章 62: Ch 62. Rare item
(Unedited)
The last day Ares and Jenny spent was entertaining, if he had a word for it. Fun just didn't seem to do it justice.
They visited a lot of tourist hot spots, such as the ten different hot springs, the volcano (the part tourists visited) as well as the many small restaurants that were spread around Cinnabar Island.
The last thing on the schedule was an eating contest at the end of a festival, held by Blaine himself. It was to be held late in the evening, with fireworks display and everything.
Small festival stands were being set up so that everyone could try out a game for themselves. Such as fishing rubber psyduck with a small miniature rod, catching goldeen with a paper scoop, shooting corks at pluche toys, etc.
It was a grand scale event, one Blaine had been looking forward to for weeks.
It was a celebration for the summer solstice, in which Moltres had once imparted its flame to the people. The small flame still burned in a shrine, deep in the volcano.
Ares and Jenny had visited that as well, a flame burning with a myriad of colors. It was as gorgeous as one would expect from a legendary pokemon.
"Ares! Which game do you want to play first? They have a shooting range."
Jenny ran forward, her hands clasped behind her back as she laughed like no other. For today she had dressed up in a white summer dress, frills swirling about in the soft breeze.
"Hurry up! A line is already forming."
Rushing towards the shooting range, Ares followed after her. When they got there, Jenny had quickly procurred a cork shooting gun for herself, tossing two towards Ares. One for himself and the other for Lucario.
"Let's make it a competition on who can hit the most."
Jenny grinned, as she had experience with guns due to her police training.
"Ready, set? Go!"
Jenny began to shoot, hitting target after target, yet the last shot didn't knock over the target, as it remained standing upright.
"Too bad, miss. Beter luck next time."
Handing Jenny a consolation prize, a small pokeball keychain, the stall owner turned towards Ares, urging him to begin. He had more people wanting to try out his game.
With a flick of the switch, all the target were upright again, moving about and ready to be shot down.
Weighing the gun in his hand, Ares took aim and began to shoot.
He was definitely slower than Jenny, but his precision was as good as her.
When the last target came in range, Ares smirked as he concentrated just the littlest bit of aura in the cork. I wasn't about to be fooled by this man, not when he had seen Jenny's shooting.
The cork flew out leaving a trail in the air as the target fell down, leaving a loud clatter or noise in its wake as the cork had hit the shelf behind it as well.
Staring in shock, the stall owner handed a big doll to Ares, one of a Charmander. Handing the pluche to one of the younger kids watching, Ares waited for Lucario to take his turn. Things went much the same, as Lucario patted his chest in pride for having shot everything down.
Refusing the doll Lucario had won, they moved on to a Takoyaki stand.
"The owner was cheating, right?"
Jenny asked while stuffing a takoyaki in her mouth, huffing and puffing from the heat. In her agitation she had forgotten they had just come from the grill.
"No shit, it's common knowledge most of them cheat. If they don't cheat, the odds of winning the main prize is slimmed down with a large margin. They have too much losses otherwise."
Jenny looked at her keychain with a glare, but still pocketed it.
"The eating contest should be starting soon. Want to go?"
Ares asked, glancing at Jenny who was still stuffing herself with food.
"Of course! Let's go register immediately."
Rushing to the beach where the eating contest was to be held, they fell in line with the others, waiting patiently for their turn to sign in.
The line quickly decreased, as it was finally Jenny and Ares's turn.
Sitting at the help desk was none other than Nurse Joy.
"Do you want to enter the eating contest or are you here to watch?"
Nurse Joy asked, two forms in front of her. On was for seating spots, while the other was a registration form.
"He is here to participate, I'm here to watch him."
Speaking up before him, Jenny grasped the forms and began to fill them in.
"So I am participating and you'll be watching me choke. No wonder you were stuffing yourself before."
Ares laughed, snatching the registration form from her hands and filled in the blank spots.
"Hey, a girl needs to watch her weight. I'm already on the heavy side. Besides, you need to enter with a pokemon partner. Growlithe, Rapidash and Shellder aren't big eaters, unlike your Lucario and Charizard."
Jenny waved at him as she hurried towards her seat, the area already flooding with people.
"Figures. Want to join with he buddy? I'm sure you are raring to go."
Lucario nodded, as he grasped the form from Ares's hand and put his paw print on it. His participation was now confirmed.
"Thank you for your participation. Participants can gather near the podium. Mr. Blaine is already waiting there."
Nurse Joy pointed backstage, where a few people had already gathered. There weren't a lot, but enough to form a crowd. In the center stood Blaine, without wig, directing the participants to their spots.
"Allright hotshots, we're getting this show started any minute now, so get to your spots. There will be further explanations later. Off you go, chop chop."
Each participant had been given a card with a number. It was the seating arrangement for the competition. Ares was number eight, the last one to sign up for this.
Taking his seat, Lucario at his side, it didn't take long for Blaine to take the stage. At his side was Nurse Joy, her trusty Chansey at her side.
Looking at the other participants, Ares spotted a lot of variations of pokemon, not all of them belonging to Kanto.
Pokemon such as Raticate and Arbok were present, but so was a Munchlax and an a Swalot. A difficult pair to beat for sure. They were both big eaters.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I now announce the start of the Summer Solstice Eating contest. Before you are the brave challengers, who will participate in this burning hot competition. Our judges, or should I say anti-cheat police, are Nurse Joy of our lovely Cinnabar island, our officer Jenny as well as I, Blaine, the Cinnabar island gym leader. So be warned, we will observe you closely."
Blaine smirked happily, tapping against the microphone to get everyones attention again.
"The food is burning hot, as spicy as it is currently allowed by health regulations. But the risk is worth the effort, as there are amazing prices to be won. Yes, I said that right. Prizes! As a consolation prize for those who drop out early, we have a pokeball set consisting of Heal balls provided by our lovely Nurse Joy."
Showing a set of six pink Heal balls, Blaine went on to show of the other prizes.
"For the third place winner, we got a fire stone. Look how pretty the flames twists in the stone. It looks as if its alive. A prefect item for the fire-type trainer, as here are a lot of fire types who need this pretty little stone."
Putting it back in the box, Blaine took out another item, which appeared to be a necklace with a water droplet pendant.
" Mystic water. While I am not a fan of water-type pokemon, it is a must have for those who want to beat their burning opponents. And last but not least... A hundred pieces of fire gems, cultivated through the flame of Moltres. These gorgeous little blinkers are to be consumed by a fire-type pokemon, slightly boosting its fire-type energy. Know that while the increase is slim, the increase is permanent! You heard me, permanent. Did I get your greedy little eyes lit with some fire? I hope so, or else this competition won't be amusing for us to watch. Now let the showdown begin!"
On the big screen behind them, a countdown was shown.
3
2
1
BEEP!
The contest had officially begun.
Set on the table were some kind of muffins, glaring red in color. Ares could already smell the spiciness just by sitting in front of it.
Nodding at Lucario, who had looked warily at the food in front of him, Ares took a tentative bite, only to almost choke.
Fuck it is spicy!
Tearing up a bit, Ares took another bite, followed by another.
His opponents seemed to have underestimated this competition as well, as the trainer with the Arbok had given up almost immediately. His Arbok was writhing on the ground as it downed buckets filled with moo-moo milk.
A few others dropped out as well, with only four people remaining in the contest.
The Munchlax trainer, the Raticate trainer, Ares and Lucario as well as the Swalot trainer.
While they were all persevering, the sweat was running down their faces, some even crying from the flaming pain their mouth and throat were currently enduring.
"The Raticate trainer has been disqualified! It is not allowed for another pokemon to enter the competition."
"What pokemon!?"
The trainer yelled, while his Raticate continued.
"Don't fool me boy! There is a Skwovet in your hoodie!"
Blaine yelled, gaining the attention of the crowd.
Having heard the commotion, a small head poked out of the boys hoodie, a few muffins being stuffed in its cheek pouches.
"Disquallified!"
Grumbling under his breath, the boy almost tripped, as the Munchlax toppled over. It tapped its bulching belly, burped loudly and fell asleep.
"Munchlax! Wake up you big oaf! I can't do this without you!"
The girl screamed in horror at her Munchlax, putting the muffins down and shaking her Munchlax hard to wake it up. A futile attempt, as Munchlax just yawned loudly, hitting his own trainer in the face with it and making her fall asleep as well.
"Trainer Izzy has given up."
A crew of Chansey came to collect the two from the stage, as the effects of a yawn attack would last longer than this competition would take.
That only left Ares with his Lucario and the Swalot trainer with his Swalot.
To be honest, Ares had begun to feel his limit approaching. While he didn't dislike spicy food, his tolerance for it wasn't the best. He was already feeling bloated, his Lucario not looking much better.
The only fortunate thing out of it was that the Swalot didn't look much better either. It was spilling food every now and then, its purple goopy body having taken a redder shade. They were at their limit as well. The only important question just remained. Who had eaten more?
"We have arrived at the final two contestants. I wonder who is going to win? Which of the two prizes drives them to enter the contest I wonder?"
As if pulled from his concentration, the trainer of the Swalot, a young adult in his early twenties looked around. Seeing he was one of the remaining two contestants, he suddenly stopped eating.
"If I stop now, will I get second place?"
Speaking up, he looked at Blaine.
"Uh... I suppose so?"
Blaine replied, taken aback a bit at the sudden question.
"Then we're done. Can I get my prize now?"
Putting down the red spiced up muffins, he held out his hand towards Blaine as his Swalot waited besides his trainer for Blaines reply.
"Seriously? What a boring ending. I had expected more zeal for the last prize, a hard battle between two trainers to win the first prize. What a shame. Ladies and gentleman, we've got our winners!"
Though a bit disappointed, Blaine regained his wide smile, handing each of the contestants their prizes.
Ares was given a large box filled with the fire gems, wondering how he should react as all he wanted to do right now, was down a few gallons of milk to wash away the burning sensation in his mouth.
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