AN: Here is chapter 2. I have not decided on any sort of pairing or pairings for this story. There may be none at all. The original story idea was given to me by my 8-year-old who demanded I write it down for her. A lot of the plot is decided by me asking her questions and then me running with her answers. If anyone wants a certain pairing you can comment or PM your request and I will consider it. Thank you all for reading.

"Are you kidding me!" Cameron leaned back from her phone as her brother's voice raged from it. "When I said to call me if you decided to run away again, I meant into the woods or maybe to Johto. Not from the airport to Galar!"

"I don't make the rules, Gar. I follow them. You said call. I called." A couple passed the alcove Cameron was hiding in and gave her a concerned look as another loud bout of grumbling came through her phone. Most of which was unintelligible murmuring as Gary stomped around his stadium office far enough away he couldn't stop her. "Look, I get it you're concerned, but I have to go. Gloria wants me there, and Gramps agreed that it would help our research."

"Why Galar, though?" Gary stopped his stomping but glared with such intensity through the phone at her that her Rotom started fidgeting. "You could bring Gloria here to Kanto for her journey. It worked for me, and it worked for Red, and it worked for you too. Besides, I know for a fact that you have plenty of eggs to watch hatch right here in Kanto."

Pointedly ignoring the curious looks from another group of airport patrons, Cameron turned her phone and shook her head at her brother's ridiculous reasoning. She'd known he would react like this, which was why she'd settled things with her Gramps and sister before telling him about the departure.

"Gary, you know it wouldn't be fair to make Gloria leave Galar just to set out on a journey that would be convenient to no one but me. Besides, it isn't just me running off to another region for no reason. She asked me to come and be there for her. If I don't go, it would be like me asking you for help and you turning your back on me." The point hit its mark, and Cameron had to fight down an apology at the look of hurt on her brother's face. The truth was harsh, but she had to get him to understand.

"Damn it, Cam," Gary grumbled and looked away from the phone towards his shoes. "I get it. But, Galar?"

"Yeah, Galar. This is something I have to do, Gary. For Gloria. And for Gramps. Well, Gramp's friend Professor Magnolia. Or her granddaughter. I'm not entirely sure."

"Wait, what?"

The call for the flight to Kalos came over the intercom, and Cameron waited a moment to answer her brother's confused outburst. She wasn't entirely sure what she had agreed to in the first place.

The phone call hadn't ended when she had agreed to watch Gloria during her journey. It had gone on for nearly half an hour longer. Just not with Gloria herself.

After hearing Cameron's agreement to watch her, the younger sister had run off and left her phone with the purple-haired Champion. A bit stunned at her sister's abandonment, Cameron hadn't known what to do.

"Seeing them so stoked about the gym challenge makes me want to do it again myself." The good-natured remark from Galar's top trainer reminded Cameron that the man responsible for her sister's current excitement was right on the other side of the phone from her.

"You said that you 'sponsored' my sister," uncertainty clouding her words, Cameron asked for clarification, "what does that mean exactly? It isn't something I'm familiar with."

A smaller smile replaced the overly bright one on Leon's face, and he turned his attention back to the device connecting them. "I thought that might be the case. I can't say I know too much about Kanto rules, but here in Galar, trainers get endorsements to participate in the gym challenge. I will admit I only had a mind to endorse my brother, but I have to say Gloria has a real champion way about her. She earned her spot in the challenge all on her own. She and Hop had quite the battle. Both of them really could become something special if they keep going."

Battle? A small jolt of loss stabbed Cameron. Had she missed Gloria receiving her first Pokemon too? What kind had she chosen? What kind did Galar even offer? Cameron had never really had a chance or a reason to focus on Galar starters.

"You don't mind, do you? Me sponsoring your sister, that is."

Refocusing on the man's face, Cameron shook her head. No. No, she was a bit jealous, but at least there was someone there to give Gloria the opportunity.

"No, I don't mind. I should be thanking you for doing so. The nature of my work prevents me from spending much time with any of my siblings. Having a solid reason to relocate for a little bit will help me get some time to do that."

The smile disappeared almost entirely from Leon's face, and the shine in his eyes faded at Cameron's words. The change in his expression was painfully quick and startled Cameron to the point that she almost apologized for upsetting him before the bright fake smile reappeared full force on his lips once more.

"Well, that's a relief to hear. I am sorry, though. I didn't even think to ask if you had planned on giving your sister her first Pokemon." The camera readjusted as Leon turned while speaking and allowed a narrow view of a large field to show. Gloria was jumping around in a circle with a slight blue lizard on her head while Hop laughed at her. A Pokemon reminiscent of a small red Lopunny at his feet. "I got a bit carried away. The starters I got for the two of them were from a local breeder with a pretty standard supply. Nothing fancy like you're probably used to. Gloria did say that baby Pokemon are kind of your specialty."

"Did she?" Chuckling softly, Cameron leaned back in her chair and glanced at Cheri, who was snoring in her cushioned bed. It had all started with a tiny pale yellow Charmander, which was now a not-so-little Charizard after all. So, her sister wasn't wrong. She just wasn't entirely correct either. "It's close enough to the truth, I suppose. But, it's alright. I am a bit jealous, but it is for the best you gave her a regulated starter. Most of my recent hatches were wild, but I do have some pretty highly specialized eggs that aren't something a new trainer should have access to."

"You really do breed Pokemon, then?" The genuine smile eclipsed the fake again as the purple-haired Champion turned to face her again instead of watching the two younger siblings playing in the field.

"Not exactly," Cameron said slowly. She wasn't entirely sure why she was even still talking to the Champion and not her sister. The man himself was alright, but his sheer presence was a bit overbearing even through the phone. He also flopped between expressions so fast Cameron wasn't entirely sure how to interpret his mood. Simply answering his question looked like the best choice, so she did. "Most of my research is done in the field with wild Pokemon and their eggs. The more specialized eggs I have in my lab are selected for their likelihood to deviate from others of its species. Usually, any egg I hand raise is done so because there is something unique or unusual about the Pokemon itself." With a slight jerk of her thumb, Cameron directed her phone towards Cheri's bed, where the content occupant was snoring away with enough force that a Snorlax would be jealous. "Pokemon like my partner Cheri here."

There was dead silence on the other side of the phone for a few moments too long. A bit worried, Cameron peered around the screen to see if her Rotom had rebelled finally and dropped the call. What she found, however, was the starry-eyed expression of a man in love.

"That's a Charizard." The Champion said in a whisper, but Cameron was able to make it out. "It's a black scaled Charizard."

"Yeah, that's Cheri. Did Gloria not tell you about her?"

"She said you had a funny-looking Charmander. She never mentioned it had evolved. Why does she look like that? Are her scales the only thing different about her? She looks small. Is that normal?" The rapid-fire questions took Cameron by surprise, and she didn't know what or how to answer.

Thankfully she didn't need to, as their conversation had finally seemed to draw the children's attention. The sudden excitement from Leon likely summoned them as he gushed over the sleeping Pokemon.

With them came another figure. One that Cameron recognized from attending her Gramp's conferences.

"Professor Magnolia?" Cameron couldn't remember the last time she'd spoken to the Professor, but she remembered her fondly enough. The woman was as old as her Gramp's and had worked with him for years. Cameron herself had fielded some research for Magnolia on Mega Evolutions and egg data for comparison to the Galatian phenomena of Dynamaxing.

"Ah, so it is you." Magnolia greeted on approach, and Leon moved away reluctantly so that the camera could focus on the Professor. "When Gloria said her sister was an Oak, I had some doubts."

"We Oaks seem to pop up in the weirdest of places," Cameron said with a chuckle. "It's good to see you again, Professor Magnolia. I hope the studies I sent were helpful."

"They were able to shed some light on a few issues I hadn't considered. I had been preparing to ask your Grandfather for further help. Imagine my surprise when I find that your sister was in my parlor."

"Wait!" Gloria popped into the camera's frame behind Leon, who had moved back to stand with Hop. "You know Professor Magnolia!"

"We are acquainted," Magnolia said. "Your sister here has been quite the boon. It is a rare thing to be able to obtain first-hand field knowledge as detailed as what she has been able to gather for me."

"Really?" Gloria grinned proudly at the phone. "Did you almost get eaten to get it?"

"A couple of times." Cameron was about to continue bantering with her sister when the floorboards by her creaked, and Cheri's snout nudged her cheek. Having been caught off guard, the researcher nearly toppled out of her chair at the push. "Ah, sleeping beauty has awoken. Was I a bit too loud?"

Cheri huffed a yes, then took the plate of cookies by Cameron's elbow and headed back to her bed.

"Don't come to me later asking for belly rubs cause you ate too many cookies, you Grumpig!" After calling to her companion, who snapped up another sweet in mockery, Cameron turned to the Rotom phone with a smile. "It looks like I just got told to quiet down. I should probably let you all go for now. It looks like I have a bit of planning to do over the next few days."

"So, you do plan on coming to Galar." Magnolia seemed to perk up at the revelation. "If that is the case, then can I ask that you come to my lab when you arrive? I have a few things I need two sets of eyes on, and I believe between you and my Sonia, I might have what I need."

"Uh, sure." It would be easy enough, Cameron figured. It wasn't like she wouldn't be there doing some fieldwork anyway. What would some extra prints on a few reports cost her? "It will probably be a week or so before I can get everything settled here, though. I have a few projects to finish and need Gramps to sign off on my travel plans."

"I'll call you back tomorrow!" Gloria waved at the camera and turned to Hop, who also waved. Beside them, the Champion grinned at both children before turning a warm smile to the Professor and Cameron. The call ended then with a small snapshot of the group of four before her Rotom decided it was done and shut itself off.

"You and I are going to have to have a conversation about manners," Cameron scolded as she barely caught the phone from tumbling onto the hardwood.

"And that was that." Back at the airport, Cameron finished up her tale to her brother, who watched her with narrowed eyes from his office at the Viridian City Gym. "I talked to Gramps, and he gave me the go-ahead so long as I took Taters with me. I have some of my eggs too." Patting the thick metal case at her side with its incubation windows, she gave a fond hum. There were five eggs in her care currently, and she had a plan to see how the hatchlings would react being bred from one place but trained in another. The experiment had been done before, but Cameron had never had the chance to do so in such a drastically different climate. It was all exhilarating.

"Wait, so the Champion of Galar is the older brother of your younger sister's best friend? And you're going to watch her compete in that televised clown show they have every other year because he is endorsing her since she is friends with his brother?"

"That is not it, and you know it. You're just being a butt now."

Gary let out a grumble and crossed his arms. "I still don't see why you can't bring Gloria here. We have a Champion too. One that doesn't wear a stupid cape."

"He should. Red would look adorable in one. But as I said already, I'm going. I'll be back when Gloria wins and I finish Magnolia's assignments. I have Cheri and Taters with me for protection and several eggs that will hatch soon enough. I'll even make you a promise. I'll call you the moment I get into trouble."

Gary shook his head, but they both knew that convincing the other of anything was impossible.

"I'll hold you to that promise Cam."