“Here’s our seats!” Valerie calls behind herself towards Matt. He scurries over and takes the seat next to hers as the doors of the seating area open behind them, rows of people beginning to file in.
“V-Vesper really knows her timing well,” Matt mutters, “That was almost…too perfect.”
Larry couldn’t help but agree from inside his Pokeball. It had taken a moment to get Matt away from the other contestants, they had been surprisingly forthcoming about letting him interview or photograph them. It might’ve been one of the effects of them being up-and-coming, with an entirely new season of contestants getting their start at today's event.
Whatever the case was, Valerie had ripped Matt off of them regardless and dragged him to their seats. The arena was a dome, with seating surrounding an arena in the middle, which looked to be smaller than a full-sized soccer field in size, but also larger than your average Gym back in his last life.
There was a small booth in the middle of one of the long edges of the arena, presumably for the judges to sit, while the other held the entrance for the contestant into the arena.
It featured only a single line of bleachers, but there had to be multiple hundreds of seats in the arena, ‘I knew this wasn’t some small grassroots event, but isn’t this more people than came to our Gym Battle already?! I can already see rows of people filing in here from multiple entrances…’
He wasn’t going to say he was mad, they had probably gotten way more views on the recordings of their fight anyway, ‘It was badly timed too, who’s gonna wake up early in the morning just to go watch a Gym Battle?’
“Definitely was timely…” Valerie noted as she picked both Larry's and Sybil's balls from her belt, holding their minimixed form in one hand to give them a better view, “Does this work for you guys? I would’ve paid for a seat for both of you if it wasn’t so pricey…”
Larry shook his ball once, a confirmation, ‘I don’t think I would’ve been able to look over the person sitting in front anyway…This is better.’
“Good! So,” Valerie begins, turning back to Matt, “What do you think we’ll get to see from Stella and Vesper? ”
“I-I read up a little on the people participating…” Matt explained as he fumbled with his phone, “Vesper isn’t some underdog…S-She’s been taking part in contests for years now, she’s a…uhh…regular…in the scene…”
“Uh-huh?” His trainer nodded, “Sooo…she’s well-known. Does that mean she’s also good?”
Matt simply nodded back, “Mhhm…She got real close to winning the whole conference last year.”
‘Then why was Stella so confident winning?’ Larry wondered, ‘This is going to be her first contest, isn’t it? I doubt she’d do so well on her first try.’
The Pokemon and Trainer seemed to have the same thought, as Valerie almost repeated his thought process, “Then why was Stella so confident?”
“There, uhh…isn’t really a way to ‘w-win’ in the first round.” Matt explained as he aphostrophied the word win with his fingers, “D-Do you know how contests work?”
“Well…” Valerie looked around uneasily, “I guess you just perform something with your Pokemon and…try to woo the judges?”
Matt looked slightly befuddled by her clueless answer, eliciting a shrug from Valerie, “W-What? C’mon! I never watched contests back at home, battles were so much more fun to look at. Can you blame me?!”
“You got it right, b-basically.” Matt finally responded, Patrat on his shoulder, facepalming, “You perform, the judges tell you what they think of it, and, uhm…when everyone performed, they kick out a specific amount of contestants.”
“Right.” Nodding in understanding, Valerie raised her hand for another question, “How many people pass?”
“T-That depends on the contest.” He explains, Patrat on his shoulder nodding, “Small contests usually have a Top 4, this one will have a Top 8, a-and the Grand Festival has a Top 16.”
“Top 8 to do what?” Valerie asked.
“You don’t know that either?” Matt asked exasperatedly, Larry’s trainer squirming deeper into her seat, “The Battling Stage. C-Contestants battle against each other while looking good for points, uhmm…and the one who gets the most points wins in the end.”
‘Huh…’ Larry learned something now today as well, ever uncaring about contests, in both the Anime and Games, ‘So I guess Valerie’s Chances aren’t absolutely terrible then.’ There had been around twenty or thirty people in the Green Room, so Larry could see how her performance might stand out against the rest.
“So in the end, they still battle…Just with a focus on looking appealing while doing so?” Valerie wondered with a finger on her chin, “Let me guess, they lose points for being hit?”
“Y-You got it.” Matt looked around like their young traveling partner might appear behind or next to him before leaning in close to Valerie, “A-Actually, I went and sneaked a look over to her while she was training…What she’s doing…I-I don’t know if she’ll win with it, b-but I think it’ll be pretty interesting to the audience…”
“You snuck a peek?” His trainer gasped jokingly, “Stella told me to keep away so I wouldn’t find out, don’t ruin the surprise!”
“A-Alright…” Matt goes back to fumbling around with his phone, “I-I’ll be recording this for my channel though…”
…
A few minutes later, after everyone had finally filed in, someone finally appeared on the stage, and the crowd erupted in cheers. A brown-haired woman appears, wearing a sporty referee outfit and waving her arms, “Hello, everyone! Welcome to the first contest of the year, right here in Pewter City!”
The crowd erupts in even louder cheers, the woman continuing her MCing, “We have another wonderful group of contestants here this year, ready to perform alongside their Pokemon to see who can take the Pewter City Ribbon this time around! I am Lillian Meridian, here to moderate the event!”
She took a moment to sweep her eyes over the audience, “But first, give another round of applause to the head of the Pokemon Activities Committee that organized this event, Mister Raoul Contesta, one of the three judges who will be rating our contestants tonight!”
The crowd applauded as an older man in a flashy red suit with greying hair took a few tentative steps into the middle of the stage before taking the microphone from Lillian.
"Thank you, Lillian. On behalf of the Pokémon Activities Committee, it is an honor to kick off the season here in Pewter City. We aren't just looking for powerful moves today, we are looking for the heart of the partnership between Trainer and Pokémon. I expect to see grace, discipline, and above all, a performance that truly shines. To all our contestants—show us the results of your hard work. Good luck to you all!"
Once again, the crowd erupts as the man takes his seat at the judging booth. Lillian continues moderating the event, introducing the other judges of the event. First in line is Mr. Raoul Contesta himself, then there is a smaller man in a suit with a shaven head, who goes by the name Mr. Sukizo, being part of some Pokemon Fan Club, and finally, the local Nurse Joy.
‘What's this lineup?’ Larry wondered, ‘Nurse Joy, I understand, but what’s with the two old guys?’
Perhaps he could understand that the president of the Pokemon Fan Club being one of the judges, that sounds like a job that could take some knowledge regarding Pokemon, ‘But…what about the boss of the committee?’
Nobody else seemed to have any hangups about the panel of judges, so Larry could only assume that this was regular business for contests. Seeing that, Larry decided to leave his preconceived notions at the door, ‘Haven’t even seen a single performance, maybe I’ll give them a chance for now.’
…
Everyone got situated, and Lillian continued her MCing as they prepared to get the first contestant out and performing.
“Alright, everyone!” She once again addressed the crowd, “Our first contestant of the day is a newcomer, Mister Taiko from Pewter City! Give him a round of applause!”
Mister Taiko turned out to be an older man in a simple suit and trilby, who entered in a slow and deliberate walk, waving to the audience as he finally stopped in the trainer's box at the end of the stage.
“Go, Mippy!”
POP! “Meowth!”
A Meowth appeared on the stage, posing for the audience. “Mippy, let’s start simple. Show them some of your moves!”
“Mew-ahh!” Mippy began to move and started a scene of acrobatics, bounding forwards in large leaps before rolling into a flip and landing on its back legs.
“Fury Swipes, Mippy!” The Mewoth responds immediately, jumping up into the air and slashing the air so violently that the Normal-TE seeping off of its claws stays in the air in large grooves.
“Now Mippy, Slash! Just like we practiced!” Mister Taiko assures his Pokemon and it obliges. Mippy takes a running leap, flipping backwards once before it positions itself over the Normal-TE of its Fury Swipes, and then proceeds to strike through the long, white gashes in the air vertically with a single one of its claws, creating a net of lines floating throughout the air.
The crowd ooh’s and aah’s at the display, watching as Mippy continues her acrobatics on ground level, cartwheeling, spinning, and flipping along the floor like a gymnast possessed.
“Now Mippy, let’s finish this off with the Body Slam!” Mister Taiko slapped his hands together to regain his Pokemon’s attention. It stopped its crazed gymnastics and snuck underneath the web of slashes still slowly dissipating the air.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
“Meee-OWTH!” Mippy jumped up, its body wreathed in Normal-TE, crashing straight into the web of Type Energy. The web cracked, exploding into a shower of white, glittering stars that rained down on the stage, judges, and audience. Landing in the middle, Mippy once again posed, just like at the beginning of the performance, the only difference now being that glinting of thousands of little specks of Normal-TE that rained down around everything around it.
“Wow…That was amazing!” Just as everyone else in the audience, Valerie was awestruck and applauded the performance. Mister Taiko took his Pokemon into his arms and waved towards the audience, a smile behind his moustachioed face.
“A stunning first performance!” Lillian nodded towards Mister Taiko, “Let’s see what our judges think of it!”
Mister Contesta was first, “What an innovative way to use Normal-Type moves!”
“Remarkable!” Mr. Sukizo kept his judgment short and sweet.
Nurse Joy was next, “Your Meowths fur is pristine! It is obvious you take good care of her appearance!”
“And that's the judgment!” Lillian concluded, to applause and cheers from the audience, “Thank you very much! Let’s bring out the next contestant!”
…
The show continued on, and Larry could say he was quite surprised by the sheer number of new ways to apply moves he was finding out about. There were so many different types of Pokemon showing off their unique way of performing.
There was a young girl with her Butterfree who used a variety of Powder-based moves to create a wonderful rainbow colored rain which painted the stage in various colors.
Obviously, not every move performance could woo audiences. The poor girl they’d spotted in the green room with her Jigglypuff looked about ready to cry when she entered and got her first look at the audience. It was obvious that her singing performance wasn’t going to work out, her voice was too shaky, and her Jigglypuff was too focused on trying to calm her down instead of singing. By the end, everyone could see the girl's lip quiver as she speed-walked back to the green room.
A young, flamboyant man in a green outfit, with purple hair, who used a Pokemon not native to Kanto: a Cacturne. A surprisingly unique Pokemon for anyone to use, Larry felt like he’d seen the man somewhere before, but just couldn’t place him well. His performance was at disliked, performing an eerie dance that the audience didn’t quite appreciate.
Another contestant who appeared to get a strong reception was a woman called Solidad, Pewter City-born, who was something of a local and regional contest star. She used a Slowbro to create a display of water by utilizing the Pokemon’s Water Gun alongside Psychic. Gaining a large round of cheers from both the judges and the audience while doing so.
According to Matt, she hasn’t had her big break yet, but just like Vesper or Stella, she was someone a lot of eyes were on at the moment. All three of them could see that she was a potential rival for their friend and a veteran of the scene at that.
…
The performances passed them by after that; even the audience got tired of applauding all the time by the end of the first round. With so many contestants, it was obvious there’d be some exhaustion by the end. Not from Valerie and Matt, though, the two chatted between rounds, talking about the novel applications of different moves they saw.
“I mean, it was obvious, but I never thought to move the Pokemon yourself with Psychic.” Valerie thought to herself, “Maybe Sybil could use that to dodge better in flight?”
“T-The Stun Spore and Sleep Spore of t-that Butterfree also had such different colors.” Matt noted, “C-Couldn’t you use that to predict enemy moves if they don’t call them out?”
Larry saw plenty he found interesting, but unfortunately, Rock-Types made bad contest Pokemon. There was one breakthrough, though, when he saw a kid with a Machop apply his Fighting-Type moves, he suddenly found a reason why he could’ve come up on complications during his training of Brick Break.
Like most Rock-Type, Larry was somewhat of a brute. He wouldn’t deny that so far, he’s mostly come this far with birthright and human ingenuity, with his Pokemon knowledge guiding the way. Yet, he wouldn’t have called himself a fighter in his past life, he had lived a passive life. So by now, he’d mostly gotten by by simply hitting the things really hard, be it using Dark, Normal, Rock, or any other Type.
The way the kids Machop moved was unlike any other motion Larry had ever done. It moved in short and measured motions, focusing its strength inward before coiling outwards in bouts of power. An amazing sight, it looked and acted like a miniature Karate black belt or Judo Master.
To Larry, that had to be the X-Factor in this equation, because while Fighting-TE mentally didn’t have any requirements to be able to be conjured, allowing any old schmuck like Larry to attempt to use one of its moves. If they had enough knowledge about how to bring it about. It didn’t mean they could perform the complicated movements required to conjure the required effect as well.
From the way the Machop moved, it seemed to Larry like you needed both the mindset of focus, discipline, and martial prowess, while also training your body in the same way to be able to properly use Fighting-Type moves. At least thats Larrys best guess after he saw the Machops performance.
‘At least I’ve got something to try now.’ Larry nodded, ‘I guess the moves called Brick Break, so the form of videos of people breaking roof shingles and stuff is the best fit? Man…I thought I just had to hit it really hard…’
His concentration was broken when Lillian finally announced the next contestant, “Next up is a young contestant! This is this girl's first contest, so please, a round of applause for Stella Palecrest!”
“Palecrest?” One audience member behind them asked dumbly.
“Aurora?” Another somewhere else wondered.
“Ooh! Stella's finally on!” Valerie rolled her shoulders and cracked her knuckles, refocusing, “Let’s see what she has planned!”
“Y-Yeah…”
The air around Stella was different this time around. She walked out from behind the curtains on the side of the stage wearing a beautiful, long dress. Something that looked to Larry like something a Disney Princess might wear, not very surprising considering they had seen ten or more young girls so far in dresses of all kinds. Yet, even now, Stella’s was somewhat special, it was a stunning, multi-layered performance dress designed specifically for a Pokémon Contest.
The bodice of the dress features a sleeveless top with delicate trim along the neckline and shoulders. A central star motif and several smaller stars trailing down the front gave Stella the perfect idol-like presentation. The large bell-shaped skirt was made up of multiple layers of fabric, with the topmost one featuring artificial gems of some sort in the shape of stars.
If Larry hadn’t known any better, he would’ve thought that she was an actual idol by the way she carried herself right now, ‘-No wait a minute, where the hell did she keep that damn dress?! They don’t do rentals here, do they?’
The answer came to him almost immediately, ‘Ah, she also has a Silph Co. Backpack…Practically infinite storage, be praised!’
She moved with an amount of grace he’d never seen from her before. The previously anxious young girl was gone, and she picked a Pokeball from somewhere with a flourish, “Mori, give them a real show!”
In a flash, Mori appeared, his metallic plumage shimmering against the stage lights like it had been perfectly polished. The crowd ooh’s silently at the display before her performance continues.
“Now Mori, to the skies!” A single large flap of its wings was all it took for Mori to begin its flight, and he hoved in the air with a practiced ease as one of his eyes scanned the audience. Stella threw an open, upturned hand into the air, like an opera singer, “Dance with me, Mori! Aerial Ace! ”
Her Pokemon obliged, diving down again and stopping just short of the ground, a plume of dust kicking itself up in the process as it sped along the floor. Skarmory could fly at extreme speeds, and that was on display right now, as Mori was headed on a direct crash course towards his trainer.
She kept calm, not a single worry on her face, as her hand slowly dropped down in front of her body in a stopping motion.
‘Is Mori gonna stop?!’ Larry worried that the Pokemon only accelerated the short distance of the stage as he rushed towards his trainer, ‘He’s heading right towards her!’
A single word was all it took for Mori to stop in his tracks, “Stop.”
The Flying-Type stopped on a dime, flapping his wings right in front of his trainer's outstretched hand, the plume of air and dust he’d kicked up with his travels shot past, billowing Stella's hair into the wind. She began turning, as Mori turned with her, following her outstretched hand obediently in a full 360-degree turn around his trainer while floating right in front of her.
‘Whoa…’ Larry had already been worried for his friend's health, but it seemed like he didn’t need to worry anymore, ‘I didn’t think he could stop that quickly…’
His face was one of complete and utter focus, showing that Mori had clearly learned his lesson and started acting right after the situation in Viridan Forest.
“Now, Go!” She instructed, and Mori followed, flying in reverse before he reoriented himself in the right direction to once again rush away from his trainer, “Dance!”
Mori did as instructed, swooping, flipping, and rolling through the limited airspace in the arena like he wasn’t even scared of nicking his wings or hitting a wall. Larry's eyes were focused on Stella herself, though, as she retrieved pieces of cardboard from somewhere nearby.
“Mori, it's time for the finale!” Holding up a large piece of rectangular cardboard, she’d drawn a design on with a single hand above her head, “Show them how fearsome you are! Slash!”
Her Pokemon obliged, once again turning in its flight and rushing towards its trainer on ground level. His speed kept climbing in the short space they had available in the arena until he was nothing but a blur, shooting straight towards his trainer.
It all happened so fast, it barely took less than three seconds, a sparkle of Normal-TE formed around the blur's wings just before meeting his trainer. Mori pulled upwards at the last second, not even a sound beyond the rushing of air to indicate it so. He turned into a loop, flying up against the roof of the arena as everyone watched what had happened to Stella.
The piece of cardboard in her hand was entirely unharmed until the buffeting wall of air Mori had created followed in his wake and finally kicked the cut piece of cardboard at the top directly off the cut line and down onto the floor. The crowd loved the display, throwing themselves into cheer and applause.
‘Whoa…Cool!’ Even Larry was amazed by the display, which felt like a shonen anime trope, ‘The cardboard hadn’t even known it was cut until the wind came along!’
Yet, Stella had more to show, she picked another flat square off from behind herself, holding it up with both hands above her head. She tapped the material twice, letting a loud, metallic THUNK THUNK!
“We’re not done, Mori! Again! Slash!”
‘Is that…sheet metal or something?’ It was obvious by the sound it wasn’t a material that was easily cut, ‘And Mori’s gonna do the same thing again?’
“Scarr!” Mori, still upside down languaidly floating at the top of the arena, flipped at the other end of it, beginning to accelerate. The way the Steel-Type could accelerate in flight was amazing. The arena was big enough for Flying-Types, but Larry also knew Skarmory could accelerate to over 300 Kilometers per hour. He just hadn’t known they could do it so quickly, ‘He’s like a biological fighter jet!’
In the few seconds it took Mori to pass through the entire arena, his wing once again began to glow, and he passed at an incredible speed just above Stella's head before turning once again into a loop up near the ceiling of the arena.
Once again, the piece of sheet metal in her hand looked to be entirely unaffected just until the wave of air passed over her, billowing both her hair into the air behind her and knocking the top piece of sheet metal Mori had managed to cut off of its place, previously still, seemingly rigidly attached.
The crowd roared a second time, applauding and cheering for the girl even louder. Between the litany of dances and other stiff performances they’d seen today, this was definitely one of the most unique ones. It felt like Stella had brought a monster truck show to an opera event, bringing the crowd's full attention back to Stella, currently on stage.
Mori did one more pass near the roof of the arena before gently landing next to Stella as the two leaned forward into a bow to show the end of their performance. Once again, the crowd cheered, the performance had most definitely reinvigorated the show after the amount of middling or simple performances that had been shown off in a row.
“Now if that wasn’t a riveting performance!” Lillian agreed with the crowd's sentiment, “Let’s see what our judges have to say about it!”
Mister Contesta was first, “Your Pokemon truly showed off something special today! The way Skarmory used his innate abilities to make a simple move like Slash so effective that it was able to cut through metal too!”
“Truly remarkable!” Mister Sukizo hadn’t said any other judgments but remarkable, but the word ‘truly’ was something new.
Nurse Joy finished them off, “Your Skarmory's size indicates it is still young, and that shows that you must’ve trained it very well to trust it this well! That shows care!”
“And that’s the judge's words!” Lillian closed Stella's show out, “Thank you so much! Give another round of applause for Stella Palecrest!”
Here's my new one!
This will be used as the cover for the foreseeable future. I hope you like it! Have a great weekend!
