This story will be composed of 3 chapters, timeline and location is up to the reader. Enjoy!
Chapter 1: Smooth Criminal
"You ready to win your last ribbon to compete in the Grand Festival, May?" Ash asked his friend.
"Of course I am, more than ever," May winked at the boy and smiled.
"Pikapi pi!" Pikachu cheered for her friend, happy to see her so confident.
"Do you already know what Pokémon you are going to use?" Brock questioned the brunette.
"Yep," May nodded happily.
"Which would that be?" Max inquired.
May grinned and spoke, "I'm going to use Glaceon for this one. I know I'll win for sure if I use her."
"That's the spirit, May," Ash encouraged the brunette, grinning confidently and making a fist. May returned the gesture by smiling confidently as well, assuring she would win.
"Too bad that spirit will inevitably be crushed by moi," an all too familiar voice was heard behind the gang of five.
They all turned around and saw a man with long purple hair, who wore green clothes designed similar to a Cacturne. His cold blue eyes caused May to frown and the man only chuckled, "How lovely to see you stooges again, including you my sweet May."
May glared at him and made a fist, "You here to lose to me again Harley, when will you get lost and find something you're actually good at?"
"Ouch," Max commented while Ash, Brock, and Pikachu witnessed May taunt Harley.
Harley made a fist and grinded his teeth, "You little brat, I can guarantee that my victory will be certain this time. I will defeat you once and for all, foolish girl."
May crossed her arms and grinned slyly, "If I got a dollar for every time you said you were going to beat me, but end up losing, I would be a millionaire by now."
"Double ouch," Max said while Ash, Pikachu, and Brock couldn't help but chuckle.
Harley frowned and stomped on the ground, "You'll rue the day you ever crossed paths with me May, I'll be your ruination." The purple-haired teen then turned around and ran away, looking back at the brunette and smiling devilishly.
"Whatever," May showed a half-grin.
"May, lets head to the Pokémon Center and sign you up, forget about Harley," Brock recommended.
May turned around and nodded with a grin, "Yeah, I can't wait for this contest."
"Good, then let's go," Max told her sister.
"Race you guys there," Ash smiled and dashed off with Pikachu, not warning anyone.
"Hey Ash, wait up!" May yelled and ran behind the boy. Max and Brock quickly followed, they both were hesitant to run, but they had to catch up with the young trainer and coordinator.
After about 5 minutes of running, Ash made it inside the Pokémon Center first and smiled back at May, who arrived only two seconds after him. "I win," Ash smiled at her.
"I can't wait till the day I become faster than you Ash, and then we'll see who the loser is," May teased and grinned at him.
"You'll have to keep waiting, May," Ash winked at the brunette and she flashed a sly smile at him.
"Pika," Pikachu pointed to the counter.
"Right, lets walk over to the counter so I can sign up," May said and the pair walked over to the Nurse Joy at the counter.
Nurse Joy grinned happily and spoke, "Hello there, what may I help you with?"
"I would like to sign up for the contest coming up in the next hour," May handed her card to the nurse.
"Of course," Nurse Joy received it and inserted May's card inside a port of the appropriate size. May's ID photo appeared on it and after some typing and clicking, Nurse Joy removed the card and returned it to May. "There you go, good luck," the pink-haired woman smiled.
"Thank you," May put the card away and walked away from the counter.
"Well now that that's settled, what do we do till it's time for the contest?" Ash asked the sapphire-eyed girl.
"Actually Ash, I couldn't help but think about Harley. When we ran into him earlier, I couldn't but notice that there was a more sinister look in his eye," May expressed her thought on the run-in with Harley.
"He did seem more obnoxious than usual, but May, you stood your ground and showed that guy you are not intimidated by him," Ash grinned at her.
May sighed and replied, "But I was intimidated by him, for once I actually believe Harley might pull the right string and beat me. The look in his eyes hinted it," the brown-haired coordinator showed wariness in her blue eyes.
Ash took May's hand and squeezed it, the sapphire-eyed girl became surprised and barely managed to hold back the blush that tried to color her face. The auburn-eyed teen smiled and responded, "May, you have nothing to worry about. You've beaten Harley countless of times, you never let his dirty tricks get to you and you came out on top. I can assure that the case isn't any different here, you're stronger than ever and Harley won't stand a chance, no matter what he does. You're going to defeat Harley and win this contest."
"Pika pi pi pikachu," Pikachu added on, encouraging May like her trainer.
May grinned sheepishly and replied, "Thanks Ash, you always say the right thing at the right time. You don't know comfortable you make me when I feel uneasy," the sapphire-eyed girl giggled.
Ash fought back the blush trying to take over his face and said, "No problem May, that's what friends are for."
Suddenly, Brock and Max arrived at the Pokémon Center, panting heavily and looking at the trio in front of them. "What took you guys so long?" May raised an eyebrow when she asked.
"Lets just say, we're out of shape," Max answered.
The group of five began to laugh and smiled at each other. None of them could wait for the contest to get started.
In another part of town…
In a very dark room, a group of people spoke. Out of the shadows, Harley emerged and spoke, "So we remember the deal, don't we?"
"Of course, my purple-haired friend," a figure emerged from the shadows and revealed himself as James.
"It's a very promising deal," another figure chuckled and came out the shadows, revealing herself as Jessie.
"Rig da programming pair-up so tat you an da brunette twerp can fight each other in the battle round," a small figure appeared out of the shadows, who turned out to be Meowth.
"Then kidnap the coordinator twerp and keep her as a prisoner long enough for you to win the round," James stated.
"Since the rule is, if one of the competitors in the contest doesn't show up in the battle round, they get disqualified and the winner is the other competitor," Jessie pointed out while smiling cunningly.
"Don't farget pal, you also half ta keep yo part of da deal as well," Meowth pointed at Harley while frowning.
Harley chuckled and grinned, "No need to worry, I'll get the raven-haired boy's Pikachu the moment the chance pops up. I guarantee it."
"Perfect!" the Team Rocket Trio yelled simultaneously with joy. They held each other's hands and danced cheerfully, "We're gonna capture Pikachu, we're gonna capture Pikachu," they repeated as they danced.
Harley smirked and looked at the clock, it's time, the coordinator thought.
During the beginning of the contest…
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the town's local contest! I'm your host, Milian and I'm proud to present you the judges of this contest!" Milian declared and then turned to the judges behind her.
"Today, we have as judges, the lovely local Nurse Joy!" Milian screamed.
"A pleasure to be here," Nurse Joy smiled.
"The president of the Pokémon Fan Club, Mr. Sukizo!" Milian shouted.
"Hi there," Mr. Sukizo grinned.
"And Chief of the Pokémon Activities Committee, Mr. Contesta!" Milian exclaimed.
"It is honor," Mr. Contesta greeted.
"Now everyone, remember that the first round is the Appeal Round. The max score is 30, the coordinators with the highest scores will move on to the Battle Round and if they pull through, to the Semifinal Round, and last, but not least the Final Round. So why don't we get started!" Milian extended her left arm as shouted through the microphone.
The crowd roared with delight after Milian made her declaration. "Everybody, please give a big round of applause to one of the most talented coordinators known the world, please welcome Harley!" Milian welcomed the purple-haired coordinator, who ran out of the entrance and blew kisses at the audience.
The audience cheered happily for Harley, everyone except for the gang. "If only these people knew the real creepy Harley is, they wouldn't be praising him like some hero," Max crossed his arms in disgust.
"All people really care about when they come here is seeing the talents of coordinators Max, they remain oblivious to the type of person all these coordinators are, they don't know who is a good person and who isn't," Brock mentioned.
"Well, we know one coordinator with a pure heart, and it'll be her turn right after Harley's done," Ash crossed his arms and smiled with anticipation for May's performance.
"Pi pi pika pikachu," Pikachu also expressed the same anticipation as his trainer and began to watch Harley's performance.
Harley smirked and called out his Pokémon, "Show starts now, Cacturne!" Harley's Pokéball flew and from it, emerged an average-sized, green Pokémon. It had dark green spikes all over it and wore something very similar to a hat at the top of its head. Its eyes were yellow, but black dominated most its eye color nonetheless. The Pokémon gave the audience chills as it stood proudly on the middle of the stage.
"Cacturne, show your talent with Sunny Day!" Harley commanded.
Cacturne neared its hands together and left a small gap between them, "Caaacturne," the Pokémon said as a small ball of energy formed in the gap.
It glowed three different colors, changing color every few seconds. "Caaaaactuuuuurne!" it yelled and shot up the sphere of energy into the air. When it shot up, the sphere left a trail of red light and stopped midway to the roof. It had somehow become significantly larger and hovered above the ground. It emitted orange, red, or yellow rays depending on what color it was.
The light emitted by the Sunny Day technique left everyone awestruck, including Max, Brock, Ash, and Pikachu. In the locker room, May watched with amazement, "Wow, when did Harley learn those moves?"
Harley chuckled and stood confidently; he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them, he made a command, "Solarbeam." With that Cacturne looked straight up at the energy ball and absorbed some light, gathering energy at the tip of its mouth.
"Caaaa," Cacturne moaned as it gathered energy. When it gathered enough, which was in a matter of seconds, it shouted out, "Cacturne!" and released a bright beam and shot it at the sphere of light. When it hit, the sphere burst and the beam was destroyed, but in the aftermath, the collision left a shower of rainbow sparkles.
Each sparkle was as bright as the rays emitted by the sphere, but the light emitted from the sparkles was rainbow and it left the audience fascinated. "Whoa," Max was shocked by the display Harley had shown.
"Who knew Harley had taught Cacturne such techniques," Brock was amazed.
"That's some skill, he's never shown talent like that before," Ash commented, just as surprised as his friends.
"Pikaaa….." Pikachu's eyes showed surprise, the mouse then realized this was going to be harder than they thought.
"No way," May was in disbelief.
"Finished," Harley took a bow with Cacturne.
"Wow, simply incredible. Folks, this is clearly what talented coordinator, judges what did you think?" Milian commented and then turned to the judges.
They each pressed a number and when the three were done, a large thirty was shown on the large screen above the 3 judges. "Phenomenal, a perfect score!" Milian cheered.
The audience roared with joy as Harley smirked and then thanked the crowd for their support. "That's a bit exaggerated," Max frowned.
"You have to admit Max, even though he is your sister's rival, he has a lot of skill," Brock admitted.
"This is getting interesting," Ash smiled.
"He got a perfect score, guess he deserved it, I have never seen anything like it," May complimented, admitting that Harley was good.
"A bright and colorful display," Nurse Joy commented.
"Something unique and different," Mr. Contesta added.
"Remarkable," Mr. Sukizo complimented.
"Thank you, thank you, I hope to see you all in the Battle Round," Harley smiled and spoke to the audience as he exited the stage.
When Harley left, Milian spoke, "Marvelous everyone, this is just the beginning of it though. Up next we have a very notable, young coordinator who has held top positions in previous Grand Festivals. Everyone please give a warm round of applause to, May!" Milian pointed her left arm at the entrance May was expected to come from.
"Oh boy, this is so exciting," Max became eager when Milian announced his sister's name. The others also showed the same eagerness as they waited for May to come out.
"My turn," May got up from her seat in the locker room and dashed out. As she ran to the stage, she ran into Harley.
"Time to lose sweetheart," Harley chuckled, but May ignored her and ran past him, pushing him out of the way.
May stuck her tongue out at him when she looked back, infuriating the male coordinator. "We'll see who has the last laugh at the end of the day May, one thing is certain though, it won't be you," he muttered and walked to the locker room.
The brunette arrived on the stage and waved at everyone, the crowd cheered when they saw her, including boys who wolf-whistled and complimented her. Making the brunette blush, Ash could hear some of these comments and shook it out of his head, refusing to let his feelings take over, but Pikachu couldn't help and snicker.
Ash sighed and spoke, "Let's just watch the performance pal."
May reached for a Pokéball and thought to herself, I'm in it to win it, "Glaceon, take the stage!" The brunette threw the Pokéball and the blue, feline-like Pokémon came out of the ball.
"Gla," it got on all fours and grinned confidently.
When it emerged, a few little blue sparkles could be seen, causing the crowd to become infatuated with the Pokémon's majestic appearance.
"Glaceon, begin with Rain Dance!" May pointed at the roof.
Glaceon nodded and shot a blue energy ball upward. Midway to the roof it exploded and emitted a blue light, when the light faded a black cloud was where the latter burst. From the cloud, rain drops heavily poured down on Glaceon and half of the stage. Glaceon stood proudly under the rain and the audience became further crazed by its regal appearance.
"You haven't seen anything yet," May smiled confidently. "Now use Ice Beam and then Mirror Coat!" the brunette shouted.
"Glaaaaaa!" Glaceon shot out Ice Beam and caused the raindrops to freeze, the rain drops began to glow blue and shined like diamonds until they dropped to the ground and cracked. It was like a shining blue hail dance. Then Glaceon began to glow brightly and reflected the blue light of the ice dance like an actual mirror. Glaceon had become something of a disco ball by reflecting the powerful blue shine of the ice dance, the light of Mirror Coat and the frozen Rain Dance made the room sparkle, it was like raining diamonds. The audience couldn't stop staring at the combination; it was out of this world.
"Humph," Harley shrugged as he looked at the screen in the locker room.
"Whoa…" Ash, Max, Pikachu, and Brock were all amazed like the rest of the audience.
"Finish with Iron Tail!" May commanded, but it wasn't an ordinary Iron Tail. When Glaceon jumped into the air and swung its iron trail, the tail shot out a powerful tail-shaped attack that obliterated the cloud and the gust made by the impact caused all the frozen raindrops to spread across the room like floating diamond shards. The crowd eagerly caught any of the small shards it could until they all vanished.
"Voila," May smiled confidently after wrapping up her performance.
"Unbelievable, truly something else!" Milian shouted at the top of her lungs. "Folks, you and I have agreed that that was spectacular, but let's see what the judges think."
Milian turned to the judges as they pressed a number. When they were all done, a large "30" appeared on the screen. "Yet another perfect score, has this town received the honor of hosting the contest with the most talented coordinators? I think so!" Milian stated happily.
"If I could, I would've given a higher score," Mr. Contesta said.
"The most beautiful thing I've ever seen," Nurse Joy added.
"Remarkable," Mr. Sukizo plainly complimented.
"That was one of the best combinations May has ever done," Max complimented his ster.
"She planned it out very well, I can tell," Brock smiled and nodded in approval.
"Pi pika pikachu," Pikachu said.
"That's right pal, it's one of the best combinations I've ever seen. I knew May could do it," Ash made a fist and grinned confidently as he gazed at the happy-looking brunette who waved at the audience. The auburn-eyed boy easily became infatuated as he stared, he couldn't explain the warm feeling surging inside him as he stared, but when he gained back his conscious, Ash shook it off and simply grinned.
"Better get back to the locker room," May said and returned Glaceon, thanking her for her performance. May waved at the audience one last time and winked at her friends, who were waving at her as well. She then rushed back to the locker room.
When she returned to the locker room, she didn't see Harley and she was glad that he wasn't there, after having accomplished something like that, she wasn't in the mood for fighting. The Appeal Round continued as many other coordinators performed. Some did fairly well, others did as good as May and Harley. When the Appeal Round finally ended, everyone waited for Milian to speak.
The host stood on the middle of the stage, smiling, "Well everyone, we've seen it all and boy was it beautiful, but now it is time to decide who moves on to the Battle Round. We've seen 16 talented coordinators perform today, but only 8 will move on; let us see who the lucky contestants are.
Milian and everyone else turned to the large screen and waited for the black screen to display the coordinators. "Harley and May are moving on for sure, only one other person got a 30 besides them," Max pointed out and the gang agreed with little boy.
Within 10 seconds, images of the coordinators began to appear and like Max said, among the very first to be revealed were May and Harley. When the screen showed who would be fighting who, the gang chuckled when they saw the results.
"Fighting Harley so soon…oh well," May commented when she saw the screen in the locker room. Just remember what Ash told you, no way are you going to lose to Harley, May reminded herself of what Ash said before the contest, that the brunette shouldn't worry about Harley. She hasn't beaten him before, she could do it again.
"May's going to plummet that flamboyant loser," Max smirked.
"This should be interesting, I can't wait to see how they both do, certainly Harley and May still have new tricks up their sleeves to show," Brock stated.
"I agree, May and Harley's battle will be a good one," Ash agreed with Brock.
Milian turned back to the audience and grinned, "Congratulations to the competitors who have moved on, we hope to see you here on the stage battling in out after the 5 minute break, till then everyone!" With that said, Milian exited the stage to take her own break.
"I'm going to go get a snack with Pikachu, I'll see you guys when the Battle Round starts," Ash told his friends, who nodded.
Ash exited the room and walked through the halls as his stomach grumbled. Pikachu sighed while Ash grinned sheepishly, "Guess watching the Appeal Round and cheering for May helped me build up an appetite, huh pal?"
"Piiii…" Pikachu sighed and grinned.
"I can't wait to see May's battle; she's going to do great!" Ash became excited just by thinking about May's battle.
"Pi pika pi pikachu pika," Pikachu smirked and then laughed.
Ash glared at Pikachu and spoke, "You know buddy. It's not funny to make fun of someone who has a crush."
"Pika," Pikachu apologized while Ash smiled in return. "Pi pika pi?" Pikachu questioned his partner.
"I don't know when I'll tell her pal, I want to, but I don't know how she'll react. I'm afraid she'll turn me down after being so dense about love for so long or what if she just thinks of me as a friend. What if she's too afraid of risking our friendship by dating me, there's just many reasons why should turn me down…" Ash became frustrated with the subject of May.
"Pika pi pika," Pikachu sighed.
"I wish I could tell her, but I just don't know…there's too much in the way. How will I ever find the strength to overcome all this frustration and tell her? I can battle Pokémon Champions and save the world, but I can't tell a girl what I feel…it's ju-," all of a sudden, something hit Ash and Pikachu from behind and knocked them out cold.
The pair dropped to the ground, unconscious. A mysterious figure then picked up the knocked out Pikachu and began to drag Ash.
"I wonder where Harley is, he hasn't been around since I did my performance. He's probably training," May spoke to no one in particular.
"Excuse me," a voice called out and May turned around.
The brunette saw a couple dressed very Hawaiian-like and the man next to the woman held a camera. They were both wearing sunglasses and seemed friendly. "How can I help you?" May asked them, wondering what they wanted.
"My husband and I are big fans of yours, your reputation exceeds you, you are known as far as Unova, my dear child," the red-haired woman clung onto her husband while talking.
"Really?" May raised an eyebrow, but was impressed by how well she was known.
"Yes, and we would like to take picture with you to take back home as a memory, am we?" the purple-haired man asked.
May smiled, she was proud of the accomplishments she had done, according to the pair, the brunette answered the friendly couple very politely, "I'd be happy to!"
"Perfect!" the couple cheered.
"Me first, honey," the woman told her husband and held onto May, surprising the brunette by how hard the woman pulled her.
"Smile," the man said as he prepared to take a shot.
May and the woman grinned happily, but they remained in the position as the man tried to fix his camera. He took various pictures of them, but said they weren't good enough. May became uneasy and spoke, "I don't mean to be rude, but how much longer will I have to be like this?"
The husband looked up from the camera and smiled at May, "You know what. I think it's the lightning. Why don't you come with us to a more suitable area for the photo, is that okay?"
"I guess," May felt a surge of suspicion grow inside her, but she accepted anyway.
"Great, let's go!" the woman cheered and pushed May forward, making the brunette uneasy.
After some walking, May and the tourist couple finally reached an empty room that the pair believed was perfect for the photo, which increased May's suspicion even further. "Alright, the Battle Round is going to start soon, let's take the picture," May told them and the couple nodded silently.
The woman got next to May like before and the man prepared to take picture, until the lights in the room were cut. May became alert and asked, "What's going on?"
Sinister laughs and Pokémon attacking could be heard, after some struggling, the sound of a body could be heard dropping.
"Brock, the Battle Round is starting in a minute and Ash still isn't back, I'm worried," Max told the older male.
Brock grinned and spoke, "Don't worry Max, Ash will be here soon enough, he probably got caught in a line for food." Max took Brock's words into mind and calmed down for now.
Milian ran to the middle of the stage, signaling that the Battle Round was about to begin. "I'm back everyone and I hope you're all ready for the Battle Round of the contest!"
The crowd cheered happily as Milian grinned and yelled, "Now that's what I like to hear!" She extended her arm upward and spoke, "The first battlers are Harley and May, according to the screen. Please welcome them back to the stage and prepare to witness an epic clash of skill!"
Milian's words caused the audience to roar in anticipation as Harley came out of one of the entrances. "Glad to see you all again," Harley waved with both arms.
"This is it," Brock spoke and watched with Max.
Harley got in his position while everyone waited for May to appear. After a minute, everyone began to wonder where May is, including Brock and Max. The audience was quiet and confused, they all wondered where May was, and even Milian became baffled.
"Where's May?" Max frowned and looked around.
"This is strange, May has never done something like this before," Brock mumbled as he placed his hand on his chin.
Milian looked around frantically and sighed, "It seems we have a problem folks. I hate to say this, but if May doesn't appear on the stage within 10 seconds, she will automatically be disqualified and Harley moves on to the Semifinals."
"No way!" Brock and Max yelled.
People gasped and other's eyes widened when they heard Milian. They all searched frantically for May throughout the room, but there was no sign of her. "10…" Milian said as people continued to shift their heads left and right. "9…8…7…" Milian stated and the people began to shake from the frustration. "6…5…" Milian spoke and everyone became even more worried.
Meanwhile, in another part of the contest building, a black-haired teen was tied to a chair and his head hung low, his eyes were closed, but when the light suddenly turned on, the boy slowly opened them. "What's going on?" Ash saw that he was in a room filled with shelves of Pokéballs. He looked around with heavy eyes, still recovering from the blow he received, but when he saw a beaten brunette girl next to him, his eyes instantly widened.
That's it for now, hope you liked it so far, this is just the beginning so I apologize if it felt slow and it's only a short story. I'll update next weekend again. Stick around till then! Rememeber to review, PM or whatever lol. See ya guys, once again, hope you enjoyed it!