3 Chapter 3:
While the night was peaceful and quiet around the Wyndon mansion where the hero of Galar was resting, the rest of the world wasn't as quiet. The news journalists that had their Rotom-Phones at the statue earlier in the day in preparation to have a wonderful picture and an easy story regarding the loss of the 'greatest hero the pokemon world has ever seen' and how people were mourning the loss of Victoria Rose had suddenly become something much more exciting for them. In short, they were very busy.
The previously boring, and easy-to-write story had become something much more noteworthy today, the hero had returned in a spectacle that the entire pokemon world couldn't help be entranced by. To make it all better? The Rotom-Sattelite caught the entire thing and uploaded it to the Rotom-Net directly so people couldn't call their articles 'clickbait sensationalism at its finest' anymore!
The heavens themselves were ripped open, blasting the statue with a blinding and radiant light that had evil teams quaking in their boots, before a deafening boom announced the return of the hero in all of her glorious splendor. It was nothing if not a brilliant return fitting of the hero that protected the region for years. The previously dreary and dismal atmosphere surrounding the region that day had been replaced with unbridled happiness and joy as soon as the news broke of the hero's return.
It was a monumental event in the hearts of many, and for some, the event was their hope for changes for the better, that the region of Galar would enter another golden age as they had a decade ago. So, being the journalists they were, they were busy at work creating various articles surrounding Victoria Rose and her various exploits. The residents of Spikemuth were one of the more notable groups of people that were hopeful when the hero returned, she was their hope for being able to live a better life.
Their city had been neglected by big corporations and was left to decay into broken-down slums for years. Some rumors had been spread by an unknown source after the hero's disappearance that she was planning to improve and redesign Spikemuth as she previously did to Wyndon years earlier, but her brother Alex Rose had prevented it from going forward. Nobody had a way to confirm the truth behind these rumors, but they were upset and emotions were on an all-time high as the hero had just been lost, so they were happy to latch onto something to vent their anger onto.
This caused tensions to rise between Spikemuth and the league chairman, with the Dark-type gym leader Piers being the leader of Team Yell, a group of people dissatisfied with the chairman. Sadly, Team Yell hadn't achieved anything apart from giving the league more profits by religiously attending Pier's gym battle performances, of which the league takes a large cut of the ticket sales. The increase in numbers secured the chairman's seat even more so than it was before they formed Team Yell.
- - - - - - - - - -
Piers, the Dark-type gym leader in Spikemuth, was happy. In fact, he was so happy that he even broke out in a smile. What was so rare about this? He was notably a dreary person that was pessimistic to the very core of his being- or at least -that was what the public thought of him. In truth, he was a very caring person that only wanted the best for those surrounding him, and it was the years of mistreatment regarding those people that caused the change in his mood when out in public.
He finished up one of his concerts earlier that day and was interrupted during it. Normally, he would have been vexed at such a thing, but when he saw what the interruption was about, he couldn't care any longer. Actually, he was glad to have the concert interrupted.
On the big screen behind him, it was playing a video of the statue of the hero of Galar, his own personal hero, and someone he owed a great debt to. His first thought was about who dared put that up and make the concert atmosphere depressing, but that thought didn't last long. He stopped singing, and stopped his band from playing any longer, he held a minute of silence for the hero.
As the minute of silence went on, the dark concert hall was illuminated by a bright light coming from the screen, when the light died down, he was greeted with the view of Victoria Rose in all of her optimistic glory. He isn't afraid to admit that tears were shed then and there. However, before he could deny the possibility of this being an edited video like previous hoaxes, he heard her speak. The first thing she said was a comedic icebreaker, and at that point, he knew she was the real deal.
He still remembers the cheers coming from the crowd, it was ear-shattering. It stung his pride a little bit that they cheered harder than they did for any of his concerts, but he could understand their excitement. He wanted to burst out into cheers himself, before remembering that cameras were rolling, and it would damage his image amongst the public if he did. Being a gym leader meant having a public image promoted by the league, and not sticking to that image can have a detrimental effect on their careers. So, he had to play the part assigned to him of a dreary and 'dark' musician.
Before the crowd of people stampeded towards the exit in order to go and see the hero in person over in Wyndon, he calmed them all down. He mentally thanked the fact they all saw him as their leader, otherwise, it would never have been possible. He urged them to leave her be for the week, as Victoria probably has a lot on her plate already, and that they shouldn't press their issues onto her just as she returned.
The concert ended an hour later to a much happier crowd and thunderous applause. Now, however, he was on his way home. It was an apartment Victoria purchased for him and his little sister, Marnie, and is still funded by the money they had received from Victoria. He tried denying the extra money, as the apartment was more than enough as it is, but she denied it and claimed,
"I've got more money in my bank account than I can spend in one lifetime. So, do me a favor and spend that money in my stead, okay?"
He couldn't persuade her out of it, as she was famously stubborn in almost everything she did, so he reluctantly accepted the money. Even to this day, nearly a decade later, he still had barely put a scratch in his ever-increasing bank account. He could have moved to Wyndon and lived a life of luxury with his sister, but he didn't want to move out of his new home, Spikemuth.
Piers now understood what she meant by having too much money, as he was in that situation himself. He was richer than most businessmen and had more than enough to fund his lineage for generations to come. He didn't even have to look at price tags or bills for various things, something he never thought he would have experienced when he was a child running away from home.
He used to be in a middle-class family over in Circhester, neither rich nor poor, but his mother died because of ovarian cancer and his father was an addicted gambler. Now, his father being a gambler wouldn't have been a bad thing, but he was terrible at it. He ran away from his home when the situation got too bad with his little sister, not wanting her to suffer as she grew up because of his father's declining wealth and mental health.
His father was getting violent, and more irritable as he had to sell more of his things and take out more loans to fund his gambling problem, even overhearing his plan to sell his children as they were "Just soaking up money like sponges." to an organization over in Kanto called Team Rocket. That was the last straw for Piers.
There was only one thing that he didn't account for when he ran away, and that was the small problem of necessities. He had no money, apart from enough for a Corviknight taxi, no food to last them both over a week, no clothing apart from what was on them, and no shelter.
In hindsight, it was the stupidest thing he had ever done and he had put his little sister's life in danger. But, it all worked out in the end due to a miracle, with the miracle being the appearance of Victoria Rose, a person who his father detested due to her success in whatever she set her eyes on.
- - - - - - - - -
(7 years earlier)
As the Corviknight taxi was flying over the icy seas in route 9, the Corviknight carrying the taxi car was barraged with Ice Beams from a horde of enraged Lapras. The Corviknight's wings were eventually frozen over despite its attempts to speed up and dodge the attacks, resulting in the rapid descent of the car. With the inevitable descent into the icy depths, and death almost certainly on the horizon, Piers had given up hope, he released his Zigzagoon and gave it its 'final' order as a trainer.
"Zigzagoon, I want you to carry Marnie and swim to the shore as fast as you can before trying to find help. If you can't find anyone, I want you to protect Marnie with your life and deliver her with this note to anyone you trust."
He lifted Zigzagoon, after tying a note requesting them to take care of Marnie if he didn't survive the crash on route 9, who now had a young Marnie who was tied in blankets to him on top of the cab and prayed for the best. He was going to make a break for it as well, but Zigzagoon was his best chance at getting Marnie to shore quicker.
Zigzagoon could only obey and strive to do his best on the mission that his trainer had entrusted to him. He was determined to make sure that his trainer's sister would at least survive this trip, determined to the point that he evolved to better complete this final task. It was a surprise to his trainer, but there was no time to celebrate this evolution in the dire situation they were in.
The newly-evolved Linoone leaped off of the car as soon as it was a safe enough height from the icy waters and began swimming as fast as he could. It was freezing, and not even his thick fur could keep the cold at bay, but he kept swimming as fast as he could, before reaching the shore. He didn't have time to celebrate or warm himself up, as he still had to look for help. Fortunately, it sensed an aura signature nearby, the signature gave off a comforting feeling, so it sped towards it in hopes it was someone willing to help.
Thankfully, the person with the aura signature grasped the situation at hand and could actually understand what Linoone was saying without the note. As the mysterious aura user ran towards the icy waters, at speeds he didn't think humans were capable of, where his trainer required help, he soon followed, eager to help in any way he could.
Meanwhile, Piers wasn't having the best time of his life. In fact, it would probably rank as the worst time in his life. He had to carry the elderly cab driver with him, as their 'old bones' weren't capable of swimming in the harsh currents, as he swam towards the shore. It was added weight that he didn't need right now, but he couldn't just leave the driver to die, he would never be able to forgive himself if he did. So, he gritted his teeth and swam as fast as he could while trying to stave off the fatigue that was rapidly setting in due to the cold temperatures.
"We're saved..." He overheard the old man whisper.
"We're not saved yet, geezer! This isn't the time to go towards the light!"
Before he could utter another word in rebuttal, another voice spoke out,
"Yes, you are, brat. Now, shut up, and hold on tight!"
He had no energy left in him to argue with the mysterious figure that his blurry vision couldn't make out, so he latched on with all the power he could muster in his fatigued arms. He felt something soft, and instantly knew what he latched onto. However, he didn't have the energy to blush. The figure swam at a speed that he didn't know was possible for a human, and had to hold on even harder than previously. His only thoughts now were about Marnie, his little sister, and hoping that she and Linoone were still safe and sound.
Linoone couldn't be happier as he saw his trainer being safely dragged to shore by the aura user. It just wanted to jump around in joy, but it remembered that his trainer's sister was firmly strapped to his back. So, in order not to jostle her around too much, he remained still.
He was guarding the mysterious trainer's bag because they asked it to. It was a small favor compared to what Linoone asked of them, so he was happy to do this small task to pay them back, even just a little for what they had done. He ran up to his trainer as they coughed up any water they swallowed as they rested on the beach, and started cuddling up to them in hopes of sharing its body heat with the freezing teen.
Victoria Rose couldn't believe her day, she just wanted to go and train against the water-type pokemon in the icy seas of route 9, and a random soaking wet Linoone approached her with a child strapped to its back with a note. It wasn't the most bizarre thing in the world, but it grabbed her attention immediately. The Linoone asked her to save its trainer who crash-landed into the icy depths of the icy water. Naturally, she accepted this mission and sprinted off with aura-charged legs.
Aura was life-energy and a unique talent that she has and mastered. She could be qualified as an Aura Guardian, and people had approached her to give her the title, all of whom she rejected. She didn't want to be bound by a title, or anything of the sort. She just wanted to protect the people of Galar and grow stronger.
Aura could be used in a plethora of ways, such as reading people's minds and talking in them, forcefield projection, energy-based attacks, tracking, and many other things. But, what most didn't know was that aura could super-charge one's body so they can reach super-human levels where they could compete with pokemon in contests of strength, and Victoria was a master of this technique.
She sprinted off towards the shoreline and began searching for aura signatures similar to the one of the little girl who was the crash survivor's sister, before eventually locating them and began swimming towards them. She thanked the fact that she had her swimwear on underneath her clothing and a spare set of regular clothing in her bag prepared for just the occasion.
There was another survivor that the Linoone has neglected to inform her about, it was an elderly man wearing the Corviknight taxi signature jacket. She was a little annoyed about this discovery but put it down to the Linoone caring more about its trainer than the cab driver. She dragged them both to shore as quickly as she could, before going off to find some wood to start a campfire. They were in desperate need of warming up.
Thankfully, Galar was pretty much covered in woodlands, so the searching didn't take long. After taking some stones and enough firewood to last them for an hour, she went back to the shore to set it all up. She ignored all of their coughing and made sure to start the fire as quickly as she could, with a match and lighter fluid she kept in her backpack, it took no time at all.
"Linoone, drag your trainer over to the campfire." She spoke to the pokemon.
After seeing the Linoone dragging the wet body of his trainer across the sandy shore, she knew he heard her. So, she went over to carry the elderly cab driver who was in a much more dire situation than the boy. She didn't want either of them succumbing to hypothermia, which would be a guarantee if they didn't warm up quickly.
"Thank you, Ms. Rose." The cab driver thanked her as she carried him over to the campfire.
"No problem, old man. Try not to die on me now, I have a flawless rescue record to keep, you know?"
"Haha- *cough* ha! This 'old man' still has a few more good years in him before that happens."
After setting him down on the sand, she asked,
"Just what I like to hear. I assume you have your Corviknight in its ball?"
The cab driver reached into his pocket before pulling out a heal ball. The heal ball was the standard-issue Pokeball for all Corviknight taxi drivers because it can heal the bird pokemon when their shifts are over, and therefore save them time on having to wait for their birds in the pokemon center in the event of accidents.
"Yeah, the old bird is in here. She needs an Ice Heal to defrost her wings, but other than that, she's gonna be fine."
"Are you forgetting that you're right next to a fire? Just release her here for the time being," she suggested, pointing towards the roaring campfire nearby.
He did just that and released the 7ft tall bird pokemon, which immediately went towards the fire to defrost itself. Victoria, seeing that everybody was near the fire and warming up, went off behind the treeline to change her clothing after setting up an opaque aura barrier so nobody could peep on her. She may not have been affected by the temperature of the water, but wet clothing is never comfortable to be in.
After getting changed into some more comfortable clothing, and drying herself up with a towel she had in her bag, she emerged from the treeline to the same sight she left to. The boy was soaked and his Linoone was trying to keep him and the sister warm, and the old man was smoking a cigarette. She was never a fan of cigarettes, but she didn't judge him for lighting one up despite there being a small child nearby, he probably needed it.
She approached the group, before taking the child off of Linoone's back and settling it into her lap. The child looked far more comfortable than it was while on the hyperactive Linoone's back. The boy spoke up upon seeing the sight,
"Thank you for saving us."
"What he said." the cab driver followed up.
She didn't acknowledge the thanks, as it would only lead to a loop of thanking and dismissal if she did acknowledge it. She didn't do it for a "thank you", she did it because she didn't want anyone else to lose their family members, or have this 2-year-old child be raised without any at all.
"What's her name?" she asked the boy.
"Marnie, she's my sister."
"Mhm, and what's yours?"
"Piers." came the boy's short reply.
"No last name?" she asked.
"No."
She noted that there was a considerable amount of steel in his voice and that he was lying. He was definitely a runaway, she reasoned; a phenomenon she had run into more times than she cared to count during her travels across Galar. She noticed that the old man also figured out the situation from the interaction, she reasoned it to be his 'experience' as all old people call it.
"I see... It's one of those situations, huh?"
"Seems like it, I shoulda' known earlier from the cab ride." the cab driver followed up.
Piers didn't like where the conversation was heading, he knew that they knew that he ran away from home. He tried not to let any information about it slip, but it seemed he had let his emotions get the better of him which revealed his situation when asked about his surname, his last connection to his bastard of a father.
"... Don't send us back, please."
He didn't want to be sent back home where his father was almost definitely fuming. He did, after all, have to steal the money for the fare from him. The theft combined with running away, and therefore ruining his father's opportunity at selling them both, would lead to a punishment that he didn't want to imagine, but it would definitely be harsher than his father's belt could provide.
"I can't even take myself back to Circhester, let alone you, kid. My cab's at the bottom of the ocean, and I'm gonna need to pay a hefty amount for that, and my partner doesn't want to fly over that route ever again. Today's been a mess."
"Sorry..." Piers apologized.
"What are ya' sayin' sorry for kid? Ya' didn't do anything wrong, and even saved my life. I should be sayin' sorry for weighing you down with these old bones of mine."
"B-But, if I didn't run away then you could still have your cab!"
"Kid, I'd much rather have my life than my cab. I may have lost one, but you saved the important one."
Victoria just watched as the two interacted, it was an amusing sight as the two people were almost as stubborn as people described her to be. Feeling Marnie shuffling around on her lap, she looked down and met her green eyes. What caught Victoria's attention was that Marnie wasn't smiling, so she asked,
"What's wrong?"
"Hungry," Marnie replied timidly.
And sure enough, a rumble echoed from her stomach, Marnie was definitely hungry. It made Victoria question their home situation even more now. It was barely 10 am and she was this hungry? Surely she would have had been fed breakfast by now, and it doesn't look like they had been on the run for long either, probably only setting out this morning.
She couldn't theorize any longer as she had to find something for her to eat. She pulled over her bag and began rummaging through its contents in search of the workout meals she had prepared earlier in the day. She pulled out the banana and protein shake, as well as her lamb spinach curry and rice, which needed heating up.
She peeled the banana and gave it to Marnie, who tried her best to fit it all into her mouth before gagging, and then opting to take bites like a normal person. Victoria set the Tupperware container of the curry down on the sand, before turning her attention to the duo that was now much calmer.
"So, Piers, what are you gonna do now? What's your plan?" she asked.
"I... don't know."
She knew that was going to be the answer, it always is with kids in this situation. A part of her wished those runaway children sometimes took an extra hour or so before leaving to just come up with even the most rudimentary of plans. She had already saved Oleana and taken her in, so she began weighing up whether or not she should do it for these kids too. However, before she could suggest that, the cab driver spoke up.
"Well, kid, ya' obviously have your reasons for not wanting to return home, right? So, why don't ya' come and live with me in Spikemuth? You saved my life, and I can't just leave ya' all alone after that."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I may not have the best house, but it's better than nothin'."
Victoria chose to speak up at this point, mainly because she needed a better grasp of the situation at hand before she let them move on. She didn't want the kind old man to be charged with kidnapping by the parents of Piers.
"Piers, you need to tell us why you ran away from your house. If it was because of an argument, or some other little reason, the old man might end up being charged with kidnapping if he took you home. However, if the reason was because of something more serious, we can do this the legal way so nobody gets in trouble."
"..."
The cab driver extinguished his cigarette in the sand before tossing it into the campfire and saying.
"Ms. Rose is right, kid. Ya' need to tell us what's going on, kids don't run away from home for no reason."
Piers explained the general situation to them both without going into too much detail. Victoria was sympathetic towards Piers' situation because she was in a similar one a few years prior. Her father died at a young age, and her mother went into a downward spiral of drinking herself to oblivion before her mother stabilized once again, then inevitably dying with a smile on her face four years ago.
She understood the urge to run away from home, the need to hide from a mentally ill parent's drunken beatings. Thankfully, she was never on the other end of her mother's belt, as her mother never wanted to anger the child that can fire energy beams out of her fingertips. Victoria may have loved her mother dearly, but she wasn't a person that wouldn't fight back and retaliate, and her mother knew that too.
Her hands were rated E for everyone, it didn't matter your relation to her, your age, your race, your gender, or if it was a pokemon, she would fight everyone equally if she had a reason to.
After listening to the entire story, Victoria understood the situation perfectly. It was an abusive and neglectful parent that had lost their partner and had chosen to turn to various vices including gambling and drinking, with their children suffering because of it and blaming the child for the loss of their partner. It was enough to take the kids out of the father's custody and have him put behind bars.
Thankfully, she didn't need to ask if Piers had proof of his claims, she had a Rotom-Sattelite that records everything happening on the planet at all times, all she needed to do was have it search for proof in its memory, and it would be a done deal. It was one of the wonderful features of her masterpiece, and the Rotom pokemon, having unlimited memory storage.
Was it illegal? She knew the right loopholes, so technically, no it wasn't. Could anyone bring themselves to care enough about their privacy being invaded? Not really, because that same thing that invades their privacy controls the Rotom-net which makes their lives much easier to live. The world viewed it as a necessary sacrifice or didn't care enough.
"Alright... Just gonna get this out here, all you needed to do was go to the police and they would have investigated your claims. Which, if your father is as bad as you say, would have ended up with him in jail by the end of the week, and you in the foster care system with your sister. You didn't need to run away, but I can understand why you did."
"They would have split us up!"
"And this was any better?! You would have still been split up this way, except you would have been portioned out as food by pokemon in the sea! Now, keep your stupid reasoning to yourself, and listen closely."
After receiving his scolding, he shut up and listened because he didn't want to be shouted at again. Marnie wanted to start crying, never being a fan of hearing people shouting, but focused on her drink to calm herself down.
"The old man wants to take care of you, and you are going to take his offer. I will then purchase better housing for you, as I'm sure the old man's place isn't meant for 2 kids. Spikemuth also isn't the safest place, so I will at least purchase housing for you in a safer part of it.
The old man will then call the police, and have custody of you both after your father is found guilty of child abuse and neglect with the proof I will send his way on his new phone, as his old one is almost certainly broken. It will be a done deal and ended within a week of him receiving his new phone. If you need any help with the process, just call me up and I'll do my best to help out.
To fund your living expenses, I will transfer money to your new dad's bank account, which he could also funnel into two saving accounts for the both of you, which you will have access to when you're older. It will be enough for you and the next generation of you to live in luxury. Do whatever you want with that money, just don't send it back to me, I have too much of it already, and don't do illegal things with it."
The new 'family' couldn't believe what they were hearing. Marnie was the only one who didn't care as she was happily sipping away at the protein shake and therefore oblivious to the conversation at hand. Piers didn't want to believe that somebody could be this kind, or rich for that matter. He didn't even know her full name.
The cab driver was in much greater shock, as Victoria Rose, the richest person in Galar, and possibly the world, had just offered to give him new housing, money, and help in his endeavor of having the runaway kids under his care. He certainly wasn't complaining about it, though.
"Are you sure? That's probably going to cost a lot of money, and you're okay with spending it on us?" Piers asked.
There was a little back and forth, with Piers not wanting to accept the payment, and Victoria wanting to give the money otherwise the old man wouldn't be able to support them financially. She won the interaction with her notorious stubborn attitude with the last words being,
"I've got more money in my bank account than I can spend in one lifetime. So, do me a favor and spend that money in my stead, okay?"
That was how the following week went. Piers didn't believe it would happen and believed she was only saying that she would do it to make them feel better. The new housing, new father, and newfound riches changed his mind very quickly in the week that came. He had a family once more, and the person to thank for it was Victoria Rose, the person his old father hated with a passion.
- - - - - - - - - -
Looking back on that memory Piers couldn't help but smile, especially when combined with the fact his hero was back now. If he had learned anything about Victoria, it was that wherever she went things would change, oftentimes for the better.
If that rumor about her wanting to improve Spikemuth wasn't just a rumor, and it was true? He couldn't be happier, because it meant that he now had the richest, most influential, and stubbornest person in Galar on his side when it came to improving Spikemuth. Nobody would be able to stop the improvements from taking place, maybe Spikemuth will grow as big as Wyndon in the future too.
He just wished his old man could be here to witness it, he would have loved seeing her back again. He steeled himself as he approached his apartment so he wouldn't cry in front of Marnie, she wouldn't let him live it down. He took the keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door, and entered to be met with the sight of his sister passed out on the couch with a video of Victoria's return being broadcasted to the TV on a loop from her phone.
He had already eaten after the concert, and judging by the takeaway containers near her feet his sister had too, so he could just go to bed now. He locked the door, turned the TV off, covered his sister with a nearby blanket, and left to go to and take a shower before heading off to bed himself.
"Things are looking to be on the up, now, huh?" He asked nobody in particular as he sank into his mattress and drifted off into a peaceful slumber.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Cynthia started her day like any other, by not waking up until the morning was over and the afternoon had started. She wanted to make the trip to Galar to pay her respects to the statue erected in the image of her friend, but frustrating circumstances were preventing her from doing so.
She refused to call the statue her friend, preferring to call it a mere sham of an imitation of her, it was far uglier and didn't capture any of Victoria's charm. She was an expert in statues at this point if the decades of studying ruins and the statues that oftentimes lay inside them gave her any experience in the matter.
Naturally, she kept those complaints to herself lest a news journalist overhears her comments. The last thing she needed was for the news to twist her words and make it out to seem as if she was mocking the celebrated hero of a region. She didn't need an entire region hating her, especially the one in which the World Coronation Series takes place.
Being denied the opportunity to battle in the greatest competition on the planet in fear of public outrage would be soul-crushing for the battle junky that she was. Cynthia knew that Garchomp still wanted some payback for Lance's snide comments towards it during their last battle, and she didn't want to break the news to her that they wouldn't be able to fight him.
What was the reason that she couldn't visit Galar today? It was Volkner.
He apparently shut down his gym for the past month while being a stroppy little bitch as he was complaining that there were no 'challenging' opponents and that he was losing his passion for battling. He is an Elite Four-level trainer, who was he expecting to walk into his gym apart from 10 year-olds?! Did he want Alder's old ass to just fucking show up from Unova?! The blonde bastard even installed a machine that was giving out badges for free! Cynthia was outraged by that fact alone.
It undermined the entire Sinnoh pokemon league as he was the final gym challengers had to face, he was meant to be the gatekeeper to the Lily of the Valley competition where potential new champions were crowned. If he was giving away free badges it gives off the impression that the Sinnoh region was worse compared to other regions leagues, and that Sinnoh didn't care as much. That undermined her worth in the people's eyes as a Champion, a position that she worked very hard to get, and a position that she fought even harder to keep.
There was a little-known rule which only gym leaders should know about, it allows them to challenge the champion of the region to a battle whenever they desired. So, the Sinnoh league chairman decided to incite Volkner, and manipulate him into challenging her to a pokemon battle in hopes it would ignite his 'passion for battling' once again so he would do his job as a gym leader. The chairman's plan obviously worked, and the little sparkplug decided to challenge her publicly to a battle scheduled for today.
She couldn't postpone this challenge, and there was no chance that she could deny it, as the chairman had already promoted this battle throughout the region in hopes of having people restore their faith in the Sunyshore gym leader. If she didn't attend the match, her title would be revoked and Volkner would be given the title. They spun the story to say that Volkner wasn't, in fact, doing fuck all apart from brooding for a month, instead he was 'training in preparation for this match'. Everybody who knew the gym leader knew that this was utter nonsense.
Naturally, Cynthia was frustrated with the entire situation. She was frustrated with Volkner for being such a whiny bitch, despite the fact he could just have Flint, his best friend, step down from the Elite Four and have himself become a part of it, which would let him travel to other regions more often and battle stronger trainers until he regains his passion once more. Flint even offered that exact thing to Volkner, but he denied it!
That was the easy solution. But, no, nothing is ever easy when it comes to the Electric-type gym leader whose brain was probably fried by his pokemon. She never had any problems with Volkner before this match announcement, as she never bothered to interact with him, a fact that she was now thanking her past self for dearly. But, his timing and attitude were just terrible, and she needed to vent the newly-built frustration he caused her, back onto himself.
She was then frustrated with the league chairman sticking his nose into her business, even though champion-related issues are partly his issue too. Without the league chairman, she would have never known about Volkner, let alone have the blonde battery challenging her on a day she didn't even want to be in the region for!
In short, she wasn't a happy person today.
So, as a trainer with a Garchomp that knows Earthquake and Swords Dance, she beat the Electric-type user without losing a singular mon of her own. If the fight was satisfying? She wouldn't care as much, as she wanted some good fights herself. But, it wasn't. Even despite Volkner bringing four pokemon with ice moves, it was still a complete stomp in her Garchomp's favor.
He was publicly humiliated, and Flint managed to convince his friend to go back to training instead of tinkering with machines. Flint came up to her after the match and investigated why she was so harsh on his friend during the battle. She had no idea why Flint treasured his friendship with the gym leader so much, but it wasn't her place to question it.
Thus, she told him what his friend had done, and how Volkner was lucky that the match was public otherwise she would have had killed his mons and forced him to retire from his position as gym leader permanently so he'd never become an inconvenience to her again. The words were much harsher than any insult she had said in front of her colleagues before, but she meant every single word of them, and he knew that.
She knew that she shouldn't have admitted to that, even in private, but the female champion had enough of being nice for one day, with her conversation with Lusamine earlier in the day definitely influencing her sour mood greatly. Thankfully for her, Flint was nothing if not an easy-going guy who tried to look at things from both sides before making a judgment, and he also knew that things said in private should stay private.
Despite the quick battle, the event still took a very long time to finish. The league wanted to milk this rare appearance of her as much as they could, being all too familiar with her archeological trips that took weeks on end to finish. So, they sat her down in a signing booth that took forever for the line to end, with the last person being a child that looked oddly like they could pass as a relative of Palmer, the current Tower Tycoon.
The only solace that Cynthia had for today was that the battle took place in Celestic Town's contest hall. It was her hometown, so she didn't have far to travel to find a place to rest for the night, as her grandmother Carolina still lived in the town, and there was always her childhood room for her to crash at.
Sure, it wasn't as luxurious as her Mansion and various Villas in other locations, but it was just as pleasant for her to stay in. It held a lot of memories for her, and a place she visits often to try and relive the 'good days' when things were much easier before two of her friends were taken by Ultra Wormholes.
When Mohn was taken, she thought that would have been it, that no more pain would occur from those damned things. Yet, the world decided otherwise and Victoria was gone before she knew it too. She watched as Lusamine and Victoria grew closer after Mohn's disappearance, which stung her more than she'd like to admit. She wanted to monopolize Victoria's time for herself, but she knew that Lusamine needed Victoria's endless positivity more than she did at the time.
So, she stepped back under the guise of taking the gym challenge more 'seriously' than before in order to give them their space and let Lusamine recover without interfering as she probably would. She hated how happy they looked together, but couldn't bring herself to pursue Victoria, to be a bother by taking her away from Lusamine who needed her. Cynthia knew at the time it would hurt her, that it would be heartbreaking to step back after pursuing Victoria for so long, but she did it.
It was a decision that she regrets even more now that her friend, and crush since childhood, was now gone alongside Mohn. The disappearance of both Mohn and Victoria put a strain on her relationship with Lusamine as the mother was gradually growing more and more unstable, to the point where they only awkwardly communicated once every few months.
There was even a short stretch of time where Lusamine chased after her, and while being chased romantically for once was nice, Lusamine wasn't the person she wanted chasing her, so she put an end to that before it could grow out of control.
In actuality, she was meant to meet up with Lusamine at the statue today, before she notified the woman of her inability to attend. It frustrated her when she received the scathing reply over text saying that she 'cared more about a pathetic battle than her paying her respects to their lost friend'. Not Lusamine's exact words, sure, but they might as well have been. The text chain then turned into a passive-aggressive argument about who cared about Victoria more that ended on a sour note, with some harsh words said on both ends.
As she reached her room, a wave of nostalgia washed over her. All the times she spent studying at that desk trying to translate ancient Hisuian that her grandmother set her as homework. The countless hours she spent on her bed while talking to Victoria over the phone. The picture board filled with countless childhood memories hanging over the desk. The rather sexy posters of Victoria in lingerie, the clothing line aptly being called Victoria's secret, lining the walls from which multiple wet dreams and lewd fantasies were produced.
A slight blush worked its way onto her face as she fondly gazed upon her friend's figure. After fanning her face in a vain attempt to cool down her rapidly heating face, she laid down on her bed. It was much smaller than her other ones, but that didn't stop her from daydreaming about it having enough space for her and another specific person in the past.
She pulled out her phone and began looking through her gallery which was filled with countless memories, and even more pictures of Victoria. Content sighs kept escaping her previously sealed lips as she scrolled through her gallery's contents, she wished that she could travel back to those times and experience it all again, or maybe give her past self some advice. She had even searched for a rare pokemon called Celebi, which was rumored to have time-traveling powers, for a short period of time before giving up on it in favor of studying the ruins around the regions.
After scanning all of her pictures of Victoria into her memory for the second time today, she decided it was time to go onto the Rotom-Net to see what people were saying about her fight with Volkner. She may not have enjoyed the fight, but she hoped that the people who were watching it at least had gotten some entertainment from it.
She had tried her best to make the battle more of a performance than a brawl, as Victoria taught her that even when fighting a boring battle one should at least try to make it exciting for the people watching so that someone can at least get enjoyment from it. Thus, she was eager to see if she could still perform and entertain the masses in spite of her thinly veiled frustration regarding her situation.
As soon as she booted up the Rotom-Net, the front page of the news forum barely mentioned her match against Volkner, it was outshined by something else, a bigger story. Tears welled in her eyes as she saw the headlines and the image of the same woman that lined her walls, it was Victoria Rose.
[The Hero of Galar Remains Undefeated By Returning Triumphant!]
[Victoria Rose Returns After Five Years in Flashy Spectacle!]
[Statue of Beloved Galarian Hero Destroyed by The Heavens!]
[Macro Comsos' Founder and Previous CEO Has Returned After Five Years! Could This Spell Another Golden Age For The Region of Galar? Click to Find Out!]
"..."
Cynthia decided it was best to shut the phone off for the night and go to sleep. She didn't want to get her hopes up as she did previously for the clickbait titles that always cropped up around the week of the anniversary of Victoria's disappearance. Cynthia reasoned that a fresh mind would be best for tackling this instead of jumping onto any form of hope she could when her emotions were running on high.
Just before she did, however, a text was sent to her by Lusamine. Deciding against her better judgment, reasoning that it would probably be another cheap shot at her on Lusamine's behalf, she clicked on the notification. She soon found out she wasn't wrong.
It was a picture with Lusamine cuddling up to a younger-looking Victoria as Lusamine's children were sitting on their laps. The image was infuriatingly captioned 'Family Picture', which definitely ticked her off more than she would have liked. As soon as she saw the text another one was sent, it read,
[Lusamine uploaded FamilyPicture.png]
[Lusamine: I hope you enjoyed your battle, Cynthia, because I was too busy winning Victoria's heart to watch it xoxo]
Now that definitely aggravated her, but she didn't let Lusamine get a rise out of her. She was much happier about the revelation that those articles weren't clickbait, and that the love of her life had finally returned, to bother with Lusamine's delusions tonight. Cynthia spent the rest of her night getting in contact with the pilot of her league-funded private jet and making sure she was ready to set flight from Lilypad airport tomorrow morning.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Bea was a teensy bit disappointed as she entered her shared apartment over in Stow-on-Side, it was a place which she shared with Allister, the Ghost-type gym leader, with whom she also shares the gym located in Stow-on-Side. She didn't get to meet with Victoria today apart from that short hug they shared.
Allister has anxiety and isn't a major fan of appearing in public, and Bea herself has her parent's Dojo to manage on occasion, which leads to them both needing to be away from the gym for certain times. It was a unique situation for a gym to be in, but they both made it work with some thorough pre-planning in regards to scheduling.
"GENGAR!"
Bea ignored Allister's Gengar's attempts at trying to get a reaction out of her for the umpteenth time, as she entered the kitchen area to find one of her prepped meals to warm up and eat. Gengar began sulking dramatically as per usual when he couldn't get a reaction out of the 'stoic' Fighting-type trainer.
Nessa, her fellow gym leader, had asked her if she wanted to join her and Sonia as they went to eat some cakes at a nearby Cafe in Wyndon, but she declined. Not even the promise of tasty treats and cakes was enough for her to go along with them. She had a lot on her mind right now, and she didn't need her sweet tooth messing around with her emotions too.
She grabbed one of her meal prep Tupperware containers and went to the microwave to heat it up. It was a simple garlic butter salmon with white rice, asparagus, and cherry tomatoes, but it had the nutrients she needed for today. As the meal was heating up, she pulled out her Rotom-Phone to rewatch Victoria's return for the 5th time today.
Her pokemon released themselves from their Ultraballs and watched it with her too, Gengar also stood behind her on the counter to watch as well. She could understand why her pokemon wanted to watch it, she reasoned it to be them 'scoping out the competition', with the competition being Victoria.
She wasn't shy in the past about admitting her admiration regarding her mom- mentor's strength in front of her pokemon, or telling them stories of her days as Victoria's student. She had even admitted to using the training methods Victoria had used on her for their training. So, the fighting types that she owned were naturally very curious about this 'super-strong' human that their trainer had always gone on and on about, they wanted to see Victoria's strength for themself.
The only pokemon of hers who had the 'pleasure' of meeting Victoria in person was her Machamp back when she was still a Machop roaming in the wild area. Machamp had seen her future trainer's mentor boxing with pokemon that would have killed her with a stray blow, spied on her future trainer's harsh training regime that even she had nightmares about, and she didn't even do it! It was safe to say that she was absolutely terrified of Victoria Rose, but she admired Victoria even more than she feared her.
The Machop evolution line respects determination, unwavering resolve, and physical strength above all other things. Thus, it was only natural for the small female Machop to admire Victoria, who had all those qualities in amounts she had never seen before, not even in her fellow pokemon.
However, what really made the Machop respect Victoria was how much she had improved Bea's fighting abilities to the point where when she challenged her future trainer to a battle she had lost miserably. It was the start of a life-long partnership between two people who had their asses kicked by Victoria Rose for slacking off during training.
Naturally, Machamp still had her pride that she didn't want to have tarnished in the eyes of her trainer's other pokemon, so she may have exaggerated just how strong Victoria Rose was to them. She didn't want to seem weak in their eyes because she lost to a human, so she told them that this human could destroy the world if they didn't constantly keep their immense power in check.
Now that Victoria was back? A person who could understand pokemon language? She deeply regretted all of her hyperbolic statements, as Victoria would definitely kick her ass for lying. If she had learned anything about the demonic teacher, it was that she was deathly allergic to pineapple, but she also learned that Victoria hated liars a lot. Any happiness she felt for her ex-teacher's return was quashed by that revelation.
As soon as the video finished, Bea knew that her pokemon wanted to watch some more things about Victoria so she made the Rotom-Phone broadcast videos of Victoria's best moments to the TV in the living room. Her mons all followed the floating phone towards the living area, as she finally took a breather to process what had happened today.
When she woke up and began her trip towards Rose Tower, her emotionless mask wasn't a facade today. Bea's expressionless mask never cracked unless she had extreme emotions flowing through her, which was impossible in her eyes for today as she had already experienced the same numbing sadness for the past anniversary date.
Looking back on the first year, that was when her emotions were truly out of whack, she didn't even visit the statue until she was sure nobody would be there to see her crying. Her teacher had always told her that smiling brightly would hide the pain, but she wasn't strong enough to smile, so she settled on being as stoic as possible. It was much easier for her to pretend not to feel anything than be 'happy', and that mask grew to be her regular expression with enough time.
Now that she thought about it, wasn't Victoria always smiling? Could she have been in pain all that time years ago? Well, not physical pain, but a more mental/emotional one? It was a mortifying thought for her, but it made a lot of sense. Victoria spent all her time helping others and reassuring them, but who was there helping her? Who was saving the hero?
It didn't help what she saw on the monitor over in Rose Tower as Victoria began crying as she recalled her life beyond the wormhole. It was a shock to everyone in the room, and it was a harsh reminder to them that no matter how strong she may physically be, Victoria was still just a human and not this invincible figure that some made her out to be. It broke Bea's heart when she saw her cry, it stung her harder than any Beedrill could. So, she resolved herself to become someone that would be helpful for Victoria, someone that her hero could rely on.
The ding of the microwave sounded which brought her out of her thoughts. She took out the hot container, retrieved a fork from a nearby cutlery draw, and began eating away at her meal. It may not have been as pleasant as it would have been if it was cooked fresh, but it still was a delightful meal nonetheless. Food was something that she greatly enjoyed, and it was probably her favorite part of her daily routine as it let her indulge herself after a long day.
Unfortunately, she couldn't cook to save her life. Fortunately for her, Allister was a wonderful cook, so she relied on the Ghost-type trainer for her meals. Allister said something about needing to be self-sufficient at a young age, which she initially thought was cool of him until she read a little deeper into his words. The younger brother figure in her life was someone with a not-so-great childhood, but she never pushed him to reveal any of it in fear of damaging their friendly relationship.
While she savored the mouthfuls of food that Allister seasoned to perfection, she remembered her first interaction with Victoria when she returned as a slight crimson made its way onto her tanned cheeks. In hindsight, it was a tiny bit embarrassing how quickly she sprinted into Victoria's arms, and even more embarrassing just how quickly she melted in the older woman's soft embrace.
The previously minor blush erupted into a vivid crimson as she began reminiscing about the hug. It was comfortable, warm, and soft. In short, it was everything she wanted in a hug but had only received from two people in her life. One was Melony, the Ice-type gym leader, and the other was Victoria. She couldn't recall ever receiving one like it from her mother, the only thing she received from that woman was a harsh scolding for any minuscule mistakes she made.
'They both have big boobs, and my mother is as flat as the Dojo's floorboards, could their boobs be the reason for the hug being good? Should I ask Sonia for a hug to confirm my theory? She has boobs on the bigger side, so it should feel the same, right?' Bea wondered as she finished up her meal.
While putting her Tupperware and cutlery into the dishwasher, Bea's mind subconsciously drifted towards some naughty mental images of a nude Victoria, Sonia, and Melony combination with herself being smothered in their loving embrace. Before her mind could expand on that depraved scenario, a shy voice brought her out of her thoughts,
"B-Bea, a-are you... okay?"
Snapping to attention, she turned around and was met with the rare sight of Allister without his mask on. She quickly replied to the anxious boy,
"Of course, why do you ask?"
"Oh! U-um... sorry. I-I t-thought that because your n-nose was bleeding and your face was red y-you might have been sick."
"Huh?"
Soon after voicing that question, she felt something wet trickling out of her nose towards her lips. She quickly reached over and accepted the wet wipe that Allister's shaky hands were offering her, and wiped her face clean of any blood. Bea was a little embarrassed about her lack of mental restraint when it came to her fantasies while not in her bedroom.
"Thank you, Allister, I hadn't even noticed."
"I-It's okay... D-Do you want me to t-take over your shift tomorrow... a-at the gym?"
Bea started considering taking up the boy on his kind offer, before ultimately deciding to reject it. No matter how much she wanted to be at Rose Tower tomorrow as soon as possible, she didn't want to meet with Victoria at the expense of Allister's day off. The Ghost-type gym leader had been wanting to visit the cemetery over in the Crown Tundra for the past month now and was going to do it tomorrow, Bea didn't want to prevent him from doing that for her sake, it wouldn't feel right to her.
"Thank you for the kind offer, but I have to refuse. I wouldn't want to prevent you from going on your trip tomorrow because of a selfish desire to meet with someone."
Not being one for pressing matters further, or conversations in general, Allister accepted Bea's decline of his offer almost immediately before going to rummage through the fridge for a light late-night snack. Bea looked out the kitchen window and saw it was already dark out, before deciding to recall all of her mons into their Ultraballs for the night. She had gym challengers to face tomorrow and so did they, meaning they both needed to get some rest.
Passing by the living room, she called out to her Rotom-Phone, which promptly disconnected itself from the TV's docking station and floated into her hands. After retrieving her phone, she entered her room to get ready for the night. She placed her Ultra balls in their holders and went to take a quick shower before changing into her pajamas for the night. Her pajama involved a baggy shirt she had 'borrowed' from Victoria and some floral pink pajama pants.
As she lay in bed, Bea couldn't help but take a sniff of the shirt she was wearing. She rarely used the shirt as she didn't wish to ruin it from wear and tear, choosing only to do so when she needed comfort. She had always thought it smelled just like Victoria, even going as far as to buy the same laundry detergent and fabric softener that her mentor used, but now that she had the real thing to compare it to? It felt inadequate like it- or rather -she was missing something. While that uncomfortable feeling of being incomplete pooled in her gut, she fell asleep.
- - - - - - - - - -
Of course, there were some people that weren't as happy as others regarding news of Victoria Rose's return to the world. One such person was her younger brother Alex Rose, current chairman of the Galar league. He may have loved his sister dearly, much more than he did for his own mother at times, but he envied his sister as much as he loved her.
She had everything come to her as if it were natural, and it infuriated him a lot more than he let on. Whether it was women, wealth, power, inspiration, respect, or anything else he wanted it all converged around his sister at all times. The only reason he had even become the league chairman in the first place was because of his sister and the plans she left behind in her study regarding the Galar pokemon league!
His only notable achievement in his life, and the only reason the populace of Galar knew of him, was something only possible because of his sister. Even after he became the chairman, there were still some people that referred to him as the 'hero's brother', a moniker he detests greatly. It was a constant reminder that he was nothing- a nobody -if not for his sister. Hell, he would probably still be a coal miner if his sister didn't exist, and he knew that. A fact that ate away at his consciousness whenever he was alone.
He still had just over a year before he could put his plan into action regarding Eternatus, a pokemon he named personally, and finally utilize the mysterious pokemon as an infinite power source. It would have been his chance to step out of his sister's shadow, to have his own name written in the history books. He wanted to be known as a hero too, the person who had brought infinite sustainable clean energy to the world.
Unfortunately, his sister was now back, meaning that he was firmly back into his sister's shadow. Her return could mean the end to his plans and the eternal residence in her shadow. He knew that she had something to do with Oleana's change in attitude towards him over the years. Oleana was always at least formal towards him, but as soon as his sister disappeared she grew much colder.
It certainly threw his plan to seduce her for the rest of the company's shares out of the window, as Oleana didn't even want to be in the same room as him unless he called for an urgent meeting. Then she blackmailed him out of 25% of his shares, which was the final nail in the coffin for that plan. Alex knew exactly who gave her all of that sensitive information on him, and the culprit in question recently demolished the statue in front of Rose Tower.
The loss of his stocks and by proxy his influence in the company has led to his plans being delayed a little longer than he'd wished, but it wasn't a huge problem as he already had his plans approved and put in action before his influence was limited. 8% was still a rather big amount in terms of monetary wealth and granted him a small amount of influence in the company. Oleana had also not put a stop to his plans, despite her knowledge of them, so he was confident in guessing that Victoria hadn't ordered Oleana to put a stop to it.
The knowledge of his sister not objecting to his plans and ambition was heartwarming, it reminded him shortly about why he cared for his sister. Even in her 'death' she still supported his plan, let him grow, and become his own person. Now that she was back, and clearly a changed person from her time in a different universe, he had no idea what would happen in regards to his plans.
Alex hoped that his sister was still the oblivious family-oriented person that he knew, as that was the only version of her that would have let his plans go on. Any other sensible person would never let it go on, which is why he relied on manipulating her less savvy past self to allow his plans to go forward.
However, what Alex didn't know was that the 'oblivious' Victoria of the past was the one manipulating him to go forward with his plans, so she could eventually regain sole ownership of Macro Cosmos when it inevitably backfires. Even someone as 'stupid' as Victoria knew that unleashing a pokemon that can infinitely generate energy into the world was never a good idea.
There was a reason that the previous release of Eternatus from its seals was named the 'darkest day' and not the 'golden age', but this time she didn't know if the hero, which she theorized to be a pokemon, were still alive and ready or powerful enough to seal Eternatus again.
There was also a chance that the hero was an Aura Guardian of the past, which she only theorized because of the existence of the pokemon Spiritomb, which was a collection of 108 souls sealed into a keystone by previous Aura Guardians. It was part of the reason why she was training so hard, so she could minimize the damage Eternatus could cause in the event that the hero wasn't alive or powerful enough to seal it once more.
The instability and change that Victoria always manages to bring with her wherever she went was the main reason Alex wasn't as excited about his sister's return as his social media posts make out. She was a variable that he couldn't predict and one that could ruin his entire life with a few words, it was the worst thing that could have occurred when he was so close to the finish line.
He briefly wondered if God, who he now knew existed thanks to his sister, was punishing him by returning his sister. But, alas, he could do nothing about it now apart from hope and pray that it all worked out in the end.
- - - - - - - - - -
(Oleana POV)
I couldn't believe what was happening today, it was simply too improbable of a sequence of events in my eyes to have it possibly be real. Yet, the warmth I was feeling as Victoria held me in her arms while she slept feels too real for me to possibly imagine.
The tender and comforting way she wrapped her strong arm around me was too similar to what I felt the time I had requested to sleep in her bed after she rescued me from living on the streets in the past for me to even think of writing this situation off as a dream. As everything pointed towards today not being a fever dream caused by stress, I couldn't help but tear up.
It also helped me take my mind off of the fact that Victoria knew I kissed her as she 'slept', which I still couldn't believe I did. I trained to keep my emotions in check for what? 8 years? Yet I let my emotions overtake me as soon as she returned! I just wanted to crawl into a hole and die, but I didn't want to leave her arms, it was quite the conundrum I found myself in at the time, before choosing not to give up the rare opportunity of sleeping with Victoria in the end.
If I went back in time and told my past self that I was going to be 'sleeping with Victoria' they would undoubtedly have gotten the wrong idea, but I couldn't do that so I settled on telling Lusamine and Cynthia. Lusamine tried taunting me with that 'family picture' as the delusional Aether Foundation head called it, so it was only natural to have some revenge.
Unfortunately, Cynthia was just an innocent bystander due to me only having their group chat to communicate with the mother of two, as Lusamine had blocked my number years prior for something I still had no idea about. I had faith in Lusamine's curious attitude to unblock myself to see the picture after seeing Cynthia's inevitable reaction to it. I had to choose carefully between the kissing picture and a regular cuddling picture, before settling on the cuddling picture in fear of setting off the vindictive ticking time bomb known as Lusamine too much.
[Oleana uploaded Lovers.png]
[Oleana: Winning whose heart again? It couldn't be Victoria's, sweetie. xoxo]
It didn't take long for the Sinnoh champion to see the image and reply,
[Cynthia: How amusing, it appears the lost Litten managed to sneak its way into its owner's bed again. I'll have to tell Victoria about disciplining her pets, they seem to be getting too bold as of late. Naturally, as her future wife, such duties belong to me partially too; so behave yourselves, girls. Otherwise, I might have to hand out some punishments.]
I hated how much that message flipped my switch and turned me on, Victoria being in such close proximity to me didn't help with my current condition either. Cynthia may not be the woman I am in love with, but she is certainly a fine woman that I wouldn't mind being 'disciplined' by if my eyes weren't already firmly fixed on Victoria.
Cynthia was self-assured, confident, deceptively strong, and sexier than she had any right to be, all qualities I see in Victoria too. She is, without a single doubt in my mind, my toughest competition for the spot of Victoria's chosen one. Thankfully, I currently hold the advantage of knowing the information Victoria shared in Rose Tower.
Unfortunately, I also knew more than others as I had a private stream of the meetings. So, even when the big screen was cut off I had video of the meetings, meaning I knew that Victoria knew of our feelings and didn't want to make any moves for now in fear of hurting any of us. In fact, Victoria wasn't in the right mental state for a relationship at all currently from my observations. She obviously held some traumatic baggage from her time beyond the wormhole, something I want to support her through.
It also meant that I knew that Victoria wasn't a virgin anymore, which I'm sure would be heartbreaking for some of her admirers, but not for myself. She had lived for 26 years in a universe where she couldn't fight pokemon, it was a foregone conclusion that she would have explored her sexual urges eventually within those 26 years. It was a little disheartening, sure, but I couldn't bring myself to care about it in the face of other discoveries such as Victoria's other life.
Hearing my Rotom-Phone buzz once more I unlocked it, and read the next message. I couldn't help the cat-like grin forming on my face. Lusamine's palpable anger was something I cherished whenever I could.
[Lusamine: It appears as if the gutter Rattata is still overstaying her welcome at my darling's home. What a shame too, I had hoped after over a decade of being a burden to Victoria you would have grown up and stopped taking advantage of her kindness. Yet, it seemed as if I misplaced my hopes because you're still leeching off of my darling like a pathetic Eelektrik. Some of us are self-made successes, try to learn from your betters Oleana. xoxo]
The hypocrisy in her words was something not lost on me. She had only gained the head position due to Victoria buying shares in the Aether Foundation to support her promotion to that very same position. But, I didn't let the crazy woman's words get to me, it was nothing too dissimilar from the bark of a tiny Yamper.
[Oleana: Self-made? You seem to forget that your position as the head of your company was only obtained due to Victoria's intervention and kindness. Your delusions are showing again, sweetie, go and see a therapist. xoxo]
With that short reply that would surely get another paragraph response in return, I signaled for my Rotom-Phone to dock itself in the charging station on the nearby desk. I would let her stew in waiting for a response until the morning, which even then I wouldn't reply unless I cared enough to do so. Acknowledging Lusamine only to then ignore her replies is a treasured pastime of mine, it was a guaranteed way to annoy her and something I loved using on the blonde mother.
I released a yawn of sleepy contentedness, before leaning into Victoria's shoulder. I inhaled her scent subconsciously and found myself comforted at how she smelled the same as all those years ago, faint vanilla and peach combination was the closest thing I could compare the scent to.
'I missed this smell so much...'
No matter where I looked I could never find a scent similar to this in perfumes. It was a nostalgic scent that put me at ease and had my stress fade away. I had even commissioned a foreign Kalos perfume maker to make me bottles of the scent, but it was always a little bit off, though it was enough to put me at ease despite the imperfections in the product.
Wrapping my free arm around Victoria's torso, I pulled myself gently closer towards her so I wouldn't disturb her, and relaxed into her body. I had lost count of how many times I had fantasized about this exact scenario, and now that I got to experience it, it certainly didn't disappoint me. I melted into her touch as I floated off into a night of REM sleep.
Waking up the following day after the best night's rest I could ever recall having, I noticed the distinct lack of a person in bed next to me. My mind immediately began panicking at thinking that the worst had happened. However, before I could act on anything, I noticed that the bed on Victoria's side was still a little indented and warm. That instantly put my mind at ease, before looking around for any other indicators of Victoria's existence. My eye's landed on a note addressed to me on Victoria's bedside table, it read,
[Good morning, Oleana.
Before your mind starts giving you panic attacks regarding whether or not everything was a dream, I assure you that I am very real. I was just hungry and went off to the kitchen before you awoke. Sorry for not informing you beforehand, but you seemed to be peacefully sleeping, and I didn't want to disturb you. If I am not in the kitchen or the dining room, check the back garden and I will be there.
(PS. Kissing sleeping people could be considered a felony, but I'm not one to kiss and tell. Just try not to do it to any potential guests in the mansion, they might not be as happy with a prince charming- or rather -princess charming kissing them in their slumber as I was.)
The very real and alive person,
Victoria Rose.]
I had no idea how to react to the note, and my brain shut down after reading the second half of it. Should I be happy that she enjoyed the kiss? Did she just say she enjoyed it just so things wouldn't be as awkward if she never brought it up? I had no idea what to say, but I did know that I was super embarrassed right now. I buried my face into the duvet, and no matter what the house staff may say, I absolutely didn't squeal like a schoolgirl.
(A/N: The road trip isn't over yet, but our car got absolutely totaled on the highway by a drunk driver of a 16 wheeler. We all made it out safely, so that's a positive. But, anyway, I am currently in a nearby hotel waiting for things to get back on track, so I wrote this in the downtime.)
