F.Y.I. I changed Julie's dad's name from Gormon to Eric.
The contest center was a large circular arena with a mega screen above the stage for those in the nosebleed seats. Vance read a brochure given to him at the entrance that outlined the basic rules and how performances were judged. Julie looked around at the other people packed into the stadium.
"Wow, these people must have no life." Julie said quite loud. Vance shushed her and took a quick peek to see what damage her words had done. Surprisingly no one seemed to have heard her, or cared, so he started scolding her.
"Look I admit I'm a bit unfamiliar with this too, but that doesn't mean it isn't just as exciting as battling." Vance said. Julie rolled her eyes. "And another thing, I've been learning the rules." He said holding up the pamphlet for extra emphasis. "And it turns out brute strength isn't how they judge pokemon."
"Then what are they looking for?" Julie said mockingly. Vance opened the pamphlet and read a passage aloud.
"Performances will be based on pokemon and coordinators unity, attack performance, and overall show of pokemon's inner beauty."
"So all flash and no bang?" Julie asked.
"Basically." Vance replied.
"Wake me up when it's over." Julie slouched in her seat. Vance became more worried as he read the rules. He hoped that Maddy hadn't taken Julie's advice.
*Behind the contest building.
"That looks great Gyarados!" Maddy exclaimed after putting a large red bow on Gyarados's crown. She had in fact decided to go with Gyarados, something the massive pokemon didn't seem too comfortable with.
"I didn't know you had a Gyarados." Came a slightly accented voice from behind her. Maddy turned to see Tony already in his performance tuxedo.
"Tony, I didn't know you were entering in this contest." Maddy said.
"Well I figured I might as well start somewhere." He smiled. "Besides there's supposed to be someone here that I'd really love to see."
"Who?" Maddy asked.
"He's an ace coordinator who's also a part time bounty hunter." Tony responded.
"Bounty hunter?" Maddy asked confused by the word.
"Someone who tracks and captures people for money, and he's the best there is." Tony replied.
"At coordinating?"
"At bounty hunting, the coordinating would be my specialty." Tony said proudly.
"First you'd have to beat me." Maddy said equally proudly. Before another word could be said the intercoms came to life.
"Attention all coordinators and fans, the contest will be starting in five minutes. Again the contest will begin in five minutes. Thank you." And promptly clicked off.
"We'd best get going." Tony said motioning for her to follow. Maddy recalled Gyarados and followed Tony into the arena.
*Back inside the stadium.
The lights went out all at once. Vance's first thought was a black out, but a single spotlight shined on a woman standing in the center of the stage cast out the thought.
"Hello Charolo City it's time for out annual pokemon contest!" She was a middle aged woman with red curly hair wearing green short shorts and a matching mid-rift top. "I'm Karian Maradian, your beloved contest announcer," She spoke into a microphone, amplifying her voice ten fold. "Ready to meet our judges?" The crowd was in an uproar. "Judging today will be none other than Mr. Sukizo," a spotlight shined onto an short man in a gray-blue suit. "Mr. Contesta," another spotlight appeared on another man, somewhat older looking wearing an orange suit. "and finally Charolo's own Nurse Joy!" A final third spotlight appeared on Nurse Joy. "Now without further ado, let's begin our contest!" The crowd was cheering and eager to begin.
"These people are more wack-o than battle fans!" Julie yelled to Vance over all the cheering. He merely shrugged and watched as the first coordinators took the stage.
Vance was enjoying himself more than he previously expected he would, mainly because he saw possible tricks he could use in battle. Julie also seemed somewhat entertained, which surprised Vance. During one performance a small creature which Vance discovered to be a Bulbasaur, was playing jump rope with one of its vines. The crowd loved it until the little creature tripped over itself causing Julie to burst into laughter. After several other mistakes and a few good performances, Vance was actually enjoying himself. Karian appeared after a 'remarkable' performance, as quoted be Mister Sukizo, of a trainer and his Musmouse.
"Our next coordinator is new to the Foreen Region, but familiar with Pokemon contests. Please give a warm welcome to Janga Fet!" The crowd gave a standard applause, but once they saw him their applauding almost completely stopped. And Vance could see why. From behind the stage came a tall, menacing man. He wore dull red clothes, which looked more like some kind of armor. His face had a single long scar starting above his right eye running across the top of his nose, to below his left eye. He had dark hair and was obviously muscular. He seemed vastly out of place in a contest, but what seemed more out of place was the squirming, handcuffed man that Janga dragged behind him. Janga tossed the small man into the middle of the stage while everyone tried to conceive what was going on. Janga casually pulled an electronic pad of some sort of his pocket and read off a warrant.
"Josh Kenning," His voice was rough, almost like he had never drunk water in his entire life. "wanted for two counts of pokemon kidnapping, one count of illegal poaching of endangered pokemon, and four counts of robbery with a pokemon." Vance and Julie, along with Maddy behind the stage, tried to figure out where this was leading to. "He is wanted in fifteen different cities and two regions, threat level medium." With that he pressed his datapad and the handcuffs binding Josh were unlocked, the criminal wasted no time bolting for the exit. Janga casually pulled out a pokeball and threw it into the air. "Go Rhydon!" Janga commanded and out of the pokeball appeared a large stone pokemon with a steel drill on its nose. Vance and Julie pulled out their pokedex's.
"Rhydon the drill pokemon and evolved form of Rhyhorn, their drills are said to be strong enough to cut through diamonds. The bio finished just as Janga gave a command.
"Rhydon use Rock Spikes." Rhydon lifted its mighty foot as Josh neared the exit door. In an instant Rhydon brought its foot down causing three large pointed rock slabs to erupt out of the ground blocking the exit. Josh skidded to a halt obviously surprised. Before he could move again Rhydon did a small hop, which upon landing made several more pointed rocks erupt out of the ground around Josh, trapping him in a stone cage. The crowd went ecstatic over the move, even Julie seemed amazed at the abilities Rhydon possessed.
"Perfectly executed, a true testament to both the law and a modern coordinator." Said Mr. Contesta.
"Remarkable!" was all Mr. Sukizo ever seemed to say.
"An amazing bond between pokemon and coordinator." Nurse Joy added.
"There you have it folks, Janga Fet!" Karian said.
After clearing the spikes and re-apprehending Josh, Janga made a stealthy exit. Maddy and Tony were equally impressed as Janga approached them behind stage. Two police officers took Josh off Janga's hands.
"That was great!" Maddy exclaimed. Janga didn't respond even the slightest to the remark. Instead he fixed an incoherent look on her, then Tony and then walked off. "What was that about?" Maddy asked.
"He's just not a big talker is all." Tony replied. Maddy accepted the answer and Karian's voice came over on the loudspeakers.
"Up next we have Tony…well folks he doesn't appear to have a last name, so let's just welcome him on stage!"
"Looks like I'm up, wish me luck." Tony said before stepping out on stage. Maddy wanted to see his performance from the monitor in the waiting room, so when she turned to head down the hall the last person she expected to see was Janga Fet. She nearly jumped out of her shoes and even let out a startled scream before quickly collecting herself.
"Janga…hi, did…did you forget something?" she stammered.
"I just wanted to say thank you for the compliment before." He simply said and added no more.
"Oh, well... no problem." She said and gave the best smile she could muster. He didn't smile back, instead he seemed to constantly frown, like something had happened in his life that twisted his face that way. Maddy guessed it was the scar.
"Have you known Tony long?" He asked rather bluntly. Maddy stammered a bit trying to comprehend what he was asking.
"Tony? Uh no, not really." She managed to say.
"Does he seem to be on top of his training?" Janga asked.
"Well, yeah. I mean my friends and I just met him back in Greenleaf City, but he seems to be really connected with his pokemon." Maddy replied. "Why do you want to know?" Maddy asked in a completely harmless meaning. Janga shadowed her and made her suddenly feel very small.
"He's the competition, and I like to know everything there is about the target so that I can best him." Janga said in a strong but calm voice. Then he turned and again headed down the hall.
"Weird…" Maddy said. There was cheering to be heard coming from the stage, Maddy peaked around the corner of the stage entrance to see blue and yellow sparks falling around Tony and Tigevolt. "I missed it!" Maddy mentally kicked herself and felt sorry she had missed his performance. Tony gave a small bow and walked off stage with Tigevolt.
"Up next we have Maddy Plum." Karian said over the mike. Tony walked up to her.
"Try an' top that." He said with a hint of playfulness. Maddy didn't admit that she had missed his performance. Instead she gave a small nod and walked onto the stage. Vance and Julie cheered extra hard seeing their friend take the stage. Maddy gained all her confidence and reached for a pokeball.
"Go Gyarados!" She released the pokeball and the atrocious pokemon appeared with its signature screech. Vance became suddenly worried but didn't voice his opinion. Maddy took a deep breath. "Alright Gyarados use Dragon Rage!" Gyarados reared back and gapen it's mouth wide. A small blue flame started to form and quickly grew. In a burst of power Gyarados released an amazing blue and white flamed Dragon Rage that hung in the air. The audience, and even Maddy, were left speechless and were instantly captivated by the growing flames. Vance was beyond words, that was, until he took his eyes off the flames to look at Gyarados. The massive pokemon seemed worried at it's own power and Vance noticed why. Gyarados had no control over the attack, it was growing in power and in an instant the flames grew larger and hit the ceiling. The dome cracked and disappeared where the flames touched it. By now Maddy along with everyone else also noticed the problem at hand. "Gyarados that's enough." Maddy said trying to get him under control, but Gyarados couldn't stop.
"Ladies and gentlemen I need you to stay calm and start slowly exiting the arena." Karian said over the mike. In a flash everyone bolted for the doors, Vance and Julie were caught in the mob and dragged outside. A flame hit a sprinkler and the arena's fire systems went off.
"Gyarados stop!" Maddy pleaded. Gyarados desperately tried but to no avail.
"Maddy!" She turned to see Tony and Janga running up to her. "You need to stop Gyarados!" Tony said.
"How!?" she cried.
"Can't you just recall him back into his pokeball?" Tony half asked, half said.
"With it using that much power it's impossible." Janga said. "We need knock Gyarados unconscious." He looked to Tony who simply nodded. Tony threw a pokeball and released Tigevolt.
"Tigevolt help Gyarados!" Tony ordered. The tiger pokemon nodded and positioned itself behind Gyarados. "Quick, use Thunder Wave!" Tigevolt fired three thin wires of electricity at Gyarados, which upon contact made the large pokemon screech in pain. Maddy looked on horrified at their quick decision. Within moments Gyarados stopped the attack and fell to the floor, thin electrical currents racing across its massive body. "Maddy now, recall Gyarados!" Tony ordered. Maddy snapped out of her daze and recalled Gyarados. The sprinklers stopped and Maddy looked on horrified at what she had just done. The stadium was empty and drenched. Maddy started sniffling, Tony started to place a hand on her shoulder but Maddy ran away, tears fogging her vision.
*Later at the pokemon center
Maddy was still sobbing in her cot, she hadn't stayed to see who had won. Vance and Julie quietly entered.
"Maddy?" Vance asked softly.
"Oh," She wiped a tear away and sat up. "hi Vance." Vance and Julie sat on either side of her.
"How you holdin' up?" Julie asked.
"I'm doing better now thanks." Maddy said. Vance had expected Maddy to be mad at Julie for telling her to use Gyarados, but Vance thought it best if he didn't say anything.
"How's Gyarados?" Vance asked.
"He's fine," She wiped another tear away. "Nurse Joy said that he's wearing off from the paralysis." A slight knock came from the door.
"Maddy?" asked an aged voice. Fredrick opened the door fully and entered the room. "I came as soon as I had heard."
"Thanks." She responded.
"Maddy, why are you so sad?" Fredrick asked in a gentle voice.
"Fredrick, I did so awful today. Gyarados put his faith in me and I failed him." Maddy began to sob and Fredrick quickly placed a warm hand on her shoulder.
"My dear you cannot cry about something so frivolous." Maddy controlled her sobbing and looked into his eyes. "I remember my daughters' first pokemon battle, she had come home crying because she had lost. I told her the same thing I'm about to tell you." Maddy listened intently. "You cannot beat yourself up over your first loss, everyone loses now and then. I lost to both Vance and Julie, yet I'm still up and training." He got down on one knee to be at her eye level. "That was your first contest, now you can learn from your mistakes to help your pokemon in the future." His mustache creased up to indicate a smile which Maddy returned. "Now I won't be able to wish you off tomorrow, business to take care of. Can I trust you'll at least get an early move on things?" Fredrick asked. Maddy nodded. "Well then," he stood up. "for now, we part until next time we meet, farewell." He gave a nod before exiting the room. Vance and Julie reassured Maddy of Fredrick's words before they all went to sleep.
The next morning the trainers packed up and headed off early, as requested by Fredrick. Maddy had her fully healed Gyarados on her belt, as the trio continued on to their next adventure.