Jirachi's Twin Bonus Stories (btyu and others ♥)

Bede Loses a Match

He was trapped—pinned to the ground by someone deliriously out of her mind. It was an accident—he knew she didn't mean it, that it wasn't her fault, but his brain was short circuiting.

"Are you... mad at me?"

He blinked. He still couldn't process what was happening. They were in the prep lobby, Gloria lying off to his right side with her arms pinning him down to the floor. She was too close—dangerously close. He couldn't breathe.

Stop!

It was a wonder how they ended up in that situation.

Today was the day of a scheduled exhibition match. Gloria and Bede, being the first and second-placers, were to demonstrate their strength in a brief tournament. It was for fun—just a simple spar, was all. They were down to the wire—Gloria fighting with her Inteleon, Bede with his Hatterene.

"You're not escaping me this time!" Bede declared, grinning, "I've got a new move up my sleeve—Hatterene, use Attract!"

"Inteleon, dodge it!"

The Pokémon managed to dodge the heart-shaped attack narrowly, making Bede curse in frustration.

"Ugh, no! That was a part of my strategy, you—"

Gloria grinned smugly at him, "Ha! You should've known we'd dodge something like tha—"

To Gloria's surprise, the move kept going. Inteleon had dodged right in front of her, meaning the heart-shaped light was now barreling towards her.

"Gloria!" he shouted, pointing at the attack.

But it was too late.

The beam of light slammed into her—not harming her at all, but certainly disorienting her for a moment. She waved her arms furiously, dismissing the heart-shaped sparkles that were raining all around her sides.

"Are you alright!?" Bede shouted.

She opened her eyes, instantly landing on Bede's face across the field.

"I-I'm fine I think..." she shook her head, "Anyway, Bobble let's Gigantamax!"

Shrugging, Bede went ahead and copied Gloria by Gigantamaxing his Hatterene.

It's probably nothing, he dismissed, Hatterene's female anyway, so even if the attack worked, it wouldn't have triggered the status effect.

Despite his best efforts however, Bede lost the match. Gloria's Inteleon performed one too many G-Max Hydrosnipes, causing his Hatterene to tumble to the ground as it did every year. With a sigh, he retrieved his Pokémon.

"Well there you have it!" Leon shouted, clapping as he entered the field, "Another win for our wonderful Champion!"

Bede smirked and held out his hand for Gloria to shake.

"You did excellent, Champion—as expected. It's frustrating I didn't even come close this match, but at least we had fun."

She turned to him, and instantly he felt something was off. Her gaze was sleepy—almost trance-like as she stared at him. When she saw his hand extended, her eyes widened a fraction, and a ridiculous, silly grin spread onto her face.

"Aaaah~ I suppose it was a good match," she laughed, taking his hand.

Bede shook it once, but she refused to let go.

"Uh... Gloria? You can release my hand at any time—"

"It's waaarm."

He blinked.