As Vic had come to learn over the years, the first few weeks after moving to a new place were as exciting as they were difficult. The fact that it was all new, different, and unusual to him, made him want to go out and see everything there was to see in Slateport City. But, that also came with a lot of trying to figure out where some places were and a lot more of not knowing how certain things worked, and that did indeed make things really really difficult. Some tools were useful for this, sure. Like a Rotom phone! But... it wasn’t as if his Rotom phone was somehow going to tell him where to find the five best coffeeshops in his neighbourhood.
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These were the kind of dreadful thoughts that plagued the young man as he went for a jog. Well, he was mostly distracted by the vibrant colours of all the trees around him and by the music blasting from his earbuds, but he was definitely also thinking about how nice it would be to have some iced coffee or something once he was done running – specially after spotting someone drinking what looked a lot like milk tea.
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Oh!
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Slowing down the pace and eventually coming to a stop, Vic decided to pull the kind of move only someone totally unaware or shamelessly extroverted would pull (jury’s still out on which one he is, honestly). He approached the guy sitting on the bench, and with a smile, he asked one simple question: ”Hey! Mind if I ask where you bought that?”
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He was new in town, so what better way to find out about that sort of thing than asking around, right? Although, now that he gave the guy a closer look… Didn’t he look kind of familiar? He seemed to be injured. What if he wasn’t the kind of person who would appreciate someone randomly approaching him with silly questions?

+ ooc notes

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To be completely honest, Vic didn’t even hear what the increasingly-familiar-stranger had said about the cup in his hands. The answer to the question he himself had asked fell as if background noise – static sound in the ears of the tall, pink-haired young man. The more the stranger on the bench talked, the more he looked at him, the more that unsettling feeling grew within. Like a deja vu. Like there was something there he was supposed to know, but didn’t.
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A pause.
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And, in a manner that was all too rare for him, Vic furrowed his brow, his smile gradually fading as he desperately tried to figure all this out. When? Where?Who? He had been to so many places in the past nine years, he had met so may people. There had to be an answer, it was like on the tip of his tongue...
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This person said he knew him too.
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”...No, don’t worry, I get it, I–” Another pause. This time because the answer came to him as if someone had suddenly flipped a switch and lit up a lightbulb in his mind. Except that instead of a lightbulb it was the image of Alexei Ivanov, as he had known him when they were no more than teenagers.
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“Wait… Alexei!?”
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He could have been dead wrong, but Vic Wexler had never been the kind of person who worried about embarrassing himself by not being cautious with his words. He had to be right. A decade may have passed, they both looked different from back then, but still, it had to be him, right!?
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+ ooc notes

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‘How’d you get here, all the way in Hoenn?!’
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Man, now wasn’t the time for that sort of question! The real question here was how Alex got here! The last Vic had heard of him, everyone in Miltraton was going on about how he had disappeared and about Flynn and Thea eloping because she was pregnant. It was a mess, and he was definitely the last person Vic would have ever expected to run into in this place.
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Yet, ever-so-passingly and faintly, he laughed, because he couldn’t help but laugh. There was this sudden, strange, and almost overwhelming feeling of joy that came when seeing Alex again, especially with how worried about him he had been back then. He was alright. He was in Hoenn.
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”Me? Oh… I just moved here. What are you doing here though? It’s been forever!” Beaming, he had on the bench despite not being invited to do so, because clearly now that he had ran into an old friend, he wasn’t just going to go on with his jog. They had catching up to do! There was so much he wanted to say!
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And, in case you’re wondering: yes, the pink hair was natural, his whole family had pink hair too.
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+ tag Alexei Ivanov

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As Alexei explained how he had ended up in Hoenn, Vic nodded along in acknowledgement, beginning to put together the pieces of this story. ”Yeah, I bet that wasn’t easy! Weren’t you like… sixteen back then?” They were no more than kids when he had left, Vic finding himself thinking about this fact when the question came.
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Who had been pissed? His parents? Had he really not talked to them since back then?
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It was a hard thing to imagine for the family-oriented young man. After all, he himself talked to his parents almost everyday – were it via text or in long video calls with his mum over the weekends. He always annoyed his sister with his constant need to check up on her, and he talked to his little brother even more than what he talked to his parents. He adored his family, and while he adored travelling and thought being at Hoenn was the right move to make, he truly missed them.
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Did Alex also miss his family? Is that why he was asking about them this long after he had left them?
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”Ah… Honestly, I didn’t see your parents back then, my parents must have talked to them though. Everyone in town was going on about it, since your sister and Flynn left, and then you just disappeared without a word, you know? It was all they would talk about! Especially after Adelaide left too… I was worried about you, I’m glad to see you’re doing alright.” Vic looked at him, his words as honest as the small smile in his lips.
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It was true. He had been worried, and in a way, he still was. Alex didn’t look completely alright. Had he been in an accident? How had he hurt himself like that? Vic wanted to ask, but there were also so many other questions he wanted to ask. Definitely not a good situation for his easily-distracted mind.
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“What do you do here? Do you also live in Slateport?!”
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+ tag Alexei Ivanov

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’Did people really say things like those?’ Vic almost asked, but in a way he supposed it was true; his time away from Mistralton had taught him a lot of things that he was sure he would have never learned if he had stayed in his family home. A lot of things that came with being on his own and not being able to rely on his parents as he did when he was a teenager. But, that still was a completely different situation, was it not?
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He was about to say something else about the Ivanovs and how it was nice to hear that he and his sisters were still in touch, but then Alex brought out his phone and showed him a picture of Adelaide sporting pink hair only a few shades away from Vic’s own, and it inevitably made him chuckle. “Ha! With hair like that she almost looks more like my sister than yours!”
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Then, another even more surprising fact came in the form of a calling card, Vic taking it and staring at it, amazed. See, he himself had done some time rescuing and helping injured pokémon, it was the whole point of the year he has spent in Alola, and truth be told, it was also a big part of what made him decide to try to become a Ranger. ”Oh, Arceus… The Fortree Rescue and Treatment Sanctuary? I’ve heard of this place. Do you really own it?! Alex, that’s amazing!” He grinned, looking at him, his hands spontaneously placed on the other man’s upper arms and giving a gentle squeeze in place of a hug (which he would have given him, had Alexei not looked almost like he had just crawled out of the hospital).
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Vic was happy for him, and he was excited, because this was all just amazing news!
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”Wait… Isn’t that place also the Fortree gym?”
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Yeah, he had heard of that too.
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+ tag Alexei Ivanov

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“Contests are really fun! I get that though, my little sister is the same way.” Well, she wasn’t exactly little, she was almost twenty-two now, yet to Vic she would always be his baby sister.
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But, then Alex seemed surprised that he had heard about the Fortree Sanctuary, he let out a little laugh. Shouldn’t the place’s owner know about this kind of stuff? ”Sure is! Well… It kind of first came up ‘cause I was doing some rescue work for the Aether Foundation back in Alola and I mentioned I might be coming to Hoenn, but from what I’ve heard it looks like you all have been doing great stuff. Good job, man!” With these words, he gave him a hearty pat on the back, only to then slightly tilt his head at Alex’s next reply.
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“Huh… So, wait… If the sanctuary is also the Fortree Gym, wouldn’t that... like… make you the gym leader or something?” Top tier deduction skills here! In Vic’s defense, he was confused and surprised, but if that did indeed happen to be true and Alex was also in charge of Fortree Gym, that was just amazing, wasn’t it!?
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Had he been someone else, he would probably felt ever-so-slightly disheartened – or really disheartened – by mentally comparing their achievements. Instead, he was just happy for his friend (because of course he was right back to calling him a friend even if it was the first time they saw each other in almost a decade).

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+ Alexei Ivanov

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”Uhmm… Almost two years? I just wanted something to do once I was out of uni, and it was a nice opportunity,” he smiled. And, in a way, it was true, but it was also an extremely simplified version of how things had gone down two years ago.
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Leave it to Vic to not think about giving more details! Like, for example, the fact that he had gone to university in Galar and not Unova, and that a big part of the reason why he had gone to Alola was because he thought trying the island challenge would be fun – since back then he still hadn’t completely gotten over his aspirations as a trainer.
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Already distracted from thinking about his own life, he grinned when hearing about his friend’s journey to become a gym leader. “Wow, Alex! I bet you must have really worked hard. What’s it like to be a gym leader?” His tone was a mixture of enthusiasm and awe; amazed, but lacking any notes of jealousy despite the fact that Vic himself had always thought being a gym leader would be incredible. He had met many of them in his travels, after all, and he respected each and every one of them. Alex was no exception.
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”I’m pretty sure whatever I say now won’t sound nearly as cool, ha. I mostly just focused on challenging gyms and all that for a long time… I got pretty far, but there’s always someone better, right?” He shrugged, laughing. It was no secret that Vic’s father had once been Unova’s champion – he was kind of well-known as a trainer in the region, in fact. But, no matter how much he had once wished to be just like his dad and how hard he had worked towards it, Vic was right: there was always someone better. The people at Victory Road had been better. Those in the Champion Cup had been better.
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Admittedly, it still hurt a little.
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Then again, that’s why he was in Hoenn, right? To start over and hopefully build a life he really liked.


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+ Alexei Ivanov

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