Celebrity Status
"Welcome one and all to this year's Verdanturf Contest!" Vivian said, getting a round of applause. "For those of you who don't know, I am your host, Vivian Meridian! And now for our judges!"
Is she always so energetic? Gwen asked, sitting in her own seat now.
"It seems like it," Brendan said. "By the way, is Lisia here? She's usually out here talking to us by now."
I think I sense her back stage in the waiting room, talking to May.
"Got it, she's giving May a pre-contest pep talk," Brendan said.
Backstage, Lisia was standing next to May, waiting in the tunnel since May was the first act of the appeals round. "So, I didn't get a chance to see you or Brendan before the contest began," Lisia said. "Want to tell me what happened after Fallarbor? I mean, you two pretty much vanished overnight. And you're also wearing a really nice necklace that you didn't have when we last saw each other."
"Liz, I'd love to tell you all about it, but can it wait until after the contest?" May said. "It's a bit of a tough topic to talk about."
Lisia looked at May with a questioning expression. "I guess I can just get it from Brendan and Gwen while we watch the contest."
May nodded. "Alright, they'll probably be the better ones to ask."
"Now ladies and gentlemen, it's time for our first performance of the appeals round. Please welcome May!" Vivian said.
"Good Luck!" Lisia said as May walked onto stage in her now typical contest attire.
May waved to the crowd, smiling at Brendan and Gwen, who were in the center row of the auditorium.
"Miranda, take the stage!" May called out as she sent out her first Pokémon, the Combusken chirping and doing a flip as she came out of her Pokéball. "Now, kick up some rocks!" Miranda stomped the ground, grabbing ten large rocks with her talons and tossing them up into the air. "Now, use Fire Spin!" Miranda unleashed a brief tornado of flames, causing the rocks to ignite as well. "And now use Double Kick on those rocks!" Miranda leapt into the air, effortlessly kicking each of the flaming rocks, causing them to break apart into red-hot dust and gravel that rained down onto the stage. "Now, use Quick Attack!" Miranda began to run quickly, a streak of white forming as she ran in a tight circle. Her speed caused a wind to pick up, catching all the dust in the air, causing it to form a cyclone once again. This one was more see-through, and it soon began to sparkle like glass. "That's good, now back to me!" Miranda jumped and deftly back-flipped to May's side, letting the glass dust fall to the ground beautifully. May and Miranda both curtsied to the crowd just before there was an eruption of cheering and joyful applause.
Great job you two! Gwen said to both May and Miranda. May smiled at the crowd before looking at the score board. 29, it wasn't bad. Not her usual perfect score, but that was fine. She would likely still be in the battle round. She left the stage and went to the waiting room, noticing that Lisia wasn't there. Oh well, she must have been already on her way to sit with Brendan.
As May thought, Lisia was still looking for Brendan in the crowd, but she was having trouble spotting him, even with that white hat of his. She had stopped to watch May's act, but now she couldn't find Brendan. That was when she saw a strangely familiar Gardevoir. Brendan was on the far side of Gwen, so Lisia couldn't see him, but just by seeing Gwen sitting there, she realized who she was looking at. "No way, Gwen? Is that you?"
Gwen smiled, as did Brendan, who had taken off his hat to see if Lisia would recognize them in the crowd. Well, took you long enough to find us, Gwen said.
"When did you evolve?!" Lisia said as she sat in the seat that they had saved for her.
That is a story and a half, Gwen said. Brendan, you want me to tell it, or should I?
"Why don't you tell it and I fill in any details left out," Brendan said.
Oh, I won't leave any details out, Gwen said. Lisia, close your eyes and I will make sure you know what's happened since the last time we saw you. It'll be as much detail as you'll need.
Lisia was a bit confused, but she did as Gwen said. Gwen then reached over and tapped her on the head. That was when Lisia was suddenly watching all the events since the Fallarbor Contest through Gwen's eyes. However, Gwen did intentionally leave out Brendan and May's promiscuous night. When Gwen finished the show, Lisia was almost in tears over the ending on Mt. Chimney.
"By Arceus," Lisia said. "Brendan, you and May are lucky to be alive. No wonder she didn't want to talk about it before she performed."
"Yeah, it wasn't a good experience," Brendan said. "The 'falling into a volcano' part was especially bad."
"But you still made a bad joke about it," Lisia said with a laugh.
"I had to ease the tension somehow before giving her the necklace," Brendan said.
"Well, you are really a romantic guy," Lisia said. "I just wish I could find a guy like you some day."
Brendan looked at her in surprise. "You don't have a boyfriend?"
"I know, surprising," Lisia said with a look that said she'd discussed these things with others. "But with my busy schedule, I just haven't had time to date anybody."
Well, do you have anybody in mind? Gwen asked, her left eyebrow raised with an intrigued look.
"Erhm," Lisia said, "Hey look, Chaz is on, let's watch and see if he fucks this up!"
Brendan knew she was dodging, so he let it go, deciding that it wasn't his business, and watched Macherie create fireworks with a combination of Focus Blast, Flamethrower, and Thunder Punch. They were strange attacks for a Machoke, but they seemed to work well as an appeal, earning a 27.
"Well, that was an interesting appeal. Strangely flashy, but not bad. He will probably be in the second round," Lisia commented.
"Probably, but without Grace here we can't really expect much else from the competition," Brendan said.
"That's true," Lisia said as the next coordinator began to perform, using a Sableye to great effect. She had the Pokémon using Shadow Sneak along with Shadow Ball, and Feint Attack. It turned out well, displaying the creepy nature of the species. The performance earned a 27 as well. The rest of the performances were average at best. At one point, Brendan could've sworn that Gwen was starting to nod off. Luckily, the performances didn't last much longer, and the judges were soon making their rulings on the four who went on.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen, on screen now are the four who will appear in the battle round!" As Brendan guessed, both Chaz and May were on screen, as well as the Sableye trainer, and one coordinator from Johto who used an Ariados. May was against the Sableye trainer while Chaz was facing the Ariados trainer. "We will begin the battle round in five minutes!"
15 minutes later:
"Ladies and gentlemen, it's now time for the final match-up between May and Chaz. Like last round, there is five minutes on the clock, and each coordinator starts with 100 points. The one who loses the most points by the end of five minutes, or the one who runs out of points first will lose the match. If either Pokémon is declared unable to battle by all three judges, regardless of points, that coordinator will lose the match. Now, if all are ready, we will begin," May pulled out Erza's Pokéball, and Chaz pulled out the Pokémon he had used in the second round. "Erza, take the stage!" May called out as she let out the oddly colored Aron. The Pokémon's red eyes looked fierce and ready to battle.
"Corey, come on out!" Chaz said. His Pokémon of choice was a Pikachu, of all Pokémon.
"Erza, let's keep this brief, use Mud Slap!" May said. Erza simply kicked a clump of mud from the battlefield at Corey, getting it in the mouse's eyes.
"Corey, use Shock Wave!" Chaz called out. An orb of electricity surrounded the electric mouse as he fired a massive wave of electricity that filled the entire battlefield.
"Block that with Rock Tomb!" May called, checking the scoreboard. She was at a perfect 100 while Chaz had already dropped to an 80, and they were dropping once again as Corey's attack harmlessly passed by Erza as it went around the rock she had brought out of the ground. "Now, use Iron Head!" Erza's head began to gleam like polished metal as she ran through the solid rock and began to run head-on into Corey, who could barely see due to the Mud Slap from earlier. That wasn't helped by the fact that while Erza's head was glowing, so too was the rest of her body. While she was running, her form grew to the size of a row boat, with both the height and length. She grew a small tail, and her armor plating split into segments for mobility. Her head also got larger, and more pointed. Her mouth even became visible from the front.
"Of course," Lisia said quietly, doing a brief face-palm. "May is getting to that point where almost all of her Pokémon will be evolving." When the glowing ceased, Erza plowed into Corey. The little mouse had been expecting a shorter, much lighter hit, almost like a Miltank head-butting a farmer. Instead he was hit by the force of a truck going sixty. Before he even hit the ground, the judges had all declared a knock out. May looked at the clock, seeing that only a minute and a half had passed. She couldn't help but break out into a smile as she ran out onto the battlefield, hugging Erza around the neck.
"You were amazing out there Erza!" she said. Erza gave a happy grunt, pushing forward to nuzzle May, but she went a little too hard and knocked her trainer onto her back. May just laughed and continued petting the steel type.
"It looks like this final match has been decided in almost record time! May has gotten back up from her loss in Fallarbor!" Vivian said with enthusiasm. The ribbon ceremony was short, May receiving a green ribbon with vertical white stripes. She put it into her ribbon case, next to the one from Slateport. She now had three ribbons. Two more were left before she was in the Grand Festival.
The next day, Brendan, May, and Gwen were all departing Verdanturf to the west, hoping to use the recently cleared Rusturf Tunnel. Just as they got to the entrance, May stopped abruptly. She was getting the subtle feeling that she was being watched. She turned around, not saying anything to Brendan or Gwen. Must be my imagination, she thought until she saw a light distortion in the air to the southeast. She squinted at it, thinking she saw a flash of blue and grey, but after she closed her eyes and shook her head, the distortion was completely gone. She must have been seeing things. She just took a deep breath before turning back to the tunnel entrance, noticing the Brendan and Gwen had turned toward her, a questioning look in their eyes.
"It's nothing," May said as she caught up. Brendan nodded, deciding not to ask if May didn't want to discuss it. "Come on, let's get to Petalburg. Don't want to keep your dad waiting much longer.
Right, I want to see why so many people around Hoenn talk so highly about that man, Gwen said.
"Trust me; it's not just here that he's highly regarded. He was also very well known in Johto as one of the three strongest Gym Leaders," Brendan said. "But he never let me watch a single one of his battles. I guess he didn't want me to formulate any strategies against him before I faced him officially."
"Wow, that's strict but I guess it makes sense," May said. That was when she realized that they were just passing an important spot. "Hey, Brendan, Gwen, you remember what happened here?"
Like it was yesterday, Gwen said, remembering the encounter with Team Aqua that had been the catalyst of her first evolution. Back then, we had absolutely no clue what we were in for on this journey.
"We still have no clue what else we're in for," Brendan said almost matter-of-factly.
The next week was marked with a few easy rematch battles, including the pair of stuck-up brats who had tried to steal Gwen on route 104. They tried to challenge May and Brendan again, but the battle that followed could not have been rightly called a challenge. The kids hadn't trained at all since their last battle. So Brendan battled them alone, giving Gwen targets for practicing Hyper Voice, so there was at least some benefit from the battle. It only took the one attack before Brendan and May were back on their way, Gwen finishing her taunting and gloating before she caught up to them.
When they got into Petalburg, however, Brendan's eyes nearly popped out of his head. What he saw was…disturbing. There were merchant stands that had been set up around the city, and they were all selling similar merchandise: items with his dad's face on them. Brendan approached one of the stands which seemed to be less busy, while May and Gwen stayed back. "Excuse me, sir!" he said to the man sitting behind the counter. The man looked up groggily, but when he saw Brendan his eyes went wider.
"EVERYBODY, NORMAN'S SON IS HERE!" he called out, catching the attention of every person in a half mile radius. At the very least, Brendan had to admit that the man had an impressive set of lungs. Then Brendan suddenly found himself surrounded by random people, all shouting things that he couldn't understand.
Gwen, a little help, get me out of this crowd, Brendan pleaded.
One moment, Gwen said. As soon as she said that, Brendan was beside her and May, finally breathing normally.
"Hey, where'd he go," somebody said.
"Hey, he's over there, and Gwen's with him!" said a fat woman.
"Oh shit," Brendan said, just before he was swamped with more people.
"Brendan, why are you back in Petalburg?" one man, who probably had halitosis, asked as he got very close.
"Well, it wasn't to be swarmed by people I don't even know," Brendan said. "If you need to know, I'm here to challenge Norman." That caused a hushed silence to come over the crowd, before a roar of what seemed like outrage began.
"HOW DARE YOU! DON'T YOU HAVE ANY RESPECT FOR YOUR FATHER?" came one angry shout.
"YOU HAVEN'T EARNED THE RIGHT TO CHALLENGE NORMAN!" said another.
Gwen, can you get us to the Gym from here? Brendan asked, realizing just how insane these people were.
Already on it, Gwen said as she, Brendan, and May all appeared at the entrance to the Petalburg Gym. Now, let's get inside before those idiots figure out where we are.
Brendan agreed as he opened the door to the gym, letting May and Gwen in first before he went in himself. "Oh thank Arceus, I thought they were gonna throttle me!" he said before turning toward the gym's battlefield, seeing nobody on the other side. "Huh, I wonder where Dad is." May looked around as well. As usual, the gym was almost empty, except for the one person at the far side of the battlefield.
"Well, I was wondering when you three would get here," Norman said with a smile as he crossed the field and hugged Brendan. "Good to see you again."
"Thanks Dad," Brendan said. "What was with those obsessed fans outside?"
Norman covered his face with both hands. "Oh, those idiots. They've done nothing but sell illegal merchandise and obsess over me as a gym leader," he said.
"And the league does nothing?" May asked.
"They've been trying but the crazed fans just keep showing up," Norman said before shaking his head. "Any way, why don't we all head home to Littleroot for the night? I'm sure a home cooked meal will be better than what you've been eating on the road and at the Pokémon Center."
That sounds amazing! Gwen said.
"Yeah, I see nothing wrong with that," May said.
"Great, then we all come back here tomorrow for our battle," Brendan agreed.
"Alright, perfect. Come on, the garage is in this direction!" Norman said as he locked the front door to the gym. He then led the way to the car that Brendan hadn't seen since Norman took it from Goldenrod during their move to Hoenn. It was a black Zebstrika four-door sports car. Norman unlocked it and Brendan opened the back door for May and Gwen before getting into the passenger side seat. Norman got into the driver's side and opened the garage. He started the car and sped off down the road toward Littleroot Town. The drive only took about five minutes total, and that was with traffic.
When they arrived in Littleroot, Norman pulled up to May's house. "Here you are May, we will see you tomorrow," he said. May smiled.
"Thanks for the ride Mr. Maple!" she said as she left the car, walking to her front door. Once she was inside, Norman drove for only a few seconds more to get home.
"Well, it's about time you spent your third night in this house," Norman said as he pulled into the house's garage.
Brendan, Norman, and Gwen all got out of the car got into the house. "Hey, Caroline!" Norman said. "I have a surprise here for you!"
Before Caroline could take a guess, Sylveon leapt off the couch and ran over to greet Brendan with a level of enthusiasm that she never showed for Norman. "Aw, hey Syl. I missed you too!" That was when Gwen knelt down to greet Sylveon.
Hey, remember me? Gwen asked with a smile. Sylveon got a strange look as she cocked her head to the side. Yes, I'm that Ralts that left with Brendan a few months ago.
Brendan smiled as he straightened up, only to almost be tackled in a strong hug by his mother. "Welcome home sweetheart," she said, clearly trying to hold back tears of joy.
"It's good to be home," Brendan said, returning the hug. It really was good to be home after such a long time.
Hey everybody thanks for reading once again. Now, some things I get the feeling that I will get questions over, I'll just answer them now:
"Zebstrika" car is supposed to be the Pokémon version of a Mustang.
Yes, I was kind of inspired by the anime's episode that showed the crazed fans of Norman practically taking over Petalburg.
Yes, I did intentionally make the contest shorter, deal with it.
Anyway, aside from those questions that I just answered, please leave an honest review of what you thought, and where I can improve. Just keep the criticism constructive.
Until next time – jmoul18.
