Thursday Night

Gloria stood on the far end of the indoor field at Hammerlocke Stadium, taking in the strange atmosphere of the empty arena. It was too early in the semester for students to be able to rent out the space, but after the announcement of the Battle Tower the previous day, the Stadium's gym leader let Gloria use it to train that evening. The cavernous room seemed to have a stony breeze flowing through it and before reaching for a Poké ball, Gloria pulled her hair into a high ponytail.

Gym Leader Raihan had agreed to Gloria's request upon ensuring he'd be able to battle her upcoming lineup in a practice match or two. The two elite trainers now stood opposing each other, attempting to emulate the Tower rules.

"No medicines or revives," Gloria had lectured before their training. "And just for tonight, no Dynamax."

"Aww, Glor, that takes all the fun outta it."

"I think it makes it more fun."

Hop and Marnie knew of their friend's whereabouts that evening but were excluded on purpose. Gloria didn't want either of them copying her strategies.

"Splat, let's get 'em!" Gloria threw out a standard Poké ball and out popped a terrifying-looking fish creature that stood upright on two legs.

"YOU HAVE A DRACOVISH?!" Raihan's exclamation echoed throughout the stadium, knocking Gloria off guard. The Pokémon didn't seem to mind.

"Yeah, he's a real ace! Get on with it, now!"

"Two can play at that game, aye? Zolt!" The gym leader brought out a similarly-strange looking dragon, a Dracozolt.

"When'dya manage to get that one?" Gloria was more than surprised to see another Galar fossil being used in battle.

"Not too long ago. He's a cool lil' guy!"

"Indeed 'e is. Splat, Fishious Rend!"

"Wait woah WOAH fishiest WHAT?!"

The Dracozolt was knocked against one of the walls that surrounded the pitch, Splat's signature move dealing more than half of Zolt's HP in damage. The display screens in the stadium showed this as a graphic, which Gloria had convinced Raihan to set up as if they were in a real match.

"What was THAT?!"

"That was my friend Splat, ain't he lovely?"

"Tell me about 'im later. Zolt, hit 'em with Bolt Beak!"

Splat's surprisingly hefty defenses only took about a quarter of its HP in damage, despite the move being relatively effective. Zolt however recoiled harshly after barraging its opponent with a lightning-encased peck attack, its HP now near zero.

"WHAT KINDA… BOLT BEAK DOESN'T HAVE RECOIL!" Raihan didn't flinch as his outraged shouting reverberated through the air, but even in such a huge space Gloria wished she'd brought earplugs.

"All hail the Rocky Helmet…" she whispered to herself. It seemed that Raihan hadn't noticed the item Splat was equipped with. Perhaps he'd assumed it was part of the Dracovish's biology. Maybe his constant sandstorm battles were blinding him. Gloria remembered that Raihan never decided to go for any sort of degree despite basically living on the campus of HU. He preferred to learn about Pokémon "in the field", but sometimes it was obvious he wasn't a Technician.

Raihan and Gloria spent a good hour or so in 3-on-3 matches, each trainer facing significant troubles with the new rules and limits. Gloria won the series 4-2, but Raihan took any kind of win against the Champion as a real victory. By the end of their matches, Raihan had thrown off his signature hoodie and Gloria had equipped a headband to keep her bangs off her perspiring forehead. It was getting late, and each of them had responsibilities to attend to the next day.

"You're not heading up to Wyndon tomorrow, are ya?" Gloria asked Raihan as the two walked towards the south locker room together.

"Nah. I got lots to do 'round here, we're startin' to rent the stadium out next month."

"I see," but the only thing Gloria could see right now was the outline of Raihan's abs through his dragon uniform, which was closer to her eye-level than his face. Stupid thoughts.

"Say hi to Leon for me though, would ya?" Raihan asked nonchalantly as the two of them exited the pitch.

"Huh? I thought you guys hung out." Gloria kept up their conversation whilst heading to retrieve her jacket and backpack from the locker she'd been using and made the mistake of glancing towards Raihan. He'd thrown off the headband keeping his hair back as well as his uniform shirt and was rifling around in a locker full of random athletic gear to find who knows what. Gloria wondered how the gym leader stayed in such amazing shape when 75% of what he ate was pizza and flamin' hot Cheetos.

I act like I've never seen him like this before, what the hell. Chill.

"Yeah, well, not recently. Guy's been too busy for anyone as of late." Raihan's reply was quieter than his usual banter. He turned and noticed the Champion facing away from him, mindlessly scrolling through Chatter on her Rotom phone whilst sitting on a bench. He stopped looking for the hoodie he wanted and threw back on the sweatshirt he'd been wearing earlier.

"He's been busy with the Battle Tower, ya dolt. I haven't heard from him much either." Gloria replied halfheartedly. That was a blatant lie, she thought.

Raihan slammed his locker door shut and made his way over to Gloria, sitting down beside but not crowding her.

"…Lee always said after he lost the Champion title, he'd wanted to do something like this. He told me about the whole Frontier thing he did back in Sinnoh and he wanted me to be a part of it."

Gloria's heart sunk. Why does being Champion mean crushing everyone's dreams? Leon should have asked Raihan to help him with all this, not me! She mindlessly let her hair out of its ponytail, further obscuring her face.

"Well, knowing Leon, he's always had a bit of an independent streak…" Gloria hoped she could put her friend at ease.

"Not like this. He's not one to push his friends away, Glor. Especially me, Sonia, Piers… we only here from the guy once a week if we're lucky."

Gloria couldn't say anything to help. The truth would only make things worse.

Raihan suddenly moved closer to Gloria on the bench, forgetting his earlier concern for personal space. "Hey."

"Er… what?"

"Wanna come over tonight?"

Gloria's face and neck grew hot and she kept her gaze down, checking the time on her phone.

"Mate, it's after ten. I have class tomorrow."

"…What time do your classes start? You can spend the night, y'know."

I'm not doing this again. Gloria thought and stood up, facing the gym leader with her embarrassingly red complexion.

"Raihan, I'm not looking for a relationship right now. I told you that already."

Raihan suddenly sat up from his slouched posture, nearly at eye-level with the Champion. Their height difference was laughable.

"I'm not either. That doesn't mean anything." Raihan capped his sentence with a flirty smile, his intriguingly sharp canines glinting in the fluorescent light. His hair was down, a rare sight, and some very conflicted memories resurfaced in the Champion's thoughts.

Gloria resisted the urge to punch him, but she didn't want to hurt their friendship. Or her hand. You're a right bastard ye are, though.

"Well, it doesn't mean anything to you." Gloria decided to soften her tone after Raihan's eyes flickered with some unknown emotion."I gotta go. I'll tell Leon you're thinking of him." She hoisted her bag over one shoulder and hurried out of the locker room, not daring to look back.