Chapter 10: Emerald vs. Dawn
It seemed strange for Emerald that she was feeling as calm and settled as she was now despite the Grand Final being an hour away. It was as if her win over Avery had taken all the excitement and anxiety out of her and now all she could do was wait contently for the final to start. It wasn't hard to figure out why that was. Because Avery was gone and the final was between her and Dawn, Emerald knew that Tony's life was as good as saved as no matter who won today, the money would be his regardless. Maybe it was the fact that both girls were competing for the same goal as to why Emerald felt like she could relax. There was no reason to be stressed or anxious if her opponent was also in it for Tony's sake.
Ruby noticed this and just gave Emerald a soft smile of reassurance.
"Bet it feels much better for you knowing that you don't have to worry about Tony anymore." the silver-haired girl said kindly.
"Oh I won't stop worrying for him!" Emerald piped, "I know he's as good as saved now it's just me and Dawn left, but that doesn't mean I can't still be concerned for him. I'm his bestie, it's my job to worry for my friends! But anyway, it does take the pressure of me now it's just me and Dawn left." she agreed, "I couldn't have asked for a better match-up to finish off my first time in a Pokémon Contest."
"Y'know what, sis? I don't think I could've either!" Ruby concurred, "A part of me even hoped it would be you two in the final, even if I would've loved to have another battle with you. Even before Tony ended up in the hospital, I wanted the final to be between you and either me or Dawn. It would've been the perfect way to finish the show, and I got just what I asked for!"
"Aww, that's lovely." Emerald said appreciatively, "And I bet me and Dawn will give an epic conclusion to the contest! We're gonna have the audience leaving this stadium completely spellbound!"
"No arguments there, Em!" Ruby chuckled, "I only wish Tony could've been here to watch you both. He'd love to be here now watching you in action."
"The hospital's set up a TV for him so he'll be watching us right now." Emerald noted, "But I get you. Would've been nicer for him to watch us in person, I agree…"
Then suddenly, right at this very moment, Emerald's Rotom phone buzzed to say that she had a new message. She looked at her phone and beamed to see that the very boy she was talking about had sent her a text. It read:
I watched the whole match with you and Avery. You smashed it, my little gem! I bet that stuck-up prat will think twice before messing with you again! I'm still watching the TV right now waiting for the final to start. I bet you and Dawn are going to give us an amazing show!
I know it won't matter who wins, but I really hope it'll be you, Emerald. Best of luck! You'll be shining like a diamond out there!
Tony XXX
"That Tony…he always says the sweetest things." Emerald said with delight.
"I always knew you'd picked a good friend when you first met in school." Ruby agreed, "And I'm glad that his sweet nature hasn't changed at all. I know you two aren't officially a thing yet…but if anyone had to be your boyfriend, I'd be happy it was him."
Emerald blushed but smiled in appreciation. Ruby was right. No boy could be more right for her than Tony Summers! She always felt that niceness was the most important trait for a person to have and her friend certainly had that in him! At least with her and Dawn left to compete for the cash prize, he'd live long enough for them to potentially be a couple.
As Emerald thought this, Dawn approached the two sisters. The Sinnoh girl looked keener than anyone else to get started. Being a coordinator at heart, the next show was always when she felt the most excited, and also anxious to get going.
"The stagehand says we're on in five minutes." Dawn informed, "I dunno about you, but my stomach's in knots right now!"
"Isn't it you who's always telling us "no need to worry"?" Ruby teased.
"Heh, true!" Dawn said sheepishly, "But still, the final is the round I'm always the most nervous about! Literally EVERY contest I've attended gives me that same feeling! I'd have thought I'd be used to it by now, but nope! Another final, another round of nerves!"
"I guess because it's the final round, you know everything hinges on this one last battle whether you win or lose." Ruby suggested, "But I don't think you and Emerald should be nervous. You two great friends giving it your all for the contest! I say you two should have fun out there and make this a contest for the ages!" she cried, punching the air excitedly.
Dawn and Emerald both nodded in agreement.
"I think your sister has the perfect idea!" Dawn said gleefully, "What do you say, Emerald? Let's give it our all but have the best of times together in that arena, win or lose!"
"I couldn't have put that better myself." Emerald said happily, "Here's to us and an amazing final!"
The girls both gave a high-five to one another. For Dawn, this was like when she and Ash had been travelling together. Their high-five had become a little trademark for theirs and it felt fun to have someone else to do it with right here in this contest. The girls had come this far, and they were determined to end the contest with a major bang.
The last five minutes passed and now it was time for Emerald and Dawn to return to the arena where the crowd was waiting for them and Nessa was already there to welcome them back for the final of the contest. She looked genuinely pleased that the final two coordinators were Emerald and Dawn. It was like she knew this was the perfect way to wrap up the show and was glad things had gone just as she'd wanted them to.
"Ladies and gentlemen! I give you, the Hulbury Pokémon Contest Grand Final!" Nessa announced as the crowd cheered ecstatically, "This whole show has been a blast from start to finish with hundreds of talented coordinators to introduce the Galar region to Pokémon Contests! But sadly, all good things must come to an end as they say, but we still have one last match before we wrap things up! Please welcome our final two coordinators, Emerald Silverlock and Dawn Hikari!"
The girls waved to the audience as they screamed their names in excitement. So many people were eager to watch one of them win this battle and it seemed like the crowd was competing to see who's name could be heard the most with the constant chanting going back and forth between them. Emerald and Dawn just took their places and gave a friendly smile to one another.
"May the best coordinator win!" Emerald declared, "And also have lots of fun at the same time!"
"No need to worry, Em!" Dawn said with a wink, "Let's get this show on the road!"
And with that, they chose their Pokémon and called them out to the arena.
"Flossy, let the fun begin!" Emerald called.
"Pingu, spooooooooootlight!" Dawn hollered.
The two Pokémon leapt out of their Pokéballs and appeared right before the audience's eyes, both posing with their arms held out as if to say "Here we are everybody! On with the show!" Ruby had decided to sit in the audience so she could watch the battle with her own eyes instead of on the TV screens in the waiting room. She was surprised to see Emerald had chosen Flossy for this fight. Both she and Dawn had predicted she'd choose Kerchak so both girls could use their starters against each other. But instead, Emerald had picked Flossy. As surprised as she was, Ruby didn't take long to figure out why.
"I'm sure Tony will love to see Emerald using his own Pokémon to finish the show with." she said to herself.
The Champion was right. Over in the hospital, Tony was watching the final now thanks to the doctors providing him a television to watch now he was awake. Seeing Flossy out in the arena with Emerald as her trainer made him smile the biggest smile of his life. It was as if seeing his friend and his Pokémon together was enough to make him forget about his condition for the time being and that nothing could ruin his mood now.
"You do the best you can, my little gem…" he said to himself.
He wasn't the only one watching the final too. Sapphire and Ashley were watching with Mustard and Honey back in the Isle of Armour and Dawn's mother, Joanna, was watching too. All eyes were on the finalists and the battle that was about to determine who was going to be crowned Galar's first ever Master Coordinator. Flossy eyed up her opponent nervously. She'd never seen an Empoleon before as they weren't found in Galar. She thought Pingu looked somewhat menacing with his bladed flippers and bulky appearance. But she didn't want to let her fears ruin her performance. She didn't want to disappoint her trainer, both her original one and the one temporarily using her at this moment. The Alcremie would give it her all and not let some big penguin scare her! Emerald and Dawn waited as the audience fell silent. It felt as if everyone was politely quietening down so Nessa could give the order to go. The model took a moment to let the excitement in the air…and then spoke.
"Coordinators ready…and go!"
The timer on the electronic scoreboard started to tick down. This was it! The final was finally on!
"If you don't mind, we'll take the first shot!" Emerald declared eagerly, "Flossy, use Dazzling Gleam!"
The mint-cream Pokémon held out her hands and conjured up a blinding array of fairy lights that shone brightly. It was still incredible to see how such a small Pokémon could create such a light show. But Pingu seemed to be expecting the move for he'd immediately covered his face with his flippers. The dazzling lights of Flossy's moves reflected on the steel tips around Pingu's flippers, making them shine brightly and ironically making Pingu look more eye-catching as a result. The audience applauded this clever counter, even if Pingu wasn't actually attacking back at this moment. Emerald gasped. She doubted anyone could've seen that coming!
"Look at that shine on his flippers!" Dawn cried merrily, "But Pingu's more than just looks! Let's show your skills by using Hydro Pump!"
Pingu threw his flippers out and took a deep breath as he started to build up his attack. Then he shot his head forward and blasted a huge torrent of water towards his opponent. Ruby winced, thinking back to when Pingu had blasted her off her feet just to put her hair out when Bugs had accidentally set it alight last year. Flossy was too slow to react and she cried out as the Fairy Pokémon was swept away by Hydro Pump. She skidded to a halt on her back and grimaced. She felt wet and sore already and the battle had only just begun. Flossy picked herself up and shook herself dry.
"I h-hope n-nobody minds h-having their cream soggy!" Flossy said feebly.
"Don't worry about it. We can handle a bit of water!" Emerald declared, "Retaliate with Psychic!"
Flossy held out her hands and caught hold of Pingu with Psychic energy. The penguin-like Pokémon was then lifted up off the floor by the Alcremie's attack and before Pingu knew it, Flossy was using Psychic to take him for a spin. Dawn could only gasp helplessly as her Pokémon was spun around and around in a dizzying cartwheel while Flossy concentrated intensely with her powers to keep a tight hold of him. She moved her hands around and around to make Pingu spin. But this gave Dawn an idea.
"Pingu, use Ice Beam while you're spinning around!" she called.
Her Pokémon obeyed and began firing Ice Beam from his beak. As he was spun around, the Ice Beam came out in an icy blue and white trial that followed him around, creating a hypnotic spiral that made the audience stare in wonder. It was like watching a winter dance show with Pingu's act consisting of Ice Beam and spinning to get the show going. Emerald could see that once again, Dawn had turned her Pokémon's attack into a way to make Pingu look good so she had no choice but to tell Flossy to drop him. Flossy stopped spinning her opponent and dropped him…directly on his head! Pingu hit the floor head first and winced as he slumped over onto his back. Luckily for him, his crown like appendages didn't get stuck in the floor. He rubbed his head vigorously to try and get his brain to stop rattling around inside his skull. Emerald gulped. She hadn't meant for that to happen. Would the move be considered illegal and she'd get disqualified? Nessa didn't seem to want to stop the fight so it must be alright, but she was giving Emerald a disapproving look that said "Don't do that again, please". Emerald already knew she didn't want that to happen again as it wouldn't be fair on Dawn if Pingu couldn't carry on fighting because he had a concussion. The Empoleon didn't seem to be in any distress so the fight could continue.
"Sorry about that!" Emerald cried apologetically.
"It's OK Emerald! Pingu's fine!" Dawn insisted, "But maybe try not to do that again, OK?"
"You got it! I don't wanna knock him out as that'd just get me disqualified!" Emerald agreed.
"And we don't want the fight to end like that!" Dawn concurred, "Now Pingu, use Flash Cannon!"
Pingu shook himself off, the pain in his head now completely gone so he could concentrate on his next move. He opened his beak and began to build up his Flash Cannon move. Emerald could see that Dawn was aiming for a super-effective hit to score more points, and unlike Avery's Slowking, Pingu would at least have the decency to hold back to avoid knocking Flossy out by accident. She could even see that Pingu's Flash Cannon wasn't building up as big as she'd seen him do it during training sessions last year. The attack even looked half-sized as if Pingu wanted to really make sure it wouldn't do too much damage. The fact he thought to do that without Dawn even telling him to also showed how well-trained and clever he was, which impressed Emerald even further. Pingu blasted his steel attack towards Flossy. A metallic ball of silver energy leapt out from his beak and rushed madly across the arena to its target, almost homing in on her like a missile. Flossy squealed in fright but Emerald wasn't worried. She quickly commanded the Fairy-type Pokémon to use Mystical Fire to counter attack. Flossy breathed in and blew the flames out just before Flash Cannon could hit. The move worked perfectly as the flames melted away the Flash Cannon as if it were ice-cream that had been left out in the sun too long. Dawn cursed herself for not expecting that. Of course Flossy would counter a Steel-type attack with Mystical Fire! She'd seen her use it enough times to know that was part of her move set!
Despite the successful counter, Emerald knew she couldn't relax yet. There were three minutes remaining already and Dawn had a slight lead so far with Emerald's last move making it so she was a few points behind. She had to start fighting back hard if she wanted a chance to win this battle! She considered her options for the moment. Mystical Fire would do no good as Pingu would just use Hydro Pump or Whirlpool to counter attack. Dazzling Gleam would just be used against her like at the start of the match and Dawn would be expecting another Psychic attack and would use it against her like before. That just left Flossy's fourth move. But what was it? Tony had never told Flossy to use it in any of her performance matches and he hadn't told Emerald or anyone else what her fourth move was. Hopefully it was something useful.
"Hey Flossy, what's your fourth move?" Emerald asked quickly.
"Oh it's Energy Ball!" Flossy replied brightly, "Tony gave me a TR that helped me learn that move as he wanted to give me a way to fight against Water, Rock or Ground types."
"Excellent!" Emerald piped excitedly, "In that case, use Energy Ball right now!"
Flossy obeyed. She held her hands together and began to form a green sphere of energy between them. The audience grew more interested as they hadn't seen Flossy use that move throughout the whole show. Dawn stared incredulously as the little Alcremie charged up her attack. Ruby leaned forward in her seat, interested to see Flossy knew Energy Ball as well as her other moves. Would it work? Flossy drew her arm back and tossed the Energy Ball towards Pingu as if she was pitching in a baseball match. The Grass-type move soared towards Pingu and scored a direct hit. Pingu staggered backwards from the blow. Energy Ball had done a lot of damage and left Pingu feeling weaker from the super-effective hit. His body flashed for a moment to signify that Energy Ball's side-effect had kicked in. When it hit, it had a 10% chance to lower the target's Special Defence. Now Pingu would take more damage from Flossy's attacks than before. Dawn could see that Flossy's Energy Ball was going to make all the difference in this battle. She had to make sure she couldn't use it again!
"I really wasn't expecting that!" Dawn cried, aghast, "Who knew Flossy knew Energy Ball this whole time!"
"Heh, I guess Tony was keeping that to himself all along." Emerald said with a shrug.
"I bet he was planning to surprise one of us with that move before he had to drop out." Dawn theorized, "But we won't be taken aback like that again! Pingu, let's take our opponent for a spin with Whirlpool!"
Pingu held up his flippers and began to create a huge tornado of water out of thin air just above his head. Emerald knew that Dawn would've used that move eventually as Whirlpool was one of Pingu's signature moves, both in performances and battles. The water funnel grew to an impressive size, looking as if it could swallow Pingu himself up with ease and spit him back out again if he lost control. The Empoleon then sent the Whirlpool circling towards Flossy. It homed in on its target, spinning furiously and threatening to snatch her up. Emerald knew exactly how to counter the Whirlpool. She ordered Flossy to use Psychic before it could get her. Flossy obeyed and in the nick of time, was able to catch the Whirlpool with Psychic and stop it dead in its tracks. Then she began waving her arms around to bend the water funnel into various shapes to show off for the audience. Ruby giggled.
"That Emerald sure knows how to make her Pokémon use Psychic creatively!" she chuckled.
She thought back to the previous battle and how Flossy's Psychic attack had managed to screw over Avery's Slowking a few times. Dawn really should've expected that! But to both Ruby and Emerald's surprise…the Sinnoh teen didn't look worried! Maybe she HAD expected that after all! Dawn then fought back by ordering Pingu to use Ice Beam on the Whirlpool as Flossy was making more shapes out of it. The Ice Beam hit the Whirlpool and froze it solid, making everyone stare in awe at the beautiful ice statue that Pingu had just turned his own attack into. It had hit just as Flossy had made it into an eight shape so it looked like a giant frozen number eight that sparkled in the stadium's lights. It hung where it was as Flossy was still holding it with Psychic, but not for long. Dawn ordered Pingu to use Flash Cannon to destroy the ice eight. Emerald couldn't do anything to stop Pingu from scoring a hit. Even if she had Flossy break it apart herself, it would just give Pingu a free shot at Flossy instead so the Fairy-type Pokémon had no choice but to let her opponent destroy the ice eight. Flash Cannon smashed straight through it and broke it apart into shards of ice that sprinkled down to the ground in a pretty sparkling shower. Emerald turned to the scoreboard and saw that that combo had shaved off a huge chunk of her score. Only one quarter of her circle was full while Dawn had one third of a circle left displaying her score! And there was only two minutes left! She had to act now or it was all over!
Emerald then stopped for a moment and scolded herself mentally. Why was she getting so worked up? It didn't matter who won! Whether she won or Dawn won, it was irrelevant as the result would be the same! She was supposed to be having a fun battle with her friend, not trying desperately to win! Emerald began to feel more relaxed with that reminder. Even if winning wasn't important, she would still try and see what she could pull off. There was two minutes left, but those two minutes could easily be enough for her to make a comeback.
"I have to say Dawn, this is one of the most fun battles I've ever had!" Emerald cried joyfully.
"You and me both!" Dawn concurred gleefully, "I'm having a blast out here! I have to say, you've caught onto coordinating really well!"
"It helps I had a great teacher!" Emerald complimented, "And now it's time for the student to show what she's learnt! Flossy, use Energy Ball again!"
Flossy conjured up the green energy sphere again and threw it straight towards Pingu. Dawn just smiled cockily. Did Emerald really think she'd let Flossy score a direct hit like that again? No super-effective hit would land on Pingu again! She ordered her Pokémon to use Ice Beam to freeze the Energy Ball and stop it dead in its tracks. Ice Beam was the perfect counter to a Grass-type move like Energy Ball. But Dawn couldn't have guessed that Emerald would be ready for that counter. Just as Ice Beam was about to hit, Emerald ordered Flossy to use Psychic at the last second to move Energy Ball out of the way. The sphere dodged to the side, leaving Pingu's Ice Beam to shoot straight past it. Everyone gasped in amazement. Such split-second acting like that was incredible and showed how well-trained Flossy really was alongside how resourceful Emerald was to think so quickly on her feet like that! Dawn was left staring open-mouthed as Flossy's Energy Ball dodged Pingu's Ice Beam. Flossy then commanded the ball to dance around Pingu, almost like she was taunting him, and Pingu could only watch helplessly as he tried to predict when the ball would shoot towards him. Then suddenly, the Energy Ball launched into Pingu as if it had been shot out of a cannon and it came in so quickly and suddenly that Pingu had no time at all to react. He was launched off his feet by the attack and he landed heavily onto his back, grimacing from the impact. The clever dodge tactics and clean hit now brought Dawn's score down to the same as Emerald's. The girls could both feel the tension rising now. They were neck and neck and time was almost out! This battle really was going down to the wire!
Pingu picked himself up despite the pain he was in from that last onslaught. Emerald could see that the penguin Pokémon was starting to wear so she would have to avoid using Energy Ball directly again so as not to accidentally knock Pingu out. She'd have to use it to counter rather than attack from now on. Now Pingu was back on his feet, Dawn ordered him to use Hydro Pump again. He opened his beak and blasted a torrent of water towards Flossy. Flossy retaliated by using Energy Ball again. She threw the green sphere and it ploughed straight through the gush of water rushing towards her. But it didn't hit Pingu as Dawn ordered him to flop down on his belly and slide towards Flossy. He did so, ducking down under the Energy Ball and sliding like a penguin across the ice towards his opponent. Hulbury Stadium had a very smooth floor so sliding was no problem for Pingu. He came in so fast that Flossy couldn't stop him in time and the large Pokémon shot past her. He held his flipper out so he ended up tripping the creamy Pokémon up as he slid past. Flossy landed flat on her face and grunted from the hit. Pingu dug his claws into the floor so he could perform a U-turn and slide back towards Flossy. He rushed towards his opponent and ploughed into her a second time. He looked like a speedboat scything through the ocean as it sped through the water. Flossy cried out as she was hit a second time and Pingu performed another U-turn as he slid towards her again. But Dawn ordered him to stop as she didn't want his attacks to become too predictable and give Emerald a chance to counter. Pingu jumped back to his feet and just as Flossy was standing back up, Dawn ordered her starter Pokémon to use Whirlpool.
This time, Flossy would have no chance of countering as she was still standing back up from being tripped up twice. Pingu used Whirlpool and as he was standing very close, his attack landed before Emerald had chance to even utter a word to her Pokémon. Flossy was swept up in the swirling vortex of water and she could only cry out feebly as she was spun around. She imagined this was what being in a washing machine was like. Emerald watched Flossy spin around helplessly. What could she do while her Pokémon was trapped in this whirlpool? Dawn had her pinned and at Pingu's mercy! But maybe there was a way to turn things in her favour. Emerald snapped her fingers excitedly.
"Aha! That's it! Flossy, use Dazzling Gleam now!" Emerald shouted.
Flossy heard her trainer but wasn't sure if she'd be able to carry out the command while she was hurling around and around in the whirlpool. It was amazing she could still think in her current situation! She was determined to try so Flossy gave it a go. Trying with all her might, she used her Dazzling Gleam. The fairy lights were useless of course as they were swept up in the aquatic tornado she was spinning in. But Emerald's plan wasn't to stop the whirlpool. Instead, she'd managed to turn it into the most fantastic light show the audience had ever seen. The flashing lights spun around and around along with Flossy and as she kept up the attack, more fairy lights joined in the others that got swept up too, making the whirlpool become a brighter and more dazzling funnel of beautiful lights that seemed to have the audience in a trance with the way they stared in awe at the gorgeous display before them. Even Dawn couldn't keep her eyes away and had to admit the light tornado before her looked marvellous. Ruby just smiled in amazement. Once again, her sister came up with an impressive improvisation that took the audience and her opponents by surprise! That was one thing that hadn't changed since last year! Dawn's score dropped down to dangerously low as a result of that creative counter. If it carried on, her points would be gone entirely! Dawn had no choice but to order Pingu to stop with the whirlpool as it was only giving Flossy a beautiful light show to impress everyone with. Pingu stopped and Flossy was freed from the whirlpool. She landed back on the floor, clutching her head as she tried to regain her senses.
"Ooooeeee, can someone stop the room from spinning? I feel like whipped cream out here!" the Alcremie burbled dizzily.
Dawn waited for Flossy to recover. She didn't want to resort to dirty underhanded tactics by having Pingu attack while she was still dizzy. Once Flossy recovered, she ordered Pingu to use Flash Cannon again. Pingu blasted his opponent with the steel beam but Flossy fought back by using Mystical Fire to stop the attack from getting close to her. Flossy then tried to use Dazzling Gleam on Pingu but Pingu just held his flippers in front of his eyes again and the steel tips shone from the lights like before. Ruby had the feeling that both coordinators felt like they'd used up all their best combos and counters and just wanted to do whatever else they could until time ran out. There were thirty seconds left so there wasn't much left to do before time was up. Both Pokémon carried out a few more moves until Dawn ordered Pingu to use Ice Beam on the floor. That made everyone curious. Why use it on the floor? Pingu froze a section of the floor with his Ice Beam, but he didn't freeze the whole floor. He froze up to the centre lining on the arena floor, making it look like his half was ice and Flossy's half was floor. Then Pingu dropped down to his belly and slid towards Flossy just like before. The only difference was that now the floor was frozen on his side, he moved much faster than before. He'd even frozen a small ramp for him to shoot down and pick up more momentum. He came in so fast that poor Flossy didn't even have time to register he was coming towards her before he ploughed straight into her. Flossy fell down onto the floor and grimaced. Pingu performed a U-turn and came towards her again. Flossy didn't even have time to get up as Pingu crashed into her again. She was swept off her feet along with Pingu and the two kept sliding until Pingu came up to the starting ramp. Both shot up into the air and Dawn ordered Pingu to use Hydro Pump just as they become airborne.
Pingu aimed down so his Hydro Pump pushed Flossy down into the floor while simultaneously pushing himself up into the air. Flossy slammed down hard with a cascade of water weighing down on her while Pingu continued to shoot upwards from his Hydro Pump. After he'd finished, Pingu straightened himself out, his beak pointed down towards Flossy, and he began to spin around like a drill. He was aiming for a finisher move but with an added spin to make it look more impressive and cool to watch. Flossy was still stunned by the Hydro Pump from early so she had no chance of dodging, not when Pingu was coming in so quickly. It looked as if Pingu was going to land the last move of the match and bring Emerald's score down to lower than Dawn's. But Emerald knew that she could land the last blow. Just as Pingu was closing in, Emerald ordered her Pokémon to use Dazzling Gleam. Flossy waved her hands and created a blinding flash of light that caught Pingu off-guard and made him screw his eyes shut in pain. He was blinded for now and couldn't see his opponent. He began to panic and flailed around feebly as he tried to see, thus throwing him off his attack and causing him to miss. He crashed down beside Flossy, the Alcremie feeling the shockwave punch out from Pingu's impact. She picked herself up and looked over her opponent as Pingu lay on the floor, dazed and confused from what had happened. He was stunned for the moment. Emerald and Dawn both felt worried. Had Pingu been knocked out by the impact? Neither of them wanted this to end in a disqualification for Emerald. It'd be such a sour note to end the contest on. But luckily, that wasn't going to happen.
Pingu managed to push himself up onto his knees, visibly straining from the effort. He didn't look as if he could carry on much longer, but he was still conscious at least. That was enough. Satisfied, Nessa gave the signal. The timer had actually run out just after Pingu had hit the floor so the battle was already over. It had just been a matter of seeing if Pingu was still conscious or not before giving the result. Emerald and Dawn stared at Nessa, scarcely daring to breathe as she announced the result.
"Whoa, what an explosive finale that was, ladies and gentlemen!" the Gym Leader announced breathlessly, "Dawn and Emerald gave us a spectacular show that I'm sure neither of us will forget any time soon! But sadly, we can only announce one winner. And judging by the scoreboard, the winner of the first ever Galarian Pokémon Contest is…"
She paused as she studied the scoreboard. Both Emerald and Dawn barely had any points left. It looked very close, almost like a tie to anyone watching. But Nessa could see that one of the coordinators was ahead by one point. One single point was enough to just edge one of the coordinators into victory. Nessa threw one arm aside as she called the result.
"By a single point, the winner is…EMERALD SILVERLOCK!" she cried out, "She is our Master Coordinator and Galar's first ever winner of its first ever contest! Let's give it up for our champion everyone!"
The audience screamed with joy for their winner. Emerald stood where she was, paralyzed with shock and her hands over her mouth. She stared at the scoreboard as if tempted to ask if the results were real and she wasn't imagining things. Was this really happening? Had she ACTUALLY won the contest?!
"I…I won…? I actually won?! I'm the winner of our first contest?!" Emerald exclaimed in astonishment.
Dawn just smiled and patted her friend on the back. She was gutted to have lost, and at the very last second no less, but she didn't care about that. She knew Emerald deserved this win and that she shouldn't be bummed about her defeat. This was Emerald's win and she wanted to show how happy she was for her.
"You better believe it, Emerald! Congratulations to you! You deserved that victory more than anyone else in this contest!" Dawn screeched, "Looks like I taught you better than I thought! Well done Emerald and huge congratulations to you for your victory!"
Emerald just hugged Dawn in thanks, crying with joy into her friend's shoulder. She was so overwhelmed that she thought she might pass out from the incredible emotions she was feeling. How incredible! She'd gone into this as a newbie to coordinating and had emerged victorious! Ruby wiped a tear away from her eyes. She couldn't be more proud of her little sister. Last year, she hadn't been able to succeed her as Champion, but this year she'd managed to win a Pokémon Contest. She'd scored her own big win at last!
"Oh Em, I'm so happy for you!" Ruby cried from the audience, "You've earned that victory! Whoo-hoo!"
Back in the hospital, Tony was in tears too. He couldn't be happier to see his love there on the TV screen as the big winner of the contest. Now he knew that his condition was as good as treated with Emerald as the winner of that cash prize.
"Well done little gem…I couldn't have asked for a more satisfying conclusion to the contest." he said softly.
The three judges came out into the arena to congratulate Emerald and Nessa presented her with a huge golden trophy as a symbol of her victory. The £50'000 was inside the trophy. Emerald held it up high for everyone to say, cheering merrily and thanking everyone for their support. This was easily the best day of her life and she wanted it to last forever. She'd won and saved her best friend all at once! Nothing was ever going to top an achievement as big as this one!
The contest is over and Emerald is our big winner! She's won not just the contest, but the ticket to saving Tony's life! Talk about a big win overall! Tune in as things come to a close next time as we celebrate the victory of "Emerald the Coordinator"...
No trivia for this chapter. And I can only apologize for the long delay. With me re-watching Yu-Gi-Oh recently, being busy with my blog, seeing The Batman and Turning Red, re-watching The Dark Knight trilogy and of course going through life's events, I've not had much time to write. I even had to make myself finish this chapter so it wasn't any longer! I'll try not to be too long with the last one.