I would've had this up yesterday, but I didn't have it quite finished. Oh well, hope you all enjoy! And thanks to WitSicness, Big B 007, and OwenG2107 for the reviews!
"Here it is; Cherrygrove city!" Angelica declared as the two stood on a small hill just outside of Cherrygrove. To Ginan, it seemed somewhat misleading to call Cherrygrove a city. It was barely larger than Newbark town, boasting only a few roads and neighborhoods, a large white building with a prominent red roof, and a slightly smaller building right next to it with a blue roof. "That's the pokemon center," Angelica explained, pointing to the red roofed building. "Basically where we can sleep, eat, and get all out pokemon healed, like a trainer's home base in every city."
"It'd save us from having to tragically camp out," Ginan remarked as they headed into the city. "That does not sound like a good idea…ever. Just imagine all the nasty bug pokemon crawling around, ugh…" She shuddered at the visual. "Well, glad we have these, at least." They entered to pokemon center, which seemed like a rather cozy place. There was a large front desk with a pink haired lady and a large pink egg like pokemon, which Angelica explained to be like the assistant healers, Chansey. Ginan handed her two pokeballs over to the kindly nurse, and sat down in the lounge next to the desk, which contained the latest pokemon magazines and very comfortable sofas and arm chairs to fall asleep or cuddle up in. There was also a cafeteria area across from the lounge, with food for both trainers and pokemon.
While waiting for her pokemon to be healed, Ginan decided to check out the room that they'd rented for the night. It was rather small, having only a bunk bed, a small closet, and another door at the back, leading to a bathroom. While it wasn't the most posh lodging, Ginan was sure that it beat camping by a long shot. After inspecting their room, Ginan went back to the front desk to retrieve her pokeballs, and grabbed a ham sandwich from the cafeteria, as she waited for Angelica to retrieve her own pokemon as well, before going with her to register for the contest.
As it turned out, the contest hall was actually the second largest building in town behind the Pokemon Center. It consisted of a large dome on the outside, with a spacious, shiny floored lobby on the inside, beyond which were the male and female dressing rooms and the contest stage. As Angelica explained the outline of the contest, Ginan observed the multiple flat screen televisions lining the walls, which showed some of the highest rated recent contest appeals, the results of the latest contests, and special features of each judge, which turned out to be each town's localNurse Joy, Mr. Sukizo, an exuberant tiny man with a fondness for chanting "remarkable", and an older man in an elegant red suit known as Mr. Contesta.
As they approached the circulation desk, Angelica handed over her Johto contest pass to the receptionist, who in turn scanned it, and handed it back to her with a form to indicate which pokemon she would be using for the appeal and battle round.
"Appeal round?" Ginan asked, slightly confused. She had never really watched contests before.
"Oh, it's where each coordinator uses one pokemon, or sometimes even two, to make a dazzling display of their moves or abilities…I'm sure you'll see plenty of good ones in the contest today." She paused as she flipped the form over. "Well I'm using Coco for the appeal round, and then Felicity for the battle round.
"Felicity?" Ginan asked, confused. "Which of your pokemon is that?"
"Oh, my Mightyena," Angelica replied. "He was my capture back in Hoenn, after I got Coco, I'll show you!" She dug a pokeball out of her bag, and while she was at it, brought out her other two as well. "Let's go guys!" Out popped Coco, her large and motherly looking Swampert, Jordy, and a black and grey wolf like creature that looked quite fierce.
"Wow, Felicity looks intense!" Ginan noted as she took out her pokedex.
"Mightyena, the Bite Pokémon. Mightyena is the evolved form of Poochyena. They move primarily in packs, working together to capture their prey." It read.
"Felicity's total loyal, and a good pokemon too!" Angelica said as she patted her head, and he rubbed against her. "Hey, why don't you bring out your pokemon?"
"Good idea," Ginan responded, taking out her two pokemon, and releasing them. "That reminds me…I haven't even named Sentret yet…" She paused, observing the normal type as he gave her quizzical look. "Hm, what about Whiskers?" Ginan asked, taking in the cute little whiskers on Sentret's face. "It sounds cute! What do you think?" Sentret shrugged, giving out a small squeak.
"Looks like he's good with it," Angelica laughed.
"My, my Angelica, are those all your pokemon?" A teasing voice behind them asked. Angelica whipped around.
"George!" She gasped happily, throwing her arms around a tall red haired boy. As she pulled away, Ginan could see that he was rather good looking. He wore black pants along with a white shirt with a bright red body warmer that somehow matched perfectly with his flaming hair. She grinned slightly. Ginan didn't know Angelica was into redheads. "What's up?"
"You know, just entering another Johto contest," He replied. "But it seems you've already put together quite a collection of Johto pokemon."
"Oh, no those aren't all mine, just Coco, Felicity, and the Vulpix," Angelica put in. The other two are Ginan's, oh, this is George, by the way," Angelica told Ginan, gesturing to George.
"Pleased to meet you," George smiled warmly, shaking her hand, and winking at her, earning an elbow jab from Angelica.
"Come on now, she's not up for that kind of thing," Angelica laughed, although Ginan could catch a thin edge of jealousy in her voice, making Ginan crack another grin. The two had definitely had a thing. "George, I've been meaning to ask you, have you heard anything about Draco yet?"
He shook his head, his care free appearance disappearing. "No, I'm sorry."
Angelica nodded, biting her lip. "That's fine."
"Wait, what happened with Draco?" Ginan asked, remembering Angelica mentioning his name before.
Angelica's face darkened as if somewhat had flipped a light switch. "Very long story…Oh, I lost track of time! Appeals start in fifteen minutes, better get changed!" Exchanging a quick good bye with George, she rushed off with Ginan to the dressing room. It seemed quite plush, with multiple squishy velvet sofas, flat screen T.V's, and floor to ceiling mirrors. Ginan supposed that it served as a small form of comfort to nervous coordinators about to appeal. As she took in the surroundings, Angelica changed into her fancy contest outfit, a sparkling strapless periwinkle dress with matching flats.
"That looks pretty!" Ginan approved, "Very classy."
"Thanks, I got it at discount at the Lilycove department store, great shopping!'' She responded, taking out Coco's pokeball and wiping it with a cleaning cloth. Ginan nodded, hoping that there was a Johto equivalent to the Lilycove department store.
"First coordinator, please," A bouncer poking his head into the room declared. At this, a nervous looking coordinator stood up and walked out to stage.
With that, the appeals began passing. Some were dazzling, others less than satisfactory. Ginan felt particularly sorry for the coordinator that confused his own Zubat with its supersonic appeal. After about six appeals, Ginan saw George step out onto the stage, wearing an elegant emerald suit that complemented his red hair. He managed to put out a stunning appeal by having a Blaziken, which Angelica remembered as his starter, demolish an entire focus blast attack with its blaze kick, cloaking the entire stage in energy charged sparkles and embers. Two more appeals passed and it was Angelica's turn.
"Good luck," Ginan said, patting her back as she began to exit the room.
"Let's go, Coco!" Angelica shouted upon entering the stage. In a flash of light, her Swampert appeared, poised and ready. "Use water pulse!" With that command, Coco formed a large sphere of sparkling blue water in her mouth, and then shot it upward in a delicate spinning motion, making beautiful spirals of water al around the stage. "Now use ice punch!" Fist glowing light blue, Coco punched it into the nearest spiral of water. At once, all the water spirals around the stage froze solid, emitting a glowing blue light "Aqua tail!" Her tail glowed blue as she slammed it against the ground, then jumped all the way up on top of the ice, landing on the nearest spiral, and causing the ground to cheer loudly as Angelica bowed.
"Nice one!" Ginan high-fived Angelica as she returned to the dressing room, a relieved smile on her face. "That was quite the impressive appeal right there."
"Well, thanks," Angelica grinned back, returning Coco's pokeball to her pouch, and pulling out another, presumably Felicity's.
"Hey, I'm going to go on a little walk, check out that small beach on the edge of town," Ginan told Angelica, standing up and stretching. As Angelica consented and returned to checking out other's appeals, Ginan turned and exited the Contest Hall, taking in more of Cherrygrove city. It was still rather quaint, reminding her more of New Bark town, but with only slightly more action. Small bunches of pink wildflowers dotted the blowing green grass, and wild pokemon such as Pidgey and Rattata passed by every now and then.
"Ah, here we are," Ginan sighed as she felt the soft white sand under her boots, and smelled the salt sea that she'd always loved. The beach was not much at all, however. It was about the size of the pokemon center's lobby, and lined with craggy rocks. The rolling aquamarine water crashed in small waves onto the shore, and Ginan only caught sight of a few Magikharp in the water.
"Guess I should head back," She mused as she dipped her boot into the cool water. As the teen began turning around, a brilliant flash of blue light beamed into the corner of her eye. Slowly turning her back, Ginan caught the sight of what she was certain was a Legendary Pokemon staring right at her.
Dun dun duuuuun what could it possibly be? Stay tuned to find out!