Sonia Used Struggle

To those living under a rock or with a distinct lack of interest in the mainstream news, today would have felt no different to a very routine Friday morning in the typically humble town of Wedgehurst, located in southern Galar. To anybody else, it was understandable as to why the town was unprecedentedly bustling. A celebrity, known across the globe was making a very rare appearance in the flesh, and hordes of people had travelled from far and wide to capture the iconic moment on film or with their own eyes. For these people, today was simply an opportunity to witness an international treasure or gain a bit of online clout. For Professor Sonia, however, today was a far more significant day which brought with it the potential to rocket her career to the next level.

"Yamper, no! Get off the table! I've told you to behave yourself today."

Being the only Pokémon professor for the entire Galar region provided Sonia with a great degree of pride, but an even greater degree of challenge. The region was known for being vastly inhabited by hundreds of different species of Pokémon, and trying to keep up with the ever increasing range of critters sometimes felt like an impossible task. Sure, she had assistants and volunteers to aid her research, however no amount of support ever felt like quite enough, considering Galar was such a sprawling land. Despite this though, Sonia was well liked and respected throughout the region, and though she had only been professor for a couple of years, her name was starting to become somewhat of an important one in international Pokémon research. So much so, that today the best in the business, Professor Oak from Kanto was making a special trip to come and collaborate with the orange-haired bigwig. Oak rarely stepped foot in Galar due to his overwhelmingly busy schedule and the fact that it was so far away from his home region. His arrival today would be an iconic one for Wedgehurst, which was just a short walk to the south of Sonia's laboratory. It would also be an iconic one for Sonia, as it would act as an opportunity for her to impress he who was said to have seen it all. Everything had to go right today.

"Okay! Everything is in place, the healing machine is fully functional, the lab is sparkling clean, and I have all my notes right here. Super!"

Falling into a nearby desk chair, Sonia let out an uncharacteristically almighty sigh. It was only 9:17am but she had already been at work preparing the spotless lab for Oak's grand arrival, which was due any minute now. Fanning herself with a nearby stack of papers, the slightly sweaty professor used the next few minutes to compose herself and prepare for what to say upon the arrival of her idol. As he was arriving via the train station in Wedgehurst, there was no doubt that before he made it to the lab, he would have had to endure and make his way past crowds of awestruck civilians wanting to speak with him and sign countless items. This gave Sonia a bit of extra time to make sure her preparations were seamless. Even her cheeky Pokémon companion Yamper seemed to be far more obedient than usual today. Surely that was a good omen.

"Don't worry Sonia, it's no big deal. You've got this. You just need to make sure tha-WAAH!"

Suddenly, a thunderous knocking sound echoed throughout the lab, as the weighty knocker on the front door of the building was put to use. He had arrived.

Trying to force the butterflies out of her stomach, Sonia took a monumental breath and jogged to the front of the building to avoid keeping her guest waiting. She unlocked the tall mahogany wood door and opened it with gusto to reveal the revered Professor Oak, standing aside three beefy looking security guards, all dressed in black and kitted out with sunglasses, earpieces and walkie talkies. It was quite the sight to behold.

"Why hello! You must be Professor Sonia."

"Yes! I am indeed. Thank you so much for coming, sir. It's an honour to meet you." Sonia declared, with a sparkle in her eye and pep in her soul.