#crescentkidd

“That bad, huh?” He jokes, shooting the other male a slightly playful grin in an attempt to lighten the mood.  

“B-Battle...?!” His eyes widen and almost immediately, his head jerks to the side - a battle with the Champion?! Even he wasn’t that daring.

an eye-opening memory

Fresh from the first defeat in years, Lorelei declared to Agatha that she wasn’t slinking off to sulk. The elderly woman snorted in response, as though she knew Lorelei’s moods than anyone.

That severed to irritate her further, so Lorelei elbowed past Bruno, who thankfully had no remark about her needing to ‘balance’ her team. The Ice Master did not think she could take another ounce of constructive criticism.

She felt bad enough putting her Lapras against that boy’s Arcanine.

Wasn’t that enough of a guilt trip?

Holed up in her room, Lorelei waited for the Pokemon Center below to send up her healed team, but she didn’t want to be around Agatha, Bruno and Lance at that moment. What were they going to do? Other than talk about the match against Oak’s grandson and lick their wounds under the guise of coming up with a different plan of action.

So, she was retreating to sulk on her own…

That wasn’t dignified.

She had gotten angry at losing, though attempting to covering up with a smirk and a boast that those behind her would not let him past, Lorelei could not shake off this bitterness of losing to a child.

Yet the minute his back was turned, she glared at the doorway as it sealed shut behind him. Even if it hadn’t been witnessed by anyone else, Lorelei still scolded herself over it.

She shouldn’t be this weak nor harbor resentment over losing.

Thinking she’d have time to reform her team and figure out a better strategy, later that day Lorelei found herself summoned back to the arena.

“…again?”

“Gengars are gonna be the least of our problems, kid.” At least, that’s what she’d assume – if any of the local rumors had any truth to it.

Why did that thought fill her with such – excitement?

‘Command and conquer!’ A bright trill of laughter erupts from her lips, just before she launches forward again – hand still wrapped around the strangers wrist, ignoring his protests as she drags him down with her into the great unknown cave. Just a regular, dank, cold and haunted cave.

What fun.

“Come on, don’t worry so much! When we find the treasure, we’ll split it. Eighty – twenty, alright? The eighty is mine, of course.” A teasing wink, before she skids to a stop halfway through the tunnel and turns to grab his other hand – shaking it like an overtly enthusiastic chicken with its head cut off. “Thanks for coming with me. I’m Jackie, by the way! Nice to meet you!”