A Soul Of Steel

by CeroAjax

The dream of a lifetime was finally achieved by one attempting the Galar Region Gym Challenge: a trainer named Haru. However what is life afterwards for someone unsure of how to handle being Champion? What, if anything, lies next? Does he persist in his new busy life or move to something else? This story explores one such trainer.

35. Chapter 35

Chapter 34: Feedback

Data Entry: Hisui, Jubilife Village, 22:00

Date: March 22nd

Today the lord Arceus left me with but might confusion. One of the goals of the majesty that is Arceus was to document the Pokemon in my very home. From Jubilife, Cobalt Coastlands, Crimson Mirelands, and even through , I have searched far and wide to write down everything I can scribe about Pokemon's daily livelihood. When I did all this, I also met the creator himself. For the first time I stood before He Who Created; the Almighty. Surely I was confident some reward laid before me for completing the Pokedex but as insane as it is to state this I dueled with him in battle. While witnessing perhaps a mere fraction of his power I showed the truth of my bonds of my Pokemon and pray tell the strength Pokemon and humans can achieve when working together.

And thus Arceus spoke to me after it was all done, 'As thou walkest onward upon thine own path... Upon thee...and upon this creation where thou now dwellest... I bestow my blessing. And I bestow upon thee a part of myself. I would walk this world together with thee. Show me how it appeareth in thine eyes.'.

I don't quite understand it yet, but the Lord Arceus himself would disappear in a ball of light before flying to the Heavens. A blinding light forced my eyes shut and when I opened them again, my pockets were a little heavier. It was a PokeBall that I had not brought with me from my journey. When I threw it, out popped The Lord himself! Shocked, I immediately went onto a knee, only to be told it were not necessary. The Pokemon before me spoke as it was Arceus, and I believe it despite seeing Arceus leave.

'A part of myself' it said...what does that mean?

Does this mean when strong Pokemon such as the deity Pokemon lose their strength when a human looks after them? Does bonding with a Pokemon like them mean one must start over just to unlock that strength again, or is there another lesson to go through?

Maybe the truth has something to do with these plates I've been collecting. Volo was a crazed man, but he was looking for them for a reason.

The mystery will be resolved another time, I feel. ~ Hachiro

- - - - Hammerlocke, Golemshaven Flats - - - -

- - - - 8th floor, current day - - - -

"What the hell does this mean...?" Haru looked down at the paper Quen handed to him moments ago. Shook from his head to his toes, questions started flooding. He read the name of the writer who was responsible for this special, very limited information on the discovery of a lifetime. The Soul Burst Stone was a special stone that was given to him by his friend, Syra, the current Champion of Galar, when she was vacationing in the Sinnoh region. Neither her nor anyone they spoke to up until this point knew what it was, but now with the information Quen unearthed they may find some answers.

It was a special stone in which the Burst Stones borrowed their ability to fuse humans with Pokemon into one transformed state. This Soul Burst Stone, however, bore a more pure power. One could transform into a fusion of a human and Pokemon, but also then be granted every ability of that type associated with the markings and color of the stone.

As he picked the paper back up, Quen took note of Haru's shaken state. "You gonna be okay? Fill me in why you just freaked out, man."

Pointing to the name while sweat formed from his forehead, Haru took a deep breath and spoke slowly. "Hachiro, the name which is on this paper is my direct ancestor..."

"'Direct'?" Quen questioned his choice of wording and figured he was probably just unable to speak well at the moment.

Haru shook his head. "Sorry, yeah. Great great great however many great- my grandpa. Hang on, I took a photo of his logs that President Mars gave me when I saw a picture from his time." Scrolling through his phone, Haru found the photo he took of a sepia-monotone photograph of Hachiro standing next to his Hisuian Typhlosion.

Quen gasped. "What the fu- you're the spitting image of him! Dude!"

"What's even more odd about this stone, now that I look at it, is the color." Haru said, pointing out at its luster. "It's not like a silver kind of grey, but more of a chromium shine. It also doesn't appear to have any form of energy flow within it like other stones I've looked at, in which we use for league battles."

Handing the stone back to Quen, who took a look at it while squinting, Haru just put his hands on his hips. "The fuck does this mean? You called it a 'Soul' Burst...and it's...Wh-..." He gave a halfhearted laugh of disbelief. He spoke to himself quietly. "That silly nickname Oleana gave me...you're telling me there's more to this now...? this 'Soul of Steel'? I...the fuck is this promised-one bullshit naming...?"

"Haru, please. I'm trying to focus."

"Sorry." With a palm around his mouth and pulling downwards, Quen could tell her new comrade was getting overwhelmed and tried to reel him back.

"'scool. Just...give me a second. I think I may have a specified kind of lens to get a better look. Part of me is telling me I should look for it." She turned away and walked to a set of drawers, pulling several open before bringing out a magnifier lens and put it to one of her eyes. After looking at it for few seconds, she handed both the stone and lens to him. "Can you confirm what those markings mean? Look towards the center, if you can focus your vision on it."

She saw him hold it close. Haru asked "What am I looking for, exactly?"

She did her best to guide him, as Enya, her Flareon, hopped up on the nearby couch and looked at him. "Try to find something that looks like markings or its energy on the inside. Mega Keystones and Z Stones have energies that kind of swirl around like water or spirits. You can seem them moving like water. Galar energy is something I'm trying to understand better with Dynamax wishing bands, but the way how the inside of that stone looks is different. Do you see anything that maybe gives it away?"

Silence.

"Well...it's certainly moving around like it's energy. Almost gaseous, maybe." Haru made several attempts at it before sighing and handing back the lens to her. "Sorry, but I can't make heads or tails of it."

Quen squinted. "I'll keep looking into this on my end now that we know the source of the majority of these writings. It's possible that I can run into other articles with knowledge of the term 'soul burst stone' or any arrangement or similarly named terms. If I run into any dead ends, though, I don't know what else I could do other than suggest you find more original writings like these."

"I'll let you borrow the diaries he wrote if that would help. It's all about the original Pokedex and his run-ins with his eventual wife, and maybe more, but...who knows?" He'd suggest, but she shook her head.

She handwaved him down. "Unless it's directly about that type of stone you should keep it to yourself. I'd feel a little too forthcoming and rude if you lent me something so personal on account of only meeting me twice."

"Heh. Well, if it's any consolation you've given me a lot more to think about, and a part of me feels relieved." Quen would see Haru put the stone back into the pocket he took it out from before and watched him head to her door of her flat.

"So what are you going to do now?" She'd ask.

"Might talk to Hiro, might talk to Nessa. Not so much to see if they pose any answers, but to clear my head on this for now." He tipped the top of his Gym Leader cap and nodded to Quen. "I'll keep in touch, okay?"

"Ye." She grinned and waved when he walked out, then her face soured. She looked to Enya, who looked back. "You heard him mumble to himself, right? 'Soul of Steel'? That's what he said, right?"

The ball of warm fluff yipped at her. "VeeeEee.."

The sounds of his steps Haru took out of the flat and onto the elevator were the only sound accompanying him. The low hum of the ventilation shaft, electricity flowing through the fluorescent lighting on the ceiling played only second to the deafening silence of his thoughts running through his head. White noise. He already was back to a point where he had to worry on his next step.

While the elevator door closes he stared at the floor after pressing the "L" button for 'lobby'. /How did I get here?/ He'd ask to nobody. Folding his arms, Haru would just quietly let the elevator take him down: his inner monologue being the only partner that'd reply to his questioning.

As no answer would come.

Walking out of the flats, Haru's phone went off. He took a glance and chuckled. "Uh oh."

*Click*

"Hey Sev. Good to hear from ya man." He said in greeting.

Finally awake from his slumber, Sevan sounded more than a little lively on the phone. "Haru please tell me why I've woken up this late to a solitary text from Bea stating the words 'Your secret is safe with me'? What fucking secret is she talking about?"

It was a bit too easy for Haru to reply with a snarky quip, but given his friend's particular nervousness, which was rare and raw, he only mustered a small chuckle. As he started making his way downtown of Hammerlocke's streets, he lowered his volume. The last thing Haru would want is someone getting the wrong idea. "Ay. Look, Sev. Whatever it is you got going on with Mars I don't quite care, but you should at least be willing to tell Syra so she doesn't get the wrong idea or flirt too directly to you."

"Mother fu-WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!"

Huffing, Haru looked around before covering his cheeks with the palm of his free hand. "What I mean is I don't care what you do to get your nethers wet, mate, but try not to piss off your employer or at the very least make it so Oleana-"

As if the very person was yelling at him physically, Haru had to hold the Rotom Phone at arm's length. "WHAT KIND OF GUY DO YOU ALL HERE IN GALAR TAKE ME FOR?! HOLY FUCK, HARU! Disregarding that Mars and I aren't even like that AT ALL, how the fuck do you even know about that IN THE FIRST PLACE?!"

Leaning in with a squint, Haru looked around first to see if he could find a quiet corner before continuing. There was an alleyway. He'd duck into there before his voice rose to normal volume. "Eh? Now I'm the one with the questions: the fuck do you mean you 'aren't like that' at all? I came there earlier since I was ready to work out like we usually do, but she was the one answering your door. Wearing your shirt."

There was a pause. Sevan replied straight. "Well yeah, I gave her that shirt."

Through gritted teeth, Haru replies, "Sorry, let me rephrase that. When I checked your place earlier, she was wearing ONLY. a shirt."

"...fuck. Okay. No wonder you got the wrong idea. Augh." Sevan is heard sighing with exasperation. "To make a long story short, this whole 'thing' has been one sided since almost the beginning. I'd go more into it at another date but it's not been so easy to get her to really see me as anything less as what she does now, you know? For this...hang on, I gotta make sure she doesn't overhear me." Sevan paused to gauge where she was in the house. "She's showering. So like...look Haru, I don't really have a way to get around saying it but..."

Being able to tell the tone was much more serious, Haru dropped pretense or any underlying 'jokey' manner.

The exhaustion came through as Sevan's voice was much lower than usual. "Sometimes...it's just nice enough to have someone to hold onto that helps you sleep. You don't even know the sleep is eating away at you until you're thrust right into someone's embrace and the weight of your forehead feels thrice as heavy. You finally feel the sleep arriving; for someone like me who can't fucking sleep easily, it's nice, okay?"

Haru's glance went off center as his thoughts made him think back to the first time he ended up sleeping with Nessa and how that made his heart feel full. "...aye."

He'd continue. "For Mars it's understandable why she may still pine for me. If I wasn't already with Hilda at the time she first got sparks for me, her and I maybe could have worked out. But as it stands it's kind of my fault for how she is...and I was wrong to just cut contact the way I did. I didn't want to just push her away. So you get it, yeah?" Sevan asked him.

"Aye, I do." Haru glanced around to no one just so that no one he knew would overhear his conversation. "Sorry if I got you upset making you think I undershot your integrity."

The sound of what appeared to be a Pidgeot cawing in the background was heard as Sevan shuffled around. "Eh, I'd have thought something was up if I were in your shoes too, Haru. I'm not pressed about it."

"So what's next?" He'd be asked, as Haru pursed a lip.

"What's next is...well fuck I don't actually know, if I'm honest. Even when I make it obvious of my disinterest of being like that, Mars doesn't seem to care. It certainly isn't going to be easy explaining this to others like you. I can't have Bea be mad at me: that's going to make the mornings tense." Sevan was heard tapping his chin a little. "So if you know, and now Bea knows, are you two the only ones that are aware? Last thing I need is another stupid scandal."

"Pretty sure if Bea says your secret is safe then you're safe. But then again, I can't say for certain. You'd have to find out-" Haru blinked, as he felt his phone vibrate and onscreen a notification came to him from League Staff.

[CHAMPION SYRA IN CUSTODY OVER ALLEGED TRESPASSING INCIDENT. MORE TO COME LATER. FURTHER DETAILS WILL COME AS STAFF IS UPDATED. UNTIL THEN, ALL LEAGUE STAFF AND GYM LEADERS ARE NOT TO CONTACT THE CHAMPION UNTIL CHAIRMAN HAS MADE A DECISION]

"...oh fuck me that's not good."

"What? What happened, Haru?"

"Sev? I gotta call you back. Some serious shit's gone down and I need to be on call." Haru went to hang up then finished on one final thought. "Look, if you aren't 'with' Mars like that, then I guess you have my sympathies when it comes to talking to Bea."

"Yeah. Fuck." Sevan said with usual exhaustion.

In the pits of his stomach, Haru started wondering what was going on with Syra and hung up. "Keep me updated okay? Later, man."

That another figurehead of his rank was causing issues at another jailhouse made the wrinkles on Haru's forehead more pronounced. Flush with confusion and worry, the headache from that day's earlier ongoings distracted him enough to fight his usual urge to pursue doing detective work.

/Maybe I should head home/

- - - - - Wyndon East Detention Center - - - - -

- - - - - Few minutes earlier - - - - -

"Fresh meat!"

"Ayyyy look it's the Champ!"

"Damn babe, had no idea you had curves like that up close, c'mere I'm a little hard of sight and my senses goin' you know? Come cozy up in this cell~"

Syra just gave a hard stare and casual flip of the middle finger. She looked to the officer with a side-eye while being escorted. "Fucking hell, could you have put me in a more slime swathed group of other people behind bars?"

The cop rolled her eyes before opening one vacant cell door and pushing her and Syra's Eevee into the cell. "You got your one phone call, now just keep quiet and don't cause any more trouble allright?"

It had either been a long day or simply being the one that escorted Syra had drained her, but the female officer had already turned tail and walked off before her new prisoner had any time to give her trouble about it. Slamming both fists against the bars and grabbing onto them, Syra would protest. "My boss will come for me, and she's going to break me out of here! You hear me?" She pressed her face to the bars and yapped at a passing guard, who looked at her. "I know my rights! I should be able to visit anyone I see fit! Hey, you! Don't you agree? What if you had someone who was so high up th-ACK!"

Another policeman smacked the bars with the baton they had in hand, causing Syra to withdraw her hands and step back reflexively. Tsukiyomi just yapped at him loudly. "OY! Knock it off! We told ya to keep it quiet, so shut it!"

It was unbecoming of a woman like her, but Syra could only simply cross her arms then sit on the lone, hard bed in the holding cell. "Champ, or no Champ, where ya went is a secret location nobody but the chairman herself is allowed to be privy to."

One of the younger and gruff cellmates stuck his arm out and gestured a wave to Syra. "T'sokay Champ, you can come over here if ya like, aight? I can hold ya tight and warm, hehehehe." Catcalling to her with a whistle.

"Hmph..." With her arms folded and leaning against the wall, Syra only looked at the floor in frustration. /Oleana, the Feds, and one big tittied Gardevoir named 'Grace' are the only ones with permission to walk through that VIP area, huh? Why is that much security needed?/ Syra thought to herself. The cockiness that glowed from Grace while wearing a scowl made Syra cross. She did her best to think about the silver lining of visiting that girl again. Cherise seemed like such a nice girl based on the short, first visit. Looking down to her Eevee, Syra gestured for Tsukiyomi. The grey fluffball hopped up onto her lap and looked up at her while she started massaging his cheeks in a way that she saw Cherise do.

He twitched, yipping. Syra frowned. "I-I'm sorry...I'm trying...she made it look so easy." She put her hands to her side while Tsukiyomi frowned. He extended a paw to show her he didn't hold it against her, so she tried again. Her technique was without finesse but Tsukiyomi eventually would relent due to sensing her wish to destress in an obviously stressful situation. With cheeks puffed, stretched, and massaged, his ears twitch when she spoke up. "Hey Tsuki...? You ever wonder what makes someone like her smile like she did?"

He turned his head sideways as his ears twitched. The massaging of his cheeks continued as Syra continued talking slowly and quietly to him. "We only talked for a little while, but her eyes told me so much more. I'm not good like Haru at talking to people who have certain issues. When I had to look over my young brother Gabe, I found myself often without an answer to his problems and felt powerless to really say anything that makes you go 'Yeah!' or 'You know you're right!' or 'You're so smart, sis!'." She'd point this out while the Eevee listened in closely.

Idly pushing some of her long black hair out from her eyes, Syra's nose flared. "Or maybe I think I'm not good because I'm nervous I'll say something wrong since I used to be such a bitch. Y'know. The whole...'she was evil once so she may slip up' that people may have said."

She glanced around since there wasn't a whole lot to look at while in the holding cell. It wasn't the first time Syra found herself in a holding cell, but she was far less worried on the time she'd be spending in it. Tsukiyomi let out a contented purr-like sound while his master's hands softly stroked his cheeks. "Her eyes...they looked like mine."

"Veeeee..."

"Whatever it is she has, I hope she recovers soon. I'd like to know more about her." Syra stopped massaging Tsukiyomi's cheeks long enough for him to loaf in her lap and look up at her. "What makes an 'Elite' Ranger higher class than a regular one? What kind of stuff happens...?"

/"My name is Cherise, and I'm here to become a Ranger. The best one there ever will be!"/

/"How about skydiving with no parachute?!"/

/"I'll make you regret ever having taken up arms against me!"/

/"Please don't forget me even if I get in a bad accident or I'm far away, Okay Quen?"/

/"Keep this one alive. The other subjects have gotten fussy, and need a human woman-"/

/"My name is Syra."/

Cherise gasped herself awake loudly with one arm reaching outwards and another hand clasping onto her chest. The shock of waking up put her into a coughing fit. As the machinery near her started beeping loudly, and her coughs worsened, the shiny Gardevoir doctor that was assigned to her walked in with a pair of nurses to check up: now at heightened alert. "Cherise, are you with us?" She'd ask after the signs of her physical state had returned to normalcy.

The girl handwaved it off, insisting she simply woke up from a nightmare of mish-mashed memories. "Are you done checking my vitals, or can I have a moment to myself now?"

The caramel skinned woman said with a sign of irritation. The Vaporeon that played the ever vigilant would-be water turret to unwanted guests gave a stinkeye to the nurses that would walk out. His gaze softened when was the sole person left and just stewed with a pout in his small pool of water that was in the corner. "So when can I start trying to walk? I know that my biological damage is nothing you care about, but some of us have a career we want to get back to, you know." Cherise said, as she then got a hard stare from Grace as her arms folded over the other.

"I know what you think you are capable of, but I'm not going to let you do anything that'll re-break any of your ligaments. You've only started recently having a proper body that isn't falling to pieces. Let's work on getting that appetite back in order and work on your episodes you have before you go back into the field." circled her hand by the wrist as Cherise went sour.

Cherise huffed in protest with feeling a rising tension. To be fair, she had been in and out of hospital bedcare for over a year.

"So did 'they' approve of what you plan on doing?" The caramel skinned woman asked.

Putting the stationary to one of her hips' sides, Grace replied, tilting up the red rimmed glasses she wore. "Once I went into the science and logistics behind it and how someone has to start documenting on what's 'safe' to do and what isn't, and why it's important that we should be able to prove or disprove of those myths from Sinnoh's time, the board was far more understanding...if not hesitant. Asking for volunteers to be medically screened before agreeing and helping me come up with NDA for this research, informed consent document, reading them their rights, making sure they'll understand the research, blah blah blah blah."

Cherise only gave a hard stare to the Gardevoir. "You're not getting me to 'volunteer' when I'm better."

"I know, I know...but if you change your mind..."

The Ranger ignored the hints of talking about Pokephilia directly and just shook her head. Looking outside the window to the mega urban capital of Galar that surrounded the hospital, her constitution was improving enough that she could get up and walk over to the window to get a better look. If this was to be her new home semi-permanently then it fit her to start trying to familiarize with the immediate area.

"Galar's so pretty. A whole lot more cities and buildings here than I'm used to, though." She said before taking a deep breath. Vespa hopped off the hospital bed and walked to her side to join her people watching. "I worry that people are forgetting about me. There's Pokemon out there that could use my help right now that need to be assisted. There's things I could be doing instead of just taking a dump every few hours, sleeping a lot, eating, having panic attacks, and getting constant medical tests! I want to get out and start exercising so I can put on my uniform and...and..."

Grace frowned. "I'm sorry I'm not much help."

It was Cherise's turn to frown. "Sorry. I'm just upset. I hope Keith, Emma, and especially Quen are doing okay." Her eyes looked down at the foot of her bed where she'd see Vespa sticking his face up to look back at her before getting on slowly. "Syra, too; my new friend. I hope I see her again soon..."

Her eyes watered up and she bit her lip as she looked away. "Je suis désolé." She threw her hands down to her sides. "C'est ma faute." Cherise put a few fingers through her hair and wiped one of her eyes. "If I hadn't just stuck to the plan like I should've before that one accident, I wouldn't have been kidnapped, I wouldn't have opened myself up to being taken, then I wouldn't have had you drag yourself to..."

walked over to the other side of her and would put a hand on the Ranger's shoulder gently. "Hey. It's okay. I wouldn't be here if I didn't believe in you okay? I got more stuff going on than just furthering my own interests. You're worth the extra headaches."

Wiping her eyes and drying her face after getting her frustrations out, Cherise shook her head. "...are you at least going to get anything out of moving here to Galar with me? How the heck are you even going to be able to do your...your 'stuff' here?"

The Gardevoir brightened up with a wide smile. "Actually a lab is being built alongside the sanctuary of this region's previous Champion who is heading that sanctuary himself! I plan on meeting him soon formally when it finishes up. Oleana will soon have him meet you too."

The Ranger blinked. "Pourquoi?"

Tapping on her glasses, Grace smirked. She was all too eager to spill the beans. "Honestly, I really shouldn't be saying this to you, but fuck it, if it helps you get better I could not care less if Oleana gets pissed with me breaking kayfabe." She pointed to Cherise. "It's you!"

Cherise and Vespa blinked at the busty Gardevoir. "The reason you're here is to become Galar's new Guardian!"

"Huh?" Cherise and Vespa, with his ear-fins pointing upwards at attention, gave a double take. "Wait...does that mean there weren't any Rangers here before me?" Cherise asked as Vespa yipped.

Grace shook her head sideways. "As I understand it, they don't have a single one and never have. This entire region has gone all this time with the reliance of but a few strong trainers, and its previous legendary heroes who saved the region from The Darkest Day."

Squinting almost in protest to the idea of a place having its defenses open due to having no Rangers made her shake her head in annoyance. "Then I should know more about this region." Cherise pivoted her face to look back outside at the urban city of Wyndon below. "You mentioned something about Galar's future. Who am I going to be working with, then? Will I be able to get myself an Operator of my choosing? What about the rest of my Pokemon I bonded to?"

"Ah...that...is a little more complicated, but it is being worked on behind the scenes. You uh...you had a LOT of bonded Pokemon and getting them all here is proving to be quiet a task. As for Operators go we're trying to find someone who can keep up with you. It's important we try to have you blend in as much as possible here with as few connections-"

"- to my past. Got it." Biting her lip, Cherise felt her heart break in two. Putting parts of her past aside would not be something she was a newbie to, but did not welcome. /I'm sorry that I have to leave you behind. Please forgive me.../ The brown-and-pink haired girl took a deep sigh. "So...who's going to be my boss? Surely not YOU." She'd tease to Grace, who laughed.

The shiny Pokemon bowed and grinned full-teethed. "I'm going to be introduced to him soon, but your boss is going to be this region's previous Champion, Haru, who is also going to be the face of Pokemon conservatism here in Galar!"

The Ranger turned back to look at her and gave a double take. "Wait, that's the guy I saw on TV a few times!" As Vespa yipped a little with his tailfin wagging, she slid a hand on his slick watery forehead and pat him softly. "J'ai hâte de le voir!"

- - - - North of Porto Marinada, Paldea - - - -

- - - - That very moment - - - -

North of Porto Marinada there sat a small private port with a ferry: the name 'En Grande Sueno' on it. Oleana herself would be standing on the coastline while Sam knelt onto his knees; a small shiny Hisui Zorua named 'Mizu' yapping at him while running around. Near him was a girl with blue and green hair, grey top and blue jeans, a peculiar looking Growlithe, and a camera who appeared to be telling Sam about something important.

In one hand, Oleana held onto a tangy fruit drink while having sunglasses sitting on her forehead. In the other, a Rotom Phone hovering in front of her with a video call from Nessa on the other end.

The Chairman exhaled with her usual muted expression. "...so that's what you've decided, then? It'll take some time for you to see results from the switch; you realize this, yes?"

"Yes ma'am. I also have no delusions on what this would mean. I am fully aware this will affect my ability to multimanage my Gym when the season starts again, but this is something I decided in the long run would be beneficial." Nessa said with a stern, determined expression. "This is something I have been pondering over for a long time. I only now need to speak with Haru about this, but my decision is final. After all, at this point who knows when...heh..you know?" She blushed a little, smiling.

Oleana took that hint and had a small smile spread: a rarity to those not close to her in companionship. "I understand. During this honeymoon, and even leading up to it, your Chairman has been planning for something similar." Her eyes briefly look over to Sam, whom was holding Mizu like a furry child, since the little Zorua was just looking back at the girl hard. "Well then Nessa with that all in mind, just know you have my full support."

Oleana thought back to a previous engagement between the two of them and felt reassured in at the very least, Nessa's confidence to pull through.

She saw Nessa look offcenter and away from Oleana. "I think I just heard him come in. Talk later, ma'am. Hope to see you back home soon!"

"Ciao, Nessa."

Putting the phone down and letting Oleana get back to her honeymoon, Nessa stood up from the couch while holding onto a printout she spoke to Oleana about. "Hello, my Steel king, welcome back home.~" She'd say while meeting him around the corner to the den. He was midway into digging through a drawer when he looked at Nessa and all of the stress from the whole day started melting in a near instant. Without any words exchanged, Haru waltzed over to her, leaned in and held on with his arms wrapped around her.

"I figured this was coming after what you told me earlier. Are you going to be okay?~" Nessa would ask while embracing him and rubbing his back lightly.

"I'm more confused than anything else at this point." He slowly loosened his embrace to his beloved and held onto one of her hands. "On top of running into 'her', I did some investigating. If she's around then that means my time doing that operation with Red, Gold, and a lot of other ex-Champions is still incomplete." Haru would walk with Nessa and found their Pokemon outside. Deciding to surround himself in things that would make him happy, he and Nessa would join up with both of their teams of Pokemon that was part of their extended family. Mirukon and Masako were outside with their still tiny Ralts, Ruby, and Nora had Haru's newest addition, the Meltan, riding on its back while they were chatting each other up. Reaching into his beltline and tossing a few balls out onto the grass, Zamazenta and Eternatus would pop out and start stretching. Initially spooked by the old and intimidating Pokemon appearing, Meltan just stuck to Nora like a big sister Pokemon.

As their Pokemon walked about themselves, Nessa sat next to Haru and leaned against him. "You said you were confused on your findings, but I also wanna know something dear. You're in a relationship with me, so it worries me how even this deep into our relationship someone like her has a stronghold on you." Her face turned sideways to look at Haru as she appeared worried. "Is...she tied to the trauma you've been facing with Hiro?"

"Not exactly. Within our friend group, Mel-...er...or the girl I knew as 'Mela', always appeared to have an extra chip on her shoulder when Hiro was around. Looking back, I found that odd considering he thought she was such a good fit for me and my antics. But as the relationship with us continued, some sort of mask appeared to slip." Haru appeared like he was staring at a puzzle that brought him nothing but more questions. He gave a side-eye to Nessa. "There was this one moment in particular that still makes me wonder how much she was, or is still hiding."

He leaned back and had both of his hands palm down onto the cool grass as his eyes closed. Haru went silent in thought as a smile slowly came. "The weather was a lot like this; Hiro and I just used some chores money to buy booster packs of Pokemon trading cards. We decided to have a battle, and I was tied with him, 2 points to 2 points..."

Nessa listened intently as Haru recalled the flashback...

/ Mela is watching from the sides. She's on her knees with a hand on the grass as she looked at her then boyfriend and his friend Hiro. The two brothers-for-life were having a blast having a casual match in a trading card game she could not care about, and was having intrusive thoughts.

As Haru's turn was about to start, Mela fired off, without warning, "You ever wonder if Pokemon are too stupid to realize they're actually not smarter than us despite being so powerful?"

The shotgun blast of a question catches both Haru and Hiro offguard as they both look to her. Hiro squinted through his glasses almost snidely at her for such a viewpoint. "Huh? How do you mean?" Haru asked, before drawing the 'Red' card, forcing Hiro to shuffle his hand into the deck and draw 3 cards. "Gotcha bitch!"

"Tch. Man, okay..." Hiro clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Damn Mela, that's random of you to say...and kinda fucked up."

Nonchalantly leaning her chin on her hand, Mela glances down at the Pokemon that were doing a make-believe battle through cards and artwork. "Well...look at all these years of evolution for them and us. Look at what we as humans do, you know? Courtship is something both species understand, but it's only us that persevered with the Sciences. Look at how complex we evolved to entertain ourselves. Fuck. We even invite Pokemon to do these things with us and...yeah...it's all big advances from the old days..." She looks disgusted and then turns to the side, looking into the distance "But they're still like a bunch of cavemen."

Still holding onto his hand of cards, Haru raised a brow to Mela. It felt like she spoke this out of nowhere. "As I understand it, Pokemon enjoy the act of battling. It's basically a form of play and engagement for them, and with us as humans to train them, we form-"

His girlfriend cut him off curtly. "A kinship? Is that what you were gonna say, Haru?"

Both him and Hiro blink at Mela, taken back by her out of character moment. Hiro and Haru, baffled, looked at each other before the redhead gestured with a hand. "Wh-...well yeah. I mean look at my Mom and her Lilligant and the Pokemon she takes care of at work."

"You...feeling okay, Mela? You don't usually talk like this." Hiro felt something was up. They had instances before where the mood with Haru would tank, but it was never so sudden. He knew his brother Haru loved Pokemon and would hope to one day become a Pokemon trainer. Hearing her talk like this didn't sit right.

Mela glances at him and then the card of Magneton in Haru's deck "The more I think about it all, the more fucking stupid it all is. We're all nothing more than animals hitting each other with sticks in the flash of lightning, water, or the earth we're born from." Her face suddenly looks droll as she looks back at them "...this whole planet is full of morons who don't know any better than the Diamond and Pearl clans of yesteryear: we just simply know how to talk more eloquently now without ascribing the storms as 'the gods damning the people'."

She glances to them "It's just starting to hit to me how stupidly monotonous the whole theming around Pokemon are as a species and what we do with them."

Hiro held up a hand to interrupt "Sorry...are you saying this even with the Pokemon that contribute to life via employment? What about those who work in hospitals or other emergency services? Do you think just because battling is now a world class sport that it's all meaningless?"

Mela fired back without even blinking "I think for all his faults, Cyrus was right and Dawn shouldn't have banished him to the Otherworld."

Both men gasped. Haru blinks at her "Babe, he was going to ERASE us and make a new universe. You're saying you'd rather be dead, if given the choice because of some misguided outlook on Pokemon? I thought...I thought you liked Pokemon? Heck you even went out to help me get the template of writing to apply for the annual league challenge."

She just blinks at him silently. She had an unreadable expression that left Haru uneasy. "I think that it's adorable how you express yourself Haru. It's why I love you. I support you. But I personally surmise that these creatures hold us all back."

Both of them look at her but Haru's face has turned pale. He's had countless conversations with her about wanting to become a trainer and to see she wouldn't care about any of that puts him at odds ends "B...babe...you can't mean that...right?".

Mela just stares back at him, wordlessly, as Hiro gives her an unapproving look "Hiro, you've been giving me a stink eye but you're closer to getting my point, aren't you?"

Hiro keeps his frown and straightens himself "No. Not at all."

Her eyes rolled. "Pft. Well...have fun, you two. I got some business to run." She gets up and starts walking away

As if worrying that the conversation soiled the moment, Haru worryingly spoke up "Wh-...Mela? wait, I thought you and I were going to spend some time later and-"

In what Haru would later realize was a fake smile, Mela pulled back some of her pink hair and glanced over to him. "Change of plans, darling. Don't worry, I'm not mad. I just...know it's not my place to dictate what you wanna do in life...yeah?"

Biting his lip, Haru's eyes dart left, then right. "I guess..." he's a little shook up even as she gives him a courtesy wave before walking off, staring back into his hand of cards.

"Hey man it's okay, you know? We still got plenty of time to..." Hiro started to speak before he stopped himself and noticed Haru was staring sadly at his hand of cards. "...Haru?"

The hand of cards were tossed lazily onto the grass to the side. "...I don't wanna play anymore.." sounding deflated.

One of Hiro's free hands clenched into a fist and he looked back to where Mela had previously walked off.

/

"Hiro said we could complete that game another time with the same points and Pokemon at play. Said it was more important that the rest of the day not be a bummer like how Mela made it suddenly. Since she just called off the rest of her and I's plans, he wanted me to spend more 'bro time'; I was happy to oblige." Haru laughed, thinking about it as Nessa's expression showed her interest in hearing him recall another story with Hiro in it. "We went out to get pizza and then play video games at his place. I wouldn't hear back from Mela until a day after but she wasn't on my mind for a bit. Hiro reminded me why I loved Pokemon and to not lose hope on becoming a trainer."

His Glaceon, Nora, would come over and happily sit next to Haru's feet before his Meltan hopped off and wiggled over to him, then Nessa; wanting to familiarize itself with the other master of the home. Grinning with his pearly whites, Haru smiled. "...and of course, the rest is history! I'd become a trainer and you'd meet me, and well...look where we are now!"

Hugging her own knees, Nessa leaned forward. "That reminds me of a story of my own..."

She caught his interest. "Relating to something equally frustrating?" Haru asks her.

Closing her eyes, Nessa's vision went back to a time years ago. Her hair was far shorter and was standing outside of Motostoke with a trio of badges from the former Grass, Fire, and Water Gym Leaders at the time. Her and Sonia had met up to celebrate getting past the first big hurdle of the league challenge when their meeting was distracted.

She looked to Haru while the memory played out in her mind as though it were a projector slide in her mind. "So back when I took the challenge myself, there was myself, Leon, and Sonia. Leon crushed the Gym Leaders but also any trainer he ran into along the way. Back then I wasn't known as a water expert and approached the challenge trying to find a 'shtick' that would make me stand out. I was on the crux of figuring out what complimented my way of battling. Even back then I'd keep a Drednaw on my team."

"Yeah?"

"Mmmhmm. I was pretty happy in getting just the first three badges of the whole medallion that I wanted to spar with Sonia after we got something to eat. But before we could do that..."

/

"Nessa, hey! Word got 'round that you got through the first three Gyms already!"

"! Milo, what are you doing here? I thought you were already on your way to Stow-in-Side?"

/

Haru leaned forward and, cap still twirling in one hand, used another hand to pet Nora across her head and between her icy ears. He frowned hearing this. "Shit, I should've figured he was also taking the challenge with you guys. What ended up happening?"

Reflecting on the memory made Nessa's face turn cross. Her nose wrinkled in disgust. "He heard me talking to Sonia and wanted to spar. Because him and I faced each other a lot in battles, I took the task of facing him first this one time." Her hands clenched onto her knees. She saw herself blinking at a league-uniformed Milo who, just like her, had also defeated the first three Gym Leaders. But in comparison, he had completely wiped the floor with her team. Despite facing the same pool of Pokemon that one could find in the wild, and defeating Gym Leaders with a static team, Milo pulled away with another victory.

He walked away after thanking her for the battle and hoped to have another one again soon.

Nessa looked to Haru and spoke quietly. "I lost in a friendly match to Milo after wanting to spar with Sonia, but the way he went about it..." Her eyes squint. "I felt as though from that point onward him and I were going to be rivals when it came to battles. But not in the kind of way where you actively look forward to it. There was always something underlying that just...burned me up. I yelled at him that from then on I was going to train to get stronger and beat him. Maybe not that moment, but at least when it mattered most."

For a second, Haru thought to Hop. Him and Hop were and still are friends, but losing throughout the challenge couldn't have been easy on his psyche. He even recalled running into Bede and hearing how Hop must have been crestfallen.

/

"Oh, it's you... I doubt Hop would be coming. It's only natural. After such a humiliating defeat, there's no way he could look the Champion in the eye. I'm sure he'll withdraw from the challenge."

/

"...and thus, the 'Raging Wave' nickname came from that?" Haru asked, looking over to his beloved.

"More or less. But with all that said, let's go back to Mela. What is it that you think is up with her now? If you really ran into her like you say you did, then that means she's here somewhere here in Galar, right?" Nessa balled up one of her hands into a fists; determined. "It has to, right? Let's go get a detective to look into this!"

Haru blinked, sighing. "I mean I was going to look into it myself. I'm the only one who knows how dange-!" Nessa interrupted him gently by placing both hands on his cheeks and having him look at her.

"Honey. I appreciate what you do and what you're trying to do when it comes to this, but honestly? If she's competent enough to dodge you when you're storming the HQ and able to avoid you when you meet her again then a plan is what you need. With our marriage coming up soon, I don't want you stressing from anything else other than how I'm going to look in a dress."

"T-...that a fact huh?" Haru asked.

"Absolutely. You're gonna lose your shit." Nessa replied with some confidence. She blinked. "Which reminds me...since we're getting married in a few weeks you and I will be quite far away from Galar." She sat up straight and put her hands to her side. "Is there anything else that you need to get done before then?"

Taking off his cap and twirling it with a finger, Haru looked at his Pokemon that were enjoying the outside air. Nora found herself looking at the hat he was twirling with some bemusement: her head lightly rotating with the motions. "Well...don't get your knickers in a twist, but...I've been using idle time outside of my own with Sevan to train Eternatus. Before I found myself locked into this conundrum, I began thinking it may be a good idea to prepare it for any future problems."

His fiance looked at him with a look of worry.

"I...I'm sorry for lying to you." Haru frowned, looking back to Nessa with some concern. "I told you after the operation completed that I was going to do my best to walk away from the 'hero' life, but with something like this I have no clue what Mela could be planning."

Nessa squinted at him in confusion.

"One thing I knew about her is that she is not only a conniving jezebel, but she's smarter than she lets on. If she wasn't spending time with me pretending to care when I indulged in Pokemon, she was expanding her knowledge of robotics and ancient Pokemon history. If she's been involved with Team Rocket all this time, then she's probably built something for them. It's so nutty to think that when myself and the other notable fighters were raiding the headquarters, I didn't see her or come across any robotic creations. Why I didn't process that at the time..."

Nessa waved her hands around. "Wait wait...stop. Stop. Robotics?"

"Robotics."

/

"You've built a robotic suit of armor using some very basic materials...for what again?"

"Think of it like this way Haru. While you're out there doing whatever the heck you want as a trainer, some people out there who don't have any training have to help with either clean-up from Pokemon battles or other natural events that don't involve trainers. Did you know there's a group of terrorists that blew up a WHOLE ISLAND? A WHOLE. ISLAND. Haru. And the only people that could have stopped them weren't trainers."

"Machines are magnificent, you know? Sure, this robot copy of a Porygon is basically me cheating biology since we don't even know what a Porygon truly is, but who's gonna complain when I can recreate their skills and attributes with some modified steel and wires?"

/

"Oh, shit, I just recalled!" Haru reached into his jacket's inner pocket and brought out the strange stone that Syra gave him, holding it out to Nessa. "Do you remember this weird thing?"

She'd nod. "You are switching up subjects quickly, but yes. We were trying to figure out something about that, and you told me what that girl Quen said."

"Yeah, well she got back to me again before I returned home. We now got more information. This is something called a 'Soul Burst' Stone, not a regular 'Burst' Stone like what we previously thought it would be. The difference between them is massive: if I ever learned how to utilize this, I'd become a fusion of something and have access to all of the movesets of that type. The power I'd get if I used it would be immense, but if I'm not using it properly, or I'm not properly prepared, the drawback would be just as equally immense." He looked at the stone with some reverence and inhaled slowly. "...and the evidence for this newfound knowledge comes from my ancestor, Hachiro."

Stepping towards her fiance and taking a look at the stone again, Nessa's deep blue eyes squinted at it. The stone began to give a sense of vibration from within despite the lack of the stone moving at all, prompting her to hand it back to him. Her forehead produced a bead of sweat from pondering what it could mean; what it couldn't mean. As her initial reaction to this subject made her want to feel frustrated, a part of her pulled through and made her beam. She chuckled, shaking her head. "You know at first I wanted to be a little upset considering you brought up that promise you gave me." Putting both hands on her hips and then looking at her left hand, she glanced back to him with a smile. "Now I realize how uniquely of a position I find myself in. If what you're saying is true then I have to consider everything up to now with your history both before you met me and now."

"Hah...sorry." Was all Haru could muster.

"Nope. Don't be. But..." Nessa would tease him as both hands gently went to his cheeks and she grinned. "You should know I'm not gonna let you eclipse me as a badass, though. I'm deciding for our future that...I'd like to become my own boss and manage a modeling agency."

Eyes going wide eyed and gasping in disbelief, Haru just stared back. "You're giving up being a model?"

Moving her hands to hold onto both of his, Nessa and Haru were standing not too dissimilar to how they would be in the near future while taking their vows. The position stood out to her immediately but she stayed the course of the topic. "Not right this second, but I'm going to start getting prepared for that future by seeking out the correct course of action for my education. Oleana is going to assist me in talking to the right folks to help me get started." She smiled.

"It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make if we're to have a family together." She'd bring one of his hands to her stomach, prompting Haru's cheeks to redden. "We can't both always be Gym Leaders all the time if a tiny me or a tiny you comes into this world. One of us has to have time to them and be able to provide a parent experience for the little one, you know? You, with your sanctuary, me with this possible new business. Besides...I wouldn't be giving up modeling entirely. I'd just be helping other women find the beauty within themselves and being able to express it."

As she had spoken directly on having children with Haru, the Hulbury queen of Water Types found herself all smiles. Seeing his reaction to her future plans made her stomach full of butterflies. He'd ask, "H-how many kids did you say you'd want? I don't remember if we actually put down a number before or simply just said we would aim for some."

Matching the redness in blush, Nessa herself almost too smugly answered him, "At least three, minimum." causing Haru's cheeks to redden more akin his haircolor. "Could go more, or go less in the future. Who knows. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, you know?"

"Well hey...that's a good number!"

Sitting back down on the grass, she'd glance over to the tree where her Drednaw, Pelipper, and Toxapex were chilling. "The Hiro tree is coming along nicely, isn't it?"

- - - - - Stow-in-Side Gym, Break Room, Fighting Gym Side of Stadium - - - - -

- - - - - The Next Morning, 5:30 AM - - - - -

The morning sun in Galar was rising but was shunted by the clouds on that Stow-in-Side horizon. An illuminated grey perforated with an overwhelming sense that work would be unpleasant initially kept Sevan from wanting to clock in, but he knew he'd have to face the unpleasantries sooner than later. Giving a few gentle waves and staving off the awkward silence he got from the few staff that were roaming the halls, Sevan readjusted his collar and made headway to the faculty break room where he'd start brewing up a fresh pot of his specific coffee. Due to circumstances he'd be bringing a bag of donuts and other confectionary goods. /If nothing else, this may be a means to break the ice./

The analogue clock ticked quietly, and as he tapped on a nearby radio to get updates from whatever local broadcast played early, he heard a pair of footsteps walk in. From behind him and to the side he saw a pair of arms reach past into the cupboard to grab some sugar packets and with it, the person would move past him to the other side and get a cup.

"Morning, Bea."

"Mm. It is a morning, Sevan." Bea would say, giving him a simple side eye glance before leaning against the table while he would simply wait for the coffee machine to brew his specific blend.

The tension between them was thick. Before he could make direct eye contact, he had to take a deep breath. "So...I'm sure you have questions."

"More than a few, yes." Bea would say without a hint of anything less than workplace professionalism.

He'd slowly turn to look at her. Bea's posture and face made her look more on the defense than he was ready to deal with but must. "Whatever Mars said to you had nothing to do with me. If she said anything to get a rise out of you, I'm sorry, but her and I are not together."

Through gritted teeth and a sigh, Bea looked away while her fingers tapped. "She was in the near nude with nothing but your shirt." Her face whipped back to him. "Normal peers don't do that!"

"I understand that, Bea, but it's the truth. Look, I know it looks bad and I really don't want to beat a point more than I need to, but you have to believe me." The coffee machine idly beeped and began brewing just as he finished saying that as if to bookend his plea for her to take him at his word.

"Then explain: what's the deal and why does she hold onto you like you're a pair of lost lovers?" She scoffed. "I may be inexperienced and single, but I'm not stupid. I know what someone who appears to be smitten looks like, and you didn't exactly push her away."

Arms and hands up, Sevan was on the defense and sighed. "You're right, and I get where you're coming from on that. Honestly that's my fault and part of that is simply me not being more forthcoming to her when I used to be with...my previous ex. You may have heard of Unova's Champ, Hilda."

Bea's lip wrinkled then bit itself. Her grey eyes just scanned his body language for any signs he could be stretching the truth. Sevan instead would appear exasperated; more than he normally would be. "Look, fuck, I get it if you don't believe me even at this point but I'd really prefer it if you did. I've been on a string of instances where people here in Galar just don't listen or want to listen to me." One of his hands clenched into a fist.

Standing there and watching him, Bea furrowed her eyebrow. She felt for him. Hearing Sevan state about 'people here in Galar' not wanting to listen to his side made her put aside her frustration with him momentarily. To what she knew about this man, everything he said lined up from the day they met right to that second. "I really feel for you, you know. Ever since we met there's always been one thing or another that you're going through, and this latest complication now asks me to turn the other cheek." She sighed as Sevan, sensing she wasn't convinced, turned back around and got her mug that she set aside for her morning brew.

"It's not easy to say this..." The silver haired Gym Leader said while she took a deep breath then exhaled while rummaging a hand through her hair to the hairband. "Sevan. I'm practicing the discipline that I've gained through my upbringing in saying this: I want to give you the benefit of the doubt." Her finger pointed to Sevan's back, since he was facing away.

"Yeah." Sevan says, thinking his words fell on deaf ears.

"Which is why I'm going to believe you. But!" She held up a pointer finger while he turned back to her in shock. "You have to thank Haru for this, okay?"

"Oh?" The blonde streak boxer blinked.

Her hands went to her hips. "He really, REALLY fought for your perspective before I went to investigate myself. Saying 'please just let the man sleep' as desperately as he did, it made me think Haru is more than aware of your constant troubles. That's something I should try to be sensitive to, as well. I wanna believe that whatever it is that's put you into these constant situations is just...bad luck." She shook her head and shrugged. "In my heart of hearts, I'd like to not believe it's a curse: that's moreso Allister's thing."

She'd be presented with a fully prepped cup of coffee; sweetened to her liking. "Let's hope you're right then. Here."

Slowly taking the cup from him, Bea looked at him with a less terse expression. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it." Still unable to look at her directly for long, Sevan leaned on the countertop with his hands. "Thank you for listening to me."

"Well..." Bea sighed and pivoted parallel to him. "I guess a deep part of me figured it was worth hearing you out."

As the Fighting Gym Leader left, the weight on Sevan's shoulders felt a little lighter. For once, he could smile if even only a little.

- - - - - Elsewhere, Wyndon East Detention Center - - - - -

Syra found the bed in her cell slightly uncomfortable and barely passable when it came to being able to fall asleep. She was so sure that she'd be out by the end of the day that the whole day ended up passing. Her frustration being kept high and the stress of being in jail yet again numbed her interpretation of time, and with it her ability to stay awake. It was just a flat surface with a sole pillow at the end. Not befitting a Champion, much less a woman who had already spent so much effort into reforming herself in the eyes of the public.

She dreamt she was back in time before the events that led her to meeting Haru occurred: seeing herself typing on her computer when a pair of arms came from behind. Gravity worked against her. Thousands of arms suddenly spawned and the smell of alcohol hitting her nose. She shot straight up out of the dream and awoke in a panic. "FUCK YOU!" she'd shout, grasping at herself suddenly when she realized it was nary but a dream. Tears were streaming from her eyes, as she'd notice after feeling something on her cheeks. It was so early that the sun had not come up yet, and Tsukiyomi was still asleep. Curled up in a ball next to her, she'd lay back down slowly in attempts to not wake up her best friend. /That fucking dream again. Bastard./

Her eyes scanned the environment as her brain took in the dimly lit area. /Guess Mom didn't come get me after all...I hope she's okay./

She wouldn't find out anything for a bit longer.

Her stomach growled. The last time her and her Eevee friend had eaten was the breakfast the day before now. Tsukiyomi would wake up an hour later and kept to his master's side, whining. The thought that she may not actually leave on good terms, or at all, was starting to creep in when a guard came. "Top of the morning to you. You're being released, and a ride is outside waiting."

She thought she had heard incorrectly and just blinked when the policeman unlocked her cell and opened it slowly. "Pardon?"

He rolled his eyes. "It ain't up to me, miss, but you're being released and your ride would rather you not waste more time here, yeah?"

Instead of harping on her confusion on being released now and rushed out to leave, Syra would stand up with her arms carrying little Tsukiyomi and made her exit out of the detention center. Eyeing the few cops that were there at the early hours of 6 AM with a squint, she gasped at the ride awaiting her outside. A long stretched limo with some security guards holding her door open to the backseats. "Miss Champion?" One of them said while nodding to her.

"Y-yeah? That's me allright..." She'd say nervously, as for some odd reason she got a sinking feeling in her gut. It wasn't important to question it for long, though. Perhaps her mother simply used her powers and rank as the manager of the Champion to get her a proper ride home, and the bail that was paid for her was done in proxy. She didn't know, nor did she care. Stepping into the limo, Syra ducked and then closed her eyes once the door closed. She took a long, exasperated sigh of relief.

"Good morning, Syra." Said a mundane sounding, muted woman's voice.

"Ah, good morning. Thanks fo-" Her eyes opened and felt her heart leap out of her chest as she and Tsukiyomi simultaneously shrieked. "CHAIRMAN OLEANA?!"

Sitting across from her was Oleana with a leg folded over the other, leaning slightly forward as she held onto a thick folder. One of her hands was tilting her glasses further onto the bridge of her nose as the eyes behind them stared back unblinking. "Syra."

Feeling herself suddenly sweating across profusely, Syra found a lump in her throat she hadn't felt in years from anyone. "U-uh..y...you look well. Paldea treat y-"

"You've been busy since I've been gone, haven't you?" Oleana opened the folder and started to pretend to read from it as if it were the first time the report had gone across her eyes. "Trespassing on restricted property. Bribery."

Syra squinted. "Bribery? What the f-"

"I'LL BE THE ONE TODAY WHO WILL BE ASKING THE QUESTIONS! IS THAT CLEAR?!" Oleana shouted, interrupting Syra's questioning before it got off the ground. Immediately Syra froze solid and sat back into her seat: scared out of her wits' end. "As I was saying..." Her eyes went back down to the papers. "Interference with hospital equipment and impersonating an officer of the law. Were this anyone else I would not have bothered to come home, but after finding out about this the other day and having a lengthy conversation with your manager, your mother and I feel it necessary." Oleana sighs, putting away the folder.

"That, and, don't feel too awful: my time having eloped was short but already completed. We were already on our way back after having made a few extra stops." Looking down at her phone and informing Sam that Syra was picked up, she'd scan the already nervous Pokemon trainer sitting in the limo with her. "This was supposed to be a secret, and unfortunately I am now going to have to fill you in."

Her eyes dart left and right. "B-because why...?"

"Let's just say I trust in your ability to still find out details thanks to your network. Even if I kept it a secret now, you'd still find a way to learn about it. Still, I need to warn you, Syra." Her voice grew more serious as her and the black haired woman met her gaze, albeit nervously. "The world you're stepping into is a tier above what we're used to here."

- - - Wyndon Pokemon League HQ Chairman's Office - - -

Walking forward as the office lights dimmed, a projector screen lowered from the ceiling until records in the form of video started playing. On it, Syra saw the coast of an island and a large red building sitting next to a smaller shed-like cabin, and a walkway that led to a nearby village named 'Vientown.' Oleana stepped forward and pointed as footage showed a large group of people standing in front of it at attention. They wore an unusual uniform that was unrecognizable to Syra. "The Pokemon Ranger Academy of Almia. Attendees are in the hundreds. Graduates are at best double digits, but on average they are less."

The footage changed to show a montage of their academia, the drills they'd perform, the exercises they'd do to stay in shape and perform on a bare minimum passing grade, and eventually the process of gearing up with the Stylers. "Pokemon Rangers operate on a different form of rules compared to trainers such as yourself and, for a large population of the world. They do not 'capture and train' their Pokemon, and they do not operate with many to begin with. Their accolades come from bonding to a Pokemon that may be stressed, corrupted by an evil force, or in need of help, and unifying the desire of the Ranger and Pokemon for something else of a 'greater good'. This can range from anything as minor as removing an obstruction in a road to putting out forest fires...or in the extremely rare case..."

The video changed to showcase a girl with brown hair and pink tips wearing a red uniform riding on top of a Latias. It made Syra blink. /Wait, this is that girl I was talking to!/ "...saving the world by depowering evil organizations." Oleana faced the screen. "The one you spoke to is one very talented Elite Ranger named Cherise, Taking down the organizations Dim Sun, The Pokemon Pinchers and SocieTea. She had to move from Almia to Oblivia, another location entirely, in order to face the latter two."

The footage would change to show some overhead drone-height overview of Oblivia. Oleana walked forward and pointed to an island in the corner. "Do you see this island here?"

Syra had to rub her eyes due to her not perfect sleep she had, and nodded. "Yes."

"No you don't." The footage changed to show the exact same spot being a crater, making Syra gasp. "Despite the strength Cherise showcased, she unfortunately had to bear witness to SocieTea destroy an entire island in a demonstration of power JUST to get to her." She glanced to Syra and went more serious. "I'll be frank with you Syra, what you did to possibly get to meeting Cherise is more than a little annoying, but you are in danger of bringing something worse to our shores. I'd advise you for the time being that for now you do not, until I am assured of her condition reaches its peak again, contact her."

"Why? Why is it such a big deal that I simply not talk to someone like her? If she's such a badass then not only can she take care of herself but with me being right there you wouldn't have to worry about something like some morons with a bad group name trying to kill us!" Syra would initially challenged, which made Oleana throw the pen she was pointing with right to the floor.

"BECAUSE SYRA! Ever since the operation we may have more enemies now that are laying in wait! Let me explain it in PLAIN Galarian so even you can understand it! What led her here are a series of events where we were unsure she would be alive, and it's thanks to a certain evil organization that fate had to step in on her behalf!" Oleana shut off the projector as the lights came back on.

"IF someone was already privy to her location or using you; attempting to be your shadow to figure out where Cherise is could be fatal! Consider the rank of not just yourself, but her as well! Even without what happened in the hospital, you already have a lot of eyes on you as it is! Haru and I have pardoned you but there are still those unsure if giving you a second chance will be worth it for us in the end! I must always be leery about if my company has a mole in it. If your single, short-lived visit leads to someone figuring out she's here, the WHOLE WORLD is threatened!" Oleana shouted, finding herself triggered and having her pupils shrink. "Did you even think for ONE FUCKING SECOND that what you were doing MIGHT have been a bad idea? Were the FIVE police officers, 'Restricted Area' tape, and FEDERALLY TRAINED Growlithes not ENOUGH to tell you to turn around? FUCK!"

Walking back to her desk, Oleana throws the papers that were sitting there onto the floor, making Syra withdraw instinctively and shrink. She had never seen Oleana so pissed. "NOW because there's a record that you have where, as of this morning, you were in a DETENTION center, I have to make some calls to a very concerned Erma for the Ranger Union and put on my best 'act' to convince her that everything is okay! Otherwise we may be sitting at a situation where her safety is threatened yet again and THEN we're back where we were, except worse because I have yet to confirm the status of any outliers from the Pinchers and SocieTea, and you wanna know why Syra?!" fist slam on table "BECAUSE I CAN'T LEGALLY ASK ABOUT THAT UNLESS THERE MAY BE PRECEDENT! BECAUSE YOU'D BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL MY EFFORT BEING WASTED, AND A NATIONAL FUCKING CRISIS OCCURRING."

She circled around to her office chair and sank into it, sighing deep and ran a hand through her hair slowly while Syra shook from the intimidation. The Chairman looked at her with indignation. "Which we both know you do not want that again."

"Y-yes ma'am...I'm sorry." Looking at the floor, Syra would reply as Tsukiyomi was hiding in Syra's hood of her outfit. "It won't happen again."

A calm from the rare storm that is Oleana washed about the room as the stressed blond woman took a deep set of breaths and looked over to Syra. Her head went lopsided. "Have you eaten?"

Without looking over to the chairman, Syra shook her head. "The only meal I've had is breakfast over a day ago." Tsukiyomi whimpered, popping his head up next to her face as his stomach growled.

Oleana frowned. She leaned forward and tapped on a button on her table to page someone downstairs. "She'll be down in just a moment." Oleana looked back to Syra. "Your mother is downstairs. Go get something to eat, okay? I've something else to discuss with you when this is all well and done." She stated, handwaving it.

As she got up, Syra raised an eyebrow. "Something else, ma'am?"

"New training."

"Ah...about that..." putting her hands together, Syra laughed weakly. "I need some time to get the rest of my first tattoo finished and ready for my first shoot.~"

Flashbanged by those words, Oleana did a double take. "Your first shoot? Tattoo?"

Taking that moment to make her way out, Syra went to the door then turned back. The Chairman almost got a flashback to Nessa confidently giving a mission statement in a similar manner. "You're looking at a new supermodel who's going to debut very soon! Ciao, Chairman!"

The door shut and Oleana sat there aghast, then clicked her tongue. /Must have been Nessa's doing.../

A week passed. Oleana would spend an obsessive amount of time preparing herself to make sure that the Ranger Union's worries were put to rest and once discussions had run their course, decided to move onto the next step of the plan. Cherise was not going to be in hiding forever, so the need for her to stay in a tightknit security section of her hospital was finally coming to an end. Reports would come back that her condition from all of her injuries and many parts of her tumultuous past were going to be 'all but dust and echoes soon'. Syra's own issues with the feds would be kept off the record and for the time being, Oleana saw no reason to see her punished outside of quietly suggesting she not do any press tours.

The suggestion went ignored since no time was spared getting the rest of the tattoo finished. Using a pair of mirrors to show her the image on the back, Syra grinned as Poppy smiled. "Well? We started coloring this last time, but now? How's it look? Are you satisfied, Miss Champion?"

Grinning from ear to ear, Syra would let the shielded cloth fall, exposing her chest but did not bare any shame. Seeing the reflection of a shiny Rayquaza inked and fully realized on her back with the artistry of a master made her beam bright like the sun. "This? This is art right here. You've made yourself a masterpiece. Thank you, Poppy. I'll be back for more in the future but now?" Sticking her chin up and closing her eyes. "The world will soon see a new 'Syra' appear soon!"

"Good to see you, Soul of Steel." Oleana would tease, seeing Haru walk out to the front entrance of Wyndon Hospital with Nora by his side. The Glaceon looked up to her master curiously.

Uncharacteristically, Haru would pay no mind to it. What little he was starting to uncover about his own past through his ancestor Hachiro's writings, being a form of a living 'Steel' user may have had more merit to it than he previously held onto. He gave a side glance and put his hands into his pockets. "Morning ." He nodded to her left hand, spotting the wedding band.

"That's free, Haru. Point it out again and you'll get a real talking to: follow me." She gestured with a handwave as he would march after and enter the hospital. The Chairman heard him snicker as they made their way inside and into the elevator. "Hmm?"

He shook his head with a grin. "You already sound like a wife, talking like that. It's not like you, Miss Chairman."

"Hmm." Oleana smiled gently. "Sam and I...I'll be making an official announcement about it to the board later; no doubt they'll want to know."

Exiting the elevator, Haru took note they were walking down what appeared to be a section of the hospital he wasn't aware about since there were a pair of Officer Jenny's guarding it. As Oleana flashed her badge and started briefing the ladies on Haru's appearance, they opened the double doors to them both.

Nora started walking closer to Haru's legs. He'd take notice, figuring that the fire types made her nervous. "Ma'am? What is this pertaining to, exactly? I...wasn't aware that..." His thought process was delayed as they ran through another set of Officer Jenny cops. Then another. Each one with a trained Growlithe that could sniff out trouble and go on the attack at a blink of an eye. His eyes glanced around to the restricted zone decor. "Chairman!"

"To start with, Haru, your Sanctuary is nearly finished and reaching its opening, passable state. Assembling a staff to work within the size and scale that I require has been the biggest hurdle to accomplish in the time of its construction. High and low have I been trying to make sure your work is as painless as possible and that you can make Pokemon feel welcome, cared for, and live there like a second home. Away from The Wild Area's risks of combat and capture, and IF someone wanted to adopt a Pokemon like a friend, you'd have the right staff for that too. Of course, I've also made sure the livelihood of your staff will be taken care of, as well." She stopped at the end of one hallway before another set of double doors and clicked her heels together: hands behind her back. Haru gulped, worrying she'd bookend it with bad news.

"You need at the very least a 'trump card' who can make sure these Pokemon live their lives, Haru. I've procured such an elusive person for you, but you'll have to excuse me: it'll be some time before she's at her peak." The Chairman would turn and face him with her chin raised slightly. "Your Sanctuary will be the face of Galar's first ever Pokemon Ranger."

"Veeee?" Nora and Haru gasped near simultaneously. Both Master and Pokemon had one shared brain cell, it seems.

Having him follow her through another hallway they'd reach a patient door with the low mumble of someone speaking being heard from within. Knocking on the door, Oleana leaned in. "Cherise, dear? It's me. The gentleman I talked to you about is here."

From within, the blonde woman heard a muffled voice go "C'est super !"

She turned to Haru and gestured him to walk inside.

The door cracked open and Haru peeked in. "Hello?"

A torrent of water blasts at him as Haru is knocked back and the door shuts. Oleana blinked, seeing him stumble back, trip and lean onto the wall in the hall outside her room with a hard thud. "What the fuck?"

This time, Haru would knock and make sure only his voice could be heard. "U-uhm...sorry, I was sent here from Miss Cha-" water would come again, but this time a pillar of ice would push back the torrent of water as he heard some other voice, a girl's voice, yelling in another language.

"Vespa! Fucking knock it off already! You're going to make that door a problem for hospital staff!"

"...and my hat and glasses are wet now." Haru chimed in. He looked down to Nora, who had done her best to shield him from any other water, as she nodded.

Holding back from snickering, Cherise thought Haru's comment was hilarious comedic timing but thought being polite was better. "See? Go back into your pool."

"VeeeEeee..." The Vaporeon was heard saying in a hiss-like response to her.

As the door finally opened slowly, all Cherise would see from her bed was a sleeved hand and a man with bright red hair, glasses, and adorning a customized league overcoat, uniform, shinguards, and boots. "Hello and well-met." Haru would say, greeting her as he stood up. Both of his hands were up in surrender, unsure if the Vaporeon that was growling at him was going to end up sending another Hydro Pump his way. Seeing before him, Haru stood eye to eye with a girl of caramel color skin, brown hair with pink at the tips, hazel eyes, and of a relatively lively complexion given her state.

"Bonjour."

He bowed, taking off his cap briefly and holding it to his stomach. He stood straight. "My name is Haru. I'm the ex-Champion of Galar, current Steel-type Gym Leader."

Nora would follow him inside once she noticed he wasn't getting blasted by a torrent of water and walked to his side. She spotted the Vaporeon, thought nothing of it but pouted and flexed her tail as if to warn him to 'back off'. Near immediately the Vaporeon locked eyes to the Glaceon and appeared to lower his guard down for some reason. His tail started wagging from side to side lightly as Cherise, surprised, glanced over to him. "Vespa, don't get any ideas."

He yapped in her direction and Cherise flattened her smile. "My name is Cherise. I'm sorry that you got blasted by his Hydro Pump: he hates guys and is way too protective over me to a fault."

Looking over to Nora and then Vespa, Haru noted the body language and after examining it, chuckled. "It's understandable. The Chairman has informed me about you. She says you are a necessary ingredient to my Sanctuary that's being constructed." He'd walk a little towards a side of her bed and shrugged. "As it appears, I'm going to be your 'boss' slash co-worker."

"How much has she told you?" Cherise asked, raising an eyebrow.

He inhaled and exhaled through the nose in thought. "As of awhile ago? You're one of the 'Elite Rangers', a special class of Ranger that is more proficiently skilled than most. Before coming here I've looked at a few documents about what Rangers do and the tech that's used. Your Stylers and manner of rescuing Pokemon is something I wish to know more about...but I fear even as a Pokemon ex-Champion it's not so simple to explain is it?"

She was impressed and put her hands to her side. "You're right, it's not. Doing the job is simple, but the execution of it all took several years of build-up. I'm proud of where it all got me. What else do you know?"

"Not much else. If anything, I want to see where you come from when it comes to Pokemon." He would find the chair next to Cherise's bed, pulled it up and sat down on it. "Galar could have really used this effort to conserving the livelihood of Pokemon far sooner. We're a region of trainers ranging from Policemen to News Reporters to Young Students and even the occasional Researcher. Nary a Pokemon Ranger anywhere here though, that doubles as a Pokemon Trainer, nor a Ranger at all. You ask me 'Why' and I don't think I could give an answer."

Cherise's eyebrows furrowed with a little frustration hearing that, but it couldn't be helped. People like her were uncommon. Haru continued. "All I know is that starting from scratch, no matter what it entails, means a long road ahead. Please, Cherise. If there's anything I can do to make sure you can do your job better, I want to help! Only people like you could ever understand or appreciate why Pokemon are important to the world! Why they must be loved and cared for!" He bowed forward, putting both hands on his thighs.

A swathe of calm came about Cherise as she could tell he meant every word, and was earnest. It did her heart good. She laughed. "My whole life I've been around Pokemon, and when I became a Ranger I promised to keep as many of them safe, sound, and welcomed with us humans. All I could even ask about right now is, I don't know, make sure I get a good Operator, I suppose?"

Vespa's ears twitched watching her talk, then looked over to the door.

"Operator? Ah, right, your supporter class person that helps you and other Rangers."

"Correct!" She nodded.

"I'll...have to look into it then. I'm sure Oleana has someone..." He'd only guess since he didn't have that information on hand.

"Well, even if you don't, I can take care of it." She'd respond with a thumbs up.

Haru got up and walked to the point of the room where he entered and tapped onto his chin. "There's gonna be a visitor section of my sanctuary that'll be filled with information for people to learn about Pokemon in ways that's not taught conventionally. I know that you know how it all works but I'm wondering if aside from being a Ranger you'd be interested in helping me with other avenues of it."

"Like what...? I don't mind but...this is a lot to ask at once of me." Feeling a bit spritely, Cherise gave him a side glance. "Unless you don't mind getting me the best cuisine Galar has to offer! After all, this muscle I worked for has to be fed, too!I don't do shit for free, you know!" she joked, holding up her arms in a faux flex.

"You'd be best to do only what you can, Cherise." Came a new voice suddenly, right behind Haru.

He'd turn to it and nodded. "Thank you, exac-NGAH!" He'd shriek and step back a little, seeing a tall shiny Gardevoir wearing a white lab coat, red glasses, a stationary, with an anthropomorphic, more human-like, shapely body and a pair of boobs practically popping out of a black pasty-like top. "What the fu-...who...?"

"?" Cherise blinked at him, confused.

The Gardevoir looked at him, blinking twice. "?"

He looked for the source of the voice by lean and peeking past the newcomer, causing the Gardevoir to gasp. His eyes were wide with confusion as when he retracted himself he looked to both women.

"I...could have sworn I heard a woman speaking." He asked.

"Do you mean me?"

Haru's hands immediately went up as if to physically guard himself with only his eyes peeking past the fingers. "NGAHH!" He jumped back again, blinked, and then blushed. His guard lowered, gasping. "Wait...y-..you can speak?" He pointed.

"Uhm..." Grace found herself for but a moment, briefly unable to speak immediately and put a hand to her chin. "Y-yes. Quite well, actually. Ever since I was a Ralts."

As if like a Deerling caught in headlights, Haru just stared at her while his mind's clock slowly turned its gears. "Wait a second..."

The Gardevoir cleared her throat afterwards in response. "My name is Voir." She bowed briefly, and pushed her red rimmed glasses up. "But you can call me Grace. I believe we have spoken before, yes?"

They looked at each other before a hand went up and pointed at her slowly. "Say 'I know I'm needed' for me."

Locking eyes to Haru and seeing into his mind, albeit without informing that she was prodding into his thoughts, she gave a confident smirk. "Oh~ I know I'm needed."

He gasped, getting a flashback to the video call he had with her and Oleana whereas her screen was inactive: shielding him from seeing her.

/ "Before we move on: the topic of Pokemon mating cycles is something I overlooked, so I'll be thankful for any help you can provide. It is an area I'm not as well versed in, so your expertise is needed."

In a seductive-like tone, replied without missing a beat. "Oh~ I know I'm needed."/

Squinting at the doctor, Cherise cleared her throat.

"YOU! You're *THE* Grace that I spoke to on..." He put both hands to the sides of his head and turned 180'. "All this time: that eloquent speaking came from a Gardevoir? You? You're the one with a thesis paper on cross-species..." He looked to her and then Cherise.

Almost too annoyed to comprehend, Cherise's expression went immediately to disgust. "For fuck sake, Grace, Tu plaisantes?" She groaned.

Seeing nothing wrong with her identity being exposed, Grace simply gestured with an arm of dismissal. "Whaaaa~at? HE ASKED ME about it! I told him about it on the call! You can even check: the whole conversation was recorded!"

Putting both hands to her forehead and rubbing while giving a sneering glare at Grace, Cherise spoke through her teeth. "J'ai mal à la tête."

Meanwhile, Haru seemed way too pleased about the coloration his staff for his sanctuary was going to end up being. He turned to Cherise, unable to know what she was actually saying. "You good, by the way?"

Her eyes lock onto Haru through an obviously pissy expression. "Peachy-keen. If you two are gonna talk about shit like that, take it outside, please." The girl in scrubs said, with Vespa yapping as if to bookend what she said. Nora just about-face'd to him in dismissal.

"No no it's just..." Haru looked at Grace from top to bottom and then Cherise and clapped once. "Man! Today's full of surprises! You're telling me I get to have an Elite Ranger on staff AND one of the rarer, brilliant minds who happens to be a fully speech-capable Pokemon who is gonna assist me? With that whole...thing you wrote about to back up what you'll be doing?"

Grace found herself laughing gently, causing Cherise to squint again. "I guess you're pretty happy about that, huh? I haven't even the time to explain or elaborate what it means-"

Interrupting Haru before he could speak again, the Kalosian pointed to herself. "AH-AH!" Grace grumbled, looking to the girl. "Hey uh...so I still have a ways to go to recovery but soon I'll be in the trenches of a personalized exercise program designed to get me back to how I was before I turned into this." She was looking for any way to cut the conversation off before it went off the rails.

Pivoting and flashing Haru the stationary, nodded to him. "Haru, to better assist you I'll be keeping tabs with you personally to let you know on Cherise's progress. I'm not an official human 'doctor' by any means, as you have an inkling to, but I've been seeing to her recovery. Since you're the person I need to report to anyway, it's best I just tell you outright now."

"Man, I owe a lot to Oleana for getting me the best. I look forward to your recovery, Cherise. I'll come visit again soon. ?" He'd say, stepping forward.

"Yes?"

He'd shake her free hand with both of his. "I'm so glad I met you finally. Looking forward to being told more about your specialty later!" His face brightened up with a wide smile.

"!" The two of them watched as Haru walked off, hearing him meet back up with Oleana.

"Misses Chairman!" Haru waved down Oleana as he and Nora walked up to her, who was using her phone to keep up on tasks later to be done in the day.

Looking at him with the stride he had in his step, the blonde smirked. "Well, how'd your first meeting go?"

The Steel Gym Leader took off his hat and put it to his side. He sighed. "I am indefinitely indebted to you. You've gone above and beyond that I don't know how I'm going to repay you for it all."

She smiled. "You and I have been in a back-and-forth of paying each other back ever since you first trounced my plans to help our mutual 'ex' Chairman in the past. Let's just consider it even once you show me it was a good investment to get you the best Sanctuary built, hmm?"

He grinned confidently and beamed the same glow as when he won the Championship. "Yes ma'am!"

The door closed and both women watched Haru leave the room with Vespa lightly tapping on the water in his pool. As the only other male in the room, he was eyeing Cherise in particular to see who would say what, and first.

Leaning forward slightly, Cherise tilted her head to the side to look at Grace. The Gardevoir had been looking in the same direction as the door Haru walked through with a vacant expression. "No."

"Huh?" Grace turned back to Cherise, confused.

"No."

"What?" Grace asked again.

"NO, Grace." Cherise pouted, her eyes squinting.

"I'm JUST looking!"

"NO. Nuh-uh." Cherise stated, raising a finger.

Ignoring what Cherise was implying, Grace rolled her eyes and avoided eye contact. "I was -just- a little beside myself taking in the new gentleman who just walked into this room, okay? He's...different than I anticipated."

Her finger wagged to the shiny Gardevoir doctor. "NO. Grace? Not him."

"C'mon~. Did you even LOOK at him? I only saw him from a computer screen in bad resolution and that paled in comparison!" One of her hands whisked back and forth in a poor man's effort to convince Cherise she wasn't under any nefarious intentions.

"Uh huh. I know that 'look' Grace. I know what you're thinking." as Cherise would challengingly declare that, Grace's act of pretending to be innocent disappeared.

Grace's eyes looked away from Cherise and back to the door. She'd do a few checks to make sure her friend was doing well and not in need of any medical attention before leaving the room. Marching with a slightly hastened pace, Grace went to a faculty female restroom, locked the door and leaned against the door. Placing a hand on her heaving chest and biting her lip, her eyes fluttered a bit as they darted left and right. Her cheeks flushed red.

"Go figure...he's a Steel type."