Sugawara never expected to be a gym leader, it was never in the cards for him. He was never that talented of a trainer, his Pokemon were not strong fighting types, and he just knew deep down he didn’t have it in him. A poor orphan with no money, nobody to go home to, to train him. Why would he ever think he would be qualified to be a gym leader or even be a successor to a gym leader. Everything changed though when he got his first pokemon. It wasn’t something all that unique; most children get a pokemon when they come of age. But Sugawara was now 16 and was in no position to get or receive a pokemon. However, when he ran across a trapped Granbull he wasn’t fully aware of how it would change his life.
When he found the poor creature trapped, while collecting firewood for the night, he couldn’t help but want to free the creature. Sugawara got along surprisingly well with pokemon considering he has never had one, but this Granbull was not having any of it. They had clearly been hurt too many times by humans, like him, so it made sense why they didn’t trust humans. If Sugwara was being honest with himself he didn’t know if he fully trusted humans either.
“Here, it’s going to be okay” he spoke calmly as he freed the creature from the cage. The creature slowly crawled out of the cage but refused to look in Sugawara’s general direction. Sugwara didn’t try to push the creature because that would just end badly he knew, however he could hear footsteps in the distance, and he had a feeling they were the ones that set this trap.
“Listen, you need to start heading that way. ‘’ Sugawara pointed in the direction away from the footsteps, but not looking at the Granbull to scare them further. The Granbull however was not listening, but instead sniffing around the general area. Panicked, Sugawara faced the creature so they would move to a different area. However the second he looked in the creatures general direction they began growling. Sugawara sighed, okay okay; the footsteps were getting closer so Sugawara had to think of something before it was….
“There you are!” A voice peered behind the trees.
Too late.
The Grandbull began growling at the hunters, but Sugwara was pretty sure that they weren’t intimidated by that.
“Move out of the way, boy! That Grandbull is ours” The Hunters called.
This was really bad! Sugawara thought, not only did he have no way to defend himself and the Granbull, but he was pretty sure the Grandbull was injured from the trap. He couldn’t just leave the Granbull defenseless though, so he was going to have to fight. Sugawara had never fought a day in his life. In fact he avoided conflict at all cost, and the idea of trainers fighting each other with Pokemon baffled him. He knew though, that he had to do this, and had to fight.
“This Granbull is not yours. The creature is free just like you and I, and is free to do what it wants. So leave it alone!!” Sugawara’s voice turned stern and powerful even if he didn’t feel so powerful. He took a deep breath getting into a defensive stance. If he was going to truly fight them, he was going to have to give it everything he had. There was no backing down now.
“Big mistake kid” The hunters said pointing their weapons at him.
Before Sugawara could react, the Granbull charged at the hunters, sending them down to the ground. Sugawara was stunned, he thought the Granbull wouldn’t be able to fight back! Amidst his shock the Granbull began huffing and sat next to his feet. The Grandbull began to nuzzle at his leg like he wanted to be a pet, so Sugawara obliged. This is not how Sugawara expected this battle to go, and this was certainly not how he expected he’d get his first Pokemon.
Ever since then the Sugawara began to train with the Granbull, and from there his journey into fairy type pokemon began. Sugawara never gave much thought into types of pokemon before this, but he never thought he would attract such a niche group of pokemon. Fairy-type were hard to train, and were not all strong attacking wise. He didn’t give up on Granbull on that day in the woods, and he certainly wasn’t going to start giving up on him now. While Sugawara still wasn’t sold on the idea of trading his one and only Pokemon to fight other Pokemon, he knew it was their best shot for getting stronger. Both him and Grandbull wanted to get stronger. Better their life and standings in the world, and prove that they were much stronger than the world ever thought they would be.
Grandbull’s skills took a while to master, but each day they got stronger.Through battling other trainers Sugawara and Granbull grew immensely, and soon the whole town started to take notice. The stronger Sugawara became the bigger his roster became. Iit was no longer just him and Grandbull, but now Clefable, Rapidash, Togekiss, Slurpuff, Sylveon. He was becoming one of the most powerful Fairy-type trainers out there, and he began attracting the attention of a very powerful gym leader.
Sugawara was on his way to becoming the Fairy-type gym-leader, and while he still had many more obstacles and challenges to come, he wasn’t afraid anymore.He would not runway but stand up and fight like he did that fateful day. These were the qualities that made the old gym leader so fond of him, and why he wanted Sugawara to take his place. It might not be today, tomorrow, or even in a year from now, but soon Sugawara will take his place as one of the most powerful Gym Leaders of all the land. His curly silver hair, which has become quite the defining feature of his looks, will not be the only thing his opponents notice about him as his journey to Fairy-type Gym Leader contuines.