As the announcer called out my name, I stepped out into the arena and into the reverberating sound of the audience. As I approached the edge of the pitch, a camera descended from the air and hovered next to me. I give the camera a small wave, and am surprised when the noise from the audience increases slightly, and I see my face on one of the massive screens surrounding the stadium before it is replaced by the announcer.
"And for his first ever contest battle, he'll be facing off against a veteran of performances. Give it up for Lady Ortega!"
The sound from the audience was suddenly deafening, as an old woman walked out of the other arena entrance. As she began to get to her side of the pitch, I was finally able to get a good look at her.
She looked graceful, golden hair in neat curls bounding slightly with each step she took. She had a few wrinkles which gave her an aged look, yet the way she smiled to the audience and politely waved towards them made her seem much younger. When she arrived at her side of the pitch, her gaze fell towards me and she gave me a smile and a wave. I gave her a small wave back, just before the announcer's voice called out again.
"Ready? Begin!"
From my periphery I see the image on the large screen change, my face and Lady Ortega's faces appearing in a yellow circle underneath a timer. I turn my focus to the pitch in front of me as I grab the ball on my hip.
"Lupin, let's go!" I call out, throwing the ball into the air. In an arc of white light, Lupin appears on the pitch in front of me, his hackles raised in preparation. Across from me, Lady Ortega held up her hand, a dark ball resting in her hand glinting slightly in the light of the stadium.
"Mabosstiff, if you would."
I watch as the ball in her hand opens on its own, the light landing on the ground in front of her and forming into a solid shape before dimming, revealing the pokemon. It also looked a bit like a dog, with dark brown and black fur and a grey stripe running along its back. The black fur on its face looked a bit like a moustache, giving the pokémon an older look.
"Headbutt."
I had barely registered Lady Ortega's voice before the Mabosstiff had started charging towards Lupin, quickly closing the distance across the field. Before I could utter a word, the Mabosstiff had collided with Lupin, throwing him into the air.
"Lupin!" I yell, and am relieved when he rights himself in the air before landing on the ground. From the corner of my eye, I see the yellow circle around my face decrease as I lost points from the attack.
"A strong hit. But a good recovery from Sam. Will he be able to keep up with Lady Ortega's offence?"
I block the announcer's voice out, focusing on Lupin.
"Howl," I commanded. Lupin lifted his head slightly and let out an almighty howl, the noise reverberating through the room as his body was surrounded by a pale red aura. Lady Ortega's points decreased slightly, but not as much as mine had.
But this was good. It meant that we had a fighting chance.
"Crunch!" Ortega's voice called out.
"Dodge with Double Team!" I quickly yell. And just in time, as the Mabosstiff lept towards Lupin, its previously hidden jaws glowing as it snapped them closed on Lupin's body.
Only, the Rockruff the Mabosstiff attacked vanished the moment its jaws closed on it, Lupin appearing a few feet away from it. The Mabosstiff turned to attack Lupin again, but paused as several more Rockruff appeared around it until they had encircled it.
"Rock Throw!"
Balls of light appear in the air in front of the Lupin copies before shards of rocks rocket out of them and into the surrounded Mabosstiff, causing it to brace itself against the onslaught.
But Ortega didn't look phased by this.
In fact, she had a smile on her face.
"Push it away with Dark Pulse!"
The air around Mabosstiff started to swirl with dark rings, spinning around it in the shape of a bubble. As they spun around it, the rings smashed against the incoming rocks, shielding the pokémon from Lupin's attack.
"Now!"
Mabosstiff let out a loud bark, the dark rings enveloping the pokémon suddenly spreading outward across the field. The Lupin duplicates dissolved into nothing as the rings cut through them, and Lupin was forced back slightly by the force of the attack.
"Body Slam."
The Mabosstiff charged at Lupin, leaping into the air with its body spread with the intent of slamming into Lupin.
But I had an idea.
"Dodge with Sandstorm!"
Lupin darted forward, sand whipping up from the ground underneath his front paws before exploding outward to envelop the field. Mabosstiff winced at the sudden sandstorm, hitting empty ground as the sand helped Lupin avoid the attack.
I could barely see where the two pokémon were in the sandstorm, their forms inky blobs in the raging sand. But the camera's didn't seem to have the same issue, the screens displaying the pitch only showing a brown, grainy effect as they seemed to cut through the storm. I could also see that the storm had reduced Lady Ortega's points to the point we were almost neck and neck, the older lady just ahead of me.
"Get rid of the sandstorm with Hyper Voice, then hit him with Play Rough!" Ortega's voice commanded. Suddenly, the sand shifted as Mabosstiff let out an almighty howl. The sand seemed to get caught in cascading rings of sound, each ring catching the sand before raising towards the roof of the stadium and shattering into golden glitter. After a few seconds of this the sandstorm had mostly disappeared, and Mabosstiff charged forward, slamming roughly into Lupin who, like me, had been caught up watching the Hyper Voice clear the arena of the Sandstorm.
"Try to dodge it!" I yelled, but Lupin was struggling to avoid the blows, getting hit with a new one before he could recover from the last one.
"Rock Throw on the ground! Get out of there!"
The silver orb appeared in front of Lupin at my command and he barely had enough time to fire a few stones into the ground before Mabosstiff had lunged at him, disappearing into the smokescreen the stones had thrown up before appearing from the other side, visibly confused when he realised Lupin was no longer in view.
"Trailblaze!"
Lupin shot out of his hiding spot in the smoke surrounded in a green aura, colliding into the side of Mabosstiff. The pokémon stumbled slightly from the sudden attack, but righted itself before turning to where the attack had come from.
Only to be hit again from the other side.
It was one of the six moves Lupin knew, a move I hadn't heard of before. It was a grass type attack that made the user faster each time it was used. This was particularly useful at the moment as, despite being bulky, Mabosstiff was not as agile as Lupin. So increasing his speed would make it harder for Mbosstiff to hit him, and in turn would let us get a lot more hits in.
But despite being repeatedly slammed into, Lady Ortega didn't seem concerned with the current situation.
In fact, she looked pleased.
"Mabosstiff, Comeuppance."
Something suddenly felt wrong. Like we had been led into a trap. I look down towards Mabosstiff, and notice how the muscles around their neck tightened when Lupin collided into them.
Like it was readying an attack.
"LUPIN! DODGE!" I yelled, but it was too late. Mabosstiff had spun towards him, front paws raised in the air as his dewlap glowed red before slamming down onto the ground.
I lost sight of Lupin as the space in front of Mabosstiff exploded, a shockwave slamming through the arena. I could hear people in the audience let out cries of surprise as the winds generated by the shockwave rippled through them.
But I was more concerned about Lupin. I wasn't able to see him through the cloud of dust kicked up by the attack. My eyes darted across the pitch, trying to find him when the announcer's voice picked up again.
"Amazing! Sam's Rockruff somehow managed to avoid the brunt of Lady Ortega's famous counter-attack! He's still standing!"
I blink at the announcement, before noticing a small shape moving in the dust. Seconds later a wave of relief washes over me as Lupin emerged from the dust cloud, looking slightly dishevelled and limping slightly as he made his way towards me.
But my relief was short lived as Mabosstiff also emerged from the cloud, jaws glowing as they charged at Lupin.
"Lupin! Look ou-"
"And times up!"
Mabossiff quickly came to a halt next to Lupin at the announcement, and I let out a sigh of relief when the larger dog didn't continue the attack. I looked up at the large screen, curious to see how well we had done.
From the look of it, Lupin avoiding the Comeuppance attack had managed to reduce Lady Ortega's points by a large amount.
But it wasn't enough. Where I had just over a quarter of my points left, she had about half of hers, resulting in the victory screen displaying her face as the audience applauded the battle that had just occurred.
Lupin limped towards me, looking downcast at the loss. As he approached, I lent down and scooped him up into my arms.
"Hey, you did really well. I'm really proud."
Lupin looked up at me for a moment, before giving me a happy bark and a lick on my cheek. Taking one last look toward my former opponent, I turn around and exit through the tunnel I had arrived from, the noise of the crowd echoing behind me.
After returning backstage, I quickly made my way to the medical room to get Lupin seen too. Whilst Nurse Joy was out on stage as one of the judges, some of the Pokémon Centre staff had been assigned to the contest to help deal with any injuries that might occur during the event. I was worried at first, but the nurse had quickly confirmed that he'd only suffered a sprain from when he landed after avoiding Mabosstiff's Comeuppance. He asked if I wanted to collect my winnings whilst I waited for Lupin's checkup to be completed, which is how I found myself at the front desk.
"And here you are!" the receptionist said, handing my Rotom Phone back to me. The screen was displaying a balance, slightly more than I had a few hours earlier.
"You were very good. Shame that you had to go against someone like Lady Ortega on your very first contest," she continued.
"Yeah… "I'm just glad we were able to run out the clock," I replied, putting the phone away. The receptionist leant forward slightly.
"Out of curiosity, will you be participating in any more contests? You looked like you were having fun out there."
I smiled. It had been fun. Working with Aria to come up with a performance. Coming up with strategies on the fly to help Lupin during the battle. It was all very exciting.
The only problem…
"I'm not sure," I reply truthfully. "I didn't know this was the last one for this circuit, and I only just became a trainer. I'm not sure what to do…"
"Perhaps I could help with that," a soft voice spoke up behind me. Turning around to face the person who had addressed me, I am surprised when I see Lady Ortega standing there.
"Ahh, Lady Ortega! Your next match will be up soon," the receptionist says behind me, only for her to gently raise a hand.
"I am aware. I just wanted to speak with Mr Ashworth before he left."
I raised an eyebrow at her.
"You wanted to speak with me?"
"Yes. Shall we talk on our way back to the medical room?" she suggested, motioning towards the door that led backstage. "I have to pick up Mabosstiff before the next match, and I'm curious to see how your Rockruff is doing."
"Of course," I say, opening the door and holding it open for her. As soon as she was through, I began walking next to her as she began talking to me.
"I must say, I was very impressed with your performance and battle. Considering this was your first contest, you did very well," Lady Ortega said as we walked, making my chest fill with pride. It might have been different, but years of playing the pokémon games had helped me during the battle, figuring out what I needed to do. "Although… may I ask what made you enter the contest in the first place? It's just unusual for someone to enter a contest towards the end of the circuit."
"I…" I began to speak, but paused, trying to figure out what to say. "There's something I want to do in Alola. A friend said if I showed that I was a competent enough trainer, I could get a Trainer Pass for the region. I just didn't know that this was the last contest of the season."
"Technically it isn't," she said, but continued quickly before I could interrupt. "There won't be any more until the Galar Grand Festival is concluded, and that won't be happening for a few months. Not until the Gym Challenge is concluded."
I remember Austin talking about the Gym Challenge. It was this region's championship… thing… that trainers competed in. It sounded interesting, but I had lost interest in it when I saw the number of sponsors attached to it.
Unlike other regions in the games and anime, this region seemed to commercialise the championship, and I wasn't interested in joining that clown show.
"Have you considered entering another region's contest circuit?" Lady Ortega asked me. I frown, giving the woman a confused look.
"I can't, can I? I'd need to get a Trainer Pass for the region before I could enter it."
"True," she hummed, looking thoughtful for a second. "Although, if you were to get accepted into the region's contest circuit, it would automatically grant you a Trainer Pass if you applied for one."
Now that was news. I hadn't thought of that, and it made sense for foreign trainers to get passes if they were accepted into the circuit.
"So I just need to apply to the Alolan Contest Circuit!" I say excitedly.
Only for Lady Ortega to stop walking as she let out a tinkling laugh.
"You really are new to contests, aren't you?" she said between giggles. "Alola doesn't have a contest circuit yet. They've only just joined the Pokémon League."
I feel myself deflate at this, feeling slightly embarrassed at not knowing that. But Lady Ortega ignored my embarrassment, instead clasping her hands in front of her as she looked back up at me .
"Well, if you want to get to Alola so badly, perhaps I could offer some assistance," she said. "You see, I've been looking to retire from coordination for a while, which is fine for me but will unfortunately leave my region without a 'Treasure of performance'. So for the last few months, I've been trying to find any potential coordinators who would be willing to participate in the current circuit. To potentially make the upcoming Grand Festival one for the history books and give our region some new treasures."
"Wait…" I interject. "Treasures?"
"Yes," she says with a smile. "Paldea has a history intertwined with treasure, both physical and metaphysical. As a world renowned coordinator the citizens consider me a treasure of the region, the same way they consider the champions treasures. And since this will be my last contest, I wanted to bring some new blood into my region's contest circuit. To hopefully provide the region some new treasures."
I take in this information, listening intently at how determined she sounded.
"How many have you found?" I ask.
"A few. I actually came here to see if Alix was a good candidate" she told me, before giving me an appraising look. "But then you were able to recognise the trouble your pokémon was in, and got them to avoid Comeuppance. Something very few trainers have been able to do…"
I swallow at the gaze she gave me, as if she was sizing me up.
"Ahh, Mr Ashworth, Lady Ortega, your pokémon are ready for you!"
I turned away from her and towards the nurse who called out to us. Lupin was sitting on the desk next to them, jumping off and running up to me as soon as I saw him. As I bent down to pick him up, Lady Ortega's Mabosstiff also came over to us as well, giving Lupin a gentle nuzzle before giving me a gruff sounding woof. I took my pokephone out of my pocket and pointed the camera towards the pokémon.
-ZZZ- Mabossiff, the Boss Pokémon, and the evolved form of Maschiff. Whilst it looks intimidating, it is usually a gentle pokémon that loves to play with children. Its dewlap can store large amounts of energy which it uses to blow away enemies. -ZZZ-
"Huh…" I muse, putting the phone away before reaching out to the pokémon. Mabosstiff gave another soft woof before pressing their forehead into my palm. I give his head some scritches, and am happy when I see his tail begin to slowly wag.
Lupin, apparently jealous of the attention Mabossiff was getting, started jumping up at me, pawing at my hips in an attempt to gain my attention. Mabosstiff moved away from my hand and walked over to him before gently leaning on him. I couldn't help but laugh slightly when Lupin let out a happy yip before rubbing his scruff against the larger pokémon, seemingly happy that he was the one now getting attention. Behind me, Lady Ortega also laughed.
"Come on boy," she said after a moment. "It's almost time for our next round."
Mabosstiff let out an affirmative bark, before moving next to her. I scooped Lupin into my arms as he left and turned to face her.
"As for you young man, I'll leave the application form with Nurse Joy after the contest is over," she said, before turning to exit the room.
"Thank you!" I call after her, getting her to turn her head slightly back towards me.
"Think nothing of it dear," she replied with a smile. "I look forward to seeing what you will achieve."
Hello everyone. It's been a while, but I finally managed to upload this chapter. I had already completed it a while ago (along with another chapter) but I've not had the time to upload it. But here it is! Sorry for making you wait. If you want to find some more incredible stories from a bunch of incredible writers, or just want to hang out, come to The Fanfiction Treehouse discord server at: 9XG3U7a.