Note/Disclaimer: HIIIIII ok thanks to those of you who have read and reviewed and supported this silly story from the start. I probably only have a couple more chapters after this one. But for now, enjoy what could be considered my gayest chapter yet! And of course, I do not own Pokemon, this is just for funsies!
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It was the weekend following Hala's birthday and thus far it had been lovely. It began with another gig for Cole and Primie, on Friday; this one was at the Tidesong Hotel on Akala Island. Since part of the deal was a free weekend stay at the hotel, we decided to make a little weekend getaway out of it.
It goes without saying that Cole and Primarina played and sang beautifully. One thing of note, though, was that there seemed to be more passion in Cole's playing than I was used to seeing that night. It was all the better for Primarina, as this elevation in Cole's performance motivated her to follow suit. The result was a dazzling performance, stopping many a passerby in their tracks. My heart seemed to stop as well. To see my starter and my boyfriend work in harmony like that was an edifying experience.
We took off early the next morning to take a hike around Brooklet Hill. It was still dark when we woke but we made it in time to watch the sun rise from the top of the hill. Together we sat with his arm around me for only Arceus knows how long; time may as well have stopped. It wasn't until a familiar voice called down that we snapped back in reality.
"HEY! DO YOU LOVERBOYS WANT SOME BREAKFAST?".
Startled, we turned and saw Lana with a friendly wave. I waved back, slightly embarrassed, but what followed was a simple but delicious breakfast.
"We're going up to Konikoni city next," I informed Lana as we finished.
"Oh, great! I'm headed to visit Mallow; it should be on the way, if you don't me tagging along," she said playfully.
"Not at all," answered Cole and the three of us soon continued to walk down Route 5. This portion of the journey was actually rather quick but we had fun talking about boys and giggling. Apparently Lana actually did manage to lure a hunky male swimmer to save her from her own Trial site, only to find that the man was married. Alas.
"It's always something, isn't it?", Cole commented as Lana concluded her story. She shook her head as she sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Well hello! I didn't know THEY were joining you," came a playful voice.
"Hi, Mallow," I answered. "I never thanked you for all the food for Hala's birthday festival. Cole and I just finished all the leftovers last night!". Cole nodded to confirm.
"Oh that's wonderful to hear. Glad you liked it, boys," Mallow said, giving a twirl. It was amusing, watching her pigtails whirl as she did so. "Are you joining us for the cooking class, then?"
"Cooking class? I'm afraid not," Cole responded, slightly regretful.
"Yeah this was just a chance encounter," Lana mused. "It was a delight to see you two, though. Thank you for accompanying me this morning," she said as she gave a little curtsey.
"Aww; yes, great running into you! You have a great day, whatever you're getting into," Mallow added.
"We shall! Wonderful seeing you two as well," I said as we waved goodbye.
Onward we continued from there and within hours (and with the help of a certain tauros), we made it to Konikoni city in time for lunch. We entered a small cafe which was mostly empty, save for…
"BROCK?" I recognized the man from Ash and Gary's proposal dinner. But what was he doing here, of all places?
"Well hello there, gentlemen! Aiden and Cole, right? Here, have a seat," he gestured to the other side of his table. We obliged and soon after, a server came and took our order.
"So, what am I doing here of all places, you're probably wondering," Brock began. "Well, I'm still working as the Gym Leader to Pewter City part time, but I'm currently studying Pokemon Medicine and I have a side business where I sell some of my homemade Pokemon snacks."
"Wow!". Brock is one of the people with whom I didn't get to interact much at that dinner back in Kanto, but he was an impressive person, as it turned out.
"The latter two things are what bring me here. My younger brother is watching over the gym, so I know it's in good hands, but I have a meeting with a possible client later today. They're interested in my snacks but also want to discuss a possible residency within one of their branches once I get to that point in my studies," he continued to explain.
"Wow, sounds like an important meeting," I commented.
"Yeah, no pressure or anything," Cole added with a slight undertone of sarcasm. I covered my mouth, slightly embarrassed.
"Ha, no worries, boys. If nothing else, I'm excited to spend a few days in Alola! Not only is it beautiful here, but this could be a great place for research as well. I'll have to come back sometime, one way or another…"
"Let us know if you do! We can show you around," I chimed in enthusiastically.
"Alola does have a great champion," Cole added, with a flirtatious nudge in my direction.
"Heh; that's good to know. Tell you what, my meeting isn't for another couple hours. Maybe you wouldn't mind showing me around this city here, to start?"
We happily obliged; after finishing lunch, we took a promenade around the city, stopping at the edge where we could overlook the water. Also present was a young Pokemon breeder with a trio of pikachu. I thought of Ash.
"How are Ash and Gary doing, Brock?"
"They're doing great! Pretty busy and a little stressed but I can tell they're excited about the wedding, even if they won't outwardly say so," he explained.
"Heh. Fair enough," said Cole. Meanwhile, the gal with the pikachu came to approach us.
"Hi there! Are any of you pikachu trainers?", she asked politely.
We all shook our heads to indicate we were not. "Yours are so cute, though," Cole added, as if to make up for our collective lack of pikachu.
"Thank you," she said sheepishly. "Well, if any of you know any pikachu trainers, send them my way. I can teach them Volt Tackle!"
We nodded and thanked her, then continued on our way, heading next into Olivia's Jewelry Store.
"It sells all of the evolutionary stones, as well as any other 'stone' that can be held by a Pokemon. Any you can think of," I began to explain.
"Needless to say, there's plenty of lovely jewelry as well," Cole added. "In case you have a lady you're trying to impress", he finished with a wink.
Brock blushed a bit but before he could emit a verbal response, Olivia approached us.
"Aiden! Good to see you, sir," she said politely, her voice confident. "And who are you two gentlemen?", she continued, addressing Cole and Brock.
"I am Cole," said my boyfriend, bowing his head slightly.
Meanwhile, Brock's entire face lit up for a second, only for his expression to be replaced by one of panic. "HIIAMBROCK" was all he managed to say. I looked at him, in part incredulous to see such an accomplished and intelligent man reduced to this, but it also made me wonder if this is how I acted when I first met Cole.
Olivia, however, just laughed. "Nice to meet you both. Let me know if any of you have any questions," she said before turning to walk away. Brock looked like he had a question or two for her, but he held his tongue until Olivia was out of earshot.
"Wow, what a beautiful woman," he said to us in a hushed voice.
"And she specializes in rock pokemon too! You have that in common, at least," I said with an encouraging wink.
"Hmm…fellas, give me a moment," he said, beginning contemplatively and concluding with determination. With that, he walked away. Cole and I began to goof around, trying on rings and necklaces and giggling like idiots.
"Better watch yourself, Aiden. Just imagine the headlines if the wrong person sees you all bejeweled like that," Cole teased.
"Hey, I look fabulous, I bet! This could be an ad campaign. Everyone would want to wear these jewels, so they can glimmer like the Champion" I shot back, posing a little bit to show off my jewels.
Cole laughed. "Hmm, you might onto something, babe. Want to ask Olivia if you can start modeling for her store? She probably wouldn't mind having a big name to associate with the brand!"
I giggled, then looked across to the other side of the store, where her and Brock were deeply immersed in conversation. "Hmm, it looks like she's a little busy at the moment," I said, gleeful at what could be happening. They'd be a great match, save for the distance. Hmm…
My thoughts were interrupted by the flash of Cole's phone as he took a picture of me; I forgot I was still wearing a ring, a pair of earrings and a necklace, none of which matched.
"Hey, that's actually quite elegant, baby!" Cole said, laughing mischievously.
"Let me see it!" I said, slightly indignant.
"Hold on, babe," he said as he thumbed through his phone.
"Don't you dare…", I began.
"…send it to Lillie, Hau and Ash? Too late!", he said with a grin that I swear was pure evil.
"YOU DID NOT!", I said, raising my voice slightly.
"Ssh! You don't want to make a scene, babe," Cole hushed.
I sighed. I guess it didn't matter if my friends saw the picture. Noticing my silence, he assumed victory and decided to at least show me the picture as an act of consolation.
"Hey, that actually is kind of pretty!" I said, pleasantly surprised. The jewels weren't something I'd make a habit of wearing but at least I wore them well.
As I began to remove the items and put them back where I found them, Brock rejoined us.
"What have you two been up to?", he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"What have YOU been up to," Cole retorted.
"Well, I now have dinner plans for tonight," he said, blushing but confident.
"That's awesome!", I approved.
"Yes yes…well guys, I should actually get going now. I'll need to meet my client on the outskirts pretty soon," Brock informed.
"Aw that's too bad. I'm glad we got to spend some time with you, though!"
"Yeah me too. Who is this client, by the way?"
Brock chuckled. "You've probably heard of them. The Aether foundation?"
"You're working with Aether?" I was not expecting that answer. It seemed like it could be a good fit, though, considering the improvements and changes the organization has made in the last couple of years.
"We shall see; I will keep you updated one way or another. Wish me luck, sirs!", said Brock.
"Good luck! With both the meeting and the dinner," Cole said.
"Yes good luck…and please tell Ash and Gary we say hi!", I added.
With that we parted ways. We didn't stay in Konikoni city for much longer; just long enough to peruse the apparel shop. Not long after, we were leaving the city but we had hardly made it to Memorial Hill before we were stopped again. This time, however, I did not recognize the voice.
"Cole?", we heard. We turned around to find a young man around Cole's age with blond hair and blue eyes. He was good looking but generally unremarkable, though there was something in his eyes that I did not like. Something between determination and malice.
"Hello again, Patrick," Cole said, trying his best to conceal his exasperation.
"Funny I should run into you again, handsome." He turned to me, perhaps noticing my bemused expression. "Who's the kid?", he asked, almost as if he was trying to pick a fight.
"Patrick, this is—", Cole began but I interrupted, annoyed by Patrick's tone.
"This 'kid' is Alola's first and so far only Champion, thank you. And my name is Aiden," I spoke with a fiery determination that I hadn't used since my Island challenge.
"Alola's champion, huh? Nice to meet you, Aiden," Patrick said, his tone changing slightly.
Cole put his hand on my shoulder. "Yeah. Anyway, we should get going."
Patrick frowned. "So soon? I was hoping for a chance to challenge Alola's champion!"
"We don't have time for you. Aiden, let's go," Cole said to me, not amused by his ex's behavior. I gave some sort of wave-like gesture to at least acknowledge Patrick before we walked away. We were stopped when a Pokeball flew over and landed in front of us, revealing a mightyena. Patrick caught up with the pokemon, looking more smug than he had a right to look.
"Are you sure you don't want to battle? You're not scared are you?". His voice had to be the most annoying thing I had heard since having to deal with Team Skull back in the day.
We continued to try to ignore him, but as we began to step away, I heard him call out.
"MIGHTYENA! USE NIGHT SLASH!"
What happened next happened faster than I could have imagined.
After Patrick called the attack but before his pokemon executed it, I almost instinctively grabbed and dropped Primarina's pokeball. She emerged just in time to block the other pokemon's attack with her tail.
She looked back to me. Our eyes locked for a second and she nodded in understanding.
I crossed my wrists as my Z-Ring lit up, then gracefully I moved my arms to emulate the movement of the ocean's waves. A blue light surrounded me, then it traveled to surround Primarina, who took over from here. She began to sing a simple melody, acapella. Imbued with the power of the Z-Crystal, her song created a small tempest; swirling and raging and quickly contorting itself into an orb that continued to grow as she sang.
As her voice went higher in pitch, the storm orb began to travel towards our assailants. I could see them from the corner of my eye, looking fearful, but I wasn't focussed on them. We were ready for the finale. As Primarina reached the climax of the piece; the highest note, held for several seconds, the watery orb moved itself on top of Cole's ex and his pokemon and quickly descended upon them. On impact, both human and pokemon were sent flying.
When the rain cleared, I noticed that a crowd had gathered. After a moment of silence, uproarious applause ensued. Primarina took a bow as Cole ran up and took me in his arms, kissing me all over my face.
That night at the hotel, we spoke of the day's events.
"So Cole…was he like that when you dated?" I was curious.
"No, but I can see why he was acting that way. He was the jealous type, and greedy. That's why he wanted to join Team Flare. He really thought he would have a better life; that everything would eventually belong to Team Flare," he explained.
"Well, it sounds like you made the right choice," I concluded.
"Definitely. Hey, do you want to see what your friends had to say about that picture from the store?" Cole changed the subject.
"Oh sweet Arceus, I forgot. But sure…lets see it," I said with the faintest tinge of apprehension as Cole handed me his phone. I opened it to see the following conversations:
—
Lillie: *heart emojis in every color* He's so beautiful!
Cole: I know, right? *blushing smiley and flirtatious side eye emojis*
Lillie: So, you got me those jewels, didn't you?
Cole: What? No, Lillie, we already left!
Lillie: *several angry-face emojis*
Lillie: DAMNIT, COLE! I WANT THOSE JEWELS! I'd wear them even better than Aiden! Or at least just as well!
Cole: Are you challenging my man?
Lillie: WHAT IF I AM?
Cole: Hahaha. I miss you. I know Aiden does too.
Lillie: YES. We need to get together again soon!
—-
Ash: HAHA! Y'all are so cute.
Ash: But not as cute as Gary
Cole: Of course you'd think so. Lets agree to disagree, shall we?
Ash: That's probably for the best, yes.
Cole: Oh! Ash, we ran into a friend of yours.
Ash: WHO?
Cole: Brock! And he's probably having dinner with one of our Kahunas as we speak?
Ash: Brock's doing what with whose Kahuna now?
Cole: …never mind. Can't wait to see you guys for the wedding!
Ash: HAHAHAHA Yeah, me too!
—
Hau: *responds with a picture of Gladion in a flower crown, looking super grumpy*
Cole: HAHAHAHA WHAT? He looks like a grumpy litten!
Hau: A litten would light those flowers on fire, though! He's more like a grumpy purrloin.
Cole: omg that's perfect! *laughing with tears in eyes emoji*
Cole: …I'd show Aiden but he's currently kicking the crap out of my ex.
Hau: Wait, what? O_O
Cole: The ex started it.
Hau: Figures. GO AIDEN!
—