"Hearthome City," Dawn said, as they crossed the threshold into the city itself. "It's said to be a place where different cultures meet."
"Huh," Ash considered. "Isn't that everywhere?"
"Maybe it's more true here than most places," Whitney guessed.
"Indeed," Zygarde declared, pointing with a paw. "That building is built in a style best known in Kalos several hundred years ago. This makes it a good example of a different culture."
"That is pretty neat," Ash conceded. "So… Contest first or Gym first?"
"The Gym can be whenever," Dawn pointed out. "And I've been keeping an eye on the Contest schedule, and the next one is tomorrow. So that means I'd say it's the gym first."
Ash nodded, thinking. "Buizel hasn't had a Gym battle yet, and he might be ready for one. Besides that I'm not sure who to use, though."
Aten came out of his Pokéball with a flash. "I demand to be in this Gym Battle, then!"
"You know what the difference is between asking and demanding, Aten?" Ash asked.
Aten growled. "This is going to be more of the normal sanctimonious moralizing, isn't it?"
"Not really," Ash replied. "It's more like… sometimes, people are okay with what you want either way, even if you're rude. But if you're polite, then they can bend a bit, and if you're rude, they can end up refusing just to teach you a lesson."
He picked up the Zorua. "On the other hand, sometimes you want to make sure that people know just how strongly you feel about something… but that only works if you don't use it for everything. Otherwise that just becomes normal and you can't do it any more."
By the time Ash had finished, Aten had subsided into grumbling about how he was too more important than everyone else, and Ash transferred him to his bag.
"I think it'd be good for you to battle the Gym Leader here, though," Ash went on, and Aten perked up. "She specializes in Ghost types, so you could learn a few things about how Ghosts can deal with Normal types."
"That makes it sound like you're going to tell her what Types I am," Aten complained.
It was only a few minutes of walking through Hearthome before they reached the Gym, and found a sign on the door.
"Closed," Ash read. "I will be back later."
"The nerve!" Whitney huffed. "Gym Leaders are supposed to be at their gyms so they can be challenged! That's the whole job!"
"Uh…" Dawn began, trying not to laugh.
"Okay, one, that's different," Whitney said, starting to check off on her fingers. "Two, when I left for a few days in the past I always made sure someone else took over. And three, I left people to keep Goldenrod Gym running!"
"Yeah," Ash said, thinking. "Which I think… actually makes you more responsible than several of the Gym Leaders I met in Kanto."
He began counting on his fingers. "Blaine just stopped taking challenges unless they found the real gym, which was hidden and you had to solve a riddle. There was something weird going on with Sabrina and her psychic powers, I don't really understand that bit… and Brock's dad just up and left. While Misty's sisters were handing out badges to whoever showed up without battling them."
"Wow," Dawn winced. "Imagine if Contests were like that."
Whitney giggled. "They would be if I ran one," she admitted. "Send out your Pokémon! Yep, that one's cute, here's your ribbon!"
She shook her head. "Still, you'd think that Fantina could at least say when she's going to be back. Or leave her gym with an assistant, like you were for Jasmine that time."
At about the same time, in Goldenrod, Meowth opened a door.
"An' here it is!" he said. "Da main battle room!"
"Wow," the challenger said – a trainer called Hector. "I really want to meet whoever's doing your voice."
"What are you talkin' about?" Meowth demanded, but then there was a clunk and a gantry came down from the ceiling.
"Prepare for battle!" Jessie said, from atop the gantry.
"We'll leave you rattled!" James announced, swinging from underneath the gantry, before kicking off and landing next to Jessie on a dais.
They struck a pose.
"To protect this League from subpar trainers!" Jessie began.
"To earn a stable wage and keep our retainer!" James added.
Jessie unfolded a pair of glasses and put them on. "To make cuteness induce a sense of dismay!"
James flourished a rose. "To keep tabs on the Twerp from three regions away!"
Hector stared as both announced their names, then there was a hiss as a firework lit up.
"Substitutes hired at the speed of light!"
"Don't check our references if you want this fight!" James warned.
"Meowth!" Meowth finished, bounding up between them. "That's right!"
Hector kept staring for several seconds, until the firework burned out.
"I've got to admit, I didn't expect that," he said.
"Hey, dat's the best response so far!" Meowth noted, writing it down on a notepad. "We might got a winner!"
"Now, for the rules," Jessie went on. "This Gym's badge might be the Plain Badge, but that's the only thing that's plain about it! All your Pokémon must be sufficiently cute to compete!"
"So let's see who you're sending out first," James requested, getting his own first Pokéball ready.
"That's a bit odd, but I guess I've heard of weirder rules," Hector conceded, and sent out his first Pokémon – a Meganium.
"Uh oh," Jessie said, shaking her head. "That's a no from me."
"And it's a no from him," James added, pointing at Meowth as the feline Pokémon also slowly shook his head.
"Aww…" Hector sighed, then patted Meganium. "Don't worry, Eliwood. I still think you're a fine Pokémon."
Eliwood shrugged philosophically, and Hector returned him before switching to a Haunter.
"Really?" James asked. "I don't think so."
"Wow, tough crowd," Hector winced. "Okay, I guess I'll have to use Wallace!"
His Snubbull emerged, and the substitute Gym Leaders considered it before eventually nodding.
Then James sent out his Muk.
"Really?" Hector demanded. "Come on!"
Since there was no Gym Challenge to be had, Dawn's focus went on getting ready for the Contest – and then, once she heard about it, the Hearthome Tag Battle Competition as well.
The Tag Battle Competition was an interesting idea where two trainers would team up and would battle side by side. It was interesting to think about, though because of the Contest Dawn spent most of her time on that.
Plus, Whitney said that she wanted to enter with Ash, if that was okay with Dawn. Then she sniggered, and Dawn said she didn't mind finding someone else to enter with.
"I'm surprised, Sukizo," Mr. Contesta said, chuckling. "We missed the Contest where Dawn got her second Ribbon!"
"Yes, Xatu didn't warn me about that one in time," Mr. Sukizo agreed. "Not their fault, of course… still, it should be interesting to see what she does with a Double Appeal."
He sat up. "Ah, and here she is now – and, my word, another new Pokémon!"
Dawn had picked up some Seals, and Shinx emerged into the arena with a sparkling fizz. Buneary came out of her Pokéball a moment later in a shower of pink petals, and did a twirl before bowing.
"You first, Shinx!" Dawn called. "Charge!"
Shinx's tail fizzed as she used Charge, accumulating a flow of electrical energy. Buneary began Bouncing on the spot, not really using an attack but just keeping herself moving… until Dawn pointed.
"Now, Revelation Dance!" she said, and Shinx's attack fired off. This time it took the form of a giant Zebstrika made of lightning rather than a giant Luxray, and Shinx herself rose into the air to stay in the position of the Zebstrika's head – twitching a little as she controlled the construct to rear up and swipe at the air with its hooves.
"Ice Beam!" Dawn called, changing her focus to Buneary, and the Normal-type did a twirl. Ice focused in her paws, then flashed out, and the beam hit the electro-Zebstrika in the chest.
There was a flare of ice and lightning, Shinx making her Zebstrika construct stagger backwards, and Dawn clapped her hands. "Transformation sequence!"
Shinx used Conversion 2, which was just about invisible, then used Revelation Dance again. The lightning making up her Zebstrika construct collapsed in on itself, replaced by a purer and more intense form of glowing silver light, but it happened in stages – first the forelegs, then the hind legs, then the torso, tail, and the head last of all.
With each step in the transformation, it became more obvious what the construct was changing into, until at the end of the process there was a glowing silver Copperajah construct standing there instead.
Buneary hadn't been idle either. She did another twirl, spinning fast enough to blur her form slightly, then there were flashes of Ice Beam which each sent out a little cloud of sparkles and which were followed by a slow in her twirl.
One spin was followed by showing that she'd gained a spiky tail made out of three ice crystals. Another and she'd picked up claws. A third gave her a single long ice-crystal ear, and then at the end of her final one she formed a Hammer Arm hammer and slammed it into the ground before striking a pose.
"I'm not sure what they just did, but I'd like to know," Nurse Joy admitted. "Do either of you know?"
"I agree with everything you just said," Contesta told her.
In the Battle Round, Dawn found herself in the finals up against Nando.
"Razor Leaf, Sunflora!" Nando called. "The whole arena!"
Sunflora's petals whirled, and Nando's Kricketune crossed his arms before scraping them together to produce a humming sound. The Bug-type sliced the Razor Leaf petals apart with a whiplash-fast Fury Cutter, each sweep sending the debris flying alternately towards Piplup and Pachirisu, and Dawn whistled.
"Bunker!" she called.
Whirls of electricity danced around Pachirisu's arms, and she punched downwards at the ground – all of the rings flashing off her wrists to push her into the air, then flying back towards her to settle neatly back into place.
She landed in front of Piplup just as the curveball Razor Leaf attacks started to arrive, and flicked most of the rings off her arms again – then began doing a kind of dance, making the rings still on her arms produce coruscating and conflicting electromagnetic and electrostatic fields.
They tugged on the Aura Wheel rings she'd sent into the air, tugging them around in a larger dance that protected an area around her about five feet in radius, and Piplup hid inside it as the Razor Leaves were shredded behind it.
"Oh, and that's a beautiful defensive technique!" Mr. Sukizo praised. "Defensive techniques don't always win you Battle Rounds, but they can certainly stop you from losing – a remarkable performance!"
"Can you name something that isn't remarkable?" Joy asked.
"No, because then I'd be remarking on it," Mr. Sukizo pointed out.
"Whirlpool Wheel!" Dawn said, once the Razor Leaf barrage had slowed down, and Pachirisu recalled all her Aura Wheel rings before punching down and slamming herself into the air.
Piplup spun himself up a combination Whirlpool-Whirlwind, and Pachirisu flicked down most of her rings into the whirling air and water. They didn't touch Piplup himself, thanks to the curtain of air he was carrying that kept him away from the bulk of the water, and Pachirisu used her Aura Wheels to accelerate the whirl into a buzzsaw before controlling it to head towards Kricketune.
"Swords Dance and X-Scissor!" Nando ordered. "Sunflora, Cut!"
"Upside down!" Dawn countered, and Pachirisu controlled the combination move to turn it entirely upside down. The first swipe of the X-Scissor missed, then the Cut hit, and all eight Aura Wheels exploded outwards.
Four of them hit each of Nando's Pokémon, and Pachirisu crossed her paws before uncrossing them. Each set of four Aura Wheels pinged back and forth between both of Nando's Pokémon, and the disorientation gave Piplup enough time to set up a Bide.
That led in turn to a Behemoth Bash, launching Nando's Pokémon into the air, and at that point the host called time.
"Marvellous!" Nando pronounced. "I've never seen some of those moves – a fine performance!"
He clapped a few times, then raised his hand. "Though… do you know when the local Gym Leader is likely to be back?"
"Sorry," Dawn replied, shaking her head. "But thanks for the battle round – your Pokémon work really well together."
"That's good to hear," Nando told her. "I hope we meet again… though I hope that we don't meet too often, or I might not end up with enough Ribbons…"
AN:
The motto is courtesy of a friend of mine, River Road, and I'm very grateful.