Chapter 26: The Third Time's a Charm?
"Hello there," a receptionist said as Lyla about collided into her desk.
"IS IT TOO LATE?" Lyla demanded.
The woman looked up at the clock on the wall and smiled, letting Lyla know that they'd be accepting entries for the next two hours. Lyla let out a sigh of relief and took a moment to catch her breath. She had been so worried about the Pikachu these past two days that she had completely forgotten to register for the Mauville City Pokémon Contest. Once she calmed down a bit, she turned back to the receptionist and registered Marshtomp for his debut contest.
"Perfect! We'll see you on stage in a few hours. Good luck!" the receptionist exclaimed as she handed back Lyla's Contest Pass and a piece of paper with information about the contest.
"Thank you!" Lyla exclaimed.
"Hello everyone! My name is Vivian and I would like to welcome you all to the official Mauville City Pokémon Contest!" Vivian announced as she walked out onto the simple dirt arena.
The contest arena was located just a few blocks away from the Pokémon center. There was a set of bleachers surrounding three of the four sides of it and the other side was bordered by the street running parallel with it. It wasn't the most extravagant contest arena, but contests were a little unpopular in Mauville City because people typically visited for the Game Corner alone. The open air was pretty nice though. Who cared if it wasn't as glitzy as the other two contests? It was official, there was a ribbon to be won, and that was all that mattered to Lyla.
"Today, our contest will be judged by Mr. Sukizo of the Pokémon Fan Club and Mauville City's very own Nurse Joy. Your third judge, as well as your mistress of ceremonies, will be none other than me!" Vivian continued as she posed for a photographer.
"That's a new one," Aiden said, scanning the judge panel for Raoul Contesta.
"He's been called to a very important meeting concerning top secret contest affairs," Eziray concluded with a nod as she stroked Skitty's head. Since Lyla wouldn't be competing with her, she decided to watch the contest from Eziray's lap. Pikachu and Eevee were sitting quietly in between the two trainers because Lyla wanted them to both be watching the contest. Eevee was very focused on the arena below, but Pikachu couldn't care less.
"Really? How'd you find that out?"
"Lyla told me!"
"I should have known…"
"Today, our coordinators will be competing for this: the Mauville City Ribbon!" Vivian exclaimed, holding up the prize.
It was a deep red ribbon outlined by a thick border of white. The golden metal piece at the center resembled a poker chip, only it had the official Hoenn contest symbol etched into the center of it. This ribbon had been designed in honor of Mauville City's main attraction – the Mauville City Game Corner.
"Hey guys," Noah greeted, taking a seat next to Eziray.
"Hey, you came!" Eziray exclaimed.
"Yeah, I wanted cheer Lyla on. By the way…does this belong to you?"
"What?" Aiden and Eziray replied in unison as he pointed to girl plowing her way up the bleachers.
"Oh no…" Aiden trailed off.
"AIDEEEEEEEEEEN!" she screamed as they made eye contact and she pretty much kicked some kid in the face so she could scurry up and sit next to boy of her dreams.
"Why didn't anyone tell me we were going anywhere? I wandered all over Slateport looking for you! Then I rented a bike so I could get to Mauville without getting eaten by the monster on Route 110. Then all these mean bikers chased me and I ripped my new dress and Jigglypuff fell into a lake and almost got eaten by a weird piranha-looking Pokémon and then–"
"Pl-please stop talking…" Aiden finally said in the middle of her ramble. She didn't stop but Vivian walking off the arena was enough to distract him from the girl's blabbering – it meant that the contest was starting.
Surprisingly enough, the first couple of appeals were pretty good. In spite of the fact that it was a smaller contest, there were certainly some talented coordinators competing in it. The prize ribbon wasn't a freebie in any way; Lyla would still have to work hard for it if she wanted it. There were fifteen entrants total and, being the last to register, Lyla was fifteenth to take the stage.
"Our next coordinator comes to us from Lavaridge Town! She's a bit of a newbie but she has an impressive history winning the first contest she ever competed in, although it was unofficial. Since then, she's competed in two others, making it to the final round in one and the semi-finals in the other. I'm counting on her to give us a very nice performance today!"
"Uh…where is she?" Noah asked scanning the other fourteen coordinators, standing in a line to the side of the arena.
"Good question. Haven't seen her since it started…" Eziray trailed off.
"I hope Marshtomp didn't end up giving her trouble after all," Aiden said with a frown. "She deserves a shot at this ribbon…"
"Well, I think somebody's just got stage fright!" Olivia exclaimed. "I mean I would too if I kept losing all my contests like she does!"
"Would you shut the hell up already?" Noah barked, unable to take any more of this insufferable girl's mindless comments. Then he muttered to himself about how much she'd pestered him on the way to the contest once she found out he was friends with Aiden and Eziray.
"Lyla?" Vivian repeated, looking around for the last contestant.
Lyla took a deep breath as she turned the corner and walked into the arena with a grin, carting a large block of ice along behind her. The audience and judges watched curiously as she and the cart came to a halt right at the edge of the stage.
"There she is!" Eziray exclaimed. "I was getting worried…Hey, is she doing what I think she's doing?"
"This should be a good demonstration of Marshtomp's personality," Aiden said as he pulled an umbrella out from under his seat.
"What's that for?" Noah asked.
"The unpredictable," he replied as he jerked it open.
"Okay, Marshtomp, come on out!" Lyla exclaimed.
The ice block suddenly began to crack as water spouted out of it until it completely shattered, lightly spraying the audience with a mixture of water and ice. Aiden twirled his umbrella to dry it off, already thankful he'd brought it along.
"Marsh-tomp!" the Mud Fish Pokémon exclaimed excitedly, raising his arms with the cheers of the crowd.
"What a creative entrance!" Vivian exclaimed. "Folks, get ready for a great appeal!"
"Alright you little ham, now use Ice Beam!" Lyla ordered as Marshtomp continued to bask in his glory.
With a single breath, Marshtomp froze the entire stage solid. With a few more breaths, he sculpted several mounds of ice all around it as he had done in Wattson's gym the day before.
"Perfect! Now shatter them with a Bide-Tackle combo!"
The Water and Ground Pokémon leapt forward, skating across the ice as his entire body began to glow. He slid forward with great force and began smashing into the mounds. Each collision sent thousands of tiny, shimmering chunks of ice into the air as the crowd cheered once more.
"Tomp…" Marshtomp grunted after shattering the last mound.
He glided gracefully to the center of the stage and stopped as he released all of Bide's built up energy in a blinding flash of light. When the stage was visible again, it was revealed that all of the ice had vanished and left behind a soggy dirt arena.
"Wow, the energy from Bide must have melted the ice. What a clean-up job!" Vivian praised.
"That Marshtomp's power is quite astounding, but I liked how controlled it was and how it was able to be channeled into such a pretty performance," Nurse Joy added.
"Remarkable!" Mr. Sukizo concluded.
"Marsh-TOMP!" Marshtomp exclaimed as he twirled, shooting a fountain of mud into the air. It was pretty, but it also splattered onto many of the audience members and Lyla put her hand to the side of her head.
"Hey, keep that improv stuff to a minimum, would'ja?" she muttered as they both took a bow.
"Alright everyone! That concludes our preliminary round of today's contest. For the next ten minutes, us judges will be deciding which four coordinators will be advancing to the next round. During this time, you are free to buy snacks and beverages from our vendors, meet and greet with the coordinators or just stretch your legs a bit. See you back soon!"
"Pika-pi," Pikachu griped, arms crossed in dissatisfaction.
"No, she wasn't talking to you. I'm still responsible for making sure you don't go anywhere!" Eziray replied.
The Electric-type rolled her eyes and watched as Eevee and Skitty raced down to greet their trainer and teammate. Lyla kneeled down to receive them both in her arms at the base of the bleachers and Pikachu scowled as she looked away. Lyla and her other three Pokémon then made their way up the bleachers so she could talk to her friends, but she noticed Olivia and groaned a little.
"Olivia! Hi! Nice of you to make it," she said sarcastically.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Olivia replied in the same tone.
"So you're doing an amazing job out there," Noah complimented in an attempt to keep the situation from escalating. It worked.
"Thanks, Noah!" Lyla exclaimed. "It's really all Marshtomp out there though. He does stuff like that on a regular basis, so why not showcase it? You're doing such a great job, my little superstar and I'm so sorry I doubted you!"
"Maaaarsh!" Marshtomp exclaimed, hugging her around the legs and lifting her into the air.
"PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN!" she begged as he squeezed hard in a passionate embrace.
"Hey Marshtomp, I'll give you some Pokéblock if you drop her…" Olivia whispered. He replied by knocking her off the bleachers with Water Gun.
"THAT MONSTER!" Olivia screamed from the ground as Marshtomp gently lowered Lyla back down.
"Honey, he barely takes orders from me. What makes you think he'd listen to you?" Lyla muttered. "OH! Pikachu! What'd you think?"
The Mouse Pokémon said nothing in response and it was very clear by her expression that she was not at all amused. She hated people using Pokémon for contests more than she hated people using Pokémon for battling. All she saw out there was people exploiting and humiliating their Pokémon for other people's entertainment. Even though the Pokémon seemed like they were having a great time doing it, she refused to believe otherwise.
"Well, alright then," Lyla said, unsure of what else to do.
"Hey, Vivian's walking back out," Aiden mentioned before Lyla could let Pikachu's reaction get to her.
"Alright, in no particular order, I will now announce the four coordinators who have earned their chance to battle for the Mauville City Ribbon! First up, we'll have Alexis and Morgan. Then, we'll have Lyla and Demetri!"
"CONGRATZ!" Eziray exclaimed.
"Better get down there," Aiden replied with a grin.
"Right," Lyla said. "Here comes the part I always mess up…"
"Marshtomp's going to tear them to pieces," Aiden assured. "Just think about what he did to Wattson's gym yesterday."
"Oh boy…" Noah trailed off uneasily, praying those bleachers wouldn't suffer the same fate.
"Hehe," Lyla replied, modestly rubbing the back of her head before turning and leading Marshtomp back down to the sidelines.
"I don't think that umbrella will protect you much from explosions…" Eziray trailed off as she nudged the muddy, rolled up thing with her foot.
"Let's just hope he doesn't rip it up that much," Aiden replied quietly as Olivia finally made it back to her seat beside him.
"You know, I didn't even notice that Pikachu before. It's so cute and–"
Before Olivia could finish her statement, the Pikachu in question gave her a vicious glare that completely shut her up for a moment.
"What is up with her Pokémon?" she eventually whispered to Aiden.
Eleven of the fifteen coordinators dispersed, two of them in tears, and the four who were called remained. An older woman named Morgan took her spot on the arena and a young girl, maybe in her twenties, positioned herself across from Morgan. Alexis smiled in spite of Morgan's solemn glare and both girls released their Pokémon – Alexis sent out a Loudred and Morgan sent out a Claydol. Alexis seemed to be in the same boat as Lyla; she and her Loudred battled with impressive style and grace but they just weren't strong enough to defeat Morgan's Claydol. The match was called two minutes in and Morgan would be continuing to the final round with her Claydol. Lyla and her opponent Demetri were up next.
"Ready Marshtomp?" she asked as she and Marshtomp positioned themselves on the field.
"Good luck!" the other coordinator exclaimed as he sent out his Beedrill.
"You too!" Lyla replied. "Marshtomp, let's start things off with Water Gun!"
The Mud Fish Pokémon nodded, releasing a powerful yet controlled jet of water from its mouth. Demetri quickly ordered his Beedrill to boost its speed with Agility and get out of the way. The Bug-type zipped away of the incoming attack, disappearing for a moment and reappearing a couple feet away. It continued to zip around overhead, moving so quickly that it would vanish and reappear like this several more times. The crowd was quite taken by its amazing speed.
"Great work!" Demetri exclaimed. "Now use Twineedle!"
The Poison Bee Pokémon zipped down, appearing next to Marshtomp, and rapidly jabbed it with its two arm stingers. It continued to buzz around Marshtomp, stabbing him repeatedly from every angle until the Water-type managed to reach out and grab ahold of its two stingers. The two struggled with each other for a moment, trying to overpower one another.
"We're not losing this one, Marshtomp. Slow that Beedrill down with Ice Beam!"
Marshtomp, cracked his mouth open, revealing an icy orb charging up inside his mouth. The Beedrill stopped squirming and began lifting its body upwards.
"Wait, Marshtomp! Look out for the stinger below its abdomen!" Lyla shouted as she suddenly realized what the Bug-type was doing.
Marshtomp gave up on Ice Beam and looked down in time to notice Beedrill's stinger angling towards him. It pricked him a little as he released his opponent in order to back away. A tiny amount of the Beedrill's venom coursed through his body, making it tingle a bit but there wasn't enough to do any real damage. Lyla let out a sigh of relief as Marshtomp poked at the small puncture mark on his stomach.
"That was a close one," Noah said.
"They better get it together!" Eziray exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips.
"You're doing fabulous, Beedrill! Now use Aerial Ace!"
The Bug-type whizzed up into the air and then came back down at great speed, body engulfed in white energy that trailed along behind it. It hit Marshtomp several times with Aerial Ace until Lyla ordered him to use Bide. Demetri wasn't stupid though; he ordered Beedrill to stop as soon as she called the move.
"Nice try, but we know better. Beedrill, let's take this time to use Double Team!"
As Marshtomp stood, glowing, the Beedrill multiplied into a whole swarm and began buzzing around above the arena.
"Destroy the fakes with Water Gun!"
Marshtomp's glowing subsided and he stepped forward, readying himself for Water Gun, but then the Beedrill began circling around him in a massive blur.
"Speed it up!" Demetri exclaimed.
The blur became even more unclear as the Beedrill used Agility once more, each of them speeding up so much that it was impossible to detect any of them. Marshtomp watched as they blew around him like a tornado, trapping him within a gust of powerful wind that echoed with their loud buzzes.
"Holy shit…" Lyla trailed off, completely overwhelmed by the situation.
"Two minutes left!" Vivian announced.
"This isn't looking very good. She hasn't hit that Beedrill once and she's running out of time," Aiden said. "Come on guys, knock it out!"
"You can do it, Lyla! Stay calm!" Eziray cheered.
"I'm trying!" Lyla thought to herself as she and Marshtomp watched the horde racing around him.
"Poison Sting!"
"Marshtomp, look out!" Lyla shouted as the Beedrill dropped down, one-by-one, dive-bombing Marshtomp with their poisonous stingers. The Water-type responded by dodging but there were way too many coming at him.
"Water Gun!" Lyla ordered, hoping it would help him out a little. He managed to knock out a couple of the fakes, but they were still coming at him too quickly for him to hit them all. Three of them had managed to dig their stingers into him so far and it was only a matter of time before he'd become too poisoned to go on.
"I don't care how small this contest is. We're not about to lose at stage one!" Lyla exclaimed. "Marshtomp, forget them. Hit the entire hive with Ice Beam!"
Marshtomp allowed two more Beedrill to pierce him with their stingers as he lifted his head and blew out a thin, crystalize breath of air up towards the sky. It spread out and clung to the Beedrill's wings, making it harder for them to move. Eventually, they slowed to almost a complete stop and Lyla waited for them to drift into a line before ordering Marshtomp to use Water Gun. He aimed just right and blasted the first one in the line, creating a domino effect until the last fake was blasted into the real Beedrill, sending him crashing into the bleachers as a family fled in terror to avoid it.
"I don't think he's out yet, do you?" Lyla asked with a grin.
Marshtomp shook his head side-to-side excitedly before freezing the Beedrill into a massive chunk of ice. Its sudden gain in mass caused it come tumbling down the bleachers back into the arena. Marshtomp held out his foot to stop it like a soccer ball and then picked it up to hold it over his head. The crowd cheered excitedly, expecting him to do something with it, so he did.
"Maaaaarsh-TOOOMP!" the Water-type shouted as he tossed the ball into the air and shattered it with a single punch. Beedrill fell motionless to the ground and Marshtomp stood, both arms sticking straight up into the air as glimmering shards of ice rained down over him.
"You're too funny," Lyla said, making her way towards him. "Such a little showoff…hey, you can stop posing like that now. Marshtomp?"
Her Pokemon said nothing and held the same pose and facial expression as he fell straight back into her arms like a cardboard cutout.
"Marshtomp!" she exclaimed as she tried to stand him back up. "HOW MUCH POISON HAVE YOU GOT IN YOUR SYSTEM?"
"Oh my goodness!" Nurse Joy exclaimed as she rushed over to take a look at Marshtomp. "I can't believe he held in this long with that much of Beedrill's poison coursing through him…"
"No worries, he'll be fine," Lyla said, squirting his puncture wounds with a bottle of antidote.
"I think so too," Nurse Joy said, handing him a handful of Pecha Berries. "Alright, let's get started with the final round!"
"Phew!" Eziray exclaimed. "Almost there, Lyla, keep it up!"
Lyla grinned back up at her friend and took Marshtomp back to reposition him as Morgan came back out onto the field and let out her Claydol.
"Alright, Claydol. Let's begin now with Sunny Day!" Morgan ordered.
The Claydol hummed as one of its eyes began to glow reddish white and released a beam of energy into the sky. In moments, the sun's brightness intensified and beat down on everyone below it.
"Things are heating up now!" Vivian exclaimed as she brought a hand up to shade her eyes.
"Then we're cooling it back down! Use Water Gun!" Lyla ordered.
"Useless," Morgan said as Marshtomp attempted to spray Claydol with Water Gun. "Psychic!"
Each of Claydol's eyes began to glow blue as the Water Gun came to a stop and curled around, spiraling back into Marshtomp. The impact pushed him down but didn't really hurt him too bad. As he stood, Lyla noticed the dull colors of a slight rainbow lingering in the Water Gun's path. It must have had something to do with the sunlight's increased brightness and, although no one else seemed to notice it, Lyla tucked that memo away for later.
"Claydol, now use Solar Beam!"
"Solar Beam?" Lyla echoed as a bright green beam shot from one of Claydol's eyes towards Marshtomp. "Dodge it!"
"What a great move to teach a Claydol," Noah observed as Marshtomp dove out of the way. "And with Sunny Day, it doesn't even have to charge. Now she can handle Water-types no problem even though they normally have an advantage over Claydol since it's part Ground."
"Unfortunately, Marshtomp is part Ground and part Water. That move's going to inflict some serious damage if it hits," Aiden added.
"Ah, type-advantages don't always determine the match!" Eziray shot back. "Calm down you two! Marshtomp's gonna sink that Claydol into the ground!"
"Someone better let her know, because she's looking a little worried," Noah replied.
"No, she's just thinking," Aiden said with a smile.
"Marshtomp, we can't let Solar Beam hit," Lyla began. "I need you to hit Claydol with Ice Beam!"
Marshtomp frowned but obeyed his trainer. Morgan let out a cackling sound that sent shivers down Lyla's spine and then she spoke.
"Foolish girl! Did you forget about Psychic?" she mocked as her Claydol redirected the Ice Beam.
"Of course not! I was actually kind of anticipating it, to be perfectly honest. Marshtomp, use Bide!"
"GENIUS!" Eziray shouted as she stood and watched Marshtomp glowing brightly as the redirected Ice Beam froze him solid.
"Goodness!" Morgan exclaimed as the chunk of ice exploded and Bide's brilliant light emitted from within as it released the absorbed energy. It wasn't much but it was enough to shine into each of Claydol's eyes. The Clay Doll Pokémon cringed, completely blinded.
"Now use Water Gun!"
As Claydol rubbed some of its eyes, Marshtomp managed to hit it with Water Gun, sending it tumbling back to its trainer's feet.
"Get up, Claydol!" Morgan hissed. "Use Solar Beam!"
It rose and let off a distraught hum as it focused on Marshtomp who was standing proudly just a few feet away.
"I seem to recall Grass being kind of weak to Ice attacks," Lyla said. "Marshtomp, use Ice Beam to counter!"
Marshtomp thwarted the incoming Solar Beam with his Ice Beam. The two moves pushed on each other for a brief moment before Ice Beam quickly dominated, ripping through the Solar Beam like a sharp dagger.
"Rapid Spin!"
The Claydol gave up on Solar Beam and promptly began to spin in place. Marshtomp's Ice Beam was deflected and the Claydol advanced forward, slamming into Marshtomp like a spinning top.
"Marshtomp!" Lyla exclaimed as he stood and shook himself and the Claydol steadied itself in place, still revolving at breakneck speed.
"Two minutes left!" Vivian exclaimed.
"We won't need it! Use Solar Beam!"
Claydol kept its Rapid Spin going and began shooting off Solar Beam in every direction. No matter where Marshtomp went, he couldn't avoid them and he began taking one hit after another. The hits were ultra-effective and his health quickly dwindled down.
"Jump up and use Mud Shot on the ground below it!" Lyla ordered before too many could hit.
"Claydol, look out!" Morgan warned as Marshtomp hosed down the ground at its feet. "Use your Levitate ability!"
It was too late. The Claydol was too overwhelmed with all the multitasking it was doing and it couldn't pick itself off the ground before it began spinning out of control in the slick pool of mud beneath it. Its humming grew more and more distressed as went whirling forward, coincidentally in Marshtomp's direction.
"Look out!" Eziray shouted from the stands.
"We can handle it," Lyla replied. "Marshtomp, Water Gun!"
Marshtomp caught it with an ongoing fountain of water that kept it spinning faster and faster. The sun was still shining brightly so it reflected a vivid display of color off of the mist from Marshtomp's Water Gun, creating a transparent orb-shaped rainbow around Claydol as it was drowned in the Water-type attack.
"That's magnificent!" Vivian praised, awestruck by the colors as everyone else was.
"Now Tackle it!"
Marshtomp's Water Gun ceased as he charged forward and slammed into his opponent with more force than he ever had before. The impact was so strong that even Marshtomp winced in pain as the Claydol was slammed back into the ground at its trainer's feet. Surprisingly enough, the Claydol floated back up and lowered itself back down to its feet.
"Good work!" Morgan exclaimed as it shook itself.
"That Claydol's got a lot of stamina! Unfortunately, that concludes this match as the time is now up!" Vivian announced. "Please excuse me while the judges and I decide who will take home the Mauville City Ribbon!"
The judges gathered and began to whisper about the battle they'd just witnessed. Lyla sighed and wrapped her arms around Marshtomp. A contest without technology was certainly much more nerve-wracking than the ones she was used to. She had to have been standing there for five minutes before Vivian and the judges disbanded.
"Lyla," Vivian began. "Your Marshtomp took quite a few hits in this match, many more than Claydol took actually. Some of those hits were even from Marshtomp's own unsuccessful, redirected attacks. Furthermore, we were very impressed by the determination of the opponent's Claydol and the fact that it could still stand after such an array of attacks. However…You demonstrated some rather clever solutions to many of the obstacles thrown at Marshtomp and dazzled us all with Marshtomp's power and grace. We feel that your performance has done a better job of embodying the spirit of Pokémon contests and we are pleased to present you with the official Mauville City Ribbon! Congratulations!"
"Wait, really?" Lyla asked as Marshtomp expressed his excitement in a rather loud, squealing outburst. "W-we won?"
Vivian made her way over and held out the ribbon with a warm smile. Lyla gently lifted it from her hands and the crowd went wild with cheers as Lyla held out in front of her. She was on the verge of tears, happy tears, when Aiden and Eziray came bolting down the arena.
"YOU DID IT!" Eziray cheered as she slammed into Lyla with a rather tight hug.
"What'd I tell you?" Aiden said with a grin as Eziray released and Lyla threw her arms around him. "Hey, you're not allowed to cry now. You won!"
"I just, can't believe it! We did it! Oh my gosh!"
She thanked and hugged the three judges to show her gratitude and they all wished her luck in her future endeavors. Then she shook hands with Morgan who congratulated the youngster on job well-done. The audience dispersed and Lyla, Eziray, Aiden, Noah and Olivia began their walk back to the hotel. Lyla couldn't stop touching the ribbon on the way there. She was sort of glad that this was her first ribbon; it was so beautiful and much more unique than the other two ribbons she'd competed for. She ran her finger along the edge of the 'poker chip' center piece and traced the little crown coming out of the top. She couldn't take her eyes off it.
"One down, four to go right?" Noah asked as the five of them walked through the doors of the hotel.
"Oh my gosh!" Lyla exclaimed as she realized that she could quite possibly have a shot at entering the Grand Festival. It was a bold notion, but she was feeling pretty confident at that moment.
"Hey there," Aiden said, entering Lyla's room.
She and all of her Pokémon, save Pikachu, were sprawled out on her bed admiring her prize. Pikachu was staring out the window, wondering if she'd ever have the opportunity to be running free again. Aiden held out gift bag with tissue paper sticking out through the top.
"You got me a present?" she asked, looking down at the bag curiously.
"Yup! It's my way of saying congratz. Open it!"
He handed the bag to her and she removed the tissue paper from it before lifting out the object inside it. It was a thin metal box, coated with sparkling gold paint. It was about two times the width of her hand and decorated with vine-like waves that ran along the panels, meeting at the corners to form leaves. Sprouting from these vines, on each side of the box, were perfectly engraved rose buds. On top of the box, the vines traveled upwards into three larger buds with an even larger rose blooming at the center. The shape of a ribbon seemed to be wrapping them all together. There was a line down the center and Lyla slid both sides away from each other, revealing purple padding inside. Three indents were lined along the top of the cushion and two indents windowed them below.
"Is this for my ribbons?"
"Yeah! Eziray has a case for her badges so I figured you should have one for your ribbons."
"It's beautiful, thank you…Wait! Where are you putting your badges?"
Aiden responded by adjusting his guitar which was slung over his shoulder by a strap. His Dynamo Badge was secured in the upper center of the strap, just below his shoulder.
"I like it! Hey…"
"Yeah?"
"Let's go dancing!"
"MAAAAAAAAAARSH!" Marshtomp exclaimed excitedly, racing out the door.
"At the Game Corner! Let's go celebrate you and Eziray's Dynamo Badge and my first ribbon!"
"Alrighty then!" he agreed as she locked her ribbon away within her shiny new present and led him out of the room by his hand.
"Where are you two off to?" Eziray asked.
She and Noah were standing in the hallway, talking about their most noteworthy battles as Lyla and Aiden walked out. Lyla smiled and invited the two to come along. As they all stepped out into the cool air and looked up into the night sky, they were swept by a feeling of excitement and they romped down the empty street until they reached the icon of Mauville City.
The Mauville City Game Corner was a long, purple building lit up with two enormous flashing screens on each side of the automatic, sliding glass door entrance. The trainers watched the animations on the screens as they neared it; it alternated between images and clips slot machines, roulette, alcoholic beverages, dancing, and more. The four entered and headed straight for the bar.
"Whiskey please. Jack Daniels?" Aiden said as the bartender polished a glass.
"A nectarini for me!" Eziray exclaimed.
"Can I just get some coke with rum?" Noah asked.
"Uh…" Lyla trailed off.
"Something wrong?" Eziray replied as the bartender worked his magic.
"I've never actually had alcohol before…"
"Seriously? Hey, can you get her a White Russian?" Aiden asked as the bartender passed by.
"Are you trying to kill her?" Noah joked as Lyla cocked her head innocently.
"Don't worry, you'll like it. It's sweet," Eziray said.
"Myaa…" Skitty trailed off nervously as Olivia walked over and plopped herself down at the end next to Lyla.
"Thank goodness I found you guys! Are we celebrating? Um…let's see…this looks good," she said, looking through a menu of drinks.
"Miss, are you at least eighteen?"
"…No?" Olivia replied.
"Then I can't legally serve you, sorry.
"But…" she trailed off as the bartender served the others.
"Oh, tough luck kiddo," Lyla said as she took a sip.
The vodka stung quite a bit on the way down and she tried to hide the face she wanted to make, but she still felt like everyone noticed. She drank a bit more and it tasted just as bad but she kept drinking so no one would know.
"You guys, I think Lyla's had a bit too much to drink…" Eziray said. Noah and Aiden grinned and Olivia rolled her eyes as Lyla bounced to the beat of the music.
"Mrrrr," Skitty said uneasily.
"OOOOOOH! Bounce like a Skitty! Bounce, bounce like a Skitty! Bounce like a Skitty! Bounce, bounce like a Skitty!" she repeated over and over again, laughing and trying her best not to fall over. "Ezzie! C'mere! Dance with me!"
"YOU ARE A BAD INFLUENCE ON AIDEN!" Olivia shouted as Eziray joined in the hyperactive bouncing and grinding.
"AND YOU ARE A KILLJOY!" Lyla shouted back, bouncing around in circles. She had dropped her cup and no one really knew where it was at this point.
"You know what? I'm leaving! I choose not to be here," Olivia said, hopping off the bar stool and immediately slipping in a puddle of some alcoholic beverage.
"OHHH, there's my drink!" Lyla said, laughing hysterically. Olivia tried to stand up with some dignity, slipping a little once more, but caught her balance and walked out of the bar with her head held high. Once outside, her eyes began to well with tears.
"AIDEEEN! HOW? HOW CAN YOU HANG OUT WITH THESE HORRIBLE PEOPLE!" she whined, walking slowly down the street.
Back inside, Aiden and Eziray had finally gotten Lyla to sit down so she wouldn't hurt herself. She leaned her head on Aiden's chest and closed her eyes as the room whirled around her. Then she looked up at him, smiling.
"You have really beautiful eyes," she slurred. "You're just so damn incredible, you know that? I've known that since I met you!"
"Shhh," he hushed, wrapping his arms around her head to calm her down. She kept mumbling into his chest but no one could understand a word of it anymore.
Once it was time to go home, the three paid the rather large bill and realized why Lyla was so intoxicated; she'd ordered way more than anyone else did. They helped her get back to the hotel safely and got her to sleep. Then they all went to their own rooms and their own beds for some shut eye. They would be leaving Mauville City the next day and wanted to be well-rested for the journey to their next destination.
Author Notes:
So this was the first contest that I'm going to write that doesn't take place in the games or the anime. I'll have several more of these contests just because I need there to be more ribbons to be won. In these particular contests, I don't have the ribbons from the anime to reference off of so I design my own! The Mauville City one is one of my favorites because of that poker chip center piece – that's just too cute. Anyway, I hope you liked the contest and I hope the game corner scene at the end didn't make anyone feel uncomfortable or anything. I've officially decided that the drinking age in Hoenn is eighteen like in Europe. If you're not digging the drunkenness, no worries because it's not going to happen very frequently xD Be sure to leave a review and tell me what you think!