King of Everything

Nothing to really say this time, but if anyone can give me name suggestions I would appreciate it...it could be ethereal or just pain weird, as long as it's not super common, I'm good. Thanks!


Chapter 3

Ieri

I woke up to the sound of rain tapping at the windows.

It was only a light drizzle, but the unfamiliar sound was enough to rouse me from my sleep. Rubbing my eyes, I glared out at the city, wishing that it was a sunny day like yesterday. That would've been nice, although I would've had the glare to deal with.

My Pokémon were sleeping soundly as I padded by them to the bathroom. Haxorus and Cobalt were still in the awkward positions that they had gone into in order to fit in the room without destroying anything, but they seemed okay. Ninetales opened one eye and purred when I stopped to stroke one of her tails.

I was a walking disaster when I looked into the mirror. My hair was in the same messed-up ponytail I had put it in the night before, my eyes were glazed over with sleep, and my nose felt stuffy. With a sigh, I brushed my teeth and splashed water on my face, wishing I had thought of bringing more towels. I would have to buy some supplies soon.

Amelia showed up at my door at around eight. "Hello, Ieri!" she said cheerily. "I'm going to take you down to the cafeteria and then get you to the tour around town. You ready?"

I mustered my best fake smile and nodded. "Let me just get my stuff."

Breaker, Ninetales, Haxorus, and Cobalt went back into their Poké balls. I put them, along with money, gum, and water, into a small bag. Amelia watched all this with a strange interest, admiring how well my Pokémon obeyed me before launching into yet another one of her stories. Although I knew it was rude, I ignored her and occasionally said "Oh my" or "Yeah" when it felt right.

The cafeteria was actually in the level below the training center. It was as out-of-context as something could get in a building that resembled a resort; concrete floor, simple tables with folding chairs, and beige walls that were undecorated aside from the bulletin board with upcoming and important events.

There was a large buffet at the far end of the room. Tantalizing scents embraced me, and just looking at the food, freshly made and steaming under the bright lights, made me salivate. Even my Pokémon in their balls began to squirm, anticipating a feast.

What surprised me the most, however, was that there were so few people. There were only three full tables and ten or so people scattered about in a room made to fit hundreds.

Amelia seemed to read my mind, because she sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I can see that most of the kids are still going out to town and wasting money."

"What do you mean?"

"You're allowed to go out to Virbank City and get food there, and yes, there are discounts, but it's free here. It's smarter to just stay here, because it's not like you can get much money out of battling when you're in school."

While she continued on with her loquacious speech, I spotted the other scholarship winner, Leon, sitting alone at a small table near the buffet line. He picked at his breakfast and was pushing his Typhlosion away from his food every few seconds. The Typhlosion huffed and put its head down next to Leon's tray, a stunning contrast of red and gold fur to his silvery hair and blue eyes.

"Sorry," I said, interrupting Amelia mid-sentence. "but I'm really hungry..."

"Oh, that's fine," she replied, genuinely unbothered. "Of course. Be in the lobby at nine, and someone's gonna take you on a tour of Virbank." She waved at me as she headed back up the stairs.

Carefully, I let out Breaker and Ninetales, knowing that they were the best-behaved and easiest to fit in the cafeteria. I told them to stay by one of the wall-hugging tables before I got breakfast.

There were a lot of different foods from all over the world. I recognized the raisin-and-rawst-berry oatmeal that was common in the Sinnoh Region (their climate suited the growing of oran, rawst, and kelpsy berries), the rolled dough with chives, and even flatbread and curry from my hometown. I helped myself to a little bit of everything I recognized and headed towards Leon's table.

To my surprise, Ninetales was rubbing her head on Leon's elbow. He was laughing and scratching under her chin. My Ninetales was a very aloof creature, and to see this sudden bond was unnerving.

"Hey," I called out. Leon looked up at me and gave me a half-smile. While he was distracted, his Typhlosion grabbed a piece of meat off of his fork and darted under the next table.

"Ugh! Lindsey!" he shouted. Lindsey growled happily and swallowed the meat in one go. I laughed and set my food down across from him. Ninetales trotted over to me, followed closely by Breaker. I distributed the oatmeal evenly between the two and poured more for Haxorus and Cobalt while letting them out as well, making sure that the ceiling was high enough above.

"Wow, your Pokémon are well-behaved," Leon stated through a mouthful of bread. He shot a withering glare at Lindsey, then looked back at my four, who were eating quietly and contentedly.

"My dad's a breeder." I said simply.

"Cool."

We ate in silence for a few minutes, until Lindsey the Typhlosion came over to me to beg for food.

"NO!" Leon snapped at her. I chuckled and blew on her nose gently. Lindsey cringed and wiggled away.

Leon looked at me in awe. "What did you do?"

I told him how a lot of Pokémon didn't like it when one blew on their noses and that it worked best on fire-types. Leon was impressed.

"I'm going to have to do that every second." He raised an eyebrow at Lindsey. "You hear that?" Leon turned back to me. "Believe it or not, she's the polite one. Okay, maybe not, but..."

I shrugged. "I'm guessing that your Dragonair is the calm one?"

"How did you know?"

"Dragon types are generally pretty docile."

Haxorus snorted loudly, then began hacking, probably because of a berry that he didn't see in his food. I sighed. "Or not."

Leon laughed.


We finished breakfast at eight forty and trudged up the staircase. It was a steep climb from the cafeteria to the training center to the lobby, and Leon joked that it was for students to burn the calories they had just eaten. I found it pretty funny, but I truly agreed.

The only person in the lobby was a tall boy with black-blue hair and a navy jacket, staring down at a watch on his wrist and tapping his foot quickly, the staccato beat echoing in the unusually empty lobby. He looked up when he heard my and Leon's footsteps.

"Hey, did you see Will, by any chance?" he asked.

Leon shook his head. "Sorry, man. Don't know who he is."

The boy grumbled. "I'm going to town for the tour, and I can't find my friend anywhere."

"We're going too." I said. "We've still got time. Your friend might show up later."

He nodded and stuck out his hand. "I'm Jason, by the way."

Both Leon and I shook his hand and introduced ourselves. When he pulled back, he looked over at the staircase and yelped. "Oh geez!"

Leon and I both turned quickly, expecting a dangerous Pokémon to come barging down the steps. The only thing- person, actually- was a stunning blonde girl with pale brown eyes.

"Oh, Jason!" she squealed, dashing down the last couple of steps. "My sweetheart!" The girl flung herself at Jason, prompting a cry from the boy and a disgusted ugh from me and Leon. She nuzzled against him before turning her eyes towards us. "Who...are they?"

Jason tore himself away from the girl and scurried behind me and Leon. The whole scene would have been funny had the girl not started to advance on me like a Mightyena after prey, eyes gleaming angrily.

"Umm...h-hi," I stammered. The girl had her face uncomfortably close to mine, and the look in her eyes was most certainly not of companionship. More like envy, actually.

"You would be?" she asked in a voice dripping with poison.

"Ieri Vincent."

She pulled back. "I'm Amber O'Maille, from Nimbasa City. I won four of the Unova Pageants and one international pageant. Do you recognize me?"

This girl, I thought darkly to myself. Is not someone I want to know.

Leon saved me. "I don't recognize you, but the name sounds familiar."

Amber suddenly became peppy and flirty again. "It's because I'm Elesa's niece and the daughter of Alan O'Maille, famous architect. You know, Elesa from the Nimbasa City Gym and the guy who designed the gyms."

Leon smiled. "Nice."

Amber cooed and turned back to Jason, who had crept out from behind us and tiptoed towards the door. "Oh, Jason, darling, where are you going?"

"Go away," he growled. Amber scoffed.

"Fine." she pouted. With a professional flip of her hair, she turned on her heel and stalked away, but not before turning to me. "And Eileen, or whatever your name is, don't get in my way of being at the top of UPLA. Not like you could, because you're a scholarship student." She spit out that last word like it carried a dirty meaning.

My rage found its way out. "Well. At least I got in because of my skill and not my daddy's money."

Her next words chilled me. "At least I have money."

She stormed her way up the stairs.


Leon

"Is she always that intense?" I asked Jason as we walked down the streets of Virbank. He snorted and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah. It's, like, her mission to get every guy to fall for her and for every girl to die or quit." He kicked a crumpled soda can on the ground. "I'm so scared of her, because she goes after me more."

"Why?" Jason was a pretty good-looking guy, with a tough-looking face and chiseled shoulders, but I didn't think I was bad-looking myself, and Amber had paid much more attention to him than to me.

"You know Grimsley Taylor of the Pokémon League?" he asked.

I nodded. Then, I realized what he was implying, and my jaw dropped. "No way. Grimsley Taylor. You're his-" I finally realized what had been bugging me since I saw him; he looked uncannily like Grimsley with the icy blue eyes and blue-black hair.

"Son. Right." Jason finished my thought and stared down at the ground. "It's not cool, being his son."

I was about to ask why, but William- Jason's friend- and two girls, one who looked like Will's sister, popped up.

"Yo, man, you Jason's new bud?" Will looped his arm around our shoulders and grinned widely.

"Maybe. I'm Leon." I held my hand out for a shake, but Will bumped it instead and glanced behind him at Ieri.

"That your girlfriend?" he said with a smirk on his face.

"What?! No!"

The man leading us around town stopped us in front of a gateway. "So, this is the Pokéstar Studios. We won't be going in today, but soon, we're taking a trip to here. Let's head to the market next to get supplies, but please, be a little quieter." With this last word, he glared at me and Will. Will put his hands up in defeat.

The market was slightly reminiscent of the Driftveil City Market, with its numerous scents and stalls of food and Pokémon running around, free. However, this market was enclosed and much bigger with hallways of stores and stalls branching off from a central atrium. It even contained mini-stores that I supposed were like the Major Stalls back at home.

Our guide set us loose into the building. Ieri immediately disappeared into the toiletries mini-store.

I scanned the faces of the people in the market. "I thought all the first years would be here."

One of the girls answered me. "The first years go on different days. Like, it's required, but unless you're on scholarship, then you can choose when to go within the first two weeks, before class starts. This is day one of the tours."

"I see."

The girl and Will's sister vanished into a crowd of people in front of a pastry stand. Will went off to a stationary mini-store and left me and Jason behind.

"So," he said, prolonging the word. "Where do you wanna go?"

I shrugged. "I need stuff for my Pokémon. Didn't take enough food and all that."

Jason punched his fist into his palm. "Alright, let's do this thing!"

Shopping with Jason was very convenient, because he fussed over the prices and haggled with the vendors so much that, when the coupons were added in as well, the price was down by at least sixty percent. And yet, he would still complain that it was too expensive.

"That's funny, coming from the son of one of the richest guys in Unova," I said with a laugh. Jason shook his bag of Pokémon food and grinned.

"Doesn't hurt to be money-conscious," he said, his voice trailing off as he spotted something off to his right. My eyes followed.

Two people were having a street battle in the small battlefield at the center of the atrium. One had a Meganium and the other had a Dusclops. It was a truly stunning battle; the Meganium and the Dusclops were even in terms of power, and their moves were pulled off flawlessly. From what I knew, however, the Dusclops would be having an advantage, with its impressive defense. Jason oohed and dragged me to the gathering crowd by the wrist. I complained, saying that we had more supplies to get, but he ignored me completely.

"That's cool," Jason mused after the Meganium sent a powerful Solarbeam at the poor ghost-type. I nodded in agreement.

"Who are they?" someone suddenly asked from my shoulder. Jason and I both yelped and jumped away from each other. Ieri was there, clutching a large paper bag and looking confused.

Jason put a hand on his chest and let his breath out in a big whoosh. "Geez, don't sneak up on us like that, Ieri!"

"I'm sorry," she said, wide copper eyes blinking. "But who's battling?"

As if on cue, an announcer's voice boomed over the loudspeakers. "And Lilly Morgan wins with her Meganium!" The people around us applauded loudly, whistling and howling. I craned my neck to see the fighters.

A boy about my age was on his knees, tending to his defeated Dusclops. The girl, Lilly, handed him a Max Revive with a kind smile. She reminded me a little bit of my sister, with her ruby-red hair and compassion. Unlike my sis, though, she had (I don't even know why I noticed these things, so don't judge me) a full chest, coy freckles, elegantly long legs, and the audacity to wear a rather short, red skirt under an open jean jacket. I felt the slightest of blushes creep across my face, and I looked at Jason, who seemed to be thinking the same things as I was.

"Lilly is a five-time winner now! Anyone think they can beat her?" the announcer said.

I felt Ieri shift behind me and I turned to see her slipping easily through the crowd.

"Hey!" I shouted, following her much more awkwardly. Jason pushed past people behind me.

When I finally reached the front, Ieri was already on the field, clutching a Poké ball. Her name was read by the announcer. I could barely make out strains of what the two girls were saying.

"...best on best..."

"...too hard for..."

"...perhaps, but I would like to try..."

Finally, they stepped into their respective positions. The word START reverberated through the speakers, and they began. Lilly sent out a frightful-looking Garchomp while Ieri released her Lucario, Breaker. The two intimidating Pokémon stared each other down.

"Surf, Garchomp," Lilly said languidly.

Jason turned to me and mouthed the word surf? I shrugged and continued to watch the fight.

The standing places of the trainers rose as the Garchomp's wave roared across the field. Breaker leaped up and grabbed hold of the edge of Ieri's trainer spot, waiting for the water to disappear down before letting go. However, those extra couple of seconds cost her the time needed to recuperate before the Garchomp's next attack.

"Earthquake."

The ground shook, and this time, Breaker had no chance. She simply jumped whenever cracks appeared at her feet and took the damage she got with grace. When the rumbling stopped, Ieri shouted "Dragon Pulse!"

A purple orb appeared at Breaker's throat, and the Garchomp was completely overwhelmed when the move met the Pokémon. Amazingly, it was still standing after the dust cleared, with only a third of its HP gone.

"Dragon Claw."

The Garchomp lunged at Breaker, who put her arms up in front of her as a feeble defense. At the last moment, Ieri cried "Aura Sphere!"

Breaker had just enough time to form a decent-sized ball in her hands before pounding it square into Garchomp. This time, the Pokémon was down for good. The audience was silent for a moment before erupting into cheers and screams. I join them, hoping that my voice doesn't get hoarse too quickly.

"Wow! A win in record time!" somebody next to me says.

Ieri is flushed and happy, murmuring praise to Breaker. Lilly, quite obviously a good sport, gives Ieri a hug and hands over reward money with a genuine smile. Ieri thanks her, returns Breaker to her Poké ball, and rushes off of the field, back to me.


"So you're the scholarship winner from last year?" Jason asked incredulously, oblivious to the vanilla ice cream trickling down his wrist. Lilly nodded and handed him a napkin.

She had found the three of us in front of an ice cream stand and treated us to the flavors that we wanted. Then, she introduced herself fully; Lilly Morgan, second-year at UPLA, number three of the school's Battle Board, and female scholarship winner from the previous year. "I didn't really deserve the scholarship," she confessed, nibbling on her cone. "I was paired up with really weak trainers during the Mock Trial."

"But you had to face the strongest during the finals," Ieri pointed out.

Lilly tilted her head. "Hm. Touché. But I bet you really fought for your scholarship, right?"

Ieri shrugged. "It was okay."

Lilly looked at me. "And you?"

"It was pretty easy for me."

Jason seemed to be nonplussed about not getting her attention, so he began asking a lot of questions. "What other Pokémon do you have?"

"Well, I started with a Gabite that evolved, Petunia the Meganium, Roserade, and a Leafeon, but during the first-year midterm and final challenges I caught a lot of Pokémon. I use Tropius and Gigalith the most out of those."

"You like grass-types, huh."

"Yeah, I'm from Icirrus City, so I didn't see many fire types or grass types. I like grass better, they're easier to control."

"I'll say," I agreed with a scoff, thinking of Lindsey.

Jason continued. "Are you wearing the school uniform?"

"Yup." She pulled aside her jean jacket to reveal a white short-sleeved blouse with the UPLA seal printed on the shirt pocket. "First years get leniency. Starting form year two, as soon as you get here, you're given the uniform and expected to wear it."

"Which Pokémon is your favorite?"

"Please don't tell me you have a favorite, it's unfair to the rest of your Pokémon." Lilly said this with a touch of sadness, and I found myself wondering if she had ever had known someone who showed cruelty towards herself and Pokémon.

Jason cringed, even though Lilly hadn't said anything sharp. "S-sorry."

"What do you have to apologize for?" She smiled.

Jason laughed nervously.

At that moment, Will showed up. He opened his mouth to say something, probably a greeting, when he spotted Lilly. His mouth closed, teeth making a loud click audible even over the noise of the market.

"H-hey, who are y-you?" he stammered, running a hand over his hair and slicking it down.

Lilly cast a sidelong glance at Ieri. "Please don't ever date any of these guys, m'kay?"

Ieri's face reddened. "What do you mean?"

Will and Jason exchanged nervous glances, which gave me an uneasy feeling inside.

The two other girls from our group ran towards us, panting and upset. "Guys! We've been looking for you for, like, an hour!" Will's sister whined. The other girl launched into a tirade about how our lateness and them having to look for us ruined her hair.

"Sorry." I cut her off in the middle of her sentence. "Let's go, then. Bye, Lilly."

Ieri leapt up and went ahead to the entrance. Jason seemed reluctant to go, and I had to smack the back of Will's head to get him to move.

We all left Lilly sitting alone on her bench, in the middle of a sea of people.