Purple pants. Turquoise highlights on his shirt that matched his hair. A lot of white. White shoes, white base for the shirt, white hat, white cape. The man was certainly eye-catching.
Rotom let out an electronic giggle and floated forward, seemingly inspecting Wallace from a variety of angles. “Nope! Rotom could never be a weirdo! Rotom was referring to the camera crews that were spying on you!”
Wallace let out an exaggerated sigh. “Camera crews? They just never learn, do they?” His gaze was on them, though. Running over each of them in a manner that somehow felt both cold and calculating while simultaneously relaxed and charming. It was an odd feeling, and not one that N could say he was familiar with. “I don’t see any cameras now, though, so I suppose you must have scared them off. You have my thanks… Rotom, was it?”
“Bzzrt! Correct!” Rotom announced, returning back to N’s side.
“And you must be…. N and Lucas, I believe?”
N tensed.
“Well shit,” Mimikyu cursed.
Lucas tilted his head, clearly confused by the stranger knowing his name.
“Woah!” Mawile gasped. “Do me next! Do me next!” She jumped up and down, drool flying everywhere as her giant maw followed behind.
Wallace smirked. “A Mawile? How kind of you to remind me of home, even here in Sinnoh. And that Marowak is new as well, isn’t it?” He didn’t mention the odd regional form, even with the Fire type shrinking back behind their legs with a whimper, as his eyes drifted to N’s shoulder. “And of course, I can’t forget to greet Mimikyu! That’s definitely a unique look…. And while standing out is never something I can look down on as a coordinator, I must say that you could probably get a better outfit put together than what appears to be a torn up doll. I’d even be willing to help you with that myself!”
“I’ll ‘ave ta pass…” Mimikyu muttered.
N was feeling thoroughly unsettled. “I’m afraid you have us at a disadvantage. I believe Lucas is in the same boat as me with not being very familiar with you…”
Wallace’s easy smirk stiffened. “Ah.” N thought he saw the man’s eye twitch, but it was fast enough that he might have imagined it. “Well, that is to be expected. Not everyone appreciates the beauty of contests, after all. Although I do believe that you had been travelling with a coordinator previously….”
“The fuck?” Mimikyu said what N was thinking, if a bit more crudely. “What is with this guy? ‘As he been snoopin’ through the League’s files on us or somethin’? We ‘aven’ been near Hoenn!”
Wallace ignored Mimikyu’s interruption. “I am Wallace, currently the Gym Leader of Sootopolis City and also a Contest Master. Forgive me if I came off as… overly familiar with you. I realize that this must be quite bizarre on your end, but I’ve been having to comb through so many reports on you lately that to me, it is as if we are already friends!”
Was that his excuse? N felt like it was more of an intimidation tactic. A sort of ‘I know everything about you, so don’t go getting any ideas’ threat. Though even if the man was being truthful, which N doubted, he wasn’t sure that it would be much better. In either case, the League was apparently making him so high profile that even Gym Leaders from other regions would recognize him on sight at this point. He’d realized that direct involvement meant that couldn’t be helped in certain cases, but someone from Hoenn…
So caught up in trying to figure out how much of this was subterfuge and lies, he didn’t even notice Lucas pulling out his notebook until he was already presenting it to the Contest Master.
“噓つき. 彼と一緒にいなかった.”
Wallace chuckled. “That may be true, but you’re in reports of your own. I’ve heard a story or two about a little Togepi’s Metronome leading to some defeats that my fellow Gym Leaders were… surprised by, let’s say.”
Lucas frowned, but didn’t write anything else in response to that.
N tried to use the pause in the conversation as their out. “Well, it was nice to meet you, Wallace, but you sound like a very busy man and we’ve got places to be, so I’m afraid we’ll need to be on our way.”
Wallace’s eyes searched his for something. “Leaving so soon? I really do think that you should stick around for the Wallace Cup. Coordinators from all over the world compete in it, you know, even from regions outside of the League! The beauty of coordinating should be available for everyone, or at least that’s my philosophy.”
Rotom buzzed. “On paper, yes, but when was the last time someone from outside the League participated?”
N was sure that Wallace’s smile stiffened this time. “I’ll have you know that I’ve confirmed that we’ll have participants from foreign regions this year.” His reply both avoided answering the actual question posed and addressed the concern behind it, at least to a degree. It’s what N would expect from someone in a position like him.
“That’s very interesting,” N reassured the man, “and I’m sure it will be a great show, but we really do need to be going.” Though they were out of sight, N was certain that the Shadows were a bit tense watching this interaction. For all N knew, Wallace might be able to pick up on their presence if he stuck around enough, and both Plasma and himself didn’t need the sort of attention that would bring.
The man laughed in a way that was clearly practiced. “Ah, well, just give it some thought! I would love to see you in the audience! If I don’t, though, it was nice meeting all of you.” His eyes swept over the group one last time before he turned and started walking back into the woods once more.
N relaxed a bit as he disappeared from sight, but the whole encounter was extremely strange. Knowing so much, insisting they watch his contest, the weird fakeness to it all…
The sound of Lucas scribbling something down drew N’s attention away from the treeline.
“...本当にジムリーダーですか?”
Rotom let out a ding sound. “Not only is he a Gym Leader, he’s one of the best! There are always rumors going around about if or when he’ll become Hoenn’s Champion. His specialization in the Water type gives him an advantage against Champion Steven’s team, after all!”
Mawile stomped her foot on the ground. “You meanies never answered my question!”
Marowak cowered away from her. “Um, what was your question again…?”
“Coordinators! Contests! What are they? That weirdo was saying something about outfits?”
Mimikyu groaned. “Contests are competitions where people have their Pokemon go up ‘gainst each other in looks ‘n’ style. Dress ‘em up, use some moves in pretty ways, that sorta thing.”
Her eyes narrowed and she held a finger up to her true mouth. “So it’s about being cute…?”
N felt something sink in his gut as he realized where the tone of her voice was leading the conversation.
“I guess? I mean, there’s battlin’ too, ‘n’ some people go for cool or somethin’ rather than a cute look, but ya ain’ wrong, per say…”
Mawile jumped up in the air. “Oh! Oh! I want to do it! Let me do it!”
N let out a deep, suffering sigh.
“No.” While contests were definitely better than Gym battles, there was no way that he was going to actively participate in one. Mawile would need a “trainer” if she wanted to participate, and he wasn’t about to involve himself in that.
“No?!” Mawile screeched. “But I want to!”
And then the Fake Tears started.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Leave it to a League official to cause even more problems for him. In new and cruel ways at that…
Brock felt like a small weight was lifted off his chest as he watched Ash and May chat animatedly. The girl likely would have come regardless, but he had seen fit to let her know that he and Ash would be in the area, and she’d done her part in arriving early enough that they could catch up for a bit and get Ash back into his usual rhythm.
Or at least, that was Brock’s plan. It was yet to be seen whether it would actually work or not.
“Snowpoint? I haven’t been there yet! What’s it like?” Ash asked, a big smile on his face.
“Freezing!” May pouted. “I don’t think I’ve ever been that cold! Ugh, and there was so much snow and ice and…. Well, let’s just say I’m not upset about how warm Hoenn is!” She laughed as she reached down to pet her newly evolved Ice type. “It was worth it, though. Isn’t that right, Glaceon?”
“Glace!” The eeveelution cooed.
“Johto won’t know what hit them! Plus it gives us a type advantage against most of Drew’s team, so that’s always a bonus.”
Ash laughed. “You two are still going at it? I can’t imagine constantly running into the same rival for a third region!”
“What’s so weird about that?” May scoffed. “The contest world isn’t that big, it only makes sense that we’d run into each other.”
He hummed. “I guess so. Just seems a little strange to me, but maybe that’s because I’m always on the move.”
Wasn’t that the truth. Ash never stopped. Region after region after region, never slowing down, never taking a break. Brock didn’t know many people with the sort of work ethic that Ash had, so the fact that his many rivals didn’t end up keeping up with him was no real surprise. Brock wondered how much that affected his friend. Sure, there were always situations where people would pop back up, like this very meeting, but it was such a rare thing…
“Well you have always been a little strange,” May replied in a teasing tone, “but I think that-” she paused. “Munchlax! No! We do not eat other people’s food!” She moved to take care of the issue, but Ash was faster.
“I’ve got it, May! Hey! Munchlax! Why eat that when I’ve got all kinds of tasty berries?!”
As their friend ran off, Brock was left alone with May for a moment, if you disregarded the Pokemon around them.
There was a beat of silence and then May spoke. “You weren’t really big on details, you know.”
“Why waste time sharing details when I knew you’d show up regardless?” Brock teased. “You know you missed us.”
She rolled her eyes. “That might be true, but still! You could have told me something. Ash… he hasn’t been doing very well lately, has he?”
Brock frowned. “That easy to pick up on?”
“I did travel with you guys for two whole regions, you know. I learned a thing or two, believe it or not.”
Brock sighed. He had hoped for some more good memories before he had to get into this, but there was no telling how often they’d get chances to talk with Ash distracted. “...There was another incident. Everything worked out in the end, but…”
May’s expression fell. “Oh. I guess it has been about that long, hasn’t it? When nothing happened to me, I guess I had sort of hoped that it was all over.”
“If only it were that easy…” Ash didn’t deserve the hand that he’d been dealt, but he’d been dealt it all the same.
“I also….” May hesitated. “Well, I haven’t really seen anyone else with you guys yet. Is it really just you two?”
Brock wasn’t sure if he should give her insights into wounds that Ash might not want her prodding at. But she was their friend. They’d been through a lot together. She wouldn’t do anything that wasn’t necessary. “We actually picked up another coordinator early on. She left after the incident.”
May frowned. “She just left? Seriously?”
“Can you blame her?”
“...not really. Still, though….” she hummed. “And if she’s a coordinator, it’s very possible that she’ll be here, too. Was it on decent terms, at least? If he runs into her randomly….”
That had been a worry of his as well. Ash would never hold it against Dawn, though. It wasn’t like she’d really done anything wrong. But that couldn’t change what Ash felt about the matter, though, and despite how little he wanted to talk about such things, it was easy enough to tell that it kept him up at night sometimes.
“...It wasn’t bad, but it’s definitely messing with his head. And there was also….”
“Also?”
Brock grimaced. “There was… another guy. From Unova, supposedly.”
“Isn’t that pretty far from here?”
“Exactly. Everything about the guy seemed shady to me, but you know how Ash is. There was no smoking gun for me to point to, so I guess I have to consider myself lucky that he left at the same time Dawn did, but I just… he was a really odd guy. Had some… strange ideas on Pokemon battles. Despite that, Ash connected with him in some strange way, and having both of them leave at the same time was… rough on him. I don’t want to impose on you or anything, but after the contest is over, do you need to leave right away? I think it would help a lot if you just stuck around for a few days or something.”
“A few days? I told Drew I’d meet him in Ecruteak, but… I think I could make that work, yeah.”
“Thanks, May. I try to do what I can, but I can’t do everything. I owe you one.”
She rolled her eyes again. “You do not owe me one. If Ash needs some help, then of course I’ll help him! That’s what friends are for, isn’t it?”
Brock didn’t get a chance to reply before Ash was running back, Munchlax in hand. “I might have been a little slow! If you end up against that guy in the contest, maybe don’t use Munchlax against him!”
“Lax!”
She glared at her Pokemon. “Why can’t you just stay out of trouble for a day?!”
It really felt like old times.
“Have you put any thought into who you’re planning on using?” Zoey asked as they walked along the shore of Lake Valor, its beautiful slightly green water reflecting the sun’s light.
It startled Dawn out of her thoughts. “Ah, um, not really…? What about you?”
Zoey gave her a dubious look, but Dawn didn’t have anything more to say. It wasn’t like she could tell her coordinator travelling buddy how much she was second guessing herself without looking dumb, and telling Zoey that there was no need to worry would be an obvious lie that would only draw more attention to things.
“I’m thinking I might start with Finneon, let her spread her… wings?” She brought a finger to her lips, pausing in thought. “I guess they’re still fins, even if they look like wings, aren’t they? Anyways, she’ll be making her debut here.”
Dawn’s brow furrowed. “Are you sure about that? This is the Wallace Cup! Is that really the time for a Pokemon to get their first contest experience?”
Zoey shrugged. “I think it’ll work out just fine! We’ve been practicing enough, haven’t we? This might be more well known, but a contest is a contest. Have to do the same thing to win here that you would at any other one, right?”
“I guess….” It certainly didn’t feel that way, though. There would be coordinators from all over competing, and Dawn couldn’t even keep up with the ones native to Sinnoh! How was she supposed to stand a chance in a contest like this?
Zoey sighed. “Just relax, Dawn! If you win, great! If you don’t, that’s fine too! You can just think of it as a practice contest if that helps.”
Dawn frowned. “Practice contest? What do you mean?”
“Well, this one definitely has a bigger crowd than the others, there’s no getting around that. So the way I see it, if you can perform here, then any other contest should be a breeze! Way less eyes on you anywhere else in Sinnoh!”
If Zoey was trying to help her relax, she was doing a terrible job of it. That just made her think about how many people would watch her mess up here. Her mom was bad enough, but now it’d also be people from Galar or Paldea or Kalos! She wanted to visit Kalos one day, but how could she do that if everyone there knew she was a laughing stock?!
She wasn’t cut out for this. She wasn’t her mom. N would be disappointed in her, feeling like this instead of accepting that she’d have to power through to reach the goal, but that knowledge didn’t make the fear roiling around inside of her go away.
She couldn’t let that show, though. Couldn’t let people know that things weren’t okay. She had to be strong.
So she smiled at Zoey as they stepped along the sand, keeping watch on the Staravia flying above out of the corner of her eye. “Zoey, there’s no need to worry, but I guess it does feel a bit better to think about it that way! Um… I wouldn’t mind some advice on who to start with though? If I make it all the way through I’ll need to use my whole team, but I’m not sure which order to go with…”
Zoey hummed. “Yeah, only having three Pokemon makes stuff like this a bit difficult, doesn’t it? Maybe we should look into getting you another teammate before long here. Having more options never hurts! But as far as the order goes, I think probably Piplup for last? You want to have a strong finish, and you’ve been with Piplup the longest. Buneary seems to have more of a natural knack for this sort of thing, so maybe start with Pachirisu? You’re more likely to run into tougher opponents as the bracket continues, so in my eyes it makes sense to start with the…. Least practiced member of your team.”
That made sense. And if Zoey was starting with her Finneon, that meant if they got the bad luck of being paired up against each other in the first round, she would have the type advantage, too!
But Zoey probably wasn’t thinking about that. Dawn shouldn’t be either. Talking like that sounded… cheap. This was a contest, not a Gym battle.
Her thoughts wandered as she thought she saw something on the edge of her vision, but when she turned, there was nothing. Just the expanse of the lake, and a small island off in the distance at the center of it. She must have imagined it.
“Dawn?”
“Coming!”
Hallucinations like that weren’t good. She was getting too stressed out about this. She would be okay though, right? It was like Zoey said, just another contest.
There was no need to worry.
CORRECTION:
In the last chapter, N referred to Wallace as “another region’s champion” despite calling out Mimikyu not knowing Steven is the Hoenn champ.
I don’t know where Zoey is supposed to have caught her Finneon in canon. They’re all in the southwestern portion of Sinnoh, yet she somehow nabs one between an appearance in Solaceon and the Wallace Cup. Did canon Zoey get transported cross-region like our boys did in this story? Or maybe it’s traded and they just never mention that.
Translations: (been a while since I’ve done one of these, eh?)
噓つき. 彼と一緒にいなかった. = Liar. (I) Wasn’t with him. The watashi wa is implied here.
...本当にジムリーダーですか? = Is (he) really a gym leader?
As always, feedback is appreciated. (If you’re actually looking for a response, discord is the place to be)
