Aaron was probably one of the most famous Elite Fours out of the four (not counting the Champion, Cynthia. Cynthia was awesome), which he always found ironic. The user of one of the least popular types was one of the most idolized people in Sinnoh. He sometimes felt like he didn't deserve the fame, really.
Whenever he told Flint about this, he'd laugh loudly. "It's not hard to see why. You rock cute and sexy at the same time. Fangirls love a guy that can do that." After a few more sentences, Aaron quickly left, cheeks a flaming red, whether from embarrassment or anger, he didn't know.
Bertha's reaction was a grin, eyes crinkling. "You have a big heart. People are attracted to people who wear their hearts on their sleeves, whether for negative or positive reasons is not my place to judge. Power and charisma can only get someone so far. A jovial and mature, yet still young soul is a very powerful personality. You, being a combination of all of those, it's a wonder how you haven't gotten even more popular."
Lucian would look at him through his sunglasses, purple eyes both interested and amused, a soft smile adorning his face. "I, myself, won't make assumptions of why, but if I had to guess, it's probably your happiness that attracts people to you. Your personality is extremely strong and enthusiasm rather infectious. The people around you are easily swayed, whether it be more happy when you are or slightly down when you're depressed. You're very open-minded and willing to change too, unlike us, which also means that people can relate easier to you."
It really didn't matter how wise or smart his fellow elites were. Aaron declared them all to be crazy, especially Flint. He didn't think he could look at Flint the same way anymore.
The first few hours of Exchange Day, also known as Let's-Slowly-Drive-Aaron-to-Insanity.
For the record, this was entirely Cynthia's fault. Not mine.
Hey! My name's Aaron, and I'm the first of the Sinnoh Elite Four and specialize in bug-type pokemon. And right now, I am going to go insane unless something doesn't go wrong today.
Now don't get me wrong; I was actually excited for this day! Crossed off the numbers on my personalized calendar, kept packing and repacking my bags, wondering what I'd need, wondering what my host would be like... the works, y'know? The idea of getting to actually talk to people other than my fellow Elites and the Sinnoh Gym Leaders was definitely refreshing, to say the least, and we had the added bonus of being able to take an undetermined time off! It was like holiday come early.
Now, there were also a few people I was hoping to avoid, such as Falkner of Violet City. He felt a bit... intense, maybe a bit too much for me. Also, there was the fact that his strongest pokemon could probably deal a hefty hit to my weakest, considering their type advantage (if they could even hit me - bug types are extremely evasive creatures, especially in their fully evolved forms, and really fast too, with probably the largest range of status effects or stat boosting/lowering moves. If my Bug Bite won't take you out, my String Shot-Poison Powder-Bug Buzz combination will). However, the chance of them knocking me out would probably be hilariously low - I wasn't an Elite Four for nothing!
So, what does Cynthia promptly do? Not tell us who we were going to be living with for an undetermined and probably long time, other than their region! Now, I wasn't the only one nervous about the change of pace - I could tell Lucian was terrified of the idea of being in the same room with Morty of Ecruteak for over a few hours, much less living with him, and despite Bertha's genial smile that felt permanently plastered onto her face, her shoulders tensed a little at that and I knew that she really despised Lt. Surge and his brash, harsh personality. Flint was probably the most vocal about his discomfort with that 'surprise,' being that a lot of the Kanto Gym Leaders hated him and could barely tolerate him, the only one being Blaine of Cinnabar Island. Everyone else either had short tempers that Flint just burned, like his fire pokemon, or generally found him annoying. Blaine was the only one that actually answered his ever-so-inquisitive questions, no matter how strange, and Flint liked his catchphrase "You better have a Burn Heal!"
I think, just by being an old man yet earning Flint's respect and standing him, even for only a couple of hours, Blaine just earned my respect
(I never actually met him face-to-face though; we did have a conference with the sixteen Kanto-Johto gym leaders for a few hours to 'bond', although I spent the entire time outside or hiding from Erika after accidentally eating her plants. How was I supposed to know she cultivated the flowers planted next to the League Building? It doesn't exactly have a sign on it.)
Afterwards, even though e knew how much I despised planes and how they scared the common sense out of me, decided that the Elite Four would take a plane to our locations. which sucked because:
1: Planes petrified me. Going close to a plane had me stopping in my tracks and shivering like a leaf.
2: I hyperventilated a lot on planes, especially with turbulence. Even if planes are the safest way to travel, there are plenty of ways you could die on a plane.
3: Even though I traveled a lot, I had really bad motion sickness. Unless I felt like swallowing really bad tasting pills or remembered to swallow said bad tasting pills, I would throw up at least once on the flight.
4: Lucian would be the only one on the plane with me, and we had separate seats away from each. He might not be good at comforting people, but having someone close to me usually helped somewhat.
5: Being on a plane meant that you were stuck in a cramped, public vehicle, so you couldn't have your pokemon out. That meant chasing after my pokemon for probably a really long time afterwards.
However, Champion's orders! Which meant being stuck in plane hugging my knees to my chest and muttering useless bug type information that my poor neighbors were stuck listening to and watching one of their strongest trainers have a near panic attack for about 15 hours until he passes out or falls asleep because he can't stand being in a plane. Not exactly great for the soul or for the sense of security.
After the fact, (I threw up twice, by the way. Twice. And I even took the medicine!) I accidentally took the wrong bag. I normally have my own personalized suitcase with cute stickers of whatever bug pokemon catches my fancy in whatever region I go to, but this time, I decided not to take it. It was small, and I could be staying away from the League for a while, so I definitely wouldn't be able to fit all of my necessities in it. Also, I spent a lot of time worrying whether the person I was staying with would appreciate the bag. I mean, if I was stuck with someone would hated bug pokemon, having the bag with me wouldn't be the greatest idea. Or what if I was with a serious person? They probably wouldn't like the silly stickers and might not appreciate them at all! So for diplomacy's sake, I got a dark green bag, dappled with lighter shades and darker shades in just the right pattern so it looked like the shadows of a forest.
When the plane landed, I had just woke up from a nap. Apparently hyperventilating took a lot out of you and, despite it being around eight in the morning in Johto, which is usually my regular waking time, it would be around four in the morning in Sinnoh, which is a time when I would be asleep. Jet lag usually hit me hard, even if it was only a few hours, so I left the plane feeling extremely drowsy, like coming back from attending one of Flint's midnight move marathons. Therefore, confusing a more saturated army bag with mine and misreading the strangely similar bar code on the tag was pretty easy, considering that I was looking for a deep purple sash on the handle with silver linings, which this guy apparently had too, so I didn't read the bar code very meticulously.
It was a miracle I didn't leave the airport with the bag. Thankfully, Lucian noticed the difference, being more awake due to being used to pulling all-nighters reading and sleeping in the afternoons. He pointed it out to me pretty quickly, which sent me into a panic (and successfully woke me up). So I rolled the bag to a random employee and told her what happened, who nodded understandingly (at that time, I thought she was judging me) and reassured me that I would get my bag back. Thankfully, we were promised that it would get to the other person anonymously and I would eventually got my bag back too, which would take hours of waiting.
Huzzah. Arceus strike me dead.
I felt really bad for whatever poor Gym Leader that was waiting for me. Lucian had left a couple of hours ago, understandably bored and wanting to meet whomever he was living with. "Exit Six, Floor Two... I'm on Floor Two... Exit Six... Where's Exit Six?" I muttered, dashing through the airplane while dragging my bag behind me, Beautifly muttering angrily behind me. "I'm sorry Beautifly, but I really have to find Exit S- aha! Found it!"
While grinning victoriously at Beautifly, a strong wave of guilt hit me straight in the face. What if they hate me? What if they left without me? What if I messed up all my chances at diplomacy and Sinnoh and Kanto-Johto go to war again and it's entirely my fault and Cynthia would hate me and I'd get kicked out of the Elite Four and be stuck with my stuck-up father that all but hates me and I'd have to run away again but I'm technically a minor even though I'm seventeen and oh god I'd be the entire reason lives were lost I think it's time I changed my name to Ryou and dyed my hair and bought contacts and moved to Alola and-
These thoughts whirled around in my head as I paced around Exit Six, not noticing that I accidentally ran into a moving blob of green and purple. I yelped, bruising my chin pretty bad as the other person clutched their forehead. "S-Sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!" They said, apologizing profusely.
I shrugged, thankful I had ended that train of thought, even if it was with a painful impact. "I-It's fine. I wasn't looking at where I was going either, to be f-fair."
"Okay, coo- wait a sec! Are you Aaron of the Sinnoh Elite Four?" The person in front of me asked, looking delighted by the fact.
At first I groaned. Another fan. I really don't feel like dealing with fans right now, until I actually took in the other's appearance. Choppy purple hair cut in a feminine style... green hiking outfit... bug-catching net... "You're... Azalea Gym Leader Bugsy! Oh thank Arceus I found you!" I gasped. "And yeah, I'm Aaron."
"Sorry to keep you waiting! You'll be staying with me, by the way, but I'm just really sorry for being late. I forgot to set my alarm clock and I stayed up late last night and I really should have checked the date the day before or at least have written it on a more pro-" Bugsy apologized, yet again.
I held up a hand to stop them, confused. "Waiting? If anyone should be sorry, it should be me. I probably kept you waiting for hours! It's... what?" I glanced at the Poketch on my wrist. "Ten? I should have been here at eight!"
"Huh? Did your flight go off-track?" They questioned.
"I..." I said at first, before stopping. "Uh... Yeah. Let's just go with that."
I guess I'm not going insane today.
Bugsy was a cool dude. Despite seeming short and sweet, I quickly learned not to get on his bad side.
"Wait, so you what?" I asked, enraptured in the story he was telling me.
"Yup! The main scientist in the Ruins of Alph? Kept calling me a girl and short and insulting my masculinity. Whenever I told him I was a guy, pointed out my more, ahem, feminine traits and kept calling me a girl. I think he has something against transgender people or something because even though I'm biologically male and just look feminine he kept calling me female, but that caught on so his assistant started calling me a girl. So I withheld information from them concerning the Unown. If he thinks a girl shouldn't be investigating the Ruins, then she won't! At least, with no evidence saying she did." Bugsy grinned, puffing out his chest. "It's what he gets for being a sexist and stubborn cactus."
I cocked an eyebrow. "Cactus?"
"What's on a cactus?"
"Pri- oh. Oh! So... Cactus means 'prick'?" I asked, grinning.
"Yep! I like insulting people."
"So I've seen."
"Yes." Bugsy nodded sagely. "Insults are a fine way to pass time in this lonely world."
"Is that so?"
"Indeed," He shot me a Gengar-like grin before breaking down in laughter. I joined in, doubling over and snickering.
"You make a horrible sage impression!" I gasped between peals of uncontrollable laughter, feeling slightly childish. Another thing about Bugsy - he was good at judging people and was also really infectious. He could probably make Lucian lose his cold and aloof mask he always seems to wear just by breaking down, laughing, in front of him.
The purple-haired Gym Leader grinned yet again, flashing a thumbs up sign at me. "I know." I grinned back at him, throwing a wink in there, until he suddenly stopped smiling and stared extremely seriously at me, giving me figurative whiplash. Bugsy had a tendency to get strange mood-swings at times, although I've never seen one so abrupt before. "Listen, can I talk to you about something?"
I nodded, serious. "'Bout what?"
He breathed in, closing his silvery purple irises. "So you know how we're pretty much the only famous bug-type users? How nobody really uses bugs?"
"Yeah. How can I forget when I pretty much tell myself that everyday?" I asked rhetorically. The air around me felt heavy.
"Well... Before you got here, I was thinking: What if we could gather all the iconic bug-type users into one, big, secret group?" He asked, opening up his eyes, his bombshell dropped. "We could call it the Secret Butterfree Society!" His eyes sparkled excitedly in the light.
I blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. "That's... Bugsy, this is an amazing idea! Although... why do we have to remain secret?"
"Secrecy is a must. First of all, a lot of people don't like bugs, and there are trainers that hate bug-types enough to hate on their trainer. Others find them weak and think important trainers that are better than them that use bug-types are phonies or just as weak. Sometimes, I'm not even thought of as an 'important Gym Leader' even though you still have to get through me to fight the Indigo Plateau." He looked down, looking hurt at that fact.
"It's kind of the same thing with me actually. I've heard the words 'Pity Elite' and 'Weakest Elite four Member' or variations more times more times than I have the patience to count." I wrapped my arms around him, squeezing him tight. "But if they can't recognize it, then they're really cheating themselves out, considering how many times I've sent a challenger armed with fire types off." I let go.
"Thanks, Aaron. Anyway, as I was saying, they'd probably just look down on a society like this one. Also, the goal is also to form strong bonds between the different bug users, so having a big group would be sort of like school - your cliques and outcasts. Having a smaller group would be helpful as we could form stronger bonds between less people, but we still lead the bug-type users in general because we're the most well-known users of them, you know?" He smiled a bit before continuing. "Also, it's funner that way!"
I chuckled. "Well, those are pretty solid reasons." A grin formed on my face, mischief in the making. "You know, I've heard that in the Unova region, there's this famous artist/Gym Leader that's pretty good with bugs. How about we show him the ropes?"
A similar grin flitted across the smaller's face. "Sounds like a plan. What do you have in mind, Mr. Prankster?"
And thus continued Phase 1.
