Pika and Chu stared wide-eyed at their trainer’s battle acceptance. Just as they were giving up all hope, Skye pulls a complete 180! Skye knelt down to his two Pikachu and sighed again.
“Der is a PC in da front entrance. It shouldnae be too hard tae find.”
The Altaria finally chirped at his trainer, letting her up off the ground. She coughed, brushing grass off her front before nodding. Rebecca went off to find the PC and get her battle team.
No one answered Rebecca until Pika turned her head towards her and slowly shook her head. No…no. No battle. Skye wouldn’t want to battle a champion. He wasn’t that type of trainer anymore. He wasn’t…
Oh dear, now the older Pikachu is starting to get upset. Very upset. She had been trying so so long to help Skye get over his fear after her failure at being a good battle partner. This was the perfect chance and still, Skye wouldn’t budge.
…but that was when Skye straightened up after what felt like forever.
“N-no…
w-we’ll battle.”
Rebecca looked sympathetic. Then she let out a rather humorous squeak, Marshmallow still nesting on her back.
“G-Gotta get Marshmallow off me first- help…”
It’s hard to believe a region champion would have trouble with an Altaria. Then again, she didn’t have much muscle mass and Marshmallow was heavy.
Skye stood uncomfortably as Pika sat with Chu right in front of him. The two were just begging with their big brown eyes for him to battle. The breeder rubbed his arm awkwardly, knowing that he couldn’t escape. That was why the entire Pikachu population of the ranch decided to swarm.
“Pikachu…” Chu sadly chirped, giving his mother a pat on the back with the flat of his tail. The elder chu glanced at him before sighing deeply. Did they already give up? Several of the Pikachu in the group around them started looking confused and shift just as uncomfortably as Skye had.
Skye tightened his jaw as he saw Pika bow her head in defeat. Did she finally give up the fight to get him to battle like a real trainer? Ever since the incident, Pika had been trying her best to push events and gym meets to get Skye out of the shell that he had made.
And here was Pika, standing with a hanging head and a grim expression. She was done. Finished. She wouldn’t try this ever again. Skye had won.
“Uh… hey. If it’s alright… Is there a PC nearby? I can get my normal team and we can have a battle…”
Rebecca had no idea what was going on.
The many, many Pikachu all shouted and hollered at Skye, their ears and tails raised. It must have been fairly deafening to be in the thick of it.
In the hoard of bright yellow, brown and red; a single Pikachu slowly started making it’s way through the crowd. When the huge family of Pikachu slowly parted for it, Chu stood back up with ears bent downward. Slowly, Skye turned around to follow his Pokemon’s line of sight. Oh…
“Pika…” Skye sighed at the approaching Pikachu. It was Pika. Yeah, her name was Pika. Sure, she hadn’t the most impressive name, but Skye had named her when he was only four years old. The Pikachu was his first Pokémon and the one that…oh, come on, Pika. Really?
The Pikachu finally came into the open and sat beside her son. She frowned up at Skye with a very sad look in her eyes.
“Pika-pi…” Pika squeaked weakly, her claws gently scratching at the small scar on her right forearm. “Pi…”
Underneath the Altaria, Rebecca mumbled a curse before wedging her head out from under the large Flying type. She glanced at the Pikachu and looked sympathetic.
“Ah… hey…”
The champion kept her voice quiet, not wanting to startle the Pikachu.
No! Chu stamped at the ground as hard as he could for a 13 pound mouse. His cheeks continued to spark wildly towards his trainer. Skye wasn’t going to leave. And neither was the champion. They are going to battle. Skye has to get over his fear of higher ranking trainers and leaders.
Skye turned his gaze away from his Pikachu, not willing to look at him in the eye. Could a Pokémon try getting Chu out of here? He is really hoping for that.
And like a dream, there comes the troops! Just…not Skye’s troops. Chu’s troops. And by Chu’s troops, it’s every Pikachu on the ranch. Literally all fifty Pikachu are running towards them right now. Be afraid.
“Holy mother of Arceus…”
Was it understandable that the champion feared for her life?
Without warning, Marshmallow promptly fell on top of her, presumably to keep her in one spot. The Altaria promptly nested on the champion’s back while she muttered obscenities to the ground.
Skye stared down at his Pokémon, shaking his head slowly at him. Chu, why do you do this? Please don’t…
“C-chu, p-please—”
“Pi! Pikachu!” Chu sparked slightly and stepped towards Skye. “Pika pi!” He spat, pointing his tail towards Rebecca. “Chu-pi!” To an outsider, this Pikachu might sound completely insane. It was like the Pokémon was bossing the trainer about rather than the other way around.
“Wh-Whoa, whoa! Hang on, I don’t battle outside official matches unless it’s an emergency. I don’t even have my team with me.”
She was a little cautious around Pokemon like this. As far as she could tell, he was being rather aggressive.
Shuddering out a sigh, Skye tried to speak with wide green eyes.
“S-sorry, b-but…” He took one slow step back. Look who has become that small terrified seven year old again. “a-ah n-n-need tae g-go…”
“Pikachu!!” And there is a sudden Chu, rushing to stand between the two. “Pika!” He looked as if he was extremely determined for some reason.
Rebecca raised her hands and gave the other a gentle smile. She took a step back to give the other some space, he clearly needed it.
“That’s quite alright. If you’d like, we can continue the conversation some other-”
“What? Is there something wrong?”
“Eh?”
…
…
…hahaha, nope. Nope. There goes Skye’s heart. He has turned ghostly white. Wow, you’d think he couldn’t get any more pale.
Okay, she wasn’t a gym leader. Good. She is a champion. A real league champion. That was ten billion times worse.
“I personally would have preferred being able to pick my own successor but what can you do. I wish I had been able to stay retired, though- Hey, are you okay?”
Was it something she said?
Aha, no you would not. Seeing so many Pokémon being born can get a little endearing after so many. Breeding wasn’t an easy job, nor was it fun most of the time. And that wasn’t the worst part of the job.
“…fightin’ trainers is yir job?” Oh no. Oh no she wasn’t what he thinks he is, is she? Is she a gym leader? Skye really hoped she isn’t.
“Yeah, it is. Tons of them get to me through luck alone with the E4 but luck won’t help you in the fight I put up. Technically it would have been ‘used to be’ but the last one was just so terrible that they actually had to call me back to fill in.
As much as I wanted to retire to berry farming, the League wouldn’t let me.”
“The idiot thought he was immortal and invulnerable, can you believe that? He thought he could get away with turning away anyone he wanted without even battling them. That leaves a black mark on someone’s trainer card, y’know. Poor kids.”
The former champion sighed, her hands on her hips. Her so-called successor had been a pig, plain and simple.
Busy? That was an understatement. There was always so much to do every single day. It was amazing how Skye could even keep up with it all.
“Yeah, but dat’s how da life eh a breeder goes. It is worth it tae see aw da little babies, but when yae get doon tae it, der is mare work tae be done.” Well, if you come back in a couple of weeks, you’ll be surrounded by eggs and newborns.
“Definitely worth it. And agreed, there’s always work to be done.”
“I wish I could work on a ranch. I have a side-job as a berry farmer but that’s only in my free time. There’s always trainers to fight in my job.”
As well as a part-time mother to a certain hedgehog. Rebecca chuckled a bit with a small smile.
Back in the Game 
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