Disclaimer: Pokémon and its related properties are copyrighted to The Pokémon Company and Nintendo, respectively.
A Yearning for the Mud
Chapter Twenty Five – Eclipse
And when we do not know, or when we do not know enough,
we tend always to substitute emotions for thoughts. - T.S. Eliot
Wallace tumbled across his bed and let his head hang over the edge. The inverted view of his dorm presented him with the sight of Garret in bed, curled into a ball with his mareep resting between his legs. On the floor between them laid a snoring Neo who shared his pillow with a tuft of white fur, the body of his newest team member, a swirlix.
Wallace stroked Wink's back, the water-type laying flat across his stomach, as he surveyed the damage they'd done the previous night. A toppled pile of DVD cases laid at the base of the room's dresser with dozens propped beside Garret's television. Empty bags 8of snacks and empty soda bottles had congregated Neo's inflatable bed. As homecoming approached, students had Friday off to allow them to participate in the crowning ceremony and annual homecoming battle and without class the idea of a movie night sprung into Wallace's head, but only by Izumi's suggestion after witnessing Wallace drive himself up a wall across the ceiling worrying about Willow and the release of Andrew's final video.
Curling upright, careful to keep Wink from tumbling to the bed, Wallace fiddled with the latch for his window and pushed it open, hoping to air out the stink three boys rough-housing brewed during the night. He felt like a girl in her pre-teens, surrounded by her best friends following a night of junk food and talk of their crushes and what they'd wear to their school dance. To top the feeling off, Wallace slid an arm under his pillow to find the page of Arlette's diary he'd fallen asleep with, reading it against the moonlight with the regard he might peruse a lover's confession.
August 11th – She's Not Me
Dear Diary,
I don't know what's wrong with me…
I'm not that kind of girl…
I don't do these things…
Andrew came back to the house and I tried to talk to him. Just to clear the air, figure out what's happening. But he just ignored me and went to lay down on the only bed in the house. He laid there for a while and I went over to him, he was just laying there on top of the sheets. He looked lifeless, arms at his sides, his legs dangling over the edge. I hadn't thought about all that we'd gone through since we got onto the Trail. How hard of a trip it had been, physically, he was probably exhausted. I was.
My legs hurt, I was soaking wet from the rain, and hungry. I was going to leave him alone, but I caught him staring at me. He wasn't asleep, just laying there, staring at me… I went over to him and I could see his eyes were just half-open, but he was watching me. I feel like I saw something in his eyes, his blue blue eyes. I've been thinking about it, but I can't figure out what it was. Something like surrender. But also something like expectation or maybe longing. Andrew's surrender and an expectation of me, maybe. He seemed at peace. Despite the storm that nature created and the one that I felt was brewing between us, he was still. Something took over me. Maybe it was that moment, the place, or the moonlight, separated into blocks by the window designs. Maybe it was his lips, parted and waiting. Or him, lying there, his chest rising and falling naturally, his body unbidden by the mountain of activity our hike expected of us...
It didn't happen like I thought it would.
My romance novels were wrong...
Heartbrokenly Yours, Arlette B.
Wallace balled the page in one hand and held Wink to his stomach as he slid off his bed and into the chair at his desk. He brushed away his assignment on egg cycles for his breeding class as he powered on his laptop and without a second thought, ventured to the PokéView app. Wink clawed the desk, taking a spot beside the laptop and made off-key grating sounds until Wallace relented and scratched under his chin.
Eyeing the clock on his desktop, Wallace knew he had a good hour or so until Neo would wake, his internal timer waking up him at six on the nose, and Garret sometime later than that. Twisting in his seat, Wallace found elgyem and spinarak sharing a pile of clothes at the foot of his bed, dead to the world as they snoozed.
Taking the chance to see what was new since he'd last checked PokéView, Wallace saw many of his classmates and professors in his menu for recommended videos as he typed in Andrew's account, an act that felt as self-sabotaging as dying his hair blond and ditching his glasses.
Dozens of video thumbnails spread across the screen in a grid-style display and Wallace dragged his finger over the trackpad, his pointer flying across thumbnails, but quickly focused on the most recent video. The sight of the gilded exterior of Parfum Palace called back memories of Andrew's birthday party two months ago.
Wallace slid open the drawers of his desk and rummaged through each of them until he found a tangled pair of white earbuds. He jammed one end into his laptop and screwed the others into his head and pressed play.
Like most of Andrew's videos the camera shook as his hands fumbled the camera, giving off a shaky sight of the garden and the party guests. As the camera passed groups of people they all turned and shouted their happy birthday wishes to the camera as Andrew panned away and got shots of the garden, the lake, and the palace walls.
In one shot, Andrew swept from side to side, taking in the full length of the palace until he reached the balcony that overlooked the balcony, the camera focusing on Arlan for a beat and then swerved right. Wallace narrowed his eyes as the camera blurred and focused on a figure standing off to the side of the balcony, in the shadows.
Wallace sunk his teeth into the inside of his cheek as he hit the space bar, pausing the video. Distance from the garden to the balcony and Andrew's lack of professional cameraman skills made the shot blurred and far from clear, but Wallace knew Andrew had focused on him on the balcony.
Thumbing the space bar again, a girl's high voice pierced through the party chatter. The camera left the balcony and spun through the crowd, focusing on Azalea in her electric blue dress, white hair with blue streaks in her a ponytail. Wallace listened as she kissed her hands and blew them to the camera and to Andrew's laugh behind the camera as he thanked her.
The orotund and husky disembodied voice of his friend was a blow to the gut that had Wallace slamming the space bar again. He ripped the earbuds out and pressed his fingers into his eyes, Wink letting out a disapproving snarl as the chin scratches stopped.
Easing out of his chair, Wallace crossed the room to his closet and dug through the bottom to find the single bag he'd brought to campus, his duffel. Even the sight of it, the designer name stitched across the front, was foreign to him as he opened it and searched inside for a small box he'd packed away. From the bag, Wallace pulled out a DIY home hair dye kit in the color espresso and tore at the box until it was in shreds and gathered the color tubes. Wallace slammed his laptop shut, grabbed Wink, and headed for the door, a plan forming in his mind as he went along.
Following a dash across campus and bugging the area director of Rose-Absolute Hall for Azalea's room number and crafting a pathetically vague story, Wallace found himself sitting on Azalea's room, between her knees, as she worked the hair dye across his scalp.
"Again, I really appreciate this," Wallace said as he scratched Wink's back as the water-type sat motionless between his own legs, pleased to have found a patch of sunlight on the floor to bathe in. "You're probably busy getting ready for the dance tomorrow."
"Not at all. I've had my dress, hair, and makeup planned for weeks," Azalea said as she worked her fingers in circles through Wallace's hair. "Tiramisu and I were just doing some dress-up."
Wallace nodded his head as he watched a small white pokémon, with a blue streak going from the top of its head all the way to its tail that held three prominent spikes, dart across the room with two large pink bows fixed on ears. The pachirisu had taken an interest in Wink and Wallace, but had kept its distance, darting in close, but leaped away anytime Wallace made the effort to pet it.
"I'm a little surprised you came to me though," Azalea said. "We don't talk much."
"I couldn't think of anyone else, the blue streaks in your hair, they look nice," he replied, twitching his foot that sent Tiramisu two feet in the air in fright.
"Chi-pa! Chi-pa!" Tiramisu landed and ran in circles, chasing its tail, but paused when it realized it ended up near Wallace's foot again. The electric rodent sniffed at his foot before it leaped and latched onto his sock.
"Thanks," Azalea said. "By the way, what is your natural hair color? I didn't know you dyed it."
Wallace shivered, either from Azalea's desire to know or the glob of dye oozing across the back of his ear. "Blond."
Azalea gasped and clasped the sides of Wallace's head. "I adore blondes," she said.
Wallace snorted, but covered it with a cough as Azalea's pachirisu nibbled on his foot as he wiggled it. He resisted the urge to make a comment geared toward Andrew, but the urge to mention him was too strong, after all, that was his entire plan. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the crumbled page of Arlette's diary, his true reason for making the trip across the camping with the claims of needing a dye. "Hey, what I saw in the safari, between you and Arlette?" he said, smoothing the page against his lap.
Azalea's fingers went limp on his head as she sighed. "Old news," she said.
"I found something," he said and held the page up for her. Wallace went back to rubbing Wink's back as he listened to Azalea's mumbled reading of the diary entry. In the time it took her to finish, Tiramisu had become disinterested in Wallace's foot and had taken to crawling along his leg and stalking Wink.
"Oh my god, is this her diary?" Azalea asked, her voice high on the verge of laughter. "So she got all pissy cause I started called and thought sleeping with him was going to solve her problems? Now I don't feel bad at all for slapping her."
"You and her dated Andrew at the same time?" he asked, trying to keep his choice of words neutral, as if he'd stumble on some combination of syllables that would expose him as being too invested in the matter.
"I guess," Azalea said, carefree, as the diary page drifted to the floor, the corners stained espresso brown. "Not by choice, obviously. I'm not that kind of girl."
Wallace bit at his lip, tearing off a stretch of skin as he listened to Azalea's words match Arlette's: not that kind of girl. The thought occurred to him that who he knew Azalea and Arlette to be may be products of their time with Andrew. Had he not been the star of Kalos, would the girls even have wasted time fighting over him?
"So you know how I do performances here on campus?" Azalea asked, shattering Wallace out from his thoughts.
"Y-Yeah, I saw you at the bonfire before classes started, you were amazing," he said.
"Thanks. I've done that kind of stuff for years," Azalea said. "I really want to become the Kalos Queen, like, ugh," Azalea's hands went slack on his head as she let out a pregnant sigh, "goals. The stage, the lights, the costumes, the routine, and the applause! I live for that rush. But I've been traveling Kalos for years doing performances here and there, studying when I can, making friends and just having fun, that's when I met Andrew. I think he was still gathering his Kalos badges and we kind of just traveled together for a bit. I didn't think I'd like him as much as I did, but when he lost the league and said he was leaving for other regions I got really sad."
Wallace flinched as he felt a cold glob of dye land on the crown of his head. Azalea's fingers pressed into it as she massaged it through his follicles. "Did you follow him?"
"Nope, should have, but I stayed here," Azalea said. "We kept in touch though, letters, messages, calls. That went on for years and that's kind of how I knew we had something special. I knew he'd probably meet other girls on the road, but how many would be willing to keep up a long distance friendship and looking back on the things we said to each other and the things we shared, I know what we had was real. When he told me he was coming back for his birthday, I was so excited, but he said he couldn't see me until the day of his party."
"I read another part of Arlette's diary, she mentions that," Wallace said. "Andrew said he was coming home early, but wasn't coming back right away and wanted to spend time with her before he came home."
"Home?" Azalea asked. "Are you from Lumiose? I could have sworn someone told me you were from Unova."
"No, yeah, I – I am, I was just saying, you know."
"Yeah," Azalea hummed in agreement. "So the week before his party I started calling, wanting to know what was up, I was just really excited to see him, but I kept getting weird hang-ups and things like that. And like I said, I've traveled Kalos and made friends, I'm connected. I've got friends all over the place and they told me he was getting cozy with some specious girl outside Laverre. So, of course, news spread and because they met first or whatever and then I came along I get a bad reputation as being the other woman. My friends are looking at me differently, wondering why I'm obsessing over a guy who has a girlfriend like I'm sad and desperate."
Wallace dug his fingers into his thighs, wincing as Azalea's fingers dug harder into his scalp every time she mentioned Arlette.
"But after he stopped answering my calls I decided just to wait and as I predicted she didn't show up to his party and I was the one there for the public to see on his arm," Azalea said. "I wish she would have had the nerve to show up, I would have accidentally bumped her and sent her into the pond, maybe a gyarados would have eaten her, all my problems would have been solved then, even though she looks chewy," Azalea said, followed by a nasal laugh at her own pettiness. "He didn't even care that she didn't come, didn't mention her once."
"What do you mean all your problems would have been solved?" he asked, stroking between Wink's scales as he brought the stories from Arlette's diary together with Azalea's recollection.
"We left the party together and went back to his place, for the after party if you know what I mean," Azalea said as she leaned closer to his ear and started singing. "And I think you dooo! Anyway," she coughed. "We talked about his plans now that he was free to do whatever he wanted and he surprised me saying he'd been accepted to Radix and that we'd be attending together in a few week. He said he just had one thing he had to do before he could leave Lumiose."
Wallace swallowed a lump the size of his fist in his throat, his mind flashing to the sight of Andrew in his doorway, the flash drive in his hand, the sheer force and determination brimming in his friend.
"I told him he should take care of it right away so nothing would stop us from leaving. He got so excited and full of energy," Azalea said. "He said he wanted to leave around sunrise. He told me to get my stuff together and be ready to leave when he came back and then he left in a hurry. I waited for hours."
Wallcae's eyes dropped as he heard Azalea's pain in every word she didn't say and how the movements of her hands slowed on his head, working the dye through his hair with tender motions. Another blow landed in his gut as he heard Azalea sniffle behind him, he wanted to turn, but wasn't sure what seeing her face would do to him.
"I spent the morning at his house, pacing the floor, wondering what was taking him so long," she said, in a softer than what she used for Arlette. "I thought he had left to tell Arlette he was breaking things off for good, of course back then I didn't know who she was, I didn't know her name or anything, but I figured he'd left to end it with her, but that she'd done something to keep him around, but then the police came and his father was yelling and crying and I was crying... and yeah."
"I'm sorry, Azalea," Wallace said as he leaned to the side and pressed his head into her hand, a stupid gesture he thought as he did it, something he'd seen someone's furfrou do to their trainer.
"Thanks," she said, her voice wet. "I think the worse part are all the theories. We still don't know what happened after he left the house. It's confusing to keep up with all the theories the police have and all the public opinions. It's like one of the mystery shows, the last time you see someone is so normal you don't think anything of it, but something happens and no one knows anything only the person involved could tell us anything for closure." Azalea worked her fingers back and forth across Wallace's head, massaging his scalp as she paused from working the dye into his hairline. "Us, like I'm part of the family something." Azalea hiccuped out a cry. "I can't imagine what his parents are going through."
"Do you think he's alive?" Wallace asked, his eyes closing involuntarily as the soothing feeling of the head massage took over.
"I couldn't say," Azalea said. "I want to believe, yes, he is, but when I say it out loud, I sound like I'm lying to myself. I would love nothing more than for him to show up in front of me tomorrow, but if he is dead I can't hold on like that, I'll never begin to heal. That probably sounds terrible, like I've given up on him or something."
"No, I get it," he said. Wallace listened to the sound of her stripping the plastic gloves off before she moved off the bed and rounded him, eyeing her work. "How does it look?" he asked.. With a reddened face and glassy eyes, Wallace saw a weakness and emotion present in her face he hadn't seen before, but she looked as cute as ever in her skirt, t-shirt, and sneakers.
"Like someone dunked you in a large jar of chocolate sauce," she said, laughing as she held her hand out. "C'mon, I'll rinse you out in the bathroom."
Careful not to bump Wink or startle Tiramisu, Wallace got to his feet and followed Azalea out of her room and across the hall to one of the hall's shared bathrooms. She led him to one of the middle sinks in the line and like he was a doll, pushed his head into one of the sink basin as she turned on the water.
As cold water rushed over his head and turned warm, Wallace was aware of Azalea talking behind him as her fingers worked through his scalp and across his neck, but under the gush of water he couldn't make out any words. With nowhere else to look, Wallace focused on the door until it opened and Eleanor came in, skidding to a stop as their eyes met. The squeak of a pair of flip-flops caused Azalea to stop working.
"Hey Ellie," Azalea said. "Cute towel."
Wallace's face burned as Eleanor tugged at a light yellow towel with cartoon lighting bolts stitched into it, tightening it across her body and crossing her arms over her chest. "Wallace, this is the girl's bathroom!" she said. Eleanor's eyes took in Azalea and Wallace like a printer scans a document, up and down several times over. Though she was loud, she didn't seem angry, just embarrassed and uncomfortable as her face burned red.
"I uh, um, I'm just – " Wallace stammered, unable to form a complete sentence or take his eyes off Eleanor who seemed glued to the floor as she didn't leave nor make a beeline for the showers.
"Relax," Azalea said, propping herself against Wallace's back. "He's just here for a rinse, not an orgy. Go take your shower."
Eleanor eyed the two of them, her lips pursed like she'd heard a bad joke and tried resisting laughter. She secured her towel again and dipped off around the corner.
"Close your eyes," Azalea said as she angled his head deep into the sink, the sound of water pooling in her hands above his head.
Wallace pinched his eyes shut as Azalea dropped several handfuls of water on his head and scrubbed at his neck as she pulled him up and wiped his forehead before he had a chance to. She grabbed his hand and led him from the bathroom again and back into her room and she left him in the middle of the floor as she grabbed a towel and started drying him off.
As his eyes were clear, Wallace watched Tiramisu running laps around Wink who couldn't have been less interested in the electric-type. As he watched the electric-type circle Wink, he wondered if Wink even knew pachirisu was there.
"I don't think I've ever seen you without your glasses," Azalea said as she unsnapped the smock she'd given him. Azalea scrubbed the side of his head as she circled him and ran the towel along his shoulders and across his back. "Oh!"
Wallace flinched as the towel vanished and her fingers traced along his back, from their placements he knew she'd seen the line scars Chara's meganium had left. Azalea's silence and the delicate touch of her fingertips raised Wallace's skin to bumps, a creeping chilling line sliding down his spine. "It happened in the safari before school started."
"I feel so bad," Azalea said. "I heard about the boy who died that day because of Chara and I heard about Serena's boyfriend, it's awful. Serena is so lucky someone found Nat in time, I don't want anyone to ever have to know what it feels like to lose someone they care about." Azalea's fingers trailed across Wallace's back as she came to his front again, her eyes jittering across his chest, neck, and then to his face.
With each thud his heart made, Wallace felt himself moving closer to Azalea until their bodies met and her hand held the side of his head, angling her head to meet his to make up for their differences in height. As their lips drifted closer and Wallace studied the lines and ridges in the blue of her eyes, the moment shattered into fragments around them with the shrill interruption of a phone ringing.
Azalea coughed into her hand as she spun around and tossed pillows aside on her bed before she uncovered her phone. "Mom, hi!" Azalea croaked into her phone as she fussed with strands of her hand and bounced on her feet.
Wallace grabbed Wink under his belly and collected his shirt and glasses as he stumbled around the room before he darted through the door. Filled with a complex mixture of embarrassment for nearly kissing the girlfriend of his dead best friend and pride for completing his mission to hear about her relationship with Andrew, Wallace wandered the halls of Rose-Absolute Hall before he paused in front of an opened doorway. Stealing a glance inside, he found Kolton running a broom across the tiled floor. Wallace pressed his hand to the doorway before he ran a hand up the door, he'd found Don's room.
"He's not here," Kolton said as he stopped sweeping and turned to face Wallace. "He's parents took him home."
Wallace swallowed down another lump in his throat as Kolton's piercing eyes focused on him, narrowed and to no surprise not happy to see him. "I knew that, I just –"
"So why are you here?" Kolton asked as he made a half-hearted returned to sweeping.
Wallace didn't respond, unable to come up with a good answer, as his attention drifted to something fluttering near the ceiling. A pokémon with two pairs of wings, both orange and tipped with small square-like extensions, flapped around the ceiling before it zipped toward the door and fluttered its wings before Wallace, its large orange eyes taking him in.
"That's Manny, my mothim," Kolton said. "Manny, you're supposed to be dusting."
"Thiii!" The Mothim flapped its wings faster at Wallace before it spun around and flew back to the ceiling and flapped its wings, uselessly, at the ceiling light, giving it little effort.
"Can I ask you a question?" Wallace asked.
"You just did," Kolton quipped.
Wallace rolled his eyes, snorting at Kolton's disdain for him. "Why don't you like me?"
Kolton ran the broom across the floor once more before he propped himself on the handle. "I remember you, I took your phone call before school started while I was doing summer work and you were hella late getting registered, but somehow you managed to slide in."
"So?" Wallace asked, shrugging. "Why do you care? I remember you saying you had a friend that didn't get accepted, that had nothing to do with me."
"You're not a star student, I haven't seen your name on any honor lists," Kolton said. "You don't seem super active in the community, you don't volunteer for anything that I've seen, no special mentions. The only reason people know who you are is because of the safari, because you've got a target on your back. So it seems like the only thing you've got going for you is that you're unlucky."
"Whatever," Wallace waved Kolton off as he turned to leave. "Forget it." The sound of the broom smacking the floor and Kolton's quickened footsteps startled Wallace, thinking the boy might charge him, but when he looked back into the room a flash of light blinded him.
"He'll be back tomorrow," Kolton said.
Blinking and rubbing at his eyes, Wallace glared back into the room to see Kolton lowering a large digital camera. The thought that no pictures of him seemed to exist online caused a brief spark of panic inside him. "What?"
"Don," Kolton said. He clicked a few buttons on his camera, his red brows furrowing as he looked over the display screen. "He'll be back tomorrow for the homecoming dance. i'm sure you wanted to know," he said, eyeing Wallace.
"Okay." Wallace nodded, still dwelling on the fact that aside from his school ID, someone else had taken a picture of him he couldn't take his eyes of the camera, concerned what Kolton might do with his picture.
Back in the ICO, Wallace twisted the knob to his room and pushed his way inside, startled by the sight of Garret and Arlette standing in the middle of the room. "Hello?" he said, his eyes darting between the two of them, but lingered on Arlette who seemed to do the opposite as she looked everywhere but at him.
"Uh," Garret hummed. "So, I'll see you tomorrow?"
Arlette's head bobbed in an odd pattern as she avoided eye contact with either boy in the room as she made her way to the door. Wallace made little effort to move out of her way and the two bumped against each other as Arlette slipped into the hall and fast walked away from the room.
"That was weird," Garret said as he climbed onto his bed. "We were having a nice conversation and then she got so quiet. She's so shy."
"She's something," Wallace said as he kicked the door shut and carried Wink to the window sill were the water-type liked to balance and sun bathe. Making a loop around the room he picked up elgyem who greeted him with flashing green digits and high pitched beeping. "Why was she here?" he asked, scanning the ceiling and the corners of the room for spinarak who hadn't appeared yet.
"I asked to come and talk about the homecoming dance tomorrow," Garret admitted, shyly, as he flipped open his laptop and tried to cover his words with loud typing.
"And she said yes?" Wallace asked as he dropped onto his bed, stroking elgyem's head slowly.
Garret pursed his lips and nodded, stealing a glance in Wallace's direction. "I'm excited."
"I can tell," Wallace said, looking to his feet. "You look like you want to jump on your bed and tell me all about it. I'm surprised she said yes, not because of you, just because."
"Because of Andrew," Garret said, bringing the name Wallace couldn't bare to say anymore after a morning spent talking to Azalea about him. "Yeah, I know. I didn't think she'd say yes, I don't know if anyone can replace him to her. I feel like i'm overshadowed by him, and he's not even alive..."
Wallace pressed his lips together, hard, to keep from replying as he shifted back on his bed, humming in acknowledgement. "Well, if she said yes, she must like you back."
"But with every news channel running stories on him it's like he's an eclipse over everything." Garret rested his hands on his laptop before he slammed it shut. "I don't want to think about it anymore," he declared.
"Okay." Wallace shrugged and nibbled at his lip as he gave the room another once over for spinarak. "Have you seen my bug?"
Garret hopped off his bed, slipping his feet into a pair of bright yellow deck shoes. "Closet?" he offered before he walked to the mirror and ran a hand through his hair. "Do you want to go to the stadium? They're naming the homecoming king and queen and there's going to a battle? Unless you have plans."
"I'm free," Wallace said as elgyem climbed onto his shoulder and he opened his closet doors to find spinarak dangling from a vacant hanger.
"Is it weird being back here?" Garret asked as he and Wallace climbed the bleachers.
As his last memory of Styrax Stadium involved watching as the field burn up courtesy of Johnny's volcarona, the sight of lush green grass and a large chunk of the school's student body chatting innocently in the stands took Wallace by surprise. "A little," he said. With one arm securing snacks and the other holding Wink, Wallace led Garret to the near top of the bleachers to a vacant spot near the aisle, perfect for making a quick escape should the occasion arise. "It's only been a month, but this place looks as good as new."
"I think Neo told me the school's insurance handled all the repairs," Garret said as he reached up and took some of the snacks they'd bought off Wallace's hands. "New turf field and they replaced some of the burned stone and made some renovations to the locker rooms."
Just like that, the university painted over and removed the physical reminders of that day, like the interior of the clinic had been. The only thing that remained was Nat, whose scars from that day would never fade. The phantom memory of that night crept up Wallace's spine, making him shiver, as he glanced toward the press box where Chara had hid, but rather than dwell on the memory, his attention shifted to two girls marching up to back of the box.
Professor Oakburn stomped up the seats of the bleachers, looking like an old student in her jeans and baggy shirt. Her arm hung back behind her as she dragged a girl up with her, by her licks of white-blonde hair, Wallace recognized her as Willow, the girl that'd made the scene at the PRESS PLAY meeting. The sight of the two sisters together caused the memory of the stadium fire to burn out as he focused on the sisters, the youngest earning most of his attention as Professor Oakburn dragged her to the top row of seats and held her against the press box wall.
"Switch me seats," Wallace said, already up and shuffling past Garret.
"Oh okay, hey wait, no!" Garret gasped as their box of popcorn fell off his lap and spilled over the seat. "No, our popcorn."
Wallace whipped his student ID out and prodded Garret's chest with it. "Go buy some more?" he said, half paying attention to Garret as he focused on the sisters. He listened to Garret getting up off the seat and stomping down the aisle before he inched further down the bench until he caught bits of the sister's conversation.
"You must be insane!" Sienna said, her hands running through her hair like there was a bug-type trapped in her blonde locks. "You can't go around talking like that! The Andrew Gates case is serious and it means a lot to the students and staff. He could have been one of your classmates. I don't want to hear any more about you and this private video of his, do you understand me?"
Wallace narrowed his eyes as Willow tipped her head down and nodded slowly, her hands folded in front of her waist. He couldn't help but scoff at her shy demeanor, far from the girl who made boisterous claims at the meeting, and even Professor Oakburn seemed out of character as she snapped at her sister.
Professor Oakburn paced the bench, still running hands through her hair and wiping at her face before she stopped, pressed her back to the guard rail, and let out a long breath. "Mom and dad are gone," she said.
Wallace watched as Willow's expression changed, the faux sorrow she'd held onto during her sister's speech had faded as the girl's eyes narrowed at her sister and her mouth twitched.
"We're all we've got," Professor Oakburn said, reaching out and touching Willow's shoulder. "Even though you're grown up now and I don't have you in any of my classes, I'm still a teacher and still your big sister, I can't have you starting trouble like this. People are all worked up about the dance tomorrow because of your claim."
"They should be," Willow said as she averted her gaze and looked to the field.
"Promise me you'll keep away from this," Professor Oakburn said as she stood before Willow and held both of her shoulders. "No more talk about hacking and secret videos. Focus on your grades and doing what would have made our parents proud. Deal?" Professor Oakburn held her fist up in front of her sister, her pinky up.
Willow eyed the extended pinky before she locked her own around it and the sister's gave each other's arms a good shake. "Deal."
Wallace watched Professor Oakburn drape her arm over her sister's neck before someone landed on the bench beside him. Whipping around he saw Eleanor and Neo sitting beside him with Garret perched on the edge of the bench. "Hello."
"Who're you looking at?" Eleanor asked, straightening up to peer over his head. "I called your name, but you were focused on something else."
"I thought I saw a fletchling," Wallace said, waving his hand absently through the air.
"So, did you boys enjoy your slumber party?" Eleanor asked, her cheeks rounding up as she gave the boys a big goofy grin. "Did you stay up late talking about girls? Did you eat junk food? Did you trash the senior you don't like? Did you brush each other's hair?" she asked as she pulled her brown-ish locks over one shoulder and ran an imaginary brush through them.
"St-Stop!" Neo coughed into his fist before he adjusted his glasses and turned his attention to his tablet. "Don't be silly, boys don't have slumber parties. I just spent the night in their room."
"We did eat a lot of junk food though!" Garret piped in, grinning as widely as Eleanor.
"Yeah?" Eleanor replied, leaning across Neo to clasp hands with Garret. "Did you watch bad movies in your pajamas?"
"Yeah!" Garret cheered.
"That's enough!" Neo blurted out, breaking Garret and Eleanor's contact as he twisted the strand of hair on the side of his head that never seemed to lie flat. "Don't make it sound like we're twelve year old girls."
"I'm sorry," Eleanor cooed as she leaned into Neo and playfully swiped at his tablet.
An uncontrollable smile spread across Wallace's face watching Neo and Eleanor flirt with each other, Neo feigning annoyance as Eleanor fiddled with his tablet. "You're going to homecoming together, right?"
"Wouldn't miss it," Eleanor said, though her tone said otherwise. "Serena is making me go. Whether I want to or not, whether I had a date or not. She's head of the dance committee and is probably going to be named Homecoming Princess," Eleanor said with a nod to the field
"Oh?" Wallace asked. A stage stood on the edge of field, outside the arena makers, covered in shimmering ribbons and papers that made the stage look like it belonged in a beauty pageant. Several people gathering around the stage, passing along papers and testing a microphone by the stage.
A face Wallace hadn't seen since the back to school bonfire, Professor Stratton and her blue hair that seemed unprofessional, stepped up to the mic and tapped it a few times before her voice echoed across the stadium. "Thank you everyone for coming out today to witness the crowning of this year's Homecoming King and Queen as well as our Prince and Princess of Homecoming." Professor Stratton held her hand out as another woman handed her several envelopes.
The bleachers filled with lukewarm applause and cheers and Wallace participate with a slow clap as he scanned the heads of the students around him, wondering where Willow had snuck off too.
"The votes had been collected all month long and without further ado, our Homecoming Queen is Sera Wick," Professor Stratton read from one of her envelopes to the crowd's weak applause, though some boys at the bottom did begin stomping their feet.
Wallace watched a chubby girl come trotting from out of sight and climb the steps onto the stage where a man greeted her and held a crown out for her. Sera curtseyed to the crowd as the man placed the crown on her head and she bounced across the stage to stand at the end.
"It should come to the surprise of no one that due to his efforts around campus as well as the tragic events that befell him while trying to protect the campus, that Nasturtium Freelily is our Homecoming King."
As if she'd predicted a low applause, Professor Stratton clapped into her mic, though she didn't need to as the crowd roared in approval and cheer for Nat. The man with the crown on stage stood beside Sera, holding the crown in front of him as Professor Stratton opened up the next envelope.
"And our Homecoming Prince and Princess, who will take each other on in our ceremonial battle are... Travis Fahn and Serena Saint-Mars," Professor Stratton announced, using her voice to add flare to the rather dull ceremony.
Still the crowd erupted in another round of applause and cheering as Travis sprinted out onto the field and bounded up the steps. Serena followed him at a much slower pace, waving and blowing kisses to the crowd that only grew in excitement at her appearance. She ascended the steps and claimed her crown and took her place beside Travis.
"Wonderful," Professor Stratton said as she looked over the Homecoming Court. "Now, Serena and Travis, if you're ready, we'd love to witness your battle."
Wallace straightened up men climbed onto the stage and swarmed on Serena and Travis, the sound of shuffling and microphone static filling the stadium. In the far corner the scoreboard lit up with the screen in the middle showing the view of the stadium.
"How does a double battle sound?" Travis asked, the camera focusing on the angles of his face as he smoothed back his ink black hair and smirked at Serena.
Wallace watched the Homecoming Princess flip her dark hair and walk off the stage, heading in toward the middle of the stadium as she pulled two Poké Balls out of her pockets. "Fine by me," she said.
"I'll go easy on you if you want," Travis said, winking a green eye at her as he chucked two balls onto the field. The camera panned back to take in a froslass and luxio that appeared before Travis. The froslass floated around in a circle, the camera picking up bits of frost coating the grass under it as the luxio stretched out and plopped down on the ground, looking overdue for a nap.
"Do what you need to," Serena said as she tossed the balls out in style. "Not taking me seriously only means this battle will end quicker."
Two monumental pokémon appeared on the field before Serena. The arrival of an aurorus and tyrantrum took the camera operator by surprise who couldn't zoom out fast enough to take in their size.
"Oh," Travis said before he let out a nervous laugh. "I heard rumors you liked to collect fossil pokémon. They don't seem like your style."
"What is my style?" Serena asked, arms folded over her chest. "Fairies? Maybe a dainty gardevoir or something soft like a jumpluff?"
"Alright, alright." Travis shrugged and held his arms up in surrender. "You made your point. Nieve, start with a powder snow, aimed at the tyrantrum."
The camera focused froslass in its sights as it swirled into the air and let its arms drape at its sides. During its graceful movements a gust of wind blew across the stadium and with it flecks of snow flurries that flew toward Serena's side, though as the camera found her face she didn't seem fazed.
"Let's make this quick," Serena said as she snapped her fingers, the small action causing a slight change in her pokémon's posture. "Ty, sweetie, eat your berry and launch forward with head smash. Let's take out froslass with one blow. Aurorus, use blizzard and show them what a real ice move looks like!"
"Does she know blizzard is going to hit her dragon too?" Garret asked, whispering down the bench line.
"I told you before, Serena is from one of the top families in Unova, she's no dummy," Neo said, unable to keep up with himself as he looked from the field to his tablet.
Wallace turned his attention back to the screen as tyrantrum pulled a berry from a pouch strapped to its body and dropped it on the ground before it bent and devoured it, along with a chunk of the turf. As it swallowed, which the camera picked up, waves of blue and white light coated tyrantrum as it kicked at the ground and aimed its head down. Beside it, the sails of Serena's aurorus flapped as another gust of wind to rival the froslass's picked up. While small flurries came from behind froslass large and easily visible flakes flew from behind aurorus.
Tyrantrum roared and then charged forward, its massive feet quaking the ground as it charged toward Travis's team. Aurorus let out a high wail as the power of its blizzard increased, an actual snowstorm forming on the field in a matter of seconds that the camera couldn't see through. As if someone dropped a glass box over the stadium, the snow from aurora started instantly at one end and stopped abruptly behind Travis and coated everything between with a fresh layer of snow.
As the flurries died away the camera struggled to focus on one side of the battlefield, catching Serena's smug face for one second before it focused on the mammoth sized snow figure that was tyrantrum before it focused on Travis, shaking snow from his hair and shoulders as his luxio leaped through the snow mounds.
"Nieve?" Travis asked, scanning the snowy field.
A loud snort came from the snow mound before it moved and tyrantrum's shaking body emerged, knocking snow clods from its body, seemingly unaffected by the ice attack. The fossil pokémon regarded Travis with a soft grumble before it walked back across the field to Serena, leaving behind a body sized gap in the snow field that revealed the motionless body of the froslass.
"She used the cover of the blizzard to attack froslass," Eleanor said. "And tyrantrum ate an yache berry before to keep him from being knocked out."
"Still, the tyrantrum must be hurting," Neo said.
Wallace wet his lips as he looked to the screen again, sure enough snow and ice had collected around tyrantrum's joints and crystals gathered across its snout, despite Serena's confidence in the combo, the full brunt of the blizzard had done a number on tyrantrum.
"Well?" Serena asked, shrugging with a massive grin across her face. "Think you can beat me with a pokémon that I'm not at all weak to?"
Travis rubbed at the back of his head and ran his tongue over his teeth. "No, I don't suppose so."
"Is that a forfeit?" Professor Stratton asked as she dashed to the microphone.
Travis shrugged, but did say anything as he recalled his luxio and the flattened froslass. Serena clapped gleefully as she rushed toward her pokémon, giving them hugs around their massive legs before she recalled them and kicked through the snow as she rushed to the stage. Claiming the microphone from Professor Stratton, Serena cleared her throat into the mic. "Thank you all for coming out today for this short little ceremony, I hope to see each and everyone one of your at the dance tomorrow for a night we'll never forget!"
Wallace clapped as the students around him roared out support for Serena and her victory, but rather than watch the scoreboard show Serena admiring her crown, Wallace found Willow in the crowd as the girl stood and clapped for Serena. If her claims were true, Andrew's video would play in less than a day, and despite Izumi's sleuthing, it didn't seem like they had a plan to stop it.
End of Chapter Twenty Five
AN:As of this chapter we've passed 200k words! Thanks so much for reading over this past year and for your support.
Question of the Chapter #24: Do you think Willow will follow through with her plan to release the video or will something come up?