Chapter 3
The third out of Black Jack's predicted top four was Alice, his niece, and QT. She came out with a couple of apples while QT flew to the center of the stage while the host introduced her while crowd applauded.
"Ready, QT?" Alice called to him.
"Toge toge!" QT cried while nodding, signalling that he was ready.
"Go!" Alice yelled as she tossed the two fruits into the air. "Psychic and Metronome!"
The Togetic quickly looked up at the two apples and glowed energetically blue, stopping the two apples as they also glowed the same colour while he slowly moved his paws from left and right.
While still glowing, QT leapt into the air and used his paws as knives to quickly peel off a small amount of skin off the apple. Then, he fell and landed safely on his feet with the apples safely in his paws. He showed the apples with the beautifully carved Chinese symbols to the audience while the big screen displayed the apples while the audience looked on in amazement.
"I have no clue what it says but that looks way cool," Jerry said impressed.
"That's Chinese for Blooming Flower," Black Jack said. "There's a saying in this, 'a flower that blooms is the most beautiful'."
"Huh? What does that mean?" Keith asked, slightly confused.
"Let's just say that I always find her very special."
"Yeah…" Keith said while he thought deeply about her.
"How do you know that, boss?" Jerry asked.
"Chan taught me."
"Isn't a trainer supposed to teach pokemon stuff?"
"Jerry, sometimes a trainer needs to learn a few things from his pokemon. Keep that in mind."
"Okay, QT," Alice called to her Togetic. "Use Psychic and Metronome again!"
"Toge!" QT chirped loudly as he tossed them up into the air again and glowed energetically as he moved his paws from left to right and back. He stopped glowing and leapt up into the air and began slashing at the apples in a quick and graceful way while the apples stayed airborne.
QT fell and safely landed on his feet as the apples fell safely into his paws. He raised them close to his face and gave them a gentle blow. Like small pink cherry blossoms, small and flat pieces of the apples began to float around the studio, much to astonishment of the audience.
"Wow!" Keith said in amazement. "Feels like I'm watching the mask of Zorro."
Jerry grabbed one of the floating pieces of the apple and placed it in his mouth. "Mmm, tasty," he said.
While the crowd applauded, Alice and QT gave a polite bow to them and then to the judges as they showed her the total score, which was 28.9. Despite that it was lower score that Peach and Dawn's, Alice was still happy because of the effort that they both put into this performance.
The final contestant of the top eight was Drew as he confidently walked onto the stage with Roselia as the host introduced him to the audience. While he and his Roselia walked to the center of the stage, most of the girls in the audience screamed for him because of his popularity in pokemon contests and his good looks.
As the audience quietened down, an orchestral music was being played in the background. "Roselia, use Magical Leaf," Drew instructed calmly.
The beautiful petal pokemon danced gracefully around the stage while shooting a number of leaves out of her flower-like paws while the leaves changed into sorts of beautiful colours, such as maroon red and sky blue as they start drift down slowly.
"That's great, Roselia," Drew said. "Now use your Petal Dance."
Roselia continued dancing to the music as she shot out small petals out of her paws and then stopped and raised both of them in the air and then started to spin when the music started to play dramatically. Her spinning was so fast that she created a tornado; it was powerful enough to move around the leaves and petals in circles but it did not vacuum the audience members.
"Okay, Roselia," Drew called. "Stop and use your Sunny Day."
As the music started playing slowly and calmly, the little petal pokemon stopped spinning and kneeled down while glowing energetically like that sun that shines in the bright blue sky. While she did, the petals and leaves also started to shine beautiful colours as they slowly started to move in circles and drift downwards, much to the crowds' amazement.
After the music finished playing, she stood up and bowed to the audience, signalling that the performance was finished and the audience gave a standing ovation. Drew and Roselia turned towards the judges and they responded by giving him a total score of 29.7. Roselia and Drew gave them a nod signalling a thank you and then walked off the stage.
After the final contestant performed and receiving his score, the show host walked up to the stage with the microphone in hand. "Now! Let's see the top four scores to see who gets to be in the top four!" the host yelled as the big screen of the studio displayed the top four contestants, which were Dawn, Peach, Alice and Drew. These were the four contestants that Black Jack predicted that would be in the top four. "Congratulations!" he yelled enthusiastically. "Come on out guys!"
The four trainers with their respective pokemon walked on to the stage waving happily at the audience, apart from Drew who kept his cool. "You guys have now made it to the top four… which now has a twist," the host said. "Instead of having to do more performances, you four will now have a free-for-all pokemon battle to determine the winner of the Golden Ribbon contest."
Everyone became shocked and surprised of that announcement, except Jerry who showed a look of understanding. "Oh, so that's how the judges get to leave early," he said.
"What do you mean?" Keith asked.
"Well, Karen's got some home emergency with her dog pokemon, Bill Fireman's just remembered that he has a doctor's appointment and Brian feels like having a long lunch. I heard it from some guy while I was getting us the drinks."
"As much as I hate to see how lazy and disorganised the judges are, having this kind of round is a good idea," Black Jack said. "A very good idea."
"The same rules apply from your usual battling rounds in pokemon contests," the host said. "Only it'll have four of the contestants battling at the same time. For those of you who don't know the rules of this round then I'll explain. The judges will judge on how the pokemon attacks look, based on their beauty, coolness, cuteness, smartness, and toughness, adding and decreasing their points in the process. If the pokemon is unable to battle, he or she will be eliminated and the battle will continue until the last pokemon remains, thus making him or her the winner. If the time limit of five minutes run out, the winner will be decided by how many points they have."
The remaining contestants were given a half hour recess to prepare for their upcoming battle round and they were sent to their dressing rooms. "Should we get to the back?" Jerry asked.
"Let's go," Black Jack said as they got up from their seats. As they got up, Black Jack and Keith noticed the determined look on Alice's face.
Alice and QT quickly made their way back to her dressing room. She quickly picked up a 'do not disturb' sign she found on her desk and hanged it outside on her doorknob. She then shut and locked her dressing room door.
While she prepared, her uncle and friends reached her dressing room door and looked at the sign. "Do not disturb?" Jerry read out loud. "Why would she want to keep us out? Should we at least check on how she's doing?"
"No," Black Jack replied as he remembered the determined look on Alice's face. "She said that she wants to do this alone."
"She needs our help, doesn't she?" Keith asked.
"We already are by being here for her."
After hearing that response, he remembered how determined Alice was on winning the Golden Ribbon contest and showed a small smile. "Yeah," he said to himself. "She'll be okay."
They started walking back to the audience balcony. "I keep on wondering, Black Jack," Keith said. "If she wants to be a pokemon master, why is she determined to win this contest?"
"It's because of the promise she made to QT," Black Jack said. "Back when QT was a Togepi, he and Alice enjoyed watching a lot of Pokemon Contests on TV. I think that watching them somehow inspired QT and Alice to participate in those contests and become the best there is."
"Man, that's some big stuff," Jerry said sounding impressed.
"I know. Doing two different things at the same time is a hard thing to do," Keith said.
"No, I mean check out the size of that hot dog!" Jerry corrected as he pointed at a nearby fast food stand while Black Jack and Keith gave him a dull look.
The half hour recess was up and the host called each of remaining contestants out while the audience applauded for them, knowing that they would be seeing a great upcoming battle.
The contestants and their pokemon took their places of the battlefield, each one standing at one side, ready to battle. Each contestant had determined looks on their faces, knowing that this would be a tough battle.
"Contestants, when I say go, that'll your turn to go," the host announced. "In 5… 4… oh, what the heck, GO!" he finished as he ran off the field.
"Coral! Use Water Gun on QT!" Dawn instructed.
"Roselia! Use your Razor Leaf attack!" Drew ordered.
"Use Assist, Smitty!" Peach yelled.
"Get ready to dodge with your Fly attack, QT!" Alice yelled.
The pokemon did as they were instructed as they start to use their moves… but suddenly, some rumbling was felt and heard throughout the building. This distracted the pokemon from their attacks as they and the others wondered what was going on.
"Er… this rumbling… it's part of this round, right?" Jerry asked worriedly. "It's either that or it's something I ate…"
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