After a break, the second battle of the day happened.
Ray sat in his seat, waiting in the trainer's box for two people. Only one showed up, and she looked exhausted as she sat down with a hood over her red hair.
"Hey!" Ray exclaimed as she sat down next to him, in a voice mixed with excitement and pride. She noticed and smiled flatteringly.
"Congratulations on advancing, Delia! The way you fought was just, so, AWESOME!"
She grinned again, looking to Ray, then the empty seat next to him.
"Where's Red?"
He looked towards the empty seat, his name attached to it by a handwritten note.
"Maybe he slept in late. I wouldn't be too worried about him."
She slunk back in her seat. "I hope so. He always loved to watch battles."
"Maybe," Ray replied through crossed arms, "before he had to battle so much. He's probably sick of them at this point."
"ATTENTION, TRAINERS!" The intercom blared across the stadium.
"GET READY FOR THE BATTLE YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! IT'S TIME FOR BLUE AND KOGA TO DUKE IT OUT!"
The two of them heard the stadium erupting into cheers. The two of them sat back and watched. Delia didn't even clap, unlike tradition.
"The stuck-up, spoiled brat," she grumbled under her breath.
The sun shined bright on the two combatants as they entered the arena. A massive screen near the top of the stadium showed Blue's smug face.
"Thinks-he's-better-than-us," muttered Delia.
She leaned forward in her seat and screamed: "HOW MANY OF THOSE POKEMON DID YOU ACTUALLY CATCH?!"
"Delia, what the hell," Ray retorted. "You want us to get kicked out because of your yelling?"
She leaned back, unsatisfied with his response.
The two of them grabbed their pokeballs and launched them at the same time. From one side popped out a purple puffball with smoking craters on its body but the other...The crowd gasped in unison.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Ray and Delia yelled at the same time.
It looked like a Kadabra, but it had two spoons instead of one. Its mustache was longer, its head was bigger, and it hovered over the field ominously.
"I'm getting notes that it's an Alakazam," the announcer fumbled, with the shuffling of papers audibly heard through the broadcast. "It's apparently the evolved form of Kadabra, a recent discovery by Professor Oak. It evolves when traded, like the recently found Gengar from a traded Haunter. Alakazam is a very powerful psychic-type pokemon, which can easily take down poison pokemon. What will Koga do?"
Ray saw Koga visibly sweat in the bright lights.
Blue stood straighter and crossed his arms.
Delia and Ray watched as Koga's Muk, Grimer, Koffing, and Weezing all fall spectacularly to the faster, more powerful psychic attacks from that mysterious pokemon.
"WHO'S CHEATING NOW," Delia screamed. "YOU'RE USING A POKEMON THAT DIDN'T EVEN EXIST YET!"
"Shut up!" Ray pulled her back into her seat.
"Why?! Why the hell is that fair when Red wasn't allowed?"
Ray paused. She was right, though. "It doesn't mean you have to be the one to point it out. Someone else should."
"Who else," Delia growled. "Red got destroyed because he apparently used his Snorlax well. This guy uses a brand new pokemon to wipe the floor with the competition!"
Ray watched the stadium cheer as Alakazam stood atop a fainted Weezing.
"Maybe now's not the time yet."
The battle had gone so fast that they called for a longer break than usual before Ray's big fight.
"Can you walk with me to the bathroom?" Delia asked Ray.
He turned to her. "Why?"
"I'm a little nervous, that's all." She looked around at all of the trainers in the booth and saw them all exit.
"You just crushed Lola into the mud, Delia. No one will touch you," Ray reassured her. She smiled and left him in the booth. Pikachu watched her leave as Ray looked towards the arena. He'd be down there soon, facing another Psychic-type master in Sabrina. She had been one of the first ones to be nice to him and Delia. Maybe she knew how it felt to be an outcast. He pushed back his brown hair and leaned forward in his seat. How would he do in the bright lights this time? Would he sweat as much as Koga did? He had laughed internally about it. Maybe he'd have to eat his words.
Pikachu leaped back onto his shoulder and snarled. Someone was behind him?
He turned to see a man over-dressed in a suit and tie behind him, with a small white card in between his gloved fingers.
"You're Ray Ketchum, correct?"
He nodded slowly, trying to eye up this new person.
"You're with Delia Arvaniti as well?"
Ray stumbled over his words.
"I mean, we're not really-well, I..."
He handed Ray the card and instructed: "You and Delia are to meet Blue Oak at Booth 151 in 15 minutes. Do you know where Delia is?"
Ray looked towards the door. How long had she been gone?
"I don't know..."
"Well, I'd recommend getting her and going to Blue as soon as possible. He's a busy man.
"I'm sure he is," Ray grumbled sarcastically. "I'll go find her. Thank you for letting me know."
Ray raced out of the booth with Pikachu in tow, leaving the mysterious man behind in the booth.
He reached the bathroom with flashbacks racing through his head. Was she beaten up again? Was Charmeleon snarling at anyone who came close?
He stopped when he approached the bathroom, as he witnessed dozens of trainers around the entranceway. Some were taking photos.
"Delia! You were awesome!"
"I love your outfit! Where did you get it!"
"How did you beat Lola so well?! You gotta tell me!"
She was swarmed by trainers of all kinds trying to get a piece of Delia, in a good way. A girl approached the swarm from Ray's direction.
"'Scuse me," Ray interrupted the girl's dreamy-eyed expression. "Why is everyone running towards the bathroom?"
"That's Delia, the one who beat Lola! She's so awesome!"
"Didn't people hate her before?"
"Not really," the girl said. "Only Lola did, and she was the biggest bully. Now that Lola was shown what for, Delia's our hero now! She's so cool with her bright hair!"
Ray cocked an eyebrow. So, he thought, I guess she wasn't as hated as she thought. Maybe in the trainer world, but not amidst the fans. He raced into the throngs of people, hoping to find Delia in there somewhere.
He saw her smile awkwardly amongst her new fans and try to sign everything she could. Some of the kids were even older than her. He somehow got her attention.
"Ray!" She called through begging eyes that screamed "get me out of here".
"Sorry, everyone," Ray called through the throngs of girls. "But Delia has an important meeting. She has to go."
"We'll go with her!" One of them screamed, and they all joined in. Ray and Delia both twitched their eyebrows. They raced towards the two of them, and they even planned on running.
Pikachu wasn't given the memo.
It watched a whole stampede of girls race across the concrete floor and thought it was a new pokemon. It certainly wasn't the first time it stopped a lumbering crowd.
A thundershock flew out of its tail and sent the fangirls collapsing on the floor with stars in their eyes.
"PIKACHU!" Ray screamed. "What the hell did you do?!"
The yellow mouse raced towards Ray, and Delia pulled his sleeve.
"Pikachu's right. Let's go."
As the girls awoke, they all whined as their celebrity had disappeared, with a mysterious boy and his pikachu.
