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“I’m sorry to say,” Rose has barely got a word in and yet Bede can tell, knows his entire world’s about to be flipped upside down. “But I can’t let this stand. You show no love for Galar. What you did was unacceptable, and while it just pains me to say this — ”
No, please.
“You’re disqualified, Bede.”
For once, he hated being right.
All at once a distasteful rush of acid burns at the walls of Bede’s throat. Searing hot, suffocating to the point where he couldn’t speak or get a proper breath in. All he could do was stare — watch as everything he had trained for, spent years studying, preparing all this time, watch helplessly as his walls of precious marble crumbled down to worthless ash.
The men in white walk over to take the Wishing Stars, his wrist band, everything.
It’s over.
“You can’t be serious?!”
A voice, boisterous, echoes so loudly he swears the floor below him tremors. The rubble by his feet wildly scatters. Did..Did his true feelings somehow manifest their way into reality?
No, not possible.
Bitter and robbed as he felt, Bede wouldn’t dare verbalize his thoughts aloud like that to the Chairman. Not at a time like this. He couldn’t, not even if he wanted too. It hurt too damn much.
Everybody’s voices, the howling wind all sound so disembodied around him. But, he knew for a fact that wasn’t his voice. So, who —
Boots clack violently against copper rock (steps that might as well have put Copperjah’s earlier rampage to shame) so forcefully, it causes Bede to jolt. Every Macro Cosmo lackey, Oleana, usually unfazeable gawks at the bizarre scene unfolding before them. Even the Chairman himself seems surprised by these drastic turn of events.
Yet, Bede doesn’t see any of it. He’s surrounded by an array of men he can't place a face to, garbed white uniforms eager to whisk him away, throw him out of town like some sort of criminal.
Well, what he did technically was a crime. But in the heat of the moment, to Bede, there had been no right or wrong. Bede felt he had done what was necessary for the region, for Galar’s future. Whatever it took to please the Chairman he would do, in a heartbeat. However, It hadn’t matter in the end.
His future is all in pieces, just like the broken mural beneath his feet.
He’s ashamed. Worst of all, humiliated.
Numb to just about everything transpiring, Bede doesn’t bother to see who’s making the ruckus, nor does he really care. His shame alone keeps his forlorn gaze glued to the dirt.
Another voice joins the fray, those heated footsteps ceasing, if only for a moment.
“H-Hey, Gloria calm down.. Don’t go making a scene, besides this really isn’t your problem, is it?”
Wait a minute.
All at once heat pools behind his eyes, violet hues burning with ire.
Gloria? Their battle had ended ages ago. So why is she still hanging around here?
“I don’t care! Let me go, Sonia!” The brunette hisses, trying to yank her arms free. Her brown eyes swim with more fury than a fully charged Dynamax den.
He can’t fathom in the slightest what’s happening or why the hell it’s happening. He’s beyond speechless. It feels like he’s standing above a stage, watching the actors recite their emotionally felt lines, passionate, full of vigor. While above his feet anchor down on a thin sheet of transparent glass. Bit by bit it begins to crack, just waiting to break.
It cracks.
“This isn’t fair! He… H-He was only doing what you asked!” Gloria manages to yell out, right at the Chairman of the league no less. Has she gone completely mad? The fury lessens, if only slightly to try and plead with the older man before her.
“Chairman Rose! P-Please.. C-Can’t you reconsider?”
The chairman finally looks over to her, if only for a few seconds but in the end, Rose says nothing — not a single word. He flickers his empty gaze away from the feisty young girl, and beckons his Copperjah down the cobble steps with a fond smile. Both trainer and Pokémon ignore her completely, walk past her with their chests puffed and heads held high. They walk straight past her as if she were a ghost, nothing but a pebble in the road, and such blatant hubris only fuels her uncontrollable rage further.
“DON’T IGNORE ME!”
Sonia, completely at her wits end, holds Gloria from the waist in an attempt to hold her and that nasty temper of hers, back.
“RECONSIDER!”
And it cracks.
“I KNOW YOU HEAR ME!”
She continues to shout with enough force to shake the ground beneath everyone. Some even covered their ears with how piercing she sounded. Sonia tugs Gloria back, struggling to keep the spirited girl at bay. It's like trying to corral a bunch of wild Tauros gone wild.
“I SAID TO RECONSIDER, DAMN YOU!”
The bloody chairman isn’t even there anymore, for Arceus’s sake.
“RECONSIDER, OR I’LL — ”
Bede snaps. “GLORIA!”
Completely taken back, Gloria instantly stops thrashing about in Sonia’s hold, much to her relief. If not before, her attention’s definitely grabbed now. For the longest time, she had been “That Girl” or “The one endorsed by the Champion” but to hear her name spoken like this, in such a manner, leaves her speechless.
All eyes were centered on him now, and oh, how he hated it.
He can practically feel his emotions pool over the edge. Everything shatters, just like glass. It hurts just to speak, but he has no choice but to if this nonsense was to end.
“For once in your life… ” he breaks his personal oath of silence. Not like he had any humility left, there’s nothing left to lose. “Just SHUT up!” His voice strains out in a hiss, viler than the bile surging up his throat. He forcefully swallows it, along with all his boiling rage, down.
Bede’s voice is the most enraged she’s ever heard and yet, strangely enough, very quiet… seemingly... defeated. There’s no cocky edge to it. His voice feels bland, dull, like that spark of his is just.. gone.
Her chest tightens, heart aching painfully at the thought and she looks over at him with saddened eyes. He hated that too.
“Bede..?”
Once more he turns to face her, his lips fall into a thinned line. Gloria finds herself searching endlessly, tirelessly, for that cocky smile of his, or even that grumpy little pout that he does whenever he loses a battle. However, it’s nowhere to be found, instead replaced with a melancholic expression completely foreign to her. Bede takes in a deep breath then shuts his burning eyes, letting the sound of the distant breeze fill his ears.
“Like everyone here has been trying to say, this doesn’t concern you. So, please.. let me go out with at least a shred of dignity, will you?”
His voice now lacks that anger from earlier, softer than it’s ever been seems to plead, begs her to cease all of what she’s trying to do. Even if.. she's not entirely in the wrong for feeling the way she did.
All at once it feels like an Seviper wraps around her chest, suffocating her, paralyzing her into place. Gloria doesn't even realize that her own lips are moving, mouthing words quieter than the spectral whispers of the nearby Glimwood Tangle.
“B-But — ”
Before Gloria can react properly Oleana approaches him, practically towers over him with an unreadable expression.
“Lets go.”
Her voice stings colder than ice water. Bede doesn’t even flinch. He refuses to give her the satisfaction. Instead, he emptily stares back at her and simply nods, ready to accept his fate. Actions have consequences, it’s about time he’s faced his, he supposes. As he walks towards the edge of the steps it’s as if time itself slows around him. Never in a million years did he picture himself being complacent at a time like this, taken away to have his gym challenger status revoked no less.
On his way out, he catches a glimpse of Gloria, his rival, looking dead at him. She bears an expression he’s never had the honor of seeing before now.
The brunette’s hands remain tightly clenched by her side, grasping at fistfuls of the pink fabric from her dress. Her eyes practically scream with intensified choler, silently begging him to be defiant, pleading for him to fight back. Try and do something, anything to right this horrible wrong.
But she knows that he won't.
And knowing this breaks her, like shards of glass piercing straight through her. From lionhearted, to a helpless little cub, Gloria knew that she couldn't do anything to make this better.
It's not fair.
"S-Stupid.."
Gloria grits her teeth, buries her face into her hands with haggard breathing.
It's just not fair.
Sonia’s stationed right by her side, rubbing comforting circles into her tensed shoulders. She's also prepared to grab her on the off chance that she decided to break out in a sprint after him. Though, Bede doesn't have to look back to know that Gloria keeps a safe distance away from him, restraining herself, actively trying to respect his wishes. Or, perhaps she realizes her challenge could also be in jeopardy if she causes another outburst like earlier.
His gaze softens.
No, Gloria isn’t like that.
From the moment they met, his first impression was that she was an irascible person; a naïve little girl from Postwicke, with an ego that could rival his own. Gloria’s a person who strived for greatness and recognition. She carried a fighting spirit fiercer than Champion Leon himself. But above all, her love for Galar and Pokémon shined brightest over everything else.
What a hell of a rival he managed to find.
Bede descends halfway down the century old steps and he can still feel Gloria’s gaze burning down his neck. His lips ghost into a smile as he huffs. It’s a shame, really, how he wouldn’t be able to crush her, or any of those fanatical ideals of hers in the finals.
He peers down. Begins to think that maybe —
Maybe — just maybe, she’s crazy enough to be able to accomplish what he couldn’t.