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Sonia had been thunder, once.
Leon had always been a wildfire, as uncontrollable as he was fascinating- but Sonia had been like thunder, always one step ahead of him and always darting forwards just as fast. Her mind flew constantly, sparking from idea to idea, always holding all the answers.
They had been rivals.
He had been so excited to receive Charmander- and a Dynamax one too! (Which… she’d spent hours lecturing him on the difference, basically the entire train ride). She’d had Yamper for years, ever since a lab accident that had infused him with Gigantamax energy, but still the thought of setting off on her journey, with a new companion besides her filled her with excitement.
She had been a dreamer.
She’d planned to go for Squirtle- she’d known weeks in advance that Leon would pick Charmander and, well, it had worked for Blue, hadn’t it? But when she saw them, all laid out on her grandma’s desk… her eyes had met Bulbasaur’s, and the bond was immediate.
She made friends easily, when she was young.
That bond proved powerful- while Yamper often was sent on ‘Leon Wrangling’, Bulbasaur (Then Ivysaur, then Venasaur, then-) never left her side for so much as a second. She was always just a half-step behind, if that, her vines curling around Sonia’s wrist so she never got lost, even as she became far to big for that to be a concern
Sonia mastered Gigantamax far sooner than Leon.
Yamper never evolved- Sonia noted it meticulously for her grandma, fairly confident in her hypothesis that Yamper, like unevolved Gigantamax Pokémon, was prevented from evolving by the excess of strange power inside of him. She didn’t care- he was a powerful battler anyway, and a long search of Motostoke’s stores had yielded an Eviolite, which more than made up for any lack of power.
Other trainers didn’t tend to think that way. There was a reason Yamper stayed with her.
Her team quickly filled up with electric types- she was as drawn to them as they were to her. Yamper was joined by a Joltik, the tiny bug stealing her heart utterly, and a Lanturn, just in case Ivy couldn’t handle any annoying ground types. She was fairly confident, going into Opal’s gym… only to win by the skin of her teeth, with Gigantamax Venasaur’s final lashing vine finishing off the mighty Alcremie after two Max Ooze’s, even with all the stat boosts from correctly answering Opal’s questions, failed to fell it.
Opal hadn’t been talking about their battle, when she said Sonia’d be quick to give in.
It had basically become tradition for Leon and Sonia, to meet up after each badge, badger the Gym Leader into letting them use the Power Spot, and have a proper rival battle, no holds barred.
Leon had finally mastered Gigantamax in his battle with Opal.
The elderly gym leader had simply stared blankly and handed over the keys.
Sonia wished she’d realised what that look meant.
(She’d tried to resent Opal, for not warning her. But Opal knew all too well that tragedies were inevitable.)
(She’d been Mustard’s rival, when they were young.)
The battle had been going badly- she’d managed to get Leon down to Charizard, sure, but she’d given up all but Venasaur to do so, and Gigantamax was still available.
She wished she’d been a defeatist.
Gmax Venasaur and Charizard made for a fierce battle, and a mighty spectacle. Vines tore up the turf, while flames melted the ground beneath their feet. Charizard had every advantage, but Venasaur was as stubborn as lightning, ever chasing her trainer.
Leon never learned what happened after the battle ended.
(What would telling him ever achieve?)
Leon went on to Circhester.
Leon became champion.
Venasaur went back to Postwick.
Sonia planted a tree.
Sonia had been thunder, once.
Sonia had been Leon’s rival.
Lightning was always drawn to water. Even a faltering and failing spark could be conducted through water. Nessa was an ocean, as fierce as the waves and as beautiful as the depths. It was comforting, in a way, that there was still enough thunder in her to latch onto water like she did.
She’d been looking for someone to look after Lanturn for her. The young, new, water gym leader was much easier to access than the Major League Electric Gym Leader. Galvantula was already happily with the Bug Gym Leader, an old friend of her grandma’s.
They said, in some places, that falling in love was like a thunderclap.
Sonia was smitten as soon as they locked eyes.
Nessa picked a rivalry with the Grass type gym leader, a young Wooloo herder from Tuffeild, picked for the lack of other trainers in Tuffield. He didn’t care much for battling, preferring to focus on the protector aspects of being a gym leader. Still, every time she saw his Pokémon drain Nessa’s water types dry, her heart skipped a beat. She stopped watching Nessa’s matches against him, whenever she could.
Her grandma started putting her to work- showing her how to use the devices around the lab and sending her out to do fieldwork she was getting too old for. Sonia only had Yamper, but Yamper had beaten the champion’s own Charizard more times than Sonia could count, few things in the wild stood a chance.
She taught Yamper Ice Fang, for Ground types.
She wrote a full report, on the possible link between this and the tm’s found in Max Lairs, as soon as she remembered how impossible what she’d just done was.
She kept busy.
She went to the Slumbering Weald.
She spent a lot of time by her tree when she returned.
She didn’t speak for a month.
She never told anyone what she’d seen in there.
It was far too likely to get back to Leon.
Leon brought three Pokémon- two for his kid brother and their friend, one for Leon to add to his own team, to spice up this champion’s cup. It was nice to see him again- they’d drifted apart, after she dropped out of the league. The kids came to her grandma begging for a recommendation, after Leon was reluctant to give them one.
He never knew why she’d dropped out.
Her grandma did. She persuaded him to give these two a chance- after all, they had wishing stars, they had drive and they had each other.
The kid- Sonia had never really talked to them, they were Hop’s friend, not even Leon’s- destroyed Hop. Their eyes practically glowed silver, and Sonia remembered Leon’s golden eyes beaming at her. Hop shrugged it off with a cheerful grin, swearing he would beat them the next time they battled before rushing off.
Sonia caught up to him, power spot detector in hand.
“Hey! Could you do me a favour?”
The Gigantamax Corviknight made no difference, in the long run.
Hop had been the champion’s rival once, full of fire and passion.
He was her assistant now, turning all that energy into lightning, sparking constantly from theory to theory, always chasing all the answers. Always one step behind his rival.
But he had a mighty shield where she had a tree on a hill.
He had an equal, who called on him whenever they needed a second. She had the new chairman’s number saved to her phone for emergencies.
Sonia had been thunder once.
She could handle being roots.