"Now everybody, yes, now everybody," the announcer was having to practically scream into the microphone to make himself heard over the noises of the other competitors, and the horrible screeching of the microphone was grating on my nerves. "If you will kindly follow the proctors, yes, follow the proctors they will lead you the short walk towards the setting for the third and final preliminary!"
"I wonder where we're going…" Nikki mused softly.
I didn't get the chance to answer her, as suddenly the crowd began to move. Thankfully, instead of moving in one big swarm of people, everyone separated into groups with the occasional loner tagging along at their own pace. And instead of one mad rush like I had anticipated, people were moving at their own pace. This left myself, my travelling party and the three friends (could I really call them that?) I had amassed over the day to walk comfortably towards wherever our destination was.
As a nervous Nikki repeated her question from earlier, I jumped as a breezy and enthusiastic Luca suddenly pulled in next to us. "They said the third challenge was a campside challenge!" He said with a beaming smile, effortlessly raising his voice just loud enough for us to hear him over the annoyingly loud chatter from the other trainers. "Making a fire, pitching a tent and catching a Magikarp, right?"
"So…?" Jasmine asked, a little standoffishly.
"Well, I think we're going to be near water!" Luca concluded, looking proud of himself.
"Thank you Captain Obvious," Selphie, who was looking less than impressed to have to be walking somewhere, was swigging slowly from a bottle of water as she rebuked Luca.
Scott suddenly let out an exasperated sigh, before shooting me a fierce look. "Sienna, where did you find these people?" he asked, not even bothering to lower his voice or soften his tones at all.
Before I could answer, and to my immediate horror, Selphie immediately rounded on Scott, looking furious. "What do you mean by that!" she demanded of him.
Scott raised one eyebrow at the fierce tomboy, a glare spreading across his face. Selphie looked completely unthreatened, and returned the glare with equal intensity. I winced.
"Hey, guys, come on. Chill out," Grey, who had also appeared from seemingly nowhere, was now frowning at the warring Selphie and Scott. "There's no need for that,"
"You're wasting your breath, Grey…" I remarked.
He looked at me in a confused manner, and then frowned again as, right on cue, a fierce argument erupted between Scott and Selphie. I offered Grey and Luca a smile and told them this kind of behaviour was "normal", at least for Scott, which seemed to reassure them a little. Firmly ignoring the warring Scott and Selphie, we continued on our way.
I kept my eyes peeled for others that I knew in amongst the thirty or so others that were still in the competition. However, Melinda and Hikaru were nowhere to be seen, and neither was the enigmatic Crow. But as I turned my head to my left, I caught sight of the girl with the white blonde hair and the long purple dress walking past. However, she was moving so gracefully, so elegantly that it was more like she was gliding, not simply walking. Her head turned, her eyes fixed on me, and mid-step another violent shudder reverberated through my body. Her eyes were so deep and probing, even in the most fleeting and briefest of glances. But before I could even contemplate doing or saying anything, she had pulled away from us, striding ahead effortlessly.
I watched her retreating back for some time, my mind ticking over. I didn't even realise I had zoned out until Bailey was pulling on my arm, his voice suddenly sharply permeating my thoughts. I looked at him in sheer confusion, and he returned it with an equally vacant look.
"You okay?" he asked, a moment later.
"Uhh…" was all I could say.
"What are you doing?" he asked, looking concerned.
I chanced a glance at the others before even contemplating answering him. Thankfully, everyone else were all wrapped up in their own conversation, even Luca and Grey, who had integrated themselves very nicely into our main travelling party. Even though I knew there was no chance of the others listening in to the conversation, I still flustered for a moment, unsure of what to say. It sounded so strange trying to put my feelings into words. Clearing my throat, I pointed out the girl, trying (and failing) to be subtle about it.
"That girl there. The one with all the blonde hair and purple dress. Do you… know who she is, by any chance?"
"Why?" Bailey asked, a hint of a frown marring his face.
"I don't know," I said truthfully, struggling to find some way to accurately describe how I was feeling without coming off like a complete idiot. "She just makes me feel… nervous… Like she's… she's…" I broke off at this point, unable to think of anything.
"Trying to look into your soul?" Bailey suggested.
I turned a gawping, open mouthed face to Bailey. I could only manage a tiny croak in response.
"I was working across from her in the second preliminary," he said, by way of explaination and with an airy shrug. "All I got was that her name was Natsuki. Natsuki… Ikebana, I think." I had to stop myself from laughing as Bailey stumbled comically over the exotic name for a few attempts. "She didn't say much, but she kept staring at me all the time. It was like she just… was trying to figure me out or something. It felt really strange…"
Another shudder ran down my spine. I found it highly unnerving that Bailey had reported the exact same feelings I had experienced with that girl Natsuki, and no matter how much I tried to ignore it, the agitation wouldn't leave me alone. There was just something so inherently unsettling about the way that girl looked at me… I couldn't help but wonder exactly what her story was… Who exactly she was…?
We walked in silence for a little further until eventually we emerged at a small clearing near a large body of water. The announcer was standing there, looking self-important as always, with an ominously large collection of huge bags, a giant pile of kindling and a collection of neatly stacked fishing rods surrounding him. I swallowed deeply. I already didn't like the look of this…
"Welcome, yes, welcome!" the announcer had to shout to make himself heard above the chatter, as he had no microphone. His booming voice was impossible to ignore however, and things quietened almost immediately. "Welcome to the final preliminary round! Everything, yes, everything depends on this round!"
At this point, I noticed Nikki looking nervous, pale, and wide-eyed. I couldn't blame her. I was feeling about as nervous as she looked. However, the announcer was still bellowing, far louder than was actually necessary considering everyone had gone relatively quiet in the clearing, so I tried to focus on that instead of my nerves.
"You will be given three challenges, yes, three challenges that will test you in the very basics of survival! How can you expect, yes, how can you expect to be able to look after Pokemon if you cannot even look after yourself?"
A murmur of appreciation went through the crowd. I found myseld nodding along, sharing the announcer's sentiments. I had to admit, he had a point. And as much as I'm sure everyone hated the bother and stress of these preliminaries, you couldn't deny they were teaching us an important lesson. People did tend to forget the basics of training… I mean, how could you expect to be a talented trainer if you didn't even know the basics…?
"You will be tasked, yes, tasked with making a fire, pitching a tent and catching a Magikarp! Now remember, yes, remember, you may undertake these three challenges in any order you wish. But there are many ways, yes, many ways which you can be disqualified! If your fire or tent does not meet the standards, yes if they do not meet the standards the proctors expect, you will be disqualified. If you deliberately tamper with another contestant's work, you will also be disqualified!"
"See if he says that word one more time…" I muttered vehemently. Grey spluttered with laughter from somewhere down the line, but we were immediately shushed by some of the more irate competitors.
The announcer carried on blithely, none-the-wiser to anything going on in the crowds. "At the end of the round, your time, yes, your time for this preliminary will be added on to your total time, and the top twenty contestants will move on to the battling round! Is that clear?"
Another round of affirmative murmuring echoed around the remaining competitors, before the announcer cleared his throat once again. "So, everyone please take a number, yes, take a number, and please find the corresponding campsite. Good luck everyone!"
I was starting to get inherently fed up of standing in lines, but all the same I obediently lined up as the proctors began setting up the thirty-eight campsites. Ahead of me, Luca, Elliot, and Nikki took their numbers and disappeared to various corners of the campsite. Slightly nervous, I stepped up to the tiny table set out and was handed a number. I shuffled to the side awkwardly as Selphie rampaged past me in her eagerness to get to the table and unfolded my paper apprehensively.
My heart sunk immediately when I saw the stamped number staring back at me. "You are kidding me on here, aren't you…?" I groaned hysterically.
"Unlucky number 13," Selphie commented over my shoulder with a wicked smile, proudly showing off her own number, the comparably much safer number nine.
"Sucks to be me, I know…" I said grimacing, before pocketing my number, wishing the others good luck and heading off to look for my campsite.
I frowned and couldn't help but grimace nervously once again as the proctors began moving all the kindling, tent poles and canvas and the fishing rods we would need for the challenge towards our stations. I felt a little sick. I knew just how difficult this challenge was going to be, and the more I thought about it, the shakier and more apprehensive I became.
I looked down at my feet, and my eyes touched on the tiny fire pit we were expected to light a fire in. I let out a tiny groan of despair as I thought about it. Sure, I had started a fire hundreds of times before, but it had always been with Kiba's help. The flimsy looking flints I had been given to start sparks didn't look all that promising either. And as I looked at the pile of poles and the thick canvas sheet for the tent, I squirmed even more. Those tent poles were taller than me. And then what about catching that Magikarp? I was hopeless at fishing! And with everyone fishing at once, there was no way the Magikarp would be entranced to any hooks in particular. This was going to be impossible…
I was distracted when a blue blur suddenly entered my peripheral vision. Turning around in surprise, I saw a young girl move in to campsite twelve. I recognised her face immediately. This was the girl with the midnight blue hair I had seen right at the beginning of the day. The same girl who regarded her vicious looking Mightyena with the same kind of loving adoration normally reserved for newborn Growlithe… As I thought this, the girl moved across and began investigating her campsite, with the same worried face I'm sure I was displaying. She looked strangely small and demure without that vicious Mightyena by her side, I thought. Unfortunately for me, I stared a little too long and she caught me looking at her.
"Is something the matter?" she asked. She was soft-spoken, and her voice was quiet, but there was a pleasant warmth and friendliness to it that I instantly liked.
"Uh, no, not really…" I replied, with a short smile. "Just… sizing up the competition, I guess."
The girl also smiled, her entire face warming up with the gesture. "I haven't met you yet," she said needlessly. "My name is Sam,"
"Sam, huh? I'm Sienna,"
"Good to meet you," she said pleasantly.
There was a moment of awkward silence, the two of us just staring at each other. I searched helplessly for a topic of conversation, anything, just for something to say, and inadvertently ended up blurting out "I saw you with a big Mightyena earlier…"
While I mentally cringed at the stupidity of what I had just said, Sam's face blossomed into an even bigger smile than before. "Oh! That was my Che-Che!" she said proudly.
"Che-Che?" I repeated, the babyish name sounding strange and foreign on my tongue.
"I've had her since I was a baby," Sam said, albeit a little sheepishly, by way of explainaton. "Poochyena was too hard for a baby to say so—"
"She became Che-Che?" I surmised.
"Yep." She said breezily.
I opened my mouth with the intent of saying something else, when a shadow fell across my vision. I looked up to see the open friendly face of a young man, around twenty years of age, with long blue hair and clear, fair skin. I blinked in surprise as he studied the number in front of my campsite, consulted his own number, but then moved to the campsite next to me. Number fourteen.
Distracted, and a little intrigued, by the presence of this young man, I tried to subtly watch him out the corner of my eye. Whoever he was, it was like he was trying to gather and take in every minute detail of his surroundings, like he was trying to learn every single thing off by heart. I had to admit, it did make me a little nervous, but not in the same way the blonde girl that Bailey had called Natsuki made me nervous…
As I watched him, he turned his head and suddenly caught my eye. He held my gaze for just a little too long and looked away, his long hair falling over his face, like he wanted to just hide away from the world. Now thoroughly intrigued, I leaned towards the boy slightly, and taking a leaf out of Sam's book, asked "Something wrong?" as innocently as possible.
He flinched when I spoke, and instantly I regretted ever opening my mouth, especially when he started to look uncomfortable. "No." he said after a long pause, looking very much like he'd like to shrink away and withdraw into himself.
"S-sorry…" I apologised meekly, feeling bad. "I'm just nervous…"
"… me too…" he admitted, running a hand through his unusual straight blue hair. I found myself staring at it, wondering if it was natural or dyed. Sam's hair was midnight blue too, I realised, and all of a sudden, even I, with the naturally red hair, felt a little diminished and almost ordinary next to them.
"Wh… what's your name?" I asked him a few moments later.
Once again, he looked reluctant to speak, and I could tell it was with great difficulty that he finally told me "Evan," while fiddling with the collar of his dark green jacket. "Evan Garfunkel…" he added a few seconds later.
I nodded, noticing that he didn't offer a handshake as an introduction. He wouldn't even meet my eye. I don't think he wanted me anywhere near him as a matter of fact. Don't get me wrong, I had met my fair share of shy people, both here and throughout life, but this guy was another kettle of Magikarp altogether.
"Umm, well, I'm Sienna Volbeda," I offered, almost forgetting to tell the poor boy my name in return, mentally chastising myself for making things more awkward than they already were…
Before I could say anything more, a voice from behind piped up. "And I'm Sam!"
I didn't even have to turn around to know who it was, but I did anyway. Sure enough, there was Sam, standing right next to me, waving happily at Evan, with a big smile on her face. I watched as Evan blinked slowly in the face of her enthusiasm. I cleared my throat nervously. "And that's Sam…" I repeated needlessly. "We, uh, we just met."
"… nice to meet you both," Evan's voice was deep and manly, there was no doubt about that, but still it was strangely soft and quiet. I liked it. It was comforting. The kind of voice I could imagine that would tell children bedtime stories…
"I think I must know almost everyone here by first name now," Sam said cheerfully interrupting my train of thought.
"Really? Wow. I don't know how you do it," I smiled at her, being entirely genuine in my statement. "I've met so many people today. I can't remember everyone…"
"So long as we remember the ones who are gonna give us the most competition…" Sam suddenly lowered her voice, looking a little wide-eyed. "Like that Jade Black guy…"
I nodded, feeling a little shiver creep over my spine at the sheer mention of his name.
"And then there's someone called Celeste Archos… she's in second place overall,"
My heart leapt a little. Celeste Archos? That was the girl that had been tailing Bailey around. I found myself deeply shocked. That soft-spoken girl was in second place overall? There was no way! That girl?
I didn't have time to think about it anymore, as Sam was continuing to talk at a frighteningly fast pace, her unsual dark midnight blue eyes sparkling. "And then there's this new guy, Scott Harper, everyone's talking about—"
"Scott?" I repeated incredulously.
"Yeah! He's supposed to be really tough. Do you know him?" she asked, looking at me in a funny sort of way.
"Unfortunately," I said with a jokey grin, but Sam seemed to take me seriously.
"Well everyone's saying to look out for him!" she said with a fierce nod of her head. "And then of course there's—"
I stopped listening to Sam at that point, as she continued to babble on about names. Some I recognised, others I didn't, some I sort of half-recognised, but she sped on so fast that I forgot the names almost as soon as she said them. I cast a nervous glance at Evan, who was watching the proceedings with a half amused look on his face. "I think she talks too much…" he said sofltly, almost unsure of himself.
"I think so too," I smiled back.
We didn't however get a chance to discuss it any further, as the announcer was suddenly hollering loudly above the chit-chat. "And now, yes, and now, we will begin the final preliminary!"
Even as the announcer said this, a proctor pulled in next to me, a clipboard in his hand and a stopwatch in the other. He quickly explained to me that he would be timing me, and showed me my overall time of sixteen minutes and twenty-two seconds. However long I took with the entire of this preliminary would be added onto that overall time, which would be submitted for the final score. I nodded, suddenly beginning to get very nervous.
"You may take, yes, you may undertake the three challenges in any order you wish," the announcer reminded us. "Once you have finished, yes, once you have finished, come and stand over by me so you will not disturb the other competitors."
I tensed immediately. This was it. It was starting. Just like that, it was time for the final preliminary…
"On your marks… get set…"
"Oh God…" I found myself squeezing my eyes shut, suddenly completely overwhelmed by nerves.
"GO!"
As soon as the word "go" left the announcers lips, I lunged forward for the first thing my hands could reach. The firewood. This actually was a good strategy, I thought to myself, as I heaved the various bits of kindling into the fire pit, adrenaline pumping and heart banging frantically and painfully in my chest. Get the tent put up and the fire lit first, I reasoned. I knew I could do those things, after all. Catching that Magikarp was going to be the hardest thing, after all. It was far better to do what I could first, and then focus on what was going to be more difficult.
My arms ached almost straight away from trying to heave the pieces of wood about, but I tried to ignore it as I stacked the branches, arranging it so that the various branches would (hopefully) catch alight more easily. Then I started what I anticipated to be a struggle with the flint. To my extreme surprise, it took me only one try for sparks to fly straight out onto the brittle wood. And while it certainly wasn't the dramatic whoosh of flames I would have liked, it was certainly enough to get the job done. A thin, lazy waft of smoke began unfurling from beneath the dry wood, and a faint glow began spreading across one of the branches.
Praying that the fire would keep going and light properly under its own devices, I scrambled to my feet, ran to the side and started to wrestle with the tent poles. The place was eerily quiet, the only noises the occasional clank of the tent poles banging together, or the noise of the flints sparking. Nobody was speaking. Not even the announcer. It made me feel even more horribly nervous. I tried to put it to the back of my mind as I tried to work with the tent poles (which, by the way, were thick and heavy, almost taller than me and I'm pretty sure weighed as much as me) but a sudden commotion from completely stopped me in my tracks.
I turned my head in the direction of the commotion and protesting, and was shocked to see a young man approaching the water. He however wasn't calmly walking with a fishing rod in hand, though. He was running, completely empty handed! Mid-run he ripped off his shirt, and then stopped in his tracks at the water's edge, kicked off his shoes and socks and suddenly dove straight into the water!
"Look at that, yes look at that!" the announcer sounded a strange mix of amazed, horrified and thrilled as he called attention to what was going on. "Challenger Zack Hennessy has dived straight, yes, dived straight into the water!"
"He can't be serious…" I said in awe, watching bubbles slowly, lazily rise up to the water's surface.
But he was.
Selphie's advice from the second preliminary suddenly blasted through my mind like a foghorn as I stared at the rippling water. "Stop gawking! We're timed, remember? Don't pay attention to anyone else!"
I muttered a thanks to no-one in particular before throwing myself back into the work. The canvas was huge and unwieldy, and a sudden gust of wind threatened to tug it out of my hands altogether, but I quickly righted it. By the time I had threaded the canvas onto the first pole, another gasp sounded from the people around me. I whipped my head up just in time to see the boy, whose name I knew to be Zack, suddenly break the water and surface. He then thrust his arm into the air, and I saw him gripping onto a fiercely wriggling Magikarp by its tail. My mouth hung open as Zack showed off his catch proudly, admist a burst of cheering and applauding from some other competitors.
He splashed back to dry land a few seconds later, almost soaking his bewildered proctor in the process, before presenting his Magikarp. I couldn't help but marvel as I continued wrestling with the unwieldy canvas. He must have been one hell of a strong swimmer to pull that one off…
However, despite's Zack success with the Magikarp was short-lived. As soon as it came time for him to tackle the tent and fire, he wavered, seeming to be wholly confused by the entire concept of it. I worked as quickly as I could, but I couldn't help but sneak glances at all the people around me. Evan was working diligently, with his head firmly down. I couldn't see Sam behind her tent, so I had no idea how she was faring. I noticed Natsuki working quickly and efficiently far away to the left, and even as I watched, I saw a fire suddenly blossom under her hands. Again, as I glanced up I saw one of the boys from earlier, who had taken the bite from the Rattata (Chaison, I think his name was), suddenly run towards the water. I gasped, suddenly thinking we were going to have a repeat of Zack's antics, but instead he juddered to a halt, dropped down into a sitting position, his messy brown hair falling over his face. He seized his fishing rod, and after snagging his hook momentarily in his jeans, began to fish.
Only moments later, Elliot too appeared at the water's edge and started to fish, his face marred with concentration. Luca, whom I spotted right in the middle of the area, was struggling with his final tent pole, as I was. Then, seconds later, I heard an excited squeal coming from behind me, and as I turned around to look saw a young girl step back in alarm, her chestnut pigtails swinging madly as she moved, as her fire suddenly burst into flames. She punched the air victoriously, squealed again, this time in pure happiness, and took off towards the water, her little red and white dress billowing out as she ran.
"Come on Sienna! Concentrate!" I chastised myself.
Eventually, I got the tent up. My entire body ached with the effort and the physical strength needed, but it was done. That was the important thing. I snuck a glance at my fire, and was glad to see satisfyingly large flames licking up and engulfing the wood. I grinned. Two challenges down and one to go! I immediately ran towards the water's edge, and found myself a good spot, near to a girl wearing a purple fitted jacket.
It occurred to me, as I cast my line out into the water, that I was now oddly calm about the prospect of having to fish. Fair enough, I hadn't fished much before in my life, but I knew the basics and I knew that Magikarp were well-known to be (annoyingly) easy to catch. However, despite my relative ease, I was still shocked after only a few tense minutes of waiting I felt a tug on the end of my line. My heart thudded and in my excitement, I yanked back my line with far more force than I intended to, almost smacking the innocent girl in purple in the face in the process. As I reeled in, I found a Magikarp struggling weakly at the end of my line.
My heart was thudding in my chest and my hands started to tremble just knowing I had done it. I had done all three challenges! My shaking hands made it difficult to thread the poor fish off the line, and the occasional screams of "I've got one! I've got one!" certainly weren't helping my nerves. Eventually I got the fish off the line and gave it to my proctor. He checked it over, before taking it from me and releasing it, and then checking over my tent and fire. For a moment, I was worried that I wouldn't make the grade, but the proctor nodded firmly and told me I had passed. However, to my great annoyance, he didn't tell me my overall time and dismissed me, instructing me to go and stand by the others.
I obediently slinked away, secretly proud that I was one of the few people who had already finished. I was not surprised, however, to see Jade Black standing with his arms firmly crossed at the front of the line of early finishers, his cape gently billowing in the wind. Beside him was the silver haired Celeste, whom Sam had told me was retaining second place overall. As I stood there, a little perplexed, Grey Thomas suddenly appeared, offering me a shy, but beaming, smile. Then Elliot and Scott appeared, joining the ever-expanding line. Slowly, more and more people began joining the ranks. I was beginning to worry as time ticked on about the safety of Jasmine, Bailey and Nikki, but thankfully they all finished reasonably quickly and with respectable times.
But while my travelling party all seemed to be safe, Selphie, worringly, was not faring well.
By the time the majority of people had finished, she had only been able to light her fire. She hadn't even started on her tent or caught her Magikarp yet. It was an agonising wait till the end of the preliminary, and my heart sunk with every second that passed. She was too far away from the sidelines for me to tell if she was angry or upset about her performance. And when it came down to the final two competitors, herself and another young boy, I could barely watch. And when the final whistle was blown as the young boy finally snagged a fish, Selphie was left the last one standing. She hadn't finished. A sad sigh escaped me. There was no way she could have made it now…
I wanted to go to her straight away, see if she was okay, but the announcer started booming loudly among the buzz of chatter, instructing everyone to move back inside where the final results would be announced. I had no time to find Selphie, as I was immediately caught between a massive scrum of people all buzzing like insects from excitement. My own nerves were playing up, wondering if I really had done enough to make it through to the battle round…
I didn't have to wait long to find out…
No sooner had we been ushered inside the main hall, the announcer's booming voice rose up again, this time, unfortunately, back through a microphone. "And now, yes, and now, we will announce the twenty trainers moving on to the battles round!"
A hushed silence fell over everyone immediately.
"So, competitors Jade Black, Celeste Archos, Scott Harper, Elliot Wood, and Natsuki Ikebana! Your scores, yes, your scores, are the top five overall for the preliminaries! Congratulations for scoring so well! Please go and stand by the side,"
"Well done, Elliot," I grinned, giving a beaming Elliot a quick kiss before he left.
"Secondly, yes, secondly… the next competitors in the top twenty are…" he paused dramatically before spewing out another set of names. "Zack Hennessey, Grey Thomas, Crow Arabesque, Sienna Volbeda and Jasmine Moore!"
My heart stopped. I'd made it! And even better, I'd made it into the top ten! I practically ran to the other side of the room, dragging a slightly embarrassed Jasmine along with me. I stood there am proudly, unable to wipe the smile from my face. However, a thought struck me… There were only ten places left. Had my other friends made it? Had Nikki and Bailey made it? My heart started to beat faster in my chest, and I singled out Nikki and Bailey in the crowd. Bailey looked completely calm, as if he was at ease with whatever the outcome was, but Nikki looked white-faced and terrified. It was clear she did care about the outcome, even if she wasn't a self-confessed fanatic battler…
"Luca Hollingsworth, Evan Garfunkel, Melinda Hughes, Hikaru Brown and Chaison Coffman! Your times have also qualified you for the battle rounds! Please stand by the others!"
Now the panic was beginning to settle in even more. Nikki and Bailey's names still hadn't been called. Jasmine cast me a rare nervous glance. She looked just as worried as I felt…
"And finally, yes, finally… the last five competitors to make it through are Robyn Collier, Alicia Nakamura, Nikki Harper, Bailey Gray and Sam—"
An explosion of cheers, angered protests and excited shouts burst out at that point, completely cutting the announcer completely off in his tracks. I squealed with excitement, relieved that Bailey and Nikki had both made it to the battle rounds, but I got a sinking feeling when I caught sight of Selphie, still in the crowd, looking a strange mixture of inherently disappointed, and like she would dearly love to strangle the announcer.
Luca suddenly pulled in next to me. "Selphie didn't make it…" he said softly, his face creased in a soft sadness.
"No," I murmured, before my feet suddenly took on a will of their own and were carrying me across to where Selphie was standing.
I extended my arms as soon as I got close to her, meaning to hug her, but she stepped back, looking a little affronted. At first, I was worried I had offended her, but then the strangest thing happened.
She smiled.
For a moment, I could only gape in the face of what was the last thing I expected her to do. "You better kick some ass in there, Sienna." She said, her dark blue eyes sparkling wickedly.
Her smile was infectious, and despite the seriousness of the situation, I couldn't help but return a grin. "You better stick around to watch it,"
"You can count on it," she said, holding out a hand which I promptly took and shook firmly, sealing our deal with a swift nod.
We were interrupted once again when the announcer was suddenly hollering above the noise. "And that concludes, yes, that concludes the preliminary rounds! Congratulations, yes, congratulations to all those who have made it to the battle rounds! Commiserations to all those who did not, yes, did not make it… "
I cast a sad look towards the others who hadn't made it. Inside, I was bubbling with excitement and pride that I had made it all the way to the battle rounds (and in the top ten, no less!) but I couldn't help but feel sorry for the rest of the trainers who hadn't. Especially Selphie…
"All those, yes, all those who have not made it to the battle rounds, please make your way out. However, yes, however, you are all extended an invitation to watch the battle rounds that will be starting in one hour promptly inside Violet City Gym! We hope, yes, hope to see you all there!"
At this point, my heart thudded. As the competitors who had not made it through to the final round all slowly began making their way out, leaving only the battle round competitors behind, I felt a stab of nerves. As I studied all the faces left, I was a little surprised to see that everyone who had made it through were either people I had met, talked to or taken particular attention to during the day. In particular, I caught Jade Black's eye, and he returned me such a fierce glare that it made me flinch.
"And now, yes, and now, would those competitors qualified for the battle round please follow me?" the announcer asked of an unsually silent room. Every single person in that small room had gone quiet as soon as the other competitors had left. Sizing up the competiton, I imagined. "You will now, yes, now draw random lots to determine your first opponent."
This time, instead of thudding, my heart dropped to somewhere in my stomach. Random lots? That meant I could literally end up battling anybody. I could end up battling Elliot, Scott, Jasmine, Nikki, Bailey…! Or I could end up against that Jade Black guy! Or Celeste! Or any of the other friends I had made. For one horrible moment, my mind completely went blank. I didn't know right now which one was worst. Battling someone I knew… or battling someone I didn't…
I hadn't even noticed that people were moving towards the announcer until Luca suddenly tugged on my wrist to get my attention. "Sienna, come on. We need to pick numbers…"
"Oh… okay…" I murmured, letting Luca drag me towards the desk. I found myself not able to look at anyone as I moved. I felt a cold sweat engulf me, and my hands began to shake as I worried and fretted over who exactly I was going to end up battling…
But this was it. I couldn't escape it now. I had to battle someone…
I just hoped and prayed it wouldn't be any of my friends…
Author's Note
Firstly, this chapter is dedicated in loving memory to fellow author and friend, The Derpy Bulbasaur, who passed away tragically two weeks ago. RIP Leppy, you will never be forgotten.
I'd like to apologise for the slow updates, they're likely to continue to BE slow for quite some time. I just ask for your patience.
Finally, thanks to my reviewes: Sunbean, WarriorSwift, Shadow Serenity 57, WildCroconaw, FindMe215, Shadow of Eckhart, TCo BlackRoses, Aeroga and TwewyReaperGirl.
Until next time~