"This is the most exciting day of my life!"
That was what Ryan said when Sarah invited her co-workers to come to the match between Gordie and Leon. Everyone on the team was shocked as Ryan was usually well-composed. It seemed that Ryan was a big fan of the gym challenge (Well they all were in some way, but it seemed that Ryan was a super fan.)
"Not even the day when your partner moved in with you?" said Adam dryly.
Ryan paused before saying, "Don't tell Nick I said that."
So that was how Sarah and her ten co-workers took their lunch break to go over to the practice fields at the Wyndon stadium. Everyone was bursting with excitement when they walked through the doors. The practice field was decorated to the bare minimum, with white walls, a floor with well-kept grass, and some stands high above the field. As they walked towards the stands, Sarah heard her co-workers whispering.
"Wait, is that Gardenia Sage?"
"And her girlfriend Marie Rowan is here too!
What?!"
"Who are the rest of the people in the stands?"
Sarah turned around at the last question and smiled nicely.
"Everyone in the stands is my family! Would you like to meet them?"
Some of her co-workers looked puzzled, but they all agreed that they would like to meet her family. As they walked up the stands, it was Sarah's parents who stood up first and came down. Her mum was holding Cubchoo in her arms while Snom was on her dad's head. Her dad put Snom on his shoulder before walking down the steps.
"Alola! My name's Rick Char. I'm Sarah's dad! It's a pleasure to meet you all!"
"Hello Mr. Char!" said Dmitri with a smile while the other co-workers said "Hi,"
"And I'm her mum Charice Voss. We have heard a lot from Sarah about what you all do, and I hope that everything's going well?"
"Oh yes, Ms. Voss! Everything's going alright!" said Katerina.
"Of course, Kat. We would be chaos without the schedules and due dates you set for us," teased Brian.
"Mum, Dad, let me introduce you to the best team in Galar!" said Sarah.
"Thanks, girl!" said Daisy.
Soon Sarah facilitated the introductions and they all climbed up the stairs to where everyone is sitting. As they got close, her co-workers were getting excited and nervous as they got closer to Gardenia playing pattycake with Grookey which caused Maia, the person whose work consisted of constantly checking for copyrights and privacy issues, to squeal. It was a shock to everyone especially her co-workers as Maia tended to keep quiet unless they had a problem with infringing on copyrights or someone's privacy.
"Sorry," said Maia.
"Oh, no need to worry about that! I also think this Grookey is very cute," said Gardenia
Gardenia walked towards the group, and Grookey ran beside her on the bench. He greeted everyone with a cry of "Groo-key!". When Grookey saw Sarah he jumped off the bench and ran towards her. He tugged on her pants and lifted up his arms.
"You want up? Alright!" said Sarah.
Sarah was beginning to pick him up when Cubchoo squirmed in her mum's arms and Snom began crawling down Rick's arm as fast as he could.
Rick laughed at the tickling sensation of Snom's walking feet on his arm and he lifted his arm up so Snom could be eye level with Sarah.
"I think they want up too," said Rick.
Sarah's mouth went in a straight line, but she picked up Grookey and then took Cubchoo from her mum. Cubchoo let out a brief of relief as her snot came dangerously close to falling all over Sarah's arm. Snom then leaped off of Rick's arm high in the air and was about to land on Sarah's face, but her dad caught him before that could happen.
"Snom, what did I saw about jumping like that," said her dad
Snom talked and it looked like he was pouting at that moment.
"Hmm… I thought so," said her dad, "Don't worry wait your turn and you'll get your chance."
Sarah's co-workers seemed to have forgotten that they hadn't talked to Marie Rowan yet because they were focused on the Pokemon.
"Are these the Pokemon you saved while protecting Leon from Abomnasnow with your bare hands?" asked Daisy.
"Well, some I found, and there's some that Leon found. Just to clarify, I saw Leon after he had the Abaomnasnow attack and I don't think I could have survived an angry one on my own," said Sarah, "Now where's Scorbunny and Sobble?"
As if on cue Scorbunny came running up the stairs, followed by a Ryan with a mobile phone and Natasha following behind yelling at him.
"I just got her to calm down!" said Natasha, "Do you know how long it took?"
"This is amazing!" said Ryan totally oblivious to his surroundings.
Scorbunny stopped in front of Sarah and gave her a hug on her left leg. Scorbunny then wiped her nose and looked around her and realized that there were more people. Scorbunny became nervous and ran to Rick and hid behind his leg.
"Come here little rabbit!" said Ryan.
"No," said Sarah, "She doesn't do well with people she doesn't know."
Ryan seemed that he wanted to protest but was cut off by Adam.
"Ryan, put down the phone," said Adam, "I rather no scare the poor Scorbunny. It looks like it'll pass out."
"It's important to get their consent before you take their photos," said Eve one of the team's content creators, "Wild or not it's proper courtesy. Anyone here can tell you that."
"But-," said Ryan.
"Sarah," said Katerina, "Can you introduce us to the rest of your family?"
Sarah did and introduced them to Sobble (who was hiding under Louis' baby carriage) Sean, Anne, Louis, Natasha, and Marie. Her co-workers were surprised to find out that Marie Rowan was her half-sister.
"How's that possible?" asked Brian, "She's white and you're not."
Sarah stiffened. She had gotten those comments a lot in her life whenever people found out she had a white half-sister. Even with Sean and Natasha, people would ask Sarah why she had a lighter skin tone then they did. It just seemed that no one could believe Sarah was related to her siblings.
"Well first off, Sare here is my half-sister through our mother," explained Marie, "My biological father was from Sinnoh and he was mixed race."
"Oh, that makes sense," said Brian, "Huh, what a modern family."
"Hey, guys! Look who just came in!" shouted Dmitri.
Everyone turned to see Leon walking in on his crutches with two other people. One of them was the Hammerlocke gym leader Raihan. Raihan was in his street clothes, with black jeans, a light blue bomber jacket, and white trainers. Raihan was laughing at something Leon said. There was also a black woman in a pink dress and grey jean jacket walking beside the two men that Sarah recognized instantly.
"Kate!" shouted Sarah.
Sarah luckily wasn't carrying any Pokémon at the time. She took off on a sprint to get on the field and greet her friend and roommate Kate by tackling her into a hug.
"Oof!" said Kate, "I thought Gordie and the Champion were supposed to battle today, not us!"
Sarah laughed and said, "I missed you!"
"I missed you too! Don't get me wrong it's been fun to have Marie and Gardenia over, but you were definitely missed," said Kate.
"I'm so glad you're here, but don't you have work?" asked Sarah.
"I believe that's my doing," said a new voice.
Sarah looked behind Kate to look at Raihan and then she had to crane her neck a bit to look at his face. She knew that Raihan was very tall, but actually being with Raihan in person made her realize how he would easily tower over anyone. It made it even more fitting that a Duralodon was the Gigantimax Pokemon he used in battle.
"It's nice to meet ya Sarah!" said Raihan, "I can't believe we haven't met yet with Gordie being your cousin, Piers our mutual friend, and the fact that you and Leon met at my birthday party! Also, you're the roommate to the best archive librarian in Hammerlocke!"
"Oh hush Raihan," said Kate, "It is strange how that happened, but did you know that Leon and Sarah actually met before your birthday?" said Kate with a smirk.
"What?!" said Raihan, "How do I not know this! No, I must have missed something. Is this true Sare? Wait, is it alright if I call you that?"
"Sure!" said Sarah, "I guess your friends with my best friend Kate here."
Raihan smiled.
"Yes," said Raihan, "As a loyal sponsor of Hammerlocke Archives and an amateur historian, I think I make Kate's work more interesting."
Kate rolled her eyes.
"Also, he also causes all the old people that work with me to ship me and him. They keep expecting him to ask me out! We're just friends!" said Kate.
Raihan shrugged.
"Can't help it that I have an effect on people."
"No, Raihan you just like the drama that comes from it."
During Kate and Raihan's banter, Leon had come over them and spoke directly at Sarah.
"Hello love, how was work?"
Sarah was surprised at Leon using a term of endearment, but let it slide as she was aware that it was all a part of acting like a couple. She didn't miss the look of surprise that Raihan and Kate shared as if to say, "When did this become a thing?". Sarah had told Kate about the contract and she guessed that Raihan knew about the contract from Leon.
"It's been good. Everyone was so excited to come so we worked hard so we could take the time to enjoy it. "
"Well, they seem happy to be here," said Leon.
Sarah turned around to see every one of her co-workers with their phones out, ready to take pictures. It seemed that Daisy was recording a video as she got everyone's attention and they all start to wave at the camera.
"It's not every day you get to see a gym match for free." said Gordie who had crossed the opposite of the field to the group, "Best, are you ready?"
"It looks like my chair arrived, but I think it won't be necessary as I'll be on my feet. How can I sit down during a battle?" said Leon.
Gordie smirked.
"As long as you don't fall flat on your face," said Gordie, "Just don't want you twisting another ankle on some rocks again."
"Annnnnnddddd I think that's it's time we go to the stands," said Raihan, "What do you say, ladies?"
"Of course, good sir!" said Kate putting on a posh accent.
"Ah! Thank you, my fair lady! Society insists I offer an arm to you." said Raihan in a ridiculous posh accent and then bowed to Kate.
Raihan and Kate then laughed while everyone else smiled despite not knowing what was going on. Sarah was surprised at how comfortable Kate and Raihan were around each other. Kate did mention that Raihan would sometimes visit the archives on Mondays as that was his day off from being a gym leader and some of the funny things he would say, but Sarah didn't realize that also meant that they became friends too. Sarah, Kate, and Raihan walked back at the stands while Raihan began a game of 20 questions so that he could get to know Sarah. He asked some basic ones such as favorite color and food, but Sarah had to laugh at the questions of whether she would want feet like a Corvinight or claws like a Crabrawler for the rest of her life. Sarah knew from the stories that Gordie and Piers had told her that it was always fun to be around Raihan. Raihan still continued the game when they got to the stands. The game stopped when the doors to the practice pitch swung open and Melony, Jonathan and Hailey walked in.
Everyone stared at the group, Sarah's co-workers began to whisper excitedly amongst each other about the ex-gym leader of Circhester being present. Raihan was the one only who acknowledged Melony.
"Melony!" shouted Raihan.
Melony looked at Raihan and gave him a wave.
Raihan went to greet Melony with a hug. Melony seemed pleased to see Raihan as she teased him about something. Raihan also talked with Jonathan and Hailey who seemed to be happy to talk to him. Sarah then turned to her friend Kate to talk with her.
"So," said Sarah, "I didn't know you and Raihan were good friends."
"Well, that's a recent thing," said Kate, "We would chat sometimes when he needing my help find a source or to get permission into some of the older things that we have in the Archives. He came up to me last week to confront me about how I knew you."
"Me?" asked Sarah.
"He found your Instagram profile," said Kate, "Since it's public, he found me in some of your pictures and was surprised to find out that I'm your roommate. He said that he found out during a recent trip to the Unova region and was mad that he couldn't call me and ask me about it. It's was actually kind of amusing to see him be so frustrated about it! Like woah, chill! It's not the end of the world!"
"Couldn't he have slid into your DMs?" asked Sarah.
"You know me," said Kate, "I only have social media to see what my friends are doing. That's not the best way to reach me."
Sarah wanted to ask more questions as she was curious to know how much Raihan found out about her through Kate, but then she heard the chatter of some Pokémon which made her focus on the five baby Pokémon. Cubchoo, Snom, Scorbunny, Sobble, and Grookey had all ventured down to the bottom of the stands. They clung on the safety railing, wanting to get as close as possible to the action as they could.
"Hey, I got an idea, would you like to meet my new Pokémon?" said Sarah.
"Um, yes! Why wouldn't I?"
After Kate was introduced, she and Sarah decided they would join the little ones. Sarah sat to the right while Kate sat to the left. Grookey seemed to be excited to meet someone new while Cubchoo crawled right into Sarah's lap and then clapped her paws together in excitement.
"Blimey," said Dmitri, "They all really like you."
"It's so cute!" said Maia, "Also, it's cool that you have a way with Pokémon. Wait, is that Sobble coming towards me?"
And yes. Sobble was walking towards her and when he stopped, he looked up at Maia.
"Maia," said Sarah, "Don't fangirl right now. Sobble is very cautious and gets spooked at fast motions or loud noises."
Maia nodded her head, but her facial expression showed how she was so happy right now. Sobble played with the aglet of one of her shoelaces and looked up to see Maia's beaming face. Sobble then let out a noise before deciding to head back. Maia let out a breath that she was holding before saying quietly:
"Darn, I didn't take a picture."
"That's okay, I got it on my video," said Daisy, "I can airdrop the clip to you later."
"Thanks!" said Maia.
Raihan had come back over to the group. Sarah's co-workers kept their cool around the Dragon gym leader, but he smirked as if he knew that deep on the inside, they were all freaking out at seeing him.
"Hey Sare, Kate, can I sit with you?" asked Raihan.
"Sure!" said Sarah and Kate simultaneously.
"Hmm…" said Raihan, "I think some Pokemon want the front row, so I'll sit behind you. Hello there, is the seat by you taken?
The question was directed towards Maia, who took her small backpack from beside her and gestured at the open space. Raihan sat down and stretched out his legs. He conversed with Maia a bit asking about who she was and what she did for work while everyone else on the social media team pretended not to listen in but failed, their faces gave it away. A sound of a microphone being turned on caught everyone's attention. A man in an official league referee uniform cleared his throat before he spoke into the microphone.
"Welcome family and friends of the Circhester gym leader Gordie and the Champion of Galar Leon! Today we will be holding a practice match and I'll be the one to referee it. Some rules have been set. First off, this match will be done in Kanto style. That means there is no Gigantimaxing or Dynamxing allowed. Second, one Pokémon will be used. Both trainers have submitted their choice to me beforehand and I have checked to make sure no cheats have been used. Third, a temporary barrier has been set up on the ring to ensure that both trainers will not receive any damage. Trainers! Are you ready?"
"Yes!" shouted Leon.
Gordie nodded his head and pushed up his sunglasses.
"And we begin in one…two...THREE!"
Leon sat down in a chair and did an underhand throw of an Ultra ball as Gordie did a backflip while throwing out his Pokeball. There was a loud clicking sound, followed by a wooshing sound as the Pokemon appeared on the pitch. Gordie had let out his Tyranitar who roared causing everyone in the stands to cheer. Leon had let out his Haxorus, who stomped on the ground before shaking its head.
"What, no Charizard?!" said Ryan.
"Lee has more Pokémon than his Charizard mate!" shouted Raihan.
Everyone laughed and Ryan seemed a little embarrassed. It certainly wasn't his day and was making a fool of himself.
"Haxorus!" shouted Leon, "Sting him!"
"Tyranitar! Show them the strength of a pseudodragon!" shouted Gordie.
Tyranitar roared again as Haxorus ran towards him. Haxours' claws began to drip with dark purple poison. Before Haxorus could reach Tyarnitar, Tyranitar stopped his right foot hard into the ground causing the ground beneath to rumble until a big rock came out and punched Haxorus in its face. Haxours screeched and slashed at the rock with its head. The Haxorus successfully cut on the rock before Tyranitar did his next move, Ice Beam.
"No!" shouted Maia behind Sarah, "This is bad!"
"Ice types are a Dragon's weakness," commented Daisy as if she was in the stadium's commentator booth, "Praise Lord Helix 'cause Haxorus is taking that attack like a champ!"
"But will it be enough for the Axe Jaw Pokemon?!" asked Dmitri in his presenter's voice he put on for the Youtube channel.
Haxorus indeed took the Ice Beam head-on. Ice particles were lodged into its metallic scales. Despite this, Haxorus pressed on forward, letting out a cry and swiped at the Tyranitar. The Tyranitar twisted away, but Haxorus was still able to slash Tyranitar's side. The slash combined with poison created three wounds that were bubbling with a purple gooey poison.
"Good work Haxorus!" shouted Leon, who was standing up, careful not to put his weight on the foot with the healing ankle.
"Shake it off T-tar!" shouted Gordie.
Tyranitar moaned, but he shook and stomped. It caused the walls around them to vibrate. Leon collapsed back into his chair, wincing on impact, but shouted for his Haxorus to stay close and be careful.
The Pokémon on the stands had various reactions to what was going on. Grookey and Snom were making noise clapping their hands and pincers respectively. Scorbunny was jumping up and down causing burn marks on the metal of the stands. Sobble was quietly observing but occasionally squirted water on Scorbunny's feet to stop it from jumping a hole through the stand. Cubchoo seemed to be nervous, as it hid her head in her paws. Sarah whispered to the Cubchoo, reassuring her that it will be alright, this battle was for fun and the Pokemon will be taken to be healed after it's all over.
On the pitch, Gordie was smirking and spun around in the air with a high kick before landing. He pushed his glasses down to look at Leon.
"Are you ready to give up Best?!" shouted Gordie.
Leon was standing up, using one crutch as he leaned on his good foot. His face was scrunched up in concentration with his mouth in a grimace.
"C'mon Leon!" shouted Raihan impatiently, "Hurry up and win! I'm the one who should break your winning streak not him!"
If Leon had heard Raihan's shout, he didn't acknowledge it.
"Haxorus! Let's shake things up! Get ready to rumble!" shouted Leon.
Gordie shouted to Tyranitar to do another Ice Beam, but it was too late. Haxorus stood tall and spun around and landed with a big stomp as it smacked its tail hard on the ground. Soon the whole pitch was shaking. The stands were sturdy, but they still vibrated a lot. Sarah quickly grabbed Scorbunny who almost fell over the railing in surprise and looked over to see that Kate had grabbed Grookey and had saved him from falling on the pitch. Snom used his silk to create a stick web that connected him to the stands. Sobble braced for the impact, by staying low and using his suction cup like digits to anchor himself.
"Hang in their big boy!" shouted Gordie.
Tyrantiar looked dazed and confused, wobbling back and forth. When Tyranitar locked eyes on Haxorus, he took a step forward, but then winced. The second of hesitation was enough for Leon to grin as he let out the next command.
"Haxorus! Iron Tail!"
Haxorus's tail began to glow with a silver sheen and Haxorus swung it around quickly. As the tail came close to Tyranitar, Haxorus let out a screech that echoed against the walls of the practice pitch. A loud clinging noise followed as the move made contact on Tyranitar's body. Tyranitar roared in pain as it fell on the ground. This time, Tyranitar couldn't get up off the ground from the powerful Iron Tail move. He writhed from the poison Haxorus inflicted upon him earlier. That was when Tyranitar got knocked out as he splayed out on his stomach awkwardly and his eyes looking dazed.
"Tyranitar return!"
Tyranitar returned to his Pokéball as everyone clapped and cheered. The referee seemed to be happy as it declared Leon the winner. Haxorus walked back over to Leon who gave it a hug.
Haxorus looked over at the crowd and then looked straight at Sarah, before pointing at her and talking to Leon. Leon said something back to Haxorus and went to get his other crutch before coming to the stands. Sarah turned her head to the left to see that Gordie was about to leave the pitch, but her family had come to talk to him. Melony reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off before slamming the door open on his way to the locker room. Sarah frowned as she wondered what happened.
"Now let's give it up for the champion of Galar!"
Dmitri's shout along with her coworkers' cheers brought Sarah's focus to what was happening in front of her which was Leon waving to everyone before stopping in front of Sarah.
"Amazing battle to the both of you!" said Sarah.
Haxorus preened as Leon smiled.
"Thanks," he said.
"No problem," said Sarah.
Haxorus then looked at Leon and tilted its head to the side.
"Oh sorry. Haxorus this is my girlfriend Sarah."
Haxorus let out a startled noise, before lumbering over to Sarah. Cubchoo got so startled that she sneezed, and her snot ended up on Haxorus' face. Haxorus reared back in surprise, but Leon was soon comforting Haxorus.
"Easy there, girl," said Leon, "Stand still and we'll get you cleaned up."
The referee grabbed a towel from the table by the water fountain as he rushed to give it to Leon. Leon was trying to balance on his crutches while cleaning the face of a disgruntled Haxorus. Raihan had come down to the pitch at some point offering to help Leon. Leon declined so Raihan took a step back.
"Haxorus, I'm so sorry," said Sarah.
Haxorus snorted, whether it was a response to Leon wiping the snot off her face or to Sarah's apology, it wasn't clear. After Haxorus' face was cleaned, she looked at Cubchoo and her eyes softened. Cubchoo trembled, but Haxrous said something that caused the Cubchoo to calm down. Cubchoo even let out sounds to indicated she wasn't nervous anymore around Haxours. Haxorus came over and soon was close enough for Haxorus to pat her hand on Sarah's knee and to look at her closely.
"She's saying thank you for saving me," said Leon.
Sarah nodded her head. Haxorus beamed and then walked back over to Leon. She made a hand motion and Leon grabbed the Ultra ball from the pocket of his joggers and let Haxorus return. Leon looked at Sarah, but the eye contact was broken when Raihan slung his arm around Leon's shoulders.
"Now then," said Raihan, "What's next?"
Sarah and her co-workers went back to work, but it seemed that all they could talk about was the match they saw. The battle was short but exciting. It was interesting for Sarah to see how her co-workers broke down the battle based on their skill. Adam and Brian, along with the photographers were talking about the best angle to capture Haxorus doing the move Earthquake. Daisy and Dmitri were speaking a mile a minute. Ryan who had posted footage on social media was counting off the views and sharing the comments people left. Eve and the other content creator were talking about potential posts they could create to hype up the upcoming gym challenge. Maia and Katerina seemed the only one focused on work but would comment every once in a while, about something someone said. By the end of the day, everyone was happy and looking forward to tomorrow as it was the exhibition match tomorrow.
"Now make sure to go home and get rest everyone," said Katerina, "We have a big day tomorrow."
"Yes," said Sarah, "I think we're ready for tomorrow and I can't wait to work on our first match together."
The rest of the team agreed.
"Thanks for invited us to the match, Sarah," said Maia, "It was a lot of fun!"
"Well, it was Leon who told me that you were all welcomed to go," said Sarah, "I'm glad you all came!"
"Wow, that certainly makes me feel special," said Ryan.
Everyone looked at him wondering if Ryan was being sarcastic or not.
"I'm serious! It's an honor to be invited by the champion to watch him battle," said Ryan.
"That's because his girlfriend works with us," said Brian.
"Well, I have to head out to get my parents to the train station," said Sarah, "I'll see you all tomorrow bright and early at the stadium."
"Bye Sarah!" said everyone.
Sarah walked quickly back to Leon's flat building that was only a ten-minute walk away from her work. As she walked, she heard the sound of a thousand shutters go off. She continued walking ahead of her, afraid to see how many of the paparazzi were following her. She ignored the people walking in the opposite direction looking confused and trying to figure out why she had a press entourage. Sarah couldn't help but think that if she weren't the champion's girlfriend she would be walking home peacefully without worry. When she arrived at the lobby, she could have hugged Remi who already had Growlithes out to keep back the press.
"First time having the paparazzi follow you?" asked Remi.
"No, but it's the first time for them to follow me and only me," said Sarah.
The elevator opened and it was Leon, her parents, and the baby Pokemon.
"Monsieurs et madames, your ride will be arriving here shortly!" said Remi, "I just got a call from Macro Cosmos!"
The ride to the train station was uneventful, besides the fact that they went through the back entrance onto the station floor to attract the least amount of attention. They said goodbye to Sarah's parents along with the Cubchoo and Snom. Sarah would have loved to have taken them with her, but she did not have the time to give them the care she needed. Her dad agreed with her and decided to bring them to his lab where they would be taken care of and get to be in eternal winter, the environment they thrived in the best.
Since Leon decided it would be best to wait in the car with Marcus the Macro Cosmos worker who had come to pick them up, it was only Sarah, Scorbunny, Sobble, and Grookey who went to say goodbye. Sarah stood on the platform, waving at the train her parents were on until it disappeared. Sarah had also brought the Sobble, Scorbunny, and Grookey with them and they were sad to see them go, but they still gave Cubchoo and Snom hugs and said their goodbyes When they got back to the car. Sarah and Leon sat in the back while the Pokemon sat in between them.
"Off to meet the scientists," said Marcus.
The drive was to the University of Wyndon which also happened to by Sarah' alma mater. The location was a surprise as Leon and Sarah expected the meeting to be at Rose Tower, but Marcus explained that the reservation scientists needed the facilities the university offered to observe the Pokemon. Sarah looked out the window as she recognized some of the buildings. She did point out the Communication building to Leon where she spent hours researching media trends and editing videos for homework. When they arrived, Sarah recognized it to be the Biological Sciences building. Her dad would often be a guest lecturer here and she would meet up with him after he was finished to grab some food before he headed back to Circhester.
The building was lit up and quiet as they went in. Marcus led Sarah, Leon, and the Pokemon to the back and opened a light blue door with a sign saying "Observation Lab" in black letters. As Marcus opened the door they were greeted by several people in lab coats, their Indeedee assistants, Chairman Rose and Oleana. The most out of place person there was a man in a brown trench coat and a Rillaboom. The Rillaboom hurried over to them and Grookey ran up to the Rillaboom who picked him up and held him close.
"Don't worry!" said one of the scientists, "This Rillaboom is this Grookey's grandfather."
Sarah and Leon looked at each other in surprise.
The Grookey had a grandfather?
"Grookey!"
The shout came from a small boy who appeared behind the scientist that was previously speaking. Grookey seemed to be excited to see the boy as much as the boy was to see him. Rillaboom let his grandson down to be reunited with his human friend.
The boy picked up Grookey and held him close
"I'm so glad you're okay!" said the little boy with tears in his eyes, "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, but I'm so glad you're safe!"
Grookey let out a noise of agreement and was trying to wipe the boy's tears away.
"What a touching moment!" said Rose.
Most of the scientists looked at Rose with a brief look of frustration, but then focused on Leon and Sarah. The first to introduce himself was Dr. Everton who was over the reservation of the Grookey line that was located north of Turffield. The second was an older man who seemed to be quite nervous as he kept wiping his glasses. He was able to spit out that he was Dr. Hill over the Sobble line reservation in the marshlands close to the southern farming villages. The third was a woman named Dr. Barton who was over the newest of the reservations, this one being for the Scorbunny line that was located in the hot deserts surrounding Stow-On-Side.
Everyone then turned in the room to look at the man in the trench coat whose face seemed to be stuck in a frown and had yet to say a word. After a few moments of silence, the man finally spoke.
"I guess I need to introduce myself. My name is Looker. I'm a part of the International Police. Now, can you tell me how exactly you found these three Pokémon?"
A/N: First things first, thank you for the guest reviewer who keeps diligently posting reviews to my little fanfic! (I assume it's the same one, but if there's more than one this is for you too!). I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. I'm glad you are excited when a new chapter comes out!
This was my first time writing a Pokemon battle. I hope that it was clear and that it made sense. I think that gym leaders and champions like Gordie and Leon would not call out every move by their name and wait their turn for the Pokemon to attack. It's a live fight so it goes quickly, and a split decision can change who wins and loses quickly.
Did you know that Haxorus is the only female Pokemon on Leon's team? I didn't know that until I looked up Leon's team on Bulbapedia. Since I have Iris as Leon's cousin, it's my personal headcanon that Iris gave Leon the Haxorus as a gift at some point when Haxorus was a little Axew. Haxorus is probably the youngest member on Leon's team too. Also, the Pokedex entry for Haxorus (don't know which game or anime episode off the top of my head) says that Haxorus is a friendly Pokemon. She was super excited to meet Sarah as she heard about her from Leon, Charizard, Sesmitoad, and Aegislash and wanted to meet her. Haxorus also has a soft spot for little Pokemon and goes out of her way to make them feel comfortable around her.
Also, I gave more names to the coworkers, and yes, I self-inserted myself as one of them. Why not? I won't appear to much in the fic, but I thought it would be fun. I'm not sure if a copyright checker would be part of a social media team, but I could imagine with something of a massive deal like the Gym League in Galar would want to make sure that they don't end up overstepping straight into a legal issue. I hope the naming the coworkers won't throw anyone off. Sarah's going to be working with them a lot in later chapters and I wanted some names applied to the people on the social media team.
Raihan's here! Yay! Truth be told, I wasn't impressed by him in game, but I think us fans have done a lot to give him a personality with our headcanons. I hope that I capture Raihan in a way that makes sense to all of you. Also, we got to meet Kate! She's going to appear later as she's going to be super helpful later on considering she works at Hammerlocke's archives for a living.
It's sad to have Cubchoo and Snom out of the fic for now. They have been fun to write. The Cubchoo who is super sweet, but timid and the Snom who is super sassy and knows it. I'll probably bring them back later. Sarah is going to be busy and those two need to grow up a bit before they can join Sarah later in the fic.
The last thing I want to write about here is Looker. Why didn't GameFreak put him in the Sword and Shield games? Corrupt sports league combined with a powerful energy company seems something the Looker would want to investigate. Especially since I have set this fic in a world that has experienced the events of the other mainline games in the past two decades. The International Police is on their toes now when something slightly suspicious happens. We'll find out a little bit more about what he is investigating exactly in the next chapter.
I hope everyone is safe and well wherever you are! Thanks for reading! Leave a comment if you want to let me know what you thought about this chapter.
