Pedestal: Chapter 104

Three beads. Vaikuntha naturally earned another three, and brought me along for the ride—again. It was announced that we would definitely keep the same teams for the next two challenges, too, so I secretly hoped that that would mean I would garner six more beads. It would certainly be nice, and it'd keep me above water. Too many trainers had to leave after the no beads for no wins rule was installed.

The second challenge of the three turned out to be… interesting.

It was another double battle, but this one would be one Pokemon per trainer. We were also up against—thank you, karma—Keith Baxter and his partner. I had wearily resigned myself to using Carlita when the referee announced, "Now, if the contestants would please switch Pokemon."

The twist for the second challenge would be that I was using Koel, and Carlita went over to Vaikuntha.

The battle was mercifully quick. Frankly speaking, it was an embarrassment, anyway. Carlita and I were too busy for most of it shrieking at each other—I could not get past my instinct to order her around instead of the silvery bird in front of me, and she likewise had no idea what to actually do aside from beat on the Nidoking, which was having similar problems across the arena, so yeah—and it ended up that Koel took things into his own wings. While Vaikuntha and I were trying to reign in Carlita and get her to listen properly, the Skarmory stalked over and dispatched the other Pokemon, a Lickilicky, quietly.

No one noticed until he then regally walked over, pushed Carlita and the Nidoking away from each other with the air of separating naughty children, and then started scratching the Nidoking. Carlita took offense to someone else butting in on her battle, so naturally, she didn't like that (and neither did the Nidoking). By the time the fourth trainer, a brunette girl with her hair tied back with a red ribbon, noticed her Pokemon had fainted on the other side of the arena, everyone there was screaming. Koel had turned around and taken to attacking Carlita for interrupting him, which Vaikuntha protested loudly. I was still shouting at my own Pokemon, both because she was up against a bird and because she was disobeying orders.

Eventually, Koel got so fed up that he knocked Carlita out with a Wing Attack, and took care of the Nidoking with a couple of well-executed Steel Wings.

We ended up winning. Or rather, Koel did.

After the battle, as I tearfully carted off Carlita for a healing, I caught Vaikuntha reprimanding his Skarmory. "Koel! You cannot be so mean to our friends, our brother, or your sister! They are our allies, and you are not allowed to attack allies under any circumstances!"

Koel had replied with something rather quietly, eyes averted.

"I do not care! You and I will apologize next time we see them." Vaikuntha's sternness abruptly vanished, and he leaned in to hug his Skarmory. "Thank you for the battle, though. I could not have done this without you."

I slunk away after that, feeling a little guilty. When was the last time—or have I ever thanked my Pokemon for battling? True, Carlita and Ike seemed to enjoy it (and Konstantin, lately), but they were fighting tooth and nail on my behalf. All I ever did was shout orders at them and occasionally try to cook for them. I didn't even sleep with them anymore…

I suddenly really, really hoped Vaikuntha won. He was a trainer who deserved his Pokemon, who deserved to become a Gym leader. He would be good for Sinnoh.

I felt infinitely worse when we got our beads for the second match. Just two. Carlita and I had successfully broken Vaikuntha's three-bead streak. He didn't seem at all perturbed and only apologized for his Skarmory's behavior—which, looking back on it, wasn't even all that out of line and was probably the thing that won the battle for us. I felt like a bad teammate and a bad trainer. True, anyone would look bad in comparison to Vaikuntha, but still.

My mood was not bettered when the Gym leaders announced a break from the competition.

"Don't worry, you will not pay more beads for the extra days. We only want to give you all a chance to relax and have fun again. We understand that this is stressful for you all, and we want to try to alleviate some of that tension for you. We want you all to have fun while you still like each other."

Well, that was reassuring.

Gardenia sighed and held up her hands for silence once more instead of trying to talk over the chatter that had broken out. "We have also whittled down the list of potential trainers enough now that we want to formally introduce you to the press. Don't worry, you won't be mobbed. This will be a nice event, to foster friendship, let you all get to know one another more, and let you have a nice time in Sunyshore. Hopefully, it will also sate the media long enough to let you get through the next competition in one piece…"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Benjamin snapped, looking sour, as usual. I was a little amazed he was still in the race, but then again, he had won a battle against Sela.

"It means those damned reporters have gotten nosy," Sela snorted in reply, crossing her arms.

"They're starting to figure things out. Things that are annoying and shouldn't be in any sort of column ever," Archie added. He put his hand on his hip and took a sip from a flask with the other. "It'll only get worse from here on out, too."

"We know, we know!" Gardenia called pitifully, trying and failing to get attention again. "We are doing the best we can to try to contain this, but—"

"But with the nightmares, everyone is on edge. Have you done anything more about that yet?" Lola called acidly.

"We are trying—"

"You can try and try and it doesn't get us anywhere!"

"Alright, everyone shut up and listen!" Volkner suddenly shouted, effectively hushing us. A couple of us, myself included, even physically balked from him. "We are still trying to figure that out. We are making progress, however, so do not be discouraged. But we're not discussing that right now—we're talking about the party. The ground rules are formal wear, polite speech to the public, and dates recommended. There will be a dance after the dinner—"

"Say what?"

"What did he just say?"

"A dance!"

"Oh my gosh, this will be awesome!"

"Are you kidding me? This sucks!"

I could hardly hear myself over the sudden roar. I clamped my hands over my ears and ducked down, trying to think. A dance. A formal dance. Plus the press. I would have to not only deal with formal clothes—where was I going to get those? Oh, wait, Hanna—but also the press—Sara Grace Kellner came to mind—and I'd have to get a date.

I peeked up nervously. I spotted Alicia in the crowd, arms crossed, cheeks red, talking to a girl next to her. A date. I could ask Alicia. I could ask Alicia to be my date. I could feel myself flush and I scooted back through the crowd towards Vaikuntha. That could wait while we sorted out details and I tried to track down some clothes. I couldn't do anything about the presence of the press, only deal with it as it came. Hopefully that part wouldn't go too badly.

It was set two days from now—which seemed like short notice, but then again, we had been learning about our challenges ten minutes before we were going out, so the planning time was a fortunate development. Hanna was ecstatic when she learned that not only would I get to be her doll again, but that it would be formalwear. She was also keen on the idea of me asking Alicia as a date, too.

"This is totally your chance! She has to know you're interested by now, and you've got a time limit. So you can't angst about this forever and not do it. Look, I'll help you. I'll tell you how to do it and everything! I wish I could track her down so I could see what color dress she'd be wearing—I could make you two match!" Eyes as large as dinner plates, I knew Hanna had just stumbled onto something big. I was not thrilled. "Okay, okay, that will be what we do. Come on."

"What?" I asked cluelessly.

"We're going to find her! You need to ask her now, and I'll be with you for moral support so don't you give me that look. Then I can ask her what color her dress will be!"

"Why does the color of her dress matter?" I cried desperately, trying not to get dragged along while I still had a chance.

Hanna, however, had already made up her mind. She seized my arm and literally dragged me along. "She's down this way, right? Oh, look—! There she is! Hey, Alicia!" She eagerly waved her free arm, catching the attention of my crush. I wished I could dive for the nearest door and hide, but Hanna unfortunately still had my arm in an iron grip. "Over here, Alicia! We want to ask you something!"

"Is it okay for you to be here when I ask? I mean—won't that be bad?" I whimpered, seriously contemplating gnawing my own arm off to escape.

"Why? Girls ask guys out in packs. I'll make sure I'm not a threat—oh hi, Alicia," Hanna chirped with a million-watt beam. I started chewing. Hanna pushed me out in front of her—I hastily spat out my shirt—and kept me there with a hand on either shoulder. "He would like to ask you something."

Alicia blinked at me with her big, brown eyes. "Yes?" Was it just me, or was she blushing a little? This was too embarrassing; I wasn't thinking straight.

"U-Um…" My tongue seemed to be tied in knots.

I wasn't sure whether to be grateful or further mortified when Hanna's impatience took over and she exclaimed, "He wants to ask you to the dance-thing!"

There was a year-long moment of silence. I desperately wished for the ability to sink into my shadow, Hanna continued smiling so hard I could feel it from behind, and Alicia only stared at me like a Stantler caught in the headlights, cheeks painted pink.

Hanna, only making it worse for me, continued. "He's liked you for these past couple weeks, and personally, I think you two would make a cute couple. I promise he's the sweetest little thing you'll ever meet, and I'll make sure he cleans up well. What do you say? Is it a yes, or is it a yes?"

"I… Oh, wow. I actually wasn't expecting that one," Alicia muttered, finally dropping the shocked look. She looked down at her hands, fidgeting. "This is a bolt from the blue… I… Uh, wow. I didn't expect to be asked so soon—and by you! I mean—I—I'm not insulted, or-or I wasn't expecting this—I already said that, shoot—" She was babbling. I couldn't tell if that was a good or bad sign, but oddly enough, it made me feel a little better. At least I wasn't the only nervous one here.

"Um—" I started, but she didn't even notice.

Instead, Alicia looked up at me and said, "I'm sorry, but… I don't think that would be a very good idea."

Now it was my turn to play the Stantler in the headlights. I could hardly compute what she just said. Somehow, I hadn't expected an actual no—just a lot of embarrassment and awkwardness, but happily going to the dance together.

Hanna seemed to be in the same mental boat. "Wait… No? Why not? If it's—We're not together, if that's what you're thinking!" She suddenly was in a hurry to let go of my shoulders. "We're definitely not together. We're just really good friends, we've known each other for forever."

"Oh, well, that's a relief. But that's not what this is about. And I totally feel terrible saying this, too, so please don't hate me. I still want to be friends, okay?" Why did this sound so much like a break-up all of a sudden? I was only getting more and more dejected and confused—now that the fact that I got rejected was coming home. Alicia craned her head to try to catch my eye, brow furrowed underneath her pale bangs. "I'm sorry, I really am. I wish I could go with you. I mean—it's not like I have another date waiting or anything, or someone I want to ask… Actually, I do have someone I want to ask—bah, that's not what I mean! I do want to ask, but I'm not going to, because that would complicate things and going with you would only complicate them more so that's why I'm not! I'm really sorry!"

"It's, uh, okay—"

"No, wait," Hanna interrupted. I was shunted to the side, forgotten, as the girls started their talk. "Why is this a bad idea? You could go as friends, you know! It's not as if he's proposed or anything!"

Alicia was only getting more flustered and red-faced, however. She looked away, biting her bottom lip. "It's just—it's really, really complicated as it is, and I d-don't want to, because he's, um, well, he's a friend of who I want to ask. I-I don't want to give the wrong signal."

Hanna took a step back, looking shell-shocked. "…You want to ask Vai?" I felt equally surprised. Not to mention betrayed. Sure, Vaikuntha hadn't done anything intentionally, but still. He was my friend, and Alicia was the girl I liked. What about that wasn't some sort of betrayal? I'd have to go and have a talk with him later—

"Oh! God, no!" Alicia exclaimed, shaking her head, hair flying.

"…" The confusion was palpable at this point. It was hard enough keeping up with the nervous jabber and girl speech, but at least I had caught that last part. But this, now I had no idea what was going on anymore. I didn't have any other friends, unless she thought Jude—oh jeez, that would be a can of Weedle I did not want to think about right now—or a non-Gym race person with me was one of my friends.

Alicia sighed wearily. "It's not as if this is a secret or anything, but I didn't exactly want to proclaim it to the heavens, either. Actually, um… I can't go to the dance with you because I would feel uncomfortable. I'm sorry, but it's true, even if it was just friends. Knowing your feelings towards me would make it bad enough. It's not that I don't like you, it's just… I'm gay—I'm a lesbian."