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Fandom What is a Heart But a Compass? | Pokémon {MoggieMoof & HarpsichordVibes11}

MoggieMoof

MoggieMoof

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  1. One on One
Penelope didn't usually visit Hammerlocke–but she had a few errands to run today. One of the Pokemon Centers there had contacted her boss about having some donations for them, and so, Penelope had offered to retrieve them.

Technically this wasn’t part of her job description–hell, she wasn’t even working today–but she didn’t mind going on these “fetch quests,” as her brother so eloquently called them. Besides, Hammerlocke wasn’t very far from her home in Motostoke, especially not if she traveled through the wild area… Carnie could always use some time out there, anyway.

The trek to Hammerlocke wasn’t nearly as troublesome as she thought it would be, no, the difficult part was leaving the wild area. More specifically, getting Carnie to return to her poke ball. For about thirty minutes, Penelope sat on the steps that would lead her into the city, poke ball resting in her lap. Carnie was similarly sat across from her on the grass, challenging her with a slightly unsettling gaze.

Passersby who were familiar with Lycanroc of Carnie’s nature chuckled as they passed them by–finding the stand-off to be somewhat reminiscent of a mother and her unruly child refusing to return home. It had been a few months since Penelope had taken Carnie in, and during those months she found herself in this situation over and over again. There was only ever one solution: sit and wait. After a few minutes of Penelope receiving the dirtiest glares that she had ever received in her entire life, Carnie would always stand up, trudge her way over with a dramatic sigh, and return to her poke ball.

“Atta girl.” Penelope hummed softly, giving the ball a gentle tap with her thumb before tucking it away into her shoulder bag.

Upon finally arriving within the city, she paused to peer up at Hammerlocke Stadium. The sight of it made the hair along her arms prickle with unease–yeah, everything regarding Rose was kind of done and over with at this point, all of the loose ends were being tied, any remaining issues being tended to, but..

Penelope sighed, turning abruptly on her heel. No time to think about that, she had to pick up those donations! There were a few Pokemon Centers in Hammerlocke, but the one that she was headed to was the one that greeted you immediately upon arrival at the front entrance of town. As she went to enter, she paused with a realization–oh, she was kind of hungry, now that she thought about it. Staring contests with Carnie were no joke, and apparently she had worked up an appetite during that last one.

With an exhale through her nose, Penelope stepped away from the Pokemon Center’s entrance, instead wandering off down the street in hopes of finding… Well, a cafe of some sort–even just a simple food vendor, anything would do.

The first thing she came across was the former, a cozy cafe that smelled especially welcoming upon entry. A bell chimed gently above as she entered, alerting the employees to the arrival of another customer. It was certainly a cute little spot, thankfully it wasn’t too busy right now. Maybe she’d be able to grab something quick to eat and drink, and then she’d be on her way. She really didn’t want to end up wandering back home through the wild area in the dark with her arms full–a recipe for disaster right there.

After looking briefly over the menu, she ordered herself an iced dirty chai latte, and a simple sandwich. Maybe if those impressed her enough, she’d make it a habit to come out here–eh, then again, probably not. She didn’t have much business in Hammerlocke, anyway. Once she received her order, she found a table tucked off into one of the back corners. The small table was intended for two people, but it was mostly out of the way and private, so she decided to snag it.

Ignoring the soft chime that came from the door, and somehow missing the excitable murmurs that came from a few others that were seated closer to the front of the cafe, she hung her shoulder bag from the backrest of her chair. Her mind returned to her initial concerns–the donations–as she fished her Rotom phone out from her pocket to double, no, triple check the email that got forwarded to her regarding the donations. Not a particularly huge set of donations, but enough to offer her a bit of an arm workout while she delivered it to the rehabilitation care center… She sighed before taking a sip of her latte.
-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈​
It was safe to say that Leon had been completely swamped lately. He had always thought that his loss of the champion title would have been a bit sad, sure, but he knew it was coming eventually. Never in a million years would he have thought that his loss of the title would also come hand in hand with the second darkest day brought on by the (previous) chairman.

Although Leon had been there to aid in putting an end to it, he still held onto an incredible amount of guilt–how could he have not realized that something was amiss? Signs–were there any signs that he had missed? Could he have done something to avoid it all before it ever happened? Just, what if? It really didn’t help that his intentions and personal involvement with Rose had been questioned online within days of everything going down.

Obviously he had nothing to do with it–but conspiracies and theories regarding him and the gym leaders were to be expected. That didn’t make it any less difficult to deal with, though–sure, he knew what the truth was, but it was difficult to keep his head up when so many people questioned his self-proclaimed truths. Labeling him a liar among… Well, other things. Even with his innocence having been proven, that seemingly didn’t convince everyone.

What could he even do at this point?

Logically, nothing. Leon knew this to be true, but… It just didn’t feel good knowing that he couldn’t do anything to improve the situation anymore–it was all over. He couldn’t go back to change anything, it was well out of his capabilities to do so, it was impossible! Leon knows this, but he can’t bring himself to accept it in its entirety.

So, he does what any well-adjusted individual would do in such a situation: he throws himself into as much work as he can in hopes of fending off the guilt that’s been eating away at him ever since that day.

Okay, maybe he’s not the most well-adjusted individual, but he means well.

Since his participation with the legal side of things died down, Leon's free time grew a bit extensive. Well, honestly not that extensive, he still had a job to do–teach Gloria the ins and outs of being champion, and all of the responsibilities that came with it. Passing on the mantle was bittersweet, but it was heartwarming all the same with knowing that Galar's new champion was one of the trainers that he had endorsed. She definitely has a whole lot to offer as champion, and he's more than happy to show her the ropes…

But, when he's not busy with that, he tends to wallow a bit. Guilt is a strong emotion, believe it or not. Leon wasn't sure if he had ever felt such strong guilt in his life. Someone had suggested that he take a break, maybe spend a few days back at home with his brother and parents–he couldn't, though. Leon could hardly look Gloria in the eyes without feeling that hollowness eating away at him, how could he go home to his own brother and not feel the same? Perhaps even worse?

Leon easily brushed the suggestions of taking a break aside–he had work to do! If not with helping Gloria, then with the Battle Tower, seeing as it was his now, and therefore his responsibility.

Today, he was busy with the latter–currently, he was speaking to the booking staff regarding a few upcoming battles that specifically required his attendance–tier advancement battles, of course. They were always fun to partake in, whether the battles are particularly challenging or not doesn’t disregard the entertainment factor within them. That and, well, they’re a solid distraction!

Supposedly his behavior had brought up a fair amount of concerns among his peers–so severe, in fact, Melony came to visit, to speak to him personally about a week ago. She had definitely given him an earful, which was oddly frightening despite the calm way she went about it. Of course he took what she had to say into consideration, but… It would take a little bit more than that to really drive it home with him. Stubborn, this guy.

His gaze drifted elsewhere as the conversation began to draw to a close, a steady sigh being pulled from his chest–admittedly coming from a place of exhaustion. When the staff member that had brought him the schedule proposition bid him farewell, his usual cheery grin returned to his face. “Of course–yeah! See you around.”

And then another sigh once they had left him to his own devices. Leon wasn’t a mean guy, no, he had absolutely nothing against them–he was just tired. His attention shifted again, eyeing the entry-way when a familiar individual walked inside. Leon squinted, tilted his head–was that Griz?
 

Life lately had been ... not terrible.

Or, well, he acknowledged that that was an understatement that in actuality meant 'bad, but not disastrously so', and the only reason he considered it to not be disastrously so was because they had come out the other side of things alive and 'the winners', so to speak. But then, he was a Galarian, born and bred; understatements were rather their bread and butter, even when things were going wrong. Perhaps especially when they were going wrong. And perhaps it was something of a necessity right now, because when it came to the problems with which Raihan had to contend, he could barely keep track of them all.

First and foremost, of course, was the aftermath of their former Chairman's rather brave new idea. And by 'brave new idea', Raihan of course meant 'the absolute peak of selfishly greedy idiocy'. Feeding Wishing Stars (or their energy? Raihan didn't remember the full specifics) to a Legendary Pokémon with the intention of using said Legendary as fuel for energy... Madness, it was, the sort of thing that left Raihan's blood absolutely boiling.

And that was no understatement.

Something else that left his blood boiling was the way Rose had attempted to pin the situation on Leon with his 'polite' (read: manipulative) interruption that had put a stop to what should have been Gloria and Leon's Championship match.

(It was so strange that Leon was no longer their Champion, and that Raihan hadn't been the one to dethrone him... But Gloria was doing well, and he had bigger fish to fry when it came to Leon than his title or lack thereof. But hopefully, with Griz back in Galar for the first time in literal years, she might be able to pull off what both Raihan and Sonia had failed...)

He remembered the panic, the fear. Flying on his Flygon at top speed back to Hammerlocke, only to find himself horrified at that which was in the skies above his very Stadium.

And in the end, Leon hadn't been able to save the day. No, he'd been hurt, hurt by the blast of a Poké Ball bursting open (and for all the people mocking him for it online, Leon was expecting a Championship match and that's it — what the fuck would he have needed any Ultra Balls for? It wasn't like he had time for a jolly stop at a shop on the way either; with Leon's propensity for getting ridiculously lost, they should be thankful that he hadn't bothered trying!) because he'd had his Charizard shield Gloria and Hop (the right thing to do, infuriatingly noble, and yet).

(There were damages, too, but at least the repairwork was more or less done by now, just finishing things up and final checks and...)

The madman Raihan called his best friend had needed to be fiercely cajoled into staying at the hospital for a few days to recover, and he hadn't been able to be contained any longer than strictly necessary, either. Battle-obsessed fool, Leon was, though Raihan acknowledged that he was no better.

Of course, social media being what it was, there had been conspiracy theories. Some blamed Leon, accusing him of being involved; others pointed the finger at Raihan, questioning how he hadn't noticed all the scheming under his own damn Stadium.

And that, Raihan thought, was the worst bit. He had failed in his duties. Rose had orchestrated that failure, as had been hashed out time and again during the trials and investigations. Keep the Leaders busy with the media, with events, with photo shoots and exhibition matches and half a dozen other obligations they could barely fit in, add in media pressure more intense than in other regions, all to keep them out of Rose's path as he schemed and plotted and nearly brought their region to ruin.

Raihan needed a break.

And for him, breaks meant sweets. Coffee or tea depending on his mood (coffee today, he needed the energy boost), some sort of pastry (or two, he felt like two today), and a chance to maybe look at cute pictures of baby dragons or something. That might help his mood a bit so that he'd be more or less ready to go for the next thing to handle (because there was always something else, they were making excellent progress but they sure weren't in the clear yet).

He left his beloved Gym, strolling to one of his favourite cafés. There were many upsides to going to Hot Shots Café: it was reasonably close to the Stadium, they had a strict no-media policy (which meant zero concerns about paparazzi), their offerings were always delicious...

The one down side was that it could get pretty busy, and sometimes he ended up having to share a table with someone. Normally, he didn't mind at all, and in fact loved chatting with people whether or not they were fans of his; today, he just had to hope he wouldn't end up sitting with someone who blamed him still despite the evidence submitted and the fact that he'd been declared decidedly not guilty (and, in fact, a victim of Rose's manipulations, same as the others in the League).

He ordered a large mocha (with extra chocolate shavings), as well as a grilled turkey-and-cheese sandwich, a caramel fudge brownie, and an apple cinnamon muffin. Sustenance (of a sort, he had had a proper breakfast, but sometimes you just needed a pick-me-up) acquired, he scanned the surroundings to see where he might sit. It was pretty busy, but all the same...

Well, that woman looked friendly enough. And oddly familiar...

The Gym Leader (sometimes giving a smile or nod if someone else caught his gaze) strode over to her. Drink in one hand and little bag with his treats in the other, he offered her his usual crooked grin.

"Hey, mind if we share the table? It's pretty busy here, so—

Wait. Wait, is— is that you, Peni?"

Raihan could barely believe it. What were the odds?
​
✺✳ ══ ✧ ══ ✳✺​

It had been many years since she had been in Galar. In some ways, coming back was like stepping into a whole new region, and not just because everything had a bit of a different feel in the aftermath of Rose's failed scheme.

Of course, she wasn't here for any reason pertaining to her love of travel or desire to experience new and wonderful things.

She was here for one reason only: for Leon.

Sonia had reached out to her not long ago, saying that Leon had been absorbing himself in his work (in his guilt, probably) and that neither she nor Raihan had been able to get through to him. Raihan had actually insisted on paying for her flight to Galar, and Sonia had even gone so far as to ask Melony (the new Chairman) to meet Griz at Wyndon's train station and point her to wherever Leon might be when she had arrived.

And with them being that worried, how could she not worry?

Leon was someone near and dear to her, for more reasons than one. They'd been friends for years at this point; whether it was training together at the Master Dojo, or facing one another for the title, or texting and calling each other once she'd left Galar... Theirs was a bond that wasn't easily broken. Under normal circumstances, she would be thrilled by the prospect of seeing him again, but given why Sonia and Raihan had reached out to her...

She couldn't even begin to imagine what he must be dealing with. She'd mostly stayed off social media since ending her Galarian Gym Challenge, occasionally reappearing to share something a friend had posted only to vanish again. She'd spent the train ride to Wyndon (her ship had docked at Hulbury, of course) scanning social media, to get a better understanding of what she'd be dealing with.

(She was worried about Raihan too, now, but she had to trust that Sonia was being honest when she said that he at least was better off than Leon by a long shot)

So, she'd come, leaving Sinnoh and returning to her home region. She still thought of it as a home, despite how long she had been away.

It had been nice, seeing Melony again. Griz remembered battling her back during her Gym Challenge, remembered how thrilled she had been to get past such a powerful Trainer not only during her Gym Challenge but also during the Finals on her way to Leon. The two had briefly chatted, but before long, Griz was being pointed in the direction of the Battle Tower.

Ah, the Battle Tower, Leon's pet project (of sorts). It once had been Rose Tower, but now it was Leon's, and he had turned it into a place where Trainers could come and battle. It was very Leon.

And also worrying.

Now, Wyndon had never been her favourite place, and it wasn't just because Griz was from the smallest and most remote settlement in all of Galar. She just enjoyed being out in nature, listening to the sounds of nature and wild Pokémon, no media and no rumours and no nothing. It was grounding, getting in touch with (and she acknowledged she might be getting cheesy, but) life itself, in a way.

She had a feeling that might help Leon, too, getting away from the bustle and the roaming eyes that might be judging him, the media and the interviews and...

The question, of course, was in how to get him to agree. The man was notoriously stubborn, and if he'd turned down both Raihan and Sonia, then Griz was going to need a top-tier plan if she had any hopes of breaking through to him.

But well, she always had been something of a strategist in battle, playing with inventive new techniques that she'd practiced and developed on her own. She might not've broken past Leon's Charizard, but she could be Leon's equal in stubborn scheming, and she had a feeling his Charizard might just be at the point where he might help her force Leon into taking a break.

So, she took a breath to steady herself, and then boldly marched right into the Battle Tower. She made a Combee-line straight for the front desk.

Leon.

Well, that made her job easier. Burning determination gave way to genuine relief (it was good to see him, truly, and at least he wasn't in quite as bad shape as she had feared, though he still didn't look great...minus the outfit, because holy smokes he looked good in that, but she wasn't here to compliment his new look).

But then that burning determination came back, because Griz knew well that this would be a bit of a fight. Leon was stubborn; when he put his mind to something, it was very difficult (in some cases, impossible) to sway him. So, as far as she was concerned, she had to come out swinging or he'd just manage to out-stubborn her in the long-run. And if that meant tugging at his heartstrings a little, she'd do it, because the priority was getting the man to take a damn break.

"Leon! I'd say it's nice to see you again, except you look like a dead man walking. Now I'm worried. Join me for lunch? My treat. We can catch up."

She fully expected Leon's sense of chivalry to jump in and insist that he pay, but she was counting on that instinct overriding the refusal she otherwise expected of him. That was also why she hadn't mentioned that she was here at the behest of Sonia and Raihan; she could bring that up later if she needed a hammer to cajole him into joining her for a more extended break (she just needed her foot in the door, then she could tug him the rest of the way no matter how much he protested), but 'come out swinging' did not mean 'use all of your cards in one go'. Against Leon, that was a surefire way to lose; she had to space things out, wear him down bit by bit.
​
 
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Towels, blankets, toys, apparently some medical supplies too, according to the email. Penelope furrowed her brows as she toyed with the straw from her iced latte–yeah, she’d probably be able to haul it all. She had a few tote bags rolled up and neatly packed into the bottom of her shoulder bag, so she’d probably be–

The voice that came from her right was entirely unmistakable to anybody who knew anything about Galar right now, especially if they were active on social media, like, at all. Penelope didn’t have much of a following herself, but she did run a few social media accounts for the Rehabilitation Care Center. Hey, it was good for pulling in donations and piquing the interest of possible foster families or forever homes!

Anyway.

She had recognized Raihan from his voice first–it was hard not to recognize. Offering him a sheepish, small smile in return of his own grin, she lifted her chin to look at him completely.

“That depends, how embarrassed would you be if I said no?” Despite the playful question, her voice was dripping with uncertainty. “It’s been a while, huh?”

With her foot, she pushed the seat across from her back from the table, signifying that, yes, he was free to sit down. Her eyes then drifted to look up at him again, her smile going lopsided and almost questionable–but still friendly.

It had been a long while since she had seen him in person. Penelope didn’t attend any events at the gyms–she didn’t even get tickets to watch the most recent Champion Cup, or many of the ones prior. One: expensive, and two: she just wasn’t too enthralled by it. It was a good thing that she hadn’t gone this year, anyway, with everything that had happened. Her brother had gone and sent her pictures though, of course… Either way, it had been years since she had gone to watch anything, and in addition, it had been years since she had seen Raihan–in anything that wasn’t social media posts and the like, that is.

How did he even recognize her anyway? For a moment, her gaze shifted from him, down to her reflection in the glass of her Rotom Phone. She quirked a brow at her own reflection, as if to ask, any ideas? The expression was gone within seconds though, as she returned her attention to him once again.

Her eyes skated down his form to his shoes, and then up again to his eyes–tall. Yeah, she knew he was tall, his height was a common point of attraction for many of his fans–among other things–but he was way taller in real life. It was almost intimidating how tall this guy was.

“I’m… Surprised you recognized me, actually. I mean, it’s been a… It’s been a minute.” Penelope pulled her latte closer to her side of the table, as well as her bagged sandwich, while she spoke.

Maybe he still spoke to Micah? It would make a bit more sense, in that case–she and Micah looked pretty similar, siblings and all. That was the most probable reason.

The prickle along her arms came back again, that same feeling that she got when she saw the Hammerlocke stadium just a few minutes ago. Unease. She smoothed her hands over her arms and tugged at her sleeves to soothe the sensation–now wasn’t really the time to get into that.

It would be nice to just sit and talk to him rather than pry into his business. She had already done her digging into Micah, considering the fact that he was a whole lot closer to the people that may or may not have been involved with what happened, why should she start poking and prodding at Raihan, too? The media had already done that enough–to him and Leon…

The situation just stung her, prickled at her heart in a way that she couldn’t reasonably describe. Her empathy for pokemon seemed to be unable to surpass any boundaries, so her heart hurt for Eternatus the most, of all those who were involved. It was unbelievably cruel what would have happened to that pokemon if Rose’s plans had succeeded… So, she couldn’t help but have her suspicions.

Which made her feel even worse. Now that she was sitting here with Raihan, she could recall the familiarity of him when they were kids. When they were friends, close friends. Leon, too–they were good kids. Surely that meant that they were still good people now, right? Probably. Hopefully.

Leon got hurt that day, so he must be a good person, she reminded herself. Penelope’s eyes lifted to Raihan again–he was a victim, too.

Damn.

Penelope cleared her throat to return her focus to, hopefully, friendly chatter. “Sit down before I offer up my extra chair to someone else, would you?”
-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈​
Leon hardly had a moment to process Griz’s sudden appearance, or her words–because he didn’t even get the chance to say hello–she was like a woman on a mission, or something!

For a moment he stood there, generally in shock, blinking owlishly. His hand was halfway lifted to where he wanted it to be held up in a friendly wave, but instead he had gone limp at the wrist with one of his fingers pointed at her. “You… Griz, you’re here–what are you doing here?”

He gave her an owlish blink, his hand slowly lowering to rest at his side. Did she tell him that she was going to be visiting? No, he never received any sort of warning for her arrival. Surely he would have heard about this before her appearance, right? They still talked, they were still friends, she wouldn’t just… Not tell him. Unless this was a planned surprise, kind of thing? Surprise for what, though? It wasn’t even his birthday, or anyone else’s, as far as he could recall–

His thought process was interrupted when he briefly mulled over her words again–dead man walking, surely he didn’t look that bad? His reflection in the mirror today didn’t look that awful–

“I–I, well–you’re the guest, here. I should be paying for you–”

What was even happening right now? He glanced over his shoulder at the booking staff member that seemed to be sorting out the times and schedules that they had just been speaking of. Technically, he didn’t have any other business to take care of here today, but what if something ended up needing his immediate attention? Well, reasonably, they’d just give him a call...

“You want me to join you for lunch right this instant?” Leon asked slowly as he returned his attention to her–the poor guy was downright confused. For a moment he simply observed her, his uncertainty clear within his gaze and body language alone, but then he realized that his question may have come off a bit rude. “Not that I’m not happy to see you–I am! It’s just… Shocking to see you here, that’s all. I didn’t expect you to be visiting–why didn’t you tell me?”

If Leon had a moment to think more about the circumstance, perhaps he could have put the pieces together. Everyone had been fussing over him in attempts to convince him to take a break, and suddenly Griz appears, suggesting that they catch up over lunch… Without having told him about her traveling here prior. Suspicious–to anyone that wasn’t currently having their nobility challenged by the idea of someone else paying for their lunch.

“When did you get here?” Another question. Could you blame him, though?

After taking a quick glance around the lobby of the Battle Tower, he came to the conclusion that… Maybe lunch would be nice. Well, it would probably be better for them to catch up over food rather than in the lobby where anyone could hear and possibly interrupt, right? Besides, lunch sounded good right now–he had a small and quick breakfast today, so he was feeling a bit starved. That, and, it would be nicer to bombard her with questions regarding her arrival elsewhere.

“Ah, let’s scratch that, okay? You can answer those questions once we’ve decided on a place to eat.”

Suppressing the confusion and perhaps even a bit of suspicion regarding her appearance, he offered her a smile. One of his genuine, bright and friendly smiles. All questions and general uncertainty being set aside, it was good to see her–it had been a while. Leon was glad that they kept in touch after they left, but text messages and phone calls were different from seeing someone in person

…And, to tell the truth, he had missed her! Her departure from Galar had been a bit shocking to him, Raihan too, but he was simply happy for her as long as she was happy. That’s what mattered most, of course. It was her life, and she was free to go about it as she deemed fit. As long as she felt fulfilled with her decisions, then he would be more than happy to support her–so he did. He supported her actions from the moment that she made them when they were kids, and he still supported them now. Even if he did miss her quite a bit.

He was just happy to see her now.

So, with one of his famous smiles carved into his features, he gave a slightly over-dramatic, courteous gesture towards the Battle Tower’s doors. The dramatics were well-within his nature, and it was kind of nice to just be playful after he had spent so much time burying himself in any work he could find. “After you?”
 

An amazed laugh escaped him. Damn, it really was Peni!

What were the odds? Out of all of the people in the establishment, of all of the people who could've come here to eat, it was an old friend of his...

(A part of him, admittedly, felt a little guilty that they had drifted. Sure, they were both busy, but all the same... Friendships were important, and he though that he should've fought harder to cling to this one.)

Her comment just made him laugh more, shaking his head.

"A while indeed!"

Life had gotten busy. That was no excuse; it was simply the reality of it. Life had gotten busy, for the both of them, in different ways.

Raihan had been picked up as the Apprentice to Elis, the Vault Guardian before him and the one who had trained in, when he had been 8. He'd befriended a wild Trapinch that got abandoned by their Trainer, and Elis had been impressed. That Trapinch, of course, had been his first partner and was now his strongest Flygon; the one he used for his exhibition matches, his matches against Leon, tournaments near and far whenever he competed. Ghalib loved the rush of competing as much as Raihan did, which was good; it made them all the stronger a pair on the battlefield, even when Raihan wasn't having one of his beloved double battles.

(Still, though they had won many victories together over the years, they still had yet to beat Leon. Raihan clung to his dream, determined to live up to that goal of his. Nothing less would do as proper thanks for Ghalib standing by Raihan for all these years)

From there, he'd deepened his studies. At the age of 10, he'd taken on the Gym Challenge, and had very nearly made it to the end. He'd lost to Leon, in the Semifinals, and everybody knew how that story had gone. Leon became their next Champion, and Raihan came back time and again to try to dethrone him (but could never succeed).

One day, he promised himself. One day, he would crack the code and beat Leon. It wasn't about the Champion title, it was about proving himself as a Trainer and showing to every young kid or discouraged Trainer that any challenge could be overcome if you gave it your all and worked hard enough.

Of course, Vault Guardian training had continued. What's more, his performance in the Champion Cup had so impressed the former Dragon Leader (Adelaide) that she had elected to take him on as her apprentice and successor. Raihan juggled it all, happy to have so many things keeping him busy. He studied, he trained, he faced Leon, he became Gym Leader and Vault Guardian and...

Life had been busy.

Her surprise at his recognizing her was met with a chuckle and a somewhat bashful shrug.

"Is it? Well, I guess the Vault Guardian training's helped me get better at remember faces and names. Gym Leader stuff, too, meeting fans. They always get so excited if I recognize them from an earlier greet or event."

Being Vault Guardian wasn't just about the treasures, after all. It was also about the dragons in the catacombs, guarding Hammerlocke. It was also about the historical records they penned. Heck, right now, he was devoting no small amount of time and effort to the edition in the Exceptional Collection that would tell the tale of the Second Darkest Day. It would be taught in history classes, the curriculum based at least in part on the account described in the Exceptional Collection account that Raihan would pen. That was how important the work of a Vault Guardian in recording history truly was.

One day, some future Vault Guardian will be reading my account and wondering what it must've been like for me to live through it...

Ah, but now wasn't the time to lose himself to his thoughts. At her prompting, he grinned and took his seat opposite her. In short order, he had laid out his food and drink. He took a grateful sip of his mocha, sighing with relief and sinking into his seat. For a moment, he shut his eyes. Everything had been so hectic and so busy ever since Rose had pulled his idiotic stunt, and even with things sort of slowing down, there was still so much to do...

Lucky, then, that he had the fortune of running into an old friend. That was the sort of thing that he thought did wonders for the spirit.

Opening his eyes as she spoke again, Raihan asked, "what've you got there? And how've you been?

I mean, I know you're doing rehabilitation work. My contacts over at DNS have plenty of good things to say about you and the work you've been doing. Not that I'm surprised."

By DNS, Raihan mean Dragon's Nest Sanctuary. They were a rehabilitation group that focused specifically on dragons; Raihan was an active volunteer with them, primarily through funding and social media promotion, but if he had the time (or if he was called in to help with a particularly challenging case) he would actively give advice or otherwise help out however he could.

It had been busy; he hadn't been able to do any active volunteering in ages, far too busy helping Galar recover and all that, but he was still in touch with his contacts there. And even before Rose's shenanigans, they'd been full of praise for Peni and the work she did. It had filled him with pride whenever he heard it. Sure, they may have drifted somewhat as they had grown all the more busy over the years, but Raihan would never not be thankful to have had her as a friend.

And hey, maybe if he got lucky, that old friendship might come back. Maybe they could keep in touch better this time. It sounded great to him.

(And it wasn't just because he felt like he could really use another friend in the aftermath of all this chaos and strife. Sure, that was a part of it, but...could he really be blamed for wanting to reconnect with someone who had been so important to him?)
​
✺✳ ══ ✧ ══ ✳✺​

Oh, good, his chivalry was kicking in (along with his shock) and keeping him from reaching the obvious answers. Excellent!

As he sputtered and asked question after question, Griz merely grinned. She had her hands pocketed, stance casual as she let him get it out of his system. Determination still blazed in her gaze, of course, she was here for a purpose and had no intention of letting him get the better of her.

She'd only responded by nodding firmly in response to his question about if she really wanted them to go get lunch right then; for good measure, she quirked an eyebrow. The expression on her face was lowkey asking 'What, are you not happy to see me?' She wasn't outright accusing him of it, but she was (hopefully) putting the idea into his head so that his chivalrous nature helped get him out of this tower and into a building with actual good food.

(And she would be the one picking where they went. Leon's taste could be questionable; more often than not, he'd pick whatever was fastest, which was the exact opposite of what she needed)

Luckily, it seemed to work. Some things, she supposed, never changed.

"Any other questions? I feel like I've become a teacher all of a sudden," she teased.

A few giggles escaped her at his dramatic gesture, and she was unable to resist giving him a playful bow in return.

"My, what a gentleman! Let's go, then. You might insist on paying, but I insist on picking where we go. In fact, I've got just the place in mind!"

She'd done her research on the matter yesterday. Knead A Pizza This! was a pizzeria that had actually been around since well before she'd taken her Gym Challenge, and it was well-known and well-loved for three things:

First, delicious pizzas that were cooked to order;

Second, a plethora of delicious appetizers that were cooked to order;

Three, excellent desserts, also cooked to order.

(Their prices were also perfectly reasonable; first-time customers often marvelled at how amazing the quality of the food was, considering it parallel with fine-dining establishments and yet far more reasonably priced. She'd taken that into consideration too, to make sure it didn't seem like she was trying to take advantage of him or anything)

Needless to say, if there was any restaurant that would help her keep Leon away from work for a couple hours, it would be a place like this.

(They had actually come here for a meal after her Champion Cup challenge, just before she'd admitted that she'd be setting off for Kalos soon. Maybe the nostalgia might help her a bit, too)

Oh, yeah, and did she mention that she'd booked a reservation yesterday? Because she had.

(Her determination to get him out the door as quickly as possible had been in part motivated by this)

She didn't look back at Leon; when the hostess got to them, Griz (who, it had to be said, was smiling widely and looking maybe a bit too happy, but that was fine because she was absolutely sure Leon wasn't going anywhere any time soon) only cheerfully answering, "oh, we've actually got a reservation! Table for two under 'Grizel'."

That cheerful smile of hers didn't go anywhere, even as they were brought back to their room. Sure, Leon knew by now that this was planned; he was sharp enough to put two and two together by now, but he was also polite enough to see things through (and, she hoped, he still trusted her at least a little...). A private room, because Raihan had told her that Leon had developed a bit of a Thing about his Image for the cameras and how people perceived him, and so she thought that putting them in one of the private rooms would be her best bet at helping him step back. No cameras, no media, and no onlookers watching him. It was just the two of them.

The pair were seated, menus given and water poured into their glasses. Then, they were left to scan the menu in peace.

Well, first, she set it down and gave the former Champion a smaller and more genuine smile.

"So, you've probably figured out by now that I'm here specifically for you and that there's a 'plot' of sorts afoot. Hmm, maybe that was a bad choice in word given recent bullshit. It's nothing nefarious, I promise.

Raihan and Sonia reached out to me, at their wits' end because you're apparently pretty set on working yourself to death or something. They asked me to come and see if I could drag you away for a couple hours, give you something resembling a break and maybe try to see what's going on in your head. Raihan actually paid for my flight here, and he insisted on sticking me in first class despite me telling him that economy class was perfectly fine. That's how worried they are about you.

That's also why I didn't tell you. It might be years since we've spoken in person, but I know you. We trained together at the Dojo too long for me to not know you, even now. You're stubborn as fuck, and if Raihan and Sonia couldn't get through to you, I knew I had to take advantage of everything I could if I was gonna make it work. Element of surprise, trying to pay so your chivalry would focus your mind on that and not on insisting I answer your questions first, bringing you specifically to this place...

Oh, and I got here early yesterday. Took a nap to cope with the jetlag, did my research on what's been going on and shit, and now here I am!

I think I've gotten all of your questions so far, so now can you answer one of mine?

Promise me you'll stay for lunch?"

It was a simple question. Technically, he could leave; he could cite his work, pay her tab, and fuck back off to his tower. She just wanted him to indulge her wish, spend a lunch with her. If he stayed for lunch, maybe she could talk him into taking a longer break with her after, try to get to the bottom of what was going on in his head.

But she had to start simple, remind him of how good it was to relax and unwind and not stress.

"I really have missed you, you know? Raihan and Sonia might've begged me to come, but...hearing about how you've been, how could I stay away when one of my oldest, bestest friends seems like he needs me?"
​
 
Vault Guardian training–yeah, that made sense. Suppose something like that would sharpen up his memory, and the whole fanbase thing. Even so, it still boggled her mind.

“Mm, suppose all of that would manage to strengthen your memory.” Penelope noted quietly, the comment being made more to herself than to him.

She watched as he settled into his seat, although she averted her gaze once he was seated, opting to swirl her iced latte using her straw once again. Habit–maybe in this moment, a nervous tic. In opposition to her buzzing nerves, she noted that he definitely seemed relaxed. As she brought her straw to her lips to take a sip of her cold drink, she couldn't help but just… Observe him.

It had been so long, and the only other time she ever saw him was through the media. It was different, seeing him here, right in front of her.

Weird.

She averted her gaze down to the tabletop instead. Now was probably a good time to eat her lunch, if any–it was just a simple BLT, and she didn't want the sandwich to lose its crisp crunch from just letting it sit there.

“Just an iced chai–with an espresso shot in it, though, I think I'm going to need it–oh, and a BLT.” She gave a simple shrug of her shoulders as she gingerly pulled the sandwich from the bag it had been tucked away in.

Chances are, she would have stopped and kept quiet from there–conversation wasn't necessarily her strong suit, as she'd much sooner find herself floundering helplessly rather than pulling off a properly conducted chat… But! Raihan just so happened to ask the right questions, and say the right things to keep her talking.

Of course she knew of the DNS, most organizations that did rehabilitation work with pokemon were in contact with one another–but she was a bit surprised to hear that they had ever sung their praises about her. She had done a bit of volunteer work there when she was younger–she did volunteer work all over Galar, really–and she had considering applying there once she finished school, but that's when her current work opened its doors. Penelope likes to think that it was a fated opportunity; Motostoke Riverbank Rehabilitation Care opened up almost as soon as she was available to officially take on work. So close to home, it was kind of perfect. Well, it was entirely perfect! Still is.

“Really? They speak highly of me?” She pursed her lips at his following statement–his compliment, and she kicked his shoe. “Oh, whatever.”

It was difficult to suppress the smile that the simple compliment brought to her face. She knew that she was good at her job, she didn't have to be told. She was passionate and she had more than enough dedication–still, it was nice to hear that others believed her to be good at what she did.

“Oh, uh–yeah, I've been pretty good. Keeping myself busy with work–few months ago, I felt that I wasn't busy enough, so I took on one of our particularly troubled surrenders. Ah, but anyway, technically that's why I'm here. Work, I mean. It's my day off, but I'm here to grab some donations and bring them back. Couldn't do that without grabbing a bite first, though… Came through the wild area, so, I'm hoping to head back before dark. Would make things a lot easier for me.”

Sandwich forgotten yet again, she rested her elbow on the table in order to place her chin into her palm. “Well, what about you… Rai? How have you been lately? Um, all things considered–I mean, you don’t have to tell me any of the nitty-gritty stuff, I’d understand.”

The nickname had been spoken with some hesitance. She did a coin flip in her own mind, wondering if that would fly with him–well, he called her Peni, so, surely it would be fine.

Now, assuming that it was his turn to speak and her turn to listen, she finally took a bite out of her sandwich. Her eyes shifted to look at the employees for a moment as they busied themselves with divvying up all of the orders coming through, and she hummed with consideration. Well, the iced latte was good, and so was the sandwich! Maybe she’d consider popping back in here the next time she came back.
-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈​
Leon supposed that it was only fair that she chose where they ate–he probably would've offered the decision up to her, anyway. She wasn't here very often, so he'd want to give her the choice of picking a place, as she didn't get the chance to visit the restaurants here as frequently as he did.

The pizza-centric restaurant that she had chosen was a good one–he hadn't gone there very recently, but he could recall that this was the very place where Griz broke the news of her departure from Galar. In all honesty, he had felt a bit bitter regarding the cozy joint for a little while after. Nothing against the food or the owners, it just made him feel a bit sad. It had been years, though, so he had since gotten over the feeling. That, and he was a grown man now, so he could work up the courage to spend some time in there for a little while.

Upon arrival, his demeanor visibly deflated ever so slightly–it looked busy. They'd probably have to wait a little while before–

“Huh?”

How could she have a reservation if she–oh. Leon was beginning to put two and two together, now.

Even so, he didn't say a word about it quite yet. Griz even booked them a private room–he held back the urge to laugh at just how obvious it all was now. As they got themselves seated and situated within the private room, Leon wondered who could have put her up to this. A few names came to mind–Raihan, Sonia, maybe even Melony.

With a polite thank you to their waiter, he opened up his menu and glued his eyes to the first thing on the page: appetizers that he didn’t care much to actually read about quite yet. A small frown tugged at the corners of his lips before he lifted his gaze to look at her, raising a brow questionably in order to prompt her to give him an explanation of sorts without actually asking her.

Thankfully, she seemed to take the hint.

When she began to explain, he closed up his menu so that he could give her his undivided attention. The frown on his face remained–but he couldn’t really get upset. Leon wasn’t the type of person to get overly angry or frustrated over these things, anyway–especially not when it was something like this. Griz being here was just the product of his friends being concerned about his well-being… Why would he get upset at his friends for just being good friends?

Still, he couldn’t help but sigh as her explanation came to a close. He offered her a tilt of his head when prompted about a question, and once he heard it, he couldn’t help but smile ever so slightly. “Yes, I promise you that I’ll stay for lunch.”

He found himself kind of at a loss for words, now. That was a lot–but he had started to expect a story like that, so he wasn’t necessarily shocked… And now she was getting all sappy, so now he really couldn’t be mad.

“You are such a sap–were you like this when you left? I can’t remember.” Leon lifted his elbow to the edge of the table for a moment, resting his forehead in his palm as he chuckled to himself. It was a watery, soft laugh–a happy one, all things considered. “You’re all just a lot of worry warts, huh? I-I’m… I’m not that bad, really, I just like to keep busy. I’m not used to not being busy, so I… I’m just trying to spend my time being productive.”

Leon was nothing if not stubborn, though. Stubborn and now he felt bad–somehow even worse than before–knowing that his friends had gone to such lengths for him. He wasn’t even doing that bad, he didn’t need a very long break–lunch would do just fine.

“I’ve been helping Gloria get settled in, you know–I think she’s going to do a really good job, and… Have you heard about what Hop’s up to? He’s working with Sonia now as her assistant; I’ve been meaning to head home eventually to visit him and see how he’s doing, I just haven’t had the time yet–”

And now he was rambling and making feeble attempts at shifting her attention onto other things that didn’t directly involve him in a way that would be concerning.
 

Iced chai with an espresso shot, and then a BLT. Not even bad. He'd had both from here before, albeit not together, and Raihan was confident that they were delicious. Everything here was.

"Neat! I've got my usual mocha, then a grilled turkey-and-cheese, a caramel fudge brownie, and an apple cinnamon muffin."

Some things had changed about the man over the years. He had learnt something of pride and humility, of perseverance no matter how many times he failed, of wisdom and what it truly meant to be a Gym Leader. He wasn't the same person he had been as a kid, and he liked to think that the person he was now was better than the perhaps too idealistic kid he had been.

But some things, he thought, would never change. Top of the list, of course, was his sweet tooth. He could be in his nineties, sitting in a rocking chair, and he'd still be delighting in whatever sweet treats he'd be able to enjoy at that age.

But, ah, that surprise on her face. He quirked an eyebrow and chuckled a bit, as though to say 'What, is it really that surprising?' He wasn't surprised at all; she'd always been eager to volunteer, which showed she had passion; that passion clearly hadn't faded, and her skills in rehabilitation work only continued to grow.

"There's no 'whatever' about it, of course they do! You work hard, you're passionate, and you don't just do the work. You do it well. All those Pokémon you work with are lucky to have you around to help."

Sometimes, Raihan wondered what his future might've looked like if he hadn't gone down this path. But that was a sad thought he didn't like dwelling on, because no Vault Guardian meant no Gym Challenge (not that year, at least), and that meant no rivalry / friendship with Leon. And that, he thought, would be an absolute travesty. Leon was practically his brother, all things said and done; they knew each other, they looked out for one another, they poked fun and pushed one another to be the absolute best version of themselves they could be. Raihan didn't know what kind of person he'd be without Leon around, but he was pretty damn sure it'd be a worse kind of person than he was now.

Even with having to deal with the fallout of Rose and his absolute idiocy, Raihan truly wouldn't trade his bond with Leon for anything in the world.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a name he hadn't heard from Peni in a very long time. Rai. Surprise was clear in every bit of his expression; a second later, he was grinning, turquoise gaze shining bright.

Clearly, he had no objections to this.

If anything, it made him feel almost nostalgic. It was like this was another thing that hadn't changed, and maybe also a sign that their friendship was something they truly could reclaim and keep a hold of this time. The thought made him happy.

What did not make him happy was the thought of how things had been going with him.

He groaned, slumping in his seat and taking a large bite of his own sandwich. Then a swig of his mocha. He almost looked like a different man; not defeated, never defeated, but very much done with a lot of things right about now.

"I've seen better days."

So much for the understatements, but even that wasn't quite as blunt as he otherwise could've been. And anyway, maybe having an old friend around was good for sharing the burden.

(Are you listening, Leon?)

He kept his voice low; she'd be able to hear him, but no one else. In Hammerlocke, at least, they respected their Gym Leader; they'd been among the quickest to adapt to the new media restrictions and privacy laws for League members and all. Maybe it was helped by their respect for Raihan as their Vault Guardian. Still, Raihan was just so used to doing it whenever he was talking about anything even remotely juicy in a public space, no matter how busy or how low the odds of anyone trying anything.

"It's all just been a mess lately. Rose and his absolute idiocy, the region almost being destroyed — and then all the conspiracy theories, blaming me or Leon or both of us or everybody. At least Rose is locked up. But everyone's been busy dealing with the legal stuff and the WLO and the repairs and it just never ends, Peni, it doesn't! One thing after another.

And Leon, on top of it all. It's like he's trying to work himself to death 'cause he feels guilty for not having noticed and for not having been able to stop it all on his own, or whatever's going on in his head now. And not being the Champion anymore has left him a whole lot more time to dwell on it all, and Sonia and I haven't gotten through to him, so we ended up going begging to Griz — remember her? — and getting her to come back. And I really do hope she can do something to get through to him, 'cause I'm at my wits end and all out of ideas. It's just not sustainable, what he's doing, and we all know how hard it is to keep the man in a hospital if he's got his mind set on leaving and he isn't actively dying.

It's just so tiring. Feels like we're treading water, as Nessa puts it, doing things but not making any progress or advancement whatsoever. It's so...demotivating.

...Ah, my bad. You didn't come here to listen to the complaints of an old friend. Sorry for dumping all that on you."

He finally looked up from his drink, offering her an apologetic little grin.
​
✺✳ ══ ✧ ══ ✳✺​

Leon promising that he'd stay for lunch had Griz smiling at him, soft and warm. Her whole body relaxed (not completely, she knew this was just the start, but she was genuinely relieved that she'd gotten him to agree to an actual lunch with her), and she found herself having to resist the urge to reach out and grab his hands.

They weren't kids anymore, was the thing. Back when they had been training together on the Isle of Armour, they'd done a lot of that sort of thing. Grabbing onto the other's hands to tug them somewhere, tight hugs to celebrate progress or success (or to comfort each other after a failure or set-back), wrestling and sparring again and again and again only to slump into the grass at the end of the day and look up at the stars and talk about their futures.

But they weren't kids anymore. She'd been away for years; they were adults, now, who hadn't had a chance to actually meet up in person for literal years. Even when Leon had travelled to Kalos or Sinnoh for international WLO tournaments, the timing had always been against him; she'd always seemed to be at the other end of the region, or deep in some forest or way out on some island, when he told her where the tournament would be held. Try as she might, she never managed to make it to his tournaments in person, only ever arriving after he was already on the plane or boat back to Galar.

(He was a man, tall and handsome. He was a gentleman, gallant and noble. He was Leon, dorky and sweet to the core.

It was...she didn't dwell on this thought much other than to think that she had maybe been spending a bit too much time away from people over the past several years, because she shouldn't be quite so aware of this even if it was true.

He was a man, and she was a woman, and that was all true.

But she hadn't come here for that; she'd come here to help coax him into taking a damn break. And although Raihan had joked via text about 'making out counting as a break too', she was pretty sure that was just a sign of how much he truly was at his wit's end when it came to trying to think of how to help Leon rather than any actual hope of her and Leon ending up together.

The strange part was that the premise didn't exactly bother her, which was puzzling...)

She'd missed him, though, deeply. It was good that they were catching up, and maybe in the aftermath of all this, they'd do a better job of meeting up now and again. She was back in Galar, and maybe she'd stick around for a while...in some ways, it felt like a whole new region...

"I'm glad," she settled for saying. A promise from Leon meant everything, because he always kept his word, noble man he was. That, also, was something that she doubted would ever change.

Him calling her a sap had her huffing and blushing, crossing her arms over her chest and looking away in embarrassment.

"Oh, I'm the sap, all of a sudden? That's rich coming from you!" she laughed, finally turning her gaze back to him.

She might've teased him for how sappy he could be, but instead she found herself sobering as he continued to speak. His desire to keep busy, and then shifting the conversation to Hop and Gloria...

A soft half-sigh half-huff escaped her. She shook her head, reaching over to set one of her hands on his forearm just to get his attention. Her gaze met his; hers was steady, determined, sympathetic.

"Leon, stop. You're doing that thing again. The thing where you try to talk about everything and everyone other than yourself in hopes that you can distract whoever you're talking with away from the original topic.

Well, sorry to burst your bubble, old friend, but that won't work on me. I know you too well. I'm sure that Hop and Gloria are doing wonderful things, but I'm not here to talk about them.

Look, if you aren't ready to talk about whatever's going on in your head just yet — and don't give me that "I'm fine" bullshit, I really wasn't exaggerating when I said you look like a dead man walking — then we can talk about some other things for a while. But let's not do the thing where you try to praise your friends and family so much that I forget about you.

You need to care about yourself. And I'm not giving up on you that easily. Have a little more faith in your old friend, hm? Though, given my decision to leave all those years ago, I suppose I can't blame you for doubting me, given how long it's been since we've met up in person..."

She could play the long game. He didn't have to spill it all right away; she didn't expect him to, knowing him. But, she was also trying to help get him to a point where he would willingly open up at least a bit, because Raihan and Sonia had been right: whatever Leon was doing now, it wasn't sustainable.

Instead of asking him more questions, she slid his menu back to him. Making decisions on food would be good; she had a hunch that getting some good food into him would help him start to relax and focus on something other than all his worries and problems. If she could just remind him how good it was to relax and enjoy good food and good company...

...then maybe she'd be able to talk him into a little weekend trip. But, baby steps; she wasn't going to get him away from this city that easily.

"Any thoughts on the appetizers? The crab arancini are very tempting to me, and we could even order the shareable size so we can both have some. Or maybe the fried calamari..."
​
 
Ah, so he still had a sweet tooth, did he? That was one thing that she definitely remembered about him.

Sometimes, when she and her family attended events, her father would bring sweets. Anything from candies to a box that contained half a dozen muffins, donuts–depends on the day. On several occasions, she would snag the box to share them with her friends, and Micah of course, much to her father’s dismay… She could still recall the sound of Skip’s snickering as they scampered off together with a box of sweet treats–partners in crime, they were.

Peni blinked away the memory, instead offering him a smile. “Suppose that never really changed, then, huh?”

Oh, there he goes again. Penelope could feel the heat rising to her cheeks and the tips of her ears, so she decided to take a sip of her latte. Maybe the coolness of it would chase away the warmth of her cheeks. “Okay, okay… Thank you, Raihan.”

Resisting the urge to kick at his foot again, she decided to accept the compliment with a smile. A small, bashful and shy smile, but a smile nonetheless. It was nice to know that she could still be appreciated and important without going down the route that most wanted to follow–she was an oddball in that way, she supposed… But, she felt at home in her line of work. There has never been a moment where she doubted her decision, not once. She wouldn’t trade her current life for a different one, not for anything.

Wuhoh. Maybe the nickname wasn’t welcome after all. For a moment, she sat there a bit dumbfounded, gaping like a Magikarp–oh, never mind, it’s fine. Her expression softened, and her shoulders relaxed–wow, was she really that tense over a nickname?

Then, Raihan visibly deflated, and Penelope frowned. His voice grew quiet, so she shifted in her seat, pulling her legs up onto the seat underneath her in order to sit on her knees. This way, she could lean a bit over the table in order to listen to him better. Not that she couldn't hear him well enough before, but she could tell that he didn’t really want anyone eavesdropping on the conversation. Consider it another precautionary thing.

As she listened to him speak, she brought her hands up to the table, folding one over the other. Her eyes didn't stray from him, not even for a moment, nodding along and humming softly every now and again to let him know that she was still listening to what he was saying.

Oh, now she felt bad. How could she have believed any of those stupid conspiracies in the first place? Sure, she was almost prone to believing them because she was uncertain if he had changed for the worst or not. Fame and power just does that to people sometimes–and even though they had just reconnected, like, ten minutes ago, Penelope believed him.

The corners of her lips curled downwards into a small frown when he mentioned Leon–she hadn't been in touch with him recently, either, but she had spoken to Griz briefly yesterday. It was just a quick text, letting her know that she'd be returning to Galar for a little bit in hopes of convincing Leon to get out of his own head and take a damn break.

Her brows furrowed together with concern at his apology, and she tipped her head ever so slightly to the side, as if confused. “You don't have to be sorry, I invited you to talk about it, remember?”

Penelope released a long sigh, unaware of the fact that she had been holding her breath whatsoever. For a moment, she pressed her lips together into a tight line before she lightly tapped her palms against the tabletop.

“Let me tell you something, okay?” Did she really know where she was going with this? No, but she'd give it her best shot nonetheless. “When I first heard about all of this, I was… Pretty anxious. Mad, even. Most of all, though? I was terrified that the boys that I used to be so close with had been… Corrupted by the industry–corrupted by Rose, so to speak.

I can't sit here and lie to you, tell you that I didn't take any of those conspiracies into consideration–and I'm sorry about that, I suppose I'm just gullible. With not being in contact with you guys for so long, I didn't really know what to trust–but do you know how quickly I forgot about all of that? Barely even fifteen minutes of just sitting here with you, and I–I… I know that you've been nothing but truthful. I couldn’t be more convinced that your heart and intentions have always been good and pure.”

Another pause, her eyes drifted down to her hands for a moment. “If anybody can get through to Leon, it'll be Griz. You know, she's like, just as stubborn as he is. She's probably got an entire plan mapped out, and a back up plan, too. Just knowing that you guys are doing all of this for him, it warms my heart, and I know it'll soften him up, too… He'll be okay. Maybe the nostalgia of it all will bring his guard down–like it did with you?”
-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈​
The touch had shocked him, oddly enough. When Leon gets to rambling, sometimes it could be hard to stop him, but that gentle touch was more than enough to bring his jabbering to a pause. With his brows raised, his eyes met hers, the expression on his face resembling that of a kicked puppy.

Caught in the act–well, he didn't really realize that he did it. Sure, to some capacity he was aware of the habit, but he didn't do it with the active intent of brushing himself off… It just kind of happened that way.

Out of all of the things that she had brought up, he seemed to zero in on the idea that maybe she thought all of his faith in her was gone. That's not true! Griz was just busy leading her own life, he'd never fault her for that. Maybe he was a bit saddened by her decision when they were kids, but that was ages ago at this point. Leon opened his mouth to protest that idea, but Griz was already slipping the menu over to his side of the table. Damn.

“I haven't lost any faith in you since we were kids, Griz.” He insisted quietly as he opened up the menu, although his eyes remained on her. “Never.”

She seemed to be much more interested in appetizers now, though–it was almost bizarre just how quickly the topic shifted, for a moment he swore he got whiplash from it. His eyes lingered on her for a few moments more, until she mentioned fried calamari, and then his menu had his full attention.

“Ooh, fried calamari,” It was more of a mumble to himself as he looked over the options, but his heart had been captivated by the calamari from the very moment Griz mentioned it. There was no changing his mind about it now! “I think I'll order the fried calamari–but if you're really wanting the crab arancini, I don't mind ordering both?”

When he addressed her, his eyes shifted upwards to look at her again. It was still pretty shocking that she was here to begin with. It was nice to see her again, even if she was actively busting his ass for not taking care of himself–everyone had been doing that recently, though. Besides, it was nice to know that she cared enough to come back. It was nice to know that all of his friends had cared enough to put together, essentially a master plan, in order to help him out… Still, as good as it felt, it also made him feel a bit bad, too. Raihan had been having a rough time lately, as well, but he had been spending so much time looking out for him. How much time did Raihan set aside for himself?

For a moment, he frowned and tapped his foot on the ground.

Raihan was okay, right? Leave it to Leon to worry about someone else when he's actively falling apart himself. He couldn't help it–what if Raihan hadn't been taking care of himself as much, in favor of fussing over Leon instead? Was he doing alright? Maybe he'd give him a call later and poke at him to see how he was doing, too.

Leon dispersed the thought with some effort, and he sighed. What had he originally been thinking about? His mind just seemed to run wild these days–oh, right, he was happy to see her.

“Reasoning being set aside, I'm really glad to see you. It's been so long, I–you've grown a lot.” Obviously. That was kind of dumb. Was that dumb? “I don't mean that in a weird way, it's just nice to actually see–again, not in a weird way, I promise. I know you've sent me pictures, and we've called each other whenever we had the time, but being in each other's company is something completely different.”

It was like they came full circle, in a way. She had broken the news of her departure in this very building to them, and now she was back, sitting down with him for lunch, for the first time in a long while. The conversation hadn't taken place in this very room, but it was still the same building. Did she remember that? Surely she remembered the conversation, but did she remember that this was the place?

“Anyway, I'm just… Really glad that you're here. I wish it were under different circumstances, and I'm sorry that you had to get dragged into all of this. It was never my intention to worry everyone as much as I have been, you know?” He paused to release a sigh. “How long are you staying for?”

A week-long trip would make sense, but he couldn't imagine her realistically staying any longer than that. There was no way that she would just uproot her entire life just because one of her childhood friends is debatably going through a depressive episode. He wouldn't let her do that, anyway. She had a lot going for herself, and from everything that he had heard from her, she was thoroughly enjoying where she was currently at in life. He would never, ever want her to give something like that up.

Oh, their waiter would probably be back soon, and he had only decided on what appetizer he wanted. Leon flipped through the few pages of the menu, stopping near the end, where their selection of pizzas filled the pages.
 

Initially, even with her initial reassurance, Raihan did still feel bad about dumping all of his problems onto her in one go. It wasn't like she'd expected to be overloaded with all these problems; she had probably come just wanting, like, some sort of chill moment to eat and drink a bit before heading off on whatever business had brought her to Hammerlocke to begin with.

That sinking feeling had initially strengthened at her first admission.

It wasn't like he was mad. He had no right to be mad, because frankly, she was right. It had been years, and people could change in all sorts of years. Rose could have done a lot to them (well, in a lot of ways, he had, but still), done a lot to make them worse people who maybe would have, like, heard him out or something.

Deep in his heart of hearts, he liked to think that neither he nor Leon would ever agree to go along with that stupid plan. The idea of using a Pokémon as an energy source made him feel genuinely sick. They didn't stick Electric-types into machines to generate electricity for them; what Rose had had in mind would've been just as cruel.

But there was no way for her to really know that, with how long they had been out of touch.

And, apparently, she'd reached the conclusion that he really hadn't had anything to do it just over the course of this little conversation of theirs.

Raihan knew he was charming and charismatic. Whether it was meeting fans at events, or helping Trainers at the occasional workshop, or sitting in front of cameras during an interview, Raihan was used to being able to get on with people. They didn't necessarily have to like or agree with him, but for all his camera persona was rawrs and hands curled to look like fangs and a sharp grin on his face, at his heart he was just a kind and friendly guy who liked talking to people and making friends.

So, it wasn't really surprising that he could use little conversations to shift opinions about him. He'd done so with far more judgmental conversation partners than an old friend with whom he had lost touch. But still...

He couldn't help but smile at her. This one was softer, warmer, far more removed than the usual grins and smiles he put on for the camera. It was tired, too, but that much was maybe a given.

"I don't blame you for how you felt and thought. Rose is a schemer through and through; he knew what he was doing, how to cultivate his image. Even now, some people give him the benefit of the doubt. 'Well-intentioned' and all.

But...it means a lot, hearing you say you believe me. Thank you, really.

And for what it's worth, I'm sorry that we lost touch, and that it put you in a position of having to doubt what sort of person I'd become over all these years."

A shame she'd already paid for her stuff; he would've otherwise insisted on covering for her, at least as recompence for her having to sit and listen to his woes. At least the conversation picked up, a little bit. He was still worried as fuck about his best friend, but Peni was right: if there was anyone who could get through to Leon, it would be Griz.

He remembered, admittedly, not liking her at first. He'd seen Griz as something of a threat to his rivalry with Leon; he and Leon had done the Gym Challenge together, had their epic rivalry, and then Leon became Champion whereas Raihan got picked up as a Gym Leader's successor. While Raihan had been juggling his trainings and his studies (he'd gotten a year out of school for the Challenge, but now it was back to complete his mandatory education), Leon (also having to return to school, but he could get away with doing it remotely thanks to Rose's sway) had been sent off to the Master Dojo.

And then three-ish years worth of training later, it turned out that Leon had apparently made a new friend who he was so excited to see take her Gym Challenge. She'd all but flown past the eight Leaders at the time, even Kabu and Melony, and Raihan (who was back in the ring of the Champion Cup, as usual, wanting to face Leon again) had lost to her, too. Leon had beat her, but seeing the media's furor and eagerness to turn them into a three-way rivalry, Raihan had felt afraid of being dislodged from his place as Leon's closest friend.

And then she declared she was off to Kalos, and that was the end of those media storylines.

Over the years, as Raihan saw Griz not as a threat but just as a friend (they texted and chatted and sent photos, the more aggressive rivalry that had developed between him and Griz fading into actual friendship), he'd gotten over his earlier resentment. To this day, he had never told Leon what his original opinion of her was. Standing here now, Raihan could easily see that the bonds were different; besides, he was sure of himself and his place now, confident that he wouldn't be replaced as soon as some new shiny friend came back into Leon's life.

He chuckled a bit, shaking his head. Look at him, gone from that insecurity to this new one. He hadn't felt like this (unsure of his place, unsure of how things would turn out) in some time. It wasn't a feeling he had missed.

He had missed Peni, though, more than he could probably verbalize. She had never been a rival of his in the same way that Leon or Griz had been, or even like Sonia back before she'd called it quits altogether. But she'd been a good friend of his, the kind of friend he could just be himself with. No worrying about how well he'd do, no stressing about how to make it to the top, just good and honest friendship.

Maybe that was what Raihan needed now more than ever.

"Hah... Boy, do I hope so.

Though, I think I'm done with talking about them. Anything you want to share? Like, say, what brings you to Hammerlocke? I don't remember seeing you again the past few years, so either I've been insanely unlucky or this is your first time here in a while."

He wondered what the odds were of being able to score a bit more time with her, or maybe talk her into coming back... Exchanging numbers would be good too, if she wanted. Maybe he'd pitch that once they were wrapping up?

"Mind if I ask what brings you here today?"

It might seem a simple question with, probably, a simple answer; he was smart enough to peg that it likely had something to do with her work. But hey, he was curious, and maybe it might lead to them talking a little more today... Was that really such a bad thing to hope for?
​
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Oh, that expression of his... Why did it make her feel like she had kicked a Yamper?

Her own expression softened. He didn't seem upset by the touch, so she left it (for now, at least), though was on high alert for any signs of discomfort.

(How many fans of his would kill for a chance just to brush a hand along his arm once? How many had fantasized about being held by him, hugged by him, embraced by him for more than just a hug?

Leon was still the same boy she'd trained alongside until she'd taken the Gym Challenge at 13. 3 years' worth of training and sparring, of hugs and nights spent looking up at the stars together...

He was a man, and she was a woman, and a lot of things had changed, but a lot also hadn't. He was still the same dork she'd spent three years training alongside, the same guy she knew well despite how long they had been apart, and now she was here to help him no matter how long it took!)

Luckily, she couldn't seem to find any. But she also couldn't think straight, because he had said...that he had never lost faith in her...

(Three years of training together, sparring together, pushing each other, everything culminating in a winner-takes-all match at the end of the Champion Cup that saw her the vanquished and Leon the glorious victor once more...)

"...Leon..."

She didn't know what to say. What could she say? Her cheeks went red and she found herself averting her gaze, hiding her face behind one of her hands a bit as she tried and fail to will the blush away.

Damn her Ballimerean heritage, she was literally physically incapable of blushing and not looking like she was trying to do her best damn Sizzlipede impression.

"...Thanks." She couldn't stop the smile on her face even if she tried, so she might as well just shift focus to the menu so that they couldn't dwell on how flustered he had made her.

(And really, what was this, her getting so flustered just by Leon and his usual determined faith in his friends?)

He wanted calamari, huh?

"They've got an appetizer sharing platter," she said, pointing it out to him on the menu. "Choice of three. That way, we can get crab arancini and fried calamari and, I dunno, the bruschetta or something as the third one."

That made good sense to her. They'd both get what they wanted, plus it wouldn't leave her feeling like she was taking advantage of his generosity any. The important part, of course, was that Leon was actually expressing active interest in food. That was a great plus; it meant that maybe she'd have an easier time than she expected, getting him to remember how good and important it was to take breaks.

As for the matter of pizza, well, they were probably both going to order an individual pizza. They did two sizes here; one was small enough you could eat it in one sitting, and the other was large enough you would absolutely be leaving with leftovers. The leftovers might not be a bad idea, thinking about it, if it got Leon eating more...

"If you're feeling seafood, they've got a really nice-looking white pizza with seafood. It's got mozzarella, tiger shrimp, scallops, and clams."

Choosing what she might want was harder. It had been ages since she had been here, and she wanted to make the most of it. But everything was good-looking, so when it came to actually choosing...

"Ahh, seems my time away hasn't done much to cure my indecisiveness when faced with a menu," she sighed, chuckling a bit. It was maybe a bit funny. Square up to argue down Leon when he was being stubborn? No problem! Make a quick decision at a restaurant? Er, maybe not... "Do you plan to get dessert? Not that that'd make my decision any easier, just so I have another reference point to go off of." She could go for dessert (happily), but again, she had no intention of taking advantage of his generosity. If he wasn't feeling it, she'd go without.

(They'd had tiramisu the last time they had been here, but that was hardly the only dessert on offer. Affogato, bombolone, cannoli, delizia al limone...)

Wait, what was he saying now?

She looked up at him, surprise clear in every part of her face as she took in what he was saying. All these sweet words (ah, damn it, her cheeks were flaming again) about being happy to have seen her again, and insisting he wasn't creepy when he talked about her having grown...

Soft giggles escaped her, and she reached forward once more to set her hand on his forearm again. She was smiling more widely, eyes shining with mirth.

"No, I know you don't mean it in a weird way. It's... I mean, you've grown a lot, too."

Maybe it was awkward for her to say, but it was out there so she might as well acknowledge it, right?

"I'm happy seeing you again, too. It's not the same as calls or texts." She had had to go, had to go find herself and figure out what she really wanted, and that wasn't going to happen so long as she stayed put. But coming back, seeing him again, remembering how good it felt to have her nearest and dearest friends around... "Don't apologize, though. You needed me, and so I came. That's what friends are for, right? I definitely don't regret getting to spend actual time with you again, even if I wish the circumstances were better.

Oh, and for the record, I'll be here ... until further notice. As long as you need me, I'm not going anywhere. Oh, and I'll be the one to decide whether or not you still need me around, so don't think you can pretend to be 'okay' just to send me off again."

She paused for a beat, then offered him a chuckle and a shake of the head.

"What, did you think I'd pop in for a few days and then disappear on you again? This, whatever it is you've gotten stuck on, isn't going to just disappear. I'd be a shitty friend if I started to help and then disappeared to leave you to figure out the rest on your own. That's not who I am.

And don't you start getting in your head, thinking you're getting in the way of my dreams or whatever. Honest to Arceus, I'd already been thinking about taking a real trip back for a little while, though I was debating between coming back and moving on to Unova. Getting the texts from Raihan and Sonia just sped it up, and made me firmly decide on 'back to Galar'."
​
 
Well, he certainly received that information a lot better than she thought he would. Perhaps she had been expecting him to jump to defend himself and Leon as soon as she got the words out, but he sat and he listened. He had listened to everything she had to say, and now he was offering a smile.

Penelope couldn’t help but return the gesture.

It blew her mind that some people still gave that man the benefit of the doubt–it was downright nasty that they would even consider cutting him some slack. Who cares about his intentions? What he was trying to do was cruel and dangerous!

She recalled when the news came out about what happened: she was at home. Carnie was slumped over on the armrest of her couch, with Wink sitting on the coffee table with his little legs dangling from the edge. For two hours she paced around in her home, walking from wall to wall, rambling on about how cruel the plan was. Every now and again, she would turn to her two darling mons, arms outstretched, as if asking them, what do you think? With a few huffs and uncertain murmurs of their own names, she nodded and carried on. Eventually she sat down on the couch, frustrated and heartbroken on behalf of Eternatus and its well-being, and she–well, she passed out. She woke up the following morning with Carnie curled up into the curve of her legs, and Wink nestled close to her chest.

What brought her back to her senses, away from the recent memory, was his apology. Goodness, this man and his apologies. She didn’t mind this one, though.

“It’s okay, really. We had our own paths to follow, lots to learn about where we were headed, and more to learn about what kind of people we were. It happens as we grow, so it’s okay.”

Not everyone was lucky enough to still be friends with those that they had befriended during their childhood. Sometimes, that’s just how life laid itself out to be–but then again, the world works in odd ways. This impromptu reunion of theirs was just another one of those odd inner workings.

Thankfully, it seemed that her words had worked enough to reassure him at least a tiny bit. Penelope didn’t doubt that he was still worried, the only thing that would completely resolve that would be an actual resolution with Leon’s current situation. Still, he seemed to be okay, for now.

Now, the questions were being directed towards her, and she pursed her lips as she thought of her response. It’s not like she avoided Hammerlocke like the plague or anything, but she didn’t drop by here very often. Not for very long, at least. She never stayed for longer than necessary–usually, when she was here for business reasons, she arrived and left, simple as that. Today, the only real difference to her visit was: she got hungry. Nothing too intriguing there.

Although, it’s probably worth noting that it was not a case of being unlucky. Maybe he hadn’t seen her, but she had seen him a few times–usually busy, talking to someone else, sometimes even groups of people. He stuck out among most crowds, so it was easy to pick him out if he was ever out and about while she was visiting. Penelope just… Never thought to go out of her way to talk to him.

So, not a lack of luck. More of a lack in confidence on Peni’s end when it came to actually approaching him–she just never gave it a shot.

“Came here cause I’ve got, like, a date–and then here you come, taking his seat at my table. Probably scared the guy off already…” She paused, her lips pressed together into a poorly put together pout in an attempt to contain a laugh–it lasted for maybe three seconds, though. “Pfft-no, I’m kidding obviously. Imagine, though? Anyways,

I don’t drop by very often, and whenever I do, it’s usually quick. I’m in and then I’m out just as fast, you know? Um, the MRRC’s got a few donation boxes set up here and in Motostoke, since those are the main cities that are within distance of it. They’re set up in the Pokémon Centers, I think they’ve all got one. Could be wrong, but… Anyway, we got an email the other day saying that the Center up by the main entrance has a good amount of donations that are piling up, so, had to come and get those. That’s usually the only reason I’m ever here, to pick up donations. If it isn’t me coming to get them, then it’s probably Benji–but he was busy, so, here I am.”

Once her explanation was over, she awkwardly fiddled with the straw of her drink–not a very glamorous reason. Why was she getting nervous about it? Who even cares?

“Which, I should probably get back to actually doing that once I finish this sandwich.”
-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈​
Judging by the red tint to her face, he had said… something. Was it a good kind of blush or a bad one? Like, the really embarrassed and angry kind? He quirked a brow at her when she made an attempt to hide her face from him… Good kind of blush, he concluded. Well, at least that’s what he thought it was, so he was going to stick to that.

“Well, of course–don’t gotta thank me for that.”

She seemed to want to leave that conversation behind, though, in favor of discussing their appetizer of choice. Appetizer sharing platter, how fancy. Leon was just happy as long as he got his fried calamari, so he easily nodded in agreement.

Did he want seafood today? Maybe, it sounded good–he could just about eat anything right now, though, he wasn’t necessarily picky.

“This one sounds really fancy: mozzarella, prosciutto, peppers and a balsamic glaze.” He put extra emphasis on the glaze, his voice lifting playfully, speaking as if he were posh and proper–but only for a moment, because it was gone in an instant. “I might stick with what you suggested, though. I don’t think I’ve tried it yet, so I’ll give it a shot.”

He was about to fold up his menu and set it off to the side, but after hearing that Griz still had troubles making decisions when it came to menus, he found himself resorting to what he used to do when they were kids. It’s incredible just how quickly he returned to the not-so-helpful solution of his youth… Now, what could such a solution be? Simple: rapid-fire some things at her until she inevitably picks one. Was it actually helpful? No, but it was fun.

“Pesto with eggplant… Bacon, leaks and cream–I don’t know what the cream really entails, but–meat lovers, meat supreme–I don’t know what the difference is between these two. What else? Hmm–Asiago Alolan, that one sounds fancy, too. Ooh, spicy soppressata–they’ve also got the classic stuff, too.”

Was that helpful? Who knows? He was just spitballing–either way, he peeked at her over the edge of his menu and offered her a toothy grin. “I might go for dessert, depending on if I’m feeling full or not. Are you wanting to get something?”

He wouldn’t mind it at all if she decided that she wanted dessert, even if he himself didn’t get anything. After all, he did insist that he paid for both of them–and he didn’t mind treating her! It had been so long since he last saw her, he’d probably end up spoiling her at some point during this visit anyways. He just loved spoiling his loved ones.

...Oh dear, her cheeks were red again.

Surely she didn’t take what he said as something creepy, right? That’s not what he meant! He would have jumped to defend himself further, but thankfully she seemed to have understood what he was saying. Thank Arceus.

That’s when she dropped the news that she’d be sticking around until further notice. He gaped as she spoke, finding himself to be a little bit uncertain now–so it wasn’t just a week? Could she afford to stick around here for however long? Where was she going to be staying–if it’s a hotel, that would be pretty expensive! She couldn’t stay in a hotel the whole time, her bank account would basically be a victim to a robbery at that point.

He was thankful for her, but now he was also worried about her!

“You’re not staying in a hotel, are you?” The question was a bit sudden, as he had blurted it out almost as soon as she finished her last sentence. “I-I mean, you know. Hotels are expensive, especially if you’re staying for a long time.”

Again, here goes Leon, fussing and worrying over his friends and nearly overlooking the whole bigger picture here. He let the question hang in the air for a moment that felt longer than it actually was before he continued.

“I don’t… Honestly, I don’t really know what I was expecting from your visit–a week at most, maybe. I’m not saying that I’m disappointed, I’m just surprised! You’re positive that you’re okay with this whole arrangement? I wouldn’t hold it against you if you left after a week or two, really–I’d understand it! I just… I appreciate this a lot, I just don’t want you straining yourself here, you know? Don’t take any of this the wrong way, I just want you to keep your own wellbeing in mind, too.”

His menu had since been folded up and pushed to the side of the table, eyes glued to her own as he spoke. Leon was being truthful and honest here, he wasn’t saying it in a defensive way, or to push her away. As much as he appreciated what she was doing for him, he wanted her to be supported, too… Oh, Leon. Not a single selfish bone in that body of his.
 

They had their own paths to follow...

He supposed that much was true enough. Just because you were friends with someone didn't mean you had to follow the same paths as them, and sometimes those divergent paths meant that ties should shift or fade over time.

That didn't mean he had to like it, though.

Look at him and Leon! Sure, their paths were parallel, but it wasn't like they weren't going to be friends anymore just because Leon wasn't the Champion anymore.

Or, look at Hop and Gloria; they were doing just well even now that Hop was looking at a completely different future, studying under Sonia and preparing for his upcoming final exams (ah, Raihan remembered taking his; not bad results at all, good enough he could've gone to a lot of universities he wagered; he did take the odd course from Hammerlocke University, eventually working his way towards a Meteorology Degree, but he was a busy man and that was slow-going)...

Even Nessa and Sonia. Their paths had diverged pretty significantly; Sonia with her research, Nessa with her battling and modelling. And sure, Sonia still had her interest in fashion and absolutely loved meeting up with her bestie on the regular, but still. Just because paths diverged didn't mean that that had to be the end of it.

So, could he really be blamed for feeling a bit hopeful and optimistic?

Because hey, maybe he and Peni could re-establish things, after all. Exchange contact information, and this time make it stick no matter how busy things got for them. He sure would like it if they did. The fact that she didn't hold a grudge against him for the way they had lost touch made him feel even better about that being a possibility.

Speaking of possibilities though, as soon as she brought up the idea of being here for a date, Raihan looked like he'd just been told he was being replaced as Gym Leader effective right now. Eyes wide, body tense, absolute shock and mortification clear in every part of him as he processed the fact that he had—

...

just been punked.

He exhaled slowly, sagging in relief. He wagged a finger at her when he finally looked up, amusement and mortification now warring to dominate his expression.

"You rascal!" Raihan cried. "You absolute menace! Do you have any idea how bad I felt at the thought I'd done that?!"

But then he laughed and leaned back in his seat, shaking his head as he let the worst of the tension ease away. It was like letting the tension ease away after a battle, win or lose but especially the losses. Take a breath, and then another; take stock of everything you're currently feeling, and then let it go with another breath.

"Donations, huh? Say, how about I tag along? At least to wherever you're picking it all up from. We can chat a bit more, and say, how'd you feel about exchanging numbers?"

He might've made a quip about how she owed him one after the scare she'd given him, but he didn't want to come off like she was forced to get back in touch with him. If she wanted to keep it as a one-off meeting and then just walk away... Well, it'd sting, no question about that, but he'd accept it. Raihan could take a no. He wasn't one of those arrogant bastards who thought that everyone owed him the world.

(Sure, he might act like it in battle sometimes, cocky and fiery, but there was a difference between Raihan the Gym Leader and Raihan the Person)

"You said you'd been told donations have been piling up. If there are too many for one person to take, I can always lend a hand in getting them back. I've got the time."

Did he have things to do? Absolutely. However, now that the chaos of all the unavoidable meetings and urgent rebuilding work and all was starting to settle, Raihan was starting to get his flexibility back. His plans for the rest of the day mostly involved paperwork-related responsibilities, and those would still be there waiting for him even if he got to them a couple hours later than intended.

And hey, if there were a lot of things to carry, then he bet he and his muscles (and possibly at least one of his Pokémon, depending on how much stuff there was) would be a very welcome source of help.

To that end, he re-devoted himself to his meal. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel obligated to wait around for him to finish, costing her precious time that could've been spent heading over and assessing the donations for suitability or making a plan for how to get them to where they needed to go.

In due time, they'd finished up, tossing the trash and heading out of the establishment. On their way out, Raihan's Rotom Phone popped out, chattering happily. Raihan quickly scanned his notifications; nothing important. That done, he tapped a few things then offered the phone to Peni. It was his Contacts tab (the one for phone numbers and emails, not social media), open to a Add New Contact page.

"Here, feel free to add yourself.

Ah, for the record, as a Gym Leader I've got two numbers and all that, personal and professional. This here's my personal one; I'll send you a message later, so you can add me to your contacts, but please don't share this number with anyone without my say-so. I've worked mighty hard keeping it from getting leaked, and I'd like for that to not change."

Some of his fellows had had their personal numbers leaked, necessitating changing them. Luckily no one had had a personal email leak (that would be harder to replace), but phone numbers were bad enough. Most fans were great, but every so often you got the ones who were so desperate for their hero's attention (or worse, so desperate to live out the romantic fantasy they were sure would happen, if only they could get a meeting...). Those ones getting a leaked personal number? The worst. Raihan was lucky to have avoided it thus far, though he'd heard plenty of horror stories from Nessa and Gordie.

"Right, let's get going! How much stuff d'you think they've got? I suppose it might depend on how long since the last pick-up... Oh, but, in the aftermath of the Second Darkest Day, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot more people feel like giving to those who've been dealt particularly rough blows by all the nonsense. So maybe it'll be more than usual."
​
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Some things never changed.

Back in the day, there'd been a lot of laughter and giggles between the two of them. Teasing each other for little slips in training, joking around about this and that and the other thing... So maybe it wasn't surprising that Leon's posh imitation had Griz giggling, expression softening as she looked at him.

This was good, of course, it meant he was actually starting to relax a bit. But it was also just really nice to spend time with him again.

His rapid-fire reading of options on the menu also had her giggling, fond nostalgia warming her from the inside all the way through.

"Mm, I guess I'm feeling fancy," she decided finally. She did like a good balsamic glaze, sweet and tangy and a good punch of flavour. Loved prosciutto, too. "As for dessert, we'll see." Waiting to see at the end made good enough sense; besides, that way, she'd be able to go with whatever he favoured.

So, for now, she ordered the fancy-sounding pizza Leon had mentioned at the start (personal size) and they also ordered Leon's pizza and the appetizer sharing platter (crab arancini, fried calamari, bruschetta). Griz would stick with water to drink; that was mostly what she drank, to be honest.

Orders done, as they'd be waiting for their meals to be made, that left them time to talk. That was good; she'd missed their late nights spent chatting as they looked up at the stars something fierce, and though this was no moment of stargazing, it scratched the itch a bit anyway.

It was funny. Or, maybe not funny, but... She and Leon had been physically apart for so long, but not even half a day and they were giggling and chatting just like old times.

It was nice, though. She didn't want to think about what she might do if things had changed, if she hadn't been able to get through to him at all.

His question, though...

At first, she was left to blush and blink, surprised by the sudden concern. Then she was grinning and giggling. Under the table, one of her feet lightly nudged one of his.

"Nah, that's expensive. Especially in Wyndon, are you kidding?"

Gym Challengers never had to worry about that, because as long as they stayed at the Budew Drop Inn, their stay was completely covered by the Galar League (and, she wagered, the WLO more broadly-speaking). But Wyndon was the city of...well, under Rose, it had been new stuff and tourist attractions and all that tended to drive up the price of things.

"Right now I'm booked at Milo's fam's bed and breakfast, I'll be crashing there for the week. Then after that, I think I'll be camping again. It's been a while since I camped in the Wild Area."

That much was typical for her, though. She rarely stayed at hotels, even in Sinnoh or Kalos; a lot of camping, setting out a spot for a few days in a peaceful patch of wilderness before moving on to the next when she was ready. She felt the earth beneath her feet, the wind around her; she had felt stone and wood and water, felt the heat of a campfire and the kiss of the sun's rays and the bitter chill of winter winds unlike anywhere else.

But, she admitted, it'd be good to sleep on a bed again. She...frankly couldn't remember the last time she had, actually. Maybe when she'd first arrived in Sinnoh, a week or so in a bed and breakfast as she familiarized herself with local maps and got started on her study of Sinnohan, and then it was off.

And worst case scenario, she could head down to Sonia's place and knock on her door until she could sleep on the woman's couch.

"Really, I'm more than okay with this. You don't need to worry about me, okay? And seriously, I'm not going anywhere. You need me. I'll be here for you. You couldn't pay me to leave sooner."

Hmm, but that might be an opportunity...

Giving him a wry grin, because she knew he'd see through her at this point, Griz added, "oh, but I suppose if you insist on seeing that I'm perfectly fine, you could always join me at the bed and breakfast this weekend? When Milo heard why I was coming back, he moved me from the big one to the little one 'cause there wasn't anybody booked there for the week and told me to try to coax you into joining me. Just sayin'."

Technically speaking, "Milo's family's bed and breakfast" was two buildings but the same business. Both were out in the sprawling countryside out past Turffield, technically outside the borders of Milo's family's farmland but close enough that it had clearly been connected and the fence was mostly just for privacy's sake than anything.

One, the small one, was the original. It had, several generations ago, been the family home. But it had needed repairs, and so Milo's she didn't even know how many 'great's grandpa had built up another one, moved his family into it, and got to work. But by the time it had finished, everybody had come to like the new home better, so they decided to turn it into a bed and breakfast.

The second one had been built up later, to meet the demand. It was larger than the original, built for the purpose rather than a repurposed home, and so a few renovations later there was now a new order of sorts.

The new one was 'communal-style', so to speak; you booked yourself a room and that was your space for your stay, but the kitchen and porch and living room were all communal spaces. It was the kind of place travelers keen on meeting new people booked at, for a chance at socializing.

The old one still had more than one available room, but it was only able to be booked by one 'entity' at a time. Usually, it was booked by groups; bands on tour in the area, or families for birthday parties, those sorts of bookings. But there was absolutely nothing preventing a single person from booking to have the entire building to themselves, if they felt like it.

"Milo said if I got you to stay over, he'd come and make breakfast for us..."

And Milo, it had to be said, was a damn good cook. If he weren't a Gym Leader and farmer, he could probably open up his own breakfast place and it would do amazingly well. His specialties were breakfasts, as well as jams and marmalades (his gifts for his friends always included some of his homemade jams and marmalades, which everyone was obsessed with), and any dessert that involved at least one fruit at some point in the process.

So, yes, Griz was absolutely attempting to bribe Leon into joining her for a weekend break at Milo's family's bed and breakfast by dangling the promise of Milo's cooking (and the implied promise of the two of them having the entire weekend to themselves, just to hang out and catch up and not worry about anything or anyone) in front of him.

The question was: would it work?
​
 
With the way that his body had gone rigid, eyes as round and wide as an Espurr, she seriously couldn’t hold back from laughing! One of her hands flew to clasp over her mouth as she erupted into uncontrollable giggles, and the other hand lifted to feebly point at him.

“I got you!”

With each accusatory name that was thrown at her, she only laughed more–she honestly couldn’t believe that that lie actually went right over his head until she fessed up about it, even though the confession happened within literal seconds of the lie being told. In order to settle herself, she inhaled slowly, and exhaled. After doing this a few more times, she offered him an impish smile.

“Ehe–oh, yes, donations, I…” The mischief that had been buzzing in the air around her fizzled out, instead being replaced by something much more sheepish and uncertain. “If you’re up for it, yeah!”

In all honesty, it was surprising that he was truly interested in rekindling the friendship that they had when they were kids. She never really thought that they’d ever come into contact with each other ever again. Not in any way that truly, deeply mattered, at least. Nothing more than a, ‘Hey, I remember you! Things have been good? Awesome! Maybe I’ll see you around another time!’ So, safe to say that Penelope was pleasantly surprised.

The idea of him tagging along with her to bring the donations back, well, that was a bit intimidating. She really didn’t want to take up too much of his time, he was a busy guy, after all! There was no doubt in her mind that he had other things to tend to today, but if he was offering… She supposed that she wouldn’t mind stealing him away for a bit longer.

“We’ll see when we get there, okay? The offer is kind, though. Thank you.”

With what seemed to be the hundredth thank you of their lunch meeting, Penelope returned to her meal, as well. Her iced latte had gone kind of luke-warm at this point, but her sandwich was still in good health. The iced latte was a bit unfortunate, but she still managed to drink it with a scrunch of her nose and brows, clearly not too pleased by the different temperature.

Once finished with their meals, they were out the door. Now that they were both up on their feet, Penelope noted that his height was a bit more intimidating than it was before. Arceus, this guy sprouted up like a tree, huh?

Not important.

Penelope averted her gaze to instead look down at her shoes. As she listened to his Rotom Phone jabber, her eyes shifted between his shoes and her own. She took note of his gait–long ass legs of his–and attempted to match the speed in which he walked. Being entirely too focused on the simple act of walking, she gave his phone a passive glance when it was first offered, then returned her eyes to their shoes again. It took her a moment, maybe two to recognize what the gesture had meant, and then her head whipped back up to him again.

“Sorry!”

Letting out a chuckle from her own distraction, she plucked the phone from his hands and began to poke away at the screen, inputting her number. It was a bit baffling to her that he already trusted her so much, especially with his personal number. He certainly had a lot of trust in childhood friends, hm?

“I’d never do that, you know.” Penelope pointed out as she input her name, Penelope. “I’ve had Gordie’s number for a while now, so if you need a reference for just how trustworthy I am, ask him.”

Before giving his phone back, she poked at the default contact picture, and selected the camera option before she extended the phone in front of her with one hand. Using her other hand, she made a loose fist and lifted it to rest next to her cheek as if to mimic a paw, and with a coy smile she took a picture. After a moment of assessing the quality of the picture, she gave a shrug and set the image as her contact photo.

“There, now you’re all decked out with the Penelope special.”

Wearing a playful grin, she passed his phone back to him before she picked up the walking pace a bit–off to the Pokémon Center! She tipped her head back to peer up at the sky for a moment, she still had a good amount of daylight left, so she didn’t really have to rush, but still! Her schedule had already been pushed back far more than it should have today–not that she really minded that, though.

“It’s been a little while since we last picked up anything from this particular location, so my bets are on there being a bit of a stockpile, so with that on top of–well, what you just said–we should have a decent haul today. The more the merrier, though! Whenever we accept donations, we have to go through it all to make sure that everything is actually in good condition to be used. Especially since we accept brand new items and previously owned, gotta go through it all to ensure quality.”

With an excitable grin, once their location was within view, she skipped ahead of them to open up the door. Propping it open with her foot, she allowed him to enter first, and then filed in behind him.

“Okay, just… Wait here for a second, okay? Gotta go verify my identity and affiliation, all that jazz.”
-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈​
It was nice to reconnect like this. His chest had grown warm with fondness, and maybe even a little bit of relief, too. Relief that the time apart from one another hadn’t dampened their bond with one another. Leon had been a bit afraid of that–of things being awkward now that they were here. Thankfully, that didn’t seem to be the case at all. It was like nothing had ever changed and they were just picking up right where they left off. His stupid little jokes that he used when they were kids still worked, too–that must be a good sign, right? It was as good a sign as any, at least to Leon.

With their meals and appetizers ordered (as well as drinks, Leon had stuck with water as well this time around), they had plenty of time to chat while they waited. Perhaps what Leon wanted to do the most, in all honesty. Just sit and talk.

Even with all of her giggling, Leon’s expression remained–concerned. He even gave her foot a gentle nudge in return, as if to wordlessly say, I’m being serious right now.

Once he had received confirmation that she was definitely not staying in an overly expensive hotel, he released a sigh. Well, that was one thing he didn’t have to worry about now! Although, that did raise another question (and another worry)... Where was she actually staying, then?

Leon let his head tilt ever so slightly, with one of his brows raised in curiosity. Oh… Thank you, Milo!

“Well, that’s good. If you’d have told me that you were staying in a hotel or something, I would’ve offered to pay for it… I’ll have to give Milo my thanks for all of this too, then.”

Camping out in the Wild Area wasn’t too bad, but he was a bit worried about the weather–jeez. He had to pause for a moment to remind himself that this is what she’s been doing all of these years. Traveling and camping, it was practically her bread and butter at this point. That wouldn’t stop him from worrying about her, though.

If the time ever came, he’d easily offer that she stay with him for a bit, if she ever needed to, or even if she just wanted to. Either way, he wouldn’t mind–a heads up would be nice though, just so he could make sure everything was tidied up properly to have company. That was kind of jumping the gun though, wasn’t it? Well, it didn’t hurt to just think about it, did it?

“I know, I know, I just… Okay, I won’t worry.”

Probably a lie. He’d probably end up getting worried again.

“Well, wait, are you sure you’d be okay with that?”

There he goes again.

“With me staying there too. Not that I wouldn’t be comfortable staying there, I just–if I were to consider it at all–I want to make sure that you’re completely comfortable with it on your end. It’s been a while, a few years since we’ve last properly seen each other, and joining you at Milo’s bed and breakfast–if I do–I wouldn’t want to impede on your personal space.”

How would he be invading her space if she had just invited him? Sometimes Leon’s own logic didn’t make sense to himself.

Leon paused when he heard those last words of hers. The way she said it, really–Milo would make them breakfast? Damn good deal, he had to admit. All this effort to get him to take a break? It still shocked him a bit that everyone would be willing to do so much for him. Yes, they were his friends, and he would most definitely do the same for all of them if they were ever in a rough spot, so he didn’t necessarily know why it surprised him so much that they would do this for him… But still, somehow, it was a shocker all the same.

He mulled over the idea of it for a little while. It could be nice. A weekend getaway with one of his closest friends, that would give them a lot of time to chat and catch up. That and Milo’s cooking…

Wait.

“You’re totally bribing me right now, aren’t you?”

Good natured bribing, though. The best kind of bribing, even. He couldn’t get mad at her for it.

“It’s a lovely offer, really. I’m really considering it, but… I have… I have things that I need to be doing, I can’t just up and leave them right now. I’d have to sort it all out: ensure that the paperwork that I needed to get finished by the end of the weekend is done, make sure that I have matches and a couple of meetings rescheduled, too… I mean–well, it’s totally doable, I suppose. It's just… I’m not entirely sure.”

The idea of taking an extended break like that was kind of discomforting right now, and he didn’t know how to express that without sounding like he was working himself to the bone–which was exactly what he was doing, by the way. Underneath the table, one of his knees began to bounce, making it all that much clearer that he was getting a bit anxious at the idea of leaving all of his work behind, even just for a little while.

“I appreciate the offer, I do, I really do. I’m just, not… I’m not sure if I can do that right now.”
 

He couldn't help but laugh along with her, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. Yes, she had gotten him, and a part of him had to admit: he was kind of impressed! He didn't remember her trying to punk him like this when they'd been kids, but maybe she had and just hadn't succeeded. Right now, she had, and that was worth having a laugh with her.

And maybe it was a little funny.

As his laughter began to die down, the dark-haired Gym Leader offered her a reassuring grin and promised, "believe me, I'll be happy to escape the doldrums of paperwork for a little while longer."

Logically, he understood why paperwork was a thing. It was important for all sorts of reasons, he always did his well and made sure everything was exactly on time at the absolute latest (but preferably at least a couple days early). That meant that he truly did have the time to shuffle things around to make this little impromptu excursion possible, and frankly, Raihan felt like he both needed it and deserved it.

He'd been dealing with no small amount of paperwork lately; WLO-related paperwork, legal-related paperwork, his usual paperwork relating to safety inspections and the like, not to mention paperwork relating to Vault safety and some restoration-/repair-work that needed doing...

Yeah, he needed this. A chance to not look at paperwork for a little while, to feel the air and get around and move a little.

He was quite content to follow her out once they had finished. Of course, the sight of her initially looking at his phone and then back down had him cocking his head a bit, curious.

"Did you just not realize what I was going for, or was that a polite way of saying you didn't want to exchange contact info and now I just made it weird by asking again?"

Luckily for him, she'd just not realized.

"Much appreciated! Hah, nice shot; perhaps you've learnt a thing or two from the Great Raihan?"

Raihan had been obsessed with taking photos even back when he'd been in the Gym Challenge, before he'd even met Peni. And he was basically just joking, really, but if she happened to admit to such a thing then he sure wouldn't complain...

A mischievous gleam sharpened his gaze at her response to his humble request. Gordie, huh?

(Gordie and Raihan were excellent friends. They met up when they could for cooking and baking, and sometimes they did photography-related stuff together: fan events, but also their own fun antics. They'd done more intense training together, too, and generally just enjoyed spending time together. They weren't best friends, not like Raihan and Leon or even Raihan and Piers, but the bond between Raihan and Gordie was nonetheless true and enduring)

"Ah, yes, I'd forgotten you two used to date."

Judging by the smug little smirk on his face as the pair began making their way to her destination, he knew the entire story there. And this wasn't just 'sorta remembered' or 'had kinda heard about it', oh no, he'd heard all about that one from Gordie.

"Melony was heartbroken to hear you'd broken up." Well, there was also the matter of the rather more recent fight between her and her son Gordie, but all the same... "I hope you aren't still dealing with people asking you what it was like dating him."

He chuckled a bit at the thought of the story, shaking his head. Oh, yes, that had been a wonderful tale.

He sighed, then fixed her with a more serious look.

"In all seriousness, there are a great many changes going on with regards to what we will and won't be allowing the media to do moving forward. There's been a tiny bit of a death spiral of sorts, them trying to cling to the influence they used to have under Rose, but we're bringing them to heel. If anyone gives you any trouble in an attempt to skirt around the changes, please, tell me or Gordie right away so we can deal with it."

He was being very serious about it, because the last thing he wanted was for her to have to deal with any of that nonsense...especially not on her own. Raihan and Gordie had the media training as well as the legal staff at their disposal to handle any incidents, but that wasn't necessarily true of Peni.

When they'd arrived and she said she needed to go through the standard protocols, he gave her a nod. He was content to hang back; near enough he'd be able to quickly help if it turned out that there was a lot, but also not looking like he was crowding her or pressuring her or anything of the sort.

He was curious, though: just how much would she have to bring back with her?
​
✺✳ ══ ✧ ══ ✳✺​

Ahhh, Leon... She had a feeling he would've offered to pay.

Luckily, that wasn't necessary; despite the fact that Milo's status as Gym Leader would've been seen by some as carte blanche to jack up the prices of his family's business, they resolutely kept their prices as they had been before the family's eldest son had made it big. And Griz definitely wasn't the type to waste money spending nights at stupidly expensive hotels when she could just camp out instead.

She did eye him dubiously, rather doubting that he'd just give up on worrying about it. This was Leon.

And, yep, right on cue!

Griz couldn't help but huff, rolling her eyes (affectionate) and tapping his foot with hers again.

"Leon, I appreciate you and your gallant gentleman nature and all, but relax. I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't good with it. So what it's been a few years? I trust you. I know enough of who you are on the inside — I don't care what the media or the conspiracy theorists have to say right now, you're a good and trustworthy man, and fuck anyone who says otherwise. Preferably with a cactus."

She fell silent, taking a sip of her water and just letting him ruminate over her attempted bribery. A weekend spent with just the two of them, a breakfast made by Milo, a chance for them to catch up and unwind...

He noticed, of course, because there's no way he wouldn't. His question was met with a cheeky grin, eyes shining with mirth.

"That depends — is it working?" Laughing, she nodded and agreed, "I am absolutely trying to bribe you, yes."

She fell silent again to let him ponder it. When he spoke up in resistance (because this was Leon and things like this couldn't be easy with him), Griz at first remained silent as she debated how she wanted to approach this. Eyebrows furrowed, fingers drumming lightly against the table — she was thinking, strategizing how she might best dismantle his opposition.

Finally, she sighed again. Her expression softened, and she reached forward to gently set her hand atop his.

"Leon...

Look, I get that what you're doing is important. I'm not arguing that. But I've heard enough from Raihan, Sonia, and Melony that I am seriously concerned about you, like, dropping dead or at the very least ending up hospitalized because this isn't sustainable. It really isn't.

I mean, listen to what you're telling me. I'm not asking you to skip the rest of today or work days next week, I'm asking you for a weekend. And you're telling me about scheduling and paperwork. Are you seriously thinking that the paperwork won't be done today? 'Cause I think what's gonna happen is that you finish it today, then this guilt you have over — let me guess — the fact that you did not singlehandedly save Galar, got hurt trying to, and that Hop and Gloria had to finish the job is going to take over, and then you'll find several other things to do that really could wait but you'll convince yourself they can't, and that is what you'll be doing this weekend."

She fell silent for a beat — just a beat, not long enough for him to start to argue back, just for her point to sink in a bit — and then continued, softer now.

"Leon, the work you're doing is important, but you are not a surgeon on a mountaintop who's the only surgeon trained to perform a particular complex life-saving operation with a deathly-ill patient waiting for you to don the gloves and get working. No one will die if you take the weekend off.

Might some people be stroppy about it? Yeah, maybe, 'cause Rose trained them to want their Leaders and Champion to be doing event after event and shit like that, and you're still a public figure with your Battle Tower, and old bad habits don't change easily. But the point of the changes you and Melony are spearheading is to make things better. Not to continue the same old shit as under Rose, just smelling of a different flower and coloured differently.

You, my friend, need a break. And also to learn about this wonderful thing called "delegation of tasks" that would also make your life significantly better, because not one of the things you just told me about is something that you personally must attend to or else, but we can work on that.

Just give me one weekend, Leo. One weekend to try to remind you that you do not have to 'make up' for whatever you think you did not good enough by working yourself to death, or whatever it is in your head.

Please, Leo?"

And now she was bringing out the really big guns. Top of the list, of course, was the nickname she'd used back when they were kids. Raihan and Hop had a tendency to call him 'Lee', but Griz had taken to calling him 'Leo'. Plus, for good measure, an attempt at what she hoped were very convincing Eevee eyes to maybe hopefully seal the deal in her favour.

"For me?"
​
 
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