Chapter 1: Meeting
Now, why would that ever be the case?
It should not have been possible.
—
Elio continued his trajectory toward the designated meeting spot, he wore his usual cap, lower than most to cover his eyes, all he really saw while walking was the ground and his legs.
He began hearing murmurs as he walked, and he wasn't planning on sticking around to find out if they were about him or something else.
He walked faster, and was beating himself over the fact that he didn't refuse Kukui's request, in spite of that he was still curious as to why he was so insistent.
He was almost there, but no one seemed to be in front of the Pokémon Center like Kukui stated.
He sighed deeply, and decided to wait, if no one came in a bit, he would notify Kukui and move about the rest of his day.
Five minutes had passed, as he was getting antsy, someone finally showed up.
It was a girl, about his age, short and slender, chin length jet black hair, and wore a red beanie hat, white and yellow shirt with a small part of it tied into a ribbon shaped knot, and green shorts.
Elio wasn't sure if it was her, or she was just here to visit the Pokémon Center.
She looked at him briefly, a faint trail of fragrance whiffed by as she passed him, she then settled next to him.
He was confused, it seemed like she was neither.
He sighed softly, and decided to wait a bit more, Maybe I should remove this just in case Elio thought as he put a hand on the tip of his cap , to make it easier for the 'fan' to recognize him. Then he immediately perished the thought, he'd had enough of being the "Champion" for today, and he still had another round of it coming up, his face was visible enough to her, if she was indeed her then she would have already recognized him, or at the very least asked.
A few more minutes passed, nobody showed up. The girl next to him seemed to be in high spirits, humming and tapping her foot, as if she was listening to music.
Elio looked closer, and she was in fact wearing headphones, he could faintly hear the music coming out of them as she was bobbing her head left and right lightly to the beat. She seemed to be simply just enjoying herself.
The pure positive energy emanating from the girl was too much for Elio to handle.
He wasn't sure why, he didn't exactly dislike seeing someone that peppy, but something about it irked him.
Or maybe he'd just forgotten how to have fun himself.
Disappointed in himself for having such unsavoury thoughts, he'd decided to just give up and go home.
He failed to realize, however, that he'd been staring at her for far too long whilst he was lost in thought, and she seemed to have noticed. Her eyes widened, and she stood with her mouth opened in disbelief.
Ah shit he thought, there was no escaping it now
She slowly removed her headphones.
He tried his best to give a smile
"Umm, hi!" He said as he raised his hand, that was all he could think of saying
"There's no way!" She said loudly
Elio was befuddled, he hurriedly gestured for her to lower her voice
"CHAMPION?!" She said, in an even louder shout
Elio sank himself even further under his cap with a resigned smile creeping its way onto his face.
What have I gotten myself into? He thought
—
Thankfully for Elio, there weren't too many people around, after signing a dozen autographs, the Girl's included. and taking some pictures, the crowd finally dissipated after a bit.
However the girl still stayed near the Pokémon Center, throwing a glance at Elio every few seconds
This is really awkward he thought
Maybe he should strike up a conversation, about anything, the silence was unbearable.
"So, you waiting for someone?" Elio said
"Who, me?" The girl asked, pointing at herself, visibly flustered
Elio nodded
"Umm, yes, I'm waiting for the professor actually!" She said with a smile
"Professor…? Do you mean Kukui?" Elio asked, already knowing the answer to the question
There's only one known professor in Alola, he'd hoped that he was somehow wrong.
"Yes, he said to wait for him here as he had something to show me, but it's been more than fifteen minutes"
It was her after all.
Elio frowned, he was used to dealing with Kukui's antics, it pissed him off however that he's making other people deal with them too
Why couldn't he just tell her the truth? Why did he have to lie about it and make it a hassle for both of them? He'd better have a good reasoning as to why the next time they meet,
He sighed deeply
"No, don't worry about it, he… something came up so he won't be able to make it, and sent me to inform you, sorry you had to wait that long for nothing" He said
He'd just criticized Kukui for lying but he just lied himself, he however had a good reason, or rather he tried convincing himself of that, it was beyond embarrassing for him to tell her 'he sent you to see me', at least it made sense now why she didn't recognize him, she wasn't even looking for him specifically,
the girl, visibly dejected said:
"What do you mean for nothing? I got to see the champ! That's even better"
Elio was just about done with all the champion talk, but he did not want crush her enthusiasm, he did not have the heart, so he decided to play along for the time being.
Doing his best to put on a smile
"And i'm glad you feel that way, well, I hope you'll cheer me on in my next battle"
She smiled sheepishly
"Of course!"
It really is that simple, huh? Elio thought
"Well, I'll leave you to it then" he began to walk away slowly "it was a pleasure to meet you, so sorry again that you had to wait so lo-"
Elio, immediately paused, as something caught his attention out the corner of his eye.
He turned his head towards it with incredible speed, and managed to catch a glimpse of it before it disappeared into an alleyway.
His eyes widened.
He could not believe what he was seeing, or rather, he did not want to believe.
This should NOT be possible! How?! He thought, as he began sprinting towards where he saw it
"Champion?!" The girl said with a fright
Elio's ears however, were blocking all sound, only thing on his mind is going to where he saw it, he'd hoped he was imagining things.
How could there ever exist two Cosmogs?
He'd already witnessed the journey of the one and, supposedly, only Cosmog four years ago.
POST CHAPTER NOTES
And finally here's chapter 1, i really enjoyed writing this chapter, i have a few ideas in mind on where i want this story to head, but i'm still testing the waters as they say.
i managed to upload the Prologue and Chapter 1 fairly quickly because i had already written them, expect updates to slow down from now on as i am pretty busy in my personal life, and i sit down and write whenever i have some free time.
as a general rule however expect at least one chapter per month, if i can squeeze in two that would be great but don't count on it too much.
as usual, feedback is greatly appreciated, love to see what readers think always.