"And here are the faces of the 16 Coordinators going onto the Battle Round!" Katherine announced, as the TV screen scrambled up their faces. When they stopped, she said, "And there they are!"
Elliot, Gage, and Poppy gasped as they saw the faces up on the screen - Rose's face was fourth to last.
"Yes!" Poppy shrieked out of happiness. "She made it!
"What?!" Gage asked, shocked.
"She did try her best," Elliot added, sticking up for her. "I mean, for a first-timer, she did really good. And she deserved to make it."
"We better go find her," Poppy said, standing. "There's some time between now and the battle round, so we should go tell her how great she was until it starts back up."
Meanwhile, Rose sat outside on a bench, with Lily by her side. Her face was buried in her hands, which muffled her cries. She wasn't crying because she was upset, oh no, quite the contrary - she qas cryig because she was so happy, unbelievably happy. Lily nudged her Trainer, trying to get her to stop crying.
"We did so good," cried Rose, pulling Lily in for a hug. "I'm so proud of you, Lily. You were amazing and beautiful and did way better than even I expected. And we're going to do our best to win that ribbon because you deserve it more than any other Pokémon in this Contest!"
"Chiko," the Grass-type smiled at its Trainer. It stood on two legs, so that its front legs were on Rose's shoulders, and wiped Rose's tears away with her leaf. "Chiko!"
"Thanks, Lily," Rose smiled. "You're the best Pokémon I could ask for."
Out of nowhere, a new voice growled, "Get out of here, you runt. I don't need you."
"Huh?" Rose mumbled, looking over her shoulder.
It was a boy, one she recognized from the Contest. His deep purple hair was styled for the Contest, and he was still in his dress suit. She remembered him - he'd used an adorable little Bulbasaur in the first round.
She watched, as the boy crossed his arms and turned his nose up at his Bulbasaur, which was begging at his feet. She noticed its star-shaped marking on its forehead and the tears in its red eyes as it pleaded to its Trainer.
"I told you," the boy said. "I already released you. You need to stop following me, because I don't need any losers on my team. Get outta here."
"Hey!" Rose interjected, jumping to her feet. She hated seeing Pokémon being treated poorly, but she especially hated seeing Grass-types being treated in such a way. "Don't talk to Pokémon like that!"
"Hm," the boy chuckled. "I'm just giving it a healthy dose of reality. I don't need losers on my team. I caught this Bulbasaur because it kept following me around, and figured I'd give it a chance, even if Grass-types are the weakest kind out there. But it's horrible, just like all other Grass-types, and I just don't want to waste my time with it anymore."
"Grass-types aren't the weakest!" Rose hollered, manically angry. "They're the best, most powerful and beautiful type of Pokémon in the world!"
"Who are you kidding?" laughed the boy. "You, out of all people, should know that Grass-types are the worst. I saw on your registration that you only have a Chikorita and a Sunflora. And it only proves my point that Grass-types are the worst, since you barely even made it past the first round."
"You didn't make it at all!" Rose countered.
"I didn't need to," the boy told her. "I already have my five ribbons. I just keep on getting more to get better and prove how good I am."
"What?!" Rose asked, shocked. To her surprise, the boy shoved a Ribbon Case in her face, that was jammed full of Ribbons - eight, to be exact. She was in awe now, exclaiming, "No way!"
"Mhm," the boy nodded, tucking it back into his pocket. "So I'm not all that upset that I didn't make it. And besides, just proves my point that Bulbasaur's a weakling."
With that, the boy turned on his heels and left, leaving Bulbasaur, Rose and Lily in his wake.
"Hmph," Rose sighed with a scowl. Then, she kneeled down to the boy's abandoned Bulbasaur, giving it a good head and bulb rub, saying, "I don't think you're a weakling. I think you're great. I love Grass-types, and you seem amazing. Your first round performance was dazzling, especially that Petal Dance! And you're adorable on top of all of that!"
"Bulba," the Pokémon responded, nuzzling Rose's knee. "Bulbasaur."
"Chiko," Lily said, once Bulbasaur was done. Bulbasaur looked at her for a moment, and then saw Lily extending its vines, and did the same. They shook vines, and exchanged smiles.
"Oh, you should meet Flora too!" Rose said, letting her other Pokémon out.
"Sunflora!" exclaimed the sunny Pokémon.
"Bulba!" Bulbasaur smiled. Bulbasaur shook with its vines, and Sunflora used its leaves.
"Well, you guys seem like pals," Rose grinned. "Y'know, Bulbasaur, if you want to, you can come along with us. I'm planning on being the world's greatest Grass-type Trainer."
"Bulba!" exclaimed the Pokémon happily, tackling Rose to the ground, and then licking her face.
Laughing, Rose rolled over, picking one of the buttercup flowers that grew on the side of the sidewalk. She offered it to Bulbasaur, who nearly started crying with happiness at the gesture from a human. It accepted the buttercup, which it promptly ate.
Rose laughed again, and asked, "Can I call you Buttercup from now on?"
"Bulbasaur!" the Pokémon exclaimed, going back to licking Rose's face in a loving kind of way.
"I'll take that as a yes," Rose grinned.
She pulled a spare PokéBall out, and used it for Bulbasaur. It decided to stay inside faster than she ever would've expected, so she promptly released it, and pulled it in for a big group hug with Lily and Flora.
"Rose, there you are!" came Poppy's voice, as she, Elliot, Gage, Gligar, Dratini and Clefairy came racing towards them.
"Yeah, here I am," she grinned. She stood up, holding her new friend, Buttercup, while Lily and Flora stood by her side.
"You were great," Poppy told her in a completely genuine tone. "I'm really proud of you, Rose. That was an amazing performance, and if I was the judge, I'd give you that ribbon right now."
"Well, thank you, Poppy," Rose replied with a beam.
"Wait!" Gage interrupted, surprised. "Where'd you get that Bulbasaur?!"
"Oh," Rose mumbled, forgetting that everyone hadn't met Buttercup yet. "This is Buttercup, my new Pokémon."
"You caught another Pokémon with no battling?!" Elliot inquired.
"That's right!" Rose nodded, flashing a peace sign as Buttercup grinned in her arms.
"It's just way too easy for her," sighed Gage.
"Why isn't it that easy for us?" whined Thomas, from where Team Rocket was hiding in a nearby bush. "If that little brat was on our side, we'd be full of Grass-types to send to the boss!"
"Too bad, once a brat, always a brat," sighed Rattata.
"Not so," Trixie chimed in. "If we kidnapped that little flower-loving brat and left her out as bait, I'm sure we could attract all the Grass-type Pokémon that the world can offer!"
"Not a bad idea," Rattata replied.
"Too bad we keep losing to the brats," sighed Thomas. "Why even keep trying? We'll just lose."
"Well we won't win with that attitude, that's for sure," Trixie spat at him. "Just follow my plan, and we'll have that little flower brat in our hands before you know it."
So, Team Rocket snuck away, to hatch a plan, while the quartet re-entered the building for the battle rounds. Rose and Lily went backstage, and the other three and Gligar, Dratini and Clefairy, took their seats in the stands. Dratini had its head on the railing, while Clefairy sat comfortably in Poppy's lap. It was clear to everyone that Clefairy was really enjoying watching the Contest.
"You love the Contest, huh?" Poppy inquired with a smile.
"Clefairy!" replied the pink Pokémon with a smile of its own.
"Maybe we'll have to enter the next one," Poppy suggested.
Clefairy seemed happy with the prospect, but Elliot quickly shushed them as Rose's battle came up. She was going up against a girl with soft blonde hair and a glittering baby blue dress.
"And here we have our next battle!" announced Katherine. "This battle will be between Frostine of Mahogany Town and Rose of Cherrygrove City! This battle will last for five minutes. The Coordinator with the most points at the end of the time limit will win, unless one Pokémon is deemed unable to battle before said time. Let the battle begin!"
Rose started things out, calling, "Let's go, Lily!"
Throwing out a PokéBall of her own, Frostine called, "Time to shine, Swinub!"
"This battle will be fought between Rose's charming Chikorita and Frostine's sweet little Swinunb!" announced Katherine.
"How d'you think this'll go, Gage?" Elliot inquired.
Arms crossed, Gage answered, "Well, Swinub is an Ice and Ground type. Grass-types like Lily are weak against Ice-types, but strong against Ground-types, so it could go either way."
"You can do it, Rose and Lily!" Poppy shouted from the stands.
"Clefairy!" Clefairy hollered, backing up its Trainer.
Rose nodded, hearing the encouragement from her friends in the stands. It gave her an extra boost of confidence going into the battle.
"Alright, Swinub, let's start things out with Powder Snow!" commanded Frostine.
Swinub launched the attack, sending a sparkling breeze full of small snow crystals towards Lily.
"Not good," Gage commented. "Frostine's using Ice Attacks."
"Mhm," Poppy and Elliot nodded.
"Counter with Razor Leaf!" countered Rose.
Lily obeyed, knocking the snow back with a powerful and beautiful Razor Leaf.
Clearly frustrated, Frostine called, "Ice Shard!"
Swinub obeyed its Trainer, sending shards of ice flying towards Lily.
"Magical Leaf!" called Rose.
Lily did as she was told, using Magical Leaf to slice through and destroy the shards of ice, before they hit Swinub, scoring a direct hit.
"And Rose knocks a second Ice attack away, and manages to beautifully use Magical Leaf to attack Swinub," Katherine announced. "That'll knock some points off for Frostine."
"Dig!" called Frostine.
Immediately, Swinub dug underground. Neither Lily nor Rose was able to detect where Swinub was, or where it would emerge.
"Keep an eye out, Lily," Rose reminded her Pokémon.
"Ice Shard!" Frostine commanded.
In the blink of an eye, Swinub emerged from the ground with a graceful leap, firing a powerful Ice Shard attack at Lily. Not only was it powerful and a direct hit, the ice shards reflected the light so that they projected rainbows over the audience, causing them to drop their jaws in awe.
"What a beautiful use of Ice Shard to reflect light and inflict damage!" Katherine announced. "Now, Frostine is making a fierce comeback while taking major points away from Rose!"
"That didn't look good," winced Poppy.
"Sweet scent, Lily!" called Rose.
Lily launched Sweet Scent. At first, Frostine was slightly confused at why Rose was calling an attack that didn't inflict any damage, but then she saw why. Any Pokémon was attracted to the scent of Sweet Scent, but Swinub, a Pokémon with extraordinary smelling abilities, was super attracted to the smell, so it drew Swinub close to Lily for an attack.
"Use Vine Whip to bind up Swinub and hold it up towards the ceiling!" Rose called. Lily did as she was told, and then Rose added, "Now, give Swinub a good Magical Leaf while you toss it!"
So, Lily launched Swinub into the air, in the midst of one of Lily's most powerful and beautiful. Even Frostine could clearly see that Swinub was being seriously injured.
Swinub landed on the ground, wincing from the attack, but Frostine called, "Dig, and then Ice Beam!"
Swinub was underground again, and Lily had no idea where it'd come up. Out of nowhere, Swinub launched itself from underground right over Lily, and then shot an Ice Beam at her, effectively freezing her inside of beautifully sparkly ice. The crowd cheered, and the rest of Rose's points were drained away. She sighed, but then smiled, knowing that she did her best, as Lily freed herself from the ice.
"And so Frostine, of Mahogany Town and her Swinub take the victory!" announced Katherine.
The crowd cheered, as Frostine and Swinub then took a bow. Once they were done, they walked to Lily and Rose, and shook hands.
"That was a great battle, Rose," Frostine told her. "I was really worried."
"Thanks," Rose grinned. "Your Swinub is great, and so cute."
"And so is Lily," Frostine smiled, petting the Grass-type. "I've never seen such a pretty Chikorita before."
"Thanks," Rose repeated. "And good luck."
"Thank you. Good luck to you too, Rose," Frostine replied.
Suddenly, a metal claw descended from the ceiling, capturing Rose by the waist. Everyone gasped, as Team Rocket lifted her into their balloon, which they'd somehow managed to get through a hole in the ceiling.
"Team Rocket!" Rose screamed, struggling to free herself.
"Hey, brat!" Rattata greeted. "Thanks for being bait! Since Grass-types love you, we'll be using you as plant food!"
"No way!" Poppy hollered.
Before she could command Dratini into an attack, Clefairy sent out a Gyro Ball Attack, spinning rapidly through the air, slicing right through the metal that held Rose. Lily used her Vine Whip to help Rose safely to the ground.
"Wow," Gage mumbled in awe. "Clefairy just used Metronome, which turned into a Gyro Ball!"
"Clefairy!" exclaimed the happy Pokémon, landing back in its Trainer's arms.
"You're great, Clefairy," Poppy praised. "Now, Dratini, use Hyper Beam to blast those losers out of here!"
Dratini used the attack, which sent the trio blasting out of the building, and through the air, screaming as they went.
"I told you we always lose!" whined Thomas.
"Oh, shut it!" yelped Trixie, effectively shutting him up as they soared through the air.
"We're flying away again!" the three screamed in unison, as they disappeared over the horizon.
And so, another day set on the quartet. Clefairy's power was revealed, Rose took in an abandoned Bulbasaur and competed in her first Contest, and the quartet defeated Team Rocket once again.
POPPY's current team:
Dratini, Chikorita, Chinchou & Clefairy
GAGE's current team:
Ivysaur, Raichu, Hitmontop & Snorlax
ROSE's current team:
Lily (Chikorita), Flora (Sunflora) & Buttercup (Bulbasaur)
ELLIOT's current team:
Deino, Oshawott, Ferroseed, Litwick & Gligar