Hey, sorry for the wait, everyone! I've had a good chunk of this chapter done for a while, but wanted to wait until after I wrote the battle to upload it. However, I realize that it's been months since my last update (seven!), and it's not fair to keep y'all in suspense for that long, so I'll just post this here and have the next part up next month.
Acknowledgements:
JimmyDANj2-Here's the update! :)
the mad nimrod-Lol, if you wanted to deck Chaz as you read about him, then I've done the characterization correctly!
Mettaton-Marcia (Guest)-No, you are certainly not the only person who ships Wally x Lisia! Alas, I feel like we are but a small dinghy on this vast ocean full of massive ships…
MenacingRelic98-Will Wally's contest debut turn out to be a disaster? Only time will tell.
Thanks to Lilac Gemini, Sir Isaac of Clark, TheGalacticPakistani, razgriz108, bananasoup82, luis014, Ajayapplepie, storyseeker7, and everyone else for their faves and follows!
Enjoy!
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Of Timid Trainers and Confident Coordinators
4: Pairs in Petalburg (II)
The contest hall was shaped like an upside down pink carnation, which Wally found very fitting for Petalburg. But that did little to calm his nerves as he and Lisia walked inside. Would any of his old classmates be here? Would they recognize him through his disguise if they were? And the contest itself-what if he forgot the moves Rose needed for the appeal? What if he got tongue-tied during the battle? Was it getting hot in here-
"Jaden? Jaden!" Lisia gave him a slight shake. "Calm down. We'll be fine." She smiled.
Well, if the Top Coordinator thought so…He took a deep breath. "Okay."
They didn't even get past the entrance to the hall before someone cried, "Hey, it's Lisia!" Faster than a blink, a small crowd had formed around them, most of them with Poke Navs for pictures.
"Good luck in today's contest!"
"Is May competing, too?"
"How's Petalburg been so far?"
Lisia answered each comment with ease, a genuine smile on her face. Wally found her sense of calm admirable.
"Who are you?"
Wally turned to a little girl, who had tugged his pant leg. He smiled.
"I'm Jaden."
"Are you another one of Lisia's protégés?" asked another fan.
"Kind of? I-I want to try one out to see if it's something I'd like to do more of in the future."
The fans murmured and nodded approvingly. Wally could feel the tension fading away in waves. The disguise was working! And no one seemed to be put off by his presence next to Lisia, either.
"Now, I'd love to chat more, but Jaden and I need to prepare for the contest."
"Oh, of course!"
"Sorry to get in the way!"
The small crowd parted, allowing Lisia and Wally to continue towards the dressing room. Once they were out of earshot, Wally asked, "How'd you handle that crowd so easily?"
Lisia placed a finger on her cheek thoughtfully. "Practice, I guess? Oh, and people used to come up to me all the time back when Uncle Wallace used to train me, so that helped. Plus, they're always so friendly, so it's not hard to chat with them."
"I see…" Prior to meeting May and Brendan, Wally hadn't known a lot of friendly kids. He was often homeschooled due to illness, and at school, he wasn't exactly popular.
"But you did pretty good back there! I could hardly tell you were nervous."
"Oh, thanks! I guess seeing you so calm helped me feel calm."
The dressing/prep room was large and branched out into stalls. Coordinators were busily dressing up inside said stalls or fixing their hair and makeup in at the mirrors, talking to each other or to their Pokémon as they did. Others combed, brushed, or bathed their Pokémon. The whole thing looked very chaotic to Wally.
"Okay, so you can choose any dressing stall to change in. Once you're done, let me know so I can do your makeup."
"My makeup?"
"Of course, silly," Lisia giggled, "We gotta enhance your featu-"
"Good morning, Lisia!" someone called. The two turned to find a blond male approaching them.
"Good morning, Chaz!" Lisia replied, "So, I take it you found a partner?"
"Yes, I did! I feel confident that she and I will just dazzle!"
"Where is she? What's her name?"
"She's changing right now, and her name is Saffron."
"Saffron, Saffron…don't think I've ever seen her before. But there are a lot of Coordinators this year. Uncle Wallace says there's been a 20% increase since last season!"
Wally, not sure he'd get a good opening to speak otherwise, greeted, "Sorry to interrupt, but my name's Jaden. It's nice to meet you."
There was a momentary flash of irritation from Chaz, but it quickly turned into a smile. Wally wasn't sure what to make of it. "Ah, you're the new protégé Lisia has been talking about. Is this your first contest?"
"Yes. B-but I hear that battling's half the contest, and I just got my fifth gym bade, so I think everything'll be fine."
"Well, there's more to contests than just battling. It's the melding of combat with beauty, but I'm sure Lissi's already told you that. She's one of the best, after all."
"Y-yeah. She's shown me a lot, and I'm sure we can win."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Jaden." Chaz patted Wally's shoulder a little too hard for his liking. "Saffron and I are nothing to scoff at. Good luck, you two!"
Chaz walked away. Relief washed over Wally as he sighed. "I don't think he likes me."
"No, no, it's not that," Lisia replied, "Chaz is just really competitive, and I guess he's still a little sour that I didn't partner with him…" She pouted. "But he doesn't need to be so rude about it…"she grumbled. When Wally didn't respond, Lisia added, "We'll do just fine. You're a great Trainer, and I'm a four-time Top Coordinator! Nobody else stands a chance."
Lisia had so much faith in him, despite him only being friends for a few weeks? He smiled warily. "Yeah, you're right."
If she believed in him, then he was going to do all he could not to let her down.
0000
Their turn for the appeals round took forever to arrive, and as he and Lisia walked onto the battlefield, Wally's heart pounded furiously. But it was too late to back out now. Besides, Lisia was counting on him. Taking a deep breath, he pulled out Rose's Poké Ball.
"Rose, time to battle!"
"Marie, let's play!"
The Roselia and Marill materialized onto the field.
"Lisia and Jaden have brought out a Roselia and a Marill, nice and stable choices in the cuteness department!" Vivian, the host, announced. So far, so good.
"Marie, use Bubble!"
Marie blew out a swarm of bubbles.
"Rose, counter with Magical Leaf!"
Rose summoned glowing leaves, then hurled them at the bubbles with a flick of her wrist. The bubbles burst in flashes of rainbow droplets.
"Such a colorful display!"
"Hail, Marie!"
"Uh-oh! Marie's about to use a super-effective move on Rose-"
"Spikes!" Wally shouted, slightly annoyed with the disruptive commentary. He and Lisia knew what they were doing.
Rose summoned spiked rocks from underground just as Marie conjured a storm cloud. When hail started to fall, Rose thrust the spikes into the hailstones. They dispelled into sparkling crystals and dust upon impact.
"Such daring! It looks like Diamond Dust!"
Wally smirked. He looked at Lisia, who nodded. Time for the finishing touch.
"Icy Wind!"
"Petal Blizzard!"
Marie and Rosie spun around, creating a chillingly cold twister and a swirl of petals. The two swirled towards each other and joined hands, combining their vortexes into one-a cool yet fragrant breeze. Rose and Marie came to a stop, neither fazed by the spin.
"Marill!"
"Rose! Lia!"
The audience cheered.
"A fantastic finish, ladies and gentleman! Let's see what our judges have to say!"
Wally gulped, picking up Rose with his gloved hands as he and Lisia marched to the front of the judges. Viridian and the audience had enjoyed the show, but had the judges? Lisia gave his arm a reassuring squeeze. They had done their best.
The first one, a wavy-haired woman-Kiera-said, "That was such a lovely display! Going from rainbows, to diamond dust, to dancing petals-it was beautiful! Great work, you two."
Wally's shoulders loosened slightly. One down.
The second judge, Jordan, was a sharp-dressed man, possibly in his late twenties like Kiera. "I have to go with Kiera on this one. That was quite the feast for the eyes. But I expect nothing less from the great Lisia King."
"Oh, you," Lisia teased, waving Jordan away. Wally smiled. They were actually doing this.
But Wally's calm evaporated when his eyes fell on the third and final judge, an older gentleman named Dexter, who appraised him sharply. Even the audience, which had been cheering after Jordan's and Kiera's comments, fell completely silent.
"Jaden, is it?" Wally nodded. "Is it true that this is your first contest?"
Oh no, had he blown it? "Y-yes, sir."
"Well, I find that quite hard to believe, considering how well you handled yourself back there."
"Oh, thank you-"
"Ah, I'm not finished. You handled yourself well-you both did-but there was one small issue with your performance."
" 'A small issue'?" What? Had it been the timing? The appearance of their Pokémon? What?
"Your first two combinations were based on bright, dazzling collisions, but your finale was more…subdued, if you will."
The audience groaned, something that didn't help Wally's nerves. He didn't dare look at Lisia, as much as he wanted to see whether this was as bad as he thought it was.
"Still not finished," Dexter said, "Despite the quiet ending, both of you did very well, especially given the short notice about the change in theme. You have taught Jaden well, Lisia."
Wally's mood rose with the audience's cheers. They'd done it-at least, he thought so?
"And that concludes Jaden and Lisia's performance! Next up, Chaz and Saffron!"
As Wally and Lisia walked back to the dressing room, she said, "See? I told you we could do this!"
"I-I hope so. I'm kind of worried about what Dexter said…"
She waved him off. "He's like that with everybody. Plus, he said it was a small thing, so chances are we'll still advance."
"Lissi!" Two girls-one dark-skinned with purple hair, the other light-skinned with silver hair-cried as they ran up to Lisia.
"Violet! Marianne!"
Marianne hugged Lisia. "You guys did great!"
"Yeah, congrats!" Violet added, nodding at Jaden.
"Thank you," Wally replied, starting to feel a little giddy over so much praise in one day.
"You guys did great, too!" Lisia said. She looked up at one of the flat screen TVs affixed to the walls. "Oh, look! It's Chaz and Saffron!"
In contrast to Chaz's blond hair and hazel eyes, Saffron's hair was dark, long, and wavy, purple strands falling past her shoulders. Mauve eyes nonchalantly scanned the stadium.
"Is she a Hex Maniac?" Marianne asked.
"Ghost Whisperer," Wally corrected, "They don't like to be called Hex Maniacs." Unease formed in his gut. Ghost Whisperers were known to specialize in two types of Pokémon: Ghost…
…and Psychic.
"Macherie, it's your time to shine!"
"Caster, materialize!"
Chaz's Poké Ball released a Machoke, an odd choice for a competition focusing on beauty, but nothing alarming. But when Caster emerged, Wally's unease swelled into horror.
"A Machoke and a Mismagius! Such a unique combination!"
0000
A/N: Dun dun dun!
As a side note, I really like the Hex Maniac Trainer class. I don't know exactly why, but I just do, and was ecstatic when Gamefreak brought them back in Gen 6. And considering that no one really writes fics about them, I decided to include one here. The idea of calling them 'Ghost Whisperers' instead of Hex Maniacs is part of a world building idea for a future nuzlocke fic.
With their team facing a 'mon that bears a type advantage, can Wally and Lisia still win the Petalburg contest? Tune in next time to Of Timid Trainers and Confident Coordinators!
japaneserockergirl
9/6/16