#to become a good pokémon professor

[wildflowercryptid]

Hope its okay if I ask about your versions of Florian and Juliana, thanks ^ _ ^

- Are they siblings?

- What are both their personalities?

- Were they actually raised in Paldea? The MC's in the game are implied to originally be from Galar so I was just wondering that

- Which storylines from the game are each the of them the main character of?

I'm so sorry if I've missed out an info sheet on them hhhhghg

Thank u again!

oh, it’s more than okay to ask about them! i actually really like talking about my interpretations of the pokémon characters, but i just struggle to articulate my ideas a lot of the time. or forget to share them. i’ve been meaning to drop lore for these two so i’ll do that now!

( putting the answers under a cut because i kinda ended up rambling. oops. )

are they siblings?

yes, they are! juliana is the older of the two, but they’re actually super close in age ( with jules not even being a year older than florian. ) because of that, they’re pretty close and sometimes get mistaken for twins. they still bicker and annoy each other like any other typical sibling relationship, but they respect each other a lot and consider each other their greatest confidant. their relationship kinda ends up paralleling carmine and kieran’s own dynamic as siblings, with juliana and florian seeing each other as equals while the same can’t really be said for carmine and kieran.

what are both of their personalities?

while they’re both pretty level-headed, juliana is definitely the more outgoing and confident of the two. florian is more of the reserved type, someone who typically keeps to himself and would much rather wait in the wings than be center stage, ( too bad he’s basically the major protagonist of the story. ) they’re both fairly friendly, but he struggles connecting with others more when compared to his sister. essentially, they’re kinda like a dialed-back version of mabel and dipper pines. florian generally is a very sweet and open-hearted kid who tries to see the best in others, which often leads to his kindness being taken advantage of and getting pushed around easily, ( i.e. carmine convincing him to keep the secret about ogerpon from kieran. ) because of that, juliana is a little protective of him and isn’t afraid to step in when he struggles to stand up for himself. and while she does like to be seen as reliable, that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t encourage florian to be more confident and advocate for himself more. he does end up growing more of a backbone during the timeskip, which makes her very proud. meanwhile, juliana is a lot more outspoken and doesn’t hold back when things need to be called out. she’s still just as compassionate as her brother and is extremely reliable, along with having a very strong moral compass. she definitely fills the cool, reliable older sister role pretty well.

were they actually raised in paldea?

they grew up in galar like what’s implied in canon, but the details are a little different. they’re actually paldean on their mother’s side, who was originally from cabo poco herself. their family decided to move from wyndon back to her hometown after their father lost his job at one of macro cosmos’s now defunct finance subsidiaries. luckily, he was able to land a new desk job in medali and now larry’s his boss. ( the two get along well, they talk about their kids during lunch breaks. )

which storylines from the game are each of them the main character of?

juliana takes on the victory road and starfell street storylines while florian tackles the path of legends and filling out the pokédex, with both of them coming together for the way home. initially, i conceptualized them as co-protagonists and they still kinda are… but florian has definitely taken on the role as primary protagonist with how much shit keeps on just happening to him. i would expand the specifics of how the path of legends plays out for florian and how his friendship with arven develops, but i’ve already rambled enough so i’ll try to talk about that in another post.

hope this answers all your questions and sorry if it's a little long, i've just gotten attached to these kids and have a lot to say about them.

if you have any other questions ( about the paldea kids or mjverse in general, ) please feel free to ask them! it might take me a sec to reply, but i'll try my best!

[hauntingmiser]

⚠️ : BODY HORROR

Day 27 !

Theory :

I believe that every professor from Pokemon is a dryad I mean here is proof of one and see if you know the difference-

Ah that's....Horrifyingly....proving my point.

[waywardstation]

What if the Zoroark Ingo uses in the path of solitude is his own Zoroark and that’s part of the reason Zisu’s zoroark hates him?

Ingo refuses to use Zisu’s Zoroark for the path of solitude because it will NOT listen to him. He has to resort to using another Zoroark, probably one that Akari caught herself from the pasture. For some unknown reason, this just ends up making Zisu’s Zoroark even more mad at him.

[yusuke-of-valla]

Idk how to explain my thoughts about Hop vs Keiran's arcs coherently but it boils down to I feel worse about beating Hop, therefore Keiran's better written

[yamujiburo]

HANAMUSA HEADCANONS

Woo! Some fun lil headcanons~

Jessie and Delia Headcanons

Delia is a morning person and was surprised to learn that Jessie was even more of a morning person than her

Jessie's a massive romantic and is usually the one to plan all their dates

Jessie and Delia enjoy doing karaoke together

After finding out Delia wanted to be model, Jessie started making a lot of new outfits for her using her years of expertise from making disguises

Jessie enjoys giving Delia makeovers and Delia loves getting them

Delia enjoys being big spoon

Delia initiated their first kiss

Jessie cuts Delia’s hair for her

Once Jessie becomes a nurse and starts going to work, Delia starts packing lunches for her every day. It’s usually way too much food

Whenever Delia’s working in the kitchen, Jessie’s always waddling right behind her. Not really being much help but Delia doesn’t mind

Jessie's not great at cooking but makes an effort to make food for Delia when she notices Delia's tired. It's usually bad but Delia appreciates the thought

Delia is incredibly fond of Jessie’s Pokémon, Wobbuffet and Gourgeist in particular 

Delia is terrified of snake Pokémon

Delia never really drank before meeting Jessie but now they have wine nights together. They usually end with Jessie passed out in Delia’s lap

When Delia gets really drunk, she gets REALLY affectionate and grabby

Delia can't swim and it's her secret shame

Professor Oak is very cordial with Jessie but also wary of her. He mostly wants to make sure Delia is taken care of and won't get her heart broken

Pikachu comes around to Jessie rather quickly after realizing she’s not really a threat and finding out how good at head scratches she is (she has nice long nails)

Mimey takes the longest to come around to Jessie 

Jessie calls Delia “my Deerling” and Delia calls Jessie "Smoochum"

Delia loves when Jessie gives her kisses on the forehead

Delia is a huge Jessilina fan. Jessie reveals that she is Jessilina but Delia doesn’t believe her at first

Jessie and Delia do a lot of movie nights together. Jessie loves sobbing at romcoms and Delia likes really fucked up horror movies for some reason (Jessie’s terrified of them but doesn’t want Delia to think she’s a coward)

Jessie likes to randomly scoop Delia up and carry her around the house

Delia picked up a habit of talking to herself prior to Jessie moving in. It frequently catches Jessie off guard

Jessie gets irritated when people flirt with Delia. Mostly because that's her girl but also because she's mad they weren't flirting with her, herself.

Delia tends to keep a lot of her negative feelings to herself but after meeting Jessie and seeing how unapologetically expressive she is, she starts letting her guard down a bit. She rants about rude customers and Jessie could listen to her all day

Because she lived alone for so long, Delia sometimes needs her space. Jessie’s still getting used to this (as someone who hates being alone)

Delia is very particular about how chores are done as well as how things are organized in her house

Prior to getting her own job, Jessie would just do chores then sit around at the Ketchum house waiting for Delia to come home. She’s very bad at entertaining herself

Jessie puts on a healthy amount of relationship weight over time. Long gone are the days of Jessie eating snow (out of necessity) and starving

Jessie still likes snowgasboard as a treat

Delia and Jessie both have abandonment issues and require a lot of reassurance from one another

Delia's not super strong but she starts working out in order to one day carry Jessie on their wedding day

Jessie, who is used to being on the run, gets antsy from staying home more frequently. She takes up a lot of yoga and running. Delia joins sometimes.

Ash Headcanons

When Ash first found out that his mom was dating Jessie, he was, justifiably, suspicious of her.

Early on Ash would secretly prank Jessie in hopes that it'd make her leave

Jessie and Ash slowly bond through Pokémon battles as well as sharing Pokémon facts with each other

Ash never calls Jessie “mom” and she’s very okay with that. He does however call her “dad” to piss her off

Jessie calls Ash “champ” in retaliation

Jessie's been quietly invested in Ash's love life, having seen him travel with so many people and witnessing all the crushes people have had on him.

James Headcanons

James is aroace and happy not being in a relationship

Now that he's settled down in Pallet, James spends a lot of his time indulging in his many hobbies (bottle cap/Pokéball collecting, gardening, building miniature models of various things, raising and training Pokémon, etc.)

Because Jessie kept passing out at wine nights, Delia started inviting James to them and it's now become more of their thing

James started off as just a waiter at Delia's restaurant but Delia found out he was great at cooking so they exchange roles sometimes

Jessie frequently goes to him for advice on how to impress Delia and be a better person for her. He's the nicest person she knows.

Jessie is still pretty affectionate and close with James and he gets freaked out about it, thinking Delia would have a problem with it (she does not)

James and Ash really get along. Even early on when he was still getting used to Jessie being around the house, he'd confide in James (and James, like a secret helper, would help Jessie out by letting her know Ash's needs)

Meowth Headcanons

Meowth took getting fired from Team Rocket the hardest

Delia and Professor Oak filled the Giovanni shaped hole in his heart

Oak had a really hard time trusting Meowth at first and whenever he translated anything from the Pokémon, Oak wasn't sure whether to believe him or not

After some time working at Oak's lab, Oak gave Meowth a pet on the head after he did a good job and it altered his brain chemistry forever

Meowth had a hard time making friends with Ash's Pokémon at Oak's lab (obviously) but Infernape, right away was happy to have him around. He helped all the Pokémon come around and get to know Meowth

Meowth was the first one to pick up on Jessie's crush on Delia. Unlike James, he didn't get too involved, worried that Jessie dating Delia then potentially blowing it might ruin a good thing (his views on love are a bit jaded after his experiences)

Meowth is now very supportive of Jessie and Delia, and is happy that one of his best friends found love

Other Headcanons

Professor Oak is very cordial with Jessie but also wary of her. He mostly wants to make sure Delia is taken care of and won't get her heart broken

Pikachu comes around to Jessie rather quickly after realizing she’s not really a threat and finding out how good at head scratches she is (she has nice long nails)

Mimey takes the longest to come around to Jessie. Jessie's asked Meowth to help her figure out what Mimey's deal is but Meowth is also scared to talk to Mimey.

Seviper desperately longs for Delia's love and attention but she's too scared of it. She eventually gets to the point where she can pet it with no issues as long as Jessie is also in the room

Early on, Delia's customers start to pick up on the fact that Delia was happier. They assumed she'd finally found a new boyfriend but they were very surprised to find out she was dating a bombshell of a woman

The people of Pallet were initially a bit scared of Jessie. Not a lot of women there look quite like her. She has an intimidating aura but over time find that she's quite pleasant, especially when she's with Delia

General Team Rocket Heacanons!

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

Could I maybe get a Hisuian!Reader who came to Paldea through a space time rift? They remember everything, they still have all their old Pokemon, they like to share stories of their adventures (anything from taking on Volo to "Oh yeah, I caught this alpha garchomp after a half-hour standoff, here's her gigaton ball lol."), they've got little scars here and there from accidentally standing too close to Pokemon attacks or taking fall damage, and they give descendants of their Hisuian Pokemon to their blueberry friends (BBE4, Carmine, and Kieran) during their trades. To make things even more interesting, I wonder what that reader would think about bloodmoon ursaluna, Perrin, and modern Sinnoh - seeing their dear friend Adaman in someone alive today and seeing just how much things have changed over the years

The PLA fixation is real so YESSSIR I finally got around to this one. I separated the headcanons by region and their respective characters

.............

Paldea (Arven, Penny, Nemona)

After finishing your mission in Hisui, you decided to confront Arceus, being satisfied with everything you've done for the Survey Corps and the good people of Jubilife Village.

You fully finished the pokedex, fulfilling Professor Laventon's dreams, and were ready to return home.

After some reluctance, Arceus agreed and ensured you wouldn't lose any of your memories, as you didn't want all your feats in Hisui become lost to history.

It warned you that you'll never get to see Rei/Akari, Professor Laventon, the Wardens...or anyone else ever again.

But you've said your goodbyes and were ready to go back.

One warp through a space-time rift later, you were dropped off in Paldea-

Right where Arven, Penny, and Nemona were discussing whether to call off the search for you or not.

As it turns out, you've been missing for months, not long after the Area Zero adventure, and so it's a rather tearful reunion when they realize the person in the old fashioned clothing was you.

You looked tired, scarred, battle-hardened...and yet you smiled as you joked about being "back from the past".

Since then, easing back into modern life was..trickier than you expected.

You still had the habit of crafting pokeballs and potions as you were taught, rather than spend money buying them in bulk (even though you had boatloads because of your champion status).

You tried getting the trio to follow your directions, but they kept fumbling with the tumblestones and didn't know where to attach the iron chunks that made up the clasps.

When you start talking about feather, wing, leaden, and gigaton pokeballs they stare at you in confusion until you realize "oh shit those are outdated".

Nemona is VERY curious about the gigaton ball, however, and so you show it to her--revealing your Alpha Garchomp branded with the "Former Alpha" mark. She got to keep her height.

"Oh yeah, she was a real feisty one. We had a half-hour standoff on a slippery ice mountain slope but I showed her who's boss haha." You laugh as you share the story of how you encountered and tamed her.

Your fellow champion now thinks you're 10x cooler for actually facing a Pokémon head-on....while poor Arven and Penny are shook(TM) and wondered how you made it back alive.

Especially when they discover your scars are from falling and vicious Pokemon attacks

Introducing your Hisuian starter to your Paldean starter was...a little awkward. One recently became a champion's Pokémon and the other faced Giratina itself.

But they eventually shake hands and become besties, becoming members of your party whenever you wanna battle Arven, Penny, or Nemona again.

You keep accidentally calling out agile/strong style in your commands (ie "Avalugg, make an Agile Avalanche!"), but your Pokémon like to pretend they still know them.

Kitakami (Perrin & Bloodmoon Ursaluna)

Returning to Kitakami felt most familiar..and quite comforting considering how traditional everything is.

Festival of the Masks came back around, and while you didn't get to spend it with Kieran nor Carmine this time...you did wind up spending it with somebody else...

Perrin, who you were drawn to after seeing her Hisuian Growlithe getting into trouble with an Arbok and trying to stand up for itself.

Reminds you of a certain late lord's son..

She expresses her thanks for rescuing her buddy, and mentions how you got there "right on time".

You just look into her eyes and see Adaman: the Diamond Clan leader, the kind man who gave you the celestica flute and came to your aid when you got exiled from the village.

He may be gone now, but time didn't allow him to be forgotten.

Because he lives on in somebody else.

Perrin gets concerned when she sees how emotional you're getting, but you just wipe your eyes and say she just reminds you of an "old friend".

When you show her your other Hisuian Pokémon, she's THRILLED and wants to take all of their pictures, delighted to have proof that these creatures existed.

That leads her to ask how you acquired them, and you start talking about your adventures in the very region she's been studying...including the fact you met her ancestor who used to worship Dialga and had an easygoing attitude like her.

Girl is taking notes fr.

Together you seek out the "Bloodmoon Beast", only to discover that it was an Ursaluna who travelled alllll the way to Kitakami from Hisui, the environment causing it to change appearances and abilities.

You were fascinated, wondering what Lord Ursaluna or Calaba would think of him, and made him a member of your team after quelling his rage.

While going on more casual photoshoots with Perrin, you ask her about what Sinnoh is like now or if anyone there knew about Hisui.

She mentions how the elderly folk talk of it, and how the subway battle system was being run by one conductor due to the other going missing...

You find yourself holding your breath---until she says "oh but apparently he came back like yesterday" and you were SO relieved.

'Ingo made it back home, too. Thank you Arceus.'

She plans to invite you to Sinnoh someday, seeing as you're so curious about what it all looks like now.

BB Academy (BBE4, Carmine, & Kieran)

When you got to study abroad at BB Academy, you...sorta forgot all the beef you had with Kieran until you saw him berating a student out in the terarium.

A year later, you're Paldea's champion AND the one who saved Hisui, but you couldn't exactly tell him the latter.

But now you understood why everyone back then calling you a "hero" made you a little uncomfortable.

Ogerpon (who was worried sick about where you've gone all this time), was SO happy to see you were back and got to meet your Hisuian Lilligant. Two plant gals just vibing together.

You find a Kleavor in the canyon biome and become a bit sentimental, happy to see a descendant of the Lord of the Woods had survived to this very day.

He must've known you were the one who helped his ancestor (albeit not without receiving some scars from flying wood chips), as he bowed and began walking alongside you, loyal to a tee.

Least to say, he became a valuable ally when you finally battled Kieran in the championship.

He sees that you've definitely changed a lot, too. You look tougher and he was concerned about where that scar across your eye came from....

But he's still obsessed with winning, and his attitude when talking about Terapagos afterwards reminds you of...well...Volo.

It's such an extreme comparison, and you hate how your brain immediately jumped to that considering that was a legitimate monster of a man who betrayed you.

Yet it feels like such a similar situation when Kieran pits the turtle against you in the Underdepths, obsessed with power and wanting nothing more than to be recognized as "worthy".

At least he wasn't planning on ending the world, just yours.

After you both reconcile, you spill the beans about where you've gone for the past year, expecting him to laugh or shun you again for keeping such a big secret from him.

Instead..he has this star-eyed look and wanted to know MORE.

So during your next visit to Kitakami, you tell him and Carmine some stories of your Hisuian adventures, showing off Kleavor and your Alpha Garchomp.

Seeing that you still liked to make authentic pokeballs and potions made Kieran appreciate you a lot more. Kitakami used to have a lot of those apricorns, tumblestones, and leeks before everything became mass-produced.

Like him, you really became out-of-touch with today's technology, so while he's learning it, you're re-learning it along with him.

Eventually you tell those same stories to the BB E4, who are all just as shocked, amazed, and bewildered as the twins were.

And when they all came to offer up a trade, you knew what to do:

For Drayton, you gave him a Goomy, insisting that he trains it fully, not wanting to spoil the "surprise".

As lazy as he is, he does so and is stunned when Sliggoo is revealed to be chilling in its own shell, and Goodra had its whole shell on its tail, capable of withdrawing into it anytime

Ngl it makes him wish he had his own shell to withdraw into just to escape situations.

For someone like Kieran who likes old-fashioned stuff, you figured a Hisuian Voltorb would suit him best.

Its appearance reminds you of the olden ways pokeballs were made, and he got the hang of crafting a few himself after a little trial and error!

He gets nervous about it exploding like Kantonian Voltorbs at the slightest touch, but is happy to find out it's super friendly and discharges just to spook humans.

As for Carmine, the sharpness in her golden eyes reminds you of a certain ghost type's...and thus you believed giving her a Hisuian Zorua was ideal. You had a feeling she'd love its evolved form.

When she does evolve it, she's stunned that it has reddish highlights like she does, jokingly asking if this is her in "another life".

Least to say, she loves it indeed.

While you were adamant about giving Amarys your Kleavor, you ended up trading her a Scyther and give her a black augurite afterwards, explaining how it's the secret to its other evolution.

She mentioned deposits of that mineral existing within the canyon biome, but it couldn't actually evolve the surrounding Scyther population due to being simulated.

But thanks to you, she gets to witness that in-action because you held onto an authentic piece of it, and she gives you her thanks.

As for Crispin, well, you believed a Hisuian Growlithe was perfect for him. It was energetic, loyal, and full of fire..just like him.

He got teary-eyed at the story you told of the late Lord Arcanine, his son, how you quelled his frenzy, etc..and feels inspired to train the pup you've given him into something incredible.

One thing Kantonian and Hisuian Arcanines have in common? They love spicy foods.

For Lacey, you trade her a Hisuian-born Petili, encouraging her to use the sun stone right away.

She does and is delighted to see Lilligant as such a graceful dancer..who really packs a punch when it counts!

She'll definitely doll her up and ensure she knew Charm (the only fairy move Hisuian Lilligant could know, alas).

[starrysilvalley]

Time for the secondary protagonist of this tale, Emmet! He may have a familiar face— if only he had the same understanding of himself. He occupies more of a Virgil/mentor archetype, and within the Pokémon games universe he would be the closest to a Professor role.

To emphasize again, this project takes place in distant future of the Pokémon in-game universe. The plotlines of previous games are all considered canon up until Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Anything past that is considered non-canon within the context of Spectrum. Emmet’s place in particular was based on the context of PLA and my own interpretations/theories on the subject of the twins when playing it (mostly answering questions like “where is Emmet”, “is he in present-day Unova or another time/place entirely”, “what happened to cause the separation”, etc.)

✨⭐️✨

Emmet is an amnesiac and fugitive against the New Unova League, as well as a surrogate father to Una. Despite being a verrry blunt and open book, Emmet remains a bit of a mystery. His earliest memory is waking up in the custody of the Pokémon League with nothing but his ratty coat and hat that just so happened to have his name stitched inside. Interregators told him he was found with illegal possessions (what type of possessions, he still doesn't know) and had been conspiring to eliminate the Champion. It was only through an intervention that he was able to escape with a mysterious little girl in tow. To this day, he still has no idea where he came from before his captivity or if he has any roots somewhere in New Unova. Although there will always remain the desire to know his true self, under the current circumstances, Emmet is focused more on his found family in Una and his business partner Fajra.

Due to his experiences, Emmet has a tendency to be more reserved… at least, sometimes. He is more mischievous than he first appears and typically uses this to his advantage when faced with more sketchy characters. He is very observant, but learned that his commentary can get him into trouble. It also may just be that he has become more restrained with his trickster side in order to show a good example to the young rascal in his charge. If he wants her to follow his safety guidelines, he should probably learn to follow them himself, right?

Emmet currently only has one Pokémon— a Neo Variant Liepard. If he had any other Pokémon prior to his amnesia, he has no way of knowing where they are or what they were. He acquired Liepard during his incarceration, but he’s never spoken on the specifics of how he acquired her. Regardless, their experiences together led to a strong comradery between them. Liepard is almost always out of her pokéball and flanking his side. For whatever reason, Emmet never pursued acquiring more Pokémon and seems to avoid Pokémon battles altogether. He’s never made it clear why this is the case. However, on the rare occasion where he and Liepard do battle, they are notoriously ruthless and almost perfectly in-sync. At the very least, he has shown to have a strong knowledge of battling, even if he doesn't seek it out.

I currently do not have as many sketches of Emmet as I do Una since I'm building Una from the ground u, and I struggle to find a design/style I like for him. This sketch of the pair and their Pokémon is one of my favorites.

My one other drawing I liked was an even chibi-er version of him (I don't usually draw in chibi style, but its proven to be the easiest to use), including some character notes from the time.

I've gone back and forth on a LOT of his character since I wanted to have his character explore a twist in the themes originally given to him by the creators. I know there are theories that Emmet is meant to embody truth while his brother embodies ideals, so its been an interesting challenge to work with this character in the dystopian context where truth is oppressed and often requires characters to abandon honesty. Its also difficult because Emmet is known for his optimism and I don't want to take that from him, even in a dystopian context. I believe his upbeat/mischievous nature helps him stand out from his brother, and quite frankly, I think even dystopian worlds could use some hope. I'm just more use to writing Ingo characters rather than Emmets. I'm hoping I can do this little guy justice :’)

[minnlahzz]

amethio, silver x hex maniac reader.

requested

amethio and silver! oreo and jalapeño duo (this is separated.) sorry for the big wait, school is biting my toes. uhh silvers is very short, because I feel like ive mentioned most of the things silver would do in other fics. I don't wanna seem repetitive or uncreative!

— AMETHIO

amethio would initially be unsure what to make of you. your eerie aura and cryptic way of speaking would intrigue him, but he’d be cautious. he’s logical, so he’d view what you do as something he needs to understand rather than dismiss, because every person is different why judge them. he’d probably think, "are they like this all the time?" when you casually mention something spooky like the “ghosts watching over” him.

amethio’s edgy demeanor and your crazy words would balance each other out. he’d act as the grounded counterpart to your whimsical nature, often giving you a deadpan look when you go off on a supernatural tangent.

“amethio, the spirit (random gengar) says this battle will be tough.”

“the spirit is stating the obvious.”

your comments often catch him off guard, not because he gets scared of it. it's just becuse you just say it so randomly it's kind of concerning, leading to some amusing exchanges.

“The ghosts approve of you, amethio.”

“good to know. now, tell them to get out out of my way.”

your unpredictability often throws him off balance. whether it’s your cryptic compliments (“the spirits find you quite handsome today”) or your sudden affection, he finds himself flustered more often than he’d like to admit.

your spooky vibe complements his calm and calculated style perfectly. he’d use your unnerving presence to throw off opponents while he plans a precise attack. he might even ask you for “spiritual advice” during critical missions, though you’re never quite sure if he’s joking or went insane.

he isn't really phased from ghosts, neither is his pokemon. ceruledge is one of the few pokémon that isn’t fazed by your team. it often stands protectively between amethio and your more mischievous Pokémon like (for example) misdreavus, who enjoys pranking people by floating off with their belongings. ceruledge gets really paranoid and assumes all your ghosts are evil at first.

amethio never disregards your interests, and tries his best help you enjoy them, even if he's not a fan of it himself.

— SILVER

silver is honestly pretty game with whatever crazy stuff you do, he didn't stop loving you after you did questionable things in order to see ghosts (he'd be apart of it anyway.)

first time meeting you silver already felt discomfort/concern. (not negative) he’d wonder if you had some hidden agenda, but over time, he’d notice how kind and sincere you are, even with your random outbursts, which would ease his initial distrust.

silver reluctantly tags along when you explore spooky ruins or abandoned buildings to “connect with spirits.” he’d grumble about how impractical it is, but goes anyway. (his honchkrow becomes your flashlight during these adventures.)

your spooky jokes and ghostly references catch him off guard, but he grows to enjoy your sense of humor. he won’t laugh out loud, but the corner of his mouth quirks up when you say something particularly clever. silver might even use them too, but to an extent. gold never understand the jokes...

when travelling on a mission sent by professor oak by the dex holders (gold, and crys mostly) he makes sure to find and pick up eerie trinkets and paranormal items to give to you on his return. he'd just silently sneak them in his pocket without the other two knowing, sometimes what he does though leads to a bigger problem.

"hey silver what are you doing! this place is completely abandoned don't touch that!" crys silently yelled (if you get it) in the corner.

silver unresponsive, shrugs and picks it up... suddenly a locked door opens "WHAT DID YOU DO?" gold yelled from the other room, echoing through the entire building.

"silver you pay for my life insurance."

"it's just another room, there might be something important we could give to professor oak there. you guys are just overreacting."

"GHOST!"

silver knows alot of paranormal information because of you, and it definitely saved the 3 idiots lifes maybe twice. lesson learned: don't go to abandoned haunted building, (unless you're a hex maniac the ghosts are pretty cool with you.)

it's not just him that gives the other trinkets, it's also vice-versa! you gift silver supposedly "haunted" charms, he's skeptical but carries it around anyway. when he wins a tough match, you proudly point at the many trinkets you gave him.

"the spirits were with you, horray!" you say celebrating.

"or maybe it was my training, but you know that works too."

silver has a beef with your pokemon, doesn't matter which he hates them and they hate him. (don't worry though) your pokemon like taunting him and whenever he complains, you brush it off as them bonding together.

“tell your pokémon to stop stealing my items,” he says, holding up a poké ball with a stone faced expression.

“it’s just trying to bond with you!” you reply.

“...bond less.”

[anonymous-dentist]

See in a Pokémon au. Okay. Hear me out.

But in a Pokémon au, Cellbit is the type of guy who would’ve been a one-off villain in one of the movies. Not part of an evil team or anything, just some asshole bullying children and stuff.

He doesn’t have any Pokémon of his own because, to him, Pokémon are just accessories to one’s true, human strength. If you can’t win without some animal doing all the work for you, are you really strong?

But maybe after the protagonists, Pac and Mike, beat him using the Power of Friendship and stuff and leave him for dead on an island, Cell lies on a beach and he waits for death. He lost, he’s weak, he deserves the taste of his own medicine.

Instead, he ends up with a wild Espurr (linked for reference) accidentally blowing him and half the island up with its own psychic energy. So now it’s just him and this weird creepy little cat thing on a broken island. And, somehow, they bond, and Cell ends up bringing this weird little shit with him when he gets picked up by some passing fishermen.

Needless to say, they’re best friends immediately. Emotional support Espurr. He sticks it in a ball as soon as he gets one, and they’re partners, and he can’t be evil anymore, he guesses, because he needs to be a good influence on his new little buddy.

Funnily enough, he gets into Pokémon research. The guy who used to hate Pokémon wants to learn all about them and become an actual, legitimate Pokémon professor. Because it turns out they’re pretty cool when you aren’t, like, bullying them. And stuff.

[proxylynn]

Blorbo: Guzma (Pokémon Sun and Moon)

{Wanna see what destruction looks like? Here it is in human form! It's your boy... Guzma!}

[Growing up with Pokémon since gen1, I never really got into the "evil organization"s that pop up in each gen. Mostly because they all follow some contrived stupid thing (minus Geovanni, he thought shit out and was legit) like I wanna flood the land, I wanna use Pokémon to free Pokémon, I want to use a death laser because fuck you, or I want to go unleash Pokémon Satan because reasons, etc. Then Sun/Moon came along and gave me Team Skull and it works... Because they aren't the evil team! (was that all it took for a decent team? to not make them the main villains?) And none of this would matter if the team leader wasn't interesting, which ya boi totally is.

"Guzma originally aspired to become a Trial Captain with Professor Kukui. He was even Hala's apprentice to train in battling. While he was a talented trainer in his own right, having won many trophies and awards, he also struggled in his efforts to be the best, never once having placed first in any tournaments. It is also implied that he suffered domestic abuse from his father and he ran away from home to escape it. He was also rejected as Trial Captain for unknown reasons. After failing to become a Trial Captain, Guzma formed Team Skull with other kids who failed the Trial vowing to destroy the very same traditions that shattered his dreams."

This is a great opening for a character, his motivation is relatable and not some grand over-the-top nonsense. He's a guy who feels he got shafted and when no one backed him up he said "screw you guys, I'm gonna show you you're wrong and make you suffer for doubting me". This alone would work to make me like him, but then they go and make him even more sympathetic. There's some hints of his dad being a possible abusive prick (I say possible because GameFreak likes to leave the fucked up stuff to the creatures more often than the people characters and I'm not 100% on this). He longs for approval and recognition, the man wants respect, so much so he is the henchman to Lusamine who is playing him like a fiddle by giving him the slightest bit of attention (fucking bitch!). Bro, I just want to jump into the game and tell him he's better than this. He's a bug trainer! This man made bug types cool to me! And his love for his bugs, especially his Golisopod, is so damn precious.

Game Freak knows he's awesome because they made Guzma too cool to join that shitshow crew Rainbow Rocket. Dude helps you take all those baddies down like the mother fucking boss he is. Not only this, but it was to Guzma of all people that Ash finally became a league champion and that battle was epic as fuck! Sadly, they would try to rehash this greatness and, frankly, it just isn't good (Team Yell and Star). Still, as much as I don't care for Pokémon as much as I used to, I still follow blogs on here that are about Guzma. Shout out to elbdot who has a long-running still going strong Pokémon Sun/Moon comic series with best boi Guzma being a key character, I love it so much!]

[teecupangel]

I know there’s many AC Pokémon things but I had an idea I haven’t seen done.

So, if characters from AC were new Pokémon, what types would they be? Cause I think they would all be dual type, and maybe Altaïr would be psychic dark type?

Altaïr – I think Psychic Dark type would work on him but the fact that he’s named Altaïr makes me want to make him a Flying type. Maybe a Dark Flying type with a single Psychic move he can learn?

Ezio – Fire and Fighting would probably be a good fit. A show of the adversity he had to win against and the burning desire that fueled him for so long, becoming an ember by the time he reached Constantinople.

Ratonhnhaké:ton – Steel and ground. His connection with the land and how he wished to protect it and his people while his experiences tempered him into the breakable steel that he has become.

Desmond – Fairy. No. I will not elaborate other than the fact that I enjoy making him suffer XD. I’m screwing with you. He has to be Ghost Fire because of @kingbob2-0’s Immolamb

Edward - Water Grass, his pirate life and being the foundation of the Kenway family tree XD (Professors would have so many questions about him)

Shay – He start off as Dark then becomes Dark Ice

Arno – Water Fighting, goes with the flow but will go down swinging when push comes to shove

Evie and Jacob I kinda like the idea that the twins would have the same type but their evolution would make it quite different so… Ground Rock for Evie and Jacob gets Ground Grass. Rock to show Evie’s stubbornness and perseverance and Grass for Jacob to show his desire to grow further away from what their father was.

Bayek – Fire as a reference to his story sword and Dark to show that he was one of the two founders of the Hidden Ones.

Kassandra - Fire just works so well for her considering her skills in Odyssey. One of her other type is Dragon though to show her OP status

Eivor – They’ve got to be Ice/Electric. Ice to show how they were raised as Eivor and Electric to show their connection to Odin

Basim – He starts of as a Normal type that turns into a Ghost Psychic type. The fact that he’s a ghost psychic type is another way of showing the ‘unnatural’ way Loki took over him.

[wildflowercryptid]

now that kieran's champ look dropped, i could finally draw their mjverse designs for indigo disk. there's a 1 year timeskip between the 2 dlcs in my canon so i wanted to make them look a lil different to show that passage of time, ( carmine's not here bc i don't really see her look changing much. )

some info about what juliana and florian were up to during that 1 year gap under the cut! ⤵

JULIANA : after attaining her champion title and helping solve the team star situation, juliana's skills as a battler have become pretty well known around paldea. this new status initially ostracized her a bit from her peers, much like what nemona experienced, but she was able to show others that she was still just as approachable as she was before by tutoring some fellow students that wished to improve their battling skills. she's also realized that she really loves teaching others and is pretty damn good at it, too.

besides battling, juliana has also found a love of art thanks to hassel's art class. if you couldn't find her at the academy's battlefield, she'd most likely be working on a new piece in the art room. as a result, a lot of her clothes have speckled with paint ( like her favorite sneakers. ) seeing her passion for art and hoping to help her hone her skills, hassel took up the position as her mentor and is a great source of encouragement and support for her. juliana has also started dating penny soon after the end of post-game story.

FLORIAN : after getting back to mezagoza from his trip to kitakami, florian was a bit of an emotional wreak ( to say the least. ) he spent well over a month languishing over what happened with kieran, most of it spent moping around juliana and his shared dorm room while listening to heartbreak playlists. the rest was spent coming to the realization that his skills as a battler were still severely lacking. his last battle with kieran was an extremely close call, he only barely won with the skills he had gained during his journey through paldea. with how things were, there was no way he could fufill the duties of a pokémon professor if he couldn't effectively protect the pokémon entrusted to him, let alone himself or others he cares about. he couldn't keep resting on his laurels, he had to work towards improving himself.

so, for the past year, florian's poured himself into improving his battling skills with nemona and his sister's help. while he still isn't on their level, he's become quite the formidable battler. ogrepon, which he's given the nickname "pon-pon," has also become a staple of his team. the rest of his time is dedicated towards studying in the hopes of becoming pasio's next pokémon professor, being the most interested in mythology and terastallization. he still talks to arven frequently after he ( finally ) graduated, along with becoming friends with ortega and atticus. he even dated ortega briefly, but it was very clear that florian was still hung up on kieran so the relationship didn't last long, ( they're still good friends, though. )

when cyrano approaches the cavallari siblings and asks them to come to blueberry academy as exchange students, florian accepts the offer without hesitation. this could be his only chance to reconcile with kieran so there's no way he'd pass it up. juliana is happy to tag along since a school that focuses on battling sounds right up her alley, that and she's still peeved about not getting to go to kitakami. though, she's a little concerned for her brother and what may be waiting for him when they get there.

[bloody-britt26]

Hop - Loser Like Me

This is an older fic that I’m just now cross-posting from my Wattpad.

Summary: He was never able to win against his rivals, and he didn't become the champion. He couldn't live up to his older brother's name. He wasn't all that special, he thought. So, why would Hop ever think that you would ever glance at him? You were that sweet, lovable person that worked day in and day out to help better the lives of rescued pokémon. Surely, you wouldn't be interested in a loser like him.

Genre: Fluff + light angst

Pairing: Hop X Rescuer!Reader (Gender Neutral)

Content Warnings: | Hop’s self-deprecating thoughts | Fear of rejection | Mentions of abused pokemon | Swearing | Reader gets slapped once (not by Hop) | Slow burn kinda | Both Hop and Reader are depicted as adults. |

Word Count: 14,741

Sonia's lab was awfully quiet. At least, that's what Hop thought as he was the only person present in the building. Sonia was out, she had the urge to get out and do a bit of fieldwork for a change. Hop's Dubwool had fallen asleep near his desk quite some time ago.

Hop was seated at his desk, scribbling down various notes about pokémon and the Dynamax phenomenon. Even if he had been studying by Sonia's side for three years now, he still had a lot to learn and discover. There were so many pokémon out there, and there was new knowledge to be gained from them practically every day.

Behind him, the Dynamax readings showed stability, thankfully. Nothing had been out of the ordinary for a long time, but Hop and Sonia had the habit of keeping a close eye on them. Their slight paranoia was understandable due to the damage caused by the actions of Rose and the royal brothers.

Hop's foot tapped away as he wrote, he twirled his pen every so often. Even though Hop had matured quite a bit over the years, sitting still for long periods was still not his forté.

As he finished jotting down the final words of his report, he gathered up all of the sheets to place them in a neat pile. With a sigh, he leaned back to stretch his sore muscles, he had been hunched over his desk for a good amount of time, so it was much needed. Hop let out a small yelp as his computer chair nearly fell back from the pressure he was applying.

Once he stabilized himself, he reached for his Rotom Phone, turning it on so that he could tune into some live battles. He still had a bit of work to do, but he figured that he could take a small break.

He blinked once he saw footage of his best friend in battle. Hop had almost forgotten that today was Victor's exhibition match. Nonetheless, he smiled as he began to watch it.

Victor was battling Bede, and both men were giving it their all. Seeing those two battle it out on the pitch brought back memories from his own gym challenge. After all, the three had been the biggest rivals throughout their journeys.

Victor was a fantastic champion, and perhaps even better than Leon was, Hop thought. Even today, Hop couldn't believe how powerful his childhood friend was, and it seemed as though his strength grew with every passing day.

Victor wasn't just a strong battler, he was inspirational and a good man. He didn't care much about having many sponsors, nor did he go out of his way to partake in interviews. He often donated his prize money to people in need, and he was exceptionally humble.

Even Bede had matured into a decent man. Now the full-time gym leader of Ballonlea, he was a force to be reckoned with for challengers. Although he still kept a facade of toughness, Hop couldn't deny that Bede was much more polite than before. Even if Bede and Hop had never gotten along, Hop thought that it was great that Bede had found his place in the world.

Hop took a glance at his sleeping Dubwool, reaching down to stroke his coat softly. It dawned on him that it's been quite a while since he had battled someone because he was so focused on his studies to become a respectable professor. He hoped that his pokémon weren't too bored with his decision to lessen pokémon battling to focus on research.

However, they seemed to have accepted his choice of career, as did his friends and relatives. Even though being a professor was far from being his original dream, he thought it was fun.

All his life, Hop had wanted to be the champion. He wanted to prove to the region that he was just as good, possibly better than his brother. But that didn't happen, Victor got there first.

He continued to watch Victor's battle on his phone, completely immersed in the confident and enthusiastic energy that Victor displayed. Victor still had five pokémon standing, while Bede was on his last two.

"It's no wonder you became champion, mate," Hop chuckled to himself.

No wonder indeed. Three years later, and Hop had accepted that he never stood a chance of being champion. Not when he was up against Victor. Hop had never been able to defeat Victor, and he always felt like he was lightyears behind his dear friend.

Even today, he felt underwhelming compared to everyone around him. It felt as though his friends, rivals and family were all achieving great success and making names for themselves while he was constantly scribbling notes and watching wild pokémon.

Hop sighed, shaking his head in annoyance at his own thoughts. He knew better than to think so negatively, but the quiet atmosphere of the lab seemed to be the perfect setting to overthink life itself.

He shook his head once more, smiling to himself as a way to convince himself that everything was fine. He was usually so bubbly and energetic, for crying out loud! He loved doing research. It was his new passion, and that's what was important.

Hop grinned as Victor's battle came to a close, ending in a victory for his best friend. Though the outcome didn't surprise him, Hop mentally congratulated him.

As he turned off his phone to get back to work, the door to the lab opened. He didn't fully pay any mind to it as it was most likely Sonia since she was to return around these hours.

"H-Hello? Is there anyone?" A meek voice timidly sounded.

Hop's gaze lifted. That was most definitely not Sonia. He got up from his chair and smoothed his lab coat before heading to the entrance of the lab.

There stood a young, short-haired girl who looked to be more or less ten-years-old. She shyly fiddled with her sweater's sleeves as her gaze was fixated to the ground.

Hop blinked but quickly shook off his surprise to smile at the youngling. "Hi, there! What brings you here?"

"W-Well... is Professor Sonia here? I'm supposed to get my first pokémon today," she said.

Now that Hop thought about it, he did remember Sonia saying something about a girl coming to get her starter today. He had completely forgotten about that.

He looked around nervously, Sonia had most likely lost track of time. It happened to her often whenever she was really into her work, and he really couldn't blame her.

He scratched the back of his head. "R-Right! You must be Annabelle, yeah?"

The little girl nodded in response with a soft smile.

"So, er, the thing is that Sonia isn't here right now..." he said.

Annabelle's smile faltered a bit. "Oh... that's okay. I'll come back. I'm sorry for bothering you," she said.

Hop cringed at the dejected look she had, and before she could turn around and leave, he stopped her.

"Hey, wait! I can give you your pokémon, you don't have to come back later," he said before he could stop himself.

Surely, Sonia wouldn't mind if he took matters into his own hands, right? After all, he felt too bad at the thought of making her wait, he knew all too well just how exciting it was to get your very first pokémon.

"Really? Oh, thank you so much!" She said enthusiastically.

Hop chuckled and motioned her to follow him. "Well, come along. Let's have you meet the little fellows!"

She did as told and followed Hop. He then headed to a shelf where three pokéballs sat. He grabbed them and turned back to Annabelle.

As he called out the pokémon, three familiar faces excitedly made their entrance. Hop couldn't help but smile as the nostalgia hit him as he watched the Grookey, Scorbunny and Sobble all pose adorably.

Annabelle seemed absolutely enamoured with them as well as she cooed at their cuteness.

Hop nodded to himself, it was time for him to put his knowledge to good use. This would be a good way for him to evaluate his performance as a future professor.

"Sobble is just about the most gentle Water-type pokémon out there! It can be pretty sensitive and timid, but don't let that fool you, Sobble is a master of camouflage and silent attacks. It never fails to aim for an opponent's weak spot! She's a little girl!" Hop explained.

Sobble wiggled her fin as she covered her cheeks to hide a little blush. It sounded like she was giggling.

"Scorbunny is a very energetic Fire-type! It's always raring to go and up for a good fight. It's a very confident pokémon who will always do its best to impress and protect its trainer! This little guy is a boy," Hop continued.

Sorbunny bounced in the air, pumping his little paw with a wink. He was trying to showboat a little.

"And lastly, we have the Grass-type, Grookey! It's a very peaceful pokémon with a good sense of leadership. It's a very speedy pokémon that can get quite immersed in battles. This one is a boy!" He concluded.

Grookey wagged his tail, chirping happily with a bright smile as he bounced up and down. He grabbed his stick to tap a little beat onto the tile floor.

"So, which one will you take? Choose wisely. This will be your most trusted partner who will stick by your side throughout your journey no matter what," Hop said.

Annabelle's gaze flicked between the three pokémon, but not for long as she had her eyes set on the little Grookey.

"They're all so cute, but I decided that I wanted a Grookey ages ago!" She said as she crouched to the pokémon's height.

"Would you like to travel with me?" She asked, holding out her hand.

Grookey nodded excitedly as he put his little paws onto her hand. Annabelle giggled at the pokémon's cuteness.

Hop grinned. "Grookey, huh? A great choice. It was the pokémon that I chose to travel with along with Wooloo when I first started."

Annabelle giggled softly, picking up her new Grookey in her arms. "I know. That's why I wanted one, Mr. Hop!"

Hop blinked in surprise as he registered what the young girl had said. "I- Really?"

"Yeah! I always watched your battles with my mummy when you did your gym challenge. You were my favourite trainer, and I want to be just as good as you!" She said.

Hop was at a loss for words. Not only did this child know who he was, but she was admitting that she favoured him as a trainer. He didn't think this could even be a reality. He wasn't that special, he knew that for a fact. Sure, he made it through his gym challenge, but he had always been in both Victor and Leon's shadows, and, in his opinion, rightfully so.

His friends, brother and rivals all outshined him by so much. He didn't have their strength, he knew that as he could never beat a single one of them. Not even once. Hop had since accepted that he was destined to be the weakest person of his entourage.

He definitely felt happiness at knowing that someone thought so highly of him, yet he couldn't help but listen to the little voice at the back of his mind, saying that this sweet girl was making the worst mistake of her life by idolizing such a loser.

Hop chuckled nervously as he scratched at his hair. "A-Ah! Well, I appreciate that, but I'm not that gr-"

He didn't get the chance to finish his sentence as Sonia made her frantic appearance into the lab, huffing slightly to catch her breath.

"I am so sorry! I got sidetracked and didn't see time fly!" She said.

Annabelle shook her head. "It's okay, Professor Sonia. Professor Hop gave me a pokémon!" She said as she snuggled her Grookey.

"But I'm not a prof-"

"I can see that!" Sonia chuckled. "Annabelle, dear, what do you say we equip that Rotom Phone of yours with a Pokédex?" She continued.

"Please!" She said, handing Sonia her phone.

"Alright. Hop, why don't you go get some Pokéballs for her while I set this up?" Sonia asked.

Hop nodded. "Of course."

As Hop distanced himself to rummage through some drawers for Pokéballs, Sonia explained to Annabelle the Pokédex's functions. It was just like she had done when he and Victor had first started their journeys.

He found five Pokéballs to get the young girl started on her team, so he headed back to the duo and handed Annabelle the catching devices.

"Here you go. They'll help you get started on your team," he said.

When she took the balls from Hop, he reached into his pocket to grab another one. "Here. This is your Grookey's Pokéball."

"Thank you very much for everything!" She said as she took her starter's Pokéball.

Hop shook his head. "It's our pleasure! Now, get out there and meet tons of pokémon! But remember to stay safe and have fun," he said.

"I will! Thanks again, you two!" She said before exiting the lab with her Grookey still in her arms.

When Annabelle left, Hop sighed in relief, happy that everything went smoothly. He then turned to Sonia, laughing nervously.

"S-Sorry, Professor. I hope you don't mind that I took care of things. I didn't want to make her wait too long, and I didn't know when you would be back," he said.

Sonia shook her head. "No, no, don't worry a thing. I'm glad you did, and by the looks of it, you handled that really well. Proper job!" She said with a grin.

"Thank you... I did my best," Hop said, relieved that he didn't mess anything up.

Sonia glanced at the desk where a large pile of notes sat before turning back to Hop. "Would you like to switch places with me? Arceus knows how much you hate sitting still."

"Yeah, I'll take you up on that. Fieldwork is my favourite kind of work!" He laughed.

Fresh air was definitely needed at the moment. Hopefully, it would help him keep his mind at ease from the negativity that has been plaguing him recently.

~~~~~~

"Thank you for having me over, Magnolia. I'm sorry for dropping by unannounced," you said.

Having decided to take a well-deserved break from work, you dropped by Magnolia's home for a visit. You found her company to be warm and homely, which was something you loved, especially when you needed to sit back and relax.

You sat in Magnolia's plant room on one of the comfortable loveseats as the older woman prepared cups of the finest tea she had in her kitchen. The scenery of her home, particularly the room you were in, had you feeling at peace.

Perched atop your head was your beloved Frosmoth. She could get quite heavy, so she made sure to not put her full weight on you. She absolutely refused to be left home alone today, no matter how much you protested. Thankfully, Magnolia didn't mind the presence of the larger moth pokémon, as she was very well-behaved.

Magnolia stepped into the room, a tray in hand and a warm smile upon her features. "Nonsense, dear. You're welcomed in my home at any moment. I don't get to see you nearly as often as I'd like," she said as she set the tea down.

You thanked her as she handed you a cup. "I know, and I'm sorry about that. I feel bad, trust me."

"Don't. It's to be expected with the kind of work you do, and I fully understand. Just know that you're always welcomed to knock on my door should you need anything," she said as she sat across from you.

You smiled. "Thank you. It's nice to have someone I can trust living nearby."

"Of course! You're practically family at this point!" She said, laughing softly.

You truly appreciated it. Your work required your constant presence at home, so you didn't have much time to go out of your way to make close friends, much less someone you could trust. Magnolia was such an understanding and patient woman, and she knew that you didn't mean anything ill by not dropping by all the time. You had your duties, and she accepted that. She was well aware that you cared even if you weren't always around, and for that, you were thankful.

"Speaking of which..." Magnolia started as she set her cup down, "... my granddaughter should be coming over shortly with her assistant."

"O-Oh! Should I leave then? I wouldn't want to be a bother," you said.

"Don't even get that idea. Sonia will be thrilled to see you, you know she adores you!" Magnolia said.

You chuckled at the woman's light scolding. "You're right. It's been a while since I've seen her, or that she's dropped by my place. She's pretty busy now, huh? Being a full-time professor and all."

"She certainly is, though she loves her work. It seems that journeying through Galar a second time was what she needed to discover her true passion," Magnolia said, fondness for her granddaughter could be heard in her voice.

"Sometimes, I think of having another journey myself, but I think I made the right call with the path I ended up taking," you said.

Magnolia nodded in agreement. "Absolutely! What was your original goal again?"

You laughed, shaking your head. "I wanted to be a gym leader of all things."

"Oh, that's right! You know, you're absolutely phenomenal at taking care of pokémon that I just can't even fathom the idea of you as a gym leader," she playfully teased.

"I know, right? Plans change, but that's okay!" You said.

You shivered when you felt your Frosmoth blow a faint gust of frigid air onto you in an attempt to get your attention.

"Are you hungry, Dumpling?" You asked, chuckling at her behaviour.

She let out a small cry in confirmation. So, you reached into your bag, which rested at your feet, and pulled out a plastic container that held Dumpling's favourite food. You held the container right in front of her, letting her sniff it out. Once she did, she happily chowed down.

As you fed your Frosmoth, you heard the front door open, followed by the familiar voice of Sonia.

"Hellooo! I'm here, and I brought Hop!" She called out.

Magnolia smiled. "We're in here, dear!"

"We?" Sonia said as she stepped into the room in which you were seated. Once she saw you, her eyes widened in surprise.

"Heya, Sonia!" You said with a bright smile.

"(Y/N), no way! How are you, stranger?" She asked, laughing.

You got up from your seat so that you could give your friend a hug. Dumpling flew off of your head to let you do so.

"I'm doing great! It's been a while, huh?" You said, letting go of her.

"No kidding. I mean, you're a hermit!" She teased.

You rolled her eyes. "Pft. It's not just me. Aren't you always buried in piles of research?" You shot back.

"You got me there," she chuckled. She turned to her grandmother. "You didn't tell me that (Y/N) would be here!"

Magnolia chuckled. "Ah... I wanted to keep it a surprise."

Sonia's eyes then landed on Dumpling. "And you've got Dumpling with you! She looks great!"

Sonia gently approached the pokémon and held out her hand in front of her. Dumpling sniffed her hand, and once she recognized Sonia's scent, she squealed happily and nuzzled her hand.

"Hey, you remember me!" Sonia said as she patted the affectionate moth.

"Of course, she does!" You said.

At that moment, someone cleared their throat. When you glanced at the doorway, you saw who you assumed to be Sonia's assistant.

He had an award-winning smile as he scratched the back of his head in a slightly nervous manner. Though he didn't seem much younger than you, he was pretty tall, more or less six feet. His hair was a lovely shade of purple, which fit rather nicely with his bright, yellow eyes. You were sure you recognized him from somewhere.

Letting go of Dumpling, Sonia clapped her hands together as she headed to her assistant's side.

"Right, you've never met. (Y/N), meet Hop. He's my assistant. Hop, this is (Y/N). They’re a good friend of mine!" She said, introducing the two of you.

Hop grinned at you, holding out his hand for you to shake. "It's a pleasure to meet you!"

You took his hand. "Right back at you, Hop!"

And then, it clicked.

"Hey, you're the former champion's little brother, right? You were in the challenge, like, three years ago?" You asked.

Hop blinked, a glimmer of surprise flashing in his eyes for a second. "Yeah, actually. You're spot on."

He certainly was not expecting for this stranger to know who he was. Maybe it wouldn't have surprised him if someone recognized him three years ago when he had finished his challenge, but now, he had convinced himself that practically everyone in Galar had forgotten about his existence.

Sonia raised a brow, which made you roll your eyes. "Hey, don't look at me like that. I like to watch the gym battles whenever I have the chance."

Magnolia spoke up. "Hey, now. What are you all standing around for? Why don't you younglings sit down while I go make some more tea? Perhaps some snacks as well?" She said as she stood up.

The three of you nodded in agreement. Hop and Sonia sat next to each other. Before you sat down, you scratched Dumpling's belly and gently guided her to you so she could perch herself atop your head once more.

Hop tilted his head in slight confusion at your interaction with the pokémon, but he didn't question it any further. At least, he tried. He couldn't help but analyze your Frosmoth, blame it on the researcher in him. As he looked at her, he noticed something off about her eyes. A Frosmoth's eyes were usually a deep blue, but yours were somewhat cloudy.

"Is your Frosmoth blind?" He blurted before he could stop himself.

He mentally cringed, hoping that he didn't seem too nosy or impolite by asking such a thing. However, you smiled at him, features clear of any kind of offence.

"She is, actually!" You said, reaching up to pat Dumpling's head.

"(Y/N) takes care of a lot of disabled and injured pokémon. They run their own sanctuary!" Sonia intervened.

At that, Hop's eyes practically lit up with wonder. "Seriously? Wow, that's amazing!"

You chuckled with a light hue of pink coating your cheeks. "Yeah, I do! It's not far from here, actually. Just a few kilometres behind Magnolia's house, there's my house and my sanctuary."

"Wait... really? I didn't even know that there was anything past Magnolia's house," he said, surprised.

"Yeah... it's pretty easy to miss, but that was kind of the point of picking that particular spot. It's just me and the pokémon with little to no disturbances, which is just what these pokémon need," you explained.

Hop nodded at your explanation. He then leaned forward, nearly slamming his hands onto the coffee table excitedly.

"So, what kind of pokémon do you have there?" He asked, eyes shining with interest.

Sonia chuckled, tapping at his shoulder. "Whoa. Simmer down there, Hop."

Hop immediately retracted as he was made aware of his little burst of excitement. He scratched the back of his head, blushing in embarrassment. He felt like a total child.

"S-Sorry about that. I got carried away," he said.

You laughed, waving him off. "No, no, it's totally fine! If anything, I'm glad that you're so interested!"

Taking care of rescued pokémon was your biggest passion, and you had sworn to dedicate yourself to making a difference for pokémon who were in need of a second chance at life. It was your favourite topic to discuss, and meeting people who seemed so excited to hear you speak about your work and experiences was something that made you beyond ecstatic.

You had to be honest with yourself: you were sometimes afraid that people would get bored or annoyed with you since you could never shut up about your sanctuary. You had the habit of always swerving your conversations towards it, and you really couldn't help it.

So, that's why you got along so well with women like Magnolia and Sonia. They were professors, researchers, and they loved to hear about your experiences regarding the pokémon you helped. You could always have great conversations with them.

You knew for a fact that Hop was highly passionate about pokémon. It showed when you watched his battles back then. And to want to become a professor, it took a lot of dedication and love towards these creatures. You were sure that you would get along great with him.

"You see, there are quite a few pokémon that are in my care. They all have their own story, and they are all unique. Every single one of them has a place in my heart, and there's nothing I wouldn't do for them. They're my number one priority in life," you gushed.

Your eyes then widened, and you chuckled nervously as you noticed that you were rambling.

"Ah... sorry. Here I go again, just talking my mouth off," you apologized.

"Wha-? Why are you apologizing?" Hop asked.

Before you could answer, Sonia chimed in. "They're a dummy, that's why. They think that they’ll annoy us if they talk too much about their sanctuary."

"Oh, come on! That's rubbish!" Hop exclaimed. "Can you tell me how you met your Frosmoth... Dumbo, was that it?" He continued.

You chuckled at the way Hop had managed to butcher her name. "It's Dumpling, and I'd be happy to!"

"It wasn't super out of the ordinary, but I met her right outside Circhester when she was just a tiny hatchling Snom, and when I say tiny, I mean it. She was smaller than any other Snom I had seen before, even for a baby. I guessed that she was the runt out of her siblings," you started.

"Oh! That explains why she seems smaller than the typical Frosmoth," he said. "R-Right, carry on!" He quickly added as he noticed that he had accidentally cut you off.

"She was still near her nest when I found her, but her family was nowhere to be seen. The thing that caught my eye, though, was that she was really unstable. She had a hard time walking without bumping into things. I was curious, so I managed to approach her, and she seemed to panic once she sensed that something was approaching, but she was turning in all sorts of directions, and she didn't seem to know where to look," you continued.

"And that's when you understood that she was blind," Hop said, making you nod.

"Yeah. I kept calm and talked to her in a gentle voice. I was really trying to reassure her that everything was alright. When she calmed down, she let me pet her and even pick her up eventually. I tried looking around the route for her family, but I couldn't find them. I guessed that the mother left her behind because she was the weakest, less likely to survive of the hatchings," you said.

You scratched Dumpling's cheek, causing her to nuzzle your hand with a soft, melodic cry sounding from her.

"I just kind of, you know, took her in. I mean... I just couldn't leave her out there. I don't think I would have been able to forgive myself if I left a vulnerable baby out there, you know?" You finished.

Hop grinned. "You should pat yourself on the back, mate! I mean, you gave her a chance, and she looks like she appreciates it a lot."

At Hop's words, Dumpling happily fluttered her wings, little snowflakes emitting from her as she did so.

"O-Oh... it was just the right thing to do!" You said.

"(Y/N), give yourself more credit. A lot of people wouldn't have had the same heart of gold that you had in that situation. It's not everyone who would have wanted to take so much time in helping and caring for an 'imperfect' pokémon," Sonia said, making Hop nod in agreement.

It might have been the first time he's met you, but Hop could immediately say that you were a great person. Lovable, even. His mind raced as he felt that he would love to get to know you some more. You had such a warm and inviting presence that practically pulled him to you.

As you were speaking, he could only find himself being completely pulled into a state of immersion at your words. He certainly didn't miss the way your eyes practically shined with life when you spoke about your meeting with Dumpling. You had so much emotion in your voice, and he found it to be absolutely endearing.

Of course, he knew that his desire to get to know you was most likely one-sided and merely wishful thinking on his part. After all, Hop knew that he wasn't very impressive. He was just an assistant who hasn't done anything remarkable. Surely, you wouldn't spare him a minute.

"Say, Hop," you started, making him snap out of his thoughts.

"How about you come over to my place for a visit whenever you have some free time? I could show you around the sanctuary if you're interested!" You offered.

Sonia nudged him. "You should take her up on that offer. You'll love it, I swear! It's so pretty at her place," She said.

"You really mean that?" He asked.

"Of course!" You said.

Hop was caught off guard by your offer. He didn't expect you to invite a nobody like him to your precious sanctuary. He really hoped that he wouldn't be a waste of time to you.

Still, he couldn't help but grin wildly as he practically bounced in his seat. "That would be amazing! Thanks a bunch, (Y/N)!" He exclaimed.

"Please, it's my pleasure!" You said with a smile. "Would you hand me your phone? I'll give you my phone number so you can text me whenever you want to come over!" You said.

"O-Oh! Right!" Hop said with a light blush.

He pulled out his phone and opened up a new contact page before handing it to you. Hop was definitely surprised, it wasn't everyday that a woman offered him her phone number.

"Alright. Here you go!" You said, handing him back his phone.

"I'm pretty much always at my place, so come on over anytime, honestly. Just let me know so that I don't miss when you ring the doorbell since I'm often outside!" You said.

"Gotcha. Thanks a bunch for the opportunity, (Y/N)," he grinned.

You smiled. Hop's smile and enthusiasm was contagious. You hoped that he would go through with your offer. Hop was precisely the kind of person you wanted to share your work and passion with.

~~~~~~

To: (Y/N) 

12:08 P.M

- Hiya! It's Hop, Sonia's assistant from the other day. I have some free time, and I was hoping to maybe come and visit you, maybe?

From: (Y/N) 

12:11 PM

- Hop, hey! I've been waiting for you to hit me up! I'd love for you to visit. Come on over. I can't wait to show you around!

To: (Y/N) 

12:11 PM

- Great! I'm on my way, like, right now. Is that cool with you?

From: (Y/N) 

12:12 PM

- Of course. See you in a bit!

Hop couldn't help the huge, dorky grin on his face as he hurried along the nearly hidden path behind Magnolia's house that led to your sanctuary.

He was beyond excited to get a feel for the kind of life you had as a pokémon rescuer. Plus, he had to be honest with himself: he was excited to see you again. 

He was definitely relieved that you meant it when you had offered him to visit, he had almost expected for your words to be hollow. He wouldn't have blamed you, you probably had better things to do than waste your precious time on him. Still, he was grateful.

And he couldn't help but re-read your messages. Especially the 'I've been waiting for you to hit me up.' It was simple, yet he couldn't deny that it made him feel like he was desirable, like you actually might be interested in his company.

The path to your home was rather bumpy. There were quite a few rocks and branches along the way. He had to slow down a bit as he kept tripping over the various debris on the road. You had really picked one hell of a spot for your sanctuary.

When he finally managed to navigate the narrow path of debris and trees, he came to a gorgeous clearing. There, he saw what was most likely your home, which was situated between a large fenced off area and a berry garden. 

He could already see many trees planted inside the fence, and there seemed to be a second building connected to the area, most likely an indoor area for the pokémon.

Hop grinned as he accelerated towards your house, completely hyped now that he was there and about to experience something entirely new to him.

Your home was a rather small, white farmhouse. It seemed that there were two stories to your home, and there was a small porch with an outdoor swing on it. It looked cozy, and for some reason, it was exactly the kind of house that he would think someone with a rescue would have.

Now at your front door, his hand froze midair as he was about to ring your doorbell. He mentally groaned, was he seriously having second thoughts about everything? 

It's not that he didn't want to visit you. If anything, nothing could make him any happier than visiting you at the moment. What if he was going to slow you down in your work? Hop didn't want you to put your whole day on hold just for him. 

He knew that you had told him that he could drop in anytime, but what if he had caught you at a bad time, and you were simply too nice to turn him away? The more he thought about it, the more he felt like a nuisance.

"Get it together, mate. You're here to have fun and get to know a sweet person better. That's all there is to it," Hop whispered to himself, attempting to calm his nerves.

When he finally rang the doorbell, he immediately heard frantic shuffling coming from inside your house. Barely a few seconds had passed, and you had already opened the door, greeting him with a big grin. You were holding a little Sobble in your arms, one of its front legs was bandaged.

Hop couldn't help but be surprised at the speed you had just displayed. Had you really been waiting for him to such a point? The thought was quickly lost, though. You most likely weren't. At least, not for someone as uninteresting as he was.

"Hop! I'm so glad you came by!" You said, stepping out of your home.

"I'm glad to be here! You're absolutely sure that this okay with you, right? I wouldn't want to be a bother," Hop asked.

He regretted asking as he wanted to keep the outing positive, but he really couldn't help sliding that question in. 

"Don't be silly. Really, I'm happy you're here," you said.

When your tone was laced with such sincerity, Hop couldn't help but grin at you. Perhaps, you truly would enjoy his company.

"Ah... wait. You've got a few leaves in your hair," you said.

You reached your hand to his hair, gently brushing it and causing Hop to slightly squeak in surprise. You couldn't help but chuckle at his reaction. It was pretty cute.

"Yeah. I... well, I smashed into a few branches on my way here. I was so hyped that I could barely slow down and look where I was going," Hop admitted.

"Hey, it still happens to me!" You chuckled. 

When you were done brushing the debris out of Hop's hair, you shut the door of your home. 

"Well? Ready?" You asked as you beckoned him to follow you. "Front gate's just this way."

Hop nodded excitedly as he walked by your side. His gaze went to the Sobble that you were still holding.

"So, who's this little fellow?" He asked.

"I call him Dizzy!" You said.

"Dizzy?"

"Yeah... he has a neurological disorder that affects his balance and cognition. He's not super stable on his feet and took a bit of a tumble today. Nothing too drastic, though, just a little scrape!" You explained.

"Whoa, alright. Is it curable, the disorder? S-Sorry if it sounds stupid, I've just never met a pokémon with a neurological problem," Hop asked.

"Not stupid at all. You won't know unless you ask. It can't be cured. It's genetic, and it's there to stay. Unfortunately, Dizzy has the worst level of it, so he has to take medication every day, or else he could get seizures," you said.

Hop frowned at that. "That's... poor thing."

You rubbed Dizzy's head, making him purr in delight. "Yeah... but he's been great!"

You came to a stop so that you could open the main gate of your rescue, holding it out for Hop to go first. You followed after him, shutting the gate afterwards.

"Flygon?" You called out once you were in the perimeter.

Almost instantly, a Flygon dived from the sky, landing right in front of you and Hop. Poor Hop nearly squealed in surprise at the large dragon, especially since it was glaring right at him.

"Hey, hey, ease up! Hop's a friend, he's good!" You cooed, which seemed to calm him.

"Could you take him back to the water area, please?" You asked, handing him the oblivious Sobble.

With a happy cry of his name, the dragon nodded and took to the skies in the direction of the area you had told him.

"You okay there, Hop?" You asked, chuckling at the look on his face.

He quickly shook his head. "Y-Yeah! I just didn't expect you to have a big Flygon around," he said, chuckling.

"Yeah... Flygon's a big help around here!" You said.

"That's pretty sweet."

You nodded in agreement before clasping your hands together. "Now, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" You said enthusiastically.

Barely into your rescue, and it was already bustling with life. Beautiful, healthy plants, flowers and trees bloomed all over the area. It was rather grassy, except for the main pathway. 

Hootoots, Rookidees and Corvisquires were perched atop the branches. Hop could also make out a Leafeon peacefully sleeping in a shaded area. A Galvantula was carefully working on a burrow inside of a cavity in the base of a tree. Its web looked like a work of art.

There were even some berry trees, and a sweet Flapple was knocking ripe berries out of the tree so that a duo of Appletun could snack on them. 

Where large patches of flowers laid, there was a group of Gossifleurs, Eldegoss, Cottonees and Whimsicotts hanging together. Combees, Cutiflies and Ribombees happily twirled around the flowers. 

Hop had to freeze in his steps to let a trio of Nickit, Purrloin and Yamper pass as they seemed to be playing a game of chase with each other.

Your place was gorgeous and immaculate. He felt like he was in a pokémon research lab; only this was a much more natural environment.

"Look at all of 'em..." Hop said, eyes shining in absolute wonder.

You couldn't help but giggle at how cute Hop looked. He was truly in his element. 

"There's even more of them too! Some might be hiding, and others are in other areas," you said with a small yet proud smirk.

"Bloody hell... this is so cool!" He said. "So, do these pokémon all belong to you?" He asked.

"Not necessarily. Some are still wild pokémon, but they happen to be in my care," you said.

As the two of you kept walking along the path, Hop noticed that there was a lack of human presence in your area. Not a single person other than the two of you was in sight.

"Do.... do you run this all by yourself, (Y/N)?" Hop asked incredulously.

"Well... yes," you said, scratching the back of your head.

"How?! Taking care of pokémon with particular needs can't be an easy feat!" Hop said, mouth agape.

You laughed. "It's definitely something, but knowing that I'm helping pokémon in need, the fatigue is worth it."

"You don't have a single employee? Not even one?" Hop asked, still barely believing it.

"Nope. The closest thing that I have to employees is my team of pokémon that I raised during the gym challenge. I have some stationed in each area of the rescue, so if there are any problems, they'll come to me. I also have my Flygon, who keeps an eye on things from the sky during day time, and my Gengar is on night patrol!" You explained.

"Wow, mate, you sure have a handle on things," he smiled.

And then it hit him. "Wait, you were in the challenge?" He asked.

"Yeah! I wasn't doing it the same year as you though. I didn't get to the end... I met Dumpling, and I was so focused on helping her out that I just, you know, dropped out. But I'm happy I-"

You were cut off by the happy barking of your Growlithe, who was running as fast as she could towards you.

You smiled and crouched to her level, patting her fur as she rapidly and excitedly wagged her tail all the while snuggling you.

"Nubby, my little girl! How are you doing?" You cooed.

Alright. Hop had to compose himself for a few seconds as he nearly melted into a puddle of feelings at the sound of your adorable baby voice.

The more he spoke to you, the more he realized just how incredible you were. Boy, did he feel blessed that you even considered giving him a second of your precious time.

You were leagues above him in so many ways. The two of you had started off the same way: you had both started your lives as mere challengers. You didn't even finish yours, yet you still had managed to become someone. You had a goal, and you were accomplishing incredible things. Meanwhile, Hop had completed his challenge, but he was still utter rubbish who had not managed to do anything impressive of his life.

Your presence, Hop loved it more and more as the minutes went by. But he knew that he didn't deserve it. You shouldn't be associating with a loser like him.

He shook his head, trying to snap himself out of his thoughts, pronto. It was then that he noticed that the Growlithe was missing her right front leg. Only a little nub remained, which was probably why you referred to her as Nubby.

"So, who's this girl?" He asked.

"This is Nubby! Her leg had to be amputated because she had severe trauma where she suffered from too many fractures to the point where it was unfixable," you explained.

Hop crouched down as well, cringing slightly at the thought. "I'm kind of scared to ask what happened to her..." he added, extending his hand.

At that, Nubby bounced to Hop's hand, sniffing it before barking happily once again.

"Yeah... let's just say that her previous owner wasn't a very nice person," you said, a bitter frown on your face as you recalled the memories.

"That's absolute rubbish. How could someone treat a pokémon so poorly?" Hop said.

Nubby began to lick and nuzzle Hop's hand as she wanted some head pats, which is precisely what he did.

"Aw... but you're such a good girl. You didn't deserve that," he cooed.

"She really likes you, Hop! You're a natural with pokémon," You said, laughing softly.

"You think?" He asked with a big grin. His heart practically soared at the compliment.

"Duh! Why wouldn't I?" You said.

"I mean... I've never been a great trainer like my brother or Victor, and I can barely consider myself a professor. I still have a lot to learn, you know?" He said.

Hop instantly cringed as the words left his mouth. He wanted nothing more than to remain positive for the day. After all, he's been adoring every second with you. Yet, Hop couldn't help but let his feelings pour a bit. You just gave him that sentiment of trust that made him want to confide in you.

But, he felt absolutely silly at having unloaded his negativity on you. You didn't deserve to have his self-pity on your shoulders.

However, you just sent him a soft smile before crawling to his side and gently putting your hand on his shoulder. The touch had his stomach fluttering.

"Give yourself more credit, Hop. While Victor was completely destroying everyone, you were the only trainer to give him a run for his money. And you already know so much about pokémon, so imagine in a few years how much of an amazing professor you'll be," you said.

"I-" Hop stuttered, unable to express himself as he felt his face heat up. "Geez, (Y/N), thanks... you're too kind," he said.

"I'm just being factual," you said, grinning at him before standing up.

"Heya, Nubby? I have to finish the tour. Come find me later, and we'll play, okay?" You said.

She barked and nodded. She licked him one last time before pulling away from Hop.  She then bounced off to play with other pokémon.

You extended your hand to Hop, which he took and let you pull him up from the ground. Hop's mind ran wild as he noticed that you had not let go of his hand as you led him through your rescue. You were so casual about it.

As you brought him to the next area, his eyes widened at the gorgeous scenery—a large pond surrounded by rocks, shrubs and trees. There was even a little trickling waterfall. Aquatic plants were surfacing, and the stones had natural moss growing on them.

The little Sobble from earlier seemed like he was having a blast floating on top of a Lotad's head. Little Pyukumukus were chilling on the edges of the rocks, and many fish pokémon happily splashed about. Even non-water type pokémon were running around the area.

"So? What do you think?" You asked.

"What do I think? Mate, it's amazing! If I were a pokémon, I'd never want to leave. How'd you even manage all of this?" He asked, absolutely stunned.

"With a lot of work. My family and I all pitched in to build, landscape and plant everything," you said.

"Bloody hell. You definitely succeeded!" Hop said.

Off in the distance, he saw a more rocky and sandy area. Larvitars were rolling around in the sand. A Sizzlipede and Helioptile were sunbathing on rocks. Hop could also see a large group of Salandits.

"Whoa, you've got a lot of Salandits," he commented.

"Yeah... they tend to be a pretty common pokémon in the rescue," you said.

"Is it because of the Salazzles? I'm pretty sure some Salazzles are pretty ruthless with Salandits. You know, taking all their food and stuff," Hop said.

You grinned. "You're actually spot on, Hop! See? You do know your stuff!"

He blushed again, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. Hop was definitely happy that you were complimenting him. It was a nice, refreshing change from his usual intrusive thoughts.

"They're all males, and they've been starved to the point of near-death because of overly dominant Salazzles. Nature can be just as cruel as humans at times," you said.

You sat down in the shade of a tree. Hop followed, sitting next to you.

"Definitely. But they seem really ha- huh? Is that a shiny Salandit," he asked with wide eyes.

You followed his gaze, and you smiled once you saw the sweet Salandit that he was referring to. The little guy was watching you from afar, yet he made no moves to come to you.

"It is... that would be Blizzard," you said. "Blizzard, sweetie, come over here," you called out.

Blizzard flinched, but he complied. However, he was taking slow, shaky steps, and his posture was excessively nervous, which didn't go unnoticed by Hop.

"Hey... what's wrong with the fellow?" He asked.

"Oh... well, he's petrified of anyone who isn't me," you said.

"O-Oh... maybe I should leave, then? I wouldn't want to cause problems," he said.

You shook your head. "Don't be silly, Hop. You're allowed to stay."

"Can I ask why he's so nervous with people?" Hop asked.

You nodded, sighing at the horrible story. "I happened to be in the area when it all went down, releasing some pokémon who were fit to go back in the wild. A shiny hunter had been looking for a shiny Salandit for months to add to his 'collection.' When he finally found Blizzard, he was outraged that he found a male since they're incapable of evolving. In his fit of rage, the hunter yelled at Blizzard, calling him a worthless piece of shit and kicked him so hard against a rock the poor thing's skull cracked."

"What the hell?!" Hop nearly yelled. 

"I know..." you said.

Blizzard had finally crawled to your hand. He sniffed your hand before rubbing his head against your hand. Hop noticed a few scars on top of the Salandit's head. 

"He seems so sweet," Hop said.

You nodded as you scooped Blizzard into your arms and your lap. He curled up into a bundle, really cuddling up to you as much as he could.

"Hey... thanks again for letting me come here, I mean, look at this place! It's amazing! I could just sit here and watch the pokémon all day," Hop said enthusiastically.

"Well, why don't you drop by more often?" You proposed.

"R-Really? I mean, I'd love to. B-But I wouldn't want to be a bother!" He stuttered, voice laced with surprise.

"Oh, come on! I really enjoyed your company today. It's so nice to have someone as enthusiastic and passionate as you around. Plus, wouldn't it be good for your research? To come here and all?" You said.

"I.... you have a point. I had fun today too, and well, you know..." he said, trailing off near the end as his cheeks erupted in a cherry hue.

Hop was adorable, and you meant it when you said that you'd like to have him over more often. You hoped he would as you definitely had an interest in him blossoming within you.

~~~~~~

Hop never expected that a visit to Magnolia's home would make him meet someone like you. Someone he felt at peace and ease with, someone who he sought out their company.

He kept telling himself that he shouldn't be such a burden by dropping in on you so often, but he couldn't help it.

He went to see you whenever possible, and he lived for the moments where he did. Hop was always so mesmerized by all of the pokémon you took care of. You brought so much to his research, even Sonia had noticed.

And today was another day where he was racing down to your home to see you again.

Getting to your place, he immediately saw you on the porch, sitting on your little swing. As he got closer, he noticed that you were holding two little Dreepys. Next to you was Blizzard, who was snuggling against your thigh.

Hop also saw two bottles and blankets placed onto the table next to the swing. You were probably in the midst of caring for the little ones.

You heard footsteps approaching you. Lifting your head, you saw Hop heading your way, a perfect smile upon his face as he waved at you.

"Heya, Hoppers! Come sit with me, you've got to meet these little cuties," you called out.

Upon realizing that Hop was here, the Salandit that had been cuddling you scurried off of the swing to hide behind your feet and under the swing.

Hop frowned at that. Most of the pokémon had gotten used to his presence, and they all let him play and pet them. But it wasn't the case for Blizzard. The poor thing was still terrified of Hop. Not that Hop blamed him.

"Shoot, sorry. I didn't mean to scare him off," Hop apologized, sitting next to you.

You waved off his apology. "It's fine. He'll come around eventually."

"When did you get Dreepys, (Y/N)?" He asked.

"Just the other day. Aren't they cute?" You gushed as you wiggled your fingers at the little ones, causing them to squeal happily.

"They're tiny. Babies?" Hop said.

"Yeah... they're practically newborns. Their mum passed away. Someone contacted me the other day saying that he found the babies near their mum's body," you explained.

Hop frowned. "Poor things. I wonder what happened to the mum."

"I'm not sure. The Dragapult didn't seem to have any wounds, so she may have been sick," you said.

"So, are you going to keep them until they're old enough to fend for themselves? Like what mother Dragapults do?" Hop said.

You smiled. "That's the plan! Unless they decide that they want to stay."

Suddenly, the duo of babies was trying to nibble at your fingers, causing you to retract them before you got chomped.

"They're probably hungry. Why don't we feed them?" You said.

"We? But-" 

Hop was interrupted as you handed him one of the hungry babies. It wiggled its paws excitedly in Hop's arms.

"A-Are you sure, (Y/N)? Maybe you're better off handling things. I don't want to mess anything up," Hop said with an undertone of nervousness.

You couldn't help but frown. This was a recurring problem with Hop. You had noticed that he seemed to think rather lowly of himself ever since you first met him at Magnolia's. At the time, you had brushed off his behaviour as pure nervousness, but you were most definitely wrong. 

Hop put everyone around him on the highest pedestal while he put himself down. He was constantly doubting his abilities and brushing off his accomplishments as if they were nothing. Every so often, he would make pessimistic comments about himself.

His low self-esteem was heartbreaking to you. You thought that Hop was great, and you wished that he could see himself the way you saw him.

"This isn't the first time you've helped me feed a pokémon from the sanctuary, you'll be fine!" You reassured him.

"I- well, alright then," Hop said.

You grabbed the bottles from the table and handed one to Hop. You shook your bottle and held it out to the baby Dreepy who immediately latched onto it.

"Don't tip the bottle too much, so the Dreepy doesn't drink too fast and choke. That's all there is to it!" You said.

Hop stared at you as you fed the baby dragon with a small blush colouring his face. You looked so cute when you took care of pokémon. Your passion and love for what you did really surfaced, and it was so sweet.

The Dreepy that Hop was holding nudged him, wanting food as well. Hop mumbled a small apology to the pokémon for making him wait.

So, Hop copied what you were doing to feed the baby. Hop had never fed a baby dragon before, so this was a pleasant experience.

Your Dreepy was already done eating, and he let out a big yawn. You set the bottle down and grabbed one of the blankets, wrapping him in a little bundle.

"It helps them feel more secure. They usually spend a lot of time in their mother's catapults at this age, so they like being bundled up," you explained.

"You'd make a good parent," Hop blurted, which he instantly regretted.

His blush worsened as he processed the idiotic and embarrassing thing he had just said. What the hell was wrong with him? How in Arceus' name did he come to the conclusion that that was an appropriate thing to say?

"I-I mean I- never mind! J-Just pretend that you didn't hear that!" Hop said, embarrassed.

But, all you did was grin at him. "You really think so?"

He blinked, surprised that you weren't mad or uncomfortable. "Well... yes," he admitted.

You nodded, still smiling. You glanced at his lap and noticed that the baby Dreepy was finished eating and had fallen asleep all curled up in his lap.

"And... you'd definitely be a great dad," you said, winking at him as you held out the other blanket.

Hop's mind practically stopped functioning at your reply, and he would most likely have a heart attack if this kept up.

He grabbed the blanket, and although his hands were a little shaky from what had just transpired, he managed to wrap it around the Dreepy.

"See? You did really well with the Dreepy! Thanks for giving me a hand," you said.

"I-It's my pleasure- huh?" 

Hop paused as he noticed that Blizzard was starting to poke his head out from underneath the swing. The Salandit was looking straight at Hop and tilting his head. He seemed to be intrigued in Hop.

Hop smiled. "Heya, lil' buddy."

You grinned at the scene. Although Blizzard wasn't making any moves to come to Hop, he was starting to recognize Hop as a good person, which was a good thing.

Hop leaned down, holding his hand out to Blizzard. Blizzard continued to stare at Hop's hand, but he ultimately decided to back away a little and hold onto your leg.

"Still not passed the 'no touchy' boundaries, huh? It's alright, take your time," Hop said, sitting upright.

"If anything, I think Blizzard likes you. He's never even tried to make eye contact with others," you said.

"Really?"

"Yeah! He must sense that you're absolutely amazing!" You said.

Hop blushed. "I- thanks, (Y/N)"

Hop never expected that a visit to Magnolia's home would make him meet someone like you. Someone he would end up crushing on, even if he knew that you would never glance at him in that way.

~~~~~~

"Hello? Sonia? Hop?" You called out, entering the research lab.

Hop, who was putting away some books on the second story, turned around at the sound of your voice. He grinned when he saw you.

"(Y/N)! Whatcha doing here?" He asked, heading down the stairs.

You hugged him, which he immediately reciprocated. Thankfully for him, you couldn't see the dorky, lovesick smile plastered on his face when you did.

"I was actually dropping off some rare berries by Sonia's request. You know how much she loves making curry," you said, waving a bag around.

Hop took your bag to place it onto the desk for Sonia to grab whenever she came back to the lab. 

He looked back at you, playfully pouting. "Aw... you didn't come here to see me?"

"Well, it might have been an excuse to come and see you," you winked.

You were just joking around, he knew that. You had to be, there was no way you actually meant that. Even if he knew not to put much thought into it, he couldn't help but hang onto the slight sliver of hope that there was some underlying flirtatious message in your comment. 

"But, er, do you mind if I stay with you a bit?" You asked. "I'll leave if you're busy, though," you added.

Hop practically lit up at your desire to stay with him, and he hoped that he didn't seem like such a dork. 

"No, no, I'd be happy for you to stay. I was getting kind of bored any- hey... are you alright?" Hop interrupted himself, smile faltering a bit when he noticed that you looked exhausted.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Perfectly fine," you said.

You mentally cursed yourself for not covering up your fatigued state better. You were completely drained, and that was a big fact, a fact that you tried to push away as best as you could. 

You knew that you needed to rest, yet you were so stubborn and strict with yourself that you continued to work and work until you looked and felt like a wreck. It made you so happy to make your pokémon happy that you had managed to convince yourself that your own health wasn't as crucial as their wellbeing.

The last few days and nights were particularly rough with the baby Dreepys getting up a few times per night. Plus, you had gotten a difficult Toxtricity who was pulled from a sadistic owner. The pokémon was missing an eye, and scars littered his entire body. He was exceptionally aggressive and defensive, and you had spent a lot of time and energy on him to try to ease him up a bit. There was progress, but the rehabilitation would be long.

You had hoped that it would have gone unnoticed by Hop. He was already struggling with his own self-esteem issues, and you didn't want him to worry about you. You wanted him to take care of himself first and foremost. To hell with the state you brought upon yourself.

But, you knew that he wouldn't let it slide. Hop was just as stubborn as you were.

"Have you been sleeping all that well at all, (Y/N)?" He asked.

"Yes!" You said enthusiastically, though your voice cracked as you felt your head pound from how tired you were.

"You should sit down," Hop insisted, gently taking your hand in his to drag you to the couch.

"I swear, I'm fine, Hop," you protested, even though it was apparent that you were lying as you made no effort to stop Hop from sitting you down.

"(Y/N), we both know that's rubbish. I mean, you can barely keep your eyes open," Hop said.

"I... I guess you're right," you sighed, rubbing your eyes and forehead.

Hop put his hands on your shoulders, rubbing them soothingly. "Take it easy on yourself, you poor thing."

You nodded, barely having the energy to even speak properly.

Feeling a bit bolder, Hop wrapped an arm around your shoulders and brought you closer against him. You immediately responded by laying your head on his chest, making him blush at the unexpected action.

"You don't mind, yeah? You're kinda comfy," you said.

"I-It's fine," Hop squeaked.

His heart raced a mile a minute, which you could probably hear. Still, he managed to bring his hand up to your head to run it through your soft hair. He swore that you practically purred at the contact.

"I might fall asleep if you keep doing that," you mumbled.

He chuckled. "Guess I'll keep at it then."

And that's exactly what happened. After a few minutes of innocent cuddling, you had ultimately passed out on him. You seemed so peaceful that Hop didn't bother moving from his spot.

It was also because he enjoyed having you so close to him.

He figured that this was the closest thing to more intimate physical contact he would get with you. So, he wasn't complaining. But he kept telling himself that it was just a coincidence that you happened to fall asleep on him, that it didn't make him special. 

As Hop kept playing with your hair, Sonia had walked into the lab, and the first thing she saw was you and Hop cuddled up against one another.

She stared for a few seconds before smirking. "Well, isn't that just adorable?" She teased.

"It's... not what it looks like," Hop defended rather poorly, cheeks beginning to heat up.

"Oh, right, pardon me. You totally aren't cuddling with (Y/N)," she winked.

"They... they were just really tired and ended up passing out... on me," he said, mumbling the last part.

"I mean... it's not like you're complaining, right?" Sonia said.

"Sonia..." Hop warned.

She ignored him. "Like, you're crazy for them, so it must be a dream come true!"

Hop huffed, red-faced in embarrassment. "Your berries are on the desk..."

"You're not getting out of this that easily," she said.

Hop sighed in defeat. "Okay, fine. No, I don't mind having them like this. Far from it, actually."

Sonia giggled, heading over to the bag of berries. "So, when do you plan on asking them out on an actual date?" She said, rummaging through the bag.

He shrugged. "Not now... or ever."

Sonia turned around, looking at Hop questionably. "Why?"

Hop shrugged again, a sad smile overtaking him. "We're just friends, and that's all we'll be. I know they’ll never like me the way I do, so why risk ruining everything, you know?"

"What makes you say that, Hop?" She asked.

"They just... won't. B-But that's fine!" He said, not wanting to pour his feelings of insecurity to Sonia.

She frowned. "Right... well, you should give it a chance. If anything, I've never seen (Y/N) come to the lab as often as this ever since they met you. I think you've got a good chance."

Hop nodded. However, Sonia's words practically went over his head. He would rather endure a one-sided crush than face the reality of rejection. He was convinced that that's what you would do should he try to say anything about his feelings.

Why would you like him? Hop couldn't find a single reason why you would, and it did shatter his heart to pieces.

Even if he would die to have the chance of calling himself your boyfriend, the shattering feeling of rejection and ruining your friendship weren't things Hop wanted to go through.

~~~~~~

Hop was visiting you once more, and he was giving you a hand in handing out food for all of the pokémon. Really, he couldn't have asked for a better way to spend his days; spending time with you, helping you, taking care of pokémon and learning new things.

He was outdoors, near the water and sandy areas of the rescue. You weren't too far from him. He could see you through some trees sitting at a fair distance from your Toxtricity. He could hear you talking about random little things as a tactic to get the pokémon used to your presence.

Glancing at you, he smiled at how determined you looked to get Toxtricity to trust again. There was a small difference in behaviour that was noticeable. The pokémon no longer tried to attack you on sight.

He placed various dishes down for the pokémon that were hanging near the water area, and from the corner of his eye, he saw the little Sobble lose his balance, which had the lizard nearly slip off the rocks.

Hop rushed over to Dizzy, catching him before he could fall and hurt himself. 

"Heya, you've gotta be more careful, mate. You don't want to get hurt again, huh?" He lightly scolded.

Dizzy, still in Hop's arms, tilted his head innocently, not understanding what was going on. Hop chuckled at that and patted Dizzy's head, making him purr in delight.

"Everything alright, Hoppers?" You called out from the trees.

"All good! Just Dizzy being, well, dizzy," Hop replied.

"You sure are a handful, aren't you?" He said to Dizzy. "Not that you mean it, or anything."

Hop set the Sobble back down onto the ground, near all the other pokémon so that he could eat. It was one big, happy family, and all of the pokémon of the area always pitched in to keep an eye on the Sobble whenever possible.

Turning around, Hop blinked in surprise as saw the shiny Salandit slowly crawling over to him. However, Blizzard immediately froze in his tracks when he noticed that Hop saw him.

Hop crouched, holding his hand out. "You have nothing to be afraid of. Trust me, please?"

To his absolute bafflement, Blizzard took more steps forward. They were slow and shaky, but he was approaching Hop nonetheless.

And then, the Salandit sniffed Hop's hand. Going a bit further, Hop rubbed the underside of Blizzard's chin, which he responded by nuzzling Hop's hand, happily wagging his tail.

"See? I'm not so bad, right?" Hop said, making Blizzard nod in agreement.

"Can I help you, sir?" 

Hop stopped petting Blizzard at the sound of your voice, immediately on alert. The tone of your voice sounded very wary, and rightfully so as there was an unknown man in front of you.

You stared at the new presence with caution. Your sanctuary wasn't open to the public, so this man was trespassing.

You didn't like the way that he was looking at you, glaring at you and scanning you with a sneer. He was making you slightly uncomfortable, but you kept your cool. If anything happened that you didn't like, both your Flygon and Hop would be by your side.

And you had a feeling that Hop was keeping an eye on you in the distance. You had noticed how he had started becoming a little protective of you. It was especially noticeable when he scolded you about taking poor care of yourself.

As the man wasn't responding, you spoke up again. "If you don't have any particular business with me, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. This is private property."

"I've got business with you," he said.

"And that would be..?" You pressed.

"You the bitch who's got my Toxtricity?" He asked.

Your eyes widened. The Toxtricity you had gotten just two weeks ago, this was his previous owner. From the corner of your eye, you saw the pokémon in question flinch. You were, suddenly, feeling very bitter.

"Oh... you mean the Toxtricity that's covered in scars and burn marks? The one that's missing an eye?" You said.

He smirked. "Yeah. That one. I'm here to pick it up. Just hand it over to me, and we ain't gon' have any problems."

"I don't think so," you said, taking a step back as the man stepped forward.

The air felt heavy as the man kept a glare etched on you. He was tall and rather buff. If he had no issues harming his own pokémon for nothing more than sick pleasure, then what would stop him from hurting you?

"I'm not gonna say it again. Hand the fucking thing over if you don't wanna end up like it," he said.

That was enough for Hop.

"Is there a problem?" Hop said as he stepped to your side.

The intruder chuckled, his tone was full of mockery. "This fuckin' stick is your bodyguard? How cute."

"I swear, mate, leave them alone," Hop nearly growled, taking a step forward so he could be in front of you.

"What the fuck do you expect to do- oh... there you are," the man said, glancing off to the side and noticing Toxtricity.

Toxtricity growled at the man, though you could clearly see the poor thing shaking in absolute fear. 

In mockery, the man chuckled and took a few steps towards the panicked pokémon, causing you to panic a bit.

"No! Don't even think of getting close to him," you yelled.

You tried to hurry to Toxtricity before he could, but before you could, the man had smacked you hard enough for you to plunge to the ground.

This caused your Flygon to dive from the sky, snarling at the man as he shielded both you and Toxtricity. As for Hop, utterly furious, he had decided to release one of his most prized pokémon to come to your aid. That's how the intruder found himself sandwiched between a furious Flygon and a powerful Zacian.

"Zacian, Flygon, pin him down! Make sure that this worthless piece of rubbish can't escape," Hop ordered.

The two pokémon were more than happy to comply, the man never stood a chance as Flygon whacked the man with his tail, causing him to fly to Zacian's side where the legendary wolf kept a paw on him to prevent him from escaping. It looked beyond painful, but Hop didn't care.

"Keep him in place, Zacian," Hop said.

Even with the aching pain you felt, you couldn't help but stare at the legendary pokémon in wonder. You knew that Hop had Zacian by his side, but you had never seen it. And looking at it in person, obeying Hop's commands without a single protest was terrific. Hop was truly a great trainer that deserved every ounce of recognition, but you had never doubted that. Not once.

With that, Hop raced to your side, wasting no time in hugging you tightly before helping you back up on your feet.

"(Y/N)! Are you okay? Shit, that's gonna leave a bruise," he said, analyzing your injury.

"I-I'll be-"

"Shit... I'm so sorry I let that happen," he continued, not letting you speak.

"Hop, it's not-"

"Oh fuck... how could I let that happen to you?"

"Hop..."

"I'm so stupid. I should have reacted sooner. What was I thinking?"

You hugged him tightly, catching him off guard and causing him to finally cease his frantic, pessimistic comments about himself.

"I'm glad you stepped in when you did. If you hadn't, who knows what would have happened to Toxtricity and me. Thank you," you said.

"B-But... you got hurt," Hop muttered, voice cracking slightly.

"It'll heal. It's not your fault. You're a hero, for all I care," you said, pulling away with a smile.

"I... I'm glad you think so," he said.

He turned back to glare at the piece of shit, still struggling underneath his Zacian's weight. 

"Go inside and clean yourself up. Get a bag of ice, sit down and decompress, okay? I'll call the police so they can come to pick up the trash. I'll stay here until they arrive," he said, turning back to you.

"Okay. Thank you. But... can you, you know, come inside with me after? I don't want to be alone after what happened," you said, cheeks heating a bit.

Hop felt his heart skip a few beats at the fact that you were seeking comfort in him.

He nodded. "Anything for you," he said, smiling nervously at his choice of words, but you didn't seem to mind.

As you distanced yourself from the scene, you couldn't help but smile despite it all. You were so thankful that Hop was there for you, and you knew that you could trust him with everything. He was wonderful.

~~~~~~

You stared at yourself in your bedroom mirror, nodding confidently as you felt that you looked presentable. Although you weren't really going for an extravagant look, you looked cute.

There had always been chemistry between you and Hop. Being with him felt natural and right; you had practically instantly clicked. Over the months, your interest in Hop grew and grew until you could confidently say that you had fallen in love with him.

And so, after much consideration and hyping yourself up, you had decided that you would take it upon yourself to make a romantic move on Hop. You were going to ask him on a little date.

You exited your house to head to Wedgehurst, a giddy and warm feeling surfacing. If Hop accepted, you would be the happiest person in Galar.

It's been so long since you've dated anyone, and although you hadn't been actively looking for a significant other, you were happy that you happened to meet Hop.

Hop was the kind of man you'd love to date. He was such a bundle of energy, passion and ambition, which made him stand out from other people you've met. He was such a sweetheart with you, and he obviously cared a lot for you. What more could you ask for?

When you were in front of the lab, you took a deep breath, trying to compose yourself. You were excited, but nervous. You nodded to yourself, it was now or never. Entering the lab, you saw Hop lazing on the lab's couch, watching something on his Rotom Phone. You heard some rummaging noises coming from the back of the lab, most likely Sonia.

Hop lifted his gaze, grinning when he saw you heading his way. He set his phone down.

"(Y/N)! Hi! What brings you here?" Hop asked, still grinning.

"Well, I... I'm not bothering you, right?" You asked as feeble attempt to take your time in asking him out.

"Pft. When do you ever bother me?" Hop said.

"Okay. Good, that's good," you said, already feeling your cheeks heat up.

You came here, feeling so confident in yourself, knowing exactly what to say and how to say it, only to transform into a moron when you were in front of Hop.

"Hey... you feeling alright? Are you sick or something?" Hop asked, concern lacing his voice.

"No, no, I'm cool. I just-" you took a deep breath. "You see... there's this really nice café in Turrfield, and well, would you like to go with me?" You finally asked.

Hop blinked, visibly processing your words before blushing madly. "Wait. Are you... are you asking me on a date," he asked, completely shocked.

You giggled. "Well, yes!"

Hop couldn't believe it. Why were you asking him on a date? Of all people that you could choose, you were going for the most significant failure the region had ever seen.

Hop had been pining for you for so long now, but he had convinced himself that this scenario was improbable, impossible, even. This had to be some kind of sick joke, right?

But, you weren't the type of person to do such a thing, to play with someone's feelings. You were better than that.

And that was the problem: you were too good for him. You deserved better, and he knew it. Hop accepted it.

Meanwhile, your heart was practically pounding out of your chest as you waited for Hop's answer. His silence was making you beyond nervous.

Hop shook his head and cleared his throat. "I... I'm sorry, (Y/N), but I'll have to say no."

Your heart shattered in millions of pieces at that. 

"O-Oh..." was all you managed to say.

Hop cringed at the dejected look you had. He didn't mean to hurt you, but hopefully, this would push you to seek someone better than him.

Or maybe it was a ridiculous thought that he was regretting. He regretted it so much, but he couldn't seem to voice his actual feelings. He was so deep in his low self-esteem.

You nodded, averting your gaze from Hop's. "Right. Yeah. That's totally fine!" You said, trying to remain positive, but it was more than evident that your enthusiasm was fake.

"(Y/N), I-" 

"It's fine, really! You don't have to explain yourself. You have every right not to want to go on a date with me," you said, voice quivering.

Hop didn't say anything. There was nothing more that he desired than go out with you. Why couldn't he say anything?

"I'm gonna go now, okay? I'll go do... stuff. I'll see you, right?" You said, already backing away.

Hop bit his lip. "Yeah..."

And you were out the door quicker than you could have imagined. Feelings of humiliation, frustration and heartbreak were taking over you, and you didn't want to stick around for anyone to see your tears.

Hop stared at the door, running his hands through his hair in absolute horror at what he had just done. He initially thought that this was going to be the best option to keep you from dating an absolute nobody, but he was processing what a colossal mistake that was.

Hop hated seeing you upset, he always wanted to see your eyes shine with life. Now, he had never seen you so broken, and he was the cause of it. That stung on so many levels.

"I outta smack you right now. What in the world was that about, Hop?" Sonia exclaimed, stomping over to him.

"I-"

Sonia interrupted him. "No, you know what? I don't even want to hear your excuses. I thought you liked them!"

"I do like them!" Hop said, flinching at Sonia's tone with him.

"Then, why did you reject them? I don't get it, Hop. They obviously like you!"

"But..."

"No! You are going to take the day off, and you are going to go see your friend, whose heart you just split, and talk things out with them," Sonia ordered.

Hop bit his lip and nodded. Sonia was right, he fucked up, and he needed to make up for his mistake. He needed to open up to you.

Weren't you, after all, the best person that he could pour his heart to? Weren't you the sweetest, most open-minded and trustworthy person he knew and fell in love with?

~~~~~~

Sitting on your living room couch, your Frosmoth cuddled up to you as you cried your heart out. She was trying to make you feel better, and you appreciated her efforts, even if you both knew that your heartbreak wouldn't cure with little cuddles.

You glanced at your front door as someone knocked on it. You ignored it at first, not having the energy to get up, but you eventually caved in as the knocking became more frantic.

You reluctantly stood up, and when you opened up the door, Hop was there, looking as guilty as ever. His eyes seemed glossy, seemingly about to cry himself. You contemplated slamming the door in his face, but you couldn't bring yourself to do that to Hop.

"(Y/N). Can... can I come in?" He asked softly.

You nodded, sidestepping to let him in. The two of you remained silent for what seemed to be an eternity. The air was tense.

Suddenly, Hop tightly wrapped his arms around you, placing your head against his chest. He rested his face in the crook of your neck, and you felt little droplets streaming down your skin.

"I'm... damn it. I'm so sorry, (Y/N)," he muttered. "I'm such an idiot. I just- I didn't want to hurt you like that. I'm the worst."

"I told you, Hop. It's okay if you don't want to go out with me. I'm not forcing you," you whispered.

He pulled away from you, keeping his hands on your shoulders. "But I do want to go out with you."

"Wha-? But you said-"

"I know what I said, and I lied through my teeth," he admitted.

"Why? If you wanted to, then why did you reject me?" You asked, genuinely confused.

"It's going to sound stupid, and it really is, b-but I..." he said, trailing off as he struggled to find the right words.

You took his hand in yours. "Here, let's sit," you said as you guided him to the couch.

You didn't let go of his hand when you sat down, hoping to give him a bit of comfort. You weren't as upset as you were just a few minutes ago, though you were confused and wanted answers.

"I said no because I thought you would be better off with someone else," he admitted.

"Someone else? Why would you think that?" You asked, completely flabbergasted.

"(Y/N), I- damn it. I'm nothing special! You could do so much better than a failure like me. You deserve the best, and I'm not that. I'm talentless rubbish."

Your jaw nearly dropped. It wasn't uncommon for Hop to make small, negative comments about himself, but this was the first time you've heard him degrade himself to such an extent.

"I wanted to be a legend, to surpass my brother and become the champion, but my friend was better than me. Everyone throughout my entire journey was better than me. Everyone is still better than me."

"Hop-"

"I haven't accomplished anything, there's nothing to set me apart from others. I figured that the right thing to do was to spare you from the embarrassment that would come with dating Galar's biggest loser..." he squeezed your hand, "... but it would destroy me to see you with someone else, even if I know that you deserve the world. The world that I can't provide."

More tears streamed down his cheeks as all of his darkest thoughts finally came out of him. It was heartbreaking to see Hop in such a state, to voice what he thought of himself. 

You thought none of the things he had just said, and you thought that you had made it obvious over all the time you've spent together. You were always there to give him reassurance, to hype him up when he didn't believe in himself. Hop looked so broken and lost like he didn't know what else to do or think. You couldn't believe that he thought so lowly of himself to the point where he felt that he didn't deserve anything good happening to him.

"Hop, sweetheart, look at me," you said. "How could you even have the audacity to say all these horrible things about yourself?"

"It's the tru-"

"No. You think you're a failure because you didn't become a champion? Please. I don't care that you didn't win. Don't you like what you're doing right now?"

"Yes..."

"There! That's all that matters. And for the record, you're phenomenal at what you do. You have so much knowledge about pokémon, and you're a natural with them. I should know, I see the way you are at the sanctuary. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: imagine just how amazing you're going to be as a professor in the future when you're already that good."

Hop wiped at his tears a bit. "You... really think I'm doing okay?"

You smiled. "More than okay! You think you're talentless, that you haven't accomplished anything and that you're not unique? Bullshit. Say that to the Zacian, who chose you as one of the heroes. Say that to Victor, who has a hard time standing against you in battle when no one else can. Say that to the insane amount of progress you've made to become a professor. Heck, you might just become one of the youngest professors!"

"(Y/N)... I- you really think that of me?" He asked, hope lacing his tone.

You nodded, rubbing soothing circles on his hand with your thumb. "Yes, and I really like you, Hop. Without even looking at what you've accomplished, I still like you. You could be the most ordinary person, and I'd still like you. You get what I'm saying? I'm attracted to you as a person for all of your amazing qualities and your adorable quirks. I like you because I feel a connection between us, and I just feel comfortable with you."

Hop chuckled, his bright smile returning to him as he blushed madly. He pulled you into a hug, and you immediately clung onto him.

"Thank you, (Y/N). I needed to talk to someone about this, and I just- thank you. I like you too, a lot. So, so much," he said. He pulled away from you. "So.. about that date?"

You laughed softly, leaning in to plant a small kiss to the corner of his lips. That alone made Hop's mind go blank as he chuckled with a smitten look on his face.

Maybe he wasn't Galar's ultimate winner, but why should he care when he already had everything he needed and wanted? Hop would be damned to let a gem such as yourself go, so he'd be selfish just this once and keep you for himself.

Not that you seemed to mind.

[au-wannabe-the-very-best]

This a weird idea, but it came into my head that Rei would sneak with Ingo, Akari, their Pokémon, and the Hisuian Zoroark Pack to the Future. It's not one I expect would happen, but Rei not wanting to be separated from what he sees as his Family is interesting. Rei could even hide in the LONG Fur that way he wouldn't be noticed, and he could stay with the Pack until Ingo realizes that Rei snuck with them and just take him home and introduce him to Emmet.

I know it may not be Canon to Zoroark Pack Ingo and Akari (My name for it), but I thought it would be fun to say out loud.

It is fun! You're right that it's not canon to the AU, but it's a really fun branch of it. I think this would be the branch where Ingo would be more involved and who Rei would consider his father figure, as opposed to Laventon who would fill that role in the main branch of the AU.

In the main branch of the AU, Rei sticks around and becomes the one to complete the Pokédex for Professor Laventon, having learned to be just as good with Pokémon as his "Uncle Ingo" was. While Ingo ultimately fixed the rift and subdued the frenzies of the Noble Pokémon, that little protagonist adventure actually had nothing to do with the Pokédex, so it ultimately fell on the people Ingo had personally taught in the art of battle and interacting with Pokémon. He essentially is the sole reason the Survey Corps had any competency at all.

In the branch where Rei sees Ingo as his dad I can imagine Ingo still being very wary about separating Rei from Jubilife. The kid still grew up in the village and had many people there who deeply cared for him. Rei of course wouldn't have it and I can seethings still happening the same way in the main branch, except a couple years later Rei shows up on Ingo's doorstep like Sup! Hey dad I also caught the Almighty Sinnohs for that book I helped Laventon make and decided since I was done with that, I'd rather be wherever you are. :)

Ingo's like. EMMET. DO WE HAVE ANOTHER SET OF ADOPTION PAPERS? YEAH I'M GONNA NEED THEM AGAIN.

[waywardstation]

Forgot

Phione Akari AU

Ingo is pushing himself too hard and forgetting important responsibilities. Kana is not happy dealing with this.

I wrote this based off a combo of requests, one requesting an AU-specific situation where Ingo needs to hide Akari somewhere, and a general request for more interactions with Kana. And then I remember at the time I wrote this I had been dealing with a pretty awful sore throat and lost voice, so I cast that upon Ingo just to get some of my irritation with it out. It's cathartic writing about it so I can at least relieve it for other characters, haha.

OR read here on AO3!

AND check out the Phione Akari AU masterpost!

Enjoy!

————

The worn bench creaked quietly as Ingo sat down, leaning forward against the table with a sigh.

It felt good to sit down on an actual seat after another trek of five extensively rough days, devoted entirely to fruitlessly scouring the coastlands for Akari. 

Well, in a sense. Her body was still out there somewhere (he believed at least, from what Akari had managed to share with him through writing in her pokedex), but Akari herself was right here with him. And she always had been, it just took the entirety of this trip to realize that. Now a small, watery pokemon hidden just within the flap of his coat collar, it was easy to keep her out of sight.

Ingo felt some guilt over the fact that he could no longer carry her in her water bucket around Jubilife, or even really have her out in the open at all. She had grown attached to residing in it during trips (and understandably so – phione dried out fast), but it was simply becoming too bothersome with Kana and her friend Miki snooping around. And Fancy – Miki’s staravia – was too interested in Akari for their own good. It always gave her the same stare those hungry coastlands murkrow did.

Thankfully though, he had yet to see any of them yet today. Perhaps it would be a little too hopeful to think they were currently too busy with corps work to come find him tonight. But he didn’t hold out on that – usually a trip into Jubilife guaranteed a forced visit with at least one of them anymore.

Ingo had seen a lot more of the two women lately than he would have liked to, ever since they caught a glimpse of poor Akari. 

The phione’s true identity had been easy for Ingo to keep from the two women when the truth had been obscured even from himself, and he simply knew her as ‘Passenger’ . But now that he knew, Ingo felt it may take a little more strain to keep that narrative going; Akari had made him promise not to reveal her demise to anyone, especially not to Kana or Miki. And while returning back to Jubilife, she had made it abundantly clear she wanted him to just keep them away from her for a while. So for now, as far as anyone else was concerned, she was simply a wild pokemon that had become attached to him, nothing more.

But obscuring the truth would allow some problems to continue. During their last few run-ins, Kana had been heavily implying that if he wasn’t going to bother catching the novel Pokémon, she would catch it herself. She ‘had a job to do so as a survey corps member’ , as she had put it (not like Ingo had ever seen her particularly motivated to assist Professor Laventon with filling out his pokedex, though – he assumed it was simply a front to get her hands on a relatively new, conventionally cute, and conveniently portable pokemon that had caught her eye). 

And even if Kana had been exaggerating her intent, Ingo did not want to risk that hypothetical. Not once had he tried to capture Akari in a pokeball, and he absolutely did not want to test to see if he could. He was fully aware that Akari was freaked out by all the unknown consequences that would accompany such an incident, even more so if someone like Kana would manage to catch her.

So, no bucket in town – nothing to tip off that he had her with him for anyone, but especially not for Kana and Miki. And not a word to anyone that she was alive and well, except for the fact that she was stuck in the body of a phione.

While Ingo had his own reserved thoughts about these tracks going forward, he understood Akari’s desired route. Technically, she had gone directly against Kamado’s orders. And after what had happened in the last few months, after the sky bruised red, Ingo knew Akari’s nervous uncertainty was… still there. And while he felt it would be received much better than she was expecting, and he felt ultimately it would be better to say something now rather than later, a small part of him didn’t blame her hesitance.

So for now, he would honor her wishes, despite the extra effort.

A soft clack against the table pulled Ingo from his thoughts. Beni had set down the order he’d made at the canteen’s front — the usual plate of potato mochi, bowl of rice, and steaming cup of tea. 

“Ah, thank you.” The warden pulled the hot food and drink towards him. A quick scan of his order, and he realized something was missing. “…Oh. By any chance, could I request a cup of water as well?” 

“It’ll be right out.” Was Beni’s only reply. Ingo suspected that the man knew exactly why he was asking for it. He’d seen Ingo order it just for his accompanying companion a few times, and probably knew she was with him. Ingo did not worry about him knowing, though. 

The warden cleared his throat delicately, as if the simple action hurt. “And if you’ve got it, some combee honey with it as well?”

One of Beni’s eyebrows raised.

“Ah, not in the water, just with the order.” Ingo was quick to try and explain himself at that sight. He gestured vaguely to his neck. “For my tea. Sore throat.”

Surely, Ingo thought, Beni had heard him constantly shouting Akari’s name like a broken record outside Jubilife’s gates at some point over the last week and a half. 

“Of course, I’ll send Magby out with it shortly.” He finally answered, turning to slip through the restaurant’s door and re-enter his kitchen.

“I appreciate it.” watching the door to The Wallflower slide shut, the warden was left alone to survey the Jubilife strip. At this time of evening, few people were out and about, browsing shops at their own pace, or standing in small social groups. A flock of what he presumed to be starly were out in the distance, amongst the sunset clouds…

Ingo felt something wriggle under the collar of his coat, impatient to move from off his shoulder. The sensation reminded him of the damp spot that had developed there.

“Stay on schedule, Miss Akari.” Ingo reminded her of what they had discussed earlier on the way back to Jubilife. “Remember, safety checks first.”

Squinting against the fading sunset he was facing, Ingo scanned the Jubilife strip street, looking out towards the Galaxy Hall.

A quick peek at the people shopping and talking. A few folks he recognized, but no Kana. 

A glance over his shoulder at the training grounds. No Miki.

“Alright, it is now safe to exit the cab.” The warden tugged the flap of his coat collar back with a finger. He turned his head to find his hidden companion under the fabric, intending to safely remove her himself. However, he instead felt something damp wriggle down his arm from inside his coat sleeve. The suddenness caught Ingo off guard, but she was out of the fabric bridge and onto the table before he could even do anything.

Akari was certainly impatient to get something. Ingo would have guessed the plate of mochi was her target, but he didn’t find himself too surprised when he saw her heading for his cup of tea instead.

“ Phi! ” Akari grasped at the edge of the cup with her flippers, making sounds in her effort to pull herself up and over.

“Ah, refrain from boarding, I am drinking that.�� Ingo gently nudged her away from it, before picking it up to take a sip. “I requested water for you, and it will arrive shortly.”

“ Phi,” She squeaked up at him, a tone in her voice revealing that she seemed to be lamenting something. It was so much harder for Ingo to understand her like this, but with some trial and error oveer the last day, he had gotten by with guessing most times. He knew she was starting to dry out by now, and was eager to find a substitute for her bucket.

And most likely, it was partially his fault that she was so desperate to get rehydrated. But he hadn’t had the heart to interrupt Anthe when she pulled him over to her shop for a half-hour conversation the moment she spotted him wearily shambling through Jubilife’s gates. 

Bless the woman’s insistence on attempting to hearten him with every update to the Galaxy Team’s recovery efforts on Akari over his five-day absence. 

“Nothing turned up in the fieldlands, but they’re still searching through the highlands, and they’re supposed to start combing through the mirelands soon… oh Ingo, they’re trying so hard.”

Anthe ended up apologizing when she became emotional herself, and Ingo could do nothing but extend comfort to her. She had no idea the watery blue pokemon situated within his coat collar was the very teen she was so worried about. And Akari had no choice but to slowly dry out on his shoulder over the course of that well-intentioned, but lengthy conversation.

“The tea is too hot for you. The water will be a more suitable option. We do not need you evaporating… again.” An earlier visit to Firespit Island had taught both Ingo and Akari that a phione’s aquatic body was quite prone to evaporation, especially when presented with the heat that the area exuded.

Ingo coughed, restrained but hoarse. He cleared his throat again gently, just as he had earlier. “And I require it in order to properly service my cab. Our last trip had left me in need of it, as I’m sure you understand.”

Endlessly shouting Akari’s name all throughout the coastlands for days on end, even after his throat had been stripped, and his voice cracked. Minimal water breaks sacrificed to instead continually search for her. Breaking down gracelessly the day before at the sight of Akari’s belongings strewn about Castaway Shore, and the horrific implications that such a scene presented. Then breaking down all over again when he realized that not only was Akari still alive, she had been right by his side the entire time.

Understandably, this all took a toll on him. Ingo had sorely overused and undermanaged his voice these last two weeks while searching for her. And for him, it took a lot to get to that point.

It was the entire reason why upon returning back to Jubilife after almost a week in the wilderness, Ingo’s first stop had been The Wallflower. He was sleep deprived, emotionally shaken, his muscles ached terribly, and both himself and his clothing desperately needed a proper scrubbing. But his throat was absolutely killing him, so tending to that came first. 

Another sip from his hot tea, grimacing as a swallow spurred a sharp stinging sensation to flare down his throat. It hurt now, but it would get better. 

He set down the steaming cup, but kept an eye on it to ensure Akari would keep out of it. As it was, he could see her staring at it longingly.

“Your water will arrive shortly, I assure you. But for now,” Ingo pushed the plate of potato mochi closer to her. “Take some time to properly refuel; we haven’t been keeping on schedule doing so as we should.”

The last five days had simply consisted of grazing on plucked berries whenever he had passed by a populated tree or bush. Stress-induced heartburn at night had already made the process discouraging, but it had been hard to justify sitting down to put together an actual meal when hypotheticals nagged at him.

Hypotheticals about how Akari may have been just out of sight, hidden right over the hill. Probably hurt. Maybe bleeding. Possibly passed out, or even-

At the time, it felt morally reprehensible to do anything else other than put every ounce of energy into looking for Akari, but in retrospect, it had been irresponsible to neglect his cab like that. 

Akari had been even worse, though. With frequent refusals to eat any of the berries he offered her, she sometimes even threw them back at him in apparent irritation. Now that he knew this phione as Akari, he recognized she had been understandably frustrated at him for not realizing who she was. But back when she was simply ‘Passenger’ to him, a clingy and high-strung enigmatic Pokemon, it had been exasperating and confusing behavior.

“Phi.” Phione pointed at the potato mochi, then at him. 

“In a moment, I will. I’d like to take care of this first.” Ingo gestured to his throat, before reaching for his cup of tea again. Without honey, the fleeting relief was much too temporary. “Go on and eat.”

“Phi-phi.” Akari squeaked, seeming to accept his answer for now. Using her flippers, she pulled herself over to the plate, and flopped over against one of the potato mochi patties. Ingo watched as bubbles began to fizz inside her transparent body, similar to water slowly climbing towards its boiling point.

Her body was simply just dissolving the mochi to absorb. Over the course of the two weeks she had been with him, Ingo had seen her gradually shift to eating like this. At first mimicking human eating habits and gumming on food, Akari had eventually succumbed to this method instead, realizing it was easier for this form.

Ingo remembered that Laventon had hypothesized the species used their bodies to filter feed in the ocean as they drifted in the cold depths. Phione didn’t exactly have teeth. Or a skeleton. Or a recognizable muscular system, or even proper skin. He didn’t really know what the frail species’ body did have – as far as he could tell, they were almost entirely made up of water. So he supposed a process like this shouldn’t be surprising.

Soon enough, the patty was gone. Ingo cleared his throat gratuitously after another sip, setting the cup aside for the moment. “Alright Miss Akari, I’ve been thinking about our next trip out to the coastlands.”

“ Phi? ” Akari shot him a puzzled look. 

“Indeed! It’s been on my mind the whole trip back,” Ingo guesstimated Akari’s reaction. “And I’m considering when we next depart, our first stop should be over around Veilstone Cape. If that’s where your belongings were found, perhaps your, well… your original body is still somewhere nearby.” 

“ Phi!” A firm, disagreeable shake of her head. 

“No? Do you think we should look somewhere else?”

“Phi-phi!” Was that a yes, as in “yes, look somewhere else!” ? Or no, as in “no, you’ve got it all wrong!” ?

“Ah, should we… survey the cliffsides then?” Thoroughly confused, Ingo had no idea if he was even interpreting things right anymore.

“Phi!!” Akari was definitely becoming more animated with her methods of disagreement. He was headed down the wrong track, surely.

“Alright then, do you believe it’s not even located within the coastlands anymore?” Ingo was trying to make sense of her adamant disapproval. “Should we set our destination somewhere else? But how far could it go? Surely as a natural water-dweller, I would assume it would be slow to leave the shore…”

“Phi-phi!” At some point during his rant, Akari had flopped off of her mochi patty and over to his arm, just to smack his wrist with a flipper. 

Ingo halted to turn his attention to her; ok, that was her ‘please stop and listen to me’ tone. He would know after being constantly subjected to it for two weeks. “I am sorely misinterpreting this, aren't I?”

Finally, an agreeable head nod. It seemed the complexity of this conversation needed more than just ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers to maintain itself.   

And Akari was very much aware of that. She leaned over the side of the table and pointed down at his… waist? His thigh? The bench he was sitting on? It was admittedly hard to tell when she was gesturing with an amorphous flipper, as opposed to a clear finger.

“Um,” Ingo’s confusion put a stop to Akari’s attempts at pointing. She sat back and stared down at the wooden patterns on the table for a moment, clearly considering something, before she squeaked enthusiastically. Ingo watched as she held one of her flippers out stiffly in front of her, while wiggling the other in front of it. Big, determined eyes stared up at him intently the whole time, hoping he’d understand.

It almost looked like she was imitating the act of taking notes in a…

Oh!

“Are you requesting your pokedex?”

Akari nodded her head vigorously, seemingly happy he finally understood.

“Bravo!” Ingo mirrored her sentiments before it fizzled into a cough – that’s right, Akari had used it yesterday to try and communicate with him, pointing to words and pictures, and even attempting to write something at one point (it had taken a very long time and hadn’t been very legible in the end, but they could work on that). He turned to the side, reaching into his coat pocket in search of the waterlogged field book. In the moment, he had practically forgotten he had it on him. “Alright, let me retrieve it for you.”

Maybe she had a map in her pokedex? So she could point out the location they needed to go to next? Or perhaps she even had something recorded within the pages about this pokemon she has swapped with, that could give them a hint as to what happened-

“ Starr! Rrravia!!”

Sudden, frantic squawking and flapping of wings directly by Ingo’s right ear jumpstarted his heart. A loud bang as his knees hit the underside of the table, causing the dinnerware to clatter. Almost dropping the pokedex, Ingo jerked his head back up to see the very two people he was attempting to avoid for Akari’s sake, now heading right for his tableside.

The culprit of the excited squawking — their curious staravia, Fancy — was pecking around his plates on the table. 

“Ingo! Where have you been?”

Great. That sentence was sharp with thorns.

“Ah, Miss Kana, Miss Miki… Hello.” Ingo’s tone wasn’t as warm as he supposed it could have been, noticeably so. But then again, five days of agonizing over horrific hypotheticals in the wilderness had drained him of social courtesy in the presence of unwanted company. 

Plus, he couldn’t entirely help his aching throat from sounding like it was full of rough gravel.

A quick, not-so-inconspicuous survey of the table between calibrating blinks as Fancy continued to poke around the table. Among his dinnerware, Akari was suddenly nowhere in sight — something that was equal parts relieving and terrifying to him.

Was she hiding from them?

“It’s been five days since we last saw you! Were you out in the wild this entire time? We were starting to wonder if something happened!” Miki told him. 

“Ah- no, no-” Ingo’s words stalled, attempting to simultaneously search around the table, and keep a proper conversation going. Fancy seemed interested in the general area by his plate. Ingo attempted to see where its gaze was pulled, in case it had caught a glimpse of something small and blue. “Besides a rather sore throat and tired cab, I am alright, I can assure you. I was solely searching for Miss Akari. And unfortunately, I- ahem , I still am.”

Ingo hoped that wherever the teen was, she understood the double intent and kept close to him. He didn’t want Fancy finding her before he did.

A look of empathy crossed Miki’s features (or maybe it was pure pity; Ingo was acutely aware of how worn down he looked, and his broken voice had involuntarily cracked. It could have easily been mistaken for swelling emotion), but Kana only seemed to grow annoyed at his words. Ingo wasn’t surprised, as he knew how she felt about how much time he was putting into searching. 

Kana never stated her feelings outright, but her behavior had made it very clear to him that she was irked. Irked that Kamado was basically allowing him to drop half of his work to voluntarily look for Akari out of his own volition, while she was ordered to do the same thing.

The survey corps are already looking for her, Kana had practically scolded him the last time she saw him, five days ago when he was first heading out to search. That’s our job, because we’re the survey corps. You’re not. We’ll find her, but we need you here at the training grounds, doing your assigned job at least some of the time, ok?

She used ‘we’ a lot, most frequently during perplexing admonishments like this. Ingo sometimes wondered if Kamado was aware of just how much implied authority Kana utilized to try and inflate her words’ influence. She talked to him like she was Kamado, sometimes. 

Or like she was Zisu, at least. But Zisu would never talk to him the way Kana tried to, even if she technically had the authority to.

“Well, have you found anything helpful yet?” Miki seemed to not be keeping an eye on her staravia at all. To Ingo’s slight exasperation, she either didn’t notice or didn’t care that Fancy was now pecking at his plate of mochi. 

“Ah, I recovered a few things that might be of help, I suppose.” Ingo collected his plate and bowl, pulling them a little closer within the protection of his arms. Fancy glared.

“Well, that’s good…” while it was more appreciated than Kana’s hard silence, Ingo could not tell whether Miki was being pitiful, sympathetic, or unbelieving with that painfully, poorly-hidden sorry tone.  

However, his statement was not a lie. Just a vague truth. He had found Akari and some of her belongings, now they just needed to find her body, from what he understood. 

…Though, right now he was still vying to know where Akari herself was at this moment. With both himself and Fancy searching for her and coming up with nothing, Ingo was practically convinced she was not anywhere on the table, which worried him.

Speaking of the feathery pokemon, the absence of exposed food now left Ingo’s cup as the only lure. Fancy stepped closer, curious eyes fixated on the drink. Ingo could see their intentions coming from a mile away, and he was not about to have hot tea spilled all over the table and himself.

“Fancy, please-“ Ingo grabbed the cup right before they could poke their beak into the drink, sheltering it close with his food.

“Starr!” Fancy squawked indignantly at the action, flapping their wings. It hopped the rest of the way across the table to invasively jab at Ingo’s hand, most likely in an attempt to snatch his cup.

“Fancy! No!” Miki finally took initiative to admonish her poorly-mannered companion, reaching over the table to pull her staravia out of Ingo’s personal space. The scolding finally forced Fancy to flutter down to the ground, squawking all the while. With a sour disposition, they had to settle for simply pecking at the dirt instead. 

“Sorry! I think Fancy’s just looking for your little friend!” Miki attempted to brush off Fancy’s behavior, as she always did. “…Where is that strange pokemon that’s always clinging to you?”

While straightening his coat and brushing stray feathers off himself, Ingo almost laughed at how desperately he wanted that question answered himself.

“Ah, Passenger uncoupled itself from me, and I am no longer sure of its whereabouts.” Again, a truthful statement. And again, Ingo hoped wherever Akari was, she could recognize the inherent worry that the phrasing implied.

Though maybe, Akari had retreated somewhere into one of his coat pockets. Was that why Fancy had been poking at him? Ingo kept his eyes on the two women, but all focus shifted to what his fingers were feeling out, his hand subtly moving to pat his coat pockets from under the table. Where was she-?

“What is that?” An element of morbid curiosity entered Kana’s voice, the woman speaking up for the first time in this whole conversation. The tone alone made Ingo’s hands freeze midway in one of his pockets. 

“Is that… Akari’s pokedex?”

“Her pokedex?” Miki peeked over the edge of the table to get a better look. “Ooh! Did you find it out there?”

“O-oh. Well-” Oh dear. They’d seen the waterlogged notebook in his lap when he leaned away from Fancy. 

All things considered, it was only Akari’s pokedex. But then again, it was Akari’s pokedex. Gut reaction told him it would be best that Kana and Miki not know he has that right now.

Why? It would cause trouble. How? Ingo wasn’t entirely sure yet. But he was holding onto Akari’s missing things. He hadn’t shared where they had been found with the Galaxy Team. He had Akari herself with him while the survey corps were still breaking their backs looking for her. He sort of knew what had happened to her, and kind of felt like he could piece together how to fix this.

There was a lot to uncover, all things considered. Putting it like this, Ingo for the first time properly reflected on just how much he was withholding. And it wouldn’t have mattered if he really only learned the truth about all of this yesterday — if Kana found out about even one of these things, he knew she would not spare any empathy if the narrative was in her hands.

Nervous jitters begin to tickle inside his ribcage. This felt comparable to suddenly realizing the tallgrass fields were unnervingly quiet because they weren’t empty.

“-Yes.” 

That sounded much too certain, he chastised himself. Add some uncertainty.

“I… believe it is, at least?”

Ingo tentatively picked up the bloated bundle of notes to show it to them. People showed things to other people when they had nothing to hide, and he certainly had nothing to hide. Definitely not. 

“I, ah, happened upon it while searching; the contents of the pokedex have sustained significant water damage, as you can see.” Ingo carefully flipped through a few curled pages to prove it, before setting it back down beside him. “So it is difficult to tell for sure. I was on track to deliver it back to Professor Laventon for confirmation, but when I arrived, it appeared his station had already closed for the day.”

A truthful statement. Laventon’s office was dark, because at some point in the warden’s absence, the professor had most likely joined the last survey corps group on their last departure. Laventon frequently went out searching for Akari too when he could, he simply was not as solitary as Ingo when it came to his methods.

But it didn’t seem like the two women cared much about that, though. At least Kana didn’t — she just stared at him with the same look she’d been giving him throughout the entire conversation. 

Hands on her hips, it was beginning to feel like she was trying to come across like she was expecting something.

Expecting him to say something.

Ingo swallowed uncomfortably, this time more from social pressure than any kind of sore pain. Maybe he missed an obvious social queue… the majority of his attention was still lingering around what was going on beneath the table, if he was being honest.

Fancy had sneakily begun pecking at one of his shoes, furthering his suspicion that Akari was somewhere on his person. Ingo gave himself another subtle pat-down from under the protection of the table. She was definitely not anywhere within his coat pockets. If she was, he would have expected to feel a damp flipper bap his searching hand in response by now.

Where was she?? Nervous energy was continuing to build, only able to be somewhat subdued by a bouncing leg. 

“So… is that all?” Kana’s barbed voice broke the silence, somewhat refocusing Ingo’s scattered attention.

Where was this even supposed to be going? Why were they still lingering around? The conversation felt awkward with how it was dragging, like they were beating around the bush. Ingo just wanted this interaction to be over, so that Kana and Miki could leave, and he could properly look around the area for Akari, and stop stressing over the idea that Fancy had grabbed her-

“Ah, I believe so?” Perhaps that would have sounded more authentic if he didn’t have so much urgency to just end things.

Wrong Answer. Kana, clearly exasperated at this point, exaggerated a sigh as she rolled her eyes. 

“Our training session, Ingo. You weren’t here for my training session today. After you told me you would be.” She crossed her arms, her tone suggesting the experience was entirely unpleasant. “I had to train with Zisu.” 

Poor Zisu, Ingo’s tired mind lamented what his manners would never let slip past his lips.

“You did?” Ingo said instead. “There was no need; I’m certain we rescheduled due to my expected absence. But not to worry, I will still be on schedule for it tomorrow morning.” 

Kana’s hard glare gained a bewildered quality to it, as if Ingo’s skin had suddenly turned blue. “What? Today was the reschedule, Ingo.”

“It was?” Ingo’s split concentration once again reconvened on the conversation for a moment. “…It was.”

That’s right. He had scheduled a training session with Kana the day he was supposed to get back, having only been set to make up for another session he had missed earlier in the week. 

But after finding Akari’s things scattered across the beach yesterday, he had sort of deviated from his plans of going back to Jubilife that evening. He had been so distraught, that he couldn’t see himself in any state to be around others, and still keep his dignity. 

It seemed all the physical exhaustion and roiling emotions had scrambled his schedule and fed him unchecked assumptions — an extra day in the wilderness did not mean a pushback on the training session.

That’s why Kana had approached him. She was looking for an apology from him, or an explanation at the very least. And he had given neither.

The stark realization that he had failed to meet the schedule he had set brought an annoying, unwanted flash of heat to his face. 

Ingo found himself sitting up a little straighter, haste fumbling his words. “Oh dear. I- I greatly apologize Miss Kana, I didn’t mean to derail like that. Genuinely, I had forgotten-”

“You always forget,” Another frustrated response was the harbinger that warned Ingo of the oncoming storm.

“Kana, don’t,” And Miki’s hasty attempt to quell it further told him that this had apparently been brewing for a few days now.

“Ingo, this is what I’m talking about.” Kana ignored Miki and took over. And because he’d already strained his voice way too much to speak over her quickly-raising anger and reclaim the conversation, Ingo let her. “You keep doing this! For almost two weeks now, you’ve been throwing aside your responsibilities at the dojo for something that other people are already taking care of-”

But they were all looking in the wrong place anyways, Ingo added a mental footnote. 

“-and you’re not even following whatever you do manage to schedule!” Kana continued, none the wiser to his annotation. “People like me depend on those schedules you set, you know. I spent my only break in between these search expeditions waiting around for you, when I could have been resting instead! And look at you; correct me if I’m wrong, but I bet you’re going right back out there again first thing tomorrow, if not tonight!”

No correction was hurriedly inserted into her terribly brief breath between words, for really, she was not wrong.

“Ingo, I know Akari is missing, but you’re not helping anyone like this.”

Ingo’s frown deepened, not out of indignance or hurt, but as a plain reflex to opposition. He might have felt deeply offended by such blunt words, or even taken them to heart under different circumstances. But it was hard to truly do either when Akari was alive and well (wherever she currently was at this table), and it was solely because of him. 

“ Ok, Kana,” Slightly horrified at the way her friend was talking to someone who was already clearly so spent, Miki pulled back on Kana’s shoulder. Ingo’s pulled frown must have given off an upset quality. “He’s just worried about her.”

“Aren’t we all?” Kana retorted. “We’re all looking for her! The difference is, we’re taking shifts to juggle all the other responsibilities we have around here. And he- ” an accusatory finger jabbed at Ingo. “-is not. Tomorrow, I’ll be surprised if he even still has a job here once I have a talk with Kamado.” 

Miki actually appeared offended enough on his behalf to let out a little gasp, which surprised Ingo a little; normally, her reputation as Kana’s malleable friend led to stubbornly agreeing with her. Throwing a quick glance at him, she pulled Kana a few steps away to squeeze half-audible whispers through gritted teeth.

Now Ingo’s frown really did emphasize a conflicted expression as they conversed about him. While objectively Kana’s entire viewpoint did come off as insensitive, Ingo couldn’t help but feel he wouldn't be so torn on the treatment if he hadn’t failed to meet the expectations that he himself had set.

The biggest problem here was that Kana felt she had been stood up by him several times now, because all things considered, even if they had been accidents, she had been.

Really, the only reasonable path forward was to apologize to her, offer another solution to the dilemma, and hope that went over well. First and foremost, he wanted to right his wrongs where he could. However, he couldn’t deny that a tiny part of him was motivated to just get them out of here quickly, so he could find Akari.

But a genuine apology required talking. Lots of talking. And Ingo felt his vocal cords were running out of steam for that. 

Kana and Miki were still currently arguing at the end of the table. Ingo grabbed his cup and tipped it back, expecting another swallow of hot tea to soothe the fire in his throat long enough to present an offer. He could get this over with quickly, then-

To say his poor heart stopped would be an understatement when he felt a loose, lukewarm blob bump against his lips with a warning squeak.

Tea sprayed out his nose and between his teeth. Whatever Kana and Miki were saying halted abruptly as Ingo lurched forward, choking harshly into his cup. Only after the dramatic reaction had calmed somewhat did Ingo become aware the flow of words had stopped around him, and he was being stared at intently.

“Wrong… wrong track, apologies-” He half-bluffed, wiping at his mouth as he continued to cough through his words. “-I’m alright.”

“You sure?” Miki extended.

“Yes.” Ingo attempted to regain composure and clear his throat as he moved to protectively place a hand over his cup. 

So that’s where she had been. 

Perhaps Fancy’s attempts to get to his tea had been more deliberate than he thought. But at least he had found her. 

“Look Ingo, it’s clear you’re… working through a lot of things right now.” Kana gestured to him with a palpable irritation that only sharpened otherwise-understanding words. “Just forget it, tomorrow-”

“-No, please stay for a moment.” Ingo hated interrupting Kana, especially considering where he stood with things right now, but he had to correct these tracks. “Miss Kana, I would like to propose an apology. A proper one.”

Despite it being the last thing his aching legs wanted to do, Ingo pushed himself to stand up from the table. A proper apology required approaching it and addressing recipients with seriousness and respect, and it just seemed more genuine not to do things while sitting down. He kept his cup of tea within his hands, though.

“One must conduct themselves with integrity, and keep to their expected schedules for those that depend on it. And yet, I failed to arrive at our set destination yesterday. For that Miss Kana, I deeply apologize, and I fully intend to make it up to you. Your time is important.” 

Kana said nothing, simply looking him up and down. Perhaps she was sizing up his apology, expecting more. Or maybe she was even questioning if he was in any state to uphold such a thing, believing him prone to forget yet again. And Ingo could see where she was coming from; her knowledge of his true situation was slim to none, and he was aware of how flippant things must have looked to someone who did not know.

Could she cut him a little more slack? Maybe (definitely). But he had essentially neglected her twice now. 

And he did genuinely feel bad about that. 

“Now, I wrongfully assumed my schedule included our training tomorrow morning, and as such, I have already set aside time for it. That offer is still open. I am well aware my word may not mean much to you at the moment, but would you be available at that time to begin the training session we missed?”

“I’m leaving early tomorrow with a group to comb through the highlands. I won’t be here. Remember?” A flat, barbed response unapologetically slapped Ingo across the face.

“Alright then…” Shake it off. Ingo cleared his throat again, to the point where it was becoming annoying. “When are you scheduled to return?”

“Three days. Could be four.”

More of a push than a slap this time. “Well then, when you return, I will be stationed here, ready for two consecutive training sessions with you… If you are up for that, of course.”

Kana seemed to consider it. Miki nudged her.

“I can do that.” Her tone suggested the compromise was still unsatisfactory to her.

Another nudge from Miki.

“And I’m sorry. About what I said about you. I know you’re trying to do a lot.” Rather mechanical words that practically creaked with how rusty they were. But it was an unexpected surprise all the same, even if it had been prodded out. “But Ingo, you can not forget again. Or I will tell Kamado about every single instance you’ve left me waiting within this week.”

“Of course, of course.” Quick to end the conversation on surprisingly agreeable terms, Ingo nodded his head. “That is more than reasonable. It will not happen again, I can assure you.” 

“For your sake, I’d hope not.” It seemed as if injustices had been made right. Satisfied enough with the outcome, Kana turned to leave. Miki was quick to follow, with Fancy trailing behind. “I’ll be seeing you as soon as I get back, Ingo. Don’t go get yourself lost in the wilderness again.”

“Ah, likewise,” Ingo wondered if she could even hear him with his limited volume. “Please enjoy a good rest of your evening, both of you.”

Miki at least waved goodbye to him as they moved on towards the Galaxy Hall. Ingo stood there in silence, posture rigid until the two women were out of sight. As soon as the hall’s doors closed, Ingo sat back down and leaned closer over the cup, finally removing his hand from over the top. 

“Miss Akari!” He whispered into the escaping steam. “I am proud of you for following procedure and hiding… but really? Of all places, it had to be in here? ”

“Phi!” The green-tinted liquid stirred, and a pair of miffed brown eyes blinked back up at him from within the ripples. Ingo didn’t need her to write it out for him to understand what she was implying.

“I didn’t know; I hadn’t seen where you had gone.” His stern features softened some. “I apologize, but next time, please board elsewhere.”

“Phi-phi phi,” Akari went on about something entirely indecipherable to Ingo, but it died down as she caught something. Ingo followed her gaze to spot Beni’s magby finally approaching their table, his honey and Akari’s water on the tray in its hands. 

It had certainly taken long enough! But Ingo gave Magby some slack, he knew the Pokémon was rather shy, and had probably been waiting to approach the table after such incensed company had left. It looked like it was expecting a comment on its tardiness regardless though, keeping its eyes on the tray so as to avoid a stern look.

“Thank you, Magby. Your service is much appreciated,” Ingo made sure to properly thank the Pokémon as it finished unloading the tray’s contents with shaky claws. Bashfully (and somewhat elated), Magby chirped at him before turning to take the tray back inside, leaving them both in peace once again.

Akari immediately leapt from Ingo’s tea, splashing into her cup of water.

“Better?” Ingo asked, already pouring the honey into his cup.

“Phi,” Akari splashed the water with her flippers in satisfaction before submerging.

Stirring the honey into the contents of his tea briefly, Ingo tipped it back and swallowed the improved remedy – the relief was instant. Much better. “I agree.”

“Phi-phi!”

Akari’s give-me-your-attention tone. Ingo was pulled out of his little piece of heaven to see Akari leaning over the side of the cup, jabbing a flipper over at the Galaxy Hall.

“Uh,” A few days ago, it would have been impossible to parse the correct intent from such a non-specific gesture. But now that he knew this was Akari he was talking with, and knowing how much Akari liked to snoop when she could, he thought he knew what (or in this case, who) she was wanting to talk about with him. “...that conversation went better than expected, didn’t it?”

“Phi-phi,” Akari nodded her head with a compliant tone. Whew, that was what she was wanting to talk about.

“I know, I only got my head bitten off once,” Ingo’s attempt at an amused tone cracked terribly, and he stopped to take another drink of tea. “Though, there is some good in this. Now that tomorrow’s schedule has been cleared, It seems we’ll be able to depart first thing tomorrow, and head back out for the coastlands.”

Akari had been largely passive from within her cup, but it seemed these words put a fire under her. With a squeak, she practically threw herself out of her water and flopped across the table. It startled Ingo when she just kept going right over the edge after a quick peek over the side at his lap.

“Miss Akari, what are you-!” Ingo instinctively reached to break her fall, but lethargy slowed his reflexes, and she plopped the rest of the way down onto her Pokedex, still set down on the bench beside him. “-what are you doing? Be careful!”

“Phi! Phi!” Stern squeaking and both flippers smacking the Pokedex’s cover was her only response. 

She urgently wanted to tell him something, and it was more complex than what a simple guessing game of yes and no could decipher.

“Alright, alright, one moment,” Ingo picked up the pokedex and pushed his plates back to make room for it on the table, balancing Akari on top of it all the while.

She got to work instantly, attempting to pry the cover open until Ingo gave in and opened it for her- 

“Here, just let me know when to stop,”

-thumbing through the pages and waiting for an indication of some kind.

Ingo flipped past pages of maps, hand-written observations on pokemon, and informational notes on local flora. But Akari made no sound or movement, so Ingo kept thumbing through them. Only once the pages began flashing blank faces did she reach up to bap his hand.

“Here?” Ingo stopped, exposing two blank pages to her.

“Phi!” A resounding yes. So, blank pages… she was going to write or draw something for him then, he assumed.

“Alright,” Ingo pulled out the pokedex’s writing pen from where it was clipped on the side and handed it to her. Her tiny little appendages wrapped around it as best they could, and Ingo leaned forward to watch as she began to scribble on one of the pages. 

T…  

Perhaps it was because he had been setting his mind towards nothing but marking and reaching certain destinations for weeks , but Ingo’s mind couldn’t help but jump right to a location. Tranquility Cove? Or maybe Tombolo Walk? Both locations were not exactly on land. But there were sheltered places amongst rocks and ship wreckage near both areas. Would the phione possibly seek out shelter there? Ingo just knew that he’d find a way to them if that’s where they needed to go-

A…  

TA? Neither place had A as the second letter. There goes his previous train of thought.

She definitely was not writing out a location. She could have used one of the maps for that anyway. It was going to be a message.

And this message was going to take a while, Ingo assumed. With the limited mobility of her flippers and the size of the pen in comparison to her, the work was rather messy and slow going. He resigned himself back to his rice and potato mochi as she continued – both would have normally been considered disappointingly cold by now, but if Ingo was honest with himself, it was still leagues better than anything either of them had eaten in days out in the wild. 

When she was done, Akari dropped the pen with a slick splat and leaned to the side, glaring up at him expectantly as she pointed with her flipper. 

Ingo’s hypothesis had been right – on the page, in big, boldly-scrawled yet shaky writing, it read:

TAKE A BREAK!!!

Three exclamation marks. She was serious.

Stalling on the words, Ingo mulled them over for a moment. “Miss Akari, I can assure you that I am alright, and will be even better tomorrow. Our departure is already scheduled, and I intend to keep with it.”

No squeaking, no shaking of her head, and no upset glare like he half-expected – Akari simply turned back around and continued the taxing effort of scrawling words across the page. When she had once again finished, she jabbed her flipper at the words with surprising vigor, then repeated the agitated movements at him.

NO TRIP. NEED REST

It surprised him a little, how adamant she was about this when her actual body was at stake. But it was clear she just wanted him to regain some lost energy, instead of trying to expunge even more from a tank that was already empty.

And perhaps she was right in wanting this. He had just spent five days out in the wild. Could he really put himself through something like that again? His will said yes, of course he could. But it was paying no mind to the aching in his muscles, already groaning at the thought of going back out there. 

And honestly, what could he do like this? A sore throat. A headache feeding off of sleep deprivation. A deep aching that one night’s rest realistically wouldn’t pacify. Maybe if he had managed his cab a little better out there… but that was nothing more than a hypothetical now. 

“Alright. I will… rest my engines.” Breaking up the sentence with a sigh, Ingo finally relented. He leaned forward against one aching arm as he gently massaged tired, darkened eyes with the other. He was in need of some decent sleep. “I do suppose the service is sorely needed. We will stay here tomorrow.”

Celebratory squeaking started up. A cold, wet flipper was felt against his wrist, bapping it animatedly – the only way she could really say thank you in this state. Despite his display of exhaustion, Ingo let out a quiet sound of amusement. 

“Just for a day,” He reiterated. “And I still intend to be productive in my search efforts tomorrow. Perhaps just within Professor Laventon’s numerous books this time, rather than the coastlands’ beaches.”

The agreement was still plenty satisfactory though, it seemed. Akari clapped her flippers together in appreciation and made her way back to her cup of water. 

Good, Akari had been pacified. Now Ingo just had to pacify his stomach – once he finished his meal here, he could finally go to sleep… in an actual bed! Ingo told himself he had been more than ready to go back out into the wilderness, but he couldn’t deny the thought of resting with an actual stuffed mattress under his back and soft blankets keeping him in a tight, warm hug until noon sounded like a dream.

“Alright now, give me just a moment, and then we can depart.” Ingo closed Akari’s pokedex and pulled his plates back towards him. Akari watched lazily from her cup as he resumed eating and drinking what remained, and while it only took a few minutes to put it all away, by the time Ingo looked back to see how she was doing, he could see she had fallen asleep. Drifting around lazily at the bottom of her cup, little bubbles were slipping up to the surface as she slept.

Quite a different energy from what she had been displaying earlier. She had apparently been much more tired than she had let on. Very in-character for her, honestly.

“Miss Akari,” Ingo tapped her cup gently after stacking his empty dinnerware together, freeing a small cloud of bubbles from her mouth in surprise. “Are you ready to depart now?”

A half-asleep nod. She was barely with him.

“Alright,” Ingo lugged himself off of the bench and stretched contentedly. “Next stop then, the dojo’s spare unit-” An intrusive yawn in between. “-All aboard.” 

Slipping Akari’s pokedex back into his coat pocket, Ingo held his hand out to her, waiting for her to hop on. She flopped onto it sluggishly with a little yawn, and he brought her up to set her back within the familiar spot of his coat collar as he started for the training grounds.

The street was much quieter now. The sun had set a while back, and the dark strip was rather barren with barely any activity in sight. Ingo didn’t mind, though. As he walked, he cleared his throat; tonight’s situation had turned out relatively ok, but if that happened again, it might not go as well the second time around, and he had to address that. He hoped Akari was awake enough to listen to him.

“Ah, Miss Akari… I would like to discuss something real promptly, if that is alright. I want to admit that well, traveling down this route is much rougher than I had anticipated.” Ingo turned his head slightly in her direction as he headed up the hill for the gates, hoping she was listening. “I understand your feelings on this and am trying to honor them. But tomorrow, if we are going to relieve ourselves of some stress at your request, I ask that we also relieve a few others of theirs. Tomorrow, if he returns back to the station, we must bring Professor Laventon up to speed on your situation.” 

“Phi! Phi!” Ingo’s frown pulled at the immediate argumentative squeaking that started up. It had taken a moment to kick in, but she was definitely listening, and it had certainly woken her up a little. At least she was paying attention.

“He is worried sick about you. I am sure he would be relieved to know you are alright.”

The squeaking began to lean more on the desperate side. Ingo felt a cold flipper bap his neck a few times.

“Now, you know he would not discuss your predicament with others if you requested, including Kamado. Your current situation will be safe with him. You must know that.” Ingo stopped outside the dojo’s doors, but kept himself from entering.

“Phi!”  

That was her correctional tone. He had misinterpreted her reasons. A proper glance over at his shoulder – Akari had been staring up at him, but she averted her gaze at the possibility of eye contact.

Sheepish. 

She was embarrassed.

“Miss Akari… I could not imagine him becoming angry at you, given the circumstances.” Ingo recalled the day Akari left on her fateful trip to the coastlands. She had told him that Laventon had suggested she take someone with her, and Kamado had required it. He would have gone with her, had she simply waited for him.

Ingo imagined Laventon would feel a lot of things if he revealed that the small pokemon he had gotten a glimpse at a few times over these last two weeks was actually Akari. Joy, relief, confusion… maybe disappointment for disregarding his suggestion, but not anger. Not in that moment, surely. Ingo could not possibly see Laventon getting upset when faced with the impossible truth that Akari was alive – he’d be too busy celebrating. The man’s optimism always seemed to outweigh any possible anger of his.

Kamado would probably be a different story. But they would not get into that. 

“I believe Professor Laventon would simply be appreciative to know you’re alright.” Ingo attempted to reassure her. “You have seen how much he’s been worrying about you. He is feeling… very much like I was before I had known. Even if he is not past admonishment upon realizing, it may still be rather amiable in comparison to what you’re expecting. Wouldn’t you agree with that?”

“Phi-phiiiii-” Akari groaned, but the drawn-out tone suggested her concern gave way to reluctant agreement. 

“So, you understand what I am asking?”

A squeak that sounded agreeable.

“And you are alright with it?”

Another agreeable sound, but it was significantly quieter and more delayed.

“...Would you like to discuss it more in the morning?” Ingo could tell sleep was weighing heavy on her again.

A cold spot nudged against his neck. She was nodding her head while leaning against him, not even opting to make a sound anymore. Yep, he was losing her again.

“Alright,” Ingo finally slid open the dojo’s door. A part of him was a little relieved that it was unlocked – Zisu had still been leaving it open in case, just for him. He stepped through into the darkness, closing it back behind him. “We’ll talk about it more tomorrow, then. Thank you.”

[pokemon-teacology]

I know I was supposed to post something around Halloween but I'm ignoring that this year (maybe I'll upload a picture of my costume within the next few days) in favour of like,,,

Why don't we ever talk about the Darkest Day? The most recent one that happened within almost every living person's memory???

I'll tag this with all the appropriate tags so folks don't have to read this if they don't want to, but holy shit I haven't seen anyone talk about this since it happened???

Like,,, it's a story that we heard as little kids, the worst thing that ever happened to our region, a terrifying period of time that destroyed livelihoods by blocking the sun from the sky and making our Pokémon companions huge, an enormous Pokémon (a monster, they'd said. Bigger than the tallest scyscraper, coiling into the shape of a hurricane, bright red like the beams it ripped from the ground beneath our feet, a huge, gaping maw at the centre of the enormous hand-like structure that made up its head, stronger than anything we could have ever imagined) draining energy from the earth and poisoning the land. I used to have nightmares as a tiny child about this legend that we never really stopped talking about. As you get older, you reason that it's just an old story, that it didn't actually happen, and even if it did it's unlikely that anything that huge will happen again, even as you hear whispers of terrible events happening in other regions, yknow?

But then it did happen again.

We're lucky as hell that it only lasted for the better part of a day, that our champions (former and current) were able to fight it off?? Obviously there wasn't a huge amount of information given to the public other than "chairman rose is now a wanted criminal for causing this" and "yeah that huge fucking gigantimaxed Pokémon you all saw was real and very dangerous and just as terrifying as the legends, and is now in the possession of a 14 year old".

Seeing the sky go dark, the red beams of light, the massive Pokémon everywhere, with no sign of whether or not it'd be fixed, no word from our government other than "stay inside, the champion has it handled". I was scared for the safety of my family, my friends, my home and everything that I've ever known. Hell, the little kids I babysat when I was in secondary school were at the forefront of it, a boy that I grew up with from when we were littlr babies fought against it head-on. No matter how miraculous it was that they fixed it, it was fucking terrifying, and I haven't seen a single person from Galar talk about it here.

I'm just tired of people pretending it wasn't a big deal, like it wasn't the scariest thing most of us will ever experience. It felt like the ground beneath our feet was being ripped up, and for several weeks after, we were still dealing with the aftermath. It's still affecting us. The power vacuum from chairman rose and a pretty sizeable chunk of Macro Cosmos' higher ups being exposed as corrupt, a new champion and the old one becoming the head of the league, the retirement of our professor in favour of a new one (a good one, but a new one nonetheless). So much happened within the span of like 3 months and nobody's talking about how fucking scary it was.

Anyway, sorry for the heavier subject after being gone for a while, it's just been in my head for a bit, and I figured I'd talk about it here, if nothing else than to maybe just get it off my chest.