Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.
Author's Note: All of Tyler's thoughts are italicized.
We both jolted awake as we heard something very loud outside.
"What is it?" I asked April.
April got up from her bed and looked out the Pokémon Center's window.
"I don't know. It looks like a parade."
I got up and joined her by the window. If I hadn't just checked my watch I would have believed that we had lost track of time and it was already New Year's, because everything was there: Donphans, Infernapes, and even Girafarigs. There were human acrobats throwing each other up and down while the Infernapes were jumping round and round in flame wheel attacks. On the side of the street hundreds of people watched transfixed at the spectacle in front of them. It had been a week and we still were here in Reno City.
"Wow," we said in union as we watched the spectacle. The procession turned and went down the city street. As we watched them leave I thought about something.
"Hey, isn't the contest today?"
She grew pale as I said this.
"Yeah," she said hoarsely.
She was a little nervous.
As we walked downstairs to the lobby of the Pokémon Center we saw other aspiring coordinators sitting at tables grooming their Pokémon or giving them pep talks. We still had to get April registered for the contest. We walked downtown to the contest hall. It was a big round red building with ribbons on the bright yellow door handle. We walked into the large room. Coordinators were already there ready for the competition. April walked up to the counter.
"Hello, are you here to register for the Contest?" the nice lady behind the counter said.
"Yes," April said meekly.
"Do you have a contest pass?"
"No."
"Well that's okay. We will get you one right here."
About five minutes later, April had her contest pass and was registered for the Contest. We walked to the room where the contest was held and both of our jaws dropped. In the middle of the gigantic room was a dirt floor battle ground and all around it where rows and rows of stands for the crowd. April seemed a little bit green in the face looking at it.
"You will be fine," I said reassuringly.
The truth is she had been training hard and I really thought she could pull this off. She smiled at me and we walked back to the Pokémon Center.
About five hours later we walked back to the Contest Hall and she was as pumped as I was for my Gym battle. I gave her an awkward pat on the shoulder and walked to my place in the stands. I saw that the seat to the right of me was empty and sent out Squirtle who looked down at the seat and sat and relaxed as the show began. I looked down and saw the Contest Announcer starting the show. She wore a blue dress with a blue sweater had brown hair and seemed way too perky. She was probably perfect at this job.
"Hello everyone, this is Marina, back here once again to host for you another exciting contest," she said with microphone in hand.
The first contestant came out ready to impress. He called out a Nidoking that could make cool patterns with Earthquake attack. On the screen above us a score card said 9.3 which I guessed was the score the judges gave him. I asked the person next to me on my left where the judges were. He pointed to a room above us that the judges watched the action from.
Next, a girl with a Roselia did a beautiful Petal Dance which got her a 9.7 score. After several more appeals, some okay, some horrible, we finally came to April. She walked out to applause and went to her place. According to Marina, she needed at least an 8.8 to advance.
"Go, Beautifly!"
Beautifly came out and turned in a full circle so the whole crowd could see him.
"Okay, now use Whirlwind!"
Beautifly kicked up a tornado with his wings.
"Okay, now fly into it and use Silver Wind!"
Beautifly flew into his tornado and couldn't be seen through it. Until suddenly his wings grew white and you could see them. At this the crowd cheered thinking that was the end. Beautifly then started shooting boomerangs of white in all directions while still inside of the tornado. The silver winds when they reached the outside of the tornado flew high into the air and stayed at the tip of the tornado until all the silver winds interlocked and a white halo was now around the dusty tornado. The crowd erupted and I looked up at the scoreboard:
"8.9"
I stood up on top of my chair and started cheering loudly. She saw me, chuckled, and went back into the room where the coordinators were.
"What happens now?" I asked the person next to me.
"Intermission."
Apparently, we had to wait about an hour until the show started up again. I glanced at the door to the stands and I saw an Aipom there beckoning to me with his tail. I scanned him with my Pokédex.
"Aipom, the Long tailed Pokémon, Aipom's tail ends in a hand-like appendage that can be cleverly manipulated. However, because the Pokémon uses its tail so much, its real hands have become rather clumsy."
He was apparently nervous and kept beckoning to me to follow him. I looked at Squirtle, shrugged, and decided to follow him. As we got up from our chair he turned tail (or hand or whatever it was) and ran. We followed him as he ran outside of the Contest Hall and back into the streets. He ran blocks and we still followed him block after block until finally we reached the city limits and we were at the edge of a forest. The Aipom pointed inside the forest. I looked at Squirtle, sighed, and then we headed into the forest. As we went deeper, it got darker and thicker. I grimaced as the thorns and branches scratched my face. After a while we heard human voices and Aipom, who had been leading the way, moaned and looked scared.
Huh. I wonder if it's a construction crew or something going to destroy the forest?
What I saw gave me chills and I don't even know why. It was a large laboratory with a gigantic red "R" on the side. The silver building gleamed in the sunlight. Aipom told me to come with him and I followed him around the building until we came to a door with a smashed handle. Aipom pointed to the door and then smirked at the handle. I walked in and saw a large room with boxes and boxes. We followed Aipom until we came to another room. It was dark and cold in the room. I looked at the only other door that led anywhere else and I heard murmuring voices and something that sounded like a mournful moo. Aipom gave me a look and pointed at the door where the voices where coming from. Once again I sighed and walked in through the door.
"Hello."
The place I saw was terrifying like something out of an old nineteen-fifties flick. The place was filled with big tanks with green liquid inside of them. The only one in use was the middle one at the back of the large room. Three people surrounded it staring at the creature inside. It was a pink cat-like creature. It had a very long skinny tail with big hind legs and short three-fingered paws.
They turned to look at me and both of us seemed shocked at the sight of each other. The two on either side wore jumpsuits with an "R" emblazoned on it while the middle one wore a dark orange suit.
"We have what we came for so lets move out!" said the Orange-suited man in a commanding tone, smirking at the sight of me.
They left through a different door behind the tank. Still too shocked to move, Aipom hit my leg and pointed at the creature inside of the tank. I ran over to the tank and saw controls for the capsule. There were too many to count.
Tyler, in times of uncertainty: the big red button always works.
Sure enough, there was a big red button at the center of the control. I pressed it. The capsule raised and the green liquid rushed out and the creature stared back at me. I stared at him open-mouthed. The creature said, "Mew, mew!" in a really high, baby-like voice. It then flew off out after the scary people that captured it. We all stood still a moment and then snapped back to reality and ran back outside.
We decided to run back to the Contest Hall and found April facing some guy in the final round of the contest.
"Go Golduck! Use water gun!"
"Spoink, dodge and use Zen Headbutt!"
Spoink bounced over the water gun and then flew head on into the Golduck. The attack hit him head on and he fell down defeated.
"The winner of this match, and the Reno City Ribbon, is April!"
She jumped up and down, celebrating as she took her ribbon. She looked at where I was sitting and I was standing up, clapping. She smiled even more and then basically skipped off the battleground back to the place the other coordinators were. Next to me I noticed Aipom was still there. He smiled up at me.
"So, uh, you want to come with me?" I asked him.
"Aipom, Aipom!" he said.
I took this as a yes, laughed, and threw a pokéball into the air. Aipom, also laughing, jumped in the air, tapped the pokéball, transformed into energy, and went inside it. The pokéball only wiggled for a second until it stopped. I held up the pokéball and yelled:
"Yes, I caught an Aipom!"
The crowd hissed at me to be quiet.
I met up with April, hugged her awkwardly, and we both gave a little cheer.
"By the way, whose Aipom is this?" She said as she looked at the new addition of my team.
"Uh, mine. He, uh, just showed up - right in the middle of the contest!"
Suspiciously, she looked at me but then caught sight of her ribbon and smiled again.
"That's cool," she said.
I really doubt she would have believed me even if I had told her the truth.
The next day we headed off to the next town, both ready for our next challenge and our next adventure.