A week had gone by since the Hearthome City Battle Tournament. Since then, Gabe had observed a few contests with Dawn and Lucas as well as spent another night watching a marathon of Aura League episodes with Jupiter. Now, as he approached Solaceon Town, he had one thing on his mind, and that was reaching the daycare center.

After hearing through the grapevine that there was a Pokémon that had never been seen before at the daycare, Gabe had no choice but to hurry there as fast as possible. Having flown part of the way, he decided to give Tropius a break and take the rest of the journey on foot. Beside him was Jamie, who has decided to walk with him for a while.

The ground glistened with the frost that had formed from the frigid temperatures. Gabe adjusted his scarf as a chilling breeze rushed by. Jamie looked up at her trainer as he rubbed his arms a little to warm himself up. With a purr, as nuzzled his leg, earning a scratch befind her ears in return.

"We're almost there Jamie. I'd have kept going on Tropius, but stopping to thaw his wings so often would have made the trip longer," Gabe sighed, venturing forward towards his destination.

His mind played the conversation he'd overheard at the contest once more.

Did you hear? The daycare in Solaceon Town has some super rare Pokémon that nobody's even seen before! They say it's from a region that's really far away...

Gabe couldn't help but wonder what kind of Pokémon they could be talking about. Several regions came to mind when dealing with far away places.

Unova's pretty far from here. I mean, geographically and realistically, Sinnoh is based off of Hokkaido which is an island of Japan, and Unova is basically New York... Gabe mused, stroking his chin as he walked.

But then there's Kalos which is obviously inspired from France. Now Pokémon from there would be VERY surprising. But since Mega Evolution is here, that wouldn't be much of a shocker now that I think of it...

Gabe shook his head at his thoughts and continued on. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that it was probably a reclusive Pokémon that was of a different coloration, much like his Psyduck, that didn't like to stay out for too long. It wasn't long before he saw the small town come into view. The humble town wasn't much to look at as far as structures were concerned.

It didn't have all the glamor of Jubilife and Hearthome, but it was rather pleasing to the eyes in a simpler way. Rustic log cabin houses decorated the landscape along with tall trees that stretched to the sky. Gabe could see the contest hall in the midst of it all as well as the long wooden fence that marked off the territory of the daycare.

Curiosity still tugging at him, Gabe made for the daycare in order to sate his inquiring mind. Upon reaching the daycare, he stopped at the fence in order to observe the Pokémon that were under the care of the breeders. Several breeders were out in the field tending to the Pokémon that were left by their trainers to be taken care of. He saw a Snover that was happily playing with a Pachurisu, building a snowman.

Everything seemed rather peaceful by the looks of things, until the sound of an agitated dispute caught Gabe's attention. A Honchkrow and a Sneasel had suddenly began fighting, sending the smaller Pokémon into a bit of a panic. Sneasel launched an Icicle Clash which was deftly avoided by Honchkrow who blasted the ground with a Dark Pulse, kicking up a mound of snow.

"Huh... I wonder what's up with those two," Gabe muttered as he watched the breeders attempt to control the situation.

"Oh no, are they fighting again!?" a feminine voice called from behind, snatching Gabe's attention for a moment.

A young teen rushed to the fence and looked at the scene with a worried expression. She frowned upon seeing the display of bad behavior inside the fence.

"Again? you mean they always do this?" Gabe asked, getting a disgruntled groan from the young girl.

"Unfortunately... yes. They belong to rival trainers and as a result, they are almost constantly at odds," the girl sighed.

"Sounds like a reflection of their trainers," Gabe replied. "It must be a pretty big rivalry..."

"Yup. Both trainers are actually from this town. They tend to get into it a lot," the girl mumbled, turning to watch the rivals exchange blows once more.

As this was transpiring, a battle cry echoed through the daycare that caused Gabe's eyes to widen. It was an intimidating roar that could only belong to one Pokémon.

Impossible... no, I must be hearing things. Seeing one of those here would be ridiculous!

The roar resounded louder and turned the heads of the rivals toward the source. In that moment a figure leapt from the rooftop of the daycare and hammered home a Dragon Claw that smashed Honchkrow into the ground. The Flying-type screeched and rose out of the snow and whirled around to glare at its assailant. That's when Gabe's jaw dropped.

Standing in the snow was a gray, reptilian Pokémon with red, angular eyes, and a beak-like snout with spikes on either side of his upper jaw. A yellow, oval-shaped scale adorned his head, and several scales that resembled armor plating, lined his arms and neck. He also had a long, tapering tail. There was no denying what he was seeing now.

"No way... that's a... Hakamo-o!" Gabe exclaimed in disbelief.

As Gabe shouted the Pokémon's name, Hakamo-o briefly shifted his eyes towards Gabe before returning to the matter at hand.

"Yeah, that's what it--hey wait, you know what that is!?" the girl replied in surprise.

"Yeah, I do. That Pokémon is from a really far away region called Alola. The hell's it doing all the way over here?" Gabe wondered, watching as the dragon delivered a crushing Sky Uppercut to Sneasel's chin, sending it rocketing upward and backward into the snowbank.

The two rival Pokémon snarled and screeched at Hakamo-o out of frustration, only to back down when his body began to glow with a crimson aura.

"Well, it looks like he calmed them down again. That's good. Grandma has enough to worry about as it is. I'm Cindy by the way, and you are?" Cindy inquired.

"Barry, nice to meet'cha!" Gabe replied.

"Same to you!" Cindy grinned. "So what brings you here? Did you come to have us take care of a Pokémon for a bit?"

"Well..." Gabe began, "not exactly," he chuckled nervously while scratching the back of his head. "I was actually here because of a rumor, but it looks like it turned out to be more than that..."

Cindy blinked and then followed his eyes to Hakamo-o. Making the connection, she smiled and walked behind him.

"Come on inside. I can bring him in if you want to see him," Cindy beamed, making her way inside the daycare center with Gabe following behind.

Inside, the daycare had all the comforts of home. There was a fireplace with a couch in front of it. A TV was mounted on the wall above it. Two Glameow were curled up on the carpet in front of the fireplace. There was a fairly large kitchen as well as a hallway where he assumed the caretakers stayed while on duty. Sitting on one of the chairs was an elderly woman with a cup of hot cocoa in her hands.

"Grandma, I'm back!" Cindy called out as she closed the door so the chilly air wouldn't get in. She took off her boots and bounded into the livingroom to give her grandma a hug.

"Welcome back sweetie! Did you get the ingredients from Forsythia?" she inquired.

"Yep! She had extra crates of the berries so I took what I needed. I've got them in my backpack here," Cindy stated, gesturing to the pack on her shoulders. "Oh! Almost forgot, grandma, this is Barry!" Cindy introduced.

Cindy turned her attention to Gabe and smiled broadly at him.

"Ah yes, young Barry. You are the spitting image of your father," she smiled, standing up to meet him.

Wait a second, she knows my-

I had him bred for you... echoed his father's words as he remembered Aron was with him. That makes sense...

"Yeah, I get told that a lot. Being the son of the Tower Tycoon does have benefits it seems," Gabe smirked.

"True. Just don't let it go to your head. I doubt your father would approve of that," the grandma added firmly.

"You're probably right," Gabe replied hesitantly.

"Pardon my rudeness. I'm Anna. I do believe this is the first we've met since you were but a child," Anna laughed. "My how you've grown."

Gabe blushed out of embarrassment and shrugged.

"So what is it you are here for Barry? Did you drop by to visit, or did you have something else in mind?" Anna wondered, turning to walk back to her seat, ushering Gabe to have a seat as well.

"Well, you see..." Gabe started, pausing as he heard the back door opening.

"Alright Hakamo-o, good job out there. We've got your favorite snacks ready so you can have a little extra today. Oh! and a trainer wants to meet you too." came Cindy's voice as she brought in the Alolan Dragon-type.

Anna followed Gabe's eyes to the dragon as he walked inside the house and into the kitchen.

"Are you perhaps curious about our little friend over there?" Anna asked, nodding her head towards Hakamo-o who was currently being fed.

"Actually, that's kinda why I'm here," Gabe chuckled. "I mean... I knew more Pokémon were out there waiting to be discovered, but for one to be here all the way from Alola..."

"I'm impressed Barry. Hakamo-o is indeed from Alola. That's not exactly common knowledge. How did you know this?" Anna replied, slightly surprised at his knowledge.

Annnnd there I go again. Okay... there's a lot of history books in libraries... yeah! we'll go with that.

"I read about Alola in the Canalave Library. I got curious so I decided to look into it," Gabe fibbed.

"Ah, of course. It must be one of the newer books then. At any rate, you seem very interested in Hakamo-o. Would you perhaps like to have a go at him?" Anna asked curiously.

"Have a go? What, like... battle him?" Gabe blinked.

Anna nodded and smiled as she looked over at the dragon as Cindy rubbed his head scale.

"Hakamo-o has been here for a few years now. A dear friend from Alola gave him as a gift to the daycare while he was still a Jangmo-o. Since then, he's served as a faithful companion to us all. But I fear that his talent for battling will be squandered here," Anna elaborated.

"I see... so are you saying-"

"Would you like to battle for his companionship? I can tell by the way your Luxio seems comfortable by your side, that you are a very capable trainer," Anna mused, watching as Jamie curled up in Gabe's lap.

It was true, they had been through quite a lot, and as a result, become stronger. This decision, however, did not take much thought. With a determined look in his eyes and a smirk, Gabe nodded.

"Of course I want to give it a try. How can I resist?" He added excitedly.

"Then it's settled," Anna stated. "Cindy? Would you be a dear and take Hakamo-o outside? Barry wishes to battle with him!"

"Okay grandma!" Cindy called back, taking Hakamo-o outside with her after putting on her boots.

Gabe got up and followed suit, putting his boots back on and beckoning Jamie to his side. Anna stood up as well, and meandered out the door behind Gabe. Waiting outside was Hakamo-o who was staring a Gabe with a curious expression. The blond turned to the dragon and fixed it with a confident gaze, fire blazing in his copper depths as their eyes met.

Hakamo-o immediately powered up with Dragon Claw, a motion that seemed to throw everyone off. Everyone except Gabe that is. Jamie stepped forward, her tail laced with steel as she stared down the armor-plated dragon.

"Nice to meet you Hakamo-o. I heard you like battling..." Gabe began, causing Hakamo-o to narrow his eyes and nod in confirmation.

"Well then, if that's the case..." Gabe grinned, beckoning Hakamo-o to him with a simple hand gesture. "Bring it..."

Within moments, the sound of battle echoed through the town as Jamie and Hakamo-o clashed head-on.