“Maria, my beloved, I swear I’ll be with you until the end of time!”
“Oh, Anthony! I love you!”
Gross sobbing sounds filled the living room, and they mostly came from one person—er, Bug. Golisopod bawled his eyes out while snatching tissues by the dozen to dab his face with. Hours into our celebratory party, and it was his turn to choose a channel on the TV. Some sort of romance soap opera played as far as I could tell—way too melodramatic and full of nonsensical twists for my taste—but a few of my Bugs were into it. Golisopod just happened to be the most vocal… by a long shot.
Without looking, I reached out and patted his armored plating in a comforting gesture. The Pokemon thanked me in a small, tearful voice that comically contrasted his massive frame. I wisely did not comment on the snot flying everywhere from him blowing his nose. Frosmoth reeled back in disgust and squeaked angrily, threatening to turn him into a living popsicle if he did that one more time. When the Pokemon strewn around the living room started to argue, Beedrill quietly used one of his legs to press a button on the TV remote. The channel changed to a repeat of a popular cooking show episode with everyone none the wiser.
Me?
I was still typing up a speech in my phone’s note app, and I’d started ages ago.
“Ugh,” I muttered under my breath.
According to the itinerary Alder had sent me, I was expected to make some short remarks after I was officially sworn in. It was important to make a good impression on the public, so I couldn’t fudge this up. It wasn’t like it was that hard. Some words of gratitude, something about working hard, doing my best going forward, yada yada. Stuff like that.
The problem was adding my own flair to it. I couldn’t make up my mind on what I wanted to say to the public. My lack of experience writing speeches didn’t help, either.
Did making slogans for class bake sales and lemonade stands once upon a time count?
Still, I never half-assed anything I did. I went the extra mile and looked up past speeches from other government officials for inspiration on how I should structure my remarks. Rune looked over my shoulder while I typed and helpfully commented about things that could use minor changes. He and my other Pokemon knew how to read our language because I’d taught them.
For such a short speech that I poured hours of my life into, the finished draft barely amounted to the length of my whole phone screen. I was willing to bet it would only take me a minute to verbalize out loud as well, something I verified after a quick practice run.
Flygon clapped for me when I finished. Rune didn’t have hands, so he simply beat his wings harder. The others were either too engrossed in the TV or their arguing to notice.
I snorted with laughter. “Thanks.”
One practice run and three silent readthroughs were all I needed to memorize everything, but I didn’t go to sleep right away.
I answered excited texts from my family, Hayden, and my closest pal back in Alola—a chill guy named Guzma—first. There were other congratulatory messages from acquaintances I’d made over the years. The news about me becoming the next Castelia Gym Leader was everywhere already.
By the time I finally crawled into bed, it was a little past midnight. I didn’t waste any time wondering about tomorrow.
I passed out like a light instead.
The next morning was busy to say the least.
“Coming, coming!” I yelled in between half-eaten toast.
I had to get up not one, not two, but five times in the middle of breakfast to answer the ringing doorbell.
We had a bunch of furniture delivered to our house that hadn’t been available for same-day pickup yesterday and stuff I ordered online. One of those deliveries included a cute, comfortable reclining chair modelled after a Centiskorch, something my very own Bug loved, and that chair caused absolute chaos in the house. I had to repeatedly promise to buy each of my Pokemon something themed after their species when I came back home later.
Furniture wasn’t the only thing dropped off. The custom-made suits I’d ordered days ago arrived, too, just in time for my big day.
I went with a coffee-colored set of formal wear and solid gold tie that complemented my hair and eyes, didn’t bother doing anything special with said hair other than brushing it once, and then told everyone else to mind the house while I was gone. I wasn’t bringing any of them with me since they wouldn’t be allowed out of their Pokeballs. They preferred to stay home anyway and watch the ceremony on TV.
“Decorate the house if you want!” I hollered.
A chorus of affirmatives answered me before I closed the front door and turned to my escort waiting in the yard, a Beheeyem that worked for the Unova League. Those weren’t too common to see, so I guessed I got VIP treatment.
After polite greetings, the Pokemon brought me to a private, designated Teleport zone inside League HQ. Security checks were ten times worse than usual because of the importance of today’s occasion. It was only after I passed all of them that a group of League Trainers escorted me further into the building.
We crossed all the way over to the Harmony Hall in the North Wing, a space used throughout history for appointment ceremonies and the like. I didn’t get to see it because I was shown through a backdoor into a waiting room.
It was busy back here. Officials bustled in and out of the room with walkie talkies or digital tablets in hand. The most they could give me were quick, polite greetings as they hurried away to make sure everything was in order.
Someone called out to me in the midst of preparations.
“Kayden! You’ve finally arrived! Cutting it a bit close, aren’t you?” Alder greeted with a good-natured laugh. He looked as uncomfortable as I did in a formal black suit that destroyed my usual image of him, but at least I didn’t constantly fidget with my tie or look like I needed to go to the bathroom.
I smiled wryly as I approached the loose circle of chairs he and a few others were seated in. “I was waiting on my custom suits to arrive. Figured if I was going to put on one of these stupid things, I’d make sure I looked better than usual.”
Loud, guttural laughs escaped Alder’s throat as I sank into the empty chair next to him. My eyes flitted curiously across the room and took in the other occupants.
The middle-aged man sitting to my immediate left was one I recognized from research when catching up on the last two decades of Unovan history. He was Richard Dempsey, current acting President of our government—not that that meant much. He was mostly a figurehead whose job boiled down to signing off on bills that parliament approved and passing them over to Alder and the League to review. Unova’s political system had a lot more checks and balances than other countries in the world. It had been designed to prevent the abuse of powers by refusing to give any single authority total say.
Sitting next to him was a woman I actually recognized from faint childhood memories: Lena Gardel. She was much older now of course, but she had been the presiding mayor of Castelia City in my youth—a very popular one because of her down-to-earth personality and the way she connected with the people. Her plans for early retirement evaporated because locals hated the mayors who came after her, so they begged her to run again after her term limit passed.
She did, and she won by a landslide. She had about two years left on her current term, so we’d be seeing a lot of each other until then. Every Gym Leader and mayor co-governed their respective city or town as an extension of our region’s balanced political system.
Luckily, if the warm and genuine smile Lena offered me was anything to go by, I had a feeling we’d get along swimmingly.
“Mayor Lena Gardel,” the elderly woman introduced, and her weathered hand shook mine with more vigor than I would have expected. The skin around her bright blue eyes crinkled with joy. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Leader Kayden. I’m looking forward to working with you from now on for the sake of Castelia’s people.”
Oh, I definitely liked her already. I considered myself a decent judge of character, and that was not an empty platitude. The firm look in her eyes warranted as much.
“Same here, Lena,” I smiled cheekily. “Hope you’re okay with first names going forward. You’ll be stuck with me until your term ends after all.”
Her voice cracked with breathless chuckles. “Ha! I did wonder if I should bring it up first. I’m not too fond of formalities, either. Burgh sure picked a fun one as his successor.”
My good impression of her climbed once again from the evaluation. I took time to shake hands and greet President Dempsey before turning to the others in the room.
Where the Champion went, the Unova Elite Four was usually not far behind.
This particular generation’s members were fairly young all things considered.
“‘With eyes as gold as the radiant sun, the man approached the dawn of his destiny…’” a young woman dressed in dark, flowing robes mumbled, but I still heard her. With a fat salmon-colored pen in hand, she wrote furiously in a notebook.
She only looked up after Alder pointedly cleared his throat. Large, round, and gold-framed glasses nearly tumbled off her face as her head snapped up.
“Ah! Sorry about that,” she apologized softly. She set her notebook down on her lap and smiled at me, leaning forward with an eager expression that reminded me of a child in a candy store. Her pen twirled around in the air as she spoke. “You see, I like to take inspiration from real life for my novels. It’s so nice to finally meet you, Kayden! I asked Alder to set up a meeting sooner so I could research—er, talk to you, but there wasn’t any time in our schedules. Would it be okay if I used you as a reference in my next story? I could even share some of the profits with you if that’d be agreeable…”
She rambled on, but I was more focused on going through what I knew of her in my head.
Shauntal Soma, a twenty-four-year-old Ghost Specialist and talented, bestselling author. She’d written so many literary masterpieces in her career that they called her the author with the Midas touch. Rom coms, thrillers, mystery or horror novels—whatever she wrote, it didn’t matter. It was sure to become a big hit that companies then fought over to turn into movies and webtoons. Her fame as an author even soared to international levels.
Her most popular novels were those based on the lives of famous trainers like Where The Moon Rises, a book about the Cherrygrove Gym Leader and Fairy Specialist over in Johto. She’d even written a book based on Alder.
I wasn’t exactly big on reading, but I did like Shauntal Soma’s stories. Dad’s personal favorite was—
“Edge of Dawn,” I interrupted Shauntal’s rambling with a grin. It was one of her newer hits: a fantasy, young adult novel about trainers navigating a post-apocalyptic world. According to hearsay, it had been inspired by a random dream one of the other Elite Four members told Shauntal about in passing. “Getting to read a novel based on me sounds neat, but can I get a signed autograph later for my dad? He’s a huge fan of your works.”
Dark eyes glittered with undisguised enthusiasm. Shauntal even clapped her hands together in delight. “Truly?! Sure, an autograph is the least I can do for a fan and the chance to write about you! It’s a bit early, but what do you think about the title To Face The Sun?”
Huh. That had a nice ring to it. Better than anything I could ever think of anyway.
“I like it,” I said honestly.
“Aha, I had a feeling it’d resonate with you—”
“Shauntal, why in heaven’s name haven’t you written a book about me yet?” a new and raspier voice complained. “You have perfectly good writing material sitting inches away from you.”
It came from a dark-haired man sitting with crossed legs. Dressed in a stylish, dapper suit of burgundy red and a yellow scarf thrown around his neck, he looked the very picture of elegance. One arm was slung so that it draped across the back of the chair while the other was preoccupied with tossing a coin up and down in the air.
Grimsley Fletcher. He was a little older than me at twenty-seven, and he was a renowned Dark Specialist who’d crawled his way up from almost nothing. He didn’t have a famous side job like Shauntal did, but he was still fairly well-known. He came from a noble family that used to be one of the richest in Unova before they fell into ruin. Compared to people who had sponsorships from regional Professors or famous corporations, he tried his League Circuit runs all on his own with no one to help him and eventually became one of the strongest. A true rags to riches story… or riches to rags to riches once more on a technical level.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Shauntal huffed out loud. “Because it’s you, Grimsley. Forgive me, but if I wrote a protagonist based on your personality, I’m not sure how I would survive writing more than a few pages.”
“A shame,” Grimsley remarked with an additional tutting sound. “You and your readers don’t know what they’re missing out on.” He turned to me now with lips curled into a smirk. “I almost forgot to introduce myself. Shauntal unfortunately said it for me, but name’s Grimsley. It’s nice to see someone else who rose up from the bottom of the miserable barrel called life.”
I didn’t even question how he knew about my life story. Reporters had probably dug up everything about my poor childhood already and laid it out for display online.
There were cases where people with opposing type specialties clashed, but this was not one of them. I felt a sort of camaraderie with Grimsley already based on our backgrounds alone.
“It never ends, but hardship makes people stronger. I wouldn’t be here today without any of it,” I drawled with a playful shrug of my shoulders.
“You see? You see that, everyone?” Grimsley laughed uproariously as he shifted in his seat. “Finally, someone gets me around here! All you people with your fancy little connections wouldn’t ever understand the kind of things we went through.”
“Now that’s just rude.” Shauntal sniffed with a pointed upturn of her nose. “We’ve never looked down on you, Grimsley.”
“Oh yeah? Then why won’t you write a story about me, hmm?”
They started arguing, and that was when I finally noticed my earlier observation was wrong.
“Is that a poker chip?” I questioned with raised brows.
The coin that Grimsley had been tossing this whole time was not actually real money but a smaller version of a freaking poker chip.
Alder helpfully piped up since Grimsley was preoccupied with tearing Shauntal a new one.
“No, it’s from a tabletop game,” Alder revealed. That only made my brows fly up further to my hairline. Me staring at him with an incredulous expression prompted Alder to cough into his fist. “Grimsley used to have a bit of a gambling addiction. We’ve been weaning him off of it since then by introducing him to board games, but now that’s his newest obsession.”
“Right…”
That was… interesting. It also clued me in to the fact that Alder and the Unova Elite Four seemed close with each other. Good for them.
All the bickering between Shauntal and Grimsley woke up someone else.
“Urgh… let’s not be so loud this early in the morning, alright? Am I clear?” Caitlin murmured.
The third Elite Four member had been quietly dozing off in a seat this whole time, and she looked like she wanted to be anywhere else but here. From the way bleary, teal blue eyes stared longingly at the empty chair to her right, I had a feeling she was calculating whether or not it was comfortable enough to use as a bed. Long waves of golden locks nearly as long as her body were already pulled around her like a massive quilt, so she was halfway there to any master plan of glorious sleep.
Caitlin Namiki. She was the newest and youngest Elite Four member at twenty-two years of age and the one who gave Shauntal ideas for novels from random dreams she had. She had emigrated from Sinnoh and moved here to Unova a few years ago. Now, Caitlin was widely known as a renowned human psychic and Psychic Specialist in the service of our country. Every regional League had tons of Psychic type Pokemon employed by them for help with Teleporting forces around the country, making protective barriers, security checks, and more. It was Caitlin’s job to train such Pokemon to a competent enough level where they could do all that and be lent out to Gym Leaders and government facilities across the country.
Needless to say, it was a very time-consuming job, and I didn’t blame her for how unusually sleepy she seemed. Judging by the lack of reaction from Alder and his other Elite Four members, a tired Caitlin Namiki seemed like a pretty normal occurrence. Only the president and Mayor Lena seemed as mildly baffled as I was.
Since Shauntal and Grimsley didn’t seem likely to hear her anytime soon, Caitlin gave up. She turned away from their argument and gave me a lazy, tired wave of her hand.
“Congratulations on joining the Unova League… I’m Caitlin. Good night and sweet dreams,” she barely mumbled out between a yawn.
Her head rolled back and hit the back of her chair, and that was that. She had officially passed out cold.
“Good grief,” the man sitting next to her sighed. His voice was the deepest out of everyone here. “Sorry you had to witness all this chaos, Kayden, on the day of your ceremony. I’m happy to welcome someone my mentor speaks so highly of into our ranks.”
I stared at him. “Mentor?”
He grinned, jerking his head in the direction of the middle-aged man at my side. “Alder, of course.”
“You talked about me?” I shifted in my seat to stare at the Champion.
“Only good things!” Alder promised with a sly grin. “It’s not often we get a new Gym Leader, you know. My Elite Four were curious about you.”
Fair enough.
I turned back to stare at the huge man sitting across from me. To say he was a giant seemed like an understatement. Thick, bulging muscles in his arms were on full display as he sat on a heavy-duty sofa unlike the rest of us in chairs. I was pretty sure that if he stood up, I’d look like a Bug next to him.
The final and oldest member of the Unova Elite Four: Marshal Cross. He was a twenty-nine-year-old Fighting Specialist and a training instructor for a lot of the League’s armed forces. He wasn’t one of the humans gifted enough to use Aura, but that didn’t matter. Marshal was pretty damn strong without having that sort of power at his disposal. He definitely looked the part.
Apparently, he was also Alder’s apprentice. I wondered how far back said apprenticeship went and asked as much out loud.
“It was a little after the Vertress Conference,” Marshal remarked with a fond glint in his eyes. “I placed top 32 on my first try. Alder personally came up to me after the whole thing ended and scouted me for the League. He helped me train and challenge for an Elite Four position later.”
Alder stroked his chin, smiling. “Now that’s a trip down memory lane. You certainly had a lot of potential, though I still remember how rude you were back then. Didn’t you tell me to ‘piss off’ and that you didn’t need any help getting stronger?”
“Can you please stop bringing that up? This student of yours is still trying to erase it from his memory…” Marshal winced.
Having apparently won her argument with Grimsley, Shauntal finally jumped into the conversation again. “Are we talking about when Marshal met Alder for the first time and embarrassed himself? Because I have plenty more funny stories Alder told me of stuff he said after.”
Marshal’s eyes narrowed. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Oh, I think she would,” Grimsley sang in a mocking tone, and he purposely dragged out each word.
Caitlin probably would have contributed something if not for the fact that she was still fast asleep.
The Unova Elite Four were an eccentric but fun bunch as I quickly learned from engaging in idle chatter with them. It helped that our ages were pretty similar in range, though…
From the weary but fond look on Alder’s face as he watched us interact, I wondered what it was like having to manage all of them as their supervisor. It probably wasn’t too easy. He seemed like an old uncle having to control four overgrown kids.
A few minutes later, and after exchanging phone numbers with Shauntal and Grimsley, we had to put a pin in our conversation. A League official came by and beckoned to us. Another woke up a disgruntled Caitlin.
It was time.
With Alder taking the lead, the rest of us trailed after him through the door onto a stage. Furious clapping sounds echoed without end.
“Champion Alder Adeku of Unova is now entering…”
A voice spoke over an intercom, but I didn’t listen to the voice announcing our arrivals.
By all the Legends above and below was it damn bright in here.
The overhead lights beaming down from above were one thing. The obnoxious, endless camera flashes from the back of the hall were another. Reporters fought for the best angles and views from their limited seating on the balcony level. Below them, there were hundreds of important government and League officials seated in careful rows on the ground floor—all dressed smartly and all looking attentively at the stage.
The hall and stage themselves were specially decorated for the occasion. They’d rolled in some fancy new carpeting and repositioned huge flags with our national symbol on every side of the room. Everywhere you looked, there were Braviary emblazoned on expensive silk. The regal birds looked ready to take flight and soar. They were matched almost one for one by marble statues of past Unovan champions and giant paintings depicting historical moments that took up entire walls.
As Alder took his place at a podium, I followed the others to seats prepared for us on stage. My gaze drifted across the crowd as I did.
It wasn’t hard finding Burgh. He’d gotten here long before me. Though he wasn’t a Gym Leader anymore, his status as a retired one plus the fact that he’d endorsed me as his successor meant he was still a very important person. He sat with the rest of the Unova Gym Leaders in a special seating area. The moment I caught his eye, he smiled reassuringly and tapped his chest with a finger.
You’ve got this was what he seemed to be saying. I smiled to myself. I couldn’t wait to talk to him and the other Gym Leaders after the ceremony.
The clapping sounds gradually died down as Alder adjusted the microphone at the podium. His entire demeanor changed the moment the hall went silent. Gone was the boisterous, outgoing man who complained that he wanted to change into loungewear. He’d been replaced by a dignified and beloved leader of an entire country.
“Citizens of Unova,” Alder spoke into the microphone, “it is with great joy that we gather here this morning. Today, Kayden Sterling will take his oath of office to join the ranks of the Unova League as Castelia’s next Gym Leader. To all the staff and law enforcement officers who have helped us prepare today’s proceedings, we thank you for your service to the country…”
Introductory remarks seemed to go on forever, but Alder had a natural charisma that made even boring content sound interesting. People focused on what he said all the way up to the crucial point in the ceremony. They sat up straighter in the audience when he spoke the magic words.
“We will now begin the oath of office. Kayden Sterling, please step forward.”
I felt the weight of hundreds of gazes rest on me as I stood up and made my way to the podium. My steps were steady, controlled, confident. The word ‘nervous’ didn’t exist in my dictionary, not now at least.
I took my place at the podium next to Alder. Together, we watched as an official walked onto stage bearing a cushion in his hands. Eyes immediately turned from me not to the cushion that man held, but the object that rested securely on top of it and sank into its soft folds.
There, a round stone glittered under the lights. Two colors remained unmoving yet seemed to swim inside it—a white paler than any bone and a black deeper than the endless night. The two contrasting shades merged in the middle in a brilliant display of sparkles. Though the stone held no actual power, it sucked people’s gazes in regardless.
This was an object that had long been used for important ceremonies throughout Unova’s history. Long ago, it was said a master craftsman from a previous era made this decorative orb in the image of the Twin Heroes and the Sacred Dragons.
In a nation whose founders so highly valued Truth and Ideals, this stone was supposed to represent what the brothers eventually realized at the end of their long fighting. Having one or the other meant nothing. One concept by itself was not complete, whole, or even right.
Only by meeting in the middle, only by cooperating and understanding one another… Only then was that considered true unity.
That was the real idea behind Truth and Ideals.
This ceremonial object—the Stone of Unity—represented Unova, its diverse cultures and peoples, and the harmonious future we all strove for.
The official stopped inches away and held out the stone to me.
“Please place your left hand on the Stone of Unity,” Alder instructed.
I did. The stone was large enough that my hand could comfortably palm its cool, smooth surface. A pleasant chill far colder than any air conditioning seemed to travel upwards through my skin.
“Now, please raise your right hand and repeat after me.”
My other hand rose silently into the air.
“I, Kayden Sterling, do solemnly swear…” Alder continued.
Without hesitation, I followed along in a loud, clear voice for all to hear.
“I, Kayden Sterling, do solemnly swear that I will be faithful to the office of Castelia Gym Leader and, to the best of my ability, preserve the peace and prosperity of Unova.”
Across from me, a smile bloomed on the older man’s face.
“Your vow has been heard by all. With my position as Champion and the power entrusted to me by the people of Unova, I proclaim you are now part of the Unova League’s upper ranks,” Alder declared powerfully. His smile widened with his next few words. “Congratulations, Leader Kayden.”
Applause thundered in my ears the moment the last syllable left his mouth. When I took my hand off the Stone of Unity and turned to look, the whole audience had risen to their feet to clap and cheer for me. Camera flashes went off all over again as reporters snapped pictures with renewed intensity. League officials up front by the stage took commemorative photos of their own to put in official galleries and archives later.
Countless emotions swelled in my chest. It was hard to believe I’d gone from a wandering trainer to an influential figure with the joyful expectations and support of an entire country behind them. Seeing Burgh with suspiciously shiny eyes in the audience only made my emotions swell further.
As Alder took a seat with the others on stage and the official with the stone walked away, I was left by myself at the podium. Noise levels in the hall settled once more as people sat back down. They all knew it was time for my short remarks—my very first words as the official Gym Leader of the world’s largest city.
No outlines, no notecards.
Nothing.
I hadn’t brought any such things with me. Everything was stored safely in my head and heart.
Words flowed from my mouth in a careful, familiar rhythm.
“To be the next Castelia Gym Leader is an incredible honor and a duty I will uphold with my entire being,” I promised. My heart thumped gently in my chest. “I did not reach this point alone. To those who helped guide me here—my friends, family, Pokemon, and the dear people of my hometown and Unova at large—I am beyond grateful for your support, and I hope you will watch over me as I work to ensure the continued prosperity of our nation.”
Gold eyes swept their gaze across the sea of faces. They never lingered for long. Behind my eyelids, memories both bittersweet and happy flashed one after another.
“Unova is many things. It is diverse, beautiful, and free. We are the land of freedom where hopes and dreams intersect, and where people can choose the future they want for themselves. I swear to protect that way of life.”
The words came so naturally to me because they were right. They felt right.
This was what I wanted to do from now on.
To anyone else out there who was listening, who had gone through experiences like I did or had yet to… I wanted to tell them to keep going.
I would do my best to keep steering this country in a positive direction and make it a place people were proud of.
“I swear to live by the founding ideals of our nation and uphold them. I will be a pillar for my community, one that never breaks, and a symbol of hope others can look to.”
I exhaled softly, smiling.
“I will pave a path to their bright futures—this I swear.”
Cheers louder than any before echoed in the hall.
People didn’t bother acting with decorum and rose to their feet with heavy, furious clapping and roars of approval. It didn’t matter what political party they belonged to. It didn’t matter what they thought right now.
They were witnesses to the birth of Unova’s newest Gym Leader, the young man named Kayden Sterling.
I smiled and raised a hand to the sea of motion and lights.
There was no going back. Not now, not ever.
This was where I belonged.
Yes, I HAD to include fun references to the other Pokemon stories I write. With Shauntal around, it would have been a missed opportunity otherwise! I hope the readers of mine who’ve read those got kicks from seeing them mentioned in this chapter!
To clarify for people who don’t know, Where The Moon Rises and Edge of Dawn are both Pokemon stories I write. Only WTMR is uploaded here to Royalroad, though.
Anyway, thanks for your continued support!
?This fic has a server for anyone interested.
Kayden's Pokemon for reference purposes
- Rune / Volcarona / M
- Flygon / M
- Golisopod / M
- Kricketune / M
- Frosmoth / F
- Centiskorch / M
- Beedrill / M
- Scizor / M
- Heracross / M
- Araquanid / F
- Ribombee / F
- Vespiquen / F
- Scolipede / M
- Galvantula / F
- Yanmega / M
- Armaldo / M