HGSS: Sinnoh Saga

Season 1

Chapter V: Ready, Set, Spotlight

"So, Lyra, what are you doing in Sinnoh?" Ethan asked as he sat in a chair across from the girl inside the Pokemon Center lounge. Jim was sitting next to Lyra, while Dawn next to Ethan.

"When I arrived in Kanto, I asked Professor Oak where the first contest of the year would be held..." Lyra started. "In turn, he said there were no contests this year...Apparently, some people got frozen at the last Grand Festival because of a mis-fire ice attack and it took...awhile to get them unfrozen...anyway, so I told Professor Oak that his new apprentice, some young girl named Daisy, would have to do the entire Kanto herself..." Lyra explained.

"Pretty nice turn of events, I guess..." Ethan thought. "Pretty bad turn of events, I guess..." He said out loud.

Lyra took a sip of the smoothie in front of her. "Well, not really. Now I can travel with you guys again!" She smiled.

Dawn glanced over at Lyra. "Yeah..." She thought to herself.

"But wait, that would make it kind of difficult for us to do contests...you know, sometimes there could be bad blood if one of us makes it and the other doesn't..." Jim dejected.

Lyra set her smoothie down on the coffee table in front of them. "I understand that, but we can get over it..."

"He's saying he doesn't want you traveling with us!" Dawn shouted. Lyra leaned away from Dawn as she screamed in her ear. "Er, sorry. That wasn't my place to say..."

"I'm not saying that, I'm just saying it could get a little stifling..." Jim said hesitantly.

Lyra stood up and snatched her smoothie off of the table. She walked towards the entrance of the pokemon center. Suddenly, Ethan slid in front of her.

"Lyra...how about this. If you're entering the contest tomorrow," he waited for her response, which she nodded her head, "then after the fact, you decide if you want to go with us. If you do, I'll talk to the others about it okay?" Ethan tried to calm her.

Lyra nodded her head and walked out of the Pokemon Center.

Ethan frowned and walked back to the chairs, collapsing into the one from before.

Jim stood up and clapped his hands.

"Ethan, Dawn, help me for battle?" He asked, glancing from face to face.

"Yeah, but don't you need to work on a combination?" Dawn asked, laughing.

"I have a combination all set with Elekid. I wanna use Bidoof for battling!"

"But you don't know if Bidoof can do it!" Dawn replied.

"I learned from that boy that any pokemon can battle, if the trainer just connects with it and believes it can!" Jim countered.

Dawn subdued and the three people led themselves outside.

Outside, Dawn drew a pokeball.

"I'll take it on first! Good practice, go Shinx!" Dawn threw her ball into the air, releasing Shinx. It plopped down on the ground.

"Bidoof, you're...UP!" Jim tossed his pokeball low off the ground, releasing Bidoof, running. "Bidoof, Headbutt!" Bidoof scooped its head up and tossed Shinx. "Yeah! Now, Headbutt again!" Bidoof waited until Shinx came closer to the ground, then tossed its head against Shinx, throwing her across the ground.

"Shinx! Come on, use Spark!" Shinx lifted herself up and dashed towards Bidoof, coated in electricity.

"Bidoof, use Defense Curl!" Bidoof rolled up into a ball. Shinx slammed into it, tossing it a few feet across the ground. "Now, Rollout!" Bidoof tightened into a tight ball and span quickly towards Shinx. It rammed into it and threw Shinx through Dawn's hat, striking it off and throwing them both to the ground. Dawn turned and hurried to Shinx.

Shinx was laying, fainted, in the middle of her hat. She recalled her and put her hat back on. "Wow..."

"So, how was that?" Ethan nodded. "Nice...So, can we see your appeal?"

Jim shook his head. "You have to wait until tomorrow for that!" He said snidely, recalling Bidoof.

Ethan rolled his eyes, smiling.

The three trainers crashed in the Pokemon Center as the day ended.

That night, Ethan had a nightmare.

In it, he was standing on an island, surrounded by a pool of water that only came to him, then made a perfect circle of dryness around him. The sky above was pitch black. He looked out over the infinite water, seeing nothing but darkness when it reached a point.

He couldn't move. Suddenly, a ball of darkness was floating in front of him. Arms protruded from the sides and grabbed him on the shoulders. Suddenly, he was yanked inside.

He woke up in a shrill scream inside his head. He breathed hard, and fell back in his pillow. Dark was in the room, and he was breathing hard.

"What was that?" Ethan thought to himself.

The next day, Jim rammed through the doors of the contest hall.

He was wearing a new Contest Outfit, consisting of a green tuxedo with yellow shoulder plates and black shoes.

He rushed into a back room, where he sat down, waiting for the contest to begin. He inserted Elekid's pokeball into a ball capsule and slapped on a Lightning Bolt seal.

A yellow stage was illuminated with spotlights. Center-stage, a woman with a green jumpsuit, headset and sun visor raised her arms.

"Hello! This is the Jubilife Contest and I am your host, Roseanne!" The crowd went crazy with cheering. "Today, thirty contestants will fight it out by making beautiful appeals and dazzling battle styles to win the prestigious Jubilife Ribbon! Now, introducing our judges...Mr. Contesta!"

"Pleasure to be here, and let's get going!" Mr. Contesta said happily.

"Mr. Sukizo!"

"Spectacular!" The old man cheered.

"And our very own, Nurse Joy!"

"Wonderful, loving being here every time!" She smiled.

"And let's get down to business!" Roseanne shouted.

The curtain opened, and out came a girl with spirally red hair. She was wearing a black shirt that fell down into a hot pink, scruffy skirt. She danced onto the field.

"Debuting, is Urusula from Sandgem Town!"

The girl drew a ball and tossed it into the air, holding out her index finger and pinkie of both hands. "Let's get some action, Pachirisu!" She said as her little squirrel pokemon came out. It fell to the field, flowers falling around it. It was white with a large tail, a blue streak running down the back. It had yellow cheeks that sparked with electricity. "All right, Pachi, use Thunder Wave!" Pachirisu released barbs of electricity into the air. As they reached the ceiling, the hair-thin barbs stood in mid air. "Okay, Pachi! Use Seed Bomb!"

In the back, Jim raised a brow. "It can learn Seed Bomb?"

Lyra turned. She was wearing a pink headdress, a blue shirt that fell to her bellybutton, a transparent pink skirt with blue short underneath and brown sandals. She smiled. "Yeah, through breeding," she answered.

Back on the field, Pachirisu released small beads of grass-energy. The exploded on the barbs and sparkles rained down on Pachirisu. It jumped freely as they fell on it.

"Wonderful!" Roseanne declared.

Ursula bowed and she skipped out, her Pachirisu right behind her.

A couple dozen more people came out and performed some unique combinations, like a Mantyke with Bubblebeam and Blizzard, and some other impressive ones.

26th in, Jim was up. He dashed out onto stage and threw his pokeball.

It opened and Elekid fell to the ground, electric bolts exploding around it.

"All right, Elekid! Shock Wave!" Elekid formed a ball of electricity that it threw into the air. "Now, Thunder Punch!" Elekid boosted itself into the air and whipped a fist around the electricity, jabbing it and releasing waves of power across the audience.

"Wow, he sure knows how to show off Elekid's power..." Lyra said, impressed.

Elekid fell and bowed, along with Jim.

"Simple, yet powerful in strength!" Mr. Contesta said.

Jim headed backstage, as Elekid hopped behind him.

As last contestant, Lyra walked silently onto the stage. A spotlight followed her, then split away.

"Come on, Togekiss!" She tossed it into the air, and a large, white pokemon sailed out in a shower of red and blue confetti. It fell to the ground and landed on its tiptoes, wings spread out wide. "All right, Togekiss, let's go! Water Pulse!" Togekiss created a ball of water on its mouth and fired it into the air, water spinning around it. "Now, Aura Sphere, and follow that with Safeguard!" Togekiss darted in the air, throwing a ball of suppressed energy at the water. It exploded and sent a wave of water over the crowd. Togekiss appeared above it, and released a green barrier, making the water glow as it was surrounded by it, causing it not to fall over the crowd.

"Such a focused and well-rounded technique!" Mr. Contesta cheered.

"Lyra gets some positive feedback!"

Back stage, she sat down, content with herself. Jim had a sweatdrop as it was coming down to the wire...

"And our 8 contestants moving on to the next round are..." Roseanne showed a screen where eight faces appear. Jim, Lyra and Urusula's faces were among them.

Jim sprang up and beamed. "Yes! Now we can claim that ribbon as ours!"