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badass_tiger) wrote2022-01-09 10:58 pm
badass_tiger) wrote2022-01-09 10:58 pm
thornless hare bells
Title: thornless hare bells
Fandom: Pokemon
Characters: Leon, mentions of Rose, Hop, Victor
Word Count: 1.5k
Rating: Gen
Summary: After the events of the Darkest Day, Leon takes over Rose Tower. For the bingo square 'The Tower'.
Leon knew, without being told by Macro Cosmos' lawyers, that he would have to take over the running of the Rose Tower. Possibly he could do so without also taking over for Macro Cosmos, or perhaps split up its many subsidiaries to be run by board or senior staff members, but he felt, acutely, that it was his duty to take care of the company. In many ways, Macro Cosmos was Galar, and Leon had decided to dedicate himself to the Galar region even before he knew the words to speak his loyalty. Not exactly a majority of its shareholders agreed on Leon as the new chairman, but those who disagreed weren't able to decide on a different chairman between them, and it was clear to Leon that he might as well get on with things while they continued to argue between themselves.
He had only been an official League Trainer for a few months, had only received his first three Gym badges, when Chairman Rose took him under his wing and told him he would, without a doubt, be Champion someday - the greatest Champion Galar had ever seen. Leon had believed him from the very first instant. Even after he became Champion, he continued to be Rose's student and protege. At 16, Rose had asked him to chair the first meeting of the new League season, to speak to the Gym Leaders and Gym Trainers of the major league, and Leon was soon almost entirely in charge of the League. When Rose had gone missing during the Championship Cup that would eventually crown Victor as the new Champion, it had been natural for Leon to step up as its executive.
As such, Rose Tower had always been Leon's playground. It had been built atop a Power Spot as a symbol of what it stood for - Galar, and everything that was unique to her - but Leon wasn't the only Trainer Chairman Rose had taken the opportunity to tutor on the rooftop. Perhaps it wasn't quite accurate to say that it had been Leon's playground, after all. He had always seen it as a place of business. And he loved Rose Tower, one of many pivotal places from which he had learnt to be a Trainer; perhaps the most pivotal of them all.
Thinking about Rose now, Leon felt a stab of hurt and betrayal. Some time after the events of the Darkest Day, Leon overheard Sonia saying that Professor Magnolia had quit her partnership with Rose because of the madness she saw in his eyes as he chased after the power of Dynamax. Leon couldn't - didn't want to - believe her. Wasn't it only natural to be fascinated by Dynamax, the phenomenon unique to their home region Galar? As a young Trainer setting out on his Gym Challenge for the first time, Leon had, like many other Trainers his age, thought Dynamax to be the coolest thing ever, but after he met Rose and agreed to be mentored by him, Rose had given him a book on the science and history behind Dynamax, and in between training for his seventh Gym Badge, Leon had torn through it in days. Rose had let him keep the books, and Leon brought them home after his first Championship Cup. The shelves in his childhood bedroom, which his younger self had filled with video games and Charizard figurines, filled with books on Dynamax, and periphery subjects besides.
Leon didn't want to think that he could have missed the signs of Rose's crazed pursuit of power and energy. He had thought that their interest in Dynamax was something they had in common. He didn't want to think, after all this time, that it had been the thing to set them apart.
Despite that, he couldn't feel any guilt or regret. When the shock of things had subsided, Leon had had the time to be hurt by Rose's assertion that he had mentored him in order to have a strong Trainer under his control who would take charge of Eternatus. He didn't believe him - not completely - and he was sure it wasn't only because he didn't want to. He was sure that Rose had truly taken him in because he believed in his abilities. Perhaps Rose had forgotten somewhere along the way, but when he had first met Leon - it must have been. And perhaps if Rose had met Victor earlier, things would have been different. What Rose had most certainly forgotten was the joy in Pokemon, and Leon, too, had become stagnant under his continuous success. Victor was a better, stronger, younger Trainer, and perhaps if he had been able to sooner remind Rose of what it meant to work with Pokemon, then -
- but there was no point in lamenting the past.
Not immediately, but shortly, after his final Championship Match, Leon went home to Postwick. It had not been so very long since he had last been there after all. It felt like both an eternity, and mere moments. When he stepped out of the station, Hop and Victor had once again come to pick him up. There was no crowd this time, but seeing the two boys was everything to him. He threw his arms around the both of them, knocking off Victor's hat, and issuing protests from Hop.
'Seriously, Lee, we were with you until two weeks ago!' Hop said.
'I know! Forever and a half ago!' Leon said.
A strange feeling welled up in his chest, and he squeezed them again until it lifted.
Oleana had told him - in a past lifetime, it felt like - that Rose had lost his father at a young age when the mine he had been working in collapsed. Rose had worked in those mines too, as a young adult. His drive and passion for serving Galar, especially in supplying her with power, made sense on the back of that. For someone who still had his whole family, a family he loved more than anything, Leon couldn't even imagine the impact of losing someone so dear at such a young age could have. And that was the reason Rose had given for his decision to imprison Eternatus, to decide that the fate of so many innocents was a price worth paying for his goals.
Leon looked at Hop, and marvelled at the fact that, though it had only been a year since he and Victor had left on their Gym Challenge, there was a completely different light in his eyes. He had wanted to watch over Hop on his journey as a Pokemon Trainer, but he felt that he had not really been by his side throughout his journey as he had wished. His mother, too, had always sighed over how, on the rare occasion that he did come home, he came and went like a tornado, there one moment and gone the next.
He had given to his family all of his battle, championship, and sponsorship money, but he had spent so little time with them the past ten years. He might have even less time now, as the owner of the new Battle Tower, and with so many responsibilities he owed to Macro Cosmos besides. But at least for now, he could sit down and listen to them talk about their lives, about Postwick and Wedgehurst, without thinking about what he would do next when he returned to work.
Two days later, before he went back to Wyndon, he stopped before the low garden wall of his childhood home and looked at the carpet of harebells his grandparents cultivated. He turned back into the house.
'Mum, can I have some bluebells to bring to Wyndon with me?' he asked.
'Like as a bouquet?' she said.
'No, to grow.'
'I don't mind giving you some, but they're not so difficult to find, you know. I'm sure you could find seeds in Wyndon.'
'Yeah,' he said, and found he didn't know how to put the words together to describe why he wanted them. All he could say was, 'I want to bring these.'
Not Hop and Leon's mother for nothing, she said no more and brought out a pot and spade. He was extremely pleased with them, and carried them carefully to the Battle Tower the next morning. Aya, a senior League staff member, was in the lobby when he arrived.
'Morning, boss,' she said. 'Nice flowers.'
'Thanks! Do you think -' He glanced down at the roses beneath glass under his feet. 'Do you think we could replace those with these?'
'Sure we can. Putting your personal touch on the lobby, eh? I like it.'
'They're bluebells.' He paused, then said, 'There's a poem that says they represent hope, but the rose, with its thorns, symbolising love, is superior. I'm hoping it's wrong, though.'
Aya was taken aback. Perhaps she didn't understand what he meant. Then she smiled, and said, 'Yeah. I'm sure it is.'
She offered to take the flowers, and by the time he passed through the lobby to leave for the evening, the flowers were in the floor. He paused to look at them, and felt, for the first time in several weeks, that the ground beneath him was steady.
Fandom: Pokemon
Characters: Leon, mentions of Rose, Hop, Victor
Word Count: 1.5k
Rating: Gen
Summary: After the events of the Darkest Day, Leon takes over Rose Tower. For the bingo square 'The Tower'.
Leon knew, without being told by Macro Cosmos' lawyers, that he would have to take over the running of the Rose Tower. Possibly he could do so without also taking over for Macro Cosmos, or perhaps split up its many subsidiaries to be run by board or senior staff members, but he felt, acutely, that it was his duty to take care of the company. In many ways, Macro Cosmos was Galar, and Leon had decided to dedicate himself to the Galar region even before he knew the words to speak his loyalty. Not exactly a majority of its shareholders agreed on Leon as the new chairman, but those who disagreed weren't able to decide on a different chairman between them, and it was clear to Leon that he might as well get on with things while they continued to argue between themselves.
He had only been an official League Trainer for a few months, had only received his first three Gym badges, when Chairman Rose took him under his wing and told him he would, without a doubt, be Champion someday - the greatest Champion Galar had ever seen. Leon had believed him from the very first instant. Even after he became Champion, he continued to be Rose's student and protege. At 16, Rose had asked him to chair the first meeting of the new League season, to speak to the Gym Leaders and Gym Trainers of the major league, and Leon was soon almost entirely in charge of the League. When Rose had gone missing during the Championship Cup that would eventually crown Victor as the new Champion, it had been natural for Leon to step up as its executive.
As such, Rose Tower had always been Leon's playground. It had been built atop a Power Spot as a symbol of what it stood for - Galar, and everything that was unique to her - but Leon wasn't the only Trainer Chairman Rose had taken the opportunity to tutor on the rooftop. Perhaps it wasn't quite accurate to say that it had been Leon's playground, after all. He had always seen it as a place of business. And he loved Rose Tower, one of many pivotal places from which he had learnt to be a Trainer; perhaps the most pivotal of them all.
Thinking about Rose now, Leon felt a stab of hurt and betrayal. Some time after the events of the Darkest Day, Leon overheard Sonia saying that Professor Magnolia had quit her partnership with Rose because of the madness she saw in his eyes as he chased after the power of Dynamax. Leon couldn't - didn't want to - believe her. Wasn't it only natural to be fascinated by Dynamax, the phenomenon unique to their home region Galar? As a young Trainer setting out on his Gym Challenge for the first time, Leon had, like many other Trainers his age, thought Dynamax to be the coolest thing ever, but after he met Rose and agreed to be mentored by him, Rose had given him a book on the science and history behind Dynamax, and in between training for his seventh Gym Badge, Leon had torn through it in days. Rose had let him keep the books, and Leon brought them home after his first Championship Cup. The shelves in his childhood bedroom, which his younger self had filled with video games and Charizard figurines, filled with books on Dynamax, and periphery subjects besides.
Leon didn't want to think that he could have missed the signs of Rose's crazed pursuit of power and energy. He had thought that their interest in Dynamax was something they had in common. He didn't want to think, after all this time, that it had been the thing to set them apart.
Despite that, he couldn't feel any guilt or regret. When the shock of things had subsided, Leon had had the time to be hurt by Rose's assertion that he had mentored him in order to have a strong Trainer under his control who would take charge of Eternatus. He didn't believe him - not completely - and he was sure it wasn't only because he didn't want to. He was sure that Rose had truly taken him in because he believed in his abilities. Perhaps Rose had forgotten somewhere along the way, but when he had first met Leon - it must have been. And perhaps if Rose had met Victor earlier, things would have been different. What Rose had most certainly forgotten was the joy in Pokemon, and Leon, too, had become stagnant under his continuous success. Victor was a better, stronger, younger Trainer, and perhaps if he had been able to sooner remind Rose of what it meant to work with Pokemon, then -
- but there was no point in lamenting the past.
Not immediately, but shortly, after his final Championship Match, Leon went home to Postwick. It had not been so very long since he had last been there after all. It felt like both an eternity, and mere moments. When he stepped out of the station, Hop and Victor had once again come to pick him up. There was no crowd this time, but seeing the two boys was everything to him. He threw his arms around the both of them, knocking off Victor's hat, and issuing protests from Hop.
'Seriously, Lee, we were with you until two weeks ago!' Hop said.
'I know! Forever and a half ago!' Leon said.
A strange feeling welled up in his chest, and he squeezed them again until it lifted.
Oleana had told him - in a past lifetime, it felt like - that Rose had lost his father at a young age when the mine he had been working in collapsed. Rose had worked in those mines too, as a young adult. His drive and passion for serving Galar, especially in supplying her with power, made sense on the back of that. For someone who still had his whole family, a family he loved more than anything, Leon couldn't even imagine the impact of losing someone so dear at such a young age could have. And that was the reason Rose had given for his decision to imprison Eternatus, to decide that the fate of so many innocents was a price worth paying for his goals.
Leon looked at Hop, and marvelled at the fact that, though it had only been a year since he and Victor had left on their Gym Challenge, there was a completely different light in his eyes. He had wanted to watch over Hop on his journey as a Pokemon Trainer, but he felt that he had not really been by his side throughout his journey as he had wished. His mother, too, had always sighed over how, on the rare occasion that he did come home, he came and went like a tornado, there one moment and gone the next.
He had given to his family all of his battle, championship, and sponsorship money, but he had spent so little time with them the past ten years. He might have even less time now, as the owner of the new Battle Tower, and with so many responsibilities he owed to Macro Cosmos besides. But at least for now, he could sit down and listen to them talk about their lives, about Postwick and Wedgehurst, without thinking about what he would do next when he returned to work.
Two days later, before he went back to Wyndon, he stopped before the low garden wall of his childhood home and looked at the carpet of harebells his grandparents cultivated. He turned back into the house.
'Mum, can I have some bluebells to bring to Wyndon with me?' he asked.
'Like as a bouquet?' she said.
'No, to grow.'
'I don't mind giving you some, but they're not so difficult to find, you know. I'm sure you could find seeds in Wyndon.'
'Yeah,' he said, and found he didn't know how to put the words together to describe why he wanted them. All he could say was, 'I want to bring these.'
Not Hop and Leon's mother for nothing, she said no more and brought out a pot and spade. He was extremely pleased with them, and carried them carefully to the Battle Tower the next morning. Aya, a senior League staff member, was in the lobby when he arrived.
'Morning, boss,' she said. 'Nice flowers.'
'Thanks! Do you think -' He glanced down at the roses beneath glass under his feet. 'Do you think we could replace those with these?'
'Sure we can. Putting your personal touch on the lobby, eh? I like it.'
'They're bluebells.' He paused, then said, 'There's a poem that says they represent hope, but the rose, with its thorns, symbolising love, is superior. I'm hoping it's wrong, though.'
Aya was taken aback. Perhaps she didn't understand what he meant. Then she smiled, and said, 'Yeah. I'm sure it is.'
She offered to take the flowers, and by the time he passed through the lobby to leave for the evening, the flowers were in the floor. He paused to look at them, and felt, for the first time in several weeks, that the ground beneath him was steady.