Journal Entry #4

I didn't decide to put Kate in her Pokéball until the late afternoon. It made sense to me for the time; I wanted to get to know her better. But the fact that I was talking to a Pokémon in the middle of a huge city made some of the humans looking at me slightly crazy.

By the point where I shared almost everything about myself is when everyone outside of Uniform Shop was staring at me and the shiny Riolu. "…I think you need to go in your Pokéball for now…"

She looked around to see the many pairs of eyes staring at them. "Yeah, I guess so." She turned around before taking out a Great Ball, the exact capsule I was going to use to catch her. "It was fun talking to you!" Her paw tapped the button, sucking her inside. It shook a few times before I picked it up and a clicking noise was made.

Kate joined the party!

"Where did that come from?" I mumbled before walking into the uniform shop.

Apparently Grookey came out of his Pokéball as I bought the jersey number 25. "I can assume it's a 4th wall break for everyone reading this," he grinned before waving in some random direction.

"What are you talking about?" I asked before putting the uniform in my backpack.

He shrugged before hopping on my shoulder. "Don't worry. It's nothing. Isn't the opening ceremony in a few hours?" The Grookey tilted his head while I walked out of the shop. "Can I watch from out of my Pokéball?"

My eyes decided to wander to Monostoke's gym stadium, where fans and challengers alike poured inside the place. I tensed up before shaking my head. "I don't think I should. You saw that crowd back at the uniform shop. People are probably keeping an eye on me."

"Oh, come on!" He pouted before crossing his arms. "I really want to see the Chairman of the Pokémon League…"

"And you could do that inside your Pokéball." I grabbed the Grookey's capsule before returning him inside. "Sheesh. My partner is a lot more willing to do more things than I thought." My body suddenly stopped to look up at the stadium, already hearing the roaring crowds in the distance. "Unless he's that excited to be my partner…"

Okay, I finally signed up for the League after what seemed like a million hours of waiting in line. The sea of people almost overshadowed the crowd, as their cheering echoed the entire city now. They were more hyped up for this than I originally thought.

My feet slowly walked on the turfy floor to notice something weird. Weird enough to catch my attention, I mean. A brownish or black—I forgot what color her hair was—female the age of about a young adult was having some sort of a panic attack. Her constant spinning around made me assume she was dizzy, so she sat down to have a golden and cream Growlithe licking at her.

I admit this next part of me was a bit weird. But you gotta believe me, it was the first thing I had in mind.

My feet walked up to her and I softly placed a hand on the female's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I-I'm okay!" She jumped forward, almost startling me to jump back. Since the two of us got on the wrong foot, I decided to do the next option; the Growlithe.

Kneeling down, I caught the attention of the Pokemon before trying to say to him. "Is she okay?" The shiny tilted his head for a second, trying to catch my scent for some reason. When he caught my scent as a Pokemon, he was even more confused as to why I looked like a human.

"N-Not really," the Growlithe responded. "She's not used to crowds like this."

I understood his meaning. Heck, I was afraid of crowds when I was a part of the World Pokemon Tournament, so I'm still afraid that I could be a laughing stock if I do something wrong. But let's not worry about that, especially since the female adult realized what I was doing.

"Archie…," she said with a stunned confusion. "what's going on?" Her body started shifting back to realize I could understand her Pokemon. I went with it and started rubbing the Growlithe's fluffy head.

"He said you don't like crowds, so why are you in the gym challenge?"

"Um…" She looked at her partner Pokemon clearly enjoying the rubbing. "My friend told me to try it?" The last sentence was stated slowly.

I looked up for a second before shrugging. "I guess that makes sense." When I looked back at her, she had her eyes staring right at my green orb, suspicious about it almost. "I'm Chris by the way!" I quickly said to direct the attention to me.

And it worked correctly. The trainer jumped back before pulling her eyes back at my face. "A-Akane." She responded back before giving a smile of her own.

"Nice to meet you Archie and Akane. Now um…" My head looked around before looking at the crowd. "Not that kneeling in everyone's way isn't fun, but we should probably get moving before we get trampled."

And that's exactly what I did. We went to one of the quieter places for her to breathe easy. But before she could thank me, I dipped to find a new place to see the stage better. "Maybe I could see her again…"

A microphone exited feedback, calling everyone's attention to the field, "Ladies and Gentlemen!" A man that I honestly believe shouldn't wear a suit in this heat walked up to the field to look around. "I am Rose, Chairman of the Pokemon League. I know that everyone gathered here… And everyone watching from home has all been waiting for this big moment! It is my pleasure to announce that finally—the Galar region Gym Challenge will now begin!"

Thunderous cheers came out of the stadium as I took out Grookey's Pokeball and let him out. He was about to ask why I took him out, but Chairman Rose raised his hands and continued talking. "Yes, the Gym Challenge! Participants must defeat the eight Gym Leaders… and gather all eight Gym Badges to prove their skills as a trainer!" The crowd started dying down as he cleared his throat. "Only the worthy will have the honor of challenging the greatest Champion in History!"

"Now, I would like to invite the Gym Leaders to show themselves!"

He went to the side and introduced seven out of the eight leaders. Milo the Grass Leader, Nessa the Water Leader, Kabu the Fire Leader, Allister the Ghost Leader, Opal the Fairy Leader, Melony the Ice Leader, and last but not least Raihan the Dragon Leader.

Obviously, fangirls were screaming more to Raihan than everyone else, include a familiar girl in the distance, making me chuckle.

Grookey finally took the time to hop on my shoulder. "Chris I thought you didn't want me out."

I shrugged before looking at Rose approach the middle of the seven leaders. "Grookey, you're my partner. I guess I should acknowledge that. So we're gonna work together, side by side." I rubbed the Grookey's head. "Just trust me on it."

After Rose finished his statements, the Pokemon League finally began. I walked off the stadium about ten minutes after to see Akane looking around the pitch. I would've done it myself if I wasn't forced off... She's gonna make a great rival…

She's gonna make a great friend.