Dragon Tamer x Johto Girl

Entering the Galar region for the first time, Maya inhaled deeply, breathing in the strange air of a foreign land for the first time. The train ride had been a long one, but fortunately she was accustomed to riding the bullet train in Johto from region to region, so such journeys were familiar to her.

She stepped off the train with her tubby flaaffy clutched in her arms. The hotel in Hammerlocke was located close to its famed stadium. Maya dragged her bags to her room and threw them at the foot of the bed with a heavy sigh. The Galar region was known for its cafes and bars, and she could hardly wait to knock back a couple of cool ones.


At the local bar, a Beauty was singing on stage with her thwackey. Maya seated herself at a table and her flaaffy happily plopped into the seat beside her.

"I'll have a pint of whatever special is on tap," Maya said to the waitress. "Oh, and a side of fries for my flaaffy, please."

This was just what she needed, a trip to a faraway land to forget the sorrows of her past. No one knew her here, and that's the way she preferred it.

"That's not a pokemon you see in Galar everyday."

Maya looked up from her glass to see a tall young man staring at her with his piercing teal eyes.

"Well, aren't you a pain," she exclaimed. "If you couldn't tell by my accent already, I'm not from around here."

"Trust me, I could tell, which is why I'm even standing here conversing with you right now."

Flaaffy seemed oblivious to the stranger's attention, munching away happily on the plate of fries. Squinting, Maya noticed there was something familiar about the man. A dawn of realization slowly set over her face as she began to recognize him.

"Wait a minute. Aren't you that Rai guy? The dragon gym leader of this region or something?"

"Hah! Yeah, I'm Raihan. They call me a dragon tamer, this is true."

"You're pretty famous, even in other regions. But if I may ask, what are you doing in this sleazy bar?"

"If you must know, I wasn't able to defeat my rival, for the eleventh time. So here I am."

Raihan lifted his glass in mock celebratory fashion. Maya knew exactly how he felt.

"Well, fellow loser," she murmured, "take a seat and let's drink our disappointments away, shall we?" She downed the rest of her beer in one swig.

Raihan smirked, bearing his unique fangs in a grin. "Fellow loser? I sense overwhelming resentment in those words."

"Shut up," Maya snapped, waving the waitress over for another round. "Just because you're cute doesn't mean I'll let you talk."

"So you fancy me, do you?"

"What? Listen, cam whore, just shut it. It's not like I... follow you on social media or anything," she trailed off, a blush slowly creeping over her face. The waitress set down another beer and Maya accepted it gratefully.

Raihan sat across from her, crinkling his nose at her harsh words and yet recognizing that she thought about him in some way, and that intrigued him.

"So where are you from?" he asked, swirling his drink in his hand as he peered at her from beneath the red rim of his hat.

Maya waved a hand absentmindedly at her absentminded flaaffy. "My family is originally from Johto, if that's what you're asking."

"New Bark Town?"

"Goldenrod, actually."

"I've never been there personally. I've heard that's quite a large city in Johto."

"Hey, listen." Maya stared at Raihan, returning his gaze, golden orbs clashing with his teal ones. "Did you want to battle me or something? Because I'm telling you that you'd lose."

Raihan smirked. "What if I told you that's what they all say?"

"Hmph. Tough luck, since I'm not in the mood for a battle anyway." Maya felt a bit of her vision swirl before her eyes. "After all, I'm not... I'm not a Challenger. I'm a tourist, got it?"

Raihan continued to smirk at her, flashing his pearly white teeth. Maya inhaled deeply and averted her gaze to the ceiling, trying to steady her beating heart. His eyes shone like sunlight on the reflection of a lake, she thought. His eyes reminded her of the shimmering waters of the Lake of Rage on a sunny day. And his grin, ever so lively, only served to remind her of another in her past.

She found herself blushing. Stupid hormones. Raihan leaned in closer, his chin resting on his hand. With his other hand he began scrolling through social media on his phone.

"So, Johto girl. What brings you to Galar?"

"Nothing special. I'm here on vacation."

"You didn't come to challenge the Champion? I have to say that I'm a bit put out. I wanted to see how well you would do in battle."

"You're really nosy."

The chattering around them seemed to grow louder. Maya was feeling dizzier by the second, having successfully gotten herself into a comfortable stupor. Yet she still found herself ordering another drink, sinking deeper and deeper into a fuzzy state of mind.

"Hey, haven't you had enough?" Raihan's voice; she heard it somewhere far off. Her cheeks were rosy and her head felt fuzzy, but she didn't care.

"Do all people from Johto act like this?" Raihan muttered to himself, as Maya's head slowly slumped down onto the table. He watched flaaffy finish its plate of fries; it now had remnants of salt all over its pink face. "Is this a normal occurrence with your trainer?"

Flaaffy nodded and seemed to smile apologetically. "Flaaaaaff!"

"We should get you two home. Where are you staying?"

Flaaffy shook its head, as if to say, no idea. It was always quite the clueless pokemon.

"I guess it can't be helped then."

Raihan sighed as he set money down on the table. He made his way around and scooped the drowsy girl up in his arms. He heard several clicks from cellphone cameras; though he had spent most of his night signing autographs and taking photos with the bar's patrons, he was certain this particular scene would be blowing up on social media the next morning.

Not that he really minded; the girl hadn't exactly been wrong when she'd called him a "cam whore".

✦✦✦

Maya didn't remember dreaming. The darkness was both warm and comforting, enveloping her in its still embrace. For some reason, it was only after she drank did her nightmares change into a tolerable unconsciousness. Nonthreatening, calm, like rocking in a rowboat on gentle waves.

She didn't care that what she did was unhealthy. She'd stopped caring a long time ago.

Still, sometimes, her mind floated to thoughts of him and her, and the friends from her past visited her in her unconsciousness. It was never less painful. The memories were as vivid as if she had visited them yesterday.

"N-no-- please, don't go..."

Raihan looked up from his phone. From his desk, he observed as Maya clenched her fists into the blankets in her sleep.

"Hey, are you all right?" Raihan asked, but she didn't respond. She was addressing phantoms in her dreams. Her brow was furrowed and she was covered in a light sweat.

"Hey," he repeated, unsure of what to say as he moved to her side. "You're all right. You're safe, all right?"

He rested his hand on her head, smoothing down her dishevelled hair. Maya murmured something inaudible, silent tears spilling from her closed eyes and down her cheeks.

Raihan stood there, frozen like a statue, until she calmed and settled into a still slumber. He stood there for a long while, until her breathing steadied and he was sure she was stable. Then he made his way downstairs to crash for the night on the couch.

✦✦✦

The next morning was rough for Maya. For starters, she awoke with her flaaffy practically sleeping on her face, nearly suffocating her in its wooly mane. Her eyes felt puffy, her throat was sore, and her head was pounding as she definitely had too many drinks the night before.

To top things off, she was lying in some stranger's bed.

"Arceus, where am I," she mumbled, pushing flaaffy off to the side to observe her surroundings.

There wasn't much in the room, save for a couple posters adorning the walls and a pile of dirty clothes in the corner. Judging from the colours and size of the clothing, this was definitely a man's room.

Raihan's room.

This fact hit her like a ton of bricks. She recalled how he had stricken up a conversation with her and she couldn't quite remember at what point she had blacked out but here she was.

"Oh, shit!"

She leapt out of bed, startling her pokemon but she didn't care. She stormed downstairs, where she found Raihan sitting on his couch with a look of disbelief on his face. He looked up as she entered the room.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

"As well as I could given the circumstances!"

"Good..." Trailing off, Raihan paused. "So, I'd better give you a heads up, things might be a little hectic for the next little while."

"What are you talking about?"

He turned his phone to her. She saw an article with the headline in bold: 'RAIHAN AND JOHTO'S CHAMPION - AN ITEM?'

Maya grabbed the phone from his hands. The article went on to show photos of the night before, with Raihan carrying her bridal-style out of the bar. There were numerous speculations about who the mysterious girl was, but so far all of it was just that -- speculation.

Maya thrust his phone back into his hands and sank into the spot next to him on the couch.

"This is the last thing I need right now," she bemoaned. "How could this happen?"

"Hey, you're the one that passed out. I only did what any gentleman would do."

"Which would be to take me to your home?!"

"I didn't know where you were staying, and I wasn't about to leave you at the bar."

She couldn't exactly argue with his logic. Still, this wasn't something she had the mental capacity to deal with at the moment.

"I was right about one thing, though. I didn't know you were Johto's champion, but I knew there was something different about you. It makes me want to challenge you to a battle all the more."

"What part of 'I'm a tourist' didn't you understand?"

"You also left out the 'you're a champion' part."

"I said that wasn't me." Maya stood, crossing her arms in defiance. "Forget it, I'm not arguing with you. I'm leaving!"

She walked over to the stairwell where flaaffy had crawled to sit on the floor by the banister. Scooping the pokemon up in her arms, she made a beeline to the door.

"Thanks for looking after me, but I can take care of myself."

The door opened and closed and she was gone. Raihan sighed to himself; he would never understand women.

His phone vibrated to signal an incoming text message. The message was from Leon, and contained several social media posts about Raihan and the mysterious girl.

What's this about?

Nothing, Raihan typed back. You know I have a knack for getting myself into interesting situations.

Be careful.


Even though the situation was a strange one, Raihan wasn't concerned. He chuckled and sent off his response.

OK, got it... dad.

✦✦✦

Maya lifted an arm to shield her face from the bright sunlight. She wasn't sure where she was, and so she trekked down the cobblestone streets aimlessly until she arrived at the main plaza.

The big city was bustling with noises: traffic, civilian chatter, and the cries of pokemon. Some she recognized and others were new to her. For instance, she hadn't gotten used to the piercing shrieks of corviknights as they lifted sky taxi passengers into the air.

A little while later when she heard someone crying it took her a moment to realize the direction it was coming from.

"Faah!" Flaaffy tugged at the hem of her coat, gesturing to where a little boy was standing by a lamppost.

"What's going on?" she asked, not one to ignore someone in need.

"My pokemon ran off, and I can't find it!"

"Don't worry, we'll find it together. What sort of pokemon is it?"

"A farfetch'd."

"Those pesky buggers," Maya muttered, recalling the distant memory of chasing a farfetch'd around the Ilex Forest. "Let's go ask around to see if anyone has seen it."

The little boy's eyes were glossed over and glistening with tears that he was trying his best to hold back. "O-okay."

"I'm Maya. What's your name?"

"Wren."

"Don't cry, Wren! We'll get you reunited with farfetch'd in no time. Where did you last see it?"

"We were playing by the Battle Café."

"Let's retrace your steps and start looking there."

"Okay." Wren stifled his last sniffle and reached out to grab Maya's hand, much to her surprise. She let him lead her down the bustling side streets.

There was a large crowd gathered in front of the Battle Cafe. At first, Maya was confused at why so many people had gathered there, but soon realized Galar's famed champion had something to do with it.

"LEON! Give me your autograph!" an adoring fan shouted.

"You're the best, Leon! Take a photo with me!" another exclaimed.

Shuffling through the crowd with Wren following close behind, Maya squeezed her way through the crowd and saw Leon standing in the center of the commotion, cape flowing in the slight breeze.

"Is that your farfetch'd?" Maya asked, gesturing to a small black bird seated by Leon's foot. It seemed like even the bird pokemon was drawn to the crowd that Leon's charisma brought in.

Wren took a closer look before nodding profusely. "Yes!"

Maya struggled her way through the crowd, squishing her way through until she managed to get close enough to where the mischievous farfetch'd was sitting.

"Gotcha!" Maya reached out and seized the little bird with both of her hands. It squawked in protest and tried to escape, but she lifted it up and held it tightly to her chest so that it couldn't struggle free.

Leon caught sight of her and blinked, in the middle of signing someone's shirt.

"Here you go," Maya announced, shoving the farfetch'd into Wren's awaiting arms. "You better teach it a lesson not to run off again."

"Thank you so much!" Wren beamed, squeezing the annoyed farfetch'd in a tight hug.

"It was seriously nothing," Maya replied, beaming at the smaller child.

"Hey," Leon greeted her. "You look familiar."

Turning to face the champion, Maya tried her best to act nonchalant.

"I have one of those faces, I guess."

Leon studied her carefully. "I don't think so. Aren't you that girl? The one Raihan was seen with last night."

"Oh boy," Maya exhaled. "I don't think so."

She shifted uncomfortably, placing her weight from one foot to the other, growing increasingly nervous under Leon's scrutinizing gaze. She tugged her hat further over her eyes and tried to appear smaller.

"No, I'm sure I've recognized you right. I have a knack for remembering faces."

"Oh, how unfortunate for me," Maya said, turning her head away.

"I'm Leon. They say you're Johto's champion. Is that true?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"I would. Which is why I'd like to have a battle with you. Nothing big, it can be a simple three on three."

"A battle, huh?"

"A pokemon battle tells all. I can tell the spirit of your heart, through a simple battle. If you're up for it."

Contemplating for a moment, Maya sighed. It wasn't like she had anything to lose. Besides, it had been a while since she had tested her strength, and it'd been an equally long time since she had lost to Red on Mt. Silver so many months ago. That fate was giving her the opportunity to face off against another champion, well, maybe that was fate.

"Sure, you're on," she found herself saying, reaching behind to her belt of pokeballs.

"You'd face me right here?" Leon cracked a smile, signalling for the crowd to clear a space for their battle. "You've got guts!"

"Ha! Just don't cry when you lose."

Maya felt a rush of adrenaline course through her body. Fleeting moments from her youth seemed to spark up and ignite her, and for a moment the fiery girl from her past seemed to return and she forgot about the empty shell she'd been for what seemed like eternity.

Now that the crowd had cleared a space on the street for them to battle, Maya seized at a pokeball from her waist and propelled it forth.

"Go for it, Toto!"

A flash of light illuminated the scene, and an aerodactyl burst forth into the skies. It screeched loudly and awaited Maya's commands, kicking up dust as it flapped to keep flight in the air.

"I haven't seen much of that pokemon before. But it won't stand a chance against my team." Leon adjusted his hat and sent out his seismitoad, which exploded onto the scene with a loud bellowing croak.

The battle began, spurred on by the wild cheers of the crowd gathered around them.

"Hit that thing with an Iron Head attack," Maya instructed, and aerodactyl obliged by swooping down to slam its rock-hard head into its opponent with enough force to jolt it back. Seismitoad stumbled, but countered with Drain Punch, a move that sent her aerodactyl flying.

Maya groaned and withdrew her fainted pokemon, sending out her togekiss. The array of sparkles from its Dazzling Gleam attack circled around seismitoad and engulfed it in a blast of white light. The toad pokemon collapsed, drawing cries of delight from the spectators.

"Not bad," Leon said, and she thought he looked impressed.

"You're making me break a sweat," she replied, grinning in return.

Leon sent out his aegislash next. The second round was longer than the first, with aegislash dodging togekiss's special attacks and swinging viciously, tirelessly. In the end togekiss was struck down by a critical slash attack, but managed to fire a blast of energy powerful enough to take down its opponent in retaliation before fainting.

Before the two could each send out their last monster, Wren came up to Maya's side looking panicked.

"Miss! Farfetch'd ran off again!" He gestured frantically to where the farfetch'd was dashing off to the entrance of the Wild Area, a place Maya knew had fearsomely strong pokemon.

"Ah! We're going to have to finish this another time!" Maya yelped, hastily withdrawing togekiss.

The crowd groaned at the stalemate, but Maya didn't care. Grabbing Wren by the arm, they both started after the mischievous black bird.

A strange girl, Leon thought. No wonder Raihan had acted the way he did. She was a very strange girl, but there was certainly something about her. He couldn't fault his friend for that in the slightest.

✦✦✦

It was sunset and Maya finally collapsed into the bed at the hotel for the first time in what seemed like forever. Covering her eyes with her arm, she recalled the events of the day. Her conversations with Raihan, and chasing the little boy's farfetch'd around the city, and her impromptu battle with the Champion; all of that was unexpected trouble.

Almost as much as the call she received from... well, that served to unnerve her even more. He was worried about her after seeing the posts where someone else had gathered her up in their arms, and he was unhappy.

"Come home," he pleaded with her. "Do I have to come and persuade you in person?"

She didn't want to listen, though she knew he wasn't bluffing. It was only a matter of time before he would pack his bags and show up with his father's stoutland to track her down.

So much for her vacation.

She ended up back at the bar. It was Sunday night, and the establishment was quite empty. She chose a spot near the back of the room and tried to sort her racing thoughts.

"I somehow knew I'd find you here."

"Hello again, Raihan." Maya didn't have to look up to know who it was. "My hotel is near this place. What's it to you?"

"For someone who mentioned they weren't here to challenge the Champion, you certainly were eager to face him. On the streets, no less."

"I know you're the jealous type, but please try and control yourself."

"I wanted to talk to you about last night."

"I know nothing happened, so we don't have anything to discuss."

"Actually, you seemed pretty distraught in your sleep. You were crying. Did you know that?"