To GuiltyCrown09, you are correct! That will play a bigger part in the story (Not the part about Shinji), and as for the rest of you you'll have to wait and see to find out what I'm talking about! I do not own Pokemon.

Chapter 5: Trying To Start Over With Someone Sucks

The woman turned out to be Simone Carter, the owner of the store. She's good friends with my mom, they are both top coordinators and were rival coordinators before they became friends. Simone seemed very excited that I was taking part in my first Contest, and guaranteed me that she'd be there cheering me on.

"So Hikari, you're here for your costumes, correct?"

"Yeah, but most of the things here are out of my budget."

"No problem, no problem at all! It's only the best for the daughter of Johanna Diamond!"

"You're going to give me a discount?"

"Not just that dear, I'm going to give you each a free outfit, and anything else you need in the future."

"You're kidding?" My mouth dropped.

"Madam, I don't think that's such a good-" Simone cut off her employee.

"Nonsense, I will help you pick something out. Come come." Simone led me to the area with some of the most expensive items, and when I say expensive, I mean like thousands of dollars. She helped me try on countless dresses that I handled like newborn Skitty. I came out of the dressing room wearing my twenty-fourth dress, not even knowing what it looked like on me as Simone said that I should first let herself and employees judge it on me. But this one must've looked good, they all gasped as I came out of the dressing room.

"Sweetie..."

"Madam, I think we found her dress." I turned around to look at myself in the full body mirror. My hands went to my mouth. It was beautiful. Simple, but gorgeous all the same. It was a rich dark brown dress. Short, but longer than my mini dress, going down to just above my knees. The skirt wasn't too poofy, but it wasn't flat either. A tan ribbon went around the waist. It was sleeveless, a good amount of skin in the back. With the correct hairstyle, I could be the most beautiful person I'd ever seen.

"I'm getting this one." Next we started looking for something for Mazey. Actual clothes wouldn't work for her, so we were more looking for something to put on her head. Eventually we came across a large yellow bow to tie around her neck. I also got a nice hair accessory, a pair of shoes, and a cute necklace all to match the dress. Simone even had someone deliver everything to my room in the Pokemon Center.

Afterwards, we continued shopping. I bought a seal case and seals, and the ingredients for poffins. Also, I didn't forget to buy bacon and milk Shinji. It was forty-five after three by the time I was done, so I dropped by my room in the Pokemon Center to put away everything I had bought and my dress plus accessories. Shinji wasn't there. I was about to walk out when I saw the parcel I was supposed to deliver to Jun.

"I guess I could look around for him..." I knew I probably wouldn't find him though, this city was huge. I took the parcel and left the Pokemon Center again. I walked around for an hour, looking for any sign of my impatient friend and was about to head back to the Pokemon Center to practice my routine for the Contest when I saw a school for young trainers. It didn't seem likely that Jun would be there, school was not his strong point plus that is a patient place. Not Jun's place. But on a hunch, I entered anyways. Only to stop when I noticed a man in an alleyway. I made my way over.

"Um, sir?" Fast as lightning he pulled out a gun (a rare item in the world of Pokemon) and pointed it in my face. I nearly screamed. Nearly.

"Just a civilian. Wait, HOOOOOW?!" I backed up a few steps. "How did you unmask me as a member of the International Police?!"

"What? I was just making conversation!" I speedily replied.

"Hm. You claim you were only making conversation, do you? But I know better than to believe that."

"Well, it's true." I retorted.

"Your power of observation is fearsome. Quite admirable, you are!"

"Uh, thanks?"

"Now that my cover has been blown, I shall introduce myself. I am a globe-trotting elite member of the International Police. I shall inform you only of my code-name, Looker. Yes, that is what I'm called. Does the saying 'Don't be a thief' familiar to you?"

"Uh, yes?"

"Correct. Taking what belongs to others is wrong. Unfortunately, there are those who do not heed those words. In fact, here in Sinnoh there are criminals stealing the Pokemon of others. I have, therefore, been on the lookout for characters arousing my suspicion. Sad, really. Now, you are a trainer, yes?" I nodded my head. "Perhaps you can make use of this?" Looker handed me a small machine. "That is a Vs. Recorder. It can record any and all battles."

"Battles during Contests too?"

"Of course! It is very popular these days, but I myself do not have use of it. It will be of better use to you." Looker looked around as if checking to make sure no one was listening in on us. "If you were to see me again, I ask that you not talk to me, for I am on duty. Actually, yes, you must speak to me. Not because I am lonely of course! You must inform me of any bad people! You must inform me of happenings!" Looker then shadily left the alleyway.

"Weirdo..." I mumbled to myself. "Why would the International Police hire a crazy guy like that?" I left the alley and went into the Trainer's School. Despite it being almost six o'clock, there were quite a few kids inside. And speak of the devil, Jun was actually at the blackboard studying. Studying! Since when does Jun have time to study?! I don't even study! I walked over to him to say hi.

"Hey Jun!" The blonde trainer looked up and grinned.

"Hey Hikari! Did you come to study too?"

"Not exactly."

"Well, I already memorized everything on the blackboard!" I bet you did. I thought to myself, knowing how forgetful he could be.

"Nice, anyways, I brought you something from your mom!" I held out the container in front of me before Jun took it.

"Awesome! It's a map of the region! But, there's two in here..." Jun pondered over what to do for a moment. "I know! Here you go Hikari!" He held one out for me.

"Oh, I couldn't Jun. I was only supposed to deliver that to you."

"Well, then this is your payment!" He grinned, and I took the map smiling back.

"Thanks." It surprised me how patient he was at the moment. His mom would kill to see him like this!

"Well, according to the map, I should head to Oreburgh City next! It looks like there's a gym there, so it'd be perfect for raising the Pokemon I just caught! Now I am on the road to becoming the best trainer of all time! See you around Hikari!" Jun saluted me, before actually walking out of the building. Talk about weird. So I was about to head out but was stopped by two kids.

"Excuse me miss," The girl pulled on my coat. "You're a trainer, right?"

"Huh? Oh, um, yeah."

"Well, could you have a battle with us? We want to practice everything we've learned." Looking up at the clock I saw that it was beginning to get late, and I wanted time to think of a routine for the Contest.

"I suppose I could spare a little more time..."

"Yay, me first!" The boy exclaimed, celebrating with the girl. The school had it's own little battle field. It was to be a one on one battle, with both of the trainers.

"Go Abra!" The boy, named Harrison, released his Pokemon. One I'd never seen before, so I got out my Pokedex.

"Abra, the Psi Pokemon. Using its psychic power is such a strain on its brain that it needs to sleep for 18 hours a day."

"Mazey, I choose you!" I threw up the Pokeball, releasing my Turtwig in a flash of blue.

"Tur-wig!"

"Abra, use Psyshock!" A blob of psychic energy was hurled at Mazey.

"Quick Mazey, use Withdraw!" The attack did a lot less damage after using that move. "Now use Tackle!"

"Teleport Abra!" Before Mazey could hit the psychic type Pokemon, it disappeared, reappearing about fifteen feet away in the opposite direction. "Psyshock again!"

"Dodge it! Absorb!" Mazey successfully used Absorb on Abra. It continued on like that for a while, each Pokemon taking a little HP at a time. Finally, we were able to land a Tackle attack, a critical one too. Abra fainted.

"Abra!" The kid made a pouty face before returning his unconscious Pokemon to it's Pokeball. "I guess you have more experience than I do..."

"Okay my turn!" The girl happily declared.

"Alright then." I replied. The boy and girl switched places and she released her Pokemon.

"Bidoof!" The small brown Pokemon (which honestly looked kind of stupid in the head) made a little noise before the battle started, not before getting a Pokedex entry though of course!

"Bidoof, the plump mouse Pokemon. A comparison revealed that Bidoof's front teeth grow at the same rate as Rattata's."

"Mazey, use Tackle!" She obeyed and rushed at Bidoof.

"Growl!" The attack lowered Mazey's attack, and distracted her enough for the normal type to dodge. "Tackle Bidoof!"

"Doof!"

"Wig!" Both Pokemon cried as Mazey was thrown across the field.

"Mazey!"

"Tackle again!"

"Dodge it!" Mazey wasn't quite fast enough and got hit by the attack again. "Use Absorb!" Mazey's attack worked, but got hit by Tackle again. "Mazey?" I called, not seeing her stand up in the small dust cloud. As it cleared I saw her lying on the ground, unconscious. "Mazey!" I ran over, picking her up gingerly in my arms. "You did great girl." I complimented her, before returning Mazey to the small ball capsule.

"I won, I can't believe I actually won against a trainer like that!" Yeah I was mad. It was a kid with the stupidest looking Pokemon there was. And she beat me.

"Yeah, well your friend there had already brought down Mazey's HP." I crankily replied.

"Well, you beat me so I want you to have this!" Harrison handed me a potion.

"Well, thanks kids. I appreciate it. I gotta get going though, see ya!" They said good bye to me as well. I was on my way back to the Pokemon Center, when I saw a figure walking down the sidewalk with it's head down in the quickly fading light. A Pokemon?

"Hello there, are you lost little guy?" It looked up with two familiar, yellow, and adorable eyes. It was the Pokemon I had seen earlier. It quickly ran into an alleyway, thankfully cleaner than the one I had first seen the Pokemon in, because this time, I followed it. "Wait! I'm not going to hurt you!" It led me through countless alleys and past buildings and streets. Finally, we came into an intersection of alleys, and I lost the Pokemon. It was nowhere to be found. Sighing, I slowly made my way back to the Pokemon Center, having Nurse Joy heal my Pokemon and going upstairs. Shinji still wasn't there, but must have been back at some point, seeing as though he had replaced all of the food that he had used.

"I guess I should make some dinner." Releasing Mazey from her Pokeball, I started making something easy. Spaghetti and homemade meatballs (this special recipe is made specifically for Pokemon to be able to eat it too)! It's one of my favorite things to make, I even gave a plate to Mazey who loved it. Looking in the pot when I was done, I saw that there was plenty left if Shinji wanted some when he came back. I thought about him for a minute, remembering how we had started off on a bad foot.

"Maybe we should try starting over, what do you think Mazey?" I looked down at my first Pokemon, who smiled sweetly at me. "Good idea." I quickly wrote a note for him, and put it on the counter. "Now let's go train for the Contest." I picked up Mazey, heading downstairs to the battlefield that I had reserved earlier inside of the Pokemon Center.

"Okay, so I have an idea. Now let's get started!"

It was once again, well past midnight when I came back to the Pokemon Center. I headed up to my room, turning on the light, forgetting that Troublesome was there sleeping. I had been about to turn it off again, but didn't see her in the her bed.

"Troublesome?" I pulled back the covers, but she wasn't there. In fact, the bed hadn't been slept in at all. I checked the whole room, and Troublesome definitely wasn't there. Then something caught my eye up on the counter. A note. Picking it up, I scanned through it.

Shinji,

I was thinking about it, and I realized that I believe we got off on the wrong foot. So, I've decided that we should start over, and I'll try my hardest to be nicer, and I'm hoping that you will too.

I almost laughed at that last part, before continuing on.

Anyways, let's get off of all that mushy crap. I made some spaghetti for dinner and there's some left for you and your Pokemon if you want it.

Sincerely, Hikari

I set the note down, getting myself a plate of spaghetti. It actually wasn't bad. I released Chimchar and the Azumarill I had been training and got them each a bowl.

"Don't you two get used to eating like royalty, this is a one time thing." I warned them, eating the rest of my spaghetti. Once everyone was done, I returned the Pokemon and washed all of the dishes, putting the last of the spaghetti in a Tupperware in the fridge. Looking down at my Pokegear, I saw that it was past one o'clock in the morning.

"Where the hell is she..." I said out loud, quickly regretting it. Just because she was starting over with me, doesn't mean that I had to do the same thing with her. But still, my curiosity that I usually had so well under control, got the better of me. I headed downstairs, seeing that all of the lights in the Center had been turned off. When I didn't see anything, I got ready to head back upstairs, before I heard noises coming from where the battle field was inside of the Center. Making my way down the hallway, I realized that the lights on the indoor battle ground were on. I peeked into the window between the hallway and battle field. And low and behold, there was Troublesome with her Turtwig. At first I thought they were just training, but soon understood that she was practicing for the Contest tomorrow.

I didn't know that she was a coordinator. That pretty much eliminates any respect I have for Troublesome there. I shoved my hands into my pockets and headed back upstairs. I sat at the kitchen table for a while, till about three in the morning when Hikari returned.

I opened the door as quietly as possible, assuming that Shinji was in bed asleep, but jumped when I saw him sitting at the kitchen table, just staring at me.

"Holy-, god Shinji! You scared the crap out of me!" I put my hand over my heart, closing the door.

"I didn't know you were a coordinator."

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm a coordinator and a trainer."

"You can't do that." What's his problem? I thought to myself. I noticed at this point that the note I had written was gone. He'd read it.

"Why not?" I recoiled.

"You're going to get enough ribbons to enter the Grand Festival and defeat all the gym leaders and enter the Pokemon League?"

"Yes, thank you very much, I am."

"Whatever Troublesome." I stood there for a moment, slightly stunned that he hadn't taken any of my words to heart to try and start over with me too.

"I'm still going to try and be nice to you." I stated, Shinji starting to get into bed. He didn't turn around, just turned his head to the left slightly. He didn't reply. I went and brushed my teeth, then went to bed myself. Man, trying to start over with someone sucks. It'll be even worse tomorrow, having to deal with him, and a contest on four hours of sleep.

This chapter seemed shorter than the others... Anyways, did you guys notice that Shinji had an Azumarill? Didya, didya!? Well he had one in the anime too, until after his battle at the Oreburgh Gym when he gave it away. His Pokemon team is going to probably mirror the one he had in the anime.