I told you guys you wouldn't have to wait too long for the next update! This is much better than last time, now isn't it? XD Hopefully we can keep this going over the summer. Fingers crossed!

Last time: Aiden finally had his gym battle against Erika. It was long and hard fought, and very back-and-forth. Down to his last Pokémon, Squirtle, Aiden is stunned when the type disadvantaged Pokémon evolves into Wartortle, and wins him the match! With Aiden's fourth badge secured, he excitedly calls his parents to inform them of his feat. After the call, noting that Aiden is halfway towards the Indigo League, Ash presents Misty with a gift: a brand new Pokémon she has to train in order to use against Aiden in their future gym battle.

Chapter 27: Celadon Contest! Missteps and Misfortunes!

"Wow, so this is only your second Super Contest, huh? I can't believe it!"

Michelle grimaced as she tried to fix her bright red hair into a neat ponytail behind her head. Her hair was naturally straight, so it was easy to manage, but Michelle was by no means good with their hair or anything of the sort. Her mother was the one who usually did that kind of stuff for her. Trying to twist the hair tie around her ponytail resulted in the bunched up hair falling apart, however, and curtaining around her face and shoulders just as it usually did.

"Ugh, I give up!" Michelle whined, resting her head against the vanity.

"Huh? What's up with you?" Aiden questioned, finally realizing that his sister seemed to be having a breakdown of sorts.

"My stupid hair won't stay up!" Michelle complained. "All I want to do is put it in a ponytail, and I can't even do that!"

"Well, don't look at me," Aiden laughed just once. "I don't know anything about girl hair."

"Yeah well, apparently I don't either," Michelle grumbled, picking her head up and narrowing her eyes at her reflection in the mirror.

"What's the matter, Michelle? Hair giving you trouble?"

Michelle looked over her shoulder and found Clarisse standing in the doorway of the dressing room. She had a smile on her face, and was already fully outfitted in her white and gold Contest dress, with her platinum blonde hair curled into very tight ringlets and the gold crown adorning the top of her head.

"In the worst way," Michelle sighed.

"Well, here, let me give it a try!" Clarisse offered, stepping fully into the room and standing behind Michelle. She gathered the girl's red hair into her hands and ran Michelle's light blue brush through the shiny locks, getting the strands tight and close together. Once they were, she pulled the ponytail up on Michelle's head and took the hair tie, looping it around the base of the high ponytail and repeating the action three times until it was tightly constricting the ponytail and keeping the hair in one place.

"There! Perfect!" Clarisse giggled.

Michelle blinked and leaned forward to examine herself in the mirror. The ponytail was, in fact, very neat and well done. It looked a little different from her first Super Contest; she didn't have two layers hanging down by her face. Instead, every last piece of hair had been put up. But Michelle liked changing things up, so she thought the different ponytail looked nice.

"Wow, thanks so much, Clarisse!" Michelle marveled. "It looks great!"

"Is that your hairclip?" Clarisse asked suddenly, pointing at the green flower resting on the vanity desk in front of Michelle.

"Oh, yeah," Michelle giggled nervously. "I was getting so worked up about my ponytail that I kind of forgot about it!"

"Here, I've got it," Clarisse smiled, picking up the flower and clipping it into the back of Michelle's ponytail. "Now it's perfect!"

Michelle beamed at her reflection and jumped up from the vanity chair, throwing her arms around Clarisse and giving the girl a tight hug.

"Clarisse, you are seriously a life saver!" Michelle squealed. "Thank you so much!"

"Don't mention it!" Clarisse laughed. "So, I heard you caught a brand new Pokémon recently!"

"Yeah, I sure did!" Michelle replied. Reaching for the poke ball that was already encased in a purple capsule, Michelle added, "my Eevee is going to make his debut today, and I know it's going to be great!"

"I bet!" Clarisse marveled. "I remember back when Espeon was still an Eevee. Such a cute little thing! I bet the judges will really see that in your performance today."

"I hope so," Michelle sighed, holding the poke ball against her chest.

The lights in the dressing room suddenly flickered, alerting the two young girls that the Contest was about to get underway. They gave each other anxious glances, to which Aiden, who was still awkwardly standing in the room, chuckled sheepishly.

"Well, I guess I'll leave you two to get ready for your appeals!" Aiden added, moving swiftly towards the door. Before exiting, he gripped the frame with his fingers and spun around, flashing a wide smile at them before finishing with a shaky, "oh, uh, good luck!"

As he ran down the hallway, Clarisse giggled softly, causing Michelle to turn towards the blonde and raise a curious eyebrow. Clarisse noticed Michelle's bewildered look and clarified her laugh by asking, "Your brother really is sweet, huh?"

"Him? No way!" Michelle shouted, her eyes widening in shock before turning her attention towards the now vacant doorframe and glaring at it. "He's a total pain!"

XXX

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Celadon City Pokémon Contest!"

As the crowd cheered following Lilian Meridian's excited opening call, Aiden scurried his way down the first row of the stands until he was sitting in the empty seat besides Brandon. The young breeder chuckled and turned his head to look at Aiden, who was shifting uncomfortably in his seat. Pichu was sitting in Brandon's lap, having been entrusted to the breeder by her trainer.

"Did you have fun backstage?" Brandon asked teasingly.

"Yeah, watching Michelle have a meltdown over her stupid hair is a real blast," Aiden muttered, throwing in an eye roll for good measure.

"I'm sure she's just a little nervous is all," Brandon chuckled. "That's perfectly normal right before a Contest! Cut her some slack, bro."

After introducing the usual three judges: Mr. Contesta, Mr. Sukizo, and Celadon City's Nurse Joy, Lilian raised an excited arm up in the air and called the beginning of the Contest. With that, the curtains behind the stage pulled open, revealing the Contest's first contestant. Three more of them went until they got up to contestant number five: Michelle.

"Here we go!" Aiden yelled excitedly as Michelle emerged from behind the curtain. "Let's see what she's got!"

"Alright," Michelle whispered to herself before tossing the capsule encased poke ball she held in her hand. "Eevee, curtain call!"

The ball burst open, orange eighth notes swirling in the air in front of musical bars. The notes eventually parted to reveal little Eevee, who was beaming from in between the floating symbols. He soon landed on the stage, right on his paws, as the eighth notes burst into orange sparkles around him.

"Wow, what a fantastic entrance!" Lilian commented.

"But we're just getting started!" Michelle snickered. "Eevee, quick attack!"

"Vee!" Eevee started running rapidly in a circle, a bright white light wrapping around as he ran, making it look like a carousel lit up in the night.

"Check out the speed on that quick attack!" Lilian marveled. "Amazing!"

"Alright Eevee, now use bite!" Michelle ordered.

When Eevee stopped running in a circle, however, he seemed a little too dizzy to do anything. He was shakily rocking back and forth with his eyes shut tight, whimpering softly as he tried to regain his footing.

"Hey, Eevee?" Michelle called out nervously.

"Uh oh, looks like trouble," Brandon noted.

"Eevee please, snap out of it!" Michelle begged. It didn't seem to be doing much, however, as the normal type just continued to sway back and forth.

"Oh my, it appears that all of that running in a circle has made Eevee dizzy!" Lilian commented. "What will happen now?"

Michelle bit her lip and, out of the corner of her eye, glanced at the judges. None of them looked very impressed with her appeal so far. When she looked back down at Eevee, she realized that the evolution Pokémon had finally stopped swaying and was now shaking his head out.

"Great!" Michelle breathed a sigh of relief. "Now Eevee, use bite!"

Opening his mouth, Eevee showed off his sharp, glistening teeth before crouching down to build up energy in his small legs so he could jump in the air and take a big bite to show off the strength he had in his jaw. When he landed, the judges seemed slightly more impressed, but not blown away by the performance, which made Michelle quite nervous.

Eevee must have sensed this, and also not been too confident in his own abilities, because as soon as the appeal was over, he turned around and ran straight up to his trainer, whimpering sadly. Smiling, Michelle lifted Eevee up into her arms and cuddled the normal type, softly reassuring him as she walked off the stage and returned to the holding room.

"It's okay, Eevee," Michelle murmured. "No need to be so upset! Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. I think you were wonderful, don't worry."

"Next on stage is Clarisse, from right here in Celadon City!"

Lilian's booming voice caused Michelle to turn her attention onto the jumbo screen TV that hung in the coordinator holding room. Clarisse was now standing on stage, the curtain having just been pulled back to reveal her with a beaming smile on her face and a capsule encased poke ball in hand.

"Now, Girafarig, time to shine!" Clarisse yelled as she tossed the ball. It burst open, yellow stars clustering together to form one large star before bursting into gold sparkles that fell down upon a yellow and brown Pokémon with a long neck, pink spikes running down its back, and a tail that closely resembled a face.

"Whoa, a Girafarig!" Aiden marveled from the audience, pulling out his red pokedex to scan the creature that was now standing on stage in front of its trainer.

Girafarig, the long neck Pokémon. Its tail has a small brain of its own and will bite anything with an alluring scent.

"I didn't know Clarisse had a Girafarig," Aiden commented, closing his pokedex.

"Well, it's a dual type Pokémon: half normal, half psychic," Brandon added. "This should be a pretty interesting appeal!"

"Girafarig, agility!" Clarisse shouted.

The long neck Pokémon began running from side to side, going so fast that when it was running in the middle of the stage, it completely disappeared as though it were invisible.

"Wow, look at the speed of that agility!" Lilian called. "Amazing!"

"Now Girafarig, stomp!"

While running and still "invisible," Girafarig jumped up high in the air and appeared to be flying above the stage.

"Look at that!" Brandon gasped. "It's almost as if Girafarig was weightless!"

The dual type Pokémon went sailing back down towards the stage, landing so hard on its hooves that visible rings of energy spread out around its body.

"The strength of Girafarig's stomp attack was clearly visible!" Lilian wowed. "Truly an incredible performance that showed off both Girafarig's speed and strength!"

Clarisse waved to the crowd before calling out to Girafarig, who galloped back over to her and allowed the girl to stroke its head.

"That was amazing," Aiden breathed. "It was a lot better than Michelle's appeal…"

"Yeah, I'm a little worried about her," Brandon admitted.

"Do you think we should go backstage and check on her?" Aiden questioned.

"Pi-chu!" Pichu chirped from Brandon's lap.

"I think that was a yes," Brandon chuckled softly. "Pichu must be worried about her trainer! Come on, let's go visit Michelle."

XXX

"Clarisse! You were really good!"

The blonde smiled at her friendly red headed rival and giggled. "Thanks, Michelle! You looked good too!"

"I wish that was the truth," Michelle sulked, still cradling Eevee in her arms. "My appeal was pretty disastrous. Poor Eevee couldn't use quick attack without getting dizzy! I guess we needed to work on it some more."

"Don't get so down on yourself," Clarisse continued. "We all have a bad appeal every once in a while! Besides, you recovered really well at the end. I'm sure the judges will take that into consideration!"

"Thanks, you're right!" Michelle chirped, slowly beginning to feel more confident in herself.

"Hey! Michelle!"

Clarisse turned around, and Michelle looked around the blonde girl. Aiden and Brandon were hurrying into the room, Pichu being held in Brandon's arms as the two boys entered the holding room.

"Pi!" Pichu squeaked, jumping right onto Michelle's head.

"Hey there, little buddy!" Michelle giggled. "I know you don't really like sitting in the stands, but it wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Chu!" Pichu replied.

"Brandon takes the very best care of you!" Michelle laughed. "It's great!"

"So, Michelle, your appeal…" Aiden began lamely.

"I know, I know, it wasn't my best," Michelle sighed sadly. "But…Clarisse is right! I recovered pretty nicely at the end. So maybe the judges will cut me some slack for the bad start!"

"That's not a bad point," Aiden agreed.

"It's pretty reasonable, if you ask me!" Brandon chimed in.

"See, Michelle?" Clarisse reassured her friend. "Everyone believes in you! All you need is some faith, and you'll be fine!"

"Sorry for the delay, folks!" Lilian's voice came through the speakers, alerting all of the coordinators plus Aiden and Brandon. "Our judges have finally tabulated all of the scores, and here are our eight finalists moving onto the battle round!"

One by one, eight pictures began popping up on the screen, and with each passing photo, Michelle nervously bit her lip. Clarisse's picture was the sixth one to appear, bringing a huge sense of relief to the young blonde. When the seventh and eighth pictures passed, however, neither of them were Michelle's.

For the first time in her short Contest career, Michelle had not made it past the appeal round.

"Oh no," Aiden murmured, an apparent frown appearing on his face.

Clarisse too frowned and turned towards the now dejected coordinator. "Michelle, I'm so sorry. I really thought you would make it through!"

"That's okay," Michelle mumbled, her lips bending into a small smile. "Yeah, it's just one Contest. I'll recover. Next time…I'll go further. I'll go back to the battle round and win it! I'm sure!"

"That's the spirit!" Brandon cheered on Michelle, whose smile grew wider at his encouragement.

"But until then, I'm going to get out of this dress and watch you battle!" Michelle informed Clarisse, who put on a determined look in response. "And I expect you to go out there and win your fourth ribbon!"

"You can count on me!" Clarisse laughed, giving Michelle a thumbs up. "I'll win it for sure!"

XXX

Clarisse easily sailed through both the quarter and semifinals, which brought her straight to the final round. There, she would be battling another girl, Gisele, who had flown through the other two rounds just as easily as Clarisse. Michelle, who had moved up into the stands with Aiden and Brandon, was watching on in excitement as both Clarisse and Gisele took the stage, ready to face off for the coveted Celadon ribbon.

"And, begin!" Lilian called.

"Girafarig, time to shine!" Clarisse yelled, releasing her dual type Pokémon.

Gisele, who was standing across the stage from Clarisse, snickered to herself and threw her own poke ball. "Purugly, let's go!"

Appearing before the sly, lilac haired girl was a large gray and white cat with an unhappy expression and a spring-like tail on its backside.

"Oh…that sure is an interesting Pokémon…" Michelle murmured.

Aiden too raised an eyebrow before pulling out his pokedex for the second time that day. "Let's see…"

Purugly, the tiger cat Pokémon. When angered, they are quick to attack and very fast movers. They attempt to make themselves look larger and more intimidating than they actually are.

"That Purugly is really well trained," Brandon commented. "You can tell it's at a very high level because it's been using hyper beam and giga impact an awful lot. Hopefully Clarisse will find a way around that."

"Girafarig, quick, use psychic!" Clarisse ordered.

"Nice, a quick turnaround!" Aiden cheered.

Girafarig's eyes began to glow a bright blue, which was soon transmitted to Purugly. Its body was surrounded by the same hue, and the tiger cat Pokémon was hovering high above the battle field, much to Gisele's horror.

"Throw it!" Clarisse called.

Girafarig tilted its head down, which sent Purugly sailing back towards the battlefield. Its body immediately hit the hard surface, causing Purguly to cry out in apparent pain.

"Purugly!" Gisele gasped as though she were offended. Up on the board, Gisele's points bar diminished due to the attack.

"So far so good," Michelle commented.

"Purugly, quick! Use hyper beam on Girafarig!" Gisele ordered.

The tiger cat Pokémon quickly unleashed a powerful beam of orange energy at Girafarig that sent the dual type flying. Clarisse gasped as Girafarig hit the stage, her points slowly creeping away as a result of the attack.

"That hyper beam is insane," Aiden muttered.

"But Purugly shouldn't be able to move for a little while after using it," Brandon added. "Clarisse should have Girafarig attack now if she wants to get back the advantage!"

"Girafarig, stomp!" Clarisse yelled.

Girafarig got back up and started running straight towards Purugly. Gisele, however, didn't seem at all worried. In fact, she had a rather mischievous smirk on her face.

"I knew you would go for a head on attack after hyper beam," Gisele commented smartly. "Now, Purugly, use substitute!"

Meowing, the normal type created a clone of itself right before Girafarig stomped down on its hooves, causing Girafarig to instead attack the clone. As soon as it stomped down, the clone disintegrated, leaving Purugly safe and untouched. Clarisse's points went down even more after the fact, alarming the blonde.

"This is bad!" Michelle gasped.

"I knew that Purugly was strong!" Aiden groaned.

"Let's keep going, Purugly!" Gisele laughed. "Giga impact!"

Purugly, having fully recharged from its hyper beam attack, jumped high into the air while its body became surrounded by an invisible force of energy. From in front of Purugly's face, a bright yellow beam shot out straight towards Girafarig, becoming surrounded by purple and orange streaks as it soared towards the opponent. The giga impact was moving too quickly for Girafarig to dodge, and the dual type was soon taken down again by the powerful move.

"No, Girafarig!" Clarisse gasped.

More of her points evaporated. Pichu, who was watching the battle from Michelle's lap, whimpered and covered her beady black eyes with her little paws. Michelle wanted to do the same, but couldn't tear her eyes away from the enrapturing battle.

"Wait, doesn't a Pokémon also need to recover after giga impact?" Aiden asked Brandon.

"That's right," Brandon replied. "Purugly knows a lot of strong moves, but they all require recharging. Hopefully this time Clarisse can edge in an attack before Purugly."

"That substitute is concerning, though," Aiden sighed.

Clarisse suddenly put on a very determined look and nodded to herself. Throwing her hand out in front of her, she yelled in a sure and confident voice, "Girafarig! Agility!"

The long neck Pokémon charged forward, running so fast that it would disappear from time to time. Gisele was preparing to call substitute again, but before she could, Purugly was smashed into by Girafarig, sending the large normal type flying.

"No, Purugly!" Gisele shrieked. This time, it was her points bar suffering instead of Clarisse's.

"Nice comeback!" Michelle cheered.

"Pi!" Pichu agreed.

"Not done yet!" Clarisse yelled. "Tackle!"

Girafarig made a quick turnaround and slammed its head into Purugly's side. More of Gisele's points slipped away due to the attack.

"Ugh, no way!" Gisele wailed.

"Stomp, one more time!" Clarisse ordered.

With Purugly still down, Girafarig stomped on the normal type, causing it to cry out in pain. All eyes returned to the scoreboard, where Gisele's points continued to slip away.

"No, this can't be happening!" Gisele panicked. "Purugly, come on, use-"

"Time is up!"

Lilian's call caused both coordinators to gasp and turn their attention onto the scoreboard. They trained their eyes onto their perspective point bars, and then their opponents. It had been a very close match, but in the end, the coordinator with the most points remaining was…

"Clarisse! Congratulations!"

The young blonde hooted out of excitement and stormed the stage, wrapping her arms around Girafarig's neck and giggling as she celebrated with and congratulated the dual type Pokémon. In the middle of her celebration, Clarisse was approached by Gisele, who offered a hand and words of congratulations. Clarisse was more than happy to return the hand and compliment Gisele on her battling as well.

With the Contest complete, it was time to award Clarisse with her ribbon for winning. The Celadon ribbon was absolutely stunning, just like the city itself. It was a pale green in color, reminiscent of spring green in shade. It hung down in two strands, the ends cut into two neat spikes that were lined with gold. The center of the ribbon was gold in color and shaped like a flower with seven petals, a gemstone placed in each one with a different color of the rainbow; homage to the city's motto: "city of the rainbow's colors."

"It kind of reminds me of the rainbow badge," Aiden commented.

"I think they're really big on rainbows here," Michelle giggled.

"Chu!" Pichu crooned in response.

"Hey, Michelle, doesn't Clarisse have four ribbons now?" Brandon asked.

"Yeah, she's really close to the Grand Festival already," Michelle sighed. "I've only got two! I've got to catch up, and fast!"

"Don't worry, Shelly, you've got plenty of time!" Aiden assured his sister.

"Aiden is right," Brandon agreed. "Just take it nice and slow, and you'll succeed in no time!"

Michelle smiled appreciatively at her brother and friend. "Thanks guys. I always know I can count on you two to cheer me up and keep me going!"

Alright, a little bit shorter than usual, since Michelle lost in the first round. And again, more battling, so it was harder for me to write! Hopefully next chapter will go a bit more smoothly for me :P

Remember to leave your reviews, foreshadowing guesses, opinions, etc etc etc. I read them all and I love seeing everyone's ideas and such!