SUNSHINE in the RAIN

Water and Fire. Two base intergal elements; without which, the world as they knew it would collapse. Together; they could save and destroy worlds, build them up and crush them down. Against each other, as nature does at times, it was Water that must triumph; as it puts Fire out into a smoking pile of ash.

That was simple. That was natural. That was predicable.

"Life," Juan said, that billowing white cloak that had adorned his shoulders for as long as Wallace had known him, for the last time, "Defies nature. I leave my home, the Hoenn Region, in good hands- the hands of Fire. Good thing, too; sometimes it takes a harsher grip to protect my people than I have. You'll see me around; I'm not going anywhere."

In his goodbye speech to the press, in which he would transfer the white cloak to the newly-crowned Champion, who had beaten him in a fierce battle that would be spoken of for generations, Juan had spoken of healing, moving forward, and a promise to continue his work for the people of Hoenn.

Following his speech, the shining white cloak had been given away. Placing it around Drake's shoulders had been one of the most humbling experiences Juan had ever had the fortune to undergo. His closest friend for what was his entire life, the boy who swore to touch the sun in flight; the man who had saved Juan from his past.

The title truly belonged to him. At least, that's what Juan told him that night, in a moment alone. What neither man knew was that young Wallace and Steven stood up the stairs, listening in. Neither knew that his next words would inspire one of the greatest generations of Pokemon Trainers the region had ever seen, each striving to become the very best, like no one ever was.

"The title doesn't belong to anyone. That's what you've forgotten, Juan. It simply is. You took it to change the world you lived in; to inspire the next one. A leader isn't one who clings to power. You take it in, and then you give it back. Give and take, like the ocean and the land. Balance. That's the keyword here, the word the Hoenn Region's gonna learn someday. Balance is what balance is. Learn it. Live it."

And as the two great friends laughed following a snippy- "Look who's talking down to who!"- retort from Juan, Wallace couldn't help but wonder at both of them.

Perhaps, one day, Wallace thought, as he and Steven scampered back to his room on that topmost crag of Sootopolis, He'd have a friend like that.