Friends to Lovers
Chapter 13: Taking The Contest Stage
Ash, May, Brock and Misty were continuing their trek towards Rustboro City, having just left from the Flower Shop and they were continuing their way through a lovely field with bushes that had bright red roses growing on either side of them. As the four were walking, May was having a look at the PokeNav to see where they were and she turned her glance to look up at the roses with a bright smile of awe on her face. She then turned her attention back to the PokeNav so she could keep track of where they were before looking up to see that just up ahead was a building. "Hey, guys, look at that!" May said, pointing to the building up ahead. The others turned their heads to the road ahead and saw that sure enough, there was a large bright yellow building with a round light purple roof and a big square shaped sign on the front of the building that was red and yellow which also had a red ribbon shape in the centre of the yellow colour and had 'Pokemon Competition' written in big black letters. As the group looked at the building with bright smiles, May grabbed her guidebook out of her bag so she could find out what this was. After a few seconds, she found the right page and had a look at it. "I think this might be Rustboro Hall." May commented. Ash's smile then grew larger in excitement hearing this.
"I guess that means we must already be in Rustboro City, and I'm ready for my Gym Battle!" Ash cheered, pumping a fist up in the air in excitement with Pikachu following suit behind him. May showed a smile of amusement seeing his excitement while Brock and Misty stared at him in surprised silence. Misty then had a look at the map in May's guidebook to see where they were currently, before she turned her glance back to Ash.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Ash, but Rustboro City is on the other side of this field, and we probably still have another day's walk to get there at the very least." Misty commented. Upon hearing this, Ash let out a sigh of dismay and collapsed on the ground with his legs sticking up in the air while the others stared at him in surprise. May then showed a bright smile as she figured out a positive outlook to this predicament.
"Hey, looking on the plus side, you'll have more time to get ready for the Gym Battle when we get there." May commented, to which Brock and Misty both nodded in agreement, as they didn't want to see Ash feeling down about the situation like this. As soon as Ash heard this, he quickly jumped back up on his feet with a bright smile and nodded; he didn't really think about that in his annoyance at the fact that they hadn't arrived in Rustboro City yet.
"Oh yeah, that's right! And then when we get there, we'll be ready for whatever the Gym Leader throws at us. Thanks, May." Ash said, turning to May with a bright smile. May felt a bright smile cross her face and she started to rub her arm from shyness. "Oh, don't mention it..." she quietly replied. As the four resumed walking, they could see a young man brushing his Persain with a small comb, a young woman spraying water on her Flaffy with a water hose, to which the Pokemon in question shook itself dry and a young man practicing some sort of move with his Slugma, as it started to shoot small blasts of fire up into the air. Ash showed an expression of puzzlement as he started to wonder what all of these Trainers could be doing.
"It doesn't look like they're getting ready for battling..." Ash said, to which Pikachu nodded in agreement; he was noticing the same thing. As Misty was having a look around at the sight, she looked back at Rustboro Hall and a bright smile crossed her face as she had an idea, and she pointed at the hall to which the others looked with her in surprise. "I'll bet they're getting for the Pokemon Contest that will be taking place in there." Misty suggested.
"A Pokemon Contest?" May asked, staring up at Rustboro Hall in surprise. As she was wondering what the Contest could be about, she suddenly heard something coming her way and turned her head to see what it was and before she had a chance, a butterfly-like Pokemon landed on her face. The Pokemon in question had a pair of black wings that had large yellow markings on the top section, and dark blue and red marking on the bottom section, along with a long and curled black proboscis, a grey face with big blue eyes, a grey underside, four stubby limbs and two black antennae extending out of its head; it was a Beautifly. As Beautifly landed on her face, it caused May to lose her balance and drop down onto the ground, landing on her back while the others stared in shock. "May!" Ash gasped, with an expression of worry quickly showing on his face.
After a few seconds, May got up on her feet finding Beautifly stuck to her face. "Get off me!" May snapped, as she flailed her arms rapidly with her voice muffled. Beautifly seemed to comply as it flew off May's face, showing May's expression of panic while Ash grabbed out his Pokedex to find out what kind of Pokemon this was as he and the others watched this in surprise. "Beautifly, the Butterfly Pokémon. Beautifly have long, thin noses which can extend to suck the pollen out of flowers." The Pokedex explained. Beautifly floated in the air as it slowly flapped its wings for a few seconds before it landed on top of May's head much to her annoyance. "Get off!" May yelled before she let out a sigh of dismay, realising that Beautifly wasn't going to leave her alone. Ash, Brock and Misty were all watching this and they couldn't help themselves showing bright smiles.
"It looks like you have a new friend, May." Ash commented. "Yeah, I think that Beautifly likes you." Misty agreed, nodding. May didn't seem to share her friends' enthusiasm about this because she started to shake her head back and forth rapidly to try and get Beautifly to get off. "It's not funny!" May snapped; even though she was sure that the others weren't exactly laughing at her, the fact they were watching this with bright smiles didn't really help matters out for her when she wasn't as happy about this as they were.
"I'm so sorry!" Hearing that call, Ash and the others turned their glances to see two people running over to them; one of them was a young man with a Venomoth flying in the air beside him and he was wearing a dark green top along with grey short pants and dark blue and yellow shoes and he also had dark purple eyes and short dark purple eyes, and the other was a young woman wearing a light yellow top and small necklace around her neck, along with a long bright red skirt and dark red shoes, and she had light green eyes and short light brown eyes; from the expression of concern on her face, it seemed that she was Beautifly's Trainer. "Are you okay?" The young man asked as the two ran over to see what was happening. The young woman quickly caught Brock's eye as a big smile crossed his face and a blush started to streak across his face.
"Hello!" Brock happily exclaimed. Without any hesitance, he ran over and grabbed the young woman's hands while she stared in surprise. "Is your mother a great artist? Because you're a work of art, pretty as a picture..." While Brock was talking, Beautifly flew off May's head and made its way over to Brock before dropping on his head, causing him to stop while he was talking and lowered his head down. The young woman stared with an expression of shock while Misty showed a smile of amusement at the fact that Beautifly just saved her the trouble of making Brock stop herself.
"Apparently, Beautifly shares the same thought that I have: right now, Brock's canvas is a blank slate. I like Beautifly already." Misty cheekily commented before she covered her mouth with one of her hands, trying to hold in her giggling while Ash and May were watching this in surprise, with May showing a smile of relief at the fact that Beautifly had decided to leave her alone for a few minutes.
"Beautifly, stop that!" The young woman cried, with Beautifly turning its head up to look at her wondering what the problem was. While this was happening, Ash, May and Misty walked over to see what was going on. "Hi there! Were you training Beautifly to get ready for the Pokemon Contest?" Misty asked, showing a bright smile as she waved to the two Trainers. The young woman lifted her head up to the group showing a nervous smile at the mistake she made.
"Well, as a matter of fact, I was, but some of the attacks went a little bit wrong." The young woman nervously explained. "That's probably my fault. Venomoth's Whirlwind attack was too strong; it was a hopeless failure." The young man added, showing a nervous smile as he turned his head to Venomoth as it landed on his shoulder with the young woman turning her head to him as well before the two both looked back at Ash and the others so they could introduce themselves to them.
"My name's Janet, by the way." The young woman said. "And I'm Chaz. How's it going?" The young man added as the two both showed bright smiles deciding not to worry about their earlier mistake. Ash, May and Misty all showed bright smiles as well while Brock still had his head lowered from Beautifly having landed on him while he was talking.
"It's nice to meet you two. My name's Ash." Ash replied. "I'm May." May happily greeted. "And my name's Misty." Misty added.
Brock then lifted his head up with a big smile as Beautifly jumped off his head, flapping its wings slowly so it was back up in the air. "I'm Brock, your future boyfriend!" Brock happily exclaimed. Misty stared down at him in annoyance before she grabbed him by the ear and started to drag him away while the others watched in surprise.
"At the rate you're going, your future as a boyfriend to any girl is looking pretty shaky." Misty commented. "Ow, ow, not the ear! Not the ear!" Brock groaned as Misty dragged him away behind her. Ash and May both watched with Ash showing a smile of amusement and May staring in surprise before the two turned their glances back to Chaz and Janet, with Ash showing an expression of puzzlement.
"There's something I don't understand about what you said, Chaz. How can a powerful attack be a failure?" Ash asked. May turned her head to him hearing him ask this, and then she turned her glance up to think about it how that worked. "I guess there must be a difference in how attacks work between battles and Pokemon Contests." May suggested, while Ash turned his head to her and nodded in understanding with a smile showing on his face; if what May was saying was true, that would make a lot of sense. Chaz and Janet both turned to May and nodded in agreement.
"That's right. The thing to know is that Contest battling isn't like a normal Pokemon battle." Chaz agreed. "It's about the beauty of the attack, not its raw power." Janet added. Ash could only stare in puzzlement hearing this, as it didn't really make a lot of sense to him.
"The beauty of an attack?" Ash asked. Janet nodded in confirmation as Beautifly flew over to rest on her shoulder. "That's right. We're Pokemon Coordinators and we train Pokemon to be graceful." Janet replied. Ash could only show an expression of puzzlement and he started to scratch the side of his head.
"Coordinator?" Ash quietly asked himself as he was wondering what all of this meant; since that was the first time he had ever really heard of Pokemon Contests, learning about what they required and how they worked didn't really make a lot of sense to him since he was more accustomed to actually battling. As May was listening to this explanation, she suddenly remembered what she had heard about it while she was at Trainers' School when she was little...
One afternoon at the Trainer's School, eight year old May was walking down the hallway during lunch break and she was having a look around when she noticed one particular room, and she had a look up at the door to see that the writing on the front of the door said 'Coordinator Class'. May showed an expression of surprise looking at the writing. "Coordinator Class? What could this be about?" May wondered, tilting her head out of curiosity. With this, she walked over and opened the door and poked her head into the room to be met with a surprising sight: the students were gathered together in a circle watching one of their classmates giving a practice appeal with one of the Pokemon supplied. As May watched this display, she slowly walked over to have a closer look while making sure she didn't get spotted, and then she ducked down under one of the tables to watch the class on. "Wow... what's this?" May asked, slowly showing a bright smile.
As May was watching this, she saw that the class were walking back to their seats, so she quickly crawled out from under the table and rushed out of the room before she could get spotted. She could then hear what sounded like a video playing and poked her head up to look through the glass; she couldn't quite hear what the video was saying, but she did hear the teacher explain that if someone wins in a Pokemon Contest, they got a Contest Ribbon and if they got five Ribbon, they had the chance to participate in the Grand Festival. May showed a bright smile as she listened intently to the class; she was really starting to like the idea of being in a Pokemon Contest...
Once May remembered this, a bright smile quickly crossed her face. "I heard about Pokemon Contests at Trainers' School! Isn't that when the winner gets a cute Contest Ribbon?" May happily asked. Ash and the others turned to her with expression of surprise, wondering when she heard about what Pokemon Contests were, while Janet showed a bright smile and nodded in agreement.
"That's exactly right! And they look just like these." Janet replied, before showing a bright orange case with a black zip belt in the middle along the side and opened it up to show two ribbons in the case; one was a lovely dark green colour with light green sides and a gold centre in the shape of a circle with a crown on the top and the other was bright purple with white sides and the gold centre was in the shape of a heart with a matching crown on the top.
"No way! You already have two of them?" May exclaimed, showing a bright smile as she looked at the two ribbons in awe. "Would you like to have a look at the ribbon I won, May?" Chaz asked, showing his yellow ribbon case and opening it up to reveal the one ribbon he had. May had a look at both the cases and her smile grew larger; the more she was learning about Contests and what they were like, it made her want to enter the one that was happening now.
"That's so cool! Now I want to win one too!" May excitedly exclaimed. She then turned her head to the others with a bright smile, her excitement level now shooting sky high as she was loving the idea of Pokemon Contests. "Come on, guys, let's go and see if we can enter the Contest!" May suggested. The others all stared at her in surprise seeing how excited she was getting by this, but then they looked at each other and started to smile before nodding in agreement, figuring that it did sound like a good idea.
"Pokemon Contests do sound like a lot of fun, so why not?" Ash asked. Brock and Misty both turned their heads to him and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that sounds like a great idea." Brock agreed. "Come on, let's all enter the Contest!" Misty cheered, raising an arm up into the air with Togepi happily chirping in her arms.
Chaz and Janet then both turned to each other, seeing the group's excitement about wanting to enter the Contest. "I know the spots are limited; I wonder if it's too late at this point." Janet commented. "I don't think so. The Contest doesn't start for another few hours, but we should probably hurry." Chaz replied. Ash and the others nodded in agreement and with this, the group started to make their way over to the Contest Hall to find out if there was still a chance for them to register.
Meanwhile, the Rocket Trio were making their way down the path leading towards the Contest Hall as they were trying to get to Rustboro City. "Well, we finally made it out of Petalburg Woods. How far should it be until we get there?" Jessie asked, turning her head to James as she was wondering how far they still had left to go. James had a look at the guidebook he was carrying with him to have a look at the map and then he looked up with a bright smile.
"Well... I have some good news and bad news about that. The good news is we shouldn't be too far; Rustboro City is just on the other side of this field." James replied. Jessie and Meowth both showed matching smiles of delight at this as they knew they wouldn't have too much further to walk. "But the bad news is it should take us at least another day's worth of walking." James then added. As soon as they heard that, Jessie and Meowth's smiles faded and they let out sighs of dismay before lowering their heads to the ground.
"Oh, why didn't anyone tell me that getting there would take this long? Getting to Pewter City was nowhere near as exhausting as this." Jessie sighed. "You're telling me..." Meowth quietly agreed. As he lifted his head up, an expression of surprise quickly appeared on his head and he blinked a few times to make sure he was seeing things properly. "Hey, look at that!" Meowth stated, pointing ahead. Jessie and James both looked with him to see what he had found and noticed that just in the middle of the field in front of them was a Contest Hall. "What do you suppose that could be?" Meowth asked.
James had a look down at his guidebook to find out before turning his head back up to the other two. "I think that's Rustboro Hall." James replied. Jessie stared in silence for a few seconds before a bright smile quickly crossed her face and she clasped her hands together in excitement, much to the surprise of both James and Meowth. "And they're holding a Pokemon Contest! I've been waiting to enter one of these again." Jessie happily commented. James and Meowth both showed matching expressions of puzzlement seeing just how excited Jessie was at the sight of the Pokemon Contest.
"How do you even know about these Contests, Jess?" Meowth asked. Jessie turned around to face the two, since she was more than happily to clear up their confusion on the whole matter.
"Don't you two remember that I visited Hoenn once before? While I was here, I entered in a Pokemon Contest. It didn't exactly turn out the way I wanted to, but it was a lot of fun!" Jessie explained. She then reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a small card that was light purple and had a dark blue Ribbon symbol on the front along with a yellow logo and some numbers written in black that were a bit hard to make out. "I even saved the pass I used to enter. And what better time is there to pick up where I left off than now! Come on, you two. Let's move!" Jessie stated, before she started to make her way over to the front entrance while James and Meowth trailed behind her.
As the three arrived at the Contest Hall, the door automatically opened, allowing them to step inside and they looked around to see that there were a few Trainers in the lobby who had already registered for the Contest. It didn't take them long to find the front desk and they noticed that sitting behind the desk was a young woman with short dark brown hair and she was wearing a white work dress that was also maroon and light blue coloured at the top half along with a yellow button on the side, and she was typing on a computer on the desk. "Excuse me?" Jessie asked as she, James and Meowth walked up to the front desk, with Meowth grabbing hold of the desk and pulling himself up to watch with a big smile. The young woman lifted her head up to see the Rocket Trio and showed a bright smile.
"Oh, good day. Can I help you?" she asked. She was then met with a surprise as Jessie showed her Contest Pass. "I'd like you to enter me in the Contest." Jessie stated, with her and James showing matching bright smile. The young woman had a look at the Pass for a few seconds before turning her head to Jessie.
"I'm sorry, but this Pass is expired, so you don't qualify for Contest entry." The woman explained. That didn't sit well with Jessie, because she showed an expression of annoyance before leaning closer to the desk and placing her hand against it while James and Meowth both watched in surprise. "I'm sorry; I don't think I heard you correctly!" Jessie snapped.
"Then I'll say it again: your card's expired." The woman replied. Jessie then let out a sigh of dismay upon hearing this; she had a feeling that maybe it wouldn't have been such a good idea to hold on to her card for so long if she knew that she wouldn't be able to use it any more. Luckily, the young woman showed a smile as she was able to make a suggestion. "There is a chance I could renew your Pass for you." she suggested. Jessie's ears quickly perked up hearing this and then she turned her head back to the woman with a bright smile.
"Oh, why, thank you! That would be divine!" Jessie happily replied. She then handed her old pass to the young woman, who took it before having a look in one of the cupboards behind the desk and grabbing out one of the new passes, which was light green and had a dark blue Ribbon symbol in the centre along with a gold logo on the side and some black writing that was hard to understand, and showing it to Jessie. "Here you are; your new Contest Pass." The woman said. Jessie's smile grew wider at the sight of her new Pass and she quickly grabbed it to have a look at it before turning her glance back to the young woman.
"Thank you so much." Jessie said. As she, James and Meowth turned to make their way back outside, Jessie then started to happily giggle before spinning around in excitement while James and Meowth turned their heads to each other in surprise, realising just how excited she was to be entering in this Contest. "Yes, I'm in! Now all there's left to do is start figuring out what Pokemon I want to use when I get up onto that stage." Jessie commented. James and Meowth both tilted their heads from curiosity, wondering just why she was getting so invested in all of this.
"Jessie, I'm just wondering: why are you so interested in entering this Contest?" James asked. Jessie turned her head to the two, showing a bright smile as she seemed to know exactly what she was doing. "Well, we're working on building a new reputation for ourselves, right? That means we need to start finding new things for us to do now that we're out of Team Rocket. And working on becoming a Pokemon Coordinator sounds like the perfect place for me to start!" Jessie explained. Meowth showed a big smile at this reply while James could only stare in wordless silence before an expression of worry slowly came to his face, as he was starting to think about what finding new careers paths would mean for their team. "Come on, let's see if we can figure out how to get ready for the Contest!" Jessie then added. James and Meowth both nodded in agreement before following her out into the field, just in time to avoid getting spotted by Ash and the others as they were walking over to step inside the Contest Hall so they could register.
"So that many people will probably be entering?" Misty asked, showing an expression of surprise; she and the others had been listening to Chaz and Janet telling them about how the placements would probably be limited by the time they wanted to register. "Yeah, that's right. So I'm not sure if we'll all be able to get in, but hopefully there should still be room." Chaz replied. Ash had been listening to this before he turned his head to May.
"Hey, May?" he asked. May turned her glance to Ash with an expression of surprise, wondering what was up. "If there are still places available, why don't we enter the Contest together?" Ash suggested. Pikachu quickly showed a big smile at this idea and nodded in agreement, as he really wanted to see the two take place in the Contest together and hopefully both make it in as well. May slowly showed a bright smile at this idea and nodded.
"Yeah, that sounds great!" May happily commented. She then looked down to think with her smile growing bigger and her cheeks starting to glow bright red. 'If Ash and I are able to get into the Contest, then maybe this could be a chance for me to impress him when I get up onto the stage. When he sees how good of a performance I can give, he'll probably be amazed and that could be just the push I need to finally tell him how I feel! That would be a dream come true! Yay!" May gleefully cheered to herself, while Ash simply watched her seeing how thrilled she looked and couldn't help giggling to himself.
"Feeling excited about entering the Contest, huh?" he asked. May nearly jumped upon hearing Ash ask that as she was snapped out of her daze and then she turned her head to him and showed a nervous smile before rubbing the back of her head. "Uh... yeah, I guess so." May replied before letting out a nervous smile while Ash stared at her for a few seconds before nodding in understanding.
Soon the group arrived inside the Contest Hall, and Ash and the others started to look around as they approached the front desk, where the young woman lifted her head up from her computer to notice them. "Can I help you all today?" she asked. As the group stopped in front of the desk, May was quick to speak up as she stepped forward and placed her heads on the desk. "I'd like to register me and Ash in the Pokemon Contest, please." May said, turning her glance to Ash as the two brightly smiled at each other. The young woman turned her head down to the computer and typed something on it, looking down at the places that were still available, before looking back up at the group.
"I'm sorry, but it looks there is only one spot left in the Contest." The woman said. The group all stared in surprise at this before May looked down with an expression of dismay, letting out a sigh as she lowered her glance down to the floor.
"No way..." May groaned. 'Well, there go my chances of having Ash enter the Contest with me...' Almost at an instant, May could see her chances of having Ash and the others watching her slip away from her, and that was something she didn't want. Luckily, Janet seemed to take notice of May's disappointment as she was quick to make a suggestion.
"Is it possible for you to register May in the Contest and issue passes for everyone else to watch?" Janet asked. The woman behind the desk showed a bright smile and nodded. "Of course I can." With this, she started to type on the computer before showing a Contest Pass for May so she could enter and passes for the others so they were allowed to watch the Contest. Soon, the others were outside looking at their passes; they were all light green with a dark blue Ribbon symbol on the front as well as a gold logo near the bottom right.
"You'll need those Passes to enter the arena, so make sure you don't lose them." Janet said. "It's too bad we all couldn't enter the Contest, but at least we get to observe." Brock commented. May nodded in agreement with a bright smile; while she was still feeling a bit disappointed that Ash wouldn't be able to enter the Contest with her, she was at least glad that he and the others would be able to watch her performance. Just then, Beautifly decided to pick this time to fly over and land on May's head again, prompting her to look up at it with an expression of annoyance.
"Hey, why don't you try looking for somewhere else to sit?" May asked. However, it seemed that Beautifly had become attached to her and wasn't planning on leaving her alone anytime soon. As Misty watched this, she looked down to think for a few moments before a bright smile came to her face as an idea clicked in her head.
"Hey, May! Since your performance in the Contest won't be for a little while, how about you be Janet or Chaz's assistant?" Misty suggested, while Togepi showed a big smile and cheerfully nodded in agreement. May turned her head in surprise to Misty at that suggestion before she started to shake her head while showing a nervous smile. "What, me? Misty, there's no way..." May started, but she was interrupted when Janet spoke up showing a bright smile.
"I think Misty has a great idea. I'd love for you to be my Pokemon assistant, May." Janet replied. May showed an expression of surprise at this reply and then turned her head to Janet, while Ash stood beside her and he had been listening to all of this as well. "You really mean it?" May asked in surprise. Chaz was watching this from sitting in front of the Contest Hall with Venomoth resting on his arm and two cans of Pokemon food placed beside him.
"I'm sure that Beautifly thinks that's a good idea as well." Chaz said. He then turned to Venomoth before showing it a handful of Pokemon food, to which Venomoth started munching on. Brock seemed to make notice of this because he walked over to find out what it was Chaz was giving Venomoth.
"Those are Poke Blocks, right?" Brock asked. "Yeah, they are. I always use them as a snack along with their main diet of Pokemon food." Chaz replied. He then turned to Brock before showing a handful of different kinds of Poke Blocks, all of which had different colours. "Would you like to try some yourself?" he offered.
Brock stared in silence for a few seconds before holding his hands out, to which Chaz dropped a few Poke Blocks into them for Brock to have a look at what kinds of Poke Blocks there were.
"You mix Berries in when you make them, right? And the different types of Poke Block depend on the kinds of Berries you mix into it." Brock commented, grabbing a small Poke Block that was light blue and placing it into his mouth before munching on it.
"That's right. Everyone kind of makes their own recipe." Chaz replied, nodding in agreement while Janet walked over as this was happening. "I created my recipe from making the best Beautifly Poke Block." Janet added. Ash, May and Misty were all listening to this as well and they all showed smiles of fascination before Ash and Misty both turned their heads to look to Beautifly while May turned her glance up noticing the Butterfly Pokemon sitting on top of her head.
"Wow, really? Then that would probably explain why Beautifly's wings looks so beautiful." Misty commented, as she could see that Beautifly's wings looked like they were shining in the sunlight. Just then, Beautifly jumped off May's head and started to fly around Misty in a circle, much to her surprise. "What's wrong, Beautifly? Was it something I said?" Misty asked, showing an expression of concern; she was starting to worry that she might have said something to make Beautifly mad at her.
"Beautifly's just thanking you for the compliment, and I should really be saying thank you too." Janet replied. The others, with the exception of Chaz, all showed matching expressions of surprise at this. "Really? Why are you thanking me?" Misty asked, while Beautifly hovered back over to May to rest on her head again.
"It's so nice to hear someone praise the Pokemon I trained." Janet replied. Ash and the others all quickly showed bright smiles at this reply, as they all liked that feeling themselves.
"I know what you mean, Janet!" Ash happily commented. "Yeah, so do I!" May added, nodding in agreement. "Same here." Misty agreed, while Togepi happily chirped in her arms, which caused Misty to look down at her with a bright smile, hearing that she felt the same way as well.
"Yeah, it really does feel good." Brock agreed. "It really makes you feel proud of all the hard work and energy you put into training your Pokemon." Chaz commented. The others all nodded in agreement, while May turned her glance back up at Beautifly sitting on her head; it wasn't too hard for her to see now why Beautifly was so happy hearing Misty compliment it. "Say, are you guys going to be heading over to Rustboro City for a Gym Battle?" Chaz asked.
"Yeah; that's our next stop. Pikachu and I are good to go!" Ash replied, turning his head to Pikachu while the two showed matching bright smiles. "(That's right!)" Pikachu cheerfully replied, nodding in agreement. May couldn't help herself smiling seeing Ash's excitement, while she was looking forward to supporting Ash during the battle when they arrived in Rustboto, and she was also looking forward to hopefully spending some alone time with him in the city. Chaz and Janet both showed expression of concern hearing this.
"You're planning on battling with Pikachu?" Chaz asked. "That might be difficult." Janet commented, turning her head to Chaz while showing an expression of concern as he looked over at her as well. Ash and the others could only stare in surprise, wondering what exactly they were talking about.
"What? Is there something wrong?" Ash asked. Chaz then turned his head to Ash showing an expression of concern. "You see, Ash, the Rustboro City Gym Leader is a Rock Type Gym Leader." Chaz said. Ash then looked down to think about this: he knew for sure that Pikachu wouldn't do very well battling against Rock Types, but he still had Treecko, Larvitar and Riolu; those three would have a significant advantage in the battle due to them being a Grass Type, a Ground Type and most likely a Fighting Type respectively. As May and Misty were both listening to this, Misty turned her head to May as there was something she quickly realised.
"May, I think the Gym Leader might be a bit of a challenge for you too." Misty commented. May turned her glance to Misty with an expression of surprise wondering what she meant. "I don't think Torchic or Wurmple will be able to do much against Rock Types." Misty explained. May was silent for a few moments before she turned her glance up to think; this left her with only two Pokemon she could use, Azurill and Ralts. She knew that Azurill knew Water Gun, so she would able to help a lot there, but she wasn't quite certain about how well Ralts would fare with battling against Rock Types given her current move set of Confusion, Growl and her new Disarming Voice attack.
At the same time, Chaz seemed to have an idea as he stood up with a bright smile. "Hey, Ash, does your Pikachu know any good moves that might help out against Rock Type Pokemon?" he asked. Ash stared in silence for a few moments before shaking his head; he didn't remember Pikachu knowing any moves like that. "Well, if I told you there was a way to learn that attack, do you think you'd be interested?" Chaz asked. Ash quickly perked up hearing this, and then he showed a bright smile before nodding.
"Yeah, I'd love to hear it!" Ash replied. "(Same here!)" Pikachu added, nodding in agreement.
"Okay then. Are you up for a crash course?" Chaz asked, nodding in confirmation before turning his head to May, wanting to know if she wanted to learn this as well, but May quickly showed a nervous smile.
"Uh... thanks for the offer. I'd like to join you, but I think it's time for me to start getting ready for the Contest. I would really like to know what I want to do when I get up on the stage for my performance." May replied. Janet showed a bright smile at this idea before turning her glance to May. "Would you like me to show you what to do?" she offered. May turned her head to Janet and cheerfully nodded in agreement, so the two started to walk over to a reclusive area of the field so they could start with training.
Soon, the two were standing by themselves with Janet ready to start with the explanation while May was listening intently. "All right, May, the first round in the Pokemon Contest is the Appeal Round. This gives your Pokemon a chance to show what they can do and what kind of performance they can give using the moves they know. The best performances then move on to the second round where Coordinators battle one another for the chance to win a Contest Ribbon." Janet explained. May nodded in understanding listening to this, and then she grabbed out the four Pokeballs holding the members of her team.
"Come on out, everyone!" May said, throwing the Pokeballs up in the air, causing them to open and release Torchic, Azurill, Ralts and Wurmple who all stood on the ground in front of her. Once everyone was out, May bent down to them. "All right, everyone, it's time to start our Contest training. We need to give a performance that will blow everyone who comes to see us away, so let's give this training everything we've got!" May explained, showing a confident smile. All of her Pokemon seemed to agree with this, as they all started to jump in the air and cheer, with the exception of Ralts who looked down with an expression of uncertainty, while May simply watched the others in excitement; this was the chance for her to make an amazing first impression.
Back with Ash, he was ready to watch Chaz as the latter released his Sentret from its Pokeball, who cheerfully stood up on its tail while it was standing beside a large rock. Once Sentret was out, Chaz turned his head to Ash while the latter watched in surprise. "Now we're going to teach Pikachu Iron Tail." Chaz said.
"Iron Tail?" Ash asked, looking up at Chaz in surprise. "Let's start with a demonstration." Chaz replied. With this, he turned to Sentret and pointed towards the rock beside the Pokemon. "Sentret, use Iron Tail on this rock!" Chaz stated. With this, Sentret leapt up into the air with its tail starting to glow white and slammed its tail onto the rock, breaking it effortlessly much to Ash and Pikachu's awe.
"No way!" Ash exclaimed. "(No way!)" Pikachu gasped at the same time as Ash. As the two watched, small pieces of rock landed in front of them much to their amazement of seeing just how strong this attack was.
"That's amazing..." Ash commented. "(I'll say.)" Pikachu commented, nodding in agreement with him. Chaz showed a bright smile seeing how awestruck the two were and turned his head to them.
"You see how effective this kind of attack can be against Rock Type Pokemon? But only a Pokemon with a fully developed tail can use this kind of attack." Chaz explained. Ash and Pikachu both turned to him and nodded in agreement; that meant they knew exactly what kind of training they had to do.
Soon, Pikachu was pulling on a small rock that had been tied to his tail by a rope while Ash was pushing push ups behind him. "Come on, Pikachu! We've got to build some strength in your tail if we're going to have a chance of winning." Ash explained. Pikachu turned his head to Ash and nodded with an expression of determination; he was willing to do how much training was necessary if he wanted to pull off using Iron Tail.
Meanwhile with May, she was busy training with her Pokemon to figure out what Appeal she was going to use. "All right, Azurill, it's your turn now! Use Bubble in the air!" May said, pointing up to the sky. Azurill turned her head up and shot out a stream of bubbles from her mouth that floated up into the air, with the sunlight reflecting off the bubbles to give them the appearance of glittering in the air. "Now let's start jumping on them!" May happily commented. With this, Azurill bounced up into the air using her tail and starting hopping on the bubbles one by one, causing them to pop as she bounced from one bubble to another until she was high up in the sky. "And for our finish, use Water Gun!" May stated. As she was airborne, Azurill lifted her head up and shot out a blast of water into the sky, causing it to reflect off the sun's rays and show the image of a rainbow while May and the other Pokemon watched in awe. After a few seconds, Azurill dropped towards the ground and landed safely on her tail while the water blast splashed down around them. "All right, great job, Azurill! That would make a great performance!" May cheered. Azurill turned her head to May and showed a bright smile before nodding in agreement.
While this was happening, Ralts was watching on in silence, sitting a little distance away from the team so she could watch. "(Look at everyone; they're all working hard so they'll be able to help May when we get into the Pokemon Contest. I want to be able to help May and the others out too, but... how would I ever be able to manage in a hall as large as that? I mean, I'm alright with being in front of a small group like May and the others, and it's also because they're all my friends. But performing in front of such a large audience? I don't think I'd be able to manage such a feat.)" Ralts commented, showing an expression of worry at the thought of performing in front of a large audience. With this, she stood up and once she was sure that no one was looking, she snuck away to look for a more reclusive area so she could be alone. After a few moments of walking, Ralts looked around to see that there was no one around but her. "(Here seems like it would be a good place for me to practice.)" Ralts commented. Once she was certain that she was the only one around, Ralts nodded as she was ready to start practice. With this, she released light purple psychic waves before holding them still with her psychic powers as they floated in the air like a hoop. Ralts showed a bright smile seeing this, as she was ready to see if she would be able to pull this off.
Back with May, she was looking down at her Pokemon with a bright smile as they were all finished giving their practice Appeal. "Wow, great job, everyone! At this rate, there's no way we won't be able to get in. Now all there's left to do is see what Ralts can do." May said. As she turned her head to ask Ralts to come forward, she was met with a surprise when she noticed that Ralts was nowhere to be seen. "Ralts? Ralts? Where'd you go?" May asked, showing an expression of concern as she started to look around, wondering where the little Emotion Pokemon could have gone off to.
Her other Pokemon seemed to take notice as well as they started to look around for any sign of Ralts. As Torchic was darting her head back and forth, she lifted her head up when she could hear something coming from nearby and she quickly turned her glance to the others. "(Guys, I think I heard something coming from this way! I think it might be Ralts.)" Torchic said, before she started to run off ahead while the others followed behind her. "Where's everyone going? Do you know where Ralts went?" May asked, turning to see her Pokemon running off ahead before she started to rush after them; judging from the fact that Torchic was the one leading, she suspected that the chick Pokemon must have spotted something.
Soon the group of Pokemon came to a row of large bush trees and poked their heads up before showing matching expressions of awe at the sight in front of them. "What? What's up?" May asked, popping her head up to see everyone here. She then looked up to see what they were watching and she let out a silent gasp: standing there was Ralts, levitating three light purple psychic waves and three bright purple hearts over her head and spinning them around to create different shapes; it seemed that she was using Confusion and Disarming Voice at the same time. "Wow... that's amazing..." May whispered, as she watched the display with a bright smile coming to her face; she had a feeling that she had found the Pokemon she was going to use in her Appeal Round. She then looked down at Ralts and started to walk out from behind the hedge trees to see her. "Ralts?" she asked.
Ralts nearly jumped upon hearing that voice and quickly shot the psychic waves and hearts in the direction the voice came from, only to be met with a shock when she saw that it was May, who quickly jumped out of the way as the attacks flew over here. "(May! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?)" Ralts asked, showing an expression of worry.
May shook her head rapidly as she stood up properly before looking down at Ralts, with the little Emotion Pokemon showing an expression of worry that May would be upset at her for nearly attacking her by mistake. But much to Ralts's amazement, May bent down to her and she could only see a smile on May's face. "Yeah, I'm alright, Ralts. I was watching your practice performance, and it looked absolutely wonderful! I think maybe I should let you be the one to enter the Appeal Round." May happily commented. Ralts nearly froze up in fright hearing this, and started to shake slightly much to May's surprise. "Ralts, what's the matter?" May softly asked, showing an expression of concern seeing Ralts this scared. Ralts slowly turned her glance up to see May looking at her in concern and figured that maybe she should just say it.
"(Well, May... I'm actually really scared at the thought of getting up on a stage.)" Ralts said. May showed an expression of surprise at this. "Why's that? Why are you so scared?" she asked; even though she couldn't quite understand what Ralts was saying, she figured that maybe she could take a guess, like what Ash always did with Pikachu.
"(Well, I just don't know how I'd manage being up in front of a large audience. I mean, I'm fine when it's just with you and the others, but with an audience filling the Contest Hall coming in to watch me... it's just something I'm not sure I could manage with. Everyone will be there watching me, and I'll start to worry that I might make a mistake and make a fool out of myself in front of everyone... including you.)" Ralts explained, looking down in silence as she finished her sentence. May simply listened in silence to Ralts's dilemma before slowly showing a smile of understanding and then she bent down to pick Ralts up, much to the Emotion Pokemon's surprise.
"Hey, Ralts, it's alright. There's no need for you to be so worried. If I'm being honest, I'm feeling a bit nervous about getting up there as well, but I'm not thinking about that. I'm just thinking about giving the best performance I can give, and that's all I'm worrying about. I know you're feeling nervous about being up there, but everyone will be there to see us do our best out there. And that means I'll be counting on you to do your best, Ralts." May explained. She could see that Ralts was still feeling a bit uncertain about being up on the stage, but luckily she had an idea that she was sure would help Ralts. "Hey, Ralts, Ash and the others will be there to see us as well. And I have a feeling that Riolu will want to see what you can do." May said. Ralts quickly perked up hearing this and she looked up at May with an expression of surprise. May cheerfully showed a bright smile and nodded in agreement. "That's right; Riolu will really want to see you, right? So when you get up there, just imagine that Riolu is the only one watching you, that you're showing this performance to just him and no one else." May replied. Ralts slowly showed a bright smile at the thought of Riolu being there to watch her perform and cheerfully nodded in agreement; she was going to step up onto the stage and show everyone what she could do. "That's great, Ralts! Thank you so much." May happily commented. The other Pokemon in her team started to cheer, thrilled to hear that Ralts would do it.
"The wait is over! The Rustboro Pokemon Contest is about to get underway!" Just then, the sound of an announcement reached May's ears and she nearly jumped from alarm. "The Contest is about to start! We better get a move on to the Contest Hall!" May gasped. Without a moment to spare, she jumped up on her feet and started to rush over to the Contest Hall with her Pokemon followed behind her.
Inside the Contest Hall, the audience had already taken their seats and they were happily clapping as the Contest was about to start. In one of the front rows, Brock and Misty had gotten into their seats, and Misty was looking around with an expression of concern. "Where could Ash and May be? I don't want them to be late for the Contest." Misty commented. Brock turned his head to see Misty looking around and simply showed a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry, Misty. Ash is outside training with Pikachu and May has come with the other contestants. I'm sure Ash will probably make it when it's May's turn to perform." Brock explained. Misty showed a bright smile at this reply and nodded in agreement, so she turned her attention back to the stage to listen to the announcement that was taking place.
"Our panel of judges this year are Contesta, director of the Contest Committee, Sukizo from the Pokemon Enthusiast Club and Nurse Joy from Rustboro City!" The announcer stated. He then held up a ribbon that had dark red and pink along the edges, along with a gold centre in the shape of a shield with a crown on the top. "And like every year, the winner will receive this Rustboro Ribbon. Now listen up: anyone winning five ribbons from the various regional Pokemon Contests will be declared an official Top Coordinator, and give them free automatic entry in the Pokemon Grand Festival!" The announcer explained, to which the audience started to cheer loudly.
From the lobby, May and Janet were watching this on one of the TV screens with May showing a smile of awe. "Wow... that's amazing!" May happily commented.
"The most important part of the Contest is always the Pokemon's entry." Janet said. May turned her glance to Janet with an expression of surprise wondering what she meant. "First impressions really do matter. The judges will form opinions from the first attack and they take into account the degree of the Pokemon's development and its level of cooperation with its Trainer. The final decision is made based on points given by the judges. It's very exciting." Janet explained. As May listened to this, her smile of awe slowly grew bigger.
"Wow... Pokemon Contests are so amazing!" May exclaimed as she watched the various Appeals taking place on the screen; the more she was learning about Contests, the more she found herself enjoying them and wanting to compete in them.
Back outside, Ash was busy training with Pikachu with his other Pokemon out to give some assistance. "All right, let's do it!" Ash stated. He had a bunch of pink cherries in his arms and started to throw them in Pikachu's direction, to which Pikachu turned around and started smacking them back with his tail. Taillow had taken up into the air and slammed his head against a tree to knock down some red cherries which Pikachu knocked back as well. Treecko then shot his little twig out of his mouth towards Pikachu, to which Pikachu turned around and slammed his tail against it to send it flying back, after which his tail started to glow white, to Ash's awe. When Pikachu landed safely on the grass, he looked at his tail in surprise to see it glowing white for a few seconds before the glow faded. "Treecko, did you see that? I think Pikachu's tail just lit up!" Ash commented, showing a bright smile. Treecko then nodded in agreement while Taillow drifted down towards them. While this was happening, Ash could hear the sound of cheering and turned to see that on the screen on the front of the Contest Hall, Venomoth was levitating different objects in the air using Confusion such as a vase with two roses in it, a small yellow rug and a tea set.
"This is incredible! Venomoth is giving a perfect display of Confusion control!" The announcer commented.
Ash showed a bright smile as he watched the display on the screen, but then he nearly jumped from alarm as he realised what that meant. "That must mean I'm missing Chaz's turn!" he gasped.
Back inside the Contest Hall, Chaz's performance was given two tens and a nine point five, which meant his final score was a total of twenty nine point five. "That's unbelievable! These are the highest points we've seen so far!" The announcer commented. As this was happening, Ash rushed through the back door to see that Chaz's entry had already finished, and then he looked down to see Brock and Misty sitting in one of the front rows and ran over to them. "Hey, Ash, there you are! Where have you been?" Brock asked, showing a smile of surprise as he and Misty turned her heads to see him running over to take his seat beside them.
"Sorry, guys. We've been so busy working on having Pikachu learn Iron Tail that we forgot the Contest had started." Ash replied. The three then turned their attention back to the stage to see Janet stepping up with May standing beside her holding some plates.
"Our next contestant is entry number seventeen. Let's hear it for Janet!" The announcer stated, as the spotlight turned on to reveal the two standing there, to which the audience started to cheer and Ash, Misty and Brock all showed matching bright smiles.
"Look, there's May!" Ash happily commented. "I guess this means you won't have to worry about being late for when she needs to get up on the stage to give her performance." Misty said, while Togepi nodded in agreement with a happy chirp. As Janet stepped up onto the stage, she grabbed out her Pokeball which was holding Beautifly.
"It's time, Beautifly." Janet said, before throwing the Pokeball, causing it to open and release Beautifly who spread its wings out as it drifted up into the air to begin. "Go, Beautifly, use Flash!" Janet called. With this, Beautifly's wings started to shine brightly, showing a bright yellow light that lit up the entire stage. From where they were in the front row, Ash, Brock and Misty had to shield their eyes with their hands just so they could watch the rest of the performance, while Togepi covered both her eyes with her little hands. As May watched from the side, she showed a smile of awe.
"Wow..." May whispered. But then she realised that she couldn't get distracted by the spectacle and quickly rushed onto the stage as the light started to clear, before throwing the plates up towards Beautifly. Beautifly then shot out a long string of silk from its proboscis and started to smash the plates as they came towards it, leaving small pieces drifting in the air while May watched in awe. "Beautifly is building on its elegant entry by demonstrating its String Shot attack, a move that uses a whipping motion to achieve results." The announcer commented, while Beautifly's wings stopped glowing bright yellow and its proboscis retracted back towards its body.
"Beautifly, Hidden Power!" Janet called. With this, Beautifly started to charge up energy before glowing white and the energy came out in white waves, turning the plate pieces into sparkles of lights that rained down on the audience, before Beautifly drifted down and landed on Janet's hand as she stood on the stage with a bright smile. "And to top it off, a beautiful landing on the Coordinator's hand! How many points will Beautifly get?" The announcer asked.
The three judges were all watching the display in awe from where they were and their unanimous decision was a ten from all three of them, making Janet's final score a total of thirty. "And the judges all agree that Beautifly's performance deserves a perfect score!" The announcer stated, to which the audience started to cheer loudly, while May was happily clapping as she watched from the side.
From the front row, Ash, Brock and Misty were all clapping as well. "Wow, that was amazing! I think Janet really stole the show." Misty happily commented. "Well, don't forget that we still have May's performance to look forward to." Brock added. Ash turned his glance to Brock and nodded in agreement before looking back at the stage to watch the rest of the appeals.
"Yeah, that's right. I think May will be the one who steals the show; I hope she has something special planned for the last entry!" Ash stated, showing a confident smile that May would be the one who would blow the audience away, with Pikachu nodded in agreement; he was looking forward to May's entry as much as Ash was.
In the dressing room where the rest of the Coordinators were waiting for their turn to get on the stage, May was there with Janet. "Wow, Janet, your performance was amazing! I think you and Beautifly really stole the show this round." May happily commented, showing a smile of awe at Beautifly's performance. Janet simply showed a bright smile hearing this compliment and turned her head to May from she was, sitting on one of the seats.
"Thanks, May. But I couldn't have done it without you. You were great too." Janet replied. May showed a shy smile at this, as she didn't really think that she did anything that important to help. "I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of performance you have. Do your best when you get out there, May!" Janet added. May nodded in agreement with an expression of determination coming to her face; she was feeling just as anticipated to show her performance for everyone to see her, especially her friends.
Back on the stage, the announcer had returned to introduce the next entry. "Now it's time for the second last entry in the preliminary judging. Here is entry number 29: Mademoiselle Jessica!" The announcer said. With this, the spotlight lit up to reveal Jessie wearing a pair of red decorative glasses along with a long dress that was black on the top half and dark red on the bottom half and black high heels, while James and Meowth stood beside her with James wearing a uniform that matched Jessie's, except he was wearing a long black top with dark red pants and black shoes and Meowth was wearing a dark blue suit with black boots.
"Good luck, Jessie." James whispered. "Show them who the star is!" Meowth added. Jessie turned her glance to the two and showed a confident smile. "Don't worry; leave it to me." Jessie replied. With this, she stepped out onto the stage. As she was walking over, Ash, Brock and Misty quickly took notice of her from their seats.
"Hey, guys? I don't know if my eyes are playing tricks on me or not, but something looks... familiar about Mademoiselle Jessica." Misty commented, showing an expression of puzzlement as she started to scratch her head. "Yeah... Now that you mention it, Misty, there is something familiar about her. But... I can't quite put my finger on what it is." Brock agreed, as he leaned forward to have a closer look at Jessie in her disguise, wondering if they had seen her before.
Ash had a look with the two to notice that they were right. As he had a closer look, he could recognize the dark purple hair, the light green earrings and her light purple eyes. As soon as Ash spotted those details, an expression of alarm came to his face. 'Is that... Jessie? Why would she be entering a Pokemon Contest?' Ash asked himself. Before he had a chance to figure out what was going on, Jessie grabbed out a Pokeball and held it up into the air.
"Go, Seviper!" Jessie said before throwing the Pokeball, which opened and released Seviper who appeared on the stage. "Let's do this properly, Seviper! Now go and use Sacred Fire!" Jessie stated, pointing at Seviper. However, Seviper simply stared at her in silence while James and Meowth watched from the side in disbelief.
"Uh oh..." Meowth worriedly commented. "I'm not sure Seviper knows how to use that attack..." James added. Jessie showed an expression of irritation upon seeing that this wasn't going the way she wanted.
"Come on! Use Sacred Fire! What are you waiting for?!" Jessie snapped. Seviper stared in silence for a few moments before she started to shake her head rapidly, to which Jessie showed an expression of surprise. "So... you don't know it?" Jessie asked. However, she was quick to try and bounce back. "All right, use Water Pulse!" Seviper started rapidly shaking her head again. "Then use Blaze Kick!" Seviper started to shake her head again, this time more rapidly while James and Meowth watched in silence.
"Awkward..." James commented. "I guess Seviper ain't learnt no attacks." Meowth stated. Wobbuffet then popped out of his Pokeball as he blurted "Wobbuffet!" As this was happening, Jessie nearly jumped from alarm before she quickly grabbed out a guide on Pokemon moves to see if that would help her out in any way. While this was happening, Ash, Misty and Brock all looked at each other in bewilderment from their seats.
"Does Mademoiselle Jessica know what she's doing?" Ash whispered. "Judging from the way her performance is going, I guess not." Misty replied, showing an expression of dismay at the display in front of them.
"All right, let's see here..." Jessie commented to herself. After a few seconds of reading, she turned her head up to Seviper. "Do you know Dragon Claw? What about Psywave? Luster Purge?" Jessie asked. As Seviper heard each attack being said to her, sweat started to pour down on her face until it was coming down like a waterfall, to which Jessie let out a scream of frustration. "Would somebody please wake me up from this terrible nightmare?!" she cried.
While all this was going on, the audience were starting to boo Jessie's lacklustre performance. "You're wasting our time and money!" A man snapped. "Why did she even enter?" A woman asked. The judges seemed to share the same thoughts with Contesta having his arms crossed and an expression of disappointment on his face, Sukizo having rested his head in his hand with an expression of dismay on his face and Nurse Joy showing a nervous smile. From their seats, Ash, Brock and Misty turned their heads to see a large amount of the audience booing the performance.
"I think it's safe to say that Mademoiselle Jessica's performance isn't faring very well with the crowd." Brock commented. "That is, if you can even call this a performance." Misty added, showing an expression of annoyance at the fact that this was taking forever. As he watched while sitting on Ash's lap, Pikachu let out a sigh of dismay and started to slowly shake his head. "(Why isn't May's performance coming any faster?)" he quietly asked himself.
The Rocket Trio all showed expressions of alarm seeing the less than positive reception. "Jessie, I'm sensing a hint of crowd displeasurement! Try using a Poison Tail attack." Meowth suggested.
Jessie then showed an expression of dismay at the suggestion. "It won't work, but I'll try it." she replied. With this, she then stood upright and turned her head to Seviper. "Seviper, Poison Tail!" Jessie stated. As soon as Seviper heard this, her waterfall sweat stopped and she shook her head rapidly before her tail started to glow bright purple... before she slammed her tail right into Jessie and sent her flying into the air. "Thanks for the tip, Meowth!" Jessie yelled as she was sent flying into the air and crashed right through the roof before she was sent flying out of the Contest Hall. Seviper, James and Meowth all stared in alarm before running off the stage to catch up with Jessie. The final score for Jessie's 'performance' was a resounding zero, which Ash, Brock and Misty saw from their seats.
"Well, I guess that performance didn't go well at all." Ash commented, showing a nervous smile. "Yeah... if you could even call that a performance." Misty agreed, while Pikachu and Brock could only stare in silence as they didn't know how to respond to what just happened.
In the back room, May, Chaz and Janet were all staring at the screen in stunned silence. "How could anyone be that bad?" May asked. She then shook her head deciding not to think about it before she showed a confident smile. "Well, now that that's over, I guess it's time for me to take the stage!" May happily commented. Janet and Chaz showed bright smiles hearing May say that and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I guess so." Chaz replied. "Do your best out there, May." Janet added. May nodded in agreement without any hesitance; she was looking forward to giving a great performance to help finish off the Appeal round of this Contest.
Back at the stage, the announcer had come out with a nervous smile. "I apologize to all of you for having to witness that atrocious spectacle." he said. But then a bright smile quickly returned to his face as he was ready to finish off this round. "So, let's get back into the spirit of things without any further delay; there is still one more entry for the Appeals Round. Let's hope this performance will finish off this round with a bang! Without any further delay, I present entry Number Thirty: May!" The announcer said, turning his head to May as she slowly stepped out onto the stage. From their seats, Ash, Misty and Brock all showed bright smiles upon spotting her.
"Guys, look! There she is!" Ash happily stated, pointing to the stage where May was. "All right! Let's go, May!" Misty cheered, standing up from her seat in excitement. As May stepped towards the centre of the stage, she could see everyone staring at her with expressions of impatience; it seemed that they were all still sour after having to watch Jessie's performance. Upon seeing everyone glaring at her, May could only show an expression of worry.
'Everyone must have really disliked the last performance they saw. I don't blame them given how bad it was, but... don't they want to see my performance?' May quietly asked herself. As she looked down with an expression of worry, feeling uncertain of what to do, that was when she heard someone calling to her.
"May!" May showed an expression of surprise at this, and turned her glance to see Ash, Brock and Misty sitting in the front row so they could see her. "May, show everyone what you can do!" Brock called. "Don't worry! You'll be great!" Misty added. May showed a small smile hearing their support, and then she noticed Ash: he was simply watching her with an encouraging smile. Once May noticed this, her smile slowly grew; seeing that Ash had complete faith in her performance was all the support she needed. With this, May turned her glance back to the audience and quietly took a deep breath before slowly letting it out to calm herself down. She then felt a bright smile cross her face and she grabbed out one of her Pokeballs.
"Let's go, Ralts! Take the stage!" May said as she threw the Pokeball into the air, which opened and released Ralts who slowly twirled around before she landed safely on the stage in front of May. But as Ralts was about to get started, she noticed everyone in the audience watching her and an expression of worry crossed her face.
"(I... I wasn't expecting the audience to be this large. What if I make a mistake? I don't want to make a fool out of myself...)" Ralts worriedly said to herself, glancing down in worry and fear, which May quickly looked down to notice and showed a comforting smile. "Ralts, it's alright. Everyone's just feeling a bit impatient after the last performance. But if we're able to pull this off, I bet they'll forget all about that last performance. Now let's give them something to remember!" May whispered. Ralts turned her head to May in surprise hearing this, and then a bright smile crossed her face and she nodded in agreement before turning her attention back to the audience, deciding to take May's advice from earlier. Almost as if on cue, Riolu popped out of his Pokeball on his own to watch Ralts, much to Ash's surprise before he decided not to worry about it.
"Let's go, Ralts! Use Confusion!" May said, ready to start her Appeal. With this, Ralts sent out small purple psychic waves before holding one in place as it floated in the air above her like a hoop. "All right! Now use Disarming Voice!" May cheered. Ralts then emanated small bright purple hearts from her mouth before holding one of them in place and then moved the two so they were floating side by side above her head, before she split them into three each and started to spin them around in a circle.
"Woah... look at that!" Ash commented as he and the others watched in awe in their seats, while the rest of the audience started to watch with close attention. As Riolu watched from standing on top of Ash's seat, a bright smile crossed his face as he watched Ralts move the psychic waves and hearts to create different shapes such as a circle, a triangle and a heart while the audience watched in awe. May showed a bright smile seeing the positive reception coming her way and then she looked down at Ralts, ready to finish this off.
"Now it's for the big finish, Ralts! Let's combine them!" May said. With this, Ralts stopped spinning the psychic waves and hearts and lifted them up into the air, bringing them closer together until they exploded in a flash of bright purple, leaving purple light to rain down over May and Ralts as the two curtsied while the audience cheered, including Ash, Misty and Brock who all started to clap.
"Now that was an amazing display of Ralts's psychic control over its moves! Let's see what the judges have to say about the display." The announcer said. The judges' numbers showed two nine point fives and a ten, leaving May's total score at twenty nine, which was possibly the third highest score in the Contest. May showed a big smile upon seeing her score and then she looked down at Ralts who ran over and jumped into her arms. "Ralts, that was amazing! Can you hear everyone cheering? They loved your performance!" May happily commented. Ralts turned her head to see the audience and a bright smile slowly came to her face as she realised May was right.
A little later as May arrived back in the back room, she was met with a surprise when she saw that Ash, Misty and Brock were there. "May, that was incredible! I didn't know you had such a great performance planned." Ash excitedly exclaimed, while Pikachu nodded in agreement with a big smile. As May showed a bright smile, she looked down to see Riolu running over to Ralts, so she placed the little Emotion Pokemon down on the floor so she could see Riolu, and Ralts was caught by surprise when Riolu gave her a tight hug.
"(Ralts, that was amazing! I had no idea you would be able to pull something like that off!)" Riolu happily commented. He then took a few moments to realise what he was doing before he let Ralts go. "(Oh, uh... sorry about that. I guess I... got a bit carried away from how much I loved your performance. It was great getting to see you up on a Contest stage, but I didn't know how well you'd do. I guess what I'm trying to say is that...)" Before Riolu could get a chance to continue, he was interrupted by Ralts stepping forward and kissing him directly. Riolu was staring at a loss of words before he felt his face start to turn red as he realised what was happening. After a few seconds, Ralts let go and turned away with a shy smile.
"(Thanks for coming out to see me.)" Ralts simply said. Riolu was staring in stunned silence before a big smile slowly showed on his face and he dropped onto the floor face first, seemingly lovestruck. Ash and May both looked down to see this, Ash with an expression of surprise and May with a big smile on her face before she started giggling. "Aww, look at that! Aren't they just so adorable?" May happily gushed. The group watched this for a few moments before they turned their attention back to May.
"I have to agree with Ash, May. Your performance was a real comeback after what happened with Mademoiselle Jessica. Did you hear everyone cheering by the end of it? It was like they had completely forgotten about the last performance they had to see!" Misty commented, showing a bright smile. May couldn't help feeling her cheeks start to glow red from the compliment. "Really? Oh, thanks, Misty..." May replied, showing a shy smile in response. As this conversation was taking place, the group could then hear an announcement and turned their heads towards the screen.
"All right, everyone, the moment you have been waiting for has finally arrived. I would like to present the finalists!" The announcer said, pointing up to the screen to show the four entries that would be moving on to the finals; the pictures shown on the screen were Janet, Chaz, May and another unknown person. As the group stared up at the screen, they all showed bright smiles upon seeing May.
"May, look! You made it into the finals!" Ash happily stated. "(Great job, May!)" Pikachu cheered. May simply stared at the screen in stunned silence for a few moments, like she was struggling to register what she was seeing: she had actually made it into the finals when she wasn't sure of how well she would fare being up there. She didn't actually think she would do well being in a Pokemon Contest, but yet now she could see her picture up in the top four finalists. Once a few seconds passed for May to let this sink in, she felt a big smile slowly appear on her face.
"I... actually made it in..." May quietly said to herself. After a few more seconds passed, she jumped up in the air in excitement. "Yay, this is amazing! We did it, Ralts! We're moving on to the finals!" May cheered, turning her glance down to Ralts who looked up at her and nodded in agreement, looking just as thrilled as May was. She then looked back up at the screen to notice that she would be going up against Janet. "I guess I'm going to be in for a tough battle." May commented, turning her glance to Janet.
"Yeah, I think so. But just remember to do your best while you're out there, okay?" Janet asked. May promptly nodded in agreement with an expression of determination coming to her face; she was looking forward to this battle, as there was no way she was going to back down after having come this far into the Contest now.
Outside the Contest Hall, Jessie threw her arms around Seviper with the two having tears building in their eyes. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, Seviper! Your Poison Tail was incredible!" Jessie wailed before she started to sob, while James and Meowth watched from a distance with the two having expressions of dismay.
"Well, so much for the plan of becoming a Coordinator working out..." James sighed. Meowth then looked up to think for a few moments before an idea came to his head. "Hold on a second! If these Contests are happening all throughout Hoenn, that means we just need to enter the rest of them to try and win those five Ribbons they were talking about." Meowth suggested. James nearly jumped from alarm at this idea while Jessie quickly stopped sobbing and turned around to the two with a bright smile on her face.
"Oh yes, that's right! Why didn't I think of that? And then when I win all five Contest Ribbons, I'll get the chance to compete in the Grand Festival. I could become a Coordinator star!" Jessie happily exclaimed, before letting out a laugh of excitement. Meowth happily followed suit while James could only show an expression of worry while he was listening to Jessie's idea; he didn't really like the sound of what it could mean if that dream did become a reality. Jessie didn't seem to pay attention to James's lack of enthusiasm as she quickly rushed over to the two. "Come on, you two. We need to get a move on towards Rustboro City. That's our next stop, isn't it? So, we don't have any time to waste!" Jessie said. James and Meowth both nodded in agreement, while Wobbuffet popped out of his Pokeball and blurted "Wobbuffet!"
Back inside the Contest Hall, May and Janet were out on the stage, this time they were standing on opposite ends as they were ready to battle. "Ladies and gentlemen, the Rustboro Contest preliminary finals are about to get underway! The first battle will be between May and Janet, and the winner is allowed to move on to the final battle stage." The announcer explained, while May and Janet stared at each other fearlessly ready to start their battle. Meanwhile, Ash, Misty and Brock were in their seats so they could watch the battle.
"I can't wait to see them battle!" Ash commented, showing a smile of excitement while Pikachu sat on his lap to watch as well. "I wonder how the battles work in Pokemon Contests, because I know for sure that they won't be the same as regular battles." Brock said, to which Ash and Misty nodded in agreement; they had a feeling there would be a difference as well. Sure enough, the screen on the wall beside the arena switched to reveal May and Janet's pictures, along with two bars that filled bright red as they were initially yellow and a clock that had the time set to five minutes.
"The five minute Contest battle will now begin!" The announcer said, at which the clock started to tick down and the battle was set to begin. May and Janet both grabbed out a Pokeball to send out the Pokemon they were going to use in the battle.
"Let's go, Torchic!" May said, throwing out her Pokeball. "Go get them, Beautifly!" Janet said, as she threw out her Pokeball. Both Pokeballs then opened to release both of their Pokemon, with Torchic landing on the arena while Beautifly hovered in the air. As the two Pokemon watched each other, May made the first move.
"All right, Torchic, use Peck!" May said. Torchic's beak started to glow white and then she started to charge towards Beautifly. "Beautifly, dodge and use Gust!" Janet called. With this, Beautifly flew out of the way as Torchic was left running towards where the Butterfly Pokemon used to be, and then Torchic turned around to be met with Beautifly flapping its wings rapidly and blowing her back, which caused May's points to go down a bit.
As the battle was occurring, Ash and the others watched the point bars in surprise. "I don't get it. How did May lose points when she was using an attack that was effective against Beautifly?" Ash asked, showing an expression of puzzlement as he was trying to make sense of how the system in Contest battles worked. "My guess is it's because Beautifly used Gust to blow Torchic away before it could get a chance to attack. I think I'm starting to hang of how these battles work: it's not just the attacks that matter, but how you defend yourself as well." Brock replied, with a smile coming to his face as he was starting to understand how Contest battles worked. Ash showed a smile of fascination at this reply and nodded in understanding before turning his attention back to the battle.
"So the battlers just keep reducing each other's points and the one with the most points in the end is the winner. This kind of battling is something we haven't seen before!" Misty commented, showing a smile of awe at how the system of Contest battles worked.
"Now, Beautifly, use String Shot!" Janet called. With this, Beautifly shot out a string of silk from its proboscis that aimed right at Torchic. "Oh, we'll see about that! Torchic, use Ember!" May replied. Torchic shot out small blasts of fire from her beak that not only broke through the silk, but also shot towards and hit Beautifly directly, causing Janet's points to go down quite a bit and leave May with the upper hand. "All right!" May cheered, while Torchic started to jump up and down in excitement.
"I have to admit, May, I didn't think you'd be able to do this well. But we'll show you what a Pokemon Coordinator can do! Beautifly, use Hidden Power!" Janet commented, showing a bright smile at how well May was doing given that this was her first Contest. With this, small energy blasts started to glow around Beautifly before they all combined into one, with Beautifly glowing white and releasing all the energy in several blasts going in different directions. Torchic nearly jumped from alarm at this and started to run out of the way as the energy blasts struck the ground she had been standing at, but as she was running, an energy blast struck the ground and sent her tripping over her feet and landing on the ground hard.
"How was Hidden Power able to hit like that?" Misty asked. "Janet's Beautifly must be able to control the path of its Hidden Power." Brock replied. Back on the battlefield, Torchic slowly got up on her feet and looked up to see another energy blast coming her way, to which she started to scream in alarm.
"Oh no, Torchic!" May cried, showing an expression of worry. But then an idea suddenly came to her and a confident smile crossed her face. "I know! Torchic, use Ember!" May called. With this, Torchic shot out small blasts of fire from her beak which hit the energy blast and kicked up a cloud of black smoke that covered the area she had been standing in. As Janet and Beautifly started to look around in surprise, wondering where Torchic could have gone, May saw her opportunity. "Now, Torchic, use Peck!" she called. As Beautifly was looking around for any sign of Torchic, she was met with the sight of Torchic charging through the smoke with her beak glowing white and before Beautifly could have a chance to react, Torchic slammed her beak into it directly and sent it flying backwards before it slammed into the nearby wall much to Janet's shock. This caused Janet's points to go down significantly, much to May's excitement. "Yes! I think we might be able to win, Torchic!" May cheered, looking down at her little Pokemon who started to jump up and down in joy.
While this was happening, Janet looked down at Beautifly struggling to get up and she quickly had an idea. "Beautifly, Morning Sun!" she said. After a few seconds, Beautifly started to glow white all over and slowly rose up into the air before spreading its wings out, allowing sunlight to shine all around the arena while May and the audience watched in amazement. "Wow... that's so beautiful..." May whispered, with a big smile of awe showing on her face. After a few seconds, the sunlight faded and Beautifly was back up in the air.
"Beautifly pulled off Morning Sun to perfection. This is truly beautiful; even the judges are astounded!" The announcer commented. The display of Morning Sun caused May's points to go down a little, though she still had a lot more than Janet by this point in the battle, and the timer had now gone down to just a minute left.
"Wow, Janet, that was a wonderful display. But I don't think the battle's over yet! Torchic, use Peck!" May said, showing a confident smile as she was still ready to go. With this, Torchic started to charge toward Beautifly with her beak glowing white.
"Oh, you're right about that. Beautifly, use Flash!" Janet replied. Beautifly's wings started to glow yellow brightly, and Torchic stopped running and turned her head away to avoid looking at the gleam Flash was giving off. "Now use String Shot!" Janet added. Beautifly's wings stopped glowing and then it shot out a string of silk which wrapped around Torchic's body and caused her to drop onto the ground, with May's points going down and leaving her and Janet at a tie with only thirty seconds left on the timer.
"No, Torchic!" May cried. An expression of worry then came to her face as she felt uncertain of what to do now. 'Oh, what am I going to do? Torchic's in a bind and I don't have any way to get myself back up. Is this really how my time in this Contest is going to end?' May worriedly thought to herself. As she closed her eyes in despair, that was when a voice she didn't expect to hear reached her ears.
"Don't give up, May!" May's eyes suddenly snapped open hearing this and she turned her head to see Ash, standing up from his seat with an expression of determination on his face as he was watching the battle while Brock and Misty stared at him in surprise. "You've been able to get this far, so don't let all of your hard work go to waste! Never give up until it's over!" Ash yelled out. May stared in amazement hearing him say this, while a few members of the audience took notice as well and started to whisper amongst themselves.
"Hey, are you seeing this?"
"Yeah, I sure am."
"Do you think he could be her boyfriend?"
"Wait, her boyfriend?"
"Isn't that sweet seeing him supporting her?"
"That's a sure sign of a boyfriend if I ever saw one."
"Yeah; I think they make a great couple!"
"So do I! They just look so perfect together!"
Ash stared in surprise hearing the whisperings among the audience, but he simply showed a bright smile and turned his head back to May, not wanting to see everything she had done so far go to waste. May watched in silence as well before a bright smile crossed her face and she turned her attention back to the battle. She then looked over at the timer to see that it had gone down to twenty seconds; if there was any chance of her making a comeback, it had to be now.
"Let's go, Torchic. Use Peck to break through the silk!" May called. With this, Torchic jumped up on her feet and her beak started to glow white before she started to peck rapidly through the silk and turned her glance to Beautifly and started to charge towards it.
"Beautifly, use Hidden Power!" Janet said. With this, Beautifly started to charge up energy before releasing it, sending it in different directions as Torchic jumped out of the way to continue running, but then Torchic looked behind her and nearly jumped in alarm to see three energy blasts following her.
"Don't worry, Torchic! Just keep running; I have an idea!" May called. Torchic stared in alarm for a few seconds before nodding in understanding and turned her glance forward as she continued charging towards Beautifly. May turned her glance to the timer to see that there were now only ten seconds left and for her, that was all the time she needed. She then turned her glance back to see Torchic was now nearing Beautifly. "Now, Torchic! Jump!" May called. With this, Torchic jumped into the air and leapt over Beautifly's head before running out of the way. Beautifly turned around in puzzlement, wondering what was going on, and before it had a chance to react, the blasts of energy hit it from behind and sent it dropping onto the ground, knocked out. At the same time, the timer had run out and the screen showed that Janet's score bar was nearly empty while May's was still over half full.
"The winner of the preliminary final is May and her Torchic!" The announcer stated, to which the audience started to cheer while May was left staring in shock for a few moments before a bright smile came to her face and she jumped up and down in excitement.
"Yes, we did it!" May cheered. She then looked down to see Torchic run over and jump into her arms. "Great job, Torchic!" May happily said while Torchic snuggled up against her. Janet was left staring in silence for a few moments before she showed a bright smile and bent down to Beautifly, who slowly lifted up into the air and landed on her hand.
"Are you okay, Beautifly?" Janet asked with an expression of concern. Beautifly turned its head to Janet and nodded, prompting her to show a smile of relief. "Thank you for the battle; you were great." Janet said. She then looked over at May, who was still happily hugging Torchic, and walked over to May, which caused the brunette to turn her glance to her. "May, that was incredible. You and Torchic really put up a good battle." Janet commented. May showed a bright smile and nodded in agreement.
"Thanks, Janet. If I'm being honest, I wasn't sure if I would be able to pull all of that off. But... I guess it turned out better than I thought it would." May replied. She then turned her glance to Ash, who was watching her with a bright smile, thrilled to see that she was able to pull through and win the battle.
A little later, May was sitting in the dressing room by herself as she was waiting to hear the results of the second battle in the preliminary finals. As she was thinking about what Pokemon she should use depending on who she had to battle, she heard the door open and turned her glance to see Ash walking over to her. "Oh, Ash! I wasn't expecting you to come. What's up?" May asked, standing up from the chair she was sitting in. She watched as Ash walked over to her before he stopped and looked down to think before turning his glance up to her.
"I just wanted to say that... that was a really amazing battle out there. I really had no idea that you would be able to do so well." Ash commented, with Pikachu nodding in agreement.
May showed a bright smile at this comment and happily nodded. "Thanks, Ash. I have to admit, I wasn't sure if I would be able to pull through. But I still managed to win and now I'm going to the final round; I have to be honest, it's kind of hard for me to believe. And I wanted to say that... I want to thank you too." May explained. Ash showed an expression of surprise, wondering what she was talking about. "During the battle against Beautifly when I was in that bind and I didn't know how to get myself out of it. I was nearly ready to give up hope of winning, but then I heard you say to me..."
"Never give up until it's over!"
"As soon as I heard you say that, it was as if all of my doubts seemed to fade away and I knew what I needed to do to win. I'm not sure how it happened, but it was like hearing you tell me that was all the support I needed to win that battle. Thanks, Ash." May explained, showing a bright smile all the while. Ash had been listening intently to May while she was speaking, and then he showed a bright smile and started to rub the back of his head.
"Oh, it was nothing, May. I just didn't want to see you having worked hard to make sure you made it in and then get beaten when you're in the finals. I just wanted to see all of your training pay off and..." Before Ash could continue, he was caught off guard when May stepped forward and gave him a hug, which he turned his glance down to notice. He stared in silence for a few moments before a bright smile came to his face and he wrapped his arms around May. As the two just stood there together, they suddenly heard an announcement and turned their heads towards the screen to see the result: the final round battle would be May going up against Chaz.
"The final battle results have been set: it's May vs. Chaz! Which of the two will come out on top and win the Rustboro Ribbon?" The announcer asked over the speakers. Ash and May looked up at the screen for a few moments before they looked back at each other.
"Well, May, I guess that means you're up again. Do you know which Pokemon you want to use?" Ash asked. May nodded in agreement and turned her glance down to her Pokeballs on her belt before placing a hand on Ralts's; she was going to use the same Pokemon that helped her make it through the Appeals Round in the first place.
Soon May was back on the stage ready to battle against Chaz. "And now without further delay, the Rustboro Contest has come to the exciting final battle stage! It's down to May and Chaz, who showed incredible skills in the preliminary rounds." The announcer stated, while May and Chaz stared at each other with determined expressions. While this was happening, Ash and the others watched from their seats with Janet sitting with them so she could watch.
"Look at that, guys. May's made it into the final round!" Ash commented. "And if she manages to win, she'll get her first Contest Ribbon. I would love to see that happen!" Misty cheerfully added. Brock nodded in agreement; May might have only been getting started, but her progress in this Contest was a sure sign of how strong she had gotten so far. Janet simply showed a bright smile as she watched from her seat, since she really wanted both May and Chaz to do their best in this battle.
Back on the stage, the screen revealed May and Chaz's pictures as well as two score bars underneath their pictures and a timer that had set to five minutes. "Now let the Contest battle begin!" The announcer stated, as the timer started to count down. With this, May and Chaz both grabbed out their Pokeballs containing the Pokemon they wanted to use.
"Go, Venomoth!" Chaz said, throwing out his Pokeball. "Let's go, Ralts!" May said, throwing her Pokeball in the air. Both Pokeballs opened and released the two in question, who landed in the arena before staring at each other ready to begin the battle.
"Venomoth, Stun Spore!" Chaz stated. "Let's go, Ralts! Use Disarming Voice!" May called. With this, Venomoth flapped its wings and kicked up a large cloud of orange dust, while Ralts emanated bright purple hearts from her mouth which cleared the dust away so it wouldn't hit her. This caused both May and Chaz's points to go down a little.
"It looks like both May and Chaz lost points." Ash commented. "That's because Venomoth's Stun Spore worked at first, but it was blown away by Ralts's Disarming Voice." Brock explained. Ash showed an expression of fascination as he remembered what he heard earlier; Contest battles weren't just about the attacks, but also how the Pokemon defended themselves during the battle.
"Venomoth, use Psybeam!" Chaz called. Venomoth's eyes started to glow purple and blue colours before it shot out two blasts of psychic energy that aimed towards Ralts. As Ralts watched in worry, May was quick to come up with an idea to counter this.
"Ralts, use Teleport!" May said. With this, Ralts suddenly disappeared from the arena while the blasts of energy struck the ground she had been standing at. As Venomoth looked around in bewilderment, wondering where Ralts could have gone, it didn't notice Ralts suddenly appear from behind it. "Great, now use Confusion!" May added, showing a bright smile. Venomoth turned around to see Ralts standing behind it and before it had a chance to react, Ralts sent out light purple psychic waves that hit it directly and sent it dropping out of the air, causing Chaz's points to go down by a good amount. "All right!" May cheered, while Ralts showed a bright smile at her success. However, it seemed Venomoth wasn't done just yet because it slowly lifted up into the air flapping its wings, ready for more.
"Venomoth, use Confusion!" Chaz stated. Venomoth's eyes started to glow light blue as a blue psychic outline surrounded Ralts and as she looked around in alarm wondering what was going on, she found herself being lifted up into the air towards Venomoth. "Now use Psybeam!" Chaz added, showing a bright smile at the fact that he was making a comeback. Once Venomoth had Ralts in front of it, it shot out two blasts of psychic energy from its eyes towards her, which hit her directly and sent her dropping onto the ground, which caused May's points to go down and place her and Chaz on even ground. May stared in alarm before she looked down at Ralts as she slowly got back up on her feet.
"Are you okay, Ralts?" she asked showing an expression of concern. Ralts slowly shook her head before turning her head to May and nodded with a small smile. May showed a smile of relief at this reply before she looked up at Chaz and Venomoth. "You two are really tough, but I'm just getting started!" May stated, showing an expression of determination as she was ready to win this battle.
"Well, we'll see about that! Venomoth, use Psybeam!" Chaz replied, as he wanted to win this battle as much as May did. With this, Venomoth's eyes started to glow different colours before it shot out two blasts of psychic energy that aimed towards Ralts. As Ralts stood in worry, May had an idea to try and counter this.
"Ralts, try using the Confusion control you showed in your performance!" May called. With this, Ralts glared with an expression of determination before the blasts of energy stopped in their tracks as she held them still. As Ralts focused, she turned the blasts of energy around in their direction so they aimed towards Venomoth instead, with both of them hitting Venomoth directly and sending Chaz's points going down again. "Great job, Ralts! Now use Teleport!" May cheered, showing a bright smile as she was turning the odds in her favour. As Venomoth shot out another two blasts of psychic energy, Ralts disappeared from the area she had been standing in which left the energy blasts to strike the ground instead. Venomoth showed an expression of alarm and started turning its head back and forth, wondering where Ralts could have gone seemingly unaware that she had teleported to a far end of the arena.
From their seats, Ash, Brock and Misty watched in puzzlement. "What do you think May could be doing?" Ash asked. "I'm not sure, but she's really using Ralts's move set to her advantage!" Misty replied with a smile of awe crossing her face as she had been watching how well May was doing in this battle. "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing as well, Misty." Brock agreed, nodding in agreement with Misty. Ash simply watched the battle in surprise, as he was wondering what idea May had planned, before he looked up to see that the timer had only a minute left; they had been so focused on the battle so they didn't notice how fast the time had gone by.
Back on the arena, Venomoth turned around to see Ralts at the far end of the arena and shot out two blasts of psychic energy from its eyes towards her, but Ralts simply disappeared from that spot, leaving the energy blasts to strike the ground instead. "Now, Ralts, use Double Team!" May called. With this, Ralts appeared in front of Venomoth before splitting herself into multiple copies that surrounded Venomoth in a circle, leaving the latter Pokemon to look around in alarm as it couldn't tell which Ralts was the real one. "Now use Confusion!" May called. With this, Ralts and the several copies all released small light purple psychic waves that hit Venomoth directly and sent it dropping onto the ground, knocked out before the copies all disappeared, leaving only Ralts standing in front of Venomoth. Almost at that moment, the timer ran out and it was visible that May had only lost less than a quarter of her points while Chaz's points bar was nearly empty.
"The battle is over! And the victory goes to May and her Ralts!" The announcer stated. The audience started to cheer loudly while May stared in amazement for a few seconds before a bright smile slowly crossed her face as she realised what had happened: she had won her first Pokemon Contest. "Yes! I did it! I won!" May cheered. She then looked down at Ralts, who ran over and jumped into her arms. "Ralts, thank you so much!" May happily stated. Ralts showed a bright smile as she was just as thrilled as May that they had won. From their seats, Ash, Misty and Brock were all clapping as well.
"Did you guys see that? May won!" Ash exclaimed. "(Yeah; that was amazing!)" Pikachu cheered, raising both of his paws in the air in excitement with a big smile on his face.
"I know! I had no idea she'd be able to pull it off." Misty agreed, while Togepi let out a cheerfull chirp as she was sitting on Misty's lap. May simply stood on the stage with a big smile and tears of happiness building in her eyes, hearing everyone cheering for her; she may have only been starting off in Pokemon Contests, but right now, she felt like she was on top of the world. She and Ralts looked at each other with matching big smiles before they hugged in celebration.
Sometime later, May stood on the stage with Mr. Contesta showing her the Rustboro Ribbon, which she happily accepted with Ash and the others standing beside her, as well as Janet and Chaz. "Congratulations, May. You were amazing out there." Chaz said.
"I think you'll make a great Pokemon Coordinator." Janet added. May turned her head to them with an expression of surprise before she felt a nervous smile cross her face and she turned her glance down. "Really? Oh, well... I don't really know about that." May nervously replied; she still hadn't really decided on what she should do on her journey.
"Yeah, I think so too. After all, you really stole the show when you were up on the stage. I think that would really be something great for you to do." Ash commented, with Pikachu nodding in agreement. May looked up at him with a bright smile slowly crossing her face and she nodded in agreement; she was going to start taking this into consideration. "Good luck with your Gym Battle, Ash. I hope it goes well." Chaz said. Ash showed a bright smile and nodded.
"Thanks, Chaz. I think Pikachu and I will be training quite a bit to make sure we perfect Iron Tail before the battle. Isn't that right, Pikachu?" Ash asked, turning his glance to his partner Pokemon. "(Yep, that's right!)" Pikachu replied, nodding in agreement.
The others couldn't help themselves smiling in amusement at Ash; it was safe to say that he would be busy at work training before they arrived in Rustboro City. May then looked down at her Contest Ribbon to have a few more moments to let the fact that she won it sink in before she looked up with a bright smile and held it up above her head. "All right! I won my first Contest Ribbon!" May cheered, with Ralts jumping up into the air beside her with a big smile.
It was very safe to say that the Rustboro Contest had been something eventful for everyone; May had managed to win a Ribbon without even realising how well she could well, while Ash had decided to work on helping Pikachu learn a new move for the Gym Battle. Now all that was left for the group was to continue their trek to Rustboro City, and find out what awaited them in the city.