- Blessed by Divinity -

A Rival Showdown

"We're almost there, the gate is just up ahead."

I tried to instill a second wind in my pokemon as they insisted on joining me for the remainder of the journey. The route to Lumiose was long but the lack of sand storms meant that it was mostly smooth sailing from then.

Dratini looked particularly comfortable as she was sat on Arcanine's back as he kept the pace for the two. Grovyle was quietly walking beside me, no doubt thinking about the upcoming battle with Slowbro walking to his left, a usual absentminded look on his face. Even Honedge seemed tired which spoke volumes about how long the journey had been.

We were within breathing distance of the main gate before a voice caught our attention.

"You... It's you..."

With a confused expression on my face, I turned to face the voice. My gaze was caught by an abnormally tall man who was wearing multiple layers of clothes even in the sweltering heat.

"I'm sorry, I don't think we've met before. You must have the wrong person."

The man slowly closed the distance between us, my pokemon and I watching in bewilderment at what was happening. He was now stood ten feet from my face, eyes staring into mine.

"You may not have met me, but I remember you and in time, you will remember me."

Numerous emotions danced across my face as I struggled to piece together what the mysterious man was saying. I opened my mouth to respond but the words never came as I stood in stunned silence.

"All these years, I've been searching for..."

His words trailed off, stopping the sentence short. I couldn't offer any help to the man as I had no idea what was even happening. These last few days had been particularly strange.

In silence, the tall man continued walking, past my pokemon and I into the gate of Lumiose City. I exchanged curious looks with each of my pokemon but they too were confused. Nevertheless, we continued our journey, Lumiose within touching distance now.

---

"Hey neighbour! Took you long enough to get here."

I half expected the greeting to be from Calem but I was pleasantly surprised to see Serena stood at the entrance of the main northern gate. Her hands were held behind her back and her face portrayed a look of happiness.

"Hey, how was the showcase?"

In response, the honey blonde moved her hands from behind her back to show me a key chain with one golden key with pink floral patterns carved into its head.

"It's my first princess key! Shauna's still a little bitter about the result because I came out on top. Wait a second, are those contact lenses? Cool."

Before I could answer, a voice from behind cut me off.

"I'm not bitter. I just know I should have won."

The voice behind me cause my pokemon and I to turn around, our eyes falling on a certain brown haired trainer. Her lips were curled into a smile as our eyes made brief contact. All of a sudden, she closed the distance between us before she threw her arms around me for an unexpected hug.

I wasn't expecting anything of the sort so I nearly lost my balance. However, I was able to regain my composure before returning the impromptu hug. Shauna and I had never really been that close, so it's understandable why I wasn't expecting anything like that.

"I was just about to explain that we were waiting for the others before you interrupted me."

We parted from the quick hug and faced Serena whose arms were folded across her chest as she huffed at being cut off. Shauna simply shrugged her shoulders as I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly.