Chapter Text
“I didn’t really expect that there would be remnants of other teams here in Hoenn, too,” Taylor sighs, stroking her Espeon’s ears gently. Her Espeon trills where it sits beside her, its tail waving as it senses the emotions in the room.
“Me neither, but I guess it makes sense,” Leon nods, taking his hat off and sitting on one of the two beds in their treetop hostel. His Umbreon nestles closer to him, and he pets it automatically. “If people were willing to dedicate their lives to these teams - Aqua and Magma, right? - then of course they would be reluctant to give up the cause.” He sighs and flops back on his bed, looking up at the ceiling. “Truthfully, I don’t understand at all how essentially torturing Pokemon and making them go Shadow aligns with whatever they believe in. But I guess that’s what we’ve got to figure out, right?” He asks, turning his head to allow his gaze to find hers.
Taylor takes in a sharp breath, glancing away. Truthfully, she’d much prefer the opportunity to figure things out on her own.
But, of course, there was her past to consider. Leon had been essential to vouch for her - not only to get into Hoenn, but at quite a few places along the way, too. It almost stung, how infamous she’d become. All because she thought she had believed in something about Team Plasma, once.
“Yeah, guess so,” is all she says instead, and gives Leon a grimace that is almost meant to be a smile. He interprets it as one, though, and gives her the best smile he can summon up in return.
It’s not as dazzling as usual, and Taylor wonders if that’s because he’s not putting on a show for the media, or because his spirits are genuinely dampened after the first few encounters with Shadow Pokemon they’d had.
Taylor pushes both thoughts out of her mind and swings her feet up onto her bed, too, pulling Espeon under the covers with her. The windows are open to their room, and a breeze blows through the trees of Fortree City, stirring her hair slightly. The air is fresh and soothing, and outside, Volbeat and Illumise dance, lighting up the sky, blissfully oblivious to the danger brewing in their homeland below.
“Are you…doing okay?” Leon asks carefully. “After everything?”
It’s a loaded question, and it sounds like he’s completely aware that it is. Taylor grimaces again, but this time, where nobody can see it.
For all the ways that Blue had tried to prepare her and Leon for this mission, it still came as a shock, the first time she saw a Shadow Pokemon. The way they were driven borderline insane by the dark energy within them, the unnatural boost in power and aggressiveness - the plaintive cries they made as they were ordered to battle…
Everything about them is wrong .
“Okay enough,” Taylor says, biting back tears. She wishes Leon would just turn out the light and go to sleep, already - he already had his pajamas on, and she had hers on, too; there’s no reason to stay here and talk. They weren’t friends , or anything, just mission partners. She pulls her sheets up closer to her chin at the thought, and her Espeon makes a sad cooing sound, sensing Taylor’s sadness.
“Taylor,” Leon says softly, and she tries to keep her shoulders from shaking too obviously. She can’t sob out loud - can’t let Leon, of all people, know how deeply this affected her. The springs of his mattress creak, and Taylor’s pretty sure he’s sat up. A long moment passes in silence, and Taylor thinks he’s going to finally drop the subject and go to bed, but then he speaks. “It…it’s okay if it bothers you, you know. What they’re doing to these Pokemon. It bothers me. A lot, actually. I want the Trainers in Galar to be the strongest in the world - but I’d never want anyone to be stronger if it meant gaining their strength through something like this.” His voice cracks as he says the words. “The thought that there are people out there who would willingly do this to another living being - especially when all Pokemon want are to be our friends…” he sniffles, then laughs. “I’m sorry - you’re just trying to sleep, and I’m doing…whatever this is.”
Taylor finally sits up at this, brushing the tears out of her eyes and turning to him. Leon, the Champion of Galar, who she held some resentment towards, because she thought he represented the pinnacle of the media culture of Galar. She’d had enough media attention for one lifetime - maybe even two - and he seemed to thrive on it, fuel himself on it even. His whole career was built on the one thing that had torn her, an otherwise unstoppable force, down.
But what if there could be more to him than that? What if this is proof of that?
“No - don’t be sorry,” Taylor says, and she genuinely means it. “Honestly, I’d find it kind of weird if the Shadow Pokemon didn’t bother you. We had to talk about all this sooner or later, right?”
“Yeah,” Leon admits, wiping at his eyes, too. His Umbreon crawls into his lap, and he laughs a little. “I guess we did. It is really atrocious. When I started battling Pokemon, I never imagined -” he chokes up again and shakes his head, glancing away.
“It’ll be worth it if nobody else ever has to consider that such a thing could exist,” Taylor says firmly.
“I know. I think about Hop all the time - and Gloria, too, and Alanna - and I know I don’t want any of them to ever have to know what we know.” As Leon’s golden eyes connect with hers, Taylor feels a sense of connection to him for the first time ever. She’d fight with him if it meant they could achieve that, together.
“Yeah. I think of the same thing,” is all she manages to say instead, and Leon nods, understanding her meaning.
“We’d better get some rest. We’ve got to go out to, what, Lilycove City tomorrow, to find Team Aqua, if our intel can be trusted?”
“Yeah, Lilycove for Team Aqua,” Taylor nods. “And Team Magma’s at the Jagged Pass by Mount Chimney. I’m sure they’re not alone, either…Team Rocket must be there in force.”
“Yeah, probably,” Leon agrees. “We’ve got our work cut out for us.”
“Definitely,” Taylor nods, then reaches for the pull chain on the lamp on the nightstand between them. “Good night, Leon,” she says, then turns the light out.