Alysa was aware that her life in the academy would change a little by default, regardless of how the battle against Kieran went. Considering she lost, the girl was terrified that she'd be subjected to harassment or jeers for her failure. Luckily...that wasn't really the case.

Sure, she was still being gossiped about. She felt too nervous returning to the clubroom, mainly out of the paranoia that Kieran would be present. She didn't have much drive for training her pokemon or battling other club members, particularly in regards to her now-questionable status in the club. But at least, she was allowed to merely...exist.

Deliberately laying low the last few days, Alysa has turned to spending time in her dorm or out in the Terarium when not in class. Aside from some messages here and there in the group chat, she hasn't talked to her friends nor seen them in person that much either. It just felt too awkward, though it would be temporary. She'd fully get over Kieran's treatment before long, she knew...

Drayton was the only one she felt one hundred-percent comfortable being around. She getting to enjoy meals with him, or cuddle sessions in either of their dorms while whatever plays on the TV, has been one of her biggest sources of solace. The other was hanging out with her pokemon and working on her pokedex in the school's massive nature park.

This morning, Alysa was returning from her practical battle class. She passed through the Savanna Biome's main rest area, but she temporarily paused upon seeing something real interesting.

Lacey was easy to identify, as was Cyrano, but there was a brunette girl Alysa doesn't think she's ever seen before. That wasn't groundbreaking, there were a lot of students in Blueberry she didn't know at all, but the director being there was enough to have the girl approach.

"Alysa!" The pink-haired elite called out animatedly, pressing her hands together. "It's so good to see you again!"

"Hi..." Alysa crossed gazes with the unknown girl, who seemed curious. Cyrano got her attention then.

"Well well! Haven't spoken to you in a long while," the director laughed. "That spectacle with Kieran had the staff buzzing. You've definitely made League Club history."

Alysa recoiled some at that. The brunette's head titled, and she looked towards Lacey, who shook her head in dismay. "Let's not talk about that, Director..."

She gestured towards the stranger.

"Alysa, this is Juliana! I'm sure you've heard a little bit about her, by now."

Her eyes widened some, and she more thoroughly took in the shorter girl's appearance. Juliana sported the spring uniform of the academy, and had a small braid held by a barrette hanging from the right side of her head. Just based on the surface viewing, she looked very...mundane. An irony, considering the prominence she held with the club's Champion.

"It's nice to meet you."

She smiled, and nodded in acknowledgement. Was she not much of a talker? Alysa could relate.

"Juliana here is a part of our exchange student program, coming all the way from Paldea! Recommend by Carmine herself in fact. She'll be attending Blueberry for a while," the Director explained.

So she'd be around consistently. Now, that was highly interesting.

"Lacey, I'll let you take the tour from here. I have other matters that need my attention."

"Okay, Director."

The man walked back towards the elevator leading up. Alysa was a little curious.

"Tour?"

"I'll be showing Juliana around the Terarium a little. Just so she can get a taste on how our schooling works." Lacey grinned.

"I see." That made sense, wouldn't want a new student feeling lost. Her curiosity satisfied, Alysa figured there wasn't much point of she sticking around either, and would leave the two to their business.

"Well...I'll be heading off too."

"Ah- before you do," Lacey quickly spoke up, making her freeze, "all of us have been missing you in the clubroom. Could you stop by for a visit or two soon...?"

Her frown expressed sadness. Guilt crept over Alysa's shoulder. Lacey and the others were her friends, and if they had been truly missing her presence, then none of them could've been actually disappointed in her for losing to Kieran. Maybe she should stop hiding herself away, at least from them...Alysa just hoped Kieran wouldn't be there when she did show up to the clubroom.

"Sure."

"Great. I'll hopefully be seeing you again soon then, if my schedule allows it."

That settled, Alysa chose to walk towards the elevator. Lacey did sigh, venting some pent up stress, and turned to face Juliana. The new student's confusion and intrigue was written all over her face. Lacey snapped to attention, and cleared her throat.

"I suppose I should explain who that was, hm? Alysa is a good friend of mine, and one of the strongest members of our club in fact..."

The day rolled on, and when lunch break started, Alysa decided to go to the clubroom. It had been a while, maybe she had missed out on something – excluding Juliana's attendance. As she neared the double doors, she heard a couple of voices conversing about something.

Stepping inside, Alysa was surprised to see not only the new girl, but Carmine and the handsome boy who held the key to her heart as well. She blinked repeatedly.

"Heya, sweetness!" Drayton stood up straighter when he saw her. He sauntered right up to Alysa, grabbing one of her hands to hold. "Have you met Juliana here?"

"I have, earlier today." She looked between she and Carmine, the latter's expression maintaining its sour vibe.

"What's going on?"

"We're primed to get a new member! I was telling Jules about the rowdy fun we have here in the League Club, and she figured she should join."

Today was surely an eventful one. Alysa quirked a brow, knowing off the bat that Drayton must have done some persuading too. Carmine confirmed this belief.

"It's not like the bozo didn't push for it, mind you." Carmine grit her teeth. Juliana's brown eyes flicked between the two of them, then between she and Drayton.

"A yes is a yes, isn't it?" he chuckled. "We should have a lil cafeteria date, Jules! Talk details."

Warm, gold eyes went Alysa's way as Carmine's expression turned horrified. The reason why, Alysa couldn't guess. "Do you want to come along babe? I'm gonna ask the Elite Three and you-know-who to show up so we can discuss things."

There was a certain glint in his eyes, but the mention of the champ turned her stomach. As much as she was open to seeing her friends, she still wanted to avoid him for now.

"No thanks..."

"Figured you'd say that, but it's okay." He affectionally squeezed her hand. "Have you eaten anything for lunch yet?"

"...No." Alysa flushed underneath his squint. "I'm going to though! Promise."

He huffed, in a 'you better' manner. His smile returned.

"I'll text you later."

He winked at her, as he released her hand. Alysa's smile turned bashful, watching Drayton leave the room.

"Be seeing ya, bud!" he called out behind him to Juliana. Her mind selected now as a good time to fawn over her boyfriend's charm, so Alysa thought it was best for she to do so in solitude.

"I'll...see you two around."

She left the girls with that parting, pressing a finger against the grin that wanted to break out. Juliana and Carmine watched Alysa's retreating back until it was covered by the closing doors. The taller girl released a suppressed groan.

"I can't believe she didn't speak up. Saying you guys should have a cafeteria date...ugh!" She shook her head. "Can you believe it? The nerve of that bozo!"

Juliana put a finger to her chin, dumbfounded. Carmine paused.

"What? Do you not know those two are dating?"

The brunette's expression flattened, itself speaking a 'duh' louder than words could've.

"Don't look at me like that! My bad, I forgot you wouldn't." One of Carmine cheeks puffed out. "Just be aware: how mushy they are can get real gross..."

It was late in the afternoon, bordering evening time. Alysa was reclined on her bed, leaning against her Altaria and his heavenly-soft cotton fluff. The dragon was lightly dozing, and after eating a filling dinner meal Alysa was very close to doing the same – though her thoughts on everything that went down today kept circling. Not only has the girl she learned so much about now going to the same school as them all, she was a part of their club too.

Alysa thought Drayton was pulling her leg when he texted her the news. The club had specific ruling that only direct students of the academy could join the club, which put Juliana into a strange spot since she was only an exchange student. The elites and Kieran in the cafeteria voted on it, and to Alysa's surprise, Kieran's vote broke the tie and allowed her to join. Drayton wasn't specific on the Champion's reasoning, but it was easy to guess that he did want to face off against Juliana again at some point.

First, she had to defeat the Elite Four. How fortunate that the special way she was put into the club meant that Juliana could skip the time sink of climbing up the ladder. Alysa did wonder if that made her the new Rank 6 trainer, but Drayton didn't mention anything about she getting removed from the spot. She did need to eventually figure out if her failure to defeat Kieran was a violation of the ruling...

Alysa was woken fully by the sound of her phone going off. Quietly grumbling, she left Tari's warmth to slide off the bed covering, and grab the device from her desk. The contact name was Drayton's, and she felt much less annoyed at having been disturbed. It was a little odd that he was calling her though.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hey there, starlight. Are you busy right now?" he asked. The faint sound of wind hummed in the background.

"No. What's up?"

"Juliana chose to surprise me! She just finished my trial, and wants to battle right now. You wanna come watch?"

Alysa did a double take. Already, Juliana's set to take on one of the elites? And Drayton no less! How did she manage to catch and train up two new pokemon this fast?

"Uh- yes! I'll head to the plaza now."

"Nice. We'll be waiting~."

The call ended. Alysa rushed to get her parka from her closet and find her mittens. Tari sleepily looked up, watching her dart repeatedly across the room.

"Sorry Tari, we can cuddle more later," the girl apologized before recalling the pokemon. She made sure she had her phone and keycard before quickly locking her door and scurrying down the hall. She knew there wasn't a real rush, but she wasn't one to slouch if others needed her to be somewhere. Alysa rode the Polar Biome's elevator down, then sent out her Salamence to have her transported to the plaza.

The girl was run-walking up to the court and sliding to a stop in the next 5 minutes. Drayton was speaking to Juliana just as she appeared. He smiled widely.

"There she is."

"H-Hi," Alysa panted. "I didn't take too long, did I?"

"Nah. We were just shooting the breeze. Really to get started, Jules?"

She nodded. The two got into their positions on the court, Juliana moving quicker than Drayton, and Alysa eagerly went to the sidelines in order to spectate. It felt very weird that she, outside of Drayton's assistants, were the only ones present at the plaza to watch the battle. The relative quiet compared to the chaos that was present at her battle versus him couldn't have been more contrasting. Then again, since Juliana did challenge him with no fanfare, other students must not have known this was happening.

"Hm...here should be good," Drayton thought out loud, idly spinning on his heel. "Y'know, bud, I did watch your battle against Carmine earlier today... You seem like you really know your stuff."

This piqued Alysa's curiosity some. Juliana only smiled in response.

"Seeing that look you get from the sidelines is one thing, but seeing it for myself from across the court is gonna be something else! Lemme be real though – I'm counting on you to conquer the whole BB League, bud."

He crossed his arms. "I mean it. I need you to puff this off! You gotta come through for me!"

Alysa was getting more and more bewildered by what was going on. What kind of plan did Drayton have in mind for the new girl? Just defeat Kieran?

"That said..." His arms dropped. "I'm not just gonna roll over and miss out on the fun. So watch out."

There was that gimmer in his eyes again. Part of Alysa wished she got to see that battle Juliana had versus Carmine so she'd better understand her boyfriend's eagerness, but at least she'd get to observe this one.

"But no need for us to get all official or anything! Just battle me normally like you would anybody else, Jules. Here's the one hundred-percent Drayster truth: I'm so psyched I'm practically tingling."

A little smile spread. "Why don't we get this rolling, nice and easy? Let's go, bud. Show me a good time!"

Juliana had a fire of her own burning away in her brown eyes. Both trainers sent out their leads, and Alysa made sure to closely note what the girl's team even consisted of. She was from Paldea, so she would surely be using pokemon native to the region that Alysa personally has never seen before.

Sure enough, that was proven correct. Juliana had an Azumarill that made the Fairy-lover in her heart cheer, but Juliana's other choice was a bipedal green pokemon that was cat-like. It looked like it was wearing some kind of mask, and had a twin cape of sorts. Its vibes screamed Dark-type, and perhaps... Grass as well? She really liked it. It reminded her of a jester, or the type of outfit someone would wear to a masquerade ball.

When the first moves went off, it became crystal clear on how skilled Juliana was as a trainer. Meowscarada, as Juliana called it, moved at breakneck speed and knocked out Drayton's Flygon in one hit with Play Rough – a pink aura emanating from it. Her Azumarill moved before Dragonite and unleashed its own Ice Spinner, but the dragon's Multiscale came in handy. Curiously, Dragonite used Ice Spinner on Meowscarada, but it didn't seem to be super-effective. Was it not a Grass-type after all? Or was its typing changed somehow?

Alysa's eyes were glued to the battle as it went on, her jaw slowly dropping more and more. Drayton's team managed to get good hits in and score knockouts, but Juliana had him down to his final pair of Kingdra and Archaludon when she still had four of her pokemon remaining. The observer did manage to identify her Tinkaton, having done light research on all of the currently known Fairy Pokemon of the world. The massive hammer was impressive enough in photos, but it in real life was even better.

Even her boyfriend's ace couldn't clutch it out in the end, and Drayton was defeated.

"Heh heh heh! Man, that was ridiculous. So much fun." The boy didn't appear to hold any negative feelings when he met up with Juliana at the court's center.

"I knew inviting you to join the League Club was the right move! And I guess if you can beat me, we better make you a full member! Whaddya say? Ready to be the real deal?"

Juliana nodded, appearing very satisfied. It dawned on Alysa that split second that it was highly possible that Kieran would end up losing his cherished title after all. She herself had barely defeated the Polar Elite, and lost the championship match – granted, for a reason that wasn't tied to Kieran just being the better trainer in the end. If Juliana could get past Drayton with relative ease, she frankly didn't have high hopes that the other elites would have better results.

"Heh heh! Bless you and your generous heart! C'mon, let's get a photo of you for the club roster!"

Juliana used her Rotom phone to snap the image, Drayton throwing up a peace sign while using the girl like an armrest. Amusement warmed her chilled face, and she advanced towards the trainers.

"Lacey probably woulda wanted a more serious photo. She might not be thrilled, but oh well." Drayton shrugged. "I feel like there was one more thing I was supposed to do... Oh, yeah. We gotta give TMs to whoever can beat us Elite Four members."

He scratched his cheek. "I gotta go grab that. Wait here bud...and keep my sweetheart company, would you?"

Drayton broke off into a jog of sorts off the court, presumably to the plaza's healing machine. Alysa giggled, though she did grow a little self-conscious when Juliana turned towards her. Now that it was just the two of them, it settled in that she had never gotten the chance to speak to her one-on-one.

Alysa was aware her social skills left a lot to be desired. At least there was an easy conversation starter to use in this case.

"You're a great trainer, Juliana... Even though I won my battle against Drayton, he still put me through the wringer."

She tilted her head. Some might have found the girl's consistent silence unnerving, but there was something about it that made speaking to her easier for Alysa. She didn't know if the girl was fully mute, or was very selective with when she chose to speak. Sign language wasn't something Alysa knew unfortunately, but Paldea probably had its own system that wouldn't have been in her skillset regardless. At least Juliana wasn't deaf...

"I heard about how you've gone through Paldea's gyms. Did you ever complete the run?"

Brown eyes blinked.

"...I'm a Champion back home."

Alysa's initial reaction to the girl actually talking was shock. Then, she registered her voice. There was a distinct accent there, one that she could swear was...Galarian? If her hazy memories of living back in that region could be relied on. Fascinating. What she literally said was more important though.

"A Champion? Like, a formal one? Recognized by a League?"

She nodded. Surprise had Alysa standing straighter. So Juliana did complete the challenge, but also succeeded in defeating Paldea's Elite Four and the reigning Champion! She wasn't sure how exactly the League over there operated specifically, but being a Champion alone was solid proof enough of one's strengths as a trainer.

"Oh...wow. No wonder why you're talented." Alysa adjusted the hood of her parka. "I think you can definitely reach the top of the BB League then."

Not that she was trying to downplay everyone's own talents, but there was a difference between merely having fun in a school club versus going through a definitive test via consecutive battles against professional trainers. If her friends did make their own attempts to become officially recognized as Champions, Alysa believed they could do it, but as far as she's aware...none of them have even challenged a single gym in Unova before attending Blueberry.

She for one, was glad that she doesn't have to worry about battling the girl. She recently had to deal with a bad loss, Alysa didn't want another one on her plate so soon.

"Honestly," Juliana spoke up again, "I let Drayton knockout Meow and Azu. I would've felt bad if I 6-0'd him."

"Oh?" A gloved hand was pressed over the taller girl's mouth, trying to suppress laughter but failing. Whether Juliana was being serious or not didn't dampen the humor. "I'll keep that a secret just between us. Drayton wouldn't be happy to hear it."

At all. Juliana laughed a little herself, and Alysa felt her shyness die down a considerable amount.

.

.

.

"Sorry for the holdup ladies. I'm back."

The two had gotten into a light conversation regarding Juliana's team when Drayton finally returned, toting a small disc case.

"That's one Elite Four member beat. Things are lookin' good for you, bud!" He approached the victorious girl. "Here's your reward, like I said."

Juliana made an 'oooh'ing face as she read the TM's description. She did squint at the small layer of fine grey powder coating the item, dragging a finger across from it.

"Guess I should've cleaned it, but...the dust is character!" laughed Drayton. "What's a little of it between friends?"

The brunette only gave him an unamused look and nothing more, using the sleeve of her jacket to wipe the TM case clean. Alysa snickered, having questioned before if Drayton ever got around to cleaning his closet. Obviously, he did not. She'd likely have to help him with that.

"You just might be the one we need to shake things up in the League Club..." Drayton hummed. His eyes flicked in her direction and back. Alysa detected an underlying weight to his words.

"But that's it for me today. Good luck with the remaining Elite Three, whenever you choose to battle 'em."

A flash of determination passed through Juliana's eyes. Drayton turned towards Alysa with a smile, while the other girl pulled out her Rotom phone and tapped away at its screen.

"So, what're your plans til it's time to hit the hay, dearest?"

"Heh..." the skin of her face flushed. "I think I'm gonna head back to my dorm and relax. Maybe warm up in bed for a while. The cold here is still brutal."

"May I join you~?"

"Hmmmm..." Feeling a rare but welcomed burst of playfulness, Alysa's eyes twinkled as she turned. "If you walk with me and give good enough reasons, mon chou, I'll consider it...~"

He appeared intrigued by the new pet name. "Hm. Have to look that one up..."

His eyelids fell to a halfway point. "But making me fight for the right to cuddle with my gorgeous and adorable girlfriend in her cozy bed? That's cruel."

The faux-offended tone paired with a smirk forming on Drayton's face, along with his compliments, made her break out into a giggle fit. Not wanting to make Juliana potentially feel awkward to see their shameless flirting, Alysa started exiting the court with the smitten Dragon Tamer hot on her heels. While she truly did soak up his attention, pink eyes regarding gold, part of her mind thought back to what she's noticed throughout the day.

Did Drayton really want Kieran to be dethroned this badly, that he'd try to orchestrate someone doing it...?