Amara's phone rang at 6:00 that evening. She let it go to voicemail, then picked up her phone to see what the message said. "Yo, Amara, it's Ryme. We're doing sound at 6:45, so pry yourself away from that girl of yours and get down to the stage. We got setup to do." Amara groaned and climbed out of bed. Penny hadn't moved yet, and Amara almost felt bad waking her.
"Penny, baby. I have to help get set up for the show and my gym battle. We start at 8:00, and I'm opening. Are you going to get up?" Penny's response was to groan and hold up heart hands. "I love you." Amara kissed Penny's forehead and tugged on her clothes. A minute later she was out the door to meet the crew and get ready for her battle.
"Fucking shit, it's cold." Amara complained as she shivered under her jacket. "Fucking mountain queers got me loving this place and wanting to move here even if it's fucking freezing." She trudged through the snow and found her way to the stage where she was immediately handed a string of lights and a pole then sent to string them up around the lot.
"Also, new girl, you're opening, so warm up the voice. It's not enough to win; you have to get the crowd going for Ryme." The stagehand told her as she came back. The next thirty minutes were a flurry of activity, Amara carried lights, amplifiers, and ended up running cable through the stage. "Congrats, you're our tunnel rat for the night. Good thing you wore gloves." The stage manager had told her, now she was under the stage catching cables and crawling to connect the cables to the amps and not crowd the stage. Her hands had gone cold, but she ran the cable into the wings, the other stagehands got the amps all plugged in, and she was given the all-clear to climb out from under the stage. She crawled out, shivering harder than before, to see Ryme holding a pack of hand warmers and a warm drink.
"Congrats, tunnel rat." She said as she opened the hand warmers and offered them to Amara. Amara tucked each one into a glove and gleefully took the cup of cocoa that Ryme offered next. Amara had downed the entire cup in a fraction of a second, eliciting a round of applause from Ryme. "Impressive. We'll have to keep you around for the after party. Do you drink?"
Amara shook her head, and Ryme's tone deflated a bit. "I get it, honestly. My sister doesn't drink anymore after that incident when I was on tour in Oreburg City." She led Amara back to the stage and rigged her up with a lavalier mic. "Now, get in your spot and say the shit I say back to me." She turned and walked to the edge of the lot, then shouted several key phrases for Amara to repeat. After she'd finished, Ryme walked onto the stage and did the same. Three other people Amara didn't recognize came up in turns and checked their microphones. After they'd finished, the stage manager called everyone to the backstage bunker for a final debrief.
"Alright, so the event is four battles, Amara, Steven, Heather, and Phoebe, you'll be up first, it'll be a single-elimination bracket, so be on your best. The winner will take the stage with Ryme at the end of the night and have a battle for the badge. Beat Ryme and your badge is won." He rolled out a diagram of the stage and pointed to four points marked in red, and then two marked in green. "Stay out of the red spots or your mic'll start feeding back and you'll be clawing your face off. The spots in green can be seen by the most people, so stay there." Amara and the others nodded, then they were walked out onto the stage to introduce themselves. The lot was packed, Amara looked around quickly and spied Penny in the back next to the concession stand. Penny shuffled nervously but perked up quickly when Amara walked on stage. The stage manager took to the mic in the middle of the stage, and after a minute of emceeing, he bid the challengers step up and tell the audience who they were. He stepped toward Amara and asked for her name and some words.
"Shit, alright. I'm Amara, Hoenn born and raised and here to sweep this fuckin' stage to square off against Ryme. I can't fail now, my girlfriend's watchin'. Love ya, babe." She blew a kiss and Penny responded by holding her heart hands over her head. The rest of the audience clapped, the others introduced themselves, and Amara squared off for a battle as the emcee leaned toward the audience.
"Let's spice it up, shall we? Two Pokémon, that's all you can use, no repeats. Give these motherfuckers a show!" Amara locked eyes with her opponent and the battle began. It was over before it started as Armarouge and Meowscarada made quick work of Heather's Pokémon.
Amara pumped her fists in the air, walked up to the emcee, and elbowed him in the side playfully. "Yo, you said you wanted to give these good people a show. That means I need a fuckin' challenge. These trainers ain't shit." The audience went wild at Amara's words, causing the emcee to bust out laughing.
"You lovely people heard it, Amara's talkin' some smack. Will her next battle put this cocky bitch on ice? Who knows, it's not like we rehearse this shit." Amara walked off the stage after whipping the next trainers on stage two middle fingers. As soon as she was out of view of the audience, she shot the two on stage heart hands and went to find Heather.
"Hey, Heather, you're a great trainer and I was happy to battle you. I'm just playing a character." She confessed, and Heather shot her a thumbs-up. Ryme met her in the wing shortly after.
"Cocky up-and-comer is certainly a choice, though you know that means for the show to be a hit, you either need to be humbled by the end of the night or I need to win." Ryme stood for a moment as Amara weighed her options. "You'll have to win the next battle close, which shouldn't be a problem, both those trainers are so much stronger than Heather. Sorry, honey."
Heather shrugged and took a wad of cash from one of the stagehands. Then she made her way backstage and huddled around the oil drum fire they had roaring. The crew welcomed her into the circle as Amara shot Ryme a look. "Is Heather on your staff?" Amara asked, causing Ryme to nod, but then caution that the other two were not. "Fair, looks like Phoebe's coming out the winner."
Phoebe had indeed won the battle, and as she stepped up to the emcee, she flashed a wicked smile. "Steven was hard to beat, but now I'm excited to take this Amara girl down a peg. Bring it on, bitch!" The crowd went wild and Ryme spurred Amara onto the stage. "There she is. You think you're hot shit just because you won one match, bitch you ain't seen nothin' yet!"
Amara laughed at Phoebe's words, then opened her mouth to speak. "Bitch I don't think I'm hot shit. I know I am. Between this little show I'm putting on and the fucking fire I give my girl in the sack, nobody can tell me nothin'." She raised her arm to slap Phoebe when the emcee stepped between them.
"Alright, alright, alright, ladies, I think there's only one way to settle this lovers' quarrel. Get in position and battle it out! What do you lovely people think?" He pointed the mic at the audience, who let out a massive cheer. "You heard 'em. Get going, and remember, no repeats." He hopped off the stage and turned to face the two of them. Phoebe smirked and tossed out Delibird and Swellow, and Amara tossed out Raichu and Luxray.
"Hope you're ready to bite it, bitch!" Amara shouted as her two Pokémon unleashed powerful electric attacks that knocked Phoebe's Pokémon onto their back feet. Amara let out a curse when they didn't falter, and instead unleashed powerful attacks of their own.
"You're over here thinking I'm a meek little girl, but you ain't got shit on me!" Then Amara noticed something. It was faint, but on the side of Phoebe's face was a tiny scar that ran from the base of her ear to her neck. Yo, does anyone remember this bitch's working name? She asked into her back brain, and Madilyn announced that yes, they met on a job when the body was sixteen. She's Archie's daughter. Madilyn announced. This made Amara smirk again.
"Meek, nah, not if your daddy taught you as much as mine!" Amara sent two more hits toward Phoebe, and was able to knock out her Delibird, but Swellow knocked Luxray out of the battlefield. "Show me what your daddy taught you, Phoebe!" Phoebe smirked at Amara's taunt, and called for Swellow to launch a Hurricane at Raichu. Raichu took the hit, lowered its head, and electricity started to arc from his cheeks. After a brief moment, Raichu erupted into a powerful Volt Tackle that brought Swellow to the ground, unconscious.
The emcee hopped back up on stage as Amara walked up to the center and offered Phoebe her hand. "Gotta say, you really can put in some work. I'm impressed." Amara admitted. Phoebe chuckled, took her hand, and then the girls pulled in for a hug. The emcee and crowd cheered, then as the two separated, the emcee stepped back in to fill the silence.
"Aww, and Amara's cold heart seems like it's warmin' up. How we feelin' tonight, audience?" There was another cheer, and Amara took a bow. "You think she's ready for Ryme?" Another cheer rang out as Ryme stepped onto the stage. "What do you think, queen? The audience is beggin'. you gonna give it to 'em?" Ryme walked up to Amara, flashed a wicked smile, winked with her upstage eye, then delivered a smack across Amara's face. Amara didn't flinch but cocked her head in indignation.
"You think you're gonna take over my fuckin' stage out here runnin' your trap about bein' hot shit?" She turned toward the emcee and smirked. "Damn right I'mma give it to 'em. I want the whole world to watch me wipe that smug smile of this cunt's face." Amara looked at the audience, then back to Ryme.
"Bitch you're fuckin' old news. We got a new name here in Montenevera and it's fuckin' Amara Plowman, so how 'bout we do this battle, and we see who gets to be queen of this fuckin' stage?" The audience let out a loud "Ooooh" As Amara turned her back to Ryme and walked to her spot. The Emcee looked at the audience and jumped off the stage.
"Shit, audience, I ain't about to be sharin' the stage when they throwin' that kind o' fire. I'mma just hide here with y'all. What's your name, kid?" The kid announced his name was Justin, and the emcee continued. "Alright, Justin, you're gonna be my human shield, so I'm going to use you to block anything that comes our way, you got me?" Justin laughed and announced that he was four foot four and wished the Emcee good luck.
"Hell, Amara, the kids are learnin' from your bad example. You're goin' down on this fuckin stage tonight." Ryme pulled out two Poké Balls and tossed out a Dusclops and a Houndstone. "Your ass is gettin' dragged to the grave." She called as Amara sent out Meowscarada and Ceruledge. The four Pokémon charged one another, and though Ceruledge and Meowscarada took a beating, only Ceruledge fell, while Houndstone and Dusclops both took a hard beating and lost consciousness. Ryme recalled them and unleashed a Gengar and Baynette. Amara smirked and tossed Armarouge onto the battlefield.
"Meowscarada, use Night Slash and eliminate the poppit, Armarouge, use Psychic on Gengar." Amara's voice was calm and collected, since she had for sure won this battle. These were Ryme's last two Pokémon, after she took them down, the rest was just a performance. Meowscarada cut Batnette down, and Armarouge tore Gengar apart with its mind.
"You think I'm fuckin' done yet?" Ryme called before pulling out a yellow crystal and giving a smirk. "They call me queen, 'round here, and you're about to see why!" She threw her head back and let out a loud screech. It seemed like reality tore open, then. Fuck, what the shit? Rhys had doubled over in pain at the feeling, then a square portal opened, and powerful winds blew from each of its five corners. The visage hurt Amara, but as Giratina stepped out of it and Ryme threw Giratina the crystal, she felt something she hadn't felt since she was small, utter terror.
She staggered backwards, then fell. Giratina loomed over her, and Meowscarada jumped in between them. "Fuck, holy shit." Giratina let out a loud cry and lunged at Meowscarada, knocking him down instantly, then Giratina roared with triumph and disappeared as quickly as it came. Amara was nearly catatonic at this point. she couldn't think, she could barely remember who she was or where she was, she tried to stand, then lost her footing. She looked up at Ryme, gripped her temples and let out a loud scream. Then the world went black.