Work Text:
Brandon yawned and stretched at his desk. He had been helping May and Professor Birch collect data on the various strange phenomena that popped up around Hoenn after all the debacle with Teams Magma and Aqua and the whole Deoxys mess. It had been a few years since those events, but the phenomena didn’t seem to be going away. He didn’t mind so much. It kept him occupied and he could avoid any topics of his Champion title and “what he’s going to do with his life” questions.
“Ugh…” Wanting to stop that train of thought as quickly as possible, he moved from his desk to flop on his bed, pulling his phone out. Lately people have been going on about those new fancy Rotom phones, but he didn’t see the point in upgrading.
Idly tapping a few buttons he opened up one of his chatting apps. It was an old one, but served as a platform for champions current and past to contact each other. Honestly he thought they should move to something that didn’t look like it came from the 90s but no one in charge seemed interested.
An icon blinked in the corner. Seemed like people were chatting at this hour. He tapped to see who it was. It was a group chat. He couldn’t help but smile at the title.
[x::Blue’s chat for bratty Champions::x]
Brandon didn’t know when it got made. Apparently years ago Blue had gotten sick of Red never answering his calls or something. It had grown to include any new champion who beat the Elite Four in their region earlier than the age of 18. Turned out most of them had also fought a weird regional team of bad guys of various threat levels. Most of them, though coming from different backgrounds, had almost died in one way or another. Being able to talk about it with people who understood, really understood the effect that can have on you… it was nice.
The chat blinked as more text popped up, dragging Brandon out of his thoughts. What was the hot topic of the day?
[Blue] Missed you guys at the Battle Tree ;;D
[Blue] It went great!
[Blue] Seriously though you guys should come to some of these trainer events.
[Blue] I love Cynthia and all but it’s always just the old farts.
[Ethan] You and Red are the famous ones.
[Ethan] And I gave up the title ages ago.
[Blue] So???
[Blue] I had the title for like five minutes before Golden boy kicked me off my throne.
[Blue] People LOVE meeting young champions.
[Red] id like to battle again
[Blue] SEE!!!
[Blue] Red wants you to come next time, too!
[Ethan] sigh
[Ethan] I’ll talk it over with Silver.
[Ethan] I do miss battling you guys.
[Blue] Your boyfriend can come too!
[Ethan] He’s not…
[Blue] Honestly he could use some sun.
[Blue] And hush, you’re not Pikabook official but neither are Red and I.
[Blue] Literally everyone knows.
Brandon chuckled at his phone a bit before typing.
[Brandon entered the chat]
[Brandon] It would be fun to meet up, tbh
[Brandon] There’s just always so much to do over here
[Blue] Oh yeah don’t you guys have some weird dimensional rifts happening over there?
[Brandon] Yeah
[Blue] Lucky. I want to meet some of your guys’ crazy bullshit legendaries.
[Brandon] I’d say they’re dangerous but they never leave their rifts so I guess it’s fine
[Brandon] For now
[Red] im coming over
[Blue] How dare you seduce him with rare pokemon.
[Blue] I can’t compete with that.
[Blue] He is literally getting his coat I can’t believe this.
[Brandon] Looks like I win ;)
[Blue] Homewrecker. >:(
[Lucas entered the chat]
[Blue] Lucas help me!
[Blue] Brandon is stealing my man!
[Lucas left the chat]
[Blue] :(
[Brandon] Good job you scared him away
[Dawn entered the chat]
[Dawn] omg what did you do, Lucas looks so mad lmao
[Dawn] oh you’re being gay i see
[Blue] It’s homophobic to ignore me in my time of need.
[Dawn] pfft you know he doesn’t like dealing with your shit
[Dawn] he wanted to ask Brandon about the rifts
[Brandon] What about ‘em
[Dawn] he wanted to know if you’ve determined if the rifts actually go anywhere
[Dawn] or if someone could go in them and pop out somewhere else
[Brandon] Is this about Giratina?
[Dawn] aw you caught us
[Dawn] sorry
[Brandon] It’s okay
[Brandon] I can’t really blame you with how things ended with that Cyrus guy
[Brandon] It’s been deemed to dangerous for me and May to try and explore the rifts away from the opening, so we don’t know
[Brandon] It doesn’t quite look how you described the Distortion world, anyway
[Dawn] okay… thanks, Brandon
[Brandon] np
[Brandon] I’ll let you guys know if anything comes up
[Blue] Uuuuuugh all that dimension shit is freaky.
[Blue] Did you guys hear about the shit that went down in Alola when we were there?
[Dawn] the rainbow rocket stuff?
[Dawn] i saw something about it on tv
[Blue] Yeah Red and I were about to kick some old man ass again but it was resolved before we got there.
[Red] pity
[Blue] Hahahaha you were looking forward to beating Giovanni again weren’t you?
[Red] yes
[Blue] Anyway you’d have to ask Selene and Elio about the details.
[Blue] Something about all our favorite assholes showing up from different dimensions.
[Brandon] Hm… Are they awake
[Brandon] What time is it over there
[Blue] Please I instantly forgot the timezone once I got out of there.
Brandon sighed in disappointment and rolled onto his back. If the Alolan Champions have experienced weird dimensional phenomena that brought people from different worlds to theirs, they might be a good lead for info about their own problems here.
The rifts weren’t that bad as long as you didn’t fly too far from the islands or explored the uninhabited ones farther out. Most people in Hoenn had forgotten about them until a sky rift drifts a bit closer now and again. Still, if there was a way to close them, it would sure take a lot of his and May’s mind.
Or they just needed a lot more masterballs.
[Blue] Anyone else think it’s weird that some of us have captured literal gods.
[Blue] Seriously. What happened to good old strong elemental pokemon and a freaky science experiment.
[Red] blue
[Blue] Sorry, sorry, I know you’re working hard with Mewtwo.
[Blue] But like when we were kids, legendaries were just rare as shit pokemon.
[Blue] Doesn’t Lucas have like the actual pokemon god???
[Dawn] yeah he’s still got Arceus
[Dawn] and I still have Palkia and Dialga…
[Brandon] Get with the times, Grandpa
[Brandon] All the new kids have gods on their belts
[Blue] I’m not THAT much older than you.
[Brandon] Sure
[Blue] I just…
[Blue] Isn’t it just a BIT concerning that the world’s gods are kept by a bunch of kids ages 10 through 20
[Blue] They can’t enjoy being caught, can they?
[Dawn] better than them being in the bad guys’ hands
[Dawn] and idk mine don’t seem to mind it too much
[Dawn] they REALLY like treats ;D
[Blue] You see, that doesn’t instill me with confidence.
[Serena entered the chat]
[Serena] Oh you better not be talking shit about my Yvetal.
[Serena] He is beautiful and magnificent and I love him.
[Blue] Isn’t Yvetal the god of death????
[Serena] More or less, and?
[Blue] That’s dangerous!!!
[Serena] Nah.
[Serena] He’s just a big ole silly birdy~
[Serena] Besides, Calem can fix anything I mess up with Xerneas.
[Blue] Excuse me??
[Serena] Don’t worry about it.
[Ethan] If you’re really concerned how the god pokemon feel…
[Ethan] Doesn’t Hilbert have a friend who can talk to pokemon?
[Brandon] Oh hey I thought you idled
[Ethan] Yeah I was talking to Silver.
[Ethan] Kris and Lyra are interested in having a big get together too.
[Blue] Awesome!
[Blue] As for Hilda and Hilbert has anyone ACTUALLY heard from them lately?
[Blue] The app says they’ve been offline for like 600+ days
[Selene] What a lame name for such a cute boy…
[Blue] My name is a color. Irrelevant.
[Ethan] Oh I saw him in Johto a few weeks ago.
[Ethan] So he is alive.
[Ethan] I didn’t notice he hasn’t been online for a while.
[Blue] Well thank Arceus for that.
[Brandon] That’s good to hear
[Ethan] Actually now that I think about it…
[Ethan] I think he had a new phone. Probably didn’t reinstall the app.
[Ethan] I’ll send him a text. I at least had the smart idea to get his number before he disappeared again.
[Dawn] you should let Alder and Iris know you’ve seen him
[Dawn] i’ve heard they’re worried sick about the runaway champions
[Ethan] I will. I wish I saw Hilda too so I could give them some peace of mind.
[Dawn] weird
[Dawn] i thought they were travelling together to find their friend
[Ethan] I’m sure she was buying supplies when I met up with him.
[Ethan] He would have said something, I’m sure.
[Dawn] i hope so…
[Blue] Well since so many of you are here.
[Blue] Like I told Ethan, Red and I would love to have a get together, just the group here.
[Blue] No Lance or Steven or Cynthia.
[Blue] You guys never come to the public things so why don’t we all have a party!!
[Selene] You paying for travel?
[Red] we can help
[Selene] I’ll talk to Calem about it.
[Selene] Could be fun!
[Dawn] i’d love too!!! i’m sure Lucas would to!!
[Dawn] wait is Ethan bringing Silver???
[Ethan] Maybe.
[Dawn] can we bring Barry?????
[Blue] We can make some adjustments when I know who all is interested.
[Blue] But we were thinking of letting you guys bring a plus 1 if you want, since we said Silver could come.
[Dawn] oh he’ll be so excited!!
Brandon looked over at the work on his desk. The screen of his computer glowing in the low light. May and him had been working almost non-stop the last few months. Maybe it was time for a break. Birch probably wouldn’t mind.
[Brandon] Count me in
[Brandon] I haven’t had a vacation in years