#so for their gym leader battles they either stay very far away from the battlefield or they like. bring an emergency umbrella

[potatochip-oc-dump]

could you imagine.... chip but pokemon trainer... life would b so beautiful

[pokeworldrevisited]

Yes tell me about the brother bear au plz it’s sounds so good

Oh boi this… this is gonna be long… trust me, this is the upteenth time I wrote this AU down, it always ended up too long for my liking.

So what I should say first is that even though I said this is based of Brother Bear, it’s also based off other movies or game series that I liked. Brother Bear was just the main inspiration since I was listening to the OST while thinking this AU up. (And not I can’t UN-THINK this AU so thanks OST)

This AU is basically a whole rewrite of the game’s story, since it takes place literally at the start of the game. (Specifically the first time you go into the Slumbering Weald). This is why I keep writing so much for this, there’s a lot to know and add in.

In fact there’s so much about this AU that what would be the Post Game is basically a story all on it’s own.

Here’s a few things to note about this AU before I get into it:

I’m not gonna specify which trainer becomes which Legendary, that’s up to your interpretation 

Seeing as Victor and Gloria would have two separate reactions and additions to this AU, I’ll be referring them as MC instead. If you want me to do some stuff with Victor or Gloria as the MC, just ask

For most of this AU, Hop and MC are in what I’ll call ‘Uncrowned Form’, it’s basically the Hero of Many Battles form but with no battle scars. Their Crowned form also lacks scars.

Brother Bear (Temporary name) AU

Bit of Lore:

You know how important the rusted sword and shield are in game? Well, up that importance by like 1000 here. We know that it’s the sword and shield that basically brought Zacian and Zamazenta from the dead (or at least a very long sleep), they are what give the wolves their mighty powers that cause them to go to their Crowned forms.

So here’s a random question, what would happen if someone were to break the sword and shield?

Oh, and before you ask, this doesn’t mean that the old kings of Galar were also turned into the wolves at one point. That part of history is still the same. Hop and MC just did a bad thing and have to pay for it in the weirdest way possible.

Beginning:

Hop and MC were destined to become the next heroes right from the start, however when they were supposed to first meet the spirits of the legendaries something goes wrong. As in the spirit of Zacian/Zamazenta never shows up to stop the unprepared heroes from going further. And so further they went.

They found themselves at the Shrine and Gravesite of the wolves, where they discover the sword and shield just lying on the ground. And when they find the old relics they make a grave mistake, they accidentally break the sword and shield. And by doing so they severed the sole items that tied the heroes of Galar to the region. (The way the sword and shield break depend on which trainer took which relic or if MC was Victor or Gloria; For example, if Gloria grabs the sword she’d suggest having a little sparring match to calm Hop’s nerves and then bad things happen)

As both a punishment as a way to ensure there’d still be hope for the region against the upcoming Darkest Day, the wolves decide to use what little power they had left to turn Hop and MC into the legendary wolves. Yet to Hop and MC, all they see is the broken relics glowing and the mist around them starting to thicken.

Then, an illusion is created, one that scared the trainers’ poor Pokemon to run deep into the Weald, not to be seen again for a long while. It’s a battlefield, to be specific the first battle against the Darkest Day. Neither of them knew it at the time, but the illusion was showing them what they needed to do to break the curse that was going to be placed upon them. Hop and MC are so focused on the false battle that they don’t realise that the relics were floating, nor did they realise that the wolves sent some kind of blast that got absorbed into their bodies until they felt an explosion of pain strong enough to knock them both out. 

When they wake up, they find themselves in a place they don’t recognise (The Research Lab), being greeted by a Yamper which they could now… suddenly understand. Not too far from them was Leon who was talking to an unfamiliar woman (Sonia) about how he couldn’t stay because he NEEDED to find Hop and MC. But that’s weird, Hop and MC were right there, right? So why would Leon-

It was then that the two now former trainers looked at themselves and realised that they weren’t human anymore… let’s just say they reacted accordingly.

—————

The most important thing about this AU, and why it’s taken me so long to properly write it down, it’s because since this happens right at the start of the game, literally the entire game’s story changes from a kid travelling with their Pokemon to two Adults, two Kids who royally messed up in 100 different ways, and a pupper. (Though Leon doesn’t initially join in on this journey as he was looking for the kids, but a bit of convincing and a promise from Sonia’s part made him decide to help the wolves out)

Hop, Leon, MC and Sonia all go together on this journey for separate reasons:

Leon wants to find his brother and his best friend. Considering that they disappeared not long after he gave both Hop and MC their starters, he feels that what happened was in some way his fault. Of course he’d never let it show, but each new day where there’s no news on the kids’ whereabouts is starting to tire him out. 

Sonia wants to find out what Pokemon Hop and MC are. Her goal isn’t too different from in game, but instead of just looking into the history, she’s finding out more about the Pokemon themselves… then it eventually evolves into researching the history of the wolves

Hop and MC want to both make the adults realise that their not actually Pokemon and they want to find a way to get back to normal. Though Hop leans more on trying to find a way to tell Leon and he’s there and that he’s okay, while MC’s learning of the history of the wolves alongside Sonia in hopes that something from there would tell them what caused the whole transformation to begin with.

As this AU is in my ‘Sibling based AU’ list, it’s obvious that families would be important. There’s actually two sibling/sibling-like relationships:

Hop and Leon being the brothers they always are despite Leon not knowing that the legendary wolf that’s he’s been helping is actually Hop. Meanwhile Hop is overjoyed that he finally gets to see his brother in action 24/7, it’s like a dream come true. 

Then there’s the bond formed by MC, Sonia and Yamper. Yes, they were strangers at the start of this AU, but at the end when everything’s back to normal, these three become extremely close to one another. Sonia behaves like MC’s smart older sister while Yamper is like a excited little brother and the former trainer couldn’t ask for anything else.

Due to always travelling together, Hop, Leon, Sonia and Yamper get much more development (along with Hop getting a completely different character arc than in game for very obvious reasons), however this means that other characters such as 6/10 Gym leaders appearing less while characters such as Bede and Marnie get a different story for their arcs.

This part isn’t really finalised yet in my brain, but one of the main things is that seeing as Hop and MC are Pokemon (and the fact that Leon doesn’t know that Hop’s one of the two Pokemon in question), once they learn how to fight, their allowed to help against the wild dynamaxed Pokemon we just hear about in game. What’s most surprising especially for the former trainers is that their able to beat the giant Pokemon extremely easily.

Not only that but for Sonia’s side of the story, when she sees the statue of the two wolves, she assumes that Hop and MC are actually the legendary Pokemon of the past, or at least closely related to them. And so she starts suggesting more and more that they help against Dynamaxed Pokemon.

It’s not just Leon and Sonia that are important to this AU. But the Pokemon take more of a role than just being travel buddies. The two more important Pokemon for Hop and MC just so happen to be Charizard and Yamper, who have helped the former teachers learn to get around in their new bodies and helped them figure out how to properly fight.

Of course the Wild Pokemon is where it’s at. While wary at first, when Hop and MC got to truly travel the Wild Area, they found that the Pokemon there were surprisingly nice. A conversation here, a battle and a few berries there and new friends were made before nightfall. In fact the former trainers made it a habit of sneaking away from the adults in the dead of night to play with their new Poke-pals.

————–

There’s a lot more about this AU that I want to talk about but if I put it all in one post it’s gonna be WAY too long. This is just the gist of the AU, and I haven’t fully thought out the ending. But here’s what I got at the moment (Note that things might change):

When the Darkest Day comes, Hop and MC flee to the Weald where they find the spirits of the previous Zacian and Zamazenta, who in some way help the former trainers realise that they needed to save the region in the spirits’ steed. So that’s what they do, they fly over to Hammerlocke and fight against the Darkest Day, rescuing Leon from getting hurt from Eternatus’ attack and as a result turning into their crowned forms for the first time.

Once Eternatus is defeated (but flees before Leon has a chance to catch it), Hop and MC turn back to humans, the sword and shield separating from them. However now the relics looked new with little to no damage on either weapon. 

They have to give out one very long explanation to an overjoyed Leon and a confused Sonia about how exactly they became Pokemon in the first place, but once that’s over it’s all happy times. 

In fact the only drawbacks were; 

The fact that Leon basically grounded the two for giving him the heart attack of the century (aka their not allowed to go on their gym challenge until the next year, they don’t even get new starter Pokemon until the champion decides so) 

And the fact that for some reason Hop and MC can STILL talk to Pokemon even though their human again.

So yeah, happy end! …Until two weirdos with dumb hair come to ruin everything for their own selfish desires.

(Sorry is this wasn’t what ya wanted. I had so many ideas that this was the best I could do. But I do really REALLY like this AU, I’d love to do more with it if that’s okay with y’all… and rework on some aspects of this AU I’m not currently satisfied of)

[readerficsbyhyaku]

On the verge of broken dreams (Hop x Reader) Part 2

author’s note

Okay so this may be slow burn-ish. I’m the most impatient fuck but i had a great idea for this story so, in the event i actually finish it, it should be cool. Btw you can follow me/bookmark this on AO3 https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hyaku . Makes it easier to read all the chapters too.

The next day, you were up early to prepare for your match against Leon. As time went by, you felt your stomach begin to coil into knots, tension building up steadily inside you. When you changed into your gym uniform, you weren’t sure what scared you the most. Was is losing, and that all you had done up until now would be worthless ? Or was it winning and making all that Leon had done until now voided ? Thinking about Leon losing was a crazy thought in itself, but thinking about what consequences that would have was far more terrifying.

And it didn’t help that Leon looked so alike to Hop, you couldn’t help but be reminded of how you had robbed your best friend of his goal in life. But for the sake of everybody cheering you in the stadium, your mom rooting for you at home, your Pokémons, your friends… You had to battle with all your might. You couldn’t half-ass it right now.

You sighed while checking your shoelaces were nicely tied. It wasn’t use torturing yourself about it right now. Leon was undefeated after all, you might as well be just another pebble on his throne of victory.

As the stadium staff told you it was your turn to get onto the pitch, the ball in your stomach became unbelievably heavy. The dozen steps you had to take in the small tunnel under the rows of seats seemed to stretch like gum, your legs feeling numb and wobbly. But against all odds, you managed to emerge into the blazing lights of Wyndon Stadium and walked up to the center of it. In front of you, Leon was doing the same, the widest smile on his face and an absolutely confident demeanor.

There was no way you could beat him, right ?

He grinned at you, saying that he was excited to battle you, that you were promising and such, but his words were drowning in the tension and the cries of everybody around. Then he removed his cape in a swift movement and the battle began.

If you were bedazzled by the atmosphere of the champion fight at first, muscle memory came back after a few instants and your Pokémon synced in with you perfectly. You didn’t have the best or most optimal team by type standards, but you had Pokémon you loved and they gave it back to you tenfold. You could trust them to take a hard hit and still stand up, to fight until the end and then a bit more. Where sometimes you felt in a pinch or at loss for action, your friends compensated by going all in and brute forcing the opposite team with an energy you’d rarely seen before.

And, at last, you were up against Leon’s Charizard. While the orange dragon looked nothing too impressive in his normal form, that was bound to change when the champion gigantamaxed him. Looming over the field, the enormous reptile taunted your whole team. So you did the same, sending one of your Pokémon to dynamax. It wasn’t as flashy as Leon’s throw and transformation, but you found your Pokémon to be way cooler.

Picking one of Charizard’s weaknesses, you ordered your attack but the big dragon was faster. And even if your Pokémon wasn’t weak to fire per se, it hit him, hard. Charizard was in no better shape though, and looking up at your Pokémon, you mouthed a silent “sorry”. You couldn’t draw him out before the next attack, and he knew that if he avoided this one, it would fall on another teammate. So he toughened up and waited for your orders, head held high. Charizard scorched the battlefield again, and your Pokémon fainted in a gigantic explosion of dynamax energy and fire, retreating immediately to his Pokéball.

“You did great” you muttered while choosing who was going next.

Charizard only had one turn in Gigantamax left, so you chose another tough Pokémon that should be able to withstand at least one hit. Just one. You sent your pick next, and it was then that you realized you were one hit close to beating Leon. The undefeatable champion.

Staring at him across the field, you saw sweat dripping on his brow, and his usually wide, beaming eyes were now looking very concentrated, and maybe worried. He was down to his last Pokémon, which hadn’t happened in a long time. His eyebrows were frowned, and his hand hovered to his Pokéball belt in a protective manner.

Your heart ached again, being reminded how you had already broken Hop, and were possibly about to do the same to his brother. Your mind raced and you almost wanted to give up. You didn’t want to beat him, did you ? You wanted to… but you didn’t want to rob him of his future. There was no way you could see Leon as something else than the champion of Galar, and the one Hop was looking up to.

Your eyes wandered into the public and on the front row, you saw Sonia, Marnie, all the gym leaders and… Hop. Hop was there, cheering but you couldn’t hear what he was screaming. Even from the distance, your gazes met, and Hop seemed to smile even wider. Your stomach flipped upside down, hair standing up on the back of your neck. Was he cheering you ? Baffled, you pointed at yourself while wearing the most puzzled expression, and Hop started waving like crazy and jumping around.

You couldn’t let him down a second time.

The ball in your gut having nestled in your throat, you croakily order your Pokémon to attack one last time, and this time he’s faster than Charizard. You almost don’t see the two creatures collide and then Leon’s Pokémon is out in an explosion. And he has not one more to spare.

The public roars louder than you’ve ever heard and for a moment it blanks out every other sensation or thought in your body. You can see Leon hiding his face with his cap, something you’ve never seen him do before. The sound gradually dies down as the public waits for a speech from their new champion, but you can’t move a finger.

Hopefully, Leon saves you once more and pulls you into a hug. You’re thankful he did, because your legs wouldn’t have held you much longer. You wrap your arms around him and try very hard to keep the tears at bay, your arms trembling and your head feeling fuzzy like a Cottonee. Leon finally pulls away and says, a mix of sadness and joy in his voice

“I’m so glad I battled you. It was one of the best matches I ever had.”

Then he grabs your hand to raise it high in the sky and claims

“Galar, you have a new Champion !!”

And the public screams again, a thunderous sound that shakes the walls of the stadium and almost makes you fall.

After waving and smiling a few times, maybe uttering a few thank yous, you retreat to your locker room, still stunned.

You’re the champion. You have beaten Leon. Was it the right choice, though ? You didn’t really have any other…

You felt too exhausted to change, and Leon had given you his big cape “For the time being”. You didn’t quite listen to him, so either he was willing to take back his title, or it was for the time your official champion uniform took to be made. Either way, it made you feel safer, and if everything was too much you could just curl up under it and forget about the world, and what a horrible person you were.

Moving out of the locker room, you were assaulted by a crowd of reporters and people calling your name, asking you questions, going as far as grabbing your hands, your clothes, touching you. You smiled weakly while tugging the cape closer to you, and then the crowd parted a bit. You saw Hop rush towards you and literally jump onto you.

“You did it, mate !!!” he exclaimed while giving you the biggest, tightest hug you ever felt from him.

His eyes were gleaming, his smile was the widest, and he couldn’t stay in place. He looked so happy for you but you couldn’t help but think he should’ve been in your place.

You wanted to tell him how much you were sorry, how bad you felt, how you didn’t deserve any of this. Maybe you wanted him to be mad at you, just a little bit, so you wouldn’t feel like such a fraud. But the words were stuck in your throat, your head spinning because of the amount of people around you.

So you did the next logical thing : you grabbed Hop and ran into one of the elevators that were inside the lobby, and ordered the doors to be closed. Pressing a random floor button, you sighed as the sound of the crowd grew lower and thinner. Hop was taken aback, staring at you with a puzzled look.

“Hop, I’m so sorry !”

You grabbed him by the shoulders, to anchor you and not run away rather than the other way round. The words spilled from your mouth and there was nothing to stop them.

“I’ve done it again… I’ve taken Leon’s dream after taking yours, I’m the worst.”

You felt the ball starting to rise again, much quicker, and your voice cracked and shivered.

“I tried to find a way out. I wanted to stop it, to give up, to say I didn’t want to be the champion. I would’ve done anything, anything. You should’ve been the one facing him, Hop”

Your voice broke as you said his name and you couldn’t say anything more, tears threatening to spill over.

Hop called your name gently a few times, until you rose your head to look at him, eyes glistening.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s not your fault I couldn’t get to battle Leon, if it was anyone’s fault it was mine. And you did a great job today, don’t let anyone tell you you’re not worthy of being the champion.”

While he was saying that, he was rubbing gentle circles onto your shoulders to ease up the tension, and was giving you a very soft smile. His eyes were proud yet muddled with worry, and you felt another pang of guilt in your heart. You made him worry…

“As for Leon, I’m sure he’ll deal with it. If he was scared of losing his title, he wouldn’t endorse anyone. He looked like he was having fun, he’ll get over it.”

You stared into his eyes as he tried to reason and calm you. You wanted to believe him so much. You wanted to push all the terrible thoughts you held for yourself far, far away.

Even if he wasn’t your rival anymore, you still felt some yearning for him. There was something drawing you to him and in this instant, you wanted to stay like this forever. Just you and him, holding him and being held. His voice telling you that everything would be okay, soft whispers to soothe the turbulent emotions inside of you.

The elevator slowed down and you realized you were back to the ground floor, the sound of the reporters getting stronger again. You heard a small ding, and knew the doors would open soon.

Hop seemed to be lost in the same reverie as you, his stare gliding over your features, hands a bit firmer, stronger onto your shoulders. His long lashes fluttered when his gaze lowered and you wanted to see him do it again.

The doors started to open with a low hiss and, by Arceus, you wanted to slam the button to close the door so hard. You wanted this instant to last just a bit longer before being caught in the whirlpool of reality again so much. But you couldn’t. As the doors revealed the crowd to you and you to the crowd, the moment was over and Hop’s hand quickly fell from your body as he stared at the horde of fans, a bit intimidated.

As you went out of the elevator, you smiled at the crowd and signed autographs, and when one of the nosiest journalists asked what you were doing with your rival, you answered

“Hop is my friend, and will always be. He is my friend before being my rival, and I’m his friend before being the Champion. The fact that I have won changes nothing, as we both fought with all we had.”

You at least wanted to make things a little bit right for him. This wouldn’t erase anything, but you wanted him to know… you would’ve done anything for him.

[rhnuzlocke]

Episode 19

Scene 13:

[About a week later, Ren returns to the island in the center of Sootopolis bay for her final badge and Kai and Wally come to get their seventh badges. The Sootopolis Gym is an enormous greenhouse that takes up most of the island. Inside, a deep pool runs around the perimeter. Across a footbridge, the landscaping slopes upward to the top where water is pumped up and runs down the side in three main streams. There are numerous waterfalls and shallow pools between the mangrove trees and other vegetation that serve as natural filtration. A lengthy glass staircase leads to the top of the hill, periodically interrupted by battle arenas. The central steam fills these with water so that the water types that train her can be in their element, but each battlefield is also dotted with platforms for pokemon that cannot swim. Kai and Wally both take two trainer battles each to warm up and get used to the unusual setup, but Ren forgoes them. Eventually they make it to the leader platform at the top where Wallace is waiting for them. Kai goes first and he and Wallace go outside to battle so that Kai’s wailord can participate. Kai battles Wallace’s seaking, gyarados, seadra, and corsola with Zack, Lily, Dusty and Mako. They stay outside for Wally’s battle as well and this time Wallace uses his own wailord, relicanth, huntail and tentacruel against Wally’s magnezone, roselia, azumarill and gallade. Wallace hands over their badges and the group heads back inside for the final match. Ren and Wallace shake hands before taking opposite sides of the battlefield while Kai and Wally take their seats in the modest stands at the back. Wallace sends out his gorebyss first and Ren sends out Taraki.]

Wallace: Water pulse!

Ren: Leaf blade, Taraki! No mercy!

[Wallace is clearly hoping to confuse the sceptile, but Taraki powers through the attack and slashes at the gorebyss with his arm leaves. However the water pulse does cause enough distortion to make Taraki misjudge and the gorebyss dodges him, diving back underwater.]

Wallace: Psychic!

[Taraki waits for the gorebyss to get in range, but just as he swings, she uses psychic on his foot to pull him off balance and he falls into the water.]

Wallace: And whirlpool!

[Taraki is pretty used to the water and a good swimmer, so he doesn’t panic as many pokemon might when the whirlpool drags him away from the platform and pulls him down.]

Ren: Mega drain!

[Taraki takes a final gulp of air before going under and uses mega drain. The strength of the whirlpool disintegrates as energy flows from the gorebyss into the sceptile. Taraki launches off the bottom and back onto a platform.]

Wallace: Hang in there, Mātā! Draining kiss!

Ren: Leaf blade!

[The gorebyss reclaims some of its energy but not enough and this time Taraki hits home. The gorebyss falls back into the water with a splash and Wallace withdraws it. He sends out a walrein, which swims forward and leaps up onto a platform.]

Ren: Alright Taraki, let’s let Ao handle this one.

[Taraki bounds from platform to platform back to Ren’s side and she sends out Ao. The walrein bellows a challenge at the manectric as the two square off.]

Wallace: Aurora beam!

Ren: Charge beam!

[The beams meet in the air and explode into a burst of snow. Ao dashes through the cloud to catch her opponent only to find the walrein has slipped underwater. A second later he lunges out of the water behind her and body slams the manectric off the platform. She flies across the short expanse of water and hit the next platform. She bounces and rolls but her claws dig in and she just barely manages to stop herself from sliding off. She looks up to see the walrein charging another aurora beam between its jaws. Just as it fires, sparks flicker across its pelt and it flinches, causing the attack to go wide. Ao wastes no time in retaliating with another charge beam.]

Wallace: She’s weakened. Brine, Ngongo!

Ren: Discharge!

[The walrein is slowed by paralysis and Ao is able to dive out of range of the torrent, dashing across the platforms to behind the walrein before discharging into it. The boosted electric attack is more than even something as tanky as the walrein can handle and it slumps. Wallace withdraws it and sends out a whiscash. It looks like a normal water type to Ren, but she remembers Kai talking about them when they were in Fallarbor.]

Ren: Ao, come back. Taraki you’re up again.

[Wallace’s face tightens a little as the sceptile and manectric swap places on the field.]

Ren: Mega drain!

Wallace: Berry, Poharu!

[Ren sees that there is a pouch strapped to the whiscash’s belly and it eats the rindo berry inside as Taraki uses mega drain. Taraki’s attack does far less than it would have, although the whiscash still droops a little.]

Ren: Leaf blade!

Wallace: Belch!

[Taraki steaks across the arena at full speed only to have the whiscash belch a huge cloud of toxic gas into his face as he closes. Taraki staggers, tumbles and falls in again.]

Wallace: Future sight!

[The whiscash glows purple and Taraki launches back out of the water, punching it from beneath. It’s water sphere bursts and it gets a worrying amount of air before Wallace withdraws it and sends out a starmie. Taraki is dripping and panting from exhaustion.]

Ren: Ao.

[The manectric nods and bounds back onto the field while Taraki summons his energy to gracefully retreat.]

Wallace: Light screen, Ārahi!

Ren: Charge beam!

[Ao’s attack gets filtered through the starmie’s shimmering barrier and does very little damage, but sparks gather in her fur.]

Wallace: Cosmic power!

Ren: Charge beam again!

[Usually the second charge beam would do moure, but the starmie glimmers, boosting it magical defenses even further and the attack still does very little.]

Wallace: Hydro pump!

Ren: Thunder wave!

[Ao dodges the attack but just barely and now all of the platforms on Ren side of the field are wet. The starmie shudders with paralysis, but even with the handicap it is still fast and almost gets Ao a second time as she bounds away.]

Ren: Another charge beam or two! We have to break that barrier!

Wallace: Psychic!

[Ao gets in a charge beam before the starmie can grab her with psychic energy, but there is no escaping its hold. It slams her back down on the platform and starts to raise her up again only to have paralysis stop it. Ao fires a fourth charge beam before her paws even hit the ground and the starmie flinches.]

Wallace: Recover.

[Healing energy flows into the starmie, but Ao is now rippling with sparks. She is about to discharge when a purple beam fires out of the ceiling and knocks her flat. Both trainers just watch for a second, wondering if the future sight was enough to finish Ao, but in another moment Ren knows it’s not. She clenches her fists and Ao raises her head. Ao howls and discharges into the starmie and it falls on its back, ruby dimming. Wallace withdraws it and sends out his milotic.]

Ren: Nicely done, Ao. Come on back.

[Ren hesitates for a moment and reaches for Akahata’s ball on her belt, but Taraki grabs her shoulder. His bright golden eyes meet Ren’s muted green and she nods. The sceptile grins as he steps forward to challenge Wallace’s milotic and Ren tenses. Taraki won’t be able to take many hits after that poison attack and certainly no super-effective ones.]

Wallace: Twister!

Ren: Leaf blade!

[The glowing whirlwind picks up water as it zigzags towards Taraki but the Sceptile dodges arounds it leaping around the arena to where the milotic is waiting for him. Peretau dodges Taraki’s swings and wraps his tail around the sceptile’s foot and whips him towards the water.]

Ren: Slam!

[As Taraki’s right foot starts to slide, he digs in with the other and spins. His tail goes over the milotics head, but he succeeds in gaining enough momentum to pull Peretau back onto the platform. Tarali hauls back, leaves glowing, but Peretau slithers the other way and wraps Taraki’s arms tight to his torso.]

Ren: Mega drain!

[Peretau is already charging an attack but stops in favor of disentangling himself as Taraki drains his energy. The milotic uncoils rapidly, elongating his tail with water. The added length helps him spinn Taraki like a top and fling him into the air. Peretau charges again and Taraki whips his tail around to correct his tumble. The ice beam grazes his tail but Taraki lands on his feet in a crouch.]

Wallace: Surf!

Ren: Leaf blade!

[The milotic pulls all the water to his end of the arena and then hurls it at Taraki in a towering wave. Taraki launches forward to meet it, slicing through the wave with his right and slashing the milotic with his left. The milotic flinches but takes the hit and straightens up, towering over Taraki. The sceptile spins and slams Peretau with his tail. The milotic hits the water with a huge slash and sinks. Taraki roars and Wallace withdraws his milotic. Kai and Wally cheer and Ao howls. Wallace sighs and watches as Taraki skips back to Ren and hugs her. He waits until they are done to approach.]

Wallace: [holding out a badge] Here is the Rain Badge and that completes your set.

Ren: [passing it to Taraki] You really made us earn it. That was some gambit.

Wallace: Well, I was almost the Champion you know.

Ren: Is that why you tease Steven?

Wallace: That and some other things. But mostly I just pretend to be bitter. I think being a Gym Leader is a bit more my style. [spreading his arms grandly] So, what do you think?

[Ren has another brief look around the gym. Kai and Wally are waiting in the stands for her to be done. They are no longer alone either. Some of Wallace’s students are there watching while others work in the pools nearby.]

Ren: It’s really beautiful and it must be fantastic to train water-types here. I also can’t help but notice there is not a single male trainer in this gym.

Wallace: Ah yes, I think we have my flamboyance to thank for that. It doesn’t trouble me though. We’re all one big, gay family here. Except for Heather, our token straight girl and resident black sheep.

Heather: [distant] Up yours, Wallace!

Wallace: [yelling] Love you too! [to Ren] See: happy family.

[Ren laughs.]

Wallace: Are you heading right to Victory Road after this?

Ren: No, I’m gonna head home for a bit and rest.

Wallace: Well let me know when you’re in Ever Grande so I can clear my schedule. I have a feeling Steven will need a shoulder to cry on.

[The both grin. Ren offers her hand and he takes it gladly. Ren heads out with her friends into yet another absurdly gorgeous afternoon.]