Chapter 2:

(Destiny)

I inhale sharply. "Wow! This is amazing! Look at all the buildings!" I turn to Alex with a huge smile. "Aren't you the slightest bit impressed with this city?"

He shrugs. "I've been here loads of times."

"This is my first time out of Twinleaf Town," I inform him.

"We should find a Pokemon Center to stay in while we wait for the contest day," Alex says, searching around the city.

"Why are you looking for it?" I ask. "You said you've been here tons of times. Shouldn't you know where it is?"

"I never said I've stayed here," he answers. "I've only passed through." He spots the large Pokemon Center. "Ah! There it is."

As we start to make our trek to the center, I hear a voice, "Hey! Desy!" I cringe at the sound of the familiar voice. I start pushing on Alex's back, urging him to move faster. I would do anything to make sure she doesn't talk to me. "Desy, wait up!" I turn around to face the long pink pigtails and the big, green eyes. The girl skips over to us. "Desy, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at home?"

I completely ignore the second question, not wanting to answer. "I'm entering a contest," I tell her. "Why are you here?"

"No way! I am too! That's why I'm here! Isn't that weird?" She squeals. She spots Alex standing awkwardly next to me. "And who is this handsome boy?"

Alex smiles politely. "You're awfully… energetic."

She laughs. "That's just the way I am, babe!" My whole body stiffens and I feel Alex's do the same. **Did she just call him babe?** I ask myself. "I'm Bethany." Bethany sticks out her hand for him to shake.

He shakes her hand awkwardly. "I'm Alex."

Bethany takes a loud breath, then exhales with a smile. "So, Desy. I assume you've caught some Pokemon here in Sinnoh. Knowing you, you've probably caught a ton!"

"That's right," I lie. "Tons and tons and tons and…" I trail off, knowing that this lie should be set aside. "How many have you caught?"

"Why don't I show you?" She pulls out four Poke Balls and sends them out one by one. A Chimchar, a Shellos (East Sea), a Masquerain, and a… wait a minute. She didn't send her fourth Pokemon out!

"What about the fourth one?" Alex asks.

Bethany giggles. "I can't show you! It's my secret weapon."

"So you're using it in the contest tomorrow?" I question her as Alex scans her Pokemon with his Pokedex.

"Chimchar, the Chimp Pokémon. Chimchar easily climbs the sheerest of walls and lives on mountain tops. When it sleeps, its flames go out."

"Shellos, the Sea Slug Pokémon. A mysterious purple fluid oozes out of its soft body when Shellos is strongly squeezed. Two kinds of Shellos, pink and blue, have been confirmed."

"Masquerain, the Eyeball Pokémon. Masquerain is the evolved form of Surskit. Its feelers, which resemble eyeballs, help to throw off opponents. It is able to hover in the sky like ahelicopter."

"You'll just have to wait and see!" She chuckles and skips away.

I groan loudly. "I hate her so much," I mutter.

"Who was that?" Alex asks me.

"As you know, her name's Bethany. We were neighbors back in Hoenn," I explain. "We battled each other a lot. That was back when I didn't even know what contests were. I thought that when I moved here, I would get away from her. But, of course, she comes here, too."

"She seems nice enough. Why do you hate her so much?" he questions.

"She's evil!" I exclaim. "She would do anything to bring me down!"

"How is she evil? That girl was anything but evil!" Alex says. "She has pink pigtails for goodness sake! If that doesn't spell innocence, then I don't know what does!"

"Let me give you an example," I tell him. "We share the same birthday. So, since we were neighbors, our parents decided to throw us both the same birthday party. Right before we were going to open presents, that little devil sprinkled crushed up Pinap Berries and put them in my juice, thinking she would get my presents if I got sick! I am horribly allergic to Pinap Berries. My face and throat swelled up so badly that we had to cut the party short so my mom could take me to the hospital."

"That is so not true," Alex says. "Where would she find out that you were allergic to Pinap Berries?"

"Probably from the fact that my mom put 'don't bring Pinap Berries, my daughter is allergic to them' on the invitation," I snap.

He holds his hands up in defense. "Okay, okay. Whatever you say."

"You have to trust me on this one!" I insist. "She lures you in with her annoyingly high voice and her big eyes, and when you get in close… she strikes like a cobra!" I shout the last part.

Alex jumps slightly at the sudden raise in my tone. "I'll believe it when I see it."

I groan loudly."You are so stubborn!" He rolls his eyes and leads the way to the Pokemon Center. I pout my lips as much as I can, showing my displeasure. Kirlia tugs on my long pink scarf and looks at me sympathetically, silently asking if I was okay. "I'm fine," I tell Kirlia shortly.

When we reach the Pokemon Center, we leave our Pokemon in Nurse Joy's care. I'm finally over the whole 'Bethany' situation and am smiling my usual smile. A thought hits me as Alex and I find a room to stay in. A large frown forms on my face as I plop onto a bed.

Alex lies down on the bed parallel to mine and glances over at me. "Are you still mad at me? Look, I'll apologize if it means that much to you."

"No, it's not that," I tell him. I realize when I hear my foot tapping rapidly against the floor that sitting isn't going to help me. I stand up and start pacing around the room. "I have a big problem."

"And what's that?"

"I don't have any Pokemon to use in my Contest!" I stress to him.

"You have Kirlia," he points out.

"Yes, but there are two sections in a Contest," I reply. "the performance and the battle. Kirlia will be too tired from his performance to battle! What am I going to do?" I begin to pace faster and faster until I am almost jogging.

"Relax, Destiny," Alex says. "Just go out and catch a Pokemon."

"It's not that easy," I snap. "And you can just call me Desy."

Alex looks at me, obviously puzzled. "And why is it not that easy? It seems pretty easy to me." He completely ignores my second statement.

"I need a Pokemon that is super cute!" I tell him. "I can't just catch the first Bidoof that crosses my path! I need a Pokemon that is so dazzling, it'll blow the competition away!"

"If you need a Pokemon that bad, you can borrow Riolu," Alex offers.

"No offence, but Riolu isn't really… the Contest type," I say, trying to spare his feelings.

"Oh. Well, thanks," he mutters sarcastically.

"I'm just telling the truth."

"And I'm telling the truth when I say that you should just go catch a Pokemon," Alex tells me. Before I can reply, he adds, "Yes, it is that easy."

"It might be that easy for someone else, but not for me," I say.

"Why's that?"

I turn my back to him and stare at my feet. "Well… honestly… truthfully… actually…"

Alex sighs heavily. "Spit it out, Destiny."

I whip around and stare him straight in the eyes. "I don't know how to catch a Pokemon, okay?" I confess. Alex stares back at me, showing no reaction. I feel my face heating up under his gaze, so I turn my head away and cross my arms. "Honestly, I don't even know how to operate a Poke Ball. That's why I keep Kirlia out of his ball."

Alex looks at me for a moment, then chuckles. "Nice one, Destiny."

"I'm being serious, Alex!" I whine. "And please, just call me Desy."

As usual, he ignores my name argument. "You're serious?" I nod. He sighs and shakes his head.

"Are you shaking your head at me?!" I scold. "That's mean!"

"Yes, I'm shaking my head at you," Alex retorts. "This is ridiculous! I mean, seriously! How old are you?"

"I'm sixteen!" I snap. "So stop treating me like a five year old!"

"Then stop acting like one!" he shoots back.

I open my mouth to say a comeback, but I can't think of any. I resort to yelling in anger and storming out of the room. I speed walk out of the Pokemon Center and to the edge of the woods. I park myself in front of a tree with a deep frown. Alex is right; I do act like a kid. Storming out of the room like that: childish. Whining like I do: childish. Everything else I do: childish.

Suddenly, I hear rustling in the bush beside me. I leap up, hands held out in defending position. I don't have Kirlia with me, so I have no protection whatsoever. "Wh-who's there?" I call out. A small, lion-like Pokemon steps out. I calm down. Instinctively, I reach for my bag to discover that it wasn't there. **I must've left it in the room,** I think to myself. I sit back down by my tree. "Aren't you a cute little thing?" I say. I reach a hand out to it to let it smell me. It cautiously creeps forward to sniff my hand. It realizes that I am not a threat and gives my hand a friendly rub. I smile at it, putting my hand back down. "What kind of Pokemon are you?"

"Shinx! Shinx!" it barks.

"A Shinx… I would look you up, but I don't have my Pokedex," I say quietly. The Shinx hops into my lap and sits down, looking straight up at me. "You really are adorable." Shinx seems to smile at me. I sigh heavily. "I know you may not like this, but I'm going to rant to you."

"Shinx," the Shinx says quietly, as if to tell me to go right ahead.

"Boys are stupid," I begin. Shinx looks up at me with a hurt expression. "Oh, are you a boy? I'm sorry, I didn't mean you. I meant this one boy I know. He laughed at me when I told him something personal. Then we got into a fight… and I really regret it. Sure, I act like a child sometimes. But he didn't have to call me out on it. The thing is, I want to apologize to him. But… I just don't know how. I don't know what to say or anything like that. Do I have to do some special hand motions…?" I pause and look down at Shinx. He seems to be listening closely, though I bet he has no idea what I'm talking about. "I bet you're wondering why I'm trying so hard," I tell him. "Truth is, I've never really had a friend. In all my 16 years of living, I've only had acquaintances. Well, and then there's Bethany, who is my enemy. Kirlia is really my only friend… I—"

"Destiny!" I hear a voice call to me. It was Alex.

"Here he comes," I whisper to Shinx. "You won't tell him what I said, will you?" I joke. Shinx shakes his head with a smile. I giggle at him.

"Destiny, there you are," Alex says as he nears me. "I've been looking all over for you."

My cheeks redden slightly. "You've been looking for me?"

"Yeah. I have to tell you something," he says.

"Me too." I stand up, holding Shinx in my arms.

Alex and I both take deep breaths. "I'm sorry," we say simultaneously. We both look at each other in shock.

"You're sorry?" Alex asks. "Why?"

"I'm sorry that I've been such a nuisance to you," I apologize. "I've done nothing this entire time except for talk, complain, and whine. Why are you sorry?"

"I shouldn't have called you a five year old and laughing at you when you said you didn't know how to use a Poke Ball," he tells me. "Plus, I haven't been very kind to you."

"Are you kidding? You've been nothing but kind to me!" I exclaim. "You let me travel with you, you helped me train…" I trail off when I notice that Alex has his eyes closed. "Alex, is something wrong?"

He opens his eyes to look at me. He sighs. "No. I'm just thinking. Destiny, I am truly sorry." He reaches forward and wraps his strong arms around my shoulders, smothering Shinx between us.

"Me too," I say. "And… you can call me Desy."

I can feel Alex smile by my ear. "I had a feeling you would say that." He pulls away after a few seconds. "I wanted to ask you something. Who is this Pokemon that you're holding?"

"This is Shinx," I introduce. "He's my new friend. He's very friendly. He even listened to me rant."

Alex takes out his Pokedex to scan Shinx.

"Shinx, the Flash Pokémon. When it senses danger, the hairs on its body light up and it runs away, leaving its opponent dazed."

"Shinx, this is Alex," I tell Shinx. "He's my… friend."

"Shinx!" Shinx greets Alex.

"Well, we should probably get back to the Pokemon Center," Alex says after giving Shinx a quick stroke.

I nod in agreement. I put Shinx back on the ground. "We have to go now, Shinx. Maybe I'll get to see you again sometime." Shinx rubs his head on my leg before running back into the woods.

"Let's go," Alex says before leading me back to the Pokemon Center.

Welp! That's that! I think Shinx is so cute. :) Oh, by the way, I thought I'd tell you guys something about Bethany. The character "Bethany" is the result of me reading the status of this really obnoxious girl I know. SHE IS JUST LIKE THE CHARACTER. Except, she's not entirely evil. I have a feeling she is, though.

Don't forget to R&R! Please? :D