A/N: Hello darlings! Here, we finally get some contest action in! … Well… the training for the contest at least… I'm terribly sorry, but it's pretty much a filler chapter. By the way, someone is terribly close to the theory as to why the girls switched. As to who, or whether it was a PM or review, I'm not telling. :P It might give it away. As always, I hope you enjoy!
Ninja of Night: Yes. The disturbance is so bad, that everyone feels it. Thank you for the story alert and favorite story! :)
Master of Ice and Wuji Grey: Crys senses. :)) I came up with that after watching Spiderman… hehehe…
StarlightStardust98: Yes. Professor Elm as a contest otaku is slightly more disturbing than Conway. But never more disturbing that Harley. Thank you! I think of Professor Birch as an absentminded person. Gold's Crys senses… just, I just came up with it, and wasn't originally going to put it, but I did on a whim. As for Dia's situation, it's more of, all the guys somewhat understand that the girls switched personalities, but Diamond's the only one to really ponder about it and why it happened. Note taken about the typo. I honestly have no idea about what the heck is wrong with my auto correct. Thanks for pointing it out!
Berry Doyle: The disturbance…? Oh! The disturbance was Ruby forcing Crystal into the dress. Ehehehe… Interesting theories! I'd tell you if you were close or not, but I don't want to give it away. And no need to worry (Oh gosh, I just made an anime reference…), the contest starts next chapter! :D
ZXCVBNMEM: Yes. Crys senses. If Gold has Crys senses, and Spiderman has spidey senses, what's Gold's superhero name? And yes, Professor Elm is a contest otaku.
stealthclaw: Thanks for the story alert! :D
sunny0925: Thank you for the story alert! :)
Tatty and Dragon: Thanks lots for the story alert! ~(^-^~)
BTH Publishing: Thank you for the favorite story! :D
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon...yo.
Diamond sighed. He was back at the Poffin House, making more poffins for his fellow Dex holders to pass the time as he waited.
'It's already been an hour…Where are they?'
Diamond yelped as he felt his shoulder being tapped. With ninja like reflexes, he swiftly turned around, wooden stirring spoon in hand.
"Oh, it's only you, Seniors Blue and Green." Diamond lowered his weapon.
Blue slowly retracted her arm. "Hi."
"You're the first ones back."
"Yep." Green responded.
"Did you happen to catch anyone else on your way in?"
"No, but-" Blue was cut off by the opening of the door.
"Hey guys!" Yellow strolled in, waving wildly.
"Hey." Red followed, nodding in acknowledgement.
Yellow made a beeline for their table.
"Can you believe it? Keira already knew about the contest! We didn't even need to find her and-" Yellow rambled on, with only Blue nodding at her statements every once in a while.
Diamond noticed a faint, red swelling on Red's face. "Senior Red, what happened?" he asked, pointing at his face.
Red chuckled hollowly, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's nothing…" Red then walked away muttering something about evil Buneary and their evil punching skills.
Diamond was about to go after him, but suddenly, the attention of the Dex Holders was on Gold, who just walked through the door dragging a tied and gagged Silver by his cowlick.
"Hey everyone!" Gold called out nonchalantly. Everyone paused their activities and stared at the sulking, but furious, Silver. One by one, each of them slowly resumed their previous activities as if nothing happened.
Everyone soon halted their activities once more, hearing bickering from outside.
"Do you see what your sense of direction has done? We're two minutes late! Two. Minutes. Late." Platinum's voice boomed in the Poffin house.
"Don't you think I know that? I'm pretty upset t-"Pearl stared at their audience and waved a little. "-uh, hi guys."
"Hello everybody." Platinum greeted. Everyone said their greetings back.
Pearl took a quick look around the room. "Hey! We're not last!" he whooped, throwing his hands in the air.
"Yes, but we're still late." Platinum replied, slowly approaching Pearl, a scowl on her face. Pearl instantly lowered his hands, leaving them in front of his face as a defense mechanism.
The door's bell rang, signaling another arrival.
'Saved by the bell.' Pearl thought wearily. He instantly stiffened, though, upon Platinum's glare at him, clearly expressing the message, "This isn't over."
"Hey everybody!" Emerald exclaimed, wildly waving to all of the present Dex Holders.
"Greetings." Sapphire said, then sat down with such elegance and poise that left everyone staring in shock. Most people were about to comment on it, but stopped and stared at the door upon hearing slightly muffled screams, yells, and pounding.
Diamond took a good guess and counted down.
'Five…Four…Three…Two…One, and-'
"Come on Crys! It's not that bad!" Ruby's exasperated yell could be heard as he opened the door.
Right on time.
Ruby walked in, with Mimi and Ruru tagging along. Everyone looked questioningly at the presence of the two Pokémon, but then nodded in understanding upon seeing a floating Light Screen box containing Crystal.
"LEMME OUTTA HERE! LEMME OUTTA HERE!" Crystal screeched, pounding her fists furiously on the Light Screen box to no avail.
"As long as you promise to not randomly strip out of the dress and run off when I release you!~" Ruby replied cheekily.
"NEVER!" she retorted.
"LET HER OUT OF THERE! LET HER OUT OF THERE!" Gold cheered, a devilish grin on his face. He was promptly shut up by Platinum, who kicked him in the stomach.
"Okay then!" Yellow started, clapping her hands together. "We're all here now! Let's go practice! Respect those who want their privacy while practicing techniques. If you want to practice with others, so be it! But make sure you have their consent. And absolutely no spying. Got it? Good."
"She has no way of knowing if we're spying." Gold whispered to Emerald, who grinned. Then they did a fist bump.
"Oh." Gold jumped at the sudden appearance of Yellow beside him. "I have my ways."
Gold shivered a bit, and faked a smile, eye twitching in a mix of fear and annoyance. "Training, anyone?"
"So Silver, do know anything about contests? I don't know anything." Red asked.
"Actually, yes, I do. Sis would talk about them all the time after her visits from Sinnoh. All I know about Sinnoh contests are that there are three categories. First is the visual competition, where the Pokémon are judged by their condition, and the accessories that you decorate them with, depending on the category." Silver paused in case Red had any questions.
"How do you raise their condition?"
"Poffins. Like the ones Diamond made for us. Speaking of which, we should probably give out Pokémon some during training. But where will we find accessories…?"
Red snapped his fingers and started digging through his bag. Noticing Silver's questioning stare, he explained. "When Yellow and I were searching for Keira, we ran into a…Buneary." he spat out the Pokémon's name with hate, although Silver didn't know why. "It turned out to be Keira's, so in return for helping her find it-aha-" Red pulled out a Fashion Case. "-she gave Yellow and I a bunch of accessories."
"That's good, but we should really work on our strategies…Who knows what Yellow might have planned for us."
Red immediately perked up. "Luckily for you, strategies are my specialty!"
"Senior Gold, what are you doing?" Sapphire questioned, staring at her senior. He appeared to be doing some weird gestures while swaying his hips. She squinted her eyes a bit. Was he…dancing?
Gold momentarily stopped his dancing, appalled. "What are you talking about? Can't you tell? Clearly, I'm warming up for this awesome dance routine I made that Explotaro and I are going to wow the judges with!" he said, pumping a fist into the air, then resuming his…er…dancing.
"You call that dancing?" Sapphire sneered.
Gold paused his actions to glare at Sapphire. "And you know how to dance?"
"As a matter of fact, I do."
"Oh really?" Gold challenged.
"Yes."
"Then I challenge you to a dance off! Wait, no. I've got something even better. I bet that I'll get the highest score in the dancing competition part of the contest." he said, nodding to himself like he was a genius.
"And if you don't?"
"Well, then that's up to you. But if I do get the highest score, which I will, then you have to…eh…" Gold racked his brain for a good penalty. "You have to…AHA! You have to go on a date-"
"A DATE?" Sapphire shrieked.
"-with Emerald."
Sapphire screamed once more. "Oh, you'll see!" Sapphire turned to face him. "You'll regret this. I suggest you practice, because you'll need it."
"Sure…"
Sapphire stalked off grumbling about stupid commoners, stupid bets, and low standards.
"Hey Diamond!" Emerald called.
"Yes, Senior?"
"I'm having a little trouble with making a routine for the acting competition, could you help me out?"
"Sure. What Pokémon are you using, and moves does it know?"
"Well, I was thinking about using Sudowoodo. Sudowoodo knows Low Kick, Rock Slide, Counter, and Wood Hammer."
"Hmm… Those are all physical attacks…Well, I'm no Pearl, but I'm sure we can figure something out."
"Thanks, Dia! You're the best!"
"It's no problem, Senior."
"I have a question though."
"What's that?"
"Exactly how does the acting competition work? Ruby always blabs on about his contest techniques, but Sinnoh contests are different from Hoenn contests. So…How?"
"Oh, well, it's simple. Depending on the order the judges choose, you are up to present moves. It's usually based on best to worst. Your Pokémon will present the routine you come up with. In this case, we're doing a tough contest. It's not all about making the moves look nice, you have to show off the Pokémon and their tough aspects, which you do through the moves."
"Wow. That sounds…TOTALLY AWESOME! Let's get started!"
"So, um, Platinum. Why'd you try out contests?" Blue tried to start a conversation during their break.
"Oh. Some snotty people challenged my pride. So, I did what I had to do to stick up for myself. I can't just let people stomp all over me, know what I'm saying?" Platinum nudged Blue a bit.
"Yeah, I get you."
"So…How good are your dancing skills?"
"I'm actually pretty good! But recently when I was practicing, I was really clumsy. I have no idea why…"
"Well…I could help you, if you'd like."
"Would you?"
"I don't see why not. Besides…my dancing isn't exactly up to par right now either." Platinum said sheepishly.
"Let's help each other, then!" Blue said, smiling brightly.
"I wonder how the others are doing…" Platinum pondered.
"Come on, Crys! It's not that bad." Yellow tauntingly called out.
"I'm over it, Senior. It's just the fact that I allowed myself to surrender to Prissy Boy of all people." Crystal grumbled from her spot near the trees.
"I don't see you practicing! ~" Ruby gleefully said from his shady spot, staring at her creepily. He promised Crystal that she would be allowed to take the dress off after the contest as long as she took the contest seriously.
"Okay! Okay! SHEESH! Come on, Bonee; let's go practice in that field over there." Crystal mumbled, leading her Cubone over to the ravaged field, thanks to the vigorous practice that Yellow initiated with her Golem.
"The fields all yours, Crys!" Yellow consented, deciding to take a rest near Ruby, who was just lying down, eyes closed. She cocked an eyebrow. "Aren't you supposed to be practicing, Ruby?"
Ruby lazily opened one eye. "What are you talking about? Of course I'm going to win. See my Pokémon, Senior Yellow?" he said, gesturing to all of his Pokémon which he had let out earlier.
Yellow nodded.
"Well, if you observe closely, you'll see all of their contest ribbons, from normal to master." Ruby said smugly.
Yellow whistled. "Impressive. But you do know that Sinnoh contests are different from Hoenn contests, right?" she inquired.
"I know, but it can't be too hard." Yellow resisted the urge to roll her eyes at this. "I mean, all of my Pokémon are so beautiful, and I know Zuzu will dazzle the judges, the audience, and the competition during the visual round. I've trained Zuzu to be so graceful, it'll be a breeze in the dancing competition. And of course, Zuzu will be the epitome of toughness during the acting round!" Ruby exuberantly proclaimed, hands clasped with a dreamy look in his eyes.
"You sound pretty confident there, Ruby."
"And why shouldn't I be?" he replied, shooting her a questioning glance.
Yellow held up her hands in mock surrender. "Hey! I'm just saying."
Ruby, looking satisfied with her answer slowly lowered himself, and laid down again.
"I'm going to go get some training in. Best of luck, Ruby!" Yellow exclaimed, shooting off into the distance.
Ruby sighed, but felt a little funny.
He had nothing to worry about, right?
Green stopped in his tracks to turn around and face his stalk-ahem- …friend.
"Why do you keep following me?" he interroga-ahem- asked his-ah- follower.
"Whadda ya mean?" Pearl inquired, slinging an arm around his senior's shoulders. "Us Fire-starter Pokémon trainers got to stick together!"
Green mentally face palmed. That's what all of the fuss was about?
"…Okay then… But, could you… train somewhere else? I train alone."
"But I want to train with you, Senior! PLEEEAAASSSEEEEEE?" Pearl begged using his Growlithe eyes, plus a jutted out bottom lip which was wobbling a bit.
"No." Green said, then proceeded to start walking again.
Pearl froze in his tracks, dumbfounded. 'It didn't work?'
'That must've been one of the utmost disturbing and retarted things I have ever seen in my life.' Green shuddered a bit.
Pearl turned around. "Awww…Come on, pwease?"
"No." Green said, quickening his pace.
Undeterred, Pearl followed. "Well why not?" he asked, hands on his hips.
"Why don't you go train over there?" Green dodged the question, finally stopping. He pointed over to a far away field, but still in plain sight.
"Because I want to train with you Senior!" Pearl exclaimed with delight. "At least tell me what Pokémon you're going to use! Tauhiko and I are going to wipe out the competition!"
"Hn. I'm going to use my Machamp."
"YAY! I'm going to go come up with some strategies for us over there, okay?" Pearl shouted excitedly, running off to the aforementioned field.
"Sure?" Green replied confusedly. Then, he took out the Poke Ball for his Machamp.
"Geez… Gramps should really rethink who he gives the Pokedex to." Green muttered.
Done! Long time no update! Hope you guys enjoyed! Tis be school times. Need to focus on my studies, you know?
Looks like Ruby's getting cocky! And Pearl's a stalker. I swear. I can so imagine him doing that scene.
Til next time, darlings!~
