Chira smiled at Chris. "Buck up," she said. "Think of it this way, you got experience fighting an experienced trainer."
"Jordan wouldn't have lost that soon, even with my level of experience," he muttered.
Jordan glanced at Chira before responding to him. "I could have easily lost if I had been in your shoes. Now stop sulking, no one can win them all. And if you're depressed, then your pokemon will be depressed as well. You do not want that to happen."
Chris shrugged.
Chira had found Jordan in the stands that morning easily enough, and they had watched the matches before Chris's. Unfortunately, Chris had lost his match fairly quickly, and he wasn't taking it very well. They were now sitting in the building's cafeteria at one of the round tables. The screen on the wall showed the elimination rounds still occurring, but none of them were paying much attention to it. The pokecenter's Nurse Joy currently had all of their pokemon, Jordan and Chira having decided to heal their pokemon while Chris' were being healed.
"You did an awesome job, Chris," Chira tried again, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It doesn't matter if you won or lost, the important thing is you did your best."
Chris shrugged her hand away. "That's easy for you to say, you weren't the one who lost in front of millions of people."
Chira smiled. "There weren't that many people in the audience. You're overreacting."
Chris glared at her. "It's televised."
"Oh." Chira sat back. Jordan took a turn at trying to comfort his brother, and Chira noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. Next thing she knew, someone had laid a hand on her shoulder.
She swiveled around as someone asked, "Chira, isn't it?"
She looked up into the face of one of the most beautiful women she had ever seen. Her blond hair was pulled back in a bun with a few strands perfectly framing her face. Baby Blue eyes were smiling at her over lightly freckled cheeks and nose. Her face was an oval that seemed to radiate confidence, and she wore a plain Indigo uniform that instead of dulling her features, seemed to enhance them.
Chira nodded mutely, confused.
"Would you mind coming with me? There is someone that wants to talk to you."
Chira debated for a second, glancing back to her friends for advice. Jordan just stared at the woman while Chris tried to wipe at overflowing eyes unobtrusively. Chira finally nodded. "Sure." She stood and addressed Jordan. "If Nurse Joy comes by, will you pick up Insight and Cami for me? I'll meet you guys later. I shouldn't be too long, but…"
Jordan nodded and Chira slung her bag over her shoulder.
"Ready?" the woman asked. At Chira's nod, she turned to Chris. "Weren't you one of the contestants?" He nodded. "I saw your match. You've got a lot of potential." With that, she led the way. Chira glanced back to see both boys staring after them. She sighed.
"You didn't have to do that, you know," she said once they had left the room.
The woman smiled. "I didn't have to do what?" she asked.
"Tell him he had a lot of potential. He would have gotten over his loss eventually."
"I know, but it helps them along when a total stranger compliments them on their battle. Trust me; I've worked here long enough to know."
She guided Chira along a maze of hallways and corridors. Chira soon grew confused. If she didn't know the building owned a circular shape, she wouldn't have had a clue what it looked like. They were going down halls that weren't frequently populated by the public, that much Chira knew. The walls were spotless, and the rugs on the floors were old and just beginning to show wear.
"Where are we going," Chira finally had the nerve to ask, growing nervous.
The woman smiled back at her. "Where you won't be interrupted."
"And just who am I meeting?"
The woman stopped by a door. "Who else? Lance." She pushed open the door as Chira stumbled to a halt, her heart skipping a beat, then coming back double time. The woman motioned her in, and unbidden, her legs took her into the brightly lit room.
French doors were open onto a balcony overlooking a garden, and the walls were covered with pictures and book shelves. An empty desk sat to one side, papers scattered across the surface. A small TV was on to one side, the matches in the stadium pictured. A couch stood in front of it, and Chira had the impression it wasn't used much. The woman entered behind Chira and stepped out onto the balcony. She heard muted talking and soon a man came in. It wasn't Lance.
His black hair fell into his eyes, which were the color of healthy moss. He smiled warmly at her, a dimple appearing in his left cheek. Chira could feel his friendliness and relaxed. Lance and the woman followed him in. Lance sat down at the desk and scrutinized her. The woman sat down on the couch as if watching the current match. Somehow, though, Chira knew she would be listening to their conversation. The man leaned against a wall, silently studying her. Chira could feel butterflies playing in her stomach, and she felt sick, though she didn't know why. She took a deep breath.
Lance began. "Chira," he paused, and at her nod continued. "I have decided to think on who you have claimed to be. Do you realize that, if you are indeed the daughter of those people and the baby in your picture, you would have survived a shipwreck that no one else did?"
Chira gasped, and she could feel the room spinning. Her parents had died in a shipwreck? Her mind flew back to the letter. But it had said her parents had been killed! Which was right? She shook her head to clear it.
"I had no idea how my parents died," she said haltingly.
Lance raised an eyebrow. "You didn't?" he asked skeptically.
She shook her head.
"Well, then," he cleared his throat. "If you are indeed their daughter, why weren't you given to one of your relations to care for?"
Chira could only shake her head again. "I really don't know."
"Well, what town did you grow up in?" The man in the corner cut in.
"M-Morningside," she stuttered, unnerved by his interruption. "It's a two day journey East from Viridian City," she supplied at their blank looks.
"Why were you raised so far away from the Orange Islands?" Lance asked.
"How did you get there?" the other man asked, incredulous.
Chira stared at them. "The Orange Islands? Is that where my parents were from?"
The man gazed at her in awe. "You don't know?"
The woman stood up impatiently. "You oafs, you haven't even offered her somewhere to sit down! How can you just let her stand there? This is no way to conduct an interrogation of any kind!" She guided Chira behind the desk, shooing Lance out of his chair. "You just sit there and do your best to answer these idiots' questions. I'm sure you understand their position. It's not like you find a long lost cousin that was supposedly dead everyday, especially when you are as well known as my husband and his friend."
"Husband?" Chira was getting more and more confused with every tidbit of information that she learned. Then the rest of the woman's statement hit home and realization dawned. "You think I'm just some girl who wants to have some connection to you, don't you?" she asked Lance accusingly.
He shrugged. "Well, can you blame me?" he asked defensively, crossing his arms.
The other man piped in. "None of the evidence supports what you claim, I hope you realize.
Chira looked down, blinking back tears.
Lance leaned across the desk. "I'll just ask this once, got it? Do you have any undeniable proof that you are who you say you are?"
Chira took a deep breath, her mind at a standstill on one question. Do I tell him, or not? She finally made up her mind. Taking another deep breath, she looked him in the face. "I do."
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Ooh, hoo! This just keeps getting better and better. None of you reading this will have a clue what comes next. Okay, maybe a few of you will know what it is that she has to prove, but none of you will know why they believe her until you read the next chapter. Oh, maybe I should wait a while to update the next chapter. I know! I won't update the next chapter until I get some more reviews! So for the sake of us all, People, review!