Trainer's Guide to the Pokémon World; Volume 2: Hoenn

On The Stage Again

I'm very sorry that this is once again coming out so late, as I had to put it on a 2 week hiatus, as I didn't have time to update this at all over the previous 2 weeks to write at all. Sorry about that. But, it does mean that I had 2 weeks to plan out the next few chapters, so that's something. (Also, as it turns out, my description of the pokémon contests in the previous chapter was completely incorrect, sorry about that) But, anyway, enjoy this chapter.

It takes another hour or 2 to finally reach the Contest Hall in Rustboro. The outside of the building is completely crowded, both with Coordinators and spectators alike. As Max and Bonnie approach the building, they scan the crowd, hoping to spot Tierno and/or Shauna amongst them. Eventually, Bonnie spots Shauna's ringlets amongst some of the people milling around. She takes Max's hand and pulls him along towards Shauna, shouting her and Tierno's name as she does. The two turn around upon hearing their names being called, and beam when they catch sight of them.

"I was wondering when you two would show up," Shauna comments. "I take it you've come to watch Tierno in his first contest?" Both Max and Bonnie nod. "I'm curious as to what Contests are like" Bonnie comments. Shauna nods in agreement. "So am I" she agrees. "I watched a few videos of them before this," Tierno comments. "So, hopefully this should go well for me." It's only then thst Max and Bonnie notice Tierno. He's gotten thinner since they last saw him, and he's currently dressed in a somewhat formal suit. He's wearing a brown jacket with blue sleeves and a beige undershirt, with blue trousers to match. After a few seconds of staring, Max bursts I to laughter. "Oh my Arceus, you're dressed like a Blastoise!" he exclaims. Tierno beams at him. "Good eye!" he replies. "That's what I was planning. I think it'll help rack up a few points." Max laughs at this. "Oh it definitely will," he says. "There's this guy Harley, an old rival of May's, who I swear got half of his style points from the fact that he was dressed like a Cacturne. He looked totally ridiculous!"

"You know," comes a voice from behind them, "if you're going to talk about someone behind his back, you should probably make sure they can't hear you." Going red in the face, Max wheels round, with the others also turning to see who spoke. Sure enough, standing behind them is none other than Harley himself, and of course, he's still dressed in the ridiculous Cacturne outfit. He frowns at Max for his comment, then his frown deepens when he seems to recognise him. "I remember you," he says. "You're May's annoying little brother, aren't you?" Max goes red with anger here, but he keeps his cool. "That I am," he says. "And I see that you're sense of style hasn't changed. Unless you're trying to look stupid deliberately, to hide your lack of talent." Tierno bursts out laughing at this and Bonnie gives Max a high five. Shauna pits a hand to her mouth to hide her laughter. Harley, however doesn't find this funny. Instead, his face flushes red with anger and he glares at Max. "You wouldn't know talent if it slapped you in the face!" Harlry spits. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must go and show all of Hoenn who the best Coordinator truly is!" With that, he storms off in a huff. "What a loser!" Bonnie comments once he's gone. Tierno nods in agreement. "Totally," he says. "But, at least he'll be an easy win I guess." Max nods. "Just remember that you'll be facing other people as well. So who knows, maybe someone else will knock him out for you." All 4 of them laugh at that, then they head into the contest Hall.

Once Tierno has showed his contest pass, he kisses Shauna on the cheek, waves to Max and Bonnie, then heads to the stage. The other 3 meanwhile head to the seating area to watch the show. The auditorium is completely packed with spectators. While it's not nearly as big as the Showcase Halls in Kalos, the Contest Hall is still pretty big. Because it isn't nearly as big, Max is not surprised in the slightest to see Bonnie and Shauna look rather unimpressed by the building. "The Contest Halls are easily 3 or 4 times bigger than this" Shauna comments. Max chuckles a big and adjusts his glasses, so the lens glares. "Oh you haven't seen anything yet," he tells them. "If Tierno makes it to the final round, you'll see." Both of them tell him they'll hold him to that, then they make their way to their seats. As they wait for the show to start, more and more people file in. Soon enough, the stands are completely filled with spectators. Soon enough, the lights dim, and one of the judges walks onto the stage.

Max recognises him from the contests he watched May enter both 5 years ago and 3 years ago when she finally became Top Coordinator. The first judge starts off by welcoming everyone to the Hall, before explaining what Max had already told Bonnie earlier (except instead of the person with the most ribbons winning it's people with 5 ribbons head to the final round for the ribbon cup). Once he's finished, he the other 2 judges show up, a man that looks similar to the 1st judge, and the local Nurse Joy. Once all of the introductions are done, the appeals round commences. First up is Tierno with his Blastoise. And of course, he and Blastoise demonstrate their skill by breakdancing. As they do, Blastoise shoots off Hydro Pumps and Flash Cannons, creating spiralling jets of water and metal like a spinning top, while Tierno breackdances behind him, mirroring his moves. When they finish, the judges all declare that he's through to the next round.

Tierno's act is a tough one to follow. Others give it a try, and some succeed, like Harley and Jean, who Bonnie cheers on when she comes on stage, and others fail, like Eric, amongst most of the contestants. Eventually, the first round is done, and it's on to the 2nd round, the battle. Tierno has not trouble with it, and manages to become one of the final two. To the surprise of Max, Bonnie and Shauna, Harley makes it as well. Now, they face off for the 1st ribbon of the season. As they both step onto the stage, Harley xoxkily between the crowd and Tierno, full of confidence that he'll win. "I cannot stand him" Max mutters to himself. Both Coordinators send out their pokémon for the final time in this Contest. Tierno sends out Blastoise once more, with Harley sending out Wigglytuff. Trirno smirks at this, and Max grins. "Harley's in for it," he mutters to the girls. "Wigglytuff's secondary type is Fairy. Blastoise's is Steel." Bonnie grins at this as well, remembering her rematch against Valerie, the fairy type gym leader of Kalos. Once both Coordinators declare that they're ready, the battle commences.

Tierno starts with Flash Cannon, an obvious choice. Too obvious apparently, as Wigglytuff is able to dodge it, before retaliating with Headbutt. Teirno then goes for a Rapid Spin, and flies towards Wigglytuff, who knocks him away. But, all this does is cause Blastoise to spin faster. He knocks into a wall, then flies back towards Wigglytuff again. Wigglytuff uses Sing to get him to stop, but at this point, Blastoise is spinning too fast for the move to affect him. So, Wigglytuff dodges the attack, and tries to use Disarming Voice to stop the attack. Once again, this has no effect. To get the Wigglytuff to stop trying to attack, and to increase his own attacks' pizzazz, Tierno orders Blastoise to combine Flash Cannon with the attack. When he does so, Wigglytuff can't avoid him anymore. It tries to, but is knocked to the ground as a result. Before it can get up, the Rapid Spin makes contact, throwing Wigglytuff into the wall and ending the battle.

But, seeing the scores, it's clear that Tierno didn't need to pull off the knockout. Harley had lost so many points that all Tierno really had to do was last another minute and he would've won by default. Harley returns his Wigglytuff and walks off stage in a huff while Tierno is presented the Rustboro Ribbon. As he proudly holds it in the air, everyone cheers him on for such a great beginning to this season of Contests. Tierno's friends shout his name from the stands, and he waves at them, before blowing Shauna a kiss, which causes her to become very flustered and almost faint. As he walks off the stage, Max can swear he sees Tierno mouth "revenge". Remembering the stunts the girls pulled in Gliore back in Kalos, Max thinks this was a fair play.

Yeah, that was a pretty short chapter, but I couldn't think of anything else to add to it. I must say, Contests are much easier to write than Performances, especially since I have less people to focus on than before. See you tomorrow with the gym battle.