Sarah was sure the hopes were going down the drain the next day when her parents and siblings were all sitting on the couches in Leon's living room. At first, Sarah went down to the lobby to greet them, it was a wonderful reunion. There were hugs, laughter, smiles, and chatter. Now, there was an awkward tension in the room. People were either glaring or staring curiously at Leon from one side of the room. The only person who wasn't participating in the glaring or staring was Louis, who was sitting on a blanket and playing with a doll shaped like an Espurr. Suddenly the silence was broken by Anne.

"I can't take this anymore!" said Anne, "We're supposed to be introducing ourselves! Not staring like he's some strange fossil!"

When Sarah first met Anne, she was quiet and kept to herself. Yet, Anne was someone that once she got comfortable with others, she wouldn't be afraid to speak her opinion. It helped the Voss-Char family to confront problems head on instead of ignoring them.

"Hi Leon, my name's Anne. I'm married to Sarah's brother Sean. And this little cutie on the floor here is our son Louis. I don't know if you remember me, but we met briefly when you visited the gym in Cyllage City in Kalos. Grant's my brother and I worked as one of the gym trainers there before I got married."

"Nice to meet you," said Leon, "That was a couple of years ago when I went there. I liked the rock climbing you had to do to get to battle Grant. That was fun."

"It's definitely my favorite gym in the world," said Anne, "But don't tell that to Gordie. He'll go on about how his gym is better."

"You know that's just Gordie's way of teasing," said Sean, putting a hand on Anne's knee.

"I know," said Anne, "But I remember hearing from Grant that Gordie was having a good time when he visited the Cyllage City gym last year. So, I think your cousin's in denial."

Anne's words seemed to have broken the ice and everyone introduced themselves briefly, but politely. Sarah was going to privately thank Anne later for saying what she said.

"So, what are our plans for today?" asked Rick Char, Sarah's dad.

"Well," said Sarah, "I have to go back to work after lunch, and Leon has to train. But I was thinking we should plan something tonight."

"Well," said Gardenia, "I hope this isn't a problem, but I wanted to go see the stadium in Wyndon at some point. Galar's gym league is very different from Sinnoh's and I've only been to the one in Circhester."

"I can make sure you get into the stadium," said Leon, "I'll have one of the stadium workers give a tour. I would do it myself, but I can't stay on crutches for very long."

"It's understandable," said Charice Voss, Sarah's mum, "You need to make sure you in the best shape for this weekend."

"Let's make sure Melony, Gordie, Jonathan, and Hailey can come," said Sarah, "I think that they would like it."

"Also," said Marie, "I would like to go to the Wyndon Eye in the evening. Could we switch plans so that the stadium tour is during the day?"

Leon looked towards Sarah who said, "I'm fine doing the Wyndon Eye later. I already got a tour of the stadium in preparation for the exhibition match last week so I'll be fine."

"Great!" said Anne.

At that moment Scorbunny and Grookey came quickly into the room, with Sobble plodding behind them. Everyone stared at them for a few moments before Gardenia squealed.

"A grass monkey!"

The baby Pokemon were startled and Sobble held back tears. Sarah got up from her seat and soon had him cuddled in her arms. Gardenia got up from the couch and crouched down carefully in front of the Grookey. As Gardenia gently held out her hand, Grookey used his free had to high five it. Natasha and Sean took interest in the Scorbunny. Scorbunny seemed a little shy at the attention, but she seemed to be open to meet new people and was learning how to fist bump from Sean.

Sarah went over to her parents and introduced Sobble to them.

Her mum smiled and said, "Hello Sobble"

Her dad grinned and said, "Welcome to the family!"

Sarah stared at her father. They didn't know if this Sobble had a family of his own to go back to! Her dad couldn't say things like that.

"Sob?" asked Sobble, who sat up in Sarah's arms and tilted his head to the side.

It took a few moments before Sobble broke out into a smile, which amazed everyone in the room including Scorbunny and Grookey as Sobble was happily chanting, "Sob-ble! Sob-ble!". Sarah's dad laughed and took Sobble from Sarah's arms and held up Sobble like he was Simba.

"Behold your king!" said Sarah's dad.

"Dad!" said Sarah.

Everyone in the room chuckled.


When Sarah went back to work after lunchtime, everyone was shocked to see her. They did not expect their boss to be back so soon. A lot of co-workers asked if she and the Champion were alright and wanted the scoop on what happened. Sarah answered their questions and then she called for a team meeting to happen as soon as possible.

Soon all the team which consisted of Sarah and ten of her co-workers gathered in a meeting room down the hall from the Galar Gym League Social Media Department room. It was strange considering the team was close to each other and meetings usually were just everyone sitting in their swivel chairs in a circle.

"I know you probably are wondering why I gather you here today," said Sarah.

"Marrwige?" joked Daisy, one of her coworkers, who had an uncanny impression of the priest from The Princess Bride.

"No.," said Sarah, "I need to reschedule the days I planned to take off. I will be off on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday."

"But wait, the exhibition match is on Saturday," said Bruce, "We were planning to schedule the interviews with the different gym leaders then and also the format of stickers and hashtags for this year's gym challenge."

"I'm still going to be working," said Sarah, "I just won't be coming into the office. I'm still planning to be in Motostoke by Tuesday afternoon. My interviews with Gordie and Piers are still scheduled on the days we originally planned, we just need to change Gordie's interview to be on Wednesday instead of Tuesday."

"But Pier's interview is on Wednesday," reminded Katerina, who was the one in charge of keeping everyone's schedule on track from interviews to posting regularly on the social media account, and make sure everything was completed on time.

"I know," said Sarah, "But if we do Gordie's interview in the morning we can have enough travel time to still do Pier's interview in the evening."

"But wait a moment, how do we know that Gordie will be okay with that?" asked Adam, one of the videographers.

"Mate, he's her cousin," said Brian, their video editor.

"Oh right," said Adam

"I'm just curious," said Katerina, who looked up from taking notes on her phone, "You're still going to Circhester right? Would it be better to move the interview earlier or keep it the same?

"No, the time's should still work. I'm actually going with Leon to visit his family in Southern Galar," said Sarah.

A brief beat of silence before Dmitri, the co-worker notorious for knowing the current gossip and tea let out a whoop.

"Yes!" he said.

Everyone the team laughed, but then they looked very interested in what Sarah would say next.

"I decided to go with him because I'm worried about Leon and you all know why. Where he's from is a sleepy farming village, so nothing crazy is going to happen, but still all the same…"

"Understandable," said Ryan, "I would be in the same boat if my partner decided to go on another trip right after he nearly died."

Sarah felt relieved. Out of all of her co-workers. Sarah was most worried about how Ryan would react to a change in her plans. Ryan was one of the co-workers that Sarah had the hardest time getting along with as Ryan would've had her job as the head of the social media department if it weren't for Oleana's meddling ways. It seemed though that Ryan understood Sarah's excuse for changing vacation plans.

"Wait, is this the first time you're going to meet the in-laws?" asked Dmitri.

"Dmitri, we're not married," said Sarah, "But yes, it'll be the first time I'll meet his family."

Dmitri grinned, satisfied with the answers.

"Now then, this is not a meeting about my private life," said Sarah, "I wanted to go over the work that we all need to do and see what is best to do in person and what can be done over video chat."


It was a busy day at work and Sarah was now on the tube, waiting to get to the stop closest to the Wyndon Eye. She had the hood of her windbreaker up and was scrolling aimlessly on social media, hoping that no one would take notice of her. It seemed as if overnight, Sarah Char become famous. So many people sent her DMs asking all about her relationship with the champion. Twitter was a storm trying to sketch out who was the new girlfriend of Galar's undefeated champion. Sarah wanted to delve into it more and see the kind of tweets were being posted about her. She knew that a lot of it would be lies and crap people would say about her, but she was curious to see what they would post.

"Arriving at Wallerboo Station."

The electronic voice announced the stop she needed to get at and Sarah exited with a group of other passengers. The Wallerboo stop was teeming with people and soon Sarah entered a massive queue to get on the exiting escalators. As Sarah got closer to the surface, her Rotom phone suddenly came to her face.

"Roo, I can't see who's contacting me, away from the face."

Roo, her Rotom phone, flipped around and showed off a sad face, as if to say, "Sorry!"

Sarah sighed as she grabbed her Rotom phone and saw that a private number was calling. She debated for a second whether or not to answer, but then decided to answer it.

"Hello, Sarah Char here."

"Hi! It's Leon!"

Sarah nearly dropped her phone in surprise. She and Leon had never exchanged their phone numbers since Oleana's emails were enough before. Sarah came to the end of the escalator and turned left to cross the bridge. She could see the Wyndon Eye towering over the river.

"How…how did you get my phone number?"

"Oh, Melony gave it to me," said Leon.

"Melony?" asked Sarah, "Is she there with you?"

"Yes, she is, along with the rest of your family. We're just waiting to get on our private pod on the Wyndon Eye," said Leon.

"You can do that?"

"Um,…it's special connections as a champion."

"Rose connections?" asked Sarah.

"Yes, anyways…" said Leon.

"HEY, SARAH!"

Sarah stopped walking and looked towards the noise. It was her cousin, Gordie. He was hiding his signature hair under a beanie and had sunglasses on, but Sarah recognized him immediately.

"Gordie!"

Gordie laughed as he hugged Sarah. No one paid attention to them, they were too busy commuting home from work.

"How are you doing?" asked Gordie.

"Great! It's good to see you," said Sarah.

Sarah then realized she was still on the phone with Leon and she checked in to see if he was still on the phone

"So, I guess Voss found you, right?" said Leon.

"Yes," said Sarah

"Well, he knows where to go so see you soon!"

Leon ended the call and Sarah looked towards Gordie.

"So where are we going?" asked Sarah.

"C'mon, I'll show you. I may not like Best, but I got to admit, he gave us a sweet deal and we don't have to wait in line."

"Well, I'm glad you don't hate him," said Sarah.

Gordie huffed.

"I always thought he was a decent lad, but then he's 'dating' my cousin and that's a whole other story."

"Look, I get it you have beef with him, but can we not talk about that? Please? I know that it's not the greatest time of your life with Melony back. Could we talk about something more…upbeat?" said Sarah.

Gordie was silent for a few moments.

"Yeah…I'm not sure how to talk to Mum anymore," said Gordie.

Gordie had a frown on his face, but it disappeared as he shook his head. He then grinned.

"Wait until you hear the stories Hailey and Jonathan have to tell! They got into some crazy battles in Johto! I definitely want to travel there after the end of the gym challenge!"

Sarah sighed, wanting to talk with Gordie more about talking with his mum, but one thing a Voss is good at is avoiding any talk about the issue at hand.

A few minutes later, Gordie and Sarah were at the ticket office at the Wyndon Eye. One of the workers spotted them and came over to them.

"Honored guests of Chairman Rose, come this way!"

Everyone's heads turned towards them and Gordie muttered some choice words to himself. He then took off his hat and sunglasses and shook his hair out. Everyone in the room gasped.

"It's the rock type gym leader!"

"What's he doing here?"

"Is Rose having a special event with the gym leaders?"

"Who's that beside him?"

Gordie then nudged Sarah.

"Hey, Sare. Take off your hood."

Sarah took off her hood and if the crowd was whispering before, they were certainly whispering loudly now.

"Who is she?"

"Wait, I saw it in the news! She's dating the champion!"

"Wait, she the one who saved him from angry Abomnasnow! Wicked!"

"Huh, I know she's cousins with the rock type gym leader, but they look nothing alike!"

Sarah waved at everyone and Gordie gave a smile and put back on his sunglasses. The Wyndon Eye worker led them to go behind the desk, and down the hallway into a room that was decked out for VIP.

"Sarah!"

Sarah was then tackled into a hug by her cousins, Hailey and Jonathan. Sarah had seen them off at the Wyndon airport six months ago when they flew to Johto. That day felt like years ago.

"Hailey! Jon! I'm so glad your back home." said Sarah.

"I know, me too!" said Hailey, "Although, I can't wait to go back to Johto!"

Jonathan laughed.

"You just want to go back to your boyfriend."

Hailey glared at her twin.

"Kenny's not my boyfriend, we're just friends!"

Jonathan then said to Sarah.

"Just you wait, I bet by next year-"

Jonathan then was interrupted by another voice.

"Jonny, please stop teasing your sister."

The three of them and Gordie turned to see Melony, who was smiling at all of them. Her smile faltered into an expression of worry when they set eyes on Gordie. Gordie looked away and then walked towards the window facing the river where Anne and Sean were showing Louis the view. Melony sighed, but then put on a happy expression. At that moment, Sarah realized that Melony was struggling to talk to Gordie as much as Gordie was to talk to Melony.

"Oh my, Sarah!" said Melony, "It's so good to see you."

Melony gave Sarah a hug and Sarah hugged her back. Growing up, Sarah had always looked up to Melony as someone to emulate, especially when she did the gym challenge in Galar. Melony was someone who was at first intimidating, but Sarah knew that her aunt had a soft side shown only to her family and close friends. Melony had been resilient through a lot of tough moments in her life from becoming Circhester's gym leader at a young age to losing her husband suddenly in a work-related accident shortly after adopting the twins. Melony was always determined to keep moving forward and to continue living life. Now with the silence between Gordie and Melony, Sarah couldn't help but remember her aunt after the battle for the Circhester gym, emotionally broken and still, even refusing to get out of bed. It hurt Sarah to see her aunt and cousin still not completely healed from what happened between them. Sarah was certain that if they could at least talk to each other for five minutes, they would be able to find the closure that they needed.

"Me too!" said Sarah, "I hope you like the room at the hotel."

"Well, you know the Chairman," said Melony, "He doesn't want anyone to think of him as ungenerous. But enough about him, let's talk about you! Leon was telling me about what you were doing, and it sounds amazing! Tell me more!"

"Don't worry I only said good things, Sarah."

Leon at some point had come on his crutches to stand beside Sarah. Grookey was sitting on his shoulder, playing with some of Leon's hair. When Grookey saw Sarah, he hopped on to her shoulder and greeted her. Sarah wondered where Scorbunny and Sobble were, but quickly spotted the two of them with her parents. Sarah and Leon didn't have Pokéballs for the three Pokémon as they wanted to see if they could find more information about them from their respective reservation scientists before making the big decision to have them in Pokeballs.

"Oh, I'm sure," said Sarah as she gave Grookey a chin scratch.

"Honest!" said Leon.

Sarah faked gasped, but she smiled afterward to reassure Leon that she believed in him.

"Good," said Sarah, "Work's very stressful right now with the gym challenge starting up, but I'm excited because that means we get to start posting more and creating more content. I'm going to be interviewing Gordie and Piers next week! We are doing special interviews and post them on youtube for the gym leaders to connect more with the fans."

"Oh, that's so exciting!", said Melony, "I think it's good that you are interviewing the two of them. Piers will probably be more willing to talk if it's you."

"What do you mean by that?" said Leon

Sarah opened her mouth to speak, but Melony beat her to it.

"You don't know? Piers and Sarah met when they participated in the gym challenge! They've been friends ever since!"

Leon blinked his eyes in surprise as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Huh," said Leon, "I remember Piers competing in the finals, but I don't remember if you made it to the semifinals or not."

"Don't worry!" said Sarah, "I didn't last long in the gym challenge. I couldn't beat Kabu's gym and just gave up after that! It's kind of embarrassing."

"You didn't give up, you-" began Melony

"Melony, please not now," said Sarah.

Melony nodded and gave her a look of understanding mixed with pity. Leon looked between the two of them. Then Sean came over with a quiet Louis who seemed ready to fall asleep in his dad's arms.

"I couldn't help, but overhear," said Sean, "The reason she quit was she decided to do the island trials in Alola instead. It may not be as well known, but it's just as challenging as the gym challenges around the world. Trust me, Z-moves are quite the feat!"

Sarah felt relieved at Sean's explanation and that Sean started a debate between Z-Moves and dynamxing with Melony and Leon. He always seemed to have a way with words and put people at ease. What Sean told Leon was a half-truth, Sarah did participate in the island trials of Alola, but that was not the reason she dropped out of Galar's gym challenge. It was something she didn't like to talk about and only her relatives and closest friends knew why.

Soon a Wyndon Eye worker came in and told them their private pod was ready.


Sarah had been on the Wyndon Eye twice in her life, once for a school trip when she was ten and another time when she brought Kate, her best friend from uni and now flatmate, to experience the view from the Wyndon Eye for the first time. Yet, Sarah enjoyed her third time as it offered a beautiful view of Wyndon during the night and she had a private pod with her family (plus Leon). It was nice to not have to worry about strangers blocking the view or elbowing her way to get a closer look through the glass walls of the pod.

Sarah was taking her time to look at how the city slowly turned on its lights as the pod went higher in the sky. She was standing close to the glass that she was tempted to get her face closer so she could take in what she was seeing. She looked behind her to check if Leon was alright. He was sitting down in the circle seating arrangement in the center of the pod so that he didn't have to stand on crutches forever. Grookey was asleep on his lap while Scorbunny rested beside him. Sarah's mum had sat down next to Leon, quietly conversing with him as she cradled a snoozing Sobble in her arms. Sarah smiled at the scene, it was quite adorable.

Sarah turned back to look out of the glass. A few minutes later, Sarah felt a tap on her right shoulder and Sarah turned left expecting it to be Marie trying to trick her. Instead, there was no one beside her.

"Got ya!"

Sarah nearly jumped as she realized Marie was behind her.

"Marie!" complained Sarah.

Marie chuckled.

"After all these years, I can still surprise you."

Sarah tried to look angry, but a grin eventually appeared on her face. Marie smirked, knowing that she was forgiven for now. Marie went to Sarah's left side and leaned over the railing.

"Where's Gardenia?" asked Sarah.

"She's busy talking with Natasha," said Marie, "I wanted to see how you were doing squirt."

Sarah wrinkled her nose at the nickname Marie gave her. It just reminded Sarah of her five-year-old self who really wanted a Squirtle and had everyone called her "squirt" in honor of that. No one used the nickname anymore, except for Marie.

"Alright," said Sarah, "Work went surprisingly well. Everyone's supportive of me going to Postwick. But I'm afraid it's more for the tea that they can get. Though most would never say it outright. I love my team though and I know I can rely on them to do their jobs."

"At least none of the big-headed ones you told me about tried to prove you were slacking," said Marie, "You're one of the hardest workers I know and trust me, I've met coordinators who eat, sleep and breathe contests. Even when you were in uni, you really were juggling a lot and yet still came out with a degree and high honors."

"Well, it wasn't easy," said Sarah.

"Of course, anything that we want to achieve requires work and effort," said Marie, "How have you been dealing with the stress? You literally saved someone from dying of frostbite yesterday and now have to work while making sure he doesn't die again. I mean, I don't know all the details, but that's basically what the chairman said, right?"

Sarah looked out at the window. They were almost at the top of the Wyndon Eye.

"In the moment, I knew what to do when Leon fell down at my campsite," said Sarah, "Though since coming back to Wyndon, I feel like I've been busy juggling everything constantly. Although, Leon and I got to spend some time outside with our Pokemon. It was very relaxed and chill."

"I understand," said Marie, "It's how Gardenia relaxes after battling in her gym all day. It's also good for me as my Pokémon don't get much time to play when I'm in the middle of judging a bunch of contests. Especially, Marty, he's a true mischief maker like every Morgrem is. He likes to doddle like he's in primary school on my judge's scorecard when I'm not looking so playing together in the evenings reduces the chances of that happening by a lot."

The sisters then were quiet before Sarah spoke again,

"Marie," said Sarah, "How did you deal with the fame when you became Sinnoh's contest champion?"

Marie let out a deep breath and she placed her hand under her chin, thinking over what Sarah said. When Sarah was five, Marie decided to move in with the grandparents on her father's side in Twinleaf Town and started on her contest journey. Sarah only remembered feeling sad as she missed Marie and remembered seeing broadcasts of her leading up to the finals. Sarah was proud of Marie that she became the contest champion in Sinnoh and held the title for six years, but Sarah never considered the fame aspect that Marie had to deal with until now.

"There's a lot of things I could say about this," said Marie, "First is, don't let what the world thinks become more important what you think. Trust me, you'll get lost easily if you try to please everyone. Second, set boundaries. You need to tell people when they make you uncomfortable, especially the press. If they're arses about that, it's a reflection of themselves, not you. Third, still do what you love. Don't be persuaded by others to do things you don't want to do or that you shouldn't do. For someone reason, contest champions get pushed to modeling or acting as potential side jobs. I didn't want to do that, but I felt pressured too. I'm glad I didn't because I'm much happier working at contests then I would have with wearing Gucci on the runway."

"Fourth, make sure to treat everyone with kindness!" said Gardenia, who had come over to stand by Marie.

"But don't forget to block out the haters!" said Natasha, who had come on Sarah's right side.

"How long have you two been listening?" asked Marie.

"Long enough," said Natasha, "We finished our predictions for who will win Galar Women's Football League this year. I'm biased that Wyndon is going to win because, you know, it's my own team, but Gardenia made some good points on her choice. I have to keep an eye out on the new Turffield team, they got a lot of new talent that could definitely rise to the top."

"Well, fellow Grass gym leaders like to chat and I couldn't help but get the details when Milo mentioned about a new women's football team sharing the stadium in Turffield," said Gardenia, "Also, here's another piece of advice for you Sare. If you need someone to talk to about dealing with fame talk with Leon."

"What?" said Natasha, "She shouldn't need to rely on him. If anything, he owes her for saving his life."

"It's not that," said Gardenia, "The fame Sarah will be dealing with right now is connected with Leon. He has been champion for a long time and probably can help her the most with the problems and concerns she has."

"But," said Natasha who looked around before whispering, "I don't trust him."

"Why?" said Sarah.

Natasha shook her head.

"I'll tell you later," said Natasha, "It's just something I've noticed."

"Okay," said Sarah, wondering what Natasha would tell her.

"It's your choice in the end whether or not to talk to him about concerns," said Gardenia, "But I think it is a good idea. You never know what happens when you open up to someone."

Gardenia then hugged Marie and Marie gave Gardenia a quick kiss.

"Well," said Gardenia, "My situation was different, but you get the point."


The rest of the Wyndon Eye experience was great and everyone arrived back to the places they were staying for the night safely. Melony was staying at the hotel, and Hailey went with her mum, as she wanted to spend some time with her. Jonathan then offered to stay with Gordie at Leon's flat, joking that he kept his sleeping bag clean just for moments like this.

When everyone went to their respective homes and hotel, Sarah made sure that Gordie and Jonathan were situated in Leon's living room, with Gordie on the couch and Jonathan on the floor with a sleeping pad and a sleeping bag. Sarah was in the kitchen making sure Snom got his midnight snack of some Poke Puffs that were made for ice type Pokemon. It was a gift that Anne brought from Kalos. Snom was currently on his fifth one and looked like he could go for five more before bedtime. Cubchoo was asleep on the counter, her constant snot going in and out of her nose like a bubble waiting to pop.

"This is a nice place," commented Gordie as he sat on the couch.

"You didn't notice it last time?" said Leon, with an edge in his voice.

Leon had come down from the hallway, this time a sleepy Sobble chilling on his head. Sarah would have taken a picture of it, if it weren't for the imaginary daggers Leon was glaring at Gordie with.

"Okay, I get it. I shouldn't have done what I've done," said Gordie.

"If you bring out Coalassol again, I wouldn't hesitate to leave you outside," said Leon.

"Dude what?!" said Jonathan, ready to defend his brother.

"Jon, don't worry." said Gordie, "I almost wrecked his flat the last time I was here. I'm already pushing his limits on hospitality as it is."

Leon didn't say anything else. He nodded his head and moved on his crutches towards the balcony.

"Sare? Could you open the door for me?" asked Leon.

"Sure," said Sarah.

Sarah came over and opened the door for him. She then stopped Leon before he could exit.

"Could I get Sobble off your head? I don't want him to get bonked on the way out."

"Sure, that would be great," said Leon.

Sarah went on her tiptoes to reach Sobble and Leon tilted his head slightly to make it easier for her to get Sobble. Sobble had a firm grip on Leon's purple hair, but Sarah patiently coaxed Sobble's suction like hands off of his hair.

"Thanks," said Leon.

"No problem."

Sarah brought Sobble close to her like a baby with his head tucked close to her neck. Leon went out on the balcony and Sarah followed him. She went to stand beside him, looking out at the Wyndon skyline at night.

"It's good you came out here too, 'cause we need to talk," said Leon, "Rose got in contact with the reservation scientists."

Sarah's eyes widened and she turned to look at Leon.

"That's great," said Sarah, "When can we meet them?"

"The scientists want to meet tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" said Sarah in surprise, "So soon?"

"Rose told me that the moment the scientists at the reservations heard about Scorbunny, Sobble, and Grookey, they immediately requested to see them as soon as possible. Apparently, none of them are supposed to be outside reservation lines."

"Oh my Arceus," said Sarah, "They must have received such a shock to hear such news."

"I know," said Leon, "Rose wanted this meeting to happen the moment they arrived, but I told him you wouldn't get off work until later. I was able to get the meeting to be after your parents leave. We'll go to Rose Tower from the train station."

Sarah was shocked. She was taken aback at the lengths Leon must have gone to make sure that she could come and be there too.

"Don't worry, Rose was easy to convince. He's supportive of our…friendship in his own way."

"Oh, I'm sure," said Sarah sarcastically,

Sarah then cleared her throat and smiled at Leon, hoping that he realized her sarcasm was meant for the Chairman and not for him.

"But thank you Leon for making sure that I'll be able to go too."

"It's not a problem," said Leon, "You've been the one to take care of them the most. I'm sure the scientists would appreciate your input over mine."

Sarah looked up at the sky that was dark but had no stars due to the light pollution coming from Wyndon.

"What do you think will happen to them?" asked Sarah.

She looked down at the Sobble sleeping soundly. She remembered last night of her and Leon of helping Sobble, Grookey, and Scorbunny with whatever trauma was plaguing them. She comforted a distressed Sobble crying so hard that Sarah knew it was more than just the boogie man and soothed a Scorbunny who was rocking back and forth with a listless expression on her face. Leon had stopped Grookey from whacking himself with his stick. Sarah knew that whatever they went through was horrible if they were so distressed. Yet, the three of them seemed so happy to be with her and Leon. They even warmed up to her family in a short amount of time. Sarah was beginning to worry about what that would be like again for them to suddenly be separated from some comfort they had right now in their lives. Also, she didn't want to say it out loud, but she would miss the three of them terribly if they had to go.

"I don't know," said Leon, "I actually talked with your dad about it. He assured me that the scientists at these reservations truly care about the Pokémon they are caring for, including their mental health. "

"I'm glad Dad was able to reassure you. He's pretty good at networking and if it's Pokémon research and care, he'll definitely know them." said Sarah, "He's a pretty good judge of character."

Leon put his weight on his crutches, looking at Sarah and nodding along to what she was saying. There was silence between the two of them, but it was comfortable. Then there was a knock on the glass doors behind them, the two of them turned and saw that it was Jonathan holding out a squealing Snom at arm's length.

"Sarah? Sorry to interrupt your moment, but I tried to get Snom to stop eating the Poke Puffs, but he won't stop squealing because I locked them away in a cupboard."

Sarah's dad then came from behind Jonathan and tapped him on the shoulder. He was holding the sleeping Cubchoo in one of his arms and held out his free hand, indicating to Jonathan to hand over the Snom. The Snom was placed in Rick's hand and Rick held up the Snom to his face. The Snom immediately stopped squealing once it was face to face with Rick.

"Hello there," said Rick, "What ya squirming there for?"

"Snom! Snom!" complained Snom as it clasped his pincers together.

"Ah, you wanted to eat some more huh?" said Rick, "Well, I know those Poké Puffs are good, but if you wait until morning, I will make you something even better."

"Snom?!"

Rick smiled as Snom looked at him, eager to hear what Rick had to say next.

"Yes, I'll tell you about it. Come let's get you and your sister here to bed."

Rick then walked away, the Snom's eyes closed in contentment as Rick was chatting with Snom.

"I can see why Rick's an ice type specialist," said Leon.

"I'm sorry Sarah," said Jonathan, "I should be better at dealing with ice types, but I'm not."

"Jon, I've lived with my dad for most of my life and I still don't know how he does what he does," said Sarah, "He's literally going to give Snom some ice sprinkled with sugar tomorrow and Snom is going to eat it like it's some good curry. I know it because I've seen it. Dad knows how to talk it up like it's the best meal ever."

Jonathan sighed.

"I'm going to bed," said Jonathan, "I didn't sleep at all on the flight and I'm absolutely knackered. I want to be awake during the match tomorrow."

"But the exhibition match isn't tomorrow, it's the day after tomorrow," said Sarah.

"Oh, yeah, right." said Jonathan quickly, "I meant the one between Leon and Gordie."

Sarah then looked at Leon, who wasn't looking at her.

"Leon, since when did you have a match with Gordie planned?"

"Oh, it came up when they were touring the stadium. Sobble and the rest of them became really curious after the guide showed a video of one of my battles. The only way to calm them down afterward was Gordie promising them a battle. I just happened to be the most qualified to battle him in the room at the time, so there's a battle."

"But Leon, you're injured."

"Sare, we'll be doing it Kanto style. No dynamaxing at all and it'll be a short one as we can only put in one Pokemon."

"Leon, you'll need to run around to shout out the moves you want Charizard to do."

"Well between you and me…and Jonathan."

Jonathan had a startled look on his face and quickly said, "I think I should go."

"No stay." said Sarah, out of not wanting for Jonathan to feel like he was somehow a third wheel, "I trust Jonathan not to spill the beans. As long as it isn't an illegal maneuver or something."

"Thanks for the support Sare, but I'm on Gordie's side and I would ruin a good match with insider information," said Jonathan.

Jonathan then walked inside and got into his sleeping bag.

"I'm not using Charizard tomorrow, because that's too obvious," said Leon, "But I'm using another one of my Pokémon who has never failed me before.

"I don't doubt you or your Pokémon Leon," said Sarah, "It's just…"

"Just what?" said a new voice.

At that point, Gordie had come back into the living room, dressed in pajamas and his hair up in a man bun.

"It's just…your man bun's atrocious Gordie," said Sarah with a smirk.

Leon chuckled.

Gordie scoffed.

"What do you mean? I'm a fashion icon!" said Gordie, "We all know who has the worse sense of fashion."

Gordie then looked towards Leon and Leon scowled back at him.

"I'm going to bed," said Leon, "Also, Sare, you can invite your co-workers. The match will be in the afternoon at 1."

Leon then moved on his crutches to go inside. Gordie, stepped to the side to let him in.

"So," said Gordie, "I guess you heard about the match I have again Best tomorrow, right? Are you going to come?"

"Of course," said Sarah, "What kind of cousin would I be?"


A/N: And I'm back!

I apologize for not posting anything in May. Since I last posted I finished school, moved back home with my parents, and started my internship online. Being at home and doing an international internship online was a lot of adjustment and stress. There was stress at home because my brother got married last week and there was a lot of changing of plans due to COVID-19. But he's married now and we're happy about that!

I didn't write for a while because a lot was going on. Yet during the past month, GMPC was on my mind and I kept wanting to write it more.

I think that was good because I now have a spreadsheet on my computer dedicated to the storyline of GMPC.

I'm so glad to get this chapter out there! We get to meet Sarah's amazing family! Charice and Rick are awesome people along with their children and their partners. Marie is one of my favorites and I end up writing two separate one-shots about her. One about how she came out as a lesbian and the other about how she became friends with Wallace. Also, I hope the gym leader connections aren't too annoying. How Sean and Anne met was due to a rock-climbing expedition in Unova led by Grant. Marie met Gardenia because Fantina more or less set them up. I even was going to have the boy Jonathan was teasing Hailey about to be Bugsy (he would be 19, a year older than the twins), but I decided it would be too odd that the family knows so many of the gym leaders worldwide.

And yes. Piers and Sarah did meet during the gym challenges. I have a one shot about how they met and it's adorable! I have been actually writing a lot of one shots on the side about the different characters in GMPC and I'm going to be posting them little by little as I continue this main fanfic. Piers is my favorite character from Sword and Shield (sorry Leon, but a Rockstar gym leader is just super cool) and it's a shame that Gamefreak did not have at least a singing voice for Piers.

I know this a long author note and if you are still reading this, thank you for reading this chapter and the note too! I hope to have the next chapter posted soon!