Sorry for the long wait (not that I imagine that many people were waiting anxiously), I was in a pretty serious car accident. While I'm fine, my car is totaled and basically that's the story of my life right now haha…
By now, you have all heard the news. It is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that it is true. I, Hilda Poinsettia Ludvina White, have resigned from my position as Unova Pokemon League Champion, and have relinquished the title to my predecessor Alder Laurus. It was not a decision made lightly. I have spent countless hours over the past year deliberating this decision. It is not because I have not enjoyed being your champion, for I have enjoyed this responsibility immensely. All of your patronage and love have made these past eleven years the most rewarding experience anyone could ever been blessed with. Thank you all for everything. It has been an honor being your hero and champion.
With love, respect, and humility,
Hilda Poinsettia Ludvina White
Former Unova Pokemon League Champion
The news had erupted across the region. All of the stations played clips of Alder's speech over and over, each line and word scrutinized and analyzed by anchors.
I, Alder Laurus, have accepted the title of Champion of the Unova Pokemon League in Po's absence.
"That's right, you heard it here, folks."
"In a shocking announcement, our champion has stepped down!"
"Why can't Po tell us herself?" One particularly caustic talk show host asked, voice raised, slamming his hand down on the glass table theatrically. "What is she hiding from us!?"
The internet was aflame with shocked fans.
How can she just leave us like this?
Po's just afraid of losing I bet!
It's a hoax guys… there's no way she stepped down.
Maybe it's a good thing though! She can focus more on her music now right?
Po had already boarded a plane before any of it hit the media. Up in the air before Alder released the statement to the public.
"You're really doing this, huh?" Bianca had asked, when Po left her pokemon in the blond's care. She gave Po a knowing smile, "Going to Alola."
Po blushed, averting her gaze, "Yeah. I mean it's great for vacationing, right? And it's pretty close so I can always come back if anything happens…."
Bianca snorted, giggling into her hand. "Vacation, of course." She placed a hand on her friend's shoulder and said with a wink. "You know I wish you the best of luck!"
The ocean peeked out from below the clouds, deep blue contrasting with the soft greys and whites.
"Po," Her mother had begun, "You know I want you to be happy, but going to Alola, really? When am I going to see you again?"
"Mom…."
Her mother wiped a little mist out of the corner of her eye. "I'm going to miss you."
Her phone blew up with angry texts when she had landed.
What the hell, Po! You resign and leave the goddamn country, and I have to learn about it second hand from a news broadcast!? -Cheren
Fucking really? -Grimsley
Noooo…. Why didn't you tell me? -Skyla
Good luck ;) -Elesa
She had released a public statement when she landed, posting her letter on all of her social media accounts for all to read. Her inboxes were flooded within minutes. Po had no intention of reading any of them… at least not anytime soon. She used to like to reply to each and every one of them, but there were too many…. She had given up on that dream years ago.
The air was humid, oppressively so; That was the first thing Po noticed when she stepped out of the cool, climate controlled Akala airport. Sweat already began to bead on her skin. The warmth in the air was vastly different from the cool September weather in Unova. Adjusting her sunglasses, she took her first step onto Alolan soil.
Everything felt new and fresh. The warm, salty breeze caressing her skin, providing some relief to the balmy air; The soft, golden glow of the sun out over the water as it approached the horizon; The sound of wingulls and pelippers overhead; The weight of her luggage on her shoulders and in her hand. Po hit silence and pocketed her phone. She knew she'd have to contact them all again soon, but Unova was a world away now. Everyone could wait.
She looked at the travel brochure she'd grabbed in the airport while waiting for her bags. Alola! Everything Akala. There were certainly plenty of things to do on the island, quiet coves to fish, lush jungles to explore, white sand beaches to tan….
"Do you need any help with your bags, miss?"
Roused from her reverie, Po looked up to see a man with a machamp standing over her.
"Hm?"
"Your bags, do you need any help carrying them?" He was smiling amicably. "Machamp services can carry you and your bags for you if you like."
Her eyes widened in surprise, and a smile graced her face. "Everyone certainly is friendly around here."
"It's not problem at all, really. A beautiful woman such as yourself shouldn't bother yourself with so much luggage when a machamp can you and it." He grinned, motioning for the machamp to relieve her of the bags.
Po shied away, gripping her bags a little too tightly, polite smile still in place though her eyes hardened. A machamp carrying her luggage…. She swallowed.
Perhaps in a perfect world, people and pokemon could live together in perfect harmony, but as long as pokemon are subservient to humans, we can never truly be equal.
It's skin was a lovely, healthy shade of eggshell blue, eyes bright. Muscles defined, but with a healthy layer of fat over them for protection and energy. Overall a fine specimen, and quite well taken care of.
But a machamp carrying not only her luggage, but her own body as well….
"That's a very kind offer, sir." Po gave him a polite nod. "I thank you, but I think I can manage."
"Are you sure? It really wouldn't be any trouble. Ol' Blue here's very well trained, so you don't have to worry about a bumpy ride or anything, if that's what's eatin' at you." He patted the one of the machamp's biceps. It flexed, proudly showing off its massive, toned muscles.
She reached up to pat its head and offered a placating response. "I have no doubts in your strength, Ol' Blue. I'm unsure I've ever met a machamp in as peak physical condition as yourself." It was a bold-faced lie. She'd competed in the Champions Tournament. She had once seen a machamp standing at over six and a half feet tall with biceps twice as large around as she was, but this machamp didn't need to know that. "But I need to make sure my own muscles are in peak condition as well."
Po lifted her suitcase with exaggerated ease.
The man laughed, "Well as long as you're fine making it all the way to wherever you're staying."
She bid them farewell, checked her map of the area, and bags on back and in hand, headed in the direction of the Hano Grand Resort.
Night had already crept up on the island by the time Po had reached the resort. Impressive columns, canopies, and arches; Cool blue pools with artificial waterfalls over glass. She could see why she'd had to reserve a suite months in advance.
The man at the check in counter was friendly and helpful, giving her a key. Again a machamp's services were offered, but Po declined even though her back and arm had now begun to feel the strain of carrying her heavy luggage. She happily dropped them when she entered her suite.
It was spacious and airy; A large oval bed, plush couches, dark hardwood floors decorated with leaf green carpets, a wall of glass opening up to a balcony overlooking the sea. Vases filled with ferns and flowers adorned the end tables, desk, and corners of the room.
She plopped down on the bed and released her pokemon one by one, Mr. Pig, Swannatello, Tobi, Melody, Treble; the little deino immediately sniffed the air and ran over to the nearest vase to investigate, but accidentally ran into the wall next to it instead and whined. Po smiled fondly at him, picking up her last pokeball. She stared at it for a long while before murmuring a soft apology and clipping it back onto her belt.
Po knew it wasn't fair to Harmony to leave him in there while the rest of her party got to stretch and relax, but the room was already running out of free space, and Harmony was too big…. She would just have to rotate their positions every few hours or so.
"No don't bite that, Treble!" She jumped up, crossing the room in a few bounds and swiftly picking the deino up as it tried to bite down on the leg of the nice mahogany desk. "What am I gonna do with a little troublemaker like you." She chastised him, but grinned and peppered his snout with kisses. Treble squealed excitedly, nuzzling her, little bell on his collar jingling as he snapped his jaws harmlessly at the air. "My little treblemaker…."
Pamphlets were strewn about the bed, Po pouring over them over a bowl of poi. Reef dives, snorkeling, sunbathing, nearly everything centered around beaches except for pokerides, another popular Alolan attraction. Shopping malls, indoor swimming pools, aquariums….
Po spooned some of the soupy lavender paste into her mouth. She sighed, rifling through one about the Hokulani Observatory for the third time. She had no idea what island she should even be looking on…. For a moment the former champion considered just using her phone to look up where-
And then Po grinned, a single line in the pamphlet catching her eye.
Bingo.
Sunlight spilled over the desk onto papers and a half finished cup of coffee. The steady whir and thrum of machinery set the tune of the lab as a few scientists in lab coats typed away at computers. Burnet picked up her coffee and took a sip; it had begun to grow cold now, but she didn't mind. This was a daily occurrence.
She took another look at her tablet, recording some of the readings off of the large screen when she heard one of the aides give a hearty greeting. It was rare to have any visitors at the lab given how tucked away it was. Most science labs usually had their own building, shiny signs and placards, fancy new equipment, testing areas behind glass walls to give tourists a good show. Their dimensional lab took up barely a few rooms in what used to be an apartment building now turned office complex. A start-up printer company occupied the rental space next door, and the floor above them contained a paper distributor's call and sale center. Hardly a place a tourist would visit. So when an unfamiliar voice with a heavy Unovan accent answered her aide, Burnet momentarily lost her train of thought.
"I'm here to see an old friend."
She almost missed the sound of soft footfalls behind her.
"I see you finally got that lab you always wanted off the ground," Soft, deep, and though she couldn't quite place it, familiar.
Burnet looked up from her notes, turning to face her guest. A tall woman with peachy skin grinned at her, her long brown hair tied back, blue eyes soft. Confidence seemed to ooze out of her pores, her self-assured smile somehow familiar. Burnet wracked her brain for a few moments, the puzzled look that no doubt adorned her face diminished the other woman's smile somewhat. The woman cocked her head, leaning back against the wall arms crossed….
Everything clicked in that moment.
"Po?"
The other woman beamed, "I was afraid you'd forgotten who I was for a moment, Burnie."
"Of all the people…." Burnet returned her smile. "What brings you to Alola? Here to challenge the Battle Tree?"
Po chuckled. "Nah…. I'm here on… an extended vacation."
It had been a long time, hadn't it.… The pressure had begun to weigh on her after only a few years. Distracted. Tired.It's my responsibility to rebuild. Heros are supposed to do all of this, Unova is counting on me. We still haven't found all of Team Plasma, I can't just give up now…. But Burnet had always been in awe of her stamina, her poise, her enthusiasm. That was what had drawn her to the champion.
"It's good to hear you're taking a break. You were always doing too much. I can't imagine how you must feel after… how long ago was it now?"
"Eleven years." Po said, expression wistful. "Six since you left Unova."
"That long, huh…" Guardians… it felt like a lifetime ago.
"So, how's your research been going?"
Burnet perked up. "It's been great actually! A couple of months back, we got approved for a pretty big grant which is always exciting. Finally beat out the geologists for that one. And dimensional science is always interesting, but you already know my stance on that." She punctuated her sentence with a wink then tapped a few commands out on her tablet, pulling up some data.
Burnet had always been a pretty excitable person; all passion and enthusiasm. Po smiled softly, listening to her dive into the data she'd collected. Brilliant and beautiful as the sun. Wisps of her pearly hair bobbed with the motion of her head as she gestured excitedly to different areas of graphs; she'd really come into her own out here.
There had always been skepticism within the scientific community regarding dimensional rifts and anomalies (excluding some in Sinnoh, of course), and many people had found Burnet's subject matter silly; a hick kid from a remote island pursuing a ridiculous fantasy from a baseless island superstition. Hearing that she had not only managed to build up a lab, but also managed to secure grants was good news indeed.
Po had never fully understood some of the technical jargon Burnet used whenever she got excited. Some of it was pretty simple to follow, but some of the equations she had tried to explain to her a few times simply went over the then-champion's head. But as Burnet rattled off information, Po at least recognized most of it.
"I saw it. Four years ago there was a black hole that opened up in the sky; I saw it with my own eyes." Burnet had said as she tightened a screw on her latest contraption. "The Ultra Wormhole. I read about them back when I was a kid, how beasts from them invaded the world and threatened to destroy everything; That's what originally got me into dimensional studies. Hey could you hand me those pliers?"
"Pliers coming right up," Po said, passing her the tool.
Burnet took them, giving her a wide smile. "Mahalo,my pohinahina." A wink followed her sentence.
Warm. That was how Po felt; cheeks no doubt pink, attempting to ignore the fluttering in her stomach.
If Burnet had noticed the girl's blushing, she made no mention of it, instead crimping two wires together with practiced skill. "I know it sounds crazy… legends and superstitions and all…. But I'm not crazy, and… and you're living proof that some legends are true! I know what I saw."
"I believe you." She replied quickly, leaning forward a little in her seat. "If you say that you saw a legendary dimensional wormhole in the sky, I believe it. The world is full of crazy things… right? So who's to say that even crazier things happen in other worlds."
The scientist positively beamed, "Right!?"
"There's been some anomalies these past few years. Nothing quite strong enough to create a rift, but sometimes the fabric separating our dimension from the others seems to stretch thin." Burnet paused, golden eyes meeting Po's before giving her a reassuring smile. "We're not sure what's causing it yet, but there's nothing to be too worried about… I'm sure of it."
"I feel safe in your hands." The former champion said.
Burnet laughed, "I could barely keep you safe from yourself."
Po let out a soft chuckle, "Well it's a hard job."
Silence slowly overtook them, and remained unbroken until Po sighed, pushing herself off the wall.
"I should probably let you get back to your work," She said after a few moments.
"This was a nice surprise."
"Yeah, it's really great seeing you again." Po smiled softly at the scientist. "Do you wanna maybe catch up some more later? Maybe over dinner? My treat."
"Tonight?" Burnet set her tablet down on her desk, crossing her arms, the corners of her lips turned up.
"If you're not free tonight we can try for a different time." Replied the former champion.
"Tonight's great actually."
Po let out a sigh of relief, butterfrees fluttering around in her stomach. This time it would be different. This time-
"Hey, is it okay if I bring my husband? I think you two would get along great."
Po blanched.
"H-husband? Y-yeah! Of course!" She choked out, color all but draining from her face.
She was married.
Her heart dropped.
"The more the merrier… right?..." Po mumbled halfheartedly, hoping Burnet hadn't noticed the dejection in her voice.
Burnet was married.
But the scientist didn't notice, "Awesome! Why don't we meet up in front say… fiveish?"
Po nodded weakly, wishing her good luck with her research before stepping out of the office.
... Married.