“Hey Skittles!” Came his wife’s jovial voice over the phone, letting Carter release the tension he was holding. Emma was many things, but coy wasn’t one of them. Judging by the joy in her greeting, this particular predator wasn’t here to hunt… today.

“Really, with the Skittles?” Bo whined at the old nickname, seemingly relaxing at her friendly tone as well.

“Would you prefer Rainbow?” she questioned, her mock innocent tone eliciting a snort of laughter despite Carter’s surprise. She was probably one of the few people who could actually get away with using Bo’s actual first name, but the younger man definitely wouldn’t be happy about it.

“Skittles is fine.”

“Anyyy who, it’s me. The home line is connected to your transceiver, remember? It’s great to hear from you Dearie, and Carter’s right, you better start keeping in touch more. I wasn’t loving the silent treatment. I am loving the Gym idea, though. Do you have an idea on what your odds are?”

“Uh, Em?” Carter broke into the conversation. “Have you been on the phone this whole time?”

“Since the first ascension. Can’t believe you hung up on that Honey Bewear, he really had me hooked there. Back to the point though, we’re doing this, right? You’d be setting up in the compound on Mt. Moon? It’s a little out of the way, but we should be close enough to check in on Reese if he does travel through there. There’s not a big market for Western desserts there either so Ring-Pop and Fondant should have a pretty good corner on the market. Also, the battle scene in Indigo is even bigger than Unova’s so I should be able to find plenty of work.”

The matter of fact tone in her voice brought Carter up short. Part of him was wondering if he could just go along with this and see if it ended up with him happily living in Kanto. It seemed like it might just work. The far smarter part of him only needed a few seconds to bitch slap that thinking though.

“Em, it means the world to me that you’re willing to support me on this, but I promise I’m not making any rash decisions. I would never do this without talking to you and the kids. You three are –”

“We’re cool with it Dad!”

“I wanna join the ascension!”

“It’s Kanto Dad! Cake-Pop and I are going to rock it so hard! I can even battle Uncle Bo for my eighth badge!”

“I get to see a Larvitarrr!”

The two excited squeals overlapped a little, but the gist was definitely enough.

“Like I said, the kids are good with it. Also, I promised Maddie you would take her to see a Larvitar.”

Unbidden, a happy(?) image of Carter carrying his daughter atop his shoulders through Mt. Silver to poke their heads into a Tyranitar’s cave popped into his mind. They could make a picnic out of it. He'd need some treats to offer the Larvitar though. Would caramel coated rocks ruin their teeth? He'd need to figure out because Tyranitars probably took their children's dental health as seriously as they took most things regarding their young.

“When?” Bo blurted over the line while Carter was lost in thought. “I literally called like, five minutes ago.”

“Yes you did, but Old Man Moon called two weeks ago to let me know what was going on. I’m surprised he waited as long as he did to call you though. I’ve been doing some opposition research for the last few weeks and you’re going to need to really buckle down if you want to win. Honestly, if Honey hadn’t gotten a call from you soon I thought I was going to have to track you down myself, Skittles.”

That… sounded exactly like something the old man would do. Carter mulled over the conversation while Bo muttered profanities over the phone. He’d noticed that the kids had been more excited than usual, and Emma had definitely been busier than usual, but he hadn’t expected this. Digging a little deeper, he felt his team’s auras vibrate with knowing mirth as well. Turning around, he could see that even Chantilly and Ring-Pop were bouncing in anticipation. Warmth flooded through him at his wife and family’s support.

“Emma, are you sure about this? Even two weeks isn’t a lot of time to think. What about your job?”

“We’re sure Carter. Life has its ups, downs, and turns and now it’s time for our life to turn and charge up the hill,” her kind smile shone through her words as she spoke. “As for my job, you kind of called it in the sense that I’ve wanting to tell them where they can shove it for a while. I’ve told you about Chad, right? Yeah, I really want to tell that idiot where he can shove a whole lot of things. Besides, unless I’m mistaken, you lot coming out of retirement means that I’m already getting my favorite clients back. Right?”

“Really, Em?” Bo asked. “I swear I’m not trying to spiral but I really did screw things that last time you represented me.”

“We all did,” Carter admitted.

“Trainers’ ability to get themselves into trouble is exactly why you need agents. And, no offense, but you three in particular really needed one. Skittles, even now I’d bet good money you’re still walking around with literal chunks of gold just sitting in your bag,” she finished in a lightly teasing tone. Carter himself snorted in laughter as Bo started whistling innocently in response. Taking pity on him, Carter tried to change the subject.

“If we can really get this going, I’d love to have you on board, Em. Though I’m not quite sure how representing a Gym trainer would work. It’s not the most active job.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that, Honey Bewear,” she teased. “You guys are planning on signing up for the next World Coronation Series too, right?”

“That thing that Galar started up where, every four years, people have to spend a season jetting themselves around the world to battle?” asked Bo in a confused tone. “Are people actually still doing that?”

In response, Emma started laughing and even Carter had to chuckle. They’d had this conversation more than a few times recently and it still tickled him. “Oh yeah, Skittles. It’s looking like the WCS is going to be the next big thing. Literally anyone who follows pokemon battling is going tracking this upcoming year’s tournament. Me and a bunch of online buddies have basically been having a running argument for the last four months about everything from who’s making the top eight to who’s going to win. The number crunchers keep pushing for Stone, but personally, I’m wondering if Ethan might finally pop out of the woodworks for this. I doubt they’ll push for the new Leaders to sign up, but I just about guarantee you that every region in the United League will be pushing for their Gyms to participate in the future.” Snort.

“…Alright, what’s so funny?”

“Oh, you’ll love this,” Carter huffed as Emma tried to restrain her own laughter.

“So, you know how the WCS started out as this big passion project Leon had that Rose helped him fund?” Emma asked. “Turns out that Rose probably just did that to distract him, but they still got the individual regions to agree to it and set up the tournament infrastructure. Rose practically ran the entire Galar League himself so Leon and a few of the Galar Gym Leaders had time to compete in it too. It was basically the biggest tournament anyone had ever heard of so it was generated a lot of buzz. The problem though, was that, because of the giant time suck in bouncing from region to region, basically no elites from other regions bothered to participate.”

“So what?” Bo questioned. “Leon won by default?”

“Exactly! And this is where the funny part comes in. Even though none of the other active Champions participated, the tournament technically encompassed the entire United League so Rose went ahead and declared Leon the world’s strongest trainer.”

“Oh shit,” Bo laughed, apparently seeing where the story was going.

“Right? You have got to watch some of the interviews with the other Champions when reporters asked them what they thought about Leon being stronger than them. You can tell how hard they’re all trying to be mature and professional about it, but it is so obvious that they want to be stomping their feet and pouting like ten year olds that didn’t get a turn on the new Mankey bars. There’s even a video of Barry Pearl actually doing just that.”

The three of them chuckled softly together at the mental image. All three of them knew that, no matter how responsible or established they were, pokemon trainers were beyond competitive when it came to battling. Add regional pride to the mix, and the whole thing was an Outrage waiting to happen. Once they finally stopped laughing, Emma continued in an amused tone. “The end result, besides a boat load of memes, is that just about every Champion and current Gym Leader has already publicly stated that they’re going to participate in the upcoming tournament. Even if he’s technically no longer a Champion, they all want to take out Leon.”

“Honestly,” Carter said while shaking his head. “As ridiculous the reasoning, the whole thing sounds like it’s going to be pretty insane. I’m actually a little jealous.”

He said the last bit in a light tone, but some wistfulness must have slipped out.

“In that case, Honey Bewear,” Emma spoke softly with only a hint of mischievousness. “You two will just need to work that much harder to get that Gym stable enough for you two to compete.”

Her next words though were considerably sharper, causing Carter to sit up straight with concern. “There is one condition to all this though. Bo, you need to get your head firmly shoved out of your butt and keep it that way. Not just because we’re not going to put up with your moping forever. If we’re all going to commit to this, we need you back to your old self to make this happen. Broody, self-doubting, quitter Bo is never going to make it as a trainer, let alone a Gym Leader.”

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The words might have been harsh, but Carter knew they we valid. All the dreams and support in the world wouldn’t matter if they didn’t have a real Gym Leader leading the charge, and Carter knew that the Bo he’d traveled with could be one.

“I get it Emma. I can’t promise I’m not going to mess up again, but I am sorry for running away rather than dealing with it. I am all in on this, I promise you.”

The words, simple as they were, filled Carter with the type of relief he’d only felt a few times before. The kind when the world finally started spinning after it stood still. He opened his mouth to return his friend’s promise –

“I’m actually doing a lot better in general these days. I’ve been getting guidance from a guru for the last few years and they’ve really helped me learn to embrace the good in life and let go of things that wear me down.”

‘Oh, fuck.’

“You’re talking to a guru? Like an Oranguru?” That might not be too bad. Oranguru’s were famous for their wisdom and insight, after all.

“No, just a guru. I mean, they might be an Oranguru. I don’t really know.”

The silence was back. It was even more painful than the very start of their conversation. Carter nearly thanked Arceus out loud when Emma was the one to pick up the conversation.

“Dearie, how do you not know whether or not your guru is an Oranguru? That should be really easy to notice.”

“Well, I’ve never actually met them in person,” Bo delivered the news with a hesitant tone before picking up steam. “but that’s just because Guru Capiche is an anonymous, online guru. That way they can help anyone, anywhere, without any sort of bias. And they really don’t charge that much for their monthly subscription. I mean, the platinum package is a bit pricey but it’s still affordable.”

“Oh Skittles,” groaned Emma. “No Skittles, no.”

“Ok, I know that doesn’t sound great, but the advice is really good. Here, just listen to one of last week’s teachings. ‘Those who cling to the shadows languish alone. If you wish to open yourself to others, you must first open yourself to the light. Go outside my child, and embrace the Sun. Then keep embracing it until you feel it embrace you back. Even if it takes hours, the Sun will embrace you back.’ Brilliant right? I swear there’s nothing as invigorating as feeling the Sun embrace you.”

Carter really wished he couldn’t tell that his friend was being serious.

“Skittles, how long did you stand outside trying to hug the Sun?”

“… You know, that’s really not what’s important. The important thing is that I’m ready to hug life again and I promise both of you that I’m going to give this everything I have. I won’t let you down.”

“Ok Dearie,” Emma finally responded. “I think I speak for both us when I say we trust you. Your ability as a trainer that is. We’re ridiculously worried about you emotionally and a little bit financially, which is another reason we’re now doing this. Carter, you and Bo figure out the logistics for the tournament and we can talk about all the rest more when you’re done. Love you Honey Bewear! Please don’t hump the Sun in front of the kids Skittles!” click.

Leaving the conversation just as suddenly as she entered, Emma’s parting left the two men in stunned silence once more. Eventually, Bo spoke once more.

“For the record, I was not humping the Sun.”

“I’m sadly relieved to hear that confirmed.”

“I like to imagine that the Sun is married to the Moon with a couple million star babies. Humping it in public would be completely inappropriate.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake!”

This time, both of them dissolved into uncontrolled laughter. Even Donut decided to participate while spinning around Carter’s feet. He was still roaring with laughter when another teenager entered the bakery, and this time their hurried retreat just made him laugh harder. When they ceased laughing, Carter was finally able to refocus on the original point of the conversation.

“Alright Bo, it looks like I’m in. Break this thing down for me. What do we have to do to win and how are we swinging it.”

“Right now it looks like there are seventy-six teams registered for the tournament, including us. There’s also still a week before the cut-off point comes, so a few more teams might slip in at the last second.”

“How much is the entry fee?”

“One million pokedollars each,” the simple statement eliciting a loud whistle from Carter. That amount was nearly double an entire winning league season’s profits. Skilled enough trainers could put up the amount but they definitely couldn’t do it on a whim. The fact that there were already so many teams signed up was telling.

“Yeah, I about choked when I saw that. I’m thinking the final number will end up being around eighty teams. They’ll probably have a few of the teams with the same types face off to narrow it down to the top sixteen. After that, the top eight will do a round robin for the five Gym slots. Teams compete to get three wins first to earn one of the slots. First to three wins gets first place and so on. Three losses mean an elimination unless there are only two teams left.

The placement basically determines our ranking within the Indigo League, the order in which we can pick locations for the Gyms, and how much of the pot we get. First place gets a thirty percent cut, second place gets twenty-five percent, third gets twenty percent, fourth gets fifteen percent and fifth get ten. The bottom four can challenge the placement through a full battle between Gym Leaders but we’re just going to focus on getting in.

The battle structure is where it’s going to be tricky. The preliminaries are three people each, two Gym trainers and the Gym Leader, two pokemon each. No items, Mega Evolutions, or Z-Moves on either side. Those battles will be simple enough, but the battle structure for the top eight is where it’s going to be tricky. All matches will be team gauntlet battles with up to six trainers a team. Both sides will battle until one team is either completely eliminated or the other side’s Gym Leader loses.

Each prospective Gym trainer can use up to two pokemon per individual battle and the Gym Leader can use three. We can either switch the pokemon we’re using in between battles or keep out the pokemon last battling in exchange for not being able to switch up the rest of the team. Trainers themselves can’t switch out until the they lose. Each trainer can use items and one gimmick each, excluding Dynamaxing. To top it all off, all the battles for each round will be held simultaneously and continue through the whole day with only a twenty-minute break between the end of the last finished battle and the beginning of the next round. There’ll be an hour long break between the preliminaries and the finals, but that’s it.”

“So it’s a numbers game, huh?” Carter kept his tone even despite the slight ache growing between his eyes. Trainers might not typically exert themselves as much as their partners, but higher level battles still placed an immense strain on a trainer’s spirits. Given that the rules involved multiple high level battles each match, it was bound to be a grueling affair. The timing structure added another wrinkle, forcing teams to push for faster wins in order to get longer breaks between battles. All told, the size of the respective teams was going to prove one of the most important factors. Especially if Carter’s suspicions were on point. “Do we have any idea on what the competition looks like?”

“I might have reached out to IO and asked them to snoop around the web for any rumors or announcements. If I had to guess, the competition is going to be pretty evenly split between the existing minor Gyms, corporate sponsored teams, and serious threats,” Bo spoke confidently, not at all unfamiliar with scoping out prospective tournaments. “The minor Gyms have teamwork and experience, but any real talent that emerged from them has moved on already. The corporate teams all seem to be built through paying a bunch of veterans to form a wall around whatever executive’s third child they’ve designated Gym Leader.

The good news is that I actually recognize most of the trainers they hired and barely half of them are actual type specialists. A hodge-podge of randos won’t be able to put up a concerted fight at this level, just make the whole affair more difficult for the rest of us. The only one to really look out for is one of the Sylph Co. teams. Fletcher Sylph was a Gym trainer for Sabrina for a few years after her journey, and there are recent pictures of the Wilbur triplets hovering around her.

The real threats are going to be the actual type specialist groups that have been around for a while. It looks like teams from the Blackthorn clan, Lavender town spiritualists, Johto ninja clans, and the Ranger Corps have all signed up. Apparently there’s a lot of hype around a ground type team lead by some guy who nearly beat the current champion during the last tri-annual. All of them are going to have a full six-person roster, and we can expect each member to be a challenge. We on the other hand, currently have me, you, Gramps, Gramps’ apprentice, and what have been described as two pancakes.”

“What sort of pancakes are we talking about?”

“I’ve been assured that they can stand in place, other than that I’m flying blind. They might actually have chocolate chips in them for all I know.” The pained response helped Carter decide not to dig any further down that hole.

“We’re going to be buried through sheer numbers,” Carter concluded rhetorically. The situation was definitely bad for them, leaning towards impossible. He hadn’t battled seriously in years, but even if he was in his prime, battling teams of ace level trainers back to back would have been exhausting. Despite this, he couldn’t help but break into a wide smile. Half of it was due to the prospect of facing such a challenge once more, but the other half was due to what he was sure Bo deliberately avoided bringing up so far. Having come this far though, Carter definitely wasn’t letting him get out of it.

“It sounds like what we really need is another teammate.”

“That would be helpful.”

“We especially need one that can break down any wall tactics or stalling.”

“Sounds about right.”

“A real bruiser as it were.”

“Yes.”

“They’d have to have a bit of a wild side too.”

“I get it, Carter.”

“Perhaps one born in the Galar region, Ballonlea to be specific.”

“I know, I know! We need Dani.”

“Good,” Carter struggled to stifle his amusement at the near panic in his friend’s voice. “So you’re going to talk to her?”

After a long pause, Bo’s voice came quietly over the line. Carter could easily visualize the hesitation on his face as he spoke. Carter and Dani had downed more than a few shots while discussing whether or not they hallucinated the sight of a tiny Morpeko running on a wheel whenever Bo was overthinking something.

“I was actually thinking it might be better if you talked to her?”

“I cannot stress enough how much you need to stop thinking Skittles.”

“C’mon Carter, I’m being serious. I’ve tried calling her and every time she either rejects the call or picks up just to cuss me out.”

“Then go talk to her in person.”

“I really don’t think she wants to talk to me.”

“Uh-huh, Skittles… did you also think calling her once a year on her birthday when she knows that you could easily make the trip to see her in person was actually a good way of getting her to speak to you again?”

“… It seemed like a decent idea before five seconds ago,” he said, then quickly rushed to cut off Carter’s follow up. “But what if she just didn’t want to talk to me period. She pretty clearly told me to fuck off, and ‘fucking off’ is not location specific. What if me just showing up makes it worse? What if literally anything I say makes it worse? You asking her about this will at least lead to an actual conversation, Carter.”

Carter took in a deep breath and methodically stroked Donut’s squishy head to force down his frustration. They were so close to putting all the nonsense from the past behind them. Now wasn’t the time for arguing. Now was the time for a final push. Channeling every ounce of fatherhood and older brother sensibility he’d earned over the years, Carter spoke into the phone.

“Rainbow Moon, I am more than willing to discuss every single idiotic way you may have, definitely have, and still will piss off your ex-girlfriend, but we are not doing that now. You promised to me and you promised to Emma, that you would do your very best for us. Right now, that means you need to do three things: man up, look Dani straight in the eye, and beg like a little girl who wants a Ponyta.”

*

In the midst of a frozen hellscape, a lone man was bent prone upon the cold ground.

“P-p-please, please, please. I’m b-b-begging you. P-please help me”

The only discernable response to the bedraggled and kneeling man’s spluttered pleading was absolute stillness and silence. Nevertheless, the space behind the man quickly became a flurry of activity. Before he could turn around, a pair of icy hands swiftly plucked him from the ground.

“No. No! Please, no! Noooooooo!”

The man’s desperate wails echoed throughout the icy cavern as unseen hands whisked him away through the flurrying blizzard constantly surrounding the place. Standing in the same place they’d been when the man had first shown up, three robed and masked figures stood watching as he rapidly disappeared. The shorter figure on the right eventually spoke in a monotone once the man’s screams finally faded.

“I really don’t get it, sisters.”

“We know. You’ve mentioned it before, sister,” the willowy figure to the left responded in an equally monotone voice.

“Every year, dozens of people come to see Their Lordship,” the first figure continued without concern. “And every year they come begging to us to save them from freezing to death. The screaming is always very loud and annoying.”

“Yes, we’re aware sister.”

“But every time we call for the Froslass or Jynx to carry them out of the blizzard to safety, they start screaming and crying even louder.”

“Yes, we just heard the same screaming as you have sister,” the willowy one responded without changing her tone.

“It’s very strange is what I’m saying.”

“Yes, outsiders act strange.”

“But why do they act so strange?”

“Because outsiders are strange.”

“So you’ve said, but why are outsiders so strange?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“But what if it does matter?”

“It doesn’t, Sister Yuki.”

“It could, Sister Reina.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No!”

“Yes!”

““High Sister, tell her!””

High Sister Nya, blinked slowly behind her rime caked mask from her position between her two junior sisters. Wordlessly, she turned around and walked back further into the blustering blizzard, leaving the other two to chase after her. The Indigo Pillars Tournament was nearly at hand and she still had training to do in order to ensure their win. Their Lordship was depending on her, after all.

Besides, neither of her junior sisters had seen anywhere close to how strange outsiders could get. Yet.