"Thanks for coming out to fix this," Sycamore said, running a hand through his hair as he leaned against the broken machine. "It's alright. Actually," Clemont said before removing himself from the machine and asking, "don't you have technicians to do this sort of thing?" The professor nodded, wearing a small, nervous smile as he replied, "Yes, one. And he took his vacation days last week so he and his wife could go visit family in Kanto. It's just an unfortunate coincidence that this old thing decided to break down while he was away." He finished by giving the machine a pat.

"'Old thing' is right," the boy said with a frown, "It's in pretty bad shape from what I can see. I'm surprised its lasted as long as it has." Looking up at the professor, he then asked, "Not to seem rude professor, but haven't you thought about replacing it?" Sycamore gave a small chuckle before responding, "Of course. But the lab doesn't get so much funding off the Kalosian government, so we have to choose what gets replaced now and later. And frankly, this one's been doing better than most other machines, so we've been holding off on replacing her."

"I see. Well that's understandable." As Clemont went to continue working on the broken machine, he paused as he heard the professor say, "Fortunately, we don't need to use it today." He re-emerged and asked, confused, "Huh? But wait, isn't this an important piece of equipment?" Sycamore, who had been making his way out of the room, turned around to face the gym leader and nodded.

"Yes, it is. But we have a visitor to the lab today; Professor Oak is visiting for the weekend. We might compare research notes while he's here," he said. The boy's face suddenly lit up.

"Professor Oak? Seriously, he's here? In Kalos?" Sycamore couldn't help but laugh at the young boy's sudden enthusiasm.

"Yes, he is," he chuckled, "I take it you're interested in his work?" Clemont smiled sheepishly as he got his feet then replied, "You could say that. I mean, not to undermine your own work professor, but he's a brilliant researcher in his field."

"I won't disagree with you there; he is intelligent, and I'm looking forward to working with him once he gets here." At this, the gym leader realised something, which made him then ask, "Actually, you said you were going to compare research notes. Don't you both study different things?" This made Sycamore smile as he responded, "My boy, our fields of research are more similar than they'd first appear. Mega Evolution requires a strong bond between trainer and pokémon, and Professor Oak's research, as you know, is about the relations between humans and pokémon."

"Oh, I see. In hindsight, I guess that does make sense then," Clemont said with a nervous chuckle. He turned back to the machine and said, "I should probably get to work on this instead of wasting time. When's the professor coming? I wouldn't want to be in the way." Sycamore waved his hand dismissively as he said, "Nonsense, I'm sure he wouldn't mind meeting you when he arrives; you're quite intelligent yourself for your age." The compliment made the gym leader's cheeks flush.

"Besides, as important as this machine is, it doesn't have to be fixed right away. It could probably last the weekend without being seen to," the professor continued. Clemont nodded slowly, then picked up a small screwdriver and said, "Either way, I should see how much work I can get done before Professor Oak gets here." Sycamore nodded in response, then turned to leave the boy to his work. However he stopped as he remembered something, and said, "Actually, there is another reason why I think you should stick around." He continued once he was sure he had Clemont's attention, "His grandson is here with him. He's a gym leader like yourself."

"Really?" Sycamore nodded, yet before he could elaborate, they heard the front door open downstairs, and a voice called out, "Hey, anyone here? We need some help." A low, pained chuckling of "It's not that bad" followed after. The two Kalosians shared a slightly panicked expression, with the professor chuckling nervously, "I'm assuming that's them."

"We should go see what's wrong," the boy replied, frowning. They both hurried out of the room and down the stairs to the lobby as quickly as possible to find a young man helping an older gentleman into a seat. The elder of the two had what appeared to be a small yet non-fatal cut just above his eye, as well as what appeared to be a small bruise forming near his jawline. Both these injuries, and possibly others that couldn't be seen, had most likely been caused by the roller skates on the man's feet. Or more accurately, his attempt to use said skates.

"Ah, Professor Sycamore?" The young man stood away from his companion and walked toward the professor, and after Sycamore had nodded in confirmation, his worried expression relaxed somewhat.

"Thank Arceus you're here. My grandfather needs some help here," he said, though the old man quickly countered, "I told you Blue, it's not that bad." Blue frowned out of both frustration and worry for his grandfather, however before he could reply back, Sycamore, now wearing a more relaxed smile himself, laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder, then said as he stepped forward, "Either way, professor, we should give you a once over and patch you up. If only to put your grandson at ease."

He turned to Clemont, still standing by the stairwell door with a surprised expression on his face - 'Professor? As in Professor Oak? And his grandson, the gym leader?' Yeah, he was still processing this new and very sudden information. - and said, "Clemont, there should be a first aid kit upstairs near the station on the left-hand side of the room. Could you go get that please?" The gym leader snapped out of his daze and left the room to do as ordered.

Admittedly, he did take his time trying to find the first aid kit, if only to think about the situation at hand and what exactly was going on. Namely that Professor Oak, an esteemed researcher of pokémon, was sitting downstairs in the lobby injured over an attempt to roller skate. Even if he were to ignore that last bit, Clemont was still a bit bewildered by how quickly everything was going. He'd only found out about Professor Oak's visit 10 minutes ago, maybe even less!

"Just stay calm and don't say anything stupid," he said to himself, clutching the finally found first aid kit. A voice in his head then snarked in response, "Good luck with that." Returning to the lobby, he could hear the two professors talking, and he might even have heard his name being mentioned, though he couldn't be sure. He re-entered and Sycamore said, "Ah good. You got it." His suspicions were then confirmed as Professor Oak said, "We were just talking about you."

The young teen's face began to turn red as the professor continued, "Professor Sycamore was telling me that you're very smart apparently, especially given your age. And a skilled gym leader too." Clemont nodded and mumbled, "Thank you sir." Oak let out a low chuckle as he added, "Not to seem like I'm comparing, but you remind me a lot of my grandson; he became a gym leader at a young age like yourself and he is quite good, if I do say so myself." He then nudged Sycamore, who had begun tending to the cut over his eye, and said with a smile, "He even helps me with my work from time to time." It was then, now that talk had turned to Blue, that Clemont noticed his absence.

"Say, where is your grandson? If you don't mind me asking." Oak waved off the minor concern, saying, "It's fine. He wandered off elsewhere." Sycamore picked up the explanation, "He most likely went to the greenhouse to relax."

"You'd think I'd have broken a leg with how he's acting," the older man scoffed, with Sycamore retorting, "He might think that you have." The gym leader figured it'd be best to leave the two researchers and search for the Kantonian - besides, it'd be nice to talk to another gym leader, and he can always talk to Professor Oak later. He began down a corridor beside the reception desk, and the last he heard of their conversation before he was out of earshot was Sycamore recommending Korrina for any further roller skating lessons.

It wasn't exactly hard to find Blue in the greenhouse. For starters, he wasn't exactly hiding. And secondly, he had a large Blastoise sitting beside him, not that this deterred any of the pokémon that called the research lab's greenhouse their home. A small pack consisting of a Marill, a Zigzagoon and a Psyduck danced around the young man, before running off toward the new arrival. Blue turned around, eyes following the group. Upon spying Clemont, he gave him a quick salute in greeting while the boy waved nervously back.

"Overheard gramps and the professor say that you're a gym leader?" Blue said as Clemont sat next to him, after a slight hesitation. He nodded, saying, "Yeah. I uh, my gym is in Prism Tower." Blue's eyebrow arched in surprise.

"Wait a sec, you mean that big tower in the middle of the city houses a gym?"

"Yeah. It's always been the Lumiose Gym actually. And my family has run it for as long as I can remember." The Kantonian shook his head in disbelief, muttering under his breath a low, "Damn." However he wore an impressed smile as he asked, "And you're how old and running that gym by yourself?" Clemont's cheeks flushed a faint pink colour, and he replied, "I'm 15. I've been a gym leader for two years now."

"We'll I've got you beat there," Blue snickered playfully, giving the boy a slight nudge, "I've been a gym leader since I was 11." Clemont blinked, surprised, though he managed to reply, "You must be pretty good then."

"I should hope so; eighth in the league standings, and before I was gym leader, I managed to be Champion, if only for five minutes." He let out a laugh at this final statement, though it didn't sound bitter.

"You don't mind then?" Blue shook his head. "Nah. It was a better trainer that beat me, I'll admit. I might've been prissy about it as a kid, but I've grown up. He was a better trainer." He then went quiet. Unsure of what to say, Clemont stayed silent himself. There was a long pause, before Blue finally pat his Blastoise's shell and mumbled, "You did well then, and you're still doing good now, boy."

"I'm guessing he was your starter pokémon?" Clemont asked, to which Blue nodded and said with a small smile, "Yeah. We've been together for years now." He turned to the boy and asked, "What about you?"

"I have Heliolisk," he said, pulling out his partner's Poké Ball from his pocket, "We been together since I was a kid."

"You both must be pretty good together."

"We do alright." Blue smiled again.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to see that," he said. Clemont's grip on the Poké Ball tightened.

"Wait, now?" Blue shrugged.

"If you want. But at least sometime during the weekend," he said. Then he clicked his tongue and added, "Or if that doesn't work, maybe we can have a quick battle next month." In response to the boy's confused expression, he said, "Whitney, one of the gym leaders in Johto, has a trip to Kalos all planned out, and she's rounding up any gym leaders from Johto or Kanto that want to go." He let out a chuckle upon saying this, which prompted one from Clemont as well, who said, "Sounds interesting."

"It should be interesting, with Whitney in charge." Clemont paused, then said, "If you really want a battle, then maybe we should leave it till next month."

"Yeah, that'd probably be best," Blue muttered in reply. He then held his hand out and said, "Deal?"

"Deal." With that, they shook hands, the Blastoise regarding the two carefully. Blue then got to his feet and said, giving himself a quick stretch as he did, "I should go check up on gramps. Gonna have to keep a better eye on him this weekend, make sure he doesn't try any more silly stunts." He recalled his Blastoise and turned to leave, tossing a quick, "Smell ya later kid," over his shoulder.

Yoooooooo! Guess who?

/hides to avoid any objects being thrown

Okay yeah, I deserve it because I haven't updated for months. And I am genuinely sorry. ;3;

I do have genuine reasons though; real life is a pain, what with moving house, exams, and more personal reasons, and so's writer's block. All I've been able to manage are shippy oneshots, as I'm sure some of you know, but trust me, even those were difficult.

But, I'm feeling better about myself and my writing now, so with any luck, I should be able to get back into the swing of things, and get back to firing out the drabbles like no-one's business! And just in time for Hoenn to be confirmed, with ORAS just round the corner.

/salutes

Thanks for reading, and to any regulars, for being patient.

A review, a fave, a follow, they would all be nice, though after that unannounced absence, I wouldn't be surprised, nor would I blame youse if youse didn't dish 'em out. But a little self-esteem boost/acknowledgement is always nice.

Till next time, which hopefully shouldn't be months later.

Angel-chan x

Ps. Can you spot potential mini-arc/drabble foreshadowing? ;)

*gets smacked with the Frying Pan of Foreshadowing and the Sledgehammer of Subtleness*