Five times Shootie met Adeku-san, perhaps? (Not shippy! ... look at me, I'm ~so~ anonymous)
1.
At five years of age, Shootie knows what he wants in his life, and it involves being just like Champion Adeku-san and beating Champion Adeku-san and getting Champion Adeku-san’s approval and admiration, and generally, involves Champion Adeku-san’s name a lot.
Mommy laughs and apologizes for her son’s fanboying antics, but Champion Adeku-san says no, no, it’s fine, it’s cute, he’s a great kid, he will be great.
—
2.
At ten years of age, Shootie knows what he wants in his life, and it involves not turning out like Champion Adeku. He will be great and it will be no thanks to this man.
He wants strength, and he wants respect, and he wants to beat this mockery — this insult of a Champion into the dust.
(In a way, he still just wants Adeku-san to remember him.)
—
3.
At ten years and a few months of age, Shootie doesn’t really know anything anymore, but it takes the pressure off, for some reason, to admit that, to shrug off the constant stress of wanting only to be strong, to win, to get better, to deserve something. It feels better to widen his horizon and look around for more possibilities rather than to focus only straight ahead; to look at Jalorda and not really know where they’re going, but they’ll go together, and that’s enough. They’ve come all the way here together, and that’s amazing already.
He still wants to be great, but perhaps that doesn’t mean strength and battles only.
After all, Adeku-san is strong and great.
“I’d like to battle you again in a few years,” Adeku-san says with a wink. “You’re going to be great.”
“You’ll need to remember my name then,” Shootie sighs, but it doesn’t sting anymore and it doesn’t stop him from smiling.
—
4.
At thirteen, Shootie still doesn’t really know what he wants, but he’s fine just going along and seeing what happens, simply cataloguing his life through pictures. Photo albums don’t need a plot. He travels the world and anywhere he goes, there’s him, there’s Jalorda, there’s his Pokémon and the friends he’s made over the years popping up here and there throughout his books — Cabernet is never still for long enough to make good pictures, but he learned to make blur look artistic; Langley is in each of his albums exactly once, as she can only be convinced to pose approximately every blue moon, but Tsunbear has become a pro-level model; here’s the photographers club, Roberto and world-traveler Tooru-kun and Trova-kun from Kalos; there’s Satoshi, some photos he sent himself from his own travels, sometimes in real life because Satoshi goes everywhere, sometimes in magazines or on TV because what the heck why does he make the news so often; there’s Iris when they first met and here’s when he ran into her chasing Rayquaza in Hoenn and here’s when she became a Gym Leader — and that’s enough red thread.
There are many shots of the view from atop the Celestial Tower; it’s his favorite landscape to photograph, the way you can see most of Isshu from there, the differences depending on seasons, weather or time of day, but always serene and peaceful. So when he comes back from Kalos, not sure where to go next and Jalorda having no particular opinion either, it’s the direction his feet naturally take.
For the first time, this time, there’s someone else up there.
“Oh, Shootaro-kun! It’s been a while!”
“It’s Shootie,” he sighs, but hey, being recognized on sight after three years isn’t so bad.
Adeku-san is sitting cross-legged in front of the huge bell and he doesn’t budge. When Shootie approaches and offers a hand, he extends one arm to shake it, but that is it. He considers Shootie in silence, looking at him from below, with that airy distant smile he had the second time Shootie met him, before the Junior Cup. “How have you been doing?” he asks, in a low voice. It sounds almost… careful. “How is Jalorda?”
“We’re both fine,” Shootie replies, replicating the low tones though he isn’t quite sure why. He lets him out to demonstrate; Jalorda apparently remembers Adeku-san, immediately slithering to him to get some petting. “We’ve just been touring Kalos. Well, he hasn’t battled a lot lately, I’ve been focusing on photography…” He gestures at the scenery surrounding them as far as the eye goes — it’s late autumn, late afternoon, and everything seems on fire under the red sun, from the leaves of the trees to the early snow on the peaks of Twist Mountain, to the ocean glinting on the horizon, far to the south. “The view here is amazing, right?”
“Oh! Yes, it is!” Adeku-san laughs, abrupt, open, with all of his broad chest, and yet this too sounds muted and fragile. There aren’t any walls for it to echo, and the sound dies quickly; when it does, Adeku-san is subdued again; he continues petting Jalorda’s nose, but his eyes are far away. Quietly, he explains, “I was worried you might be here for another reason.”
Oh.
Adeku-san’s grin is brilliant, like the sun setting behind him.
“My old partner is resting here,” he says, pointing a thumb downwards, at the floors and floors of gravestones.
—
5.
At fifteen, Shootie is a professional photographer, fairly renowned across the world; after wrapping up a collaboration project with the Viola of Kalos, he’s just coming back home to Isshu to photograph the introduction ceremony of the new Champion. He knows what he wants in his life and he’s got it right now, and he’s thinking of new goals, other options — maybe specializing in tournament photography, since he does still battle and he still likes it, or maybe traveling documentaries (Satoshi’s just about to start one of his journeys through yet another region, that wouldn’t fail to be interesting), or maybe taking a break for a while. There’s many things to do, a lot of ways to show people the world and the Pokémon in it. He’s got time to think about it after this job.
But hey, in the meantime, there’s no harm in fulfilling old childhood dreams, right?
Adeku-san laughs. “I’m not the Champion anymore, you know? You’re challenging the wrong person for that.”
“I know. I’m not planning on becoming a Champion anymore, I just wanted to try beating you again.” He grins. “Jalorda and I have become pretty great, after all.”
Adeku-san smiles, warm as always, and when he looks at Shootie, at him only, there is recognition and pride and sheer joy in his eyes. “I never doubted you would, Shootie-kun.”
