--This is a story that loosely follows DMDrewDragon's story, GTiG--

As I stepped off Skyla's plane, I took a deep breath and took in the city air. This was… Wyndon if I remembered correctly. I wanted to see my friend Nessa, but she was in a small town called Hulbury, and that was a fair distance away.

My thoughts were cut short by a high-pitched, energetic voice. "Hey, Champ! You gonna stand there forever or what?!" I turned to my friend, Skyla with a smile. "Y'know, you should try taking in the sights every now and then, slow down a bit."

"But that's boooring!" She said in an overly dramatic whining tone. I chuckled a bit before giving her a hug.

"Thanks again for the ride, seriously. I can't thank you enough."

"Heh, it's no problem Mesa. Besides I wanted to fly anyways, so thanks for the excuse. Have fun with the challenge, and good luck." And with that, she was gone.

I zipped my black motorcycle jacket up, and pulled on my glove to make sure it wouldn't come loose. Don't want anyone seeing what they didn't need to after all. After obsessing with a strand of my purple hair for a bit and making sure it was in it's natural long and flowing style, I walked off the runway and into the city. Being the champion did have it's benefits, but sadly most of the challengers in the past year or two have been underwhelming. Which brings me to why I came to Galar anyways.

My name, if you couldn't already tell, is Mesa, and I am the current reigning champion of Unova. After about two years of being bored with the challengers, I heard from my friend Iris about this Pokephile challenge thing in a faraway region called Galar. Naturally, a contest which openly embraces Pokephiliac relationships was right up my alley, plus I wanted to explore a new region and go on another adventure.

Now then, now that I'm here, first order of business is to find out where to sign up. After asking a passing man, he said it was in a town called Motostoke. As much as I wanted to let my Flygon, Megatron, and have him fly me there, but I unfortunately had no idea where that was. I called a Sky Taxi, which was fascinating to me. Back in Unova you had to have a Pokemon that could fly take you, not only that but you had to have already been there.

Soon, a giant Pokemon that resembled a raven landed near me, with a man in an aviator's hat, goggles, leather jacket, and jeans riding on top. "Hop on in, Miss! I'll take you straight to Motostoke!" I smiled and got in the little cab that the Pokemon was carrying. It reminded me of the cab cars back in Unova. "And awaaaaaaay we go!" The man said with an announcer's voice.

As we flew over the region, I took in the scenery. Galar had far more countryside then the generally urban region of my hometown. We soon came into view of a large, industrial looking town, with a large bridge crossing the gap caused by a valley. The bird descended down to the city and we landed on what I would guess would be the east part of town. I exited and paid the fare, and started heading for the stadium to figure out what to do next.

After a short walk, I made my way to the stadium, which was also the Gym. Apparently, one could sign up at any Gym, but you needed the uniform and such here, so most people did it there anyways. As I approached the counter, a tired looking man was finishing signing up a curvy girl with light blond hair. I tried to not stare for too long before walking up to the man.

"You here to sign up for the challenge?" His voice sounded like someone who was about on their wit's end and was about to snap from boredom. "Yes, I am."

"Well, you gotta do a few things first. First and foremost, you are aware of the type of the challenge this is, and the risks that come with it?"

"I believe I am, but this is my first time here, so could you explain it for me so I know I'm not missing anything?" My response was met with a look I could only describe as, 'Are you out of your fucking mind, dumbass?'

"Well, it's outlined on your waiver, but I will reiterate. Number 1, An official challenger or their sponsor may not refuse a viable challenge. Failure to do so will result in a loss automatically. 2, A bet must be placed before each battle, equal to the challenge, and both parties must agree to the terms. Absolutely anything and everything short of murder or kidnapping is allowed, including sexual favors. 3, Each Pokemon lost in a battle is equivalent to an article of clothing." I was a tad bit shocked at this, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. "Thank you, a refresher is always nice. Anything else I need to clear with you?"

"Just whether or not you have a sponsorship, other than that, fill out the waivers, and you're good to go."

"I do have a question though, could it be possible for the Gym Leaders to use higher level Pokemon against me specifically? I don't want to have to catch a whole new team just for them to be put in the box once I can use my ace team." My question was met with the same look as earlier. I was already getting tired of this man.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, I want the extra challenge because it's not fair to those Pokemon to capture them, use them for a bit, then toss them aside like they were just tools. I've trained my team for 3 years, they are all capable of taking on higher level teams."

"You little-"

"That sounds like a great idea! Would definitely be a great challenge for her." A new voice came from the right. A tall, dark skinned, man wearing basketball shorts with a logo that reminded me of a dragon and a strange hoodie… sweater… thing, entered the room. "Raihan, you can't be serious!" The man behind the counter exclaimed. "But I am! She has an extremely good point. Plus, the entire focus of the challenge is about building bonds, and she has already done that with her team. I see no reason to not let her take this challenge." He walked up to me and leaned against the counter. "The name's Raihan, and I'm the Dragon type Gym leader back in Hammerlocke." He stuck out his hand so I could shake it. "Mesa, it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Raihan."

We shook hands and the man behind the counter gave me some forms to fill out. While looking through them, I decided to sit down and let Vea out of his ball. The Serperior appeared in a short flash of brilliant light, before blinking and looking around. "Hey Vea, sorry for keeping you in there for so long. I promise to find somewhere where I can let all of you guys out tonight, okay?" He did a sort of nod, before curling up next to me and already falling asleep again. "Lazy as ever, eh?" I chuckled.

The forms were mostly legal stuff, the only thing that took actual thought was what I wanted my number to be. After some thought, I took out my Pokedex, and looked for Metagross' dex number in the Unovan Pokedex. I quickly found it, and put my number as 264. I finished filling out the forms, and gave them to the man.

After that, I was told to be here tomorrow, 9 o'clock sharp, for the opening ceremony. I walked to a nearby hotel and got a room. It was a rather nice hotel room, a simple room with a bed, a TV, and to my delight, what looked enough space to let out my team. As I called out my team one by one, they each went to their own devices. Yakuza, my female Haxorus, and Ari, my female Ampharos appeared to have formed an unlikely friendship, and they were always together, seemingly always having something to talk about. Vea and Akira managed to turn on the TV and switched to a show about houses or something. Megatron flew away somewhere, but I knew he'd be back soon, so I wasn't worried. Metheus, my Metagross landed in the middle of the room.

I felt him attempt to open a psychic connection to me, and I let him in. 'Hey, Metheus. What's up?' I heard his voice come in, it reminded me of an AI from one of those old Sci-fi movies. 'Hello, Mesa. This is about your request.'

'The one about talking to Pokemon, that I asked about months ago?'

'4 months, 2 weeks, 3 days, 12 hours, 13 minutes, and 49 seconds, to be exact. I wanted to tell you that I believe I am almost done.'

'Oh? How soon?'

'I calculate my process will be ready for you…' He paused, and it sounded like whirring from an old computer. 'Approximately tomorrow morning to the end of the week.'

'Wow… thank you, Metheus…'

'Of course, Mesa.' And with that, he closed his mental connection with me.

A million thoughts were racing through my mind, but most of all was how damn tired I was. I flopped onto the bed, and practically passed out immediately. The last thought that went through my head was how the other members of my team would sound.