บท 18: Jubilife Contest
Shuichi and Brock eventually caught up with Ash and Dawn at the contest hall, both exhausted from the sudden sprint.
"There he is! Shuichi, there is no entry limit, you gave us the scare of our lives!" Dawn wasn't pleased that she had run all this way for nothing.
Shuichi just looked at her innocently "Oh, well good news for you I suppose. I 'totally' didn't know that beforehand."
Dawn immediately understood Shuichi pranked her, "You- Ugh! One of these days I'm going to prank you back!"
Shuichi just laughed, "I'll be looking forward to that day." He doubted Dawn would be able to prank him, she just wasn't good at it.
Brock just shook his head seeing this, "So, what have we missed since you sprinted here?" He was more interested in the events that followed.
"So basically we got registered for the contest and they gave us a pass and these things." Ash recapped the events that Shuichi and Brock missed, which wasn't much.
In Ash's hand was a Contest pass along with a ball capsule and some free seals, the capsule and seals were something coordinators in Sinnoh often use.
"You seriously don't know what the seals do? It's simple, you put the Pokéball in the capsule, place a seal on it and then you throw it!" Dawn gave them a demonstration and placed a heart seal on the capsule.
Piplup popped out of the Pokéball with tons of hearts gushing everywhere, it was quite the sight to behold and attracted quite some attention.
Ash and Brock were amazed and Ash went off to buy more seals for Aipom to test out, they split off soon after with Ash saying he had to train Aipom and Brock joined him.
Shuichi looked at Dawn "Seems like it's just us two again. Want to continue our training?" He proposed to continue their training from yesterday.
Dawn quickly agreed and they both returned to the training ground, Shuichi didn't warn Dawn anymore and Dawn didn't try to convince Shuichi anymore. It seems like both were content.
Piplup managed to get Whirlpool almost down by the end of the training session; it was logical for a water-type Pokémon to learn water-type moves quickly.
Clamperl would still need a few days to learn Ice Beam but he managed to get it down to where Buneary didn't need to coach him anymore.
Eevee and Combusken didn't sit still either, Eevee was still learning Shadow Ball and even with the Spell Tag it was taking a while because the ghost type was the opposite of the normal type.
It also didn't help that Eevee was coaching Combusken on how to use Quick Attack, experience had proven that Quick Attack was an extremely versatile move that could be used for offence and defence.
Dawn and Shuichi separated once the sun was starting to set, Dawn stayed with Ash and Brock in a room while Shuichi had a room in the Center.
Shuichi didn't forget to feed his Pokémon as he still had food left over, it wouldn't be long until he had to restock. Luckily he still had ₽6,000 which would be more than enough for the journey to Oreburgh City.
Quickly it became night time and Ash and Brock were exhausted and quickly fell asleep, Dawn on the other hand had trouble sleeping.
She tried to sleep for well over an hour. However, she was constantly thinking about the contest the next day, and quietly sneaked out of bed and went onto the balcony of the room.
"Piplup, Buneary, come out." She whispered as she threw both their Pokéballs, Piplup and Buneary took a deep yawn awoken by Dawn.
Dawn walked to the edge of the balcony and looked over at the city, "It looks nice." She said as both her Pokémon also watched.
Suddenly Dawn could hear something, "Tch, tch, tch" It was the sound of a short hissing type of sound. She and her Pokémon looked over to see someone on the balcony next to her.
"Shuichi!?" She blurted out almost yelling before she realised Ash and Brock were still asleep, although they were fast sleepers they would awaken if enough noise was there.
Shuichi stopped his shadow boxing exercise as he looked over to where he was being called, "Oh, good night Dawn, did I wake you guys up?" he asked in a whispered tone.
Dawn shook her head "No, I can't sleep due to thoughts surrounding the contest. But what were you doing?" She was more interested in what Shuichi was doing.
"Oh, I- uh, wasn't tired yet so I tried to do some exercise to tire myself out." Shuichi tried to avoid the reason why he couldn't sleep with a half-lie.
Dawn didn't seem to buy it. "Shuichi, I've known you for 8 years, I can tell when you're telling a terrible lie."
('Busted again.') Shuichi sighed as he realised she did know him too well, "I've…been having nightmares." Shuichi revealed the real reason why he couldn't sleep, he had another nightmare.
"Nightmares!? Mind if I ask what they're about?" Dawn was a little hesitant, nightmares weren't fun to talk about.
Shuichi just sighed again, maybe it was better to talk about it than to keep it cropped up. The last time he shared it with his Pokémon did help a little.
"I always see…horrible things, feel horrible things, and it always concludes with me asking if I want to stop the hurt by shutting off my emotions again." Shuichi left out the part about his memories but kept the core intact.
Dawn paled a little hearing that description even Buneary and Piplup felt a shock as they heard what Shuichi said. "That… just sounds exhausting." She commented and Shuichi nodded.
It was exhausting and Shuichi was distracting himself with some shadow boxing to not hear the voices anymore, it wouldn't do well for his body but at least his mind was calm.
Dawn on the other hand felt a little silly about her problems, "You know, here I am thinking about tomorrow when you don't even know when the problem will stop."
Shuichi just shook his head "Dawn, you shouldn't compare problems like that." Comparing problems wasn't a healthy mindset, not that he was one to brag about healthy mindsets.
Dawn just smiled and shook her head, "I'm not worried about tomorrow, I'm more excited to show off Piplup and Buneary to the crowd to be able to sleep." Piplup and Buneary appreciated the compliments and were also excited about the next day.
('So she's still overconfident a little, I just hope this doesn't come back to bite her.') Shuichi could only hope at this time, he's already tried to convince her and she didn't take it well.
"Plus I got this for good luck, my mom's very first contest ribbon that she won." Dawn continued to show off her good luck charm, it was a simple gold pin with two ribbons.
Shuichi indeed recognised it as Johanna's ribbon, she must've gotten it gifted from Johanna. "And here I was worried about you, seems like my worry was not needed," he revealed to Dawn.
Dawn on the other hand looked more concerned to Shuichi, "I'm the one who should be worried about you, everytime I see you you seem to have new problems."
Shuichi flinched a little, that didn't sound good did it? "I've got an idea, and no it doesn't involve Mesprit. I doubt it would even help me again even if I begged." Mesprit had told him it wasn't going to help him again.
"Knowing you the idea has a high chance of succeeding, still I hope for your success." Dawn was confident about Shuichi and his idea even though she didn't know what it entailed.
Dawn quickly yawned after the conversation with Shuichi, "Wow, talking about it just felt a lot better. I'd better get back to sleep, you try to sleep as well Shuichi." She also recalled Piplup and Buneary.
"Sure, I'll try to as well." Shuichi agreed and he was also getting tired, talking about it may have helped after all.
Shuichi and Dawn both went back to bed and both managed to sleep well without any more troubles.
Soon it was the next day and Shuichi was walking to the contest hall along with the group. Along the way were multiple vendors near the entrance trying to sell their wares.
Shuichi could also sense that Team Rocket's Meowth was here, that Pokémon had such a recognisable emotion along with the fact it could talk made it like a firefly in the night to Shuichi.
They seemed to be busy selling seals, he wasn't going to mess with them again but he noticed they got much quieter once they walked past them.
Once at the contest hall, they all walked to the waiting room which was open to the public, lots of people were in costume and Dawn quickly went off to the dressing room to change.
Minutes slowly passed as Dawn was still nowhere in sight, Brock went off to look for her only to come up empty.
Now Shuichi was getting worried, had something happened to her? "I'll go and look for her." He said as he ran off.
Shuichi ran through the halls of the contest building, it was a pretty big building but he soon managed to run into Dawn.
"There you are! They're beginning the first round, let's go!" Shuichi said to Dawn who nodded and followed along with Shuichi.
Once back in the waiting room Ash and Brock were relieved Dawn was ready, "I was having trouble with my hair, when Zoey who's the girl who found my choker helped me out." She explained while looking for Zoey in the crowd.
Meanwhile, on the TV screen, Marian who was the brunette announcer dressed in a yellow coat with a pink skirt and pink top underneath announced the first contest as Zoey.
Zoey was wearing a white stylish suit rather than a dress like Dawn, it seems she's more of the tomboyish type of girl.
Zoey released a Misdreavus that was covered in a fog from the seal, she issued a Double Team which caused Misdreavus to multiply and coagulate into a giant shadow.
During the first round which was an 'appeal' round coordinators would show off their Pokémon and moves spectacularly to move on to the next round
Shuichi couldn't sense Misdreavus's emotions from a television screen which is something he had found out a long time ago.
"She knows what she's doing," Ash noted a little impressed, Brock nodded and mentioned it was a great appeal for a ghost-Pokémon.
"Not only that, she's raising the crowd's attention by having Misdreavus be mysterious." Shuichi knew that mystery would often attract attention.
Zoey waited for a second before having Misdreavus send out her Double Team clones with a Confuse Ray, the clones went into different ways before phasing out.
Finally, a small Pokémon was floating in the sky with a dark bluish-green body and yellow eyes with red irises. With no arms or legs, its body ended in a small "skirt".
Around its neck were spherical, jewel-like, red pieces that gave it the appearance that it was wearing a necklace. Misdreavus also had gaseous, long, flowing hair with faded magenta-purple highlights.
As Dawn checked out Misdreavus on her Pokédex, Zoey continued her appeal by having Misdreavus send out a Shock Wave.
Shock Wave was an omnidirectional electric-type move that hit all around the user, and this one just looked powerful by having the shocks extend to nearly the entire crowd.
Everyone was surprised at the power of the move and Shuichi wondered if she also did battles like Nando.
The Shock Wave ended in sparkles and Zoey and Misdreavus both waved to the crowd as their appeal ended. The crowd at the contest hall all cheered at the show.
There were three judges during a contest, for this contest the judges were; The tournament director Mr. Contesta. The head of the Pokémon fan club Mr. Sukizo and finally Jubilife City's own Nurse Joy.
The judges would give their commentary on the appeal and they would decide later on who would continue to the next round, for this round they all gave excellent reviews for Zoey's appeal.
Dawn quickly approached Zoey as she came back to the waiting room. "Zoey! You were amazing!" She complimented Zoey's appeal.
Zoey nodded. "Thanks, Dawn, I see you're not a nervous mess." She noted how Dawn looked more calm than others.
Dawn also nodded. "I'm not that nervous! I've got my friends here to back me up!" She pointed to Shuichi and the group.
Zoey looked over "I see, will you all also be joining the contest?" Interested in whether the group is also entering the contest.
Ash shook his head, "Not everyone, Me and Dawn are in the contest. Brock and Shuichi are here for support."
Zoey looked at Shuichi and seemed to be in deep thought, suddenly she exclaimed "You're the recent winner of the tournament a few days ago right?"
Shuichi was a little embarrassed, did people still remember that tournament? "Indeed I am, but I'm here to cheer for Dawn and Ash." Shifting the attention back to the main players.
Zoey could appreciate Shuichi not hogging all the glory from that little event, she only mentioned it to test him a little. "Are you going for the League?" She asked Shuichi.
Shuichi nodded "Indeed I am, no offence but contests aren't my or my Pokémon's interests." He explained his stance on contests.
Zoey smiled, "That's fine, I respect either path as long as you're committed to one." She commented on her stance.
Ash on the other hand had a confused look, "I'm also going for the League, I only entered because my Aipom wanted to."
This on the other hand got Zoey mad "Then what are you doing also entering contests? Pick a side either the League or contests." And with that, Zoey stormed off.
Dawn was surprised at the sudden turn of emotions "What was that about?" she wondered why Zoey got so mad all of a sudden.
('So in her eyes people have to commit to one side and just stick with it? That just seems narrow-minded.') Shuichi evaluated Zoey's character.
Ash on the other hand just smiled, "Who cares, I'll just battle my way!" Ash didn't care much and they continued watching the appeals.
Many appeals ranged from a Bidoof chewing on a piece of wood to a Carnivine chomping on a person's head, that one had to hurt in everyone's mind.
Ash was up next as he was called up by a backstage staffer, everyone wished him good luck as he went up on stage.
On the TV screen, Ash was introduced as he threw Aipom's Pokéball, stars popped when Aipom was released due to the seal he had placed on the seal case.
Ash had Aipom use Swift against the stars from the seal, Aipom's stars collided with the seal stars and they showered Aipom in sparkles. Next Ash had Aipom use Double Team across the air and have Aipom punch them all down with a Focus Punch while Aipom was spinning.
The crowd cheered loudly as the judges gave Ash good reviews as they could see an underlying style towards battling in the appeal.
"Not bad for a one-day preparation time, I assume he's had previous experience in contests?" Shuichi complimented Ash and looked at Brock with the question.
Brock nodded, "Indeed he's been in a few contests in the Hoenn region with another friend of ours." Surprising Dawn who didn't know Ash had been in contests.
"Ready Dawn? You're up next." Another staffer told Dawn she was up next. Dawn thanked the staffer and got ready.
"It's crunch time." Brock said while Shuichi added, "It's your time to shine, just like you've always wanted."
"Thanks, I'll be sure to shine on stage!" Dawn was excited and ran off, Zoey also wished Dawn good luck as she passed her.
Dawn appeared quickly on TV as she released Piplup in the air, bubbles popped out due to the seal she used.
She had Piplup use Bubble Beam to shoot the bubbles from the seal upwards in the sky, then she had Piplup use Peck.
Piplup extended its beak by storing up power, on Dawn's signal Piplup jumped into the air and popped all the bubbles with its beak. Piplup's head moved so fast it was barely followable.
All the bubbles popped and sparkles were everywhere as if fireworks had been set off during the appeal, the crowd cheered loudly for Dawn's appeal and the judges gave her good reviews.
Dawn came back to the waiting room "Wow, my heart was beating so loudly during the appeal. I'm glad it's over."
Just as Shuichi was about to compliment her she suddenly collapsed on the floor, "Dawn!? Are you okay?" Shuichi stepped forward to check up on her, he was concerned she had gotten an adrenaline crash.
Just as Shuichi was going to check, Dawn suddenly smiled and laughed. "Looks like I managed to prank you!"
A smile crept up on Shuichi's face, she got him with that prank. "Oh, and here I was concerned that there was something wrong with my good friend," he said sarcastically.
"It's a little soon to be relieved Dawn," Zoey said as she helped Dawn back up. "After all, we're supposed to fight each other in the finals," Zoey added.
Suddenly the announcer was getting ready to announce the final 8 who would move on to the next round, everyone waited with baited breath as the screen suddenly showed eight faces.
Zoey, Ash, and Dawn were all on the screen along with 5 others. Even the woman who had a Carnivine chomp at her head somehow passed.
"Congrats, look like you both made it." Shuichi congratulated Ash and Dawn while Zoey only congratulated Dawn.
Dawn was relieved to have passed the first round and went to call her mother to tell her the good news, Zoey didn't talk to Ash as she still found it insulting he entered the contest.
The contest had a small break to allow the coordinators to decompress and for them to set up the next stage.
The next round was a battle stage, it wasn't battling in the normal sense though. Each coordinator had a point total and the battle would only last for five minutes maximum.
They would have to outshine their opponent by either cancelling out their attack or using it to show off their own Pokémon. It sounded a lot easier than it was because it required a lot of finesse.
Of course, if the opponent is knocked out then you win by default, however, with only a five-minute battle knockouts happen rarely.
Soon the first battle was decided and it would be Ash vs Zoey, Ash tried to give Zoey a handshake out of respect but Zoey wasn't having any of it as she ignored Ash and left for the stage.
Shuichi and the rest headed for the audience to watch the show live, the TV screen was showing the match however watching it in public was something else.
Ash quickly went up onto the stage while the group watched from the audience, this way Shuichi could also see the emotions of the Pokémon.
The announcer gave them the signal to begin and Ash started "Aipom, I choose you!" and threw Aipom's Pokéball. Stars again popped out as he was still using the seal.
"Glameow, Curtain!" Zoey also called out as she threw out Glameow's Pokéball, confetti appeared around Glameow as it spun and landed on its feet.
Shuichi could sense that Aipom was excited and happy to be in a contest battle, Glameow's emotions were different from the last time Shuichi had seen it. There was pride but also some disgust, It seems like it echoed Zoey's emotions.
"Aipom, use Focus Punch!" Ash went for an immediate effective move, if that Focus Punch lands Glameow will probably be knocked out.
Zoey only smiled, "Stay, Glameow." and Glameow began to sit down as if nothing were approaching it. Shuichi could feel the absolute trust Glameow had in Zoey but also had a level of expectancy.
"Why not have Glameow dodge?" Dawn was a little confused and Brock added "She's planning something." Although he couldn't sense emotions he was still a seasoned gym leader and knew his strategies.
Ash didn't seem to be overly concerned and had Aipom continue, suddenly Zoey gave the command "Now, grab Aipom!" and Glameow's tail was shot forward and grabbed Aipom's tail.
Everyone was surprised at the sudden turn of events, "Wow! Glameow's fast!" Dawn noted Glameow's speed while Brock added "Waiting for the last minute, that's some gutsy strategy!"
('Gutsy? Not in my eyes, Glameow was ready and knew what was coming.') Shuichi could see more than them so he added his commentary in his head.
"Now give Aipom a spin!" Zoey told Glameow who began spinning like a top and suddenly flung Aipom into the sky. "Aipom! Focus and use Swift!" Ash instructed and Aipom shot off stars at Glameow causing stars to hit it.
('Ash managed to win some points back with that one.') Shuichi noted the scoreboard which was almost exactly equal once more.
Zoey wasn't happy "Fury Swipes!" and Glameow began charging in with glowing white claws. Ash quickly countered "Double Team!" Aipom began to multiply and quickly got behind Glameow.
"Now use Swift!" Ash capitalised on the opening and attacked, Zoey wasn't one to back down from a fight. "Dodge it and use Fury Swipes!" Glameow jumped away and used Fury swipes to redirect the stars from Swift back at Aipom earning her major points.
Dawn was surprised "How did Glameow do that!?" Brock explained, "Glameow is strong and fast and it showed off Zoey's tactics as well."
('Indeed, seems like Zoey's strategy is mainly misdirection') Shuichi noted Zoey's strategy, misdirection was akin to drawing attention to one side while doing something on the other side.
"No matter! Aipom Focus Punch!" Ash tried to push through with another strong Focus Punch. "Iron Tail!" Zoey countered with an Iron Tail, and both Pokémon's tails collided as it seemed like they were equal.
"Now extend!" Zoey suddenly said and Glameow's tail straightened and slammed directly into Aipom causing a massive point loss. It was around 30 seconds left and Zoey had almost three times Ash's score.
Ash still didn't give up, even if the odds were against him. "Focus Punch!" Ash said to Aipom who also didn't give up trying once more. "Shadow Claw!" Zoey countered once more with a rather unorthodox move.
"That's a ghost-type move, those are ineffective to normal types!" Dawn was excited but Brock could smell trouble "I don't think she's aiming for a hit."
The Shadow Claw and Focus Punch met causing the Shadow Claw to be suppressed but the Focus Punch was much slower, "Now jump and use Iron Tail!" Zoey timed it well and Glameow jumped and did a frontflip smashing its tail into Aipom once more.
With only ten seconds on the clock, Ash decided on one last attempt, "Focus Punch with everything you got!" Zoey didn't expect Ash to go for it and froze. Glameow also didn't expect it as nervousness and panic were clear on its face and emotions.
Luckily time ran out and Zoey was declared the winner with Aipom's tail only a small inch away from Glameow's face. If that Focus Punch had landed then Glameow would've lost due to a knockout.
Ash didn't seem to be too upset if his attempts at soothing Aipom were anything, they quickly met again in the waiting room where Aipom got a bowl of food for its hard work.
"That was an amazing battle, Ash!" Dawn showed her enthusiasm by complimenting Ash. Shuichi nodded "Indeed, it was a good battle but if you ask me it wasn't quite a 'contest' battle."
Ash didn't seem to take it to heart. "Yeah, you're right, I forgot to focus on the appeal part and lost a lot of points due to that."
Zoey quickly came up to Ash as he congratulated her on her win, she only looked at Ash and eventually said. "That last Focus Punch froze me in my tracks, had this been an actual battle with no time limit then you would've won."
"Thanks for a great battle!" Zoey shook Ash's hand as she said that last line. Dawn was happy her new friend was able to make it up with Ash so quickly and Shuichi had half expected it, Ash's penchant for trouble would always come back and makeup with him.
"Still, no offence but contests aren't where you shine the most." Zoey still didn't think Ash should be in contests and Ash agreed with her. "Ash only entered because Aipom wanted to so badly!" Dawn revealed, surprising Zoey.
"Then why don't you raise Aipom Dawn?" Zoey suddenly asked, surprising everyone, if Aipom liked contests then why not have Dawn raise it?
('It's a good idea, however, there was one glaring problem, Dawn didn't have anything to trade back.') Shuichi realised Pokémon trades was more common than one expected. Pokémon and trainers had to have chemistry, if they didn't mix then maybe with another trainer.
"I-I can't do that Zoey, I don't even have a Pokémon to trade with Ash." Dawn quickly replied, rejecting Zoey's advice. Zoey didn't say much as it was time for Dawn's contest battle.
Shuichi initially looked forward to Dawn's battle but sadly it wasn't much of a 'battle'. Buneary managed to freeze the opposing Bidoof in a solid block of ice making it unable to battle.
The next battle was the woman with the Carnivine against a Rhydon, Rhydon were grey rhinoceros-like Pokémon standing bipedally along with a long tail and a horn.
The Carnivine managed to wrap up the Rhydon and proceed to win the battle from there, there were other battles but none were too important to mention.
Soon it was time for the third round, and it started with Zoey vs Dawn. Dawn was excited to face a high-level coordinator like Zoey, Zoey appreciated the compliment and was also going all in.
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