"Okay..." May said, glancing over at Blaziken. "You remember this, right?"
Blaziken nodded. "You've only reminded me six times."
"Yeah, I guess I must be nervous..." May chuckled, then shook her head. "Anyway… just one move, and it's what you can do with that."
She smirked. "I think we've got a good one."
"It is fortunate that my Ability is not a move," Blaziken noted blandly.
"Yeah," May agreed. "Okay, I think this is our slot."
She took a deep breath. "Let's go."
Blaziken touched his Pokeball, returning himself, and May strode out onto the arena floor.
"Any idea what May's planning?" Max asked, looking over at his friends.
Brock shrugged. "Not really, no."
"We were just about to ask you..." Ash added. "She didn't tell anyone?"
"I imagine she told at least one of her Pokemon," Lucario pointed out, then frowned. "Though, given her predilection for improvisation, it's not even certain she told the one she's about to use..."
"That wouldn't go well," Max winced. "Well, it might… but I think it probably wouldn't."
"I can just imagine her sending Munchlax out, ordering Metronome, and getting Explosion..." Brock said, shaking his head. "That would be impressive, but a bit… too unexpected."
"Yeah," Max agreed. "Well, let's see what happens..."
May took her position in the middle of the arena floor, her orange-brown dress billowing slightly, and raised Blaziken's Pokeball.
"Go!" she announced, and her Fire-type appeared in a flash of orange flames – which were promptly carried along with him, as he hit the ground running and accelerated rapidly.
The swirl from half a dozen Fire Seals formed a brief shape, a figure-eight which reached up towards the sky, before dissipating into the air above the stadium.
"An interesting opener," the announcer said, frowning. "But Blaziken hasn't used a move yet – I wonder what they're planning?"
As he spoke, Blaziken accelerated further. May's dress rippled, blown around by the currents, and she waited – then pointed.
"Blaze Kick!"
Blaziken's feet flashed with fire, and he did a lightning-fast backflip, launching a snap-kick into the air as he did before hitting the ground and going right back to his top speed.
Blurring around in a half-circle to face the direction he'd been going a moment before, Blaziken did another of those backflips – launching the kick so quickly in the grip of his Speed Boost that it looked like the mirror image of the first.
A fraction of a second to land, and he was moving again. This time, Blaziken's kicks were simple high snap kicks rather than the more elaborate backflip kicks, but he was still moving fast enough that he could launch several of them in a single second.
"Wait… is that making a pattern?" Brock asked, as the flames rose higher.
"I think it is!" Max agreed. "And it's – oh, hey, that's actually really cool!"
As the crowd watched, Blaziken's dozens of Blaze Kicks spread and separated, forming the edges of a great structure in mid-air. Cool and smoky, cut through with fresher and brighter veins formed of more recent swipes of flame, and with five lobes each formed in turn of several smaller points.
For a few seconds, there was a giant flaming maple leaf hanging in midair over May – then it diffused, blown away in the wind as the effect of Blaziken's high speed run hit it with a turbulent wash of air.
Blaziken slowed, panting, and his wrists flared brightly as he tried to relax.
"Great work, Blaziken," May assured him, putting her hand on his shoulder. "What I could see looked great!"
Blaziken didn't seem to react.
"Blaziken?" May repeated, and realized suddenly that she was having trouble hearing herself too.
Her ears were ringing a bit from the noise of Blaziken's display – and there was a cacophony of applause, ringing down from the stands.
"Well done," she said again, smiling. "Take a rest, okay?"
"That was so cool!" said a nine year old girl in the stands, clapping as hard as anyone else. "I didn't realize you could do that!"
"That's what being a Coordinator is about," her mother chuckled. "But that was unusual, you're right – I don't think I've seen many Coordinators turn their name into a symbol like that."
"Mom?" the girl asked, looking up at her. "Were you that good?"
"Well, I did have quite the winning streak..." the mother said, as the applause subsided. "But that young lady's going to go far, Dawn. You could do a lot worse than look up to her."
Dawn nodded firmly.
"Better?" May asked, handing Blaziken another glass of water.
The Fire-type took it gratefully, and drank about half of it before sighing and relaxing a little.
"I'm glad we didn't try to do the letters too," May said, chuckling slightly. "You might have fallen over halfway through..."
"I doubt that," Blaziken said, loftily. "I was moving too fast to fall over."
"Then you might have tripped," May countered.
She shrugged. "Still, I hope we got a high score – I forgot to check."
"So do I," Blaziken agreed. "Hopefully they don't think I was using Agility as well as Blaze Kick."
"If they do, we'll appeal the decision," May said, then chuckled.
"Sorry," she said, raising a hand. "I didn't realize the pun until I said it..."
Blaziken shook his head.
"Who are you planning on using first?" he asked.
"Well, I kind of want to give you a break," May said, thinking. "And – I know normally the first round is the easiest, but I think it'd be best to give Munchlax at least a bit more time to practice his routine. So… I don't know, actually. It depends if it's a Single or Double contest."
"Hey, May!"
May turned. "Drew?"
"The very same," Drew agreed, sitting down a little way off. "We just finished our qualification appeal – I hope we got in, I'd hate for us to miss the chance for a Grand Festival clash."
"I hope we got in, too," May agreed.
Drew snorted. "Hope? May, with that response you're in. Guaranteed! It looked great – I was in the stands until it was just before my slot, and I'm glad I was."
He reached down to pet Leafeon as she padded up to him. "And this lovely lady and I just did a little Cherry Blossom Blizzard, so here's hoping."
"Sorry I missed it," May winced. "Blaziken was kind of..."
"Yeah, I know," Drew waved off. "This happens."
He glanced at May, then chuckled. "Incidentally, I didn't know Blaziken was Canadian..."
Blaziken gave him a look.
"Okay," May said, the next morning. She looked at her whole team, crowded into her dorm room. "How many of you remember how this is done?"
Altaria raised a wing. "I was never taught..."
Me neither, Spoink contributed.
I've read the rulebook.
"...out of those who have a chance to know," May clarified. "I'm pretty sure just about everywhere we've gone has different rules about their Contests."
Blaziken nodded.
After a moment, Venusaur raised a vine – which hit the ceiling with a slight thump. "Am I right in thinking it's one big Appeal round, then five Battle rounds?"
"Right," May agreed. "I heard that at least one of the Battle rounds is going to be a double, so I hope all of you can have a turn… but there's an important question to answer first. Who's going to do the Appeal."
"Well..." Beautifly began, fluttering into the air. "It's a tricky question… I mean, I think you're implying that it's either Appeal or Battle?"
"If you've already done one, you're going to the back of the queue," May confirmed. "That does depend a bit on who it is – I don't think you want to face Harley again, Spoink?"
That's fine, Spoink confirmed. He scares me.
May reached out and touched him on what would be the shoulder if he had any arms. "It's okay – you don't need to face him if you're not comfortable with it."
Spoink smiled.
"So, let's see..." May went on. "I know we worked on a routine for each of you, so – I guess the main question is which one would be best."
"How do we decide that?" Glaceon asked, licking her paw. "I mean, I think the ice-rail is pretty good, but..."
She shrugged. "I don't know if it's the best."
"Like… what is the best, then?" Skitty said, waving her tail. "I… guh, it's totally too hard to choose!"
"Perhaps we should vote?" Venusaur suggested.
There was a whump from the direction of Munchlax.
Everyone turned, and blinked at the sight of the ursine Normal-type faceplanted on the floor.
"Huh," May said. "I guess he voted for sleep."
"That's, like, a postal vote for him," Skitty said, flirting her tail.
"Voting sounds good," May went on. "It'll make it easier to choose, anyway – Ethan, can you help?"
Of course.
Ethan materialized, and holograms appeared in front of the entire team – showing pictures of everyone except themselves.
I have disallowed the option of voting for oneself, Ethan clarified. Count your vote as automatic for yourself, and then pick another.
"Well… this is kind of neat," Altaria said, examining it, then reached down and pecked one.
"Munchlax?" Glaceon asked, patting him on the back. "Munchlax?"
"Told you," Skitty purred. "Totally a postal vote."
"Since when do you know what one of those is?" Venusaur asked.
"Um, hel-lo?" Skitty said, tilting her head. "Hoenn's Got-"
"Forget I asked."
Beautifly made her choice, then Glaceon, and a moment later the final panel disappeared as everyone finished registering their choice.
It's Altaria, Ethan told them.
Altaria jumped slightly. "What?"
You're actually the only Pokemon who didn't vote for you, Ethan informed him. And, considering I was counting everyone as automatically voting for themselves, it's unanimous.
"It's not unanimous," Glaceon pointed out, lifting one of Munchlax's eyelids and peering in. "Munchlax hasn't picked."
"You know, Ash's Snorlax has Hyper Eye Beams," May told her.
Glaceon jumped back, then flirted her tail. "...oh."
"I think you, like, lost the cool look," Skitty stage-whispered.
"I'm an Ice-type," Glaceon shot back. "We always look cool."
"So… it's me, then?" Altaria asked.
He took a deep breath, and let it out. "Wow. Okay… okay, May! I won't let you down!"
"Nor will I," May agreed, reaching up to his cheek and scratching it. "Let's blow 'em away, Altaria."
"What, has he learned Whirlwind?" Beautifly asked.
Everyone looked at her.
"...okay, sorry..." she muttered. "Clearly not the right audience."
"I forgot how many of these there were," Ash groaned, as the latest Coordinator left the stage. "This has taken more than an hour already! Can't they just get on with it?"
"There's sixty-four Coordinators," Max pointed out. "They all get three minutes, and there's some time for the judges… if they just did them all in a row without breaks, it'd last more than four hours."
Ash winced. "...okay, now I can see why they do them in blocks."
"Hey, at least they're cool," Max said.
"Yeah," Pikachu agreed. "I liked the breakdancing Carracosta."
"Actually, that one was good," Ash agreed. "And I've got a couple of ideas for Torkoal now..."
"Just make sure he doesn't get too… Squirtle..." Brock said, wincing at the thought. "I know he's been training with Squirtle for months, but he seems relatively sensible so far..."
"Right," Ash nodded, then thought again. "Actually, would a bit of Squirtle-"
"No!"
"Hey, look, Drew's turn," Pikachu said, getting their attention. Even Max – who couldn't understand him directly – got the gist, and they turned to watch.
Drew sent out his Roserade, with a flash and a shower of petals.
"Grassy Terrain!" he called, and the Grass-type did a twirl. A shower of sparkling pollen came from both flowers, raining down over the arena, and the short grass began to grow and lengthen.
She kept twirling, making the grass sprout higher and higher, and as she did it began to take on other – less normal – features.
First there were some tall wild grass shoots, with seeds, which reached at least two feet high before they began to bow over towards the ground.
"Petal Dance," Drew said, walking in a slow circle some distance from Roserade, and she accelerated – pink and red petals blossoming outwards, followed by blue and white and intense yellow.
Her Grassy Terrain pulsed out again, and this time it didn't just produce grass.
Nosing up through the glowing green grass came new shapes. Crocuses, roses, big yellow dandelions and tall lilies which spread their petals to the sky.
"That's a new trick," Brock said, as the Grassy Terrain became a set of concentric rings of flowers, like a mixture of a flowerbed and a wild, beautiful meadow.
"He certainly seems to like gardening," Lucario observed.
"What I want to know is what Drew has planned for the rest of the time," Max said. "There's at least a minute left."
"Okay, here we go," Drew said, pointing. "Leech Seed!"
Roserade twirled, still sustaining her Grassy Terrain, and fired out three Leech Seeds from each flowery arm – six total, forming two clusters of three on either side of her.
The energy of the Grassy terrain poured into them as well, forcing the resultant plants to grow into tangles of vines and leaves. In seconds, six large and thick bushes had formed.
"Stop Grassy Terrain!" Drew instructed. "And – now! Razor Leaf!"
His Grass-type lowered her arms, shaking them, and then pointed them at the first of the bushes. A storm of razor-sharp leaves came spiralling out, forming into discrete strands and descending on the bush.
Roserade directed them with a series of sharp gestures, and they swarmed around the first bush – then the second, and then the third.
The fourth got a new set of leaves as Roserade turned to face the other way, then the fifth, and the sixth was engulfed before being revealed just as the time ran out.
"Okay, that is pretty cool," Ash admitted, as he saw the results.
On the side of the arena furthest from him and his friends, there was a set of three topiary sculptures – a little rough and unpolished, but clearly the Three Golems.
It was harder for Ash to see the ones which were facing away from him, but it looked like one of them was Kyogre and another Rayquaza – so the other had to be Groudon.
"You did say he liked gardening," Lucario said. "I like it."
"How are they going to get it off the arena?" Max asked, clapping along with the storm of applause as Roserade took her bow. "It seems like kind of a shame to just cut it down..."
"Actually, given how tricky that is…." Brock chuckled. "I bet there's about twenty of those gardens all over wherever it is Drew was practising before coming here."
"Yeah, good point..."
"It didn't seem to take this long last time," Ash said, climbing the stands.
Pikachu shrugged. "Who knows… maybe you just fell asleep for some of them."
"That's more Snorlax' thing," Ash shot back.
He looked around. "Uh… wait, is this the right section?"
Lucario silently examined his seat ticket.
"No," he said, simply. "We are on the wrong side of the stadium."
"Okay, Ash, how did you manage that?" Pikachu asked. "We only went to get a burger!"
"Yeah, but it was around the stadium a bit, so I walked around the stadium a bit after we got them… you weren't paying attention?" Ash checked.
Pikachu let out a long sigh. "I was eating. Mostly ketchup."
"No harm done," Lucario announced. "This way."
At about the same time, the other side of the stadium, Dawn and Johanna hurried up the steps.
"Come on, Mom!" Dawn said, looking back. "I want to make sure we get back to our seats before they start again!"
"I know, dear," Johanna agreed, chuckling slightly. "But you're the one who wanted the ice cream."
"Drat!" Celebi muttered, shaking her head.
"Okay, here we go..." May said, taking a deep breath.
She threw Altaria's Pokeball, which burst open in a great flash of smoke and hid her from sight.
When it faded, Altaria stood on the arena floor some distance from her.
May took another deep breath, and stepped forwards. The moment she did, Altaria turned to look at her, flinched, and flapped some distance away.
May looked down, clearly upset, then began to approach again – more slowly and carefully, making it clear she wasn't a threat.
As she did, Altaria began to sing.
It wasn't anything particularly loud at first, nor was it much that could be recognized as singing – just some soft background which resonated in the air, calm and gentle, and over the top a series of notes like a piano performing scales.
Altaria settled down, giving no outward indication he was the singer, and folded his wings around himself – then looked up as he heard movement.
May sat some way off, smiling and looking non-threatening.
Altaria turned back to snoozing and closed his eyes – then looked up again as May reached for his wing, making May stand up and pretend she hadn't been trying to get close at all.
Thoroughly peeved, Altaria stood up and flapped a little further around the arena – though not quite as far as the first time he had – before alighting on the wall.
The pause let him change the music, weaving in more complex melodies as he Sang a stronger theme into the air, and the scales amplified until they took on a life of their own.
May didn't try to approach him again, this time. Instead, she reached down to the ground and picked up a long stick – one which Altaria had dropped from his fluff earlier, so she could take it.
Taking a look back at Altaria, she began to sketch out in the dirt – starting with his long, curving neck, and then going on to do the wings.
Altaria looked over his shoulder to check she wasn't coming closer again, saw what she was doing, and kept looking. After a few more seconds, as she got to the tail, he took wing again to fly over and have a look.
Glancing back a moment, May didn't stop drawing – just noticing he was there. Then she watched as Altaria flew over her, inhaled, and shot out a narrow beam of Dragonbreath which went nowhere near her.
Everyone watched as Altaria flew over the arena floor in four or five passes, turning to look at May after each pass, and the Sing swelled into a symphony.
By the time he was done, and came down to a landing, he had drawn a wobbly picture which was just about recognizable as May.
May looked around herself, recognizing it for what it was, and smiled – then headed for the door of the arena, some way away from Altaria.
Her third footstep meant she nearly stepped on one of the lines, and Altaria rustled his wings warningly. Getting the message, the Coordinator instead stepped over the still-smoking line.
The way to the door was the most thickly drawn section of the image of May, and so she was focusing entirely on making sure she didn't step on any of the lines – so she didn't see it when Altaria ghosted into the air and flew around to just where she was going.
Altaria's song died down to a series of pure notes, ethereal and gentle, as May looked up and saw that she'd ended up right next to the Dragon-type.
Hardly breathing, she raised a hand – and Altaria nosed forwards into it.
Then an orange glow stole over him.
There was a flash of light, bright enough to make the audience blink, and when it had faded Altaria was – finally – Mega Altaria.
May hugged him, Mega Altaria enfolding her in his wings, and the crowd erupted.
"Well done May," Brock said, as the applause finally died down. "That went really well – especially his managing to Mega Evolve at the end."
"Yeah," Ash agreed. "The first time's always special, and that one was a lot more special than usual."
"Kind of wish we could tell her," Max sighed. "I thought that was really good, and-"
Ahem, Kris coughed.
"In person," Max amended. "No offence, Kris, just… you know."
What's wrong with texting?
Max shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't think you can hug over the phone."
Ah, Kris admitted. Yes, that would be difficult.
"Hey, look," Ash added, pointing. "Look who's right after May!"
"Is that Jessie?" Brock asked. "I think it's the right hair..."
Jessie smirked, adjusting her dress a little.
She'd sometimes despaired of being able to say this… but now was her chance.
"Go, Pikachu!" she called.
There was a bright flash, and her Pikachu appeared in mid-air. She spun once, tail working to control her movement, then landed with knees bent.
Her large, wide-brimmed pointy hat waved back and forth a little as she straightened up, letting the long black robe hang down with its moon-and-stars silverwork, and she flourished a long staff before planting it on the ground.
She was also wearing a large beard, to complete the look.
Leaning theatrically on the staff and raising her free paw, she traced a circle in the air – a circle which left an orange trail behind it, so that when Cosplaychu brought her paw back to where it had started there was a complete band of flickering orange-yellow light.
She drew back her staff, poking the tip through the middle, and shouted. "KA!"
Flames exploded outwards in a great long spike, reaching twenty feet into the air, and then began to fall back like a fountain.
Keeping her staff raised, Jessie's Pikachu made another gesture – and as she did, the falling flames stopped, then reversed, forming a great flaming sculpture in mid-air like a pine tree.
The pine tree hung there for perhaps four seconds, and then Cosplaychu changed her tack. The flames of the pine tree shot out in all directions, stopped, hung there for a moment and exploded into showers of sparks.
Already, however, a new blast of flame was replacing it. This one spiralled into the air, leaving a trail of dripping white sparks below it, and split into three parts which accelerated back down towards their mistress.
Cosplaychu deflected them with her staff in a single motion, and formed the circle of Mystic Fire again.
Dozens of small comet-like flames went into the air, exploding one at a time with sharp cracks and puffs of multicoloured sparks.
"I didn't know Pokemon could do that..." Dawn said, watching with amazement. "It's like a fireworks display!"
"Pokemon can do a lot of things," Johanna told her with a smile.
"But that's a Pikachu," Dawn pointed out. "I definitely didn't know Pikachu could do this!"
"...put that way, neither did I..." Johanna admitted.
"Now for the grand finale!" Jessie called, keeping an eye on the time.
Cosplaychu nodded, moving her staff around in an arc much bigger than any she'd made so far, and then launched an almighty spire of flame into the air.
It rose and rose, passing out the top of the stadium, and detonated in a massive crackle and wave of sparks.
The crowd cheered… and then the cheering died down again, as the flames didn't go away.
Instead, the fire took on a shape. Wings formed, with a pair of great snaps of sparks, and a moment later an angry Charizard of flame roared and dove towards the stadium.
It stooped on Cosplaychu, who stood her ground – then, as it reached about twenty feet in height, launched a bolt of lightning at it.
The explosion was loud and smoky, obscuring the view of the stadium floor for several seconds.
When it faded, Cosplay Pikachu was standing on Jessie's shoulders – still in costume, but waving to the crowd.
"Ya know, I tink she's been takin' all dese appeals as a challenge," Meowth noted, looking over at Cubone. "What da you think?"
"It's likely," Cubone agreed. "Though I'll never understand how she manages that whole costume thing – you know, learning moves when she puts it on, forgetting them when she takes it off..."
"It might not be so complicated as you think," Meowth said, tapping his paw on the floor. "After all, ain't you able to use all kinds'a powers by usin' all different bones?"
"That's different," Cubone said, shaking her head. "That's a Reality Marble."
"And hers isn't?"
Cubone's head stopped moving.
"That… would explain a lot, actually..." she admitted.
"Hey!" James hissed. "It's getting busy again!"
"Ain't it still our break?" Meowth asked, pointedly looking at his wrist – not that he had a watch, but the point came across.
"There's a rush on!" James said, flipping another half dozen burgers. "Now!"
Meowth and Cubone exchanged a glance, then sighed and put their aprons back on.
Hopping up onto the counter, Meowth cleared his throat. "Rocket Burger, out of this world food! How can I take your money – I mean, uh, order?"
"I knew we should have told Jessie the dress cost too much..." Cubone said, adding cheese to burger buns.
"So… Mega Altaria, huh?" Max asked, looking the Fairy-type Dragon up and down.
"Yeah," May said, smiling. "It's really new – so new I'm not sure we know how we're going to use it, but-"
She was interrupted as Mawile came walking past.
"You are the fluffiest dragon ever," she announced calmly. "I approve!"
Mega Altaria chuckled, a trilling sound, and fluffed his cloud. "Thank you – I certainly feel fluffier than before."
"What's wrong with me?" Goodra asked, sounding very glum.
"Nothing, of course!" Mawile assured him promptly. "You're less fluffy, but that's great too!"
"That's all right then," Goodra said, chuckling.
"Remember how all the Dragon-types ran away when she hatched?" Ash asked.
"I still don't understand that..." Mawile said, scratching her head. "Dragons are all sorts of cool!"
Thwack!
Raticate jumped, her big catcher's mitt raised, and just about managed to snag the ball as it hurtled overhead. It slipped as she fumbled and tried to grab it, so she threw it towards the base, and Riolu let out a sigh of dismay as she was caught out.
"Okay, that's game!" Casey called, clapping. "Good work, everyone!"
"Thank you," Riolu said, panting. "I'm glad you approve."
"Well, to be fair, you did get about twelve runs," Casey reminded her. "That's a pretty good haul – and you weren't any slower today than before, so I think everyone else is just getting faster."
Pichu's tail went back and forth, and he grinned. "Pi-chu!"
"Yeah, that tail serve is really rockin'," Casey nodded. "Right, everyone – it's time for another spar!"
"What will it be this time?" Riolu asked.
"Probably some more training for Beedrill," Casey answered. "He's kind of my ace now… so, you know."
"I thought I was your ace," the Fighting-type protested.
Pidgeot chirped, Meganium frowned, and Raticate started chuckling.
"...yeah, but… oh, it's complicated," Casey said. "Think of him as like… a pinch-hitter I can use when someone's got the right tactics to deal with the rest of you."
Pidgeot nodded, satisfied. Meganium shrugged, and Riolu tapped her chin. "It does make more sense put that way."
Raticate said something.
"Raticate wants you to know that was very funny," Riolu added.
"It was?" Casey said. "Huh… anyway… Riolu, Meganium, can you set up the targets?"
Casey's Meganium nodded, picking up the discarded bat, and Riolu took a pair of baseballs up – one in each paw.
Beedrill buzzed overhead, and Casey waved – then closed her eyes, concentrating.
Beedrill was a Pokemon she treasured, for all sorts of reasons. One of them being that, unlike all her other Pokemon, she'd caught him fully evolved.
He'd been a precise battler, helping her get through a couple of rough matches, and to add to that he was just plain agile. Pidgeot was faster – much faster – but Beedrill could fly rings around anyone else on the team.
Definitely a MVP contender.
She opened her eyes, taking her hand off her Key Stone, and smiled at the sight of Mega Beedrill.
"Okay, same drill as last time!" she added. "Ready?"
Mega Beedrill buzzed an affirmative, rising into the air and hovering backwards.
"Okay, two at once!" Casey instructed. "Now!"
Riolu threw the first ball up in a lazy lob, then did the same a bit less strongly – so it didn't rise so high, and came down towards Meganium at the same time as the first.
Meganium's grip on the bat shifted, vines getting good leverage, and then – WHACK!
Mega Beedrill reacted instantly. All five of his stings glowed, and he used a potent Pin Missile attack which split and resplit into hundreds of tracers – which then spread out to englobe both hurtling balls.
The missiles came in in a single coordinated attack, peppering both baseballs with hits so quickly it came as a single event, and then the baseballs hit the ground looking like golf balls.
"Great!" Casey said. "Now, let's try dodging – batter up!"
"Mega Beedrill says that he never looks forward to this bit," Riolu said, hefting a baseball. "Ready, Meganium?"
Meganium nodded.
Mega Beedrill did not look ready.
"Come on, guys, we need this ready for the Hoenn League!" Casey implored.
"Does that mean we have chosen which one to do this year?" Riolu asked. "I was wondering why we have fourteen badges."
"I keep changing my mind, okay..." Casey said, sighing. "Now, pitch that ball!"
"Dear?"
Lugia looked up, startled. "Love?"
"You were miles away," his mate said, chuckling. "What was it?"
"Oh… just wondering how I'd do in a Contest," Lugia explained. "I was thinking… laser light show?"
"If you want to blow up the whole arena and everything for three miles in every direction," his mate teased.
"...I could do it a long way away..."
AN:
Yeah, there's going to be a lot of Contest stuff in the near future.
