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The loud blaring of an alarm caused all trainers residing in the Meropide gym to stop in their tracks. They dropped whatever they were doing to rush over to the Pankration Ring. The heavy thud of boots against the metal floor and the excited, hushed whispers between the men and women quickly grew in volume the longer the alarm rang.
A battle was in session.
While pokemon battles weren’t exactly rare to come across, especially in a gym of all places, the person who was participating in said battle certainly came as a surprise to many working in the establishment.
It wasn’t everyday some young chump had the balls to go against their ‘Duke’ afterall.
“Now Houndoom! Use Dark pulse!”
From thin air, a mass of pure dark energy appeared in the maw of the canine pokemon, swirls of indigo suddenly appearing from nothing and adding on to the growing ball as the air around the vicinity grew denser.
With a flick of its head, Houndoom threw the orb towards her opponent, a Sandslash
“Sandslash dodge it!”
The pholidota pokemon called in response and sidestepped quickly to the side, only missing the attack by a hair as it watched it collide with the ground of where it once stood. A screen of smoke erupted from the impact with flickers of black lighting and shards of rubble jumping into the air, some hitting the hard brown spikes of Sandslash.
This threw it off guard, losing its footing and gracing Wriothesley with the perfect opportunity to strike.
“Houndoom use Quick Attack!”
A loud howl came from his partner as she used her hind legs to propel herself forwards once, twice, till she became nothing but a black blur in the eyes of onlookers zooming towards her target.
The opposing trainer, a skittish man barely even twenty, didn’t have enough time to react before watching as his Sandslash was suddenly being bitten by Houndoom, sharp canines sinking deep into its pale yellow flesh and pushing the pokemon down onto the ground with an impressive display of force.
Sandslash cried out in pain as it tried to fling its arm in an attempt to get Houndoom to let go.
But once Houndoom bites down on her prey, she never lets go.
“A-Alright! Alright! I forfeit! Please let my pokemon go!”
The brown haired male got onto his knees and held up his hands in surrender, his body trembling before the watchful eyes of the gym leader.
“....Houndoom let go.”
The dark-type pokemon obeyed and released her bite, making her way back to her trainer, not leaving her gaze from the injured Sandslash
A trickle of blood flowed down from the wound of where she attacked, small drops falling onto the white floor of the battle ground staining it a pretty red.
At this point almost everyone who was present in the gym had crowded around the ring.
For a split second everything was quiet, then a roar erupted amongst the audience. Claps and cheers for their leader echoed throughout the small room.
But Wriothesley was not happy he won.
He was furious.
His hands were clenched into tight fists, his knuckles turning white. His expression, usually easygoing and friendly, darkened into something more sinister, his thick eyebrows being pulled into a frown and bright blue eyes filled with malice.
The sounds slowly died down upon noticing his displeased demeanour, and the room was back to its quiet state from before. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a Farfetch’d sword…
Ice cold eyes stared down at the man still kneeling for mercy.
“Tell me.”
A beat of silence.
“Are you going to repeat the same mistake again?”
“N-No! No sir! Please I won’t do it again I swear! Please I beg for forgiveness Your Grace-”
Houndoom let out a high pitched bark, causing the man to flinch with fear.
Wriothesley looked him up and down and sighed deeply, his shoulders sagging slightly and his eyes falling close.
“Leave.”
It seemed that it wasn’t only his opponent that took this command seriously.
Everyone that was once standing by the sidelines quickly filed out of the room and back to their own stations, leaving Wriothesley standing under the spotlights of the Ring by himself.
The moment his body registered that he was finally alone, his knees gave out and he collapsed, much to the shock and concern of his partner. Houndoom let out a worried bark and whine as she nuzzled herself against his arm. His entire body buzzed, feeling as though a thousand ants were crawling under his skin.
“Haha…I’m alright sweetness… Just a bit tired.”
Wriothesley brought up a shaky hand to run through the fur of his pokemon. His heartbeat was still thumping wildly in his ears – Muting even the sound of his own voice. Adrenaline coursed through his veins as if it were his lifeline. His limbs shook, trembled, as he tried to will them to stop. His breathing was erratic, trying to control it he breathed in then out and then in then out then stop in then in out stop stop stop stop stop stop-
His lungs burned. He knew what was happening. He was hyperventilating.
Well this is fun. He almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Oh if only he could.
Wriothesley took a big gasp of air and shut his eyes close, slowly bringing his hands up to cover his ears.
Houndoom, not knowing what to do, paced around, trying to search for help. But she knew that she couldn’t find anyone around to help him, her master didn’t like the idea of people seeing him like this and she knows…
Distressed whines continued to leave the pokemon as she debated on what to do. She padded back to her master and laid her head on his lap, a soft rumble starting to surface from deep within her chest.
It seemed to calm Wriothesley slightly. She could see his brows slowly relaxing and his hands dropped limply to his side.
Helping him to lie down on his back, Houndoom moved to lay her head onto his chest this time, feeling the heartbeat of her trainer slowing down…and down…and down…
The dark haired male slowly brought up his hand to pet the pokemon’s head, calloused fingers running through coarse black fur.
This caused Houndoom to purr even more.
The two of them remained like that for the next couple of minutes. Pokemon and man laying in mutual silence.
Wriothesley took a deep breath and exhaled.
It’s fine. It’s fine. He’s fine.
After what seemed to be like hours, when it reality it was mere minutes, he hesitantly opened his eyes and was immediately blinded by the spotlights above him.
“Fuck…”
Wriothesley sat up straight and ran his hand through his hair.
Houndoom gave a worried bark.
“I’m…I’m alright buddy. Thanks.”
He gave the pokemon a tired smile, he didn't like worrying her like this at all... That was when an idea popped into his head.
“How about we visit Milotic right now? I’m sure you could use her company.”
His partner wordlessly helped him up to his feet, albeit he was still shaky.
The two then moved out of the gym and towards the Palais Mermonia, one step at a time to ensure Wriothesley’s safety.
Sadly, it was already dark out and Wriothesley had a bad feeling that the bakery was probably closed for the day.
However, much to his surprise when he finally saw the bakery in the distance, a warm yellow glow spilled out from the building’s windows, coating the stone tiles outside in a bright hue.
The soft jingle of a bell notified the baker of their entrance.
“Wel-”
The once sweet smile that spread out on Neuvillette’s face upon noticing his favourite customer was present was quickly wiped away upon noticing the tired expression of the Gym Leader.
The baker quickly shuffled towards Wriothesley much to the shock of the other and looked up at him with a frown.
Before Wriothesley could say anything, Neuvillette took his hands into his with a gentleness Wriothesley had never experienced in the past. They were warm, soft, comforting.
“Come, sit. You must be exhausted.”
The white haired male guided him towards one of the tables still left out and told him to sit down, which he did without any complaints.
His knees were still shaky and honestly he could do without standing for the next few hours or so.
Neuvillette then went into the back of the bakery, disappearing for a split second before reappearing with a tea set in his hands.
Oh.
A fond smile broke out onto Wriothesley’s face.
“Ah shucks you spoil me Monsieur.”
“Nonsense.”
Neuvillette placed the set onto the oak table and placed a white porcelain teacup before Wriothesley.
It had a simple design, nothing too fancy.
A golden rim near the mouth of the cup was all it had.
“I recently obtained a new blend. I hope you’re willing to share it with me.”
Wriothesley chuckled.
“I would never turn down a good cuppa joe.”
Neuvillette only gave an amused huff in response as he began to prepare the tea.
Scooping out some tea leaves into the teapot, he then added in hot water and closed the lid, allowing the flavour to be infused through the water. Then he moved to take a seat opposite Wriothesley.
The two of them sat in silence for a moment before Neuvillette had to speak up again. He turned towards Houndoom and motioned towards the open backdoor of the bakery that led to an outside pen.
“Miltoic is outside taking a break, Would you like to join her?”
Houndoom looked between Wriothesley and Neuvillette, hesitant to take leave from her trainer.
“I’ll be fine Houndoom, go have fun yeah?”
Wriothesley gave a hard pet to her head, ruffling her fur.
With a soft grunt she got up and began walking towards the door, looking back to give one more concerned look towards him.
He waved her off.
Puffing air through her nose, Houndoom ran out of the bakery.
The two men sat there for another minute or so in silence, before the gym leader spoke.
“...Are you going to ask anything?”
Wriothesley’s voice came out as nothing more than a hushed whisper, his voice hoarse.
“No… No.” Neuvillette shook his head. “ However, I would like it if you could share some of your troubles with me. You seem to have a lot on your mind.”
The dark haired male laughed at that comment, wheezing as he tried to catch his breath.
“Sure, yeah no- I do- I do have a lot going on right in here.” He knocked on his head and folded his hands on the table, leaning against them. “It’s just…”
He frowned slightly and gave a deep sigh, not knowing how to continue.
“...Sorry.”
A pathetic mumble.
“Don’t be sorry, you haven’t done anything worth apologising for.” Neuvillette moved to pour him a cup of tea. It had been five minutes.
The fragrant aroma of fresh wolfhook berries filled the air, instantly acting as a sort of balm on Wriothesley’s aching heart.
He gripped the handle of his cup lightly and blew gently on the surface of the liquid before taking a small sip.
It was bitter. So very bitter.
His face scrunched up at the taste much to Neuvillette’s amusement. The latter gestured over to the small container of sugarcubes.
Wriothesley muttered out a quiet ‘thanks’ and dropped 2 cubes into his drink, watching them dissolve into the amber liquid.
This time he made no attempt to drink it.
Neuvillette on the other hand took a sip out of his own cup after pouring in some cream and adding 1 cube of sugar.
“....A trainer… tried smuggling pokemon eggs into the gym today.”
The baker hummed.
Wriothesley glanced up at him for a split second before looking back down at his lap.
“Twenty-four. They tried selling twenty-four pokemon eggs to people there.” He sighed deeply and ran his fingers through his messed up hair. “I can’t believe I managed to let this slide for this long.”
“It’s not your fault Monsieur-”
“But it is, I am the one who takes charge of the damn place… if only I had paid more attention…”
Neuvillette looked at him with a pensive expression as he took another slow sip out of his cup.
“However in the end you managed to catch them did you not?”
“Yeah sure, I did.” The gym leader clasped his hands together and pulled his brows into a frustrated frown. “I caught him in the act as he was trading a twenty-fourth one. Then he challenged me to a battle which he lost, obviously.” He said the last word with a hint of pride, making Neuvillette laugh softly.
Wriothesley gave his own smug smirk back.
“Well at least that went well for you didn’t it?”
“Suppose so.” The dark haired male shrugged.
The two of them sat through a moment of comfortable silence, only the sounds of sipping tea filling the air between them.
Yep. This time it tasted much better, Wriothesely mused. His heart felt a lot lighter after being able to tell someone about that.
“So what’re you going to do with the pokemon eggs?”
Wriothesley gave a deep groan and pulled his hands down his face, suddenly remembering and dreading the idea that he still had to figure out what to do with them.
“To be honest I have no clue. I have already confiscated them and they’re sitting….somewhere in my office.” He began to draw circles on the table in his budding annoyance at the situation. “I could give them to a pokemon daycare nearby but who in their right mind would accept an egg from arceus know where? Let alone twenty four of them?”
Neuvillette thought for a moment before a faint red hue began to spread over his cherubic cheeks.
“How about… leaving me with them?”
Wriothesley’s eyebrows shot up high upon hearing those words.
“You can take care of pokemon?” The baker nodded his head, seeming a bit embarrassed at that fact. Wriothesley would have none of that. “Hey, that's a good thing. Can I ask where you learned that?”
“A close ...associate of mine runs a pokemon daycare and she taught me the basics of raising eggs before.”
This only intrigued Wriothesley even more. Neuvillette, as far as he knew, did not have many people that he would refer to as ‘close’. Apart from him of course, that fact made him slightly smug whenever he remembered that he had achieved such a reputation with the humble baker.
“Okay… But…” Wriothesley hummed, his eyes closing and his expression turning into something more troubled. “I don’t feel comfortable leaving this burden onto you to take care of by yourself.”
Neuvillette let out a sweet giggle that sounded like a Soothe bell in Wriothesley’s ears.
“Please, this is no burden.” His hands wrapped around the body of the teacup, cradling it in his palms. “I simply want to help.”
And oh the look Neuvillette gave Wriothesley as he said that. The pokemon trainer could get lost in those sea of pinks and purples for hours, reminiscing of the mystical wisteria forest he often visited with Houndoom. They were beautiful…
“...I-If you’re sure about that…” He barely managed to get those words out of him, the inside of his mouth was dry and his face burned hot the longer he stared at the other. “But I would like it if I could come by to help out o-once in awhile y’know?”
“Of course, you are welcomed here anytime Wriothesley.” The baker gave him a comforting smile as he went to take another sip out of his cup.
The two of them then continued chatting about other topics, such as how the bakery was doing that day, or anything interesting that happened in the town since they last got the time to talk, slowly ebbing away the heightened tension when Wriothesley first entered the bakery. Before they knew it, it was already midnight.
Dried up tea leaves clung to the bottom of their cups. The taste of wolfhook berries still heavy on Wriothesley’s tongue.
“Mm..that was good.” The gym leader mused, licking his lips clean.
“I’m happy you think that.” The baker said with sincerity in his voice.
After another quick chat and a few laughs, Neuvillette got up to clear the table, with Wriothesley offering to help him.
As the two of them stood side by side, washing up the used cutlery, the dark haired male couldn’t help but steal a few glances at the ethereal man beside him.
Of course this didn’t go unnoticed by Neuvillette but he didn’t comment on it.
The few moments their hands brushed against each other as they handed each other the washed plates and cups made Wriothesley’s heart thump wildly in his chest. If he had a tail, he was sure that it would be wagging furiously right now.
“Are you feeling better right now?”
The question came right as he placed the last item on the drying rack.
“Yep. I do.” Wriothesley flashed him a cheeky smile that did not fail to set Neuvillette’s heart racing. “Thanks alot Monsieur.”
“I think we are far past the need for formalities no?” The white haired male asked with a tilt of his head. “Besides you were the one who had insisted I call you by just your name… you should- you should do the same.” He said with a slight pout as he began to blush yet again.
Cute….
And for the umpteenth time that day, Wriothesley was taken aback by the baker's action. He didn’t stop the wide smile that bloomed onto his face.
“O-Oh! Then I will…I will do that!!” That caused the baker to let out a sigh of relief.
“Good…Hmm when should I come by to collect the eggs?”
Wriothesley placed a hand on his chin as he thought.
“I could come by the day after tomorrow with them? I will be free in the afternoon.”
“Perfect. I’ll take note of that.” Neuvillette then began to mutter under his breath, from what Wriothelsey could make out it was probably about the items he would need to incubate and care for the eggs.
“You…” His mouth moved faster than his brain could think. “You really do give off those motherly vibes huh…”
That caused Neuvillette to shut up immediately and stared at him with his face a bright red.
“M-My apologies-”
“Nah don’t be.” The corners of his mouth upturned into a smirk. “It’s cute.”
That did not help the blush on Neuvillette’s face that only deepened at the compliment.
“That’s…”
Wriothesley snickered at the expression Neuvillette sported, his eyes wide and his mouth half open in shock. His blue eyes drifted over to the clock on the wall and gave a deep sigh.
“Well I should probably get going now, it’s late and you probably need to get up early tomorrow no?”
Neuvillette followed his gaze and nodded his head, his eyes drooping slightly with disappointment.
“I do…”
Wriothesley whistled and within seconds Houndoom came running back into the bakery, Miltoic slithering close behind her.
The canine pokemon did not hesitate to jump onto her master and smother him in licks, whines and grunts vocalising her still great concern towards him.
“I’m fine, Houndoom, feeling much better buddy…”
Houndoom looked between Neuvillette and Wriothesley before nodding her head and releasing herself from crushing him.
“Remember, you can always come by if you need someone to talk to.”
Wriothesley nodded his head and gave him a subtle smile.
“I’ll keep that in mind, Neuvillette.”
The two then said their goodbyes, one watching the other leave to head back to his gym before heading back inside his bakery with slight reluctance.
Unbeknownst to them however… it seems they weren’t as alone as they had thought they were.
A soft hoot cut through the silence of the night, followed by the fluttering of wings.