Ok so I was watching Pokemon the other day and was inspired to write this chapter so I hope you enjoy it. Oh, and I'd like to thank everyone for their reviews :)
The next few days all seemed to blur together. I pretty much avoided everyone by only leaving my room to eat. To say I was depressed would be putting it mildly. Everyone tried to comfort me but the only ones that could do that were in the hands of Brian's crazy brother. I felt completely alone. Brian wanted nothing to do with me, but that might have been because I blew up at him.
"How could you let them take him?" I asked him.
"How did this turn out to be my fault? You don't even remember anything that happened!" He replied.
"Well if you had done something then he wouldn't be gone!" I shouted.
"Then next time I'll leave you to bleed to death in the woods. Not that you'd remember if I did anyway." He said back in anger and stormed off.
Ok so yelling and blaming him was completely uncalled for, but I was in a bad mood. I couldn't help but wonder why he was so upset that I couldn't remember the part where he brought me to the hospital. I kept trying to remember what happened between us during that time but it always came back as a blur.
I heard a knock on my door for the second time that morning but I once again ignored it.
"You can't stay in there forever Kate!" April yelled from the other side. I didn't bother responding.
"Come on Kate, open the door," Caleb tried but I ignored him too. Why couldn't they just understand I wanted to be alone?
"Don't tell me you forgot what today is!" April shouted. Actually I did forget. I didn't even know it was an important day.
"It's the Princess Festival and I'm not going to let you miss out on the one day of the year that we can boss around Caleb!" She yelled as she some how managed to open the door. I had completely forgotten about the Princess Festival. As a kid Alec used to always take me shopping and buy me all sorts of candy but after he left I stopped celebrating it.
"Go away." I mumbled into my pillow.
"Not a chance! We're going shopping right now!" She said as she pushed me out of my bed causing me to hit the floor with a thud. I glared up at her and she smiled.
"I'm not going," I stated.
"What good is sulking around going to do?" She asked as she crossed her arms.
I didn't really have an answer.
"Exactly, now let's go! I even got Steven and Cal to come! It'll be fun," She urged.
I noticed that Brian's name wasn't included and felt a little disappointed.
"So if she doesn't want to go does that mean I can leave?" Brian asked with a sigh from the doorway. I looked up surprised to see him staring at me expectantly.
"You didn't say you got him to come," I said as I looked over at April.
"I figured it was obvious, he goes with you everywhere." She stated.
I looked down at my pajamas and back at everyone else in the room.
"Ok, just let me change first." I mumbled.
"Yay! We're going to have so much fun!" April cheered while both boys just groaned.
"Ah the Princess Festival, it's the time of year where pretty girls run around the streets killing each other over clothes. It's like a guy paradise." Cal said as we walked the streets of the town.
"Quit being such a pervert." April said with a glare.
We had already been to a ton of stores and bought all sorts of clothes that we didn't need but it actually helped to take my mind off of things. The best part of it all was the fact that the guys carried all of our stuff.
"How much shopping can two girls do?" Caleb complained as we sat down to eat lunch. The best part about lunch was girls ate free, and of course Caleb complained about that too.
"Quit complaining, you're the one who agreed to come with us." April stated.
"Only to get Kate out of that room," He replied.
"I'd say that's the reason we all came," Steven agreed.
"Thanks," I muttered and received a table full of smiles, well aside from Brian.
"You know we should hurry up and eat if we want to make it to the competition on time." Cal stated.
"What competition?" April asked.
"The battle competition they hold every year for the ladies." He replied.
"Who said we wanted to take part?" She questioned.
"Well actually the reason we need to get there is because I offered up Brian to go on a date with the girl that wins." He stated.
"You did what!" Brian yelled while I choked on my drink.
"Well, my buddy Jim who plans it every year asked me if you'd be interested." Cal answered.
"So you told him yes without even asking me?" Brian asked sounding pissed.
"I really didn't think you'd mind. It's not like you have a girlfriend or anything, what's one little date?" Cal said with a shrug as he looked over at me with a strange smile. Brian looked like he was ready to kill him.
"Well then what are we waiting for?" April said as she stood up. We all looked at her questioningly.
"Do you want to be the one that kept Brian Dean from all his crazy fan girls?" She asked me with a wink. I could tell exactly what she was doing.
Everyone seemed to agree and we made our way to the area that the competition was happening at. All the girls stared at Brian and I was annoyed until I noticed he didn't even pay any attention to them.
"Well I have to take Brian to tell Jim he's here." Cal said as he led an annoyed Brian away.
"And now we have to go check in," April said as she led me to the sign up table.
"You want to win a date with Brian?" I asked with a raised eyebrow as we signed in.
"No, but I'm not going to miss out on a chance to battle," She laughed.
"And besides, I'll help you get rid of some of the competition," She added with a wink.
"If you say so, I bet Pikachu would've loved to enter," I said with a sigh.
"I bet he would also love for you to stop worrying," She replied.
We signed up and were given numbers. Mine was forty while April's was thirty-nine.
"Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to this years Princess Festival battle competition!" A woman that was wearing a very revealing dress shouted into a microphone. She was standing on the largest of many stages that I assumed were for all the battles.
"I hope all the ladies have signed up, and if you haven't yet I'd do it now because this year's prize is a date with the one and only Brian Dean!" She yelled as all the girls in the crowed cheered like crazy while April and I rolled our eyes.
"Do half these girls even know how to battle?" April questioned as we walked back over to where the guys were.
"I doubt it, which means an easy win for us." I replied and she smiled.
As we walked back a girl with blonde wavy hair bumped into me.
"Sorry," I said as I turned around to look at her. I quickly recognized her as a girl from the resistance base.
"Well if it isn't Kate Leaf," She said with a glare.
"I hope you're not planning on entering, because I'm going to win that date with Brian. I'm sure he wouldn't want to go on a date with you anyway, he's probably already tired of having you follow him everywhere." She added.
It was my turn to glare as my fists clenched at my sides.
"Well if it isn't little Smelanie Melanie," April said as she turned around to also glare at Melanie.
"I hope you're not planning on stinking up the competition." She added with a smirk.
Melanie just huffed and stormed away.
"Smelanie Melanie?" I questioned.
"I gave her that nickname years ago, I'd say I lacked originality back then." April replied with a shrug and we both laughed.
"And when someone insults you, you're supposed to insult back." She stated.
"I'm not very good at that."
"We'll work on it," She said as we finally walked back up to the guys.
"All signed up?" Steven asked and we nodded our heads.
"Don't you need two Pokemon to enter?" Caleb asked April.
"You seem to be forgetting the one I got from my brother," She replied as she held out her new pokeball.
"Oh yeah, what's in it?" I asked.
"I can't tell you that, you're the competition," She stated and I frowned.
"Will all the ladies taking part in the competition please make their way to the stages. We will now be getting started." The announcer woman yelled over her microphone.
April and I made our way to the front of the stages with all the other girls. I finally noticed just how many girls there were.
"Since there are so many girls here this year, we're going to have a knock out round. You will all be matched with someone at random. Beat your opponent in a one on one match to move on to the next round." She said with fake enthusiasm.
The numbers were then scrambled together and the matches were shown on a large screen hanging above the main stage. I was paired against number forty-five while April was paired against number twenty.
I was a little overwhelmed by all the battles going on, on the stages around me. I looked over to see my opponent was a tall red headed girl. She looked at me with such determination I almost felt bad when Chikorita knocked out her Meowth in one hit. For the rest of the battles we were allowed two Pokemon but they were all still just as easy as the first, I only had to use Chikorita. It seemed as though none of the girls were even trainers and only entered so they could win the date. Most of the girls that made it to the final eight were from the resistance. When the matches for the semi-finals came up I was surprised to find I'd be battling April. Only one of us was going on to the finals and I knew it had to be me.
"Don't think I'm going to go easy on you," She stated with a look of determination.
"Right back at you," I replied.
Like me, April had won all her previous battles with just one Pokemon which was Jolteon. I was a little anxious to see what her mystery Pokemon was.
"Chikorita, use razor leaf!" I called out starting the battle.
"Dodge it!" April responded and Jolteon easily avoided the leafs exactly as I planned.
"Now vine whip!" I commanded and Chikorita's vines hit Jolteon before he even had time to react.
"Pin missile!" April shouted. Jolteon quickly shot out the attack. Which Chikorita avoided and used a razor leaf, hitting Jolteon directly.
"Finish it off with a tackle!" I called and Chikorita knocked out Jolteon.
April smirked as she returned her now fainted Pokemon. I tensed as she pulled out the pokeball she got from her brother. From the look on her face I could tell it had to be strong. And as she threw the pokeball in the air I was afraid of what I would be up against. I was surprised when the Pokemon released from the ball was just a small Vulpix. She let out a yawn as she looked over at Chikorita and then back to April as if she wasn't sure April was seriously going to make her battle. Battling looked like the last thing she wanted to do.
"That's it?" I questioned.
"Vulpix use firespin!" April shouted catching me off guard. The attack hit Chikorita and knocked her out. I had to admit the Vulpix was strong.
"Hey I wasn't ready!" I yelled over to her.
"Well that's your fault," She said with a shrug.
With a growl I returned Chikorita to her pokeball. I then sent out Arcanine. It had been a while since I battled with him and thought he could use the exercise, that and I knew if I battled with him there was no way I'd lose. As soon as Vulpix saw Arcanaine she yelped and ran back over April refusing to fight.
"You've got to be kidding me! Get back out there and fight!" April yelled at her, but Vulpix just shook her head.
"Vulpix forfeits the battle, Kate is the winner!" The announcer stated.
I let out a cheer as April came walking over to me.
"You made me think you had a big strong Pokemon!" I stated.
"That was the point, I just wanted to psych you out," She replied with a wink.
"Why?" I questioned.
She just shrugged and laughed as she walked off the stage with me following behind her.
"We will now take an hour break for the two finalists to rest their Pokemon," The announcer screeched into the microphone.
"So who's the other finalist?" I asked April as we walked.
"You didn't notice?" April said as she motioned toward the screen that showed who the finalists were. I looked up to see none other than Smelanie Melanie.
"How did she make it to the finals?" I questioned.
"She's actually pretty good, she beat all of her opponents with just her Staryu." Caleb answered as we walked up to our group of guys.
I noticed Brian and Cal had also rejoined them. I saw Melanie walk by and smirk at me and then disappear into the crowd but not before blowing a kiss to Brian.
"If you lose, I'm going to kill you." He stated as he watched her walk away with a look of annoyance.
"Why? Do you really want to go on a date with me that badly?" I joked as I nudged him with my elbow.
"Hardly," He stated as he walked away to talk to Cal leaving me with a frown.
After an hour of sitting around I was ready to face off against Melanie.
"Ladies and Gentlemen we will now begin the final round of our competition." The announcer called out.
"The battle is between number thirteen, Melanie Cross," She paused and the crowd cheered as she made her way onto the stage.
"And number forty, Kate Leaf," After she called my name the cheers grew even louder.
"Is it just me or did the crowd seem extra cheerful when my name was called," I said.
"Of course they're happy, people want you to win the date," April replied.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because, everyone is just waiting for you and Brian to get together," She answered.
"Why would people think we're ever going to get together?" I questioned as I looked over at Brian who just rolled his eyes like this wasn't the first he'd heard of it.
"Well you do spend all your time together. It's bound to happen sometime," She said with a wink.
"They even have couple names for you," She added.
"And those would be?"
"Well some are calling you guys 'Brate' while others think 'Krian' sounds better. Personally I'm a 'Brate' fan," She said as I gave her an annoyed look.
Feeling completely embarrassed I made my way to the stage.
"Ready to lose?" Melanie called over to me.
"Hardly," I replied copying the tone Brian had used earlier.
There was no way I was going to allow myself to lose.
Ok so for everyone that doesn't know what the Princess Festival is, it's the one day of the year that's all about girls. It was in the very first season of Pokemon and I named this chapter after the episode so if you want to know more about the Princess Festival you should watch it :) And don't forget to leave a review!