After Ash's battle with Grace, their later talk as Pokémon Coordinators become much easier.
Grace was a senior Pokemon Coordinator who was very good at developing combination skills and has already won three Pokémon Contest Ribbons for this years Grand Festival. May has also gained some valuable experience from her.
Not only that, on the last day before the Fallarbor Town Pokémon Contest, May's archrival Drew also came to the scene. And Jessie, who failed to register successfully last time, finally started her "comeback" this time around.
This is how the Pokémon Contest in Fallarbor
town begins. This time the scale was obviously much smaller than the last time since it was a much smaller compared to Slateport City, and the number of participants was less than half of that. Therefore, after the first round of review, only four Trainers will manage to enter the second round.
The finals will be much more sooner than before as there are less people to defeat.
In the first tound, Drew's Roselia scored a very high score of 29.6, Grace's Medicham also scored 29.5, barely losing out to Drew, and May had her Beautifly use the combination of String Shot and Silver Wind she recently learned, which she managed to get a score of 27.5.
The performance of most of the others was somewhat unsatisfactory. After all the people went, they only scored 24.8 points at max. Many people were close to each other but they ultimately failed to exceed the points of the other three; only a luck guy named Billy managed to get just a little higher than the rest. He was also the second to last person to go.
The last person to compete was Jessie, who came to compete under the pseudonym Jessica. Of course she used her personal Dustox.
Her performance this time was indeed unique to say the least.
She even hanged down from the top of the stage in a split second decision. The tension of the stage performance is amazing.
"My perfect Dustox, use Tackle!"
Jessie's Dustox imitated May's Beautifly almost too well, striking and spinning while spreading its scale powder on the stage.
This was indeed beautiful.
"Now, use Rainbow!" But then Jessie shouted another strange command, and the pink scales of her Dustox suddenly turned into a rainbow-like color. Although this is really beautiful, it was also very wrong and impossible to do with her current abilities.
A quick cerulean blue light flashed across Ash's eyes, and he discovered the reason why she was able to make rainbow colored scales. It turned out that there was a small machine that was installed on the body of her Dustox.
This was a clear cheating violation!
So, Ash quickly used his Psychic and used a Force Grip to destroy the little thing from the audience stand. Just after being destroyed, Dustox was suddenly shrouded in black smoke. Jessie's cheating was also quickly discovered after Ash used a little bit of his Psychic to make Nurse Joy notice the small device, she was swiftly disqualified from her Pokémon Contest career until further notice.
Only 4 people were able to enter the second review in this competition. After Jessie was kicked out by Ash, May passed successfully, and the last person who got the fourth seat was indeed Billy.
Ash thought that his Togetic would enjoy Pokémon Contests, but she was just floating there back and forth around Ash. She probably had no interest in Pokémon Contest, so Ash didn't force it on her.
May commanded Beautifly to easily defeat her own opponent, the poor Billy and his Nincada. May's recent progress was indeed not something to scoff at, she was improving at a very fast speed.
Grace also defeated the arrogant Drew who annoyed her even before their battle began. She still used her signature Ice Punch, but this time her Medicham continuously used it on the girls to freeze it and create an ice wall to not only blocked Roselia's attack but also reflected it back to her. She beautifully defeated Drew's Roselia with his own attacks.
This also means that the final of the Fallarbor Town Pokémon Contest will be between May and Grace.
"May, game is game, I won't give in even I know you!" Grace was very optimistic about May's future career as a Pokémon Coordinator, but she will not show any mercy on the battlefield.
She believed that if she didn't do her best, it would he disrespectful to her opponent.
'Beautiful, the moment has finally arrived!' May encouraged herself in her heart, she must not lose in front of her friends, especially Ash who had helped her so many times.
"The final battle begins!" Miss Vivian announced the beginning of the final battle like usual.
"Beautifly, get on the stage!" May threw out her Poké Ball very skillfully, and every move she did was just right, without any deliberateness or procrastination.
With her pink scales flying in the air, Beautifly spun around in a circle, becoming more and more skillful in her debut entrance moves.
"Please, Medicham!" Grace and her Medicham didn't do too much when they made their entrance other than the backflip he did, he just came on stage and the battle truly began.
"Beautifly, use Tackle attack!"
Pokémon Coordinators put most of their effort into the expressiveness of their skills to make it stand out more than their other peers. Beautifly, whilst spinning in the air, launched herself toward Medicham like a small meteor. When she flys, she drives the wind to form a ring-shaped wind belt around her, which looks very beautiful to the audience members.
"Beautifly strikes first!" Miss Vivian commented on the battle between the two at any time.
"Medicham, use Meditate!" Medicham did a few weird moves and successfully avoided Beautifly's Tackle.
At this point, the Trainers on both sides should have completed their opening tests, and the next step is for the battle to truly begin.
"Medicham, use Ice Punch!"
After doing a few more weird moves, Medicham jumped high and hit Beautifly. However, May ordered Beautifly to use the Flying-type Gust to force it back, which did its work by immediately forcing it back.
Seeing that her Medicham was about to fall to the ground on his back, Grace knew that this would definitely deduct a lot of points from her.
But Grace was an experienced Pokémon Coordinator after all, "We won't be defeated that easily, Medicham, use Confusion!"
Medicham used his Confusion to freeze himself in the air and ultimately did not fall to the ground. This greatly reduced the amounts of points she would have otherwise have lost.
"Medicham had just used his Confusion to minimize the points deduction! That is very impressive!" Vivian explained, indeed Grace's plan did work out very well in the end.
At this moment, just one minute had passed in the clock.
"We almost succeeded!" May lamented, and this time she took the lead in attacking again, "Beautifly, use String Shot!"
Beautifly's String Shot skill has been especially trained by May, this made it very convenient to use in most ways. It was very useful whether in battle or while traveling to tie things up.
However, just teh second before String Shot was about to hit Medicham, Grace shouted another one of her orders, "Medicham, use Confusion again to freeze the String Shot!"
Medicham's Confusion did freeze Beautifly's String Shot, and then with a strong flick, the strings went back to Beautifly's body and tied her up.
This was truly ironic and impressive at the same time.
"Beautifly, come on! You can do it!"
Even with May's loud encouragement, Beautifly struggled hard, but still couldn't break free of the silk she had made.
Of course Grace would not miss this opportunity to continue on her offense, "Medicham, use Ice Punch on her!"
The ice cold punch hit vey accurately, and Beautifly was frozen solid, shining like a large blue amber. This caused May's score to be greatly deducted again.
Seeing this, Ash couldn't help but shake his head by seeing Grace's plan. Beautifly's movement was heavily restricted, leaving it completely vulnerable. At that time, she should told her Medicham to use his High Jimp Kick to instantly knock Beautifly out.
What would the use of Ice Punch be then?
Ash knew that the String Shot must have become more brittle and lost its original toughness after being frozen like that.
Now wouldn't it be easier to break free from it?
But now May didn't know this and all she can do is shout, "Beautifly, come on!"
As Ash expected, Beautifly was quickly able broke through the ice and May quickly regrouped, "Well done, Beautifly!"
Unexpectedly, Grace still smiled and said, "We have to decide the winner in this final attack! Medicham, use High Jump Kick!"
Medicham jumped high and kicked towards Beautifly hard.
Ash was stunned there for a second. Why would she use this attack now instead of before? Now that the mostly faster Beautifly is out of trouble, this was almost a losing battle.
Ash knew that May had trained very hard under him, and she also knew the weakness of moves like High Jump Kick very well after hearing from Ash and Brock. She quickly ordered her Beautifly to avoid it, then turned around and used a Silver Wind to counterattack.
Silver Wind hit Medicham hard on the back, further accelerating its fall, and he hit the ground very harshly with his High Jump Kick, causing huge damage to itself.
Grace's score has been greatly reduced again, already less than May's current score.
At this moment, there was only one minute left before this match concluded. As long as May can hold on for this minute, she can win her first Pokémon Contest Ribbon!
Medicham was very injured by his own attack and was unable to move immediately. This was a good opportunity for May to go on the offensive, "Beautifly, use Tackle!"
Beautifly spun and rushed towards Medicham.
May had an idea and then ordered, "Beautifly, use String Shot in him!"
The worm threads also spiral towards Medicham, which not only makes it more immovable, but also provides Beautifly with a layer of protection against Medicham's next attack.
"Medicham, use Confusion!" Sure enough, Grace still had a way to fight back. Medicham squatted on the ground and used a chick Confusion to block Beautifly but couldn't block the Sting Shot in time.
However, in this stalemate, when the time expired, May's score was higher than that of Grace, so the final winner was May.
This meant that she had won the Fallarbor Town Pokémon Contest and received her first official Ribbon!
Although it is only the the first Pokémon Contest Ribbon for May, it was still one of the most important milestones on the way to realizing her dream.
After getting out of the Fallabor Town Pokémon Center, she kept holding onto her Ribbon collection box, looking at the ribbon medal as if they were her everything, dancing and jumping up and down in multiple occasions.
"Don't worry about her." Ash and Brock both laughed at seeing Max being a little concerned about his older sister, "She just got her very first Ribbon after participating in her second Pokémon Contest. Thsi shows just how much great potential she has in this, so let her be happy while she is still in her early stages of development."
May's progress was obvious to all, establishing to her boyfriend, Ash. She is becoming more and more proficient and has even caught her third Pokémon with her own efforts. That little Skitty she recently caught is also very cute and perfect for May and her Pokémon Contests.
Hearing Ash's words, May rushed over and gave him a kiss on the lips, "Ash, thank you, it's all your credit!"
Brock couldn't handle it anymore and began to weep. Max had to comfort him again and again.
She really learned a lot from Ash's experience, and Ash has been taking great care of her.
Hearing this, Ash smiled and kissed her back. "This is all because of your own efforts, May. There are still 4 more Ribbons left before you could participate in the Grand Festival, so work hard. And also don't forget about me, even though I'm your boyfriend, I'm not going to go easy on you."
After leaving Fallarbor Town, as planned, the group was now heading to Lavaridge Town for Ash's third Gym Badge.
The two towns were in fact very close to each other, with only Mt. Chimney being there to block their east road. Now the group was about to cross the Fiery Path at the bottom of Mt. Chimney.
"It's up to you, Torchic!" There are many fire Pokémon living on Fiery Path, which made great sense, this is also a very good place to train Torchic and his Fire-type energy.
Ash's Torchic's growth rate was much faster than May's, almost anyone could see it with their naked eye. After all, their training is completely incomparable.
Although Ash does help May to train her Pokémon's, he doesn't do too match as they are her Pokémon's, not his. This is also for May's future growth as a Pokémon Coordinator. She had to learn to train her Pokémon's properly at some point, Ash is just helping her get there because he cares for her deeply.
As soon as his energetic Torchic came out again, he ran deep into the Fiery Path, opened his mouth and spat out his Embers and accurately hit a Slugma.
"That accuracy is good enough." Ash couldn't help but praise him when he saw its movements, "Now, Flame Charge!"
Torchic turned into a small fireball and rushed towards Slugma, easily avoiding the latter's own Ember and hitting it hard. Although there was no clear damage shown because of Slugma's own Fire-type and its magma body, it was still a well enough effective training method for his Torchic in his early stages.
Watching the battle between Ash's Torchic and Torchic, May behind him couldn't help but worry, "Babe, are you sure that there won't be any problem?" She said while looking very concerned, "that Slugma seems to be of a very high level."
"This is the only way to achieve the maximum training effect. You need to battle and defeat those stronger than you to truly make a breakthrough." As he said, Ash suddenly interrupted the training and took Torchic back, "Ho, looks like we have guests here!"
The group saw a dozen or so Slugma suddenly coming out of the depths of one of the nearby caves, surrounding their group with some resentments in their eyes.
May and Max obviously panicked by seeing all of this, "Big Bro, what should we do?"
"There's not much Torchic can do against all of them at once. Torchic isn't that strong yet, but this one is!" Ash smiled and threw another one of his Poké Balls, "Dratini, stand by for battle!"
The summoned Dratini suddenly disappeared in front of everyone's eyes, and then saw a flashes of green light, and all of the Slugmas disappeared one by one in front of everyone's eyes like they were not even there at the first place!
When fighting against wild Pokémon's like these Slugmas, Dratini's Dragon Tail attack can force them to go back to where they belong.
Hell!
"Thats amazing!" The crisis was solved by Ash before they could even think of anything else, leaving May and Max with nothing but admiration.
Brock had long been used to such things but he still can't believe that this is the same Ash he knew.
Since Ash was training his Torchic along the way, May also summoned her own Starter Torchic and decided to train him like how Ash is training his.
When it was almost dark, the group happened to pass through a hole in the Fiery Path and prepared to find a suitable place to camp out in the night.
Walking out of the cave was a grassland, and they soon found a Berry Tree. Not only that, but there was also a Numel lying under the tree, which was the form of the Camerupt that Ash had fought before before it evolved.
Compared with the Camerupt he had previously fought against, this Numel was much more smaller and its response looked to be even slower than one would expect.
Suddenly, a Furrret appeared next to the Numel, and then heard a voice.
"So you are here, I have been looking for you for such a long time!"
A young lady, who was followed out by several Numel, appeared next to Ash and his crew. Although she was dressed in a simple farm dress, this could not hide her good looks at all. Brock was already ready to go all out for her!
After confirming that the Numel was fine, the young lady noticed Ash and the others,
"You don't seem to look like locals. My name is Julie, and I live in a ranch nearby, with all of these Numel!"
She seemed very open and introduced herself to everyone, very friendly and open.
Ash and his group introduced themselves, and of course, Brock had already rushed over.
"Hello there, my name is Brock! Miss Julie, in order to show my love, would you like to have some fun with my little warm thin—"
His words were getting more and more outrageous as the days went by. Ash and the others didn't even need to take up any action this time around. One of Julie's Numel came to him and immediately burned him so much that he screamed in pain.
It was a good sight to see.
Julie looked at the Numel who burned Brock, smiled and said, "Numel, when we get home, I will give you some extra delicious Berries to enjoy!"
Since they met, Julie invited Ash and his group to visit her ranch. After all, it was already getting very dark.
In return, of course Brock, who wanted to be loved by her, prepared a sumptuous dinner for everyone to devour.
The next day, Brock and Max helped Julie take care of the ranch.
May found Ash for some help, "Babe, my Skitty seems to like fighting, so I want to give her a chance."
Ash would not refuse a request for a battle, no matter who they came from.
Unexpectedly, Julie left most of the chores to Brock and Max, and happened to come across them talking about May's Skitty, "Why don't you consider battling against me? There has been no chance for me battle recently, how about it, May?"
Being able to battle different Pokémon is a valuable experience that new Trainers like May need very much.
"Then let me be the referee!" Ash smiled and took on the responsibility of being the referee after who knows how long.
May uses her Skitty like she promised, and Julie's Pokémon was the Furrret they saw before.
This is the Regional Rodent from the Johto Region, but there are also many place in the Hoenn Region where they can be easily found. This Furret was like tge sheepdog to Julie's ranch, helping her manage all of her Numels.
Their bond also looked to be very high.
"Listen up Skitty, first we need to carefully observe our opponents movements, and then..." Before Misty could even finish speaking, her little Skitty rushed out on its own, exactly like what her Torchic did before.
Seeing Skitty attacking so quickly, Julie also immediately launched a counterattack, "Furrret, use Tackle!"
Unexpectedly, just when Furrret rushed in front of Skitty, she suddenly turned around. The habit of cats is to catch up with all the thing they see moving away or close to them.
Especially when Furrets tail was like a cat's favorite thing, their cat-stick.
Skittys are sometimes seen to chase their own tail until they becomes dizzy and faints.
"Okay, stop!"
Furrret suddenly braked and knocked the chasing Skitty away with her tail.
May also launched a counterattack at this time, but Furrret easily dodged the Tcakle and Double Slap she knew would come during the combo.
She looked at Ash who was pointing at her pants, she suddenly realized something. She quickly took out the Pokédex she hadn't used in a while, and just like when she used it on her Torchic to see all of the moves he knew, this can confirm what move it can currently use. She had just discovered that herb Skitty can use a move called Assist.
"Okay, Skitty, use your Assist!" They saw a white light on Skitty's little paw, and then a small cluster of Ember hit Furrret.
But Ember was still not enough to deal with this Furrret.
"Try it again!" Ash suddenly said, breaking his role of being the referee.
May did as Ash told her, and this time the move used by Assist turned out to be the Silver Wind that her Beautifly knew.
However, Furrret still avoided this Silver Wind and knocked Skitty away with one more of her own move.
"Okay, let's stop here!" Ash stopped the battle before it could escalate.
Seeing Skitty chasing her tail again, May quickly asked Ash for his advice, "Ash, what is the use of Assist?"
"Assist is a move that can be use a random move from the moves your other Pokémon's can use." Ash explained slowly from what he had learned, "May, how to use such a skill depends on you as her Trainer."
For Ash, such a move is simply not that good in a real battle. It was all just based on luck.
He would much rather use Metronome as that skill was all luck, and the only one who knew this move was his Togeti. And he knows for a fact that his Togetic is much more luckier than he was.
If it were him, if he had Charizard on him, he would simply use his powerful attacks to defeat the opponent by force. There was no need for his luck to come into play.
Paragraph comment
Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.
Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.
GOT IT