The door to the gym swung open, allowing the new arrival in from the chillier morning air. Despite being quite early in the day, there were already a handful of folks getting their workouts in. A Swalot jogging on a treadmill. An Azumarill curling a few free weights. Whatever they felt that they needed to get into whatever shape they were aiming for.
The Staraptor, though, wasn't interested in any of that. Instead, she headed straight for the office next to the reception desk, only a few minutes earlier than she had been asked to be there. Through the frosted glass window, she could spot the vague orange silhouette and bright green flames of Jet, the Infernape she had sparred with the previous night, and presumably the owner of the place. They were relatively similar heights, but that was all she could glean at that point. She was about to give the door a knock, when the Infernape made her way over and opened it up herself, breaking into a grin as she recognized the awaiting avian.
"Roisin!" Jet greeted her. "Hey there, been waiting long?"
The bird simply shook her head. "Nah, just got here."
The Fire-type stood to one side, revealing who it was she had been talking to: a stout and slightly weathered gentleman who had very much opted for 'smart casual' that day. "Come on in," Jet beckoned to her, turning back to the owner. "Rocky, this is the girl I was just telling you about!"
"Ah," came the acknowledgement, as the owner emerged from behind their desk and approached the Staraptor, giving her a quick look up and down as an early appraisal. "Roisin Hayward, is it?"
Any kind of first impression she may have had in mind, however, went straight out of the window, as an old bell suddenly rang out in the back of Roisin's mind, bringing her to a standstill the moment she recognized this man as a Golem. "Wait a second," she blurted out, eyes widening in shock. "Are you Rocky Gronsfeld?!"
A gentle smirk crossed the face of the Ground-type, as he extended a hand. "Certainly am."
"That's why I thought your name sounded familiar," Jet added.
"Holy..." Roisin stood awestruck for a brief moment, before eagerly thrusting her hand into his for a decidedly firm handshake. "It's a pleasure to meet you!"
The Infernape couldn't help a slight chuckle at Roisin's reaction. Nothing like the chick she had scrapped with yesterday. "Well, I've gotta get my sets in," she told the pair, giving the bird a friendly pat on the shoulder. "I'll leave you to it, best of luck!" With that, she made her way out of the office, but not before flashing Rocky a discrete thumbs up and a nod, getting a far subtler nod in return before she closed the door behind her.
There was only a brief moment for Roisin to take in the situation she found herself in, standing across from a former Battle Champion in Kanto, before Rocky got straight down to business. "So, Jet tells me you're looking to sign up for the Battle Championship this year?"
The Staraptor blinked as she was brought back down to earth. "Oh! Well, yeah, I'd love to, but my parents have never signed any of the legal stuff," she explained, "I tried registering with every single gym back in Canalave, but when they got in touch with my dad for the sign-off, he'd just refuse every time."
Rocky's brow furrowed a little as he listened to Roisin's story. "Wow," he commented, "that's even more bullheaded than he used to be."
"Did you know him?" Roisin asked.
"Sure did," the Golem nodded, a wistful glint flickering across his eyes. "Andy and I fought wars against each other back in the day-"
"Wait," Roisin interrupted as that last detail caught her completely off guard. "My dad was a fighter?"
Rocky stopped for a second, confused. "Has he not told you?"
The big bird simply shook her head, and a momentary pause fell over the pair of them as they both took in their respective revelations. "Is that why he's...?" Roisin eventually continued, still struggling to work out what this all meant.
"I think it'd be better if you hear it from him rather than me," Rocky admitted, heading back over towards his desk. "I'll tell you what," he went on, leafing through a small stack of papers. "The first tournament of the season's kicking off in Oreburgh in a week's time, and there's a fighter from Hoenn over on an excursion taking part as well. I've signed them on too, so I'll try to pair the two of you up heading over."
Sliding both a form and a pen over towards Roisin, the Golem laid out the rest of his offer. "In the meantime, I'll head over to Canalave and have a chat with your old man. I've got half an idea what this might all be about, so I'll see if I can't turn him around."
"Okay, wow," Roisin replied, almost incredulous at that half of the offer. "Nobody's ever done that when I've tried to sign up anywhere before."
"I doubt any of them know Andy the way I do," Rocky added with a surprisingly gentle smile. "You just sign on page four there, and I'll work on the rest."
The Staraptor didn't need another invitation, snatching up the pen and scrawling her signature on the paper without a second thought. She'd tried to get through this process so many times, she could practically recite the safety jargon and legalese-filled form word for word.
A couple of seconds later, and Roisin set the pen back down, and slid the form back over towards Rocky. "So that's all you need from me?"
"For now," the Ground-type replied, taking the pen and inking his own signature just below that of the bird. "I'll get in touch once I've gotten an answer from Andy, but you should get yourself ready to head off to Oreburgh sooner rather than later," he told her. "Get an eye on the competition, see who you're up against."
"Uh...sure." Roisin nodded once again, still a little shocked at how well this had all gone so far. Even so, she couldn't help smiling just a little. "Thanks!"
Rocky smiled in return, delivering another parting handshake to seal the deal between them. "Don't mention it. Now look after yourself, and I'll keep an eye on you in Oreburgh!"
The Flying-type shook hands with the Golem, the pair exchanged goodbyes for the time being, and Roisin made her way out of the office, and out of the gym, back into the bustling streets of Jubilife, making a beeline back toward the hostel.
Already the morning was feeling a little brighter.
