The contest had begun and the coordinators were making their appeals. The green-headed teenager came rushing in, out of breath.

"I'm here," he managed.

"Ah, Mr. Hayden. Just in time. You're up next."

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"Roselia, petal dance! And spin it around!"

The rose Pokemon shot out a rainstorm of petals, filling the entire arena.

"Now magical leaf!"

Flashing rainbow leaves were launched in a likewise manner, slicing through the petals and causing the arena to sparkle.

He took his bow and went backstage. The two received a score of 29.5, leading them to the second round.

He was a mess. He could barely focus on the contest because the nightmare consumed his thoughts.

The battles commenced. Drew knocked the first one out without any trouble and was moved to the final round. He was going up against a trainer named Jacob and his Charizard.

This is gonna be tough…

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There were 30 seconds left on the clock. The two Pokemon were equally exhausted. The only reason Charizard had gone down that much was because it was hurting from a poison attack from earlier.

"Charizard, finish it off with another fire blast!"

"Roselia, dodge quickly! Hit it with sludge bomb from behind."

Roselia moved away from the fire but was still singed on its side. But before falling to the ground, it managed to unleash the attack.

The fire dragon was struck with more poison than before, and collapsed from the pain.

"One more petal dance."

The vicious storm of petals, though not very effective, did just enough damage to end it.

"Charizard is unable to battle. The winner is Drew Hayden from La Rousse City!"

Drew called back his Pokemon and congratulated it on its victory. He was then walking to the center of the stage to receive his 5th ribbon.

"Olivine City is proud to present you with this official ribbon. We'll see you at the Grand Festival!"

The crowd went wild.

Drew didn't even smile. All he could do was stare at that tiny, green ribbon in his hand.

Was this it? All those hours of work… for this? Why did he feel so empty and unfulfilled?

Suddenly, he felt something moving in him.

What are you looking for?

That question replayed in his head, and without thinking, he grabbed the microphone out of the MC's hand and faced the crowd.

They all stared at him with confusion. May was also confused, watching the whole thing on TV at home. What the heck was he doing up there?

"What are we doing?" he finally spoke. "Look at us. We're nearly killing ourselves over these contests and over the Grand Festival, but for what? A pretty, shiny cup? Why are we pursuing this so obsessively?"

"You know, you really don't need to give a speech at these things…" the MC whispered in his ear, being totally lost for ideas as to what he was doing.

Jacob shouted with an annoyed tone of voice, "Hey buddy, you just won. So just take your damn ribbon and get off the stage."

Drew ignored them and continued. "Don't you guys get it? There's something bigger that we should be living for. In the end, when our fame fades and we're forgotten, what does any of this mean?"

"Are you trying to tell us to stop coordinating?" Jacob asked, getting more and more offended. "That's messed up!"

"That's not what I'm saying. We should treat coordinating as the fun sport that it's meant to be; not kill ourselves, our Pokemon, and each other, trying to win the gold. Coordinating shouldn't be our top priority in life."

"Well some hypocrite you are!" a voice from the crowd shouted. "I've been watching you for years! Coordinating is all you've ever cared about and you'd do anything to become top coordinator!"

Drew paused for a moment. "You're right. I was so caught up in the illusion that becoming the best and being on top would fulfill me."

"So again, what are you trying to imply?" Jacob yelled.

A long, suspenseful silence filled the room.

"…I'm saying that we need to be living for Jesus, because He's real and I know it. To live for anything or anyone else is vanity."

With that, he dropped the microphone and exited the stage. The crowd silently conversed with each other. Some coordinators thought he had a point. Some fully agreed and started to reconsider their priorities. Others thought he was crazy and were pissed off that he preached a load of garbage to them, as if they weren't getting enough preaching around town as it was. But at the same time, just the day before, Drew was one of those people.

As he was walking away, he couldn't believe he just did that and had no idea where it came from. It didn't even sound like him and he just couldn't fathom the fact that he just endorsed the God he had always scoffed at the existence of.

However, at the same time, he felt… good. Amazing, in fact. He had never felt that way before. Is this what it means to experience joy?

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Outside, he saw the evangelists still out there, doing their thing. It was much less chaotic since most people were still inside the hall. Although he still didn't appreciate the way they were doing it, he didn't feel hatred anymore. After a moment, he noticed Lacey was there and was pulling one of them aside. He got closer and eavesdropped from behind.

"Hey. I appreciate the fact that you have so much passion. I really do. I mean, surely you guys wouldn't be doing this if you didn't care so deeply about it. But the thing is, I've been watching, and I have yet to see one person stand up and say they want to follow Jesus. That just isn't happening. People are much more likely to do that when you preach about Jesus' love for us. Handling these things in love rather than hate is the right way to go."

The man didn't speak for a minute. He kept watching his fellow evangelists shouting at people and condemning them, and the people giving them the finger and firing back. "You're right. Not a single person has come to Jesus since we've been here. Honestly, I've been wanting to leave this group for a long time, but… I just always thought I was doing the Lord's work."

"You can still do the Lord's work. There are just better ways of doing it. Our God is a God of love and mercy."

With that, the man dropped his sign. He was done.

Without even turning around, Lacey said, "I really loved your speech, Drew."

Being shocked that she had some kind of 6th sense and knew he was behind her, he scratched his head and muttered, "Oh, yeah, well uh… I just… it was a weird moment."

She turned around. "You've realized the truth, haven't you?"

He told her about his nightmare, and about how a good friend of his had a similar one a couple days before. He explained that he didn't know what to think or believe and couldn't decide if this was actually real or if it just felt real.

"Man... I'm sorry you got to this point through such an unpleasant experience," she said. "You know you don't have to fear that stuff when you're in Christ, right? The focus isn't supposed to be hell. It's so much more than that."

"The point is, I don't know what to believe."

"Well, I can't be the one to save you, Drew. You have to make that decision yourself. But I'm telling you, if you accept Jesus in your heart and give your life to Him, you will have so much more joy and fulfillment than ever before. You won't regret it. He did save my life, after all."

"It just doesn't seem right for me to believe in something without any physical proof."

"That was exactly my philosophy before. This is what my mentor always told me: it's not faith if you're using your eyes. The whole point of faith is believing without seeing. But a true relationship with Christ is just that: a RELATIONSHIP. You'll experience Him, and that will be far better proof than having physical evidence in your hands. He wants us to come to Him out of faith and freedom, and not just because logic tells us to. But even so, historical evidence does exist and I'd be happy to send some your way if you want. But the important thing is making that decision to let Him in. He loves you, Drew."

He stood silent. That woman sure had a way of shooting holes into his thoughts and really making him think.

Eventually, she smiled and said, "I'm proud of you. I'll be praying that what's been started in your heart will continue to grow and that He'll reveal to you the answers you're looking for. I'll see you around."

She started to walk back towards the crowd before quickly stopping and turning around. "Oh, and Drew? Make sure you go to your female friend and tell her how you feel. Your eyes hide no secrets." And with a wink, she was off.

Drew was blushing mildly, but he knew he had a decision to make. Perhaps he could make that decision together with someone else…

A/N: Yeah, I know the appeal and battle parts were lame, but I didn't put too much thought into that; the appeals/battles aren't the main focus of the story.

For the record, the idea for the extremist evangelists was inspired by actual people like that coming to my university every year and doing exactly what they do in this story. It hurts my heart to see that because it sends the wrong message to people. The man who dropped the sign and left at the end is actually based on a true story that I heard from one of my ministry leaders. He talked to one of the guys just like that, and he ended up leaving the organization. But anyways; just thought I'd mention where that whole idea comes from.