Episode 39: Two's a Crowd
Inside the Starside Contest Hall the audience is cheering. Gillian Meridian steps onto the stage and declares, "Welcome one and all the Starside Contest! We may have had some difficulties yesterday, but the show must go on! I'm sure you're all as excited as I am to see today's double performances!" The audience cheers louder.
Why, I couldn't have said it better myself! Since that's been taken care of, let's just watch!
Gillian continues, "But first, allow me to introduce our wonderful panel of judges! First, it's the Contest Director himself, Mr. Contesta!"
Contesta greats, "Hello one and all, I am truly excited to see what we have in store for today!"
"Then it's the one, the only, the remarkable, Mr. Sukizo!"
Sukizo grins and proclaims, "I'm sure the near cancelation of this contest will only make it that much more remarkable!"
"And finally, we have our beautiful guest judge, Starside City's Nurse Joy!"
Nurse Joy blushes. "Thank you so much for having me."
In the audience, Brock says, "Beautiful…she sure has that right…"
Ash elbows him. "Come on Brock, we're here to watch Brenda, not Nurse Joy."
Brock rapidly shakes his head to snap himself out of it. "Yes, of course…sorry."
Gillian continues, "Now I hope you'll all join me in welcoming the coordinators and their Pokémon. First out, it's Jessileia!"
Jessie in her costume runs out onto the stage. She shouts, "That's Princess Jessileia, and don't you forget it!" She then takes her position and pulls out two Pokéballs. "Grace the stage, Buzzsaw and Wobbuffet!"
Both Pokémon appear with a dazzling display of sparkling lights from the Pokéballs' seals. Wobbuffet declares, "Wobbuffet!"
Buzzsaw adds, "Buzz zzzzz zzzzz zzz!"
James and Meowth are watching from the audience. Meowth says, "Alright, this is it, the moment of truth."
James nods in agreement. "Yes, time to see if all of that training Jessie did will pay off." He then cheers, "You can do it Jessie! I mean Jessileia!"
Jessie begins, "Wobbuffet, use your Mirror Coat, and give it a twirl while you're at it!" Wobbuffet begins to spin around as fast as it can, and glows with the Mirror Coat. "Now Buzzsaw, use you Flash Cannon on Wobbuffet, but only just graze it!" From between its mandibles, Buzzsaw unleashes a beam of silvery light that, as Jessie commands, just grazes Wobbuffet. Wobbuffet's Mirror Coat and spinning causes the Flash Cannon to refract around the room, causing the entire stage to twinkle and glow. Jessie begins to twirl around like a ballerina herself.
The audience oohs and ahhs. Gillian states, "What a brilliant combination! The mirror effect of Wobbuffet's Mirror Coat is causing the light of Buzzsaw's Flash Cannon to cover this room in a brilliant light show!"
Jessie grins. "This is nice, but what's a dance without some music? Buzzsaw, focus your Bug Buzz on Wobbuffet! Wobbuffet, Mirror Coat on and off in the practiced pattern!"
Buzzsaw unleashes its Bug Buzz, but instead of sending the shockwaves of sound outwards and all around it, it focuses in a tight wave straight at Wobbuffet. Wobbuffet begins to rapidly cover and uncover itself with Mirror Coat. The Bug Buzz begins, and everyone is surprised at the results. Whenever Bug Buzz is reflected by Mirror Coat a note is made. Wobbuffet's alteration of Mirror Coats actually makes it sound like a piece of music is being played. Jessie continues to dance.
After a little of this, Jessie then declares, "And now for the grand finale! Buzzsaw, Night Slash on Wobbuffet! Wobbuffet, you use Counter!" Buzzsaw flies at Wobbuffet with shadows covering its mandibles. Wobbuffet becomes cloaked in the orange energy of a Counter. Buzzsaw slashes. The moment its attack makes contact with Wobbuffet an explosion of shadows covers the stage.
Gillian says with some confusion, "Jessileia and her Pokémon seem to have covered the field in shadows…I'm not sure what good that does her if we can't see what she's doing."
Then the shadows clear and Jessie declares, "Ta da!" She is standing on top of Wobbuffet, striking a pose, and Buzzsaw is perched on the top of her hair.
The crowd cheers. Mr. Contesta says, "That was a very creative way to use Wobbuffet's purely defensive move set, and combine it with Buzzsaw's primarily offensive move set!"
Mr. Sukizo declares, "Watching that performance made me feel remarkable!"
Nurse Joy adds, "We may not have known why you would cover yourself up at the end, but the surprise pose truly helped to tie the show together."
Jessie and her Pokémon take a bow.
Watching via a screen backstage is Brenda, wearing her contest clothes. Someone steps up behind her and says, "She seems to have gotten better, hasn't she?"
Brenda looks up to see Will standing behind her. "Oh, hi Will. Yeah, she has."
"Must have been a lot of training on her end. Speaking of that, how much training did you do?"
Brenda's about to answer truthfully, but pauses. She then simply says, "Enough."
Will shakes his head and sits down next to Brenda. "You can never get enough training. There's always room for improvement."
Brenda shrugs. "I'm ready. I know it."
Will nods. "Well that's a different story. Good luck out there."
Brenda nods back. "You too. I'm looking forward to our rematch."
Will grins. "You'll get it."
Several more performances pass. Various coordinators show off their double performances. Eventually, Gillian announces, "Alright, next up is Brenda!"
Brenda runs out onto the stage. Eager to get to her performance, she pulls out her Pokéballs right away and tosses them. "Kappaqua, Rabbolt, center stage!" Each ball has its own seal. One releases a cloud of bubbles, and the other pulses of electricity. In an ironic twist, Rabbolt appears from the bubbles and Kappaqua from the electricity. "Alright, let's start things off with a bang! Kappaqua, send an Aqua Bomb straight up into the air! Rabbolt, let's send a precisely aimed Shockwave right at it!" Kappaqua launches an orb of water towards the roof. Rabbolt then sends a precise bolt of electricity at the water. The moment the two attacks collide, they explode. First the mist from the water of the aqua bomb is sent in all directions, then the electricity from the Shockwave spreads out across in a brilliant dance, jumping between each particle of mist. The spectators are entranced.
Brenda grins. "Before the mist lands, catch it all with Confusion!" Kappaqua leaps forward and gathers its concentration. Using its psychic powers, it catches and levitates all of the electrified mist in the air. "Now bring it back together!" Kappaqua pulls in all of them mist, and reconstructs the original orb of water. "Now drop it!" The water falls towards the ground. "Rabbolt, cover yourself in a Static Cloak and use Bounce get on top of the water!" Rabbolt's fur begins to glisten with the Static Cloak and leaps up, and fall down on to the water just before it hits the ground. Rabbolt pounds right through it, causing the water to now splash outwards, creating a disk around it. For the moment this disk hangs in the air, it carries the electricity from Rabbolt's Static Cloak and shimmers just like Rabbolt. The water then falls to the ground. Brenda takes a bow.
Gillian exclaims, "What a stunning performance! But don't take my word for it, let's see what the judges have to say."
Mr. Contesta says, "The movements and coordination of your Pokémon was spot on. I can't imagine how long you must have practiced to get that right." Brenda grins awkwardly at the statement.
Mr. Sukizo declares, "I'm not sure if remarkable even covers this performance!"
Nurse Joy adds, "You blended the opposites of water and electricity perfectly. That was a pleasure to watch."
Who's that Pokémon!?
This Pokémon dwells in volcanic caves. It digs in with its cross-shaped feet to crawl on ceilings and walls.
An explosion of both shadows and sparkles ripples above the stage. Will, Ravenoir, and Helioptile all bow. Mr. Contesta declares, "What a stunning performance, the contrast of light and darkness was amazing!"
Mr. Sukizo proclaims, "What else can I say but remarkable?"
Nurse Joy adds, "That was a wonderful way to end today's Appeal Stage."
Gillian announces, "And there you have it folks, that brings the Appeal Stage of this year's Starside Contest to a conclusion! Now we'll let our judges deliberate and we'll have the results of who's moving on in no time at all!"
Will heads backstage. He notices Brenda sitting on the same bench as before. He walks over to her and asks, "So how do you feel?"
Brenda looks up to him in surprise. "Oh, hi again. That performance you just did was great."
Will smiles. "Thanks. I out a lot of effort into making sure that Helioptile was up to it. It rose to the occasion in the end."
Brenda nods. "That's nice. I'm confident in my performance. I'm certain I'm moving on."
Will nods with agreement. "It does seem likely."
Brenda grins. "It looks like we're going to get our rematch."
Will chuckles and says, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. The Battle Round of a double performance is an entirely different ballgame from the Appeal Stage."
Brenda scoffs at the notion. "I can handle it."
"Don't get too overconfident now."
Over the TV, they hear Gillian announce, "Alright everyone, the verdict has been delivered! Our judges have decided the lucky eight coordinators who get to move on to compete in the Battle Rounds! If you would please turn your attention to the screen!"
Pictures begin to appear on the screen. Brenda's is the first to appear. Brenda leaps up and cheers, "Yeah, I got first place!"
In the audience, Ash and Brock look at each other excitedly. Ash says with disbelief, "Brenda actually got first place!"
Pikachu cheers, "Pik pikachu!"
Pictures of coordinators continue to appear. Will is in third place, immediately followed by Jessie in fourth. Jessie simply smiles to herself and asks, "Was there ever any doubt?" The remaining four images appear.
Brenda turns to Will and says, "I guess my overconfidence was warranted. I even beat you."
He responds sternly, "Once again, the Battle Round is completely different. Don't get ahead of yourself."
Gillian then announces, "And now to see the first round match-ups!" On the screen, a tournament bracket appears. The first match is Brenda against Jessie, and the last is Will against the coordinator that got second place in the Appeal Stage.
It's Heatran!
Brenda and Jessie have each taken their positions on the stage. In front of Jessie is Repiv and Haking, and in front of Brenda is Kappaqua and Glitterfly. Gillian announces, "Five minutes on the clock, battle begin!"
Jessie declares, "With all the experience you two have battling together, there's no way we can lose this! Repiv, use Poison Sting on Glitterfly! Haking, use Sludge Bomb on Kappaqua!"
Brenda declares, "Well there's no way we're losing this either! Both of you, dodge now!" Both Pokémon listen and dodge, the only problem is that they move towards each other and crash. They bump off of each other and back into the range of the attacks. They are both hit. Brenda is shocked. "What…?"
The judges are not amused. They shake their heads and a large chunk of points is subtracted from Brenda's total.
Jessie laughs. "Ha, you call yourself a Pokémon coordinator? Your Pokémon have no coordination whatsoever! Repiv, capture Kappaqua with Wrap, then Haking, blind Glitterfly with Smokescreen!"
Brenda shakes off the surprise of what just happened and commands, "Kappaqua, stop Repiv with Confusion! Glitterfly, blow away the Smokescreen with Gust!"
Kappaqua uses its confusion to catch Repiv as it lunges towards it. Haking does cover Glitterfly with smoke, but Glitterfly blows it away easily with Gust. However, Glitterfly's gust also causes Kappaqua to lose it concentration, freeing Repiv. Repiv manages to get a hold of Kappaqua and squeezes it tight. Further points are deducted from Brenda's total.
Up in the audience, Ash asks, "What's going on? Brenda did so well in the Appeal Stage. Why is she suddenly messing up here?"
Brock says, "Different Pokémon work differently together. Kappaqua and Rabbolt may have been a winning combination, but it looks like Kappaqua and Glitterfly aren't."
Backstage, Will is watching with disbelief and disapproval. He shakes his head and groans.
Jessie laughs. "I've been waiting for a moment like this for a long time! This is great! Repiv, let's use a Poison Fang on Kappaqua!"
Brenda is still stunned by what's happening, but she manages to order, "Glitterfly, help Kappaqua out! Use Signal Beam on Repiv!" Glitterfly attacks with a beam of rainbow light.
Jessie orders, "Out of the way Repiv!" Repiv releases its grip on Kappaqua quickly slithers away.
Brenda watches in horror as Glitterfly's Signal Beam hits Kappaqua. The judges are looking annoyed at this point. A significant amount of points are taken from Brenda.
Having been hit by Glitterfly's attack, Kappaqua is angered. It shouts at Glitterfly, "Kappapapaqa!" Without being told to do anything, it then sends an Aqua Bomb at Glitterfly.
Glitterfly dodges out of the way and shouts angrily back, "Glittererererfly!" Then attack Kappaqua with another Signal Beam, this time on purpose.
Nurse Joy stands up and declares, "Enough! This battle is over!" The other judges nod in agreement. They reduce Brenda's points to nothing. Nurse Joy scolds, "If your Pokémon can't work together as a team, then you are disqualified."
Brenda freezes in shock. She is stunned and speechless. Jessie is shocked as well. She asks under her breath, "I…actually won? I beat the Twerpette?"
James and Meowth cheer in absolute joy. They shout at the same time, "Jessie won! Jessie actually won for once!"
Mr. Contesta says sternly, "I don't know what you were thinking entering this contest with your Pokémon so ill prepared. Get off this stage now."
Mr. Sukizo sighs, "Not remarkable at all…"
In a state of emotional shock, Brenda returns the still arguing Kappaqua and Glitterfly to their Pokéballs and walks off the stage. Once she offstage and out of sight off anyone, she runs down the hallway and begins to sob. She keeps on running until she makes it to a dark and empty room. She just falls down in a corner and continues to cry.
After a short time of this, the door to the room opens. Ash and Brock walk in. Ash says, "Come on Brenda, you don't have to cry."
She looks up for a moment to see them, then lowers her head again. She sobs, "Leave me alone."
Brock comforts, "It's not that bad. Anyone can have a bad day, it's not the end of the world."
Ash says, "Yeah, cheer up. It's not your fault."
A voice from behind Ash says sternly, "No, it is her fault."
Ash and Brock look behind them to see that Will has just walked into the room. He is upset. He walks right past Ash and Brock to Brenda. He looks at her with some disgust. "You do realize that, right? This is all your fault. It's not your Pokémon's, it's not Jessileia's, and it's not the judges'. It's your fault."
Ash, sounding a little upset, steps up to Will and says, "Hey, stop that. Can't you see she's having a hard time?"
Will nods. "Yes, and she needs to hear this, so back off." He looks back to Brenda. "You didn't do a single bit of training, did you?" He waits for an answer, but gets none. He then demands, "Answer the question!"
Brenda looks up to him, sniffles, and shakes her head slowly.
"Just as I thought. When I first saw you in a contest, I complimented you on your natural talent. Then you went on to win a ribbon on only your second try. You let that all get to your head. I don't care how much innate talent you have, you can't just charge into a situation and assume everything's going to work out. I bet that you never even once had your Kappaqua and Glitterfly battle together. You had no way of knowing if they could form a team or not. You, in your pure arrogance, decided that they would do just fine. Their messing up out there isn't their fault, it's purely yours. You got lucky that Rabbolt and Kappaqua worked so well together, nothing more. You didn't even deserve to make it past the first round. You were even warned by the performance of my Helioptile and Cryogonal that not all Pokémon teams work, but instead you just waltzed in here assuming that everything was going to go perfect for you, without even the simplest test of Pokémon compatibility."
Brenda looks up to him. She's about to say something in her defense, but then just stops.
Will nods. "And you know I'm right. It was an insult to us other Coordinators who spent countless hours training. You took the spot of someone else who deserved to make it to the Battle Rounds much more than you did! When I first met you, and you told me that you had only first heard of Contests days before entering your first, I thought that was ridiculous and, to be frank, slightly insulting that you think you would just enter a contest while knowing almost nothing about them. But then I saw your performance and your raw talent. I decided to give you chance. I thought that if you trained right, you could become a great Coordinator. Now I know my original assumption was correct. You don't deserve to call yourself a Pokémon Coordinator, and until you get more serious about this, you shouldn't be." He turns around and begins to leave the room. He stops at the door. Without turning to face Brenda, he adds, "You have lost any respect I had for you, natural talent or not." He leaves.
Once he's gone, Brenda just begins to sob harder. Ash tries to comfort, "You don't have to listen to him Brenda."
Brenda shakes her head and sobs, "No…he's right. He's right about everything. I don't deserve to be a Pokémon Coordinator. I don't deserve to at all." She just keeps on crying.
Will and Jessie are now battling in what seems to be the final round. Jessie has Repiv and Haking, Will has his Cryogonal and a Duosion. Both sides seem to have taken heavy damage. Jessie orders, "Poison Sting and Sludge Bomb now!" Her Pokémon both launch their attacks.
Will counters, "Duosion, Light Screen!" Duosion creates a barrier of light around it and Cryogonal, blocking the attacks. "Now Cryogonal, Aurora Beam!" Cryogonal unleashes a beam of rainbow light. It passes through the Light Screen is refracted in all different directions. It is impossible for Repiv and Haking to dodge.
The clock hits zero and Gillian announces, "And that's time! Let's look to the scores to see who are winner is!" On the screen, Will and Jessie's points look almost exactly even, both have nearly ran out. Gillian announces, "And winning by just the slimmest of margins is Princess Jessileia!"
Jessie recoils with surprise. "I…actually…won…?"
James and Meowth begin to jump for joy again, even more excitedly than before. They chant, "Jessie won a contest! Jessie won a contest!" They do this to the point of annoying the other spectators around them.
James declares, "This is a proud day for Team Rocket!"
Meowth nods. "Today Team Rocket is victorious!"
They both shout at once, "Team Rocket won't be blasting off today!" The other spectators continue to glare at them.
Ash and Brock step back into the room where Brenda was crying. She's no longer crying, but she's still just sitting in corner. Her eyes are red from all her crying. Ash says, "We came to see if you were better."
Brock adds, "The contest just ended, Jessileia beat Will in the final round." Brenda doesn't respond.
Ash urges, "Come on Brenda, you can't just sit here forever."
Then there's a flash of light, and both Kappaqua and Glitterfly appear from their Pokéballs at once. Brenda looks from one to the other. She finally asks meekly, "What are you two doing?"
Kappaqua then solemnly says, "Kappa appa…"
Glitterfly adds, "Glitter…"
A small grin comes to her face. "You want to apologize for before?" She sniffles. "There's no need to apologize. What happened on that stage was my fault and mine alone. I failed you as your trainer…"
Kappaqua and Glitterfly move in close to Brenda and hug her. Brenda smiles slightly. Ash, Brock, and Pikachu then bend and hug her too. Ash says, "You're going to have to deal with tough times and challenges sometimes Brenda, there's nothing you can do but just move on."
Brenda takes a deep breath. "Move on…yeah…you're right." She stands up and forces a full smile. "Now come on, why don't we get moving? Starcore City is just on the other side of the mountains outside this town. Let's go."
Ash grins. "Yeah, let's."
The Narrator says solemnly, So Brenda has hit a major bump on her road to become a Top Coordinator. Can she overcome it? Only time will tell. Stay tuned…
To Be Continued…
