Hey guys I'm back with another chapter of A Different Kind of Princess! I'm sorry I haven't updated this fanfic in like a month it's just that I couldn't think of anything to write for chapter 8! That being said I only posted what I could for this chapter…the other part is still in progress…so yeah. So anyway here's the new chapter, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon

Ages:

Iris: 14

Ash: 14

Chapter 8: Round Three: Beauty and Talent pt 1

Now that the battles were over the critiquing looked like it was about to begin. The last three competitors stood in front of the judges table each wearing a silver tiara on their head and the bracelets they obtained on their wrist. On Iris's right wrist she wore the gold, silver and blue, lavender bracelet and on the left was Roxie's black spiked wrist band. Jacy who stood next to the right of Iris wore a green one on her left wrist and a silver one on her right. While Misty, who stood to the left of Jacy, had the gold and pink bracelet on her left wrist and on her right wrist was the blue bracelet.

Nurse Joy cleared her throat, "Alright everyone, the battles were a spectacular sight to see and even though everyone is dying to see what the judges think, I must announce that we have added a twist to the Princess of Unova pageant once again!"

"Oh, come on now what are they going to do?" Ash groaned as the rest of the crowd wondered the same thing.

"Normally we'd allow the judges would give scores from 1-5 but those bracelets you obtained in battle are going to change that," Nurse Joy said.

"Yes those bracelets will give you extra points along with the scores we give you," Elesa said

Ash smiled, "Iris is bond to get a good score with all those bracelets she got,"

The judges started critiquing from left to right meaning Misty was going first.

Elesa commented on how she liked Misty's style of only use water type Pokémon, and how elegantly their movements were. The electric type gym leader also adored how cute her Pokémon where. Her score from Elesa was a 5. Skyla also gave Misty a 5, she liked how her Pokémon knew various moves and not only water type moves. And Skyla admitted she found it rather boring on how she only used water type and suggest she used different Pokémon as well. At that comment Ash could see Misty wasn't very happy but the red head said nothing and kept that fake smile on her face. The only other thing Skyla said was that she enjoyed the battle because it was quick, and being a flying type gym leader and a pilot, Sklya liked fast paced battles. Lastly Roxie and it was a bit of a surprise to everyone when she gave Misty a only reason the punk rocker gave such a good score was because she liked the battle, she said the way the red head took charge and kept the upper hand throughout the whole thing was rather impressive. But even so Roxie found it hard to watch because she didn't like how the other competitor didn't have a chance to do anything. Also she agreed on how boring it was to only see water type Pokémon and suggest she catch some poison type Pokémon, Misty didn't like that comment either, Ash could see she had to force herself to keep herself from saying anything rude. The red head's overall score was a total of 15, a perfect score.

After Misty came Jacy's critiquing the judges said rather nice things about her. Elesa gave her a 5, because of the cuteness of her Pokémon and how well she used their special abilities in battle. Skyla gave her a 3 and Roxie also gave her a 5. Giving Jacy a total of 13 points.

When it was Iris's turn for critiquing Elesa didn't give much of an opinion on Iris's battle she even admitted that she wasn't really paying attention. This is because the super model attention was absorbed by Pikachu and Emolga and how cute they were. Once Elesa brought that up it made the blond totally forget she was supposed to be critiquing and she spent a good five minutes blabbing about how cute and fabulous Pikachu and Emolga were. But finally, after Nurse Joy had to remind Elesa three times about the time limit, Elesa gave Iris a score of 3. Next was Skyla, being a fast pace person Skyla liked how Iris could turned the battle around in her favor so quickly. The flying type leader enjoyed watching it and thought it was interesting how Iris was able to match up her Pokémon so well with her opponents and win every battle. The flying type expert also enjoyed the aerial battle, and congratulated Iris on how well she was able to direct Dragonite even when he was up high in the sky. Overall Iris's score from Skyla was a 4. Lastly it was Roxie; the poison type leader was ecstatic about Iris's battle and was rather disappointed with the other two judge's scores, Roxie said they should have given Iris 5s. This only caused an argument to break out between Elesa and the punk rocker, but was quickly stopped Skyla. Anyway Roxie said she was extremely impressed by how Iris's cute Pokémon could pack such a punch on the battle field, and said her battle strategy was amazing! But it was Dragonite that Roxie spent the most time talking about. The poison type leader thought the way Iris was able to get Dragonite corporate with her was amazing and showed that, even though it could get better, Iris had a good relationship with the orange dragon type Pokémon. Lastly Roxie congratulated Iris on winning all four battles and obtaining her wrist band, and just cause, Roxie allowed the purple haired girl to keep her black spiked wrist band, she had earned it. The score from Roxie was a 5. This gave Iris a total of 12 points, just like before.

(Tg2012: btw, the scores from round one were: Iris:12 Jacy:11 Misty:14)

"Alright now that everyone has gotten a score from the judges it is now time to give the bonus points for those bracelets you all collected," Nurse Joy indicated to the large digital screen were the ladies pictures and new scores were.

Misty was in first with 29 points and Iris and Jacy were tied for second with 24 points,

"Okay each bracelet you obtained is worth one point. Since Misty is in first we'll add her bonus points first," Nurse Joy said

Misty came forward, the crowd cheered like any crowd would, she walked a few paces while waving to the crowd before she stopped in front of Nurse Joy.

"Okay, one, two, three," Nurse Joy counted, "three bracelets, giving Misty three bonus points," the nurse hit a button on her remote and three more points are added to Misty's score, "that gives Misty a total of 32 points," the crowd cheered and Misty smiled, blew kisses and waved, absorbing all of the attention the audience was showering her with.

Next came Jacy, with the two bracelets she obtain she had two points added onto her score.

"That puts Jacy in second place with 26 points" Nurse Joy announced, "that's a nice score but it may not be good enough, Misty is still 6 points ahead,"

"Iris is next," the pink haired girl said

"Do you think all of her bracelets will give her an advantage?" the green haired girl asked

Ash didn't give an answer, his eyes were fixed on the big screen and he was frowning at Misty's image, 'That girl just can't keep first, she just can't' he thought

"Alright last but not least is Iris Dragonlight," Nurse Joy said as Iris came forward Ash was surprised how many people cheered for the purple haired teen…it even sounded a bit louder than when the crowd cheered for Misty.

"Let's see," the pink haired nurse gave a few quick glances at Iris's wrist, "that's one, two…four bracelets plus Roxie's wrist band. That means Iris has four points plus the five extra points Roxie's wrist band is worth giving her a total of nine points!" Nurse Joy hits the button on the remote and the screen adds nine points to Iris's 24 points, "that give Iris Dragonlight, a total of…"

The number 33 pops up onto the screen.

"33 points!" Nurse Joy announced the crowd exploded into loud cheers, "wow what a wonderful score, and look at that, those 33 puts Iris in the lead! And just by one point!"

At that Ash saw Misty's eyes narrow, her face reddened and her mouth seemed to be making the word "what!?" but no one seemed to hear her over the cheering and whooping Iris was receiving from the crowd.

"Yea, Iris that's awesome!" Ash cheered as he leaps to his feet

"Pika pi chu pika chu!" Pikachu added

"Ax axew ew ax!" the green dragon type Pokémon waved his hands in the air, the Tusk Pokémon had went with Ash when the critiquing was about to begin so he wouldn't get in the way.

"She did it!" the girls in green and pink yelled

Once again Iris waved shyly at the crowd and smiled as blush colored her face. When the cheers died down and she started back to her spot she paused slightly and flashed a confident smirk to the red head who's teeth were clenched tightly with anger.

"With those awesome scores in place," Roxie said as she placed her feet up on the table, "I totally can't wait to see what's in store for round three!"

"Right," Skyla agreed with a smile, "tell us Nurse Joy, what do our competitors have to face in round three?"

Nurse Joy nodded, "In round three our remaining ladies will be tested on in our last two categories beauty and talent!" Nurse Joy said, "During the final round our ladies will be in the spotlight, showing off their talent and beauty by dressing up and putting on a performance for everyone to watch on stage!"

With a press of her remote a large rectangular stage rose up in the center of the large open area. It was decorated with brightly colored curtains streams and glitter just like the stadium. Sitting on the stage were three large trunks. There were the type of trunks you would use for travel; they had wheels on the bottom and a handle that would pop out of the top with a push of a button so you could pull it along behind you. (TG2012: okay their more like suitcases than they are trunks…but trunks just sound better to me for some reason…) One trunk was yellow, another was purple and the last was blue.

"Each of our competitors will get a trunk and inside there are things that will help you in this final round in this competition," Nurse Joy stated, "so before I explain anymore each of our ladies will received a trunk, and since Iris is in first place, she will pick one first,"

Ash watched as the purple haired beauty ambled up to the large stage where the trunks sat. Iris looked at her choices for a moment and then decided to take the purple one, which she took by the handle and went back to her spot, pulling the trunk behind her. Next to pick was Misty, the red head went up to the stage and didn't hesitate to grab the blue one, as she walked back to her spot Ash couldn't help but notice that Misty still seemed upset that Iris was in first. Lastly there was Jacy and having no other choice the blond went and obtained the yellow suit case.

"Now ladies, in each trunk there are different items inside, that being said the trunks you have right now cannot be switched with any of the other competitor's trunks, understand?" Nurse Joy asked looking at the last three girls left in the pageant, they all nodded, "good, now along with your trunk you will also be given a small white card," Nurse Joy reached in her pocket and pulled out a three small white cards she handed them to her Audino who obediently started handed them out, "on the card you receive there will be a picture of a Pokémon on it,"

Iris looked down at the card that the Hearing Pokémon had given her. On it was an image of a Venonat, she darted her brown eyes over to the other girl's card. Jacy had a Purrlion on her card and on her rival's card was, Iris couldn't help but smirk to herself, a Slowpoke which Misty was frowning down at.

(Tg2012: most of this fanfic has been based on Ash's POV but for this chapter to work it's going to be mostly around Iris's POV, just letting you all know)

"Using the pictures you will search for an area that has an image or item that looks like the Pokémon on your card," Nurse Joy said as Iris looked up from the card she held, "when you reach that area you will find items that you can use in your performance-"

"Yes, your performance, ladies," Elesa interrupted, "there a few things you must know, each performance can be no longer than five minutes and no shorter than three minutes-"

"Also up to four Pokémon can be used in your performance, and the Pokémon can be your own, friend's or ones your area will provide for you," Skyla added

"And nothing else outside of your area can be used, oh and make sure not to open those trunks until you find your area. You'll be given till 7 pm to have your performance and costume ready, got it?" Roxie finished in her normally loud voice.

Nurse Joy glared at the judges, she hated to be interrupted, "One last thing you should keep in mind, and this is very important, the judges will not be giving you a score in this round!"

This caused murmurs and whispers to arise in the audience.

'What…the judges aren't going to give us a score?' Iris thought with worry.

"That's right ladies, instead of a score from us," Skyla said

"The audience will be giving you a score instead!" Elesa added

Iris bit her lip, 'B-But how is that going to work?' she glanced over to the audience, 'with so many people…how will they be able to make sure the scoring is done fairly?'

(Tg2012: to be honest I haven't even figured out how the scoring will…well at least not yet…meh, I'll figure something out)

But as if Nurse Joy could read her thoughts, she said, "We won't give much on how the scoring in this final round will work just yet,"

"Yeah, all you ladies have to worry about is finding your locations and putting together a performance that'll rock the house!" Roxie exclaimed.

"With that being said audience there will be an intermission time until 7pm and ladies you are released to go find your areas," Nurse Joy said before sounding the bell with her remote control.

Hearing that sound Iris started to walk towards as far as she could from where Nurse Joy had them stand, away from Misty.

Glancing over her shoulder Iris glanced over at the red head, and as if she had known Iris was there Misty looked up from staring down at her Slowpoke card and looked at Iris. The red head narrowed her eyes and gave the dragon trainer a dirty look before turning away and walking off.

'I better be careful and keep an eye on Misty, Ash told me she be tricky to deal with…' Iris sighed and looked down at her card with the Venonat on it, 'but I still have to stay focused on round three so my best bet is just do what I got to do and try to avoid Misty-'

"Hey, Iris," the sound of her raven haired friend pulled the teen from her thoughts.

Iris smiled as Ash, Pikachu, Axew and the two girls in pink and green approach her.

"You did a splendid job during your battle, Iris!" the one in the green exclaimed with a clap of her hands.

"Yes and your score of 33 points is wonderful!" the pink added with a smile.

"Ax axew axew ew!" her little green dragon type said as if to congratulate her as well. He hoped from Ash's shoulder to her arms and hugged his trainer.

Iris hugged Axew back, "Thanks Axew, for the hug and how awesome you did in battle," the dragon type smiled as Iris set him down on the ground

Ash came over and pulled the purple haired teen into a hug, "You did awesome, Iris!" he pulled away and gave her one of his goofy grins, "and with that score you have, Iris, your one point ahead of that red head!" the raven haired teen looked over at the giant screen were the scores were displayed only to see that Iris was in the lead.

"Yeah, I know," Iris said with relief, she rested her head on Ash's chest, "I was so nervous when the judges were critiquing me up there…and when Nurse Joy said I was in first I was so shocked…I mean I just barely won by the skin of my teeth,"

"Yeah, I know…but you still won!" Ash encouraged taking Iris by the shoulders and moving her from his chest.

"Pika pi chu!" Pikachu said

"Ax axew ew!" Axew added hugging her ankle

"I know but," she looked down at her feet, and purple painted toenails, "but now I'm worried about the final round, what if I don't do good in my performance?" Iris started to bite her nails "What if I can't find my area? What if something goes wrong? What if-"

But the purple haired teen was cut off in mid-sentence as Ash gently cupped her face in his hands and suddenly pressed his lips against her lips. Iris felt blush creep onto her cheeks as she pressed her lips back against his. The kiss lasted for a good five seconds before they both pulled away.

Iris nibbled on her lip slightly before sheepishly looking up at the raven haired teen's bright red face and saying, "Sorry…I-I probably shouldn't worry about thing, right?"

Ash nodded, "Yeah, I mean you've already face your biggest fear, Ice type Pokémon, and didn't let it get the better of you. Not only that, Iris, you even got Dragonite to listen and work with you in that battle without him freaking out," he stopped for a breath, "and if you can do that…then I'm positive you're gonna do awesome in round three!"

"Oh…Ash," Iris murmured, she was flattered by what he had said and her cheeks were burning bright red, "thanks you always know how to make me feel better,"

Ash rubbed the back of his head and his face turned a deeper shade of red, "Hehe…your welcome Iris…"

The girl in pink and the girl in green giggled, "You two are so cute together," Pikachu and Axew nodded in agreement.

Ash cleared his throat, "Er um, Iris you better get started on round three,"

"Oh…your probably right," Iris said she looked down at her card with the Venonat on it.

"So you have to look for a Venonat?" the girl in the green asked as she peered over Iris's shoulder at the card.

"That may be a bit hard, because Venonats live in Johto not in Unova," the girl in the pink informed

"It doesn't matter have hard it is to find a Venonat," Ash said draping his arm over Iris's shoulder, "because will all of our help finding it will be easy," he looked down at Iris, "So where do you think we should start looking, Iris?"

"Actually, Ash" Iris said, fingering the white material of her flowy skirt, "I was thinking about doing round three all by myself,"

Ash blinked as his arm dropped to his side, "Oh…well uh, h-how come Iris?" he asked sounding a little disappointed.

"I would love to have your guys help," Iris started she slowly looked up at Ash and the others "but I started this thing alone and I'm planning to finish this thing alone!" determination flared in her brown eyes, "and I plan to do awesome in round three just like I did in the other two rounds!"

What will round three be like? Was it a good idea for Iris to want to do this alone? What kind of performance will Iris create? And is Misty still lurking around waiting for the right moment to strike and ruin everything for Iris? Find out in the next chapter of A Different Kind of Princess!

Sorry it was short, next chappy will be longer, promise!

BYE: toadettegirl2012

PS: review

PPS: I'll edit this whole fanfic when it's done…for all you grammar freaks out there