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She is without a doubt the stupidest person to ever come out of Wedgehurst. In all of Galar. In Kalos. Heck, on the whole PLANET!
Arceus, how could she have been so stupid? Sonia, balls her fists around her blanket and burrows deeper under her pillows. There is still a faint smell of lavender clinging to her sheets from when she had doused the whole blanket in essential oil years ago but even the calming scent does little to her nerves now.
She squeezes her eyes shut, taking gulping breaths to try and keep from crying yet again.
Seriously, that guy doesn't deserve all the time she spends wringing her hands over him and all the hot tears she's crying over him. Sonia squeezes her eyes shut. There is a gigantic lump in her throat and no matter how much she tells herself that it's not worth it, that he is not worth it, she is still gasping for air, shaking violently under her blanket. She's just so stupid it's almost unbelievable.
ooooo
It has been a couple of days since she's arrived back in Galar but Sonia has yet to leave her gran's house. She's content with staying in her room, hiding. The only time she leaves it is for trips to the bathroom and secret ventures into the kitchen, late at night, when her stomach's grumblings get too insistent and too loud to ignore any longer. She sleeps a lot. Tries at least. She evades her grandparents' questions and gives monosyllabic answers. The flight back from Kalos was fine. She saw lots of Pokémon. The people were nice. She learned a lot. Everything is fine.
She tries to blame jetlag but of course her gran sees right through her. Sonia tries to ignore the knowing looks her grandparents share. The pity is just too much. She wants to hide under her blanket and never come up again. She cannot face the world.
Yamper is jumping around and sniffing everything he can get his nose on, running up and down the stairs, giving the grandparents zappy kisses whenever he comes upon them. He is obviously happy to be back in Galar. Then again, what does Yamper know about heartbreak? He is just a...Sonia bites down on her lip so much it's starting to bleed. She is being unfair. She knows she is. But she cannot help herself. Her heart hurts so much.
ooooo
In the end, her gran decides that enough is enough. She tells Sonia to get out of the house and instructs her to go to the lab to go through some books and look up some data for her.
It is weird to be back in Galar. So many years spent in Kalos and Sonia almost forgot how beautiful it is. Yamper is bounding over the narrow dirt path, sniffing and licking stones or the odd wild Pokémon he finds. He yips happily while Sonia is watching him, trying to ignore the feeling of dread that is settling in her stomach more and more, the closer they get to Wedgehurst and the lab.
It's still early when she walks through the center of Wedgehurst but here and there are already some market vendors that are setting up their tables or shopowners that are unlocking their doors. Sonia quickens her pace. She hopes nobody recognizes her but when she turns the last corner she hears the berry vendor call her name. She waves at him and quickly dashes through the alley, pressing her back against the door of the lab, as soon as she has disappeared inside. Sonia squeezes her eyes shut. She can't face those people. She can't face them and all of their question, about how she's been and how her research is going. It's....it's just too much. Sonia sighs, looking around the lab. It has not changed since she's been here the last time, or so it seems. Carefully, Sonia pats over to one of the desks that's laden with papers. She softly touches the desktop, reliving snippets of memories that come to her. Voices are coming from outside, swelling and going away again. Sonia flinches. Looks like she has to hide out in here and beg nobody will actually try and come inside to talk to her.
Her wish is not granted. Her peace lasts until the early afternoon, when there is knocking on the door. Sonia looks up from the papers she has been reading and sorting and sighs. Well, she knew that at some point people would know that she was back and wanted to catch up. She had just hoped that it would have been Nessa or one of her other friends before everybody else. Sonia steels herself and follows the yipping Yamper to the door, taking a deep breath and plastering a (fake) smile on her face. She opens the door-
"Excuse me, Professor, I'm afraid I got lost again..."
-and almost slams it shut again.
It's Leon.
Leon, the undefeated champion of Galar, Leon. Her best friend. From when she was a kid. Leon. Who she has not talked to in a long time. In Weeks. Months. Arceus, Years! Leon.
Sonia clings to the doorknob and leans against the purple door, staring wide-eyed at thim. She has not considered that she might see him so soon again. He is taller than she remembers him, but still wearing one of those stupid snapbacks and some tights under a pair of shorts with the Galar crest on it and the same t-shirt and Sonia has to fight the impulse of snarking at him, asking if he does not own any other clothes.
She is proud of how little her voice shakes when she tells him, "I'm sorry but the Professor is not at the lab this morning.", non-chalant and with just enough fake confidence so it doesn't show how much the sight of him rattles her.
Leon's head snaps up and he almost drops his Rotom-phone where he has been looking at the map app, confused, and stares at her with wide amber eyes.
"So-Sonia!?"
He looks like a Feebas, his mouth opening and closing and that chases away any panic or awkwardness she is feeling. A small giggle escapes her and his eyes light up and he reaches out for her and engulfs her in a bearhug, crushing her to his chest.
"Sonia, I didn't know you were back. I'm so glad to see you! How are you? When did you get back? How was Kalos?"
He's talking a mile a minute. Sonia smiles and breathes in his scent before she lets him go and steps back into the lab for him to follow.
"Do you want a cup of tea?", she asks, leading him past one of the desks and the small indoor greenhouse in the direction of the kitchen.
She can see him smile at her, looking around. He probably hasn't been here in a while. It makes her feel warm, knowing that she was his primary reason for coming here.
"That would be lovely."
Sonia fills water into the kettle and lets it boil, before turning to Leon who has stretched out his long form out on the couch, this arms crossed behind his head with a satisfied sigh on his lips.
"I missed this, you know?", he says, smiling at her. "Being in the lab with you? Talking about Arceus knows what?"
Sonia shakes her head fondly.
"We haven't done much talking yet, Leon."
He jumps up from the couch and comes over to her, beaming.
"You are right! Come on, tell me! How was Kalos?"
Sonia looks away.
"Oh, you know. Lots of cafés. Small villages. Boring research. Not much to tell."
Leon peers down at her, his forehead creased, his gaze incredibly warm. Sonia's stomach twists. She fills water into a teapot, dunks the teabags in, desperate to escape the conversation.
Leon chuckles.
"I mean, you gran has told us all about the important stuff you are doing in Kalos just last week when she was at my mum's place for Sunday dinner. It sounded pretty amazing."
The teapot slips from her fingers and crashes to the floor, hot water spilling everywhere. Yamper yelps and runs away, hiding behind the sofa as Leon rushes to Sonia's side. There are shards all over the floor and Sonia's socks are drenched in hot water as she hops from one foot to the other and uses the Maker Pokémon's name in several colourful variants Leon has never heard before.
He goes and fetches a bucket and a rag, while Sonia hunkers down and tries to pick up the bigger shards and simultaneously tries to fend off a nosy Yamper who has come back from behind the sofa.
Leon kneels next to her, helping her pick up the shards. Sonia knows he is looking at her. She can feel his gaze boring into her, looking at her with those stupid questioning amber eyes, and he will not let this one go. Not after this reaction. Bile rises in her throat.
"I'm back here in Galar now", she snaps finally, as an answer,"and not in Kalos. And can we maybe not talk about my-ouch!"
Sonia hisses and sticks her thumb in her mouth, mumbling curses as she does so. She scowls at the shard she just pricked her finger on and tries to pick up another with the other hand when Leon grabs her wrist and gently pulls her up and away from the mess.
"I'll deal with this", he says softly.
There is so much warmth in his gaze that she has to look away. He gives her a gentle push towards a chair and starts to put the bigger shards in the trashcan, makes short work of the rest of the splinters and mops up the tea that has spilled on the floor. Then he fills the kettle again and makes tea, before carrying it over to the sofa. It's done in under ten minutes.
"Do you want to tell me what's wrong?", he asks kindly, shrugs and pats the seat on the couch next to him.
Sonia chews on her lower lip and closes her eyes. She is rooted on the spot, her fists clenching and unclenching in a frantic rhythm. It's only natural for him to ask, right? He's her friend. They never kept secrets from one another, always told each other everything. (Well, not everything.)
It doesn't matter that they haven't seen each other for years.
Her feet feel like they are packed in lead when she slowly trots over to the couch and sits down. Her eyes are burning. There is a big lump in her throat.
Sonia stays silent for a long time. As long as she doesn't say it, she can pretend Kalos never happened. But Leon sits next to her, so patient, and rubs her shoulder encouragingly. He's picked up Yamper from the floor and put him in his lap. Sonia lifts a hand to stroke the little Pokémon. Yamper's been with her in Kalos. He has seen it all happen. She wonders what he thought about it. About their rushed packing and coming back to Galar. About not being able to say goodbye to the Furfrou he made friends with. Poor Yamper.
Sonia gulps.
"I have studied the Mega-Evolution in Kalos", she finally begins, slowly, her tongue heavy and her voice raspy, like she has not used it in a while.
"About a year in I started travelling with a couple of other researchers and I learned a lot. There was this one guy, Matt, we got a long great. It is really interesting stuff, this Mega-Evolution, you would have loved it."
Her voice breaks and Leon squeezes her shoulder once more.
"I did so much research on it. Interviewed trainers, talked to specialists, observed Pokémon. I did endless calculations, read countless books, camped out in forests and deserts and lakes and ruined all my clothes. Matt was really supportive and so smart. He knew stuff I could only dream about. I showed him all my research and we cross-reverenced and he offered to help me with a tricky bit. We spent almost all of the last two years together. We cooked together and went to cafés and lived in the same crappy boarding house and he loved Pokémon so much."
She stops again, swallows. Tears are running down her face.
"My research was almost complete", Sonia says, angrily wiping at her face. "I had compiled it and Matt offered to proofread it. So I sent it to him."
She balls her fists and punches her thighs before Leon could react. Yamper jumps a little, whining because he doesn't understand his trainer's reaction.
"I was so stupid! I didn't hear from him in a few days and he didn't pick up when I called him and I just didn't think. I never though...I would have never expected..."
She breaks off again, shakes her head. She is silent for so long that Leon thinks she is not gonna continue.
"He published my research under his own name", Sonia says, absolute tonelessly. Leon holds his breath.
"I tried talking to him, tried to make him revert it, at least put my name on it too. But he just laught in my face. Said it was as much his research and his paper as it was mine. Even more so, because he had to correct my terrible writing."
Her voice is bitter and she closes her eyes. Yamper jumps on her lap and tries to lick the tears off her face but it doesn't seem to help her mood too much.
"I- I thought he...I thought that he liked me", she whispers finally, working her tongue and teeth around the words, like they are something tangible in her mouth. "I thought I could make a life there - in Kalos."
The words are so soft, Leon has to lean in even more, to hear them. She leans forward, her hands curling into fists once again.
"But it was all a lie!"
She gasps for air, once, twice, and suddenly her body is shaking and there is snot and tears. Leon wraps her arms around her and holds her close, her face pressed against his neck, Yamper jumping off the couch because of the lack of space.
It takes some time before her body stops shaking, before her breathing becomes calmer again and she slowly pulls back from him. There are tear stains on his shirt but he doesn't mind, just pats his pockets for a handkerchief that he hands to her.
"I'm sorry, Sonia", he says finally, "I know it's not enough but I'm sorry."
Sonia just wipes her face and starts to twirl a lock of hair around her finger. He's seen her do it hundreds of times, when she's nervous or anxious or just thinking but today, while tears are still glimming on her lashes, it's enough to break his heart.
"I wanted something for myself, a- a life, my own research! I wanted to make my own mark on the world and make a difference for Pokèmon and trainers and...and.."
She hides her face in her hands.
"And he took it all from you", Leon finishes for her. His heart aches for his friend and he feels the irrational urge to jump onto Charizard and fly to Kalos if he has to, just so he can punch that asshole in the face.
"It's not your fault, Sonia", he tries to soothe her, rubbing her shoulder once more. "You know it's not your fault. He played the long game and took advantage of you. It's his fault. He is the asshole."
She sniffs and rubs at her eyes again.
"And you cannot do it here?", Leon asks suddenly, trying to distract her. To put her mind on something else. Toward something. He hates to see her like this, so small and defeated, her shoulders slumped and her face under the freckles red and blotched from crying. "Use some of your research and start over? Or, I don't know. Fuck this guy and make something else. A better research. Write a book and throw it in his face!"
He knows he is rambling and what he's saying is probably not helping at all. He just wants to do something for her. Make her smile again.
"What about Dynamaxing? You know so much about that?"
Sonia looks at him and scoffs slightly.
"Yes. Sure! But...but that's gran's research. I- I just wanted..."
"To live your own dream", Leon finishes for her. "I get it."
Sonia stares at him, her look so incredulous from bloodshot eyes, Leon chuckles a little.
"What? Do you think I forgot all those lectures you held me about Pokémon when we were kids? Your opinions about the right way to raise Pokémon? And what to feed them to make them stronger? Or all that self-made protein you fed Charmeleon to raise its attack until it refused to eat anything you gave it? Or your endless charts about if a different personality of a Pokémon makes it evolve faster?"
He laughs and squeezes her arm. "I always knew you were gonna be a bigshot professor one day. I mean, you know more about Pokémon than anybody else I know."
Sonia seems to relax just a little. The smile she gives him is watery and wobbly too, but he takes it.
"You are the smartest person I know. Fuck Kalos. Who cares about those high and mighty asses anyway? You are gonna write your paper here and all of Galar will know your name and you will help tons of new trainers and old trainers and everybody. And they will sing songs about you and write poems to your beauty and then that asshole Matt will come and grovel at your feet and you can stomp on his hands or whatever. I can also make Charizard Seismic Toss him if you want."
A small sound escapes Sonia and she looks at him, her face softening.
"Thank you", she says and he knows she means it. An idea forms in his mind. His resolve is absolute. He is gonna put a smile back on her face and if it kills him.
ooooo
It's been a week since Leon has been at the lab and Sonia has a new routine. She walks with Yamper to the lab, early in the morning, holes herself up there and does extensive research about the dynamax phenomenon for her gran in the myriad of books the old professor has collected over the years. She cross-references it with her own Mega-Evolution research - even though she feels like throwing up, every time she opens one of the documents on her computer - and reads until her eyes burn. More than once her Rotom-phone wakes her up in the dead of night because her gran was worried that she had not come home yet.
It feels good. At least a little bit. It distracts her from her painful memories and makes her feel at least a little bit less like a loser.
She has turned Leon's words over in her head, again and again. Should she just start over? Do something entirely different with her research and forget about the Mega-Evolution?
There is an itch in her fingers, in her brain, every time she switches on the computer or glances at the particle reader that her gran has developed. The matches that are shown on tv are something magical. Dynamaxing is interesting. There is so much on a molecular level that they don't know about, not to mention the reason why dynamaxing is happening to some Pokémon in a different way. Gigantamaxing. Sonia drums her fingers on the desktop, deep in thought. It's not like she couldn't do the research on that topic. There are not many Pokémon professors around in Galar, maybe nobody besides her gran. It could be interesting to learn more about the phenomenon. Exciting even. But where would she even start. She doesn't even have a specimen she could study. Yamper can just dynamax regularly. Leon's Charizard on the other hand...
The doorbell distracts Sonia from her ponderings. It takes her a second to come back into the present, realizing that she is at home and that her grandparents are out for the day and that she has to open the door herself. Muscles aching from sitting too long in the same position, she trots over to the door and looks through the peephole.
Leon is standing there and his grin is so big it makes his face comically stretched.
"Sonia", he shouts, "open up! I know you're in there!"
Sonia groans and opens the door, only to be immediately pulled through it and out into the garden. The sun is already high in the sky, Rookidee are chirping in the branches of the nearby trees and Yamper bounds out just after Sonia to chase after a Nickit that has dared to come too close to the garden wall. Leon laughs.
"I got a gift for you, Sonia. Something that will solve all you problems."
He comes to a stop, gives her an impish grin and unclips a Pokéball from his belt.
"Come out, come out!"
There is a flash of light and a low thudding noise as a Pokémon lands on the grass next to the window. It's blue and brown and has a big, sturdy shell covering its body. Sonia gasps.
"You- you brought me a Drednaw?", she sputters confused, staring wide-eyed at the massive blue Pokémon that is slowly decimating her gran's flowerbed.
"It's not just some old Drednaw", he says, with mock offense in his voice, before stretching his arms wide like an entertainer, a huge grin on his face and his eyebrows dancing up and down. „It’s a Drednaw capable of - drumroll if you please -„
„- gigantamaxing?“, she interrupts him, her eyes growing big and round and she immediately drops to her knees next to the Pokémon, pulling a notebook from her pocket to draw a quick sketch.
She is so excited while she scribbles down notes and half-heartedly tries to save her grandma's flowers, talking a mile a minute about possibilities and Pokémon diets and ratios and differences that she doesn't notice the softness that takes over Leon's face while he observes her. This is the girl he knows. Who gets excited about Pokémon and their behavior and the mysteries they still bring.
Eventually she turns around, red spots on her cheeks and a big grin lighting up her face.
"But how did you know, Leon? How can you be so sure?"
Leon grins sheepishly, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"It was all Charizard, if I'm being honest. He sniffed it out."
Leon's grin gets a little wider as he shrugs.
"I took it to Motostoke Stadium to test it out. It really is capable of gigantamaxing."
He steps closer to her, takes a Pokéball off his belt and hands it to her. Sonia stares at it.
"And you are sure you don't want to keep it? I mean, a Dreadnaw that's able to gigantamax surely would be a great addition to your team..."
Leon rubs the back of his neck, looking everywhere but at her.
"No. No, I caught it for you. It's yours now."
There is a warmth spreading through her chest as she holds the Pokéball before calling Dreadnaw back and looking at Leon once more. This might just be the nicest thing anybody has ever done for her.
Still, she cannot resist to tease him a little.
"You realize that I could have just ask Nessa to let me check out her Drednaw in the Hulbury gym for a bit?"
His eyes grow huge and round while his mouth falls open a bit, making him look like a Magikarp on dry land. He clearly hadn't thought about that. Sonia presses her hand to her mouth to stifle the most of her giggles.
ooooo
Sonia is utterly delighted by the Dreadnaw. She spends hours studying it, making detailed notes about its behavior and lets it swim on the lake next to the house. (Sometimes it lets Yamper sit on its shell which is literally the cutest thing ever and she sends Leon about three dozen pictures of them.)
They have started texting and calling again and Sonia marvels at the fact that they seem to neatly slip back into their friendship where it had ended years ago.
That’s why it’s a surprise for Sonia when she runs into Leon in Circhester. He had not told her he would be there?
He's standing in front of a shoe shop, frowning at his phone when Sonia pokes him in the shoulder.
"Lost again?"
He turns around and gives her a shit-eating grin.
"Absolutely not! Just the woman I came to see. I just thought the easiest way to find you was for looking for the local shops and wait for you there."
"Very funny", she deadpans and gives him a friendly shove. Leon gives an exaggerated, high-pitched screech and drops into a snowbank next to him.
Sonia rolls her eyes at him and promptly gets a handful of snow in the face. She shrieks and curses and laughs and grabs for some slush to retaliate. But Leon is already behind her to shove more snow down the back of her jacket. They laugh and they yell and they shriek and run and try to one-up each other, all across Circhester. People give them weird looks but it doesn't matter. They run until their clothes and hair are wet and the cold air is getting to them. Finally, Leon pulls Sonia into a small restaurant and orders hot chocolate with enough cream and sprinkles to give the whole population of Wyndon cavities.
"So, tell me", Sonia says, looking at him over the rim of her mug. "Where were you really trying to go?"
Leon blinks at her and sighs.
"I told Gordy and Melody I would come to their match, but I think I missed that by a couple of hours now."
Sonia almost spits her hot chocolate across the table.
"You are really...", she mumbles, trying hard to keep her laughter under control.
"Yes?"
"Something else."
She smiles at him, watching him get a cream mustache on his face and laughs some more.
When they are out on the street, he stops her, just before they part ways.
"Almost forgot! I got something for you", he says with a twinkle in his eye and a grin, that is a bit devilish. Sonia frowns but holds out a hand, a nagging feeling in the back of her head. He didn't...?
But it is. He holds out a bit mangled looking Ultraball to her and she almost drops it.
"What...?"
"I got it from a Taxiflyer", he explains, "Nice old chap. Unfortunately, he just had a heart attack and is not supposed to work anymore, according to his doctor. He was really happy when I said I knew a good place for his Corviknight."
Sonia releases the Pokémon out of his ball and there it is. A beautiful Corviknight, with dark feathers and piercing red eyes. She lifts her fingers to pet the bird's head, stroking its feathers and smiles as the Pokémon presses itself against her hand.
"He also can gigantamax", Leon adds with a grin, watching Sonia get acquainted with her new friend. Snowflakes are dancing around them and Sonia's happy smile warms Leon more than any cape or blanket could have done.
"Of course you can always come to Wyndon and visit me. You know that, right?"
His smile is as bright as the sun.
"The stadium is yours whenever you want it. You can gigantamax Drednaw and Corviknight there. Nobody will interrupt you, I'll take care of it. Just call me. And if you want to look at Charizard when it's gigantamaxed, no problem, you know that, right?"
ooooo
The Corviknight, it turns out, cannot stop transporting stuff. It is adamant to carry Sonia's shopping bags home and likes sidling up to her whenever she leaves the house until she resigns and lets it carry her to wherever she needs to go. (Un)surprisingly, the Corviknight is terrific with directions and Sonia jokes more than once that Leon should have kept it, because it would have solved all his problems.
And Leon does not stop either. He gets carried away and brings her an Alcremie and a Butterfree capable of gigantamaxing next. And it does help. While Sonia wants to frown and shake her head over it, she can still feel the excitement that comes with the new specimens, the riddle and the clues and the desire to find out . It does not matter that she does not catch the Pokémon herself, her Pokémon catching days are far behind her. But she drags Leon into the small kitchen that belongs to the lab and remembers to offer him tea just so, before she bombards him with questions about the exact location where he found them, the weather and all the factors she can think of. (Of course, he is only semi reliable when it comes to locations and the steely researcher part of her wants to grab his shoulders and shake him, but she knows she should be grateful that he went out of his way to find the two Pokémon for her.)
There is something old and secret welling up inside her, every time she looks at the Pokémon, memories she has spent so much time in Kalos to push down. Thoughts she has banned from her mind, feelings she thought had been locked up in a box deep inside of her a long time ago.
ooooo
Things get heated when he brings her a Kanto Meowth that can grow fantastically long when gigantamaxing.
They are sitting on the couch in Leon's flat in Wyndon, drinking tea and eating flaky pastries Sonia has brought from a bakery. They are laughing and chatting and getting crumbs all over themselves and the sofa (which Yamper licks off them with delighted yips) when Leon gives her a teasing grin and drops a Pokéball in her lap. The Meowth takes a shine to her immediately, rubbing its head on her shoulder but doesn't seem to care for Yamper's enthusiastic greeting. Scratch attacks and Thunderbolts, hisses and yips, screeches and shouts echo through Leon's flat. (It's a nice flat, Sonia has to admit. At least it was, before two Pokémon went on a rampage.)
It takes a frantic chase, upturned furniture and a whole lot of shouting until the Meowth is back in its Pokéball. Sonia looks at the chaos and the apologetic (and slightly panicked) look on Leon's face before she bursts into laughter. Leon laughs with her. It's a loud and free sound and Sonia is sure she has not felt this light in ages.
"Leon."
She tilts her head and bites her lip to keep the grin that is forming at bay.
"Why are you doing this for me?", she asks finally, after furniture is rightened and Leon has scrambled to make her some tea.
He chuckles a little, as if it's obvious. Maybe it is.
"You are my friend and I want to help you." He says it firmly and with so much sincerity in his gaze that Sonia's knees almost buckle under her. The grin slides off her face and she lunges forward and wraps her arms around his middle, hugging him fiercely. All her regrets about Kalos, about her lost work, vanish in an instant, chased away by Leon and honest gaze that burns right into her and sets something inside of her aflame. Something that she thought (maybe hoped) had been extinguished for a long time.
ooooo
It is never completely dark in Leon's apartment. Orangish streetlight shines through the cracks of his bedroom curtains but Leon is not able to sleep anyway. Sonia left two hours ago, on the back of the Corviknight he got her. The image of her above the roof of his apartment building, on the back of the big, blue Pokémon, turning around and waving at him goodnight, smiling, while her red hair sparkled in the shine of the streetlamps meters below - it's seared into the back of his eyelids. He still feels her arms wrapped around him and he wishes, longs for her to be here, right next to him. Just like all those years ago, when they would camp out in the wild together. Her hands had been so close that he could have touched her if he would have mustered up the courage.
Leon sighs and turns to look at the pink Loveball on his nightstand. He had to ask Nessa to get it for him, the media drama that had started up when he went into a shop and bought one himself years ago, still vivid in his mind. He thinks about the Pokémon in the ball, his breath catching. He has never been that good with words but will she understand it, if he gives it to her? He closes his eyes and sighs.
ooooo
They are sitting on a patch of short grass on a hill, overlooking the wild area. Leon has dragged Sonia out, laughing that she needs a break from researching and didn't let any objection count.
They have let their Pokémon out of the Pokéballs and Sonia unpacks sandwiches while Leon gets a fire going. It's peaceful. It's nice. Maybe it's exactly what she needs. Her eyes flit over to where Leon kneels and rustles though his bag, looking for a snack for Butterfree who doesn't seem to like curry at all. A warm feeling floods her insides. It's a lot like that when she looks at him lately. She's scared of what it means.
She's interrupted in her musings when Corviknight and Charizard are flying low over their heads, obviously locked in a race, and Yamper zaps Meowth again who retaliates with some Furyswipes until Sonia calls the small dog Pokémon to her side. She lies down, watching the clouds going past. Even though she knows it's the same sky, the sight still feels different than in Kalos.
"Do you know why I decided to go to Kalos in the first place?", she says, suddenly. It's out of her mouth, before she can stop herself. She doesn't notice how Leon's posture turns rigid and how he stops what he's doing. Sonia stares intently into the sky, the fingers of her right hand fiddling nervously with the grass, digging into the cool earth beneath. She doesn't have a choice now, does she? She has to see this through until the end.
"I thought, if I go just far enough, if I carry my dream somewhere else, it would be easier to forget you."
Leon's heart stops.
"Forget me?", he whispers, his body growing hot. There is something sitting on his chest, making a grab for his throat. It's hard to breath all of a sudden.
"But- but we have been best friends for- forever! Why would you want to forget me?" He rushes over to her, falls to his knees next to her. Alarmed Sonia sits up, staring at him before averting her eyes. Leon grabs her arms, holds them tight, not tight enough to hurt her, never, but afraid that she would disappear right in front of his eyes, if he ever let go. His stomach feels like it's filled with lead.
"Please, Sonia, what did I do? I'm sorry. If I hurt you- I'm- I'm sorry!"
She looks at him at that, surprised at the panic in his voice. She's never seen him panic before. He's always the one in control of himself. She's the one that's the mess. The one that took his friendship and twisted it into something in her mind that could never be. The one who could not deal with her feelings and took the coward's way out, to save what precious little was left of their friendship back then. The one whose fault it all was. Who was stupid, so stupid to ever think that she could just run away from him and seek solace somewhere else, live her dream somewhere else, when all she ever wanted was to be here, right next to him, no matter what.
Sonia slowly reaches up and brushes a strand of hair out of his face. Her fingers ghost over his cheek and not for the first time she thinks how beautiful he is. How much she cares about him. How could she ever have wanted to forget him?
Sonia takes a deep breath, her hand falling back to her side. There is no backing out now.
"I thought- back then, I thought it- it would be easier if I left. We didn't see each other any more when you were champion, you had so many responsibilities, we just drifted apart and I don't blame you for anything, really, don't worry. It's just that I- all those years ago, I- I was so in love with you back then."
Silence. Leon tracks her every movement, looking at her intently. She turns her head away again, cannot look at him. She has ruined it all now.
"You were in love with me?", Leon whispers, a tone in his voice she does not recognise.
It does not matter now anyway. Sonia pulls herself out of his deathgrip, clenches her fists. Unclenches them. She feels the heat in her cheeks. Loses the feeling in her toes, where they are curling in her boots. Her knuckles are white. She takes a deep breath. And the plunge.
"Maybe I still am."
A strangled noise escapes Leon. He leaps up and runs to the corner of their little campsite where he frantically starts tearing through his backpack, containers and potions and (clean) underwear flying left and right. Sonia stares at him, doesn't understand. Not even when he crawls over to her and drops a pink Pokéball in her lap.
"You are my best friend", he says and Sonia's stomach drops all the way to her knees, "and...and if I had been braver back then, I would have kissed you. Every- everytime you were lying next to me in the tent. And before every match, for luck. And after every match, just for good messure. And...and every single day for the rest of our lives."
He presses the release button on the Loveball and in a flash of light a small Pokémon tumbles into Sonia's lap. It's not bigger than the ball itself and just as round. But red. A red apple with a pair of big eyes staring at Sonia, making a small mewing sound. An Applin.
Sonia coos at the Pokémon, stroking the small tail that peeks out of the base of the apple, before setting it down for Alcremie and Butterfree to sniff it.
It's then that she finally gathered the curage to look Leon in the eyes. These beautiful amber eyes, she has loved for so many years.
"What's stopping you?", she asks. "What's stopping you from starting right now?"
Nothing is stopping him.
oooooo
Months later, Sonia will have published her first book. It'll an amazing collection of research about the Gigantamax Phenomenon and sold out within days. There will a small dedication that reads "To all my Pokémon and my beloved who brought us together."