With my new friends Ralts and Kirlia, I felt more than ready for my next contest. There was one in Falarbour Town, however I felt that I wasn't quite ready to perform yet with Kirlia, seeing as we'd only just started practicing together, so I was going to give this one a miss as well.
My real problem was Jigglypuff. She was quite insulted at how I'd now caught another Pokémon to perform with, however with a little bit of persuasion and clever wording, I managed to bring her around. "But Jigglypuff, someone like you can't be expected to perform all the time, you're going to need plenty of rest so that when you do perform and battle, you'll always be in top condition." I had said to her, making her think carefully. "Besides, you can help me teach Kirlia how to deal with contests and put together a routine with us. I'm going to be relying on your experience to help us all."
"Puff? Jigglypuff." She finally conceded then tackled me with a hug which had made me laugh. When we got to the Pokémon contest, May was startled with how many Pokémon coordinators there were, looking around them all with wide eyes.
"So many…lovely…coordinators!" Brock said with bulging eyes, making Max and I look at him with unimpressed and blank expressions.
"Here we go again." We both chorused as May gulped.
"Uh oh. It looks like there's going to be some tough competition." She worried but then we noticed a trainer and her Pokémon meditating alone together, the Pokémon actually glowing and floating off the ground. "Look! That Pokémon…it's floating on air!" May gasped before drawing out her Pokédex.
"Medicham, the meditate Pokémon. Medicham is able to harness psychic powers through yoga. Being at one with nature, it can make itself vanish completely." That's pretty neat. It must be a fighting psychic dual type by its looks.
"Wow, what a mysterious Pokémon." May commented just as Max cried out and tried to leap up to catch his glasses as they floated off his nose.
"Hey what's…huh?" My hat lifted off my head and I tried to grab it but it floated out of reach as Ash's cap and Pikachu did the same along with many other bags and items, floating upwards with a glowing blueness around them.
"Medicham." The trainer of the Medicham said pointedly with her eyes still closed and the Pokémon opened its eyes and stopped glowing. Instantly everything fell back to the ground and I caught my hat as Ash landed his on his head then turned to catch Pikachu easily. "Are you okay Pikachu?"
"Pikachu." He assured Ash as the woman stood up.
"My most sincere apologies." She announced to everyone as they scrambled to collect their things again. "My Pokémon unconsciously unleashed a burst of psychic energy. Obviously it needs more training." She bowed her head and her Medicham bowed apologetically to us all.
"Not at all!" Brock said as he skidded on his knee towards her, holding up a hand dramatically as he gazed up at the lady. "Who's to say it's a lack in training? And anyway so what if a few of us got picked up and floated around it happens all the time would you like to have lunch with me?" Boy, he sure moves fast.
"That's enough." Max said as he grabbed Brock by the bottom of his shirt and jacket before dragging him away over the tiled floor. "She's here for a battle not a lunch date." He told Brock bluntly as I chuckled.
"Hi there, I'm so sorry about Brock, he has a habit of doing that every time he sees a beautiful girl." She told the Medicham trainer who turned around in surprise.
"Beautiful? You mean me?" She questioned and May nodded her head with a sweet smile.
"Of course!" She stared at May a moment before bursting into fits of laughter, clutching her stomach as she howled.
"Me Beautiful? Ha! Please…you're too much!" With that she thrust out an hand playfully at May but the force sent her flying backwards with a yell and slammed into Ash, who then slammed into me and we fell into a heap on the floor with me getting crushed at the bottom.
"Ash, you need to lay off the hamburgers." I winced as I lost my breath. "I can't breathe."
"Sorry Ruby." Ash said as he and May got up then they both helped me to stand as I felt my arms and legs slowly regain their sense of feeling.
"Of darn it, looks like I've done it again." The woman said with a smile before walking over to us. "I'm so sorry, I guess I forget my own strength." She told us before gesturing to herself. "My name is Grace, and this is my partner Medicham."
"Hi Grace I'm May, nice to meet you both." May introduced herself as I gave a way.
"I'm Ruby, hi there." I greeted and in turn, we all introduced ourselves before Grace smiled and made a good suggestion.
"Hey, how about we go eat something? I'm starved!" She said before ushering us all into the cafeteria. What surprised us, however, is how much Grace could eat. She surpassed Ash's ability to practically inhale food without question, eating five meals all to herself as she gulped them all down. "Isn't this great? Pokémon centre food is just the best!" She said and I looked to Brock as he sighed dreamily.
"Such a healthy appetite. With my cooking ability and her love of food to inspire me we'd make a perfect couple!" He said as he no doubt dreamed about cooking all sorts of amazing food for Grace whilst she giggled and ate it all. "And we'd eat happily ever after!"
"Enough." I said simply as I grabbed Brock's ear and gave it a firm tug, making him cry out. "You may be dreaming right now but this is reality we live in." I told him as Ash decided to strike up a conversation.
"So Grace, I'm sure you must be a great trainer. Have you ever won any contests?" He asked and she spoke with a mouthful of food, though she mumbled so that we didn't see what exactly she was chewing up. She showed us her ribbon case which held three beautiful ribbons.
"Three of them already?" May gasped as she stared at them, everyone leaning closer.
"I'm planning to add a fourth one, if I could just win the Falarbour Contest, even though I know it isn't going to be easy." She said to us as Max turned to his big sister.
"Guess you're not the only one who's confident they're going to win." May's eyes went wide as she blushed deeply with an alarmed face.
"Who said I was sure about winning anything?!"
"You did, five minutes ago." May stood up and took a swing at her brother in her distress but I smartly hooked my feet around Max's and pulled him out of his seat, lowering his height so that May missed his head.
"Why do you always have to embarrass me?!" She wailed before slumping in her seat then calmed down. "The truth is Grace, this is only my second Pokémon contest ever." She revealed so Grace smiled cheerfully at May as Max slowly climbed back out, peering across the table before looking at me.
"Thanks Ruby."
"No problem squirt." I winked at him then drank a little of my milkshake as Grace reassured May.
"Hey, that doesn't have anything to do with it! It's not always the coordinator with the most experience who wins in a Pokémon contest you know. Who your opponent is has a lot to do with it and sometimes it's just luck." She told May before her face turned serious. "But the most important thing…the one thing that you have to remember above all else is that you'll never be able to win until you can use the power of your Pokémon completely." I sat up a little straighter. The power of our Pokémon? That makes total sense!
"There's so much I don't know…I can't believe I thought I was going to win." May said, disheartened as she lowered her head.
"Don't talk like that May." I told her firmly, giving a fierce look as she looked up at me. "Grace just said it's not the coordinator with the most experience who always wins, you've got to believe in yourself, because that holds the key to unlocking your full potential, and once you've done that, you can start on your Pokémon's." I told her, putting down my milkshake. "I've been holding off competing in any more contests for the moment because I know I'm not completely ready to show off my unique style of battling, because I'm still trying to figure out who I am as a coordinator and not a trainer. It's the exact same for you, but I think you've got a lot of natural talent that just needs to be focused and harnessed." Looking up I gave May a smile. "We believe in you, and so do your Pokémon. So what's the problem?"
May stared at me for a long while, thinking over everything in her head until finally, she clenched a fist and smiled determinedly. "You're right, it's not me I should be worrying about, I should be focusing on making my Pokémon look as beautifully appealing as possible. Thanks Grace, thanks Ruby. You guys are the greatest."
"Aw shucks, don't mention it!" Grace said with a snorting laughter which made me blink and lean away slightly as she flung out a hand, almost threatening to take my head with it. We spent the rest of the evening with Grace, who showed us a pretty awesome combination of Ice Punch and Psychic which began to inspire May.
The next morning I sat under the shade of a tree as she trained with Beautifly, trying to come up with the perfect combination for their performance. "Beautifly, Silver Wind!" May called and Beautifly started a beautiful stream of shining wind. "Combine Tackle!" She then ordered and I lifted my head, watching to see how this would play out but then May hastily changed her mind. "Wait, I meant Gust!" So Beautifly stopped and trilled as she made a Gust attack but then May changed her mind again. "No, make it String Shot!"
The String Shot got wrapped up in the Gust and backfired on Beautifly, tangling her in her own sticky silk and I sighed. Looks like we've got a lot of work to do before the contest. "Poor Beautifly." May said sadly as she looked up at Beautifly as she tried to escape.
"Nice work. Botched up combination huh?" No way, is that Drew? What's he doing here? I turned my head and decided to stay back and watch, letting May handle the punk. "No wonder, you're very indecisive." He informed May as he sniffed the rose he was holding.
"Drew?"
"Isn't that sweet, you even remember my name after all this time." He said a little sarcastically as he turned around. "Hi May." He drawled before tossing the rose to her which she caught as Beautifly fluttered down and landed on her head. Drew held up his forefinger and middle finger to waggle them at May as he turned his head. "Don't get your hopes up May, the only reason I came over here was to see Beautifly again." Oh really Drew? A likely story. I think you're hiding something.
"Then now you can go." May told him firmly as he flicked a hand through his fringe, his signature move.
"Huh. Anyhow, I don't suppose you've won any ribbons yet have you?" He asked and May flinched slightly before laughing nervously, blushing and turning away though she lifted the rose to her face to try and hide it. "Didn't think so. After that last display." He noted to her then began to walk away but May wasn't going to let him get off so easy.
"So how many ribbons do you have mister perfect?" She demanded to know but Drew continued to smirk.
"Thought you'd never ask. At the rate I'm going, I'm going to need a new case soon." He held up his case and it flipped open to reveal three ribbons all to himself, making May gasp in surprise. "That nice yellow one there? I got that just a while ago. A coordinator with no ribbons doesn't stand a chance in a competition like this." He told her before walking away. That Drew, he's got some serious issues.
I walked over to May as she stood there, blinking dumbly after Drew as I looked up over to his retreating back. "If you want, I can go turn him into Pokéblock and feed him to Charizard?" I offered which instantly made May smile.
"No, it's okay. I can handle Drew. It's just…this combination. I'm not sure what to do. It's harder than I thought it would be to make something work together." She said so I sat down on the grass, pulled out some breakfast waffles and syrup I'd made up before May had come running out here and we ate together as I made a list of Beautifly's moves.
"Okay, so Beautifly knows Tackle, String Shot, Silver Wind and Gust. Together, they don't appear to be compatible but I think if we get the timing and the movement right, we can come up with something." I said to her then drew a line from Silver Wind to String Shot. "Now what you've got to try and imagine in your head is a way these two moves would look great together, and vice versa." I drew lines between Tackle and Gust before we started planning possible routines and combinations together on the grass.