Chapter 2

(Sorry for the wait! Again, it usually takes a while for me to write the first few chapters. My Wattpad app just updated so I'm still trying to get use to this new writing area. I'm REALLY nervous about this chapter, so I hope it's ok ;/ )

"Arianna, Sunny Day!" Amos shouted to the baby Growlithe. Arianna barked and shot a ball of fire into the air. The contest hall brightened up immensely as the fire glowed and swirled above. The crowd below roared with delight, but he heard some yells of dislike.

Arianna wagged her tail rapidly before skipping back over to Amos. He saw two of the three other contestants glare at him or shoot him filthy looks.

"Why are they looking at us that way?" Arianna whispered in Amos' ear as the next round began a second later.

"They're the opposition, they're not supposed to like us," Amos told her quietly as a boy and his Machoke stepped into the center of the stage.

"I don't really blame them after that last contest..." he added under his breath, more to himself than to the Growlithe.

Amos' and Arianna's previous contest had been a disaster. Arianna had been very clumsy and accidentally attacked some of the other pokemon. They had only gotten third place because one of the coordinators had to leave in the middle of the contest.

The audience exploded in cheers for the first two coordinators. The boy with the Machoke was already a popular coordinator and the other two coordinators had more experience than Amos did.

Then one of the big monitors at the back of the stadium showed that he and Arianna were next. The baby Growlithe barked before darting toward the center of the stage to face the audience.

"Use Overheat!" Amos commanded Arianna after a second.

Arianna glowed red as she shot white flames out of her open mouth. The fiery orb made from the Sunny Day was still shining above her so the move became even more powerful. The tower of flames surrounded Arianna and the crowd went wild. Amos saw one of the girl contestants giggle and give a small noise of longing while watching Arianna. The boy with the Machoke glared at her and shot a dirty look at Amos.

The final round finished after Arianna's turn and the judges began counting up the scores. The baby Growlithe was standing obediently next to Amos. Her tail was wagging wildly but she was standing up straight.

"We have now counted up the points," a female voice finally announced after a few minutes. "In fourth place we have Susan and Daisy!"

The girl who had been admiring Arianna squeaked as her name had been called. The Sunflora standing behind her gave a small cry of disappointment, but gave a small smile at the audience as the crowd clapped politely.

"Third place is Kate and Leon!" the announcer said next.

The girl on Amos' other side blushed as her name was called. Her Lilipup barked and wagged its tail, skipping happily around its trainer.

"Second place is Chaz and Macherie!"

The boy looked furious about coming in second place and his Machoke didn't look too happy either. The crowd's clapping grew louder with every name called.

"And the winner of today's Beauty Contest is Amos and Arianna!"

Arianna howled and bounced onto Amos the second after their names were called. He yelped and collapsed under her weight. Some of the audience laughed but clapped loudly.

"Arianna, get off!" He panted as he tried to pull the baby Growlithe off his chest. But she was clinging to his jacket and licking his face. He saw the boy, Chaz, beckon to his Machoke and climbed down from the stage. The girl and her Lilipup followed a moment later, shooting a small glare at Amos.

"Err, do you need help?"

The girl and her Sunflora were standing over him. Arianna glanced up and quickly leapt off her trainer.

"I-I'm fine..." Amos stuttered, quickly getting back onto his feet.

"Oh, well I'm Susan," the girl told him. "This is my Sunflora, Daisy. We never got to introduce each other properly."

"I guess not," he muttered. "You're the only person here who has talked to me..."

"Don't take it personally. Chaz has always been like that. He's in a higher a rank than us, but I think he prefers doing contests with people he knows he can beat. He loves fame and glory."

"I kinda noticed that..."

Amos had never really talked to girls before. The only girls he could talk to with out getting shy were in Johto and Kanto. White and Mira had been his only two friends besides his cousin Leia that were girls, but he had not seen either of them in a year.

"I-I better get going," he finally stuttered, picking up Arianna who was now poking Susan's Sunflora. "I still have other pokemon I need to check on."

"Oh, well it was nice getting to know you."

"Y-You too."

Amos you idiot, what's the point of joining these contests if you're not making friends?! he thought to himself furiously after Susan and Daisy left.

After all of his friends became scattered between Unova, Johto, and Kanto, Amos had been left by himself with only his pokemon. His cousin Hugh and his friend Sky Blue were still in the region, but they worked almost 24/7 for Professor Juniper. His younger cousin Leia and her friend Mira were in Johto collecting gym badges since Leia had already beaten the Unova league. However, Amos' crush, White Copperstone, had left Unova to escape from the past events that led to and after Team Plasma's second downfall. He had last heard that she was living in Vidrian City, Kanto.

"Why do you get scared when it comes to talking to girls?" Arianna piped up suddenly.

"It's hard to explain, Arianna..."

"Are you scared of Whiwe?"

"It's not White I'm scared of!"

"Then why don't you talk to any other girls?"

"Alright, I'm going to try and explain this in the best way possible," Amos sighed, kneeling down to look at the baby Growlithe. "White has a very protective older brother, right?"

"Right." replied Arianna.

"So if anything happens to White, like some random person breaks her heart, he's going to find out about it, right?"

"Right."

"So let's say White saw me with another girl and she took it the wrong way. Either her brother would break my neck, or he would slowly and painfully kill me. Do you understand?"

"Yep. You're scared of Ne-Ne."

"Pretty much."

Arianna tilted her head, a mischievous smile on her muzzle.

"I'm telling mommy you like other girls!" She burst out cheerfully, leaping off the platform and bolting away from Amos.

"Wait, WHAT?! Arianna, I NEVER said or did that!" He shouted desperately, jumping off the platform and running after her. The baby Growlithe had no idea what would happen if any of that drama became real.

Arianna had already disappeared when Amos made it to the lobby. He panted as he looked around through the crowd. It would take him awhile to find her again.

"Lose your dog?"

Amos yelped and spun around. He was face to face with Chaz and his Machoke. He stepped back a little only to find himself against a wall.

"I said did you lose your dog?" Chaz repeated in a growl.

"Y-Yeah," stuttered Amos. "Pretty much."

"Well I haven't come to help you."

"I didn't think so..."

Chaz glared at Amos but ignored him.

"I came to tell you that you should watch your back! You won that contest by an inch! I will be the next star! I won't be stopped by a rookie like you!"

Amos didn't know what to do. He didn't want to fight him or get into an argument about contests. No body was paying any attention to them and he doubted anyone would help out. He just wanted to find Arianna and leave, but that didn't seem to be an option. The Machoke might not look that angry or terrifying at the moment but its attitude could change.

"Well too bad you're not very confident in yourself," a voice said sarcastically from behind Chaz.

Both Amos and Chaz looked around to see the speaker. A tall teenage boy with shaggy black hair was standing a few feet behind Chaz. His hair covered one of his eyes while the visible eye was electric blue. He was holding a large briefcase in one hand and Arianna in the other.

"What did you say?!" Chaz snapped at the newcomer.

"Nothing, nothing at all," Sky Blue replied calmly, approaching Amos and handing him Arianna.

"H-How-" started Amos, but Sky Blue had already turned away from him.

"Who are you?!" The older coordinator demanded furiously.

"Nobody you know, obviously." said Sky sneeringly.

"Stop avoiding my questions!"

"Too bad, because I'm going to keep avoiding them until you buzz off."

"You better or I'll-"

"You'll what, call security? I'm not scared of a little shrimp like you."

Amos knew instantly that Sky had crossed the line. Chaz looked absolutely outraged at this retort. He could boss Amos around, but Sky Blue was about eighteen years old.

"I got my eye on you!" Chaz finally hissed at Sky before backing away.

"Whatever you say, Shrimpo."

The coordinator growled furiously before stalking off, his Machoke following him obediently.

"No offense but what are you doing here?!" Amos snapped as Sky Blue turned back around. "Did you drop out of your job?!"

"Hey, I spent three months looking for a job and I'm not about to quit it that soon." replied Sky Blue, putting his arm around Amos' shoulder. "Besides, I'm doing my job right now."

"What's that? Loitering? Also, you just broke the laws of personal space."

"Ouch, man, that hurts."

"Well it's true."

"For somebody who just won a contest you sure are grouchy."

"I'm sorry, I just don't feel like dealing with your jokes right now," Amos growled, ducking away from his friend. "Why are you here in Nimbasa City? Don't you work in Nuvema Town?"

Sky Blue sighed and grabbed Amos' arm. "If we're going to talk about my job then let's go outside and discuss it," the older trainer growled as he began dragging Amos outside.

The contest hall had been placed in the Nimbasa City amusement park. It was across from the Ferris Wheel and the Nimbasa gym. The place had been nothing more than a vacant lot a year ago.

"Ok, this is far enough," Sky finally said as he brought Amos over to a large oak tree near the crowded Ferris Wheel.

Amos was about to repeat his question, but he felt a sharp pain in his wrist. An irritated Arianna was gnawing on his arm, signaling that she wanted to be set down.

"I want down!" The Growlithe whined. "When can I see Mommy? Why are we out here?"

"We'll leave soon."

"But he's old and will talk forever!" She protested as Amos set her down. He couldn't help but smirk as Sky Blue facepalmed and shook his head.

"I feel very offended by that, but I'll try not to take that personally." he growled after a moment.

"Sorry about that," Amos told Sky after Arianna skipped a little ways away. "She's still a baby."

"Don't worry, if I can live with an energetic Eevee for a year than I can stand ten minutes with a baby Growlithe."

"Right, so what exactly are you doing here?"

"I came to use one of the subways," Sky Blue explained to him, gesturing to the briefcase he was holding. "I have to take some of these research papers to the professor in Kalos."

"What are the papers about?" asked Amos curiously.

"How should I know? I'm just the delivery guy, nobody tells the delivery guy anything! They just send me off, telling me to find this guy and to take my time! I think they're trying to get rid of me," Sky added in a whisper.

"Why would they do that?"

"They think I'm skipping off work when I'm actually working on my own projects."

"Like what?"

"I can't tell you, that's my own business."

"Ok, whatever. So if you are going to Kalos than why were you in the contest hall?" Amos then added.

"The stupid train I was taking broke so I have to wait for it to get fixed. The conductor said it would take most of the afternoon to fix. By the way, who was that girl I saw you talking to after the contest?"

Amos blushed at the question. Sky Blue was the last person he wanted to talk to about girls.

"I-I was just trying to make a friend, and please don't tell N!" He added desperately after seeing the look on Sky's face. "He said he'd break my neck!"

Sky Blue snorted and snickered, "Why would he break your neck?"

"Because he threatened to kill me if I broke White's heart, and White might think I'm cheating her and-"

"Ok, first off, White would not be upset if you tried to make friends with other people, even if some of them are girls." the older trainer interrupted. "It's an achievement that she hasn't lost her temper on you yet, so it's unlikely that she's going to hit you anytime soon. Second, if N is going to kill anyone then it's going to be me. He hates me more than he'll ever hate you."

"So you won't tell?"

"Not unless I can... could I?"

"No!"

"Ok, esh, I won't, I won't!"

Amos felt his frustration rise slightly but immediately felt ashamed. He had been irritated for a few weeks because he hadn't been able to make any friends. He didn't have anyone to talk to besides his pokemon. Sky Blue was the first of his friends to have seen in a few months, and he shouldn't take out all of his frustration on Sky.

"Look, I'm sorry if I sound rude," Amos confessed after a minute. "I've felt a bit isolated lately and-"

"There's no need to apologize, Amos, I understand." insisted Sky Blue. "You're not the only one stressed out. From what I've heard, White has only just recently got a job, I heard that N almost got caught, and your little cousin and Mira weren't doing so well in Johto last time I heard."

"What about Hugh?"

"Well he does fine when me and him aren't in the same region, but that's hard to do since we have the same job."

"Figures." Amos replied, noticing that his tone was a little harsh.

He saw Sky give a huff of annoyance before saying in a forced calmed voice, "Ok, to be honest, I think you need a break from Unova and contests too. I mean, out of all the things you could've tried, why are you doing contests?"

Amos was slightly surprised at being asked this but it wasn't like he was never asked this before. People had asked him why he had switched from being a pokemon trainer to being a coordinator, but he had never given them the real reason.

"I don't know," Amos sighed, looking over his shoulder to look at Arianna playing in a pile of dead leaves at the foot of a small thin tree. "I tried doing pokemon battles for a while, but my best pokemon is N's Zekrom and I can't let it out since N was the last person to be known with it. Otherwise I'm not the best at strategy and I end up losing all of my pokemon five minutes into the battle. I tried other things, like I entered my pokemon in those musicals, but most of my pokemon aren't really happy with that."

"Well contests aren't much different than those musicals." pointed out Sky Blue.

"Yeah, but my pokemon can still uses their moves, and, well, they don't have to wear bows and stuff like that for contests either. I'm still trying to be a better trainer, but I'm just sticking with the contests for now."

"I guess I can understand that stuff about bows and tutus, but can you step back about five feet or so?"

"Err, why?" asked Amos, unsure if his friend was being serious or not. There was already a few feet between them. "Is this one of your jokes?"

"Uh, no," Sky replied seriously, rubbing the back of his head. "Its just that my Areodactyl is losing altitude right above us, and it looks like he is about to crash right where you're standing."

Amos yelped at this and leapt away from the spot he was standing. Sky Blue was right. An Areodactyl crash landed exactly where Amos was standing a second before. The flying dinosaur-like pokemon was laid out on the ground, its bat-like wings spread out and its tail was sticking up in the air. Its eyes were looking in opposite directions and its tongue was sticking out of its open mouth.

"Nice of you to drop on by, Aero," Sky Blue said casually to the Areodactyl as the pokemon pushed itself off the dry grass with its wings. The Areodactyl gave a frustrated grunt and a yelp as a small furry pokemon hopped off its back and clung to Sky's leg.

"I got to see the trains!" the Eevee squealed excitedly. "I got to see the trains and they went really fast! I even got to go inside one!"

"Yeah, that sounds real exciting, Toro." Sky told the pup as he tried to pry it off his leg.

"When did you get an Areodactyl?!" Amos demanded, edging away from the pokemon.

"You mean Aero? I've had him for a couple of years now. I got him when I was in Sinnoh a few years back."

"But you never used him before now!"

"Well I have my Chatot and my Areodactyl, but I use Chatter for delivering messages and Aero for transportation. I use Aero for battles, but otherwise he gives me a lift once in awhile."

Aero was digging his talon-like claws into the ground, lashing its tail irritability.

"The stupid train was fixed and it will be leaving in twelve minutes." Aero informed Sky in a snarl.

"Wait, twelve minutes?!" the older trainer yelped, rolling up the sleeve of his coat to look at his Xtransceiver. "But it takes ten minutes to get to the station!"

"So that makes ten minutes to get to the station and two minutes to get to the moving piece of junk and get on it." the Areodactyl counted on its claws.

"Holy Miltank I better leave if I want to keep my job!" Sky declared as he climbed onto Aero's back. "Now where did that Eevee go now? If I don't find him ten seconds-"

"Sky Blue," interrupted Amos hesitantly, watching Aero's swinging tail. "Toro and Arianna are about to light your Areodactyl's tail on fire."

"You mean that Growlithe of yours is about to set fire to Aero's rear end?"

"Unless you don't move in the next second then yeah."

There was a squeal and a bark as Aero's tail suddenly wrapped around Toro and Arianna, hoisting them out from behind him and into the air.

"Alright, you take the tiger puppy and I'll take this little ball of fur, but I'm all up for trading," Sky Blue added hurriedly as he handed Arianna back to Amos.

"Archy and Liliana would kill us if we did that, so I'll stick with Arianna."  Amos replied, adjusting the baby Growlithe in his arms.

"Well I only got ten minutes left anyway, so I'll just say good bye and you try to stay on N's good side because he could be stalking you and you might not even know it."

Amos shot Sky one last glare as the Areodactyl pushed off from the ground and flew back toward the city.

"I told you he talked too much." Arianna growled after Aero was out of sight.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he sighed. "I should've learned by now not to start long conversations with him."

"Then why did you?"

"Because I need to talk to someone else besides you and the other pokemon. People will start thinking I'm crazy."

"I thought everyone was crazy."

"Ok, this is the point where I tell you to ask your father about this when you see him."

"Fine, but can I go play in the leaves some more?"

Arianna was giving him a pleading look that was almost irresistible. Liliana had spoiled her a lot already, so he had to be careful with what he gave her.

"You can for a little bit." He finally told her, setting her back down.

Arianna wagged her tail before scampering off toward the pile of leaves. Amos sat against one of the trees and watched her jump into the colorful leaves.

He kept thinking about everything he had tried to do to find a purpose in the past year. Everything he had tried to do he was either terrible at or he and his pokemon weren't comfortable doing it. His own Eevee, Pepper, and Arianna were the best at the contests, but his other pokemon didn't mind being in the contests.

Amos looked up as something cold floated onto his hand. The sky had turned gray and it was beginning to snow lightly. He reached out his hand as a snowflake was blown near him. He felt it land on his palm and he pulled it back. It melted quickly but he still got to see the design of it.

Every snowflake had a unique design to make it stand apart from others. Some snowflakes didn't have a chance to show off its design because they would melt. The rest would land and show off its beauty to others. If people were like snowflakes, what made him unique? What made him different from others?

Am I unique at all? Amos thought to himself bitterly. What's my purpose?

~~~

HOLY SMOKES I'M GLAD THIS CHAPTER IS OVER *_*

Again, I am soooooooooooo sorry for updating late...again ;-; Amos' chapters takes longer than White's and I'm really unmotivated right now -_- I'll try not to take too long with the next two chapters. Just do me a favor; whenever I tell you that I'll be done by a certain date, don't believe me -_-

- Character Profile: Amos Jackson and Skyler Azul-

I think I'll make 'short' Character Profiles for some of the characters, so here we go ;-;

Name: Amos Jackson

Age: Between 13 and 14

Home Region: Unova

Family: Maud Jackson (mother; living in Aspertia Town), Jacob Jackson (younger brother; dead), Leia and Harriet Jackson (younger cousins; Leia is traveling in Johto and Harriet lives in Aspertia Town), Hugh Jackson (older cousin; works in Nuvema Town)

Pokemon: Oliver (male Samurott), Liliana (female Arcanine), Packs (male Watchog), Hydreigon (male), Pepper (male Eevee), Arianna (female Growlithe), Zekrom (believed to be a male)

Personality: Timid, friendly, loyal

__

Name: Skyler Azul (Sky Blue)

Age: 18

Home Region: Sinnoh

Family: Kelly Azul (younger sister; dead), ??? (older cousin; status unknown)

Pokemon: Pip (male Empoleon), Junior (male Mr.Mime), Chatter (male Chatot), Jo Jo (female Galvantula), Shane (male Gallade), Alan (male Alakazam), Aero (male Areodactyl), Toro (male Eevee), Dia (Dialga, believed to be a male)

Personality: A bit immature, loyal, the only one with a sense of humor, crazy

----

I was really close to revealing Sky's secret relative but I decided not to. You'll learn more about his older cousin later on. And for those of you who don't remember, Harriet is the younger sister of Hugh and Leia, and was mentioned a few times throughout Spite Without Shame. She was never really in the story but I'm thinking about having her appear sometime.

OK, so the next two chapters will hopefully be a lot more exciting. They will be in White's POV and I will be revealing some secrets in the next chapter or two.

So.... I apparently gave Xerneas a British accent without knowing it X3 yes, I've seen your comments guys, and I got a good kick out of them :3 Lots of the comments on the Prologue are about Xerneas' "Oxford Accent". I wasn't planning on giving Xerneas and Yveltal accents, so if you want them to have those accents then you can have them have those accents. I don't know much about British accents, so you guys will have to imagine that they have Oxford and Cockney accents.

One last thing: if you comment on my story, I don't always reply back. I'm REALLY shy so I don't comment or reply that often. So I see your comments and I try to change the corrections you point out, but I don't reply back, so please don't think you're not noticed.

I think that's it then. I'm so sorry for the late and boring chapter, and long A/N :( I feel really bad about that, I hope you all aren't angry with me..

So good bye for now, and I'll try to update soon! Please vote or comment, you don't have to but your support is appreciated VERY much :) Thanks for almost 600 reads! Good bye!