I have finally returned! Boy was this chapter hard to write for me for no particularly good reason. Most of the time when I went to write this chapter I just had little to no motivation to write so I would only get a few sentences in before I decided to move on to something else. Trust me that I don't plan to have this be the normal amount of time between chapters and I hope you still enjoy.

Disclaimer: Pokémon does not belong to me.


Brendan walked through the doors and was overtaken by the high energy vibe. Tons of vibrant colors with decorations and lights and loud music playing in the distance somewhere.

"Welcome to my world!" Lisia excitedly stated.

Everyone stopped to look as soon as she spoke. Fans excitedly cheered and fellow contenders greeted her.

"Wow…you really are that popular huh?" Brendan asked.

"I'm the top idol in Hoenn and I found it was easier to get here by being friendly than by putting others down. I don't think I have any enemies now that I think about it." She explained.

"So you got here by being friendly? Or were you 'friendly'?" Brendan teased, pumping his eyebrows suggestively.

"I know I said most Idols are whores but I'll have you know I've only slept with my boyfriends and I've only dated in my age range." She said, puffing her cheeks out in frustration at him.

She walked him up to the big counter in the middle and got him registered. She then dragged him off to the changing rooms to which she had her own private one. Once in she shut the door and placed Brendan in the center of the room and circled him like a Swellow looking for the right moment to strike.

"Umm…what are you doing?" Brendan asked, clearly uncomfortable with the smoldering hot gaze she was giving every inch of him.

"I'm thinking, now shut up…wait I got it! We'll have you go with the bad boy rockstar look!" She exclaimed as she ran to a phone in the room. Moments after hanging the phone up there was a knock on the door and in rolled a hanging rack filled with clothes. Lisia very quickly browsed through them and pulled a few articles out. With hands full of clothes she turned to Brendan.

"Ok now strip." She commanded.

"If you say that a bit more sexy I might actually do it." Brendan said, giving her a wink.

"Yeah no. Be flirty all you want later but this is business. I only have a short time to make you an expert in contests so hurry up and strip." She explained and put her foot down.

Brendan gulped nervously. She had a scary side apparently. It only took Lisia a minute before she had him in his new outfit. He wore a long sleeve red leather jacket accented with fur around the collar. He wore it unzipped over a black t-shirt with yellow and green highlights. Ripped jeans with a chain loop hanging off really helped bring the bad boy look together. Lisia also forbade him to wear his hat and put two little feathers in his hair.

"Damn…you got one hell of an eye for fashion." Brendan complimented after seeing himself in the mirror.

"Thanks now pay attention because we only have an hour until you go one and I need to explain how contests work and give you tips on winning." Lisia said with a pretty serious look on her face.

Brendan was going to sigh but remembered what's at stake here. If he loses Chaz is going to get a lewd pin up calendar of his girlfriend and that's something he really did not want happening. He sat up straight in his chair and was ready to absorb all of Lisia's wisdom.

"Ok so contests are basically to show off your Pokémon's looks and skills and there are 5 different categories of contests. Smart, Cool, Tough, Cute and Beauty. Whichever one you enter you compete to show off that aspect in your Pokémon. There are also different ranks with each of the 4 contest halls across Hoenn housing a different rank. Verdanturf hosts the normal rank, Fallarbor has the super rank, here lies the hyper rank and Lilycove puts on the master rank contests. You can't compete in a higher rank without winning the lower rank first." Lisia explained.

"Why are we doing this here then? If I'm not ranked, shouldn't I be competing in Verdanturf?" He asked.

This is a special exhibition put on with my promotion. Your rank doesn't affect it nor does winning it put your rank up. Now send you Pokémon out so we can determine which one to enter." She further explained. Brendan threw his trio out and Lisia was shocked when she saw Kirlia.

"When did she evolve?" She asked.

"Did I not tell you? I ran into Team Aqua at the nautical museum and she evolved from all the fights. That's why I showed up last minute." He answered.

Lisia stared blankly at him for a second before continuing.

"Grovyle could definitely do well in a cool contest and Poochyena probably wouldn't do bad in a cute contest but you're true star here is Kirlia. She has such natural beauty plus she's a shiny Pokémon." Lisia said, sizing up all his Pokémon.

Kirlia blushed and looked away at the compliment. The next hour was filled with tips and strategies from Lisia then suddenly it was show time. Brendan caught Chaz's gaze backstage and he smiled devilishly.

"This is not going to be a fair contest." He thought.

The lights dimmed and then a spotlight lit up the center of the stage. There stood Lisia, silent and waiting. The contest hall grew silent. It was probably the quietest place Brendan had ever been. Lisia then gestured to the audience with a wink and the place erupted in a thunderous cheer.

"Welcome everyone to this exciting chapter! I call it 'High Stakes Rival Clash! New Faces Take The Stage!'"

After a few seconds of cheering Chaz took the stage as well causing even more cheering.

"Thanks Lisia for that fantastic introduction. Now for those who don't know, Lisia and I have made a bet on the outcome of this contest." Chaz began as he walked into the spotlight with Lisia.

"That's right. One of the contestants in this exhibition show is a fan that I have coached and if he wins Chaz has to perform an embarrassing song and dance about how sorry and wrong he is about this guy!" Lisia explained.

"However if he comes in anywhere from last to second then Lisia has to release a very compromising pin up calendar of herself." Chaz added.

Cheers and whistles howled through the stadium.

"To give my little pupil a fighting chance the contest will be a beauty contest which I specialize in." Lisia continued.

"Now without further adieu let's introduce the contestants!" Chaz cheered to rile up the crowd.

Lisia snapped her fingers and out came the first contestant, a youngster in a sharp black tuxedo.

"Allow me to introduce Grant! He's fairly new on the contest scene with a consistent score of third place but can he turn the tides on this exhibition match?" Lisia hyped up.

He took out his pokeball and effortlessly spun it on his index finger. With a flick of his wrist the ball flew up in an ark and landed on the stage releasing in a flash of light and pink bubbles that slowly floated up around his Illumise. Brendan thought back to the first lesson Lisia told him.

"Ok so you might just think that the introduction is exactly what it says it is but you'd be wrong. The contest starts the second your foot hits that stage. You are judged on how you carry yourself, how you send your Pokémon out and how your Pokémon carries itself." Lisia lectured.

"Ok but my outfit falls more in the cool category. Will I lose points for that?" He asked.

"No. You yourself are not judged on the contests type. You are judged on confidence and performance. For example if you're nervous or trip on stage you'll lose points." She clarified.

Brendan nodded in understanding and let her continue.

"Your Pokémon is judged on the contest type though. Looking at Kirlia I don't think she needs any pointers in beauty though." Lisia complimented.

Kirlia blushed and looked really happy at the compliment.

"Now this clear case is what's known as a capsule and these stickers are called seals. By putting your pokeball in one and putting seals on it you can have a variety of effects when the seals break upon sending out your Pokémon. We never used to use these but ever since Sinnoh popularized them, not using one is basically a death sentence to last place." She finished explaining.

Back to the contest Brendan was analyzing the first contestant's entrance.

"His Pokémon and the seal he used were both beautiful although I think the bubbles are more cute. Also the way he threw the pokeball was definitely cool but that's not the name of the game. That shouldn't be too hard to beat." Brendan went over in his head.

"Up next is Hailey! She's also a newcomer who missed out on first in her first contest by only a single point! She's definitely the one to look out for in my opinion." Lisia continued to introduce.

Out walked a girl with a slim fitting ankle length blue dress with a slit up one side to expose her leg. She got to the center of the stage, did a twirl and threw her pokeball straight up. It opened in mid air and shot a rain of blue lasers to the ground as her Zigzagoon posed in mid air and dropped to the stage as well.

"Wasn't that impressive? Now allow me to introduce the next one. A completely blank canvas to contests so her potential is endless! Give it up for Sara!" Chaz introduced.

In came a petite girl in a strapless pink ball gown with countless jewels bedazzling her upper chest all the way up to her neck with a few on her face too. She also wore a simple silver tiara. Lisia was staring intensely at her face. Something about this girl was oddly familiar. Sara reached the center of the stage and did a small little twirling dance where she released the pokeball mid spin to give it an almost impossible curve that caused it to circle her. It was at this moment that Lisia pieced together what was familiar about this girl. The pokeball opened with a surge of beautiful purple fire which her Vulpix ran through to cloak her body. Landing fully engulfed in purple fire the Vulpix shook it off like it was water sending sparkly purple embers floating around her.

"Brendan…you're going to have a lot harder of a time than I thought." Lisia told him.

"Why is that?" He asked.

"This girl isn't a newbie. Her name isn't even Sara. I didn't recognize her at first but after seeing that signature pokeball throw I have no doubts. This is Rosa, a Hyper Rank beauty coordinator." Lisia explained.

Brendan looked a bit shocked. Looking back to the stage he caught Chaz's smug gaze for a second.

"So this is what he meant by sabotaging me." Brendan thought.

As "Sara" walked by Chaz to get off the stage he shot her a deadly glare as to tell her she fucked up. The poor girl looked scared to death.

"It's a bit unexpected but we'll roll with it. If you can beat this even after Chaz brought in an expert then he'll look even worse and you'll rise in popularity!" She said more fired up than before.

Before Brendan could say anything she ran up on stage. He then could hear Chaz and Rosa talking so he decided to listen in.

"You stupid, useless girl! I specifically told you to not draw attention to yourself but then you go and use your signature throw?!" Chaz yelled at her.

"I…I'm so sorry Chaz but you said to make sure I beat him so I pulled out all the stops." She tried defending herself.

"Yeah but the point of disguising you was to catch Brendan off guard! Lisia recognized you and warned him so now the element of surprise is gone! Not to mention she's going to use this to embarrass me even further by telling everyone I had to cheat and still couldn't win!" He continued yelling and struck her across the face.

She let out a little yelp and fell on her butt. Unfortunately nobody else was there to witness it besides Brendan.

"I'm so sorry! I'll make sure I win! I won't embarrass you!" She was practically begging.

Chaz grabbed her by the throat and slammed her against the wall.

"You better or I will release the little sex tape you made me." He threatened.

"Bastard…I didn't even know you were recording…" She growled at him.

"Do you think anyone would believe you over me? Either do what I ask or I will ruin your reputation. Your choice." He told her before letting go of her neck.

"What choice…if my parents see that tape they're going to kill me…" She said, glaring at him.

"Sounds like it's not my problem." Chaz said as coldly as possible.

Brendan was taken aback by the whole interaction. This man was a sociopath.

"Alright everyone! It's time for the man of the hour! I've put all my eggs in this basket with how confident I am in his ability. Give it up for Brendan Ruby!" Lisia cheered.

Brendan was shook out of his shock by the cheering and ran to enter the stage. He stopped right before heading on and took a deep breath.

"Alright…you got this. Above all else, remain confident." He psyched himself up.

He stepped out onto the stage and you couldn't tell he was a newbie. He walked like he owned the stadium. The cheers went silent as his presence captivated the crowd. Even Lisia was speechless. He shot her a sly wink as he walked by causing her knees to quiver a little before she stopped herself. Chaz was backstage almost popping a blood vessel in anger.

"That bastard! He's using Aura across the stadium making his confidence almost palpable to everyone here!" He screamed in his head.

Brendan reached the center stage and looked over the crowd. It was still silent as everyone was anticipating what he'll do next. He cracked a small grin then took an exaggerated pitcher's pose. With his left leg all the way up he slammed it down and looked like he was about to biff his pokeball into the audience. He however followed further into the motion until he had turned back on to the audience and shot the pokeball straight up in the air with a crazy amount of spin and height. At the peak while still spinning intensely the ball opened causing pink rose petals to go flying out in a vortex pattern. At the eye of the petal storm was Kirlia, floating elegant with telekinesis. Her legs crossed to stand on a single invisible point, her arms out in front of her with a bend and her eyes closed.

"What?! A shiny Pokémon?!" Chaz exclaimed in shock.

The audience gasped seeing Kirlia's blue beauty. They also noticed that the petal vortex was slowing down but not falling. It got slower and slower until it came to a dead stop. Kirlia then shot her eyes open and the petals began spinning the other way. She began slowly floating down while doing a ballet routine. With each move she made the petals moved and spun in different directions. As she got close to the stage she began spinning herself around causing the petals to spin around her in a dense tornado. After a second or two of this she posed to blow a kiss to the audience, sending the petals out towards them. It was dead silent for a solid five seconds but then the stadium erupted in the loudest cheer that night.

"Wow! I don't think we need a judge to tell us who won the introduction round! I haven't heard cheers like that in a while." Lisia said, moving things along.

A screen on the back of the stage displayed the results. Forth was Hailey, third was Grant, second was Sara and of course first was Brendan. As Brendan walked backstage for a short break in between rounds he immediately felt Chaz's deadly glare.

"You bastard. Using Aura without disclosing it first is a clear violation of the rules." Chaz confronted him.

"Is it really undisclosed? It says right here on my Trainer Card that I'm a Gym Leader Class Trainer. Also, so what if it's cheating? You entered a seasoned veteran into this contest under the guise of a newbie. I would say that's pretty against the rules too." Brendan told him smugly.

"You're messing with the wrong man Ruby. I will make you regret it." Chaz threatened.

"You may have caught me off guard with all that info you got on me but I'm not scared of you. All I see is a spoiled rich brat who's so insecure he can't even fight his own battles up front. You say I'm messing with the wrong man? Well I say the same to you. I'm going to make you pay for trying to ruin Brawly's life." Brendan threatened back.

Chaz was fuming. Out of all the people he targeted no one had ever stepped up to him like that.

"You've made a huge mistake Brendan Ruby. I will find a way to break you." Chaz said to himself.

Brendan headed to the break area with the other contestants and immediately approached Sara. She was sweating thinking he was going to hurt her.

"Hey. What exactly is Chaz holding over you? I overheard your conversation earlier and I'm also aware that he can be quite nasty." Brendan asked in a soft, concerned tone.

She was taken aback by this but she could see the genuine concern in his eyes.

"He got me drunk and took advantage of me. He then recorded the whole thing and is blackmailing me with it. It wouldn't be so bad if you could tell I didn't want it but drunk me is quite the slut so the video looks consensual." She explained.

Brendan bit his tongue in anger.

"Does that man even have a fucking soul? Anyway, do you know where this video is being kept?" Brendan asked.

"Umm it's on a flash drive in his changing room…why do you want to know that?" She told him, a little confused.

"Because I don't intend to lose this thing but I can't in good conscience let him do that to you. I'll have my partner here steal and destroy it." Brendan explained while sending out Grovyle.

Grovyle looked at the girl and gave a thumbs up to say to leave it to him. He then jumped up into the rafters and went on his way. Before Sara could say anything they were called back to the stage.

"Guess it's show time." Brendan smiled at her.

Grovyle had found Chaz's dressing room but Chaz and some random bruiser looking guy was there. It was a security guard. Grovyle shouldn't have any trouble with him but he needed Chaz to leave. Chaz was pretty perceptive and if even a glimpse of Grovyle was seen he'd use it to bury Brendan somehow. Luckily he was just called back to the stage. This was Grovyle's only chance.

"Welcome back everyone! Hope you're ready for this chapter, Exciting Main Course! Who Will Blow Us Away?!" Lisia cheered to rile up the crowd.

"Who indeed! Let's welcome our contestants back to the stage!" Chaz played along.

The contestants filed back on stage and were smiling and waving to the crowd. Chaz caught Brendan's glance and he had an evil smile on.

"What the hell does that piece of crap have planned?" Chaz thought to himself.

Backstage Grovyle was assessing the area. He saw a single camera pointing to Chaz's room. A single bullet seed took it out but that caught the guard's attention.

"Huh? Was that camera just shot out? I better report thi…" He said before falling unconscious.

Grovyle had jumped down behind and hit him in the back of the neck. He searched the guard for a key but came up short. Now he had to try and pick a lock on his own.

"Alright now for a run down of the rules for anyone who's not familiar!" Lisia cheered.

"Each contestant will take turns using moves to try and impress the judges. After all 4 contenders have gone, that ends a round." Chaz began explaining.

"There will be 5 rounds. The order of who goes first will be from last to first for the first round but the other rounds after will be decided by your performance in the previous one." Lisia finished explaining.

"That means first up will be Hailey! Sweep us off our feet!" Chaz introduced.

Hailey stepped up and sent out her Zigzagoon.

"Ok Zigs! Let's start off strong with Swift!" She called out.

Brendan thought back to his training with Lisia again.

"Ok so the main bulk of the contest comes down to that stage. Now you can just use a move regularly and that's fine but you won't get many points for that. You got to give it a unique spin. Also if you keep using the same move the judges will mark it harsher and harsher so you gotta remember to keep it fresh." Lisia explained to him.

Brendan had it in his mind to remain flashy and fresh. Zigzagoon jumped in the air and began spinning around. The stripe pattern on him made it kinda hypnotic then stars began shooting out in all directions. After getting a certain distance from Zigzagoon they would explode into smaller stars and gently fall to the ground.

"Oh my! She may not have made much of an impression in the first round but she sure made a comeback here! The judges look very impressed." Lisia commented.

Over at Chaz's dressing room Grovyle had gotten a twig from somewhere and was using it to pick the lock. It took him a couple of minutes but he eventually got it. As he slowly opened the door something in his head told him to stop. He poked his head through the small gap he already made and saw a trip wire tied to the door handle. He began to sweat a bit at how cartoonishly guarded and paranoid this man was.

"Oh too bad on that one. With Illumise tripping and accidentally sleep powdering a judge, Grant has taken a real bad hit to his score." Lisia recapped with her commentary.

"Well next up is Sara and I'm sure that she has a plan to blow us away." Chaz said then glared at her.

She nervously gulped as her and Vulpix got up on stage. Chaz had an evil smile on and was looking at Brendan. This told him that he put her up to something.

"Alright Vulpix! Show them the beauty of your fire spin!" She cheered.

Vulpix performed a series of beautiful leaps and spins while letting out little bits of fire. This created a path of fire behind her. When she got to the center stage she did one last spin and caused the fire to swirl around her and make a vortex of fire.

"Fire always seems to be so beautiful doesn't it? Now for our last contestant, Brendan!" Chaz hyped up.

Brendan went to step on the stage but the vortex from the fire spin was still there.

"Umm I can't perform with that in the middle." Brendan stated.

"Oh did you not know? Until the round is over you must perform on the stage as is, regardless of any effects left by other moves." Chaz explained.

Brendan was a little shocked then turned to Lisia and glared.

"I'm sorry. We didn't have any more time and this stuff only ever comes up in highly competitive contests." She apologized.

"Sigh…looks like we'll have to improve Kirlia." Brendan shrugged.

He looked around the stage for a second then back to Kirlia.

"Alright I got an idea. Are you ready?" He asked.

Kirlia nodded and began casually walking towards the fire. She just walked right into the vortex like it was nothing. The fire also began shrinking. Everyone was on the edge of their seats wondering what was going on.

"What the hell? How is that Kirlia immune to fire?! Why is the fire disappearing?! Wait…it couldn't be!" Chaz was thinking.

He looked over to Sara and saw her Vulpix was still out.

"Sara! Return your Vulpix now! Kirlia is using its trace ability to copy Vulpix's flash fire ability!" Chaz basically ordered her.

She scrambled to get her pokeball but she couldn't find it.

"What are you waiting for?!" Chaz yelled at her.

"I can't find my pokeball! It's gone!" She yelled back.

They both heard a bark and looked back to see Poochyena with a pokeball in its mouth. He then ran out of sight really quickly. Before Chaz could do anything about it, it was too late. Kirlia had absorbed all the fire with flash fire and was amped up now.

"Now Kirlia, Psybeam! Show them a real vortex of beauty!" Brendan called out.

Kirlia shot the beam which was more powerful thanks to the flash fire boost and used her psychic powers to curve the beam into a beautiful rainbow colored vortex around her. The crowd cheered at the performance. Brendan walked off stage and saw Chaz was fuming.

"You cheated. You used another Pokémon to help you!" Chaz accused.

"Don't know what you're talking about. I let Poochyena out to enjoy the show. Sorry if he managed to get into a little mischief." Brendan responded with a smirk.

"Oh my god Brendan! That was some impressive quick thinking." Lisia ran over and complimented.

One of the judges then walked up to her and handed her an envelope. She immediately went on stage.

"Alright, the judges have decided round 1! In last place unsurprisingly is Grant, who was the only contestant that harmed one of the judges. Third place goes to Sara! Guess the judges found the vortex uninspiring. Second place goes to Brendan, who made the best out of a bad situation! Finally first place goes to Hailey making a surprising comeback from her sub par intro!" Lisia announced.

Lisia stepped off stage and Hailey stepped up to begin round 2. Brendan could see that Chaz was glaring at Sara.

"Come on Grovyle. We're running out of time." Brendan said in his head.

Grovyle was finally in the room after realizing he could just slide the trip wire off the handle. The trap only works if you don't know it's there. He quickly looked around and didn't see any cameras which was a relief. Just as he started to relax however, he saw a shadow from over him and felt a warm breath on his head leaf. He slowly turned around to find a very angry looking Machoke. This just was not Grovyle's day.


Things are heating up a little bit. I was originally going to make the contest one chapter but then that there is actually enough here for two. Hopefully it doesn't take me another half a year to write a new chapter. Kanto Region's new chapter is about half way done so y'all can look forward to that soon…ish.