#and the thought of likely not being able to bring him to Galar because hey who gives a shit about girafarig

[luxrayblues]

Leon X reader - Lost and Found (SFW)

Walking down the street of the large city, you were surprised to hear someone shouting behind you. Turning, you're even more surprised to see the purple-haired champion waving his hand at you. "Hi there! Could you hold up a sec?" He asks as he jogs up to you, that ridiculous sponsored cape flowing behind him. You weren't an insane fan like most of the people in Galar, however you couldn't deny that he was endearing and quite handsome. "Everything.. okay?" You ask, still caught up in your own head. This seemed like a weird dream, but you knew it wasn't. Your eyes flick up and down him once, taking in the man who clearly took care of himself. He really was gorgeous, your cheeks flushing slightly. "Yeah. Well, okay no actually." He smiles and rubs the back of his head with a light chuckle. "You see I managed to lose my way in this maze city! ... I was hoping you could give me a hand?" You stare at him, surprised and a little confused that someone who seemed so perfect on screen and in battle had seriously gotten lost like this. You weren't from there, but you did have a decent sense of direction. "S..sure. Yeah, of course Leon." You smile a little and tilt your head to the side. It was funny that he was to a point now where it didn't surprise him when a stranger knew his name. "Woah, really?! Thank you so much! ... Hey, what's your name?" He beams at you with that picture-perfect smile that melted the hearts of thousands in the region. It made your heart flutter. "I'm Y/N." You were sure he would forget it as soon as you said it, but that was far from the case. He had spotted you in the crowd a little ways back and had caught up with you because he thought you were extraordinarily beautiful. He flashes that smile again and tells you where he's trying to go, which was of course the biggest and most obvious building in town. It was insane that he didn't know how to get there. "Really? It's the biggest building in town, you can see it from here!" You giggle and shake your head which makes him blush. The way your face lit up when you laughed made his heart skip a beat, for once at a loss. Though he was able to shake it off rather quickly. Leon loved that you weren't afraid to poke fun at him despite his being the champion. It was refreshing. "Hey!!" He laughs with you, shaking his head as you beam up at him and motion for him to come along with you. It was incredible. He acted exactly the same way he seemed to in those interviews you had seen. He was easy to talk to, like an old friend. "So what brings you here, Y/N? I get the feeling you're from out of town." He was intuitive. Clearly a people person. Practically everyone loved him, after all. "I heard the shops here were top notch. My pokies and I need a little treat before we continue on." You explain happily, delighted to share with this man, though you were normally not so open. How could you not share your everything with him? - Woah, what was that you were thinking? You were blushing AGAIN over him. Jeez.

"Oh yeah, they're the best! You should totally try out the little coffee shop if you're into that kind of thing. It's so good. I wish I knew how to get there we could run in-" You hold up a hand to cut him off. "Allow me, Leon." You say in a playfully cocky way, wanting to tease him more. He was too cute and you figured an excuse to hang out with the surely busy man for even a few minutes longer would be a once in a lifetime chance. Seeing his face light up only served to cement that you had made the right choice. "Off we go!" He grabs your hand tightly in his bigger one and drags you along with him in the wrong direction, making you laugh so hard you couldn't tell him what he was doing. He was too excited for his own good! It was going to be a fun day.

[shiningstarlight101]

Using my absurd amount of pokemon knowledge to make mcyt pokemon teams, you're welcome

Part 1 of idk whenever i've had enough 💖

Today we got Jimmy

Jimmy

1. Absol (dark)

Absol is commonly known to be a bad omen in the pokemon world. They're able to detect when disasters happen and try to warn people. but as a result people are afraid of them since disaster always followed. Although Absol dors specialise in warning about natural disasters, i'd argue Absol is a good pick as a reference to the life series, being the one to always be doomed to die first.

2. Hisuian basculin/white striped form (water)

So there isn't a cod pokemon. But i thought basculin would be the best to nod to empires s1. The non-Hisuian forms are known to be very agressive, and the 2 forms (red and blue) are constantly fighting. This could be like cod vs salmon. The Hisuian variant is much gentler and might seem like a weird pick but it's because it can evolve. Hisuian Basculin, when fighting and not backing down, can evolve into Basculegion. Which gains its powers from the perished souls of the Basculin who weren't as strong. And I think that shows a pokemon and trainer who don't back down easy.

3. Espurr (psychic)

Honestly I just felt like a cat pokemon was required. And I'm picking Espurr because it's 1. Goofy 2. Fluffy 3. Spacing out. It's the perfext Norman in pokemon in my opinion. Also Espurr lore-wise is supposed to be really strong and I think it'd be funny for Jimmy to just have this tiny cat that can absolutely fuck shit up.

4. Dusknoir (ghost)

This is a pokemon i picked for 2 reasons. For the life series again and for phasmophobia. Although he admittedly doesn't do a lot of phasmophobia streams but shhh. Dusknoir actually takes souls to the afterlife. It's entire thing is that the spirit world goes "hey bring this guy" and then it does so. Again, going on the vibes of Jimmy always dying first in every life series so far. But it's also picked since i feel like randomly taking souls to the afterlife and leaving the body is something a phasmophobia ghost would do. I personally like to imaginr Dusknoir isn't even his pokemon, it just always hangs out around him. Waiting.

5. Banette (ghost)

Banette's are actually thrown away pluahes and toys. Toys that were so angry and being thrown away that they came to life. I don't think it's surprising i used the cursed doll to represent empires s2 after the entire "jimmy is a toy" arc. Banette is literally made for him

6. Shing Corvisquire (flying)

Admittedly Corvisquire is partially here because it felt wrong to not put a galarian pokemon on the team if someone british. It just feels liks there shouls be something, ya know. But i picked shiny Corvisquire for the popular headcanon where Jimmy has yellow/golden colored wings. Althought its shiny is much more toned down. It's a nice tie in to Galar and the popular wing headcanon

[dragonairlairgiveaways]

“Some further details about Pokémon Sword & Shield were revealed in Famitsu. Within the interview with Masuda and Ohmori, it was confirmed that there is currently no decision to bring the existing Pokémon that can't be in Sword & Shield back into the game using patches, but those that don't will still have an active role in Pokémon HOME. It also stated that Mega Evolutions and Z-Moves will not appear in Sword & Shield.”

Okay so... I am lowkey tired of Pokemon Co. and Game Freak adding gimmicks just to remove them a generation or so later. But that’ll be a post for another time. 

Point I want to make here is: Seems they might’ve heard the backlash. I don’t know how they couldn’t when Twitter is blowing up about this decision. Let me live in hope that this means they are playing with the idea of patching Pokemon into the games in future. 

I know people are probably tired of hearing about this and people ‘complaining’ about the decision not to include every Pokemon but it is a big deal to many players, myself included. 

Even if the Galar Pokedex is huge - which I suspect it will be - there’s still a good chunk of Pokemon from past generations left out. Now you can bring up ‘oh well this happened in Gen III’ and yes, it did. But that was down to hardware limitations that Game Freak couldn’t help. It was impossible to connect and transfer between the GBC and GBA. That isn’t an issue here. The 3DS can handle all of that and the Switch is a more powerful device. It’s not even an issue of memory: the Switch can handle games like Breath of the Wild and the Witcher III, both of which absolutely require more memory and power than even a Pokemon game with every Pokemon included. 

I am not putting it down to ‘laziness’ either, it is incredibly hard work to make these games. I am putting it down to the recent gaming culture of pumping games out as fast as possible, to the detriment of the games due to content having to be cut/not included. That is what has happened here. I don’t buy the ‘balancing’ issue because it’s ludicrous- Gen VI and VII had tournaments that banned/restricted Pokemon native only to the games they took place in. VGCs did the same, there was literally nothing stopping that happening here. The Pokemon Co. and Nintendo wanted these games out, and Game Freak had to deliver and the trade-off decision was cutting available Pokemon down likely because it was the easiest. They had to know there would be backlash, but I don’t imagine they anticipated the extent of it. 

Because it is, to be blunt, a stupid-ass decision. It has put many people off from the games, it has put the fandom at each other’s and the Pokemon Co.’s throats. It’s an upsetting and disappointing direction to take the games in. No matter which Pokemon are included someone’s favourite will be left out, a Pokemon someone has had for years and a great deal of attachment to will be left out, a Pokemon someone spent hours upon hours breeding or shiny hunting for will be left out. 

And the thing is: the decision of which Pokemon to include will be heavily biased towards fan favourites. They’ve already said as much in interviews. So you know this means once again a huge wankfest for Kanto Pokemon and other over-saturated ‘mons, some of which I love myself but hate seeing everywhere when others are left out: Starters (especially fucking Charizad which we already know is in these games), Lucario, Mimikyu, a massive chunk of the Kanto Pokedex, Eeveelutions, Pseudo Legendaries ect. All these Pokemon will more than likely make the cut (some we already know have).

But lesser-liked Pokemon? Pokemon outright hated or just ignored by the community? They likely got left on the back-burner. This probably includes a good chunk of Gen V Pokemon outside of the few with fan adoration (Zoroark, Hydreigon, Haxorus, Volcarona) because of how much everyone shits on Gen V, Pokemon that don’t see a lot of competitive usage or who have scored low in popularity polls (RIP if you love the Elemental Monkeys) and it sucks. No matter how much you might personally dislike a Pokemon or how many people in the community at large do, it is someone’s favourite. Someone out there absolutely adores Stunfisk, someone out there thinks the Sunkern line is super adorable. Someone out there thinks Barbaracle is the coolest Pokemon there is. And they won’t get to play with them in these games. 

That is what bothers me. Pokemon is about the journey, it’s about the bonds you make with your Pokemon. It’s the story and adventure you go on yourself with your Pokemon. Even with a story, people progress and play how they want to. They make the teams they want to make, with the Pokemon and moves they want to use. People challenge themselves with mono type runs or nuzlockes or egglockes ect to make the games more fun for themselves and Game Freak is limiting that. It’s limiting the Pokemon we can use and the fun certain people can have. 

And that is deeply unfair and a real poor business plan in the long run, really. 

[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.

[stillchaoticlogic]

Falling: Chapter 3

Pairing: Raihan x Reader

Falling in love is easy…

It’s falling out of love that’s the hard part.

As you try to run from old feelings you meet someone who is determined to bring the spark back into your eyes. Raihan isn’t sure what happened in the past and he doesn’t care. He’s got one shot to make you his and he’s going to take it.

First Chapter: Here

Second Chapter: Here

Cry for Me

Gazing down at the phone on the table you watched as it lit up again for the fifth time in the last thirty minutes. You heave a sigh when Hau’s name pops up on the screen. Leaning forward you pull the phone towards you and answer it. 

“Hello?”

“(NAME!) YOU ANSWERED!” his voice loud in his excitement.

“Yeah sorry for leaving so abruptly… and the radio silence… I got a job opportunity and had to act fast. Things got crazy quickly. How are you? How’s being champion?”

“I-I wish you were here… When will you be back?” His voice is rife with self-consciousness. He’s scared.

“I...don't know…” your answer is hesitant. 

“But! I need you here! We all do! We miss you!”

“And I miss you guys too, but I need to do this for me. I need this opportunity.”

“Is this because I took your job?” he sounds guilty.

“Hau… Alola is no place for me anymore and I need to move on. This has nothing to do with you.”

“But...you left… Are you mad at Kukui? He said something seemed to be bothering you…”

“I’m not mad at Kukui, I just needed to leave. I have opportunities here that I didn’t in Alola. I need a break and to heal from some things.”

“Heal? What happened?”

“I’m tired Hau… I’m just overwhelmed with things and I have some things to sort through…”

“So you won’t talk to me about it, what about grandpa?”

Thinking of Hala, the island Kahuna and Hau’s grandfather makes you feel even guiltier. He had become like a grandfather to you and while he had encouraged you to leave, you hadn’t told him of your plans either. 

“Hau, I’m going to be fine. If I need to talk to Hala about anything I’ll call him okay?”

“So you aren’t coming back?”

“I have been offered a job in Galar and I’m taking it.”

“But isn’t that guy their champion?! What are you even going to do!?”

“I’m the new...chairwoman… of their league.”

He’s silent for a moment. 

“You’re really not coming back…”

“...No…I’m not…”

“I’ve got to go… I have a match… I’ll…”

“Hau! Wait!”

“Bye (Name)...”

You close your eyes in pain at the sound of the call ending. He’ll be fine, you know this, but you wish you had handled this differently. In your desperation to get away from Kukui you had left everyone else without an explanation too. 

“I can’t believe I fell in love with a married man…” you grumble to yourself as you throw your phone onto the table. Rotom buzzes in annoyance and you quietly apologize to him. 

Your phone rings again this time it’s Leon calling. 

You answer it and put on a brave face, “Hey Leon! How are you?”

“Hey! I’m good! I heard you had a good day with Raihan!”

“I did!” you say with a laugh remembering the banter between you and the Dragon-type gym leader. 

“Well, we’re going to start touring the gyms tomorrow! I figured we would start with the first three and then go down the line. How does that sound?”

“Sounds good! How long will the tour take? I need to start looking for a place to live and I should probably start prepping for the next tournament right? It’s a month away?”

“Don’t worry! This shouldn’t take more than a week… You can also scout places to live while we travel around!” 

“Sounds good! What time can I expect you tomorrow?”

“Does eight work for you?”

“Yeah that works!”

“Perfect! I’ll meet you tomorrow morning then!”

You say your goodbyes and the two of you hang up. The light padding of Aurora your Alolan Ninetails alerts you to her presence. Ember your non-Aloan Ninetails following close behind. The duo finds themselves on either side of you on the couch. You lean back as the fire and ice foxes endeavor to curl up next to you. 

“You know the two of you aren’t Vulpix anymore right?”

They both look mildly affronted before they settle themselves half on you and half on the couch. 

“Yes… well, I’m so excited about this bonding time…”

They promptly ignore you and continue to lay happily in your lap. You close your eyes and recall the day you just had. Raihan seems to be a fun guy, you can see yourself being friends with him. You’ll need those here, friends. You recall the way he held you while you watched the sun go down and you try to recall a recent moment when you laughed as much as you did today. A ping interrupts your musings and Rotom hovers in front of you. 

Dragon Boi: So did you have fun on our first date? Is tomorrow too soon for a second?

You: It was a rather good first date… too bad there wasn’t a kiss at the end… Where is that Leon?

Dragon Boi: Still?! You know if it’s a kiss you want I can be there in about twenty minutes right? 

You: Twenty minutes? I thought you were in Hammerlocke?

Dragon Boi: I’m staying with Leon tonight since we’re starting the tour so EARLY tomorrow!

You: Oh? Tell him to come. 

You: I’ll be waiting eagerly!

Dragon Boi: I thought we had something but you’re using me to get to Leon, aren't you?

You: Yep. 

Dragon Boi: Damn that’s cold… I thought we had a better time than that…

Dragon Boi: I thought we were going to get married, but if you really want Leon…

You: So dramatic…. 

Dragon Boi: Dramatic?!

Dragon Boi: Naw I am… I’m not gonna lie to you about that…

You: hahahahahaaa

You: I did have fun today and if you’re there tomorrow I’m sure I’ll enjoy the tour. 

Dragon Boi: Wait.

Dragon Boi: did you just ADMIT to having fun…

Dragon Boi: With ME

You: Well not if you’re going to make a big deal out of it…

Dragon Boi: Still.

Dragon Boi: You had fun today.

Dragon Boi: With me.

You: Yes…. congratulations… 

Dragon Boi: Thank you thank you

Dragon Boi: Our wedding will be spectacular

You: All I ask is that we fly away on your Flygon after the ceremony. I want a truly memorable exit!

Dragon Boi:  Ugh! I woman after my own heart. You can have anything you want my queen!

You: Queen?

Dragon Boi: Don’t like it?

You: Oh no… quite the opposite… I could get used to that…

Dragon Boi: Good. You deserve to be someone’s queen. I don’t mind volunteering for the role of your king either… just sayin…

You: Very funny Raihan…

Dragon Boi: I’m being serious! I’m just sayin if the position is open… I will happily fill it. 

You: I’ll consider it…

You: Good night Raihan…

Dragon King: Good night my queen. 

You bite your lip to keep the smile at bay, you can’t get involved with a man you just met as a means of getting over Kukui. Even if that man is sweet, funny, charming, handsome, strong and kind. Nope. Absolutely not. 

Your screen lights up indicating Kukui is calling you and without even thinking about it you mumble the word that you’ve felt all along. 

“Reject.”

Falling into bed that night your pokemon curl themselves around you the best they can. They’ve been extra concerned about you lately and they rarely leave your side. You can feel their protective auras surround you and you love it. You love them. You don’t like that they are worried, but feeling their concern makes you feel loved. 

The next morning you are greeted by both Leon and Raihan in the lobby. Raihan is quick to greet you with breakfast and coffee, both of which you take happily. 

“Ahh my hero has brought me coffee again!”

“Of course milady!”

You chuckle as you take the breakfast sandwich from him and the coffee. Leon chuckles at the interaction before he interjects. 

“You kids ready to go?”

“Hush Leon, I’m being pampered right now! Can’t you see that? You get me up at this ungodly hour and then try to deny me being showered with adoration. I think not.”

“You heard the lady, Leon… She wants me to adore her… this might take a while.”

Leon rolls his eyes at yours and Raihan’s antics, “The taxi is waiting.”

“Oh? Are we taking the goth bird taxi?” You ask as you take a bite of your sandwich.

“They are called Corviknight, and yes we are,” Leon answers.

“I want one… Where can I get one?”

“They are pretty common...They evolve from Rookidee.”

“Hmm… Rookidee…”

“We should be able to find you one today,” Raihan pipes in.

“That would be delightful! I really want to train some Galarian Pokemon…”

“Oh? Like what?”

“Dreepy! An Applin! I heard they evolve depending on the type of apple they eat. A Ponyta…” you continue to list the pokemon as you head out to the taxi.

“Dreepys are kind of hard to find… I’ll show you where they like to hide,” Leon says as he opens the door for you. 

“I have a pair of Volcarona…. Nothing is more annoying than searching for their annoying ass… I’m sure I’ll be fine!”

“You have 2?!” exclaims Leon in shock. 

“Yep… I have a pair. I was going to breed them, but they hate each other.”

“They hate each other?!” says Raihan in surprise. 

“Oh yeah… if I put them anywhere near one another they just fight.”

“That’s insane! Why don’t you ever battle with them?”

“Well I had a League sanctioned team that I had to use in Alola, and they weren’t on it. It was mostly to keep people from trying to go out and catch them. They live at the foot of volcanoes so not exactly the safest place for young trainers.”

“I can’t believe you have one let alone two!”

“I got bored…”

“Bored?”

“Yes… bored…”

“So you caught two pseudo legendary Pokemon?!”

“Why are you so surprised?”

“I really just want to know when our wedding is…” Raihan interjects as he gazes at you as if the sun rises and sets with you. 

“Wedding?!”

“Quiet Leon, can’t you see the man’s trying to propose?”

“Propose?!”

You arrive at Turrfield and head into the gym. You are greeted by a stout looking trainer with a dazzling smile. That’s why he’s the first gym leader, he instantly radiates comfort. 

“Milo! This is (Name), our new chairwoman. (Name)! This is Milo, he’s our first gym leader!”

“Very nice to meet you, Milo! I’m excited about touring your gym! Especially since I really want to know more about the gym challenges.”

“Likewise! Let me take you on the tour and explain my logic for the challenge.”

You stop in front of a large field and notice a bunch of sheep-like pokemon. 

“How cute!” you exclaim as you approach them. 

“My family is Wooloo farmers, we raise them for their wool. My challenge is to have the trainers herd about twenty of these little guys to the other end of the field.”

“What is your reasoning for having them herd them?”

“It shows patience. These young trainers have a long road ahead and a lot of work to do. Not to mention training new Pokemon is not easy. They need to prove they have the patience and discipline to advance.”

“That’s an excellent point!”

“So you approve?”

“It doesn’t matter if I approve, it’s your gym, you clearly know what you’re doing.”

“Why don’t you give it a shot?” Raihan asks as he comes up behind you. 

“Huh?” you murmur as you turn back to look at him.

“That’s a great idea!” exclaims Leon. 

“I don’t…”

“I think you should give it a shot!”

“Oh dear…” you mutter. 

You eventually relent and take your place. 

“This is ridiculous…” you mutter as you begin to herd the Wooloo towards the gate. You huff as one goes rogue and you have to chase after it. A couple of others break away and you have to roll them back. After a little back and forth you finally get all twenty at the other end. You trip and hear the men laughing at you as you pull yourself back up. The Yamper end up scaring the Wooloo and you pout as about five of them break away and scatter. With a huff, you rush back down the field until you are back at the beginning. 

“You know the Wooloo is down there?” Questions Raihan as he holds back a laugh. 

“Very funny…” you pout as you grab his and Leon’s hands and drag them behind you. 

“You’re going to help me though! Chop chop Milo!”

The three guys follow you out onto the field and you all head over to the Wooloo who are eyeing you all warily. The four of you end up laughing as you chase the wooly Pokemon up and down the field. Each one of you getting in the others way and changing directions at a moment's notice. You notice Raihan’s Rotom filming the event as you all rush around happily chasing after the Wooloo. When you had all of the Wooloo at the end of the field you all collapse at the end and laugh until you can’t breathe. 

“Was that what you were expecting?”

“It was something all right!” 

You leave the gym chuckling to yourself before you all head over to the Hulbury gym and meet Nessa. The Raging Wave is everything you would expect her to be. 

“So, you’re whipping these boys into shape?” She asks as the two of you head out of her gym. The afternoon sun drying your damp clothes after completing her gym challenge.

“Oh, you know it…”

She laughs as she bumps your arm, “I love it! So the real question is when are you going to battle Leon? You could be our next champion…”

You chuckle, “I have no intention of being a champion right now… Perhaps in the future, I’ll take him on, but right now I’m just enjoying life.”

“Like you could beat ‘The Unbeatable Champion,’” Leon says as he poses. 

“Are you posing? For no reason…?” you ask in confusion. 

“He does that… So weird…” you mumble before waving to Nessa. 

“Let’s get lunch soon! I’ll need some girl time before this is all over!” 

Raihan drapes his arm around your shoulder as you head off down the road. 

“You got it!” Nessa yells back. 

“Aww, you made a friend…” Raihan says as he pulls you close to him. 

“It would seem so…”

“That’s good, I’m glad it was Nessa?”

“Why is that?”

“Well, Nessa and I go way back…”

“And?”

“No reason…”

“He’s already asked Nessa to put a good word in for him,” Leon says with a grin as he walks along behind you.

“He did?!”

“BRO?!”

“Oh yeah…”

“BRO?!”

You throw your head back and laugh, “Dragon Boy is pulling out all the stops…”

Raihan looks away from you and goes to pull his arm back. 

You chuckle as you wrap your arms around his waist and look up at him through your lashes, “You know Rai…”

“Yeah?”

“You don’t need a good word…”

“I don’t?”

“Of course not… We’re getting married remember?” You ask as you pull away from him and rush down the street. 

“Hey wait!”

“No way!! I heard there were Vulpix at the Motostoke gym! I want to pet the baby floofs!” you yell over your shoulder as you rush off down the street.

“So how bad do you have it?” questions Leon with a laugh. 

“Pretty bad… I mean I’m pretty sure she’s perfect…”

“Yeah, I figured… you’ve already proposed and you’ve only known her two days!”

Raihan laughs as he scratches the back of his neck, he can see your silhouette as you rush down the pathway back towards Motostoke.

“Yeah… that’s a... uh…. Running joke…”

“Well, she seems to be running with it too…”

“Nah… She’s not serious… She’s been hurt and she’s dealing with herself right now.”

“Then be there for her. Be the friend she needs now and who knows man, when she’s ready maybe you will get the chance to propose to her?”

Raihan laughs, “So we’re just jumping straight into marriage.”

“Were you or were you not straight-up pampering her this morning? Just adore her and treat her like she’s the most sublime woman you’ve ever met and if things fall into place then you know.”

“She is the most sublime woman I’ve ever met…”

“Are you saying that as her fan or as a man? Remember, just like you’re more than ‘Raihan the Dragon-Type Gym Leader,’ she’s more than ‘(Name) The Alolan Champion.’”

“I know that!” 

“Just… remember to treat her like a person and not just your idol. She’ll love that too.”

“Since when did your single ass get good at giving dating advice?”

Leon glared over at Raihan, “I date!”

“Since when?”

“Shut up…”

By the time the duo arrived at the gym Kabu was chuckling as you clutched about three Vulpix to your chest. 

“I want to take them all home with me!” you exclaim as you bury your face against the soft fur. 

“I don’t think you need 5 more Vulpix when you have two Ninetails already,” Leon says in exasperation. 

You gasp dramatically, “Leon! How dare you? You can NEVER have too many Vulpix!”

Raihan laughs, “What if we head to the wild area tomorrow and find a Dreepy for you?”

You narrow your eyes but nod, “That’s acceptable.”

“Why do I feel like we just got played?” questions Leon. 

“Because you did… I was doing some research, I would also like a Toxel!”

 “Shouldn’t we be focusing on the tour?” Leon asks. 

“Oh, come on Leon! The Wild Area is right outside the city, plus we can explore while we head back to Hammerlocke,” Raihan interjects. 

“It would be nice to be able to start familiarizing myself with some of the native pokemon as well,” you chime in.

“Still…”

“Leon… I’ve been running a league for the past 3 years… Don’t worry I’ll have everything taken care of. Plus I wanted to check out the area around Hammerlocke, since it’s central, I think it would be a good city to move to.”

“Really?!” questions Raihan. 

“Yeah! That whole gothic castle look is to die for too. I’ve had my eye on it since I got here!”

Raihan smiles as he watches you go back to playing with the fire foxes, ‘Things are looking up…’ he thinks happily.

Note: Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great Holiday! I know I did! I’m having way too much fun playing FFX for the Switch. If you haven’t ever played it...highly recommend! I like this chapter but the next one will be even better! Raihan is totally catching a Dreepy isn’t he? Love. Please as always let me know your thoughts! I love hearing from you all!

[more-pokeimagines]

Alright, readers, I know it took me quite a long time to finish this one but it’s finally done and it got a lot longer than I expected. A big thank you to everyone who submitted their ideas for the 2nd part, I tried to combine as many as possible. In case you haven‘t read the first part you can find it right here. Hope you enjoy part 2!

Mistakes pt. 2 - Hop x reader

Wyndon’s lights were too bright in your eyes as you wandered through the streets. You kept your head down because you didn’t want people to recognize you while you felt like nothing on earth. Hop’s words were still ringing in your ear and every time you thought about your argument, you could swear that your heart shattered into a million pieces. Hop had always been your safe haven, the one who supported you unconditionally – but now he had destroyed everything. You didn’t even care about your final battle anymore. What was the point of becoming Champ if Hop wasn’t there to cheer for you? If you couldn’t share your joy with him?

You ended up taking the train back to Wedgehurst. Your initial plan had been to return to Postwick to visit your family and get some rest but when you arrived at Wedgehurst you changed your mind and decided to go to Professor Magnolia instead. Your parents didn’t need to know how much Hop hurt your feelings but you badly needed to talk to someone who wasn’t involved. And since Professor Magnolia knew both you and Hop for ages, you hoped that she would be able to help you once again.

She seemed to be surprised to see you in front of her door but then she smiled and invited you in without asking any questions. “I’m preparing diner,” she said. “I hope you’re hungry.”

You really liked that about her. She was never persistent, even when she knew that there was something wrong. Instead, she waited until you were ready to talk about the things that bothered you. “Yes, thank you,” you replied and put your jacket on the coat rack. “I just returned from Wyndon and didn’t think about grabbing some food.”

Professor Magnolia smiled again but remained silent. You knew that she wondered about your reasons for leaving Wyndon the day before the final battle but you still weren’t sure how to address the situation without making Hop look like an absolute idiot (which he was, at least at the moment).

“Can I help you?” you asked, mainly to change the topic but also to distract yourself from thinking about your argument with your boyfriend too much. Needless to say that it didn’t work. What he said to you still hurt like crazy – and there was a quiet voice at the back of your mind that constantly worried whether you both would be able to settle your differences, especially since you ruined Hop’s opportunity to become the new champion of Galar. Maybe he didn’t want to be with you anymore.

Professor Magnolia’s voice snapped you out of your thoughts. “I thought you could need this,” she said as she put a cup of tea in front of you. Then she stayed silent for a second, examining you with an almost concerned look on her face. “(Y/N), I don’t want to force you into talking but what’s wrong? Your final battle is scheduled for tomorrow. You wouldn’t miss it if there wasn’t something that bothered you.” You avoided her gaze and stared down onto the table instead. Sometimes you felt like the professor had a sixth sense for stuff like that; she always noticed when something wasn’t okay. “I… I had an argument with Hop. He...” you interrupted yourself and hesitated a few moments before continuing. “He said some really hurtful things and… I couldn’t stay there. I needed to clear my head, so I came here to think things over.”

The professor kept silent as you tried to explain what happened. You told her everything Hop said while trying to defend him at the same time because you knew that he wouldn’t say stuff like that without a reason. “He’s angry because he can’t challenge his brother in the Champ cup. I understand that, I really do, but I expected him to be happy for me. Instead he blamed me for everything that went wrong during our battle.”

“So you left.”

“Yes. I… I just couldn’t stay in this room any longer. He seemed to be so mad… like, I get why he’s upset but it’s really not a reason to snap at me like that.” You felt tears welling up in your eyes again and your voice broke before you could reach the end of your sentence. You knew that it was pathetic but you still felt like you could never be happy again. “I can’t do this tomorrow,” you whispered with a sniffle. “I can’t challenge Leon when I know that Hop’s somewhere in the audience and is mad at me because I took that chance from him.”

In that moment, Professor Magnolia reached out and gently squeezed your hand. The expression on her face was soft. “I don’t know for sure because I can’t read that boy’s mind but I’m convinced that he didn’t mean any of that. I know Hop – he says awful things when he’s angry but he regrets them as soon as he calms down. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why you’re left Wyndon – I guess it’s good that you put some daylight between yourself and him – but you should return for your battle tomorrow. Your fans will be sad if they don’t get the opportunity to see you battle Leon, won’t they?”

“Yes but Hop-”

“It’s not about him, (Y/N). You worked hard to get where you are now and Hop doesn’t have any right to take that from you. You deserve to be in the final. And he knows that too,” Professor Magnolia interrupted you but the sympathetic smile she gave you made her words sound less harsh.

You tried to return her smile, failing miserably once more. “I don’t know if I can bear seeing him. He probably hates me… he said he wished that we never met.”

Professor Magnolia huffed. “No, he’s just a bit rattled at the moment. I saw you together and let me tell you: this boy could never hate you. He loves you way too much.”

*

Your battle had been scheduled for 10 am. When Hop’s watch displayed 11 am, you were still nowhere to be found. Leon was sitting next to him, trying to calm him down but nothing he said could change the fact that Hop felt like he could go insane every moment.

“I messed up, Leon,” he admitted and buried his face in his hands. “It’s my fault that (Y/N) isn’t here and I’m sure she hates me because I’m an idiot and I’m so worried that something terrible happened to them. I – what if I don’t get the chance to apologize? I need to apologize!”

“Hop,” Leon cut him short and shook his head to stop his younger brother’s rambling. “Calm down. It doesn’t bring (Y/N) back if you lose your mind because you’re upset. I know you’re worried but we’re trying our best to find them, okay?”

Hop took a deep breath. “I know. It’s just… it drives me crazy to just sit around and wait. I wish there was something I could do. I-”

The ringing of his cell phone interrupted him. Frantically, he began to search through his bag and let out a relieved sigh when he saw your name on the display. “(Y/N)?” he exclaimed. “Are you okay?”

“Hello Hop,” the caller replied. “It’s good to talk to you again.”

There were a few moments of awkward silence when he realized that the voice on the other end wasn’t yours. “Professor Magnolia? Is that you? Why do you have (Y/N)’s phone? Is everything okay? Are they hurt?”

He could hear that she was talking to someone though she probably covered the speaker with her hand because he couldn’t understand most of it. He clasped his phone harder. “Professor Magnolia? What’s going on?”

The professor cleared her throat. “(Y/N) is fine. They stayed the night at my house and we had a long talk about the things that happened yesterday. So, young man, what do you have to say for yourself?”

“I’m an idiot,” Hop admitted honestly. “I don’t know what came over me when I snapped at (Y/N) but if I could turn back time… no, I probably would be mad again but – what I’m trying to say is that I’m sorry. May I please talk to (Y/N)? I need to apologize.”

Voices again but he didn’t catch anything, no matter how hard he tried to understand what you said in the background. Finally, Professor Magnolia spoke again. “I think it’s best if the two of you had a chat face to face to avoid any misunderstandings. Could you come to my house?”

*

You were nervous. Just a few more minutes until Hop would arrive and you still weren’t sure how to feel about it. On the one hand, you were thankful that Professor Magnolia called him (because you didn’t have the guts to do so) and invited him to her house but on the other hand, you had no idea if you were ready to see him again. Or if he really wanted to apologize, like the professor had told you after she hung up on him.

When the doorbell rang you felt your heart pounding like mad. Your hands were shaking as you reached out to open the door – and there he was, an insecure expression on his face and a barely noticeable smile on his lips.

“Hey,” Hop said quietly. “Can... can we talk?”

“Let's go for a walk,” you suggested. Professor Magnolia had left the house an hour ago to do some research in her lab but you felt like you needed some fresh air after being inside the whole day. “It's... it's good to see you,” you added, staring down to the ground to avoid Hop's gaze. “How are you?”

“(Y/N)... let's not pretend that everything is okay,” he said. His voice was trembling ever so slightly and if one didn't pay attention he would've surely missed it. “I know nothing is okay and that is my fault. I want to apologize. That's why I'm here.”

Still, you didn't dare to look at him. You had no idea what to say, especially since you really didn't expect him to blurt things out like this. However, you appreciated that he came all the way from Wyndon just to talk to you – something you had never thought he would do after everything he said to you.

Hop shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “I know I messed up. My words hurt you and I want to apologize for that. I was just so disappointed that I missed my chance to challenge Leon in the final – it was hard to accept that my Gym challenge was over, you know? It was my childhood dream to take the title from my brother. I know that you never meant to destroy that dream but I was so upset that I forgot that the only person I can blame for my failure is myself.”

When you didn't reply, he let out a shaky breath. “I'm so sorry that I snapped at you, (Y/N). I really didn't mean to hurt you in any way.”

“You said you wished we would've never met each other,” you whispered. “You made me feel like everything was my fault, even though I'm really not responsible for it. I won, so it's only fair that I get the chance to challenge Leon. I worked hard to get there and it hurt so much that you tried to make me feel like I didn't deserve it.”

“I know. All I can say is that I'm incredibly sorry since I can't turn back time to wipe the slate clean. I understand if you don't want to be with me anymore... just know that I'm sorry. And I'm so proud of you for reaching the final.”

You gulped. “You... you really mean that?”

“Yeah. Why wouldn't I? You're an amazing trainer and you deserve to be successful.”

“I thought you'd hate me for ruining your chance to become the new Champ,” you mumbled. Once again there were tears welling up in your eyes but this time you didn't try to stop them. “I thought you'd never want to see me again. And after everything you said... I really didn't expect you to be proud of me.”

Hop reached out to gently wipe the tears from your cheeks. “But I am,” he said softly. “And I could never hate you, (Y/N). You're the most important person and I love you so, so much.”

That's when you finally burst out crying. The tears wouldn't stop streaming down your face, even when Hop pulled you into a tight hug to comfort you. His hands were caressing your back while he held you close and whispered reassuring words into your ear, trying his best to calm you down.

When you finally stopped crying he put his hand under your chin and gently lifted your head up. Your eyes were red and swollen but to him, you were still the most beautiful person on earth. “Please come back to Wyndon,” he whispered. “Leon's going to reschedule your battle, I promise. Your fans want to see you taking the title... and I want to see that too.”

“Really?”

A smile flashed across his face. “Of course! If there's someone who can beat Leon – well, besides myself – it's you. And I'm sure you'll be an amazing Champ.”

[goldenworldsabound]

Doused In Water

After Golden tells Kabu she’s leaving Motostoke the next morning, Kabu has some realizations about how he feels about her. He decides to talk to a friend and fellow gym leader about it. Content warning: SO MUCH PINING none. Word count: 2876.

By the time Kabu got back to his home, he was starting to realize what these feelings that were now threatening to bubble over actually meant. He put a hand on his chest as he leaned against the door he'd closed behind him. He had always had fans supporting him, even when he'd dropped to the minor leagues. Even now, though he'd been in this state for a bit, the stadium was far from empty. But it hadn't mattered until she had showed up.

Because she was his friend? Because he didn't want to look bad in front of her?

Or because he...

Forcing himself to stand up straight, he meandered over to the couch, sitting down and putting his head in his hands. The last time he had even thought about feelings like this...

Ninetales popped out of her Poke'ball, padding over to sit in front of him, putting her head in his lap, eyes locked onto him. Kabu peered between his fingers at her, before taking one of his hands and scratching behind her ears. He rested his other elbow on his leg, his head leaning against that hand as he sighed.

He had stopped being concerned with romance years ago. He was passionate about Poke'mon, and he supposed that was all that he needed. He wasn't lonely either. He had a wide assortment of friends, and that number only continued to grow over the years. That ticked the human companionship box easily. He didn't need romance to be happy.

But her arrival into his life was inarguable. It had been easy for him to see that she was attracted to him, after the period they'd spent getting to know each other in the wild area. He had felt fond of her, but he didn't see it as more than that. He was a little bit used to noticing people finding him attractive, and not finding himself wanting to do anything with that knowledge.

At some point he'd started to feel something more though, and that had spiraled into a number of other emotions.

But it was all spurred on by the fact that she was leaving Motostoke tomorrow morning, and later she would be leaving Galar entirely. It was significant, to realize that his time with her was finite. To realize that her leaving left him feeling like someone had doused him in ice water.

He laughed quietly, and Ninetales made a questioning noise.

"I didn't expect to feel this way, that's all." Kabu replied back, using both his hands now to scratch Ninetales' chin as the fox Poke'mon tilted it's head up, tails wagging. "I know you take a long time to warm up to people, Ninetales, but Golden...she's done quite a number on me."

Ninetales whined a little, lowering her head back onto Kabu's lap. Kabu was right. While Ninetales had nothing against the woman, Ninetales was generally apathetic. Golden hadn't been around long to earn Ninetales trust or affection. Ninetales wasn't sure what it meant that Kabu liked her so much. That she'd, "done a number on him".

"She's leaving Motostoke tomorrow. Selfishly, I don't want her to leave." Kabu explained, smiling sadly. "She'll be back, but...I already miss her, it seems." Saying it out loud, even just to Ninetales, made his heart ache. What was he going to do with these feelings, he wondered.

Ninetales lifted her head up, putting her paws on his lap to raise herself up, and began licking his face. Kabu laughed, gently pushing her away, but she persisted, enjoying the way her favorite human laughed at her antics even as he tried to get her to stop. Finally, she felt he'd had enough, and she paused, her face still close to his.

"Thank you, Ninetales." Kabu said, still laughing a little. He put a hand on her head to pet and scratch her again. "I'll be alright."

It was too late tonight, but he thought that talking to a human friend might be in order.

-------------------------

It took a surprising amount of strength for Kabu to stop himself from going to see Golden off. He didn't even know when she was leaving, just where he would have to go to eventually see her pass by. On his morning run he'd been hopeful that he'd see her. But he didn't, and part of him felt that might be for the best while he sorted out his feelings.

He pushed his team and himself extra hard in training that day.

After an hour or two training, when they took a quick break, he decided to call up a friend for advice. Melony, the ice type gym leader from Circhester. It would be some time still before Golden made it to Circhester, since she was traveling a path similar to the gym challenge and camping along the way, so Melony wouldn't meet her for a bit. Of course, he knew that if he talked to Melony about her now, Melony would go out of her way to meet Golden when she visited.

His leg shook with anticipation as he dialed.

"Hey Kabu!" Came Melony's bubbly voice. Melony was smiling wide as she answered the phone. It had been a while since they'd seen each other.

"Melony." He couldn't but smile a bit at seeing her cheery face on the screen.

"What's up? It's been a little bit."

"It has. I was out in the wild area for almost two weeks before my last exhibition match, so things were a bit crazy."

"Oh my, that sounds quite nice. Some sort of intense new training you came up with?"

He shook his head. "While it wasn't bad for training, I met a trainer from Johto here. She's a very talented trainer, and she was very interested in capturing a strong Sizzlipede."

Melony nodded along. Kabu did tend to help other people, so this wasn't incredibly odd.

"And did she?"

"Yes, very near the date of the exhibition match we finally found a Sizzlipede den. She was very excited about it, named the little thing June."

Melony noticed that Kabu's expression had softened a bit more than she was used to seeing. She didn't want to jump to conclusions, but some thoughts were turning in her mind.

"And then, I won my exhibition match." Kabu commented calmly, a spark of fire appearing in his eyes.

Melony gasped. "Well congratulations! I knew you'd break that losing streak of yours!" Melony grinned, truly thrilled for her friend. He'd been in the pits for too long, she'd thought. "Losing doesn't suit you."

"Hm, thank you." Kabu's lips had curved up a bit in a smile, a rare sight for Melony, but she thought he still looked distracted.

"You don't seem as happy as I thought you'd be." Melony chided, tapping her cheek and pouting at him.

He raised a hand defensively. "I am, I promise. I was over the moon. I feel that my passion is rekindled tenfold." His held up hand became a fist, which he pressed against his chest, expression going serious before softening a degree again. "She treated me to Slateport Sushi to celebrate last night."

"The trainer from Johto? Oh, did she watch your match?" Melony asked, surprised to hear Kabu bringing the conversation back to her again.

Kabu nodded. "Yes. She did." He looked away for a moment. "It's just that she's...leaving Motostoke, today. She might already be gone. She came to visit Galar, so she's traveling the region by way of the challenger's route. So it'll be a bit still before she's up in Circhester."

Melony thought for a moment. Kabu seemed...unusually focused on this trainer. Of course he liked to help others, but he didn't usually have a problem letting go. He was usually proud to see the folks he'd helped head out on their own journeys. But at the moment, he looked a bit troubled, a bit put out, she thought.

"What's her name? Want me to show her around?" Melony asked, still mulling over what this meant.

Kabu brightened. "Her name is Golden. She doesn't have her full team with her, but she and her Togekiss are quite a force on their own. I'm sure you'd enjoy a battle with her. And I'm sure she'd be appreciative of your offer."

Melony laughed a bit at that. "You know I wasn't going to be able to resist challenging her anyway. To have you say she's a talented trainer intrigued me already." She tilted her head. "How'd you meet her?"

"Oh, well, she was trying to get into the gym. You know in Johto, and Hoenn too actually, the gym challenge is always open." Kabu explained.

Melony couldn't help a small, knowing smile even as she tried to fight it down. "The way you talked about her, I got the impression you knew her from somewhere else." She said slyly, feeling like she was catching on to what was going on here. Her suspicions were confirmed as Kabu blushed a bit.

"No, just the two weeks she's been in Galar." He corrected, clearing his throat nervously.

"Hm." Melony let her smile grow wider. "She must be something real special then. I can't remember the last time I saw you blush."

"The last- I'm blushing?!" Kabu asked, the call out only making his cheeks pinker. Melony nodded. Kabu frowned for a moment. "The fact that she's leaving Motostoke today has made me...far more than sad than I anticipated." He admitted. "I don't think I can pretend that's not the case."

"Is she going to come back to Motostoke at all?" Melony asked. She certainly felt for Kabu. Falling for someone who was merely visiting struck her as painful.

"Yes, although I don't know for how long."

"..." Melony went quiet for a moment again. Kabu was a very serious person. If it was something that was simply a crush, she had no doubt he would quash it and move on, and not let it impact him so much. That was just how he was, so she had to assume these were quite serious feelings. And he was usually decisive. What was holding him back from asking her out? The fact that she'd be moving away? She couldn't blame him for that-

"Oh!" Kabu looked at his phone in surprise. "Golden's calling me, I- I should take this, she's probably gotten herself lost." His mind buzzed. Was she still here? Had something bad happened? Did she need help?

Melony gave a knowing smile again. So she has your number, huh? "I'll let you go then. Let me know when to expect her in Circhester. Bye bye~"

"Have a good one." Kabu ended the call, answering Golden's phonecall with a breathless, "Hello?" He felt his heart pounding. Everything felt different now that he knew his own feelings.

"Kabu?" Golden asked. "Did I interrupt your training? I mean, sorry, it's just..."

"Is something wrong?" He asked, already getting to his feet.

"No! No, I'm just...leaving now. So I thought, if you weren't busy, you could see me off? Um but it's okay if you are busy, of course!" Golden sounded as nervous as he felt. But his heart felt fit to burst at her request.

"Of course. Are you at the Budew Drop Inn? I've been training at the Stadium so it'll be just a minute for me to pop over and meet you."

"Really?! Yeah, I am. Okay, I'll be outside, then. Thanks." She smiled shyly. "See you soon."

"See you." He hung up, slipping his phone into his pocket. He slapped both his hands onto his cheeks, feeling how warm they were. He sighed in exasperation with himself for being so damn nervous just to say good bye to her, but shook his head of those thoughts. Nothing to do for it, at the moment. And she seemed just as nervous as he was, after all. He motioned at Centiskorch to follow him, and off they went.

--------------------------

Golden waited outside, everything shoved into the large backpack she wore, holding Tak in one arm while he held onto her shoulder. June, her new Sizzlipede, was sitting on top of her head, chittering back and forth with Tak happily. Golden was glad there was a breeze today, as having two fire types in such close proximity was making her a bit warm.

"Hey!" She waved at Kabu's approach, noting that he was in his gym uniform. She hadn't seen him up close in it, and she found herself dazzled by the combination of his usual serious expression and the sharp uniform, particularly the way it fit his form more closely than his typical clothes. Kabu waved back, jogging to close the distance between them quicker.

"I figured you'd already left." Kabu admitted. "But I'm glad I get to see you off."

"Y-yeah, I forgot to set my alarm..." Golden looked sheepish. She brightened at his second remark. "I'm glad too. Tak would've probably cried if he hadn't gotten to see you, after all."

Tak made a disgruntled chirp, but accepted Kabu's head pats happily nonetheless.

"That would have been a shame." Kabu agreed, smiling a little. Golden found herself staring as he gazed up at the Sizzlipede perched on her head, his body much closer as he reached up to pet the small fire type. Her heart was pounding. He smelled a bit of sweat, and fire. She looked away as he lowered his arm, his gaze settling back to her face. She stared at her feet for a moment, willing herself not to blush even as she felt his gaze on her.

"Lead the way." She stammered out after a moment, gesturing dramatically with her arms.

"Were you actually just worried you'd get lost without me?" Kabu joked, though his voice and face remained deadpan as he started walking.

"... it's just a straight shot down this street, isn't it?" Golden asked, voice not fully confident.

"Is it?" Kabu shot back, giving nothing away as he met her uncertain gaze.

"Y...yeah?!" She had a feeling he was just teasing her. Kabu nodded. She sighed in relief.

He couldn't help but smile a bit, putting his hands behind his back and closing his eyes for a moment.

"You really ought to be more confident in that answer." Kabu commented, opening his eyes again to look at her, trying to push down his bemused smile.

"Yeah, well, I was until you questioned me like that..." Golden grumbled, flushing a bit. "A-anyway, thanks for walking me out, I just...wanted to say goodbye and see you again before I left." She bit her lip.

Kabu's expression softened. "I wanted to see you too." He replied, the hands behind his back gripping each other tightly with nervousness, even as he otherwise exuded calm. Golden looked surprised, before grinning back widely.

It was all too soon that they reached the entrance to Route 3.

"Thanks, again, for everything." Golden said shyly, awkwardly looking away.

"It was my pleasure." Kabu replied, feeling his own face warm a bit as he turned his gaze to his feet. "I hope you enjoy everything else that Galar has to offer. But, I must admit," He forced himself to look at her, heart pounding. She was looking back at him in suspense, hanging on to his words. "I'm looking forward to having you back in Motostoke."

Golden's eyes widened again, before her smile spread across her face. "Yeah! I, I mean, I definitely wanna come back here and...see you again." She clasped her hands in front of herself, squeezing gently as she looked away for a moment to collect herself, ignoring the warmth on her cheeks. Clearing her throat, she went in for a hug.

Kabu accepted happily, wrapping his arms around her tighty, breathing in her scent as they stood together for a length of time that was probably too long for a pair of friends. Goodness, he would miss her.

"Let me know when you get to Turrfield." Kabu said as they pulled apart. "And what you think, of course."

"Yeah! I will! I'll send you some dorky selfies." Golden replied, even as her heart pounded at the idea of being so bold.

"I'll look forward to those. Ah, and also, I've got a friend in Circhester who can show you around, so let me know when you get there and I'll put you two in touch."

"Oh? Gosh, thanks, that's kind of you. I will." Golden tugged on their backpack straps, breathing in deeply. "Alright. Bye for now, Kabu." She smiled, but there was a hint of sadness in it Kabu couldn't help but notice. He felt the same thing in his own expression. Tak and June chirped and chittered at him as Golden turned to go. His own Centiskorch chittered back with a happy expression.

"Good bye, Golden. Travel safe." Kabu put a hand on Centiskorch's head, watching Golden begin her walk down Route 3 for a long moment. She looked back over her shoulder at him, surprised to see him still looking. They both blushed, but she waved, and he waved back, and then he finally turned to head back to the stadium.

Yes, he was indeed in deep...

[bluethealpha]

Chairman Rose Theory

Okay so I cannot hold this one back much longer (I’ll make sure this part of the post is spoiler-free for Isle of Armor don’t worry)!

I made a theory before about how Rose’s actions involving Eternatus could’ve been the result of why Eternatus is a POISON-type Pokemon. Using toxins to poison the mind and ultimately control Rose into releasing it by telling him ‘hey I can help you make things super cool in Galar’ 

Full theory here: https://bluethealpha.tumblr.com/post/616434522748239872/okay-here-me-out-so-eternatusits-a-dragon-and

Okay and now, addition to this theory will be under the cut! 

!!SPOILERS FOR ISLE OF ARMOR!!  !!SPOILERS FOR ISLE OF ARMOR!!

!!SPOILERS FOR ISLE OF ARMOR!!   !!SPOILERS FOR ISLE OF ARMOR!!

Alright so, after receiving both of Mustard’s league cards, I noticed the mention of another chairman. It’s never specific or actually implying it being Rose but perhaps a chairman before him. 

It reads; “He remained popular even after losing the mantle of Champion, but decided to retire after the league chairman at that time asked him to win in a rigged match.”

Now, one can assume that league chairman just means the spokesperson for the league like how Rose introduced us to everything at the beginning of vanilla SWSH and continued to do as such up until *cough*TheSecondDarkestDayAttempt*cough*. But to go with my previous theory- So, Eternatus still could’ve convinced and/or poisoned Rose to make him release it to bring about the Darkest Day for a second time. And with Rose having a single brain-cell, he wouldn’t have thought of it as being super destructive and nearly costing the life of the entire region, and especially those who tried to stop Eternatus for him.

Rose’s desperate attempts to try and make Galar better for its people at any cost makes me wonder...this previous chairman mentioned on Mustard’s league card...was this someone Rose was related to, or possibly someone he once looked up to? Up until realizing the horrible things they were doing, like trying to get Mustard to win a rigged match, he went “oh someday I’m gonna be something totally different than this bastard! If I become chairman, I’m gonna do everything I can to be better than him and do what’s GOOD for the people of Galar!” And was doing just that while also being your typical business man that worked his way to the top from being a coal miner. Like he was friendly to all, he had fans and people who truly loved what he was doing for Galar. He had done it! But then enter Eternatus- Eternatus being a poison-type is able to poison Rose’s mind and trick him into thinking that releasing it would improve everything he’s done for Galar a thousand times with its energy. He was so desperate to do what he thought (or told to think) was right for his people and region, he’d listen to just about anything or anyone. He wanted to show people that whatever else the chairman before him did could be fixed if not improved into something even greater than it was before said damage was done. From how desperate he was, maybe that previous chairman was somebody like his father and thus making his need to prove himself as one of the faces of Galar. 

All this because I truly do not see Chairman Rose as a bad person. More of an idiot business man legitimately trying to improve the life of the citizens of his home region. And better yet- prove it to whoever this previous chairman was that what they did didn’t have to be done, and what they did was wrong. And who knows what else this other chairman had done. Rigged matches of any kind are horrible, so I cannot imagine what else this person did but man- they gotta be super stingy. Rose could’ve once been inspired by this person up until seeing the dark truth of what they did in the background and wanted to do things differently. But then a monster of a Pokemon hidden beneath the beautiful castle of Hammerlocke deceived him into causing harm worse than the late chairman.

And that is all, hopefully this makes any sense. I love coming up with theories, I have so many I want to share and I’m sure there are plot holes in every single one of these. But I’m having fun with these and am curious if this is interesting enough to bring the attention to my fellow Pokemon fans!

~ Thank you if you read this far too btw, geez this was a long one.

[manyothermusingsofmine]

Blinding Lights || Pokemon Drabble (Gym Leader OC)

Summary: Not being able to sleep for whatever reason sucks, but at least in Galar most other towns are within walking distance when you need a change of scenery A/N: I’ve seen quite a few nice oc x canon things floating around the pokemon fandom so I wanted to write some of my own so I just -slides this into the tags.

Honestly this is the first time I actually fully want to introduce an OC to the fandom while I have her pine for my favorite character in the game so I’m actually kinda nervous about this lol

Song is ofcourse The Weeknd - Blinding Lights because it just vibes right, yknow?

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All she heard was the soft ticking of the clock in her room, and her own racing breath as she tried to calm down from jolting awake in the middle of the night.

She had never been particularly fond of the way she dreamed, everything too real and too tangible even if it happened during her slumber.

Levyna’s phone buzzed awake when she grabbed it, the Rotom in in making sure the phone was full of battery life whenever the user needed it, even if that was at half past one in the morning. Scrolling through her contact list, she hovered over one of the names for a while, before pressing down and calling the number.

 “Sorry, I can’t come to the phone right now. Leave your message after the beep and I’ll call you when I can,” informed the voicemail. Figures. Not many people would be up and about at this time.

Stretching her body a little, Levyna sat up and slipped her legs over the edge of the bed. She turned a little bit to look at the sleeping pokemon at the foot of the end- or at least, she thought it had been asleep. However, her Espeon had been silently watching her from the moment she had jolted awake, and gave a curious purr as he felt the eyes of his trainer on him.

“... Do you mind going on a walk with me, Illusion?”

The pokemon stretched as well, before elegantly hopping of the bed and sitting at the door with an agreeing noise. Levyna nodded, getting up and turning on the light in the room so she could see what she was doing while getting dressed.

For a moment she considered taking her headphones along with her, but really, where she was going everyone would be asleep or not even around. So there was no real need for it, was there?

Followed by her Espeon, she made her way out of the small, minor league village of Bellfair, quietly setting foot on the road away from her home.

“Come on, Illusion. Route 7 isn’t far from here. We’ll be there in no time. ” She knew perfectly well why the dilapidated state of Spikemuth didn't sit well with its Gym Leader. Truthfully, nobody would be too happy to see their city fall off the map the way Spikemuth did, to where only 29 residents remained. The town she came from wasn't much bigger in size, perse, but Bellfair got plenty of attention even if it kept flip flopping between being minor or major League.

But to Levyna, Spikemuth was heaven. With team yell on the road to support Marnie in her journey, only a handful of people remained in Spikemuth; most of them asleep around this time as she had expected.

She sighed in a sense of relief when she got to the main stage, momentarily deserted and with most of its neon lights turned off. Sitting down and leaning back on the steps up to the stage, she soaked in the silence around her.

No conscious thoughts to hear aside from her own. No expectations. Just blissful silence, while softly petting the delicate fur of her Espeon who had curled up in her lap.

Illusion however suddenly sat up, letting out a thrilling noise and looked at his owner with a tilted head. A sign to Levyna that he wanted to explore the area, but was unsure if he could leave his owner by herself when he did.

She smiled, very softly petting his head, getting another purr from her partner pokemon.

“It’s okay. You can go explore if you want. I’ll stay here until you’re back, okay?”

Illusion let out a happy noise, slightly wiggling away from her lap before trotting off in an elegant and quick pace. He did momentarily halt and look back at his trainer, as if to make sure she remained where she was, before fully allowing himself to explore the city of Spikemuth.

There were lots of nooks and crannies in the city the Espeon could have explored, but he stuck to most of the main road until said road took a turn left before the entrance of the town. Illusion halted there, seemingly thinking for a moment, before taking the left turn and peaking around the west entrance of the town that was surrounded by high grass, some fencing and some metal containers.

Illusion purred at the shape he saw leaning back against the biggest container at the entrance to the left, going closer to the shape and sitting down next to it.

Piers watched the pokemon from the corner of his eyes, raising an eyebrow as the lilac feline pokemon sat down beside him. Eeveelutions were an uncommon sighting in Spikemuth either way, but an Espeon seemed an far more unlikely eeveelution for any resident to have than an Umbreon.

“Hm. You’re not from around here, are ya, mate?”

He couldn’t help but smile a little as the Espeon purred, leaning over with a hand reaching over in a relaxed way so the pokemon could sniff it. He didn’t plan on petting it necessarily, he just wanted to show that he was not a threat.

“You must be Levyna’s Espeon, then. Didn’t see her coming in. Mind bringing me to her?”

He stood up straight, pressing against one of his shoulders before rolling it back a little, only to follow the pokemon back into his town and along the main road to the stage where he often held his concerts.

Seeing Levyna there in the middle of the night was not much of a surprise, and he didn’t mind keeping her company on the nights she came to Spikemuth if he had been struggling to get to sleep as well.

“Hey,” he greeted, casually, watching as the Espeon that guided him crawled back into the lap of its trainer.

“Hey,” she greeted back, moving just a little bit so there was enough space for him to sit down next to her. Not that there wasn’t, or like Piers took up a lot of space anyway, but it seemed like the polite thing to do.

“I was planning on calling you back, you know. Missed call and all? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just.. you know. Sleeping got hard, wanted to ask if I could come over. Decided to do so anyway. Hope you don’t mind.” “Of course I don’t mind. Beats standing outside on my own.”

A silence fell between them, but it was hardly an awkward silence. In fact, the gaps in their conversation seemed more comforting than anything else. To just sit there, besides one another to enjoy the company offered, in the calm silence of a town that was asleep.. It seemed to calm both of them down, even just a little.

To share space without the expectation of much else was a luxury neither of them could really afford to have more often during the buzzling hours of the day. Not with their responsibilities as gym leaders, and Piers’ responsibilities towards his music career to boot.

Still, Levyna picked up vibes. Bits and pieces of the thoughts and worries on his mind, despite her trying not to listen in on his thoughts out of respect. However, hearing the thoughts of others was something she couldn’t fully block out without her headphones. Still, maybe if she asked it right she could offer some help?

"You seem worried."

"Same goes for you."

… Fair enough. While Piers didn’t share her telepathic abilities, he seemed to know better than anyone else when something was bothering Levyna- maybe it was some body language thing that she never really seemed to understand as it was something she didn’t particularly needed to focus on herself.

Levyna was never too sure how she felt about Piers’ ability to tell when something was up with her. She knew that sounded bad coming from someone who could literally read minds if she didn’t try her best to block out thoughts that weren’t hers, but still. "You're in the major league, Piers. Does… Does it bother you to be a major league gym?"

"I don’t know. Does it bother you to be a minor league player this year?”

"Not particularly... In the background maybe, but... you know what I'm like."

"Mhh… Actually, it’s more… It’s Marnie. She’s at the age where she's ready to take on the gym challenge, so…"

"She'll do great."

“I know. That’s not what I’m worried about. Just.. letting her go, I guess. Letting her go and travel Galar all by herself, cause I’m stuck here being part of the gym challenge she’s going to take.”

Levyna nodded, very lightly patting his shoulder to try and offer sympathy. It was no secret that Piers was protective over Marnie and wanted her safe, especially as he had been more of a parent figure to her than just an older brother. Levyna could only imagine it was hard for him to let her go and spread her wings even if it was the best thing to do for her.

Another silence fell between them as she withdrew her hand to go back to petting Illusion, hoping she had at least given him some comfort.

“… You just want to be there for her when she battles, huh?”

“Yeah. Wish I could be.”

“I don’t think she’s going to hold that against you. She knows you have responsibilities you can’t shake, no matter how much you wish you could. Plus, well, I don’t have siblings, but I bet it’s going to be fun for her to try and beat you on your home turf.”

Piers gave a slight amused huff. Levyna did have somewhat of a point there. He’d be lying himself if he said he wasn’t looking forward to try and beat his little sister himself, and knew she would put up a great fight against him as well. And for Levyna to have so much faith in Marnie making it far into the competition anyway meant a lot to him.

He knew his sister would make it far. But to hear that same faith in her from someone else was nice.

However, that didn’t explain something else that was on his mind. He looked at her, watching as she silently petted the Espeon in her lap. The purrs from the pokemon were the only noises that broke the peaceful silence between them.

He decided to first place a hand upon her upper arm, much like she had offered a similar kind of affection while they spoke of his worries. “So… why are you here, then? I know something's on your mind, Lev. And unlike you I can't exactly peek in to see what's going on. You can tell me anything, you know?"

She looked at the hand that ever so gently had been placed on her upper arm. She wondered if he even knew how much his slight touches calmed down her racing mind.

".... It's nothing. Nothing huge, anyway. Just too many thoughts making the process of actually shutting down my brain and getting some damn sleep incredibly hard and... I mean this in the best way possible, but Spikemuth is.. calm. quiet. I can actually hear myself think around here. I know how that's not something necessarily positive though. Makes me feel like a wandering Absol."

"Didn't realise disaster omens came in hues of purple."

That drew a small laugh out of her as she lightly swatted at his shoulder, fully aware that it was just a joke between friends.

"I'm glad you can find some peace and quiet here, Lev. At least until the gym challenge starts, I suppose."

"Yeah."

They sat there together for quite a while, just talking about the upcoming gym challenge and the differences between the major league qualifications and leader responsibilities in comparison to those of a minor league gym, talking about Marnie and the journey she was soon about to make.

And talking about just anything in between that came to their minds until rays of the sun slowly started to creep through the cracks of the ceiling that kept the whole of Spikemuth protected from the cold weather blowing around route 9. With the hours slowly creeping towards the daylight, Levyna decided it was about time for her to go home and get some rest there. Even just a light nap would help her get through the rest of the day.

Illusion left her lap as she gave even the slightest motion that she wanted to get up. She patted down her clothes a little to make sure there were no weird folds from the way she had been sitting, readjusted her gloves and pulled her fingers through her long blond hair to push it back into shape. She thanked Piers for keeping her company, which he assured was no big deal as he thanked her as well for doing the same for him.

As Levyna told him to take care, she started to walk towards the main entrance of the city. She halted, however, as she got a few steps onto the gym floor where Piers usually held his battles or kept his audience during concert. She bit her lower lip for a moment, thinking about something else she had been wanting to tell him. "Piers-" she started, turning back around towards where he still sat, and immediately held back what she wanted to say. He looked up at the mentioning of his name, looking at her curiously.

"Hmm?"

".... Let me know if there's ever anything I can do for you, okay? You... help me with so much of my problems, and I know you don't do it so I owe you but... I want to help you if you need me to."

"... Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."

With that they said their goodbyes for then, and Levyna walked along the main road before leaving Spikemuth through the main entrance. Standing out on route 9, she sighed before pressing her back against one of the brick pillars that held the shutters in place. She stared down at Illusion who had followed her along, sat down beside her and now seemed to be disappointedly glaring at her.

".... Don't you judge me," she muttered.

"Let's just go home. I have to get some rest before starting the day, anyhow. Hmm… Maybe I could try to visit Milo somewhere in between my breaks. Speaking to him would be nice.”

Illusion just purred in agreement as he followed his trainer home.

 I said, ooh, I'm blinded by the lights. No, I can't sleep until I feel your touch

[druddigoon]

bederia week day 2 prompt that lost steam 3/4 of the way through and ended up never being posted. gonna post as a scrap here, i guess

klara is all of us shippers

When Bede thought about the duties of being a gym leader, he never expected so much of it to be just waiting. 

After the scandal with Eternatus and Rose’s arrest, the league was able to pull some strings to quell public unrest and ensure there’d be a gym challenge the next year. Mostly due to the fact that the new champion was the one to save the day, and that two major league gyms were succeeded by people who had played roles in dismantling his regime (because hey, he’ll take credit where credit is due). Now they were on the last dregs of the circuit, when most of the challengers had either advanced to gyms higher in the circuit or were picked off by lower ones. 

Bede swung his legs idly against the stage. He’d received an rotom-mail stating that there were three challengers headed his way, but either they were lost in Ballonlea or decided to drop out, because he’d been here since early morning and there was no sign of anyone. 

“Might as well just take the rest of the day off,” he muttered to his mawile, currently occupied with nibbling the stage equipment.

Mawile didn’t seem to be paying attention, too busy looking far off into the distance. Suddenly her larger mouth stiffened, her eyes widened, and with a cry that hurt Bede’s eardrums she hopped off the stage and ran out of the room. 

Bede found himself with no choice but to follow. 

She must’ve heard Gloria arrive at the gym, he thinks. They had planned to meet to train in the Tangle earlier this afternoon, but she had yet to show her face. 

He pushed up the heavy double doors leading to the lobby. “About time you came, Glori—”

Wait. 

That wasn’t Gloria. 

His mawile (traitor) was currently munching pecha berries from a certain trainer he’d hoped to never see outside of league meetings. Her dustox was hovering overhead, shedding a trail of poisonous dust as it investigated the ceiling lights.

“This your mawile?” Klara pets the jaw pokemon, still happily chomping down on her pecha, “Super sweet little gal.” 

“Yes. Mawile, you know better than to eat from strangers. Get back here.” 

“Let her enjoy her treat! She must be knackered out from alllll the battles you’ve been doing at your gym.” 

Bede refused to humor her. “Why are you here?”  

“Aww, don’t be like that,” she spoke in a sickenly sweet voice, “Can’t a girl visit her favorite little brother?” 

“For the last time, no one is forcibly adopting me.” 

“No one except Opal, of course.” 

“Look,” Klara said when he didn’t respond, “Minor league doesn’t have half as many duties as you guys do. We don’t have a gym to manage, we don’t have challengers to take care of, all we do is twiddle our thumbs at meetings or train for a shot next year at major! And both are soooo booooring~” 

“And that is my problem because…?” 

“Consider this payback for ousting my toxtricity in the tournament. You’re stuck with me, fairy boy.” 

Before he can retort with I’m not afraid to high horsepower you just like i did your giant lizard, there was a loud slam coming from the entrance, door rattling on its hinges. 

Gloria hobbled in out of breath, leaning heavily on the wall. She looked like she’d been through hell: face red, hair askew, and that dumb green beret she always wore nowhere to be found. “Sorry,” she managed, “league...business...took...longer than I thought.” 

Did she run all the way to Ballonlea? 

Bede sighed and massaged his temples. “I can’t believe you—no, don’t talk back at me, conserve your breath. There’s an empty couch right next to you. I'll go get some water.” 

Gloria accepted the water sheepishly. “Sorry about this. I had an interview with a film crew right before when we planned to meet, which was just part of a documentary they were making on the history of Stow-on-Side’s monument. They just wanted my eyewitness account of what happened. Don’t worry, I didn’t go into detail about your disqualification.” 

With how often he embarrassed himself in the media (and on live television, during the championship tournament) Bede doubted it would matter.

“But you know I get nervous talking in front of people. When they say it takes ‘one hour tops’, it apparently doesn’t take into account the amount of retakes I needed to do just to get a clip where I don't mumble.” She leaned over to give Mawile a pat on the head. “I was really late by then so I ended just...running. Didn’t realise until I was halfway in Glimwood Tangle that I left my bag at the filming site.”

He settled in the seat next to Gloria’s. “You shouldn’t be having these problems. Take some time for yourself, our meetings aren’t really important and can be moved to a later date. Make sure to factor for commute time and things like this.” 

“Ugh, I know. Hop says I’m ‘pants with schedules’. I just...can’t decline. I’m the champion, this is part of my duty.” 

Klara cleared her throat, making Bede’s ears burn. He’d completely forgotten they weren’t alone. “You didn’t offer to get me water.” 

“Get it yourself,” he snapped back. 

“Oh.” Gloria blinked, finally noticing Klara. “I didn’t see you there. You are…?” 

“Klara.” She strode closer, extending her hand for a fistbump. “Minor league gym leader, number 881. Poison-type specialist. 

“Nice you meet you, I’m—” She paused to glance at the outstretched fist in confusion. Bede bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from snickering. “I’m Gloria. I’ve been meaning to meet with the minor league leaders, actually, so it’s really nice to see you here! Beautiful dustox, by the way. Haven't seen many of its line around Galar."

If Klara took offense to Gloria's (lack of a) fistbump, it was immediately forgotten when Dustox was mentioned. She brightened. "Thanks! Got him from a breeder in Hoenn, and with the laxer species protection laws I was finally able to bring him here."

“Can I see him? Frosmoth has trouble flying in humid weather, and I’ve been wondering how something so bulky like dustox adapted to its environment—d’oh! I should probably call a corvitaxi to get my bag before someone decides to steal it. ” 

“No need.” Bede fished out a pokeball and pressed it into her hands. “It’s near the mural, right? My reuniclus remembers how to teleport there. I need to handle some challengers today, so it’s best that we cancel our training. Retrieve your stuff, then go home and rest. You can return my pokemon next time we meet.” 

After Gloria left, he turned back to Klara. "You should leave too. I have things to do."

"What, 'handle some challengers'? I don't need a psychic type to know you don't have any."

"I still need to close up. Leave."

“The champion visits you in your gym. For 'training', you say.” Klara rested her chin delicately on her hand. “Ah, young love.” 

Bede sputtered halfway into locking the stage doors, catching his thumb in the process. "There is nothing romantic between Gloria and I! We both needed more training, and I was the best gym leader to tutor her."

"Suuuuure you are. And the Battle Tower doesn't exist." She grinned, all predator. "Let's not beat around the bush here. Champ likes you enough to make you her training partner, you care about Champ enough to fuss over her like a mother corviknight. Now, be a good brother and tell Big Sis the details."

Hissing from the pain, he fumbled around before releasing his hatterene. "Fuck you. Hattie, teleport me back to my house."

"Wait! No! Stay with me and I'll make it worth your while! I know the best tricks to woo a girl—"

Bede was gone before she could finish her sentence.

Several days later, he was walking through the streets of Hammerlocke. 

There it was, a couple blocks away from the gym: a looming fortress of ebony brick and wreathed ivy with the words Hammerlocke City Vault emblazoned above wooden double doors. He’d been notified that he was to attend a private league conference in one of its side office buildings just yesterday, which was a little unusual since they usually give it at least a week prior. Bureaucracy has done worse, he supposes. 

In the lobby, underneath a vivid painting of Galar’s Darkest Day (recently revised to include Zacian and Zamazenta now), sat Gloria, dozing on his reuniclus. 

“Bede?” she mumbled, sitting up with a jolt when the pokemon slid out from under her to greet his trainer. “Didn’t know you had business here too.” 

“Ditto to you.” Reuniclus chirruped, headbutting his shoulder. He gave him a couple rubs on its head. “Maybe we’re in the same one? Mine’s at ten in room thirty-four.” 

“Huh.” Gloria tossed him his pokeball, which he caught and withdrew Reuniclus with. “Same, but...I’m meeting with my PR team, and I’m pretty sure they specifically asked for me. Are you sure yours is today?” 

“Give me some credit Gloria, I’m don’t just mix up dates. Let me pull up the email...” He took out his rotom-phone, scrolled down and...yep, there it was: same date, room, and time. The invitation was formal, the same mass-email format he’d received from them a thousand times, and to check he glanced at the sender’s address and—

Sent by Klara. 

Arceus fucking help him now, he was going to send his rapidash after her. 

“Anything now?” Gloria prompted as Bede shut his rotom-phone with more force than necessary. He noticed she was more subdued lately, didn’t fire quips at him or engage in the back and forth banter that became the norm in their relationship. 

He wanted to ask her if she was well, if she actually went home to rest like he told her to. Wanted to see the smile she wore when she played with her pokemon, back when she didn’t look like she was running herself into the ground. Bede had never been the one to concern himself over other people, but there was something he couldn’t stand about watching this quiet candle of a girl get snuffed in the panache of publicity. 

“...Guess I did get the date wrong,” he lied. “Do you mind if I join your meeting? Might as well, since I cleared my entire schedule out for this damn trip.” 

“Well, I’m alright with it.” She got up, and he didn’t miss the steadying hand she placed on the wall. “I don’t know about the people I’m meeting with…”

“Doesn’t matter. You’re the champion, they should follow what you decide to do.” If his past taught him anything, it was to assert himself or risk getting trampled over. By the way Gloria averted her eyes, he assumed she had not. 

They walked into the conference together. When the PR team arrived, Gloria dismissed their confusion with a wave. “I brought Bede along. He won’t be part of the meeting, so just pretend he isn’t here.” 

He huffed, crossing his arms, but his indignation melted away when she shot him a weak smile.

[pikachu78109]

Could you give me some angst with Milo, Piers and Gordie? I live and die for Milo angst aaah;;;

((I feel sorry for these gentlemen))

Milo

“Is that all you got to show for yourself?”

“You’d think he would give a challenge. Has he grown soft lately?”

“Nessa kicks more ass than he does. Not surprised though,”

The comments were relentless. You’d think that after a few years of being a Gym Leader, the comments that fans made wouldn’t mean as much. However, there are some weeds that just don’t disappear that easily. Milo knew that being a Gym Leader had its sore moments, especially considering the fact that he’s the first Gym Leader that challengers face during the tournament. And as the first Gym Leader, it’s prohibited that Milo doesn’t use any of his strongest Grass type Pokémon, due to him being the supposedly easy stepping stone challengers can defeat. There are times when the losses did not affect Milo much, because he is okay with losing. After all, isn’t being a Gym Leader suppose to be an opponent that can offer a challenger a chance to beat and earn a badge? Every Gym Leader knows this and some take their losses with humility, such as with Opal and Kabu, while other Gym Leaders can get frustrated, as for Nessa and Raihan. Milo took his defeats with humility and didn’t mind at all if he lost. Battling can be a good time, but for others, battling is seen as competitive.

Milo knew about the ugliness of battling and what it can do to die hard fans who have certain levels of expectations. They can look at Nessa and comment on how her battling technique shines far brighter in contrast to Milo’s, whose more subdued and prefers to show little. With Nessa, her fan base revels in how much she improves and strives forward, thus making her popular among many people. Though Milo does get praise from his fans, there are plenty who lurk in the shadows and are typing away on their phones, commenting on how Milo’s battling performance has gotten weaker. Due to that kind of attention, it has caused Milo to become very self-conscious on him being a Gym Leader. A few comments that get underneath his skin, they manage to rip a chunk of esteem, spatting it out with such ferocity and judgment that it has gotten to be....sickening.

“Why can’t Milo be better?”

This question has been tossed around a lot and, frankly, this question plagued Milo’s mind. He wished he could tell his fans why, but due to being in a circle of professionals, the answers are concealed in confidentiality. The Pokémon League has been aware of the activity that has been going on, which Milo wonders if they happen to monitor any of the activity going on with the other Gym Leaders. Still, this was Milo’s business, with which he tries to conduct himself as the gentle, friendly giant. It wasn’t a facade; that’s just who he is as a person, because being overly competitive like Raihan or Nessa just didn’t suit him. He couldn’t bring himself to look in a mirror and stare at his reflection, trying to mimic that confident, almost superior attitude that his friends have. Despite being able to put on a smile and walk out onto the pitch with ease, that nagging insecurity of being a pathetic excuse for a Gym Leader latches on to Milo, like a weed poisoning the flowers beauty.

Piers

Music has always been a part of Piers and who he is as an individual. Growing up, his father was a musician who used to go around the Galar region, putting on shows here and there during halftime during the Gym Challenge. Over time, his father retired from that profession and settled down with his life long sweetheart, which eventually leads to the here and now. Piers sticks to music like glue. Separating the singer from the microphone is a no go, which is why Piers insists on taking his portable mic everywhere with him. Hey, you never know if someone wants a concert. But, lately over time, the relationship between Piers and his music has been put on hold ever since he became Gym Leader. This was not his choice. When Piers first told his parents that he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps, his mother told him that by doing so, he wasn’t going to get anywhere in life. His father got lucky because he was able to get sponsored by people who saw musical talent in him, which is rare to come by in Galar since the region focuses more on battling than anything else. By announcing his dream in front of his parents at the tender age of ten, Piers felt himself being sucked down into a pit of roadblocks and detours. Taking part of the Gym Challenge was also not a choice that Piers made. Instead, his father knew someone who he was good friends with and had him sponsor Piers to take part. Regardless of his negative feelings of the entire thing, the Gym Challenge proved to be somewhat worthwhile and it even inspired Piers to use Dark types since he has a fascination with them.

However, over the course of his Gym Challenge and beyond, Piers began to feel burned out from the whole Gym Leader gig. The idea of repeating battles over and over and being forced to Dynamax your Pokémon at the tail end of a match started to lose its rhythm with Piers. Especially the Dynamaxing. As a kid, Piers took zero interest in the whole Dynamaxing appeal. He thought it looked cheap and something that made battling quite unbalanced given the extra power up. Given that Spikemuth was nowhere near a Power Spot, which was a mandatory requirement for every Gym in Galar, Piers was put into Circhester’s Gym for battling matches much to his dismay. After a few more matches that involved pointless Dynamaxing, Piers outright refused to Dynamax due to the disrespect of being able to battle in his own city because of a minor issue. Because of his announcement, it left Piers facing both criticism from the fans and some media outlets, who took Piers’ words as disrespectful to the Pokémon League as well as to the culture of the Galar region. Still, there were some Gym Leaders who were understanding towards this, such as Milo, Kabu, and Raihan.

After a few years of battling in his home city, Piers became a lot more cynical to battling and he found time to jot his feelings down into lyrics as upcoming songs for his concerts. This entire journey for Piers has been a back and forth ride where Piers wants to show how great Spikemuth is without Dynamaxing and him wanting to pursue his own passions of being a singer, the latter of which he wants to achieve. There are many factors that keep holding him back though, such as being a disappointment to his family if he decides to quit, being portrayed as selfish when all he wants to do is pursue his passions by the media and his fans, or just...fearing everything altogether. Luckily, Marnie helps console him and, to some extent, the grunts of Team Yell. Not a large music fan base, but they keep Piers from getting too discouraged.

If Piers can manage to break away from the battling environment altogether, then that would be a song worth singing.

Gordie

Gordie loves his mother, let’s just make that clear. Despite the arguments, there’s no bad blood between them. As the eldest child in the family, Gordie has a lot on his plate. For one thing, his siblings. Although they give him so much strife, he loves them. Gordie wouldn’t trade them for the world. Secondly, his relationship with Melony, his mother, has always been a positive one. I mean, this woman is part of his fan club for goodness sake! Still, with the positives, there are some negatives that have nearly tempted Gordie to cut ties with his family. Being a person who specializes in Rock types, Gordie never became interested in Ice type Pokémon. Sure, Snom looks adorable but Gordie finds Rolycoly to be even cuter! Melony has always known that Gordie likes Rock types, something of which she doesn’t understand but tries to. However, even when she tries to be a good mentor to Gordie, she doesn’t know a single thing about Rock types which causes her some frustration.

Gordie has dealt with his mother’s tough love before, especially considering he has faced her as a Gym Challenger before during his time in the Gym Challenge. Their match was something like a spectacle, but it proved difficult when Gordie tries to convince Melony that he can be a good Gym Leader without using Ice type Pokémon. Over the years, once Gordie became a certified Gym Leader, he would run the Circhester Gym alongside with his mother, which proved even more difficult. Both the mother and her son would not see eye to eye as much and everyone around the city took notice of this and would try to steer clear. One argument in particular has caused some emotional harm to both parties, more with Gordie whom once said that Ice types are useless in the heat of battle. This set off Melony, who returned his remark by saying if he didn’t spend so much time with his Rock type Pokémon, he would’ve saw something differently and be a better Gym Leader.

That argument set off a week long tension filled silence, with Gordie not speaking to his mother at all. At home, it got worse with Gordie moving out and staying at his apartment until things settled down. If until things settled down. At some point during the prolonged silent treatment did Gordie decide to call his mom to apologize. Even with the apology and the two making some progress to mend their relationship, Gordie knew that there would be no common ground between them aside from being related. The strain settled in and it frightens both of them that one day they might never see eye to eye again. It’s a fear that no parent and child should ever have to face.

[olivediamonds]

Face-to-face: chapter 1

Soooo....I couldn't resist making a Raihan fic and @pokenimagines gave me a great idea so I ended up making this quick first chapter! Sorry it's so short but I wanted to post it before I head to my family Christmas party! Enjoy and let me know if you want to see more!

Keira grinned as she sat in her mostly packed bedroom. She had just finished her last battle as champion and had handed her title to the newest champion. While it was sad to lose the title she was happy to step down because that meant she could finally meet up with her online friend!

Beep beep!

Speaking of which that's probably him! She grabbed her phone and pulled up the messaging app she had since she was a beginner trainer. To see her online friend had messaged her.

Dragon_Rawr: yo Queenie! You done packing? How long does it take to pack up a room!

Fairy_Queen#1: calm your tits! I had something to do before packing. I'm not even gonna be there until tomorrow! The flight is at 8am!

Dragon_Rawr: I know! I just can't wait to finally see you! First thing though, I'm getting u a phone that takes pictures!

She rolled her eyes at his message. She has had the same phone with a broken camera for years and he always teased her because she couldn't send pictures.

Fairy_Queen#1: oh shut up! When I see you I'm gonna smack you with my phone!

Dragon_Rawr: you'll have to break out of my hug first! 😉

Fairy_Queen#1: you'll have to catch me first 😘

Dragon_Rawr: oh you know I will.

Dragon_Rawr: well I gotta go, gotta do some work! See you tomorrow! 💜

Fairy_Queen#1: see you soon! 💚

She tossed her phone on her bed and grinned to herself. She couldn't wait to finally meet him after being friends for so long!

------------------ Raihan ------------------

"Leeeeeoooooonnnn!!!"

Raihan grinned as he threw an arm over Leon's shoulders. Ever since Gloria had become champion, Leon was able to hang out with Raihan more which was great since he needed a distraction until his online friend finally came tomorrow.

"Geeze Rai, I haven't seen you this excited since our first battle."

Raihan grinned as he showed his phone playing a video of Champion Keira's goodbye interview yesterday.

"So Keira, what are your plans now that you've stepped down as champion?"

Keira laughed as the interviewer pointed the mic at her. Instead of her usual champion uniform she wore casual clothes and her hair out of it's usual braid.

"Well, I've been thinking about doing some traveling, maybe visit other regions and see what their champions are like."

The camera then panned back to the interviewer who was grinning brightly.

"That's our former champion! Always looking for the next challenge!"

Raihan looked like a kid right before Christmas as he hopped in place.

"You hear that?! Keira is touring! What if she comes to Galar?!"

Leon laughed and nodded. It would be great if Keira visited he got a chance to battle her though it sounds like he'd have to fight Raihan for that chance.

"Hey maybe if Keira does come you can show your online friend how you battle."

Raihan paled and checked the clock. It was 10am! Queenie's flight would be landing soon!

"Ah shit! I need to be at the airport to pick up Queenie!"

He had completely forgotten he needed to drive down to the airport to get her today because he was watching Keira's interview!

"Hey, take Charizard and get to the airport. I'll grab your car and bring it down."

Where would he be without Leon? He thanked him and climbed on Charizard's back and he flew in the direction of the airport. Hopefully he wasn't going to be late and leave her waiting! When he made it to the airport he ran inside and headed to the terminal. Thankfully he made a sign with her messenger handle and had it folded up in his pocket. He unfolded his sign and started to look around at the group of people collecting their bags. He froze when he saw Keira step off the plane and head to baggage claim.

"No way! It's Keira! Oh man Queenie is gonna flip when I tell her she was on a flight with Keira!."

He was pulled from his thoughts when his phone went off. He checked his phone and saw it was his messenger.

Fairy_Queen#1: Hey I'm off the plane! Where are you?

Dragon_Rawr: I'm by baggage claim, I'm holding a sign with your handle!

Dragon_Rawr: but Queenie! You won't believe who I saw come off your plane!

"Dragon Rawr?"

Raihan looked up from his phone to see Keira was standing in front of him. Keira's eyes widened when she recognized who he was.

"Wait, you're Queenie?!"

[dani-aka-that-one-namechanger]

@totallycorrectghostpokemonquotes here ya go XD

Froslass: Gengar, you would not believe what I saw this morning when I was folding laundry! It was the most amazing thing!

Gengar: Was it the ghost of Rotom rising from the grave to take the region back to its proud Kantonian way?

Froslass: No. No, it wasn’t.

Gengar: Shame…

Froslass: It was an alien!

Gengar: WHAT?!

Froslass: I know! I just got done starching and I saw it! It was so bright and so shiny and I almost dropped the iron on the cat because it was so amazing!

Gengar: And you’re sure it wasn’t Spiritomb and the Russians?

Froslass: No sweetie, I’m sure it wasn’t Spiritomb and the Russians.

Gengar: Well, damn again… now how should I know that what you saw was actually some sort of extra-terrestrial and not some sort of weather balloon or Soviet Russia's Invasion?

Froslass: Because I’m your wife, Gengar, not some power hungry communist or a big weather balloon flying around.

Gengar: But you’re a woman.

Froslass, laughing: Of course I’m a woman sweetie!

Gengar: …Right. But there’s no way of confirming what you saw was an alien coming to Earth or not.

Froslass: Well I saw it, and… and Polteageist across the street saw it too! We were both doing our laundry and we both saw it at the same time!

Gengar: Hmmm… another woman. I’ll call up her husband Shedinja, we fought together back in the war and he should be able to confirm what this whole ordeal is about.

Froslass: Perfect! I’ll go and make deviled eggs and Jell-O pudding and talk politics! Maybe even this time I can vote for myself.

Gengar: Great idea! I love Jell-O pudding! Let me call Shedinja up right now. *Talking to Shedinja* Hello Shedinja, me and my woman here would like for you and your woman to come over and talk about things. Alright. Sounds great. See you at 4. Arceus Bless Kanto. Death to Spiritomb. Okay. Buh-Bye. *to Froslass* They’ll be here at 4. I’m going to read the newspaper.

Froslass: Do you think she’ll make something? Last year when we were celebrating the 4th, do you remember when she brought the tuna fish casserole? I never thought to use onions! Onions of all ingredients! And then she brought the quilted napkins and I told her, I said “Polteageist, I just can’t belie-“

Gengar: Null matters woman, her tuna casserole tasted like pesto and regret. Don’t bother me anyway, as I am reading the newspaper. Oh, seems here, a bird Pokémon named Decidueye wants to make Pokémon equal.

Froslass: He’ll probably get shot somewhere in Cerulean City.

Gengar: You’re probably right. Says here Sears and Roebuck are going to make more catalog houses in the area. They’ll never go bankrupt!

Froslass: No chance!

Gengar, laughing: Ah… I trained you right.

*Shedinja rushes in*

Shedinja: Gengar!

Gengar: By Arceus, Shedinja! I haven’t seen you since the war!

Shedinja: Still smoke without a filter?

Gengar: Still a lazy drunk that cries when your mother writes?

Shedinja: You dog! So good to see you!

*Polteageist enters*

Polteageist: Did somebody ask for tuna casserole!

Gengar and Shedinja: NOPE!

Froslass: I did! Oh and it smells the same as it did last year!

Gengar: You two go off and do something feminine while we talk about things we believe are too logical for you to understand.

Froslass and Polteageist: Okay!

*Froslass and Polteageist leave*

Gengar: So Shedinja, when I go home today, Froslass said the wildest thing to me!

Shedinja: Did Rotom rise from the grave to bring Kanto back to its true form?

Gengar: Sadly no.

Shedinja: Damn.

Gengar: But what she did say was particularly peculiar and that’s why I wanted to have you over for dinner. She said she that she along with your wife, saw an alien in the sky this morning!

Shedinja: An alien, you say… not a communist invasion lead by Spiritomb?

Gengar: No, I already got rid of that idea.

Shedinja: Weather balloon?

Gengar: That too. What I’m worried about is that if she is right, we’re going to have to tell the paper, and then there’s going to be people everywhere and the military is going to come…

Shedinja: Not to mention that we’re going to have to admit they’re right.

Gengar: That too! I just haven’t been able to make up my mind on whether she saw an alien or not!

Shedinja: Here’s an idea; let’s eat dinner and test them to see if they actually saw aliens. If what they say makes sense, we’ll call the paper and tell them that what they saw and… *rambling*

*Froslass and Polteageist enter*

Froslass: We’re back, you two!

Gengar: *to Shedinja* But they’re women!

Froslass and Polteageist: We are!

Froslass: Gengar, I don’t know why you keep saying that. I’m obviously a woman, you know… how we’re trying to have a baby…

Shedinja: You found a good one.

Gengar: I really did.

Shedinja: Mine just wants to talk about artifacts all the time.

Polteageist: You know Gengar, I’ve been meaning to ask you about where you got your little Tapu fellow at, he’s just so cute!

Gengar: You weren’t kidding.

Shedinja: Not one bit.

Gengar: I hope she has good child-bearing hips. Do you folks want to start dinner?

Everyone: Of course!

Gengar: Great. Froslass, take it away!

Froslass: Okay. What do you want me to take?

Gengar: You- you- you- Just bring the food woman.

Froslass: Oh… okay!

Shedinja: Like a dog, Docile.

Gengar: Exactly. Polteageist, would you mind saying grace? I feel like I haven’t heard a word from you this evening!

Polteageist: That’s how you boys like it! I’ll start if you insist. Dear figure of omnipotence, may you rest in peace somewhere peaceful, like Poni Wilds or somewhere close to that.

Froslass: I hear Alola is quite nice this time of year.

Polteageist: And they have the world’s biggest artifact museum in their region!

Shedinja: Hush woman! Proceed.

Polteageist: Anyway Mr. Arceus, I hope you can do all the things we want in the world or something like that. Also, I really hope my casserole doesn’t flop, last 4th of July, I put way too much pesto in it.

Gengar: I told you, Froslass. I told you.

Polteageist: Oh, and don’t forget to get rid of my dad’s cancer. Amen!

*silence*

Gengar: That was beautiful Polteageist. Now let’s dig into this tuna casserole and-- OH MY ARCEUS!

Froslass, Shedinja, and Polteageist: What?

Gengar: AN ALIEN!

*a ridiculously colored Blacephalon enters*

Blacephalon: Hey guys, did I make it into Alola?

*everyone starts screaming*

Gengar: By Arceus!

Froslass: It’s an alien!

Shedinja: From another planet!

Polteageist: That somehow speaks English!

*silence… then contunied screaming*

Gengar, holding a chair: Fend off, satanic being or this chair will be perpetually stuck in your face!

Blacephalon: What do you mean?

Gengar: I mean, I will beat the devil outta you, you devilish foe!

Blacephalon: Why are you talking like that?

Gengar: I… Don’t know.

Blacephalon: Well anyway, do any of you guys know where Alola is?

Polteageist: Why do you want to go to Alola?

Blacephalon: Well, you see, I was initially planning on Galar but then my other alien friend, Lunala, was all like “Nah, man, Alola.” and I was all like “Alola?” and she was all like “Alola!” so yeah…she died on entry but I still wanted to play the slots, ya know?

Froslass: We’re in Kanto.

Blacephalon: Now how far is that from Alola?

Froslass: Very far… from Alola.

Blacephalon: Oh…

Shedinja: Listen here, you white freak! What’s going to happen to you is that I am going to go next door, grab my M1, come right back here, and shoot you in the face!

Blacephalon: No, you’re not.

*Blacephalon kills Shedinja*

Gengar: By Arceus! Why have you done this? Such horror is none I’ve ever seen before!

Blacephalon: Look, buddy, you really gotta stop talking like that. It’s weird.

Gengar: You’re weird.

Blacephalon: Uh, yeah. I’m an alien. So, I killed him because he was going to kill me first. And I’ll kill you if you keep talking like that. *starts mocking Gengar*

*Froslass and Polteageist laugh at Gengar*

Gengar: That’s not fair.

Blacephalon: Well, life isn’t fair, kiddo. Trust me, I’ve been alive for 3 million years.

Gengar: That explains the wrinkles-

Blacephalon: Thin fucking ice Gengar! You are walking on thin fucking ice!

Gengar: Wait, how do you know my name?

Blacephalon: The person writing this script made an error. Listen, what I’m going to do is that I’m going to take a straight shot from here to Alola, making a stop for some Kantonian BBQ, make a fortune on slots, and spend the rest of my life as an alcoholic in Hau'oli City. This *kicks Shedinja* never happened.

Froslass: Wait a second… make a fortune?

Blacephalon: Yeah baby. You, me, and all of the money in the world!

Polteageist: Can I come along? I hear Alola has the biggest artifact collection in the world!

Blacephalon: Sure thing suga, go outside and warm up our ride.

Froslass: You fly an alien spaceship?

Blacephalon: Actually, I rented a Buick. It’s got leather seats though!

Polteageist: Leather?! *knocks over Gengar to EXIT*

Gengar: You- you can’t just do that to me!

Froslass: I’m sorry Gengar, it’s just that he’s so charming and he’s going to make good money, and his Buick has leather seats!

Blacephalon: So does my regular spaceship.

Froslass: And his spaceship too!

Gengar: That is kinda cool. Just one thing before you take my wife and go for BBQ and slot machines…what planet are you from?

Blacephalon: *puts on MLG glasses* Planet Cool. Come on woman, let’s go eat some brisket and make interstellar love, ratio 2 to 1.

Froslass: You had me at brisket!

Blacephalon: Oh, and don’t forget that tuna casserole, Gengar. I smell pesto!

*Blacephalon and Froslass leave arm-in-arm*

[smoldewott]

Break the dead branches from the path;

Leon gets the feeling Gloria’s mother doesn’t like him.

Sure, Mrs. Taylor greets him cheerfully and welcomes him in, but whenever Leon turns, he feels her eyes judging him. She knew that Gloria had nearly died because of him, right? She had to know.

“Make yourself comfortable,” Mrs. Taylor says. “She’ll be ready in a minute.”

Gloria steps downstairs a few seconds later. She’s wearing his uniform — no, it’s the Champion’s uniform, which means it’s hers now, he has to remember that. She has a cap like his, but hers is pink and silver instead of black and gold. The outfit suits her dark skin the way it suited Leon’s. For a moment, he almost feels like he’s looking in a mirror.

(When he’d come home after the championship match, he found a tear in his uniform, on the right shoulder. It was the first time he could remember actually damaging it, and it was right after getting beat twice in a row. Talk about metaphors.)

“Hey, Champion. How are things?”

Gloria meets his eyes, then looks to the side. It’s a habit of hers, he’s noticed. It always makes her look like she’s checking for a dialogue option.

“Hi,” she says. “Where’s Hop?”

“He’s on his way. I just wanted to come a little earlier, because… well, you know, in case I got lost.”

She nods.

They sit in the living room. Mrs. Taylor brings them tea.

Gloria puts three sugar cubes in hers. (Funny enough, that how Hop likes his, too.)

“So, Champion, how are you holding up? Is there anything I can help you with?”

Her gaze is trained on the steam rising from her cup. “In the Circhester gym, when you pass a floor, you get to see where all the traps were behind you.”

(She and Hop really do share a brain cell, don’t they?)

“I remember that, yeah.”

“After the Darkest Day, when you were recovering, I kept thinking of how close I’d been to danger this whole time. But it wasn’t even me who was in danger for most of it, was it? It was you.”

“I… don’t think I get what you’re saying there, mate.”

“Chairman Rose was using you, the same way he was using Bede. You were a kid, and he endorsed you and supported you, but when it came down to it, he was perfectly willing to risk you dying against — that thing. Because you were the unbeatable champion, and you acted like you could do anything.”

(When Leon rushed in the tower, Rose had smirked. “So the hero comes to rescue the princess from the dragon, hm?”

“Rose,” Leon had said. “What the fuck.”)

Leon puts a hand on her shoulder. “Grown-ups are weird. You don’t have to worry about Rose anymore, though. He’s in jail now, remember? Besides, I was unbeatable — up until you, of course!”

Her expression can be best described as unimpressed. “I know you let me win the championship match.”

“...what?”

She looks at him, unflinchingly meeting his eyes. “You were limping when you walked on the pitch. When you threw your pokeballs, you didn’t stretch your arm out all the way. You got hurt, didn’t you? You weren’t at full strength and you knew it.”

Wouldn’t that be a convenient excuse. But that’s not how being the unbeatable champion works.

“Gloria, I chose to battle you because I was sure I could give you a champion match. I wouldn’t insult you with anything less.”

“I know… but when we were battling, I kept seeing your injuries. And I kept thinking… if I lost, and you kept being Champion, you would feel like you had to keep diving headfirst into Galar’s problems, right? And it was only a matter of time until you got worn down or caught off guard and something went bad.”

It’s funny. He doesn’t remember her ever talking so much.

She’s not done, either: “When you were in the hospital, Hop was so worried about you. You were out cold, and we didn’t know if you would ever wake up.”

She drinks her tea, a long sip. Leon sees tears forming in her eyes. “Everything turned out fine, but… I’m looking ahead, and all I can think is… how many more pitfalls are there, where I can’t see?” Her voice cracks. “I — I’m scared, Leon.”

Perhaps overhearing Gloria’s words, Mrs. Taylor appears from the other room. She takes a seat next to her daughter and hugs her. She and Leon make eye contact.

He wants to apologize. He’s not sure how.

It’s at that moment that there’s a knock on the door, and Hop bounces in without waiting for an answer.

“Hey, Gloria! How’s — oh.”

Leon puts on a smile, waves him over. Hop comes close, then, hesitating, climbs on the couch between Leon and Gloria. He’s half-sitting in Leon’s lap, but that’s okay.

“Cuddle pile?” Hop says.

“Cuddle pile,” Gloria replies.

Oh, Arceus. They’re so young.

When Leon had imagined losing — as a hypothetical, sometime in the far future — he’d always pictured losing to Raihan, or someone like him. Someone grown, someone with the maturity and experience to be able to handle themselves as a regional icon and guardian.

Instead, Galar’s new heroes are a couple of kids still young enough to enjoy cuddle piles.

Leon watches as Hop and Gloria whisper in each others’ ears. He wonders what they’re talking about. He doesn’t try to listen in, though. Instead, he leans back, lets himself get lost in thought.

He’s healing well, but what next?

He’s not Champion Leon anymore.

He has no official responsibility toward Galar.

But he’s still big brother Lee, and he resolves to be there for these kids.

“Hey,” he tells them, “You guys keep growing and getting stronger, yeah? If you fight together, you’ll never have to worry. And if you ever need anything — I’ll be there for you. I’ll fight for you.”

Hop nods. Gloria wipes the tears from her eyes.

Yeah, they’ll be okay.

[mymanskabu]

Ohhh since you're writing about service Pokemon what about Milo, Piers and Raihan with an autistic s/o who has a service galarian Ponyta ? Since it's a psychic type it could know when a meltdown is coming and pull the reader out of the situation that's causing them to have a meltdown and help them through the meltdown so that they don't hurt themself 🌈👽

× I considered not writing your request over ten times after I actually read it 💀 I didn't read the content at first and when I did, I was like, "Oh no, I'm going to butcher the topic, I'm literally going to kill my blog. I'm about to pull a James Charles—"

× Anyway, so I changed your request a bit to just write about the meltdowns. I know enough about panic attacks to write about them.

× I just don't want to disrespect autism since it is something serious. Panic attacks are too but I feel more comfortable writing about them because I can accurately bring awareness to them.

× SUPPORT THE SUPPORT MONS. I actually really like writing about real life animal jobs and sports interpreted into Mons, its interesting!

× Tagged as "sensitive topic" ! !

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

Milo:

▪︎ In Galar, they have Emotional Support Pokemon something that Milo is very aware of because he has some Wooloo specifically trained for that. There are only certain Pokemon that can become ESP's since some do not have the temperament for it or the patience.

▪︎ If someone has a personal Pokemon they consider an ESP they have to register it and get a certification that shows they are emotionally disabled by a health professional and that the Mon is actually going to help them.

▪︎ Milo knows since he has seen the process a few times from giving Wooloos to the ESP for a unfortunately large number of people.

▪︎ That being said, he knew exactly what his S/O had been through. Ponyta's are Pokemon that are given and are automatically registered as long as they're trained.

▪︎ Ponyta's a very sharp when it comes to emotional awareness of others so they tend to be given to people who are prone to panic attacks and/or anxiety, etc.

▪︎ Anytime the Ponyta took his S/O away from a certain situation he knew what was about to happen and would always follow it. Ponyta was always grateful for the extra help and never left its person's side until they calmed down or Milo helped them do so.

▪︎ "Take a deep breath, darlin. You're goin' to be alright." He would try to distract them from the emotions causing them to get to this frantic state.

▪︎ He would tell his S/O stories about the Wooloo to hopefully direct their thoughts to something more positive. There are many stories that his S/O clearly remembers and could listen to repeatedly, it always makes them feel better so Milo keeps that in mind.

▪︎ His S/O has had less attacks since moving with Milo. He lives an active and very peaceful lifestyle, the scariest thing one could come across would be bug pokemon which was not that big of a deal.

Unless you panic at the sight of bees like I do, no hate. I'm just traumatized.

▪︎ He got along with the Ponyta just fine and so did his Pokemon. He liked taking care of it with you and the Ponyta enjoyed Milo's presence around you. Ponyta's tend to be able to pick up on good vibes.

Piers:

▪︎ He definitely did not know as much as he probably could know. He knew ESP existed, he knew what most of the process was because of past experiences, but other than that, he didn't know as much as Milo did.

▪︎ His S/Os Ponyta didn't take well to Piers or its Pokemon at first, it didn't get bad vibes, it just didn't know him well enough to really see that all he had were good intentions.

▪︎ His S/O explained why they had a ESP and he took in the information. He kept what they told him in mind. His S/O had a plan whenever they felt a panic attack coming up, Piers was now aware and he could help them follow it.

▪︎ If he saw Ponyta taking them away, Piers knew what was happening and always wanted to help. Ponyta never rejected it because if it caused a scene it would only bother Piers' S/O more. It was trained to keep the person it's with away from stressful situations.

▪︎ Similarly to Milo, he would try to distract his S/O from whatever is leading them to the panic attack. He would help them take deep breaths and assure them that this is only temporary and they'll feel better soon.

▪︎"We can go on home once you're calm and I will sing you a song, that sound like somethin' you'd like?" This was a moment when Ponyta accepted him and trusted him more to help.

▪︎ Piers and Ponyta became good friends, it wanted his S/O to be near Piers almost all the time. Loved cuddling with the both of you.

▪︎ Ponyta was allowed everywhere because it was small enough and companies didn't want to have a bad rep for rejecting ESPs.

▪︎ Despite loving the sound of Piers' voice, Ponyta didn't allow his S/O to be at his concerts as much as they would like to be. They could only watch from afar since being down there with the crowd could trigger a panic attack.

▪︎ Piers was grateful for the effort made to watch him preform, but he didn't want them to put themselves in a stressful position. He made up for it by singing in softer tones when it's just both of them. Ponyta adored this and so did his S/O, it was their own intimate concert. They loved it.

Raihan:

▪︎ He knew about ESP through his S/O, all of his knowledge came from them. He was only aware of them because other people had them for a variety of reasons. His S/O told him why they had an ESP and he made sure he understood as best as possible.

▪︎ Ponyta didn't care about Raihan, he didn't give off bad vibes, but at first Ponyta had no reason to form any attachment to him. It would only acknowledge him because its person was his S/O.

▪︎ Raihan was told what to do in certain situations both with his S/O and Ponyta. There was no manual because everyone had a different way of calming down and his S/O knew what worked best for them.

▪︎ The first time Ponyta pulled them away he was nervous to see it. He calmed himself quickly, he knew his S/O was the one that needed him the most right now. He would crouch in front of them, place a gentle hand on their thigh and talk about anything that came to mind. It was odd for him to try to make light-hearted conversation when they were taking short breaths and trembling under their hand. This is what they told him to do. If he gets nervous or panics then Ponyta would get angry and have to shove him away because then he becomes a "stressful situation."

▪︎ "Hey," He says softly. "We'll dip when you're all good and we can eat Yogurt together, then you'll be all wrapped up in my arms. I know you enjoy it because you've told me so love."

▪︎ Most Ponyta's will accept other people into their lives rather quickly after seeing that they can be helpful to what they do. Therefore, after that, Ponyta trusted Raihan more and was a lot more pleasant around him.

▪︎ Raihan supported ESP before, but with his S/O having an ESP he felt he had an opportunity to bring more attention to it. For other people to support and donate to ESP organizations. Ponyta and his S/O were definitely photogenic, he loves taking pictures of them when they're completely at peace. That's when his S/O gives the most amazing and genuine smiles.

▪︎ Raihan's lifestyle was quick-paced, something that Ponyta didn't dig. Whenever he went out, it would stay where it is, telling its person that they are not leaving. Ponyta acted a lot like a parent in a way. Raihan would have to explain to Ponyta that his S/O would be alright as long they had him and the Ponyta.

▪︎ When him, Ponyta, and his S/O went out, he always held their hand and he would keep an eye out for Ponyta. If he knew something was coming up, he would make sure Ponyta took them away somewhere less stressing. Him and Ponyta had become a sort of team, it made them better friends. Something that his S/O really loved to witness was them getting along well.

[timelock97]

Game Changer

Chapter Ten: Graduation

Word Count: 2720

Warnings: Language probably

_________________________________________  

The next few months were a lot more hectic than I had hoped. Going back to school was easy, and fibbing a bit when my class found out about my engagement was easy too. Everyone was excited for me and bombarded me with questions.

My family found out about Fritter about a month and a half in when my dad confusedly grabbed her from off the ground to wash since Buster had been pushing her around and playing with her. Thankfully, I had only been in the office working on homework when it happened so I was able to run and rescue Fritter from having a panic attack and calm my dad down when he asked what the hell Fritter was.

It didn’t take long for me to explain to my family, but they weren’t at all happy, except for Aiden who cheered at the thought of Pokemon being real.

Leon heard a lot about it after the fact, mostly because they wanted to know that I was safe. Once they found out that he had a whole team and was Champion, they relaxed a little. And then freaked out a bit finding out I had my own Pokemon waiting for me back in Galar.

“How are they?” I ask, lying on my bed in the early morning.

Leon laughs, the sound of an explosion that didn’t faze me anymore echoes through the receiver, “They are good, Ivy has been coming with me to work, Scorch is almost ready to evolve so I’ve been avoiding taking him to train, and Daisy is getting closer to evolving too.”

“And your team?”

“Still kicking ass,” he chuckles. “And what about you, how are classes?”

I smile, rubbing my hand over my face as Fritter and Buster move further up the bed to cuddle up. “Well, clinicals went well. I have exams next week then graduation. You are coming up, right?”

“Yup, and I am bringing someone else with me-”

“Is it Hop, please tell me it’s Hop.”

“It’s Hop,” he chuckles as I cheer, “You sound more excited to see my brother than me.”

“Okay, you can’t blame me, I have been wanting to introduce my brother and your brother for forever, you know that.” I giggle into the phone.

“I know. I know.” He chuckles until I hear him sigh into the receiver. “I also know you need to actually get up soon, so I will let you go, okay?”

I nod softly, gently petting Buster and Fritter, “I love you, and you’re right I do need to actually start my day. I’ll call you later, okay?”

“I love you too, darling. Have a great day.”

~

“Two more days!” The guys call as we exit the building after we finish our final exam and presentations, whooping and hollering.

“I vote we go down to Legends and have a beer!”

I laugh as I nod my head, agreeing to go out. Next week we will be graduating and we were all ready to throw our caps in celebration. My eyes fall to the end of the sidewalk and into the parking lot, eyes falling on two figures that are standing by my car. “Who is standing by my car?” I whisper, catching a few classmates’ attention.

“Want us to walk you to your car?” Mason says from behind me.

Before I can answer, one of the figures throws their arms up and cheers. “(Y/N)!”

My mouth falls open before I start jogging away from the group a bit. “Actually, I can’t go to Legends, it seems my fiance and his brother are here earlier than expected so I gotta go! Bye guys!” I call out before booking it across the parking lot.

Hop and Leon laugh as I run over, Hop meeting me halfway to hug me tightly. “Do you like your surprise?” Hop smiles as I kiss his cheek and throw my arm over his shoulder to lead him back over to the car.

“Best surprise ever.” I press a kiss to his temple before letting him go to throw my arms around Leon’s neck, his hands grabbing under my thighs to lift me up. “The absolute best surprise,” I whisper as I pull away enough to press a kiss to Leon’s lips.

He hums gently before moving his hands from under my thighs to set me back on the ground. “Did good tricking you to think that I was training this morning?”

“I would love to know how you pulled it off-” I giggle, Hop coming around and grabbing me around the waist.

“I held a video of him practicing with Raihan by the phone while we were waiting for the plane to load.” Hop smiles, proud of himself.

I wrap my arms around him again, hugging him closer. “How did you two even get here?”

“Your dad dropped us off on his way back to work about twenty minutes ago.” Leon chuckles, making me roll my eyes. “Oh so everyone was involved, that’s wonderful.”

“Well not everyone, I don’t think your brother knows what’s going on.” Lee laughs, tugging us into a hug. “Alright, c'mon we should head on home-”

“Oh! I have to pick up Aiden from school-”

“How about you park and I can go in and wait for him?” Leon laughs as I motion for them to get in the car.

“I think he would love that.” I giggle, getting set in the front seat to start the car. The drive to the school was filled with laughter and stories from the last few months.

“I get to choose my starter when we get back to Galar.” Hop whispers as we watch Leon walk up to the school and sit where I normally sit to wait for Aiden.

I turn and look at Hop, “Are you excited?”

He nods, “I think I’m going to choose Grookey, I have been thinking about it for awhile and it just seems right, you know?”

I nod, “I know, sometimes you just know.” I turn to look back where Lee is seated, witnessing Aiden walking out of the school, seeing Leon, and running over to tackle hug him.

I feel Hop shift behind me, “Lee thinks that Aiden and I would be really close friends, do you think that?”

I grab Hop’s hand that is resting on my shoulder, “I know you two are going to be really good friends.” I whisper, watching as Leon sets Aiden on his shoulders to walk back out to the car. Once he is close enough to the car, Leon sets Aiden down so he can get in the backseat. “Hey, Aid, was that a nice surprise?”

“Yes!” Aiden cheers, now seeing Hop. “Are you Hop? I’m Aiden!”

I see Hop smile brightly from the rearview mirror, “It’s nice to meet you, Aiden.”

I glance at Leon who takes my hand as I head onto the main road, “Nothing to worry about, my love.”

“Nothing indeed.”

Parking outside my family home and I reach to turn off the car, but the back door opens as Aiden chat’s Hop’s ear off, “Aiden Alexander you wait until I shut off the car to get out-”

“You’re in park!” Aiden yells back, “C'mon Hop, I wanna show you our dog Buster,” Aiden continues, Hop leaping out of the car to follow him as the engine turns off.

Leon laughs next to me, “You said that they would be the best of friends.”

“I did indeed.” I sigh, reaching over without looking to hold his hand. He laces our fingers together as we watch as they talk each other’s ear off as they open the garage door. “I need a nap,” I whine, making Leon laugh beside me. “But I also need to cook dinner.”

“I’ll help-”

“No, you are not,” I laugh as we get out of my car. “You always burn whatever you cook-”

“I’ve gotten better! Just ask Hop!” He laughs, arm wrapping around my shoulder as I shift my backpack onto my arm.

“Fine, but if you burn anything you’ll get put on peeling duty.” I tease, shutting the garage door behind us as we enter the house, nearly tripping over Aiden’s bag as I do. “Aiden! Your bag needs to find a home!”

Aiden comes running around the corner with Hop on his heels, Fritter’s pokeball in hand. “Sorry, uh, can we play with Fritter and Buster?”

I roll my eyes, handing him his bag in exchange for the pokeball. I toss it up, letting Fritter out who hops up and down happily upon seeing everyone. Aiden tries to grab her but Buster runs after Fritter quickly, Hop and Aiden follow quickly behind to catch up to them.

“She’s gotten bigger,” Leon comments as I set my own bag down on a kitchen chair, pulling my hair up so I don’t have to worry about it. “Might be close to evolving.”

“Yeah, I know she isn’t actually battling with Buster, but she has been getting stronger. I wouldn’t be surprised if she were.” I pull my scrub top over my head and toss it onto the chair, revealing the navy tank top underneath. I sigh as I walk over to the sink so I can start dinner, Leon joining me at the sink.

“So, what are we cooking?”

~

“Are you ready yet?” Aiden calls in annoyance, graduation day had finally arrived and I was more than ready to get all this over with.

“We will be out in a minute!” Leon calls from where he is sitting on the bed. He is reading on his phone while I finish my make-up in only my bra, underwear, and tights. “How close are you, darling?”

“I just have to spray the setting spray and put on my dress and shoes.” I mutter, turning my face in the mirror to make sure I look fine. I grab the spray as I notice Lee put down his phone, Fritter taking what was left of his attention. Two quick sprays and I was done, minus fanning my face to get it to dry faster, which made Leon laugh. “Can you pass me my dress?

Leon grabs my dress and walks over to me, the white material practically glowing in the muted light of the room. I take it and slip it on, Leon turning me to pull the zipper up and tie the bow. "You look beautiful, you know?”

“Feeling pretty gorgeous, not gonna lie,” I tease back, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek.

The sound of banging on the door pulls us from the tender moment, “C'mon, Mom wants pictures before you have to drive out!” Aiden yells, Hop giggling next to him. They both scream when I throw the door open, running down the hallway as I half-heartedly chase them.

“Pictures, pictures,” my mom sings as I enter, leaning down to scoop Fritter into my arms and let him perch on my shoulder as I grab my graduation gown and cap.

“I just have to pin my hat, one sec,” I call, hearing my family groan, “I don’t want to mess up my hair!” I laugh. Once I take that minute, my family gathers out front to take some pictures. I take a few with my family, thanks to Leon, some with Leon and Hop, then just one with Leon. With that, I swat the rest of them away. “Okay, I need to head. Lee, you have the job of calling Ginny and Aaron about having dinner later. And I will see you lot after I walk across stage!” I smile happily, pressing a quick kiss to Leon’s cheek, ruffle Hop’s and Aiden’s hair, and hug my folks.

I cheer excitedly as I finally make it to my group of friends in the graduation hall. Several of them wrap me into hugs as we talk and take pictures, talking about who we were going to sit with and how we were going to sit. When the announcement comes over the speakers we all crowd into the large room, settling into our seats, ready to roast for the next few hours.

When my name is read, and I am able to walk across the stage. I smile at the woman at the end of the line of hand shakes, “Congratulations, (Y/N), you are going to be amazing out there.” She whispers as she pulls me into a hug and we pose for our picture. I smile softly as I walk off stage and return to my seat, only then do I hear Leon, Hop, and Aiden screaming as loud as possible.

“I would like to introduce you to your graduating class of this year, please move your tassels to the opposite side,” we do and we all cheer in unison, hats flying into the air.

I smile as I reclaim my cap from the guy in front of me, who laughs at the fact that it hit his shoulder.

The thirteen of my class all gather to grab a few pictures before we separate to go see our families. My eyes spy purple hair before they see me, and pouncing on Hop was too funny to pass up, especially with the noise that left his lips. I giggle, kissing his cheek before letting Leon take me into his arms to hug me.

“I am so proud of you,” he whispers, kissing my cheek. Leon tosses Hop his phone as he leans down to lift me onto his shoulder. “Okay, Hopscotch, picture time so I can send it to the group chat.” I laugh as I unzip the gown so my dress shows, grabbing Leon’s hand in mine while the other rests on his opposite shoulder.

Hop takes several pictures, one of us just smiling at the camera, and the other being the Charizard pose while I am still balanced on his shoulder. “Those are perfect,” Hop laughs as Leon sets me down.

My family eventually finds us, pulling me into tight hugs. “We are so proud of you,” my mom whispers before pulling away to have me at arm’s length. “All the work you did, lead you here.”

“Thanks, Mama.” I whisper, pulling away only to hug my dad and brother next. My little family all together. I couldn’t have it any other way.

The ride home was less silent, Leon joining me since we were meeting up with Aaron and Ginny for their surprise. “You think they will like it?” Leon asks, taking my hand in his as I drive.

I let out a hum in thought, bringing his hand to my lips to kiss his knuckles. “I think it can one of two ways, either it will excite them, or they will tell us no, and I mean that in all caps.”

He chuckles at my wording, giving my hand another squeeze before bringing our hands to rest on the middle console. Oh what a day of celebration and surprises.

“So what is the occasion? Besides you graduating.” Aaron laughs as the four of us settle at a table at our favorite restaurant.

Leon chuckles next to me, eyes glancing at me before muttering, “This was your surprise so why don’t you tell them?”

I giggle, reaching across to grab Ginny’s hand. “Okay, I remember you both telling me you wanted to see Galar, and were curious about it and weeeeeeeell,” I giggle as I watch their faces turn curious, “Leon was able to put a good word in especially since you guys got passports, aaaaaand…”

“No,” Ginny gasps as Aaron’s smile widens.

“Yes,” I giggle, grabbing their passports from my bag. “Thanks to your parents borrowing your passport, we were able to get you two approved!”

“And all expenses are paid for,” Leon smiles, resting a hand on my thigh.

“You guys,” Ginny whines, I can tell she is happy, it’s a lot to take in. “You didn’t have too, but my parents-”

“Talked to them, it’s all 100% up to you now.” I smile, giving her hand a quick squeeze before letting go as the waitress comes over to get our drink orders.

Once she does, I notice my best friend fiddling with her fingers, “So, when do we leave?” She asks softly, making me squeal, clapping my hands.

“July.”

_________________________________________  

A/N: Hey hey! Hope you all are having a great day! As you can tell, this is a filler chapter. But in my opinion its still sweet.

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