My Journey

Chapter Seven: Claire's First Contest


"Your cousin is going to be in the contest, huh?" Bobby asked, grinning like a maniacal weirdo. "I'm not one for contests, but I'll come, I guess."

Proof that I made actual friends for Claire? I smirked. Maybe. Knowing her, she's probably made loads of friends. "Well, the contest is in an hour." I froze, looking at our small group, my fingers hovering over the keyboard. Sitting in an Internet Café with free computers and WiFi was nice. But we were short a person. "Hey, where's Penny?"

"Off in the forest, looking for a Pikachu." Bobby explained. "Well, I don't exactly know why. She said something that sounded like 'Pokemon singing team' and bolted out of the Center." He took a sip whatever drink he had. "Whatcha doing, Syd?"

"Looking up nicknames for Spearow." I explained. "I don't want to literally name him 'Hero' or something, I want something different." Brielle, who laid on my lap, nodded. "I didn't name her Brielle for nothing. It's special, unique…"

"It means 'heroine of God." Brielle stated, in the same voice Claire speaks in a lot. A snobbish voice, having a hit of 'know-it-all' with a dash of 'you're stupid' here and there.

Spearow popped out of his ball. "How about Brian?"

"Too common."

"Cedric?" suggested Brielle. Spearow and I both shook our heads.

"Joshua? Jason?"

Spearow shook his little feathered head. I read each one aloud, pronounced it carefully, read the small tidbits of information here and there about the names. Some meant "hero of god", others were from old mythologies, like Heracles or Odin. None of them really popped out of us. I wasn't giving up just yet.

"Heroes are also brave, intelligent (most of the time) and kind, maybe something like that?" Spearow nodded, and I typed into the search bar 'brave', making sure to check if it's under boy names.

"Archibald." I snickered, then scrolled down a bit. Basil, Bernard, Conrad, Cort...Wait. I went back up to Conrad.

Conrad the Spearow. It means "brave, bold ruler or consul." I liked how it rolled off the tongue, just the name itself. Conrad. "How does that sound? Conrad the Spearow?"

"Conrad." Spearow showed appreciation in the name. "Better than a red ribbon, and the best we've found so far."

It was set; he was now to be called Conrad.

"Never met a Spearow named Conrad before, nor a Dratini named Brielle. Nice touch, Syd." Syd? When had he started calling me that? Bobby took another sip of his drink before continuing. "We should probably be going soon, if we want to catch your cousin's contest."

He was right, I returned Conrad and closed out of the browser, and both of us headed for the dome where the contest would be held.


"Hey guys. So glad I found you." Penny sat down next to me as people started filling up. Sure, Bobby and I were earlier than other people, but we got front row seats. "You know how contests work, right, Sydney?"

"No clue." I replied.

"Well, basically, the first round they do an act, using different Pokemon moves to-"Penny paused, seeing how she lost me. "You'll find out, pretty soon."

"What? No, tell me!"

"Nope!" Penny grinned.

I growled, then turned my attention to the "stage". It was like a beach, with sand nearly as yellow as lemonade, and chalk marks laid on it resembled a battlefield. It was a regular dome that one would probably find a tournament in.

There was a judge's panel, close but not too close to the field. As people started filling in, I noticed three peculiar people taking their spots in the panel, including the local Nurse Joy. One of the judges was a short man in a blue suit and red tie, the shortest of them all, and had a genuine smile on his face. The second one was taller, in a red suit, and had a streak of grey through his hair. Then, of course, Nurse Joy.

Soon enough, the hall was full. "Welcome, everybody, to the Pewter City Contest! Many of the Coordinators here are just rookies, yet some might even be working on their fourth or fifth ribbon! Matters aside, we're all looking for an amazing show!" The announcer spoke in a clear voice and the audience fell silent. The lady sported a halter top cut off midriff and shorts, along with a visor, attempting to keep her blonde hair in check.

"Before we begin, the judges!" She turned her hand to the panel. "Mr. Contesta, coming all the way here from Hoenn!" The man in the red suit waved. "Mr. Sukizo, the president of the Pokemon Fan Club!"

"Remarkable!" Mr. Sukizo said, and I felt as if that word was going to come up a lot in the next two hours.

Two hours? I glanced at the schedule. It gives us a fifteen-minute break in between, but TWO HOURS? The gym was far from the hall, would I make it in time for my battle?

"And your very own, your local Nurse Joy!"

Well, I guess if I'm a few minutes late, it'll be fine.

"And, the Coordinators, twenty-four brave individuals from across the globe!" The exact number of people walked out onto the stage. This was no dress rehearsal, it was the real deal. Most of them looked scared, as if they drank a bottle of stage fright instead of water before coming on.

Except one girl on the far right. In a pink sundress and matching flip-flops, along with her hair braided in a fashionable manner, she looked the opposite of scared.

"Hey, look! On the far right in the pink, that's my cousin!" I hissed. I didn't attempt to yell or wave, but I grinned.

"She looks just the same when I first met her." Brielle stated. "Not that good of a first impression, but whatever."

The announcer read off the names and their Pokemon. I was nowhere near shocked when they called out "Claire Adazoni, with her male Eevee, from Goldenrod City in Johto!" Probably the only Pokemon she had, and I glanced at the extra Pokeball in my pocket, which held Conrad. But she could pull a surprise victory.


Instead of describing every single act, I'll just describe Claire's. It would be the best for both of us, because I'm not keen on keeping you here forever. There were twenty-four separate acts, anyway.

But either way, I will describe each act with one word: SPARKLY.

Claire might have used some of her rich money she had on her to but some TMs to teach Eevee some moves, but I doubt it. "Eevee, you know what to do!" She sent out her normal type. When the light faded, the Eevee was wearing a little bow around his neck and tail, along with little booties.

"Sunny Day!" Yep, Claire bought, maybe even ordered, a couple of TMs off of , that online store with the little drones who deliver. The light in here got harsher, but not blinding. Eevee knew well. "Now, use Sand-Attack and Tail Whip it higher!"

Eevee followed his master's orders, sending sand up into the air and using his tail to propel it higher. The small sand particles reflected the sunlight of Sunny Day, and they finished it with one move; Baby-Doll Eyes.

I've heard of the new type, Fairy, and how some new Pokemon and old Pokemon were classified as that now. Clefairy (which has 'fairy' LITERALLY in its name), Mr. Mime, and Jigglypuff, are just a few in Kanto. The type isn't that common, but the Pokemon with the type are. I needed to be careful, dragon-types like Brielle had no effect on those fairies.

But back to Claire's act, the baby-doll eyes made Eevee land with a cute expression as sparkles flowed all around him, making him seem girly. But the judges didn't care, they all gave her an eight.

It was understandable to get an eight in your first contest. Claire was enraged by the way her shoulders tensed and her brow stiffened, and all that I could see from my own seat. But it was her first one, and her Eevee didn't know many moves…

…yet.


"There's a battle round to this?" I asked, after taking a bite of my sandwich. It was intermission time. I got Claire flowers from a local florist, not far from the contest hall.

Penny nodded. "I should know, my Mum and Pa were both very talented coordinators. People thought I would follow in their steps, but I'm not interested."

"What are you interested in, then?" Bobby interrogated, looking at Penny slyly.

"I want to have a quartet of singing Pokemon. Sure, it's bizzare, but that's my dream." Penny started to stare off into the distance, probably daydreaming about her future goals.

Bobby swallowed, then turned to me. "What about you, Syd?"

"I'm going to get strong enough to challenge the Unova champion!"

Bobby nodded, but asked a serious question, his mouth full of food. "Why Unova?"

"My cousin's the champion there, I'm going to get strong enough to beat him!" I hit my chest, making a dramatic yet odd pose, and both of the people at my table laughed. I raised an eyebrow before joining in on their laughter. "You, Bobby?"

"I'm going to collect all the Gym badges around the world before participating in a league. Win championships and get my name around before I go take on the big guys." It seemed logical, travel everywhere and get fans and friends. I was going to save Unova for last after going around to all the regions, and maybe even a vacation in the smaller ones, like Orre.

The announcer called all spectators (and escaped Coordinators) back to the field. The Battle Round was about to begin.


"Mankey, dodge and counter with Tackle!" The kid declared, and his monkey-like Pokemon narrowly dodged the attack from the Jigglypuff and tackled it to the ground.

Semi-finals already? I didn't notice, I was too absorbed in the grace and magnificence of battles. Claire had done fairly well, and she would be going up against the kid with the Mankey if she won her semi-final battle.

It was her against this Veronica person, who had dark hair and a Butterfree. At first I thought it would be unfair, but then I remembered something from school; bug-types evolve faster than any other. So the levels should be nearly even. Not many people came here for a fourth or fifth badge, just two twins, against each other.

But I didn't pay attention.

The battle begun, Claire calling out her Eevee, Veronica calling her Butterfree.

"Begin!" The announcer cried. Up on the screen showed Claire's picture and Veronica's picture, along with a circle that seemed to go down every time they were hit. The five-minute countdown began.

"Eevee, use Baby-Doll Eyes!" Claire commanded. Eevee's eyes seemed to become greater and more adorable, stopping the opposing Butterfree right in its tracks.

"Bailey," Veronica calmly called, "use stun spore."

Her voice was too calm, that was the thing. I was expecting her to pull out a Paralysis Heal, but she didn't have her sparkly bag with her. I asked Penny, who seemed to have an extensive knowledge on contests, why. "Items like that aren't allowed in contest battles."

I nodded, taking in the new information, my focus returning to the battle. Eevee managed to dodge the orange dust, but he can't dodge forever. He'll mess up, and I could tell both Claire and her Pokemon knew it too well. Veronica, however, seemed to have a strategy for every battle. She seemed to plan out her contest wins, and it was only her

"Eevee, jump up and tackle!"

Eevee jumped into the air with a familiar finesse I've seen before. It wasn't Déjà vu. Somehow, Claire had trained Eevee to move gracefully in his jump, just like I've seen Brielle do before. I wish she could've been outside her pokeball to see it, but she wasn't allowed to after being yelled at for being "too loud".

Had I inspired Claire for that? Even the thought made me break into a goofy grin. "Go, Claire!" I shouted.

Claire heard the small shout and looked into the crowd, but her mind went back to the battle. Three minutes left, and she was losing, having more points lost than Veronica. "Eevee, sunny day!"

A bright light filled the room, blinding almost everybody. I glanced over to Bobby while shielding my eyes and noticed he had bought some sunglasses. I gave him a, 'seriously, dude?' look and he shrugged.

"Eevee, tackle!" Eevees are usually sensitive to light due to their heightened senses, but somehow, this guy managed to break through the light, a sword through the air, and struck Butterfree harshly. I heard the Pokemon scream in pain and something hit the ground.

The light faded, showing Butterfree knocked out. Claire had won her semi-final round. All she had to do was win against Mankey.


"This isn't going to turn out well," I said, watching Claire return Eevee and go back to heal him. "Everyone knows fighting is super-effective against normal! I hope she remembers that!"

"Of course she knows," Penny stated bluntly, picking at her nails. "She did see the fight between Mankey and that girl with the Jigglypuff."

I was still worried. What if Claire, or Eevee got hurt? "Attention, everyone! The finals are about to begin!"

There was only one way to find out.


"Mankey, go!"

"Eevee, your time to shine!"

It was pretty uncommon to see a Pokemon defeat its resistant type. Determination shone in Claire's eyes while the boy mirrored it. I looked closer at the boy at this moment. He had sleek black hair and wore a suit, and red eyes. It was a little creepy, but cool, at the same time.

"Mankey, let the lady go first." He told his Pokemon, who nodded, allowing Claire to make the first move. What was his plan?

"Alright. Eevee, use tackle!" Claire ordered gently, sending her foxlike Pokemon out to a deathmatch. He hit straight on, but not a lot of damage occurred. Mankey's paw fiercely glowed bright, slamming Eevee into the ground.

Claire lost a lot of points there, and I winced. "That was a pretty good move," Bobby commented next to me. "Though the whole 'letting the lady go first' was kinda obvious he was going to use counter."

I was barely listening, biting my lip hard and clenching my fists. I wanted to tell her stuff that would help. Maybe, afterwards, we'd devise a plan to help with her next contest? If I even got to see her, at least. She left pretty fast last time.

"Eevee, are you okay?"

I heard an inaudible "yes" from the field, where the boy was waiting for her to retaliate.

"Okay, sunny day!"

The light filled the room again. "And it looks like Claire is using her strategy again." The announcers said, as if it wasn't obvious. I ripped the sunglasses from Bobby's head before placing them on, allowing me to see as if there was no bright light.

No. Way.

Eevee and Claire both had glasses on. Where did she get them? How fast is she at putting them on? Questions like that will have to be saved for next time.

"Mankey, listen and charge!"

That command meant that Claire and Eevee had to be silent with this move. But how could she? Mankey was listening fiercely and her microphone was on, her command would be reverberated through the entire stadium.

I hope she has a plan…I thought as the light started to fade. Something quick happened, her Eevee was a silent assassin and struck Mankey, head on.

Again, not much damage. But she was getting there, I noted, as I glanced upon the screens above my head. She held more damage than the boy, but still held on. Two minutes left.

The light dramatically faded, allowing Mankey to strike again. "Low kick!" Mankey hit Eevee dead-on, deducting a major amount of points from her score. I saw her wince, and Eevee struggle to get up. The small fox Pokemon finally collapsed, and a ringing bell echoed throughout the stadium, deafening many people.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of the Pewter City contest is Nathaniel from Viridian City!"

I looked to Claire, who held the injured Eevee close to her chest. She made it pretty far, and she glanced among the crowds, resting on me, the girl in the reddest shirt in the stadium. I gave her an encouraging thumbs-up, but she didn't seem affected by it and ran out of the field.

Poor girl, I thought sadly, standing up and rushing to catch up with her.