Feeling of Glory -Sword and Shield (SLOW UPDATES)

Special Chapter 1- Rose Magnolia

Just a fair bit of warning, this chapter gets pretty dark. As in, there's death.

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"And the winner is. . . Leon Heyer of Postwick Town!"

His readheaded opponent fell to her knees as the stadium erupted in cheers. She stared at her hands with an empty expression. Where did I go wrong? I was so close. . .

"Hey, Rose!" She flinched as Leon spoke her name, and lifted her head up to meet his gaze, her eyes narrowed. Leon didn't seem to notice though, and rushed to his friend, a gray Cinderace and an orange Charizard following him.

The boy stopped in front of her and held out a hand to lift her back up to her feet. "That was an amazing battle!" But not amazing enough, Rose thought bitterly. She frowned and took his hand.

"Thanks," she murmured as he pulled her up. There was no denying the sparkle in his eyes at the thought of being one step closer to being Galar's next Champion. She quickly drew her hand back and turned away. "Come on, Cinder," she called her rabbit. He looked at Leon worried before chasing after his Trainer.

Raihan ran towards Rose and patted her back as she entered the locker room. "You did great!" He congratulated her, grinning his signature grin.

"Leave me alone," the girl grumbled. She shook off his touch and moved over to a corner, sitting against a wall. Cinder sat a few feet away, pulling his knees up to his chest and watching her from the corner of his eyes.

Raihan took one glance at her defeated form and gulped nervously. "I'll go get So." Then he was gone, leaving Rose all alone with Cinder and her thoughts.

The match was supposed to be easy. Six Pokémon each, with a limited number of returns. Once you return a Pokémon, you can't battle with it again. That rule was largely added because of the backlash of Pokémon fighting to their deaths, like they had a few years ago. This still didn't stop Pokémon from dying, though; some Trainers refused to switch their Team members, and thus ended the lives of several Pokémon.

Rose had been careful this battle. But while she still kept her full Team of six, two of them had barely been touched by Leon's own Team. It almost didn't seem fair, having lost with two perfectly capable Pokémon still unharmed.

Cinder scooted closer and patted her back, as if reading her thoughts. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"It's not fair," she whispered, "Now I have no chance of ever becoming Champion."

"Rose!" She looked up for a second as Sonia came running into the locker room. A white Boltund followed at her heels, a gift from the Trainer who had just defeated her sister. The Electric-Type bounded ahead, rushing to Rose and licking her face happily. The girl said nothing and pushed the dog away from her. Boltund tilted her head and glanced back at her Trainer. "Go play, Cloud," Sonia told her before her Boltund ran off to go play with some of her toys. Cinder nodded to Sonia and stood up to follow Cloud.

Sonia took Cinder's spot beside Rose and rubbed her back. "What's going on?" She asked her twin softly.

Rose didn't answer and hid her mouth between her legs, which she had hugged to her chest. "Where's Rai?"

Sonia frowned slightly and blinked. "Raihan? He's out battling Leon right now. He came by to get me, and then they called for his match with Lee."

Rose didn't move.

"Look." Sonia sighed. "I know you're upset about your match and all, but don't let it get to you, alright? Because honestly, I don't think it's worth it to get so upset over this. I mean, look at me. I didn't even make it this far, and you're in the top three contenders for the Championship. Shouldn't you be proud?"