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

14

I ended up camping for the night and traveled back to Motostoke the next day, where I stayed in the Budew Drop Inn for the remainder of the week. My second day there, I ventured to the left of the city for some training. I brought out both pokemon, working long and hard with them throughout the course of the crisp fall day.
We were about to finish up in the late afternoon when my Popplio started acting weird and glowing. I put Eevee on my shoulder and went over to my poor overworked pokemon.
"Buddy, you okay?" I said in a worried tone to him as I crouched to his level. He suddenly released some burst of energy, causing me to jump back. I threw my hands in front of my face and ducked for cover. Eevee jumped behind me. I glanced back to see a silhouette of Popplio through some sort of glowing magic in the air. After a second of this, a pokemon reappeared and the glow faded. This pokemon wasn't Popplio though. It looked pretty similar. Popplio had evolved.
"B-brionne?" I mumbled, stuck in awe. The newly evolved pokemon chirped in response before dragging himself over to me. I excitedly picked him up and gave him a hug, babbling about how proud I was of him. I felt like a proud mother seeing the pokemon I've had for years just now evolving. I pulled my phone out and set it against a rock to take a timer photo of me and Brionne to send to my mom. The timer went off and a flash signified the picture. I sat down Brionne to look at the picture taken, only to see we had been photo bombed by some wild pokemon! On the ground beside me was an orange pokemon with white fluff. I looked around to see if I could find the pokemon, low and behold it was a wild growlithe that was stalking me from behind a tree.
I made eye contact with it and the pokemon cocked its head before happily crying out to me. It ran over and started rubbing against my leg. I guess wild pokemon really like me, because that's how Eevee treated me too. I have yet to encounter a dangerous wild pokemon.
I reached down to pet the growlithe, purring and nuzzling into my touch. Eevee and Brionne came over to greet the new pokemon too.
"Ooh! I know! You can join the team!" I said excitedly. I reached into my bag, looking for an unoccupied pokeball, only to find that I had none. I frowned as I took out Eevee and Brionne's pokeballs and called them back. I set them in my bag and slung it over my should before heading back to the growlithe and picking it up.
"We'll just go buy a pokeball for you," I said cheerfully. Growlithe nuzzled into my chest as I carried the pokemon back towards the city and to the Budew Drop Inn. I went into my room, letting out my other pokemon before feeling my phone buzz about 500 times. I guess I didn't have service on it until just now. I had plenty of messages and notifications, but went straight to me camera to take another timer picture. I positioned myself in the floor, with Eevee on my shoulder, Brionne beside me and Growlithe between my legs. Afterward, I went onto my Instagram to post the picture, seeing I had a follow request from thechamp_1. I smiled to myself. Leon.
I accepted and followed back, seeing he had hundreds of thousands of followers. Surprisingly, he had very few posts. Maybe this was just surprising to me because of Raihan's social media addiction and his 1300 posts. I posted the picture of me and my pokemon, captioning something about a new pokemon and an evolved pokemon, yadda yadda. I then left my three pokemon out of pokeballs (spoiler alert: big mistake) and went to go to the pokemon center down the street. I bought a few because, well, I had absolutely none, and went back to my hotel room, only to find it completely and utterly destroyed, my maniacal pokemon running around and firing attacks at one another. I quickly called Eevee and Brionne into their pokeballs and grabbed a new one for Growlithe. I set the pokeballs down and admired the destruction. Walls gashed from attacks, chairs and couch legs broken, mattress on the bed ripped. I sighed and sunk against the door, unsure of what to do. I opened up my phone and finally looked through my messages.
Raihan- newly evolved still couldn't beat my dragons
Also Growlithe isn't a fairy type sweetheart
Me- we'll see about that. And so what, she chose me
Raihan- so that's how you form a team? You just let whatever one's take a liking to you join?
Me- pretty much
Raihan- it's about precision, carefully picking out your pokemon based on abilities and compatibility with the rest of the team, searching endlessly for the perfect team
Me- like you'd know. You're not the best in trainer in Galar. Also you type entirely too fast
Raihan- ouch sweetheart. And its one of my many talents
I laughed to myself, temporarily forgetting that I had to deal with the consequences of a destroyed hotel room. I then saw texts from Leon.
Leon- love the new addition, as well as the evolved addition. Watch out Galar
Me- thanks lol
Leon- I tried to get ahold of you earlier but now I've realized you were out all day?
Me- correct. What've you been up to?
Leon- standing watch with Charizard for some crazy labwork beneath Hammerlocke Stadium. Rose insisted in case something went wrong
Me- what was he working on
Leon- like I'd know, he's always doing something like this whether it's for his company or furthering Dynamaxing. Pretty dangerous stuff
Me- of course it is. I have an important question
Leon- and that is?
Me- what happens if for some reason hotel property gets damaged
Leon- my guess is you have to pay
Me- that's what I thought
Leon- what did you do
Me- I may or may not have left 3 pokemon out of their pokeballs unattended for a short period of time
Leon- doesn't seem like a good idea
Me- I figured that out
Leon- your dad could probably get you out of it. He owns the hotel
Me- but I always told myself I didn't want to be the girl always falling back on my dad's money
Leon- if the resource is there, may as well use it. He'd probably be delighted to hear from you
Me- fine. Completely unrelated, but when are you taking me out
I felt my cheeks heat up and my heart beat faster as I sent the message.
Leon- soon
Me- I need more than that
Leon- nope :) let me know what happens with your room
I sighed and set my phone down for a minute before ultimately deciding to call my dad. I tried to think of some angle to avoid this turning into some lecture. I gave up and clicked my dad's contact information and called him. It rang twice before him picking up.
"Rose's phone," he said in a calm voice. I took a deep breath.
"Hey dad, it's me," I mumbled nervously, feeling my palms starting to sweat.
"Sylvia, hello darling. What've you been up to since we last spoke?"
"Um, just some training. I caught a new pokemon,"
"Wonderful, I always knew you had a dedicated trainer inside of you!" He said proudly. He seemed genuinely pleased with me, and it almost hurt me to have to drop back down after this milestone. I paused before speaking again.
"So, uh," I fumbled over how to start.
"Is something the matter?"
"Well, yeah,"
"Are you in trouble? Hurt? Lost?" He said, an immediate tone shift to concerned. At least it appeared that he cared about my wellbeing. I guess that's something.
"Me doing something stupid counts as trouble?" I asked, bracing myself for whatever he would say back. I was answered with a sigh.
"What did you do?" He already sounded annoyed with me. Surprise, surprise.
"Terrible judgment on my part, but there's a chance that I went to the pokemon center and left my pokemon out in my room at the Budew Drop Inn, and they did some slight damage," I said as lightly as possible.
"Sylvia-" he started.
"Yes I know, awful judgement and irresponsibility on my part, but can you help?"
Another disappointed sigh.
"Getting into a taxi now. I'll be there in less than half an hour,"
"How are you getting here so fast?"
"I have my own personal taxi, fastest and most efficient Corviknight in all of Galar, I'll come up and get you once I get there," he said firmly before hanging up. I leaned back against the door.
Me- he's pissed
Leon- I bet. What's going on with the room
Me- well he's flying down here right now, I guess they're going to fix it and I'll get a different room for the night?
Leon- probably
I stood up and went to gather up the few things I had out, and mindlessly scrolled through social media until I heard a knock at my door. I moved my bag beside the door as I opened it, revealing my father in his normal gray suit, followed by a few guys in hardhats who immediately pushing into the room.
"Let's go," was all I heard from my dad. I picked up my bag and started down the hall with him.
"Go where?"
"Wyndon,"
"Can't I just get another room for the night?"
"There are not any vacant rooms tonight, so we're going to my suite,"
"But I could just camp-"
"You're coming with me, end of discussion," his face showed no signs of amusement, just pure annoyance. At least my mom would've been nice about it.
"You do realize that I'm not 7 anymore, right?"
"You sure act like you're 7. Enough now, Sylvia," he said as he guided me up to the roof and into the cab. He let me in first before coming in beside me. We sat quietly for a moment before I broke the silence.
"I'm sorry, okay? I know that what I did was irresponsible, and I'm sorry for always disappointing you. I'm not perfect. But could you at least pretend I'm not some annoying burden any time I mess up?" my voice dying out at the end. I glanced up to see my dad's expression finally soften up, reflecting some sympathy.
"You don't disappoint me, why would you think that?"
"You left me. You think of me as reckless and can't trust me with anything. If I'm not perfect, you get super frustrated like I'm some little robot you should be able to control. It feels like I'm only around again to strength your image and not our relationship!" I rambled on, not stopping for a breath throughout. I looked up in realization at what I just said. My father refused to look at me and glanced out the window. I didn't bother trying to correct myself, my true opinions came out whether I wanted it to or not.
The rest of the ride was silent. We landed swiftly on top of a building. I was lead down to the top floor, which was a single hallway dividing 2 massive suites, and at the end of the hall was the elevator. I was guided in to one of the suites, intimidated by how grand and elegant it was. My dad started to walk away when I stopped him.
"Wait, dad?" I called, preparing myself to try and talk my way out of what I'd said on the ride. He turned around, barely making eye contact with me.
"Your room is down that hall at the very end, good night," was all he said before disappearing to the other end of the suite. I cautiously walked down the hall and to my designated room, which was a spin on my room when I was 7. My heart seemed to stop as I was immediately taken back to being a young child again, caring of nothing, my father being my hero. The walls were a pastel blue, various posters of fictional characters covered them. There was a basket of stuffed animals, a shelf full of coloring books and miscellaneous toys. My bedding was all white, with a stuffed Pokemon on my bed, a copperajah. My father's ace pokemon, and my favorite of his when I was little. I sat my bag down and carefully observed the room. Maybe, just maybe, my father wasn't heartless. Maybe he truly missed me and loves me. Maybe he had no choice but to leave me and my mother behind. Maybe I really didn't understand what has happened. On the other, maybe he only loves 7 year old me and not the present me.
I flopped myself on the bed, it being one of the comfiest mattresses I'd ever felt. I pulled my phone out and called Leon.
"Hey,"
"Hey, how'd things go?"
"Not great, I'm currently in Wyndon,"
"Really?"
"Yeah, he said there were no more rooms in the Budew Drop Inn so I'm at his suite, in a knockoff of my 7 year old bedroom,"
"That's some gesture, right there,"
"I'm having very mixed feelings about this room,"
"How so? I personally think it's some kind of insight into him. Like the fact that he remembers your childhood room and made it a point to redo it, even though there wasn't a guarantee of you ever seeing it. Almost like, an underlying hope,"
"Well, thanks for the psychoanalysis of my father. I feel like even more of a jerk. I thought of it as him saying he loves 7 year old me but not me now. I also might have yelled at him on the way here,"
"So what actually happened, dramatic soap opera behavior?"
"Not really, actually. He said I was acting like a child. But also that I'm not a disappointment. I feel like I might have genuinely hurt," I said, ignoring his attemp to lighten the situation.
"I'm sorry, Sylvia. Maybe try talking to him? But you should probably wait until tommorow, let things cool off,"
"That sounds smart,"
"It's just like when Raihan throws a temper tantrum when he loses to me. Just let it be until tommorow,"
"Wait, he throws temper tantrums when he loses?"
"It's quite amusing. I'll try to shake his hand after a match and he'll just ignore me and act like a child toward me for the rest of the day,"
"Why am I not surprised?" I said with a laugh. "I can't wait until I beat him and witness this for myself,"
"You sound like you're in a better mood now,"
"Yes, I am. Thank you for this,"
"Anytime, Sylvia. I'm going to bed now, so I'll talk to you tomorrow," and then the line went dead.
I changed into pajamas and quickly fell asleep myself.