Warning, lack of a plan inbound!!! We're getting terribly close to a point that I genuinely don't have a plan for, so I may put the story on hold until it's come to me. But, I have another chapter after this one planned, so I have some time to think of something. Until then, let's just get on with this one.
Chapter 58:
A Contested Decision
When Max and Bonnie arrive downstairs for breakfast the next morning, they're delighted to find Kenny (as in Max's friend, not Dawn's stalker) sitting at one of the tables. They practically run over to him, with the two boys sharing an embrace as Bonnie sits down at his table. Max joins her and they regale Kenny on all that happened to them since parting ways at Mt. Chimney. As they talk, Clemont and Korrina come down, and decide to sit at the table next to theirs. They join in on some of the conversation between bites of food. Once they've all finished, everyone gets up and heads to the Contest Hall.
As they walk, Kenny shows Max the ribbon he won at Verdanturf. "Now, all I need to do is win this one and I have my second ribbon," he says proudly. Max chuckles. "Not if I get mine first," he replies. This starts a back and forth banter session between the two boys until they arrive at the Hall. When they get there, the first thing Max notices is a mop of green hair. "Drew!" he calls out. Drew spins around when he hears his name being called. When he sees Max waving at him, a brief look of worry crosses his face, but he pushes it down and walks over to him. "Hey Max, he says. "Glad to see I made it in time." Max looks around, hoping to see of he can spot his sister. "Where's May?" he asks. "She said something to me over the phone, and I want to know what she meant by it." Drew looks like he's about to respond, when the arrival of two others stops him. "I'll tell you later," he says, before turning to greet the newcomers. At first, Max doesn't recognise the boy. If it wasn't for the fact that Shauna was with him, he'd have thought this was a new person.
"Tierno!?" he, Bonnie and Clemont exclaim. Tierno grins at them. "Hey guys," he says. "What do you think?" He stands with his arms apart to show off. He's thin. Not just thinner than he used to be, but actually thin. On top of that, it seems like some muscle is beginning to form on his arms. "He's been doing so well!" Shauna exclaims, hugging him happily. "It's so nice being able to hug you all the way round." She blushes upon realising how that sounds and apologises to him, but Tierno waves her off. While they wait for the hall to open to let them in, they all talk about what happened with Mt. Chimney and in Lavaridge. Shauna is rightfully concerned about Serena, but Drew reassures her that she's fine. "She and Ash have gone back to Kalos for a bit, to help sort some things out between them after the half a year they've had," he tells them.
Eventually, the doors open, and everyone makes their way into the building. From there, Max, Tierno, Drew and Kenny separate from the others and head into the backstage area of the hall. Before he leaves, Shauna kisses Tierno on the cheek. Bonnie approaches Max, and for a fleeting moment, he imagines her kissing him on the cheek and blushes bright red. But instead, she hugs him quickly, squeaks out a good luck, then backs away, her face just as red. Looking up at Clemont, Max can see a devilish grin on his face. Its's clear to Max that he isn't going to let her forget about this in a hurry. He wants to clarify that that was a friendly hug, but before he can, he sees that the other three boys are heading in. So, he waves to Bonnie bashfully, then heads into the backstage area. Bonnie watches him go with a huge blush on her face. "Bold move sis," Clemont tells her. "Not another word brother!" she mutters back, as she leads the way to the seating area.
Once the crowd is seated, one of the judges steps out to introduce the show. He starts off by talking about the tragic event that occurred in Lavaridge a few days ago, and hastens to assure everyone that such an event will not happen here. With that out of the way, he steps aside and announces the first coordinator. Bonnie cheers when she sees Max step out onto the stage. Accompanying him is his Shiny Shroomish. People gasp and cheer when they lock eyes with the shiny pokémon. Once the cheering has died down, Max begins. His Shroomish leaps into the air and flips over onto her head. From there, she throws out some Vine whips, and causes herself to spin. As she spins, she uses her Vine Whips to swing around the stage, shooting off small traces of Stun Spore, which creates a sparkly scene above Max's head. For his part, Max places a mask over his mouth to prevent any from getting into his lungs. Then, he claps his hands and Shroomish stops her show, landing next to Max with a twirl.
Everyone claps enthusiastically at this, with Bonnie practically standing on her chair to applaud him. Max is about to head back behind the stage, but beforehand, he decides make a bold move of his own. So, he spots Bonnie in the crowd, then lifts two fingers to his lips. He kisses them, then points them in her direction. Then he turns and goes behind the stage before he can see her reaction. Her reaction is to go very red and almost fall out of her seat. Clemont has to clasp his hands over his mouth to prevent the bark of laughter that's threatening to escape his lips. While Bonnie recovers from that moment, a few other Coordinators perform. Eventually, it gets to Kenny's turn. He steps out with a Magmar. The audience claps politely as he begins his performance. Magmar shoots 3 jets of fire, two from its hands and one from its mouth. Then, once Kenny is sure that nothing will catch fire, it spins around, with Kenny on its back to avoid being burned. As he spins, Kenny pulls out a small pouch and lets whatever's inside fly. A small cloud of poison needles fly everywhere. When they touch Magmar's fire, it changes to a purple colour. Everyone marvels at this. With that, Kenny hops off of Magmar's back, and the crowd applauds.
After that, a few more Coordinators perform their bits, including this one woman who did it with a cloak on. This raises a red flag in Bonnie's head, and she decides to keep sn eye on her. After her, Drew comes onto the stage with his Roserade. Everyone in the audience cheers for him, remembering him for his well televised rivalry with May. When the cheering has died down, Drew begins his bit. He doesn't Mega Evolve Roserade, instead choosing to keep her at her base form. Still, like with Max's Shroomish, she spins around like a top. However, instead of shooting out Vine Whips and swinging around the stage, she shoots out Razor Leaf and has it spin around her, even lifting her into the air. Drew, who is dressed similarly to Roserade, runs around underneath, and at his command, Roserade stops the vortex of leaves and drops right into his arms. Everyone cheers at this, as Drew bows, then exits the stage.
Finally, after a few more Coordinators, Tierno comes on, along with his Ludicolo. When the cheering has died down, Tierno begins clapping and stomping the toe of his boot on the ground. As he does this, Ludicolo begins to dance around. It uses raindance, then creates small leaf blades in its hands. It continues to dance around to Tierno's beat, using the rain to create an affect on the stage. Then, Tierno joins in on the dancing, and he and Ludicolo juggle the leaf blades for a bit, before finishing the act. The crowd goes wild again, as Tierno takes a bow, blows Shauna a kiss, then exits the stage. To no one's surprise, he makes it through to the battle round, as do Max, Drew and Kenny. The hooded woman that worries Bonnie also makes it through, much to her growing concern.
But, she's up against Max in the first round, and he defeats her without difficulty. Drew, Tierno and Kenny also make it through to the second round, where Kenny and Drew face each other, while Tierno and Max do the same. Kenny ends up winning his battle, but barely, while Max has less difficulty with his. Now, the two rivals are set to face each other once more. They meet in the middle of the stage, the pokémon they used during the appeals round at the ready. Then, when the judge calls it, the battle begins. Magmar starts off with Flamethrower, which Shroomish is able to avoid. She retaliates with Stun Spore, paralysing Magmar. Then, she uses tackle, followed by leaf blade. Magamar struggles through the paralysis, and manages to overcome it just long enough to charge up another Flamethrower. But before it can fire it, the ceiling above them explodes.
Shroomish and Magmar work together to clear the debris before it can hit their trainers. Max and Kenny look up to see Sarah and Sam lowering themselves down with Sarah's Gourgeist. Both of them are laughing. "So, you managed to beat me at this foolish contest," Sarah shouts down at Max. "Shame really. I was hoping to steal your notebook from your bag during your battle here, but it seems like it's not there." At this, Max pulls them out of his jacket pocket. "You mean these?" he asks. "Yes exactly!" Sam exclaims. "So, why don't you give them to us, and we'll let you get back to this contest." By now, both of them have reached the ground and are smirking at Max. "I'm not giving you my notebooks!" Max replies. "But, I won't let you leave empty-handed. So how about you take this instead!" Then, Shroomish strikes them both with Vine Whip. Gourgeist gets in the way and takes the attack, so Kenny has Magmar use Flamethrower on it, knocking it out almost immediately.
Glowering, Sam sends out Dustox and Mr. Mime, while Sarah sends out Vileplume. Kenny orders Magmar to use Flamethrower again, while Shroomish uses Stun Spore. The combined attacks trigger a tiny burst of fire, not as big as the ones triggered by sleep powder. Team Terra's pokémon are hurt by this attack, but they don't go down. So, Shroomish uses Spore repeatedly, trying to keep them down. While she does this, she feels herself growing more powerful. Suddenly, she grows in size too. She glows as her form changes, turning her into a Breloom. Breloom lets out a victory cry, then uses Vine Whip, now more powerful, to wrap around the three pokémon and throw them around. As she does, Kenny orders Magmar to use Flamethrower once more. Breloom lets the pokémon go right as the fire strikes them. They cry out in pain as they hit the ground, out cold. Sarah and Sam are stunned. Max and Kenny grin at each other, then both yell "BOO!" at the same time. Sarah and Sam return their pokémon as quickly as they can and scarper.
The crowd cheers for them once Team Terra have fled. Max and Kenny look at each other, then bow graciously. One of the judges steps on to the stage to pardon the interruption. "Due to this unfortunate incident, I'm afraid I will have to declare this contest over, so we can repair the building!" he declares. "However, as a thank you to the two Coordinators who stood up to those ruffians, my colleagues and I have decided to award them both the Rubello Ribbon!" Thunderous applause follows this declaration, and Max and Kenny high-five each other in victory. The other Judge and the Nurse Joy walk over to them and hand them both the ribbon. The two look at it, then Max asks, "If we only show half of this ribbon, we can still enter the Ribbon Cup right?" The first judge nods. So, Max and Kenny take the ribbon, and snap it in half, showing the two halves off to the audience, all of whom cheer them on. Then, they give one last bow, before exiting the stage.
The end of this chapter was supposed to include Drew telling Max about May's plan, but I realised that's redundant, because you already know it. So, I'll leave it as a small note in the next chapter. It's actually mental that it took me this long to have Team Terra interrupt something like a gym battle or Contest. I'm surprised I haven't done that sooner. Anyway, with that, I'll see you on Thursday, if all goes to plan.