Review Responses: xXCookieGiverXx - Votes are still on.

CitrineEmerald - No comment. Really.

ZXCVBNMEM - Indeed it is. Indeed it is.

The Observer 00 - Thanks for the many props and reviews. Trust me, I don't mind at all.

AngelicWings24 - Thank you for that review. I don't mind long ones. Actually, I like them a lot. And thank you, I thought I might have made Tony too strong, so thanks for that reassurance (that also goes for The Observer 00). Thanks for the negative bits as well, trust me, I know how important that balance is, and I guess I was a little too lenient with myself. So thank you.

Professor Yuki: Oh don't worry, we'll be seeing him again soon.

harison86: Sorry, one OC per customer. And I already one of those characters if you know who I I'm talking about, and I think you do (not that I plan to bring it up at any point). Sorry, but pokemorphs require a story of their own. It would distract from the main focus I'm afraid.

(Oh, spoilers by the way) I'm assuming everyone is okay with contests in this story? I haven't gotten complaints against it, so I guess I'll be using them. Awesome.

LET'S DO IT!

Chapter 10: Alicia's Quest

What the heck is she doing here? I thought to myself before ducking around the nearest building so she wouldn't see me. Good thing too, I think she was about to turn her head. Once I was sure that I was out of sight, I poked my head around the corner to see Alicia doing the same against her hiding spot across the porch of this blue-painted house. Whatever she was doing, she certainly didn't want to be seen. And I was instantly curious at what she could be looking at. Huh, if I didn't know better, I'd say she was avoiding someone.

"What'cha doin'?" I almost jumped out of my shoes. Whoever said that was right behind me and really didn't appreciate the concept of stealth. I turned around in a frightened panic, backing myself up against the wall. When I saw that it wasn't a fire breathing dragon about to rip my head off, I exhaled deeply in relief. Granted, that's ridiculous, but it's always a spur the moment type thing with me when I was surprised.

No, it wasn't a fire breathing lizard. It was a girl. Admittedly, a cute girl. The broad and happy grin on her tan-skinned face would attest to that. Of course, her shining brown eyes and dark black hair didn't hurt that fact either. She obviously traveled, considering the clothes she wore. Her head was adorned with a red baseball cap which matched her elbow length hoodie. The rest of her outfit went for a whole dark motif, since she wore black boots along with her black shorts and dark blue tank top.

"Uh nothing!" I replied with an extremely high voice. I really hoped this girl hadn't seen me looking at Alicia. I didn't need 'stalker' added to the list of reasons why people might think I was crazy. But just out of curiosity, I took another look around the corner. Drat! I'd lost her. I sighed. She was obviously up to no good. I wouldn't put robbing another pokemon center past her. That girl just gave me a weird vibe.

"Oh? Then what're you lookin' at?" She asked with a cheery and bubbly voice. I looked back at her, finding a curious and suspicious face looking back at me. She had an odd grin on her face, almost smug even. "Weren't spying on someone were you?"

"Yeah, were you?" I blinked when I heard that second voice. It sounded...I dunno, immature. I looked around, but found no discernible source. But I was in for another jump of surprise when a small creature appeared over her shoulder. After I leapt back, I once again saw nothing to fear. It was a pokemon. A tiny pale yellow pokemon that could probably stand in the palm of my hand. His fur looked incredibly short, though his large black-tipped ears looked a little thicker. He also had additional black markings around his neck and all over his tail. The tail itself was tiny, but still seemed to resemble a lightning bolt. His nose was extremely small, almost like a dot, and his pink cheeks wrapped this creature with petite arms and feet in a tight bundle of cuteness.

"N-No! I wasn't! I was just-"

"Uh-huh. I've got you figured out now. Spying on the competition, huh?"

"No! Really! She and I have just-wait what?" I was about to sputter on and maybe unintentionally make myself sound like even more of a creep. But luckily, she was mistaken and I was able to stop myself. "What competition?"

"Don't play dumb now. You're here for the pokemon contest too, right? See? Look, those guys are too." She pointed around the corner once again. And I, too confused for words followed her pointing finger to see what the heck she was blabbering on about. Huh. That's odd. A couple trainers were on the sidewalk about ten feet away. They appeared to be feeding their pokemon (a Patrat and a Venipede) what looked like colourful candies. They were square-shaped and the pokemon seemed to really enjoy them. "I get it. You wanted to see if you could figure out what pokeblock recipes they use. Take it from me, it's always best to come up with your own."

"Okay, what are you talking about? I don't know what a pokeblock is! I'm not sure what kind of recipe you're talking about! And I especially have no idea what a contest is!"

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT A CONTEST IS?" Suddenly, she grabbed me by the arm and dragged me out of my hiding spot. I walked along with her, if only not to get my arm torn clean off. She was lugging me along, drawing the eyes of nearly every person on the way. And weirder still, not a soul stopped this. "I guess it shouldn't be surprising."

"Why not?"

"Contests are a new thing here in Unova. In fact, the very first Unova contest is happening in this town today! It was selected from a random drawing! It's the only reason I'm here, really!"

"Yeah. And who are you exactly?"

"Oh, did I forget to introduce myself again? I'm Jennie! I'm a pokemon coordinator! And a trainer too, but who really cares about that, right?"

"So what's a pokemon coordinator?"

"A kind of trainer who does contests. Contests are a lot different from battles, because-hey we're here! Awesome!" I gasped. I'd been so focused on the conversation, I hadn't noticed it before. We were approaching the least likely thing to come out of this small town. Keep in mind that every other building we passed along the way was small, wooden and...well...quaint if I may say so. But this thing was just everything this place wasn't. It was grand. It was over the top. It was a contest hall.

The building was obviously an arena. Concrete steps with a red carpet led up to a pair of gigantic automatic glass doors. Speaking of the doors, they were merely the forefront to the hall itself. It was like a colosseum, perfectly round with a roof of perfect yellow. The walls were navy blue, and perfectly circular to make this whole building look as elegant as could be. Oh, not to mention the enormous jumbo-tron just above the entrance with the words 'POKEMON CONTEST' blazened across it.

"Whoa. Nice." I said in disbelief as I stared at this beautiful thing. Whatever a pokemon contest was, it had to be huge if we were judging by this place alone. I'd go inside and explore...but really, what does go my way these days?

"Excuse me?" I heard another female voice say behind me. Me and this Jennie turned around for the moment to see an even more odd girl than her. But it didn't look that way from the start. In fact, she looked rather normal to me. What with the skirt, the T-shirt and sneakers. But all that changed when she spoke again. "Have you seen him?"

"Seen who?" Jennie asked.

"YOU DON'T KNOW? He's the guest judge for the first Unova contest!"

"Who're you talkin' about?" I asked this time. She was obviously a fangirl, I knew how to recognize their kind well enough after my first gym badge. But I couldn't fathom who she was pining over.

"What? YOU STILL DON'T KNOW? IT'S THE CONTEST MASTER HIMSELF! JOHTO'S SHOOTING STAR!"

"Uh...who?"

"Bah! You're useless you are! Excuse me, sir!" She ran past us at the speed of light, moving over to the next poor sap who came her way. I saw him now. He was walking just a few feet away, wearing a deep brown trench coat and fedora, making it hard to see his face. I had to question that fashion choice, considering the weather. It was way too hot out for this. Yet, I swear. As I looked below the fedora, I swear I could've seen that guy's glasses once before. Oh well, must've been my imagination. The man in the fedora shook his head and it looked like the girl was about to clock him for a second before moving on to the next one. Okay, the trench coat was bothering me at this point. Normally I wouldn't care about other people's business, but this was just conspicuous. Plus, this guy just looked suspicious all around.

"Pardon me sir!" That wouldn't stop Jennie I guess. She had finally let go of my arm. And good thing too, her grip made my forearms ache. I was barely listening to the conversation while I nursed my bruises. "Do you know who she was talking about?"

"Why yes madam. I do." The man responded in a gruff voice that almost made me scared of him. No really, this guy sounded direct out of a mobster movie. "The info was just leaked that he'd be making a guest appearance at this contest. They even say that he'll be the opening act."

"Yeah, cool. But who is he?"

"Why that's a mighty strong looking Pichu you got there. You must train him every day." I blinked. That was odd. He was sure to change the subject fast. And even more odd, he sounded really convincing.

"Aw, thanks for noticing!" The Pichu replied as he waved back at this man, cute as could be.

"Pichu, huh?" I hadn't heard of that pokemon. At least with the others I had to use the pokedex for, I actually had heard of them. But I couldn't, for the life of me, think of a Pichu on the list of pokemon I know. I grabbed my pokedex and took a quick scan for curiosity's sake.

"Pichu, the Tiny Mouse Pokémon. And the pre-evolved form of Pikachu. Despite their size, Pichu release bursts of electricity that can shock even humans. However, Pichu are unskilled at controlling their electricity, and sometimes release it by accident when surprised, or when laughing and shock themselves."

"I'm sorry." I heard Pichu's voice again and snapped to attention, only to start sweating and clench my teeth. That Pichu was giving me a look. And not just any look. It was an 'if looks could kill' look. He was sneering, snickering, and (I from what I could see) was plotting his revenge as we speak. "But did you just say I was...unskilled?"

"What? No it was the pok...I mean...uhhhhh..." Great. Not only was I getting the stink eye from a Pichu, I couldn't freak out about it because I'd also have to admit to talking to pokemon. Gulp. I already had one psycho pokemon on my hands, I didn't need another.

"You'll have to forgive my little friend here." Jennie clasped Pichu in her hands, forcing the rodent to try and squirm out of her grip so he could probably claw my eyes out. "He just hates it when people say that he's unskilled...or weak...or anything bad really."

"You...You don't say."

"Oh yeah. But don't worry. Deep down he knows he's a sweet thing. Don't you?" She looked down upon her little partner, who gave her back a wide-mouthed grin. For a moment I thought hostilities had ceased but hey who'm I kidding, right? The moment she looked away, he was back to leering at me. Remind me why I loved pokemon again please.

"So yeah, back to business." Jennie turned back to the man in the trench coat, Pichu still in her hands, thankfully. "Who is this guest judge? I wanna know!"

"Oh you'll know him when you see him, I'm sure. Don't know much about the boy myself. Anyway, young lady and gentleman, you should get in there if you want to compete. Registration's closing soon."

"Oh, I'm not competing actually." I was just able to put that in before Jennie got hyper again. That girl is quick, I'll give her that.

"I AM! I GOTTA HURRY! THANKS MISTER!" Jennie screeched just before her legs became a blur. She charged up the staircase like a bull, leaving nothing but a flurry of wind in her wake. I let out a sigh of relief. It's not that I didn't like her. I just needed a break from people that peppy. Between her and Bianca, I had my work cut out for me.

"So. Not too into pokemon contests are you son?" I looked back at the mystery man who seemed to know more than he let on.

"Well, that depends. I don't even know what a contest is."

"Oh you don't do you? Well, I'd be happy to explain if you're interested."

"Yeah! Please do!"

"Alrighty then. Pokemon contests are much different than ordinary battles. You see, contests are composed in tournament style. However, the priority of contests is not to be stronger than the opponent. The main goal in a contest is to show off the beauty and grace of the pokemon using one or a combination of moves."

"Really? Huh. That really is different."

"Yes. I quite enjoy them myself. The first rounds aren't even battling rounds. They're appeal rounds, showcasing the compatibility between the coordinator and the pokemon through the usage of their moves. The judges hand out points during these rounds. And the eight coordinators with the highest points move onto round two, the battling round. Wherein the pokemon try to make themselves look better and the opponent look worse. A point system is used during these battles. If you run out of points it's all over. And if you have less points after the time limit is up, it's all over as well."

"Yikes. Time limit? Sounds complicated."

"Oh it is. But once you're good enough, you can come up with combinations on the fly and an endless track of beauty is created, all the way to the grand prize of any contest. The ribbon. I'd say more, but believe me, it's always better to watch and see for yourself rather than letting someone else describe it to you."

"Wow. Cool. Maybe I should check it out." I paused. I was planning on going in anyway, but after that whole number, I was just intrigued. I was about to head in there, score a top-notch seat when something hit me. This trench coat guy. Something sure was...familiar. I didn't get it. It was definitely the glasses, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. "Say, have we met before? Something tells me we..."

"BWAHAHAHA!" I stepped back a bit. The man broke out laughing. And just as quickly as he started, he stopped. Is there anyone in my world who isn't weird? "No sir, I don't believe we have. It's been good to meet you though. Be seeing you."

The man tipped his hat to me and began walking up the stairs. You know, for a guy in a trench coat, he sure was running pretty fast. I mean, just look at his silver ponytail. It was flapping around in the breeze as he breezed toward the contest hall. To add to the weirdness, he didn't even go through the doors. He walked around the hall. Wait...silver ponytail? Oh crud, I did know who that was. I shuffled up the stairs as fast as I could. He was weird all right. So weird, he's awesome. Just trust me on this. I dashed to the right side of the doors, hoping to catch up any way I could. But no matter how hard I tried, I didn't see his coat tails just around the corner. I sped up. I had to tell him. I had to tell him about Alicia. If anyone could handle her, it was him.

But on the other hand, I was running out of breath. My lungs were inflating and deflating faster than my brain could keep up. Pretty soon, after I'd completed a full circle and a half of the building, I just gave out. Next time, I should really use my skateboard for these things. When I recovered by at least half, my luck took yet another blow to the face. Or maybe that was just me. Because, y'know, I was suddenly hit in the face and knocked over by a rubber ball that hit me with the force of a freight train. I hit the contest hall's wall on the descent, and I swear, I've never before had blows on both the bottom and top of my head at the same time. I got up in a daze, wondering what kind of maniac just slugged me with a rubber ball.

"Whoops. You okay, mister?" I shook my head clear of confusion when the high-pitched voice piped up out of nowhere. I got up and dusted myself off. Not that it would get the dirt out or anything. "You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." I replied to the little boy, who looked no older than eight. Brown hair, big blue eyes, broad grin, all around typical kid. But the non-typical thing was what was next to him. A pokemon. The trouble is, I found it strange that even I recognized him as a pokemon. And his gender to boot. He looked like a trash bag. With teeth...and eyes...and feet...and arms that looked like trash. And oddly enough...it looked cute. I'm serious, he was pretty adorable for a trash bag. "Quite an arm you got."

"Oh, that wasn't me. That was my friend Trubbish." The little boy said, placing a hand on the top of this 'Trubbish's' head. The Trubbish smiled. "We were playing."

"Huh. I've heard of Trubbish." I brought out my pokedex for a moment. I noticed the boy's eyes light up when I go tit and hit the scan button. I recognized that look. Mostly because it was my look. THE look.

"Trubbish, the Trashbag Pokémon. Trubbish prefer to live in dirty places like garbage dumps. It is said they were born when a chemical reaction occurred between an abandoned trashbag and industrial waste."

"Gotcha. Pretty cool friend you have here."

"Yeah Trubbish is the best!" The boy hugged the Trubbish who returned it in full. "Yeah! When I'm old enough, me and Trubbish are gonna go on our own journey! I want to be a coordinator!"

"Really? Cool. That's a dream worth following!"

"Thanks. Hey! I just realized! You've got a pokedex! Does that mean you're a coordinator?"

"Nope. Sorry to disappoint, but I'm a trainer. Guess that must be boring to you, huh?"

"No way! I like trainer battles too. I wanted to be one for a while."

"Oh? Why the change?"

"Well...I guess it's because people are always makin' fun of Trubbish." Trubbish looked to the earth. Depressed. "They always say he's ugly. And that he smells bad. But I'm gonna prove 'em all wrong! Trubbish and I are gonna win all the contests! And we'll show 'em how cool Trubbish really is!"

"Awesome! You and Trubbish are really great friends, huh? Good for you." Man, I never thought I'd be the one saying these kinds of things. I thought I sounded like an experienced trainer already. Well, to me anyway. "Trust me. If you're good friends, the two of you can do anything. Just take a look at this." I fumbled around in my bag for a moment before finding my badge case. I snapped it open and showed the boy, whose eyes lit up with amazement. I love this trainer business. "My friends and I worked hard for this badge. And I don't think we could have got it if we weren't so tight with each other."

"Wow! COOL! Hey can I-"

Enough of that. Like I said, I've got multiple reasons to love this trainer business. But the reasons to hate it are just as plentiful. Before I could even hope to react, Trubbish was separated from the boy by a net. It ensnared the trash pokemon faster than lightning, making him blink in surprise before the net was pulled backwards, dragging the boy's amigo along with it.

"HEY!" I shouted after him. The boy was too shocked to react, but I wouldn't hesitate. I knew only one person who''d steal a pokemon right in front of someones eyes. She'd done it before, letting me watch from a window, after all. Alicia stood twenty feet away, pulling the Trubbish towards her using a rope. Still wearing that outfit that had to be ridiculously warm. I rushed past the boy, hoping to grab the net and maybe take Trubbish back. After all, what could go wrong, right?

"You fell for it!" Just as I got a hand on the net, Alicia let go of the rope and snatched something from behind her back. My eyes were still on Trubbish, and as a result, I didn't regard what Alicia was doing until it was far too late. As I tore a strand in the net apart with my teeth, I felt...something. Something very strong, like a limb found its way to my belt, specifically, the portion with my pokeballs. And before I registered even this, it left. Odd, but it could wait until after I pulled Trubbish out of that net and sent him on his way. He ran back to the boy at top speed. Perfect. Now I could focus on Alicia...who had...every...one...of...my...pokeballs.

There she stood. With a smug grin on her face and a device in her hands. A rather complicated device at that. It was a claw. A metal claw with three prongs. And between those prongs, my pokeballs were held. All four of them. The claw was attacked with a scissor extension system to a handle in Alicia's hand.

"Ha! You thought I actually wanted that piece of trash? Please." Alicia laughed as I realized that I was screwed. She had just taken all my pokemon. A simple distraction. That was it. I growled at her.

"Run kid!" I shouted back at the little boy. He nodded fast and ran. Hopefully, he'd call the police, at least.

"Payback time! No one sees my face without consequences! Sandile, I choose-"

"STOP ALICIA!" Yeah that's all I had to do. Stop Alicia. Wait...that wasn't me. That sounded like Alicia. I'm serious, that voice was Alicia, right down to the deep tones. I didn't get it. Why did she want to stop herself exactly? Well, she must've, because she was just standing there. Pokeball in her hand, almost thrown. But she was still. Since I could only see her teeth under that hood, I visibly saw them clench. "STOP RIGHT THERE!"

"A-Are you a ventriloquist or something?" I was totally confused. Her lips weren't even moving. But it was her. It was so obviously her.

"DON'T DO THIS!" Well, it comes down to this. I never thought my journey would take a soap opera turn, but it did. A second Alicia was running down the road, right toward our location. Yes. Really. There were two of them. This one wasn't in a Team Plasma uniform. Her skin was much darker, and she looked much more comfortable in the warm weather. What with her bright red T-shirt and green shorts with running shoes. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail, and she looked much more mellow than the first Alicia. Upon hearing Alicia Two's voice, Alicia One turned, stepping away from Alicia Two a bit. "COME ON! PLEASE DON'T!"

"SHUT UP!" Alicia wasn't that good at being subtle when debating. "WHAT DO YOU KNOW?"

"YOU WEREN'T ALWAYS LIKE THIS!" I didn't know what was going on, but this was just the distraction I needed. As these two continued their conversation, I slowly inched in, further and further. "WHAT'S GOTTEN INTO YOU?"

"NOTHING! GO AWAY!"

"WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM? WE USED TO BE SO CLOSE!"

"YOU'RE MY PROBLEM! GO! AWAY! NOW!"

"Alicia. Just listen to me!"

"NO! I SAID-!"

"Yoink!" And that's what I said as I snatched my pokeballs from the metal claw. Alicia turned back with further clenched teeth. I zipped away as fast as I could, broad-toothed grin on my face. "HA! Never turn your back on me! Now let's tango!"

"GAH! Forget this!" Alicia fled. She dashed away from us, disappearing into a nearby group of trees before the battle smack talk could even start. The other Alicia began to give chase, but I quickly grabbed her on the shoulder. I didn't know who this other Alicia was, but she was trying to talk Alicia One down. Not an easy task, and you'd have to be brave to try and break through that thick skull of her's.

"Hey! Trust me when I say that she's quick. You won't catch her!"

"But she-"

"If it's about me, it's fine. I got my pokemon back, so I'm all good."

"But...I...she..." I shook my head as she stuttered. She took a deep breath and exhaled just as deep in order to chill out. She then looked back at me with two things I never thought I'd see on Alicia's face. A smile, and glittering eyes. "Yeah. Sorry about that. She...She's a handful."

"Yeah...um...who are you, by the way?"

"Oh geez, I'm sorry. I'm Ellen. And I suppose...you've already met my sister."

"Oh, she's your sister. That's good, for a second I thought you were clones."

"Heh, heh. Funny." I was serious, but okay. "I'm sorry, but I've got to go!" She tore herself away from my touch, dashing just as fast as Alicia (maybe a little slower) towards the contest hall. I had to wonder what was with me and girls these days. Hey wait...she was going to the contest hall. Oh geez, that was right. I had to get a seat for the contest, it would be starting soon. And if I took the hype into account, this place would be packed. But I wasn't stupid this time. As I ran I grabbed my skateboard in my bag and hopped on. I zoomed to the front entrance, trying not to hit anyone in the crowd when I dismounted. A lot of people were excited for this contest. I saw men, women and children alike crowding up to get into the hall. I was getting more excited by the second. My heart was beating faster, and I had almost completely forgotten about the business with Alicia. I gulped. The odds of me getting a good seat now were slim to none.

Once I was inside, I found two ways to go. Maybe 'see' isn't the best word, since I couldn't view a thing above the heads of the crowd. But from what I could make out, I had two options. Balcony seat, or regular seat. After a coin flip in my head, I went for regular. Once I had made it through those doors to the arena itself and the crowd dispersed to find seats, I got myself 'the look'. This time, it was for a location.

I've never seen an arena so grand. A stage, nearly the size of my house stood at the other end of this huge auditorium. Another jumbo tron was here, above the stage with the same words of 'POKEMON CONTEST' on it. If we're talking about the stage itself, there was an entrance I assumed was for a backstage entrance. It was covered with a plush curtain but it was there. There were only four things left on the stage. All the same. They were podiums that each had their own screen on the front of them. I assumed that those were for the judge's scoring. The balcony hung above my head, and considering the number of seats yet to fill before me, I think we could fit that crowd and more as well.

Then again, over half the seats had been filled. I really wanted to check out this contest, but at the rate things were going, I don't think there would be enough seats for everyone. And being the nice and dazed from amazement person I was, the seats were filling faster than I could get focused. And before I knew it...I was without a seat. Yeah, they'd all been filled. I cursed my own sense of childlike wonder.

Whoops. Not time for that. The lights just dimmed. The whole place was suddenly dark. For a second I thought this was one of Alicia's schemes. But nope. A spotlight activated, shining bright on the stage. A woman in a bright ruby red dress stood in that spotlight. Brown hair, gorgeous face, and a voice that rang out throughout the auditorium thanks to her microphone.

"Hello everyone! How are you all doing today?" The crowd roared at her words. Yipes. I didn't expect that big a reaction right away. "That's awesome! Welcome to the very first contest of the Unova region!" Another big cheer, but I was ready for this one. I find cheering is less deafening when you join in. "As we all know, this town, Agran Town was chosen by lottery to decide where the premiere of Unova contests will take place! Contest halls have been constructed all over the region! And coordinators everywhere have been working hard to participate! Contest fans out there know that when a coordinator receives five ribbons, they're allowed to compete in the greatest of contests! The Grand Festival!"

More cheering. And I couldn't blame them. I was finally understanding. Contests were sort of like gym battles. I mean, you had the ribbons, and those might as well be gym badges.

"And ribbons can only be obtained by winning a contest! Which is why we're here today! But first, we have a very special guest! OUR OPENING ACT!" Even more cheering. But I had to cover my ears here. These cheers were from fangirls. Screaming at their highest of pitches. I could only wish their pitch was a little higher, so only pokemon could hear it. "That's right! As a very special treat for this first contest, I give you the main event! The contest master! His fans call him Johto's Shooting Star! Top Coordinator and all around great guy-! Oops. I'm sorry. I'm afraid I can't say! Since he plans to give his own introduction! Here he is now!"

"Why thank you Jillian!" A familiar gruff voice made it's way onto the speakers. My eyes went wide. I knew who that was. The man in the trench coat walked into the spotlight, and boy did I feel sheepish. I had no idea he was good at contests. When he approached, I heard confused voices in the crowd.

"Who is he?"

"That's him?"

"Doesn't look like it?"

"That's a guy?"

But I knew better. And as the man on stage began to unbutton his rather large trench coat, my suspicions were proven correct. The trench coat added a lot of size, since this wasn't a man at all. It was a teen. And I should know. I've been following his battle exploits for years.

"HEY EVERYBODY!" Axel Igaul shouted into the microphone, letting his trench coat fall to the floor and tossing his fedora into the audience (over which the fangirls were more than happy to fight over). "ARE YOU READY FOR A CONTEST?" Cheers. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Cheers that made my eardrums feel abused. "Okay stop! I can hear you now!" Laughs (even though I didn't find it too funny). "Alright everyone! If you don't know me, I'm Axel Igaul! And I'm here to kick this contest off with the premiere of the new Unova contest style! Triple performance! You all ready?"

Did he even have to ask that? I really wondered if he loved making me not hear my own thoughts. These fangirls were screeching so loud that the ones over at Striaton seemed like a heavenly choir compared to this.

"OKAY! Benjie! Bella! Bardo! Time for your trio!" Axel tossed three pokeballs into the air, and they opened up wide. And what came out were...three pokemon I've never seen before. But one thing was for sure, they were all bug types. I got out my pokedex, and considering that the crowd was still roaring, I used my headphones as well.

"Volbeat, the Firefly Pokémon. Volbeat uses the designs on its tail for sketching and communicating with other Volbeat."

"Beautifly, the Butterfly Pokémon. Beautifly is the evolved form of Silcoon. It loves sweet pollen and riding the spring breeze from flower to flower."

"Butterfree, the Butterfly Pokémon. Butterfree is the evolved form of Metapod. The scales covering its wings help it to shed water."

Wow. Triple bug types. Guess he was going for some kind of 'combination'. Whatever it was, by the screams of the ladies, it better be good. And he had obviously gone to some effort to do this. He had given the Volbeat a bowtie, the Beautifly a tiara and the Butterfree a red headband that had long tails which flowed gracefully in the air conditioned wind.

"Alright you three! Just like we practiced! Time for Insect Aurora! Benjie!" The Volbeat nodded. "Bella!" The Beautifly followed suit. "Bardo!" Butterfree nodded in time as well. "Okay folks! Let's light it up!"

Axel: I came to dance, dance, dance, dance
I hit the floor
'Cause that's my, plans, plans, plans, plans
I'm wearing all my favorite
Brands, brands, brands, brands!
Give me space for both my hands, hands, hands, hands!
Yeah, yeah!
Cause it goes on and on and on,
And it goes on and on and on!

(Benjie shoots Signal Beam to the top of the auditorium and Bella does the same using Silver Wind. The two attacks collide, producing a sparkling dust which Bardo flies into.)

Yeah!

I throw my hands up in the air sometimes,
Saying AYO!
Gotta let go!
I wanna celebrate and live my life,
Saying AYO!
Baby, let's go!

(Bardo uses Whirlwind, spreading the dust throughout the stage and making the skin all three pokemon shine.)

'Cause we gon' rock this club,
We gon' go all night,
We gon' light it up,
Like it's dynamite!
'Cause I told you once,
Now I told you twice,
We gon' light it up,
Like it's dynamite!

(Benjie uses Moonlight, which makes him shine even more, center stage. Bardo still flies above and uses Stun Spore, Sleep Powder and Poison Powder, adding the yellow, green and purple powders into the Silver Wind mix.)

I came to move, move, move, move,
Get out the way me and my crew, crew, crew, crew,
I'm in the club so I'm gonna do, do, do, do,
Just what we, came here to do, do, do, do!

(The whole auditorium is now an aurora of colours. Bardo and Bella draw the attention to the stage though, by using Gust and Whirlwind to draw every particle towards the center of the stage.)

Yeah, yeah!

(Benjie uses Tailglow, directing the two others. Using their wind attacks, the two butterfly pokemon start to bring their spectacle of attacks into one cluster.)

Cause it goes on and on and on
And it goes on and on and on

Yeah!

I throw my hands up in the air sometimes
Saying AYO!
Gotta let go!
I wanna celebrate and live my life
Saying AYO!
Baby, let's go!

'Cause we gon' rock this club!
We gon' go all night!
We gon' light it up,
Like it's dynamite!
'Cause I told you once!
Now I told you twice!
We gon' light it up!
Like it's dynamite!

(The crowd begins to sway their arms in the air, getting ready for the big finale.)

I'm gonna take it all like,
I'm gonna be the last one standing,
I'm alone and all I,
I'm gonna be the last one landing!
'Cause I, I, I Believe it!
And I, I, I,
I just want it all, I just want it all!
I'm gonna put my hands in the air!
Hands in the air!
Put your hands in the air!

(The three bug pokemon fly through their concentration of spores, allowing them to leave a trail of sparkles behind as they fly throughout the auditorium.)

I throw my hands up in the air sometimes,
Saying AYO!
Gotta let go!
I wanna celebrate and live my life,
Saying AYO!
Baby, let's go!

'Cause we gon' rock this club,
We gon' go all night,
We gon' light it up,
Like it's dynamite!
'Cause I told you once,
Now I told you twice,
We gon' light it up,
Like it's dynamite!

(The three pokemon land on stage and bow, along with Axel.)

The cheering was louder than ever before as Axel finished his performance. I had to admit. I had my eyes on those pokemon the whole time. Pretty flashy. And if you saw those pokemon, you`d agree. They were still shining bright after that big trio of effort. Sparkles glistened all over the name. I guess I understood the nickname he`d given to that show. Insect Aurora. My description is probably an understatement though. Everyone else was much more enthusiastic.

"Awesome!"

"Spectacular!"

"Are you sure he's a boy? Just look at that hair!"

I clapped along with them. Heck I even joined in with the whistling. This contest was even more interesting than I thought. If i were a judge, I would've given that a ten for sure.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Axel said, bowing at every angle just to make sure his gratitude came across well. "You're an amazing audience! One more hand for the real stars of the show, Benjie, Bella and Bardo!" The pokemon bowed as well, making the girls screech about their cuteness and the boys remark on how impressive those attacks were. "Thanks again! I'll be back soon! Jillian, you're up!" Axel walked away, heading through the curtain at the back. His pokemon were close behind, looking proud of what they just achieved.

"And that was our opening act everyone! We're going to take a short break to let that performance sink in, and in the meantime our coordinators will be thinking up ways to make their no doubt outstanding performances even more amazing! Don't go away!"

"Enjoying yourself?" Uh oh. I knew that insidious voice. I turned around and stepped back a few feet, making sure to keep a hand close to my pokeballs. Yep. Alicia decided to make an encore this time. She was just standing there, in full uniform no less, with her eyes focused on the stage oddly enough.

"What do you want?"

"Relax idiot. Besides, you want to battle here?"

"Grr." I hate it when people I hate are right. I still kept my hands close to my pokeballs just in case she tried something.

"Pfft. You think I'd waste my time with you? I only tried to free your pokemon because you were the one who messed with me. You got in my way."

"Oh really? You're the one who tried to steal pokemon from that center! Which you failed at by the way?"

"You think I'd just randomly free pokemon from any center? Please."

"Well, of course. What else would you be doing?"

"Hmph." Alicia's voice got lower. And even more odd, she was still staring straight ahead. At the contest stage. "You've met my sister, I suppose?"

"Yeah. Which makes me question why the hell you're on Team Plasma's side in the first place. Ellen seems a lot more reasonable."

"Please. Don't make me laugh." Ironic. Laughing was the last thing I'd expect Alicia to do. "You couldn't possibly understand."

"Good. I don't want to. But what's with the stealing? That doesn't exactly help your case of being a friendly and honest organization, does it?"

"Shut up! You think I care about any of those pokemon I tried to take in the center? No. I'm looking for something specific."

"Yeah? Why don't you look for it elsewhere?"

"Not quite. This pokemon isn't something you find just anywhere. In fact, only a few people have ever seen it." I gulped. There was no way. No, just my imagination. She couldn't be talking about what I was thinking of. "It got away from me once. But I swore I'd catch up to it."

"And...why can't you just find a wild one?" I really didn't like where this conversation was going. Good thing Alicia had her eyes covered by that hood, or she might see me sweating.

"I just told you. You can't find this thing in the wild. I went to Nuvema Town, where those boys in blue said they were taking it. But once I gt there, it turned out that it had already left." Uh oh. I think I should've been seating more than bullets. In fact, I was sweating missiles by this point. And it wasn't until she spoke again that my heart began pounding faster than any drum ever could.

"And I intend to find Victini."

End of Chapter Ten!

Alright everyone, that's a wrap. (Ha ha, it's a pun 'cause the song was a rap.) Now to get down to business. I think I've decided my travelling companion, but it's not a sure thing. PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING BEFORE YOU START ASKING ME IF IT'S YOUR CHARACTER: I still have NOT decided for sure yet. New OC insertions can be used to try and change my mind and I'll probably change my mind along the way. This is just to give you an update on that. If all goes well, we should be meeting the companion near, after, or in Castelia City.

Now for a small preview with dialogue only. FUN:

Black: Why are you doing this?

Alicia: Oh it's not just me. You see this crowd? Let's just say I'm not the only Plasma member here!

Black: OH SWEET MERCIFUL-!

Next Chapter: Contest Crisis

And I'm afraid to say that this is your last chance to submit an OC. First the problem was that I didn't have enough of them. Now I have too many. The moment the next chapter comes out, OC submissions will be cut off. Last chance people.

'Kay. Catch y'all on the flip side!