Salem: Ok I finally got Fanfic to add Rosa to their list! Yayyy for persistence! Please comment if you read. I really appreciate it! Thanks and please no flames!

Second Place

"It has been nearly six years since Ghetsis was expelled from Unova for the second time. The region's recovery from the incredible damage caused by the team has been a slow one, since Plasma devastated several cities with icy blasts from the legendary dragon Pokémon, Kuryem. Our nation fell into ruin and darkness as the team's new technology polluted our air and water supply. In conclusion, Team Plasma's whereabouts still remain unknown but they have made such an impact on the people and Pokémon around us it may take many more years to overcome."

Jeremy looked up over the rims of his dark emerald glasses and set his report down timidly on Cheren's desk.

"Was that any better?" He asked almost inaudibly. "I tried to make it longer, but I don't really know much about Team Plasma."

Cheren blinked and leaned back in his chair. "Well it's still too short for you to earn a passing grade. Have you been working with Professor Araragi like I asked?"

The young boy's shoulders slumped in discontent and he fiddled with the undersized stub of a pencil clutched a little too resolutely in his hands. "Sir, he only told me to look through the references you gave me…That's all I could find, honest!"

Cheren smiled. "You should have asked me about them if you needed to know more. Or you could have gone to Ms. Rosa."

Jeremy nodded dishonorably. "I'm sorry Sir. I wanted to try and figure it out on my own to prove to everyone else that I wasn't a bad trainer."

Cheren opened his mouth to reply but the door leading into one of the storage rooms flew open, and a fairly tall girl with dark brown bun-tails stepped through. She wore vivid yellow shorts with lustrous black tights and a visor to help tame her bangs, which she loathed fixing every morning. She struggled under the heavy weight of Pokémon type charts poised adroitly in her hands as she heaved them onto the nearest scholar desk.

Cheren frowned. "Rosa could you come here for a moment?"

Rosa was still trying to catch her breath. She glanced down at Jeremy who refused to look in her direction.

"Am I interrupting something? I thought all of the students had left for the day." She went to pick the stack of charts back up. "I'll leave if you want. I'm only working on sorting out the Dark-Psychic charts for tomorrow and I can do it in my office."

Cheren shook his head. "You're not interrupting anything! We were actually talking about you."

Rosa narrowed her eyes. "Hm…I'm not sure I like the sound of that…"

Jeremy looked up. "It's nothing bad. Sensei was telling me about how you knew Team Plasma."

Rosa blinked. "Oh, are you still working on your report?" She walked over to where he stood. "How did you do this time? May I see?"

Jeremy snatched the essay from Cheren's hands and held it securely to his chest. "No! It just makes me sound a lot dumber than the last one I wrote!"

Cheren seemed taken aback. "Jeremy you are not stupid—"

"Yes I am," Jeremy muttered. "I can't even make a report sound good after three tries…Maybe everyone is right…I'm never going to be a good trainer like you two!"

Rosa was speechless. She stared down at Jeremy with such incomprehension, she was unable to formulate any words to console her student. Slowly she turned to Cheren for support, but he too had been thunderstruck.

Tears began to well up behind Jeremy's glasses and he took them off, wiping his eyes on the back of his light cobalt wool sleeves.

"You think I'm stupid too…" he sniffed.

Cheren pushed back his chair and walked around the corner of the desk.

"Jeremy listen to me," he whispered kneeling in front of him, "you have so much potential. You just need to learn when to ask for help. Everyone needs help at some point."

Rosa nodded and pulled up a desk for Jeremy to sit in. "You know what? Before I became champion of Unova, I had a hard time too."

Jeremy blinked. "R-really? With what?"

Rosa leaned against the desk and thought a moment. "Well, when I had to fill my pokedex for Professor Juniper, I couldn't find half of the Pokémon. That was really frustrating because I had never seen the Pokémon before, so I wasn't sure where to look or what exactly I was looking for." She explained calmly. "So what I did was go to my friends for help, and they showed me where to find all of the Pokémon."

Cheren nodded in aggreance. "I had a moment near the beginning of my journey when I had no idea if I wanted to continue. I had my parents telling me to come home on one hand and Alder telling me to keep going on the other hand. It got really confusing, and I realized what I really wanted was to help people with the same problems."

"Me too!" Rosa chimed in. "I wasn't sure where to go after I retired from being a trainer, and I realized that I wanted to share all of my experiences with others and got a job as Cheren's assistant. You just have to have a goal in mind."

Jeremy sniffed and wiped his eyes again. "So everyone goes through the same thing? Just with different problems?" he inquired.

Both Cheren and Rosa nodded.

"Of course."

Jeremy blinked. "O-ok…Can I try again? Please give me one more chance…"

Cheren stood and took a sheet of blank paper from his desk. "You can have one more chance if you let us help you this time."

Jeremy nodded and began thinking of a new idea. "Maybe I could focus more on Team Plasma's culture and ideals?"

Cheren grinned. "That's a much better idea! Now what is it you want to know?"

It pleased Rosa to watch her best friend connecting with the younger public. He had always been great with children, and she envied him for it. He was great at explaining things that she only made more awkward and could make even the toughest subjects enjoyable. Considering everything he knew, it was hard to believe that he was only seventeen himself.

A loud rap on the front door sounded through the room, drawing Rosa's gaze to the door.

Worried about disturbing Jeremy again, she strode over to the wooden fixture and turned the handle, but she had not expected to see the two beaming faces standing outside in the cold. Her heart sank.

Before her stood a young woman, slightly older than she was with deep brown, wavy hair and a reporter's headset. Her dark wine colored jacket had been freshly pressed and crimped slightly at her waist, flowing down into her black and mauve pinstriped pants. She held a pen and a pad of paper in her hand with various notes scrawled across it in an uneven scratch.

The man with her seemed more casually dressed, as if he was ready to recline on a feathery couch. All he wore was a plain white shirt with a grey jacket to block out the cold and long jeans that slightly covered his running shoes. His long mint green hair was tied back in a neat pony tail and a complex video camera was propped on his shoulder.

Rosa sighed and avoided eye contact. "I haven't seen you in a while Hilda." She mumbled. "Or you N. What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be out researching some kind of legendary Pokémon or something?"

Hilda didn't seem too thrilled either. "We're researching and filming a documentary on Uxie for the nightly news special. Can we talk to Cheren please? We need to borrow some supplies before going back out into the field."

Rosa shook her head and snorted. "He's busy tutoring a student right now, so no you cannot talk to him."

N seemed anxious. "Please Rosa, we need to come in and get out before the weather gets too bad. It's supposed to rain, and we have reports that Uxie was sighted around here. If we don't gather supplies quickly it at may leave…Again."

Rosa pretended to think hard on the topic. "Hmmm should I let you in? Or let you freeze outside?" She asked them.

Hilda narrowed her eyes. "This is ridiculous! Move out of my way!"

She pushed past Rosa and into the school's central hallway. N followed, trying his best to keep Hilda from starting a battle with Rosa.

"Wow Cheren has really outdone himself!" Hilda said in admiration. "His school is much bigger than I thought it would be." She turned to Rosa. "How many teachers work here?"

"Over forty five! And I happen to be one of them!" Rosa replied in an arrogant way. Any chance she got to drive Hilda into the ground was a shot she would happily take.

N smiled. "I didn't know you worked for Cheren."

Rosa nodded. "I have for about five years now. I'm not as good at working with children as he is though."

Hilda gave an overconfident snort. "Then why did you get a job as a teacher when you're not even that good at it?"

That was enough to cause Rosa to boil over. She stomped forward, blinded by her own wrath and revulsion, and threw a finger in Hilda's face. "Now you listen here and listen well! Just because you are a reporter doesn't mean you're better than me! I've seen your news stories, and the next time you have an ugly zit on your face keep away from the damn camera!"

With that Rosa turned around and took off down the passage, leaving Hilda to be astounded…Or so she thought.

Hilda gave a silky laugh and crossed her arms. "I am better than you."

Rosa stopped and looked back behind her. "What do you mean?" She whispered.

"I was the first Champion of Unova. And what were you?"

Rosa gasped. Memories of what Hilda had said years before began to flood back, stinging her harder than a Beedrill. Once again Rosa found herself at a loss for words. She felt tears well up in her eyes and looked away, afraid of looking pathetic. And there she stood, adding to the ineptness of the surrounding atmosphere and trying greatly not to suffocate in her own misery. It was her tragic flaw, her nastiest trait; Emotion. But if she lacked it, how could she comprehend the everyday things she loved so dearly? The people she worked with? It was all too perplexing, and that made her even more livid.

"T-Take that back…Take it back Hilda!" She yelled trying to keep her insecure tone stable.

Hilda chuckled again. "Oh Rosa-san," she replied sardonically, "nobody likes second place."

N shot Hilda a judgmental glare. "What has gotten into you? I know you and Rosa have had many disagreements, but you don't have to be so rude! So what if she is in second place?"

The words "second place" echoed and rang deafeningly in Rosa's ears. She let out a splintered sob as two twin streams of tears ran down her round cheeks. Swiftly, she threw her hands over her face and shook her head before turning blindly and sprinting down the corridor. She didn't care where she went or where she would even end up; She merely followed her dismal impulse to run. Her pitiable and heartbreaking sobs flooded the hallway and Cheren poked his head out of his classroom wearing a confused expression. He watched as Rosa stumbled into the kitchen, slamming the door behind her.

Cheren swallowed and straitened his tie as he turned to the two reporters standing stiffly in the hallway. "I'm not sure when you got here, but what happened to Rosa?"

The kitchen was dark and desolate, but Rosa didn't bother to look for the light switch. She slumped down against the wall and felt her body become racked with a mixture of rage and torturous anguish. An unloved creature deserved to sit alone in the shadows.

"It's not fair…It's just not fair!" she mumbled to herself.

From underneath one of the several cafeteria tables, a minute sapphire light began to glow followed by the pitter patter of four authoritative paws. A Luxio stepped out of the dark and cocked its head intriguingly as Rosa continued to cry a muffled song into her hands. It took another step forward and nudged her knee with its cold nose as if to urge her to look up. When she didn't respond, the Luxio let out a whine and curled up around her feet protectively.

Rosa refused to look up and acknowledge the Pokémon's presence. She was too busy listening to Hilda's distorted voice through the door as she talked with Cheren.

"Cheren didn't even come to see if I was alright…" She whispered to the Luxio.

The Luxio's ears perked up then instantly flattened back in empathy for its friend. It didn't make a sound, but nudged closer in an attempt to cuddle away her woes.

Rosa leaned her head back against the wall and stared out the large frost covered window across the room.

"Nobody likes second place…"

Salem: I hoped you liked! Please no flames and I'll probably get the next chapter out in a day or two. That's when things will actually start to get good haha!