The card didn't contain an address or a phone number; it was just a friendly reminder that they had a friend who lived in town and had lots of money, or at least enough to have business cards made to inform others. The girls guessed that Dale would be living in the most pimpin' place in Hearthome City. They were right; by asking around, they discovered that Dale lived in a moderately expensive, luxurious penthouse overlooking Amity Park. Justyna quickly barged in and got them past security with the most powerful weapons in her arsenal. They took the elevator up to the 4th floor, which was the entire living area, and knocked on the door. There was a ding and it opened and Dale was standing in front of them with an only slightly surprised expression.
"Oh, it's you guys." He said.
"DALE!" Justyna squealed and glomped him.
"Hey! I'm getting my nails done!"
It turned out that…there was another women in the room with Dale! 0_0 He reassured them that it was not a fangirl but rather a fellow coordinator with whom he shared the penthouse; they just paid for it together. APPARENTLY. The girl walked in, black haired with a colourful outfit and massive weapons that seemed very soft. She trailed by a pikachu carrying nail polish and a Mismagius. The latter subsequently let out a high-pitched squeal of her own and hovered across the room to embrace Paul in her ribbony arms. He felt very uncomfortable.
Dale made them at home, bringing out cookies and tea, which tasted like green, and introduced them to Megan, his official coordinator buddy.
"Everyone's got a coordinator buddy!" Megan explained excitedly, "And that's me and Dale!" She pulled him close with a friendly hug. Dawn frowned neutrally.
"I don't have a coordinator buddy." She whined.
"What about me?" Justyna demanded. Dawn scootched away. She was suddenly very close to Katia, who had been quiet since she did not know their dim-dale friend.
"I like contests." She said casually, "I've won a few ribbons." Dawn grimaced as she hadn't won really ribbons, but she had won that Master Ball from her FATHER'S contest…
"Wanna be buddies?" Katia shrugged, facing Dawn. Dawn said 'sure.'
"That's perfect!" Dale exclaimed, "There's a contest coming up!"
"There always is in Hearthome." Anna remarked, sipping her tea.
"But it's strictly with partners, and we were looking for some ripe rivals~!" Dale added, nodding his head slowly with a calculating look at each of them. Excluding Justyna, who was eating all of the delicious cookies. Light was sitting next to her, trying to hide his embarrassment. Paul and Mismagius floated nearby; she was flirty; he was silent like a brick.
They awoke from Dale's multiple, floofy beds which he always kept in case of extreme partying fangirls, and had breakfast in his living room where they saw something they hadn't recalled ever seeing up 'til now, or at least in a while. A god-darn television. Dale had a adequately sized set and it played loudly as they ate.
"…Temperatures are dropping everywhere, wailords are rising up from their watery graves, and it'll snow next week! I swear it will! Something will happen!" Justyna switched it to a cartoon about a little black fox and a buneary. She yawned. They just don't write them as the used to. Paul stared intensely at where the previous channel had ran and poked Riley, who was eating next to him. Although the man had probably been insane, he was right.
The now FIVE girls and Dale made their way downstairs and out onto the streets of Hearthome. They passed that large, oppressive church on their way to register for the contest; Dawn looked at it with a calculating glare. Justyna snuck up behind her and frightened her five feet off the ground shouting 'YOM-TAH!'
The contest would be in two days, so after their registration, Dawn, Megan, Katia, and Dale went to the Poffin House to make some good stuff to spice up their pokemon for the contest. Justyna and Anna went to Amity Park again, since it was always a lot of fun.
"I'm gonna find a ton of leaves and berries and bows and a bunch of other accessories!" Justyna shouted, running off with Light and Riley by her side. Anna remembered and reminded her that she had a baby on board. Justyna ceased and pulled out the bluish egg that she had gotten with Cody's help; Light shivered as he saw it. Justyna then dashed away, carrying the egg above her head and laughing. Anna sighed and hit her forehead out of habit.
Anna went off on her own, releasing Kisa to ride on, and Piotr and Cranidos so that they could frolic and things. They enjoyed that quite a lot. So much so that when Anna was reading on her terrestrial tortoise, she was blinded by a white light and saw that Piotr had evolved. He was ugly, turning super red and growing a long horn out of his head. He smiled widely and continued to chase Cranidos, who was laughing and poking his buttons.
Kisa eventually settled down near some huge, ghostly rock formations and fell into a light sleep, always keeping one eye on the lovers. Anna kept reading her assortment of inappropriately graphic novels until she grew a bit bored, and reached into her bag to see what else she had in those depths. She was surprised to pull out a vegetable; a long green and white leek, that hadn't aged since she had first picked it up about thirteen years ago. Her train of thought was derailed by a call in her direction. Justyna had jumped up onto Kisa, still holding her egg in a rather unsafe position.
"It's moving around! I can FEEL the insides of this egg moving in my hands." She made Anna feel it and she admitted that there was indeed movement.
"Oh boy! What do you think it'll be? I hope it's an eevee!" Anna didn't know if she was joking but she said 'sure.' Then Justyna noticed that Piotr had evolved and asked if Anna had seen it. She cursed when Anna said she had not.
They eventually returned to the penthouse and saw a cavalcade of multicoloured poffins on the circular, glass-top living room table and the four coordinators, sampling and stuffing them into their pokemon. Pyhalka was snatching up all the blue ones, Megan's Pikachu was snobbily hoarding all the yellow ones, Dawn was feeding Kitty Pink ones, and Mismagius was gobbling up all the green ones. Paul of course ate all the red ones, cuz they were cool. LIKE ICE.
The others joined in the eating madness until they all fell asleep in front of the TV, draped all over the couches, poffins still in fists.
The next morning, their pokemon refused to eat any more poffins, which they found strange. The six of them decided to all go to Amity Park, which was always a great time. Katia's Dragonair jumped in the lake and her master rode on top of her, splashing water at Megan and her Pikachu. Megan subsequently sent out a Squirtle and a Totodile, with Valour let out to join and they trailed and shot their Water Guns at Pyhalka with all the force of a dripping faucet. Dale was followed by his Breloom and Mismagius as he took them to write poems in the ghosty rocks. The original trio stuck together.
"So Kitty is your choice this time?" Anna asked.
"I guess, at least for the first part of the contest. Then I'll probably use Anthony or someone. But I haven't got any…'pretty' pokemon. That makes me sad." She drew tears on her face with her kindergarten hands.
'Twas true. Paul was kind of creepy in the way that he stared at you, Anthony was kind of ugly but powerful, Valour and Kitty were cute and peppy, and Obama was S-L-I-C-K.
"Well, shmoople." Anna pondered; pondered when was the last time she had used that false-cuss.
"I think you need to up the ante." Justyna said, making some serious hands there: "You need to evolve Kitty."
Before Dawn could ask how, Justyna produced the moonstone that they had dug up ALL the way back in Chapter 10. She had kinda stolen it. Dawn was nonetheless grateful and when it was sunset everywhere, Dawn let the rock drop on Kitty in the light of the ending day and the kitten grew white with its own light, growing and becoming a tall, lovely delcatty. The first thing he did was skip around in a circle. Kitty jumped on Dawn and licked her face.
They returned again to the penthouse, surprising Dale, Megan, and Katia with Kitty, fell asleep, got up, and prepared for the contest. This one was supposedly big; it was the Bi-Annual Cotillion; very different from the Annual one. The contestees spent their day grooming their pokemon while Anna and Justyna lounged around and helped themselves to Dale's food. Well, Anna offered fashion advice. It was almost time to leave for the show when Dale suddenly shrieked.
"My tux is still in the wash!" he panicked.
"So?"
"I don't have time to dry it!" He ran around in circles, unclearly why but then he stopped and turned to Justyna of all people, "Can you come with me to go rent one really quickly?"
"Sure!" She was unaware of the problem.
They visited the Tux shop which was subtly named 'Tuxury World.' They entered and Dale asked the lone man in the store for a tuxedo.
"Sure man, whatever you like." He went in to the back to retrieve one. It was deathly and uncomfortable silent; for Dale. Justyna was looking around mindlessly at all the tuxes handing from the ceiling.
"It looks like an airplane hanger." She commented, "Or some top secret place, like in James Bond."
Dale giggled nervously. The man returned with a black tux. Dale snatched it up, paid, and he dragged Justyna out of the store, seeming very relieved.
"My hunch was correct! He would never talk about the tuxedo club around women; it's too secret!"
"I wanna join a tux club!" Justyna shouted, "Are there a lot of eligible men there?"
No time to answer! They got a quick text message: the girls were already at the Contest Hall. They had brought everything else that was required: they brought Dale's pokemon as well as Riley and Light, and Justyna's fancy white dress. Now they were all spifffied up for the contest. Anna and Justyna took their seats along with Riley, Light and the dino-lovers and awaited the start of the show.
There were six pairs that took the stage; Dawn and Katia and Dale and Megan were the only ones worth noting. They went through ze Showing Off Stage of the contest, the first four teams were unimportant; then it was Dawn and Katia's turn. Katia let out her dragonair and to complement the beauty, Dawn sent out Kitty, who was more than a little excited to display his new evolution. Pyhalka started twisting around onstage in an elegant Dragon Dance, an indication. Kitty jumped around her, ducking and flipping under and over her snaking body. The Dance ended abruptly and Pyhalka summoned a Twister that lifted Kitty up into the air where he spun around more, trusting her to keep him safe. He first used Heal Bell, mewing one clear, pleasant, ringing note into the silent audience who sighed in contentment. Kitty then used Assist, borrowing from Pyhalka's own move base, and used Aqua Tail. He smashed into the ground with his tail, causing water to spring up. It was sucked up by the Twister and formed a translucent water cyclone, which the two pokemon stood in the middle of. The water swirled slower for a moment, cloaking them completely, so that they could get into position. The water cyclone was destroyed by Pyhalka who smacking the water apart with an energetic Dragon Dance; the water fell and glimmered in the stage lights as Kitty did a dance of his own, leaping on top of her snaking body. The Dance ended and the Dragonair coiled up and raised its body elegantly above the crowd with Kitty sitting royally on her head.
Next were Dale and Megan. Dale sent out his Breloom and Megan, her faithful Pikachu, who was sporting a pretty checked scarf to go with Breloom's neckerchief. They leaped into the air and did the most epic high-five ever; electrical sparks and multicoloured leaves came off from the awesome contact. They landed with another great smash of leaves and electricity crackling around them. Breloom leaped at Pikachu but she was too quick and dashed underneath him, moving with sleek, invisible movements, seeming to control the time around. They continued to put on this mock battle, moving gracefully but with a battle-intense passion in their steps. Breloom used Seed Bomb, which Pikachu leapt out of the way of, shooting a Thunder Attack in the other's direction. It missed as well and the attacks exploded, their bright, beautiful lights illuminating the pokemon dodging skillfully out of the way. The attacks disappeared and the two pokemon stood at opposite ends of a long stage. It was still for but a moment, and then they bounded at each other, making it across the stage in one powerful leap each. When they came in contact again, Pikachu was holding out a blue ball of electricity with the apparent intent to hit Breloom. The attack was interrupted by Breloom's Force Palm. There was a single moment when the contact between the attacks was visible and then the electricity exploded, crackling throughout the auditorium with a swift, blinding light. The two pokemon leapt back and landed decisively in victorious poses as the remaining electricity snapping about them.
The results would not be given until the very end; the six teams were pitted against each other. The first battle was once again unimportant and it involved a bidoof as everything always did. The second battle was with Dale and Megan against two boys with a crobat and a blue shellos. The audience could guess who would win. The third battle was Dawn and Katia against a clefairy and a magnezone; Katia used her dragonair still, and Dawn decided to bring out Anthony. They won again and that was when the narrator realized what she hadn't thought through. But it thankfully worked out because the pair that had won the first battle was disqualified because they had been using illegal drugs such as Carbos and Iron to pump up their pokemon for the contest. So the last battle was set conveniently between the two pairs that anyone actually cared about.
Dale and Megan were still using Breloom and Pikachu because they were awesome. They sent them out as Dawn and Katia released Anthony and Pyhalka. The two dragons waited for the rag-tag mouse and mushroom to make a move. Pikachu struck first, aiming a Thunder at the seemingly water pokemon Pyhalka. The dragon retained minimal damage and she leapt at Pikachu. Breloom hit her in the face with a Force Palm; Pyhalka stuck him but Breloom dodged and attacked Anthony with Bullet Seed. Anthony instinctively swiped at the small seeds with his Slash and grounded a few but the stinging seeds still hit him. Breloom kicked him back and did a rebounding back flip, getting ready to charge at the land shark once again. Anthony used Dragon Claw at the open air; Breloom jumped into the air and Seed Bombed him. Anthony was able to shake him off for a second and started an Earthquake out of frustration. Breloom quickly jumped up as hard and high as he could to avoid the shaking ground. Pyhalka winced as the shaking ground inflicted damage on her. Pikachu screeched in agony as the ground knocked her to the ground and she clutched her head in pain.
The tremors subsided and as Anthony calmed down, Breloom jumped down and kicked him in the face again. Pyhalka was shaking off a migraine brought on by the quake and Pikachu was struggling to get up. She saw Breloom beating the ever-loving crap out of Anthony and pulled herself together so that she could join him. All she knew were electric attacks expect for Flash, and she used it as often as she could so that Anthony's hits kept missing and missing. Even his Earthquake missed her the next time he unleashed it. The shark fell to the ground, trying to protect its face from the angry Breloom but to no avail. There was another bright flash, but it didn't disorient him like the previous attacks. The kicks and punches stopped and Anthony opened his eyes to see that Pikachu and Breloom were standing in fear-stricken awe before a giant orange-yellow dragon. He wondered who it was until he recognized the wink that the lady dragon gave him. Pyhalka roared and whipped around, swiftly knocking Breloom and Pikachu aback with her tail. She snorted and took to the air, her little wings holding her up above the stage so that she could dive at the two opponents with a Dragon Rush that shook the entire building like Tesla claimed his Earthquake Machine did.
The winner was obvious; pretty evolutions in tight situations always earned you extra points. Katia and her Dragonite and Dawn and Anthony and Paul stood on stage, waving to the applauding audience and holding their ribbons proudly; well the former at least. Paul sensed a self-conscious and inept feeling in Dawn as she waved at the crowd with an absent minded expression. He could feel the same thing in Anthony, who had been the one beaten up. Neither of them said anything though.
There were fangirls at the obligatory party; even though their champion had lost, it was still awesome. They soon left because Dale was the only boy there and he and his five female friends ate, drank and played video games until late into the night. They woke up and it was the mutual feeling that it was time for them to part again. :C Dale and Megan gave everyone hugs and pancakes and pondered the existence of a platypus pokemon that was Dale's namesake. Anna, Justyna and Dawn were deciding where to go when their temporary member remembered that she had somewhere to be.
"I have to return to Johto! Duh!" she laughed to herself.
"Ma dad lives in Johto!" Justyna cheered.
"Are you going to walk all the way there?" Dawn asked, still a bit sour. Katia rolled her eyes with a smile and released Pyhalka as well as a togekiss that they had not yet met; Paul floated around her with interest.
"I'm going to Fly there of course!" She would do so on her togekiss; Pyhalka just wanted to stretch her new wings.
"You can Fly?" Justyna exclaimed in genuine shock. Anna flicked her in the forehead.
"Well, I have this." Katia showed them a large, bluish CD and the group expressed their desire for the rare object; it was not downloadable on Limewire. And they were more than surprised when Katia told them they could have it.
"I have my togekiss here who can already Fly. Plus I can always get more of them." Katia revealed a sneaky smile. They had no time to ask about it however, because she grabbed onto her owlish, white pokemon and she and her dragon flew off, laughing in an amusing, maniacal manner.
"Well. Now what?" Dawn asked grapely.
With Anna allowing Dawn a ride, Staraptor and Monty flew our heroes above the route they had once taken, filled with random music and aimed to set down one more time in Solaceon Town.