A/N: Sorry for the very late upload! I could not access the internet for a week because I had camp
Disclaimer: No interesting disclaimer this time. I just don't own Pokemon.
Chapter 36: The Beauty of Water
The days seemed to pass easily; as quickly as the tide rolled in, the contest rolled in too. Brendan had been working himself to the bone, trying to work out a strategy. He could use Swampert for his Ice Beam, Shiftry because it was a grass type and Aggron for its electrical attacks. But only Shiftry was really safe choice in Brendan's books and even Shiftry had faults.
They had gone back to the marsh a few days later because Drew had decided on a relaxing marsh mud treatment. He cared for his looks obviously. May had liked it. She was neither a true girly girl nor tomboy, but she still enjoyed those kinds of treatments. It was nice, though Brendan had decided not to go near the marsh mud again.
Soon the gang was outside the Contest Hall, waiting to get in. However, it was not time yet.
"Hey!" a familiar voice cried out. May turned. A tall older coordinator with what seemed to be a plate was walking towards them down a hill.
"Solidad, long time no see!' she exclaimed happily. Drew simply nodded in respect.
"Where is Harley?" he questioned casually. Solidad grinned and gestured with her thumb over her shoulder towards the path. Indeed, the Cacturne costumed coordinator had just appeared over the hill.
"May! Drew!" he cooed and ran down the hill to pull the two younger coordinators into an embrace. He removed them after a while, just when they swore they would suffocate in his arms.
"Eh, Harley, how are you?" May asked with a slight sweatdrop as she returned the stray hairs created by the hug back to their rightful places. Drew was slightly dusting off too.
Harley smiled widely.
"I am doing so well hun!" Harley gushed out happily, squashing the brunette with another hug but this one was a lot shorter. Drew really did sweatdrop this time.
"Cookie?" Harley offered suddenly, thrusting out a cookie to May who was rather forced to accept the cookie. The plate that Solidad was carrying had turned out to be a batch of cookies he had made that morning. Now he was handing a cookie to everyone else. Wally accepted it politely while Brendan merely looked confused at the snack in his hands. Drew took it in a bored fashion and Solidad nibbled at hers with amusement at everyone else's expressions.
"So, are you two in this one?" Harley questioned.
"No." Drew replied. May shook her head.
"We decided that you two need more of a chance." Drew drawled as he continued.
"IS THAT AN INSULT?" Harley raged on madly while everyone else sweatdropped.
"Well it is certainly kind. I do need one more ribbon until I am eligible." Solidad commented. Harley managed to stop, though he could not agree. He had the opposite. He had one, and needed four after all.
"Welcome to the Annual Pastoria City Pokemon Contest!" Marian called out to the audience who cheered like the crashing sea. The hall was painted accordingly with varying hues of blue, edging on some teal. The stage was still yellow though, to represent the sandy shores that neared Pastoria City. It was truly a beautiful place, though May thought that Lake Valor was more splendid.
The first coordinator was a guy with brown hair that was smooth except for the front where it stuck up a bit into the air. The coordinator's name was Kyle, and May remembered him from the Wallace Cup. Clearly he did not obtain enough ribbons for the Grand Festival the previous year. He was using his Lantern. May remembered it from Ash and Kyle's match. It certainly sent ripples and shocks of water through the water field the Pastoria City stage had. He had fittingly used Shockwave, as it was blue in nature, along with a Water Pulse. Shockwave and Water Pulse had the same amount of power, which was quite impressive.
It seemed that indeed every coordinator was using a water-type for the first round. Harley followed suit with his orange Octillery. Drew was really curious of the performance. Octillery had been sent out into the middle of the pool and had hit the pokeball back to Harley. Octillery was bobbing in the water.
"Octillery, skip Bullet Seeds across the water!" Harley cried out. Octillery fired golden bullets across the surface of the water like when people skip pebbles. The seed created interesting ripples and occasional chips of gold were scattered about too. As Octillery was bobbing in the water it easily spun around to fire the bullets all over the watery field.
"Psybeam!" Harley exclaimed accompanied with a large point with his right hand towards the water. Octillery did as told and got ready to fire the stored up energy while still spinning.
"Go!" Harley commanded. He send back his right hand before it went out again a gesture, this time closed in a punch. Octillery fired the pink and purple beam right out while of course, still spinning. It covered the surface of the body of water beautifully like an electric type move. When they hit the seeds, where ever they may be, they exploded. The underwater seeds sprung out of the water too, along with some of the colored water, sending ripples straight across the pool. It was strong enough to blow their hair back, as if a gush of wind had blown onto them. The gang was in the front row, so naturally they were sprayed on by the rainbow rain. In fact, because of the shower of water, rainbows did appear around the stage.
It seemed that Harley had taken advantage of the water. He had only used two attacks after all. Yet the effect was bound to send him into the second round. The technicians behind the technology of the place removed the water of the stage and refilled it with clean water with the press of a button behind stage as the next person came on; a determined Hayley. A bold smile was upon her face and her hair was tied back in a pony tail, though her crown, which if you remember, looks like the flower of a Cacnea's head, was still perched on smoothly. She clutched a pokeball in her hand, which clearly had a Foamy Seal on it.
"Buizel, I choose you!" she called, throwing the pokeball elegantly. Bubbles bubbled from around her and a glowing Buizel appeared in the bubbles too. The Buizel punched away the bubbles and landed smoothly on the water's edge as Hayley caught the pokeball in her hand.
"Razor Wind!" she cried out. Her Buizel jumped into the air above the water and sent a white blade of wind down into the depths with his tails together. The attack split the water in half, sending it up towards Buizel and covering him.
"Now, gather the water for an Aqua Jet!" Hayley continued. Buizel was then enclosed in the water.
"Now, Swift!" Hayley commanded as Buizel sped through the air, tails spinning. The tails glowed more, and stars flew out of them, hitting the watery film, and creating their own Aqua Jets.
"Finish this off with Razor Wind again!" Hayley finished. Buizel's tails glowed again, and hit the stars with two pure white crescents that turned into a circle of white and indeed, gold, sending gold and white sparkles off through the air around Buizel who then landed on the water's edge once more with the spurt of speed the explosion caused.
"Hayley did well." May commented as the judges said their words. Drew nodded. The Harley look alike was even better than Harley himself. Actually, it was not hard to be so anyway. It also seemed that Hayley had recently gotten the Buizel too.
A little while later, Solidad came out to perform. She had a knowing smile on her face.
"Lapras, come out." She called, throwing the pokeball into the air. Stars circled Lapras as it descended to the water's edge. The pokeball landed in her palm again.
"Let us begin. Sheer Cold like we practiced!" Solidad cried in a familiar way. Drew frowned; was this going to be similar to the appeal that got Solidad through the Kanto Grand Festival? Lapras jumped into the water, causing the waves to grow jagged with the sheer cold of the aura Lapras was giving out. However, it was clear that Solidad had not finished yet.
"Water Pulse." She continued. Drew realized that Lapras had only froze the top of the water, leaving Lapras able to send the icicles into the air by pushing up the liquid water from below with a Water Pulse. The icicles seemed to hover in the air as they glittered for all to see.
"Now, Thunderbolt!" Solidad finished. Lapras sent out bolts of energy through the water and underneath the icicles in the air, shattering them to pieces while the glowing yellow shone through like stars of their own. Drew was impressed indeed. May was gasping with a happy look on her face.
Then there was the intermission while the judges discussed on the coordinators. The majority had done surprisingly good. After a bit of a break, Marian returned to the stage. Gradually eight pictures flashed on the large screen over head. Surprisingly, this time Harley was first, and Solidad was second. Hayley was third and Kyle was sixth. Then the pictures were shuffled. Harley was against a coordinator they had never seen before, Solidad was against a coordinator they swore they had seen in a contest or too, and Hayley was against Kyle. Hayley's battle was up first too. It was her Staravia against Kyle's Crawdaunt. Kyle's Crawdaunt was much more powerful, but contests were about beauty and grace; the very ideals of Wallace indeed. Besides, the Staravia could dodge into the skies, and knew Double Team. Before they knew it, Kyle was defeated by the time.
Then Harley fought Hayley with his Ariados, aiming to anchor the Staravia down with a Spider Web or too. The webs hanged beautifully beneath the ceiling of the hall though, allowing him to cut down on Hayley's points. Shadow Sneak worked very well too but Staravia was too quick and too nimble.
He had prided on the fact that he used Scary Face when Staravia came down to use Brave Bird, a move that had clearly been recently taught. It was still a remarkable move though with the flames and the blue glow encasing the Pokemon. At the end however, Hayley had won by so little.
He hoped that Solidad would win.
"Slowbro, let's go!" Solidad cried out calmly as she tossed the ball into the air.
"Staravia, c'mon!" Hayley replied as she hurled her pokeball into the air. They opened at the same time, revealing bubbles. They had both used Foamy Seals. It was such a coincidence. Hayley looked surprised. Solidad looked amused. Her Slowbro spun down to the ground, drilling away at the bubbles to create rainbow sparkles that already nicked away at Hayley's points.
"Brave Bird!" Hayley exclaimed. It was such a risky move. Solidad knew what to do.
"Psychic." Solidad ordered in a slight bored tone. Slowbro's eyes glowed blue, and Staravia was encased with the same blue, which was the same color as the glow that that coated Staravia anyway. However, Slowbro gestured, hurling Staravia backwards. Hayley clenched her teeth together.
"Aerial Ace!" She suggested in a voice quicker than she had wanted. Her Staravia attempted to regain momentum as the psychic energy loosened on it, and climbed into the air, white light surrounded in streaks around the Starling Pokemon before it dived down towards Slowbro.
"Use Water Gun." Solidad continued. Slowbro fired out a beam of water towards the Staravia. Hayley's mouth twitched upwards however, at the sight of the attack, even if it halted progress with the Aerial Ace she had been planning.
"Double Team!" Hayley cried out in triumph. The Staravias multiplied. Only a clone was hit by the rushing torrent of water. However, to her shock, Solidad was smiling at her.
"Sense where the real one is with your psychic power." Solidad ordered. Her Slowbro obeyed and glowed faint blue. For some reason, Hayley did not interrupt her and her Pokemon. I mean if Team Rocket can do their motto mainly without interruption, then she could do this without interruption. Slowbro looked towards a particular Staravia. Solidad smiled.
"Use Yawn." She ordered simply. Slowbro let out a large yawn, sending a large bubble towards the Staravia. Hayley knew though, that if the bubble hit Staravia, her Staravia would be plunged into sleep.
"Dodge!" Hayley cried out quickly. Staravia did as told and glided away from the bubble.
Solidad was smiling still. It kind of got onto Hayley's nerves.
"Water Gun." She commanded calmly once more. Slowbro fired a beam of water at the bubble produced by Yawn, en route to Staravia. The bubble was filled with water and was launched at Staravia again upon the ray of water, slicing down Hayley's points more. Solidad was easily seen as the winner by this stage. The combo was very impressive after all.
This time the bubble hit, and Staravia plunged down to the ground like a fallen angel as the bubble burst like a water balloon. Everyone looked towards the Starling Pokemon. Hayley looked determined though she knew the battle was a lost cause. Her mouth was twitching in annoyance.
"C'mon, wake up!" Hayley encouraged at the sleeping Pokemon.
"Thirty Seconds to go!" Marian cut in through the purple haired coordinator's stress.
Hayley frowned. That mark had to come at such an important time. However, she knew that every few seconds with her Staravia asleep would cut her points down. Some people had their eyes fixed upon the clock, and others upon Hayley.
"Time is up! It seems that Solidad has won the Pastoria City Contest!" Marian called. Hayley sadly returned her Staravia, but gave the pokeball an encouraging smile. She left as the judges approached Solidad with the ribbon.
"This is your fifth ribbon correct?" Mr. Contesta asked. Solidad nodded.
"This means you are eligible to participate in the Sinnoh Grand Festival. We do remember you won the Kanto Grand Festival too, so give us a good battle!"
Solidad smiled as she received it and thanked them graciously. She took out her ribbon case and placed her fifth ribbon into it and showed the crowd who cheered in support. She smiled towards the front row where May and Drew were.
Quickly, the crowd which clapped like a rushing wave did so and poured out of the building soon after Solidad left the stage for the changing room. She changed quickly before slinging her small backpack over her shoulders to exit the building. She strolled down the hallway exiting from the changing room in bliss. She was allowed to participate in the Grand Festival. There, her friends would become her rivals, and the ultimate battle for the cup would be undertaken. That is, if they won their five ribbons. An array of bright shades of heat was projected onto the clouds and reflected upon Solidad's face, bathing her in the mild rays of the evening. She glanced around and spotted her friends, outside the Pokemon Center which was close by, so that the Nurse Joy could easily return to her position.
"So you are going back to Pewter City soon?" May asked with a hint of sadness as Solidad approached them. Harley squealed with happiness at Solidad's win, with words along the lines of 'I knew you coul defeat that Hayley girl.' He sounded like a fan girl. The gang slowly strolled into the center as they engaged in their separate conversations.
"I will, when we get back to Canalave City so I can catch a boat back to Kanto. So we still have some weeks to go as I will be with you guys." Solidad said encouragingly. May looked relieved, and Solidad knew that Drew was relieved too. Solidad was like his mother more than she was for May because they knew each other more. She knew his façade well. He was certainly not nervous or shy, but he hid his feelings.
"So, what are our plans? Simply challenging the Gym?" Solidad asked, though she primarily directed it to the two trainers that were sitting in the cushioned couches with them.
"Yup." Brendan replied happily. "Then we will return to Hearthome City to battle against Fantina again before heading on the blimp to Canalave." Wally nodded along with his comments. Solidad tapped her chin in both an absentminded, and yet a thoughtful way at the same time.
"Sounds like a good plan to me." She replied after the plan was examined in her head. Harley looked at her with puppy dog eyes.
"Am I coming with you Solidad?" he whined. Solidad grinned and nodded. Harley let off an extra large squeal which caused the nearby Nurse Joy to glare at him. Solidad chuckled a bit before Harley pouted at her. Inside Solidad was blushing like a mad little girl, but outside she managed to keep the blood circulating around normally. She had to admit that Harley looked cute when he pouted. Then, suddenly Harley lunged over to Drew and May and pulled them into a forceful hug. Drew was blushing slightly at the close and squished proximity he had with the brunette coordinator.
"Looks like the family are back together!" Harley exclaimed after he released them from his grasp.