"Ahhh—Ughhh—Waaaah! So annoying! So annoying!"
"Paul! Paul! Paul! When are you going to show up?!"
"You said you'd be here in a week to battle!"
"Hurry up and get over here!"
…
Outside the Battle Pyramid, a girl in a beret—Leanne was wailing like a banshee, clinging to her Nidoking's leg as she vented all her frustration toward a certain someone.
Her cries, so full of grievance and longing, echoed through the empty woods like a ghostly lament… and wouldn't you know it, they finally reached the ears of that very someone.
"You looking for me?"
Emerging from the forest, Paul, stoic as ever, walked out with Chimchar at his side, expression blank as he stared at the distraught girl who looked like she'd just been ghosted by her crush.
"Ah?! Paul! You're finally here!"
Leanne looked up, face contorted in melodramatic misery, but the moment she saw Paul, a wave of joy burst from her face, only for her to immediately remember her earlier breakdown and scowl in embarrassment.
"What took you so long?!"
"You said you'd come challenge Pyramid King Brandon in a week. It's been nearly two!"
"You made me wait so painfully long!"
Paul calmly walked toward the familiar Battle Pyramid, responding flatly, "So what, you've wasted another week or two hanging around here?"
"I did not! I didn't slack off at all!" Leanne shot him a glare. "I trained hard the whole time! Sometimes even Mr. Brandon helped me practice. My team's gotten way stronger! If I battled him again now, I definitely wouldn't lose that badly!"
"Oh, really."
Paul replied with utter indifference and even shook his head slightly, almost like he was disappointed—but not in her. Not exactly.
It wasn't that he looked down on Leanne. It's just, he'd become so much stronger than before.
After all, while everyone else had still been grinding away at training, he'd already traveled to an alternate world, fought alongside Akari to save that world, and even captured one of its most powerful Pokémon.
Though he couldn't bring it back because Dialga was busy maintaining the timeline in Hisui, the sheer gap between their strength now was like a chasm, utterly unbridgeable.
"Huh? What's with that face? That tone?" Leanne snapped, catching his headshake and feeling slighted. But when Paul ignored her question entirely, she turned her attention to the little fire monkey sticking close to him.
"Is this your new Pokémon, Paul?"
"…"
"I recognize it. It's a Sinnoh starter—Chimchar, right?"
"…"
"Those aren't easy to find in Kanto. Did you take a trip back to Sinnoh recently?"
Paul: "..."
Leanne: "..."
"Hey, little guy." Leanne smiled slyly, trying to charm the Chimchar. "Why'd you choose him? He's so cold and boring. Wanna come train with me instead? My Pokémon are all super friendly and reliable!"
"Yah!" Chimchar shook its head without hesitation. The older team members had already warned it: don't trust random strangers.
"You don't believe me? Fine, I'll show you!"
She tossed all her Poké Balls. Aside from Nidoking, the other five were all Poison-types, and every one of them glared with icy, murderous intent like they were a second away from attacking.
"Yahh!!"
'This is what you call friendly?!'
Chimchar's eyes widened in horror. Suddenly, all the warnings made sense. With a stiff turn of the head, it pretended Leanne didn't even exist.
"N-No, wait—it's not like that…" Leanne reached out helplessly, but Paul and Chimchar were already walking away.
"Cha-ba~"
"Nido~"
"Bzzz…"
"..."
'Trainer, if you could've just talked less, maybe they wouldn't have completely ignored you…'
Her Pokémon exchanged glances, sighed in unison, and shuffled over to group-hug Leanne with a dose of emotional support.
"…Alright. Let's go watch Paul's battle."
Revitalized by their shared bond, Leanne perked back up, leading her team into the Battle Pyramid.
They encountered no obstacles on the way and quickly arrived at the battlefield, just in time to see Paul and Brandon standing across from each other.
"Hurry, hurry! Find a spot and sit. The battle's about to start."
Scott, appearing from seemingly nowhere, waved Leanne over to sit with him and watch the match.
"Ah! Okay!"
Leanne quickly obeyed, finding a place with her team.
"Mr. Brandon, sorry to keep you waiting."
Paul spoke up from the battlefield.
"A brief wait is nothing. But I hope you've brought the strength to make this battle worthwhile." Brandon replied, arms crossed, his tone was serious.
"Yes. I've been preparing for this fight for a long time."
Paul's voice was resolute.
"I look forward to it."
Brandon nodded.
Off to the side, Leanne leaned toward Scott and whispered, "Do you think Paul can win?"
"No idea. Against other Frontier Brains? Definitely. But Brandon? You saw it yourself, he's different."
Scott shook his head.
"Yeah… Wally, Calem, Rosa, Gary, and even me—we've all got the skill to beat other Frontier Brains, but Mr. Brandon is on another level…"
Leanne hadn't just been loitering around the Battle Pyramid for the past two weeks. She'd challenged Brandon herself and watched several other top trainers fall—Calem, Wally, Rosa, etc., were defeated by Brandon.
Those three Regis—Regirock, Regice, Registeel—were solidly at Champion-level, far beyond what their newly elevated Elite-level teams could match.
The others could accept defeat, dust themselves off, and look forward to the next challenge.
But Gary Oak? He had it the worst.
He'd gotten cocky, thinking he could prove himself by taking on the Battle Frontier—and not only lost to Brandon, but then also got steamrolled by Wally, Calem, and Rosa right afterward. Four losses in a row.
Then, when his eyes were bloodshot and he challenged Leanne as if clinging to his last shred of pride, she couldn't bring herself to hold back. Her team helped him earn the full five-loss streak achievement.
She remembered how, at the end of that last battle, Gary's hands were trembling as he reached for his Poké Balls—eyes vacant and unfocused. In the end, she had Nidoking escort him to the nearest Pokémon Center to lie down.
Not that she felt any guilt about it.
Sure, Leanne looked like a carefree flake most of the time, but when it came to battling and her dream of becoming a Champion, she was serious. A real battle meant giving it your all—no going easy.
She just hoped Gary would be okay after all that.
(End of Chapter)
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