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photochoco · 4 years

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The Protagonist

Leon’s lil bro has a best friend. She’s...too good at Pokemon. She’s never lost a battle, and the normal rules of raising them doesn’t seem to apply to her. It’s a phenomenon Leon himself is all too familiar with, and he will NOT let her feel alone like he did.

--- Leon looked around restlessly. Oh boy. He really was pants with directions, even he could admit that, but he was certain she would be around here, Hop had said as much. He heard a sniffle come from behind a large pile of rocks.

Ah.

He peeked around it and saw a familiar beret-topped wave of brunette hair. He silently thanked the Poke’ Gods that his lil bro knew how much his best friend loved to wear berets. The last few times he had seen her, she seemed just as chipper as Hop. But right now she was curled up against the stone, her knees drawn up to her chest and her face buried in her arms. Not at all chipper.

He knelt down in front of her, cape swishing. “Gloria?”

The young girl’s head shot up, revealing a blotchy face and watering eyes. She sniffled again and hurriedly wiped her cheeks. Leon offered a comforting smile.

“Hey kiddo. What’s got ya down? Did you lose a battle?” he asked.

Gloria looked away, and Leon wasn’t sure if that was confirmation or not. His worries made him hope it was the case.

“Don’t let it get you down, even the best Trainers have to lose a couple. The important thing is--” “I didn’t,” a tiny voice interrupted the Champion.

“Ah- oh?” “I won. Hope challenged me to a battle again, and I won. Again,” Gloria mumbled.

Leon cocked his head in visible confusion, but his insides were already starting to squirm with long-harbored suspicions. Even still, he played the unwitting one.

“Huh. Well, I wouldn’t think that’d be a reason for tears now,” he said.

Gloria’s grip on her arms tightened and her brow furrowed. She looked like she was struggling to decide if she wanted to say something.

“...Can you keep a secret?” she finally asked.

“Of course I can,” Leon replied immediately. “I may be garbage with directions, but I can keep a secret.” Gloria took a breath.

“I think there’s something wrong with me. I don’t think I’m normal. Or maybe my...maybe my Pokemon aren’t normal? Every person I come across who challenges me to a battle, I beat them easily. My Pokemon are always several levels higher than anyone else’s, and they...they level up faster, too. People are always telling me how hard it can be to raise a Pokemon, and how it’s even harder to balance raising a full team of 6. I had a full team of 6 by the first Gym, and I never had any trouble with it! And Hop...every time he fights me, I beat him so easily, even though I know he trains as hard as, if not harder than me. So why am I so far ahead of him? Why am I so far ahead of everybody?”

Her eyes start to water, threatening to spill over.

“Hop, and two other Challengers, B-Bede and M-Marnie...they all decided to be my rivals so they could beat me someday. And they all have something to gain and lose in this tournament. Marnie wants to help her hometown. Bede was endorsed by Mr. Rose, apparently. He wants to prove Mr. Rose’s faith was well placed. And Hop…” she trailed off, like she didn’t want to say the reason. Leon knew, but he didn’t say anything. He’d known for a while.

“But they haven’t beaten me yet, none of them have ever come close. And I...I d-don’t-- think they ever will. I like my rivals, they’re my friends, battling them is fun. But every time I win, I can see them grow a little more frustrated. Every time I win and they lose, they wonder what they’re doing wrong. I don’t want-- I don’t--”

The tears started to flow now, as fast as the words from the young girl’s mouth.

“W-Wh-hat if they--wh-at i-f they h-h-hate me? What if they d-d-don’t like m-me an-nymore because I-- because I alw-ways win? What if Hop starts to hate me? What if--” “Hey hey hey kiddo, slow down. Take a deep breath c’mon now, you’re gonna make yourself silly. Here.” Leon offered the edge of his cape, and Gloria dabbed at her swollen watery eyes, sniffling.

“Am I a-- a b-bad person for always wh-wh-winning?” Gloria whispered. Leon sighed.

“No. You’re not a bad person Gloria. But unfortunately, your unusual talent for Pokemon training and battling isn’t normal.” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “You might’ve figured this out already but I think you’re a Protagonist.”

Gloria stiffened. “How did you- how do you know about--” Leon chuckled. “Why do you think I’m the Unbeatable Champion, kid? My battle style of not holding back is because I’m literally incapable of it. Even if I try to hold back, I still win. And lemme tell ya, it has been a blessing and a curse.”

“So...so you knew? About this, about me, being a...Protagonist?” Gloria asked. “Weeelllll...I had an inkling. When I saw all your Gym matches so far, and how easily you won...it reminded me of myself when I was doing the Gym Challenge. At first I thought I just had a talent, but when I started hearing about how other Trainers more skilled than me had lost matches while I hadn’t, I started to wonder if I was more than just talented. And just like you, Raihan and Sonia, my own rivals, never beat me.” Leon seated himself next to Gloria, leaning against the rock. “I understand how difficult this must be for you, Gloria. When I was your age, I sometimes squabbled with my rivals because they grew frustrated they couldn’t beat me, especially Sonia. I think Raihan was just as frustrated, but he’s never really shown it.” He caught Gloria’s distraught look and quickly held up his hands. “W-We’re all still really good friends though, don’t worry! It’s good to have rivals, but we all found other things to strive for other than beating each other in battles. Though her gran initially pushed her into it, I think Sonia really enjoys the work she does now. She was always the smartest of the three of us. The point is,” Leon continued, putting a comforting arm around Gloria’s shoulders, “It’s true, you didn’t ask for this. And it’ll be up to you what you do with this ability, it can be both a blessing and a curse. A double-edged sword, if you will. You can’t lose if you try, but if you don’t try, are you really respecting your abilities and those of your opponents?” “But! If I don’t hold back, they’ll never beat me! It doesn’t matter because I’ll always win, no matter how skilled they get!” Gloria nearly shouted in her protest.

Leon’s mouth twisted and he closed his eyes, clearly thinking hard about his reply. “I’m no good at fancy talk, but think about it like this. You may not think it matters, but your rivals probably look up to you as something to attain. Even if it’s impossible for them, it pushes them far beyond what they would normally be capable of. Even in the world of Pokemon training, like any other craft, perfection is impossible, but something all people strive towards. It’s what we do as humans. People like you and I are just...a little closer than everyone else. But we aren’t perfect either. Think about what you want to use your gift for. After a lot of thought, I decided I wanted to maintain my status as an unbeatable Champion after seeing how inspired it made people.” Gloria’s eyes were still watering and she looked up at him, tearful. Even though she was Hop’s age and less than half Leon’s, she looked very small.

“...Am I a bad person for feeling so ungrateful like this?” she asked in a tiny voice. “No,” Leon answered immediately. “You’re just a kid, Gloria. I was just a kid, too. And looking back, I wish I had someone to help me understand why I was too good at Pokemon. You’ll always have your mom, and you’ll always have Hop, too. You two rascals grew up together; even when he acts frustrated after losing, he cares about you too much to let this get in the way of your friendship. So chin up, okay kiddo?”

Leon draped part of his cape over Gloria’s head and offered another grin, this one much wider. Gloria returned it with a watery one of her own. Leon opened his arm out. “C’mere squirt.” Gloria practically fell into Leon’s side, burying her face in the fluffy fringe of his cape and hugging him tightly.

“You’ll be fine, Gloria. You got your Pokemon, you got Hop, and now you got me, too. If you ever want someone to talk to about this, give me a ring. I’ll always try to make time if you need it.”

Gloria let go and sat up, wiping away the last of her tears. “Think you might have some time to eat some curry? I got some new ingredients,” she said. “Now that sounds like a champion idea! Howsabout you call Hop too, and we can all cook together. The more fans and ladles in the cauldron, the tastier!”

---

A friend and I had this inside joke that all player characters in Pokemon are probably REALLY weird to all the NPC’s because they have BPE (Big Protagonist Energy), like running around wildly, standing in one place for a long time, never emoting, and being ridiculously OP compared to everyone else. It’s often said by NPC’s that raising a team of 6 Pokemon is super hard but as the protag it’s super easy, you also usually don’t lose battles ever if you train enough. (I’ve only lost a battle once to an NPC in all my years of playing.) I then realized that a lot of the qualities of The Protagonist also apply to Leon from SWSH, and I fell in love with the idea of him realizing there’s another Protagonist in Galar, and how he reacts, as detailed in this post here. In my own playthrough I felt pretty bad about constantly beating my rivals with absolutely minimal effort cuz they were really trying and had something to prove from beating me.

So then of course I had to write about him confronting a very conflicted Gloria and comforting her and offering advice, gaining a Baby Sister in the process. That being said do NOT tag this as LeonxGloria or LeonxYuumi or whatever, this is NOT a ship fic and in this iteration Gloria is a literal kid and Leon is an adult.

#erika writes #writing #pokemon #pokemon swsh #pokemon fanfic #fanfic #pokemon gloria #pokemon leon #Protagonist #pokemon sword and shield #sword and shield #swsh #text

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