Well, this is the second half (more like two-thirds) of the Year 6 flashback of the Timeline. More of a subdued mood here, but there's a few character quirks, and a new friend. Some (slight) violence later on as well. You have been warned!

Enjoy!

I pushed past all the fans, the girls screaming at me, the young trainers wanting my autograph. What did they want to talk to me for? I hadn't won, I was a loser, a nobody. I headed straight for the healing desk to drop my Pokémon off with Nurse Joy, before heading for the one thing that's always been there for me when I've felt this low. I was going to buy a chocolate cake.

I know it isn't good for me, but it's comfort eating, it's there to make you feel better, not look better. I'd gone into a café, bought the biggest chocolate cake they had, and sat in a corner with a fork and spoon, slowing eating my way through it. I was halfway through, when I felt someone sit next to me. I knew it wasn't Alan, or Laura, as if it were one of them, then they'd both be here. But if this person knew who I was, then they sure had a lot of balls if they were sat next to me. I didn't look at them, I was completely focused on the cake. Though I was aware of the presence of black, and long blonde hair…

"That was an awesome battle." A feminine voice whispered in my ear. I didn't flinch. If the cake were not here, I would have jumped out of my skin. But it was here, so I just focused on that, swallowed my mouthful and replied.

"I'm a little busy right now, so would you mind leaving me alone, and get all your fangirl friends to stop bugging me as well. I don't know what you're all bothering me about, seeing how I didn't win!"

To my surprise, the presence next me didn't move away, instead she shifted closer and asked, "What makes you think I'm a fan?"

I was really starting to lose my rag now. I just wanted to eat my cake so I could feel a bit better. "Because, ever since I got out of losing that match, everyone in the whole stadium has been bothering me. I'm just trying to feel better by eating my cake, as I'm currently feeling a little depressed."

Then she did the most despicable thing ever. She extended a hand and scraped some icing off my cake with her finger! I couldn't believe this complete disregard of cake etiquette. As she went to lick the icing off I was forced to look at her…and saw…her!

"You." I muttered, recognising my opponent.

She giggled "Yep, me!"

"But what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be out celebrating with your friends? And your trophy?" I spat the last part out.

She looked a bit taken aback at that, but then started smiling again. "Nope. I saw how sad you were after the match, so I thought I'd come and find you. Those were some really strong Pokémon by the way."

"Not strong enough obviously." I muttered under my breath, though I'm sure she heard. "And I wasn't sad, I was despondent. I'm far out the other side of sadness. When your Garchomp stood up, and mine fell over, I felt like throwing up, I felt sick. That's why I got this." I said gesturing to the cake.

"But isn't a cake for victories?" She asked.

I shook my head, "Most cakes are for victories, this is chocolate cake, the best comfort food in the world. I get depressed, I get a chocolate cake, I feel better."

"Fair enough," She replied, "I've never had depression problems, so I wouldn't know."

We sat in silence for a couple of minutes, while I ate more cake, and she stole more icing.

After a while she spoke again, "So how long have you been training?" she enquired.

"This team or Pokémon in general?"

"Both."

"I've been training Pokémon for six years now, but this team for a year and a half."

"Wow, and you got them this strong in that short space of time? That's amazing!"

"You think so?"

"Yeah! If you had more time on your hands to train, you could win any League!"

"Well, I trained for a solid month before this tournament, and that still wasn't enough."

She smiled at me. "I'm not talking about months, I'm talking about years."

I practically scoffed at this. "Years of training, are you serious? I'll probably going to a new region with my friends in a couple of weeks."

"Oh really, where?" she asked.

"I haven't thought about it." Honestly I couldn't think of any regions with a typical League set-up that I hadn't been to. "I'll see what my friends want to do."

"Ah, travelling with friends then? I remember those days…" she replied, starting to space out on me.

"Hey, come on! Helloooo!" I shouted, waving my hands and clicking my fingers in front of her face. It occurred to me then that I didn't even know this girl's name. Damn, what was it? "Cindy? Hello?"

She snapped back to reality, gave me a funny look, and burst out laughing. By the time she got her breath back, I could understand most of her words. "Whe-where did you get 'Cindy' from?"

"I thought that was your name. Well I wasn't really paying attention when the announcer mentioned you, so I guessed mainly," I replied, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Well, you were almost there," she held out her hand to mine, "The name's Cynthia, of Celestic Town"

I took her hand, and shook it, replying, "It's nice to meet you Cynthia. The name's Dave, of Pallet Town."

As our hands connected, I'm sure I felt a spark or something pass between us. It was really weird. Looking into her cool, grey eyes, I'm positive she felt the same thing. We broke contact, and I continued eating my cake.

"I'm serious though," she spoke again, "if you trained your Pokémon intensively, for a decent amount of time, there's no telling how far you could go!"

"Really," I replied somewhat sarcastically, "How long have you trained your Pokémon like that?"

"Two years."

I nearly choked on my cake. Two years? This trainer, this girl, had done extreme training with her Pokémon for two years?

"Wha…?" I struggled to ask her how she managed this feat.

"But if you're going to keep travelling with your friends, there's no point in discussing it, is there?" she asked. I had a feeling this was more a statement, not a question. It was along the lines of 'A great magician never reveals his secrets.'

"So who do you travel with?" she enquired, obviously interested. It never struck me as odd how this girl who I had just met, who stole my cake icing, and who I had the most intense battle of my life against, was asking me questions like this. It just felt natural, like I'd known her for years.

"They've been my best friends, ever since we were kids. There's Alan, who's a complete hothead, always rushing ahead, literally. We've got such conflicting personalities, yet instead of clashing, it's like we complete each other, you know?" she nodded as I said this, obviously having similar friends. "The other one I travel with, Laura, well… she's a co-ordinator, a great one, she's definitely going to win a Grand Festival someday. She's determined, smart, kind, funny, pretty…" I stopped myself there, realising I was spacing out while thinking about Laura, and revealing things I'd rather be kept hidden at the same time.

I looked over at Cynthia, and saw she had a bit of a smirk on her features. "What?" I asked, expecting what came next.

"Well, Dave," she replied, stealing more icing in the process, "It sounds like you have it pretty bad for this girl."

"WHAT?" I spluttered, spewing cake crumbs everywhere in the process. "I do NOT think about her like THAT!" I said. The smirk was still on her face. But then I settled down. I realised that I'd been feeling different about Laura recently. I mean, we were both nearly 16 now, along with Alan. I guess it's only natural for guys to notice girls differently around that age. I'd confided this in Alan when I'd had the feelings for a while, and he swore he wouldn't tell her while we were still travelling together.

"Maybe you're right," I said, and she smiled in triumph as I continued, "She's always been one of my best friends, but I guess recently I've started thinking of her as something more."

She gave me an 'I told you so!' look before replying, "Well it looks to me as though you should tell her this if she means so much to you. You don't want to lose her. What'll happen if you stop travelling? You and your friends will drift apart and you'll wonder what could have happened."

I was surprised by this statement, but remembered that she was a girl, she would understand these things.

I finished my cake, and turned back to her, saying, "Thank you, Cynthia. I think I'll go do that now actually." I saw her eyes widen, clearly she hadn't expected this effect of her statement. I shook her hand, "I hope we meet again one day." I said, turning to leave the café.

I heard her say, "I hope so too!" I turned at this, and we smiled at each other. I felt my face heat up again at that. Was I catching a fever or something? All the late nights preparing for the tournament catching up with me? Nah, I was fine. I left the café, heading for the locker room, where I knew my friends would be waiting for me.

"What's your problem?" Alan shouted at me, getting back up.

"What's my problem? WHAT'S MY BLOODY PROBLEM?" I yelled back, not caring about the passers-by staring at us, "YOU! THAT'S MY PROBLEM!"

"But I thought you'd be happy for us!" He retorted, "I didn't think you'd lose your rag over it!"

"Happy? You thought I'd be happy for you? Have you lost your mind?" I asked incredulously, my shoulders heaving with every breath. "I'd be happy for you, if you'd gotten together with a girl who I hadn't specifically told you I liked!"

I had gone down to the locker room to tell Laura how I felt about her. I rounded the corner and found her and Alan locked in a passionate embrace. Like when I lost the match, I felt sick, numb, like I would never be happy again. They saw me, and commiserated me on my loss, but I didn't answer them, except to say I had to get some air. I walked to the outside of the stadium, in the fresh air, and heard him behind me, calling to me. I stopped, turned around, and promptly decked him.

"I told you! I trusted you with my feelings! And what did you do? You kicked me when I was down. 'Oh Dave, sorry about your last-second loss in the final. By the way, I've been licking the tonsils of the girl you've had a crush on for the last year!' Thanks a lot mate." I shouted at him, letting everything I was feeling at that moment go in a torrent of tears and verbal abuse.

"But you told me that a year ago! You said that yourself! I thought you'd let it go by now. I can't help that I like her as well!" he replied, trying to stay cool, while rubbing where I'd punched him.

"Feelings like that don't go away after a year!" I replied, just letting emotion drive me now, "They stay with you for years! Even in five years time I'll feel that way about her! Honestly, I know you always go ahead without thinking of the consequences, but this time you've gone too far."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked suddenly.

"What do you think? You've always rushed ahead, never thinking things through, ever since we were kids. Even in your battles, you do it. Why do you think you always loose the first round of a match? Why do you think I've always beaten you?" He quickly broke eye contact with me at that. I remembered that the day before, I had beaten him in the semi-finals of the tournament. Then the penny dropped.

"That's it isn't it?" I muttered, "You did this because you couldn't handle that I beat you!"

"Dave, this isn't about tha-" Alan began, but I cut him back off.

"You did this to get back at me?" I continued, almost refusing to believe my 'best friend' could do this to me. "The Indigo League, it took you so long to get over your loss to me. Four years later, and I beat you in the semi-finals here! You just can't handle the fact that I'm better than you, so you hurt me the only way you can, through my heart." I was breathing heavily at this point. "In one fell swoop, you betray me, and take the girl I like for yourself. I was on my way to tell her! Do you understand? I was going to tell her that I liked her tonight! But you just couldn't wait could you?" I shouted, punching him to the ground again.

I paused, catching my breath. "I'm sorry Alan, but that's it. It's over."

He looked up at me from the floor, his eyes wide at this statement. "What do you mean 'It's over'?" He asked.

"Us, you and me. Best friends forever, yeah? Wasn't it you who said that? Well no more! That is the final straw Alan, I hope you and Laura are happy."

"Blue, mate-" he began, using my old nickname as an act of desperation. But I wouldn't let him have it.

"No. You can't just pretend we're kids again, not a care in the world, and make this just disappear." A twisted smile came to my face. "But then, why would you do that, eh? You got the girl. Congratulations Red."

I could tell how much that hurt him, but it made me feel slightly better, which was all that mattered to me at that point. I turned, and headed into the surrounding crowd, but stopped. "Tell her I said goodbye." I said over my shoulder, before disappearing into the crowd, which still thronged the outside of the stadium.

"Didn't think you'd still be here." said a vaguely familiar voice. I turned, through my tears making out a mainly black shape, framed with yellow. "Are you okay?"

I ripped my glasses off, wiped my eyes clear, and recognised the shape as Cynthia. She dragged me over to a set of chairs, where we sat down.

"What happened?" she asked.

I remembered the last time we talked, and managed to make myself laugh at something, before replying, "I may need more chocolate cake…"

"Any suggestions?" I asked.

I had filled Cynthia in on what transpired between Alan and myself. She seemed to sympathise with me, almost as if she had been in this situation before. I decided that, since I wouldn't be travelling with my 'friends' anymore, I might as well do some of that training she advised me on, and was asking for help.

"Well, tough, out of the way places are generally best. Places where you are unlikely to be disturbed, with harsh conditions, as well as strong wild Pokémon." she suggested.

A few places sprang to mind, "You mean like, Mount Silver, Mount Coronet, those sort of places?"

A smile came to her face, "Yeah, those are two of the best places actually. You may want to catch some new Pokémon as well, to add some new variety, as well as power, to your team."

"Alright, I'll do this" I said, determined to get stronger, to prove I could win.

Cynthia looked at me oddly. "What?" I asked.

"You have no idea what to do, do you?" She replied.

My head fell. "No…"

She giggled again. It was a nice, melodic sound. Then she asked me a life-changing question:

"Want me to help?"

Well, this shows that friends are not always there for you, and sometimes it's someone you just met who is. And also that chocolate cake is also there. Hope this was OK, as I'm not too great with emotion. Next chapter should be up tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Dave