<After an intense grilling deep into the early morning, Chad, Calem, and Serena share a breakfast in Snowbelle City before flying off over Route 21 with a quick stop at Victory Road to register for the season’s conference. With a little over four months to train up, and no rush to do so, the three continue over Route 22, Santalune City, and Route 4 at a leisurely pace. The sights from the air are pleasant, as the two occasionally wave at a trainer down below.>
<Upon arriving back in Lumiose City, Serena drags Chad into an electronics store while Calem assists with brokering the sale of a Holo Caster. The attendant is confused, even after being provided Chad’s trainer ID and the necessary funds. With their goal achieved, the duo help Chad set up his device, forwarding his number to the Vaniville group chat while adding their own numbers to his contacts.>
<Holding up his self-assigned end of the deal, Chad forces Calem and Serena to register for flying classes, which would keep them busy for at least a week. Serena, reading the fine print about being able to take the class with another trainer’s pokemon, begs Chad to help her with the tests. Chad attempts to decline her request when Calem then requests copies of Chad’s tests and notes from when he earned his license. Turning the two down, he stresses how a pokemon like him, unable to communicate verbally with others, was able to ace the exams.>
<Leaving the two to their studies and endeavor for true freedom, Chad pays a visit to Sycamore’s Lab. Receiving a warm welcome from the eccentric and his staff, Chad uses his new Holo Caster to explain what he’s been up to, some of his plans, and to ‘return’ the pokedex that he had found in his backpack. Sycamore, inspired by Chad’s old device, showed off his invention of a button that would produce sound when pressed. He had recorded an assistant speaking the word “Hungry” and set the button to play the sound whenever pressed. Supposedly, an experiment with the button and a rotating cast of pokemon living in the city have shown promising results, with plans to add other buttons and other words to build up a vocabulary to a functional level.>
<Later that evening, Chad found himself standing outside of Eevee’s Choice alone, having split up from the rest of the team to let them explore the city on their own terms for a night. The hostess, a familiar Sylveon, recognizes Chad and leads him to a table for two.>
The establishment is mildly busy tonight, with half the tables empty while other small groups of various pokemon discuss a variety of personal and hushed topics. On the wall beside him hangs an oil painting in a solid black frame, the image of a bright and cheerful Noibat flying against a plain background. Chad notices the two black ribbons dangling from the top center of the frame and curving to the outside edges.
“I didn’t know how else to honor him,” a familiar voice announced from behind him; a familiar gold and tan dragon standing nearby. “Turns out these hands are just as great for drawing and painting as they are for punching someone’s lights out.”
Chad smiled warmly, using his tail to push out the other chair in invitation. “Sometimes, you need to do a little of the latter before your hands are still enough for the former.” Another waiter stopped by, placing two glasses of water on the table before walking towards another party. “How are you feeling?”
Dragonite leaned back in their chair, eyes still drawn to the painting of Noibat. “Still wondering what I could have done differently, what he’d say if he was still here… You’ve lost someone close to you, haven’t you?”
Chad swallowed the gulp of water, his eyes flickering with a pang of regret. “Several ways, but the most recent was my best friend and companion of thirteen years; my dog, Legoshi.”
Dragonite bit back a laugh, sounding like they were choking. “You named your dog after an old anime? I guess there’s worse names for Huskies.”
“He wasn’t a husky,” Chad smirked, likely retreading this conversation for the hundredth time. “He was a Golden Retriever, and the only person left in my life who loved me unconditionally. It’s why I was even at that place to begin with; I was picking up a massive oil painting I commissioned of him.”
Dragonite perked up, their antenna twitching at the final sentence. “You wouldn’t have happened to have commissioned _____, would you?”
Chad straightened up in shock, before his eyes flew up to the Noibat once more, recognition dawning on him. “No way… How did it come out?”
Dragonite took a sip while smiling, their eyes elated at the revelation. “It was my favorite piece, suitable for being my last. I was going to offer you a refund with the painting since I didn’t really need money anymore.”
The two sat in silence, as a flurry of emotions swam across Chad’s face before he settled on one of hopeful optimism. “Want to go on a date? There’s an art museum in the city I’ve been told is a must-see.”
At the bar sat a yellow-furred bipedal vulpine, her tail swishing left to right listlessly until the bartender arrived to hand her a short glass with an orb of ice and a dark caramel liquor, and a tall shapely glass filled with a fizzing pink cocktail, complete with a tiny umbrella stuck in a floating slice of citrus on the top. She lifted both drinks, moving towards the back door and sliding it open with a hip-check before walking through backwards.
On the other side, she emerged on the left side of a giant stage, watching as several pokemon walked off to the right while two ‘dragons’ remained in the center, pretending they were out walking the city while in the shadows the various setpieces of the cafe were replaced with standees with fake paintings. Smiling, and careful to neither grab the audience’s attention nor slip into the orchestral pit, she strode towards the spotlighted podium behind which a man-shaped being wore a bespoke pinstripe suit and pants with a matching stylish hat.
“I hope I remembered correctly, it has been a while.” She confessed, offering him the drink. He seemed exhausted, but gently accepted the fruity pink glass while creating a space for it on his podium.
“Thanks. I can’t remember ever having both the audience and actors heckling me at the same time, it’s been a stressful tale.” He responded with a deep exhale, utterly exhausted and leaning against the podium for support.
“I figured, thus my little trip behind the curtain.” She empathized while gently rubbing him on the back. Each took a sip of their respective indulgences, watching as the two costumed humans on stage discussed a particular piece of art; a painting made by one of the set decorators. “You know, maybe you should change it up next time? Join me on the other side?”
A comically-proportioned canine-costumed actor entered from stage left, with white and brown fur while holding an oversized paint brush of a tail. The audience laughed, likely at a joke or witty line, or maybe just at the odd appearance of the costume. “At the start of this Story, I would have called you crazy. But now, I think that sounds like a nice change of pace.” The Narrator admitted with a weak smile, seeming to gain a little pep back from his beverage.
“Hey, Narrator!” The orange fire dragon called out from the stage. “Did Degas’ painting really get put up on display before I got my final badge?”
<Ahem. Ah, yes, Chad. Regrettably for your wallet, he did indeed win the wager.>
“Noo, my money!” The dragon wailed, spurring the audience to laughter.
{I wouldn’t fret over it too much, Chad. You should support your local artists.}
The golden dragon pantomimed confusion before chiming in. “Lady, is that you? I can’t see you anywhere.”
The Narrator’s spotlight grew to encompass the pair, as The Lady’s striking crimson low-cut skin-tight revealing dress drew a slew of wolf-whistles from the audience.
{Yes, just catching up with an old friend for a moment.}If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
A light peck on the cheek was met with a round of cheers for the Narrator, as she sashayed back towards the stage curtain. Before vanishing behind the red silk completely, she blew a kiss towards the suited gentleman, who caught the gesture with a quick hand, gently placing it in his breast pocket.
<After passing back Gaston’s pokeball to Chad, and a lovely walk through the museum together, the two began to discuss how to spend the next four months. Chad was insistent on finding a way to keep his team fed, which meant earning money. And thus Dragonite offered a proposal; Chad could work at the cafe, earning funds for his team, while everyone was off training in his homeland of the Dragon Territories.>
<hr>
<Calem and Serena, now licensed to fly with their very own pokemon, stopped by the cafe to say their parting words to Chad until the conference. Both were returning to Vaniville town for a special gift and celebration with their families, but promised to keep in contact. Barely a day later, both sent the group chat a picture of fancy stones, strikingly similar to Chad’s own. With a secretive direct message, he urged the two to head north to Shalour City, to visit Korrina, and show her the stones. Not long after, the two responded with their own cryptic messages, lighting a fire under Chad and company’s training goals once more.>
<Days sped into weeks, which jumped into months, as the six trained their hearts out in Dragon Valley. The ambient energies bolstered their strength, as Dragonite served as both mentor and training partner, continuing to push them all to their upper limits. Right up until the final day of the season, the week before the beginning of the conference, when Chad received the email he had been waiting for.>
“Trainer Chad, we congratulate you on a wildly successful season. Finishing all eight badges in your first year is a major triumph among trainers that we here at the Kalos Pokemon League celebrate and recognize. Blah blah blah, this year’s conference, blah blah blah… Unfortunately, for safety reasons, we cannot permit you to participate this year without a human trainer.”
The mood around the room was bleak, as all six processed the words Chad had read aloud. “This sucks,” Alexandre commented, kicking a cushion on the floor. “Damned bureaucrats are afraid we’d upset the status quo.” Chad’s Holo Caster began to ping several times in rapid succession, both with messages and new emails. Ripping off the band-aid, he quickly responded in the group chat that he was not being permitted to participate in the conference.
Flipping back to his inbox, the emails were from several gym leaders; Wulfric, Olympia, Korrina, Viola, Valerie, and even Ramos all wrote to him their apologies. Wulfric even included a copy of the email he sent to the League advocating on Chad’s behalf.
“So that’s it? No conference after all that?” Keanu asked, standing up to flex his wings and stretch. “Rather anticlimactic way to end things. But I suppose that means our agreement is fulfilled.”
<Keanu, while this may be an insulting outcome, the terms of the agreement were through the duration of the conference. Regardless of our participation, you will need to remain with the team through one more month.>
“Then I can go?”
<Then I will have you ferried to your destination in Galar, as requested, quicker than you could fly yourself.>
Grumbling and grouchy, unlike his namesake, the owl returned to his claimed seat and mumbled incoherently about his situation. Chad meanwhile, was eyeing the avian in suspicion.
<hr>
<Shauna tapped her foot impatiently beside Chad, the duo waiting outside the entrance as Tierno and Trevor ran towards them. “Hurry up! If we miss either of their matches because you two were late, I’ll make sure they know exactly who to blame!” She shouted, angrily gripping a pokeball at her belt. The two boys were out of breath when they got close enough, only for both to be dragged by the wrist inside the stadium. Chad waved as she went towards the humans-only seating area, while he sauntered over to the pokemon-friendly entry.>
“Rather frustrating, I imagine?” A familiar voice suggested, as Rousseau appeared floating behind him. Chad leapt a bit in surprise before huffing a small bit of fire to express his displeasure.
“Yea, but at least I won’t be watching alone. Though, Gaston may need to take up a spot at the very back.” Chad responded, spotting something in the sky and waving. Dragonite gently landed in front of the two, with barely a light gust from their sudden arrival. “Sorry though, Rousseau, I didn’t get you a ticket.”
“Quite alright; I’ll be watching from the VIP box with Olympia. Enjoy!” He cheered, before vanishing with a soft ‘pop’. Living in the moment, Chad led the way in, offering the attendant his ticket for 7 viewers. Cutting it close, they were barely able to find a place to release everyone, and ended up relying on Gaston’s height to serve as their vantage point. The crowd begins to cheer as the opening ceremony begins, kicking off the multi-week event.
<hr>
<The qualifiers go by quickly, as Calem and Serena trounce their opponents while keeping their cards close to the chest. Both find themselves invigorated by the support from both their friends in the stands, as well as the ones in the ground-level pokemon corral. As if pre-ordained by fate, both were seeded on opposite brackets, delaying a match between the two until the finals; a fact which drove both to crush their challengers and climb to the very top. As the matches bore on, one stood out for a brief moment as a fighting specialist sent forth an Eevee, or rather an Eevee-lution? White taller and leaner than a normal Eevee, he had a tuft of red fur shaped into a headband, with billowing red ribbons from the back of the head, matching red fur covering the front paws. In addition, he had a stiff white coat of fur, almost stylized to resemble a fighting gi, which flowed back from his neck and down each leg, matching up with the tail to provide a pair of coattails. Remarkably, the stylized character pattern on the back appeared natural, representing the word ''fight''.>
Did you seriously just cosplay an Eevee as Ryu?
<Shush! And thus, on the day of the finals, did the lovebirds face each other once more, with an energy that infected the audience and riled them up even more. “Welcome everyone, to the final match of the Kalos Pokemon League Lumiose Conference!” The announcer shouted into his microphone, speakers around the stadium echoing his enthusiastic voice. “Today is going to be absolutely fantastic, as BOTH of our finalists this year are still in their FIRST year of the circuit!” A wave of cheers crashed down from the audience, hyped up for this tremendous moment.>
<”First to enter the field, we welcome Calem from Vaniville Town!” Calem, wearing his signature blue tracksuit, walked out while waving and smiling at the crowd. “And his opponent for this exciting match will be Serena, also from Vaniville Town! I can’t believe it either folks; what are they feeding the kids down there?” The announcer joked, as Serena power-walked out in her iconic black top and pleated orange skirt.>
<Both trainers moved to their respective boxes, separated by an open grass field with some rocks on the sides. “Today folks, we’ll be starting off with the Grass Battlefield. As a reminder, once three pokemon from the same trainer faint, we’ll take a short break to change fields. The match will go until one trainer has no more usable pokemon, leaving us with our winner! Now trainers, are you ready?!” Both Calem and Serena lift up a pokeball each, signaling their confirmation. “On the count of three, the first round of this final match will begin. One! Two! Three!”>
<hr>
<Several hours and two field changes later, Calem and Serena are down to their final pokemon each. Claude is already out on the field, lightly damaged from the previous knockout. Calem’s final pokemon is revealed to be Dorothy, as the two starters square off across the cityscape-themed battlefield.>
“Calem, let’s finish this with a final push, yea?” Serena suggested, lifting up an arm with an odd black bracelet. The embedded white stone seemed to either catch the stadium lights or glow on its own.
Calem, lifting up an arm and pulling back a sleeve to reveal a similar, glowing bracelet, smirked like he was in on the biggest joke in the world. “One last hurrah, one final tie-breaker; funny how it ended up being here.”
Claude began to glow, as Serena held her bracelet high and shouted: “Let’s show them just how in sync we are, Claude!” The Chesnaught went pure white, his legs slimming down along with his tail, as six extra arms seemingly grew from his back. As the light faded, his poncho had inverted, with a long front and an open back; the rotation gave him a sort of martial arts gi, as each of the energy-based arms splayed out in a circle behind him. Each hand held a different pose, as the Mega Chesnaught seemed to be floating, his glowing green eyes shone with centuries of experience.
“Just because she’s gotten stronger doesn’t mean we slacked off! Dorothy, let’s bring home that trophy!” Calem declared, as Dorothy took on her own white glow. Her wand grew out into a full wicker broom, her tail doubling in both size and fluff, but the biggest changes appeared when the light faded. A magenta-colored energy cone took residence floating above her head, growing a brim to resemble a witch’s hat. Swinging the broom below her, she sat down as the cleaning tool began to float the two of them up in the air.
<”I DON’T BELIEVE IT FOLKS! CALEM AND SERENA HAVE SEEMINGLY REDISCOVERED THE MEGA DELPHOX AND MEGA CHESNAUGHT EVOLUTIONS NOT SEEN FOR OVER TWO DECADES!” The announcer shouted, as everyone in their stands– pardon the language– collectively lost their shit.>
<hr>
Wearing one of her iconic white outfits, Champion Diantha stood proudly atop the stage, as the top three of the Lumiose Conference walked onto the stage. “What a year this has been. First to the stage, I would love to welcome and congratulate Jacques for securing third place this year.” She announced, as an older teen wearing a deep purple suit with sequins and glitter accents took to the podium, thanking the audience for their cheers while accepting the bronze medal from the Champion.
“And now, for the first time in our Kalos Pokemon League’s storied history, we welcome both first-place finishers to the stage, having achieved the first and only draw for a finals match, ever! Please give it up for Calem and Serena!” The two trainers made their way up to the pedestal, holding hands while waving with their free arms. Diantha, noting the decision they displayed, offered the shining trophy which the duo gripped on either side, hoisting it together for the crowd to see.
“We’re putting this on our mantle,” Calem commented, barely audible beneath the cheers of the crowd.
“Our mantle? You think I’m gonna marry you just because you didn’t lose to me?” Serena quipped back, staring at him for a response.
“Nah, I know I’m gonna marry you, because without each other, neither of us would be standing here, right now.” He responded, as each sought out one another, eyes firmly locked on the true prize of the tournament. Together, they lifted the trophy, covering their faces for a brief moment of privacy, while cameras lit up like crazy attempting to capture the moment.
“And now, as I am certain many of you were expecting something flashy for our closing ceremony, I believe you are about to be quite satisfied.” Diantha announced, as the spotlight shifted from the victory pedestal to herself.
Chad heard a small ‘pop’ behind him. “Return your team,” an elderly voice urged, before a second ‘pop’ occurred. Looking around, the fire type noticed Dragonite was missing, as was the mystery speaker. Following the suggestion (with everyone’s agreement on the suspiciousness of the timing), Chad returned his five teammates to their pokeballs on his belt.
“This tournament has shown us many promising young trainers, of which I implore those of you hungry for victory to come back again next year, stronger and ready for the challenge that awaits!” Light applause, including some cheers from those who hadn’t made the cut to compete.
“Narrator, what’s going on?” Chad whispered, noticing as a staff member ushered the three victors off the stage in the darkness.
<I– I actually do not know. This wasn’t in the script…>
“But for our closing ceremony, I want to highlight a trainer who did not grace this stage. A trainer who was being carefully watched, dutifully observed, and a hot contender for our gym leaders’ prediction of the number one trainer of the conference!” The cheers were gone, the entire crowd was abuzz over the revelations. “This year, our closing ceremony will be a showmatch, between myself and this very trainer. Everyone, please welcome one final trainer for tonight; Chad, of Vaniville Town!”