Ice Ceiling

“Your job isn't to compete with me,” Lance explained. “There needs to be a progression, see. The trainers arrive expecting a scale.”

“Okay, so that means I'm supposed to stay at the bottom?” Lorelei asked, fluffing her long, red hair a bit. She didn't want to fail the interview after finally joining the ranks of the Elite.

“Well, you specialize in the Ice type, see,” He thumbed a pencil and spoke to the wall, hardly offering the gorgeous woman any attention. “Any common trainer from the Cinnabar region can pull that off. But dragons, ghosts... they're the top tier. Only a select few ever become skilled enough to train one, let alone a team.”

“So that's why you and Agatha have to stay at the top?”

Lance chuckled. “Well, that'll be changing soon enough. More and more ghost types have been discovered across the various regions. Dragons will be the only appropriate challenge within a few years.”

“I understand,” Lorelei said. She knew it was a load of crap. Lance struck her as a power-hungry attention grabber, with his flashy cape and team of rare Pokémon. She had dominated her application match with the dragon tamer, but he cut it off at the last second and welcomed the new trainer to the League. “I'm grateful to be a part of the team.”

It had gone like that ever since. Each year, the League had match-ups to determine the rankings, and Lance weaseled his way in to first place by skipping out of his match with her. Lorelei's team did not fare well against Bruno's fighting Pokémon, and Agatha boasted many years of experience that gave her an edge.

The second year of her tenure in the Elite Four, Lorelei confronted Agatha about Lance's manipulation over tea at her apartment. “It's best to let Lance have his way, dear,” the old woman explained. “The fans love him, and trainers want him to be their greatest challenge before moving on to the champion. Be practical, and think of the League. People have to keep on supporting it or we're out of a job, and that means appeasing the fans.”

“But I can beat him! I'm not after anyone's position; I just want to earn my rightful place, like I did during my Pokémon journey.” Lorelei had struggled to defeat the Elite Four, but succeeded after her fifth attempt. Agatha had reigned as League Champion at the time.

Looking amused, Agatha smiled and took a sip of her earl grey. “Some trainers will work for their entire lives and never even make it here. Forget about the politics, Lorelei. Try and enjoy yourself. You do get to have the most matches, hm?”

Enjoy herself. After a sleepless night staring at the ceiling of her apartment, Lorelei wondered if her position would ever bring that simple sense of achievement that it once did. Whenever she started to drift off, the image of that trainer, Red, dressed in Lance's ridiculous outfit haunted her. The brat only cared about becoming just like the dragon master, as so many others before him did. For a moment, she had seen a spark in the kid. He had almost turned their match around with a good strategy.

She thought of the current champion, Blue. He resembled Lance so closely that it disturbed Lorelei to the core. In a few years he could become just as renowned, and possibly steal her spot from the roster. That would probably please Lance, she imagined. It seemed that no matter how much she fought, Lorelei would never excel beyond the position she had attained. Tired of her insomnia, Lorelei closed her eyelids and attempted to empty her mind.

“MUK!” A shout from outside roused her at once.

“Who the hell is TRAINING at this hour?” Lorelei wondered. She tuned on the lamp and grabbed her glasses, then peered out the window. She could see Red outside, training his Kangaskhan and Muk against one another. “You've got to be kidding me.” Throwing a brown pea coat on over her underwear, Lorelei hustled outside to give the kid a piece of her mind.

“We can do it, guys!” Red yelled. “Muk, use Sludge Bomb!” The grotesque monster hurled a pile of black gunk all over his teammate, who did her best to resist the hit.

Lorelei tapped on the trainer's shoulder. “Do you have any idea how late it is?”

He spun around and faced her, not looking happy to see the ice master. “So? I want to beat the League one day, and—”

“You'll do it on your own time! Not training outside of my apartment in the dead of night!” She glanced over Red's face. He had dark circles around his puffy eyes, and the determined tone in his voice was gone.

“I can't stop,” he said. “I'm going to prove myself to everyone. My dad, the professor, Blue, everyone!”

She groaned a little, realizing the boy knew Blue as well. “Look kid, you might have the stuff to take on Blue some day, but for now you should take a nap. I didn't get where I am by staying up all night.”

“But I can get better by tomorrow morning,” he whined. “And besides, I don't want to end up... where you are. I have higher aspirations.”

He couldn't have possibly predicted the slap coming, and fell to the ground. “What the hell was that for, you bitch?”

Lorelei stamped her bare foot down on his face and pushed him in to the dirt. “You're not going to call me that name again, trainer. If you want to be the champion some day, you're going to need a little more discipline.” She mainly wanted to scare the kid, but there was an element of truth to that too.

“Ugh...” He looked pitiful, lying down in the sand. Muk and Kangaskhan watched the scene apprehensively, wondering if they should intervene.

“Where are you staying, kid?”

“Nowhere, I just got here.”

She couldn't believe it. The punk had shown up and immediately challenged the League without finding a place to stay? Had he really expected to win on his first attempt? “What's wrong with you? Any ten year old trainer knows to set camp before making a journey, and the same logic applies here. Explain yourself!”

Red sniffled, unable to comprehend that he had started crying in front of a member of the Elite Four. “I... I have to win against Blue. You don't understand.” The way he spoke chilled her; she had broken through to him. “Whenever I've accomplished anything, worn out, he'd have done it without a scratch. He had ten badges when I had just earned my sixth, and we left Pallet Town on the same day.” Lorelei counted on her fingers, a bit puzzled about that remark. “Please, Ms. Lorelei... don't stand in my way. I'm not just another dumb kid.”

“Call back your pokémon and come with me.” Lorelei removed her foot from his face and marched off, not wanting him to see the expression on her face. She thought about Lance and Blue, and breaking down after her match with Red that evening. As she held open her apartment door and let Red in, the pieces of a master plan began connecting in Lorelei's head. With a little training, she could make this kid force her rival out of the control he held, just as Red planned to do with his. The answer to all her problems had just crashed on her dinky little couch.

“Good night,” she said, the fire of a potential victory over Lance now burning in her eyes.