Et Tu, Unova? Chapter Nine, a pokémon fanfic

Chapter 9

Near the middle of the largest city in the Unova Region sits a large park known as Central Plaza. This park is famous for its design, the natural beauty in stark contrast with the city of skyscrapers. But even more interesting than how the park contrasts the city is how the two complement each other. The park is circular and surrounded by a road. That road has eight others branching off it. Where those branching streets would intersect the park, there are instead dirt paths, though two of them are minor, dividing different areas of the park from each other and from the plaza that gives the park its name.

When Hilda first approached the mayor of Castelia City about putting on a Pokémon Contest, he would only agree if it were something special, something unique. So when she needed a proposal for how to do that, she suggested making use of the structure of the park. Committee meetings and negotiations later, the idea was approved but has turned into a fundraiser for the city. And now that the day of the Contest has arrived, Hilda thinks her toil may have been worth it after all. Central Plaza bursts with sheer excitement and all seven seating areas are packed with people. Each of the main six areas and the plaza itself have been made into stages and each stage has a multitude of screens so people can see what's happening in the other areas if needed. The TV crews are all set up and the show can begin. In each of the parks' divisions screens come to life to show what is happening farther in. The crowds cheer when the man with the distinctive mole comes on camera.

"Hello contest fans here in Castelia City and watching live from all over! My name is Fabian and I'm here to introduce you to the most exciting Unova Pokémon Contest Event to date: the Castelia City Invitational! But before we get into that, the mayor himself will say a few words."

The camera turns to a middle-aged man with a moustache. "Hello, everyone! I know you're all excited to get to the main part of today's events, but first let's remember why we're here. The infestation of Castelia's sewers by a large colony of Venipede is unfortunate for everyone. The Pokémon are just looking for a place to live, but their natural toxins combined with unintentional damage to the sewer system has led to the Castelia Harbor's pollution. All the money that comes from today's event, be it merchandise, concessions, television spots, in-person tickets, or the invitations themselves will go towards relocating the Venipede to Unova's Nature Preserve and cleaning up the harbor. I thank everyone for their support, no matter what they're able to give. We've put together an exciting event, so let's get back to it!"

Fabian asks for another hand for the mayor before getting into an explanation of the day's festivities. During the applause Hilda continues musing on just what went into making the day possible.

After she had designed the premise, the logistics were the next hurdle. The city would handle how invitations would be distributed, but it was on her to figure out how to accommodate 120 coordinators into a single event. She supposed this would be good practice for when the Grand Festival drew closer. But of course a contest of that many coordinators wasn't exciting enough on its own for everyone. PokéStar Studios wouldn't send both its biggest stars to help emcee unless Hilda could promise something even bigger than a battle for a ribbon as a finale. Luckily, the Pokémon Activities Committee was willing to hear her pitch and send their talent.

Hilda remembers to tune back into Fabian's speech.

"In order to support such a worthy cause, one-hundred invitations were given out at promotional events while a further twenty were auctioned off directly. That means one hundred and twenty lucky coordinators will compete here today in the gorgeous Central Plaza. At the end of it all, one champion will emerge to win the Castelia Ribbon and an exhibition match against the most recent winner of a Pokémon Activities Committee Grand Festival. As always, we have our three wonderful judges with us: Hilda, Jenna Young, and Castelia City's own Nurse Joy. But with so many promising contestants, those three are going to need a little help, so we've called in some very special cavalry!"

Oh, the cavalry, Hilda dreaded the word after how much she had to use it in her pitches. She had six arenas and three judges, so she needed more. But people wouldn't accept a single judge per stage, so she needed nine more judges for the show. The neighboring Nurse Joys were easy. One hopped a boat from Virbank City and the other happily crossed Skyarrow Bridge. But focus groups agreed that three Nurse Joys as judges was the most people would be interested in. So the net had to be cast even wider. Don George was happy to help, but Hilda barely managed to spin his qualifications and get him approved. A guilt trip was enough to get the mayor involved, but that still left five.

Burgh's artistic background made him a good candidate, but getting him to close the gym for the day was no easy task. Hilda managed it though and using the same tactics got Roxie too - she would definitely know a good performance when she saw one. Elesa was trying out being a coordinator, so she couldn't judge and at this point Hilda was getting desperate. So she reached out to everyone she could and eventually got a meeting with Juan from Hoenn. He was a perfect guest judge and was willing to fly in. Guest judge number eight fell into her lap: Mr. Sukizo of the Pokémon Fan Club would be accompanying the Grand Festival winner. Professor Juniper finally agreed to be the last judge and everything was set. Until Juniper was called to Lacunosa Town to investigate rumors of invasive species of Pokémon appearing. Shauntal being mobbed just days before the contest was the break Hilda needed and her judging panel was finally set. Now Fabian just has to introduce them.

"Today Central Plaza has been divided into six zones. Those near the western pond will see dazzling displays of aquatic mastery as our contestants try and wow Nacrene City's Nurse Joy and Hoenn's very own Juan. Rotating clockwise, we can see a beautiful sunny field. Here Burgh and our mayor hope to see performances using the majesty of nature. The north of the park is famed for its cozy rocks to relax on, and rock will be the word of the day there as Roxie of Koffing and the Toxics heads the judging along with her hometown's Nurse Joy. Moving right along, you can find the park's athletics center. It is here that Don George and Jenna Young will be watching for masterful physical displays. The eastern forest of the park is known for being so dense that noon can appear as night. That's why it makes such a wonderful place to give a show for the Elite Four's Ghost Mistress, Shauntal, with Hilda by her side. And in the south, the playground for children and Pokémon alike should provide a lovely energy to dazzle Castelia City's Nurse Joy as well as veteran contest judge, Mr. Sukizo."

Hilda normally loves judging contests, but she's nervous about this one. While she's stuck at one of the stages, Fabian, Nancy, and Christoph will have to run the whole show with the only help coming from Hilda's incompetent assistant. Okay, now she's not being fair, the assistant is just untrained, but Hilda is too busy to train one - it's why she needs an assistant. At least once the appeals are over Hilda can take back the reins for the next, newest, and most controversial part of the show. In Fabian's words:

"The format for today will be a little different than usual. At each of our six locations, twenty coordinators will put on appeals for their judges, who will then select only the best of the best to send right here to our Fountain Court stage. We'll then screen the six winning appeals and it'll be up to you, the audience, which four move on to the battle stage of the contest. So without further ado, let's get busy!"

Okay, it's time. Hilda heads off to the forest stage with Shauntal. Fabian knows what he's doing and will be fine commentating on six appeals at once from the center stage. And Nancy and Cristoph are old pros. Their Crustle-mounted commenter's booths would rotate around the park for the audience on TV. Hilda can't be scared about today: she'll leave that to the contestants.

Jessilina looks nervously at the forest icon on the invitation the old man had given her. The Twerp's elite shadow would be judging her today, on potentially the biggest stage of her career so far. And only one out of the twenty coordinators would get to move forward. Jessilina seethes at the thought of being knocked out of the contest by a biased judge and decides she'd better give the best performance ever to make sure it can't happen.

Hours later the appeals are over and the judges have made their decisions. Fabian, Nancy, and Cristoph return to the center stage to give the results. A thunderous applause rings out as a host reads each of the names and the victorious coordinators walk to the center. Jessilina is shocked to be one of them, but as she reaches the stage, she notices a shorter woman glaring at her as if trying to set her on fire with her mind.

"You!" the woman shouts (thankfully the cameras are pointed elsewhere), "You may have made it past the appeals round here, but you shall not be victorious today! Today I shall have my revenge!"

"Do I know you?" Jessilina asked, puzzled.

"You may have defeated me in the Stratosform Contest, but never again! My revenge will be swift and brutal and end with your bitter defeat!"

Jessilina is spared from the need to respond to such an insane statement by the screens flashing on in preparation of showing the winning appeals.

"Thank you for your patience and once again, congratulations to our top six appeals," Fabian narrates, "We'll now air those performances and it will be up to you to vote for your favorite. The top four vote recipients will move on to the next stage of the competition. For those in our live audience today, we'll have a live vote using the banners you've been provided. For those watching from home, voting instructions should be appearing on your screen. Now let's start the showcase!"

Perry at the Pond: Ducklett emerges from its Poké Ball in a cloud of smoke, which is blasted aside with Defog. As the smoke forms a backdrop behind Ducklett, an Ice Beam freezes it in place, presenting the audience with a view of Ducklett in front of a curtain of ice. Ducklett glows as it skims the surface of the pond flying toward the audience with Brave Bird, the heat of the attack highlighting the flight path with jets of steam. Just before the flight would douse the front of the audience, the Pokémon pulls up and flies back to land on the ice curtain with Roost. Juan loves the use of all three phases of water while Nurse Joy applauds the exact timing the performance required.

Burgundy in the Field: In the heat of the summer day, Sawsbuck emerges alongside blobs of water, which it bursts through with Take Down. The droplets streaming behind the majestic Pokémon are quickly dried up by the intensified weather caused by Sunny Day. Sawsbuck launches an Energy Ball straight up, where it refracts beams of green light in all directions. Sawsbuck leaps high into the air and destroys its previous attack with Horn Leech, blasting it into green sparkles that are drawn into its antlers, illuminating the thick bush of leaves growing there from within. The Pokémon lands safely with a bow. Castelia's mayor is dazzled by the light show while Burgh is thrilled by the seasonality of the performance.

Rando at the Rocks: Audino bursts out of its Poké Ball, landing on a flat stone, as rocks from the Poké Ball Seals fly in the air around it. A Psychic attack gathers those rocks and some of the ones on the field into a clamshell shape behind Audino. The use of Secret Power on top of a rock creates a burst of mud that is used as mortar in Audino's structure. Lucky Chant is next, and the clamshell creates an eerie echo, sounding as if multiple Pokémon joined in chanting. Another sound move follows, but as Echoed Voice bounces around the clamshell, it increases in power, eventually blasting the structure apart. The show ends the opposite way it began as Audino uses another Psychic to safely and gently place the rocks on the ground. Roxie accuses Rando of playing to the judges, but says that the attempt worked and the show was awesome. Nurse Joy enjoys seeing both the powerful and gentle sides of Audino at different points in the performance.

Terrence at the Athletics Center: Mankey pops on stage as icicles from the Poké Ball Seals embed themselves in the walls. Rock Tomb causes piles of stone to slowly gather in the center of the stage. Mankey then Flings its Iron Ball at the rocks, each pile collapsing as the attack bounces off it, and uses Acrobatics to bounce off the walls, spinning around the icicles with its prehensile tail in a gymnastic routine, and bounding back to the center of the field to catch the Iron Ball with Thief before it hits the ground. Don George is impressed by the two different speeds each part of the appeal used. Jenna Young praises the understanding of Mankey's particular brand of athleticism.

Jessilina in the Woods: Among the dense trees, Joltik emerges onto the forest floor alongside musical notes floating in the air. A Spider Web catches all the notes before latching onto the treetrunks. As the web finishes forming, the tension lifts it off the ground and causes trainer and Pokémon to bounce off the webbing like a trampoline. Joltik catches itself and uses Agility to speed along the silk until it reaches a musical note, at which point Bug Bite bursts the note and causes the tone to echo into the woods. Jessilina bounces in time with the bursting notes as the dance reaches its crescendo. Once the web is clear of music, Joltik elongates its claws and spins in an inward spiral with Cut. Jessilina lands safely on a pile of shredding webbing and Joltik lands on her head. Shauntal notes that the appeal followed a compelling narrative. Hilda loves both the visual and musical aspects of the performance.

Joyce on the Playground: Wisps of flame accompany Purrloin out of its Poké Ball, but Sand-Attack smothers all but one of them. The last wisp hovers over the climbing structure, so Purrloin follows in in Pursuit, dousing the flame in dark energy when it arrives at the top. From there, a Double Team sees illusions of Purrloin all over the playground. One swings on the swings, while another jumps from monkey bar to monkey bar from the top, several descend the climbing structure using acrobatic leaps, but eventually all converge on the one on top of the slide. A heart-shaped aura of white energy surrounds Purrloin as it slides down the slide and Returns to its trainer. Mr. Sukizo dubs the performance remarkable and Nurse Joy loves that Purrloin had so much fun without risking damage to the structure.

As the audience votes, Fabian thanks the guest judges for their time and hard work before sending them off so the three main judges can tally the votes and preside over the battle round. Once all is said and done, Rando and Joyce are thanked for their wonderful appeals round performances, but are not invited to participate in the battle round. The first battle sees Burgundy and Dewott send Perry's Watchog's Confuse Ray back at it encased in Water Pulse. Watchog still manages to cut Dewott's health in half with a Super Fang, but Burgundy declares that Perry will not stand in the way of her revenge and knocks Watchog out using the move of the same name. Jessilina manages to keep Terrence's Durant off-kilter through the whole battle by having Yanmega lift it off the ground with Silver Wind. From there, Durant doesn't have the wherewithal to avoid the Sonic Booms and Ancient Powers send its way.

Jessilina and Burgundy take the stage for the final battle of the contest. Yanmega and Dewott glare at each other with the same intensity their trainers do. Yanmega launches a Sonic Boom, but Dewott deflects it with Razor Shell and then charges its foe. Yanmega defends with Steel Wing, but that only increases the power of the ensuing Revenge Dewott uses. Dewott sends out a Water Pulse, but it's blown apart by Yanmega's Silver Wind. Dewott slices Ancient Power into chunks with Razor Shell, but is blasted by the Sonic Boom that follows behind.

Yanmega lifts Dewott into the air with Silver Wind, but Dewott's Water Gun allows it to change its trajectory and hit Yanmega with Razor Shell. Yanmega responds with a point blank Sonic Boom and sends Dewott sliding across the stage. Dewott then glows blue and strikes with a Water Pulse that breaks through all of Jessilina's attempts to intercept it - Dewott's Torrent has activated and powered up its water type moves. An even more powerful blast of Water Gun comes spraying at Yanmega, so Jessilina takes a page from the Twerp playbook and has Yanmega spin while using Silver Wind. The attacks collide in a maelstrom of blue and silver that both Pokémon try to push towards the other one. As time runs out, the cyclone has approached Dewott more, dropping Burgundy's points more than Jessilina's. Burgundy wails about her lost revenge as Fabian announces the winner.

But the contest isn't over quite yet. Fabian now introduces the most recent Grand Festival winner who will have an exhibition battle with Jessilina.

"Her fans call her the Princess of Hoenn and she's fresh off a win in the Johto Grand Festival; please welcome May from Petalburg City to the stage!"

Jessilina is shocked to see the Hoenn Twerpette across the stage from her, but doesn't have time to show it. Yanmega is tired from her battle, so Jessilina switches to Woobat for the exhibition match. Apparently the Twerpette's picked up some new Pokémon in Johto because she sends a Girafarig onto the stage.

Jessilina starts with an Air Cutter, but Girafarig blocks it with a Razor Wind. The collision makes both trainers look away as high velocity dust blasts across the stage. Girafarig takes the opportunity to surround Woobat with a Double Team. Once the wind settles, a circle of Girafarigs all launch Thunderbolt attacks, striking Woobat for super effective damage and quickly ending the exhibition match. May congratulates Jessilina on her contest win and presents her with the Castelia Ribbon.

After the show, while Jessilina celebrates her victory Ash takes the time to catch up with May over the city's famous Casteliacones, still both sharing a love of food. She's shocked to hear that Jessilina is actually Jessie, but trust's that with Ash and Shauntal around it'll be okay. She tells Ash all about her Johto journeys and how she came to win the Grand Festival and then imparts on him a warning.

"I had no idea how much press stuff would be involved if I won the Grand Festival. I don't think I'll have time to do another contest for myself for nearly a year, so I guess I'll only get to do them again when I get to participate in a special contest circuit next year in the region where they originated. You should keep all the work afterwards in mind for when you win your first league."

The two friends then decide to have a practice battle and send out Beautifly and Tranquill.

Meanwhile Shauntal takes advantage of the falling darkness to meet with a man just outside city limits.

"Your call got my attention and got me shanghaied into judging a Pokémon Contest. It was a risky move, hacking my Xtransceiver volume just to get me to meet, but I suppose I should expect it from you."

"Yes, you should have," the man replies, "but it is important. Team Plasma pulled off a robbery in the Opelucid City library, but I don't think they knew just how well Drayden knows that collection. He was able to identify exactly what they took and it's shined some light on just what they're after. I was sent here to help search for the Relic Castle because of it."

"So it's as we feared then. But why drag me into it now?"

"The other day, I had to send one of their sages packing. It seems Plasma also thinks what they're searching for will be in Relic Castle. Our search needs to be accelerated and I was hoping your Golurk might be able to help."

"And why can't you provide the assistance he needs?" Shauntal inquires

"I may have made the sage get lost, but I guarantee he's got some spies planted in the construction crew. I'm best suited to stay here and search them out."

Shauntal calls out her Golurk and sends it off to aid him.

"Thank you," the man says, "You should get back to that kid you're shadowing now. By the way, when do I get to meet him?"

Shauntal glares at the man. "Not until he challenges you to a battle. I don't need your antics upsetting my writing process."

She walks back into Castelia City under the cover of darkness.

Author's Note: Updated 5/12/22. If you look up Central Plaza on Bulbapedia, you can see a picture from the anime that I loosely based the design of this contest on.