I was in a very excited mood as I stood in the lobby of the contest hall. It had been several days since Jason's match at the gym, and the day had finally come for the Wallace Cup. Already, I couldn't wait to get the show on the road, especially after how hard my friends and I had been training to prepare ourselves.
Admittedly, we'd also taken the time to relax and enjoy the festivities and grow closer to our new friends and future family members present in Sootopolis City alongside us, and made some very good memories of the experience in the process.
I was currently standing with Jason, Brittany, and my dad while uncle Darien stood a couple feet behind my dad.
"Don't worry about your mom missing this, Adam." my dad said as he placed a hand on my shoulder. "She's made it clear over the phone that she'll be watching your first contest on TV, back at home. She also told me to let you know that she wishes you the best of luck and hopes that you have a lot of fun."
"You probably won't be as good as Aunt Dawn." Brittany stated. "But I'm still excited to see what you have in store! Especially considering, knowing you, you'll give it your all, either way!"
I couldn't help but laugh at that and say, "Can't really disagree with that. Considering how talented my mom is, it would take some serious next-level talent to compare to her."
"You can say that again." Jason said. "Still, you'll put on a great show!"
I then started to overhear the conversations unfolding between everyone else in the group, and I couldn't help but listen in. I chose to focus in on Michelle's talk with her family first.
"I'm positive that you haven't gotten even remotely rusty in your skills, despite having not competed since the Johto Grand Festival." Misty said as she kept both of her hands on Michelle's shoulders in a gesture of comforting reassurance. "And I'm well aware that you're only planning to participate and don't really care about winning any ribbons this time. But I still wish you the best of luck in putting on a good show for us."
"This is the first time that Robyn and I have watched you perform in a contest." said Ross. "So as you can probably guess, we're very excited to see what you've got to offer."
Robyn giggled and clapped her hands excitedly, saying, "Can't wait to see you out there on that stage, Sis!" She then hugged Michelle tightly around the waist.
Michelle smiled warmly and returned her adoptive sister's hug.
Meanwhile, Amber was gathered with her dad, plus Annie and Oakley.
"You've rarely ever gotten to watch me compete, Dad." Amber stated with an accepting look on her face, indicating that she was merely stating a fact, as opposed to complaining. "And considering how busy your job keeps you, plus how hard you were working to try to keep me and the rest of the world safe from Team Rocket prior to last summer, I can't really say that I blame you." She then raised her fist, a determined grin on her face. "But because of that, I'll make sure to put on an extra special performance for you today!"
Antonio chuckled, an amused grin on his face, saying, "I'd expect nothing less from you."
"My sister and I have never seen a contest in our lives." Oakley admitted. She then directed a knowing smirk towards Annie. "But considering how the two of us are likely to be joining the family in the near future, I'm getting the feeling that we're gonna need to make watching contests a regular thing. Especially the ones you'll be competing in, Amber."
"I'm proud to hear that you're taking an interest." Amber said before nodding her head and flashing her likely soon-to-be-stepmom a thumbs-up. "I'll try my best to not disappoint you."
"We'll certainly be holding you to that, sweetie." said Annie, earning herself an amused chuckle from Oakley.
Meanwhile, Megan and Skye were currently talking with Ashlyn and Christina and engaging in some supportive hugs in the process.
"We may not be competing alongside you today, considering that we've already gotten all of the ribbons that we need for the Grand Festival." Ashlyn stated, her arms wrapped around Skye.
"But we'll still be here supporting you from the audience." Christina added as she similarly hugged Megan. "You've more than earned it at this point!"
Skye chuckled and said, "We'd ask for nothing less, Christina."
"You can say that again, Skye." Megan said before the four girls ended their hugs. She than looked around wistfully. "It's a shame that April and Adrian aren't here, though."
"I'm sure they'll be supporting you from afar." Ashlyn said. "I mean, they could be lucky enough to be able to see it on TV."
"I can only hope so."
At this point, Nikki, who'd been patiently waiting nearby, nodded her head and clasped her hands together with an excited smile on her face.
"Well, we should probably be heading over to the dressing rooms soon. Don't wanna be late when the contest begins!" Nikki said.
So we all quickly exchanged our final goodbyes and good luck wishes before we parted, with the girls and I heading off to the dressing rooms while our families and friends headed off to take their seats.
I didn't take long to get changed into my contest outfit. I was clad in a tuxedo and fedora hat very similar to the outfit that my dad had worn during his own time participating in the Wallace Cup with my mom. The only difference between my outfit and his was that mine was black, while my dad's had been grey. I also wore white gloves on my hands. I nodded my head as I took a final quick look in the dressing room mirror once I'd finished putting everything on, then exited the dressing room.
As it so happened, I was actually the first of my friends to finish changing, so I patiently waited in the waiting room for the girls to come out. Eventually, they all came out in a group.
"How do I look?" I asked them.
"You've never dressed so formally before." Amber admitted before letting a small grin come onto her face. "Though I must say, you look very handsome right now."
"Hmm, not bad." Megan said. "Looks kinda like how my mom says your dad looked when he tried competing in the Wallace Cup, alongside your mom during their journey together in Sinnoh."
"For someone who's never been in a contest before, you certainly clean up nicely." Michelle complimented.
I chuckled, hearing their approvals, then gestured towards Michelle's own outfit.
"I can definitely say the same to you, Michelle, despite how long its been since the last time I've seen you in your contest outfit."
Michelle reflexively gave her own outfit a once over, nodding her head in agreement as she took stock of her gypsy-like outfit with its white-and-blue-bordered top, cut just a few inches above her bellybutton, the white skirt that went all the way down to her ankles and held up by a dark blue waistband, makeshift sleeves consisting of dark blue and white beads attached to strings, a headpiece made out of the exact same type of beads as her outfit's 'sleeves', and white high-heels.
The rest of the girls turned their heads to take another proper look at Michelle's outfit, with Megan and Skye proving especially interested, due to them seeing Michelle in her contest outfit for the very first time.
"Nice..." Megan said with an approving nod. "Taking a page out of my mom's book. I like it."
"Definitely not an outfit commonly seen among coordinators." Skye admitted. "But then, I suppose that makes it all the more appealing."
"It's been quite a while since I've seen you wear that outfit, Michelle." Amber said. "I forgot how beautiful you look in it."
"You're certainly not wrong to say that she still looks beautiful in it." I agreed. As I said this, I gave a companionable wink at Michelle to ensure that she knew that I meant that in a friendly way, rather than a romantic way.
Michelle nodded her head towards me in understanding before looking to Amber.
"Thanks, Amber." Michelle said before gesturing towards Amber's dazzling yellow gown. "I could easily say the same thing about you and your outfit."
Hearing this, Amber took a glance down at her own outfit, chuckling with her eyes closed and a slight blush forming on her cheeks.
"Well, while we're all going gaga for Michelle's outfit, what do you girls think of my outfit? You're looking at last year's Johto Grand Festival winner, after all!" Nikki declared.
She took a step back and extended her arms out sideways in a 'ta-da' fashion, as if to emphasize her own knee-length dress that started out red at the top before fading to pink as it went further down, white elbow-length gloves with pink lines stitched upon them that ran under the wrists and formed a heart on the tops where they merged, white flats on her feet, and pink choker around her neck.
We all took a quick look at Nikki's outfit, nodding our heads in approval.
"Not quite as unique as Michelle's outfit." Skye admitted. "But pretty eye-catching in its own right."
"I certainly agree with you there." said Megan.
"Well, as long as we all have fun today, I'm sure that the experience will be very happy for us all, regardless of whose got the best outfit, let alone who gets to win the Wallace Cup." Amber said.
"Michelle, Nikki, and I certainly aren't planning on going to the Grand Festival as contestants." I admitted.
"Yep." Michelle stated. "Adam, Nikki, and I are just doing this for fun." She then looked to the rest of the girls, a confident smirk on her face. "But don't you dare think that this means that we won't give it our all, let alone that we'll be taking it easy on you girls."
"I'd expect nothing less." said Megan.
"The feeling's mutual." Amber purred, flashing me a thumbs-up while also giving me a flirtatious wink.
Skye chuckled and said, "I'd be insulted if you DID take it easy on us."
We then took a look around, whistling silently as we caught sight of the rather staggeringly large number of contestants taking part in the contest.
"That's an awful lot of people competing with us." I stated in amazement.
"I suppose that we shouldn't really be surprised." Amber said. "I mean, the Wallace Cup is a special kind of contest."
"Got that right." Michelle agreed. "The Wallace Cup is multi-regional, meaning that it counts as a ribbon towards the Grand Festival in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. And since neither Unova nor Kalos hold contests, those two regions are exempt, and most other regions in the world outside those six largely keep themselves, too isolated from the rest of the world to allow any knowledge of whether they hold contests to even be public knowledge outside their borders, let alone for their inhabitants to try to participate in the Wallace Cup. So as you can see, coordinators from all over Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh have come here to try their luck at getting the coveted Aqua Ribbon. So as you can probably guess, this will be our largest and toughest contest yet, with the fiercest competition to match!"
"You're certainly not wrong about that. Heck, now that we're on the subject, I just remembered something that my mom told me. The appeals for the Wallace Cup aren't scored. The judges just confer among themselves once everyone has performed before collectively deciding the best of the bunch. And with how big of a contest this is, they pick 16 qualifiers instead of just 8." I explained.
We couldn't help but shudder and let out nervous chuckles. Now that Michelle, Amber, and I had said as much out loud, the Wallace Cup now did feel like quite a tall order to compete in.
"Hehe, no pressure." Nikki sarcastically stated.
"Skye, considering how your dad's gonna be a judge, do you think he'll judge your performance more strictly or harshly, compared to everyone else?" Megan asked.
"No. I know how my father works." she said. "Knowing him, he'll probably be firm, but not necessarily unkind. To my knowledge, he has high hopes for me succeeding in carrying on the family name in his line of business as opposed to Mom's, but I doubt he'd be any harsher or more favorable towards me than he'd be towards any of the other coordinators taking part in this contest. He is a professional, after all."
"I certainly hope you're right." Megan said.
"Me, too." Amber agreed.
All of a sudden, the voice of the announcer for the contest split the air from the monitor. It was Sofia.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Children of all ages! Welcome to the one, the only, Wallace Cup!"
Slightly startled, yet excited at the same time, we all looked to the monitor in time to see that the contest was already starting to get in motion.
"At this time, let us welcome our honorable judges!"
We all watched, eyes firmly glued to the screen as Shawn Contesta, the head of the Pokemon Fan Club, and the local Nurse Joy walked out into view and got introduced. And then, immediately after the three regular judges had finished their introductions and taken their position at the judge's table...
"And last but not least, let's give a grand welcome to the Wallace Cup's legendary namesake: Wallace!"
At that moment, a gigantic geyser of water suddenly erupted from the center of the large pool of the contest stage, eventually receding to revel Wallace's Milotic, who vocalized in delight as she was revealed in midair before pointing her head down towards the pool and unleashing a massive Hydro Pump down upon the area where the geyser had originally burst from. When the Hydro Pump finally ended, a small pillar was revealed to have risen from the water with none other than Wallace himself crouched upon the top. Then the pillar started rising slightly higher as Milotic began to descend with surprising grace, considering how high up she was and her lack of natural flying ability, with Wallace himself standing up to full height while lifting his arms up in a 'ta-da' gesture, at which point the crowd went wild.
"That's the exact same type of entrance spectacle he put on for the Wallace Cup that my mom and dad performed in." I said.
Amber nodded in agreement and said, "I can certainly see why your mom would be such a big fan of his. And Skye, your dad sure knows how to make an entrance."
"Agreed. I'm already feeling pumped!" Megan exclaimed.
"Your dad certainly has a talent for getting people nice and riveted for the events he appears at." said Michelle.
"Glad you think so." Skye said before looking back to the screen and nodding her head with a look of pride on her face. "I'll freely admit, with that level of talent on display, and my own potential in mind, I feel very proud indeed to be his daughter. And while I will admit, I got off to a rough start during the first few contests that I participated in, I'm very proud of how much I've improved since then."
"Glad to hear that." said Megan.
"Here's hoping that your dad has similar thoughts when he sees you perform today." said Amber.
"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for!" Sofia announced. "Let the contest begin!"
... ...
About fifteen minutes later, with a decently large number of people having already gone out ahead of us, the time finally came for one of us to have our turn.
"Next up, let us give a warm welcome to Michelle!"
Within seconds of coming onto the stage, Michelle was quick to get straight into it!
"Showtime, Bayleef!" In a flash, Bayleef was released from her Pokeball, a swarm of petals materializing around her as she was summoned onto the stage with a delighted bellow.
"Alright, Bayleef! Send those petals flying with a Body Slam!" Bayleef reared up to full height on her hind legs before slamming her front feet down on the stage with enough force to send the petals surrounding her flying upwards!
"Now use Razor Leaf on the petals!" Bayleef fired off her Razor Leaf at the petals. And once the petals had been destroyed...
"Let's end this on a high note with Energy Ball!" Bayleef launched an Energy Ball into the sky, where it exploded in a quite crowd-pleasing fashion.
"Let's give it up for Michelle, everyone!" Sofia yelled as the audience began to applaud raucously.
Michelle curtsied politely before returning Bayleef and hurrying backstage.
... ...
"And now, let us all give a round of applause to the daughter of this contest's namesake himself: Skye!"
Skye took a deep breath and whispered, "Here goes nothing."
She made her way out onto the stage, a slightly nervous look on her face as she prepared to do her appeal in front of all of the people in the audience, plus her own father sitting at the judges' table. Fortunately, at the sound of everyone applauding, her nervous look vanished as confidence in her ability began to swiftly return.
"Corphish, charm up!" She released her Corphish from its Pokeball and onto the stage.
"Cor!" Corphish yelled as it snapped its pincers excitedly while bubbles materialized around it from the seal that had been on its Pokeball.
"Quickly, Corphish! Use Water Gun on the bubbles!" Corphish opened its mouth and spewed out its Water Gun attack while spinning around, successfully striking all of the bubbles.
"Now use Bubblebeam!" Corphish was quick to obey, spewing out the requested Bubblebeam from its claws while spinning around in circles.
"And for the finishing touch, show us all a nice round of Crabhammer!" Corphish jumped up into the air and began smacking the bubbles with its glowing white pincers before finishing the display with a strike to the final bubbles remaining with a pincer that it had caused to glow blue and become surrounded with spiraling water instead of the glowing white aura from earlier. Immediately after striking the last of the bubbles, Corphish went rocketing down towards the pool before landing blue-pincer-first upon the center of the pool, causing an impressive shockwave of water to erupt from the pool's center.
"Three cheers for Skye, everyone!" Sofia yelled. "If that's not enough to show how much of her father's talent she's inherited, I don't know what is!"
The audience applauded once more, causing Skye to smile and curtsy before returning Corphish and heading backstage.
... ...
"At this time, let's allow Amber to show us what she's got!"
Amber walked out onto the stage, an excited smile on her face.
"Jumpluff, curtain!" In a flash, plus a dazzling shower of glitter, Jumpluff was released onto the stage, squealing in delight as it materialized into view.
Already, a sizable portion of the crowd was oohing and awing at the adorable-looking Pokemon, but Amber wasn't about to rely exclusively on that adorable look.
"Jumpluff, use Bullet Seed!" Jumpluff fired off a volley of glowing yellow seeds while spinning in circles, dispersing the glitter into flying upward in various directions across the stage.
"Excellent! Now get yourself some breathing room with a Bounce!" Jumpluff jumped impressively high into the air with its Bounce. The instant that Jumpluff finally came to a stop in the air, now surrounded by all of the glitter...
"And for a finishing touch, use Fairy Wind!" Jumpluff placed its three dandelion-like tendrils together and then unleashed an impressive aerial 'shockwave' of glittering wind, sending all of the glitter flying even further across the contest arena, much to the delight and amusement of the crowd!
"Wasn't that amazing everyone?!" Sofia yelled in delight.
Amber curtsied gracefully, with Jumpluff doing the same as it came to a graceful landing directly beside her. She then returned Jumpluff before turning around and heading back down the corridor leading backstage.
... ...
After Amber's turn in the appeals had finished, I only needed to wait for another five coordinators to finish their turns before my turn finally arrived.
"And now, for an especially notable turn of events, let's direct our eyes to the stage to see the contest debut of Adam Ketchum, son of the great Pokemon Master Ash Ketchum!"
Already, I could hear the crowd cheering uproariously in anticipation. So I stepped into view on the stage, the cheering becoming noticeably louder. I chuckled, tilting my hat downwards slightly.
"Here's hoping that you didn't mind the long wait to finally see me perform today." I stated proudly. "Because have I got a show for you!"
I drew out Pikachu's Pokeball, which he'd allowed himself to be temporarily placed back inside of for the sake of my grand entrance onto the stage.
"Alright, Pikachu." I said, throwing the Pokeball to release him. "Let's show these people what we've got!" With a flash of light, Pikachu was set free from his Pokeball and onto the stage, a ring of miniature storm clouds materializing into view around him.
"Time to start with a bang, Pikachu! Let those clouds have it with Thunderbolt!"
"Pika...chu!" Pikachu screamed, voltage encasing his body as he spun around in circles while unleashing his Thunderbolt attack. Once all of the clouds had been blasted to nothing, I was quick to call for his next move.
"Now run around the stage in circles with Quick Attack combined with Agility!" Pikachu did as asked, rapidly becoming a veritable blur as he dashed around the stage in a dizzyingly large number of circles. The entire audience watched, taking deep breaths as if in anticipation of finding out what I'd have up my sleeve next.
"Alright, Pikachu! Jump up into the air and use Thunderbolt again!"
"Pika, pika!" Pikachu screamed as he jumped into the air before unleashing a Thunderbolt towards the sky.
"Now use Iron Tail on the Thunderbolt!" With careful timing and precision, Pikachu slammed his glowing tail onto the Thunderbolt, causing it to split into nine separate bolts of lightning, with one in the center slamming down into the pool while the other eight went in their own separate directions in the form of a compass-needle arrangement and they all struck eight separate areas of the pool!
As soon as this electrifying display finally ended with Pikachu landing gracefully on his feet right by my side, I spread my arms outward and yelled, "TA-DA!"
The entire audience promptly cheered as they all stood up and started clapping, clearly very impressed.
"Talk about illuminating everyone!" Sofia said, sounding quite impressed as well.
But in that moment, I had eyes only for my dad as he sat in the audience with a proud smile on his face as he surreptitiously flashed me a thumbs-up. Chuckling, I bowed slightly before letting Pikachu jump onto my shoulder and we departed from the stage, the crowd still going wild with joy and excitement.
... ...
"And now, let's give a warm welcome to the youngest daughter of Drew and May Hayden: Megan!"
Megan began making her way out onto the stage. When she finally came to a stop on the stage, she was quick to get down to business.
"Beautifly, spotlight!" Beautifly was released onto the stage, a ring of rose petals materializing around her. Already, I could see a proud smile on Megan's face at the sound of the audience's awed cheers of anticipation at the sight of Beautifly.
"Let's get those lovely petals nice and airborne with a Gust!" Beautifly began rapidly fluttering her wings to trigger the Gust, which sent all of the petals billowing skyward.
"Now slice them up with Air Cutter!" Beautifly did as requested, sending a volley of energy blades flying at the petals, slicing them up into pieces.
"Now fly above the shredded petals and gather them together with a Whirlwind!" Beautifly hurriedly flew up to a good position for what she'd now been asked to do, then flapped her wings rapidly to summon a Whirlwind that caught the shredded petals on one end of the impromptu 'line' in the sky and caused them all to get bunched up together directly above the pool.
"Let's finish this, Beautifly! Silver Wind! Now!" Beautifly darted into an appropriate position before unleashing her Silver Wind attack upon the mass of shredded petals, causing them to all get sent rocketing down upon the surface of the pool.
"Well, Megan sure put on a good show for us today, ladies and gentlemen!"
Megan chuckled at the Sofia's line and curtsied before returning Beautifly and departing backstage. So far, things were definitely looking good for my friends and I!
... ...
"And now, last but not least, let's welcome back the winner of last year's Johto Grand Festival: Nikki!"
Upon exiting the corridor and coming into view on the stage, Nikki wasted no time getting the show on the road for the final appeal of the tournament.
"Let's dazzle them, Chinchou!" Chinchou was swiftly unleashed upon the stage, a rain of water droplets materializing around it as it was released from its Pokeball.
"Alright, Chinchou!" Nikki yelled. "Use Discharge!" Chinchou did as instructed, unleashing a Discharge that caused all of the water droplets to burst into mist.
"Now jump up and get the stage nice and wet with Water Gun!" Nikki then yelled, noticeably taking a couple of steps back. Chinchou obeyed, spewing out a jet of water while spinning around in circles after jumping into the air, dousing the entire stage, apart from the judges' table and the area where Nikki herself was currently positioned.
"That's enough, Chinchou! Now use Electro Ball on the pool!" Chinchou fired off an Electro Ball towards the pool.
"Now use Spark and dive at the Electro Ball, and combine that with Discharge once you and the Electro Ball have landed on the pool's surface!" Chinchou did as asked, causing a massive web of voltage to be unleashed upon the wet stage in a spectacular fashion. The crowd oohed and awed at this - quite literally - electrifying display, even as a portion of them felt understandably nervous at the sheer destructive power on display. Miraculously, there was no lasting damage once the dazzling display was finally over.
"Leave it to Nikki to give us an electrifying finish to the appeals!"
Nikki chuckled, curtsied, and then returned Chinchou before turning around and hurrying back into the corridor leading back to the backstage area.
At this time, all that could be done was wait while Wallace and the rest of the judges conferred and determined who would be moving on to the battle round!
For an entire hour, we all waited backstage, wondering just how much longer it would take before it was finally revealed who'd be the lucky 16 coordinators to move past the appeals round. Admittedly, we all felt pretty confident about our chances of being among them.
"I'm certainly feeling confident about my chances." I said, feeling somewhat cocky as a result of feeling buoyed by the applause that my appeal had managed to get from the audience.
"Join the club, Adam." said Amber. "I think we've both got high chances of making it to the battle round."
"Get in line, you two." Megan purred, a confident smile on her own face. "I'd say that my chances are looking pretty high this time, too!"
"My skills certainly don't seem to have waned in the time that it took for me to get back in the game here, after the Johto Grand Festival." said Michelle. "And with how good of a performance I put on, I'd say that my chances are looking pretty good as well!"
"Took the words right outta my mouth." said Nikki. "I'm glad that I haven't let my own skills go to waste, after how long its been since my victory in the Johto Grand Festival!"
Skye nodded her head, a slightly nervous look on her face as she processed just how long of a wait we were having to go through before the announcement came along.
"I just hope that I make it to the battle round." Skye said. "I mean, sure, I was feeling pretty confident before, but now I can't help but wonder if there were any parts of my appeal that I could have done better."
Megan placed a hand on Skye's shoulder, saying, "Don't worry, Skye. You did amazing out there. Trust me, I'm sure that you'll be there in the battle round with us."
"Yeah!" Amber said as she flashed Skye a thumbs-up. "We all saw how you did out there for your appeal. Your dad would have to be blind to not reward you accordingly for such a dazzling appeal!"
Skye let out a nervous chuckle and said, "I hope you're all right."
In that instant, we all looked up at the monitor, hearing Sofia's voice, and her face appeared on the screen.
"Alright, everyone! The moment you've all been waiting for is here! Let's all see which lucky coordinators will be moving on to the battle round!"
We all stood up, eyes wide and hearts in our mouths as we stared intently at the monitor as it switched from a view of Sofia's face to a blank screen of qualifiers. One by one, faces started getting shown on the screen.
The first to appear was a violet-haired and equally violet-eyed girl who'd used a Misdreavus.
Next was a chartreuse-haired and dark-green-eyed boy who'd used a Zigzagoon.
Then came a pink-haired and brown-eyed boy with a noticeable scowl on his face who'd used an Espeon.
Then Michelle showed up on the screen!
"That's one of us down." Michelle said, a proud smile on her face.
We'd just managed to nod our heads in agreement when none other than Amber appeared on the screen next!
"Make it two." Amber said, an approving smile on her own face.
I showed up on the screen immediately after Amber.
"Ha!" I yelled proudly, my right fist rising up in triumph. "Never doubted it for a second!"
A blonde boy with yellow eyes that I remembered had used a Taillow showed up on the screen next.
Then Megan appeared next!
"Well, that's a relief." she said.
Next appeared a blonde-haired and grey-eyed girl who'd used a Hoothoot.
Followed shortly by a black-haired and green-eyed boy who'd used a Carvanha.
Then a boy with dark blue hair and unnerving dark red eyes who'd used a Magnemite appeared on the screen.
Nikki appeared immediately after him!
Skye whimpered nervously, her teeth gritting slightly as she clasped her hands together and intertwined her fingers.
"Things aren't looking good for me right now." Skye stated.
"Don't worry." said Nikki, willingly holding off on her own happiness at making it to the battles. "There's still four more to be revealed. I'm sure you'll be there."
"Yeah, Skye." Michelle stated. "Your dad's probably just saving the best for last."
A white-haired and red-eyed girl who'd used a Slowking appeared next.
Then a red-haired and yellow-eyed boy who'd used a Gengar.
Followed in turn by a forest-green-haired and brown-eyed boy who'd used a Bellossom.
Before finally ending with...Skye!
"Alright!" I yelled, a proud smile on my face at the fact that all of us had made it to the battle round.
"Looks like we all made it!" Michelle cheered.
"Thank goodness." Skye stated, clear relief on her face and in her voice, after having been kept in suspense for so long.
We'd all passed the first stage. But I could already tell that things would certainly get tougher from here.
However...we were all unaware that someone else was watching the Wallace Cup, too. Someone who we were all too familiar with.
Normal POV
Jacob Berlitz was sitting at his desk in Team Rocket's secret base in Hoenn. He turned his chair away from the screen to face his three Pokemon hunters: Paul, Mya, and Michael.
"I'd heard that my grandson was on a journey through Hoenn. But Michael, you told me that you had killed Adam as we fled our base in Johto. How is he alive once again?" Jacob questioned.
"I don't know. But if I had to guess, his father's Aura powers go far beyond what we ever imagined. Ash may have the power to thwart death itself!" Michael answered nervously.
"He's clearly too dangerous to be left alive. We captured him once, to make use of his powers, but now it might be impossible." Mya noted.
"No matter. We don't need him. We have these." Jacob said, motioning to the large case on his desk. He then stood up and opened it, revealing a Red Orb and a Blue Orb.
"Even with the Mark of Arceus, Ash will not be able to stop our control over TWO Legendary Pokemon at once." Jacob continued. "Not to mention that this base is impregnable, thanks to the mind control technology that we used during our Johto operation. If the police or anyone else tries to approach this island, their Pokemon will fall under our control and turn against them."
"Yes, and our own Pokemon army guarding the island and the ocean around it will attack anyone who isn't a member of Team Rocket." Paul added.
"And the with the Wallace Cup taking place in Sootopolis City, that city will be the perfect place for us to strike first. With so many people gathered, their many deaths would certainly send a message to Hoenn and the rest of the world that we mean business!" Mya cried.
"Our spies there have confirmed that my granddaughter is also there in the city. They'll capture her right before we strike." said Jacob. "I never got the chance to mold her into my successor in Johto, since Adam rescued her at the last minute. But there will be no hesitation this time!"
"One last thing." said Paul. "Whatever happens, Ash's life is mine. Subdue him if you must, but I will be the one who takes his life. He could've killed me during our fight in Johto, but letting me live was the biggest mistake he ever made! I won't show the same weakness of mercy that he did. This isn't about pride anymore, no. It's about revenge. Revenge on the one man who's constantly bested me."
"The time is drawing close. In just a few days, we attack Hoenn. Sootopolis city will be the first to fall against the might of both Kyogre and Groudon!" Jacob boldly declared.
Author's Note: Adam and his friends all pass the appeals round of the Wallace Cup, but the real challenge is still to come in the next stage!
But unbeknownst to them, Team Rocket's evil plan is about to be carried out, with Sootopolis City as the first target!
How will our heroes fare in the Wallace Cup battles? Will they be able to survive and stop Team Rocket again?
Find out as we get closer to the story's climax in Pokemon NG!
