"If you do join the gym challenge that means we'll be rivals," I said slowly, thinking back on Gary's massive Dracovish and I wrinkled my nose slightly. A bark of laughter came from across the table and I looked over in surprise to see Gary giving me a wide grin.

"You just imagined going up against my Dracovish didn't you?" he asked with mirth in his dark eyes and I felt my cheeks heating up.

"No," I huffed out, but Gary continued to laugh and I folded my arms sulkily.

"Just make sure you have a dragon or fairy type on your team and you'll be fine," Gary said with a highly amused expression. Honestly, I was about to stick my tongue out at him but his comment made me remember something and I sat up straight.

"That's right! I wanted to catch a Hatenna," I said suddenly, reminding myself of my goal of catching lots of different types of pokemon during this journey.

"If you can evolve her quick enough then Hatterene would be a good choice. They have an insane special attack stat and Dracovish is more of a physical pokemon," Gary said with a slow nod, seeming to be in deep thought.

It is just entirely unfair how attractive he looks, I thought, and found myself pouting slightly. I quickly morphed my expression into something resembling calmness when he shifted his glance back over to me.

"I haven't had a rival in years. It might be fun to try my hand at being a trainer again," Gary said with a grin and I blinked in surprise.

"Were you a regular trainer before you became a researcher?" I asked in surprise. Gary snorted slightly and gave me a cocky look.

"You kidding? I was aiming to be the champion when I first started on my pokemon journey," he said in an extremely braggy voice that normally would have annoyed the heck out of me but was somehow incredibly endearing when it came from Gary. Especially since he laughed at himself as soon as he said it and his expression turned back to his normal friendly expression.

"I cooled off a bit as I got older though and I am definitely more suited to being a researcher. But if I can gain some inside data about Dynamaxing by participating in the gym challenge then it'd be worth it to dust off my old travel shoes and get back on the road," Gary said with a small smile. I couldn't help but echo that smile, but soon I was frowning as I cocked my head to the side.

"You do know about the endorsements though right?" I asked, hoping that I wasn't about to ruin his day. Gary's smile instantly soothed my worries though.

"No worries. I already talked to Professor Magnolia about my idea. She said that if I really wanted to pursue that route then she would put in a good word for me with Chairman Rose since they are working together to fully understand Dynamaxing and how it relates to the wishing stars and power spots," he explained easily and my eyes widened.

"Wow. Talk about friends in high places," I said a little teasingly and Gary graced me with a lopsided grin.

"Who did you get your endorsement from?" he asked curiously, and I wondered why his interest in me made my pulse quicken.

It's a normal question, Sayuri. Stop trying to read into things too far, I mentally scolded myself before explaining the strange circumstances around my own endorsement. Gary, unsurprisingly, laughed exuberantly when he heard about how Wooloos had attacked me and he agreed that it must be due to my hair color for whatever reason.

"Man, I haven't laughed this much in forever. You're fun to hang out with, Sayuri," Gary said with a grin and my heart skipped a beat at the unguarded expression. I cleared my throat and tried to hide my grin with a pout.

"I'm so glad my misfortunes gave you a chance to laugh," I pouted sarcastically and Gary chuckled.

"I've gotta catch the early train to get back to the research lab tomorrow so I'm going to hit the sack," Gary said, naturally pushing his chair out before standing up to his full height. I reluctantly followed suit and slid my chair back under the table we had been sharing.

"I'm heading for Motostoke after this so I guess I should call it a night too," I said as my mind jumped between thinking about my next gym battle and my wish that Gary and I could have kept talking.

"You should go through the Galar mine to get there," Gary said. He was walking slowly and after a moment he looked over at me pointedly as if he was expecting me to follow after him. I quickly obliged and listened intently as he walked and talked. "Apparently Kabu, the Motostoke gym leader, goes there to train a bunch. And I've heard that you can find wild Hatenna outside the Motostoke side of the Galar Mines."

"Really?" I asked in surprise, feeling excitement cause my feet to skip a little as I walked alongside Gary's tall frame. His lips quirked into a half-smile and he nodded, glancing down at me.

"Make sure to train it up strong so we can have a proper battle later, Rival," he said while throwing me a wink. I could feel my cheeks heating up so I swiftly looked forward, hoping that he hadn't noticed.

"Don't get too cocky. Just because I was intimidated by Dracovish doesn't mean my pokemon will be," I retorted, willing the blush to fade from my cheeks. Gary chuckled and I was shocked when he actually nudged my arm with his elbow.

"I'm surprised you admitted you were scared," Gary said with a wide grin and my mouth dropped open.

"I didn't say scared!" I retorted, embarrassed beyond belief. "Who wouldn't be nervous when something nearly three feet taller than you and could eat you in two bites is suddenly standing in front of you?"

Gary let out a spluttering laugh as he tried to hold it in and I folded my arms, cursing myself inwardly for not having acted cooler earlier. A gentle hand patted my head after a minute though and I looked up at Gary in surprise.

"I should've warned you about how big he is. My bad," he said soothingly and I immediately felt my embarrassment melt away.

"It's fine," I said with an awkward chuckle. "I'm sorry if I offended Dracovish by acting like that."

"You still pet him in the end, so it's all good," Gary said with an easy smile. He suddenly came to a stop outside one of the many upstairs rooms that trainers could rent out for a place to sleep and I could feel disappointment spreading through me keenly as I realized that this really was the end of our time together.

"Good luck with finding a Hatenna," Gary said with a small smile, placing a hand on the handle of his room. "Next time we meet I'll challenge you to a battle like a proper rival," he said with a wink in my direction.

It took considerable willpower on my part, but I managed to place a fist on my hip and give him a challenging grin.

"I'm not going easy on you just because you haven't been a trainer for a couple of years," I proclaimed cockily and Gary chuckled.

"Wouldn't want you to," he retorted back before opening the door and waving. "See you later," he said. I returned his wave and took a step back so that he wasn't thinking I was trying to peek into his room. Soon he had disappeared behind the closed door and I let out a small sigh, placing a hand against my chest to feel my rapidly beating heart.

"Dang, that boy is bad for my health," I muttered in embarrassment before turning and walking to my own room.

The next day I found myself walking into the Galar mines as Gary had suggested and Chesnaught had a grand old time battling several water types that apparently made their home in the calm pools within the mine. I nearly fainted after a Galarian Stunfisk burst out of the ground directly under me, but Chesnaught had scooped me out of its clutches before it could snap around me entirely.

It was getting late by the time I had made my way out of the mine and when I left the confining walls behind me I was surprised to see that there were already stars in the sky. Deciding that it was late enough to warrant camping out for the night, I swiftly set up my travel tent a little ways from the main path leading to Motostoke and released Simisear to join Chesnaught and me for dinner.

After we had all eaten our fill, I started my daily routine of grooming my pokemon. This was a habit I built from my breeder days and both Chesnaught and Simisear loved the individualized attention as I made sure that Chestnaught's shell got rubbed down with an oil made from Lum Berry seeds and that Simisear didn't have any knots in his fur as I brushed his back for him.

As I was brushing Simisear, a soft gurgling sound came from behind me and I heard Chesnaught let out a grunt of surprise. Turning around, I saw that when Chesnaught had stretched out on the ground to rest, a tiny blob of pink and blue had apparently snuggled up next to his arm and drifted asleep. Chesnaught and I met each other's gaze with mirroring expressions of surprise.

I held a finger to my lips, signaling for him to keep still, and walked over to the little pokemon. As I got closer, excitement began to fill me as I recognized the little thing. It looked a little like an Igglybuff but with blue hair that doubled as ear/arm appendages and it looked like a pink clown hat was growing from the top of its head. I could hardly even believe that a Hatenna had just wandered into my camp!

"It's so cute!" I whispered to Chesnaught and Simisear as they both looked down at the little pokemon. "Do you think we should wake it up or should I just try to catch it?" I whispered, looking at my pokemon for advice.

Simisear immediately pantomimed throwing something and Chesnaught nodded in agreement. Grinning widely, I hurriedly walked over to my backpack and took one of my many extra pokeballs. Walking as quietly as I could over to the sleeping Hatenna, I reached out slowly and gently tapped the button of my pokeball against the Hatenna's little hat. A red light immediately engulfed the small psychic type and I watched as it disappeared into my pokeball. I held it in my palm and we all watched as the pokeball rolled around once, twice, three times, before the small chime that signaled a successful capture sounded.

"No way!" I squealed with delight, jumping up and twirling around excitedly. Chesnaught chuckled at my celebratory dance but Simisear jumped right into the action, taking my free hand and spinning me around quickly, which made me laugh out loud.

"Alright alright, that's enough. Let's see what its stats are like," I said, batting away Simisear's hand which was still trying to twirl me around. I scanned the pokeball with my Pokedex and waited for a second for it to identify the details of the Hatenna I had unexpectedly caught.

When the Pokedex pulled up a picture of my newest pokemon I wasn't surprised to see that its stats were pretty dismal. This was its first evolution of three after all, so it made sense that it didn't start out very strong. I was pleased to see that this was a female Hatenna though. It would be nice to have diversity on the team since both Chesnaught and Simisear were male. That way if I was up against a trainer that liked to spam attract at least part of my team would still be a viable option. My eyes went wide when I saw that its ability was Magic Bounce though. That was an ability that reflected any status changing effect, such as making them fall asleep or become paralyzed or anything.

"Oh score!" I gasped in delight. I had only met a few Espeon that had that ability and I was absolutely thrilled to have that on my side.

"Ches chesnaught." I looked up from my Pokedex to see Chesnaught gesturing to the pokeball in my hand and I smiled.

"Of course you can meet her. Come on out, Hatenna," I said, tossing the pokeball to release my newest pokemon before catching it as it fell back towards me. Hatenna, who was barely over 1 ft tall including her hat, materialized from the pokeball and I flinched when she fell flat on her face, breathing deeply.

"Awwww, the poor thing must be exhausted," I purred, walking over and picking up the little ball of cuteness to cradle her in my arms. She wrapped her ear things around her body like a blanket and snuggled into my arms, completely asleep and looking very comfy.

"Sear sear simisear," Simisear whisper yelled at the little Hatenna to try and wake it up and I frowned at him.

"Stop that. If she's sleepy then just let her sleep," I said firmly, pulling the little bundle in my arms away from him before he could flick her or do some other mischievous act.

"Simi," Simisear pouted, folding his arms and walking over to the tent. My face relaxed back into a smile as I looked over at Chesnaught who was gazing at the little pokemon with wonder in his eyes. I chuckled and Chesnaught looked over at me.

"Seems like she likes you," I said, thinking of her cuddled up next to Chesnaught's arm. "I hope you get along well."

"Naught naught ches," Chesnaught whispered while nodding with a happy smile. He reached out timidly and stroked the back of one of his claws tenderly against Hatenna's hat. She burbled quietly in her sleep at the touch and Chesnaught quickly took his hand back, looking worried. But Hatenna remained fast asleep and he let out a sigh of relief.

My mind wandered, as it had been all day, to an easy smile and spiky brown hair. I sighed as Gary floated in my mind's eye and I scrunched my nose up at myself. "This little girl crush is beneath you, Sayuri," I thought to myself firmly. But I still couldn't help but wonder how long it would take Gary to catch up to where I was at with gym badges.

Choice A: Wait for Gary to catch up

Choice B: Move on and focus on the gyms

A/N Hatterene is definitely one of my favorite pokemon from the Galar Region. Her speed stat is unfortunate but SUCH a heavy hitter on the special side! XD Honestly Gary's route is going a little differently than I was expecting, but I am very much enjoying it so far and I hope you are as well!