The Knight In Shining Armor// Pokemon Sword and Shield Fanfic

10

I woke up the next morning pretty early, barely being past 7. I scrolled through social media a bit, seeing recaps of yesterday's gym battles and a look at the next few days and challengers to look out for. I was the most impressive battle, and there were multiple articles about it. I looked across the tent to see Leon sleeping peacefully. I stood up and quietly changed into a different shirt and pair of jeans, putting my varsity jacket back on. I grabbed my phone and tried to quietly slip out of the tent, but instead resulted in me tripping and falling, landing right on Leon's chest. He jolted awake.
"I'm so sorry," I said, pushing myself off of him.
"Its a good thing you're small, that would've hurt a lot worse if you were bigger," he said, slowly sitting up. His hat and cape were off, sitting beside him. His long purple hair was pulled out of his face.
"I'm sorry I woke you up, I tripped over something," I said, kind of in a panic of guilt.
"Don't worry about it, I probably should get up anyway,"
I scurried out of the tent and over to my pokemon, Popplio and Eevee thrilled to see me. I gave them some food before my phone rang.
"Sylvia!" A voice shouted from the other end. Imagine that, its Raihan.
"What?"
"What are you doing until next week for the next gym?"
"Train probably? Why?"
"Okay then you're coming to Wyndon,"
"What? Why?"
"Because there's tons there. And your dad said he was going to invite you up there anyways to catch up, plus you had a hell of a battle yesterday, why not give you and your pokemon a break anyway?"
"Okay what day?"
"Today, duh,"
"Alright then, time?"
"Well, I'm already up here, so whenever you can,"
"Okay then, let me pack up camp and I'll get a flying taxi. Wait, why are you already up there?"
"Meeting with the Chairman, and I was going to go talk to Leon about the gym challengers, it's kind of like a tradition, after the day he watches matches, we talk about anyone notable,"
"Well, how do you know Leon's there?" I was kind of conflicted between telling Raihan or not about us camping together, ultimately decided against it.
"Because one of his apartments are here," he said suspiciously.
"Oh right, duh. I'll text you when I'm almost in Wyndon, bye," I hurried up and hung up.
"Why are you going to Wyndon?" Leon asked. I jumped, not realizing he came out of the tent.
"Um, my dad," I said quickly.
"Oh okay," he said, going over to Charizard.
"What are you doing today?"
"Probably going up to Wyndon myself, I have a meeting this evening. I think Raihan and I are supposed to do something for lunch maybe, but I was going to watch a couple matches before going back up to Wyndon. Hey, you could come sit in the press box with me, it's a real view,"
"That sounds cool, but don't you think people would get the wrong idea about us?"
"No, I think they'd think we're friends," Leon said as he helped me pack up camp.My flying taxi arrived a bit after that.
About an hour later, I saw a huge bustling city in the distance. The taxi dropped me by Rose Tower, a giant tower my father owned. Raihan was standing outside of it, waving to me as I got off.
"Sup sweetheart, what do you think of the city?"
"Well, it's not as big as Lumiose, but definitely still pretty big,"
"Well, I bet you don't have anything like the Tower in Lumiose," Raihan said with a smirk as he crossed his arms. I copied the motion.
"Well, we have Prism Tower, which doubles as a gym,"
"There's a whole stadium here, made specifically for tournaments,"
"Whatever, you done trying to one up me?"
"Miss Sylvia?" A voice asked from behind Raihan. There was a tall lady with a long white coat and long bleach blonde hair.
"Yes?" I asked, surprised the lady knew my name.
"The Chairman is awaiting your presence, I'm his assistant, Oleana," she said.
I said a quick goodbye to Raihan, and followed Oleana through the lobby, where we went onto a gym elevator.
"How many floors are there?" I asked after a minute of silence.
"About 100," she said, staring straight forward with an unamused expression on her face. Finally, the elevator slowed to a stop, reaching a floor within the top levels. She lead me down the hall an extravagant office before leaving. I looked around, amazed by the office. There was no one else in there, I went over to the back of the office, which was simply a giant window. I looked out, realizing how dizzily high I was. Beyond the window was the whole city of Wyndon, I could see the famed stadium, and a giant ferris wheel, a park, and tons of skyscrapers. I guess it is comparable to the size of Lumiose. I turned around and saw a massively sized desk, different file folders sitting in a pile marked by category. I curiously flipped through, seeing things like propaganda, meeting minutes with each gym leader, wishing stars, research on legendary pokemon of the region, and finally, one that caught my interest; Ballonlea Gym. There was a folder for each gym, but the Ballonlea caught my interest. I glanced at the doorway to make sure no one was nearby before flipping through it. Records of how many challengers successfully beat my gran's gym in the entirety of her career. The management of the gym, all known previous gym leaders of the same gym, and much more. I got bored of all the useless facts about the gym and continued digging in the pile. I found a folder with gym leader prospects. The list consisted of multiple pages on each person, so I started to flip through. One was the obnoxious boy I met at the opening ceremony who said I'd never make anything of myself, apparently named Bede. Then there were 2 oddballs, named Avery and Klara, before a bunch of bland people. I put the folder back down after not seeing me in there. I sifted clear to the bottom of the folders, stumbled across energy conservation, dynamax phenomenon, the mines, one all about Leon, Macros Cosmos, finances, plans for the future, etc.
I heard footsteps come into the room as I stopped flipping.
"You certainly have a lot to deal with," I said, as I looked up, seeing exactly who I expected.
"That's what comes with owning and running just about the entire region," he said, coming over. "That's not even the half of it,"
"So, besides having a new gymleader soon, what else do you work on?"
"All sorts of stuff, ways to conserve energy and resources, advertising for the gym challenge and ways to continue engagement, keeping track of all the franchises I own, and a bunch of stuff I don't expect you to understand,"
I walked away from his desk and sat on one of the two couches that faced each other with a coffee table between. I sat my bag down beside it.
"Managing so much is definitely tiring, but it also ensures there's always money, and always something to improve," he said, sitting across from me.
"So, coming over here to work yourself to death seemed more appealing than staying somewhere you could see your own daughter?"
"Sylvia, not this again," he sighed. "When you were about 7, someone I knew stepped down as the chairman, making me a prime candidate for the next chairman. So I would gradually spend more time over here until 5 years ago I worked here full time. I felt as though I owed it to my family, as when I was young I worked in the mines here and did the gym challenge myself, so after moving away and coming back, it felt best to stay here,"
"Pretty much catering to yourself?"
"Some could perceive it as that, but I feel it as serving my home region,"
I stayed quiet, not sure what to say to that.
"Was there more to talk about?"I said, deciding to change the subject entirely.
"Plenty," he said, standing up and heading to his desk to grab a notebook and pen from a drawer. "First, general details about you becoming a gym leader soon. You're keeping the type?"
"Yeah, fairies work," I said, not giving thought to actually changing the type.
"Okay, after the gym challenge we'll set up an appointment to have you design your custom uniform and league card,"
From there, we went over random details pertaining to my taking over. It didn't sound like I was talking to my father but rather some random business man.
He then gave me a tour of major areas of the tower before ordering us some lunch. We ate in the same office.
"You did exceptionally well last night, it's been hard not to brag of you. But I'm trying my best to keep our relation on the down low, as requested,"
"Thank you, really. I know it must be hard to lie about family," I said quietly.
"I have a question,"
"Yes?"
"Am I still too young to have a boyfriend?"
My father's face dropped and he set his lunch down.
"Of course,"
"Regardless of who it is?"
"Yes,"
"Why is that?"
"Your mother and I were hardly 20 when we had you, and we struggled. So, if you have kids before you have an established career path, you're far more likely to fail, statistically speaking,"
"But just because I would be with someone doesn't automatically mean we'll have kids,"
"Doesn't matter, you give a boy an inch and he'll take a mile, its best for you to focus on yourself,"
"Okay, but what would you do if I had a boyfriend?"
My dad's eyes narrowed at me.
"You already have one, don't you? Who is it?"
"Why is it such a terrible thought to you?"
"You couldn't possibly understand,"
"I'm 17, not 7. I understand a lot more than you think,"
"Tell me who it is,"
"No one, it's simply a hypothetical question," I said as I leaned back on the couch. My dad cracked a small smile.
"You definitely are still as hard-head as ever," I didn't say anything in response.
Suddenly, there was a knock, and there was Oleana standing in the doorway.
"Mr. Chairman, Mr. Leon is here, as you requested," she said, as blank faced as before.
"Thank you, Oleana. Send him in,"
Oleana disappeared, and Leon came in. His eyes immediately landed on me. I turned around to where I couldn't see him.
"Boss? I thought the meeting was until this evening?"
"Well, I moved it up. I'll be back in a moment," my dad said as he left the room. I turned back around to face Leon.
"How's it going, champ?" Leon gave me a smile.
"Well, Raihan interrogated me about why I wasn't home this morning, so I said something about staying in Turrfield to watch matches,"
"I mean, you're not wrong,"
"Exactly. How are things going here?"
"Well, first it was a ton of stuff pertaining to me taking over the gym, then we argued, imagine that,"
"I'm sorry," he said, giving a sympathetic look.
"It's whatever. I should be used to it by now,"
I heard footsteps down the hall, so I quickly turned back around. My dad came back with some binder in his hand. I stood up upon seeing him.
"Should I leave?" I asked.
"You probably should. It won't take long. There's various break rooms down the hall and I can have someone come bring you back when this is over?"
I nodded, grabbing my bag and leaving my phone in the room before leaving. Once I sat down in the new room, I put my earbuds in to listen to the conversation between Leon and my father. First, was something about a champions match being held in Galar in a few months, where all the champions of the regions will come and have a tournament, seeing who the grand champion is. Next, was something about finding a recruit to collect wishing stars, and also saying that in return he wanted to become the next champion, so he'll let him challenge Leon, but there's 'no way he'll let him win.' Was my dad able to rig matches? Then there was a part about the wishing stars currently being experimented on in preparation for the renewal of nonrenewable resources. Finally, they talked of me.
"One last topic I wish to discuss," my dad said. "What do you think of my daughter?"
"What? I mean she's cool. We became friends quickly, and it's nice to have a friend who wants to know me for me rather than my champion status," Leon's voice sounded nervous, like he had to tread lightly.
"It's great that you get along with her. The day she came to the region she became fast friends with Raihan. I enlisted his help that same day to keep an eye on her, guide her, I suppose. Sometimes, she has this terrible judgement and is too stubborn to see an alternative choice. It worries me how careless she can be, so to ensure her safety and name, I want you to keep an eye on her, working with Raihan,"
"So, you want me to essentially be fake friends with her in order to keep her safe?"
"In a way, yes. There will be a bonus, of course,"
"No, absolutely not. I've done a lot for you, Rose, but I will not spy and give little reports on your daughter, do you have no respect for her at all? And I've already got more money than I'd ever know what to do with,"
"I don't trust her, she can be very irrational and irreasonable, and I don't want her to ruin her name due to it,"
"Have you ever thought that she may be like that because of you? Being left by her father at a young age?"
The room was silent for a minute.
"I know, which is why I must fix it,"
"Hiring people to spy on her won't fix anything. If she finds out, it'll probably drive her out of reach of you for good. How the hell did you get Raihan to agree to this?"
I've not heard Leon sound this angry, his voice started to raise.
"I threatened to revoke his position and tarnish his name to the point he'd have no choice but to leave. I can't do that to you because of obvious reasons,"
"If you don't trust her now, what makes you think you should have her be a gymleader?"
"Her being a gymleader was solely to get her back over here to me, I know she'll never be good enough to ever be worth a battle against. But having 1 weak gym is worth having my daughter back in my life,"
"You don't deserve her, you're selfish, and think absolutely nothing of her. I'm done here," Leon said. I could practically hear him storm out. I took my headphones out and tried to process what I had just heard. I knew my father wasn't great, but I never saw the lack of respect in my existence. Would Leon tell me what my father had said? Should I bring it up to him, revealing I was spying?
"Miss Sylvia," a voice said from behind me. A guy in a league staff uniform was at the door. "The Chairman has concluded his meeting and requests your return,"
I followed the guy back to my dad's extravagant office. I grabbed my phone from the table and put it in my back pocket, grabbing my bag and putting it on after.
"Where are you going?"
I faltered for a moment, conflicted on screaming at him or just leaving, seemingly unbothered. I figured it was best to pretend everything was okay for now.
"Raihan asked if I wanted to go look around the city here soon, so I was going to go," I said, putting up a fake persona.
"Oh, of course, go on, my dear," he said, giving me a hug before I went on my way. I texted Raihan in the elevator down, asking what he was doing. The elevator stopped a few floors below where I got on, where Oleana got on.
"You're lucky I don't tell the chairman," she said nonchalantly.
"What?"
"I knew exactly what you did, the whole phone recording the conversation. If you were anyone except his daughter you would immediately be reported, but I'll let it slide, you just can't repeat anything heard on that meeting,"
"I didn't do anything," I said, trying my best to sound like I had no idea of what she was talking about.
"Of course you didn't," she said, a cocky smirk appearing across her face.  "What a shame, you are,"
"Is that his newest opinion of me?"
"No, it's my opinion of you. What a pretty girl, you are. You could make so much of yourself,  easily becoming a model or actress. It's a shame such a beautiful young girl like you will make nothing of herself except becoming a useless gymleader,"
"You're a bitch, and two can play at that game," I turned my whole body towards her. "I can bat my eyelashes at my rich father and get him to do whatever I want, but I don't normally do that. You may be an exception to that, though," I felt a smirk of my own come on. Her rock-hard expression fell. I gave a sweet smile as the elevator door opened. I'm not some fragile snowflake like everything thinks.
"You'll regret this, child. Being a spoiled brat doesn't help you come out on top," she said angrily as she stormed out.
I looked down at my phone to see Raihan had texted me back.
Raihan- Wyndon stadium, why
Me- how do I get there
Raihan- take the monorail from the tower straight east and you'll find it. Is a short trip
I found the monorail station pretty close, taking it over to the stadium. I went inside, and was immediately stopped by league staff. I called Raihan, and he came to the lobby, escorting me to the battlefield where he was with all of his pokemon out.
"You're being too quiet," he noted as we went out on to the battle field. I shrugged my shoulders, still trying to process everything I just heard and how much of it to use or pretend I didn't hear. I was also afraid if I started talking I'd spill out everything in a moment's notice. I looked up at Raihan after a minute, noticing a strange look on his face.
"Did your morning with your dad not go well?" He asked, sounding unsure of asking, almost as if he were treading lightly. In response I shrugged again. Raihan then grabbed my wrist and lead me over to a bench placed on the sideline of the battlefield.
"Come on, sweetheart. Talk to me, you're being too quiet," he urged.
"What's there to talk about?" I felt strongly mixed emotions towards Raihan due to him practically spying on me, but he was also being forced too, his career riding on it. I let out a small sigh.
"Did something happen that upset you or conflicted you?" Raihan still seemed to tread lightly.
"Kind of,"
"Is it something you want to talk about?"
"I don't know,"
"Well, it's seeming to really bother you, you're normally a lot bubblier and talkative than this,"
"I'm not supposed to know it, so I don't know if I can repeat it," I said, hoping he'd let it be.
"Well, the whole field is bugged to hear the competitors talk during the battle, we can go somewhere that isn't bugged to talk if you want," his loud and borderline arrogant tone dropped down quieter than I thought he was capable of. Guilt took over, thinking of what he had to do with me against his will and now taking away from his training time.
"No, it's okay. You should continue to train, I just needed somewhere to go besides the tower,"
"We're finishing up soon, I've been here for a bit," Raihan said as he stood up, going back over to his pokemon. I stayed on the bench, being heavily conflicted on who I could talk to or trust. Truth was, I didn't know who I could trust at this point. My mother and grandmother were definitely off limits, they don't seem to understand anything I say. Who knows what my father would do if he knew what I heard. I don't know how Leon would react to my spying, as well as hearing his unfiltered, genuine reaction to something, especially compared to the persona he puts out to the world. Now that leaves Raihan. He wouldn't judge me for my eavesdropping, and would understand Leon's unfiltered reaction, and give some insight into my father's plans. I could also try to help him manage my father, and he could tell me what he knows about the company as a whole. I decided I would talk to Raihan about it once we got to a safe location. Until then, I couldn't say a word of it.
Raihan finally took a selfie with all of his pokemon before calling them back into their pokeballs.
"Ready to go?" He asked coming over to the bench. I nodded my head, and he lead me back to the lobby and out of the stadium.
"There's a park a few blocks down, I know a part that no one is ever really around," Raihan said. "You're really not very talkative today," I shook my head in response. "You're actually worrying me Sylvia," his tone changing from his usual relaxed tone to a serious and quiet one. I looked up into his eyes, which had turned concerned from their usual brightness.
"I'm sorry," I said softly. We continued to walk until we made it to the giant park, and Raihan lead me through it to a quiet area with a bench.
"Okay, now what's going on?" Raihan asked. I took a deep breath and let my guard down, telling him all about what I heard about me between Leon and my father.
"Okay, wow," Raihan said, shocked at everything I poured out. "Okay, can I explain myself first? Rose asked me about 2 weeks before you came here to help you reconnect with him, and I agreed because he said I'd get some extra money to send to my grandma. Then, he started to call a weekly meeting, solely about you, and if I didn't give some sort of report, he'd make some huge scandal involving me and force me to leave. I had no choice, and I've not given him a real report yet, all made up. I'm a pretty genuine person, so it felt pretty damn awful to have to pretend. But I like hanging out with you, so I tried to keep it seperate,"
"I'm not mad at you. I know you were forced to do it all," I sighed, leaning back.
"Okay, what else do you need explained?"
"Why did Leon stick up for me like that, and does he have multiple sides depending if he's in the spotlight?"
"Hell no, you always get the same Leon, unless he's sick or upset. The Leon you described sounded like he was not happy with what your dad thinks of you, probably because he really likes you and he hates it when people think absolutely nothing of others. In fact, Leon doesn't get along well with Rose because of it. I mean, he normally just goes with whatever Rose says to avoid conflict, but this must have really bothered him for him to fight it,"
"And then my dad's assistant,"
"Don't even get me started on her, no one can stand her. But we're also like 95% sure that she is sleeping with Rose, sorry for the tmi,"
"Well, she'd definitely be great at being the evil stepmother," I said, finally cracking a smile. Raihan returned it before putting a hand on my should.
"Look, I'm sorry about not telling you about my forced position. And about what you heard from your father, and if anything, use it for motivation. Make him regret he ever said it,"
"Thanks, and I don't blame you for my dad at all," I said, glumly thinking how lowly my father thought of me. "It just doesn't make any sense, one minute I'm his favorite person and the next he's speaking so little of me," I said, truly accepting what I heard. I sagged my head a bit as I felt my eyes start to swell.
"Oh no, here comes the waterworks," Raihan said, sounding panicked.
"I can't help it," I said softly, trying to desperately not to cry.
"None of what your dad says is true, Sy. You're already a hell of a trainer and you've been at it for like 5 minutes. And being spontaneous is just part of your personality, nothing of a burden," Raihan said, trying to stop me from crying. I smiled a bit at his lame attempt.
"You really can't deal with people crying, can you?" I said, lightening myself up.
"Nope. A girl starts crying and I freeze," he said sheepishly. I laughed a little more.
"I think I'm alright now,"
"Good," Raihan said as he relaxed. "I deal great with a lot of things, but comforting an upset person isn't my strength,"
"I mean, you're pretty damn good at comforting me,"
"That's different, I don't have to try. It feels almost natural,"
"I really need to learn to control my emotions, how guys do it?"
"Honestly, I try to just not think about stuff that bothers me until I'm outta the public eye. If I show any negative emotion, the media will be all over it, calling me weak. Leon, on another hand, can get away with just about anything in the eyes of the press,"
"Really? Why him and not you?"
"Easy, he's superior to me. For being a guy, he's quite emotional. But everyone sees it as passion for battling and pokemon, everything he shows out of passion, regardless of the cause of it. If I have the essence of confidence or not caring, then I'll still be seen as a rival to Leon,"
"The media sucks,"
"Got that right,"
"You bring up Leon a lot, is there some sort of bromance?"
"What? No, he just happens to be the only trustworthy friend I've got," I cracked a smile. The smile faded again as my father's words came back to mind. "What?" Raihan noticed my expression change.
"Nothing, I just can't stop thinking about what my dad said,"
"Sweetheart, I mean this in the nicest way possible, but if you want to actually prove him wrong, you're going to have to toughen up. Not get so offended by everything, learn to let it roll right off ya, don't let them know it bothers you. Reporters eat that stuff up,"
"How do I do that? How do you do it?"
"Tell myself I don't care,"
"But I do care,"
"Convince yourself you don't,"
"How do I-"
"It's something you've gotta figure out yourself. It's a tough world out there, sweetheart," Raihan said with a sympathetic look.
That conversation stuck with me. Adversity would hit and I'd think of that very conversation.