"Alright, you two know what you're doing right?" Florian asked Iglesias and Alambre.
Tarountula was focused, practicing his Bug Bites, String Shot, and Assurance.
Fuecoco on the other hand couldn't seem to care less and was almost half asleep even in the noisy contest hall.
It took him what seemed like forever to get him to learn Bite and Round.
"Florian Castro come to the stage" the announcer called.
"Alright, both of you just stick to what you're good at okay? Alambre you use you're webs and Iglesias you just stand around and attack"
…
"You got this Florian!"
"Ya, we got nothing but confidence in you!"
Florian tried to look behind him because he knew his parents had a front-row seat to his contest.
He had told them about his first Pokémon Contest in Cortondo, but looking back on it, he wishes he had kept that to himself.
It was his Fuecoco and Tarountula against his opponents Diglett and Impidimp.
"Use Fake Out and Sand Attack!" the Impidimp clapped in front of Feucoco causing him to flinch and Diglett threw sand in Tarountula's face.
"Use Round!" Fuecoco let out a beam of green sound waves.
"Dodge it!"
"Use String Shot!"
His opponents Pokémon jumped out of the way from the Round but right into the string shot.
"Sand Attack and Flatter!"
"Dodge it!"
Tarountula was able to dodge it from the lower speed of the String Shot but Fuecoco being himself was it by both attacks.
Now his accuracy was even lower and he was confused.
"Where did Clavell even find a starter like this?" Florian wondered.
"Thunder Wave! And Mud Slap!" Impidimp and Diglett combined their attacks to create a display of yellow and brown.
"Use String Shot on Fuecoco!" Tarountula insnared Fuecoco in string.
"Pull him towards you!"
Using all his strength Tarountula pulled Fuecoco out of the way of the attacks.
That scored Florian quite a few points which pleased him greatly.
"Now use Ember on the string!" Fuecoco burnt the string of his body creating a nice burning effect.
"Jump in front of Diglett with Bite than Mud Slap!"
"Use String Shot on Impidimp!" Tarountula landed the String Shot on the Impidimp causing the Diglets Mud-Slap to hit it in the back.
"Now use Ember!" Fuecoco fired the Ember.
And missed.
Great.
"Keep using Ember!"
Fuecoco kept firing more embers that Impidimp and Diglett dodged.
"Now use String Shot on the Ember!"
Tarountula fired another String Shot landing on the Ember to make another burning effect.
"Time!"
Florian looked up at the scoreboard.
It looked like his use of the strings had been enough to give him the win.
…
Florian felt on top of the world.
He had won his first contest battle.
If that wasn't good enough he ran into someone he recognized.
His friends Ana and Javier were competing as well.
"Florian why didn't you tell us you were a contest performer" Javier patted him on the back.
"I didn't think it was that important"
"What do you mean it's not important? How could we not support our friends out there?" Ana replied.
"Well I'll be cheering you guys on too"
…
Both made it through the first 2 rounds, Javier with Yungoos and Rellor and Ana with Shroodle and Snom.
Florian did as well outscoring his opponent's pair of Eevee.
His quarterfinal match was against a girl named Trinity.
It was just a Cyndaquil and Poochyena how hard could this be?
"Use String Shot and Ember!"
"Use Smokescreen and Sand Attack!"
His opponent's veil of sand and smoke let them dodge Florians combo-attack and get behind his team.
"Use Roar and Smokescreen!" Poochyena's Roar whipped up the Smoke Screen engulfing Fuecoco and Tarountula.
"Use Bite and Flame Wheel!" using the smoke to hide themselves Cyndaquil and Poochyena struck his team.
"Use Round to clear the Smokescreen!" Fuecoc's sound waves were able to clear the smoke but Cyndaquil and Poochyena were nowhere to be found.
"Use Mud Slap and Flame Wheel!" Cyndaquil burst through the Mud Slap colliding with Florian's team.
"Use Bug Bite! And Bite!" Florian yelled.
Fuecoco and Tarountula lunged at their opponents but without bug grace, they were able to dodge it.
"Use Roar and Swift!" with the roar providing extra Speed to the Swift it was all over.
The stars collided with Fuecoco and Tarountula knocking them both out.
Just like that Florians first contest was over.
And he had barely done a dam thing against Trinity.
…
Florian wanted to kick something.
He had done nothing! Nothing! Against Trinity.
This was what he had to show for himself 2 Pokémon where one barely participated and a subpar start to his contest career?
He was snapped out of his thoughts when Javier walked into the locker room.
"Tuff luck out there hu?"
"You could say that again"
"Did you lose too?"
"Ya I had no idea what to do against a Glimmora and Bramblin"
"I'm sorry I didn't watch it"
"Nah it's fine you're allowed to get upset after losing a match"
That still didn't make Florian feel better.
He was being a terrible friend, with all the effort on their side the least he could do was watch their contest.
"The lady I was against I think her name was Jessalina she's against you're opponent"
"Trinity"
"Ya her, you want to watch?"
Florian thought for a moment. The last thing he wanted to see right now was the face of the person he had just been crushed by.
"No, I don't think I want to see any contests right now"
"Well, why don't we just bounce out of here?"
Florian was a bit taken aback. He had never been asked to hang out with a friend before.
It was new and normally he didn't like new stuff.
But this felt exciting.
"Sure I'll just tell my parents"
"Awesome some of my other friends wanted to meet me today just tag along with me"
…
"Oh that's wonderful Florian of course you can go" His mother coed.
"Are these the ones that you've been talking to online?" his father asked.
"Yes Dad" he sighed.
"Could we meet them one day? I would like to meet the kids my son's spending so much time with"
"I will I promise, but I don't want to keep Javier waiting"
"Alright just tell us when you're coming home we want to spend time with you. You did just compete in you're first contest"
"Ya got it"
Florian definitely didn't want to introduce Ana and Javier to his parents.
His parents were already worried about him going to school away from them and coming home with 2 Team Star members as his friends would just justify their fears.
Even outside of their Team Star uniforms, they weren't the people that his parents would approve of.
He normally wasn't the type to hide things from his parents.
"No the old me wouldn't hide things from them but I'm not that person anymore"
End Credit Song I Ain't Worried, One Republic
Do you think I'm doing each of the main characters justice? I know lopsided development was a major problem in the first story and I'm hoping that I'm doing a better job.