𝕊𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕤 𝕆𝕗 𝔾𝕒𝕝𝕒𝕣 | 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑳𝒆𝒐𝒏

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 20: 𝑭𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑴𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒔

I scramble around the stadium cursing to the high heavens, legendary Pokémon, and Arceus himself. I leave him alone five minutes, five fucking minutes, and poof! Gone! Like the man never even stepped foot into the stadium. Not only is this one of the biggest matches in the exhibition trials but the children from the hospital are here too! My heels clack like lightning as I run across the marble floors, I don't bother to knock as I swing open the door to Raihan's locker room.

"Woah hey there love!" Raihan laughs at my frazzled expression, "Is he. Or is he not. Here?" I snarl. The Dragon tamer pouts and looks away with his armed crossed. "And here I thought you came to wish me luck. But I don't think I'd tell you even if I did know, with how ready to kill you look in all." He grumbles, "Raihan." I stress deeply, "Leon is late. He's probably lost. And I got a VIP room filled with hospitalized kids ready to see the match of their lifetime. I am not in the mood." I hiss. "No, I haven't seen him (y/n)." Raihan answers taking a cautious step back, as he fucking should.

I turn and stomp right back out of the locker room, I decide to test my luck and check the VIP room. It bites me in the ass when I find a room full of kids, Chairman Rose, and Vice President Oleana, but no Leon. "Chairman." I stress, "Leon is late and most likely lost at the current moment." I huff, biting the bullet. The man has the audacity to laugh and shrug his shoulders at me, "I could tell when I saw you running all over the stadium." He chuckles. My blood boils, but I hold it together as I simply turn and walk out the room.

I storm down to the pitch, anger flooding my veins, "Listen up!" I snap to all the gym members. "Leon is missing and I'm three seconds away from tearing the head off the shoulders of the next person who pisses me off next. Find him and bring his ass here. Understood?" I command, the gym members chant words of understatement before scurrying off.

I pace the floor thinking of all the possible places Leon could have ended up, I jump as a hand places itself on my shoulder. "Relax this use to happen all the time, we just have to wait it out. Leon usually finds his way back, Late, but he always comes back." The Chairman soothes, I don't have it in me to deal with him and his condescending smile. Instead I continue to pace the floor, until I hear a snap, my eyes shoot over to the Chairman who then points to the air. Low and fucking behold, Leon enters the arena on the back of a Corviknight, but the real kicker is the kid he has with him.

I kick off my heels and follow Chairman Rose to the field, Chairman Rose announces the start of the match as I march over to Leon. "Leon, you are so in for it." I hiss quietly looking down at the little blonde boy with blue eyes. "Sorry (y/n)." He chuckles scratching his cheek, I roll my eyes, "Make it up to me by giving them a hell of a show." I huff. "Yes ma'am," He grins, I look down at the little boy who reaches out to Leon. Leon startles us both by taking his hand. "Are you sure you're just satisfied with just watching my match?" He questions, "You want to become a Pokémon trainer right? Then next time we meet let's have a battle. But I won't hold back against any opponent." Leon smiles crouching down to the boy's high.

"You've made that clear this entire time Leon. What are you thinking? Challenging a child like this, not to mention you haven't even beaten the one you're due for." I sigh, crossing my arms, but a small smile itches across my face. Leon grins up at me as the boy watches us in awe, "Remember this sweet one," I whisper leaning down, "A sword may be mighty but he is nothing without his shield." I muse. Leon lets out a laugh as the boy looks between us confused. "Your late Leon, I thought you ran off with your tail between your legs. Not that I would have minded, would have given me the perfect opportunity to snatch up your pretty manager." Raihan teases from across the field.

"Oh boy," I sigh, I place my hands on the boy's shoulder, "We might want to take a step back for this one," I whisper down to him. I watch Leon take to the field striking his signature pose making the crowd go wild, however my eyes shoot down to the boy who sniffles and whimpers holding his hand to his heart. "Are you okay? Do I need to get a nurse?" I panic squatting down to his height, "No," He sniffles, "I'm okay." He hiccups. I smile and wipe away the tears gently, just seconds later Leon tosses his cape behind him and I catch it with well practiced ease. "Take care of the kid for me (y/n)! After all, I promised a show!" He calls, "Sure thing Champion," I call back, tossing his cape over my arm and prepare myself to hold the boy steady.

The boy and I watch as Raihan and Leon battle Pokémon after Pokémon, I keep the boy out of reach as the two Pokémon masters flood the field before creating rock pillars. Raihan creates whole thunderstorms, as Leon fires away with Pokémon missiles. Sometimes I forget just how powerful the two are, with their natural outgoing and cheerful personality, only to be taken aback by the way their eyes glow dangerously and feral grins form on their face in the heat of a battle.

The real danger comes as Raihan unleashes his Gigantamax Duraludon, Leon returns the favor kindly with his own Gigantamax Pokémon, Charizard. I suck in a sharp breath as the two Pokémon loom over me. A tickle of fear pricks my chest, but I catch Leon looking back at us, smiling. I felt a wave of safety wash over me, knowing Leon has me, being reminded that he's my sword, and promising he'll protect me. The boy in my arms gasps completely and utterly awestruck by the scene before us, the two titans clash, shaking the ground below us. I pull the boy closer to me and keep him out of harm's way as the battle continues, in the end, without fail. Leon wins.

As the battlefield is cleared and Leon is deemed victorious I hurry and push the boy in my arms to the locker room. He protests but I promise him Leon will meet up with us, it takes him a few minutes to arrive, but I kill time by asking the boy his name and getting the full story on how and why he showed up with Leon. I take in the story as much as I can, that childlike wonder in his eyes sparkling like stars, unbeknownst to him I'm planning my lecture for Leon in my head.

Speaking of the said Champion, he comes trotting in. I pull away from John, the boy I've come to know, before standing to my full height with arms crossed and head held high. Leon freezes upon catching my glare. "Five minutes Leon. Five—" I pause and roll my neck to keep from cursing in front of John, "Five whole minutes and suddenly you're lost in the wild area?" I huff throwing my hands into the air. "To be fair it took me five minutes to get lost, the rest of the time was me wandering all the way to the wild area." He corrects, my eye twitches. "Right. Not helping." He chuckles weakly, "I can't believe you Leon! I leave you alone five minutes and you're late, lost, then suddenly riding in on a Corviknight with a kid!" I rant, "Did you even take care of him on the way over? For the love Arceus, he's admitted to a hospital. There's been high winds all day and I know for a fact that getting here would have been against the current! He could have froze Leon!" I lecture.

A pull on my dress stops me from ripping into Leon any further, John's tiny hands gently holding the fabric of the dress. "It's not his fault Miss (y/n), he offered me his cape but I wasn't cold and the whole ride over he talked about how worried you'd be knowing he might have gotten lost." He mumbles, my eyes soften and I glance over to Leon who has his head bowed unwilling to look at me.

I sigh heavily and lick my lips before kneeling down to his height, "I'm sorry for getting angry John. I just..." I whisper looking back at Leon, "I take care of Leon and he really worried me when he went missing. I was tearing the entire stadium up by the seams looking for him, but that doesn't excuse the fact I got angry." I mumble holding his tiny hands. "Leon?" I call, The man in question looks down at me, golden eyes swirling with guilt. The look makes my chest ache with the same emotion, "I'm sorry I got angry with you. I was worried and I took it out on you." I whisper, "And I'm sorry for worrying you." He smiles softly.

John smiles brightly, "There! Now you've made up! My mom and dad use to fight like that all the time but they always kissed and made up." He grins. My cheeks flush red and my gaze snaps up to Leon whose cheeks are dusted with pink but a smirk stretches across his lips. I send him aglare, a don't-even-think-about-it look, it makes a pout form on the grown man's face. The moment is broken when the locker room door swings open and we're all suddenly swarmed by children, all of them giggling and squealing at Leon.

Chairman Rose, Vice President Oleana, and Raihan all come through the door after. Raihan grinning like a Purrloin as he holds up my heels with two fingers, I laugh at his ridiculous expression before standing to my feet. I make my way over and reach up to take them but he pulls them just out of reach, "Gotta' pay that tax love," He grins. I scoff and roll my eyes, but smile as I pull him down by his hoodie and plant a firm kiss to his cheek. Raihan preens as he hands over my shoes, I shake my head at him as I slip them back on. But as I stand my eyes fall into pools of gold, soft molten gold of a true champion, and they belong to the man who's looking at me like I'm actually something worth looking at. 

Word Count: 1.8K