Work Text:
Taylor picked up the bunny pokemon circling her feet and sighed softly.
“Scourbunny. Stop that. I’m going to trip over you one day.” She patted the small bunny pokemon on the head before setting her back down, letting her run towards the group of pokemon waiting for their meals. She blinked seeing a familiar face around the Wild Area in recent weeks. She grumbled under her breath and turned around, hoping he wouldn’t notice her near the large mass of pokemon.
“Ah Taylor! I was looking for you.” Nope no luck for her today it seemed. She turned around, faking a wide smile.
“Ah Leon. Good to see you.” No, it wasn’t good to see him, she had to keep up the act, however. “What brings you all the way out here? You know it can be dangerous out here.” She smiled harder, hoping that he would answer and just leave her alone.
She didn’t hate him. Not really. She just hated everything he represented. The whole league system. How “in your face” the media could be about the smallest thing. She hated it all. So she hated him.
Leon just smiled bright and rubbed the back of his neck. “I was sent to get you, someone at the battle tower is asking for the both of us to help them out.”
Taylor frowned deeply. He knew she hadn’t battled in close to 4 years, right? Why in the world would she want to help someone at the battle tower? She crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side.
“How about no? I don’t do battles anymore Leon. I’ve told you this so many times.” She sighed and shook her head. “No matter what you do- I’m not going.”
“Taylor please? It’s just a little help. They don’t even want to battle you. They just need help with something important. They want you. I think they want to be endorsed by you for the gym battles.” She frowned even more. Last person she endorsed was Alanna and she was crushed by Gloria and Hop when battling in the finals. The heartbreak on the girl’s face hurt so much. The one time she endorsed, and it ended up not working out.
“I want to avoid that again Leon. No offense but battling isn’t for me anymore. I’m jinxed.” She muttered, keeping her arms crossed. She was going to lose her cool in a moment if he kept pushing.
“Taylor. What if they just want to meet Alanna’s mentor? See where she got all her amazing moves from.” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taylor grumbled as she felt Leon wrap his arms around her waist as they took off into the sky on his Charizard.
“You are a bastard for convincing me to come with you.” She shouted over the wind gushing around them. All she got was a laugh from Leon as they flew towards the battle tower. Galar was rebuilding still after the huge attack from Rose. Thankfully it wasn’t too bad, but things still had to be rebuilt. She pouted as they soar through the air the Charizard thankfully not getting them lost, unlike his trainer, he was more the capable to find his way around the region she now called home.
She closed her eyes as the wind sliced at her skin. All the wind whipping around hurt her but she had to tough through it since apparently this was so urgent. She huffed as the Charizard rushed through the sky and landed not too long at the Battle Tower.
She hopped off the Charizard before the pokemon even fully landed. She didn’t want to be that close to the literal talking advertisement for champions. “okay what now?” She asked as Leon slowly got off the pokemon that had landed gracefully now.
“They are upstairs. Come on.” She huffed again and followed him into the building and traveled up with him to the upper floors.
She tapped her foot against the hard floor of the elevator. She frowned deeper at Leon just standing there, watching her.
“Do you have to stare?” She snapped, making him wince.
“Sorry.I was just .. thinking.”
“That’s a dangerous pastime for you Leon.” She muttered, rolling her eyes.
Leon looked like he wanted to say something but the doors dinged softly, letting them know they hit the floor they needed. She pushed past him, grumbling slightly under her breath.
“Where is this person?” She asked, looking around , wanting to get out of there as fast as possible. She hated the idea of herself being in the heart of battling right now.
Leon scratched his head and looked around. “I told him to stay here... “ He muttered before giving out the sounds of exclamation. “Ah ah ah!” he shook Taylor’s shoulder, getting a grunt from the woman who didn’t want him touching her.
“Right there!”
Taylor looked to where Leon was making her look and paled.
Why was he here? That made no sense. Kanto was so far away.
“Hey Tay. Heard from gramps you were hiding here. I’m surprised you picked this place of all the places in the world to hide. With all the media and stuff?” The ginger haired man chuckled as he walked up towards the two.
“Blue … Why are you here?” She asked in a low voice before whipping around to Leon.
“You!! You are a sneaky bastard for trapping me up here with him.” She growled at Leon who looked confused and hurt.
“What do you mean? I have no idea who he is.”
It was Blue’s turn to be hurt.
“I came all the way from Alola to find you and this is how you treat me? And you!” He turned to face Leon. “You don’t know who I am? I’m surprised. You must be like Red then. All battle, no thoughts”
Leon chuckled and shook his head. “You must be friends with Taylor for sure. Want to introduce me so I’m caught up and I know what’s going on?” He glanced at Taylor who rolled her eyes.
“Ugh fine. Leon. This is Blue Oak. He’s a pokemon researcher, 8th gym leader in Kanto and grandson to Professor Oak in the Kanto region as well.” Taylor sighed as Blue wrapped an arm around her waist.
“Don’t forget your best friend ever.”
“Sure. We will go with that.”
Leon chuckled again. It was clear that they two were close- at least at some point.
“So what brings you to Galar, Blue?” He asked the red head whose face got more serious.
“Actually I need to talk to you guys about that somewhere safer than this. It’s league related.”
It was no secret to Leon who Taylor was. Her fall from grace was extremely public and so far only one region let her keep her title of champion, even then it was begrudgingly.
They never talked about it besides his first introduction to her. He was so excited to have someone who was also a champion come to his homeland but after talking to her quickly found out she wasn’t the poster girl everyone thought she was.
Leon nodded and gestured to the elevator. “I live here in the tower so We can go to my floor if you like?” he asked, wondering what the huge issue was. If it was a league matter why was a gym leader sent and not someone else?
Taylor looked around and frowned. “Where’s Red? I know you barely go anywhere without him nowadays according to the press.” She looked at Blue who chuckled and gestured around them.
“You really think he wants to hang around us while we talk when he could be battling?”
“Fair point…Come on I want to know what this issue is so I can tell you no to your face.” She snickered, leaning into Blue’s touch.
Leon felt a small bit of jealousy seeing her so easily interact with Blue. She would barely even talk to him, let alone let him touch her or hug her. What made Blue so special compared to himself? He sighed and pulled out his keycard, placing it into the elevator and moving inside the moment it came up.
Blue and Taylor moved into the elevator with Leon as Blue whispered something into Taylor’s ear making her shove the man away from her.
“Fuck you. Like hell.” She huffed, growing red in the face.
She blushed harder seeing Leon look over at them.
“Get a life Blue. Like hell.” She spat again , crossing her arms and looking away.
Blue snickered and nudged Leon.
“A prickly one isn’t she?”
“Huh? Taylor? Yeah. she is. It’s part of her charm though don’t you think?” Leon chuckled making Blue shake his head.
“Galar is a weird place if you think being a bi-”
“OKAAAY that’s enough talking about me behind my back Blue. I know what you’re doing and no. Stop it. Or I will tell Red.”
Blue mimicked zipping his lips shut before cracking a wide grin, looking out the large window that the elevator had.
Taylor rolled her eyes. He was such a child sometimes even though he was the same age as her. The 24 year old walked out of the elevator as the doors opened on Leon’s floor.
Blue’s face dropped for a moment and it seemed he remembered why he was there.
“Okay business time. Come on you two.” He sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets as Leon walked out behind him.
“What’s so important that you have to talk to us in private?” Taylor demanded as they walked towards Leon’s personal room.
“Hold on and you’ll find out.” Blue rolled his eyes as Leon led them into the room.
Once they all sat down, Blue crossed his arms.
“Despite our best efforts to prevent this from happening- Team Rocket’s remains are still around and they are growing stronger. They teamed up with another villain team in a desert region called Orre and have been funneling what the professors have been calling Shadow Pokemon into the main block. Now we have been stomping Team Rocket out as much as possible with Silver, Ethan and Kris’s help but they have spread out so far into regions that Kanto and Johto don’t have jurisdiction in. And Red, Lance and I can only do so much as Champions of the sister regions. But Taylor you can help. They have mainly been hiding in Hoenn and Unova. Both places you are able to travel freely to and have at least some power in. Hoenn more so then Unova. But-”
The moment Blue took a breath to continue Taylro stood up and sighed.
“Blue. You know damn well I’m not welcomed anywhere.Even if these Shadow Pokemon are a danger- No one trusts a traitor to their own region.”
“That’s why you will have Leon with you. He can vouch for you and your actions the past couple years and he is popular among the champions and other regions in general.”
“Wait wait wait. Me leaving Galar? I can’t do that. I’m needed here to run the Battle Tower and help Gloria with being a Champion.”
“That’s why Red and I are here too. Lance agreed having some outside influences could help her out. Red’s been a champion for nearly as long as you have been Leon. Even if he’s taken breaks from being champ. We need you two. Badly. The shadow pokemon… they are hurting. They are tainted pokemon somehow and are extremely dangerous.”
“Okay fine I’ll entertain your idea but if we run into a shadow pokemon what do we do? We can’t just kidnap someone’s pokemon!”
Blue looked nervous and Taylor had a gut feeling that another reason she was being asked for this job.
“Taylor you have experience with convincing people to release their pokemon… I know you hate it but it will be useful.”
“Fuck you Blue.” She growled storming to the door before she stopped feeling something pull her back. She turned her head around angrily and softened her look seeing Leon looking very somber.
“Taylor these pokemon are suffering. Don’t you want them to stop? I know only what the press leaked about you but… if you can help in any way shouldn’t you consider it?” Leon asked her, making her pause and frown at him. He pulled her arm away from him and sat on the ground.
“Go on Blue. I’m only listening because it’s my job to make sure pokemon aren’t hurting anymore then they have to.” She huffed.
Blue looked at Leon in surprise before slowly continuing. Taylor knew it was because no one had ever really been able to calm her down before. But… Leon had a point. These pokemon were hurting by being tainted with darkness. She couldn’t just do nothing.
She sighed softly as Blue finished up talking.
“You want us to take evil people’s pokemon… as champions… that sounds like a bad idea but it might work… We could always do wagers too if we find a shadow pokemon.”
“We also have some tech from Orre where they have dealt with this before. They have a machine they used to snag pokemon from their villain teams. They sent us a pair of them for the champions who decided to do this. If you don’t I’ll have Cynthia and Wallace do this mission. But you two were our first picks given your history , Taylor, and Leon’s recent availability. “ Blue told them with a sigh. “Red has the briefcase with the machines in them. He should be done battling here soon. Unless someone finds him and recognizes him.. That might delay us. “
“When do we head out?” Leon asked,playing with a pokeball and frowning. “I’ll only be able to bring Charzard with me right? So i’ll need more pokemon.”
“My team is almost all Galar pokemon right now too. I have a few back in Hoenn but.. It’s been years since I have seen them. I video chat them once a month but that’s about it.”
“Gramps managed to get some pokemon that will be able to help you spot shadow pokemon. If you guys are really going to do this… I will grab them from our hotel but we need to leave as soon as possible. Within this week at least. I’ll give you that much time to discuss and talk about it. I don’t want these pokemon suffering more.” Blue told them , running a hand through his orange brown hair.
“Meet me in Hammerlocke outside the pokemon center when ya guys decide. Taylor has my number still right?” Taylor nodded and stayed quiet as Blue walked out of Leon’s room. She looked at Leon and frowned deeply.
“I hate this. I would rather be paired up with anyone but you. But at the same time you don’t hate me so this is probably why they paired us together.” She sighed as she ran a hand through her ponytails. She was tired. And it was barely noon.
“Are you going to do it then?” He asked, fiddling with the pokeball in his hand. Taylor guessed it was Charizard’s with how old the pokeball looked.
“Yeah. I guess I am. I can’t even have my starter pokemon with me because slyveon’s aren’t allowed in the main block of regions yet. I’ll have to use my other pokemon which I believe in their strengths but it’s gonna be difficult after not training with them for years.” She muttered softly, now looking at the floor with a determined look.
“Of course they ask me to do this. This is bullshit. I was a Plasma member for 6 months. That’s it. And even then it wasn’t me doing much.” She growled, throwing her hands up into the air before folding them over her chest.
“But you had some experience. We are gonna need that in Hoenn… And Unova.” he hesitantly brought her home region up. In the few years he knew her- he knew not to bring up her past or her home region. Both were sore spots and he knew better then to poke them after their first meeting four years ago.
He watched her tense up before she nodded.
“Yeah. just… Don’t leave me if we go to Unova. No matter what happens. I know we haven’t gotten along well. And that’s my fault but if you are really going to go with me. You have to promise to stick by me. Especially since you have no sense of direction at all.” She chuckled softly. She looked up at him and noticed a look of joy on his face.
“Did you actually just laugh with me nearby?” He asked,making her blink. Had she really been so cold to him that … that he never heard her laugh? She laughed a lot too so the fact he never heard her laugh somewhat hurt her. She didn’t mean to be THAT cold to the ex champion. She looked down at the ground and sighed.
“Leon…” Taylor trailed off before getting a ping on her phone. “I have to go.” she stated standing up suddenly after reading the message.
“There’s a hurt wild pokemon that needs my help. We can talk more later.”
Leon nodded.
“Sounds good.”