Fandom it's only you i would be sore for. | MoggieMoof & doomieyuck

[MoggieMoof]

When Mustard had pulled Avery aside with the simple statement, I have a favor to ask of you, Avery didn’t know what he was expecting. Perhaps something a touch more significant than what he had been offered. Even with that slight disappointment, did that mean that Avery declined? Of course not! At the end of the day, even if Avery wasn’t too fussy on the task, he would still follow through with it. After all, Mustard had selected him over the other students that currently attended the dojo. Surely, that had to stand to mean something, right?

Thus, Avery had been sent on his most recent quest–fetch quest, really–of retrieving the dojo’s newest incoming student. Not a problem, really–he supposed that it would be a good way of pushing his day along. It’s not that the dojo wasn’t keeping him busy, no, he was incredibly active and he participated in all of the training required of him. He was here at the dojo for a reason, after all–a reason that he didn’t really enjoy discussing, but a reason nonetheless. Avery knew that he was here to make improvements of a sort, but he had been lacking the will to keep pushing forward because as of right now, it was all just… Easy.

None of the other students could really stand toe-to-toe with him, not very frequently at least. If they did, it ended up being a one-off win, and nothing more. Sure, Avery held himself to a certain standard which he most definitely still followed, but even he had to admit that he had become… What word could he use? Ah, leisurely, perhaps.

Leisurely, but he refused to use the word lazy aloud, at least not when in regards to himself. He still did the work, he just didn’t necessarily have the drive for it anymore. With a severe lack of any sort of competition amongst his peers–well, no, amongst him and his peers. There was definitely some competitiveness between them, just not regarding himself. There was hardly anything to compete with when it came to most of the others, anyway–well, except for maybe Klara. She wasn’t half bad. A bit annoying to deal with at times, but not enough to really light that competitive flame within him. Perhaps a few times here and there, but not enough to really make the feeling stick.

So, yeah, Avery had been lacking a little bit lately.

Pushing the thoughts regarding his performance aside for the time being, Avery arrived at the designated spot that Mustard had advised him to go to. He had decided to arrive a little bit early, in case this new fellow also decided to show up early–given, whether or not the newcomer would be late, early, or on time wasn’t exactly within their hands. Transport such as this could certainly have it’s air-time troubles, so he wouldn’t necessarily blame them if they were late. Maybe. Maybe not. Depends on just how nice Avery was feeling–kindness was a rarity from him, but he was a little less prickly than when he had first arrived here, at least. Baby steps.

Until he saw a flying taxi arrive at the station, Avery stayed put just outside. Not wanting to overwhelm the small building with his overwhelming presence, after all–it would be beneficial for him to just wait outside for now, in his most humble opinion. His eyes traced the skies, a small frown etched onto his face–bored, really. Lifting a hand, three Pokéballs came dancing down from where they had initially been, circling his hat. Instead, the three spheres spun around the tips of his fingers, trying to entertain himself and hopefully pass the time quicker in doing so.

Finally, he saw a figure in the sky, off in the distance, but still very clearly approaching nevertheless. The flying taxi had finally arrived, and Avery could only hope that it carried the new trainer that Mustard had been speaking of. With a flick of his hand, the three Pokéballs spiraled their way up and around his figure, settling in place once more in a circle around his hat, effortlessly spinning just as they had been before.

With a sigh, he pivoted on one foot, deciding now would be as good a time as any to enter the station. At least, just to see and make sure that this arrival was the individual that he was to be retrieving–it was around the time that this person was set to arrive, at least, so it would make sense if it were them. Avery didn’t want to be waiting around much longer, as he was growing terribly bored, and he truly didn’t want to spend more time hanging around outside, endlessly waiting for a flying taxi. That just wasn’t a very fun way to spend his day, now, was it?

With one hand placed upon his hip, he lifted his other hand to fix his glasses upon the bridge of his nose before he allowed his hand to drop down to his other hip, as well. With his brows furrowed ever so slightly, he watched as the individual that had been aboard the flying taxi stepped off–surely that was them, then. With a brief glance around at the other individuals that were waiting within the station, he noted that none of them seemed to recognize the person before him. If anyone else had been here to retrieve him, they probably would have called to him by now, right?

“You there,” He called out, his voice coming out as passively as he could possibly manage it. Tampering down the slight annoyance in his tone at all of the waiting around he had to do, he simply offered them an eyebrow raise before he continued. “You are to attend the Master Dojo, am I right?”

---

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Today had been a special day in the Galar region, a day that many across the region could hardly wait for when the time came. Young, new challengers and long-time spectators alike could all feel the excitement bubbling in their chests as this day approached, and once that day finally came around–today–the excitable static in the air was difficult to ignore.

Galar’s highly anticipated League Opening Ceremony.

At the beginning of each new year, once the winter season had cleared itself out, the League announced its new season with an opening ceremony. It was all in good fun, really. Today they would be announcing the eight gym leaders that would be participating this year, with some swaps from the minor division into the major division depending on the gym performances over the previous year… That, and newly endorsed challengers throwing their hats into the ring got to take their first steps onto an officially recognized stadium in Motostoke.

Penelope was never usually in attendance, oftentimes opting to busy herself with work or simple daily errands instead. So… What was different about this year, and why had Penelope attended the opening ceremony–not to mention, why was she lingering for the “after-party”?

The answer to that question was all thanks to her most well-thought out plan to date. Oh, yes, the best plan that she had ever put together in the timespan of four entire seconds, without so much as a second thought before she put that plan into words. She was just thankful that Gordie had agreed to play along with her–hell, he had even laughed about it initially, not realizing that it was a truthful ask, and not just another little joke of hers.

Penelope was here to play boyfriend and girlfriend with Gordie. No, seriously–it was kind of like playing house as kids. I’ll be the mom and you’ll be the dad, and the rest of the family was the entirety of Galar. Daunting, really, and she hadn’t really thought about it completely until their first public announcement of their relationship. Well, Gordie had done the announcing, with one of those really cheesy instagram posts. She had been there beside him when he posted it, and the two of them sat on his couch snickering as they watched the notifications come pouring in, behaving like a pair of children rather than two fully grown adults. Their poor Rotom phones were vibrating and buzzing for hours on end after that.

Today was the first big event that Penelope had attended as Gordie’s official plus-one, and although they had puttered about together in public a few times before, the attention that they got today was completely immeasurable. Namely because it was a relatively huge public event associated with the League, and this year Gordie had made an official swap into the major division, too. With that, and his new relationship, it was easy to say that Gordie had a lot of the attention today–and for better or for worse, Penelope got a whole lot of that attention, too.

Scratch that, it was definitely for the worse. Penelope didn’t really like all of the attention, but she could deal with it. Gordie had given her the advice of, just stand there and be as amicable as you can be. If I’m there, I’ll do the talking, but if they catch you alone–I don’t know, tell them how much you love me, or something. She recalled jabbing him in the side for that subpar advice of his.

Nevertheless, the “after-party” was more fun than she thought it would be. It was an dual outdoor-indoor event, taking place both within Motostoke Stadium as well as out in the streets out front, in a way, it was like a mini festival. She had spent most of her time with Gordie, practically attached by the hip–mostly to keep up their new image, but partially to quell her building anxiety. Up until now, though, she had spent the entire event at Gordie’s side–but he had just excused himself for a moment, and now she was standing around waiting for the guy!

As she waited for Gordie’s reappearance, she had accidentally locked eyes with a slightly older woman, whom she had recognized because she had been bouncing from Gym Leader to Gym Leader, poking and prodding about–well, whatever the press liked to question them about. The woman stared at Penelope for a moment before she lifted a hand, calling out to her, and panic practically shot up through her spine. Slowly, behaving as if she hadn’t seen or heard the woman at all, she turned on her heel and peered through the crowds, scanning for someone, anyone, honestly. She was hoping to maybe find Gordie on his way back to her, or perhaps Nessa, but–

“Hey! Raihan!” She blurted out at the sight of him, speeding on over to him as soon as she caught the briefest glimpse of him. Maybe the aforementioned woman would lose interest in her at the sight of Raihan, or maybe his presence would scare her off completely–whatever got her away from herself.

Practically blundering through the crowd–well, not blundering, but very politely squeezing past people with soft excuse me’s and pardon’s, she eventually caught up to the dragon tamer. It was kind of hard to lose him in the crowd–the guy was tall, and he towered over everyone here easily, so he wasn’t hard to keep track of at all.

Once she had pushed past one final person, effectively landing herself in front of the man, she blinked up at him once, twice, and then patted down her skirt to keep her appearance tidy. “Lovely to see you, Rai. How is opening ceremony day treating you?”

Pleasantries weren’t really required between them. They had been friends for years after all, but this was a very public event, and she wouldn’t want to come off as too chummy with him.

 

[doomieyuck]

Peering out from the flying taxi, the feeling of relief washed over Cyra as their eyes finally gazed upon land among the body of water in the distance. After what seemed like forever, taking the Corviknight Taxi had started to make Cyra feel a type of motion sickness— which was a new discovery for them. Throughout his travels, Cyra had taken many different versions of transportation among many different regions, however he truly never once had such a problem until he began to use the flying taxis. It was Galar’s main form of transportation, so it seemed it would be something the man would have to get used too. That or, he would have to speed run their paid field work of completing the Galar Pokedex— which is something they knew they could do.

But for once, Cyra wanted to pivot away from their usual routine of completing pokedexes for Professors. There would be times where these jobs would lead to great, exciting work and the discovery of Pokemon Cyra hadn’t even known existed— which always did remind him of why he set out for these journeys anyways. However, as of late, Cyra had found themselves bored, stuck, and burnt out. For almost 11 years, Cyra had ventured out to different regions, taking advantage of the gift Jarachi had bestowed on him. He took on the work that most trainers neglected in favor of completing gym badges and foolishly striving to take on the champion. Thus, the wanderer had become all too infamous among the professors of the world. During Kalos, Cyra swore the reached their breaking out— that they were going to go back to Hoenn and figure something else out. But when the charming Professor Sycamore had ever so kindly asked Cyra to consider Professor Mangolia’s request to come to Galar and help her with the very same thing— Cyra found themselves almost immediately saying yes. Maybe it was their own fault they felt so trapped.

They leaned back into the cushion of their seat, closing their eyes as they inhaled sharply, trying to focus on how he was almost there, and that he wouldn’t be on this Taxi that much longer. Blowing out a sigh, they sat there in silence to reflect— because looking at their Rotom phone would genuinely make things worse. A pang of guilt washed over Cyra as they reflected on how they grew sick of the life they created for themselves. It had been their dream since up until recently, but falling into the same routine… doing something with little to no challenge— they just couldn’t do it anymore. That was why when Cyra been doing their preliminary research on what exactly Pokemon they’d need to be catching, they were amazed to learn about a legendary Pokemon kept away in a place called the Isle of Armor. Only those who completed specific challenges and who were deemed worthy would be able to take on this legendary being— and for the first time in a while. Cyra was excited. This was a chance to actually earn a pokemon— a legendary— without relying on their powers. This would be something they could use to prove to others that they are talented past the powers that they were gifted. That was enough reason to motivate Cyra to have impulsively contacted the Dojo that seemed to protect the legendary pokemon— and that’s where they were currently flying too. They didn’t know what specific trials awaited them, but Cyra was determined to do whatever it took to earn Kubfu’s approval.

Cyra had been disturbed from their thoughts as they felt their taxi begin to jostle until suddenly, they felt everything stop moving. The wind was no longer blowing in their face, the sounds of wings flapping were not heard, and the sickness in their stomach began to die down. Peering out of the window once again, instead of a massive body of water, they were met with bricks and concrete— land! A sigh of relief left Cyra’s mouth as they rather hastily got out of the taxi. Reaching into his satchel, he brought out some of the pokedollars he kept on himself, handing a reasonable tip to that taxi driver. That was one thing they had also learned to look into before coming to a region. Some regions, like his own, would be utter insulted if you even dared to hand them money. While others, would be utter insulted if you didn’t.

Once that had been settled, Cyra took a few steps out into the lobby of the station. They were still settling down from their ride, that they didn’t take a moment to glance around the station at all. The first thing they did was stretch, lifting one arm into the air while the other went behind it, stretching it out. Cyra let a noise of relief slip their lips as they enjoyed settling down onto actual land— and not being cooped up in a Taxi for however long. They were so relieved, that they hadn’t even begun to think about what a lady over the phone had said. That someone would be escorting him to the dojo. So when they heard a voice call out “you there”, they weren’t exactly sure if it was for them, but choose to look anyways.

Good Arceus. In his time, he truly had seen it all when it came to fashion statements and trends. And he knew Galar would be a bit different, especially coming from such a fashion forward nation like Kalos. But he hadn’t been expecting— that. His multi eyes scanned over the stranger, taking in the pop of purple and other conflicting colors that the man wore a bit too proudly. Cyra recognized some of the symbols within the outfit the man in front of him wore— it was a psychic gym uniform. Usually, Cyra would have taken a moment to question it a bit more, maybe to even wonder if someone of importance, like a gym leader, was standing in front of him. But instead, their eyes scanned the weird ascot that was wrapped around his neck. Was this the 1800s? What was he looking at? Oh, but the cherry on top was when Cyra’s eyes looked up— to see what may have been the most ridiculous looking top hat he had ever seen. It was so long and eye grabbing that Cyra hadn’t even noticed the floating pokeballs that circled the top that. No, Cyra could only focus on one strange thing at a time.

They were interrupted by their internal judgment when the voice spoke up again, this time asking if he were to attend the Master Dojo. Immediately Cyra’s face lifted up, eyes widening slightly at realizing that this was supposed to be the person that was going to meet him at this station. At that, Cyra immediately brought their fist to their mouth, clearing their throat. They hoped that them staring wasn’t something that the man in front of him caught. While Cyra didn’t necessarily care about what this man thought of him— a general rule of thumb was that he had to at least be polite. Especially with how people reacted with getting to know about his skills— it usually softened the blow if Cyra was a bit amicable— even if it was hard for him to be so at times.

“Oh— uhm, yes. I am. Sorry, traveling has made me a bit absent minded,” they said with a small, but forced smile, trying to hopefully play off the fact that the spent a good moment staring at Avery as if he was some outwardly creature. “My name is Cyra, it’s nice to meet you. You’re— Avery? Right? That’s the name — Ms. Honey told me?” Cyra asked the blonde, their mind slowing down slightly s they tried to remember the names of the people he spoke to over the phone. Cyra also wanted to make sure he was for sure talking to the same person. How embarrassing would it be if they had totally been talking to the wrong person? He extended a hand for a handshake, assuming that’s what most people would consider to be polite. As he waited for Avery to shake his hand, Cyra’s eyes couldn’t help but wander up again to his top hat. It was so tall— how tall could it be? Wait— were those floating pokeballs?!

As Cyra got a better look at the top hat, his eyes widened at the pokeballs floating around the hat. How had he missed that before?! There was a clear look of shock in his face as he watched the pokeballs spin idly. They didn’t mean to stare but that was — fascinating! So utterly fascinating! His mind raced, wondering what exactly was causing the pokeballs to spin. Was it some type of magic ability? Oh, Cyra wanted to ask so bad, but Cyra thought back to how annoyed they’d get when people asked him about his eye. What if that was the same case here? Cyra couldn’t assume. So he bit down on his inner lip, hiding away his usual blunt self for just a moment. Though they couldn’t peel their eyes away from floating pokeballs.

---

Today was supposed to be the most exciting day of the year for Raihan. The gym leader, infamous for his love of battling and facing off with other gym leaders— and with “fresh meat” as well— should have been marveling over the opening day ceremony. He should have been modeling around with all the press and other gym leaders, teasingly taunting them on how he looks forward to beating every single one of them again. But instead, he wasn’t.

The usually hyper and passionate gym leader was caught in a more mellow tone as he walked out into the Wyndon stadium— a change that hadn’t been left unnoticed by his fans. Raihan had really thought he put up a good front at the opening ceremony, waving out to fans and taking his infamous selfies while Chairmen Rose spoke. But it seemed his dedicated fans saw right through him. As Raihan stood in a secluded corner of the venue, trying his best to stay away from the press for once, he stared at his Rotom phone. He was on twitter, a bad habit he’s developed to pass the time. But this time, he wasn’t passing time at all, instead he was reading all the tweets he had been tagged in from his concerned fans.

“@RaihanTheBeast Did anyone else notice that Raihan looked a little off today?! Looking back at the past five opening day ceremonies he always seemed more “hype” than this. What could be wrong? Do you think there’s a scandal amongst the gym leaders?”

“@RaihanTheBeast MY POOKIE WOOKIE LOOKED SO OFF TODAY??? LIKE whats wrong bbg i can fix it for you ”

“@RaihanTheBeast Guys you might be over thinking this! This is his sixth opening ceremony! He’s probably bored and just looking forward for matches to start up again! He’s a person too you know, let’s not speculate.”

Raihan blew out a sigh as he mindlessly scrolled through the tweets, reading all the useless opinions of the his fans that had been speculating what could been the cause of such a mellow Raihan, which again, he hadn’t really thought he was that off! As he scrolled, his eyes widened as he saw a tweet of a press agency he followed on his time line— cruelly reminding him of what exactly had the dragon type gym leader in the dumps. He didn’t even let himself finish reading interview— instead he waved his hand in the air, signaling his rotom phone to come back into his pocket. No, he couldn’t think about this right now. He had an after party to get through— and after that— he could mope around in the comfort of his own home. All he had to do was get through this after party without having any press come up to him and talk to him… about that.

“Raihan, Raihan! Rumors have been confirmed, now Major League Gym Leader Gordie has announced his new relationship with Penelope Lane— a long time friend of his! What are your thoughts? Do you have any kind words for the happy couple?” There was suddenly a microphone in his face as he stood there, eye wide at the sudden press surrounding him. He felt his heart sink to his chest. Most of the time, the press came to talk about him. Him or his long standing rivalry with Champion Leon. This was the first time in a while where a press inquired about something that didn’t involve his team for the upcoming season or how he looked forward to the exhibition matches they would host in the seasons. No— instead, the reporter had brought up the one thing he was hoping to avoid all night.

Raihan was great with press, he was practically trained to handle them. It was why he was known to give the best interviews among the gym leaders and he wasn’t going to change that now. Forcing a believable but wide smile on his face, he leaned into the mic to answer the press’ question, since he was too tall normally to be in the mic’s range. “Oh, I have heard! I am beyond happy to hear the news! It’s about time one of the gym leaders got a special someone, we’re a bunch of lonely mates aren’t we?” Raihan forced out a charming grin, winning over the press behind the mic as they laughed softly at his deprecating joke. The way he smiled, his body posture relaxed like usual— it was a complete facade. He felt his stomach churn as he was forced to think about a reality he truly never saw coming— the girl he had liked since he was 11 had been taken.

Raihan spoke up once again, deciding he needed to add on a more serious answer as to not be hyper psychoanalyzed by his noisy fans again. “All jokes aside, I truly am happy for the two! I’ve known Nellie since we were both around ten— so i’m happy to see someone finally capture the girl’s heart! And no one better for it to be than Gordie, right? He’s a real good guy, and he deserves his promotion to the major league division more than anyone I know. I look forward to all the battles we’ll have, and beating him to the ground of course!” A charming laugh escaped the gym leader’s lips as he grinned into the camera, giving the press exactly what they had wanted— well with his little Raihan twist. Though his words contradicted the words that raced in his head. It should have been him.That was all he could think about. How he should have shot his chance earlier- that all the subtle flirting he had done with the pink haired girl hadn’t paid off. He at least thought that if she didn’t see his flirting from a mile away, there was no way that she’d notice anyone else’s efforts. But Arceus, he was wrong. He knew her and Gordie were good friends— but that’s all he ever considered them. He had never once saw this coming, and now he felt stupid for looking past Gordie like that.


He realized he was in too deep of a thought, and looked at the press with a charming smile. He hoped that his display would be enough to get some of his fans off of his back, to chalk up the opening ceremony as nothing but Raihan just having an off day. His smile didn’t waver, not once. It was only after the press had thanked him for his time and began to wander off did Raihan break his act, his lips falling flat as he stared off into the distance. Things felt pretty over for Raihan, and he had confided that with his own best friend— Leon— who knew how much he liked Penelope.

“It’s okay Rai! There’s plenty of other fish in the sea! I’m sure someone else will come along,”
That was what Leon had told him as the two had made their way to the opening ceremony together. Leon was never that good at being comforting, especially when his mind was preoccupied in the start of a new league season. Raihan could only laugh and agree with Leon— while his mind screamed ‘but I only want her, no one else.’

Raihan snapped out that memory, sighing softly as he realized he had been in this corner for too long. He needed to mingle, as to not draw even more suspicion to himself. So, with his hands in his pocket, he began to venture forth, making his way through the crown of important people to the league. His eyes scanned through the crowd, hoping to find Leon, or any of the other gym leaders, to stick by to. But instead, he found someone so much better. Within the crown, he saw pink hair pop out amongst the crowd, causing an involuntary grin to pop up on his face.

Just because he was upset about the newfound news of Penelope and Gordie didn’t mean he still didn’t light up every time he saw the pink haired girl. This time, it was no different. He noticed that she had spotted him too, and he felt his heart skip a beat as she walked over to him. His teal eyes scanned over the girl, doing his best to conceal the utter look of awe that would have been plastered on his face if he didn’t have an ounce of self control. She looked beautiful, well she always did, but today was different. She must have put in extra effort now that she was with Gordie and they were announcing their new relationship to the world. Arceus he would have just stared at her all day if he could— especially in such a flattering skirt— but luckily for Raihan it was Penelope’s words that brought him back to reality.

At first he rose a brow, finding her new found pleasantries odd. Those two were comfortable with one another— so Raihan wondered exactly why she was holding up that act. Just because she was this after party for the first time? In that case, Raihan would have to tell her about all many worse things he’s said at these parties. He stifled in his laugh, shooting down his signature playful laugh. “Wow Nellie, maybe this is why you don’t interact with the league all that much. One day at this opening ceremony has changed you! Don’t give me all that pleasant bull,” he was quick to muse with her, with his grin widening, not hesitating for a moment to wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her into a side hug— something he had always done with the girl. Just because she was dating someone didn’t mean he had to change the way he acted around her— well unless Penelope had said so.

He took a moment to enjoy just feeling the girl so close to him— who knew if he’d be able to get away with all his subtle flirty gestures after this. “To answer your question, I’m doing amazing. I’m excited t see what new competition this year brings— oh and beat em of course.” he said with a pleased tone, obviously his ego was just a bit high. But could you really blame him? He had been dubbed Galar’s strongest gym leader— unfortunately for Raihan, it went to his head since the day he gained that reputation.

He finally let go of Penelope, realizing he had held onto her just a bit longer than he should have. Clearing his tone, he tried to play off the accident— and instead chose to pry into this new found relationship of hers. What did Gordie have that Raihan didn’t? Arceus, he had to know. “Well enough ‘bout me, because you’ve clearly been keepin’ things from me Nellie.” he began, his tone partially dramatic as he tried to cover up the utter pain that the other half his tone was conveying. He crossed his arms, forcing a smile as he looked down at the girl. “How long have the two of you… been a thing? I can’t lie, I didn’t see this coming. Thought you’d be alone forever!” Raihan let out a forced laugh at his words, covering up his own feelings by teasingly poking fun at the pink haired girl. Maybe if someone knew him enough, they’d be able to see the utter pain that echoed through his laugh. But besides that, he had been doing an excellent job hiding the utter agony his heart was in.

 

[MoggieMoof]

Thankfully, it seemed that his words had caught the individual's attention. It would have been a complete shame if he had to wave his arms like a fool in order to get their attention, so he was simply glad that the task had been simple enough. Initially he just gave a small smile when their eyes skated over his figure–well, no, not a smile. That sly little smirk that he so frequently wore, and if this person really was headed to the dojo, then they’d come to be acquainted with it as well.

He’s staring. Why is he staring like that? Avery couldn’t even clock why this person would need to be staring at him like that! Certainly they were just completely enamored and enraptured by his presence–his company was a blessing indeed, so surely that was it! Even so, he couldn’t help but narrow his eyes ever so slightly at the newcomer, unsure how he felt about being under his watchful gaze for as long as he had been–that was his job! He wasn’t the newcomer around here, they were!

For a moment, his smile faded into a small frown–no, actually, a scowl. Sure, Avery appreciated getting some attention, but he didn’t enjoy being gawked at like that. Did anyone enjoy being on the other end of a stare such as the one that he had just received? Not to mention, the guy hadn’t even replied to his greetings whatsoever, just opting to openly stare at him instead–

Ah, nevermind. The newbie seemed to realize that their ongoing cruelties weren’t welcome here–and good riddance, at that. His downturned scowl faded into a generally blank, practically unreadable expression as he decided to simply stare at them instead. Avery watched with furrowed brows as they coughed into their fist, resisting the urge to audibly sigh and tell him to spit out his greetings so that they could get a move on sooner rather than later… Suppose that wouldn’t be too polite, though. Not that Avery cared too much over pleasantries himself, but he was trying to improve upon that with himself. Key word: trying.

“Ah, right.” Avery gave a brief nod, his lips still tight-lipped, expression otherwise blank. One part of himself said, well, perhaps he’s being truthful! Traveling can be quite exhausting for the body and mind after all, it would make sense, yes… But, on the other hand, there was also that thought that said, he was just looking at me like I’m a total freak show, I couldn’t care less if his flying taxi dragged him around the entire region before he landed. Old, rude habits truly do die hard. Thankfully though, he didn’t voice such thoughts–he decided against voicing either of them, actually.

“Your memory seems to serve you well, as you’re correct. I’m Avery–I attend the dojo that you’ll be training at. As I am a senior member, I was sent here to fetch you.” The way he spoke was almost dismissive, in a way. As if to say, well, of course I’m Avery, and of course I’ll be your senior at the Master Dojo. Did rankings like that really matter among the students? Not entirely, but he’d still dangle it over the heads of the newbies nevertheless. It was never an open mockery, but definitely one of those statements that if you looked into it long enough, you’d see the confident mirth shining behind his eyes.

When he noticed the man’s hand move, his icy blue gaze drifted downwards for a moment to just stare at his hand. Well, at least they were somewhat polite, but even so, a handshake wouldn’t shake the fact that they had been staring at him as if he were something absurd. Avery holding a grudge? No way! This is completely unheard of! Aha, yeah, he wasn’t going to let that go for a long while. Even so, he took Cyra’s hand firmly, shaking his hand as if this were some sort of business meeting. Quickly, his hand retreated to where it had been before, planted on his hip.

While Cyra seemed to take an interest in Avery’s appearance again, he took the opportunity to–wait a second. Cyra’s eye was–huh. Heterochromia wasn’t too outlandish, not at all. He’d never make a big deal over somebody’s eye color, especially not with such a condition. The difference here was just how unnatural this case was. Although Avery tried his best not to outwardly express his curiosity, one of his brows quirked up before he could will the action away. One of Cyra’s eyes was a pale gold, he realized now that they were closer to one another. Again, heterochromia wasn’t an outlandish concept, he had run into dozens of people throughout the course of his life that had two different coloured irises, but this was… Yeah, a tad bit odd.

Perhaps he was just blind in that eye, though. That was a topic that Avery wouldn’t want to pry into–there was nothing wrong with being blind, after all. Hopefully his own staring hadn’t been as obvious as Cyra’s had been, otherwise he’d have probably already made a poor first impression on the new fellow. Not that he cared that much about what other people thought of him, but he wouldn’t want anybody to think that he was some bigot. He wasn’t! Yes, Avery was an asshole, but not that much of an asshole.

After a moment of inner debate regarding his own staring, he came to realize that Cyra was, yes, still staring at him. Unable to suppress the urge, Avery finally let out a quiet sigh–this guy had a serious staring issue, that’s for sure. He was about to lift a hand in front of the newcomer's face to snap his fingers before him–a rude gesture indeed, but so was staring. Before he could do such a thing though, he realized just what Cyra was staring at this time.

His blue eyes darted upwards for a moment, eyeing the pokeballs as they floated along, nearly outside of his vision due to just how tall his hat was. Ah, well that made things a bit different! Not all that different, he’d still hold it against them for staring at him before, but at this moment? Oh, it wasn’t that bad–a bit of pride bubbled up in his chest at the wide-eyed expression that Cyra wore before him.

“Someone’s intrigued.” Avery chimed, tone indicating that he was entertained by Cyra’s clear fascination. Lifting one of his hands from his hip, he twisted his hand to point his palm upwards, and one of his pokeballs came carefully floating down to rest within the air just above his palm. It was a simple display, but he really didn’t mind showing off a little bit, even though this was probably the least of what he could do. No, not even probably, it was most definitely the least of what he was capable of! He could completely lift people off of their feet–although he never really did that in good spirits, so perhaps he wouldn’t mention that. “I know, incredible, isn’t it?”

Despite the prideful grin that graced his features, he decided not to linger on it for too long. The ball floated back up to where it had been before, dancing in circles around his hat amongst the others with a simple flick of his hand.

Should they get a move on back to the dojo? Oh, absolutely. Mustard would definitely be waiting for their arrival, looking to have Cyra situated sooner rather than later–if he wasn’t mistaken, the members of the dojo would begin working on the trials soon after Cyra’s arrival, as the dojo would certainly have reached maximum capacity at that point. Nevertheless, even though he knew that they had to get back soon, Avery… Well, maybe he just wanted to bask in the attention for a couple of moments longer.

“Go on, then. Ask away. There’s no need to bite your tongue, I’ll answer.” Some would get annoyed by such questions, but Avery didn’t mind them, really. He put his personal abilities on display everywhere he went for a reason, after all. If he didn’t want any attention from passersby or peers, then he wouldn’t make such a display with his pokeballs day in and day out. In all honesty, the attention was validating to receive. Avery would never admit that, though. He would never admit that he appreciated and craved such attention so much due to the validation he received from it.

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When Raihan’s response had initially just been an eyebrow raise, she could only give him the same expression in response. Mirroring his expression, she gave him a long, quizzical stare until he began laughing at her. For a moment she felt nearly offended by his lack of a greeting, but the feeling had dissipated when he had finally replied.

His teasing had been well-received, although that should come as no surprise to him. After the two of them had agreed to set their disagreements aside while they were teenagers, Penelope had learned to take his remarks with a grain of salt–seeing as they were only playful and nothing more. With a sarcastic scoff, she carefully slipped her arm around his torso, giving him a friendly squeeze as she did so. “Oh, give me a break.” With a small sigh, she slumped ever so slightly against him, knocking her temple against his collarbone. It wasn’t an out of the ordinary action from her, not at all–after all, she had been a little bit more high-strung today, so she was just leaning on him for some support–quite literally, emotionally and physically. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to act at things like these, I mean, all things considered, the way that I behave here kind of matters now.”

It was complete honesty, too, spoken in a hushed mutter to avoid any lurking reporters, or anything of the sort. Despite all of the kindness that she had been receiving today, most definitely because of her odd new status as Gordie’s “girlfriend”, she still couldn’t help but feel a little bit on edge. She didn’t want to do anything wrong here that could possibly worsen Gordie’s image–although she couldn’t imagine actually managing something like that, it still concerned her.

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll have a good time this season, Rai.” After giving him another gentle squeeze before they separated, she offered him a small, withdrawn smile. Penelope couldn’t deny the fact that Raihan definitely had an ego going for him, but she couldn’t really blame him for that–yeah, they definitely bumped heads a bit when he had first developed that ego of his, but they had grown a lot since then, so she really didn’t mind his confidence at all. It was what made him himself! “Course you’ll beat them all the same, but hopefully it’ll still be fun to do so.”

Then came the question that she didn’t really want to answer, but she knew that it would come up eventually. Everyone had asked about it, quite literally everyone–because why wouldn’t they want to know? The press was one thing, she and Gordie had practiced over and over again what they were going to say when it came to most, if not all, of their questions. They had a consistent story that they had been keeping, all of their answers aligning with each other’s to make sure that the relationship was believable. As far as they were both aware, to this point, they had been doing an incredibly good job… It was different with their friends, though, and she kind of felt bad about it. Still, they’d stick with it–this extensive and elaborate play-dating of theirs had to be believable for as long as they kept up with it. Which, as long as Benjamin left her alone sooner rather than later, they wouldn’t have to keep up with it for a very long time.

So, basically, if everything went according to the initial plan, they’d be announcing to the public that they had decided to break up because they were far better off as just friends in no time at all!

Sheepishly, Peni folded her hands in front of her, her smile tightening into something a bit more bashful. It was slightly genuine, not in a truly shy way–Arceus, no–genuine in the sense that it was embarrassing.

“Sorry, really, we just wanted to keep things to ourselves for a bit before we went and made anything completely official.” Rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, she lifted her chin to look up at him entirely. “It hasn’t been that long, all things considered. Just a couple of months–well, just a month and a half before we decided to make things more public. It was too much of a hassle to keep sneaking around, you know?”

A month and a half... Right. Penelope and Gordie had spent maybe a week putting together a plausible story, making sure that they both had the same answers for possible questions before they hard-launched their “relationship” through Gordie’s social media. After the announcement, she had received messages from friends and family, all wondering the exact same thing: when did this happen? The first person to call her that night had been her brother. Still sitting on Gordie’s couch, amongst both of their Rotom phone’s consistent buzzing and blinking, her brother’s contact “rock-head” had appeared on her screen.

The pair had burst into child-like giggles at the sight, excitably swatting at each other's shoulders–perhaps, at that moment, they didn’t completely understand the depth of their scheme. At its very core, it was just a plan to get somebody off of Peni’s back, nothing more–but would it stay as such, and nothing more? Penelope couldn’t see anything going wrong, because Gordie was basically her best friend, so… What could go wrong, right?

Nevertheless, Penelope had answered her brother’s call, not even remotely surprised to find that Micah was completely and utterly gobsmacked at the new set of information that he had come across. Her brother had attempted to pry into their business as much as he could, but eventually Penelope had snapped at him for it–not because she was actually upset with him for asking so many questions, she just didn’t have an answer for them yet. So, suppose she and Gordie could say thank you to Micah for proposing some of the questions that they hadn’t thought of, because as soon as she had hung up the phone, she and Gordie were meticulously planning proper answers to such questions once again.

With a roll of her eyes, she gave a sarcastic laugh. “Yeah, harhar. Laugh it up, but I’m totally irresistible. Ask Gordie, he’s the one who asked me out, not the other way around.”

…And, yes, somehow Penelope got Gordie to agree to that piece of their thoroughly planned out romantic history. She had argued that it would just make more sense, because why would she ask out a gym leader? Even if they were best friends, a lot more was on the line for her in the case of denial than it would have been for Gordie, after all–so he had agreed to that much.

Speaking of, where was he, anyway? She glanced over her shoulder for a moment, blinking owlishly as she peered through the crowd. The woman that she had been fleeing from seemed to be… Gone, somewhere for the time being. Standing up on the balls of her feet, she lifted her chin to peer over heads, humming softly when she clocked the man’s hair amongst the crowd some distance away. It looked like he had gotten caught up in a conversation on his way back to her.

“He left me all alone out here, can you believe that? I mean–no big deal, just giving him a hard time obviously. I think he forgot something in the stadium and he ran off to go get it, and… Y’know, I’m not a big fan of the press on a regular day, but I’m really not a big fan now. I don’t like being on the other end of the microphone, and as soon as he had left me alone it was like–like, I don’t know, I felt like prey or something.” Shrugging her shoulders, she dropped back down completely onto her feet to look at him again. Offering him a partially exhausted smile and a tilt of her head, she continued. “So, I came looking for someone to keep me safe until I got back–y’know, the dragon tamer seemed like a good enough protector for the time being.”

Heavy sarcasm laced that last word, and she even lifted her hands to make air-quotes with her fingers. By no means did she need any protection, she just meant that she wasn’t trained to deal with the media whatsoever, so she didn’t want to say anything wrong. Hence her seeking out someone who did–and it didn’t hurt that they were pretty close friends, too.