Randi Part 3: The Scandal
The MC screamed over the loudspeakers:
《...featuring: The Star-Crossed Couple that Caught Mew!》
The stadium erupted with cacophonous cheering. Randi and Sabrina had established themselves as celebrity Trainers in Denali. Their management struggled to keep up with the duo's soaring popularity.
When ratings rose, sponsorships changed hands. Established League Trainers, fielded by family ties to the fortunes of industrial titans, began to grow jealous. These trainers, armed with strong political influence, began to foment horrible rumors about Randi and Sabrina.
The attacks were trivial and somewhat comical at first, but animosity caught on. The couple began to experience daily street harassment and later, visits to their residence. The vitriol became so bad that false rumors regarding the couple's intimate life spread and generated controversy. Sabrina began to grow unstable. At Sabrina's brink of a public breakdown amidst the manufactured scandal, Randi thought there was only one thing to do. He sent Sabrina, who was insistent on staying, on a plane back to Kanto with a promise he would follow later as things cooled down.
But things did not cool down. Randi was harrassed every day at home and at work. He dropped out of the Denali League to finish his basic education, but faced constant heckling at school. Fearing the mob would follow him, he didn't made contact with or attempted to follow Sabrina.
By spring of 2004, exhausted by the harassment, Randi quit Pokémon Training. He sent his Pokémon to excellent care in foreign regions where the scandal was unknown, ensuring they would recieve unbiased care. The most difficult parting was with his first Pokémon Charizard. He made certain that the Charizard was going to exceptional world-renowned personalized care. After painfully saying goodbye, Randi relinquished custody of Charizard to the Fire Pokémon Refuge in the Osaza Region. The area is a mountainous desert region known for its sunshine and diverse cultures, far to the west of Orange and very far southeast of Denali. Mew had mysteriously vanished.
Feeling self-pity over losing the very things that attracted Sabrina to him in the first place, he never summoned the resolve to contact her again. He stood over a western bluff watching the sunset, ruminating over what his life had become.
Thus, in the wake of his collapsed way of life, Randi vowed to never Train again. He consigned himself to science and studied at university for six years, becoming a lab technologist under the famed Pokémon Professor Spruce in 2010. He took a passive approach to Pokémon by observing but not interacting. His contributions to science brought him joy.
His approach to life became acquiescent. He always did what he was told, and never argued with anyone. He didn't leave home much else but for work. Haunted by his past, he couldn't genuinely bring himself to date again. Over the years, he asked out a handful of women for whom he had developed feelings. However, his confidence never materialized, and he was soundly rejected each time.
Settling for an uncomplicated life, Randi stuck to an unchanging routine. In the night sky, the planets processed, Jupiter completing a revolution, Saturn moving across the Sun. Birthdays would come and go, his hairline retreating as embattled soldiers frustratingly holding back the invincible march of time.
It would be 16 years since the scandal until Fate intervened again...
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AN: Things may seem bad, but the universe seems to have ways of working things out. Keep following for Part 4, featuring our favorite Gardevoir (Ralts this time) Phoebe!
J