Ick. That's all I can say for the second week of school. AP World History is a bitch, Precal isn't that much better, AP Biology is a bright spot, Music Tech is dreadful, and Chinese... Nobody needs to know. Bah.
I worked extra hard to keep up my schedule, despite my edits and updates earlier this week, so this may have some errors in it. Tell me, and I will instantly repair- I don't read over my chapters much, so be vigilant and review!!
Disclaimer: See second chapter. No words here.
Happy Reading!
When the jubilant (One very expressive and one rather uncomfortable with the other but still jubilant) pair walked back into the Pokemon Center, they noticed a large, gaping hole in the crowd of inhabitants.
A certain sandy-haired boy and two girls were at the very center, the girls trying to console him while the boy kept mumbling things and on occasion banging his head against the table. The two boys walked in to the circle, internally groaning at having to deal with yet again another bit of Ziri's low self-esteem; "What happened now?" Urya asked tiredly.
"Um," Hannah said, timidly as to not disturb Ziri's moaning form, "He just found out he's going to have to enter the Contest tomorrow-"
Gale's mouth dropped, while Urya simply fainted. "What?" came the exclamation as Ziri looked up and gave the three that were conscious a death glare.
"You think it was my fault that I got myself into this mess?" he snarled, before putting his head back down, and groaning "I'm going to die tomorrow, and it's all that damn receptionist's fault…"
Hannah blinked. "But I thought yesterday was the last day to-"
At that moment a wild-eyed man shot through the Pokemon Center. "There's one spot left for the Contest!" he hollered. "I just got word, like, thirty minutes ago-"
Ziri raised his head off the table and yelled "I was registered for it by some ditzy receptionist, dumbass!"
And his head fell back down.
The entire center staring at him, while his mumbling was only audible to the three besides him (Urya was still out cold). At once, murmuring broke out through the building, along the lines of "I knew that his words would come back to haunt him!" and "Wow, the same person who said the things only a few hours ago…"
Hannah looked down pityingly at Ziri, but couldn't resist a smug smile. "Tomorrow, make sure you forfeit the appeals, okay?" she said sweetly, and marched out…
Only to trip over Ziri's backpack which had been thrown down upon him learning his fate tomorrow.
She fell on her knees, crying out at the harsh impact, while Ziri only raised his head and laughed rather cruelly. "Ouch," he said sarcastically, "Karma bites hard, doesn't it?"
She whirled around in rage and tried to stalk over and knock him unconscious, but yet again Ziri's bag, almost as if placed there by design, hindered her effort and made her fall- On the same knee. Once she was finished yelping in pain, she looked up to Ziri's taunting expression. "Want to try again? Maybe you'll break your knee at the rate you're going…"
"I'll get you tomorrow," she said through gritted teeth as she got up, "I swear I'll get you!"
"Sweet dreams, bitch. Did you ever notice how every attempt you make to kill me has failed miserably and later you have to get me to bail you? Huh?"
"You've got no right to talk to her like that-" Alex began angrily, but Ziri simply interjected.
"Screw her and screw you. Do you think I would care about your opinion in this situation? If you do then you have the official classification of nitwit, imbecile, bonehead, idiot-"
Alex snarled in rage and jumped at him…
But Ziri had seen too many of these maneuvers in his all too long childhood to be surprised or to have the instinct to step back, especially since he was sitting down. His left side was facing Alex and the rest; therefore his left hand shot out and crashed into her upper stomach in a flat-handed blow that send her flying backwards, the breath flying out of her lungs too fast to have let her shout in pain.
She crashed to the ground, and writhed there, clutching her stomach while Ziri watched impassively. The crowd gasped at this heavy-handedness and began edging away from the table where he sat with his head lying there. The Nurse Joy quickly came out from behind her desk, accompanied by a Chansey, and examined her worriedly; when she looked up, her face was filled with surprise.
"She wasn't in pain," she said to everyone, noting that only seconds earlier her thrashing had stopped. "She was just… Just suffering the sensation of being unable to breathe…"
Hannah blinked, when it hit her.
The solar plexus…
He had struck it perfectly. There was no doubt- The look in his eyes said it all.
If anyone tries anything else, I'll hit about five times harder and then some.
The diagnosis- He was in the mood to kill, and with accuracy and power like that…
Suddenly, he stood up, and not even stopping to grab his backpack which he did in a walk-by, stepped out of the Pokemon Center.
Ziri didn't stop until he reached the training field, now his favorite haunt. It was now noontime, the sun beating down on his head, so he let all his Pokemon out and walked under the tree where yesterday morning, he had spied on Falkner…
He sat with his back against the trunk.
And he began slamming his head again and again against it, with every syllable punctuated by the self-inflicted punishment.
"I-" Wham "Am-" Wham "An" Wham "Idi-" Wham "Ot."
He repeated this three times, and when he finally stopped he felt the wetness running slowly down his neck and he quickly lay down. If any care existed in the world that Zirienji Axlhedron would always obey…
He would not get his favorite shirt wet with blood!
As he lay there, with his Pokemon worriedly gripping a part of him (Even Togepi was looking slightly worried), he began his thoughts. "How stupid am I?"
"I hate being drafted for anything that I don't want. I hate it, I absolutely hate it. But I'm in it, so I have to keep going."
"But I hate this, being forced to take part in something that I shouldn't. I swore a long time ago to never let people influence what I am and what I have to do. But here I am, now being forced to compete in something I hate!"
He yelled the last part so loud that his Pokemon all cowered, but with that outburst he calmed down. "It's not like it'll kill me…"
"But why do I always have to have people shove me into paths I never want?"
"Or," he mused, looking at the argument from another direction…
"Am I just too scared? I never wanted to be a trainer," Ziri said thoughtfully, and his Pokemon drew back, fearing that he would release them…
"But my mother told me to get a license, if only to get me out of my hell hole of a home town… I guess that's good. That's why I got a license so late, you know," he added, turning to Cyndaquil in particular. "I would have never met you if I had gotten my first Pokemon on my tenth birthday…"
His Cyndaquil looked offended at the notion, and squealed indignantly "CyndaCyndaQuil!"
"I know that you think I'd never choose anyone but you, and you're my best friend," Ziri said thoughtfully while Aipom looked angry at the comment and hopped onto his chest, chattering its rage. "Hey, calm down! You're my friend too…"
"No," Ziri corrected himself, "You're not friends."
"You're family."
They all looked at him, stunned. Togepi was first to speak up with a confused "Togepiiii?"
"Seriously. You guys… You're like brothers and sisters to me, the ones that I never had but I wish I did. You guys are better than any human besides my mother that came into my life. I'd shoot myself before I give you away, you know?"
They looked at him, expressions blank, and then they threw themselves at him, prompting him to sputter as he tried to break their grips of iron. "Garg- Get off- Owww- Hey- Dang it- Choking- Gurk-"
Five minutes later, after much wrestling, laughing, chattering, squealing, chirping, and good-natured swearing, he sat up, wiping the dried blood off the back of his neck.
"C'mon, guys," and he jogged to the gate.
Four hours later Ziri called it quits, tired, uncertain about tomorrow, most certainly dreading it, but definitely feeling an improvement over noontime- Which still hit him like a punch to the gut, the kind that sickened you for hours afterwards.
Four hours. It was working quite well.
As he sat in a café in the better part of town, trying to lie low (But failing), he kept having to listen to the loud suggestive comments that the girls kept passing as they walked by all too many times than physically possible for those who just dropped by into a café for a quick sip of coffee.
At that moment, he was sipping a cup of lukewarm jasmine tea, which was always his favorite type of drink (Coffee was too bitter for his tastes) and trying to melt into his chair.
"Man, life sucks," Ziri mumbled, only to himself. He was already missing the gang, because at the very least they gave him a sort of shield around him.
It was three days since they had given him that shield, and now he was already feeling too exposed for comfort.
Afar, while Ziri was too busy drowning himself in his own guilt and general insecurity, Synthia Renata was watching him with something of a pitying look.
She, of course, had no clue what was going through his head, but she got a good enough picture watching him trying to disappear into his chair and watching the women walk past him with the loud, suggestive voices.
One: He was uncomfortable in his own skin.
Two: He hated crowds. He hated them like the plague, but apparently…
Three: He had never had any true friends in his life- None that she could see, but at the very least no human friends.
She sighed. She pitied him, but what could she do? He had terrible, horrible, atrocious social skills, and besides, she was someone that he had learned to avoid whenever possible.
There was nothing she could do. Pushing herself off the wall and slipping on her sunglasses, she walked away.
The next morning, Hannah woke up and looked up blankly- Before like Alex yesterday, she had the breakdown and screamed.
Urya again was out. Gale again was in. Alex was also in again. The last two were officially damned- Well, at least their ears were.
Thirty minutes later, breakfast was finished, amid strange looks at this group of four (Urya had come back, saying in a down voice that he hadn't found Ziri anywhere), but for the most part they were ignored, because today after all was the contest- And that only made Hannah and Alex feel worse and worse about how it was going to go.
"You'll be fine!" Urya said cheerily as they walked out. "Me and Gale, we'll be cheering for you- Oww!"
Now he furiously rubbed his arm, mumbling about killjoys and depressing people while Gale determinedly looked on and Ragnarok the oddly-colored Beldum glared at his master's attacker. Hannah and Alex couldn't help but laugh, but there was a tinge of nervousness to their outbursts, and it was short anyway.
Gale sighed. Where was Ziri, the scapegoat to at least get their bad moods off?
Urya: Where was Ziri to lighten up the mood? Painfully or not? To give the encouragement if possible?
Alex: Where's Ziri to keep our nerves on the line?
Hannah: Where was Ziri to at least help them keep going? And to help her deal with her rage by being the punching bag?
The general theme: Where the heck was Ziri?
Ziri at that moment was on the Contest Hall's roof, busy keeping out an eye for the time.
The schedule, which he had swiped earlier today- Nine-thirty, last time for contestants to enter.
The show started at ten; therefore Ziri made an alarm for nine-twenty-nine on his Pokegear.
It was now nine-fifteen, and now he could spot the dark-flame-red hair that signaled from a mile away that Hannah was in. And there was Urya, with the weirdly-colored Beldum of doom, Blaze the Charmander sat on Alex's shoulder, and Gale… Well, was being Gale, slinking behind.
Ziri sighed. Nothing he could do now but wait.
Nine-thirty, and the doors closed behind them in the waiting room. Alex had changed into her Contest dress, and Hannah was feeling slightly left out upon realizing that the vast majority of people had special clothes that you'd never find anywhere else.
But wasn't this a Contest?
"Alright," came a voice, and Hannah snapped out of her observations to look at the female announce. "Let me take roll call here…"
"Zirienji Axlhedron?"
Silence, as she looked around, trying to find the hand raised that should have been there- But it wasn't. The announcer sighed. "Well, then he'll go last, if he's not here…"
"Alessandra Cesarini?"
Alex raised her hand, slightly shaking.
It went on. "Hannah Rangzeski?" The hand went up, and the announcer nodded.
And then it went to…
"May Maple?"
Hannah's, Alex's, and pretty much everyone else's eyes snapped to the lavishly dressed Queen of Hoenn. "Here," she said, a bit bashfully from all the attention that she was getting- But Hannah felt instantly ashamed, because May in contrast to the general jitters of most of the contestants was not nervous at all.
She tried steeling her nerves as roll call was finished; but the attempt failed, miserably.
Where was Ziri, anyway…?
Ziri had been standing outside the door, listening intently. Well, he was. As soon as it was all done he bolted for the crowd seats; he had nothing to fear, as long as he went last. If he would have been disqualified, then he would have jumped in, said his name and taken a seat. But no, he had lucked out quite well.
All that was left was to wait.
Alex's appeal had gone rather well- She had commanded Light the Eevee to use Quick Attack in a circle and used Swift, so that the stars that flew were caught in the mini-whirlwind that had formed. They spiraled upwards where they sprayed outwards in a literal "sprinkler" of stars.
The score: Eight, seven, seven. Grand total of twenty two.
As she skipped back to the waiting room, feeling elation, Hannah said a quick "Congrats," before she turned away. May, who was in the room as well, nodded appreciatively before looking at the next appeal…
Ziri wanted to say a word of congratulations, but he was stuck in the crowd. No such luck.
After a rather interesting performance, as in the combination of Fire Spin and Confuse Ray by a Ninetails, he looked away.
Time to remember what exactly he had planned…
Hannah now was up- As she walked onto the stage to somewhat muted applause (The men were all wolf-whistling), she looked determinedly on, and shouted "Go, Flora!"
The Chikorita appeared, and the crowd applauded louder this time as the popular looked around, basking in the attention. "Chika!" she cried, raising a leg in response to the ovation.
The guise of what she was about to do was simple; Alex had an idea of what was going on, but…
"Flora, Razor Leaf!"
The flurry of leaves flew upwards, like they'd rehearsed last night; now came…
"Vine Whip! Whack them out of the air!"
As ordered, the leaves stopped the spinning motion. Now, Hannah called "Balance them!"
Like dinner plates, the falling leaves that were flapping in the air were snagged, and then thrown up in some semi-balance of order. Before they could fall, the vines reached up…
And like a waiter- A really long-limbed waiter, they all were balanced there like dinner plates. The crowd took three seconds- A full three seconds, the longest span of time in Hannah's lifetime, before they filled the hall with applause and cheering- No real wolf-whistling here.
Smiling, she returned Flora, who looked abashed by the attention and pretty much skipped back to the waiting room, which was technically impossible with two-and-a-half in heels- And promptly feel over a broom an inattentive janitor had chosen to leave there right outside the waiting room. She finished cursing and rubbing her knees the moment her hand reached the door, and she hobbled in-
To reveal a standing ovation, though it was short as another competitor quickly left the door Hannah had open, murmuring "Nice" in the process.
Hannah managed to hide the limp long enough to take a seat next to the smiling Alex. "How'd you think?" she whispered.
"Not bad, and you left before they gave you your scores…"
"Oh."
The room shared a quiet laugh as Hannah burned bright red with embarrassment. At least, until someone told her that she'd gotten two seven-and-a-half decisions and one seven.
"That ties me with you, right?" Hannah wondered aloud as they watched the appeal via the installed monitors on the ceiling.
"Yep, and right now we're the two top contenders" Alex began when suddenly she stopped, her face changing expression to one of total annoyance. "Oh, great. Her."
Like Hannah, Synthia Renata didn't have a Contest outfit, but her counterpart knew that she'd have no trouble having the men in the crowd slavishly gawk at her. "I don't like to be referred to as a pronoun," she said snippishly. "So how about you refer to me as my actual name?"
"Why would we?" Hannah spoke up this time. "You won't refer to us by our names-"
"You two are wallflowers, after all-"
Hannah jumped up, but tripped over Light, who was taking a nap. The Eevee yelped as it flew forward, rudely awakened, smacking Synthia in her face; Hannah fell this time on her side and lay there, groaning with pain.
The entire room was silent, while Alex ran over, picked up the whimpering Light and gave both girls dirty looks before sitting down.
The buzzer sounded: "May Maple," came the mechanical voice.
Quickly, the queen of Hoenn got up, gave a nervous smile to all, and walked with amazing calmness out the door.
Immediately, everyone turned to watch the monitors, as the Queen of Hoenn came out to thunderous applause.
Ziri had enthusiastically applauded for Alex and Hannah, but he couldn't for May Maple of Petalburg City, since she fit with his definition of Contests and girls. What that meant was: What the hell was with that dress?! Her midriff was exposed, and he could see pretty much all the men the crowd paying a lot of attention to the skin of that area…
"Go, Glaceon!"
The Fresh Snow Pokemon appeared in a flash of white light, and there was enthusiastic applause for the rare Pokemon. Ziri quickly took out his Pokedex, and turned it down- Though it wasn't actually necessary, given that the crowd was already so ridiculously loud…
"Glaceon, the Fresh Snow Pokemon. By controlling its body temperature, it can create a diamond-dust flurry. It can completely freeze its fur to make its hair stand up like needles."
Ziri put away the Pokedex just as the cheers had died down, and settled down to watch as May made her move. "Glaceon, use Ice Beam!"
Opening its mouth, it sent forward bolts of a cold blue light, which upon hitting the ground suddenly created a massive, glittering piece of ice. Now, May called "Iron Tail!"
Is she splitting that thing in half? Ziri wondered as the Glaceon charged, tail glowing.
"Aww, I like Glaceons," Urya whined from where they watched, on the other side of the seating area.
"I know you do, but-" Gale began irritably,
"See? Even Yuki likes them!" Urya exclaimed, as the Eevee popped out, watching the performance with dazzled eyes.
No, she wasn't going to shoot for something as crude as that. Instead, the Glaceon instead went for a glancing blow… And more, and more, and more.
Ziri blinked, as he realized exactly what was being created here.
She was making a damned sculpture!
And what else, when the Glaceon stopped moving, the blur of light blue condensing into a clear image of the Pokemon, would the sculpture had been but of a Glaceon- A perfect replication of the one that had just finished carving it. As the now dimmed tail flicked in pleasure at the enthusiastic applause, Ziri's eyes turned to the judges, who were pushing in their scores…
Nine. Nine. And another nine. In total, a good twenty-seven points. May Maple left the stage with a smile on her face, accompanied by her happy Glaceon and followed by the thundering cheers of her many fans.
Everyone watched the performance with silence, as the prospect of being completely beaten down by a massive twenty-six fell onto everyone's mind. Hannah felt slightly sick, but at the very least, she and Alex had good twenty-twos…
"That's an okay performance," Synthia said dryly, "But of course, I can do better…"
"Shut it," Alex snapped, nettled. "Say it when you've proved it!"
"I have, unaware one." And with that, she pulled out what the two recognized as a Ribbon case, and revealed to them one ribbon, glittering within.
That instantly shut them both up, as they both gaped at her. "You… You're the one who won the Cherrygrove Contest?" Hannah said in a whisper.
"Obviously, fool," she said snippishly. "Which means I'm more senior than you… Oh, and my turn's up," she added as the door opened and in came May. Standing up, she walked through and shut the door behind her.
For once, Hannah had nothing to say.
"And now, please welcome our next contestant… The previous winner of the Cherrygrove City Pokemon Contest, Synthia Renata!"
There was quite a bit of applause- And some wolf-whistling (Though somewhat less than her significantly more voluptuous rival) as well. She walked to the center, smiling and blowing kisses to the crowd.
The cheers died down; now for the main event. Taking out her Pokeball, she threw it up, shouting "Let's get the show on the road, Meowth!"
The Scratch Cat appeared, and now mewed cutely to the crowd. Some of the women in the audience ohhhed their affinity for such a cute Pokemon, but that wasn't all.
"Go, Meowth!" she called. "Pay Day!"
Suddenly, the air was filled with a barrage of coins rather similar to the one on its forehead. "Now follow up with Shockwave!"
Immediately, with a mewing cry, the Scratch Cat sent a bolt of electricity outwards, sending voltage coursing through all the coins. Now, everyone saw the point of this demonstration: The coins were all arranged in the shape…
Of a Pokeball, complete with the smaller circle in the center and the line interrupted extending from its side. The bluish bolts of electricity ran its course, and now the hall shook with the force of hundreds of people cheering.
The judges gave their scores so fast, that Ziri wondered if they had already decided on them beforehand.
Nine. Nine. Eight. Yet again, another twenty-seven.
Hannah felt cold. No, it wasn't the air conditioner was turned on too high, it was rather the sheer amount of fear she felt.
She didn't know what to do anymore. She didn't even care if Ziri was missing, she was going to humiliate herself before long, and that was even if she got into the battle rounds. There was no way she could compare…
After two more lackluster performances, by people obviously intimidated by the performance of the Princess of Hoenn and the previous one, all before them, Ziri was ready to die of pure boredom. When the heck was going to be his turn-?
Suddenly, from the far left of the hall where he sat, opposite from where Urya and Gale were seated (The far right, but not that he knew that), he realized that the announcer was suddenly talking to the judges, and they seemed to be in the midst of a heated discussion. Now, the entire audience took notice, and whispers floated through the entire hall. Knowing his time was near, Ziri slipped out of his seat and positioned himself at the very end of the nearest aisle, where he got on all four limbs, much like a sprinter. Speed was needed for what he had in mind next.
"What are they doing?" Urya grumbled impatiently. "And where the hell is Ziri?"
Gale just shook his head.
In the waiting room, everyone was just as confused. "Shouldn't there be a sixteenth person?" May said worriedly.
"The announcer said that he'll go last," Alex said, and Hannah noticed a hard edge to her voice.
"But," May said, gesturing towards the general population of the room, "Where is he, anyway?"
On the stage, soon to be battlefield if things went well, the announcer and the three judges seemed to have come to a decision. "And now," she announced, though Ziri detected an uncertain tone in her voice and so tensed his own muscles. "Let's welcome the final contestant here today…"
The crowd waited, with bated breath.
Gale and Urya tensed, realizing that Ziri's time was near.
Hannah raised her head upwards, for the first time in five minutes, to look at the screens. Alex was also staring, as was everyone else.
"Zirienji Axlhedron-!"
Ziri bolted, as in blur-running, towards the stage.
"What's that-" Alex began, noticing a blur on the corner of the monitors, but there was no time to say anything else on the subject in the next few seconds.
Blur-running involved pushing himself to the limit. Or breaking them down, Ziri had once mused to himself, when he timed himself and realized that he could travel a mile in some thirty seconds this way.
What was fifty feet of carpeted floor between two horizontal columns of seats to him?
He reached within ten feet of the stage, and here was the tricky part- The stage was six feet up the floor, to give the crowd a better look at what went on. But that meant leaping on leg power would be useless.
So he jump-dived forward, and landed in a handstand on the floor, making sure to half-collapse his elbow. This was exactly like using Blaze the Charmander's head as a footstool, save one thing- He had no footstool and only the floor.
Not that it actually mattered, because then Ziri shoved himself off the floor with all the power his previously bent and now stiff arm could muster, and the ground gave up possession of his being.
After exactly five complete spins vertically through the air, he felt gravity begin to take hold once more, and he readied himself for the early landing-
Automatically, upon feeling the ground, his knees collapsed- Only halfway, but still. His arms flew out to the side, open-handed, and so he looked up, still keeping everything except his neck and head in that same position.
"Did someone call?"
Hannah's, Alex's, May's, and pretty much the entire population of the waiting room stared at the screen, stunned.
"What- What-" May stuttered, incapable of processing the feat of physical strength and control that the teenager on screen had just performed.
"Don't worry," Alex said, finding her voice, "He does this every two days, at our expense-"
Everyone's eyes swiveled to her. "You know this guy?"
"You forget me," Hannah snapped, still having not taken her eyes off the monitor.
Urya and Gale together stared at Ziri's posed form, and began clapping.
Soon the entire crowd joined together in clapping, whooping, cheering, and roaring their support for this person in the midst of the crowd who had before his time had even started given them a show.
On the stage, the announcer and the judges stared at him, openmouthed, even as Ziri straightened his body and brushed off the arm that had pushed him skywards. "So," he said, in a matter-of-fact tone, "Do I get to do my appeal now?"
They nodded, and that meant one thing in his mind- Get the heck in, do his act, and then get out and see if he stayed. So he sauntered over to the edge of the field, and took a deep breath, the jitters suddenly knocking him out of his high. He reached for the one Pokeball that held the one Pokemon that had a chance of appealing of all the Pokemon he owned…
When his Pokegear rang.
Ziri blinked twice, before he sighed and answered it to the amusement of the crowd.
"That breaks the mood," Hannah commented as she tore her eyes off the monitor. "What?" she snapped, when she noticed everyone seemed to staring at her and Alex.
They instantly looked away.
"Hey, Professor Elm," Ziri said conversationally, though that kind of thing was the last thing in his mind in this situation. "Look, can we talk-"
"Oh yes, we can talk," the professor said breathlessly as the entire crowd burst into quiet talking about this kid in direct contact with the region's most famed Pokemon Professor. "I've got another egg that I need you to hatch for me-"
Ziri groaned. "Do I actually have to go all the way back to New Bark Town now?" he grumbled as he jammed his free left hand in his pocket and began pacing around the stage.
"No, my aide already has it in the Pokemon Center."
Ziri stopped and fell over the edge of the stage in shock. "What?"
The fall sent the entire hall into an uproar. Everyone was out of their seats, and then back in slowly as they watched the boy quickly climb back over the ledge, dusting himself off. "A-are you alright, young man?" came the concerned cry of Violet's City mayor, who happened to be one of the judges.
"Yeah, yeah," Ziri said distractedly, and waved them off.
"That is so Ziri," Gale groaned. "Taking a six-foot fall, and then climbing up as if nothing had happened. What is he?"
"You said it," Urya agreed.
"He is the craziest person I've ever met."
That was Hannah's blunt take on the boy, while Alex stared indignantly.
"He knows Professor Elm personally?!"
"Okay, I'll pick it up after I'm done here, Professor, so could you please hang up?"
"What?!" Alex screeched. "Doesn't he have any respect for a famous Pokemon Professor-?"
On stage, Ziri quickly closed the phone and put it away as fast as possible, to the general titters of the crowd.
"Can we get the show on the road? Now?" he snarled at the judges and announcers, who immediately backed away at the tone.
"Good." And with that, he grabbed his Pokeball yet again, and threw it upwards, so that it barely missed hitting the ceiling-
"Togepi, let's go!"
The Spike Ball Pokemon popped out, chirping merrily as it waggled its stubby forearms at the crowd, who suddenly seemed to be swooning with adoring at its utter and total cuteness. Ziri sighed; this was going to be trouble if he wanted to stay away from these stupid Contest… things. Waiting until the ohhhing and ahhhing had finished, he then called, "Togepi, spin in a circle and use Charm!"
As it whirled around as per its order, Togepi sent out a stream of hearts that floated above the heads of the audience, enticing clapping for the opening act. Well, the hearts didn't fly over the heads of the audience as in directly overhead, but simply hovered over the stage, as per rehersal.
"That's a pretty appealing, but not exactly original act," Synthia noted dryly. "How many people have used that trick-?"
Ziri took a deep breath.
All or nothing time.
He raised his voice.
"Togepi, Metronome!"
The entire audience and the inhabitants of the waiting room were stunned into silence.
"Is he insane?" May said as she gaped at the monitors in utter and sheer disbelief. "Does he know-"
"How many ways this could go right and how many more ways it could go wrong?" Hannah finished. "I think he does, but I told you he was the craziest person I know-"
Togepi stopped spinning, chirping as it waggled its forelimbs, creating a glow on them.
And then it faded, and it blinked twice.
"Uh-oh," Urya mumbled.
Not really.
Suddenly, it opened its mouth, and Ziri, noticing, quickly called "Start spinning!"
He had no clue what it was about to do, but-
Flames immediately burst out, as Togepi spun around, so that when the flames flew, they…
Instantly ignited the hearts still floating in midair.
Everyone in the hall gasped, cried out, laughed, and cheered as the hearts, now burning and propelled by the flames, floated well and truly above the crowd. Some even floated so low that Ziri saw some idiotic children try to catch them- They actually did, to his amazement, and only laughed at what he could tell was in actuality weak warmth before they let go.
His Pokedex, unbidden in his pocket, chimed "Flamethrower, a fire-type move. The user releases a steady streams of powerful flames that may burn the foe."
The judges looked at each other, again openmouthed, and back again. "Are you done-?" the Nurse Joy of the local Pokemon Center asked him rather shakily-
Suddenly, he felt the recklessness flood his system, and before he could realize it he had yelled "One more Metronome!"
That was when he realized what he had done, and backed away, a terrified expression on his face.
"Ziri's gone over the line now," Alex said resignedly as everyone else stared at the screen in horror.
Again, not really.
Instead of spitting out flames this time…
The body of the Spike Ball Pokemon now lit up with cackling blue electricity. With a squeal of "Togepiiiii!!!" it suddenly got a look of concentration across its face before it let loose a multi-directional, radial barrage of bolts in all directions. Yelping, Ziri ducked just as one blasted over his head-
He then heard a sudden storm of noises that could be described as pops, and he looked up to see the burning hearts that had been slowly flying around bursting in red-and-yellow dust, to the pleasure of the crowd who gave a roar of approval.
Ziri looked around, stunned. Everywhere there was the sparkling dust, which floated down gently. He looked at Togepi, who stared back innocently. The message was clear:
You ordered that, not me.
"So we celebrate?" he said softly.
Instead of answering, Togepi dashed towards him and jumped. Laughing, Ziri caught it- But was unprepared for the impact, which made him stagger backwards as he checked his Pokedex. "Discharge, an electric-type move. The user unleashes a large burst of electricity going in all directions."
Nasty, Ziri thought to himself, but thankfully…
He turned to his scores and almost dropped Togepi.
Eight and-a-half. Eight and-a-half. And, the score of Violet City's Nurse Joy…
Ten.
Ziri paled and groaned simultaneously, the first at his horror of getting a perfect ten and rivaling the top two and the Princess of Hoenn herself, and groaned at the fact that the Nurse Joy seemed to have fainted…
From the performance, or the fact that it appeared that the bolt that Ziri had seen going over his head earlier might have hit her without anyone noticing and then causing her to somehow bash the score by accident, the reason of her falling unconscious he couldn't tell…
He still felt giddy anyway, as he returned Togepi and walked off the stage to a crowd chanting his name: "Ziri, Ziri, Ziri, Ziri…"
"Wow," Urya said, as their ears rang from the din.
"You said it," Gale affirmed, and quickly sprinted off.
When Ziri, still high from his incredible luck and score opened the door to the waiting room he found fifteen pairs of eyes staring at him. All he could say was a conversational "What?"
Silence. Well, for the first three seconds. Then, Hannah spoke up, and with gritted teeth she said with venom that could have made an Arbok scamper:
"Where the hell were you?"
Ziri wanted to cower, but he stood firm. "On the roof."
Fifteen pairs of jaws dropped, as they all chorused a collective "What?"
"I was on the roof until the last minute," he quickly explained, "So that I wouldn't have to deal with actually going into this room until after I was finished. Besides, there's nothing to do in this place beforehand-"
"Last night," Alex quickly interjected, "Where were you?"
Ziri instinctively flinched. "Sleeping outside Violet City."
Alex blinked twice. "Wha-?"
"I," he repeated, "Was sleeping outside until six in the morning, when I woke up, warmed up, did a few last minute rehearsals-"
"Rehearsals?" Hannah said in disbelief. "You call what you just did rehearsable?"
"Not really," he mumbled, "I just wanted to get the idea… But," he added, looking around, "Wasn't that combination awesome?"
"Actually," May interjected, "That was one of the best appeals I've ever seen. You're named Ziri, right…?"
The boy in question blinked, before he nodded. She gave him a good look. "You're not a normal coordinator, are you-?"
"An overzealous attendant registered him, and he went psycho yesterday," Hannah interjected irritably. "Now…"
She stalked over, hand raised to slap him- Ziri instantly cowered against the door- When she tripped over the hem of someone's dress.
But this time, Ziri was there, and he instantly grabbed her shoulders and propped her up.
"I knew it!" he crowed suddenly, after they stared into each other's eyes for a second, causing her to blush slightly, "You can't survive without me-!"
That was when she balled her right hand into a fist and punched him as hard as she could.
The door opened, and an attendant- Not the one that had been giving Ziri so much trouble- walked in, saying "Everyone, the announcement of next round is in ten minutes-"
And then she noticed the body of Ziri at her feet with a bloody jaw, a flush-faced Hannah staring at him, livid, and fourteen other people looking rather guilty for being there.
She fainted.
Gale charged into view, skidding into a stop. "Where's Ziri?" he demanded as soon as he caught sight of a certain girl with a rather furious look on her face.
A second later, he caught sight of the fainted attendant, Ziri lying in front of her with blood trickling from his jaw and a bemused expression on his face, and the fact that Hannah's right knuckles were rather swollen, and he got the picture. "Uh, did you kill him this time?" he asked meekly.
"Unfortunately, no," she growled, as Ziri snapped his eyes open and jumped up.
"What did I miss?" he asked innocently, discretely swiping the side of his mouth with the back of his hand. "Don't worry," he added to the stunned waiting room occupants, well, at least beside him, Hannah, and Alex, "She does that to me every day."
Everyone quickly retreated into their seats.
Suddenly, the monitors, which had indiscreetly turned off some time ago, suddenly came to life with a new announcement. "…Thanks, Bob, for that story… Now, let's go to Violet City, where the Contest there has apparently become more than just a cakewalk for the Princess of Hoenn, May Maple who has recently come here to Johto to compete. Although she has done well, there are two others who have done just as well-" Ziri groaned while Synthia looked on proudly "But let's go to the best highlight of what we've seen. Here's a replay of one of Miss Maple's new contenders, and perhaps the wild card in this Contest, Zirienji Axlhedron's very own stunning entrance- And even more stunning performance. Take a look."
Ziri tried to vanish into a wall as they replayed everything- Everything, all the way from his entrance from the audience (They replayed the airborne part for at least five times), his hurried conversation with Professor Elm, and finally the Charm and the two Metronomes.
The newscaster seemed to be composed after seeing it, but Ziri could tell a slight quaver in his voice. "And that's the replay, folks. We've just received word that this particular coordinator only two days ago won the Zephyr Badge from Violet City's own Falkner… Oh, and here, in a special guest appearance, is Professor Elm of New Bark Town."
Ziri ran for it- Well, would have, if Hannah hadn't snagged onto his arm and Gale shoving him back into the room. The live picture of the brown-haired professor appeared, and Ziri groaned. "Oh yes, hello everyone… I do believe that everyone may have heard the phone conversation that I had with Ziri just a few minutes ago-"
The anchor couldn't help but chuckle. "Yes, we all saw that, and something that made this young man in question" Ziri groaned at this "fall off the stage… That was said by you, wasn't it?"
"Yes," the Professor said, vigorously nodding. "I'm afraid I can't disclose that, since Ziri is one of my most trusted helpers-"
"When you say Ziri," the newscaster interrupted, "and say that he's your most trusted helpers, do you mean you know him personally?"
"Yes, I've known him since he was ten. He only seven days ago received his first Pokemon. I'm happy that he's experienced incredible growth on his journey, but if he's watching, I just want to say a few words- Never ever think that you've been defeated, because there's always tomorrow. You're only a beginner in the world of Pokemon, so remember that you'll take losses just as well as your spectacular victories. Well, thank you for having me!"
"Thank you for being-" the anchor began, when he realized Professor Elm had already hung up. Sighing, he added "We have just gotten notice that there is what appears to be a massive crowd in front of the Contest Hall in Violet City… The police are attempting to disperse them, but it appears that all of them are not interested in rioting, they only want to see this new blood in action."
"In other news…"
It immediately shut off, and now everyone was yet again staring at Ziri, who by now…
Had, to everyone's shock, broken free of the combined double-death grips and disappeared. The owners of the previously mentioned death grips were nowhere to be seen. And there was one number subtracted from those that remained in the room…
Well, no, they had actually dragged him out to the lobby, which was empty- Save for the people on the other side of the doors. Urya was waiting, and he quickly demanded "How the heck are you so lucky? And where were you?"
"Ditching you guys?" he mumbled helplessly.
The all glared at him. "The heck you had to run off for?" Urya exclaimed. "Did you think it was going to be a one man show here-?"
Ziri's mind drifted off to Professor Elm's final words before he had gotten off the air.
"Remember that you'll take losses just as well as your spectacular victories."
He knew that- But the last few days he had dispelled all thoughts of loss. His two battles with the boy who had stolen Totodile, the sort-of battle with that idiot Bug Catcher, the battle with Gale, and finally the battle with Falkner and the spectacular luck he had with the appeals round- That had erased all unease he had with beginning his journey. Those were all victories, in his name and totally undisputed.
But now, with Professor Elm's words ringing through his head, he suddenly felt like a mortal again.
"-I don't get why you don't understand- We were worried!"
Ziri snapped back from his thoughts at those words, realizing with shock that Alex had spoken them- The same girl that he had so calmly caused pain to yesterday. "Um… thanks?" he said meekly.
"Geez, Ziri," Urya interjected, "It's like you never had friends before us…"
You don't know how true that is.
So that ends this week's updates. The battles are next, so be prepared for explosions, loud sounds of pain, and flames... Lots of flames ;D
Well, don't flame me... But review! Please!! With a Cherim berry on top!!!