Pokémon Bloodstone | An Orre Fanfiction

Chapter 55: The Crystal Ball Badge

'He's sick?!' Zileh exclaimed, 'With what?'

'Food poisoning. You do not want to be anywhere near him right now, I'm told.'

There was a disappointed murmur of surprise. It was too late for Wyatt to back off because he saw Chalcedony... but maybe he sensed it. Or maybe his staff had instructions to send 'Cameron' in as soon as they saw her. Did that mean he wasn't over her? No. He just didn't want to deal with her. It was a shame that she wouldn't battle Wyatt now she psyched herself up for it, but they had places to be. They couldn't wait for him to get over whatever he was 'sick' with. Chalcedony and her friends registered regardless.

One of the strangers, however, was not impressed. Before The Under was supposedly 'filled in,' he was a feared Trainer at his hometown's colosseum.

'I haven't got this far at 51 to get fobbed off with Psychic Cameron! This is my hometown! I got thrown out because it got "buried," along with all my hopes and dreams! Now it's actually a respectable place and I've made it back, but the Gym Leader can't get over a bit of projectile vomiting?!'

'Food poisoning usually doesn't last long. Wyatt may well be feeling better tomorrow.'

'Sorry, I know it's not your fault, but I don't have tomorrow! It took months to arrange my challenges around my work schedule. I guess I'll just have to battle Cameron. I have rent to pay.'

'For what it's worth, Cameron gave up a lifetime of leaping out at unsuspecting Trainers from behind a tree in Hoenn to train here. He's a great Trainer.'

The other unfamiliar challenger left. Chalcedony felt guilty. Wyatt was avoiding her. She knew he was. Now everyone was suffering for it.

'It's hardly your fault!' Zileh said when they took seats in the challengers' box, 'What is he, 10? He should be above that as a Gym Leader!'

The stands circling the colosseum were so deep black behind the glittering stars that decorated them, they were like looking into a void. Neon signs in the blues, pinks and purples of late evening dimly illuminated the battlefield. They advertised crystals and fortune-telling. Silver suns and moons dangled from the shadows of the equally void-like ceiling; wherever it was, because it was impossible to discern.

The older challenger, Ardine and his Banette flattened the Gym Trainers. Cameron looked like he was being fed to the Pyroar. He tried to levitate a Poké Ball like the Gym Trainers under less pressure showed off their psychic powers, but he dropped it. At 53, he was 32 years older than Wyatt. He still looked back like he hoped his boss, or mom, might rush out to rescue him. It was painful to watch.

'He'll see this,' Rustie said, 'He'll see it and rush in saying he feels better and he can battle now. He has to! That poor guy!'

'Will he?' Zileh asked Chalcedony, 'Is he a dick, or...?'

Ruhul hated Wyatt because he was such a pessimist. Chalcedony went along with jokes about how 'emo' he was, but she might have been the only person who didn't truly see him that way. The boy she knew would have died for the people he loved. He would have died for the causes he believed in. That was how Verzant's 'better Orre' recruitment campaign reeled him in. No-one's transition to Gym Leader was easy or predictable, but it was hard to believe Wyatt would ever abandon his students as he was apparently abandoning Cameron then.

The scoreboard flashed. 4-0. Hebon was referee. Grimacing, he blew his whistle. He could hardly hide that he was wondering why Wyatt let this happen. He covered his microphone when he spoke to Cameron, but people still heard him.

'What did he eat? Why did he eat it?!'

'I – I don't know... he texted me...'

There was no motivational speech from Cameron about the meaning or beauty of the Crystal Ball Badge. Rustie felt like a backseat Gym Leader, but she wanted to yell to him that an easy line about the Badge was that the opal was mined, by workers paid the living wage, in Orre. At least her friends learned that from her.