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

11

I'd spent the remainder of week one training with my pokemon in the wild area, spending most of today to travel to Hulbury, as my gym match was Tuesday afternoon. Eevee and Popplio had developed a love for battling, showing a competitive edge. Popplio seemed thrilled when training or battling, the exact opposite response that I had feared my whole life.
I had avoided much contact with other people over the course of the week, taking time to sort out an approach to pretty much everything. I had texted Leon and Raihan some, but not much. My mother and grandmother called to tell me how proud they were of me. My father had texted me about getting lunch or something in Hulberry. I decided that I would pretend I heard nothing he said about me and see if he changes any toward me. I was nearing Hulberry late in Monday evening, traveling through some cave, when the kid in the pink jumpsuit from the opening ceremony was practically guarding the exit.
"Excuse me," I mumbled as I attempted to go past him. He smirked and stepped to the side to block my way.
"You have a wishing star, and it will be mine once I beat you in battle,"
"What's a wishing star?"
"Don't play dumb,"
"I'm not?"
"Your dynamax band, hand it over. I must collect all of the wishing stars in order to please the chairman," I thought back to going through his papers, seeing something about the lab needing the wishing stars. I looked down at my band as the kid attempted to pry it off me. I pulled my hand back and pulled it to my chest.
"No way, it was a gift from someone and I need to use it," I mumbled, looking back down, hoping he'd leave.
"Battle me, then. And when I destroy your pokemon, I'll rip it off you,"
I glared up at him, a devilish smirk plastered across his face. I stepped back and brought Popplio out, wiping his entire team with Popplio. I praised him before he went back into his ball.
"Right then, I'll be on my way," I said and quickly ducked out of the cave, leaving the kid in the jumpsuit looking dumbfounded on how terribly he lost.
Once out of the cave, I was greeted by a small city, based heavily on the ocean. I wandered through the streets a bit before finding a pokemon center for my pokemon to rest at. Inside, I saw Hop and Victor. Hop turned my way, jumping up from where he was sitting and waved. I gave a small smile at his excitement and gave a wave back, going over to him.
"Hi, mate!" He said, bursting with energy. "Lee's been looking for you,"
"Really? Why?" I said, pulling my phone out of my pocket for the first time since I started traveling for the day.
"I dunno. He just said he was going to look for you a bit ago. I'd bet he's lost somewhere. Y'know, you should really get a Rotom phone, it's a lot more convenient," Hop rambled before seeing something that caught his attention.
I looked down at my phone, seeing a few missed calls and texts from Leon, along the lines of when I'd get here. I also had about 200 texts from Raihan and 15 missed calls. I rolled my eyes as I dialed him, putting my phone up to my ear.
"You called?" I said when the phone clicked, sounding unamused by the spam.
"Do you not know how to answer your phone? I mean, honestly," Raihan's annoyed voice echoed in my ear.
"I'm sorry I was travelling and enjoying the world around me instead of being glued to a screen. What's so important?"
"I don't know what picture to post!" He said. My phone pinged with text notifications, two pictures popping up.
"They look the same!"
"They're not the same at all!"
"What's the difference?"
"Let's see, my eyes are opened wider in the first, the second one looks a little more ominous with the sandstorm a bit stronger. My team looks fearless in the second but powerful in the first. I look cocky in the first but laid back in the second..."
"Okay flip a coin, heads in the first picture tails is the second,"
"What? That won't help at all!"
"Oh well, I'm hanging up now," I said as I ended the call. Raihan really was something. I then scrolled through my texts to see what Leon sent.
Hey we haven't really talked in a while, when are you getting to Hulberry
It's been hours and you haven't responded
Raihan said to look at his texts
I shook my head as a smile crept across my face. Leon and Raihan use their phones entirely different. I left the pokemon center and called Leon as I walked out, beginning to trek the streets in search of him.
"Hello?" The background sounded busy.
"Hey, I got to Hulberry a bit ago. Hop said you were looking for me?"
"Oh, yeah I just asked him to keep an eye out. Where are you at?"
"Currently walking in the street,"
"I'm at the stadium, some matches are beginning soon. I was hoping you'd want to come watch some with me? Maybe it'll help with your gym battle?"
"Yeah sure, I'll see you in a bit," I said, hanging up. I saw off in the distance a giant dome, resembling the look of the last stadium.
I made my way to the stadium, seeing a huge crowd formed in front of it. I tried to make my way around them to see what the fuss was, ultimately giving up and having to shove through people. Eventually, I was behind Leon, who was circled by a hundred fans. He was happily taking pictures and signing autographs while keeping conversations up. After a few minutes, the crowd began to dwindle and Leon gave some sort of pose, causing everyone to cheer and mimic it. He turned around and his eyes met mine, immediately lighting up upon seeing me. His cheeks turned a light shade of pink as he came over. I gave a smile.
"Hey, champ. How was the meet 'n greet?" I joked as we started to head into the stadium.
"I love my fans, the support and admiration is such an irreplaceable feeling,"
"You mean the feeling of cockiness?"
"What? You really think I'm cocky?"
"Nah, I'm just joshing you,"
Leon gave a vibrant smile as we entered the stadium, seeing people scattered about, some preparing for their gym battle and others on their way to their seats.
"So, how does this work?"
"Well, normally you'd have to buy a ticket, but since I'm the champion and all, I get in for free, and can get anyone if for free that I'd like," Leon said, giving a wave as we passed the counter with the lady selling tickets. She nodded at us before turning to sell tickets to other people.
"You really like to rub in the champion title, huh?"
"Well, I am rather proud of it," he said, scratching the back of his head. "It's not bragging if it's true, right?"
"I'm pretty sure it still is," I said, shaking my head a bit. We walked through a hall and reached the stadium, in about the middle level. Leon guided me through the crowds forming and up to the press box. There were multiple sections of it, almost like it were divided into rooms. One room of cameras and reporters, one on commentators, and three smaller rooms for important people. Leon took me into one, having a row of 5 stadium seats that were a step up from the ones in the majority of the stadium.
"You can have your own room in the press box? You're pretty much treated like a king. Is it overwhelming how much attention and fame you have?"
"When I was younger, yeah it was very overwhelming. I've learned to deal with it and embrace, thinking how I'd be feeling if I had the chance to meet someone I'd idolized," he paused for a second as we sat down, him on the end and me right beside him. I sat my bag on the floor. "I really do appreciate my fans, though. Having such a large group of people who want to see me succeed. I'd say it's one of the best parts of being champion,"
"That's sweet, how much you adore your fans," I said, almost dreamingly.
His cheeks turned a light pink as he looked at my adoring expression.
"Anyway, I know the gym leader here is Nessa, either you or Rai told me. But who's challenging tonight?"
Leon's rotom phone flew out and read off a few challengers for the evening, one of which was Hop.
"So, is that just a thing around here? Enslaving rotom? They're in phones, PC boxes, I saw a kid with one in a bike,"
"It's not enslaving, rotom like to be in devices,"
"Whatever you say," I rolled my eyes.
"Pokemon like to be useful to us, surely you've seen it in Kalos. We have a whole system where you can loan your pokemon to different companies and when they come back, they're stronger and have more experience. There truly are no limits when it comes to pokemon,"
"Okay I have to admit, that's pretty cool," I said as I cracked a smile in defeat.
"Do you enjoy to argue?" Leon said, trying to contain his smile.
"What? No," I paused, Leon gave me a smirk. "Maybe," I said, feeling my cheeks heat up yet again. He was really good at that. Leon started laughing as I looked down, trying to hide the enormous blush spread across my cheeks. "Its just a competitiveness thing," I mumbled as Leon quieted down.
After a moment, I felt my pokeball with Eevee rattled, so I decided to let her out. She came out and gratefully sat on my lap, rubbing against me. Eevee's eyes lit up when seeing Leon, jumping over to his lap.
"Traitor,"
Leon ignored my comment and continued to gawk over Eevee. I sighed as I pulled my phone out, seeing I had a couple more texts from Raihan.
What're you doing
I posted the 2nd pic, I definitely looked hotter in it
You must really like ignoring me
Then my phone rang again.
"What Raihan?" I said. Leon looked up at me as I stood up and started pacing, a common occurrence when I was on the phone.
"This is serious," he started.
"Sure it is, what's the matter now, Can't think of a caption?"
"No,"
"What then?"
"Okay so I just read this annoyomously published article online about you, and someone is theorizing about you being Rose's daughter and some sort of secret affair between you and someone,"
"Who's the someone?"
"Doesn't say, here I'll send the link,"
"Who do you think it was? Does it seem believable or just someone making up a story?"
"They have some evidence, like comparison pictures of you and your dad, a picture of you outside of Rose Tower,"
"What the heck? What am I supposed to do?"
"Avoid any reporters, try and keep yourself on the down-low, minimal attention,"
"I want to know how someone found out,"
"Who knows, it's possible that it's some rando with a lucky guess,"
"Or someone who is trying to take me down,"
"Either way, there isn't much to be done,"
Leon butted in. "Sylvia, they're about to start,"
"Is that the champ?"
"What? We're breaking up, can't hear you," I said, hanging up before I could be further interrogated. Leon gave me a strange look before I sat back down.
"Raihan," was all I said in response, Leon giving a nod. I noticed Eevee was curled in his lap. I rolled my eyes again.
"Who's going first?"
"Someone named Bede, I think," Leon said, leaning forward a bit as the same kid who I battled earlier came out of a tunnel, and a girl with black and blue hair wearing very little clothing came from the opposite tunnel.
"Hey, I know him!" I said upon recognizing the cocky jerk. His normal pink look was replaced by the gym challenger uniform. There was an exchange of remarks between him and Nessa before they went to take their places. We watched the battle in silence, Leon fully engaged in the battle, like a trance had taken it over. He really was passionate over pokemon battling. It seemed to consume everything in him, professionally battling and advertising the gym challenge, spending his free time watching battles and inspiring others to become strong trainers. It seemed like this was his purpose, his destiny in life, like he was put on this planet to battle, and be this icon for people to look up to. I caught myself staring too long and looked down.
The kid ended up winning, and both exited the battle field for a 20 minute break before the next challenger.
"What a match!" Leon said excitedly. "The stoic manner of Nessa and her pokemon countered with a team of psychic types from Bede! And how little things like the tone they command their pokemon in can affect the outcome," he went on. I looked up to see him beaming.
"I feel like despite however many battles you watch, they'd never get old,"
He smirked at my remark and glanced down, his eyes fluttering shut.
"Want to know a secret? I've stayed undefeated so long because I learn something from every battle I watch,"
He looked back up, his eyes locking with mine. From one look, I could read him like a book. Pride, experience, excitement, determination. I bet he's had that same demeanor his whole life, champion or not.
He broke the eye contact, glancing down at Eevee, fast asleep. I suddenly felt self-conscious being around him, feeling like he was so much better than me and more important. I mean, I'm not wrong. Even my own pokemon seemed to find him superior.
Leon continued to ramble on about the battle and about how his brother would be up the battle after the next. I'd occasionally nod, assuming I wouldn't get 2 words in at the rate he was talking. Suddenly, Leon stopped talking.
"You okay?" He asked. I was broke from a trance, hearing a shift in his tone from excited to questioning. I just then realized I'd been staring at his chest the entire time, feeling exposed for staring. My face heated up and I quickly tried to hide it from him. I heard a small chuckle, so I looked back up.
"What?"
"Nothing," he said, a wide grin on his face. I lightened up seeing this.
"No really, what is it?"
"Nothing, you're just really cute when embarrassed," he said, the contagious smile lingering. Hearing the remark made my face darken even more.
"W-what?" I stammered. Leon laughed, causing Eevee to stir.
"I can practically feel you staring, too," he added, which didn't help.
"That wasn't intentional," I mumbled, staring down at my legs, praying my face would cool down. While focusing on that, it registered that Leon called me cute, to my face, rather than me hearing it second hand. A smile crept over my face upon realizing this. Maybe he actually did like me for me. But why? He could probably get any girl he'd want, why the new girl who moved here from Kalos?
"You can't pay attention to anything today,"
My eyes shot up, seeing Leon moved a little closer.
"Sorry, I guess I just keep losing myself in thought,"
"Maybe I'm just boring you," he said playfully.
"You're the least boring person I know. Who else would have such interesting fashion choice?" I said, going along with his playful tone, intriguing by the fact he thought he was boring.
"What's wrong with it?"
"You're wearing spandex, short shorts, a tight shirt and a cape. Do you own any normal people clothes?"
"Well, I like it. And what do you classify as normal? I'm the champion, I don't have to be normal,"
I let out a light laugh.
"Whatcha been thinking about, anyway? You've been oddly quiet,"
"A lot of stuff," Leon raised his eyebrows in a questioning manner.
"Whatever, I don't have to pour out my conscience to you,"
"You're thinking about me, weren't you?"
"That's a bit vain, assuming I spend my every waking moment thinking about you,"
"That's a bit dramatic,"
We continued our playful banter until the next challenger came out. Once again, Leon fell quiet as the match started, carefully watching and observing every little move. I felt myself watch him more than the match. I just loved how into it he got, even though he wasn't even batting. Once this match was over, Nessa winning, Leon turned back to me, giving a knowing look. I innocently smiled and put my hands up in defense.
"What?" I asked. Leon shook his head.
"Did you watch any of the match?"
"I-not really," I said sheepishly, letting out a little giggle.
I then started to feel the effects of my day of travel and yawned, stretching my arms above my head.
"How many more matches are there?"
"A few still, but Hop's up next,"
"After Hop, I'll probably go try to find my hotel, I'm getting tired,"
"I can tell,"
"What are you doing for the night?" Leon shrugged, seeming to not care about planning ahead.
"I might have to fly up to Hammerlocke and stay the night in my apartment there, I didn't book a room and they're full,"
"Wait, I had to actually call in advance this time?"
"Yeah you do, I'm assuming you didn't,"
"No I didn't, now I'll probably have to camp. I've not slept in a bed in a week," I whined.
"You could come to Hammerlocke with me. I owe you for camping last week, anyway,"
"Well, the camping was me owing you for helping me when I was sick,"
"Oh, we're keeping track of everything now," he said as he leaned in a bit closer. I gave him a smirk and shook my head.
"Fine, sleepover at Leon's," I said in defeat. Leon grinned ear to ear. I couldn't help but smile too.
After a couple minutes, Hop battled against Nessa. This battle lasted a bit longer than the other two. Leon seemed more focused rather than amused this battle, as it was a lot closer. In the end, Hop barely managed to beat Nessa. Leon carefully moved Eevee into my arms so he could stand up. Eevee stirred awake, climbing onto my shoulder and sitting there as we left the press box and made our way back to the lobby. Immediately, Leon was swarmed by people, and I floated away from the commotion and found a bench to sit on until the crowd died down.
I let out Popplio, who sat on my lap, while Eevee continued to sit on my shoulder.
"Lee!" A distinct voice called. I looked over to see Hop trying to get his brothers attention from the edge of the crowd. He glanced over and saw me before coming over.
"Your battle was great, Hop!" I said. He lit up.
"Thanks mate! I'm on pace to catch up to Lee in no time!" He said proudly. I gave a small smile, looking back over to Leon. I could see his head above the crowd now, looking at me and Hop. Hop excitedly ran through the dwindling crowd. To see his older brother. After a few minutes, more and more people left, leaving the lobby a bit more empty now. Hop left too, and Leon came back over to me. As he approached me, I glanced behind him to see a lady and a young child, probably around 5 years old. The lady seemed like she was trying to get Leon's attention and the child, a young boy, looked disappointed. I motioned for the two to come here, obviously wanting to meet Leon. I stood up as Leon reached me, quickly calling both pokemon back.
"You've got one more fan," I said, seeing the boy creep closer to us. The lady, probably the mother, stood back a bit. Leon turned around, taking notice of the boy and squatted down to be at eye level. I practically felt my heart melt at how adorable Leon was with how he treated the kid, telling him to become a trainer and come battle him someday. The kid's face lit up, and then the mother came over to take a picture of them. After another minute or so, the kid and the mother said goodbye to Leon, and he finally came back over to me.
"You're so good with kids, that was probably one of the cutest things I've ever seen," I gushed as we started to make our way out of the lobby.
"Well, I love kids. They're so innocent and dream big, just all around great,"
We then exited the stadium and went down the street a bit to an open area on the side of the street, where Leon called his Charizard out. He went over and stroked him for a minute before having me come over to him. He grabbed my hand and held it up to Charizard. Charizard melted into my touch, liking me immediately. I smiled a bit at how such a big and powerful pokemon could be so cuddly.
"Okay, you ready to go?" Leon asked after a minute.
"Go where?"
"Fly to Hammerlocke,"
"The flying taxi isn't here,"
"Oh, we're flying on Charizard," he said, sounding a bit surprised. My heart dropped to my stomach as I stepped back from Charizard. I had always been a bit afraid of heights, but I'd managed to get used to the flying taxi over the past couple of weeks because I get to ride in the cab.
"Um, maybe I'll just stay here," I said, hearing the timidness in my voice. Leon took a step toward me, his face lighting up from the street lamp, revealing a relaxed yet concerned look.
"Have you ever flown on a pokemon?"
"No, and I'm kind of terrified of heights," I admitted, practically feeling myself shaking.
"You'll be alright, I promise. All you have to do is trust me," he said calmly.
"I-I don't know,"
Instead of giving me a response, he grabbed my hand and lead me back over to Charizard, putting a reign on him, probably to hold on.
"He'll be gentle and we won't go too fast," he explained softly, having Charizard turn around. I felt myself nervously shake. "Do you want to give it a try?" I took a deep breath before responding.
"Yeah, I'll try," I said unconvincingly.
"Okay then, may I?" He asked, lightly putting a hand on my hip, asking permission to help me up. I nodded. I then felt a pair of large hands on either hip effortlessly hoisting me onto Charizard's back, his strong arms steadying me as I straddled the dragon. I grabbed onto Charizard's shoulder, already hanging on for dear life. Leon then climbed up, sitting behind me. He then commanded Charizard to easily take off, being very gentle. Leon held the reign as Charizard started to float up. I gasped and tensed up as Charizard started to fly effortlessly across the sky, sliding back into Leon's firm chest and letting out a squeak, continuing to latch onto the pokemon's shoulders.
"You alright so far?" Leon asked. I nodded a bit in response. I attempted to scoot forward some, but instead I felt a strong arm around my waist, pulling me in tight to Leon. I relaxed a bit, comforted by the secure hold. If it was anyone else, I probably would've fought, but I just felt like I could trust him. "I can feel you shaking, I won't let anything happen to you," he said softly in my ear. I loosed up my death grip on Charizard and felt myself release some of the tension in my body, relaxing my body into Leon's before daring to look down to the dazzling area below us. Vast areas of different landscape and terrain, all a part of the wild area.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Leon said, reading my mind.
"Very,"
After another couple minutes, I saw bright lights appear in the distance, assuming it was Hammerlocke. We crossed over from the wild area to city, landing on top a roof. Leon slid down before carefully grabbing me by the hips to help me down, then calling Charizard back.
"See? That wasn't too bad," Leon said with a smile. I tried to return it, still pretty shaken up about the whole thing.
"It felt like something out of a movie,"
"Ha, I guess so,"
"So, where exactly are we?"
"The building that my apartment is in, now to find the apartment,"
We then went to the roof exit and down a couple floors before reaching his apartment. We walked in and he turned on the lights, illuminating an apartment pretty similar to Raihan's.
"Is this the same building Raihan lives at?"
"No, his is a couple streets down," he said, taking off his cape and hat. "Are you hungry?" Leon asked, as he went over the fridge and opened it up.
"Not really, the flight scared any appetite I had away,"
"Good thing too, because I don't have anything to eat,"
I laughed a bit as he shut the fridge.
"Bathroom's on the left, my bedroom and the extra room and directly across from it, if you don't need the bathroom I'm going to jump into the shower," Leon said, coming back over to me. I nodded as he left to go shower. This apartment was a bit smaller than Raihan's, probably because this wasn't his main apartment. At the edge of the livingroom had a door extending to a balcony. I curiously started to explore some, first heading into Leon's room. The room had a messy queen sized bed, a wall mounted TV across from the bed, a rack on the wall with hats, a desk stacked with all sorts of papers and binders, then some miscellaneous things scattered on the floor. I then went to the extra bedroom, a plain room with a neatly made bed, a wardrobe and smaller desk. I head back out and sat on the couch, looking through social media as the bathroom door opened, revealing one naked champion, with only a towel covering from the waist to his knees. His bare chest was defined, having broad and muscular shoulders complete with abs. His normally fluffy hair tamed from being wet. My heart started to race and my face heated up as I watched him walk from the bathroom to his room. I looked back down at my phone, not able to get the thought of him out of my mind. This opened up a whole new door, a few blown crush on the champ. Before, I just thought he was cute and adorable, and our playful flirty banter was just for fun. After that, I started to really like him rather than just finding a friend cute.
After a couple minutes, Leon came out from his room in sweatpants and a t shirt, his hair still damp. He looked completely different than his usual self. He gave a smile as he came over and sat on the couch beside me. I could immediately feel my face begin to heat up.
"What?" He asked playfully, clearly noticing the blush.
"Nothing, I'm getting a shower now too, if that's okay,"
"Go ahead," he said, the smile lingering. I quickly stood up and grabbed my bag before heading to the bathroom, taking an extra long shower to give myself time to calm down. I put on a pair of leggings and a sweatshirt, heading back out into the livingroom to see Leon leaned back on the couch, his eyes closed and the T.V. on in the background, the corners of his mouth turned up.
"Are you asleep?" I whisper yelled.
"No," he said, one eye flicking open as I came back over to the couch. "You are terrible at whispering,"
"Shut up," I said, sitting on the opposite side of the couch. "Tired?"
"A bit,"
"I am too, my match is early tommorow,"
"How early?"
"10,"
"That's not too bad,"
"That means I've gotta leave here by 8:30, meaning I need to wake up at 7:30," I thought out loud.
"Do you like to plan everything ahead?"
"Not at all. Some things I have to do, yeah. Other than that, I just go where the wind takes me,"
"Pretty reluctantly sometimes, not wanting the wind to take you for a ride tonight," he joked, making fun of my fear of heights.
"H-hey! I wasn't that bad,"
"You were trembling the whole time, I had to basically hold you to get you to calm down," he opened both eyes up by now, sitting up a bit, a smirk plastered across his face. God that smirk was hot.
"Okay whatever, I don't like heights,"
"No kidding," he said with a laugh.
I laughed a bit with him, glad that he didn't see me as a burden during the flight.
After a minute, I looked over at him, seeing he moved a bit closer. Our eyes met and at that moment, time seemed to freeze. It felt like we were the only to people on the planet. It felt like, for once in my life, this was exactly where I was supposed to be. Leon then leaned in, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear before cupping my cheek and his lips softly met mine.