like that, you were too busy taking care of Allister to pay much attention to it. So it was just you, Allister, and Zen after he finally decided to not sleep in and follow you around today. After seeing Leon at the center you got some breakfast, and decided to go on a walk to the woods today. It was the last month of summer and it'd be a good idea to get some fresh air and enjoy the nice weather before it got too cold. Plus it was a nice way to let Allister play around without bumping into a whole lot of people or lose him in the big crowds. Which was why you were smiling and watching as Allister ran in front of you zigzagging between a couple trees in a mix of tag and hide and seek with his Gengar who harmlessly chased after the boy popping in and out of the shadows making him let off rare high pitched laughs you otherwise wouldn't hear out of him. You were expecting him to have fun. What you weren't expecting was to run into someone while out here while you were just watching Allister and turned hearing the sound of something rustling through the brush, only to blink when a head of fluffy white hair and familiar pink coat came walking out of the woods and seemed just as surprised to see you standing there too. Before he gave his usual huff and frown.

"Hmph. It's just you." Turning his head he looked off to the side, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm taking Allister out for the day," you answered brow raising, "What are you doing in the middle of the woods?"

"Training for the Masters League of course! What else would I being with my time?," he stated matter of factly making Allister pause and look over towards the both of you for a moment...before his gengar tagged him making him squeal and give chase again. "I have to practice if I'm going to challenge Leon and every other champion here with my superior fairy types! Is it a crime to want to train where I won't be disturbed?"

"No. I was just surprised to see you out here is all."...You gave a smile before holding out your hand to him to shake which seemed to startle him making him flinch and blink at your smile. "Congratulations on making it into the competition! You did a great job battling back in the Star Tournament and the Battle Tower."

He still continued to stare at you dumbfounded before huffing again keeping his hands in his pockets. "Hmph. Not good enough. I still didn't win-"

"It doesn't matter if you win or lose, Bede," you interrupted him making him blink at your firm frown, "You can't expect to win every battle. Not even the Champions expect to win every battle they have. Even Leon lost some. But it doesn't matter who's the strongest or has the better pokemon. All that matters is that you try your best." He blinked when your hand patted his shoulder with a smile. "You're better at me with battling, and you were good enough to catch Prince Lear's attention to come here and compete. So don't be so hard on yourself. You're going to become strong, but at your own pace."

Bede's purple eyes continued to get wider and wider until he looked away embarrassed. "...I-I see. ...W-Well then I suppose one's own pace would best for d-discovering one's strength."

You smiled wider. "There you go. Don't worry about it too much. Just go at your own pace and everything will be ok."

While you talked to him Allister's gengar disappeared behind a giant bush and of course the little boy pushed some branches out of the way to follow him before he paused, masked eyes blinking at something behind the bush, before he excitedly hurried his way through the bush disappearing to the other side after the thing he saw. Meanwhile Bede hesitated when you pulled your hand away from him and looked back forward before looking back up and blurtin something out.

"Thankyou!''

You blinked at him. "...What?"

"I-I-I s-said-," he stuttered before clearing his throat and taking a breath. "I said. T-Thank you. For-...Blocking Oleana from me. I never got to thank you so I-I'm saying it now because I hate owing people things and I no longer w-want to owe you a thank you!"

You still stared at him for a moment but smiled as he embarrassedly looked away. "Hey. No problem." Your head turned back to Allister, but froze when you saw he was no longer in your line of sight. "ALLISTER!?" You suddenly shouted startling Bede and making Zen look up from the random tree he was sharpening his claws on. A spike of panic and fear spearing into your brain and down your spine-

"O-Over here." A small voice called and you heads turned to a movement in a bush before the limbs moved and a masked head timidly poked it's head out revealing Allister. ..He timidly waved at Bede. "H-Hi."

You breathed a sigh of relief. "Allister, don't run off like that. You scared me for a second....What are you even doing inside that bush?" You assumed playing hide and seek with his gengar.

He perked up and motioned for you to follow him. "Come see! I-I found something fun."

He disappeared back into the bush and you and Bede exchanged a look before following him, pushing through the giant bush and knocking off a few leaves before coming out the other sides. On the other side was Allister and his gengar, who was holding a giant yellow ball. The gengar was having fun throwing the giant yellow ball up and down in the air and laughing as it easily bounced on the ground. It looked like ones of those giant exercise balls you'd see yoga instructors use. Again you and Bede looked at each other in a confused manner. Well THIS was strange. What was a giant toy ball doing in the middle of the woods? Your head looked around the woods, but there wasn't anyone else around so where did this ball come from?

"I-Isn't it cool?," Allister asked happy to have found such a neat thing in the middle of the woods. His Gengar chuckled and softly bounced the giant ball to Allister who stumbled one or two steps catching it considering it was bigger than him, but he only giggled and easily held up the light weighted toy up. Giving you a hopeful look. "C-Can I keep it?"

"Well-..." You again looked around seeing no signs of anyone between the trees other than you three. Until eventually you shook your head no. "We better not. It doesn't belong to us and someone's probably going to come back looking for it."

"O-Oh..." He sadly shuffled his shoulders before looking back up. "C-Can I still play with it?"

"Sure. Just remember we have to put it back before we leave."

Allister nodded. "Ok! I will!" You smiled at how cute he was and Bede half way rolled his eyes before something large and yellow was softly rolled into his legs. Bede blinked at it before following the golden thing to Allister who nervously shuffled half way behind it. "U-Um...D-Do you wanna pl-play with me?"

The question shocked the both of you staring at Allister stunned before Bede blinked. "W-Well I-..*ahem* Well that's certainly a question. I-..'' He glanced between you and Allister looking lost. "I-I-I suppose... so?"

Allister seemed as surprised as you before he perked up. "R-Really?! Ok!" Before Bede could say anything Allister grabbed the golden ball and began pushing it towards a small opening in the trees within your eye sight. "C-C'mon! Y-You can watch Gengar juggle me and the ball!"

Bede blinked before a half alarmed look came over him. "Did you say 'juggle you'? Now wait a minute! Don't you consider that unsafe?" He quickly walked after the boy holding up a hand. "Let's not do that! We can play catch instead! A nice safe game without heights!"

You laughed at the sudden worry on Bede's face and decided to stand there and watch the two play around. There was just something so amusing about watching Bede fumble about to try and be gentle with Allister, and you laughed when the gengar spooked him by popping out of Bede's shadow. But to your surprise Bede didn't go off on any rants or say anything that might've made Allister feel bad. The two seemed to be getting along pretty decently. Opal did a good job with getting Bede out of that negative mindset Rose put him in. Yeah. He'd be alright. You stood there for a good twenty five minutes watching the two interact before something caught your attention. Hey. Wait a second. Where was Zen? You turned back to the bush before looking back at the two kids, they were both currently softly rolling the ball back and forth between them. It'll only take a moment to pop back through the bush and see where your zangoose went. Everything should be alright. So you turned and stepped back through the bush for just a second looking around-...And sighing when you spotted the zangoose lazily laying by the now clawed up tree from earlier in a patch of sun, but he did look up to you upon hearing the bush rustling. A smile graced your face seeing your boy yawn showing his large fangs off- and then a shriek pierced the air making you freeze and Zen immediately jump to his feet fur bristling down his back-

"Y/N!! Y/N!!! Y/N!!", Allister's usually meek voice wailed like he was on fire splitting the air open like a knife.

Your body moved on it's own on instinct at this point being used to protecting kids from danger and your instincts were on high alert as you literally came flying through the bush on the other side and stopped in your tracks at what slapped your vision. A stranger with black and white hair was standing there. A VERY tall man that would've even towered over Leon if he was here, he was staring at Bede eyes narrowed, and he was wearing some kind of weird red samurai suit that made clacking noises when his body moved. In front of him Allister was crying into his Gengar's side as the poor pokemon patted his back in a poor attempt to console him and Bede narrowed his eyes right back pointing at the strange man and yelling at him, and you understood why when you spotted a familiar golden ball held over the man's head.

"Listen here you uncouth fiend!," Bede hissed at the man, "You give that toy back this instant or else! Who are you to even take from a tiny child!? At least have the decency to battle him for it first!"

The man gave a grunt before leaning over Bede making his purple eyes shrink just as he now realized the major height disadvantage. "And who're you, lil punk? I bet yer part of Diantha's team aren't'cha? Tryin' to keep the sphere for your team I bet!"

"I-I-I-...W-What on earth are you even talking about!?" Bede shook his head and made an attempt to look threatening back. "Now see here! T-That toy doesn't even belong to you!"

"Oh yeah? Well it does now. What're you goin' to do about it, Cottonee Brain?"

Bede looked lost again staring up at this man and visibly gulped under his menacing form-

"HEY!!" Both looked over as you felt your anger rising. Your hands balled into fists and your face twisted into a scowl as you marched up to the man who stared not expecting another person to be there either. "WHAT IN ARCEUS'S NAME IS GOING ON HERE- OOF!!" You stopped almost tripped when Allister snapped from wailing into his gengar's side to hugging your pants leg instead stiff sniffing.

A shaky hand pointed up at the man. "H-H-He- *HIC*" Your heart broke at the small broken voice. "H-He took the b-ball."

..Well- Your broken heart was quickly replaced with anger as your face snapped back to the man with a scowl of hatred faster than a pokemon's quick attack. "What the heck is your problem, Man!? What grown butt adult steals toys from a little kid!?"

The man blinked before slowly standing back up to his full hieght. Well Bede immediately retreated from his spot to behind you glancing from the safety of behind your back. "Yeah? And who're you to butt in!? Mind your own business, Girly!"

"It IS my business if you're scaring my kids!?," you blurted back out not even backing down from him looking at you, "And who the heck are you!?"

"I'm the big bad boss that beats you down and beats you down-", he spoke up narrowing his eyes more lowering to glare you in the eyes, "-and never let's up! I'm destruction in human form! And if you think I'm lettin' you and a couple little punks walk away with my victory then you're in for a bad time!"

...You rose a brow and looked at Allister who still hiccuped clinging to you. Then over your shoulder at Bede who looked scared. Then you inhaled and looked back to this man. "Ok. I'm only going to say this once. Give us back the toy and I won't tear you to shreds."

The man blinked...before he threw his head back and laughed loudly. A smug smile on his face as you rose a brow. Oh well. Can't say you didn't warn him. Casually you bent down and picked up Allister. Bede yelped as you suddenly turned to him and practically shoved the boy into his arms.

"Here. Hold him. I want you to take the ball and just go over a little bit and play ok?" You smiled at both of them. "This shouldn't take too long."

"Take the ball? HA!," he spoke coming down from his laughing fit and smirking. "That's a good one! I'd like to see you do that. Why don't you do us a favor and go window shoppin' or sniffing flowers or somethin' girls like. That kid needs to learn to share anyways."

Bede's purple eyes widened before he glanced at your silent form. "....Oh no."

The man rose a brow-....

!?

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey! What are ya doin' with that stick- AH!!"

Meanwhile in a different part of the forest two full teams of purple stood facing one another in silence waiting for one of the team's leader to return. Some wore fancy costumes for the occasion some didn't, some had their pokemon out already to begin battling. Each team having two giant golden spheres to guard. ....Eventually the awkward silence got to them and someone spoke.

"*ahem* So...I do not suppose your team has seen Guzma yet?," a woman in silver armor asked.

Another woman on the other team shook her head. "Sorry, Diantha. But I'm sure he'll be back any minute now!"

"Where on earth did he go?," Diantha questioned raising a brow. "We're supposed to battle to decide the winning team since no one can find the fifth sphere."

"That's just the thing. We don't know. He said he had to get something important and that he'd be right back....But it's been nearly an hour now."

Diantha hummed. Well that was odd. She didn't know Guzma well but she knew well enough to know this was strange for him. He couldn't be planning an ambush on her team, if he was he would've done it an hour ago, and they couldn't battle to decide the winner unless both teams had all their members. So where in the world could he have gone-

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

Almost everyone flinched when a loud man's yell pierced the air and made everyone jump as flying type pokemon scattered into the air at the high pitched yell. Making everyone look up at the sky.

"What was-"

"THAT'S GUZMA'S VOICE!!," someone cried looking horrified. "He must be in trouble! What if he's being attacked by a wild pokemon!?"

"EVERYONE REMAIN CALM!!," Diantha shouted before pointing to the ground and swiveling her body towards the direction of the scream. "I'll handle this! Stay here and guard the spheres!"

Her armor clanked as she sprinted off into the wooded trees and vegetation. Guzma must well be in trouble, but she wouldn't risk it being some kind of trick to get them to abandon their sphere for the other team to take. But she had to make sure he wasn't harmed in any way. As the Kalos champion disappeared into the brush the other team members looked at one another unsure of what to do without either of their team leaders until someone spoke up.

"So...Anyone know what's going on?"

Diantha's heart pounded in her chest, footfalls heavy as she ran towards the sounds of the yells of pain. That was most definitely Guzma's voice. She wasn't sure what was going on but she knew Guzma must've needed help! Her right hand squeezed her fateful partner's pokeball ready if need be-

"AH!! HELP!! SOMEONE COME HELP ME ALREADY!! OW!! OWOWOW!! HELP ME!!"

There he was! Just behind that giant bush up ahead! Picking up her pace, Diantha launched herself through the bush and raised her hand ready to throw the ball-....And stopped.

"AH!! OW! OW!! YOU'RE FREAKIN' CRAZY LADY- AH! LET GO O' ME!!"

"NOT UNTIL YOU APOLOGIZE YOU GIANT RED DUNG BEATLE!!"

"I DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!!"

Diantha slowly blinked...before slowly lowering her arm and staring at the strange sight in front of her. Guzma was there alright....On the ground stomach first. With a woman on his back. The woman looked absolutely furious sitting on his back and forcibly pulling one of his arms behind him to keep him painfully on the ground with one of her feet braced against his shoulder blades in a way to make it impossible for him to reach around to yank her off him. No amount of kicking or rocking his body was able to throw her off either. Leaving him with no other choice but to cry out for help. His face was twisted in pain but turned desperate when he saw her.

"DIANTHA!!," he cried out his free hand banging the ground over and over, "GET THIS RABBID AIPOM OFF O' ME!! OW!!"

"NOT UNTIL YOU APOLOGIZE!"

"M' SORRY OK!! M'SORRY!! NOW GET OFF!!" You did let go at that point- He gave off a squeal when you suddenly lurched forward and both hands slammed themselves next to his head as he stared sideways at you from the ground. Eyes going wide as you scowled down at him from his back holding him down.

"If you ever try doing something like that again, I'll make sure to make you cry more than Allister did! This is going to be the only time I warn you about this."

Guzma said nothing as you got up, dusted yourself off, gave a curious look over at Diantha...before giving Guzma another scowl and walking off. Both team leaders stood there in silence as you walked off and disappeared through the brush, and still continued sitting in silence until Diantha looked at Guzma. His red suit made a couple clacking noises as he slowly sat himself up onto his behind rubbing his sore arm just-...silently staring at the direction where you disappeared off into. Before Diantha sighed, pocketing her pokeball and walked over to him.

"Honestly Mr. Guzma, what were you doing? Is this where you've been this whole time? We've been waiting for you for over an hour!"...She rose a brow when he said nothing. "Guzma? Are you alright? Your face is red."

"....I think m' in love."

"...WOT?"

Meanwhile you jogged and managed to catch up with both Bede and Allister who had by now calmed down completely and continued playing pass the ball back and forth with Bede, Zen trailing behind you. Your anger melted away to smile at the two and Allister perked up seeing you again.

"Y/n!" He ran up and you smiled sweetly as he hugged your legs. "D-Did you make him go away?"

You nodded. "Yep. I talked to the bad man and he said he's not going to bully anyone anymore." You patted his head. "And he's not going to take your ball again."

The purple eyes behind the mask widened. "MY BALL!?"

You nodded. "Yep. I don't think anyone else is going to try and take it so you can keep it."

"YAY!!" Allister through up his hands and you couldn't help but chuckle at him and the relieved look Bede gave you.

In the end Allister got to keep the giant golden bouncy ball and he seemed really happy to get ice cream afterwards when it got too dark and you walked both boys home. Allister happily rolling the golden ball next to you back to the hotel although it would be a bit of a struggle to fit it through the door, you were sure you could squeeze it in. You had JUST gotten back to the hotel when you ran into a certain lavender haired man. Making you smile widely at the Champion.

"LEON!!"

The champion perked up before turning around, wet hair plastered to his face before he lit up beaming seeing you there walking towards him. "Y/N! Hey! Where have you been?"

"Babysitting and talking sense into a bully, but everything's alright now."

"I found a ball!," Allister spoke up happily holding up the giant golden ball to Leon, "Y/n said I can keep it! I can't wait to show Bea tomorrow!"

"You did!?" Leon smiled happily spitting a few grains of beach sand out of his mouth. "That's great! Sounds like you had an amazing day."

"Hey, Lee." he turned to you with a hum. "...Why are you all soaked? I'm pretty sure it didn't rain today."

"Huh? Oh. I got lost and ended up on the ocean floor so I had to swim up onto the beach. Just my luck the people I was battling today was right there so it all worked out in the end! So no worries!"

You stared at him. ".....How did you end up walking out of the ocean!?"

-OCTOBER-

Well it turns out the Masters League was pushed back far enough that it wouldn't even take place until the very end of the year after Christmas. Sigh. So you were going to have to spend another two months here on Pasio. Well it wasn't all bad. Halloween was rapidly approaching which made Allister all excited because it was his favorite holiday! It was cute seeing him get all excited and happily say he was going to get the biggest bad of candy of all the kids trick or treating!! He was even more excited when Nessa one day showed up to take his measurements to make him his very own costume! So he was very much excited. When he wasn't excitedly seeing all the halloween decorations he was playing with the new ball he got or having Nessa come and take double measurements or showing him pictures of designs she had in mind or some fabric she wanted his opinion on. At one point he lost a few of his masks after the cleaning lady of the hotel misplaced them while cleaning his hotel room. Allister freaked out and what was worse was that it was Halloween and Bea wanted to take him for Prince Lear's plan for the Midnight Spookfest. Oh yeah. You remembered eyeing the Prince who showed up out of the blue to talk to Allister about being the surprise opponent to his haunted house attraction. You think Allister only agreed because he felt guilty about saying no...Well guess where all those masks ended up? YEP! Turns out someone from the hotel found the abundant of masks just sitting in the hallway and decided to use them to decorate one of the rooms in the Prince's manor where most of the festival's activities were taking place. It took you FOREVER to help his gengar remove all those masks from the walls to give them back to Allister. Luckily it seemed no one minded you were taking them down and handing them back to Allister or didn't want to approach you with the scowl you wore trying to carry all these masks at once all the way back to the hotel. Sigh. But on the bright side Allister seemed to enjoy himself for the night and was able to go trick or treating after the Prince's small battling event ended. Thank goodness he didn't try flirting with you again because he was so busy manhandling the event. By the time you got back to the hotel arms full of masks, Nessa had already dropped off his costume and it was absolutely ADORABLE!! He looked like a cute little pumpkaboo when he eventually put it on and hurried you out the door into the streets. There was already a lot of kids and teenagers in the streets going from house to house with bags full of candy, and you were surprised Allister was able to drag you around with one hand excitedly from house to house asking for candy and being followed by multiple ghosts pokemon giggling his head off. But you weren't complaining. Let him have a good time. You ran into Leon's cousin and Iris joined you both to trick or treat at a couple houses before saying good bye before complimenting Allister's Costume. All in all it was surely a Halloween you'd not soon forget for a while.

#reader #leon x reader #reader x leon #leon #pokemon reader #pokemon reader x leon #pokeon leon #pokemon leon x reader #pokemon shield #pokemon sword #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon swsh

[goldenvicious]

Enter: Arrowhead + Vs: Gym Leader Nessa

After I healed up at the Pokemon Center near the entrance of the town, I encounter Rose and his...uh, bodyguard lady? She was telling passerbys to move along and not bother the chairman. Mr. Rose told her that they need to support their fans to keep doing what they're doing. He called Oleana harsh for chasing them off.

She responded that while fans are important, he still needs to keep doing his work- for their sake. Bede is also there with the chairman. Bede and Rose talk for a bit about Bede's progress, and wether he'll win or one of the Champion Endorsed Trainers will. Bede says that he'll prove that the Chairman's faith will not be misplaced and left.

I than approach and Rose spots me, recognizing me. He has the sudden idea to hold a celebration for me after I get Nessa's Badge in order to get to know me better. Oleana tries to hurry him along, and Rose wishes me the best before leaving for the Seafood restaurant. I decide to explore the town of Hulbury before I go to face Nessa, buying and picking up Items as I go. I also caught an Arrokuda and named her Arrowhead.

While exploring, I found Nessa near the Lighthouse. I guess I have heavy footsteps or something, because she greeted me without even looking at me. I guess word got around that Hop and I are endorsed by Leon, because it seems like everyone knows. I in particular have become something of a hot topic among the Gym Leaders. Nessa gave me her League Card so I can learn more about her since she knows about me. She headed to the Stadium and I followed. I got suited up in my Gym Uniform and took on the Gym Mission.

The guy from the start of the 1st gym greeted me again and explained the Water Gym's Mission: a maze of rushing water. There are buttons to turn on and off pipes that are spewing water. With that explanation, I'm off to complete the maze. As I'm pressing buttons, I realize that my only good Pokemon against water is Princess, but I want to save her for Nessa. So for the most part, I use other Pokemon to battle the gym trainers.

After turning pipes on and off and fighting a total of 3 trainers, I'm feeling ready to take on Nessa. I switch around my team members and have Princess.l as my 1st Pokemon.

As I enter the battle field, Nessa comes from the entrance across. She welcomes me and apologizes for making me look for her. She doesn't doubt her mission's difficulty, yet I cleared it. She calls my mind refined. However, no matter what kind of plan my refined mind comes up with, she'll sink it with her Pokemon. With that, we head to our sides and prepare to battle.

You are challenged by Gym Leader Nessa!

She leads with a Goldeen as her first Pokemon, as I send out Princess. She outspeeds and lands a Horn Attack, while I attack with Rapid Spin to boost my speed. I rapid spin one more time, but Goldeen uses Agility to equal me in speed. I decide to use Magical Leaf to make sure I hit, but Nessa lands a Horn Attack first. The Magical Leaf KOs Goldeen in one hit.

Her next Pokemon is Arrokuda, but I keep Princess in I take this chance to heal with a Super Potion, healing up to Full. Arrokuda hits with a Bite, dealing 1/4th of my hp. I use Magical Leaf and OHKO Arrokuda with a Critical hit.

Last up was her ace: Drednaw. I stay in and get ready to go big. The crowd goes wild as Nessa sends out Drednaw, chanting and cheering us both on. I dynamax Princess and go for Max Overgrowth coming off of Magical Leaf. Nessa also Dynamaxes Drednaw, ready to flood the stadium. I outspeed and land Max Overgrowth first, puttinf Drednaw in Red HP, while Drednaw responds with a Max Strike, knocking our HP really low and Lowering our Speed. I outspeed next turn and KO with Max Overgrowth. With that, we beat Nessa without suffering any casualties.

Nessa is shocked at her loss, but accepts it. She tells me to continue seizing victory in the Gym Challenge with my Pokemon. She says that I have an incredible spirit and may even be strong enough to take on the champion. She shakes my hand and awards me with the Water Badge. My next target is the Fire Gym Leader.

Post Gym Team:

As I leave the stadium, I am given TM 36: Whirlpool as a gift. I have beaten the gym, and I didn't lose anyone this time.

Chocolate the Vanillite

Status: Alive

Level: 20

Held Item: Expert Belt

Nature: Rash

Ability: Ice Body

Moveset: Icy Wind, Taunt, Mist, Harden

BroBro the G-Slowpoke

Status: Alive

Level: 22

Held Item: Leftovers

Nature: Adamant

Ability: Gluttony

Moveset: Confusion, Headbutt, Bulldoze, Yawn

DigDug the Drilbur

Status: Alive

Level: 22

Held Item: Silver Powder

Nature: Brave

Ability: Sand Rush

Moveset: Bulldoze, Metal Claw, X-Scissor, Hone Claws

Vee the Flareon

Status: Alive

Level: 22

Held Item: Silk Scarf

Nature: Adamant

Ability: Flash Fire

Moveset: Ember, Double-Edge, Quick Attack, Tail Whip

Goldeneye the Drizzile

Status: Alive

Level: 23

Held Item: Mystic Water

Nature: Modest

Ability: Torrent

Moveset: Water Pulse, Swift, Whirlpool, Tearful Look

Princess the Steenee

Status: Alive

Level: 24

Held Item: Rose Incense

Nature: Naughty

Ability: Oblivious

Moveset: Magical Leaf, Razor Leaf, Rapid Spin, Sweet Scent.

#nuzlocke #pokemon shield #arrokuda #gym leader nessa #long post

[twiztidskull]

Nessa, the Gym Leader at Hulbury Stadium wonderfully cosplayed at Animazement 2022 by @moe.star_ #nessapokemon #nessa #nessacosplay #pokemon #pokemoncosplay #pokemonswordshield #animazement2022 #animazement #cosplay #コスプレ #косплей #ルリナ #prismaapp #prisma (at Animazement) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ceg0hZHpa4z/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#nessapokemon #nessa #nessacosplay #pokemon #pokemoncosplay #pokemonswordshield #animazement2022 #animazement #cosplay #コスプレ #косплей #ルリナ #prismaapp #prisma

[krn-art]

Painted Nessa from 2019! Lines by Artgerm~

✦ Please don’t repost or use other people’s art  ✦  

I just took the challenge to paint it ^^

KRNArt

#nessa #pokemon #line art challenge #2019 #trainer #Nessa Pokémon #Pokémon #Hulbury Stadium #Water Badge #Gym Leader #ルリナ #Rurina #tiktok #tiktok video is up #049 #water #paint challenge #artgerm #artgerm lines

[epicspheal]

Rose being not forthcoming about his intentions might stem from and / or feed into his thinking that he knows best. The other side might mean that he doesn't like being doubted or questioned. So he does his own things which could be seen as too reckless as one example, without telling anybody. He only spills the beans when it's too late to stop.

Hi, there anon! That's a good point! I've actually covered this a bit in a more roundabout way in a much older post (linked here). While my views on Rose have changed quite a bit since I wrote that post two years ago I definitely still firmly believe that Rose has definitely has a "I know what's best" type of attitude that ultimately hurts him in the end. It's, unfortunately, a very common trope (both in fiction and IRL) that people who have obtained massive amounts of success tend to have it go to their heads. And thus they tend to become more impulsive and not communicate things with others well because they've been so successful for so long, what would make them think that this time they might be deeply wrong? When you consider that from a young age Rose was propped up as the golden child (compared to Peony) and had enjoyed massive success in all of his endeavors you can see where he not only got a big head but where he would develop a fear of being wrong/being seen in a negative light. This of course leads to a disastrous results of the Darkest Day. There are a couple of quotes here when I think about Rose and his need to be right/seen as in the right: "Ah! I just had a good idea, as I tend to do!" - Rose in Hulbury when you just arrive Rose is very much used to having ideas that are perceived as good given all of the innovations he's achieved in Galar "One for the history books... You still don't understand, young Champion... We... No, I am going to change the course of history!" - Rose tower after Leon ushers the player and Hop away Rose is concerned about his legacy, his reputation. Which to be fair to him is valid concern. He had pretty much built modern-day Galar but his innovations were going to slowly lead Galar to ruin. The Dynamax bands, the dynamaxing in stadiums, and gathering Galar particles to convert into energy were consuming the finite resources Galar naturally had. He's concerned about the course of history, the future, namely his future legacy.

#chairman rose #pokemon swsh #ask epic spheal

[480pfootage]

THE TAPH TEN THINGS TA LOOK OUT FOR IN GAYLAR

10. Famous cryptid ‘n rockah Piers frum Spikemuth 9. Two headed Krabbeh’s in da Hulbury hahbah 8. A wicked lot of beahs in Wyndan 7. Wyndan Stadium (bloody massive!) 6. Oystah chowdah at Bob’s Yer Uncle 5. The ‘ero’s Bauth 4.  Bloody fucken’ good mushrooms in da Ballonlea furest 3. A buncha sand ‘n Stow-’n-Side 2. Bonkah mascots like Ball Guy 1. A nice cuppa of tea ‘n da cold at one ofv Circhestah’s cafes

Based on a shirt I have in my house

#british pride #raihan #raihan pokemon #pokemon raihan #gym leader raihan #trainer raihan #pokemon #pokemon swsh #swsh #sword and shield #pokemon sword and shield #art #my art

[fairy-primarina528]

Pokemon Swsh Minor League Gym Locations

I've always wondered about which stadiums the minor league gym leaders would occupy if they obtained a spot in the majors. I'm going to make these headcanons based on Galar's geography and every city's aesthetic.

Steel Gym: Motostoke ( The photo on Peony's rare league card seems to have been taken nearby route 3, just west of Motostoke. The whole city's appearance screams steel type. Also, Peony and Kabu are close colleagues/acquaintances based on their Galarian Star Tournament interactions.)

Poison Gym: Spikemuth (Klara's aesthetic would fit in well with Spikemuth. It makes so much sense for her, as an aspiring performer turned gym leader, to have her gym in a city with an established music scene.)

Psychic Gym: Ballonlea (Ballonlea's whimsical appearance makes it perfect for the Psychic gym. The Glimwood Tangle is home to plenty of Psychic pokemon such as Indeedee, Oranguru and Galarian Ponyta. It's also fun to imagine Bede and Avery having a rivalry based on their Galarian Star Tournament interactions.)

Ground Gym: Stow-on-Side (The town's desert location makes sense for the Ground gym. Route 6 is home to Ground pokemon such as Silicobra and Galarian Yamask.)

Electric Gym: Hammerlocke (The city is home to the Energy Plant. Surely, the Electric type gym leader is tasked with taking care of it.)

Flying Gym: Hulbury (I'm at a lost here. The clear open skies overlooking the ocean could make for some impressive aerial displays in battle.)

Normal and Bug Gyms: Turffield (Once again, I'm at a lost. For the Normal gym, herding Wooloo could still make sense as a gym mission. As for the Bug gym, a possible gym mission could be rounding up any pesky bug type pokemon to keep them away from the farms.)

#pokemon sword and shield #pokemon swsh #fairyprima headcanons

[nerdpokemonheadcanons]

Do you know any Cramorant facts to make them less creepy and terrifying? I mean, if I were afraid of Cramorant even though I'm definitely not if that's what you're thinking. Asking for a friend.

Cramorant is one of the least intelligent Pokemon of all time! And that's saying something!

There's a popular meme that's just a picture of Cramorant with the words "share if you don't think" written on it

A football team hailing from Hulbury Stadium uses Cramorant as their mascot! They're known for their many attempts to create a viral video

[more-pokeimagines]

Could you do a MiloxFem!Reader drabble where the reader had a strong personality (independent, rebellious, things like this). The drabble could set after the Champion Battle and someone is making fun of Milo just because he lose?

Thank you for your request, dear! :) This is the first drabble I wrote for Milo, so I really hope it turned out alright and that you’ll like what I came up with. Have fun reading and stay safe! <3

R.E.S.P.E.C.T – Milo x fem!reader

The crowd around you was cheering loudly when the referee raised a flag to choose the winner of the third battle in the Champion’s cup.

Disappointed, you slumped down in your seat while the group of friends right next to you screamed and clapped so loudly that it almost made your ears ring but you understood their excitement. Their friend had just won one more battle on his way to become the new champion of Galar, and you would probably feel the same way if your boyfriend had won instead.

You had always enjoyed watching Milo’s battles. He was a strong, yet humble trainer; something his battles always reflected, and it filled you with pride to be in a relationship with one of Galar’s gym leaders, even when he lost a battle. You knew that he would be sad about it but he was such a cheerful and optimistic person, so it probably wouldn’t bother him for too long. He didn’t aspire to beat Leon anyway.

You got up from your seat and made your way to the backstage area of the stadium where the contenders spent the time before and after their battles. You spotted Nessa, Hulbury’s gym leader who had dropped out of the tournament right before her battle because one of her pokemon had gotten sick, and Hop, Leon’s younger brother. They were busily engaged in their conversation, so you only waved at them briefly before continuing the search for your boyfriend.

Eventually, you found him in the lounge in the back room of the waiting area. He was staring out of the window but when you sat down next to him, a smile flashed over his face, despite the hint of disappointment in his eyes. “Hello.”

You kissed his cheek. “Hey there. That was a great battle.”

“I know, right? I really had a lot of fun! And it’s always great to see how much these trainers have grown since they started their gym challenge... kinda reminds me of myself, you know.”

You couldn’t help but smile at his words. That was something you really loved about him – no matter how bad everything seemed to be, Milo always found something good in it. He never got discouraged by his defeats; instead, he turned them into a learning experience and tried to figure out how he could do better next time.

“Excuse me?” a voice asked and snapped you out of your thoughts. When you looked up, you saw one of the girls who had been sitting next to you in the stadium. She was standing in front of Milo, clutching a notebook in her hands. “You’re Milo, aren’t you?”

“Exactly,” he answered and smiled at the girl. “How can I help you?”

“Can – Can I maybe get an autograph? I saw your battle and I was impressed with your techniques.” A shy smile flashed over her face as Milo reached out for her notebook, and she added, “I want to train grass types, too.”

“Oh, come on, you want an autograph from that loser?”

You looked around, trying to figure out who had interrupted the conversation. One of the girl’s friends, a tall boy with dark hair, had approached your small group, a spiteful grin on his face.

“I’m sorry but what did you just say?” you asked and raised your eyebrows. It had always annoyed you when someone spoke ill of another person but when someone decided to insult Milo, it made you furious. This boy had no right to talk him down.

He let out a deep sigh, clearly bugged by your interference. “I said,” he repeated slowly, “that he’s a loser. Why would anyone want an autograph from someone who just lost a battle against a kid?”

“If I were you I’d watch my tongue,” you said and glared at him, your eyes narrowed to slits. “He’s one of Galar’s gym leaders, show some respect.”

The boy rolled his eyes once again. “Why would I? He can’t even stand up for himself, or why does he need his girlfriend to defend him?”

“Oh, because he’s way too kind and polite to argue about your stupid opinions,” you replied sharply. “And if you don’t have anything useful to say I suggest you get lost right now, or else you’ll be in trouble.”

“Come on, let’s go,” the girl who had asked for Milo’s autograph said and tugged at the boy’s sleeve. “I don’t want to be late for the next battle.”

“I’m not done with you yet,” you said, your gaze still glued to the boy. “I think you should apologize.”

Milo put his hand on your knee to hold you back when the girl dragged her friend off. “(Y/N), just leave it be. You know I don’t care about others’ opinions.”

You huffed. “But I do. And I hate when someone talks to you like that.”

“I know. And I love you for always defending me but that’s really not necessary. I know that not everybody likes me and that’s totally okay,” he reassured you and put his arm around your shoulder to pull you close before pressing a soft kiss to your temple.

You let out a deep sigh, already melting into his embrace. “But if that boy comes back and insults you again I will definitely punch him.”

#milo x reader #gym leader milo x reader #gym leader milo imagine #milo pokemon x reader #milo pokemon imagine #pokemon imagines #reader insert #pokemon sw/sh imagines

[pokemonunderdogtournament]

Best Underdog From Hulbury Stadium 🎖️🌊🏊8️⃣

Round 1 - Match 1

Our Contestants:

This poll is part of an event that allows the early eliminees from the main tournament have more time in the spotlight!

#uptunderdogtournament #pokemon #polls #best underdog from hulbury stadium #krabby #arrokuda #gen 8

[echantedtoon]

A Champion Time For The Heart Ch10 Battle Gym Leader Nessa

(Will have a reference to Pokemon Twilight Wings Series.)

You slept well that night. The hotel wasn't too far from the Hulbury stadium so it wasn't a very long walk from where you four left the light house and stationed yourselves for the night. Not before dishing out the rations between the four of you. You were a lot lower on food than you thought and surprised you hadn't noticed earlier. A month's walk drained almost all of the food you had aside from a few packets of dried fruits. Thank goodness for restocking. The next morning wasn't anything too different. Gloria and Hop of course wanted to stop by the stadium and get one of them that spot to battle Nessa before another trainer took it. Huh. You wonder how the battle between her and Bede went the other day? Victor mentioned wanting to go back towards the Hulbury Aquarium and offered for you to come with them but you had other plans for the day.

"Hey, Y/n. Since its gonna be a bit 'fore I have my turn at Nessa, would you like to come with me to the aquarium?", Victor offered after the two of you had dug through your rations for breakfast. Your Sobble tiredly yawning on your shoulder rubbing at his eyes.

You shook your head. "No thanks. I actually wanted to check out that market down by the docks. I heard they sell all kinds of trinkets and stuff and it's been a while since I was able to go somewhere by myself and have some me time."

He nodded in understanding before smiling. "Alright then. You guys know where I'll be if you change your minds."

The two of you parted ways outside the hotel before you headed back up the road towards the docks. Already in the morning the place was all a buzz with ship horns blaring off in the distance and a few people walking around. It was a nice day with the salty smell of the ocean, the gently breeze, not being too hot but nice and warm, etc. It was a very nice day that filled your tired body with a happy feeling as you inhaled deeply. The small market place was past the restaurant and just across the docks past the convenience store you had visited the other day for supplies. It wasn't really big. There was only about five stalls set up alongside a concrete wall with one or two picnic tables a little bit a ways from them. A few people were already there looking at the stalls or sitting at the tables to eat or just to sit. Walking over you strolled up to the first stall that sold a few random things like flowers, dishes, and a couple clothes hanging up. The man handling it was talking up some of the flower pots but you weren't too interested in those so shortly after moved on. The other four were a fruit stand, someone selling records, another one selling random objects, but the last one had you notice something. Sweet smells of perfumes and spices wafted from it the closer you gotten to it. And it didn't take too long for you to find out why. A young lady was there surrounded by a bunch of incense. She smiled as you stopped to admire all the sweet smells and gave a greeting.

"Get a whiff of that fragrance! Doesn't it smell sweet?," she asked holding out some sweet smelling sticks that smelt of lilacs, "How about some incense for you, Girl? Good for meditation, yoga, relaxing, or just making a room smell nice. And it all natural so it's safe for pokemon too and helps them destress....As long as they don't eat it. Non edible."

"Destress huh?,'' you pondered looking at your sobble who seemed more interested in staring at the food stand with hungry eyes despite just eating breakfast a while ago. Considering how spooked this lil guy could be, it might be a good idea. "....What scents to you have exactly?"

You ended up using the twenty dollar bill you had saved forever now to buy some of the sea and rose scented incense and then later one or two apples at the fruit stand since your sobble kept jumping on your shoulder and chirping in it's directed until you finally did so. All of it costing almost half your money leaving you from twenty dollars to twelve dollars and some change. You found yourself wondering over until you sat down at one of the picnic tables so your sobble could sit and eat and give your poor shoulders a break from carrying it all the time. Granted Sobble wasn't really that heavy, about half the weight of a small cat, but it was nice to be able to stretch your shoulders and neck out without worrying about accidentally knocking him off. Lazily you watched it make happy noises as it greedily ate as if you didn't already give it a big breakfast about an hour ago. It was still pretty early in the morning so it you really hadn't anything to do other than just sit here and watch your sobble. But it was refreshing. With a sigh you closed your eyes and slowly put your head down on the table. The only problem with having a bunch of free time is that your brain slowly fills itself with thoughts you might not want. Like now. You had been gone for what must've been a little over a month now. How worried was your mom? She must've been worrying herself sick if you were gone for this long without any notice or clues or anything. And(tho you were HIGHLY doubtful now-) if this all IS some kind of dream universe it was certainly the longest one you ever experienced. Not only that, but you were SURELY not going to be able to start college just like you wanted. You'd have to wait another year just to start it and that's only if considering you'd be able to go home after this whole journey has finished. It was the only way you could think of that you could go back, once this is over. If it'll ever be-

"I can NOT believe this!," an angry woman's voice piped up. Startled you jumped up and blinked light rushing back into your vision.

"Calm down, Ness. Don't make a big scene in public." ....That voice sounded familiar.

"I AM calm. I'm just restocking my incense before I head back!" Now that you think about it, that angry voice sounded familiar too.

Blinking you turned around to look behind you, and your eyes widened at what you saw. Two ladies were at the incense stand with their backs towards you, one with bright orange hair and a coat you recognized and the other wore a black cap and shirt.

"First he said I should stop modeling and now he's breathing down my neck because I just happened to lose to his endorsed challenger!,'' Cap Lady growled out as she waved her hand. "I mean yeah, usually I'm busy so I cut back to one challenger a day! That doesn't mean I lost my touch as a gym leader!" She paused as the lady manning the stall held out a small paper bag of incense to her similar to the one you had. "Oh..Thank you. It just drives me up a wall just thinking about it!"

"Then don't think about it," Orange hair replied patting her friend on the back, "It'll only stress you out before your other gym match today."

Cap Lady sighed. "You're right, Sonia...As usual. It just ticks me off knowing he's in town just to see you too no less and buddy up with the crowd!! It makes me angry!"

"Sonia?"

The orange haired woman turned to you immediately as you stared back, her friend turning too and that's when you recognized the other woman too. She smiled. "Hey, Y/n! Fancy meeting you here! Haven't seen you in a while." She fully turned to you now and walked over her friend following.

You casually waved where you sat and gave a tired smile. "Yeah. Honestly wasn't expecting to see you here either. What are you doing here?"

She gestured to none other than Nessa next to her. "I was chatting with an old friend before she needed to go. Since you're here I assume Gloria can only be here as well."

You nodded. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure she's at the stadium right now." Your gaze slowly shifted over to nessa as you spoke and you waved again. "Hello again. Nice weather you guys have here."

Nessa smiled. "Yeah. It's usually warm and sunny here all year round being the coast and all. You should visit the beach if you ever get the chance."

You shrugged. "I might. I mean I guess my sobble could use the chance to swim."

"Well, that all depends. Is your sobble a freshwater or saltwater sobble?"

"There's a difference?"

"Hey wait a minute!" Both of you turned to Sonia who was looking between the two of you with a confused look on her face. "You two know each other?"

"Sort of. She helped me out with some stuff yesterday, I didn't even know she was the gym leader until someone told me," you explained with a shrug, "I just appreciate anyone who helps carry groceries."

"Oh. I see. What are you doing here if Gloria is I assume at the stadium?," she asked.

You gestured to your sobble as it spat out an apple seed. "Someone wanted more food. I'm telling you he's worse than a kid hyped up on sugar once he sees the stuff." Both of you jumped at a ....snort? Blinking you looked at Nessa and noticed her holding her mouth and chuckling.

"I-I'm so sorry," she giggled out, "That's just the funniest thing that I've heard all day while stressing out. U-U-Usually people don't say that about s-s-sobble care."

You blinked. "Oh yeah?"

Sonia nodded as Nessa's giggles slowly fizzled out. "Usually sobbles are....how do you say it?...Massive cry babies that'll cry at the tiniest things like a baby would. It happened ALL the time when my Granny gave a trainer their first pokemon." She groaned closing her eyes as if the memory gave her instant annoyance and headaches. "They don't get an extra snack? BOOM! Crying! They trip the littlest, I mean tiniest bit. Crying! You're too busy to pet them? Crying! Forget playtime? CRYING! And don't get me started on the amount of times I had to buy Sobble Eye Drops for all the stinging and headaches. It's like walking on eggshells until they evolve into a drizzile! It's why a bunch of trainers rather chose scorbunny or grookey than a sobble." She pointed towards yours who had finished eating and began crawling it's way over to you. "In fact, the sobble Granny gave Leon for the trainers he endorsed was the pokemon who stayed in our care the longest. She must've had it for at least since it hatched and was given to her. It was such a little wimp clinging to her all the time...I never really had mush patience for them."

You jolted when something tugged on your arm, calming yourself once you noticed it was just your pokemon. "...Really?"

With a frown Nessa sighed. "She's right. Sobbles are much better suited for older more patient people. They aren't exactly really popular pokemon among starting trainers who are eager to start their journey. Most end up for adoption to pokemon centers or abandoned to the wild because the person decides it's not worth it to have their eyes burning after every battle or basically raise what could essentially be a child in their eyes." Her eyes suddenly narrowed. "I remember once Raihan came all the way to Hulbury just to give me a sobble someone carelessly discarded at his gym after they lost. The poor thing was so confused and scared. It was a miracle I found someone who loved it. Much more than the thoughtless trainer who never gave it a second thought. Pokemon aren't just toys you can give away or leave lying around after you decided you outgrew them."

"THAT'S AWFUL!!,'' you shouted feeling an anger grow in you as one hand instinctly came up to grab your sobble who chirped in confusion at your actions, both women giving you looks of surprise at your shout. How could anyone DO such a horrible thing!? That's like the equivilant of someone getting a brand new puppy and then not wanting to deal with the work and attention that goes into it and then straight up abandoning it to the streets in your world!! "How could anyone do such a thing?! That's like...So not ok!"

"Well....That is very true. Its not ok. But it seems to be you and your sobble have a very special connection," Nessa said gesturing towards your sobble making Sonia take a double take at you as well.

"Huh. Now that you mention it he does looked rather relaxed. He usually never looked so comfortable before Granny gave him to Leon."

"Really?,'' you asked, "He seemed pretty ok so far. Cried like...only one time but that might be cuz he was pushed over by these rockstar wannabes."

To that the ladies seemed lightly surprised. "Really now? Well then you must have lots of patience then. Sobbles usually tend to work better with people who have lots of patience or a motherly personality."

"And considering you mentioned never having a pokemon before I'm kinda impressed too. You must be a natural babysitter!," Sonia joked. You huffed and rolled your eyes at her joke. Yeah. You sure felt like one sometimes during your journey so far.

"Oh, Scales!" You blinked backed towards Nessa as she now held up her phone to her face with a frown before looking back towards you and Sonia. "Hey. Sorry but I have to bounce. I have to stop by home then head to the gym really quick if I'm going to make it to that match on time." Turning with a smile she waved. "I'll see you later Sonia. It was nice seeing you again too, Miss. good luck with that sobble of yours."

As she walked away, the both of you waved as you watched her go before Sonia turned back to you. "Hey. If you're not really busy, would you like to come to the docks with me?" She held up a small clear plastic bag with, what looked like to you at least, dog kibble with a smile. "There's always a small school of chinchou everyone likes to feed there. I always like to visit whenever I come to Hulbury."

You paused considering her words for a moment. It would be nice to have more time with another person around your age before you had to go back for a bit and they wouldn't be expecting you for a while. So it should be fine. With a shrug you stood up. "Sure! I don't think I've ever seen a chinchou anyways."

Smiling she gestured for you to follow. "C'mon. We're pretty close anyways. I think you'd really like them."

She was right. The small market area was right across from the docks anyways, so it took less than five minutes to reach the docks. You followed her onto the pathways on the water and looked over the edge. The crystal blue water acting like a mirror letting you see your reflection and your sobble's as it blinked big innocent eyes at the water. You nearly bumped into her when she stopped and already had the bag open with her hand inside rummaging around until she pulled out a small handful of the kibble. With a toss they all went into the clear water sending small ripples as they floated and bobbed on the mirror water. That was until almost instantly bubbles appeared from under them and in a flurry of lightbulb antennas and blue skin tons of tiny little creatures swam to the surface and the floating kibble was devoured by the pokemon. You blinked as you watched them swim around. There must've been around ten of them all swimming about here. You blinked as the bag was suddenly held out to you with a smile from Sonia.

"Do you wanna feed them a little? This pokemon food is specifically made for water type pokemons' tastes," she offered.

"Yeah! Thanks!" You happily took some from her and a small blue hand tried to reach out for it too as you pulled away and gave your sobble a look. It stared at you for a moment before chirping and grabbing your nose. "*sigh* Fine." With a sigh and roll of your eyes, you silently held one piece of the kibble up to him and watched as he grabbed it from you and popped it into his mouth. Before tossing more kibble at the peeping lanturn fish like pokemon still swimming around. As before they began devouring it. "They sure are hungry huh?"

"Always are," Sonia replied tossing some more kibble to them. "It's a really popular thing to do around here if you aren't visiting the stadium or Aquarium or eating at the famous cafe up the road. Since there's a battle later today with Nessa I suspect that's why it's so vacant."

You smiled. "Yeah. I just hope everything goes well for them later today. Hop and her seemed pretty excited to go battling Nessa."

Sonia nodded. "I can't blame them. When Leon and I were they're age we were excited over battling the gym leaders too." She smiled at some distant long memory. "In fact, it seemed like it was just yesterday I was right here feeding some Chinchou and then Leon came out of no where and fell in the water! S-Said he d-d-didn't even know how he got there looking for the stadium." She giggled and you couldn't help but smile back.

"Oh. Is that anything like the time I heard he somehow ended up on top of a barn?" Sonia snorted. "Or the time he went out to catch a train and somehow ended up back in front of his house?"

"That happened?"

You nodded. "Oh yeah. He ended up waiting for me to thank me for the two's Slumbering Weild field trip after it happened. I have no idea how."

She chuckled. "Neither do I. Lee's always had a bad sense of direction just like his Da-" She froze. The once smile and cheery attitude replaced by a look of mild panic before she coughed and tossed some more kibble towards the chinchou. "Hey. Look at how cute they are today. They look like such healthy wild chinchou. Don't you think?"

It was her attempting to deflect away from what she already said. You knew that and personally you wouldn't really bother looking into it as 1. It was really none of your business and you hated budding into someone else's business and 2. you didn't feel up to making Sonia more uncomfortable than she already looked...But you couldn't help yourself since this was the second time this has happened. ...That's right. She did a similar thing at the Opening Ceremony when she asked you not to mention what she said to anyone. By now you had completely forgotten about that moment with everything that's been going on and at the time just brushed it off having more important things to worry about. But now....You looked at her and by the look in her eyes she knew what you were about to ask.

"That's right. I spent a few days between their houses and I saw their families. And I met their mothers. And Hop's grandparents." You fully turned to her with a raised brow. "And Hop's older brother. And Gloria's brother. But not have I ever once seen any of their dads nor had they even mentioned them. So that's begging the question of where's the missing link then isn't it?"

There was a pregnant silence between the two of you as you stared at her expectantly and Sonia stared back down at the water, seemingly trying to process the situation she found herself in. The only sounds was the boat horns from the docks, and the splashing around and noises of the chinchou as they still begged for more of the kibble Sonia held. And after more silence your expression softened and a guilty feeling bubbled up. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to ask. Even if you were traveling with them it was none of your business really. So you went to apologize.

With a sigh, Sonia finally seemed to find her words and turned to you with a sad but serious look. "I...understand if you're concerned or curious. I'd be too all things considering. But I really CANT tell you anything since it's not my place to say....By now you obviously noticed they just..aren't there and let's leave it as that."

You nodded. "Hey. I'm..I-I'm sorry. I know it's none of my business. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

She shook her head. "No. To be honest you wouldn't be the first one to ask that question to Leon or anyone else and you probably won't be the last. But if you could do us both a solid and not tell anyone about this it'd be great."

"Believe me, I was about to ask you the same thing." You smiled. "Trust me. I won't tell us a soul."

"Thank you, Y/n. I'm glad you understand."

"Hey. Of course!"

So.....No fathers in the picture huh? A strange feeling settled into your guts that was something akin to feeling extremely guilty. And a....strange feeling of familiarity of it all for your own reasons...Then the reality hit you. In a memory of what happened back at the inn back in Motostoke. In the very slip up Sonia had made before that you had passed off until now-

"And thanks for taggin' along with the kids this far. I know we're practically strangers but there's just....I don't know....really good aura about you. I'm sure Lee appreciates it too. He's always so worried about Hop. He practically raised him after all-" All of a sudden it was like a switch flipped off in her mind and her happy smile went to a sudden shocked face. "Oh no. I didn't mean to mention that. Please forget I even said that."

You had pretty much pieced it together right after remembering that. For some reason, in one way or another, Hop and the twins had no fathers and Leon as Sonia said must've practically filled the role in which a father figure would fill. This would sum up a lot of the things you've bared witness too. Hop and Gloria's infatuation with Leon(especially on Hop's end), they're desire to climb their way up the ranks and make him proud-..Heck. Leon's behavior know that you think about it could've been summed up as brotherly...or fatherly. Sponsoring two (although it was VERY clear he was full on ready to just endorse Victor as well no questions asked if he hadn't made the choice of not competing in the Gym Challenge) kids for the challenge which as you came to know wasn't typical of a Galar Champion, buying you and them all those supplies and stuff, and with what Sonia said just set that fact in concrete. And....While that did make you feel guilty and sad for them...At the end of the day it really was none of your business. Any moment or day now you could wake up back home and none of this would have mattered, and you shouldn't really butt in between their business. Especially since you weren't planning on staying in the long run. Plus...you were trying NOT to uproot the game's progress as much as possible or no more than you might've already had done if at all with your actions. You might've not remembered how the game went entirely but you knew you were on the right track. For now at least. You continued to make small talk with Sonia about how her research was going and your trip over before deciding it was best to part ways there and bid her farewell before heading back towards the stadium. Nessa mentioned leaving to make sure she arrived on time. You wondered if Gloria was battling her right now?...Well you soon found out the answer to that question.

when you were just making your way up to the restaurant your stomach grumbled. Making you wince a bit. Huh. Guess you were out for longer than you thought if you got hungry. Glancing up to the cafe you wondered how much a simple meal would cost? It was supposed to be famous for their food after all. With a shrug you decided on entering and seeing if they had anything your measly twelve dollars could buy. Fancy was the first word that came to mind when you entered through the double doors and a bell rung off. A woman at a front desk was the first thing to greet you along with some kind of pokemon you didn't recognize. It seemed the theme of the whole place was blue and white, giant tables lined the area with table setting and napkins fancily folded into boat like shapes, a MASSIVE window looking over the stadium, and a bar like area near the far right walls with another pair of double doors you assumed lead to the kitchen. The only other people there besides you and the lady was a man behind the bar counter who was talking on the phone with someone.

The woman smiled at you. "Greetings and welcome to the Hulbury Seafood Restaurant!" She greeted with a bow. "Do you happen to have a reservation or would like to make one?"

"Uh-..." You shook your head. Oh man. Was this one of those places where you HAD to make a reservation in order to eat? "Not exactly. I just heard your food was pretty good."

The woman still smiled. "Oh. Well then I'd be more than happy to seat you by the-"

"AHH!" Both of you jumped when a thud rang out which turned out to be the man in the chef hat slamming down the phone he was previously talking to.

"Chef, what on earth is the matter?," the woman asked.

The chef pointed to the phone scowl on his face. "My delivery boy just called. Apparently he's caught a cold and can't make it today! Out of all the days I need him most." The old man grabbed at his grey hair. "I have all these orders and no one to take them. The Chairman could show up any minute for his reservation but instead he's going to be present with angry customers calling for their orders and our reputation as Hulbury's greatest restaurant will be tarnished!!"

"Well...I could run out and deliver a few," the woman suggested.

"And leave your post!? OH no no no! That'd look even more bad if no one was here to greet them in while I cook!" He slumped forward. "This is an utter disaster! What am I to do?"

You looked between the two of them before slowly holding up your hand. "Um...If you'd like, I'd like to help."

Immediately the chef snapped his head up and blinked at you. Before a suspicious look came over his face as he looked you over. "You, Young Lady? You would please help us deliver some food?"

You nodded. "I mean..Yeah. It looks like you guys are pretty.." You gave a glance at the empty place. "-busy at the moment and I'd like to help."

After looking you up and down a few more moments the chef sighed before shrugging. "Why not? I have nothing else to lose in this moment anyhow." He reached under a counter and beckoned you to come over to which you complied before placing a small take out box onto the counter. "Thank you. I truly appreciate it. Tell you what. If you manage to deliver all the take out orders then I'll prepare you my famous 'Lucky Egg' dish as thanks. How does that sound?"

You mouth watered just thinking about free food. This just might be your lucky day after all. You nodded with a smile and took the box from him. "Sure! Sounds fair enough. Where do I deliver this one?"

He paused for a moment...before he rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh uh. Well as for where to deliver the food.....Sorry. We've been so stressed out for the Chairman's visit I forgot to ask for an address." You stared at him. .....WHAT!? "B-But I heard a clickity clack sound from the phone when I took the first order. Maybe that's a clue as to where to go?"

..........You sighed. "Yeah..Don't worry about it. I'll figure it out somehow."

"That's the spirit! Come back as soon as you're done delivering that one! And hurry please. Oh! And here. Take this notepad with you. They'll have to sign off on it so I can send the bill."

You had no idea what you had gotten yourself into this time. With a groan you exited the restaurant and spotted a peculiar sight to behold. There was Gloria standing just outside the restaurant as you approached with her back to you and you soon saw what she was staring at. A little ways from her standing in the middle of the road was HIM. Mareep Head-..Er. I mean Bede who looked bored and in front of him was....It was her. The same woman from your dream and the Opening Ceremony as well. And in front of her was...No. It COULDN'T be!! In front of them was a group of about six to eight people, but with that group was none other than the CHAIRMAN himself!!...Tho he looked a little different than the other times you've seen him. You didn't expect to see Nessa outside of her gym leader suit, but you hadn't been caught too much off guard. The chairman however was a different story. Instead of that professional slim fitting suit he wore a baseball cap, slip on white shoes, sunglasses, .....a sweater that showed how chubby he was actually under his suit, and blue shorts with white polka dots to top it all off. You could only star at the man...Was this-....This COULDN'T have been the same professional high standing man that ran the whole Galar Region! He looked like someone's Dad on a lazy day. ...You chuckled which startled Gloria into giving a yelp and whipping around to see you and the box you held.

"Holy Magikarp, Y/n! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry....Hey. What are you doing all the way over here? I thought you were having a battle today. And where's Victor?"

She sighed. "Vic decided ta go fishin' at the docks. Said somethin' 'bout wanting to catch some more water types. We got hungry just waiting for Nessa so Hop suggested I go grab us something while he holds our place. What are you doing?" She noticed the box you held and pointed at it. "And what's that?"

"Long story short is that I agreed to be the fill in delivery boy for a bit." You nodded past her towards the group. "Hey uh...Gloria, is that who I think it is?"

She turned around and with a huff she crossed her arms and frowned. "Yeah. The Cottonee so full of himself he needs a garden hose to wash the ego from his brain!"

".....Uh..Actually I was talking about the chairman over there, but I guess Bede's here too yes."

"Oh...Well yeah. It's weird just walking around the corner and seeing him right that. Like..what the bloody heck are those shorts?"

"Y'know I was thinking the same thing." You two continued to watch in bewilderment as the chairman smiled and spoke with the small group of people, before the woman suddenly stepped in front of him as he was about to shake another person's hand.

She held up a hand. "Our sincerest apologies," she spoke with a calm and professional tone, "The chairman is quite busy at the moment. Everyone please disperse. Please leave now."

The crowd murmured but eventually slowly parted ways, one woman saying. "Ok. See you later, Chairman."

"Oh h-hey! No need to rush off! I can still do autographs!," the chairman called after them raising a hand, "I'll even give you my pokemon league card!" To your surprise no one really paid attention and kept walking besides you and Gloria...And you rose a brow. With a sigh he turned back to the woman. "we need the support of our fans to keep doing what we're doing. Chasing them off like that. Aren't you being a little too harsh, Oleana?"

"Fans are very important of course," the woman, who must've been Oleana explained, "That's why you need to keep doing your work for their sake."

"I promise to do everything in my power to assist you too, Chairman!," Bede butted in proud of himself. Huh. Maybe Gloria had a point.

The chairman gave him a look for a moment before raising a brow. "Oh. And you were?"

Maybe it was just your imagination most likely, but you could've sworn you saw Bede frown for a moment before he answered, "Bede, Sir."

"AH! That's right! Bede! I daresay I'm impressed how fair you've come since I gave you that pokemon all those years ago. Will you be the one to win the Gym Challenge? Or perhaps it will be one of the Trainers endorsed by the Champion."

"I will prove your faith in me was well placed, Chairman," Bede assured, "I won't lose to anyone. Anyway speaking of which, I'll be on my way now." He turned and began walking away, but completely froze upon seeing you and Gloria..Well more Gloria than you as the two of them made eye contact...And he suddenly pointed. "YOU!?"

"Hey Mareep Head. How's your Hatenna?"

"WHY YOU-....YOU- ..LITTLE-"

"AH! You!" Bede practically jumped out of his skin as the chairman was quick to push past him and walk up to Gloria with a smile, Oleana right behind him. Gloria practically just stood and stared as he approached and you rose an eye brow. "Your name was...." He thought for a moment before pointing to her. "Gloria right? We were just talking about you!" Your brow rose more. That was a complete and utter lie. They were standing right there entire time in front of you but you shrugged it off as an awkward ice breaker.

.....Gloria exchanged a look with you before pointing at herself. "....Me?"

he nodded. "Yes! I admit I'm curious about Leon's reasons for endorsing you. Ah! I just had a good idea, as I tend to do!" Brag much? "You're going to face Gym Leader Nessa soon, yes?"

"Um...Y-Yeah. I was on my way back to the stadium actually-"

"Well if you get a gym badge from her I'll hold a celebration! I'd like to get to know you a little better after all." He smiled and you felt ....odd about it all.

"Um..Y-Yeah..I guess so??"

"Chairman, we should really be going if you want to keep that dinner reservation," Oleana stated.

The chairman nodded to her before turning back to Gloria. "Alright. Please do your best, for the sake of Galar's future."

"I Uh...Y-YES SIR!!" Gloria gave her best smile under the situation.

With a smile and nod he turned and walked past her and you not sparing you a glance and you followed him with your gaze brow raised...You weren't sure, but you had a funny feeling about him and it wasn't a good funny. When you turned back around you nearly jumped the box in surprise. The woman-!! Oleana was standing right in front of Gloria so close her shadow was literally blocking the sunlight from her. The poor girl frozen under the woman's studying gaze.

"The Chairman will be heading to this town's seafood restaurant." She stated monotonely, "Win the gym badge and join him there at once. Do not keep him waiting. Am I clear, Young Lady?" Gloria didn't say anything..and you looked at her. Eyes shooting to the size of plates. She was more frozen than a glacier. ...All that came out of her was a small squeak noise making the woman's eyes narrow. "Perhaps I wasn't clear. Do not keep the chairman waiting. Head to the seafood restaurant. The Captain's Table. Do you need me to repeat myself once more, Child? Or do you understand-"

"Too skinny."

Gloria jumped having probably completely forgotten you were there for a moment as she snapped to you and Oleana followed her piercing gaze to meet your glare. ....She slowly blinked. "I beg your pardon, Miss?"

"I said you're too skinny for that," you explained as they both stared at her.

Her brow flicked up as she studied you. "And I happen to be too thin for what purpose, Ma'am?"

"Well you're certainly not fat enough to be throwing your weight around not to notice you're being a jerk," you explained raising a brow back, "Obviously she heard you with how close you are. Maybe she'd answer if you weren't so close making her feel uncomfortable like that."

They both stared at you stunned. Gloria jaw dropped and Oleana had the same face but her eyes much more widened as she stared at you. It was so quiet you could've heard a pin drop as you joined this little three way stare down. HECK. It felt like an entire hour just staring at her before her face slowly contorted back to her original bored/professional looking one and she took a step back, spooking Gloria in process as the poor girl blinked.

"Do you happen to know who I am, Miss?," she asked like you should already know this.

"Somebody who's heels makes them so tall their head's in the clouds obviously."

This time her brows furrowed, her mouth frowned, and you noticed the way her hands gripped each other. As if she was physically holding back her anger. But before she could reply a chuckle seemed to interrupt you. Blinking you turned around only to find that the Chairman guy was looking right at you. Raising a brow and humming. You rose a brow and frowned right back.

....He waved a hand off. "Oleana, you're right. We'll be late for that reservation. Give the young trainer my League card and let's be on our way."

It's amazing how fast her aura and face changed at a moment's dime. "Of course. So you will not forget the Chairman's face, I will give you one of his League Cards." She suddenly held something out to Gloria who blinked but after a moment took it. "Chairman Rose is the kind of man who gets downhearted if he doesn't take care of things he needs to right away. Go to the seafood restaurant as soon as possible so as to not keep the chairman waiting." She glanced back to you and your eyes narrowed more. "...Good luck in your battle." With that she stepped around Gloria who followed her as she went and so did you with your frown. And after the Chairman gave another look to you, also turned and walked away.

....You sighed and turned back to Gloria, only to blink when she was staring right back at you. "....Uh...H-Hey. Are you ok there? You looked spooked." Shaking. Your eyes widened noticing her hands shaking. "WHOA! Hey! Are you ok!? She didn't scare you too bad did she?"

"Y-Y-Y/n..," She stuttered. Her hands slowly clenched into fists. "T-T-That..was..." Her face snapped up to you in a smile. "AWESOME!! SERIOUSLY!! Like! Yeah she gave off major scare vibes I swear she's worse than a gengar in the darkest room! My heart was pounding so fast! Then you were all well slayin' 'ere like a beast!!...Omg." She looked down for a moment realization settling in. "....My traveling partner talked BACK to the Chairman's right hand!! What's he going to think when I show up!? I mean it was amazing to watch don't get me wrong. But STILL!!''

"Hey, hey, hey!!" You caught her attention by grabbing her shoulder making her blink at your face. "Hey. Look at me." Once you knew you had her full attention you smiled. "That woman was making you feel scared, and that's not ok. So I did what I had to do. If anything I'll get in trouble. Besides, Im a girl standing on the sidewalk holding a delivery box. They'd probably think I was just a stranger going to delivery a pizza or something. Right now you should just worry about your gym battle."

It was like a record scratch went off in her mind as she suddenly paused, face going blank for a moment before her hands suddenly snatched the top of her head. "AH!! MY GYM BATTLE!! I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT THAT!! BUT THE CHAIRMAN SAID IF I WIN TO SEE HIM!! IF!! IF!! WHAT IF I DON'T WIN!? OMG!! CAN I STILL MEET WITH HIM IF I DON'T-"

You shook her with the hand still on her shoulder. "Gloria! Get a grip on yourself! Of course you're going to win!'' You smiled. "If you could beat Milo you can beat Nessa too! And if you lose it's fine. I'm sure he'll understand, you can't let all of that overthinking stop you ok? Be more confident in yourself, and if you lose..." You shrugged. "Then it's ok. You can always try again tomorrow or any other day. You are going to be ok....Ok?"

She stared at you for a long moment before taking a deep breath and sighing. A determined look now plastered on her face. "You're right! I'm just overthinking this! I just need to remain calm and everything's going to be fine!"

You smiled. "That's the spirit...Hey. Isn't it gonna start like..right now?"

"GAH! Y-You're right! I gotta go!" With a wave she quickly turned on her heel and ran off towards the stadium. "Thanks, Y/n! You're the best!"

You sighed before shaking your head watching her go. Well...glad that went well at least, she was a brave girl so she should be ok..But then why did you still feel eyes on you? As you turned your f/c eyes met purple ones and Bede jumped having noticed you spotted him. With a jerk of his head the other way, he quickly sped walked away from you in the opposite direction leaving you lightly confused. But you shrugged it off. Right now you had bigger fish to fry like getting this fish you were currently holding to the person who ordered it. Who ever it was. That was the thing you had to figure out as you stood there in the middle of the sidewalk staring at the box in your hands like someone staring off into space. Good gosh the guy couldn't think to ask for an address? What were you supposed to do with a click clack sound? That could mean anything....Well what kind of click clack sounds were loud enough to be heard over a phone. ....Your head turned towards the train station back towards the stadium. Didn't trains usually make a noise like that? A train would certainly be loud enough to hear over a phone. With a shrug you started off down towards the train station and right up to the first house right by it since there was two. Knocked and waited patiently as footsteps approached.

The first one was answered by a middle aged looking man and you smiled. "Hey! Uh...Did you order seafood?"

"No. I don't like fish."

"Oh..Sorry about tha-" You flinched as the door was slammed back shut in front of your face..before you frowned. "Well he was pretty rude wasn't he?" Your sobble chirped in agreement. "Couldn't have said it better myself," you mumbled as you turned away from the door and away from the first house to go to the second. The Stadium not too far away roaring alive now with cheers. Must be Hop or Gloria having a battle with Nessa. Shame you couldn't attend but you were a bit busy right now. Walking up to the second home, you knocked on the door and waited. After a moment footsteps approached and a sweet elderly woman answered. You smiled. "Hey! Good afternoon! Did someone here order some seafood?"

To your delight, she smiled. "Oh, are you the one delivering my food?" She happily reached out and took the box from you. "Thank you for your trouble! This restaurant's dishes are full of seafood and it's so delicious if I say so myself. They are pretty well known after all."

"Your welcome! ..Oh wait!" You reached into your pocket to quickly pull out your notebook. "I need you to-''

"Oh of course! Your tip. "

"Actually I-" You blinked when a small bag of what looked like small jaw breakers was placed into your hand tied off by a cute little red ribbon.

"I've already paid the restaurant over the phone, so I'll give you candy as a tip. There's nothing like sweets to go along with a beautiful day. You have a nice day now."

You blinked looking at the small bag. "Hey wait! I need you-" The door closed leaving you staring at it. "..to sign this. *sigh*" You held up the overly cute bag and your sobble gave it a curious look over. "Well, it's not money but it's better than nothing I guess. Wouldn't you say?"

Your trip back to the restaurant wasn't anything unusual, still faintly hearing the cheers from the gym on your way there. The only thing that was a little strange was a small group of three or four people standing outside the place trying to peep into the windows. Your brow rose but you shrugged it off and just stepped inside seeing the same woman as before.

"Sorry. We're closed at the mome-..OH! It's you young lady,'' she greeted.

"Back again?!" You looked over towards the chef and he smiled seeing you. "Excellent! I wanted to ask you to deliver some food again. Is that ok? I suspect that the package was delivered?"

....You held up the bag of candy. "Yeah. Sorry I couldn't get her to sign it. But she tipped me in candy."

"Oh. That must've been Mrs. Wesley. Don't worry about her, she has a habit of doing that." Again he reached under the counter and brought up another box. "But right now I need you to deliver this next one as soon as possible!'' You walked over and he held it out to you before slightly nodding over towards the right. You glanced over and your eyes widened seeing the chairman and Oleana looking out of the window over the stadium, not seeming to notice you thankfully. "Since the Chairman's here we're doing our best to try and not upset the atmosphere. Since you're taking care of this for us it's really taking one less thing off our shoulders to worry about."

You sighed with a smile before taking the second box from him. The fresh smell of fish and chips wafting from it making your mouth water. "Hey. It's no problem. Where do I take this one?"

He paused. "Well....I uh...Haha. D-Didn't quite get the address for this one either?" You stared. "...B-but I don't know if this helps, but I think I heard a pokemon cry over the phone this time. Like....Swiirl...Or something like that."

"....I'll...figure it out I'm sure."

Figure it out indeed! How in the HECK were you just supposed to deliver a dang food order based off a pokemon's cry?? Whelp! There was only one way to solve this! ...Visit all the houses here until you came across the right one. So that's exactly what you did. You already delivered to the lady up by the train station and the guy next to her rudely stated he didn't so that was two houses you could cross off your list. So there you went starting from one end of the long, LONG street of houses one after another smiling and asking if they ordered a take out. Every. Single. One. Said. No. Or just didn't answer at all, and to be honest you were feeling justifiably annoyed at this point. What was the POINT of having someone deliver food if you didn't know where to send them!? It must've taken you at least fifthteen minutes of walking and asking until you FINALLY caught a break coming to the very last house on the block before the road split off between the train station and stadium. You knocked and waited patiently as footsteps approached, and you smiled when a blonde man who looked to be in his early thirties opened the door.

"Hey. Sorry to bother you, but did you order some seafood takeout?"

"Oh, I can smell the ocean. You're from the restaurant aren't you?" You nodded and held the box up to him as he took it with a hum. "Ah! I'm starving! I've been drooling while waiting for the food! Than you for delivering the food!"

"Oh hey. Before you go." You held up the notepad. "Could you please sign for this?"

"Oh sure thing. Wait right here." He turned and walked back inside leaving you standing there able to see the inside of the home as the man handed off the food to two little girls who looked so much alike that they must've been twins. A pink pokemon looking like cotton candy swirling around them. "Stacy, Lacy. Food's here. And this time don't let Pinkie eat my share of it." You stood there awkwardly until he finally came back grabbing the note pad. "Sorry about that. You know how kids can be."

"Heh. Yeah. Sorry if it took so long. Had to go the long way around to get here."

"Well you get energy from food. If you need energy you should eat balanced meals." He handed you back the notepad with a smile. "Thanks again!''

With a sigh you turned on your heel and began trudging off back towards the restaurant. Your stomach rumbled again and by this point you were seriously wondering if this was even worth any free food for? If you had half a mind you would've just quite, returned the notepad, and then just go back to the hotel to just eat some of your rations or order the cheapest thing on the room service menu. But then again, you already promised to help and free food does sound better than spending your remanding money. Plus their food was supposed to be really good. So..You made the choice to go back to the very cafe you came from and waltzed back through the doors and up to the counter this time. The chef seemed very pleased to have you back as he had already placed the last box on the counter he explained. Only one more? Oh THANK goodness. You weren't sure how much of this mumbo jumbo you could handle. You took the last box from him not sparing a glance over your shoulder in the chairman's way.

"As for the address-"

"Let me guess. You forgot?"

"Actually. No. I remembered to ask." Your eyes widened. Was this finally gonna be easy? "Unfortunately I have no idea where it is.".....WHAT?! "The customer told me to look for a green roof, but I wonder if there is such a house in Hulbury. I've certainly never seen a house like this before but Im sure you're smart enough to figure it out like the other two!"

".......Right."

Of course it wasn't going to be that easy. It never was going to be easy for you was it? It seemed simple enough tho. Just look for a house with a green roof and that should be it right? Except..none of the houses you had asked previously had ordered anything and the ones that did couldn't have possibly ordered a second time in such short notice right after getting the first. Oh well. Green roof. That's all you had to go on......and the amount of time you had spent walking up and down these streets looking for any building with a green roof was exhausting. NONE of the homes here had green roofs and when you checked the few buildings around here that weren't homes (like the light house and pokemon center-) discovered surprise, surprise. No green roof either. Oh you hoped whoever ordered this didn't live outside Hulbury. Not having any luck where you currently were, you decided to go ahead and go back down to the docks where you first went that morning. You didn't remember seeing any buildings there but it wouldn't hurt to cover all bases before giving up. Your body ended up wondering back to the market place you were once in...And you were about ready to give up. There wasn't anything around here with a green-

"HEY! Young Lady with the sobble on your shoulder!," a male voice shouted. Blinking, you turned around to one of the stalls. the one with the green and white top. A man with brown hair waved at you. "You're delivering food?" You nodded. "Well hey! I'm the one who ordered it!" He was!?...You glanced towards the striped roof of his stall.....Oh. A green roof. Whelp! Might as well get this over with. he smiled wider as you approached. "You got here earlier than I expected! It was easy to spot the green roof wasn't it?"

No. Not really. In fact it would've been a LOT easier if he just said he was in a stall in this marketplace but instead you forced a smile and handed him the box and notepad. "Please sign here."

He gladly signed it. "The tail curry of this restaurant has a unique flavor. I love it! Say hi to the manager for me!"

You quickly grabbed the notebook. "Have a nice day!" And then you quickly retreated. A groan leaving your tired body as you dragged yourself back the way you came for a second time that day. By the time you had gotten back close to the restaurant you were sore, tired, but most of all you were hungry! OH! The food had better be worth it or else you were going straight back to the hotel to-

"Y/N!!" Hey. You knew that voice! Sure enough Gloria was waving her arm at you with a smile as you proceeded to walk towards her. Despite wanting time to yourself today you were absolutely glad to see her. "What are you doing by the docks?"

"Finishing my role as a replacement delivery boy," you answered when you got close enough and pointed at her white uniform. "Why are you still wearing your gym challenge uniform?"

"Oh uh.." She sheepishly smiled with a chuckle. "It's a long story. On the bright side I managed to defeat Nessa! LOOK!" A flash of bronze went in your face and you blinked before leaning back. A badge with some kind of blue water pattern shown before you. No doubt the water gum badge. "Feast yer eyes! I thought I was a gonna when I lost the second round, but I managed to pull a turn around and win enough rounds to pass! Ain't it great?!"

You smiled. "Hey! That is great! I'm so happy for you! But where's Hop and Victor? I thought he was with you and shouldn't Victor be done fishing by now?" You hadn't seen him by the docks when you passed

"He stayed behind to set up his own battle with Nessa tomorrow while Vic has a go at 'er. Don't worry. He already knows where I am. Said he'll meet back up with us when we're done having dinner with the Chairman."

"...We?"

"Oh.." She slowly lowered her had back down to her side. "I just...thought you'd be coming too since you were there with me when he invited me.I-...I just thought since y'know...B-But that's fine! I won't force ya to come with me. Yer probably tired from running around all day anyways."

You paused. Yes, you were tired but you were heading back inside the restaurant anyways. And if Oleana was there...You smiled. "Hey! I'd love to come!"

Her eyes lit up. "REALLY!?"

"Yeah. I gotta go in to let 'em know I'm done delivering all these confusing orders anyways." You turned and nodded towards the doors. "C'mon. Let's go eat and see what he wants. Ok?"

With a smile of relief she nodded and the two of you went up towards the doors and went inside. The woman from before was there and upon seeing the both of you greeted you both with a smile. "Welcome to the Hulbury Seafood Restaurant. Unfortunately we're not accepting any reservations or walk ins today but if you'd like to schedule one for a later date or order take out you're more than welcome-....Oh! It's you again, Young Lady."

"Uh. Yeah." You held out the notepad. "Actually I was promised free food if I delivered everything and we were both invited to eat with the Chairman over there."

"Oh." She glanced to Gloria who looked nervous, seeming to realize she was a trainer. "Yes. I recall he said something about an extra guest trainer with his party today. Chairman Rose comes here incognito, but the word always gets out when he's here." She grabbed the notepad from you. "You both may go ahead to the Captain's Table in the back. I'll notify the chef you completed your tasks."

With a thanks you both took off towards the back where you saw the Chairman, Oleana, and..HEY! It was Sonia. Relief flooding in seeing another familiar face. This might be more tolerable then...Maybe you should take this time to apologize? You glanced to Gloria who still looked nervous. If this was someone very high up and important it wouldn't hurt to swallow your pride and just apologize, if nothing else but to keep the peace and show you're willing to be the bigger person. After all you don't want to cause trouble. The first to notice you two was the chairman himself as he turned his head from Sonia to you two and smiled.

"Ah! If it isn't the young trainer I met earlier today," he greeted with a smile and raised brow, "If you're here then I suppose it's safe to say you won against Nessa?"

You didn't miss her gulp before forcing a smile. "Uh..Y-Yeah. Piece of cake!"

He nodded. "I'm so glad! Gloria, come. Let's celebrate your recent victory! On me!" ...You felt eyes on you and you turned from the Chairman's face to Oleana's who was staring right at you. ...You frowned back at her- "And I believe I've seen you before as well, Young Lady." You blinked back to the Chairman's face as he was looking at you too now with a raised brow. ...AH CRAP!! "You were the lady back there who gave my assistant quite a 'roasting' as the young kinds call it nowadays."

...You blinked. Forcing up a smile. Here we go. "Uh. hehe. Yeah. Actually I wanted to apologize to you.." You gave Oleana a glance. "-and her for that. I just thought things were getting a bit scary back there."

To your surprise he chuckled it off with a wave. "Not at all. In all honestly Oleana can be quite intimidating to others. It's one of the reasons she's so good at her job. But there's no hard feelings. Right Oleana?"

The woman next to him inhaled before breathing it back out. "Of course, Sir. Apologies accepted and all's forgiven."

"Excellent! I don't suppose you know Sonia here? She's a wonderful person to have on the research team."

"Yeah. We do actually. Hi, Sonia."

"Oh. Were you invited too?," she asked surprised.

Before you could reply the chairman interrupted you. "You two know each other? That's great! Come now." He gestured to the table directly behind him. "Please be seated." And the three of you followed him and did so after you and Gloria exchanged a glance. She still looked nervous. The order of which you sat was Gloria sat across from the Chairman, Sonia next to Gloria, and you next to the Chairman. Naturally you would've preferred to sit next to either one of the other girls but you weren't about to let Gloria sit right next to a guy you had a funny feeling over. Strangely enough Oleana didn't seem like she was eating with you four and instead opted to stand silently next to the Chairman. How odd. You watched as he oh so casually picked the napkin off his own plate. Hmm...Guess he's been here more than once. "Now that we're all together. Gloria was it? Tell us how did your battle go?"

She shrugged. "Oh. Um. I-It was pretty good. Very thrilling. It was really nice to get ta meet Nessa. She's very nice." Sonia smiled at her.

"That's all very good. If you're as talented as Leon mentioned you then you should have no problem defeating the other gym leaders."

"Well I wouldn't say that. I-It was really hard to beat her. She's a tough gym leader."

"Hey. What were you talking about with Sonia?," you asked successfully steering the topic off Gloria for the moment as the Chairman smiled.

"Oh nothing really worth talking about. How her trip was so far studying around with the legends and the Geoglph in Turffield. The theory is that the two are somehow connected but I digress. AH! Our food has arrived." You looked over to what he was gesturing at and perked up at the lady from before who greeted you carrying two plates. One obviously being some kind of fish as it was placed before the chairman who happily accepted. "Ah! My usual. You always remember." And you were surprised when the other plate was sat in front of you. It was curry, smelt sweet, and had an egg smack dab in the middle of it. "Oh. It looks like you're a regular here too I presume."

"The chef asked me to give you his 'Lucky Egg' dish as a token of his appreciation, Miss," she explained, "I hope you're ok with sweet boiled egg curry. Are the rest of you ready to order?"

"Go ahead ladies. It's on me today."

"Mm. Just a salad. I'm not very hungry today."

"...I mean. The tropical curry sounds good," Gloria guessed.

You were too busy studying the dish in front of you to notice the lady leave. Instead staring at the massive egg just sitting in the middle of the darn plate. ...You weren't up to eating something that might've been a pokemon egg no matter how much your stomach rumbled at the sight and your mouth watered at the smell. Luckily it seemed like you had a back up plan because your sobble was crawling down your arm already on his way towards your food. You extended your hand to allow the small pokemon to sit on the table next to you and without really thinking grabbed the egg off your plate and held it out to it. He smiled and happily accepted your gift with a loud chirp before grabbing it and you watched as it bit it nearly in half with one bite. Goodness. Guess you weren't the only one hungry.

"Hulbury is a seafood town. Naturally if one is going to eat here the obvious choice is the local cuisine," the chairman said already digging in, "Everything on the menu is delicious. Oh, Sonia. By the way how is Professor Magnolia getting on? I'm quite indebted to her you know. She was the one who figured out how to unleash the power of Wishing Stars and use that power to dynamax pokemon. We would never have been able to create dynamax bands without her."

Sonia sighed. "*sigh* She was saying that there's still so much we don't know about dynamaxing. It's causing her some worry. She even made me take a power spot detector with me when I started traveling."

"A power spot detector?," he asked interested, "That's the device that allowed me to discover power spots. Locations that emit Galar particles and allow pokemon to dynamax. I don't like hearing that Professor Magnolia is worried though. If only there was something I could do." You glanced at him again out the corner of your eye and rose a brow. Why were you getting a weird feeling in your gut from this guy?

Sonia shrugged. "Unless you can suddenly provide more intel on the phenomenon then I'm afraid there isn't much, Sir."

He hummed.".....Sonia. It may be good for you to visit the vault in Hammerlocke. I believe the key to unlocking the secrets of the dynamax phenomenon lies in the history preserved there."

Sonia blinked. "Oh. You really think so?"

"We usually study history based on what was left on it from the past. Although mostly legends at this point you know they always say that every legend has truth to it. Who knows? It might even help tie in with the legend you've been studying currently. Oleana can arrange a meeting I'm sure. Can't you?"

"Understood, Sir," Oleana replied monotonly, "I will arrange a meeting with Ms. Sonia."

"Very good. See? Nothing to worry yourself over about. Now shall we dig in?"

The rest of that dinner get together was a blur. Honestly you were too busy stuffing your face to talk but you didn't mind. You only watched and listened to the small talk. Gloria and Sonia's food arrived a short while after and by this point they were mostly done eating as well. His other questions didn't seem too out of the ordinary. Asking how their day was? How they were enjoying the challenge so far? Talking about some of his recent appointments involving some kind of arrangement with a Prince from the Pasio Region?? You weren't sure. But the sun was starting to set soon.

"So then I figured the best way to solve the matter was to set up individual warnings for the two of them and move one to a different department under Oleana. *sigh* Both are hard workers so it'd be a shame to just fire one or both. Don't you agree Oleana?"

"Yes, Sir. However I believe it is about time we get going, Chairman."

"Hm?" He looked at her. "But I've hardly had a chance to speak with Gloria." You rose a brow. You had literally been sitting her an entire hour.

"With all do respect, Sir. It's getting rather late. I'm sure the young lady is quite tired from her day."

...He sighed. "It's regrettable but I guess it can't be helped. If something needs to get done there's no time like the present after all!" He slowly stood from his seat as the three of you watched and smiled. "Truly though I'm glad to have had a chance to speak with you ladies today. So sorry if we couldn't have spent more time together. In any case I bid you farewell."

"OH! Uh..G-Good bye, M-Mr. Chairman. Sir."

You remained silent as the two left. Narrowed eyes watching as they went...Something about those two just felt...Off. Like it didn't sit right in your gut, but you had no idea why? Was there some kind of plot in the game with those two you couldn't remember?...Hm. In any case you were glad they were gone now so you and Gloria could rela- Your head perked up with at a sigh as Sonia rubbed her face.

"Hey. You good there?"

"Does he think he's doing me a favor? He's right that the vault would be a good place to look for the legends but..." She paused suddenly looking up and noticing the two of you staring at her confused. "UH!...Nevermind! You got the water badge right? Defeating Nessa is no easy feat!"

"Uh..Yeah. What are-"

"Nessa's a good friend! Perhaps I should drop in on her!," her chair screeched as she stood up all of a sudden giving a nervous smile, "Ahaha! Yes! She'll be so happy to see me! Until next time, Gym Challenger! Nice seeing you again, Y/n!"

Both of you stared as Sonia quickly sped walked away from you two and then out of the restaurant as if she was escaping something...

Gloria blinked. "What the world just happened?"

"Believe me I have learnt in this point of my life to just go with things. C'mon. It's free food. Let's finish eating and meet the others back at the hotel."

#pokemon leon x reader #reader x leon #leon x reader #pokemon leon #pokemon sword #pokemon shield #pokemon swsh #pokemon sword and shield #a champion time for the heart

[pokeexehasstoppedworking]

A Champion Time For The Heart Ch10 Battle Gym Leader Nessa

(Will have a reference to Pokemon Twilight Wings Series.)

You slept well that night. The hotel wasn't too far from the Hulbury stadium so it wasn't a very long walk from where you four left the light house and stationed yourselves for the night. Not before dishing out the rations between the four of you. You were a lot lower on food than you thought and surprised you hadn't noticed earlier. A month's walk drained almost all of the food you had aside from a few packets of dried fruits. Thank goodness for restocking. The next morning wasn't anything too different. Gloria and Hop of course wanted to stop by the stadium and get one of them that spot to battle Nessa before another trainer took it. Huh. You wonder how the battle between her and Bede went the other day? Victor mentioned wanting to go back towards the Hulbury Aquarium and offered for you to come with them but you had other plans for the day.

"Hey, Y/n. Since its gonna be a bit 'fore I have my turn at Nessa, would you like to come with me to the aquarium?", Victor offered after the two of you had dug through your rations for breakfast. Your Sobble tiredly yawning on your shoulder rubbing at his eyes.

You shook your head. "No thanks. I actually wanted to check out that market down by the docks. I heard they sell all kinds of trinkets and stuff and it's been a while since I was able to go somewhere by myself and have some me time."

He nodded in understanding before smiling. "Alright then. You guys know where I'll be if you change your minds."

The two of you parted ways outside the hotel before you headed back up the road towards the docks. Already in the morning the place was all a buzz with ship horns blaring off in the distance and a few people walking around. It was a nice day with the salty smell of the ocean, the gently breeze, not being too hot but nice and warm, etc. It was a very nice day that filled your tired body with a happy feeling as you inhaled deeply. The small market place was past the restaurant and just across the docks past the convenience store you had visited the other day for supplies. It wasn't really big. There was only about five stalls set up alongside a concrete wall with one or two picnic tables a little bit a ways from them. A few people were already there looking at the stalls or sitting at the tables to eat or just to sit. Walking over you strolled up to the first stall that sold a few random things like flowers, dishes, and a couple clothes hanging up. The man handling it was talking up some of the flower pots but you weren't too interested in those so shortly after moved on. The other four were a fruit stand, someone selling records, another one selling random objects, but the last one had you notice something. Sweet smells of perfumes and spices wafted from it the closer you gotten to it. And it didn't take too long for you to find out why. A young lady was there surrounded by a bunch of incense. She smiled as you stopped to admire all the sweet smells and gave a greeting.

"Get a whiff of that fragrance! Doesn't it smell sweet?," she asked holding out some sweet smelling sticks that smelt of lilacs, "How about some incense for you, Girl? Good for meditation, yoga, relaxing, or just making a room smell nice. And it all natural so it's safe for pokemon too and helps them destress....As long as they don't eat it. Non edible."

"Destress huh?,'' you pondered looking at your sobble who seemed more interested in staring at the food stand with hungry eyes despite just eating breakfast a while ago. Considering how spooked this lil guy could be, it might be a good idea. "....What scents to you have exactly?"

You ended up using the twenty dollar bill you had saved forever now to buy some of the sea and rose scented incense and then later one or two apples at the fruit stand since your sobble kept jumping on your shoulder and chirping in it's directed until you finally did so. All of it costing almost half your money leaving you from twenty dollars to twelve dollars and some change. You found yourself wondering over until you sat down at one of the picnic tables so your sobble could sit and eat and give your poor shoulders a break from carrying it all the time. Granted Sobble wasn't really that heavy, about half the weight of a small cat, but it was nice to be able to stretch your shoulders and neck out without worrying about accidentally knocking him off. Lazily you watched it make happy noises as it greedily ate as if you didn't already give it a big breakfast about an hour ago. It was still pretty early in the morning so it you really hadn't anything to do other than just sit here and watch your sobble. But it was refreshing. With a sigh you closed your eyes and slowly put your head down on the table. The only problem with having a bunch of free time is that your brain slowly fills itself with thoughts you might not want. Like now. You had been gone for what must've been a little over a month now. How worried was your mom? She must've been worrying herself sick if you were gone for this long without any notice or clues or anything. And(tho you were HIGHLY doubtful now-) if this all IS some kind of dream universe it was certainly the longest one you ever experienced. Not only that, but you were SURELY not going to be able to start college just like you wanted. You'd have to wait another year just to start it and that's only if considering you'd be able to go home after this whole journey has finished. It was the only way you could think of that you could go back, once this is over. If it'll ever be-

"I can NOT believe this!," an angry woman's voice piped up. Startled you jumped up and blinked light rushing back into your vision.

"Calm down, Ness. Don't make a big scene in public." ....That voice sounded familiar.

"I AM calm. I'm just restocking my incense before I head back!" Now that you think about it, that angry voice sounded familiar too.

Blinking you turned around to look behind you, and your eyes widened at what you saw. Two ladies were at the incense stand with their backs towards you, one with bright orange hair and a coat you recognized and the other wore a black cap and shirt.

"First he said I should stop modeling and now he's breathing down my neck because I just happened to lose to his endorsed challenger!,'' Cap Lady growled out as she waved her hand. "I mean yeah, usually I'm busy so I cut back to one challenger a day! That doesn't mean I lost my touch as a gym leader!" She paused as the lady manning the stall held out a small paper bag of incense to her similar to the one you had. "Oh..Thank you. It just drives me up a wall just thinking about it!"

"Then don't think about it," Orange hair replied patting her friend on the back, "It'll only stress you out before your other gym match today."

Cap Lady sighed. "You're right, Sonia...As usual. It just ticks me off knowing he's in town just to see you too no less and buddy up with the crowd!! It makes me angry!"

"Sonia?"

The orange haired woman turned to you immediately as you stared back, her friend turning too and that's when you recognized the other woman too. She smiled. "Hey, Y/n! Fancy meeting you here! Haven't seen you in a while." She fully turned to you now and walked over her friend following.

You casually waved where you sat and gave a tired smile. "Yeah. Honestly wasn't expecting to see you here either. What are you doing here?"

She gestured to none other than Nessa next to her. "I was chatting with an old friend before she needed to go. Since you're here I assume Gloria can only be here as well."

You nodded. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure she's at the stadium right now." Your gaze slowly shifted over to nessa as you spoke and you waved again. "Hello again. Nice weather you guys have here."

Nessa smiled. "Yeah. It's usually warm and sunny here all year round being the coast and all. You should visit the beach if you ever get the chance."

You shrugged. "I might. I mean I guess my sobble could use the chance to swim."

"Well, that all depends. Is your sobble a freshwater or saltwater sobble?"

"There's a difference?"

"Hey wait a minute!" Both of you turned to Sonia who was looking between the two of you with a confused look on her face. "You two know each other?"

"Sort of. She helped me out with some stuff yesterday, I didn't even know she was the gym leader until someone told me," you explained with a shrug, "I just appreciate anyone who helps carry groceries."

"Oh. I see. What are you doing here if Gloria is I assume at the stadium?," she asked.

You gestured to your sobble as it spat out an apple seed. "Someone wanted more food. I'm telling you he's worse than a kid hyped up on sugar once he sees the stuff." Both of you jumped at a ....snort? Blinking you looked at Nessa and noticed her holding her mouth and chuckling.

"I-I'm so sorry," she giggled out, "That's just the funniest thing that I've heard all day while stressing out. U-U-Usually people don't say that about s-s-sobble care."

You blinked. "Oh yeah?"

Sonia nodded as Nessa's giggles slowly fizzled out. "Usually sobbles are....how do you say it?...Massive cry babies that'll cry at the tiniest things like a baby would. It happened ALL the time when my Granny gave a trainer their first pokemon." She groaned closing her eyes as if the memory gave her instant annoyance and headaches. "They don't get an extra snack? BOOM! Crying! They trip the littlest, I mean tiniest bit. Crying! You're too busy to pet them? Crying! Forget playtime? CRYING! And don't get me started on the amount of times I had to buy Sobble Eye Drops for all the stinging and headaches. It's like walking on eggshells until they evolve into a drizzile! It's why a bunch of trainers rather chose scorbunny or grookey than a sobble." She pointed towards yours who had finished eating and began crawling it's way over to you. "In fact, the sobble Granny gave Leon for the trainers he endorsed was the pokemon who stayed in our care the longest. She must've had it for at least since it hatched and was given to her. It was such a little wimp clinging to her all the time...I never really had mush patience for them."

You jolted when something tugged on your arm, calming yourself once you noticed it was just your pokemon. "...Really?"

With a frown Nessa sighed. "She's right. Sobbles are much better suited for older more patient people. They aren't exactly really popular pokemon among starting trainers who are eager to start their journey. Most end up for adoption to pokemon centers or abandoned to the wild because the person decides it's not worth it to have their eyes burning after every battle or basically raise what could essentially be a child in their eyes." Her eyes suddenly narrowed. "I remember once Raihan came all the way to Hulbury just to give me a sobble someone carelessly discarded at his gym after they lost. The poor thing was so confused and scared. It was a miracle I found someone who loved it. Much more than the thoughtless trainer who never gave it a second thought. Pokemon aren't just toys you can give away or leave lying around after you decided you outgrew them."

"THAT'S AWFUL!!,'' you shouted feeling an anger grow in you as one hand instinctly came up to grab your sobble who chirped in confusion at your actions, both women giving you looks of surprise at your shout. How could anyone DO such a horrible thing!? That's like the equivilant of someone getting a brand new puppy and then not wanting to deal with the work and attention that goes into it and then straight up abandoning it to the streets in your world!! "How could anyone do such a thing?! That's like...So not ok!"

"Well....That is very true. Its not ok. But it seems to be you and your sobble have a very special connection," Nessa said gesturing towards your sobble making Sonia take a double take at you as well.

"Huh. Now that you mention it he does looked rather relaxed. He usually never looked so comfortable before Granny gave him to Leon."

"Really?,'' you asked, "He seemed pretty ok so far. Cried like...only one time but that might be cuz he was pushed over by these rockstar wannabes."

To that the ladies seemed lightly surprised. "Really now? Well then you must have lots of patience then. Sobbles usually tend to work better with people who have lots of patience or a motherly personality."

"And considering you mentioned never having a pokemon before I'm kinda impressed too. You must be a natural babysitter!," Sonia joked. You huffed and rolled your eyes at her joke. Yeah. You sure felt like one sometimes during your journey so far.

"Oh, Scales!" You blinked backed towards Nessa as she now held up her phone to her face with a frown before looking back towards you and Sonia. "Hey. Sorry but I have to bounce. I have to stop by home then head to the gym really quick if I'm going to make it to that match on time." Turning with a smile she waved. "I'll see you later Sonia. It was nice seeing you again too, Miss. good luck with that sobble of yours."

As she walked away, the both of you waved as you watched her go before Sonia turned back to you. "Hey. If you're not really busy, would you like to come to the docks with me?" She held up a small clear plastic bag with, what looked like to you at least, dog kibble with a smile. "There's always a small school of chinchou everyone likes to feed there. I always like to visit whenever I come to Hulbury."

You paused considering her words for a moment. It would be nice to have more time with another person around your age before you had to go back for a bit and they wouldn't be expecting you for a while. So it should be fine. With a shrug you stood up. "Sure! I don't think I've ever seen a chinchou anyways."

Smiling she gestured for you to follow. "C'mon. We're pretty close anyways. I think you'd really like them."

She was right. The small market area was right across from the docks anyways, so it took less than five minutes to reach the docks. You followed her onto the pathways on the water and looked over the edge. The crystal blue water acting like a mirror letting you see your reflection and your sobble's as it blinked big innocent eyes at the water. You nearly bumped into her when she stopped and already had the bag open with her hand inside rummaging around until she pulled out a small handful of the kibble. With a toss they all went into the clear water sending small ripples as they floated and bobbed on the mirror water. That was until almost instantly bubbles appeared from under them and in a flurry of lightbulb antennas and blue skin tons of tiny little creatures swam to the surface and the floating kibble was devoured by the pokemon. You blinked as you watched them swim around. There must've been around ten of them all swimming about here. You blinked as the bag was suddenly held out to you with a smile from Sonia.

"Do you wanna feed them a little? This pokemon food is specifically made for water type pokemons' tastes," she offered.

"Yeah! Thanks!" You happily took some from her and a small blue hand tried to reach out for it too as you pulled away and gave your sobble a look. It stared at you for a moment before chirping and grabbing your nose. "*sigh* Fine." With a sigh and roll of your eyes, you silently held one piece of the kibble up to him and watched as he grabbed it from you and popped it into his mouth. Before tossing more kibble at the peeping lanturn fish like pokemon still swimming around. As before they began devouring it. "They sure are hungry huh?"

"Always are," Sonia replied tossing some more kibble to them. "It's a really popular thing to do around here if you aren't visiting the stadium or Aquarium or eating at the famous cafe up the road. Since there's a battle later today with Nessa I suspect that's why it's so vacant."

You smiled. "Yeah. I just hope everything goes well for them later today. Hop and her seemed pretty excited to go battling Nessa."

Sonia nodded. "I can't blame them. When Leon and I were they're age we were excited over battling the gym leaders too." She smiled at some distant long memory. "In fact, it seemed like it was just yesterday I was right here feeding some Chinchou and then Leon came out of no where and fell in the water! S-Said he d-d-didn't even know how he got there looking for the stadium." She giggled and you couldn't help but smile back.

"Oh. Is that anything like the time I heard he somehow ended up on top of a barn?" Sonia snorted. "Or the time he went out to catch a train and somehow ended up back in front of his house?"

"That happened?"

You nodded. "Oh yeah. He ended up waiting for me to thank me for the two's Slumbering Weild field trip after it happened. I have no idea how."

She chuckled. "Neither do I. Lee's always had a bad sense of direction just like his Da-" She froze. The once smile and cheery attitude replaced by a look of mild panic before she coughed and tossed some more kibble towards the chinchou. "Hey. Look at how cute they are today. They look like such healthy wild chinchou. Don't you think?"

It was her attempting to deflect away from what she already said. You knew that and personally you wouldn't really bother looking into it as 1. It was really none of your business and you hated budding into someone else's business and 2. you didn't feel up to making Sonia more uncomfortable than she already looked...But you couldn't help yourself since this was the second time this has happened. ...That's right. She did a similar thing at the Opening Ceremony when she asked you not to mention what she said to anyone. By now you had completely forgotten about that moment with everything that's been going on and at the time just brushed it off having more important things to worry about. But now....You looked at her and by the look in her eyes she knew what you were about to ask.

"That's right. I spent a few days between their houses and I saw their families. And I met their mothers. And Hop's grandparents." You fully turned to her with a raised brow. "And Hop's older brother. And Gloria's brother. But not have I ever once seen any of their dads nor had they even mentioned them. So that's begging the question of where's the missing link then isn't it?"

There was a pregnant silence between the two of you as you stared at her expectantly and Sonia stared back down at the water, seemingly trying to process the situation she found herself in. The only sounds was the boat horns from the docks, and the splashing around and noises of the chinchou as they still begged for more of the kibble Sonia held. And after more silence your expression softened and a guilty feeling bubbled up. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to ask. Even if you were traveling with them it was none of your business really. So you went to apologize.

With a sigh, Sonia finally seemed to find her words and turned to you with a sad but serious look. "I...understand if you're concerned or curious. I'd be too all things considering. But I really CANT tell you anything since it's not my place to say....By now you obviously noticed they just..aren't there and let's leave it as that."

You nodded. "Hey. I'm..I-I'm sorry. I know it's none of my business. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

She shook her head. "No. To be honest you wouldn't be the first one to ask that question to Leon or anyone else and you probably won't be the last. But if you could do us both a solid and not tell anyone about this it'd be great."

"Believe me, I was about to ask you the same thing." You smiled. "Trust me. I won't tell us a soul."

"Thank you, Y/n. I'm glad you understand."

"Hey. Of course!"

So.....No fathers in the picture huh? A strange feeling settled into your guts that was something akin to feeling extremely guilty. And a....strange feeling of familiarity of it all for your own reasons...Then the reality hit you. In a memory of what happened back at the inn back in Motostoke. In the very slip up Sonia had made before that you had passed off until now-

"And thanks for taggin' along with the kids this far. I know we're practically strangers but there's just....I don't know....really good aura about you. I'm sure Lee appreciates it too. He's always so worried about Hop. He practically raised him after all-" All of a sudden it was like a switch flipped off in her mind and her happy smile went to a sudden shocked face. "Oh no. I didn't mean to mention that. Please forget I even said that."

You had pretty much pieced it together right after remembering that. For some reason, in one way or another, Hop and the twins had no fathers and Leon as Sonia said must've practically filled the role in which a father figure would fill. This would sum up a lot of the things you've bared witness too. Hop and Gloria's infatuation with Leon(especially on Hop's end), they're desire to climb their way up the ranks and make him proud-..Heck. Leon's behavior know that you think about it could've been summed up as brotherly...or fatherly. Sponsoring two (although it was VERY clear he was full on ready to just endorse Victor as well no questions asked if he hadn't made the choice of not competing in the Gym Challenge) kids for the challenge which as you came to know wasn't typical of a Galar Champion, buying you and them all those supplies and stuff, and with what Sonia said just set that fact in concrete. And....While that did make you feel guilty and sad for them...At the end of the day it really was none of your business. Any moment or day now you could wake up back home and none of this would have mattered, and you shouldn't really butt in between their business. Especially since you weren't planning on staying in the long run. Plus...you were trying NOT to uproot the game's progress as much as possible or no more than you might've already had done if at all with your actions. You might've not remembered how the game went entirely but you knew you were on the right track. For now at least. You continued to make small talk with Sonia about how her research was going and your trip over before deciding it was best to part ways there and bid her farewell before heading back towards the stadium. Nessa mentioned leaving to make sure she arrived on time. You wondered if Gloria was battling her right now?...Well you soon found out the answer to that question.

when you were just making your way up to the restaurant your stomach grumbled. Making you wince a bit. Huh. Guess you were out for longer than you thought if you got hungry. Glancing up to the cafe you wondered how much a simple meal would cost? It was supposed to be famous for their food after all. With a shrug you decided on entering and seeing if they had anything your measly twelve dollars could buy. Fancy was the first word that came to mind when you entered through the double doors and a bell rung off. A woman at a front desk was the first thing to greet you along with some kind of pokemon you didn't recognize. It seemed the theme of the whole place was blue and white, giant tables lined the area with table setting and napkins fancily folded into boat like shapes, a MASSIVE window looking over the stadium, and a bar like area near the far right walls with another pair of double doors you assumed lead to the kitchen. The only other people there besides you and the lady was a man behind the bar counter who was talking on the phone with someone.

The woman smiled at you. "Greetings and welcome to the Hulbury Seafood Restaurant!" She greeted with a bow. "Do you happen to have a reservation or would like to make one?"

"Uh-..." You shook your head. Oh man. Was this one of those places where you HAD to make a reservation in order to eat? "Not exactly. I just heard your food was pretty good."

The woman still smiled. "Oh. Well then I'd be more than happy to seat you by the-"

"AHH!" Both of you jumped when a thud rang out which turned out to be the man in the chef hat slamming down the phone he was previously talking to.

"Chef, what on earth is the matter?," the woman asked.

The chef pointed to the phone scowl on his face. "My delivery boy just called. Apparently he's caught a cold and can't make it today! Out of all the days I need him most." The old man grabbed at his grey hair. "I have all these orders and no one to take them. The Chairman could show up any minute for his reservation but instead he's going to be present with angry customers calling for their orders and our reputation as Hulbury's greatest restaurant will be tarnished!!"

"Well...I could run out and deliver a few," the woman suggested.

"And leave your post!? OH no no no! That'd look even more bad if no one was here to greet them in while I cook!" He slumped forward. "This is an utter disaster! What am I to do?"

You looked between the two of them before slowly holding up your hand. "Um...If you'd like, I'd like to help."

Immediately the chef snapped his head up and blinked at you. Before a suspicious look came over his face as he looked you over. "You, Young Lady? You would please help us deliver some food?"

You nodded. "I mean..Yeah. It looks like you guys are pretty.." You gave a glance at the empty place. "-busy at the moment and I'd like to help."

After looking you up and down a few more moments the chef sighed before shrugging. "Why not? I have nothing else to lose in this moment anyhow." He reached under a counter and beckoned you to come over to which you complied before placing a small take out box onto the counter. "Thank you. I truly appreciate it. Tell you what. If you manage to deliver all the take out orders then I'll prepare you my famous 'Lucky Egg' dish as thanks. How does that sound?"

You mouth watered just thinking about free food. This just might be your lucky day after all. You nodded with a smile and took the box from him. "Sure! Sounds fair enough. Where do I deliver this one?"

He paused for a moment...before he rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh uh. Well as for where to deliver the food.....Sorry. We've been so stressed out for the Chairman's visit I forgot to ask for an address." You stared at him. .....WHAT!? "B-But I heard a clickity clack sound from the phone when I took the first order. Maybe that's a clue as to where to go?"

..........You sighed. "Yeah..Don't worry about it. I'll figure it out somehow."

"That's the spirit! Come back as soon as you're done delivering that one! And hurry please. Oh! And here. Take this notepad with you. They'll have to sign off on it so I can send the bill."

You had no idea what you had gotten yourself into this time. With a groan you exited the restaurant and spotted a peculiar sight to behold. There was Gloria standing just outside the restaurant as you approached with her back to you and you soon saw what she was staring at. A little ways from her standing in the middle of the road was HIM. Mareep Head-..Er. I mean Bede who looked bored and in front of him was....It was her. The same woman from your dream and the Opening Ceremony as well. And in front of her was...No. It COULDN'T be!! In front of them was a group of about six to eight people, but with that group was none other than the CHAIRMAN himself!!...Tho he looked a little different than the other times you've seen him. You didn't expect to see Nessa outside of her gym leader suit, but you hadn't been caught too much off guard. The chairman however was a different story. Instead of that professional slim fitting suit he wore a baseball cap, slip on white shoes, sunglasses, .....a sweater that showed how chubby he was actually under his suit, and blue shorts with white polka dots to top it all off. You could only star at the man...Was this-....This COULDN'T have been the same professional high standing man that ran the whole Galar Region! He looked like someone's Dad on a lazy day. ...You chuckled which startled Gloria into giving a yelp and whipping around to see you and the box you held.

"Holy Magikarp, Y/n! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry....Hey. What are you doing all the way over here? I thought you were having a battle today. And where's Victor?"

She sighed. "Vic decided ta go fishin' at the docks. Said somethin' 'bout wanting to catch some more water types. We got hungry just waiting for Nessa so Hop suggested I go grab us something while he holds our place. What are you doing?" She noticed the box you held and pointed at it. "And what's that?"

"Long story short is that I agreed to be the fill in delivery boy for a bit." You nodded past her towards the group. "Hey uh...Gloria, is that who I think it is?"

She turned around and with a huff she crossed her arms and frowned. "Yeah. The Cottonee so full of himself he needs a garden hose to wash the ego from his brain!"

".....Uh..Actually I was talking about the chairman over there, but I guess Bede's here too yes."

"Oh...Well yeah. It's weird just walking around the corner and seeing him right that. Like..what the bloody heck are those shorts?"

"Y'know I was thinking the same thing." You two continued to watch in bewilderment as the chairman smiled and spoke with the small group of people, before the woman suddenly stepped in front of him as he was about to shake another person's hand.

She held up a hand. "Our sincerest apologies," she spoke with a calm and professional tone, "The chairman is quite busy at the moment. Everyone please disperse. Please leave now."

The crowd murmured but eventually slowly parted ways, one woman saying. "Ok. See you later, Chairman."

"Oh h-hey! No need to rush off! I can still do autographs!," the chairman called after them raising a hand, "I'll even give you my pokemon league card!" To your surprise no one really paid attention and kept walking besides you and Gloria...And you rose a brow. With a sigh he turned back to the woman. "we need the support of our fans to keep doing what we're doing. Chasing them off like that. Aren't you being a little too harsh, Oleana?"

"Fans are very important of course," the woman, who must've been Oleana explained, "That's why you need to keep doing your work for their sake."

"I promise to do everything in my power to assist you too, Chairman!," Bede butted in proud of himself. Huh. Maybe Gloria had a point.

The chairman gave him a look for a moment before raising a brow. "Oh. And you were?"

Maybe it was just your imagination most likely, but you could've sworn you saw Bede frown for a moment before he answered, "Bede, Sir."

"AH! That's right! Bede! I daresay I'm impressed how fair you've come since I gave you that pokemon all those years ago. Will you be the one to win the Gym Challenge? Or perhaps it will be one of the Trainers endorsed by the Champion."

"I will prove your faith in me was well placed, Chairman," Bede assured, "I won't lose to anyone. Anyway speaking of which, I'll be on my way now." He turned and began walking away, but completely froze upon seeing you and Gloria..Well more Gloria than you as the two of them made eye contact...And he suddenly pointed. "YOU!?"

"Hey Mareep Head. How's your Hatenna?"

"WHY YOU-....YOU- ..LITTLE-"

"AH! You!" Bede practically jumped out of his skin as the chairman was quick to push past him and walk up to Gloria with a smile, Oleana right behind him. Gloria practically just stood and stared as he approached and you rose an eye brow. "Your name was...." He thought for a moment before pointing to her. "Gloria right? We were just talking about you!" Your brow rose more. That was a complete and utter lie. They were standing right there entire time in front of you but you shrugged it off as an awkward ice breaker.

.....Gloria exchanged a look with you before pointing at herself. "....Me?"

he nodded. "Yes! I admit I'm curious about Leon's reasons for endorsing you. Ah! I just had a good idea, as I tend to do!" Brag much? "You're going to face Gym Leader Nessa soon, yes?"

"Um...Y-Yeah. I was on my way back to the stadium actually-"

"Well if you get a gym badge from her I'll hold a celebration! I'd like to get to know you a little better after all." He smiled and you felt ....odd about it all.

"Um..Y-Yeah..I guess so??"

"Chairman, we should really be going if you want to keep that dinner reservation," Oleana stated.

The chairman nodded to her before turning back to Gloria. "Alright. Please do your best, for the sake of Galar's future."

"I Uh...Y-YES SIR!!" Gloria gave her best smile under the situation.

With a smile and nod he turned and walked past her and you not sparing you a glance and you followed him with your gaze brow raised...You weren't sure, but you had a funny feeling about him and it wasn't a good funny. When you turned back around you nearly jumped the box in surprise. The woman-!! Oleana was standing right in front of Gloria so close her shadow was literally blocking the sunlight from her. The poor girl frozen under the woman's studying gaze.

"The Chairman will be heading to this town's seafood restaurant." She stated monotonely, "Win the gym badge and join him there at once. Do not keep him waiting. Am I clear, Young Lady?" Gloria didn't say anything..and you looked at her. Eyes shooting to the size of plates. She was more frozen than a glacier. ...All that came out of her was a small squeak noise making the woman's eyes narrow. "Perhaps I wasn't clear. Do not keep the chairman waiting. Head to the seafood restaurant. The Captain's Table. Do you need me to repeat myself once more, Child? Or do you understand-"

"Too skinny."

Gloria jumped having probably completely forgotten you were there for a moment as she snapped to you and Oleana followed her piercing gaze to meet your glare. ....She slowly blinked. "I beg your pardon, Miss?"

"I said you're too skinny for that," you explained as they both stared at her.

Her brow flicked up as she studied you. "And I happen to be too thin for what purpose, Ma'am?"

"Well you're certainly not fat enough to be throwing your weight around not to notice you're being a jerk," you explained raising a brow back, "Obviously she heard you with how close you are. Maybe she'd answer if you weren't so close making her feel uncomfortable like that."

They both stared at you stunned. Gloria jaw dropped and Oleana had the same face but her eyes much more widened as she stared at you. It was so quiet you could've heard a pin drop as you joined this little three way stare down. HECK. It felt like an entire hour just staring at her before her face slowly contorted back to her original bored/professional looking one and she took a step back, spooking Gloria in process as the poor girl blinked.

"Do you happen to know who I am, Miss?," she asked like you should already know this.

"Somebody who's heels makes them so tall their head's in the clouds obviously."

This time her brows furrowed, her mouth frowned, and you noticed the way her hands gripped each other. As if she was physically holding back her anger. But before she could reply a chuckle seemed to interrupt you. Blinking you turned around only to find that the Chairman guy was looking right at you. Raising a brow and humming. You rose a brow and frowned right back.

....He waved a hand off. "Oleana, you're right. We'll be late for that reservation. Give the young trainer my League card and let's be on our way."

It's amazing how fast her aura and face changed at a moment's dime. "Of course. So you will not forget the Chairman's face, I will give you one of his League Cards." She suddenly held something out to Gloria who blinked but after a moment took it. "Chairman Rose is the kind of man who gets downhearted if he doesn't take care of things he needs to right away. Go to the seafood restaurant as soon as possible so as to not keep the chairman waiting." She glanced back to you and your eyes narrowed more. "...Good luck in your battle." With that she stepped around Gloria who followed her as she went and so did you with your frown. And after the Chairman gave another look to you, also turned and walked away.

....You sighed and turned back to Gloria, only to blink when she was staring right back at you. "....Uh...H-Hey. Are you ok there? You looked spooked." Shaking. Your eyes widened noticing her hands shaking. "WHOA! Hey! Are you ok!? She didn't scare you too bad did she?"

"Y-Y-Y/n..," She stuttered. Her hands slowly clenched into fists. "T-T-That..was..." Her face snapped up to you in a smile. "AWESOME!! SERIOUSLY!! Like! Yeah she gave off major scare vibes I swear she's worse than a gengar in the darkest room! My heart was pounding so fast! Then you were all well slayin' 'ere like a beast!!...Omg." She looked down for a moment realization settling in. "....My traveling partner talked BACK to the Chairman's right hand!! What's he going to think when I show up!? I mean it was amazing to watch don't get me wrong. But STILL!!''

"Hey, hey, hey!!" You caught her attention by grabbing her shoulder making her blink at your face. "Hey. Look at me." Once you knew you had her full attention you smiled. "That woman was making you feel scared, and that's not ok. So I did what I had to do. If anything I'll get in trouble. Besides, Im a girl standing on the sidewalk holding a delivery box. They'd probably think I was just a stranger going to delivery a pizza or something. Right now you should just worry about your gym battle."

It was like a record scratch went off in her mind as she suddenly paused, face going blank for a moment before her hands suddenly snatched the top of her head. "AH!! MY GYM BATTLE!! I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT THAT!! BUT THE CHAIRMAN SAID IF I WIN TO SEE HIM!! IF!! IF!! WHAT IF I DON'T WIN!? OMG!! CAN I STILL MEET WITH HIM IF I DON'T-"

You shook her with the hand still on her shoulder. "Gloria! Get a grip on yourself! Of course you're going to win!'' You smiled. "If you could beat Milo you can beat Nessa too! And if you lose it's fine. I'm sure he'll understand, you can't let all of that overthinking stop you ok? Be more confident in yourself, and if you lose..." You shrugged. "Then it's ok. You can always try again tomorrow or any other day. You are going to be ok....Ok?"

She stared at you for a long moment before taking a deep breath and sighing. A determined look now plastered on her face. "You're right! I'm just overthinking this! I just need to remain calm and everything's going to be fine!"

You smiled. "That's the spirit...Hey. Isn't it gonna start like..right now?"

"GAH! Y-You're right! I gotta go!" With a wave she quickly turned on her heel and ran off towards the stadium. "Thanks, Y/n! You're the best!"

You sighed before shaking your head watching her go. Well...glad that went well at least, she was a brave girl so she should be ok..But then why did you still feel eyes on you? As you turned your f/c eyes met purple ones and Bede jumped having noticed you spotted him. With a jerk of his head the other way, he quickly sped walked away from you in the opposite direction leaving you lightly confused. But you shrugged it off. Right now you had bigger fish to fry like getting this fish you were currently holding to the person who ordered it. Who ever it was. That was the thing you had to figure out as you stood there in the middle of the sidewalk staring at the box in your hands like someone staring off into space. Good gosh the guy couldn't think to ask for an address? What were you supposed to do with a click clack sound? That could mean anything....Well what kind of click clack sounds were loud enough to be heard over a phone. ....Your head turned towards the train station back towards the stadium. Didn't trains usually make a noise like that? A train would certainly be loud enough to hear over a phone. With a shrug you started off down towards the train station and right up to the first house right by it since there was two. Knocked and waited patiently as footsteps approached.

The first one was answered by a middle aged looking man and you smiled. "Hey! Uh...Did you order seafood?"

"No. I don't like fish."

"Oh..Sorry about tha-" You flinched as the door was slammed back shut in front of your face..before you frowned. "Well he was pretty rude wasn't he?" Your sobble chirped in agreement. "Couldn't have said it better myself," you mumbled as you turned away from the door and away from the first house to go to the second. The Stadium not too far away roaring alive now with cheers. Must be Hop or Gloria having a battle with Nessa. Shame you couldn't attend but you were a bit busy right now. Walking up to the second home, you knocked on the door and waited. After a moment footsteps approached and a sweet elderly woman answered. You smiled. "Hey! Good afternoon! Did someone here order some seafood?"

To your delight, she smiled. "Oh, are you the one delivering my food?" She happily reached out and took the box from you. "Thank you for your trouble! This restaurant's dishes are full of seafood and it's so delicious if I say so myself. They are pretty well known after all."

"Your welcome! ..Oh wait!" You reached into your pocket to quickly pull out your notebook. "I need you to-''

"Oh of course! Your tip. "

"Actually I-" You blinked when a small bag of what looked like small jaw breakers was placed into your hand tied off by a cute little red ribbon.

"I've already paid the restaurant over the phone, so I'll give you candy as a tip. There's nothing like sweets to go along with a beautiful day. You have a nice day now."

You blinked looking at the small bag. "Hey wait! I need you-" The door closed leaving you staring at it. "..to sign this. *sigh*" You held up the overly cute bag and your sobble gave it a curious look over. "Well, it's not money but it's better than nothing I guess. Wouldn't you say?"

Your trip back to the restaurant wasn't anything unusual, still faintly hearing the cheers from the gym on your way there. The only thing that was a little strange was a small group of three or four people standing outside the place trying to peep into the windows. Your brow rose but you shrugged it off and just stepped inside seeing the same woman as before.

"Sorry. We're closed at the mome-..OH! It's you young lady,'' she greeted.

"Back again?!" You looked over towards the chef and he smiled seeing you. "Excellent! I wanted to ask you to deliver some food again. Is that ok? I suspect that the package was delivered?"

....You held up the bag of candy. "Yeah. Sorry I couldn't get her to sign it. But she tipped me in candy."

"Oh. That must've been Mrs. Wesley. Don't worry about her, she has a habit of doing that." Again he reached under the counter and brought up another box. "But right now I need you to deliver this next one as soon as possible!'' You walked over and he held it out to you before slightly nodding over towards the right. You glanced over and your eyes widened seeing the chairman and Oleana looking out of the window over the stadium, not seeming to notice you thankfully. "Since the Chairman's here we're doing our best to try and not upset the atmosphere. Since you're taking care of this for us it's really taking one less thing off our shoulders to worry about."

You sighed with a smile before taking the second box from him. The fresh smell of fish and chips wafting from it making your mouth water. "Hey. It's no problem. Where do I take this one?"

He paused. "Well....I uh...Haha. D-Didn't quite get the address for this one either?" You stared. "...B-but I don't know if this helps, but I think I heard a pokemon cry over the phone this time. Like....Swiirl...Or something like that."

"....I'll...figure it out I'm sure."

Figure it out indeed! How in the HECK were you just supposed to deliver a dang food order based off a pokemon's cry?? Whelp! There was only one way to solve this! ...Visit all the houses here until you came across the right one. So that's exactly what you did. You already delivered to the lady up by the train station and the guy next to her rudely stated he didn't so that was two houses you could cross off your list. So there you went starting from one end of the long, LONG street of houses one after another smiling and asking if they ordered a take out. Every. Single. One. Said. No. Or just didn't answer at all, and to be honest you were feeling justifiably annoyed at this point. What was the POINT of having someone deliver food if you didn't know where to send them!? It must've taken you at least fifthteen minutes of walking and asking until you FINALLY caught a break coming to the very last house on the block before the road split off between the train station and stadium. You knocked and waited patiently as footsteps approached, and you smiled when a blonde man who looked to be in his early thirties opened the door.

"Hey. Sorry to bother you, but did you order some seafood takeout?"

"Oh, I can smell the ocean. You're from the restaurant aren't you?" You nodded and held the box up to him as he took it with a hum. "Ah! I'm starving! I've been drooling while waiting for the food! Than you for delivering the food!"

"Oh hey. Before you go." You held up the notepad. "Could you please sign for this?"

"Oh sure thing. Wait right here." He turned and walked back inside leaving you standing there able to see the inside of the home as the man handed off the food to two little girls who looked so much alike that they must've been twins. A pink pokemon looking like cotton candy swirling around them. "Stacy, Lacy. Food's here. And this time don't let Pinkie eat my share of it." You stood there awkwardly until he finally came back grabbing the note pad. "Sorry about that. You know how kids can be."

"Heh. Yeah. Sorry if it took so long. Had to go the long way around to get here."

"Well you get energy from food. If you need energy you should eat balanced meals." He handed you back the notepad with a smile. "Thanks again!''

With a sigh you turned on your heel and began trudging off back towards the restaurant. Your stomach rumbled again and by this point you were seriously wondering if this was even worth any free food for? If you had half a mind you would've just quite, returned the notepad, and then just go back to the hotel to just eat some of your rations or order the cheapest thing on the room service menu. But then again, you already promised to help and free food does sound better than spending your remanding money. Plus their food was supposed to be really good. So..You made the choice to go back to the very cafe you came from and waltzed back through the doors and up to the counter this time. The chef seemed very pleased to have you back as he had already placed the last box on the counter he explained. Only one more? Oh THANK goodness. You weren't sure how much of this mumbo jumbo you could handle. You took the last box from him not sparing a glance over your shoulder in the chairman's way.

"As for the address-"

"Let me guess. You forgot?"

"Actually. No. I remembered to ask." Your eyes widened. Was this finally gonna be easy? "Unfortunately I have no idea where it is.".....WHAT?! "The customer told me to look for a green roof, but I wonder if there is such a house in Hulbury. I've certainly never seen a house like this before but Im sure you're smart enough to figure it out like the other two!"

".......Right."

Of course it wasn't going to be that easy. It never was going to be easy for you was it? It seemed simple enough tho. Just look for a house with a green roof and that should be it right? Except..none of the houses you had asked previously had ordered anything and the ones that did couldn't have possibly ordered a second time in such short notice right after getting the first. Oh well. Green roof. That's all you had to go on......and the amount of time you had spent walking up and down these streets looking for any building with a green roof was exhausting. NONE of the homes here had green roofs and when you checked the few buildings around here that weren't homes (like the light house and pokemon center-) discovered surprise, surprise. No green roof either. Oh you hoped whoever ordered this didn't live outside Hulbury. Not having any luck where you currently were, you decided to go ahead and go back down to the docks where you first went that morning. You didn't remember seeing any buildings there but it wouldn't hurt to cover all bases before giving up. Your body ended up wondering back to the market place you were once in...And you were about ready to give up. There wasn't anything around here with a green-

"HEY! Young Lady with the sobble on your shoulder!," a male voice shouted. Blinking, you turned around to one of the stalls. the one with the green and white top. A man with brown hair waved at you. "You're delivering food?" You nodded. "Well hey! I'm the one who ordered it!" He was!?...You glanced towards the striped roof of his stall.....Oh. A green roof. Whelp! Might as well get this over with. he smiled wider as you approached. "You got here earlier than I expected! It was easy to spot the green roof wasn't it?"

No. Not really. In fact it would've been a LOT easier if he just said he was in a stall in this marketplace but instead you forced a smile and handed him the box and notepad. "Please sign here."

He gladly signed it. "The tail curry of this restaurant has a unique flavor. I love it! Say hi to the manager for me!"

You quickly grabbed the notebook. "Have a nice day!" And then you quickly retreated. A groan leaving your tired body as you dragged yourself back the way you came for a second time that day. By the time you had gotten back close to the restaurant you were sore, tired, but most of all you were hungry! OH! The food had better be worth it or else you were going straight back to the hotel to-

"Y/N!!" Hey. You knew that voice! Sure enough Gloria was waving her arm at you with a smile as you proceeded to walk towards her. Despite wanting time to yourself today you were absolutely glad to see her. "What are you doing by the docks?"

"Finishing my role as a replacement delivery boy," you answered when you got close enough and pointed at her white uniform. "Why are you still wearing your gym challenge uniform?"

"Oh uh.." She sheepishly smiled with a chuckle. "It's a long story. On the bright side I managed to defeat Nessa! LOOK!" A flash of bronze went in your face and you blinked before leaning back. A badge with some kind of blue water pattern shown before you. No doubt the water gum badge. "Feast yer eyes! I thought I was a gonna when I lost the second round, but I managed to pull a turn around and win enough rounds to pass! Ain't it great?!"

You smiled. "Hey! That is great! I'm so happy for you! But where's Hop and Victor? I thought he was with you and shouldn't Victor be done fishing by now?" You hadn't seen him by the docks when you passed

"He stayed behind to set up his own battle with Nessa tomorrow while Vic has a go at 'er. Don't worry. He already knows where I am. Said he'll meet back up with us when we're done having dinner with the Chairman."

"...We?"

"Oh.." She slowly lowered her had back down to her side. "I just...thought you'd be coming too since you were there with me when he invited me.I-...I just thought since y'know...B-But that's fine! I won't force ya to come with me. Yer probably tired from running around all day anyways."

You paused. Yes, you were tired but you were heading back inside the restaurant anyways. And if Oleana was there...You smiled. "Hey! I'd love to come!"

Her eyes lit up. "REALLY!?"

"Yeah. I gotta go in to let 'em know I'm done delivering all these confusing orders anyways." You turned and nodded towards the doors. "C'mon. Let's go eat and see what he wants. Ok?"

With a smile of relief she nodded and the two of you went up towards the doors and went inside. The woman from before was there and upon seeing the both of you greeted you both with a smile. "Welcome to the Hulbury Seafood Restaurant. Unfortunately we're not accepting any reservations or walk ins today but if you'd like to schedule one for a later date or order take out you're more than welcome-....Oh! It's you again, Young Lady."

"Uh. Yeah." You held out the notepad. "Actually I was promised free food if I delivered everything and we were both invited to eat with the Chairman over there."

"Oh." She glanced to Gloria who looked nervous, seeming to realize she was a trainer. "Yes. I recall he said something about an extra guest trainer with his party today. Chairman Rose comes here incognito, but the word always gets out when he's here." She grabbed the notepad from you. "You both may go ahead to the Captain's Table in the back. I'll notify the chef you completed your tasks."

With a thanks you both took off towards the back where you saw the Chairman, Oleana, and..HEY! It was Sonia. Relief flooding in seeing another familiar face. This might be more tolerable then...Maybe you should take this time to apologize? You glanced to Gloria who still looked nervous. If this was someone very high up and important it wouldn't hurt to swallow your pride and just apologize, if nothing else but to keep the peace and show you're willing to be the bigger person. After all you don't want to cause trouble. The first to notice you two was the chairman himself as he turned his head from Sonia to you two and smiled.

"Ah! If it isn't the young trainer I met earlier today," he greeted with a smile and raised brow, "If you're here then I suppose it's safe to say you won against Nessa?"

You didn't miss her gulp before forcing a smile. "Uh..Y-Yeah. Piece of cake!"

He nodded. "I'm so glad! Gloria, come. Let's celebrate your recent victory! On me!" ...You felt eyes on you and you turned from the Chairman's face to Oleana's who was staring right at you. ...You frowned back at her- "And I believe I've seen you before as well, Young Lady." You blinked back to the Chairman's face as he was looking at you too now with a raised brow. ...AH CRAP!! "You were the lady back there who gave my assistant quite a 'roasting' as the young kinds call it nowadays."

...You blinked. Forcing up a smile. Here we go. "Uh. hehe. Yeah. Actually I wanted to apologize to you.." You gave Oleana a glance. "-and her for that. I just thought things were getting a bit scary back there."

To your surprise he chuckled it off with a wave. "Not at all. In all honestly Oleana can be quite intimidating to others. It's one of the reasons she's so good at her job. But there's no hard feelings. Right Oleana?"

The woman next to him inhaled before breathing it back out. "Of course, Sir. Apologies accepted and all's forgiven."

"Excellent! I don't suppose you know Sonia here? She's a wonderful person to have on the research team."

"Yeah. We do actually. Hi, Sonia."

"Oh. Were you invited too?," she asked surprised.

Before you could reply the chairman interrupted you. "You two know each other? That's great! Come now." He gestured to the table directly behind him. "Please be seated." And the three of you followed him and did so after you and Gloria exchanged a glance. She still looked nervous. The order of which you sat was Gloria sat across from the Chairman, Sonia next to Gloria, and you next to the Chairman. Naturally you would've preferred to sit next to either one of the other girls but you weren't about to let Gloria sit right next to a guy you had a funny feeling over. Strangely enough Oleana didn't seem like she was eating with you four and instead opted to stand silently next to the Chairman. How odd. You watched as he oh so casually picked the napkin off his own plate. Hmm...Guess he's been here more than once. "Now that we're all together. Gloria was it? Tell us how did your battle go?"

She shrugged. "Oh. Um. I-It was pretty good. Very thrilling. It was really nice to get ta meet Nessa. She's very nice." Sonia smiled at her.

"That's all very good. If you're as talented as Leon mentioned you then you should have no problem defeating the other gym leaders."

"Well I wouldn't say that. I-It was really hard to beat her. She's a tough gym leader."

"Hey. What were you talking about with Sonia?," you asked successfully steering the topic off Gloria for the moment as the Chairman smiled.

"Oh nothing really worth talking about. How her trip was so far studying around with the legends and the Geoglph in Turffield. The theory is that the two are somehow connected but I digress. AH! Our food has arrived." You looked over to what he was gesturing at and perked up at the lady from before who greeted you carrying two plates. One obviously being some kind of fish as it was placed before the chairman who happily accepted. "Ah! My usual. You always remember." And you were surprised when the other plate was sat in front of you. It was curry, smelt sweet, and had an egg smack dab in the middle of it. "Oh. It looks like you're a regular here too I presume."

"The chef asked me to give you his 'Lucky Egg' dish as a token of his appreciation, Miss," she explained, "I hope you're ok with sweet boiled egg curry. Are the rest of you ready to order?"

"Go ahead ladies. It's on me today."

"Mm. Just a salad. I'm not very hungry today."

"...I mean. The tropical curry sounds good," Gloria guessed.

You were too busy studying the dish in front of you to notice the lady leave. Instead staring at the massive egg just sitting in the middle of the darn plate. ...You weren't up to eating something that might've been a pokemon egg no matter how much your stomach rumbled at the sight and your mouth watered at the smell. Luckily it seemed like you had a back up plan because your sobble was crawling down your arm already on his way towards your food. You extended your hand to allow the small pokemon to sit on the table next to you and without really thinking grabbed the egg off your plate and held it out to it. He smiled and happily accepted your gift with a loud chirp before grabbing it and you watched as it bit it nearly in half with one bite. Goodness. Guess you weren't the only one hungry.

"Hulbury is a seafood town. Naturally if one is going to eat here the obvious choice is the local cuisine," the chairman said already digging in, "Everything on the menu is delicious. Oh, Sonia. By the way how is Professor Magnolia getting on? I'm quite indebted to her you know. She was the one who figured out how to unleash the power of Wishing Stars and use that power to dynamax pokemon. We would never have been able to create dynamax bands without her."

Sonia sighed. "*sigh* She was saying that there's still so much we don't know about dynamaxing. It's causing her some worry. She even made me take a power spot detector with me when I started traveling."

"A power spot detector?," he asked interested, "That's the device that allowed me to discover power spots. Locations that emit Galar particles and allow pokemon to dynamax. I don't like hearing that Professor Magnolia is worried though. If only there was something I could do." You glanced at him again out the corner of your eye and rose a brow. Why were you getting a weird feeling in your gut from this guy?

Sonia shrugged. "Unless you can suddenly provide more intel on the phenomenon then I'm afraid there isn't much, Sir."

He hummed.".....Sonia. It may be good for you to visit the vault in Hammerlocke. I believe the key to unlocking the secrets of the dynamax phenomenon lies in the history preserved there."

Sonia blinked. "Oh. You really think so?"

"We usually study history based on what was left on it from the past. Although mostly legends at this point you know they always say that every legend has truth to it. Who knows? It might even help tie in with the legend you've been studying currently. Oleana can arrange a meeting I'm sure. Can't you?"

"Understood, Sir," Oleana replied monotonly, "I will arrange a meeting with Ms. Sonia."

"Very good. See? Nothing to worry yourself over about. Now shall we dig in?"

The rest of that dinner get together was a blur. Honestly you were too busy stuffing your face to talk but you didn't mind. You only watched and listened to the small talk. Gloria and Sonia's food arrived a short while after and by this point they were mostly done eating as well. His other questions didn't seem too out of the ordinary. Asking how their day was? How they were enjoying the challenge so far? Talking about some of his recent appointments involving some kind of arrangement with a Prince from the Pasio Region?? You weren't sure. But the sun was starting to set soon.

"So then I figured the best way to solve the matter was to set up individual warnings for the two of them and move one to a different department under Oleana. *sigh* Both are hard workers so it'd be a shame to just fire one or both. Don't you agree Oleana?"

"Yes, Sir. However I believe it is about time we get going, Chairman."

"Hm?" He looked at her. "But I've hardly had a chance to speak with Gloria." You rose a brow. You had literally been sitting her an entire hour.

"With all do respect, Sir. It's getting rather late. I'm sure the young lady is quite tired from her day."

...He sighed. "It's regrettable but I guess it can't be helped. If something needs to get done there's no time like the present after all!" He slowly stood from his seat as the three of you watched and smiled. "Truly though I'm glad to have had a chance to speak with you ladies today. So sorry if we couldn't have spent more time together. In any case I bid you farewell."

"OH! Uh..G-Good bye, M-Mr. Chairman. Sir."

You remained silent as the two left. Narrowed eyes watching as they went...Something about those two just felt...Off. Like it didn't sit right in your gut, but you had no idea why? Was there some kind of plot in the game with those two you couldn't remember?...Hm. In any case you were glad they were gone now so you and Gloria could rela- Your head perked up with at a sigh as Sonia rubbed her face.

"Hey. You good there?"

"Does he think he's doing me a favor? He's right that the vault would be a good place to look for the legends but..." She paused suddenly looking up and noticing the two of you staring at her confused. "UH!...Nevermind! You got the water badge right? Defeating Nessa is no easy feat!"

"Uh..Yeah. What are-"

"Nessa's a good friend! Perhaps I should drop in on her!," her chair screeched as she stood up all of a sudden giving a nervous smile, "Ahaha! Yes! She'll be so happy to see me! Until next time, Gym Challenger! Nice seeing you again, Y/n!"

Both of you stared as Sonia quickly sped walked away from you two and then out of the restaurant as if she was escaping something...

Gloria blinked. "What the world just happened?"

"Believe me I have learnt in this point of my life to just go with things. C'mon. It's free food. Let's finish eating and meet the others back at the hotel."

#pokemon reader #pokemon shield #pokemon swsh #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon sword #Pokemon Leon #Pokemon Leon x Reader #Pokemon reader x Leon #Leon #reader #Reader x Leon #Leon x reader

[infizero]

Pokespe SWSH Chapter 10: Bede and Chairman Rose

(translation courtesy of Espresso Scanlations)

One of the most interesting things to me from this chapter was the relationship between Bede and Chairman Rose - or rather, the lack of relationship.

Right off the bat, after Oleana ends her call with Bede, Rose questions who she was talking to. When she reminds him that she was talking to Bede, the challenger he literally endorsed, he not only doesn’t recognize the name but doesn’t seem to remember he even endorsed someone in the first place. Yikes.

The reason Oleana was talking with Bede was that Rose had left Hulbury without Bede’s knowledge, despite him clearly having had some sort of meeting planned. Bede is shocked and aggravated by this, and that feeling only grows stronger when he finds out that the reason Rose missed their meeting was that he was having a meal with Soudo Tsurugi, whom Bede despises.

The rest of the chapter we see Bede confront and lash out at Soudo for this, even though Soudo had no idea such a thing happened because of him. He launches a surprise attack (a cheap move) and when Sou questions why he’s doing what he’s doing, Bede responds with this:

Although truly unfounded, Bede’s anger at Soudo makes sense. While he’s worked incredibly hard to find Wishing Stars for Rose in order to get his attention and praise and ended up being almost entirely forgotten by the man who took him in, Soudo has done nothing at all and yet has received special attention from the Chairman.

Bede has very clearly been affected by Rose’s neglect; he is utterly obsessed with getting Rose’s attention, and will go to extreme measures if it means finally being seen by him.

After Soudo beats him in a battle, he shows him a recording of Marnie at Motostoke Stadium, earning her Fire Badge, and says this:

Oof.

I mean, I think we all knew that in the games the reason Bede did the Gym Challenge was to get Rose’s attention, but this is a whole other level. This isn’t just Rose not paying attention to him; he doesn’t even know he exists. Doing the Gym Challenge, becoming Champion (ideally), is Bede’s way of getting Chairman Rose to notice his existence. And I find that quite sad, especially since the terms they use in the games seem to imply that Rose didn’t just endorse Bede, he adopted him. Bede desperately wants validation from his parental figure and Rose is... not giving him that.

I’m eagerly anticipating the moment Opal comes into the picture and Bede finally gets that supportive parental figure he needs. It’ll be a while (after all, Soudo and Schilly haven’t even cleared the third Gym yet), but I hope it’ll be worth it.

#whew this got long #anyways i love bede and WILL talk about him forever #trainer bede #chairman rose #character analysis #meta #pokespe #pokemon special #pokespe swsh #pokemon swsh #pokemon #pokemon adventures #pokespe sword and shield #rival bede #bede #analysis #does this count as a meta? i dunno

[starkatana]

So Close

Pokemon Piers x Female Reader (OC)

Summary:

You and Piers confess your feelings for each other but you’re only in the Galar Region for a limited amount of time. What do you two decide to do with your newly professed feelings?

Notes before reading:

Originally from Unova, in Galar for research.

You’re working with Sonia researching dynamaxing pokemon.

You’re full-time job is working at the pokemon nursery, you rehabilitate injured pokemon and you take care of abandon pokemon.

You have a Levanny as your pokemon partner.

AN: I’m back! I’ve been sitting on this forever thinking “why do i always have an OC when writing for different characters, i don’t know” I’m going to post it anyway! Hope you enjoy!

You are at a party in Hammerlocke hosted by Raihan in honor of the new champion because it’s long overdue after the Rose incident and the twins' fiasco. A party was what everyone needed to celebrate and unwind. You’re Sonia's plus one, and once you had a moment by yourself Raihan came over, drink in hand, smug look on his face, “Hey, y/n are you single?” he’s straight to the point, “Asking for a friend.”

Your face immediately gets warm. Your eyes quickly shift over at Piers before looking back at Raihan. As quick of a glance you thought it was to Piers, Raihan noticed, and his smug grin only got bigger. “Piers?” he asks.

“Is that the friend?” you respond.

He simply shrugs in response giving you a playful smile.

You give him an eye-roll and followed by a light shove. Your cheeks are pink with embarrassment and you’re only a tiny bit upset that Raihan was able to read you so easily.

He lets out a laugh, “Don’t be embarrassed.” He reassured, “So you know. He stares at you every time you look away.”

“Why are you telling me this?” As cute as you think Piers is, the thought that he could like you back never crossed your mind. “I don’t think he likes me much at all.”

You’ve been in town for about two weeks now, and every time you are around, he never seemed to be interested in you. He would only talk to you if someone else was already talking to you. When you two got into a conversation, you thought he was just being friendly. There was that time where he invited you to Spikemuth, but he invited everyone, and when you said thanks, he ran off without another word.

Raihan lets out a small laugh, followed by a slight headshake, “I’ve known Piers a long time. As fearless as he is on stage, offstage, he’s shy. Keeps to himself, and never draws any more attention to himself than he needs to.”

For some reason you didn’t believe that, but decided not to push the topic. “Again. Why are you telling me this?”

“because” Raihan sighs, “I’ll say it outright. Piers likes you, and I’m letting you know that he’s not going to make a move. You’ll have to do that.”

You turn to face Raihan, who mirrors you and smiles at you, “He’s a good guy, but he’ll always put everyone’s feelings before his own. He’s focused on getting Marnie set up to take over the Spikemuth gym. So, he’s just going to stare at you from afar and use Marnie as an excuse to come over and talk to you because my poor punk baby is never going to do it himself.”

“Please ask my brother out, y/n.”

You turn around, and Marnie steps up next to you two. “We have to make this conversation fast.” She says, “It’ll only be a matter of time before Piers comes up to join our conversation.” You look over at Piers, who makes eye contact with you, and you look away again, heart beating fast and blush washing over your face.

“I don’t know what you guys are talking about. He doesn’t like me.” You try to lie to yourself. You are only going to be here for three months you live in a different region, even if things went well and things worked out, how long would it last with the long-distance?

Marnie and Raihan roll their eyes sharing a glance.

“Everyone can tell that you two have a thing for each other.” Marnie gestured at you.

“Everyone except you two.” Raihan continued.

You don’t know what to say. All this information was coming so fast.

“And then I whipped out a peace sign saying I would win the next one.” Raihan let out a hearty laugh.

“What’s going on, you guys?” Piers asked as he walked up to your group. “Hey, y/n.”

“Hey, Piers.” You quickly sink into your drink, at the same time trying to shrink into the background to disappear. Now that you knew that he liked you back, you didn’t know how to act around him. Not that you knew before, but definitely not now.

“Raihan was just telling us how he lost to Leon. Again,” Marnie said.

How were these two so good at lying?

“Now, my goal is to defeat Leon AND Gloria.”

“Good luck with that.” Gloria laughed, joining their group as well with Hop and Bede close behind. “These two nincompoops want to duke it out in the stadium, can they Raihan?”

“Oh, hell yeah.” Raihan cheered, “I’ll ref! But first!” he takes his Rotom phone out, “Selfie!” and he brings the group together to snap a picture. It felt purposeful where Marnie took a step forward, giving peace symbols as Hop and Gloria get close to you, pushing you into Piers. You and Piers lock eyes, you feel your face turn bright red while you give him a sheepish smile. He smiles at you in return. When the camera snaps, neither of you were looking at the camera.

“This one’s a keeper!” Raihan said looking at the photo, “Let’s go to the stadium!” Raihan announced to the room. The kids run off with Raihan as they run past you and Piers. Piers instinctively pulls you close as the VIP room empties, leaving you in a daze as to what just happened. You two are some of the few remaining people in the room. You look up at him, and the two of you share a moment where his arms are around you protectively.

“Thanks, Piers.”

“No problem.” He hesitantly lets go of you and pulls at the ring on his choker, “Raihan always manages to get people pumped up for Dynamax battles.”

“It's fascinating.” You say, looking through the window over at the stadium, “I’m just curious what the lasting effects on dynamaxing pokemon are.”

“Is that what you’re working on with Sonia?”

“A little.” You look over at him and catch him looking away from you when Raihan’s words go through your head: He likes you.

“Do you want to watch?” he asked.

You shake your head no, “I’m good after that Swordbert and Shieldbert thing, I’m good without dynamax pokemon for now.”

He nods, “Alright then.”

You suck in a quick breath, you take a shot, “Do you want to get out of here?”

“Sure.” He agrees without any hesitation.

Crap. You didn’t think you’d get this far this fast. “Let’s go to the daycare and see some baby pokemon.”

He gives you a soft smile, “Sounds like fun.”

He orders a Corviknight, and it takes you two to route 5. Not only were you working with Sonia on the lasting effects on Dynamaxing pokemon, but you also helped out at the daycare. Your fulltime job is daycare caretaker, you help rehabilitate pokemon and care for the ones abandon by their owners. You two go inside the daycare and see your Levanny sitting outside the door of the nursery spitting silk as if she was knitting.

“How are things?” you ask her.

She lets out a soft coo and points to the door, telling you to be quiet. Then she starts pointing at you two and nods.

“Okay.” You blush, “C’mon Piers.” And you lead him out of the daycare.

“She takes her job very seriously.” Piers joked.

You laugh, “Yeah, she’s great at it.” You breathe relieved. Even your pokemon seem to think you two would be good together. “Sorry, we can’t see any baby pokemon right now. They’re all sleeping.”

“It’s alright.” He was so go with the flow, it was nice change of pace from your crazy structured day-to-day life and his presence is just so calming, “It’s a beautiful night,” he gestures down the bridge towards Hulbury, “care to join me?”

“Of course.”

The two of you silently walk down the cobblestone together taking in the view and the fresh air. The night was perfect. The sky was clear, the stars shined bright next to the moon in the sky, there's was enough moon in the sky to illuminate your walk, but not enough to drown out the beauty of the night. It was a picture-perfect evening. Other couples were walking around and standing on the bridge.

“This is romantic.”

You blush at his voice and the thought. “Yeah.” You let out a weak chuckle, “I walk this every day, and I never realized.”

“It’s… beautiful.” He stammered. You looked at him, he was pulling on his ring again.

You gently touched his upper arm, “I think so too.” He lets out a light sigh followed by a smile.

You two stop in the center of the bridge, overlooking the wild area with a gorgeous view of the Hammerlocke gate, “This is my favorite view.” You say leaning against the railing as he takes his place next to you.

“It’s beautiful.” There’s a noticeable pause between the two of you as you looked over the wild area. “Just like you.”

You stop and look over at him. He lets out a low cough, obviously looking away from you trying to avoid eye contact. A lightbulb went off in your head, he was trying to do that earlier too. He’s so precious.

“Piers,” you pause, I like you.

“What's up?” his voice sounded hopeful.

“Nothing, it's dumb.” You shake your head, giving yourself an eye roll. While he turns to look at you, you turn away looking in the opposite direction.

“I’m sure it’s not.”

You face him, and for the first time, you two make eye contact without the other turning away instantly. Everything about him takes your breath away. You feel your face get warm again. He’s so cute, especially in the moonlight. His bright blue eyes were so easy to get lost in. It wasn’t obvious, but he has such a welcoming and friendly energy that once you got past an exhausted looking Piers, that did scare some people, he is honestly the nicest person anyone would be lucky to be around.

“What?” he asked, his face grows concerned. You look ahead of you again, taking a deep breath trying to find your composure.

“Okay.” You wipe your hands on your shorts. “I’m going to take a shot here because of,” you rotate your hands around each other avoiding his eyes, “ideas.”

“Yeah?” you could hear his confusion.

“Has anyone told you anything.” you wonder aloud, looking back at him.

“I mean.” He looks away this time but back at you before continuing. “I think you’re cool, but I know you’re only here for what two more months?”

“Yeah.” You sigh. That was a big factor in why you didn’t want to get involved with anyone here. You were only in Galar for three months, you had two and a half left. There was no need to get into a relationship with each other or even bother about letting him know how you feel. As much as everyone wanted to, there was no point. Why make your small group of friends here awkward?

“I’ll just come out and say it.” You look over at Piers. “I have a crush on you.”

“What?” you say instinctively. Raihan said he wouldn’t make a move, but apparently, he didn’t know Piers as well as he thought he did. You heard what Piers said your brain just needed a second to comprehend and register what he said.

“I’m sorry.” He apologized, pulling at the ring on his choker, “I just felt like I would’ve exploded if I didn’t get it out right now.”

“No, it’s okay. I just….I like you too.” You respond, “I just don’t know.”

“Same.” He lets out a weak smile.

The silence is tense between you two.

“You leave in three months, and I just don’t want to make things awkward.” Piers said. “I really like hanging out with you and I don’t want that to change, but if….” His voice trailed off.

“Yeah! I totally get that.” You agreed, “We don’t want to force anything.”

“No. No. Definitely not.”

“So, we could just take this as it goes.” You say.

He nods, “Yeah…”

“So, because you said it. I do like you too.” You reassure him.

He gives you a smile, “Thanks, I was getting nervous for a minute there.”

“Have you not been nervous this entire time?” you joke, “I’ve been freaking out.”

He laughs, “No, I’ve been a nervous wreck this entire time.”

You two share another laugh together as you have before. It felt natural and easy being with Piers. You deeply wished something would happen between you and Piers, but there was time to see where this would go.

“So, we’re just going to see where this goes?”

“I’m okay with that if you are.”

“I’d really like that.”

“Okay.” He smiles at you, “Want to come over for dinner on Thursday? I have this new song I want you to hear.”

“Yeah,” you agree, “Text me when you want me over.”

“Always.”

It was a good feeling to get that off your chest. You two lean against the railing looking back out at Hammerlocke gate in silence, but closer together. You lean your head on his arm and take in the moment you have together. Piers settling into being your pillow.

“Thank you.” You say, “I’m glad.”

“Me too.” He responds.

Thursday came. He was just finishing up a training session with Marnie, while you sat in the back watching the two battle. Immediately after Piers comes up to talk to you about what he was planning to make for dinner.

“I hope that sounds okay.”

“Sounds awesome. I can’t wait.”

“I really hope you like the song too. I wrote it with you in mind.”

“Piers.” you hold your hand over your heart, when Marnie walks over and starts stabbing the air between you two.You two stop what you were talking about and stare at her.

"What are you doing?"  he asks her.

"Trying to cut the romantic and or sexual tension between you two.” She continues furiously stabbing the air, “Crap, it’s not working!”

You and Piers blush furiously.

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