“Yeah, she took a few shots at me during the Dunk Tank. I hear she doesn’t like kids all that much.” Hideo laid back - the Salazzle wrapped behind him serving as a cushion. “And I doubt Kyle’d just let me win like that. If you don’t get a good fight out of it, was it really a good Championship match?”

Though whether or not he intended to still go through with challenging them was a whole other matter entirely.

A discussion that could wait for after they ate. “Yeah, a plate’s good. Should be enough for the three of us.” The “three of us” meaning himself, his Salazzle, and the salivating, tiny pink Ribombee atop his head eagerly awaiting his meal.

“I already know Matias wants to battle me. I got to talk to him about it. And I’m sure Melody’s gonna want to battle me too.” Those two were a major reason why he was still considering going for it, despite how he’d been feeling for some time now. Maybe not for the Championship title, but maybe just to do it.

“You take your shot at them yet? I hear the new guy Callan Young is pretty good. He’s even a Gym Leader at the same time - didn’t know you could do that.”

John Sullivan

SECOND

with Hideo Kino exploring caves with weird dots.

Doug snorted at that.

"Pretty sure the only things she likes is mirrors." He huffed, failing to offer any proof beyond his own saltiness. Doug's opinion oin Katherine Fairburne periodically leapt from bad to good.

Her stealing from Zac Ramsay was still fresh in his mind, but the fact that she was such a reliably strong ally and was always up for busting rockets permanently tended to swing her back up to good more often than not. He still stood by what he said, though.

"Even if she loved kids, she's a goddamn terror on the battlefield, man." He said with grin, plating Hideo the meat as he spoke. "Ya best bring yer A-game and really study her matches 'fore you go at her. She's the most dangerous in the Elite 4 bar none."

"Huh?" Doug uttered as he platted some meat for Junior, the Machop whining as the youth stopped to look at Hideo. "Huh... Not really. Didn't really seem... appropriate I guess at the time?"

Things accelerated and gotten from from bad to worse since he had first obtained his 8th badge. After Sootopolis was conquered and the entire region suddenly found itself on high alert, Doug couldn't bring himself to really care stuff like the Champion title or challenging the elite 4.

And now a meteor was coming, so...

"I dunno, doesn't seem like there's much to gain from it." Doug muttered with a frown as he handed the plate over to Junior, glancing down. "... Anyway, Callan Young. He can't stop being a gym leader."

Doug snickered.

"We can't have a proper gym badge challenge without 8 gym leaders in place, so he's gotta stay there until a suitable replacement is found." Doug explained simply, leaning back. "But yeah, the guy's pretty good. Probably the most tactically savvy of the current elite 4. Dunno if how he measures up to the champ though. That guy's scary when he's actually tryin'."

“Can’t say I’ve really seen an Elite Four in action like that.” Joking aside, he really hadn’t seen any of them battling for real. “But I doubt anyone would get in the Elite Four being a pushover. I won’t hold back against any of them, though I guess I’ll have to try my hardest against her.”

Apart from that, he didn’t know much about her. He’d never even talked to her before, only aware she’d been present when he and many others managed to summon the Lake Trio. “Probably would be good to study her first. Though who knows what kinds of curveballs she could throw.”

Hideo took his plate, tearing off a small piece of meat and handing it to the Ribombee atop him, who eagerly took the offering. His Salazzle took her own piece, lightly toasting it further with a small spurt of fire from her mouth.

Had Doug shown his disinterest in battle the Elite Four half a year ago, Hideo might’ve protested against it, talking up how they’re a major achievement to even get the chance to fight them. But now? He could only nod in acceptance. “Fair ‘nuff,” he responded, taking a bite out of his piece.

“Guess it makes sense they’d need to make sure we got at least 8 gyms, though those usually got snapped up pretty quickly. I think we’ve been down a couple for a while now. Guess everyone’s got other stuff to do now.”

A light tap on the head was a sign to tear off another piece of meat and hand it to his Ribombee, the small bug greedily consuming more.

“Honestly wonder if they’d let me open one up at this point. Having those spots open for so long must not look all that good.”

John Sullivan

SECOND

with Hideo Kino exploring caves with weird dots.

Doug plated his own meat next while nodding along to Hideo's words, humming his agreement.

"Yup yup, they're all tough! Even Melody Miro, hard as that might be to believe." Doug cracked at his pink haired friend's expense. "Study 'em all as much as ya can and then show 'em who's boss!"

Doug grinned as he stood up and reached over the fire to ruffle Hideo's hair.

"Not to rush ya, but if you beat'em 'fore your 13th birthday— pretty sure you'll be the youngest champion in History." Doug said. "Yer name will definitely echo across the world with that feat under yer belt!"

Even his parents wouldn't be able to say anything if he became, objectively and quantifiably, one of the most powerful trainers in the world.

When the topic of gyms was breached Doug paused mid bite of his meat and glanced up at the cave's ceiling, ignoring the supernatural ghost type pokemon moving through the shadows as he considered Hideo's words.

"Want me to put in some word for ya?" Doug offered casually after a moment, turning his gaze over to Hideo. "The Minor League's called that for a reason, ya know? Its' a pretty good ladder to the Major league. And I already know ya can do it; I've seen yer special 'challenge'."

“Well of course I know Melody’s tough! And she knows I’m tough too, since she watched me battle against Diancie.“ He’d just leave out the part about it being a lowkey scouting-attempt for AQUA; he was fairly sure Doug would get super-protective if he got involved in working for League in some way.

His Ribombee had to avoid Doug’s hand, to avoid getting caught in the hair-ruffling crossfire. Yet the ruffle also made for a very comfy cover, the small bug wrapping some of the boy’s hair around himself like a blanket.

“Probably a bit late to get it done before I’m 13. But I’ve still managed to get this far on my own, so it’s good enough.” A part of him couldn’t shake the disappointment that he’d breached his year-long soft time limit, and that his motivation for it had dipped. But he only went home when he wanted to - he could keep this up as he liked.

There was plenty else to do besides the gym circuit.

Yet the gym circuit couldn’t completely leave his mind.

“To be honest…that’s what I was making it for. I actually am considering the Minor League. Maybe even opening up a gym. I know I’d be the youngest gym leader, but I hear other regions have some gym leaders just a couple years older than me.” So it wasn’t completely out of the question.

“I just don’t really know the first thing about running a gym. Or what kind of stuff I’d have to do other than testing people.” He knew well enough that a lot more went into a gym than designing and running challenges.

“Plus…you know. I can’t really stay discrete if I’m also a gym leader.” There was no way his parents wouldn’t find him if he opened one.

John Sullivan

SECOND

with Hideo Kino exploring caves with weird dots.

"Did she now? Neat." Doug would need to have a word with the musician, it seemed.

Why she deemed it necessary to bring his young friends on board on AQUA related tasks was beyond him, no matter how talented they were. He didn't want them anywhere near that shitshow.

"Hey, I dunno of any 13 year old champions either, so still not too shabby an accomplishment, eh?" Doug had made headlines by becoming a gym leader at 16; who knew how far a 13 year old champion's name would go.

Once Hideo began exploring his other doubts however, Doug could only nod along, understanding what he meant. Running a Gym was certainly a lot more than simply fighting or teaching. A lot of logistics and bookkeeping was involved— much more than most kids would be able to handle, and certainly more than a blind person would be expected to.

"Honestly, most of the really hard stuff, ya wouldn't have to do anyway. That's what Gym Staff's fore." He said with a smile. "The league keeps 'em all 'round the HQs; whenever a gym closes down, the staff is moved around to the new one; no reason to lose trained, experience personnel, ya know? So don't worry 'bout that; ya won't be alone."

He paused next however, lips pursed.

"Ya do bring up an unfortunate point, though." He said, cupping his chin thoughtfully. "Yer guardians would need to agree before the league could sign you up as a Proper Gym leader."

Hideo was too young to sign any legally binding contracts, after all.

“Guess so.” He lazily took a bite from his meal, mulling over it. Sure, becoming Champion at 13 was still impressive, and it was why he left home in the first place. Even this late would still be a big accomplishment.

But would he even make for a good Champion, after so many failures before ending in the deaths of his Pokemon? Of his helplessness when others would need him most?

He could barely even get a handle on his current problems, like learning why Uxie had marked him.

At least there was some relief that he wouldn’t have to do the gym stuff on his own. “Good to hear the League has people for that. Just hope I wouldn’t have too much paperwork to deal with. I’d have to get my Pokemon to read it for me, and I don’t wanna deal with as much as it sounded like you had.”

Yet that relief didn’t last after what Doug told him next.

Hideo sighed. “Shit,” he muttered. “They sure aren’t gonna do that for me. They’ll probably slap a chain on me the moment I try to ask.” Would they really? Who knew. “And if they didn’t, I doubt they’d sign it for me. Couldn’t even get them to let me start the gym circuit in the first place.”

Coming back to them with anything less than the Champion title was not going to end well.

“Is it needed for Minor League too? A signature, I mean.”

John Sullivan

SECOND

with Hideo Kino exploring caves with weird dots.

Doug cupped his chin.

"I dunno. The minor league is more kyle lopez's pet project than anything." Doug said, cupping his chin. "The league trusts him so much that it became a thing, but if we wanna be sure... I guess we gotta talk with the guy."

Doug himself was also interested in the minor league. Though he was no longer a gym leader... for now anyway —he wasn't sure if his off time would last with how things were looking— he was still doing work on the Mauville Stadium.

The Minor League could come in handy as a platform...

"How 'bout we go n'ask Mr. Lopez?" Doug offered Hideo as he finished his plate, his Machop releasing a loud burp besides him.

Hideo finished his piece of meat, his Salazzle finishing hers off as well. His Ribombee rose from its comfy hair-based blanket, scouring the plate for the remaining scraps. His Salazzle would be the one the take the cleaned-off plate, handing it over to Doug before resuming her role as a cushion.

“So it’s up to Kyle then.” Hideo was pretty sure he’d encountered Kyle a couple times, though they didn’t interact much. “Well, from what I hear, he’s a pretty chill guy. Maybe I could get a shot at it.” He knew Eris Halla was able to do it - under a different identity, so there was a good chance he could do it too without drawing too much attention.

Though would he have to craft a whole new name - an identity? If it really came to that, he knew who to talk to.

“Won’t hurt to try it.” Worst Kyle could say is no. Right?

John Sullivan