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This was it, the finishing blow to his Hydrapple!
Juliana commanded her Skeledirge to use Flamethrower on the massive Apple Hydra Pokémon who managed to take down her 2nd to last Pokémon moments ago. If she didn’t defeat his Hydrapple right here and right now? Then she couldn’t wake him up. She wouldn’t be able to save the boy that she’s developed strong feelings for. Feelings that she's still trying to figure out whether they were platonic or something more ...intimate.
“Fickle Beam!” She heard Kieran cry out; rage and desperation collided in his tone of voice. He glares at her, her determined amber eyes meeting his frantic yellow ones. He looks so… so tired and in pain that the sight breaks her heart. Juliana gasps at the rare sight of all seven heads popping out of the red syrupy apple, just to unleash a powerful energy blast that is imbued with all of their strength into that attack. Their Pokémons' final attacks clash against each other, one of them had to give in. She watched her starter glow red and that was when she knew Blaze had finally kicked in and gave her Skeledirge’s flames the edge in pushing back Hydrapple’s Fickle Beam. Her attack landed, smoke covering the area immediately from the heat and impact of that attack. Both her and Kieran flinched and raised their arms to protect their faces.
There was a deafening silence, even the crowd that gathered around them was speechless, as she watched the smoke clear up eventually. Juliana was panting and sweating, did his Hydrapple go down?
Her eyes widened, Kieran’s Hydrapple was still up!? Until she noticed something was off, they were still up but they weren’t moving at all. And when Kieran recalled his ace, that was the sign she won. She did it! Maybe this will give Kieran the wake-up call he needed right?
Kieran was already trying to reach for another Pokémon but freezes when he realizes all six of his Pokémon were taken down. He was shaking and took a few steps back from her. Juliana has never seen Kieran look so lost and scared until now.
“What? He lost?”
“What a waste of time, let’s go.”
Juliana couldn’t believe what she is hearing and all she could do was watch as Kieran continues to mentally spiral downwards. This was the right thing to do. Right?
Why was she not so sure anymore?
Kieran watched the crowd leave, looking more distressed by the second. He places a hand on his head, gripping his hair tightly. “N-No, why… This… This wasn’t supposed to happen!” He trembled, almost losing his footing and his other remaining hand grips his hair on the other side of his head. “Urgh… No... No, no, no!” He screamed, as he fell to his knees. Shaking and panting.
Was he… oh no... oh no NO! Juliana was growing horrified and concerned. Kieran was having a mental breakdown!
“Way to go both of you! That was awesome!” She heard Crispin call out to them in excitement, clearly not understanding what’s going on with Kieran.
“Oh, honestly, Crispin. Read the room, will you?” Came Lacey scolding the red-haired trainer. Juliana watched Drayton with his arms crossed behind his head, smiling in satisfaction. He uncrosses his arms and lowers them down so now his hands were on hip and began walking towards Kieran. “W-Wait, Drayton!”
Oh, she did not like this one bit.
Drayton whistles, impressed. “Good match, you two!” He says, extending his arms outwards for a moment before returning his hands to his hips. Stopping once he was right by Kieran who was still trembling and staring at the ground.
She did not like where this was going at all.
“Too bad about the outcome, huh?” Drayton tsked, having a smug grin on his face.
Don’t do it!
He lowered his head down, right to where Kieran’s ear was. There was so much malice in his tone.
“Ex-Champion? ”
Kieran winced, and that was it. She recalled Skeledirge, and balled her right hand into a fist.
“Stop it! That’s enough!” Juliana growled, growing furious with Drayton’s recent behavior. “Leave him alone.”
Drayton looked at her, confused. “What? I’m just giving him a taste of his own medicine.”
“While he’s in the middle of having a breakdown?! Arceus almighty, Drayton I thought you were better than this!”
“And what do you know about me? Do you really know me that well?” He asked in an aloof manner of speaking, and Juliana froze.
“You…You used me…”
“You went along with it, let’s not pretend-”
“I did not! I wanted to help Kieran, make him see reason!” Juliana snapped, feeling hurt and betrayed by someone who she thought was her friend. Was this how Kieran felt when she did the same to him back then in Kitakami? She looked at Kieran, who was shaking so much. Oh Kieran…
“And this was the only way to do that!” Drayton frowned, crossing his arms. “Everyone else was either too soft on him or enabled him.”
“You had to manipulate and use me, Kieran, and our history with each other in order to do so? Are you even hearing yourself right now?!” She stopped, and sighs. “You know what, this is a conversation for later. There’s someone more important I need to pay more attention to.”
“.... win…next time…” Kieran growled, finally getting up. He stopped gripping his hair and lowered his arms.
“Come again?” Drayton asked, looking a bit unnerved and was caught off guard from Kieran punching him in the gut. Juliana could hear Lacey cry out Drayton’s name while the Dragon Tamer winced and took a few steps back, clenching his stomach. “Guh… you know you hit really hard despite your size…”
“Kiki! What are you doing?!” Carmine yelled from a distance from them.
Kieran lets out a maniacal laugh, “I just need to win next time…right? Then I won’t be the ex-Champion… I won’t lose next time! I... I just need to get stronger, that's all... Yeah... yeah...” He was grinning as he kept rambling about his desire to defeat Juliana. His eyes looked so far off into the distance that she didn’t even think he was looking at them when saying that. She needed to say something, anything!
Juliana walked up to Kieran, “Kieran?” She spoke calmly, which got his attention, “Let’s go somewhere quieter, is that okay?” She needed to get him out of there, away from everyone’s eyes, away from Drayton’s remarks that clearly made things worse.
“Juliana… I….” He paused for a moment, trying to steady his breathing but was struggling. He looked around horrified what he did to Drayton, everyone looking uneasy with him. With a defeated sigh he told her his answer. “...S-Sure…”
Juliana grabs his hand; it was trembling in hers. She sighs and begins leading him out of there. She couldn’t be bothered to stay any longer and listen to anything else that Drayton, the rest of the Elite Four, and Carmine would have to say.
They just kept walking, until Juliana had led him to the only place where there would be no prying eyes and ears. Her room. The moment they entered her dorm room, and she closed the door. Kieran didn’t want to move any further, and slid his back against the door, plopping to the ground and hugged his knees. She would’ve gone to his room instead, but she didn’t know where his room was for starters.
She decided to grab a water bottle from her fridge to make sure he’s hydrated. On her way back towards him, she heard him muttering bitterly, “It’s not fair….”
“What’s not fair?” She asked, sitting beside him. Kieran gave her a side eye glare and didn’t elaborate. The two of them remained there in silence, Juliana listened to his breathing starting to slow down, and felt him not shaking as badly anymore. If Kieran doesn’t want to talk it out right now, she can’t force him. All she can do at this point is wait and be there for him.
Eventually she heard a soft snore and felt something on her shoulder. Juliana turned her head and smiled softly. Kieran must’ve finally passed out from the combination of the mental exhaustion of his breakdown, stress, and lack of sleep all took its toll on him at once. She knew it wasn’t intentional on his part, but he was using her shoulder as a pillow.
Get some rest Kieran.
The two stayed like that until an hour and half later passed by, when the intercoms started blaring and asked her and Kieran to come to Class 3-2 for something important. He drowsily raises his head and rubs his eyes after being woken up by the intercoms. He’s cute when he’s sleepy.
“...H-How long was I out?” Kieran asks, his ears red with embarrassment upon realization that he was laying on her shoulder.
“Only an hour and a half,” Juliana simply answered, getting up and starting to stretch. “I would’ve let you rest for much longer but, we got called for something important,”
He took a couple drinks from the water bottle Juliana handed him before he passed out. “Then let’s get going,” He finally spoke, after twisting the lid back on.
“Yeah, let’s go see what Ms. Briar wants,”