#i just think gordi had the right idea ya know

[echantedtoon]

Love Doesn't Do Encores Ch28 The Champion Cup P1

(Or alternate title of the story: Reader Becomes The Gym Leaders' Go To Babysitter. Art is not mine but if anyone here remembers Gordie has like four younger siblings and Milo is also a big brother. I do NOT know the names of Milo's/Gordie's siblings so for Story's sake they will be given headcannon names until if/when their actual names are actually revealed. Please know the names for the younger siblings are NOT cannon ones and are only being used for story purposes.)

Shiny Pokemon.

You had not just been accidentally delivered not just one but FIVE freaking shiny pokemon that you had absolutely no idea how to take care of. There was only one thing you could do at the moment and it was to borrow five pokeballs from Gloria and catch them within them before you could figure out what to do with the whole lot of them and keep them all hidden away inside your bag for safe keeping just in case. You were already having a hard enough time dealing with Silver let alone five other shinies you had no idea what to do with. You'd figure it out later. Right now you were too tired to think straight and soon after clonked out on the floor. The next morning you woke up to Gloria bright and early again on Christmas Eve and you were wondering why, when she reminded you that Leon was taking the three of them back to the fair today to see the things you missed. Oh right! She did mention doing that didn't she? Well it was all fine by you. You were too tired from last night to wanna do anything so when she offered for you to join them today you politely declined and she shrugged before going along with her twin and friend to meet up with Leon again. Which means you could do something that you hadn't been able to do for a very VERY long time....Sleep in BABY!! You fell back asleep all curled up in your sleeping bag like no one cared until around noon when you groggily decided to get up only because Silver was crying out loud and shaking your sleeping bag frantically until you did wake up and tiredly blinked at him. He took the chance to point at him mouth indicating he was hungry...and you flopped your head back into the pillow with a groan.....You felt his pink hand prod your head with a curious sound.

"I'm up. I'm up."

By the time you did get dressed and ready and room service had brought up some food for you and Silver, it was nearly two o'clock. Well it was all fine with you. You still had the whole day to relax and spend time with Silver who seemed content to curl up by you with his food by the tv which you flipped through boredly until settling on a nature documentary because why not? You liked watching pokemon run around their habitats anyways and learning about them. You weren't sure how long you had been watching TV and relaxing without a care in the world. It felt...nice to just sit back and unwind without having to do anything, travel, or worry about anything else like your mother....Sadly all that was going to end so- You looked behind you as the door opened and in walked not only Gloria but Victor too. Guess Hop must've headed back to his room already or was still hanging out with Leon. But none the less you smiled at them in greeting.

"Hey, Guys! How was your day out?", you asked.

Immediately Gloria beamed and launched into a tirade. "It was bloody great! We got to see this cool performance these guys were doin', 'n then we went on the ferris wheel, n' the roller coaster, an' the rapidash rides-"

"We got to do everythin' we didn't do yesterday," Victor clarified cutting off her massive sentence before he gestured back to you with interest, "But besides that...Glory told us ya have a wee bit of a pokemon problem from last night."

You paused blinking at him before nodding. Gloria must've told them what happened last night. "Oh yeah. Well...Yes. But we haven't figured out what to do about it yet. Why do you ask?"

"Do you want to trade a shiny riolu for your shiny espurr?"

You had paused, staring at him for a long moment before asking, "What?"

"Your espurr? I've always wanted one but could never find one in the rotomi system or in the wild. An' no one I've ever met wanted ta trade with me for theirs. So when Glory told me ye got one I figured I'd swing by the pokemon center an' see if I could find somethin' good 'nough to trade for it." He response he held up a pokeball you didn't notice he had with a smile. "I nay care if it's a shiny or not, but I figured I'd trade a shiny for a shiny."

"....And what's that?," you asked pointing to the ball in his hand.

"That shiny riolu that I mentioned earlier. I found it by accident while browsin' the rotomi boxes open. Surprised no one took it yet. So whatcha say? Wanna trade with me?"

"Yeah! Tradin's easy! I've been tradin' for a long time! Just today some bloke traded me their duraludon for me frosmoth!"

You paused...blinking over to her blinking. "Wait..You traded what?"

"Yeah! And then I traded this obstagoon for this Mr. Mime in Spikemuth! An'-"

"Have you been trading pokemon since we've been traveling ?"

She nodded and you blinked. So she's been getting all the possible gifted and traded pokemon up to this point. "And this Type Null thing."

"What?"

"Well...One of those league workers was all jittery and nervous and just pawned off a pokeball ta me with this type null thing in it. I nay knew what ta do with it so I let it go."

"......You got a what and let what g- No. You know what? Nevermind. It was probably just another pokemon you were supposed to get like the game intended."

".....Huh?"

"Uh...N-Nevermind. *ahem* You said you wanted to trade?"

You ended up trading Victor the shiny espurr for the shiny riolu and you were happy for him. The way his face absolutely lit up upon receiving it made it worth while. Good news! You found a good loving home for one of the shiny pokemon you received! Bad news. It still left you with five extra pokemon you had no idea what to do with. You knew Silver would be secure since Gloria agreed to take him if/when you went back home but what about the others? You did end up asking Gloria if she'd take them in if anything happened to you as well, and surprisingly she agreed. So great! One more problem solved! The next few days were just plain. You would mostly stick with Gloria and the two of you would spend time just watching the tv, but sometimes you and the guys would go out into the city and hit up some of the local stores or cafes. Sometimes Leon would tag along, othertimes he'd take the guys out. But he was mostly busy. You could understand why as the Champion Cup was coming up really soon and with the chairman apparently 'too busy tending to something' it fell upon the Champion or Vice Chairman to take care of everything. So apparently the Champion was also an important member of the Galarian government in this world. Neat! It certainly explained why Leon seemed to have much more responsibility than his video game counterpart back in your world. Speaking of which, you hadn't really seen Piers or any other gym leader either. They also must've been getting ready for the Champion Cup as well. As days passed you began to get more and more anxious about actually going home. After all what was waiting for you was surely your mother and her nagging and the dreaded college experience she'd make you get. But...there wasn't anything you could do about it. You had accepted that reality but that didn't mean you liked it. Gloria visibly started to get more and more anxious as well. You thought it was just pre-battle jitters though, as well as her stage fright eating away at her. Understandable. You couldn't imagine yourself in her shoes much less without feeling very anxious about it either. But she'll win still. Everything so far has been going exactly as it went in game. All that was left for Gloria was to defeat Leon and become the new Champion. More and more days slowly went by, until the day finally arrived. New Years Eve. The big day for everyone. You didn't know..why exactly you did it, but when you woke you had the urge to pack all of your things sleeping bag included as if you all would be traveling again. Strange. Must be a force of habit. Gloria was awake and dressed but didn't seem....there if that made sense. She didn't even seem to notice you had gotten up and ready to head out constantly staring off at nothing. You yourself only noticed her doing it when Silver tugged on your pants leg and pointed a pink hand at her. Upon you noticing you rose a brow at her.

"Gloria?"

"HA!" You blinked as she jumped back and whirled her head towards you like a mouse startled like a cat. But she quickly noticed the stare you were giving her and quickly straightened up. "Oh h-hey, Y/n! Haha! Ye look ready ta go!"

Your brow raised. "....Are you feeling ok?"

"Ye-Yeah!" She smiled a way too big and strained smile giving you a thumbs up. "M' good! N-Never better! Haha! T-T-This is the big day! After all w-why would I be u-upset about battling? I-It's what e-everyone d-dreams of a-after all."

You stared at her for a moment longer but shrugged it off after noticing that you staring was causing her to get more nervous. She must've just been nervous about the upcoming battles. "Alright then. Did you eat anything yet?"

"N-Nay. I don' think I could keep i-if down if I did-" She blinked when you suddenly handed her a small oatmeal break bar thingy from your pack Silver hadn't gotten to yet. After a moment she took it from you.

"Eat. You'll feel better if you have something in your stomach before the match. Trust me. Where's the others?"

She gestured to the door. "W-Waitin' for us in the lobby."

"Alright. Then let's go meet up with them ok?"

She hesitated but did follow you reluctantly as you headed towards the door with her following behind. Out the door you both went, down the hall, into the elevator, pressing the down button, and down to the lobby you two went. It was a short trip with Gloria starting to nibble on her bar, and when you two exited the elevator you both found the two guys standing by the front desk waiting for you. Hop was first to spot the two of you, smiling and giving you both a full arm wave as you walked over making Victor turn his head over to the both of you.

"Gloria! There you are, Mate!," Hop greeted the two of you as you stopped in front of them. With a sigh he looked to Gloria. "This is it. Did you get enough sleep?" She nodded silently yes to his question. "You and your team are the ones battling, but I've had butterfree in my stomach since I woke up."

"M' pretty excited myself," Victor added crossing his arms, although he was still so covered up he looked like a walking closet. "After all the excitement lately, m' just glad that all o' this will be over soon."

"Yeah. You're right. After today the Gym Challenge will be officially over." Hop turned back to Gloria with an assuring smile. "And what's most important is just that you try your best. Win or lose doesn't matter. As long as you give it your best, then it's good enough for me!"

"Exactly. No one 'ere cares if you win or lose, Glory. We're proud of you jus' for makin' it this far. N' I'm sure Mum is too."

The encouraging words from the two seemed to make her relax somewhat as she gave a sigh of relief. None of your four noticed the woman in league worker attire walk into the lobby you were in. She paused for a moment scanning over the lobby before spotting you four, more specifically Gloria, and then proceeded to walk on over to you.

"Challenger Gloria?," she asked when close enough and the four of you looked over to her, surprised to see her there. "The Finals will be starting shortly. I'm here to escort you to the stadium."

Gloria's brown eyes widened in surprise but you were more surprised to suddenly see Hop take an unexpected step in front of her with an instant scowl. "What's all this! Didn't learn your lesson yesterday?! If you need another helping of Hop and his trusty wooloo, I'll be happy to give you one!"

"No! Wait please!," the woman pleaded all of a sudden holding her hands up quickly in a nonthreatening manner, "I'm not like those other league staff! I'm a good one if I may say so myself. I heard about what happened last week." Both boys gave each other a suspicious look. "Ms. Oleana can be a little extreme in her desire to assist the Chairman with his goals I'm afraid. It seems she was cultivating her own group of league staff in secret to be deployed for...well..things like that debacle last week. But you've no need to worry about today's staff! All of us are here for the right reasons."

Hop still stared at her for a moment. "Well...That's what she says. I guess we can trust her yeah, Glory?" He turned to Gloria who shrugged at his question.

"W-Would you like me to show you the way to Wyndon Stadium now?"

"Yeah! Let's go! I can't wait another minute!"

The woman nodded and gestured for you four to follow her. "Then let's be on our way."

Hop leaned back to the three of you and whispered before following. "Psst. Hey. I think something fishy's going on around here. It's better if we keep our eyes and ears open in case someone else tries to use anymore tricks."

You nodded. Couldn't agree more right there. That sinking feeling you got whenever the Chairman was around was back again, and it wasn't just your anxiety about going home today eating at you either. You would've stayed in the hotel room if you were to suddenly disappear, but you figured you should be there to support Gloria even in your last moments of being in the world of Pokemon. You all followed the woman right out to a corviknight taxi. Well...this certainly wouldn't be something you missed about this place. It was a little cramped with an extra person to ride with of course, but you were a bit busy trying not to lose your lunch on the flight over which wasn't as long as you remembered it to be. Like with the semifinals last week, the place was packed with A BIG crowd and like before you all landed in a small fenced off space in front of the doors.

"This is it," you heard Hop speak. "Here at Wyndon Stadium. The greatest stadium in all of Galar." He turned back to Gloria with a wide smile. "You're gonna show everyone the greatest battle ever, Mate! And set the world on fire!"

Gloria didn't really say anything to that but followed the woman along with the rest of you upon exiting the taxi. Around you all was lots of people yelling out towards you all and many bright flashes signaling cameras were being used as well. As a result Gloria pulled her hoodie further over her face as you four were lead by the woman up the steps of the stadium and into the much warmer building in front of you all. It was a much better welcome than the cold snowy outside. Once inside she stopped and turned back to all of you before gesturing to the front desk smack dab in the middle of the stadium.

"Would the Challenger please check in and then go wait in the locker room with the other Champion Cup contestants to wait for the matches to start? I've been instructed by the Champion to escort the rest of you to the V.I.P lounge to await his arrival after the start of the first battle."

Unsure Gloria turned to Hop who nodded. "We'll be cheering you on from the audience, Glory! So go get yourself checked in!"

You watched as she did reluctantly did turn and shuffle off, and the woman gestured for you all again to follow her. "Please follow me."

You three all left Gloria and followed the woman over to the same elevator you all took before and once inside the woman pressed the top button and up you went. Once at the top floor you three followed her on a similar path from before and escorted you all to the same room as before when you watched the semifinals from here with Victor. Hop looked around curiously as he was the only one who hadn't been here before. There was only four other people in the room with you and they were the three trainers Raihan was training personally, all three were lounged on the couch, looked up at you when you came in, and then went back to talking ignoring you three again. You smiled at Marnie and greeted her. Exchanging a few words as she gave a small half smile to you before going back to whatever she was doing on her phone.The woman stopped in the doorway, asked you all to wait here until the Champion arrived to see you, and then left closing the door behind her. You all did as she asked and went around to stand near the window to wait for the ceremony to start. You stared out the window at the crowd below in the cold winter air...and sighed. This was it. Your final day here and it just so happened to be another holiday too. But what better way to celebrate it than to watch the final matches? Then it's back to your mother. Back to her nagging and overbearing rules. Back off to collage. Leaving everyone behind-

"Hey look!" You were jolted back up into looking when Hop suddenly looked out the window with a big beaming smile. And the crowd suddenly cheering. "It's Lee!"

Your f/c eyes blinked back out towards the window and you blinked when you saw the very small form of Leon walking across the field to stand directly in the middle of it. The giant TV screen was lit up with his bright smile as he waved with one hand towards the cheering crowd, the other hand holding a mic up to his face. This must mean the finals were about to start. Another person trotted onto the field and it didn't too long to realize it was the referee for the matches.

"Happy New Years Eve, Everyone! Chilly day out today, isn't it?," Leon asked his voice echoing loudly throughout the stadium thanks to the giant speakers the mic lead to. His answer was the crowds' cheering to his smile. Beside you both Raihan's trio of trainers and Marnie had gotten up to join you in watching out the windows. "I hope everyone here had a good Christmas or whatever special holiday you all celebrate this time of the year! And what better way to end off such a wonderful year than to go out with a bang! And welcome the new year with such positive excitement! It probably goes without saying but..." He shrugged. "Hello, Galar! I'm your Champion, Leon! The Chairman is tied up with some business, so I hope no one minds me stepping in on his behalf in order to lead you all to greater heights as pokemon trainers of the Galar Region!" Well judging by the cheers and reaction the crowd gave, no one seemed to be against the idea. "The time has come for you to battle it out until only the greatest challenger remains! So on behalf of the Chairman, allow me to say-" He suddenly pointed a hand out towards the field. "Let the final matches begin!"

The crowd roared and you couldn't help but feel a big excitement bubble up. Leon exited the field with an arm up waving good bye for now to the roaring crowd as he did so, and the intercom voice came back on his place. "Wasn't that just a thrilling start to the beginning finals? First up we have a duo who'll surely put the ghosts of past, present, and future to shame with his spooky winning streak! First Match will be Gym Leader Allister verses that lucky Semifinals winner Gym Challenger Gloria from Postwick!"

"Gloria?", you asked suddenly suprised.

"So soon?," Victor asked before giving off a hum, surprised as well at the sudden choice of the duo.

"No. Actually that makes perfect sense."

....You both looked at Hop like he was nuts. "...HUH?!"

He sighed. "Isn't it obvious?" He gestured to the field as a figure, Gloria, was slowly making her away across the field along with ....someone else. "Lee's gotta know 'bout Glory's massive stage fright problem, and from I've seen of that Allister kid, he's not exactly the most comfortable in the spotlight. If either loses they get to sit out a lot quicker, making it easier for them."

.....Ah...That actually made a lot more sense now. You would know you'd want to battle as soon as possible and win or lose if you were in either of their shoes. Made you appreciate Leon's good eye a lot more. Victor had turned back to the window...blinked, and squinted his eyes at the other person on the field who WASN'T Allister with Gloria. Before his eyes widened to the size of plates. You noticed his sudden expression and was about to ask him what was up when Marnie beat you to it.

"Oi. Who's that bloke?," she asked staring at the same person Victor was.

You looked to Marnie, then out the window. And your eyes widened when none other was BEDE standing there! Of course you couldn't hear what he was saying being all the way down there but he looked to be saying something to Gloria. THUD! You jumped and turned to the source of the noise which was none other than Hop who was ABSOLUTELY GLARING at the white haired figure on the field. The noise coming from him suddenly putting his hands against the glass.

"BEDE!?," he asked both gobsmacked and annoyed, "What the absolute flaming rappidash crap is that 'I'm so much better haha' wool for brains doing on the battlefield!?"

"HOP!" He blinked when you grabbed his shoulder with a frown. "Don't call Bede names! You should know better than that! What would Leon say?"

Hop...blinked at you as Victor spoke. "He certainly can't be competing in the matches. He was disqualified long before the semifinals began, and there's only one challenger allowed to compete in the Champion Cup."

"SEE!?," Hop tried to tell you gesturing a hand back to the confused action. "That guy's crazy enough to try and hijack Glory!".....You rose a brow. "Uh.." He cleared his throat. "I mean he's trying to hijack Glory FROM the match and take her place!"

"I don't think that's really what he's doing-"

"What an unexpected turn of events!," you were interrupted by the intercom guy, "Former Challenger Bede has come for one last battle! We are currently debating what to do with Challenger Bede." Ah. So THIS is when Bede decided to make his grand reentrance for the last rival battle with him in game. Of course you knew Gloria would win but for now you'd try and keep Hop under control as he angrily went back to glaring out the window at him. "To all our viewers, both here in the stadium and at home in front of the telly, we ask that you please be patient." Hop grumbled something about Leon not standing for this and you sighed. His 'not crush' on Gloria was starting to show itself again at the most- "We've reached a decision ladies and gentlemen! The Champion himself has accepted Bede's sudden interruption!"

A glass breaking sound went off in Hop's mind as he stared wide eyed. "........W H A T!?"

"Is the Champion showing his love by giving every trainer a chance to grow stronger? Or is it a trail for Challenger Gloria? Either way....WE ARE ABOUT TO START A MATCH FOLKS!!" The crowd cheered as Hop glared daggers. Oh if looks could kill. "Challengers! Please take your places on the field!" You watched as both turned and walked to the opposite sides of the field. "Pokemon at the ready! Get set! Let the first round of this surprise match begin!"

You all watched as Gloria sent out her ...duraludon?? That must've been the new pokemon she mentioned getting a while back. And Bede sent out a mawile. Oh boy here you go.

"HOW IS LEE LETTING THAT NO GOOD FELLA JUST BATTLE OUT THERE!?," Hop shouted making everyone in the room look at him as he glared out the window at the battlefield.

"Hop. Calm down." You shook his shoulder as the battle began gaining his attention. "I'm absolutely sure Leon has his reasons. And besides every other time Gloria had ever battled Bede she's won. Now won't be so different. Let's just watch Gloria beat him and relax. Ok?"

Hop paused and it seemed the thought of Bede being bested and humiliated in front of the entire crowd and live TV made him calm down enough to smile. "You're right! Glory's always bested him before. Now won't be anymore different."

"Exactly. let's just watch and see what happens now," You smiled.

You knew Gloria would win anyways but at least Hop calmed down now and seemed to enjoy the battle. First round was Gloria's durluadon vs Mawwhile. Gloria won. Then her corviknight vs his gardevoir. Gloria won again. Then her corviknight again verses his rapidash. ...She won again. Scorbunny vs Bede's hatterene in a dynamaxed fight. You remembered to hang onto something this time around to avoid falling over as the giant pokemon duked it out. Bede won this round. But considering Gloria won three out of four, it was clear she was the winner.

"HA! Take that-"

"Hop. Don't be mean."

"It looks like Challenger Bede was no match for Challenger Gloria and her trusted team!," the intercom man commented to the cheering crowd. "The stadium is filled with voices cheering on these two young trainers! Now. Both challengers please head back to the locker room so that you can rest up from that unexpected match and the field can be repaired for the first match of the finals. We'll be taking a small commercial break in the meantime folks. Stay tuned for the promised action."

You all watched as the two walked off of the field and the repair crew for the field started rolling out with their equipment and you sighed. Well at least that interaction was over and done with but you did wonder what Ms. Opal was going to do about Bede performing such a stunt like that. You got your answer in just a few short minutes. While waiting for Gloria and Alister to eventually make their appearance back onto the field, you all had resorted to watching the repairs take place. None of you really moved an inch from the spot until the faint yells of someone saying 'Ow' over and over again came from behind you. You turned your head and was surprised when the door to the lounge opened and standing in the doorway all calm faced was none other than Ms. Opal. The old lady looked exactly the same decked out in her blue, pink, and white attire, with her umbrella over one wrist, and her hat. The only difference was that she was wearing a pretty thick blue and pink coat over her dress due to the cold weather most likely. You and Victor exchanged a confused look when she slowly walked in dragging something in the other hand behind her.....And that something was none other than Bede.

"Ow, ow, ow!! Let go of me you mad woman!!," he demanded slightly bent over from the fact that in old fashion grandmotherly style, Opal was dragging him along behind her by his ear.

....Hop snickered but you gave him a small shove and scowl to get him to be silent. Everyone from you to Marnie watched as Ms. Opal dragged Bede over to one of the couches before finally letting him go. Bede immediately leaned back up with a hiss, a hand coming to his ear as he scowled at the woman.

"Sit." She demanded not even looking at him pointing one hand to the couch before continuing to walk over to you guys which did surprise you. But what surprised you more was the fact that Bede actually listened to her. Albeit with him huffing, crossing his arms, and turning his nose up from her as she approached you. You blinked as the slightly taller older woman stopped right in front of you. "Excuse me, Young Lady. I do hate to put a burden upon you, especially one you didn't ask, but would I be able to bother you to watch the boy for me until I am able to return from the matches at hand?"

.....You blinked. "Huh?"

"Oh, I know this is completely sudden and I'd expect such a reaction. But the boy already caused enough trouble for the day and I'd rather not risk him unsupervised for the rest of the day. Unfortunately I won't be able to see to him until the finals are fully over but if I can know he's in good hands my mind would be at ease. I've heard from Dear Leon you did a wonderful job looking after his younger brother but if it's a bother I can certainly ask one of the staff to keep watch on him for me."

....You looked from her to Bede still pouting away before back to her and smiling unsure. "Uh...Sure. I can look after him for you if you want."

gaining a satisfied grin on her face she turned. "Thank you. I shouldn't be too long." ..You looked back to Victor who shrugged as Ms. Opal took her leave. As she passed the couch she gave Bede one last look. "Young Bede. Now don't get into anymore trouble while I'm gone. I don't want to come back to a bad behavioral report."

Bede mumbled something under his breath as she slowly left. Everyone else with the exception of you, Victor, and Hop turned back to the window once Ms. Opal closed the door behind her. You both exchanged a look before you steered Hop's smug face back towards the window in order to avoid him teasing or fighting with Bede again. You doubted Bede would cause anymore trouble now that his final battle with Gloria was over but you were still going to keep an eye on him just in case. Eventually the field did repaired and as the repair team exited the field the intercom person spoke again.

"We're back and ready folks! The time for waiting is over! The Finals of the Champion Cup are about to begin!" The crowd roared and everyone quickly forgot about Bede for the moment in favor of looking back to the field as two familiar faces entered the field along with the ref. Their faces brightly shown on the giant screens. "The two trainers to face each other in the first battle of the first round are! A trainer endorsed by the Champion himself, Challenger Gloria! And now to take her on here comes Gym Leader Allister! The boy known far and wide as the silent school aged star!" Whelp. There they were. Both children look really nervous despite Allister constantly wearing that mask to cover up his feelings as they met in the middle. "Challengers take your places! Get Set! Let the first round of the finals begin!"

First round. Here you go! Allister and Gloria sent out their first pokemon. A mimikyu and duraludon. You all were excited to watch but paused..and turned your head over towards Bede. He still sat down on the couch and was still frowning off at the ground away from the rest of the others. Purple eyes stared down at his feet unmoving as he sat there equally unmoving. That old lady just had to embarrass him further in front of everyone by making a show of dragging him along like a toddler throwing a tantrum over a toy! Things were only going to be downhill from here unless he fixed thin- ..!? His head snapped up feeling the couch cushions dip next to him and he blinked when he saw YOU of all people gently sit down next to him with a smile and soft eyes. He stared at you for a long quiet moment before you spoke.

"Hey. I saw you battle out there. Nice strategy with the rapidash."

He still stared at you for a long moment before scowling with a huff and again whipping his head from you. "Like a woman like you would care about someone like me! Why are you even bothering me? Shouldn't you be watching your friend compete?"

You hummed before rolling your wrist. "Eh..Yeah I guess so. But you looked upset and I wanted to make sure you were feeling ok."

"Don't pretend to care about me," he hissed back scooting his back around to face you, "I know no one here really gives any hoot about me or my feelings!"

"Well that's not true. Ms. Opal seems to care about you an awful lot." He huffed and you rose your brow, debated on whether or not to say the next sentence, and decided to say it to get his attention. "And Gloria cares about you too."

You waited for a moment as Bede didn't move or say anything and for a moment you thought it wouldn't work. Until he ever so slowly turned his head to you. His purple eyes narrowed looking you up and down for a moment until he asked. "She ...does?"

You nodded. "You're one of her rivals aren't you? She wouldn't want to see you hurt. After all she did kinda save your life from getting crushed by a boulder back in Stow-On-Side. "

His eyes went wide. "O-Oh...*ahem* Y-Yes. I see." He turned back away. "Still. Why would you of all people care?"

You shrugged. Fair enough question. "I don't like seeing someone get hurt when they don't deserve it, and I don't think you of all people deserved what you went through either. Especially what that Rose guy and Oleana did." Like a bullet, Bede's head snapped around wide eyed to you faster than any scorbunny and stared. You sighed. "We both know what they did was wrong ok? And...I don't really blame you for anything you did either."

He stared at you like you suddenly exploded in flames. "......I-.."

"You were put under a whole lot of heavy pressure and a lot of responsibilities were put on your shoulders when they shouldn't be. ..Yeah. Destroying the Mural and all those mean things you said to my pals were uncalled for." ....He looked down in shame- "But I don't blame you for doing what you thought you had to do." Aaaand just as quickly looked back to your smile surprised. "I mean...You're just a kid. You can't be older than thirteen-"

"F-Fourteen actually."

"That only furthers my point!" In a dead serious tone you placed a hand to your chest. "Take it from someone who was pressured into a whole lot of stress inducing things at your age. Things look bad now but your perseverance landed you in a really good place now."

...His brow rose and that resting 'really?' face came back. "Oh really? How am I supposedly in a better place now?"

"Dude. Just look at yourself right now." Bede's brows rose in..well surprise. You guessed he wasn't used to just talking bluntly like this. You gestured to his pink and blue uniform. "You're working your way onto becoming a Gym Leader? Do you know how many people would want that position? Do you know how many people can brag about becoming the next gym leader of Bellonlea? It may not be as fancy as the Champion, but Gym Leader Bede has a ring to it. Dont ya think?"

Bede stared at you for a moment, but hummed in thought. "Gym Leader Bede. ..." he nodded. "Yes. That does sound like a title deserving of my struggles. And everyone already was cheering me on so I'll have to keep up my training with Ms. Opal to not disappoint them."

"That's the spirit!" You gestured over to the windows as more cheers filled up the stadium. "How about we go and watch the matches now? Watching battles is a good way to learn and who knows? Ms. Opal might even be battling next. Wouldn't want to miss her fight."

Bede seemed to hesitate for a moment glancing over to hop who had his back towards the both of you too wrapped up in watching the match, but ended up standing with a nod. "I don't see why not. After all it'd look bad on my part if I missed my mentor's turn."

You smiled and got up from the couch Bede following as you both walked back towards the windows. Although he stood on the opposite side of you by Marnie away from Victor or Hop, which might've been for the best. You didn't want to get another headache from the two fighting again. From the looks of it you two were just in time for the two to have their final round in their match. Gloria's Duraludon verses Allister's Genger. Dynamaxed. You hadn't known what had happened between the amount of time you two were talking, but if things were going by game standards, Gloria should still be winning. You all watched as the two young children battled it out as the stadium shook under their combined attacks. Ultimately ending in Gloria winning. Just like in game. The audience roared as the pokemon reverted back to normal size and not too long after the intercom guy came back.

"The winner of the first battle and the one advancing to the second round is Challenger Gloria!," he announced as the crowd cheered in agreement. "The second battle of the first rounds will be against the Master of water types! The raging wave Nessa verses the Galar Karate Prodigy Bea! Two powerful lady gym leaders but only one will advance to the second round! Who will it be!? Stay tuned because after the small break for field repairs the second match of round one will take place! But now a word from our sponsors! The Swordward and Shielbert Enterprizes."

"Alright!," Hop pointed towards the disappearing forms of the two of them exiting field. "That's one down and more to go. Gloria's already advancing herself to the second round!"

Victor nodded. "That would seem so. But don't forget that the other gym leaders aren't going to be as hesitant and nervous as Allister is. She still could be taken out next round, especially if her pokemon are already tired from battling twice already."

You didn't want to admit it but Victor did have a point there too. Allister was a powerful gym leader especially for one his age but he suffered from almost the same problem as Gloria. Beside you Bede looked away in guilt perhaps but you supposed it was too late for that. Not long after the two left the field that the maintenance crew go back out to patch up the damage left behind by the dynamaxed pokemon and their attacks. ...Well it'd be a while before anyone else battled. So why not get you something to eat? You turned towards the small kitchen area and excused yourself from everyone to head towards it, Silver following behind you interested in getting food himself. Leon got you some hot coco last time you were here, so it wouldn't be too far a stretch to assume there was some hot coco mix around here somewhere too. Right? You took to opening the fridge and finding some small snacks like yogurt and fruit cups but no coco. So you then moved onto the cabinets. Let's see. Coffee beans. Napkins. Plastic silverware. Paper plates. Red cups. Coffee creamer. Instant ramen cups. The door being swung open-.....You paused. ...And along with most everyone else looked over again to the open door and froze. Your first instinct was to see Leon standing there as promised by that staff lady but were surprised to see a lady gym leader standing there. And not Ms. Opal this time. Standing in the doorway was none other than Bea, resting angry face plastered on as she held Allister in one arm against her and her other hand on her hip. You stared at her stunned as she gazed across the seven teenagers there ...before turning her gaze to you and whipped a pointing finger at you.

"YOU THERE!"

"......Who me?" You blinked. She nodded and that just brought up a whole bunch of questions. Bea wanted you? Why? Did she remember you from Bede's Stow-On-Side incident? But why? That was such a brief encounter. She certainly be angry at you for that seeing as it was Bede's and the Chairman's faults. Even if you didn't blame Bede for his actions you'd rather not get blamed for it.

"Opal told me 'bout the babysitter set up here." ........Wot- "I remember Lee said his pal was taking care of his endorsed trainers but I didn't know he had his friend babysitting for everyone too." She rose a brow and gave another look onto the amount of kids in the room. "But considering the circumstances I can understand why. Opal sure seems to like the idea."

"....Huh?" Babysitter!? What babysitter? Who-...Wait. Did she mean YOU? Why would she think YOU were a babysitter-.....Wait. You turned your head to the teenagers staring back confused at you as Bea walked in and it seemed to click. OH. ....Well. You guessed it would kinda look like that. After all you were the only adult in here and you did agree to watch Bede for Ms. Opal, so you guessed you were technically a babysitter. But only for Bede! You weren't watching ALL of these guys! ..Oh no. You guessed Ms. Opal must've told Bea about you agreeing to babysit Bede for her upstairs and Bea must've confused that for you watching everyone here. Simple mistake. You turned to her. "I think-"

Before you could even finish your sentence, Bea was already in front of you and gently shoving Allister into your arms. The small boy silently held onto you as you blinked at him surprised in your arms.

"My match is next so I can't watch him while I battle," she spoke pointing a hand at you and you blinked back at her. "And everyone else is too busy handling other things. Al seems to already like you too so this works out great." She sighed. "Thank ARCEUS Lee set up this sitter thing. Last time he tried wondering off by himself looking for the kitchen and we had to postpone the whole next match to look for him." You opened your mouth- She held up her fingers counting on them. "There's some things you should know. He hates too bright light. Make sure he stays bundled up so he doesn't get cold. Don't try giving him white chocolate. He hates it and frankly so do I. Don't make sudden grabs at him. Don't let him wonder out of your sight or else you're in big trouble. He hates real loud noises they scare him. Don't call him weird for liking Ghost Types. And whatever you do don't let him feed his ghost pokemon human food or else they'll get sick and vomit ectoplasm everywhere and no one wants to clean that up. Got that?" .......You blinked. And she nodded. "Good. I'll pick him back up after the finals are over and pay you then. For now just hang tight and DONT let him outta your sight." Her expression suddenly did a complete 180 as she smiled at Allister. "You be good ok? Play with your friends and no wondering off this time."

"O-ok, Bea." You weren't even given ANY time to react as she turned on her foot and as quickly as she came left, slamming the door closed behind her. .....A silence passed through the room and everyone looked at each other in a mix of confusion and 'What just happened'. ....You slowly looked back to Allister who stared at you and for a moment the boy didn't do anything until he held his hand up and waved. "H-Hi."

"What just happened?," Hop asked finally seeming to come out from the shock of Bea quick dine and dash like visit.

You turned to them with Allister now in your arms and shrugged. "I guess Bede's not the only one I'm watching now." You turned back to Allister who awkwardly looked around. "Hey. You want some hot chocolate?" He perked up at the words and nodded his head yes. "Ok. Let's go ahead and get you set up first."

You ended up getting one of the few chairs that were in the room and placing it down in front of the windows so Allister could just sit and watch the matches. Also you did end up finding the coco mix in one of the cabinets.....And ended up making every kid there a cup. Wouldn't want anyone getting too cold. By the time you were done making everyone minus yourself a cup, the repairs to the field were done and the announcer shouted out the start up of Bea's and Nessa's match. You wondered who'd win. Both were obviously pretty strong trainers. Allister did however perk up at the mention of Bea coming onto the field even leaning closer to the window to look out. You wondered if those two had some kind of brother sister bond. If so good for them. Allister could use someone as tough as Bea around to help him out. From the cheering of the crowd that must've meant their match must've started. With everyone else already having their drinks and being entertained, you decided it was finally time to get yourself something- Silver gave off a loud annoyed chirp and tugged on your pants hard. ...After you get Silver something. You didn't want to risk giving him chocolate. Maybe yogurt would be ok? You attempted to go back to the fridge. I saw attempted because just as you grabbed it the door opened once again. Only this time there was one or two knocks making a couple others and you look over. Who was at the door THIS time? Couldn't have been Bea. Her battle's not over yet.

"Knock, knock.~," a voice sang from the other side of the door before it opened. ..Oh no. You knew that voice- A fanged grin is what poked itself from the other side of the door as it opened making you groan. "I heard there was a meeting up here. And you didn't invite me?~"

You sighed. "Hello, Raihan." The man chuckled before defaulting to that lazed smirk and opening the door the rest of the way. You turned to him meeting him with crossed arms. "Ok. I know you're here to either ask me to dinner or something else. So which is it this time?"

He chuckled again holding up his hands. "You got me. And while my dinner offer still stands-"

"NO thank you."

"-I actually came here for something else." You rose a brow at him. "I heard you were the official League babysitter."

...You groaned. "Not...exactly." Your hand gestured to the kids. "I only agreed to watch two. The others were already here when I got here or came with me-..Wait. Why would you come here just to tell me that?"

"I was actually wondering if you'd mind keeping an eye on my little trio too? Just until the Champion Cup's over. I'm stepping out real quick to grab some stuff from the stands and I'd feel better knowing they were being taken care of."

.....You frowned. "Seriously?! Why are you doing that? What if you're called out next?"

"I won't be. Lee already scheduled everyone for first round. I'm not battling for another two matches."

"UUUUUUUHHHH!!!" Your head leaned back as you groaned. ....You pointed at him. "YOU owe me big time!"

"Don't worry. I'll bring you back something nice from the stands. By the way, thanks for the Keychain. I'll def get you a matching one for when you inevitably fall for me-"

"I still have Silver."

He paused mouth open. "....Oh. Look at the time. Haha! I better head out. Don't worry I one hundred percent promise the triplets will behave themselves."

"Uh huh."

And just like that you went from watching one child to two to now five. UUUHHH!! Well at least they all seemed to be behaving themselves alright. Sebastian and his sisters seemed to be more interested in chatting to Marnie and Bede and the matches to cause trouble and you were pretty sure you didn't have to worry about Allister unless he tried leaving which you didn't think he'll do. You only had to worry about Bede since he seemed the most likely to start a fight, especially with Hop. Hopefully the matches would distract them both from that. Silver reminded you of his hunger and you went to work getting him something. Ended up getting him some of the yogurt as it seemed to be safe enough for him to eat. He's eaten trail food and curry before, so yogurt should be fine. It wasn't too long after the stadium shook with the dynamaxed fight between the two women shaking everything while you were attempting to make yourself something and the intercom guy came back on.

"Nessa's Drednaw is unable to battle! Therefore Gym Leader Bea wins and will proceed to the next round of matches!" More cheers as you pulled a ramen cup from one of the cabinets. "Next match will be between our fighting farmer, Milo and his opponent the ice cold professional Melony! For now we'll take a small commercial break to allow the field to be repaired! Stay tuned folks!"

"Did you see the way Bea's machamp literally held the jaws of that drednaw shut?," Hop asked Victor, "That was some serious upper arm strength."

Victor nodded. "And just remember Bea regularly practices martial arts with her own pokemon as well. The real question is did the pokemon become strong from her or did she become strong from the pokemon?"

"I'd hate to be caught in her crossfires. No wonder Bede's scared of her after he had to pay her back for the mural."

"HEY! I'm literally right here-"

"That's ENOUGH." You snapped your head around with a scowl as both boys looked at you, you pointed the hand holding the ramen at them both. "There's not going to be any fighting or else."

"Or else what?"

You stared at Bede. "Don't make me tell Leon and Ms. Opal you two were fighting again." Bede scowled and opened his mou- "Do NOT make me put you in time out, Bede." He paused staring at your scowl for a moment...before grumbling to himself, and huffed back to the window. "That's better. We're here to have a nice time and watch the matches. So you two be nice to one another and watch the matches."

Well at least that stopped the two for now at least. And it gave you the chance to turn back around and start cooking that sweet, sweet ramen. You were hungry and while it wasn't as fancy as the hotel's dinner, it was better than trail mix again. After placing the ramen in the mini microwave the place had you took this time to sit yourself on the couch with a sigh. Definitely not what you expected on doing on your last day here after all but you guessed it wasn't the worse thing to happen- More knocking.....MORE. KNOCKING!!! Came from the door again drawing a few people attention as you looked on over and stared blankly. Until another knock came and you sighed as whoever it was just opened the door, and you prayed it was FINALLY Leon-...Nope. You stared as not one but SEVEN people walked in. And your jaw dropped a bit when seeing who it was exactly. Milo and Melony!! What the heck were those two doing here? Didn't they have to worry about their battle next? ...You got your answer as five children walked in with them. Three of them, boys all around Allister's age, giggled like little maniacs as they rushed in and ran straight for the chairs set up by the windows.

"Wha- Hey! Watch where you're going!," Bede barked as the three ignored him immediately clambering up the chairs only to press their hands and faces on the windows looking out at the repair team and crowds below.

You blinked as you stared at them, the three all had hair ranging from blonde to blondish-white hair and all with blue eyes. ...They looked a bit similar to Gordie actually.

"Boys! Where are your manners? Be nice to the other kids."

You looked back towards the sound of the voice and saw that Melony was giving the three a frown as a girl stood next to her. She looked around the same age as Gloria, only like Melony she sported snow white hair and the same blue eyes as her and the boys. Were they related? The girl looked slightly embarrassed but next to her was Milo and standing right beside him was a boy also around the same age as Hop and Gloria. You blinked at first thinking you were seeing double as this boy could easily pass for a much younger Milo. But the boy looked different too. Both had the same pink hair and green eyes, but compared to Milo the boy had darker green eyes and lighter pink hair, and no freckles were on his face which was something Milo had that he didn't. Everyone was staring at the commotion that had once again walked in through the door and inevitably as the two grown ups looked around, Milo eventually spotted you staring back at them confused and shocked from the couch. He smiled back widely and gave a wave towards you.

"Hello!," he greeted catching Melony's attention over to you too as you stared. "Um. So sorry to barge in like this. Definitely not our intention." He have a sheepish smile. "But we heard from Raihan you were watching everyone's children up here for them." He hand came down to pat the smaller him on the shoulder. "My brother's visiting the city today and I think he'll be better off here out of the way. I'm kinda busy at the moment with things."

"As am I." Melony sighed before placing her hands on her hips in the way only a tired mother could. "I can't ask Gordie to just watch them and I hate letting my little frostlings out of my sight. Can't turn my back for one second and their trying to climb a wall like a Bug-type."

Raihan. Of course!! That guy just had to go on and blab about this to the others. You scowled in annoyance. "Im gonna put out that dragon's fire next time I see him."

"...Pardon?"

"Uh..Nothing." You looked back to them with a small smile. "Let me guess. You guys want me to watch these little guys too?"

"Aren't you a bit.." Milo gave a look over all the other kids already there. "...Booked? Maybe this wasn't a good idea after all. You look like you already got your hands full in here."

"What other choice do we have?", Melony asked looking back at him. "I can't just leave them in the stands by themselves? Elsa can't watch all the boys by herself, and Gordie's not an option either. It's either this or we'll both have to forfeit the match."

"I know. I know. It's just-"

"I can do it." They both looked back to you smiling and standing from the couch to face them. "It'd be no problem since I've babysat before."

They both looked to you before Milo asked unsure, "Are you sure? I mean Felix won't be any trouble, but we don't want to over burden you."

You waved him off. "Nah it's fine. You guys can just leave them here and pick them up after the finals are over."

Long story short...You went from five kids to watching ten now. Sigh. The triplets and their older sister immediately took attention to the window at least. Everyone seemed too distracted to really pay attention to you as you waited for your ramen to cook. You didn't even know Milo and Gordie were big brothers too.

"Ok Felix. Watch closely and learn how your big bro does things."

"Alvin, Allen, Alex. You boys behave or ELSE! Elsa you make sure to help keep an eye on your little brothers- Don't roll your eyes at me, Young Lady. Or else I'm not getting take out for dinner later."

And then they left. Leaving you with two other teens who made an effort to introduce themselves to the rest of the squad and the area by the windows all taken up by the kids. You probably couldn't get a good view now even if you wanted too, but you guessed you could always watch the matches from the giant TV in here too. You soon got your ramen and resorted to sitting on the coach to take a break from standing up and having the advantage of being able to see all of the kids from your place on the couch. They were all too busy excitedly watching the next match between Melony and Milo that had just begun. The peace and quiet (well quiet-ish since no one was bothering you at the moment-) was nice. Just sitting back, relaxing, and being able to eat something without hassle with Silver curled up next to you. But who knew how long things would last and stay this way? It was best to just enjoy things for now. Your stomach was full from the ramen and soon the battle outside was won with Melony winning and moving onto the second round.

"The third match of round one is over and has been decided! Gym Leader Melony has been bumped up to the second round! As we wait for field repairs let me announce the next round fighters! The fourth match of round one is against the hard rock crusher Gordie and his opponent the reclusive musician Piers!"..Your head perked up at the name. Hot Pink was battling next? "Stay tuned because we've only just begun!"

That caught Marnie's attention too. Whaddya know? But it seems there was going to be yet another break for field repairs before the fourth battle. Which meant you probably still wouldn't get to see his match even if you were wanting to see it- CHIRP!! You jumped when Silver suddenly yelled out and jumped into the air. Clinging to the back of the couch like a startled cat. Your eyes blinked over to him ...aaand you soon found out why he was suddenly so jumpy finding Melony's three young boys standing there staring at him. What the- Where did they come from?

"Is that a real shiny?!," one asked excitedly staring at Silver wide eyed and pointing.

"I WANNA PET HIM!!," a second one declared instantly gripping onto the couch cushion and pulling himself up onto it to get to your pokemon.

!? You instantly reached out and stood while pulling the small boy away from Silver. "Hey there, Buddy. Don't do that."

"Ah." He looked back up to you. "But why?"

"It's rude to just walk up and try to do things with someone's else's pokemon without asking them first," you firmly but gently placed him back on the ground. It was like explaining a dog really. "And you can't just try to pet a random pokemon you don't know first. You don't know if they're nice or not."

"Is he nice?"

"Yes. ..Well." Silver gave you a frown. "Most of the time. But he's a bit scared. You three should give him a couple minutes to calm down." You perked your head up at an idea. "Hey. You guys want some hot chocolate?"

Their answer was immediate as the three immediate perked at the idea. "YEAH!!"

You gently shooed them back towards the windows. "I'll tell you what then. You three go back and watch the next match and I'll make you guys some. Ok?"

"Can I have some too?"

"Yeah, Y/n! Can I get a refill?"

You looked up towards the crowd of children....and sighed. "Sure. Not that I have anything else to do right now."

So back to making now thirteen children hot chocolate after shooing the triplets back to their older sister before you went to work. The poor microwave was going to become burnt toast after this. You were maybe three cups into making these guys some more drinks, when you paused, and you had an expecting feeling. Like clockwork there was yet again ANOTHER knock at the door. You groaned and feeling a bit annoyed you walked on over to the door as someone knocked from the outside again. Now who could it be THIS time? Bea? Melony? Ms. Opal? Nah. They were still competing. Milo? Raihan? No. One was busy and the other hadn't even fought yet. Maybe now it was Leon? You gotten to the door, grabbed the doorknob, and with an annoyed frown YANKED the door open as the person on the other side froze. Your mouth opened to ask what they wanted now- But you froze coming face to face with blue eyes and black and white hair in the form of Piers. Silence followed as you stared at him. He stared back at you wide eyed, one hand in a fist as if he was about to knock again and in his other arm was the biggest paper bag you had ever seen with some kind of cafe-like logo on it. His eyes wide in surprise not expecting you to yank the door open.

......You sighed and leaned yourself against the doorframe. "Oh good Arceus. It's just you."

...He blinked. "Mmm hmm." He slowly returned to that blank face, hand falling to his side. "Not sure who else I would be if I wasn't me?"....His brow rose as you rubbed your face. "You look tired." He stated bluntly.

"You think?"

"What happened to ya?" You gestured behind you as your answer and with his towering height, it was easy for Piers to peer over you and figure out you were gesturing to the large crowd of kids in there. "..What 'bout them?"

"Well! Ms. Opal asked me to watch Bede for her and I said ok." Piers nodded with a hum as you gestured with your hands. "And then Bea asked me to watch Allister for her which I'm also ok with. He's a good kid."

His brow rose. "But?"

"But then Raihan asked me to ask his trainers and then he gave everyone else the great idea to have me watch their little brothers and kids too."

Both brows rose in surprise as he looked from all the kids either practically having their faces pressed against the glass waiting for the next match or talking and then you again. "And you said yes to all of 'em? Didn't ya tell 'em you were already busy as it was?"

This time is was your turn to pause as your eyes popped open comically like a looney tunes cartoon, and you slowly lifted your head from your hand. "I-...Weeellll-" He stared at you until you sighed. "Ok. I did say yes to watching all of them. Except Victor and Hop. They came with me here and Leon hasn't asked me to look after them at all, but everyone else here sure seems to like the idea of me being the babysitter."

"Then if you don't like it why did you even agree ta it?"

"Well.." You made a motion with your hand. "I mean they were pretty busy. And I didn't want any of them running around in big crowds without anyone to keep an eye on them. Besides, they deserve to have a good time too. From here there's a great view of the battles."

He sighed closing his eyes and shaking his head. "Oi. You sure put yourself into a tizzy."

You sighed again. "Well to be fair everyone's been behaving themselves pretty well. Haven't had any problems aside from one fight almost starting and a couple of them scaring Silver. But don't worry. I can look after Marnie too."

It was his turn to be surprised when he blinked at you. "What?"

"Well that's why you're here right?," you asked confused, "To ask me to watch Marnie for you? Everyone else has done it." It was then your eyes trailed over and finally noticed the big bag that mysteriously had the strong scent of hamburgers coming from it. ...You pointed. "And what's that?"

"The reason 'M here," he responded holding it up to your blinking self. "Leo figured the kiddos were getting hungry with it nearly bein' lunch time and got all these for 'em." You slowly took the bag from him. "He's too busy runnin' the whole bloody show to deliver them 'emself so I volunteered. Wanted ta check on Marn-Marn anyways."

You smiled. "Ah. I see Leon's still the big hearted guy. I'll make sure they'll get it." You then turned back towards the inside of the room turning your body so Piers could have a clearer view inside. Marnie hadn't noticed her brother was there having her back towards him and having a conversation with one of Sebastian's sisters. "She's doing fine. Just drink hot chocolate and watching the battles like everyone else."...You gave him a look. "But if you seriously want me to look after her for you I will. It's no big deal. Besides I think she'll be the least likely person to give me trouble."

He once again gave you a surprised look as if he wasn't expecting that. "You're serious?"

"Yeah. Besides I've babysat a lot before. It's no problem."

He seriously started at you for the longest moment, hummed, looked between you and Marnie for a moment, and spoke. "..Wouldn't mind knowing someone was lookin' out for 'er until I can come back. Y'sure though?"

"I'll be fine," you assured him with a smile, "Just focus on your match between Gordie. You have enough to worry about." He opened his mouth. "Just take this as a thank you for your helping us out with Oleana and helping me have the greatest Christmas I've had for a long time." You smiled wider. "We'll just call it all even now so no one owes any favors. Ok, Piers?"

He paused for a moment before looking away and his hand came to once again grab onto his choker. "Yeah. Even." He nodded. "'Right then. Sounds good to me.".......He nodded behind him. "Field's almost done. I should get goin' 'fore they declare me forfeit."

You nodded. "Yeah. I look forward to watching you battle out there. And Piers?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"Good luck! You're gonna make a whole lot of people proud."

The man had thanked you and left in a hurry which was strange but you guessed he wanted to get to the field before the battle started. You didn't see the faint pink that was threatening to rise up from his cheeks...YOU didn't notice but someone certainly did. At some point Marnie had seen you two talking and didn't miss her big brother's reaction. You didn't notice her either too busy bringing in the food and closing the door.

"OK!! It's time for the fourth match of the the first rounds! Both fighters please head out to the field and we'll get this show on the road!"

Oh. Looked like their match was starting a lot sooner than you thought. Unfortunately you didn't get to see Piers's battle. You were too busy making the other ten hot chocolate drinks for the rest of the kids in fear of the boys trying to gang up on Silver again. Said poor pokemon had taken refuge laying on the back of the couch and didn't seem like he'd come down anytime soon. The kids took to the hot chocolate and burgers like hungry crows to a cornfield. One for everyone with one left over for you, but you chose to give it to Silver who showed interest in the food. Not wanting him to try and wrestle it away from anyone especially Allister. Plus you had ramen one or two hours ago by now. You could just make yourself some more if you got hungry again.

"Gym Leader Gordie has been defeated! Which means Piers will be advancing to the second rounds!" Oh. So Piers did win. You smiled. Good for him. Marnie seemed to be happy too as you swore you could see the faintest of smiles appear on her face. "Please exit the field for repairs! The fifth match will be against the Master of a Fantastic Theater! That charming fairy type user, Opal! And her opponent the Top Gym Leader, Raihan! So stay tuned for after the commercial break folks!"

Bede perked up finally eyes a bit more focused on the fields. And Raihan's trainers all immediately jumped their attention to the windows as well. Ah! So Ms. Opal and Dragon Boy would finally be battling. And it would be against one another as well. This should be interesting to watch. With everyone occupied with their food at the moment you took the chance to make yourself some more ramen and join them all finally able to watch the matches as well. Time passed and the field was repaired and the two gym leaders entered the field. The innercom voice announcing their arrival and the crowd cheering. You stood there peeking over the older kids to spot them eating your noodles as the battle began. It was a long and hard battle between the older lady and the top gym leader but in the end Raihan won and the crowd cheered along with his trainers. Bede looked crestfallen but you were sure if you pointed it out he'd deny it hard.

"Wasn't that a great battle folks?! Up next we have the final match of round one! Stay tuned for the finishing match between The Ever Burning Man of Fire Kabu and his opponent!" Ah. Well it looked like round two of the finals would be starting soon. And Piers made it. Good for him! As you waited for the final match to start you took a moment to look around you and check on all the kids. Everyone was here and behaving. Good! You finished your food no problem and waited for the final round with everyone else. Which didn't take long. "Ok everyone! It's time for the final match to begin! Fighters please head on out!'' Long story short, Kabu won but you didn't remember who he fought against. Which meant Kabu, Piers, Gloria, Raihan, Bea, and Melony would be competing in the second match. "The second round matches will be decided while the field is repaired. So sit tight as we wait for the Second Round Roster to be announced." It was just a matter of going back and forth between keeping an eye on everyone, who all behaved pretty well anyways, and waiting for the second round to start. Which didn't take that long at all. The field was soon fixed and the announcer was back catching everyone's attention. "OK EVERYONE!! WASN'T ROUND ONE EXCITING!?" His answer was cheers. "The field is set, the match pairs have been decided, and the players have been withered down to just six challengers! But who will be good enough to make it to the third round and be one step further to taking on the Champion himself!?" More cheers were had. "The first match of Round Two is between everyone's favorite martial arts Queen Bea and that Fire Veteran Kabu! Please give them a warm welcome as they pave the way for the second round!" Long story short, Kabu won again. would make sense as he has been described as the second most powerful Gym Leader. You stood there and proceeded to watch as Gloria and the Gym Leaders proceeded to knock others out one after the other during round two. "The second match is between that Winter Wonderland Lover Melony and the Rocking Piers!" Piers won. Which you were surprised at. Watching as his Obstagoon literally tear it's way through two rounds between being demolished by the dynamaxed pokemon in the third....Piers must've really not like to Dynamax. "The third match is between Dragon Tamer Raihan and Gym Challenger Gloria!" You perked up as did Hop and Victor as Gloria entered the field and watched closely as the battle ended with...A tie?? "MY MY!! This is an unsuspected surprise! What ever shall-....Hang on a moment as I see what I'm being handed." A small pause followed as you blinked. What was going on- "The Champion as decided that both are allowed to advance to the next round where they will continue to battle it out as no one winner or loser has been decided. Please stand by for field repairs as the third round matches are decided."

"Alright!," Hop cheered with a big smile on his face regardless. "Glory's made it to the next round!"

"Only barely," Victor corrected calmly as he held up a finger. "It's just most likely they're going to be paired again in the next round to get rid of the tie between them both. She may still have a chance to go onto the fourth and final round but remember so does Raihan."

You nodded to him agreeing, even though you knew very well who would win between them. As you all waited for the third round to start, Allister had timidly walked up to you and tugged on your pants leg to gain your attention. When you looked down at him, he held up his cup to you silently. Obviously asking in his own way for more hot coco, which you obliged happily....Along with getting everyone else a cup who asked. Sigh. Well it wasn't the worst babysitting job you could've gotten. By the time you were finishing making everyone who wanted a cup one and handing them out, the field had been repaired and the announcer was once again shouting out.

"ALRIGHT!! Who's ready for Round Three, Folks?!," he asked loudly making everyone outside cheer for them. "Four lucky contestants left but only two can compete in Round Four. So who will lose and who will go on to get a chance to fight against Champion Leon himself!? Starting off where we left off for the first match will be Gym Challenger Gloria from Postwick verses Top Dragon Trainer Raihan!!"

"Huh? So soon?"

"It's only fair," you answered Hop who glanced at you, "Both of them left off with a tie in the last round and Leon was nice enough to let them both get bumped into the next one. It's only fair they at least have a tie breaker."

Hop thought for a moment before nodding. "Yeah. That does sound like a fair trade off to me." He turned to the window again with a smile. "But I'm still counting on Glory to take on Lee for me!"

You chuckled as the two made their way onto the field. "Well let's just wait and see. I'm sure it'll be a good battle."

You all watched as the two got onto the field and the first round of their rematch began with Raihan easily winning, but you weren't worried. There was still two rounds left and you already knew Gloria would win. As the two slowly went forward into their second battle of their rematch there was a sudden commotion behind you. You all jumped when all of a sudden there was a loud squeal like sound only a little kid could make followed by a splash sound. You whipped your head around in a flash and what you saw absolutely SHOCKED you. Allister was standing there looking down at himself as the brown color of his hot chocolate was stained across his coat and gathered on the floor where the cup laid on the floor. Allister didn't seem to notice or care though because he was gripping his mask to his face hard and whimpering. Next to him equally as startled was one of the triplets. The one who's hair was most like his mother's. You all looked there stunned. Until the triplets' older sister, Elsa, gained a scowl and anger faster than a running scorbunny.

"ALVIN!!," She yelled startling the white haired boy into looking at his sister who placed her hands on her hips. Like mother like daughter. "Just what do you think you're doing!?"

"I-...I-I didn't mean to I swear!," he quickly defended himself quickly looking from Allister to Elsa again holding up his hands, "I just wanted to look at his cool mask! Honest!"

"What were you just told?!," Elsa insisted pointing at him. "You can't just walk up and touch stuff without asking!"

"I-I-...B-But-"

"S T O P!!" Everyone jumped at your loud yell your arms suddenly swinging out from your sides. Stunned, Elsa and her brother looked at you as you frowned back. After a moment of silence you sighed, arms flopping back to your sides. "There is going to be absolutely NO fighting. Got it! None. Zip. Nada. ZERO." You quickly turned and in one fluid motion scooped up the scared ghost type boy into your arms. Allister immediately latching onto you burying his still masked face into your shoulder as you picked him up with a frown. "First of all, everyone is going to calm down right now. Clearly this was just an accident. No one meant any harm." You turned to the triplet, Alvin as Elsa called him who blinked. "But your sister is right. You can't just grab something that's not yours especially without asking. Now apologize."

Alvin stood there stunned staring at you. But after looking between you and his sister he frowned and looked away. "....I'm sorry."

You nodded. "Good."...Your f/c eyes glanced back to the mess on the floor then back to Alvin. "Now you're going to behave and get some of those napkins and clean this mess up." He frowned at you- "Or else I'm going to tell your mother and big brother what you did."

"NO DON'T!!," he suddenly shouted panic flashing across his face.

"Then let's make an agreement. You clean up the mess and I'll just let you off with a warning. Ok?"

"Ok, Ok! I will! I promise!"

You nodded. "Ok then." .....You paused looking back at the spilt hot chocolate before back to Allister. Oh. Right...He spilt it all over his coat. You sighed. "I'm gonna have to take Allister to the bathroom and try to get him cleaned up." You turned around and pointed to Victor who blinked. "Victor. You're in charge until I get back. Elsa, make sure your brothers don't cause anymore trouble until I get back." Your other arm wrapped back around Allister who hiccupped. "And NO. MORE. Fighting! Anyone who starts a fight while I'm gone is going straight to their big brother, or mom, or whoever brought you here and forbidden from watching the rest of the tournament. I'll be right back. I've gotta go see if I can clean Allister up before Bea gets back."

No one seemed to make any protests when you turned with Allister in your arms and without another word left out the door. Once you stepped into the hall you paused...Wait. Where WAS the family bathroom??.....You ended up having to ask a nearby staff member who looked surprised at seeing you carry Allister but did point it out to you. Turns out it was just two hallways away from the lounge and easy for you to get too. The cheers and announcer's voice almost completely muffled from the walls. You guessed the walls must've been sound proof to make it easier for the staff to work. You were able to take Allister to the family bathroom and once inside gently got onto your knees to set him down. He stood up on his own without much protest thank goodness still sniffling from behind the mask.

You smiled at him from your kneeling position that allowed you to be closer to his height. "Hey there, Buddy." You gently spoke in a soft tone as he looked at you. "Are you ok there?"

He shook his head no. "H-He tried to take my mask!" He choked out which made you frown.

Slowly you held out your hands to him and while he did jump a bit, didn't stop you from gently patting his arm in a comforting way. "I know. I know he did. He shouldn't have done that I know. It wasn't very nice of Alvin to try and take your mask without asking." ...He sniffed and blinked up at you. "I don't think he meant any harm and it was an accident when he made you spill that hot chocolate, but that doesn't invalidate how you feel either."

He paused...before sniffling again. "It..It doesn't?"

You shook your head. "Absolutely not. He couldn't have known how you would've reacted but he was wrong to still try to take your mask. You can feel upset about that." He stared at you silently for a moment before you looked back to the small spill on his coat. Thank goodness it didn't look so big. It only fell on his coat as far as you could tell and it seemed that the majority of the liquid spilt on the floor. Still, you couldn't let him go home all messy. "Here. Let's get you cleaned up. Ok?"

He nodded and you slowly stood back up to not startle him further. Taking a couple paper towels available for people to dry their hands, you ran a little bit of the tap water soak it before return to your kneeling position and starting to wipe at the part of the coat that was splattered with hot coco. Before returning to get more paper towels and repeating the whole process over again after scrubbing at the small splatters for a good ten minutes. Allister stood still the entire time sniffling and letting you clean him up. Once you were done you stood back to look at your handy work. You could visibly see the area where you had scrubbed but it didn't at least smell like chocolate anymore and you didn't think it would stain since the spill was little. Hopefully Bea wouldn't be too angry about it- You looked back up again as he sniffed and you blinked as Allister reached up to pushed his mask a bit up his face.

"Hey. Do you need to blow your nose or wipe your eyes?" He blinked back towards you surprised. You held up a small paper towel you hadn't used yet to him smiling. "Here. If you want I'll turn around and you can wipe your face really quick ok? I promise I won't look until you say so."

What followed was a long silent pause as you waited patiently until he sniffled again and asked. "P-Promise?"

"Swear to Arceus. And I always keep my word."

He....slowly took the paper towel from you. "O-Ok. B-But no looking."

"I won't," you promised before turning on your knees and facing your back to him.

True to your word, you sat there on your knees facing away listening to the muffled sounds of the battle currently going on...Or ending. By now Gloria must've won her match and advanced to the final round against whoever wins the last match of the third round. You sat there silently until Allister gave you the ok to turn around. When you did you found him with his mask back fully on and adjusting it a little bit. You smiled and slowly held your arms out to him. His response was to reach his arms out towards you and you took that as the ok to pick him up. You scooped him back up into your arms and stood up before exiting the bathroom. Back all the way to the lounge you went but you were in for one last surprise. When you opened the door back up everyone was either gathered around one of the couches or still by the windows watching what sounded like a battle taking place on the field. The mess was cleaned up and it didn't look like anyone else was fighting or in any back moods. But what made you completely stop in your tracks with Allister in your arms was seeing Gloria sitting on the couch everyone was gathered around. She had looked back up to you and you took notice she wasn't wearing her challenger uniform that was required for competing. She instantly smiled at seeing you before waving at you. She seemed much more relaxed and cheerful than when she was on the field.

"Y/N!! There you are! Where were ye?," She asked happily.

You blinked but shook your head and smiled. She must've come to see Hop or Victor before the next match. After all Piers had done the same thing before when he wanted to just see Marnie and dropped off the food.

"Hey, Gloria!," you greeted walking in before giving an apologetic smile. "Yeah. I had to clean up a little spill but it's all good now. Sorry for missing your battle with Raihan."

Gloria just waved a hand not even bothered. "Nah. It's fine. It's gonna be recorded and uploaded onto the official league website later anyways. Ya can watch it then. Oh. Ye just missed Lee too."

"Really? I've been expecting to see him all day now." Your brow rose towards the battle outside as Marnie intently watched. Kabu and Piers must've been duking it out down there. "Sounds like I missed a decent chunk of the next match too."

"Yeah," Victor explained, "He couldn't stay very long since he has to keep an eye on everything goin' on but he brought Glory 'ere so she can rest."

Gloria sighed in relief leaning back into the couch cushion. "M' just glad I can finally relax for a while and not have a giant amount of pressure on meself."

Hop who was sitting next to her smiled widely and patted her shoulder. "Hey. No sweat, Glor. You were fantastic out there! M' sure your Mum thought so too."

You nodded smiling brightly. "He's right! I'm sure you did a great job too!'' She smiled at you. "And I'm sure you'll do a great job in the next round too."

Silence. Everyone went suddenly silent for a moment and all smiles suddenly left as they stared at you. Hop and Gloria looking at each other for a moment.

"Oh...Right. Y/n doesn't know cuz she wasn't here."

Your brow suddenly rose. "Don't know...what?"

They both looked back to you. "Y/n. Gloria isn't advancing to the next round."

You froze. Staring wide eyed at Hop for a long moment before shaking your head. "What? Of course she is. She won against Raihan."

Gloria shook her head no. "I couldn't. I tried me best but he was too strong. N' my team was too tuckered out ta compete against him in a one on one battle."

You froze again. Suddenly realization of her words hitting you like ice shooting down your spine. "WHAT!?"

She looked at you very seriously. "Y/n. I lost fair n' square. Raihan's goin' ta battle in the Fourth Round. Not me.

[pokenimagines]

may i request gordie (swsh) with an s/o who is the complete opposite of him in every way? nsfw or not i just need me so gordie love </3

Dunno how well I did with the opposite of Gordie. I went with a trainer who has no shame and doesn't care about being lame. I actually have two Gordie requests in the inbox right now and the other one is um def NSFW so I kept this one SFW. In a sense you could count this as a "Part 1" and then the NSFW request as being "Part 2". You could also read them both as standalones though.

Discord (16+) - Request Information 

SFW Gordie: Stubborn Brat

"I mean it's crazy we finish each others..." You began singing, looking over at Gordie and bumping his shoulder with your own.

"I told ya I ain't singin' along with it." Gordie huffed, crossing his arms and looks over at you. Your cheeks puffed out as you went to go poke him in the face.

"All you had to do was say sandwiches." You pointed out and he rolled his eyes.

"Which I ain't doin'." He flicked your forehead gently but it was enough for you to back off and put your hand over it.

"Whatever...lemme hold your hand." You said, reaching for it but Gordie quickly pulled his away from you, blushing.

"No way." He grumbled and you sighed. He really was being extra moody today and you had no idea why.

"Why not?" You asked him, wanting some form of contact. You knew he lost of latest battle but that was no reason to be cold to you. He looked away, covering his face with his arm and it was so easy to tell he was flustered.

"Clammy..." He finally murmured out and you looked at him confused, "My hands...they're..." before you could finish his sentence you gave a small chuckle and moved his arm down so it was easy to link in with your own.

"That's fine with me, just means we can link arms." You said as you rubbed his arm a bit in a hopefully soothing gesture. His was was still red to the face but didn't say anything.

Gordie had been kind enough to go out with you, watching as you ran around the pokemart and finding all sorts of things you didn't need. He had no idea why you didn't stick to the essentials, but you always wanted a reason to buy fifty pokedolls for your own room.

Once you were finished, you ran back over to him and batted your eyes, "Gordie...?" he knew that tone of voice meant you were going to ask him something he'd hate.

"What?" He spat out, not meaning for it to come out so harsh. Still, you were used to your emotionally stunted boyfriend and didn't take offense. He was just trying to keep up a cool guy persona, after all, nothing wrong with that.

"Can we buy matching shirts?" He paused at your question, looking at you like you grew a second head.

"Fuck no." he said, not even wanting top entertain the idea. It would be too lame to have matching apparel.

"Come on...what if they're matching glasses or something?" You asked, tugging at his jacket.

"I said no, it's stupid." He said and you rolled your eyes.

"You know, Gords." You began, using a nickname you knew he hated, "You're trying to hard to keep up the cool persona. You're kinda being a brat if you ask me. Being all showy for your fans and then acting like you have no emotions outside?" You said, crossing your arms.

"Did you just call me a brat?" He paused, looking at you with the most offended look on his face.

"Ya...I think I did." You said while getting closer to him. You weren't really mad at him, and you knew work was stressful and his mother was being a little more overbearing than usual. You didn't hold it against you since he normally wasn't like this. You still knew exactly what you wanted to do though.

You were right in his face, leaning in to his ear so you could whisper. "Gordie...do you know what I do with brats?" You asked him and you could see a shiver running down his spine.

"I-uh..." He murmured out, looking around to make sure nobody took notice of his situation.

"How about you head over to my place tonight and I'll show you. I think you need to be knocked down a few pegs." with that you decided it was time to head to your place and prepare.

https://pokenimagines.tumblr.com/post/689028684700680192/nsfw-fic-gordie-knocking-your-very-cool-and

[pokeexehasstoppedworking]

Love Doesn’t Do Encores Ch28 The Champion Cup P1

(Or alternate title of the story: Reader Becomes The Gym Leaders' Go To Babysitter. if anyone here remembers Gordie has like four younger siblings and Milo is also a big brother. I do NOT know the names of Milo's/Gordie's siblings so for Story's sake they will be given headcannon names until if/when their actual names are actually revealed. Please know the names for the younger siblings are NOT cannon ones and are only being used for story purposes.)

Shiny Pokemon.

You had not just been accidentally delivered not just one but FIVE freaking shiny pokemon that you had absolutely no idea how to take care of. There was only one thing you could do at the moment and it was to borrow five pokeballs from Gloria and catch them within them before you could figure out what to do with the whole lot of them and keep them all hidden away inside your bag for safe keeping just in case. You were already having a hard enough time dealing with Silver let alone five other shinies you had no idea what to do with. You'd figure it out later. Right now you were too tired to think straight and soon after clonked out on the floor. The next morning you woke up to Gloria bright and early again on Christmas Eve and you were wondering why, when she reminded you that Leon was taking the three of them back to the fair today to see the things you missed. Oh right! She did mention doing that didn't she? Well it was all fine by you. You were too tired from last night to wanna do anything so when she offered for you to join them today you politely declined and she shrugged before going along with her twin and friend to meet up with Leon again. Which means you could do something that you hadn't been able to do for a very VERY long time....Sleep in BABY!! You fell back asleep all curled up in your sleeping bag like no one cared until around noon when you groggily decided to get up only because Silver was crying out loud and shaking your sleeping bag frantically until you did wake up and tiredly blinked at him. He took the chance to point at him mouth indicating he was hungry...and you flopped your head back into the pillow with a groan.....You felt his pink hand prod your head with a curious sound.

"I'm up. I'm up."

By the time you did get dressed and ready and room service had brought up some food for you and Silver, it was nearly two o'clock. Well it was all fine with you. You still had the whole day to relax and spend time with Silver who seemed content to curl up by you with his food by the tv which you flipped through boredly until settling on a nature documentary because why not? You liked watching pokemon run around their habitats anyways and learning about them. You weren't sure how long you had been watching TV and relaxing without a care in the world. It felt...nice to just sit back and unwind without having to do anything, travel, or worry about anything else like your mother....Sadly all that was going to end so- You looked behind you as the door opened and in walked not only Gloria but Victor too. Guess Hop must've headed back to his room already or was still hanging out with Leon. But none the less you smiled at them in greeting.

"Hey, Guys! How was your day out?", you asked.

Immediately Gloria beamed and launched into a tirade. "It was bloody great! We got to see this cool performance these guys were doin', 'n then we went on the ferris wheel, n' the roller coaster, an' the rapidash rides-"

"We got to do everythin' we didn't do yesterday," Victor clarified cutting off her massive sentence before he gestured back to you with interest, "But besides that...Glory told us ya have a wee bit of a pokemon problem from last night."

You paused blinking at him before nodding. Gloria must've told them what happened last night. "Oh yeah. Well...Yes. But we haven't figured out what to do about it yet. Why do you ask?"

"Do you want to trade a shiny riolu for your shiny espurr?"

You had paused, staring at him for a long moment before asking, "What?"

"Your espurr? I've always wanted one but could never find one in the rotomi system or in the wild. An' no one I've ever met wanted ta trade with me for theirs. So when Glory told me ye got one I figured I'd swing by the pokemon center an' see if I could find somethin' good 'nough to trade for it." He response he held up a pokeball you didn't notice he had with a smile. "I nay care if it's a shiny or not, but I figured I'd trade a shiny for a shiny."

"....And what's that?," you asked pointing to the ball in his hand.

"That shiny riolu that I mentioned earlier. I found it by accident while browsin' the rotomi boxes open. Surprised no one took it yet. So whatcha say? Wanna trade with me?"

"Yeah! Tradin's easy! I've been tradin' for a long time! Just today some bloke traded me their duraludon for me frosmoth!"

You paused...blinking over to her blinking. "Wait..You traded what?"

"Yeah! And then I traded this obstagoon for this Mr. Mime in Spikemuth! An'-"

"Have you been trading pokemon since we've been traveling ?"

She nodded and you blinked. So she's been getting all the possible gifted and traded pokemon up to this point. "And this Type Null thing."

"What?"

"Well...One of those league workers was all jittery and nervous and just pawned off a pokeball ta me with this type null thing in it. I nay knew what ta do with it so I let it go."

"......You got a what and let what g- No. You know what? Nevermind. It was probably just another pokemon you were supposed to get like the game intended."

".....Huh?"

"Uh...N-Nevermind. *ahem* You said you wanted to trade?"

You ended up trading Victor the shiny espurr for the shiny riolu and you were happy for him. The way his face absolutely lit up upon receiving it made it worth while. Good news! You found a good loving home for one of the shiny pokemon you received! Bad news. It still left you with five extra pokemon you had no idea what to do with. You knew Silver would be secure since Gloria agreed to take him if/when you went back home but what about the others? You did end up asking Gloria if she'd take them in if anything happened to you as well, and surprisingly she agreed. So great! One more problem solved! The next few days were just plain. You would mostly stick with Gloria and the two of you would spend time just watching the tv, but sometimes you and the guys would go out into the city and hit up some of the local stores or cafes. Sometimes Leon would tag along, othertimes he'd take the guys out. But he was mostly busy. You could understand why as the Champion Cup was coming up really soon and with the chairman apparently 'too busy tending to something' it fell upon the Champion or Vice Chairman to take care of everything. So apparently the Champion was also an important member of the Galarian government in this world. Neat! It certainly explained why Leon seemed to have much more responsibility than his video game counterpart back in your world. Speaking of which, you hadn't really seen Piers or any other gym leader either. They also must've been getting ready for the Champion Cup as well. As days passed you began to get more and more anxious about actually going home. After all what was waiting for you was surely your mother and her nagging and the dreaded college experience she'd make you get. But...there wasn't anything you could do about it. You had accepted that reality but that didn't mean you liked it. Gloria visibly started to get more and more anxious as well. You thought it was just pre-battle jitters though, as well as her stage fright eating away at her. Understandable. You couldn't imagine yourself in her shoes much less without feeling very anxious about it either. But she'll win still. Everything so far has been going exactly as it went in game. All that was left for Gloria was to defeat Leon and become the new Champion. More and more days slowly went by, until the day finally arrived. New Years Eve. The big day for everyone. You didn't know..why exactly you did it, but when you woke you had the urge to pack all of your things sleeping bag included as if you all would be traveling again. Strange. Must be a force of habit. Gloria was awake and dressed but didn't seem....there if that made sense. She didn't even seem to notice you had gotten up and ready to head out constantly staring off at nothing. You yourself only noticed her doing it when Silver tugged on your pants leg and pointed a pink hand at her. Upon you noticing you rose a brow at her.

"Gloria?"

"HA!" You blinked as she jumped back and whirled her head towards you like a mouse startled like a cat. But she quickly noticed the stare you were giving her and quickly straightened up. "Oh h-hey, Y/n! Haha! Ye look ready ta go!"

Your brow raised. "....Are you feeling ok?"

"Ye-Yeah!" She smiled a way too big and strained smile giving you a thumbs up. "M' good! N-Never better! Haha! T-T-This is the big day! After all w-why would I be u-upset about battling? I-It's what e-everyone d-dreams of a-after all."

You stared at her for a moment longer but shrugged it off after noticing that you staring was causing her to get more nervous. She must've just been nervous about the upcoming battles. "Alright then. Did you eat anything yet?"

"N-Nay. I don' think I could keep i-if down if I did-" She blinked when you suddenly handed her a small oatmeal break bar thingy from your pack Silver hadn't gotten to yet. After a moment she took it from you.

"Eat. You'll feel better if you have something in your stomach before the match. Trust me. Where's the others?"

She gestured to the door. "W-Waitin' for us in the lobby."

"Alright. Then let's go meet up with them ok?"

She hesitated but did follow you reluctantly as you headed towards the door with her following behind. Out the door you both went, down the hall, into the elevator, pressing the down button, and down to the lobby you two went. It was a short trip with Gloria starting to nibble on her bar, and when you two exited the elevator you both found the two guys standing by the front desk waiting for you. Hop was first to spot the two of you, smiling and giving you both a full arm wave as you walked over making Victor turn his head over to the both of you.

"Gloria! There you are, Mate!," Hop greeted the two of you as you stopped in front of them. With a sigh he looked to Gloria. "This is it. Did you get enough sleep?" She nodded silently yes to his question. "You and your team are the ones battling, but I've had butterfree in my stomach since I woke up."

"M' pretty excited myself," Victor added crossing his arms, although he was still so covered up he looked like a walking closet. "After all the excitement lately, m' just glad that all o' this will be over soon."

"Yeah. You're right. After today the Gym Challenge will be officially over." Hop turned back to Gloria with an assuring smile. "And what's most important is just that you try your best. Win or lose doesn't matter. As long as you give it your best, then it's good enough for me!"

"Exactly. No one 'ere cares if you win or lose, Glory. We're proud of you jus' for makin' it this far. N' I'm sure Mum is too."

The encouraging words from the two seemed to make her relax somewhat as she gave a sigh of relief. None of your four noticed the woman in league worker attire walk into the lobby you were in. She paused for a moment scanning over the lobby before spotting you four, more specifically Gloria, and then proceeded to walk on over to you.

"Challenger Gloria?," she asked when close enough and the four of you looked over to her, surprised to see her there. "The Finals will be starting shortly. I'm here to escort you to the stadium."

Gloria's brown eyes widened in surprise but you were more surprised to suddenly see Hop take an unexpected step in front of her with an instant scowl. "What's all this! Didn't learn your lesson yesterday?! If you need another helping of Hop and his trusty wooloo, I'll be happy to give you one!"

"No! Wait please!," the woman pleaded all of a sudden holding her hands up quickly in a nonthreatening manner, "I'm not like those other league staff! I'm a good one if I may say so myself. I heard about what happened last week." Both boys gave each other a suspicious look. "Ms. Oleana can be a little extreme in her desire to assist the Chairman with his goals I'm afraid. It seems she was cultivating her own group of league staff in secret to be deployed for...well..things like that debacle last week. But you've no need to worry about today's staff! All of us are here for the right reasons."

Hop still stared at her for a moment. "Well...That's what she says. I guess we can trust her yeah, Glory?" He turned to Gloria who shrugged at his question.

"W-Would you like me to show you the way to Wyndon Stadium now?"

"Yeah! Let's go! I can't wait another minute!"

The woman nodded and gestured for you four to follow her. "Then let's be on our way."

Hop leaned back to the three of you and whispered before following. "Psst. Hey. I think something fishy's going on around here. It's better if we keep our eyes and ears open in case someone else tries to use anymore tricks."

You nodded. Couldn't agree more right there. That sinking feeling you got whenever the Chairman was around was back again, and it wasn't just your anxiety about going home today eating at you either. You would've stayed in the hotel room if you were to suddenly disappear, but you figured you should be there to support Gloria even in your last moments of being in the world of Pokemon. You all followed the woman right out to a corviknight taxi. Well...this certainly wouldn't be something you missed about this place. It was a little cramped with an extra person to ride with of course, but you were a bit busy trying not to lose your lunch on the flight over which wasn't as long as you remembered it to be. Like with the semifinals last week, the place was packed with A BIG crowd and like before you all landed in a small fenced off space in front of the doors.

"This is it," you heard Hop speak. "Here at Wyndon Stadium. The greatest stadium in all of Galar." He turned back to Gloria with a wide smile. "You're gonna show everyone the greatest battle ever, Mate! And set the world on fire!"

Gloria didn't really say anything to that but followed the woman along with the rest of you upon exiting the taxi. Around you all was lots of people yelling out towards you all and many bright flashes signaling cameras were being used as well. As a result Gloria pulled her hoodie further over her face as you four were lead by the woman up the steps of the stadium and into the much warmer building in front of you all. It was a much better welcome than the cold snowy outside. Once inside she stopped and turned back to all of you before gesturing to the front desk smack dab in the middle of the stadium.

"Would the Challenger please check in and then go wait in the locker room with the other Champion Cup contestants to wait for the matches to start? I've been instructed by the Champion to escort the rest of you to the V.I.P lounge to await his arrival after the start of the first battle."

Unsure Gloria turned to Hop who nodded. "We'll be cheering you on from the audience, Glory! So go get yourself checked in!"

You watched as she did reluctantly did turn and shuffle off, and the woman gestured for you all again to follow her. "Please follow me."

You three all left Gloria and followed the woman over to the same elevator you all took before and once inside the woman pressed the top button and up you went. Once at the top floor you three followed her on a similar path from before and escorted you all to the same room as before when you watched the semifinals from here with Victor. Hop looked around curiously as he was the only one who hadn't been here before. There was only four other people in the room with you and they were the three trainers Raihan was training personally, all three were lounged on the couch, looked up at you when you came in, and then went back to talking ignoring you three again. You smiled at Marnie and greeted her. Exchanging a few words as she gave a small half smile to you before going back to whatever she was doing on her phone.The woman stopped in the doorway, asked you all to wait here until the Champion arrived to see you, and then left closing the door behind her. You all did as she asked and went around to stand near the window to wait for the ceremony to start. You stared out the window at the crowd below in the cold winter air...and sighed. This was it. Your final day here and it just so happened to be another holiday too. But what better way to celebrate it than to watch the final matches? Then it's back to your mother. Back to her nagging and overbearing rules. Back off to collage. Leaving everyone behind-

"Hey look!" You were jolted back up into looking when Hop suddenly looked out the window with a big beaming smile. And the crowd suddenly cheering. "It's Lee!"

Your f/c eyes blinked back out towards the window and you blinked when you saw the very small form of Leon walking across the field to stand directly in the middle of it. The giant TV screen was lit up with his bright smile as he waved with one hand towards the cheering crowd, the other hand holding a mic up to his face. This must mean the finals were about to start. Another person trotted onto the field and it didn't too long to realize it was the referee for the matches.

"Happy New Years Eve, Everyone! Chilly day out today, isn't it?," Leon asked his voice echoing loudly throughout the stadium thanks to the giant speakers the mic lead to. His answer was the crowds' cheering to his smile. Beside you both Raihan's trio of trainers and Marnie had gotten up to join you in watching out the windows. "I hope everyone here had a good Christmas or whatever special holiday you all celebrate this time of the year! And what better way to end off such a wonderful year than to go out with a bang! And welcome the new year with such positive excitement! It probably goes without saying but..." He shrugged. "Hello, Galar! I'm your Champion, Leon! The Chairman is tied up with some business, so I hope no one minds me stepping in on his behalf in order to lead you all to greater heights as pokemon trainers of the Galar Region!" Well judging by the cheers and reaction the crowd gave, no one seemed to be against the idea. "The time has come for you to battle it out until only the greatest challenger remains! So on behalf of the Chairman, allow me to say-" He suddenly pointed a hand out towards the field. "Let the final matches begin!"

The crowd roared and you couldn't help but feel a big excitement bubble up. Leon exited the field with an arm up waving good bye for now to the roaring crowd as he did so, and the intercom voice came back on his place. "Wasn't that just a thrilling start to the beginning finals? First up we have a duo who'll surely put the ghosts of past, present, and future to shame with his spooky winning streak! First Match will be Gym Leader Allister verses that lucky Semifinals winner Gym Challenger Gloria from Postwick!"

"Gloria?", you asked suddenly suprised.

"So soon?," Victor asked before giving off a hum, surprised as well at the sudden choice of the duo.

"No. Actually that makes perfect sense."

....You both looked at Hop like he was nuts. "...HUH?!"

He sighed. "Isn't it obvious?" He gestured to the field as a figure, Gloria, was slowly making her away across the field along with ....someone else. "Lee's gotta know 'bout Glory's massive stage fright problem, and from I've seen of that Allister kid, he's not exactly the most comfortable in the spotlight. If either loses they get to sit out a lot quicker, making it easier for them."

.....Ah...That actually made a lot more sense now. You would know you'd want to battle as soon as possible and win or lose if you were in either of their shoes. Made you appreciate Leon's good eye a lot more. Victor had turned back to the window...blinked, and squinted his eyes at the other person on the field who WASN'T Allister with Gloria. Before his eyes widened to the size of plates. You noticed his sudden expression and was about to ask him what was up when Marnie beat you to it.

"Oi. Who's that bloke?," she asked staring at the same person Victor was.

You looked to Marnie, then out the window. And your eyes widened when none other was BEDE standing there! Of course you couldn't hear what he was saying being all the way down there but he looked to be saying something to Gloria. THUD! You jumped and turned to the source of the noise which was none other than Hop who was ABSOLUTELY GLARING at the white haired figure on the field. The noise coming from him suddenly putting his hands against the glass.

"BEDE!?," he asked both gobsmacked and annoyed, "What the absolute flaming rappidash crap is that 'I'm so much better haha' wool for brains doing on the battlefield!?"

"HOP!" He blinked when you grabbed his shoulder with a frown. "Don't call Bede names! You should know better than that! What would Leon say?"

Hop...blinked at you as Victor spoke. "He certainly can't be competing in the matches. He was disqualified long before the semifinals began, and there's only one challenger allowed to compete in the Champion Cup."

"SEE!?," Hop tried to tell you gesturing a hand back to the confused action. "That guy's crazy enough to try and hijack Glory!".....You rose a brow. "Uh.." He cleared his throat. "I mean he's trying to hijack Glory FROM the match and take her place!"

"I don't think that's really what he's doing-"

"What an unexpected turn of events!," you were interrupted by the intercom guy, "Former Challenger Bede has come for one last battle! We are currently debating what to do with Challenger Bede." Ah. So THIS is when Bede decided to make his grand reentrance for the last rival battle with him in game. Of course you knew Gloria would win but for now you'd try and keep Hop under control as he angrily went back to glaring out the window at him. "To all our viewers, both here in the stadium and at home in front of the telly, we ask that you please be patient." Hop grumbled something about Leon not standing for this and you sighed. His 'not crush' on Gloria was starting to show itself again at the most- "We've reached a decision ladies and gentlemen! The Champion himself has accepted Bede's sudden interruption!"

A glass breaking sound went off in Hop's mind as he stared wide eyed. "........W H A T!?"

"Is the Champion showing his love by giving every trainer a chance to grow stronger? Or is it a trail for Challenger Gloria? Either way....WE ARE ABOUT TO START A MATCH FOLKS!!" The crowd cheered as Hop glared daggers. Oh if looks could kill. "Challengers! Please take your places on the field!" You watched as both turned and walked to the opposite sides of the field. "Pokemon at the ready! Get set! Let the first round of this surprise match begin!"

You all watched as Gloria sent out her ...duraludon?? That must've been the new pokemon she mentioned getting a while back. And Bede sent out a mawile. Oh boy here you go.

"HOW IS LEE LETTING THAT NO GOOD FELLA JUST BATTLE OUT THERE!?," Hop shouted making everyone in the room look at him as he glared out the window at the battlefield.

"Hop. Calm down." You shook his shoulder as the battle began gaining his attention. "I'm absolutely sure Leon has his reasons. And besides every other time Gloria had ever battled Bede she's won. Now won't be so different. Let's just watch Gloria beat him and relax. Ok?"

Hop paused and it seemed the thought of Bede being bested and humiliated in front of the entire crowd and live TV made him calm down enough to smile. "You're right! Glory's always bested him before. Now won't be anymore different."

"Exactly. let's just watch and see what happens now," You smiled.

You knew Gloria would win anyways but at least Hop calmed down now and seemed to enjoy the battle. First round was Gloria's durluadon vs Mawwhile. Gloria won. Then her corviknight vs his gardevoir. Gloria won again. Then her corviknight again verses his rapidash. ...She won again. Scorbunny vs Bede's hatterene in a dynamaxed fight. You remembered to hang onto something this time around to avoid falling over as the giant pokemon duked it out. Bede won this round. But considering Gloria won three out of four, it was clear she was the winner.

"HA! Take that-"

"Hop. Don't be mean."

"It looks like Challenger Bede was no match for Challenger Gloria and her trusted team!," the intercom man commented to the cheering crowd. "The stadium is filled with voices cheering on these two young trainers! Now. Both challengers please head back to the locker room so that you can rest up from that unexpected match and the field can be repaired for the first match of the finals. We'll be taking a small commercial break in the meantime folks. Stay tuned for the promised action."

You all watched as the two walked off of the field and the repair crew for the field started rolling out with their equipment and you sighed. Well at least that interaction was over and done with but you did wonder what Ms. Opal was going to do about Bede performing such a stunt like that. You got your answer in just a few short minutes. While waiting for Gloria and Alister to eventually make their appearance back onto the field, you all had resorted to watching the repairs take place. None of you really moved an inch from the spot until the faint yells of someone saying 'Ow' over and over again came from behind you. You turned your head and was surprised when the door to the lounge opened and standing in the doorway all calm faced was none other than Ms. Opal. The old lady looked exactly the same decked out in her blue, pink, and white attire, with her umbrella over one wrist, and her hat. The only difference was that she was wearing a pretty thick blue and pink coat over her dress due to the cold weather most likely. You and Victor exchanged a confused look when she slowly walked in dragging something in the other hand behind her.....And that something was none other than Bede.

"Ow, ow, ow!! Let go of me you mad woman!!," he demanded slightly bent over from the fact that in old fashion grandmotherly style, Opal was dragging him along behind her by his ear.

....Hop snickered but you gave him a small shove and scowl to get him to be silent. Everyone from you to Marnie watched as Ms. Opal dragged Bede over to one of the couches before finally letting him go. Bede immediately leaned back up with a hiss, a hand coming to his ear as he scowled at the woman.

"Sit." She demanded not even looking at him pointing one hand to the couch before continuing to walk over to you guys which did surprise you. But what surprised you more was the fact that Bede actually listened to her. Albeit with him huffing, crossing his arms, and turning his nose up from her as she approached you. You blinked as the slightly taller older woman stopped right in front of you. "Excuse me, Young Lady. I do hate to put a burden upon you, especially one you didn't ask, but would I be able to bother you to watch the boy for me until I am able to return from the matches at hand?"

.....You blinked. "Huh?"

"Oh, I know this is completely sudden and I'd expect such a reaction. But the boy already caused enough trouble for the day and I'd rather not risk him unsupervised for the rest of the day. Unfortunately I won't be able to see to him until the finals are fully over but if I can know he's in good hands my mind would be at ease. I've heard from Dear Leon you did a wonderful job looking after his younger brother but if it's a bother I can certainly ask one of the staff to keep watch on him for me."

....You looked from her to Bede still pouting away before back to her and smiling unsure. "Uh...Sure. I can look after him for you if you want."

gaining a satisfied grin on her face she turned. "Thank you. I shouldn't be too long." ..You looked back to Victor who shrugged as Ms. Opal took her leave. As she passed the couch she gave Bede one last look. "Young Bede. Now don't get into anymore trouble while I'm gone. I don't want to come back to a bad behavioral report."

Bede mumbled something under his breath as she slowly left. Everyone else with the exception of you, Victor, and Hop turned back to the window once Ms. Opal closed the door behind her. You both exchanged a look before you steered Hop's smug face back towards the window in order to avoid him teasing or fighting with Bede again. You doubted Bede would cause anymore trouble now that his final battle with Gloria was over but you were still going to keep an eye on him just in case. Eventually the field did repaired and as the repair team exited the field the intercom person spoke again.

"We're back and ready folks! The time for waiting is over! The Finals of the Champion Cup are about to begin!" The crowd roared and everyone quickly forgot about Bede for the moment in favor of looking back to the field as two familiar faces entered the field along with the ref. Their faces brightly shown on the giant screens. "The two trainers to face each other in the first battle of the first round are! A trainer endorsed by the Champion himself, Challenger Gloria! And now to take her on here comes Gym Leader Allister! The boy known far and wide as the silent school aged star!" Whelp. There they were. Both children look really nervous despite Allister constantly wearing that mask to cover up his feelings as they met in the middle. "Challengers take your places! Get Set! Let the first round of the finals begin!"

First round. Here you go! Allister and Gloria sent out their first pokemon. A mimikyu and duraludon. You all were excited to watch but paused..and turned your head over towards Bede. He still sat down on the couch and was still frowning off at the ground away from the rest of the others. Purple eyes stared down at his feet unmoving as he sat there equally unmoving. That old lady just had to embarrass him further in front of everyone by making a show of dragging him along like a toddler throwing a tantrum over a toy! Things were only going to be downhill from here unless he fixed thin- ..!? His head snapped up feeling the couch cushions dip next to him and he blinked when he saw YOU of all people gently sit down next to him with a smile and soft eyes. He stared at you for a long quiet moment before you spoke.

"Hey. I saw you battle out there. Nice strategy with the rapidash."

He still stared at you for a long moment before scowling with a huff and again whipping his head from you. "Like a woman like you would care about someone like me! Why are you even bothering me? Shouldn't you be watching your friend compete?"

You hummed before rolling your wrist. "Eh..Yeah I guess so. But you looked upset and I wanted to make sure you were feeling ok."

"Don't pretend to care about me," he hissed back scooting his back around to face you, "I know no one here really gives any hoot about me or my feelings!"

"Well that's not true. Ms. Opal seems to care about you an awful lot." He huffed and you rose your brow, debated on whether or not to say the next sentence, and decided to say it to get his attention. "And Gloria cares about you too."

You waited for a moment as Bede didn't move or say anything and for a moment you thought it wouldn't work. Until he ever so slowly turned his head to you. His purple eyes narrowed looking you up and down for a moment until he asked. "She ...does?"

You nodded. "You're one of her rivals aren't you? She wouldn't want to see you hurt. After all she did kinda save your life from getting crushed by a boulder back in Stow-On-Side. "

His eyes went wide. "O-Oh...*ahem* Y-Yes. I see." He turned back away. "Still. Why would you of all people care?"

You shrugged. Fair enough question. "I don't like seeing someone get hurt when they don't deserve it, and I don't think you of all people deserved what you went through either. Especially what that Rose guy and Oleana did." Like a bullet, Bede's head snapped around wide eyed to you faster than any scorbunny and stared. You sighed. "We both know what they did was wrong ok? And...I don't really blame you for anything you did either."

He stared at you like you suddenly exploded in flames. "......I-.."

"You were put under a whole lot of heavy pressure and a lot of responsibilities were put on your shoulders when they shouldn't be. ..Yeah. Destroying the Mural and all those mean things you said to my pals were uncalled for." ....He looked down in shame- "But I don't blame you for doing what you thought you had to do." Aaaand just as quickly looked back to your smile surprised. "I mean...You're just a kid. You can't be older than thirteen-"

"F-Fourteen actually."

"That only furthers my point!" In a dead serious tone you placed a hand to your chest. "Take it from someone who was pressured into a whole lot of stress inducing things at your age. Things look bad now but your perseverance landed you in a really good place now."

...His brow rose and that resting 'really?' face came back. "Oh really? How am I supposedly in a better place now?"

"Dude. Just look at yourself right now." Bede's brows rose in..well surprise. You guessed he wasn't used to just talking bluntly like this. You gestured to his pink and blue uniform. "You're working your way onto becoming a Gym Leader? Do you know how many people would want that position? Do you know how many people can brag about becoming the next gym leader of Bellonlea? It may not be as fancy as the Champion, but Gym Leader Bede has a ring to it. Dont ya think?"

Bede stared at you for a moment, but hummed in thought. "Gym Leader Bede. ..." he nodded. "Yes. That does sound like a title deserving of my struggles. And everyone already was cheering me on so I'll have to keep up my training with Ms. Opal to not disappoint them."

"That's the spirit!" You gestured over to the windows as more cheers filled up the stadium. "How about we go and watch the matches now? Watching battles is a good way to learn and who knows? Ms. Opal might even be battling next. Wouldn't want to miss her fight."

Bede seemed to hesitate for a moment glancing over to hop who had his back towards the both of you too wrapped up in watching the match, but ended up standing with a nod. "I don't see why not. After all it'd look bad on my part if I missed my mentor's turn."

You smiled and got up from the couch Bede following as you both walked back towards the windows. Although he stood on the opposite side of you by Marnie away from Victor or Hop, which might've been for the best. You didn't want to get another headache from the two fighting again. From the looks of it you two were just in time for the two to have their final round in their match. Gloria's Duraludon verses Allister's Genger. Dynamaxed. You hadn't known what had happened between the amount of time you two were talking, but if things were going by game standards, Gloria should still be winning. You all watched as the two young children battled it out as the stadium shook under their combined attacks. Ultimately ending in Gloria winning. Just like in game. The audience roared as the pokemon reverted back to normal size and not too long after the intercom guy came back.

"The winner of the first battle and the one advancing to the second round is Challenger Gloria!," he announced as the crowd cheered in agreement. "The second battle of the first rounds will be against the Master of water types! The raging wave Nessa verses the Galar Karate Prodigy Bea! Two powerful lady gym leaders but only one will advance to the second round! Who will it be!? Stay tuned because after the small break for field repairs the second match of round one will take place! But now a word from our sponsors! The Swordward and Shielbert Enterprizes."

"Alright!," Hop pointed towards the disappearing forms of the two of them exiting field. "That's one down and more to go. Gloria's already advancing herself to the second round!"

Victor nodded. "That would seem so. But don't forget that the other gym leaders aren't going to be as hesitant and nervous as Allister is. She still could be taken out next round, especially if her pokemon are already tired from battling twice already."

You didn't want to admit it but Victor did have a point there too. Allister was a powerful gym leader especially for one his age but he suffered from almost the same problem as Gloria. Beside you Bede looked away in guilt perhaps but you supposed it was too late for that. Not long after the two left the field that the maintenance crew go back out to patch up the damage left behind by the dynamaxed pokemon and their attacks. ...Well it'd be a while before anyone else battled. So why not get you something to eat? You turned towards the small kitchen area and excused yourself from everyone to head towards it, Silver following behind you interested in getting food himself. Leon got you some hot coco last time you were here, so it wouldn't be too far a stretch to assume there was some hot coco mix around here somewhere too. Right? You took to opening the fridge and finding some small snacks like yogurt and fruit cups but no coco. So you then moved onto the cabinets. Let's see. Coffee beans. Napkins. Plastic silverware. Paper plates. Red cups. Coffee creamer. Instant ramen cups. The door being swung open-.....You paused. ...And along with most everyone else looked over again to the open door and froze. Your first instinct was to see Leon standing there as promised by that staff lady but were surprised to see a lady gym leader standing there. And not Ms. Opal this time. Standing in the doorway was none other than Bea, resting angry face plastered on as she held Allister in one arm against her and her other hand on her hip. You stared at her stunned as she gazed across the seven teenagers there ...before turning her gaze to you and whipped a pointing finger at you.

"YOU THERE!"

"......Who me?" You blinked. She nodded and that just brought up a whole bunch of questions. Bea wanted you? Why? Did she remember you from Bede's Stow-On-Side incident? But why? That was such a brief encounter. She certainly be angry at you for that seeing as it was Bede's and the Chairman's faults. Even if you didn't blame Bede for his actions you'd rather not get blamed for it.

"Opal told me 'bout the babysitter set up here." ........Wot- "I remember Lee said his pal was taking care of his endorsed trainers but I didn't know he had his friend babysitting for everyone too." She rose a brow and gave another look onto the amount of kids in the room. "But considering the circumstances I can understand why. Opal sure seems to like the idea."

"....Huh?" Babysitter!? What babysitter? Who-...Wait. Did she mean YOU? Why would she think YOU were a babysitter-.....Wait. You turned your head to the teenagers staring back confused at you as Bea walked in and it seemed to click. OH. ....Well. You guessed it would kinda look like that. After all you were the only adult in here and you did agree to watch Bede for Ms. Opal, so you guessed you were technically a babysitter. But only for Bede! You weren't watching ALL of these guys! ..Oh no. You guessed Ms. Opal must've told Bea about you agreeing to babysit Bede for her upstairs and Bea must've confused that for you watching everyone here. Simple mistake. You turned to her. "I think-"

Before you could even finish your sentence, Bea was already in front of you and gently shoving Allister into your arms. The small boy silently held onto you as you blinked at him surprised in your arms.

"My match is next so I can't watch him while I battle," she spoke pointing a hand at you and you blinked back at her. "And everyone else is too busy handling other things. Al seems to already like you too so this works out great." She sighed. "Thank ARCEUS Lee set up this sitter thing. Last time he tried wondering off by himself looking for the kitchen and we had to postpone the whole next match to look for him." You opened your mouth- She held up her fingers counting on them. "There's some things you should know. He hates too bright light. Make sure he stays bundled up so he doesn't get cold. Don't try giving him white chocolate. He hates it and frankly so do I. Don't make sudden grabs at him. Don't let him wonder out of your sight or else you're in big trouble. He hates real loud noises they scare him. Don't call him weird for liking Ghost Types. And whatever you do don't let him feed his ghost pokemon human food or else they'll get sick and vomit ectoplasm everywhere and no one wants to clean that up. Got that?" .......You blinked. And she nodded. "Good. I'll pick him back up after the finals are over and pay you then. For now just hang tight and DONT let him outta your sight." Her expression suddenly did a complete 180 as she smiled at Allister. "You be good ok? Play with your friends and no wondering off this time."

"O-ok, Bea." You weren't even given ANY time to react as she turned on her foot and as quickly as she came left, slamming the door closed behind her. .....A silence passed through the room and everyone looked at each other in a mix of confusion and 'What just happened'. ....You slowly looked back to Allister who stared at you and for a moment the boy didn't do anything until he held his hand up and waved. "H-Hi."

"What just happened?," Hop asked finally seeming to come out from the shock of Bea quick dine and dash like visit.

You turned to them with Allister now in your arms and shrugged. "I guess Bede's not the only one I'm watching now." You turned back to Allister who awkwardly looked around. "Hey. You want some hot chocolate?" He perked up at the words and nodded his head yes. "Ok. Let's go ahead and get you set up first."

You ended up getting one of the few chairs that were in the room and placing it down in front of the windows so Allister could just sit and watch the matches. Also you did end up finding the coco mix in one of the cabinets.....And ended up making every kid there a cup. Wouldn't want anyone getting too cold. By the time you were done making everyone minus yourself a cup, the repairs to the field were done and the announcer shouted out the start up of Bea's and Nessa's match. You wondered who'd win. Both were obviously pretty strong trainers. Allister did however perk up at the mention of Bea coming onto the field even leaning closer to the window to look out. You wondered if those two had some kind of brother sister bond. If so good for them. Allister could use someone as tough as Bea around to help him out. From the cheering of the crowd that must've meant their match must've started. With everyone else already having their drinks and being entertained, you decided it was finally time to get yourself something- Silver gave off a loud annoyed chirp and tugged on your pants hard. ...After you get Silver something. You didn't want to risk giving him chocolate. Maybe yogurt would be ok? You attempted to go back to the fridge. I saw attempted because just as you grabbed it the door opened once again. Only this time there was one or two knocks making a couple others and you look over. Who was at the door THIS time? Couldn't have been Bea. Her battle's not over yet.

"Knock, knock.~," a voice sang from the other side of the door before it opened. ..Oh no. You knew that voice- A fanged grin is what poked itself from the other side of the door as it opened making you groan. "I heard there was a meeting up here. And you didn't invite me?~"

You sighed. "Hello, Raihan." The man chuckled before defaulting to that lazed smirk and opening the door the rest of the way. You turned to him meeting him with crossed arms. "Ok. I know you're here to either ask me to dinner or something else. So which is it this time?"

He chuckled again holding up his hands. "You got me. And while my dinner offer still stands-"

"NO thank you."

"-I actually came here for something else." You rose a brow at him. "I heard you were the official League babysitter."

...You groaned. "Not...exactly." Your hand gestured to the kids. "I only agreed to watch two. The others were already here when I got here or came with me-..Wait. Why would you come here just to tell me that?"

"I was actually wondering if you'd mind keeping an eye on my little trio too? Just until the Champion Cup's over. I'm stepping out real quick to grab some stuff from the stands and I'd feel better knowing they were being taken care of."

.....You frowned. "Seriously?! Why are you doing that? What if you're called out next?"

"I won't be. Lee already scheduled everyone for first round. I'm not battling for another two matches."

"UUUUUUUHHHH!!!" Your head leaned back as you groaned. ....You pointed at him. "YOU owe me big time!"

"Don't worry. I'll bring you back something nice from the stands. By the way, thanks for the Keychain. I'll def get you a matching one for when you inevitably fall for me-"

"I still have Silver."

He paused mouth open. "....Oh. Look at the time. Haha! I better head out. Don't worry I one hundred percent promise the triplets will behave themselves."

"Uh huh."

And just like that you went from watching one child to two to now five. UUUHHH!! Well at least they all seemed to be behaving themselves alright. Sebastian and his sisters seemed to be more interested in chatting to Marnie and Bede and the matches to cause trouble and you were pretty sure you didn't have to worry about Allister unless he tried leaving which you didn't think he'll do. You only had to worry about Bede since he seemed the most likely to start a fight, especially with Hop. Hopefully the matches would distract them both from that. Silver reminded you of his hunger and you went to work getting him something. Ended up getting him some of the yogurt as it seemed to be safe enough for him to eat. He's eaten trail food and curry before, so yogurt should be fine. It wasn't too long after the stadium shook with the dynamaxed fight between the two women shaking everything while you were attempting to make yourself something and the intercom guy came back on.

"Nessa's Drednaw is unable to battle! Therefore Gym Leader Bea wins and will proceed to the next round of matches!" More cheers as you pulled a ramen cup from one of the cabinets. "Next match will be between our fighting farmer, Milo and his opponent the ice cold professional Melony! For now we'll take a small commercial break to allow the field to be repaired! Stay tuned folks!"

"Did you see the way Bea's machamp literally held the jaws of that drednaw shut?," Hop asked Victor, "That was some serious upper arm strength."

Victor nodded. "And just remember Bea regularly practices martial arts with her own pokemon as well. The real question is did the pokemon become strong from her or did she become strong from the pokemon?"

"I'd hate to be caught in her crossfires. No wonder Bede's scared of her after he had to pay her back for the mural."

"HEY! I'm literally right here-"

"That's ENOUGH." You snapped your head around with a scowl as both boys looked at you, you pointed the hand holding the ramen at them both. "There's not going to be any fighting or else."

"Or else what?"

You stared at Bede. "Don't make me tell Leon and Ms. Opal you two were fighting again." Bede scowled and opened his mou- "Do NOT make me put you in time out, Bede." He paused staring at your scowl for a moment...before grumbling to himself, and huffed back to the window. "That's better. We're here to have a nice time and watch the matches. So you two be nice to one another and watch the matches."

Well at least that stopped the two for now at least. And it gave you the chance to turn back around and start cooking that sweet, sweet ramen. You were hungry and while it wasn't as fancy as the hotel's dinner, it was better than trail mix again. After placing the ramen in the mini microwave the place had you took this time to sit yourself on the couch with a sigh. Definitely not what you expected on doing on your last day here after all but you guessed it wasn't the worse thing to happen- More knocking.....MORE. KNOCKING!!! Came from the door again drawing a few people attention as you looked on over and stared blankly. Until another knock came and you sighed as whoever it was just opened the door, and you prayed it was FINALLY Leon-...Nope. You stared as not one but SEVEN people walked in. And your jaw dropped a bit when seeing who it was exactly. Milo and Melony!! What the heck were those two doing here? Didn't they have to worry about their battle next? ...You got your answer as five children walked in with them. Three of them, boys all around Allister's age, giggled like little maniacs as they rushed in and ran straight for the chairs set up by the windows.

"Wha- Hey! Watch where you're going!," Bede barked as the three ignored him immediately clambering up the chairs only to press their hands and faces on the windows looking out at the repair team and crowds below.

You blinked as you stared at them, the three all had hair ranging from blonde to blondish-white hair and all with blue eyes. ...They looked a bit similar to Gordie actually.

"Boys! Where are your manners? Be nice to the other kids."

You looked back towards the sound of the voice and saw that Melony was giving the three a frown as a girl stood next to her. She looked around the same age as Gloria, only like Melony she sported snow white hair and the same blue eyes as her and the boys. Were they related? The girl looked slightly embarrassed but next to her was Milo and standing right beside him was a boy also around the same age as Hop and Gloria. You blinked at first thinking you were seeing double as this boy could easily pass for a much younger Milo. But the boy looked different too. Both had the same pink hair and green eyes, but compared to Milo the boy had darker green eyes and lighter pink hair, and no freckles were on his face which was something Milo had that he didn't. Everyone was staring at the commotion that had once again walked in through the door and inevitably as the two grown ups looked around, Milo eventually spotted you staring back at them confused and shocked from the couch. He smiled back widely and gave a wave towards you.

"Hello!," he greeted catching Melony's attention over to you too as you stared. "Um. So sorry to barge in like this. Definitely not our intention." He have a sheepish smile. "But we heard from Raihan you were watching everyone's children up here for them." He hand came down to pat the smaller him on the shoulder. "My brother's visiting the city today and I think he'll be better off here out of the way. I'm kinda busy at the moment with things."

"As am I." Melony sighed before placing her hands on her hips in the way only a tired mother could. "I can't ask Gordie to just watch them and I hate letting my little frostlings out of my sight. Can't turn my back for one second and their trying to climb a wall like a Bug-type."

Raihan. Of course!! That guy just had to go on and blab about this to the others. You scowled in annoyance. "Im gonna put out that dragon's fire next time I see him."

"...Pardon?"

"Uh..Nothing." You looked back to them with a small smile. "Let me guess. You guys want me to watch these little guys too?"

"Aren't you a bit.." Milo gave a look over all the other kids already there. "...Booked? Maybe this wasn't a good idea after all. You look like you already got your hands full in here."

"What other choice do we have?", Melony asked looking back at him. "I can't just leave them in the stands by themselves? Elsa can't watch all the boys by herself, and Gordie's not an option either. It's either this or we'll both have to forfeit the match."

"I know. I know. It's just-"

"I can do it." They both looked back to you smiling and standing from the couch to face them. "It'd be no problem since I've babysat before."

They both looked to you before Milo asked unsure, "Are you sure? I mean Felix won't be any trouble, but we don't want to over burden you."

You waved him off. "Nah it's fine. You guys can just leave them here and pick them up after the finals are over."

Long story short...You went from five kids to watching ten now. Sigh. The triplets and their older sister immediately took attention to the window at least. Everyone seemed too distracted to really pay attention to you as you waited for your ramen to cook. You didn't even know Milo and Gordie were big brothers too.

"Ok Felix. Watch closely and learn how your big bro does things."

"Alvin, Allen, Alex. You boys behave or ELSE! Elsa you make sure to help keep an eye on your little brothers- Don't roll your eyes at me, Young Lady. Or else I'm not getting take out for dinner later."

And then they left. Leaving you with two other teens who made an effort to introduce themselves to the rest of the squad and the area by the windows all taken up by the kids. You probably couldn't get a good view now even if you wanted too, but you guessed you could always watch the matches from the giant TV in here too. You soon got your ramen and resorted to sitting on the coach to take a break from standing up and having the advantage of being able to see all of the kids from your place on the couch. They were all too busy excitedly watching the next match between Melony and Milo that had just begun. The peace and quiet (well quiet-ish since no one was bothering you at the moment-) was nice. Just sitting back, relaxing, and being able to eat something without hassle with Silver curled up next to you. But who knew how long things would last and stay this way? It was best to just enjoy things for now. Your stomach was full from the ramen and soon the battle outside was won with Melony winning and moving onto the second round.

"The third match of round one is over and has been decided! Gym Leader Melony has been bumped up to the second round! As we wait for field repairs let me announce the next round fighters! The fourth match of round one is against the hard rock crusher Gordie and his opponent the reclusive musician Piers!"..Your head perked up at the name. Hot Pink was battling next? "Stay tuned because we've only just begun!"

That caught Marnie's attention too. Whaddya know? But it seems there was going to be yet another break for field repairs before the fourth battle. Which meant you probably still wouldn't get to see his match even if you were wanting to see it- CHIRP!! You jumped when Silver suddenly yelled out and jumped into the air. Clinging to the back of the couch like a startled cat. Your eyes blinked over to him ...aaand you soon found out why he was suddenly so jumpy finding Melony's three young boys standing there staring at him. What the- Where did they come from?

"Is that a real shiny?!," one asked excitedly staring at Silver wide eyed and pointing.

"I WANNA PET HIM!!," a second one declared instantly gripping onto the couch cushion and pulling himself up onto it to get to your pokemon.

!? You instantly reached out and stood while pulling the small boy away from Silver. "Hey there, Buddy. Don't do that."

"Ah." He looked back up to you. "But why?"

"It's rude to just walk up and try to do things with someone's else's pokemon without asking them first," you firmly but gently placed him back on the ground. It was like explaining a dog really. "And you can't just try to pet a random pokemon you don't know first. You don't know if they're nice or not."

"Is he nice?"

"Yes. ..Well." Silver gave you a frown. "Most of the time. But he's a bit scared. You three should give him a couple minutes to calm down." You perked your head up at an idea. "Hey. You guys want some hot chocolate?"

Their answer was immediate as the three immediate perked at the idea. "YEAH!!"

You gently shooed them back towards the windows. "I'll tell you what then. You three go back and watch the next match and I'll make you guys some. Ok?"

"Can I have some too?"

"Yeah, Y/n! Can I get a refill?"

You looked up towards the crowd of children....and sighed. "Sure. Not that I have anything else to do right now."

So back to making now thirteen children hot chocolate after shooing the triplets back to their older sister before you went to work. The poor microwave was going to become burnt toast after this. You were maybe three cups into making these guys some more drinks, when you paused, and you had an expecting feeling. Like clockwork there was yet again ANOTHER knock at the door. You groaned and feeling a bit annoyed you walked on over to the door as someone knocked from the outside again. Now who could it be THIS time? Bea? Melony? Ms. Opal? Nah. They were still competing. Milo? Raihan? No. One was busy and the other hadn't even fought yet. Maybe now it was Leon? You gotten to the door, grabbed the doorknob, and with an annoyed frown YANKED the door open as the person on the other side froze. Your mouth opened to ask what they wanted now- But you froze coming face to face with blue eyes and black and white hair in the form of Piers. Silence followed as you stared at him. He stared back at you wide eyed, one hand in a fist as if he was about to knock again and in his other arm was the biggest paper bag you had ever seen with some kind of cafe-like logo on it. His eyes wide in surprise not expecting you to yank the door open.

......You sighed and leaned yourself against the doorframe. "Oh good Arceus. It's just you."

...He blinked. "Mmm hmm." He slowly returned to that blank face, hand falling to his side. "Not sure who else I would be if I wasn't me?"....His brow rose as you rubbed your face. "You look tired." He stated bluntly.

"You think?"

"What happened to ya?" You gestured behind you as your answer and with his towering height, it was easy for Piers to peer over you and figure out you were gesturing to the large crowd of kids in there. "..What 'bout them?"

"Well! Ms. Opal asked me to watch Bede for her and I said ok." Piers nodded with a hum as you gestured with your hands. "And then Bea asked me to watch Allister for her which I'm also ok with. He's a good kid."

His brow rose. "But?"

"But then Raihan asked me to ask his trainers and then he gave everyone else the great idea to have me watch their little brothers and kids too."

Both brows rose in surprise as he looked from all the kids either practically having their faces pressed against the glass waiting for the next match or talking and then you again. "And you said yes to all of 'em? Didn't ya tell 'em you were already busy as it was?"

This time is was your turn to pause as your eyes popped open comically like a looney tunes cartoon, and you slowly lifted your head from your hand. "I-...Weeellll-" He stared at you until you sighed. "Ok. I did say yes to watching all of them. Except Victor and Hop. They came with me here and Leon hasn't asked me to look after them at all, but everyone else here sure seems to like the idea of me being the babysitter."

"Then if you don't like it why did you even agree ta it?"

"Well.." You made a motion with your hand. "I mean they were pretty busy. And I didn't want any of them running around in big crowds without anyone to keep an eye on them. Besides, they deserve to have a good time too. From here there's a great view of the battles."

He sighed closing his eyes and shaking his head. "Oi. You sure put yourself into a tizzy."

You sighed again. "Well to be fair everyone's been behaving themselves pretty well. Haven't had any problems aside from one fight almost starting and a couple of them scaring Silver. But don't worry. I can look after Marnie too."

It was his turn to be surprised when he blinked at you. "What?"

"Well that's why you're here right?," you asked confused, "To ask me to watch Marnie for you? Everyone else has done it." It was then your eyes trailed over and finally noticed the big bag that mysteriously had the strong scent of hamburgers coming from it. ...You pointed. "And what's that?"

"The reason 'M here," he responded holding it up to your blinking self. "Leo figured the kiddos were getting hungry with it nearly bein' lunch time and got all these for 'em." You slowly took the bag from him. "He's too busy runnin' the whole bloody show to deliver them 'emself so I volunteered. Wanted ta check on Marn-Marn anyways."

You smiled. "Ah. I see Leon's still the big hearted guy. I'll make sure they'll get it." You then turned back towards the inside of the room turning your body so Piers could have a clearer view inside. Marnie hadn't noticed her brother was there having her back towards him and having a conversation with one of Sebastian's sisters. "She's doing fine. Just drink hot chocolate and watching the battles like everyone else."...You gave him a look. "But if you seriously want me to look after her for you I will. It's no big deal. Besides I think she'll be the least likely person to give me trouble."

He once again gave you a surprised look as if he wasn't expecting that. "You're serious?"

"Yeah. Besides I've babysat a lot before. It's no problem."

He seriously started at you for the longest moment, hummed, looked between you and Marnie for a moment, and spoke. "..Wouldn't mind knowing someone was lookin' out for 'er until I can come back. Y'sure though?"

"I'll be fine," you assured him with a smile, "Just focus on your match between Gordie. You have enough to worry about." He opened his mouth. "Just take this as a thank you for your helping us out with Oleana and helping me have the greatest Christmas I've had for a long time." You smiled wider. "We'll just call it all even now so no one owes any favors. Ok, Piers?"

He paused for a moment before looking away and his hand came to once again grab onto his choker. "Yeah. Even." He nodded. "'Right then. Sounds good to me.".......He nodded behind him. "Field's almost done. I should get goin' 'fore they declare me forfeit."

You nodded. "Yeah. I look forward to watching you battle out there. And Piers?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"Good luck! You're gonna make a whole lot of people proud."

The man had thanked you and left in a hurry which was strange but you guessed he wanted to get to the field before the battle started. You didn't see the faint pink that was threatening to rise up from his cheeks...YOU didn't notice but someone certainly did. At some point Marnie had seen you two talking and didn't miss her big brother's reaction. You didn't notice her either too busy bringing in the food and closing the door.

"OK!! It's time for the fourth match of the the first rounds! Both fighters please head out to the field and we'll get this show on the road!"

Oh. Looked like their match was starting a lot sooner than you thought. Unfortunately you didn't get to see Piers's battle. You were too busy making the other ten hot chocolate drinks for the rest of the kids in fear of the boys trying to gang up on Silver again. Said poor pokemon had taken refuge laying on the back of the couch and didn't seem like he'd come down anytime soon. The kids took to the hot chocolate and burgers like hungry crows to a cornfield. One for everyone with one left over for you, but you chose to give it to Silver who showed interest in the food. Not wanting him to try and wrestle it away from anyone especially Allister. Plus you had ramen one or two hours ago by now. You could just make yourself some more if you got hungry again.

"Gym Leader Gordie has been defeated! Which means Piers will be advancing to the second rounds!" Oh. So Piers did win. You smiled. Good for him. Marnie seemed to be happy too as you swore you could see the faintest of smiles appear on her face. "Please exit the field for repairs! The fifth match will be against the Master of a Fantastic Theater! That charming fairy type user, Opal! And her opponent the Top Gym Leader, Raihan! So stay tuned for after the commercial break folks!"

Bede perked up finally eyes a bit more focused on the fields. And Raihan's trainers all immediately jumped their attention to the windows as well. Ah! So Ms. Opal and Dragon Boy would finally be battling. And it would be against one another as well. This should be interesting to watch. With everyone occupied with their food at the moment you took the chance to make yourself some more ramen and join them all finally able to watch the matches as well. Time passed and the field was repaired and the two gym leaders entered the field. The innercom voice announcing their arrival and the crowd cheering. You stood there peeking over the older kids to spot them eating your noodles as the battle began. It was a long and hard battle between the older lady and the top gym leader but in the end Raihan won and the crowd cheered along with his trainers. Bede looked crestfallen but you were sure if you pointed it out he'd deny it hard.

"Wasn't that a great battle folks?! Up next we have the final match of round one! Stay tuned for the finishing match between The Ever Burning Man of Fire Kabu and his opponent!" Ah. Well it looked like round two of the finals would be starting soon. And Piers made it. Good for him! As you waited for the final match to start you took a moment to look around you and check on all the kids. Everyone was here and behaving. Good! You finished your food no problem and waited for the final round with everyone else. Which didn't take long. "Ok everyone! It's time for the final match to begin! Fighters please head on out!'' Long story short, Kabu won but you didn't remember who he fought against. Which meant Kabu, Piers, Gloria, Raihan, Bea, and Melony would be competing in the second match. "The second round matches will be decided while the field is repaired. So sit tight as we wait for the Second Round Roster to be announced." It was just a matter of going back and forth between keeping an eye on everyone, who all behaved pretty well anyways, and waiting for the second round to start. Which didn't take that long at all. The field was soon fixed and the announcer was back catching everyone's attention. "OK EVERYONE!! WASN'T ROUND ONE EXCITING!?" His answer was cheers. "The field is set, the match pairs have been decided, and the players have been withered down to just six challengers! But who will be good enough to make it to the third round and be one step further to taking on the Champion himself!?" More cheers were had. "The first match of Round Two is between everyone's favorite martial arts Queen Bea and that Fire Veteran Kabu! Please give them a warm welcome as they pave the way for the second round!" Long story short, Kabu won again. would make sense as he has been described as the second most powerful Gym Leader. You stood there and proceeded to watch as Gloria and the Gym Leaders proceeded to knock others out one after the other during round two. "The second match is between that Winter Wonderland Lover Melony and the Rocking Piers!" Piers won. Which you were surprised at. Watching as his Obstagoon literally tear it's way through two rounds between being demolished by the dynamaxed pokemon in the third....Piers must've really not like to Dynamax. "The third match is between Dragon Tamer Raihan and Gym Challenger Gloria!" You perked up as did Hop and Victor as Gloria entered the field and watched closely as the battle ended with...A tie?? "MY MY!! This is an unsuspected surprise! What ever shall-....Hang on a moment as I see what I'm being handed." A small pause followed as you blinked. What was going on- "The Champion as decided that both are allowed to advance to the next round where they will continue to battle it out as no one winner or loser has been decided. Please stand by for field repairs as the third round matches are decided."

"Alright!," Hop cheered with a big smile on his face regardless. "Glory's made it to the next round!"

"Only barely," Victor corrected calmly as he held up a finger. "It's just most likely they're going to be paired again in the next round to get rid of the tie between them both. She may still have a chance to go onto the fourth and final round but remember so does Raihan."

You nodded to him agreeing, even though you knew very well who would win between them. As you all waited for the third round to start, Allister had timidly walked up to you and tugged on your pants leg to gain your attention. When you looked down at him, he held up his cup to you silently. Obviously asking in his own way for more hot coco, which you obliged happily....Along with getting everyone else a cup who asked. Sigh. Well it wasn't the worst babysitting job you could've gotten. By the time you were finishing making everyone who wanted a cup one and handing them out, the field had been repaired and the announcer was once again shouting out.

"ALRIGHT!! Who's ready for Round Three, Folks?!," he asked loudly making everyone outside cheer for them. "Four lucky contestants left but only two can compete in Round Four. So who will lose and who will go on to get a chance to fight against Champion Leon himself!? Starting off where we left off for the first match will be Gym Challenger Gloria from Postwick verses Top Dragon Trainer Raihan!!"

"Huh? So soon?"

"It's only fair," you answered Hop who glanced at you, "Both of them left off with a tie in the last round and Leon was nice enough to let them both get bumped into the next one. It's only fair they at least have a tie breaker."

Hop thought for a moment before nodding. "Yeah. That does sound like a fair trade off to me." He turned to the window again with a smile. "But I'm still counting on Glory to take on Lee for me!"

You chuckled as the two made their way onto the field. "Well let's just wait and see. I'm sure it'll be a good battle."

You all watched as the two got onto the field and the first round of their rematch began with Raihan easily winning, but you weren't worried. There was still two rounds left and you already knew Gloria would win. As the two slowly went forward into their second battle of their rematch there was a sudden commotion behind you. You all jumped when all of a sudden there was a loud squeal like sound only a little kid could make followed by a splash sound. You whipped your head around in a flash and what you saw absolutely SHOCKED you. Allister was standing there looking down at himself as the brown color of his hot chocolate was stained across his coat and gathered on the floor where the cup laid on the floor. Allister didn't seem to notice or care though because he was gripping his mask to his face hard and whimpering. Next to him equally as startled was one of the triplets. The one who's hair was most like his mother's. You all looked there stunned. Until the triplets' older sister, Elsa, gained a scowl and anger faster than a running scorbunny.

"ALVIN!!," She yelled startling the white haired boy into looking at his sister who placed her hands on her hips. Like mother like daughter. "Just what do you think you're doing!?"

"I-...I-I didn't mean to I swear!," he quickly defended himself quickly looking from Allister to Elsa again holding up his hands, "I just wanted to look at his cool mask! Honest!"

"What were you just told?!," Elsa insisted pointing at him. "You can't just walk up and touch stuff without asking!"

"I-I-...B-But-"

"S T O P!!" Everyone jumped at your loud yell your arms suddenly swinging out from your sides. Stunned, Elsa and her brother looked at you as you frowned back. After a moment of silence you sighed, arms flopping back to your sides. "There is going to be absolutely NO fighting. Got it! None. Zip. Nada. ZERO." You quickly turned and in one fluid motion scooped up the scared ghost type boy into your arms. Allister immediately latching onto you burying his still masked face into your shoulder as you picked him up with a frown. "First of all, everyone is going to calm down right now. Clearly this was just an accident. No one meant any harm." You turned to the triplet, Alvin as Elsa called him who blinked. "But your sister is right. You can't just grab something that's not yours especially without asking. Now apologize."

Alvin stood there stunned staring at you. But after looking between you and his sister he frowned and looked away. "....I'm sorry."

You nodded. "Good."...Your f/c eyes glanced back to the mess on the floor then back to Alvin. "Now you're going to behave and get some of those napkins and clean this mess up." He frowned at you- "Or else I'm going to tell your mother and big brother what you did."

"NO DON'T!!," he suddenly shouted panic flashing across his face.

"Then let's make an agreement. You clean up the mess and I'll just let you off with a warning. Ok?"

"Ok, Ok! I will! I promise!"

You nodded. "Ok then." .....You paused looking back at the spilt hot chocolate before back to Allister. Oh. Right...He spilt it all over his coat. You sighed. "I'm gonna have to take Allister to the bathroom and try to get him cleaned up." You turned around and pointed to Victor who blinked. "Victor. You're in charge until I get back. Elsa, make sure your brothers don't cause anymore trouble until I get back." Your other arm wrapped back around Allister who hiccupped. "And NO. MORE. Fighting! Anyone who starts a fight while I'm gone is going straight to their big brother, or mom, or whoever brought you here and forbidden from watching the rest of the tournament. I'll be right back. I've gotta go see if I can clean Allister up before Bea gets back."

No one seemed to make any protests when you turned with Allister in your arms and without another word left out the door. Once you stepped into the hall you paused...Wait. Where WAS the family bathroom??.....You ended up having to ask a nearby staff member who looked surprised at seeing you carry Allister but did point it out to you. Turns out it was just two hallways away from the lounge and easy for you to get too. The cheers and announcer's voice almost completely muffled from the walls. You guessed the walls must've been sound proof to make it easier for the staff to work. You were able to take Allister to the family bathroom and once inside gently got onto your knees to set him down. He stood up on his own without much protest thank goodness still sniffling from behind the mask.

You smiled at him from your kneeling position that allowed you to be closer to his height. "Hey there, Buddy." You gently spoke in a soft tone as he looked at you. "Are you ok there?"

He shook his head no. "H-He tried to take my mask!" He choked out which made you frown.

Slowly you held out your hands to him and while he did jump a bit, didn't stop you from gently patting his arm in a comforting way. "I know. I know he did. He shouldn't have done that I know. It wasn't very nice of Alvin to try and take your mask without asking." ...He sniffed and blinked up at you. "I don't think he meant any harm and it was an accident when he made you spill that hot chocolate, but that doesn't invalidate how you feel either."

He paused...before sniffling again. "It..It doesn't?"

You shook your head. "Absolutely not. He couldn't have known how you would've reacted but he was wrong to still try to take your mask. You can feel upset about that." He stared at you silently for a moment before you looked back to the small spill on his coat. Thank goodness it didn't look so big. It only fell on his coat as far as you could tell and it seemed that the majority of the liquid spilt on the floor. Still, you couldn't let him go home all messy. "Here. Let's get you cleaned up. Ok?"

He nodded and you slowly stood back up to not startle him further. Taking a couple paper towels available for people to dry their hands, you ran a little bit of the tap water soak it before return to your kneeling position and starting to wipe at the part of the coat that was splattered with hot coco. Before returning to get more paper towels and repeating the whole process over again after scrubbing at the small splatters for a good ten minutes. Allister stood still the entire time sniffling and letting you clean him up. Once you were done you stood back to look at your handy work. You could visibly see the area where you had scrubbed but it didn't at least smell like chocolate anymore and you didn't think it would stain since the spill was little. Hopefully Bea wouldn't be too angry about it- You looked back up again as he sniffed and you blinked as Allister reached up to pushed his mask a bit up his face.

"Hey. Do you need to blow your nose or wipe your eyes?" He blinked back towards you surprised. You held up a small paper towel you hadn't used yet to him smiling. "Here. If you want I'll turn around and you can wipe your face really quick ok? I promise I won't look until you say so."

What followed was a long silent pause as you waited patiently until he sniffled again and asked. "P-Promise?"

"Swear to Arceus. And I always keep my word."

He....slowly took the paper towel from you. "O-Ok. B-But no looking."

"I won't," you promised before turning on your knees and facing your back to him.

True to your word, you sat there on your knees facing away listening to the muffled sounds of the battle currently going on...Or ending. By now Gloria must've won her match and advanced to the final round against whoever wins the last match of the third round. You sat there silently until Allister gave you the ok to turn around. When you did you found him with his mask back fully on and adjusting it a little bit. You smiled and slowly held your arms out to him. His response was to reach his arms out towards you and you took that as the ok to pick him up. You scooped him back up into your arms and stood up before exiting the bathroom. Back all the way to the lounge you went but you were in for one last surprise. When you opened the door back up everyone was either gathered around one of the couches or still by the windows watching what sounded like a battle taking place on the field. The mess was cleaned up and it didn't look like anyone else was fighting or in any back moods. But what made you completely stop in your tracks with Allister in your arms was seeing Gloria sitting on the couch everyone was gathered around. She had looked back up to you and you took notice she wasn't wearing her challenger uniform that was required for competing. She instantly smiled at seeing you before waving at you. She seemed much more relaxed and cheerful than when she was on the field.

"Y/N!! There you are! Where were ye?," She asked happily.

You blinked but shook your head and smiled. She must've come to see Hop or Victor before the next match. After all Piers had done the same thing before when he wanted to just see Marnie and dropped off the food.

"Hey, Gloria!," you greeted walking in before giving an apologetic smile. "Yeah. I had to clean up a little spill but it's all good now. Sorry for missing your battle with Raihan."

Gloria just waved a hand not even bothered. "Nah. It's fine. It's gonna be recorded and uploaded onto the official league website later anyways. Ya can watch it then. Oh. Ye just missed Lee too."

"Really? I've been expecting to see him all day now." Your brow rose towards the battle outside as Marnie intently watched. Kabu and Piers must've been duking it out down there. "Sounds like I missed a decent chunk of the next match too."

"Yeah," Victor explained, "He couldn't stay very long since he has to keep an eye on everything goin' on but he brought Glory 'ere so she can rest."

Gloria sighed in relief leaning back into the couch cushion. "M' just glad I can finally relax for a while and not have a giant amount of pressure on meself."

Hop who was sitting next to her smiled widely and patted her shoulder. "Hey. No sweat, Glor. You were fantastic out there! M' sure your Mum thought so too."

You nodded smiling brightly. "He's right! I'm sure you did a great job too!'' She smiled at you. "And I'm sure you'll do a great job in the next round too."

Silence. Everyone went suddenly silent for a moment and all smiles suddenly left as they stared at you. Hop and Gloria looking at each other for a moment.

"Oh...Right. Y/n doesn't know cuz she wasn't here."

Your brow suddenly rose. "Don't know...what?"

They both looked back to you. "Y/n. Gloria isn't advancing to the next round."

You froze. Staring wide eyed at Hop for a long moment before shaking your head. "What? Of course she is. She won against Raihan."

Gloria shook her head no. "I couldn't. I tried me best but he was too strong. N' my team was too tuckered out ta compete against him in a one on one battle."

You froze again. Suddenly realization of her words hitting you like ice shooting down your spine. "WHAT!?"

She looked at you very seriously. "Y/n. I lost fair n' square. Raihan's goin' ta battle in the Fourth Round. Not me.

[lachambers-central]

hi, you dont have to respond if you dont want. i love stand by me, but just wanted to kindly note (as a member of lgbtqia, and maybe you are too) that labeling male -children- as “gay” just because they hug and confide in one another may also encourage society’s ongoing message to straight males they cannot do these things without being homosexual, when obviously in reality, you can do these things and still be masculine/hetero.

I notice a lot of people do this and very few recognize this issue. So yeah i dont want you to think im attacking in any way, I’m just raising awareness :) hope you have a good day!

So I wasn't a hundred percent sure if I was going to respond to this message or not, but after some thinking I changed my mind.

It is true that we live in a society where toxic masculinity is very prominent. Young boys are taught not to cry, to surpress their emotions, and words like "gay" were used as an insult to many, and became an active fear, because of course they weren't, how could they be, it's something bad. Except, like both you and I know, both being members of the LGBTQ+ community, isn't. Because queerness isn't something that is wrong, or a burden or an insult.

Growing up, I didn't know it wasn't all of that, because that is exactly how I felt when I started to figure it out, and I still struggle with my own internalised homophobia, even though I've come a long way from where I was. Right around the time I started to figure out that perhaps I wasn't straight, I also watched Stand By Me for the first time. I was in the seventh grade, and our teacher had us watch it for class, and I just remember seeing the final scen when Chris is comforting Gordie and going "oh".

This story connected with me as a queer kid, and I never quite knew why until I got a bit older and started finding other queer kids who've had similar experiences with the film and short story as I've had. Seeing how they saw themselves I realised that I did too.

Queer representation in media has absolutely gotten better through the years, and as a sapphic, I am really glad I've gotten some incredible representation since I first watched Stand By Me. The Fosters helped me see that I had a future, One day at a time embraced me with acceptance when no one else did, and YA books such as You should see me in a crown are the types of stories I wish I'd had when I was fifteen.

How people chose to interpret The Body / Stand by me is entirely up to each individual, and if this film to many is just a story about childhood adventures, then it's a valid take, and the story has clearly impacted them differently, which is completely fine. But when other queer kids read lines such as “Stick with me, Gordie,’ Chris said in a low, shaky voice. ‘Stick with me, man.’” or, “My reasons for clinging to Chris were less definable” or even things like "We both dated in high school, but no girl ever came between us period." or "I could not have just left him to sink or swim on his own. If he had drowned, that part of me would have drowned with him, I think." and feel seen, they're not enforcing toxic ideals onto men, they are seeking comfort in a world that has long denied them their right to be seen.

I agree with your take on toxic masculinity anon, and I definetly don't think two men shouldn't be able to be vulnerable with each other without some romantic intent behind it. Such an idea is very engrained in society, and needs to be adressed. But, that is not what is happening here. People aren't enforcing any ideas onto these characters as much as they're seeing themselves in them and interpretating them in their own way.

Thank you for sending your message anon, and I hope you have a wonderful day, but just for future reference, maybe don't send stuff like this to queer kids running SBM blogs who are just talking about a piece of media that made them feel seen when not much else did.

Thank you.

[hasquetzorkukudoneanythingwrong]

Pretty lies, ugly truths

The control room had detected a new singularity. This one was located in the spanish capital of Madrid in modern day.

Da Vinci: we can't detect much about the singularity itself, it seems that there's a powerful magical field around the whole thing.

Rex: well fuck... will we be able to even communicate?

Sion: we'll work on making communications work while you're out there but for the beginning you'll be on your own.

Rex: ugh...

Gordy: you'll be able to handle it, can't be that bad of a singularity right?

Rex: I feel like you're jinxing us.

Da Vinci: regardless, this one's a big one. It needs to be handled soon!

Rex: we'll handle it!

Chaldea was sending in Rex, Quetzalcoatl, and Mash Kyrielight into the Madrid singularity to handle things. Soon the three got into their coffins and rayshifting commenced.

3...2...1!

Once they were inside the singularity, they noticed something odd... it was snowing heavily.

Rex: holy crap... that's a heavy snow...

Mash: yes, maybe the snow is what's interfering with the signal.

Quetz: does that mean it's a magical snow? Like in sca- Ugh!

Out of nowhere Quetz doubles over in pain

Rex: Quetz!

Rex runs over to help but before he can something interrupts them.

???: Weigh Anchor!

Out of nowhere a huge ship appears in the streets of the city, heading towards the group

Mash: Senpai!

Mash moves to shield Rex and Quetz from the ship but ends up knocked away along with Rex

Rex: fuck!

Then coming from the ship, chains appear binding Quetzalcoatl, who was too weakened to be able to break free

Quetz: que?! What's going on?!

Rex: Hey! Let her go!

???: finally! We've been waiting for you for a long time!

Quetz: huh?!

When the group looked up at the ship, they recognized it. It was the Santa Maria that Columbus captained. But the man on top looked different.

Columbus?: I'm so sorry Missy, but the boss needs your spirit origin. And what the boss wants, he gets.

The man dressed similar to Columbus but looked much younger and less sinister.

Rex: who the hell are you?! Let go of my wife!

Columbus?: you don't know who I am? Well... then again... I guess you've become accustomed to the real me. Alright! Listen up laddy! Because this will probably be the last name you hear about before die!

Rex and Mash looked up at the man, both angry at the bastard.

Columbus: I am Christopher Columbus! But specifically I'm the Columbus you were told about in your schools! The heroic traveler who against all odds managed to discover America! I'm not the horrible schemer and slaver you're accustom to!

Rex: so you're the lie we were fed as children to justify your farce of a holiday?!

Columbus: rude way to put it but yes! Now if you'll excuse me!

The man snapped his fingers and out came an army of men clad in red appeared.

Rex: what the-

Mash: senpai! That's the spanish inquisition!

Rex: seriously!?

Mash: looks like them!

Columbus: that's right lil lady! Anyways, I'll be leaving you to them while I take this lady back to the base! Seeya!

The boat leaves, with Quetzalcoatl inside, unable to do much.

Rex: DAMN YOU!!!!

Rex wanted to make chase but the inquisition members blocked him off

Soldier: give it up master of chaldea! You do not stand a chance against the inquisition!

Rex: fuck off asshats!

In all his Fury Rex blasts fire at the soldiers, while Mash fights them off with her shield.

Mash: senpai! There's too many!

Rex: to hell with that! We've faced worse odds and came out fine! I'll be damned if I let them get away with my wife!

But the odds really were looking grim, until suddenly the snow intensified around them, mostly focusing on the soldiers.

Soldier 1: ack! The snow! What's happening!

Soldier 2: must be that damned ice queen!

Rex: ice queen?

Then from behind Rex and Mash, another servant comes in to get them out of there, Shakespeare.

Shakespeare: come on you two! We need to get you to safety!

Rex: but I need to save Quetz!

Shakespeare: that can wait! You need to be alive to do so anyway!

Rex: alright fine!

Then the two follow Shakespeare towards safety.

Soldier: where'd the two go!?

The group came out of the storm and were taken into what looked to be a book store. Inside were the two other authors Rex was familiar with.

Anderson: how'd it go Shakespeare?

Shakespeare: not amazing, they got to her.

Murasaki: how unfortunate.

Rex: can someone tell me what's going on?

Mash: yes, I'd appreciate that too.

Murasaki: this is a very unique singularity, it was intended as a trap.

Rex: a trap!? For Quetz?!

Anderson: yes, for whatever reason some mastermind wants her spirit origin. We're not sure why or who, but we do know it can't be good.

Rex: then we have to save her!

Murasaki: you're not in a condition to fight right now, and besides that mastermind won't won't able to do anything as of yet.

Mash: how can you be certain.

Shakespeare: we've been summoned here for a while and we've observed that the man in charge isn't here. There's someone in charge of the singularity but they're taking orders from someone else, somewhere else.

Anderson: and I've stopped their communications with said boss with my Ice Queen's blizzard.

Mash: you're responsible for the snow?

Rex: how can you make such a powerful snowstorm with a fictional character?

Murasaki: that's the nature of this singularity. Somehow authorial works have far more power. We assume who ever made this trap of a singularity is responsible.

Mash: have any guesses as to who it is?

Shakespeare: oh do we!

Anderson: we're pretty sure it's Miguel de Cervantes.

Mash: what makes you so sure?

Murasaki: because one of his most famous creations is also one of the greatest threats here: Don Quixote.

Rex: Don Quixote? But he was just some old delusional fool who thought he lived in a knight story!

Anderson: yeah, normally. But it seems his delusions became a noble phantasm! That turns fantasy into reality.

Mash: could that be why stories are becoming real all in this singularity?

Murasaki: we believe so...

Mash: fantasy to reality... so that makes you three the perfect allies... but what's the plan...

But Rex was getting antsy, wandering the shelves of the book store. He hated being without his wife, it'd been a long time since they were separated like this.

Mash: senpai...

Shakespeare: he can't handle it...

Rex looked through the books, eventually coming to the comics section...

Rex: hey... if you can turn fantasy into reality... how about pulling a Moriarty on me...

Mash: huh? Senpai what are you talking about?

Rex: Moriarty has that gun from that one German story... if the authors can do something similar to help me... I can save her.

Murasaki: that doesn't sound outside the realm of possibility.

Anderson: what did you have in mind?

Rex: lemme see If I can find it...

He looked through the comics, until he found what he was looking for.

Rex: ah ha! This here!

He pulled out a book, and opened to a particular page. In it was planet, a planet made of a dark colored ooze. The inhabit creepy looking slime monsters.

Rex: this! Symbiotes from marvel.

Shakespeare: interesting...

Anderson: not sure how I feel adapting a modern work like that...

Rex: just do it! I'll be able to save her with these powers.

Rex already had some servant abilities, with a small amount of authority from Quetz and the leftover spirit from Cipatli. But they weren't much, with this he hoped to complete it to make a proper spirit origin, or something akin to one.

Mash: senpai... is this really a good idea?

Rex: I Need to save her... I hate being without her... and I want to skewer the fools who took her away...

Murasaki: I can see the pain he's feeling... we should help...

Anderson: fine, we'll turn you into an alien monster. But it likely won't stick when this singularity's fixed.

Rex: so long as I get my wife back I'm fine with it.

The three authors put to use their abilities to infuse Rex with the alien symbiote. Slowly an ooze formed onto his body, colored dark blue, black and red. Then his body was complete engulfed in the slime. It formed something akin to a tight fitting costume with a mask not far off from a lucha mask.

Rex: ...feels weird...

Mash: at least it looks to have worked... what can you do?

First Rex changed his hand to form a large blade.

Rex: that... I can slice a bitch.

After changing it back, he was then able to form flames from his hands, dark blue in color.

Rex: oh!

Anderson: how the hell?

Mash: he did have some of Quetzalcoatl's authority. Maybe it's been enhanced.

Rex: hahahaha! Now let's go! Where the hell could they have taken her!

Shakespeare: not exactly sure where they operate, but Columbus should now.

Rex: you think he'll be out there?

Murasaki: yes, him and his inquisition have been hunting us ever since they found out about us.

Anderson: as authors not aligned with Miguel we pose a great threat here.

Rex: yeah, I can tell why.

Then Rex's communicator started up.

Da Vinci: hello?! Is this thing working?

Rex: we hear ya!

Da Vinci: finally! How's everything?

Mash: not so great.

Da Vinci: what happened?

Rex: the enemy took Quetz!

Da Vinci: what!? And what's with the getup? And why do you have an avenger class spirit origin?

Rex: long story, I'm a monster now. Going to save Quetz!

With that Rex leaps into the air to hunt down Columbus.

Da Vinci: Mash, can you explain?

Mash: somehow, fantasy can become reality and senpai used that to become a monster to save Quetzalcoatl. And he's currently hunting down Columbus for information.

Da Vinci: ah...

Mash: now I'll go catch up with him!

Mash runs off to follow Rex, seemingly forgetting the authors.

Anderson: well... should we leave them to it?

Murasaki: we really should follow, to help make things go smoothly.

Shakespeare: and I can't miss out on the story this will be.

Anderson: *sigh* ok then

Off with Rex he's found the Santa Maria and immediately rushes to fight the captain, leaping into the air with hand blades to kill the captain.

Rex: COLUMBUS!!!

Columbus: what the-? Is that the master of Chaldea?

Seeing the threat Rex was posing Columbus prepared to unleash his noble phantasm but before he could Rex manages to slice at him, injuring him severely.

Columbus: fuck!

The captain falls over, already too weakened to fight much.

Rex: Where is She?! Where'd you take her!?

Columbus: how'd you get so strong?

Rex: Tell Me!

Columbus: you're not getting any info from me...

Rex: we'll see about that

Rex grabs the captain by the arm and slowly stabs into his side, with the shape-shifted blade burning with divine fire.

Columbus, in pain: Aaahhh!

Rex: tell me what I need to know.

Columbus: aaahh! Fine! She's at the capital building!

Rex drops the fool, satisfied by the info. Finally Mash comes in, having caught up with Rex.

Mash: senpai! Did you find out where Quetzalcoatl is?

Rex: the capital building!

Mash: great!

As they finish Columbus starts to fade, tho now looking more like the one we're all familiar with.

Rex leaps off the boat and joins Mash as the boat fades along with it's master.

Mash: we're likely to run into Don Quixote there

Rex: doesn't matter.

The two leave towards the capital building. Having to fight off inquisition soldiers who got in their way. Eventually they find the capital building, a knight clad in sparkling armor with a strong looking horse stands guard.

Rex: that's him isn't it?

Mash: more then likely

Quixote: ho! You two! What brings you here?

Rex: I'm here to get my wife back!

Quixote: ah! You're the man I was told about! You look far more monstrous then I thought.

Rex: good! Now prepare to die!

Immediately the two clash, Rex's blades against Quixote's spear.

Mash attempts to help but is quickly surrounded by more inquisitors, having to fight them off before helping.

*slash*

Quixote: quite an interesting power you've got there! But you'll fall regardless monster!

Rex: Shut Up! I'll kill you! And then I'll get my wife back!

The two clash even more, Rex also having to fight off soldiers at the same time. Eventually another man comes out of the building.

???: Don! What goes on?

Quixote: the enemy master has come my lord!

Miguel: oh! He's come to save that goddess has he?

Rex: give her back!

Rex says this as he continues to clash with the knight.

Miguel: unfortunately I cannot, my master has requested her capture and I must follow his orders!

Rex: Fuck You!

Quixote: how vulgar!

Then, just as before the snow intensified, blinding the enemies.

Miguel: of all the times for this to ha- urk!

The spanish author feels a sharp pain in his chest, he looks in front of him and beyond the falling snow he sees the pissed off Rex.

Rex: I. Said. Give. Her. Back!

Rex then slices straight up, cutting the author in half.

The snow was still intense and the knight was now clashing with Mash, unaware of his master's death but also unaffected by it.

Rex runs into the capital building, the slimy symbiote receding into him to appear normal still. He then finds Quetzalcoatl inside a box similar to the coffins used for rayshifting.

Rex: mi corazon!

He goes over and busts it open and picks her up out of it.

Rex: are you ok?

She's only semi-conscious and isn't able to say much

Quetz: mi amor...?

Rex: I'm here! You're safe!

Outside Mash continues to fight Quixote, in the clash she manages to break his spear.

Mash: yes!

Now the spear appears far more old and damaged then it did before she damaged it. Quixote looks at it, and seems distraught.

Quixote: it's a lie... isn't it?

Mash: huh?

Quixote: it's all just a story... chivalry... it's all a lie...

Out of nowhere Quixote's armor becomes old and worn, his horse weak and also old. Then the snow stops entirely.

Mash: what happened?

???: you broke his trance.

Mash looks over and sees Shakespeare and the others.

Anderson: with Miguel dead, he was weakened and him seeing his spear I'm it's tru form broke his delusions. Now the fantasies are fading.

Mash: so it's over?

Murasaki: looks like it

Don Quixote then fades away himself. Then Rex is seen coming out of the building carrying Quetz.

Mash: Senpai! Is she ok?!

Rex: she'll be fine. Just need to get back.

Da Vinci: so you saved her? That's great to hear! Now let's get you two back before the singularity fades.

Rex: but who the hell was their master?

Da Vinci: not here, so we'll handle it when we get there.

Rayshifting in 3...2...1!

A/N: there's the story I've been planning for a bit. There's going to be a small epilog soon enough but for now there's that.

Tags

@hasishtardoneanythingwrong @hasereshdoneanythingwrong @haspaulbunyandoneanythingwrong @hasbbdoneanythingwrong @haskamadoneanythingwrong @hasabbydoneanythingwrong @renmeo @kazmetic @grievouslyxorvia @valiantstrawberrymilk

[pokemonswshbutionlyplayedsword]

I thought of this a long time ago but I never really put much thought into it. It's like a turf au or an apocalypse au I don't really know. But it's like it eternatus wasn't defeated galar went into this state of panic and basically collapsed. Now like everyone's against each other and like galars divided into the cities themselves based on the gym type. So most dragon trainers in hammerlock's and so on. The wild area would be life free war areas just thought it would be a cool postgame thing.

Okay, so I’m kinda new to the idea of turf aus, but I like what I’ve seen so far. As for apocolypse aus??? I love them. Like, a lot. One of my favorite types of aus. And now, Anon, you’ve got me thinkin about it, so sit down and lemme tell ya, cause I’ve got somethin’ to say. And tonight I’m feeling like ranting, so buckle up.

So here’s the plan, you’re on the right track. Eternatus demolishes Galar. There’s no leader that can ease the chaos that’s broken out. The economy is just gone. Wyndon fell apart and every other town was either mostly destroyed or abandoned. Now, what exactly is preventing Galar from putting itself back together? Good question. If you know me, you’ll know that my favorite game is Hollow Knight. In Hollow Knight, the player battles a plague caused by a godlike creature known as The Radiance. The Radiance creates this infection to gather the bugs of Hallownest and restore them to her hive mind (Yeah, I know that’s a lot to take in, but just go play the game. You’ll understand and you’ll also love it because it’s the best game.)

Now, I’m not saying that Eternatus creates a plague of sorts to bend the people and pokemon of Galar to its will, except that is exactly what I’m saying. That is what is happening. No other region can come help them because there’s nothing they can do, and even if there was some way to help, there’s no way for them to know if there’s actually anything left to save at all, and since Galar’s a big island, there’s no way for it to spread, so they’re on their own.

Here’s the vibe. Y’all ever heard of Darkwood? Yeah, another video game. Fantastic, incredible, intense and emotional. Aside from the fear and desperation to survive the night, the players of Darkwood will experience foreboding, hopeless and violent feelings. Protect what is yours and trust no one, essentially. Kill on sight kind of vibes. You know what I mean. And if you don’t, well, go play Darkwood, you won’t regret it. Warning, though, it’s graphic, bloody and can be really gross at times. But, like, that’s the aesthetic of it.

So, as a quick recap, what Eternatus has done: Effectively destroy most of Galar, especially the northern part of it; scorch the earth where Wyndon used to stand; spread plague and disease to technically enslave people and pokemon to only their base, animalistic instincts; and pretty much ruin the lives of the people who weren’t killed by the blast.

And, for the sake of convenience and my poor little heart, let’s say that no one was present for the event. Yes, Eternatus emerged in Hammerlocke, but it wasn’t defeated and it moved to Wyndon, taking possession of Rose Tower before creating the devastating blow that caused Galar to fall. No, no one we know dies, so that’s nice. But Eternatus is gone. There’s no tower to climb. No evil to defeat. No way out of this hell hole. Oh, and dynamorphing is officially cancelled, too.

ANYWAY, here’s where things get interesting. We now get to see what happens to our dear characters.

Milo is in Turffield. It’s a mess, but it’s not the worst place to be in Galar. He was there on his farm when it happened. Almost every plant was wiped out. Most barns were destroyed and the pokemon in them were either released or killed. It was hard, but Milo and his farmhands were able to salvage what was left and create a new, less impressive farm. Still, they have the most reliable food source in Galar. They had to build a lot of defense and acquire a lot of guard pokemon. They had to get really aggressive about defending their things because so many people would try to steal. But they get everything they need by trading with the other mini-societies that formed when the dust settled.

Nessa was in Hullbury. Things are extremely hard, but they’re on the sea, so a lot of the survivors tried to sail away. Nessa stayed, but she did help them try to leave. This was before the plague spread, so it was relatively safe, if not dire. After that, and when things get bad, she finds Sonia and Magnolia, and they go to Turffield to work and get protection. Magnolia definitely needs the sanctuary. Hullbury was abandoned.

Kabu is leading Motostoke the best he can. There are some survivors that follow Kabu, and they keep the production that comes from Motostoke, you know, metal production and shit. Most of Motostoke is abandoned. There’s a line of large warehouses and a nearby grocery store that the people made into a base. They’re a large crowd, but they do well because they’re so close to Turffield. There’s a lot of paranoia, though, because there’s not a lot of room for trust.

Bea is an excellent fighter, of course, so she protects Allister and the rest of the people who stayed in Stow-on-Side. They moved into the cave with the statue of the two kings. It’s so easy to fortify and, in fact, due to their pokemon, and the fact that a lot of people there have the right kind off pokemon, they are able to carve the cave out more and make an actually viable place to stay. They struggle with food a bit because they’re far from any reliable source, but they’ve made it work for their small group. There are very few of them left, so there’s a lot of trust.

Allister stays close to Bea. He’s terrified of what’s happening. He does his best to help, but mostly he stays in and tries to think of ideas. He’s come up with the idea of making tunnels to the other mini-societies. He understands that they survive if they have something worth trading. They have the power to make transportation possible. He’s currently looking for other ideas, too. If they make resources easier to access and they get means to acquire them, they’ll have a better chance of survival.

Opal knows that the woods around Ballonlea are thick and hard to traverse when the proper paths are not kept up. Thus, she has a choice to make. Does she make her town vulnerable or does she isolate herself from any other resources? She chooses isolation. They build into the trees to expand. They’re able to make farms of sorts, but they also forage. The survivors in Ballonlea isolate themselves from the plague and survive by living like the fairies- with the fairies. Most of the outside world don’t know if Ballonlea still exists. Opal knows she likely won’t live to see the end of this situation, she can only hope that she can teach her successor to lead the people of the forest.

Melony sets aside her problems with Gordie to protect her family. She works with Circhester to isolate herself from the rest of Galar. It’s hard to get to Circhester because the event caused the snow to come down harder. That makes resources hard to come by as well, though. The hot spring and a large home that houses the survivors are their stronghold. They’re not worried about being stolen from. However, monthly a group of people have to take their pokemon out and journey to the rest of Galar to trade and get resources. It’s risky, but its their only option. Melony normally leads these expeditions, and Gordie takes over while she’s gone.

Gordie is the second in command in Circhester. He’s the strategist, so to speak. He comes up with the plans. He takes care of everything while Melony is gone. He’s especially protective of his younger siblings. It’s going to be hard to grow up in a post-apocolyptic world. He used to sit around and think of what would happen in this situation, but now that he’s actually here...? He’s completely forgotten about his problems with Melony before the disaster.

Piers counts himself extremely lucky. Spikemuth has walls. It protected everyone within the city from the blast. But the walls are thin and they were already poor to begin with. The thing about Spikemuth is that they’re survivors. They may not specialize in anything, but they scrape by any way they know how. Piers may come off as an apathetic and careless person, but in this disaster, Piers steps up to lead Spikemuth. He fortifies the town with metal from Motostoke, he manages to barter with Milo to get food. They’re on cliffs right next to the sea. Some days it’s an Arceus send, some days it’s another way for Eternatus to laugh at them, but it does bring in food and scavenge sea garbage. In a town full of Zigzagoons, what else do you expect? One of the things they barter with is sending people to be temporary warriors/bodyguards. The people of Spikemuth can mf SCRAP.

Raihan fled from Hammerlocke with the rest of the survivors. They went to find Leon in Wedgehurst. There was nothing left to salvage in Hammerlocke. Some people split off from the main group. Raihan convinced Piers to let them seek refuge in Spikemuth. Some of them joined Milo. A few hoped to find Ballonlea, which wasn’t unheard of. Compared to the rest of the Galar, the rumors sounded like utopia. Raihan still has hope that help is on the way, and he’s used that to lead his people as far as they will go. His pokemon are strong and he can defend himself and his loved ones. He joins Leon in Postwick, where they retreat into the Slimbering Weald.

Leon evacuated Wyndon along with everyone else who was smart enough to leave. He immediately returned to Postwick to join Hop and his mother. The people there were pretty unharmed, since the blast didn’t reach quite far enough. Wedgehurt was abandoned for sure, but that didn’t really matter. They’re close enough to Milo to not have to worry about food so long as people came to help tend to the farms sometimes. Eventually, when things turned even worse than they already were, Leon led Postwick into the Slumbering Weald. With his powerful pokemon, he was sure he could protect them, especially with Raihan at his side. They’ve made themselves a home there, in that Weald, hoping that Zacian and Zamazenta reveal themselves to end this.

Rose is not safe anywhere. The people of Galar hate him for what he’s done, and there’s no one there to listen if he tried to explain himself. He’s not a survivor, he doesn’t know what he’s doing. He and Oleana end up leaving Wyndon with a certain small group headed towards Motostoke. He keeps his head down and his hood up. He wants to find the gym leaders and other authority figures around to make a plan to fix the region, but he can’t do that yet. He doesn’t have the means or the plans to make it happen. He eventually branches off from that path because he has no choice but to follow Oleana. She leads him to Spikemuth, and she convinces Piers to accept them. It’s not easy, but Spikemuth is probably one of the safest places for him now.

Oleana stays with Rose. She calls all the shots, but she protects him at all costs. She knows he never meant for this. She’s a fighter and good at surviving. Through rumors and travelers, she learns that Spikemuth is accepting of all stragglers who need walls to protect them. One of two things happen if she takes Rose. 1. They’ll be killed on sight or 2. Piers will accept them and they’ll be safe. Oleana doesn’t ask Rose, because she knows he’s still in shock and not of right mind right now. She thinks she’ll be able to get through to Piers, they understood each other. Luckily, she’s right, but she has to work extra hard to earn both their keep. She doesn’t exactly mind, since she rises through the ranks quickly and proves to be especially valuable to Piers.

Sonia goes with Nessa to Turffield with her grandmother. She regrets leaving Leon behind, but she had no choice. She had no idea if he was even alive. She hears rumors that he’s leading Postwick, but she can’t make the trip to see for herself. She won’t leave Magnolia behind, even if it means mucking around in Wooloo pens to earn her and her grandmother’s meals. It’s a simple life, not much to it, but she knows she’s extremely lucky. A lot of people never got this far. Plus, Turffield is an empire compared to the rest of Galar, and it’s one of the best places to be since they’re so wealthy there and Milo is so kind.

Magnolia is too old and weak to survive on her own. She knows she’s lucky that her granddaughter brought her with her. Turffield is the perfect place to be for them. Sonia earns both their keeps, so Magnolia lives a very easy life. She’s researching the phenomenon that’s happening, and Milo is happy to let her. She really hopes to find out what happened to everyone and to find a way to end this. She really needs Oleana and Rose to help her, but she thinks they’re dead, so there’s no point in looking for them. She’d go to Wyndon to look for answers, but there’s no Wyndon left to go to.

Hop was terrified when it happened. Luckily, not days after the disaster struck, Leon came home and led them all to the Slumbering Weald. He’s been Leon’s apprentice of sorts. He’s been learning to be a leader like him. He hopes that he’ll be able to help more soon. He misses his friends, and right now, he’s been looking into a communication method without cell phones or electricity.

Marnie is in Spikemuth, as Piers’ second in command. She’s incredibly important because she can see things that Piers can’t. He’s fiercely protective of her, more than he was before. She’s looking for solutions to all of Spikemuth’s problems, and she’s the one that convinced Piers to let Rose and Oleana into Spikemuth. She has been listening to all the rumors and stories that pass through, hoping to hear about anyone she knew.

Bede is in Ballonlea, being taught everything Opal knows. He was the one who suggested building into the trees. Opal’s proud of him, but he knows she worries. Bede doesn’t know how long they can last until they need to make contact with the rest of Galar. He’s stressed about the future and he doesn’t know how to fix any of these problems.

Anyway, the point is, Eternapocolypse AU is a thing now, and I encourage all of you to interact with it. I love apocolypse aus so much. Only post for tonight btw because I’m tired and this took an hour to write out.

[rexcoatlarchive]

Rider Reunions

*post f/zero event*

Waver: so master, you think using my catalyst from the 4th hgw will allow us to summon Iskandar?

Rikka: sure I do. It seemed to work for Rex and Quetz over there

Me: hey

Quetz: hi!

Rikka: so I'm sure it'll work for summoning Iskandar

Waver: I wasn't sure if this summoning system worked with catalysts the same as in a hgw, but it would seem to be the case. It's been so long since I've seen him, I'm embarrassed to say but this is a bit nerve wracking.

Rikka: want me to start it up for ya?

Waver: ...yes, if you would please.

Rikka: alright.

*Rikka places the small tattered piece of cape on the center of the summoning circle.

Rikka: alright *places her hand on the lever* here goes nothing! *pulls on the lever*

*the summoning circle lights up with the column of light, showing the rider symbol briefly*

Waver: there's the rider symbol! It might actually be him

*soon the summoning concludes and there in the center, in his divine chariot is Iskandar*

Iskandar: oh you have done well to summon me! Iskandar king of conquerors shall carve out your path!

Iskandar: *notices Waver* wait a minute *getting off the chariot* boy, is that you?

Waver: it's been a long time hasn't it rider?

*the two embrace each other*

Iskandar: hahaha! It really has been a long time boy! You've grown so much since then! Hmmm, still pretty skinny tho

Waver: I'm not really the working out type

Iskandar: oh come now boy! You'll never get anywhere thinking like that!

Me: wow, that's a pretty touching reunion

Quetz: si. It really warms the heart.

Me: you think we'd ever have such a heartfelt reunion?

Quetz: I can imagine but I don't think I want to be separated in the first place

Me: me either

*Anastasia lost belt, shortly after the battle against Ivan*

*Rex is using the blood of fallen demonic beasts to create a summoning circle*

Da Vinci: *over comms* are you sure this is a good idea?!

Me: yes I'm sure, we need Quetz! Now more then ever!

Da Vinci: you don't have to it like this! You could just use a temp rider summon to get to twins and the briefcase!

Me: they're dealing with Anastasia and Kadoc right now! If those 2 see me trying to summon with they'll definitely try to take me out!

Holmes: are you sure it's not just desperation to see her again?

Me: can it Holmes!

Gordy: who even forms such relations with servants! It's foolish!

Me: you can it too Gordy! Besides, Quetz is a near perfect counter to Anastasia. She's a sun goddess that could definitely destroy an ice dutchess! And her noble phantasm, Xiuhcoatl, can prevent the use of enemy noble phantasms! This lostbelt Anastasia without the use of that familiar...

Gordy: ...will be rendered completely defenseless! I might've underestimated your ability boy!

Me: thanks for the vote of confidence

Da vinci: but even still summoning her in this way, she'll likely not remember you! Are you sure you want to deal with starting that relationship over?

Me: *finishing up the circle, and placing down the catalyst* yes! I'd do it a thousand times if I had to

Da Vinci: you're really determined to do this aren't you?

Me: yes!

Da Vinci: then do it! Summon the love of your life! Summon the goddess Quetzalcoatl!

*the summoning circle begins to glow, and the pillar of light appears once again, showing the symbol of the rider class*

Me: come on, bring her back to me. It's been too long

*the light dissipates and there standing at the center, is Quetzalcoatl once again*

Quetz: Hola! The goddess Quetz- eh? Master Rex?

Me: hey there Quetz

Quetz: MASTER REX!

Me: QUETZ!

*we embrace each other, and Quetz lifts me up and spins me around once again*

Me: it's so good to see you again! And I can't believe you remember me too!

Quetz: of course I remember you! I love more than anything!

Me: REALLY?!

Quetz: si! I love you even more then Lucha Libre!

Me: that's probably the best thing you've ever told me!

Da Vinci: I hate to spoil the reunion, but we still have a situation to deal with.

Me: right! Quetz, I didn't just summon you because I miss you, even though the main reason. I also summoned you because I need your strength!

Quetz: of course master! I'll always be ready to provide my strength for your cause!

*they fly off on the feathered serpent, heading towards the tree of emptiness*

Me: *thinking* I can't believe she still remembered, despite what should've happen! You know... yeah I'm gonna do it! I'm going to propose to her when we finally get a proper base again

*Rex ends up hugging Quetz even tighter while thinking of this*

Quetz: master, your hugging super tight! Is something on your mind?

Me: no, I just missed you.

Quetz: I missed you too!

And that's the story. I wanted to do one of those power of love type stories, while also kind of doing parallels to the Waver/Iskandar relationship. I hope I didn't mess up Waver or Iskandar's character in anyway. Hope you guys like it

@panyum because why not

[applin-around]

Can you write about how the Galar Gym Squad would go about with breaking the news in public that they're finally in a relationship? Considering the possibilities of mixed reactions such as support and hate- if it's okay. Thank you! :D

Anon this was so much fun! If you want me to go into how the public reacted, let me know and I’ll make a part two! Also, I did a friendship for Allister and a family relationship for Opal because the ideas I got for them were cute-

Milo

Milo’s gonna break the news to his family first. They’re who matters most to him, so he’s going to invite you over for dinner with his folks one night. You don’t have to bring anything for dress up, they’re really laid back. He just won’t expect for his entire family to be there, that kind of throws a wrench into his plans. But it still went well. A picture was posted by his older cousin, of the two of you. And of course, he was tagged. Which meant people saw it and everyone went wild.

Milo made his own post about the picture the next day. He shared the image, and added his own comment, “I meant to tell ya’ll myself, guess the Espurr’s out of the bag now. Yeah, I’m dating (Y/N).”

Nessa

It’s done with a photo on Fletching. One taken during a photoshoot, where you’d gone with her and the designer decided you’d be the perfect model to show the matching ensemble he’d made for the outfit she was showing off. So you two had a few really nice pictures, and Nessa asked for one that was more romantic for personal use. She used it as the announcement photo, talking about how fantastic you two look together and how good the outfits look. She purposefully didn’t say you two were together, she waited for a commenter to say that you two should date.

She reposted that comment, with her own comment. “We are.”

Kabu

Honestly, he’s not really going to think about it. His relationships are his business, why should he have to go and make a public announcement about it? So, really, people just sort of pick up on the fact that you two are together. At first, it’s more of theories, but as time goes on, it becomes impossible to deny that you and Kabu are together. Especially after that picture of you kissing him right before he went onto the pitch for the opening ceremony surfaced.

Bea

Bea hasn’t done a lot of really daring things in her time as a gym leader, but this is one she’s more than happy to do. Maybe it was more of the excitement that got to her. It was an Exhibition match, against Allister. They were having a great time, and she really did have to think outside of the box to grab that victory. But she did! She won! After showering in the locker room, you where there waiting for her outside the door. Paparazzi and interviewers were right behind you.

Which means they got a lot of pictures and video of the kiss she gave you. Their questions focused on the battle, but a few of them started to ask about your relationship. That’s the part she got flustered about, fumbling on her words and unable to really say it. Yeah, you two were together, but actually saying it was a whole different thing. She’s really grateful to you for saying it for her.

Allister

“This is… My friend, (Y/N).” He’ll say. You accompanied him as a friend to a charity dinner the Chairman hosted. Older people went with their romantic partners, but Allister? He asked you, his friend. You were a good friend, and he was sure you’d be okay with accompanying him.

There was a lot of gushing about him making a friend on social media the next day. For the most part, people were talking about how wonderful it was that he has a friend. Of course, you’ve got the weird people every now and again, but it’s mostly just talking about how good of a friend you were being.

Opal

She took you with her to a premiere of a new play, of course, you two wore matching pink coats. And there was a moment she was stopped so the interviewers could ask her about this play, where she sent you ahead to find your seats and get the playbooks. While you’re gone, they ask her what her relationship to you is. Probably because of the matching coats, if she had to guess. She had been pretty private about her personal life.

“Oh, (Y/N)? (Y/N) is my grandchild! The only one so far, but luckily they have plenty of pink. If you’ll excuse me, the show is starting soon. I don’t want to miss it!” They let her pass and you two enjoyed your show together. And you got a new hat out of it.

Bede

He’s not going to. You are. You’re the one to make the post, you’re the one to handle letting the public know. He’s a new gym leader, he doesn’t really pay attention or care about any fans he has right now. He’s still trying to get the hang of running the Fairy Gym and figure out what his gym mission is going to be for the next Challenge.

So, you make the post on Fletching. And tag him, so it’ll appear on his page and let people know. You’re handling all the questions for a while, until he gets tired of his phone pinging every few seconds and just goes live to confirm it. Yes, you two are dating, leave it alone two hours so he can finish what he’s doing.

Gordie

His Fanclub knows first. They’re all over everything he does, so they absolutely have the first clue that you’re together. Which means they’ve got the rumor out long before he makes an announcement, and all he has to do is confirm it. But he’s enjoying this, he’s going to let it last as long as he can. Which means you’re going to be the one to get tired of him waiting.

Which means you’re going to confirm it. By kissing him at an autograph signing. Which drives his fans wild and results in dozens- maybe hundreds- of photos taken and the entire event to be shifted to questions about the two of you.

Melony

Melony’s been through this before. Last time, she didn’t make the public announcement until the wedding- which was nice, keeping her relationship on the down-low. But this time, she figures she’ll let the public know about the two of you before then, as long as you’re okay with it. She makes a plan to have a pretty simple announcement post on the Fletching account the Chairman insisted every gym leader have.

The post itself? Her favorite picture her Rotophone caught of the two of you in the Wild Area, with you two playing with your pokemon. She added a caption that alluded to the two of you being together, and then just watched as people tried to figure it out. She stated outright that you two were together in a followup post the next day.

Piers

He has a show in Wyndon, paid for by the Chairman. This one’s a lot bigger than the ones in Spikemuth, and for good reason, it’s a holiday. And for some Arceus-forsaken reason, the Chairman wants him to perform. Well, you know, it’s the perfect time to debut that new song he wrote. The one he wrote about you and your relationship. He doesn’t tell anyone he’s doing it, it’s going to be in the middle of the set. The people playing the music know what to play, but they don’t know what the lyrics are, just that it’s gentler than the rest of the set.

And when he performs it, he makes sure to keep his eyes on you the whole time. He doesn’t realize it, but Marnie went up to take over the lights so she could get light directly on you too. So everyone knows this song is about you. And it’s really good too, but most people don’t pay 100% attention to it until the next day. Wherein it goes viral almost immediately. Good thing he’s taking a day off to relax after that show.

Marnie

Step one: Tell Piers. That’s the hardest part, but at least he already knows you. Marnie asked you to come over for dinner with her and Piers one night, though this was going to be a late, quick post-show dinner. Always was. She took you to pick up some takeaway and you followed her backstage and into her brother’s dressing room. He smiled when he saw you and sat with the two of you while Marnie passed out the food.

You and Piers talked about how well Marnie was doing as gym leader while you ate. Then, Marnie shushed Piers. “Hey, shut up a sec, I got somethin’ to tell ya.” She grabbed your hand, holding it where he could see. “Me an’ (Y/N) have been datin’. Couple weeks now, figured you should know.” And, well… Looks like he already knew. He just snorted and smiled, “Long as they make keep you happy.”

Now, for everyone else? They’ll find out through Piers making a song about you two. He can’t help himself, you two are cute and he got inspired. Team Yell won’t help either, they’ll be going absolutely bonkers about you two. Which means the public knows without her even making an announcement.

At least they’re more annoyed at Team Yell.

Raihan

Third date. He took a selfie with you on your third date, and pretty much from then on, people knew about your relationship. And really, did you expect any different? You’re lucky he waited until the third date! Your entire relationship was posted about. Maybe not in the moment, but he was absolutely gushing about you pretty often. Which meant it was hard for people to not know.

He’ll relax with it if you want him to. Otherwise, full steam ahead!

Leon

He’ll wait until after you two have really started being in a steady relationship, maybe even until you two move in together. He doesn’t want to announce it too early, because he knows how his fans can be. If they think you’re just with him for the clout, they’ll attack you. If you two break up, they’ll attack you. Really, his fans should be better than this!

That said, he will wait until he’s sure you two are staying together for a good long time. He’ll make the post with a picture of you playing with Hop and his Wooloo, commenting on how the two people who mean most to him are getting along so well. And he’ll stay online the rest of the day, answering questions his fans have and making sure they understand that you two are not just together for the status. If you’re cool with it, he’ll even post a picture later of him giving you a kiss.

[asouthernsamwell]

Through the Stomach to the Heart

A big thank you to @dumouwin for being a wonderful beta, and also super supportive about me posting my first ever fic! I hope you enjoy!

Summary: Eric Richard Bittle is convinced that his new captain hates him, and his baking, since Jack Zimmermann won't touch a single thing that Bitty bakes. Jack, on the other hand, discovers that he has a problem even more vexing than not being able to eat gluten.

Eric Richard Bittle knew two things. One, introducing oneself with food was a sure way to make friends; and two, that rule went double for student athletes (even if they couldn't be counted on to still be friendly in three week's time, it never hurt to get off to a good start). Besides, things were supposed to be different at Samwell, and Eric was optimistic.

The two pies he brought to practice on the first day were mauled, and everyone seemed friendly, so he considered his first day a success. The captain of the team, Jack Zimmermann, seemed indifferent to the pies, but Eric figured he didn't want to show favoritism, or was just really strict about his personal diet plan.

However, after a few months of Jack not even sampling his baking once, Bitty (as he had been christened by his new teammates) finally worked up the nerve to ask about it.

“Does he hate me?” Bitty whispered, as Jack once again bypassed a pie fresh from the oven in favor of a protein shake.

“Who, Jack?” Ransom asked around a mouthful of pie.

“Nah bro, don't worry about Jack, he's just like that,” Holster responded, before practically unhinging his jaw to shovel more pie into his mouth.

“But I've never met anyone who wouldn't even taste my pies! Even stuck up Eliza Mae tried my county fair blue ribbon pie! I get that he takes hockey seriously, and adores his diet plan, but would it kill him to try just one bite of something someone else made? I mean, y'all devour my pies, and he won't even come near them! Oh gosh, what if he hates me for feeding his entire team pie? I can't just not bake for people!”

“Brah, chill. Take a breath, it's okay. Jack just does his own thing, I'm sure he doesn't hate you.” Ransom served himself another piece of pie, “After all, he'd have a mutiny on his hands if he tried to keep you from baking!”

“Dude! C'mon!”

“Serves you right. Get your own seconds, stop trying to steal mine!”

Holster pouted and rubbed his hand where Ransom had slapped him.

“Ransom is right though, Jack almost certainly doesn't hate you. He's just a pretty tightly-wound dude.”

“Almost certainly doesn't hate me. Thanks Holster, that's so reassuring.” Bitty let his head fall forward to the table and mumbled into his arms, “He probably just thinks my baking is a waste of time that distracts from hockey and he probably wants me off the team. That's all.”

“No way dude-”

“C'mon Bits, you know that's-”

“I'm gonna make him a pie.”

It was a fool-proof plan. Bitty would make Jack a pie (“What type of pie do you think he likes?” “I don't know, but he's Canadian, so maybe something with maple syrup in it? Do pies like that exist?” “Holster, you do know that not all Canadians have a maple syrup IV connected to them at all time, right? Bitty, maybe a healthy-ish fruit pie? Like apple?”), and Jack would simultaneously realize that Bitty wasn't a horrible person, they could actually get along, and he wasn't going to keel over if he ate a few grams of sugar.

When Bitty was sure that his new creation (an apple pie with maple sugar in the crust) was perfect, he brought it to the Haus and warmed it in the oven for a minute before cutting it up, plating it, and bringing it out for the boys studying in the living room.

“Hey y'all, I tried out a new recipe today, who wants to test it for me?”

Ransom, Holster, and Shitty all immediately grabbed for the plates in his hands, but Jack just gave him a quick glance before going back to the essay he was typing.

“Jack, do you want some? It's maple apple, and I thought you might like it because I tried to make it healthier while also kind of thinking about Canada? I mean, sorry, that sounds weird, I just thought that you and Ransom might appreciate something more home-y by this point in the semester, ya know? Erm...”

Jack interrupted his rambling with a short, “No thank you, Bittle,” before turning back to his essay and typing as if he had never been interrupted.

The plates clanked on the coffee table as Bitty set them down with a little too much force before stalking about of the room. Jack hated him, fine. Just fine.

  For the next few months, Bitty kept up a war of attrition. He baked pies, brought them to the Haus, and always took care to offer Jack a piece when he was around. And every time his offers were turned down, he would just smile sweetly and say, “Alright!” If Jack was going to hate him, Bitty was going to make sure that it was the most unfounded, ridiculous decision Jack Zimmermann would ever hold himself to.

Finally, one morning after Jack had started up their checking clinics again following summer break, Bitty snapped. It came after months of Pinterest suggestions, every type of fruity and healthy pie imaginable, and nightly stomach aches worrying over how much the captain of his team hated him. He'd had an entire summer to try and win Jack's favor in some small way, and he was done.

Bitty came down to the kitchen, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, just in time to see Jack wrapping a brownie in a napkin. Bitty's confusion was quickly replaced by anger when Jack Zimmermann proceeded to eat said brownie on the way to Faber.

“Wow, so the illustrious Jack Zimmermann actually does have a sweet tooth. Someone should alert The Swallow.”

Jack seemed taken aback. “Um... Shitty made them for me?” He clearly didn't understand that he had just capped off an entire year of rudeness with the worst snub possible. Bitty didn't even dignify his statement with a response.

The entire time they laced up their skates and got ready, Jack's waves of confusion were only met with further stony silence from Bitty. Maybe he should have been impressed that Jack was reading the situation as well as he was, given his oblivious rudeness over the last year, but Eric was far too furious to be that gracious.

Once on the ice, Bitty took his place by the boards, and as Jack started skating towards him he finally lost it. Right as Jack skated into him, Bitty pushed back, catching Jack off-guard, and actually succeeded in checking Jack, sending him a few feet across the ice in his shock.

“Bittle, you just, you checked me. That's great!”

“Why do you hate me?!” Bitty wasn't even aware that he had flung his gloves to the ice until Jack glanced down at them warily.

“What? I don't hate you. I don't hate you – why would you think that?”

“Yes you do! You won't eat anything I make, even when I make things especially for you, and I know that you hate that I bake, but I don't think it distracts me from hockey! I'm a good player, and I was doing well on the team! I don't know why my baking upsets you so much or why you hate me, but I'm not going to stop making pies!”

“Bittle-”

“And don't think that you can tell me that I'm not keeping diet, because I pretty much am, and it's not affecting me!”

“Bittle, I-”

“And you know that you can't control what the team does all the time, because you never seem to get mad at them for eating pie or cookies or anything, but you still hate me and I don't understand why and it's just not fair! I'm just as much a member of this team as anyone else and if you don't agree with that then you're just going to have to-”

“Bittle! I'm celiac.”

“That's no- wait, what?”

“I'm celiac. I can't eat gluten. I'm allergic to pretty much everything you've made for the past year.”

“Why didn't you say anything??”

“I didn't know I needed to.”

“But, I, it's just – ugh! Jack! Here I've been thinking that you didn't like me for the better part of a year, when really I should have just been baking things that you can eat!”

“Why did you think I didn't like you?”

“You completely ignored my baking!”

Jack started to laugh. “Bittle, I just didn't want you to have to try and make gluten free things, I had no idea you would be so offended over me ignoring your baking. Besides, is helping you get over your mental block surrounding checking really the actions of someone who hates you?”

“I mean... this has definitely seemed sadistic at some points so...” Jack gave him a gentle hip check in response to his quip. “I just thought that since you didn't even want to try to like my pies that you didn't like me.” He cut Jack off before he could protest. “I'm silly, I know. Now, what type of pie would you like?”

“Bittle, you don't have to do that.”

“Nonsene. I'm not backing down from a new baking challenge! Besides, how long has it been since you last ate a piece of pie?”

“I don't really eat sweets, it's fine, you don't have to...”

“Mr. Zimmermann. I am from Georgia, and in the South, we express our emotions through food and feeding others. So please, let me make you a pie that you can eat and one that won't make you sick!”

“Thank you. But euh, Bittle, have you ever tried a gluten free dessert? They're not very good.”

“What about that brownie you were eating an hour ago? Are you trying to say it was bad? Because you sure seemed happy to be eating it, and as much as I love Shitty, I find it hard to believe that he could out-bake me, especially for a palate such as yours, Mr. Chicken-Strips-and-Protein-Shakes.”

The corner of Jack's mouth started to turn up in a grin. “Chirp, chirp, chirp Bittle, you're pretty bold this morning. Checking me, dropping your gloves, and now these chirps – are you going to ejected from our next game for fighting?”

“One Gordie Howe hat trick coming up, just you wait an' see!”

They were still laughing as they left Faber, Bitty trying to catch Jack by surprise with periodic hip checks the whole way back to the Haus.

  The knock on his door startled Jack out of his senior thesis brain-fog.

“Come in?”

Bitty was holding his wallet and reading something off of his phone as he opened the door. “Do you want to come to the store with me? I was gonna go to Murder Stop-And-Shop for some stuff.”

Jack glanced at his computer screen where his thesis sat, no longer holding his interest like it had a few moments before. “Sure, just let me save this.”

The whole way there Eric babbled on about a new baking blog he had found, praising the author's interesting ingredient combinations, as well as her passion for locally-sourced foods. “...and the best part is, she sets up her recipes for other variations, and even makes suggestions for how other people could modify them based on their personal preferences, which is so cool. I should really make a conscious effort to do that more on my vlog, now that I think of it...”

What Jack didn't learn until they reached the baking aisle of the store was that the blog Bittle had suddenly become so enthused about was one he had sought out specifically following their conversation that morning. Bitty made a beeline past his normal baking staples, instead stopping in front of the rather meager section labeled “gluten free”. A few bags of pretzels, two types of macaroni and cheese, a pancake mix, two box cake mixes, and three types of flour blends looked back at Jack as he quickly caught on to Bittle's plan.

“Bittle, you really don't have to make me anything special, it's fine, I promise.”

“You hush Mister Zimmermann, you're going to try at least one of my pies before you graduate, just you wait.”

“Alright, alright, fine! I suppose I can try some of your pie, but if this turns into an addiction the way it seems to have for the rest of the team I'll be sending my future dietician to you!” Jack's small smirk seemed to be what Bitty was really searching for, so he continued, “So, what are we looking for?”

“Well, we need the same basic ingredients as any normal pie, just ones that won't kill you. I think the only problem is flour, at least it was the only thing the blog specified as being gluten-free, so I thought that we would start there, and then try what will essentially be a mash-up of my Moomaw's famous apple pie and this special crust. Although,” he cast a disappointed glance at the shelves in front of them, “we really don't have much to work with here. The blog talked about making your own flour blend, with different flours and starches and binding agents, but I guess I never realized how few options there would be. No wonder you eat like you do! Uhh, let's try this one.”

He held up a bag proclaiming its ability to be substituted one-for-one in any recipe with normal flour for Jack's approval. Receiving a quick shrug and an “I trust your judgment,” Bittle put the flour in the cart.

  When they got back to the Haus, Eric made Jack read the labels on every ingredient they already owned with him, so that he could be sure he wouldn't put anything containing gluten in the pie, and then scrubbed down every inch of the kitchen, including washing the dishes and utensils he intended to use.

“I was reading about cooking for people with Celiac Disease, and I don't know how we haven't all managed to kill you by accident yet! My goodness Jack, do you get -” a pause of indecision, “-sick? poisoned? Gluten-ed? often because of us?” Bitty's worry was clearly expressing itself via frantic scrubbing with the new sponges he had just bought.

“Haha, no, it's okay. I mean, I do get sick sometimes, but it's not your fault. I just have to take extra care to wipe the counters and stuff before I prepare my own food. Besides, I shouldn't make the rest of you adapt to my weird eating habits. And the response is proportional to how much gluten I consume, so usually I just have a little pain and some, er, unpleasantness I guess.” Jack shrugged, indifferent, but Bitty was horrified.

“Oh my gosh, Jack, that's not okay! That sounds so horrible! And you could get sick – really sick! I read that you can get cancer, or not be able to absorb nutrients any more, and that must really hurt, and-”

“It's okay Bittle, I promise. That's why I'm careful, and it hardly ever happens. Besides, the dining hall has done far more to poison me than anyone in this Haus ever could.”

“Does the school know about that??” Jack was dismayed that his attempt at calming Bittle down had failed, but something in the back of his mind warmed to the fact that Bittle was scrubbing the kitchen, making special food, and now ready to fight the administration all on his behalf.

“They have a special section for student with allergies, but they tell everyone who eats there that they can't guarantee anything will be 100% safe. There's too much risk of cross-contamination in a kitchen that big to make that sort of promise.”

Bitty's face twisted into a small scowl, his mouth scrunched up and his eyes indicating that he was clearly trying to think of a way to solve all of Jack's dietary problems instantaneously.

“That's not fair! You should get to have meals you can enjoy fully too! It shouldn't be dangerous for you to eat dinner! Why are you smiling?”

“I think you're more upset about this than I am. It's kind of nice.”

“Well of course I'm upset! For gosh sakes Jack, it's food! They're not feeding you properly! That's a- that's just- I mean, it's- it's not right! I'm from the South, that's practically a crime! No, wait, there are actual cases where that is a very real crime. How can they just do this to you??”

As Bitty spluttered indignantly, he reminded Jack of a little kitten – specifically, the small orange cat from the Aristocats – puffing himself up and ready to take on the world, regardless of what the outcome would be. It wasn't that Jack didn't have people on his side who were willing to fight for him, he saw time and time again after his overdose that his support network was bigger than he could have imagined, but still... this was Bittle, someone who had apparently thought that Jack hated him as of twelve hours ago, and now he was whipped up into a frenzy doing his best to improve Jack's life. It was really nice.

Bittle's first pie came out of the oven to mixed reviews. It was a buttermilk pie in a homemade crust, and Jack thought it was incredible, tangy and sweet at the same time, with a buttery crust that barely crumbled apart at all, and a texture that wasn't grainy in the least. Everyone who sampled it agreed with Jack – it was good, if a little bit different than what they were used to, but still incredible. Bitty, however, was the lone voice of dissent.

“Jack, honey, how on earth can you call that good? I am so sorry, the next one will be much better, I promise! I was looking up some customizable flour blends, so hopefully the crust will cooperate a little bit more, and I can probably get it even thinner without it breaking. And if I add a little bit of xanthan gum to the filling it'll hopefully come out firm the whole way through, although that might have just been Betsy having a bad day, or maybe-”

“Bittle. I liked it. Truly.” Bitty was still casting half worried, half murderous glances at the almost empty pie plate. “It was the best thing I've eaten in a long time, I forgot that gluten free food could taste like that. It was perfect.”

After a heavy sign and a long moment of consideration, Bittle looked up at him.

“Alright, I'll believe you, but I'm still going to mess with the recipes and the flour blend until I'm satisfied. Will you be my taste-tester? You have a whole year's worth of pie eating to make up for!”

Jack just laughed. “All right Bittle, but save some time for studying too, okay? And remember, if you feed me too much pie I'll need to burn it off, so I hope you're also willing to sign yourself up as my early morning running partner.”

Jack hip checked him as Bitty screeched, “Mister Zimmermann, you wouldn't dare!” and he sauntered out of the kitchen.

  The next few months flew by in a flurry of pies and other assorted baked goods. Jack watched as Bittle tried out every flavor of pie at least once, and he also expanded his gluten free experimentation into pancakes, crepes, brownies, cake, cinnamon rolls, waffles, pizza, and some very memorable soft pretzels. Eric seemed to be getting closer to being content with his creations, although he still wouldn't totally believe Jack when he spouted praise for the confections.

One day, Jack's focus was ripped sharply away from his thesis as Shitty bounced into his room.

“Jackabelle! My favorite Quebec beaut!”

“You're still wearing clothes, Shits. Are you alright?”

As if just noticing that for once he had made it past the front door fully clothed, Shitty glanced down at himself before kicking off his shoes and sprawling on Jack's bed. “It's too beautiful of a day to worry about overturning societal expectations! Well, no, actually, there's never an excuse for complacency in a society that dictates how we should express ourselves and that censors nature, but today I'm just too distracted and light of heart to actively participate in protest.”

Jack just raised an eyebrow and waited.

“Jacques, I'm in love!”

With a small smile, Jack simply responded, “I know Shits. Have you finally talked to Lardo about it?”

“No, Jack, I just realized! I mean, I've liked her for ages, who wouldn't? She's one of the coolest people ever, and she can do almost anything, but I just realized that I love her. And I never said anything to her before, because I didn't want her to feel manipulated by me in any way because of the traditional archetype of men – and fuck gender stereotypes, by the way – and I know that she's more than capable of fending for herself, but I also didn't want to ruin our friendship or make her feel awkward if she doesn't feel the same way, ya know?”

“Shits, I think anyone who knows Lardo and has seen you two interact can tell you that you have nothing to worry about. At all. And even if she suddenly decided she doesn't feel the same way, it's Lardo. She's cool, and she's one of your best friends, and that's not going to change. Go talk to her, okay?”

Shitty ran his thumb over a small sharpie-d triangle on the side of his wrist and smiled as shyly as Jack had ever seen him. “Yeah, okay.” He got up to walk out, then paused with his hand on the doorknob. “You know, I feel so stupid. There she is, absolutely freaking incredible, and I talk to her every day and I never even realized. But then, today, we're just sitting there studying, not saying anything, and she just draws this freaking shape on my arm. And then I spent twenty minutes sitting there thinking about how I would get this stupid little triangle tattooed on my wrist, just because it was something she drew, but I'd much rather just have her there to draw it on me every day, and it just hit me then.” He shook his head, looking a little dazed. “I love her, man!”

At that moment, as Shitty rubbed his thumb reverently across the small black triangle on his wrist, Jack's eye caught on the plate sitting on his desk. Bittle had brought him a piece of pie and hour ago, asking for Jack's feedback on his newest gluten-free crust, and even after finishing the pie Jack had been idly tracing the edge of the plate with a small smile on his face, still amazed that someone like Bittle, who was pretty much a ray of sunshine come to life, would take the time to bake special pies for him, and would chirp him relentlessly, and could somehow still be his friend after how Jack had treated him last year, and how Jack didn't know what he was going to do without him next year except for probably signing with Providence just to stay close to Bitty and... when had Bittle become Bitty? Oh. Oh.

“Oh.” Jack abruptly looked up and interrupted Shitty. “Go talk to Lardo.” He all but shoved him out of the door before dashing into the bathroom to make sure his hair wasn't too disorderly. He ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time, before sliding a little into the kitchen in his socked feet.

“Bitty. I- what are you eating?”

Bitty looked up, startled, from where he was licking a spatula over the sink.

“Jack! Are you okay? What's wrong?”

“What are you eating?” Please don't be gluten, please don't be gluten, please don't be gluten[, I can't kiss you if it's gluten]...

“I just made brownies, Chowder had said that he wanted some and... are you alright?”

Jack visibly deflated. He almost blurted out, “I just realized that I like you and now I can't kiss you,” but he caught himself just in time.

“I'm fine. Did you want to get dinner tonight? I, uh, need a break from my homework.”

Bitty blinked at him slowly, head cocked slightly to the side as if trying to ascertain Jack's level of mental stability. (It was low, he hoped Bitty couldn't tell.) “Sure, these brownies'll be out of the oven in 15 minutes, so we can go then.”

Jack nodded fervently, then wondered if maybe that was too much before saying, “Great, I'll see you in a bit,” and leaving a confused Bittle standing in the kitchen behind him. He ran up to his room, threw himself on his bed, and cursed his gluten allergy.

Fifteen minutes later, Bitty kept up the conversation on the way to dinner, occasionally casting worried glances at Jack, who just gave him a small smile in return. I like you and I may even love you, and while I'm sometimes a masochistic moron, I don't hate myself enough to tell you that I like you when there's a chance that you like me too and I can't kiss you right away. I can be patient.

When Jack was first diagnosed with Celiac Disease, he spent a very long month being cranky about all the foods he could no longer eat, and looking on longingly every time someone else ate a food he used to love. But then, he got used to his new diet, lost all of his baby fat, and became a better, healthier hockey player who no longer missed gluten. Now, however, all he could notice was how many things Bitty ate that contained gluten. A dinner roll, croutons on his salad, fried chicken, cream of mushroom soup that he discarded after two spoonfuls, oreos on his ice cream, and even the school's mashed potatoes which also had flour added to them for some ungodly reason. Jack had spent eleven years indifferent to his special diet, and now he wanted to cry in frustration.

He had quickly resolved not to tell Bitty how he felt until a time when Bitty hadn't recently been eating gluten, but now that seemed like a long shot. Jack reasoned that if Bitty did return his feelings, there was no reason to wait before kissing him (Jack always had been 110% about everything), and if Bitty had recently eaten something that would make Jack sick he didn't want Bitty to feel bad. But now it seemed like the only opportunity Jack would get was first thing in the morning, before they went to team breakfast, which was less than ideal, seeing as they were usually surrounded by the other members of the team in the Haus.

In the dining hall, as Bitty loaded his plate with food that would have Jack curling into a ball of pain in an instant, Jack kept up the stream of silent curses against allergens. When Bitty smiled at him in the middle of a monologue on Beyonce's next tour, Jack felt his heart beat harder in his chest. And when Bitty got up to grab dessert for himself and came back with some prewrapped bread and rolls he had swiped from the gluten free station, Jack realized he was in much deeper than he thought.

  As the week went on, Jack decided that he would have the most luck talking to, and then hopefully kissing, Bitty first thing in the morning or right before bed. If he had just brushed his teeth, it would probably be pretty safe. So, Jack carefully kept track of Bitty's food consumption and oral hygiene.

On Wednesday night, Lardo followed Shitty upstairs at ten o'clock, and Jack and Bitty both resigned themselves to staying on the first floor for at least another half an hour, just to be safe. Bitty seemed to be studying, but by eleven he declared that he had at least three hours' worth of work left to do, and so Jack eventually had to leave Bitty sitting at the kitchen table with a half-finished piece of (gluten) pie in front of him.

The next morning, Jack was woken up by mysterious noises coming from Shitty's room, and so he listened for any sounds indicating that Bitty had begun his morning routine, but by the time Jack left for class Bitty still hadn't stirred. Thursday night also proved to be a bit of a late night for Bitty, and so on Friday morning Jack saw him stumble out of his room just as Jack was walking out the door for his 8 AM class. By the time he saw Bitty in their 9 AM, Bitty was happily munching on a bagel from the campus coffeeshop closest to their academic building.

As unfortunate as Jack's luck had been thus far, he was a little bit heartened when Professor Atley announced the final project at the end of class.

“You'll choose a partner or work alone, whichever you prefer, and you will prepare a recipe from one of the major areas that we covered in class. You will be turning in your final project, although a majority of your grade will not come from taste, but rather from the essay you will write on both the preparation and the history of the recipe you choose. You and your partner will submit separate essays, but I am expecting a certain amount of overlap in the themes covered – plagiarism is prohibited, but it shouldn't shock me to see evidence of your collaboration. Have fun!”

Bitty beamed, and Jack could see the confidence in his face. This was a final he was ready for. “Hey Bittle, need a partner?” Jack's small smile was reflected back at him with ten times the intensity, and the response of, “Sure, if you'll let us do a gluten free project,” forced a full smile out of Jack without a second thought.

“That sounds good.”

  It turned out that food allergens and diet trends, while not a new phenomena by any means, had not focused much on gluten during any of the eras they could base their project in. Jack was ready to make a normal, full-gluten project, but Bitty insisted that Jack should be able to have at least one thing he could sample on final project day. Finally, on Sunday night, as Jack was leaning against the counter waiting for his chicken strips to heat up in the microwave, he heard footsteps come thundering down the steps, and then saw Bitty's blond head appear in the kitchen door.

“Jack! I had an idea!”

“Yeah?” Jack prompted, “What's up?”

Bitty was beaming. “Did you know that gluten only started appearing in problematic quantities in the last hundred years? I mean, there's always been a type of gluten somewhere in wheat and stuff, at least, I think there was, there was a lot of science stuff that I skimmed over, but! I found out that if you went back in time a few hundred years you could probably eat whatever you wanted without fear of getting gluten-ed!” After a brief pause, Bitty added with a smirk, “You history nerd, of course you would be able to eat better in the past.”

“That's awesome! It's too bad we can't get any of those grains any more. Do you want to do a really old recipe with modern flour and talk about the changes in the plants in our essays?” Jack was impressed with the amount of research that Bitty had apparently been doing. There was a part of him that even rejoiced over how Bitty clearly prioritized Jack over anything even remotely academic, but the logical side of his brain chastised him with a reminder that Bitty loved procrastinating, and he shouldn't look for opportunities to derail studying when it did happen. Better to just encourage it, especially when the subject of Bitty's research made something simultaneously hot and cold flutter in Jack's ribcage.

“No, that's the really cool thing! I looked it up, and you can still get those grains! I mean, maybe not all of them, but it's possible to get wheat flour that's been mostly removed from the genetic variations that modern wheat has! It's called heirloom flour, or grains, or whatever, but I started looking around at different forums and stuff, and it seems like people with gluten allergies can eat it just fine! I mean, it's pretty expensive, and has to be ordered specially, because you have to grow it in special places where it can't accidentally mix with modern stuff and produce gluten-y offspring, so it's not a viable option for every day, but we could definitely get some for the project!”

Jack had thought that Bittle was beaming before, but now he was glowing and practically vibrating.

“That sounds great! Wow, looks like you're pretty good at this studying thing when you want to be, eh?” Jack couldn't resist the chirp. But then, to soften it a bit, and because he was ridiculously head-over-heels for Bittle at this point and was only a nanosecond away from throwing caution to the wind and taking his chances with the soy sauce Bitty had put on his dinner earlier, Jack hip checked him and then leaned in to ruffle his hair, saying, “Thanks Bittle. But let me pay, okay? One of us will be pulling in a six-digit salary this time next year, and it only seems right for you to save your money for more baking procrastination.”

“You're an absolute menace, Mister Zimmermann! But alright, I'll send you some links.”

Bitty wandered out of the kitchen with slightly flushed cheeks, and Jack watched him go, content to lean against the counter wearing a small smile until the beep of the microwave startled him back to awareness of the world around him.

After a week filled with studying for upcoming finals, research for their shared history class, and (on Jack's part) unsuccessful attempts to encounter Bitty alone when he hadn't recently eaten gluten, Jack's luck finally started to change.

Bitty knocked on his door on a Thursday night, and when Jack told him to come in, Bitty poked his head around the doorframe, biting his lip.

“What's up, Bittle?”

Bittle gestured with his phone as he talked. “I just got a message from my group for my math project, and they want to move our meeting time to Friday afternoon. Would you be okay with baking the pie for class on Sunday morning instead?”

“Sure,” Jack responded easily. “That'll probably work even better actually, since we'll be out of Rans' and Holster's way as they set up for the kegster, and then we can bake while everyone is still asleep on Sunday morning and avoid any interruptions there.”

As he always did when he was pleased, Bitty immediately seemed to straighten up, adding at least an inch to his own height, and showed off a radiant smile.

“Thanks Jack! Now if only I could enjoy my math project as much as I'll enjoy making this pie...”

  For all of his planning and brainstorming, Jack made it to Sunday morning without realizing the perfect scenario he was walking in to. The kegster the night before had been almost enjoyable for Jack, even though he had gone to bed by eleven. Until then, however, he had entertained Bitty with tales of chasing off interlopers with a fire extinguisher, trying to subtly brag about his heroism. Bitty had listened with wide eyes, taking periodic sips from his red solo cup. He was far from being wasted, but certainly had enough alcohol in him to be a little more emotional than usual; he'd offered Jack a sip of his tub juice, and then snatched the cup away at the last moment, a look of horror on his face.

“Oh my gosh, no! I ate gluten today, I don't want to poison you! I am so, so, so, so, so sorry Jack!” Bittle had covered the mouth of the cup, as if the idea of a gluten particle in his drink could float out and attack Jack.

Jack, who was experiencing a swell of warmth throughout his body because of the concern Bittle had for him.

Jack, who was trying very hard not to grin like a lunatic, or even worse, to kiss Bittle on the spot for being so considerate.

Jack, who had simply settled for reaching out and patting Bittle on the shoulder in what he hoped was a bro-y gesture of affection and thanks.

“It's fine Bits, don't worry about it. I'm good with my soft drink.” He'd made a mock-cheers gesture with his own red solo cup before taking another sip. “Besides, I want to be ready for tomorrow's baking extravaganza.”

Bitty had just rolled his eyes.

  As he brushed his teeth on Sunday morning, Jack could hear Bitty's alarm going off, playing a song he could now confidently identify as one of Beyonce's. He could hear the sound of Bitty smacking his nightstand before locating his phone to silence the alarm, and then the sound of feet hitting the floor and scuffy tired walking sounds from across the hall. The rest of the Haus still seemed to be passed out from the previous night's kegster, and so all of the little sounds that came with each of their morning routines seemed amplified in the calm silence.

Jack made it downstairs to the kitchen first, and switched on the coffee maker to help Bittle wake up – Jack wasn't much of a morning person, but Bitty really wasn't a morning person. He also wiped down the counters and the table; the boys had done a pretty good job keeping the kitchen clean last night, but there were still a few sticky spots of the counter that needed to be taken care of.

When Bitty entered the kitchen ten minutes later, hair damp and tousled from his shower and yawning out a 'good morning', he headed straight for the mug of coffee Jack had just finished pouring him, and proceeded to dump in a truly terrifying amount of sugar. He fished around in the fridge for the creamer, and after ensuring that his coffee was closer to flavored milk than coffee he took a sip and straightened up.

“All ready to begin your new career as a baker, Mister Zimmermann?”

Jack smirked a little, and answered indulgently, “Sure Bittle, whatever you say.”

  The actual process of preparing the pie wasn't difficult – they had already found a recipe and translated the instructions and measurements into a more modern form, so it was simply a matter of measuring things and doing what Bitty said. The hardest part should have been working with the crust, but thanks to Bitty's semester of gluten-free experimentation they were left with an extremely malleable crust, and Bitty took pity on Jack and didn't make him transfer the lattice to the finished pie on his own. Instead, the hardest part of the morning for Jack was staying focused on the task at hand after his early morning realization – Bitty hadn't eaten anything with gluten in it yet! Jack had been on the verge of kissing him the moment he realized that, but then his anxiety reminded him of the million ways that plan could go wrong. Most of them were easy to discredit, but Jack reasoned that if Bitty didn't return his affections then things might be awkward for a few days, and it would be better for that period of awkwardness to start after they had put the pie in the oven and could go to their separate rooms if need be.

So, Jack waited until he was almost done with the dishes, the smell of pie baking filling the air, before he tried to start the conversation he had been preparing for the last few weeks. Bitty had just paused in his evaluation of the food-based classes offered at Samwell, when Jack interjected, “What have you had to eat today?”

He almost immediately cringed. That... wasn't the smoothest way to start.

“Just the coffee and the bit of the filling that we sampled. Did you want to go get breakfast once the pie's done?” Thank goodness Bitty was accustomed to his occasional brashness and could pick up the threads of conversation when Jack couldn't.

“Yeah, euh, that would be great. But, euh,” Jack took a deep breath, and stared straight out the window in front of him, not focusing on anything other than avoiding Bitty's gaze in case it turned dismissive or, even worse, pitying. “I kind of had something else I wanted to ask? Er, to tell you?”

“Okay, what is it?” Bitty sounded a little tentative, but Jack could only drop his gaze to his hands before staring out the window again.

“I think, euh, no, I know,” Jack finally turned a little to find big brown eyes staring directly into his, a slight wrinkle of worry creasing Bitty's brow. “I realized a few weeks ago that I really like you, and I know that this is really sudden but if there's a chance you might like me too I was hoping that we could...”

Jack's trailing off into panic was cut off by Bitty's exhale.

“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh thank goodness! Jack, I like you a lot too, but I didn't really think that you'd ever like me back in the same way, so I just didn't say anything, but yes I like you, and I would love to go out with you!” At some point during his response, Bitty's excited hands had found Jack's nervously wringing ones, and the soft touch along with the reassuring words made Jack's face break out into a smile.

“Can I kiss you?”

“Yes, please.”

Jack smirked just slightly at Bitty's eager response, before moving one of his hands to cradle Bitty's face and gently pressing their lips together. Bitty tasted just a little bit sweet, like the sugar he had dumped into his coffee, and after pulling back for just a moment Jack leaned down again.

When they finally separated, Bitty smiled slowly and opened his eyes. Then, cocking his head to the side a little, he asked, “If you've known for a few weeks that you liked me, why didn't you say anything sooner?”

“I, um,” Jack could feel his face reddening,”I wanted to kiss you right away if that was an option, and, um, well, you eat a lot of gluten.”

Bitty looked shocked for a moment, before smiling again and shaking his head. “You silly man, I would have run upstairs and brushed my teeth, gargled with mouthwash, whatever you needed me to do if you had told me you wanted to kiss me! And trust me, I will definitely be eating a lot less gluten in the future!”

Jack figured that the last fifteen seconds had been long enough to wait, and so he ducked down to kiss Bitty again, only pulling back to say, “I really like you,” a few more times. They took a brief break to extract the pie from the oven and write a note warning the other Haus residents not to touch it, but it wasn't until they heard the sounds of Ransom and Holster thundering down the attic stairs that Jack stepped back, ran a hand through his hair, and said, “So, about that breakfast... How does Annie's sound?”

“Perfect! I think I'll have to try one of those gluten-free pumpkin muffins they're serving...” Also on ao3! https://archiveofourown.org/works/15632469

[hemcountry]

LAUDERDALE'S LIFE - A SONGWRITING LEGEND

It’s not too often that you get the opportunity to speak to someone like Jim Lauderdale, where most of the names that come up in conversation have all secured their own places in the music history books, too. Harlan Howard, Buck Owens, Ralph Stanley, Buddy Miller, Robert Hunter, Patty Loveless, George Jones, Harry Chapin, John Oates, Lucinda Williams, Rodney Crowell, John Levanthal, Emory Gordy Jnr. And for good measure, a tale relating to John Lennon that almost steals a beat of your heart when you think about it for a moment. Nope, it’s definitely not too often that you hit lucky enough to chat with someone like Jim. Hardly surprising, though, given the fact that there aren’t many like Jim out there. In fact, when we talk about Jim Lauderdale, we’re into talking about once-in-a-lifetime talents territory. And it was my good fortune, and great pleasure, to talk to the man himself recently.

Jim Lauderdale, one of country music’s true songwriting legends.

Sadly, when we spoke it was only a few days after the shooting at Jason Aldean’s concert in Las Vegas, followed by the untimely death of a true rock and roll icon,Tom Petty. It would have been impossible not to begin by touching on both for a moment, so I asked Jim if he’d like to share what was going through his mind on either event?

“Yes, oh my gosh. It was mind-numbing, both of those different tragedies. What happened in Las Vegas was just unfathomable. I’m still, and I think everybody is really, we’re just reeling from it. And then Tom last night. I mean, he’d just wrapped up a very successful leg of his tour and seemed to be very healthy. His music really brought a lot of enjoyment to millions of people. He was a real master [entertainer] and he’s really gonna be missed.”

‘London Southern’, OUT NOW

Jim’s new album, ‘London Southern’, is his 29th, an extraordinary output by anyone’s measure. It includes a song co-written with John Oates, called ‘If I Can’t Resist.’ Now Jim has described Oates as being, ‘More hungry than most guys that are on their way up.’ I put it to Jim that, given his vast back catalogue, that same could be said of him. And I asked him, what keeps him hungry to keep on writing and recording?

“It’s just the desire to get these songs out as they come to me, or if I’m collaborating with others. It’s just a need I have. Something I have to do is to write, and then to sing. So I stay in the studio frequently and I tour more and more these days. It seems like both the recording and the touring has continued to grow through the years, and I’m really glad about that. So writing songs and recording them, it’s just such an intense, challenging, but wonderful process. And like I said, I just have to do it.”

I’d read somewhere once that Jim never ‘refuses’ a song if he feels one coming on, even if it has nothing to do with whatever specific project he might be working on at that time. If the song comes to him, Jim takes it.

“Yes, that’s right. And I often wonder if my mind plays tricks on me, that when I’m working on a particular project, that’s when I get song ideas for a different style of music [laughs]. If I’m working on more of a soul type thing, then I might get an idea for a bluegrass song, or a traditional country type song, or vice-versa. But that’s o.k! I let my mind play those tricks! [laughs].”

Jim with stars of the ‘Nashville’ tv show, Chris Carmack (L) and Sam Palladio

Whenever I’m thinking of buying an album by an artist I don’t really know much about, one of the first things I do is check out the song titles and the songwriting credits. That’s how I first discovered an amazing Texan artist called Sunny Sweeney, she has three of Jim’s songs on her ‘Heartbreaker’s Hall of Fame’ record. In other words, if I see a Jim Lauderdale song on an album, that’s good enough for me: sold! And Jim is often referred to as a ‘songwriter’s songwriter.’ I wondered what it meant to him to be the subject of such a description?

“It’s very flattering. But I try not to…well, I feel like I’m still in the beginning stages of my career, so I don’t let that stuff go to my head because I’m always onto the next project. And it’s always challenging for me to get through those projects and come up to the level of other writers that are out there. So I’m always kinda doing the next thing and not thinking too much about my past work.”

As a writer Jim is nothing short of prolific. A few years back, he released a staggering FOUR records in just ONE year. How does something like that work on a business level?

“[Laughs] It doesn’t! It doesn’t work that way [laughs]. And even though I get told that by people trying to advise me, I just do it anyway. And actually, this record that’s out now, ‘London Southern’, those records came out after I’d recorded ‘London Southern’ and I was waiting for the right home for it. So these other things were kinda coming out, these other songs and project ideas, and I thought, well, ‘London Southern’ will hopefully be out in the spring-time so I’ve got to clear the decks and get these others out. And this went on for three or four years. So finally, I found a home for it which is in the U.K, on a label called Proper Records, that really liked the album a lot. I knew from their enthusiasm about it that it was in the right place at last so I’m really happy about finding that home for it.”

In the heart of the moment….

Another area in which Jim moves at an astounding pace is when he co-writes with Robert Hunter, lyricist of The Grateful Dead, with whom Jim has recorded and released a number of albums. Once, they wrote EIGHTEEN songs in just EIGHT days, and another time, a phenomenal TEN songs in a day and a half! In those instances where Jim and Robert write together, are they going in with ideas ready to bounce off each other or does every song start from scratch?

“Starting from scratch, usually. In the early days when Robert Hunter and I started writing, I was doing my first album with one of my bluegrass heroes named Ralph Stanley. So I contacted Robert just on a whim, thinking, you know, he’s probably not going to return my message but I’ll at least try. But I think he and Jerry Garcia were such fans of The Stanley Brothers that he agreed! So we went from there. And either he would give me a completed lyric and I would write the music to it, or I would give him a melody. And when we’re in each other’s presence he would either hand me a lyric or a melody would just come out, which I would record quickly and send to his computer. Then he’d work in one room, while I’d work in different room coming up with another melody. Usually one or the other of us gives our contribution to the other to get things started. But during those circumstances we’re both usually pretty fast with each other. And it’s something I still have to pinch myself about, to realise that I’ve written with Robert. I think we must have written about one hundred songs together.”

Now if that ain’t a view….! Jim on the Opry stage again.

J.T Osbourne, of The Brothers Osbourne, observed recently that he feels like Nashville songwriters these days might be thinking too much about what they think people want to hear, and not enough about what they, as songwriters, actually want to say. What was Jim’s take on this?

“He might be onto something there. I think that there are so many talented songwriters in Nashville. And I think that it’s hard to know what’s going on in their creative process. But in a lot of circumstances when you’re co-writing the goal is to get someone to record that song. So I think that’s sometimes how trends happen in the music market, when one thing is successful then it’s followed by a lot of things that sound like it, whether it’s melodically or thematically. So, it could be a conscious or a sub-conscious thing with writers sometimes. But there are just so many talented songwriters that end up in Nashville and write with each other, and with commercial music in general, even the most mundane type songs will be written by great writers who are still more than capable of writing profound and deep songs. But these other ones ended up kind of making it through the cracks and somehow being commercially successful. But those writers, there’s more than meets the eye as far as their abilities go. Does that make any sense?”

Jim and Buddy Miller backstage at the Ryman.

One of my favourite songs of Jim’s (and one of my fav country songs, come to think of it) is ‘The King Of Broken Hearts.’ I love the story of how Jim wrote it after hearing Gram Parsons describe George Jones as being just that; the king of broken hearts. But what’s always intrigued me is the story of how George himself came so close to recording the song….

“That’s right, that’s right. I was working on an album that was being co-produced by Rodney Crowell and John Levanthal and I got a call at the studio from Emory Gordy Jnr., who’s married to Patty Loveless, and is a very talented producer and bass player, and he told me that George wanted to record the song. So I was totally overjoyed. Then Emory said, ‘But there’s a problem. George is having a hard time singing this part of the song, could you change the timing of it?’ So I thought for a minute, and I think I said well, yeah, sure, sure. But then I think I thought for another minute more and I said, ya know, it just won’t work. Unfortunately. That’s like such a huge part of the melody of the song. So I had to say gosh, ya know if there’s any way he can do it that’s great, but I can’t change it. And it wasn’t a matter of principle or stubborness or anything, it was just that it would it would totally change the song. So it wouldn’t be what it was if I did that. But I did get to perform that song in front of him at one of his birthday celebrations at the Grand Ole Opry house so that was really special. And there was a play that was in Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium, about Tammy Wynette, and I actually portrayed George Jones in that. And that was a real thrill for me. And he came to the show, too. I’m a George Jones…freak, I guess [laughs]. I just love his music so much, and his voice.”

Jim with Ricky Skaggs

Harlan Howard, even today, some fifteen years after his passing, is still regarded by many as the master of country music songwriters. And naturally, there’s another great story here about Jim, and when he and Harlan wrote together. I’m sure there’s probably far more than one, indeed, but one I particularly love concerns the song ‘You’ll Know When It’s Right.’ Essentially, Jim was telling Howard his story of one particular heartache and Howard reassuringly replied, ‘You’ll know when it’s right’, and went on to craft the song from the rest of the details of Jim’s pain! That, folks, is songwriting genius! But what was it, in Jim’s view, that made Harlan Howard so special as a writer?

“Well, he was very in touch with mankind. He had worked in a factory in Detroit before he ended up moving to California for a while, He was roommates in California with Bobby Bare and kind of got into getting cuts with Buck Owens and things, so eventually moved to Nashville. But I think that when he worked at an auto-factory in Detroit at like a eight-to-five job, that he had a strong work ethic. And he wanted to get away from that kind of life and just be a songwriter. But one thing he would tell me when we wrote, was that he really wanted to go abroad, to places like the U.K, and Ireland, and just sit at a bar and talk to a guy who drives a truck. He said, ‘I just want to sit there and talk to the everyday working man.’ I just feel that he had such an understanding, and an empathy, with the everyday person, somebody that didn’t have great wealth or a title or whatever. He was more comfortable in that kind of situation. I think his understanding of the human psyche really, is what came through in his songs. He had a very conversational way of writing as well. He was really a great guy, who was very passionate about life and about music. It was a great experience to write with him and to be his friend.”

Pattly Loveless once said that Jim, as a songwriter, knew how to, ‘Gut an emotion, head right to the truth, and keep going.’ Is that an instinctual ability, or something that can be learned?

“Well, maybe both. I know that songwriting is something that, for me, parts of it are effortless and come easy. But then other things take a lot of effort on my part to finish. The melodies are always the easiest things for me. And sometimes titles are as well. But to really get into a song and make it work is the challenge for me.”

Sometimes all you need is a comfy chair, your guitar, and some peace and quiet….

So how does Jim know when a song is as bare as it can be, how does he gauge when it’s ready?

“I just kinda know. I have that feeling. There’s an expression, ‘Stick a fork in it’ [laughs], so I think you just kind of instinctively know. It’s like, o.k, I’ve said it, I’ve gotten the point across, and it doesn’t need to be edited or tweaked, or added to. Mind you, with most songs I worry if something is over five minutes! Buck Owens used to say, ‘Well, you’re only two and a half minutes away from a hit!’ Meaning that at any given time, not me personally, but a person can write something and it lasts two and a half minutes and hey…it’s a hit song! And radio has changed a lot, and records have changed a lot. They don’t have to be as short these days. But that was kind of a formula for many years in pop music and country music, that songs were roughly that length or less.”

My last question was one I tend to end with whenever I can. One about advice for songwriters. Michael Weston King, the British singer/songwriter, said the best piece of advice he ever received came from the legendary Townes Van Zandt, and it was just two simple words: Keep going. Now Jim himself has said before that whenever he’s feeling bad or going through something a little on the tough side, he tells himself that he needs to write himself out of that situation. Which, when you think about it, isn’t too far off what Townes advised. But what is the best piece of advice Jim has ever been given?

“I was living in New York city years ago, and Buddy Miller had moved up there at the same time. And interestingly enough, there was an influx of country music writers and singers and musicians that converged on New York city, of all places! Buddy Miller calls it The Great Country Music Scare of 1980 for New York city! [laughs]. I had just gotten a job in a house-band at a large new country venue in Jersey, and they would have national acts come and play there and we’d be the opening act. So that was a big deal for me, and I though this was my big break. But I had auditioned for a play where I was playing the banjo and the guitar – the play had a small bluegrass band – and one actor ended up being called Cotton Patch Gospel. And Harry Chapin, the singer/songwriter, wrote the music. So I auditioned, but I didn’t get it. But the man who did couldn’t fulfill his duties in the show so they offered me the role, but I turned it down. Because I said I had this new thing where I had to do my own music. And Harry Chapin said to me, ‘Well, you’ve got to do your own songs, and don’t forget that.’ He was very gracious. He said you’ve got to do your own things, don’t just do other peoples.’ And that’s what I really wanted to do, but he really reinforced it. He said, ‘Keep that fire in your belly.’ In other words, that passion, that urgency about things. And I thought that was really good advice. I was very fortunate years ago, I used to sing on Lucinda Williams’ albums back when her ‘Car Wheels On A Gravel Road’ album came out, and she had allowed me to open the show playing solo acoustic, then be in her band singing harmonies. So during that time I had already recorded an album and I was ready to put it out. But hearing her songs, and singing them night after night, I realised that the record I had just wasn’t up to par. Not that I wanted it to be like her record, which it couldn’t be, because nobody could do that. Now she didn’t say this to me about my record, even though she had heard it. But for me, from being around people like her, and Robert Hunter, and Harlan Howard, it’s almost like osmosis..it’s like your own kind of understanding of their process, and what they do, or the end result of their work. And in that case, with Lucinda, I just knew that I had to try harder and dig deeper. Because her songs were such masterpieces. I knew I had to go back to the drawing board, so I did, I scrapped that album. You’ve got to be honest with yourself.”

Jim Lauderdale, a master songsmith.

Before I let Jim back to the studio (he was recording on the day we spoke) there was one other thing I had to ask him about. I’d read before, but I was never sure if it was true or just a myth, that Jim had actually been outside The Dakota Hotel in New York on the day John Lennon was shot….?

“That’s right. I used to have to pick up and deliver camera equipment for Annie Leibovitz, so that was the tragic day that she did that last photo-shoot with John and Yoko. I had a gig the night before, a country gig, and I had one [coming up] that night, and I was really tired. I was waiting outside in the hope of catching a glimpse of John and Yoko, and I waited for a while but then I thought I only live a couple of blocks down the street, I’m gonna see him again, ya know.”

And did he really believe that he had actually seen Mark Chapman, standing there, waiting, as it would later transpire, to carry out his evil plan?

“I did, I did. I know I did because part of my thoughts were was I gonna stand around like this other guy waiting for an autograph, and he had an album in his hands at the time. And there was a woman standing with him at the time, but I think she was just another bystander.”

* Jim’s new album, ‘London Southern’, is out now.

Jim’s new album, ‘London Southern’, is out now

LAUDERDALE’S LIFE – A SONGWRITING LEGEND was originally published on HEM COUNTRY