Hello and welcome to another chapter of Pokémon Journey: Hoenn!

Last chapter saw the group finally make their way out of Meteor Falls and into Kaban City on Route 115, where James and Will fought a four-on-four battle together. Though James was victorious, both trainers learned from the experience.

Upload Date: 16th March 2018


Chapter 55: Ember Swirl

Tiane Town, Hoenn

12:42pm, 8th June 2006

With Meteor Falls behind them, the group had set off on their short journey from Kaban City to Tiane Town with a renewed enthusiasm. The day may have been rather drab and gloomy, but James and Nicola were already looking ahead to the bright stage lights of the contest hall. There was going to be lots of training to do if they were to get their teams fully ready for the upcoming challenge.

Upon arriving in Tiane Town, this feeling had grown more urgent as they noticed the number of coordinators milling around the contest hall. It wasn't an especially large number, but they'd thought that Tiane Town was much like Leevay Town in many ways – a bit too far out for large numbers of coordinators to flock to.

"I hope we're going to be alright," James murmured as they walked through the door to the hall.

"What do you mean?" Nicola asked, turning to look at him. "There are a few more people than we were expecting, but that doesn't mean that we're going to lose."

"No, but it means there's more competition and more of a chance that we'll lose," James replied. "Still, you've really been fired up since the contest in Kellen City."

"Of course! Now that I've won one ribbon, I definitely want to earn another and catch up to you!"

"It's good to see you're eager, at least."

The queue for the registration desk wasn't too long – most of the other coordinators must have already been registered by this stage. They'd hoped to get the opportunity to do some practice using the stage itself, but it seemed that there was going to be a long wait. Instead, they decided to meet up with Richard and Will back at the pokémon centre so that they could have lunch.


7:02pm, 8th June 2006

By the evening, the sun had been peeking briefly through the clouds as it set. With the forecast for the following day being for rain though, it wasn't enough to excite James and Nicola. In a way, they were just glad that they weren't going to be travelling tomorrow.

"Hey! How did it go?" Richard immediately called out to them as they walked back into the trainers' lounge. "You were out quite late today."

"There was so much work to do," Nicola sighed as she plopped herself down next to him. "I wanted to work on some new combinations for Mule and Zaggy, but they just weren't getting it!"

James laughed. "I don't think we've ever had such an intense practice session!" He followed Nicola over, but remained standing. Time was marching on and his growling stomach was demanding that they head for the restaurant.

Will seemed to pick up on his implication and stood up. "I guess we should go and get some dinner. I guess you guys will want an early night so that you can train as much as possible tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah. Sounds good to me!" Nicola nodded enthusiastically. "I was starting to feel hungry myself!"

They made their way over to the restaurant and joined the queue to get their food. The restaurants in pokémon centres usually stayed open until around nine in the evening, but the peak time was between six and eight. They normally tried to get to the restaurant as early as they could – they'd once staggered in at quarter to nine after a particularly long training session to find that there was almost no food left – but the middle of the rush was normally acceptable – a slight delay on getting their food, but generally a guarantee that they'd get what they wanted.

As she talked with James and the others, Nicola accidentally stepped too far forwards when the line moved again and bumped into the girl standing in front of her.

"Ah! I'm so sorry!" she quickly exclaimed.

"Don't worry, I'm…" The moment the girl turned to look at her, there was a brief spark of surprise and realisation in her eyes. She quickly turned back to face forwards and didn't say another word.

"Did you do something to offend her?" Richard whispered.

"Of course not!" Nicola hissed back. She frowned. It was definitely an odd reaction, but she felt as though it was best to avoid pressing it.

After getting her dinner, the girl swiftly disappeared into the crowd, glancing back at Nicola briefly one last time before she went. Weird.

The thought soon left Nicola's mind, though, as she and the others sat down to eat and talk about the plans for the following day.


3:43pm, 9th June 2006

With as much practice as they could possibly get beforehand, James and Nicola had felt more confident as they arrived back at the contest hall with Richard and Will in tow the following afternoon. They'd deliberately aimed to get there with plenty of time to spare, which looked like it might have been a smart move.

The lobby itself was packed, though this was partly because it was smaller than pervious ones they'd been to, but it was the size of the line of coordinators waiting to finalise their registration that was the most daunting sight there. It might take them a little while to get through all of this just to get to the holding room.

James let out a sigh. "Well, I guess we'd better find a place in the queue, Nicola."

"Yeah." Nicola nodded.

"Good luck, both of you."

Richard and Will were already preparing to move off and head towards the spectator areas. They had to worry about finding their seats as well – though the crowd of spectators wasn't as large as they thought it might be, there were still plenty of people who'd come in from nearby towns to watch the contest.

"Make sure you cheer us on!" Nicola called after them as they disappeared amongst the crowd. She turned back to James as they returned to the queue. "It's going to be a big one, huh?"

"Wouldn't want it any other way!" James grinned. "Same rules as normal?"

"Oh, you mean about if we end up against each other? Yeah, same rules apply – I want to beat you myself this time!"

"Is that so?" James raised an eyebrow. "Don't think that I'm going to just sit back and let you win."

"That's good – there's no satisfaction in beating someone who's holding back!"

Though there was still a part of her that worried about going up against James, Nicola had felt quite uplifted ever since the contest in Kellen City. It wasn't just the fact that she's won. It was more that she'd spent all of her previous contests worrying about whether or not she'd be good enough, wondering if she really had what it took to win.

Now she knew that she was capable of fending off other coordinators and emerging at the very top of the pyramid. It effectively meant that, out of all the coordinators who entered that contest, she had been the one who had performed the best. If she could do it there, then she could do it again here.

The line had moved along as James and Nicola finally stepped forwards to finish registering.


4:10pm, 9th June 2006

Richard had been rather surprised by the total number of coordinators who were taking part in this contest. Including James and Nicola, there were 22 in total. It wasn't exactly good news for him and Will since they'd have to diligently sit through all of them just to see their friends perform. Such was the difficult life of a contest spectator!

Fortunately, the announcement at the end of the third performance snapped him back to attention.

"Contestant number four: James Burton from Pallet Town!"

"He's on!"

Richard and Will stopped daydreaming and focused their attention on the stage.

Down below, James walked out from backstage and stood in the spotlight. He held Nulin's poké ball firmly in his hand. As the crowd fell silent in anticipation, he raised the ball and clicked the release button.

Nulin materialised, hovering above the stage. He quickly gained height before soaring downwards. He wove around the stage, flapping his wings and showing off his increasingly noticeable sheen. Gliding close to the ground, he suddenly fired a ball of water into the air, quickly followed by another at a higher speed.

The two high-pressure balls of water exploded outwards as they hit, sending a shower of water cascading down. Nulin flew amongst the falling drops, weaving and scattering them around the stage. Diving back down towards the ground, he turned up and fired a beam of ice at the stage lights above. The lighting on the stage turned weird for a couple of seconds as the ice froze over the lights and distorted them. There was a shattering sound as the ice broke and started tumbling down to the ground, the newly-restored lights reflecting off the pieces as they drifted down.

Still, Nulin wasn't finished there. Flying up, he struck several of the falling ice shards on their way down using his wings, making them shatter further. He spun around and fired another beam down at the stage, freezing the surface completely. As it glittered in the light, Nulin started another dive down.

Spinning around to face up again, he fired another ball of water into the air. He immediately tore after it and plunged into the sphere. A split second later, the ball burst, sending water flying outwards from Nulin.

The crowd applauded as he drifted back down to the stage and landed on James' shoulder.

"That was a pretty good one," said Richard, clapping as he watched James and Nulin exit the stage and a couple of stagehands come running on to quickly remove the ice from the floor.

"Yeah." Will nodded. "I was wondering what he was going to do with Ice Beam. It turned out pretty well in the end."

"Contestant number five: Hannah Elliott!"

Richard was about to switch back off and wait for Nicola's name to be called when he happened to catch sight of the pokémon the girl had just sent out.

"Oh! I haven't seen a torchic in a long time!"

"A torchic?" Will looked down at the fluffy orange chick. "You've seen one of those before?" he asked as he reached for his Pokédex.

"Yeah. James, Livvi and I saw one when we were in the Sevii Islands last year. That was part of what inspired me and James to come here."

"Torchic, the chick pokémon. If attacked, it strikes back by spitting balls of fire it forms in its stomach. Torchic dislike darkness because they can't see their surroundings. They have a flame sac deep inside their body that perpetually burns. They feel warm if hugged."

Will could see the appeal of a torchic in a contest – it was small and fluffy after all and it sounded a lot like this was the kind of popular pet that would appeal to people who liked contests. Aside from that, there was nothing that particularly grabbed him about it.

He turned towards Richard, intending to continue talking quietly while they waited for Nicola's turn, but found that he'd decided to watch the torchic's performance instead. With a sigh, he turned back to watch as well. He might as well see what happened.

The start of the performance wasn't anything to write home about – quite a bit of hobbling that was kind of cute, but also seemed a little clumsy and unpractised, as well as spewing some embers and launching some precise swipes with his clawed feet.

Afterwards, he wondered if this had been a deliberate ploy on the part of the bird's coordinator to catch the audience unawares and maximise the end of her appeal. Regardless, the sudden change in the performance as it reached its finale really grabbed his attention. It might have even drawn him in if he hadn't been paying attention to the performance beforehand.

Rooting himself towards the back of the stage, just in front of his coordinator, the torchic fired a cluster of embers into the air. He moved his head around as he spewed more. Will quickly realised that he was getting them to move in a spiral as they burst outwards. This alone was impressive, but not especially unique – Will had seen similar tactics used at other contests.

However, the torchic suddenly started moving forwards. As he reached the centre of the stage, he started pivoting on one of his feet. He moved quickly, still spewing the spiralling embers into the air. They grew so dense above him that it was as though a large, glowing cloud of orange had formed. The embers whipped around him as they descended down to the ground, glowing intermittently with a weak fire.

It was like watching a firework.

As the torchic finally stopped pivoting and let the rest of the embers drop to the ground, the crowd applauded and cheered loudly. The girl bowed to the crowd as she recalled her pokémon and quickly disappeared backstage again.


4:51pm, 9th June 2006

The appeals continued, but there wasn't anything that grabbed Richard and Will's attention in the same way as that torchic's performance. They'd practically switched off again when they finally heard the MC announcing that Nicola was up next.

"It's about time," Will said, sitting up and prodding Richard to make sure he was paying attention.

Nicola walked out onto the stage and pulled out a poké ball. She threw it confidently, Tricky bursting forth and landing on the ground. He immediately emitted several bursts of electricity, causing the lighting above to flicker and brighten. They'd gotten pretty skilled at managing that.

Still…

"Why is she using Tricky?" Richard wondered. "I thought the plan was for her to use Mule in the first round?"

"Maybe she changed it so that she'd be less similar to that other performance," Will replied. "I wouldn't want to be in the shadow of that if I could help it."

Tricky had been dashing around, scattering sparks and snapping playfully at the air around him. He wagged his short tail with excitement as he did. Though it wasn't an especially flashy performance (it wasn't even all that different to the one they'd used back in Kellen City), it was clear that Tricky was really getting into it and enjoying it. The excitement was infectious and both of them got a pretty big cheer from the crowd when the performance finally ended.

"What do you reckon?" Will asked, turning to look at Richard.

"Why are you looking at me?" Richard replied. "Do I look like an expert on pokémon contests?"

"True, I guess." Will shrugged. "But I thought you'd have an opinion as her friend at least."

"I could say the same thing back to you," Richard sighed. "I honestly don't know. I want to say that she'll get through with no problem, but there have been other performances that were good as well. There are so many competitors as well…"

"I guess we'll have to wait and see."

"…Weaselling out of giving your opinion, I see…"

The rest of the coordinators came and went, their pokémon performing as best as they could. Though the competition had been a tough one so far, Richard and Will were relieved to discover that both James and Nicola, as well as (unsurprisingly) the girl with the torchic, had made it through to the battle rounds.


5:20pm, 9th June 2006

Just his luck!

James gritted his teeth as he and Kacha looked across the battlefield at Hannah Elliott and her torchic. It was going to be tough trying to defeat the favourite to win the contest, especially given how unexpected it had been to be drawn against her in the quarter finals. He was going to need to focus if he wanted to pull off a victory.

"Begin!"

As the clock started ticking down, both James and Kacha sprang into action.

"Agility and Brick Break!"

Kacha squeaked in acknowledgement as he rushed forwards. In a split second, he was upon the torchic. His fist shot out but halted a mere inch away from his opponent. The red glow vanishing, he jumped back to put some distance between them.

James nodded with approval. He'd long since learned that it was better to target the opponents points instead of trying to injure them – he wasn't fighting a regular battle, after all. Hannah's points had dropped in response to the attack thanks to Kacha's display of power. If he could keep up this dominating appearance, then they could keep her torchic pinned down and whittle down their points before they could respond effectively.

"Again!"

Kacha rushed forwards a second time, stopping directly in front of the torchic. He extended his fist in an instant, again holding it mere inches from him. This time, however, the torchic bobbed his head forwards and pecked Kacha's paw.

Crying in pain, Kacha bounced back from the torchic. He clutched his paw as he staggered back over towards James.

"Use Fury Swipes, Chika!" Hannah called.

Chika charged forwards, jumping as he reached Kacha. He twirled and spun as he whipped his two clawed feet around and swiped at the pikachu. Kacha staggered further backwards to escape. Hoping to get some breathing room, he fired a blast of electricity towards Chika, forcing him to retreat.

What to do next?

James frowned as he briefly thought over his options. He knew that torchic didn't get on that well with the dark at all and it would be comparatively easy for him and Kacha to short out the stage lights. It wouldn't be complete darkness, but more than enough to scare Chika into inaction. At the same time, he felt that he couldn't do that. This wasn't a battle centred on demonstrating domination and he got the feeling that taking advantage of Chika's weakness would only end up hurting his own points.

No, they had to keep going for flashy tactics to try and win.

"Thunderbolt!"

Kacha immediately fired a blast of electricity at the torchic, who fired a stream of embers in response. Kacha's attack easily scattered the weaker attack and struck Chika hard, hurling him back. As he landed, however, he managed to roll and use the momentum to get back to his feet in a single smooth movement.

"Ember Swirl!"

At Hannah's words, Chika fired a stream of embers into the air, moving his head to create a spiral. He spun on one foot, creating the large and dense cluster of embers above him. Kacha quickly darted forwards, knowing that he needed to strike before his opponent did – his points were already ticking down steadily. As he got close, however, he felt himself being pounded by fast-moving embers that had dropped out of the mass overhead. The intense heat was starting to get to him as well.

With a shrill cry, Chika lowered his head, causing the whole cloud of embers to drift downwards. Kacha attempted to jump back but was too late. The embers crashed around him and on top of him, sending him flying to the side. He crashed towards the back of the stage, covered in scorch marks from all the heat.

"Time's up!" the MC announced. "Looks like this is a victory for Chika and his coordinator, Hannah Elliott!"

"Whoa," James mumbled. It really had been quite dominating – he hadn't made much of a dent on Hannah's points at all.

"Thanks, Chika." Hannah reached down and patted the torchic on the head. "That was a fantastic performance."

James sighed. Perhaps he was still too mired in his battle mentality? Either way, there was no disguising his defeat here. He recalled Kacha to his poké ball, thanking the pikachu for his hard work, and walked over to shake hands with the victor.

Hannah had seemed quite unassuming when he'd first seen her in the holding room. She'd chatted happily to other coordinators, clearly confident but never seeming like she was looking down on the others. He'd thought that she could be a tough opponent, but he hadn't thought that she'd cast Kacha aside so easily.

"Thanks for the battle," she said as she shook his hand.

"Same," he replied. "It showed me that I've got a lot left to learn."

She nodded sagely. "We always do."

After that, they were hurried from the stage so that the stagehands could get to work fixing it up for the next battle and they parted ways. James wondered how Nicola would get on. She was in completely the opposite bracket to him and Hannah. Assuming she made it to the finals, would she be able to overcome Hannah's combinations and emerge victorious?

He stretched his arms and let out a defeated sigh. "Well, I guess I'd better get back so that I can watch her first match."

Before worrying about how she'd handle Hannah, she'd need to actually get there first.


6:10pm, 9th June 2006

The quarter finals had been tough, but Nicola had managed to pull through thanks to Zaggy. He'd performed well for her again in the semi-finals as well, managing to secure a win over her opponent. Now, there was just one opponent left for her to fight.

"Take care when approaching her – that torchic is much stronger than it looks!" James had warned her as she'd left the holding room.

She was willing to take that advice into account. As she walked up the stairs again towards the stage, she pondered exactly how to approach it. Since Zaggy was tired out and had gone to sleep on one of the chairs in the holding room, she had decided to switch over to Mule. She hadn't had a chance to take part in the Kellen contest before, so it would be a good opportunity to get her back into the swing of things.

As she stood opposite Hannah on the stage, she pulled out the numel's poké ball. Across from her, her opponent did the same with one of her poké balls. As they faced each other, Nicola noticed that Hannah seemed unsettled and fidgety – she would glance at her briefly and then immediately break eye contact again.

Nicola realised with a start that she was the same girl that she'd run into in the queue in the restaurant the previous evening. She had briefly started to wonder what was causing the girl's odd behaviour when the MC announced the start of the battle.

"Go, Mule!"

"Go, Seva!"

Much to Nicola's surprise, it wasn't Hannah torchic, Chika, who emerged from the ball. Instead it was a long snake with a pointed, blade-like tail. Though taken off-guard, she quickly rallied. "Mule, use Ember!"

As the numel was firing a cluster of embers at the opposing pokémon, Nicola quickly pulled out her Pokédex.

"Seviper, the fang snake pokémon. Seviper share a generations-long feud with zangoose. The scars on their bodies are evidence of vicious battles. These pokémon attack using their sword-edged tail, which they sharpen on hard rocks. They hide in tall grass and strike unwary prey with venomous fangs."

Seva dodged Mule's spray of embers by extending his body and curling it into a coil wide enough for the attack to pass through the middle. It wasn't a perfect move (a couple of embers still struck his body in places) but it was impressive nonetheless. Nicola's points were already trickling down.

As Mule and Nicola watched, stunned by the sight, Seva sharply contracted his body and sprang forwards. His tail glowed purple with poison as he drew closer. Instead of hitting Mule though, he instead stopped just in front of her, bringing his tail forwards and slamming it into the ground. Using this as a second springboard, he powered himself even higher into the air and swung his tail around. There was a series of quick strikes as he descended, with Mule flinching as the tail grazed her sides and back.

In another second, Seva had leaped back to the other side of the stage, landing and coiling up. Nicola and Mule could only look with stunned silence. Not only had he landed those attacks quickly and without being struck back in return, but he'd kept the physical damage he dealt to a minimum – Nicola realised that even the poison in his tail had drained just before impact. Her points had dropped quite severely, while Hannah and Seva's were practically untouched. It hadn't even been a minute since the start.

Still, Nicola suddenly found herself smiling.

She'd seen this in Hannah's other matches as well – she always took care to minimise the damage her opponents took and only did significant damage if the opponent had charged at her. There was something refreshing about the way she and her pokémon performed – a battle, yet not a battle at the same time.

"Glare!"

Across the battlefield, Hannah gave another order. Seva immediately fixed Mule with an intimidating stare, rooting her to the spot. What was to come next? Maybe Hannah would simply try and wait it out – after all, she now had a significant lead and could keep her opponent fixed in place.

Nicola, however, had other plans. "Use Amnesia!"

A blank look came over Mule's face as she cleared her mind. Her muscles slackened as she forgot about the fear she'd felt after seeing Seva's glare. Hearing her next orders, she started running forwards while Hannah and Seva were still momentarily stunned by her sudden breakout. She fired a stream of embers from her mouth, allowing them to trail out behind her and bathe the air around her with an orange glow.

As she reached Seva, she skidded to a halt and slammed one foot into the ground. There was a shockwave which caused the room to shake, making the countless abandoned embers on the stage jump back into the air. Seva shuddered briefly before launching himself into the air to get clear. Spinning, he extended his tail sharply like a spear and hurled himself back towards the ground.

Mule jumped clear at the last moment, spewing another cloud of embers as she did. Seva cried out in pain – he was struck by the embers as he landed.

Nicola found herself growing hotter as she shouted and cheered at Mule, gesturing wildly as she gave instructions. She found herself getting more and more caught up in the action as Mule and Seva clashed and darted around each other, each carefully trying to manage their actions so that they didn't make themselves look unappealing to the audience.

Hannah seemed to be getting into it as well, her initial unease before the battle having vanished. Every order Nicola gave Mule was met by an enthusiastic counter-order from her to Seva. Though the seviper often seemed to have the upper hand in terms of manoeuvrability, Mule was matching him with her tenacity and endurance. She had the added advantage of her embers, which she was scattering around almost constantly.

As time ticked away, both sides moved to make their finishing moves. Seva sprang towards Mule, his tail glowing purple. Mule stood her ground. She suddenly fired an intense burst of embers at the ground beneath her, creating a bright glow. Seva was momentarily dazzled by the sight but landed on his tail in front of her, preparing to spring up again.

Mule saw her chance and charged forwards, her feet crunching on the hot embers underfoot. She could hit Seva directly and send him flying back. At the last moment, however, the seviper leaned his body over to the side. As Mule attempted to stop, he flicked his tail up. He caught her at the base of her neck and hurled her backwards. There was a crash as she landed, but she managed to remain upright.

"Time's up!"

At the MC's words, both coordinators spun around to look at the screen. Though both bars had plummeted from where they'd been the last time they'd looked and were much closer than before, there were still slightly more points left in Hannah's bar than in Nicola's.

"Aww." A disappointed smile appeared on Nicola's face. It had been so close as well! Still, even though she felt a little hollow at having lost at the very end, there was a warm feeling inside her. She felt like she'd had a truly great battle and there was no denying that she'd enjoyed the contest. She felt oddly content to accept her defeat.

There would be other contests and she'd definitely learn from this battle. With these thoughts and feelings coursing through her mind, she walked over towards Hannah and offered her hand.

"Congratulations!" she said. "I had loads of fun with that battle!"

"Same!" Hannah replied breathlessly, taking her hand. Due to either Mule's embers heating the room or the enthusiastic movements they'd been making during the battle, both she and Nicola had sweat on their foreheads. As they let go of each other's hand, a hesitant look came over Hannah's face again. "Umm, I…"

"Congratulations, Hannah and Seva! Well done to both of you and Chika for your victory!"

The MC came over and ushered Hannah forwards to receive her ribbon. Nicola clapped with everyone else before heading backstage. Hannah was the victor and it would be unfair of her to loiter near the spotlight.

She stretched her arms above her head before reaching over to pat Mule on the head.

"You did great out there. Your next performance is going to be our best yet – I just know it!"

The numel grunted happily in response and rubbed her face against her hand. Like Nicola, it seemed that she was happy with her performance.


6:21pm, 9th June 2006

"It's too bad that you couldn't win at the end there, Nicola," said Richard as he and Will walked over to meet up with James and Nicola in the lobby.

"No need to worry," James assured her. "We'll definitely do better next time!"

"Yeah!" Nicola nodded enthusiastically. "But I'm really glad I got to take part in this contest – I had a great time and so did my pokémon!"

"That's the important thing, I guess." James nodded.

"It's fun even though you didn't win?" Will frowned. "That seems odd."

"It's kinda hard to explain," Nicola said. "I still feel a little upset that I didn't win, but I know that I did my best and enjoyed the experience…I guess that doesn't really answer it, huh?"

"Not really, no." Will shook his head.

"Anyway, let's head back to the pokémon centre. If we hurry, we might be able to beat the crowd in the restaurant." Richard looked around at them all.

"I want to discuss tomorrow's plan with everyone over dinner if that's alright," James said. "Just so that we're clear on what we're doing."

Nodding in agreement, the four of them started walking towards the door. They could see the raindrops falling outside – they were going to have to move fast or they were going to get soaked!

"Wait!"

As they reached the door, they suddenly heard a shout and Nicola felt someone grab the back of her jumper.

"Huh?" She looked around to find Hannah stood there, panting as she regained her breath. "D-Did you need something?"

Hannah stopped panting and straightened up, letting go of Nicola's jumper. "You…don't remember me, do you?"

"Remember…?" Nicola frowned, studying the girl's face and her brown bob cut hair. Now that she thought about it, there was something that had seemed familiar about her. But where from? "Ah! Do you go to school in Littleroot Town?"

"That's right!" Hannah smiled awkwardly. "We're in the same class and we started our journeys at the same time! I always wanted to try and talk to you since you seemed to spend most of your time alone after transferring in, plus you had Corey to deal with as well, but I couldn't pluck up the courage to actually approach you! I guess this is kinda like our first proper meeting – I'm Hannah Elliott, pleased to meet you!"

"P-Pleased to meet you too," Nicola replied, a little dazed by the speed at which she'd said everything.

"Ah! Sorry about that!" Hannah gasped. She took a deep breath. "Sorry," she said again, "I wasn't sure whether you'd want me to talk to you or not, so I guess I tried to get everything out at once…"

"Don't worry about it," Nicola replied. She smiled at her. "I'm surprised that you remembered me though."

"I try not to forget people's faces!" Hannah grinned. "I recognised you when we bumped into each other in the pokémon centre yesterday, but I kinda panicked and didn't say anything."

"I was wondering why you did that," said Nicola.

"I couldn't believe it when I saw you in the holding room – for some reason, it never crossed my mind that you might have become a coordinator!"

"Hey, sorry to interrupt," said Will. "But you're staying at the pokémon centre, right?"

"Huh? Yes, that's right."

"Then how about you continue your conversation there?"

"Ah! Sorry!" Hannah blushed bright red. "I was holding you guys up! I'm sorry!"

"Don't worry about it," said Nicola. "Come back to the pokémon centre with us."


6:47pm, 9th June 2009

"…So, you guys are all travelling together? That's so nice!"

"It's helpful having other people around sometimes!" Nicola grinned.

She and Hannah were sat next to each other at a table in the restaurant, with James, Richard and Will sat opposite. Having gotten their food, they'd been quick to start talking again.

"It must be really nice having some guaranteed support in the audience though," Hannah said, nodding in the direction of Richard and Will.

"I guess so," said Nicola. "It's nice knowing there's someone out there who will cheer for you."

"And having those guaranteed votes is really good – sometimes a single vote in the appeals round can make all the difference to who gets through." Hannah looked between James and Nicola enviously. "Though I guess you guys have to divide the extra support, so it's only really one extra vote each!"

"Vote?" Richard and Will looked at her blankly.

"Huh?" Hannah looked back at them. "You…didn't know?"

"Know what?"

"The appeals round is decided partly by the judges and partly by the audience's vote – there's a panel in front of your seats that allows you to vote for whichever coordinator you preferred."

"What?" James and Nicola both said, turning to look sharply at their companions.

"Ah." Richard and Will both looked back sheepishly. "Sorry about that."

"Well, it's not like it makes a massive difference!" Hannah laughed. "The judges usually have enough weight to overturn a small difference like that, so you probably haven't lost out too much from them not voting!"

"I thought you said that a single vote can sometimes make all the difference," Will muttered, frowning.

"Make sure that you guys look into this next time," said James. "If audience participation is important, then it's rude not to otherwise."

"You're just saying that because you want the extra support…"

As the boys bickered, Nicola turned back to Hannah. "I meant to say that I saw your torchic's special attack during the appeals round and your battle against James – it was seriously impressive!"

Sat on Hannah's lap, the torchic cheeped happily in response to the praise. His trainer didn't look as happy though. She frowned as she looked down at her plate.

"…I'm glad you think so."

"Is something wrong?" Nicola asked.

"Ah, it's just…" Hannah paused and sighed. "It's a long story and…I don't really feel like trying to tell it right now."

Nicola shared a glance with James and the others, who stopped arguing to listen in.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "If you ever want to talk about it again, then I'll listen, but don't think that you have to!"

"Thanks." Hannah smiled at her. Her face brightened up again. "So, where are you guys off to now? The gym in Rustboro?"

"We've already been there," James replied. "But we are heading towards Rustboro City at the moment. Are you heading the same way?"

"I'm going down through the mountains," Hannah replied, shaking her head. She glanced over at Nicola. "But I wanted to let you know about a big contest that's coming up soon. It's ten days away, and in Gharnot Town. I'm really looking forward to it, so it'd be great if we could compete together again."

"Oh! I remember one of our other friends mentioning that to us," said James. "Don't worry – we're planning to head along to Gharnot Town once we've reached Rustboro!"

"I'll definitely be there!" Nicola grinned. "I'm looking forward to seeing more of your performances!"

"Awesome!" Hannah smiled back, gently squeezing Chika against her. "I'm looking forwards to it even more now! It's a shame that we can't travel there together."

"You could come along with us if you wanted," said Richard.

"Well, there's somewhere I need to head to on the way to Gharnot Town anyway," Hannah replied sadly. "Thanks for offering though."

Will looked around the table, noticing that everyone was reaching the end of their meals. "Should we head to the trainers' lounge after this?"

"That sounds like a good idea to me!" James grinned.

"That'll be fun!" Hannah nodded eagerly, turning to Nicola. "There's still so much that I want to talk to you about!"

"Sure!" Nicola replied.

They finished up their food and put their trays away before heading for the trainers' lounge. Despite all the exertions of the day's contest, the conversation kept them from getting tired. It was quite late by the time that they finally got to bed.


Another contest chapter this time, though Nicola and James were both unfortunate in being unable to win a new ribbon. Still, maybe they'll have better luck next time now that Richard and Will actually know how the system works!

I think I did a pretty good job keeping Hannah's role in Chapter 2 minor enough that she stayed under the radar up to this point (in contrast, Corey was more prominent in Chapter 2 – though I suppose it was also a far shorter wait before he was formally introduced as a character). Regardless, James and Nicola now have another rival to deal with in their quest to get to the Grand Festival.

A quick word on next week's upload schedule: since I'm heading away on holiday next Friday, my plan is to upload Chapter 56 of Pokémon Journey: Hoenn on Tuesday and to follow that up with Chapter 15 of Pokémon Journey: Livvi's Johto Scrapbook on Thursday. The week after next there won't be an upload for the above-mentioned reason. Instead, Hoenn will resume uploads in April.

As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and don't forget to leave a like on the Facebook page.

Until next time!


Team Listings:

James Burton:

Active:

Charka (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.

Kacha (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Brick Break and Thunder Wave.

Nulin (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Supersonic and Aerial Ace.

Muro (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Screech and Uproar.

Richard Winter:

Active:

Naro (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

Chena (Mightyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Intimidate ability, knows Take Down, Howl, Swagger and Bite.

Dish (Lombre): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Rain Dance, Growl, Mega Drain and Nature Power.

Arro (Lairon): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Metal Sound, Iron Tail, Iron Defence and Take Down.

Vortex (Baltoy): genderless, lonely, sturdy body, likes spicy food, ground-psychic type, Levitate ability, knows Rapid Spin, Psybeam, Mud Slap and Rock Tomb.

Nicola Hewitt:

Active:

Kipa (Marshtomp): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water-ground type, Torrent ability, knows Take Down, Bide, Mud Shot and Water Gun.

Mushy (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.

Zaggy (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Rest, Headbutt and Dig.

Tricky (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Bite, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.

Mule (Numel): female, docile, often lost in thought, eats anything, fire-ground type, Oblivious ability, knows Ember, Magnitude, Amnesia and Take Down.

Will Burton:

Active:

Toya (Wartortle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Rapid Spin, Bite, Water Gun and Ice Beam.

Turkey (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Double Team and Fly.

Gulpy (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Amnesia, Sludge and Poison Gas.

Blue (Bagon): female, adamant, proud of its power, likes spicy food, dragon type, Rock Head ability, knows Leer, Focus Energy, Ember and Headbutt.