A/N: I know some may be confused at the new numbers of chapters. I took about the huge author's note that was a chapter here. I have been meaning to take it down as it has been giving me a headache of my FFN version and my AO3 version being so different from each other. I apologize for the confusion. This is a new chapter and the chapter before this was a new one added last month.

The sky the next morning at six was already a light purple with some pink when Sarah woke up. She was still groggy, but she managed to get herself ready fairly quickly due to her preparing everything she needed the night before. As she walked out of the room, there was light down the hallway coming from the kitchen, and heard the sound of food being cooked. When Sarah went in, she found Leon cooking himself breakfast, but noticeably without his crutches.

"Leon!" hissed Sarah.

Leon whipped his head around and put a finger to his lips. Sarah then realized that although Gordie and Jonathan were now in the room her parents had previously stayed in, they still needed to be quiet. Sarah then made sure to speak in a whisper.

"Where are your crutches?" asked Sarah.

"The nurse yesterday told me that I wouldn't be needing them by today. I'm making some breakfast; do you want some?"

Sarah looked into the pan to see a mixture of eggs, potatoes, and a variety of vegetables.

"Wow, I'm impressed."

"Thanks, Sare, would you like some?"

"A little bit, the social media team is going to be eating some bagels together, but I think I can have some of this. Can I have a small serving?"

"Of course," said Leon.

Leon then stared at Sarah a little while before clearing his throat.

"If you want tea, I have a kettle somewhere."

Sarah and Leon quickly ate the eggs and Sarah put the kettle on the stove and once the water was ready, she poured it into a thermostat with a teabag. Once that was over, Leon went to change into his champion uniform and Sarah waited for him until he came out again.

"Let's go," said Leon.

Since Leon lived so close to the stadium, the two of them decided to walk there. Due to how early it was, there were not that many people out on the street, so Sarah decided to let out Cornelius to stretch out his wings. The moment Cornelius was released, he cawed out a greeting and shook out his feathers. Sarah started scratching Cornelius under his chin.

"Good morning big bird," cooed Sarah.

Cornelius then softly tapped his beak on her head and Sarah giggled. Cornelius's red eyes then narrowed as he saw that Leon was behind Sarah.

"Cor," was all that Cornelius said to Leon, and the bird did not sound pleased to see him.

"Good morning!" said Leon with a big smile.

Cornelius looked back at Sarah as if to say, "This fool? He's still with you?" but immediately got rid of it with the stern look Sarah gave him. Cornelius, although larger and taller than Sarah, still had the utmost respect for her and knew not to make her frustrated.

"Cornelius, Leon and I are going to walk to the stadium- "

Cornelius immediately began to protest with agitated wing movements and cries once the word stadium was said, as he knew what it ultimately meant, but Sarah was able to calm him down.

"Don't worry, I'll bring Kiki out once we get there. She has been trained to help and protect me."

Cornelius nodded his head. Kiki was as sweet as an Indeedee could be but was always well trained to support and protect Sarah if the need arose.

"Good, we'll see you there. Remember, don't get in the way of any taxis!"

"Cor-vi-knight!" said Cornelius in agreement and then he took off to the skies.

Sarah and Leon then began their walk to the stadium. At the first block, Leon reached to grab her hand and Sarah took it and laced her fingers with his. She was getting more and more used to holding his hand, he had been doing that a lot more lately.

"Cornelius doesn't like me does he," said Leon.

"No! He likes you," said Sarah.

Leon shook his head.

"Sarah, you're lying. He gave me a death glare this morning," said Leon.

"Cornelius is just protective of me," said Sarah, "You should have seen Cornelius when he first met Gordie, he would constantly squawk until Gordie gave him enough "space". You know at least a few meters. Don't worry! It's a lot better now! Cornelius now feels comfortable to swipe Goride's sunglasses and tries to wear them himself. He has a playful side once he feels comfortable."

Leon chuckled at the description of a Corviknight wearing sunglasses. They reached a Pelipper Crossing and Leon pressed the button so that they could safely cross.

"Also, why doesn't Cornelius like it when you mentioned the stadium? It seems kind of odd."

Sarah froze for a moment. She debated whether or not to tell Leon the truth. She had a big fear of dynamax battles due to what happened to her when she was a challenger in Galar's Gym Challenge. Cornelius was one of the Pokémon that survived what they went through and since then Cornelius was always cautious around gym stadiums.

"Did you know Corviknights were used by nobility to guard their estates? They were also exceptional bodyguards; I think Cornelius is acting on that instinct. He also gets a little wound up if he hasn't flown in a while." said Sarah.

"Right," said Leon, but from the tone of his voice, it sounded like he didn't quite believe her.

"Cor-vi-knight!"

Cornelius called out to indicate they were close as he started to circle in the sky.

"C'mon, let's get going," said Sarah.

They turned the last corner and the stadium was already lit up brilliantly. The rose shape it took seemed picturesque as the sky was turning from pink to blue. Sarah called Cornelius back and he landed in a nearby park. Sarah brought out Kiki and returned Cornelius into his Pokéball once he saw that Kiki was there. Kiki yawned and shook her head. She smiled at Sarah and then when she saw Leon, she started chatting with excitement, pointing at his ankle.

"The nurse said that my ankle has healed up," said Leon, "I'm glad, I wouldn't want to face Raihan on the pitch today with crutches. That would've been embarrassing."

Kiki tutted but that did not wipe off the grin on her face. She walked alongside Sarah humming to herself and kept playing with the pink scarf with a white plus on it, indicating that Kiki was working, and she wouldn't be able to play with any Pokémon or human children today. As they came to the stairs, a few reporters were already there taking pictures of them. Kiki held Sarah's free hand and used a version of the Calm Mind move that helped to soothe Sarah's nerves.

"Thank you," thought Sarah, knowing that Kiki would also be using her telepathy right now.

"Of course, Sarah," thought Kiki back.

Leon and Sarah made it into the lobby where a league worker came up to them and immediately told Leon all the things, he was expected to do for the next two hours. The worker finished the list and then looked at Leon expecting him to get going to where he needed to be.

"I'll follow you, just give me a minute," said Leon.

The league worker nodded and then walked to a side door and placed himself there. Leon sighed and then turned back to look at Sarah.

"Well, good luck!" said Sarah cheerily with a smile.

"In-dee-dee!" shouted Kiki and she did a fist bump in the air.

"Thanks!" said Leon.

Sarah thought Leon was going to leave them, but then he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.

"Good luck to you too," said Leon.

He then turned around and walked away, leaving a stunned Sarah. Leon had never kissed her on the cheek before and she felt very flustered.

"Sarah! Sarah Char!"

Sarah realized that someone was calling out to her and it was Katerina.

"We knew all the fuss outside meant that you and the Champion had arrived! C'mon, we got some pretty nice bagels to eat!"


The social media team was happily munching on bagels and cream cheese which made Sarah extremely full after eating eggs only less than an hour before. Despite it being the morning, most people were awake and pretty cheerful. The old-timers on the team said that it was a match day which made everyone excited for what was to come. After eating breakfast, everyone on the team got set up. For Sarah that meant going to a makeshift make-up department to get glammed up. The make-up artist cheerfully chatted with Sarah, gushing about the match, and tried to subtly ask what Leon's gameplay was. Once that was over Sarah was relieved to go.

Sarah then arrived in the press box where reporters were already setting up at tables in front of the floor to ceiling window revealing the empty stadium. Katerina spotted Sarah and quickly led her to the adjoining room where it was split into two rooms one for the live Youtube commentary done by Daisy and Dmitri and then one for Sarah herself. The room Sarah was in had a glass wall with a good view of the pitch. On the opposite side of the room, there was a camera set up along with multiple screens: one for when the newscasters were talking with her and the rest to what was going on social media about the exhibition match. As Sarah took a set on the swivel high-chair and the Rotom pad, it hit her just then that this was it. After a month of planning and prepping, she was going to do her big job.

Kiki rushed over and patted Sarah on her knee softly.

"Wow, I can't believe this is happening," said Sarah out loud.

Katerina grinned.

"It's a big day for you, I'm going to check to make sure Daisy and Dmitri are set up to go live on Youtube. I'll be back here though after that and I will be on the side if you need anything."

"Will do, thank you so much, Kat."

Kat nodded and then noticed Kiki who was wearing a pink Nurse Joy scarf around her neck.

"Sarah…I know why your Indeedee is here. Is there anything I can do to help you?"

Sarah thought for a moment. Katerina was the only one on the team that knew of Sarah's fear of dynmaxing Pokemon. When Oleana forced her to take the job, Sarah was scared as that meant that she would be exposed to dynmaxed Pokemon regularly and without warning of which ones (Oleana didn't care about this and even abrasively mentioned that Sarah would make an interesting study). Sarah did agree on the condition that she had a co-worker who knew what she was going through. That way it would be easy to steer the attention away from Sarah when she had an anxiety attack. Sarah decided that it would be Katerina after working with her this past month. Kat was the one who knew the team inside and out. and the true leader of the social media team that kept them on task and on time. Everyone trusted Kat without any doubts.

"Sure, Kat. That's nice of you. This may sound dumb, but I think I need a Tapu Koko, do you know if the stadium has-"

"I don't know, but I can check! I'll ask concessions, but if not, I can get some chocolate for you."

"Thanks, now it's okay if you don't have time."

"No, you are the face of our department and I want to make sure that you can do your best. No one wants to see you fail."

"Even Ryan?" asked Sarah.

"Even Ryan," said Katerina, "Don't worry I think he's still too starstruck from yesterday to care that you're the boss. I'll go get you a Tapu Koko."

Katerina walked to the door, but before she opened the door, she turned back to Sarah and looked at her.

"You have a lot of guts to do this job. You aren't a photographer on the field, but you have a nice view of the pitch that's right behind you. I respect you for doing this despite your fear and you can trust me to help you with whatever you need and if it's to get some chocolate, so be it."

"Thanks," said Sarah, feeling a little surprised at Katerina's determination and declaration.

"Also, what about your Indeedee? Do they want any food? They have everything from sweets, snacks, and even curry."

Tell her that I want curry, said Kiki telepathically to Sarah and did a motion of eating curry.

"Kiki says curry, she likes spicy ones. I'll pay you back."

"Kiki, huh? Don't worry as league members we keep a list of expenses and submit them to the financial department. It includes our food too. Okay, I better get your things, but I'll be back soon."

Katerina then walked away, and Sarah let out a sigh of relief. Kiki then started to chat happily and patted her heart. That indicated that she liked Katerina and that it was someone she approved of. Katerina was able to find a prepackaged Tapu Koko drink and a small container of spicy curry. Sarah was thankful to have a familiar drink. Even though it wasn't her grandmother's homemade recipe, it still brought the comfort she needed. Sarah then became busy with looking at every social media platform and related hashtags. She would get a list of posts that she would read and talk about with the newscasters, but she still wanted to be on the know.

There were not many updates happening as it was not even noon yet and the match was not until later in the evening. Sarah then decided to look for anything related to Leon as she was sure they would bring him up a lot. Sarah was surprised to see that the thing that came up was pictures of her and Leon from this morning. She didn't stay long looking at that because wow, she looked exhausted. The posts then turned into fan accounts and official league update accounts detailing what the Champion was doing today. Leon was set up with a pre-match interview, a photoshoot, and a special meet and great for children from Wyndon's children's hospital.

There were a lot of posts about the meet and greet. Sarah knew that these were genuinely heartwarming to see how excited kids were to meet someone famous. Many of the posts were from the parents who took pictures and videos of Leon and also Raihan who was there too. The kids seemed to find them hilarious and loveable. One post in particular caught Sarah's attention as it was one that Leon commented on.

In the picture, Leon was crouched down to the eye level of a young boy with blonde hair who couldn't be more than eleven years old. The young boy was in the middle of laughing as Leon was talking with him. Leon looked so relaxed and carefree. Sarah then read the caption:

My son John is a big fan of the Champion. Last year, the Champion gave John his biggest wish, to see him play a match in person. (Seeing John on the pitch gave me a heart attack!) I thought that this would be the last we would hear from Leon. Then last week after a month of John being home from the hospital, we received a letter from the Champion himself inviting him to his meet and greet. I get weepy just thinking about how this busy man took his time to reach out to my son and remember him from the match over a year ago.

Thank you, Leon, for being my son's inspiration and hope during some of the most trying times in his life. I already know that he's going to be happy for days because of this meet and greet, and that's truly the best gift a parent could ask for.

The post was increasing in likes by the hundreds and so were the comments. Sarah even found one from Leon that said: It's always a pleasure to see John. He is a brilliant kid and I know he is going to be an amazing trainer. I look forward to the day when I can battle him on the pitch!

Sarah found herself feeling emotional over this post and comment. It was amazingly kind of Leon to have John on the pitch during his battle and to invite the boy to see him again. Sarah felt some pride at how Leon didn't forget about this boy who looked up to him so much. That's when Katerina came back with Sarah's lunch and Sarah soon was distracted by Katerina's amusing commentary on a group of Raihan fans who all had a Trapinch dressed in a hoodie similar to Raihan's signature hoodie

Soon after that Sarah was busy checking the league's social media accounts and going over the rundown of them with the newscasters. After all of the work, the sun had completely crossed the sky and was beginning to set. People were filling the stadium quickly and an exciting cacophony of noise grew louder and louder. Sarah could feel her heart start to pump, excited to see the battle, but nervous about when the dynamaxing was going to happen. She stroked Kiki's head and Kiki let did the Calm Mind move again. Sarah started to follow the deep breathing that Kiki was doing which helped to ease Sarah. She then reminded herself what she could control instead of the wild card of a dynmaxed Pokémon.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Are you ready for a match tonight?"

The crowd cheered at the announcement, and Sarah got off her chair to get closer to the window. Chairman Rose had come onto the pitch and was giving some grand speech about Pokémon and how amazing they are. After he finished, Chairman Rose said, "And tonight we will see the greatest example of the bond between Pokémon and trainer!", and then the music kicked it. It was "We Will Rock You" by Queen. Soon the whole stadium was stomping along, and Sarah, Katerina, and Kiki joined them too. They laughed together become they felt silly doing it, but it was fun.

"We will! We will rock you!"

The guitar solo then kicked in and small fireworks went off on the pitch, created a pillar of smoke. And just when the guitar let out a loud chord, the smoke cleared enough so that they could see Leon on the big jumbotron screen. The crowd went wild as the camera panned over Leon, even when it took some time to show off his healed ankle. It then panned up to his face and he looked straight at the camera. Sarah heard some squeals below to see a group of young women freaking out Leon looking at "them". Then another song came over the speaker, this time it was "Blinding Lights" by the Weeknd. Just like Leon's entrance, this one was timed so that the main musical melody kicked in when Raihan stepped onto the pitch, his Duralodon stomping behind him. Raihan waved at the crowds in one hand and had his Rotom phone in the other, he reached to the center of the pitch and then the music faded away, leaving the two rivals and their Pokémon out.

"Exhibition or not, Leon, your pristine record is about to end–when I beat you here today!" shouted Raihan, his voice amplified by the microphone boomed across the stadium.

Leon smirked.

"You know I don't lose battles, Raihan! Charizard, dynamax!"

Sarah was surprised when Charizard started to dynamax on command without the need to go back into a Pokéball. As Charizard grew in size his wings began to slowly change from flesh into raging fire wings. Kiki grabbed Sarah's hand and squeezed it for reassurance. Sarah kept reminding herself that she had met Charizard and that Charizard would never hurt her. She kept repeating this over and over again in her mind. The crowd cheered and applauded as the gigantimaxed Charizard roared, but Sarah just stared at the monster that took the second half of the stadium.

Leon's going to be alright.

Sarah turned to Kiki who was looking at her with concern and realized that Kiki was using her telepathy again.

"Um, yes," said Sarah wondering why Kiki needed to say that.

Kiki just smiled at her reassuringly.

Raihan then brought his Duralodon back into his Pokéball and was beginning the dynamaxed process. Sarah then could feel her anxiety rise as Raihan released his Pokémon who became a skyscraper. Sarah winced as she tried to block out the painful recollection in her head.


An Alolan Vulpix, whose cuts and bruises were very apparent with brown dirt and red blood mixed into his snow-white fur. He shook as the dynamax energy began to wane, frosty participles flying everywhere in the air. With one last burst of energy, the Alolan Vulpix leaped and crashed into the gigantimax Duralodon. Both Pokémons' cries of pain and suffering echoed throughout the cave, barely covering up Sarah's screams and the wails of the rest of her Pokémon, too injured to even help.


"Sarah! Sarah! Is she going to be alright?"

Sarah was then brought back to the present just at the moment when Durladon fainted and Charizard shrunk back into normal size. Sarah then put a hand over her chest as her heartbeat slowed down. Kiki hugged her tight, letting out a Calm Mind which helped immensely. Katerina was also there besides Sarah, looking very concerned as she gave soft pats on her backs.

"Your Indeedee showed me this would help, I hope you don't mind," said Katerina.

"No, it's fine," said Sarah her voice barely above a whisper.

By the end of the match, Sarah got her bearings together so that when she appeared back on the TV, she was back to her normal self. No one would know how she had a panic attack at the sight of a gigantimaxed Durlaodon. After spending 30 minutes on TV reacting to social media posts, the camerawoman switched off the camera and began packing up. Katerina and Sarah exited the room, but before they stepped out Sarah recalled Kiki back into her ball and praised her for her good work today.

"So, does this happen every time? Your cousin is a gym leader who does dynmax his Pokémon," said Katerina as they made their way to a meeting room to debrief with the social media team.

"This was probably the worst," said Sarah, "I was trapped with a wild gigantimax Durladon years ago, and seeing one again was why I broke down."

Katerina nodded.

"Okay, so it wasn't the Charizard, but Durladon," she said.

Sarah could have corrected Katerina and said that while this was true, Sarah had some other Pokémon she was afraid of to see go gigantic, but didn't tell her.

"I don't know if you know this, but your health insurance does cover therapy if you need someone to talk about it." said Katerina, "I could help too, but I don't know how to help you address your fear."

Sarah nodded. If Sarah could talk to a therapist about this she would, but then it would bring up the matter why she did not talk to a therapist earlier and she couldn't legally say why thanks to Marco Cosmos. That was the end of their conservation as Sarah and Katerina came into the room. Everyone was in such good spirits that Sarah soon forgot about her conversation with Katerina. The team began posting, editing, and checking social media at a rapid pace. This exhibition match was the most-watched and streamed thing of this year. Daisy and Dmitri were extra busy as their fans were discussing the live commentary they gave of the match and discussing which clips they should share on their social media. A league worker came in to announce that the post-game interviews of Raihan and Leon were almost ready to be filmed. Sarah, along with a few other team members went to the lobby where makeshift walls were already made on opposite sides of the room. The first would be Raihan as he was the one who lost the match while Leon would be the second to be interviewed.

Raihan's interview went well. It seemed that he took the defeat well and answered the reporters' questions. One of the reporters tried to ask Raihan if his friendship with Leon was affected by this loss and Raihan quipped, "We have been best friends since we were ten and are still able to make it work. It's called love and also a lot of communication." The social media team was quick to post that quote on their story. Raihan always seemed to be the best public speaker out of all of the gym leaders. When finished, Raihan left to go back to the locker rooms.

A minute later, Leon came striding out of the same door Raihan entered. The cameras and lights going off was blinding to the eyes and hard on the ears. This was even more so when Leon after looking around found Sarah in the crowd and called out her name. Oleana had requested the day before that Leon and Sarah show a "couple moment" after Leon's victory in the exhibition match. Sarah had no idea what to expect as Leon came over to her with the reporters parting to make way for him. Sarah then was wrapped in a hug and then picked off the ground and swung around. She clung to Leon in surprise and hoped that he didn't drop her, but he seemed to have a stronghold on her.

"I did it, Sare! I won! I won!"

"Of course, you did," said Sarah as Leon set her down gently.

The two of them stared at each other and Leon then moved closer to her until a reporter called out.

"Geez, when is this interview going to start?"

Much to Sarah's surprise, the rest of the reporters weren't happy about this interruption. Many of them were talking about how their colleague "ruined the moment". Leon then shrugged his shoulders and then leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"Will you wait for me after this?"

Sarah nodded feeling unnerved at how close Leon's face was to hers. She could move her head and kiss him if she-

Sarah then stopped that train of thought as she caught Leon saying to text him when she was done and squeezed her hand before turning around. When Sarah turned to look at her team, they looked very amused and happy.

"Guys, c'mon! Let's make sure to get the best posts out of this interview alright?"

Sarah's words seemed to cause her co-worker to shake out of their happy distracted looks and onto their job.

"Mr. Best," said one of the reporters, "How did it feel to know that your girlfriend was watching and commentating on you battling?"

Sarah sighed, this was going to be a long one for her.


Everyone else on the social media team had left and Sarah texted Leon that she was done. Leon told her that he was in the locker rooms and that if she could meet him just outside of them that would be great. As Sarah began to walk down to the lobby, she realized then that she didn't know how exactly she could get to the locker rooms. She spotted a lone League worker at the desk who gave her directions. Sarah then found her way to the doors to the locker room and decided to wait outside as Leon said. As she took out her phone to look at some unanswered texts, she could hear a booming voice from the locker room.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! GIGANTIMAXING SO EARLY?!"

Sarah dropped her phone in surprise as she heard Chairman Rose's voice from the locker room. The Rotom in her phone stopped itself from falling in the ground and let out a noise of annoyance, Sarah quietly apologized and went back to listening to what was being said in the locker room.

"I decided it would be fun to do."

That was Leon's voice. Sarah crept closer to the door wanting to know what was going on.

"Fun? Oh, Leon, I know you love to play and train, but it could've gone SO badly!"

"But it didn't!" said Leon.

"But what if it did? You Sesmitoad was taken out to early due to a lucky critical hit of an Absorb from a Goodra! It completely threw you off guard!" said the Chairman, "You promised you could deliver your best, better than what was done in the past, but the league will be concerned. You know what I need to do-"

"No! I won tonight and will win again, fair and square" said Leon, "Can we discuss this later? Sarah's waiting for me outside the locker room."

Sarah then heard a pair of shoes walking close to the door, so Sarah scrambled away from it, grabbed her phone, and opened to a random app. She pretended to be engrossed in her photos when Oleanna exited the locker room.

"It looks like the girl is here as the Champion said she would be," said Oleana in a bored tone.

"Oh! Well tell her to come in!" said the Chairman, sounding cheerful.

Oleana glared at Sarah which Sarah took to meant that she needed to hurry up. When Sarah entered the locker room, she spotted a Chairman looking very jolly, and Leon who looked like he was trying to keep himself calm before he exploded.

"Ah! Sarah! What did you think of the match? It was quite nerve-wracking with how close it was," said the Chairman.

Sarah smiled, hoping it did not come off at a grimace. If she hadn't overheard the Chariman's heated words from before, she wouldn't have realized that the words were supposed to be a jab at Leon.

"Yes, indeed, but that's what makes it so exciting!" said Sarah, "Leon and Raihan are true rivals that match each other in skill!"

Sarah then went over the Leon and watched the Chairman's smile falter a bit at Sarah's statement.

"Ho ho! Keen observation, but there's always a reason why there's one champion. You mustn't put the champion on the same level as a gym leader," said the Chairman, "After all Leon's undefeated and he has quite the reputation to uphold with that."

At this point, Oleana stepped in and told the Chairman it was time to go.

"Is it that late already? Well, I guess it's time to say goodbye. I wish you too safe travels to Postwick. Say hello to the family for me."

The Chairman and Oleana walked away, leaving Sarah and Leon in silence. Sarah looked at Leon who had his fists clenched and staring angrily at the door.

"Leon-"

"I'm fine!" said Leon, "I don't want to talk about it."

Leon's harsh tone made Sarah flinched.

"Okay, I'm sorry," said Sarah.

Leon then stopped glaring and his expression softened.

"It's not your fault," said Leon, "You just caught me having a small argument with my boss."

Sarah nodded and Leon sighed.

"Look, I promise that I'm not mad at you. I-"

"I know," said Sarah, "I had the worst timing. I think we need to go home and get some rest for tomorrow. "

"Agreed, I don't want to be a complete Snorlax when I'm with my family."

"You mean where they sleep the whole day or when they eat everything in sight?"

Leon gave a small smile.

"Cheeky," said Leon, "Now, didn't you want to pick up stuff from your flat before we go back to mine?

A/N: Only two days after the end of September and I posted this up! In this chapter, I finally got all of the secrets I have been wanting to write about, especially about Sarah's fear of dynamaxed Pokemon. It will be revealed later what exactly happened. I guess except what Rose and Leon were exactly arguing about, but now that everything's been put into place I don't have to exactly keep foreshadowing so much anymore.

Good news is the next chapter, we will be in Postwick! Took months to get here but woohoo! I am excited to get into the game's story officially now!