Original Prompt: "I totally read that Pyokwon post as Pokemon so maybe a pokemon AU with Pyo/Taeil IDK I'm sorry"

From: Tumblr - anon

It’s healthy to have a rival, his mother had told him when he had come home from getting his first Pokemon—a fiery little Chimchar—crying about how one of the other boys who had shown up had beaten him so easily in his first ever Pokemon battle.

Having a rival makes you stronger, a gym leader had told him, when he finally beat her on his third rematch—then only after his Pokemon had evolved into Monferno during another battle with the boy from his hometown.

Having a rival really isn’t that bad, he thought, stomach doing flips as the shorter boy stood up on tip-toes to kiss him, hands fisted in the front of his shirt—saying it was his reward for finally beating him.

[+ "i dare you to make PO the pokemon and taeil the trainer. " -ewkpop]

Lee Taeil hadn’t gotten his first Pokemon from a professor: the larger-than-average Slowpoke had actually rescued him from the water when he got swept out during high tide as a child.

He had never had any grand dreams of becoming champion or going on some great adventure to other lands—he had always been perfectly content staying in his seaside hometown and raising his small collection of water-types, battling against the odd visitor that wanted a bit more practice before facing the local gym leader.

But with his first badge in hand, and the grinning face of his beloved pink Pokemon, he couldn’t help the sudden rush of adrenaline, “Hey, Pyo… how about we go take on the league challenge?”