But there he was. Leon. From last Summer. Her “Summer Best Friend” from back in Postwick.
The Galarian Champion. Just like he said he would be.
“... Mum!! Mum come look! Look at the TV!!!”
“What?”
“Mum, look who the champion is! Come in here!”
“Yamah!” Drew agreed with the urgency, looking absolutely bewildered in his own, funny way.
When her mother popped her head in, she stared at the screen and gasped “Well I’ll be!” She exclaimed “Its the boy you befriended in Postwick! Wow, wouldya look at tha’”
“Yeah…” Anya trailed off, seeing Leon holding the championship trophy with his big, doofy grin on his face, his guardians and little brother in the background, the toddler grinning and laughing excitedly.
Though Anya’s mother had returned to whatever she’d been doing, Anya sat on the couch of their rental apartment in Wyndon, and stared at the Television
“.. I wish he had a phone” Anya lamented “I wanna congratulate him. He did it!” She partially lamented to her Yamask. “And I wanna introduce him to Irene. Do you think he’d like ‘er?”
“Yamah!” Drew nodded affirmatively.
Anya contemplated it “But… he did it. Before me!!!” Anya suddenly jumped up “Do ya know what that means, Drew?”
“Yah?”
“That means I gotta work even harder!!! He may be the youngest Galarian champ, but Ah’ll be the youngest rest’rationist! I’ll work on the Book Ah The Wolves before ya know it!”
Amused at her sheer enthusiasm, Drew gave an enthusiastic “Yah!” in response, and Anya cheered in repetition right after.
“That way, when we meet again, I can tell ‘im that we both made it!”
Drew nodded in agreement with the statement, seeing the enthusiasm for her passion - and perhaps just a hint of honest competitiveness burn in her eyes.
The old pokemon had no doubt she’d accomplish that dream - though “how soon” was debatable.
But he wasn’t about to snuff out such promising ambition
-
“Leon?”
“Hm?”
Hop poked his head into the kitchen of his brother’s apartment “Did you used to know someone named Anya? You did, right?”
Leon paused, the microwave going off as he let himself think “Ah, yes! Yes, I did, way back when you were a baby! Anya Ambermight” he laughed “Hard to forget a girl with a Yamask. Why?”
“I was reading the Newsletter for International Battle Club, and her name came up” Hop held up the little magazine, open to a single-page article “its from the Nimbasa Battle Boss Newsletter”
“Nimbasa? As in Unova?” Leon turned around, after opening the microwave, holding out his hand
“Yeah, look” Hop handed it over.
“NIMBASA CITY WELCOMES NEWEST MASTER LIBRARIAN AND BATTLE BOSS” he reads aloud “Galarian Native Anya Ambermight Takes Over As the First Immigrant to Run A Battle Challenge in Nimbasa City - We’ll I’ll be damned!!” Leon suddenly grinned, as if giddy
“Huh?”
Leon quickly read the short article, and spotted a particular phrase
“Head preservationist”
“Aha! She did it! She really did it!”
“What are you talking about?”
“She works with books!”
Hop gave a confused look “Yeah…?”
“No that's - that's what she wanted to do! She wanted to restore books when we were kids - and she is!”
“Oooh… that’s cool!” Hop commented “Her teams interesting though”
Leon looked at the color photo just above the article, showing a now grown-up Anya with her team
“... She has two yamasks now” he can’t stop himself from laughing “with a Frosslass… and a Hatterene? Good for her. Hatterene are notoriously hard to train!”
“Did you read it? Apparently her challenge is really hard. I kinda wanna go and try” Hop grinned
“Hah! Perhaps one day we will! I’ve never been to Unova!”
The conversation died off after that, and Leon couldn’t stop smiling.
To think, just one summer together, sharing adventures and dreams, and there they were as adults - accomplishing those dreams.
He really did need to get himself to Unova sometime.
Sonia and Leon were never among the ‘popular kids’ back home before their journeys, either in Wedgehurst or Postwick. Sonia was too smart, or too confident, or others envied her connection to a famous professor, or wanted only to know her because she was Professor Magnolia’s granddaughter.
Leon was too weird, too quiet, too intense. He got distracted easily. He never smiled. Other kids didn’t want him to play in their games.
It was no wonder they became friends.
Or: Rural areas have some good things. They also suck in some ways, like that everybody knows everybody and shares cruel rumors.
