Chapter 7: Unofficially a Coordinator!
"We've almost got it now! Use Iron Tail again!" Lyla ordered enthusiastically. Skitty nodded and sprinted forward before leaping into the air and flipping back down to a log that Lyla had propped up for her. The log split in half and Skitty landed gracefully beside it, tail glowing brightly.
"Hey, they've got it down!" Eziray exclaimed. She was watching from a window inside the Pokémon Center. Aiden and Nurse Joy were also in the room.
"Well what do you know? That was quick," Aiden said.
"I wouldn't say that," Nurse Joy said. "They've been out there all morning. All I did was hand her a flyer and her face lit up and she just rushed out there all pumped up and energetic about something. They've been out training ever since."
"A flyer? What exactly did you give her?" Aiden asked. Nurse Joy walked to the front desk and brought Aiden a piece of paper. As he read over it, she explained:
"Every year, around this time, Rinshin Town holds an unofficial Pokémon Contest for coordinators who are just starting out or need more practice. There's always a prize too, but I'm not allowed to tell anyone what it is. As the judge, I need to promote it as much as possible, so I hand this advertisement out to trainers while their Pokémon are resting here."
"Hey! Does anyone know where I could buy a boomerang? Don't ask! I just need one!" Lyla exclaimed, poking her head in through the door. Everyone started at her blankly but Nurse Joy gave her directions to a nearby toy store. As soon as she left, Nurse Joy cocked her head.
"What a peculiar request…She sure is lost in her own world at the moment, isn't she?" Nurse Joy asked.
"It's her first contest. She's probably really excited or nervous or both," Aiden said.
"Ah. Well that's perfectly normal!" Nurse Joy assured.
"If you don't mind me asking, when is this contest?" Eziray asked.
"This afternoon," Aiden said, pointing it out on the paper.
"Wait, doesn't she have to sign up for it?" Eziray asked.
"She already did. There's a sign-up sheet on the front desk," Nurse Joy said, pointing to the clipboard on her desk. "I don't suppose you two would want to enter!"
"Actually no, that's not really our thing," Eziray said nervously. "We know nothing about contests!"
"Well that's a shame! Oh well, I wish your friend luck!" Nurse Joy exclaimed as she walked away.
About fifteen minutes passed by and Lyla returned. She didn't appear to have anything with her so Eziray wondered if she had found what she was looking for. She seemed a little flustered, however, so Eziray asked what was wrong.
"I was thinking and I know exactly what to do for the preliminary round with Skitty, but I'm gonna need some help. Will you and Aiden be my assistants?" Lyla asked.
"Of course!" Aiden exclaimed. Eziray agreed as well and Lyla was overjoyed.
They had a couple hours to kill before the contest so they stopped someplace to eat and wondered how Free Bird and the Wurmple Family were doing, concluding that he had probably become their slave boy and was currently catering to their every whim. After a while, Lyla stood and said it was time to get going. She didn't want to miss her first contest, even if it was unofficial.
The contest was being held in a small dirt arena near the center of the town. There was a set of bleachers for all of the spectators to sit at and an area set aside for the coordinators to stand while they were waiting. Between the bleachers and this area was a desk where Nurse Joy was sitting, organizing some papers. Lyla entered the area with the other coordinators while Aiden and Eziray stood nearby, unsure of what exactly they were going to have to do.
Nurse Joy stood, looking as if she had forgotten something and disappeared. Confused by this, the crowd began to grow restless and chattered about, wondering when the contest would begin. Everyone began to settle down, however, as soon as Nurse Joy returned to the small dirt arena with a microphone in hand. She smiled, held it up to her lips, and began to speak.
"First off, I would like to thank everyone for coming to this year's Unofficial Pokémon Contest here in Rinshin Town! We have twenty coordinators here today looking to show off their stuff. For some, this may be their very first contest and for others, they may just be polishing up for the upcoming contest in Rustboro City! Regardless of their reason for competing today, these coordinators are ready to take the stage so let's not keep them waiting any longer! First up is Gwen from Petalburg City! Give it up!"
Nurse Joy walked off of the field and took a seat at the small booth off to the side. A twelve-year old girl with strawberry blond pigtails and a short red dress took her place in the arena, sending out a Castform.
"Castform, use Weather Ball!" Gwen ordered. The Castform opened its mouth and a sphere of dull grey energy began to form. "Now use Sunny Day!"
Castform closed its eyes, without ceasing the Weather Ball, and suddenly the weather became very sunny and as soon as the sunlight fell over the Castform, its appearance changed and its head much resembled the sun. Simultaneously, the Weather Ball changed too. It became a blazing fireball with flames streaming all around it.
"Now use Hail!"
Castform concentrated for a moment and a thin fog blanketed the arena as the sunlight ceased. Small bits of ice soon began to rain down from the sky and Castform changed its form once again. It was now encased in a swirl of ice and the Weather Ball became icy blue with a frosty wind circling around it.
"And now use Rain Dance!"
It was obvious that Castform was quite worn out from this appeal but it managed to focus one last time and the Hail ceased. Instead, tiny raindrops began to fall and Castform's head appeared to be enclosed inside of a giant raindrop. The Weather Ball turned a darker shade of blue as water streamed around it. Castform tilted its head upwards, launching the ball into the sky and misting the audience with it.
"Now let's finish this up with Water Gun!"
Head still tilted upwards, Castform blasted the Weather Ball with Water Gun, creating an explosion. The rain ceased and sparkling drops of water rained down over the arena and the audience from the explosion.
"How impressive!" Nurse Joy began. "It was a wonderful appeal that showed off all of Castform's different appearances, as well as the effect of Weather Ball, in different weather situations. Give her a round of applause! She's moving on to the next round!"
The crowd cheered as Gwen called her Pokémon back and left the arena. Next up was a boy a little bit younger. He walked out onto the field, positioned himself, and kicked at the dirt nervously before sending out a Slakoth. He took a deep breath and called out his first move.
"Slakoth, use Scratch!"
"Slaaa…" the Pokémon said sleepily, scratching its head.
"Uh…uh, not what I meant! Use…"
"Kooooooooh," the lazy Pokémon said, mouth wide open in a deep yawn.
"Yeah! Yawn's good! Um…Focus Punch!"
The Slakoth lifted its fist and stared blankly at it for a moment. Then it scratched at the dirt for a moment as a snot bubble expanded from its nose and popped. Lyla winced, feeling pretty bad for the poor boy. Then the Normal-type laid flat on its back and stared into the sky. The boy was in a panic now.
"Come on Slakoth! USE HIDDEN POWER!"
Slakoth closed its eyes and began to snore loudly. There was a pause as everyone in the audience shifted uncomfortably. They all felt sorry for the poor, naïve little boy. Even Nurse Joy didn't have the heart to tell him to leave the stage. Luckily, he took the hint, called his Pokémon back, and quietly left the arena on his own.
The rest of the appeals were just as disastrous, if not worse. A Plusle overexerted itself and knocked itself out with one Spark attack; a Wurmple got caught in its own String Shot; a Whismur threw a tantrum and left the entire audience's ears bleeding; a Zigzagoon with some serious stage fright ran away in fear; Mudkip blasted one of the coordinators away with Water Gun before the poor kid could even make an appeal (Lyla acted as if the Mudkip wasn't hers of course, so he ran off somewhere), and the list went on. The worst of them all was when a Hyper Beam was misfired, destroying half of the benches in the bleachers. Luckily, everyone sitting there evacuated before it hit them and were now standing in the empty space, wishing they had a place to sit. Eziray and Aiden were among them. And now, last but not least, it was finally Lyla's turn. She took her place on the arena and Skitty sat down obediently by her side. Eziray and Aiden stood behind her, still wondering what they were needed for.
"Ready, Skitty?"
"MYA!"
Lyla kneeled down beside her, taking a handkerchief from her pocket, and tied it around Skitty's head like a blindfold. Skitty nodded and took ten steps forward, taking her place in the center of the arena, back facing Lyla who smiled and took out a boomerang.
"Ah, she found one!" Eziray exclaimed.
"Yeah, but what's she gonna do with it?" Aiden asked. Lyla cocked her arm back and threw the boomerang straight at Skitty. Everyone gasped and Skitty's ears perked as it neared. Without turning her head, she quickly hopped to the right at the last second, dodging the boomerang. It of course flew past her and turned around, coming straight back at her. This time, her ears perked and she performed a backflip at the right moment so the boomerang flew right under her and back into Lyla's hand.
"Wow, can she really hear them coming?" someone in the audience whispered.
"Of course not!" someone else replied. "It's all pre-rehearsed."
As if Lyla had heard the comment, she smiled and threw the boomerang once more. Then she handed a boomerang to Eziray and another one to Aiden. They knew exactly what she wanted now and spread out around the arena before throwing the boomerangs so that Skitty would have to dodge them from different angles. She dodged all three of them with ease so the three trainers threw them again and then Lyla took out some really large super balls.
"Looks like she picked up something else too!" Eziray observed. Lyla began thrusting the balls against the ground and they bounced around wildly. Skitty dodged each one as they came, ears twitching constantly. Soon there were too many to count and as soon as Lyla tossed the last one, she ordered Skitty to use Iron Tail. Skitty's tail lit up and she began spinning and flipping and jumping all over the place, slicing a ball in half each time she swung her tail. Someone in the audience had caught a boomerang and threw it back at Skitty, wondering if she would be able to dodge it or not. Sure enough, she ducked just in time to avoid being hit and Lyla caught it.
"Now to take a bow…" she thought to herself, leaning forward.
At that moment, a small gust of wind happened to blow Lyla's hat off her head. She tried to grab it but the wind carried it away. Skitty was facing the opposite direction and her ears perked so she whipped around and sprinted in the direction that the hat was being blown, somersaulted in midair just before the hat, landed on the other side of it, and caught it on her head in a bowing position that she held for a moment as the crowd cheered. It was a perfect conclusion to the performance because it erased any belief that the two had pre-rehearsed anything. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Skitty's hearing was really that incredible.
"Thank you to all of our participants for entertaining us and dazzling us with these…wonderful appeals! I wish I could award you all with prizes but as you know, there can only be one winner! So the show must go on! I will now announce the four coordinators who have earned their spot in the next round! These four coordinators are, in no particular order at all…Gwen! Bert! Lyla! And Stacey! Congratulations, you four! Let's have Gwen and Bert take the stage!"
"Lyla made the cut!" Eziray exclaimed as the two coordinators positioned themselves.
"That's our girl," Aiden said. "Look how happy she is!"
Lyla was standing on the sidelines, grinning widely as she focused on the match in front of her. Gwen sent out her Castform once again and her opponent, Bert, sent out a Shroomish.
"Alright, Castform! Let's start things off by using Sunny Day!" Gwen ordered. Castform smiled and twirled in place, causing the weather to become bright and sunny. It then changed form to match.
"Bullet Seed, Shroomish!"
Shroomish opened its mouth and spit-fired a flurry of bullet-like seeds from it. Gwen then ordered Castform to counter it with Ember. Before any of the seeds could hit, Castform had them all destroyed. Nurse Joy made note of this. In an official contest, there would have been a scoreboard displaying the points that each coordinator had and whenever a Pokémon was upstaged, hit, or its attack failed, the coordinator's points would decrease. Nurse Joy didn't have one of these scoreboards and was having to calculate it all by herself.
"Let's change things up a bit, Castform! Use Hail!"
Castform spun in place once again and the weather grew slightly foggy as bits of ice rained down from the sky.
"Stun Spore!"
A sparkling orange powder was released from the top of Shroomish's head and spread out towards Castform. As it came into contact with the bits of hail, it made them sparkle and whether or not this was really intentional, it lost Gwen some points. This was an example of "upstaging." It's when a Pokémon manages to make itself look good during the battle by using its own moves or the opponent's moves. If it happens to use the opponent's moves to make itself look better, the opponent will lose even more points.
"Counter that with Powder Snow!"
Castform opened its mouth and a chilly gust of wind was blown out. The two moves collided and all of the Stun Spore was blow away. As Gwen and Bert were contemplating their next moves, the Hail ceased.
"Make it rain, Castform!"
Castform nodded and began to spin in place again.
"Quick! Use Tackle while it's distracted!"
Shroomish charged forward but Castform dodged it and hit it in the side with Water Gun. It apparently didn't need the weather to change in order to use its elemental attacks. Gwen just liked to show off.
"That's okay, Castform. Let's just finish this up with a quickness. Use Sunny Day!"
"Bullet Seed!"
As Castform spun and made the weather bright and sunny again, Shroomish finally managed to nail it with an attack. Castform cringed for a moment and Bert smiled.
"Use Absorb!"
Gwen smiled as a red beam was shot from the top of Shroomish's head and wrapped around Castform's body. It sucked energy from it to reenergize Shroomish. Gwen didn't let that go on too long and ordered her final move:
"Finish it off with Weather Ball!"
Before Shroomish could release Castform, a fiery ball was shot from the Normal-type's mouth and hit Shroomish directly in the chest, knocking it out.
"Since Shroomish is no longer able to battle, that automatically makes Gwen the winner!" Nurse Joy exclaimed excitedly. "Next, can we have Stacey and Lyla take the stage?"
As Gwen and Bert left the arena, Lyla and another girl positioned themselves. Skitty ran out in front of Lyla and Stacey sent out a Nincada. Then Nurse Joy told them to begin.
"Skitty, let's start things off with DoubleSlap!"
Skitty sprinted forward and whipped around to beat Nincada silly with her tail.
"Use Dig!" Stacey ordered as her Nincada was being knocked around.
Skitty knocked Nincada back one final time and it immediately dug into the ground. Skitty looked around uneasily, wondering where Nincada had gone, and it suddenly popped back up out of the ground from beneath her and attacked her.
"Good job! Now do it again and again!"
Nincada immediately dug back into the ground and Skitty backed up slowly and nervously, unsure of what to do. Nincada came up once again to attack her and immediately dug back into the ground. It continued this for several minutes and neither Skitty nor Lyla could think of anything to stop it.
"This isn't looking too good for her," Eziray whispered.
"Hey, it's her first contest. It's understandable," Aiden replied.
Pretty soon, Nincada had become a little tired and paused for a moment to catch its breath.
"Use Tackle, Skitty!" Lyla ordered. Skitty charged forward and Stacey smiled.
"Stop her in her tracks with Sand Attack!"
The Nincada turned around and kicked dirt into Skitty's face as she neared. She had to stop to clear the sand from her eyes with one of her paws.
"Now use Fury Swipes!"
Nincada rushed forward and slashed at Skitty vigorously with its bug-like claws.
"Iron Tail!"
Skitty's tail began to glow and she whirled around, knocking Nincada off of her with her rock-hard tail.
"Use Dig again!"
Nincada dug underground and Skitty gritted her teeth but then gasped as if she had remembered something. She closed her eyes and concentrated very hard. There was complete silence for a moment as everyone wondered what she was about to do. Then, suddenly, her ears twitched and she jumped to right as Nincada came out of the ground.
"Alright!" Lyla exclaimed.
"Yeah, I still don't believe that your Skitty has some supernatural hearing abilities. Nincada, dig underground again and try to be quiet, will ya?" Stacey ordered.
Nincada obeyed and dug underground. Lyla looked around at all of the holes that the Pokémon had created and they gave her an idea.
"Skitty, use Assist! Into one of the holes!"
Skitty nodded and opened her mouth above one of the holes. A white orb formed and from it, Water Gun was fired into the hole. The water burst through the ground in front of her and fired up like a geyser. Nincada happened to be at the top of it and once it ceased, it fell to the ground unconscious from the super-effective Water-type attack.
"Nincada is unable to battle!" Nurse Joy announced. "Lyla will proceed to the final round!"
Stacey called back her Nincada and shook hands with Lyla, thanking her for such a great battle before walking away. Then Gwen walked out and took her position on the field, sending out her Castform once again.
"We're down to the final round! Gwen vs. Lyla! Who will win? Coordinators, when you are ready, you may begin!" Nurse Joy announced.
"Castform, use Rain Dance and then Water Gun!"
Castform twirled in place and it began to rain heavily. Then it opened its mouth and sprayed a thick gout of water at Skitty.
"Assist!"
Skitty raised her right paw and a white orb formed at the tip of it. It resulted in Water Gun once again and the two moves crashed into each other. Both Pokémon pushed as hard as they could but, probably thanks to Mudkip's power, Skitty's Water Gun overpowered Castform's and continued until it blasted Castform back several yards.
"Now use Iron Tail!"
Skitty bolted forward and leaped up, somersaulting, into the air where Castform was hovering but the Castform was easily able to dodge the Iron Tail attack.
"Try Weather Ball!"
Castform formed a large ball of water in front of its mouth and spat it forward towards Skitty.
"Assist again!"
"Why does she keep pressing her luck with that move? If she keeps using it, it might eventually result in attacks that give her a disadvantage rather than help her," Eziray said.
"Well think about it. Mudkip knows Ice Beam, Water Gun, Bide, and Tackle. Any of those moves, excluding Tackle, would be helpful in this case. She's doing just fine," Aiden reasoned.
"True," Eziray said, turning back to the match.
In this case, the Assist resulted in Water Gun again and when the two moves collided, it caused a small explosion that resulted in sparkling bits of water raining down over the audience and arena.
"We're not going to be able to hit that Castform unless we use long range attacks, so we're going to have to keep using Assist, okay Skitty?"
Skitty nodded and used Assist again, this time it resulted in Ice Beam.
"Ember!"
Castform spat a flurry of embers from its mouth that melted the Ice Beam before it could reach its target.
"Ice, huh? We can top that. Castform, use Hail! Then Weather Ball!"
Castform twirled, changing the weather once again to a small hail storm. Then she fired a large icy ball at Skitty.
"Assist!"
Skitty used Assist one last time and it resulted in Bide so the Weather Ball hit, inflicting serious damage but Skitty was still standing. Gwen and Castform stared in horror as Skitty absorbed even more energy from the hail stones that were striking her. After several moments, she released double the energy, causing double the damage that had been inflicted on her. Castform didn't go down but was cringing from the injuries that it had just taken.
"Finish it off with Iron Tail!"
Castform was already exhausted from the demanding appeal that it had to perform in the preliminary round and the hard battle it had fought minutes ago. Now it was just in too much pain to move out of the way. Skitty was able to finish it off with one final blow from Iron Tail, and the Castform fell to the ground, out cold.
"Castform is unable to battle! Lyla is the winner of this match, and therefore the winner of the contest! Thank you to all who participated and better luck next year! Lyla, please come up here and accept your prize!" Nurse Joy announced.
Everyone applauded as Lyla made her way over to Nurse Joy who was holding something with a blanket draped over it. Lyla cocked her head, wondering what it was, and Nurse Joy smiled before pulling the sheet off. Everyone stared in admiration of what was revealed and Lyla was glowing with excitement. Underneath the blanket, there was a hard protective case and within that case, there was a dark brown Pokémon egg with a light brown zigzag around the center of it.
"Is this really for me?" Lyla asked as Nurse Joy handed it to her gently.
"It really is! It was a donation from one of my relatives in Kanto!" Nurse Joy exclaimed. "So I have no idea what's inside. Keep it warm and keep it safe and let me know what it hatches into alright?"
"You got it!" Lyla exclaimed excitedly, thanking Nurse Joy and rushing over to show it to her friends.
She guarded the egg with her life all the way back to the Pokémon Center and once they got there, Nurse Joy tended to Skitty's injuries while the trainers packed up and got ready to hit the road. While they were packing, Lyla eventually realized that Mudkip was still out and about somewhere and she had to go find him.
"I don't even know where to start!" she said to herself with a sigh. She searched for what seemed like hours and couldn't find him. She was absolutely exhausted and decided to take a break so she sat down under the shade of a big tree. She leaned back against the trunk and stared into the clear blue sky for a while, daydreaming about becoming a top coordinator. She closed her eyes and breathed in the clean, fresh air. She wasn't used to it. Growing up in Lavaridge, there had always been a lot of volcanic ash in the air. Some days, it was so bad that her mother wouldn't let her go outside. She began to miss her mother and the flower shop that they ran together. She wished that she hadn't been such a handful and wondered if her mother would have been proud of her for finally heading out on this journey. She was certainly glad she did. She felt happier than she ever had before and could no longer imagine her life without her new friends. Her thoughts ran for a while longer until she eventually fell asleep.
When she awoke, apparently several hours later, Mudkip was curled up in her lap with his head against her belly, sleeping like a baby. She reached up to stroke his head, but something fell from her hand and landed on the ground beside her. She lifted it from the ground and held it up to look at it. It was pastel pink flower with a yellowish inside and it was slightly moist. Lyla smiled because she knew that meant that Mudkip had brought it to her.
Authors Notes:
My beta was bugging me to mention this because she wanted to change it so bad but I wouldn't let her. "With a quickness" is an expression that my friend uses a lot and it kind of rubbed off on me. It's not a typo. With that said, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you review it!