King of Everything

Ugh. I feel like my work is going downhill. Still, please read and point out any mistakes that I made or anything that could be made better...thanks!


Chapter 8

Ieri

Maybe if I weren't dressed like someone else, I wouldn't have gotten lost.

Just an hour ago, the rest of my friends ditched me and Leon, leaving us stranded in the mobs on Main Street. Leon called them- Will and Jason in particular- quite a few blasphemous names while I blamed my clothing. When Amanda took us shopping for Halloween stuff, I didn't expect her to force us all to get outfits of famous trainers in the past. But she did, and I ended up with Leaf's signature blue tank top and much-too-short skirt. (Actually, I didn't even know that she liked to shop for clothes. Who knew.)

"Bunch of idiots, they are," Leon muttered.

I shivered. Leaf was obviously not a person susceptible to cold, because her outfit didn't come with a jacket or anything. Bad for me; despite being in Virbank City for more or less a month, I was still used to the sweltering heat of Lentimas. I longed for Leon's jacket.

"Oh, come on. Maybe they just didn't recognize us with what we're wearing. After all, there are a bunch of people looking like Leaf and even more like Hilbert." I protested, trying to protect my friends.

Leon rolled his eyes. "Oh, sure." He rubbed his forehead and looked around. We were standing in a street stall that sold herbal Pokémon medicines. There weren't a lot of people around, mostly due to the acrid smell of herbs emanating from the displayed merchandise. I was used to it; I wondered how Leon was.

His voice broke into my thoughts. "Hey, I think there's a Pokémon battle place over there. You wanna go look?"

I shrugged. "Why not."

Luckily for me (maybe not to lucky for the people around us), Leon wasn't too fond of pulling his punches when he wanted to see a battle, and he forged a clear path in the crowd pretty quickly. I just hurried after him, trying to keep my teeth from breaking themselves against each other.

There were two boys facing off against each other in the stone battlefield. One of them had a formidable-looking Walrein; the other had a Blastoise.

"Hey, doesn't Will have a Blastoise?" I asked.

Leon looked carefully at the boy with the Blastoise. "Yeah, but that's not him. I think that's..." He suddenly flinched and stepped back. "Dang, that's Terrance!"

I was tall enough to see over the heads of the people in front of me, but I stood on my tiptoes to get a better look at the faces. Indeed, it was Terrance, the boy who tried to beat Leon up- with a Bellossom. The Blastoise used Flash Cannon and finished off the Walrein, sending the other boy into hysterics and the crowd into cheers. I saw Amber's golden head bobbing up and down somewhere near the front, and I could hear her and her group squealing.

"You want to try him?" I asked Leon. His teeth were gritted, as if he imagined himself pounding in Terrance's face with his Pokémon. Or maybe even his fists.

"Heck yeah," he breathed out, barely loud enough for me to hear. Hurriedly, he pushed to the front of the crowd and stood right next to the battlefield, where Terrance could see him clearly. I sighed, exasperated with boys and their need to get even, and chased after him by squeezing in through the rapidly closing paths that Leon had plowed.

"Excuse me, pardon me, oh, I'm so sorry!" I said, weaving in and out amongst the masses of bodies. I thought of Leon's burns. If he stressed himself too much, who knew what would happen?

Leon was already taking the place on the other side of Terrance. His Dragonair reared its head up and stared Terrance down. An Exploud was released, and the fight began.

Dofin the Dragonair whipped out at the Exploud, trying to get into a good enough position to use Dragon Pulse. The Exploud, surprisingly enough, was fast enough to dodge any and every attempt, and could even throw in a few attacks of its own. An Uproar, then a just-barely missed Ice Fang, and then a Thunder Fang that connected. Electricity ran the length of Dofin's serpentine body, but he still pressed on, dancing around and trying to power up its moves. I could see Leon and Dofin both slowly getting frustrated as nothing met its mark.

Finally, Dofin got complacent and stopped to use Surf. In that millisecond before the wave, the Exploud ran into Dofin and used Ice Fang, one of the strongest I had ever seen. Dofin let out a bone-chilling cry and dropped to the ground. I put a hand over my mouth.

"Dang, Leon's getting his butt handed to him," someone said from behind me. I turned to find Hector trying to see what was going on. He was the only one who wasn't dressed as something Amanda wanted, so she must have ditched him for that reason.

I shivered and nodded. Leon shouted something, and his Dofin finally got a move in- a strong Thunderbolt that stopped Exploud in its tracks. Dofin unleashed a Dragon Pulse, its most powerful move, right afterwards. Exploud staggered.

"I spoke too soon." Hector grinned, as if delighted that his prediction was wrong. Although I could see why he would be. He noticed me rubbing my arms up and down.

"Hey, here." He took off his jacket and held it out to me.

"I can't take that from you," I told him, pushing it away gently. "You'll be cold."

Hector shrugged and threw it over my shoulders. "I won't be cold."

He left his hands on me just a little too long, and he knew that I noticed, because he was Charmander-red when he pulled back. "So- um- I got dropped by Amanda and Jason and Will and some girls that Amanda knows, and I wandered around, and I saw Leon's Dragonair and I came here."

So they did leave him behind. "Ouch."

"Eh, I'm used to that."

I glanced back at the battlefield, where Exploud and Dofin were still going at each other, and looked back at Hector. "What do you mean, used to it?"

Hector pushed up his glasses, and I had to fight a blush that was trying to creep its way across my face as I remembered how he looked like without the glasses. "Well, I'm Marlon's nephew, you know, Marlon from Humilau City Gym, and there, I was the only person who wasn't, like, obsessed with water types. I actually liked ground, rock, and steel types, which Marlon and the adults were okay with but all the kids were pissed off about. So every since I was, what, five, kids ignored me and called me a wierdo, just because I lived in a water-centered city and I didn't freak out about every good thing about water types."

"Aww," I said, partly because it was sad and partly because Hector as a little child must have been cute. "But Marlon was okay with it, right? So it was alright in the end."

"Yeah, I guess. But I'm used to getting ignored unless I pull the 'Marlon's Nephew' card." Hector looked up at the battlefield.

But you weren't ignored here, I wanted to tell him. Amber flirted with you, Leon and I befriended you, teachers congratulated you for good grades.

A roar rose up from the crowd. Hector stared for a moment, then began cheering as well. "Leon won!" he shouted to me over the noise.

I froze, then raised my hands up in the air and joined in the celebration. Leon stood on the battlefield, hugging Dofin tightly, laughing. Dofin had his eyes closed, enjoying the embrace. Terrance scowled from the other side of the field, tending to his Exploud.

When Leon finally pushed past the crowd back to us, he gave Hector a high-five and pulled out his prize money.

"He said that the battle was double the standard amount or nothing!" he whooped, pale skin flushed from laughing. "Ha-ha!"

"Niiiiice," Hector said, patting Leon on the back. "So could you treat us to lunch? I'm starving."

Leon smirked. "Ieri. Where do you want to go?"


Leon

"So good." Ieri moaned through a mouthful of food. It was obviously the first time she had ever eaten seafood, because she was eating it while practically worshipping it. Hector admonished her, telling her to slow down before she got sick. She swallowed, stuck her tongue out at him, and shoveled another forkful into her mouth.

I laughed quietly and picked at my own food, rice with herbs and some kind of meat. Despite having just won a battle and having a plate of great-smelling food in front of me, I wasn't too hungry. Just watching Ieri enjoy her seafood was enough to make me full.

A small breeze blew through the outdoor seating area of the restaurant. Ieri was still shivering a bit, despite having on Hector's jacket.

Speaking of Hector's jacket. Why did it make me feel so frustrated whenever I looked at it, hanging from Ieri's tanned shoulders, with the sleeves hanging down past her thin waist and just touching the edges of her hips...

What?

"What are-" Ieri asked, swallowing her food forcefully. "-you looking at me for?" She looked at me strangely.

I turned away, willing myself not to blush. Unfortunately, just the tiny bit that was creeping up was enough to show on my pale skin, and I'm sure Ieri noticed. She didn't acknowledge it, however, so she continued eating while keeping an eye on me.

Still trying to hide my face, I ducked my head and lifted a spoon with rice up to my mouth. Just as it touched my lips, my X-Transceiver rang from my backpack. I dropped the spoon a little too quickly and dug it out. With a sigh, I clicked the Call Accept button and propped my elbow on the table to look at the person on the other end.

It was my my mom.

"Leon. How are you doing?" she asked, smiling that faint smile of hers. At least she wasn't drunk.

"Hey, Mom." I answered in monotone. Ieri and Hector exchanged glances, then stared at me. I glared at them and looked back down at the screen. "I'm doing good."

"I'm doing well, honey."

"Right. Is there a reason you called?"

Mom looked vaguely offended. "You sound like you don't want to see me."

Did I? This was the mother that hit me for every mistake I made and drank away her days. She would've ended my sister's life when she tried to hit her with a bottle had I not grabbed it out of her hand and threw it out. I was the one who was forced to support the family by pushing my Pokémon past their limits, forcing them to fight and get hurt. But she was still my mom, the one who had encouraged me to be a trainer and taught me how to care for others before she became a recluse with her beer. And she was a UPLA grad. I wanted to say all of this to her.

Instead, I said, "Of course I do."

"How's UPLA? Courses are tough, right?"

"Yeah. Lots of homework and stuff."

"Are you doing well in the classes?"

"Yup. In the first-year rankings, I was fifth."

"Who's first, second, and third? And fourth?"

I turned the X-Transceiver around so that it faced Ieri and Hector. "Mom, meet Hector and Ieri. She's the other scholarship student."

"Hi, Mrs. Darwin," Hector said, waving.

"Nice to meet you, dear."

"Hector was number three in the rankings. Ieri was number two, and number one was a girl named Amanda Sussen-Green. I forgot who number four was," I told her, turning the X-Transceiver back around to me.

"Sussen-Green...is she Caitlin's daughter?"

"Yeah."

Mom nodded approvingly. "Where are you now? That doesn't look like Virbank City."

"We're on our first expedition in Black City. It's the Halloween festival, and we're just eating lunch."

"I see." Mom looked down at something that I couldn't see, then met my eye through the X-Transceiver. "So, good luck, honey. You'll visit during winter break, right?"

I flinched. I had totally forgotten that I had to go home for the year-end holidays. "Um, yeah. Of course. Yeah."

"Alright. See you then."

"Bye, Mom."

I shut off the little machine and put it back in my backpack.

"Your mom seems...nice." Ieri said into her food. She knew about my mom.

"I guess." I replied, parrying off any future questions. Mind tumbling, I continued to eat my food.


The celebrities began to show in Black City Park at around four in the afternoon. We found Amanda, her friend Liza, Will, and Jason talking to a young, black-haired woman that I didn't recognize. She wore a pink winter coat that went to her knees, had a red scarf tied around her neck, and carried a satchel bag with a marking from another region printed on it.

"Is that...Dawn?" Ieri asked incredulously.

I looked a little closer. It was indeed; I recognized the carefree smile and effortless sophistication that graced the covers of many fashion magazines. Dawn was laughing at something, and I had to admit, my heart started racing when she glanced in my direction for the briefest of seconds.

"Leon! Hector! Ieri!" Amanda cried. "There you guys are!"

"Like you didn't ditch us," Hector muttered under his breath. Still, he went over to them.

Dawn smiled at us and extended her hand to me. "Nice to meet you. I assume you're...Leon?"

"Y-yeah." I took her hand. Her fingers were long and elegant, and her skin was smoother than anything I had ever felt. "N-nice to meet y-you."

My ability to speak suddenly left me.

Dawn looked around. "I take it that you are all from an academy, visiting here for the Halloween festival?"

Liza nodded. "Yup. We're from UPLA."

Dawn's face revealed that she was impressed. "Really? I commend you. That's quite a feat."

Amanda looked sideways at me and Ieri. "They're the ones who are really to be commended. They were scholarship students, and they're dominating the class rankings."

Dawn nodded. "That's really impressive! Where are you two from?"

"I'm from Driftveil." I said.

"Lentimas," Ieri followed.

"Lentimas..." Dawn leaned in towards Ieri. "By any chance, are you the daughter of renowned Pokémon breeder and caretaker, Adone Vincent? You look like him."

Ieri grinned. "Yeah, I am! How did you- You know him?"

Amanda watched on in shock. Dawn laughed. "Do I know him? Watch." She released a beautiful Rapidash. "He helped me get rid of this girl's bad temper. Trust me," she says in a quieter voice, as if telling a secret. "it was a very bad temper."

"I remember seeing a Rapidash in my dad's office," Ieri said, stroking the Rapidash's side. "She's yours?"

Amanda broke in. "You're Adone Vicent's daughter?"

A handsome young man called out Dawn's name. His jacket bore the same insignia as Dawn's bag, and I assumed him to be Lucas, one of the other heroes from Sinnoh. He strode over, radiating confidence, and kissed her on the cheek. "I got some kabobs," he said, pulling out a brown paper bag from his backpack. Lucas looked at my group of friends. "UPLA students, right? Try these. They're great."

He tilted the paper bag towards us, showing us the mass of meat on sticks that were clustered inside. "Take one," he urged.

Everyone except Liza took one ("I'm vegetarian," she told us, disappointment in her voice). They really were good; the meat was succulent and aromatic, soft and tender.

Dawn giggled uncharacteristically and snuggled into Lucas` chest. "Yum," she cooed, biting into a fat piece of meat.

Ieri seemed to be uncomfortable watching this, but she smothered the weird look on her face and chewed on a chunk of meat with vigor.

Lindsey, my Typhlosion, somehow managed to escape from her Poké ball. Lightning-fast, she snatched a kabob out of Lucas` bag and devoured it. A girl passing by screeched and ran away surprisingly quickly in her heels, and Dawn giggled again. She kneeled down to stroke Lindsey's head, and much to my astonishment, Lindsey pushed her head up into Dawn's hand, begging for more. I could swear that Lindsey was looking at me smugly.

"How-" I started. Dawn smiled gently at me, and my mouth failed to function.

"It's always been like this," she said quietly, kneading Lindsey behind the ear. "I guess...you have to really love your Pokémon."

I chewed on my lip. "Well, of course I do, but she never-"

"Listens to you?"

I shook my head. Dawn cupped Lindsey's head in her hands and touched her nose to the Typhlosion's. I looked away to hide the blood rushing to my face, and I wasn't the only one; Jason was staring determinedly at a tree nearby. Ieri glanced over at me and giggled behind a hand.

My face was about to explode.

Lucas put a hand on Dawn's shoulder. "Honey, let's go...we've got to get to the radio tower in five minutes."

Dawn stood up reluctantly, giving Lindsey one last pat on the head before waving to the rest of us and leaving, hand in hand with Lucas. I watched them disappear into a crowd and felt a strange tightness in my chest.

Lindsey stared up at me smugly.


Sorry...this started so well and it went BRRRRRPH downhill...I'm trying TT^TT