Author's Notes: Lilycove City! My favorite after Lavaridge… Contests, shopping, and a really lame art museum. Heh. Anyway, here's a mass amount of characters returning, and typical clueless antics on Lynnie's part.

...I got this chapter done amazingly quickly. Maybe it's because I got to use Brendan and Kagurin again. I dunno. Anyway, expect another chapter this weekend as usual.

Chapter Thirty Six: Vs Gorebyss!

"Finally!"

Lynnie sighed in relief. After a few hours of wandering around past the Safari Zone, she'd come to a neatly-trimmed, fence-lined path. The path had soon led to a largely paved city with tall skyscrapers and several other huge buildings.

Upon squinting, Lynnie could see a slate-blue building in the distance, with a flat, guarded rooftop. A large navy-and-white banner draped from the guardrail read "Lilycove Department Store." She grinned instantly. That had to be her first stop—her Pokémon were still in pretty good shape, so a visit to the Pokémon Center could wait.

The blonde girl dashed around the street corners, trying to get to the Department Store more quickly. The sidewalks were pretty crowded, though, so it still took her several minutes to get there.

Lynnie's grin broadened when she finally reached the Department Store, and she paused to catch her breath. She then hurriedly reached for the one of the door handles, prepared to yank it open. However, before she could do so, the door opened for her, and she stumbled backwards in surprise.

"Hey, Lynnie. Doing some shopping?"

Brendan Birch gave a grin to match the one Lynnie had just had as he shifted a large shopping bag to his left arm. Lynnie scrambled back up and dusted herself off, grinning sheepishly.

"Duh! Hey, what's that? Pokédolls?"

Brendan's face reddened slightly. "No! I'm just picking some stuff up for my dad!"

"Professor Birch likes Pokédolls?"

"I told you, they're not—hey, what?"

"What are you looking at?"

Lynnie turned around and blinked as a blur of red and black darted towards her. Before she could open her mouth again, she was practically tackled to the ground.

"Lynnie, dear! It's fabulous to see you again!"

"Ack! Johnny…?"

Lynnie blinked again, still sitting on the sidewalk as she looked up at the redhead. Johnny smirked and nodded.

"I'm flattered. You remember me! But you never told me you had a boyfriend!"

"B-boyfriend?"

Mortified, Lynnie and Brendan blinked at each other as Lynnie stood up. They then both turned to Johnny (Brendan still looked a bit confused) and simultaneously started speaking.

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"He's my neighbor!"

"Oh, neighbors? How sickeningly cute."

Another familiar voice rang through the air, and a pit formed in Lynnie's stomach. A short, skinny brunette girl with a spiky ponytail sauntered over to Johnny and smirked even wider than he had. She lowered her sunglasses slightly and leered over them at Lynnie.

"That's what they all say, isn't it, Lynnie Maple?"

"Lynnie… Who are these people and why is she glaring at us?" Brendan muttered.

"To the second question, I don't know," Lynnie whispered back. "But to the first one…"

"Oh? My name is Lydia Beech, little boy," Lydia replied, putting one hand on her hip. "Remember it!"

Brendan rolled his eyes. "Okay. But why—"

"There's a Contest Hall here, of course! Oh, sorry, I was just over at the Art Museum down the street, you know, and I saw you guys over here, so I decided to join in the conversation."

A tall girl in a red jacket and white hat scratched the back of her neck as she approached the group. Lynnie lit up instantly.

"Kagurin!" she cheered.

"Hey, Lynnie," the brunette grinned.

"Excuse me for getting lost about a mile or two back," Brendan interrupted. "But you still haven't told me why all these people are here."

"Did you not just hear her? There's a Contest Hall here," Lydia sniffed. "The Grand Festival starts tomorrow. I'd be amazed if Lynnie could still sign up. They only take a hundred, and people have been coming in since last week."

"Well, I signed up just now," Kagurin shrugged. "And they still had about fifteen slots left. I guess Lynnie's waiting 'til the last minute like a lot of people. Right?"

"Wait… What's a Grand Festival?"

Silence suddenly descended on the group. Even Brendan looked amazed that she didn't know, and he didn't even coordinate.

"Lynnie, dear, the coordinator's Grand Festival is held every spring here in Lilycove," Johnny explained patiently. "You have to have three ribbons to enter, and it's run a bit differently than a normal contest."

"Oh. Okay! I'm going to go sign up, and—"

"Hold it!"

Lynnie blinked and turned back around obediently. Lydia had crossed her arms over her chest, and looked like she was glaring again.

"Johnny and I both have three ribbons now, so you'll have to get through us at the contest. In the final ranks, they do double-battles, and even though you're technically fighting by yourself, there's no way you could get through it."

"Of course I could!" Lynnie replied. "Just watch me tomorrow!"

"I don't think you're ready," Lydia sneered.

"You're just scared I'll beat you!"

"Now, now, ladies," Johnny cut in. "There's no need to…"

"Of course, you're absolutely right, Johnny. We'll see once and for all, right now, if Lynnie's capable of a double battle. It'll be us two versus her and her little boyfriend!"

"I'm not her boyfriend! And my name is Brendan!" Brendan protested.

"What about me…?"

Kagurin cupped her chin in her hand, looking thoughtful. She then grinned, however, looking like she'd just had a brilliant idea.

"Oh, I know, I'll be the judge! I've always wanted to do that! I don't have one of those little flags, though…"

"Does that really matter?" Brendan's eye twitched. "Let's just get this over with."

"Okay," Kagurin sighed. "All right! It's time for the double battle between Lynnie and Brendan, and Lydia and Johnny. They're allowed…" She paused, but then started quickly again. "One Pokémon each, no substitutions. Wow, this feels awesome…"

Brendan rolled his eyes as he reached for a Pokéball. Lynnie promptly grabbed Skipper's Pokéball, and Johnny and Lydia grabbed Pokéballs as well.

"Go, Angelica!"

"Come on, Huntail," Johnny winked.

"Skipper, go for it!"

"I'll test out Tropius."

A blue, eel-like Pokémon materialized next to Johnny, while Lydia released a similar but pink Pokémon. Skipper crouched as she appeared next to Lynnie, and Brendan released his new Tropius. Lynnie grumbled under her breath, remembering Winona's Tropius, but focused on the Huntail and Gorebyss pair. She then nodded at Brendan.

"Lead with Rock Tomb, Skipper!"

"Help her out with Razor Wind!"

Skipper obediently narrowed her eyes and lowered her fins to the ground, and as she raised herself up, several large boulders formed around her. As she hurled them towards Huntail and Gorebyss, Tropius flapped its wings, forming a trio of small whirlwinds. The Razor Wind helped carry the Rock Tomb towards Huntail and Angelica, but Lydia smirked to Johnny.

"Ice Beam," they commanded simultaneously.

Huntail and Angelica quickly formed Ice Beams and shot them towards the Rock Tomb. The boulders froze in place and then shattered, the fragments falling to the ground. Lynnie felt her jaw drop, but then quickly closed her mouth.

"Skipper, use Whirlpool and Mud Shot!"

"Hey, wait—Tropius, use Razor Wind again!"

Skipper quickly formed the Whirlpool and shot it towards Huntail and Angelica. The pair was soon trapped in the vortex, and Skipper fueled it with a Mud Shot. Tropius then beat its wings rapidly and whipped up another Razor Wind. Its attack caused the whirlpool to spin faster, and soon Huntail and Angelica flew out of the top of the water column.

Lynnie crossed her fingers as the pair tumbled to the ground. Huntail weakly tried to get up, but collapsed, while Angelica weakly rested her head on the pavement. Skipper grinned as the two other Water-types fainted, but seemed to be sweating slightly.

Before Lynnie could blink, a bright flash surrounded Skipper. Then, a much taller Pokémon with larger fins and gills stood in Skipper's place, but she was still wearing her typical curious smile.

"Johnny's Huntail and Lydia's Gorebyss, Angelica, have both been knocked out! Lynnie and Brendan win," Kagurin called, looking proud of her announcing job. "And Lynnie's Marshtomp, Skipper, has evolved into Swampert!"

A slow clapping rang out from behind them, and the group blinked collectively. It wasn't until then that they realized that a small group had formed behind them. They were right in the middle of the street, after all…

Lynnie then grinned and bowed, and Brendan reluctantly bowed as well. Lydia stood agape, and then tugged on Johnny's sleeve.

"Johnny! Do you see that? Do something about it! Their love beat ours!"

"Lydia, some things are better left alone. Like their apparently non-existent relationship, mmkay?"

"Y-you're siding with her over me?"

"No, I…"

"This is great, guys, but Lynnie needs to sign up for the contest still, right?" Brendan suddenly reminded the group. He then turned to the small assembly and gave a confident wave. "Hey, everyone, come out to the Grand Festival tomorrow!"

The group cheered, and Brendan grinned. He then turned to Lynnie as the four of them withdrew their Pokémon.

"Pretty good, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah. Now let's hurry!"

Lynnie dashed away from the Department Store, shopping all but forgotten as she searched for the standard Contest Hall. Brendan and Kagurin were close behind her, followed from a safe distance by Johnny and Lydia…

- - -

"My, my, this is a close call. This is form ninety-nine."

Lynnie was panting as she filled out her form at the Contest Hall's reception counter. The pink-suited attendant had an amused look on her face as she watched Lynnie. Sighing, Lynnie hastily filled out the paper, remembering how lucky it was that Lilycove's Contest Hall was so huge; otherwise, it would have taken longer to find.

She paused when she reached the bottom of the page. There were the typical lines for Appeal and Battle Pokémon, but there was one thing different… "Battle Partners" was listed instead of "Battle Pokémon." Lynnie quickly wrote Lucky—Manectric on the appeal line, but had to think before putting down her battle partners.

Skipper had done well in the battle just then, and she had evolved too, so Lynnie grinned as she put down Skipper—Swampert, almost having to correct herself. On the second line, she wrote Oakley—Nuzleaf.

"All right, thank you! We'll be starting our first round tomorrow at twelve. Be on time, please!"

Lynnie nodded sheepishly, and the group turned away from the counter.

"So, uh, are we staying at the Pokémon Center tonight?" she asked.

"Well, we are a rather large group, so… I dunno," Brendan commented.

"You're staying too?" Lynnie blinked.

"Hey, this only happens once a year! Dad's going to understand."

"Wait, guys! There's this nice hotel in the upper side of town," Kagurin cut in excitedly. "And they have group discounts! I think."

"Yeah, they do," Johnny added. "I've checked it out before, but I've never stayed there."

"…Hmph," Lydia mumbled. "And we live around here, so we might be able to convince them to give us an extra discount."

"Awesome! To the hotel!" Lynnie cheered.

It was on that note that the five ambled out of the Contest Hall, laughing and talking excitedly.