A silence followed as the Chairman shut the front door. It was broken by Leon speaking.
"You didn't have to do it," said Leon.
Sarah looked at Leon, wanting to say, "Do what?", but she knew what he meant.
"What did you want me to do?" said Sarah, "Let your brother feel disappointed that you couldn't come home while my whole family gets together?"
Leon narrowed his eyes and then looked away from her.
"I can take care of myself," said Leon, "That's what a champion does."
Sarah frowned at that statement. Being self-sufficient was a desirable quality, but it wasn't a requirement for a champion to do everything on their own.
"Leon, I don't doubt you can," said Sarah.
Leon huffed.
"Then why does Rose think that I'm still weak?" asked Leon.
"You're not weak!" began Sarah.
Sarah was then interrupted by two Rotom phones, hers and Leon's. Both of Rotom phones came flying up to their faces. They were telling their trainers that they had calls coming in.
"My parents…" said Sarah.
"It looks like Hop's calling me during his lunch break from school," said Leon,
"I'll go on the balcony so that you can have some privacy," said Sarah.
As Sarah went out, she kept thinking about what Leon said. She wanted to get to the bottom of why Leon thought himself to be weak, but that would have to be for another time.
After the phone calls, Sarah went back to her flat to gather her things for staying in Leon's flat. Going back to her flat was tiring. First, she had to sneak out a side entrance to not get caught by the paparazzi. She then found a tube station nearby only to get off a stop early once she realized people were looking at her. It was clear from their facial expressions, that they recognized her and were soon whispering to each other. A teenager even tried to take a photo of her, but she left too quickly for them to get a good shot of her.
No one was back in the flat as Natasha and Kate were at work, so Sarah took the time to shower and change into nicer clothes while Kiki packed what Sarah would need for the upcoming days. Sarah took the time to also call Gordie and the rest of her siblings. Most of these conversations were about checking to make sure Sarah was alright and confirming their travel plans. Sarah didn't arrive back in Leon's flat building until it was close to dinner time. She was glad to see that only a few reporters were loitering by the front door. It made it a lot easier to get into the building.
"Bonsoir Mademoiselle Sarah," greeted Remi who was sitting behind the desk reading the newspaper which Sarah happened to notice was her old employer, the Galar Post.
"Hi Remi," said Sarah.
"Just so you know, Monsieur Best is out in the garden area with all those petite Pokémon," said Remi, "It was quite hard to get them all down."
"Merci for all your work," said Sarah.
"My pleasure mademoiselle," said Remi, "I strive to treat all the residents, and those they love with the utmost respect. I'll get you to the garden. We have a code, to prevent any strangers from coming in."
Remi walked alongside Sarah. They arrived at a door that had a huge glass window. Sarah couldn't see any sign of Leon or the Pokemon that might be with him. That is until she saw a Charizard flying low to the ground being chased by Scorbunny.
"They're playing tag," said Sarah with a smile.
Remi muttered something about scorched grass as he typed in a passcode and held the door open.
"Voila," said Remi.
"Thanks," said Sarah.
Once Sarah entered through the door, Remi shut the door quietly and walked away. The garden was beautiful with trees and flowers in the huge green field behind the building. Brick walls were built around the perimeter to give an illusion you weren't in the heart of Wyndon.
Sarah walked in the direction that the Charizard and Scorbunny went in and she found herself on a stone pathway that led to where Leon was. He was sitting at a bench by a pond. He changed out of his champion uniform into streetwear. He had a t-shirt with a Wooloo face printed on it and long black gym shorts. He didn't even have a hat on his head and his long purple hair was tied up into a bun. Leon looked so relaxed from what Sarah could see of his side profile, his eyes were closed and he didn't have a frown on his face, but it wasn't a smile either.
Sarah didn't realize she was staring at him for more than a few seconds until she heard Grookey cry a greeting from a tree to her left. She looked up in surprise to see Grookey high up in the tree along with Snom and Cubchoo, Grookey then went down, jumping from branch to branch and was soon falling towards her. Sarah dropped her bag as she caught Grookey in her arms. Grookey laughed and then hopped down from her arms and ran back to the tree. Cubchoo scooched down the tree, digging her claws in the tree and she ran to Sarah, hugging her leg.
"Hey Grookey," said Leon, "No more surprises for Sarah tonight, alright?"
Grookey turned to Leon and nodded and scampered back up the tree. Leon then waved at Sarah and then gestured for her to come over. Sarah picked up her bag with one hand and carried the Cubchoo in her free arm and sat down beside Leon, placing the Cubchoo on her lap.
"Nice natural ottoman you got there," said Sarah, pointing to the log that was the perfect height for Leon to elevate his foot.
"They cut down a dead tree yesterday within the garden. When I came out here a few minutes ago, Aegislash went to where they brought it out to be shredded, cut off a section and brought it back here."
Sarah then heard something that sounded like metal clanging, which caused her to jump and squeeze Cubchoo, who squeaked in surprise. It turned out the sound was Aegislash switching to blade form. The sword and shield Pokémon was calm as he held out a couple of daisies to Sarah.
"For me?" asked Sarah.
"Ae-gi-slash!" said Aegislash, his one eye somehow adequately expressing his happiness.
"Thank you," said Sarah, as she took the flowers and smelled them.
Aegislash did a deep bow, his shield almost touching the ground and Sarah bowed her head. Aegislash then went back into shield form and floated over to watch Charizard use his stomach as a mini trampoline for Scorbunny. Sarah let out the rest of her Pokemon who all soon joined in watching or playing with each other. Layla swiftly went up the tree to where Snom was and gave him a quick ride down to the ground while Grookey chased after them. Cornelius happily took to the skies and Kiki stood beside Sarah, quietly observing everything before deciding to take the Cubchoo from Sarah. Cubchoo didn't seem to mind and seemed to enjoy being cradled in the Indeedee's arms.
"During my first trip to Kalos, I met Wikstrom who is a member of the Elite Four there," said Leon, "He specializes in steel type Pokemon and has an Aegislash as an ace Pokemon. Wikstrom made sure my Aegislash, who was a Honedge at the time would know the ways of being a good old Kalosian knight even if he was from Galar. I think Aegislash gave you those flowers to you as a thank you."
"It was a sweet gesture for your Aegislash to do so," said Sarah, "By the way, where's Sobble?"
"He's right…" said Leon, "Oh, shoot, he was in the pond just a second ago!"
A shot of water came out of the pond, landing on Leon's face. As Leon wiped the water off his face, Sarah saw the water in the pond ripple in a small space near the edge. It was then that Sarah realized it was Sobble turning from invisible to visible. With his camouflage gone, he had a cute smile on his face before diving back in the water.
"I never knew that a Sobble could be so cheeky," said Sarah.
Leon didn't say anything. They watched as Sobble swam to the other edge of the pond where Leon's Sesmitoad was relaxing at the edge of the bond. Sesmitoad waved lazily to Sarah before going back to watch Sobble swim in circles. Kiki had walked over to where Sesmitoad was and soon began a conversation with each other.
"So…" said Leon after a couple of minutes, "How did talking with your family go?"
"Do you want the good, the bad or the ugly first?" asked Sarah.
"The good?" said Leon with a bit of uncertainty in his voice.
"The good thing is that this is the first time in two years that my family gets to spend time in person altogether," said Sarah, "You get to see the wonderful blend of Voss and Char families at their finest. The bad thing is that they don't like you and I'm sure my brother, along with my Dad and Gordie are going to interrogate you when they come."
Leon nodded with a grim look on his face.
"Gordie made that clear when we last saw each other," said Leon.
"What exactly did Gordie do?" asked Sarah.
Leon was silent.
"Actually, never mind," said Sarah, "I don't need to know."
"Maybe one day I'll tell you when the threat is not over my head." said Leon, "So I heard the good, the bad and now what's the ugly?"
"Do you remember how Gordie became the gym leader in Circhester?" asked Sarah.
"Of course," said Leon, "It was all anyone could talk about for months."
"Well, Melony hasn't been in Galar during the Gym Challenge season for four years. Melony and Gordie's relationship was very strained after the battle of the gym in Circhester. Family gatherings end up with them being on opposite sides of the room, so they don't fight."
"That's bad," said Leon, "Not sure what else to say, but that's bad."
"Bad indeed and potentially ugly. That's why my cousins Jonathan and Hailey, are cutting their backpacking trip through Johto short. They want to be back together as a family. I think they hope this will change things."
"Do you think they will?" asked Leon.
Sarah shrugged her shoulders.
"There's always hope, right?" said Sarah.
Leon looked at her and shrugged his shoulders back.
"So," said Leon, "It seems like a lot of people are coming to visit. Tell me about your family. I don't want to mess up on names."
"Alright," said Sarah, glad that the conversation topic was changed, "Let me show you a picture."
Sarah got out her phone and showed Leon her lock screen. It was of her parents and siblings during a trip to Alola two years ago.
"Okay, I just want to give a little preface about my family. That yes, my dad is Alolan. Yes, my mum's white. Yes, my three siblings, including the ones who have a darker skin tone are actually my half-siblings."
Leon nodded his head and Sarah was grateful that he was letting her explain first. Most people bombarded with questions that were often annoying and sometimes offensive.
"So, this man," said Sarah, pointing to a large Alolan man with a big smile on his face, brown eyes, and salt and pepper hair, "is my dad Rick Char. He was born and raised in Alola, but after he married my mum, he and his two children from his first marriage, moved to Galar to live with my mum and her daughter from her first marriage. And then, they had me! He works as an ice type Pokémon specialist. It's fitting that he and Mum met in Sinnoh when he was an aide to Professor Rowan getting his post-doc, you know, with it being a very cold region and all."
"Your parents must have quite the story to tell!" commented Leon.
"Their story is certainly wild. It's definitely very script worthy too. It's best told by Mum and Dad though. Anyway, I'm getting distracted. Here's my mum, Charice Voss."
Sarah pointed to a short white woman who had short white blonde hair, hazel eyes and a small smile on her face. Charice and Rick stood side by side, arms wrapped around each other.
"My mum is Melony's older sister by a few years. Mum had always wanted to work as a doctor, so Melony was the one to pursue taking over the gym, at least until Gordie took over. Mum works in the hospital in Circhester."
"So which ones are your siblings then," said Leon, "I'm counting more than three in here and also there's a baby and a child."
Sarah laughed.
"The child is actually my second cousin Hau. His grandpa is my paternal grandmother's brother. When I lived in Alola a few years back as a teenager, I used to be Hau's babysitter and we became buddies because of that. In this photo, he photobombed at the last minute. Hala, Hau's grandfather, and my grandmother thought it was hilarious and saved the picture. The baby is actually my nephew Louis, who's the son of my half-brother Sean and his wife Anne."
Sarah pointed out who each person was to Leon, starting with Hau and his sunny smile. Louis was only a few months old. All he had to do was be his baby self and everyone thought he was the cutest thing. Sean looked like a younger and taller version of his father and his wife Anne, had dark skin and shoulder length black hair with small white and blue gems weaved into it.
"Then there's my sister Marie," said Sarah.
Sarah then pointed to a woman in her thirties with brown eyes and a blonde pixie cut with dark roots showing. Marie was standing next to another woman with short light brown hair and wearing a lot of green.
"The woman beside her is Gardenia," said Sarah, "She's my sister's partner."
Sarah waited to see what Leon's response was. Not everyone was polite about her sister being a lesbian. His brows furrowed as he kept muttering.
"Gardenia. … Why does she look familiar?" said Leon to himself.
"She's the grass type gym leader in Sinnoh," said Sarah.
Leon then snapped his fingers.
"That's it! She was at the world championships in Unova!" said Leon, "I remember her battling against my cousin."
"Wait who's your cousin?" asked Sarah.
"My cousin Iris was the champion of Unova at the time," said Leon, "I went because champions and gym leaders from other regions came to participate. I made sure though to watch Iris and Gardenia was one of the opponents she went up against."
"Cool," said Sarah and made a mental note to find out about the other champion in Leon's family, "So that's my family. Do you want to show me yours?"
"Of course!" said Leon, "Here's a picture of me with my brother Hop."
Leon showed her a picture of him and Hop. Hop shared a lot of similarities with Leon, the golden eyes, purple hair, and tan skin. Hop though had a shorter haircut, no facial hair and was much shorter in height than Leon.
"Hop's fifteen, right?" asked Sarah.
"Yes," said Leon, "He's a super energetic kid. Sometimes he talks a mile a minute, but he's got a good heart. He just gets so excited sometimes that words can't keep up with him. He's certainly smarter than I am. He gets all these good marks in school and he could go to uni if he wants too. I'm not home that often, but I know that without a doubt Hop's always there and excited to see me."
Leon then unlocked his phone and went to the photo app. As he scrolled through his photos he continued talking.
"I have to tell you something. Hop doesn't know anything about the contract. For all he knows, our relationship is real."
Sarah nodded, reminding herself at least their budding friendship was real.
"What about your parents?" asked Sarah
"Well, my dad passed away a long time ago," said Leon.
"I'm so sorry," said Sarah.
"It's fine," said Leon, "I mean, it isn't fine that Dad's gone, but he passed away when I was nine. I've had some time to deal with my grief. I still have some good memories with him so at least I have that and home videos. I do wonder what he would think of me now. What would he have said when I became champion? What would have been his reaction to everything that came after that?"
Leon looked up to the sky, the sun almost setting behind the mountains. Sarah let him have his silent moment before Leon shook his head.
"Sorry," said Leon.
"You don't have to apologize to me Leon," said Sarah, "I can see that you dad is someone you love a lot and I can see that you miss him. Also, we're friends. I know that we've only agreed to an official friendship today, but if you need to talk to someone about anything you're struggling with, I'm here for you."
"Thanks, Sarah. I really mean it," said Leon, "I'm also here for you if you need to talk about anything. Ah! Here's an old photo Mum found a few months ago. It was when Hop was a baby."
Sarah looked at the photo Leon was showing. What she first noticed was Leon as a child. His hair was cut short and he was small. Little Leon had a cute expression of joy on his face as he looked at the camera, holding a baby Hop. Sarah then noticed the parents, who were sitting on the ground around Leon. His mother was making sure that Leon was holding the baby correctly. She had the purple hair and golden eyes that Leon and Hop inherited. His father was to Leon's other side, he had black hair that looked like it had gotten some serious static shock, and brown eyes hiding behind glasses. He had a big smile on his face that Sarah instantly recognized as Leon's. It was a smile that reminded her of Leon's smile after a battle, as he waved to the cheering crowd that was celebrating their undefeated champion.
"So, these are my parents. My dad actually worked for Macro Cosmos. He was the lead researcher on alternate sources of energy. During one of his research trips, he got into an accident and passed away. We moved in with my grandparents after that. I don't have a picture of my granddad and grandmum on my phone, but I have one in my flat somewhere."
Leon then put his Rotom phone in his pocket and shifted a bit on the bench.
"Anyway, the only person in my family that knows about the contract is Mum," said Leon.
"What are her thoughts about it?" asked Sarah.
"Probably something similar to your family's thoughts on it," said Leon, "You might've heard already through social media, but my last relationship ended a year ago and the press got quite a story from it. Mum was worried that it would just be something similar, but after what happened today, she seemed to have changed her thoughts."
"Seemed too?" asked Sarah, "You're not sure?"
"Well, it was something that she said," said Leon who then looked a little embarrassed and smoothed back some flyaway hairs, "But we'll see what happens when we get there."
"It isn't like I'm the first girl you brought back home right?" joked Sarah.
Sarah hoped the Leon would agree with her, but his silence confirmed it was the opposite.
"You never brought any of your past girlfriends to Postwick?!" said Sarah.
"Well, I was busy! And our schedules never lined up! Especially with my last ex, she was a model from Kalos and it was a struggle to even plan to be in the same region at the same time without it being work related." said Leon.
Sarah put her head in her hands and groaned.
For the love of the Tapus, thought Sarah, the first girlfriend Leon brings home is the one that he's in a fake relationship with!
"I'm sure it will be fine," said Leon, "We're only going to be there for a few days."
Sarah gave him a glare and Leon suddenly looked very worried.
"Do you know how big of a deal it was in my family when Sean brought Anne to meet the family for the first time? Or even for Marie to bring Gardenia to Galar?"
Sarah swore she could see the ellipses forming over Leon's head.
"Oh," was all he said.
Sarah sighed.
"But look," said Sarah, "Besides that BIG piece of information, I'm still coming with you. You need to be there for Hop at the start of his gym challenge."
Leon nodded.
"I don't know why Rose made it mandatory for you to come," said Leon, "But we got this. My mum is good at keeping secrets and as long as we pretend that we are the couple we say we are we'll be fine."
"Fine," said Sarah, "But just so you know, my family, including my aunt and cousins, know about this contract. You don't have to worry about acting like my boyfriend. You just need to worry about making sure that you leave a good impression and prove that their misconceptions about you are wrong."
Leon gulped.
"No one is going to treat me like Gordie did, right?"
"I hope so," said Sarah.
A/N: Finally, I got this posted! I apologize for not posting anything new recently. My university switched to being completely online due to COVID-19 and it has been crazy as my routine changed drastically. Also, I am taking final exams this month and looking for a job, so I don't think my updates will be regular as my life is busy. Trust me, I want to see this through to the end, but it will be slow.
This may have ended up as a filler chapter, but I had quite a lot of info about Sarah's family and I rather give some of it now so that when they come in the next chapter, I don't have to explain everything all at once. I hope you enjoy knowing that Gardenia and Hau are part of Sarah's extended family. I've been playing the mobile app Pokemon Masters and Gardenia and Hau have been some of my favorites that I've met in the game, so they got added as a part of Sarah's family. :)
Thanks for reading! Also, thank you for all those who have favorite, followed and reviewed this. It makes me super happy to see that people are wanting to know what happens next. A last thank you for those who sent me advice on sites I can use to correct my grammar. It has really helped me with the editing process!
