"Okay…Zoey's battle isn't for another few hours. Let's see," Leon says looking through his pokedex. "You think she would be busy?" he asks, giving a small glance to Crystal on his shoulder as she leans against his head and reads her book. Only a small shrug from her is the answer he gets.
"This is Shun," the other end of the pokedex says.
"Yeah, it's me. Leon. Want to meet up?" Leon asks happily and a bit hopefully.
"I guess so. The battlefield queue goes to tomorrow anyway," Shun says.
Leon smiles at the sound of that. "Great. I will see you at where we last met," he says starting to walk that direction.
"The pokemon center or the cafe?" Shun asks.
Leon hums. "Cafe. See you there," he says as he tries to see the place through the crowd.
"Kir," Crystal says as she looks up.
"Yes, I will order you a piece of cake," Leon says.
Crystal cheers and hugs him before returning to her book as he walks among the crowd. But starts to be pushed and closed in on until Leon breaks through a gap and breathes a sigh of relief as he saw the little stall and dining area a bit away. Shun sitting at a table and sipping possibly tea. But her eyes would go up and scan the crowd, possibly trying to spot him.
"You have trouble with the crowds as well?" Leon asks coming up.
Shun sighs. "No. I was nearby."
Leon takes a seat and puts Crystal into a chair nearby. "So how are you?"
Shun hums. "I'm fine. You?"
"Yeah, I am good. Just waiting for the competition to ramp back up as today is the start of round two," Leon says.
"And why not watch it?" Shun asks leaning on her arm.
"I have a very good idea already on who will advance to be the winner," Leon says.
Shun raises an eyebrow. "Someone promising to even battle?"
"Not as talented in that just yet. The winner is named Dawn," Leon says getting her attention.
"Dawn? Why do I know that name?" Shun asks herself.
"If you watched the competition, you would know her. In fact, there she is now," Leon says pointing out a rerun of Dawn's performance on the monitor.
"No…I know her from somewhere. Just not this," Shun clarifies as she takes another sip.
"Oh?" Leon asks but doesn't press as a slice of chocolate cheesecake arrives.
Crystal immediately drops her book and drools at the sight of the chocolate cake and even using her psychic to grab some small pieces that he notices. She felt the stare and slowly drops her psychic, giving an innocent and sweet expression on her that he sighs at. She then sees him nod his head towards the cake and she gasps as she slices a piece about a third of its size and floats it over to herself.
"Can she even eat all that?" Shun asks skeptically.
"Yes, I have studied pokemon diets quite a bit. The old wives tale that 'Pokemon can not eat chocolate or they will die.' is completely unfounded," Leon says petting Crystal.
"Kir!" Crystal agrees as she takes out a piece and chomps down on it with gusto. "Kir kir," she says through a full mouth.
"So you have nothing to do with the battlefield wait time being till tomorrow? Do you want to walk around and see what fun we can have?" Leon asks.
Shun rolls her eyes a bit as she grabs her piece, with Crystal cutting it for her, and eats away. "After this."
"Alright," Leon says smiling as he waits for Shun to finish her tea and Crystal finishes her cake happily.
"You got a full belly?" Leon asks teasingly to Crystal who snickers and pats her stomach as only crumbs are left on her face.
"This place has good tea," Shun says finishing her tea.
Leon nods as he finishes his own drink. "Yeah. Too bad it kinda comes out with the contest. But might get lucky if they are part of the town," he points out smiling. "So, ready to go?"
"Yes," Shun says getting up and the three head out.
Leon hums as he looks around, Crystal floating onto his shoulder and taking her book out again. "So I'm guessing weavile is your main pokemon, like your go-to?"
"I have no main pokemon. I choose who I think is best to start with," Shun informs.
"Oh, well how about keeping one out? Letting them see the world and any passing battles you go by. Crystal here sometimes watches the battles that I walk by," he says, pointing to the psychic type who nods in agreement.
"Look around. Most don't do that," Shun says.
Leon grins. "Most ain't me."
"True, most focus on direct attacks," Shun says as they walk and spot some games.
"And I see that as an advantage. They just think of the move itself. Not what else you can do with it," Leon shrugs as he walks up to a stall and looks to see it is a game of darts. "Want to play?"
Shun shrugs and Leon smile as he walks up and pays for the basic three darts. Crystal jumps and sits on the table as he tries to pop the balloons. "No psychics using their moves," the stall person warns, pointing to Crystal who gives him a smile and a nod. Leon chuckles before aiming between balloons and throwing. A pop dead center.
"How did you…?" Shun starts to ask.
"Grab a rock, go to a chain-link fence, aim for the holes in it, and throw. It doesn't work, try again, but aim for the connections. Works every time for me," he says chuckling as he keeps throwing and pops all three. "What do I win?"
Shun blinks slowly as he is given a big torchic plushie and gives it to her. "For you."
Shun looks to the big torchic plushie and sighs and said, with the dryest tone, "A big bird. I must be the luckiest girl in the world." Leon chuckles as Crystal laughs at that.
"Want to try another stall? Maybe you want to play?" Leon asks as they walk again.
"Let's," Shun says continuing on.
Leon grabs Crystal and puts her on his shoulder again as they try to look for another game to play. "What's your preference? Sticks, balls, darts…magikarp?"
Shun stops as she thinks on it before looking to the magikarp game and she was reminded of what Leon said yesterday. 'Anyone can take a legendary pokemon and make them a powerful figure, but it takes a truly talented trainer to take a weak pokemon and turn them into a champion.' Shun sighs and looks to him. "Fishing with those nets."
Leon leads her over to the stall as he notices the fisherman that is everywhere. The one guy that just tries to rip off other people with how the magikarps are. 'I am really surprised that he is still in business.'
'Maybe there are idiots like him that buys it all,' he hears casually and he blinks and looks around for the, and he is certain, female voice, but can't see anyone who really talked to him.
"Strange…" Leon mutters and Crystal blinks toward him, also a bit confused. "Okay. I'll pay. You know how to do this?" he asks smiling to Shun as he gives a few pokebucks.
The one running the stall gives Shun the large paper net and they watch as she prepares herself ready to scoop at any magikarp.
'Usually a small bowl, but seeing as this is their size, makes sense. However, where is she going to put it? Out of the tank and on the ground?' Leon questions himself as he looks to the stallman as he just smiles at them.
Shun slowly slips the net under one of the magikarps before trying to lift and watches in surprise as it breaks and the fish falls through, back into the water. "Wait…it's paper."
"You think they make it easy?" Leon asks as Crystal watches her play.
Shun frowns as she looks over the net. "I hardly played."
Leon shrugs and pays for another net. "You have to be quick and just get them out."
Shun nods as she takes the new net and works on moving the net around before stopping from entering the water. Leon smiles as she moves the net to the side and waits for one of the magikarps to move to the corner before one does swim over. Then scooping it and flings it out. Leon claps in accomplishment with Crystal as well. "Nice. You did so well," he says looking at the partially busted net. 'Tough scales, check,' Leon thinks as Shun catches the magikarp in her arms.
'Not bad girl.' Leon groans as he hears the same voice and looks around before stopping and slowly turning to the happy clapping Crystal. "Crystal, how many fingers am I holding up?" Leon asks lifting a hand.
Crystal's clapping slowly comes to a stop as she looks at him a bit confused at such a question. Her eyesight is not that bad. It's the stupid graphs in the book. So tiny. Crystal starts to speak her normal tone as she says it. But Leon hears another voice layered on top. 'Four.'
'So it is you speaking in my head,' Leon thinks before the two turns back as the magikarp seemed very happy in Shun's arms.
"Aw. It likes you," Leon says giving him a pet on the head to which he happily enjoys and flaps around in Shun's arms.
Shun smiles as she brings up a pokeball. "And you're coming with me," she says tapping its side and sucks it right in. "This is going to be some training," she says smiling at the pokeball as it shakes once and dings, but never disappeared from her hand.
'Maybe six…why does she remind of someone?' Leon tries to think as he can't help but place a finger on it. "Do you have experience with magikarp?" Leon asks as magikarp let itself out back into Shun's arms.
Shun stares at the happy fish before sighing. "No. What do you know of it?"
"I helped take care of magikarp in the pokemon center with my parents when I was a little kid," Leon says without thinking. 'Wait…what? Where did that come from?' Leon questions himself.
"Really…I'm guessing you know how and when they evolve too? Maybe the best way…without hurting them besides battling?" Shun adds on and slowly Leon fits another piece of who she reminds him of, but it still wasn't enough.
"Magikarp start evolving around level twenty, but depending on how they are raised, they can be loveable companions or like raging forces of nature," Leon explains.
Shun hums. "Can you help?"
"Yeah, but we will need to go to the lake," Leon says as Crystal smiles, eager for another Tsunami pokemon to train or at least give advice for.
Shun nods as they walk over to the lake where many people were just relaxing or watching the contest from their spots. But Shun just goes over to the lake and slowly lets her new pokemon go into the water and swim around happily. "Okay…what's first?" she asks as she bends down and gives a few pets to the happy fish.
"Well, magikarp are not much for battle. The only damaging attack they can learn is a tackle. So trying to improve their battling power at this stage is not the best choice. The better one is to get into the water and play with them and feed them. Showing them love and raising them is the best way. Just don't get hurt when they are close to evolving. It may trigger them to evolve in anger because of it," Leon advises.
"Anger…what do you mean?" Shun asks curiously as even the magikarp was interested slightly.
"Well…you see…when my magikarp evolved, that was the circumstances. While fishing, I got a shellder on the line and there were some drunks heckling me and my magikarp, thinking it was funny that my magikarp was giving it to her all battling the shellder and one of them threw a bottle that hit me in the head. I remember blood coming down my head and, seeing this, my magikarp was so enraged, she evolved scaring those drunks and making them run for the hills," Leon explains.
"Whoa…" Shun could only say as magikarp looked surprised at him. But Crystal smiles a little and pats his head comfortingly.
"Would you like to meet Tsunami?" Leon offers.
"Sure," Shun agrees, thinking she might be able to figure out by training normally from his pokemon.
"Tsunami, come out," Leon calls throwing a pokeball.
Shun watches it releases a large creature who roars a little before noticing it wasn't a battle and then smiles towards her trainer and nuzzling him, but what grabbed Shun's attention was Tsunami was royal purple instead of blue.
"Okay, okay, take it easy," Leon laughs as he tries to hold Tsunami back, but she wasn't having it as she gave a long lick that left Crystal laughing at his messed up hair. "Oh be quiet you before I hold you out there to get a cowlick yourself," Leon says smirking and made Crystal slowly quiet down as he fixed his hair, but Crystal does it for him as she sets his hair. "So what do you think?" Leon asks Shun as he makes sure his hair is fixed.
"So this is what you mean by loveable companions," Shun says as Tsunami moves over to her and sniffs her.
"She's okay," Leon says tapping her side and looks to Shun. "Yeah. I make sure they each have their own time with me when training. And make sure they are happy at that moment too and be there for them. Most people don't realize that pokemon are like people too at times. They can also get depressed and angry like us," he says rubbing Tsunami's side as she growls happily at the attention. "Go on. Give her a pet."
Shun looks hesitant before her magikarp speaks up to Tsunami to get her attention. "Karp!"
Tsunami blinks and looks down at the little fish and smiles. Then giving it a nuzzle as she growls back.
"I think I see," Shun says before taking off her shoes and walks into the water, getting close to the two before petting them.
Leon nods as he sighs. "Maybe she would be able to really sweep the floor with us in time, huh Crystal?" he asks her as he noticed she had her book closed and was watching Shun petting and interact with the two pokemon.
'I will not lose,' Leon hears in his head.
Leon pets her head and she smiles happily at the feeling. "Yeah. I know you will." A look at him as Crystal has the expression of her getting the hang of something. "So…am I going to understand my pokemon soon?"
Crystal grins at him. 'Wait until I get the hang of connecting minds and translating on the fly, okay?'
"Cheeky," Leon chuckles back.
Crystal sticks her tongue out at him as they both look back to see Shun now kneeling in the water with her magikarp and trying to splash him, making him splash back with a smile on his face.
Leon smiles as he goes out to join the three and the trainers play with their pokemon till they heard the horn signaling the competition was about to start again.
"Oh. I can't believe I forgot," Leon says looking to his pokedex. "Sorry, Shun. I have to go and see my friends compete."
"Yeah, I best go too. I wish to see how it is going. Come on magikarp," Shun says returning him to her pokeball.
"Tsunami, Crystal," Leon calls as he returns the sea dragon while Crystal floats and jumps onto his shoulder before he runs off after cleaning and putting on his shoes. "Beat you there," he challenges grinning to Shun and she quickly tries to dress and run after him.
"We got half-decent seats it seems," Leon says.
Shun looks over to Lana and Gardenia as they clap for the next contestants and even Crystal waving some pom-poms she found in front of them, giving such happy cries of her species' name.
"So what do you think so far?" Leon asks.
"It is interesting, even the last battle," Shun notes.
"Contest battles could really improve if they had our kind of battle experience from the gyms, huh?" Leon asks.
"Good luck with that," Lana says teasingly over to them. Leon looks to Shun to see her reaction. And Shun gives a slight frown to the girl's direction as Lana grins at her. "So who's your girlfriend and does Zoey know?" she asks smirking.
Leon watches as Shun's face quickly morphed into a blush and look away with her face on full blush.
'Aw. That's sweet. Maybe you can bring her along?' Crystal asks teasingly over to him and gets a slightly annoyed look in return. 'Just a suggestion,' she shrugs and goes back to cheering.
"Looks like Ash is up next," Leon says looking at the bracket and then feels an angry aura coming off Shun next to him.
'That's…a lot of anger,' Crystal notices as she turns to look at Shun as she glares holes into Ash's form. 'Must really hate that one.'
'Why is this so familiar?' Leon thinks before turning back to the match.
"Oh right. You must have missed Ash's turn I think last time. Ash has been mainly using buizel here," Gardenia explains as the two trainers release their pokemon.
"I caught the match, but this match will be a loss," Leon informs.
"But it just started," Lana points out. "Maybe Ash can eke out a win here."
"No chance. Ash will fall into battling like normal and forget about the contest part and the opponent is no amateur. The way the battle started already speaks to the difference in their experience in this type of battle," Leon says analyzing the battle already.
"He's right," Gardenia spoke up and Lana and Shun look to her. "Buizel hasn't even entered the water and is mostly doing moves from the platform. To get points out of this, buizel needs to be in the water and put on a show. The whole point is to upstage the other pokemon."
"Ash is not made for contest battles, don't you think?" Leon asks, looking at Shun.
"That know it all is hardly able to handle battles overall. Too weak," Shun says bitterly.
'Weak…?' Leon thinks, getting a small hint.
'Who's that purple-haired guy in your mind?' Crystal asks bluntly, seeing pictures of some people in his head. 'He looks mean.'
'Fucking Paul! It's Paul! Shun is Paul?!' Leon realizes and looks between her and Ash. 'Holy crap!'
"What's with that face?" Shun asks, breaking him out of the trance of his discovery as she sees his surprised expression.
"By any chance, do you have a sibling named Paul? He is a guy I met and, for some reason, that reminded me of him," Leon asks, trying to play it cool.
Shun tilts her head confused. "Paul? I don't have a sibling named that."
"Oh, ok," Leon says, turning back to the match and they watch in silence as Shun tries to think about it and then he remembers something. 'Things must have been changed in the games…could that include Paul? I mean, I know Gamefreak started to get into the idea of giving players multiple rivals starting in X and Y, but why would they change arguably the best rival Ash ever had?'
'You are really loud. You know that, right?' Crystal kept dancing but speaks clearly to him. 'Just think to me.'
'I am mostly running things over in my head. Like how…yeah, saw that coming,' Leon though as lanturn got buizel with a counterattack in midair.
'You were. Congratulations. And don't look, but Shun is disappointed in Ash now for even trying this I bet,' Crystal says without even turning around as she gives some an encouraging shake of her pom-poms.
Both of them watched with the same kind of look as Ash's opponent Kyle gloated how he knew what Ash was going to do because Ash used the same pokemon as the last round while everyone else switched. "Can't really argue with that, huh?" Leon asks the group.
"Not really," everyone says as Shun just scoffs and looks away. Clearly frustrated that Ash might not have learned much.
"Hum…well, that look in Ash's eye tells me an improvised move is about to come out," Leon says. 'Here it comes. Ice aqua jet,' Leon thinks.
Crystal gives a snark. 'Who comes up with this stuff?'
'Dawn, Ash, and Brock,' Leon informs.
'Wow…adding just ice…don't call my moves like that. Deal?' Crystal asks and gives some very encouraging dancing.
'I am much more creative,' Leon thinks back as Shun turns back in time to see the improvised move. "Powerful ice type attack, but not very practical. Buizel most likely has no control when this is used, unlike aqua jet."
"Not when that pokemon was meant for deep water," Shun points out.
"I mean look at it, buizel is not in control of where he is going," Leon points out as they watch the pokemon shatter the ice before landing.
Lana sweatdrops at their criticism. "Great minds think alike."
"Only thing going for it is power, but if you miss, you leave yourself wide open to counters," Shun adds.
'Girlfriend,' Crystal sings and gets another annoyed look at her and she snickers behind her pom-poms.
"And that's it. Time," Leon says as the buzzer sounds and Kyle has barely beaten Ash in points. "Ash could have won if had battled like a coordinator at the start," Leon comments as Ash looks disappointed.
"Maybe this will teach Ash to concentrate on battling," Shun mutters.
"Let's not rub it in. Ash looks to be feeling bad enough, also we know Dawn's next opponent," Leon says.
"Yes. She might be better though," Shun sighs.
"She will win the entire contest. Mark my words," Leon says with no hint of doubt as the next match started up and ended with Zoey and May winning their respective matches.
Gardenia then took her chance. "Don't let Zoey hear you say that," she says, a smirk on her face.
"You tell her I said that and I will let her know what you did the night before we got to the lake while she slept," Leon says, making Gardenia back down very quickly.
Gardenia frowns as she keeps her mouth shut now. "Cheater."
"So you're going to go see your rival?" Leon asks.
Shun scoffs and crosses her arms. "Hardly. I would rather not. So once over, I'm leaving."
"Going to stay for the finals or leaving today?" Leon asks.
"Only finals. But I won't meet Ash," Shun mutters.
"Alright," Leon says as Crystal keeps cheering.
'Go! Go, Zoey!' Crystal cheers happily. 'If battling won't work out, I might have a career in cheerleading.'
'Don't worry about that. You will be champion level,' Leon thinks to her, picking her up as they started to leave.
'A giant…dinosaur…with crazy orange colors?' Crystal asks grinning.
'Huh?' Leon thinks.
'You said champion level and I saw this…dinosaur that is glitching out for some reason,' Crystal tries to describe, seeing his mind is a bit cluttered and a mess at the moment.
'Was thinking more about Cynthia and her team,' Leon informs.
'Oh. She can kick your ass easily,' Crystal says as a matter of fact.
'I am not so foolish that I think we could take her yet. Shun, on the other hand, would challenge her,' Leon thinks.
'No doubt. And really, you should pay attention as Lana is trying to get your attention,' Crystal adds and Leon blinks as Lana waves a hand in front of his face. 'We can work on this.'
"Hello. Are you there?" Lana asks as she walks in front of him.
"Yeah, sorry," Leon says.
"Zoey," Lana says, pointing to Zoey walking up to them, looking almost exhausted with Ash, May, and Dawn behind her.
"You did great," Leon says as Crystal cheers at the four. 'Uh oh,' Leon thinks, knowing Shun was still with them.
"Well, thanks for that. Kinda helps in a way," Zoey says, trying to smile what he knew was a disappointment to her. "At least I made it this far," she offers, trying to laugh.
'And show off for your mate,' Crystal teases and snickers a little.
Leon playfully frowns before booping Crystal's nose and makes her squeak in surprise. "Guess all the training finally paid off. So feeling ready for your turn tomorrow?"
Zoey sighs before grinning towards him. "I think so," Zoey says
'Come on. Cheer her up. You know she would love it,' Crystal encourages, trying to turn his head towards her.
"You will win no doubt in my mind, Zoey," Leon compliments towards her and Crystal rolls her eyes as she looks a bit happy at the two.
'Bit cheesy,' Crystal points out smirking.
"I don't hear you coming up with lines," Leon quips to her.
Crystal sticks her tongue out at him. 'At least I'm making the playing field.'
"And I always destroy it," Leon shot back with Crystal waving him off.
"Umm…Leon…" Zoey tries to ask and makes him stop for a moment as he said that out loud. "Are you…actually talking to her? Like…real talking or guessing?" Zoey tries to figure out as she points to them.
"Crystal, how many fingers am I saying I am holding up behind my back," Leon asks showing his back to Zoey and showing three fingers. 'Three.'
Crystal smirks and looks to Zoey before speaking three times to her.
Leon did this a few times, changing the number each time to prove it wasn't a fluke. "That answer your question?" Leon asks before booping Crystal's stomach.
Crystal sticks her tongue out at him as Zoey giggles at their antics. "Yes. Yes, it does. So…when can I hear what other pokemon say?"
"You heard me," Shun says and the two look to see Ash was grinding their teeth mad.
'Oh…this isn't good. Lots of anger coming from these two now,' Crystal observes as the two trainers walk over. "Ok, what is up?" Leon asks as Shun kept giving Ash a cold glare.
"Well? We are waiting," Zoey says crossing her arms.
"From what I understand, Shun here is calling Ash a hypocrite," Lana explains.
'Ah, that. Sorry to say Ash, but you have no ground to stand on. Which is probably why you challenged to a battle instead of debating in the show,' Leon thinks.
Crystal leans over into his view with a raised eyebrow before smiling and looking back towards Shun's disappointing look at the boy.
"Backstory please," Zoey requests.
"Simply, Ash here disapproves of my battling style," Shun says simply as possible.
"Can we take this somewhere else as people are watching," Leon requests as he looks to the other contestants who stayed to watch and were now eyeing them.
"I think that would be best," May says and they started to leave the stadium.
'This is so bad,' Leon think as Crystal looks over the whole group and especially at the two that are at the center of this.
After getting to the empty training fields, they all stop. "Ok. From the top," Leon requests.
"A while ago, I entered a tournament which was a tag team competition in Hearthome City. Well, I told Ash who was my assigned partner then I entered it to train my pokemon. Ash there gave me a very hard time for it. So I am calling Ash out on doing that exact same thing for this Wallace cup," Shun says.
"Ash, your side?" Leon asks.
Ash frowns heavily. "I called out the way she trains her pokemon. Always trying to find just stronger pokemon and then releasing them if they aren't. And who are you to use the argument on the contest when you…"
"Enough!" Leon interrupts, knowing how this might lead. "Honestly…" he sighs as he starts to pace around, heavily thinking about how to go about this. Leon then inhales deeply before slowly turning to them, "Shun, you mind showing him your newest pokemon?" Leon asks.
Shun becomes a little confused before taking out a pokeball and releases her magikarp who flops around before lying flat on the ground.
'I got him,' Crystal says, floating over water held in her psychic grip and covers the fish pokemon and lifts him up for them to see.
'Give him to Shun,' Leon thinks and soon Magikarp was floated into Shun's arms where he happily waved his head and fin.
Shun smiles as she pets her magikarp and he bubbles happily under her petting. "Lucky to be in the water, huh?" she asks, chuckling and he spins around in the water ball.
"Ash?" Leon asks, looking to the trainer who was surprised.
Ash didn't answer, but the gaze softened a bit.
"Anyways. I think that we should end this. I mean, it's wrong to tell someone how to raise their pokemon, is it not?" Leon asks trying to conclude this.
Ash stares at magikarp happily swimming around in his water ball while Shun keeps smiling at the pokemon. Ash then sighs and hangs their head. "Yeah…"
"So…what now? The day is still young," Gardenia asks, glad this was settled.
"Maybe we can all grab some celebration dinner for the upcoming winner here?" Leon suggests, gesturing to a barbecue restaurant.
Shun smiles and shakes her head. "I actually have to go. Still more to do."
"See you tomorrow?" Leon asks.
"Yeah. I will be around," Shun says walking off, taking magikarp with her who was waving goodbye to them all.
"So anyone wants lunch?" May asks.
"Yeah. Let's get going before it's all gone," Leon says, hoping it would make them move on from this moment.
"Oh man," Ash says starting to rush off.
"How about we meet at the barbeque place we found? I got to switch out a few of my pokemon," Leon explains.
"Sure. We'll see you there," May says happily before she and Dawn were already going to get there first. Ash and Brock follow them soon after before Zoey turns to the rest.
"Why don't you two go on ahead? I want to talk to Leon about something," Zoey asks as she looks back to Leon trying to play fight Crystal again.
"Sure. Just be there before midnight," Gardenia teases and Zoey sighs at that remark while she and Lana go to catch up with the rest.
Zoey shakes her head before looking to Leon and Crystal who stopped their play fighting and was looking a bit smug at her. 'She…'
"Enough speaking like that," Zoey spoke up, stopping their mind mid-conversation. "First, tell me what she says when she does speak. Second…remember when you interviewed me in a joking way back then?"
"The one where I 'asked' you if you had a boyfriend? Yeah. What about it? Second thoughts?" Leon almost jokes himself.
Zoey shakes her head before smirking. "I don't think it would be best to hide it anymore or play around with the others. Besides, you actually keep me calm and collected with the contest battles now. Why not enjoy ourselves and act like a real couple out on dates?"
Leon was a little surprised before he started to blush and look away embarrassed. 'Cute,' Crystal gushes and Leon blocks her view with his hand. 'Come on. Kiss her.'
Leon chuckles a little before smirking towards Crystal. "The mischievous little psychic said that I have to kiss you. I don't know…" he plays off before Zoey grabs his collar and pulls him towards her as she holds a very noticeable smirk on her face. "Uhhh…go easy?" he tries to ask before Zoey leans in and kisses him, wrapping a hand around his arm to make sure he doesn't go anywhere.
The sound of clapping reaching their ears and they break away to see Crystal dancing and clapping away on his shoulder. 'What? It is cute,' she tries to defend.
"Again with the cute?" Leon sighs and looks back to Zoey who is now letting go of him. "I don't think that was the last request you had, huh?"
"What pokemon are you switching out? Cause I might too," Zoey asks, booping Crystal's stomach and makes her giggle.
"Tsunami for one. Let her get checked out by the lab and relax since we are heading away from water after this. Also, maybe Ruby, and Rumble. So they can have a break," Leon informs.
Zoey starts to smile at his thinking. "And who are you bringing in?"
"Ippo, Amber, and Quake," Leon says.
Zoey hums. "You want me to help with the troubling rock pokemon? But he still has a temper."
"We shall see," Leon says, smirking.
Zoey chuckled as she took his hand and led him towards the center to make the exchange. Along with her own.