174: Birthday Party

Pokemon Academy, Komoda City.

Just when Hisoka was about to fight with the boys, a girl suddenly stepped in between them.

She was wearing the academy uniform with a pair of black shoes and glasses. Her most notable feature was her waist-length silver hair that was tied with a red ribbon.

A pair of Gastly hovered over her shoulders, making her look mysterious, and at the same time, scary.

"That's the creepy girl from Class A! Run!"

Said the blond boy before he made a run for it, followed by his lackeys.

"Uh... That wasn't necessary. I can handle them by myself."

After they left, Hisoka gave the girl a curious stare. He wondered who she was as she looked quite familiar.

"Are you Hisoka?"

Said the girl as she turned to him, ignoring his remark.

He was startled at that.

"Do you know me?"

The girl nodded, "I'm Alice. My brother, Matthias, told me that you will be joining the tournament for the gym leader position."

"Oh! You're Matthias' sister! It's nice to meet you."

He said as he held out his hand to her.

"Me too."

She accepted his handshake calmly.

"By the way, why were you fighting with that blonde guy just now?"

She asked.

"It's just a small matter."

Hisoka replied, waving his hand off as if it wasn't a big deal.

"Okay. Just to let you know, his father is the Mayor's secretary. He can give you a lot of trouble if you hurt his son, you know?"

She pointed out.

"Didn't know that. Thanks for the heads-up."

He gave her a grateful nod.

"No problem, I'll see you around then. Good luck in the tournament."

She replied and walked away.

Soon, the second round of the tournament officially began. His next opponent was a trainer from the neighboring Johto, who employed a somewhat interesting tactic with Jynx - a set of skills combined with Attract. If Gardevoir wasn't a female, he would probably be in deep trouble.

Jimmy, his new friend, also won the second round with ease. After that, they hung out around the arena for the whole evening. By the time the second round of the tournament was already over, the sun was already down.

Just when they were about to leave for their rooms, Yukimura, one of the tournament's officials, suddenly stopped everyone.

"Guys! Please wait for a moment. I have something to announce."

Once everyone had settled down, Yukimura resumed his talk.

"There is a birthday party at eight o'clock tonight. I hope you all can join it. There's a big surprise later."

Said Yukimura with a mysterious smile.

After Yukimura left, the crowd began to disperse.

While on their way back to their room, Jimmy, who was walking along next to Hisoka, asked him a question.

"So, are you going to go to the birthday party, Hisoka?"

Hisoka nodded, "Yes. Yukimura just said there's a surprise, right? Let's go and check it out."

"Yeah, me too. I can't wait to see the surprise."

Said Jimmy excitedly.

They quickly went back to their room and freshened up. At around eight o'clock, they left the dormitory and headed to the hall where the party was going to be held.

At this time, the hall was brightly lit and filled with colorful balloons and ribbons fluttering in the air. On the stage, a large banner was hung on the wall that read 'Happy Birthday, Giselle.'

Hisoka and Jimmy walked into the hall, along with a few people. Hisoka was wearing a black shirt with a pair of brown jeans and black sneakers. Meanwhile, Jimmy was still in the same outfit, except he wore a pair of black pants this time.

"It seems the party hasn't started yet. I'm going to get a drink first. Do you want anything?"

Hisoka asked Jimmy.

Jimmy shook his head.

"No thanks. I saw a friend of mine from back home. I'm going to catch up with her."

Jimmy replied before he went to talk to a girl with sky blue hair.

Hisoka shrugged and went toward the table served with all kinds of food. He grabbed a few quick bites and filled up a glass with lemonade. Just as he was about turn around, he accidentally bumped into someone, nearly spilling the lemonade on the person.

"I'm sorry. I didn't..."

Before he could finish what he wanted to say, the words got stuck in his throat as the person turned around. It was Lorelei, one of the Kanto Elite Four.

She looked quite ravishing tonight. Her purple dress accentuated her curves, making it hard for him to remove his eyes away from her. After the surprise subsided, he quickly returned to his senses.

"Miss Lorelei. I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were behind me just now."

He said with an embarrassed smile.

"It's fine."

Lorelei waved it off with a calm smile.

"Are you participating in this competition?"

She continued to ask.

He nodded to her question.

"Yes. I just passed the second round."

While they were talking with each other, suddenly, the hall fell into silence. Looking around, they saw everyone's eyes looking in a particular direction.

They turned to the entrance of the hall, where everyone was looking, and saw a tall, attractive young lady with beautiful blond hair walking into the hall, along with a familiar-looking girl.

The surprise turned out to be Cynthia, the Sinnoh's Champion. And wasn't that the girl he teased this morning? Oh, bummer.

Lorelei's eyes lit as she excused herself away from him and made her way to Cynthia, who by now had been besieged by the excited crowd.

"Didn't expect her to know Cynthia."

At the back of the crowd, he was looking at the girl or Giselle, standing next to Cynthia.

He then turned to Jimmy, who was busy stuffing food into his mouth.

"Slow down. You're going to choke yourself."

"I am done."

Jimmy quickly swallowed the last piece of pastry and then wiped his mouth with a tissue.

"Aren't you going to ask for an autograph? That is Cynthia, the youngest champion in the world."

He asked.

Jimmy looked at Cynthia, who was surrounded by the crowd, and shook his head.

"Nah, there's too many people. It's fine anyway. I prefer Karen to Cynthia. Besides, I will be the youngest champion in the future. She is my rival."

Jimmy replied with fire in his eyes.

"I'll be rooting for you then."

He flashed Jimmy a thumbs-up. Not many people dared to say that they would beat her record for the youngest champion.

Soon, they both went back to their room. Somehow, words got out in the dormitory that Cynthia was in the academy as everyone rushed out of their rooms.

After taking a hot bath, he lay on his bed and took out his laptop to study the remaining opponents' information that he had obtained secretly with the help of Porygon2.

"Yawn!"

A little while later, he yawned loudly. He checked the time and found it was nearing midnight. He quickly turned off his laptop and went to sleep.