How Do I Deal With These Feelings? Iono...
A Tale of Two Gym Leaders
Chapter 1: Help Wanted
It was late in the afternoon in Lumiose City when Clemont was in his room finishing tuning up his latest upgrade to his travel bag.
He let out a sigh of exhaustion.
"Phew, all finished." That was the last task of the day on his busy personal schedule. Immediately he notices he just went through his last tube of soldering flux.
"Geez, out already. It seems like I'm going through this stuff even faster than usual huh." He then gets out of his chair and collapses back first onto his bed. "Lately it really feels like I've been on tight ends."
he says, audibly disgruntled. "Barely enough cash to get through even a simple tune-up, let alone handling everything else that's been going on." He continues to ruminate on his situation as he lied with his hands behind his head.
"Dad's been needing an extra hand, and Bonnie has a birthday coming up. I'm going to have to bring in some extra money if I want to even keep my head above water."
He reflected on how few gym challengers he's had at his gym lately and the lack of work opportunities there seemed to be in the local area. "I dunno. Maybe I can figure something out by tomorrow."
The next morning he woke up, albeit without a solution. "Well, I guess I shouldn't really expect answer to come this easily." He pulled out his Heliolisk's pokeball and released it. "How about we go for a walk? Maybe some fresh air will do us some good." Heliolisk let out an excited hiss.
The two walked around the Lumiose streets taking in the city atmosphere when a sudden shout cut through the air.
"ACCURSED VEHICLE! I rent this contraption on business for TWENTY minutes and this happens. Oh, Brassius warned me about things like this..." Clemont turned his head to see a tall man in a turquoise blazer with slicked back hair forming a small ponytail in the back and intense eyes. He was standing in front of a stalled luxury vehicle and clearly distressed. Curious, the two approached the man.
"Excuse me sir, uh... is something wrong...?"
The man gave a quick glance at Clemont with his eye peeking out of the palm of his hand.
"No, young man, everything is completely fine. Wonderful even! I just happened to be so engrossed in this city's scenery that it brought me to tears."
Clemont gave the man a blank look. "I mean, sure the city's nice and all but it seems like there'd be a better plac-"
The man took his hand off his face and gave him a flat look of his own. "That was sarcasm, in case it was lost on you, lad."
Clemont scratched his head. "Yeah, I guess I should've figured that much. So, what's really going on?"
The man explained his situation. "My name is Hassel. I'm a member of the board of directors in the Pokemon International Knowledge of Arts Association."
Clemont gave a nervous chuckle "Heh. Interesting acronym."
Hassel continued. "Anyway, I was on my way to a board meeting taking place on the other side of the city when this lovely means of transport decided it no longer wanted to operate for me. The meeting's in an hour and I was supposed to present a case study for our next project. It doesn't look like that'll happen now, I'm afraid."
Clemont rested his fist on his chin. "Mind if I take a look at it?
Honestly my dad's a little better on the automotive side of things than me but I can give it a shot."
Hassel nodded. "Go ahead. I suppose it couldn't hurt." Clemont popped the hood open and shifted some coverings in the engine carefully with the robotic arms from his backpack. "Oh wow, that's it, huh?" Hassel gave him an intrigued look.
"What's it?" he quickly uttered. "Your battery's drained. Just give me a second and a half." Clemont pulled out a metal clamp attached to a cable from his backpack and looked at Helolisk. "Alright, grab this end and use discharge!" "Hel!" It expanded its frill and let loose a controlled pulse of electric energy for a brief amount of time.
"Alright, good!" Helolisk stopped at Clemont's thumbs up motion. "Let's try the engine now."
Hassel pushed the ignition on his car and it started with no problem. "Wow. To think this was the solution the whole time, I'd feared worse. thank you young..."
"Clemont."
"Clemont. I'll be sure to remember that. Also, I do apologize for my outburst earlier, it was a bit... unbecoming of me to say the least."
Clemont let out a sigh of mild apathy. "Yeah, I get that. I've got my stresses too, trust me."
Hassel relaxed his typical intense face a bit. "What might those be, if you don't mind me asking? Maybe I can help."
"It's nothing too serious." Clemont quickly retorted. "I'm just a bit strapped for funds right now and can use a bit of extra work."
"Extra work you say? What is it that you typically do?" Hassel asked.
Clemont responded. "I like to think of myself as an inventor, but I spend- or spent a lot of time running the Lumiose City gym but these days there's not really too much going on. No challengers means no money."
Hassel thought to himself. "Hmm. Based what you're telling me, I do recall seeing a commission like this on the Pokemon League Portal."
Clemont blinked at him "The what now?"
He responded. "The Pokemon League Portal, it's an online application where everyone associated with any regional Pokemon League can post updates, commissions and other important details. It was created in my home region of Paldea but it's quickly starting to gain traction worldwide."
Clemont looked surprised. "That... sounds incredibly useful. I'm actually surprised I somehow haven't heard of it."
Hassel continued. "Yes, if I recall correctly there was a commission posted by my region's own electric gym leader. Though I'm not terribly acquainted with her, I could pull a few strings to see you to the opportunity. I hear she's quite a popular young lady, so it might be a worthwhile opportunity for you."
Clemont was in higher spirits already. "Wow, this might actually be worth checking out, thank you for the info!"
Hassel's Rotom Phone suddenly hovered out of his pocket as it understood the intent of the conversation. "Here, let me install the app on your phone. You can see all the details yourself when you have the time. Also, I'll give you my contact info should it help you at any point in the future."
"Awesome, thank you again." Clemont replied.
"I'd better head off then. Wouldn't want to be late after having the means to not be. Best of luck to you, young Clemont." Hassel said as smiled at the boy, got back into his vehicle and drove off.
Clemont returned home and looked at the freshly installed app on his phone. He scrolled through Paldea's Pokemon League Portal commissions and stopped at the text [COMMISSION FROM LEVINCIA CITY GYM].
"Oh, this must be the one." the text was written in a very exuberant fashion. "HELLO, ELLO, CIAO AND BONJOUR MY FRIENDS! I NEED YOUR HELP!" The headline stated. Just reading that first line made Clemont a bit unsure of what he was getting himself into, but continued reading nonetheless.
"I need a SUPER, MEGA, ULTRA tech wiz for this position! You gotta be good with COMPUTERS, you gotta be good with TECH, and of course you gotta be good with ELECTRIC POKEMON! All threezies REQUIRED! Don't worry friendos, you will be compensated NICELY, I promise!"
Clemont just stared at his screen. "Well, I guess I fit that bill well enough, although should I really...?"
As he questioned he turned and looked at a picture of him, his dad and Bonnie all smiling in a group photo. He nodded and decided to pull the trigger. Clemont turned on the video camera on his Rotom Phone and shot a quick video introducing himself, his working environment and experience.
He uploaded the video and sent it in. "Guess there's not much else to do now but wait."
Meanwhile in Levincia City, the young energetic woman was just finishing up another exciting daily livestream. "Your Eyeballs are mine! Caught in my Electroweb! Whosawutsit? Iono the Supercharged Streamer! Catch ya'll later!"
She hit the end stream button and let out a sigh of relief. "Phewdoodly doo... that one felt a lil' longer than usual."
She let out a brief yawn and rubbed her eyes with the oversized sleeves on her signature jacket. "I wonder if any of the good peeps saw my commission yet?
the stream quality has been in the dumpster lately... How am I supposed to top the charts at this rate? Ah- "
As soon as she opened the app there were 13 notifications on with Clemont's submission being the most recent. She tapped on it and watched the video. A devious smile suddenly appeared on her face.
"OH. He's PERFECT."