Wheedle (ch 5)

⚠️⚠️Content warning! Please read first!⚠️⚠️

This story involves mpreg (tmpreg, unmentioned.) and vomit mentions, but also dark subject matter, such as mental abuse and more. I don’t want to give away spoilers but I also don’t want anyone to come across content that may be triggering for them, so if there is any chance any dark topics at all might be hard for you, please skip over this story.

This is a bit of a long story, a lot of which has been written when I needed to vent. So please expect a fair amount of angsty and self indulgent dialogue.

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It was usually mandatory in each Gym Challenge rulebook that trainers who were expectant were not allowed to partake in Dynamax or Gigantamax battles. The Galar particles that were released during the phenomenon were suspected to be dangerous to the development of an unborn child due to the energy that they radiated. This particular study had pushed the gym challenge stadiums to be built with a particle blocker that circled around the bleachers, so that watchers would remain safe from radiation or rogue moves during the battles. But, unfortunately, that technology had yet to be implemented on a small scale to fully protect the battlers themselves.

Despite it being against the rules, Rose had apparently waved the jury in Leon’s case, fitting Leon with his Dynamax band regardless.

“Do you really think he should be performing Gigantamax battles at this stage of his pregnancy?” Oleana asked, her sympathy heavily overlaid with her usual doubtful tone. Rose refused to acknowledge Leon directly. As if he wasn’t there. So be it.

“It’s fine. I’ve worked everything out. I will reassure anyone, who might ask, that we have done the research and found Leon’s short exposure is absolutely harmless,” Rose said a bit too quickly. Of course he hadn’t put in the study work. But he had taken the time to think of an excuse to make Leon’s life that much more miserable.

And miserable he was. He was quickly drained after the first battle, hardly able to suck it up to wave to the roto-drone that flew past him to send closeups to the jumbotron. But he did his best. He didn’t exactly want to give Rose what he wanted, but he sure as hell didn’t want to let down the people who cheered for him. But, despite their cheers and support, Leon still felt as though he stuck out like a sore thumb all of a sudden. (He did, technically. But that was neither here nor there.)

He was spacey during battles, but Leon continued to hold his champion title with no problem whatsoever. When he Gigantamaxed Charizard, he felt… lightheaded. Like one wrong step and he might’ve toppled over. But, thankfully on his end, Charizard was strong; it hardly stayed in its Gigantamax form for long before it claimed the win.

Leon was exhausted by the time the battles finished, finally getting off of his feet for the first time that night at nearly a quarter to midnight. His head screamed in pain, his stomach burned with hunger and nausea, and the heels of his feet hurt so badly, he nearly had to walk off the field on the front balls of his feet. And when he returned to the back room, there was nothing. No, “Good job out there, Leon!” or anything. Oleana was asleep in one of the cubby seats, obviously up past her bedtime. Rose was silently sorting out an email on his phone, his legs crossed, not even bothering to look up as Leon entered.

“I can go home now, yeah?” He rasped, and Rose waved him off. He took it as a yes, ignoring the pain in his feet momentarily to grab his belongings and trudge as normally as possible out of the building. As usual, a few corviknight taxis remained lined up outside of the building, and, at that point, he didn’t even care that the closest taxi to him was marked off as a fast flyer. He just wanted to be home. In retrospect, the sharp movements didn’t do much for his already sick stomach, except force him to dry heave upon touching solid ground. Nothing came up, but the act of retching with no outcome only added a sore throat to the rest of his ailments that night.

By the time Leon had gotten home, showered, forced a can of soup down for ‘dinner’, and collapsed into bed, it was nearly 2 in the morning. He had not checked his phone since before he went out on the field that previous afternoon, and his stomach nearly pushed his mock dinner right up out of him.

‘Leon, early morning tomorrow. Meet me and Oleana back at Wyndon Stadium at 7.15. We have a briefing with the Champion‘s department before we start allowing trainers on the field at 8.00.’

It was all of Leon’s power not to cry again at Rose’s message- but Leon did not have any power in him at that point, so he delved into tears anyways. Wyndon was an hour and half flight away, meaning that he would have to catch another taxi at 5:30- leaving him with a lengthy sleep time of just under three hours. For what- another entire day of standing on his feet and over-exerting himself? Rose knew exactly what he was signing Leon up for by waving him off wordlessly that night. If he had known that he’d be getting up so early, he would have stayed the night in Wyndon.

As tired as he was, it still took Leon longer than anticipated to fall asleep. His body had been down for the count, but his brain had been running a mile a minute. And when his alarm went off, it felt like he had just barely closed his eyes before waking. Back pain was added to his list as he struggled to push himself up into a sitting position, scooting himself back to lean against the headboard for a moment. He sighed a breath of relief as he set his hands atop his stomach, which somehow felt even bigger than it had been the night before. The baby was growing like a weed at that point, as well as twisting around inside of him nonstop. Leon loved a sharp little hand pushing up against his lungs and rib cage right after waking up. Not.

He coaxed the hand out of his chest, sitting for an extra moment to gently run his hand over the mass he had accumulated. The further in he got, the more he worried for the well-being of his child after birth. Leon would most likely become murderous if Rose attempted to lay a hand on them. He didn’t want Macro Cosmos to market off of his child. Not after him. The last thing he wanted was that kid to grow up thinking the industry was their life.

After shoving himself up to his feet, ignoring the wave of nausea that surged through him and the sensation of piercing knives in his heels, Leon redressed himself and begrudgingly hailed another taxi. It’d been the same exact one as the night before- somewhat much to his chagrin. But the pilot, who seemed concerned, dismounted the corviknight to talk at face level with Leon.

“Didn’t I just drop you off a few hours ago?” He asked, and Leon grimaced, shrugging his shoulders up to his head.

“Unfortunately,” he said, inching a tone of humor to his voice so he didn’t alienate the worried man. “Busy schedule for the next few days.”

The man frowned, patting Leon gently on the shoulder.

“Alright, son… take it easy. I’ll fly her slow.”

Leon thanked him as he eased his way up into the taxi. He was grateful for the next hour and a half alone, finding that he was able to fit a bit more sleep in before being awoken by the landing. Oleana was waiting outside for him, holding a paper pastry bag and a cup of juice from Leon’s personal favorite cafe in Wyndon, and she offered it to him as he approached her.

“I’m sorry I'd fallen asleep at the end- I would have told you Rose’s schedule before you headed all the way back to Hammerlocke,” she said. The guilt and worry had been prevalent on her face since the previous day; Leon wasn't used to it, but he hoped it was genuine. Oleana was much more beautiful without a threatening scowl embedded into her features.

“He didn’t even attempt to talk to me,” Leon muttered, reaching into the bag to pick a corner off of the warm scone. “He didn’t even look up at me when I came back in. Years of our relationship have really been built off of him being in full control, hasn't it?”

Oleana sighed through her nose, touching an incredibly brief reassuring hand to his back. It was moved immediately as they entered the building. Leon almost wished it had lasted a moment longer. Rose was standing in wait for them, waiting to walk until he was sure they would follow him back to the deep halls of the stadium. Leon had only been through them once before, but he remembered the room at the far back. All of the associates, workers, and company heads would meet up in a small auditorium styled room where rules were run over and problems were resolved.

Leon expected to be unbothered the entire meeting, preemptively assuming that he was not of anyone’s concern, but he was pleasantly surprised that the meeting itself revolved around Leon. The head of the stadium voiced his adamancy about Leon taking breaks in between each battle, with a proper lunch break where they could check up with how he was physically feeling, as well as a proper dinner break. Rose looked awfully annoyed the entire time, but he didn’t argue.

As much as his body hurt, Leon had grown into being a relatively good actor; he had to appear tip-top shape at all times, so he managed to act okay while walking out onto the field throughout the day. Every time he was excused by the referee to take a moment off of his feet in between battles, instead of being forced to stand and wait for the next battle on field like some type of coin-op machine, Rose watched him return to the back with a silent, searing, disgust. Leon just ignored him. The only words the two had shared since Rose’s freak out was Leon asking to go home and the texts that Rose had sent. If Rose wanted to play the silent game, fine- Leon would honor that.

Five minute intervals off of his feet were the best parts of his morning, up until one of the staff members retrieved him for a lunch break. Oleana had supplied him with more food; a sandwich, which he could only finish half of before his stomach protested, and another juice. Usually Oleana kept him away from the juices, but he was hardly eating anyways- he needed the sugar boost. Besides, he would work it off within the first following battle anyways.

He was a bit more surprised during his lunch break when a medic set up shop on the bench next to him.

“I’m not hurt,” he warned her before she unzipped her bag, and she shook her head.

“I know. We want to keep an eye on your vitals since you’ve been exposed to a lot of Galar Particles today and yesterday,” she explained, hooking a heart rate monitor to his finger before taking his blood pressure, temperature, and sticking a frigid cold stethoscope to the middle of his back to listen to his breathing. Oleana waited alongside them to hear the results, while Rose, of course, was nowhere to be found.

“His breathing sounds a bit labored, but that is to be had while being 7 months pregnant and exerting himself. His blood pressure and heart are just fine, but his temperature is slightly low,” she listed off. Odd- low temperature? He felt like he was at boiling point. But- it was better than having a fever, he supposed.

Oleana seemed pleased enough, and Leon received an extra five minutes to let his… half sandwich settle before ushering him back out onto the field. The rest of the afternoon went by just as miserably as the previous night. Long, painful, dizzying. He nearly crumpled onto the floor upon returning to the break room after his last battle, but ended up on a bench instead. He still held his champion title, but he didn’t hold it proudly. He worked harder than ever to keep that title from falling into the hands of a child that did not deserve Rose’s ‘guidance’; he would hate himself for the rest of his life if he willingly passed on that position.

After regaining himself, and watching Rose step into the room, clearly ignoring Leon and heading for the back door, Leon stood and hurried over to stand in front of him, stopping the man.

“What time are we starting tomorrow?” He asked, and Rose cocked an eyebrow at him, looking irritated, before walking around Leon. Leon scoffed, turning around to watch him. “Real mature, sir.”

Rose stopped himself, but didn’t turn around to make eye contact.

“You obviously do not care about the company, so why should I care about you?”

Leon recoiled, taken aback by the absolute childish tone Rose took. But annoyance bubbled up in his throat in the form of a retort.

“Oh, so you don’t care if I quit, right?”

Rose just chuckled, shrugging his shoulders while keeping his hands in his pockets.

“I have custody over just about every service in Galar. I built an entire city in my company's likeness- surpassing being just ‘on par’ with Lumiose City. I own the justice departments, police stations, emergency services, everything. You can try your best to weasel out, Leon. But if you do, you will really wish you hadn’t.

“Show up at the same time tomorrow as you did today,” Rose added, taking a step forward, but stopping himself once more. “Oh- and just so you know, the Rose of the Rondelands Hotel is booked out for the next week. Everyone has come from everywhere to see their gravid champion overwork himself in front of an audience of millions. Looks like you’ll just have to head home to Hammerlocke every night.”

Leon watched with his mouth pursed tightly, feeling dread under his surface at Rose’s first words to him in over 24 hours. He waited for the room to empty to sit down on the bench once more, picking through the numbers on his phone to dial the aforementioned Hotel. The woman answered the phone politely, stating upfront that there were no available rooms.

“This is Leon Nilson, I work under Chairman Rose. I used to have a credit here; is there anything you can possibly do to honor it?” He tried pleadingly, and the worker sighed.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Nilson- but even every VIP room is fully booked, or else I would make room for you. Besides, Chairman Rose called and said that he had accommodations for you, and that you wouldn’t have any need to stay in the residential suite either. My apologies.”

“Ah… understood,” Leon sighed tightly, trying not to make her job any harder than it needed to be. “Thank you, then.”

Leon hung his head upon ending the call, looking at the time on the top corner of his phone screen. At least it wasn’t as late as the previous night- but only by an hour. He let his feet rest for another moment until he felt ready enough to head outside to catch another taxi home. To his surprise, it was the same pilot once again that he managed to catch.

“I had a feeling you’d be coming out late,” the man said as he clambered down the side of the massive bird, popping the door open for Leon as he approached it. “I stuck around so you didn't have to wait. Do you need me to pick you up again in the morning?”

“Thank you- It would be greatly appreciated if you could pick me up at around 5:30 again tomorrow,” Leon sighed, crawling into the vehicle. The pilot frowned.

“I hear it’s not safe for people who are expecting to be exposed to Dynamax power. Are you okay out there? And this time schedule you’re on!”

“I’m under surveillance during, so… I should be a-okay. Thank you for your concern,” Leon said, purposefully dodging his last comment while giving him a smile, not wanting to concern the man much more than he was. The pilot took his word for it, closing the door for him before climbing back up into the corviknight.

And it was the same exact schedule for the next three nights. By the fourth day of battling, Leon felt, and looked, like hell. He was so exhausted, he could hardly form words in his mouth, and Oleana had preemptively canceled the fifth day, even against Rose’s wishes. The board working for the stadium felt it was best too- unconcerned about his look for the company, but purely worried for Leon’s health.

The medic on set had ordered an early lunch break when Leon had showed signs on the field of increasing pain in his stomach, nearly unable to stop himself from doubling over mid battle. But he managed just enough before collapsing into a cubby seat and allowing the medic to do her work.

“His heart rate is high and his blood pressure is low. His body temperature has plummeted, he’s running on 9 hours of sleep total for the past five days, and he had three false contractions during that last battle alone,” she said angrily to Rose after demanding he show up. “It's too early for him to be having so many false contractions. And, Arceus forbid, I don’t even know how little food he is eating outside of here. You’re nearly killing him; he needs to be done now.”

“He has an important challenger he is required to fight. I have them set to be the last challenger of the night, but I will have them come down now. One more battle, and Leon is finished, I promise,” Rose said, shooting her one of his trademark smiles, which she easily shot aside, scrunching her nose to nudge her glasses up her face. She turned to look back at Leon.

“Are you well enough?” She asked, and Leon nodded.

“What’s one more?” He said tiredly. “I just need a break, is all.”

The medic frowned, gentler that time, placing a caring hand on the top of his hand for a moment before removing the heart rate monitor from his finger.

“I want him to take an extra thirty minute break on top of his lunch break,” she ordered as she stood. “Please try to get something into your body. Some fruit, something with protein, sugar, anything to get your blood pressure up. Anything you can stomach.”

Rose stepped out to announce the early end of the championships, then ‘prepare the last challenger’, while Oleana retrieved the foods that the medic had suggested he eat. He tried his best to eat them, he really did, but the more he attempted to force food into his mouth, the more the stress induced nausea wracking his body went into overdrive. The best he could manage was finishing off a bottle of apple juice. After his extended half hour, Rose returned to retrieve Leon.

Leon passed him up to head out to the center of the field to wait for the challenger, something he hadn’t done in the past championship challenges for the other trainers, but Rose had insisted he do it that year. Mainly because it meant he could force Leon to stay standing for longer.

Talk of a specific challenger made Leon nervous, unsure of what Rose had had up his sleeve. Perhaps a reoccurring challenger? It couldn’t have been Bede, could it? He’d skipped out of the picture years ago. Perhaps it was another one of the gym leaders- maybe Raihan, hoping to “claim his place” again, like he used to before things got bad. Perhaps a trainer from out of the country-

Anyone else would have been better. Leon nearly felt his heart quit beating in his chest as his competition stepped out onto the field.