Chapter 21: Watch Out For That Shiftry
"Welcome everyone! The Slateport City Pokémon Contest is about to begin! Take your seats while I introduce the three individuals who will be judging the performances you are about to witness tonight. First, we have Raoul Contesta, the director of the Pokémon Contest Committee!"
"Good evening everyone!" Contesta exclaimed.
"Next, we have Mr. Sukizo from the Pokémon Enthusiast's Fan Club!"
"I hope you're all as excited to be here as I am," Mr. Sukizo said.
"And finally, we have Slateport City's very own Nurse Joy!"
"It's honor to be here!" Nurse Joy declared cheerfully.
"I'm your host, Vivian, and it is my pleasure to announce that we will now begin the preliminary appeals. First up on the stage are Robin from Dewford Town and her Mareep!"
"Good luck!" Lyla exclaimed as Robin rose to leave the waiting room.
"Thanks, you too!"
"Nervous?" Eziray asked.
"Just a little," Lyla admitted.
"Ee-VEEEE!" Eevee demanded, puffing out her chest.
"Looks like someone's telling you to shape up. Don't worry, Lyla, you'll do great!" Eziray insisted.
"You and Eevee have been working so hard. Tonight should definitely be rewarding," Aiden added.
"You're right," Lyla said, taking a deep breath and looking up at TV screen above them.
"Mareep, it's time for you to shine!" Robin exclaimed, sending out her Electric-type.
"This should be good!" Lyla exclaimed.
"Let's start things off with Shock Wave!"
"Maaah!" Mareep exclaimed as the orb on her tail lit up.
She then drove her tail forward, releasing a rather large wave of dazzling blue electricity that zigzagged and crackled like firecrackers along the ground as circled around the stage.
"Beautiful!" Vivian praised.
"Great job Mareep! Now let's continue with Thunder Shock!"
"REEEEP!" the Wool Pokémon bellowed as she let off a blast of yellow electricity.
"Just a little more power," Robin insisted.
As Mareep let off even more electricity, the sparks began snapping against each other, creating small explosions throughout the discharge. The crowd went wild as Nurse Joy spoke.
"It looks like this is turning into quite a fireworks show!" she exclaimed.
"And every fireworks show ends in a grand finale!" Vivian added as Mareep released a Cotton Spore just before she ceased the Thunder Shock so that they could absorb some of that electricity.
It was quiet for a moment, as the audience sat in anticipation for the next move; only the soft popping of electrically charged cotton spores could be heard. Suddenly, a large bolt of Thunder struck down from the sky, providing just enough electricity to set the balls of wool off in magnificent explosions.
"Excellent!" Contesta praised. "The best fireworks show I've seen in a long time!"
"Simply remarkable," Mr. Sukizo added as he watched in awe.
"A lovely appeal from a very lovely Mareep!" Nurse Joy concluded.
Robin and Mareep curtsied as Vivian called another coordinator onto the stage.
"Who performs in a contest dressed like that?" Ashton commented as Robin raced by him to sit with Lyla.
"Jealous, are we?" Robin replied calmly.
"Honey, please. I've been doing contests since before you were born. Go take a seat before you embarrass yourself. I don't understand why none of you Hoenn coordinators dress up for contests. All I can say is that Hoenn contests are so…primitive," Ashton said with a sigh. "At least Lyla's boots are cute…"
"They are, aren't they?" Lyla said as she raised her legs to admire them.
"Ee-vui," Eevee muttered, rolling her eyes.
"Eevee's right. Contests are all about the Pokémon. Dressing up would just take away from their appeal," Lyla said, scooping Eevee up into her arms.
"Forget the boots," Ashton said, making his way over to them. "That Eevee is just to die for. I had no idea they came in white!"
"You're talking about her as if she was a fur coat or something," Lyla said, holding Eevee away from him.
"Mya!" Skitty agreed.
"And is this your Skitty too? She's positively purrrrfect," he said, rolling his tongue.
"Um, thanks?" Lyla said.
"Well your Pokémon are lookin' good so you're obviously raising them well, but I'm still curious to see how you perform…"
As he trailed off, Mudkip suddenly popped out of his Pokéball to say hello.
"A Mudkip. Well don't you have a menacing air about you?"
"Muuuud!" the Mud Fish Pokémon exclaimed as he blasted Ashton in the face with Water Gun.
"You little–"
Before he finished his statement, Mudkip silenced him with another Water Gun.
"Sorry about that," Lyla said as she called him back to his ball and looked up at the TV screen with a smug grin. "I have no idea what's gotten into him today."
The following appeals were absolutely spectacular, in Lyla's opinion anyway. With each appeal, she grew more and more nervous. By the time it was her turn, she was quite literally quaking in her boots. Eevee tried to snap her out of it but was silenced by being returned to her ball.
"Next up, we have Lyla from Lavaridge Town and her Eevee!"
"Eevee, come on out!" Lyla exclaimed as she stepped onto the stage and tossed Eevee's dazzling Pokéball into the air.
"Ee-vui!" Eevee exclaimed, landing gracefully on the platform and shaking her body to fluff out her magnificent coat.
"Yeah, but it's going to take more than a fancy Pokéball and fancy dye job to win this contest," Ashton commented.
"Believe it or not, she was born that way," Aiden replied.
"I have a feeling that this is going to be a stunning appeal! Did you all see that Pokéball? I think it was embroidered with diamonds!" Vivian exclaimed.
"Alright Eevee, use Quick Attack!"
Eevee gave a nod and then shot forward, zigzagging around at the speed of light.
"That's fast!" Vivian exclaimed.
"Now, keep it up and use Swift!"
As Eevee continued to race around, a line of bright stars began to trail behind her. As she completed her round, the trail connected to outline the shape that she was running in – an enormous star.
"What a beautiful way to combine two very simple moves," Nurse Joy praised.
"Good job Eevee, now use Double Team!"
As Eevee began to slow, she left behind four clones that raced around just fast enough to keep the star spinning. Then with one quick thrust of their tails, they sent it flying up into the air. Everyone watched as it spun around and around and rose up towards the night sky above.
"She is so lucky that they decided to open the sun roof tonight!" Ashton grunted, crossing his arms.
"Alright, now finish up with one more Swift!" Lyla exclaimed.
"Ee-VUI!" the Eevee exclaimed as they each launched up a final blast of Swift that shattered the large star on impact.
"Remarkable!" Mr. Sukizo exclaimed as the shiny fragments rained down over the stadium.
"We did it," Lyla said with a sigh of relief. "Now please let it be good enough."
"Boring," Ashton commented as the two passed each other in the hallway. "Get back quick now if you want to see a real performance, darling."
"You're up?" Lyla asked as she picked up her pace a little bit.
"For our final performance, we have Ashton from Hearthome City of the Sinnoh region and his Shiftry!" Vivian announced.
"Let's give them a show they'll never forget, Shiftry!" Ashton exclaimed, throwing a Pokéball up into the air.
"Shift!" Shiftry exclaimed, forming an X with his arms so that his face rested between his two palm leaves.
"Let's start things off with a Razor Leaf-Razor Wind combo!"
The Shiftry nodded and began flapping his arms in many directions, creating a gusty tornado around himself. Within that gust, dozens of leaves began to swirl around as well, and not a single one touched the ground.
"Great, now let's make it nice and pretty by adding a little Synthesis into the mix!"
A shimmering green energy began emitting from Shiftry's body and the crowd watched in awe as Shifty's entire body sparkled, along with the leaves that the light was reflecting off of.
"And there we have it folks, Shiftry's specialty – Razor Wind, but with a little more pizazz I must say!"
"Treee," Shiftry said. Then he threw out his arms, creating two crescent-shaped gusts of wind that sliced through the leaves and gracefully counterbalanced the vortex as he took a bow.
"And what a fantastic finale to a magnificent round of appeals! The judges had a tough time deciding scores for this contest; all the of coordinators' Pokémon were simply superb!" Vivian announced as Ashton returned to the waiting room.
"So he's not all bark after all," Lyla thought to herself. "That appeal scored him a Twenty seven which blows my twenty four and a half out of the water. I bet that Shiftry's gonna be hard to defeat…if we even make it to the next round that is…"
"Without further ado, we will now announce the eight coordinators who will be moving on to the next round! Here they are, in order of how high they scored!" Vivian announced.
Lyla watched the board in anticipation as faces appeared one-by-one, starting with Robin, then Ashton, and then three other coordinators.
"They both made it," Lyla thought to herself as the faces appeared on the screen. "Only three more, did we make it?"
"YAY, LYLA!" Eziray exclaimed as Lyla's image appeared.
"And you even improved since your last contest," Olivia began. "I mean second to last is better than dead last!"
"Who let you in here?" Lyla muttered.
"I followed you guys…"
"Of course, but at least she's been quiet until now," Lyla thought to herself with a sigh.
"We will now scramble up the names to decide who will be battling who in the next round!" Vivian exclaimed as the images on the screen began to jumble around.
First up were two coordinators that Lyla hadn't really met. Both were male but one had a Duskull and the other had a Nidorina. Lyla didn't pay much attention because she was trying to calm her nerves, but she was a little relieved that she didn't have to battle Ashton right away. Neither she, Robin nor Ashton had been paired up with one another yet, but she knew she'd have to battle at least one of them eventually. The buzzer went off as Lyla was lost in her thoughts and she looked up to see that the coordinator with the Duskull had won, and Robin was up next.
"We've got this!" Robin exclaimed as she exited the room.
She was up against a female coordinator and her Baltoy, but in spite of the type disadvantage, Robin arose victorious by a long shot. Mareep was simply too stunning. Lyla was up next, and her opponent was a female coordinator with a Gulpin.
"Alright, Eevee, let's start things off with Swift!" Lyla exclaimed.
"Counter it with Pound!" the other coordinator ordered as Eevee released a flurry of bright, star-shaped disks with her tail.
Using the yellow appendage on its head, the Gulpin manage to whack each and every star up above it.
"Now use Sludge Bomb!"
"Guuuuuuulp!" the Gulpin shouted as is spat dozens of toxic blobs at the stars, causing them to explode.
"Not only did Gulpin's Sludge Bomb cancel out the Swift, but the collision of the two is making him look great! That's going to cost Lyla some major points," Vivian exclaimed.
"Eevee, try a Tackle!"
Eevee charged forward with all her might and the other coordinator ordered yet another Sludge Bomb attack.
"You can dodge those easy with Quick Attack!"
To show off her breakneck speed, Eevee weaved herself between the flying globs and continued on towards Gulpin.
"Poison Gas!"
Just as Eevee came into range, Gulpin coughed up a cloud of noxious, purple air which forced her to stop in her tracks.
"Not good," Eziray said as Eevee stood there coughing.
"I think she'll pull through," Aiden replied with a grin.
"Get out of there, Eevee! Use Dig!"
Eevee quickly burrowed into the ground, but a lot of the gas seemed to drift down into the hole with her.
"That's really not good! She'll suffocate down there!" Eziray gasped.
"What on Earth does Selena see in this one?" Ashton commented. "I mean she's not even entertaining to watch!"
As if she had heard him, Lyla suddenly ordered Eevee to come out with a Swift attack, and Eevee immediately rocketed out of the ground with a flashy trail of yellow and purple stars. The crowd went wild as this extra power allowed her to send Gulpin flying.
"Vui!" Eevee exclaimed as she landed gracefully before her trainer.
"What was that?" Aiden asked with a wide grin.
"So she's got one cool trick in her bag," Ashton muttered. "She's lucky that Poison Gas followed Eevee down into the hole too…"
"I think someone's just jealous that Selena's interested in someone else," Robin giggled.
"Now Eevee, use Double Team and then a gang Quick Attack!"
Eevee took off running, multiplying by five, as she whizzed toward their opponent.
"Swallow!"
"What?" Lyla asked as the Gulpin opened its mouth and seemed to expand more than three times its size.
The Eevee clones darted right into its mouth, canceling out as soon as they went inside. The real Eevee tried her best to put on the breaks, but skidded right into Gulpin's mouth in spite of her efforts. Then the Gulpin closed its mouth to trap her.
"Ew…" Olivia trailed off.
"Poor Eevee," Eziray murmured.
"Well, I think that Gulpin's got this in the bag…or in the stomach anyway," Ashton said with an obnoxious chuckle as he headed for the door in anticipation of his turn.
"Alright Gulpin, lets finish this up by suffocating that Eevee with an inescapable Poison Gas!"
"Inescapable my ass…Eevee, use Swift!"
Before Gulpin had a chance to follow orders, he began expanding like a bag of popcorn as Eevee filled him up with her Swift attack. It wasn't long before his mouth burst open, releasing quite a spectacle as all of the stars came spewing out. Eevee somersaulted out right in the middle of it and multiplied by ten in midair.
"Now dig into the ground!"
Eevee and her clones hit the ground and immediately burrowed into it for a gang Dig attack. The Gulpin couldn't do a thing as he was launched every which way by the Eevee clones popping out of the ground. As he flew through the air, the real Eevee popped out and finished him off by driving him into the ground with her tail.
"And this is only her second real contest," Eziray said with a triumphant smirk as she looked up at Ashton.
"I don't believe it…" Ashton trailed off.
"Gulpin is unable to battle!" Vivian announced as a loud buzzer went off. "Which means Lyla and Eevee are headed to the semi-finals!"
"Not so bad for a rookie, but I'm still going to put you in your newbie place," Ashton said as he passed Lyla in the hallway.
"We'll see," Lyla said with newfound confidence; even a comment like that had no effect on how joyful she was at the moment.
Her confidence quickly faded, however, as she watched Ashton take down his opponent's Swellow with nearly half the time to spare. She wasn't sure if Eevee would have enough power to take out that Shiftry; they would have to outsmart him if they were going to win the semi-finals round.
"Congratulations to the four coordinators who have made it to the semi-finals!" Vivian announced. "Can we have Robin and Dennis on the stage?"
"Hey, you looked great out there by the way," Robin complimented as she stood to leave. "Don't you dare let that Ashton tell you otherwise."
"Eevee, I'm so proud of you!" Lyla exclaimed, hugging Eevee tightly.
"Myaaa…" Skitty trailed off as Eevee stuck her tongue out at the Kitten Pokémon.
"We did look pretty amazing, didn't we?" Lyla asked happily.
"I think you really have a shot at this one," Aiden confirmed as Robin and the other coordinator sent out their Pokémon.
"Lyla, you're going to leave with your very first ribbon today! I can feel it," Eziray exclaimed.
"But if I don't, I just hope that she does…" Lyla trailed off, looking up at the screen.
"Mareep, use Shock Wave!"
"Mah-ree," Mareep said as she aimed the tip of her tail towards the Duskull floating ahead and fired a zigzag-shaped wave of blue electricity.
"Use Psychic, Duskull!"
The Duskull threw up its arms and its entire body began to glow blue as the Shock Wave slowed and whipped back around towards Mareep.
"Look at that!" Vivian exclaimed. "Duskull has complete control over that Shock Wave!"
"Mareep, use Light Screen, quick!"
Before the redirected move had a chance to hit, Mareep suddenly became surrounded by a cube of bright yellow energy the deflected much of the attack.
"But some quick thinking saved Robin a handful of points! Can't say the same for Dennis though, look at them drop!" Vivian announced.
"No matter, try avoiding this one. Duskull, use Shadow Ball!"
The Duskull put its hands together and a dark purple orb began to form between them. Once it was large enough, it aimed it at Mareep and released.
"Dodge it Mareep!"
"Psychic!"
Mareep rushed out of the way of the Shadow Ball but it suddenly turned and followed her. No matter what she did, she couldn't shake it and it chased her all around the stage, closing in on her by the second.
"Give it a Shock Wave!"
"Mah!" Mareep exclaimed, blasting the Shadow Ball with a Shock Wave.
"Beautiful!" Lyla exclaimed as the camera zoomed in on the shimmering bits of the Shadow Ball's leftover energy that rained down over Mareep.
"Well, let's see if you can hit more than one at once. Keep those Shadow Balls coming, Duskull!"
This time, more than a dozen Shadow Balls were headed her way, so Mareep braced herself as she awaited orders.
"Shock Wave's a little too precise to take care of those, so blast them all with a Thunder Shock!"
"She's got a way to counter everything!" Lyla exclaimed. "Electric-types have such an advantage in contests!"
"I wonder if she's ever considered gym battles," Eziray pondered out loud.
"Alright Mareep, it's time for that specialty of yours. Use Cotton Spore!"
"He has no idea what's coming!" Lyla exclaimed as balls of wool filled the stadium.
"Dusk…" Duskull trailed off as they clung to him, making it difficult to move around.
"Wow, that's slightly inconvenient…but come on! Most of our moves are long range. You can't stop us with that. Duskull, use Night Shade!"
Duskull became surrounded by a black energy that shadowed its entire body; only its glowing red eye could be seen amongst it. And from that eye, a red beam bordered by this black energy shot forward, blasting Mareep into a wall.
"Good job, now use Disable!"
As Mareep struggled to stand back up, she suddenly found herself completely paralyzed.
"Things aren't looking so good for these two anymore. Will this setback be enough to turn the match?" Vivian commented.
"Come on Robin!" Lyla and Eziray exclaimed in unison.
"While she can't move, Duskull, fire another Night Shade!"
"Thunder!"
Mareep focused as the Duskull charged up its dark energy once more.
"This is so intense!" Lyla exclaimed, standing up to be as close to the screen as possible.
"Get down, newbie…" Ashton muttered.
To Lyla's delight, a massive bolt of electricity came down before Duskull could release its attack. It managed to avoid the attack, however, but this allowed Mareep to break free of its grip and use Thunder Shock to charge the balls of wool that were still floating about.
"Dusk!" the Duskull uttered, finally releasing the Night Shade that it had been preparing.
"Shock Wave!"
As the beam neared, Mareep quickly countered it with a Shock Wave and the two moves pushed against each other until they neutralized.
"Looks like they're evenly matched in pow–OUCH!" Vivian exclaimed, rubbing the back of her neck. "Goodness gracious, great balls of static! Don't touch them, folks. They're quite electrifying!"
"Let's try a Shadow Ball now, Duskull!"
As Duskull raised its arms to form another Shadow Ball, its elbow brushed against a floating ball of charged wool, giving it a painful zap. It flinched, causing it to bump into another piece of charged wool.
"Sit still, Duskull!"
"Not half bad, actually…" Ashton trailed off. "If only Selena was watching this one. She's got some serious potential because she's pretty clever."
"This is quite the trap that Robin has concocted, and there's not much time left. Will Dennis manage to pull through?"
"Come on, Duskull!"
It was no use, Duskull couldn't move an inch without brushing against one of those charged up balls of wool and Dennis' points slowly dropped until time ran out and Robin was declared victorious.
"ALRIGHT, ROBIN!" Lyla cheered.
"MEEYAH!" Skitty added.
"I'd calm down if I were you. We're about to tango," Ashton said with a wink as he walked by them.
"You ready, Eevee?" Lyla asked, getting pumped up.
"Vee!" Eevee exclaimed with a nod as Lyla called her back to her ball.
"The winner of the next battle will determine who moves on to the finals with Robin to fight for that Slateport Ribbon! Can we have Lyla and Ashton on the stage?"
"Eevee, come on out!"
"Shiftry, do your thing!"
Both Pokémon materialized on the stage and stared each other down.
"Vee!" Eevee challenged. There was no way she was going to let this ugly thing stand in the way of her victory.
"Ignore the little squirt and give her a blast of your Bullet Seed!"
"Quick Attack, Eevee!"
As tiny, explosive seeds began shooting from Shiftry's mouth, Eevee weaved around them with ease and continued on to do some damage.
"As if we'd let you hit us with something so basic. Razor Wind!"
With a single flap of one of its palm leaves, Shiftry created a crescent-shaped blast of wind that knocked Eevee off balance and gave her a pretty gnarly gash across the two front legs.
"Eevee, no!" Lyla exclaimed.
"Now let's try that Bullet Seed again!"
"Stand up, Eevee!" Lyla shouted as the attack neared.
"Ee…" Eevee managed, opening her eyes and noticing the incoming Bullet Seed. "Vee!"
With a quick shove, she rolled over and the seeds whizzed right past her, exploding against the wall.
"That wound across her two front legs is going to cut down her speed tremendously," Nurse Joy said. "If any trainer came into my Pokémon Center with that wound, I'd tell them to keep their Pokémon off their feet for several days."
"Could this battle be over before we reach the four minute mark?"
"Eevee…" Lyla trailed off, unsure of whether or not to continue or throw the match.
"VEEEE!" Eevee bellowed as she stood up and awaited orders.
"Right! We're not giving in just yet, use Dig!"
Eevee nodded and quickly burrowed into the ground. Ashton sighed with a smile and Shiftry walked over to peer down into the hole.
"I must say that I do admire your spirit, but silly disappearing acts aren't enough to fool us. Bullet Seed!"
Shiftry opened its mouth and fired a quick round of Bullet Seed straight into the hole and Eevee popped out several feet away, holding onto her rear with her front paws as she was pelted from below.
"That's was actually pretty funny," Olivia said.
"Now it wasn't, Eevee looks thrashed! That's not funny at all," Eziray said as the camera zoomed in on Eevee's battered body.
"Eevee, what do we do…" Lyla trailed off.
"Your points are withering away to nothing while mine are barely touched. Go ahead and catch your breath, darling. We'll wait nice and patiently," Ashton mocked.
"Bad move! Eevee, use Swift!"
"Fine, don't use that time to figure out something more practical. Shiftry, use Synthesis!"
As the Swift began to bombard Shiftry, he raised his arms like an elegant dancer and began to glow a shimmering shade of green. As the stars smashed against him, they sparked brilliantly amongst the twinkling of Synthesis.
"That made him look even better…Wait a minute. We haven't tried Double Team yet!" Lyla exclaimed.
Eevee took the hint and multiplied into three. Then Lyla ordered only the real one to use Dig. While she did that, the two fakes darted forward and Shiftry brought up both arms to block each of them. While he was holding them off, the real one came up from underneath him and sent him up into the air a few feet.
"Looks like there's hope for them yet! Lyla's really going to have to put more wits like that into this match if she wants to win!"
"Back in the ground!" Lyla ordered as the two clones vanished.
"That was pretty strategic there, but did you forget about our Bullet Seed?"
Shiftry waltzed over and fired another array of Bullet Seed into the hole Eevee had just dug up. But this time, the seeds flew right out of the hole behind him and into straight into his rear.
"TREEE!" he sobbed as the seeds drove him about a foot off the ground.
"That's not going to work now. Eevee's got a little system of tunnels down there, and there's no way for you to know which path those seeds will take," Lyla explained with a grin. "Eevee, come on back out with Double Team!"
Shiftry looked around desperately, wondering where Eevee would pop up. Suddenly a mass of Eevee exploded out of the ground right under him and tackled him all at once.
"She's a natural!" Robin exclaimed.
"And that just goes to show you," Vivian began. "Brains will always triumph!"
"Vivian, baby, you know I love ya, but I can't really agree with that statement," Ashton began.
"Oh?" Vivian said with slight discomfort.
"Quit acting like such a hotshot. You sound like an ass," Lyla muttered.
"Even the most intelligent coordinator in the world couldn't get themself out of this one. Shiftry, let's see that Razor Wind-Razor Leaf combo!"
With two sweeps of his fans, Shiftry destroyed the Eevee clones that stood before him. Then he began to whip up a nasty vortex of wind and leaves around the real one. Eevee was completely trapped as the wind and Razor Leaves sliced her all up.
"Eevee!" Lyla cried.
"Finish it up with a magnificent Bullet Seed!"
As the timer buzzed out, Eevee was blasted back to her trainers feet with one final explosion of Bullet Seeds.
"Eevee!" Lyla cried once more as she bent down to cradle her Pokémon.
"Vui…" Eevee managed.
"And Ashton wins!" Vivian announced as the crowd began to cheer.
"No surprise there. Better luck next time," Ashton said, brushing his hair back.
Lyla gave it her all to fight back her tears of frustration and made her way back to the waiting room with Eevee in her arms.
"Take him down," she choked as she and Robin passed each other in the hallway.
"Lyla…" Aiden trailed off as she entered the room, completely crushed by her defeat.
"You and Eevee were spectacular! You're getting so much better at this, I swear!" Eziray comforted. "Next time–"
"I'm not sure if there will be a next time," Lyla said, taking a seat and pulling some medicine from her bag. "Not for a while anyway. We're just not strong enough.."
"But…"
"We'll talk about it later, Ez. I really want to watch this match," Lyla practically whispered as she applied the medicine to Eevee's wounds.
"Let's see if you can do better than your friend," Ashton said as Robin joined him on the stage and sent out her Mareep.
"The Slateport Ribbon is mine," she shot back with a playful grin.
"We've seen some great coordinators here today folks and not a single person gave us less than their all, but only one coordinator can leave with the prize. This is the battle we've all been waiting to see and I just can't wait to see who pulls out victorious. So let it begin!"
"Alright kiddo, get ready. Shiftry, use Razor Leaf!"
"Dodge it and use Thunder Shock!"
Shiftry released a swarm of Razor Leaf that Mareep managed to evade as she closed in on him. Once she was in range, she gave him a Thunder Shock that didn't appear to have done any damage at all.
"Grass-types are pretty resistant to Electric moves you know," Ashton said with a smile. "You'll need to come up with something else. Shiftry, use Razor Wind!"
Shiftry flapped his fans several times, whipping up four crescent-shaped gusts of wind.
"Counter it with Shock Wave!"
Mareep spun around, waving her tail to create a horizontal wave of blue electricity to cancel out the Razor Wind. The crowd went wild as the wave continued on towards Shiftry.
"And we're off to a very exciting start. The crowd is loving it!" Vivian exclaimed.
"I bet they'll love this! Use Razor Wind to dodge that attack!"
Shiftry flapped its fans once more, but sent the wind into the ground this time. This propelled him up into the sky where he hovered for a moment, balancing on the wind with his palm leaves.
"He's flying!" Vivian exclaimed as the Shock Wave faded into nothing below him.
"More like riding the wind," Ashton declared proudly.
"That must have taken a long time to master," Contesta commented. "This is one talented Shiftry."
"And I've got one talented Mareep," Robin said. "Use Thunder!"
The downside to Shiftry's little windsurfing trick was that he couldn't move about freely and the Thunder came right down on him with no problem. It also drove him right into the ground.
"Shiftry, you're smoking!" Ashton exclaimed as Shiftry stood, slightly blackened by the attack.
"Don't stop there, now use Cotton Spore!"
"Darling, what do you take me for?" Ashton asked as the stadium filled with balls of wool. "We saw your battle with the Duskull. We're not falling for that. Get rid of them with Razor Wind!"
Shiftry whipped up a powerful gust that blew the Cotton Spore right out of the stadium, and then Ashton ordered him to follow it up with Bullet Seed.
"Light Screen-Thunder Shock combo!"
As the Bullet Seed came down, a yellow cube surrounded Mareep to protect her. Then she released as much electricity as she possibly could, making the Light Screen sparkle and shine even brighter as the Thunder Shock penetrated it and zapped Shiftry.
"What a magnificent combination!" Vivian exclaimed.
"Maybe so, but how 'bout that one that I used to crush that Lyla girl in the last round? I think I'd like to see it again, Shiftry!"
Shiftry began to whip up a vortex of wind and Razor Leaves around Mareep, but it didn't last too long before Robin messed him up by ordering Mareep to use Thunder once more. Shiftry was so occupied that he didn't have time to dodge it.
"Darling, what do you take me for?" Robin mimicked. "We saw your battle with the Eevee. We're not falling for that. Mareep, hit him with a Tackle-Thunder Shock combination!"
Mareep charged forward, sparking with electricity, and rammed right into Shiftry before he had a chance to recuperate.
"You and your little combinations. We can do it too, watch. Shiftry, use Synthesis while defending yourself with Razor Wind!"
"Treeee…" Shiftry trailed off calmly as he regained back his health with Synthesis. Mareep couldn't touch him because he had surrounded himself in a vortex of wind so as to protect himself.
"I've never seen Razor Wind as a shield before!" Nurse Joy commented.
"It's remarkable!"
"Now use Razor Leaf!"
Both attacks ceased as Shiftry began to twirl with his arms clasped together up in the air. He then released a spiraling gust of Razor Leaf that swirled around the Mareep, slicing up the parts of her body that they touched.
"We're running out of time, Mareep! Use Shock Wave!"
Mareep quickly blasted Shiftry with a final Shock Wave just before the clock ran out. Both coordinators had lost a significant amount of points, but Ashton stood with just a few more and was declared the winner.
"Let's go," Lyla said with a frown. "I don't want to be here when he comes in to gloat."
"Hey…" Eziray said, stepping out onto the balcony of their hotel room.
"Hey…" Lyla replied, looking up at her for a brief moment. Her eyes were dry now but her face was still a little red. She seemed extremely exhausted, as if she hadn't slept in days. She had just been staring into the night sky, watching the stars glimmer above their heads.
"How you feeling?"
"I don't know…"
"Better?"
"Maybe…but I mean…I don't know about contests anymore."
"What are you saying?"
"I mean yeah I'm creative and yeah I understand how to make my Pokémon look great but…I just don't think I have what it takes. It's just not in me…"
"Why? You said it yourself, you look great out there! So you've lost twice. Big deal. You're a beginner! Besides, you won a contest, remember? So what if it wasn't official? That still counts!"
"No it doesn't. I wish I had never entered that contest. It didn't at all prepare me for a real contest. All it did was give me false hope."
"Come on, Lyla! You win some, you lose some! I lost to Norman but I kept going! You were up against last year's almost Top Coordinator person in your first official contest and then you ran into some other pretty tough competition in your second! It's just the luck of the draw. I mean there's going to be people who are better than you and you can't let that get you down. You just need some more practice!"
"I don't think practice is going to cut it. I don't have a knack for battling. I can't win contests…I definitely can't battle gyms…hell, I can't even save a little boy from some lowlife gangbanger! I'm so…useless! I mean next to you, and Aiden, and Noah…I mean you are like a battling superstar. It comes so naturally to you, and Aiden and Espeon are so on par with each other. They don't even train and they're still better than me. But what am I? What useful talent do I possess? Nothing. I'm not strong. I'm not smart. I'm not brave. I'm just cute…kinda…and that's the only reason why you and Aiden asked me to come with you. And that's all I'll ever be in this group. We've got…the battle champion, the witty rockstar, and that cute girl who follows them around and thinks she's a coordinator."
"Lyla..." Eziray trailed off as she tried to figure out what to say. "Did I ever tell you that it took me three months to get my very first badge?"
"What?"
"I know how you feel. I had the same thoughts once. But the fact of the matter is that Charo is a Fire-type and Brock's Pokémon were Rock-types. We had a huge disadvantage and for a newbie, that's a pretty tough obstacle to overcome. We finally did it; it took a while, but we did it. Now I specifically train my Pokémon to be strong against Pokémon that they normally have a disadvantage against, but we thought about giving up back then. We never did of course. So maybe contests don't seem like your calling now but just remember that not everyone is born with incredible talent and those who are still have to perfect it. I wouldn't give up just yet if I were you…"
And with that, Eziray patted Lyla on the shoulder and left the room. Lyla thought for a moment and her eyes twinkled slightly. Then she leaned forward and closed them as she reflected about the conversation for a while longer. And eventually, she concluded that she was going to give contests one more shot.
Author Notes:
Sorry if I disappointed you all with another loss on Lyla's part, but I think that a newbie would need a bit more experience before winning their first contest, especially if they're competing with seasoned coordinators. By the way, Eevee's ball is the one that Mudkip gave to Lyla back in chapter 13 in case anyone reading missed that chapter or forgot. I'll be explaining its origins a little later. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter in spite of Lyla's loss; it took a lot out of me!