For the first time in her life, Wendy had absolutely no idea what to do. Usually she'd be fine with bullting her way through everything, but this was Seulgi she was talking about. She turned to Joy and Yeri, "Guys, I don't know where to take her this afternoon."

Joy raised her eyebrows, "Why are you stressed about this? You said so yourself, it's not a date."

Yeri grinned, "Besides, I think we all know she likes Champions."

Wendy shoved her youngest roommate off her chair and she hit the floor with a thud. Admittedly Wendy overreacted when she had first seen the photo between the two of them, but Seulgi had explained everything.

"Me and Irene? I have no idea what you're talking about. Oh. You saw the picture."

"Yeah, no I saw the picture. I had no idea you were into girls."

"I'm not strictly into girls. It's…wait, why am I even talking to you about this?"

"Seul, you can't just go around making out with the Kalos Champion, it's bad form."

"I didn't, I…don't you look at me like that Wendy. I know you've done worse."

"The point being, I may not know much, but I've seen her dad before and trust me, that's one dude you do not want mad at you. I just wanna keep you far away from the Bae family and their drama."

"Wendy, while that's sweet and noble and all, I don't think you have to worry about it. It won't happen again."

Joy snapped her fingers in front of Wendy's face, trying to bring her roommate back down to Earth. "Dude, you okay? Your eyes went blank for a second there. And like, not the kind of blank they get when you get asked a question in class."

Wendy brushed off her concerns. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Better than good, I got an idea for the perfect place to go. Seulgi hasn't been off-campus to see the city yet, I'll take her for a walk around downtown."

Yeri flashed her a thumbs up.

XXX

"You have a motorcycle?" Seulgi looked dumbfounded as Wendy handed her a spare helmet. "Of course you do. Can you even legally drive this thing?"

"Course I can. Dad got it for me as a going-away present when I left to go to school here. So, Seulgi, I know you haven't been able to see much of the city that surrounds the Academy, how does a ride downtown sound to you? We can stop at one of the local Pokémon marts too, I hear they're thinking about starting up a weekly tournament for kids."

Seulgi beamed at the other girl’s obvious excitement. And truth be told, she was looking forward to an afternoon away from the school. She hadn't gotten a single moment to herself ever since the picture of her and Irene went viral. People were looking at her in a whole new light, and to be honest she wasn't sure this was the kind of fame she had in mind.

"A ride downtown sounds fun, Wendy." Putting the helmet on, she made her way over to Wendy's bike, wrapping her arms around the shorter girl’s waist for balance as she revved up the engine and drove past the wrought-iron academy gates, sending the security Mightyena that were on patrol into a barking frenzy.

Twenty minutes later they stopped at the Hero's Mark, one of the most popular toy stores in the city. It was a small store, wedged in-between a pharmacy and gear shop, but it was filled with games for both Trainers and Pokémon, and judging by the long line at the register, people loved it here.

"How did you find this place?" Seulgi asked, looking at a display table covered in training toys for baby Pokémon. She picked up a toy bone that promised to be as tough "As a Tauros" and hummed, taking it with her as they continued to look around. Her Vulpix would love it, the poor thing was starting to get his adult fangs and was teething like no other.

"Hey, Seul, look at this, do I look like Leeteuk?" Wendy called from a rack of clothes that were supposed to be inspired by the Kalos Champion himself. She looked ridiculous as she modeled a set of fancy clothes that didn’t match in the slightest, strutting back and forth down the aisle to laughter from the people around her.

"You're a spitting image of the man himself," she assured Wendy, and the smile she got in return made her heart flutter. "Hey look, I've always wanted to play this game!"

Wendy hung the clothes back in their proper place and followed the brunette over to the demo table, a section of the store where people could sit together and play popular games from the store's stock. Seulgi pulled a box from the shelf and showed it to her, laughing at the look of shock on her face. "Are you sure you want to try this one?"

Seulgi tutted and began setting the game up, motioning for Wendy to join. "What's wrong Wendy, you scared?"

Wendy narrowed her eyes playfully at the blatant challenge and shook her head. "Are you going to ask the questions first or will I?"

"I'll go first, and the first one to five points is the winner, deal?"

"Deal, hit me with your best shot, Seulgi."

"How long has your father been a member of the Kanto Elite Four?" Seulgi looked at the answer printed on her card and waited for Wendy to answer what should have been the easiest question of all time. But by the look on Wendy's face, she had no idea.

", uh…" She tried to do some quick mental math but was coming up blank. So she took her best guess. "Eleven years?"

She was immediately shocked with a small bolt of electricity, and she had to bite back a very bad word, mindful that there were little kids in the store. "Wrong. Thirteen years. What are the three starting Pokémon usually given to trainers in the Sinnoh region?"

Wendy's heart stopped. , this was going to hurt. She heard Seulgi laugh again and she decided that getting shocked wasn't so bad if she could see Seulgi smile.

XXX

Irene was sitting in a cold, sterile waiting room, twiddling her thumbs and practically vibrating with nerves. Her beloved Ninetales seemed off this morning after their battle class, and she had rushed to the local clinic downtown as soon as her day was done.

Ugh, the entire place smelled like antiseptic and latex and she just wanted to get out of here. It just brought back bad memories of her time spent in and out of hospitals when Dante was sick. Relax, this is nothing like what happened to Dante. You're the Champion goddamn it, calm down.

"Miss Bae? You can come back now," a nurse called. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Irene gathered up her things to follow the nurse back into the examination room.

Her Ninetales was curled up in a ball on the exam table, looking like she would rather be anywhere but here. One of the clinic's Chansey was chirping reassuringly as it passed Irene a sheet of paper that was filled with test results, none of which the Champion could understand. "Is Aeolus going to be okay?"

The nurse smiled widely and nodded. "She's going to be just fine, just the Pokémon equivalent of a cold. I've given her some medicine to ease her breathing. I'd keep her on bed rest for a couple of days to make sure she recovers completely, but there's nothing else Chansey and I noticed."

Irene sighed in relief, trying not to let her true emotions show. She had of course known that the chances of Ninetales being sick like Dante was were almost zero, but it still