A/N: Ah, I'm obsessed with this DLC for Scarlet and Violet, so I decided to write some one-shots about the major characters I like from it. The other ones will be involved, but I won't focus on them (that being Lacey, Amarys, Carmine, and Crispin).
Most of these are just headcanon stuff, though I obviously will include the canon stuff as well (with fanon stuff mixed in). Also, I'm a huge shipper of Kieran x Juliana, so expect to see a lot of that, lol. (I don't mind Kieran x Florian either, but since I play as the female character, I'm going with Juliana.)
Uh, yeah, this first one is about Drayton and why he is the way he is, basically. Not canon in any way, shape, or form, but just an interesting idea I had in my head. Drayton is my second favorite character behind Kieran.
(Also, forgive me, but I have no idea how Drayden talks, so I'm making this up as I go along. Also also, Drayton is not in the list of characters to choose from on here, what gives?)
Story 1: Drayton
With a contented hum, Drayton, who was relaxing on a green beach chair next to the ocean, watched through his sunglasses as the waves lapped against the sandy beach. Reaching over to the little table next to him, the former BB League champion grabbed his glass of iced lemon tea and took a swig of it before placing it back down on the table.
Sighing with a small smile, Drayton crossed his legs and put his hands behind his head as he gazed out at the ocean, watching his dragons and Sceptile play in the water.
"This is the life, eh, Flygon?" Drayton asked lazily. Said Dragon-type looked up him from his comfortable spot in the sand next to his trainer.
"Goooooo!" Flygon cooed happily, fluttering his wings gently before laying his head back on the sand and closing his eyes. Drayton gave a small chuckle.
"Yup, no stress, no responsibilities. And like they said in that animated movie about the Litleo and Pyroars—Hakuna Matata." Absolutely nothing could ruin his day at that very moment. Except... a Hydro Pump to the face.
Yelling and spluttering, Drayton fell out of his beach chair but quickly sat up, wiping the water and sand off of his face. When he looked up, it was to the angry face of a Garchomp, a Pokémon he did not have, yet. Letting out a very manly yelp, he scrambled backwards as best he could, trying to get as far away from the angry dragon as possible. In his haste, the white-haired dragon trainer did not notice that his team had disappeared from around him.
He expected the Garchomp to attack him, that was a given. What Dayton did not expect was it to open its mouth and start talking to him. In Carmine's voice no less.
"Drayton, you lazy bozo! Get up this instant!" Blinking his eyes once, then again, Drayton found himself staring up into the ceiling of the clubroom rather than the blue skies of a sandy beach. He also noticed that he was soaked from head to toe, but that was nothing new considering his Kingdra enjoyed spraying him with water on a frequent basis.
Blinking rapidly, he tilted his head and was suddenly staring into the cheerful face of a Brionne as it clapped and barked happily. 'Wait, the only one I know around here who recently got a Brionne is...'
"Hey, Carmine," Drayton said as he slowly sat up, not bothering to get up off the floor yet as he rested his arms on his knees.
"Are you serious right now?! You're not even going to stand up?!" Carmine complained as she glared down at the knucklehead with her hands on her hips.
"Nope, not unless I absolutely have to," he said flippantly with his eyes closed. "'Sides, the floor isn't too bad, ya know?"
"You. Are. Unbelievable! You know what? Whatever! I was just sent here to tell you your grandfather called the school wanting to talk to you because apparently, someone decided not to answer their phone! Come on, Brionne, we're leaving." With that, Carmine stormed away, her Pokémon happily hopping after her.
Wincing at that piece of information, Drayton patted down his pockets and quickly realized he must have left his phone in his dorm room. 'Ooo, grandpa isn't going to be too happy with me. Not that he's probably happy anyway, he only calls me when he wants to ream me over the coals.' With a resigned sigh, Drayton slowly stood up and stretched before sitting down on the couch that he had been napping on, not bothered by how soaked it was at the moment. With a groan, he ran a hand down his face and then through his hair, not looking forward to the coming conversation with his grandfather whatsoever. With a shake of his head and another sigh, the young dragon trainer slowly stood up.
"Might as well get it over with," he mumbled to himself. He stretched one more time before slowly making his way out of the clubroom. He was just glad no one else was there at the moment, strangely enough.
As Drayton was slowly making his way to one of the elevators to take him to the floor his dorm was on, he was nearly bowled over by an overly enthusiastic Juliana, who was dragging a protesting Kieran by the arm.
"Sorry, Drayton!" Juliana called out as she and Kieran rounded a corner after passing him.
Drayton soon heard a shout of pain that obviously came from Kieran, and an apology from Juliana soon after. Shaking his head good naturedly, he continued on his way to one of the elevators.
"Honestly, those two should just kiss and get it over with," he said with a low chuckle. "They are just so obvious." He knew he picked on Kieran over his loss to Juliana when he could, as he definitely deserved it over how he treated him and everyone else during the time he was champion, but it was not like he wanted the little twerp to be unhappy. Clearly being around the Paldean resident made him quite happy these days, and after he learned about what caused the ex-champ's breakdown in the first place through the school grapevine, he figured he deserved it.
Though how some of the gossip mongers got ahold of that information, Drayton would never know. Those people had super secret powers of some sort, he was sure, but hey, they certainly served his schemes quite well.
He passed by a few more students that were just lingering or chatting in the hallway, but Drayton paid them no mind, solely focused on getting to his dorm room. Quite slowly. Nothing wrong with taking your time, none at all, especially when you are about to be chewed out by a family member.
All too soon, much to his annoyance, Drayton reached the elevator and stepped inside and lazily hit the third floor button with a sigh. He fiddled with his hands to keep them busy as the elevator descended to his floor. His mind started drifting, but before he could get too lost in a daydream the elevator dinged and the door opened. The dragon trainer stepped out and so very slowly made his way to his dorm room, which was at the end of one of the hallways that branched off into a circular pattern.
Normally the long walk bothered him, but today he was glad for it. All too soon, however, he reached his door and let out a resigned sigh before inputting the code into the keypad that would let him in. Drayton had been glad they had keypads instead of key cards because he just knew he would lose his multiple times, or just forget it in his room.
Seeing the light turn green on the pad, he turned the handle and stepped in, glancing around his room, wincing a bit at the mess.
"I should clean this up at some point," he said to himself with a slight huff. "Eh, I'll save it for another day." Though he knew darn well it would never get clean, not when he lacked the motivation to do it. "Right, where's my phone?"
After a few minutes of looking around and not finding his phone, he stood in the middle of his kitchen scratching his head in confusion. "Where on Earth did I put the damn thing? It wasn't in its usual spots... Maybe I left it in the bathroom?" With that idea, he walked over and into the bathroom and flicked on the lights. It was no surprise that his bathroom was a total mess as well.
"Ah ha! There you are!" Drayton exclaimed after looking around for a short bit. How it got nearly behind the toilet was beyond him, but it probably fell out of his pocket this morning without him noticing. He bent over and grabbed it before making his way to his bed and flopping down on to it with a groan.
"Maybe I could put this off for a bit somehow? Nah, gramps will know I'm doing that on purpose. I could fake an injury or something, but that would take too much effort. Ugh, fine, let's just get this over with." Slowly, the dragon trainer pulled up his contacts, and after inhaling a deep breath, pushed the phone icon next to his grandfather's name. The phone rang a couple of times before the sound of a click signaled it was picked up on the other end.
"Young man." The deep voice of his grandfather in that disappointed tone of voice made Drayton flinch a bit.
"Uh, hey, grandpa, how's it hangin'?" Drayton said, trying to act as cool as possible.
"Don't you give me that blasé tone of voice, Drayton! The fact that I had to call the school in order to try and get ahold of you has me angry enough, but the fact that you're in danger of failing yet another year of school has me furious! Four years in a row, young man, four!" Drayden roared, nearly causing Drayton to drop his phone. Deciding it was the best course of action, he let the Rotom float the phone in front of him and put it on speaker. "Never have I ever been so highly disappointed in any of my kin! I've told my son and daughter-in-law," that had Drayton flinch reflexively, "about your progress and they are not thrilled about this either!"
"Aw, come on grandpa, I just-" Drayton started, but he never got to finish.
"I don't want to hear any more of your excuses! I don't understand what happened with you. You were a straight A student who put time and effort into his work up until three years ago, and then suddenly you developed this lackadaisical attitude about everything out of nowhere! Well, I've discussed this your parents and we've come to a solution." The young trainer gulped silently at hearing that. "We're giving you two options—One, you shape up and actually pass your classes and finally graduate, or two, we pull you from that school and I will homeschool you instead."
That made Drayton stand up so fast he almost tripped over the cape around his waist.
"You wouldn't do that! You can't do that!" he said in a panic. Homeschooled? He could not be homeschooled! His grandfather would drill him into the ground with how hard of a taskmaster he was!
"I can and I will, young man! Not only are you making yourself look terrible, you're making your parents, the clan, and I look incompetent! So either shape up or I will ship you home, do you understand me?" Drayton just grumbled at that. "Speak up, I want a verbal answer from you."
"Yes, I understand," he said with gritted teeth.
"Good. I expect you to finally pass and graduate this year and take your place within the clan as you should have three years ago. Now, I'll leave you to it." With that, Drayden hung up, causing Drayton to sigh. He had not heard a 'I'm proud of you' or 'I love you' from his grandfather in three years. It was disheartening to tell the truth of the matter. And, not that he would ever admit it aloud, it kind of broke his heart a bit.
'What am I going to do,' he thought as he put his phone in his pocket before sitting back down on his bed. 'I'm not ready to take on the duties as a clan member, I'm just not!' Glancing over at his nightstand, he grabbed the empty pill bottle and glared at it. Drayton had no idea why he kept the thing next to him as it was dated for over three years ago, but he did not think his decision when it came to the medication would backfire in this way.
He had not had it refilled in those three years, despite his promise to his family that he would keep up with it.
With an angry growl, he threw the bottle as hard as he could against the opposite wall, feeling some sort of satisfaction as it thudded against the wall and fell to the floor. He quickly wiped the tears that were threatening to fall out of his eyes and curled up on his bed, hugging tight the Duraludon plush that his grandpa gave him when he was a young child for comfort.
'This sucks.'
"Hey, have either of you two seen Drayton around lately?" Lacey asked Juliana and Kieran, both of whom were eating lunch in the cafeteria together as they scrolled through Juliana's phone in between bites.
"Hm? Actually, now that you mention it, I haven't seen him around much this week," Juliana said as she paused the video the two of them were watching.
"No wonder it's been quiet, I haven't been called 'ex-champion' once in days. It's been quite peaceful because of it," Kieran remarked with a cheerful grin which caused Juliana to roll her eyes and playfully shove him in the shoulder.
"He hasn't been that bad, ya know," Juliana said before taking a bite out of her meal.
"Says you! Every time you're not around he takes a jab at me, it's annoying," he said with a put upon sigh.
"So neither of you have seen him. Neither have Crispin, Carmine, or Amarys. It's highly unusual if you ask me," Lacey said as she crossed her arms. "I think the only time anyone has seen him has been in classes, and that is quite unusual as well as he has a bad habit of skipping them."
"I wouldn't worry too much, Lacey, he'll come around more at some point," Juliana said with a shrug.
"I heard that he got hollered at by his grandpa, so maybe that has something to do with it?" Kieran suggested as he took a bite out of his food and shook his head after. "I couldn't imagine getting yelled at like that by my grandparents."
"Well, it's not the first time that's happened to be honest, but this time must have been bad if he's suddenly become a recluse," Lacey said with a thoughtful hum at the end. "I'll see if I can find him somewhere around here. Aside from the terrarium, there's not many places he can hide in the school."
"Good luck," Juliana called out to her as she left before turning to Kieran. "I am worried about him, ya know, this isn't like Drayton at all." Kieran just sighed.
"I suppose you're right, but he'll snap out of it at some point and be back to his annoying, lazy self again."
"I hope you're right," she murmured. "Well, let's leave it to Lacey for now and get back to our video, yeah?"
"Took the words right out of my mouth!"
Lacey had looked around every place she could think of, aside from inside the terrarium, which she was saving for last. Well, there was one area she had not checked yet, but it was so obvious that it could not be where Drayton was, right?
Wrong.
As she began checking the battle court area, which only had a couple of students lingering around as most had classes at this time, she suddenly spotted someone hiding in a well-hidden alcove under the bleachers. It was obvious as to who it was with the white hair and single purple stripe through the poofiest part of it. He looked to be clutching a... Duraludon plush against his chest? He also had the most forlorn-looking expression she had ever seen on him, which was concerning.
"Drayton!" Lacey hissed quietly as she kneeled down and started crawling towards him. The sudden sound of her voice caused him to startle so bad he dropped the plush he was holding and he banged his head against the bleacher above him.
"Ow! What the... Lacey? What are you doing here?" Drayton asked in surprise as he rubbed the sore spot on the top of his head and grabbed his plush from the ground.
"Looking for you, you dummy! Everyone's been worried about you," Lacey stated as she finally reached him and sat down next to him. She wiped the dirt off her knees as he let out a snort.
"I find that hard to believe," Drayton said with a shake of his head.
"Well believe it! You may be annoying, but we still care about you, especially when you're not acting like yourself!" He just grunted and looked away and Lacey sighed. "Come on, Drayton, tell me what's wrong. It'll help getting it off your chest."
Drayton turned to look at her, yellow eyes calculating as he stared, but Lacey did not even flinch from his gaze. With a defeated sigh, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes as he thought of how to start his explanation.
"I was given an ultimatum by my gramps—Either I graduate this year or he pulls me from school and homeschools me," he started off, a tinge of bitterness in his voice. This caused Lacey to gasp.
"He would do that?" she asked with shock.
"He would. He doesn't make idle threats, never has," Drayton said as he fiddled mindlessly with the Duraludon plush in his hands. "I suppose this is my fault, but... Do you know about the dragon clans?"
The abrupt question caused the pink-haired girl to blink rapidly for a couple of seconds.
"Not really, no. The only thing I know about them is that you have to be born into them or married into them. They're kind of like an exclusive club," she said with a shake of her head.
"Well, you are right about that, but there's so much more about them. Once you hit thirteen, you're expected to take up the mantle of an adult and take on the loads of responsibilities that comes with it." Yeah, Lacey could see why Drayton would despise that. "They also expect you to find a partner and marry them at sixteen."
"You can't be serious!" Lacey exclaimed with wide eyes. Drayton just grimaced.
"Dead serious. But I'm not ready for all of that yet! I just wanted to be a kid for as long as I could get away with, so..." He trailed off, not looking at the girl next to him as he closed his eyes.
"So you orchestrated a plan that would keep you in school for as long as possible," Lacey said, quickly figuring it out. Everything was starting to make sense to her now. She was not here when he started school, as he was almost seventeen now and she almost fourteen, but Lacey did recall hearing about how he used to be quite the model student in his first three years of school.
"Right in one," Drayton said. "No one knows this, so keep it to yourself, but I was on medication for most of my life for my ADHD. My brilliant plan was to stop taking it, which I did, and I went back to my unmotivated self. I stopped caring about classes or getting things in on time, and so, I failed and got held back, just like I wanted."
Lacey's eyes were wide the entire time, but she did not interrupt.
"Unfortunately my grandfather had enough and proposed me with that ultimatum and now I have no idea what to do!" Drayton said with frustration as he raked a hand through his hair. "I don't want him to homeschool me, that's just a horrible fate if you ask me, but I don't want to graduate and be forced into duties I'm not mentally ready for yet. I'm just... lost... and I don't know what to do..."
He said that in the most pathetic sounding voice that Lacey had ever heard from him and it caused her heart to twinge. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder which caused him to look at her with such pitiful eyes that it nearly made her want to pull him into a hug.
"I never knew..." This caused him to let out a scornful laugh.
"No one knew, and I wanted to keep it that way, but I guess I couldn't even achieve that," he said with bitterness.
"Drayton, I think you should tell your grandfather about this," Lacey suggested and Drayton looked at her like she was crazy as he shrugged off her hand.
"Are you insane? If I tell him about what I did, I'll never hear the end of it! Plus he'll definitely pull me from school! There is zero way I am telling that man about this!"
"You need to, you need to get him to understand you and your feelings about this. I really don't think he's going to be as bad as you think."
"Then you don't know my grandpa," Drayton muttered as he clutched his plush a bit tighter to his chest.
"Perhaps not, but my dad knows him well enough and I've heard stories. I think he will be reasonable enough, you just have to explain things correctly to him, that's all."
Closing his eyes, Drayton let out a deep sigh as memories of his younger years with his grandfather came flooding through his mind. He was mostly raised by the man as his parents often traveled for their jobs.
Happy memories as he played with him and his Pokémon. Memories of their trips together around Unova to see the sights, as well as trips to other regions here and there. Memories as he tucked him into bed and read stories to him; stories of knights, of dragons, of legends. Memories of the days where he would sit him down and teach him the things he needed to know and how patient he was with him as he struggled with some things. The memory of getting the plush that he now held in his arms. The memory of his grandfather presenting him proudly with his first Pokémon as the rest of the clan watched on and celebrated.
One by one they flashed through his mind, and unknowingly, tears began to fall down his face. He felt like such a fool in that moment.
"Drayton?" Lacey called out softly.
"Alright," he croaked out, voice tinged with emotion. "I'll tell him."
Drayton was shaking with nerves, but could anyone blame him? He was about to tell his grandfather about the little scheme he pulled to get out of clan duties, after all. He had his Flygon out for some emotional support, and the Dragon/Ground-type had his head in Drayton's lap as his trainer gently stroked his large antennae-like horns.
"Alright, time to get this over with," he mumbled and Flygon looked up at him in concern, though Drayton did not see it.
As slowly as he could, he called his grandpa, this time making sure to have it on speaker. Just in case. It did not take long for the gym leader to pick up.
"Drayton? Are you calling me because you have come to a decision?" Drayton heard this and sighed, trembling with nerves. He felt Flygon give his hand a couple of licks to help calm him down.
"Y-yes, and no," he started.
"What do you mean by that, young man?"
"I... I just..."
"Well, spit it out! I have a couple of challengers coming in today and I can't be late!"
"Grandpa, please!" Drayton begged in the most childish voice he had ever heard coming from himself.
"...Alright, I'll wait." The calm and almost loving voice he heard from the man almost broke him, but he held strong. Drayton had not heard that voice from him in so long it almost physically hurt.
But he had to soldier through.
"I... I'm sorry. I screwed up big time with everything, and it's not for the reason you think it is!"
"..." Drayton took the silence as a reason to continue.
"I... I was scared, grandpa. I'm not ready to face the responsibilities as a clan member! I just wanted to enjoy my childhood for a bit longer, so... I stopped taking my medication and got held back to stay in school for as long as I could. I knew eventually they would probably kick me out, but I was prepared for that eventuality. I just... I'm sorry! I never meant to disappoint you or anyone else in our family or clan, honest! I..." But he could not continue as he had broken down in sobs. He had not cried in so long it felt foreign, but he could not hold the tears back anymore.
Flygon cooed and nuzzled against him in a vain effort to calm him down.
"Drayton, son... I wish you had just told me from the start, but I understand why you didn't." Drayton just continued to cry, but he did hear what his grandfather was saying. "It's alright Drayton, calm down. Take deep breaths for me. That's it." The baby talk would have had him laughing if he was not crying, but he did as his grandfather instructed and eventually just ended sniffling as he hugged Flygon against him.
"I suppose this is partly my fault as well." Drayton went to argue, but was shot down. "No, son, I shouldn't have been so hard on you over this in the first place. The signs were all there, I just remained ignorant to them."
There was a pause that made the young trainer concerned.
"Grandpa?"
"I still want you to graduate this year, but... I will not enforce the clan duties on to you when you do. Just come to me when you're ready to face them." Drayton perked up immediately at that.
"Are you serious?! I can't believe this, thank you so much, grandpa!"
"Yes, well, in all my infinite wisdom, I seem to have forgotten that not everyone is ready for the clan responsibilities right away. I was one of them, myself."
That caused Drayton to be surprised.
"Wait, really? You?"
"I suppose that is a bit shocking, but yes. I didn't try getting out of it in some cockamamie way like you did, but I held off on them until my early twenties. For what's it worth from this old man, I apologize for how I treated you and regardless of your actions these past three years, I am proud of you for what you have accomplished at that school of yours."
Drayton just smiled happily at that, glad to finally hear that for the first time in three years.
"Thanks, grandpa."
END
A/N: Yeah, so, I envisioned Drayton with ADHD like I myself have. He has the common symptoms even in canon, so it makes sense to me. Just wanted to write a one-shot about why he is so quote unquote 'lazy'. But yeah, there were a lot of headcanons in this, hope you enjoyed it. XD The next few one-shots are all about Juliana and Kieran, so hope you look forward to those.
Oh, yes, right, this takes place about two months after the end of the epilogue.