Once they reached Saffron, May went straight to the Contest Hall to register.
On the way there, though, a familiar face met her.
"May!" Harley said."Dear me, what are you doing here? Don't you know Saffron City is the Shining Big City of Kanto?"
"It is?" May asked, looking around. "I suppose it does look big and shining, but I didn't realize it was a city. I'm surprised to see you here, though, I didn't know you were going to Kanto."
Harley spread his hands. "What can I say? I thought I'd come here and enjoy a new style – though, speaking of, it's actually very convenient switching between Hoenn and Kanto. You can use your Hoenn pass in Kanto, there's no need to get a new one sorted out, and sign ups are available until 11AM tomorrow."
"Oh!" May gasped. "That's a shame."
Harley looked curious. "It is?"
"Yes, I left my Hoenn pass in Hoenn," May explained. "I'll just have to register all over again… I'd better get started today just to make sure I've got the time."
She smiled. "How are your Pokémon doing? Is Octillery okay?"
"Octillery is just fine with the weather here," Harley said. "Though I'm a bit worried about Cacturne's needles…"
Once May had sorted out the paperwork, she sighed with relief.
"Conversations with Harley are a bit like playing minesweeper," she said. "You're not quite sure if you'll click right or not, and if you make a mistake it's annoying."
"...oh, right," Max realized, just ahead of Ash. "It says over there that sign ups are until ten AM tomorrow."
"And they don't do regional Contest pass compatibility, at least not between Hoenn and Kanto," May replied. "I checked that after the Ever Grande Conference, before we actually came to Kanto."
Ash was impressed, and said so.
"You know…" Pikachu said. "Since we've got until tomorrow…"
"Welcome, challenger," Sabrina said, then smiled. "Oh, I see you're not here for a Gym battle."
"That's right," Ash agreed. "We were going back through Saffron City because of something May's doing, and wanted to check how you and Haunter were getting on!"
Haunter phased through the floor.
"BOO!" she said, then looked at Ash, then Pikachu.
Then started laughing uproariously.
"He's a Pokémon!" she said, banging her fists on the floor. "That's brilliant! Better than the best gag I could have thought of!"
"She's right," Sabrina said, hiding her mouth. "It is funny. And – is that a Latias next to you?"
Latias decloaked, waving, and Haunter looked at her.
Then at Ash.
"Okay, never mind, I found something funnier," the Ghost-type said.
Ash and Latias exchanged a confused look, not sure what she meant.
"Ready for this?" May asked.
Her Pikachu nodded, then took a quick breath before sighing it out again. "Chuchu… pika."
"It's going to be fine," May assured her. "Just do what we practiced and you'll be fine."
She smiled. "And at least now we know we can work together on the next one, either way!"
Pikachu nodded, adjusting her hat, then May returned her and headed out onto the Contest stage.
May stepped out onto the main Contest stage, bowed, then sent out her Pikachu.
The Electric-type was wearing a complete costume that she'd cut, whittled, tied and sewed herself, except for the pointed hat which was the one that May had made for her. The combination – of black cloak, pointed hat and staff with a bundle of bristles at one end – made her look very much like a traditional witch, complete with broomstick, and she did a twirl as the smoke from the Smoke Seal faded away.
"Let's see a spell!" May said, and Pikachu's cheeks chirped with lightning. She held up her free paw, swishing her broomstick with the other paw, and a sparkling Thunderbolt rose up into the air before destabilizing and branching out into a forest of smaller bolts that dissipated into the air.
She pointed her broomstick three more times, each time accompanying it with a splintering Thunderbolt, and with the broomstick moving at the same time as the Thunderbolt it became easier to see that she was deliberately comparing the two.
"Oh, see, that's why I'm not a Contest Pokémon," Ash's Pikachu said. "I would have kept working on Thunderbolt until I could keep it stable all the way to the target, if that was happening. Not deliberately aim for it to fall apart like that."
May, meanwhile, had put her hands on her hips.
"I'm not sure that was a magical spell," she said, waggling her finger.
"Why's that?" her Pikachu asked, ears twitching and making her hat bob back and forth.
"Well, you are a Pikachu," May pointed out. "So that could just be something Pikachu do."
"Well, if it's magic you want," Pikachu said, switching her broomstick to her other paw.
Then used Mystical Fire.
Unlike Thunderbolt, the attack didn't spike and flash out in a single firework-like burst. It wafted, blowing off her free paw in an invisible breeze, and grew upwards like a vine with little leaf-like curls dripping from it and a kind of natural, curving shape.
It spiralled once around May, growing taller, then Pikachu took her paw away and the Mystical Fire kept growing on its own. It began to disappear at the source end, but grew just as fast at the higher end, then the leaves burst into a thousand little flickers of fire that spread like glitter into the air.
Then they all went out at once. All except one, which drifted right back down to Pikachu, and she caught it in her paw and blew it out.
"...hmm," Max said, fiddling with his Pokénav. "I know Professor Oak said something about keeping track of her abilities… that's a lot more mastery of Mystical Fire than Latias had the first couple of days, right?"
"She learned it extremely quickly," Latias agreed. "I don't think I could do that now."
"And she forgets it as soon as… well, maybe it's like Ash's badges and things, where they only apply when she's holding it…"
"Are you doing research in the middle of the Contest?" Brock asked.
"Yes?" Max replied. "My name is Maple, I think it's allowed."
Ash sniggered, then wondered if his first name counted for that.
For the Battle Rounds, May called not on Pikachu but on Combusken, and the lithe Fire-type went up against Harley's Ariados – a new Pokémon that May hadn't seen from him before.
Despite the type disadvantage, Harley really made May work hard in the Battle Round, using Spider Web and String Shot as distractions and shields to cover the Shadow Ball attacks that Ariados was actually using to battle with. Combusken used Fire Spin and Feather Dance to defend himself, but it was defending, and while he got points at first for destroying Ariados's attacks (or, Ariados lost points, which was the same thing) it quickly became clear what Harley was actually planning.
"What would you do in a situation like this?" Latias asked Ash quietly.
"Well…" Ash began, thinking. "I guess my first instinct would be to have Combusken just close in to fight there, or maybe combine Feather Dance and Fire Spin into an attack? Make it harder for Ariados to just sit back and fire attacks at Combusken."
He frowned. "But, then, that seems simple enough that I guess May's probably thought of it, and has an idea why it wouldn't work? Unless she's out of practice, but I wouldn't want to bet on that."
"Combusken!" May called, as Ash was thinking. "Flame off – Quick Attack!"
Combusken's Fire Spin faded away, and the avian Fire-type crouched for a moment before springing towards Ariados.
"Spider Web, slow him down," Harly instructed, and Ariados fired a web that was as tall as Combusken was high.
"Double Kick!" May told Combusken, and he kicked out with first one foot and then the other. The first one tangled him in the web, then just as he made the second kick Ash saw what was going on.
"Oh, right, I get it!" he said. "It's-"
"Pull!" May said, and Combusken yanked.
Ariados had expected to be able to detach the thread in a moment if Combusken began using a Fire attack. That meant that he hadn't detached the thread yet, and Combusken's pull brought Ariados suddenly much closer than the Bug-type had actually wanted to be.
"Flaming Feather Dance!"
Now Combusken used the combination Ash had been wondering about, igniting himself and burning off the threads tangling up his legs even as he did a twirl and surrounded himself with smouldering feathers.
Ariados retreated, but too slow to avoid being caught in some of the feather rain, and that one sequence cost Harley and Ariados a lot of points.
"The weird thing about Harley is, he can give you a compliment or insult you and you've still got no idea whether he approves of what you did or not," May said, as they met up again after the Contest. "Though I expect he'd say it's to keep me guessing…"
She smiled. "But what's really important now is that we do know what works for Cosplay-chu, and so we can work together on-"
"Sorry, I just finished processing that," Brock said. "Cosplay-chu?"
"I'll still say Pikachu, but if it's not clear if I mean Pikachu or Pikachu then I need a way to say Pikachu which makes it clear which Pikachu I mean," May said, straight-faced.
Brock's lips moved for a moment.
"I… think I get that," he decided.
AN:
Being friends with some people is exhausting, but probably better than not being friends with them.
I've got another Pokemon project just starting now because clearly I'm mad - a take on Mezase Pokémon Master.