The massive purple cobra flashed its fangs as its patterned chest glowed with strange auras of yellow and red.
"Poliwhirl vs. Arbok! Begin!"
Everything stopped. Red could barely see the snake leap on command towards his Poliwhirl. He saw its eyes glow red, starting a glare. He knew what to do.
"Poliwhir-"
He stopped.
"CHEATER! CHEATER! RED THE CHEATER!"
"GLARE, ARBOK!
"CHEATER! CHEATER! BEAT THE CHEATER!"
Poliwhirl froze like his trainer, its terrified eyes looking back towards its trainer.
"CHEATER!"
"Red's Poliwhirl appears to be paralyzed!" The announcer's amplified voice turned to muffled echoes as the booing and the calling from the stands flooded his ears.
Make it stop...
"I'M NOT A CHEATER!"
He could barely stand as his poliwhirl received a beatdown of bites and barrages of acid. His poliwhirl fell in a heap on the floor.
"CHEATER! CHEATER! CHEATER! CHEATER! CHEATER! CHEATER! CHEATER! CHEATER! CHEATER! CHEATER! CHEATER! CHEATER! CHEATER! CHEATER!"
"SHUT UP! I'M NOT A CHEATER!"
He turned to the audience, who finally got rewarded for their name-calling. They began to jeer and boo the little boy as Ray and Delia ran down to meet him.
Red didn't see that. He saw them running away.
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! I'M NOT A CHEATER! GIOVANNI DID THIS TO ME! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!"
Agatha watched as the little boy, the poor, ridiculed boy broke face, called back his fallen Poliwhirl and raced out of the arena, into the tunnel beneath the stands.
He could barely make it past the awning before collapsing in a fit of tears and sobs.
Ray and Delia raced towards him but found someone else leaning over him.
"I thought you could do it."
Red knew who it was, the moment he heard the scruffy voice, the hands shifting in the lab coat.
"Professor Blaine?" Delia stopped in shock, "Sir, what are you-?"
"Silence," he barked, as he leaned down towards the little boy and took off his hat.
Red immediately perked up, his eyes covered in red. "GIVE ME BACK MY HAT!"
Blaine stood up, out of reach. "You think you deserve this hat?!"
"Give Red his hat, Professor!" Ray stomped closer, Delia close in tow.
"I said 'silence'!" After stopping the two teenagers, he looked back down to Red, who still reached for it.
"This hat is meant for those who stand for the glory of the pokemon league! Quitters are not included in that!"
"DID YOU HEAR THEM?!" Red screamed as tears flowed down his cheeks.
"THEY HATE ME! THEY LOVE TO HATE ME! THEY HAVEN'T STOPPED HATING ME SINCE I GRADUATED! GIOVANNI DESTROYED EVERYTHING OF MINE! HE RUINED ME, AND HE'S TURNED THE WHOLE WORLD AGAINST ME! AND I'M THE QUITTER!"
"Yes, Red. But here's the catch; you have ten minutes to get back out there before they call it a forfeit."
"I'M NOT GOING BACK OUT THERE!"
"You will, and for one important reason."
Blaine leaned down towards Red and pointed towards the tunnel.
"You know what they are? They're just noise. Loud, annoying, noise. They can't touch you, because you've been doing one thing that pisses them all off. You know what that is?"
Red looked up to his mentor with wide, confused eyes. "What? Cheat?"
"No," Blaine smiled, "You win. You keep winning. Even when it's stacked against you, when multiple trainers send out their strongest fighters, you found a way to win. Your fight against Giovanni scared him to the core, so the only way he could see you lose is by calling you a traitor, a cheater, and turning the whole world against you. I saw through all of that. After talking with Agatha, she saw it too. Professor Oak doesn't believe it either. You have wonderful friends who will go to the ends of the planet for you. Your mother and father certainly don't believe you to be a cheater, and they told me they're watching from home.
"You have always been a trainer," Blaine affirmed as he handed back Red's hat, "now, go silence the crowd. Show them what a real trainer is like. Show them what it means to be a champion."
