#gladionpkmn

[hatgame]

for an arttrade with @dreampopplio :)

[seer-of-lxght]

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: Gen

Fandom: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types ; Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions

Characters: Gladio | Gladion ; Sauboh | Faba ; Suiren | Lana ; Buoysel | Buizel ; Silvady | Silvally ; Type: Null (Pokemon) ; Ashimari | Popplio ; Original Pokemon Trainer(s) ; Hau (Pokemon) ; Wicke (Pokemon)

Additional Tags: AU, Alternate Universe, Pokemon Ranger, Trans boy Gladion

Shortly after the events of Ultra Wormholes mysteriously opening up all throughout the islands of Alola and the sudden departure of Lusamine and her daughter, Lillie, the islands have settled down back to their calm, usual state. Of course, things can’t stay quiet for that long. With the arrival of a new, mysterious person who goes by the name of Ara, things seem to take quite an odd turn.

Ara seems benign at first, putting on water shows for the entertainment of the people, drawing in a young water-type trainer’s attention quite quickly. That’s not all the attention they have drawn, though. Ara has also captured the harsh gaze of Gladion, who’s quick to doubt this new arrival. Questioning this arrival, Gladion winds up getting himself wound up into a much bigger ordeal than he had ever intended to.

Chapter 1 Under Cut

Water bubbles floated through a street of Hau’oli city, drifting above buildings and into the clear skies of the shining day. They glowed with all sorts of colours- blue, pink, purple, and even green, casting small shadows downwards onto the pavement below. People watched in awe from all over the streets, staring at the bubbles as they glided through the air. Some people attempted to poke at them, causing the bubbles to jiggle slightly as they floated around.

Some simply snacked on food and watched with curiosity, while other groups of people continued to stroll through the street, only paying slight attention to the bubbles. Pokemon watched as well, and one especially friendly popplio had prodded at a bubble with its nose from its trainer’s arms, only to wind up showering them both with water when the bubble popped. Both the trainer and the popplio giggled quietly, not minding at all.

At the centre of it all stood, or rather, swam a singular person. People watched in awe as this person swam through a massive bubble of water that floated through the air, doing tricks and passing between other nearby bubbles. A buizel swam by the side of this person, aiding them with their tricks. A pair of kirlia sat near the bottom of the bubbles, eyes closed, focusing hard on keeping the bubbles afloat with their psychic powers.

The massive bubble split apart into a pair of drill-like bodies that floated around each other like a spiral. The performer flashed a bright grin towards their buizel that swam parallel to them. Buizel flashed a grin right back, suddenly taking off with a blast through the spiral of water. Within a moment, the enby followed buizel’s guide, swimming hard up through their spiral of water. Their shining necklace pressed against their neck, their deep blue hair flowing behind them like ribbons.

With one final kick, the performer and buizel broke through the top of the water spiral in unison, showering dazzling droplets of water all around them like diamonds raining from the sky. Each was suspended in the air for mere moments, then both the enby and buizel fell backwards into a pair of newly reshaped bubbles of water. The bubbles stood frozen in the air for less than a second, before both converted back into something resembling a drill, rocketing towards each other.

The water drills flew right by each other, allowing just enough room for buizel and the performer to narrowly miss each other. They then quickly shot upwards, in such a way that cast both Ara and buizel directly out of them and into the open air.

The two rocketed through the air and towards the ground at an amazing speed, particles of water glimmering all around them through their descent. With a silent shift in the air (thanks to some assistance from the kirlia), the performer and buizel landed spectacularly on their feet in the centre of it all; bubbles, people, pokemon- everything. Their faces shined with the glow of joy, looking out over the crowds that had stopped to watch.

Everything stood silent, as if waiting for a reaction to happen… and it did. The thunderous sounds of clapping erupted from the crowd- it was clapping of both people and Pokemon. Grins covered faces, eyes shown with stars of awe. The performer and buizel dipped in a low bow, both silently chuckling to themselves. It wasn’t anything sinister, rather, it was laughter caused by joy.

From the edge of the crowds stood a single trainer, blonde hair covering the right side of his face, and something that resembled a scowl was his painted expression. It was really just a resting bitch face, but that’s besides the point. With his clothing bearing several rips and being mainly coloured black or red, he stuck out from the crowd quite well. It further didn’t help that he was incredibly recognisable as the head of the Aether Foundation’s son. Of course, the massive, seven-and-a-half-foot tall dog-like creature standing right next to him further made him stick out. Let’s just say there was no way he at least didn’t earn himself a few glances, and especially didn’t avoid the look of the performer.

Gladion, said trainer, had been walking through Hau’oli City in order to get to Iki Town to visit someone who he had slowly come to recognise as his friend. While he could have easily avoided walking through the occupied street in Hau’oli, he felt the urge to check for trouble. Massive attractions seemed to be a popular strategy for stirring up some form of drama lately, especially with the three annoyances from Team Rocket around. Also silvally, his partner and dog, seemed really curious about all the bubbles. He had taken off before Gladion could do anything about it to see what was happening, and didn’t listen when Gladion attempted to call him back. Gladion had no choice but to follow. So there they were, at the edge of the crowd, watching a water performance.

Silvally prodded one of the bubbles with his head, causing it to jiggle slightly before it floated away. Within moments, a loud snap echoed from the centre of the crowd, and all the bubbles shattered beautifully. Silvally’s head flinched backwards slightly, surprised by the bubble shattering.

Gladion, who had little care for the water show, didn’t think much of the bubbles popping. Rather, the person in the centre of it all is what drew his attention at that point. Were they there to stir up any trouble? Were they apart of a new evil organization? Who were they?

Gladion’s attention suddenly snapped to a patch that was sewn neatly onto the person’s swimsuit. It was some sort of symbol, it resembled something of a wave… were they apart of some organization?!

In that moment, Gladion could faintly hear the voice of his sister, Lillie, in the back of his head telling him not to worry so much. Okay, so maybe the symbol wasn’t actually anything. Yet on the off chance…

Without realizing it, the person and Gladion’s eyes had met for a mere second. The person lifted their hand in a half wave to him, grinning awkwardly. A few folks in the crowd glances back to Gladion in that moment, a few of them almost immediately looking away. Whether they were startled by Gladion’s emo appearance or Silvally though, it wasn’t all that tellable.

On the other side of the crowd, a small girl, maybe around the age of 12, pushed her way through it to attempt to get to the centre. She wore a determined look on her face, eyes poised on the performer. She wore simple clothing, large blue pants and a white crop top with a dark swimsuit underneath. A popplio followed behind her, wearing a look that closely resembled that of the trainer’s. Two little girls that closely resembled the trainer watched her from the front of the crowd.

The performer looked like they were just about to say something before the trainer that emerged from the crowd snapped up their hand in her own, head facing downwards. Within that exact moment, the entire crowd seemed to have stood still, air filling with static.

The static shattered with the next movement; the trainer’s head snapped up, an intense look blazing in her eyes.

“Please, teach me how you did that!” she exclaimed, her voice cracking unevenly half way through her phrase.

“H-huh?” The enby seemed to be taken aback by the girl’s plead, a startled look clearly framed on their face. “Teach you?”

The trainer nodded, her blue hair puffing out unevenly. She was biting her lower lip, nervously looking into the performer’s eyes. “Please!”

“I-I don’t really know if I can do that kid,” they responded slowly, casting a glance from the trainer to the popplio, which held the same look as its trainer. They awkwardly looked to the side, “I’m not much of a teacher.”

That answer was more than obviously unsatisfactory to the trainer that clutched the enby’s hand. Her determined look didn’t die out, though, as it continued to shine in her eyes behind her nervous expression.

“Ah… um..” The performer’s startled look slowly faded to looking more awkward than anything. Looking into the trainer that held their hand’s eyes, that glow, that will… they melted into it. There was no way they could resist or deny that sort of look; it would have been an impossible feat to do so. “A-alright,” they choked out. “I guess.. I can teach you.”

The trainer’s expression, upon hearing the first words of the performer’s sentence, lit up like a chandelier.

“Thank you, than-” Her sentence was cut off early with the sudden, stiff aura that surrounded the performer as their head turned upwards, looking out towards the ocean. Their hand went limp, gently moving up to their ear where a small earpiece was hardly visible. Their fingers hovered over it, as their pupils shifted into pinpricks, awkwardly scanning over the water.

The crowd stood still in silence once again, watching the enby. Some were confused, some were concerned, others were thinking that this sudden shift of events was quite odd. Slowly, but carefully, the performer’s hand lowered down. They cast a glance towards the trainer, quietly murmuring and apology to her, saying that they’d need to meet up later.

They quickly dashed over and grabbed their backpack off the ground, the pair of kirlia hoping down just before. Buizel watched cautiously, following behind the performer. They slung the backpack over their shoulder, quickly calling out, “I need to go!”

The performer quickly broke through the crowd of people that had once surrounded them, dashing off at an amazing speed. Buizel ran at their side, its pupils the same pinpricks of its owners. Where they were going? Most of Alola had yet to receive the news at that point, yet just off the coast of the eastern side of the Melemele Island there was a ship that had just been reported attacked by a group of jellicent. The performer was told the situation wasn’t that serious, yet it could quickly elevate from the current moment.

Why was the performer, of all people, going to stop the jellicent? Well, the answer is simple; they, Ara Blanche, are the head of a special water division of Pokemon rangers from a far-off region, and they were currently in Alola due to an odd rise in attacks from the ocean waters.