Chapter 2

Autumn: A Year Prior

So he's Golden Boy, huh? Marcia observed, as she stood onstage with Pixel at her side. The judges went from Pokémon to Pokémon, trying to weed out the less qualified in favor of the four who'd move on to the appeal round. They'd stopped at a rookie with a blue florges. He had messy blonde hair and green eyes.

She'd looked him up just after the five-minute warning. She recognized his face, but struggled to recall his name. She was pretty sure his last name started with a 'z' and the fact his was the last Pokémon the judges looked at supported that. She'd always been bad with names…

Finally, the judges stepped back to their tables for the final selection and the Competitors took their cue. They all recalled their Pokémon and filed off stage.

As soon as she was clear of the audience, Marcia sidestepped out of the line and leaned against the wall, waiting for the new competition.

And she knew competition when she saw it. She'd been—in one way or another—exposed to Contests her whole life. She knew what the judges looked for during the Exhibition round and she knew that boy's florges had it all.

Patty was right. He was hot stuff.

He was the last one offstage like he was the last in line.

"So," she greeted as she sashayed to his side, "Word in the dressing room is you're Lisia's latest Golden Boy."

"Nice to meet you, too," he replied, his voice dripping with irony.

Unfazed, Marcia continued, "So? Are you?"

"I moved from Kalos," he replied impassively, "We don't really have contests there."

"Oh! So this is your big debut, huh?"

He shrugged, "Figured I'd try it out. Good way to meet new people."

Marcia thought about it for a minute before she replied, "I don't bite. There's no way you're a rookie."

"This is only your second year and Contest Spectacular Special put you as number two in their 'In It to Win It' section," he replied nonchalantly.

"Ha! That proves it," she jogged forward and turned to face him, walking backwards, "You've done your research. This isn't something you're just 'trying out.'"

"I'm not the type to go half-heartedly into anything," he replied with a smirk, "Are you?"

"Pfft! Just because I kick butt without trying doesn't mean I don't."

Marcia turned just as they left the tunnel.

"Then I guess I'll see you in the appeal round," he replied.

"If you make it, Golden Boy," Marcia replied as she diverted her course to the women's dressing room.

"That's not my name, you know," he called after her.

"I know," she stopped right before she opened the dressing room door and looked over her shoulder to say, "If you get to the appeal round, I'll consider remembering it."

Then she was gone.

Autumn: At the Present

She did a lot of going, didn't she?

Marcia pondered this as she boarded the S.S. Aqua in the harbor, walking her bike up the ramp.

She decided before she even made it to the harbor to bury her doubts about her trip. She had enough money to last her a while in Kalos and, if she ran out, she could always battle some weaker trainers for cash. She had plenty of Pokémon food to feed her team for at least a week, too. As far as she let herself know, that was all she needed to worry about.

The line backed up as some blonde girl with a green hat and glasses fumbled through her bag, trying to find her ticket. Marcia decided to plan her first stop on her Kalos adventure. The ship was docking at Coumarine City. Which—according to Sebastian's map—was only a short trek away from Shalour City to the west and Laverre City to the east.

Sebastian had annotated "Tower of Mastery" and "Just Freakin' Beautiful" over them, respectively. Of course, to go to Laverre, she'd have to go through Lumiose City, so maybe it'd be best to save that for later…

At the front of the line, the girl cheered, "Here it is!" and triumphantly held up her ticket, "I'm so sorry about that!"

A few people towards the front sighed with relief as the crew let her on. She smiled nervously and apologized sincerely, but cheerfully to the people behind her as she stepped on.

This reminded Marcia, for some reason, of Patty.

Autumn: A Year Prior

"I'm sorry, Marshmallow," Patty apologized to her beautifly as Marcia pulled on her favorite hoodie, "Looks like we'll just have to win the next one. Oh! Missy! Congratulations on winning! It was rough out there today!"

"Thanks," Marcia replied as she walked into the dressing room, "And you don't have to tell me twice."

"I know, right? I knew the golden boy was going to be hard to beat but whoa!"

"He certainly packed a punch, if that's what you mean." He started out strong, immediately going for a petal dance. Mitzi ordered Pixel to retaliate with an inferno. They went back and forth for a while, until the other two competitors started to catch up. In the end, it'd been a photo finish and Marcia and Pixel won by just a hair.

Now Marcia tucked the prizes—a qualification ticket for Super-Level Beauty Contests and a twelve max revives—into her bag with a quick mental note stow the latter in her go-bag later.

The real prize, though, was the prideful gleam in Pixel's eye as she strutted around wearing the blue ribbon.

"Hey," Patty inquired, "Are you going to the Cuteness Contest next week?"

"No," Marcia replied, "I'm planning on heading to Vanderturf town for the toughness contest."

"That sounds cool! My parents would never let me go that far from Slateport. Whom are you entering with?"

"Mitzi the mawile, of course."

"Wait! You mean you didn't hear about the tag Contest?"

"What?"

Patty called Marshmallow into its pokéball as she explained, "In order to attract more spectators in Vanderturf, the Contest Board decided to make the first contests in each category there into tag Contests. They're making Competitors enter in groups of two."

Marcia blinked, "Really? Why didn't I hear about this?" She was a bit miffed with this development. She'd been choreographing Mitzi's appeals the whole off-season, now she'd have to change them.

"I know, right? I didn't hear about it until this morning, apparently it was all last minute. Can you believe it? I'd be more than happy to enter with you, but I entered early to next week's Contest already and, you know, parents."

Marcia thought about it for a minute. Who could she enter with? Of course, she didn't want to answer with some nobody. She'd need a partner at least as good as she was.

Then Pixel walked by and it hit her: Golden Boy!

Marcia gathered her things, quickly changed, recalled Pixel, and rushed out of the room. She found him just as he was leaving the building.

"Hey!" she called, "Golden Boy! Wait up!" Halfway out the door, he stopped and turned.

"Hello again," he greeted, obviously somewhat confused, as she caught up, "Do you need something?"

"Yeah," she answered, "I need you and your toughest Pokémon to enter a Contest with me and mine next week. In Vanderturf."

He stepped back inside, away from the door, and replied, "First of all, why would I do that? Second, I just met you. Third, where's Vanderturf and what kind of name for a town is that?"

"Because you need the win just as much as I do, I know, to the Northwest, and I don't know."

He seemed to think about it for a few moments before he replied, "Alright, but I have one condition."

"Deal. What is it?"

He smirked, "My name is Sebastian. Make an effort to remember it this time."

Autumn: At the Present

I won't, Marcia thought, replying to the ghost in her head, not ever.

She was lying in her cabin (second class) on the bottom bunk, staring at the underside of the bed above her. She had the cabin to herself, so she could take the top bunk if she wanted, but she couldn't bring herself to.

The boat's rocking motion tempted her with sleep, but she wanted to be awake as they approached Kalos. She sat up to stay awake, knocking her bag on the ground in the process. As she did, the max revives—the same she'd won the day she met Sebastian—spilled out onto the floor.

Marcia recollected the max revives and counted them to make sure she picked the all up.

Nine…ten…eleven… where's the twelfth? She searched under her bag, under the bed, under the furniture, through her bag… She couldn't find it anywhere. Had she dropped somewhere? Did she give it to someone? Not likely. Max revives were very rare and equally as expensive…

The beginning of a memory prickled in the back of her mind. Panic seized her throat and threatened to suffocate her. Her heart beat like it was about to explode. She collapsed on the floor and curled onto the floor, sobbing with fear.

Behind the anxiety, she heard the distinct sound of a pokéball opening. She felt Mitzi cuddle close to her, breathing calmly.

After a few minutes that felt like an eternity Marcia thought, Mitzi—Tough Mitzi—will protect me. Nothing bad can happen while she's here… and began to calm down.

When the panic attack subsided and Marcia managed to sit up, Mitzi muttered a soothing sound and looked at her, obviously worried.

"I'm fine now," Marcia breathed, "Thank you, Mitzi. You really helped."

Marcia looked back toward the max revives. The panic attack told her all she needed to know about what happened to the twelfth max revive.

Something happened to it that day. The day she couldn't remember.

The day Sebastian died.