As he laid on the floor of the bar to the accompaniment of Brute’s laughter, Witch’s dreary sigh, and the sound of Dani’s stomping feet, Bo reflected that at twenty-five, not saying the first thing that came to mind should really be easier. At least a quick check of the side of his face where Dani had clocked him didn’t reveal any loose teeth, just the promise of swelling the next morning. After getting up, Bo gingerly made his way to the bar where for some reason a Nurse Joy appeared to be mixing drinks. Whatever the reason, she displayed wonderful timing by placing another drink in front of Dani and a baggie of ice in front him.

“Kay, I had that coming.”

“Yup.”

“Snar-ar-arll”

“Thank you very much Brute. Glad to see you like the cloak.”

That was something at least. He’d sent her that Covert Cloak on her last birthday. He’d been worried she would just toss it, but he should have known better. No matter what her feelings about where it came from, real trainers like Dani always looked after their pokemon first and foremost. Still, it made him happy to see the item still intact and well cared for. Yes, happy. Happiness involves a lot of shaking, trouble breathing, and feeling like a Rillaboom is using your heart as a drum, right?

A small burst of light turned Brute’s snickering into an aggrieved growl as Angel let himself out of his ball next to Witch. Like Brute, Angel was a large specimen for his kind, but the fairy still ended up standing on top of the bar stool rather than sitting. Living up to his Unaware ability, Angel ignored Brute in favor of lowering his shades and waggling his eyes up at Witch. Used to such antics, the Hatterene gave her old friend an indulgent smile and tilted her head in greeting.

“Good to see Angel still has his confidence,” drawled Dani with a restrained smirk. Bo had to suppress a snort. Ten years of striking out and three years apart and the giant puffball still hadn’t learned his lesson. Somehow, witnessing that alone made the entire trip worth it already, even without clearing anything up with Dani. The Rillaboom even switched from heavy metal to the blues.

“Yeah, well he’s a male Clefable. Even if he’s clumsier than a Tauros he still tends to clean up pretty well back home.” Meanwhile, Angel infuriated Brute further by ‘finally’ realizing he was there and insisting on patting the hulking troll on the back. Despite being rebuffed, Angel enthusiastically pointed towards the other two pokemon’s half empty drinks and waved three diminutive fingers at Bartender Joy.

They ended up just sitting there for a minute while the three pokemon reconnected. Bo knew he needed to start talking soon, preferably using a bit less rage inducing words, but he couldn’t help it. Despite his efforts to look contrite, a small smile forced itself across his aching face as he tracked her reflection across some of the bottles behind the bar. They’d had a conversation. Sure, it might have just been her yelling at him while he ‘ahem’ maintained situational awareness whilst definitely still actively listening, but it wasn’t like that was a rare occurrence back when they were together.

A mix of judgmental and condescending emotions probed at him from around his neck but he swatted them away. They knew he’d rehearsed a speech better than that, they’d been there after all. He just couldn’t quite remember how that speech went at the moment. Tracking her down had been easy enough. He might have left the trainer circuit but he always made sure to keep his skills sharp. Talking with a few of the locals by the Royal Dome helped point him towards the right island. After that, it just took a quick distraction and snoop through the local police station to discover Dani’s status as a headliner for the unofficial Po Town Fight Club. Sure, a couple of dudes might have tried to mug him on his way here, but a few bruises could be good for character building. Those ‘doormen’ would thank him one day. Maybe.

Finding her battling outside an official circuit wasn’t too surprising either. Bo knew that growing up with Galar’s super-regulated Gym circuit had given her an appreciation for the more out of the way pursuits like the Island Trials or the Battle Frontiers. Finding her battling in an operation as shoddy as Po Town was unusual though. Even with the three on one format of her match, Bo noticed that she and Brute had to pretty much give away the first hit to even make the fight look interesting. He suspected that the hard fights she found here were only challenging in the same sense that winning a boxing match with one hand behind her back and the other holding a beer would be ‘hard’ for her.

‘Physically, she looks great, but…’ he thought quietly to himself, thinking back to her standing atop a battle stage just a few minutes previously. The years apart had chiseled away some of the remaining girlishness in her face, replacing it with sharp lines well suited towards her lithe frame. A smattering of freckles that she always complained about, but had secretly loved still stood out against her fair complexion. The last of the nervous energy she used to move with was replaced by the steady confidence of someone assured of their own ability. She’d grown.

Despite this, something about his old friend felt off to him, a barely perceptible shift in the way she held herself. It wasn’t until he’d seen her leave the arena that it had really clicked. Instead of a predator moving gracefully though a crowd, prepared to meet any challenge that might be thrown her way, she was a predator expecting challenges to be thrown her way. Where before, anger had simply appeared alongside passion, it now constantly simmered below the surface.

‘I did that,’ the guilty thought struck him once more as he thought about it. He pushed it down though. He did need to apologize, but there was something else he needed to do first.

“Dani,” Bo started, trying to keep his voice calm and steady. “I need your help.”

Maybe he should have started with the apology. For the first time since she saw him, true anger started burning up inside her. The menace oozing from her aura made the pressure he had felt when seeing her talk to that fight promoter feel like a gentle breeze in comparison. It wasn’t unwarranted of course. The first real thing he’d said to her in three years and it was actually worse than asking about her cleavage. It did feel easier now that he’d gotten the first words out though.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!”

“No.”

“After all of this time, and all your shit, you’re asking for my help?”

“Yes. I need help and you and Carter are the only ones I can ask. Is there any possibility in the world that you’d be willing to help me? I’ll do anything.” His voice was still steady and calm, his practice rehearsing finally helping a little bit.

“Oh, you’ll do anything, will you?” At some point she had rose from her chair and grabbed his collar. “Where was that idea three years ago when I actually needed something from you? Hell, where was that when I would have believed you could do anything if it really mattered? The last time I saw you was the most pathetic I’ve ever seen someone and even then I’d have given you the benefit of the doubt. All you had to do was tough it out for a bit, but no; you bail on us, hide away until we’ve moved on, and then show up asking for a favor, all without a single Arceus-damned apology. GO FU-”

“I’m not sorry,” Bo blurted the words out, relieved to finally get them out there. He knew that he needed to ask for help first, that apologizing only so she would help afterwards would never work, but now that it came up naturally he was able to… not apologize?

‘Wait, did I say sorry or not sorry?’ he thought in panic. The dire expressions forming on not only Brute and Witch, but even the bartender’s faces confirmed that it had definitely been ‘not sorry.’ Angel’s cheerful thumbs up only further confirmed the truth. His panic worsened as the hands twisting into his collar tightened their grip further. Based on Dani’s expression and prior experience, Bo reckoned he had about three more seconds before getting slugged again.

“Wait, wait, wait! I mean I am sorry, but not sorry. No, not that. I mean I’m not sorry and I am sorry. Both of those at the same time, you know!” His declaration was met with stunned silence as four faces gawked at him. A fifth pink face smiled at him approvingly.

“Holy Tapus. Here, shut up, drink this, and claim to be high next time.” Bo gave a quick nod of thanks to Joy and lifted the glass to his mouth. ‘Mm, fruity.’ Taking a deep breath, Bo settled his thoughts and put the drink down. He was going to do this right. He opened his mouth, picked up the drink again, chugged it, and put it back down. Now he was going to do this right.

“Dani, I am not sorry for what we did three years ago, for what I convinced you and Carter to help do three years ago. Given the circumstance I probably should feel bad about it but fuck that noise. We were doing what we love and we were kicking ass doing it. The only thing I regret is how it ended up hurting Carter and Baron. I would have never suggested it if I’d known what would happen to either of them. I’ve already apologized to both of them repeatedly though and they have mutually agreed I need to stop. Apparently my crying is way too pathetic and menstrual cycle-esque for them.

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I am sorrier about everything I did afterwards though, especially to you. I’m sorry I fell apart from feeling guilty. I’m sorry I ran away from both you & Carter rather than just deal with what happened. I’m sorry I stayed away so long festering instead of reaching out. Most of all Dani, I am so sorry I thought I was the only one hurting. You needed me and I let you down and I’ve kept letting you down for three years now. I am sorry.”

The words felt, well they felt like he’d chugged acid and rinsed his eyes in pepper spray but in a good way. It felt like he was finally acknowledging open wounds that he’d ignored for so long. Looking over at Dani’s face, he couldn’t tell what she was thinking as she mulled his words over. When she finally did speak, it wasn’t what he was expecting.

“Good.”

“Good?” he parroted. “Good as in ‘as a fellow human being, I appreciate the honesty and vulnerability you just showed,’ or good as in ‘I agree that you’re a fuck up and now I want you to go swimming with a pack of Carvanha?”

“Why choose? Both sound pretty good to me,” she laughed. “Bartender Joy, you mind pouring another round? Top shelf this time, my friend’s picking up the tab.”

To his continued surprise, the laughter was carefree and boisterous, the kind he’d heard for years but never really expected to hear again. She downed the last of her second drink before turning to fully face him.

“Bo, when you first left, most of my thoughts regarding you were how many pieces I was going to have Brute leave you in if given the opportunity.” That was more along the lines of what he was expecting but he straightened up as she continued. “I’ve had three years to mull that over though, and a while ago I realized that no matter what, I do love you. That might be hard to remember sometimes, but it doesn’t go away just cause you’re a monumental git.”

She finished with a pure smile and it felt amazing. With the way he felt then, Bo couldn’t believe he’d gone so long without seeing that smile. He was so happy he didn’t even see the looks Witch and Brute were giving him. He opened his mouth to respond when she continued.

“That’s why I decided to do the mature thing and take my revenge out on you slowly over time instead of letting all the anger build up until it exploded. That way, once you finally unstuck your thimble sized brain from your scrawny ass, I would be in a good enough place to forgive you. A little bit of vengeance here in there throughout the last two years have really helped me work through a lot of my anger. In fact, I think I’ll have fully forgiven you in two, three more years max.”

“Oh, that’s… good,” Bo said slowly while looking at her beatific smile. His gaze slowly drifted over to Angel’s celebratory cheering and to the pitying looks on Witch’s and even Brute’s faces.

‘That sounds better than I expected, but what exactly has she been doing to me for two years?’

“Is there anything I can do to… help with that at all?” he ventured.

“Don’t worry, you already are,” she assured him before bursting into full throated laughter. Bo now also remembered how much her smile scared him sometimes. Before long though, he started laughing along with her. If he hadn’t noticed whatever was going on before now, he could deal with another three years of it as long as it meant getting his friend back.

“So Bo,” she said once the laughter died down and Joy had set a new round in front of all of them. “How’ve you been, really? You look like you crawled out of a grave but at least you seem happy about it now.”

“I’m doing better. I originally just went to Paldea to look for some of medicinal herbs for Baron, but the region’s been good to me and gave me the space to work through it all. I couldn’t actually participate in any official battling there due to, you know, being there illegally but I found stuff to do. I made some friends with a couple of teachers at the academies there and they helped me find work. It was kind of a mix between being a janitor and a guidance counselor but it was a lot of fun.

Hell, when I first got there, I ran into a pair of professors who managed to hook me up with these prosthetics,” Bo said while rolling his limbs back and forth slightly. “I’ve got no idea how the tech works or where they got it but it’s years ahead of anything I’ve heard of for human medicine. I can’t even tell the difference. The only thing is, I’m supposed to be concerned if they start glowing red or start fully crystalizing.”

Dani tilted her head quizzically at that, but thinking of his encounter with Sada and Turo sparked another memory.

“Oh, you’d have loved this. When I met them, I was wondering around this giant canyon sitting smack in the middle of the region and ran into some of the craziest pokemon I’ve ever seen. One of them even gave Princess a run for her money,” he enthused, soliciting an impressed whistle. If anyone knew how rare it was for a wild pokemon to be able to threaten Princess, it was Dani. She and her team had been some of Princess’s favorite sparring partners after all.

“Mostly though, I’ve been working with one of the local researchers there, Professor Raifort. She’s doing a lot of research on a group of Legendary pokemon that got sealed away because some jerk thought they were ‘cursed’ and ‘driving the region to ruin.’ I’ve been helping her explore ruins and what-not to figure out how the seals work and how to undo them. You know how much I love that kind of stuff and despite what the old man says, it’s not even illegal this time.”

“Hah, only you would have to clarify that Skittles. I’m not even going to bother following up on that ‘undo them’ part.”

He let out a halfhearted groan at the use of the old nickname but couldn’t entirely hide a smile.

“I am a little surprised that you’re still poking your head around Legendaries, though.”

“Yeah, it took me a really long time to get used to the idea. Thankfully, Baron was there to snap me out of it and get me back on the horse. I think that was actually the first time he and my guru ever agreed on something, come to think of it. It might have taken me a little time, but I eventually managed to ‘stick my head back into the Pyroar’s mouth’ as Guru Capiche put it.”

Tipping back his second drink, he indulged in the warmly buzzing atmosphere as Dani coughed into her glass. This felt good, like old times even. Seedy dive bar and everything. In fact, it felt so good that he resolved to drink more often. That was a good idea.

“Another… five please Joy,” Bo said after doing a quick count of the participants.

“You sure? That’ll be four,” she said with a quick head nod towards Dani, leaving Bo perplexed.

“Not five?”

“No, I mean-” Bartender Joy started before being interrupted by Dani.

“Naw-naw, he’s right Joy good buddy. I’ve had three and he’s had two, that makes five,” she declared, holding up five fingers as evidence. Her words relieved Bo. Math did start getting a little tricky after a few drinks, so it was good to get a second opinion. Meanwhile, Bartender Joy simply directed a wordless gaze towards where Witch was wearily nodding her head for some reason. He didn’t have long to think about what that was about as Joy turned to start preparing the round. ‘All’s well that ends well.’

“So Dani, what about you? What have you been up to?”

“After Hoenn, I went back home and worked at the Gym for Opal for a couple seasons. It wasn’t too bad though her style never really gelled with me, you know? Still, I owe he a lot for it. Technically, that suspension should have banned me from being anywhere near Gym work but she didn’t care. I left after the new guy took over though. Working for Opal was one thing, working for a neurotic megalomaniac a decade younger then me was not happening.”

“Ah huh,” he responded slowly, contemplating how far he wanted to take this conversation. On one hand, not asking would just be running away again, but asking further might ruin the progress they had made. Somehow though, gathering the resolve to blurt out his thoughts felt easier now. Maybe he was just getting better at this communication thing, he thought to himself as he took another pull from the tequila mix Bartender Joy had set in front of him. “And what exactly brought you here?”

“Joy’s got a heavy pour,” Dani responded lightly, but her shoulders tightened and a faint grimace flashed across her face. She knew what he was really asking.

“Seriously, Dani. You were already talking about Hoenn being you last League circuit back then, but Scott was all over you to sign up with the Battle Frontier. Didn’t he want to set you up in the Battle Hall over in Sinnoh and shuffle Argenta into the Battle Tower after Annabel left? That was right up your alley. The Royal Dome is one thing, but I seriously don’t get why you’d be here,” he finished with a gesture towards the door where various revelers could still be seen wandering the streets. The question elicited a determinedly light chuckle as she took another sip.

“You seriously think Scott was still offering a job after that mess of a conference and the suspension?”

“Well, I only spoke to the guy twice, but I’d have to say yes, I absolutely think he’d hire you after a giant, public media scandal. If you had punched out Wallace on live television, I think that Alolan shirt wearing Sharpedo would have creamed himself and tripled your starting bonus.”

“Pfft. Thanks for that image,” she snorted and gave him a quick shove. “And for the record, he only offered double the starting bonus.”

The laughter seemed to have helped a little as her tension eased a bit even though she still directed a slight glare towards her drink. Brute took the opportunity to stop trying to swat at Angel to lean over and give her shoulder a gentle squeeze. After a moment of contemplation and patting the hand on her shoulder, she finally began speaking again.

“I couldn’t deal with all the attention. The Battle Hall would have been an awesome opportunity, but it’s also a giant spectacle. I’d already lost it with people bashing Carter left and right and I knew I was going to get the same after everything that happened at Ever Grande. I just couldn’t handle it, not by myself.”

Bo winced and opened his mouth out of reflex but a wildly waving hand just missing his head cut him off.

“Nope, you already apologized. Too much sad shite makes my drink taste sour. The Royal Dome offers some challenge and lets me compete with a mask. And as for Po Town, well the folks out here don’t give a Ratatta’s arse about what I do and I wouldn’t care if they did. Nothing like the freedom of indifference.” The wry joke made him smile but he still felt a sinking feeling. If she had passed up a job as good as being a Frontier Brain to avoid attention, there was no way she would want enter a public tournament in order to become a Gym trainer. As if in response to his hesitation, she shot him an inquisitive look.

“Alright, it’s been a bit, but I can still see the tiny Morpeko running your brain going nuts. What is it you were asking for my help with? And don’t try to bullshit me on this, just say it.”

“Three Gym Leaders in Indigo are stepping down without any successors and only a ghost staff to keep things going. The League also wants to open up two new Gyms as well. They’re having a team based tournament to decide who’s going to be running the Gyms and I’m entering. Carter, Gramps, a rookie and two pancakes are already on board, but we can’t win with just us. I have no right to ask you this, but we need you if we’re going to pull this off. It would mean a lot of media attention though and staying on at the Gym for at least three years.”

“Hmmm,” was all she gave in response at first and he resigned himself. She wasn’t going to do it. The Morpeko fell off the wheel and went cratering through his stomach. It would be okay though; the important thing was that they were talking again. He could figure out the rest- “Alright, I’m in.”

“Huh!?” He responded eloquently, jaw hanging agape.

“Close your mouth already Skittles. I said that three years ago, I wasn’t ready to face a public media inquisition by myself. Now, if I have you and Carter, and by that I mostly mean Carter of course, I can tough it out. Back then, as long as we stuck together, I can’t remember a single thing that could stand in our way. I’m actually looking forward to feeling that again.”

Bo couldn’t stop smiling. She was right after all. All the fears and worries he had about going forward with this whole gambit faded away now that he had his two closest friends back. Media attention, angry police, guilt, near misses with the apocalypse, none of it mattered. Together, they could do anything and by Arceus it felt amazing.

“One thing though,” she continued, a challenging smirk growing across her face as she locked eyes with him. “Who’s going to be the Gym Leader?”