Chapter 69: Flower Power
"A flowe decorating contest?"
Chloe nodded, holding the flier out to her friends.
"Yeah, it's all about bringing out your Pokemon's beauty and personality! The person in charge of it is said to have a Leafeon, so Eevee and I wanted to check it out."
"Evoi!"
"Sweet! Let's check it out!"
Goh, however, was apprehensive.
"Eh, I don't know. I'm not really into this flower stuff."
"Please, Goh?"
Goh tried to avoid Chloe's puppy dog eyes, but failed.
"Alright, I'll do it!"
"Great! Thanks, Goh!"
"Say, where is it being held, anyway?"
"The Celadon City Gym, today at 4 o'clock."
Ash froze when he heard this, something his friends were quick to notice.
"Is everything alright, Ash?"
"I've…had some bad experiences with that gym."
"Do you still want to go?"
Ash was silent for a minute, before nodding his head.
"It's been a long time, I'm sure they've forgotten about it by now."
But Ash soon found out that they hadn't.
"Oh, it's you again! Didn't we tell you to stay out?"
Ash just groaned. Just his luck that the lady in charge of sign ups was one of the girls who kicked him out of the gym last time.
"Come on, we're just here for the contest."
"Your friends can enter, but not you! And don't even think of trying to sneak back in like last time!"
"Last time?"
"Ash, what is she talking about?"
"What's going on here?"
Luckily, Erika had seen what was going on and stepped in to intervene.
"Nothing, Miss Erika. I was just reminding this dirtbag that he's still banned from the gym!"
Erikaa sighed in frustration.
"Jasmine, I told you this kind of behavior isn't acceptable. That incident was years ago, its time to let this petty grudge go."
"But-"
Erika's sharp glare shut Jasmine down. After that, she turned towards the quartet with a much brighter smile.
"Are you here for the contest? Right this way."
Erika led them into the actual gym area, where there were a few other trainers with their Pokemon. Taking their places on the matts provided, they found an assortment of flowers and tools waiting for them.
"You each have one hour to decorate your Pokemon as you see fit. I encourage you to try and bring out your Pokemon's inner beauty and true personality. And the winner shall receive this!"
She pulled out a Leaf Stone from her pocket, catching everyone's attention.
"And your time starts…now!"
A half hour later, everyone was making good progress on their work. Lillie and Snowy were making lily leis, which she then draped on Snowy, along with a few flowers stuck into her fur.
"There you go! Looking good, Snowy."
"Vul!"
Ash was working hard on his own design. He'd make a simple violet lei to act as a headband for Pikachu, and was now creating some floral patterns in his fur in the shape of a thunderbolt.
"Just a few more, and you'll be good, buddy."
"Pika Pika!"
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Erika watching him, but before he could say anything she quickly walked somewhere else, much to his confusion.
"Weird…"
Goh, meanwhile, was having issues. He had absolutely no idea what he wanted to do, and was just putting flowers on top of Cinderace in the hopes that something would stick. And unfortunately for Cinderace, nothing was.
"Maybe this? Or…maybe this?"
"Race."
Chloe hummed a little song to herself as she carefully picked the flowers she wanted to use, Eevee offering a helping paw whenever possible until, at last, she had everything she needed.
"Thanks, Eevee. Now to bring it all together."
"Excus me, miss?"
Chloe glanced up to see Erika standing over her.
"I can't help but notice you haven't started decorating your Eevee. Is everything alright?"
"Everything is perfect! I just had to get all of the flowers I needed."
Just then, Erika's Leafeon peaked his head out from behind her, glancing the young Eevee up and down curiously. Eevee smiled, and held out her paw for a shake, which Leafeon happil accepted.
"Looks like Eevee made a friend."
Chloe smiled and watched as the two ran around Erika in a game of tag.
"Alright Eevee, I'm all set. Let's let Miss Erika and Leafeon go help the others now."
"Oh, I'm alright by myself. Leafeon, why don't you stare here with Eevee? Just don't mess up Chloe's work, alright?"
Leafeon smiled, and nodded.
"Wow, thanks Erika!"
"Not a problem. Good luck!"
After another half hour had passed, it was time for the showcase. Lillie had used white lilies to create a dress for Snowy, which she proudly showed off to the oohs and awes of the audience. Ash had managed to give Pikachu Thunderbolt tattoos, the audience clapping as he flexed for them. Goh showed up with a jumbled mess of flowers all over Cinderace, who was rightfully embarrassed to be seen in public. Despite that, the audience still remained respectful and gave him some applause. Then came Chloe and Eevee.
The crowd gasped in awe when Eevee had taken the stage. Using as many different flowers and other tools as she could, Chloe had managed to make an ensemble based off of Eevee's entire evolutionary line. Head fins resembling a Vaporeon wrapped in violets adorned her head, a small coat of marigolds to resemble a Flareon's adorned her torso, her fur had been spiked a little to resemble a Jolteon's, a fake tail made to resemble an Esepon's adorned with azalea's hid her own, small black rings made out of iris flowers adorned her legs. One ear was tainted green with face paint, the other pure white. And last but not least, a ribbon of all the flowers was wrapped around her neck. Everyone was impressed.
"Man, Chloe really went all out!"
"That's my girl!"
Needless to say, Chloe won the contest, and Erika proudly handed her the Leaf Stone.
"You know Chloe, a leaf stone can actually be used to evolve her Eevee into Leafeon."
"Really? I thought you needed a Moss Rock for that."
"I thought so too, so imagine my surprise when my Eevee evolved when she dug one up in my backyard!"
Goh scribbled that down, making note to ask Professor Cerise about it later.
"Go ahead, why don't you give it a try?"
Chloe nodded, bending down and holding it out to Eevee. Eevee looked at it for a moment, tentatively hovering a paw over the stone for a moment before retracting it. Chloe smiled, and nodded in understanding.
"That's alright, maybe some other time."
"Eevee!"
Later at sunset, the group was ready to head back to Vermillion City. As they were about to leave, Erika held Ash back.
"Ash, can I speak to you for a minute?"
"Yeah sure, what's up?"
"I wanted to apologize to you for the…incident the last time you were here."
"Why? You weren't the one who banned me from your gym."
"No, but I was the cause of it. You see, back then I wasn't very good with criticism, and spent a good amount of time crying after that incident in the perfume store. My assistants are very loyal, so they banned you when they found out what happened. Unfortunately, they're not always the best at running these things by me, hence…"
Ash nodded, rather hoping she wouldn't finish that sentence.
"Well, I could've been a little bit nicer too. I might not like perfume, but I shouldn't have made so many comments like that, especially to your face."
"What do you say, friends?"
Ash smiled, and accepted her handshake.
"Friends."
With that, the quartet headed for home, waving goodbye to Erika until she had disappeared. Suddenly, Ash's phone began to buzz.
"Attention, attention! A World Coronation Series Ultra Class battle has been scheduled for three days from now!"
Curious, Ash pulled out his phone to check the message.
"So once you reach the Ultra Class, your battles are prescheduled? Interesting."
"Who's your next opponent, Ash?"
Ash grinned, and showed his friends his phone.
"Looks like I've got a rematch with Lt. Surge! Are you ready to show him how far we've come, buddy?"
"Pikachu!"
Lillie smiled, and walked up to him with a mischievous grin on her face.
"So, what was the incident with Erika?"
"Uh…I'm not really in the mood to talk about it."
"Oh, that's alright. I'll just call Misty and ask her!"
"Lillie, don't!"
Goh and Chloe just watched as Ash chased Chloe all the way back to Vermillion City, their Pokemon just shaking their heads before following.
"Let's agree right now to not act like this."
"Agreed."