Chapter 11: Lyla's Debut

"Have you guys seen a greenish card anywhere? It's got an image of a big blue ribbon in the middle of it and a little golden rectangle in the bottom right corner. It's got some serial number on it in black. It's about yay-big," Lyla said, forming a rectangle about the size of a credit card in the air with her fingers.

"Can't say I have," Eziray said with a frown. Lyla let out a whining sound of panic and continued to throw garments from her bag to the floor.

"Well if you see it, can you please let me know?" she pleaded desperately.

"Ohhhhh Lyla!" Aiden exclaimed, walking in with a card that matched her description perfectly. She dropped everything and ran to him, yanking it from his hand excitedly.

"Where did you find it?" she asked, looking down at it with a big grin.

"You left it on the table in the other room. Is that your contest pass?"

"It sure is! I mean I've already used it to register for the contest but I might need it to check in tonight. Speaking of which, how are you feeling Skitty? You ready?"

"MYA!" Skitty exclaimed.

"So, do you know what you two are gonna do for the appeal in the preliminary round?" Aiden asked, out of curiosity. The excitement was suddenly drained from Lyla's face and panic took its place.

"I'm guessing that's a negative," Eziray said. Lyla immediately ripped off three sheets paper from a pad of paper provided by the hotel and passed one to Eziray and another one to Aiden.

"Guys! Help me! Brainstorming! NOW!" she exclaimed.

"This really isn't my forte," Eziray said, folding the paper into an airplane before tossing it into the trashcan. "But Aiden will help you!"

"And where are you going?" Aiden asked as Eziray got up to leave.

"To train! Shouldn't it be obvious? We had way too much trouble with that gym than we should have! I mean it's the first gym!" Eziray exclaimed, leaving before anyone could voice any objection. Aiden and Lyla sighed but then Lyla looked up at Aiden and smiled.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing…I just kinda like it when we're alone together. I'm not sure why," she said, blushing a little.

"It certainly is quieter, isn't it?"

"Mhm!"

There was silence for a few moments as the two reflected about what to say to each other. Aiden looked as if he wanted to say something but was hesitating. Lyla cocked her head and asked him if there was anything on his mind. He didn't respond right away but told her it was nothing, just that they should probably get to work now. Then Lyla remembered what they were supposed to be doing and began to panic again.

"I don't even know where to begin!" she whined. "Should I just re-use the appeal I used in that unofficial contest?"

"Nah, no need for that! Let's see…You want to make the audience and judges love Skitty, right?"

"Of course!"

"Well what are Skitty's most loveable traits?"

"She's smart…coordinated…friendly…absolutely adorable…"

"Maybe you should try emphasizing some of those traits in your appeal. Skitty's not an elegant Pokémon so it would be hard to try to make beautiful and dazzling appeals with her. You should try to imagine something that would better suit her. I mean it's obvious that she's a cute Pokémon, but with the right appeal, she could really make that audience's hearts melt. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yea, I know exactly what you mean and I think you're onto something there…since when did you know so much about how to make good contest appeals?"

"Let's just say you're not the only coordinator I've been this close to…"

"Oh?"

"It's not important though…"

At that moment, there was a loud crash as something struck a trashcan in the street below the nearest window. There was a ball of yarn sitting on the edge of the dresser and the slight vibration from this caused it to fall off and roll across the floor. Aiden got up and took a look outside to find Eziray jumping up and down for joy with Baby at her side. They were both standing next to a smoking trashcan, lying on its side with a huge dent right in the center of it. At the center of the dent was a pretty large hole with blackened edges.

"It's just Eziray vandalizing shit again," Aiden said as he sat down on the floor across from Lyla. She wasn't paying any attention to him; she was looking straight ahead with a slight grin on her face so Aiden turned his head to see what had caught her attention and he saw Skitty rolling around with the ball of yarn that had fallen.

"Skitty, I love you," Lyla said.

"Aww, where'd she get that?" Aiden asked.

"I brought some yarn with me from home in case I got bored and wanted to knit something. I set one on the dresser when I was going through my stuff this morning. But that doesn't matter because Skitty just gave me the perfect idea for her preliminary appeal tonight!"

"And what's that?"

"I guess you're just going to have to sit in the audience and find out, now won't you?"

"I suppose I just might!"

The two laughed a little and Lyla looked up at him, smiling and cocking her head a little.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"No…I just realized how much I like your beauty mark…"

She reached up with one hand to touch it and softly stroked that small area of his face.

"Oh that? I hate it. It's ugly," he said, smiling a little. Then he put his hand over hers and she stopped moving it and they just stared at each other for a moment until Aiden began to lean forward but the hotel room's door suddenly swung open and Eziray came rushing in, shouting about something.

"Of course," Aiden thought to himself. The two dropped their hands to their sides so quickly that Eziray didn't suspect a thing.

"What is it, Ez?" Lyla asked.

"Come see! Come see! Come see!" she exclaimed, running back out. Lyla, Skitty and Aiden followed her out to the street where she had wrecked the trashcan. Now there was a new one that she had found nearby.

"Eziray, we're gonna get in trouble. Stop vandalizing public property..." Aiden trailed off.

"Baby, use Dragon Rage!" Eziray ordered.

An orange orb formed at Baby's mouth and then a cyclone of fiery orange energy spiraled out from it and destroyed the trash can in front of them.

"WOW! That one was even bigger than the last one! Good job, Baby!" Eziray praised.

"HEY YOU KIDS!" some old man called from a hotel window up above before Aiden or Lyla had a chance to say anything.

"Run," Eziray said, taking off.

"Don't you run away! I am calling the police!" the man called. Lyla and Aiden stared at him for a moment and couldn't help but laugh a little. As soon as he stepped away from the window to call Officer Jenny, Lyla and Aiden took off after Eziray.

"You're always getting us in trouble, Ez! And now you've brought Lyla into it too!" Aiden exclaimed as soon as they caught up to Eziray.

"I brought Lyla into it? I seem to remember you recruiting her, mister!" Eziray said with a laugh, still running.

"Yeah, I invited her. You pretty much kidnapped her!" Aiden corrected.

"I guess I did, didn't I?" Eziray said cheerfully.

"Relax, guys! I'm having fun!" Lyla exclaimed as she ran ahead of them. She noticed a craft supplies store up ahead and wondered if they sold yarn there. She figured that going back to the hotel for it would be a bad idea. Unfortunately, she was so focused on it that she didn't see someone standing there and ran right into him.

"Owwww," she whined, now sitting on the floor.

"So we meet again," the boy said, extending his hand to help her up. She didn't hit him with enough force to knock him over; she just startled him a little. She scratched her head and looked up. It was Noah.

"S-sorry," she said, grabbing onto his hand so he could pull her up.

"Still a little on the careless side, huh?" he asked with a slight laugh.

"What was that?" she asked, suddenly offended. At that moment, Aiden and Eziray arrived and greeted him.

"Don't mind Lyla, she's a little edgy right now because she's performing in her first contest tonight," Eziray said, noticing that Lyla didn't look too happy.

"Ah, so you're a coordinator. It suits you! You don't look like the powerful trainer-type to me," Noah said, not at all trying to be offensive but it seem that way to Lyla and she became even angrier.

"Come on, Lyla, let's go get some yarn," Aiden suggested, steering her in the direction of the craft supplies store.

"So, I have more than three Pokémon now. How about a re-match?" Eziray challenged.

"Sorry, I got a match against Roxanne tonight so I need to conserve my Pokémon's strength. But show me what you got? I love seeing new Pokémon and all these Hoenn species really excite me," Noah said. Eziray smiled and let out Speedy and Gracie.

"Very cool," he said, looking them over.

"Tee-hee! You look funny!" Gracie exclaimed with a very bubbly laugh.

"Gracie! Be nice!" Eziray demanded.

"Don't worry about it, I suppose I look like a bad person to people who don't know me," Noah said with a smile.

"Why do you have a little metal ball on your tongue?" Gracie asked, naively.

"It's a tongue ring," he said, sticking his tongue out so she could see.

"Does it hurt?"

"It hurt a little when I got it but now it doesn't hurt anymore."

"What's that?"

"This?" he asked, touching the tattoo on his neck.

"Yeah!"

"It's a tattoo. This hurt very much when I got it but I got it because it represents what matters most to me. You see…this symbol means 'friendship.'"

"Then it's a beautiful tattoo!" Gracie concluded with great joy. He laughed.

"So Eziray, have you challenged Roxanne?" he asked.

She took out a golden, rectangular case with a red Pokéball-like image on it and popped it open to reveal the Stone Badge.

"So you already got it huh?"

"Yep! Oh! Watch out for her Nosepass, it uses electrical attacks!"

"Does it now?"

"Yep! And her Geodude is super strong! I wouldn't let your Tailow anywhere near that gym!"

"Well of course not! So, hey, are you three off to Dewford next? It's an island and there's a gym there. There's a ferry somewhere here in Rustboro City! I'm not quite sure where but if you have a map, you should be able to find it."

"Really? Sweet! We'll leave first thing in the morning!"

"Right on! Well I oughta get going. Tell Lyla that I'm sorry and I wish her luck in her contest."

"Will do!"

Noah and Eziray shook hands and then he walked away. A few moments later, Aiden and Lyla emerged from the craft supplies store with a plastic bag. Lyla looked much happier now.

"Yarn?" Eziray asked, looking into the bag.

"Don't ask," the other two said in unison.

"Alright, alright! So where are we going, anyway?" Eziray asked. "I mean where is the contest?"

"Well, Rustboro Hall is almost a day's walk from here. It's on the outskirts of Rustboro pretty much," Lyla said, grinning.

"Then how do you plan to compete at seven o'clock tonight?" Eziray asked.

"The better question is how you managed to get there, register, and come back all in one morning yesterday," Aiden said.

"There's a tram!" Lyla exclaimed.

They followed her to a tram station that took people from the center of Rustboro to Rustboro Hall. It was cheap but those with Contest Passes got on for free. Aiden and Eziray, on the other hand, had to dig for change in their bags in order to pay the fee. Ten minutes later, all three of the trainers and Skitty were loaded aboard a tram and well on their way to Rustboro Hall. Once they got there, they could see all of the coordinators gathered with their Pokémon. Some were training, some were grooming their Pokémon, and some were feeding their Pokémon tiny cubes of all different colors.

"What are those and why does everyone have them?" Eziray asked.

"Those are called Pokéblocks. They're candies made from berries that make Pokémon healthier. I've heard that they're very nutritious. I guess different Pokéblock are created by mixing different berries," Lyla explained.

"Where can we make some?" Eziray asked, suddenly excited to try them.

"I'm not all too sure…" Lyla trailed off, scanning the area.

"Are you looking for someone or something?" Aiden asked.

"What? No! What makes you think that?" Lyla asked nervously. He laughed.

"Relax! You just seem a little anxious about something. Is someone you know competing as well?"

"…No. It's nothing."

Lyla walked off towards the large, dome-shaped Contest Hall. The roof was purple and had a large billboard sign centered on it. This sign was red in the upper-left corner and the bottom-right corner, there was a yellow diagonal stripe going through the middle from the other two corners, and on this yellow stripe was a red image of a ribbon and the words 'Pokémon Competition' in black. Below the roof, the building was yellow and formed arches at the bottom every few feet. Inside these arches were glass doors that led into the building. The three trainers and Skitty entered.

"Hello again! I registered yesterday and I'm kind of new to this so I was just wondering if I needed to check in or anything," Lyla said to the receptionist, handing over her Contest Pass. The receptionist scanned it and Lyla's profile came up on the computer. It had her picture and Skitty's picture on the screen but the box labeled 'ribbons' was empty. The receptionist turned to them and wanted to make sure that Lyla would be using Skitty that night. Lyla nodded so the receptionist told her that she was all set and not to be late.

Once outside, the trainers decided to split off and practice separately. Eziray went off to further improve Baby's Dragon Rage, Lyla went off with Skitty to practice their preliminary appeal, and Aiden sat outside Rustboro Hall, playing his guitar. Coincidentally, someone had discarded an old tin can and people began throwing money in it as they passed by Aiden.

"Well this is slightly degrading," he muttered. He didn't want to seem like a beggar but he didn't do anything about it because they were so broke.

Six o'clock rolled around and people began to enter the building so Lyla decided to do the same. When she got to the doors, there were a flock of girls gathered around Aiden, squealing and such. His tip jar was overflowing with bills and he was still playing, but also answering all of the girls' questions at the same time.

"So are you like famous in the Kanto region?"

"Not even! I mean a lot of people know about me but not everyone…I guess I'm famous in Celadon City. That's where I came from."

"Do you have any Pokémon?"

"Yes…"

"CAN I SEE!"

"Me too! Oh please let me see!"

"Will you show us, Aiden?"

Lyla cocked her head and put her hands on her hips.

"Sorry ladies, he already has an annoying groupie," she said in reference to Olivia, picking up the can and taking Aiden by the hand. She led him into the contest hall and he thanked her.

Surprisingly, Eziray was already inside. She asked them what took so long and Lyla told her about Aiden's new fans. Eziray laughed and said it's pretty typical, and then she and Aiden walked down the corridor that led to the audience while Lyla headed down the corridor that led to the waiting room for coordinators. There was a TV hanging from the ceiling that would be broadcasting all of the performances and battles to the coordinators who were waiting. A woman appeared on the stage and began to speak.

"Welcome, everyone, to the Rustboro Pokémon Contest! My name is Vivian and it is my pleasure to be your emcee today! First off, I would like for you all to meet our judges! First on the judging panel, we have Contesta, the director of the Pokémon Contest Committee. Next, we have Mr. Sukizo from the Pokémon Enthusiast's Fan Club! And finally, we have Rustboro City's very own Nurse Joy!" the woman announced. She had medium-length, curly brownish-orange hair and blue eyes. She had a beauty mark just below her left eye and dark pink lipstick on her lips. She was wearing white gloves, a black choker, a puffy short-sleeved shirt that matched her lipstick, a puffy pink skirt that fell to her knees, and red high heels that were close-toed.

The three judges were sitting at a panel on the stage, facing both the field and the audience. Contesta was an older man, he had short grey hair that was slicked back and he was wearing a red tuxedo with gold buttons and a black bow tie. Mr. Sukizo was a little on the short side and his brown hair was even shorter than Contesta's. He was wearing a blue tuxedo with a red tie he seemed like a very pleasant man. Nurse Joy was dressed as she usually was and she appeared very happy to be there.

On the stage, there was a plain dirt field marked as any other battle field except there was a big red ribbon painted right in the center of it. There were rows and rows of seats facing the stage, as if it were a play, filled with audience members impatiently anticipating the performances. Aiden and Eziray were seated right in the front.

"Now, you're really going to enjoy this performance, folks. We haven't seen this one perform in quite a while! I'd you all to welcome Selena and her beautiful Butterfree to the stage!" Vivian announced as Selena appeared on stage.

"It's her," Lyla thought to herself.

"Butterfree, all eyes on you!" Selena exclaimed as she threw a Pokéball into the air. A Butterfree popped out, twirling amongst a vortex of orange powder.

"And they make a beautiful entrance with Stun Spore!" Vivian observed.

"Butterfree, use Secret Power!"

The Butterfree's entire body began to glow pink and it began to twirl, releasing a wave of pink energy which it sent flying upwards. As the ring of pink energy rose, it began to close and Butterfree's body returned to normal.

"Now use Psybeam!"

Butterfree's eyes began to glow purple and then it shot bright purple beams that spiraled around each other up towards the wave of energy. The two moves collided in a bright explosion, like fireworks, and Butterfree began to flap its wings rapidly.

"And Silver Wind for the finale!"

Two waves of sparkling wind blasted from each of Butterfree's wings and curved upward, twisting around each other and expanding to form a perfectly symmetrical rose bud above Butterfree. Once this was accomplished and shown off for a few seconds, Butterfree suddenly halted its flapping, the wind flows ceased and bits of shimmering powder rained down over the stage and the audience.

"What a beautiful performance!" Nurse Joy exclaimed.

"And I especially liked how much control it has over its Silver Wind attack. Well done!" Contesta added.

"I found it simply remarkable!" Mr. Sukizo concluded.

"She's really good," Lyla thought to herself as two nine-point-fives and a ten appeared on the computer screens below the judges.

Lyla wasn't dead last to perform, but she had to wait quite a long time to perform. With each appeal, she grew more nervous because these performances were nothing like the ones she witnessed at the unofficial contest. They were all really good. She had no idea that some of those attacks could be used the way they were and she was beginning to think that her appeal wasn't going to make the cut. She began to express her doubts to Skitty who then used DoubleSlap to snap her out of it. Skitty knew that their appeal was going to be great too, and now they would have the chance to prove it. It was their turn.

"Please welcome our next contestant, all the way from Lavaridge Town, making her very first appearance as a coordinator, Lyla! And with her is her darling little Skitty!" Vivian announced as Lyla and Skitty walked onto the stage side-by-side. The crowd cheered and she got a little nervous but took in a deep breath and smiled, taking out a ball of blue yarn.

"Skitty want this?" she asked, cocking her arm back and tossing it just enough for it to roll across the stage.

"MYA!" Skitty exclaimed, chasing after it. When she caught up to it, she pounced on it playfully and nibbled on it a little as she rolled over onto her back. The she began tossing it into the air and catching it with her two front paws repeatedly.

"Awwww!" Eziray exclaimed. "Skitty's so cute!"

Lyla smiled and tossed a ball of yellow yarn to Skitty right as the blue ball of yarn went up. Skitty caught this new yellow one and tossed it up immediately after and then the blue again once it came down. She continued tossing them both up at different times. Then Lyla added a green ball of yarn while both of the others were in the air. Skitty continued throwing them all up and then everyone realized that she was juggling them.

"Now use DoubleSlap!"

Skitty slowly tucked her tail in against her body and used it to smack the balls up into the air instead of using her paws. Then she carefully set her paws on the ground to her right and pushed herself over and up so that she was standing on all fours once again, successfully keeping all of the balls of yarn in the air with her tail. Then she used DoubleSlap as rapidly as she could so she could juggle them faster and faster. After a few seconds, she began to move again, carefully shifting all of her weight to her two front legs and lifting her two back legs into the air. Then she paused and continued juggling them in a headstand position. The audience went wild over her cuteness and even the judges seemed entertained.

"Keep it up, Skitty!" Lyla exclaimed.

"Myaaaa," Skitty meowed as she shifted all her weight to her right paw and lifted her head and her left paw from the ground, now juggling while standing on only one front leg.

"Alright, now let em go!"

Skitty gave each ball one final smack. The green one flew into the audience somewhere and someone caught it so they jumped up and down and held it into the air excitedly as if it were a diamond, Vivian caught the yellow one, and the blue one went straight up into the air so Skitty jumped up after it and caught it in her mouth before somersaulting back down to the ground. Then she released it and it rolled a few inches back.

"Myaaa!" she exclaimed happily, cocking her head.

The crowd cheered and she picked up the ball of yarn in her mouth and brought it back to Lyla, dropping it in her trainer's hand. Then the Kitten Pokémon rubbed her body against Lyla's legs, purring, so Lyla bent down to stroke her and then picked her up to nuzzle her.

"Simply adorable!" Mr. Sukizo exclaimed.

"It almost makes me want a Skitty!" Nurse Joy added.

"I especially liked the fact that they pulled off a decent appeal with only one move! It's important not to overdo things and I think they did very well for their first performance. I hope to see them in the next round!" Contesta concluded.

"How cute were they?" Vivian exclaimed. "Give em some love, guys!"

The crowd cheered even louder as Lyla and Skitty left the stage. Lyla was happy but blushing bright red at this point.

"So she understands…" Selena thought to herself. "Most people think up these fancy appeals that look cool to them but tacky to the judges. What they don't realize is that judges prefer to see the Pokémon's character demonstrated through the appeal. Perhaps it was a fluke…Either way, I'm going to keep my eye on this one."

The last few appeals went by pretty slowly because Lyla was so eager to know if she made the cut or not, but they were finally all over and the judges were making a list of the highest scores. There was a large screen on the wall behind them and images of coordinators began to appear on it. Selena's image appeared first, followed by three other coordinators. Then three more coordinators' images appeared below them and finally, Lyla's image appeared.

"She made the cut!" Eziray cheered, standing up with her fists in the air.

"CHAAAR!" Charo exclaimed, sticking his arms up in the air as well.

"Go Lyla!" Gracie added, jumping up and down.

Baby and Speedy remained quiet but Baby at least looked happy about it. Speedy looked like he didn't really want to be there.

"Eziray, must you bring everyone out to watch?" Aiden asked on behalf of all the people craning their necks around the four Pokémon to see.

The images began to scramble around on the screen and Eziray sat back down, giving him a look as if that were the dumbest question he had ever asked.

"You have your Pokémon out too," she muttered.

"Just Torchic and he's sitting in my lap, being quiet and out of the way…" Aiden trailed off, looking up at the stage. Lyla and another coordinator were positioned on the battle field and Aiden realized that Lyla was first up to battle.

"Wait, why is she first?" Eziray asked.

"The computer jumbled up the names and picked matches at random," Aiden replied.

Skitty was already out and ready, standing at attention in front of Lyla. The other coordinator threw a Pokéball in the air and a Makuhita popped out in front of him.

"Oh boy," Aiden said. "Judging by its fists, it's definitely a Fighting-type."

"Poor Skitty," Gracie said. "If only I could help…"

"Stay out of it, Gracie! And have some faith in them!" Eziray exclaimed.

"You may begin when ready!" Vivian announced.

"Okay, we're probably going to need long-range attacks for this battle, so use Assist!" Lyla exclaimed.

A glowing white orb formed at the end of Skitty's paw and Mudkip's Water Gun shot from it.

"Block it!"

Makuhita threw up its arms and crossed them in front of its face and chest. The water hit but shot of both sides of him and then Makuhita dropped its arms, revealing that it hadn't taken any damage.

"This Makuhita is strong," Eziray thought to herself.

"Use Focus Punch!"

Makuhita charged forward, fist glowing, and tried to thrust it into Skitty who flipped out of the way. Makuhita tried another overhand swing, but Skitty dodged that one as well. It then tried a third time but Skitty was just too quick for it.

"Keep it up, Skitty!" Lyla exclaimed.

"Switch it up, buddy!"

Skitty, expecting another overhand Focus Punch, ducted for the fourth punch but then Makuhita's other fist came up from underneath her and slammed into her. It wasn't Focus Punch, however, because it sent electrical sparks pulsing through her body and she stood for a moment as if she couldn't move.

"You've just witnessed a Thunderpunch, folks! And it looks as if this one's left Skitty paralyzed!" Vivian announced. Lyla gasped.

"Paralyzed? How are we supposed to win now?" Lyla thought to herself.

"Alright, Makuhita! Let's see your specialty!"

One of Makuhita's fists began to glow blue as a stream of icy energy formed around it while its other fist ignited into a flame. It hit Skitty with its Ice Punch and its fist immediately began to glow yellow with electricity. Then it slammed its other fist into Skitty and the flames vanished as it became Ice Punch again. Then it hit it again with the Thunderpunch which turned into Fire Punch, and it continued hitting Skitty and rotating the attacks, getting faster and faster until all that could be seen was bursts of color as Skitty was being knocked around.

"Beautiful and effective! Will Skitty survive this?" Vivian exclaimed.

"Skitty, use Iron Tail!"

Skitty's tail began to glow and she managed to whip it around to block the elemental fist moves. She brought it up just in time to stop a fire punch so both of Makuhita's fists ceased their glowing and Skitty took that opportunity to jump back and avoid further damage.

"Myaaa…" Skitty trailed off all of a sudden, cringing from the paralysis.

"Skitty!" Lyla exclaimed.

"Quick, while it can't move. Finish it off with Strength!"

Makuhita began to glow blue as it picked Skitty up and hurled her up into the air with great force.

"Lyla! She's going to crash through the ceiling!" Eziray cried.

"Skitty, use the momentum!"

Skitty began somersaulting and the other coordinator gritted his teeth, realizing that Strength was helping her rather than hurting her. Vivian made a comment about how Skitty looked like she was an acrobat who had been shot out of a cannon.

"Iron Tail!"

As Skitty reached the ceiling, she shoved off it with her feet and her tail began to glow. The momentum that she picked up as she somersaulted back down, along with the weight of glowing tail, caused Iron Tail to hit with much greater force than usual. And because it hit the Makuhita square in the head, it knocked him out instantly.

Lyla was declared the winner and she carried Skitty back into the lobby. Skitty was still paralyzed and Lyla was trying to figure out what to do with her.

"Here…"

Lyla looked up and the coordinator who she had just beaten was standing in front of her, holding out a spray bottle.

"It's a Paralyze Heal. It'll cure your Skitty's paralysis. You're pretty good for a newbie. I'd feel bad if I took away your chance of winning this contest now…" he trailed off. Lyla smiled and reached for the bottle.

"Hold it," Selena said all of a sudden, approaching the two.

"Selena…" the coordinator trailed off.

"If she were a good coordinator, don't you think she would have been prepared for a situation like this? She doesn't deserve your help," Selena said coldly.

"You're right…" the coordinator trailed off, putting away his Paralyze Heal before walking away. Selena turned to Lyla.

"Sorry, sweetie. You do agree that I have a point there, don't you?"

"The only problem with your 'point' is that Lyla did come prepared," Aiden said, entering the room with a green box. He set it down next to Lyla, unlatched it, and popped it open. The box was completely full of three varieties of berries.

"These are…" Lyla trailed off.

"The berries you picked on the way to Rustboro. I borrowed some. Sorry for not giving it back," he said.

"I see…" Selena said with a smile as she walked away.

"Damn, I'm a bad liar," he said with a frown as soon as she was out of hearing distance.

"Where did these berries come from?" Lyla asked.

"I picked them on the way to Rustboro and then I learned what each one does in Roxanne's class," he said. "The red ones are Cheri Berries; those will cure Skitty's paralysis. Just feed her one and she'll be feeling better in no time. Feed her a blue one or two as well. Those are Oran Berries and they'll make her stronger when she's weakened. The pink ones are Pecha Berries and those will help if she gets poisoned. That's all I have so I hope you don't have any other problems!"

"Thanks Aiden, you're the best!" Lyla said, feeding a Cheri Berry to Skitty. "Feeling better, Skitty?"

"MYAAA!" Skitty exclaimed. Lyla petted her and fed her an Oran Berry too, looking up at the screen to see Selena's Butterfree finishing off a Slugma with a beautiful Silver Wind attack.

"Nervous?" Aiden asked.

"That was quick…Selena seems really good."

"Want me to sit with you until it's your turn again?"

Lyla nodded so he took a seat next to her for the next two battles. The winner of the first was a coordinator and her Vigoroth. The winner of the second was a coordinator and his Lombre. Lyla was up next and she would be facing the coordinator with the Vigoroth. She got up to leave but Aiden grabbed her by the arm.

"Don't forget about Eziray's battle. Remember when she battled Norman? Charo lost pretty badly to that Vigoroth because of its speed. And don't forget that Charo's stronger than Skitty. I'm not trying to scare you; all I'm saying is be careful and try to strategize a way to deal with that speed."

Lyla nodded and as she made her way to the stage, Aiden made his way back to the audience where Torchic and Charo had been saving his spot.

"If we win this, we can go on to the final round!" Lyla thought to herself. "We can do this, Skitty!"

"Vigoroth, come out!" the other coordinator exclaimed, throwing a Pokéball into the air.

"How are we going to deal with its speed? It's going to be able to dodge physical attacks just as easily as long-range attacks. Mudkip's Bide would hit though…provided that the Vigoroth does any damage. So should we try Assist? It looks like she wants us to make the first move…" Lyla trailed off.

Author Notes:

It started getting pretty long so I decided to split it up. Not much to say about this chapter other than the fact that Lyla now has a rival. Gwen wasn't exactly a major character, but Selena definitely is. She's not a new coordinator like Lyla, she actually has five ribbons already. The only reason why she decided to compete was so that one less ribbon would be awarded to a coordinator that she would eventually have to compete with in the Grand Festival. That's what she tells herself anyway. The real reason is because she had a hunch about Lyla and decided to examine her skills. Anyways, please feel free to leave a review if you liked or even didn't like! I love to hear from you guys =3