Professor Abbey Hawthorn never intended to return to Galar, but when her friend Anabel of the International Police asks for her help, she feels she can't refuse.
Truthfully, Abbey doesn't accept just for Anabel. She knows it's time to finally face h...
Abbey was jolted from interrupted sleep by hammering on the window. It was dark. The room's only illumination was light leaking underneath the door. Her Pokémon, all of whom but Garchomp had climbed into the wide bed, stirred. Lycanroc growled. It crept towards the window. A bird squawked. The pounding continued. Cinderace trotted past its teammates as if to tell them it could handle this. It brushed the curtain aside. A grey beak was slamming the glass. Abbey almost screamed. It was a Mandibuzz. Strapped to its head was a camera. Garchomp's threatening roar boomed, temporarily intimidating Mandibuzz and eliciting a yell of 'shut up!' from the next room. Abbey didn't know what to do. If she opened the window, Mandibuzz would fly in, but if she didn't, it would shatter. As she reached to open it, she saw the next room's window fly open. A groggy man leaned out.
'Shut up, you stupid bird!'
When he was ignored, he reappeared with a lamp, lunging at it. Mandibuzz's Trainer, a young woman, feebly yelled as it flew at the man.
'Hey! Mandy! Not him! Stop it! I said stop!'
Abbey threw her window open. Ninetales leapt up to use Ice Beam. Mandibuzz was sent plummeting to its Trainer. The man, shaking his head, tutted. The paparazzi had probably published any footage they had of the break-up by now... but what good would it do to spy on her, alone in her room, now? Her phone was buzzing. Slamming the window shut, she picked it up. It was flooded with texts from an unknown number.
ओह! यह छवि हमारे सामग्री दिशानिर्देशों का पालन नहीं करती है। प्रकाशन जारी रखने के लिए, कृपया इसे हटा दें या कोई भिन्न छवि अपलोड करें।
So the woman was an Alfie fan. Abbey's mother Raine was a Water-type expert, having once completed the Gym Challenge herself, so she doubted anyone would manage to burn her house down... but her stepdad Kai, a fellow geologist, was as dreamy as Leon and off on a field trip somewhere on Ula'ula Island. His only Pokémon, Minior and Metang, were weak. Abbey had received threats before. They rarely came to anything, but she actually broke up with Alfie this time. Did she alert her mother? Or just ask Olivia to keep an eye on her? What about Kai? Acerola was also out of reach, touring Alola's haunted spots with a group of Ghost-type enthusiasts. Nanu, the cantankerous kahuna of Ula'ula Island, wouldn't be happy if she bothered him, let alone if he had to actually take action...
What made anyone think Alfie was 'hurt,' anyway? Did he say something? Wasn't winning good enough for him? She hesitantly Roto-Searched 'Alfie Addison break up.' Her throat tightened. She clicked on the first headline from the VCP, Vullaby Celebrity Press – ALFIE ADDISON: Watch ex-girlfriend LOSE after threatening heartbroken Alfie into BATTLE.
The subtitle was bright red: World Champion Leon was also injured by 'incompetent' Abbey Hawthorn.
Fans are calling for Professor Abbey Hawthorn to be fired from Alola's Battle Tree due to incompetence after past World Champion Leon Fayed was injured in a battle between Abbey and her heartbroken ex, Alfie Addison. Screenshots, believed to have been leaked by a colleague, show Abbey THREATENING Alfie into a Pokémon battle, only minutes after yelling in front of a crowd that he should 'do anything other than bothering me.' It's clear the face Abbey shows to the public is not the face her boyfriend has seen. A source close to Alfie claims Abbey was emotionally manipulative and returned to Galar after 11 years in Alola to 'seduce another celebrity' – Leon, who has repeatedly defended Abbey.
Abbey knew exactly who 'a source close to Alfie' was – Nolan or one of his minions, calling themselves Tyler or Hannibal and claiming to be a lifelong friend. She suspected VCP knew that, too.
'Leon's been gaslit,' our source says, 'He's not to blame. Alfie's worried about him. He doesn't want anyone else to fall into her trap.'
Despite it all, Alfie put Abbey in her place. Watch the EMBARRASSING loss below...
Abbey's heart sank. Someone had filmed the battle, beginning with a snippet of Salamence's Mega Evolution before cutting to Garchomp slashing at Granbull. The camera was somewhere on her right. Leon at least should have seen it, but he didn't... and thoughts of anything but humiliation fled when Cinderace's Pyro Ball flew backwards. In that fast-moving clip, it appeared it was simply misfired. Leon refused to go to hospital. He avoided Hop and Sonia so they couldn't ask if he was alright. Abbey knew he was hurt and in that moment, it indeed seemed her incompetence was to blame. It wasn't Cinderace's fault. Maybe she shouldn't have had her passionate Pokémon battle someone who not only insulted them, but hurt the Trainer they were prepared to die for. She clicked back.
Every news outlet reporting the break-up had acquired the footage. Articles repeatedly called her 'threatening,' 'incompetent' and 'manipulative.' She was accused of embarrassing the Battle Tree, Wela Volcano Park Lab and Wedgehurst Pokémon Research Lab. It wasn't just Alfie's fans commenting. Leon's fans were enraged, too, furiously telling her to back off. They speculated she was so bitter about not winning the International Science Prize she took it out on Alfie – 'but that was a blessing in disguise, because now he's free,' one fan commented. Some believed she hurt Leon on purpose, 'just for fun.' Others went further, claiming she abused her Pokémon, forcing them to harm anyone who annoyed her – which, according to them Leon did, since he 'interrupted' her 'abuse' of Alfie. Her reputation as a ruthless boss at the Battle Tree went against her.
Angel's audio returned to her mind. Alfie deleted his Chirp standing up for her. Fans urged Leon to delete his Rotogram post.
He doesn't read his mother's messages, let alone yours, you idiots.
Still... maybe deleting it was for the best, because Alfie's fans would harass him as long as it stayed there.
The threats seemed suddenly more real and ominous. Abbey decided she would alert Raine – not only to the threats, but that she was coming home. Her work was done. She failed and embarrassed herself in the process. Alola would forget. Galar never would. Not this time. She wasn't sure she could even look Leon in the eyes anymore, unsure what he really thought under that politeness while knowing, though the reports were based on nothing, that it wasn't untrue she was attracted to him. Whatever they had, what she wanted to preserve by denying and hiding that, was gone. Alfie destroyed it in her mind even if not in his. She didn't want to know. She wanted to go home, back to her comfort zone and keep the good memories frozen, untainted, in that meteor shard forever.
When Olivia called her, livid, Abbey wanted to tell her she was wrong about Leon, that he was one of the kindest people she ever met, 'Charyzard pooze' or not... but she was afraid it would sound wrong even to her friend's ears.
