"The first battle is between May and Jesse!" Marian announced "Will both coordinators please step out onto the stage."
Having taken the top score in the appeals May stood on the right hand side of the field. Her opponent was a boy around her age, maybe a little older, with long black hair, wearing a black suit and trousers with a purple rose pined over the left breast.
"Show us how you rock! Infernape and Alakazam!" He called out as he threw two pokéballs into the air.
"Ape." A primate like Pokémon yelled as it landed on it's hands, pushing into a flip onto it's feet.
"Alakazam!" The Kanto native growled as it levitated itself down to the arena.
"Infernape?" Ash asked as he pulled out his pokédex.
"Infernape, the flame Pokémon. Infernape is the final evolved from of chimchar, it is extremely fast and powerful. Blaziken and Infernape are natural enemies and will stop at nothing to tear each other apart."
Ash groaned. "This could be bad."
"Blaziken! Eevee! Take the stage!" May yelled as she released her two Pokémon.
"Ken!" Blaziken said as he exhaled a deep breath before readjusting his stance.
"Vee!" Eevee cried excitedly as she bounced off her tail.
Marian drew attention to the screen, which had switched to show the mugshots of the two coordinators as well as a circular meter filled in with yellow.
"Can we have five minutes on the timer please?" Marian asked.
The blank box in between the yellow meters displayed five minutes.
"Coordinators! Begin!"
Jesse took the offensive. "Infernape use flare blitz, then follow up with close combat on Eevee! Alakazam use Miracle eye then psybeam on Blaziken!"
"Blaziken use Megakick on the ground." May ordered.
"Blaz." The fire/fighting type nodded. He raised his right foot and slammed into the ground, sending up a wall of dust.
"Eevee use dig! Blaziken follow her!"
"Eevee." The normal type acknowledged as she began to paw her way through the dirt. Blaziken crawled in behind her, keeping megakick active.
Infernape charged through the dust and looked around for his opponents. Alakazam's psybeam shot through and hit his teammate in the back.
"A team hit. That's gonna cost Jesse alot points."
Jesse's points dropped by twenty five percent.
"Ape. Infer. Infernape!" The angry primate yelled at his teammate.
"Settle down you two. Infernape follow them! Alakazam, project Reflect over Infernape." Jesse ordered.
Infernape nodded and darted down the hole.
"Now Eevee! Shadowball! Two of them!" May yelled.
Eevee and Blaziken burst up underneath Alakazam as Eevee fired a shadowball into Alakazam point blank.
"A brilliant tactical decision by May there. Alakazam doesn't look like he can take another hit" Marian narrated.
Jesse's points dropped by a third.
Flipping back through the air from recoil Eevee charged and fired another shadowball.
"Blaziken use Blaze kick to push Shadowball into Alakazam!" May yelled.
Blaziken backflipped over the second shadowball and kicked it with his flaming foot, lighting the ghost type attack on fire before it struck Alakazam who was still reeling from the first hit.
"Alaka zam." The psychic type groaned before he collapsed.
"Time!" Marian called out.
Both coordinators looked at the timer. It read all zero's.
May looked at her point meter. It hadn't taken a single hit, Jesse on the other hand had only a quarter of his original points left.
"May wins! The rose of Petalburg takes another victory! But this contest isn't over yet! Will Dawn and Steve take the arena next?" Marian asked.
Jesse recalled his Pokémon and walked out. "You guys did great. But maybe we should stick to the leagues."
May recalled her Pokémon and headed back to the ready room.
Dawn stepped out on the arena as the dirt lowered and slid away. Another dirt field slid into view and raised up.
Dawn's opponent was a little older than her, he had short black hair, dressed in a blue and gold trenchcoat with an eyepatch over his left eye. A purple undersuit with baggy white trousers and long black boots.
May and Jesse's mugshots faded as Dawn and Steve's appeared on screen. The points meters reset with the timer.
"Piplup! Buneary! Spotlight!" Dawn called out as her only two Pokémon appeared on the arena.
"Yeah! Let's do this!" Steve yelled as he threw a pair of pokéballs into the air.
Two small turtles appeared on the arena.
"Squirtle!" They both chanted as they high fived.
"Begin!" Marian announced.
"Ladies first." Steve offered.
"Piplup use Peck! Buneary use dizzy punch! Try and hit the same Squirtle." Dawn ordered.
"Piplup pip." The penguin Pokémon smiled as he charged forward, his beak glowing a bright white.
"Buneary!" The Rabbit Pokémon yelled as she charged forward, her ears glowing a multitude of different colors.
"Squirtle use ice beam!" Steve ordered. "Either one it doesn't matter."
The two Squirtle looked at each other and nodded. They jumped back and let Dawns Pokémon charge past before they jumped past each other and linked their tails together, momentum sending them into a clockwise spin. They both fired their ice beams and froze Dawns Pokémon solid.
"Now a simultaneous skull bash!"
The Squirtle duo paved some ice walls before they unlinked their tails and bounced off the walls, momentum creating white split lines around their heads as they smashed through the ice and knocked Piplup and Buneary out.
"Dawns Pokémon are unable to battle. Steve wins!" Marian announced.
Dawn looked on in shock as she recalled her Pokémon. "We didn't even last a minute." Dawn hung her head and walked out.
"Oh crap." Lucas said. "Not good. It was nice meeting you Ash but I've gotta go help Dawn."
"No problem. Nice meeting you too Lucas." Ash smiled as he watched Lucas run after Dawn.
May sat in the ready room with Blaziken and Eevee. "You two were great! Here have some Pokéblock." She smiled as she flicked open her Pokéblock case and launched a Pokéblock into their mouths.
"You still use Pokéblock?" One of the other coordinators asked.
"Yeah. Is that a problem?" May asked.
"Kenny chill out. And get ready our battle is next." Another coordinator beckoned the other over.
Ash stepped into the room. "May that was an amazing battle."
"Thanks Ash." May smiled as Pichu jumped out Ash's arms and ran up to her trainer.
"Pichu pichu!" Pichu nodded as she jumped into May's arms.
Blaziken shot a glance at Pikachu.
Pikachu shook his head and sighed. Introductions weren't going to be fun.
May pulled out her pokénav and opened the happiness checker. "Already one quarter full. You'll be a Pikachu in no time. Speaking of which. Ash you are the electric type expert. Be a dear and tell your girlfriend if Pichu have any special needs."
"Electric types have a lot of needs that other Pokémon don't. Because their attacks are energy based they need a lot of practice to master control." Ash began. "They also build up electricity over time. In a Pokémon like Pikachu or Electrike which are evolved or have a natural way to discharge discreetly this isn't a problem. But for a baby like Pichu to much electricity could be fatal as it could cause disruptions in the brains electronic flow."
"Wow. That's not good." May stated the obvious.
Ash held up a glass tube. "Here Pichu shock this."
Pichu nodded and launched thunder into the tube.
"Glass holds and disperses electricity fairly quickly so it makes an ideal conductor."
"Attention coordinators. Due to a tie the finals will proceed immediately. Will May and Steve please report to the arena." The intercom buzzed.
"Steve uses water types so you might want to give Pichu her debut today." Ash advised. "Pikachu go with her."
"Pikachu!" The electric type nodded as he jumped to May's shoulder.
Pichu climbed up to the other shoulder.
Ash gave May a small kiss on the cheek before he headed back to the audience.
May stepped onto the arena floor and took her position on the right hand side.
Steve was waiting on the left. "A good battle this should be."
The screen lit up. Above the timer was a picture of a white ribbon.
"Blastoise! Let's show them how we play on the squad!" Steve called out as he released the pair of giant turtles from their pokéballs.
"Toise." They growled as they flexed their arms and readied their cannons.
"You two ready?" May asked Pichu and Pikachu. "Then take the stage! Pikachu and Pichu!"
Pikachu simply jumped down and sparked his cheeks, ready to take on the giant water types.
Pichu landed on Pikachus back and sparked her whole body. Eager to prove herself.
"Begin!" Marian shouted.
"Ladies first." Steve offered again.
"Big mistake." May smiled. "Both of you use thunder! Merge them together above the center of the arena!"
Pichu jumped to Pikachu's side and launched thunder directing it into the path of Pikachus.
The two thunders clashed and created and orb of electricity, which launched two bolts that paralyzed Blastoise.
"Pikachu keep pouring electricity into the orb, Pichu use volt tackle!" May ordered.
Pichu broke off her thunder and charged towards the giant turtles, a yellow glow enveloping her body.
The orb latched onto the electricity from volt tackle and lifted it into the air, swinging Pichu around like a comet.
"Pikachu stop."
Pikachu did as he was told and ceased the flow of electricity, panting, he sank to one knee.
The orb began to shrink as it absorbed itself into Pichu's volt tackle, launching her on an arc that hit both Blastoise, knocking them out.
Pichu skidded to a halt next to Pikachu, panting, but already on all fours.
"Blastoise are unable to battle. May wins!" Marian announced. "The winner of the Jubilife city contest is May from Petalburg city."
Steve recalled his Pokémon and congratulated them on a job well done. He tossed May a smile and walked out as Mr Contesta presented May with her Ribbon.
Outside, Pikachu had retaken his position on Ash's shoulder.
"You did great buddy!" Ash congratulated his electric type. "and May. That was really clever. Pichu is in good hands with you." Ash smiled before he kissed her lips.
"Getting a bit bolder Ash?" May asked after he pulled back.
"A big win deserves a big reward." Ash smiled.
May took Ash's hand in her own. "Well then I'll have to remember that for when you win a badge."