Well, I've started my Pokemon People and FerrisWheelShipping story, so check them out! And I'm finally going to be rewriting my SoulSilverShipping story too, so check out the new and improved version! Actually, it'll probably be awhile till I post the new chapters for it, I want to rewrite all fourteen chapters and post them all at the same time. I don't own Pokemon!

Chapter 12: Harsh Words

Saturday, February 15

I was currently throwing on my white tank top, with my black and pink minidress on top, with a cream-cheesed bagel in my mouth and even trying to brush my hair, all at the same time. I really wanted to battle Shinji before he just left me behind, to prove to him that caring for your Pokemon really does make them stronger. With my clothes on I finished up my bagel before throwing on some comfortable, long pink socks with my also pink boots. We were supposed to battle inside the Pokemon Center, so there was no need to put on my coat at the moment. I had a total of three different scarves, a white scarf, a dark pink scarf that matched my coat, and another dark pink scarf just for looks, thin so it provided little warmth during winter months. I wrapped the third around my neck before doing my hair in it's usual manner, today using my yellow clips. Finally I put on my beanie hat and left my room. Shinji was waiting for me in the lobby.

"Finally."

"Sorry, I forgot to set my alarm last night-" I almost added 'because I was feeling down after losing to Roark', but decided to leave that part out. Shinji looked a little skeptical, probably confused as to why I stopped so soon, but I pretended as if I didn't notice. We walked in silence to the indoor battlefield, Nurse Joy was there waiting for us, having agreed to be the ref. To my surprise, there were about ten trainers waiting at the sidelines, apparently going to watch us battle.

"Why the audience?" I whispered to Shinji, who promptly ignored me, instead heading to his side of the field. I then asked Nurse Joy the same question.

"Well, Shinji is the most recent person the win the Coal Badge, and you're the most recent person to lose to Roark, plus, you two getting stuck together in that tunnel was written about in an article in the Miner's Express." I gave the pink haired woman a quizzical look before she explained. "It's Oreburgh City's most popular newspaper." I nodded before heading to my own spot on the field. Nurse Joy explained the rules.

"It's going to be a two on two battle, both challengers may substitute their Pokemon at any point during battle! No items are allowed! Begin!" Chansey cried in excitement beside Nurse Joy. Shinji released his first Pokemon.

"Kid!" He had chosen Elekid. I nodded, immediately knowing who my first choice would be.

"Electra, spot-light!"

"Shii!" Electra, cried out. The two electric types began sizing each other up, circling each other. Shinji and I allowed them to do it. We knew the Pokemon didn't like each other, and both wanted to win very badly. I decided to make the first move.

"Electra, use Bite!" She charged at Elekid, ready to chomp down on his arm.

"Protect!" A light blue barrier appeared in front of Elekid, preventing Electra from getting at the electric Pokemon. "Now use Thunderpunch!" The barrier disappeared, and an electrified fist hit Electra in the chest, knocking her backwards several feet.

"You okay?" I called out to her. She stood up, growling at her opponent. "That's my girl! Use Charge!" Electra began gathering energy for her next attack.

"Brick Break!"

"Dodge it!" Electra got away just in time. "Use Spark!" She hit Elekid in the back, knocking him forward several feet just as he had to her. Electra crouched in front of me again, ready to attack once more. Elekid struggled up, but managed to smirk at us, as did Shinji. I was utterly shocked. What now!? Suddenly Electra was surrounded by electricity, not even her normal blue electricity.

"What!?"

"It's Elekid's ability Troublesome. Make contact with him, and your Pokemon will get paralyzed." So that was his plan all along... I had to think of another way to win. "Finish up with Brick Break."

"Dodge it!" Electra couldn't move nearly as fast as she had been before, and Elekid hit her with his attack. She fell to the ground unconscious. "Crap." I mumbled. "Electra, return!" She disappeared into her capsule, and I enlarged Mazey's Pokeball in my hand, sending a thought to her. I'm counting on you girl. Do me proud! I silently threw up her Pokeball, the happy go lucky Pokemon appearing before me. Then to my surprise, Shinji recalled Elekid.

"Azumarill, standby for battle!"

"Azu-zu!" The adorable water type cried.

"Remember, this is your last chance to prove yourself Azumarill. If you lose, you're done for." I could see the Pokemon grit its teeth, it was carrying a lot of weight on it's shoulders.

"You can't just throw Azumarill aside because it loses a few times!" I yelled.

"And who are you to tell me what to do?"
"It's not right Shinji!"

"Troublesome, this is not the time to dish out one of your 'Save The Pokemon' speeches! Rollout Azumarill!"

"Dodge it!" Mazey quickly got out of the way. "Razor Leaf!"

"Dodge it and use Water Gun!"

"Withdraw!" Water Gun did little damage after using Withdraw.

"Hydro Pump!" The very powerful water type attack hit Mazey, knocking her backwards. She struggled to get up, despite the water type attack being not very effective.

"Use Absorb Mazey!"

"Rollout!" Absorb couldn't be completed, before Mazey was hit with Rollout knocking her to the ground unconscious. My eyes stared blankly ahead, unbelieving. H-how did I-

"Hn, you're even worse than I thought you'd be." I looked to the ground, not even bothering to defend myself. Two huge losses in a row. How could I let this happen? "You didn't even beat Roark, did you Troublesome?" Shinji waited for an answer, but I refused to reply. "I can't stand weak people like you, making speeches like that, and then falling flat on your face. Embarrassing, isn't it? Maybe you should just stick to Contests Troublesome, oh wait! You lost that too." Shinji brushed past me, purposely shoving me aside.

I must have stood there for an hour, maybe longer. Staring at the ground. Just not believing. All my life I had been waiting for this, knowing that Pokemon was the only place where I shined. But now... Maybe... maybe I really wasn't cut out for this. Maybe I really was just a nobody, a freak meant to live in the shadows for the rest of my life. One by one, the audience Shinji and I had gathered left. Even Nurse Joy eventually went back to work. The only thing that shook me out of my trance was the sight of an awakened, but very weak Mazey struggling to crawl towards me. The sight of her barely managing her usual carefree, kind smile, broke my heart. It was in that moment, that I knew, that I could never give up on this. I'd dreamed about becoming the champion, a top coordinator. I couldn't let my friends, my mom, Professor Rowan, my Pokemon, or myself down. I smiled warmly, even sewing some pity into the gesture, as I took the small grass type into my arms.

"You were the best I've ever seen you Mazey. Now let's get you fixed up."

The Pokemon and I had spent the previous day eating junk food and trying to come up with new ways to train after those hard losses, and I'd even managed to banish Shinji's harsh words from my brain.

"Ready to go guys?" The Pokemon nodded and cried out in agreement. We were headed out to Route 207, a small route just north of the city. It was possible to go to Cycling Road from there, but Nurse Joy had told me the route had been temporarily blocked off by a mud slide, and no one had bothered to fix it quite yet. I knew there were plenty of miners eager to battle in the mines, but frankly after getting stuck in there with Shinji, I wasn't too keen on that.

We battled two trainers, and easily won, leaving me to ponder why we had lost against Roark and Shinji. We nearly lost, battling a wild Machop because I was so lost in thought, trying to figure out why. Just why. Then I could fix everything. Change our strategies, or whatever needed to be changed. Finally I snapped my fingers, an idea coming to mind.

"I got it!"

"Shi-i!" Electra whined at me, my providing a distraction had caused the Kricketot we had been battling to get away.

"I know we're strong, but Shinji and Roark had one thing that we didn't!" Electra and Mazey, who had been sitting on the side, cocked their heads at me, curious. "A team of three Pokemon! That's the only thing that could be holding us back!" Electra looked skeptical. "Look guys, I know it's a long shot, and we just added you to the team Electra, but I think we need a third member." Mazey, who will go along with anything I say, smiled, and Electra gave in, probably seeing that there really was no reason not to do it, and who knows? Maybe it really will help! Just then, above the rock ledge turning Route 207 into a squared off area and a little off into the woods, I heard someone shout, very loudly.

"DAMNIT!" The three of us immediately looked up. I was curious to see what had happened, so I helped my small Pokemon up the rock ledge and we headed in the direction of the voice. There was a girl about my age, dark brown hair, reaching to about halfway down past her shoulder blades, stomping around a small clearing swearing. A Pikachu was looking a bit embarrassed beside her.

"Um, are you okay?" The girl looked up at me. At first I expected her to start and swearing at me, but not so.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" Her Pikachu face palmed itself.

"Well, you suddenly yelled 'dammit' really loudly, and you seem pretty upset." I smiled at the confused girl.

"Oh crap! Here's a dollar, thanks for that." She handed me the green bill, I was looking more confused than ever.

"Um, what's this for?" The girl turned around from picking up some dropped items on the ground.

"Weeell, my friends and family and all, told me that I swore too much, and made me take this fucking stupid online 'Quit Swearing!' class, and the step or whatever I'm on requires me to give a dollar to anyone who catches me swearing."

"Uh, you just did it again..."

"Fuck! Here's another dollar." She handed me a second.

"Isn't this making you go broke?" I asked.

"Yeah..." She sighed.

"Well, you just did it again when you gave me another dollar..."

"Whaat?" She practically whined. She looked through her pockets, searching for another bill, but after pulling out her pockets it looked like she had no more money. "Hey, do you take IOUs..." She motioned for me to give her my name.

"Hikari, and I'll just pretend I didn't hear it that time."

"Awesome, you're cool Hikari! My name's Jess."

"So what are you doing out here anyways Jess?" Her brown eyes narrowed, but Jess didn't appear to be looking at me. More so staring off into space.

"Well, I beat Roark's Gym right?" I nodded my head. "And I know that the next Gym I'll come to in Eterna City is a grass type Gym, so I came out here to look for a fire type Pokemon. I found this awesome Ponyta, but it's way too fast, and kept dodging all of my fucking moves and Pokeballs." Jess crossed her arms and pouted like a child, despite having sworn. I decided not to mention that. "Anyways, I've been out here for the past week trying to catch that thing, but I am DONE with it! And the worst part is, Ponyta are super rare around here, and I really, REALLY wanted to catch it!" An idea popped into my mind.

"But, you're not anymore?"

"No, I've spent that past week here trying to catch that damn thing, so tonight I'm going to pack up and get the hell out of this coal hole. Not that Oreburgh City's bad or anything..." I nodded.

"So you wouldn't mind if I tried to catch Ponyta?" Electra looked at me in shock, and I knew why. Ponyta is a fire type Pokemon, and Electra already had a type disadvantage in Roark's gym.

"Sure. Good luck with that." Jess started walking away with her Pikachu. "Oh right, I have to warn you about Ponyta's Double Kick."

"Double Kick?" I asked, not being familiar with the move.

"Yeah. It's a doozy move, and a fighting type one at that." My eyes widened. A fighting type move?! My mind quickly flashed back to Shinji's battle with Roark. I remember how Elekid and Chimchar had type disadvantages, but each knew a fighting type move that totally pulled them through! Ponyta could be my Elekid or Chimchar! Jess had started to leave again before I stopped her for a quick Pokedex entry on her Pikachu. She had a Pokedex too, and I let her get entries on Mazey and Electra.

"Pikachu, the mouse Pokemon. It occasionally uses an electric shock to recharge a fellow Pikachu that is in a weakened state." And with that I started into the woods, searching for any sign of the fire type Pokemon.

Sunday, February 16

Sorry if this chapter is a little short or random, I just kind of wanted to end it there and I was rushing a bit throughout the chapter. Anyways, intense chapter, right?! But the one thing I can't get off of my mind about this story is one of Hikari's future Pokemon and I really can't wait for you guys to meet him! Yes, I gave away that at least one of her Pokemon is going to be a him.