Dee.

"Aye...you beat Lucian, huh? Guess you're one step closer to battling me?"

Aaron met me in the waiting room, with a smartass remark. I wanted to give him a smartass punch in the chops.

I put my hand on my hip. "You're really annoying, you know that?" I replied huffily.

All the gym leader gave me was a throaty, condescending chuckle. "I'd hate to meet the she-demon that spawned you..."

That tears it! In a fit of pretty childish anger, I put my hands against his chest and gave him a good hard shove.

"Don't talk shit about my mom! You got it?!"

Aaron stumbled back a step, eyes widening in shock. He wiped off where I'd made contact with his shirt, nose turning up in disgust.

"Jesus, didn't have to get so violent..." He scowled, glancing at me. "How the other two squirts tolerate you, I'll never understand."

With that as his exit quote, Aaron turned and walked off, to go socialize. I glared as he walked off, realizing how lonely I really was.

I'm so glad that Riley beat him... I thought bitterly. At least one of us 'squirts' managed to.

Later.

Aaron and I clawed our ways to the final battle of the contest, him probably doing it out of pride.

"Alright! Are the two of you ready to begin!"

I nodded to Marian, my mouth set in a hard scowl. "Yes."

Snorunt glared down Keafeon, recognizing the pokemon that beat down his best friend. "Snnnorunt! Snow!"

The clock began. "Begin!"

Sunlight flashed on Aaron's glasses. "Leafeon, use Leaf Blade! Take down this runt!"

Leafeon rushed at Snorunt, head and tail leaves glowing green. Snorunt braced himself.

"Use Powder Snow on the ground!" The move worked against Lucian, so I figured, what the hell?

Snorunt breathed out an icy breath at Leafeon, but she lept in the air and cartwheeled her razor-sharp keaves against Snorunt!

Just like before, my points lowered. Aaron smirked.

"Bite Leafeon, Snorunt!" I would not let him get in my head.

Snorunt caught Leafeon's tail leaf in his teeth, snarling. "Snnnnow!" He thrashed around, and ended up breaking half of the leaf right off her tail!

Now, it was Aaron's turn to lose major points. Leafeon fell back, yipping out at the landing. I wanted to cheer.

"Leafeon's back leaf has been snapped off!" Lee tittered into the mike. "How'll Aaron bounce back fro-"

"Shut up!" Aaron barked. "Don't lose hope, Leafeon, and use Razor Leaf!"

Leafeon skipped back a few paces, and swung her head around. The leaf on her head glowed bright green, and spat out two crescent-shaped leaves at Snorunt.

Snorunt, without being ordered to, huffed out a freezing breath at the leaves. They froze on contact, sticking into the ground on either side of Snorunt.

The beautiful sound of lost points hit my ears. I slid a lock of hair behind my ear, chuckling darkly.

"My God, look at that quick reaction! Not only did Snorunt stop Leafeon's attack in its tracks, but looked damn good doing it, too! How cou-?"

"Shut up!" Aaron was getting redfaced and frustrated. He was down to one-fourth of his points. "Leafeon, use Magical Leaf! Put this brat in her place!"

His pride was starting to affect his decision making. I remembered that was how Riley had overpowered him in Eterna City.

Leafeon swung her head again, releasing multicolored leaves at Snorunt. The attack went so fast, Snorunt couldn't react; each leaf burst against his body in a rainbow-colored burst.

But, my strong baby stood proud and strong.

I balled my hands into excited fists at my sides. "Snorunt, use Headbu-!"

"Time!"

Marian called the five minute time limit before I could finish my command. Aaron and I both jerked our heads at the screen as the points counters disappeared.

"The winner of this Pokemon Contest is..." My portrait burst onto the screen. Marian squealed out, "...Deadra Thompson!"

The crowd burst into hysterics. Leafeon stood on the battlefield, stunned. Aaron loudly grunted a swear, running his hand through his green-blonde hair.

Later.

"...Congratulations, kid. Your partner really fought hard. Not every coordintor can best a gym leader."

Lee was the one to present me with my second ribbon, pinning it onto my Snorunt and murmuring the statement nearly into my ear. I nodded.

"...Th-thank you." I was never good at receiving praise.

The older coordinator chuckled under his breath, smiling. "Don't be upset by Aaron being a bad sport; I used to be a lot like him. Pride can be a dangerous thing."

I nodded again, looking down at Snorunt and blushing. When he smiled, Lee actually looked a bit attractive; little laugh lines crinkled at his eyes, and his eyes lit up...as much as the color black can.

Taking me by surprise, Lee grabbed my wrist and raised my arm above our heads, turning to the crowd.

"Give it up for Dee Thompson, you guys!" He bellowed cheerfully.

The crowd went wild again, and Snorunt flailed around happily in my arms. I smiled, a real smile, and laughed.

Riley.

Later.

"Snorunt really did great, Dee. I'm happy for you."

If I had known Dee possessed emotions besides anger, I would've noticed the flicker of pain in her eyes. "I'm sorry about Azzy, Amber.

Amber and I met Dee outside of the contest hall after Lee awarded her the ribbon, in the crowd of people leaving. She had already moved the ribbon to her ribbon case.

The sympathy was met with a pained smile. "It's alright, Dee...at least you won, instead of that jerk, Aaron."

Our brunette camo queen snorted. "Yeah, I guess so."

Conversation ceased for a moment, until I heard two voices behind us.

"...What happened to 'demon spawn of Satan'?"

"Well, I used to say the same about you, didn't I?"

Amber raised her eyebrows. "Mark!" She dashed behind me, to Mark and Lee. Dee and I followed.

Both of them stopped talking, glancing at her. Mark answered, "Hm? Oh."

"Hey, thanks for tipping Amber off about the contest," Dee thanked him.

Lee leaned back, raising an eyebrow at his friend. "You actually did that?" He asked incredelously.

Mark blushed a little, frowning. "Well...you asked me to, didn't you?" He demanded, embarrassed.

I cleared my throat, to change the subject. "Lee, what's the next contest you'll be judging?" I asked.

Blank stare. He looked up. "Uhh...shit, you'd think I'd know."

"You mean you don't?" Mark thundered. "Dammit, Lee, did you invite me to Sinnoh so I could hold your hand through it? You're so irresponsible!"

Lee looked up at Mark. "I am not!" He protested. "Besides, I've got a list back in the hotel room! I just spent the past week drinking my weight in vodka, do you really think I'd remember?"

Instead of a regular answer, Mark smacked Lee in the back of the head. "Don't tell these kids you've been partying, you moron!" He growled. "At least one of them looks up to you! Moron!"

Why did most of their exchanges in front of us include violence and shouting? Lee sighed, rubbing his head.

"Ow." He glanced at the three of us. "You wanna know what contest's next on the list? Meet me at the Pokemon Center later, I'll tell y'all."

Mark muttered something under his breath. Lee narrowed his eyes, then reached up and grabbed a fistful of Mark's orange hair.

"Damn you, Lowe, when did you become my wife?"

As an individual, I chose at the tender age of thirteen to surround myself with both weird, violent idiots and pushy assholes.

{I'm fairly sure I should be offended by both those statements.}