Hard Enough - Pokemon SI

[Appletank]

Meowth is going to be very hesitant to evolve because with the new body he'd lose the ability to walk upright and would have to train himself to talk again (which might not be possible as a Persian). Being able to move and speak like a human is something that he takes great pride in because he's the only meowth that has ever learned how. He might refuse to ever evolve because it would mean losing what makes him special.

Click to shrink...

Hell, he's probably the only pokemon that figured out how via their own vocal cords instead of sidestepping the difficulties with Aura or Psychic

 

[Viva01]

"So what are you going to call your new move?" I asked when I was done seriously congratulating Greta on her performance.

Greta, as she'd been doing since the end of the match it seemed, continued to blush. "I don't really know, I honestly just thought the move up on the fly," she said.

I whistled. "You realise that only makes it even more impressive if you can have Bulb… I mean Ivysaur to whip it out like that," I said. Great flashed me a look only for a softer voice to intrude.

"You also have to consider that Ivysaur would have been adjusting to his body having just evolved."

Greta, Yolanda, Crystal and I turned to find Erika approaching at the lead of the Celadon cadre. If this was a model catwalk they'd be getting very… I glanced around and noticed more than a few people had stopped to stare at the beautiful young lasses and ladies sauntered up to us. More than a few boyfriends suddenly found themselves in hot water.

Amusingly Rachel and Trixie were both staring and shot each other looks before giggling to each other.

The soft crunch of popcorn made me stop and look behind Yolanda to find Sabrina, Ralts and Janine watching the show with a bucket of popcorn. When had they— ah that's a pointless question.

I turned back to Erika and smiled. "Think she'll get better with that move when Ivysaur gets used to his new strength?"

Erika nodded, her group fanning out around her. "Indeed, Ivysaur will be much more accurate with his new combination move in the future I should assume." She tilted her head and offered a smile with just the softest traces of teasing in it. "So, what will you call this move?" she said.

Greta coughed. "The…" her eyes darted around and landed on the group of Geodudes and Gravelers that Dennis and Rocko had performing juggling tricks during the intermission. "Twirl out?" she said.

I turned away, holding in the laughter that threatened to bubble out.

Yolanda shot her friend a bemused look while Crystal tilted her head. Erika merely nodded and clapped her hands. "The twirl out, a wonderful name," she said, without missing a beat. "I shall have to pay homage to you when I use it with my own pokemon. I have to admit that I'm rather looking forward to showing my pokemon the clips from today's match!"

Greta stared, "You''re going to use my move?" she said, her voice pitching into a small shriek of elation… and what sounded like a little terror.

I clapped her on the back. "It was a powerful move," I confirmed, bringing up the clips on my Xtransicever and showing that while it had missed, the resultant hit to the barriers had dipped them into the yellow signalling a powerful attack.

"May I formally request—" Erika began to say only for me to wave my hand easily. "Sure thing, I'll send you the clip of the fight now," I said.

Erika paused and nodded. "Well thank you…" she then fidgeted with her dress before straightening. "Well this is somewhat awkward, but I think I must formally ask," she said as she shot me an apologetic look.

"Greta Green, you showcase admirable talent, I understand that you're currently operating as a Gym trainer for Brock but I was wondering if you might be interested in expanding your understanding of pokemon with Grass types in particular! I'd like to extend—"

"I'm happy here!" said Greta so quickly that she cut off Erika's pitch. The soft crunch of a trio of people and pokemon enjoying the show sounded out as background noise.

I coughed in amusement, a small smile tugging at my lips. Sabrina, no, not now, I thought in her general direction. A larger crunch of popcorn had both myself and Erika twitching.

I decided to forge ahead. "Greta, you should seriously consider it, I think it might be a great offer for you… in the future," I said, adding the last part quickly as her face began to drop.

Greta and Erika blinked, turning to me like I was a source of light and they Sunflora. "What do you mean?" asked Erika politely.

I crossed my arms and stood tall. "Greta, is one of the smartest trainers I've had the pleasure of housing. I've given her access to a variety of lessons and information, even offhandedly she's absorbed more than I ever expected."

"But!" I raised a single finger. "I know I can teach her more, when she reaches the point that I have nothing more to teach her, I will inform her of such. That said, I would love for her to experience different situations and learning environments. So, perhaps in the future, she might examine your offer, if that's alright for you?" I said, offering her an open hand.

Erika beamed at me. "That sounds wonderful, I'd love to host such talent!" she said.

I smiled back as Greta shot her head from me to Erika before smiling giddily. I looked past her at Yolanda and Crystal. "While you're at it you may as well scoop up her friends as well," I said tugging the girls close.

The trio, now standing before the cadre of Celadon, found themselves being assessed. Terra, in her customary position of being held by Yolanda sniffed at the girls only to sneeze loudly. "Tar! Larvitar!" she said.

Erika glanced at the little Larvitar. "You would be happy with me looking over your… sister?" she said. For a second there I was sure she was going to say something else but I waved the thought away.

"Yup," it's important to not just learn your own typing but also how to handle the weaknesses. Grass types are one of our Gym's strongest weaknesses and Yolanda getting some time to wrap her head around that would be good," I explained.

I clapped her and Crtstal on the shoulders. "That being said, it would have to be on the weekends this year as they still attend school."

Crystal gained a slightly forced look of innocence that made me raise an eyebrow while Yolanda shot her friend a smirk. Hmmm, was she skipping? I decided to prod Crystal slightly. "Of course, if we get clearance from their teachers they might get extra days," I said, alluding to how Yolanda got to spend so long at the Gym.

Crystal twitched and I hid a smirk while Erika held in a giggle, as she read the situation just as well as I had. She nodded to me. "I'm sure the girls would be welcome additions," she said easily.

Crystal smirked. "Heh, A.J. misses out," she said.

I hummed. "I might ask another to look after A.J. I don't think… he'd fit in too well with the tea parties and calm atmosphere of Celadon."

"I don't know he might look good in a dress," suggested Yolanda with a smirk.

I snorted only for Erika to smile. "Speaking of boys wearing dresses, want to see your brother and his friends?"

Yolanda gasped, her head bouncing up and down so fast I worried for a moment she'd concuss herself.

Erika raised her transceiver and showed off a series of pictures from a few months ago. In it, Misty was shown with a gigantic smile on her face while on either side of her Ash, and Forrest were wearing dresses, atomic blushes on display while a few ladies posed around them.

I chuckled for a moment only for a bell tone to ring out, announcing that the intermission would end in another five minutes. "Ah, I need to see a man about a Ponyta," I said as I dashed towards the bathroom.

I doubted I'd be fast enough to finish this and grab a snack but thankfully I had an assistant for the snacks. Still, I was sad I had missed out on the chance to talk to Jet. After this intermission, there were only three more matches before we wrapped up the contest.

"What does that mean?" asked Erika. Behind me, I heard the girls murmuring in confusion.

Yolanda sighed. "My brother has weird sayings," she said.

---

I nodded in thanks as Alexa deposited a hotdog and a soda in front of me. "Thanks for that, and have you gotten Titan geared up for the surprise?" I asked her.

Alexa shot me a thumbs up and I grinned. Joy and Monique glanced at me. "Surprise?" They asked.

I just smiled enigmatically. "Just something I cooked up 'cause I wanted things to end with a bang," I said before smiling winningly.

Monique frowned. "Brock, it's your Gym and your Contest so I hope you know what you're doing," she said sternly.

I just smiled. "Don't worry it's something I had planned out a while back and have practised, trust me it'll be good."

Monique grumbled at this for a while but eventually turned her attention back to the stage where Jessie and Vinny were being called up.

Jessie strode forth with her head held high and a glint in her eyes as the chains, which had multiplied since the last time she'd been on stage, clinked together with each step. Vinny on the other hand remained the same. He noticed that Jessie had gone for an upgrade to her wardrobe while he'd remained the same. He twitched while glancing towards us, only to chew his lip and duck behind a partition where the sound of ripping occurred.

I facepalmed as he emerged without the sleeves of his shirt. Yes, it did make him look slightly tougher and could, if you squinted, count as a wardrobe change but it was just… "I feel like I should deduct a point?" I said aloud.

Joy snorted in amusement while Monique seemed to seriously contemplate the idea. "He is rather crude with his method," she said, before sighing and shaking her head.

Jessie grinned maliciously looking like she had this in the bag while Vinny coughed and enlarged his pokeball, straightening up as he did so. Ah, it was just pre-match nerves. Perhaps Vinny was one of those people who got too trapped in their heads only to settle down when the fight started.

I nodded, yeah that made sense.

Joy pinched me to get me to focus as both trainers sent out their pokemon for the match.

"Go! Swellow!" announced Vinny as he sent out his powerhouse once again.

"Let's go Tentacruel!" shouted Jessie.

I frowned and more than a few people broke into whispers causing Jessie to look around. "What? Never seen the true boss of the sea before?" she said. Tentacruel perked up at her words and wiggled some tentacles happily.

Joy opened her mouth and I preemptively pinched the bridge of my nose. "She's tentacruel girl? It figures," she said with a smirk.

I exhaled with a laugh before turning my head to Monique. "Is her choice of a third pokemon valid? I thought they could only use two?" I said, recalling what I'd seen from Hoenn matches I'd watched.

Before Monique could answer Archibald keyed his microphone, "It seems an explanation is in order. In the Hoenn Contest scene, it is standard practice for only two pokemon to be allowed with trade between matches allowed. I know there are some debates about allowing trade out but that is beside the point."

Archibald thumped his fist on the desk in front of him causing Rachel to twitch in surprise while Gardevoir shot her companion bedroom eyes at the show of force. "This is Kanto! Not Hoenn! In Kanto you can use whatever pokemon you want each round!" he shouted passionately.

Rachel adjusted her microphone, having fallen back in shock. "W-well said!" she said, supporting her cohost quickly.

"Garde~" said Gardevoir as she leaned into Archibald and wiggled happily. "Voir~."

Archibald coughed and a blush flooded across his face. "Yes yes, of course, my dear but not here," he murmured. A quick sign to Rachel had her hitting a button to stop Archibald from projecting any details about what was going to happen later. We were trying to keep this event PG after all.

I turned away from the whispering pair of shot callers and looked to the stage where Jessie was grinning. "You were expecting my Arbok weren't you? Well! I'm not just a beautiful woman! I'm also smart enough to read the Kanto rulebook!" she said, as she whipped out a gigantic book from a pouch at her side.

Joy leaned towards me. "Did you read that?"

"No, did you?" I whispered back. Joy shook her head and Monique sighed, alerting us that we hadn't been as subtle as we hoped.

"Begin!" called Rachel, causing the pre-match banter to end and for Jessie and Vinny to make their moves.

"Ascend with Tailwind! Blow them back while rising!" called Vinny. Swellow beat its wings and summoned what felt like typhoon winds that buffeted us judges.

On the other side, Jessie snapped her hand forth having gotten off the mark slower. "Use Poison Jab to hold your ground and get a grip on the ground around you!" she called.

I leaned forward as my fighting experience warned me that something else was going on here.

Vinny narrowed his eyes as his attack failed to do anything while Jessie claimed the ground around her pokemon with it turning a dark purple that she'd be able to use in some form.

"Come in hard with Aerial Ace!" Vinny called and his pokemon tucked its wings and plummeted hard.

"Swift," countered Jessie and around her pokemon stars began to form before launching. The inescapable attack shot forth and Swellow found itself peppered even after it flickered into the signature Aerial Ace dodge that led to Swellow ramming into Tentacruel from the side.

Tentacruel bobbled to the side only for the stars that were still in play, to come about and race straight at the Swellow.

Jessie smirked and I leaned forward in anticipation. "Water Pulse," she called, and instead of firing from Tentacruel's mouth as I'd expected, Tentacruel unleashed the attack from underneath the ground causing it to erupt and a section of the hardened rock stage was launched into Swellow's back.

"Ha! Just because Tentacruel is water-poison doesn't mean we can't make use of the stage!" shouted Jessie fiercely as the rock closed.

"Hmpf, so it seems, ignore Swift and use Reversal," said Viinny. Swellow nodded and snapped its wings arching itself over and around so that it stabbed back into the boulder with a beak blazing with orange-brown fighting-type energy.

The boulder detonated and shot back at Tentacruel like a shotgun being fired off.

I hurried to award and remove points as both Jessie and Vinny traded blows back and forth either each other a grin forming on my face as they duked it out. While Vinny had been a terrible match-up for Yolanda, Jessie was strong and experienced enough to match him.

"Tch! You're forcing my hand Jessie!" called Vinny. He punched a fist and growled out his next words as a chill ran up my spine. "Giga Impact!"

Swellow locked its gaze on Tentacruel and snarled as it snapped its wings, once, twice, and then a third and final time before it became a streaking meteor.

"What? No use, go for Poison Jab!" called Jessie. Tentacruel loyally raised its tentacles and launched them forward with purple energy glinting on the tips only for Swellow to bull through and slam an extremely powerful blow into Tentacruel.

A shockwave swept the field and it took a moment for everyone to see through the dust. I wasn't surprised to find Tentacruel out cold but I was to find that Swellow was struggling.

Apparently, Jessie, while losing the match hadn't gone down without making Vinny pay to advance. Swellow looked worn down and I doubted he'd be able to use it for the next match.

I had to give Jessie props when she dragged the fight out against Vinny, sadly his stronger pokemon and greater experience shone through.

Which left just Bosco and Solidad to face off.

… after the stage got fixed up.

A small avalanche of Graveler and Geodude rolled out from the medbay and up onto the stage with Sanchez bringing up the rear. I chuckled at the small yellow helmet Sanchez had found and he happily strutted around on the stage pointing out the various points of damage. He even approached Gardevoir to talk with her only for Archibald to shoo him away.

When the stage was fixed Sanchez gave it a look over before tweaking his moustache and shooting me a thumbs-up. "Go lem!" he called, and the avalanche of pokemon all rolled off the field quickly.

With that done, Rachel stood.

"And in this corner! The rose of Pewter with her thorns bared! Let's cheer on Solidad!" announced Rachel even as "And who should she face but the brute with a brain Bosco!"

Bosco raised his hands like a pro wrestler and grinned, showing he rather liked the title Rachel had dubbed him with. She must have spoken with him during the downtime.

Both of them locked eyes and readied themselves. "Begin!" shouted Rachel.

Both of them tossed out their pokemon with Solidad sending out her Pidgeot once again. Bosco however sent out a Machamp making me wince in sympathy.

Bad match-up.

Solidad perked up only for Bosco to throw out a punch and bark, "Style time! Show off with a Wide Guard!" Machamp shot its arms out wide to form an X while stomping. Around it an X of boulders shot up forming a pseudo fortress that reached Machamp's chest height.

I hummed and laced my fingers. The brainy brute indeed, Bosco had strategies to counter his type disadvantage and now it was Solidad grimacing.

"Feather Dance into Aerial Ace!" she called, causing a cascade of feathers to puff out of Pidgeot and drift about the stage only to fall atop Machamp who grimaced and drooped slightly.

"Rotate and raise your hand for Thunderpunch" barked Bosco. "An arm an entry point liaise practised!" he called, and Machamp turned so that at least one arm was pointed straight down the narrowing passageway.

Solidad grinned and I knew what she was going to try.

Pidgeot shot forward and streaked along the ground coming in low and lining itself up right at Machamp's face. It came on fast and Machamp lashed out with the lower left hand only for Pidgeot to vanish in a blur of speed.

Pidgeot then appeared behind Machamp with talons outstretched. I hummed, not what I thought was going to happen.

Machamp stumbled but one hand still shot out and locked onto Pidgeot by the tailfeathers causing an indignant squawk. Then it turned to a cry of pain as Machamp lit Pidgeot up.

Both pokemon took super effective damage and I leaned forward expecting one of them to drop.

Both faltered for a moment, only to correct themselves and swivel to lock eyes. Machamp and Pidgeot were both worn out but willing to keep fighting.

"Rest!" "Rest!" called both of them together causing them to blink in surprise and a murmur to break out among the crowd.

Bosco grinned, however. "Sleep Talk!" he called, and a moment later the sleeping Machamp dashed forward, arms flopping as it did so mid-snore to throw itself at the sleeping Pidgeot with what had to be Strength.

Pidgeot was knocked back and Machamp fumbled the landing. I shook my head and penalised both of the lack of style. Solidad glanced at her pokemon only to sigh when she saw Pidgeot hadn't woken up from that.

"Ma champ?" called Machamp as it blinked awake. Bosco punched the air.

"Yes! Nice going buddy! Finish it off with Thunderpunch!"

This time Machamp attacked with intent and the powerful electric move knocked Pidgeot out of the fight despite the debuff Solidad had gotten off earlier.

"Rough match," I said, my eyes turning towards the slowly crumbling Wide Guard Bosco had used earlier in the match.

Monique shook her head. "There was an obvious avenue for attack that she should have exploited!"

I smirked and eyed the Machamp. "Yeah, obvious," I said, a suspicion forming in my mind. When Monique shot me a look I just waved a hand to indicate I had nothing more to say.

Bosco happily shot both fists into the air. "HO HA! We're going all the way Machamp It's brute time!" he roared, much to the crowd's amusement. He then marched over and thanked Solidad for the tough-fought spectacle.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience! Before the finale we have to get the rankings for the top four! So without further adieu can you please give it up for Solidad and Jessie to make their final match to decide third place?"

Soledad strode out having expected this but Jessie floundered as she had to push her way through the crowd and to the stairs for her own return to the stage, having not known this was coming.

Jessie was obviously still reeling from her defeat against Vinny, in my opinion, but she seemed willing to try her best. When she shot me a hesitant look I gave her a supportive nod.

"Coordinators! Show us your style! Begin!" called Archibald.

"Go Mawile!" shouted Jessie, only for Solidad to counter with Lapras.

The tiny fairy-type pokemon glowered up at the much larger water-ice pokemon.

"Mawile char—" Jessie started to say only for Solidad to go on the offensive straight away. "Blizzard! control the field!"

Mawile suddenly found herself having to cover a lot of ground while giant icicles rained down. I grimaced as Jessie floundered instead of getting her little pokemon to hop skip and jump around like I was expecting.

Mawile ended up getting frozen and taken out far too quickly while Jessie failed to find her footing.

"Battle out!" called Monique this time, ending the match for Jessie who slumped and recalled her pokemon.

I made a point to stand and give them both applause leading the crowd in praising them. "Have to give it to you two ladies, you've demonstrated a lot of tough spirit today and I want to thank you both. Jess…adia," I said, making sure to use her fake name. "I know this is your first-ever Contest and I think this is something you should continue to look into, you've got some latent talent that's for sure. Solidad, thank you for showing a lot of young people what you can achieve as an experienced Coordinator."

Jessie smiled tentatively at the praise and I waved for her to come close. She did so with a quick glance up towards where her teammates were.

"Hey, don't go anywhere after the final match alright? I'd like to talk to you and your friends," I said, an idea slowly forming in my head about what I could do with the Team Rocket trio.

Jessie nodded and fidgeted, giving off the impression that she very much would not be sticking around. I sighed and rolled my eyes. "There's going to be a free meal and get-together with all the trainers that made it to the top sixteen."

"Oh! Well sure we'll stick around!" she said, losing all hints of reluctance immediately.

I huffed, shaking my head as I waved her away. Nurse Joy shot me a questioning look but I ignored her.

I had one more contest match to observe and it wasn't who I'd first expected in the finals but I was also glad for the surprise.

Bosco versus Vinny. The Venom pack brute against the Hoenn flying type specialist.

Bosco once more marched down the stairs and he took great pleasure having the backing of the crowd as he dashed down the stairs hands out wide to slap his hands against others who cheered at his passing.

"Here comes the boulder! The brute with a brain! Bosco!" called Rachel.

Next to her, Gradevoir waved a small flag with Bosco's face cartoonishly drawn on it. I had to wonder where she'd gotten those from before spotting Georgina handing them out.

Vinny came out much more sedately and he grinned towards Bosco as he pretended to box towards Vinny. "So? Ready for your cat to feel my pokemon's talons?" he taunted.

Bosco narrowed his eyes before snorting. "Puh-lease! You ain't worth me sending Mittens out for!" he said, as he palmed a pokeball.

"Begin!" called Rachel, and both Bosco and Vinny sent out their pokemon.

Vinny sent out Pidgeotto this time with a faint grimace. Jessie's match had drained Swellow too much to send it out one last time. I was surprised he hadn't chosen another pokemon but then again that might be his Hoenn sensibilities playing up on him.

The Pidgeotto swept its wings and caused a loud thoom to boom across the stadium.

Bosco surprised me again by sending Machamp instead of his Persian back out.

"Wide Guard X formation!" called Bosco, once again getting his pokemon to form an X formation of boulders around itself instantly.

"Oh? Bold of you to think I'm not wise to your tricks!" Vinny called. "Pidgeotto! Agility into Brave Bird! We're ending this!" he called out confidently.

Pidgeotto glowed for a moment before tucking its wings and plummeting down. Like a bird in pursuit of its prey, it locked eyes onto Machamp who raised its now sparking up hands.

Pdigeotto shot in low and hard only to slam its wings into the ground and shoot up and out of the narrow confine.

Next to me Monique nodded and sighed but I leaned forward ready for what I thought was to come.

Pidgeotto rose up and tucked a wing to barrel roll and forcing it to twist through the air. From there it dropped straight down all while maintaining its speed. Its aerial acrobatics allowed it to approach from directly overhead.

Pidgeotto lunged with talons glowing with flying energy.

"Clap," said Bosco just before Pidgeotto hit.

Machamp who must have been awaiting this very command, flexed and slammed its hands together above his head like the jaws of a metal Ursaring trap.

Pidgeotto went from just about to win, to caught as Machamp's hands slammed together hammering the Pidgeotto.

Pidgeotto was caught in the grip of the powerful Machamp.

Pidgeotto had a moment to give Machamp a look of disbelief before it fainted as a current of lightning arced through its body, ending the match in one exchange.

Vinny could only gape in shock. He'd wanted this match won in one pass, and it had been, just with him not as the victor.

I shook my head and watched Vinny withdraw his pokemon. Coming from above seemed like the easy answer to Bosco's defense, but it was just that, the easy, obvious answer that was in fact a trap.

"How? That?! What even was that?!" Vinny shouted, waving a hand towards Bosco.

"Sword catching," I said, toggling the microphone, "He's like one of the old Samurai of Johto that when disarmed would catch their opponent's weapon between their palms.

"That's a myth! It's impossible!" said Vinny.

"No," I replied. "It's not a myth or impossible, it is just extremely difficult and requires a high degree of skill," I said. I shot Bosco a smirk. "Setting the field helps, I should imagine."

Bosco rubbed the back of his head. "Ah shucks Gym Leader Brock you're gonna make me blush!" he said.

I shook my head and glanced at my fellow judges. "Any complaints?"

They shook their heads and I stood and raised a hand towards Bosco. "I hereby declare the winner of the inaugural Pewter Contest to be Bosco!"

On the big screen, Bosco along with his Persian and Machamp were put on display causing a round of applause to ring through the stadium. When it was time to award prizes the top three placeholders each received a small token with Bosco earning the inaugural Pewter Gym Contest Ribbon.

"Oh! This is pretty!" he said, as I handed him a ribbon which was a sandstone with granite lines through it that glittered. In the middle, a pink diamond shone and I smiled as he attached it to his Persian's collar while Machamp posed.

Bosco then shot the crowd a huge v for victory. I shot Solidad a look only to find her happily smiling.

With the Contest officially over, I had Rachel ask the crowd to remain for a final event. "Ladies. Gentlemen! Pokemon of all ages! Thank you for your attention today! We've had a great two days and to thank you for coming, Brock has arranged a special showcase!"

"Brock? Is this your surprise?" Monique whispered only for me to stand, ignoring her as I stood raising up one hand. I snapped my fingers while channelling rock energy to make the snap echo through the Gym getting everyone's attention and making a lot of people fall silent.

To the side of the judging panel, a set of huge doors swung open and a beam of light shone out causing people to stir, as they realised that something was coming.

I tapped on my headset. "I want to apologise to Bosco for possibly stealing a bit of his thunder with his amazing performance. To make it up to him, I hope he can take over my role as judge?" Judges trading out with the winning coordinator wasn't how things worked.

It wasn't how things worked anywhere else, but I wanted to have some fun after spending the last two days simply watching.

Bosco's eyes lit up and he trooped up to grab the headset I offered him before marching over to the judging panel with Mittens and Machamp claiming spots at the table as well, much to Nurse Joy's amusement. Monique had a fixed expression but I soldered on. I knew people would like what I had planned.

I raised my hand and snapped my fingers again. This time the speakers began to thrum as an electric guitar heralded the start of a rock song. Then a thump swept through the gym as something big began to move and the light faded as a shadow began to form.

People stirred and I grinned as with each step a mini quake followed, people leaned further and further forward as more and more of the shape resolved itself.

The first thing that started to form out of the lights was the spikes. All over the giant body spikes protruded.

With each step, the shape resolved itself into that of Titan, my starter.

The crowd gasped as they noted that Titan was wearing a black jacket with metal spikes. On his face, huge red glasses had been specially crafted just for Titan.

I'd taken inspiration from my past life and anime. Kamina's red sunglasses just worked too well.

I stepped onto the stage and this time it was Titan's turn to leap. He soared like a rock, heavy and huge before landing and rocking the stage. I bent my knees and grinned.

"And for his dance partner?" Rachel said, standing and planting one foot atop the table. "Who else!? But the Mistress of Psychic Might! SAAAAAAAABRIIIIIIINNNAA!"

Across from me, Sabrina teleported in with Alakazam in position. I grinned eagerly. This was going to be more showy than our usual fights but that didn't mean I hadn't been looking forward to this.

"HOOOOOOOO! We got ourselves a throwdown!" cheered Bosco into his headset getting well and truly into his role and then some as he started waving the ten paddle around.

I grinned at Sabrina who'd chosen to wear the outfit she'd worn when fighting against Will, on her hand the Keystone glinted brightly and more than a few people connected the dots.

I'd set up the contest to end with a friendly feature match with Sabrina and I throwing down with our starters.

Titan versus Alakazam.

---

A.N. Thanks to all my Pat-reons for your continued support!

Thanks also go out to Twmmy for proofing this chapter and suggesting a much more interesting finish with Sabrina and Brock throwing down in the next chapter.

 

[Viva01]

Been a hot minute since we had some artwork from Ryot_Ryot!

enjoy the following pieces!

Spoiler: Nurse Joy's judging outfit - LARGE

Spoiler: The birth of a pokenet meme! - LARGE

 

[readerdreamer]

I feel your pain and I don't want to.

 

[verycoolname]

the only way this contest could be better would be if Brock could mega-evolve Titan.

 

[Windborne]

Fun chapter as always, bummer that Jessie didn't win, but I'm hoping Brock can bring them back to the side of the light after this.

 

[xbox432]

Erika glanced at the little Larvitar. "You would be happy with me looking over your… sister?" she said. For a second there I was sure she was going to say something else but I waved the thought away.

Click to shrink...

Ah, she was asking if he was comfortable with his heir learning under her. Much like with Koga letting Janine come to learn under Brock, however briefly, this is a huge show of trust and friendship.

Heh, and good for Greta, she deserves the praise and attention.

 

[famfrit]

said. Great flashed me a look only for a softer voice to intrude.

Click to shrink...

Great -> Greta

"You''re going to use my move?"

Click to shrink...

You''re -> You're

"Yup," it's important to not just learn yo

Click to shrink...

from context pretty sure the second speech mark should be removed as it continues as though the whole thing is spoken and the ends with another closing one.

"She's tentacruel girl? It fi

Click to shrink...

tentacruel -> Tentacruel

 

[TH0TSLAY3R]

Been a hot minute since we had some artwork from Ryot_Ryot!

enjoy the following pieces!

Spoiler: Nurse Joy's judging outfit - LARGE

Spoiler: The birth of a pokenet meme! - LARGE

Click to shrink...

They aren't loading for me for some reason...

 

[Thotmas]

This is going to be great, as always.

My one sticking point with James is leaving his growlithe behind when he ran away. Kind of a dick move to abandon the loyal Pokémon. More of a dick move when you grow up with them and should reasonably know enough about them to know it's a dick move then do it anyway. Kinda hope Brock addresses that.

 

[AthetosAdmech]

This is going to be great, as always.

My one sticking point with James is leaving his growlithe behind when he ran away. Kind of a dick move to abandon the loyal Pokémon. More of a dick move when you grow up with them and should reasonably know enough about them to know it's a dick move then do it anyway. Kinda hope Brock addresses that.

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He might have had to leave it behind because it technically wasn't his. His parents might own it. Either that or he thinks it would have a better life as a pampered pet for his rich family than the more difficult lifestyle James had chosen for himself.

 

[NokoTheTaco]

This is going to be great, as always.

My one sticking point with James is leaving his growlithe behind when he ran away. Kind of a dick move to abandon the loyal Pokémon. More of a dick move when you grow up with them and should reasonably know enough about them to know it's a dick move then do it anyway. Kinda hope Brock addresses that.

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Who's to say Brock didn't change the timeline by accident and caused James to steal Growly? With all the divergences from canon, it doesn't seem Farfetch'd that he has Growly with him currently.

 

[Viva01]

My fingers itched and my heart thundered in my chest. My eyes remained locked with Sabrina and I knew I was smiling.

For her part, Sabrina was standing with her head tilted in a slightly aloof manner. I knew it to be the method she used when facing trainers, but it was also her 'battle' face. She didn't grin or become overly emotive.

Not outwardly.

With a Psychic, emotional control when you fought was important.

That didn't stop me from picking up the glint in her eyes, the twitch of her lips or the weight of the moment. When Sabrina looked at you, and truly put her focus on you? It was a physically palpable experience, and perhaps the true reason she didn't, or rather couldn't take trainers that didn't have at least four badges.

A fresh trainer would be crushed under her gaze and have no idea why their mettle broke.

I could tell Sabrina's blood was up just as much as my own was but I called up my rock-type energy and exhaled before nodding towards Bosco who was grinning like a kid who had come down to find that it was Christmas with the presents under the Christmas tree having doubled since last night.

"BEGIN!" he shouted, and with that Sabrina and I went into action.

"Titan! Shake up sequence!" I bellowed, feeding an impression to him tinged with anticipation and excitement that was mirrored back to me.

Across from me Sabrina levitated in place while her pokemon began forming barriers in front of himself waving his arms like he was working overtime, the actions exaggerated to the extreme.

My pokemon merely raised a foot.

The crowd held their breath as he paused.

He smirked knowing that everyone was watching him. I had to give him credit, he knew when to be a showman.

Then, just as he'd been promising, he stomped down hard.

The arena erupted as bits of rock detonated around Alakazam and threatened to slam into him only for the powerful Psychic type to levitate out of danger.

Shards of rock bucked up and rippled out from where Titan had stomped his foot and with a negligent sweep of his tail he launched the rocks straight at Alakazam, shattering the barrier that had been placed earlier. They broke as though they were but panes of glass.

Fragmenting outwards in a scintillating corona of colour made the field flash as each Barrier was destroyed.

When Alakazam started catching the attacks and throwing them back? Titan began to duck and weave, a dance of power playing out between our two starters as Sabrina and I stood behind them urging them on and spotting for them.

In a way, I knew Sabrina had it easier. Her psychic bond allowed her to convey concepts and plans faster while I settled for feelings and insights.

We made it work, advancing as we did, the threat of darkness that began to broil off Titan growing with each step until he became like a dark star, foreboding and inevitable against Alakazam who despite the increasing barrage of rock and stone, was hanging in there.

When Titan reached the halfway point I had him stop, bobbing and weaving to evade the last of the returned attacks. The field settled and the crowd took a breath as they looked over the changed battlefield.

It had barely been seconds and we'd caused craters and gouges all over the stage. More than a few of the arena barriers were glowing yellow.

Titan shook himself out, dust falling off him while the lights flashed with his red glasses, reminding everyone that he wasn't just doing this, but doing it in style.

Alakazam brandished his spoons and the chains attached to them rattled in threat. It was as if two bikers had just spent a few minutes circling each other on their bikes only to dismount and select their weapons.

Titan flexed his claws and rumbled low, his growls rippled through me and instinctively I knew I was in the presence of an apex predator.

Alakazam raised his chains, making them twirl about him without the typical flamboyant actions that one would associate with someone spinning such uncouth weapons. Alakazma made them look fashionable and controlled, even as they menaced with their movements.

Sabrina raised her chin, eying me. "So, do you think you can keep up?" she said, as she raised up her hand, the ring of the keystone glinting on her fist.

When had she had it refashioned?

I discarded that idea for later examination as I instead focussed on her words.

I smirked back at her. "Do your worst," I said, making sure to enunciate my words clearly.

Sabrina and her starter began to glow as power built around them.

Alakazam began to hover higher and higher as the glow around them became nearly blinding. Sabrina reached for the stars and power swept over me as Alakazam Mega-evolved.

Like a rolling wave, Sabrina's expanded power swept over me but I stood tall even as people gasped and cried out in shock. People had spoken about what it had been like to experience Sabrina's Mega-evolution against Will.

They'd called it captivating, enlightening, and rapturous for the few people with a lick of psychic potential.

I stood against it, my shadow cast dark and long as the light they had become threatened to sear me. I huffed in annoyance.

"Titan," I rumbled, my voice filling the arena despite not raising my volume. My voice cut through Sabrina's moment as people remembered that I was here.

That I was her foe.

"Fill the arena with darkness and sand," I commanded, and Titan swept his tail behind him causing a huge cloud of sand to be cast out where it lifted up and began to twirl about.

It didn't shift to encompass the entire battlefield and I didn't have him raise it up as high as normal.

I wanted people to watch what was to come. This was just the set-up.

Instead, he simply had it held behind him like an ominous mist that he'd just stepped out of. Only Titan was of rock, sand and darkness. With his jacket on and his glasses he looked like he was at the head of a pack of beasts about to appear out of the dust.

Which wasn't a wrong impression as a moment later more rocks shot forth at Alakazam.

There was a lot less warning this time that the attack was coming and Alakazam had to raise his hands, spoons and chains drifting with him to halt the advance of the multiple huge boulders that were hurling their way.

And yet he did. Each and every boulder was caught and held aloft.

Sabrina made a gesture and Alakazam's offhand swept across his body in a minor banishing gesture, like one would use to wave off a fly. A familiar cube of energy appeared only to expand rapidly.

It swept the field and banished the controlled Sandstorm we'd been using to hide the Stone Edges as they formed up. With this, the battlefield immediately became tinged with a slightly pink tone of psychic energy.

I narrowed my eyes at Sabrina. I hadn't realised she'd adapted Will's tactic.

Around Alakazam the boulders that had previously been held in a static position began to drift, like mini-floating islands.

Sabrina stabbed her hand forward and Alakazam made a show of it as Miracle Eye formed up.

I grimaced. It looked like Sabrina had all the cards now, but still, I braced myself to dig deep even as my eyes quested about the field for an advantage only to pause on the floating boulders.

Time to dare a dream. "Titan, Go," I said, as my eyes judged the distances between the boulders.

Titan didn't question me. Merely beginning to stride forward, the first step in forming an unstoppable avalanche. With each step he took he built up energy around his body and began to pick up speed.

"Jump step boulder to boulder!" I called, causing people to gasp in surprise as Titan, a pokemon that weighed in excess of two hundred and fifty kilograms bent his knees mid-stride and soared.

People didn't typically associate Tyranitar as a pokemon that had good jumping skills due to their weight.

I'd seen Empress and other Tyranitar hunt in the wild though and so I knew that when they were motivated, they could cross significant distances quickly.

Titan hit the first boulder and caused it to start moving to the side. When he shifted and jumped to another the boulder shot away as physics demanded of it. Titan barely made it to the next, the only thing that carried him forth was the still-building power of Giga Impact.

Titan leapt, jumping from rock to rock quickly closing the distance between him and his high-flying foe.

Alakazam seemed to realise this and made a grasping action with both hands.

Suddenly boulders began to rise in front of him forming a wall and other boulders that had been knocked away shot back.

Titan saw this and doubled his speed, closing the gap quickly and forcing Alakazam to hurry.

It became a race of who would finish first. Alakazam with his wall? Or Titan as the invader?

When Titan reached the very last boulder closest to Alakazam he held on for a single second, letting everyone watch as the rock began to fall even as he bent his knees, his eyes glinting with menace as a corona of energy coursed around him.

When he leapt he was like a meteor flying through the sky, powerful and bright.

Alakazam clapped his hands together and the wall he'd been forming revealed itself to be a trap. It caught Titan mid-leap and closed around him.

The boulders that had previously been drifting around, the same sheer demonstrations of power that a Mega Alakazam had at its beck and call, suddenly rocketed in, encasing Titan.

Despite this, he still pressed on, breaking through the boulders and working his way closer and closer.

Alakazam redoubled his efforts, lifting rock from the very arena floor to layer it, slowing Titan as he began inching his way towards Alakazam.

Until finally with dust and a huge round ball of rock encasing him, he came to a pause in the air.

It reminded me of something from another anime I'd watched in another life. Pain, and his Chibaku Tensei writ small.

Alakazma held Titan there for a long moment, showing that he had his foe completely in his control. It was impressive.

The crowd gasped in shock at how things had turned out and rose to their feet applauding and thinking this the end.

I looked down at Sabrina and found her with a small pleased smile.

I shot her back a smirk. "DP," I said.

Titan grinned savagely right in Alakazam's face as he erupted, becoming like a dark sun that caused the rock holding him to blast off to the side.

The dark energy knocked Alakazam out of the air and he fell only to catch himself just shy of the ground.

Titan landed like a rock, slamming into the ground and causing another quake.

Both pokemon straightened and for the first time in the fight, actual damage was shown on their bodies. Alakazam's mega-evolution faded and he shuddered as he became lessor.

I grinned knowing that things were now well and truly turning.

Despite that, Titan himself was trembling. He'd pushed himself hard leaping from boulder to boulder like that followed up quickly by a Dark Pulse. Despite the fatigue I could see and feel through our bond, an undercurrent of excitement rose up. He didn't want things to stop. He wanted to push on.

I locked eyes with Sabrina, both of us knowing we'd need to end this match in the next exchange of blows.

The titles and expectations of how this match might go faded away as we simply became trainers. Not Gym Leaders. Not Ace Trainers. Not boyfriend and girlfriend.

Just trainers locking eyes.

We'd need—

A loud bell ringing out caused Sabrina and I to twitch in surprise, not expecting it.

"And can we all please thank Gym Leaders Sabrina and Brock for this magnificent demonstration of toughness brought to life with their starter pokemon! My! That was certainly a way to end the show wasn't it?" shouted Monique.

It took a moment as the crowd were obviously of a similar mind to Sabrina and myself.

They wanted to watch us keep fighting to see who'd emerge the victor.

I was half tempted to ignore Monique's suggestion but I knew that would be extremely poor form. I'd already stolen her finale with this little showcase.

I forced my body to relax, standing instead and waving.

Behind me, Alakazam and Titan huffed in annoyance before they walked up to each other and performed what looked like a quick game of rock paper scissors. Alakazam perking up while Titan slumped down was enough to tell me who'd won.

Sabrina drifted over the torn-up battlefield to my side and joined me in waving to the crowd.

Monique keyed her microphone once again. "Thank you one and all for coming to this event! Please don't depart however as we will be cleaning up this mess in here and will be enjoying an after-party once we've set the stage right! For now please adjourn to the pavilions where snacks will be served before we enjoy this gathering even more!"

People began to trickle out at that and I sighed, now properly starting to calm down.

I picked a path through the rubble our fight had caused to Monique. "It was just getting good," I said plaintively.

Monique pinched the bridge of her nose. "You two were going to destroy the stage at this rate!" she said. "Do you always get so destructive when you battle each other?" Monique said.

Sabrina gave the stage a look over. "This is rather standard for fights between Titan and my Alakazam," she said. I nodded, there had been that one match during the lead-up to Lance's match in which we'd gone into the wilds and wrecked a small hill.

From memory, there was a small valley there now.

Monique eyed the devastation and the two pokemon that had started furiously working through round after round of Scissor paper rocks. Heh, it seemed Titan hadn't accepted a best of one series and they were now speed-rounding a best of… nine?

"Well you certainly put on a show!" chimed Bosco. He nodded to me and Sabrina. "If it's all the same to you, I think I'll join my brothers and sisters to celebrate. I'm looking forward to the after party though!" he said, shooting us a huge, hairy grin before trooping off.

Monique sighed. "Well, both of you will need to have a bath before the formalities begin, I suppose we can trust your pokemon to help out?" she said, as Sanchez led a tumble of Graveler onto the field.

He saluted us and I nodded back.

Sabrina slipped her hand in mine, not waiting for anything else she teleported us to my bedroom. I began to strip and move towards the shower, small bits of dust and debris falling off me.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Sabrina. I turned and realised that Sabrina hadn't calmed down quite like I had.

She gave me a look and I grinned, moving to help her out of her outfit.

We had enough time for this.

---

Misty sighed as the match was called to a close. "Aw, they got in trouble," she said as Nurse Joy and Monique, the judges who had remained on the side while Brock and Sabrina threw down, both slammed their hands on the bells to end the match.

Ash and Forrest all slumped. "Nooooo! It was getting to the good part!" said Ash.

Misty snorted. "You mean the part where Sabrina anticipated Brock and left a route to her pokemon only to catch Titan in mid-air wasn't the good part?" she said.

Forrest coughed. "No way! That had to be planned!" said Forrest.

Ash ignored him, eyes still locked on the television. "It's a shame we couldn't go watch it in person," he said wistfully.

Forrest slumped a little and Misty clenched her fist, more than ready to give Ash the brain jolt he so needed! Ash, ignorant of the impending attack, shook his head. "Well, there's not anything we could do, not after losing to Sabrina… and then Kong like we did," he said with a slump.

"Pi, pika," said Pikachu sadly.

Misty unclenched her fist a feeling of guilt surging through her. She alone had been able to secure a badge in Saffron with Kong going down against her Starmie and Tentacool after Wartortle got smashed around.

She'd felt a little guilty winning like she had with her type advantage carrying her along while Ash and Forrest had both crashed and burned. That and she'd fought against Hitmonlee who didn't have as many good moves to counter her pokemon compared to Ash and Forrest.

"I can't believe he has such strong counter measures against flying types!" Ash said, rolling around on the floor. "Butterfree and Pidgeotto should have been enough! And Pikachu's speed is usually enough!"

Forrest grunted. "I think I need to shore up some weaknesses. He was kind of…" Forrest searched around for the right word only to shake his head. "Well my team wasn't very good against him," he said, settling for an understatement.

Then again, Graveler, Beldum, and Onix weren't the best to use, it turned out. Kong's Hitmonchan was extremely proficient with Fire Punch.

There was a moment of silence before Forrest spoke up again. "It was a shame your Charizard got beaten up so bad against Sabrina."

Ash glowered. "I can't believe there's such a difference between her and Janine!"

Forrest chuckled. "Janine's still in her first year as a Gym Leader Ash, whereas Sabrina's been established for years now. And if you're comparing Sophia and Grey to her, then it's not even close."

Misty nodded her head. "Forrest is right. Sabrina makes everyone work for her badge. It's a well-established fact! You also have to remember that she predates my sisters, Brock and Erika, as a Gym Leader. She supposedly took over as a child!" Misty said.

"Really?" Ash said, tilting his head and narrowing his eyes. "I don't believe that," he said.

Misty spluttered. "What? Why? It's well established that Sabrina was a powerful trainer for years!"

"But a child? Who's ever heard of a Gym Leader that's a kid?" said Ash with a shake of his head.

Forrest coughed. "Misty's not lying Ash, and I did some looking into Johto—" Misty shot him a smirk. She'd teased him for days after that Morty, Falkner mix up. He blushed but ploughed on with his point. "—there is actually Falkner who was the youngest ever to take over from his father at the Violet City Gym!"

"Talking about Johto Gym leaders?" said a young voice before a young looking face as it intruded into their group.

"Bwuh!?" Ash said as he rolled away from the boy's face. He was so surprised he fell off the lounge landing on his back. "Ouch!" he said only to glower up at the kid who was blinking innocently down at Ash. "Who are you?"

"I'm Bugsy from Azalea Town and I'm going to—" started the purple haired kid only for Ash to cut him off.

"No I meant! What do you want?"

"Oh?" the kid said as he leaned back. "Well I heard you talking about Johto Gym Leaders and thought I'd come talk about them! I'm something of an expert you could say?" he clarified with a wide smile.

Forrest coughed. "Yeah? Well so am I! I've done a ton of research on them!"

"Oh? That's wonderful!" said Bugsy.

Ash growled. "Listen, we're having a private conversation, can you buzz off?" he said.

Bugsy chuckled. "Heh buzz off, good one." He laughed for a moment only to realise that none of their group were laughing. He coughed. "Sorry! Got ahead of myself, just wanted to make conversation." he bowed his head and stepped away from the boys.

Misty sighed, standing and moving after the kid. "Hey, sorry about the boys, they've had it rough cause we all lost against Sabrina only for them to then lose against Kong as well."

"Ah, yeah kong is much better than I'd heard," said Bugsy. He then waved his hand back and forth. "No problem! If you want to talk or hang out I'm over here with my friends!" he said, gesturing to a pair of boys. One had a green cap on his head while on his shoulder a cute pikachu rested. The other boy had longer hair.

Bugsy introduced them as Ritchie and Pete only for Pete to rocket to his feet. "Pete Pebbleman, nice to meet you Misty," he said politely.

Misty giggled. "You're certainly old fashioned," she said as he sat back down.

Pete rubbed the back of his head. "Ah, yeah my mother made sure I knew my manners and standing to greet a lady is just ingrained into me at this stage." he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Misty, are you done with them?" called Forrest.

"In a second Forrest!" Misty shouted back. She turned back to the polite boy only to see that his attention had slid from her to Forrest.

"Forrest? As in Brock's brother Forrest?" said Pete.

Misty grimaced, knowing that wasn't the best way to refer to someone due to her own situation. Forrest didn't seem to react beyond narrowing his eyes in suspicion. "Yeah? Who wants to know?"

"Pete Pebbleman! My family are born and raised in Pewter!" he stood and locked eyes with Forrest. "Care for a match? Your brother's match has me rather riled up!"

Forrest shot to his feet. "I was looking for a fight! You're on!" he called.

Ritchie chuckled and glanced over to find Ash looking back. He opened his mouth only for Bugsy to jump in between them. "Ah! You! I want to make up for my mistake earlier! Let's fight!" he said.

Ritchie grumbled a little before turning his gaze upon Misty. Misty instantly hated the dismissive attitude he adopted for her. "You wanna fight?" he said lamely.

Misty narrowed her eyes, her gaze taking in his attire and the Pikachu at his side. She smiled primly, the picture of an innocent maiden. "I'd be delighted!" she chirped.

She knew more than a thing or two about handling a Pikachu having fought Ash multiple times now over the course of their Journey. If this kid was going to look down on her, she was going to leave him scratching his head with how fast she planned to win.

The six trainers all marched out of the lounge room along with many other trainers that had been camped up in the pokecenter for the televising of the Pewter Gym Contest. With the ending more than a few had to find their own ways to calm their fighting spirits.

---

Darren Sukizo turned the television off and nodded amicably to himself. He calmly raised the tea cup and drank down the content only to feel his eyebrow twitch as he realised how cold his untouched cup had grown.

He'd spent the last two days observing the… event in Pewter.

He'd done so calmly, with all the poise a gentleman should display.

And now, the event, or at least the televised part of it, was over.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

Unfortunately, he could not find his centre. He felt like the world had been tilted slightly and everything was now just slightly off in a way that he could not put his finger on. It was like having an itch that couldn't be scratched, not that he would ever scratch himself. No, no that would be too shameful.

He carefully laced his fingers together and contemplated on what he needed to do to restore his calm.

After a few minutes of careful reflection, he nodded to himself.

He stood with alacrity, his suit, despite having been seated for hours now was still immaculate thanks to his poise remained uncreased. He strode his way to his desk where he sat and began drawing out his tools.

First his inkwell, then his Altaria feather quill. Both items, gifts from Wallace no less, from the latest Grand Contest he'd presided over.

Then he drew out three sheets of his personal stationery, his monogram affixed to the top right while a gold leaf border threaded its way around the paper.

He dipped his pen and brought it out, making sure the nib was clean before bringing it into position to begin writing.

He ordered his thoughts for a moment and then began to write.

Slowly at first but then with growing speed until his quill was flicking across the page, all but splattering the page with his words as his feelings gushed forth. He could no longer contain himself, he would not be silent.

Not after what he'd had to witness!

The Letter read;

Dear Contest hosts aspirants,

The proud traditions and style of Contests everywhere are a pleasure to see. The men, women and pokemon that work to uphold this way of life are a proud lot.

So to see your so-called event, even attempting to masquerade itself as a Contest is a stunning slap to the faces of all good and decent folk!

Tough! Tough is not a style of Contests and it shall never be! Contests are about style, grace and cuteness! Not the farcical display that you put on that was all brute force which contained the style of a caveman scratching at a wall for the first time!

It appears that the organizers abandoned all semblance of taste and sophistication, opting instead for a crass celebration of the popular! The gaudy! The plebian!

You have attempted, regrettably, to create an event that is palatable to a crowd of Primeape! Contests are not the stage upon which muck and excrement are hurled about only to be declared art! Contests are the places to demonstrate the sublime artistry of couture.

Instead, I witnessed bargain bin, dumpster diving costumes more akin to that of a children's pageant!

You would have us reduced to a circus of excess and excrement!

You as organisers should be held in the deepest contempt!

You have abandoned all that it means to understand Contests in your pursuit to be a 'hot fad' as children say! Contests embody taste and sophistication!

The nauseating departure from the established norm has left me wanting to pour bleach into my eyes to scour the visions you have broadcast about the world!

Only in Kanto, the most backwards nation in the pokeworld, can you march so slowly forward that you find yourselves being lapped in a race of culture, only to then think yourselves the leader! The sheer cheek of it!

One cannot help but lament the demise of an era when fashion was synonymous with grace and finesse. Your event was a tasteless spectacle and a travesty that has set not just Kanto back, but in fact the world!

The fact that you somehow shanghai'd Howard into this display, and not even in his rightful role merely underlines your lack of tradition and taste!

It speaks poorly of you and him, that such an event was allowed to unfold at all!

You have my disgust, disdain and distaste!

Never cordially yours,

President D.Sukizo, Pokemon Fan Club of Hoenn

Darren finished the letter with a flourish and collapsed bonelessly, his emotions spent having been bleed dry. Darren cast his eye over the letter and was pleased to see that despite his speed, he had not allowed a fleck of ink to not fall where he desired it.

Which was to say there were no marks on his letter. He was not some boy fresh from Private school! He was a seasoned gentleman!

He considered the letter once more before nodding his head. This would make his stance clear and allow other Hoenn natives to understand that such… events were not to be considered Contests.

That such could occur offended him.

The thought made him stop and consider an idea. He reached for the telephone and calmly spoke. "Francine? Call the Hoenn President for me, I want to trademark the word Contest."

"Sir? I'm not sure that's possible," said the woman.

"That is not your place to say, I want it trademarked to stop any more besmirching of our ways," he said.

"But, it'll never hold up sir? What will other already established Contests such as Chrysanthemum City call themselves?"

"They can call themselves a festival or some such! I want Contests locked down to our region and our region alone!" he said, his voice growing heated as he was forced to think on the Pewter event.

"Oh and I have a letter for you to mail off, see that it is sent to the Pewter Gym Leader," he said. "Mail it with our red envelopes," he said. He then hung up and laced his fingers together.

"How Howard could allow that to happen," he said with a shake of his head. Darren glanced around for a moment before nodding to himself and sending out his companion pokemon.

"Poreon?" said Candy the Vaporeon.

Darren felt himself relax a little more as his eyes took in his companion. Yes, Howard obviously had poorer tastes than he'd been led to believe.

Who would settle for a Gardevoir when there were more beautiful pokemon to appreciate?

---

The computer laboratory was not filled with the usual soft click-clack of keyboards but instead the pounding of letters into place. Daisy Oak hammered at the keyboard as though it owed her money.

She missed out on a lecture to assist with a friend's pokemon and she was drawn and quartered!

Usually, people fell over themselves to help her due to her status as Samuel Oak's granddaughter. Typically she always rebuffed them, like she'd been taught to do. She didn't coast along on her grandfather's accomplishments.

So, she found it extremely vexing when the opposite occurred and he became a victim of her lecturer's hatred for her grandfather.

If she misplaced a comma? A full grade point drop. If she made an error in her referencing? Another! She'd had to request a secondary examination of her assessment no less than three times this term!

The Dean had ended up coming down on the man, but the stilted hateful little excuse of excrement that was professor Jade, still found ways to get at her.

He'd specifically performed a spot quiz after doing a roll call for his class. It had been telling that the second he'd seen that she wasn't there he'd locked the door and announced it according to her friends.

The man was a spiteful sack of Spearow droppings if there ever was one. When she'd come back to the campus she'd found him gloating over her failure to attend the quiz which had outright cost her ten percent of her grade.

Which incidentally was the highest he could get away with for a spot quiz.

It was still enough to potentially sink her chances at being Dux of her class, and even possibly deny her the honours program at the university she was vying for.

Thankfully she had great friends, they'd all approached the Dean on her behalf and asked for exemption only for Professor Jade to kick up a stink.

The man couldn't be fired easily due to tenure, which as far as Daisy could tell was a con that old professors came up with to never have to do anything new with their lives and to keep collecting a pay cheque.

There needed to be a compromise. She could resit the test, something Jade had denied due to her 'getting the chance to learn about the questions through her friends and cheating', so she couldn't do that.

Instead Jade had demanded that she complete another assignment on the impacts of different grass on the ecology of route seven. It was mind numbing work.

Worse, it had cost her the chance to attend the Pewter Contest, something she had been looking forward to for months now.

She rubbed at her eyes, annoyed with how this had cut into her sleep. She still had to do another test at the end of the term and an assignment that was meant to build onto their honours study program, but she didn't have an idea what to research despite only having four weeks left of term.

A buzz on her wrist had her blearily sweeping at it without really checking the caller ID. "Yeah?" she said blearily, as she checked the spelling of her assignment for the third and hopefully final time.

"Daisy! I hope now's not a bad time, I wanted your take on the Contest that just wrapped up? I only got to watch a little of it myself! Gary and Ash have been rather busy with catching a few pokemon of late and I needed all hands on deck!"

"I… haven't had the chance to see it," she admitted.

Something in her voice must have given away how miserable she was right now. "Daisy? What's wrong? Why haven't you seen it? I thought you loved Contests?" he said, his tone laced with worry and also a hint of fear. Did he think for a moment that he didn't know her as well as he thought? She had a moment like that years ago, when she'd been a young teenager.

Now though?

"I'm fine. I just… have some assessments I let get away on me," she said, hiding her grimace. Her excuse sounded weak even for her.

Grandfather searched her face and a flicker of something dark flashed across it for a moment. "I will be with you in a moment," he said, hanging up.

Daisy sighed feeling like she'd just failed in some way to be tough enough, to soldier on.

A moment later Grandfather appeared with Cherie in tow. "Daisy," greeted Grandpa, his tone soft and careful.

Daisy slumped. "Sorry… I didn't want to bother you," she said.

He hugged her and kissed her head like he had done when she was a little girl. "You will never be a bother for me. Can you tell me what's wrong? Please? I'm scared?" he said.

The admission that the great Samuel Oak, more than anything else he could have said to Daisy, shattered her resolve to keep her situation a secret. The idea of her growing distant with him had been a fear he'd announced to hear when she'd been a teenager and that it was resurfacing now said lots.

"Well it's just this silly little man that—" she began to explain her situation and her grandfather and his aide sat and listened.

When she was done Grandfather nodded, squeezing her into his side. "You inspire me, but you also make me laugh. It's not a weakness to have others help you when things are tough. It's the very thing I try to research between us and pokemon, but so often the bonds between humans can be overlooked. Can I handle this for you?" he asked carefully.

Daisy nodded her head feeling small and hating herself for it.

Grandfather stood, "Alright, I'll be just a minute. Cherie can you… keep her company?" he said. When Cherie nodded he turned and marched off, for all intents and purposes on a warpath.

Cherie didn't hug her, instead, she remained off to the side shifting back and forth. For a moment Daisy wondered why grandfather had brought the woman. Cherie sighed explosively. "Cunning old man," she muttered before locking eyes with Daisy. "I was in an abusive relationship for a while… The whole thing could have been resolved easily but the girl doing it to me was clever enough to trip me up, make me think it was weak to go to others or tell my story. People that abuse others, they thrive when you don't speak up and tell people."

"I did tell the Dean," Daisy said.

"And he did nothing?"

"He couldn't do anything because of Professor Jade's tenure, he did suggest getting Grandfather but… it seemed so petty and I don't like having to do that."

"You're more than just your grandfather's grandkid," summarised Cherie with a nod.

Daisy frowned. Somehow hearing it said that way both supported her argument and didn't.

A moment later a huge beam of energy cut through the sky. Cherie and Daisy glanced at it before turning to each other. Then they both broke out into giggles.

"So much for Professor Jade's Tenure," said Cherie.

Daisy smiled, knowing that things would be fine now. She glanced at the assignment and huffed. She felt a bit annoyed she'd wasted her weekend on this now.

Still, things were looking up for her now.

When her grandfather returned he nodded. "Save that file and forward it to your Dean," he said.

Daisy raised an eyebrow, "What if I'm not done with it?"

Grandfather raised an eyebrow back. "You're just being overly meticulous with your editing, I know my granddaughter," he said firmly.

Daisy could only smile. He wasn't wrong. She could feel her bond firm up with her Grandfather.

She did as asked and a moment later Grandpa's Alakazam appeared to Teleport them back home.

Grandpa had her sit in the lounge. The television was still on with the anchors of Battlecast talking about the highlights of the Pewter Contest with more than a few people raving about the showpiece of Brock versus Sabrina.

Daisy felt a spike of annoyance at Professor Jade before it resolved into satisfaction. She hadn't known he forced her to miss that sort of match. Thankfully he'd gotten his comeuppance.

Daisy blinked when Grandfather bustled in with a teapot and cookies only to pause when he realised the coffee table was overflowing with papers like usual. Daisy scooped them up and cast an eye over them, only to pause as a business proposal stood out to her.

"Mega Corp? The Corporation for Mega Stone investigation. Interest for researchers with environmental factors sought along with investors…" Daisy read aloud.

"Oh yes! It's an initiative created by Brock." said Grandfather, casually while settling himself down and sipping his tea.

Daisy knew him well enough to know that he was hiding a smile behind his cup. Had he swooped in, fixed her problems. Only to then snatch her up for another project?

"Mega Corp?" questioned Daisy tasting the name and what that might mean. She felt her mind begin to tick for certain possibilities.

"Oh yes! Brock is starting up an Indigo company looking specifically into finding locations for Mega Stones. Sabrina is investing in it, as is Lance," Grandfather said casually. "I'm putting together a team though." He lowered his cup to smile innocently at her. "Are you interested?".

"Can you tell me more first?" she said.

Hmmm, perhaps she did have an interesting line of study for her honours program that she could salvage? Working with Brock, Lance, and Sabrina just as the initial investors sounded like a very promising start.

---

A.N. Thanks go to my patreons and Twmmy for betaing this chapter!

Things got a bit sad there for Daisy but sometimes people can be pricks.

 

[TimEd]

Alakazam's mega-evolution faded and he shuddered as he became lessor.

Click to shrink...

lesser

I don't like the Daisy bit at the end it felt too rushed and hamfisted. I get the idea it's meant to portray, it just failed to properly portray it in a way that wasn't screaming/screeching.

 

[veekie]

Only in Kanto, the most backwards nation in the pokeworld, can you march so slowly forward that you find yourselves being lapped in a race of culture, only to then think yourselves the leader! The sheer cheek of it!

Click to shrink...

Well theres no surer way to ensure that Kanto decide to make Tough their primary contest style...

"Poreon?" said Candy the Vaporeon.

Darren felt himself relax a little more as his eyes took in his companion. Yes, Howard obviously had poorer tastes than he'd been led to believe.

Who would settle for a Gardevoir when there were more beautiful pokemon to appreciate?

Click to shrink...

Did you know....

 

[verycoolname]

You seem to be implying that Darren and Howard share certain …proclivities that I'd rather not think about.

 

[Jaertin]

You seem to be implying that Darren and Howard share certain …proclivities that I'd rather not think about.

Click to shrink...

Well they are gentlemen of refined taste 🧐

 

[Madfish]

You seem to be implying that Darren and Howard share certain …proclivities that I'd rather not think about.

Click to shrink...

You could read it like "that" or you could consider that fanatic fans get really weird about the best thing in a catagory or even a single type of thing.

Also Darren is clearly a only my thoughts hold any validity, sneer down his nose at anything else public school type. That vaporeon is rare, astheticly pleasing and likely most importantly "his" is what he seems to value. I read his look as one like a noble looking at a prized horse or hound or a breeder who's animal has and will again win numerous best in catagories at a prestigious show. It's a reflection on his taste, artistic and evaluating judgement and training.

Howard on the other hand strikes me as the equivelent of those who have pets as child substitutes and treat them as such. That his pokémon is notably empathic, clearly happy and appears slightly spoiled in that it will try to draw attention to itself while other things are going on that are pleasing to it's trainer/partner. It's likely she was sensing him be happy/pleased in the same way he is with her when she performs and like a child felt threatened on some level and need the reassurance that what they had wasn't being damaged.

Tl;Dr: If Howard was Ash Darren would be Paul crossed with the snobby Pokétech kids.

 

[RioVenaFeht]

"Poreon?" said Candy the Vaporeon.

Darren felt himself relax a little more as his eyes took in his companion. Yes, Howard obviously had poorer tastes than he'd been led to believe

Click to shrink...

Urgh, Of course, he has bad taste.

Everyone knows that in terms of human companionship, Flareon is objectively the most huggable Pokemon. While their maximum temperature is likely too much for most, they are capable of controlling it, so they can set themselves to the perfect temperature for you. Along with that, they have a lot of fluff, making them undeniably incredibly soft to touch. Hey! Why are you walking awa--

Daisy and Oak's conversation is really sweet.

A moment later a huge beam of energy cut through the sky.

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Ha!

Oak putting together a team with the financial backing of 3 of the strongest trainers of the modern age? Collaboration across Kanto and Johto?
They are gonna find so much more than just mega stones, aren't they.

 

[BlackoutSampler]

I kinda want Brock to reply to the twit's letter with a "Welcome to Pewter" postcard with the words "Stay Salty" on the back.

But yeah, It's interesting that Pewter of all places might start to be the epicenter of a whole "Hard Rock" movement in fashion. It's funny, and comes with a built in pun, but I can see this making for some interesting fashion choices in the future, given that a lot of "tough" fashion references in the area are: Martial Arts, Samurai, Cavemen, Tryantaur, Nidoking, ect.

We might see someone attempt a "Modern Samurai" fashion, or things could go full Final Fantasy and somebody could come in the same kind of 'outfit' as Jecht from FFX with more Tryantaur themed pauldrons or such.

This'll all be years in the making. Also, as new Regions are... unlocked, seeing the reactions of trainers like Roxie (Unova Gym Leader Roxie, not the Roxie already shown) , Peirs/Marrine, and Guzma to Pewter is going to be interesting.

 

[SirKaid]

Pewter as the home of a burgeoning punk scene? Hell yeah. Nothing more punk than pissing off stuck up conservatives.

 

[Somnia]

Darren felt himself relax a little more as his eyes took in his companion. Yes, Howard obviously had poorer tastes than he'd been led to believe.

Who would settle for a Gardevoir when there were more beautiful pokemon to appreciate?

Click to shrink...

What a dick, he's not wrong about Gardevoir tho they're just a weirdly colored generic human and Vaporeon is the best pokemon. I kinda want to see where this plot line goes more than the others lol.

 

[reou]

Darren is a fake fan.

Anyone worthy of the title of Pokemon Fanclub President should be elated that someone is attempting to raise the prestige of these underappreciated pokemon that don't fit into the current popular categories of contests. The fact that he is attempting to condemn the appreciation of pokemon that don't match his aesthetic shows that he is not a fan of pokemon, but merely a fan of his own preferences.

 

[Madfish]

Darren is a fake fan.

Click to shrink...

He's not a fake fan what he is is both an Elitist since that allows him to self-justify his superiority and a traditionalist as it conforms to his bias' and allows him to disregard their opinions.

 

[Thotmas]

He's about to get culture slapped is what he is.

There's certainly room to criticize the Pewter contest since there were holes in their preparation and research on contests (see forgetting to invite the Kanto fan club president), but Pewter's execution doesn't warrant the kind of vitriol laid down by Mr. Hoenn fan.