Chapter Text
“And there you have it folks! Leon is still the undefeated champion!”
The crowd in the stadium roared as you called back your fainted pokemon; your trusty Dragapult, who really tried its best. In the end, it just couldn’t defeat the champion’s Gigantimax Charizard. On the opposite side of the field, Leon could be seen waving to the crowd for a brief moment before doing his signature Charizard pose, with the crowd following suit. When the man was done, you made your way back to the center of the pitch to meet you and shake hands.
“That was quite the battle, mate!” The champion said as he firmly grasped the trainer’s hand, giving it a good shake. “You should be proud to have made it this far! I know you’re capable of great things, Challenger!” Once the handshake was over, you headed off to the locker room, leaving Leon to celebrate yet another amazing victory as the reigning champion.
Sitting on the bench near your locker, you wiped your face with a towel, letting out a sigh. You weren't sad or upset about your loss in the slightest. You and your team did their best out there, and you were definitely proud to have made it this far. If anything, you were mainly just exhausted. This would probably be the only few moments of peace before being bombarded with press looking for interviews.
Opening your locker, you grabbed your bag with a change of clothes. You heard the sound of the door opening. Ah, great... the press already caught up to me. But you were confused when you didn’t hear any noise or multiple pairs of footsteps.
Turning around, the familiar theme of blue, navy and orange filled your vision. It was none other than Raihan, who was leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed and that fanged smirk of his.
“Hey.”
Hey...”
“What’s up? Mad you couldn’t defeat the champion?”
“No, not at all. My team gave it your best shot. I have no regrets.”
“Hm...”
You watched as the tamer of dragons strode over to the bench you were sitting on, only to join you on the opposite side. The man was silent for a moment, his teal eyes looking over at you, causing you to blush slightly.
To say that Raihan was attractive was an understatement; the man was downright gorgeous. Those magnificent eyes, cool and confident demeanor and style. It was no wonder he was so popular on and off the pitch. Too bad he’d never like someone like me...
Raihan’s smirk widened. “So you couldn’t beat Leon. But, you did beat me again in the last round. Now how about that dinner date we talked about.”
Almost immediately, his words come back to you, a playful, ”Defeat me a second time, and I'll take you on a date,” just over the roar of the crowd and your heart in your ears.
“Eh?! Y-You meant that?! I thought you were joking!” Your blush deepened. You truly thought the man was joking before.
“The great Raihan is always serious!” He chuckled at the trainer’s reaction, secretly finding their blush cute. “Now hurry up and get changed. I know a secret way out of here to avoid the press that's waiting for you in the lobby.”
——-
Raihan escorted you to a hidden away restaurant located in one of the alleys off the Wyndon streets; a place known for its ramen. Once inside, the gym leader requested a booth off in the corner, wanting this to be a nice private dinner. As the two looked over their menus, you were slightly overwhelmed at the selection of ramen bowls to choose from.
“There's so many... Which would you recommend?” You peeked over your menu at the taller man.
“I usually get the tonkatsu, which is very filling after a long day of battles. So that would probably suit you best.” Raihan responded, pointing to it on his menu.
You nodded. “I’ll get that then.”
Flagging down the waitress, the dragon tamer ordered their ramen bowls. His rotomphone flew out of his pocket, notifying him of messages from his social media and a few other gym leaders. He glanced at them quickly, only replying to the leaders for now before telling his rotom to go back into his pocket.
Across the table, you were looking a bit nervous. To think you were actually on a date with THE Raihan right now. You focused your attention on the drink in front of him, eyes following the condensation as it dripped down the side of the glass. Anything was better than staring up into those mesmerizing teal eyes.
“I’m curious...” You took a small breath before continuing, looking up to the man sitting across from you. “Why me?” Raihan blinked in confusion. “What’s so interesting about me? There's plenty of other trainers out there that are worthy of getting to spend this rare moment with you.”
His confused expression changed into a smirk. “You mean a strong trainer who completed the gym challenge, made it through the tournament, and got to stand on the same ground to battle the Champion isn’t worthy enough? Not to mention made it that far with a mostly fire type team with a few disadvantages.”
There was a small pause, letting you take his words in.
“Should I add in that your surprise Dragapult had me on my toes with excitement in the semi-finals? Lastly, you’re pretty cute too. Need I explain more?” Raihan’s smirk turned sly as the trainer blushed, shaking your head.
“Now, I just have to ask...” Raihan started, shifting the flow of conversation. “Why the favor of fire types? Nothing wrong with them, I just want to know why your team mainly consists of them.”
“Well... I’m from Hoenn. My first pokemon was a little Torchic that my parents got me. They were friends with a professor. I was always so fascinated by its fire moves and abilities, even when it gained its fighting typing as it evolved. There aren’t many fire types in Hoenn, so when me and my older brother moved here to Galar, I just caught lots of fire types that my home region didn’t have...”
There was a small pause. “Does any of that make sense? S-Sorry if I was rambling...” You shyly looked off to the side, rubbing the back of your neck nervously.
“Oh no, you aren’t rambling. I could listen to you all day, sweetheart.” The man rested his chin in his palm as you talked, listening intently. “Sounds a bit like me. I’ve always been fascinated by dragon types as a kid. But hold on a tick, you have an older brother?”
“Yeah, he just works here in Wyndon. So much that he basically lives here, while I live on my own in Motostoke. It’s not too bad, we still see each other a lot when he’s not busy...”
The two continued to talk as they waited for their food, taking the time to learn a bit about each other. You told him more about how you acquired your Dragapult.
--
You met it as lone Dreepy while out on the Lake of Outrage in the Wild Area. It had been a day where the sun was intense, which was perfect weather while searching for a rare Turtonator. You spent the entire day outside and was eventually successful with the catch of your new ‘mon just before a heavy fog rolled in for the evening. You were glad to have set up your tent earlier in the day because now you could barely see a thing. It had been a long day in the sun, so you were eager to finally lay down and rest.
The evening slowly turned into night. Despite the kinds of pokemon that appeared, it was a quiet night. There was a small noise, but it sounded distant, so you just ignored it. A minute or so goes by and you hear it again, now thinking it's just the wind. The third time, it sounds a few feet away. Cautiously unzipping your tent flap, you peeked out of the opening, fingers resting on one of your pokeballs just in case. Just beyond the fog was a little Dreepy, who met your eyes and came over to your tent. The poor thing looked a tad weak…
Not wanting to just ignore it, you fished a berry from your bag and held it up. Dreepy made a noise of excitement and floated into the tent. It may have been weak, but it ate the berry hungrily. A few berries later, it had regained its strength. As a thank you to the trainer, it graciously nuzzled your hand, which gave a few pats to its head. The thought of sending this little Dreepy back out into you wild after creating a small bond with it didn’t sit well with you. However, you didn’t know too much about raising or training dragon types…
In the end, you ended up catching the pokemon. Or rather, Dreepy willingly went inside of the pokeball on its own. Training it separately from your usual team out in the Wild Area, leveling it up when you had some time to spare outside of completing the gym challenge. By the time you had gathered all eight gym badges, Dreepy was strong enough to evolve to its final evolution, Dragapult. It only made sense for it to take the last spot on your team to take on the Champion Cup, even if it wasn’t a fire type.
--
As nervous as you had been when you first got to the restaurant, you felt completely comfortable around Raihan now. You enjoyed getting to know each other over your ramen. When dinner was over, Raihan paid the bill; it was his treat for making it so far in the finals.
Outside the eatery, he asked for a quick pic of you two of them together in front of the building. At first you were quick to decline due to being camera shy. But Raihan explained that he wasn’t going to post it, just wanted to capture the memory of their date. His rotomphone flew from his pocket and waited for you two to settle on your pose. Raihan had his arm around your shoulders, both of them holding up a peace sign.
With their bellies full, the two returned back to the Rose of Rhodelands hotel where everyone who participated in the tournament stayed. The dragon leader dropped you off at your floor level, the both of your rotomphones quickly exchanging numbers before Raihan continued up to his master suite. After a nice relaxing shower, you were glad to get into bed, exhausted from the long day. A quick check of your phone showed a message from Raihan.
Raihan: I know you're getting ready for bed, but I just wanted you to know that I had a great time with you tonight. Hope this won’t be just a one time thing...
You: Me too! It was nice getting to know you. Maybe we can plan another date soon?
The dragon tamer chuckled at how eager you were.
Raihan: I’m down for wherever you want to go. Just pick a place and I’ll be there.
You: Just give me a few days to rest. The tournament has worn me out...
He could understand that. Gym challenges and exhibition matches wore him out too.
Raihan: No worries, mate. Take all the time you need.
You: Alright. I’m heading to bed now. Goodnight.
Raihan: Goodnight, sweetheart.
After sending off that last reply, Raihan switched over to his Pokegram. Hitting the new post tab, he was quick to add a photo of the ramen place two had been earlier. Not the photo with both of you in it, but one with just him outside of the place itself, a big toothy grin on his face. Swiping over, he typed out the caption:
Went on a date tonight! Enjoyed some ramen with even better company. Things aren’t official yet, but I hope they are soon! Think you guys can guess who it is before I reveal them? Look out for future posts because I’ll be dropping hints!
A few simple hashtags were added. He didn’t need too many; with as many followers as he had, it didn’t matter. He was sure this post would blow up more than others.
And blow up it did.
It's no secret that Raihan was popular. The numbers on his social media accounts were nothing to sneeze at. So when he uploaded his photo with the caption, the amount of likes he instantly got was insane, along with a swarm of comments.
“Omg who???”
“I know that ramen place!”
“Raihan is dating someone?!”
“Raihan! Please tell us who it is!!”
“Please keep us updated!!”
The comments made the young gym leader chuckle. He really did want to tell his followers, but he wanted to play this game with them to see if anyone would actually figure it out.
In the meantime, he’ll let them wonder while he thought of future date ideas.