The computer screen displayed the imbalance heartlessly: five grayed out portraits on the green side, two on the red. The girl taking the former color scowled up at the screen as she held the last Poké Ball in her hand.
Matthew shifted his weight from one leg to the other. Somehow, he made the action look respectful rather than cocky. "Is it time for your ace to take the stage, Andrea?"
"Oh, shaddup," she snapped. Her fingers were threatening to dig holes into the metal sphere. They released their grip to release the final Pokémon inside. "Get 'em, Blitz!"
The judge barely managed to announce the start of the round before a river of flames rushed toward the Manectric. The Electric-type Verde merely dug his claws into the dirt before sending up a surge of electricity. The air seemed charged with energy and deflected the fire, sending it arcing around the Pokémon and his Trainer.
"Flare Blitz!"
The Typhlosion began glowing with a ferocious blaze and dashed toward the Manectric. Without even waiting for Matthew's command, Verde returned the attack with a charged Spark attack. There wasn't even any time for the crowd to react before Blitz was sent skidding through the sodden dirt, the muddy aftermath of Twister's brawl with Azul.
Andrea bit her lip and glanced around the battlefield, hesitating a bit before shouting her command. "All right, then. Blitz—Fire Pledge!"
Raising his head to the sky, Blitz let out a roar. A roar of power—a roar of authority. The sound echoed, and before anyone could figure out what was happening, a scarlet circlet of fire had surrounded the Fire Pokémon. It spread, a ripple in the water, and covered the entire arena in a manner of seconds.
"Fire Pledge, huh," Chris said from beside him. "That's not a bad idea, but..."
"But nothing's happening," Damion pointed out, watching the field. "And neither of them are moving!"
"Don't worry, Damion!" Ciel said. "My thumbs are mo—"
Derek reached over and put his left hand to the boy's mouth, shutting him up. "It's a stalemate, pretty much. The Pledge will almost definitely burn Verde, and he has no chance of dodging. On the other hand, when Blitz uses the move, he has nothing left to defend himself."
"So...they're both scared of starting the first move," Caitlin said.
"You could say that," Chris said. "But more than that, both are stalling for something. They wouldn't let a stalemate go on for no reason. Look."
Derek turned his head to Verde. The Electric Pokémon was pawing the insignia on the ground—nothing odd. Something caught Derek's eye, though, and he bent forward to look closer. Sparks ran through the Pokémon's fur, so light and weak that it was nearly impossible to catch with the glow of the fire and the yellow tint to his fur.
He glanced at Blitz, who was starting to glow with a familiar light. Fire came off of his body like steam, creating a mantle of flames. He recognized the ability from all the times he had seen Flare activate it.
"Blaze!" Damion said, bumping his fist into his palm in classic "I got it!" fashion.
"If Verde moves, he'll get burned. He's using Charge to make up for the weakened attack. Since the mud will absorb some of the attack, Blitz won't faint. He'll be too slow to dodge, but he will have enough strength to get Verde before he can get away again. And then it'll be a double knockout."
Derek marveled at Chris's thorough analysis. He did find something odd about it, though. "If that's the case, couldn't Matthew just end the battle anyway, though? Why wait for something to change?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
Derek blinked. He shook his head.
Chris just smiled. "He doesn't like his Pokémon getting hurt more than they need to."
Verde's leg twitched, and the inky emblem on the field suddenly burned crimson. Fire sprung up from every line of the intricate design, swallowing him up immediately. He took the chance to dash forward, ignoring the flames licking at his body, and slam into Blitz in an explosion of electricity.
Suddenly, a tower of fire sprung up from the ground around the two Pokémon, as if someone had forced it up from underneath. Snake-like tendrils of electricity slithered out from its interior, but still the fire burned. Then, as if shot by a slingshot, Verde was thrown out from inside, skidding through the mud and all the way over to Matthew.
"Verde," the boy said, kneeling down by the Electric Pokémon. His voice had the same tone to it as he did with Andrea and Chris—exasperation. "Why do you always have to charge in first? Couldn't you have waited five more seconds?"
The unconscious Pokémon gave no answer.
Fire rained down on the arena and fizzled out as it hit the mud. Fur singed in some places, Blitz stepped out of the flaming tower, which soon swirled out of existence. He gave Andrea a thumbs up and promptly fainted on the spot.
"Double knockout!" the judge announced, raising both flags. "Winner, Matthew Summers!"
The crowd cheered loudly. Derek glanced at Chris, but he was surprised to find the blond with a hand to his face. He heard Chris mumbling something like "That idiot" and "Why a Blast Burn?"
Both Pokémon disappeared in a flash of red, and the crowd chorused Matthew's name in a high cry of joy. Their favorite little prodigy had won once again. They didn't care for the loser—no one ever did.
Derek found himself scowling and quickly fixed his expression.
With the last match of the day over, the people began to file out of the bleachers. Andrea and Matthew had a short conversation on the fields before leaving together. Matthew made sure to wave to the group in the bleachers before he disappeared from view.
He could hear Caitlin, Ciel, and Damion all chatting excitedly beside him, but he turned his attention to Chris instead. "Chris, are Matthew's Pokémon really that much stronger? I mean...Andrea was able to beat Jordan, but this..."
"Hm... I wouldn't say his Pokémon are as strong as Jordan's, no."
"Then why...?"
"Well, I lost because I got overconfident. Elesque was doing great, but I got a bit cocky there. If I had beaten Azul, I would have probably been able to at least beat Blanca."
Derek frowned. "Even so, it's not like one little thing like that would make you lose, would it?"
"You think so? There are some people who can't get into the flow of battle. And when you break that flow, such as by getting cocky, or aren't even in it in the first place, you start to miss things."
"I...don't really get it."
"I wouldn't expect you to. Just think of it like making a sandwich. You can have the best ingredients ever, but if you add something weird like a sour Warhead, it'll mess the whole thing up."
He almost snorted. "I guess that makes sense."
"That was a joke, but all right. Andrea lost because Matthew just had a better strategy. His Pokémon were stronger, but he was smarter, too. He kept stopping everything Andrea did in advance—like the mud. Or when Blanca took down all of her little traps."
Derek wasn't sure how to answer that, and he never got the chance to try: Andrea and Matthew walked into the bleachers, waving. Chris turned to the entrance and, in a beautiful falsetto, called out to Andrea, "'How could ya lose to someone like him?'"
"Oh, shaddup." Andrea made to smack the boy, but Chris leaned out of the way, laughing. "Let's just go eat or something already."
"That does sound good," Matthew agreed, smiling. It seemed as if he had already forgotten about his victory.
Derek just shook his head in dismay. The world of elites really was a strange one with people like these around. The nonchalance with which they accepted their losses was admirable, really. Maybe it would just take time for him to become like that, too.
Well, it was good to have big dreams, Derek thought with a sigh.
-.-.-
The rest of the Indigo League went exactly as one would expect: Matthew defeated the last two Trainers and took the crown of Champion. Alexis turned out to be the blonde girl with the frameless glasses, and she was probably the second best Trainer in the League. However, according to Chris, her style was "a bad match for Matt," and she was defeated just as easily as everyone else. The four young Trainers watched as Chris and Andrea received their official badges of participation and applauded with the rest of the crowd when Matthew received the Champion's plaque.
The ending ceremony involved a lot of festivities, including a dance hall, a ton of food stalls, and a whole game section that seemed to mirror that of the entrance ceremony—except twice as large. Damion had successfully dragged Derek through about half the festival before Derek could even figure out what was going on. The boy seemed to have a knack for festival games, including the shooting range and the disc throw, but he never seemed to want the prizes...except one.
"Hey, Derek!" The boy held up the keychain he had just won from a random lottery stall they had passed. It didn't seem like a grand prize, but it definitely was something. "This kind of looks like Soran, doesn't it?"
"Does it?" He took it from the boy and held it up in his palm. The miniature Eevee figurine glistened in the dimly lit night. It was in a pouncing position, bent forward and teeth bared, but it hardly looked threatening at all. Rather, the expression on its face was rather adorable, as if it were simply playing angry. "Huh. It really does."
He glanced downward at the Poké Ball on his belt. He had told the Eevee to stay in her Poké Ball so as to not attract attention, so it had been rather quiet for the past few days. "It's only a bit longer before we're back on our journey, huh?"
"Yup!" The boy watched as Caitlin reached into the cardboard box and pulled out a slip of paper. She made a celebratory noise and high-fived Ciel before clearing her throat and correcting her immaturity. Damion grinned. "It's great that we meet Ciel and Caitlin, huh?"
"Didn't we already have this conversation?"
"Did we? I don't remember."
"We definitely did." He held the keychain out to Damion. "Do you have anything to stick that on, anyway? We should get you a phone."
"A phone? Me? That'd be awesome! I could call people, and message people, and...and...and...what else do you do with phones?"
"I have no idea."
"Oh. Well, I could also call people!"
Derek just sighed. "We could put this on your bag, I guess."
"Hm? Oh, the keychain? You can have it, Derek."
The boy blinked. "Eh?"
"I mean, I think Soran would like it, you know? Plus I never got you anything for helping me with Serin and all."
"Oh. Well, uh..." Derek felt a bit slow all of a sudden. "Er...th—"
"Hey, hey, Derek look! They have cotton candy—cotton candy! Let's go get it!"
The boy rushed off to the vendor, leaving a bemused Derek with the Eevee keychain still in his hand. Derek sighed again, tucked the keychain in his pocket alongside the ring, and watched Damion practically bounce as he asked for his sweets.
"Thanks," Derek mumbled, shaking his head to himself.
"Did you say something, Derek?" Ciel asked, walking up to the boy. Caitlin followed behind him, a smile on her face. "You know, the first sign of madness is talking to yourself."
"Do you know the other signs?"
"...No?"
"The second one is making bad puns."
Ciel grinned. "You know, I always did wonder what it would be like to be crazy."
"No need to wonder." Derek turned to Caitlin. "Did you win something?"
The girl nodded, still beaming. "A Pichu keychain. It's really really really really cute!"
"So cute that she put it on her phone the minute she got it." Ciel laughed. "Speaking of which, Derek, do you and Damion have phones?"
"Damion doesn't." Derek held out his watch. "My Pokétch has a Pokégear installed, though. You need to call someone or something?"
"What? Why else would I ask if you had a phone?"
"...Isn't that my question?"
Ciel chuckled and took the watch from Derek's wrist. He toyed with the controls before finding what he seemed to need. Derek had the slight feeling of déjà vu as Ciel handed it back to him with a satisfied grin.
"What'd you do?"
"Registered our phone numbers, of course. Mind calling?"
"Oh. Well now I just feel stupid."
Derek called the two and watched as they saved his contact information, feeling an odd embarrassment as they did. He now had three numbers registered in the Pokétch. The numbers were growing steadily.
"Hey, Derek, what's your last name?" Ciel asked, looking up from his light blue phone. It was a bar phone, the kind you pushed open. "Sorry if you told me and I forgot."
"Well... I don't remember either." Caitlin frowned down at her white flip phone, which was unnaturally shiny, as if brand new. The Pichu keychain she had received smiled at Derek.
He didn't get a chance to answer before Damion let out a loud "Dereeeeek!" The boy turned just in time to get a cloud of cotton candy to the mouth, which he instinctively sank his teeth into. Derek blinked in surprise as the sweetness spread through his mouth.
"Fwat fa..."
"Good, right? It's great, right? Tastes super super awesome, right?"
"I fueff fo?"
"Looks like Damion's cottoning you up, eh Derek?"
Derek took the stick the cotton candy was attached to and pulled it away from his face. He saw that Damion had bought one for everyone, which made him frown. "You have money to waste like that?"
"Fut Feref! Ifsh sho foof!"
Derek rolled his eyes. He was eternally grateful to the boy, though; Ciel and Caitlin had put away their phones to enjoy the sweet treat. He took another bite out of the cotton candy, letting himself relax a bit.
The group enjoyed the festival for another few hours, wandering around and enjoying the sights and sounds. Damion did not hesitate to buy as much as he could, and Ciel took every chance he could to make a pun, but somehow it all seemed to be a part of the enjoyment. Every stall in the Pokémon League Village had probably heard of the game master Damion by the end of the day.
By the time Damion's wallet was finally empty, the festival seemed to be more or less over. The group made their way back to the Pokémon Center and spent another hour or so just relaxing together before heading back to their rooms.
Upon entering, Damion immediately collapsed onto his bed and dropped unconscious, leaving Derek to tuck the boy into bed. That's what he tried to do, at least; it really turned out to be a struggle of getting the boy off of the blankets long enough for Derek to cover him with them. It took the last remaining shreds of energy he had to do so.
"Stupid Damion and your stupid face," Derek grumbled, glaring at the sleeping boy. He couldn't hold his annoyance for long, though, and went to turn off the lights.
He headed into the bathroom to brush his teeth when he realized Damion hadn't brushed his teeth, either. Derek slapped a hand to his face, knowing the boy wouldn't wake up unless he brought in a feast and dessert. He rolled his eyes; they didn't have the cash to pay for cavities. Not to mention Damion would probably be a baby about it.
Why do I put up with this kid? Derek asked himself, staring at his reflection in the mirror. He put a hand to his cheek. No mark remained from the Dual Blast he had been hit by—Serin had made sure of that. How she had done it, he had no idea, though. He had never heard of a Pokémon being able to heal human injuries like that, except maybe by moves like Recovery or Wish.
"Major Louis Archer." He rolled the name around on his tongue, mumbling the words, whispering them, chewing on them, spitting them out. It left a bitter taste in his mouth, even after he brushed his teeth.
He sighed and wandered back over to his bed. The fluffy blankets and squishy pillow absorbed his worries and reminded him of how tired he was. It had been a long day, full of games and activities. Hectic didn't even begin to describe it.
"Good night, Damion," he said, his voice muffled by his pillow. He yawned.
He could have sworn he heard a "Good night, Derek," but he put it off as his imagination. He let himself fall asleep, somehow thankful that the whole Indigo League was finally over.
A/N - Well. This chapter sucks.
Now, I realize that if I am in any position to be saying a chapter sucked, I should be rewriting it. And I did. Didn't turn out all that well, so I kept with this draft instead. Anyway, my point is, I will probably come back and rewrite this chapter eventually. Maybe in a year, since that's generally how long it takes for me to get to doing things. (I'm lazy, shush.)
Hope everyone had a good Easter! I actually was on spring break a while back, but I never got around to writing fanfiction... No, that wasn't me being lazy (for once). Still. Whatever.
Next chapter will be more or less a final wrap-up of this arc, and then we'll be saying good-bye to all these great people. YES! Good bye Aewir, Marina, Chris, Andrea, Matthew, Ciel, and Caitlin! (I like the last two people, but everyone else can go die.) And finally I'll be trying to get Derek more on a Yuki track.
Speaking of Yuki, Lost Memories, Revamped! ...It's not turning out all that well. I've gone through multiple endings (not gonna lie), and they all sucked, so I'm going at it again. I'm pretty much deciding which direction I should take after Yuki and Derek actually meet.
Anyway, enough. This chapter lacked conflict, lacked plot, lacked emotion, but it's done. And if it's done, that means we can leave this friggin' Indigo League behind. JEEZ.