Chapter 11: Neon City Excursions
"Okay, so the contest is the day after tomorrow. I say we spend today shopping and tomorrow training. If we have time we'll check out some of the attractions. We'll go to the contest the day after tomorrow, and we'll challenge Chrys the next day. Then we'll check out more attractions!" Candace planned.
"Sounds good to me," Daniel said. The others nodded.
"But while you're shopping, me and Daniel will go train," Kyle said.
"No, you won't," Candace objected. "You're going to be shopping too. We need a replacement tent and maybe some more supplies."
"Fine," Kyle said, pouting. The trainers got ready and left the hotel. They didn't check out because they'd be there for a few days. They bought a map of the city from a street vendor and looked for a clothing store and Pokemart. The two stores were right next to each other but they were on the opposite side of the city. The trainers all sighed and got going.
"Oh look," Tori said, pointing. They were passing by a pink building with a brown roof. There were some berry plants out front and a delicious aroma drifting around the building. The sign out front said 'Poffin House.'
"What's a Poffin House?" Kyle asked.
"A place where you can cook Poffins," Tori replied excitedly.
"Oh…what's a Poffin?" Kyle asked.
"Treats for our Pokemon," she said. "I think we should go make some! If we make them right, it'll make them look really healthy and the Pokemon will love them!" They all decided to go in. Tori paired with Kyle to help him cook. Candace and Daniel worked on their own.
"Ok, I need some opinions, here," Candace said, taking out two Pokeballs and tossing them into the air. Growlithe and Pachirisu popped out, and Eevee jumped out of Candace's hoodie and stood next to them. Candace continued, "So…what are you guys up for? Sweet? Sour? Bitter? Spicy? Dry?"
"Good idea," Kyle said. He tossed three Pokeballs and Phanpy, Pikachu, and Teddiursa came out to give their opinion. Mime Jr. jumped off Kyle's shoulder and joined them. Tori sent out Flaaffy and Beautifly, and Daniel sent out Gabite, Skarmory, and Totodile, who immediately jumped onto the counter and tried to eat a wooden spoon.
"Yes, that's BITE!" Daniel said, taking the spoon away, "and this is Water Gun!" He reached for the faucet in a nearby sink, pulled on it and it extended like a hose. He pressed the handle and sprayed Totodile with it. He repeated, "Water Gun!" and Totodile fell off the counter. Daniel picked up his Pokemon and set him back on the counter. "Got it?" he asked. Totodile nodded. "Good boy," he praised and scratched Totodile under the chin. Totodile shook, spraying water all over Daniel, and Candace giggled.
"To-to-DILE!" Totodile cheered.
"Not a word," Daniel growled, glaring at Candace. Everyone whipped up their own Poffins. Kyle used Tori's recipe and she helped him with it…well, actually it was more like she made her batch, as well as Kyle's, and he assisted her when she asked for his help. They all let their Pokemon taste the batter and give approval before the batter was baked, and they made alterations as needed. They had several batches of Poffins made within the hour.
Poffins are like oversized donut holes and vary in color: Candace's were pink, Kyle's/Tori's were blue, and Daniel's were red. They packed up the Poffins and left the cooking house. Excluding the obvious two, all Pokemon were called back to their Pokeballs, and the trainers continued to the stores.
They arrived at an intersection. The Pokemart was on one corner and the clothing store was across from it on a different corner. Up ahead was the amusement park and Kyle stared longingly at it.
"We'll go to the amusement park later," Candace assured.
"YES!" Kyle cheered. The girls split up from the boys: they went to the clothing store and the boys went to the Pokemart, as planned.
"Wow!" Tori said, walking through the front door. Candace came in shortly after and stared in awe as well. It was a two-story store chock full of such a variety of clothes that it even had some kinds of clothing articles that the girls have never seen before. The colors were blended together so abnormally that even a rainbow would have been offended by the amount of obnoxious coloring of the room. Tori leaned in and whispered to Candace, "It even SMELLS like clothes in here!" Eevee grinned and nodded. The girls ran to the dress department and began to try on everything in their size; all of the dresses were so beautiful.
Eevee went off to explore on her own and wandered into the hat section of the store. She ran back, wearing a cowboy hat on her head, and a bandana around her neck. Candace and Tori laughed.
"No Eevee," Candace said, so Eevee ran back to put them away.
Candace bought medium-length black strapless dress with a single hot pink bow around the waist. It wasn't tight, but it wasn't overly poofy either. She would wear it with long black gloves that passed her elbows and hot pink knee-high boots that were the same shade as the bow on the dress.
Tori bought an aqua colored dress that was very long, flowing and poofy. It was strapless, like Candace's dress, and had vertical lines of silver sequins running down the bodice. She bought long gloves, like Candace, but hers were silver. She bought silver high heels but they couldn't be seen because the dress was so long.
They walked outside and met up with the boys.
"What took ya so long?" Kyle asked.
"Hey, we had to pick out our contest outfits! It's harder than you think!" Candace said, defensively.
"We need ball capsules and seals too…" Tori said.
"I thought you had some," Kyle said.
"Well…Candace doesn't," she replied, so they walked back. They had passed a ball capsule store at some point after the Poffin House and decided to go there.
"What exactly do these things do?" Kyle whispered as they walked into the store. Candace grabbed a six-pack of clear ball capsules off the shelf and looked at the seal selection. It was small store; all they sold were ball capsules, seals, and various kinds a Pokeballs, but there was a huge selection and bulk of each product.
"They're…" Tori began, "like cases…for your Pokeballs. They're clear, hollow Pokeballs. You put a Pokeball in it and then you put seals on it. Seals are special stickers. When you send out a Pokemon with, say, a smoke seal on its ball capsule, it'll come out in a cloud of smoke!"
"Cool…" Kyle said. Candace was done and paying for what she selected. They left the store and decided to spend the rest of the day training at the park. But when they got there, they found an unpleasant surprise.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Katya said, approaching the trainers. Candace glared.
"Do I sense a cat fight in the making?" Daniel whispered to Kyle.
"Yup, they hate each other," Kyle said.
"Damn, and here I am without a camera," Daniel said sadly, causing Kyle to snort.
Candace and Katya were now in each other's face shouting insults at each other. Katya noticed Daniel and stopped. She ran her fingers through her hair and walked over confidently.
"Hi there," she said, obviously flirting with him. "I don't think we've met, I'm Katya," she introduced with a wink.
"I'm sorry, but I can't hear you over the sound of me being awesome. If you'd like to stop insulting her, then I'll talk to you, however," Daniel said, not looking at her.
"Whatever," she said, rolling her eyes, "I don't know why you'd want to hang around these losers, but it's not my problem…" She turned back to Candace and they glared at each other.
"Are you and Tori going to train for that stupid contest or what?" Kyle asked all of a sudden. "We could be at the amusement park right now!"
"So you're competing, huh?" Katya asked. Candace nodded. "Well don't expect to win," Katya continued, "That ribbon is MINE!" and with that, she left. Candace stared until she was out of view then sighed.
"Why are you hanging around us?" she asked, looking at Daniel innocently.
"Because you 'losers' actually have potential, and that's more than I can say for her," Daniel replied.
"What do you mean?" Tori asked.
"Simple. She is working alone with little, if any, input from others. We are working as a team. We've got each other's backs, and we know that we can count on each other," Daniel said. "No matter what the problem is." The others all smiled at hearing this.
"Well, let's get to work," Candace said. Eevee looked up at her trainer and could have sworn Candace was blushing a little. They trained for several hours then headed back to the hotel.
When they woke up the next morning, they decided to explore the city for a while and then train again in the afternoon. They got going and were heading down a street when they passed by a building. Candace looked at it.
"Pokemon Battling Competition Today..." Candace said.
"Hm?" Kyle asked. The others turned around and saw Candace staring at a poster on the outside of the building. They walked over.
"Hey I think we should compete!" Candace said.
"I thought you had a contest to practice for," Daniel said.
"This won't take all day," Candace said, "and there's a prize for the winner!" She pointed at the picture. There was a sky blue egg with white splotches on the poster.
"An egg?" Tori said.
"I really want to know what's inside it," Candace said.
"I have a guess, but I'm not sure," Daniel said.
"Either way, one of us should win this thing. Let's all compete." Candace said as walked into the building and the others followed her. There were about twenty other trainers inside.
"Whoa..." Kyle said. Candace saw a receptionist at a desk and walked over.
"Excuse me," she said to the woman, "is it too late to enter?" The woman looked up and smiled at her.
"No, you're just in time," the lady said, "you and your friends can go pick a Pokeball from that rack and bring it back here to be registered.
"We can't use our own Pokemon?" Candace asked.
"No, you have to use ours," the woman said. "Otherwise, it wouldn't be fair."
"Oh okay, that's fine," Candace said and motioned for the others to follow her. She led them to the cubby in the corner of the room. Each Pokeball was in a slot numbered from one to one hundred. Several Pokeballs were missing from it because other trainers had selected them. Candace turned to her friends, "Okay, we're supposed to pick one and register with it."
"Can't we see what's inside them first?" Kyle asked. Daniel pointed at a poster above them. It said "Please do not send out any of these Pokemon until instructed to do so! Those who disobey will be disqualified." Kyle crossed his arms.
"Alright...let's see here," Candace said, looking at the Pokeballs. "Number eighteen it is!" She grabbed the ball out of the eighteenth slot and walked back to the desk to register. Kyle grabbed the ball from slot twenty-two, Daniel grabbed the ball from slot sixty-nine, and Tori stood silently for a moment before selecting ball number forty-five. They all walked over to the desk to register as well.
"Fill out these forms and go through that door," the receptionist said, pointing to a back door. "It leads to the arena outside." They looked over and noticed most of the other trainers had walked out already. They quickly filled out and turned in their forms, and then went outside. There was a set of bleachers where all the trainers were sitting, so the four joined them.
"Welcome to the Neon City Pokemon Battling Competition," a man announced. "My name is Michael and I will be your referee today. When you hear your Pokeball numbers called, please come down to the arena for your battle. If you lose, please leave, and make sure to return your Pokeball to Evan, who's just through that door." He pointed, and a blond-haired boy stuck his head out the door and waved wildly, bringing laughter from the crowd. "If you win, return to the bleachers you are currently sitting in and wait for the next round. If you really want to stay and watch after you lose then sit on the other set of bleachers, which is currently empty. Now, let us begin! First up, we have entry number twenty-nine and entry number four, please come down for your battle." Two trainers walked down from the bleachers and positioned themselves. Their battle was pretty short, and about five other battles took place after them.
"Alright," Michael said, "entry number forty-five and entry number thirty-eight!" Tori walked down to the arena, as did a boy who appeared to be seven or eight. They positioned themselves and took out their Pokeballs.
"Come on out!" the boy shouted, throwing the Pokeball and out came a Linoone. Tori looked at the bleachers and saw the group of people staring at her. She got nervous and couldn't move.
"Uh-oh," Candace said, "someone's got stage fright."
"Come on Tori!" Kyle cheered and Mime Jr. sat up and cheered with him. Tori took a deep breath.
"It's showtime!" Tori yelled, threw the Pokeball and out came a Jynx.
"Use Sand-Attack!" the boy shouted. The Linoone turned around and kicked dirt into the Jynx's face. Jynx wiped at her eyes but couldn't open them. "Now use Slash!" the boy continued. The Linoone jumped onto Jynx and slashed at her with his sharp claws.
"Jynx, use Ice Punch!" Tori yelled. Jynx let one arm fall and her fist became surrounded by a blizzard. She then raised it back up and nailed the Linoone. He fell off her and hit the ground. Jynx took the time to get the sand out of her eyes and then looked down angrily at the Linoone.
"Use Thunder, Linoone!" the boy yelled. A bolt of lightning shot from above and fried Jynx. She then fell over in defeat. Tori frowned and called it back to its ball. She walked over to the door and returned Jynx's ball to Evan, and asked if it would be okay to sit with her friends instead of the other bleachers. Evan thought for a moment and said that was fine. She returned to the bleachers and sat with Candace, Kyle, and Daniel. Michael called a few more numbers, they battled, and then he got to number eighteen and number twenty-two.
"I'm not going easy on you," Candace said.
"And I'm not going easy on you either!" Kyle replied. Candace told Eevee to stay there and Kyle said the same to Mime Jr. They walked down to the arena together and positioned themselves.
"Be a good one!" Kyle shouted as he sent out a Pokemon. It was an Elekid. He smiled.
"Alright, come on out here!" Candace cheered as she sent out her Pokemon: Flareon. "Oh cool," she said, "another Eeveelution." She pointed her Pokedex at it.
"Flareon, the Flame Pokemon: Its body temperature tops one-thousand six-hundred fifty degrees Fahrenheit before battle. Inhaled air is heated in the flame sac in its body to an intense fire over three-thousand degrees Fahrenheit," the Dex said. Candace put the Dex away.
"Elekid, use Thunderpunch!" Kyle ordered. Elekid's fist began to glow yellow and sparks of electricity surrounded it. He charged at Flareon to punch her.
"Flareon, dodge it! Use Fire Fang!" Flareon slid over to the side just as Elekid passed her and her mouth filled with flames. She bit down on Elekid's head and flames licked over the Electric-type's body. With a toss of her head, Flareon threw the Elekid across the ring.
"Elekid, use Shock Wave!" Elekid staggered to its feet and released a jolt of blue electricity from its body that struck Flareon and hurt her. "Great, Elekid! Keep it up!"
"Flareon, use Bite!" Flareon bit down on Elekid just as he shocked her again. Candace winced. "Use Fire Spin!" Flareon shot a cyclone of fire at Elekid that surrounded and trapped the Pokemon inside.
"Elekid, use Shock Wave again!" Elekid shot a bolt of electricity out of the fire at Flareon, missing her narrowly. The fire slowly subsided and Kyle ordered Elekid to use Thunderpunch and the Elekid charged forward.
"Flareon, use Fire Spin on yourself, and use Quick Attack!" Flareon's mouth filled with fire that coiled out and surrounded her as she sprinted forward, meeting Elekid's Thunderpunch with enough force to cause an explosion. As the smoke cleared, the spectators and trainers could see Elekid on the ground, unconscious, and Flareon standing over him, battered but still standing.
"Amazing!" Michael said. "Flareon's Flash Fire ability was activated by the Fire Spin, and that gave her the extra boost she needed to take out Elekid! Candace wins!"
Up in the stands, Tori was sitting next to Daniel, who was rolling his Pokeball in between his hands and staring down at the field. "She's got some serious potential," Tori heard Daniel mutter.
"What was that?" Tori asked.
"Nothing," Daniel said, a little too quickly. Tori shrugged and turned back to the competition. Kyle returned the Elekid and he and Candace sat back down with Tori and Daniel.
"Nicely done," Tori said to Candace. "How'd you know that using Fire Spin on Flareon would work?"
Candace grinned and said, "I didn't. I knew it would look pretty, and I figured that if I was going to go down against my own brother, I may as well look good doing it." Tori giggled as the next pair of competitors took their places. One sent out a Shellder, while the other sent out an Electrode. "Oh, this won't end well," Candace said.
After a string of six or seven battles, many of which were intense and destructive to the field, Michael called numbers sixty-nine and five. Daniel stood and entered the field, looking about as emotional as the underside of a Snorlax. His opponent, a tall man with blond hair that stood in spikes, threw his Pokeball into the ring. "Pokeball, Go!" he shouted. A Weavile popped out, slashing the air experimentally.
Daniel pitched his ball into the arena underhanded. "Come on out!" A Magmar exited the ball, looking a bit disoriented. "Oh, boy," he said.
"What's wrong?" Tori asked.
"If I remember correctly," Candace began, "Weavile is faster, stronger, and tougher than Magmar is. It's part Dark-type and part Ice-type, so Daniel has a type advantage, but from what I saw when he and I battled, I think he'd rather have a stronger Pokemon than a type advantage."
"Magmar, use Flamethrower!" Daniel ordered. Magmar sprayed a stream of fire from its mouth at the Weavile, who jumped out of the way, landing neatly to the side of it.
"Weavile, use Faint Attack!" the other trainer said. Weavile pointed off to the side; Magmar looked in the direction Weavile was pointing, looking for whatever Weavile was pointing at. While Magmar was distracted, Weavile slashed at him viciously, and someone in the crowd booed.
Daniel turned slowly, a disbelieving look on his face. "Excuse me? Did I just hear someone boo? If you don't like the way I'm battling, feel free to come on down and give it a try yourself. Or better yet, see me after this, and we'll settle it with our own Pokemon. If not, shut up," he said and then turned back, and continued, "Magmar! Use Lava Plume!" Magmar caused an explosion around itself, bringing up a mix of smog and flames to cover the area and dousing the Weavile in flames.
"Wow…" Candace said. "Touchy much?"
"Weavile, use Icy Wind!" The other trainer shouted. Weavile blew out a gust of freezing wind that flowed around Magmar, doing very little visible damage.
"Let's end this," Daniel said. "Magmar, use Fire Spin!" Magmar blew out a cyclone of fire that curled tightly around the Weavile, trapping it tightly. "Now use Focus Punch!" Magmar's hand began to glow as it reared back, before punching through the Fire Spin and clocking the Weavile, knocking it to the ground, where it lay unmoving.
"Weavile is unable to battle! Daniel is the winner!" Daniel quirked an eyebrow as the crowd cheered, but remained silent, shaking his opponent's hand and returning to the stands.
"What was that all about?" Candace asked as he sat down.
"Which part?" Daniel replied, looking nonchalant.
"Shutting the crowd up," Candace replied, as if it should be obvious.
"Well, it's a pet peeve of mine to have people criticize someone for something that they can't do better. If you can do something better than I can, say so, or show me how to do it better. If not, keep your trap shut," he replied.
Battle after battle went by as the day wore on. Daniel, Candace, Flareon and Magmar returned to the field two or three times apiece before they reached the finals. Candace had breezed past an apparently obscenely lucky trainer with a Weepinbell, and Daniel had won a pitched battle with a Glalie that simply refused to go down, no matter how many Flamethrowers it took. Finally, it went down after another Focus Punch, and Daniel progressed to the finals, matched up against Candace. After getting their Pokemon healed, the two trainers stepped into position on the field.
Daniel smiled sadly and said, "I know you won't let the fact that we know each other interfere with you giving your all to this, and I won't either."
"Good," Candace replied. "I hope you don't mind losing, because you're about to. Badly."
"We're down to our final round, everybody!" Michael boomed into a mic. "This has been an incredible day, and it all comes down to this! Ready! Set! Begin!"
"Flareon, let's go!" Candace cheered as she sent out the Flareon.
"Magmar! Let's bring it home!" Daniel shouted as he sent out the Magmar.
"Flareon! Use Fire Blast!" Candace shouted. Flareon shot five blasts of flame from its mouth that formed together as they flew at Magmar.
"Break it with a Fire Blast of your own, Magmar, then use Faint Attack," Daniel said. Magmar spat its own batch of flames that collided with Flareon's and neutralized them. As the flames died down, it became apparent that Magmar was no longer there. Flareon looked around wildly, searching for Magmar. Candace stared at her opponent, while Daniel simply smiled. Then Magmar landed, apparently out of nowhere, on top of Flareon, slamming it flat onto the ground, before springing off.
"Flareon! Use Sunny Day!" A white orb appeared in Flareon's mouth and she shot it into the sky, where the setting sun grew brighter, doubling in intensity. Most of the crowd squinted, and Daniel donned a pair of sunglasses from inside his jacket.
"Daniel's in trouble," Kyle said to Tori.
"Why do you say that?" The younger girl asked.
"Because he can't use Fire-type moves," Kyle answered. "All that would accomplish would be to make Flareon stronger, so he can't use Magmar's strongest moves. He'll have to end this quickly, too. The longer the battle goes on, the better Candace's chances of winning."
"Magmar, use Focus Punch!" Daniel shouted.
"Flareon, hit him with a Quick Attack!" Flareon sprinted forward, nailing Magmar in the head and breaking his focus. "Now, finish it! Use Overheat!" she continued. For the first time since she'd known him, Candace saw that Daniel was stressed. Flareon glowed red, and a blast of white-hot flame burst from her mouth, smaller trails of red and yellow fire trailing around the main stream. Magmar, still confused and unfocused, took the entire brunt of the blast, silhouetted by the flames. Daniel nodded slowly. The fire eventually dissipated, and Magmar stood there for a moment, before collapsing to the ground, unconscious.
"Magmar is unable to battle! Candace wins!" Michael shouted. The crowd burst to its feet, cheering and roaring as Candace and Daniel returned the Pokemon to their Pokeballs. "And now, for your prize!" Michael announced as he produced a Pokemon Egg, which was sky blue with white splotches on it. He held it up so the crowd could see it, before handing it to Candace, who took it carefully. "This Pokemon Egg was donated by the Pokemon Daycare in Lesotho Town. It comes with an incubator case to keep the Pokemon warm, to help speed hatching, and to help keep it safe. It also comes with its own Pokeball, placed on top of the case, to keep the baby Pokemon in when it hatches," he explained.
Candace cradled the Egg in her arms as Kyle, Tori, and Daniel closed around her. Daniel extended his hand. "Well done, Candace," he said. She gave him a cold look, and he left his hand extended for a long moment, before pulling it back and frowning.
"Keep today in mind in case you ever decide to question my battling abilities again," she said and then walked over to Evan and returned the Flareon. Daniel's face remained emotionless aside from a small twitch at one corner of his lip.
The four trainers left the building together after Daniel gave the Magmar back. Candace clutched the incubator with her egg inside. She rambled on about what could possibly be inside of it. They turned and walked down the street, passing two men. They were each dressed in a khaki uniform. The uniform consisted of a shirt and trousers, with a stylized J on the front of the shirt and brownish slash marks across it. The whole uniform looked relatively imposing, but the men wearing the uniform looked like a pair of low-watt bulbs.
"Hmmm…" one said quietly to the other. The trainers couldn't hear them. He continued, "I've seen a lot of eggs, but I tell ya…I aint ever seen an egg like that one."
"Yeah?" the other replied. "Then how bout we go ahead and take it? It might be somethin' worthwhile…"
"And if it isn't?" the first asked.
"Then we don't lose much. Those kids look easy to knock around. I bet it'll be no trouble at all," the second replied.
"Alright then," the first said, "let's hit it!" They followed after the trainers, sneakily.
"So, where to now?" Candace asked happily.
"The game corner or amusement park probably," Daniel said and Kyle began to cheer. Just then, a Cranidos charged forward and butted Candace's egg/case out of her arms. She gasped and gripped the arm it hit. She moaned in pain a little.
"Hey!" she screamed. The case flew up and was caught by one of the shady men. They were standing on top of a small building, and the other stood next to him chuckling.
"You should really be more careful with things like this," the man holding it said, "so I'm going to teach you a lesson about being careful. This egg is mine now."
"Give it back!" Candace demanded.
"Now why would we do that?" the other taunted. Candace reached for Pachirisu's ball.
"Eevee! Use Shadow Ball, Pachirisu, get that egg," she yelled quickly as she sent out Pachirisu. Eevee fired a Shadow Ball at Cranidos and it slid back a little. Pachirisu zipped up the building and snatched the egg in a matter of seconds.
"Dig and Discharge!" Candace ordered. Eevee dug into the ground and Pachirisu shocked the two men before darting up a tree with the egg.
"Grrr…" the one who hadn't been holding the egg (Grunt number two) said, "Cranidos, go!" He threw a Pokeball and a second Cranidos popped out beside the other. Daniel stepped forward.
"Totodile, help her out!" he yelled as he sent out Totodile. Totodile came out facing the right way this time, but was sitting on his head. As he looked around, he noticed everything was upside down; he got excited and kicked his legs joyfully. Candace giggled.
"Eevee!" Candace yelled. "Come on up!" Eevee launched up from the ground and nailed the first Cranidos. She then back-hand-sprang back. Daniel picked up Totodile and put him back down the right way. Totodile got even happier and danced around.
"Totodile, use Bite!" Daniel ordered, expecting Water Gun. Totodile charged forward and bit the second Cranidos, then cried out in pain from Cranidos' rock hard skin. Totodile let go and jumped around, clutching his mouth, crying: "Toto, toto, toto, toto, toto, toto, toto, TOTODILE!"
"Yikes," Candace said. Daniel smacked his forehead.
"NOW YOU UNDERSTAND?" he shouted angrily. "Then use Water Gun!" Totodile spat a stream of water that hit Cranidos One in the face and knocked it into Cranidos Two. Their skulls made a dull "CLONK" sound when they connected and the two Pokemon cried in pain as their heads vibrated like bells. The two men jumped down from the building.
"Use Zen Headbutt," said Grunt One.
"And Rock Smash!" Grunt Two added. The two Cranidos lowered their heads; Cranidos One's head glowed blue and Cranidos Two's head glowed white. They charged forward.
"Eevee, use Dig!" Candace yelled.
"Follow her!" Daniel ordered. "Have her dig a bunch of holes," he added quietly. Candace nodded.
"Eevee! Keep making holes!" Candace cheered. Eevee popped up, dug down again, and did this several times so there were many holes. Eevee dug back down and stayed once she felt there was enough.
"Totodile, use Water Gun!" Daniel shouted. They heard the sound of a chomp followed by Eevee screaming. Daniel banged his head against a street light pole. "THEN USE BITE!" he screamed. Water shot up from one of the holes, and Cranidos One jumped away to avoid it. Water sprang up from another hole and another and another until pretty soon, the two Cranidos were surrounded.
"Good idea," Candace said, "Now Eevee, come up once more." Eevee came out of the ground, riding on a fountain of water and used Dig on Cranidos Two. She then leapt up off the water and Cranidos Two was soaked. "Now use Shadow Ball!" Candace continued. Eevee, still in mid-air, fired a Shadow Ball at the other Cranidos, but it dodged out of the way.
"Totodile, come out and use Water Gun!" Daniel ordered. Totodile jumped out of the hole and finished off Cranidos Two. Grunt Two, obviously the weaker of the two grunts, growled as he called his fallen Pokemon back.
"Eevee! Use Double Team and then Shadow Ball at the ground!" Candace yelled. Eevee multiplied and surrounded Cranidos One. They all fired Shadow Ball at the ground, causing a cloud of dust to surround all the Pokemon. Cranidos One looked around but couldn't see. "Use Quick Attack!" Candace added.
"Jump!" the grunt ordered. The Eevee missed but Totodile jumped off one of the Eevee and flew up above Cranidos One.
"Ice Fang!" Daniel yelled. Ice shot from Totodile's fangs. Cranidos One became frozen in a ball of ice and crashed back down to the ground in defeat. Grunt One called back the Cranidos immediately.
"Worthless!" he shouted, looking at the Pokeball. The two grunts then fled together after throwing down a Smoke Ball.
Pachirisu hopped out of the tree and debated taking off with the egg, but decided against it. He instead gave it back to his trainer and nuzzled her leg. They all stood there, looking puzzled. They decided to just go back to the hotel and relax for the rest of the day.
"OH MY GOD!" Candace screamed when they walked into their room.
"What is it?" Kyle asked.
"Tori, we forgot to register for the contest!" Candace shouted in a panic. She grabbed Tori by the arm and took off, dragging Tori along with her. The boys stared blankly.
"Daniel?" Kyle asked quietly.
"Yes?" Daniel replied.
"Will I ever understand women?" Kyle asked.
"No," Daniel shook his head, "Never." The boys sent out all of their Pokemon and had a late lunch/early dinner. The girls took their sweet time getting back.
"What took ya so long?" Daniel asked. Candace held out an ID card of some sort. It had her picture and information on it.
"We had to be issued contest passes in order to enter the contest, so after we got them, we entered and then made some more Poffins," Candace explained.
"Ah," Daniel said. "Hungry?" Tori and Candace looked at each other.
"Yes!" they said together. The girls let their Pokemon out and ate with the boys. They spent the rest of the day playing with/pampering/grooming their Pokemon and relaxing. They went to bed late and almost slept in, but Pachirisu came to the rescue by waking them all up.
"We better get going," Candace said. Tori didn't move. The others shook her but she wouldn't get up.
"Tori, are you ok?" Kyle asked because she looked terrified.
"I'm so nervous!" she screamed then covered her mouth. Everyone stared, surprised at her volume.
"You'll be fine," Candace assured. "Now get up!" She pulled Tori out of bed and Tori got to her feet. She took a deep breath and walked to the bathroom to get dressed. She came out a few minutes later in her contest attire. Candace went in and changed into her dress as well. Then they headed to the contest hall, checked in, and were directed to a room with all of the contest coordinators.
"This is the lobby and all of coordinators are to wait in here, or in the dressing rooms to your right, until it is their turn to take the stage," the receptionist who had led them there informed. "Your friends are welcome to wait here or sit in the audience with all of the other fans. They can still watch it from down here on the TV screens." There were several TVs scattered about the room. They all had blue screens and said "Standby" in white. "The contest is being videotaped and broadcasted live," she continued, "so you can watch it down here. It's so the coordinators can keep their eye on their competition." The trainers nodded and the receptionist walked out of the room.
"Excuse me," a coordinator said, "are you two making your debut?" He was looking at Candace and Tori. They nodded. "Dang," he said, shaking his head, "that makes three newbies then…"
"Katya…" Candace thought, "Oh…speak of the devil…" Katya walked out of the dressing room. She was wearing a sparkly, purple dress. It was very long and seemed very tight. She was wearing a lot of expensive-looking jewelry, but not so much that it looked gaudy. Her hair was down and curled more than usual. She actually looked very pretty.
"Duke!" she squealed as she wrapped her arms around the coordinator. He had an annoyed expression on his face. "Oh em gee! I haven't seen you in like forever!" Katya cooed. Daniel face-palmed.
"We just met yesterday…" Duke said coldly.
"Well I've always been a fan," she said batting her eyes.
"Well thank you, but, if you could be so kind as to unhand me…" he trailed off.
"You are like THE BEST coordinator ever and it's such an honor to be in a contest with you and you're like so much more attractive in person," she rambled on, flirting, and holding her grip. He looked like he was going to bite someone's head off. She stopped talking and let go suddenly when she noticed Candace and Tori. She began to glare and Candace glared back.
"Oh boy," Daniel said.
"Duke, darling, don't associate with these four, they're certainly not worth your time," Katya said arrogantly. She grabbed Duke by the hand and pulled him away.
"Duke, darling, don't associate with these four, they're certainly not worth your time," Daniel mimicked, making the others laugh, not because he was doing it, but because Mime Jr. was doing it at the exact same time. "Y'know, I feel sorry for him, having to associate with Katya." The TVs flashed on.
"Welcome to the Neon City Pokemon Contest!" an MC announced, appearing on the screen.
"Here we go," Candace said, getting pumped.
"…Yeah…" Tori said, unconfidently. They all directed their focus to the screen.
~_~_~
Author Notes:
Read and review please. This is the first appearance of this region's bad guys. They're not petty thieves like Team Rocket; they actually have world-domination type plans, but these grunts were just bored and trying to make a quick buck because they hadn't been given any orders from the higher-ups. The next time the trainers see them, they'll be doing something much worse.
