"So this is what's called a Contest," Ash explained quietly. "Do you want to hear what a Contest is?"
Zorua nodded, stretching, and Ash turned his head a little so he could see both the Normal-type and the stage.
It was a bit awkward, because he and Koraidon were taking up two places in the accessible seating area, but they weren't taking them from anyone else and that was what Ash thought mattered for whether or not they were causing too much trouble. And he was doing his best not to say anything too loudly, either.
Sometimes it was all about balancing things so you made the best choice, Ash decided.
"A Pokémon Contest comes in two parts," he said. "The first part is where a Pokémon does a performance on the stage, and they try to look impressive. So they use their moves in clever ways, or in ways that are hard to do, things like that."
"Okay," Zorua replied.
His head tilted. "Like Pikachu?"
"Pikachu does some cool things with his moves, yeah," Ash said. "...which Pikachu do you mean, actually?"
Zorua pointed. "Her one."
May was walking out onto the floor, and Ash started watching what May was doing instead of looking at Zorua.
"Then, yes, her Pikachu specializes in this kind of thing, like most of May's Pokémon," he agreed.
May sent out Cosplay-chu as he was talking, revealing the complete costume they'd put together – a patterned cassock, with a drawn-back hood, and an ornate-looking staff which she held in one paw.
"Fairy Wind!" May called, and her Pikachu swirled her staff around in one paw and then the other. Glittering silver-pink light came misting off it, rising into the air in billows that rose in a spiral before gathering in a cloud high overhead, and Ash watched with interest as it formed into not just any cloud but a kind of anvil-shaped cloud with a flat top and bottom.
"Ooh," Zorua said. "How?"
"I don't know exactly," Ash answered. "She's using a move called Fairy Wind which is about… sparkling energy in with moving air, and she's controlling it very exactly. She's good at that, but it depends how she's dressed, we don't really know why."
"Like how I don't know how to do some things, even things I know I can do," Latias contributed. "That often happens. It's okay to not know how to do something or how it works."
Zorua nodded, then out on the stage May clapped her hands.
"Okay, that's a good start!" she said. "Now, Thunderbolts!"
Cosplaychu did a twirl, raising her staff into the air, and sparks flickered around her cheeks.
Then she used Thunderbolt, without a lot of strength but with a lot of speed, so that it was hard to tell if the thunderbolt had gone up or down. It flashed up into the Fairy Wind 'thundercloud' overhead, making it look as if it was a thunder strike coming down on her position, and Zorua squeaked.
"It's okay," Koraidon told him. "It's happening out there on the stage, but we're here, and all of us would make sure to keep you safe. Right?"
Only Zorua's ears and fur tufts were visible for a long moment, then he slowly raised his head again.
"Okay," he said, snuggling into his ruff. "Safe."
Cosplay-chu had continued with her display, using smaller bolts this time, and sometimes they came from one side of the cloud and sometimes from the other. Then there was enough of a charge difference between the two sides of the cloud that she got sheet lightning, and finally she finished the Appeal with a subtle little Fairy Wind which split up, going in all directions, then combined again above the cloud and pushed it down into her.
She spun around with an Iron Tail, deflecting it, and it turned into a whoosh of sparkles which spread out everywhere.
After the Appeal round was over, while the judging was going on, Ash turned his attention to Zorua again.
"I didn't remember to ask, before – how much do you remember from when you were in your egg?" he asked. "I know Pokémon remember something, but I don't know how much you did."
Zorua thought about that, muzzle wrinkling.
"Tired, a lot?" he said. "Warm, mostly, but cold sometimes. Lots of words… can't remember well."
He yawned. "Better now."
"I'm glad you feel better now," Ash smiled. "That's really what matters, right?"
Zorua nodded, giving a little smile, then settled himself down again.
The judges seemed to be taking a longer time than normal, probably because of two Appeals that had scored really close together, and Ash turned his attention to Latias.
"Do you think you'll be okay doing the Spirit Symbol battle?" he asked. "At the Battle… Palace, I think, it's the next one."
"Yes," Latias agreed. "I don't know what it's going to be, but… yes. I'm going to give it a go."
She frowned. "What about if it's not one on one? Who else are you going to have available?"
Ash had to think about that.
"I guess… it'd be nice if I spread the Battle Frontier experience out among my team," he said. "That's what I've been doing so far. I… don't really know, I'll have to think about it."
Then the judges announced who'd made it through, and Ash looked up to see that May had comfortably reached the Battle Round.
"Zorua?" he said, getting the Ghost-type's attention. "The second half of a Contest is what's called the Battle Round. It's like a Pokémon Battle, but the Pokémon still need to do things that look good and show skill and stuff. Making mistakes can be a big problem here."
"They're big problems normally, aren't they?" Max asked, then sniggered.
"Sorry, I just realized," he said. "It's not related to the Contest, but I realized that all May and I have told Dad so far is that Zorua's a weird Zorua – not that he's Normal and Ghost type. I wonder what he'll think…"
Since it was one of those Contests where you used different Pokémon in the Appeal and Battle Rounds, May switched from her Pikachu to her Skitty.
The feline Normal-type wasn't quite as extravagantly stylish as she'd been in the Hoenn Grand Festival, seeming to rely on her own paws to move around rather than yanking herself with her Magnet Bomb trick, and at first Ash wondered if she wasn't feeling well… but, as the Battle Rounds continued, with Skitty going through the quarter-final thanks to careful use of Swift and moved on to the semi-final, he wondered if it was something else entirely.
"I know that look," Latias said. "You're thinking, right?"
"Yeah," Ash agreed. "I think Skitty's trying to modify her style so it's… still got flair, but it's less chaotic."
"Oh, yeah, I see what you mean," Latias said, nodding.
Skitty was up against a Nidorina, now, and she skipped to the side with a flick of her tail.
"Terribly sorry to spoil your attack," she said. "I think you're quite a talented Pokémon, but unfortunately I'd also like to win this Contest, I hope you appreciate the problem."
"Are you trying to joke with me?" Nidorina asked.
"I'm quite sincere," Skitty answered.
"Nidorina, Poison Sting!" her trainer said, and Nidorina fired out a spray of poisonous projectiles. Even though it sounded like an unpleasant attack, there was still a Contest styling to it, and the Poison-type didn't just launch them out randomly – instead she fired them in a spiral pattern that moved inwards, giving it structure while not letting Skitty easily dodge out of the way.
"Magnet Bomb!" May said, and Skitty flicked out a steely sphere.
While before Skitty might have pulled herself out of the way of the attack, now she pulled the attack out of the way of her – the magnetic influence of the Magnet Bomb making all the Poison Sting projectiles click into the stage ahead of her, not one of them actually getting through.
She followed that up with a Swift, curving them around the Magnet Bomb as well, and Nidorina's attempt to defend herself with a Water Pulse only partly worked.
"Earth Power!" Nidorina's trainer ordered.
The Earth Power looked good as well, having a splitting, cracking structure like a lightning bolt rather than a simpler line.
"Magical Leaves!" May told her Pokémon. "Jump!"
Skitty jumped just before the Earth Power reached her, and the swirl of Magical Leaves she produced gave her a set of paw-holds – letting her walk on air until the Earth Power had dissipated, two or three leaves at a time.
Then she did a forwards flip, and smacked the platform with her tail. She released a Thunderbolt at the same time, charging up the Magical Leaves, and they rained down on the startled Nidorina with a dozen little electrical explosions.
"Oh, I recognize that one," Max said. "That's a copy of that thing Harley's Wigglytuff did, isn't it?"
"I'm sure Skitty will give credit if someone asks her."
May's finals opponent was a trainer called Brianna, whose Vibrava had an energetic style.
She'd actually had Vibrava defeat a Gardevoir with Dragon Breath, because even though it hadn't done any damage it had made Gardevoir flinch and that combined with the presentation of the attack had earned the last few points Vibrava had needed.
The actual final began with Vibrava whirling up a sandstorm, wings humming as he used Sand Tomb, and Skitty countered by using three Magnet Bombs to create a clear area for herself.
The problem that she then had was that, while she wasn't being hit by the attack, she was still trapped and she and May were rapidly losing points.
"Skitty, throw the Magnet Bombs in the air!" May said. "Then use your new attack!"
"New attack?" Vrianna repeated. "Vibrava – Screech!"
The Dragon-type changed the pitch of his wings, making a humming scream with them that pulsed into the Sand Tomb, and Skitty's Magnet Bombs got partly overloaded so the Sand Tomb started beating away at her again.
She retaliated by flicking one of the orbs up into the air with her tail, pulling the other two, then detonated all three in quick succession – which meant that the sand nearest the Magnet Bombs was affected most strongly by the sudden switch from an inwards pull to an outwards blast.
That left a hole, and Skitty's tail was already swirling up her newest attack – an orb of blue light, which she batted out directly at the surprised Vibrava.
Surprised he may have been, but Vibrava was agile. He stood on his tail, wings resonating as he pulled up into an impressive backflip, and Skitty's attack responded to that by curving in the air so it hit Vibrava anyway.
Around Skitty, the tattered remains of the Sand Tomb fell as Vibrava stopped focusing on it, and she shook herself out for a moment.
"Very impressive," she said.
"Swift!" May called, and Skitty fired out a whole stream of Swift stars.
This time, they didn't go directly after Vibrava. They spread out, forming a starry pattern in the air, then all focused back in on the Dragon-type at once, and a last-minute attempt to protect himself with Dragon Breath was only partly successful.
"I'll be honest, I thought most of that was taunts," Vibrava said, after the Battle Round was over and while May was getting her Ribbon. "It seemed like you were trying to throw me off."
"Not at all!" Skitty replied, flirting her tail. "You had a wonderful touch with that Sand Tomb attack, and I mean that sincerely – you did after all reach the finals, and I flatter myself to say that I'm quite good at this myself. No, there's a few improvements perhaps, but that's always the case – nothing is perfect."
Vibrava still looked a little puzzled. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I thought a Skitty would be more… catty."
"Ah, I see the confusion," Skitty said. "I'm aspirational. Who says I should have to evolve to be delicate?"
AN:
Never-miss attacks.
And Thunderbolt, for some reason.