All it took was meeting you... (Champion Leon x OC)

Ch. 7 pt. 2

-----15 minutes earlier-----

Getting a drink after a long day of training his apprentices, Raihan grumbled as he popped the drink out of the vending machine. As he drank, he began thinking back to his apprentices' performances. One of them he happen to have suspicions about the Duraludon he gave him.

'It seemed...a little different.' He thought before noticing a flash of purple at the corners of his eyes, entering the doors of his gym lockers . Looking at it clearly, he saw that it was none other than his friend, Leon.

"Oh hey, Leon. What brings you here?"

"Oh hey, Raihan!" Leon beamed as he approached his friend. Raihan looked at Leon with suspicions in his eyes. There were only a couple of reasons Leon would come to his gym: One, to have a battle or train with him, Two, ask for help, Three, to hang out, or Four, he got lost.

Raihan did tell him that he was going to be busy for the whole day, so all but one happen to be the correct answer.

"...Did you get lost again?"

"Nope!"

"Leon..."

"Well... kind of."

Raihan sighed, already used to his innate talent of getting lost in the most absurd ways. This wasn't as shocking as the time Leon ended up in the snowy mountains of Crown Tundra trying to get to a convenience store.

How that happened? No one knows.

"Nothing gets by you and your ridiculous sense of directions, huh? So, where were you supposed to go?"

"I was supposed to go out training in the mountains."

"...And you somehow ended up here?"

"Seems that way." Leon laughs while Raihan just deadpanned at him.

"*Sigh*... well, since I'm finished for the day, mind if I join you?" Leon's face became filled with excitement from the dragon expert's offer.

"Sure! I don't mind! It's quite better this way since you and I are going to do the Exhibition match after all." he beamed.

Raihan's eyes widened in surprise. Sure, Leon tends to go extra for his fans, but he doesn't mention it out loud in public, let alone hinting at it. Him being a beast when it comes to Pokémon battling and also being good-looking was already something people would thirst over.

But with Leon mentioning it in front of him, the dragon expert thinks that it may have to do with a certain ravenette.

"Well, well. You sure are training hard... and it's not just to appease the media, is it?" Raihan smirked at him.

"Hmm? What do you mean? That is one reason to train hard, isn't it?"

"Of course, of course. But... there's something more than that, is there?"

"Uhm... to encourage young trainers for their gym challenge?"

"That too, but I know there's waaay more than that."

Leon took a moment to finally grasp what Raihan was getting at. "Oh... well, I may have invited... someone... to watch the exhibition match." He awkwardly laughs, earning a teasing look from his friend.

"Oooooh... you like her, don't you?" Raihan said in a sing-song tone but Leon just brushed him off.

"Haha, What? No. Just wanted to show her a Gigantamaxed Pokémon in a real match. A friendly gesture, if you can call it." Leon innocently laughs. Raihan wanted to smack his dense friend on the head until a thought dawns onto him.