"Victory Road" turned out to be a hybrid of capture the flag, sardines, and, of course, Pokemon battling. The goal of the game was to find the "Pokemon League," a hidden location somewhere on the school grounds. The game pitted the students against the "guards;" a group of around ten students dedicated to stopping anyone from finding the League. Students confronted by the guards would have to face them in a one-on-one Pokemon battle—the fact that Sylvia and Ruth were among the guards meant this would be no cakewalk. If they lost, the students were sent to a designated jail zone in the school atrium, guarded vigilantly by Miss Snyder.
Liam's plan to stick close to Vasilio was instantly foiled when Rebecca dragged him off herself. There was an element of stealth to the game, and Liam figured a group of three would make avoiding battles very unlikely. He briefly considered joining with Chelsea, but she had also disappeared. With a resigned shrug, Liam struck out on his own, slinking into the shadows of the main stairs leading to the second floor.
Liam didn't have the greatest hearing—his mother blamed the hours spent listening to loud music from large headphones—and the fall of night made the inside of the school dark and eerie. Liam crept slowly along the second floor landing, peeking into classrooms. Sneasel, clinging to Liam's shoulder, was much more alert, and Liam was sure his Pokemon would detect an approaching guard long before he would.
"Hear anything?" Liam mumbled.
Sneasel shook its head. They ducked into an elementary classroom and peered around at the empty desks and chairs. Even with the light from nearby apartments leaking in the curtained windows—Everspring's abundance of light pollution meant the city was never really dark, even in the dead of night—they couldn't see much. Liam fumbled around a little, making sure there was no sign of the red flag that marked the location of the League.
"Hey dude."
Liam wheeled around and saw August, a curly-haired senior and friend of Taylor's, framed in the classroom door.
"Hey, August," said Liam with relief. "I don't think it's in here."
"Figures," said August. "Liz said she thinks it might be somewhere on the school grounds. I'm gonna check the 4th grade room then head out there."
"Have you seen any guards?"
August shook his head, his shaggy curls casting dancing shadows on the tile floor of the classroom.
"Nah. I'll see ya. Don't get caught."
He was gone. Liam took one last look around the classroom and, with a resigned shrug, stepped back out into the hall. The atrium below was quiet, but Liam could hear the distant crashes of a Pokemon battle outside. He decided to follow August's hint and head in that direction.
"Aha!"
Liam gave such a violent start that he almost threw Sneasel from his shoulders. Sylvia Liu, her glasses flashing dangerously, had just stepped out of the shadows with a Pokeball in hand.
"Hi, Sylv," said Liam, taking a step back. "Can't you just let me go because I voted for you for president?"
"No, you don't get special treatment just for doing the right thing," smirked Sylvia. "You using your Sneasel?"
"I guess."
"Then let's do this. Arcanine, go!"
"You sure you don't wanna choose something else?" said Liam sheepishly.
"Not my fault that you don't have any Fire type coverage," said Sylvia pleasantly. "Quit stalling, Liam."
Liam glanced at the Sneasel on his shoulder.
"Sorry," he muttered. "You're up."
Sneasel sprang from his shoulder and landed on all fours on the slick hall floor.
"Arcanine," said Sylvia. "ExtremeSpeed!"
Arcanine blitzed forward so quickly that its massive form was reduced to a blur. With a crack, Sneasel was knocked back and sent sliding across the hall floor. Liam wondered for a moment if the battle was already over, but Sneasel was soon back on its feet—winded, but not out yet.
"Sneasel, use Slash!" said Liam.
With a snarl, Sneasel lunged forward and raked its claws against Arcanine's neck. It was a vicious attack, but with little effect. Arcanine tossed its head and crouched low for its next assault.
"Arcanine, Fire Blast!" commanded Sylvia.
Liam winced on his Pokemon's behalf as the burning blast engulfed Sneasel, singeing its fur and blackening the tile floor. Sneasel staggered forward, tried to catch its balance, and fell face-first to the ground.
"That was mean," said Liam, recalling his fainted Pokemon.
"Oh, stop whining," said Sylvia with a grin. "You're banished to Christine's prison. Get moving."
Liam frowned, shrugged, and started back downstairs. He found Miss Snyder guarding a group of about 10 students in a taped-off area in the inside corner of the atrium. Vasilio, Rebecca, and Chelsea were among them.
"Sylvia got you?" said Vasi with a grin.
"Yeah," said Liam.
He reached out and took the Revive Vasilio handed to him and used it on his fainted Sneasel.
"Ruth got me and Vasi," said Rebecca. "She's insane."
"Yeah, you don't expect that from her," Liam granted. "She actually has—."
"You all are awfully talkative for prisoners," interrupted Miss Snyder. "Shouldn't you be on your knees begging for freedom or trying to escape or something like that?"
"Are we allowed to escape?" asked Rebecca.
"No," said Miss Snyder. "You can beg for freedom, though. I won't release you, but you're free to beg."
"Doesn't sound worth it," said Vasilio.
"That's funny," said Miss Snyder. "Because I remember all of you coming to my office to beg on your knees at some time or other."
Liam rolled his eyes.
The next two games of Victory Road didn't go much better for Liam. He was ambushed by Jonah near the cafeteria tent five minutes into the second round, and Sylvia found him again as he crept his way into the science room just a few minutes into round three.
"You've been having bad luck," said Sylvia, adjusting her round glasses with a grin as Liam recalled his fainted Espeon.
"Yeah, no kidding," said Liam irritably. "You sure you're not stalking me, Sylv?"
"I'm sure," said Sylvia, stroking her Arcanine affectionately. "You're just loud—and super unlucky."
Liam granted that she was probably right, Victory Road was one of those games that could be fun—in the right place, with the right people, and with enough luck—but none of that was working out for him tonight. With a shrug, he started back down the main stairs, but on the second floor landing he turned aside. There was a light on in a classroom that hadn't been there before—or perhaps Liam just hadn't noticed it? His curiosity (and boredom with getting caught over and over again) got the better of him, and he decided to opt out of this round of Victory Road. Crouching stealthily in the shadows (just in case Sylvia caught him again), Liam followed the beam of light pouring from the half-open classroom door. The sign beside it informed him that this was the art room—a part of the school he had never visited before. Liam peeked through the cracked door. The lightly briefly blinded and disoriented him, but as his eyes adjusted, Liam caught sight of Orchid Ng standing at an easel. She had a brush in her hand, and she was humming quietly to herself as she made confident, delicate strokes on the canvas. So far as Liam could tell, there was no one else in the room.
"Orchid?" said Liam.
She didn't hear him. Liam took a step into the room, and noticed two white wires poking out from under Orchid's long black hair. That explained why she hadn't heard him.
"Orchid," Liam repeated, raising his voice a little.
She still hadn't noticed him. Leaving the door half-open behind him, Liam approached Orchid as casually as possible, trying to avoid startling her.
"Hey, Orchid," he said when he was about five feet away.
Orchid squealed, dropping her brush and nearly falling over. She jerked the buds out of her ears and stared at Liam with wide-eyed terror.
"Sorry," said Liam. "I really wasn't trying to sneak up on you."
"W-why are you here?" said Orchid in a trembling voice. Liam immediately felt guilty for accidentally terrifying the jumpy freshman.
"I saw the light," Liam explained, picking up Orchid's paintbrush and handing it back to her. "And I was getting bored with Victory Road. Why are you here?"
"I was… uh…"
Orchid glanced shiftily at the easel. Liam noticed for the first time what she was painting—a grotesque and luridly-colored Crobat against a surreal night sky. Liam was no art connoisseur, but he could tell Orchid was a talented artist with a well-developed personal style.
"Wow," said Liam. "You're… that's really cool."
Orchid choked a little.
"Th-thanks," she said.
"Did you stay for the lock-in just so you could use the art room?" asked Liam.
Orchid looked away. With a blush, she put her earbuds back in, dipped her brush in a dark purple paint, and continued to work.
"Is it okay if I watch you?" said Liam. "Watch you paint, I mean, not just watch…"
Orchid gave a very reluctant nod. Liam pulled up a small chair and sat down. Orchid seemed hesitant at first, but she quickly fell back into her own world, humming along with her music as she added new details and touches to her Crobat. Liam admired the effortless skill of her brushstrokes, but he also thought he saw a surprising anger and darkness in the image. The Crobat's teeth and eyes were striking and jagged, making the bat-like Pokemon seem almost monstrous. Liam wondered if he was reading too much into the painting. After all, anyone glancing through his iPod would conclude he was significantly more angry and tortured than he was.
After nearly half an hour, Orchid surveyed her work, gave a half-hearted nod, took out her earbuds, and started cleaning her brushes. The final product was impressive—Liam would've loved to have it for the wall of his room. Orchid, however, showed no sense of pride or achievement, and barely glanced at her own work as she continued to clean up.
"It's really good," said Liam.
"No, it's not," said Orchid.
Her tone was so final and confident that it took Liam by surprise.
"It looks good to me," he insisted.
"Well, you d-don't know anything about art," Orchid retorted bluntly.
Liam couldn't argue with that.
"Are you gonna keep it, then?"
"Of course," said Orchid. "It'd be s-stupid to throw it away."
She finished cleaning her brushes and set them out to dry. Liam was leaning close to the easel, eyeing the texture of the glistening paint on the canvas.
"How long have you been painting?" he asked.
"Uh… I dunno," said Orchid.
Now that he wasn't insisting her art was good, Orchid's defensiveness had melted away and she was back to being timid and anxious. Liam had an idea to bring her out of her shell. Reaching for the first Pokeball on his belt, Liam released his Sneasel, which immediately scrambled up his body and perched itself on his left shoulder.
"You should paint my Sneasel sometime," Liam suggested casually.
Orchid couldn't conceal the sparkle in her eyes as she looked at Sneasel.
"M-maybe," she mumbled.
"You wanna see if he'll be friends again?" asked Liam.
Orchid nodded. Liam lifted Sneasel off his shoulder and set the Pokemon on a nearby table. Orchid approached Sneasel slowly, holding out her left hand for it to sniff.
"He likes you more this time," observed Liam as Sneasel cocked its head at Orchid.
"He's v-very small," said Orchid as she stroked Sneasel's head gingerly. "N-no offense."
"Yeah, he is," said Liam. "I used to think it was just because he was young, but I've had him for… I don't know four or five years now, and he hasn't gotten any bigger."
Sneasel shot a critical glance up at its trainer.
"Oh, don't take it so personally," said Liam. "I swear, I've got a whole team full of high-strung Pokemon now."
Orchid giggled.
"You wanna sit down?" ventured Liam. "You can hold Sneasel if you want."
Orchid nodded, and together they sat down against the wall beneath the art room's whiteboard. Sneasel wouldn't stay in Orchid's lap, but seemed content to cling to her right shoulder and lean against the wall.
"Do you not have art stuff at home?" said Liam, feeling like he should make some conversation.
"N-no," said Orchid, "I…"
She chewed her tongue.
"My… dad doesn't want me to be an artist," she mumbled. "He's a businessman. His company makes… m-makeup and stuff. He wants me to work for him when I grow up."
Liam heard a note of disdain in her voice.
"What about your mom?"
"She lives in Dongzo. She and my dad don't talk very much. I see her sometimes, but… she's difficult."
"Difficult?"
"She thinks everyone is out to g-get her," said Orchid evasively. "Especially me."
"Ah," said Liam.
As a TCK, Liam was more than used to people trotting out their baggage at an early stage. He knew it didn't mean anything—it was just a reality of knowing that anyone could walk in or out of your life at any time. Still, he hoped he wasn't digging too deep with Orchid. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable.
"So how long have you been in Nanzo?" asked Liam, deciding to give Orchid a way out of the topic if she wanted it.
"This is my… fourth year," she said, squinting as she calculated the time in her head. "You j-just came last year, right?"
"Yeah," said Liam. "I was in Johto before that."
"D-do you miss it?"
Liam thought for a moment.
"Yeah. But I miss a lot of things. All things considered, I'm pretty happy with where I am now. I've got good friends, a good school, and the food is pretty good. Not as good as Johto food, but pretty good."
Orchid giggled.
"I think it's easier not to make things complicated," Liam continued. "My home is wherever I happen to be. My best friend is whoever I happen to be with. It doesn't always work—I'm missing my ex-girlfriend a lot right now, and I'm worried that I'm drifting away from one of my best friends here—but it works alright."
"Is your best friend here… Vasilio?" asked Orchid hesitantly.
"Yeah," said Liam. "Well, Vasilio and Mori are my best friends. They're both in… relationship-ish things right now. It's easier with Mori, because she's… well, she's not really supposed to be dating Dustin, so she keeps her distance at school. But I can barely get a minute in with Vasi with Rebecca…"
Liam sighed.
"Sorry," he said. "I probably shouldn't be whining to you about this."
"It's… okay," said Orchid quietly. "I'm your f-friend."
"Good," said Liam. "I need friends."
Sneasel growled contentedly.