~ Chapter 8 ~

Jubilife City, City of Joy

"After so long, we finally reached the largest city in the Sinnoh Region: Jubilife City. Having grown up in a small town like Twinleaf, I had never seen so many colourful sights and sounds. Lights were everywhere, flashing upon billboards and store windows, and the buildings were all several stories high—much taller than anything I was used to. It was magnificent. Alyssandra claimed her shopping trip which she had won earlier and used the time to pick out outfits for herself in her upcoming Pokémon Contest. Admittedly though, if it wasn't for the entire afternoon I would spending as a pack mule on Alyssandra's shopping spree it would have been a perfect stay…"

Sam, Alyssandra and Jeremy fawned as they beheld the sight that was Jubilife City. Finally, after almost a week of travelling and several detours, they had finally arrived at their destination.

"We've had a busy first week," said Sam as the group entered the massive city, "But we're finally here, Jubilife City."

Alyssandra nodded. "I know! Isn't it amazing?" she asked as she took in all the sights, "Look at all the tall buildings and the bustling crowds, it's just beautiful!"

Alyssandra was indeed right; the entire city was comprised of massive buildings, and even the Pokémon Centre was five stories tall—or so Sam had heard anyway.

Crowds pushed and shoved their way around the group, and vendors sold their wares right on the street corner.

"It's certainly different from what we're used to," said Jeremy as he squeezed between several businessmen who seemed not to even notice him standing there.

"Quick, let's get to the Pokémon Centre," said Alyssandra, "The faster we drop our stuff off the faster we can go on that shopping trip you promised."

Sam and Jeremy groaned, remembering the promise they made to Alyssandra after she had won their Pokémon catching contest.

"I was hoping she had forgotten by now," complained Jeremy as the group pushed on through the throng of people.

After ten minutes of walking, Sam, Jeremy and Alyssandra had finally reached the Pokémon Centre. But just as the group was about to enter the building, two people dressed like large, overly comical party clowns stopped them.

"Hello there, children!" said the woman, "We represent the Pokétch Company!"

"Uh, hi there," replied the Sam, a little worried.

"We can't help but notice your Pokétch there!" said the male clown, "And that means you are instantly applicable for these magnificent prizes! Tell them what they've won Vanna!"

"All right, Pat!" said the female clown known as Vanna, "You have all instantly won a brand new Pokétch application! This application allows you to access your Pokémon PC from your Pokétch at any time! It also allows you to transfer Pokémon between your party and your PC!"

Vanna and Pat handed out small microchips to each of the group. "Just insert that small chip into the back, like so," explained Pat as she demonstrated on Alyssandra's Pokétch, "And the application will install and start to work like that!"

"But that's not all!" exclaimed Pat, "Tell them what else they've won Vanna!"

"You've also won entrance into the Pokétch Company's Anniversary Raffle Lottery!" exclaimed Vanna, "Just write down your names on these cards and we'll put them into the Raffle Roller!"

Vanna walked over to their booth and showed the group a small cylindrical tube that turned around with a crank, and was filled almost to the top with cards, presumably with other contestants.

"Fabulous prizes include but are not limited to: you're very own brand-new Pokémon! A lifetime supply of Poffins! And even your very own, brand new, top of the line, state of the art, car!" exclaimed Pat.

"Wow! I'm definitely entering this!" said Jeremy as he and the others shoved their cards into the raffle ticket machine.

"So what kind of Pokémon are you guys giving away anyway?" asked Alyssandra.

Vanna and Pat simply smiled. "That is a super-secret surprise!" they said together, "Even we don't know it."

"All right then…" said Alyssandra, slightly creeped out by their speaking in unison.

"So, when is the drawing for prizes?" asked Sam, "Will there be some sort of announcement?"

Vanna nodded. "Yes," he said, "You'll hear us over the city's loudspeaker, and we'll announce the winners of the Raffle Lottery there. Drawing is at four this evening! If you win you can claim the prize at the Pokétch Company headquarters!"

"All right, we'll keep an ear out," said Sam with a small, thankful nod, "Thanks again!"

And with that, Sam and the others were off and entered the Pokémon Centre.

"I'll go check us in," said Sam, "Place your gear over there on one of those carts. This Pokémon Centre operates like a hotel from what I read in the brochure—that's how big it is."

"Wow," said Alyssandra in bewilderment, "I've never seen a Pokémon Centre so large, and to think it's all free."

"I know," said Jeremy, "Makes me feel better because it's one less thing for me to pay Sam back for."

Sam rolled his eyes. "You're not paying me back, and if you even hand me a single Poké-Yen I will light you on fire with it."

Sam left to go check them in before Jeremy could argue further.

Jeremy was a proud person and did not like it when Sam—or anyone else for that matter—paid for him.

Sam sighed, but quickly returned to reality as Nurse Joy confronted him to check him and his friends in.

After checking himself and the others into the Pokémon Centre, he allowed a Machoke to bring the luggage cart upstairs to their room, and then returned to his friends.

"So, what are we going to do now?" asked Jeremy.

"I vote we go shopping!" shrieked Alyssandra with excitement, "There's so many clothes I want to get for my Pokémon and I!"

"Well at least it's not a pleasure trip," sighed Jeremy, "It makes me feel somewhat less slavish."

Sam laughed, but Jeremy retorted with a glare.

"Easy for you to say," he hissed at Sam in a whisper, "You li—"

Sam put his hand over Jeremy's mouth to silence him. "So, where's the shopping district Lyss?" asked Sam, quickly changing the subject.

"Well, I think I saw it somewhere west of here when I looked at the town map earlier," she said, "I'll just go get one from the desk over there, and then we can be on our way."

As Alyssandra went to ask Nurse Joy for a city map, Sam quickly turned back to Jeremy.

"Try not to let slip that I like her," he hissed, "I don't want her to find out; it could ruin our friendship!"

"Oh, yes, what a shame that would be," sighed Jeremy, "Look Sam, don't worry all right?"

Sam was about to retaliate, wondering how Jeremy could be so nonchalant about this when Alyssandra returned.

"All right guys let's go shopping!" exclaimed Alyssandra in excitement.

Sam sat down inside of the dress shop; he had just spent the past two hours picking out Pokémon outfits for Piplup and Shinx, and now Jeremy and Sam were forced to come along to help pick out the dress Alyssandra would use in her Pokémon Contest tomorrow.

Three dresses in and Jeremy had volunteered to wait outside for them, not being able to stand the heavily perfumed air and all the colours each dress sported. Sam was left alone inside of the dress shop, waiting for Alyssandra to emerge in her fourth choice of dress.

Finally, after almost twenty minutes of waiting, Alyssandra emerged from the change room is a slim fit, strapless silver dress that flared out around the bottom of the dress.

"Well, how do I look?" asked Alyssandra, "And be honest."

Sam was speechless; she was stunning, and that wasn't just because he liked her, he meant it.

"You're—I mean, you're…wow…you're—wow," was all Sam was able to say.

Alyssandra laughed. "Well, I'm glad you think so," she said, "Where's Jeremy? I want to see what he thinks."

Sam laughed. "Jeremy's waiting outside. He finally snapped," said Sam, "He said if he saw one more dress he was going to scream."

Alyssandra shrugged. "Oh well," she responded, "His loss. Well, I think I'm going to get this one! I'll be back in a sec; I'm just going to change out of it. Do you want to go pay?"

Sam nodded. "Sure," he said, "I'll be here if you need me."

As Alyssandra disappeared back behind the curtain, Sam walked over to the cashier, and pulled out his money clip. It was certainly thinner than when they had arrived in the city. He had just spent almost fifty thousand Poké-Yen on outfits for Piplup and Shinx and was about to spend fifty thousand on this dress for Alyssandra.

"I'll have to make a reminder to myself to take out more money before we get going to the next town," Sam said to himself, "I'm down to six thousand Poké-Yen; that'll barely buy us a victory dinner if tomorrow goes well."

As Sam finished paying for the dress, Jeremy burst into the store in a frantic rush. "Come outside quick! They're announcing the winners of the Pokétch Company Raffle!" shouted Jeremy.

Sam nodded and then walked over to the curtain where Alyssandra was. "Lyss, they're announcing the winners of the Raffle," said Sam, "I've paid for the dress and I'm waiting outside with Jeremy, meet us there when you're finished all right?"

"Okay!" called Alyssandra, "I'll be out in a second!"

Sam nodded and dashed outside to join Jeremy. "Where are—" started Sam, but Jeremy shushed him.

The entire city had gone silent it seemed for these two minutes of announcements.

"—Now for the moment you've all be waiting for!" said the voice of Vanna as it came over the loudspeaker, "The Raffle Lottery winners! Pat shall we announce the winners?"

"Yes indeed, Vanna!" exclaimed Pat, also over the loudspeaker.

There was silence following Pat's last words, and the sound of the raffle machine turning around, then the sound of rummaging through the cards.

This sound repeated itself twice more before Vanna finally called out again. "All right everyone, the people have been picked, now let the card reading begin!" she said.

"In first place, winning the magnificent brand-new car is…Michael O'Keefe!" shouted Vanna.

There was a small pause as people in the streets clapped and cheered, then as it died down, Pat's voice came over the loud speaker.

"In second place, winning the lifetime supply of Poffins is…Suzaku Itamaki!"

Again, another pause for cheering and applause before Vanna returned to finally announce the third-place winner.

"All right guys, and now for the third-place winner," said Vanna, "Who will win themselves a brand new, mystery Pokémon that will be transferred directly to their Pokémon PC! This lucky person is…Jeremy De Oliveira Malhotra!"

Jeremy stood there frozen for a moment, and Alyssandra—who had just exited the shop with her dress in a bag in hand, threw her arms around Jeremy and hugged him in congratulations.

Sam patted Jeremy on the back. "All right, way to go!" he cheered his friend on. Life continued as normal a few minutes after the announcement, though a few people stopped to stare at Jeremy as he celebrated his win, most people stopped paying attention to the runner up prize winners, most preferring to listen through their radio apps in their Pokétch.

"So, which Pokémon did you win?" asked Alyssandra, "Check your PC!"

Jeremy nodded and booted up the Pokétch PC app.

He scanned through his PC and smiled. "Well what do you know," he smiled, "I got myself another starter. They gave me a Piplup!"

"Well, that makes a Piplup for all of us I suppose!" smiled Alyssandra as the three friends walked down the street.

Sam laughed. "You know, it seems we're having all the luck, haven't you noticed?" he asked.

Jeremy shrugged. "Well it can't last forever. That's a life lesson everyone learns the hard way. Soon enough things will stop being so easy, just you watch."

"Hey! Stop ruining the good moment," said Alyssandra, "Now come on, let's go out for a celebratory dinner! Sam's paying!"

"I—wait what?!" asked Sam, "What do you mean?"

Alyssandra giggled. "I think I saw this place around the corner that we'd all enjoy, come on!" and with that Alyssandra ran off down the street, Jeremy running off behind her.

Sam sighed and hung his head, then started to run as well. "At least let me withdraw more money if I'm going to pay! I'm almost completely out right now!"

Alyssandra sat down on the balcony chair as she looked up at the full moon.

Night was always her favourite time of day—it was so serene and silent, and anything said to the darkness was forgotten instantly.

"Anxious for tomorrow?" asked Sam as he opened the balcony door.

Alyssandra jumped as Sam entered from the room, not expecting him to be awake.

"You couldn't sleep either huh?" asked Alyssandra as Sam sat down beside her.

Sam smiled. "You could say that," he said, "But you still haven't answered my question."

Alyssandra looked down at her feet and let out a sigh. "Yeah, I suppose I am nervous," she said, "I don't understand, I was fine just a few hours ago, now all of a sudden I can't even bear to think about tomorrow."

Sam placed his hand on hers. "That's natural," he said, "I feel that way all the time. Do you remember my match with Richard the other day? I was completely fine up until I called the match; once I did I kept having doubts. It's not the getting nervous part that you should focus on, focus on your goal, and keep that in mind, and you'll push through to the end. You're a great Pokémon Coordinator, I know it. I've seen you battle, you just keep a level head and battle like you did, and you'll go far."

Alyssandra gave a faint smile. "Yeah," she said, "You're right. There's just…what if I let my family down? I know they'll be watching, and I just know the whole time they'll be comparing me to Valentina. I will forever be living in my older sister's shadow. She's nineteen, she's the Pokémon Champion of the Sinnoh League and one of the youngest to be so, and she's one of the strongest Trainers in the region. Then there's Enzo, he's out there somewhere, probably beat three different Pokémon Leagues, and doing who knows what. How am I supposed to impress them when everyone else has done it before me?"

Sam smiled and tapped her hand gingerly. "Because, you're still their daughter," he said, "And no one else has become a Coordinator in your family. You're the first, and you're going to become a top-notch Coordinator, and you're going to win the Sinnoh Grand Festival, and every other Grand Festival out there. Plus, once I knock Valentina out as Champion of the Sinnoh League they'll have to focus on you."

Alyssandra laughed heartily. "You really think I can win the Sinnoh Grand Festival?" she asked.

Sam nodded. "I do," he said as he stood up, "Now come on, get some rest. No matter how good you are, you can't do anything without sleep."

Alyssandra nodded, and together both re-entered their room, and went to their respective beds—Sam's in the bunk below Jeremy's and Alyssandra's in the bottom bunk opposite Sam.

As Alyssandra settled herself into her covers, she smiled one last time up at the ceiling, and she knew that tomorrow, everything was going to fall into place for her.