Dedication Through Light and Darkness

Chapter 5: Old Faces in the Crowd!

"It is you Jessica. I haven't seen you in ages!"

The girl, Jessica, laughed. "You haven't changed at all."

As Jyharri walked up to her Zangoose dashed in front of him and stopped in front of Jessica.

"Is this the same Zangoose from when we were little kids?" she asked. "I remember it was small at first. He's gotten big."

"Yeah," Jyharri replied with a smile. "I officially caught him a couple years back."

Suddenly the crowd swarmed Jyharri. Many were cheering and congratulating him. Half of the crowd stood by Sydnie, glaring in Jyharri's direction. Many of the people from the crowd around Jyharri patted him on the back. Jyharri then slid through the crowd, recalling Charizard and Zangoose.

"I remember when that Charizard was a Charmander," Jessica told him. "Seems like your battle skills have improved, but you still can't beat me."

"I don't see you as a rival anymore," Jyharri said to her. "Now you're just a good friend."

Jessica laughed. "That's funny cause I wanted to battle you."

"I never said we couldn't battle," Jyharri said with a smirk.

"Jyharri," yelled a voice from the crowd.

The two old friends turned to see another girl making her way through the crowd towards them. Her hair, being a brown-red color, made her stand out. She was also wearing a red blazer, indicating she was Fire Red. Her blue eyes were just like Jessica's save for being a little lighter. Her gray pants stopped at her ankles, just fitting her. As she reached Jyharri and Jessica she fell on her face.

"Are you alright?" Jyharri asked as he knelt down.

"Yeah," said the girl.

Jyharri held out his hand, offering to help her up. As she took his hand she started to blush. Jyharri smiled as he helped her stand up.

"Jyharri this is Genevieve," Jessica introduced them. "Genevieve is also from Blackthorn."

"Then how come I never saw her before?" Jyharri asked, not taking his eyes off Genevieve.

"I didn't just hang out with you," Jessica told him.

Genevieve opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She blushed again and walked back into the crowd.

"I think she likes me," Jyharri said to Jessica happily.

"Why would she like you?" Jessica asked. "There is nothing to like."

Jyharri glared at Jessica and walked away.

How dare she say that, Jyharri thought, I'm likeable, right?

As Jyharri walked away he felt a hand on his shoulder. The hand turned him around to come face to face with a teacher.

"You're in big trouble now young man," said the teacher.

"Why?" Jyharri asked bewildered.

"YOU DESTROYED HALF THE LUNCH ROOM," the teacher yelled.

As Jyharri turned around he saw burn marks all over the walls and floors of where the battle took place. Several tables were destroyed, either broken in half or completely obliterated. Jyharri turned back around and sighed. He knew where he was going; the headmistress' office. As soon as he got there he saw the name on the door had been changed already. It now read "Headmistress Taylor". Jyharri knocked very slowly, not wanting to know what would happen to him.

"Come in," said the headmistress.

As soon as Jyharri stepped in, the headmistress sighed.

"It's not my fault," Jyharri said immediately.

"What did you do?" she asked.

"I kind of destroyed part of the lunch room," Jyharri admitted.

Headmistress Taylor pushed a button on her desk and a television dropped down from the ceiling and set up against the far wall. Jyharri turned to see the lunch room being displayed on the screen. After a few minutes Jyharri was shown talking to Sydnie.

"What is this?" Jyharri asked.

"A security recording of the lunch room," the headmistress explained. "There are cameras in the lunch room and the classrooms."

As Jyharri watched the screen he saw his battle replayed. After the battle it showed the crowd swarm around Jyharri and Jessica. It even showed Genevieve trip and face plant. Jyharri couldn't help laughing at this.

"That was an impressive battle," said Taylor.

"So I won't be punished for it?" Jyharri asked eagerly.

"Oh you will be punished," said Taylor. "You have to pay for the damages you did to the cafeteria."

"WHAT?!" Jyharri screamed. "How much will it be?"

"Around $1500," Taylor told him.

"How am I supposed to come up with that kind of money?" Jyharri asked.

"Not my problem."

As Jyharri left the headmistress' office he was furious. This is all Sydnie's fault, Jyharri thought, If she hadn't challenged me then I wouldn't be in this situation. Wait, that's it! I'll get the money from Sydnie!

As Jyharri arrived back in the cafeteria he started looking for Sydnie. As soon as he got there the bell rang to go to the next class. As Jyharri walked against the crowd he spotted Sydnie on the other side. She was talking with Jessica and Genevieve. Jyharri made his way through the ocean of people towards the three girls. Right when he was about to tap Sydnie a boy stepped in front of him.

"Can I have your autograph?" he asked.

"No, kid," Jyharri told. "I'm in the middle of something important."

"Please," the kid begged.

Jyharri pulled a red sharpie out of his pocket and hastily scrawled his signature on a piece of paper the kid was holding. As soon as the kid was out of the way Sydnie was gone.

Dammit! Jyharri thought. I'll just have to find her later.

"So what do you guys think of Jyharri?"

"He's a really good battler; I mean he did beat me."

"Yeah, but when we were kids he could never beat me."

Jessica laughed in the back of the classroom. It turned out that Sydnie, Genevieve and she had the same Pokémon Physiology class. The three girls had sat in the back of the class chatting, but when the subject came to Jyharri Genevieve became silent.

"He seems to be cockier now," Jessica said.

"He has a right to," Genevieve suddenly said.

"What," asked Jessica and Sydnie in unison.

"I didn't say anything," replied Genevieve, covering her mouth.

"Anyway," Jessica continued, "if I battle him, I think I would win. His battle style is probably the same."

"Didn't you see our battle?" Sydnie asked her.

"No, but I caught the end of it when Charizard used Flamethrower."

"I don't know how he beat me though," said Sydnie. "My Milotic should have beaten that Zangoose. I knew Espeon would win, but I had no idea he had a Charizard."

"Maybe you were off," Jessica suggested.

"Yeah that's it," Sydnie agreed. "I was off. I'll beat him another day."

"While we're talking about Jyharri have you seen how he tries to act cool?" Jessica asked with a little laugh.

"Yeah," Sydnie said also laughing. "He probably thinks he's the coolest first year."

"Then there is how he thinks he is the best," Jessica pointed out. "When we battle I'll prove to him that I am still number one."

"Maybe he is good," Genevieve said. "Did you ever think of that?"

"Genevieve, what has gotten into you?" Jessica asked a surprised look on her face.

"Well, I'm sitting here listen to you guys badmouth probably one of the best battlers in our year like it's nothing," explained Genevieve. "You say he's cocky and here you are saying you could beat him easily without having seen him battle. I saw the battle in the cafeteria and I don't think you could beat him. I'm sorry Jessica, but you would have to train a lot to beat him, same with you Sydnie."

"Hey," said Sydnie, "I was off today."

Genevieve started to chuckle. "You weren't off. You tried your hardest to beat him, but failed. I'm going to go do my work elsewhere."

Genevieve grabbed her backpack and book and walked to a desk opposite the room of Jessica and Sydnie.

"Does she always act like this?" Sydnie asked.

"This is the first time," Jessica told her. "I don't know what's up with her."

"Girls," said a voice in front of them.

The teacher had walked from his desk to the back of the room, staring the girls down.

"Are you ready to tell the class what was more interesting than my lecture?" he asked.

"Oh," started Jessica, "we were talking about how your white blazer goes oh so well with your auburn pants."

"You think so?" the teacher asked turning around. "You know not many kids have the courage-"

"Nice," Sydnie whispered to Jessica.

Suddenly there was a vibration in Sydnie's left pocket, making her jump.

"Something wrong Sydnie?" the teacher asked.

"No," she replied. "Just a little reaction is all."

As the teacher walked back to his desk, Sydnie pulled her PDA out of her pocket. The screen read "1 New Message". When Sydnie clicked read it said, "Meet me in the Fire Red lobby after class, Jyharri."

"Jyharri wants me to meet him in the dorm's lobby after class," Sydnie told Jessica quietly.

"Do you know what he wants?" asked Jessica.

Sydnie shook her head. All she could think about for the rest of the class was what did Jyharri want? Was he going to tell her something, was he going to ask her something, or was he going to do something? As the bell rang Genevieve passed by Jessica and Sydnie quickly, not taking a glance at them.

"I'll talk to her later," Jessica told Sydnie. "Go find out what Jyharri wants."

She should be here soon.

Jyharri was standing in the Fire Red lobby waiting for Sydnie to arrive. Every time the doors slid open Jyharri looked up to see everyone except Sydnie. Tired of standing, Jyharri sat in one of the red chairs, his back facing the doors. As soon as he sat the doors slid open again. Jyharri turned to see Bart walk in.

"What are you doing here?" Bart asked him.

"Waiting for Sydnie," Jyharri told him, seriousness in his voice.

"Well I'll see you back in the dorm," said Bart walking off.

After Bart no one had come into the dorm for a while. Jyharri was waiting in the lobby for about forty minutes before they slid open again. He knew it had to be Sydnie.

"You sure took your time," said Jyharri.

"You scared me," said Sydnie.

Jyharri stood and turned around to face Sydnie, hands in his pockets. As Jyharri took a step towards Sydnie she took a step back.

"You seem to be afraid of me," said Jyharri. "There is no need to be frightened. I just want to talk to you."

Jyharri took another step forward and Sydnie took another step back. After repeating this process about three times Sydnie's back was against the wall and Jyharri was a few centimeters from touching his body to hers. Jyharri slammed his hand against the wall by her face, making her jump.

What is he going to do? Sydnie asked herself as her heart started to race.

"You need to do one of two things," Jyharri started. "One: Pay me $1500 or two: Help me get $1500."

Sydnie's heart started to slow down. "Why would I do that?"

"That battle we had trashed the cafeteria and I got blamed for it," Jyharri explained. "The headmistress said I need to pay for the damages."

"If I had that kind of money I would give it to you, you know that," Sydnie said.

"So you'll help me?" Jyharri asked.

Sydnie simply nodded. Jyharri smiled and started towards the door. "Oh yeah, what did you think I was going to do?"

"Oh that's nothing!" Sydnie told him. "I was just spacing out!"

Jyharri chuckled. "Well I'll see you later. I'm going to go hang out with Brandon and his team."

As Jyharri reached the main island a rustling noise came from a bush behind him. Jyharri turned around sharply and pulled out one of his Pokéballs not sure which one he grabbed. A white mark was able to be seen in the bush. As Jyharri approached it more of it popped out. It was a skull! Jyharri jumped back startled. Suddenly a creature that appeared to be a small brown dinosaur-like Pokémon jumped from the bush. It had a long white bone in its right hand. The skull Jyharri saw was worn by the Pokémon like a helmet.

"A Cubone," Jyharri said amazed.

The Cubone ran towards Jyharri swinging its bone like crazy. Jyharri prepared to throw his Pokéball when the Cubone's club came back and smacked it in the face. The Cubone fell on the ground unconscious.

Jyharri shrugged. "That's one way to beat a Pokémon; make it hit itself."

Jyharri turned and started into a dash only to run into another person. Jyharri fell back onto the ground while the person he ran into didn't. As Jyharri was rubbing his butt he started to look up and first saw a green blazer. To his horror he looked up at the person's face and saw it was Chad!

"We meet again, little red."