Chapter Fourteen

As the week progressed, the measurements arena began filling up with students and their Pokémon. Some students went back multiple times, still not entirely sure which Pokémon they wanted to go as. Some, like Conrad, had their measurements taken but withheld on their Pokémon, hoping that whatever new Pokémon they received on Friday would be better than the ones they currently owned.

"Lickitung's a good fighter," Conrad admitted, "but there's no way I'm going to the dance dressed as a fat pink Pokémon. None."

The organizers told him that they would take a picture of his new Pokémon on the Friday afternoon and send it to their store in Celadon city, but he would have to travel there himself to pick it up.

So it was that Conrad set his tray down next to Erica on Wednesday afternoon and gave her the biggest smile he could muster, "You know, Erica, I'm really glad we've become closer friends. And yes, I do want something from you."

"I thought so. What is it?"

"They're willing to make me a costume of my new Pokémon, but I have to go and get it myself, and there's no way I can get to Celadon and back before the dance starts on my own. The only way I could do it was if I could fly there."

"You want to borrow Charizard."

"Yes." Conrad paused, his head subconsciously tilting as he thought about their conversation. "You know, I'm glad we can be so straightforward to each other. I would have had to butter the other two up for ten minutes before I could ask."

"I didn't say yes yet," Erica poked at a questionable substance with her fork, "but I suppose I will. No battling."

"Straight there, straight back." Conrad promised, "How long do you think it will take?"

"Charizard and I flew to Saffron in three hours, so I'd say… three and a half both ways?"

"And the dance starts at eight," Conrad groaned, "I'll never make it back in time. Unless…"

Lan was just exiting the measurements arena when she saw Conrad standing against the far wall, obviously waiting for her. She strolled over with a smile, "Hello. Are you excited about the dance?"

"I sure am." Conrad pushed off the wall and walked beside her, "You know, Lan, I'm really glad we've become closer friends."

"Me too." Lan adjusted a strap of her backpack, "It's so nice having a circle of people you can trust."

"It is," he agreed. "I know when I first met you I was a bit of a jerk, but I honestly feel that I've changed. I mean, we really worked well in that battle on Sunday, didn't we?"

Lan's face fell, "We did."

"What's wrong?"

"I know that we won the battle, but I feel so bad for Ellison's Pikachu. It clearly wasn't ready to fight other Pokémon, and all we did was make its problems worse." She bit her lip. "Didn't you hear it whimpering? I've been thinking about it all week."

"Lan, it's not our fault that it happened. We didn't know Ellison would battle with a Pokémon that wasn't ready."

"It's the only Pokémon he has."

Conrad felt a sense of relief that he wasn't the only one, "Well then, we didn't know that Suza would choose him as her partner. It's a Pokémon battle, not a date; you have to pick a partner that can support you."

Lan nodded, "You're right."

"So cheer up, Lan. You've got your measurements done, your Pokémon picked, and I'm about to buy you an ice cream."

Lan smiled, "You're acting awfully nice today."

"Well I wasn't going to buy you anything, but you seem a little down about the battle, and since I was the one who set it up I feel partially responsible."

"Thank you. Have you had your measurements done yet?"

"As a matter of fact, I have, but I haven't had pictures taken of Lickitung yet. They told me that I can use my Pokémon I get this Friday instead, but I'll have to go to Celadon to get the costume myself."

"Oh dear, I don't think you'll be able to make it there and back in time."

"Erica's letting me use her Charizard, actually." Conrad put a wistful expression on his face, "The only problem is, it's a seven hour flight in total, and there's no way I could get there and back before the dance starts without leaving class early."

"Wow, that's nice of Erica." Lan thought about it, then suggested, "I still have my class-skip card from when we went on that hiking trip. You can use that if you want."

"Really?" Conrad barely hesitated before wrapping his arms around Lan in a hug, "Thanks, Lan! You're amazing!"

"Do my eyes deceive me, or is Conrad showing affection?"

Erica and Lysander were standing outside the doors to the cafeteria, and Lysander turned to her, "You know what this means?"

"What?"

Conrad's eyes narrowed, "Don't even think about…"

"Group hug!"

After class on Thursday morning, the four of them walked out onto the main green and sat down. The signups for the upcoming tournament were at four o'clock, and there were morning class students battling each other all across the grounds, making a last-minute decision on which of their Pokémon were battle-ready and which ones should stay in the stands.

"This is really dumb," Conrad declared, pitching backwards onto the grass and folding his hands behind his head. "Why would they have a tournament the day after we get a new Pokémon? Why not wait until the following weekend? Or let us sign up tomorrow afternoon? I might be able to enter the Level Two competition."

"My guess is that they want to prevent students from leaping into battle with Pokémon that aren't ready." Erica leaned back and looked at the clouds, "Although we already saw that didn't stop Ellison. What an idiot."

"I'm sure he had his reasons…" Lan mumbled.

"So, what level is everyone choosing?" Lysander nudged Conrad with his toe, "I already know you."

They all ignored Conrad's resulting glare, and Erica tossed a Pokéball from hand to hand, "I'm thinking of going into Level Three. All of my Pokémon listen to me, and they're pretty powerful to boot. I think I have a good shot at the prize."

"Yeah, well, some of us got easier Pokémon to train than others." Conrad glowered.

"I'm going in the Level One competition as well, Conrad," Lysander tried to stop an argument before it started. "Exeggcute don't want to battle, and Sandslash doesn't know anything. It's down to Staryu." He smiled at Lan, "What about you?"

"I don't think I'm going to sign up." She tried her best to ignore the shocked stares they were giving her, but ended up defending herself, "I already told Conrad why. Until I have a water or grass type, I'll be too afraid of other students using rock types against me, and they all will because they know I'm scared of them. I'll cheer you all on though."

"How did Suza even find out that you're afraid of rock Pokémon, anyway?" Erica replaced her Pokéball and scowled at the ground, "It's not exactly something that you announced to the world."

"I don't know," Lan sighed, "but it sure gives her leverage over me. Thank goodness you have an Ivysaur and Lysander has a Staryu."

"You bet!" Lysander winked at her, "And when we graduate from the academy, if you still don't have a water Pokémon I'll take you on a trip to Cinnabar Island and you can catch one there!"

Lan smiled around the circle at them, glad that they weren't forcing her to compete. In truth, she was a little disappointed in herself, but she knew that it was better for her to take a pass at a prize instead of letting down her Pokémon again. With the dance and a new PokéProject both arriving the next day, she decided that she was getting enough excitement this weekend.

They lounged around a while longer, and then Lan pulled out her homework. This was the silent signal for the rest of them to do the same, and soon the four of them were working away on the less pleasant part of their schooling. Only when the large clock at the center of the campus struck four did they realize they should have lined up for the tournament signups long ago.

It was a scramble to get there, and the building was crammed full of students and tournament volunteers. A large group of students was standing at the far end of the room, staring at three glass cases. Not wanting to push their way to the front, Conrad and Lysander shared a look before hoisting Lan onto their shoulders and getting as close as they could.

"It looks like the prizes for the different Levels," she relayed down to them. "Level One is a TM of some sort, Level Two is an HM, and Level Three," Lan adjusted her glasses, "is an evolution stone!"

Lysander almost dropped her, "Which one?!"

"I don't know."

Erica took this as her cue, and started shouldering her way through the crowd. Several students glared at her, but recognized her as the girl who owned both a Charizard and a Gyarados and let her through. In a minute she was back, and there was a small frown on her face, "Sorry, Lysander, it's a leaf stone. The HM is Fly, and there's a note under the TM that says the winner will get a TM useable by one of their current Pokémon."

Lysander was crestfallen, but Conrad frowned, "Wait a minute, Charizard can already fly, and carries people around as well. What would using that HM do?"

Erica shrugged, "Maybe it flies faster? Let's sign up and get out of here, I'm getting sick of people posturing."

She turned and headed to the Level Three sign-up, which had a noticeably shorter line than the other two. The bulk of the students were entering the Level Two competition, and Lan saw Conrad subconsciously wander closer to that line before checking himself and joining Lysander in the Level One line instead.

While they were signing up she looked around to see if anyone else she knew was registering. Suza was several places ahead of the boys in the Level One line, and Lan could see Jericho just finishing signing up for the Level Two competition. Roselyn was also in the Level Two line, along with Nikki and Ginny. She couldn't see Ellison anywhere.

Suza noticed Lysander when she'd finished signing up and was passing by, and giggled coyly, "I didn't know you would be in this competition, Lysander! Don't you have three Pokémon to battle?"

Lysander grinned, "I have three Pokémon, but two of them aren't really ready for battle yet. Are you entering your Machop?"

She giggled again, "I guess you'll see!" She tossed one of her pigtails and turned to go, shooting a venomous look at Roselyn as she went. Roselyn turned her nose up ever so slightly and promptly ignored her. This only made Suza more indignant, and she flounced out of the room with her group of friends.

The others continued working their way up the lines, and as Lan watched she could see the confrontation coming. Roselyn and Erica finished signing up at the same time, and they both scanned the crowd before moving towards her. She couldn't very well escape, so she stood there and hoped that one of them would be distracted. They weren't. Roselyn exited the crowd at the same time as Erica, and only when they were five feet from Lan did they notice one another. Both girls stopped, glared at each other, took another step towards Lan, and stopped again. It was clear they were testing to see which would back down first, but Lan didn't see either one giving way. Roselyn's arrogance was matched by Erica's stubbornness.

Conrad and Lysander edged free of the crowd as well, but took one look at the girls and snuck back in again. Lan made a mental note to criticize their masculinity later.

"Lan," Roselyn turned from Erica with a raised chin, "I just wanted to say again how pleasant it was to have your company at the party last Saturday. Several of the girls were talking about how they wanted to pay you to sketch them."

She could hardly ignore her, "It was really fun playing cards. Maybe I can do some drawings after the break, I don't know how much time I'll have with exams coming up."

"Of course," Roselyn's smile somehow managed to send warmth to Lan and a challenge to Erica at the same time. "We're having a get-together after the dance tomorrow night. You should come."

This was too much for Erica, who put a shoulder between Lan and Roselyn, "We've already made plans for tomorrow, actually."

"Oh really?" Roselyn directed her question to Lan, "What are your plans?"

Lan swallowed, "We're going to, um, get together and…er…"

"Go stargazing." Erica supplied, "Lysander's Exeggcute knows all the constellations."

"You really should listen to the weather forecast." Roselyn checked her nails, "Unfortunately for you, it's going to be overcast most of tomorrow night. I suppose that leaves you free, Lan."

Both girls went silent, and Lan realized with dread that they were expecting her to choose. Disgusted with her indecisive nature but unable to change it on the spot, she found herself trying a compromise, "Why don't well all go to the get-together? I mean, Conrad's probably already been invited by Nikki, and Lysander gets along well with anyone, really."

This didn't sit well with either of them. Roselyn was too polite to tell Lan to her face that she didn't want Erica to come, and Erica didn't want to go in the first place.

"We'll see," was the best Roselyn could finally cough out, before flicking her hair at Erica and leaving the room.

Erica turned to Lan, her face hard, "Lan, I really don't care who you hang out with, or whose parties you decide to go to when I'm not around. But don't ever try to invite me to one of her parties again."

She turned on her heel and stormed off, leaving Lan feeling lower than she had in a long time. Conrad and Lysander came out of the crowd again, both with guilt written all over their faces, and Conrad supplied, "We heard it all. Sorry Lan."

Lan tried her best to hold her head high like the other girls, but her chin was already wobbling, "Thank you so much for your tremendous support. I couldn't have done it without you."

Lysander winced, but Conrad put a consoling hand on her shoulder, "Erica's just in a snit right now, you'll see. She isn't used to having someone in her life like Suza is in yours."

"But she doesn't like Suza either," Lan protested. "I like Roselyn."

"So do I, and so does Lysander," he glared at the other boy, daring him to contradict him, but Lysander remained silent. "Just relax, Lan. Erica's your friend, and it's not you she's angry at. Remember that."

Unfortunately, Lan had a feeling he was wrong.

"Ginny, I'd like to borrow your Arbok."

Ginny looked up from the fashion magazine she was reading with a raised brow, "Why? Have you started a war on skin exposure?"

"No, I just need an ear I know will be sympathetic and able to go for a walk with me without attracting too much attention."

Ginny abruptly set her magazine down and hopped off her bed, "I'm here for you, roommate. Let's go."

Erica hesitated, "I'm not sure you'd be the best person, Ginny. Most of my ranting is aimed at Roselyn."

Ginny wrinkled her nose, "That's not good, I thought you said you weren't mad at her any more for the fashion thing?"

"There's been a new occurrence. I know you and Roselyn are close, otherwise I would have asked you to be my shoulder to cry on."

This was followed by a smirk, but Ginny took it seriously and took Erica's hands, putting the Pokéball in them, "The best thing you can do is get this off your chest and not brood over it. I'll talk to Roselyn and get her to lay off."

"Thanks." Erica hesitated, but then offered, "When I'm feeling better, I may have to let you give me a makeover."

"Feel better soon then." Ginny released Erica's hands and went directly to her closet, flipping through clothes and announcing, "The first thing I'm going to do is get you out of all that purple."

"I'm not better yet."

"I know that, dear." Ginny waved her out the door, "I'm preparing. Enjoy your walk."

"…and it just irritates me that one of my friends would suddenly become a fashion slave. For no reason besides getting constant praise and attention. Can you believe that?"

"Bok."

"Yeah, that's right. Bok."

Erica rammed her hands in her pockets and kicked a loose stone on the path. She and Arbok had been on the forest trail for a good forty minutes, and she'd finally run out of steam. The whole time the snake Pokémon had listened and made the appropriate comforting hisses, and it seemed more relaxed than usual. Maybe because at the moment all it could see of Erica's skin was her face and upper neck.

After walking a few minutes in silence, Erica glanced over at Arbok and wondered what it would be like if she'd drawn its Pokéball from the bin instead of one of her other ones. Immediately after this she chided herself, feeling the weight of her three Pokéballs with guilt. It said a lot about her own insecurities as a trainer that she was talking to someone else's Pokémon instead of one of her own. When it came down to it, she really should have talked to Ivysaur instead. Charizard was too large and tended to attract attention, Gyarados couldn't walk along the path, but Ivysaur needed more rehabilitation and the monologue she'd just exposed Arbok to probably would have helped.

She glanced at Arbok again, this time wondering how close it was with Ginny. If it was completely loyal it probably would have stuck up for Roselyn, as she was one of Ginny's best friends, but it seemed only too willing to listen to Erica's merciless criticizing. Did Arbok wish it had a different trainer, or did it just like Erica more than Roselyn?

"Hey, you!"

Erica turned to the boy with a raised eyebrow, but apparently lacking in manners was another of Arbok's pet peeves and it flared its hood and hissed at him. Erica put a hand on Arbok's hood and asked the boy, "What do you want?"

"Let's battle!"

"I'll pass, thanks."

"What? The tournament's in two days, you can't pass!" He readied a Pokéball and grinned, "I've been on a winning streak all day, and I'm not going to give up now! Let's go, Kingler!"

Erica and Arbok exchanged an exasperated look before she took out her Ivysaur's Pokéball and tossed it in front of her, "Fine. What Pod are you from, again?"

"Blue."

"Why does that not surprise me?"

Ivysaur stretched its back legs in an exaggerated movement when it came out, letting Erica know that it hadn't been free in a while, but then it looked over its shoulder and saw Arbok next to her, "Saur?"

Now she really felt guilty, "We were just talking, Ivysaur."

Ivysaur turned its nose up at her and sat down.

"Look, I'm sorry, but I needed a sympathetic ear and I didn't think you'd be the right one to ask."

It didn't move.

"Thanks for proving me right," she muttered.

"Hey! Are we going to battle or not?!" The boy and his Kingler looked quite put out, "If you haven't trained your Pokémon enough yet, you shouldn't be using it."

"I didn't even want to battle in the first place!" Erica wound up and booted a rock with all her might, "Why is everyone against me today?!"

The rock flew the distance between her foot and Kingler's body, striking the crab Pokémon in the forehead. It blinked, but then its eyes narrowed and bubbles started foaming at its mouth. Ivysaur turned back to her and tilted its head.

"What?" She snapped, "I'm frustrated. And if I were you, I'd be facing the other way."

Kingler was charging Ivysaur's exposed back, its massive claws raised for a crush attack. Ivysaur just gestured to Arbok, clearly unhappy with the snake's presence.

"You're impossible, you know that?" Erica took out Arbok's Pokéball and summoned it back, "Thanks for listening, Arbok."

Kingler's claw closed around Ivysaur's body, and suddenly both plant Pokémon and trainer were paying full attention to the battle.

"You'll never get far in the tournament if you get distracted by emotional confrontations!" The boy mocked, "Keep up the vice grip, Kingler!"

Ivysaur struggled, its face twisted in pain as the claws dug deeper, and Erica thought through Ivysaur's moves as fast as she could, "Ivysaur, try to use your vines! Poke it in the eye!"

"What?! Hey, that's not fighting fair!"

"Well maybe you shouldn't ambush a girl and demand a fight when she's going through emotional turbulence!" Erica returned.

Ivysaur followed her instructions and delivered a fierce jab to Kingler's eye. The crab immediately released it and staggered backwards, blinking furiously.

"Now use razor leaf, Ivysaur."

It raised its chin, making it clear that it was still annoyed at her, but did as it was told. The Kingler twitched and collapsed onto the ground, and just like that the fight was over.

"Here's hoping you're not in the Level Three competition," Erica quipped, then knelt and placed a hand on Ivysaur's bulb. "We need to talk, I think."

After returning Arbok to Ginny and taking Ivysaur to the PokéCenter, Erica walked out to one of the hills overlooking the school and released her plant Pokémon again. She spread a blanket and set out some PokéChow before reiterating everything she'd told Arbok, from start to finish.

Ivysaur was giving her a dubious look, and she sighed, "Now you see why I thought you wouldn't want to listen? I don't want to be criticized right now, I just need someone who's firmly on my side."

In response Ivysaur crawled onto her lap, and used a vine to press the release buttons on both Charizard and Gyarados' Pokéballs. Once the two Pokémon were out it talked to them in rapid PokéSpeech, leaving Erica to sit and wonder what exactly it was saying. Once Ivysaur was finished talking, Charizard leaned over and nuzzled Erica's jaw, while Gyarados leaned in and bumped her as affectionately as it could without knocking her over.

Erica smiled and put a hand on Ivysaur's head, "I really should have just talked to you in the first place. Sorry."

It would have been a happily emotional moment, had not Gyarados caught sight of the PokéChow and bowled them all over as it lunged for the food.

Halfway through their afternoon classes on Friday, Lan passed her class-skip card to Conrad and Erica tossed him Charizard's Pokéball. He presented the card to their teacher with a flourish and promptly raced for the door, leaving the rest of the class to wonder what Pokémon he would get. Fifteen minutes later they all turned to the window as Charizard took flight, and Lan noted Conrad's elated expression with happiness. Whatever Pokémon he'd chosen, he was ecstatic.

When the rest of them finished class at the regular time, Lan packed up her books and took a deep breath. Her final PokéProject of the semester awaited her. Before she could go down and claim it, however, there was something else that she needed to fix. She'd been worried about Erica and their friendship for a full day, for Erica hadn't said much to her since the accident with Roselyn.

Green Pod left its classroom, and Lan tapped Erica on the shoulder, waiting impatiently for Erica to remove her headphones before asking, "Are you alright, Erica?"

Erica smiled, "I'm fine. Sorry Lan, I've been meaning to talk to you about how I acted yesterday. It's not you that I'm angry at, so don't worry about it. Ready to meet your third Pokémon?"

"Yes," Lan felt the knot of tension in her chest leave. She could tell that Erica was still angry, but the fact that it wasn't at her was a huge relief.

From out of nowhere, Lysander wrapped an arm around each of their necks and pulled them in close, "I'm so glad you two aren't fighting! I was worrying about it all last night, and Conrad wasn't helping!"

Erica pulled at his arm, but he wasn't letting her go, "Conrad was worried?"

"Even more than me! Every time I calmed down, he'd start going on about how our whole group was going to break up, and he'd be stuck with new friends who didn't understand him at all, and…"

"You're sure this is Conrad we're talking about?"

"Well it wouldn't be me," Lysander finally loosened his grip, "I have lots of friends who like me for who I am."

"With modesty like that, who wouldn't?" Erica rolled her eyes.

"What?"

"Never mind."

The crowd for PokéProjects was thinner than it had been last time, and Lan realized it was because many of the students already had three Pokémon. Her progress was approved, so she waved goodbye to Erica and Lysander and hurried inside. Her initial plan had been to just walk over and scoop up the first ball her fingers touched, but then she realized that this would be the final Pokémon she would get for another two months and suddenly it was as if she were back to the first Friday of class. Every Pokéball had the potential to be something amazing, and if she just grabbed and went she might miss a Pokémon that she could truly connect with.

Soon she had collected a small pile of Pokéballs in front of her, and she was examining each one with infinite care. The scratch marks on her first Pokéball had delivered her a Vulpix, and while she liked her Zubat she was wishing she'd got a Pokémon with more muscle behind it. Maybe then she wouldn't have to be afraid of rock Pokémon.

Only when one of the teachers came over and started tapping his foot did Lan finally make her choice. It was down to a Pokéball with a discoloured patch on the side and one with the remains of a sticker on the bottom. She chose the discoloured patch, but then took the sticker ball and shoved it into the back corner of the bin, resolving to come back for it next semester.

On her way to the door she crossed paths with Suza, who graced her with a sneer before moving to the bin. Lan didn't know why Suza hadn't picked her PokéProject at lunch, as Blue Pod had morning classes today, but shrugged it off and walked outside. The best thing she could do was ignore Suza, in the distant hope the girl would finally leave her alone.

Erica and Lysander were the only two people waiting outside, and as soon as they saw Lan, Lysander sighed and handed Erica a dollar.

"What?"

"We made a bet to see how long you'd be in there. She won."

Lan rolled her eyes, but held up her Pokéball and smiled, "Let's go and see what it is."

They were halfway across the field when a familiar cute voice called, "Lysander! Wait for me!"

Lysander immediately stopped, but it took Erica and Lan a few more steps to battle with their desire to move forward and decide that it would be worse if they left Lysander to face Suza alone.

Suza was moving across the field at a speed that wasn't a walk, but couldn't be called a jog by anyone who'd ever actually gone jogging. She finally reached them and giggled, "I got my third PokéProject today as well, and I thought that we could all see what we got together!"

"Lysander and I got our third Pokémon two weeks ago. You know that," Erica pointed out.

Suza pouted, "I'm just trying to be friendly."

"You've already used that line before."

"Erica," Lysander chided, "haven't you had enough hostile encounters lately?"

This shut Erica up instantly, and she crossed her arms and resumed walking across the field. Lan smiled at Suza, more for Lysander's benefit than anything else, and was about to politely decline anyway when she caught sight of Ellison approaching. She didn't remember seeing him choosing a PokéProject, and concluded that something had detained him in class.

Suza heard Ellison approaching and, if possible, put an even cuter expression on her face before she turned to face him, "Oh, Ellison! We're all going to see what Pokémon we got, would you like to join us?"

He nodded, but didn't say anything. From the slight roll of the eyes that came from Suza, Lan could only imagine that this was typical behaviour.

The five students reached the edge of the field, and Suza looked around in distaste, "Do you always come all the way out here? Just to see your new Pokémon?"

Lysander nodded, "It's safer that way. Our group tends to get a lot of destructive Pokémon." He turned to Lan, "You're the one who picked your Pokéball first, you let's see what you got."

Lan cupped her Pokéball in her hands, wishing for something that would protect her from rock Pokémon, and tossed it onto the grass. For a moment the amount of red energy had her hoping that it was a big Pokémon, but then it shrunk down to about the size of her Vulpix, and when it solidified she was left looking at a Meowth. The Meowth yawned and stretched out its back, its tail curling forwards and touching the charm on its forehead, and then turned around and promptly began to yowl and claw at Lan's leg.

"Eek!" Lan leapt backwards and threw Vulpix's Pokéball at the feral cat, "Why does this always happen to me?! Can't I have socks without holes in them?"

Meowth sprang backwards as Vulpix emerged from its ball, and the two circled one another with hackles raised. Only when Meowth got too close to Lan and hissed at her did Vulpix stop growling. The fox tilted its head and trotted over to Meowth, the two had a quick conversation, and suddenly they were rubbing heads and Meowth was purring. Lan was about to make a comment about her Vulpix helping her out when the two Pokémon looked at each other, nodded, and both proceeded to savage her socks in unison.

"Hey! Cut it out!" Lan kept hopping backwards, trying in vain to lift her legs clear of the teeth and claws, "Bad cat! Bad! You're making Vulpix regress!"

For the sake of Lan's socks, Erica released her Ivysaur and asked it to hold Lan's Pokémon with its vines. It willingly grabbed the Meowth, but had second thoughts about restraining a fire Pokémon. As soon as Meowth stopped, however, Vulpix stopped as well, and it ducked its head in embarrassment at Lan before sitting down and scratching its chin.

Lan stared down at the ruined cloth on her legs that had once been a fairly new pair of socks, "Isn't this just fantastic? I'm going to be the only girl who asks for socks for Christmas and means it."

Suza was trying her best not to snigger, and once it was clear that Lan's legs were safe for the moment she held up her newest Pokéball and declared, "Me next!"

Lan turned her attention to Suza and froze. Her nemesis was holding the sticker ball, and from the smug look on her face she knew it was the one Lan had hidden. Lan's fists balled up and she felt her teeth start to grind together, but before she could do anything else Suza tossed the Pokéball.

It took much longer for Suza's Pokémon to come out of its ball than Lan's Meowth had, and when it finally showed itself Lan felt a vein in her temple pop with jealous rage. A Growlithe. Lan already had a fire Pokémon, but Growlithe was a more preferable option to a feral Meowth. At least, that was what she thought until the Growlithe hunkered down to the ground and started shaking, staring up at them all with petrified eyes.

"Great, what good is a guard dog if it's scared of everything?" Suza pouted.

Erica couldn't resist, "Well, on the bright side, it'll get along tremendously with Ellison's Pikachu."

Ellison's frown was massive, but he remained silent and released his new Pokémon as well.

Lysander smiled, "Oh hey, a Chansey! They're supposed to be really lucky!"

They all paused, looking at the pink blob, until Suza commented, "That's not a Chansey. It's a really fat Clefairy."

Lan was surprised that Suza wasn't giggling and cooing over the fairy Pokémon like many of the other girls at school would have, but she supposed that the fact none of them could see its face for fat had something to do with it.

Meanwhile, Ivysaur had cautiously set Meowth down, and both it and Vulpix decided to go over and greet Growlithe. They got within ten feet before the terrified dog saw them coming and hightailed it into the long grass.

Suza gasped and threw its Pokéball after it, "Growlithe, return!"

Fortunately for her, the ball landed close enough to Growlithe to recapture it, and she glared at Lan, "What do you think you're doing? Trying to scare my Pokémon to death?"

"They were just trying to be friendly," Lan stated defensively.

Lysander stepped between them, "Who wants to go pick up costumes?"

The dancehall that evening was packed with students and their Pokémon, and the costumes that the students wore ranged from one end of the spectrum to the other. Some had elegant dresses and suits patterned like their Pokémon, whereas others had gone with a costume more closely related to Halloween. Outside the hall, Lan and the others were waiting for Conrad to return from Celadon.

"I still can't quite believe you picked Zubat." Erica gave Lan a lop-sided smile, "You know how upset the other girls will be. They all wanted a Vulpix dress."

Lan waved her arms up and down, "I like this one better. It feels more like a costume party."

Her Zubat costume wouldn't have looked out of place on someone half her age, and she'd removed her glasses in honour of the fact Zubat couldn't see. So far she'd tripped over two tree roots and slammed her shoulder off a corner three times. Zubat sat on her opposite shoulder and kept trying to navigate for her, but as she didn't understand PokéSpeech it didn't help.

Lysander had gone for the costume look as well, and he was dressed as his Sandslash. The ground Pokémon was holding claws with him, and looked ecstatic that its master was emulating it. The only part of Lysander that was visible was his face, poking out from his costume's mouth, and he'd already received a hug from a girl in a Tangela costume.

Erica had successfully shocked them all by choosing the elegant dress option, and she'd come as her Gyarados. Her gown was various shades of blue and trailed on the ground, and on her forehead was a tiara shaped like the triple prongs of her water snake. Gyarados was outside in the river with many of the other water Pokémon, but it had roared happily at her choice.

Finally they saw Charizard's outline against the fading sunlight, and from the bulky lump on its back assumed that Conrad had already changed into his costume. He must have provided an unusual sight to anyone who looked up while it was still full daylight.

He landed a fair distance from the dance hall, not knowing that they were waiting for him, and when he finally came into view Lysander uttered a wordless exclamation that was pure envy; Conrad was dressed in a Blastoise costume.

Conrad grinned, "Look at this, isn't it great? Exactly like I wanted it to be. Lysander, what are you doing?"

Lysander was standing unusually close to Conrad, and his eyes were fixed on the other boy's belt, "Well, come on, release it."

They knew that Blastoise was Lysander's favourite Pokémon, but they were still surprised at his impatience and irritation. Then again, this was the second instance of his favourite Pokémon or one of its evolutionary stages showing up amongst friends, and he must have been wondering what he was doing wrong that they could pick the right balls and he couldn't.

Conrad shook his head, "I don't think that's such a good idea, Lysander. You have no idea what my Blastoise's problem is, and I don't want to let it go amongst party-goers. It's really just best if it stays inside its ball."

Lysander, though two inches shorter than Conrad, was inflated by his indignation and suddenly seemed much larger, "Well why don't you tell me what its problem is, and then I'll decide if I want to risk it?"

Not quite sure how to handle Lysander's confrontational attitude, Conrad sent a sidelong glance at Lan. She was nearly as dumbfounded as he was but nodded, "You need to let it out in order to get into the dance, anyway."

Conrad sent Lysander a dark look before tossing his Pokéball onto the grass, releasing the red energy. For a Blastoise, this Pokémon was huge. Not obese, just massive. Its shell alone was the size of a large car, and if Lan curled into a ball she would be the same size as its head. It turned to face them, confused as to why they were all dressed as Pokémon, but upon seeing Conrad its face brightened, its cheeks grew ruddy and it started thumping towards him. Conrad squawked and raised his Pokéball, but before he could use it Blastoise scooped him up and crushed him against its chest in an overly zealous bear-hug. Once he was thoroughly squished, Conrad made a pitiful squeak and Blastoise set him down again.

"You see?" He wheezed. "Not a good idea for it to be around people."

Blastoise was looking at him sadly, its arms still held out, and the girls realized that it had been expecting him to hug it back. It started to lower its arms, disappointed, when it caught sight of Lysander. He wasn't saying anything, just standing there with his arms stretched as wide as they could go and a joyous expression on his face. Blastoise hesitated only a moment before lumbering over enthusiastically and lifting Lysander off his feet.

"Hey!" Conrad snapped, "Get back here!"

Blastoise ignored him completely, happy that someone was returning its affection, and Erica leaned over to whisper to Lan, "Something tells me that whatever behavioural problem it had before, this one's going to be much worse."

Seeing the way Blastoise ignored Conrad in favour of Lysander, Lan agreed.

Conrad's Blastoise had been only too willing to follow Lysander around for the rest of the evening, so Conrad sent it to the river to socialize with Gyarados and the other water Pokémon. The last image they had of it as they walked through the doors into the dancehall was it attempting to wrap its arms around Erica's Pokémon, while Gyarados obviously thought its shell was some type of snack and was trying to fit the turtle Pokémon into its mouth.

"Charming," Conrad muttered.

The mood in the room was sharply differing. Half of the room was excited about the dance and everyone's costumes, while the other half was clearly more concerned about the tournament the next day. Many of the boys had picked their strongest Pokémon as their costume, and were posturing to one another while others around them rolled their eyes. Conrad was about to join the group and flaunt his costume when he was intercepted by Nikki. She'd defied the White Group's elegance in favour of the costume appearance and come as her Beedrill, and the effect was fantastic. The costume designers had a field day with her Pokémon's unique, armoured appearance, and she looked more like an action hero than a trick-or-treater.

"Conrad! You got a Blastoise this afternoon? Congratulations!"

"Nikki?" It was hard to tell it was her, at first. Rather than having her face framed by the Pokémon's mouth like most other costumes, her upper face was covered in a visor showing off her unusual Pokémon's helmet. Then what she'd said caught up and he puffed out his chest, "I sure did, and we're going to dominate the tournament tomorrow!"

"Good for you. Now come on, let's dance."

"Why do you like dancing so much? We just stand there and turn in a circle slowly."

"Don't be dumb, they're going to start the Pokémon Shuffle soon." She held out her hand and he let her pull him to the dance floor.

The Pokémon Shuffle was simple; everyone who wanted to participate stood in a circle, and one at a time imitated their Pokémon's behaviour and turned it into a dance move. Once everyone had gone, the moves were put into an entire dance that they all performed. Already two distinct circles were forming, one with the elegant outfits and the other with the costumes. Lan and Lysander were already in the circle, having gone straight there after entering the dance hall, but Erica had taken a pass on joining the other circle.

The music started, and the first boy to enter the middle of the circle was wearing a Scyther costume. He made some rhythmic swiping motions with his arms before stepping backwards. The dance turns moved around the circle, and when it was Conrad's turn he went into the center with his chest pushed out and performed a somewhat mechanical strutting move that suited his Blastoise perfectly. The only thing he could have done better would be to run up and hug someone. From the look on Lysander's face it was clear he'd been wondering if Conrad would.

Lan wasn't sure what to do for her dance move, but when it was her turn inspiration struck suddenly and she made a swooping motion with her arms that ended with miming running full into an invisible wall. Her move was responded to with laughter, but it was of the friendly and appreciative kind. No matter how silly some of the dances were, no one was in the mood to criticize. Lan smiled, though a part of her was sad. Would this same camaraderie be present tomorrow? She didn't think so.

While the others danced, Erica stood off to the side of the room and watched. A part of her was regretting not choosing a costume instead of a dress, but a larger part had been baited by Roselyn's comments about her lack of fashion and what it implied about her. Though she did wish she could join the costume group's Pokémon Shuffle; it looked like way more fun than the other group.

"Drink?"

She turned and accepted the punch from Jericho, taking in his costume with a smile, "Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one."

He'd gone for the more elegant option as well, and had come as his Wartortle, "One of my roommate's friends has a Wartortle and came in a costume. I didn't want to look the same."

"Fair enough. Are you ready for the tournament tomorrow?"

"As ready as I'm going to get." Jericho shrugged, "I still think the whole thing's overrated."

"I don't believe you. If you didn't want to battle your Pokémon, you wouldn't have signed up. Lan didn't."

Jericho rolled his eyes, but went back to watching the dancing without commenting further. It was only when the two groups had performed their complete dances that he turned back to her, "You look nice, by the way."

"Thanks, so do you."

Jericho seemed to be debating something inside his head, and finally he set down his cup and gestured at the dance floor, "Do you want to dance?"

Erica raised an eyebrow, "It's a slow song."

"I know."

She considered this before placing her cup beside his and nodding, "Alright."

Across the room, Roselyn and Ginny were appraising the different dresses, and most of them were receiving scathing remarks. Unlike the majority of the school, both Roselyn and Ginny had theirs done by a top-quality designer. Roselyn had come as her Goldeen, with long ruffled sleeves and a ruffle around the edge of her knee-length dress. Ginny's dress was patterned off of her Arbok, not that it would approve of the plunging neckline, and was complete with a flaring hood resembling an outfit worn by the western world's Queen Elizabeth.

"Oh, look, there's Lan. Isn't she adorable?"

Roselyn turned to where Ginny was pointing and shook her head with the barest of smiles, "You would say that, wouldn't you? Ugh, it looks like they all came in costume. Still, I suppose as far as the girls are concerned, it's for the best."

Ginny gave her a subtle nudge to the ribs with her elbow, "None of that. Erica is my roommate, and I promised I'd get you to leave her alone."

"Why would you promise something you can't deliver on? Speaking of the fashion disaster, there she is… now…" Roselyn's voice trailed off as she caught sight of Erica walking onto the dance floor with Jericho. Not only was the girl in a dress, but it was of a superior quality to all the others around her. Clearly she too had gone to an alternate source for it.

"Very acceptable," Ginny put in from the side.

"Quiet." Roselyn raised her voice ever so slightly and asked, "I wonder if anyone wants to dance?"

Almost immediately a boy from the Red Pod was standing beside her offering his arm, and she let him lead her onto the dance floor.

Ginny watched her go with a half-smile before taking a drink from a nearby punch bowl and strolling around the room. She wasn't sure whether Roselyn would pay Erica a compliment or attempt to sabotage her dress; when she wanted to be, Roselyn could become the most unreadable person in Kanto.

The night wore on, and eventually students started to leave. Most wanted to be up early the next morning in case any last-minute preparations needed to be made, and those who'd just received a new Pokémon that day wanted to greet it properly. Having the dance on the same day hadn't been the principal's smartest idea, as it had consequently led to some students viewing their Pokémon for less than a minute before summoning it back into its ball and running to get ready.

The crowd on the dance floor thinned, but many of the female students stayed. Some were confident that if they just waited long enough, one of the remaining boys would ask them to dance, while others were intent on enjoying the night in preference to the tournament the next day.

Suza was definitely in the former of the two groups. She'd been waiting for Lysander to ask her to dance all night, but every time he came anywhere near her he'd be scooped up by a girl brazen enough to ask. Her Venonat dress should have been cute enough to immediately attract his attention, she'd thought, but apparently Lysander was even thicker than she'd given him credit for. Ordinarily Suza would have no qualms about marching up to him, but things were different at a dance. Girls weren't supposed to ask boys if they wanted to dance. They just weren't.

Across the dance floor, Lan was thinking much the same thing about Ellison. He'd been tagging at Suza's heels all night, not that she'd paid him any attention, and she wished that just once he would look her way. She wasn't the most subtle when it came to facial expressions, she knew, and there was no way he could mistake her want to dance with him as anything else. After the Pokémon Shuffle she'd danced a few slow songs with Lysander and one with Conrad, but after that Lysander had wandered off to talk with some of his other friends and Conrad had been commandeered by Nikki. She'd stood against the wall for a while and watched the others dancing, had accepted costume comments from Ginny with a red face, and had then been asked by the boy in the Scyther costume to dance. Still, the night didn't seem quite finished yet.

The loudspeakers squeaked on momentarily to announce the last dance, and Lan felt her impatience snap. She made her way carefully around the dance floor to where Suza and Ellison were standing, her throat tightening the whole way. When she finally got there Suza turned to her with a sneer, "What do you want?"

Lan gave her the politest smile she could before ignoring her utterly and turning to Ellison, "I was wondering if you would like to dance?"

Ellison stared at her, and she knew exactly what was going through his head. If Suza wasn't there he would say something about dancing being a waste of time, but because she was present saying that would eliminate any chance he would have of dancing with her.

She hoped that this would make him say yes, but he simultaneously disappointed and insulted her by turning to Suza and saying, "I would much rather dance with you, Suza."

For a moment it appeared that she hadn't heard him, but then she made a shooing motion with her hand and distractedly replied, "Well I'd rather dance with Lysander. Excuse me."

Suza walked away, leaving the two of them standing there and feeling unwanted. She'd only made it halfway to Lysander, however, when Erica spotted her from the dance floor and took her hands from Jericho's shoulders.

Jericho tightened his grip on her waist momentarily before correcting himself and letting go, "What's wrong?"

"Would you mind dancing with Lan for this one?"

He didn't bother pointing out that it was the last dance and, therefore, the most important one of the night, "No, not at all."

"Good. Lysander!" She strode across the dance floor, her long legs outpacing Suza's shorter ones effortlessly. Jericho watched her go before turning and walking to Lan.

By the time Suza had wriggled through the crowd of bulky Pokémon costumes, Lysander was gone. Determination to find him dissolved into disappointed annoyance as she saw that he'd already been taken by someone else. Due mostly to the fact that her mental image of Erica was extremely unrealistic and unkind, she failed to recognize that her former roommate was the one Lysander was dancing with. She resolved to dance with Ellison after all, so the night wouldn't be a total waste, but looked over to where he'd been standing just in time to see him leave the dance hall and Lan be escorted onto the floor by Jericho.

"What a horrible night!" She stomped her foot and headed out the door.

While the others were switching dance partners and ending the night with partners they didn't necessarily want, Conrad and Nikki had remained together ever since the Pokémon Shuffle. It had originally been Conrad's intention to dance one or two songs and then join the boasting trainers at the far side of the room, but Nikki clearly had other ideas and it was her plan that won out in the end.

He felt Nikki's forehead brush beneath his chin and rested his head against it without much thought, but then realized what he was doing and removed it again. She looked up at him with a small frown playing at her lips, "Are you alright?"

"I'm…" Before he knew it, he was spitting out the half-lie that he'd promised himself he wouldn't use, "I'm kind of seeing someone already. Back in Cerulean."

Instead of pulling away from him, as he'd expected, Nikki simply said, "Oh," and went back to dancing as before.

Conrad frowned and held her away from him at arms length, "That doesn't bother you?"

"Why should it? It's not like we're kissing or anything. We're just dancing."

He thought this over, shrugged, and resumed dancing, and Nikki smiled while replacing her head against his chest.

"Besides," she thought to herself, "I don't believe you."

Once the last dance was done the rest of the students left the building, most to either go back to their rooms to prepare for the next morning or to attend the White Pod's after-party. Lysander and Jericho were both heading to their respective rooms, while Lan and Conrad were ushered to the party by Ginny and Nikki, respectively. Erica made a stop at the buffet table to gather as many no-sugar treats as she could before tying the train of her dress around her waist and carrying the platter out to the river. On her way up she passed Roselyn, who was strolling back towards the gym area with the boy she'd been dancing with for most of the night. Roselyn lifted her chin slightly as they passed, making sure to tuck the boy's arm more firmly around her waist.

Gyarados was the last Pokémon in the river, and it looked happy to see her coming. Then it saw the goodie platter and started thrashing its tail and roaring with delight.

Erica grinned and stopped out of reach, "Now listen," it immediately went quiet, "I don't want to wreck this dress, so I'm going to set this down close to you, and you're going to wait until I'm back here before eating it, alright?"

Gyarados nodded with impatience, but did as it was told and even waited until she nodded at it to dive at the platter and devour the treats with gusto. If it knew that the treats had no sugar in them, it didn't give any indication of it.

As it ate, Erica looked it over with satisfaction. It had lost about a third of its body weight since she'd begun training it, and even though it still had a long way to go, at this rate it wouldn't just be healthy by the end of the school year; it would be fit. Once it was finished, Erica summoned her Pokémon back into its ball and picked up the platter to take back to the dance hall. She was almost there when she heard low voices talking to one another around the back of the hall, and paused. Upon listening closer, she found that they weren't talking; they were arguing.

Deciding that the catering staff could wait a few more minutes for a single platter, she snuck around the side of the building. She wasn't quite sure why she didn't just walk, but something about the intensity of the voices was making her cautious. She was all the way around the back when she realized the voices were actually coming from up the hill, slightly inside the tree line. Cursing her obsessive-compulsive curiosity, she climbed the hill and snuck behind a nearby tree.

"I told you," the iciness of the voice made Erica immediately recognize it as Roselyn's, "I'm not that kind of a girl. You seem to have mistaken me for someone else."

"Well you're the one who's been cuddling up to me all night while we were dancing, what was I supposed to think?"

"Don't you know anything about keeping up appearances?"

"Apparently not," he was decidedly angry, "but I do know you've been sending me signals ever since we started dancing."

"I have not."

"You have!" It was more of a snarl now, "What do you call pulling my arm around your waist? Was that keeping up appearances as well?"

"Actually, yes. Sorry if you don't like it, but that's how the world-"

A sharp slap cut off her sentence prematurely, and Erica heard scuffling as the boy snapped, "It may be how your world works, but the rest of us like to think that if someone's showing us affection it actually meanssomething."

"Leave me alone!" There was an actual note of panic in Roselyn's voice now.

This was enough for Erica. Much as she disliked Roselyn, she wasn't going to walk away from a situation like this and leave the girl to her fate. She stepped out around the tree, took four quick strides to where the boy was gripping Roselyn by the upper arms, and brought the dessert platter down on his head. It was only a plastic platter and wobbled after impact, but hit hard enough to stun him and cause him to stumble away a few feet. His heel caught one of the many tree roots and he landed in his back, anger all over his face.

"Now look," Erica glared him down, "I agree with you that Roselyn's a heartless, emotionless human being who bases everything on what's outside and looks down on those who don't, and hey, I don't like her either," she shook her head, "but in anyone's world, what you're doing is wrong."

She watched the vein in his temple throb twice, and then twice more, before he ground out, "I'm sorry," got to his feet, and stormed away.

Erica watched him go, a hand on her hip, and was about to walk back to the dance hall when Roselyn cleared her throat. She was clearly expecting Erica to face her, but all Erica gave her was a slight turn of the head. If she was planning on regaining her cold exterior now that the boy was gone, she could think again.

At least, that was Erica's line of thinking until she heard footsteps and Roselyn hugged her from behind. She stiffened, unsure how to react, until Roselyn's wet cheek touched her back and she realized the other girl was crying.

"Thank you."

It was little more than a whisper, but her voice still wobbled. With a sigh Erica turned and put an arm around Roselyn's shoulders, giving her a supportive yet distanced squeeze, "It's alright. He's gone."

"Nobody's ever done that to me before." It was clear that Roselyn was struggling to get her composure back.

"Well, you probably shouldn't act that way around them when you're by yourself," Erica suggested bluntly. "Speaking of which, don't you have a party to go to?"

"Yes," it was a whimper, but immediately after it Roselyn took a deep breath in and tossed her rumpled hair back from her face, "but I can't go there looking like this." The words almost came out normally, "Will you stay here with me for a while?"

Erica looked like she'd like nothing less, but before she could say anything Roselyn added a genuine, "Please? In case he comes back?"

This was greeted with a resigned sigh, and Erica stepped out of Roselyn's arms to sit on the hill, "Alright, I'll stay."

Roselyn started to wrinkle her nose at the thought of sitting on the damp grass, but thought better of it and sat down as well. They sat in silence for a few seconds, before Roselyn gave an annoyed click of the tongue and shook her head with a small smile, "I suppose you could have gone stargazing, after all."

Erica raised an eyebrow at her, but then looked up. Most of the clouds had cleared out of the sky, leaving a perfect view of the thousands of stars overhead. With a shrug she leaned back onto the grass and folded her arms behind her head, "I'll probably just stay here for a while then. You can leave when you feel better."

Roselyn glanced towards the building where the White Pod and their guests were gathering, down at her rescuer, back at the building, and then gently lowered herself to the ground as well, "I think I'll stay out here with you."

Erica snorted, "Why? You don't like me."

There were a few seconds of silence before Roselyn murmured, "Things change."