- Soul of Steel -

Chapter 2: Motivation

The morning sun peeks out through the blinds in Haru's room as his alarm goes off on his Rotom phone. A tune from a game he played where you control a bug and navigate through a large maze-like apocalyptic world graces his ears and gradually wakes him. Serene and soothing like a fresh cup of coffee, it is his go-to alarm that helped him wake up slowly every morning. Rising from Dream Land, Haru's eyes squint and look below him. He sees Nora, his Glaceon, belly up to his side, and snickered. Holding up the phone, it showed the time at 08:00. He was expected to meet up with his mother within a few hours.

He groaned then lazily swung his feet to the side of the bed and slid off.

*thump*

He lands on his feet but slumps forward. /There's no rush, I'll get to it when I get to it/ He thinks.

Downstairs he'd notice that the other Pokemon were all asleep and did his best not to wake them just yet. /Huh. Loona would be asleep since she's basically a moon, but I expected Mirukon to be awake. Huh. Maybe he had a big night after I passed out, or something./ He hummed in thought, but then dismissed it since it wasn't really a big deal to think on long. The morning routine began! Preparing breakfast for himself and all of the Hall of Fame Pokemon was his priority...and since he got some cash bonuses from becoming Champion, he splurged a little on the portions.

A few cracks of eggs onto a pan here, and a few slabs of bacon strips on another pan, and Haru shook himself to try and wake up faster. "Ah..." He reached into the fridge and pulled out a long can: one of those energy drinks he enjoyed. Just as the top slit opened and the whiff of citrus berries hit his nostrils, Haru leaned onto the countertop before taking a swig.

"Right. Big breakfast for the others." he says to himself, setting the can down and getting the team's meals in check.

One of his hands reaches into a cupboard to grab a bottle of powdered drink mixes. "No reason we can't try to stay on our 'A game'." Haru muttered to himself while making potion-bottle sized mixed drinks for his team. As he glanced around to the sound of bacon strips sizzling on the stovetop, with some sleep still in his eyes, he pursed his lips. "Screw it. I've been good lately, and I worked hard to get here." His cupboard opened again and grinned, taking out the pancake mix and chocolate chips. It was going to be a pancake, bacon, eggs, toast with jam, and hashbrowns kind of morning.

The rest of the morning routine would be mostly uneventful, if not for the one outstanding notion that he had put off laundry still. The basket was full and needed to be addressed. /Whoops. Better at least start that in the wash./ He thought to himself, begrudgingly pushing himself to start it.

In between the meal he prepared for himself and his Pokemon, he kept the television on low volume to get the daily update. Fighting back the urge to run out with nary a meal being ingested, Haru saw that folks were already covering different aspects of the League's end results, what people wanted to see for the next season, and commentating about the new Champion. Nothing truly surprised him from the broadcast. They previewed the day's weather, a news story was previewed on a court hearing for some important figure, and showed snippets of his interview from the other night. "Guess they'll just put on anything these days...."

He was briefly interrupted by comments between the anchors when one had said "It makes you wonder that with us now having seen the end of Leon's reign as Champion, if Haru will be able to measure up to it. I have my own thoughts, but I'd like to see more of the small-town trainer who ended up becoming Number One!"

/Right. It's no longer enough that I just battle people. I have responsibilities and an image to uphold!/ Haru lightly tapped himself on his cheeks while Nora walked into the room, stretched, yawned, and then hopped up to where he was sitting.