Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Sharing ❯ A Lesson in Economics ( Chapter 7 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Sharing

While Hitomi ponders the more poignant traits of her daughter and everything that Nozomi told her, Hikari goes to work in Floaroma town, defeating Kengo in that contest while Nozomi was on a doctor's visit. This was the contest that Nozomi was planning to attend and compete in, but her mother called her before she could travel there. Hitomi sees this only scant minutes after Nozomi comes home. Hitomi tells her the bad news, and Nozomi was inconsolable, even up to dinner. Hikari tells her mother the good news, and she also tells her estranged father Huro Akiyama, who she has not seen in four years, and no, Ayako has absolutely no idea that this is going on.

Nozomi comes to Veilstone City and the very first contest where she has to wear a dress. Everything imaginable goes wrong, as Nozomi bloodies her nose and the dress. Then she picks up Misdreavus when she meant to use Glameow for her appeal. The wrong pokemon came out and did not recognize her trainer in a yellow and white dress, causing her to attack aimlessly, forcing Nozomi to recall Misdreavus before time ran out, thus she automatically forfeited the contest. She leaves the contest prior to finding out who won, and announces that she will auction off every dress, with the proceeds going to charity.

NOTE: This chapter will begin with a journal entry from Nozomi, and then go into a third person narrative, ending with another Nozomi journal entry. This chapter marks the end of the first arc of 'Sharing'. The story will go on brief hiatus of about 2-3 months, and then come back for the second arc. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of my readers for their support in what I expected would be a very long project.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokemon, a creation of one Satoshi Tajiri, and is produced domestically (in the United States) by
Pokemon USA/TAJ/The Pokemon Company, and internationally by Shogakukan and OLM. I personally own nothing and make nothing by
writing this. Please do not flame.

(Chapter 7- A Lesson in Economics)

<April 7, 2007>

For Those Who Seek to Find Humor in Everyday,

The last three months or so have been more interesting than I would have ever originally perceived. The first time I actually put the dress on back at Veilstone city, I could not have fathomed the type of response that I would receieve from all the fans of pokemon coordinating. It wasn't so much the laughter that I got from people when I entered the arenas, because there was no laughter from anybody of merit. I could tell that things were different when I would go into contest houses and hear chants of 'Zoey Sucks' not by a few scant hecklers, but by just about everyone there in the arena that day, young people and older people alike.

This trend was not an uncommon occurrence either, as I would go from contests far and wide, sanctioned and unsanctioned, and hear the same thing; a chorus of boos, and chants of 'Zoey Sucks'. After a while, I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that all of this-- all of this was my own doing. I had actually gotten thousands of people all across the Sinnoh region and beyond to hate my guts, and it wasn't hard at all. Unless you call making one specific enemy and suffering a mild concussion along with drawing the ire of my mother 'hard', then in my mind it wasn't hard at all.

Looking at the many crowds that have come to my contests ever since my October comments on Hikari, I've noticed that younger people have entered and filled the stands with greater frequency than in past contests. I also seem to have attracted that very lucrative 18-34 year old male demographic that makes up the majority of fans of other arenas of competition, such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship. But this was not something that the Grand Festival's board members could have possibly concocted in a meeting and come to the conclusion to go along with in a million years. They are so stuck in their ways that they wouldn't even know how to say to both Hikari and I 'make everything look as real as possible'.

What they would never understand if I were to tell people I can't trust is that the purpose for this entire rivalry is a complicated one. I had originally planned many years ago to share the experience of a pokemon journey with Makoto before his death. After his death, I could not think of actually traveling with anyone else and going on a journey out of respect to my best friend, so I went alone one year ago in March of 2006.

Three months later, I met Hikari and decided on my own that it would be best if we could share some part of our journey together that didn't necessarily involve traveling together. Many things came to mind, but the one way I could see us sharing the experience that will be our careers was to be placed side by side in this planned rivalry. If someone remembers one of us, then by default, I wanted them to remember the other one.

Anyway, back to the issue of wearing the dresses in contests; I may have been reluctant at first, but I tried to look on the bright side of this ordeal as often as I could. In all, I have went to about six different contests so far, and have worn six different dresses. The first contest at Veilstone was an unmitigated disaster, with the blood stains and the twice broken nose, combined with the fact that I wasn't even able to make it out of the appeals round. That's all I'm willing to say, because it was just not one of my best days.

In the next contests, I decided to put my own spin on certain particulars of the dresses that Hikari provided me in advance, especially in those contests where she was not in attendance, by adding onto the dress. For instance, at the exhibition contest in Pastoria City, I wore a black dress with white trim, but I also wore a monocole and a black top hat, and walked to the ring with a walking stick. Those items are actually a part of another one of my contest outfits, where I mimic the 'Batman' character The Penguin, with some modern day modifications.

Another twist that I have put into these dresses, is when Hikari had ready for me a purple and gold dress to wear in Eterna City, I quickly went over to a nearby costume shop and wore an ornate crown with fake jewels and a purple robe with gold trim to complete that ensemble.

This list of changes and modifications I made to the numerous outfits are endless, but the only times that I did not make a change or an addition to the outfit was whenever Hikari was in a contest with me. I found out after a while that upon finding out about these changes I made, she was by no means happy with the liberties I took with the outfits. Oh well.

Her agreement should have been far less ambiguous than it was. We signed a written contract in early November, to be absolutely sure that nobody would back out of their stipulation. My end, should I have lost (which I did) was to wear dresses at contests for the first sixteen weeks of the year. That's it.

The contract said absolutely nothing as far as items I could add on to the dress, which were all essentially perks that I thought brought out the best in each dress. Hikari shouldn't be scolding me for wanting to look better than I think I could have looked by just wearing her multi-colored frocks, and not adding a little bit of Nozomi Kobashi to complete the total package.

As far as what happens to the dresses after I wear them, every single dress is auctioned off by myself, with all of the proceeds donated to charity. By the way, although I didn't explain it, I donated every penny to leukemia research. Again, this is something that Hikari was not pleased to hear about, but again I say oh well. She placed into the contract a specific clause that states "Once a pre-selected dress of the choosing of one Hikari Kamiko is given/presented to one Nozomi Kobashi prior to a sanctioned or unsanctioned pokemon contest throughout the duration of this agreement, and Nozomi Kobashi has worn said dress throughout the entirety of her active competition in a pokemon contest, sanctioned or unsanctioned, then one Nozomi Kobashi assumes full ownership and responsibility of said dress in question; thereby relinquishing one Hikari Kamiko from all responsibilities of attire in question." In other words, once I compete in a contest, the dress becomes my property.

It doesn't hurt my bad girl persona if I show compassion or humanity on RARE occasions. This just so happens to be one of those rare occasions. Like I wrote, Hikari did not take my action of donating the proceeds of the dresses to charity very well.

Her reasoning behind this, although she has no legal ground to stand on, is that each dress was meant especially for me, and that I was bending the rules to make her look very foolish. It was her claim that I was being nothing more than a show off by using the wording of the contract to my advantage.

The last thing that I would call myself is a show off. I might have said in an ealier entry that I have always been somewhat of a shy girl for much of my life, and that's the honest to goodness truth. My appeals are meant to speak for me, but something has caused me to open up and talk more now than I have in a long time. It has to do with Hikari, I know that much. In a way, I'd like to believe that my words are inspiring her to be a better trainer and coordinator, but Hikari is capable all on her own.

A very sick side of me is actually glad that I lost the stipulation, and Hikari was not forced to have her head shaved. Why would I be glad that I lost? Well, in all honesty, I don't know her well enough to know what type of blow that would have been to her psyche, but I have to think that being there for the public head shaving would not have been a pretty sight, to see her beautiful long dark hair be taken from her.

Hikari must be the good guy, or in this case, the good girl for it all to work. She just has the look to do it, combined with the confidence and the ability, and a lot of that goes back to her mother, Ayako. I am more than willing to be the bad girl, and have shown over the past several months that I have the boldness to be able to handle the jeers and boos of a packed crowd for a pokemon contest.

One advantage that Hikari has is her attitude, that in some way prevents her from feeling bad for a very long time, or feeling sad. She makes a great role model for younger boys and girls that aspire to become pokemon coordinators themselves. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that I see myself the way that basketball player Charles Barkley did when he said 'I am NOT a role model', because I do believe that I am a role model.

The main difference between me and Hikari is that Hikari is a role model for tradition and preservation of originality in the sport. I am a role model for speaking my mind and being myself, and being true to yourself, and furthermore, I consider myself a role model of character and personality.

It is much easier for people to hate me because I am so different from everyone else that participates in these pokemon contests. It is often said that it is easier to hate things that you do not know, or you don't care to understand. But I am by no means worried about the hate that I may receive from the fans all across Sinnoh, and wherever else I may go on my journey. Honestly, it is something that I have been used to from childhood; being different, that is.

But I am not the type of person who tries to hide their differences from everyone else, obviously. Just because someone is different or likes to do different things than everyone else doesn't necessarily make it bad. Unfortunately, not too many people share my sentiments or my philosophy as far as differences and tolerance are concerned. No matter, though.

Hikari will be the person that will supposedly be the beacon of political correctness, and the light and inspiration for young girls to be young girls, or some other fabricated utopian bullshit like that.

The GFCA will never change and they will never dare to be different, however. That much is quite certain. In their minds, why in the world would you want to mess with a proven, tried and true formula? Why? I say why not? It's much like the often debated theory of evolution by Charles Darwin. It stated that the longest surviving of the species were the ones that were able to adapt to a world that was changing. If it's very clear that the world is changing, why can't the people inside of it realize this and adapt?

Like I wrote before, you can't predict all of the people some of the time, but in this case,I will try to manipulate all of the people this time. Whether I get support or not is irrelevant.

On My Own... as usual,
Nozomi

<May 4, 2007>

"Now you two are probably wondering why we called you here this morning to Viridian City." These words are spoken by someone who is quite frankly, one of the big shots in the world of pokemon. He is Nicholas Kenmanson, the recently appointed commissioner for the Grand Festival Contest Administration, or GFCA, which is the main governing body and regulator for all pokemon coordinating worldwide. Also in the room are numerous Viridian City dignitaries, including Mr. Raoul Contesta, President Emeritus of the GFCA, and the Viridian City Nurse Joy. And along with them, are five administrators from the GFCA that report to Commissioner Kenmanson.

The two people that he was talking about are sitting in two large chairs next to each other. Hikari is on the left of the administration, and Nozomi is on the right.

Kenmanson has been for the past several years an enigma in pokemon business. He himself was a great fan of both training and coordinating since he was a very young boy, however his greatest passion in life was being a businessman and owning his own business. It seemed destined for him ever since he was a young boy. He made his first drink and lemonade stand at the tender age of five, and most summers, he would earn more money than his high school or college counterparts, as he would spend many hours at the various beaches selling his product.

At the age of ten, he shifted professions from lemonade to newspapers, and again succeeded in this venture. Kenmanson formed a group of several childhood friends to deliver as many as 1,000 papers a day while he divided both the work and the pay in a fair and balanced manner. He was always his own boss, but even then knew the importance of surrounding yourself with reliable people. Whenever he was sick or on vacation, he had friends he could count on to do the job for him, and no one was ever allowed to slack, or they would suffer consequences.

With this savvy business knowledge and a lengthy portfolio of childhood and adolescent endeavors, he was able to be professionally trained for business at the Wharton School located in the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in the United States. While in his matriculation process, he found an internship program with the Pokemon League Championship Series, or PLCS, the governing body of the pokemon leagues and pokemon trainers. It was there he saw many things that discomforted him about the business of pokemon as a whole.

Upon reading many archived documents, he found that the PLCS and the GFCA had used the same business and promotional practices for the last fifty years. In his mind, it was a very irresponsible and retroactive step in the wrong direction to not change with the times and instead choose to rest on their own laurels. He wanted to change that, as he felt that the sport was not progressing at the rate that society was progressing.

Upon graduating with honors, he immediately studied for his M.B.A., and earned it in less than 18 months. With his contacts to the GFCA and PLCS already in place, Kenmanson was immediately given a position in the board as a deputy executive of the GFCA. He knew that slowly building the company and overseeing change would give him even greater favor in the long run. Under his tenure, he proceeded to lobby for minor changes in how the GFCA did business. He fought to have exclusive contracts with networks on television and radio. After some more time, he successfully convinced his superiors to use the medium of pay-per-view to advertise inter regional matchups that otherwise would not be seen unless coordinators traveled to different regions.

All of these changes, including the addition of a website, provided a higher level of revenue for the GFCA, considering inflation and other factors, than at any other recorded point in the past half century. All of this was done with very little fanfare or press. In fact, very rarely did the name Nicholas Kenmanson show up in news concerning the GFCA, as he felt that all of his work would have been for naught had the GFCA not considered and given the green light to his many suggestions and recommendations.

But people nevertheless recognized that along with the inclusion of Nicholas Kenmanson came great change. This change, in just about every aspect of the business was best for the business. That was a major factor in his peers and many superiors electing him to the position of Commissioner of the Grand Festival and Contest Administration on April 17, 2007. In his inauguration speech, he specified that "Change is indeed on the horizon. Having explored just about every facet of this sport over the last few years, I know that with the people in charge and the great coordinators entering the sport over the last few years we can all make great strides in making pokemon coordinating a global event."

To many, the task was daunting, and the person behind it (Kenmanson) was said to be crazy. But Nicholas has heard all of this before, and it had not once fazed him, from the time he was selling lemonade, to the day he walked across the stage with his M.B.A. from Penn. Nothing ever seemed to keep Nicholas from accomplishing his goals, and even then, there was more left for him to accomplish, like the subject of Hikari Kamiko and Nozomi Kobashi in is office.

"Do either of you know why you are here today?" Kenmanson asks.

"No, sir," both Hikari and Nozomi respond in unison.

"There are actually two reasons why you two have been called, together, for this meeting with the various dignitaries. The first reason is that due to your impressive efforts in pokemon contests throughout the Sinnoh region, you two are both nominated along with three other coordinators for the GFCA's annual banquet and awards ceremony in the category of 'Rookie or First Year Coordinator of the Year' in about three weeks. I must say personally that winning four ribbons each at this stage in both of your careers is most impressive. Keep up the good work, you two."

"The second reason is that I want to give you two a little lesson in economics. As of today, it has been nearly six months since Nozomi made her comments on live radio waves. We here at the GFCA were flustered and pressured by the media to make a decision, but we nevertheless remained firm. We put the ball in your court, Hikari, and essentially made it your decision as far as whether you wanted Nozomi to have her license suspended or not. You chose the latter option, Hikari, and in retrospect, you made a great decision." Kenmanson then proceeds to pull out several sheets of paper from a manila folder.

"I have here some statistics from contests that either or both of you have competed in over the past six months." Kenmanson is now putting his reading glasses over his eyes. "Now, as both of you probably know, every contest house in the Sinnoh region seats 3,000 people. At the Solaceon City contest in early October, which is one that neither of you participated in, the attendance was about 1,700 people. Not too bad, but there was room for improvement. When Miss Kobashi won her third contest ribbon in mid-November at that same venue in Solaceon City, the building was sold out. As a matter of fact, we had to turn away about 1,200 people."

"I remember that" Nozomi says in response. "And the people there in Solaceon were not happy when I won. Not happy at all."

"But the thing is" Kenmanson explains, "is that the people came to see you, and for the most part, they came to see you lose. We had interviewers and surveyors ask the various fans why they were there, and after getting a sample of approximately 500 people who saw the contest, 83 percent of people came to see you, and 67 percent were there to see you lose, Nozomi."

"As far as Hikari is concerned, there is one contest house every year that gets a Thanksgiving date, and Floaroma town happened to be the place. Now, often times in years past this has been a spot where we've had low attendance, and even lower ratings on television, but it's there for entertaining people that don't celebrate the holiday. I can't tell how it happened, but we got an audience share of about 28 for Thanksgiving Day from 12pm to 2pm. Compare that to an audience share in 2005 of only 16."

"We got, once again, a sellout for the Floaroma town contest, and we had to turn away about 800 people. So with that, we really started to pay attention to numbers, as we noticed that each time you would particapate in a contest, sanctioned or unsanctioned, you two seemingly had the Midas touch as it pertained to putting butts in the seats of not just the contest houses, but the homes of the people as well."

"It's also got the attention of some major advertisers that have been flooding our mailbox with letters and our switchboards with calls, saying they want to do business with us. We're talking about major companies that you two could be spokespersons for, and make a lot of side money along the way."

"This... personal rivalry that you two have waged against each other is something that people want to see. The numbers from the Veilstone contest have broken every record for a primetime contest in the last 25 years! We got a market share of 49, meaning that 49 percent of all people in the Sinnoh region were watching the contest in January; the one that you, Hikari, won, and you, Nozomi had that incident with Misdreavus."

"Last year, there was a primetime contest at the start of the year, and it only got about a third of the audience share that this one did. I told you about how advertisers are lining up to get on board with pokemon contests, and they had to pay something along the line of a million dollars for each thirty second commercial that night."

"Admittedly, we here at the GFCA were reluctant to go through with this. We had always been proponents of the integrity of the sport, and letting the action in the contest houses and Grand Festivals speak for itself. We have always been about the sport of pokemon coordinating, but this puts a whole new spin on things."

"Never before have we invested hard earned capital on personalities, but sitting here before me are two proven personalities that have the ability to put asses in the seats. I'm talking about you, Miss Kamiko and you, Miss Kobashi."

"Okay, but how do you know that those figures aren't just a temporary upswing or a fad of sorts? How do you know that this... rise in the ratings is because of us? Other contests have been up too, have they?" says Hikari.

"We talked about the Veilstone City contest, and although some may call it a bad example, we took the attendance from a contest done about three weeks ago" Nicholas defends. "The attendance in the three thousand seat arena was about 1,300 people. At Floaroma town before the end of 2006, there was a contest where only 900 people showed up. The difference was that neither of you two were there, and there wasn't a great amount of public interest in many of the other coordinators as opposed to the interest there is in you two."

"It's going to be a radical change, but we'd like to take great interest in making the personalities of the sport, along with their pokemon the main focus of our marketing strategy from here on out. We know that we've never gone this route before, but it is worth a shot and worth trying it based on these numbers we see here. Now aside from you two, we plan on elevating several people, but it is the decision of this administration to make you two the top stars of pokemon coordinating for the future."

"We're doing this for a few notable reasons. First of all, the built in rivalry that you two already have will make great television drama. The numbers that we got for Nozomi's contests in 2007 when she has worn the various dresses proves that people will pay and watch so called bad guys get their comeuppance. So while much of the Sinnoh region has seen you two, most of the fans in the other various regions like Orre, Johto, Hoenn, the Orange Islands, and here in Kanto haven't seen much, and most that they've heard have been highlight packages on the news, blurbs on the radio; in other words, it hasn't been much. But they'll get their chance to see you in about three weeks at the awards ceremony here in Viridian City."

"Another reason is quite frankly, the two of you are both young and talented coordinators. Both of you could be at the top of your games for the next twenty years or more. We can all be greatly successful if you continue to work on your performances in competition." Kenmanson punctuates the 'successful' comment by rubbing the index finger and thumb on his right hand together, and holding it in front of both Hikari and Nozomi.

"So what do you two say to our proposal to make you two the faces of pokemon coordinating in the Sinnoh region, and all other regions, as well?"

As far as the two young ladies are concerned, there are mixed feelings. Nozomi is elated, although she does not show it to the attendees. This is exactly what she wanted, going all the way back to the month of June, and along with the support of the GFCA, she has it. Although excited, she is somewhat apprehensive considering that the GFCA might want to control several aspects of the rivalry to the sole benefit of neither Hikari or Nozomi. Another point of reluctance that she harbors involves Kenmanson's remark about how they (Hikari and Nozomi) could remain at the top of their games for over twenty years.

While she feels that Kenmanson makes a great point that she will not dispute, she is worrisome as she thinks that the GFCA will try to make the rivalry last over twenty years and become something people will grow tired of after a while. Besides, her plan was to have the rivalry only last as long as either one of them won a Grand Festival Championship. But despite the many qualms of a still unknown plan concocted by the GFCA, Nozomi has the satisfaction of knowing that she has convinced the administration and most everyone else that she harbors true hatred for the blue haired coordinator.

Hikari is indifferent to the entire plan of Kenmanson and the GFCA. Her focus over the past seven months has been to try and get Nozomi back for the things she said, and just like in her speech, she still has unfinished business, because over the last several months, she still has not defeated Nozomi. But to have this responsibility of being the standard bearers for the business that her mother had a part in placed on her shoulders just scant weeks after turning eleven years old makes her somewhat nervous.

But the fact is that she came into pokemon coordinating to be one of the absolute best in the entire world. And now she is in the offices of the GFCA, and they were telling her in no uncertain terms that she would be presented as a top coordinator to the viewing audience. They were doing this simply because in light of everything Nozomi did, for some unusual reason, people wanted to see Hikari do battle and win in pokemon coordinating. To Hikari, it could be fun, and going to many contest houses, she will have two clear advantages.

Number one is that she has noticed the cheers that she receives from the crowds in every contest that she goes to. Fans have come up to her in recent months, and have told her to keep fighting the good fight, and to not be phased by Nozomi. Young girls tell her before and after contests that they want to be just like her, and young boys give her flowers as a gesture of good faith. Mothers and fathers have also come up to her and told her that she is a model young woman, who unlike Nozomi has carried herself with the greatest of class.

The second reason why she has a clear advantage is because her mother Ayako was such a great coordinator in the Sinnoh region. Much of her success is bound to rub off on Hikari. Because of her mother's popularity, she has a high built in level of public interest from fans of that era. Hikari is also not that humble to admit that she is a very good coordinator, and naturally, she will only improve with time. It's as if she will mature along with the rivalry.

"I'm fine with it. I won't speak for 'daijobu' girl, but I have no problem with it" Nozomi says, acting indifferent.

"It could very well be fun." Hikari gives Nozomi a funny look, but then turns back to Kenmanson and smiles, saying

"If Nozomi is gonna be a part of this, then I wanna be a part of it, as well." Hikari then takes one final look at Nozomi. "I'll prove to you beyond any shadow of a doubt that I am a credible coordinator, even if it takes twenty years." Hikari then gets out of her comfortable chair, and goes to Commissioner Kenmanson, pulling out her right hand. "Commissioner, though I cannot speak for Miss Kobashi, it will be an honor to represent this sport as one of its cornerstones of the new generation of pokemon coordinators," she orates while shaking his hand. She then proceeds to leave the board room.

"I look forward to working with you over the coming months. I bid you all, farewell." And just like that, Hikari leaves.

"Idiot" Nozomi says, so the people in the room can hear her. Nozomi then gets up from her chair and goes over to Kenmanson and the other dignitaries in the room with him.

"While daijobu girl appears to be fine with all of this, I've got a few issues that I hope either you or your people can clear up for me, Kenmanson. I can call you that, can I?"

Kenmanson shrugs his shoulders for a moment. "I don't mind. What's on your mind, Nozomi?"

"I don't like Hikari Kamiko" Nozomi bluntly states to the Commissioner. "But I don't want people to take advantage of my personal and intimate feelings for purposes of profit and sensationalize them into something that they really aren't. Do you understand what I'm saying, sir?"

"I think so" Kenmanson says simply. "You don't want this body to stick their nose into what is your business and your affairs with Miss Kamiko. You don't want the GFCA to insult people's intelligence by throwing out these outlandish claims of how you'd do this to Hikari if you met her, or do that to Hikari if you met her."

"Exactly," Nozomi asserts. "I mean, you saw how we acted when we were in the same room together. For the most part, we are able to stay civil with each other. I just don't agree with her approach to coordinating, among other things. So, do I have your word that you will let me and Hikari take this where we want it to go, and... I can get out of this whenever I want?"

Kenmanson doesn't say anything. All he does is bring out his right hand. "I believe we have a deal, Nozomi."

Nozomi appears unemotional, but is relieved to know that the rivalry will be executed under her terms with the marketing monster of the GFCA spearheading her efforts and ideas. She willingly shakes Kenmanson's hand and says goodbye to all of the dignitaries in the room. Before she can leave though, Kenmanson asks her to wait a second because he has a question to ask Nozomi.

"Was there any reason in particular why you donated that money from the dresses to a leukemia foundation?"

"Well, I can't remember if I explained it or not," Nozomi admits, "but the reason was that my best friend died from the disease about six years ago. So there's a personal reason for the donations. My wish is that we rid the world of it, 'cause I never want to lose another friend to it."

Kenmanson nods his head, fully understanding Nozomi's motives and says, "I'm sorry to hear about that, but it's very refreshing to see someone like yourself take the initiative and be proactive about a problem like this."

"Thank you," Nozomi says to Kenmanson. "I hope to see you all in the near future, especially at the awards ceremony. Good day to you all." With that, Nozomi leaves Commissioner Kenmanson's office and prepares for further training, and the awards ceremony coming in exactly three weeks.

<May 25, 2007>

When eight year old Sebastian Kobashi got a call from his older female cousin Nozomi in the middle of May, he was excited and thankful to hear from her, as the most that he had heard from Nozomi personally over the past seven months was a letter he got around the end of November that talked of some bad news.

Sebastian was informed of just about all of the details of the bet that Nozomi had with her rival Hikari. Sebastian sent several letters back, but all of them went to Hitomi, who could only call her daughter and tell her of this correspondence by phone. It was impractical to send them to Nozomi because she was traveling all the time.

The letters got so piled up that Nozomi developed a system with her mother where she (Hitomi) would phone her with the contents of each letter, so she could send a letter as a response. The letters Sebastian sent were for the most part letters of encouragement from cousin to cousin with Sebastian telling Nozomi to not be intimidated or wavered from losing the stipulation. Other letters were simply written to let Nozomi know of his progress in grammar school in England.

But very recently, Sebastian sent a letter telling Nozomi that very soon, his boarding school would be letting out for the summer. He specifically gave a letter to Hitomi wondering when he could come and visit the mother and daughter pairing, which would be the first time that they have seen each other in over a year and a half.

Once Hitomi got the letter, again Nozomi's mother opened the letter and read it to her, but this time, instead of writing back to Sebastian, Nozomi called Sebastian's parents (Nozomi's paternal aunt and uncle) Anthony and Kris Kobashi. Anthony was Keiichi's younger brother. In any event, they were surprised but happy to have heard from their niece Nozomi and were glad to know that she was doing well in her journey.

Nozomi called them to find out if Sebastian could spend the final weekend in the month of May with her as an honored guest traveling to Viridian City for a banquet and awards ceremony for pokemon coordinators. After Nozomi explained the details, including the fact that the event was all expenses paid courtesy of Sebasitan's older cousin, it was simply a matter of Nozomi asking Sebastian, as Uncle Tony, as he was called, and Aunt Kris had already said yes.

They liked the idea for two reasons. One is that they wanted Sebastian to see part of the Kanto region that they had been to and enjoyed themselves as kids, and two, which is a more personal reason is that they would have one less child around the house during this one weekend and more time to themselves.

The mid-May conversation between Sebastian and Nozomi lasted only five minutes or so, but Sebastian accepted the offer after some playful goading from his older cousin. About ten days later, Sebastian is on a private plane to the airport of the Kanto region, and after landing at the airport, he is immediately brought to a parked limousine, with a chauffer carrying a sign with the surname 'KOBASHI' printed on it in big black letters. After a quick snack and movement of baggage from the plane to the car, the limo is off and running in ten minutes. The drive to the Theatre at the Indigo Plateau is nearly a half an hour long.

When Sebastian got to the theatre entrance for V.I.P., he is greeted by a very familiar face. It's never been that difficult to spot Nozomi Kobashi, even in a large crowd or gathering, but here she is, walking swiftly to the passenger's doorway to let Sebastian out of the car. Once unfastening his safety belt and getting out of the black limo, he gives his older cousin a big hug and takes a look at the girl.

"Hey! How's it going, Zoey?" he says in the most pretentious British accent that his cousin had ever heard. The fact is that Nozomi was born and raised in England and thought that she had heard them all until Sebastian came along. Sebastian just went to school there, but he seemed to have picked up more than just an education in England.

"Not too bad, Sebastian," Zoey admits. "Since the last time we've talked, things are certainly looking up for me in my rivalry with Hikari. I no longer have to wear the dresses, thank god, and now that we're about to complete our first years, we can compete on pay-per-view cards and earn some serious dough, and get some prime recognition from our peers."

Sebastian looks up and down at his cousin. "You look... stunning! You're like Helen of Troy, but instead of a face that stops a thousand ships, you have a wardrobe that does the same thing!"

"Oh, stop it, Seb!" Zoey calls her cousin. "And Helen of Troy had a face that launched a thousand ships, not stopped a thousand ships!"

"Well, its true, Zoey!" In the eyes of Sebastian, although his cousin looks her best, not much has changed since the last time he saw her when she was about to turn ten and go on her pokemon journey. Her red hair is still short and as wild as ever, and her outward appearance as always is a show stopping one.

She is dressed to the nines tonight in a black suit and tie, with a white shirt and, as always, her signature sunglasses over her eyes. She looked very much like she was a member of the Men in Black, or a member of the United States Secret Service, 'Whichever one seems to play to whatever audience you're in front of' Sebastian claimed to himself. Sebastian concluded that Nozomi had the 'MIB' look in mind for this event, but then he turned his attention to what he was wearing.

He, on the other hand, appeared to be more dressed and ready for a Lee Dungarees, Wrangler Jeans, or Levi Strauss commercial rather than a formal banquet with his cousin as a guest of honor. He had on a short black T-shirt with no other colors or designs on it, and a light blue pair of worn blue jeans. It is a far cry from the school uniform that he wore for about the last 4-5 months while in boarding school.

"No offense, Seb, but you look kinda like you thought that this banquet was under Casual Friday rules." Zoey says, uneasily, and takes a final look at her cousin. "Very casual 'Casual Friday' rules at that. No worries, though. We've got about three and a half hours before we have to be seated and about four hours until the banquet begins. I prepared for a situation just like this, and found a place for tuxedo rentals about five blocks from here. The limo driver is rented until Sunday night, so if you want to do anything before you get fitted, we have some time."

Sebastian gleams at the offer to be made over for the night and take care of whatever other business that he wanted to take care of. It took about two and one half hours, but Sebastian was able to call his folks and tell him that he was with Nozomi and that he was all right. He was also able to get a haircut and get fitted for a tuxedo one hour before the very important persons and their guests were to be seated. The two cousins make their way back to the theatre at about 7:15 p.m., and make their way inside to get their seating arrangements.

Once the identities of both Sebastian and Nozomi were confirmed by the front desks, they were given their identification cards and their table assignments. Both of them were about to head for the dining hall, but Nozomi had to make a stop first.

"Sebastian?" Zoey says, getting her cousin's attention. "I need to make a quick stop at the restroom. You wait here for me, and don't move. Are we clear?" Sebastian gives Nozomi the 'O.K.' symbol, and stands near the ladies room door.

He does not notice that there is someone that is also waiting alongside the ladies room door, until he turns to the right and sees a girl that is about his age standing up against the wall. She's wearing an elegant dark green gown with chestnut brown hair that falls straight down all the way to the small of her back.

"Hello there," Sebastian says to the girl, being polite by greeting her. "Have you been invited here by someone else, as well? You look like you're a tad too young to be a pokemon coordinator."

The girl, likewise, did not notice that someone was standing next to her by the bathroom door, and looked over to find a boy her age. She smiles at his politeness, and says to this stranger, "You certainly have an eye for age. Yeah, I'm only eight years old, but I'll be nine by next month."

Sebastian appears to have found an icebreaker with the girl. "Well, I'll turn nine myself in August," he says, holding out his right hand. "My name is Sebasitan Kobashi."

The girl responds to Sebastian's gesture in kind, shaking the hand of Sebasitan. "I'm Alexis O'Connor, and with respect to what you said about me being invited here, I was. I got invited by my friend Hikari Kamiko as an honored guest along with her mother, Ayako."

Sebastian stood in front of Alexis in shock. He had a feeling that Hikari would also be at this banquet tonight, but based on the details that Nozomi gave him on the intense and tension-laden nature of the feud, he believed that it would be hard for either girl to stay civil in the same place for any extended period of time.

"So who invited you to come to this event, Sebastian?"

"My cousin, Zoey." Alexis then looks at Sebastian oddly. She remembers from the 2006 pokemon rookie coordinators program that the nickname of another prominent rookie coordinator was Zoey, and she got somewhat nervous thinking that 'she' was also here in attendance at the banquet.

"Sebastian," Alexis nervously spits out of her mouth, "Your cousin 'Zoey' wouldn't happen to be... Nozomi Kobashi, would she?"

"Yes, she is." Then, all of a sudden, Sebasitan put two and two together, and asked Alexis a question. "Are you waiting for Hikari to come out of the restroom... like I'm waiting for Nozomi to come out of the same restroom?"

"Oh boy," Alexis answers. "Those two practically hate each other! I'm gonna go in there, Sebastian. You stay here in case I might need more help." As Alexis briskly walks to the door, it opens to find Hikari coming out of the door, looking very much like her cheerful self.

"Ready to get seated already, Alexis?" Hikari asks the young prodigy.

"Uhh..." Alexis squeaks out while looking at Sebastian standing over to the side. "Yeah. How did you know? I mean, you had to be in there at least five minutes. Heck, you were there so long that I made a new friend," she states, pointing to the young Kobashi boy.

"Oh!" Hikari says, surprised that Alexis found someone her age at this event. "And what's your name?"

"My name is Sebastian Ko-OW!" Sebastian couldn't finish saying his full name, as Alexis stomped on his right foot using her three inch heels before he could do so. Alexis away from the glaze of Hikari did a 'throat-slashing' motion to Sebastian with her left hand and spoke into Sebastian's ear the words, 'don't say your last name'. To his credit, the younger Kobashi got the hint, and told Hikari to just call him Sebastian.

"Okay, then" Hikari said, not wanting to push the issue. Hikari then turns to her guest of honor. "We've got to get to our table, Alexis. It's just a matter of finding table number 21. Sebasitan, I hope we can see you later tonight."

"Yeah. Me too." Sebastian says, as Hikari and Alexis make their way to the dining hall.

'Okay, boy.' Sebastian says to himself. 'Remember they're at table number 21. I've got to talk to Alexis some more, away from Nozomi.'

"Hey buddy. How's it going?" Sebastian doesn't need to turn around to know that that voice belonged to his cousin Nozomi, who has just returned from a stop at the restroom. After an indeterminable amount of time, Sebastian turns around to see the familiar smile on the face of his cousin.

"Uhh..." Sebastian finds it hard to say anything knowing that both Hikari and Nozomi were in the same bathroom together, though looking at his cousin's face, you wouldn't have believed it. Sebastian is noticeably pale, and Nozomi sees this.

"Seb, are you all right?" Nozomi seriously asks. "You look like you've seen a ghost!"

"Uhh..." Sebastian says once again, "you didn't happen to see anyone that you knew in that restroom, did you?"

Nozomi laughs. "No. Just this boyish face in the mirror. That's all I saw. Come on, Seb. It's about time for us to get seated. We're gonna be at table number 10. You ready?" Sebastian simply nods, and walks hand in hand with his cousin to the dining hall.

After about five minutes, the Kobashi's find table number ten in a massive sea of tables, with dignitaries from regions near and far. If either Sebastian or Nozomi had to take a guess, they'd say that there were at least 3,000 people and 2,000 pokemon in attendance at the time that they sat down, and the ballroom still was not even two-thirds full.

Sebastian and Nozomi obviously only totaled two people, but at their table, there were eight seats. This causes Sebastian to scratch his head, and ask his cousin what was on his mind. "Say, Zoey. If you secured this table for the two of us, then why are there six places for seating empty?"

Nozomi chuckled, not believing that her cousin hadn't figured it out, yet. "Silly boy. You saw the people here that had their pokemon out at the table, right?"

"Uh-huh." Her cousin simply responds.

"Well, you didn't think I was just going to leave Glamie and the others at home with with Aunt Hitomi, did you?" Nozomi then pulls five pokeballs from her belt, and commands Misdreavus, Glameow, Ledyba, Monferno, and Flareon to 'curtain' for this formal occasion. The only instructions that she gives her five pokemon is to enjoy themselves for tonight.

After a few minutes of ordering foods specific for each pokemon, Sebastian asks if he may be excused to go to the restroom. Nozomi says yes, and watches her cousin exit the dining hall. A few seconds later, she scratches behind Glameow's ears and gets a good look at the staging area for the presentation of awards.

"Hey, you! Over there with the Glameow!" Nozomi turns around and sees two familiar faces from television. They spent this year competing for entry in the Johto League Grand Festival. One was a girl named Haruka in a white strapless gown, and the other was a boy by the name of Shuu, who was wearing a black tuxedo with pinstripes.

"Oh!" Nozomi says, grateful to meet these veteran coordinators for the first time. "I know you two! Haruka and Shuu! You brought the house down at the Kanto Grand Festival in your quarterfinals..."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Haruka interjects, clearly perturbed. "We've seen you, as well. You're Nozomi Kobashi and quite frankly, you're a fucking disgrace to pokemon coordinators all over the world. You're ruining the reputation of this great sport with your big ass mouth and your bitchy little attitude, and I won't sit on the sidelines and allow you to just do that!"

Nozomi is not phased by these comments from Haruka for the simple fact that she has heard them so many times before. She flashes the Petalburg City native a smile, and takes her sunglasses off. "I beg your pardon, Haruka? Have you seen the numbers from contests I've been in? Forty-nine percent of all households in the Sinnoh region saw me compared to last years 16 percent. How in any way, shape or form can you call that 'ruining the sport' or 'a fucking disgrace,' as you so aptly put it? If you ask me, I'm breathing into this sport a new life, and a new attitude. And I don't just talk the talk, either. I also walk the walk. I've won four ribbons. You do know what that means, right Haruka?"

"I know what that means, thank you very much. I've done it twice, and now I'm going for a third stint of winning five ribbons." Haruka educates the younger coordinator. "But when you claim to be... breathing new life into the sport? You may be attracting this new fan base, but you're doing it at the expense of trainers who didn't do a goddamn thing to you, yet you're going to rip them in the media? In my book, that's a dick maneuver, and if I had the book, I would have suspended your sly little punk ass for doing it. And I would've erased that damn smile from your pretty little face while I had the chance." Haruka finishes her last sentence, sneering it directly into Nozomi's snickering face.

"What Haruka is trying to say is," Shuu says calmly, not trying to lose his temper, "we don't think that Hikari deserved to have those things said to her with little to no merit or reasoning behind them. I don't even think you've given a reason for saying that stuff."

"You know, you two," Nozomi retorts to them, uninterested, almost as if she was listless, "there serving cheese appetizers over there. I doubt either of you are old enough to drink, but you certainly do have a lot of wine to spare." Nozomi then stands up to Haruka, and meets her face to face, her smile still very much intact. "Why don't you... go over there and have your own party, and quit ruining my fun?" Haruka turns away from Nozomi for a second and takes a deep breath.

She turns back to her long enough to say the words "You bitch" to Nozomi, which does not go unnoticed by the redhead.

"What's stopping you from taking a swing and knocking me down a peg, Haruka? I know you wanna do it. Just one quick punch right here." She says, pointing to her war-trodden nose, which has been broken on multiple occasions. "You know it will shut me up. So why don't you do it?"

Haruka is beyond pissed now, to the point that she seriously is considering punching this girl; a term that she uses very loosely to describe Nozomi. Although she indeed was a successful coordinator, she appeared to love herself and her accomplishments far too much.

"Though I might hate myself in the morning," Haruka explains, "for you, I think I'll make an exception." Haruka then cocks her right arm backwards, but something, or rather someone stops her from moving it forward.

"No, no, no Haruka," says Shuu, who saw the whole episode, and became soured over the entire Nozomi Kobashi experience. He pushes Haruka back, and away from Nozomi. "Let's just go. It's really not worth it at all."

"You better hope to God we don't meet in a contest someday! Shuu won't be there to stop me from really kicking your ass!" Haruka says, as Shuu walks her back to her table, far away from Nozomi.

"Enjoy the banquet, you two!" Nozomi says in her most camp voice. After Shuu and Haruka leave, Nozomi notices that Sebastian has not returned from the restroom yet after several minutes, and starts to get worried. She puts all of her pokemon back into their pokeballs and searches for her missing male cousin.

It turns out that Sebastian never had any intention of going to the restroom whatsoever; rather he fulfilled his original plan to meet up with Alexis once more, and get some information on how she and Hikari knew each other.

"She was that scared?" Sebastian asked.

"Yeah." Alexis confirmed. The two eight year olds were discussing Hikari's attitude as she first met Alexis back in October. Hikari wasn't at the table, telling Alexis a few minutes beforehand that she had to make a long distance phone call. "I'd like to think that I helped her, but she was the one that won the ribbon and spared her hair, so she should get all the credit."

"Wow. I never would have even thought of that. Did she ever explain why she came into your room, though?"

"Well," Alexis starts, trying to dig into the archives of her brain to figure out what would inspire Hikari to pick her of all people. "She saw me in the hospital, and I suppose she saw that I wore a skull cap and at the time I had little to no hair, she might have seen her future self. And there I was, balder than an eagle, because I lost all of my hair in chemotherapy, and... probably saw me doing my puzzle, and I didn't appear sickly, but it was obvious that I was very ill at the time. She saw me, and I was still living my life even though there were doctors that said I was on my deathbed. I guess it put her situation in perspective."

"But now I'm able to go out, and I feel so much better than I did seven months ago, people still wonder why I keep in contact with Hikari. It's because I want to do what she's doing, and she's becoming sort of a mentor for me, telling me the things I should expect when I start my journey."

"Sebastian! There you are!" Nozomi runs to the table where both her cousin and Hikari's good friend are sitting. "I was about to call public address to have them seek you out. I was damn near worried sick." It's here that Nozomi finally notices Alexis. "Oh, I didn't know you were talking to a friend, Sebastian. Why didn't you tell me? You could have sat with someone your age the rest of the night if you didn't want to hang with your older cousin. What's your name?"

"Alexis O'Connor, and you must be Nozomi Kobashi. Sebastian has told me so much about you."

Nozomi ponders where she heard the name 'Alexis O'Connor' from, because it sounded familiar. "Where have I heard that name before? Can you help me with that?"

Alexis nervously smiles, knowing that the truth about who she is will eventually come out.

"I'm back, Alexis," a voice calls out, walking towards the table. It is Hikari. "Hey, I didn't know you had--" Hikari's speech is halted when she finds Sebastian, but also finds that he is being held by her rival Nozomi. "Sebastian?" Hikari asks. "You know Nozomi?"

"The jig is up, Sebastian," Alexis breathes. "You might as well tell Hikari who you are."

Sebastian simply shrugs his shoulders to Alexis's request, as if to say that he has no problem letting Hikari know who he is.

"Hikari," the boy begins, "My full name is Sebastian Xavier Kobashi, and this is my older cousin, Nozomi, though everyone in my family calls her by her nickname, Zoey."

"Well," Hikari says, surprised to see such a nice charming member from Nozomi's family, "This is certainly a breath of fresh air."

"Indeed it is," Nozomi agrees. "He's spending the weekend here with me, because he just got out of school." Nozomi then decides to do something good for her cousin.

"Did you like spending time with Alexis, Sebastian?"

"Yes," he says.

"You know, if you want, Sebastian, I'll let you spend the rest of the night here with Alexis and Hikari. I've got no problem with it."

"Really?" Sebastian asks, not believing it.

"Really."

"Wow! Awesome!" he exclaims. "You're the best, Zoey!" he says, giving her a hug.

"Well, you bring the best out of me, kiddo." Nozomi admits. "Do whatever Hikari and Alexis say, and once the banquet is over, don't come to me, because I'll come to you. Then we'll do all the fun things you want to do tomorrow and Sunday. Do we have a deal?"

"You bet!" he exclaims.

This out of character behavior from Nozomi does not go unnoticed by either Alexis or Hikari. "What is it about that boy," Hikari whispers into Alexis's ear, "that seems to bring out the best in Nozomi?"

Alexis simply whispers back to Hikari, "beats me, but I'd like to know." This game of mini-telephone between the two friends is practically ignored by the two cousins, as Nozomi leaves Sebastian with them, and tells him that she'll see him after the banquet.

<May 26, 2007>

For The Microwave Society,

This entry will be real quick. It's morning, and Sebastian is still asleep.

The banquet was a very good experience. Sebastian met a friend named Alexis, who also happens to be a friend of Hikari's. I let him sit with them for the night, because I wanted him to have the most fun possible, rivalry with Hikari or not. I know that the two of them had to be surprised that I behaved so well, but the fact is that I would do anything for my cousin, and that certainly would count as anything.

As far as awards were concerned, I was nominated for three, and won one award. The three awards were "Most Dominant Performance at a Pokemon Contest" for my performance at Solaceon Town, knocking out all of my opponents in the battle portion of the event. The second nomination was for "Best Appeal" for me and Misdreavus, and the third and most important in my mind was for "Rookie Coordinator of the Year".

The award that I won was for "Best Appeal". Hikari also won an award for "Best Performance Under Pressure" for winning the Floaroma Town contest for obvious reasons. But the award that we both coveted more than any other was "Rookie of the Year", which we both lost to Cindy Chalmers, my roommate going all the way back to the rookie challenge. Truth be told, the win almost appeared to be by default as Hikari and I had four ribbons each, and Cindy had already made her goal of five ribbons, and automatic entry into the Johto Grand Festival.

I met two standout trainers in Hoenn named Haruka and Shuu, and I'll just say that if we ever compete in the same region, I think I'll have two more rivals on top of Hikari.

But this weekend will be a pleasant change of pace. It won't be about Hikari, or Haruka, or even Alexis and Shuu. This weekend will be all about Sebastian and I. And whatever he wants to do is whatever we will do.

Besides, I have a lot of lost time to make up for. Though I'll never be able to fully repay Sebastian for all that he's done in my life, I will try my best, and that started yesterday in an out of character moment for me. But the moment he goes back home, things are back to normal... as normal as they can be at this point in my life.

Thankful for the Experience,
Nozomi

A/N: And with that folks, the first arc of 'Sharing' is a wrap! I'd like to thank all of my readers for their support of a project that I now believe will be 400,000 words, or more. I thank you for my patience, and for all those that are fans of this work, I recommend another work of mine, called 'Overcoming the Odds'. This story will return in either September or October, so keep checking the author's page periodically for more information!