Amber.
Two Nights Later.
"Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Floraroma Town contest! My name is Marian, and we apologize for the electrical delay!"
Riley and I hadn't been released until the next morning, but at least it only took a day to repair the generator. The night after the generator had been fixed, Dee and I were made up and dressed up to try for our first ribbon.
I was wearing a red blouse, and my favorite pair of white jeans, with my hair teased and curled. Dee wore her camo jacket and black skinny jeans, and had asked me to braid her hair like I had in Jubilife. In the crowd, Riley was watching.
After apologizing, Marian introduced two of the normal judges, but someone was replacing Nurse Joy that night; a guy in his early twenties, with spiked black hair and a pierced ear. He wore a black leather jacket and baggy jeans, but smiled when she introduced him.
"...And, standing in for our favorite Nurse Joy, please welcome our guest judge, a contest veteran from the far-off region of Johto, Leon Higgins!"
Dee scrunched up her nose. "He looks like he belongs in a bad 80's movie. Look out, Sinnoh, here comes Ponyboy Higgins."
I laughed nervously. "Yeah..."
After Marian introduced the judges, she began calling coordinators to perform their appeals.
On the screen inside the coordinators' lounge, Dee and I watched nervously as trainers surprisingly close to our age came and went. There were Roselias, Psyducks, Ponytas, all sorts of pokemon.
"Deadra Thompson!" Dee gulped, but she held her head up high and smiled when she went.
Astro whistled. "Well, ain't she a ray of confidence."
Dee must have picked up speed as she went out to the main contest area, because she came out running. She plucked out a pokeball, and threw it above her head. "Snorunt, let's go, buddy!"
Snorunt came out of his pokeball in midair, and then landed on his feet. He jumped up and clicked his little feet, he was so excited.
On the TV screen, I saw Dee smile and push a lock of dark hair behind her ear. "Snorunt, use Powder Snow and freeze the area."
"What?" A kid standing next to me muttered. "What is this chick doing? That's stupid."
While Snorunt used Powder Snow and sprayed snow everywhere, I watched the judges. Mr. Contesta and Mr. Sukizo looked a bit shocked, but that guest judge, Lee, looked interested. He leaned forward a bit.
Snowrunt ran around in the snow he made, and started playing in it. He threw a snowball at Dee, she threw one back. He even started on a snowman.
Leon barked a laugh into his microphone, and turned to the other two judges.
"Look, it's almost cute, ain't it?" He laughed. He had a harsh southern drawl. "I like this kid. Deadra knows she has a playful Snorunt, so she used it to her advantage. Spectacular."
Mr. Sukizo grinned, like he felt the same. "Reeeemarkable!"
Dee's appeal lasted only about thirty more seconds, because she was finished. She returned Snorunt to his pokeball, bowed, and went back to the coordinators' lounge. The snow melted when Snorunt left.
After Dee's snowstorm, my own appeal didn't look as great; I had a fireshow planned, with Magby. My confidence descended.
You don't understand how nerve-wracking it was for the both of us, to wait to see if we proceeded to the battle round. Every eye in the room was staring at the TV.
Out of the thirty-two participating coordinators, sixteen made it to the first battle round. Eight two-on-two match-ups.
On opposite sides of the board were mine and Dee's faces. Dee smiled.
"Yeah!" She cheered, as the room let out a collective sigh of relief. Astro grabbed my hand and squeezed it.
My first battle, with Astro, would be against one of the girls with a Roselia. Dee would be against a boy with a Psyduck.
Astro cracked knuckles. "Alright, girls, let's kick some ass."