Distortion

•Showtime•

"Woah, Harlan look!" Hop tugged on his friend's jacket sleeve.
"Huh?" Harlan said, pushing up his glasses. "Why'd you wake m- woah." The two trainers looked out the train window at the vast area in front of them, with lakes, a large, decayed watchtower, and a huge city at the other end. The train came to an abrupt halt, sending them both forward a bit. "Why'd we stop?" Harlan asked, looking at Hop, then out the window again. "Uh, Hop?"
"Yeah, Harlan?"
"Why's there so many Wooloo?" Hop looked out the window. "Huh. That's odd. Maybe we should go ask the train staff." The trainers were about to leave their seats when one of the staff came up to them.
"Apologies for the sudden stop, but we can't get to Motostoke because of the flock of Wooloo in the way. It seems that you would need to go through the Wild Area." Hop and Harlan looked at each other and nodded.
"Okay then, we'll get off here and walk to Motostoke." The train staff nodded and walked away. They picked up their bags, Hop's a simple green pack you sling across your body, but Harlan's was a backpack with a bat on the side, a Garchomp print on the front, and dragon-type symbols on the sides.
Hop raced off the train, stopping to wait outside for Harlan, who walked instead of running. "Dammit Hop, slow down for once will ya?"
"Nope! Hey, want to know something?"
"What's that?"
"RACE YA TO MOTOSTOKE!"
"HEY! WAIT FOR ME!"
The two raced through the Wild Area, past all the wild Pokemon, and stopped at a wooden bridge to rest.
"Hey," Hop said, turning to his friend "you brought your camping gear right?"
"Yeah. It made my bag five times as heavy though." Harlan replied with a laugh.
Hop's mom had given them camping gear for the Wild Area at Wedgehurst before they left for Motostoke.
Hop laughed in agreement. "Hey, another question. Why did you bring a bat with you?"

Harlan pulled the said bat out of the side of her bag. "There was some gang back in Alola that weren't the nicest group. Had to keep this chunk of metal around to make sure that they didn't try anything," they said, examining the bat. "Happened once, tried to steal Neptune when he was a Piplup. Knife to the neck. A kid named Gladion came and scared 'em off. Told me to watch my back and keep something with me to protect myself... Hah, they didn't bother me anymore," As she finished her explanation, he turned to Hop. "And here we are now, me going from a weak trainer to a somewhat better one."
"Well, at the time you probably weren't weak, you were just new. And I think you're a great trainer." Hop said, patting Harlan's head in a joking manner.
"Ey ey ey! I'm not a fuckin' five-year-old, Hop." Hop gasped as if offended. "Language!"
"What're you, my mom?"
"No-"
"Then don't tell me to watch my mouth! Wait- have you never cussed? Like at all?"
"Nope! I never have and never will."
"You've gotta say at least one eventually."
"Never!"
"Yeah yeah," Harlan took out his Rotom Phone, looked at the time, and smirked at Hop. "Ay, Hop. Do you want to know something?"
"Yeah?"
"FIRST ONE TO MOTOSTOKE GETS A TREAT FROM THE LOSER." And with that, Harlan made a brake for the city, leaving Hop behind with a blank look for a second, and then he bolted after them.

Harlan won that race and told Hop she would say what she wanted later. As they were entering the huge city, they heard someone yelling at them. "Hey! You lot! Over here!" The duo looked around, then spotted Sonia, waving at them from the Pokémon Center. They walked over to their orange-haired friend. "Real ace of you two to walk through the Wild Area!"
"Well, we kind of raced the whole way," Hop told her. "Well, you should probably pop into the Pokémon Center to heal your Pokémon, just in case." The three walked into the Center, and Sonia began explaining what the Rotomi was. "It's a system that lets you put your Pokémon in boxes to store them. It also doubles as a League Card customizer!"
"What's a League Card?" Harlan asked, tilting her head. Sonia explained what the Cards were, then gave the two trainers a copy of Leon's Card.
"I'll wait for you two outside," Sonia said as she walked out of the building. As they made their cards, a boy in pink came in to heal his Pokémon. Harlan turned his head over their shoulder and looked at the kid. He looked over at Harlan and Hop with a look of disgust in his eyes. She sent a glare the said back off right back at the white-haired boy. He rolled his eyes and left.
After they made their cards and exchanged them, they met up with Sonia outside.
"See that huge gear over there?" Sonia pointed to an elevator that was shaped like a gear with a platform on the top and bottom that, when someone went on it, the platforms went clockwise to lift the person to the upper level, to where it looked like the gym was.
"Is that building above it the gym?" Hop asked. "That's right! You two might want to hurry though, the opening ceremony starts in ten minutes!" With that, the teens raced onto the elevator and into the gym.

"Woah, there's a lot of trainers here! All of them, rivals..." Hop told Harlan, looking around with wide eyes. Harlan kept her head down, not wanting anyone to see the red rings from the people in the gym. As they walked up to the counter, Harlan recognized that the boy from the Pokémon Center talking to the League staff to check-in. He turned around to see her and Hop waiting for their turn. He scoffed, then elbowed past Harlan, mumbling about something. Hop glared daggers into his back. "Really? What a piece of work."
Harlan said nothing, turning to the desk.
"If you two are here for the challenge, I'll need to see your endorsements." Hop took his letter out of his bag and put it on the counter. "Ah, endorsement from the champion. I bet you're the first one to get one."
"I guess that makes me the second!" Harlan piped up while handing her endorsement to the League Staff.
"Alright, I've confirmed that these are not plagiarized. Now for your uniform numbers. Hop, what would you like your number to be?" Hop looked up in thought, then answered:
"One eight nine!" The staff member typed that in, then turned to the other teen. "And you, Harlan?"
Four eight seven.
Why? Shadow, you're off your rocker if you think I'll choose Dia-. It's my National Pokédex number, not Chronarp's.
Huh, didn't know Dialga had a name. How do you even know your Pokédex number?
I have my ways, now tell them the number you want.
Right, the one I want. "Four eight seven, please." The staff typed something into their computer and handed them uniforms after a couple of minutes.
"Here you are, changing rooms are over there, and you can enter the pitch after you change. There should be people standing in a line. People entering will go to the far left."
The two trainers said their thank you's to the League Staff and headed off to change. Once changed, they met up and the tunnel going into the pitch, but Hop stopped Harlan before they could move forward. "Just real quick, you're okay with people seeing your eyes, right?"
"Oh, uh, yeah. I mean, they're bound to see them anyway. Why not let them see now?" Harlan showed Hop a small smile, who in return, smiled back as they both walked out into the pitch, heads held high.