Alto Mare

For what felt like an eternity, but could only have been a few seconds, Max stood frozen in place, unable to believe what had just happened. He turned to Kirlia, who looked just as dazed. Bonnie and Laura erupted in cheers.

"We did it… you did it!" He told his pokemon. "Kirlia, you were just fantastic!"

"Kirlia!"

But then the child-pokemon wobbled and half-fell to the ground. Max rushed to his side and scooped him up.

"Hey, I got you, buddy. You can rest now."

Kirlia disappeared back into his ball, and Bugsy approached Max.

"Great battle! It's not often that I get one with so many surprises. I see you've trained your pokemon well, and that you have strong relationships with them. Nothing but a particularly tight bond would have made your ralts evolve like this. And what a fighting spirit! I'm proud to present to you the hive badge!"

Laura and Bonnie rushed up to Max with their own congratulations. The black-haired boy seemed a bit dazed by his victory. The battle had been very tough. Two type disadvantages, and still he had won! He felt like nothing was impossible anymore, with enough will and enough training.

Max was still admiring his new badge when the trio exited the greenhouse a little while later, after taking their leave of Bugsy. He had barely taken any steps outside though that a flying figure swooped down and neatly plucked it out of his hand. The three friends looked up in astonishment to see the little yanma from before, which looked very pleased with himself.

"Hey, give that back!" Max shouted.

He reached towards his pokeballs but hesitated, knowing that all his pokemons were pretty much worn out after the tough fight they just had. Fortunately, Bonnie was ready.

"Dedenne, thunder shock!"

The yanma was not quick enough to dodge, and the electric shock made him drop the badge, which Max immediately scooped up and put in his pocket. The red dragonfly looked very sad at the loss of his new toy. He hovered above Max, as though unwilling to leave.

"You know," Laura said pensively, "it almost looks like Yanma only stole your badge to get your attention. I really can't say why pokemon take to you like this, I mean, you being such a scruffy boy and all that, but he does seem to like you… or Poliwag, I'm not sure which!"

Max smiled at the gentle teasing, then frowned.

"You really think so? I wasn't really planning on adding to my team just yet… though after seeing Bugsy at work I wouldn't mind a bug pokemon… I don't know much about yanmas though."

Still hesitating, he got his pokedex out for a scan.

"Yanma, the clear wing pokemon. Its eyes can see 360 degrees without moving its head. If it flaps its wings really fast, it can generate shock waves that will shatter windows in the area."

Max brightened.

"Hey, that sounds pretty good. So, Yanma, you want to come with us?"

Yanma's enthusiastic loops in the air left little doubt as to his answer. Max grabbed an empty pokeball.

"Thing is, I don't have any pokemon that's fit to battle with you right now, so you'll have to get in by yourself."

Yanma let himself be captured without resistance. As the pokeball emitted its characteristic "klink" to acknowledge that a new pokemon had been caught, Max picked it up with an uncertain smile.

"I guess I have a yanma now!"

xxx

The party at Martha's was a lot of fun. The three friends had planned to leave all their pokemon at the centre for some down time (and recovery time, in the case of Max's team), but of course Dedenne had to come along. And Azurill did not want to leave Laura any more than in the morning. So Max decided to bring his new friend as well, to further their acquaintance.

They did not know many guests, besides Martha and Laney, but everyone was really nice, congratulating Max on his victory. And just before dinner the doorbell rang again, and who stood at the door but Bugsy! The gym leader laughed at their surprise.

"You didn't waste time in befriending the best cook in town! Hey, don't look so stunned. Martha is my grandmother, actually. I'm Laney's cousin. I heard I had you three to thank, again, for bringing Phanpy home! Seems like our family is very much indebted to you."

He then noticed Yanma hovering above Max.

"So you still have your little follower!"

"Yeah, we're going to travel together from now on. I had never really thought about bug pokemon one way or another before today, but our battle really made me want to know them better, and here was this little guy doing everything he could to attract my attention…"

"Great! Bug pokemon are fantastic, I wish more people could see them as I do. Every convert counts!"

At the other end of the table Bonnie was trying to find information about pokemon contests in the area.

"The next one is in Alto Mare," replied one of Martha's guests, a fiery little lady with a bad-tempered snubbull which Bonnie had pronounced adorable, earning her the lady's good graces. "That's on the coast, south of here. Actually, it's kind of an island city, there is only one bridge to link it to the mainland. There is this big annual festival which takes place at the end of next week, and for the first time the festival will feature a contest. You should check it out!"

"I sure will!" Bonnie replied enthusiastically.

To the surprise of exactly no one, except maybe Laura herself, they did not leave Azalea Town without Azurill. The brown-haired girl looked a bit sheepish as she exited the Pokemon centre with the little mouse in her hands. Max's and Bonnie's smirks said it all.

"So Alto Mare?" Max asked for confirmation.

"Yes please, if you both don't mind!" Bonnie replied exuberantly.

"Of course not, I'll need time to train for my next gym battle anyway, and this festival sounds interesting!"

"As for me, anywhere new is fine, you know that. And Alto Mare sounds like a unique city, it should be fun to check it out!"

xxx

A week later, the three friends were in awe. They were standing on a cliff to the north of Alto Mare and gazing upon the city. From afar, it looked like a moon crescent negligently thrown upon the sea. It seemed like only the narrow ribbon of a bridge kept it from drifting away from the mainland.

Continuing their journey, they followed the winding path to the bottom of the cliff, then joined the road to the bridge. Far from being narrow and fragile, it was, seen from up close, the biggest bridge they had ever seen. Crossing it took them a good half-hour on foot. When they arrived, they were quite parched, as the bridge did not offer much in way of shade. Fortunately, one of the first shops they saw was a lemonade vendor, and they sat gratefully under a colorful awning, sipping on the ice-cold drinks.

The streets were pretty full, with people and pokemon everywhere. They could see a lot of water types, not so strange in a coastal city. Some people were carrying lightweight platforms which looked a little bit like a chariot without wheels, and this picked the friends' curiosity.

"What's with the chariots?" Bonnie asked their waiter as he came to replenish their drinks.

The big mustachioed man looked at them in astonishment.

"Those are for the Tour de Alto Mare, of course!"

"The what?"

"The Tour de Alto Mare! It's a race on the city canals, held every year on the first day of the Alto Mare festival! People come from all over Johto to participate or to watch! Don't tell me you've never heard of it?"

"Sorry, none of us is from Johto, we came for the festival and the Pokemon contest," Bonnie explained.

"How does this race work?" Max asked with interest.

"Well, it's pretty simple. Trainers partner with one of their pokemon, who pull one of those floating chariots. They race all over the waterways, and the first one to cross the finish line is the winner. It's the biggest event of the year here! Tomorrow, everything stops in the city and everyone goes to watch."

"That sounds like fun!" Max enthused. "Do you know if it might be possible to try that this afternoon? Not that I want to race or anything, but just to get a feeling of it is to be on those chariots"

"Sure, my brother Vittorio always has some spare chariots around. He was the winner of the very first Tour de Alto Mare that the city organized, now he trains young racers."

"Whoa, that's so cool!" Bonnie exclaimed.

The man smiled proudly, puffing his chest.

"Racing runs in the family, you know. My son Ross was the winner of the last three races. He won four all in all. Almost five, but one year this red-haired girl came out of nowhere to steal the show. This year is the first year in a long time that he is not participating."

"Oh, why not?" Laura asked anxiously. "Nothing bad I hope?"

"Now don't worry about Ross, young lady, he's fine. He went to Hoenn to learn surfing techniques, he wants to open a surfing school when he comes back here. It makes you wonder who will win the Tour though, there is no clear favourite this year."

"Well, thanks for all the information," Max said, getting up. "We'd better go drop our stuff at the pokemon centre and check out your brother's place if we want to have some time in the water today!"

"Have fun!"

xxx

The pokemon centre was full, there was not a single bed available. The resident Nurse Joy apologized, saying that festival time tended to be like this. Fortunately, she was prepared for this, and had a list of Alto Mare inhabitants who were willing to welcome some young trainers in their homes for the duration of the festival. The trio was soon settled in the cosy apartment of a lovely old couple and went out to look for Vittorio. Their contact was a burly man with an even bigger moustache than his brother.

"Sure, I have some spare chariots," he replied to their enquiry. "If Marco is sending you I guess you can have one. But all my water pokemon are already busy though. With the festival there are so many tourists in town, and they all want to try the chariots."

"No problem," Max answered, "I have a poliwag, and I'm sure she'll love the opportunity to learn something new. Especially if it means playing with us in water!"

Poliwag was indeed super excited when she found out what the afternoon programme was. Max had thought to pack swim trunks in his journey, but the girls had not brought any swim wear, so they set out to get some bikinis at a nearby shop, settling on a polka-dot blue for Laura and a swirling green and yellow one for Bonnie. When they returned, they had to laugh upon seeing Max and Poliwag try to work together with the chariot. Poliwag had quickly picked up how she was supposed to pull the contraption, but it seemed like it was a lot less easy to stay on the chariot than they had thought, and Max was falling a lot.

"Hey, Max, let me try!" Bonnie yelled immediately, pretty much diving into the water.

Max yielded his chariot and pokemon with good grace. Bonnie turned out to have even less success than the Hoenn boy in keeping her balance while on the chariot, but she shrieked with glee at every try.

"This is really fun," she told her friends after a few turns. "But I really don't know how the racers do it, they must practice for such a long time to be able to stay up!"

"Looks like it," Max agreed. "Hey, Poliwag, are you tired? Do you want to take a break?"

The little tadpole shook her head and playfully sent a water jet his way.

"Alright, alright, I see you still have lots of energy. I want another turn then, but first, why don't you try, Laura?"

"Me?" His friend answered doubtfully. "I don't know…"

"You should totally try it, it's a lot of fun!" Bonnie immediately chimed in. "Come on, you can't be any worse than Max or me anyway!"

Even the shy girl had to laugh at that one.

"Oh, ok, I'll try for a little while. Poliwag, be nice to me, ok?"

It quickly became apparent that Laura was faring a lot better than her friends on the water. In just a few minutes, she had gotten the hang of staying up in a straight line, and after a few tries she even managed halfway graceful turns.

"You were right, this is fuuun!" She shouted to her friends while zooming past them.

Bonnie and Max's jaws were hanging out. They had just tested for themselves how hard it was to stay on the small chariot! Vittorio came to them.

"Is this your friend's first try?" He asked in an interested voice.

"Er, yeah, I'm pretty sure she never tried something like this before," Bonnie replied, finally finding her voice.

"That's pretty damn impressive for a beginner, I haven't seen many people take to the sport like this!" the big man commented.

He motioned for Laura to come to him.

"I've been watching you, young lady, and you have a real gift for balance," he told her.

The Hoenn girl blushed from head to toe.

"Thank you, sir", she stammered.

"Call me Vittorio. You had never done this before I gather?"

"Never! But as for balance, I'm from a circus family and I've done a lot of acrobat training, so I don't deserve any special praise…"

"Nonsense! Training or not, you're good, so just accept the compliment! And I was wondering… would you like to take part in the race tomorrow?"

If possible, Laura turned a deeper shade of red.

"Me, in the race with all the really good trainers? Si… Vittorio, you're joking!"

"Not at all. I'm not saying you can win, but with a few pointers I feel confident that you could handle it and have a good time. Your friend's poliwag has a lot of stamina, you two would make a good team. Last-minute registration is open until tonight, think about it. I could help you if you want."

"You should totally go for it, Laura!" Bonnie chimed in. "You were awesome out there on the water."

"And of course, I'd lend you Poliwag, no worries," Max added.

It took the combined efforts of her three supporters to convince the brown-haired girl that she really should give it a go. It was Vittorio's remark that she would be just another racer in the crowd, and she could just try to have fun and not worry about winning, that finally did it.

"I'll take you through the course right now, so you know what to expect. I'll get my own chariot, be back in a minute."

While Vittorio was gone, Laura tried to apologise again for monopolizing the chariot, and Poliwag, but Max and Bonnie were having none of it.

"I have to train for the contest, anyway," Bonnie pointed out.

"And I for my next gym battle. We'll be fine. Go with Vittorio! And Poliwag, you be nice to Laura, ok?"

"Poli!"

xxx

Once Laura and Vittorio were off, Bonnie and Max went back to the pokemon centre. Bonnie registered for the upcoming contest, and felt a few flutters in her stomach upon becoming an official contestant. The duo also registered Laura for the race, just in case their friend tried to back out of her agreement after the training session.

Then they went to the training area, which was already pretty active, as the centre was fully booked and many trainers were in town. Max immediately found a partner for a two-on-two battle, and was off in a blink, while Bonnie hesitated. She intuited that practicing her contest performance in such a crowded place was not the best idea but was unsure where to go.

"What do you mean, you don't have private training areas? That's outrageous!"

Startled by the shrill voice, Bonnie turned towards its source. A young girl, around her own age, was animatedly discussing with an harassed-looking Nurse Joy. Gleaming ribbons in her light-brown hair and a ruffled blue dress showed that she took great care of her appearance. She did not look happy.

"How am I supposed to practice my performance for the contest in these conditions?"

Her hair made a circular gesture, englobing the crowded arena and all the trainers within.

"We're not a very big centre and it's the first time that Alto Mare is hosting a contest," Nurse Joy replied. "So we don't have any specific facilities for contestants. But if you want a less crowded space I can have someone show you a few places in the south of the city where you should have some privacy…"

"And run the risk to have my performance discovered before the contest? I don't think so!" huffed the girl. "I'll go to the contest hall, I'm sure THEY at least will have an appropriate solution!"

And, turning her back to Nurse Joy without a thank you, the girl exited the arena with a flounce. Her exit would have been more stately, however, if she had not needed to dodge, without much success, a water jet from one of the battles, which managed to wet her dress and draw a most undignified squeak from her. After she was gone, Bonnie approached Nurse Joy, who had a sour expression on her usually smiling face.

"Nurse Joy, if you please…"

"Yes dear?" replied the red-haired nurse tiredly.

"I overheard your conversation with that girl, and you mentioned some training places in the south of the city?"

"Sure! I don't have time to show you myself, unfortunately. But Diana can take you there!"

The nurse motioned to one of the trainers in the room, a black-haired girl with startling green eyes and a friendly demeanor. The girl immediately agreed to accompany Bonnie. Upon questioning her, it turned out that she was a local girl, also interested in pokemon contests, and wildly excited that such an event was going to occur in her town.

"For the first time ever, and just when I decided to try my hand at contests, can you believe it?"

"It's great luck indeed!" Bonnie agreed with a big smile. "So, what do you know about the Alto Mare contest then?" she asked, seeing a perfect opportunity to learn more. "I just arrived in town today, so I haven't had any time to gather information yet, you see."

"Oh, it's going to be a pretty classic one, as far as everyone knows," Diana replied. "One pokemon for the xxx part, one for the battle part. You have to dress up, of course. Johto contests follow the Sinnoh tradition, mostly, you know, not like in Kanto or Hoenn."

"Oh, I had forgotten about that part!" Bonnie exclaimed with some dismay. "I don't have a pretty dress with me."

"Well, you'll have time to correct that before the contest, no worry. I can give you a good address if you want, that's where I got my own costume. They'll be closed tomorrow with the race, but you can go the day after."

"Thanks, you're being super helpful to a fellow competitor!"

"Hey, I want to win fair and square! I have a great team, my adversaries can try their best!"

Bonnie laughed.

"I like your spirit!"

"Well, there we are!"

The girls had been walking for some time through a residential neighbourhood, and Diana had just stopped in front of a small park, next to a little canal. It looked deserted.

"Nobody comes here much, you should have all the space and privacy you want to practice your routine!"

"That looks great, thanks a lot!"

"Oh, one last thing. I wouldn't tell just everyone, but I like you, Bonnie. There IS one special thing about the Alto Mare contest. Since we're an island city, water plays an important part in our life, so water is also going to be incorporated in the arena. Better be prepared…"

Bonnie thanked Diana for all her advice, and the black-haired girl departed for her own training grounds. Then she entered the park, woke up Dedenne, could had been sleeping in her pocket, and called up Litleo.

"Alright you two, there are only three days left until the contest. Time to practice! And Litleo, we'll need to change a few things…"

END OF CHAPTER

It's been way too long since the last update, I know, folks. Real life has been pretty intense, let's say. Anyway here is the next installment, and I'll try not to let you hanging for too long, with both the race and the contest looming on the horizon… I hope you enjoy this chapter in the meanwhile!

P.S.: I discovered some great reviews in my absence, a thousand thanks, they mean a lot!