Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Byakuya was enjoying a book while lying on his bed. His Larvesta lay next to him, the big bug pokémon curled into herself. Larvesta gave off a nice warmth, something that the boy quite enjoyed.

He turned the page of the book and put his hand back on Larvesta’s head, the pokémon giving him a small purr-like noise in response.

But then the bug type suddenly stood up and jumped off the bed. She looked at Byakuya as she waited for him to open the door.

Father must be back home then.

That was the only reason why Larvesta would move from her spot.

So, Byakuya stood up and opened the door. Larvesta immediately ran to the stairs and walked down them as fast as her little legs could. Byakuya followed her downstairs.

“Father,” He greeted with a nod as Larvesta rubbed her head against his father’s leg. The bug really acted like a Skitty at times.

His father looked at him after giving Larvesta a few pets. “Byakuya.” He greeted in return. “I brought you a gift since you’re leaving tomorrow.”

“And what may this gift be?” The boy asked, tilting his head slightly as he wondered what his father could’ve brought him.

He already had most of the things he needed, after all. Nobody was dumb enough to not leave extra prepared for the Gym Challenge. At least, Byakuya wasn’t.

His father pulled out a black box from the bag he was carrying. On the top of it was a pokéball logo, which could only mean one thing.

“I had some pokéballs created for you,” Father explained while opening the box. Inside were around twenty pokéballs and the only thing that distinguished them from normal pokéballs was the ‘B’ engraved in them.

He wasn’t really surprised his father would gift him pokéballs. That’s what they were known for, after all.

Byakuya smiled slightly as he saw these. “Thank you, Father. I’ll make sure to use them on the best pokémon I can find.”

“I don’t doubt that.” Father responded. “Now, why don’t you get to sleep? Knowing you, you’ll want to leave bright and early tomorrow.”

“Well, of course. It’ll be a long walk from here to Route 4,” The boy retorted, rolling his eyes slightly.

Father just hummed in response. “No matter the reason, it’s best you get to bed.”

“Of course,” Byakuya said with a nod, already turning to walk back up the stairs. “Goodnight, Father.”

“You too.”

Byakuya was woken up by a sudden and close warmness to his face. As he opened his eyes groggily, he could vaguely make out the familiar shape of Larvesta. While it was hard for him to see without his glasses, there was no mistaking the bug. Especially not when it was next to him.

He reached for his glasses and when he finally had them in his hands, put them on. Larvesta was still staring at him. As usual.

“What is it?” He asked the bug who just looked towards the door in response.

Byakuya sighed. “You’ll get your breakfast soon. Let me get ready first,” He said as he walked into his bathroom.

Larvesta let out an almost disappointing sounding chirp in response, but she didn’t try anything. So, Byakuya just made himself ready.

After a short shower, he put his clothes on. He wanted to look immaculate, so his outfit consisted of a dress shirt- with a tie, of course- and dress pants. He decided not to go with a jacket since it was quite warm outside, it often was in Kalos.

When he deemed himself ready, he opened his door- after grabbing his backpack that he had prepared, of course.

Downstairs, Father’s Beheeyem was already cooking breakfast, Father himself was watching over him, his back turned to Byakuya.

Larvesta immediately went for the bowl with fresh food that lay on the ground for her. Byakuya hadn’t expected otherwise.

Once Beheeyem was done cooking, he and his father ate breakfast in silence. They both knew what would be happening but decided to wait until it was time.

And once it was time, Father looked at him. “It’s already past nine, you’re quite late.” He joked.

Byakuya rolled his eyes. “How funny of you, Father. I’ll make it to Route 4 on time, don’t worry.”

“You know I can’t do that, I’m your father after all,” Father began, a small smile forming on his face. “Make sure to call me. And visit.”

“Of course, Father. I’ll need to pass Lumiose City anyway after I’ve defeated the first gym. I’ll visit then.”

“Good,” Father responded, suddenly ruffling Byakuya’s hair. “Take care. Both you and Larvesta.”

“Yes, yes. We will. There’s no need to get sentimental,” Byakuya said, jokingly rolling his eyes.

Before his father could respond, he grabbed his backpack and turned to the door. “I love you, Father.” And then he left.

That would at least get his father of his back for some time. While the man was an amazing businessman, he could also be a sentimental fool at times. Overbearing too. But Byakuya knew that if he just said those three words, his father would let him be. He just was like that. Which was a good thing since Byakuya didn’t really need that right now.

After all, his focus was on competing in the Gym Challenge and winning.

So, that was what he was going to do. And his first stop was the bug type gym, something that wouldn’t prove to be too difficult since he had Larvesta. Her ember would make quick work of those bug types.

Though, he would still do some training before that. After all, Larvesta hadn’t been in many battles before and he surely wasn’t going to fail his first gym battle.

Larvesta didn’t seem to mind this since she walked happily alongside Byakuya. That is, until a pokémon practically ran into Byakuya. It almost made him topple over.

After a quick look, the perpetrator turned out to be a Helioptile. It didn’t seem to mind that it ran into Byakuya, but a boy who looked to be its trainer did.

“A-ah! I’m so sorry, Helioptile often decided to just... run and I can’t keep up with him,” The trainer apologized, their gaze fixed upon the ground.

The trainer looked to be around Byakuya’s age, though he was much shorter. He had light brown hair and was wearing something akin to what an engineer or inventor would wear. Something about him was familiar too, like Byakuya knew him...

“Next time, just put it into its pokéball or something. It may get hurt,” Byakuya said with a scoff, he was quite annoyed by this boy already.

“Right, sorry...” The boy said, looking up with an apologetic look. Then, his eyes widened. “Y-you’re the Byakuya Togami, aren’t you?! I’m so, so, sorry!”

“Hm. So you know who I am,” Byakuya noted, his annoyance disappearing. Maybe this boy was not so bad after all.

The boy nodded. “Well, of course! It’s almost impossible not to... Especially in Lumiose City!” He said before holding out his hand. “I’m Chihiro Fujisaki...”

That name... sounded familiar too, but Byakuya couldn’t place it.

It probably wasn’t important then.

Byakuya looked at the hand but made no move to take it. This boy was too insignificant. Maybe he wasn’t necessarily bad, but he wouldn’t just let this Chihiro shake his hand.

After a few moments, Chihiro let his hand fall back to his side, his gaze travelling to Byakuya’s backpack. “So, um... Are you leaving town?” He asked.

“I am. I’ll be competing in the Gym Challenge,” Byakuya said with a smirk.

“Vesta!” Larvesta exclaimed, though it was a bit too excited for his tastes. She was lucky he never gets mad at her.

“But why are you asking?” Byakuya continued, tilting his head slightly. “Are you competing as well?”

Chihiro answered quickly- almost too quickly- with a shake of his head. “N-no! I can’t... I mean, I am leaving town, but not for the Gym Challenge... I just want to become stronger.”

Ah. So, he wanted to get stronger first before competing in the Gym Challenge. That was to be expected for a trainer like him.

“Really?” Byakuya asked.

Chihiro nodded.

“Very well then. I challenge you to a battle. Your Helioptile against my Larvesta.”

“What...?” The other boy asked, his eyes widening. “You want to battle with me?”

The blond nodded. “Larvesta needs to get some training before her first gym battle. And you have your Helioptile with you, don’t you?”

“Well, yes... But, still-”

“”No buts. You want to get stronger and I want to have a battle. This is the perfect opportunity,” Byakuya interrupted, his smirk growing. “And if you give me a nice battle, I’ll let you tag along with me.”

While that wasn’t something that Byakuya would normally promise, there was something weird about this boy. He was so insignificant, yet something about him intrigued Byakuya.

Besides, having somebody with him would mean that his pokémon could always battle against another trainer. Even if that other trainer wouldn’t be much of a challenge.

“You mean it?” Chihiro asked to which Byakuya nodded in response. “Then... I accept. I’ll battle you!” He said with a seemingly newfound determination.

This boy was already proving to be something...

But he’d see what he really was like in a battle. That’s how you truly got to understand someone, after all.

The two of them walked towards the small battlefield near them- those were practically everywhere in Lumiose City.

Larvesta immediately took a battle-ready stance. After a few whispers from his trainer, Helioptile did the same.

And so, their battle started.

Byakuya made sure he was the one that made the first move. “Larvesta, Ember!”

The bug immediately took a step forward and her five horns lit up. Little balls of fire shot from them towards Helioptile.

“Dodge them, Helioptile...” Chihiro called out.

 The pokémon managed to avoid most of them due to his fast speed, but one of them managed to hit him.

Helioptile let out a pained hiss, as if the small fire ball had hurt more than he had anticipated.

Hm. Maybe its ability dry skin them. If so, this battle would be even easier than Byakuya had expected.

“Are you alright, Helioptile?” Chihiro asked, his voice full of concern.

“Helio!”

Chihiro nodded. “Okay... Use Mud-Slap!”

“Tile!” A shot of dirt appeared and immediately got shot towards Larvesta.

Byakuya knew that she wouldn’t be fast avoid to avoid it. And he didn’t want the fire type to get hit with it.

He had to get creative.

“Catch it using String Shot!” He commended, pushing up his glasses while his eyes remained focused on Larvesta.

Silk immediately spew from the bugs mouth and caught the mud before it could hit her.

Good.

Chihiro seemed to be stunned based on his wide eyes- the boy must’ve not expected this- which gave Byakuya the opening he needed.

“Larvesta! Use Ember again!”

Just like before, the pokémons horns lit up. “Ves-ta!” She cried out as she launched the fire balls.

This time Helioptile couldn’t avoid them. It sunk to the ground... to then stand up again.

That’s stronger than he expected, but it didn’t matter.

“This isn’t good...” Chihiro murmured, though Byakuya could still it from the other side of the field. “Okay... Thunder Shock!”

“Helioptile!” The electric type cried out as his body got covered in electricity. A bolt got launched right at Larvesta and she couldn’t avoid it in the time.

Due to the electricity, some of her fur was standing up. But she hadn’t fainted. Of course she hadn’t.

But, this battle was quite interesting. Though, Byakuya would still win.

It was just time to deliver the finishing blow.

“Let’s finish this. Use Ember once more,” The blond ordered, letting a subtle smirk form on his face.

And just like before, Larvesta’s horns lit up. The fire balls were aimed right at Helioptile.

“Jump in the air, Helioptile! And use Mud-Slap on the fire balls!”

What?

The electric type did so, mud firing from his mouth. It hit a few of the fireballs, but in the end, it was still hit by one.

Helioptile hit the ground with a soft thud, his eyes filled with swirls.

He had fainted.

Which meant Byakuya had won.

Chihiro immediately crouched down. “You okay, Helioptile?” He asked in a soft voice.

After a few seconds, Helioptile blinked and stood up. His fur was dirty, but it nodded nonetheless. Chihiro immediately sprayed a potion on it.

“You did quite well,” Byakuya commented as he walked towards the other boy. “Better than I expected I mean.”

The other boy looked up at his with a smile. “You mean it?”

“Yes. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have said it,” The blond responded as he rolled his eyes. “Now, let’s go. There’s still quite a walk until we reach Route 4.”

“Right!” Chihiro said, his eyes widening as he stood up, Helioptile in his arms.

Byakuya didn’t wait for him, he began to walk away immediately. Chihiro followed him though.

It was a quiet walk to the route, with the only sounds coming from the pokémon. Well, mostly Larvesta. Helioptile had fallen asleep at some point while in Chihiro’s arms.

The electric type was moved to his backpack after he lightly shocked the short boy in his sleep though.

Larvesta, meanwhile, was cheerfully walking beside Byakuya. He could feel her sensing for any danger though. But Byakuya sincerely doubted there was any.

And if there was, they didn’t come across it. They had made it to Route 4 with no problems. Though, it was already getting a bit dark. Luckily, that was no problem with Larvesta.

It was called the torch pokémon for a reason, after all.

It made warming up food also much easier. Well, that and the fact that Chihiro was quite a good cook. Byakuya wasn’t regretting his decision of letting the boy tag along- he was proving to be quite useful.

Luckily, it didn’t take long for them to reach the hotel afterwards. They got checked in immediately- hotels like this always had enough free rooms since quite a lot of trainers chose to camp out in one of the fields. Byakuya couldn’t phantom why they would choose that over a hotel, though.

Not that that mattered. Byakuya didn’t care about any other trainers. He was going to be smart and sleep in the hotel.

After calling Father, of course. He wasn’t going to keep the man waiting. So, he took his Rotom phone out of his pocket and made it call his father.

It didn’t take long for him to answer.

“Ah, Byakuya. How has your journey been going?” Father asked, slightly tilting his head as he took a sip of a drink.

Byakuya sat down on his hotel bed, the Rotom phone continuing to hang in the air. “Quite well. It shouldn’t be long until I-”

“Vesta!”

He rolled his eyes. “Until we reach the first gym, Father.” He continued.

“Ah, good. And everything else?” He asked, slightly raising one eyebrow. “Any battles maybe?”

“Well...” Byakuya began, his gaze travelling down to Larvesta. “I had a battle with a boy and his Helioptile.”

“And? I know that tone, something special happened.”

“I may have invited him to travel with me,” Byakuya answered with a sigh, knowing exactly what was coming next.

He could practically hear the smile on the older man’s face. “Ah, so you made a little friend, hm?”

“Not a friend, just an acquaintance,” The blond responded, looking up again and glaring ever so slightly at his father.

Father hummed. “Right. Whatever you say.” He took another sip of his drink. “I’m afraid I must go now though. I suppose I’ll see you when you visit.”

“Of course, Father. Until then.” And with that, the screen went to black.

“Larvesta?” The bug asked, jumping on the bed.

Byakuya sighed. “Yes. I’ll be going to sleep now,” He said as he ruffled her fur.

With a bit of luck, he would fight the gym leader in one or two days. And then he would have his first gym badge.

Chapter Text

The next day, he once again left early. Chihiro didn’t seem to mind this though- when Byakuya had knocked on his hotel door, the boy was already awake. They ate some breakfast after that and left immediately.

There was no time to waste after all. While Byakuya was sure that Route 4 wasn’t necessarily long, he did know that it would be the perfect place explore. At least, Larvesta would think that.

The bug had never entered one of the routes surrounding Lumiose City, so Byakuya was sure she’d be very curious. Maybe she’d want to fight some wild pokémon too.

And that seemed to be the case. While both him and Chihiro were just walking on the path, Larvesta was sniffing around in the grass. Byakuya had never really seen her like this before, but he didn’t mind it. After all, Larvesta looked to be happy.

Though, sometimes it did look like a certain electric type was bugging her. Helioptile was just running circles around the bug, not even stopping when he got burned. Byakuya would’ve put a stop to it if it wasn’t as amusing as it was.

But after walking for quite a while, they decided to take a small break. The route was practically littered with picknick tables, so it only made sense to take a seat at one. Chihiro immediately began preparing lunch while Byakuya fed their pokémon.

Once they were done eating, Chihiro gave the pokémon some berries. But just as he wanted to give one to Helioptile, it was swept from his hand.

“H-hey!” Chihiro said, looking around for the perpetrator. It didn’t take long.

On the tree above them, a little Fletchling was chirping happily, holding onto the oran berry with one of its feet.

“And that was my last one too...” Chihiro mumbled with a frown.

Byakuya turned to him, his arms crossed. “So, aren’t you going to try and get it back?” He asked, his voice stern.

“Get it back?...How?” The other boy asked, making Byakuya let out a sigh.

He was just... so stupid at times.

“You have a pokémon,” The blond began, gesturing to Helioptile. “An electric type even. Fletchling is a flying type.”

“You want me to fight the Fletchling...?” Chihiro asked in response, his hesitancy clear in his voice. His eyes were moving from Helioptile to Fletching.

It was a miracle Fletchling hadn’t actually eaten the berry yet. But it looked like the small bird found their conversation interesting. It was watching them from the tree above them.

Byakuya rolled his eyes. “Yes. It should be an easy battle. And you want to get stronger, don’t you?” He asked. “Well, this is your chance. You might even catch it.”

Chihiro didn’t respond immediately, his hesitancy still quite clear. His eyes were now focusing on Helioptile- who had gotten distracted by Larvesta- and his hand was gripping a pokéball. If it was Helioptile’s or an empty one, Byakuya didn’t know.

But eventually Chihiro looked at the Fletchling before looking at Byakuya. “You’re right...” The brunet mumbled before looking at Helioptile. “Okay, Helioptile... I’m gonna need you to use Thunder Shock on the Fletchling. That way you can get your berry back...”

At the promise of getting the berry, Helioptile immediately looked up. “Tile!” He cried out, taking a battle-ready stance.

The Fletchling must’ve sensed something was going on, since it flew away from the tree just as the Thunder Shock hit it. The bird was still chirping happily, almost as if it was mocking Helioptile.

Chihiro didn’t do anything else after this, so Byakuya took initiative. “Well, don’t just stand there. Continue,” He said in a stern voice, practically ordering the other boy.

But it seemed to work as Chihiro nodded and his look became more focused. “Right... Use Thunder Shock again!”

“Helio! Lio!” The electric type cried out as it once again used Thunder Shock. But, just like before, the Fletchling simply flew out of the way before it could hit it.

It seemed like that Chihiro would need more than just the use of moves to win this battle. But Byakuya wouldn’t tell him that- he needed to figure that out himself.

The Fletchling flew back to the tree and put the oran berry there. After that, it quickly flew into Helioptile, making him cry out.

So, it was fighting back now. How... interesting.

Chihiro definitely needed to focus to win this battle. But that shouldn’t be impossible- with how the boy had fought against him, Byakuya knew he knew how to fight. He just had to show it.

“Okay... Thunder Shock once again!” Chihiro commanded, making Byakuya let out a sigh again.

It hadn’t worked multiple times before, why would it work now?

It wouldn’t, of course. Fletchling avoided the attack with ease. But, before it could attack, Chihiro called out again.

“Jump up and use pound!”

As commanded, Helioptile jumped up in the air and slammed into the Fletchling, who couldn’t avoid it.

Ah. So, he had a plan...

Byakuya was pleasantly surprised by that. But Chihiro wasn’t done yet.

Helioptile landed back on the ground, but Fletchling was still flying. It looked to be weakened though.

“Thunder Shock!”

 Once again, Helioptile cried out and used Thunder Shock, but this time the bolt hit its target and Fletchling fell down on the ground. It hadn’t fainted, but it looked to be close to fainting.

Chihiro crouched down next to it. “Are you okay...?”

“Fletch...”

There was a silence after that and Byakuya could see many different thoughts swirling around in Chihiro’s head. He had half a mind to interrupt but didn’t.

Chihiro needed to do this by himself. The boy wanted to get stronger and he needed to do that by himself. Byakuya would push him, but not make the choices for him. That just wouldn’t be any fun.

After a few moments, the Fletchling stood up, but didn’t move any further. Chihiro hesitantly took out a pokéball. “Are you sure...?” He asked.

Byakuya must’ve missed something while thinking. Oh well, it didn’t matter much.

As soon as the pokéball was out, the Fletchling butted its head against it. It disappeared with a red light and the pokéball began to shake.

One time. Two times. And then a third. It then stopped shaking and soon after Fletchling appeared out of the ball.

Chihiro had caught Fletchling.

The brunet smiled at his new pokémon, taking it in his hands. “So, you feel fine now?”

“Fletch-ling!”

“Ah, good! Do you think you can get that berry back down here, though...? You and Helioptile can share...”

Fletchling chirped happily and flew back to the tree. It grabbed the oran berry and dropped it into Chihiro’s hands.

The boy smiled. “Thank you!”

He then cut the berry and gave both halves to his pokémon.

“You did quite well in that battle,” Byakuya commented, pushing up his glasses as Chihiro turned to look at him.

“You think so?”

“Well, yes. Otherwise Fletchling wouldn’t have let you catch it.”

Chihiro’s smile grew. “I suppose you’re right...”

“Of course I am.” Byakuya rolled his eyes. “Now, let’s go. We’re not even halfway through the route yet.”

The boy nodded. “Ah, right!” He said, a hint of embarrassment present in his tone,

The two of them quickly packed up their stuff and began to walk once again. Larvesta was still sniffing around in the grass, though this time she wasn’t getting bothered by Helioptile. The electric type was now playing with his new teammate.

Fletchling was chirping happily from where he was flying above Helioptile, while the electric type was trying to catch it, to no avail. Chihiro had to interfere a few times with a few potions- they did get hurt, albeit slightly- but there weren’t any real problems luckily.

The rest of the walk went smoothy and they eventually reached Santalune City, the home of the bug type gym, the place where Byakuya would gain his first gym badge. On his first try, of course.

It was nowhere as grandiose as Lumiose City, but it was still a nice town all things considered. But having a gym in a town was always good for the economy- it attracted many people. After all, there were many challengers for the gyms, especially the first few ones. And all of those challengers needed a place to stay and they needed to eat.

So, towns with gyms were overall nicer than towns without them. That was easy to see in the buildings- Santalune City may be small, but every building was built well.

There even was a school for all ages, something that wasn’t in all of the cities. The boutique was nice too, though neither Byakuya nor Chihiro needed any new clothing.

That was all the town really had to offer- except the gym- so, Byakuya and Chihiro made their way to the hotel they would be staying in.

The worker handed him the keys of their rooms, though a frown appeared on her face as she saw Larvesta.

“That Larvesta belongs to you, right?” She asked, still frowning.

Byakuya’s eyes narrowed. “Yes, she does. Why does that matter?”

“Well, you should really keep her in a pokéball.” The hotel worker began to explain. “There have been many instances of pokémon being stolen for no apparent reason. And your Larvesta... Well, it’s quite rare here.”

“Thank you for the warning, but we’ll be fine,” Byakuya responded with a frown.

“Vesta!” Larvesta agreed.

“If you say so, sir...” The worker said hesitantly. Byakuya ignored her though, no petty thieves would steal Larvesta.

But as they were walking to their rooms, Chihiro spoke up. “Do you think... that our pokémon could get stolen? I mean, Helioptile doesn’t like being in a pokéball and I don’t want to force him...” The boy explained, his gaze lowered.

“I wouldn’t worry. I can handle some petty thieves,” Byakuya said as he rolled his eyes. “And that’s if they even show up, which I doubt.”

Chihiro nodded softly. “Okay... If you say so...” He then looked up at Byakuya, Helioptile squirming slightly in his arms. “Until tomorrow then...”

Byakuya hummed. “Until tomorrow.” And with that, the two boys entered their separate rooms.

As soon as Byakuya entered his room, Larvesta jumped onto the bed. Byakuya sat down next to her, softly petting her head.

“Tomorrow is an important day, you’ll have your first gym battle,” He explained, looking down at Larvesta.

“Lar-vesta! Vesta!” The bug said in response- it was quite the smart pokémon.

He nodded. “I’m sure we’ll win. You have a type advantage, after all. We’ll win without any problems.”

“Ves...ta?”

“Just set them on fire and we’ll win, no complex strategies needed,” He said, smirking slightly. “Unlike Chihiro with that Fletchling today.”

“Larves-ta!” She responded, looking up at Byakuya with her bright blue eyes.

The blond rolled his eyes. “It’s not my fault he’s weak. If anything, he’s holding himself back.”

“Lar!”

“I’m glad you agree. Now, go to sleep,” Byakuya commanded, standing up to go to the bathroom. “My legs are tired from all that walking.”

Larvesta did so and made herself comfortable on the bed... The only bed. Once Byakuya was done with getting himself ready for bed, he had to move her. And with a bug as big as Larvesta, that wasn’t an easy task.

Especially since she wasn’t waking up at all- Larvesta was almost too good at following orders. But, in the end Byakuya managed to move her and find himself a comfortable position.

He went to sleep with an easy mind- he knew he would win the gym battle. He had the type advantage and it was the first gym. It would be a piece of cake, Byakuya just knew it.

Even if the gym leader had two pokémon and he only had one, that wouldn’t change the outcome. Larvesta was a really strong pokémon, so it didn’t matter that the gym leader had an extra pokémon. It would only give her a few extra minutes and then Byakuya would win.

No other option was simply possible- the odds were in his favour. And his only.

When Byakuya knocked onto Chihiro’s door the next day, the boy was luckily already back, just like the day before. However, for some reason, he also seemed slightly nervous.

Byakuya didn’t know why, nor did he bother to ask him. He simply didn’t care about such trivial things- he had much more important things to focus on. A bit of nervousness from the boy he was traveling with didn’t concern him.

So, he didn’t ask and just waited for Chihiro to leave him room. While he could’ve just left him there, it would Chihiro some good to see his gym battle. That way he could become better himself.

And if Chihiro became a better trainer, he would have a better trainer to battle against whenever needed.

Eventually, Chihiro left his room and they made their way towards the gym. As they entered it, they were immediately greeted with a room covered in photographs. Many of them displayed several bug type pokémon, though a few were of a muscular woman instead.

In the room was an older man, who greeted the two of them with a smile.

“Ah, hello, you two! Are you here to challenge the gym leader?” He asked while looking them over.

“I am. He’s not,” Byakuya said in a cold voice, crossing his arms. He did not like this man- he was too nice.

“Yeah, I’m just here to watch...” Chihiro agreed with a slight nod.

“Ah, very well! I’ll check with Ms. Asahina if she has time to take on another challenger. Though knowing her she’s just itching for a battle.” The man laughed. Byakuya did not smile.

The man left after that and Byakuya could see Chihiro’s nervousness growing.

Maybe he was nervous for Byakuya’s battle?

He still didn’t ask the boy. But, if that was the case, he really shouldn’t worry. Byakuya already knew he was going to win- there was simply no other option possible.

After a few minutes, the man came back. This time there was a dark-skinned woman behind him. Her hair was up in a way that seemed close to impossible and a big smile was on her face.

“So, this is the challenger you were talking about?” She asked the man before turning to Byakuya and Chihiro. Her eyes widened. “Oh my Arceus, is that-” She said before suddenly cutting herself off.

“Ah, sorry...” She continued, still smiling. “I’m Aoi Asahina! The Santalune City’s one and only Gym Leader!” Aoi said, holding out her hand.

Byakuya shook it- she was a gym leader after all. “Byakuya Togami. I wish to challenge you to a battle.”

“Vesta!”

Aoi looked down at the bug. “You have a Larvesta?! How cute! Though...” She looked back up. “Is that your only pokémon?”

“She is.” Byakuya nodded, “Is that a problem?”

“Well, since I use two pokémon it would be quite unfair...”

“I don’t mind that. I’ll fight both of your pokémon with my Larvesta,” Byakuya responded, a confident smirk present on his face.

Aoi smiled. “Alrighy! If you say so then!”

“Should I prepare the test, Miss?” The man asked, his head tilted slightly.

The gym leader shook her head. “No need for that! I want to battle as soon as possible!”

“Very well then.” The man then looked at the two boys. “The battle will begin in ten minutes. Challenger, follow me to a room where you can get ready. Miss Asahina will lead the other one to the tribune where he can watch with the other spectators.”

“Okay...” Chihiro said with a nod, speaking up for the first time since the man had returned. He followed Aoi out of the room and Byakuya did the same with the man. He was led to a small room where he was offered a drink.

In ten minutes, his first gym battle would begin. A gym battle he planned on wining. A gym battle he would win.

“Lar-ves-ta!”

Byakuya hummed. “Oh, I’m sure we’ll win.”

After all, there was to other option possible for Byakuya. Only victory.

Chapter Text

Byakuya’s first gym battle was just about to begin. He was led out of the room he had previously been staying in and was led onto the battlefield. It was outside and decorative spiderwebs were all around of the field.

Asahina was already waiting for him when he walked onto the field. She looked excited. On the side was a tribune, where Byakuya could see Chihiro who looked to be nervous. There were also a few other spectators- a man and a woman who looked to be a couple, a small boy, and a girl around Byakuya’s age.

But those people didn’t matter. All that mattered was the gym battle.

The referee spoke up. “The Gym Battle between Byakuya, the challenger, and Aoi, the Santalune Gym Leader, will now begin!” The woman began. “Each side will have the use of two pokémon, and the battle will be over when either Trainer's Pokémon are unable to continue. Though, the challenger only has one pokémon which means that he’ll have to defeat both of Aoi’s pokémon with his Larvesta only.”

He already knew that. He talked about that with the gym leader mere minutes ago.

But now was not the time to dwell on that. Now was the time to battle.

“Alrighty! Let’s begin then! Vivillon, go!” Aoi said with a smile, holding out a pokéball. Her Vivillon fluttered above the battlefield.

“Vivi!”

“Larvesta,” Byakuya said simply, letting Larvesta walk forward on her own.

Here it goes.

Byakuya made sure he was the one that began the battle- every single move would matter. “Okay. Use Ember!” He commanded. Larvesta immediately shot forward.

Her spikes lit up and the balls of fire that came from them were directly aimed at Vivillon.

“Vivillon! Dodge them!” Aoi said, and Vivillon did just so. “Now, Gust!”

Vivillon clapped its wings and air was propelled from them. It went right towards Larvesta... and she wasn’t fast. That didn’t mean Byakuya was going to give up though.

“Move out of the way!”

Larvesta tried to run away from the wind, but it still hit her. Not fully though. Though, it was clear that the bug was hurt.

“Are you alright, Larvesta?” Byakuya asked, his gaze moving from Vivillon to his own pokémon.

“Vesta!”

“Good.” Byakuya looked back at Vivillon. “Bind it using String Shot.”

The silk spew from Larvesta’s mouth and Aoi- most likely not expecting this- didn’t have the time to order Vivillon out of the way. The move hit it.

Which means that it was easy for Byakuya now.

“Ember, again!” He ordered and just like before, Larvesta’s horns lit up. And this time the move hit.

Vivillon hit the ground with a thud, though it hadn’t fainted yet. It shook the silk from its body and flew up into the air again. But it was slower.

“Okay, Vivillon. Use Gust again!”

With a cry, the Vivillon once again clapped its wings.

“Dodge it.” Byakuya said calmly. He knew what was going to happen.

Larvesta moved out of the way, this time just fast enough to avoid the gust of wind. Which meant that she has the perfect opening to attack.

And who was Byakuya if he wasn’t going to use that opening?

Byakuya smirked. “Ember!” He ordered. Larvesta used the move once again.

“Dodge it!”

But the butterfly wasn’t fast enough. It was hit with the fireballs and once again hit the ground. This time, it had swirls in its eyes.

“Vivillon has fainted! Gym Leader Aoi will now send in her second pokémon!” The referee stated, an unreadable look on her face.

Aoi whispered something, though Byakuya couldn’t make out what. She then returned Vivillon to its pokéball and took out another. In seconds, a blue bug who’s name Byakuya couldn’t remember was on the field.

Luckily, he had his phone for that.

Without needing to be ordered, his Rotom phone flew out of his pocket.

“Surskit, the pond skater pokémon. It appears as if it is skating on water. It draws prey with a sweet scent from the tip of its head. It’s a water and bug type.”

Hm.

It was probably very fast then. And it’s water type could prove to be... annoying. No matter. Byakuya would still win.

“Okay! Now it’s time to make this real difficult!” Aoi said with a grin. “Use Water Gun!”

Water spurted from the pokémons mouth and before Byakuya knew it, Larvesta had taken another hefty hit. She was still standing though.

“Larvesta, Ember. Try to keep your distance,” The blond ordered, his smirk slowly turning into a frown. He had to get serious for this.

“Ves-ta!” The bug cried out and her horns lit up. But, before the attack had even finished, Surskit had moved out of the way.

“Quick attack!”

Surskit was running at Larvesta, there was no way she could dodge it with how fast she was.

“Use Harden!” Byakuya ordered and a hard layer formed against Larvesta. Just in time for Surskit to hit it.

This was his opening. “Catch it using String Shot!”

He was hoping to use the same technique as before since that had worked quite well.

Aoi had other plans though. “There’s no chance I’m falling for that again! Surskit, use Ice Beam on the field!”

What...?
Before the heir knew it Surskit had jumped up and Ice Beam launched from its mouth, only for it to hit the battlefield, making the whole field be covered in ice.

Larvesta was struggling to stand while Surskit was just skating on it.

He had to melt the ice somehow.

“Larvesta, use Ember on the ice!” Byakuya ordered, a serious look present on his face. He wasn’t going to lose this. Not now.

Aoi laughed. “As if I’m going to allow that to happen! Surskit, Quick Attack!”

Just as Larvesta’s horns lit up, Surskit charged right at her. But then, Larvesta’s horns continued to light up and just as Surskit was about to hit her, her whole body was covered in flames. And she hit Surskit right back.

She had... learned Flame Charge. That was perfect!

Byakuya smirked.

“Larvesta, use Flame Charge.”

Just like before, Larvesta’s horns lit up before her whole body did. She slammed right into the still dazed Surskit. But, the Surskit was still standing.

“Surskit, Water Gun!” Aoi ordered.

His smirk didn’t falter. “Dodge it!”

This time, Larvesta managed to dodge the water spurt- the use of Flame Charge had made her faster. However, due to the battlefield still being ice, Larvesta fell down onto it since she was unable to control her movement completely.

“This is our chance! Quick Attack, Surskit!” Aoi ordered, a smile on her face.

Covered in white light, Surskit skated towards Larvesta who couldn’t dodge it. But, she too, was still standing.

“String shot! Now!” Byakuya ordered, knowing that now was his chance.

Surskit still managed to avoid it, though it was much less elegant than before. It almost slipped down on the ice. Which meant that it was getting weaker.

“Flame Charge, again!” Byakuya ordered, pushing up his glasses.

Larvesta’s body once again lit up and she ran straight into Surskit. The blue bug fell down... and it didn’t get up.

“Aoi’s Surskit has fainted! This means that the Gym Battle is over and the challenger has won!”

He did it. He won.

Aoi walked over to him, her hand in her pocket. “Heh! You were great on the field!” She said with a smile, handing him something. “Take this, it’s one and only Bug Badge! You earned it!”

Byakuya took it from her. “Of course I earned it- I won. Just as expected.”

“Vesta!”

“If you say so!” Aoi said before looking down at Larvesta. “She’s such a cutie... Though, I doubt she can beat the next gym on her own, it’s a rock type gym.”

“Then I’ll catch another pokémon in the meantime. That won’t be a problem,” Byakuya responded, his words practically oozing with confidence.

Aoi laughed. “Alright then! Though, between you and me...” She began, a slight blush forming on her cheeks. “It’s the third gym you really need to watch out for! The gym leader there is very strong, I’ve never managed to beat her.... Though, I might’ve been focusing on other things than the battle.” She rambled.

Byakuya just hummed in response, not very interested in everything she was saying.

“Anyways!” Aoi said, looking up again. “Good luck on the rest of your journey! Bye!” She waved and left soon after that.

Byakuya was shortly after escorted off the field. It was then he met up with Chihiro, who was smiling.

“You did great!” The brunet exclaimed, his voice full of excitement. “You won!”

Byakuya scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Of course I did.” His eyes narrowed, “Don’t sound surprised. Unless you didn’t believe in me?”

“Wha- Of course not!” Chihiro responded, shaking his head. “It’s just... she’s a gym leader and all...”

“And strong, unlike you?” Byakuya asked, his words making Chihiro tense up.

It didn’t look like it was the insult that made him tense up though, more like it was something else that made Chihiro react like that. Byakuya has no idea what that could be though.

But he was probably just overthinking this. Chihiro just didn’t like to be called weak, that’s all.

But he could always ask to make sure. So, that’s what he did. Well, it was what he wanted to do. He never actually got to ask Chihiro his question because the moment Byakuya had opened his mouth, a girl appeared.

She had long blue hair and was wearing a simple outfit- a light blue shirt with a grey skirt. Next to her was a pokémon that Byakuya hadn’t seen before.

“Umm...” She greeted, a bit of hesitance in her voice.

Byakuya turned to her. “What is it?” He asked, not bothering to mask the coldness in his voice.

“You were the one that battled the gym leader, right?” The girl asked, tilting her head slightly.

“I was, yes,” Byakuya answered with a nod before his eyes narrowed. “What does that have to do with you?”

“Well, um... I’ve been wanting to leave town for a long time, but my mom doesn’t want me to since she thinks it’s too dangerous or something...” The girl rambled on. “So, could I maybe travel with you? We’re around the same age and all so I don’t think my mom would find it weird...”

Byakuya just scoffed at her. “Why should I? I don’t even know your name, let alone anything else.”

The girl gave him an apologetic glance. “Ah, sorry...” She then smiled. “I’m Sayaka Maizono! And this is Popplio!”

“Pop-Pop!”

Chihiro gasped. “That’s from Alola, isn’t it? That’s on the other side of the world!”

“Well, my dad travels a lot for work,” Sayaka explained with a smile before suddenly clearing her throat. “But, um... Can I?”

Byakuya hummed. “I’m afraid not. I don’t want to travel with another trainer,” He explained, making Sayaka’s smile fall.

“Ohh...” She said with a frown before her eyes widened in some form of realisation. “But... I’m technically not a trainer though!”

Chihiro tilted his head and frowned. “Your... not?”

“Oh, no! I want to be a performer! You know, with the showcases and stuff?” She asked, Byakuya nodded. “I want to become Kalos Queen!”

“That’s quite the dream,” Byakuya responded before turning to Chihiro. “Well, what do you think?”

“H-huh? Me?” The other boy asked, his eyes widening.

Who else?

Byakuya wasn’t going to make this choice alone. He was travelling with Chihiro now, which meant that the other boy should also have a say in this Sayaka possibly traveling with them.

“Yes, you. Do you want Sayaka to accompany us?” He asked, crossing his arms as he waited for an answer.

“Well... I do really like her Popplio,” He began, making the mentioned pokémon let out a cry. “It could be fun...” He mumbled.

Byakuya nodded, though he also sighed slightly. “Very well then.” He turned to Sayaka. “You may come along. Though, you won’t be slowing me down,” He said, glaring at the girl.

Sayaka just smiled in respond. “Don’t worry! I won’t slow you down at all!”

“Popplio!” The pokémon nodded in agreement.

“Good,” Byakuya began, turning around. “Let’s go then it’s time for dinner.”

“Wait!” Sayaka said, making Byakuya turn to her. “We have to talk to my mom first... Making sure that she agrees and all.”

The blond sighed. “Very well then. Lead the way.”

Everything considered, this wasn’t a bad thing. He was sure that Sayaka could prove to be useful... somehow. If not, they could always just abandon her if needed. He just hoped that Chihiro wouldn’t immediately try to befriend her- that boy had to focus on battling, not on making friends.

Maybe then he would end up being as great as Byakuya. After all, only one of them had a gym badge. And that was Byakuya.

And he would get his second one soon. He would catch another pokémon before that, though. After all, Larvesta was very weak to rock type pokémon. The addition of a new pokémon would fix that though. And then Byakuya would get his second gym badge.

But before that could happen, he had to meet Sayaka’s mother first. And then they would be on their way. Back to Lumiose City. To Father.

Byakuya couldn’t wait to see the proud look on the man’s face. But first, he had to follow Sayaka.

Chapter Text

Luckily, it didn’t take too long for them to reach Sayaka’s house- Santalune City was small, after all.

After Sayaka had opened the door and announced she was home, a face peeked around the corner of the house. She had short blue hair and matching blue eyes- much like Sayaka.

Her eyes widened as she saw Byakuya and Chihiro. “Sayaka, you didn’t mention you were brining friends over!”

“These are not my friends, Mom...” Sayaka began, smiling awkwardly at her mother. “These are the people I will be traveling with...”

Sayaka’s mother gasped. “Really? And you didn’t immediately tell me that?” She turned to look at Byakuya and Chihiro with a smile. “I’m Grace! And who might you two be.”

“I’m Byakuya Togami, he’s Chihiro Fujisaki,” Byakuya said curtly, not wanting to waste any time. With a bit of luck, they could reach Lumiose City today, but that meant they would have to walk a lot in not a lot of time.

“Byakuya Togami... as in the Togami Corporation?!” Grace turned back to Sayaka. “You’re traveling with a celebrity?”

Sayaka blushed in embarrassment. “I didn’t know, Mom... but, we should really go now! I just need to grab my bag from my room.”

“I didn’t say yes yet,” Grace said, shaking her head with a laugh. “But, have fun, sweetie!”

The woman then ruffled Sayaka’s hair who let out a giggle in respond. Sayaka then practically sprinted up the stairs, returned with a backpack, kissed her mother on the cheek and then they were all outside.

That was good. It meant there was just less time to waste. What also helped was that Sayaka had prepared a bag already.

Soon after, they were back on Route 4. But, halfway through their walk, Byakuya let like something was wrong. On the side of the route, an argument was happening. But not just any argument.

It seemed like some people in suits were trying to steal a pokémon from a child.

Byakuya knew he needed interfere. While he would normally not care for things like these, this child looked to be no older than nine at the most. She technically wasn’t even allowed to be a Trainer yet.

He quickly stepped in front of the girl. Both Sayaka and Chihiro watched him, seemingly unsure of what to do themselves.

The girl in the suit looked at him, glaring at him from behind her glasses. “What are you doing?”

Byakuya glared right back, next to him Larvesta tensed up. “I’m not letting you steal a pokémon from a child, that’s just disgusting.”

“We can do whatever the fuck we want,” The boy in the suit said, gripping his pokéball.

By Arceus, does he have to swear?

“I won’t let you,” Byakuya responded, his tone cold.

The boy looked even angrier, but the girl stepped forward. From the corner of his eye, Byakuya could see Sayaka moving the little girl away from them.

“How about we settle this with a battle? Us two against you and somebody else,” The girl said, pushing up her glasses.

“Fine...” The boy grumbled.

Byakuya nodded. “Very well.” He looked at Chihiro, “Chihiro, come here. I need you to battle with me.” He commanded.

“W-wha? Me?” He asked, though he did come forward.

“Yes,” Byakuya responded in a cold voice before turning back to the two in the suits. “Let’s begin then.”’

The boy and girl looked at each other before nodding. “Let’s win this,” The boy spoke and their pokémon appeared.

The girl had a Pawniard while the boy had a Dratini. Byakuya let Larvesta walk forward while Chihiro chose Fletchling.

An odd choice, but it didn’t matter much who he choice when looking at the types, though Larvesta luckily did have a type advantage.

No matter, they would win this. These grunts would lose.

“Larvesta. Use Flame Charge on the Pawniard, now!” Byakuya commanded and Larvesta’s body immediately got engulfed in fire.

Larvesta charged right at Pawniard who wasn’t able to avoid it in time. It let out a grunt of pain.

Good.

“Pawniard, retaliate with Scratch,” The girl said, her voice still calm. Her red eyes glinted.

The boy glanced at the girl. “Dratini, use Water Pulse on the bird!”

“Larvesta, dodge it!” Byakuya commanded, watching as Larvesta did just that.

Larvesta managed to dodge it, but the water was aiming right for Fletchling.

“Use Quick Attack to avoid it...!” Chihiro said at the last second, his eyes wide. Luckily, Fletchling was fast enough to avoid most of the water.

Fletchling still let out a pained chirp, but it was still flying.

But Byakuya decided not to focus on that. After all, his priority wasn’t making sure Chihiro’s pokémon was okay. His priority was winning this battle.

He adjusted his glasses. “Flame Charge.”

It didn’t take long for Larvesta’s body to get covered in fire once again. She charged right at Pawniard once again. Yet, before it could hit the steel type, Dratini jumped in front of it, taking the hit. And due to its dragon typing, it barely did any damage.

“Did ya think it was gonna be that fuckin’ easy, little twerp?” The boy taunted, a wide smirk on his face.

Xerneas... Is he incapable to not swear for once?

Byakuya just frowned in response.

The boy laughed. “Let’s do this. Water Pulse again. This time on the bug.” He ordered.

There was no way Larvesta could dodge that. She was standing right in front of the Dratini and even with the added speed, she would be too slow.

And if she got his by a water attack...

“Q-quick attack, now!” Chihiro suddenly commanded and Fletchling flew right into action. Just as the water spurted from the Dratini’s mouth, Fletchling was in front of it and took the hit.

Byakuya looked at Chihiro who gave him a hesitant smile in response. Byakuya nodded at him.

If they wanted to win this, they needed to battle as a team.

“Use String Shot!” Byakuya commanded and immediately silk spew from Larvesta’s mouth. And the Dratini couldn’t avoid it.

It was now stuck in the silk, which gave Chihiro a perfect opportunity to attack.

“Peck, Fletchling!”

Fletchling followed the order and since it was still right in front of the Dratini, pecked the dragon.

“Oh, fuck!” The boy said, an angry expression on his face.

“What? Did you think it was going to be that easy?” Byakuya asked with a smirk, repeating the boy’s words from before.

The girl glared at him. “No matter, we’ll still win. Pawniard, Use Metal Claw to free Dratini.” She ordered.

“Pawn!” Pawniard cried out as it charged forward. One of its claws lit up and went straight through the silk binding Dratini. It was now free once again.

But that didn’t matter. Both of their pokémon were weakened now. Byakuya could probably just knock out the Pawniard with one more Flame Charge. But that meant that the Dratini had to be out of the way first.

He looked at Chihiro. The brunet gave him a slight nod.

“Quick Attack!” He said and with a chirp, Fletchling charged at the Dratini from the side. The Dratini was still standing but it was now far enough away from the Pawniard.

“Flame Charge, Larvesta!”

“Ves-ta!” The bug cried out, her body being engulfed in the familiar fire. Once again, she charged right at the Pawniard.

“Water Pulse!”

What?

Just as Larvesta was charging right at the Pawniard, a pulse of water flew towards her. And it wasn’t like she could stop now.

“Quick Attack!” Chihiro ordered.

And with that order, Fletchling took the hit again right on. But he was getting weak now, Byakuya could see his wings flapping slower than before.

But that was for later, because due to Fletchling, Larvesta was able to hit the Pawniard right in its chest. And it fainted.

The girl looked down with a frown. “You did well, Pawniard,” She said as she returned Pawniard back into its pokéball.

“Oh, you’ll fuckin’ pay for this! Water Pulse at the bird!”

“Wha-”

Before Chihiro could even say anything else, the attack hit Fletchling and it fell to the ground.

With a sad expression, he too returned his pokémon to its pokéball. He gave Byakuya an apologetic glance, but that didn’t matter to Byakuya.

It was him against the boy now. And he would win.

“String Shot!”

“Slap it away using Dragon Tail!” The boy commanded, his expression getting angrier by the second.

The Dratini did just that, it slapped the silk away using its tail. Well, it tried to. But that actually caused the silk to wrap around its tail, limiting its movements by a long shot.

Byakuya smirked. “Seemed like that didn’t go the way you wanted, hm?”

“Shut up!” The boy snarled. “Use Wrap!”

Before Byakuya knew it, Larvesta was being held tightly by Dratini, despite its tail being covered in the silk.

Byakuya... didn’t know how to get Larvesta free. But it seemed like he didn’t need to.

“Lar!” The bug cried out and suddenly green whisps appeared, attacking the Dratini. As a response, its tail unwrapped from around Larvesta.

Chihiro let out a gasp. “It learned Struggle Bug! That’s amazing!” He exclaimed, admiration present in his voice.

“Struggle Bug you say?” Byakuya asked, smirking once again. “Well, it looks like this has gotten much more interesting. Larvesta, use Struggle Bug again.”

“Dodge it!”

But Dratini wasn’t fast enough to do so. It was again attacked by the whisps and fell onto the ground, swirls present in its eyes.

The boy recalled Dratini back to its pokéball. “Oh, fuck!” He then glared at Byakuya, “I’ll get you next time, little twerp!”

“You won’t. And I’m not a twerp,” Byakuya said, glaring right back at him. “I’m Byakuya Togami.”

“I-fuck...” The boy said suddenly, his eyes widening. “We need to go, P,” He said, grabbing the girl’s- who seemed to be called ‘P’- hand.

Byakuya just rolled his eyes. “Cowards.” He mumbled.

When he turned to look at the others, Chihiro was smiling. “You were so cool!” He said.

“Of course I was. Now, where’s the child?” Byakuya asked.

“Oh, she’s over there with Sayaka,” Chihiro said, gesturing to where the girl was.

As soon as he walked over to the two girls, the little girl hugged him. “Thank you, Mister!”

Next to hear, her Seal barked happily.

Byakuya gently pushed her away. “It was nothing. Try to avoid people like this. Now,” He began, looking up at Sayaka. “We should go.”

Sayaka nodded. “Right.” With that, she let go of the little girl and said goodbye.

Then, she looked at Byakuya. “You truly were amazing! To stand up for a kid like that...!”

“I simply did the right thing,” Byakuya said as he rolled his eyes. “And no dawdling. We do have to reach the pokécenter by today for Fletchling.”

Chihiro nodded. “Mhm... He’s hurt.”

“But he was brave too!” Sayaka said with a smile. “So were you, Chihiro!”

“T-thank you...” Chihiro responded, looking down as a blush covered his face. It seemed like the boy wasn’t used to getting complimented, especially not when it came to his braveness.

But with Sayaka around, it seemed like that would change. She was very enthusiastic about practically everything. Normally Byakuya would’ve found that to be annoying, but Sayaka had something special about her.

She would make a good performer, just like she wanted. Of course Byakuya wouldn’t tell her that. It was something that she needed to figure out herself.

Byakuya had a feeling she would though. She had quite some potential. Even for him, it was hard not to smile when she laughed- it was very infectious.

But that was all something for later- Byakuya didn’t even know when or where the Showcases were held.

Not to mention that he wasn’t particularly looking forward to watching them live. Sure, he enjoyed watching them when he was home because he found them to be beautiful but watching them live had one major difference.

He was actually there and with Sayaka actually performing it meant that he would probably go backstage with her and that meant that the oh so charming host could see him.

Ugh.

Don’t get him wrong, he likes his uncle... but the man was way too affectionate. And if Byakuya came to where he was hosting his own show multiple times? He would see the man way too much.

There was simply no way he could avoid Uncle Pierre.

All he could hope was that neither Chihiro nor Sayaka was present. Especially not Sayaka- he didn’t want his uncle to think more highly of her and in that way make the people view her as better.

She needed to win on her own.

But those were concerns for later. For now, he just needed to get to the pokécenter and eventually meet with his father again.

But just as they wanted to enter Lumiose City through the gates, they were stopped by two people, a boy and girl slightly older than them.

“Hello there. Have you heard of a pokémon called Flabébé?” The boy asked, pushing his round glasses up.

“Hmpf. Of course I have,” Byakuya responded, glaring at the man.

“W-well, did you k-know it was a f-fairy type p-pokémon?” The girl asked, pulling slightly at her twin braids as her gaze was focused on the ground.

“Yes,” Byakuya responded coldly. “Why are you asking me this?”

“Well,” The man began. “The Professor has asked us to battle fairy type pokémon against other types, since the fairy type wasn’t truly discovered until recently.”

“H-he also asked us t-to ask trainers a-about their knowledge on f-fairy types...” The girl added.

“Exactly!” The boy held out his hand. “I’m Hifumi and that’s Toko by the way! We can show you guys the way to his lab, I’m sure the Professor would find you interesting!”

“Oh, that sounds-” Sayaka began with her usual smile but Byakuya cut her off.

“No.” He said coldly. “We will not be going to the Professor.” And with that, he walked past Hifumi and Toko, making his way into Lumiose City once again.

Behind him he could hear Chihiro muttering an apology, but he didn’t care about that. If these people knew the Professor, they knew her. And he hated her.

He quickly made his way to the pokécenter, Sayaka and Chihiro following him.

They would stay there for the night and tomorrow he would meet with his father. He supposed that meant introducing Chihiro- though his father knew a bit about him already- and Sayaka to Father.

For now, he would sleep and enjoy the warmth of Larvesta’s body... when she wasn’t trying to push him off the bed.

“Sir,” She began, immediately bowing when she saw him. Her partner did the same.

“You failed,” He said in a cold voice and she could feel him glaring at them. “You couldn’t steal a pokémon from a mere child.”

“We didn’t have our best pokémon with us!” Her partner complained with anger. “And a little twerp interfered.”

She bit her lip. She knew she would have to tell him this. “Not a twerp... It was Byakuya Togami.”

He hummed. “The Togami heir? You should’ve led with that. It’s unfortunate his first meeting with us was in a bad way. I’ll make sure that won’t happen again.”

“Sir...?” She asked.

“We need to make sure he’s on our side, the Togami’s are practically royalty. The boy needs to be in the new world we’ll create.”

“Yes, sir.” Both her and her partner said at the same time.

“Good. You’re dismissed.”

They then stood up, but before they could leave, he said one final thing.

“Oh, if you fail me again, my Hydreigon will murder you both.”

She gulped slightly. “Y-yes, sir.”

Chapter Text

Byakuya and the others slept in for once- it wasn’t as if they had something important to do that day. Well, that and Byakuya had a terrible sleep due to a certain bug.

Said bug was chirping happily though and enjoying her breakfast.

Well, at least somebody was in a good mood.

Byakuya had made sure he looked absolutely perfect though. After all, he couldn’t look like a slob in front of his father. He had made sure both Chihiro and Sayaka looked acceptable too.

Instead of his usual jumpsuit, Chihiro was wearing a dress shirt and some pants. It was the only acceptable outfit he had with him. Luckily, Sayaka looked quite a bit better. She was wearing a greyish-black tank top with a collar and a blue skirt.

She had even put a little bow around Popplio’s neck which turned out quite well.

When they were all ready, they made the walk to his mansion. But when they were passing the electronics shop, they were stopped by a man around his father’s age. He had brown hair and glasses and looked quite a lot like Chihiro.

Which meant that this was most likely his father.

“Ah, Chihiro! There you are!” The man said with a smile before looking at Byakuya and Sayaka. “Ah, and who are these? Are these your friends?”

“N-no, Dad... I’m just travelling with them...” Chihiro responded as he shook his head. There was quite some nervousness in his voice.

“Oh... That’s still very nice!” Chihiro’s father said, ruffling Chihiro’s hair. “It’s nice to see you getting out of the Gym more!”

What?

“But we’ll talk more later. I’ve got a project to finish, son.” He then turned to Byakuya and Sayaka again. “But, before I leave, who might you two be?”

Sayaka smiled. “I’m Sayaka Maizono!”

“Byakuya Togami,” Byakuya said simply, still thinking about what this man had just said.

Gym?

“Oh, my. I knew you looked familiar...” The man said with an awkward laugh. “I’m Taichi, though I’m afraid I must leave now...” And with that, the man turned around and left, an Ampharos following him.

Byakuya turned to Chihiro. “Why did he mention a gym?” The blonde asked, his voice cold and accusing.

“W-what?” Chihiro began, his eyes nervously widening. “My d-dad didn’t mention a gym...”

“Huh?” Sayaka tilted her head. “But he did!”

Byakuya nodded. “Exactly. Are you hiding something, Chihiro?”

At this point, he already knew the answer. He just wanted to hear Chihiro saying that himself. He wanted to get stronger after all.

“I, well...” Chihiro stuttered, his gaze on the ground. “I’m actually the Lumiose City Gym Leader...”

“And you are telling me this now?” Byakuya asked with an angry expression.

Chihiro looked down even more. “I’m sorry... I-I just don’t feel strong enough to be called that.”

“But Chihiro...” Sayaka began with a gentle smile. “If you’re a gym leader, you must be very strong! And I saw how you battled!”

“B-but I still fainted... A-and I don’t even fight most of my gym battles...” Chihiro confessed, looking up slightly.

Byakuya’s eyes narrowed. “Then who does?”

Somebody had to be fighting the gym battles, otherwise it would’ve been noticed.

“I created an AI who commands my pokémon at the gym... Alter Ego... They can battle much better than I can.”

Byakuya scoffed. “And? You were chosen as the gym leader, not an AI.” He then shook his head. “No matter, let’s just move on. My father is waiting.”

“O-okay...” Chihiro said with a nod. Sayaka looked like she wanted to say something but ultimately just opted to stay silent and follow Byakuya.

As they continued their walk, Helioptile kept chittering to Chihiro, presumably at what happened before. Byakuya didn’t focus on that though.

Instead, he made sure his glasses were in the right spot, his suit was free of wrinkles and no pieces of hair were sticking up. He needed to make sure he looked perfect when meeting with his father.

But all of those things were ruined as he opened the door. The moment he opened it, Father’s Altaria charged right at him and enveloped Byakuya in her wings before humming softly. It made Byakuya almost fall asleep as it always did. Luckily, he managed to stay awake, though he was as good as trapped in Altaria’s wings.

“Altaria!” He spluttered. “L-let go of me!”

After a few more seconds, the bird did just that. Byakuya clicked his tongue and quickly fixed his outfit and hair- he could already see his father approaching.

“Altaria,” The man sighed. “What did we discuss this morning?”

“Taria!” The pokémon chirped in response.

Father just sighed again and shook his head. He then didn’t even look at the others as he smiled at Byakuya before fixing Byakuya’s glasses which were crooked on his nose due to Altaria.

“Ah, I apologize, son. She quite missed you. And she isn’t the only one.”

Ah. So, his father was in a mood like this.

“Now, who are these two?” Father asked, raising an eyebrow. Right. Byakuya had to introduce them. The interaction with Altaria had completely thrown him off.

“This is Chihiro, the boy I mentioned before,” He said while gesturing to Chihiro. “And this is Sayaka, we met her in Santalune City.”

Father hummed. “And you allowed her to travel with you too?” He asked, his voice not necessarily unkind.

Sayaka nodded before Byakuya could. “Mhm! I want to become a performer... maybe even Kalos Queen but my mm would’ve never allowed me to travel alone... Luckily, Byakuya and Chihiro allowed me to travel with them!”

“Ah, I get your mother’s concerns. Even if you do have a pokémon with you...” He began, looking down at Sayaka’s Popplio, “There are still many things that can happen.”

The man then shook his head and smiled slightly. “But, come in. I’ll have Beheeyem make some tea. If Byakuya likes you, so do I. Ah, I’m Kijo Togami before I forget,” He continued, turning so they could enter the house.

His father was being... awfully nice. Maybe it was because Byakuya didn’t make friends very often- though, these people were not his friends. That didn’t seem to matter to Father though.

Byakuya and the others followed his father though and sat down in the living room. Altaria sat down on the floor next to Byakuya, refusing to leave his side even when Father called for her.

She must’ve missed him quite a bit.

It didn’t take long for the teacups to float to them. It was a nice green tea- his favourite. Beheeyem was floating behind the teacups, letting out a few happy sounds.

Father sat down opposite from them. “So, how has everything been going so far?” The man asked, taking a sip from his own tea. In the meantime, Beheeyem had floated onto Father’s lap.

“Quite well, Father. I defeated the first gym easily,” Byakuya answered, a small smirk forming on his face.

“Vesta!”

“Good, that’s very good. Though, it’s not like I expected anything different from you...” He looked down. “Nor from Larvesta.”

“Oh, he was awesome!” Sayaka said with a big smile- she always seemed to be happy. “It was quite the gym battle to watch.”

 Chihiro nodded while holding tightly onto his teacup. “Mhm... It was really cool to watch.”

Father hummed again. “Well, it certainly sounds like it went well. Especially if your friends say so.”

“We’re just travelling partners, not friends, Father,” Byakuya said with a roll of his eyes. He knew that his father was aware of it- the older man just enjoyed teasing him.

His father just hummed in response, but after a few moments he spoke up again. “Now, it’s already getting quite late. Why don’t you stay here for the night? We have enough rooms here.” He then stood up, making Beheeyem float beside him. “Beheeyem will show you to your rooms.”

“Oh, thank you, sir!” Sayaka said as she stood it.

Chihiro nodded. “Yeah... That’s really kind of you, sir...”

“Oh, please. Just call me Kijo. You’re not one of my employees.” He smiled before looking at Byakuya. “Ah, Byakuya. Do stay here, please. I want to talk to you about something.”

Byakuya tensed up slightly, but nodded nonetheless. “Yes, Father.”

He recognised that tone... His father was either worried or stressed. And neither of those things were any good.

Sayaka and Chihiro followed Beheeyem out of the room, leaving Byakuya alone with his father. It seemed like something was going on, though it didn’t seem to be anything too big.

If that was the case, Father would’ve called him already.

“So, what is it, Father?” Byakuya asked, a small frown appearing on his face.

“Nothing big, don’t worry. It’s just...” The man sighed. “I need you to be careful out there. There are certain people who, well...” Father trailed off.

“Are stealing pokémon?” Byakuya finished in a questioning tone.

His father nodded. “Yes. How did you know that?” He wondered.

“Somebody working at the hotel told me,” Byakuya explained, deciding not to tell Father about the fact he fought those people.

That would only worry his father more, something that Byakuya was looking to avoid at all costs.

“That’s... good,” He said, a slight smile playing on his lips. “Just be careful. The company needs you intact.”

That mean ‘I don’t want you to get hurt’ in Father’s language.

Why he decides to be like that even though he often tells Byakuya that he loves him, Byakuya has no idea. He’ll just live with it for now though.

“I know, Father,” Byakuya responded, moving his hand down slightly to pet Altaria. “Was that all?”

Father nodded. “Yes. Good night.”

Byakuya stood up. “Night, Father.”

The next day, it didn’t take long until they left. Not only did Byakuya want to get moving, but there was also the fact that his father needed to work.

So, he said their goodbyes- to both his father and his pokémon- and soon enough they were already on their way. Though, they did make a quick stop to Chihiro’s house to grab some extra clothes and whatnot. His father was already at work though.

Luckily, it was a shorter walk to Route 5 than to Route 4 and with no pokémon battles this time, they managed to get onto Route 5 just after lunch time.

That would leave them with just enough time to reach Camphrier Town where they would stay or a day or two- to do some training and get some rest and after that they would continue on to Ambrette Town and then finally Cyllage City, the home of the second gym.

Normally Byakuya would’ve opted for the path with the cave since that was much shorter, but Chihiro was scared of the dark which meant they had to take the longer route. But that would just give him more time to train so it wouldn’t be a waste of time.

It would give him an extra chance to catch a pokémon too since he would need that for the second gym. Larvesta was simply at too big of a type disadvantage.

But as they walked through Route 5 there were no pokémon that stood out to him. The few Abra he did see immediately teleported away and the rest simply wasn’t interesting enough. He had no use for something like a Bunnelby or Skiddo. Sure, Skiddo had a type advantage but that didn’t make it strong nor did that make it interesting to Byakuya.

Byakuya was quite disappointed with this and seemingly lost in his thoughts too as he tripped over something. Sayaka barely managed to catch him before he fell onto the ground.

“Are you okay?” She asked with a concerned expression.

Byakuya nodded. “Yes, I just-” He began before cutting himself off as he spluttered. Sand had just entered his eyes. After a few moments of blinking, he could see the perpetrator- an Eevee with an annoyed expression on its face.

“Vee!” It said as it butted its head into Byakuya’s leg.

“I think you tripped over the Eevee...” Chihiro said, watching the Eevee with fascination.

“It probably was sleeping,” Sayaka added before giggling. “And it’s mad because you woke it up.”

Ah. How wonderful.

“Doesn’t mean it has to fill my eyes with sand,” Byakuya said with a frown, glaring at the Eevee. It glared back.

“Ee-vee!” It cried out before using Sand Attack again.

Oh, that little...

“Larvesta, use Flame Charge on this Eevee,” Byakuya said as he tried to get the sand out of his eyes. He heard Larvesta cry out and could feel the warmth but he didn’t hear her hitting the Eevee.

As he gained sight once again, he saw that the Eevee had avoided it. And now was attacking Larvesta using Quick Attack.

“Harden!” Byakuya commanded quickly and Larvesta used to move right in time.

“Flame Charge again!” He commanded with a frown.

He could hear Sayaka whisper something to Chihiro, but he couldn’t hear what. Nor did he particularly care about that.

Especially since Eevee avoided the attack with ease again. But this time Byakuya had a plan.

“String Shot, now!”

Larvesta did immediately that and the Eevee was bound. He then crouched down and held his hand out to stop Larvesta from attacking.

This was an opportunity he could use.

“You aren’t going anywhere, Eevee,” Byakuya said, rummaging around in his pocket. “So, I’m going to make you an offer.”

He held out one of the pokéballs his father had given him. “You can either stay here or you can join me and Larvesta. What will it be?”

The Eevee looked from the pokéball to the ground to Byakuya. It repeated that a few times before suddenly headbutting forward, right at the pokéball.

It shook a few times in Byakuya’s hand before it stopped. And then Eevee appeared again.

“Vee!” She cried out, her tail wagging slightly.

Byakuya hummed and took her in his arms. “You made the right choice.” He then looked at the others. “Let’s continue on.”

Chihiro nodded, but Sayaka let out a gasp. “Can I hold it, please? It’s such a cutie!”

Byakuya rolled his eyes. “Fine. But only if she wants to.”

He handed the Eevee to Sayaka but Eevee jumped right back into Byakuya’s arms.

“It seems like she has made a choice.”

“Awww...” Sayaka said in a disappointed voice. “At least I have you, Popplio... Even if I can’t carry you,” She said as she patted Popplio on her head.

“Mhm. Now, let’s go,” Byakuya repeated, this time in a sterner voice then before.

Sayaka smiled again. “Right!”

And with that, they began walking once again. It didn’t take too long for them to reach Camphrier Town.

It was clear from how the town looked that it was old. And that time hadn’t been kind to it. The only really nice thing was the castle that towered over the rest of the town.

The other thing Byakuya immediately noticed was the giant Snorlax sleeping on the exact entrance to Route 7.

Of course...

They would have to deal with that tomorrow. How fun. Not to mention he still wanted to talk to Chihiro about his secret.

At least Byakuya had gained a new team member- and a feisty one at that.

Chapter Text

The next day, Byakuya stopped Sayaka and Chihiro before they left the hotel they had been staying at. He needed to talk- with Chihiro, at least.

“So, Chihiro,” He began, his voice filled with the same coldness as usual. He didn’t particularly care about being nice right now. “Tell me again why you decided to lie to me. This time from the beginning.”

The brunet looked down at the ground, “I... Well, when I met you, I immediately recognised you... and I felt so weak compared to y-you because I am...” He stuttered.

Oh, Arceus. How many more times was he going to have to deal with this? Just because Chihiro wasn’t strong- like Byakuya- didn’t instantly mean he was weak. He was a gym leader, for Arceus’ sake!

“Stop this right now,” Byakuya commanded with a glare. “If I hear you call yourself weak one more time, I’m going to have Larvesta burn you to a crisp.” He threatened.

Larvesta gave a cry in agreement, her horns lighting up slightly with fire.

Sayaka frowned. “Byakuya!” She began, but the blond silenced her with a glare.

Chihiro nodded, “O-okay... I understand...”

“Good. Now we have that out of the way, it’s time we leave this hotel. We’ve got to get rid of that Snorlax.”

With that, Byakuya stood up, simply expecting the others to follow him. They did, of course.

Eventually, they managed to get some information from one of the residents of Camphrier Town. It didn’t come quickly though, since there were barely any people outside. Most likely due to the snoring of the Snorlax- it was close to being unbearable.

“This town and Snorlax have always had a symbiotic relationship. Every year about this time, Snorlax comes down from the mountaintop to eat up all the crop roots that are left over after we've finished our harvest,” The woman they had found explained, her gaze on the Snorlax as she held a broom.

Sayaka tilted her head, “Huh? Isn't that a bad thing?”

“Not at all!” The woman said as she shook her head. “In fact, as Snorlax digs up the roots, it plows the fields, which gives us a good harvest the next year.” She continued to explain.

“Wow...!” Chihiro exclaimed with a small gasp.

The woman smiled. “Then, when Snorlax is almost finished eating, we have a harvest festival as a way of showing Snorlax our gratitude for its help,” She said before switching her gaze to the castle on top of the hill. “At the close of the festival, the Lord of Shabonneau Castle plays the pokéflute while Snorlax finishes up the town's offerings, and then it dances all the way back up to its mountaintop home.”

Byakuya frowned slightly. “Does that mean the festival hasn’t happened yet?”

They didn’t have time to wait for a whole festival.

That could take weeks. They wanted to stay here for a few days at most, not weeks.

The woman shook her head again. “The town is all ready for the festival to begin, but the way things are there's no way we'll be able to. We have a big problem that’s keeping Snorlax from waking up!”

By Arceus, just get to the point, woman.

“And what is that problem?” Byakuya asked with his arms crossed. His impatience could be heard in his voice but he didn’t care enough to try to mask it.

“The Lord of Shabonneau Castle, who plays the flute to wake Snorlax, flatly refuses to come to this year's festival!”

“What?”

“Why wouldn’t he?” Chihiro asked, Helioptile in his arms.

“We have no idea... He hasn’t told anybody,” The woman explained with a slight frown.

Well. It looked like they only had one option.

Sometime later, the three were standing at the entrance of the Shabonneau Castle. It didn’t take long until they were greeted by an old man, presumably the butler.

“Hello there! How can I help you young people out on this fine afternoon?” The old man asked as he bowed at them.

“We need to speak to Lord Shabonneau. Now,” Byakuya said in a harsh tone, his annoyance seeping through.

He had much better ways to spend his day. Yet, here he was, going to talk to some stupid old lord.

The butler smiled. “Well, you certainly have travelled a long way, so please, come in!” With that, the butler turned around and let them into the castle.

Not that it deserved to be called that. It was small and sometimes even shabby in some places. It was nothing compared to Byakuya’s mansion.

Eventually they were led to the throne room, at least that was what it should’ve been. There was a big curtain in the middle of the room that covered any possible throne.

The butler spoke up once more as all of them entered the room. “Presenting the master of this castle, Lord Shabonneau.” He said, and on cue, the curtain opened. Now, Byakuya could see the throne with the lord- a short and fat man- sitting on it.

“So, tell me, what brings you to my castle home?” The lord asked, slightly adjusting his stance on the throne.

“We need your help! Please play the flute at this year's harvest festival, like you've always done!” Sayaka said in a pleading tone, speaking up before Byakuya could.

Xerneas, that girl is way too kind.

The man on the throne shook his head. “That is not up for discussion!”

“Please, sir, come back!” Sayaka continued to plead.

“Popp-Popplio!” Popplio said in agreement, nodding her head.

Sayaka continued. “Snorlax is asleep in the center of town and won't wake up! We need you to play the Poké Flute! Please, pretty please!”

The man stood up from the throne and spoke almost nervously, “I would if I could, but no can do! I'm allergic to the flute now! So, when I play, I then break out in hives!” He explained, furiously shaking his head.

That was by far the biggest lie Byakuya had ever heard. And that included the time that Father denied he was going on a date even though he was literally carrying roses one time.

“If you can't play, then just lend us your flute,” Byakuya practically commanded, just done with this by now.

The man once again shook his head. “I've also developed such an acute fear of flutes, that just looking at it scared me, so I'm afraid I threw it away!”

Arceus, these lies are just getting worse.

“Threw it away?” Byakuya muttered before looking right at the so-called lord. “Lord Shabonneau, tell us the truth right now.” He commanded.

The ‘lord’ sighed deeply. “All right, here's the truth. The pokéflute was in my castle at one time... Not now.”

“What happened to the flute?” Sayaka asked with a tilt of her head. “Did somebody break it?”

“No, nothing like that!”

Then what did happen? Is anybody in this town capable of getting to the point quickly?

“So, what happened?” Chihiro asked in a soft voice, his expression curious.

The man looked away slightly. “I'm afraid she just grabbed it. Princess Monaca from Parfum Palace, located in the next town visited my castle. She exclaimed, ‘Oh ho ho! This pokéflute is so pretty!’ And took it home with her.”

“So, you just allowed the princess to take it?” Byakuya asked in an annoyed tone, angerly tapping his foot while glaring at the man.

Shabonneau flinched due to Byakuya’s glare. “You see, once Princess Monaca makes up her mind, it's impossible to get her to change it.”

That was a very bad excuse- this princess seemed to be a child.

“And you're okay with that? It's a family heirloom, isn't it?” Sayaka asked with a frown.

He looked down. “Sadly, it is. Princess Monaca's father's been kind to me, so I couldn't put my foot down...”

Byakuya sighed- it seemed like there was only one option for them here.

“We’ll get the flute for you,” The blond said, his voice filled with annoyance.

The ‘lord’ looked up, his eyes wide. “W-what? You mean it?”

Sayaka hummed, a smile on her face as always. “Oh, yeah! We’ll get that flute back in no time.”

Chihiro nodded timidly.

“Thank you...” The main said. “I can’t thank you enough...”

Byakuya rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes. Let’s just go to this ‘Parfum Palace’ and get that flute. There’s no time to waste.”

“If you say so, Byakuya!”

And with that, the three of them left the castle and made their way to the Parfum Castle. Luckily, it wasn’t too long of a walk.

On the way there, Byakuya did let Eevee out of her pokéball to stretch her legs a bit. But it seemed like the pokémon was much more interested in staying in Byakuya’s arms than actually walking herself.

So, for the rest of the walk Byakuya just carried Eevee. There was simply no reason for him to not let her be in his arms. And it wasn’t like Larvesta cared- the bug was way too big to be carried. And she liked to explore he route- and play with Chihiro’s Fletchling- much more.

But eventually they reached the palace which was surrounded by large hedges. And as soon as they entered it, a Furfrou came running at them while barking. Eevee growled slightly at it. A girl in a wheelchair- the so-called Princess Monaca most likely- seemed to be following the Furfrou.

“Furfrou, stop at once!” The girl commanded. “You shouldn't be playing with all this trash. It'll give you a tummy ache.”

Trash?

This girl was calling him trash? When her hair was the worst shade of green to exist?

Byakuya glared slightly at her. “Give us the pokéflute,” He said, his eyes as cold as the look he was giving her. The ‘princess’ didn’t waver though.

“Not going to happen....Monaca’s things are Monaca’s things and things that were given to Monaca are Monaca’s things as well, so the pokéflute is one of Monaca’s things and it's all Monaca’s!” Monaca said with a laugh.

Byakuya frowned at that and his glare harshened. But before he could speak again, Sayaka spoke up.

“The town won't be able to have the Harvest Festival without the flute!” She explained in a pleading tone, “At this rate, the townspeople are gonna end up hating Snorlax!”

“And we wouldn’t be able to go to the next town,” Byakuya added with a frown.

“Vee!” Eevee said in response, wriggling slightly in Byakuya’s arms.

The girl suddenly turned her gaze to Eevee. “Would this Eevee belong to you?” She asked in an almost sickingly sweet tone.

“Yes.”

“It’s so cute... and look at that tail, it’s the perfect amount of fluffy!” The girl smirked up at Byakuya. “such a splendid and rare Eevee is unworthy of you, so Monaca will graciously accept it and treasure it like an heirloom.”

“Vee?”

Byakuya’s grip on Eevee tightened slightly. “That’s not happening.”

She giggled. “Monaca has an idea! We will battle! The winner gets both the pokéflute and Eevee.”

A battle?

That wouldn’t be hard. Sure, he hadn’t battled with Eevee before, but he doubted it would be hard. Especially against this little girl.

“Very well,” Byakuya said with a nod, “I accept.”

And with that, they were led to a battlefield. Byakuya let Eevee hop out of his arms and watched as it tensed up slightly.

At the side of the field, Sayaka and Chihiro watched. Sayaka flashed him an encouraging smile while Chihiro mostly just looked nervous- it was a wonder that Helioptile hadn’t left his arms yet.

Byakuya pushed up his glasses. “Eevee, use Quick Attack!” He commanded, and he watched as Eevee’s body turned white and she charged forward, right at the Furfrou.

Yet before Eevee could hit the pokémon, it jumped up and hit Eevee’s leg, making her crash.

“Vee!”

Monaca just laughed. “”Furfrou, bite!”

With a bark, Furfrou turned around to bite Eevee.

Byakuya had to be fast. Otherwise, Eevee would get hurt... And from a Furfrou like this...

But then, an idea hit him. “Sand attack!” He commanded, thinking back at what Eevee had done to him when they had met. With a bit of luck, it would distract the Furfrou long enough.

“Ee-vee!” Eevee cried out, swiftly turning around and spraying sand all over the Furfrou, making it stop attacking Eevee.

“Now, Tackle!”

Before the Furfrou could even shake the sand off, Eevee was already attacking it. It hit Furfrou right in the middle, making the other pokémon let out a whimper.

Monaca frowned. “Bite, again!”

With that order, the Furfrou- still covered in sand- launched it attack and bit Eevee.

“Vee!” She cried out, her fur now all roughed up. But she hadn’t lost yet.

“Quick attack, Eevee,” Byakuya command, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible.

By Arceus, he was not going to lose to a child of all things.

And he wasn’t. Because the quick attack hit the Furfrou and swirls appeared in its eyes.

“Hmpf,” Monaca said as she returned Furfrou to its pokéball. She then turned to one of the servants. “Bring Monaca the pokéflute...”

The servant nodded and disappeared. A few moments later, she came back and handed the pokéflute to Monaca with a bow.

The girl then turned to Byakuya. “Here. And never come back again!”

“Of course I won’t,” Byakuya said with a smirk. He grabbed the pokéflute and turned to Chihiro and Sayaka. “Let’s go now.”

And with that, their mission was complete. They had gotten the pokéflute.

Chapter Text

With the pokéflute now in hand, they could finally make it back to Camphrier Town and give the flute to the stupid lord so that Snorlax would move.

Byakuya had wasted so much time with this whole excursion. At least he got one battle, but it was just against an annoying little girl. Eevee seemed to like it though.

Though, the pokémon was now curled up on Larvesta of all things. The bug didn’t mind though- she was big enough to carry Eevee without a sweat. Eevee probably just loved the warmth Larvesta gave off.

Eventually, though, they reached the town and handed the flute to the stupid lord. The lord was practically overjoyed and if it wasn’t for Byakuya’s glare, he would’ve hugged the heir.

Luckily, that didn’t happen. The lord just played the flute, awakening the Snorlax. Which meant it was time for the festival to begin. Byakuya already hated it though- it was way too loud and way too many people were present.

So, he challenged Chihiro to a battle.

“W-what?”

Byakuya rolled his eyes. “You heard me. We can do a simple two versus two. We both have two pokémon now, haven’t we?”

“Well, yes... But...” Chihiro trailed off, his eyes darting to everywhere that wasn’t Byakuya.

“No buts, Gym Leader. It’ll be the perfect way to test your strength,” The blond said in a harsh tone, choosing to ignore how Chihiro froze as Byakuya referred to him as a Gym Leader.

Chihiro nodded meekly, his eyes on the ground, “Okay...”

And with that, the two boys squirmed their way through the crowd until they had reached the town’s battlefield.

Sayaka wasn’t with them- the girl had opted to stay behind and watch. Not that such a thing mattered, he just needed Chihiro after all.

For his first pokémon, Byakuya chose Larvesta. Eevee was back in her pokéball by now and she deserved to get some rest after the battle she had faced.

And Larvesta could easily handle Chihiro’s pokémon. Winning would be a piece of cake. Especially from Helioptile due to his ability.

But Helioptile wasn’t Chihiro’s first pokémon. Instead, the boy opted for his Fletchling.

That’s interesting...

Fletchling’s flying type could pose a problem, but that just meant Byakuya had to take care of it quickly. And he could do that. Maybe Byakuya would have to get a bit creative, but he would still win.

And with that in mind, he began the battle.

“Larvesta, use String Shot!” He commanded.

Fletchling’s speed could pose a big problem, especially with how slow Larvesta was. But String Shot would take care of that.

“Avoid it using Quick Attack...!” Chihiro said quickly, his eyes darting from Larvesta to his Fletchling.

Byakuya had a feeling Chihiro would opt for this- he had done this before after all. And that made this move predicable, something that Chihiro would need to work on.

But for now, Byakuya would just take advantage of it.

He smirked, “Flame Charge.”

With a cry, Larvesta charged forward as her body got covered in fire. Fletchling was busy with trying to avoid the silk that had come from Larvesta’s mouth just moments before, leaving him vulnerable to Larvesta’s attack.

Perfect.

Before Fletchling had a change to move away, Larvesta hit him right on, sending him to the ground. However, he quickly flew up again, though Byakuya could see some scruffs on him.

And even though Fletchling wasn’t slower now, Larvesta was faster. Still not faster than the bird, but it would still help.

Chihiro wasn’t giving up though. “Use Peck, Fletchling!”

The bird’s beak lit up and he charged at Larvesta.

“Use String Shot to catch him,” Byakuya ordered, crossing him arms.

But before that could happen though , Fletchling was already right in front of Larvesta and hit her with his beak.

“Ves!” The bug cried out, though she hadn’t fainted yet.

Good.

And due to his attack, Fletchling was also nearby. Which meant it had to work this time.

“Again, use String Shot!” He commanded, a small frow appearing on his face. He couldn’t miss this time.

And it didn’t. The silk spew right from Larvesta’s mouth before Fletchling had a chance to avoid it.

Chihiro isn’t utilising Fletchling’s speed enough...

He’d also point the boy on that once the battle was over. For now, it was just something else he’d use to his advantage.

And with Fletchling trapped in the silk, hitting it would be easy.

“Use Flame Charge once more, Larvesta,” Byakuya said with a confident look, knowing that the chance of Fletchling avoid this was minimal.

“G-get free using Peck!” Chihiro commanded, his voice slightly panicked. It seemed like he already knew what was going to happen.

Fletchling’s beak lit up, and so did Larvesta’s body. But Fletchling wasn’t fast enough and managed to get hit by Larvesta. The attack did cause the silk to burn, but that didn’t matter.

Because the silk wasn’t the only thing that got burned. So did Fletchling himself. The bird hadn’t fainted yet, but it was close to doing so.

But then... something special happened. Fletchling was coughing up fire due to the burn when it suddenly looked up and coughed right at Larvesta.

He had learned Ember.

Chihiro gasped, “He learned a new move!” He said in an excited voice, his eyes wide.

“It sure seems to be the case,” Byakuya commented, straightening his tie. “But don’t think you’ll win now. Larvesta, Flame Charge once more.”

At this point, Larvesta was getting quite fast due to all of her Flame Charges. And with Fletchling’s decreased speed, there wasn’t much of a difference between the two anymore.

“Avoid it with Quick Attack and use Peck!” Chihiro commanded hastily.

“Fletch!” The bird cried out, just as Larvesta came charging at him. But with the use of Quick Attack, Fletchling was faster and managed to avoid being hit. And before Byakuya could even utter a word himself, Fletchling’s Peck had hit Larvesta.

She hadn’t fainted yet, but it didn’t seem like she could go on for much longer. But it was the same for Fletchling. Which meant that all it would need was one attack, and then the bird would faint.

So, Byakuya did just that. With one final Flame Charge, Fletchling fell onto the ground, having fainted.

Chihiro recalled the bird with a frown, but quickly let Helioptile take its place. Byakuya knew this battle wasn’t over yet, but he already had an advantage.

“Trap Helioptile using String Shot,” Byakuya commanded as he pushed up his glasses. With a cry, Larvesta did as commanded.

“Use Mud-Slap to counter it!” Chihiro quickly said before Larvesta was done with her attack. The two attacks hit each other, creating a bomb of sand appear.

“Pound, now!”

Using the sand to his advantage, Helioptile raced forward, crashing into Larvesta before Byakuya even had a change to react. And... she fainted, swirls present in her eyes.

Byakuya recalled her with a deep sigh before letting Eevee out of her pokéball. The pokémon looked around for a few seconds before understanding what was happening and taking a battle-ready stance.

“We’re far from done here. Eevee, use Quick Attack!”

Eevee’s body lit up white as she gained speed. “Vee!” She cried out, hitting Helioptile.

“Use Thunder Shock now,” Chihiro commanded, his voice less hesitant than before.

Helioptile got ready to launch his attack, but Byakuya wasn’t going to let that happen.

“Disrupt it using Sand Attack.” He ordered.

Eevee did just that, spraying sand in Helioptile’s eyes before it could attack.

Chihiro let out a gasp. “Helioptile! Are you okay?”

“Tile!” The electric type responded, shaking his head around.

This was Byakuya’s chance. “Use Tackle.”

With how close she was to Helioptile, that wasn’t a problem. Eevee’s attack hit Helioptile, who was still trying to get the sand of his eyes.

“Helioptile...” Chihiro began, an uncertainty in his voice. “Use... Thunder Shock... behind you.”

What?

Byakuya... hadn’t expected for Chihiro to do that. And as such, Eevee couldn’t move out of the way fast enough, causing her to get hit.

But she was still standing.

Well... It seems like Chihiro is trying to act like Helioptile’s eyes...

That wasn’t a bad strategy, but it wouldn’t keep Byakuya from winning. Helioptile was getting weak- Byakuya just knew it.

“One more time, use Quick Attack!”

Just like before, Eevee’s body lit up and she charged at Helioptile.

“Turn around and use Mud-Slap,” Chihiro said hastily, but it was already too late. The attack was too close to avoid and Eevee his Helioptile, causing him to faint.

Byakuya had won the battle, just as expected.

“Not bad, Chihiro,” He commented with a smirk.

With Chihiro and Byakuya leaving to have a battle, Sayaka was left alone. Well, not really. She still had Popplio after all. While she could have followed them and watched the battle- something she would’ve enjoyed- she instead decided to stay and watch the festival.

After all, there were never things like this in Santalune City, it was quite barren there. Though, it did have a few good shops and the school. But no festivals. And especially not like this.

There were fireworks in the air, treats being handed out, and most importantly... there were people performing.

It wasn’t fully like the ones she had seen on the TV- let alone like the ones of the Kalos Queen- but it still had a certain charm to it.

There was a girl with red hair, performing with her Espeon and Meowstic. Using Psychic, Meowstic was holding the Espeon in the air, while Espeon made small Shadow Balls appear that exploded into small sparkles.

It was beautiful. And Sayaka hoped she could be like that one day.

Just maybe...

But the girl was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts as she felt something against her legs. She let out a small shriek and looked around- she could barely see a blur of green wriggling through the crowd. It looked to be a... pokémon.

Sayaka quickly followed it, wanting to know where it was going. She ignored Popplio’s confused sounds as she held the pokémon in her arms.

It was hard to get through the crowd, but the pokémon wasn’t too fast, so Sayaka managed to keep up with it.

Eventually, the crowd was gone and Sayaka could barely hear the music from the festival- they must’ve walked quite a bit away from the town. At least, the part where the festival was held. They were now in a small alleyway, with some streetlamps being the only form of light.

The pokémon was shivering slightly- Sayaka couldn’t make out what pokémon it was, but it looked to be in the form of a leave. Luckily, she had her Rotom phone for things like these.

The phone flew out of her pocket and analysed the leaf-like pokémon. “Sewaddle, the sewing pokémon. This Pokémon makes clothes for itself. It chews up leaves and sews them with sticky thread extruded from its mouth.”

Oh wow!

But the Sewaddle had a much different reaction. As it heard the voice of Rotom- who had already gone back into Sayaka’s pocket- it hid its head even more.

Sayaka gently put Popplio on the ground beside her. She then crouched down and spoke in a soft voice. “Hey, it’s okay. No one’s here to hurt you...”

Sewaddle just shook more in response.

Sayaka lowered her voice even more, “You’re not a fan of loud noises, right? Is that why you ran away from the festival?”

Still shaking- and not facing Sayaka- the bug nodded.

“Do you... have a trainer?” She asked, continuing to keep her voice low and gentle.

A pause. Then, the Sewaddle shook its head.

Maybe...

“Would you like to be my pokémon then? I could use another member of my team.”

“Pop!” Popplio said enthusiastically, making Sewaddle shrink back.

Sayaka tried to ignore that. “I... really want to be a pokémon performer, you know. I know performing in front of so many people will be scary, but I still want to do it!”

Sewaddle turned around slightly, like it was interested.

Hold on...

“Is that why you were at the festival? To watch the performers?”

Maybe it was a weird question, but it did make sense. Why else would such a shy pokémon be there?

There must’ve been a reason. And the performances were the best part of the festival- in Sayaka’s opinion at least.

Sewaddle gave a slow nod, “Waddle...”

Sayaka smiled at it, “Would you maybe like to perform with me and Popplio then? If not, you can still watch us!”

“Se... Sewaddle,” Sewaddle said, slowly moving towards Sayaka.

She grabbed a pokéball from her pocket. Sewaddle moved towards it, and after a moment of just looking at it, it bumped against the ball and let itself get captured.

Sayaka had gotten a new team member!

When she got back to show the other two- who were now done with their battle- Sewaddle immediately hit in her hands.

It seemed like she would need some time adjusting to Sayaka’s friends. But that’s okay, she was willing to do that.

Especially if that meant Sewaddle would perform with her!

She was already one step closer to achieving her dream. It wouldn’t take long until she would enter her first Showcase. Though, she would need to do quite some practising before that.

But that didn’t really matter. She had a feeling that both her and her pokémon would like that.

For Sayaka, this day couldn’t have gone any better!

Chapter Text

Byakuya... hadn't expected that Sayaka would come back with a new pokémon of all things. Especially not one that basically had a personality opposite of the girl. While Sayaka was just so stupidly happy and energetic, Sewaddle was a shivering mess. The bug looked more like it would belong to Chihiro, with how annoyingly shy the two were.

That didn’t mean Byakuya didn’t like the little bug- if anything, he found her to be better than Sayaka's other pokémon, Popplio. The seal was quite loud at times. And quite loud meant way too loud for Byakuya.

And it helped that Larvesta also liked Sewaddle good enough. It seemed like she enjoyed having another bug type with her, especially one that was quite a bit smaller than herself.

So, the new addition wasn’t bad. Unfortunately, it had made Sayaka in an even better mood than before, which meant that Byakuya had to deal with her annoying happiness much more. That made Chihiro at least a bit better than her- he was at least quiet. Even if his stuttering was annoying too.

It wasn’t as if Byakuya hated either of them, they were just annoying, as many commoners were. But that could still change- Byakuya wasn’t planning to spend months with people he found annoying, after all. He just had to try to remove that annoyingness from them, something easier said than done.

But he was getting off track. After having to stay in this wreck of a town for a few days, it was time to leave. Snorlax wasn’t blocking their way anymore, after all.

Which meant that they could now go to Route 8 and enter Ambrette Town- which was much nicer than Camphrier Town. It was quite a bit well known, mostly for its aquarium and fossil museum. Especially that latter one was quite well known.

Not to mention that it could be something actually interesting. Byakuya didn’t care much about the aquarium- though both Sayaka and Chihiro might- but the fossil museum could end up being very interesting. Especially if they actually managed to revive some fossils- Byakuya vaguely remembers his father funding that specific project a while back.

That would be quite the sight to see, and if the fossils were actually revived, he wouldn’t want to miss it. Though, Larvesta probably wouldn’t like it much- she is not a fan of rocks at all.

She might even want to go into her pokéball, which she rarely does.

But that’s all for later. They first had to actually make it to the town and then they would plan what they were going to do. Byakuya couldn’t for sure know what happened on the way to there, after all.

But he’ll face any problems when they arise. For now, no problems had arisen and they could leave the bare town without any problems.

Most of their pokémon immediately went to explore the new area, though both Byakuya’s Eevee and Sayaka’s Sewaddle stayed with their trainers. Byakuya didn’t mind though- Eevee wasn’t happy. And it seemed like it was the same for Sayaka.

Route 8 wasn’t anything special compared to any of the other routes they had seen so far. Just the usual tall grass, wild pokémon and other trainers. Who also had pokémon. And one of those just bumped into him. And that made him trip.

Sayaka seemed to gasp behind him, but he didn’t focus on that.

Byakuya just barely managed to catch himself before he hit the ground entirely. His suit was covered in slight specks of dirt.

Disgusting.

How that even happened, Byakuya wasn’t sure. Because it was a Mudkip. Which was even slower than Larvesta.

But... there was something different about this Mudkip. Because it wasn’t the usual blue.

No.

It was this light pinkish purple instead. This Mudkip was shiny.

The shiny pokémon just looked up at him, its eyes practically empty. Another pokémon seemed to be running after it though.

It was a Braixen, its stick almost falling out of its tail as it ran after the Mudkip.

“Braix! Braixen!” It chastised while picking up the Mudkip, it didn’t protest.

The Braixen seemed familiar. It felt as if he knew that Braixen. Yet he couldn’t place why.

At least, that was until he saw two people speedwalking towards the two pokémon. And he saw her. Her disgusting face and her disgusting clothes.

Oh, how much he hated her.

The girl looked up at him with a slight smirk. “Togami. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Immediately, Larvesta began to flare up, but Byakuya stopped her with a wave of his hand. He wasn’t going to be like her.

Byakuya scoffed, “Don’t act friendly with me, Kirigiri. And take care of that pokémon of yours.”

“Um...” The boy next to her said, an awkward smile on his face. “Mudkip’s actually mine...” He said as he picked the Mudkip up from Braixen. It began to... chew on his hand- the boy didn’t seem to be bothered by it.

Sayaka gasped again and suddenly stepped forward. “So, it is you, Makoto!” She said, hugging the boy for a moment before stepping away.

“You...um, all know each other?” Chihiro asked with an awkward look.

“Oh, Makoto and I used to go to the same school in Santalune City!” Sayaka explained with a big grin.

“I unfortunately needed to move away though...” Makoto added.

“As for me and Kirigiri... You can say we know each other...” Byakuya answered with a frown.

“As petty as always, Togami?” Kyoko asked with an obviously fake curious tilt of her head.

Byakuya glared at her, “I’m not petty, Kirigiri. Now get out of my way.”

Oh, Arceus. He hated her. Just why did she have to be here? Not to mention that she had that Makoto with her- who was friends with Sayaka.

“Why? Are you in a hurry?” She raised an eyebrow, “Are you maybe competing in the Gym Challenge?”

The heir crossed his arms. “Of course I am, Kirigiri. Don’t tell me you are too...”

He already knew what she was going to say. He just knew it. Of course she was.

“Oh, but I am. I even have two gym badges already... and based on where you are going, you only have one, right?”

“Yes...” Byakuya said as he gritted his teeth. “I’ll get my second one soon though.”

“I’m sure you will, Togami,” Kyoko said, her voice filled with condescension that she would only use on him.

Then, Makoto turned to Kyoko, “Um... I think we should go... Your dad is expecting me back by tomorrow....”

Byakuya raised an eyebrow. “And why would the professor be expecting you, boy?”

He knows his insults won’t work on Kyoko. But if this boy was her friend, he might still be able to rile her up.

And just as he hoped, that happened. Byakuya could see Kyoko’s eyes just flare up with anger she tried to conceal before grabbing Makoto’s wrist, as if to protect him.

“Don’t call him that, Togami. And for your information, he’s Professor Kirigiri’s assistant.”

Byakuya rolled his eyes, “Ah. I’m so sorry for insulting your friend.”

“Boyfriend,” Kyoko corrected with a smirk.

What?

She was dating this boy. How disgusting.

How could someone willingly choose to date her?

Dating in itself was already gross enough to Byakuya, but choosing to date Kyoko.

Sayaka let out an excited gasp, “Really! Aww, that’s-” She began, but Byakuya cut her off.

“I think it’s time we go. Chihiro. Sayaka,” He said in a cold tone, looking at each of them as he said their name.

Without waiting, he began to walk, purposely bumping into Kyoko with his shoulder.

He didn’t care if they were following him- he just wanted to leave.

They did follow him though. Chihiro seemed to be the first one, since Sayaka was a little behind him.

“So, um, Byakuya,” Sayaka said after catching up with him. “What was... all of that?”

Byakuya didn’t even turn to her, “Nothing to concern yourself with. Kyoko Kirigiri is simply awful.”

“Are you sure?” She questioned. “I mean... Makoto is dating her and he’s a very nice person!”

As if that mattered. The fact that her boyfriend was nice did not change the fact that he hated Kirigiri with every fibre of his body.

“That doesn’t change she’s an awful person,” Byakuya said as he finally turned to her. “Never talk to her if you see her.”

“Um... okay...”

There was a silence after that, the three of them continued to walk down the route. And this time there were no interruptions by awful people.

But after a while, Chihiro decided to speak up, breaking the tense silence. “We’re going to Ambrette Town now, right?” The boy asked.

Byakuya gave him a nod.

“Do you think we could visit the aquarium...? Helioptile really likes to see water types.”

“Why? Does he like to fry them?” Byakuya asked jokingly, a small smirk present on his face.

“W-wha-”

Byakuya cut him off, “I was joking, don’t worry.” He rolled his eyes, “And yes, we can go to the aquarium. I was planning to go to the fossil museum anyway. And I had expected that at least one of you would want to go to the aquarium.”

“I think Popplio will like it too,” Sayaka added with a smile, though it was smaller than her usual ones.

“Pop!”

“Then it’s settled. We’ll go to the aquarium tomorrow and the fossil museum the day after that,” Byakuya said as he looked at the two others for confirmation.

“T-that sounds like fun!”

Sayaka just hummed in response, which was good enough for Byakuya.

Another silence came over them after that, but it didn’t matter much since it didn’t take long until they had reached Ambrette Town. And Byakuya could immediately say that it was much nicer than Camphrier Town.

It was slightly breezy there, since it was on the coast of the country. The water was a nice deep blue, something that Popplio already enjoyed a lot since it immediately jumped into the water. Helioptile curiously followed after her, though he didn’t enter the water.

Byakuya used this moment to excuse himself and check him into the hotel the three of them would be staying in.

His hotel room was quite nice and it even had some special made beds for his pokémon. Though, Larvesta preferred to stay on the bed. Which meant that Eevee was also going to stay on the bed.

That didn’t matter much though- the bed was big enough for the three of them. But as he lay down on the bed and grabbed a book, Eevee sat right down on his stomach, obstructing his view to the book.

“Eevee...” Byakuya said with a sigh, gently trying to push the pokémon off. She wasn’t budging.

She shook her head. “Vee! Ee-vee!” Eevee cried out, pushing her little head against Byakuya’s chest.

“What? What is it?”

The pokémon paused for a moment, like she was trying to get her thoughts together. It was a bit harder for Byakuya to understand her, after al. He had been around Larvesta- who was already sleeping- much longer.

Eventually Eevee just decided to pick up the book with her mouth and throw it on the floor. She then kept pushing against Byakuya’s chest.

Xerneas...

“You want me to lay down, don’t you?”

“Vee!”

Byakuya sighed, “I suppose it had been a long day!”

The moment he said that, Eevee jumped up and down slightly. “Vee! Vee!”

What?

“Do you... want me to talk about my day?” Byakuya asked, making Eevee pause for a bit.

“Vee... Eev...” Eevee tried to explain, even making gestures.

Was that supposed to be... her?

“You want me to talk about... Kirigiri?” He asked, tilting his head slightly.

Eevee nodded, “Vee!”

By Arceus, he did not want to talk about her. At all.

But he supposed that Eevee didn’t know her. Which is probably why she was so curious.

“Fine...” Byakuya said with a sigh, “We... met when we were little- our father’s work together. We never got along though... and that stupid Fennekin... Now Braixen...” He trailed off.

“Vee?” Eevee asked with a tilt of her head.

Byakuya shook his head, “I don’t like them, no. They’re awful.”

And that was that. Eevee could sense that Byakuya didn’t want to say anything else- she was a smart pokémon.

He really hoped he wouldn’t have to see her for a long time. But that’s all he could do- hope. But he knew Kyoko. Which meant that it was almost certain he would come across her again. But that didn’t matter. She didn’t matter.

She never did.

Chapter Text

Today, Byakuya and the others were going to the aquarium. He wasn’t necessarily looking forward to it, but he already had promised it and he wasn’t going to break his promise over something so simple.

Larvesta, however, truly didn’t want to go- she hated water after all. So, this was one of the rare times where the bug entered her pokéball. Eevee went happily along with Byakuya- as long as she could stay in his arms, that it.

When he arrived downstairs in the hotel, both Sayaka and Chihiro were already waiting for him. That didn’t really surprise Byakuya, they were the ones that wanted to go after all. Sayaka had the biggest smile Byakuya had ever seen on her face and even Chihiro was smiling softly.

Not to mention that Popplio was also very excited. She could barely sit still while Byakuya and the others were eating breakfast. Helioptile was also quite excited, though Fletchling was nowhere to be seen, probably due to the same reasons as Larvesta.

As for Sewaddle... Well, the bug was out of her pokéball, though she didn’t particularly look happy. Just as all of the other times Byakuya had seen the little bug, she was as nervous as one could be. She was sitting on Sayaka’s lap, her little face away from everybody.

But since she wasn’t in her pokéball, she must’ve wanted to go to the aquarium. Or she just wanted to stay near Sayaka.

Not that it truly mattered for Byakuya. All he wanted to do is go to that aquarium as fast as possible. And maybe find some interesting water types. He wanted to at least get something out of this day.

And seeing how Eevee would react to everything would also be good- he wanted to get to know her better. She was his pokémon after all. Not to mention that it could also help with crossing out any potential evolution for Eevee. He didn’t know what she would- and wanted- to involve in. Flareon was not an option since he already had Larvesta as a fire type, but if she really liked water, maybe evolving her into a Vaporeon could be a good idea.

In the end, it would be whatever she wanted. Sure, some options were better for Byakuya, but he'd let her choose what she would evolve in. Be that a Vaporeon or Umbreon, or something else. As long as it wasn’t a Flareon, that is.

But that was all for later- now it was time to go to the aquarium. As soon as Byakuya had purchased the tickets at the front desk, the woman sitting there began to talk to him and the others.

“Welcome to Ambrette Aquarium. I'm sure you'll enjoy all our aquatic displays!” She said with a smile. “Our aquarium is the perfect place to see many different water type pokémon.”

“I-I can’t wait!” Chihiro said with a smile.

Byakuya just hummed, “I’m sure they will.” And with that, they entered the aquarium.

Both Popplio and Helioptile immediately went to the big tanks that held to water types. Truth be told, the place was quite majestic. It was incredibly big, something that was quite good for the pokémon that were living there. Especially since there were a lot of different species.

Byakuya had taken his own path, away from Chihiro and Sayaka. Eevee was walking beside him, deeming the pokémon to be more interesting than Byakuya’s arms. She was putting her head as close to the glass as possible, which had let her to bump her head into it a few times.

Luckily Byakuya had a few potions on him for situations just like this, so it wasn’t as if Eevee would even feel the pain after a few seconds.

But the collection of pokémon in the aquarium wasn’t anything like Byakuya had seen before. Many Gorebyss were swimming in the water, their pink tails swishing around. Only some Clamperls stayed close to them while most of the other pokémon avoid them, which was a wise decision.

Further on there was a big Mantyke that passed him from above- the tank was curved and went all across the room. Byakuya was practically just walking in the middle of it.

But there were even some fossil pokémon, like Relicanth. Just as Eevee was looking at the pokémon, the big fossil bumped against the glass, making Eevee let out a shriek as she stepped back.

Maybe that’ll stop her from getting so close time and time again.

The fact that he can heal her every time, does not mean that Byakuya also wants to do that. Unfortunately, this didn’t stop her. If anything, it only made her more interested in the water types.

Byakuya shook his head as Eevee once again hit her head against the glass. He was just about to pick her up to put a stop to this, when he saw something hit his leg- he barely felt it. He quickly realized that it was a Sewaddle. And not just any Sewaddle, but Sayaka’s Sewaddle.

What was it doing here?

Based on how the bug had acted before, he couldn’t imagine her looking around on her own. She was too scared to leave Sayaka’s side, so this definitely wasn’t on purpose.

Luckily Sewaddle seemed to have recognised him and looked up at him slightly before looking away again. She didn’t run which was a good thing. But as Byakuya crouched to pick her up, Sewaddle immediately backed away.

So he couldn’t pick her up...

That meant that Byakuya had to find another way. And he couldn’t just trust the bug to follow him- that was bound to go wrong.

But as he was thinking about how he was going to handle this- he stupidly forgot to get both Sayaka’s and Chihiro’s phone number- Eevee had slowly walked up to Sewaddle.

“Ee...vee?” She asked, her tone surprisingly soft. She wasn’t her usual excited self, nor was she tired. She just... seemed to have sensed that Sewaddle was anxious.

“Waddle! Waddle!” The bug responded, stopping with backing away. She still looked to be on edge though- the leaf that was on top of her head almost seemed to cover it by now.

Eevee carefully stepped forward, her demeanour much more gentle than Byakuya had ever seen. That made Sewaddle peak out from under her leaf slightly, though the bug was still slightly shaking.

Eevee continued to step forward until she was right in front of Sewaddle. Then, she crouched down slightly, so her furry head was around the same hight as Sewaddle. She stayed like that until Sewaddle moved, which the bug eventually did.

She slowly moved a bit forward and sniffed at Eevee’s face before hiding her face again in her leaf. This repeated a few times, and the whole time Byakuya just watched in silence. He knew that even something as small as just shifting his foot could make Sewaddle run away, so he wasn´t taking any chances.

Eventually Sewaddle stopped hiding and came closer to Eevee.

“Vee!” The pokémon said in a happy tone before turning to Byakuya. “Ee-vee!” She said while making a downwards motion with her head.

This made Sewaddle climb onto her. The bug turned around a few times before laying down on Eevee’s soft fur. It was quite the cute sight to see, even for Byakuya who wasn’t normally a fan of such things.

After Sewaddle settled down, Eevee gave him a nod and slowly started to walk.

Ah, it’s time to find Sayaka then.

Byakuya started to walk too. He couldn’t walk too fast since then Eevee would have to walk faster and that could end with Sewaddle waking up. And with how nervous the little bug must’ve been, that wasn’t something Byakuya wanted to see happen. He doubted that would end good.

And he wasn’t in the mood to search for Sewaddle if she ran away. So, walking slow was the only choice he had.

Moving through the crowd wasn’t exactly easy, but Byakuya could manage. The hardest part was keeping an eye on Eevee, but he managed to do that just find.

Eventually, he came across Sayaka and Chihiro. Both of their eyes were filled with panic and Sayaka seemed to be in the verge of tears.

“B-Byakuya...” Sayaka began the moment she noticed him. “I-I lost Sewaddle and I have no idea where she is. She could be anywhere... What if something-”

Byakuya cut her off. “She’s fine, I found her,” He said as he pointed to Eevee, where Sewaddle was still sleeping.

“Oh, thank Arceus!” Sayaka breathed, wiping away her tears before suddenly hugging Byakuya. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

The heir stiffened as he was hugged and eventually pulled away from the hug. “It’s nothing... Don’t mention it.”

Sayaka nodded, “If you say so...”

The girl then crouched down and gently wake Sewaddle up. The bug sprung awake but once she saw Sayaka, that fear disappeared. She climbed onto Sayaka’s arm until she was in the crook of her neck. Then, she fell asleep again.

She must’ve been really tired from this adventure of hers...

Chapter Text

While it might be a rash decision, Byakuya didn’t care. Not much at least. He needed to do this and wasn’t going to let anybody stop him. He didn’t want to fall behind Kyo- Kirigiri more than he already had, the fossil lab be damned. He was going to the Cyllage City Gym this very moment and he was going to win.

But… he couldn’t just leave, that would be quite rude to people who hadn’t deserved it. And at this point, he couldn’t exactly not bring Chihiro and Sayaka along, even if they were a bit annoying. He supposed that they were part of his group now, so he had to bring them along, even if he didn’t fully want to.

And that was why he was standing in front of Chihiro’s room, with Larvesta confusedly standing beside him. He hadn’t really told the bug what had been going on in his mind, he simply… didn’t want to discuss it. Not even with a pokémon. But he was getting off track, he didn’t want to wait any longer.

He knocked on Chihiro’s door a few times, only stopping after he thought that Chihiro for sure had heard it, even if he was asleep. There was no time to waste after all. Luckily for him though, it seemed like Chihiro had already been awake since the door opened only moments later.

And there stood Chihiro, rubbing his eyes a bit as he groggily looked at Byakuya. While he was already clothed, it was clear he hadn’t woken up too long ago. “What i-is it?” He asked, a hint of nervousness present in his voice. It was almost like he thought something bad had happened.

“Wake Sayaka up, we’re leaving,” Byakuya answered simply, already turning around so Chihiro couldn’t get a word in. He did not want to wait and answer questions, he just wanted to go. And by doing this he made sure that no time would be wasted on answering some pointless question.

Unfortunately, that didn’t work. Instead of listening to him, Byakuya heard Chihiro’s footsteps behind him, which was in the complete opposite direction of Sayaka’s room. He was following Byakuya. “L-leave, to where? Did something happen? What about the fossil lab?” Chihiro asked, all of the questions spewing out of his mouth quickly. Based on the way he stuttered a bit; it was clear that he was nervous. No- worried.

“We don’t have time for that. I want to get my second gym badge as soon as possible,” He answered before swiftly turning his head around and levelling a glare at Chihiro. “So, we are going to Cyllage City. And we’re going to do that today.”

“And I will not repeat myself again, go get Sayaka. There’s no time for waiting around,” Byakuya continued, every syllable he spoke being harsh and cold. Not that he cared- he just wanted to get out of here.

For a moment, it looked like Chihiro had something to say, like he was foolishly going to argue with Byakuya. Now, that wouldn’t have been something Byakuya was looking forward to. He had no time for arguments, not if he wanted to reach Cyllage City today. But in the end, Chihiro just nodded, “Okay… I’ll get her then…” He said before finally doing as he was told and leaving Byakuya alone.

While he wasn’t exactly happy at himself for behaving this way, it was needed. Besides, it wasn’t like these two were his friends- he didn’t do friends. Not anymore. The fact that they were part of his group did not mean the three of them were friends.

“Lar? Vesta?” A voice asked from below him. As Byakuya looked down at his bug, he let out a sigh. He… wasn’t looking forward to this, but he supposed he had to wait for Sayaka and Chihiro to arrive anyways. He could talk to Larvesta while walking. It wasn’t as if he cared that it might be seen as weird- he was Byakuya Togami.

“I’m agitated, nothing more,” Byakuya replied as he slowed down a bit so Larvesta could keep up with him. While big, the pokémon wasn’t exactly the fastest. “I don’t want Kirigiri to get ahead of me. We’re both competing in the Gym Challenge, so I should get my second badge as soon as possible.”

Larvesta tilted her head. “Larves?”

“No, they haven’t planned anything. Chihiro has nothing to plan and there aren’t any Showcases happening right now for Sayaka. At least, not as far as I’m aware,” He answered, his voice softening as he spoke. He couldn’t be mad at Larvesta, it wasn’t like she had done anything wrong. “If anything, there’s no reason for us to stay. While the fossil lab would’ve been interesting, we can always come back.”

“Ves-” The bug began but she stopped once two people came approaching- Chihiro and Sayaka. Together with their pokémon of course.

But with them here, it meant that there truly was no reason for them to stick around. They could finally leave and get moving. It would still be quite a walk to the gym after all, though that didn’t mean it was impossible. While Byakuya wasn’t entirely sure, it did look like Route 8 was a bit shorter than some of the other routes, so if they moved fast enough, they would have no problem with arriving before the gym was closed.

That way Byakuya could get his second gym badge today, which was obviously the best thing that could happen. He didn’t want to wait any longer after all, even if that meant he didn’t get the best training with his pokémon. They could train during the gym battle or after, Byakuya doubted it would matter much. He did already have a new pokémon after all and Larvesta had managed to complete the first gym all on her own.

“There you are,” Byakuya greeted, the annoyance that had previously been in his voice now gone for the most part. He sounded much more polite than irritated. “I hope Chihiro brought you up to speed, Sayaka. If not, we can talk while walking,” He said before turning around and starting to walk away, just like he had done only moments prior. Both of them followed him of course.

Sayaka smiled at him, with her Sewaddle sitting on her shoulder- leaning against the crook of her neck to be more exact- while Popplio walked next to her. “He did! Guess you’re all ready to face the second gym then, hm?” She asked with a tilt of her head, seemingly not bothered by this change at all. Good.

“Yes. We’ve waited long enough already. Any more time we spend here is useless, so it’s time we go,” Byakuya explained, his voice harsh but not exactly annoyed. He didn’t want to come off as annoyed to Sayaka, she had done nothing to deserve it after all. Even if she just was annoying at times, she hadn’t even questioned him.

“Alright then!” Sayaka responded, still with a smile on her face. Byakuya’s words didn’t even seem to faze her- her eyes were as bright as always. “Guess it means I have more time to practice on-site then!”

What…? Don’t say-

“I mean, I have never actually seen a showcase before, so that is going to be nice! Maybe we can try and see if we can take a good look around the building once you’re done with your battle!” She continued, seemingly unbothered by the look Byakuya was giving her.

Seems like she is…

Maybe she had told him and Byakuya had simply forgotten, or this truly was the first time he was hearing of this, but he sure had no memory of this. But it didn’t matter much- the showcase would happen after his battle. Byakuya would have time for that then, not to mention that it was only fair.

He hummed in response, a bit impatience, “We’ll see. But let’s go, we might have a long walk ahead of us,” The blond said, speeding up his pace a bit now that he was done talking. There was no reason for him to stay walking that slow after all.

Luckily for him, the others also sped up without even complaining a bit. Maybe they had realized just how important this was to him, though he couldn’t tell for sure. Either way, they didn’t try to bother him at all.

The only thing they did was whisper to each other- well, it was a bit louder than whispering but soft enough that Byakuya couldn’t hear it. He doubted that it was on purpose though since from what Byakuya had noticed Chihiro always talked a bit softly. And while Sayaka wasn’t like that, she most likely just had adjusted to his volume.

Not that Byakuya cared- if anything he was glad that he couldn’t hear them. The silence was nice and definitely something which Byakuya needed. It allowed him to just think with nothing in the way. And when he had a gym battle coming up, that was a particularly good thing to be able to do.

He had a type disadvantage after all. And that wasn’t even helped by the moves his pokémon had, which meant that he had to get creative. And while that wasn’t something that was incredibly hard to do, he had to make sure his plan was failproof. He couldn’t risk making any mistakes, not if he wanted to win.

But he could easily do that- he had to. He could make use of Larvesta’s String Shot like he had done previously and of Eevee’s Sand Attack. Those things would allow him an easier way to attack, which in turn would make the fact that he didn’t have any super-effective moves against the gym leader a bit better. Though, he also didn’t have any normally effective moves… That would definitely make the battle harder, but far from impossible. Byakuya wouldn’t give up so easily after all.

He could do this, just like last time.

It would merely just be a bit more difficult, that was all. And difficult did not mean impossible, not for Byakuya at least. He was going to win, and he wouldn’t let something as small as pokémon types stop that from happening.

“We’re here!” Sayaka suddenly said, snapping Byakuya out of his thoughts. It didn’t take him long to realize what she meant though- they had arrived in Cyllage City, well almost arrived. The city was just down the hill they were standing on, but they had quite a beautiful view from here.

The town did seem to be on the older side, with most of the houses being made of the same old stone. Though, there were some buildings like the pokécenter and what seemed to be a hotel that were much more modern. That made sense though, it was a city that held a gym, so things were going to get renovated all the time, especially buildings that mattered to trainers.

Though, there was one very obvious modern building, one that looked a bit like an arena, but was closed off at the top. With the information Byakuya already had, it wasn’t hard to guess what the building was for- the pokémon showcase.

Byakuya couldn’t see the gym building though. Maybe he was simply too far away for that, but he saw no such building between the beach and the hills. He supposed he would see it as soon as he was close enough.

“A-and in time too!” Chihiro said in an equally excited voice, turning his head to look at Byakuya. “You can still have your battle today!”

He hummed, “That I can. All we need to do is actually find the gym first,” He said as he started to walk again, which made Chihiro and Sayaka quickly follow him.

The three of them- together with their pokémon that weren’t in their pokéballs- walked down the hill and into the town. While they could ask a local for the placement of the gym, Byakuya wanted to do that himself. He didn’t need any help after all.

In a matter of a few minutes- maybe twenty at most- he had found the gym entrance. It was quite creatively placed since the entrance was at the foot of one of the hills. The gym itself was in the hill. Irt was quite a creative placement, especially for a rock type gym. It truly leaned into the pokémon type.

But… enough marvelling about the entrance.

He had come here for a reason after all, and he certainly wasn’t going to waste any more time. So, with a determined look on his face he stepped through the entrance, ready to get his second gym badge.

Chapter Text

To the few people that are still reading this fic, I'm afraid that I'll have to discontinue it. My heart simply isn't with the story anymore. 

But that doesn't mean I don't love this world still. I am most defenitely not done with it. In fact, I will be rewriting this. This will go slowly though- I have quite a few other fics to write too, and those are just more important. 

So, both good news and bad news. In the mean time, I am still open to answer asks about this over on my Tumblr, Sprinklenoodles. You defenitely don't need to do that, but it might give you some extra content. 

I really am sorry for this though. But this is the best decision for both me and the fic.