Ash woke up before the sun had even come out. He carefully squirmed out from under May and got dressed.
"Come on buddy." He whispered as he nudged Pikachu. "Let's grab an early breakfast."
"Pika? PikaPi pik Pikachu." Pikachu groaned groggily.
"I know buddy but we gotta let May get some sleep." Ash kept whispering.
"Pika." Pikachu sighed. He carefully unwrapped himself from Pichu and lowered her head to the bed gently before jumping up onto Ash's shoulder. "Pik. PikaPi. Pik Pikachu pika pik pika Pikachu."
Ash chuckled. "I know. We're going berry hunting."
Pikachu just sighed again.
Ash crept out of the Pokémon center and headed to the forest to pick some berries. "According to the pokénav, Sitrus berries grow around here in huge numbers."
"Pika!" Pikachu cheered as he imagined the sweet flavor of the berry.
It wasn't long before they stumbled onto a grove, but they weren't alone.
"What are you doing here? Picking berries for your girlfriend?" Dawn asked.
"Nope." Ash smiled. "We're here for breakfast."
"Huh?" Dawn said as she watched Ash pull some berries off the tree and hand them to Pikachu.
"Eat up buddy." He smiled as he took a bite out of a berry.
"Are you crazy? Those things aren't safe to be eaten by humans!" Dawn yelled.
"Lots of berries aren't." Ash said as he chewed on the berry. "But those with healing effects on Pokémon are safe for humans to eat. Rawst, Pecha, Oran and Sitrus. All those types and more are safe."
"Wow." Dawn said as she looked at a berry in her hand.
"Go ahead." Ash smiled. "Try it."
Dawn took a cautious bite. "It's very sweet."
"Yup. Tamato berries are safe for human consumption as well. Where do you think spices come from?" Ash said as he planted the seeds from the berry he finished.
"Pika pika." Pikachu chimed in as he mimicked Ash.
Ash checked his pokénav. "The contest here starts in three hours. Better go wake May." He said as Pikachu climbed up to his perch. "See ya Dawn. Good luck!"
May rolled over and got out of bed. "I guess Ash and Pikachu went to get some breakfast already." She yawned as she rubbed her eyes.
"Pichu pi." Pichu groaned as she picked herself up.
May got dressed, leaving her hair normal for the day, picked up Pichu and headed downstairs just as Ash walked back in.
"I thought you would have been in the cafeteria." May said as Ash pecked her cheek.
"Nope. Me and Pikachu went out and picked some Sitrus berries for breakfast." Ash said. "By the way the contest starts in three hours."
"Three hours?" May panicked. "I can eat when we reach the contest hall!" She yelled as she grabbed Ash and ran towards the hall.
"Since Floaroma town is not very big, the town mayor chose to build the contest hall about a kilometer out of town, near the power plant." May's pokénav chirped.
After an hour of running they made it to the hall.
"Am I too late?" May asked.
"Nope. You still have two hours to register." The receptionist said. "May I please have your pokédex?"
"What?" May asked. "No no no. I'm not a first timer. But I do need this updated." She said as she handed her contest pass to the receptionist.
"Ok then." The receptionist smiled as she slid the contest pass into a scanner. "I just need to take a photo of you." She said as she pulled a camera out from under the desk.
May stood straight as an arrow and smiled at the camera. After the flash went off she rubbed her eyes. "Ugh. I never get used to that."
A few seconds later and May's contest pass slid out with her new photo over her old one.
"Thank you." May said as she took her new pass. Her stomach growled as she did. "I'm hungry." She whined.
Ash dug into his pack and pulled a Sitrus berry out. "Here. Kinda figured this would happen." He laughed.
"Thanks Ash." May said as she took the berry. She split it in half and handed a slice to Pichu. "On half is filling enough for me."
Ash watched as his girlfriend and her Pokémon devoured the two halves. "Sitrus berries. Enough for even the most voracious appetites." He laughed.
"My name is May and I approve this message." May chimed in.
"So who are you going to use?" Ash asked.
"I was thinking Eevee and Pichu for the appeals, then Skitty and Squirtle for battles." May thought. "Anyway I better go get changed."
"Good luck." Ash said after he pecked her cheek. "We'll be cheering for you."
As May headed into the ready room to get changed a trio of figures walked in.
"Do ya see dem?" The shortest figure asked.
"There's a kid over there with a Pikachu. But I don't know. I'll scope him out from the crowd." One of the taller figures noted.
"Well what about the twoipette?" The shortest figure asked again.
"Nope. Looks like I'm in the clear to win this contest." The other tall figure said as she pulled off her cloak, revealing an orange and pale yellow dress with long white socks and black slip on shoes. Her crimson hair was tied into pigtails and adorned with yellow bows; a pair of oversized, yellow glasses with no lens tied the look together. "Jessilina is here!"
The other tall figure removed his cloak to reveal a plain white shirt with lavender shorts, white socks and black joggers. A white strip of cloth was tied around his head, just below his lavender hair. "Be careful Jess. The twerps may have changed their outfits."
The smaller figure chose to remain in his cloak and said nothing as he walked off with the lavender haired man.
"Thanks for the warning James. But I doubt the twerps would deviate too much from their usual attire." Jessilina scowled.
May stepped out of the change room in her contest costume. Her hair was back in its signature wings style, her Arabian princess style costume once again showing off her figure.
Dawn stepped out of the change room next to her, dressed in her contest dress. "I'm going to beat you this time."
May sneered. "Just try and make it past your first battle this time."
A high pitched laugh came from across the room. "You'll both have me to contend with this time." Jessilina smirked. "Rookies don't stand a chance."
May looked unimpressed. "Competing in two grand festivals hardly makes me a rookie."
"Oh so we have a big shot? It doesn't matter I'll still mwuf?" Jessilina stopped as someone shoved a sock in her mouth.
"Run your mouth after you win you hag." Steve said.
Jessilina spat out the sock and growled. "How dare you!"
"Get over it." Steve said as he walked off.
Ash wandered around looking for a good seat. "Who'd of thought Floaroma town would have this many people." he sighed. Eventually he decided on a seat next to a man with lavender hair and his pet Meowth. 'This guy looks familiar.' Ash thought to himself. 'Oh well.'
James cheered inwardly when the kid he was looking for chose a seat right next to him. 'The face looks similar, but there are doppelgangers out there, Jessie and Jessibelle are prime examples of that.'
"Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to the Floaroma town contest. Once again I'm your host Marian Meridan from the twelve Meridan siblings, and I'm sure our panel of judges needs no introduction, but for those of you just joining us they are Mr. Contesta, one of the joint heads of the Pokémon coordination league and one of the eight brothers, which one do we have? We'll never know! This guy is also everywhere! A large family that spans the globe, Floaroma towns own Mr. Sukizo! Big families galore today as we welcome our last judge, Floaromas own Nurse Joy!" Marian announced as she darted around the stage.
"Well that explains how they get everywhere." Ash said.
"And now let's get straight into our first appeal! Our first coordinator today is a big name around the world! She's young! She's cute! She's sexy! So make her feel welcome because she's May!" Marian screamed!
The crowd roared as the famous coordinator walked out of the entrance tunnel.
"So she is here." James whispered.
"Yeah." Ash replied. "She's here with me."
"Pika pika Pikaka!" Pikachu screamed.
"So you must be quite a big shot if she's travelling with you." James said.
"I've competed in four conferences and beaten the battle frontier so yeah." Ash shrugged. "I guess I'm a big shot."
May was already on stage when Ash finished his sentence. "Pichu, Eevee! Take the stage!"
Eevee came out of her pokéball in a forward somersault, landing perfectly after five rotations.
Pichu arrived by performing a gymnast corkscrew off May's shoulder, not quite sticking the landing, having to use her left paw to keep from falling over.
"An athletic entrance! Can they show us a unique appeal to compliment it?" Marian asked.
"Eevee, dig underground and keep making holes! Pichu get ready!" May ordered
"Vee." Eevee nodded as she leapt at the ground and pushed her front paws to move as fast as possible, quickly disappearing underground.
Before long the whole dirt arena was covered in holes.
"Oh she's going to do a variation on her Terracotta town performance." Mr. Contesta remarked.
"Now Eevee use Shadow ball!" May commanded.
A few seconds, and a short quake, later Shadow balls flew up from each hole.
"Impressive." Mr. Sukizo said. "She had Eevee leave the balls in place then run to the center and use a physical attack on one of the supports between the holes to make the whole network vibrate, which knocked the balls upward."
"Ready Pichu? Do you think you can create the thunder orb by yourself or should we try something else?" May asked her electric type.
"Chu." Pichu nodded.
"The orb? Okay we'll give it one shot and if it doesn't work we'll try something else." May took a deep breath to calm her nerves. "Alright Pichu use Thunder!"
"Piiiiii. Chuuuuuuuuuuuu!" The baby electric type yelled as she poured her electricity into the air.
Upon reaching its maximum range the electricity began to pool into an orb.
"Oh my." Nurse Joy gasped. "Pichu is getting very tired."
"Pichu." May whispered. "If you want you can stop and we can try something else."
"Chu! Pichu pichu. Pi Pichu!" She yelled back, panting in between words.
"Pichu please stop." May begged. "You're worrying me."
Pichu's electricity darkened in colour. A white glow began to pour from her body. A black silhouette was all that was visible from the outside. Slowly it changed in shape. Pichu's ears became more slender and longer, her head expanded in width as her body grew. Her tiny tail grew longer, stopping just as the tip was visible over the head. The tip of her tail indented to form a vague heart shape.
"Amazing!" Meridan shouted. "Pichu pushed herself to impress her trainer so much that she evolved!"
"Pika!" The newly evolved electric type chanted as the glow vanished. "Pikaka. Pipikachu pik Pikachu."
May breathed a sigh of relief as her Pikachu seemed re-energized from the evolution. "Alright Pikachu! Pour it on!"
"Pika." She nodded. "Chuuuuuuuuuuuu!"
The orb grew bigger and bigger.
"Now Eevee fire a Shadow ball into the orb!" May ordered.
"Eevee." The normal type nodded. From underground. "Eeeeeeeee." She cooed as the ball of shadowy energy grew in her mouth. When it reached full size she launched it with a cry of "Vee!"
The ball flew straight and true.
"Pikachu cut the electricity!" May yelled over the top of the crackling charge.
Pikachu stopped the current and watched as the shadow ball flew towards the orb she had created.
The shadow ball entered the orb and imploded, sucking the orb of electricity into oblivion, a shower of lightning bolts poured out of the spot once inhabited by the orb and struck the closest shadow balls, setting them off in a fireworks-esque display.
"A marvelous display. It looked a little worrying there for a minute, before Pichu evolved. But I can't help but think the implosion was meant to be an explosion." Mr. Contesta wondered aloud as he put down his verdict, a nine point seven.
"Agreed but that Pichu showed marvelous willpower. To the point where she evolved just to finish the appeal." Mr. Sukizo agreed as he put down his verdict as well, an eight point eight.
"While I have to say that as a nurse I'm not pleased with how much stress that appeal put on Pichu, the coordinators care and concern offsets that minor issue. A marvelous display." Nurse Joy nodded as she put down her verdict too, a ten point zero.
"Now let's add the scores together!" Marian announced as the big screen switched from May's mugshot and her Pokémon to a big, black box with three smaller black boxes underneath it.
The three scores appeared in the underside boxes as the big box's number grew.
"Amazing! A twenty eight point five! That's setting the bar pretty high. Can out other coordinators match that?" Marian asked no one in particular. "Let's all give a big hand to May for delighting us with such a powerful appeal!"
The crowd roared again as May walked off, waving to the crowd.
Ash stood up and grabbed Pikachu. "Come on buddy, let's go congratulate May."
James watched as Ash walked off. 'I don't believe it. That is the twerp.'
"Our next contestant hails from Kanto. She has competed in two prior contest leagues but sadly failed to win a single ribbon, according to my sisters. Please welcome her latest alias Jessilina!" Marian announced.
May sat in the ready room and pet her two Pokémon. "You both did an amazing job but Pikachu. Don't scare me like that again."
"Pika." She whined as her ears drooped.
"Aww don't be so hard on her May."Ash laughed as he walked in.
"Pika!" Ash's Pikachu agreed as he jumped off his shoulder to greet his fellow electric type.
The two Pikachu touched tails and let the sparks shower them, a traditional electric type greeting.
"I'm just curious as to why there's the little heart shape in her tail." May cocked her head.
"The same Pokémon from different regions look different. Johto and Sinnoh female Pikachu have these little indents on their tails so males can tell the difference." Ash told her. "But female Pikachu from Kanto and Hoenn don't."
"Then how do they tell males from females?" May asked.
"Scent." Ash said.
"Scent?" May asked again.
"It's colder in Sinnoh and Johto than it is in Hoenn and Kanto so Pokémon from the latter two have a keener sense of smell due to the higher temperature." Ash explained. "Also note how your Pikachu's fur is a darker shade of yellow than mine." He said as he squatted down and pet the two electric types. "Up you both get."
Both Pikachu's climbed up onto his shoulders.
"Eevee return." May recalled her evolution Pokémon.
"We'll let you get ready. The three of us will be cheering for you!" Ash smiled as he headed back to the seating area.
