On their way back towards the mainland, aiming for Cremini Town not far off the border between Johto and Kanto, they stopped off at Gardenia Town for another Contest.

May had three Ribbons already, and wanted five for the Grand Festival, so they were going to need to find a way to fit in two more successful Contests before then; Ash, by contrast, wasn't actually doing something with a hard deadline, and that made May the priority where possible.

It also meant that it was Combusken's turn for the Appeal Round, and after picking him May paused and sat down.

"Eevee?" she asked. "Uh, that is, Ash, can you help translate if this gets complicated?"

"Sure," Ash agreed, taking a few steps closer.

"Eevee, I'm interested in using you in a Contest," she said. "You've really been doing well in practice, and I think you're interested. But it's totally up to you."

"Which part?" Eevee checked.

"Which part," Ash relayed. "I think he means Appeal or Battle round?"

That made Eevee nod, and May chuckled.

"Well, I know we were working on that Appeal but it wasn't coming off great…" she said.

Eevee huffed. "Yeah, I'm not quick enough."

"But you've got the moves and, I think, the style to make it in a Battle Round, where we can help each other out," May resumed. "Like I say, it's up to you."

That made Eevee pause, and consider, and look at Cosplaychu.

"What about her?" he asked.

"We're still working on the next outfit," the Electric-type explained, flicking her ears. "It's an incredible amount of work trying to put together an outfit that's obviously a farmer and yet is still not going to interfere with the movements needed in a performance… I'm not sure what it's going to give me, either."

Ash translated that, and May sniggered.

"Yeah, there's this idea which might work but it means a straw hat," she said. "And weaving those isn't easy, not if I want to make sure I spend time with all of you. Anyway… your choice, Eevee. I know who I'd use if I wasn't using you, too, so I don't want to put any pressure on you."

Eevee considered that, then looked at Ash.

"Can you say I'm okay with it?" he requested.

"Sure!" Ash agreed. "May, Eevee's fine with giving the Battle Round a go!"

"Thanks, Eevee," May said, giving him a pat, and the Normal-type made a pleased noise.

Zorua had been looking contemplative for the last few hours, and as the Appeals began – ensconced on Ash's back this time – he stood up.

"Do you think I should do battles?" he said.

"I don't know," Ash replied, turning so he could see Zorua. "A lot of my Pokémon do, but that's because they like doing it. It's up to you if you like doing it, really."

He paused, thinking.

"I like doing it," he explained. "Both parts. But the Pokémon who I use for battles are ones who I know are okay with it. So maybe you wouldn't like it. We don't know."

Zorua nodded slightly, clearly thinking hard about that.

"I could say no?" he checked.

"Yeah, of course," Ash agreed. "If any of my Pokémon changed their mind about wanting to battle, even right before a battle, I'd be okay with it… well, I might be a bit upset, but it wouldn't be their fault, not really."

The Ghost-type nodded again, then curled up on Ash's back and peered over their tail at the Appeal going on.

May's Combusken was using Fire Spin and Feather Dance, like he'd done before, but he'd mixed in a new quirk to it – adding in Quick Attacks to move rapidly across the arena floor, sending up discrete eddies and swirls of flaming feathers, then jumping into the air with a somersault that produced a much more significant and dramatic swirl of feathers overhead.

His finicky landing won him applause from the crowd, and as smouldering orange feathers drifted down all around the arena he got a nice high score from the judges.

"I wonder if Contest or League Pokémon focus more on getting really good at individual moves," Pikachu wondered. "It could just be a style thing, but even Pokémon who use Feather Dance probably don't usually use it like that."

"Hmm," Ash frowned, thinking. "Well, Eevee did spend a lot of time getting each of his moves working all right…"

"Sometimes a Pokémon is better at the Appeal round than the Battle round, and sometimes it's the other way around," Swablu cooed. "But that's something we only usually see with May's Pokémon, so it takes a bit of work to remember that it's happening with everyone."

She waved her wing at where Eevee was running away from an attack by a Zangoose, then May called for Swift. Eevee promptly fired out a half-dozen stars, and they split up to go in two directions before hitting Zangoose and slowing the Cat Ferret down.

"Right?" she added.

"I know what you mean," Geodude agreed, from his spot on Brock's lap. "If someone only saw Eevee during this round, they'd think he had a pretty good handle on all that kind of thing. But it's only because we see how he does when he tries doing his routine and the Swift stars all catch up to him… totally not a good look."

"There's not really the same thing in battles," Ash contributed, then frowned and began thinking.

Was there?

Most battles were a very similar format, the same sort of format as the Pokémon League, but even then there were differences… and the way that battles with Team Rocket usually went was different, while a lot of the Battle Frontier was different again.

You could have a Pokémon who was better at doubles battles than single battles, or vice versa. And you could have a Pokémon who did best in a wide open battle, or with preparation so they knew what their opponent was… and there were definitely battles where Ash wouldn't want to send out even one of his veteran Pokémon because a different Pokémon would be better for the specific challenges.

As he wondered if the difference was that big, May called for Eevee to use Shadow Ball.

The commentator remarked that it was an unusual mistake, but it was only once Eevee fired that May revealed what she'd actually been planning – she had Eevee fire a whole barrage of Swift stars right through the Shadow Ball, drawing out wisps of smoke to accompany the attack, and there were gasps from the crowd.

It didn't make the Swift any stronger, but it looked a lot more dramatic, and that plus the unexpected impact from the Swift itself earned Eevee a place in the finals.

Their finals opponent was a girl called Mollie, who had an Absol, and as the Battle Round began Ash frowned slightly.

"This is a weird thing to say," he admitted, looking up at Latias. "But can you try and spot it if that Absol's moving weird?"

He shook his head. "I really should have thought about it before, but so far they've won their Battle Rounds… but I make things weird for my Absol, so it might work the same way for them."

"Oh, yeah, I didn't think of that," Latias agreed, rising a bit higher so she could get an uninterrupted view.

It certainly looked like Mollie's Absol was managing to do her Battle Round regardless. She was relying on an athletic combination of Quick Attack and Razor Wind, flicking in attacks from her horn in the moments when she was stationary, and Eevee was doing his best to block them with Swift but even the high-accuracy attack was only so good as a shield – especially when Absol was able to skim right past Eevee, whirl, and attack him from behind.

"Eevee's in trouble," Zorua murmured.

"Yeah, he is," Ash agreed, then carefully didn't think about Eevee losing just in case he either made it happen or made it so that Absol lost.

It probably wasn't needed, but he wanted to be sure.

Then May called out for Eevee to use Bounce, and Eevee promptly sprang into the air.

It was immediately obvious why he hadn't been using that move so far, because his control of it wasn't very good. He went into a forwards flip, tail waving to try and gain control, but importantly he'd gone a lot higher than Absol could – and Absol could still use Razor Wind to attack Eevee, but she couldn't attack him from an unexpected direction.

"Swift!" May called, and Eevee used Swift. The shimmering stars came out in a kind of garden-sprinkler style spiral, whirled around in the air, then all went plunging down at Absol.

She used Razor Wind to fend the attacks off, but still took several hits, then Eevee landed painfully on his tail and shook himself out.

"Ow!" he complained.

"Bounce again!" May said. "Then – Swift like the routine!"

Eevee Bounced, avoiding a Razor Wind, and Ash saw him gulp. He used Swift, and the Swift stars whirled around before hitting him from behind – exactly like how the routine had gone wrong when they'd rehearsed it, because Eevee couldn't quite run fast enough.

This time, though, they hit him and cancelled out his roll. Now he had a much better view of Absol, and when May called for a Shadow Swift combination he could do it with the same precision he'd had against Zangoose. The Swift volley all whipped through the Shadow Ball, then crashed down on Absol, and when Eevee landed the judges called it.

"May wins!"

Ash exhaled in relief.

That had been close, but May – and Eevee – had really pulled it off.

Mollie might have lost, but after the Contest – as May was shaking her hand – someone came up to the two girls, and asked Mollie if she and her Raticate and Absol wanted to get some tips.

"I… really?" Mollie asked. "But – but you're Yuma! Former Top Coordinator Yuma! I just lost a Contest, how can you…?"

"Yes, you did," Yuma said. "That was your first Contest, I believe?"

"Well… yeah," Mollie replied. "But May beat me-"

Yuma chuckled, cutting Mollie off. "Don't take it as an insult, either of you," she said. "But May is a talented and skilled Coordinator with plenty of experience. You, Mollie, are a talented Coordinator – and I think I could help you gain the skill and experience you need."

May reached out to Mollie's shoulder, then pushed her lightly in Yuma's direction. "Say yes, Mollie!" she advised. "It's a great opportunity!"

AN:

Gardenia the place, not Gardenia the Gym Leader.