"Mr. Looker wasn't the report the Chairman and I gave you sufficient?" asked Oleana.
Looker frowned.
"Yes, I read through it, but I would like to hear it from these two themselves," said Looker.
Oleana furrowed her eyebrows. Dr. Everton then cleared his throat before speaking
"Also, I hope I'm not interrupting, but my collogues and I are more concerned about the health of the Pokémon. I know for example that the Champion here found Grookey defending himself against multiple Sneasel before saving him."
Rillaboom, who had been watching over his grandson looked towards Leon and Sarah and walked over to them. Even though he could not speak in words, Rillaboom seemed eager to hear from Leon and Sarah too as it had a concerned look on his face and started fiddling with his wooden drumsticks nervously.
"Don't worry Rillaboom, my Charizard and I protected your grandson. He's been doing fine since then," said Leon.
"Could we get the report previously mentioned?" asked Sarah.
Chairman Rose grabbed a paper from a nearby table and reached out to hand it over to Sarah who took the report. She read it as Leon looked over her shoulder. Yes, it was about what happened to them, but told in a dry summarized manner. Nothing about the wellbeing of the Pokémon except that, "They are doing fine." Sarah wanted to roll her eyes at that as it was obvious to her that there was still some trauma they were suffering from even if they were healing physically.
"Mr. Looker, I think you want us to go more in detail on what happened, is that correct?" asked Sarah.
Looker nodded.
"Well, I will be more than willing to answer your questions," said Sarah, "What about you Leon?"
Sarah looked towards Leon, wanting him to give his consent.
"Of course, I understand that in the details you can get the information you need to care for the Pokémon," said Leon acknowledging the doctors
Leon then looked towards Looker and Leon's expression changed from being empathetic to being puzzled.
"But I'm confused about why you are here Mr. Looker. The policemen we met in Wyndon said they would investigate the situation, but it seems that this is no ordinary situation if the International Police is here."
"How insightful of you Champion of Galar," said Looker, "I was called here shortly after the arrest of the people for the abduction of these baby Pokémon. It turns out there's a smuggling ring here in Galar. Even worse, I believe it to be the work of Team Rocket."
Sarah was stunned. She remembered when she was in primary school hearing about that evil organization from Kanto focused on stealing Pokémon from anywhere and anyone. She remembered her father discussing with fury at dinner about how cruel and ruthless Team Rocket treated any human or Pokémon that stood in their way. Those dinner discussions were now a thing of the past as Team Rocket hadn't been in action for years since Champion Red took them down. Sarah then remembered something that Hau had told her that had happened to him and his friends after his island trials.
"It's not Team Rainbow Rocket, is it?" asked Sarah.
"No, it's not Ms. Char, but how do you know about Team Rainbow Rocket?" asked Looker.
"I have family from Alola, they knew the people that took down Team Rainbow Rocket," said Sarah.
"Anyone I know?" asked Looker.
"Not sure," said Sarah
Sarah wondered if Hau and his friends had to work closely with Looker to take down Team Rainbow Rocket and it was very confidential. He let it slip when she called to confirm her family was safe from Ultra Beasts attacks. He begged her to never repeat about Team Rainbow Rocket taking over the Aether Foundation to anyone. Yet Sarah was curious about whether or not the baby Pokémon were connected to that form of Team Rocket.
"Hmm…, I still would like to know their names to confirm that I can trust you," said Looker.
"You can trust her," said Leon
Sarah grabbed Leon's cape gently as he took a step forward towards Looker. Leon stopped and looked at her, and Sarah shook her head to tell him to stop. She appreciated that Leon wanted to protect her but now was not the time.
"Hau Kekoa," said Sarah.
Looker lifted one eyebrow in surprise.
"Yes, I know him. Grandson of the kahuna of Melemele. How interesting," said Looker.
"I know my cousin wasn't supposed to tell me, but it was only a sentence—"
"Your cousin is a very honest person and immediately reported to one of my colleagues. It was the only time he revealed anything, and he made sure he kept quiet after that. The presence of Team Rainbow Rocket was kept under wraps as Alola was facing a UB attacks at the time and having the evil team there just made it worse. Alola wouldn't have been able to make it through two kinds of takeovers at once. Since we heard of no spread of this information in Galar, we thought we would be fine. No point in sending more agents if no one was talking about something confidential. I just hope the rest of you can keep quiet about it. You'll all sign non-disclosure agreements before you leave."
Everyone else nodded their heads. Sarah was still suspicious why the International Police had not told the public about Team Rainbow Rocket, but she knew that it was best to not push these things. The International Police certainly had dealt with many of the evil organizations throughout various regions in the past twenty years. They should know what they were doing by now.
"Granddaughter to a kahuna," said Chairman Rose to himself before turning to Oleana, "Oleana, did you know that?"
"Grandniece actually," corrected Leon.
Looker said nothing else and Dr. Barton spoke up.
"As interesting it is to discuss the past of Alola, we need to get the information of the Pokémon now.
We need to do a health check-up on them, but we need the details of injuries, trauma, and symptoms they have experienced."
"Miss Char can help you with that Champion Leon can stay here and answer questions from the detective," said Oleana.
"Sounds good, miss," said Dr. Hill with a stutter
Leon and Sarah didn't say anything, but Marcus was already pulling a chair from the other side of the room, and the doctors and their Indeedee were quickly exiting into another room that looked like a care facility of some sort. The son of Dr. Everton followed his father with Grookey happily trailing behind him. Scorbunny and Sobble looked scared to follow him into the unknown. Rillaboom was trying to help them, but it wasn't helping as Sobble trembled and his mouth wobbled. Scorbunny hugged Sobble to prevent him from crying. Sarah walked over and scooped them up and Sarah could hear the two of them let out breaths of relief.
"Rillaboom?" said Dr. Everton peaking his head around the door, "Do you want to come with us? Or stay to hear what the champion has to say?"
"Ril-ril-rilla-boom," said the Rillaboom point towards Leon with one of his drumsticks.
"Okay, I'll just doing a check-up on your grandson and let you know about the results," said Dr. Everton, "Now don't do anything rash."
Rillaboom snorted.
"Rillaboom," warned Dr. Everton.
Rillaboom groaned but nodded his head and lumbered over to where Leon was sitting. Sarah heard a yelp of surprise as Rillaboom decided to sit on the ground next to Leon and started sniffed at his cape.
"Don't worry about your boyfriend Ms. Char, Rillaboom is just really curious about the people who saved his grandson," said Dr. Everton.
"Will he need to sniff at my jacket too?" asked Sarah.
Dr. Everton laughed.
"Oh! There's no need. Rillaboom knows that humans aren't used to sniffing each other out and does respect that. He's just curious about the cape. But trust me, Rillaboom will bring no harm to the champion," said Dr. Everton, "Rillaboom knows the rules and that we got special permission to bring him here despite not being in a Pokéball. He won't do anything to jeopardize that."
Sarah still glanced over her shoulder and saw that Leon was talking to the Rillaboom. Leon seemed to be fine talking to the grass ape and Sarah felt better following Dr. Everton into the care facility. The care facility was filled with the equipment to house a typical Pokémon Center. It was probably where students got their lab hours taking care of the Pokémon their professors trusted with them. Grookey was already sitting on one of the smalls beds playing patty cake with Dr. Everton's son.
"John Paul, could you bring Grookey to this table over here?" asked Dr. Everton.
John Paul rolled the little bed over to a shiny metal table that Dr. Everton was laying supplies on. Dr. Everton grabbed a blanket from the table and wrapped Grookey in it before he set Grookey on the table.
"A blanket is important with young Pokémon John Paul. It keeps them warm not only from the room temperature but the tables. They seem to absorb the cold." said Dr. Everton, "We need to ensure that the young Pokémon feel as comfortable as possible."
As John Paul nodded, Sarah was reminded of herself when she was younger when her father would take her to his laboratory and explain how to care for Ice type Pokémon. She was glad to see that Dr. Everton was letting his son in on his work.
"Now, what's the first step in assessing the care needs of a Pokémon?" asked Dr. Everton.
"If there's a trainer, ask the trainer about what happened. If not, have Tate figure it out for you," said John Paul.
"Indeedee," said Dr. Everton's male Indeedee whom Sarah assumed was 'Tate'.
"Good, now let's ask Ms. Char over here what happened," said Dr. Everton.
"You can call me Sarah," said Sarah.
"Okay…Sarah…what happened?" asked John Paul.
"Sorry to interrupt this educational lesson, but Dr. Hill and I want to begin checking up on Scorbunny and Sobble now too." said Dr. Barton, "Now come here."
Dr. Barton reached out for Scorbunny who swatted her hand away. Dr. Barton tried to reach out to her again, but Sarah stopped her.
"Scorbunny won't hesitate to bite when threatened. Also, you're distressing Sobble," said Sarah.
"Oh dear, I'm glad I brought my goggles," said Dr. Hill
Sobble then started to cry which resulted in everyone crying except for Dr. Hill who had put on his googles quickly.
"This is ridiculous!" wailed Dr. Barton, "Stop it!"
Sobble cried for a minute before it subdued down to a few tears. He was still sniffling after Sarah wiped down his face, but he seemed to be fine now.
"I have an idea," said Dr. Hill, "Why don't we have these two look at how Grookey gets inspected? That way they know we bring them no harm."
"That sounds like a great idea!" said Dr. Everton.
"You couldn't have mentioned it sooner?" asked Dr. Barton.
Soon Dr. Everton began his checkup on Grookey. After getting information from Sarah on what happened to Grookey, Dr. Everton began to look closely at the Grookey's fur. The scratches were healing, and blood pressure and other vitals were normal. After that Grookey was good to go. Scorbunny was up next and she hopped onto the table in front of Dr. Everton, waiting to get checked up.
"Dr. Everton if you could move aside," said Dr. Barton.
Scorbunny looked towards Dr. Everton with a pleading expression.
"Dr. Barton, you can certainly join us, but I think Scorbunny will feel better if I were to assist you," said Dr. Everton.
Dr. Barton huffed, but she agreed to let Dr. Everton stay by her. After questioning Sarah on what happened, Dr. Barton focused on examining the Scorbunny. It was hard to see what was happening, but afterward, Scorbunny seemed fine and hopped to stand next to Grookey who was on a nearby counter, waiting the whole time. Next up was Sobble. Dr. Hill kept his goggles on and put on a pair of black gloves. As Sarah set Sobble down, Sobble splayed out his legs refusing to go on the table despite there being a blanket. Dr. Hill reached out slowly and stroked Sobble's back. Sobble instantly relaxed and allowed the doctor to set him on the table.
"Woah!" said Sarah.
"It's something that mothers of little Sobbles do," said the doctor, sounding very confident.
Dr. Hill then remembered something unpleasant and grimaced. He began Sobble's check-up while speaking to Sarah, his stutter coming back. He was able though to get what happened to Sobble from her and made sure to check on Sobble's concussion which he determined that Sobble had recovered when Dr. Hill was finished there was a knock on the door. It was Marcus asking about the progress of the check-ups.
Once the doctors cleared their patients, Tate the Indeedee led Scorbunny, Sobble, and Grookey to the observation room with playthings that had a huge glass window separating it from the main room. They could all still see the Pokémon and it gave the humans and Rillaboom some privacy to talk amongst themselves. Detective Looker wanted to hear Sarah's perspective and after she finished Looker nodded his head and frowned even more.
"What I'm about to tell you next is what my team and I have found out so far." said Looker, "You might want to sit down from this."
Looker only waited a few moments before going into what he would say next.
"On the day the Champion and Ms. Char came back to Wyndon. The Wyndon Police Force received a call from a nearby town asking for help as a plane had crashed. Several police officers went to the scene and were overwhelmed at the plane crash. It turns out there was a lot of Pokémon on the plane, many injured and some did not survive. There was a group of Nurse Joys attending to the Pokémon. The local police also dragged out the pilot and brought him to a local clinic to attend to his wounds. The pilot was unconscious, but when he woke up, he attempted to escape. The doctors were worried and thought the pilot was confused. The local police came over later to question him as not only did he have a forged pilot's license, but that he was transferring many Galarian Pokémon that had been reported missing from nurseries and reservations. That's when they were able to get a confession from the pilot. He was smuggling out the Pokémon to Kalos where he would be paid well for the Pokémon. Unfortunately, he couldn't say much about his employer as they took great care to conceal themselves to strike a deal with him."
Chairman Rose stood up, his chair falling behind him.
"Impossible! How could this happen?!" said the Chairman.
"My team and I have concluded some of the more obvious facts Chairman," said Looker, not fazed by the Chairman's outburst, "Galar is the region with the strictest laws regarding the transportation of Pokémon. It can take months for even a well-known trainer from another region to make sure they can bring in their Gible or Rockruff during a weeklong vacation. Also, in some social circles having a Galarian Pokémon is a sign of status as it means you had the time and money to obtain one."
The doctor's expression all looked similar, first, it was shock and then rage.
"This is terrible!" shouted Dr. Hill
"We must put a stop to this!" shouted Dr. Barton.
"This is why the International Police is here in Galar now. We are doing an investigation and it turns out that this is not the first case. We have also been working with our colleagues in Kalos as they maybe track the original destination for these Pokémon. We hope to find clues to who's behind the smuggling." said Looker
"Bloody Kalosians," muttered John Paul.
Dr. Everton hugged his son.
"John Paul, not all Kalosians are evil," said Dr. Everton, "I trust that there are people who are against the kidnappings as we are."
"Dr. Everton," said Looker, "From my understanding, your son saw the people that took the Grookey away. His reactions are understandable."
Dr. Everton nodded in response and John Paul looked at the detective, trying to hold back tears.
"Are you going to make sure Grookey is never taken away from me again?" asked John Paul.
Looker nodded before kneeling before John Paul.
"I can see how shaken you are from your encounter. I will need to know more about this, but I will ask you another day. If that's alright with your father."
"Thank you, detective, for being willing to give John Paul time to speak later," said Dr. Everton.
"It's not a problem. I understand that sometimes it's best to give people space. Believe me, I know," said Looker.
Looker than got up, looking like he was somewhere else. He blinked quickly before coming back to the present and addressing the group again.
"Now, does anyone have any questions?" asked Looker.
The doctors were the first to ask Looker about the state of the Pokémon from the plane crash and what kinds they were. Looker said that besides being native the Galar, one common trait was them being able to Gigantimax.
"I don't know much about this giganto mode-"
"Gigantimax," interrupted Oleana, "It's similar to Dynamax when due to a special energy source in Galar, Pokémon briefly change forms. They grow to become on average the size of a three-story building. Gigantimax includes a complete change appearance, but that only happens most often in the final evolution stage. Only Eevee and Pikachu are the only non-final stage Pokémon to have a Gigantimax form."
"Oleana here was one of the leading scientists on Dynamxing and co-created the Dynamax band with me," explained Chairman Rose.
"I apologize for my ignorance. Thank you for the explanation," said Looker.
"You know," said Chairman Rose, "Why don't you come to the match tomorrow?"
"I'm sorry, what?" said Sarah out loud, surprised at the Chairman's sudden invitation.
Looker looked annoyed as he answered.
"I'm sorry Chairman, but now's not the appropriate time to discuss watching a battle."
Chairman Rose laughed.
"Oh sorry, I got carried away! I will talk to you later about it after all of this," said the Chairman with an easy smile.
"Detective Looker," said Sarah, "What will happen to Scorbunny, Sobble, and Grookey?"
"We'll bring them to their proper homes," said Dr. Barton.
Sarah felt a twinge in the heart. She was going to miss the three baby Pokémon.
"Has anyone told them that?" asked Leon.
The doctors were silent.
"Well," said Dr. Barton looking surprised, "I guess we need to do that."
Scorbunny, Sobble, and Grookey were then led into the room. Scorbunny rushed over to Sarah and hopped into her lap, while Sobble plodded to Leon. Grookey went to his grandfather and started to chat with him. Rillaboom explained something to Grookey which caused Grookey to shout and soon Rillaboom was shouting back. Everyone in the room become scared at the sudden change of mood. Tate the Indeedee looked towards Dr. Everton with a furrowed brow and pensive expression. Sarah assumed that Tate was using his psychic powers to act as a translator of sorts to the doctor. Dr. Everton's eyes then widened.
"Rillaboom! ENOUGH!" shouted Dr. Everton.
Rillaboom shrieked at the doctor, but with a look from Dr. Everton, Rillaboom started taking deep breaths. John Paul reached down to get Grookey out of the way, but Grookey ran to Leon instead. Sarah saw the hurt on John Paul's face and wondered what was going on.
"My Indeedee Tate has quickly explained to me what was happening," said Dr. Everton, "These three Pokémon don't want to go back to the reservation. They would like to stay with the Champion and Ms. Char."
Dr. Barton was quick to object.
"Scorbunnies haven't been under a human's care since the 50s. We can't just give them out as a prize for them being good people and taking care of them."
Tate glared at Dr. Barton and muttered something which caused Dr. Barton's Indeedee to glare back at him.
"Tate, not now," said Dr. Everton, "Dr. Barton. We must give heed to what the Pokémon need. It's obvious that they need care from the two people who have taken care of them."
"And besides," piped up Dr. Hill, "Baby Pokémon like them tend to gravitate towards someone who will be their parent. It's not a surprise they want to stay close to the couple who has made sure they are safe and healthy."
Dr. Barton frowned but then sighed.
"I see what you two mean," she said.
Dr. Barton turned towards Leon and Sarah.
"Will you promise me you will make sure Scorbunny is loved and cared for?" asked Dr. Barton.
Sarah and Leon looked at each other. Sarah was worried by this question as while she wanted to take the three Pokémon in, she was going to be on the road for months doing social media coverage. She didn't have the time to raise them. Sarah was also certain the Leon would be just as busy with training, press, and other championship responsibilities. Also, Leon was only allowed to have six Pokémon with him at a time. He could maybe add one of the baby Pokémon to his team, but then what would happen to the other two?
"Dr. Barton," said Leon, "I can't answer that question until you answer mine."
"Go on," said Dr. Barton.
"My girlfriend and I love these three a lot and would love to take care of them. Unfortunately, we are quite busy with our lives. We had help from Sarah's family, one of them who works with Pokémon daily, to take care of them. We'll be traveling for the next few months around the country due to the Gym Challenge and we won't have the time to take care of them properly. I know some trainers who'll start out on their journey this season. I'm planning on endorsing them if they can prove to me, they deserve to raise these three Pokémon."
The doctors began to murmur amongst themselves and the Chairman was quick to talk to Leon.
"You're endorsing challengers this year?! You've never done that before! Is one of them going to be your brother?"
The three Pokémon seemed to perk up at the word brother and looked at Leon expectantly.
"Yes, but he's not going to get it until he proves to me that he will be a good trainer," said Leon.
Chairman Rose smiled at him.
"Only the best for the Best family, right?" said Chairman with a chuckle.
"But Ms. Char, what do you think of all of this?" asked Oleana.
The doctors had stopped talking and had heard Oleana's question. Everyone's eyes were on Sarah for this moment. Sarah was at first angry at Leon suggesting that they give Scorbunny, Sobble, and Grookey away to three random trainers. She was relieved to hear that one of them would be Leon's brother as he had more of a sense of the kind of person his brother was.
"Well, Leon and I will be actually visiting them," said Sarah.
Leon nodded in agreement and reached for Sarah's hand which she took. Sarah then continued.
"Leon and I can talk with them and decide if it's a good fit with these three," said Sarah.
"If we both don't approve, I will personally take them on my team and train them," said Leon, "They witnessed a practice match between me and one of the gym leaders and seemed to enjoy it. It would be an honor to have any of them on my team."
Scorbunny, Grookey, and Sobble then shouted with excitement together as if to say, "Aye!"
"Well, I guess it's been decided," said Dr. Barton.
John Paul then left his father's side and ran out of the room quickly. Dr. Everton ran after his son and as the door closed, they could hear John Paul's wails. Rillaboom looked torn between whether to go after Dr. Everton or stay. Rillaboom opted to stay and went over to where Grookey was, softly talking to his grandson. Grookey seemed a little hesitant to talk, but then Grookey went to give his grandfather a hug. Grookey then looked at Tate and asked him a question. Sarah then heard a male voice in her head say.
"Don't worry little Grookey. John Paul is upset that you will not stay with him, but Dr. Everton is reassuring him that you will always be his friend."
Sarah realized that Tate was communicating his answer to her and maybe the rest of the people in the room through telekinesis on what was going on. Grookey hugged Tate and went to Sarah who picked him up.
"Now then," said Chairman Rose with a clap of his hands, "Let's talk about getting you to that match tomorrow Detective."
The car ride back to Leon's flat was silent. Scorbunny, Sobble, and Grookey were all tired out from the excitement of the day. They fell asleep on Sarah and Leon's lap as Leon began telling them about the gym challenge and the humans, he wanted to introduce to them: his brother Hop and Hop's friends Gloria and Victor. Sarah couldn't believe how quickly the three of them decided willingly to be starter Pokémon. It seemed that Grookey had the hardest time leaving as he exchanged a tearful goodbye with John Paul and Rillboom respectively. After that John Paul told Leon that Grookey better come visit them near Turffield or else Rillaboom would come after him. Leon agreed and Sarah saw Rillaboom twirling a drumstick, frowning at Leon. Rillaboom's expression though changed when he saw Sarah looking at him and he smiled. Sarah couldn't help but notice how it was similar to Grookey's own behavior. Protective concern layered over the inner sweetheart.
Sarah also still had so many questions for Leon about his brother and friends, the doctors on what they knew about these Pokémon, and even Detective Looker about the investigation. She knew she would meet Hop and his friends in two days, she got the contact info of the doctors, but Sarah wasn't sure if she and Looker would cross paths would be busy with the investigation anyway and wouldn't have the time to answer her questions wanting to know more about the investigation.
Sarah then felt Leon put his head on her shoulder and she looked down to see Leon fast asleep. She immediately felt embarrassed about what was happening and pushed Leon's head gently back up upright. Soon, Leon's head titled the other way and he leaned his head on the car window. She hoped that he wouldn't get a sore neck, but she rather not experience the moment when Leon realized he had slept on her shoulder.
Sarah then took out her phone. It was approaching eleven o'clock and she was going to go with Leon early to the stadium. Sarah rubbed her eyes as she calculated how much sleep she would get. Probably six hours if she was lucky. She checked her notifications and she was surprised to find out that she had gained a lot of followers, along with a picture that Raihan tagged her opened the link to the photo and saw that it was the one of Leon introducing his Haxorus to her. Hundreds of thousands liked the photo, but it was the caption that caught Sarah's attention: Dad introduces daughter to new girlfriend. XD
Sarah scoffed at the caption and saw two pinned comments of people who typed they thought Raihan's caption was "The Best-a new sitcom ;)" and "SO CUTE THAT A HATTERNE CAME AND KNOCKED ME OUT DUE TO EXTREME HAPPINESS!". Sarah was tempted to look at the rest of the comments, but then a notification banner popped up indicating that Piers texted her. Sarah clicked on that and read the message.
Piers: Hey, Marnie wants to know if you will be on the telly tomorrow.
Sarah grinned, Piers may not be eager for the gym challenge like he was expected to, but he was willing to support Marnie's interest in battling and also his friend's job. Sarah quickly typed in a reply.
Sarah: I will appear in the beginning to hype up the match tomorrow. I will appear at the end too, but that's just usually me reacting to reactions.
Sarah sent the text message and after a few seconds, Sarah saw that Piers was typing.
Piers: OK
Then another text message comes up.
Piers: What time are you coming on Thursday?
Sarah: Should be at three. I'll let you know if we're arriving any earlier or later from Circhester.
Piers: OK will you be staying over too?
When Sarah visited Spikemuth, she usually stayed over with Piers and Marnie as it was quite hazardous to travel from there in the evenings being so far away even from Hammerlocke or Circhester. Even though Spikemuth had seen better times at least a decade ago, Sarah always enjoyed staying the night there as that was when the city came to life with music, art, and neon lights as she spent time with some of the best people she had ever met.
Sarah: I can't. I have to work in Motostoke the next morning.
Sarah almost put down "And you do too." as Piers would also have to come to Motostoke for the opening ceremonies. Sarah then remembers that Piers hadn't gone to an opening ceremony in years because he hated doing anything he considered "extra" of being a gym leader, but Sarah was hoping he would come to this one. Sarah needed to know if she had a friend in that city with her. She decided to leave that part out of the text and wait until the interview to convince him to go to the opening ceremonies this year.
Piers: Darn. By the way, Ziggy and Jones say hello.
Piers attached a video and Sarah got out her wireless earbuds so she could listen to it without waking anyone up. It was of Ziggy, his Zizagoon, and Jones his low amped Toxtricity who were jamming out to Led Zepplin. After a few seconds, they realized Piers was filming them and got up close to the camera. Sarah could hear Piers telling them to get off and Sarah giggled behind one of her hands. It seemed to have woken up Leon though. Leon opened his eyes, looking like he needed to sleep at least ten more hours.
"Wha?" he said sleepily as he yawned.
"Sorry, I was watching something funny," said Sarah.
Sarah omitted the fact that it came from Piers. Sarah knew about Piers' opinion of Leon. On a good day, Piers would complain that the Champion smiled way too much for a normal human being. On a bad day, Leon was the poster boy of dynamaxing and the Chairman's lap dog. Sarah didn't know what Leon thought about Piers, but considering he was surprised that Sarah was friends with Piers gave her the indication that Leon didn't spend much time with the Dark-type gym leader. Then again, Piers was not the type to reveal anything about his friends even to someone as nosy and insistent as Raihan (which Sarah also heard stories about that side of Raihan from both Piers and Gordie. That man wanted to know everything!).
"Mmm, okay," said Leon.
"You can go back to sleep," said Sarah.
"It looks like we're close to home. I rather go to sleep in my bed," said Leon.
Leon then stretched and put his arm out behind Sarah. Sarah was hyper-aware of this but didn't say anything.
"Were you up late?" asked Sarah.
"I had to do league stuff with Rose," said Leon.
"At that late at night?" said Sarah.
"Something came up," said Leon.
Sarah waited for Leon to elaborate, but Leon instead started to pet Scorbunny's head.
"I'm glad they seemed okay with the Pokéballs," said Leon, "Especially since Grookey wasn't so happy when Macro Cosmos tried to do it."
"It's different when the Pokémon gets the choice," said Sarah, "My family told me that it's important to ask a Pokémon if they want to come with you. It's much easier as they are more willing to fight with you, rather than against you."
"Right," said Leon.
Marcus then stopped the car; they had arrived at Leon's flat building. Sarah put the sleeping Pokémon back into their Pokéballs. As Marcus was helping Leon out, Sarah received another text message, this time from Natasha.
Natasha: What time are you coming over tomorrow to pack up? We need to talk.
Author's Note:
Got this chapter up! I hoped to have posted it in August, but life sometimes throws a bunch of things at you and this just got pushed to the side.
There's a lot going on in this chapter, but it's necessary to receive an explanation of the origin of the starter Pokemon and why Looker is in Galar. The next chapter will be of the Leon and Raihan match and soon we'll be on our way to Postwick where the game events began.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
