The Hearthome Contest
"It's great to be back, I missed Sinnoh!" Zach breathed out as he walked out of the Hearthome City Airport alongside May and Dawn, a bright smile across his face as he looked towards the familiar Starly filled sky above, not a single Pidgey or Spearow in sight!
"It's great having company this time!" May wrapped her arm around her boyfriend's as she leaned her head against his. "It's going to be way more fun exploring the region with the two of you!"
"You've got that right but first I've got another Pokemon Contest to compete in!" Dawn exclaimed, her left arm was wrapped around Zach's right arm while her free hand retrieved her Rotom Phone. "There's a Pokemon Contest being held here today and considering I've only got the Floaroma Ribbon, I can't afford to miss out!"
"Which is perfectly fine, there's no need to rush things!" Zach chuckled before planting a kiss on her cheek. "We've still got plenty of time to gather the remaining badges!" That and while he had unlimited shots at obtaining badges before the Sinnoh League started up, Dawn had a select amount as Contests only occurred a set number of times! It would be insensitive to just race on ahead to the next town, he could afford to wait!
Dawn gave her boyfriend an affectionate look before glancing down at her feet. "Though there is one troubling factor..."
"What's that?"
"Fantina's competing..." Dawn muttered with a worrisome expression.
"Fantina?" May questioned with a light head tilt.
"Fantina?" Zach tilted his head as well before it sank in. "Oh right, she's not just a Gym Leader but a Coordinator as well!"
Dawn slowly nodded while continuing to look unsure of herself. "Right, she competed in Contests alongside my mother and was one of her top rivals. P-Perhaps I should skip this one, I don't stand a chance against her!"
"Why? She's been out of the Contest scene for as long as your mother, right?" Zach questioned, not knowing for certain as he didn't stay up to date on Contest information. "That shouldn't be a problem, even pros get rusty and wind up losing! Like Professor Oak, he used to be the Kanto Champion in the days before Lance but back then the Elite Four were so strong that trainers rarely ever beat them and as the years passed his interests began changing towards that of studying Pokemon causing him to neglect actively training his team before he eventually lost his title to the new Champion, Lance! I believe Sonia told me a similar story regarding some guy named Mustard and Gloria but I can't remember the specifics, whatever the point is that you stand a shot at beating Fantina so long as you believe in yourself like I do! Besides she never beat your mom right? It's not like she's her equal or superior!" Zach stated with a sly smirk.
May couldn't help but smirk, finding it cute how the two supported each other like that.
Dawn looked up and gave him a warm smile before placing her lips up against his. "You always know what to say..."
"Well you two were made for each other." Lucario smirked.
"But what about you?" Dawn questioned with a light tilt of her head. "Weren't you going to battle Fantina?"
"Not yet, Mimikyu's Ghost type attacks and Lycanroc's Bite are the only super effective moves I have against Ghost Pokemon at the moment and Fantina's quite skilled when it comes to battling." Zach explained. "I'm going to the Veilstone City and Pastoria City Gyms first, we'll be backtracking here regardless so I might as well battle Fantina when I'm confident that my team's prepared!"
"Understandably reasonable," May remarked with a light smirk. It truly showed how much he cared about his Pokemon, although Fantina was skilled Dawn simply needed to outshine her and not best her in combat.
"Well look who it is!" A familiar mocking tone could be heard as Amelia came into view, a sinister smirk formed across her face and her eyes filled with disgust as she made eye contact with Dawn. "It's the blue haired slut and boyfriend the champion wannabe!"
"I told you to stop calling her that!" Zach snarled, clenching his fists as he shot Amelia a harsh glare. May and Dawn instinctively grabbed hold of his hands to calm him down and Amelia was rather quick to notice.
"What's this?" Amelia's eyes flickered between their hands before uttering a loud mocking laugh. "Ha! As if one slut wasn't enough now you're dating two of them!"
Zach's eyes began to twitch. "They're not sluts... we're dating because we love each other, something you're clearly jealous of!" He didn't mean himself specifically as he wasn't an egomaniac. He meant in general as people probably only liked her for her looks as it clearly wasn't her personality people found attractive, heck she probably had a terrible home life growing up as well!
"That's right, we haven't even done anything of the sort with him yet!" Dawn exclaimed as she latched her arm around his. "He's handsome sure but we're attracted to him for more than just that!"
"Right!" May exclaimed as she latched her arm around his free arm. "And Zach likes us for more than just our bodies, he's the most loyal and caring individual I've met! He helped fend Team Galactic off the wind works without a thought of an reward, helped our friend Cheryl cross the Eterna Forest without even asking for anything when he could have easily asked for money or other services, released an extremely rare Pokemon as he thought it better to help mend the species attitude towards humans rather than fixating on his own desire-"
"Ha! Right and I'm the Kalos Queen!" Amelia rolled her eyes as she shook her head. "There's no way that he caught a rare Pokemon let alone released it! You two are just trying to hide the fact that you're-" Amelia went quiet as Zach showed off his Rotom Phone, showcasing Zarude's Pokedex entry. He could have shown off Zeraora but he was backing his girlfriend up, showing off wasn't his intention.
"As you can see Zarude clearly isn't here," Zach motioned towards his belt. "May's no liar!"
Amelia's eyes widened before she scowled at the three of them. "Just you wait, once I beat the Grand Festival you'll regret choosing these two sluts over me!"
"No I won't, they could get eliminated right off the bat and I'd still love them!" Zach countered.
Dawn flashed him an affectionate smile as her grip tightened around his arm. "Right and regardless if he wins the Sinnoh League or not, he's still our Champion!" Dawn exclaimed while May nodded in agreement.
Amelia scoffed and rolled her eyes at that. "Sure sure, well best of luck beating Fantina. I'm out of here!"
"Hold up, you're not competing?" Dawn couldn't help but question. "But you don't have five ribbons yet!"
"Sounds to me like she's scared of going up against Fantina." May couldn't help but smirk.
"I-I'm not scared!" Amelia countered with a rather anxious tone, her eyes flickered as she avoided eye contact with the trio. "It's just that... I've got some rather important Kalos Queen business to take care of!"
"Didn't you lose to Serena?" Zach questioned.
"Gah!" Amelia's cheeks turned bright red as she shot the three murderous looks. "It just so happens that they revealed a miscount, I'm the actual winner as if there was any doubt!" Though it was clear that she wasn't being truthful as she quickly left.
Dawn couldn't help but giggle lightly before turning to face the others. "Well I have to admit beating her again would have been nice but at least we don't have to deal with her attitude today!"
"Good afternoon Hearthome City, I'm your favorite MC Marian and today we've got quite the treat for you as Hearthome City's very own Gym Leader Fantina will be competing in her first Contest for over a decade!" Marian exclaimed followed shortly by the loud cheers of the crowd. "And it just so happens that she'll be starting off the appeal round so put your hands together for Fantina!"
The crowd cheered loudly as an older woman with quite the unusual hairstyle took the stage while wearing quite the large and purple dress that appeared to be fashioned after Drifblim!
"Drifblim, Mismagius take the stage my darlings!" Fantina did a twirl as she tossed two Pokeballs into the air.
"Drifblim!" The Ghost balloon cried as she hovered about her trainer.
"Mismagius!" Mismagius burst out alongside her trainer.
"Mismagius be a dear and use Thunderbolt, Drifblim use Psychic!"
"Mismag!" Mismagius' body began sparking with electricity before she fired a powerful bolt of electricity up into the air above the stage! Drifblim's eyes turned blue as she halted the attack in place before tearing it apart with a loud cry, sending various sparks of electricity raining down upon the field as the crowd let out a cheer!
Dawn couldn't help but shake as she watched from backstage, the power radiating off her attacks sure was intimidating!
"Wow that Fantina sure is powerful," May commented.
"Yeah, makes me glad I'm not foolish enough to battle her." Zach chuckled lightly.
"And a perfect ten all across the board! Well folks it looks like Fantina will be advancing to the battle stage but our other coordinators may still have a shot at winning here so let's see what they've got in store for us!"
Dawn took a quick look around the room, it appeared that neither Nando or Zoey were present though she suspected that it was simply due to schedule conflicts. Anyone she recognized were Coordinators that rarely advanced past the appeal round let alone the first portion of the battle stage but that wasn't reason to get a full head, anyone of them could have improved since last time and she still needed to out perform Fantina in order to take home the ribbon which certainly wouldn't be an easy feat!
Eventually it was Dawn's turn and the crowd cheered as she took the stage.
"Go Dawn, you can do it!" Zach leaped up from his seat to cheer his girlfriend on.
"Scor!"
"Car!"
Dawn blushed and gave him and May a quick wave before turning her attention to the stage.
"Cyndaquil and Piplup, spotlight!"
"Cynda!"
"Piplup!" The two cried as they burst from their Pokeball!
"Piplup use Whirlpool, Cyndaquil blast on into it with Flame Wheel!" Piplup wouldn't be using the attack at full power though since Cyndaquil was significantly weaker. They'd practiced the technique beforehand so there was no risk of harm coming to Cyndaquil!
Piplup raised his flippers into the air as the whirlpool began forming from his beak. Piplup then launched it across the field and Cyndaquil quickly followed up by engulfing his body in flames, repeatedly spinning about in place before shooting off into the whirlpool creating a beautiful vortex of water and fire!
"Quil!" Cyndaquil rocketed out of the vortex and landed safely on all fours as the crowd burst into cheers.
"Ten, nine point five and another ten! Very impressive!" Marian exclaimed before taking a glance towards the screen. "And that brings an end to the appeal round, we'll be back shortly with the battle round!"
"Oh that was très fantastique!" Fantina approached Dawn as she returned to the backstage area, her hands clapped together as she spoke with a very strong Kalos accent.
"Thank you Fantina, that means a lot coming from you." Dawn politely bowed.
"I should have recognized you before, you're the daughter of Johanna Berlitz!" Fantina exclaimed. "I must say that you're quite the talented Coordinator and the mirror image of your mother when she was your age, I do hope that luck favors us cause I'm most interested in seeing how you fare against me!"
"Likewise, I've heard some things from my mother and I'm curious and also slightly nervous as to how my skills compare against you!" Dawn admitted with a nervous smile.
"Don't be nervous, darling! I'm sure you'll do quite fantastique!" Fantina exclaimed with a bright smile.
And sure enough her words rang true, Dawn and her advanced to the battle stage portion of the Contest and both excelled against some rather unnoteworthy opponents before reaching the finals!
"And here we are folks, the finals of the Hearthome Contest!" Marian lifted her arms as she excitedly shouted. "Dawn Berlitz will be facing off against her mother's old rival, how will she fare? Let's find out!"
"Mismagius and Drifblim, come out my darlings!" Fantina threw the Pokeballs into the air as she twirled about!
"Lopunny and Piplup, spotlight!"
"Lopun!"
"Piplup!"
"Great, she remembered type advantage!" Zach stated with a smile. Lopunny being out there helped protect her from Ghost attacks although the attacks would still deal a hit to Dawn's score, at least it wouldn't potentially knock her out on account of the power scale difference!
"Drifblim dear use Psychic! Mismagius my sweet, follow up with Magical Leaf!"
"Lopunny obscure their view with Blizzard!"
"Lopun!" Lopunny threw out her arms as a fierce blizzard spread across the battlefield, Mismagius' leaves quickly shriveled up and fell while Drifblim's eyes scanned through the snow in an attempt to locate a target. Her eyes soon landed upon a target causing her eyes to glow blue as she locked on before quickly slamming it against the ground!
"Mismag!" Mismagius grunted.
"Oh?" Fantina's eyes widened as the blizzard died out. Fantina already lost a good portion of her score with Dawn only taking a very light hit. Fantina rubbed her chin. "Quite the fantastique strategy for a Coordinator!"
"Well my boyfriend and I do practice together, I picked up on a few things." Dawn giggled out.
"That'd be Cynthia's nephew? I heard that you two were close, well you'll definitely need the strategy against me but I can be quite unpredictable!" Fantina smirked as a glint appeared in her eye. "I specialize in Ghost types for a reason after all!"
"Drifblim use Phantom Force!" Drifblim suddenly vanished from sight. Dawn shot a quick look around but didn't have much time to think as Mismagius prepared an electrical blast!
"Piplup use Whirlpool! Lopunny use Thunder Punch on the vortex!"
"Piplup!" Piplup launched another whirlpool across the field and Lopunny swiftly lashed out with an electrical punch, causing the water vortex to become electrified as it soared towards Mismagius!
Piplup let out a cry as he was shocked with electricity, his breath began growing heavy after the attack wore off while Mismagius shrieked as the watery vortex sucked her right in and gave her an electrical shock while flinging her body about before hurling her out!
"Mismag!" Mismagius hit the ground with a grunt and slowly rose as Fantina now had less than half her points remaining!
"Drifblim show yourself my dear and use Explosion!"
"Blim!" Drifblim appeared right behind Piplup and Lopunny, Lopunny noticed and acted swiftly as Drifblim began glowing bright yellow. Rather than save herself, she delivered a swift kick to Piplup and sent him comically flying through the air to safety as her and Drifblim were engulfed by a massive explosion which took a greater amount of points from Dawn than Fantina despite her taking her own Pokemon out!
Fantina had roughly about one tenth of her score remaining while Dawn had three fourths of hers however Piplup was on the verge of passing out while Mismagius appeared to still be healthy indicating she had be around at least half health!
"Quite fantastique, Mismagius let's wrap this up with Thunderbolt!"
"Piplup use Ice Beam on the battlefield!"
"Oh?" Fantina tilted her head and watched as Piplup covered the field in ice. The penguin then quickly hopped onto his belly and slid across the field, the thunderbolt struck where he'd been standing moments ago and sent ice flying through the air!
"That's new..." May commented.
"I helped come up with the idea," Zach explained with a light smirk. "It was a strategy I had planned in case I ever captured an Empoleon, the species might be slow at running but they're quite fast on their stomachs especially when you factor in ice!"
"Now let's end this with Drill Peck!" Piplup's beak glowed a bright white color as he leaped into the air and began rapidly spinning, his body propelled through the air and struck Mismagius, stripping Fantina of her remaining points as Mismagius was knocked away!
Mismagius shook it off before looking up in disappointment as a loud chime echoed across the Contest Hall!
"And there you have it folks, Dawn Berlitz has proven herself the victor and earned herself the Hearthome Ribbon!" Marian exclaimed as she approached Dawn, handing her the ribbon before turning back to the crowd with a wave. "The next Pokemon Contest will be quite some distance so you'll all see quite a vastly different cast of Coordinators, until then this is MC Marian signing off!"
Dawn stared at the ribbon, a bright smile spread across her face as she shook from excitement. She finally won another ribbon and was one step closer to the Grand Festival and her goal!
"Piplup pip!"
"Your right Piplup, definitely couldn't do it without you!" Dawn chuckled as she gave his head a light pat.
"Madame that was très fantastique! I'm quite glad that we were able to face off against one another, it was even more exciting than facing off against your mother! I'm sure you'll definitely reach her level if not exceed it in no time!" Fantina exclaimed, clasping her hands as she approached Dawn.
"Thank you Fantina, it was a great honor getting to compete against you and my Pokemon and I had quite the blast as well!"
"Piplup!" Piplup tapped his chest, Fantina giggled lightly at his reaction before turning her attention towards Dawn once more.
"I'm eager to see where you go from here and I'm quite interested in facing off against your boyfriend when it comes to it, it sounds like he'll be quite the trainer someday! I bet the battle will be très fantastique!"
Hahaha, they seriously released another Legends teaser on the day I was finishing up a chapter? Wow. Based on the description it sounds like we'll be getting a Hisuian regional form for Zorua, perhaps Ice/Dark? Needless to say I loved the horror element to the teaser!