Chapter 86, everybody! In which we get to the appeal part of the contest—or rather, the part where there's some battling going on. Also FFN just terrified me it did something and I couldn't access my doc manager for a few hours don't you die on me yet you stupid website I will TELL you when you can die and today is NOT that day.

"Did Timmy fall down the well?" is like "Beam me up, Scotty" where while it is a line associated with its show was never a line actually said in the show—for some reason or other they just ended up in the public mentality.

Also Pikachu has apparently decided to take the existence of the Clefairy line personally. And in Meowth's case, the current times were the nineties and yes, people having their own websites and/or blogs back then were very big deals.

And now for the reviews: thanks to griffin blackwood, thor94, Dragonkeeper10, Cyan Quartz, DeathCrawler, Black Knight Lucario (me too), Silverwing23, epantoja521, Reader, Guest, Shadefire, Nimransul (well yeah, but Sabrina didn't need to know that), forward-smash, Akage Lyst, and quadehays4, for the reviews! Glad you're enjoying the contest. :D

Shadefire, thanks for the BIG review—glad you loved the slow burn of Misty and Darkrai's friendship, I've been looking forward to that payoff. :D And…that is a good question about Frenzy I'm going to have to examine that further because it wouldn't be the first time a character snuck something in without my knowledge. I'm also really glad you like everyone's characterizations (I've noticed that about Ash in some fics, ngl) and I'm glad you're invested in the story—I hope to continue to please! :D

Pokémon © Game Freak; Nintendo

And now, for something completely different:

The Hoenn Contest League would like to remind all participants to closely monitor your Pokémon's condition. While it is important to maintain your Pokémon's appearance, it is also important to monitor their health through grooming as well. The Pokémon League would like to second this reminder.

Misty's Pokémon were running in frantic circles underneath Darkrai. Well, the Oddish was—the Psyduck was just kind of standing there having a panic attack.

"What if she doesn't make it? What if she falls off the stage? We should have prepped her better!" the Oddish was wailing. "What if the makeup looks weird in natural sunlight? Why do humans do this to themselves?"

"This is making my headache worse," the Psyduck complained.

"Shut up, the both of you," Darkrai snapped, snatching the Oddish up by his leaves—at least they were having the breakdown in the dressing room. "Now listen—the next stage is generally a battle, and she'll probably choose you as one of her 'mons. Not you," he added, looking at the Psyduck.

"Phew," he breathed. "That's a relief."

"No it isn't," the Oddish said, dangling from his claws in shock. "I'm not ready for show business—what if my leaves aren't glossy enough? You're ruining my leaves put me down!"

Darkrai dropped him, leaving the Oddish to panic in front of the Psyduck again.

"Are my leaves okay? You don't see any crooked ones, do you? Do they look bruised?"

"Uh," Psyduck noised, looking even more boggled.

Darkrai sighed. Oi, crash courses weren't all they were billed to be.

The door opened and closed, they all looked up sharply—Misty was back, breathing hard and leaning against the doorframe.

"Well?" Darkrai asked.

"I didn't throw up," she said.

"Then I suppose everything else was a bonus. As I was explaining to dumb and dumber here, the next round is generally the appeals round, so you'll be battling. Unless they're imitating a full Sinnoh contest, in which case there will be dancing, but unless you have rhythm and never shared it with us, you'd better hope not."

"No, it's just a battle next," Misty said, putting a hand to her forehead and apparently resisting rubbing her face by sheer force of will. "Trust me, if I had to dance on top of all this, I'd be running and nothing would stop me."

"Your pride would," Darkrai pointed out. "I recommend not using the duck."

"I agree I agree I agree," the Psyduck said quickly. "Wait—I'm the duck we're not using, right?"

"Right," the Oddish said.

"I agree I agree I agree."

"Sorry Psyduck, but I wasn't intending to use you anyway," she told it. "Your battle tactics are…they need work."

"Me, use me," the Oddish said, running up to her leg and bouncing next to it. "You have to check my leaves, but I can do it—I have grace and finesse and all that other stuff."

"Should probably use the weed," Darkrai translated, pointing at the mirror. "And you're going to need to check and make sure the condition of your Pokémon is good."

"They're all fine, I thought."

"I mean how they look—right now, settle for 'did they groom themselves today?'"

Misty picked up the Oddish and put him on the makeup mirror so she could look at him in the light better.

"Well, your leaves look a little squished up top, but other than that you look fine," Misty said.

"The leaves were his fault," the Oddish said, glaring at Darkrai.

"Quick list of moves, now," Darkrai ordered.

Misty and Oddish both rattled off a list, although Oddish's was longer—Misty might have been using the yutz's Pokédex on occasion, but not enough to know her 'mons' moves. Or maybe it was she knew water types better—type specialists did better with their own type, it was simple as that.

"Stun Spore, Sleep Powder, Poison Powder," Darkrai listed, ticking them off on his claws. "Prioritize those, and please, try to make it look showy."

"I shall do my best!" the Oddish said, saluting with a leaf.

"Okay, who else," Misty muttered, digging in her bag. "I've got Staryu and Squirtle for two more slots—it's too late to call home and ask for someone else, and besides there's no way I'm explaining this to my sisters."

"I don't recommend it," Darkrai said, thinking. "Hmm…anything in the rules that says it has to be your Pokémon?"

"Don't tell me you're volunteering."

"Good gracious no—just volunteering someone else."

"So next up is the appeal round," Brock said, checking the pamphlet. "I wonder who Misty is going to be using."

"Probably not Psyduck or Muk," Ash said. "Psyduck is…well, Psyduck, and Misty probably won't be winning any princess festivals with a pile of toxic sludge."

"Probably not."

"Squirtle squirt!"

Ash, Brock, and Pikachu looked to see Squirtle standing there, waving at them and pointing backstage frantically.

"What, what is it?" Brock asked.

"Did Misty fall down the well again?" Ash asked, earning him a disparaging look from Brock and Squirtle. "Sorry—just always wanted to say that."

"Uh-huh—I had to watch every episode of Lassie, and I can tell you that Timmy never actually fell down a well. Now come on."

Ash followed behind Brock dutifully as Brock followed Squirtle backstage, to where Misty was standing and wringing her hands frantically.

"Can I borrow some of your Pokémon real quick?" Misty asked, before either of them could say anything. "Only I can't use Psyduck or Muk and—"

"We figured as much," Ash said, as Pikachu quickly hopped off his shoulder to stand in front of Misty, chirping up at her encouragingly. "You want Vee too?"

"That'd be nice, thanks."

"Here's Vulpix," Brock said, unclipping the fire-fox's Pokéball from his belt and handing it over. "Might want to brief her real quick on what's going on."

"That is the plan," Darkrai said, sticking his head out of the dressing room as Misty profusely thanked them both. "Now beat it, before someone accuses you of colluding."

"I don't know what that is," Ash said.

"It means we'd better leave," Brock said, turning to do so before looking back at Misty and smiling. "You look good."

"Thanks," Misty said, looking distracted and more than a little worried.

"You know," Ash offered. "You could borrow Frenzy—"

"No, Ash."

Okay, for the record Misty was a little leery about using Ash and Brock's Pokémon, she at best had a vague idea of their movesets, but she was smart enough to know that her team wouldn't be able to stand up against an Electric type thrown against them.

"So," Misty said to Vulpix, Vee and Pikachu. "The idea is, if I have to call on one of you to battle, maybe I just stick to general orders like attack or dodge and you guys just do whatever it is that gets the job done. Sound good?"

Vulpix didn't look convinced, but Vee cheered and bounced and Pikachu saluted, so she was going with yes. Which was good, because they were the next ones on the docket.

"Remember that the goal here is to kick can and look good doing so," Darkrai advised, eyes closed as he waved a claw around a little bit. "Try to remember a hair flip occasionally."

"Okay," Misty said, returning Vulpix and Vee, looked as Pikachu straightened a bow tie he had produced. "So…stay within earshot and if I need you I'll call?"

"Pika pika!" Pikachu said, saluting again.

"Right—let's do this," Misty said, doing her best to at least try to maintain 'floaty' but unable to keep from trotting up the short steps to the battlefield.

"You even walk like a guy," her opponent said—one of the snotty girls from earlier. "What, you spend so much time around them you're turning into one?"

Misty considered her snickering opponent. "At least they can stand to be around me, unlike some people."

The woman ran hot, threw a Clefairy out, probably with the intent to order murder.

Pikachu blew by her and planted himself in front of the Clefairy, cheeks sparking.

"Uh, Pikachu, I didn't call you out," Misty hissed.

Pikachu held up a paw, chattered something that sounded questioning to the Clefairy—

Apparently didn't like the answer, considering it was disappearing into the sky with a faint ting moments later.

Misty was one of the first ones to look back down. "So," she noised. "You want to call a forfeit now, or do you like being humiliated?"

Considering she was scowling as she threw out a Wigglytuff, Misty was banking on the latter.

"Okay Wigglytuff are usually tanks so be prepared for a long haul with a lot of dodging," Misty told Pikachu.

"Pika!" Pikachu said, nodding—

Started flickering before the field was populated by Pikachu.

"Oh that trick isn't going to work," the other lady sneered. "Wigglytuff! Use Bounce and then Body Slam the field!"

"Have something waiting for it, Pikachu."

Pikachu's interpretation of that was to electrify the field and then zap the Wigglytuff while it was still airborne. It came down, landed hard—

Went down to a bunch of Volt Tackles.

"Feel up to any more?" Misty asked as the other lady returned the Wigglytuff. Pikachu nodded in response. "All right then."

Misty quietly apologized to Team Rocket's Meowth when the woman's Meowth went down just as fast, and the rest didn't last much longer after that.

"You're still just a tomboy," the woman hissed as she returned her last Pokémon.

"Better that than a loser," Misty said, remembering the hair flip.

Ah, it was good to watch her steam.

So this was going well.

"Should I maybe have not given her Pikachu?" Ash asked.

"I mean Pikachu is technically a core member of a six-badge team, but Misty is also a gym leader," Brock said. "This was going to be a massacre no matter which 'mon she used."

"True."

Ash and Brock took a break to get more refreshments as some of the other girls battled each other, came back to watch Misty completely dominate another opponent with Squirtle.

"Okay yeah Misty was always going to steamroll everyone," Ash agreed, drinking his soda.

"Glad we agree," Brock said.

Misty's next round lasted a little longer, mostly because Squirtle and Vulpix tried for some fancy moves. "I wonder if our mutual friend told her to not flatten everyone so quickly," Brock said.

"Probably," Ash said.

The next several rounds went quicker because there were fewer competitors, although Ash couldn't shake the feeling that one of the other girls was familiar.

"Do we know that one?" Ash asked when she came back on the stage.

"I feel like we do," Brock said, watching as she threw out a Lickitung. Thus far she had been favoring that one and a Porygon, but when her opponent switched in a Hitmonlee she swapped out for an Ekans.

Ash blinked as the familiar snake arched up and lunged at its opponent. "Hey, isn't that—"

"YES! Go Jessie!"

Ash and Brock looked down and over to see James and Meowth hooting and rooting for—yep, that was Jessie down there.

"Hey!" Ash called over. "You guys get roped into carting stuff around too?"

"Oh it's the twerps," Meowth said, spotting them first. "Dis day used up one-a my nine lives, I can feel it."

"For the record, this is technically a day off for us," James told them. "So if we could schedule for like, tomorrow, maybe—"

"Go back to Team Rocket having a website," Brock said.

"Good grief, everybody has a website now," Meowth said. "Get wid da times."

"I don't have a website," Ash pointed out.

"Which means youse needs ta get wid da times too."

"I don't know what I'd do with one, though."

"Blog," James suggested. "Post pictures, that sort of thing."

"We should probably get ourselves a blog too," Meowth told James.

"Oh we'd totally rock one."

"Moving on," Brock said. "When did you guys get a Porygon and a Lickitung?"

"The Porygon was from Celadon," James said, suspending his animated discussion with Meowth to answer. "The Lickitung was a recent addition."

"It showed up and started eatin' all da purchases," Meowth said. "It was either capture it or kill it, and people frown on da latter."

"I can't say I don't have concerns," Brock said.

"Understandable," James said, nodding. "But the good news is, Jessie can't complain about a bigger team anymore, now can she?" he asked, nudging Meowth.

"I'm just hopin' she doesn't need a sixth Pokémon," Meowth said, arms crossed. "Or if she does, she decides ta go wid da fish."

James and Ash both counted off on their fingers. "Who's the extra Pokémon?" Ash asked.

"Uh, hello? Meowth here, feline Pokémon? Ringing any bells?"

"To be fair, it's easy to forget sometimes," James said.

"Oi yer both hopeless," Meowth sighed.

"And Jessie won that one," Brock observed. "You know, if they keep this up then Jessie and Misty are going to end up battling each other."

"And soon our paths will diverge as we cheer for a different contestant," James agreed. "So long as this doesn't affect our long-term relationship we'll be fine."

"The long-term relationship where you guys follow us around and try to steal Pokémon?"

"Yes, that's the one."

"Sometimes we succeed," Meowth said. "But we'll be fine—we'll make up over pizza or something."

"Pizza definitely fixes everything," Ash agreed.

"In the meantime, this is definitely going to be something," Brock said.