Larry's baggy eyes met his dull expression in the mirror, unflinching as he straightened his tie.
Not his ordinary work tie, this time, but a blue knit tie, for a more casual look. That look also consisted of a white button-up, dark gray slacks, and black dress shoes.
And this new vibe of Larry's wasn't stopping at his confident attire.
He stood in front of his bathroom mirror, the only such mirror in his apartment, as he smoothly combed his hair, the usually unruly gray streaks hardly standing out among the rest of his neat jet black hair.
Larry took out a bottle of cologne from a sink drawer and started applying it to his face. Then he stopped.
…
Why was he applying cologne?
Geez, I really am taking this seriously. I don't know why I'm putting in so much effort. It's just another hang-out date with Katy. I guess... maybe I just want to look the best I can for her? But why is that? It's like I'm trying to impress her or... am... I?
With a sudden realization, Larry's eyes shot up to the mirror.
Do I have feelings for Katy?
He started to think back. There was some truth to the idea that being around Katy made him feel a lot happier and more positive, and that whenever he was with her, time seemed to stand still. Her beauty always stuck out to him, like a natural painting. Her pretty teal eyes, her soft smile, her cheerful friendly attitude always lighting a room…
The feelings she made Larry feel, in his heart, he now realized, were similar to what he was used to feel the last time he was really in love.
Larry slammed his hands on the sink.
No.
No, that is absolutely ridiculous. I am not in love with Katy. These feelings I feel are how she makes everyone feel. Right? And it's not like she's some gorgeous, blossoming portrait… After all, she… Well she's- The way she, she…
Now his head slammed down.
She's perfect. In every way.
Sweet Cresselia help me. I am lovestruck, aren't I?
Larry picked up his head again, and stared into the mirror with his tired eyes.
Minutes later, he emerged. He took a long gaze out the window. His apartment window overlooked other complexes in Medali. So most of Larry's view was just of other buildings, but he could look into the horizon and squint a bit at the hilly grass plains that surrounded the rustic city.
The signs of spring were really starting to show. A flock of Wattrel flew overhead. And he could faintly hear the sounds of kids playing.
Larry closed his eyes, and sighed to himself.
No. I don't know if these feelings are real. And even if they are… I should bury them anyway. Katy has been one of the first real friends I think I've ever truly had a connection with. I don't want to sully all of that with the complications of being in love.
And besides… trying to pursue a relationship would bring its own complications for me.
He looked around his small bedroom. Usually, it was the picture of neatness, kept clean and squared almost to the point of obsessive-compulsiveness. But… a little of chaos was starting to reign.
The past week or so, he had only made his bed in terms of laying the blanket down. A bunch of his dirty clothes were piled in a hamper, begging to be taken to the laundry. With a pile of freshly-clean clothes just hurriedly pushed into the dresser.
And his computer desk, usually clean of anything but his tall flatscreen monitor, keyboard, and mouse, had several work-related documents strewn about. Forms, datasheets, and hand-typed reports of various information… all in various states of completion. At least one such datasheet had a red stamp of "URGENT" from Geeta on it, and was half-marked with checkmarks.
As fun as his get-togethers with Katy over the past several weekends had been, Larry knew it was starting to affect his work output. He had shirked just a few of his weekly dependent tasks last week, and stayed up into the morning completing them in time.
Not just a troubling sign of how busy Larry's life was… but also a painful reminder of times past.
I already let being in love get in the way of my job once before, until I was forced to choose… and I sure chose my bed…
Larry sighed again, this time in defiance.
So that settles it. No matter what, Katy and I stay friends. Just friends. And I'll just have to figure out how to balance... all of this.
Feeling reinvigorated, Larry actually took a seat at his desk and decided to start organizing his little nest of papers before it was time to meet up. But just as he finished putting several of them into one stack…
RING~! RING~! RING~!
Larry got up and scrambled over to the nightstand by his bed, where his phone was ringing. He didn't have a Rotom Phone like a lot of people, but was still stuck with his old-model flip phone. It was basically just a machine for calls, reminders, and emails to him anyway.
He flipped it up. The caller ID flashed Rika's name.
"…"
An antsy-looking Rika was pacing up and down in Mesagoza, standing at the foot of the stairs that led up to Uva Academy while holding a phone up to her ear.
"Come on, pick up, pick up…"
An answer.
"Hello."
"Larry! Hi! It's Rika! Thank goodness!"
"What's going on? Did something happen?"
"Well uh, yeah kinda…"
Rika nervously craned her head up the stairs. La Primera herself was standing at the top of them. Geeta tapped her foot and sternly made a "time's ticking" gesture to her underling.
"I am… so, so, so sorry to drop this on you of nowhere, but I kind of need a really big favor today."
There was a pause. "What's that?"
"Well, Geeta and I have an important meeting at the Academy today. I'm going to need to be there all day, and…"
Rika glanced over at the top of the first set of stairs, where she could see her fellow Elite Four member, the young girl Poppy, enthusiastically playing with some Combee at a nearby flower pedestal.
"...And?"
Larry, upon hearing Rika's request, groaned very dramatically as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"…Seriously?"
"Yeah—Yeah. No. No, I know. I know I have." Larry's eyes were clenched shut.
"I get that. I do. And… I'm guessing Hassell isn't around?"
"Mm-hm. … Oh, I see."
"Yes. No, that makes sense. I just… I always forget that he's a teacher."
Larry sighed internally with a look of resignation.
"Okay. I'll do it."
"Uh-huh. … No, I didn't have any other plans," he lied.
"Yes, I really mean it. It's no trouble at all." His sneer said otherwise.
"Yes. Yes, that's right, the usual one. I'll be over at the west junction."
"Mm-hm. Yeah… that sounds good. … Take care."
With a dejected hand motion, the phone clasped shut.
Larry's positive attitude was gone. Now he just looked like his usual grumpy self. His hair even seemed to instictively fall out of strand again.
He immediately flipped open the phone again to make a call.
He heard the line ringing a couple times before it picked up.
"Katy?"
"…Oh. Hi, Krista. It's Larry."
"Listen, is Katy in right now?"
"Well, did she say where- …Right. Right. No, I was expecting her today. It's just… did she already leave?"
"Right. Okay. Well, thanks, anyway. Bye."
Once again, Larry flipped the phone shut and made an irritated groan.
"And to think, this started off as a good morning…"
Larry walked down the east end street of Medali, now with a gray jacket on over his casual clothing. He didn't really have a stride in his step at all. In fact, his feet seemed to press to the marble flooring with each step. His face was still as he started to walk past the Treasure Eatery, hands frumpily held in his pockets.
Just then, a trio of young boys, clearly not sensing the gray cloud that may as well be hovering over Larry's head, spotted him from the nearby park and ran over.
"That's him! I told you it was!" said one of the boys.
Larry was brought out of his murk as much to his surprise, the boys all rushed in front of him.
"Excuse me! C-can we have an autograph?"
"An autograph?" Larry replied, meeting them with his blank stare. "…I'm sorry. You clearly have me confused for someone else."
All three of them went "Huh?"
"Are you sure?" the third boy asked. "We… we thought you were Larry, the Gym Leader."
"And Elite Four!" the smallest one piped up.
Larry's eyebrows went up. "Oh. Well… yes. I am. And you want… my autograph?" They all nodded vigorously. "Well… okay. Anyone got a pen and... paper?"
All three of them presented little notepads, and one of them handed Larry a pen. He contemplated rather awkwardly for a few moments, having rarely been asked this before. Eventually, he settled for just writing his name in cursive. He then handed them back.
"Thank you, sir!" said one of the boys, the tallest one. "And, um… I just wanted to say…"
Another one of the boys rolled his eyes. "Danny, don't ask him this."
Giving the other boy a look, he continued. "Um… my dad said if, if I ever got to meet you in town, to ask you what it would take for us to get a discount at the Treasure Eatery."
Larry was confused. "Why would… I have any say in getting a discount there?"
"Well… because you're the owner, right?"
Now his eyebrows furrowed. "No. I don't own the Treasure Eatery." Where do people keep getting that idea? Just because I'm there all the time? "It's just the place where I battle. That's all."
"And eat!" The smallest boy chirped again. "A lot!"
"…Yes."
"Uhh, we're sorry," said Danny. The boys all run off, looking a little embarrassed. "But thank you for the autographs!"
"You're welcome. Stay safe," he called out.
Once they were gone, he sighed to himself. "Kids… This is just what my whole day is today, isn't it? Nothing but me, and… and…"
His thoughts trailed off when he looked up… and saw a Flying Taxi pull in on the end of the road. And guess who stepped out of it?
Larry found himself straightening his tie again. He didn't know if he was just hyper aware now of how beautiful he thought Katy was… or if she was just looking even more radiant today.
Katy was dressed in a white button-down shirt with a tan vest and a neatly-wrapped teal ascot. She had on a long green skirt that stopped just above her ankles, where her brown hiking boots and green socks were visible underneath. Her hair was done up in a spirited braid.
"Larry!"
Katy called out his name as soon as she saw him and immediately sprinted over. Just like he had ruminated about, time seemed to be slowing down all around Larry… nothing in focus but Katy, eagerly running over to him with the brightest smile on her face.
Larry's heart started beating so fast he almost wanted to clutch it.
Katy ran over and, much to Larry's surprise, wrapped him in a big hug. Larry's face went red as a tomato, and he stood there in shock for a moment before putting his arms around her. Katy shook him around a few times before finally letting go.
"Hi!" she greeted. "How are you doing today?"
"I'm…" Larry cleared his throat. "I'm… doing well today. How about you? You seem quite chipper."
"Oh, I've just been so excited! I hope you'll forgive me coming earlier than I said, I just… I don't know! I was so excited to see you today!" Katy jabbered at what seemed like a million words a minute. "Because I never thought I'd be this jazzed about going back to the Tagtree Thicket, but something about exploring it again with you by my side just has me feeling all sorts of excited! I can hardly wait, this will be the funnest picnic day ever!"
"Yeah... Umm, about that." Larry rubbed the back of his head. "I really hate to disappoint you, and I did try to catch you before you got on the taxi, but… I'm actually going to have a take a raincheck on our picnic. I'm sorry."
"Oh!" Katy actually looked quite a bit crushed. "Why? What's wrong?"
"Well, I've sort of got my hands full right now."
"Doing what?"
"It's uhh—it's… Well, how should I put this? You see I—GEHH!"
Larry was rattled to his bones when he felt something small suddenly grab onto his legs. Or rather… someone.
"Yaaaaaay! I found you, Uncle Larry!" Poppy exclaimed. "You're getting really, really good at hide-and-seek! It took me a long time to find you! I almost had to send out Tink to help me look!"
Katy leaned over to look at who was at Larry's feet, and was shocked to see the youngest member of the Elite Four herself clinging to his legs.
"For the sake of this town's infrastructure, I'm very glad you didn't," Larry replied, trying to get her to let go of him. "But… remember, you don't have to call me Uncle Larry. It's just kind of weird. Mr. Larry is fine."
"Ohhhh! Sorry! I forgot!" Poppy smiled with a huge toothy grin as her way of saying sorry. Then she looked up and gasped. "Hey! I know you! You're one of our Gym Leaders!"
"That's right!" Katy said, pleased to be recognized, as she hunched down to meet the very young girl closer to eye level. "Pleased to meet you! My name's Katy!"
"I know that! You're um… wait, don't tell me… I know it, I know it! Oh! I know! You're the one with all the Grass Pokémon!"
"That's Brassius," Larry corrected her. "Katy uses Bug Pokémon."
"Ohhhh! I used to be scared of bugs. But now I just think they're really cute!"
"Hey, same boat!" said Katy, pointing at herself. "You're Poppy, right? I don't think I've ever met you in person."
"Thaaaaat's right!" Poppy boasted, making a hero pose. "My Pokémon are really cute too Miss Katy, but they're also super-duper strong!"
"So I've heard!" Katy chuckled. She rose back up to talk to Larry. "So… what are you two doing here together?"
"She's usually with Rika on days like today, but Rika had something come up out of nowhere and asked me to look after her today," Larry explained. "I… tried to get in touch with you, but you had already left. Sorry to make you come all the way up here."
"Oh, that's okay!" Katy waved him off. "I don't mind this at all!"
"Well, that's a relief."
"In fact, this should be quite fun! Where were you two planning on going?"
Larry's eyes shot up. "Wait! Are you saying you actually want t—"
"Ooh! Ooh!" Poppy piped, jumping up and down. "Mr. Larry is taking me to the ice cream store and the arcade and the park too! Are you coming with us, Miss Katy?"
"Sure, that sounds like a blast!"
"Yaaaaaaay!" Poppy clapped.
"If… that's alright with you, of course," she addressed Larry.
"I… don't mind that at all!" Larry answered. "That would… actually be really great. Thank you."
That's how the unlikely trio wound up getting ice cream from the same dessert shop Katy had been to before. The girl working there was even more starstruck to have her baking idol, the town's Gym Leader, and another member of the Elite Four in the shop and practically demanded they were going to get their ice cream for free.
…No matter how much Larry argued otherwise.
The three of them marched down the streets happily enjoying their ice cream. Katy had a mint chocolate chip twist with graham cracker pieces on a waffle cone, topped with a blackberry.
Poppy was practically nomming bites from her huge pistachio cream sundae with cherries and a wealth of chocolate sprinkles. Her Tinkatink was out of its Ball, enjoying her own favorite delicacy: a huge bowl of strawberry sprinkles on whipped cream.
Larry had a vanilla scoop on a cone.
Each of them enjoyed their frozen treats, blissfully ignorant of the Rotom Phone that seemed to be filming them.
A nearby bush from a distant curbside seemed to shake and rustle until a pair of blue and pink Magnemite clips poked their head out, followed by the devious eyes of an influencer.
"Ho-ho! So you're finally in home base for once, huh Larry? Well that's fine by me. If you won't volunteer that plain ol' face yourself, I'll still find a way to capture it for the Iono Zone one way or another," Iono whispered, giggling menacingly. "And what's this? That lady… Is that... Katy? Again? So those rumors people seeing them together a lot were true… How spicy!"
She tried to zoom in even further on her camera lens, tampering with her focus, when she spotted a small blurry child alongside them.
"Huh? Who's that kid with them? Wait… don't tell me after just a few months of being 'friends'…" She branched out her hands to make air quotes, as if her sleeves weren't covering them or anyone could see her anyway. "…that they've already started a family!? I've got to get to the bottom of—AHH!"
A huge pink face suddenly filled her whole screen. The Rotom Phone darted itself downward, and Iono was met with Tinkaton having marched right up to her face.
"Hey, what's the big idea?" snapped one little gremlin to another. "You're blocking my shot! Go on, pinkie, skedaddle!"
"Tink…" Tinkaton flashed a big smile at Iono. Normally, that would be a happy sight. …Instead, it sent weird shivers down the young streamer's spine.
"Ehh…? Who's little freak are you?" Trying desperately to look at something else, she glanced up at the 'kid' again. "Wait a minute… Now I recognize that little girl. That's- … Oh no."
A look of dread suddenly filled Iono's face, as she slowly turned to meet her onlooker. "Then… that means… you're—"
Poppy's Tinkaton was spinning her giant steel hammer around in her arm. A look of fury came about her face.
"…TINK!"
And she raised her hammer high in the air.
"No, no, no!" Iono panicked. "Not the face! Not the face! Not the FAAAAAAAACE!"
"The Game Corner should be right at the end of this road."
"YES! I love the Game Corner!" said Poppy.
"Game Corner? That's an arcade?" Katy inquired. "I thought it was one of those places with the slot machines where people used to gamble for prizes."
"Used to be," said Larry. "They passed down a national law several years ago prohibiting facilities designed strictly for gambling, so most of them were shut down or turned into places like this. The one in Sinnoh my father used to go to all the time is a clothing store now, apparently."
"Ohhh," Katy responded. "Well maybe that's a good thing. I never understood the point of places like that. Even if you win big every once in a while, you're just throwing money away."
"Why would people throw away money?" Poppy asked. "I thought adults love having lots of money!"
"That's a good question," Katy chuckled.
Larry kept focus, choosing to remain silent about how he used to frequent this Game Corner when it was the old facility…
Poppy heard something, and was alerted to her Tinkaton marching up alongside her.
"Oh! There are you, Tink! Where did you go this time?"
"Tink!"
Tinkaton made a happy dance, before stopping to scratch off a dent in its hammer.
The Game Corner, its former reputation aside, screamed itself out as a fun place for kids and adults alike. There were a lot of arcade and table games to play, neon lights adorned many of the walls, and there was a huge counter full of prizes to win.
It was one of Poppy's favorite places to hang out whenever she got to visit "Mr. Larry" in Medali. Larry was a bit less enthusiastic about this place. Whenever he wasn't having to lift Poppy up so the small girl could actually reach some of the taller cabinets, he was usually standing off to the side, or...
"ONE. HUNDRED. POINTS."
"ONE. HUNDRED. POINTS."
"Wow," Katy marveled. "You are... deceptively good at skee ball."
"Mr. Larry's the BEST at skee ball! I've never seen anybody beat him!"
"There's not really anyone to 'beat' me here," said Larry. "It's a very one-player game."
He later explained to Katy, "I got to have something to do while I'm here. Plus, she's not any good at any of the other games you get the tickets for, so somebody has to win her the big prizes so she doesn't get upset."
What Poppy is good at however, quickly became apparent.
"That's 5-0!" a young boy declared, looking at his score on the hockey machine. "I got beat by a little girl!"
"Yeah, 'cause little girls are strong too!" Poppy declared.
This girl was somehow a beast at air hockey. After the one boy's defeat, several kids and even adults lined up to play against her. And most of them lost.
"If I win one more game, I get to fly, right?" Poppy pleaded with Larry, who winced. "Please? You promised!"
"Oh... alright."
And like that, Poppy hopped back on the table with an even more fierce look of determination.
"She's good at battling... and air hockey?" a skeptical Katy observed. "Can she beat me in an arm wrestle too?"
"Feel free to try your luck against her."
Katy let out a single "Ha!"
"Ohhh, trust me, I might be a little too competitive for her sake. The last time I had one of those little pucks in my hand, somebody got hurt. ... And Jules lost a tooth."
Larry blinked several times. "Okay, never mind. Please don't go anywhere near that table. If that girl loses a tooth, Rika will rip out all of mine."
A little while later, Larry held up Poppy in his arms as he let her play one of the big cabinets. A classic game was being played on-screen... and letting out its losing noise.
"Wow. Lost again," said Larry. "And... you don't seem too upset about it."
"Oh, I don't really care if I win this one!" Poppy said rather cheerfully. "I just like having fun watching all the cars go by and playing with this little- Polly... wassit called again?"
"Politoed."
"Yeah! Polly-toad! Mr. Larry, you said they have real ones of that Pokémon where you used to live?"
"Mm-hm."
"If you ever go back there, can you catch one for me? Pleaaase?"
"Umm... I wouldn't be able to bring it back here, because I'm pretty sure Politoed's on the list of no importing to Paldea," Larry tried to explain as simply as he could. "But... I guess I can at least catch one and take a picture of it for you."
"Yay! And maybe someday, it'll be 'important to Paldea' and be able to come live here!"
"Are you still having fun or... can we call it a day?" Larry asked her, hoping for an answer in the latter category.
"Hmmm..." Poppy thought. "I don't know. I guess I'm getting pretty tired but... what about Miss Katy?"
Katy had drawn quite a crowd to herself. She was immensely wrapped up in a dancing arcade game called "Gettin' Loco with Oricorio!" It was a game with a huge dancing platform where players are required to follow the four arrows with their feet in order to match the sequences shown on-screen.
The artwork on the side of the cabinet featured Dahlia, a famous dancer and battle star from Sinnoh's Battle Frontier, with all four forms of the beautiful dancing bird Pokémon Oricorio surrounding her.
Larry happened to know that this game was an offshoot of "Gettin' Loco with Ludicolo!", a game first introduced in Sinnoh, in the Battle Arcade itself, where Dahlia was instead depicted with one of her signature Pokémon Ludicolo. Presumably, this was an inter-regional rebrand designed to appeal more to Paldean youths.
Katy looked like she was in a whole other world. She was like lightning on her feet, sweat pouring down her face, as she stayed laser-focused to the screen, clearly going for a high score.
"It looks like she's still having lots of fun!"
"Yes. She is." Larry was now focused in awe at Katy, and her incredible skill at this dancing rhythm game. No matter how many times they hung out, she seemed to always surprise him with something new.
Sure enough, a large "Congratulations!" screen blasted loudly from the machine along with excited Oricorio noises and Dahlia's recorded voice saying "You're so very, very good! My Pokémon had a good time too!" as Katy gasped in delight and threw her arms in the air.
"Miss Katy really loves winning!" Poppy observed. "She looks so happy when she smiles! I think Miss Katy has a really pretty smile!"
"Y-yes. She does." Larry's face was starting to get red again, watching Katy jump up and down in delight.
Poppy yelled and started wiggling around.
"Aaah! Mr. Larry! Why are your hands getting really wet? I don't like this anymore, Mr. Larry! Put me down now, please!"
Katy squeezed her giant Shiny Teddiura stuffed plush in her arms, following Larry as he walked carefully with his eyes above him and his arms stretched out ready to catch.
"Wheeeeeee!" Poppy called out. "This is so fun!"
She gripped onto Altaria's talons as tight as she could while the large Humming Pokémon glided slowly through the air, taking the young girl flying several feet off the ground.
"Remember..." Larry said very sternly. "We are not telling Rika that I'm letting you do this."
"I remember!" Poppy let out a giggle. "She would feel really, really sad that she didn't get to fly too, right?"
"Well... she'd be a emotion. That's for sure." Larry signaled to his Altaria and said, "A few laps along the grass and then put her down gently, okay?"
Altaria chirped affirmatively.
Later that evening, Poppy found a hopscotch pattern in one of the city parks and started playing hopscotch with some of the local kids. Her Tinkaton joined in on the playtime, while Larry's own Oricorio was lent out in order to cheer Poppy and the kids on for motivation with its Pom-Pom style.
"Skee! Skeeeeee!" Oricorio cried out, mimicking the calls of cheerleaders.
Left to supervise Poppy and her new playmates was Katy, who sat on a bench overlooking the park with her giant stuffie. She smiled as she watched the kids playing, but was admittedly having a hard time keeping her eyes open.
Eventually, Larry returned to the bench, clutching two wrapped sandwiches from the local Every Wich Way branch. He sat down next to Katy and handed her one.
"One Ultra Potato Salad Sandwich for the lovely lady."
"Wow! You actually remember what sandwich I like?" Katy took the sandwich in surprised delight, and fluttered her eyelashes at him a bit. "I sure do love a good memory in a man."
"I- Y-you do?"
"Ha-ha! Sorry, I'm just teasing you!" Katy apologized. Larry sighed and began to unwrap his own sandwich. Katy meanwhile, seemed to turn her back on Larry as she took a really deep breath.
"Mr. Larry!" Poppy called out. "Are you watching?"
"I can see you," Larry called out.
"Great!" She proceeded to hop and skip the whole hopscotch board. Then she made a big showy motion and went "Ta-daaa!"
"Very nice."
Katy watched Poppy inquisitively as she went back to playing. Pondering something, she turned to Larry.
"So... Poppy. I hope you don't mind me asking this, but I really want to know-"
Larry swallowed his bite. "How does a five-year old become one of the strongest Trainers in the Padea region?"
Katy chuckled. "You- you knew I was gonna ask that!"
"One of my coworkers in the most prestigious battling facility in Paldea is young enough to still be in preschool. Trust me, a lot of people want to know that story."
He set his sandwich down and cleared his throat, remembering the whole story in his head.
"Well... and I should probably note, I only know all this from Rika, but, from what she's told me, Poppy was originally born into this well-to-do family in Galar that are considered among the world's strongest Steel-type specialists. Her parents were eager to have their children become battling prodigies at the youngest age possible, so as soon as she was out of diapers, Poppy was already being taught the basics of battling."
"Hmph. Nice parents there."
Larry gave her a grim look, but shook it off. "Well... that's the thing. You see... about two years ago, her parents died in some kind of accident."
Katy's eyes widened like saucers. "O- oh. That's- that's not where I thought this was going. I take back what I said." She looked at Poppy again, now feeling sympathetic. "Poor girl."
"Mm-hm. And her godfather was supposed to take her in. He's this chairman of a huge business enterprise out in Galar. But... he got arrested right around the same time."
"For what?"
"He brought about something that... well, that's kind of a whole other story, really," Larry explained. "But, anyway, Rika was apparently a friend of that family and one of Poppy's tutors. So... she took Poppy in after all that happened."
"Wow."
"Rika helped her get enrolled at the Naranja Preschool in Los Platos, in the special battling class for youngsters where... in less than three months, she fulfilled all the graduation requirements. Then Rika pulled some strings to allow her to battle students from Uva Academy... and she beat many of them."
"Tough girl," Katy remarked with a smile.
"Mm-hm. In just a short time, everyone in Paldea was talking about this young child prodigy with enough battling prowess to rival even the Champion Rank trainers. Then... Mind you, my understanding of this is a but murky. I know Rika had initially wanted to convince Geeta to sign her up for the Elite Four's training program. But then, I guess? One thing led to another and... Geeta appointed her to be a freaking Elite Four member instead."
"Huh. That was... Geeta's decision?" Larry shrugged in response. "What an interesting choice for her to make."
'Interesting' is one way to describe wonderful 'La Primera' deciding to put all of that stress and pressure on a child who's barely potty trained, Larry thought to himself. I swear we have to be violating a labor law of some sort.
"And... that's how you became an uncle!" Katy joked, pointing at Larry while holding back a giggle.
Larry rolled his eyes. "I'm not her uncle. I'm not even that much of a babysitter, this is only the... third time I've had to supervise her like this. I don't consider myself that great with kids."
"I think you're too hard on yourself. This whole day, you've been nothing but sweet and patient with her and it really warmed my heart to see that side of you. I..." She looked down for a second. "I think you could be a really great father someday."
Larry was taken aback at this. "R-really? Well I..." He frowned. "...I don't know. I fear that I'd just end up being like my own father. Too busy with work to even spend time with his own kid. I already never make enough time for anything."
Katy shook her head. "You make time to hang out with me. That alone means... so much."
"I... I guess that's true." Larry blushed, and Katy found herself blushing too. "Katy... I..."
Katy looked at Larry curiously, but when her eyes darted away from a second, her focus was suddenly turned away completely.
"Oh my gosh! What's going on?"
"Huh?" Larry looked the way of the playground. "...Oh dear."
Poppy was in a furious battle stance. Her Tinkaton had its giant hammer out and was swinging it threateningly at a trio of boys who stood across the yard from her.
"Bring it on, meanies!" Poppy called angrily. "My Pokémon and I will squash you all flat like pancakes!"
"TINK!" her Tinkaton yelled.
"Who are you supposed to be anyway?" one of the kids teased her.
"I'm Poppy! I'm part of the Elite Four!"
"You're supposed to be Poppy?" The smallest boy laughed. "Get real. The Elite Four doesn't hire babies."
"I'm not a baby! You take that back!"
Larry marched over with the aura of a disgruntled father-uncle figure.
"And just WHAT is going on here exactly?"
The boys all suddenly looked a little on-guard when they saw Larry. Larry realized why, as he quickly recognized they were the same trio of boys that had asked him for his autograph earlier.
"Mr. Larry! These boys were all saying lots of lies about you!"
"About... me?" He raised an eyebrow at them, which only made them more nervous.
"Yeah! They were singing a song about you and Miss Katy sitting up in a tree! So I went up to them said 'Hey! They're not sitting in a tree! They're on the ground! You're making things up!' But they just kept being really mean and started picking on me!"
Now Larry made a really indignant frown at the boys, who looked like they wanted the earth to swallow them whole.
He addressed the one he remembered from earlier. "Your name was Danny, right? And your dad eats at the Treasure Eatery?" Danny anxiously nodded. "What does he look like, exactly? Maybe I need to have a talk with him about his kid snooping on adults minding their own business. And harassing members of the Elite Four." He gestured to Poppy at that last line, who smugly crossed her arms and stuck out her tongue.
Now they really looked like Deerling in headlights.
"Crap! That girl is from the Elite Four!?" one whispered. "Mikey, you didn't say anything about one of the Elite Four literally being a toddler!"
"Hey, how was I supposed to know? There aren't any pictures of Poppy in that magazine! I knew she was a kid, but I thought she was at least as old as us!"
Larry cleared his throat for their attention. "Unless of course, you'd like to apologize to me and Poppy here and be on your way."
"Yes sir!"
"So sorry sir! A-and Poppy!"
"Yeah! We're sorry, Poppy!"
"That's Miss Poppy to you!" Poppy boasted, arms on her hips.
"Hey, no need to rub it in, okay?" Larry whispered.
"WE'RE SO VERY SORRY!"
Then all three of them ran off.
"They aren't so tough!" Poppy continued to boast. "I still would've beat them with my whole team. Rajah would've sent them all running to their mommies!"
"Erm, maybe so. But..." Larry knelt down to her. "You really shouldn't go around picking fights, kid."
"But I just wanted to defend your honor! And Miss Katy's!" she protested, sheepishly kicking her foot.
"And I appreciate that. But, remember, we're supposed to be Elite Four members. That comes with a lot of responsibility. A lot of people are counting on us to do the right thing, and not do crazy things just because of people saying mean stuff."
"You're right... I'm sorry, Mr. Larry. I'll try to be more respo- responsible from now on."
"Good. Now let's go."
He gave her an encouraging pat on the back and held her hand as they walked out of the park back to Katy. Larry began to think about that whole interaction.
Maybe... Katy was right. I guess I can be good with kids...
"Larry, look!"
Both Larry and Poppy were surprised when they got back to the bench. Katy's head lay over the giant Teddiursa plush on her lap, and she was snoring heavily.
"Miss Katy's asleep!" Poppy exclaimed. "It must be way past her bedtime!"
The sun was setting really fast, Larry finally noticed.
"Yeah. I guess it has been a long day. It's probably getting close to your bedtime too. I hope Rika shows up soon."
"Did someone call my name?"
"RIKA!"
Rika strutted her way over to the three of them, her hands nestled in her pockets. Poppy took off and gave Rika's legs a big hug.
"Hey there, kiddo," said Rika, tussling Poppy's bonnet. "Did you have fun today?"
"We did, we did! Mr. Larry and I got ice cream, and played at the park, and went to the arcade! I beat everyone at air hockey, and Miss Katy won the dancing game!"
"That's great. I'm glad you had a lot of fun and- wait, did you say Katy?" Rika glanced over Larry's person and saw the sleeping Katy on the bench. "Oh! That is Katy. What's she doing here?"
"She uhh... well, long story short, she happened to be in town, and... agreed to help out," Larry explained.
"Hmm. Nice..." Rika said. But she said it in a strangely sly tone as she looked Larry's way.
"Ummm." He decided to ignore that. "How did things today go?"
"Oh!" Her smile faded a bit. "Things went... pretty well. We uhh, I was at the academy in a meeting with Geeta, the academy director, and... Professor Turo's son."
"...Oh."
As members of the Elite Four, Larry and Rika were among the very few people in Paldea made privy to the true details behind the Area Zero incident, and of the celebrated Pokémon Professor's actual fate.
"Yeah... Umm... I think sometime in the next week, you should be seeing it made official in the papers. So... no more hiding that one."
"No more keeping secrets. What a relief."
Larry looked over at Poppy again, who had spun herself dizzy in a circle. He thought about the fact that Rika had to sit there in a room with the late Professor's son... and in that moment, he fully understood why Rika decided she didn't want Poppy to be around her today.
"Well." Rika decided to speak up in order to lighten up the mood. "Thank you so much for watching her today. I'm sorry to have foisted that on you."
Larry shook his head. "It's no trouble at all. I was glad to do it and... today was pretty fun."
"Good. Very good," Rika smiled. She looked over at the sleeping Katy. "Well... I'll leave you two to it. Say goodbye, Poppy!"
"Bye, Mr. Larry!" Poppy waved as she and Katy headed off.
"Take care, kid." After he was done waving though, he looked a bit cross. "What did she mean by 'I'll leave you two to it'? Huh, Katy?"
Katy snorted in her sleep.
"Oh. ...Right."
He stood over Katy's slumping body with his hands on his hips, trying to figure out what to do about this.
Finally, with a deep sigh, he got over and tried to lift Katy up off the bench.
"Alright. Come on, buttercup," he joked, putting on his dad voice again. "Let's get you to bed."
Katy snorted again, being stirred half-awake. "Huh? Whazzit... I don't wanna go to bed... Five more minutes..."
With great effort, Larry hunched her arm over this and began to walk the tired chef down the road.
"Come on."
