Hands Down

	Rosa stared down the staircase that apparently led to the Virbank Gym. This was the right place according to the man she had asked for directions, but it just looked too seedy to be a gym. There was graffiti all over the walls, and trash spread everywhere. She took a deep breath— if this was some sort of trick, she was sure her Pokémon would be able to save her. She walked down the steps, keeping her Psyduck’s Pokéball in her hand. Once at the bottom of the steps someone called to her, making her jump.
	“Hey, are you here to challenge Roxie?” The person who had called her asked.
	He was a bit older than her, and his shaved head and overall gruff appearance intimidated Rosa. He was talking to a similarly rough looking girl, although the girl didn’t look too much older than Rosa. She decided against her better instinct to not send her Pokémon out right away.
	“Um, y-yes. Am I in the right place?” Despite trying to come off as though she wasn't afraid of the man, she couldn’t help but stammer.
	He laughed, then said,
	“Yeah, just go through the door at the end over there,” he nodded his head toward the door her was directing her to, “You seem a little nervous; don’t stress out! It’s just a gym battle, there’s nothing big at stake.”
	“O-okay.”
	Rosa started walking to the door. She tried to look as nonchalant as possible, while still paying close to the two people behind her. They went back to talking, disregarding Rosa completely. Rosa noticed the sound of music emanating from the room in front of her. She placed her hand on the door handle, but hesitated to take a deep breath before opening the door.
	The sound of the music once Rosa opened the door was deafening. Rosa flinched at the volume, but nevertheless steeled herself and stepped forward. Roxie, the Virbank gym leader was the front-woman of the band on the stage, screaming into the microphone. The only other people in the room were sitting at the bar in the corner of the room, not really paying attention to what was going on the stage, which confused Rosa for a moment, before she realized that she probably only walked in on a rehearsal and not an actual show. She walked closer to the stage, hoping the gym leader would notice her. Sure enough, once Rosa had made it about halfway across the floor the gym leader signaled to her band to stop playing. Rosa felt all the eyes in the room staring at her, and started to blush. Every second of this awkward silence made Rosa feel more and more embarrassed, until it was finally broken by Roxie asking into the mic,
	“Hey, you here to challenge me?”
	Rosa nodded her head a few times quickly.
	“All right then.”
	Roxie put her bass down in a stand behind her, then hopped off the stage and walked over to Rosa.
	“You ready? I’m not going to go easy on you.”
	Rosa wasn’t actually sure how ready she was, come to think of it. Of her three Pokémon, only her Psyduck really could do anything to poison-types— neither her Servine nor her Riolu would stand much chance against Roxie's Pokémon. It was too late to back out now though, regardless.
	“Yeah, I’m ready.”
	She decided there was no point in worrying about it now; and immediately felt the confidence she had when she first arrived at Virbank returning.
	“All right then.” Roxie said, taking her first Pokéball in her hand, “It looks like you have three Pokémon, so how about an even three-on-three match?”
	“Okay.”
	Rosa ignored the last twinge of doubt she had as she sent out her Psyduck. He let out a confused quack, holding his head in his hands. Rosa admittedly didn't have much of a strategy for this fight, just planning to have Psyduck use Confusion— of course if Psyduck fainted she had nothing else that could stand a chance against Roxie's poison-types, so this was a bit of a gamble.
	“Go, Koffing!”
	Roxie threw down her first Pokéball, and in a flash of light out came her Koffing.
	“Koffii~!” It said jovially.
	“Psyduck, use Confusion!”
	“Psy...?”
	Psyduck sent out a burst of psychic energy toward Roxie’s Koffing. It connected, and sent Koffing tumbling back.
	“No! Koffing use Smog!”
	Koffing hovered towards Psyduck, and once it was close enough let out a puff of noxious smelling smoke. Rosa had to cover her nose, despite being several feet away.
	“Ew... Psyduck, Disable!”
	“Ps-psy...”
	Psyduck let off another pulse of psychic energy. Rosa noticed that Psyduck looked like it was suffering. Upon closer inspection, Rosa realized that he must’ve been poisoned by Koffing’s attack.
	“Oh no, Psyduck!”
	“Venoshock, Koffing!”
	Floating over Psyduck, Koffing dumped a disgusting-looking green slime onto Psyduck’s head. The slime covered Psyduck completely, before pulsing several times. Psyduck dried out; then fell to the ground, defeated.
	“Oh no...”
	Rosa was unable to take out even one of Roxie’s Pokémon before her strategy fell apart. She recalled Psyduck; then sent out her Servine. His weakness to poison-type attacks probably had already doomed her to failure, but she hadn’t trained Riolu enough for this fight, and he probably would have too much trouble doing damage to Koffing.
	“Leaf Tornado, Servine!”
	Servine sent a vortex of leaves at Koffing. The attack connected, hard. Koffing was tossed to the ground. Before Rosa could celebrate the defeat of Roxie’s first Pokémon; however, it got back up, though obviously on its last ropes.
	“Poison Gas!”
	Koffing made its way over to Servine, slowed due to being weak.
	“Stay away from it Servine, then use Leaf Tornado again!”
	Servine stayed out of Koffing range long enough to attack again. Koffing was blown to the ground again, and this time it didn’t get back up.
	Roxie recalled her Pokémon,
	“Good job, Koffing.” She reached for her second Pokéball, “Okay, Grimer, go!”
	Rosa deflated as she realized she still had two of Roxie’s Pokémon to go. She shook the thought of losing out of her head— she needed to think positively! As long as she could believe that she would win, she would! That’s what always happens in her favorite anime! Her resolved steeled, Rosa shouted her next command to Servine,
	“All right Servine, Leaf Tornado!”
-	-	-	-	-
	“Here are your Pokémon back, miss,” said the Pokémon Center Nurse as she handed Rosa back her three Pokéballs.
	“Thank you...”
	Today Rosa learned the hard way that just because believing in yourself was enough to ensure victory worked in anime didn’t mean it also worked that way in real life. With a sigh, Rosa made her way to the exit of the Pokémon Center. She was going to need to train a bit more before she could take on Roxie again, and maybe try catching some more Pokémon. As she stepped outside she noticed Roxie walking in her direction. Rosa hoped Roxie wouldn’t notice her, still embarrassed over the outcome of their battle. Unfortunately for Rosa, it seemed Roxie was specifically looking for her,
	“Hey! Uh... Trainer!” Roxie was waving, trying to get Rosa’s attention. Rosa considered trying to run away as fast as she could, but before she knew it Roxie was already right in front of her, “Hey, um... Sorry, I don’t think you told me your name. I just came to ask if you were planning on challenging me again soon.”
	“Oh, um, my name’s Rosa.”
	Now face-to-face with her and without any outside distractions, Rosa realized that Roxie was actually pretty attractive. She found herself blushing, and at a loss for an acceptable answer for Roxie,
	“I-I’m going to challenge you again, for sure. I need to train a little more first, though.”
	“That’s understandable. Hey, you want to go out for lunch together?”
	Her decision to use the words ‘go out’ felt to Rosa as a deliberate tease.
	“ Y-yeah!”
	“Cool, I know a good place, follow me.” She grabbed Rosa by the wrist and led her away, “so Rosa, where are you from?”
	“Aspertia.”
	“Oh cool, that’s not too far away. So you’re actually a pretty new trainer, then? That makes sense. Oh! Uh, no offense.”
	“I-it’s fine.” Hearing her say that did sting a little, but it was true, right? All she needed was more experience as a trainer.
	“I heard there was a new gym opening in Aspertia, have you fought that gym leader yet? Uh, Sharon, I think her name was...? Something like that.”
	Rosa giggled.
	“The gym leader’s a boy. His name is Cheren.”
	Roxie laughed at Rosa’s correction.
	“I beat him already; I got my first badge from him.”
	“Cool. So what are you planning to do after you beat me?”
	Hearing her say that so nonchalantly sounded weird to Rosa, as if she was expecting it sometime really soon.
	“Um... I dunno. There’s a ferry to Castelia here in Virbank, right? I think that’s where I’ll go next.”
	“Castelia’s a pretty huge city, have you ever been there before? If you don’t know your way around it’s pretty easy to get lost.”
	“I’ve never been to Castelia before, but I think I’ll be fine.”
	Rosa hadn’t thought about that before. Now that the thought was in her head; though, she felt an inkling of dread about leaving for Castelia.
	“If you want...” Roxie trailed off, piquing Rosa interest in what she would suggest, “I could go with you. I’ve been to Castelia a few times, I could show you around.”
	“Sure! That’ll be fun!”
	It took a second for it to sink in, but before long Rosa’s mind raced at the possible implications as to why Roxie wanted to come with her.
	“Cool.” Rosa noticed Roxie said ‘cool’ a lot. “Here, this is the place.”
	It was a small pizzeria, the exterior of which looked rather run-down, making Rosa feel hesitant about eating there.
	“I know it looks like a crappy place, but trust me, they have great pizza and gyros.”
	“If you say so.” Rosa said, not fully convinced.
	 The two walked into the restaurant, and as soon as the door opened Rosa’s nose was bombarded by the delicious smell of the food being cooked. The restaurant was actually mostly empty; there were only a few people inside, and no line of people waiting for food. There were two people behind the counter cooking food, a young man, probably a few years older than Rosa, and an older, chubby man. The chimes over the door alerted them to the new customers, and the older man turned around.
	“Hey, Roxie!” He said jovially, “I see you’ve brought a friend, what’ll you two be having?”
	“Hey Elias! I’ll have a beef gyro, what do you want, Rosa?”
	“Um, I guess I’ll have the same thing.”
	“Okay, two beef gyros, coming up!”
	Roxie walked over to an empty table by the window; Rosa followed her. Roxie pulled a chair out dropped herself into it, while Rosa was more delicate. Roxie rested her head in her hand and stared out the window as if deep in thought. After a few seconds of silence she stretched, then said,
	“So my band has a show tonight, wanna come watch? I can even get you in for free if you want.”
	Rosa had never been to a rock show.
	“That sounds cool! I’d love to come.”
	“All right, awesome. I have some things to do, so I’m going to have to leave after we eat, but doors open at seven. Meet me outside the Virbank gym at six-thirty; I’ll get you in and introduce you to my band and some of the guys we’re playing with.”
	“Okay, I’ll be there.”
	“So, do you listen to my band much?”
	Rosa didn’t really listen to much music, only really to the radio. She had heard a few of Roxie’s band’s songs, but not really enough that she felt she could call herself a ‘fan’. She didn’t know whether she should lie.
	“Um... Not really. Only what I’ve heard on the radio.” Rosa winced slightly, expecting Roxie to be angry with her.
	“That’s cool; you didn’t really peg me as someone who would listen to our type of music anyway.”
	“So... Um...” Rosa tried to think of a topic, rather than continue being on the receiving end of the questions, “Uh, so how long have you been playing guitar?”
	“Well, actually I play bass; I did start with guitar though! When I was younger. When I was in like second grade I think I started taking lessons, but I got bored of it after a few years. A friend of my dad gave me an old bass guitar as a present for my fourteenth birthday; I basically taught myself, but I’ve been playing ever since.”
	“That’s so cool! I wish I could play an instrument.”
	“It’s fun. Maybe if you come back and visit after you’re the Champion or whatever I can give you some lessons.”
	“I-I don’t think I’m good enough to be the Champion.” Rosa blushed slightly. Roxie laughed.
	“Don’t think like that! You only just started; I bet you totally have what it takes to be the Champ.”
	“Th-thank you...” Rosa felt embarrassed at Roxie’s compliments, especially considering she had just lost to her.
	“Hey you two, your food’s ready!” The man behind the counter shouted.
	Roxie sprang up,
	“I’ll get it.”
	She briskly made her way across the restaurant, picked up the food and made her way back to the table.
	“Have you ever had a gyro before? Trust me, they’re really good.” Roxie said as took a plate off the tray and placed it in front of Rosa.
	She sat back down and began eating. Rosa took a hesitant first bite, and as the delicious combined taste of the meat, vegetables, and the strange sauce hooked her instantly. She devoured the gyro, and almost immediately felt embarrassed at her lack of self control. Roxie smirked,
	“I told you they were good, didn’t I?”
	“I-it was...”
	Roxie finished her gyro off; then stood up.
	“Don’t worry about paying, I’ll cover you.”
	“You don’t have to; I have money.”
	“It’s fine, I don’t care; I have to spend the prize money I got from you somehow, right?” She said, with a playful gleam in her eyes.
	Rosa tried to think of a good comeback but was unable to think of one.
	She followed Roxie over to the counter regardless, and after Roxie paid the two left the restaurant together. Roxie checked the time on her X-Transceiver; then cursed under her breath.
	“I’m running late, so I have to leave right now. You better be at my show tonight; you promised!”
	Rosa giggled,
	“I’ll be there.”
-	-	-	-	-
	Rosa found herself waiting outside the Virbank gym, despite getting there at six-fifteen. She didn’t want to be late, and now that she was there didn’t see a point in leaving. She stood across from the entrance, watching the ships coming into port for the night some distance away. Her mind wandered to Roxie. With a sigh she leaned forward, so she was staring down at the water below her. Rosa was confused about her feelings toward the cute punk rocker— they spent a good amount of time together today, and the entire time Rosa had a strange feeling in her stomach that she couldn’t describe, like she was going to be sick, but still pleasant. Maybe she was in love? Rosa laughed at the thought. She found herself wondering what Roxie’s opinion of her was. She didn’t hate her, at the very least. She stepped back away from the rail to stretch; then checked her X-Transceiver for the time. It was a bit after six-thirty; Roxie shouldn’t be too much longer. Rosa leaned back down on the railing. Would Roxie really come with her to Castelia? Rosa would really like that. As she stared out at the sea she didn’t notice someone sneaking up on her. The person wrapped their arms around Rosa’s chest and yanked her back. Rosa screamed and flailed her arms back, hitting her assailant and causing them to drop her. She sprung up, ready to face her attacker, only to see Roxie and her band mates laughing. Roxie— Rosa’s ‘assailant’— held her hand out to help Rosa up.
	“That was pretty good, Rosa.” Roxie said, with a huge grin on her face.
	“Y-you scared me...” Rosa said as Roxie pulled her to her feet.
	“Come on, it was only a joke!” Roxie turned and motioned to her band mates, “Anyway, this is Nicky and Billy Jo; the drummer and guitarist in my band, respectively. Guys, this is Rosa.”
	“So Roxie said you’re going to help us with our equipment tonight?” Nicky said. He was rather intimidating-looking, with his shaved head and studded leather jacket.
	“Oh yeah... That’s the condition for getting in free: you gotta help us set up our crap.” Roxie said, sheepishly scratching the back of her head.
	“That’s okay, but isn’t your stuff already set up? It was when I challenged you earlier.”
	“I must’ve forgotten to tell you that we’re not playing here then... Well, we’re playing at a place near Mistralton; we already packed everything into Billy Jo’s van, so we’re pretty much ready to go. It’s parked over here, come on.”
	Rosa followed the three musicians to a beat up old van. It was one of the commercial vans, with no windows in the back, and was maroon in color. Billy Jo walked around to get in the driver seat, while Nicky got in the passenger side, leaving Rosa and Roxie together in the back. Roxie pulled open the sliding door, revealing that there was only one seat, the rest of the space in the van filled with the band’s equipment.
	“Yeah, we’re gonna have to share this seat.”
	“Neither of you are too big, you should both fit fine.” Billy Jo said.
	“You don’t mind do you?” Roxie asked Rosa.
	“No, it’s fine.”
	“All right, great. Let’s get going then.”
	Roxie climbed in first; then helped Rosa in. Rosa slammed the door shut (on her second try; the door being heavier than it looked) and they were off.
-	-	-	-	-
	Nobody talked much during the ride, due to Billy Jo playing really loud music the whole way. The venue was rather unremarkable looking from the outside, entirely indistinguishable from the surrounding warehouses. The only hint that they were at the right place was the long line of people waiting in line to get inside. Billy Jo pulled the van around to the back of the building, where another band was already unloading a small truck. As soon as the van slowed to a stop a girl with hair dyed deep blue pressed her face against the back window, blowing a raspberry at Roxie.
	“You trying to start a fight?!” Roxie yelled. The two glared at each other, and Rosa was worried that a fight was actually about to break out, until the two began laughing, almost in unison.
	Roxie rushed Rosa out of the car, then ran over and embraced the other girl.
	“It’s been a while, Roxie.” She said.
	“You’re telling me! So how was Hoenn?”
	“Pretty fun! They really seemed to like the ska band we were touring with more than us though.”
	“Yeah, they’re like that over there, it’s kind of weird.” Roxie paused for a second; then motioned for Rosa to come over. As soon as Rosa reached Roxie’s side Roxie wrapped her arm around her shoulder and pulled her in tightly, “So Rosa, this is Sheena. Her band is playing tonight too. Sheena, this is Rosa, my new best friend.”
	Sheena laughed,
	“You’ve replaced me? Harsh.” A sly smile formed on her face, “So how’s the sex?”
	Both Rosa and Roxie turned an impressively bright hue of red.
	“Wh-what are you talking about?!” Roxie let go of Rosa’s shoulder to shove Sheena backwards.
	“It was a joke!” Sheena was laughing, “You still take everything too seriously, Roxie.”
	“Hey, you three! Stop horsing around, we need to unload.” Billy Jo called out. Her and Nicky had already gotten to work.
	“Ha, sorry to get you two in trouble. I’ll talk to you later, I guess.” Sheena said, with a quick wave she walked back over to her own band.
	“Hmph, she could’ve at least helped us…”
	Roxie jumped into the back of the van and pulled an amp to the door. Rosa was surprised, either the amp was lighter than it looked or Roxie was stronger than she looked,
	“Rosa grab the other side, make sure not to drop it.”
	Rosa hurriedly did as she said. The amp was heavy, though not as heavy as Rosa thought it would be. The two lowered the amp slowly. Once it was down Roxie grabbed some smaller things and placed them on top of the amp.
	“It’s on wheels, so this takes a few trips away for us.” She explained.
	After being satisfied with the amount of equipment on the amp Roxie slung her bass’s case over her shoulder and hopped out of the van.
	“Just help direct it.”
“Okay.” The two girls each grabbed a handle and pulled the amp to the open doors of the building.
	Focused on getting their work done, they didn’t speak at all— barring curt orders from Roxie directing Rosa— until they were finished.
	“So what now?” Rosa was slightly out of breath; they had worked hard and fast.
	“Now we relax, and enjoy the music!”
	Roxie grabbed Rosa by her wrist, and led her out of the backstage area to the front area of the venue.
	The front area was huge. Rosa was surprised— the building didn’t even look that big from the outside. There was a large bar at the back, along with two smaller ones to each side of the stage. Roxie led Rosa over to the bar, stopping to explain the mixing booth in the center of the main audience pit. At the bar, Roxie hopped into a chair, and was instantly recognized by the bartender.
	“Hey, you’re Roxie! Oh man, I’m a huge fan!” He said.
	“Ha, yeah, well, you could show your appreciation by giving me and my friend some drinks on the house.”
	“Well, I guess I cou- Wait, you’re under twenty-one aren’t you? I can’t serve you alcohol, I’ll lose my job!”
	“Come on, I’m performing tonight! We won’t tell anyone, promise.”
	“Sorry... I mean, I would if it was up to me, I swear!”
	“Man, whatever, it’s cool.” Roxie slid off the barstool and grabbed Rosa’s wrist again. As she pulled her away she muttered under her breath, “One day, that’s going to work.”
	Roxie led Rosa backstage again, then to the green room. Nicky and Billy Jo were there, as was Sheena and a few other people.
	“Hey guys, what’s up?” Roxie said, getting everyone’s attention. She motioned to Rosa, “This is my friend, Rosa. Rosa, these are some of the people in the other bands tonight.”
	She scanned the group quickly twice, the second time with a suspicious glare in her eyes.
	“There’s too many of you people, introduce yourselves. Sheena, where’s Damian?”
	“I dunno, probably hiding out in his car or something, you know how he is.”
	“Um, who’s Damian?” Rosa asked, curious as to why Roxie was interested in one specific person.
	“Oh, just an idiot. We went out for while, but it ended weird, and he refuses to face me since.”
	“Oh.” Rosa found herself feeling jealous for some reason. Hopefully she would get a chance to meet him.
	Roxie dropped herself into an open chair, before pulling Rosa down into her lap. The other people in the room introduced themselves one at a time. After they finished Rosa listed out their names, making sure she had them right,
	“So Bekka and Jason... You’re in Sheena and that guy Damian’s band, Northern Lights... Steve and... ‘Lube’? Really? Um... Okay. You also have another guy named Travis in your band... Your band’s called Violence? Okay...”
	They were certainly a strange group of people. Rosa wondered if all musicians were like this. Rosa sat in silence while the group talked, wanting to join in, but feeling too out of place among them to comfortably do so. Before long a gruff, muscular man came into the room, telling Violence to get to the stage for their sound check. Steve told Lube to head over, and that he would go find Travis, and the two left. Everyone’s discussion continued, once again leaving Rosa feeling left out. The sound of the band starting to play was audible from the green room, and Roxie took it as a cue to steal Rosa away again, back out front to watch the performance.
	They were loud, aggressive, and rough. Not really Rosa’s cup of tea, but there was something about the music that had Rosa enjoying it a lot more than she would expect. She found herself bobbing her head in rhythm with the music; before long she was all but actually dancing— she liked this music, a lot.
	“It’s pretty good, huh?!” Rosa barely heard Roxie yell over the music, despite her being only inches from Rosa’s ear.
	“Yeah!” Rosa didn’t yell directly into Roxie’s ear; her word being swallowed by the music, although her huge grin and vigorous nodding communicated the message just fine.
	“You wanna go see what it’s like in the crowd? We won’t actually go into the pit or anything, just off to the side!”
	After a moment of hesitation Rosa nodded excitedly— she was scared of getting swept away in the tightly packed crowd, but that same fear just made it more enticing. Maybe she could cling to Roxie with that as her excuse. Once again tugging Rosa by her arm— something that despite being rather annoying Rosa found herself beginning to enjoy— Roxie led Rosa to a calmer section of the audience off to the right side of the stage.
	After a while the band finished their set and began clearing off the stage in preparation for the next band. The audience also drifted away now that the music had stopped, giving the two girls more room to stand. In only a few short minutes enough people had walked off for them to get almost right up to the stage, if they desired.
	“So what did you think?” Roxie asked.
	“They were good! I liked it.”
	“Next is Northern Lights— that’s Sheena’s band— they’re not as punk as Violence for the most part, so you might like them even more.”
	“I can’t wait!” Rosa was more interested in getting a glimpse at this Damian person than what the band actually sounded like, to be honest.
	“Their audience doesn’t get as rowdy as Violence’s, so do you maybe want to get a little closer to the stage? If it does get too wild you could just grab onto my arm or something.”
	“Okay.”
	Roxie actually let Rosa walk on her own this time— likely because despite how open the front-of-stage area now was it still required maneuvering in order to avoid walking into other people. When they stopped they were only a few  yards away from the stage and also almost in the center.
	“When they actually start playing we’re probably going to get pushed forward; don’t fight it too much because you might get hurt, just focus on not falling down, I’ll make sure we don’t get separated.”
	“Is it going to be really rough?” Rosa asked, already regretting the decision to move forward.
	“Nah, probably not that bad, they’re not some huge famous band after all. Still, it’s better safe than sorry.”
	“Oh, okay.” Rosa said relieved slightly.
	The two stood without talking for a bit, instead choosing to quietly watch the crew set the stage for the next band.
	“Um... Roxie?” Rosa’s curiosity had gotten the better of her— she had to know more about Damian’s relationship with Roxie, and this was her best chance.
	“Yeah?”
	“Do you think you could tell me— if you don’t mind, that is— a little more about your relationship with that Damian guy?” Roxie gave Rosa a puzzled look.
	“Uh, yeah, sure, I guess... It’s nothing too interesting though; we met after a show we both had played at, hit it off, went out for a while... After a while we stopped seeing each other as much, got bored, I guess. One day he called me up for dinner, then at the end of the night broke up with me. I’m not exactly sure, but I think he thinks I took it really hard or something, because he always tries to avoid me now.”
	“I see...” Rosa didn’t know what she had expected from Roxie’s story, not to mention Damian was probably not Roxie’s only past relationship.
	“So, why were you so curious in the first place?”
	Rosa turned red, and found herself desperately trying to think up a convincing lie.
	“Uh... W-well, I dunno. It was just on my mind is all, since his band is about to play, I guess.”
	Rosa hadn’t even finished giving her excuse before Roxie had stopped paying attention to her. Sheena had walked onto the stage, and Roxie was jumping and waving in an attempt to get her attention. She successfully caught Sheena’s eye; she laughed before waving back. Roxie had seemingly completely forgotten what the two of them had been talking about, much to Rosa’s relief.
	“It shouldn’t be too much longer before they start,” was the last thing Roxie said as they waited, and sure enough, only a few minutes later the lights dimmed, completely darkening the stage while the band took their places. The audience began crowding again, Rosa already felt people shoving behind her, making her step a little forward. The band stood on the stage in silence, the anticipation for them to start playing making each second seemingly last forever, before the drummer counted them in on his open hi-hat and they jumped right into their first song.
	Roxie didn’t lie, they weren’t as aggressive as Violence, but admittedly that didn’t mean much— they were still pretty loud and rough-sounding. In one big surge the audience pushed forward, and Rosa found herself almost sandwiched between the people in front and behind her. She lost sight of Roxie, but before long she felt someone grab her arm; she looked back to see Roxie shoving the last few people between them away. She tried to yell something, but it was completely lost in the noise of the band.
	Their first song was surprisingly short— it couldn’t have been longer than two minutes. Instead of launching straight into their next song; though, the boy at the center of the stage began to introduce the band.
	“Uh... Hey everyone! Thanks for coming out tonight. We’re Northern Lights... I’m Damian...” As he trailed off Sheena and the other girl in the band, Bekka, introduced themselves before he continued, “And behind the drums in Jason; we don’t give him a mic because we know it would end in tragedy, ha-ha. So, uh, like we’re gonna play some more music for you guys, I hope enjoy it!”
	They went into their next song which— to Rosa’s surprise— was actually much lighter-sounding, with clean, undistorted guitars and at a more reasonable tempo. Rosa like this song better than anything she had heard previously tonight. They played two more songs in quick succession before stopping again. As Damian started speaking again Rosa decided to try and get a better look at him. His hair was dark, and he seemed about average height. He was moderately attractive, which Rosa had figured; he probably wouldn’t have been able to convince Roxie to go out with him of he was ugly. He had stopped talking, and the band began playing again.
	Now having heard several of their songs Rosa realized they were definitely a lot lighter, softer, and overall much more radio-friendly than Violence; which, for Rosa, was a good thing— she found herself really enjoying their music. After several more songs they stopped playing again, and while Damian was introducing what was apparently their last song of the night Roxie tugged Rosa closer, so she could say into her ear,
	“My band’s next, so I have to go backstage. Do you want to stay here?” Rosa just nodded. “Cool. You better still be ere when we come on!”
	“Good luck!” Rosa shouted.
Roxie just grinned and nodded her head to show that she heard her before shoving her way to the far wall.
	“All right, we’ve been Northern Lights; we’ve had a great time playing tonight, and I hope you guys have enjoyed listening, too! This is our last song, good night!”
	Just like with the first song the drummer counted in, though instead of launching into another fast, aggressive song this song opened with the band playing huge-sounding, long, drawn out chords while Damian soloed over them. Rosa found herself in awe of his skill. After the solo section ended the band went into the rest of the song, which was loud, but fun-sounding. The crowd around Rosa was engrossed in the music, and it didn’t take long before Rosa let herself join them— not quite dancing, but still moving her whole body in rhythm with the music. After what felt like forever the song did eventually come to an end. Damian gave one last good night and thanked the crowd for listening before the band left the stage.
	Once again, without a band to keep their attention the crowd dwindled, although less so than before; Roxie’s band was the last band of the night, and also the main attraction, so people who were already close to the stage were reluctant to give up their spot. It wasn’t until now that Rosa realized how far she had been pushed forward; she was only a few arms’ lengths from the stage. She decided to get greedy, and moved closer to the stage— she wanted to make sure Roxie saw her, and though she was a bit worried about how rough the crowd would get, she decided to risk it.
	Now on her own, all Rosa could do was awkwardly wait for Roxie’s band to take the stage.
-	-	-	-	-
	Once again the stage dimmed, though the band didn’t come onto the stage as quickly; instead letting the audience stew in their anticipation for a bit. Soon the faint sound of a guitar began to come through the speakers, followed by drums. The entire band began chanting “Rox-ie”. Strobe lights started flashing on the stage, revealing Billy Jo and Nicky, though Roxie was still hiding backstage somewhere. Soon the combined sound of the crowd, guitar and drums reached deafening levels; it felt to Rosa as if the crowd would riot if Roxie didn’t show herself soon. As if on cue; however, all the spotlights on the stage lit up as Roxie ran in from the side of the stage and jumped forward into a power slide while simultaneously playing a thunderously loud bass note. She hopped back up, grabbed her mic and shouted into it,
	“How you all doin’ tonight?!”
	The crowd answered by cheering loudly.
	“Aw, come on, what was that? I asked you, how you all doin’ tonight?!”
	The crowd cheered even louder than before; even Rosa was screaming at the top of her lungs. She was a little to Roxie’s left, but close enough that if she tried she would have no problem getting her attention, ‘if she tried’ being the key words— Rosa had no idea how to get Roxie’s attention without making herself look silly.
	“That was much better. Well anyway, we’re Koffing and the Toxics!”
	The audience cheered again.
	“I hope the other bands treated you alright, but if not we’re here to make it all better!”
	They started playing their first song, which unfortunately was one that Rosa didn’t know. Nevertheless she found herself enjoying it, and made a mental note to buy some of the music she had listened to tonight, not only of Roxie’s band, but of Northern Light and Violence, too. They finished their first song and immediately went into their second— in fact there was not a single lull in their first set, which in total was five songs long. At the end of the fifth song, Roxie addressed the crowd again,
	“So we doin’ good so far?!”
	Once more the crowd cheered in response.
	“That’s good then, ‘cause we’ve still got a while to go!”
	As the crowd continued to cheer the band started their next song,
	“This next one’s a cover: ‘Young Girl’, by the Distillers!”
	Rosa cheered along with the crowd, despite never having heard of that band before. The opening riff sounded cool; though, and Rosa was already adding the Distillers to her list of ‘bands to get music of’.
	Roxie’s second set was six songs long, and Rosa enjoyed every second of it. Roxie and Billy Jo just switched out their instruments and went to the next song. The third set was shorter than the first two— only four songs long. Roxie, now looking rather exhausted, spoke into the mic,
	“All right, well we still have a few more songs to go tonight, but I just wanna thank you all for coming out tonight; you’ve been great! One last time though, let’s hear it for the other bands that played tonight: Give it up for Violence!”
	The crowd cheered.
	“And give it up for Northern Lights!”
	Again.
	“This next song you should all know, so sing along!”
	Rosa recognized the song as soon as Billy Jo started playing the main riff, though unfortunately she didn’t know it well enough to sing along, except for the chorus. Towards the end of the song, right before it went into the last chorus; Sheena joined the band on the stage, singing along with Roxie before diving off the stage and getting carried all the way to the back. The band finished the song, then two more; then, as the next song was starting, Roxie addressed the crowd one last time,
	“Okay, so this next song is it for tonight, so you guys better tear it up! We’re Koffing and the Toxics, and you guys have been fucking awesome! Good night!”
	Their last song was their loudest and fastest of the night. Throughout the entire length of it the crowd was absolutely insane— Rosa found herself getting tossed about like a small life raft in a hurricane. The song did eventually come to an end; however, and when it did the crowd got louder than it had been at any other point in the night— Rosa felt like she was in a jet engine. Rosa was waving her arms in the air like everyone around her, and it was then that she managed to catch Roxie’s eye. Roxie extended her arm out to Rosa, who grabbed it only to be unexpectedly tugged forward; Roxie intended for Rosa to join her on the stage. Rosa successfully managed to climb up with the help of some other people in the audience who hoisted her up. Roxie gave Rosa a quick hug before spinning her around so she could get a good look at the crowd from the musician’s vantage point. Rosa stared outward dumbstruck. Even though she didn’t have to perform for them she was stricken with stage fright— anyone capable of getting in front of a crowd like that and not be paralyzed in fear had Rosa’s eternal respect. Still waving out to the audience, Roxie put her arm around Rosa’s shoulder, and the two slowly backed off the stage.
	The two didn’t speak until they made it back to the green room; it was just too for them to have been able to hear each other. Once back in the room; though, Roxie immediately turned to Rosa, and asked,
	“So what did you think? Were we good? Did you like it?” She was shaking Rosa roughly by the shoulders, making it difficult for Rosa to answer. Rosa meekly pushed Roxie back, which was enough to get her to stop. Roxie gave her a hurt look, as if that had been a sign that Rosa didn’t like her music.
	“It was so good! I liked it so much; every band was so good!”
	Roxie immediately brightened back up,
	“Awesome! You’ve got good taste in music, then. Hey, so listen: There’s a party at Steve’s in a bit; you want to come?”
	Rosa was conflicted. She definitely wanted to go and get to know these people more; and, most importantly, spend more time with Roxie, but if she stayed out too late she might not be able to make it to a Pokémon Center in time to rent a room. She decided to throw caution out to the wind— worst come to worst she could just go back home to Aspertia for the night.
	“I’d love to!”
	“Cool. Well, we’ve still gotta pack up the van, first.”
	The two— with Billy Jo and Nicky’s help, of course— packed the van up at lightning speed, and before long were off.
-	-	-	-	-
	Once again the ride was mostly devoid of communication in favor of loud music; Rosa didn’t know how it didn’t bother them— her ears were already ringing really badly. Roxie rushed Rosa out of the van as soon as Billy Jo parked. Once Rosa had gotten out of the way Roxie hooped out, then scanned the neighborhood several times before realizing she had no idea where their destination was.
	“Uh... Which house is it?” She asked Nicky, who had just gotten out of the van himself.
	He motioned to his left.
	“We had to park around the block; it’s over that way.”
	Roxie grabbed Rosa’s wrist and led her in the direction Nicky pointed.
	“All right Rosa, come on, let’s go!”
	Once on the right street Roxie picked out the house with ease— not that it was difficult, by any means, even Rosa would have been able to tell that the house with teenagers smoking out front was probably where the party was. Once inside the house Roxie immediately set out to find Sheena again/ As Roxie led her around the house Rosa was surprised to see that it wasn’t nearly as filled as she expected; she hadn’t seen much more than a dozen people after combing almost the whole house. They did eventually find her, in the kitchen, with the rest of the group from the green room.
	“Sheena!”
	Sheena turned to see the two girls standing in the doorway. She walked over to them and handed them each a beer. With a playful wink she raised her finger to her mouth in a ‘shushing’ gesture and said to Rosa,
	“Don’t tell anyone you got it from me.” She turned to Roxie, “You’re a terrible, corrupting influence, you know.”
	The two girls laughed.
	“Yeah, whatever. So, you guys were pretty good tonight— I mean, not as good as us but you know, it’s not fair to compare you against perfection.”
	Sheena chuckled,
	“Oh shut up. So how were we, Rosa?”
	Rosa, who had been nervously staring at the bottle in her hands, looked up, surprised that Sheena decided to address her, even remembering her name.
	“Y-you were really good!”
	Sheena smiled,
	“Thanks!”
	She was incredibly nice, which was surprising to Rosa, who was just now noticing all her piercings, and that her blue hair was actually cut like a mohawk, but let down.
	“So how did you two meet?” Sheena asked Rosa and Roxie.
	“We had a gym battle today! She lost, but she seemed really cool, so we went out to lunch and I invited her to the show!”
	“Yikes, so you brought her out to lunch, then took her to your show? What’s next, are you planning on proposing to her tonight?”
	“Stop that!” Roxie almost-shrieked, her face once again bright red.
	She had gotten everyone’s attention, and everyone was laughing— including Rosa. She had just barely opened her beer, but already was starting to loosen up around these people. Sheena, still laughing, lifted the beer in Roxie’s hand up to her mouth.
	“Calm down; it was a joke! Rosa thought it was funny.”
	Pouting, Roxie tugged her hand out of Sheena’s before doing as she suggested and taking a long drink of beer.
	“So how long can you stay ‘til, Rosa?” She asked, deliberately turning away from Sheena as if to literally give her a cold shoulder.
	“Um... Well, I was planning on renting a room in the Virbank Pokémon Center, but if it gets too late I can just go home to Aspertia for the night if I have to.”
	“If you want you could come to my place; my dad won’t mind.”
	Rosa hadn’t actually thought of that, although even if she had she probably would have been too shy to ask in the first place.
	“Yeah, you two could even sl- Ow!”
	Roxie had punched Sheena in the arm, stopping her from completing her sentence.
	“That would be great!”
	Rosa spent the rest of the night with the group of musicians, talking and laughing and drinking. Before she realized it was two in the morning, and they decided to call it a night. Roxie and Rosa found Billy Jo and Nicky outside, each smoking a cigarette; Nicky with a beer in his other hand.
	“You two ready to go?” Billy Jo asked.
	Roxie just nodded in reply, and the four walked back to the car together.
-	-	-	-	-
	The van came to a stop outside what was apparently Roxie’s house. Rosa opened the door and stepped out, but Roxie had to grab her bass out of the back of the van before following her. The air outside was chilly, and Rosa found herself shivering, hoping Roxie would be a little quicker. Once Roxie managed to free her bass from the back of the van, and after saying a quick goodbye to Billy Jo and Nicky; the two made their way inside the house. Roxie led Rosa up to her bedroom; slowly, because they both had had a bit too much to drink earlier.  Once in her room Roxie flipped the light on, scratching the back of her head like she was forgetting something.
	“Uh... This is my room. You can sleep on my bed; I’ll sleep on the couch in the living room. If you want you could borrow a pair of pajamas.”
	“Um, that would be nice.”
	“Okay, give me a second.”
	Roxie walked over to her dresser and grabbed a t-shirt and pair of pajama pants from the top drawer. She handed them to Rosa, and said,
	“I think this should fit you. I’ll be back in a minute to check up on you.”
	She shut the door behind her as she walked out of the room. Rosa changed quickly— letting her hair down in the process— and found that Roxie’s pajamas fit fine. She sat down on the bed, awaiting Roxie’s return. As she waited she began to think. She really liked Roxie; like, like liked. She remembered Roxie’s offer to visit Castelia together. She wondered how much Roxie meant it; obviously Rosa didn’t think she didn’t mean it at all, but she worried that for whatever reason Roxie would tell her at the last minute that she was too bust, or something, and couldn’t go. Rosa would be heartbroken. She needed to let Roxie know how she felt about her, but what if Roxie didn’t feel the same way? She might even go so far as to kick Rosa out of her house— no, that would be a little too extreme a thing for Roxie to really do. Rosa found herself brainstorming a safe way to admit her feeling to Roxie when there was a knock on the door, making Rosa jump. From the other side, Roxie asked,
	“You dressed?”
	“Yeah, you can come in.” Rosa answered.
	Roxie did so. She had changed as well, and had put her hair down, too. Rosa giggled.
	“You look cute with your hair like that.”
	Roxie blushed.
	“Th-thanks... Well, good night, I guess. I’ll see you in the morning, or afternoon, or whenever we wake up.”
	“Good night.”
	Roxie turned to leave.
	“W-wait!”
	“Huh?”
	By the time Roxie had turned around Rosa was right beside her. Rosa softly placed her hands on Roxie’s head; then leaned in and kissed her forcefully. Roxie didn’t resist— though that was more likely out of shock than from her own similar feelings for Rosa. Regardless, Rosa needed Roxie to know her feelings for her tonight; if only so she could blame them on the alcohol if the feeling wasn’t mutual. After what felt like an eternity Rosa pulled away from Roxie, who was still stunned. Her face was bright red, redder even than after any of Sheena’s jokes earlier in the night. She eventually came to her senses, and stammered,
	“O-okay...” That didn’t sound like a good response. Rosa’s heart sank, apparently Roxie didn’t feel the same about her.
	“S-sorry...” Rosa began, weakly, “I-I don’t-”
	Roxie interrupted her with another, albeit much shorter, kiss of her own.
	“If I had known you felt the same way about me I would’ve confessed a lot sooner.” Roxie said, with a gentle smile on her face, “It probably wouldn’t have been anywhere near as dramatic, though.”
	The two laughed, quietly.
	“If you want, um, I could... We could sleep together...” Realizing what it sounded like she was suggesting Roxie blushed, and added, “N-not like that! Uh, I-I mean...”
	“I would like that.”
	“Um, c-cool...”
	Roxie shut the door and turned off the light, and the two girls stumbled their way into the bed.
	They kissed one last time before drifting off to sleep.
-	-	-	-	-
	Rosa didn’t want to wake up from her wonderful dream, but the person shaking her wasn’t going to let her sleep any longer. Rosa slowly and ruefully opened her eyes, and realized the best part about her dream was, in fact, not a dream. Roxie was lying next to her, with a light smile on her face, despite looking annoyed at Rosa’s refusal to wake up.
	“Morning, sleepyhead.”
	Rosa blushed.
	“G-good morning...”
	Roxie sat herself up, and Rosa followed her lead.
	“”I probably already know the answer to this, but did you sleep all right?”
	Rosa giggled,
	“Yeah, I did. Really good.”
	“Glad to hear it.”
	Roxie climbed over Rosa to get off the bed. She stretched, then walked over to the window.
	“It looks really nice out.” She said, “Definitely good for a stroll around Castelia.”
	Rosa turned to Roxie, confused.
	“But... I haven’t beaten you yet!”
	“So? You don’t need badges for a casual trip to the city to see the sights. Although...” She trailed off, turning to glare at Rosa mischievously, “If you really want to get my badge first you can battle me for it yourself!”
	Before Rosa could question what she had meant Roxie had hopped back on the bed, pushed Rosa onto her back, and began tickling her mercilessly. Rosa’s pleas for Roxie to stop fell on deaf ears, so she had no other option but to reverse the situation— pushing Roxie off and pinning her down instead. Roxie let out an exaggerated sigh, and said,
	“Well, I guess you beat men. I have no choice but to award you with the Toxic Badge.”
	“Wh-what? You can’t be serious...”
	“Of course not!” Roxie wormed her left arm out of Rosa’s grasp, and lightly smacked her forehead. “What I could do, though, is help you train.”
	“That sounds fun.”
	“Oh, it won’t be. It’ll be like boot camp: no mercy for the weak!”
	Roxie thrust her free arm into the air, despite still being pinned down, as if she was giving some sort of salute. Roxie’s over dramatics made Rosa laugh. Roxie suddenly pulled herself back and sprung upright— presumably to continue her act— but her movement caused Rosa to lose her balance and tumble forward into Roxie’s chest. Roxie couldn’t help but chuckle at the scenario straight out of a lousy sit-com, despite the fact that it ruined her act. After helping Rosa get into a more comfortable sitting position she asked,
	“So what do you want to do, visit Castelia or train?”
	Rosa shrugged.
	“Um... I don’t know. What would you rather do?”
	“How about...” She raised her finger to her temple like she was purposely trying to sound deep in thought, “Nothing?”
	“Nothing...?”
	Well yeah. I mean, you’re not in any kind of rush are you? It’s already kind of late today anyway; not to mention it gives us another day together before you have to leave on your adventure.”
	Rosa liked her reasoning.
	“Nothing sounds like a great idea, then.”
	Well, like I said, it’s already getting late, so we better get started!”
	Roxie pushed Rosa down to her back again, but this time instead of tickling Roxie gave Rosa a long, hard kiss.
	Rosa was going to enjoy doing nothing all day.