"Model Behavior"

Author's Note: I did not create the world of Pokémon, the creatures within it, nor the basic concept of it. I did, however, create the characters in this story and would like to be asked permission if you wish to use them. This is the first time I have written in a very long time and look forward to reading your insight on the text. I'm a lot older now, but my interest in Pokémon has not changed. Thank you.

When I finally raised my head, Minerva was standing there in the doorway with an impetuous hand placed on her narrow hip. On her lips she sported a snarl that curled the ends of her thin, pink lips. She brushed a few strands of errant hair from her eyes so that she could have a clearer view from which to glower at me.

I supposed that she looked menacing enough, or at least, as menacing as she could manage to look with pink hair. I had to give it to her; she was playing her part to a tee. I peered off to the side and noticed that there was an entourage of cameramen and celebrities that all seemed to flit around her like they were her drones and she was the Queen Beedrill. There could only be one bitch in the house and I would rather it be her than me, though I am sure that they had been editing the film to make it seem otherwise.

That's show business for you.

"I would love to battle you, but—"

"You're afraid that you're going to lose?"

So typical.

"I really need to heal my pokémon first."

"You're just trying to bide time."

Instead of feeding into her game, I recalled both Aron and Whismur into their pokéballs and marched past Minerva. I didn't need to explain myself to her. As I breezed past her, I felt something collide into my shoulder.

She wanted to play dirty.

"Meet me back here in five minutes," I grumbled as I walked across the gym to the healing booth.

It surprised me that even though the mansion boasted such things as top-of-the-line workout equipment, training rooms, marble tables, and a stadium, it still didn't have its very own Nurse Joy. Instead there was a tall red machine with a large plasma screen placed above a row of six hollow spaces. On the screen was a cheesing Nurse Joy with "Touch Screen To Begin" scrolling across her round cheeks. I pressed the screen as directed.

"Will you be healing your pokémon or doing a pokémon transfer?"

Sounded genuine enough.

I touched the appropriate box.

"Please place your pokéballs into the allotted spaces," it chirped. Once I had done so, a cute little jingle—da da da-da da—played for a few seconds or so before coming to an abrupt end.

"You may now remove your pokéballs. Thank you for using the Pearl Island Pokémon Center Xpress. Take care now and remember...GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL!"

For a moment, I stood there and stared blankly at the screen.

No, they didn't.

As I stood on my end of the battlefield, a shiver that ran the length of my spine betrayed the wintry grin that tugged at my lips. This was my first battle after all.

I had imagined it happening somewhat differently, though. First of all, I had not expected to have a rival so early in the game. Secondly, I had thought that I would have had one of the normal three starting pokémon of my region, and definitely not a Whismur. And lastly, I hadn't remotely considered that it would ever be televised for all the world to see. Talk about the added pressure to win! Mentally, I shook myself so that my composure wouldn't break.

Losing to Minerva was just out of the question.

"How many pokémon will we be using?" I asked, thinking that I would flatter her by destroying her under her conditions.

"Just one," she replied in an unusually high voice.

Good, I could use Aron, I reasoned to myself. He seemed to have more of a thirst for battle. Plus, his steel-rock combination wasn't necessarily vulnerable to a lot of other pokémon types.

"But," she began, pausing to blow her freshly-manicured nails. "I thought it would be more...interesting, let's say, if we used our starter pokémon. Don't you agree?"

My heart almost skipped a beat. Indeed, Whismur had put up a great battle against Aron and had even beaten him, but Aron was just a baby after all. It wasn't a fair match up. Aron was physically and mentally stronger than Whismur. The latter just didn't know how to harness his power yet. But at the same time, I couldn't just let her know how reluctant I was to send him out on the battlefield. All I had to do was beat her, regardless of whom I chose.

It was simple.

"Fine by me!" I called out with much more bravado than I had intended before feeling on my neck for the sparkling diamond and pearl necklace from which my pokéballs hung. As I fingered the round ball in the palm of my hand, it doubled in size.

"Ready when you are," she said.

"WHAT WILL NOW TAKE PLACE IS A ONE-ON-ONE POKÉMON BATTLE BETWEEN DELPHINE AND MINERVA!" a loudspeaker bellowed, seemingly catching us all by surprise and causing us to jump. A small metal orb whizzed through the air and with a loud poof, changed into a large screen that displayed both our names, faces, hometowns, and occupations. All that it was waiting for were the pokémon.

Immediately, I tossed the ball into the air. There was an audible snap as the ball split in two and dispelled the red light onto the floor of the battlefield. Whismur materialized, his ears erect and his hands pressed to his cheeks. He turned to face me with what appeared to be a questioning glance.

"This is our first battle, Whismur, and we have to win it. Now don't let me down," I told him, my voice rising in intensity with each word.

He visibly began to tremble and I already felt the need to be concerned. His heart wasn't in it.

The battle wasn't going to be easy.

"Come on out, darling!" Minerva exclaimed as she held her own pokéball at arm's length from her body and called forth her pokémon. I had never learned which pokémon she had been given, so I squinted in curiosity to see what it was. Everyone that was in the dining hall the other night knew all too well which pokémon I had received.

When the bright white lights had cleared, I almost burst out in laughter at the pokémon that stood before Whismur. Its skin was the same color fuchsia as Minerva's, though the hue of its chubby little body was as far as the resemblance went. On top of her head was a platinum blond hair that was crowned with a large polka-dot barrette. Its full, round lips smacked together in excitement, greedily awaiting for the battle to begin.

I couldn't help myself.

"How cute! You two match! Well...kind of. I think that barrette was from last season though."

"You don't know anything about fashion! I breathe fashion. You'll be taking that back after we wipe the floor with you. Right, Smoochum?" she retorted.

"Smoo, smoochum!" the little pokémon agreed, turning to wink at her trainer.

"You go first, Delphine. Let's see what you've got!" taunted Minerva from her corner.

This was it. It was a chance for me to do all that I had dreamed of doing for the past few days, but was so afraid to do because of Whismur and what I perceived to be his flaws. I would make this battle beautiful, and interesting, and effective. I would show that I was better than Minerva.

"Whismur, jump into the air and use Pound!"

"Smoochum, you use Pound as well!"

Though his reaction time was a bit slow for my tastes, he eventually leaped about ten feet into the air, glowing arm and all. Smoochum waited for his descent before her arm began to glow as well, a look of confidence and determination in her eyes. As Whismur was about to pummel her, she sprang into the air. Their two arms met midway and, as Whismur had had a little more momentum, the force of the blow blasted Smoochum back a few feet, causing her to squeal in pain. Whismur landed soundly on his feet and awaited further orders.

"Not bad, Whismur. Keep it up! Use Shadow Ball now!"

Whismur quickly began to charge his energy until the tell-tale black and purple sphere hovered between his hands.

"Are you all right, Smoochum? Show them your Powder Snow attack!"

Whismur released the Shadow Ball at a shockingly high speed. As it tore through the court, chips of the court flew out in all directions. In the meantime, Smoochum was already on her feet and had taken a huge gulp of air, causing her body to inflate, before blowing out a stream of snowflakes at the Shadow Ball. I winced as the ball that once crackled with live energy landed into the palm of Smoochum's hand. Frozen solid.

"Aha! Now, toss the ball up and hit it back with Ice Punch!"

Smoochum obeyed without hesitation and before I knew it, the frozen Shadow Ball had tripled in size, thanks to the Ice Punch, and was flying back at Whismur at a tremendous speed.

"Move out of way!" I screamed.

But his reaction time was too slow and the attack hit dead-on.

"Whismurrrrr," he cried as his body skidded across the ground.

I raked my mind trying to figure out what I should do next. As far as I knew, Whismur didn't possess any attacks that were particularly strong against ice-type pokémon. I pondered about this for a few moments before, not wanting to waste any more time, I figured that I would have do what he did best: cry.

"Whismur, use Uproar!"

"Quick Smoochum, use Sweet Kiss!"

Whismur struggled to his feet and threw his arms up in the air as he took a deep breath through his ears. Smoochum, however, was already on the move and was sailing towards Whismur. She was a lot quicker than I had imagined. Massive white sound waves shot across the field at Smoochum, whose body had crumpled a bit as she continued to run towards Whismur.

Much to my surprise, Whismur's screams weren't debilitating me and Minerva as we watched on; they were only affecting Smoochum. Maybe this was because they were being directed at her and not at us.

This would explain partly explain why we were all perishing under his cries during the opening ceremony and why it had hurt Pachirisu and I that time by the waterfall, yet had barely phased me when he was battling Aron. When he was startled, he must not have been able to control the intensity of his scream. I frowned, what a fine time to come to that realization. And during the middle of battle too!

Smoochum was visibly struggling to reach Whismur. I smiled. She wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer. We were going to win! I could just feel it in my heart.

"Keep it up!" Minerva and I both yelled at the same time.

You had to admire the guts that Smoochum displayed as she continued through the onslaught of Whismur's Uproar attack. She was slowly but surely gaining ground. In fact, she was very, very close to him.

"Whismur, don't let her touch you. Pump up your Uproar attack. Now!"

But apparently, Whismur had let up a little bit as he strained to listen to my command and Smoochum capitalized upon that lull to leap into the air and throw her arms around Whimsur's body. I nearly crumbled to the ground as she planted a big, wet kiss on his cheek and a large pink heart rebounded from his cheek and into the air.

Shit.

"Whismur, don't fall under her trap! Pound!"

But it was too late. Whismur's arm glowed as if he were about to attack, but I wouldn't exactly say that what he did could ever be considered as a proper Pound attack. Instead, he used his hand to gently stroke Smoochum's cheek. As he caressed her cheek, his head cocked to the side and he murmured sweet nothings into Smoochum's ear.

"Ice Punch!"

All that I could do was watch in horror as Whismur's body was thrown into the air and he came crashing down to the hard, unforgiving ground.

We had lost.

"Hmm, guess that you lost. That means that I won," Minerva said with a carefree shrug of her shoulders.

"It's nice to see that you understand basic logic," I said as I tried to brush past her. Unfortunately, she was far too empowered by her victory at the moment to let me remove myself from the training room so quickly. She had other plans.

"So?" she asked, dubiously raising her eyebrows and crossing her slender arms one over the other. What an actress, I thought, hamming it up for the camera. I wonder if the show was being taped live. I had no problem imagining potbellied fathers, melodramatic "tweens", and boys of all ages standing at attention.

The nerve of her! Did she actually expect me to get down on my knees and surrender to her superiority as a trainer? Really, did she think that I would sink down that low? Never! She must have gone crazy right then; I had decided it.

"What do you expect me to say? That I lost?" I barked. I could feel my eyebrows knitting together at that exact moment, in the same way that they did when I squinted. It was something that had been somewhat of a problem in my early modeling days. Whenever I got nervous, which I undoubtedly was at that time, my eyebrows would be the tell-all sign.

Visibly, her body language relaxed and she languidly placed a hand upon her hip and smiled. "There it goes. You lost. You lost. And you know what the best part about it is? (She didn't give me time to answer, as if I ever would have answered anyways.) You, Delphine Delacroix, the "Catwalk Queen", you lost to me, Minerva—the so-called "has-been" of trainer fashion. What do you have to say for yourself?"

With each word that she uttered, the overwhelming urge to clasp my hands around her long, slender neck grew stronger and stronger. My right hand had violently begun to shake, taking upon itself a mind of its own. It begged to be released. I was afraid that if I had said anything, I would have screamed at the top of my lungs and the last thing I wanted to do after my defeat was to attract even more attention to myself.

The best that I could do was walk away.

So I did.

As I made my exit, I could hear a great deal going on behind me. But one voice stood out among all the others. "I bet she's going to go cry in her room. It seems that these youngsters just aren't cut out for show business. Oh, I almost feel sorry for the thing. Almost."

A chill proceeded to go down my spine.

Well, if there was one thing that Minerva had been wrong about, it was about where I would go to sulk after my defeat. As it was still early in the afternoon, I headed down to the beach. As it had proved time and time again, by the water was where I was most at peace with myself and the world around me, and after such a tense morning, that's exactly where I needed to be.

My feet spilled out of my long, but not nearly long enough, beach towel and onto the sand. And though it was a warm eighty-two degrees, the toasty sand did not cause me the slightest discomfort. I could hear Wingull off in the distance, laughing, playing, diving... My spirits were being lifted, but there was still something that I just could not shake.

I had been made of fool by Minerva.

And though I had willingly signed up to be a contestant on this show, it was only then that I realized that bringing shame upon myself was ultimately one of the many consequences that I would face. I began to think that maybe I should have researched my options a bit more thoroughly.

How could a person be so bitter towards someone with whom she never even had a formal introduction to? It felt like school all over again. Envy, one of seven deadly sins, did not discriminate on whom it chose to unleash itself upon and, apparently, neither did Greed. But what real gain did Minerva expect to take away from making herself my mortal enemy? What? A long stint of disability checks? Who knew? I was not the one to let go of such encounters so easily and yet, there it was that I was the one who had left the room first. I was the person that had backed down.

And then there was Whismur. I just couldn't wrap my mind around how he had been able to bring a room full of people to their knees and yet couldn't take down a pudgy, little Smoochum. Perhaps it was a question of training or communication but at that moment, I wasn't willing to consider that as a viable possibility.

I rolled over onto my back and placed my hands upon the shallow dip of my stomach and squinted under the Sun's dazzling rays.

So much had been going on with me and in such a small space of time. I had received my first pokémon, Whimsur, and had befriended my second, Aron. Oh! and let's not forget that I was resuscitated by an oddly colored Pachirisu—the same one that cowered behind her legs. And then there was the aforementioned she. Why had she come to me all of a sudden? And why now? Years after her death, the memories of her face and of her voice stayed in the back of my mind and guided my every move and now, just when I was just starting to accept it, she now occupied my dreams as well. What could this all mean?

I didn't realize that tears had begun to roll down my face until an unknown, yet empathetic voice chimed in and said, "Sometimes when I realize the sheer beauty of this island, I realize just how lucky I am to have this opportunity to raise pokemon and to start things all over again...but this time, on my own terms."

I whirled around to face whomever it was that was speaking to me, startled. I hadn't realized that I wasn't alone. "Who are you and what the hell are you talking about?" I asked, my voice raspy with tears as I wiped my nose with my forearms.

His chuckle was low and rumbling, slightly sketchy, yet at the same time, very comforting. His laughter loosened something inside of me. Whether he knew the cause of my tears or had heard of my defeat to Minerva, I had no idea, but his mirth seemed to come from a genuine place. A pure place. Where was he coming from with all of this? Who was this kid that had decided to pour his heart out to me so candidly under the afternoon sky? And how had his presence escaped my notice? Was I so caught up in my tears that I had not heard him take his place beside me...or had he been there all along? Eyebrows knit together, I examined this boy whose gaze never left the beautiful turquoise sky above. Although his irises were so dark that they appeared almost black in color, they could not have exuded more warmth. What was his story?

"Hello?"

"Hello!" he exclaimed, as if he himself had just realized that I was there.

I don't what it was that started the madness that was this first, strange encounter, but once we realized how crazy the whole situation was, the laughter didn't cease for a very long time. We laughed about everything that was going on in our lives and we laughed at nothing at all. But most importantly, we laughed for the sake of laughing. And the coolest thing about it was that it made me forget, forget it all, if only for a little while.