I know, I know, it's taken way way WAY too long. But here I am. I'm back, at least for the summer.

My year in college was absolutely fantastic, if busy as hell. Several people I know had a really tough time adjusting, but somehow I managed to evade most of the college troubles. I've made friends, stayed out of bad situations, and I've got almost straight As at one of the best schools in the country.

So what happened here is that I was studying for my finals when I saw new info on Black 2 and White 2. And saw that Cheren was now a gym leader. Hello, plot bunny.

So now I'm going to be supremely irresponsible and give you guys a short envisioning, in the Alphabet Soup world, of how Cheren became a gym leader. And I might do a novelization of the games, when they come out. Anyway, enough blabber; you've waited long enough. Here we go!

The fresh spring breeze rustled the trees, scattered yellow pollen across the stones and pavement of the park, and ruffled Cheren and Bianca's hair. The young man closed his eyes and leaned back against the ancient oak with a smile. Cheren's sports jacket was neatly folded up in his bag and his crimson tie was pinned so the wind wouldn't blow it in his face. Bianca hummed a familiar tune as she leaned in closer to her boyfriend; a few paces away his Lillipup stalked an insect hopping through the grass. The spring sun was bright and warm on their faces; Cheren ran his fingers down Bianca's shiny straw-blonde hair. This day was absolutely perfect, one that they both wished would never end.

Then Cheren's cellphone timer went off, reminding him that today of all days was not one to be spent lazing about in the park. He scrambled to his feet to check the time and message which he himself had set a few days before as Bianca leaned over his shoulder to read what was on the screen.

"Really? It's in only an hour?" his girlfriend asked.

Cheren nodded, apprehension curling in his stomach. "Well, we both knew they rushed the paperwork for my application, thanks to my involvement in the whole Team Plasma affair last year." It was hard to believe that it had been almost an entire year since that whole horrifying ordeal. Even now Bree woke up screaming from nightmares every few weeks, and even now Cheren's shoulder ached before a bad storm.

But they had grown, and matured, and had become more of who they truly were. After the surgeries and the testimonies and the recoveries, Bree and her ragged pokemon traveled Unova. Sometimes she was alone, sometimes she was with friends or with her newly discovered half-brother Lawrence, but she was always free from the responsibility of saving the region from a deranged power-hungry madman and a manipulated boy king who was convinced he lived in a fairy tale. Bianca, much to Professor Juniper's surprise, for she had always expected Cheren to fill this role, had thrown herself into pokemon research and was now doing an internship on pokemon coat patterns and the like. She had traded in her blouse for a sturdy orange windbreaker that could withstand sharp thorns and claws and teeth, perfect for field work. And Cheren, more serene and sure of himself than he had ever been, had applied to become a gym leader.

They had rushed the application through the normal screening and processing procedures; it was barely a month before Cheren was called to take the written examination. After he had easily passed that, he was given a date for the practical, a test gym battle in a realistic setting, to demonstrate just how he would perform as a gym leader. And that practical was in an hour.

Bianca knew just why her boyfriend wasn't ecstatic that the whole process had skipped the standard bureaucratic entanglements. She wrapped her arms around his waist and said, "Just because your application went through quickly doesn't mean they only think of you in connection to everything that happened, you know. I mean, I've totally seen you in battle, and you're awesome. I still can't beat you."

Cheren smiled and shook his head as he pocketed his phone again. Leaning back to kiss Bianca he said, "I know. But it's impossible to quite shake the feeling. And I need to show them that I'm a powerful trainer in my own right, and worthy to be a gym leader, though I already know-"

His thought process was interrupted by the loud buzzing of his phone. Flipping it open, Cheren found three text messages: One from his parents (Good luck today, Cheren! Your father and I are rooting for you.), one from his sister (Go big bro! Youre gonna be awesome!), and one from-

"It's from Bree!" Both Cheren and Bianca leaned in around the phone as it buzzed several more times in rapid succession. Smiling wryly, Cheren opened the first of several texts from their friend.

Go kick ass today, cheren! sorry im to far away to make it but ill be over for the huge awesomly awesome party after when u smash them! i almost feel sorry for whoevers facing you. all my pokemon tell you good luck too. im not repeating idoun. BEAT EM UP SCOWLYSPECS!

"Maybe I should give you my glasses, so you're the one she calls Scowlyspecs," Cheren teased to Bianca as he grabbed his bag, calling over his pokemon with a hand gesture. The Lillipup ran towards him barking happily and wagging his tail as he was withdrawn into his pokeball.

"Well," Cheren said as he turned to go to the subway station. "Wish me luck."

Bianca laughed. "Like you'll need it."

"Arty? You're the one facing me in my practical?"

"What?" The Castelia gym leader leaned back casually against the walls of the arena, hands folded behind his head. "You know a gym leader's required to judge these things too, and it was my turn." He winked at Cheren. "Just so you know, even though I like you I've got to be impartial when it comes to evaluating you."

"I know," Cheren said with a shrug. "It's just hard to believe that only a year and a half ago I was challenging you for your badge. And now, here we are." He indicated the large training arena behind them, with metal scaffolding and a loose earthen floor.

"Cheren Shiro," announced a man on the other side of the field. "We are ready to begin."

He swallowed. "Well," Cheren said, "Here it goes."

"Good luck," said Arty with a grin and a flashed thumbs-up before racing over to his side of the field. Cheren climbed up the short steps to his platform and looked over at Arty, who was his assigned opponent, and the other proctor, an older government official with a balding head and rotund belly.

The second proctor cleared his throat and spoke. "Cheren Shiro, today we are staging a mock gym battle to test your skills in a real setting. Your written examination demonstrated exemplary theoretical talent, but we must now see if you have the actual ability to be a gym leader." Unlike Arty, there was no levity in his voice, none of the casual tone used when speaking to a close friend. He was strictly here on business.

"Not that you'll need it," called out Arty, ignoring the look from the second proctor. "You got one of the highest scores on the written that I've ever seen!"

Part of Cheren's mind couldn't help but note that not too long ago, the words, "one of the," would have dampened his joy and pride, made him frustrated that he was only one of the best instead of the best. But now...he wouldn't be perfect, but there was no need to be obsessed with perfection. He just had to do the best he could.

The proctor continued speaking as Arty turned to face Cheren. "To remind you, you are not required to win this test battle to pass your examination."

"You're going to lose as gym leader," said Arty, "A lot. You sure you can deal with that?"

Again, not long ago, Cheren wouldn't have been sure of his answer. But now, his voice rang out clear and confident. "Yes. I am."

"Well then." Arty grinned and whipped out a pokeball. "Cheren Shiro, I challenge you!"

The rush of adrenaline confirmed his suspicions. He was perfect for the job. "Arthur Burgh, I accept your challenge!"

Unfortuantely, Cheren wasn't allowed to use his main team in a gym battle. Besides, he had to admit that the sight of Hector, his towering obsidian battle-scarred Haxorus would be far too intimidating for most rookie trainers. So instead it was Mal, the Lillipup offspring of Bree's Stoutland and Excadrill, who burst out of his pokeball and crouched into a fighting stance to meet Beedle, the Sewaddle that Arty used in these battles and had sent out.

The bug pokemon shot string at Mal's legs, locking the toes together and sticking his paws to the ground. But rather than pause to chew off the sticky threads, he dashed into the dirt, letting it cover the strings and let him move freely again.

"What do you plan to teach your challengers, Cheren?" Arty asked. "What do you think they need to learn?"

He had thought about this for a very long time, and what better to teach them than what had taken so long for him to learn? "Power is important," he said as Mal lept from a sandy trench the color of his fur to take Sewaddle by surprise. "But you can't wield brute force like a cudgel. Power exists in many forms, it comes from many different sources. And you've got to apply power properly. For instance...Mal! Into the dirt!"

The Lillipup's short stiff hair, powerful front paws, and broad shiny nails indicated his Excadrill heritage. He launched forward, grabbing Beedle and shoving him into the earth. Beedle flipped his back limbs up and kicked Mal off; but he quickly rolled back onto his feet and growled, forcing the Sewaddle backward into the metal ledge.

"Mal's father is Simon, an Excadrill," said Cheren as the pokemon stood firm, more connected to the earth than any other Lillipup either Cheren or Arty had ever seen. "Use any advantage you can find! But...Don't let failure consume you. You don't have to be perfect, just the best you can be."

On the field, Mal shook off the clumps of string and bruised leg, and charged into Beedle head-on. The Sewaddle collapsed; Mal and Cheren had won.

"Excellent words," said Arty as he withdrew his defeated pokemon. He turned to the proctor standing beside him. "Well Samuel, what do you think?"

Samuel barely nodded. "I think he passed."

For a moment, Cheren forgot to breathe. "R-really? You mean it?"

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you."

The moment Cheren, now officially a gym leader, stepped off the platform and was given congratulatory handshakes and pats on the back and the final set of forms (the name and design of his badge, his final team lineup) to be submitted within the week, he threw a fist in the air and gave a very uncharacteristic joyful holler. Just a few moments later, his Xtransceiver buzzed to life.

Without a word, Cheren's face split into a grin as he flashed his new certificate, the one marking him as a bona fide Unova gym leader, for Bianca, Bree, and Lawrence to see.

His three friends broke out into cheers and applause. "Go Gym Leader Cheren!" shouted Bree. Unlike her two friends, she hadn't grown out her hair in the past year, although it was already down to her waist to start with.

"Gym Leader Cheren has a nice ring to it," said Bianca, making Cheren blush. "Much nicer than Professor Bianca."

"I think Professor Bianca sounds nice," said Lawrence. He had grown a few inches since Cheren had last seen him, but he was still significantly bulkier than the new gym leader.

Whatever anybody was going to say next was interrupted by Lawrence and Bianca jumping away from Bree as she all but lept towards the screen while holding two large and thankfully high-quality bottles of vodka. Cheren sighed; he could already see where and how this night was going to end. All he asked was, "How many more bottles?"

Bree tried counting on her fingers, but gave up and turned to Lawrence, who merely said, "You should see my mom's freezer."

"What did I tell you, oh great gym leader?" Bree teased. "We're gonna PAR-TAY!" She pumped her fist in the air, and the vodka swirled in the bottle. "If tonight doesn't end with the four of us in jail, then I have failed my mission!"

Over Bianca's hasty reassurances to Lawrence that his half-sister and her best friend was just kidding, Cheren sighed, laughed, and said, "I'll see you at the Castelia side of the Skyarrow Bridge in a couple of hours," before hanging up.

"Come on, Mal," he said to his young Lillipup, who bounded over happily. Unova's newest gym leader shook his head with a smile.

So much had changed, but some things never would.

A/N: I really hope I haven't lost my touch. What did you guys think? And yes, Bree's goal is to make sure they are immortalized on Texts From Last Night.

I guess part of the reason I was focusing so much on growth is that I myself have grown and matured significantly in just a year of college.

Anywho, I'm not going to guarantee anything, since I've got no right to thanks to my track record, but here's some thing I'm hoping to work on:

-Work on Of Many Colors.

-Do a novelization of Black 2 and White 2, when it comes out. It will be in the Alphabet Soup verse, and I'm telling you right now: I'm gleefully ignoring that chunks of Unova are completely frozen over. The region became significantly colder thanks to Kyurem or whatever? Sure, whatever. But not completely frozen over with glaciers and everything. Fuck that. Also, fuck Natural Harmonia Gropius. Fuck it in the ear. It's N Harmonia to me. I almost never ignore canon but here' I'm flipping it off and running it down.

-An AU, either one-shot or with several chapters, of role reversal. Instead of N and Bree, it's Nate and B.

-A Legend of Korra fanfic: Tahno goes to the spirit world to see if he can get his waterbending back. I'm not even touching this idea until the first season ends though, and depending on how that goes I may just drop the idea.

But thank you all so much for your patience.