The Knight In Shining Armor// Pokemon Sword and Shield Fanfic

6

I jolted awake early the next morning, half way on top of Raihan. There was a steady pounding at the door. Raihan slept through it.
"Raihan! It's Leon, open up!"
I sat up and nudged Raihan. He mumbled something.
"Get up, there's someone at the door," I whispered. His eyes fluttered open and looked at me. He stood up and stretched his arms out before lazily walking to the door.
"Wait, go back into a room. Leon can't see you here," Raihan said quietly. I ducked into the closest room in the hall to eavesdrop.
"Leon, its 7 in the morning,"
"Yep, I know that," Leon said, letting himself in.
"So, why are you up and in Hammerlocke already?"
"Its match day, so I was up early regardless. I was sent here to make sure you get up, because your lazy,"
"Am not!"
"Anyway, I brought donuts. What's that bag doing there?"
I poked me head out to see Leon staring at my bag.
"Rai, did you have a girl over last night? Look at you go, back in business dragon tamer," Leon said. He had way too much energy this early in the morning. He was nothing like the other day when I met him.
"Oh, um yep," Raihan said, following Leon into the kitchen.
They talked for a while before Leon left. I hopped out of the room I was in and approached Raihan.
"Donut?"
"So, it's a normal thing for you to bring home chics for the night?"
Raihan sighed.
"I have a bit of a history of one-time... things. Its what happens when you're a celebrity. That's the main reason I said we probably shouldn't try and start anything,"
I stayed pretty quiet while I ate a donut. Raihan tried to get me to talk, but I refused.
"You're mad," he said with a frown. I shook my head slightly. "Yes, you are its pretty obvious,"
I scowled at him before standing up and going back to the living room. I grabbed my bag and reached for the doorknob.
"Impulsive!" He called from the kitchen. He was right; as soon as things get tough, I run away without even realizing it. I needed to work on that, on getting through the rough patches. But that could be a problem for a later date.
I had a flying taxi take me back to Ballonlea, where I showed my grandma and mother my new pokemon. My grandmother gushed about what a fine Sylveon it'll make. I'd spent the rest of the day working with my mother about battling basics. Once I got past the whole hurting my pokemon ordeal, I seemed to have a good bit of natural judgement and communication with my pokemon while battling.
I hopped in the shower after a long day of training, and the first shower I've had days. Once I got out and got settled into bed, I looked at my phone for the first time all day.
Raihan- hey sy, I lost the exhibition match to leon and I'll send the link to the recording of it if you want to watch the rerun of it to see dynamax.
The text was followed with a link.
I also had a message from a number I didnt have saved as a contact.
Hey sylvia, this is your father. I want to have lunch and catch up some, try and make amends? I'll always be here for you because of my lack of presence in your life the last few years
Of course it was my dad. Obviously, he can't take a hint that I don't want to see him. I ignored the text and let out popplio and eevee, playing with them for a bit before they fell asleep, both exhausted from training all day. Soon, my phone buzzed as I received another notification.
Raihan- just saying, you cant ignore me. Gym challenge registration and opening ceremony is next week
I decided to prove him wrong and ignored his text, going to sleep instead.
For the next week, I worked day in and day out on learning all I could about battling and being a trainer. I quickly got the hang of it, and on the Friday of the registration and opening ceremony, I flew to a place called Motostoke.
I went into the stadium to see a good bit of people scattered around, and a line forming to the registration desk. I patiently waited as the line gradually shortened. As there were 2 people left in front of me, a boy with purple hair and a boy with dark brown hair, I noticed the person behind the desk asked for an endorsement? What? What was an endorsement? The two, who looked a little younger than me, pulled out letters, and the man behind the desk beamed and babbled something about how the champion endorsed 2 people this year. I started to panic and got out of line. I looked up to see Raihan walking over to me. I turned around and looked the other way.
"You need this?" he asked. I slowly glanced over to see him holding and envelope.
"Nope," I said stubbornly, crossing my arms.
"You already have one?"
"No,"
"Then take this,"
"I said no,"
"You can't participate without it,"
"Then I won't do the gym challenge,"
"Why won't you take it?
"I don't need it as some sort of symbol for an apology or us making up, or for your pity on me!" I said louder than intended. People started looking at us.
"Who said it's any of that?"
"Me! That's what I'm getting out of this, I did nothing worthy of becoming endorsed," I said, turning to walk away. Raihan grabbed my elbow and turned me back to face him.
"You're going to use it because we trained together last week in the wild area and I saw the potential in you to become something great. You can continue to ignore me all you like after you sign up," he said calmly. I glared at him before someone approached us.
"What's up, Rai?" A familiar voice asked. I turned to meet the gaze of the champion. Of course he was here.
"I was just giving Sylvia her endorsement. I helped her with some training the other day and she mentioned wanting to do the gym challenge, so I have an endorsement for her," Raihan explained calmly. I continued to scowl at him. Leon raised an eyebrow, noticing my frustration at Raihan.
I sighed and took the endorsement from Raihan, going off to register.
"She's something else, I tell ya," I heard Raihan mumble to Leon.
"She seemed alright the other day, what did you do to her?" Leon asked. I continued to listen in as I was registering.
"She's a bit, uh, short tempered. I say one wrong thing and she takes such offense to it and holds a grudge over it,"
"Hm," Leon said. I could see his gaze on me out of the corner of my eye. "Maybe I could try talking to her? You're a bit direct sometimes,"
"By all means, go ahead. You'll be seeing plenty of her in the future, she's Opal's granddaughter, and the successor for the fairy gym," Raihan muttered.
"Miss, what number for your uniform?" The guy asked.
I told him 11, as it seemed like a good enough number. I was handed a white uniform and instructed to put it on, as the opening ceremony started in about half an hour. A good bit of people in the room already had an identical uniform on as me. I turned to walk away and find someplace to sit when someone caught my eye. A guy, a bit taller than me, with white hair and a pink jumpsuit looking thing was scoffing at me. I raised an eyebrow as I approached him.
"Is there a problem?" I asked, confused why this random guy appeared to be mocking me.
"No, just that you can't seriously be so confident as to complete the gym challenge,"
"Well, that's a rude assumption. I happen to have a lot of potential as a trainer, and you know nothing about me,"
"Well, I know your confidence is annoying and wrongfully placed, the gym challenge is one of the hardest things to complete in the Galar region,"
"Do you make it a habit of jumping to conclusions and judging people?"
"You're just mad I told you your fate with the gym challenge, to inevitably fail. See you around, snowflake," he said, walking off with a bit of a laugh.
"Who the hell does he think he is," I muttered.
"Sylvia, right? We met in Hammerlocke about a week ago?" A familiar voice asked from behind me. I turned around to see the champion with a friendly expression.
"Yep,"
"Are you okay? You seemed a bit flustered when talking to Raihan, and a bit upset now after talking to that kid," he seemed genuinely concerned.
"Why does it matter to you?"
"I dunno, I guess I just care about people's wellbeing as a whole. Besides, if Raihan sees enough potential to endorse you, then maybe I need to watch out for you challenging me in the champion cup," he said lightheartedly. I let myself smile a bit. "So, are you alright?"
"I mean, Raihan had frustrated me a bit and the kid in the pink was really judgy and I didn't even do anything to him,"
"Well, Raihan is a jerk sometimes, you just kind of learn to deal with it. I can't even tell you how mad he'll get with me after a battle. He once went 3 weeks without speaking to me,"
"Ha, he's a bit of a sore loser,"
"Nah, more than anything, he's hard on himself. He'll never admit it though. And that kid, ignore people like him. I've had countless people tell me I'd never make anything of myself, and here I am now,"
"I don't know, people just get to me easily," I said. "I don't trust them because of it,"
"That's understandable, I had to learn to just block people out. And you really can't trust many people, with how much people will stab you in the back. Raihan is a good guy, though. He may seem a bit insensitive and direct, but he has good intentions," he cracked a dazzling smile. I returned it.
"Well, I better let you go get ready, the ceremony starts soon. My brother is also pretty excited and anxious, so I better go deal with him,"
"Really, who's your brother?"
Leon pointed across the room to the two boys in front of me in line.
"Oh, I can tell which. You guys look alike,"
"Haha yep, we get that a lot. He's. I'll see you around," he said before going over to his brother.
I quickly went over to the locker room and got changed into my uniform. There was still a good 30 minutes until it started, so I went back out to the lobby. I saw that fans had swarmed Leon from across the room, probably not an unusual occurrence.
I sat down and waiting for the ceremony to start when Raihan came over to me.
"What're you still doing here?"
"Oh, the gymleaders are part of the ceremony. We're each introduced to the challengers, meaning you'll get to come back for this every year, sweetheart,"
"Oh,"
Raihan rolled his eyes.
"Can you let anything go?"
"Mm, no,"
"Look, I'm sorry for whatever I did that offended you so much,"
"I just got jealous, alright?"
"Okay, and that results in you being mad at me how?"
"I don't know, I guess ignoring you seemed like a good solution,"
"Can you stop ignoring me then? I think you're a good person to be around and good company. I don't have too many of friends as it is,"
"I'd assumed you had plenty, with your status and all,"
"Aquatiences,"
"Oh. Well, I'm sorry. I seem to take my frustration with everything out on you. I honestly don't mean it. It just kinda happens,"
"It's fine. Of course, we met a rough patch for you. We good now?"
"Yeah,"
"Great, see you after the ceremony,"
Soon enough, they called for all the challengers to line up at the gate.
We all went into the battling part of the stadium, the stands full of people. The gym leaders were then introduced, we were wished good luck, and it was over. I headed back into the locker room and put my normal clothes back on, not sure what to do now. I stuck around the lobby for a bit as people filtered out.
"Sylvia, I didn't know you were doing the gym challenge!" A man exclaimed, walking over to me. Wanna take a wild guess who? My father. Remember that thing about not running away from my problems I needed to work on? Maybe I should start now.
"Yep, I guess I assumed you'd find out soon enough," I said, attempting not to sound irritated. His face lit up, seeing I hadn't immediately dismissed him. "Y'know, I want to try and fix this. Have a relationship with you again. I just missed you so damn much that it didn't seem right to immediately fall back into old habits," he smiled brightly at me.
"Really? I've missed you so much, I don't even know how to make it up to you," he said. My angry demeanor towards him faltered and I felt my eyes swelling with tears. I had finally let go of the resentment towards him and his lack of presence in my life for the past couple years, and it all turned to sadness and having him back. I gazed into his eyes and I felt tears start to fall. I quickly threw myself into him, burying my face into his chest as his strong arms engulfed me.
"You don't even know I much I missed you. And what it means to have you back," he said softly into my ear.
"I missed you so much dad. Why'd you have to leave?" I replied.
"I'm sorry, but it was to support you and your mother. I should've called and visited. I lost too many precious years with you,"
I stayed silent as I enjoyed the touch of my father. Something I had desperately craved the past years, something I missed so terribly. Eventually, I pulled away from him and wiped my eyes.
"How can I make this right?" He asked. I shrugged my shoulders. "I thought about you all the time," I gave a small smile.
Just then, Leon came over to us.
"Hey, Mr. Chairman sir. When do you want to start the meeting? We have all the gymleaders and myself ready to go whenever you are," Leon said. Had he not noticed the long hug between us?
"Ah, yes," he met my gaze and I nodded to him that I'd be fine if he went. "We can start soon. I'm on my way now," he said, turning to head across the lobby. Leon lingered behind.
"Is everything okay?"
"Hm, yeah. Just still trying to understand how this whole thing works,"
"Okay then, the first gym is in Turfield. Monday is the first day it's open. You got til Friday to win, otherwise you're out. Each week starts the new gym,"
"Okay then. I didn't know there was such a set system for this. In other regions, you could challenge every gym the same day if you wanted,"
"Its a bit of a T.V. show, so we keep it more organized. I gotta go if I want to find the meeting room again, I'll see you around,"
"Hey, have Raihan give you my number,"
He shot me a thumbs up as he stumbled across the lobby, trying to figure out where he came from.