Hey, its Fruit Punch here! Years ago, I was on this site under the name SharpenedMoonlight and wrote a very well recieved story called Iridescent Wings. I never finished it. Years later I came back to this story and wanted to rewrite it and continue it.

To anyone who was a fan of Iridescent Wings, I really hope you like this version too! I know it might seem redundant or boring to rewrite from the ground up, especially when I still have the old story up. (You can read it here s/7032996/1/Iridescent-Wings) But I really wanted to edit the original story rather than simply continue where I left off because I am a very different person than I was years ago, and also I'd like to think I'm moderately better at writing now. It's been so long as well that I had an extremely hard time getting back into that same mindset where I left off. Because of that, and because I'm all about improvement, this story will go in a similar, yet different direction than the old one will, with some completely new concepts and some scrapped ones, as well as things I liked but never was able to fit in the first time around! I really hope you like this story even more than you did Iridescent Wings!

And if you're a new reader, well, welcome! I'm so glad you took the time to read this!

Please, enjoy. I'm so happy to bring this back.

Halcyon Days Diaries

Written by Fruit Punch

A Pokémon Fanfiction featuring Falkner and Morty

January 2016 – Present

Arc 01: Courtship

Chapter 01: Filling These Familiar Shoes

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Alluded NSFW mentionings

In this world, there are mystical beings known to us as Pokémon. These Pokémon can bring joy, purpose, and love into a person's life, becoming life-long friends and partners; and can do quite amazing things for their masters. Over centuries and even millennia, as far back as written history goes, humans and Pokémon have been inexplicably drawn to each other. The past few decades, especially, Pokémon training has become an even bigger fad than anyone had predicted. No—it has become an irrevocable aspect of people's lives all around the world, in every country, region, and town. Thus, the Pokémon League, a body of elite trainers given the power to regulate over Pokémon-related events, has gained immense power and influence in today's society. In each region are eight Pokémon Gyms, scattered around various towns and cities within the area. These places are dedicated to the battling of Pokémon between trainers of all walks of life. Each of these eight gyms are entrusted to a single trainer, that person becoming the gym leader. They devote their entire life to testing the trainers that choose to challenge them, giving victorious trainers badges to eternally attest to their strength, intelligence, and love for their Pokémon, as well as becoming irreplaceable prominent public figures dedicated to helping their cities improve as a whole. This is the reason that the Pokémon League exists.

When a successful gym exists and thrives for as long as Violet City's flying-type gym does, it becomes the focal point, the quiet town's pride and joy. Therefore, when a leader retires, the brief period between ownership of the gym is an understandably devastating and sorrowful time. Normally the passing of the torch of leadership is a relatively quick ordeal, but due to…unusual circumstances surrounding the former gym leader's retirement, Violet City had remained without a gym leader for a significant amount of time. But finally, after over a year of inactivity and silence, Violet City was finally ready to reclaim its position among the Pokémon League as one of the eight Johto League Pokémon Gyms.

Early in the sleepy morning, a blue haired boy walked up to the entrance of the Violet City gym. Rummaging tiredly around in his pocket, he retrieved a ring of keys and selected one, sliding it into the lock of the door. With a click, the door opened, and dim sunlight began to shine into the forgotten building, illuminating the young boy in light, casting a shadow over his figure in contrast.

Taking a deep breath, Falkner raised his head and slowly shuffled into the gym, which was both a very familiar friend and yet still an intimidating presence. The air smelled familiar and brought back so many memories, both good and bad. It also had a slightly dusty and discarded scent to it, mixing with the memories, reminding the somber boy that the memories were indeed a thing of the past. The windows were covered by tarps, which only let in small amounts of light in between the folds and edges of the cloth, creating small sunbeams that illuminated the dancing dust particles in the room. Falkner turned and closed the door, it shutting with a solid noise that echoed in the quiet building. As he wandered deeper into the gym, his footsteps created loud echoes as well, resounding with every step, both reminding the boy of how large the building was and, in contrast, how small and alone Falkner was in it. Reaching one of the many large glass windows that covered the building's walls more so than the actual brick and mortar did, he grasped the rough fabric of the thick window coverings and gave it a quick, firm yank, causing the tarp to fall and the rapidly rising sun to suddenly light up the room. After repeating this process with most of many formerly covered windows, the now brightly lit main room looked much more inviting. Falkner began his check of all the electronic systems and lights, the furniture and walls, and the traps set for the challengers. It was more routine than necessity, as he had made sure to meticulously clean and maintain the building every few days for the past few months in preparation for its reopening, ever since he had accepted the request to be the new gym leader.

Rubbing his finger along the very slightly dusty surface of a nearby table, Falkner sighed deeply and loudly. He did not feel the least bit prepared or qualified for this job. Of course he had passed all of the exams in the top percentile, and he had filled out all the necessary paperwork and permits. Every T was crossed and every I was dotted in accordance to Falkner's very precise work ethic, but that still didn't help him feel more at ease. The insecurity lied in an issue that could never be solved simply by hard work and preparation, and that was the problem. The real issue that worried Falkner so much was that no matter what he did or how hard he tried, Falkner could never be his father. Not in a matter of skill or determination, not even whether he could handle running the gym itself, though that was also a large concern. Falkner knew fully well that no matter how much encouragement and support people gave him, because he is both the successor to the gym and his father's oldest child, people were going to make comparisons. And that terrified the boy, the thought of letting people down because they were expecting something he could never be, a deficit that wasn't simply a matter of ability or effort, but a matter of who Falkner was as a fundamental being and could never change.

Reaching the back of the gym's main room, Falkner climbed a ladder that lead to a second floor, which was mainly rafters and open areas to allow room for the many bird Pokémon to nest and live, as well as a back office and living quarters. Some of the Pokémon were housed in Pokéballs in a container in the office as well, while others were currently roosting near the ceiling. Still being early, most of them were still asleep, as Falkner had made sure to be quiet as not to wake them, and the rafters still were fairly dark, their windows and openings still being covered up. However one large bird was stirring, aware of Falkner's presence. Seeing Falkner, a large Pidgeot brightened up and flew over to the boy, nuzzling lovingly against his body.

"Good morning, Pidgeot." Falkner cooed softly, petting the Pokémon's soft, well-preened plumage. "Did you sleep well? Sorry if I woke you up."

Pidgeot was always his father's most beloved Pokémon and closest companion. Falkner had been worried that, like the people of Violet City, his father's Pokémon would have a hard time adjusting to him as well. Sure, they all knew him very well from playing with Falkner as a child, but being a playmate and being their trainer were two similar, yet very different things. But the Pokémon had seemingly accepted him as their new master very easily, and the fact they loved Falkner so openly and freely was extremely comforting to the boy.

Stroking Pidgeot's head, Falkner turned and walked over to the nearby desk, his Pokémon following him closely behind. Reaching into his pocket, Falkner grabbed some birdseed and held it up to the bird. Accepting the offering, the Pidgeot began happily eating as Falkner started sifting through paperwork which covered the neat, but very cluttered desk. Again deciding that everything was in order, Falkner formed a stack with the papers in his hands, tapping their edge against the surface in order to align them, and filed them away. Also on the desk was a small calendar, with today's date highlighted and the words "Gym Leader Meeting" written in red bolded letters. Falkner nodded to himself and picked up a small bag from the nearby chair, looking inside to make sure everything he had packed the day before was still inside. Satisfied, he slung it over his shoulder. Today was Falkner's first official day of being a gym leader. Although his duties didn't formally start until next week when the gym reopened, he had his first of the quarterly Pokémon League meetings today, where all eight gym leaders gathered in one of the many cities in Johto and discussed the upcoming matters of the next three months. The location rotated between cities, and this time it was in Ecruteak City, the large rustic settlement to the northwest of Violet. It had actually been quite a while since Falkner had seen any of the other gym leaders; several years, in fact. He had heard that his gym was not the only one to have changed hands lately, but he couldn't remember what other city was having a new leader as well. He couldn't even remember the faces of most of the leaders, he only ever saw them when he accompanied his father to these type of things, which wasn't too often. And as a child, he wasn't terribly interested in the adult matters of running a gym. Falkner sighed. He really should have researched the other leaders a bit before going, but he had been too busy obsessing over his own gym and ran out of time.

Oh well, things will hopefully work out for the best, he thought. Whether Falkner believed it or not, he had to at least attempt to make that his mantra in order to keep calm with all of these new and unfamiliar dealings. The boy took a deep breath to try to quell his racing mind.

Falkner felt a nudge on his shoulder and turned to see his Pidgeot's head laying on him, its eyes looking at his with concern.

"It's alright, Pidgeot, I'll be fine" Falkner smiled, patting the bird lovingly. His Pokémon, especially Pidgeot, always seemed to be fairly in tune with Falkner's general state of mind and usually calmed him down pretty well, which was a very big help to the otherwise high-strung teen. The Pokémon clicked reassuringly in reply, nuzzling against Falkner's blue hair. It caused Falkner's line of sight to move to the clock. It was about time to go.

Stopping at one last place before leaving the gym, Falkner moved to a gold-plated glass case. It stood out from the otherwise wooden and brick building, which had a rather traditional feel. Inside the case were the other Pokémon's Pokéballs, both the ones currently in use and the ones for the other Pokémon still slumbering in the rafters. Falkner hesitated, but decided that since this was just a routine meeting, he wouldn't need any Pokémon other than his Pidgeot, so he left the case undisturbed. On top of the case were several pictures, photos of the various flying-type Pokémon with Falkner's father, as well as some with the whole family. Falkner picked up one in particular, a picture from several years ago, back when his father only had patches of gray hair and when he loved to wear that black sweater that always got so quickly covered in feathers or straw. His father had such energy and intensity in his eyes, and his laugh was loud and boisterous, and it was infectious as it filled the room. The man was a one of a kind, and Falkner loved him dearly. Tilting the picture frame, Falkner saw his own reflection, his blue hair parted to cover his one eye. His father always found his bangs to be a bit excessive, but he never once tried to talk Falkner out of the length. His own blue eye was full of life and energy, but he didn't recognize the same energy and security his father had. Would Falkner really be okay? Falkner watched his reflection as his eyes began to grow wet, and he quickly wiped the tears away before they formed.

Yes. Falkner would be okay. He could do this. He HAD to do this. Whether Falkner felt ready or not to follow in his beloved father's footsteps, life was moving on and he had to move along as well. And he refused to be a shame to his father's name. Falkner would do all in his power to continue the Violet City legacy, and he WILL succeed, he told himself. Putting the photo back down on the glass case, Falkner beckoned to his Pidgeot and descended to the main floor and left the gym, closing the door with just as solid of a thud as when he entered. Locking the door again, he looked up into the sky, the sun now having risen into a beautiful blue sky. Reaching his hand up into the sky as if to grasp the wispy clouds, Falkner smiled. He could do this.

"Alright Pidgeot," Falkner said, addressing his eagerly waiting partner. "Are you ready to get started on our first day of work?"

The bird cried out in agreement, and bent down, readying itself for its passenger. Carefully yet confidently, Falkner climbed onto its massive back, hugging the downy plumage that covered the strong, muscular bird. He closed his eyes and inhaled the reassuring scent of his Pidgeot, holding the Pokémon tightly.

"Well then," Falkner said, opening his eyes and staring determinedly into the sky. "Let's get going to Ecruteak!"

And with that, Pidgeot lifted its powerful wings and took off, soaring high in the sky towards Ecruteak City.

A man looked up as the Pidgeot and its trainer descended to the ground, though to most of the passerby it was largely ignored as they went about their daily lives. Planting its feet firmly on the cobblestone on the ground beneath, Pidgeot let out one final flap of its mighty wings before pressing them back up against its body. Swinging his leg around the bird Pokémon's large body, Falkner jumped to the ground, surveying his surroundings. He was in Ecruteak City, one of Johto's oldest cities, and it's second third largest. Despite having all the modern conveniences technology has to offer, the city also maintained its ancient somber atmosphere, which was a prime location for tourists and history fans alike. While Violet had pieces of its older history still in place, it was nothing compared to the size or reach of Ecruteak's setting. Off in the distance, both the Bell Tower and the Brass Tower loomed ominously. Falkner had always wanted to go to the Bell Tower as a child, but it was off limits to most people, so he never had. And even if it wasn't, Falkner hadn't even been to Ecruteak in years, when he came with his father. The Gym Leader Aptitude Tests were held in a different location, so the city was almost as vague of a memory as the other gym leaders that he forgot to look up beforehand. Falkner paused, thinking. Was it only the one other gym that had changed hands, or had others changed? He was really out of the loop when it came to the names and faces of who was in charge of the various cities, and Falkner was beginning to worry if that was going to be a problem. Falkner would have to just not call anyone by name until he heard other people address them. It frustrated him to be so ill prepared, but it was too late to change that now. He hoped he wouldn't be the only teenager there. Calling to his Pidgeot, he began walking towards the Johto Pokémon League building, which was located on the side of town near the Ecruteak City gym.

"Ah! It's been a while, Falkner! How's the mother doing?"

"Man! The last time I saw you must've been six years ago! You're growing like a weed."

"Finally stepping up to fill the old man's shoes, I see. Good for you."

Falkner walked through the doors of the building and was assaulted with comments, all coming from faces he didn't know and names he didn't recognize. Some of them he thought he remembered, but it wasn't like he knew them too well other than an acknowledgement of their existence. Keeping his head bowed, Falkner responded to everyone quickly and politely. He didn't like large social settings like this, they made him uncomfortable. Too many faces, too many voices, all ricocheting off one another and amplifying into inane drivel, saying kind but superfluous greetings as they assumed things about Falkner that the boy didn't have the energy or means to dispute. It would have been somewhat better if Falkner had at least one or two people that he knew well and could latch onto during the conversation, but that was not the case. Though he knew some of the people, he didn't feel comfortable talking with any of them for too extended of a period. Falkner's initial plan had been to slip into the building as relatively unnoticed as possible, but that plan had fallen apart once he had been recognized by a few rather loud former friends of his father's. He had really wanted to avoid talk of his father as well, but clearly that was not an option either. Surely enough, the comments started pouring in about Falkner taking up the family business, and comparisons and expectations were quickly verbalized. Although the intentions of the speakers may have been harmless, that didn't prevent all of Falkner's fear of failing and issues of self-worth from surfacing. Outwardly, Falkner played the charming, albeit quiet son of his father's, answering all of the questions and producing small talk. But it was all an act, all rehearsed nonsense that he wanted to get as far away from as possible.

Finally, Falkner made it into the meeting room for the gym leaders. Standing in the doorway, he saw that he was one of the last members to arrive, as five of the eight seats were already taken by the other gym leaders. Scanning the room, Falkner studied the other gym leaders as they likewise studied him. The boy was right, there weren't many faces he recognized, but there were a few he felt like he should know. Falkner was also relieved to see that he was not the only kid there, there were two other gym leaders who appeared to be in their late teens, maybe a few years older than he was. Falkner eyed two empty chairs, both closest to the door. Strategically taking the one second closest to the door, as to be in a place easy to escape from but still close enough to be involved in conversation if necessary, Falkner attempted to slide into it quietly, only to yelp as he felt movement coming from under his rear. Looking down, Falkner gaped in surprise to see that the chair he was attempting to sit in was already occupied by a small purple haired child. Stammering apologies, Falkner moved to the other empty empty chair beside that one, this time checking to make sure it was empty.

Correction, SIX of the eight seats had already been taken, Falkner thought as he tried to avoid turning red at the sound of quiet chuckling.

The meeting actually began with only seven of the eight gym leaders, much to Falkner's surprise. Falkner was under the assumption that all eight gym leader positions were filled, but maybe he was wrong to think that? Grimacing bitterly, Falkner again cursed the lack of preparation and studying he had done before this meeting, despite working as hard as he could to make sure he had everything covered. He had gone over everything so many times, how could he forget something as simple as checking up on the other gym leaders? Wasn't that one of the first things to do once you get the basics of your own gym under control? As the meeting progressed, Falkner attempted to rectify his lack of information by studying the other gym leaders as much as he could. Looking from person to person, Falkner first focused on the man two seats down from him. He was a loud, rather large man who took up a lot of space both physically and verbally. He was middle aged and beginning to bald slightly, but had a large mustache that extended beyond the edges of his face. His hair was sloppily slicked back, with it sticking up in the back. Falkner couldn't put his finger on the man's name or what gym he ran, but Falkner knew that the man used to be good friends with his father. He was probably…a fighting type gym leader? Wasn't that Cianwood's gym type? Falkner was pretty sure about that. Beside the loud man from Cianwood was the purple haired kid that Falkner nearly sat on. He was very young, and couldn't be out of grade school. His lilac hair loosely framed his face and didn't quite reach his shoulders. He was very talkative and knowledgeable for a kid as young as himself, albeit having somewhat of a short attention span. At first Falkner was very surprised to see such a young boy be a gym leader, but the boy was intelligent. He carried a large bug catching net so Falkner deduced that the boy was in charge of the bug-type gym in Azalea Town. Falkner had heard that the gym had a young leader but he never assumed that the boy was that much younger than himself. Pryce, oh boy, Falkner remembered Pryce. The old man was the leader of Mahogany Town's ice-type gym, and he was sitting one seat from the opposite end of the other side of the table as Falkner. He always seemed quaint and quiet, with his eyelids lowered into nearly closed slits, and a soft slight smile on his face. But Falkner remembered the time about two years ago when Pryce accidentally nearly turned Falkner into an icicle when he and his father were visiting Mahogany Town, and the teen stayed away from him. Pryce didn't seem to remember the event, and upon noticing Falkner staring at him, he smiled a little more and waved silently. He wasn't a bad man, just a seemingly oblivious one at times. Still, Falkner kept his distance. Beside Pryce was a woman just as loud as the man from Cianwood. Not just loud when speaking, her outfit was also very loud. Skintight and bold, as well as having a large flowing cape, Falkner didn't know many people willing to try to pull an outfit like that off in public. She also seemed very quick tempered and potentially violent, and Falkner decided to deal with her with caution. But no matter how much she yelled at the man from Cianwood, Pryce, who sat beside her, stayed quiet and unfazed. Falkner wasn't sure how the man managed that.

The two gym leaders who weren't much older than Falkner sat beside each other, at the side of the table facing Falkner. One boy and one girl, they both eyed the occasional conflict going on with very different attitudes. The girl was very plainly dressed and had long brown hair. She was very pretty and although she dressed plainly, it looked good on her. She seemed very upset by the conflict, but not upset enough to do anything about it other than gaze on with an uncomfortable anguish. The boy, however, seemed moderately amused by it and smirked. He sat very comfortably and confidently, but no matter how much Falkner stared at him, he couldn't get a good grasp on the older boy. Feeling Falkner stare, he looked and nodded with a sly smile, the type that made Falkner uncomfortable upon receiving, though he couldn't quite figure out why. Trying to push it out of his mind, Falkner decided to look away and focus on the only other person in the room he hadn't examined yet, the facilitator of the meeting, who was not a leader nor anyone special other than an overseer for the League who was based in Ecruteak. His name was Koji and he was a pleasant and amiable man, able to handle the vastly varying personalities and skill sets of the Johto gym leaders so he was clearly a skilled man in his own right.

The meeting was fairly uneventful. They went over various statistics, figures, and estimates. Koji introduced Falkner to the group, who stood up awkwardly and gave an improvised speech he wasn't aware that he was going to have to give. It went well enough, but it just added to the things Falkner felt he was unprepared for. Falkner kept feeling the older boy stare at him, but whenever Falkner looked back or tried to silently address the boy, he only smirked and turned away. It frustrated Falkner, and he glared at the blonde boy irritated. Was something wrong with his shirt? Was his hair a mess? Did he have something on his face? Or was Falkner's existence in this meeting just so amusing to the older boy? It was making Falkner uncomfortable and antsy. He tried extremely hard to focus instead on the meeting at hand like a responsible gym leader, but this boy was making it difficult to do.

Finally the meeting was adjourned. Falkner shot up out of his chair, ready to leave and forego all social contact for the remainder of the day. He was glad that he managed to snag the chair closest to the exit, maybe he could sneak out the door before the others grabbed him for long unnecessary pleasantries.

But as Falkner attempted to move towards the door, suddenly a loud rumble began to emanate from down the hall, slightly shaking the room. Falkner recoiled away from the door, but not soon enough, as the door was slammed open, crashing right into the bird trainer's face, causing him to fall backwards onto the ground with a loud bang. In came a young girl in her teens, ragged and out of breath, yet simultaneously peppy and full of energy.

"OHMYGOSH IM SOOOOOOOO SORRY IM LATE!" the girl said, bouncing into the room energetically, addressing the entire group other than Falkner, who lay on the ground apparently unnoticed. "I was busy readying things at the gym in Goldenrod, and I completely lost track of time!"

Falkner groaned and rolled over on the ground, in order to get a better look at his accidental attacker. She was a small-framed girl in her mid-teens, wearing a colorful outfit of pink, blue, and white, highlighted by the dark pink trim on her shirt and wristband, which matched the slightly lighter pink of her hair. She wore striped socks that went almost up to her knees, and had her enthusiastically pink hair pulled back into pigtails. Everything about the girl screamed pep and happiness. And pink. Lots of pink.

"My name's Whitney!" The girl continued, waving heartily at the contrastingly quiet crowd, which was mainly filled with surprised eyes, confused murmurs, and, noticeably, a few smirks and chuckles from select audience members. "I just turned 15 recently and I'm the new gym leader of the Goldenrod Pokémon gym! It's nice to meet you!"

The room stood in moderate silence for a moment, as the other participants processed the young girl's…dynamic entrance. Falkner inched towards the wall and used it to pull himself up slowly and as discreetly as possible. So much for a quick and stealthy exit. But maybe he could still sneak out, relatively unscathed. So THIS was the other gym leader? Her? This rude, crazy, unthinking…this…this obnoxiously Pink Haired Wonder? Jeez, why were all of the gym leaders so insane and colorful? First Pryce accidentally nearly killing Falkner years ago, then the annoyingly loud heavyset man, followed by the scary looking caped lady, and now this surprisingly strong neon pallet girl? With a group of coworkers as hard to handle as this, Falkner was back to wondering if he could handle this gym leader job after all…

"Oh, hello there Whitney" Koji finally managed to break the silence, collecting his thoughts and attempting to regain order over his nearly adjourned meeting. "The meeting was just about over, but if you could please stay after, I'll go over the things you missed and catch you up to speed."

"Oh, sure!" Whitney agreed, skipping over to the man upon being beckoned. "Anything I can do to make up for being late! I'm so sorry about that!"

Koji and Whitney began exchanging notes, with the older man speaking kindly and concisely, and Whitney nodding fervently to everything he said. Order quickly reappeared in the meeting room and the rest of the gym leaders began to remove themselves from their seats at their leisure, chatting amongst one another. Falkner made eye contact with most of the other gym leaders, but most could read the mood of the boy and decided not to say more than a word or a nod. When Falkner's gaze landed upon the still sitting older teenage boy, the blonde again just smirked and waved. Falkner shot him a look of irritation, but decided to make his way to the door again and save what little grace he still had and exit.

But as Falkner reached the door, another rumble was heard and felt throughout the building. Even quicker than the first time, another figure, this time a rather large and emotional Miltank, careened through the open door and collided with Falkner, this time sending the boy further into the opposite direction as before, and the battered boy hit an object behind him with another solid thud. Hearing the sound, Whitney turned around in surprise and joy and sprinted over to the runaway cow Pokemon, who also stumbled into her arms for a large, clumsy hug.

"Oh Miltank! I'm so glad you found me!" Whitney smiled cheerfully, stroking the head of the joyful Pokémon, who was moved to near tears upon their reunion. "I'm sorry I couldn't wait for you when you fell behind, but I was running so late! I knew you'd be able to find me, though!"

Grumpily watching the strangely emotional reunification of strange Pokémon and stranger trainer, Falkner groped behind him for an aid for which to clamor to his feet. Finding something, he pressed down hard to push himself into a standing position point. But he stopped halfway upon hearing an uncomfortable grunt, followed by pained laughter.

"Wow, you sure are a feisty one, aren't you?"

Falkner looked up to see that he had ran into the still-seated older boy and his chair. Despite his expression of amused discomfort, he still seemed in no hurry to get up. Freezing in horror, Falkner's hand twitched. He was pressing down on something soft. His panicked blue eyes turned to look at his shoulder, and traveled down his arm to rest on exactly what was in his hand. Falkner yelped when he saw that he had been attempting to steady himself squarely on the guy's crotch. With a shriek, the embarrassed boy retracted his hand.

"Hey, I didn't really mind your hand there, especially considering how enthusiastic you seemed about it." He snickered.

"No…it's not, I just…I-I!" Falkner tried to stammer out, but words weren't quite managing to come together in the poor boy's mind.

"I mean I normally like to be taken out to dinner first at least, but I guess I can make an exception."

Falkner's mouth dropped when he saw the older boy's hands move down to his pants and motioned as if he was beginning to unbutton them. He…was he really? Was he taking off his clothes? Falkner was not about to stick around and find out what kind of creepy exhibitionist stuff this freak was into. He quickly turned around to get up and bolt out the door, but was stopped as his eyes met a floating, menacing smile.

"Gastly…" the ghost Pokémon sneered, with a smirk incredibly reminiscent of the boy's behind him. Oh god. This had to be his Pokemon. So that meant that this was the gym leader of Ecruteak. Ghosts. Why did it have to be ghosts? Ghosts terrified Falkner. The bird trainer froze in place, only to be nudged back downward by the grinning Gastly. Falkner's fell back down, headfirst into the guy's lap, only for him to be greeted by something firm and rod-shaped pushing against his cheek. Oh…oh god…did he really?

Falkner froze for a moment, his mind utterly imploding in horror. His face turned a beet red. Piecing back together his thoughts, the blue haired boy again registered the pressure against his left cheek. Panic hit him, and Falkner jumped out of his seat, screaming.

Only to run into the nearest wall.

Falkner laid on the ground, fading in and out of near consciousness. As all eyes fell on him, Falkner began processing and replaying the last hour. And one thing was blatantly clear to him.

His first official meeting with the Johto Pokémon League did not exactly go as well as planned.

And that was a gargantuan understatement.

Arc 01: Courtship

End of Chapter 01: Filling These Familiar Shoes

A/N: Again, thank you for reading! I'm really pleased with this new version. (Though I sometimes wonder if I'm too wordy nowadays...) These first couple chapters are going to be full of edits and changes to the original story, because while I still like Iridescent Wings, I have a lot of minor to not-so-minor issues with certain things I wrote. But that's what happens when you come back to an old friend! You're allowed to prefer either version, but I definitely prefer this newer one. I'm hoping to stick to a fairly regular schedule and update moderately regularly.

So Read, Review, Comment, Etc. What HASN'T changed is that I live and thrive off of people's critique and commentary! Thank you!