I wrote a part 2? Also if you missed it, I also rewrote chapter 1. Anyways! I always had plans to expand this story and finally got around to it! I have a bit of a story arc planned but idk if I'll ever get around to it honestly.
Also! Leaf has selective mutism in this fic and I did my best to represent this disorder as accurately and respectfully as possible. I do not have selective mutism so please let me know if there are any issues with my representation! It is no way my intention to misrepresent people with selective mutism or to educate people about it, I just was trying to find a character driven reason for Leaf in FireRed/LeafGreen being a silent protagonist.
Thank you for reading!
The Next Morning.
"Really Leon this isn't like you. I don't know how you expect to maintain your title let alone your fanbase if you are going to act as irresponsibly as this." Rose said as he continued his already lengthy lecture.
The morning after Leon and Leaf's match, seemingly every employee of Macro Cosmos descended on Leon to escort him directly to the Chairman's office. Who then proceeded to start his lecture about how irresponsible it was for Leon to abandon his duties as Champion.
"It was one time Chairman, it won't happen again." Leon said with a resigned sigh.
"The frequency doesn't matter. You still disappeared without any forewarning from a reception that had been planned for you! Now I can't hold any sort of expectation for Leaf, should have known better than to expect anything from someone like her, but you should have known better regardless. Now, the press has taken notice of both of your absences but they seem to be more occupied with Leaf at the moment than you. It seems they are quite upset that she failed to attend any interviews or offer any comments at all. And I must admit I am rather disappointed in her as well, I expected better from a champion who was supposed to be your equal. Which is why it is imperative that no one finds out that you were together last night. You have to be careful with who you consort with, people will talk."
Leon shook his head as he felt his patience begin to wear thin, but even still he was careful when choosing his words, "I apologize for not attending the banquet but I wanted a chance to get to know Leaf without a thousand eyes watching us. Leaf is an incredible trainer and an even better person so I would appreciate it if you didn't speak about her that way."
Rose scoffed and put a hand to his chest in great offense as he said, "I don't know why you seem to be upset with me. I'm simply doing what is best for you and your position. You're so flighty you need a firm hand to keep you from getting lost."
"I'm not-"
"Now." Rose continued speaking over Leon. "Fortunately, the appointments you missed have already been rescheduled and you will not miss them again. There's nothing to be done for the banquet of course but with a few interviews and photoshoots we should be over to smooth everything over. But we shall do our best. Now, do we have an agreement?"
"No!" Leon shouted. "I told you I'll do what I need to for my job but I need time for other things as well. I can't keep doing things the way I have been."
"What could possibly be more important than the people of Galar?"
"My soulmate for one. And my family, my-"
"Soulmate?" Rose asked, the word actually managing to shock him, although he was quick to recover and regain his cocky, disinterested expression.
"Yes, Leaf. That's why I skipped the reception with her, so we could try and get to know each other without the public staring at us."
Rose's brow furrowed as he asked, "How could you possibly know she's your soulmate? Isn't she a mute?"
Leon paused and furrowed his own brow. "What? No, of course not. Why would you- no, she's-"
"Well regardless. I suppose we could work something into your schedule to accommodate her. Now we'll need to find a way to teach her some manners but with a little work anyone can be whipped into shape. Then maybe she could join you in your upcoming- wait. No, this is perfect! The exhibition match was already a resounding success, despite the drama, so with this little announcement then the World Coronation Series is sure to capture the world's attention! Thank you for the wonderful idea Leon. Not to worry, I'll take care of everything."
"That's not what I-"
"Thank you for your input Leon but if you'll excuse me. I have things to plan, people to see, tennis to play." He said as he waved his hand dismissively.
Leon held back his sigh of aggravation as he turned and walked out of the room. Although he desperately wanted to let the door slam he made sure to catch it before it could and softly close it instead. But once the door closed he paused for a moment to press the palms of his hands over his eyes. He took a deep breath and tried to reign in the anger that was still threatening to force its way out of him, a common reaction to his interactions with the Chairman.
While he was grateful to the man for all he had done to support his career and rise to fame, he was less grateful for the way the man spoke to him and seemed to think he had a right to control every aspect of his life. Rose had a talent for grating on his every nerve, but while he knew exactly how to provoke his slow to build temper, he also knew how to make every little thing seem like it was solely Leon's fault. Every success Rose was more than happy to insert how much he had helped the Champion achieve it, but every failure fell solely on Leon's shoulders.
As he finally felt his slow to build and rarely seen temper calm once more he turned to walk down the hallway, heading for the training floor of the tower. He knew that some time spent working with his team was all he needed to take his mind off his conversation with the Chairman. But as he walked down the hallway he felt his phone start to vibrate in his pocket. He quickly fumbled to pull it out of his pocket as he hoped to see a text or call from Leaf. Since they had returned from the Wild Area he had been swept up by Champion business and hadn't had a chance to talk to her. But his hope died as he saw that instead of his lovely new soulmate, it was his mother calling him.
"Hi mom." He said as he answered the call with a voice bordering on a sigh.
His mother didn't notice the exhaustion in her son's voice as she happily said, "Leon! It's so good to hear your voice, I haven't talked to you in so long!"
"I know I'm sorry I've been busy."
"Well hopefully not so busy that you forgot about all your fans here! That match was incredible! Everyone was so excited to see it and were hoping you could come back home for a bit!"
Leon wished he could say something along the lines of, Right, fans, not friends or even family for that matter. But instead what came out was, "Thanks mom, but I really don't think I can come down there right now. I've got to-"
"Surely you can spare a few days to come visit your family! Maybe you could bring one of your Gym Leader friends? Or that other champion girl, oh what was her name? Leah? Leo? Oh whatever it was, bring her! Everyone in town wants to see you and they would love a battle! You haven't forgotten about your home town now have you?"
"Of course not mom. But I don't know, things are pretty hectic for me up here."
"Well figure something out Lee! We all want to see you, and we've been thinking of adding a bigger garage to the house..."
And there it is. You want to see the Champion and his wallet, not me. Leon thought but didn't say. Instead he offered more vague assurances that he would try and visit. Then as soon as it could be considered polite he ended the call.
"This is going to be a long day." He said under his breath as he started to walk down the hall once again.
Across the city Leaf was struggling through her own battle.
She sat in the center of the bed in her hotel room and stared at her phone laying innocently in front of her. All around her her pokemon were scattered about lounging in various places, but as much as she would love to be able to play with them instead she knew that she had to deal with the demon device in front of her first. So, with a resolute nod she picked up the cell phone and dialed the number that struck fear into every fiber of her being. Her hand shook as she brought it up to her ear and felt her palms grow clammier with each ring until-
"Hello! You've reached the Saffron City Poke Center! How may I be of assistance today?" Nurse Joy's chipper voice said through the phone.
"I- '' Leaf tried to say before the words died in her throat with a squeak.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" Nurse Joy continued. "Hello?"
Leaf tried again only to find that she couldn't even open her mouth to attempt to speak. Panicking she ended the call and threw the phone across the bed as if it had burned her. Then she let her head fall into her hands with a shuddering breath.
"Rai?" Sensing her rapidly deteriorating mood, her Raichu jumped up onto the bed and wiggled his way under Leaf's arms. She hugged him close as she took a minute to try and calm down.
"Thanks Zap." She said quietly. "Stay with me? We need to check on Squirp."
"Rai Raichu!" She cuddled him a bit tighter and called the Poke Center again.
This time the Nurse answered on the first ring and said, "Hello! You've reached the Saffron City Poke Center! How may I be of assistance today?"
"I-I need to ch-check on my P-pokemon." Leaf stammered and forced herself to say.
Raichu happily patted her on the cheek and she smiled weakly in thanks as Nurse Joy continued. "Great! What's your Pokemon's name and species?"
"S-squirp? He's a B-blastoise."
"Squirp! Ms. Leaf!" Nurse Joy said loudly before continuing almost frantically. "Of course I was just about to call you! Squirp is-"
Leaf felt her heart nearly stop and in her panic shouted, "What's w-wrong? What happened to him? T-t-t-tell me what's going on!"
"No, no nothing's wrong! He's doing great!" The nurse hurried to say. "His fractures have healed completely, the muscles are nearly as strong as they were before his injury, and while some of the damage was unfortunately permanent he should be just fine. The doctors have decided that he's ready to go home actually!"
"He's ok?"
"Yes! He's doing wonderfully."
"Thank you. W-what do I need to do to make sure he k-keeps getting better?"
"Well he should be alright to battle, so long as you don't keep him in too long, but absolutely no Mega Evolving. Other than that just keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't overdo anything. I know that can be hard with pokemon who love to battle as much as Squirp but it's extremely important that he does not sustain another injury like this. If he does then the chance of him recovering is- well, make sure he doesn't get hurt like this again."
"R-right."
"But he's all ready to come home if you want to come pick him up? Or if you aren't in town then we can have him transported for you?"
"I'm actually not in K-kanto at all right now. I'm in G-galar."
"No trouble just go to your nearest Poke Center and we'll have him sent over right away."
"Th-thank you." She said before ending the call.
She dropped her phone on the bed and let out a loud joy filled laugh.
"Squirp's coming home you guys!" She shouted to the other members of her team that were scattered around the room. Dragonite leapt up onto the bed and tackled Leaf to the floor.
"Dra! Dra dra dragon dra!"
Leaf laughed and hugged the Dragonite back tightly as Raichu squirmed in between them. She let him wiggle free and smiled even wider as she said, "I know Drattie! We're finally going to have the whole family back together! Wait, we need to call Leon so he can come meet Squirp!"
It took a good deal of squirming and promises of more hugs but the Dragonite finally let her up so she could grab her phone off the bed. She quickly called Leon but when her call went unanswered she shrugged and sent him a text instead. Then, figuring that there was no point in waiting, she hurriedly recalled her team and started getting ready to go out.
But as she was pulling on her shoes her phone vibrated in her pocket. Pulling it out she saw an unknown number with a Galar country code. She blinked at it dumbly for a moment before answering the call and raising it to her ear wordlessly.
"Hello? Hello, is anyone there? My name is Oliver, I'm calling on behalf of Macro Cosmo for Ms. Leaf?"
"Y-yes?" Leaf struggled to say.
"Oh good you are there. As I said, I'm calling on behalf of Macro Cosmo and we had a few questions about your new apartment. Mainly, do you want the property to be furnished for you or would you like us to arrange transportation for your belongings from Kanto?"
"A-" Leaf squeaked as her voice failed her.
The man on the phone waited for a few minutes but when it became clear that Leaf wasn't going to say anything else he said, "Why don't you think about it and call us back in a few days? Just call this number and we will get everything arranged for you. Have a great day."
Then the line fell silent and Leaf blinked at her phone again.
"What was all that about?" She said to herself before shoving her phone in her pocket and standing to walk out the door to her hotel room.
Speaking to the nurses in the Center as well as calling back the one in Saffron were only possible for Leaf because of the promise of being reunited with her best friend. So after a few highly stressful conversations, and a few close calls with paparazzi, she finally found herself back in her hotel room with Squirp's pokeball in hand. She had her Dragonite and Arcanine help her to move some of the furniture in the living area before taking the pokeball out of her pocket and releasing the Blastoise into the room.
When he formed out of the bright red light he had his head as well as all of his limbs tightly retracted into his shell. Leaf felt her heart squeeze and break a little at the sight. She knelt down near the front of his shell and ran her hands over his massive back.
"Hey buddy you want to come out and say hi? I missed you so much." She said softly as tears formed in her eyes.
The Blastoise made a deep rumbling sound before peeking his head out of his shell just enough that he could look up at Leaf. She gently petted his cheek and smiled down at him. After that Squirp held eye contact with her for a moment before he finally let himself relax and laid his head in her lap as the rest of his limbs sprawled out of his shell as well. Leaf adjusted herself so that she could lean against his shell and pet his head that stayed on her lap.
Then the rest of her pokemon left their balls and came to crowd around the returned Blastoise. Raichu quickly hopped up onto the top of his shell and laid down, just as he used to when he was a tiny Pichu. Bellossom trilled happily and started to dance around the room. But Arcanine and Dragonite both came over to sniff at the Blastoise before curling up on either side of him, while Gyarados stayed in his ball.
Leaf felt a piece of her heart settle back into place as she finally had her original team together once again for the first time in over a year.
"Yeah, I really missed you Squirp." She whispered as she settled in to take a nap with her pokemon.
Later that evening Leaf was woken for her nap by the sound of her phone vibrating loudly on the table across the room. She had to groggily climb her way out of the pile of still sleeping pokemon to answer it and found that it was Leon finally returning her call. He apologized (maybe a bit excessively) for missing her call as well as for disappearing but then invited her to come over to his apartment that evening so they could hang out. Leaf happily accepted so that she could introduce her soulmate to the other part of her own soul that just so happened to take the form of a Blastoise.
"So you ready to meet my big boy?" Leaf asked immediately after walking into his apartment.
Leon laughed and closed the door to his apartment. "Hello to you too. Are you going to tell me what kind of pokemon he is?"
"Well I would but that would ruin the-" She trailed off as she took a second to look at his apartment. "Excuse me, this is your house?"
She stared into the massive entryway/living room that was dominated by a curved staircase leading to a second floor. Across the room was a sitting area complete with a large white couch in front of a fireplace with a tv over it. There was an open style kitchen which flowed into a dining area off to the left and more floor to ceiling windows than she could count.
Leon looked out at the space and just shrugged as he said, "I guess? Rose set it up for me when I became the Champion and I guess it's nice? I never really thought about it."
Leaf nodded and started to walk towards the center of the room, still staring in awe. Finally she asked, "Right… So where should I let Squirp out? He's a bit of a big boy."
Leon perked up at the mention of pokemon and started walking towards the stairs. "Oh, come up here, I have a grassy area where I let my pokemon out when we're at home."
"You have a park in your apartment. Of course you do. Why wouldn't you?"
"It's not a full park, it's basically just a garden."
"Uh huh sure it is." Leaf said as she followed him up the spiral staircase in the center of the massive living room.
Once at the top he led her down a short hallway and through a large frosted glass door. Through the door was a large grassy area dotted with a few trees and even a pond, all of which was covered by a glass dome.
"You call this a garden?" Leaf asked as she watched Leon's pokemon wander through the yard.
Once they noticed the two walking through the garden Charizard wandered over and shoved her face into Leon's chest. He laughed and patted Charizard's neck. "Hey bud. You want to meet the elusive Squirp too don't you?"
"Rizard." The Charizard rumbled before nosing at Leaf for pets as well
"Ok, ok." Leaf said with a laugh before pulling out Squirp's pokeball and releasing him into the yard.
The red light shot out of the ball and quickly condensed to form the pokemon but this time the Blastoise stood at his full height rather than hiding in his shell. Leon looked at the pokemon and found himself having to crane his neck to see the face of the creature now towering over him.
"What is he?" He asked as he stared up with wide eyes.
"Rizard..." Charizard fluffed up her wings and tried to stand as tall as possible in an attempt to meet the Blastoise's eye. But she was still dwarfed by the massive pokemon.
Leaf happily hugged (tried to hug) the Blastoise and said, "What do you mean? He's a Balstoise! Obviously."
Leon continued to blink dumbly at the massive pokemon and put a hand on Charizard's neck to try and calm her before he said, "No? Blastoise only grows to about 5 feet, and he's…"
"10 feet and 5 inches. He's exactly one inch shy of being double the size of an average Blastoise." Leaf said proudly.
"Right… Um, why is he so big?"
Leaf laughed as she continued to hug her pokemon. "Because he's my big boy, obviously!"
The rest of her pokemon left their balls of their own accord and swarmed the Blastoise. He towered over all of them but still rumbled contentedly as the rest of the team greeted him. Gyrados was the only pokemon that was taller than the Blastoise (barely) and he leaned down to nuzzle cheeks with him.
"Are you even allowed to carry 7 pokemon?" Leon asked as he watched his own pokemon wander over to greet the new arrivals.
Leaf shrugged and said, "Well I don't want to battle with Squirp yet so I have my full team and then my boy. I don't really care if anyone has anything to say about that, it's not like I'm trying to use a 7 pokemon team in battles."
"Is that why you have two water types?"
"Yeah, Squirp's health started going downhill a few years ago so I went and found Gary and started training him. Up until… the injury, I would alternate Gary and Squirp in battles so neither of them were overworked or not training." Leaf said with a sad smile as the Blastoise laid down in the grass so she could pet his head.
After the introductions they left Squirp to get reacquainted with Leaf's team as well as to meet Leon's. As their pokemon socialized they went to sit on the couch in Leon's living room, after Leon had made curry and tea for them of course. As they relaxed on the couch, Leaf pulled the blanket off the back and curled up with it next to Leon(she may have left enough for Leon to join her, maybe). Leon took the hint and scooted a bit closer to her before he said, "So what exactly happened to Squirp? I know you said he was hurt but not how."
Leaf sighed and rested her head on Leon's shoulder. "I don't really like talking about it. But, about almost a year ago now I was finally challenged for my title. During the battle everything was going like usual, we were winning, and that was mostly due to Squirp. But- and I still don't know exactly what happened, but Squirp was using Hydro Pump and he slipped somehow. You know how Blastoise is so heavy purely so they can stabilize themselves when they use their shells cannons right? Well what happens when they can't stabilize themselves, or in Squirps case when one of their legs slip out from underneath them, all the force that is being created by the cannons gets absorbed by the only part still stable."
Leon cringed and said, "Which would cause a lot of damage."
She nodded sadly and said, "He broke his right femur and caused hairline fractures in a lot of other bones on that side of his body. The breaks would have been bad enough but because of Blastoise anatomy it also caused a lot of other issues to crop up internally. He needed pretty invasive surgery to repair everything and he's been recovering in a Poke Center in Saffron city ever since."
"That's horrible. I'm so sorry you had to deal with that."
"No that's the problem, I didn't have to. Squirp was the one in pain and who had to deal with the surgery, therapy, observation, not being able to walk. He's my best friend and I couldn't do anything for him. Well except put him in that situation of course."
"It couldn't have been your fault, Leaf. Accidents happen and it sounds like that's what it was. Just a freak accident."
"I know. But still, he's basically all I have. He's been with me since I can remember and to see him like that… It's been really hard." She took a deep breath to try and keep the tears at bay. "But he's all better now and we know how to prevent another injury! I want to keep an eye on him and ease him back into battling, sorry but you'll have to wait a little longer for our rematch."
Leon laughed, "No worries, just make sure he's ready for when we do finally battle again."
"Oh trust me, Squirp will wreck your team. He could take out all of your pokemon by himself if I let him."
"You sure? I'm going to have a hard time buying that one."
"He's already done that! Squirp is the only reason people call me a Champion."
"What do you mean?"
"Well in order to become the Champion in Kanto, or Johto for that matter, you have to get all the gym badges of course. But then you have to challenge the Elite Four. Who are the four strongest trainers from both regions. And you have to face them all one after the other with no healing."
"You can't even use potions?"
"Well if you aren't a naive ten year old, then sure. But they say that you can't heal your pokemon once you begin the first battle. What they mean is that there isn't a Poke Center available once you begin but they don't tell you that you can use healing items. So being a naive child I didn't want to be disqualified for using potions or revives, so I didn't. I somehow made it through to challenge Lance. But all I had after the earlier battles was Squirp. I wanted to just come back and try again when my team was a bit stronger but Squirp wasn't having that. He charged in and wiped out Lance's entire team by himself. I have no idea how he managed it but he did."
"That's, um…"
"Terrifying?"
"I was going to say impressive, but yeah terrifying works too."
Leaf laughed. "That's why I always say that Squirp is the real Champion between the two of us. He's the one who carried us to victory, I just stood there and watched."
"I'm sure your training him had something to do with it."
"Barely, but I appreciate the compliment." Leaf said as she blushed. "But tell me about your first pokemon. Who was it?"
"Charizard was my first. She was actually a present from my parents for my ninth birthday."
"Was she specially bred for you? She knows Ancient Power right? That isn't an easy move for a Charizard to learn."
"No it's not. But yeah, I always loved pokemon and wanted to be a trainer so they went out and found me the best Charmander they could. She was actually still in his egg when they gave her to me."
"That's so sweet. I've never hatched a pokemon before."
"Really?" He asked. "Well it was pretty annoying if I'm being honest, I always had to carry her with me and keep her warm. But it was also amazing watching her hatch. She was so tiny and delicate at first, then watching her grow has been incredible. She's my best friend and she is the best pokemon I could have asked for."
"That's how my Squirp is for me." Leaf said with a fond smile on her face.
"Yeah." Leon's smile faltered and he shook his head.
Leaf nudged his side and said, "What is it? You can tell me anything you know. After all, it's not like I can tell anyone else!"
"Nothing, it's just… I'm not very close with my family and Charizard is one of the main reasons why. Or part of a much bigger reason I guess is a better way to say that."
"What do you mean?"
"It's just really hard to have a pokemon like her when compared to what my little brother has."
Leaf nudged him gently to prompt him to go on.
"Hop wants to be a trainer too. Well, he wants to be like me I guess is more accurate. But my parents just… don't care. They gave me a specially bred Charmander for my ninth birthday but Hop's thirteen and they never gave him any pokemon. They said it was because I caught him a Wooloo when he was about six, but it's pretty obvious why they didn't."
"Meaning?"
"I'm their favorite. I'm not saying that to be arrogant or to brag, I wish it wasn't true but it is. The entire living room is decorated with my trophies, pictures of me, books about me, and even my old jersey is framed on the wall. There are pictures of me in every single room of the house except mine. There's even a picture of me in the kitchen. But they don't have a single picture of Hop anywhere in the house. None. So I know that I'm their favorite and they don't even try to hide it. Like how they gave me Charizard and never gave Hop anything. So I guess I'm dreading whenever Hop is old enough to see that and be angry about it."
"He isn't already?"
"No! He's just as bad as my parents. They don't see me as a- as a person anymore. They look at me the same way my fans do. They don't care about who I am, all they care about is the 'Champion' and what he can do for them. So I'm already barely a member of my own family now, basically just a paycheck and clout to be honest. But on top of that, Hop dreams of being just like me which is already enough pressure to live up to his expectations but at the same time what is going to happen when he grows up and realizes that our parents don't care about him? Or if they do then not nearly as much as they claim too for me. I don't- sorry I didn't mean to go off on a rant."
"No, it's fine. You're perfectly fine to be upset by that. I've never really dealt with anything like that but I can definitely imagine how hard that must be for you. I'm sorry."
"It's fi- no it's not fine and I need to stop saying that it is. But it just is what it is, I guess." He said. "But thank you Leafie, for seeing me. Not just my title or my team but me."
"Of course. You are my soulmate after all, wouldn't really make much sense for me to not care about you for who you are. Besides, I might not know what it's like to be on a pedestal or anyone's favorite but I do know how it feels to be invisible."
"Yeah? You don't have crowds that follow your every step?"
"You kidding? I'm lucky if I can get someone to speak more than two sentences to me back home. Let alone anyone care about me being the Champion."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, the only people who care about the league are the gym leaders and a few other really intense trainers. But even they don't care about battling me. They barely acknowledge that I am the Champion. It's kind of funny but I've gotten more attention here in the last week than I have in the last 13 years as Champion."
Leon elbowed her playfully and said, "Come on, you have to have at least one fan."
"Honestly I don't." Leaf said before her smile fell. "People aren't exactly lining up to talk to a mute."
"What do you mean? You're not a mute."
"Around you I'm not. But everyone else…" She trailed off and took a deep breath before saying, "I've struggled with selective mutism for as long as I can remember. Which basically means that I have extreme anxiety that makes me unable to speak in most circumstances. Sure I am physically capable of speaking, and clearly I can in some situations. But if I'm not talking to, or about my Pokemon, it takes every ounce of willpower I have to stutter my way through a simple conversation."
"But you can talk to me?"
"Yeah, yeah I can. I guess it's because you're my soulmate? I don't know really. But ever since I first met you on that field I just knew I could talk to you. It just never crossed my mind that I should be anxious. I don't know if that really makes sense, sorry."
"Not entirely, but in a way it sort of does. I've had my own problems with anxiety over the years, I mean I don't know how you could grow up like I did and not be anxious every single minute of every single day. But I talk to hide how afraid I am. I feel like if there's silence then people will start to realize just how out of place I am. Then I go home and agonize over how everything I said was wrong and made the people I was talking to hate me- and I'm rambling again, sorry."
"No! No, I get it. I'm constantly thinking of things I could have said, should have said, and having imaginary conversations in my head just wishing that I wasn't so terrified of making a mistake."
"Exactly." Leon said with a soft smile. "I guess there's a reason we're together huh? I'll do all the talking for the both of us."
"And I be quiet enough for both of us?" Leaf said with her own shy smile.
"For now sure, then maybe we can meet in the middle and be normal people."
Leaf laughed loudly at that and said, "I'd love to try and be a normal person with you."
So fun fact, Leaf's battles against the Elite Four/ Champion, and Squirp being ridiculously OP is actually because when I first played Fire Red I didn't think you needed to have more than one strong pokemon so I just trained Blastoise up to ungodly levels and used him to beat down anyone who challenged me XD And I also didn't think you could heal between battles during the Elite Four so this is kind of what happened in my first run in the game lol. I've gotten much better now, trust me! I understand my type match ups at least!
Thank you again for reading and let me know what you think or if you would like to see more!
