Hi Hello! This chapter is very special indeed, over 3000 words! Can I get a WHAT WHAT!
... Anyway
I would just like to say thanks for all the reviews recently! Really appreciate it! Anyway on with the chapter!
Last time:
Our Heroes arrive to Crestfallen Town, where Nathans first contest will be held. They meet another coordinator named Rhianne, who Nathan takes a liking to, but Scarlet seems to find obnoxious. After an encouraging phone conversation with May and Drew, Nathan tries on his new suit he will need for this super contest, and prepares for his grand entrance.
Chapter X
"Welcome everyone to Crestfallen towns very own Super Contest!" The host exclaimed in excitement, a woman with curly brown hair and cerulean eyes, and a small birthmark on the side of her face, standing in an endearing pose in the centre of the arena. "I'm you're host and MC for this afternoon, Lillian Meridian!"
The growing crowd cheered and the pretty woman smiled charmingly, and from where we were sitting in the front of the stadium, I could see Bryce's eyes widen.
"Oh she is absolutely STUNNING!" He gasped, and I rolled my eyes and groaned.
"Bryce! We're here to watch Nathan remember?" I snapped, and Growlithe snickered from beside me at the spiky brown haired boy, who still had a dreamy look on his face.
"We are also pleased to announce our three judges for this Super Contest! We have Mr. Contesta, our contest coordinator, Mr. Sukizo, president of the Pokemon fan club, and finally, Crestfallen towns very own Nurse Joy!" Lillian announced with another charming smile, causing everyone to cheer.
"The winner of this contest will recieve Crestfallen Town's beautiful ribbon!" Lillian pointed to the podium where the ribbon lay, a pretty black and white design with a spiral to signify the moon. The audience oohed and ahhed and Lillian nodded. "I agree, very beautiful indeed."
"Let's get this contest underway!" Lillian shouted, "First up we have young Rhianne Hayden taking the stage!"
I growled under my breath as the familiar looking girl coolly walked onto the stage, giving the crowd an uncaring glance before pulling out a pokeball. Rhianne had changed out of her traveling clothes into a much classier looking metallic blue gown, and her hair hung in a fancy updo.
"Alright Vulpix! Centre Stage!" she cried, and the red fox pokemon appeared from the capsule in a flurry of red flames, landing skillfully on its feet and cocking its head to the side cutely. "Vul!"
The crowd cheered and Lillian nodded in excitement. "Rhianne releases her pokemon with excellent class, showing off how adorable Vulpix can be!"
Rhianne smirked, and I ground my teeth together angrily. "Show off."
Bryce looked at me in amusement. "Its a contest, you are supposed to show off!"
"Shut up Bryce!" I snapped, turning away from the spiky haired boy.
"Alright Vulpix! Start us off with fire spin!" Rhianne called, and her Vulpix nodded and leaped directly into the air, shooting an array of flame to spin all around the fire type, causing the crowd to gasp and awe.
"Will you look at that! Rhianne is getting Vulpix to make his own personal tornado out of fire!" Lillian gasped.
Rhianne nodded. "Excellent Vulpix! Now use baby-doll eyes!"
From inside the tornado, the small fire types eyes lit up to become a bright purple, and when Vulpix reached the final height of his leap, he sailed back towards the ground shooting a similar purple gleam throughout the tornado.
Lillian bounced in excitement. "Wonderful! Vulpix managed to use a purple illusion from the fairy type attack, flowing nicely with the fire spin!"
"Alright Vulpix, finish this up!" Rhianne beamed. "Extrasensory! Directly into the fire spin!"
"Vulpix!" The tiny fox cried, shooting a bright purple beam of light into the fire spin which caused the fire to disintegrate, creating small red sparkles to fall from the sky around Vupix and Rhianne as they posed into a bow.
The crowd erupted into an earth shattering cheer, and I scowled, turning my head away.
"Outstanding! With an excellent display of Extrasensory, Vulpix and Rhianne have perfectly executed a finishing move!" Lillian cried, her smile becoming more evident after watching her performance. "Let's see what our judges have to say."
The numbers 9, 9.5 and 9.5 flashed onto the screen, and the crowd cheered, if possible, even louder.
"Rhianne and her Vulpix finish with a solid 28 points! An excellent way to start off this contest!" Lillian announced, and Rhianne nodded, returning her Vulpix and whispering something into the pokeball before turning back through the tunnel.
"Hey Rhianne wasn't bad!" Bryce beamed, staring at the tunnel the girl had vanished down. "Vulpix was extremely elegant!"
"Growlithe!" My puppy nodded in agreement.
I huffed and turned away, although I couldn't say it wasn't impressive. If only it wasn't that little snobby jerk.
After a few more performances, a girl named Jacqueline was called up. Out strode a girl with long blue hair pulled into a ponytail, with a long golden dress and butterfree mask on.
The girl smirked and threw a pokeball into the air.
"Houndour! Time to shine dearest!"
The black and red hell-hound appeared, looking around in confusion.
"Alright sweetie!" Jacqueline smiled, "Show them you're ember attack!"
The hound pokemon still looked a little confused, but shot the ember attack forward with grace.
"Not to bad Houndour!" Jacqueline nodded. "Now try smog!"
The hound let out a small poison cloud to wrap around ember, creating a small interesting looking light wherever the embers lay.
Jacqueline trilled in delight. "Awesome! Now quick! Use Fire Blast!"
Houndour turned around in shock and tilted his head to the side, not moving.
I raised an eyebrow. "Why isn't he attacking?"
Bryce shrugged. "No idea."
People began to murmur and Jacqueline looked angry. "Come ON Houndour, do it!"
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
From a little ways above Scarlet and Nathan, Jace and Zorua smacked their hands against there foreheads.
"Oh Jackie!" Jace growled, and Zorua sighed. "Houndour doesn't know Fire Blast does it?"
Jace sadly shook his head.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
The judges had given Jacqueline a score of 17, and the angry trainer had stalked off, complaining that the contest hall couldn't stand how awesome she was. I giggled lightly at the over dramatic girl and turned to Bryce and Growlithe.
"I sure hope Nathan doesn't screw up that badly." Bryce laughed, and I chuckled.
"Naw, I've seen him preform, he's good." I smiled, and Growlithe barked in approval.
"Next up, we have contestant number nine, and a new coordinator the young Nathan Hayden!" Lillian shouted in excitement, and a few other trainers mumbled in anticipation for the son of the famous coordinators May and Drew to make his grand entrance.
Nathan appeared, the worry on his face completely gone, to be replaced with his cocky look of determination. I sighed and rolled my eyes, but couldn't keep the grin off my face. Knowing that look, this was going to be good.
Nathan smirked, and tossed his pokeball carelessly.
"Mudkip! Spotlight!"
The small mud fish pokemon appeared, twirling through the air in a spring of bubbles from his the pokeballs seal, and the blue pokemon landed on his feet gracefully, ready to go.
"And Nathan starts off with a graceful entrance, showing off Mudkip's delicate nature!" Lillian cheered, smiling at the young boy.
Nathan smirked and flicked the brown bangs out of his eyes. "Alright Mudkip, start us off with Attract!" He called, and Mudkip cried out and leaped, sending pink hearts to fly out of his body quickly and gracefully. The pokemon spun through the air, and the hearts seemed to melt around him, soaring and tumbling to accommodate Mudkips movements.
Lillian gasped "Wow what an astonishing attract! Nathan is really showing off Mudkip's grace today!"
I nodded, turning to Bryce. "Mudkip really mastered the attract from the last time I saw him. He is doing great!"
Nathan was beaming now, and he flew out his left hand to signal for Mudkip, "Alright buddy! Use water gun!"
The blue pokemon landed on the ground just as the hearts began to fall, and turned to look up towards them, shooting a graceful water fountain up at the hearts. Once the jet of water connected, the hearts soared away, sparkling around Mudkip's temporary water fountain.
"Outstanding!" Lillian cried, "Mudkip's water fountain has caused the attract attack to dazzle!"
I gasped and Bryce whistled. "Nathans good!" We both exclaimed at the same time.
Nathan was looking more and more like an excited kid, losing all the cool attitude he had before with his pokemons great performance. "Alright Mudkip! Finish it off! Use bubble!"
The small pokemon replaced the water gun attack with a bubble attack by leaping into the air, effectively destroying the hearts to be replaced with blue sparkles. Mudkip back flipped, landing atop Nathans fedora gracefully and both the pokemon and trainer bowed.
The crowd exploded into furious cheers, and I couldn't help but scream in excitement. What an amazing first appeal! We needed to get backstage right away.
"What a wonderful performance!" Lillian cried. "Let's see what the judges have to say!"
Bryce and I turned to the judging panel in excitement, and watched as the numbers 8, 8.5 and 9 flashed onto the screen.
"And Nathan takes the stage with a solid 25.5 points! Not bad for a first appeal! Congratulations young man!"
Nathan beamed and called back Mudkip, before turning to walk back into the tunnel. I had to remember to get back down there as soon as the appeal round ended.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
"That was a great appeal Nathan!" I beamed, punching the boy lightly on the shoulder, while Growlithe barked out congratulations. We were now back in the contest locker room, where we would be waiting to hear the news on who would advance to the battle rounds.
"Really?" Nathan asked somewhat nervously. "I really hope I advance into the battle rounds!"
Bryce chuckled. "What makes you say you wont? A score of 25.5 isn't exactly horrible."
"Yes, but a score of 28 is better." A voice called from behind me.
Oh fantastic.
"Rhianne!" Nathan exclaimed, turning to meet the brown haired girl. "You had a very interesting appeal, and your score was pretty good!"
Rhianne shrugged, and I felt my stomach twist in annoyance. Is she always this careless?
"Thanks I guess. But I liked yours as well. I have to admit, you surprised me. That's a nice change." She said, smiling sincerely for the first time since I met her. I felt my heart pound as she reached over and clapped Nathan on the back.
"See you in the battle rounds!" She smiled, before turning and walking away.
I huffed and closed my eyes, trying to control my temper.
"Hey Scar, are you okay?"
Nathans voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I smiled halfheartedly, trying to reassure him. "Yeah I'm good, I just have a small headache."
I could tell Nathan didn't believe me, but before he could question me any further, an announcement came over the loud speaker.
"Alright coordinators, thank you for your patience! The judges have chosen eight coordinators to advance to the battle rounds, and here they are!" Lillian announced in excitement.
Everyone turned their heads to the large screen, where faces slowly began to appear. I saw Rhiannes face appear, which made me growl, but my features softened when Nathans face appeared last, his cocky smirk visible from halfway across the room on the television monitor.
Nathan beamed and fist pumped the air. "Alright!" He cheered, earning a few snickers from Bryce, Growlithe and I.
"Great job Nathan!" Bryce cheered, fist bumping the brown haired boy.
I nodded, and Growlithe yipped in agreement. "I knew you would, you're appeal was awesome!" I smiled, and Nathan flushed before Lillian's voice brought our attention back to the TV screen.
"Now, we can give the board a random shuffle, and see who our competitors will be facing in the next rounds!"
The faces were dispersed into an interesting movement to shuffle the trainers, and when it stopped, there was a two by two slide on who each coordinator would compete against.
"Here we are! First up we have Cole and Summer, followed up by Rhianne and Nathan!" Lillian announced, and the crowd roared in approval in the background.
"Uh Oh, looks like Nathans battling Rhianne." Bryce sighed. "Your in for a tough match buddy."
I pursed my lips and didn't say anything, but I didn't need to. "I'm going to win. I just KNOW it!" Nathan puffed in determination, rubbing the top of Mudkips pokeball absently. "Rhianne isn't going to stop me!"
I nodded, smiled. "Go get em' Nathan!"
Just as I finished talking, I heard footsteps from behind us, and Bryce look at me warningly.
"Well Nathan, seems like your in for a good fight."
Speak of the devil...
"Rhianne! I'm going to give you a run for your money!" Nathan declared, crossing his arms with a smug smile.
Rhianne raised one eyebrow and grinned crookedly. "And how many ribbons do you even have? Right, none. Your going up against someone with tons of contest experience already." With that the girl pulled out a ribbon case and opened it, revealing two ribbons of her own.
"Wow!" Bryce gasped. "Two already? Hasn't there only been four contests this year though?"
Rhianne nodded. "Yep, and I have won half of em. So be careful what you wish for Nathan. But best of luck."
I glared at Rhianne and huffed. "What makes you think your so special huh? I saw your whole performance, it looked like you were dozing off! I've never seen someone preform so nonchalantly in my entire life!"
Nathan and Bryce's mouths dropped open at my outburst, and Growlithe perked up in confusion.
Rhianne's eyes hardened and she glared at me. "Whatever Scar if you will excuse me, I ave a contest to win." With that, she turned to walk towards the stage, where the other coordinators were battling.
I felt my face heat up and I ran to charge at her, when Nathan and Bryce grabbed my collar to hold me back.
"Scarlet relax!" Nathan exclaimed, struggling to get a hold of my jacket, while Bryce smirked and easily held me in place. When did that kid get so strong anyway!
"Nobody calls me Scar except Nathan!" I snarled, and I heard the boy snicker from behind me.
"I though I wasn't even allowed to call you that." Nathan smirked cockily, and I flushed and turned my back on him.
"Whatever Contest Boy. Just do me a favour," I felt a smile curve at my lips upon remembering one of the first nice things he said to me. When Nathan raised his eyebrow I crossed my arms and gave him a smirk of my own.
"Kick some butt for me."
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
"HOW COULD THEY NOT ADVANCE ME TO THE SECOND ROUND!" Jackie screeched, causing Jace and Zorua to cover their ears.
"Well Jackie," Jace began awkwardly, fumbling with his hands. "You DID try and get Houndour to preform an attack he doesn't know."
Jackie snarled and leaned over to smack the periwinkle haired boy upside the head. "So? What was wrong with the rest of it?"
Zorua winced and slowly backed away. "Nothing! In fact, with a little practise, you would do great!"
Jackie smirked. "Good, because that's what I am going to do! One day I will beat that little punk, and have a ribbon of my own!"
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
"Alright thank you for you're patience everyone! After that thrilling battle between Summer and Cole, young Summer will be moving on! Now, we have another thrilling battle between two aspiring coordinators, please welcome Rhianne and Nathan!"
Lillian waved her hand towards the tunnels where the trainers would be appearing, and the crowd went wild, everyone cheering loudly as the two coordinators appeared, and I wasn't left out. Bryce and I whooped and cheered as Nathan made his way over to his platform, and Growlithe yipped excitedly.
"The rules are simple, each coordinator will let out one pokemon each, and they will both start with a string of points and five minutes on the clock. The winner will be determined by the coordinator with the most points at the end of the time! If your pokemon is knocked out, you are disqualified. Trainers are you ready?"
Nathan's fingers brushed Mudkips pokeball warily, but he nodded in determination. Rhianne carelessly reached for a pokeball and nodded as well.
"Alright then! Five minutes on the clock... release your pokemon!" Lillian announced, and Nathan didn't waste a second. "Alright Mudkip, Showtime!"
The mudfish pokemon appeared in a flurry of bubbles, and spun through the air once before landing on his feet. "Kip!"
Rhianne nodded to herself and flicked her own pokeball. "Alright Elekid! Get in there!"
The pokeball opened in an explosion of thunderbolts and a small yellow and black pokemon appeared, grinning maliciously.
My eyes widened and I reached for my pokedex. "Elekid huh? Let's see what Dex has to say."
Elekid, the Electric Pokémon. Elekid is the pre-evolved form of Electabuzz. It generates electricity by spinning its arms.
"That's an electric type." I announced grimly. "Nathan is at a disadvantage."
Nathan seemed a little put off for a moment, and Rhianne took advantage of this.
"If you wont attack, I will. Elekid, start us off with thunder punch!" She smirked, and the tiny electric type flew towards Mudkip, his fist emitting a bright light and small sparks shooting from it.
"If Nathan doesn't tell Mudkip to dodge that thunder punch will cause some serious damage!" Bryce gasped, and Growlithe whimpered in agreement.
Nathan's eyes widened, and just as the fist was about to hit the fish pokemon, he managed to react. "Dodge it!"
Mudkip spiralled in time, narrowly missing the thunder punch, and landing elegantly on his feet. Nathan nodded in approval, and Rhianne crossed her arms in frustration as a few of her points dropped at the failed attack.
"Nathans Mudkip dodges, and Rhianne looses a few points! How will she counter from that incredible dodge?
"Now use water gun!" Nathan called, and the small water type sent a large jet of water spiralling towards Elekid, and Rhianne smirked. "Elekid, counter with charge beam!"
Elekid formed a small light in between his paws, and sent a large beam of light soaring towards Mudkips water gun. The two attacks collided, but Elekids was much stronger, and the beam of light collided with Mudkips and sent him flying backwards.
"Wow! That Elekid sure is quick! Nathan may be in trouble!" Bryce exclaimed in surprise.
"No! Mudkip!" Nathan gasped. From the scoreboard, I could see nearly half of Nathans points drop, while Rhianne's bar was still three quarters full.
"And Mudkip is hit with the charge beam! Thats going to cause some serious problems for Nathan! Can they pull through before time runs out?"
Nathan glowered. "Of course we can! Mudkip, use bubble!" The fish got to his feet and shot a string of bubbles towards Elekid and I groaned. Didn't he learn from that one already?"
"When will he learn my Elekid is quicker than that!" Rhianne grumbled. "Alright finish this Elekid! Dodge and use brick break!"
The electric pokemon went flying towards Mudkip, his fist raised in preparation for the dangerous fighting type move. I gasped and sat up, waiting for the impact that would finish the match.
"Don't think I'm falling for that again!" Nathan smirked. "Mudkip, jump and use mud slap!"
I recoiled slightly. "Mudkip knows mud slap?"
Mudkip nodded and flicked his tail in Elekids direction, causing a string of mud to collide with his face, and Elekid screeched in pain and fell to the floor, causing Rhianne's mouth to drop as quickly as her points. "Elekid! Are you okay?"
"And Nathan pulls of a beautiful mud slap attack, causing Elekids attack to fail! Nathan isn't all that far behind Rhianne now!"
I nodded and turned to Bryce who was watching the battle with an intense look on his face. "Mud slap is a ground type move right? So its super effective against electric types such as Elekid."
Bryce gave me a half smile and nodded. "Yeah, but don't forget that Elekid still has the advantage, plus I don't think Rhianne will fall for the same move twice."
I looked over at Rhianne who had a look of surprise and determination on her face, and I gulped. "Rhianne sure looks angry. I think Nathan is in trouble."
Elekid stood up and growled, before turning to face Mudkip with a cross look on his face, and Rhianne smiled. "Awesome Elekid! Now jump and use thunder punch!"
The tiny electric type managed to charge forward with blinding speed, and Nathan squeaked in surprise. "Quick, dodge Mudkip!"
The water type tried to get out of the way, but Elekid slammed his fist against Mudkip, and electrocuted the tiny pokemon, making him cry out in pain.
"No! Mudkip!" Nathan wailed.
"Looks like Mudkips taken some serious damage! We're in the final minute of our battle, can Mudkip pull through on time?"
"Yes we CAN! Mudkip charge at Elekid and use water gun, full power!" Nathan cried, pulling down his fedora with a wild look in his eyes.
Rhianne was beaming. "Elekid, meet that water gun with thunder bolt!"
Both pokemon charged forward and emitted their attacks at the same time, and when they met, the air exploded around them, creating a series of sparkles that littered the air as they fell. The timer beeped and both coordinators turned towards the score board, even though it was clear who the winner had been.
"And the winner of this round is Rhianne! She will be moving on to the semi finals, so good luck to you!" Lillian cheered, and I looked at Nathan sadly, waiting for his reaction.
Nathan sighed and held up his pokeball. "Mudkip return!" When the small pokemon vanished into the pokeball, he placed it against his lips and whispered something I couldn't hear.
Rhianne called Elekid to return as well, and walked forward to meet with Nathan. "You were a great opponent, it was a pleasure battling you Nathan."
Nathan looked up dejectedly, but sighed and smiled, shaking Rhiannes hand. "Thanks, good luck in the semi finals."
Before Rhianne could say anything else, Nathan turned and walked back down the tunnel.