"So, this is a Contest Hall," May said, holding Eevee up to show him the Wisteria Conference hall. "You know how you've seen my team practicing Appeals for the last few days? This is where they put them into use."
Eevee's ears flicked. "Neat!" he said. "So some of these people are going to be doing Contests the same as you are?"
"That's right, but don't forget I need to translate for May," Ash said.
"Oh, yeah, right," Eevee said, making an embarrassed sort of gesture with his paw. "Sorry, I'll try and do better about that."
May laughed. "Don't worry, Eevee, I couldn't blame you for an understandable mistake."
Eevee sniggered. "Oh, hee… understandable mistakes about understanding. It's funny when words work out like that."
He shook his head. "Sorry."
May patted him on the head.
"Oh, good!" Harley said. "You're here."
"Harley," May replied. "It's been a while, hasn't it? This is Eevee, he's new."
Harley looked at Eevee, who waved a paw. "Hi!"
"I'd say Eevee would fit with your style, but I'm not really sure you have any single style for your Pokémon," he said. "It's consistently inconsistent. But I should warn you – I'm going to be using a new Pokémon as well."
"As well?" May asked. "No, Eevee's still too young to take part in a Contest just yet. It's his first chance to watch one, we're still working on what he should learn to do."
Harley considered that.
"I'll make allowances for youth," he decided. "Who is it you're using, then? Is it Snorunt?"
"I'm not going to tell you, because that would be an unfair advantage," May replied. "So I will tell you it's not Snorunt – I'm still working on his next routine."
She sent the Ice-type out, and he bowed. "Good afternoon."
"Hmm," Harley said, crouching down and giving the Ice-type a close look. "Well, he's passable, I suppose."
Snorunt giggled.
"Huh?" May asked. "Sorry, I.. get that there was a joke there, because Snorunt thinks it's funny, but I don't know what it means."
Harley looked up, and considered her.
"Well, I wouldn't expect you to understand," he decided. "Snorunt? A word?"
He whispered something to the Ice-type, too softly for Ash to hear, then got up and stepped back.
Snorunt considered, then nodded.
"Right," Harley said. "Well, May, I expect to see you in the Contest hall – don't you dare lose to someone who isn't me."
"Wouldn't dream of it," May said. "Mind you, I wouldn't want to lose to you either, so it's not much different from normal."
Eevee squirmed slightly in May's arms, then clambered up onto her shoulder to look at Ash, Pikachu and Latias.
"...should I understand any of that?" he said. "Or is it one of those things I'll understand when I'm older?"
"I don't think any of us understand most of it," Latias said.
She frowned. "I think maybe I get the bit with May and Harley talking about if she's going to lose, but not the rest."
The Pokémon May actually used for her Contest run was Beautifly – just Beautifly, because this was a Contest that required the same Pokémon all the way through – and the Bug-type made good use of the Energy Ball he'd added to his repertoire, swirling up a Silver Wind to fly behind the Energy Ball like a comet's tail before using Psychic to control both the Energy Ball and the Silver Wind tail.
It swooped around him even more like a comet, moving so that the tail was always on the far side of him from the Energy Ball itself, until it broke up into fragments on the second close approach and the Silver Wind tail turned into a shower of sparks which rained down all around May herself – and Beautifly, as the Pokémon landed on her outstretched hands.
By contrast, Harley's Wigglytuff had an interesting Appeal which revolved mainly around Magical Leaf. The Fairy-type set up a cloud of the easily-controlled leaves swirling around him, then punched them one at a time and sent them flying out like they were yo-yos or the ball of an elastic bat-and-ball toy – because they came right back again, joining the orbiting collection, at least until Wigglytuff hit the next one.
It turned into quite a dance, Wigglytuff twirling around and hitting the Magical Leaves faster and faster, until for a finale they all came back at him at once and Wigglytuff used Gyro Ball to shred the lot.
"Wow," Eevee said, from his place on Max's lap to watch. "That was neat."
"Yeah, it's interesting seeing a Pokémon make their first Contest appearance," Ash agreed. "Or battle appearance. Sometimes someone reinvents their style, but it's much rarer for that to happen… it's interesting, is what I mean."
Pikachu nodded. "Though sometimes there are moves which just completely reshape what's possible."
Harley's Wigglytuff may have been a new Pokémon, on his Contest debut, but the Fairy-type already had a devastating combination trick for battling against most of his opponents.
As it turned out, the trick Harley had taught his new Pokémon was to combine Magical Leaf with moves like Fire Punch or Ice Punch – swirling up a cloud of Magical Leaf leaves around himself, then punching them to coat them in flame or Ice-typed energy or whatever he wanted.
That did damage the Magical Leaves themselves, so it had limited range, but by continually spinning around and replacing them Wigglytuff had a balletic and inherently varied attack which flicked out one leaf after another at whatever he was battling.
As it turned out, though, that wasn't quite so easy against Beautifly as it was against their earlier opponents.
"Gust!" May called, and Beautifly flicked a short, sharp gust of wind out on command. It hit the incoming pair of icy leaves, slowing and diverting them, and the same gust also boosted Beautifly so that he was higher and further away from the attack.
Wigglytuff's Magical Leaf attacks themselves were very accurate and persistent, but when charged with energy they had to hit their targets quickly – and Beautifly's short, powerful Gusts mixed with bursts of Psychic were enough to keep them moving much further in order to actually reach him. That meant they timed out a lot, not always but often, and it kept Beautifly in the fight.
"A bit higher!" May added, glancing at the points board and the clock. "Now, Silver Wind and Gust!"
"Fire Leaves!" Harley called out, and Wigglytuff used four Fire Punches in quick succession.
Neither Coordinator quite got what they were after. May had wanted a Gust-accelerated Silver Wind to hit Wigglytuff, Harley had wanted to catch the Silver Wind while it was still forming, what they actually got was an explosion of flame about halfway between the two Pokémon as the Magical Leaf attacks cut burning trails through the Silver Wind before setting the whole thing off.
Flame and smoke hung in the air a moment, and May didn't hesitate. "Energy Ball!"
"Ice Leaves!" Harley retorted. "Block that ball!"
Then there was a beeping noise, and Ash's attention went from the ongoing Contest Battle to his saddlebags.
"What was-" he began, then winced – realizing what it had to be. "Uh oh – sorry, guys, I've got to go quick!"
There was another beep, and Ash turned in his accessible space before cantering as quickly and quietly as he could to the nearest exit. Latias came with him, gliding invisibly overhead, and they reached the door without disturbing too many people.
Hopefully without disturbing too many people.
In the lobby of the Wisteria Contest Hall, Ash stopped by the chairs and Latias got the egg canister out of his saddlebags.
"Koraidon, you're going to want to see this," Ash decided, sending her out, then sent out Miraidon as well so they could watch.
Latias had opened the egg canister and taken the glass section away, and put the rest on one of the chairs – then shifted it to the floor.
"Yeah, we don't know what Pokémon this is or how big they'll be," Ash agreed.
The egg began to glow, slowly, and lit up until the markings were all washed out.
Then, when the glow faded, there was a Pokémon there instead.
"Wow," Koraidon breathed, looking at them. "What are they? I don't recognize them."
The newly-hatched Pokémon had a vulpine body and grey fur with a wispy, smoky white collar, tail and plume on their head. There were red patches on all three of those, plus their ears, and little red spots over their eyes.
"I… think they're a Zorua, but not the kind I normally think of," Ash replied. "How are you feeling?"
The newborn Pokémon looked up at them, then yawned.
"Tired," they said. "Sleepy."
And went flumph down on the cushion they'd been on as an egg, before starting to snore.
AN:
Unfortunate timing, but it's not like you can blame them for that.