Later that night after everyone had their fill of fun at the beach festival, Seulgi walked back up to her room feeling completely content. The whole day had been fulfilling, from volunteering at the Pokémon shelter to finally getting to talk in-depth with Wendy. Even the volleyball game was fun, even though her team lost badly to Moonbyul, Solar and Joy. Irene, Wendy and Jihyo were amazing Pokémon Trainers, of that she had no doubt, but volleyball players they were not. Irene managed to get hit by the ball not once, but four times. The frustrated face she made though was one of the cutest things Seulgi had ever seen.

Moonbyul mentioned that if she wanted to relax before going to bed, the manor had a sauna on its grounds. Which of course it did because Moonbyul's house had everything. Man, Solar was one lucky girl. Seulgi rifled through her suitcase, grabbing a bikini top and some comfortable cotton shorts along with a towel.

As luck would have it, the way down to the sauna took her past Irene's room, so as she walked by she casually poked her head inside to see if the Champion had returned. She found Irene sitting on a chaise lounge outside on the balcony, staring up at the stars. Seulgi smiled and was about to turn and leave when Irene called to her. "I can see your reflection in the window."

"Sorry, I was headed down to the sauna to relax before bed. This manor is ridiculous." Seulgi placed her things by the door and joined Irene outside.

Irene snorted, "Yeah, it definitely takes some getting used to. I imagine Solar already talked to you about how she felt when she first met Byul." She tilted her head back to take in the sight of the stars above her. The view was incredible, untainted by the light pollution coming from the city. Back at the Academy she was lucky if she managed to see even a few stars at night. "You enjoyed the festival?"

Seulgi nodded, "I did. My Vulpix and your Ninetales seemed to hit it off too, I was surprised."

"Me too, normally my girl is pretty wary around other people and Pokémon. But then again she did become rather attached to you, so you learn new things everyday…Oh!" Irene turned and picked something up off the arm of the chaise lounge, giving it to Seulgi.

"A Heart Scale? You ended up buying it?" Seulgi turned the scale over in her hand, warmth spreading in her chest as she thought about Irene.

"I was going to buy it, but the lady ended up giving it to me for free. It's for you, I figured after all that's happened in the last month it'd be nice to maybe start over. I wasn't the most welcoming roommate, and I said some things that I regret. Think of this as a peace offering."

Seulgi's mega-watt smile appeared on her face and Irene couldn't help but smile in return. "It's beautiful, Irene. Thank you. So…start over, you said?"

Irene nodded warily. "What are you thinking?"

Seulgi stood up and offered her hand to Irene. "Hi, I'm Kang Seulgi from Alola. I'm your new roommate."

The older girl scoffed but took Seulgi's hand. "Hi there Seulgi, I'm Bae Joohyun, Champion of the Kalos region. You can call me Irene."

The two of them dissolved into giggles. "Okay that was a little stupid," Seulgi said. "But I still liked it."

"Seulgi?" Irene looked a little worried.

"Hmm? What's up?"

"I really am sorry about how I treated you. It wasn't fair of me to kick you out. Can you forgive me?"

Seulgi turned to Irene, still clutching the Heart Scale in her hand. "We started out rocky, I'll admit. But there's nothing to forgive. In a way, I'm glad things turned out how they did. If you hadn't kicked me out the first night I never would have met Moonbyul." She gestured to the entire room behind them. "And then we probably wouldn't be here right now. Sometimes things happen for a reason."

Irene sat back down. "You know maybe you're right. And I'll tell you one thing, Seulgi. You're unlike any girl I've ever met before."

Irene shifted over to one side of the chaise lounge and patted the space next to her. Seulgi sat down next to her and held the Heart Scale up to the stars. "To new beginnings then."

Their hands were so close that they were almost touching, but neither girl had the courage to make the first move. So Irene simply settled for saying, "To new beginnings. And this time we'll do it right."

XXX

To start off their rekindled friendship, Seulgi invited Irene to go with her to the sauna, and the older girl agreed to join her. The two of them stood outside of the small sauna moments later, noticing that the power had already turned on. Someone must already be in there. They thought nothing of it though and Irene gestured for Seulgi to make the first move.

Seulgi grabbed the door handle, and finding it unlocked she pushed it open. Relaxing sauna time here we…

There was a girly scream as she opened the door wide open and Jihyo jolted off Daniel's lap as if she had been burned, trying to cover herself as Seulgi and Irene stared blankly at the couple. Daniel coughed in embarrassment as he reached for the towels and threw one to his girlfriend. Once everyone was decent the four of them just stood together awkwardly in the sauna as the steam billowed around them.

"So…let's agree not to mention this to anyone, okay?" Irene broke the awkward silence.

"Mhm."

"Yep."

"Please."

Seulgi cleared her throat and tried her best not to stare at Jihyo's chest. But wow, had she been blessed in that area. Irene must have noticed her expression, and she felt the other girl grab one of her hands and tug her towards the exit. "We'll come back later then."

Jihyo waved awkwardly at them as they left before collapsing on the sauna bench with her head in her hands. "That was mortifying."

Daniel scooted closer to her. "But we're alone now."

Jihyo looked at him as if he had grown two heads. "You still want to…even after they came in?"

He tilted his head, signature grin on his face. "But this time let's lock the door."

Jihyo rolled her eyes and pulled her boyfriend in for a kiss. Time for attempt number two.

XXX

Episode 6: Realizations

XXX

The next morning saw Seulgi blearily opening her eyes as the sun shone through the large window in her room, almost blinding her. Last night had been magical, and she wasn't just talking about the beach festival. For the first time since she transferred to the Academy she felt as if things were truly, finally going her way.

She and Irene had returned to the older girl's room to talk after their unsuccessful outing to the sauna, and it was an enlightening experience. Irene told her stories from her adventures as an up-and-coming Trainer and showed Seulgi plenty of pictures of her old team.

Seulgi could see the shadow that came over Irene's face whenever a picture of her Charizard appeared on the screen, but the Champion held back on showing any other emotion. It was obvious that Irene still hadn't healed from the trauma of losing her partner, so Seulgi didn't push her into talking about him.

Seulgi found herself falling more and more for Irene as the night wore on. The way her eyes twinkled as the raven-haired Trainer recalled an experience pranking Moonbyul and Solar made a warm feeling spread through Seulgi's chest. Irene's laugh was full and genuine, causing Seulgi to laugh with her. They finally called it quits around three in the morning and Seulgi reluctantly returned to her room down the hall.

Seulgi blindly reached for her bedside table, her hand brushing over Irene's Heart Scale before settling on her belt. Making sure her team was safely by her side she levered herself into an upright position and stretched. It would have been a nice quiet start to her morning too, until a loud noise blasted through the vents, making her jolt in surprise.

"What the hell?" She slapped her hands over her ears as the sound got louder.

"LOUDRED! LOUDRED, LOUDRED!" A Pokémon?

Moonbyul breezed past her room, "Time to get up, Seulgi!" The Hoenn Champion didn't seem at all bothered by the cacophonous sound. Solar followed a few seconds later, wrapping a robe around her body, still-half asleep but not surprised.

As the noise died down, Seulgi put on some slippers and shuffled downstairs, where the rest of their motley crew gathered moments later in various states of undress. Mrs. Moon joined them, "I'm glad to see you all woke up in a timely manner! Breakfast is ready, I hope you all are ready for another day of work."

No one had the guts to tell her otherwise.

Still, despite the early wake-up call the nine of them quickly adjusted. The spread of food on the table made up for it too. Seulgi sat between Wendy and Yeri as they piled food on their plates. Daniel and Jihyo passed out coffee to everyone, earning them lots of smiles in return.

Breakfast was over in a flurry of utensils and delicious pancakes, and soon Seulgi found herself back at the Pokémon shelter, filing paperwork at the office building with Solar while Irene and Joy mopped the floors.

The work was a little tedious, but it allowed her to spend most of the morning with Irene so she considered that a win. Solar seemed to know that something was going on, she kept sending understanding glances to Seulgi and once even gave the younger girl a subtle thumbs-up as Seulgi tore her gaze away from Irene while the Champion tried to clean one of the window panes that was up way too high for her to reach.

Joy huffed in frustration upon noticing her friend trying unsuccessfully to be subtle with her staring. "Yes, we know, Irene has a fantastic ass, quit staring."

Seulgi froze, but luckily Joy had muttered it quietly enough that Irene didn't hear. "Joy," she hissed.

The other girl seemed unperturbed. "Quit being so obvious then. Also, you were so busy staring that the last twelve papers were filed incorrectly."

Seulgi looked down. Damn, Joy was right.

XXX

After lunch they got back to work, but this time Seulgi was working with Jihyo and Moonbyul as they supervised one of the play yards. Which Seulgi thought was probably a good thing. Having Irene around would probably just distract her.

Like they promised last night, Jihyo and Seulgi didn't bring up the sauna incident but nevertheless they seemed to be getting closer as Jihyo pointed out certain behaviors when the Pokémon played together, teaching Seulgi about how to correctly judge a Pokémon's demeanor.

"Some Pokémon are more open about letting someone know if they want to play or not. Take that Linoone over there, it's trying to get Galvantula to play even though it doesn't want to. See the way Galvantula has backed up towards that tree? It's trying to tell Linoone that it doesn't want to be pushed. If the Linoone was smart it would understand the signals it's being given."

There was a pause and then an undignified yelp as the Linoone ran away from the spider Pokémon, the end of its tail smoldering slightly.

"I guess Linoone still has a lot to learn," Seulgi commented as the Linoone hid behind Moonbyul, cowering. "You really know a lot about Pokémon behavior, don't you Jihyo?"

"I've known since I was five that I wanted to be a breeder, to learn what makes Pokémon tick and to help them unlock their potential. Battling was never my thing, so I get my enjoyment from observing Pokémon and watching from the sidelines as the Pokémon I breed go on to accomplish great things." Jihyo leaned against the fence.

"You've bred Pokémon for gym leaders and Elite Four Trainers before, right?" Seulgi knew that a Trainer was truly considered lucky if they received a Pokémon bred by Jihyo.

"I got a lot of clout recently when one of the Pokémon I bred with Nayeon went on to win the Galar Gym Challenge. I try to tell people that breeding a Pokémon is only one part of it. You know the whole nature vs. nurture thing. I give Trainers a well-made blank canvas but it's up to them to determine what goes on it."

Seulgi nodded. She thought that was a very astute observation. Seulgi thought back to the little shiny Ralts she met a few weeks ago in class. "I admit before I came here I didn't know why there was a separate major track for Pokémon Breeders at the Academy but I think I understand it more now. Just because your work is more behind-the-scenes doesn't mean it's any less valuable."

Jihyo chuckled. "That's funny, Daniel said something along those same lines when we first met. It is nice to get to talk to people who understand or are willing to learn about what goes on with Pokémon breeding."

They continued talking for what felt like days but in reality was probably only an hour or two before Wendy's group dropped by to tell them it was time to go home.

The nine of them reconvened out on the deck an hour later after washing up. Moonbyul and Solar shared a lounge chair, as did Jihyo and Daniel. Everyone looked exhausted but they were still chatting animatedly back and forth and enjoying the sun.

Moonbyul sat up. "You know what we need after a long day of work?"

Everyone looked at her. Solar gave her a wary glance, as if she knew what her girlfriend was planning. Moonbyul reached over her to drag a heavy bucket into view. It was filled with what looked like water balloons. She grabbed a few and balanced them in one hand while she used the other to call out one of her Pokémon. A Nidoking appeared and Moonbyul swiftly mounted her loyal Pokémon.

"WATER FIGHT!" Moonbyul grinned devilishly atop her Nidoking and she tossed a water balloon at Solar before running away, who squealed as it popped, soaking her from head to toe.

"Moon Byulyi, get back here!" Solar called out a Nidoqueen and gave chase after her girlfriend. Things devolved from there as everyone called out their biggest Pokémon to ride on, arming themselves with water guns and water balloons from the nearby cache. Seulgi's eyes lit up as the deck soon became drenched in water. Moonbyul definitely planned this, if the sheer scope of available toys was anything to go by.

Yeri breezed by on her Arcanine, dual-wielding water guns and shooting them at anyone unlucky enough to stand in her way. Joy sat behind her on the giant dog Pokémon, lobbing water balloons at whoever she could reach.

Seulgi had called out her Bewear and got on his back, grabbing the closest weapon to join in the fight. She noticed though that everyone was playing together except for Irene. The other girl was sitting on the sidelines, watching the fight with a small smile on her face. Seulgi bounded over to her. "Why aren't you joining in?"

"I would, but my only rideable Pokémon is Zebstrika and he isn't good with water. You know, the whole electric mane thing would end the fun real quick. I'm more than happy to watch."

"Come on, Irene, you know you want to." Seulgi patted her Bewear's back. "Mr. Fuzzles is more than strong enough to carry us both."

Irene's brows furrowed and she giggled. "Mr. Fuzzles?"

Seulgi's face turned red. "I was five when I named him and now he won't respond to anything else…come on, oh great Champion. We can't let Yeri and Joy steal the show!" She reached out a hand to Irene.

Irene shook her head with a sigh but got up, taking Seulgi's hand and allowing herself to be lifted up onto the Bewear's back. Seulgi directed her partner over to where the water guns were being kept and grabbed one for herself and for Irene. "Hold on tight, Irene. We're gonna make Moonbyul wish she picked another activity."

The Bewear surged forward, catching Irene off-balance. She instinctively wrapped her free arm around Seulgi's waist to keep from falling off. Seulgi for one was glad they weren't facing each other, otherwise Irene would be able to see the stupid smile that appeared when she felt the other girl's hand on her waist.

The two of them chased after Moonbyul as peals of laughter echoed around the Moon estate. Hard work did indeed deserve hard play.

Little did they know though that a nondescript grey sedan parked at the bottom of the hill, and someone was sitting in it, watching the fun unfold. A camera sat in his hand, and he settled into wait for an opportune moment to strike. He may not legally be allowed to use the photo the Academy student showed him, but if he could find his own proof? If he could find proof that Bae Joohyun was gay his career would be made. And hers would be ruined.