Blue knew he was in for an interesting day the moment his alarm woke him up almost two hours earlier than usual.

   He was rudely torn from his sleep by the blaring of his alarm, and he nearly smacked his phone off his nightstand trying to turn it off. As sleep still hazed his mind, he was briefly confused when he saw what the alarm was for. "Leader Mentoring." Then it hit him.

   "Oh shit, that's this week?" he questioned rhetorically, eyes widening.

   A couple of weeks ago, Blue had gotten a call from the Pokémon League Board. Apparently Opal Poplar, the Ballonlea Gym Leader—well, former Gym Leader according to her—had finally found a successor to her Gym.

   Even though Blue wasn't too familiar with regions outside of Kanto and Johto, he knew the other region's Leaders and their business. Opal had been looking for a successor since before he had become Viridian's Gym Leader, and her hunt was almost infamous. It had been made note of at each year's Leader conference, where it was expected that each Leader and Trial Captain give status updates about their state of affairs. Now the search had seemingly been concluded.

   Following the call from the Board, Blue had received some basic information about Opal's apprentice. He was a young man going by the rather eloquent name of Bede Bedivere. Blue knew of him, a former Galar Gym Challenger endorsed by the region's Pokémon League Chairman. He had been known to be a cocky, arrogant, egotistical Trainer who never liked to admit that he was wrong. Blue had heard that descriptor in reference to himself before, but he personally couldn't see it.

   Even if I had been, at least I mellowed out, Blue thought, rolling out of bed. After grabbing a change of clothes, he stumbled to the bathroom to get ready. He needed to look like not just a person in twenty minutes, but a bona fide Kanto Gym Leader, the Blue Oak.

   With Bede taking Opal's place as Gym Leader, he was going to be subjected to the same process every new Leader had to go through. Part of it involved the trainee spending a month in a region besides the one they would be leading in. This was meant to help them become familiarized with another region's Leaders as well as learn a few things from them, and Bede had chosen Kanto. By now, the boy had already been with with Kanto's other Leaders, and now he was to spend his final three days in Viridian City with Blue.

   Blue was honestly a little nervous about all of this. Despite being a Leader, he wasn't the best with kids. It was difficult to not flaunt his skills and gloat about it after crushing his challengers' hopes of winning the Earth Badge into the floor. That slightly more unsavory reaction was why Blue's previous attempts at Leader mentoring hadn't gone that well. It was thanks to trainees' already-existing awe of him that kept them from becoming discouraged after Blue's "lessons." At least by the end of it, they knew their type-weaknesses inside and out.

   Still, Blue tried to be optimistic about this. Unlike when he'd been stuck with Clemont and Tate and Liza, Blue thought he had a half-decent chance with Bede. He could already relate to the kid on a few fronts with him being the rival of a Champion and having to make a name for himself in the aftermath. Hopefully things would go Blue's way with this... even though he hadn't exactly planned anything. Still, he was a master of improvisation, he could do this!

   It came right down to the wire when Blue finished getting ready. He wore his usual white shirt and black jacket along with a pair of tan cargo pants, his hair only having a comb torn through it to banish the snarls of bedhead. He didn't have the chance to use any of his usual products to tease it up because he was running short on time, so he'd just have to depend on his natural good looks for today.

   "Alright, time to show the newbie what a Kanto Leader's really like," he announced to his reflection, putting on his signature smirk.

   After leaving his apartment, Blue made his way to the Viridian Gym. He'd made sure to get an apartment close by, because while he liked walking, he liked being on time a little bit more. His sister's obsession with punctuality had rubbed off on him, only to his benefit, even if he carried it out with more reluctance than she did. At least he wasn't the one who was supposed to pick Bede up. Instead, that job had gone to his top Gym Trainer, Silver Tsubaki.

   Silver was from Johto, a young man of nearly six feet tall with red hair that hung just past his shoulders and narrow silver eyes that had likely given him his name. He was nineteen years old but had the constant, unamused stare of a middle-aged man going through a crippling midlife crisis, which was less-than-optimal to Blue. It did result in a good intimidation factor, however. He'd shown up seemingly out of nowhere when Blue made the announcement that he was looking for new Trainers to work in his Gym, and he quickly proved himself as being a perfect fit for the job.

   As for his personality, Silver was a more quiet guy, as confident as Blue but less willing to gloat about it. His battling skills were definitely nothing to sneeze at, having been able to go toe-to-toe with the Champion Gold on several occasions. A challenger would be lucky to get past him. But of course Blue would pick someone like Silver as his top Gym Trainer; he actually wanted his challengers to be challenged themselves.

   Speaking of challengers, there were already a few waiting outside the Gym when Blue arrived. About five Trainers were gathered near the front doors, looking impatient. The moment one of them noticed Blue, they started going off about Gym challenges. How Blue was going to burst their bubble.

   "Alright, hold your Horsea," he called, and after a moment, the Trainers quieted down. "Gym's gonna open late today 'cause I have some League business to deal with, so come back in uh," he thought for a second, "two and a half, three hours."

  "Three hours? Are you joking?" one challenger complained.

   "Hey, no complainin'," Blue said. "One: I'm training a new Leader. And two: I'm the Leader, it's my rules." As long as they all got their challenges, they had no reason to complain to the League Board for Blue not fulfilling his duties. And he was right. After some grumbling, the Trainers dispersed, leaving Blue alone.

   A perfect start to the day, Blue thought before immediately chastising himself. Nope, he wasn't going to think like that. Positivity! Fortunately, he didn't have to wait for very long. He'd barely sat down at the bench outside the Gym when he heard a familiar voice say cooly, "Hey, Boss." Blue looked up from his Pokégear to see Silver, standing with his hands in his pockets and his usual bored look. Walking up next to him, a suitcase in tow, was who had to be Bede.

   Bede looked just like he did in his pictures. He was fourteen years old and was a slim, pale-skinned boy with very light hair that must've been horrible to brush, it was so curly. Despite the early spring weather being only a little chilly, Bede wore a high-collared magenta and purple coat that went down to his knees. It was slightly unzipped, allowing a hint of the pastel pink and blue shirt he wore beneath it to be visible.

   Blue pocketed his Pokégear and stood up, approaching the pair. Time to make a good first impression. "So you're Bede, huh? Nice to meet ya. I'm sure you know who I am, but if you somehow don't, I'm Blue Oak." He grinned widely, holding out his hand for Bede to shake.

   Bede's purple eyes were large yet narrowed in shape, narrowing further as he skeptically stared at Blue's hand, then up at his face. "Nice to meet you, I suppose," he said blandly. Though his accent was Galarian through and through, it lacked the noticeable roughness that other Galarians' voices had. Bede's more formal way of speaking oddly complimented this clearer quality. It made Blue think that Bede was raised in Galar, but he hadn't been born there.

   "You 'suppose'? I know I haven't been to Galar yet, but I thought I would've gotten a more enthused reaction," Blue said with a chuckle.

   Bede answered, not missing a beat. "Perhaps from someone else, but not me."

   Blue was a little taken aback by the bluntness of the kid's words, and his hand fell limply to his side. He wasn't used to people at least having a bigger reaction to his presence. And the distant, unimpressed look on Bede's face was no short of words jarring. He easily shook it off, however.

   "Then I guess I might have some work to do," he said. "I bet it won't be too much trouble, though. I've heard I can be easygoin', and I know I'm not as stiff as Lt. Surge. He was probably a nightmare to deal with, huh?"

   Instead of responding how Blue expected, Bede said, "Ms. Opal said you were full of yourself, and already I'm believing her."

   That halted any response Blue could have said. Haven't we just met? Why's he talkin' like we already have? he wondered, confused. He'd been called out on things like this before, but never by a child. It was definitely polarizing. "I dunno about that. I mean, what's wrong with having a little self-confidence?"

   "You could call it that," Bede said with a dismissive shrug. "But I wouldn't."

   Meanwhile, Silver has been watching on quietly. Only now did he speak up. "So what do you want to do with him?" he asked. "You're the one in charge of him now." Bede whirled to face him, eyes becoming slits.

   How was Blue supposed to know? It wasn't like he had a month to prepare or had two mentoring experience's worth of possible ideas. He'd been too busy with Gym battles! So thinking on his feet, he quickly said, "Either of you have breakfast yet? I haven't, and I'm starving." It was an easy way to kill some time, not to mention that he could maybe try to get on some better footing with Bede.

   "The answer depends on if you're paying or not," Silver said.

   Blue held back a sigh. "Order cheap." He'd blown nearly all of his money on his trip to Alola with Red a few months ago, and he still didn't have the most to spare. Kanto Gym Challengers were getting poorer by the day, it seemed.

   "Then no, I haven't had breakfast," Silver said, smirking.

   "How about you?" Blue asked Bede. The look Bede was giving him made him think the kid fed on the souls of the damned or something.

   "He hasn't," Silver replied. "His stomach was making a racket the entire ride over, even if he was acting like it wasn't."

   Bede's cheeks flushed a bright pink. "I can answer for myself!" he said, tugging his jacket collar up to hide his lower face. His gaze fell away from the older Trainers. "And no, I haven't had anything today."

   Blue nodded, smiling. "Alright, that settles it. We'll drop your stuff off in the Gym, and then we'll go grab somethin'. My treat, I guess." He cast Silver a sideways look as he said this, which the redhead casually ignored.

   "I'm guessing we're going to the usual place?" Silver asked.

   "You know it," Blue replied. This already wasn't turning out to be the best first impression, but he still had more than enough of that sappy optimism. Maybe all Bede needed was something to eat, and then he'd be in a better mood. That had to be it, because Blue found it hard to believe that he was unlikable. After all, he was the Blue Oak, Viridian City Gym Leader and former Kanto Champion.